U.S. Army soldiers conducttroop dismount reconnaissance

training for an evaluation atHohenfels, Germany on Jan. 26.

JULIAN PADUA/U.S. ARMY

Together to test readiness9 nations set to train in Combined Resolve XV

Page 5

Volume 79 Edition 205 ©SS 2021 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas

stripes.com

MILITARY

Russian jet flieslow past USSDonald CookPage 3

MILITARY

‘Harlem Hellfighters’nickname made officialafter over a centuryPage 5

FACES

Crooner Bennettfighting Alzheimer’sfor last four yearsPage 18

Buccaneers, Chiefs persevered through pandemic season ›› NFL, Page 24

As its neighbors and the United States

grapple with the coronavirus, China is tak-

ing advantage of its improved strength to

up the ante in the South China Sea, a mar-

itime security expert says.

The only major country to grow its econ-

omy during the pandemic, Beijing on Fri-

day authorized its coast guard to fire on for-

action in the maritime territorial disputes,

but it may employ more aggressive tactics

short of that, according to Ian Chong, an as-

sociate professor of political science at the

National University of Singapore.

“The Chinese might feel they are in a

stronger position now relative to the other

claimants and the U.S. so they might as well

eign vessels and destroy “illegal structur-

es” in waters where Chinese territorial

claims are disputed by neighbors and, in

one case, rejected by an international

court.

Philippines Foreign Secretary Teodoro

Locsin Jr. characterized the move, in a

Wednesday tweet, as “a verbal threat of

war to any country that defies the law.”

China won’t likely attempt overt military

China escalating sea territory claims

BRANDON SALAS//U.S. Marine Corps

Cpl. Richard Simons IV provides security duringan exercise in the South China Sea last year.

BY SETH ROBSON

Stars and Stripes

Nation seen as using pandemic to assume more aggressive posture

SEE CLAIMS ON PAGE 3

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

BUSINESS/WEATHER

CANBERRA, Australia — Aus-

tralia’s prime minister said on

Monday that Microsoft is confi-

dent it can fill the void if Google

carries out its threat to remove its

search engine from Australia.

A Google executive told a Sen-

ate hearing last month that it

would likely make its search en-

gine unavailable in Australia if the

government goes ahead with a

draft law that would make tech gi-

ants pay for news content.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison

said he has spoken to Microsoft

chief executive Satya Nadella

about its search engine, Bing, fill-

ing the space.

“I can tell you, Microsoft’s pret-

ty confident” that Australians

would not be worse off, Morrison

told the National Press Club of

Australia.

“These are big technology com-

panies and what’s important to

Australia, I think, is that we set the

rules that are right for our peo-

ple,” Morrison said.

“Having a news environment in

this country that is one that is sus-

tainable and is supported com-

mercially, then this is vital to how

democracies function,” he added.

Although Bing is Australia’s

second most popular search en-

gine, it has only a 3.6% market

share, according to web analytics

service Statcounter. Google says it

has 95%.

There are no plans to make

smaller search engines such as

Bing pay for linking users to Aus-

tralian news, but the government

has not ruled that option out.

Australia: Bing may replace GoogleAssociated Press

Bahrain67/63

Baghdad67/47

Doha72/56

Kuwait City70/53

Riyadh74/45

Kandahar61/33

Kabul48/28

Djibouti81/71

TUESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

50/35

Ramstein49/37

Stuttgart50/39

Lajes,Azores58/55

Rota58/55

Morón58/54 Sigonella

59/48

Naples58/50

Aviano/Vicenza43/32

Pápa37/28

Souda Bay60/54

Brussels51/39

Zagan34/20

DrawskoPomorskie 31/22

TUESDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa23/20

Guam84/75

Tokyo45/30

Okinawa64/61

Sasebo42/37

Iwakuni41/35

Seoul32/14

Osan34/17

Busan35/27

The weather is provided by the American Forces Network Weather Center,

2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

WEDNESDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Comics .........................16Crossword ................... 16Faces .......................... 18Opinion ........................ 14Sports .................... 19-24

Military rates

Euro costs (Feb. 2) $1.18Dollar buys (Feb. 2) 0.8064British pound (Feb. 2) $1.34Japanese yen (Feb. 2) 102.00South Korean won (Feb. 2) 1089.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain(Dinar) .3769Britain (Pound) .7312Canada (Dollar) 1.2814China(Yuan) 6.4675Denmark (Krone) 6.1521Egypt (Pound) 15.7407Euro .8272Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7525Hungary (Forint) 294.99Israel (Shekel) 3.2921Japan (Yen) 104.97Kuwait(Dinar) .3028

Norway (Krone) 8.6017

Philippines (Peso) 48.06Poland (Zloty) 3.73Saudi Arab (Riyal) 3.7512Singapore (Dollar) 1.3324

So. Korea (Won) 1119.19Switzerland (Franc) .8951Thailand (Baht) 29.99Turkey (NewLira) 7.1781

(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­chasing British pounds in Germany), check withyour local military banking facility. Commercialrates are interbank rates provided for referencewhen buying currency. All  figures are foreigncurrencies to one dollar, except for the Britishpound,  which  is  represented  in  dollars­to­pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.)

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount �rate 0.75Federal funds market rate  �0.073­month bill 0.0630­year bond 1.86

EXCHANGE RATES

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

MILITARY

A Russian warplane conducted

a low pass near the USS Donald

Cook on Sunday in the Black Sea,

where the Navy has dispatched

three ships for exercises.

The Sukhoi Su-24 fighter-bom-

ber screeched past the U.S. de-

stroyer while it was operating in

international waters, the U.S. Na-

vy’s 6th Fleet said in a statement.

The Navy said it operates in the

Black Sea to reassure allies in the

region and “ensure security and

stability.”

USS Donald Cook is operating

alongside the destroyer USS Por-

ter and USNS Laramie, which is

refueling the warships during op-

erations.

Refueling at sea is fundamental

for the Navy, but doing it in the

Black Sea is “a new operational

model in a new year,” said Cmdr.

Matt Curnen, USS Donald Cook’s

commander. “Taking fuel at sea is

the most concrete way for us to

sustain independent operations.”

The arrival of three Navy ships

in the Black Sea could signal that

the service intends to bolster its

lyst with The Heritage Founda-

tion, a Washington think tank, said

last week.

A Navy P-8A aircraft also was

taking part in drills with the ves-

sels in recent days. But more Navy

ships and planes in the Black Sea

can also mean additional attention

from Russian forces, who routine-

ly track their movements.

The Navy didn’t immediately

lodge any formal public com-

plaints against the Russians for

the Su-24’s low pass, though the

service has criticized some Rus-

sian actions in the region in recent

years.

In August, a U.S. B-52 bomber’s

maneuvers above the Black Sea

were restricted by two Russian

fighter planes that flew in an “un-

safe and unprofessional manner”

when they crossed within 100 feet

of the Air Force’s long-range bom-

ber, the military said at the time.

In April and May, the U.S. ac-

cused Russia of multiple unsafe

intercepts involving fighters fly-

ing as close as 25 feet from a Navy

P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance

aircraft over the eastern Mediter-

ranean. Russia has also lodged

complaints about U.S. operations

near its borders.insula, annexed by force by Rus-

sia in 2014. But the time key allies

operated there last year declined

compared to 2019, a security ana-

presence there this year.

NATO has emphasized main-

taining a presence in the region,

which includes the Crimean Pen-

Russian jet flies low past US destroyerBY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa

In this screenshot from Twitter, a Russian SU­24 jet flies low past the U.S. Navy destroyer USS DonaldCook while it was operating in international waters in the Black Sea on Sunday, the U.S. 6th Fleet said. 

vandiver.john@stripes.comTwitter: @john_vandiver

A task force of four B-52H Stratofortress

bombers arrived Thursday at Andersen

Air Force Base, Guam, part of an ongoing

demonstration by the Air Force of its abil-

ity to move strategic assets around the

globe.

The B-52s, from the 96th Bomb Squad-

ron at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., were

sent to “reinforce the rules-based interna-

tional order in the Indo-Pacific region”

through “strategic deterrence,” according

to an Air Force statement Friday.

Guam, at the eastern edge of the Philip-

pine Sea, is within easy range of the South

China Sea, where the United States and

China are engaged in a global rivalry.

The 96th Bomb Squadron last deployed a

task force there in December 2018, the Air

Force said. A bomber task force last de-

ployed to Guam in October with 200 airmen

from the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squad-

ron out of Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.

Task force missions help “maintain glob-

al stability and security while enabling

units to become familiar with operations in

different regions,” according to the Air

Force. The task force will train with and

support other U.S. forces in the region, as

well as those of allies and partners, accord-

ing to the Air Force. It did not specify how

long the squadron would remain on Guam.

“Deploying as a Bomber Task Force ex-

ercises our ability to produce agile, combat

power in any location we are needed,”

squadron commander Lt. Col. Christopher

Duff said in the statement.

“We remain ready to deploy to reach

anywhere in the world at any time,” he add-

ed.

The Air Force last year ended its 15-year

practice of keeping a continuous bomber

presence on Guam in favor of a less-pre-

dictable deployment system using bomber

task forces. The change aligned with the

2018 National Defense Strategy’s call for

strategic unpredictability.

Bomber task forces based in the U.S. de-

ploy cyclically to Guam. Adversaries

“watch us come and go,” said Pacific Air

Forces commander Gen. Kenneth Wils-

bach in a Sept. 9 call with reporters.

Last year, the Air Force rotated B-52s,

B-1 Lancers and B-2 Spirit bombers

through Guam, putting them to work on ex-

ercises with the Navy and the Japan Air

Self-Defense Force.

Bombers in the Indo-Pacific project U.S.

airpower in a region ripe with tension. To

the west, U.S. and Chinese forces criss-

cross the South China Sea, conducting ex-

ercises and demonstrating resolve — on

the U.S. part to maintain open seas, by Chi-

na to defend territorial claims, or test those

of Japan and Taiwan.

The State Department in July formally

rejected China’s claims to islands and reefs

in the South China Sea, claims that China

just as forcefully maintains as historic

rights.

“Strategic bomber missions validate the

credibility of our forces to address a di-

verse and complex global security environ-

ment,” the Air Force said in its statement.

Air Force deploys 4 B-52 bombersto Guam for ‘strategic deterrence’

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.com Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

try to move the needle,” he said in a tele-

phone interview Monday.

The South China Sea and its vast natural

resources are the subject of territorial dis-

putes involving China, Taiwan, the Philip-

pines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Indo-

nesia. China also has overlapping claims

with Japan and Taiwan in the East China Sea.

“It’s interesting that there hasn’t been a

stronger reaction from Vietnam or Indone-

sia,” Chong said. Many governments are fo-

cused on fighting the coronavirus and don’t

have the resources to open other fronts, he

said.

“The economic pressure means they are

not looking for a fight right now,” he said.

The Chinese law might be a negotiating

tactic amid stalled negotiations by South

China Sea claimants on a code of conduct for

the disputed waters, Chong said.

“It might be the Chinese trying to put for-

ward a negotiating position that gets people

back to the status quo that already benefited

them,” he said.

The new law is “a smack in the face” of Phi-

lippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who

thought he could negotiate to keep Chinese

ships out of his country’s waters, according

to Paul Buchanan, an American security

analyst based in Auckland, New Zealand.

“That has now been proven to be a naive

hope,” he said in a telephone interview Mon-

day. Duterte, who has ordered the Philippine

navy not to join in freedom of navigation pa-

trols conducted by U.S. warships in the South

China Sea, will have to “put up or shut up”

when it comes to Chinese incursions, Bucha-

nan said.

“If he does not respond it will likely cause a

rift between him and his navy commanders,

if not the military as a whole,” Buchanan

said.

The latest Chinese move is “lawfare” said

Carlyle Thayer, an emeritus professor at the

University of New South Wales and lecturer

at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

“They keep moving goalposts to justify

their indisputable sovereignty over the

South China Sea,” he said in a telephone in-

terview Monday.

China has moved away from the “nine-

dash line” — based on an old map used to jus-

tify sea territory claims since the 1940s - and

now promotes a “four-sha” claim to the Pra-

tas Islands, Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands,

and the Macclesfield Bank area, he said, of

the features whose Chinese names all end in

“sha.”

“They have done it by drawing straight

base lines around all these disputed fea-

tures,” Thayer said. “They claim all the wa-

ter inside as territorial waters.”

The vast majority of those features are oc-

cupied by Vietnam, which has installed

structures that China could seek to remove

under its new law, he said.

“They have been trying to establish in the

public mindset that this is Chinese,” Thayer

said of the sea territory claims.

Claims: Professor labelsmoves by China as ‘lawfare’FROM PAGE 1

robson.seth@stripes.com Twitter: @SethRobson1

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

MILITARY

KABUL, Afghanistan — Tali-

ban attacks in the Afghan capital

of Kabul are on the rise, with in-

creasing targeted killings of gov-

ernment officials, civil-society

leaders and journalists, a report

by a U.S. watchdog said Monday.

It comes as the Biden adminis-

tration plans to take a new look at

the peace agreement between the

United States and the Taliban

signed last February under for-

mer President Donald Trump.

The report said Taliban-initi-

ated attacks across Afghanistan

during the last quarter of 2020

were slightly lower than in the

previous quarter, but exceeded

those of the same period in 2019,

according to numbers provided

by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

“Enemy attacks in Kabul were

higher than during the previous

quarter,” the report quoted U.S.

forces. “They were much higher

than in the same quarter last

year.”

The Special Inspector General

for Afghanistan Reconstruction,

known as SIGAR, monitors the

billions of dollars the U.S. spends

in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

The Taliban unleashed a wave

of attacks in Afghanistan in De-

cember, including strikes in

northern Baghlan and southern

Uruzgan provinces over a two-

day period that killed at least 19

members of the Afghan security

forces. In Kabul, a roadside bomb

struck a vehicle, wounding two,

and a lawyer was shot in a target-

ed killing.

Resolute Support, the NATO-

led mission in Afghanistan, re-

ported 2,586 civilian casualties

from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 last year, in-

cluding 810 killed and 1,776

wounded, according to the SIGAR

report.

The report said the proportion

of casualties caused by impro-

vised explosive devices increased

by nearly 17% in this quarter, cor-

relating with an increase in mag-

netically attached IEDs or “sticky

bomb” attacks, the report said.

Despite the ongoing violence,

casualties across Afghanistan in

the last quarter of 2020 decreased

by 14%, compared to the previous

quarter. The quarter saw an ex-

ceptionally high number of casu-

alties for the winter months, how-

ever, when fighting normally sub-

sides.

The U.S. has been the prime

backer of the Afghan government

since it invaded the country soon

after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks

and overthrew the Taliban, who

were running the country and

harboring al-Qaida leader Osama

bin Laden. The U.S. is still spend-

ing about $4 billion a year to assist

Afghan security forces.

The U.S. military said last

month that it had met its goal of

reducing the number of troops in

Afghanistan to about 2,500.

Senior U.S. commanders are

skeptical of the Taliban’s stated

commitment to peace, though

they have said they can accom-

plish their mission in Afghanistan

at that troop level.

“As the footprint of U.S. agen-

cies continues to shrink, it will be-

come more important that the

U.S. and other donors perform ag-

gressive and effective oversight of

its dollars and programs,” said

Special Inspector General for Af-

ghan Reconstruction John F. Sop-

ko.

US watchdog: Taliban attacks increased in KabulBY RAHIM FAIEZ

Associated Press

RAHMAT GUL/AP

Birds fly over the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday. 

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A

Marine who admitted assaulting

an Okinawa taxi driver after a

night of drinking in November

was given a three-year, suspend-

ed sentence by a Japanese court

Monday.

Lance Cpl. Jamison Michael

Bissett, 20, assigned to Camp

Hansen, pleaded guilty last week

to assault, obstruction of busi-

ness, making threats, larceny and

violation of Japanese traffic laws

for choking Hideki Enokawa, 61,

from behind on Nov. 7 on a trip to

the base.

Bissett then stole and crashed

the cab, totaling the vehicle, ac-

cording to police.

Naha District Court Judge Tat-

suto Sakamoto sentenced Bissett

to three years in a Japanese pris-

on with hard labor, but suspended

the sentence for four years. Bis-

sett will likely serve no additional

jail time unless he commits an-

other crime in Japan.

“It has been recognized that the

defendant committed these of-

fenses under the influence of al-

cohol and on the spur of the mo-

ment, one after the other, and did

not plot assaults and threats in or-

der to commit a taxi robbery,” Sa-

kamoto explained in court.

“The court is disinclined to im-

pose a prison sentence right away

when considering some favorable

circumstances for the defendant

where he has no prior criminal

record, has admitted to the facts

laid out in court, shown remorse

and promised to not commit more

crimes.”

A spokesperson for the Marine

Corps did not immediately re-

spond to requests Monday after-

noon from Stars and Stripes seek-

ing comment on Bissett’s future

on the island or in the Corps.

“He not only endangered the

victim's life and body but also

caused danger” to other vehicles

on the highway, Sakamoto said

while reading the verdict. “These

offenses caused great fear to the

victim as he would have if he

were to have been robbed. The

psychological distress should be

considered fully.”

Prosecutors had sought 3½

years with hard labor. Bissett’s

attorneys had asked for proba-

tion.

During the two-day trial last

week, the court heard how Bissett

had gone drinking with friends in

American Village, a Chatan tour-

ist hub, on the evening of Nov. 7.

After downing “at least four to

five beers and eight to 10 shots of

tequila,” he hailed a cab for the

long ride back to Hansen.

Just short of Hansen, at about

10:10 p.m., Bissett demanded to

be taken back to Chatan, accord-

ing to Enokawa’s statement read

in court. Bissett began choking

the driver, who eventually stop-

ped the cab and fled on foot, ac-

cording to testimony.

Police found Bissett in the cab,

which had struck the median,

with a head injury. He was arrest-

ed at a local hospital the next day

on a robbery charge. Police al-

leged that Bissett stole the equiv-

alent of about $100 from the taxi

driver’s change purse.

More charges followed Nov. 27,

and Bissett has been in custody

since his arrest.

Enokawa asked for the maxi-

mum sentence for his attacker.

Bissett got emotional at times and

pleaded guilty, claiming to have

no recollection of the incident.

“I don’t remember any of this;

it doesn’t sound like me,” he told

the court last week. “I thought I

went in the taxi with my friends,

but during the investigation, po-

lice said I was alone in the taxi,

and next thing I know, I was at the

hospital, and even that memory is

bits and pieces.”

Bissett also expressed remorse.

“I’d like to take this moment to

apologize to the taxi driver and

the company,” he said in closing

arguments Thursday. “I am very

sorry, and I will never, ever do

this kind of crime again.”

Okinawa court sentences Marine for drunken assaultBY MATTHEW M. BURKE

AND HANA KUSUMOTO

Stars and Stripes

burke.matt@stripes.comTwitter: @MatthewMBurke1kusumoto.hana@stripes.comTwitter: @HanaKusumoto

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South

Korea — Yongsan Garrison, once

the headquarters in Seoul of U.S.

Forces Korea and United Nations

Command, has surrendered near-

ly every important part of its ex-

istence to Camp Humphreys.

And now it’s giving up the bak-

ery, which produces iconic Amer-

ican products like Wonder Bread.

The Army and Air Force Ex-

change Service, headquartered at

Camp Market, west of downtown

Seoul in Bupyeong, is moving its

South Korea distribution center

and bakery to a new, improved fa-

cility at Humphreys. Camp Mar-

ket falls under Yongsan’s com-

mand jurisdiction.

The existing facilities occupy

buildings that date to the 1930s

and have served as the distribu-

tion center and bakery in South

Korea since 1975, according to a

Jan. 21 AAFES news release.

The move is part of the 2004

Yongsan relocation plan that has

transplanted most U.S. forces and

their commands in Seoul nearly

60 miles south to Humphreys.

AAFES said the modern facil-

ities will help the exchange oper-

ate more effectively, efficiently

and safely, save more than $2 mil-

lion over the next five years and

reduce the average travel dis-

tance between more than 200 oth-

er AAFES facilities in the region.

Camp Market, meanwhile, will

be returned to the South Korea

government.

The new bakery is expected to

cease operations at Camp Market

and resume production on Hum-

phreys seamlessly this summer.

Over the past 10 years, the bak-

ery has produced more than 13

million baked goods, including 5

million loaves of bread and about

6 million packs of buns, according

to AAFES. An oven that dates to

the 1970s, dubbed “Big Bertha,”

will be retired when the Camp

Market bakery closes its doors for

the last time.

The new state-of-the-art bak-

ery occupies roughly 25,000

square feet and will produce

name-brand products such as

Krispy Kreme pastries, bread,

buns, cakes, chips and tortillas

that will be distributed to U.S.

schools, commissaries, ex-

changes and dining facilities in

South Korea.

AAFES’ Korea distribution center moves to Humphreys, bakery nextBY MATTHEW KEELER

Stars and Stripes

keeler.matthew@stripes.comTwitter: @MattKeeler1231

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

MILITARY

They called themselves the

“Black Rattlers” and the French

dubbed them “Men of Bronze,”

but the Army now officially recog-

nizes a historic Harlem unit by

what the enemy called them in

World War I — the “Hellfighters.”

The “Harlem Hellfighters” is

now the official special designa-

tion for the 369th Sustainment Bri-

gade, the New York National

Guard said Friday. The unit traces

its lineage to the all-Black 369th

Infantry Regiment, which earned

the moniker over a century ago in

fierce fighting that’s been credited

with helping to break down racial

barriers.

The regiment was the first unit

of the American Expeditionary

Force in World War I that allowed

Blacks to serve.

But they were denied a send-off

parade with the 42nd Infantry Di-

vision, known as the “Rainbow Di-

vision,” after their commander

was told they couldn’t participate

because “black is not a color in the

rainbow.” The soldiers fought un-

der the French army because

white American troops refused to

fight alongside them.

They proved themselves in 191

days of continuous combat, suffer-

ing 1,500 dead and wounded. They

outpaced their French counter-

parts by 7 miles in at least one of-

fensive, and were the first French,

British or American soldiers to re-

ach the Rhine River at the end of

the war.

On their return home, the unit’s

3,000 soldiers were honored by

throngs of New Yorkers who turn-

ed up for a victory parade up 5th

Avenue in February 1919.

“Racial lines were for the time

displaced,” the New York Tribune

wrote. “The color of their skin had

nothing to do with the occasion.

The blood they shed in France was

as red as any other.”

Headquartered in the Manhat-

tan neighborhood of Harlem, the

regiment had earned 11 French ci-

tations and a unit Croix de Guerre,

France’s highest military honor,

which was also awarded to some

170 Hellfighters for individual acts

of gallantry.

One of them was Pvt. Henry

Johnson, a 5-foot-4-inch soldier

weighing 130 pounds, who fought

off some 20 Germans near his

unit’s trench line one night in May

1918.

He was wounded 21 times, but

denied a Purple Heart and disabil-

ity allowance after the war. Hailed

by former President Theodore

Roosevelt as one of the war’s five

bravest soldiers, he died destitute

in 1929. It would take another 86

years for the United States to rec-

ognize his bravery with a Medal of

Honor in 2015.

Afew years later, while working

on a display at the newly renovated

Harlem Armory in 2019, New York

State Military Museum director

Courtney Burns discovered the

unit’s nickname had never been

officially recognized.

“That was such a glaring error,”

the statement quoted Burns as

saying.

He notified Col. Seth Morgulas,

the 369th Sustainment Brigade’s

commander, who called the omis-

sion “crazy” and noted that Har-

lem River Drive, which runs by the

armory, had been renamed “Har-

lem Hellfighters Drive” in 2003.

Over about a year, officials gath-

ered materials needed to seek the

designation, for which the Army

requires a battalion or brigade to

show its nickname has been in use

for at least 30 years, or 50 years for

company-level designation, the

Guard said.

It wasn’t hard to verify the unit’s

claim, said Joseph Seymour, a his-

torian at the Army Center of Mili-

tary History at Fort McNair in

Washington. It’s just that nobody

had ever done so officially.

“They are a very famous unit,”

Seymour said in the statement. “It

is one of those things that everybo-

dy knew about, but because every-

body knew about it, they never

submitted a request for distinctive

designation.”

The request was approved in

September, memorializing the re-

giment’s historical nickname, said

the statement released days be-

fore the start of Black History

Month. The regiment joins over

700 units in the Army, some no

longer active, which have official

special designations, including 13

in the New York National Guard.

National Archives and Records Administration

Nine soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters, were photographed upontheir return from World War I.

Army makes ‘Harlem Hellfighters’name official after over 100 years

BY CHAD GARLAND

Stars and Stripes

garland.chad@stripes.comTwitter: @chadgarland

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany

— Some 4,700 troops from nine al-

lied and partner nations were

scheduled to arrive at the U.S. Ar-

my’s largest training area in Eu-

rope on Monday for an exercise

seeking to test the readiness of

U.S. troops to fight potential Rus-

sian aggression.

Forces from Bosnia-Herzegovi-

na, Georgia, Italy, Kosovo, Lithua-

nia, North Macedonia, Poland,

Romania and Slovenia will be in

Germany for the Combined Re-

solve XV exercise.

They’ll train with soldiers from

the 1st Armored Brigade Combat

Team, 1st Cavalry Division out of

Fort Hood, Texas, which last year

began a nine-month rotation in

Germany, the 7th Army Training

Center told Stars and Stripes by

email.

The multinational troops were

set to go into quarantine upon ar-

riving in Bavaria, the email said.

With the exercise taking place

for the second time in the shadow

of the coronavirus pandemic,

troops from all countries involved

are subject to strict efforts to pre-

vent illness, including restriction

of movement and regular testing,

the 7th ATC said in a separate

statement.

The exercise, which runs until

March 5, is part of Atlantic Re-

solve, an effort launched by the

United States in 2014 after Russia

annexed the Crimean Peninsula

and invaded eastern Ukraine.

It is designed to help the U.S.,

its partners and allies to build

“critical war fighting skills that

will enable the team to fight and

win,” said Col. Monte’ Rone, com-

mander of the 1st Cavalry Divi-

sion, in a statement.

It will take place at Grafen-

woehr and at the Joint Multina-

tional Readiness Center in Ho-

henfels, home to the only Army

combat training center outside

the continental U.S., the 7th ATC

said.

Live-fire exercises are expect-

ed to take place next week.

U.S. Army Europe and Africa

leads Atlantic Resolve’s land ef-

forts, which include rotating U.S.-

based units.

Other U.S. units set to take part

include the 101st Combat Aviation

Brigade, which is the current At-

lantic Resolve aviation rotation,

and units permanently stationed

in Germany. They include U.S.

Special Operations Command Eu-

rope forces and several units un-

der the Kaiserslautern-based 21st

Theater Sustainment Command,

the 7th Army Training Center

said in a statement.

US, 9 more nationsbegin Euro exerciseCombined Resolve

BY IMMANUEL JOHNSON

Stars and Stripes

JULIAN PADUA/U.S. Army

Soldiers assigned to 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, conducttroop dismount reconnaissance training for a platoon externalevaluation at Hohenfels, Germany, on Jan. 26.

johnson.immanuel@stripes.comTwitter: Manny_Stripes

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

MILITARY

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan —

Some medical group patients at

the home of U.S. Forces Japan in

western Tokyo have been convey-

ing personal health information to

their care providers via social

media and personal email, a prac-

tice the group warns may be coun-

terproductive.

Sending personal health data by

email or Facebook messages, for

example, is prohibited under the

Health Insurance Portability and

Accountability Act, or HIPPA, the

374th Medical Group said Thurs-

day in a Facebook post.

Plus, information that comes

that way to the health care provid-

ers cannot be entered into an indi-

vidual’s health records, according

to the medical group.

“Our primary goal is to ensure

the health and safety of all of our

patients,” said the medical

group’s post. “Information re-

layed through non-authorized

methods may not get entered into

your personal health record, po-

tentially jeopardizing your

health.”

An air base spokesman de-

clined to specify what types of

questions people have been ask-

ing or whether those questions

concerned the coronavirus. A

COVID related phone lines from

getting tied up.”

Patients at Yokota can get infor-

mation from their providers

through appointment and clinic

hotlines, a visit to the emergency

room if necessary or by participa-

ting in question and answer ses-

sions on official Facebook pages,

Thrift said.

Yokota also has a medical group

hotline that’s not limited to CO-

VID-19 questions but serves as a

platform for patients asking ques-

tions related to the pandemic.

Patients may also use Secure

Messaging, a non-emergency

medical advice line that’s accessi-

ble at www.tricareonline.com.

Yokosuka Naval Base, home-

port south of Tokyo for the U.S.

7th Fleet, has not reported a pat-

tern of patients reaching out to

care providers by personal email

or social media, said Erika Figue-

roa, a spokeswoman for the naval

hospital there. But she said she

could see how that might happen.

“Patients deserve transparency

and access to information,” she

told Stars and Stripes by phone

Thursday. “But they need to do so

through the appropriate chan-

nels.”

ical concerns on that platform, ac-

cording to the website.

Elsewhere, Naval Hospital Oki-

nawa at the Marine Corps’ Camp

Foster has seen an increase in pa-

tient inquiries about the coronavi-

rus, but has not received many in-

quiries via personal email or so-

cial media, hospital spokesman

Joseph Andes said Friday.

“Most of the queries and the

calls we get from the general pub-

lic are COVID-19 related,” he

said. COVID-19 is a respiratory

illness caused by the coronavirus.

Naval Hospital Okinawa’s CO-

VID Care Line, a hotline designed

specifically to answer patients’

questions and concerns about the

coronavirus, receives about 30

calls per day, but sometimes gets

as many as 70, he said.

“These numbers usually ebb

and flow in relation to current CO-

VID-19 conditions on the island,”

Andes said. “It’s also great for pa-

tients because it keeps our non-

medical group representative was

not available for an interview, ac-

cording to spokesman 1st Lt.

Stuart Thrift.

HIPPA is the federal law that

protects sensitive patient health

information from disclosure with-

out the patient’s consent, accord-

ing to hippajournal.com.

Once a physician engages with

a patient on a non-official online

channel, privacy issues could

arise in discussing specific med-

Patients urged to keep info off social mediaBY ERICA EARL

Stars and Stripes

ERICA EARL/Stars and Stripes

The 374th Medical Group at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo hasseen a rise in patients using personal email and social media tocontact their medical providers, a practice that is prohibited underthe Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. 

earl.erica@stripes.comTwitter: @ThisEarlGirl

“Patientsdeservetransparencyand access toinformation. Butthey need to doso through theappropriatechannels.”

Erika Figueroa

Yokosuka Naval Hospital

spokeswoman

TOKYO — The number of one-

day coronavirus infections in To-

kyo dropped to its lowest figure in

more than a month Monday, al-

though the government is likely to

extend a state of emergency there

and in Osaka, public broadcaster

NHK reported.

U.S. military installations in Ja-

pan reported nine individuals in-

fected between Friday evening

and 6:30 p.m. Monday, all but two

of them at Marine Corps bases on

Okinawa. Meanwhile, U.S. Forces

Korea announced 14 new cases,

mostly new arrivals to the penin-

sula over the previous two weeks.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Gov-

ernment announced 393 new in-

fections Monday, according to

NHK. That’s the lowest figure

since Dec. 21, also a Monday,

when the city reported 392 new

cases. The daily count had stood

above 500 since Dec. 29.

Monday figures are typically

low because many testing facili-

ties in the city are closed over the

weekend.

NHK reported that the national

government on Monday agreed to

consult with its panel of experts

on extending the state of emer-

gency that expires Thursday in

the Tokyo and Osaka areas. The

government declared the emer-

gency in Tokyo and three sur-

rounding prefectures Jan. 8 and

in seven more prefectures a week

later.

Under the emergency, busi-

nesses are asked to close earlier,

workers to telework and residents

to avoid travel outside the area.

The measures are largely volun-

tary.

Though new case numbers are

falling in Tokyo, medical facilities

are still strained and the propor-

tion of elderly residents at risk is

increasing, according to NHK.

About 26 miles southwest of To-

kyo, Naval Air Facility Atsugi re-

ported one new coronavirus case

Monday, an individual already in

quarantine after contact with an-

other infected person, base

spokesman Sam Samuelson told

Stars and Stripes by phone. The

base is monitoring 12 patients.

Sasebo Naval Base on Kyushu

island had one person test positive

on Saturday, according to a Face-

book post. The individual, who re-

cently arrived in Japan, came up

positive on the test required to ex-

it quarantine. The base is moni-

toring three patients.

On Okinawa, the Marines be-

tween Friday evening and Sunday

reported seven individuals had

tested positive: two at Camp Han-

sen on Sunday; two at Camp Fos-

ter and one at Hansen on Satur-

day; and one at Hansen and one at

Camp Kinser on Friday, accord-

ing to official Facebook posts.

South Korea on Sunday report-

ed 285 newly infected individuals,

104 of them in Seoul and 89 in

Gyeonggi province, home to

Camp Humphreys, the largest

U.S. base in the country.

USFK said a “Department of

Defense dependent” who lives in

Seoul and has access to Yongsan

Garrison tested positive Friday

before exiting quarantine, ac-

cording to a Monday news re-

lease. The individual remains in

isolation at Humphreys.

USFK said another 13 people

arriving in South Korea tested

positive for COVID-19, the coro-

navirus respiratory disease, be-

tween Jan. 15 and Friday, accord-

ing to another release Monday.

One service member and a de-

pendent arrived Wednesday at

Osan Air Base aboard the Patriot

Express, a government-chartered

air passenger service. Ten service

members and one civilian arrived

at Incheon International Airport

aboard commercial flights on Jan.

15, 19, 24, 26, Thursday and Fri-

day.

Nine tested positive on their

first mandatory test before enter-

ing quarantine; four tested posi-

tive on the mandatory test to exit

quarantine. All are in isolation at

either Humphreys or Osan.

Also Monday, USFK command-

er Gen. Robert Abrams extended

the military’s public health emer-

gency until April 27, which per-

mits installation commanders to

continue enforcing restrictions

aimed at curbing the virus’

spread.

The U.S. military in South Ko-

rea has reported 675 coronavirus

cases during the pandemic, only

76 of whom were infected locally.

Tokyo’s virus numbers lower; 23 new military cases in Japan, S. KoreaBY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

ditzler.joseph@stripes.comTwitter: @JosephDitzler

AKIFUMI ISHIKAWA/Stars and Stripes

Travelers wear masks inside a terminal at Narita International Airporteast of Tokyo last month. Though new coronavirus case numbers arefalling in Tokyo, medical facilities are still strained and the proportionof elderly residents at risk is increasing, according to NHK. 

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

VIRUS OUTBREAK

BERLIN — Pharmaceutical

company AstraZeneca has agreed

to supply 9 million additional dos-

es of its coronavirus vaccine to the

European Union during the first

quarter, the bloc's executive arm

said Sunday.

The new target of 40 million dos-

es by the end of March is still only

half what the British-Swedish

company had originally aimed for

before it announced a shortfall due

to production problems, trigger-

ing a spat between AstraZeneca

and the EU last week.

European Commission Presi-

dent Ursula von der Leyen said af-

ter a call with seven vaccine mak-

ers Sunday that AstraZeneca will

also begin deliveries one week

sooner than scheduled and ex-

pand its manufacturing capacity

in Europe.

“Step forward on vaccines,”

tweeted Von der Leyen, who has

come under intense pressure over

the European Commission's hand-

ling of the vaccine orders in recent

days.

The EU is far behind Britain and

the United States in getting its pop-

ulation of 450 million vaccinated

against the virus. The slow rollout

has been blamed on a range of na-

tional problems as well as slower

authorization of the vaccines and

an initial shortage of supply.

AstraZeneca's announcement

last week that it would initially

supply only 31 million doses to the

EU's 27 member states due to pro-

duction problems set off a fierce

dispute between the two sides,

with officials in Brussels saying

they feared the company was

treating the bloc unfairly com-

pared to other customers, such as

the United Kingdom.

On Friday, hours after regula-

tors authorized the vaccine for use

across the EU, the commission

said it was tightening rules on ex-

ports of coronavirus vaccines,

sparking an angry response from

Britain. The commission has since

made clear the new measure will

not limit vaccine shipments pro-

duced in the 27-nation bloc to

Northern Ireland, a U.K. territory

that was guaranteed unhindered

cross-border access to the Repub-

lic of Ireland under the post-Brex-

it deal between Britain and the

EU.

EU member states praised the

bloc's executive branch last year

for signing numerous deals with

vaccine makers, saying the joint

purchase using the combined

market weight of the entire bloc

had ensured a fair distribution for

all 27 countries at good prices.

Since then the mood among

many EU citizens toward Brussels

has soured, as countries outside

the bloc speed ahead in the race to

vaccinate their populations.

The British government hasn't

been shy about promoting its rela-

tive vaccine success, which has

helped distract from the fact that

the country remains top of the ta-

ble for deaths in Europe.

Germany has so far given at

least one dose to 2.2% of its popula-

tion. Britain has done the same for

13.2% of its citizens.

EU: AstraZeneca to supply 9M more dosesAssociated Press

FRANCOIS MORI/AP

French police officers check passengers of a train in Paris onMonday. France says it's closing its borders to people arriving fromoutside the European Union starting Sunday to try to stop the growingspread of new variants of the coronavirus and avoid a third lockdown.

It might be time to double up.

Three new, highly contagious

mutations of coronavirus with ori-

gins in the United Kingdom, Brazil

and South Africa are circulating in

the U.S. — upping the stakes in the

battle to stanch a pandemic that

has already claimed the lives of

more than 430,000 Americans.

It has led some public health ex-

perts, including Dr. Anthony Fau-

ci, chief medical adviser to Presi-

dent Joe Biden on COVID-19, to

recommend layering up on masks

or opting for a more protective N95

mask when going out in public.

Masks cover the mouth and nose

to limit respiratory droplets and vi-

rus particles from getting in or out,

Fauci, who also is the director of

the National Institute of Allergy

and Infectious Diseases, ex-

plained on NBC’s “Today” show.

“So if you have a physical cover-

ing with one layer, you put another

layer on, it just makes common

sense that it likely would be more

effective and that’s the reason why

you see people either double mask-

ing or doing a version of an N95,” he

said.

Dr. Matthew Sims, an infectious

disease specialist at Beaumont

Health in Michigan, said it’s a

strategy people should consider,

especially given the rate at which

these newer, more transmissible

variants appear to spread.

“The idea with double masking

... is that if the three layers in your

surgical mask are good, put on

three more layers, it holds it tighter

to your face, and that’s better,”

Sims said. “And it probably is be-

cause it’s just more filtration.”

Research published in the jour-

nal Matters found that when a ny-

lon layer is worn over a surgical-

style mask, it improves the fit and

effectiveness of filtration of virus

particles from a range of 53%-75%

to up to 90%.

At least 434 cases of the U.K. var-

iant have been detected in the U.S.,

according to the Centers for Dis-

ease Control and Prevention. It is

estimated to be about 50% more

transmissible than previous

strains; scientists suggest it also

could be more deadly, though stud-

ies are ongoing to determine that.

Should you wear 2 masks?With new virus variants,some experts say yes

Detroit Free Press

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

TUSKEGEE, Ala. — Lucenia

Dunn spent the early days of the

coronavirus pandemic encourag-

ing people to wear masks and keep

a safe distance from each other in

Tuskegee, a mostly Black city

where the government once used

unsuspecting African American

men as guinea pigs in a study of a

sexually transmitted disease.

Now, the onetime mayor of the

town immortalized as the home of

the infamous “Tuskegee syphilis

study” is wary of getting inoculat-

ed against COVID-19. Among oth-

er things, she’s suspicious of the

government promoting a vaccine

that was developed in record time

when it can’t seem to conduct ade-

quate virus testing or consistently

provide quality rural health care.

“I’m not doing this vaccine right

now. That doesn’t mean I’m never

going to do it. But I know enough to

withhold getting it until we see all

that is involved,” said Dunn, who

is Black.

The coronavirus immunization

campaign is off to a shaky start in

Tuskegee and other parts of Ma-

con County. Area leaders point to

a resistance among residents

spurred by a distrust of govern-

ment promises and decades of

failed health programs. Many

people in this city of 8,500 have

relatives who were subjected to

unethical government experi-

mentation during the syphilis

study.

“It does have an impact on deci-

sions. Being in this community,

growing up in this community, I

would be very untruthful if I didn’t

say that,” said Frank Lee, emer-

gency management director in

Macon County. Lee is Black.

Health experts have stressed

both the vaccines’ safety and effi-

cacy. They have noted that while

the vaccines were developed with

record-breaking speed, they were

based on decades of prior re-

search. Vaccines used in the Unit-

ed States have shown no signs of

serious side effects in studies of

tens of thousands of people. And

with more than 26 million vacci-

nations administered in the U.S.

alone, no red flags have been re-

ported.

Alaska ANCHORAGE — Alaska health

officials have asked people who

prematurely signed up for vaccine

appointments to cancel them.

About 500 people in Anchorage

who registered by Saturday to re-

ceive vaccines at the city’s mass

vaccination site in the Alaska Air-

lines Center were ineligible be-

cause of their age or occupation,

Anchorage Daily News reported.

State officials said they are pri-

marily focused on vaccinating ol-

der adults over the next month.

More than 1,600 vaccine ap-

pointment slots were still availa-

ble Saturday.

Arizona WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Na-

tion health officials have reported

103 new COVID-19 cases and four

more deaths. The latest numbers

released Sunday raised the totals

to 28,325 cases and 1,018 known

deaths since the pandemic began.

The tribe has extended its stay-

at-home order with a revised

nightly curfew to limit the spread

of COVID-19.

The Navajo Department of

Health has identified 53 commu-

nities with uncontrolled spread of

the coronavirus, down from 75

communities in recent weeks.

The Navajo Nation is also lifting

weekend lockdowns to allow more

vaccination events.

Indiana INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana

health officials are making the

COVID-19 vaccine available to

those between ages 65 and 69.

The state Department of Health

announced the expansion Mon-

day, adding the new age group af-

ter previously making all resi-

dents ages 70 and older and health

care workers eligible for shots.

The vaccine is available at no

cost. Appointments will be availa-

ble in all 92 counties and can be

made at the website ourshot.in-

.gov or by calling the state’s 2-1-1

telephone assistance service.

Indiana officials have based

shot eligibility on age rather than

moving up teachers and other es-

sential workers as other states

have done. They cite statistics that

those ages 60 and older represent

93% of Indiana’s COVID-19 deaths

and 64% of hospitalizations, argu-

ing that vaccinating those people

will have the biggest impact.

Michigan ROYAL OAK — About 2,700

people were able to use an online

scheduling vulnerability to regis-

ter out-of-turn for COVID-19 vac-

cinations, according to a Detroit-

area health care system.

Beaumont Health said it has de-

termined a user publicly shared

an unauthorized pathway for

scheduling.

Beaumont’s information tech-

nology team detected and shut

down unusual activity Saturday

on its Epic electronic medical re-

cord system. Personal medical re-

cords were not compromised, and

users were not able to access hos-

pital records, Beaumont said.

The issue will not affect proper-

ly scheduled vaccine appoint-

ments, it added.

Missouri ST. LOUIS — St. Louis officials

are looking into concerns raised

after young and healthy people

were invited to a COVID-19 vacci-

nation clinic, but older people with

chronic health conditions were

not.

The clinic was set up Saturday

at Union Station. Jessi Kniffen, a

healthy 39-year-old who works

from home, told the St. Louis Post-

Dispatch she was surprised when

she got the invitation on Friday.

Kniffen thought she’d have a

much longer wait, since the early

shots are supposed to be for peo-

ple age 65 or older, with chronic

health conditions or with jobs that

put them at high risk.

Others who are elderly or have

underlying health conditions re-

ported not getting an invitation de-

spite registering with the city.

About 1,800 people ended up

getting doses at Union Station, the

site of the city’s first large-scale

vaccination event.

Nebraska LINCOLN — Nearly 47,000 dos-

es of coronavirus vaccines were

administered across Nebraska

last week as officials continue to

speed up distribution of the vac-

cines.

State officials said 46,806 doses

of the vaccine were administered

last week, which included two

days when more than 10,000 doses

were given to Nebraskans.

The state estimates that 3.25%

of Nebraska’s population has now

received both required doses of

the vaccine. And Nebraska said it

has administered 184,045 of the

254,000 doses of vaccine that it has

received. Most of those vaccines

have gone to health care workers

and residents of long-term care fa-

cilities, but in some parts of the

state, health officials have started

vaccinating people 65 and older

and other groups.

In central Nebraska, a group of

teachers were vaccinated in

Grand Island last week because

the Central District Health De-

partment had about 400 doses of

the vaccine left over after holding

two drive-through clinics for older

residents, and the medicine had to

be used quickly because it had al-

ready been thawed.

Vermont MONTPELIER — Vermont’s

largest city is continuing to mon-

itor its wastewater for any signs of

the new, more infectious strains of

COVID-19.

Burlington has been testing its

wastewater since August to mon-

itor COVID-19 levels and recently

starting testing for the U.K. varia-

nt, WCAX-TV reports.

Brian Lowe, the city's chief in-

novation officer, said the type of

test for the U.K. variant can also

detect other mutations of the vi-

rus.

Chittenden County has had

more than 500 new confirmed vi-

rus cases and two deaths in the last

two weeks.

WisconsinWhen a pharmacist discovered

57 vials of the Moderna vaccine

left to spoil outside a Wisconsin

clinic’s refrigerator in December,

the worker immediately suspect-

ed a colleague who had spread

false and outlandish claims, ac-

cording to court records.

For months, Steven Branden-

burg, the overnight pharmacist at

Aurora Medical Center in Graf-

ton, Wis., had said he thought the

vaccine would harm people, make

them infertile and implant them

with microchips.

Now, federal authorities say be-

lief in debunked claims went be-

yond the vaccine. The pharmacist,

who has agreed to plead guilty to

charges of attempting to try to

spoil the vaccine, also believes the

Earth is flat and that the sky is not

real, according to court docu-

ments.

His beliefs were revealed in a

search of Brandenburg’s phone,

computer and hard drive recently

unsealed in court by the FBI. The

documents include interviews

with Brandenburg and Aurora

Medical Center pharmacy techni-

cian Sarah Sticker, who told au-

thorities that she discovered the

unrefrigerated doses of the Mod-

erna vaccine at around 3 a.m. on

Dec. 26. The unsealed records

were first reported by the Daily

Beast.

Vaccine skepticismlurks in town notedfor syphilis studies

Associated Press

JAY REEVES/AP

Nurse Marianne Williams administers a COVID­19 vaccine to a woman as a coworker looks on at thecounty health department in Tuskegee, Ala., on Jan. 25. 

VIRUS OUTBREAK ROUNDUP

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

NATION

The Congressional Budget Of-

fice expects the U.S. economy

will grow at a 4.6% annual rate

this year, with employment re-

turning to pre-pandemic levels in

2024.

The 10-year outlook issued

Monday said the economic recov-

ery from the coronavirus has

been boosted by an unpreceden-

ted wave of government spending

to combat the outbreak, such that

growth could pass its maximum

sustainable level in early 2025 be-

fore returning to a long-run aver-

age of 1.7%. Based on the CBO’s

projections, economic growth

would be the strongest since 1999.

Congress has spent $4 trillion to

keep the economy stable since the

pandemic shuttered schools, of-

fices, restaurants, gyms and other

businesses, leading to roughly 10

million job losses and an econom-

ic decline of 3.5% last year.

The CBO estimates factored in

the roughly $900 billion approved

in December, but they excluded

President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion

plan because the projections are

based on current law.

Biden’s supporters can point to

the CBO’s projection of a three-

year recovery in hiring as a need

for more aid. But Republican law-

makers can simultaneously argue

that less money is needed to boost

the economy because the CBO es-

timates that the total economy

will return to its pre-pandemic

size in the middle of this year.

A group of 10 Republican law-

makers have countered the Biden

plan with a $618 billion proposal

that focuses on vaccinations, test-

ing and direct payments to indi-

viduals earning less than $50,000

and couples earning less than

$100,000. Biden is meeting with

the lawmakers on Monday, possi-

bly determining whether an aid

package can be supported by

members of both parties.

The CBO cautioned that its pro-

jections are highly uncertain, in

large part because of the pace of

the vaccination and the risk of

new variations of the coronavirus.

Budget office projects 4.6% growth in Biden’s first yearBY JOSH BOAK

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Instead of clos-

ing schools and giving students

snow days, the latest winter storm

is shutting down vaccination sites

and snarling other pandemic-re-

lated services in many states that

could see as much as a foot of snow

by Monday evening.

Lara Pagano, a meteorologist

with the National Weather Ser-

vice, said a nor’easter developing

off the mid-Atlantic coast will be a

“pretty slow mover” as it brings

heavy snow and strong winds

through Tuesday.

“It’s going to be a prolonged

event,” Pagano said.

As of Monday morning, some

areas had already gotten 3 to 5

inches of snow, with 6 inches in

parts of Pennsylvania, she said. In

parts of New Jersey, 7 inches al-

ready was reported as of Monday

morning.

In-person learning was can-

celed in school districts across the

Northeast on Monday, and many

COVID-19 vaccination sites were

closed. New York City Mayor Bill

de Blasio said city-run vaccination

sites would be closed Tuesday as

well but he hopes they can reopen

Wednesday.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont

said most vaccinations scheduled

for Monday were being post-

poned, but he wasn’t concerned

that any vaccine might go to

waste.

“The vaccines, kept refrigerat-

ed, are good for eight to 10 days, so

that’s not a problem,” Lamont

said. “And if this is three or four

weeks since your first vaccination,

if it gets put off a few days, don’t

worry, it will still stay very effec-

tive.”

The storm delayed the opening

of the Reggie Lewis Center in Bos-

ton’s Roxbury neighborhood,

which was supposed to open Mon-

day as a mass vaccination site for

residents age 75 and over. Mass

vaccination sites at Gillette Stadi-

um and Fenway Park were open

but with some changes, according

to CIC Health, which is operating

both sites.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy

declared a state of emergency on

Sunday and closed all state gov-

ernment offices for nonessential

personnel.

Hundreds of flights were can-

celed at the region’s major air-

ports on Monday. Transportation

officials said on Twitter that 81%

of flights were canceled at New

York’s LaGuardia Airport and

75% at Newark Liberty Airport.

Amtrak canceled all Acela ser-

vice between Boston and Wash-

ington and Pennsylvanian service

between New York and Pitts-

burgh. Amtrak’s Northeast Re-

gional, Keystone Service and Em-

pire Service were operating on

limited or modified schedules.

All New Jersey Transit trains

and buses were suspended, except

for the Atlantic City Rail Line.

New York Waterway ferries were

suspended.

In recent days, a storm system

blanketed parts of the Midwest,

with some areas getting the most

snow in several years. Ohio,

Washington, D.C., and parts of

Virginia also received snow.

Snow and cold in Washington

led President Joe Biden to post-

pone a visit to the State Depart-

ment that had been planned for

Monday. A White House official

said Sunday that the visit would be

rescheduled for later in the week

when the agency’s staff and diplo-

mats could commute safely.

JOHN MINCHILLO/AP

Steve Kent skis through Times Square during a snowstorm, Monday, in the Manhattan borough of New York.

Major storm blankets Northeast,bringing more than foot of snow

Associated Press

During one of the most political-

ly divisive years in recent memo-

ry, the number of active hate

groups in the U.S. actually de-

clined as far-right extremists mi-

grated further to online networks,

reflecting a splintering of white

nationalist and neo-Nazi groups

that are more difficult to track.

In its annual report, to be re-

leased Monday, the Southern Pov-

erty Law Center said it identified

838 active hate groups operating

across the U.S. in 2020. That’s a

decrease from the 940 document-

ed in 2019 and the record-high of

1,020 in 2018, said the law center,

which tracks racism, xenophobia

and anti-government militias.

“It is important to understand

that the number of hate groups is

merely one metric for measuring

the level of hate and racism in

America, and that the decline in

groups should not be interpreted

as a reduction in bigoted beliefs

and actions motivated by hate,”

said the report, first shared exclu-

sively with The Associated Press.

The Montgomery, Ala.-based

law center said many hate groups

have moved to social media plat-

forms and use of encrypted apps,

while others have been banned al-

together from mainstream social

media networks.

Still, the law center said, online

platforms allow individuals to in-

teract with hate and anti-govern-

ment groups without becoming

members, maintain connections

with likeminded people, and take

part in real-world actions, such as

last month’s siege on the U.S. Cap-

itol.

White nationalist organizations,

asubset of the hate groups listed in

the report, declined last year by

more than 100. Those groups had

seen huge growth the previous

two years after being energized by

Donald Trump’s campaign and

presidency, the report said.

Bottom line, the levels of hate

and bigotry in America have not

diminished, said SPLC President

and CEO Margaret Huang.

“What’s important is that we

start to reckon with all the reasons

why those groups have persisted

for so long and been able to get so

much influence in the last White

House, that they actually feel em-

boldened,” Huang told the AP.

Report: Hategroups decline,migrate online

BY ARON MORRISON

Associated Press

JOHN LOCHER/AP

A member of the Proud Boys, right, stands in front of a counterprotester as members of the Proud Boys and other right­wingdemonstrators rally, in Portland, on Sept. 26.

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

NATION

GRAND CHUTE, Wis. — Police

in a northern Wisconsin town

identified late Sunday a person

shot and killed at a mall and said

they were looking for a teenager in

connection to the shooting.

Jovanni J. Frausto, 19, died as a

result of the gunfire that erupted

around 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the

Fox River Mall in Grand Chute,

Police Officer Travis Waas said in

a statement. A second person who

was also shot went to a hospital

with non-life-threatening injuries

and was later released.

A 17-year-old who police be-

lieved to be armed and dangerous

is wanted in connection to the

case.

Police also said this was be-

lieved to be a targeted shooting.

Photos from the scene showed

officers, some in tactical gear,

staging outside the mall and what

appeared to be customers walking

out with their hands in the air.

Haylie Mirr, who works at a

mall restaurant called Box Lunch,

said she didn’t know anything

about the shooting, but said: “Peo-

ple just started running. We just

locked the doors, and we had four

customers in the store, we brought

them to our back room.”

They waited at least three hours

for the all-clear.

Police said they were interview-

ing witnesses and following leads.

No motive was immediately re-

leased.

It was the second recent mall

shooting in Wisconsin. In Novem-

ber, eight people were injured in a

shooting after a confrontation at a

mall in Wauwatosa, in suburban

Milwaukee. A 15-year-old boy was

arrested and charged.

Grand Chute is a town of about

22,000 on the outskirts of Apple-

ton, about 100 miles north of Mil-

waukee.

Police say1 killed atWis. mall,seek teen

Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas — Republican

lawmakers in statehouses across

the country are moving swiftly to

attack some of the voting meth-

ods that fueled the highest turn-

out for a presidential election in

50 years.

Although most legislative ses-

sions are just getting underway,

the Brennan Center for Justice, a

public policy institute, has al-

ready tallied more than 100 bills

in 28 states meant to restrict vot-

ing access. More than a third of

those proposals are aimed at lim-

iting mail voting, while other bills

seek to strengthen voter ID re-

quirements and registration

processes, as well as allow for

more aggressive means to re-

move people from voter rolls.

“Unfortunately, we are seeing

some politicians who want to ma-

nipulate the rules of the game so

that some people can participate

and some can’t,” said Myrna Pé-

rez, director of the voting rights

and elections program at the

Brennan Center.

The proposals are advancing

not only in Texas and other tradi-

tional red states but also in such

places as Arizona, Georgia and

Pennsylvania that supported Do-

nald Trump four years ago, only

to flip for Joe Biden in November.

Many Republicans have said

the new bills are meant to shore

up public confidence after

Trump and his GOP allies, with-

out evidence, criticized the elec-

tion as fraudulent. Those claims

were turned away by dozens of

courts and were made even as a

group of election officials — in-

cluding representatives of the

federal government’s cyberse-

curity agency — deemed the 2020

presidential election the “the

most secure in American histo-

ry.”

In last year’s presidential elec-

tion, nearly 70% of all ballots cast

nationwide came before Election

Day, with an estimated 108 mil-

lion people voting through the

mail, early in-person or by drop-

ping off absentee ballots. The

surge came after states expanded

access to mail voting and early

voting, with a few states sending

absentee ballots to all registered

voters in response to the corona-

virus pandemic that raised safety

questions about large crowds at

the polls.

In Texas, the nation’s largest

Republican-controlled state, the

2020 presidential election was

considered a resounding success

by almost any measure. Millions

took advantage of early in-person

voting to shatter the state’s turn-

out record. There were no re-

ports of widespread system melt-

downs, voter disenfranchisement

or fraud.

But some GOP lawmakers

there are seeking new criminal

offenses to deter voter fraud,

even though actual fraud is ex-

ceedingly rare. Other bills would

prohibit independent groups

from distributing application

forms for mail-in ballots and clar-

ify who can request an applica-

tion. In September, the state sued

Harris County, home to Demo-

cratic-leaning Houston, to stop

officials from sending mail ballot

applications to the more than 2

million registered voters there.

Texas Rep. Jacey Jetton, a Re-

publican, said he hopes lawmak-

ers will pass new regulations for

verification of voters’ identity for

mail-in voting to ensure “elec-

tions are accurate and that people

feel it is conducted in such a way

they are getting a fair, accurate

election result.”

Thomas Buser-Clancy, senior

staff attorney for the ACLU of

Texas, said the state already is

known as a “voter suppression

state,” noting that Texas does not

allow online voter registration or

broad mail voting.

“I think it is fair to call Texas a

voter suppression state where

election laws are largely aimed at

making it harder, more difficult

and scary for individuals to exer-

cise their fundamental right to

vote,” he said.

A bill to eliminate no-excuse

mail voting has been introduced

in Pennsylvania, though the pro-

posal would need approval from

the state’s Democratic governor.

In Arizona, Republicans have in-

troduced bills that would elimi-

nate the state’s permanent early

voting list, require mail ballots to

be notarized, require mail-in bal-

lots to be hand-delivered to a vot-

ing location and allow lawmakers

to overturn presidential election

results.

In Georgia, where Biden’s win

was verified in three separate tal-

lies, Republicans in the GOP-con-

trolled Legislature are gearing up

to impose new barriers on mail

voting, which was used heavily

by Democrats in the presidential

and Senate run-off elections.

A Republican senator has in-

troduced a bill that would require

voters to make copies of their

photo ID and mail it to election

officials twice in order to cast an

absentee ballot.

GOP lawmakerscall for toughervoting protocol

Associated Press

MATT SLOCUM/AP

A Chester County, Pa., worker transports mail­in and absentee ballotsto be processed at West Chester University, on Nov. 4.

"Unfortunately,we are seeingsome politicianswho want tomanipulate therules of thegame..."

Myrna Perez

director at Brennan Center

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Police in

Rochester released two body-

camera videos Sunday of officers

restraining a distraught 9-year-

old girl who was handcuffed and

sprayed with what police called a

chemical “irritant.”

The Democrat and Chronicle

reported that prior to the release

of the videos, Rochester Mayor

Lovely Warren expressed her

concern for the “child that was

harmed during this incident that

happened on Friday.”

“I have a 10-year-old child, so

she’s a child, she’s a baby. This

video, as a mother, is not anything

you want to see,” Warren went on

to say.

A total of nine officers and su-

pervisors responded to the report

of “family trouble” on Friday. The

girl can be heard in the body-cam-

era videos from officers at the

scene screaming frantically for

her father as the officers try to re-

strain her.

At a news conference Sunday,

Deputy Police Chief Andre An-

derson described the girl as sui-

cidal.

“She indicated she wanted to

kill herself and she wanted to kill

her mom,” he said.

Officers tried to force the girl in-

to a patrol car but she pulled away

and kicked at them. In a statement

Saturday, the police department

said this action “required” an offi-

cer to take the girl down to the

ground. Then, the department

said, “for the minor’s safety and at

the request of the custodial parent

on scene,” the child was hand-

cuffed and put in the back of a po-

lice car as they waited for an am-

bulance to arrive.

Police said the girl disobeyed

commands to put her feet in the

car. An officer was then “re-

quired” to spray an “irritant” in

the handcuffed girl’s face, the de-

partment said Saturday.

At Sunday’s news conference,

Police Chief Cynthia Herriott-Sul-

livan described the irritant as pep-

per spray. She declined to defend

the officers’ actions.

“I’m not going to stand here and

tell you that for a 9-year-old to

have to be pepper-sprayed is OK.

It’s not,” Herriott-Sullivan said. “I

don’t see that as who we are as a

department, and we’re going to do

the work we have to do to ensure

that these kinds of things don’t

happen.”

Police said the girl was eventu-

ally taken to Rochester General

Hospital, “where she received the

services and care that she need-

ed,” and was later released to her

family.

The Rochester Police Depart-

ment has faced scrutiny since the

death of Daniel Prude last year af-

ter officers put a hood over his

head and pressed his face into the

pavement.

Videos show Rochester officers pepper-spraying 9-year-oldAssociated Press

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Maker of ‘Bernie’ mittensjoins teddy bear maker

VT The teacher who creat-

ed the recycled wool

mittens that U.S. Sen. Bernie

Sanders wore to the presidential

inauguration — engendering

countless memes — is partnering

with the Vermont Teddy Bear

Company to create a whole mitten

line to meet soaring demand, with

some of the proceeds going to

Make-A-Wish Vermont.

Jen Ellis, a Vermont elemen-

tary school teacher who has a side

business making mittens out of re-

cycled wool, gave Sanders a pair

as a gift, and he wore them to Pres-

ident Joe Biden’s inauguration.

His fashion look, also featuring a

winter jacket made by Burton

Snowboards, sparked countless

memes prompted by the photo

taken by Agence France-Presse:

The former presidential candi-

date could be found on social

media timelines taking a seat on

the subway, the moon and the

couch with the cast of “Friends,”

among other creative locales.

Sanders raised at least $1.8 mil-

lion from merchandise for char-

ities stemming from the Jan. 20

image of him seated with his arms

and legs crossed, clad in his brown

parka and the recycled wool mit-

tens. Sanders put out so-called

“Chairman Sanders” merchan-

dise, including T-shirts, sweat-

shirts and stickers, on his cam-

paign website.

8 hurt after SUV crashesinto busy supermarket

TX HOUSTON — Eight

people were hurt after

an SUV crashed into a busy Hous-

ton supermarket, police said.

Shoppers were in a Fiesta Mart

in south Houston when the vehicle

went through the store’s front

doors, said Kevin Deese, com-

mander of the Houston police de-

partment’s vehicular crimes divi-

sion. Eight people were hit either

by the SUV or by debris, police

said.

A 9-year-old child was hurt and

another person suffered a head in-

jury, but all the individuals who

were hurt are expected to survive,

Deese said.

Investigators are still trying to

determine why the vehicle

crashed into the store, but the

driver showed signs of being im-

paired, Deese said.

Detroit to start yearlongarts, culture celebration

MI DETROIT — A year-

long celebration of arts

and culture in Detroit will focus on

the city’s contribution to Ameri-

can creativity.

The UNDEFEATED began

Feb. 1 with the city hosting a week

of virtual events to start Black

History Month.

Mayor Mike Duggan will call

for a citywide read of the Detroit-

based novel “Black Bottom

Saints.” He was expected to inter-

view author Alice Randall about

her tale of Detroit when the city’s

Black Bottom neighborhood

thrived.

The UNDEFEATED campaign

is made possible in part by

$176,000 in support from the Troy-

based Kresge Foundation and

comes as artists have been hit

hard by the COVID-19 pandemic,

not just by illness but by the loss of

income, according to the Office of

Arts, Culture and Entrepreneur-

ship which began an emergency

grants program last spring.

Police: Teacher tried tohire someone to kill mom

KY LOUISVILLE — Law

enforcement officials

said an eastern Kentucky teacher

was arrested after allegedly at-

tempting to hire someone to kill

his mother.

The Louisville Courier Journal

reported that Bill G. Reynolds, 41,

of Olive Hill, faces a solicitation of

murder charge and is being held

in a Carter County detention cen-

ter. Reynolds worked as a special

education teacher for a middle

school and as a bus driver for Car-

ter County Schools. He has since

been suspended.

The Kentucky State Police said

Reynolds paid a person, who was

not named but has been identified

as a cooperating witness, $10,000

to kill his mother.

Court records show that Rey-

nold’s mother had filed a lawsuit

last year, claiming that he illegally

attempted to claim his parents’

property. The lawsuit says Rey-

nold’s parents were intending to

give the property to their son after

their death. The suit claims, how-

ever, that Reynolds stole the pa-

perwork after his father died and

tried to claim the property.

2 arrested in more than80 metro home robberies

NM ALBUQUERQUE —

Two suspects were

arrested for allegedly being in-

volved in more than 80 home bur-

glaries in the Albuquerque area,

according to police.

They said Jesse Mascareno-

Haidle, 18, and a 17-year-old boy

were arrested after a police detec-

tive launched a detailed investiga-

tion into dozens of home invasions

in the metro Albuquerque area.

Police said the two suspects are

accused of several home burglar-

ies and stealing vehicles from

many of the residences.

Albuquerque TV station KOB

reported that police found a pat-

tern with many of the incidents.

That included homes backed up to

open space, which allowed bur-

glars to enter the homes from un-

locked back doors or windows in

the middle of the night.

Group of whales in Gulfof Mexico is a newspecies

LA NEW ORLEANS — The

tiny group of endan-

gered whales that make the Gulf

of Mexico their home turned out to

be a previously undiscovered spe-

cies.

The best count is that there are

about 33 of the long, slender filter

feeders — and definitely fewer

than 100 of them. They’re listed as

endangered in the United States

and as critically endangered by

the International Union for Con-

servation of Nature.

They were classified as one of

three of Bryde’s (pronounced

BROO-duhs) whale subspecies,

but many scientists suspected

they were actually something dif-

ferent.

Pamela Rosel of the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-

istration recently published con-

firmation that it’s a previously un-

known species.

Black cheerleader kickedoff team; coach quits

KS OTTAWA — A white

woman has resigned as

the head cheer coach at a private

Kansas university after a Black

cheerleader said she was kicked

off the squad over an argument

about her nearly 3-foot-long

braids.

The Kansas City Star reported

that Casey Jamerson said in a

statement that continuing to coach

at Ottawa University, which is

about 50 miles southwest of Kan-

sas City, would likely be “a dis-

traction” for the team, staff and

community.

Talyn Jefferson, 20, previously

told The Star she refused to re-

move a hair bonnet during cheer-

leading practice because she wor-

ried her long braids could hit a

teammate in the face. A junior

from Lawrence, she said she was

kicked out of practice and off the

squad.

The issue gained attention after

Jefferson’s friend tweeted about

the incident. The tweet describes

the coach saying that the braids

“weren’t collegiate” and that Jef-

ferson should not have gotten

them.

After renovation, historiclighthouse to reopen

FL ST. GEORGE ISLAND

— After a much-needed

renovation, a historic lighthouse

in Florida is ready to reopen.

The Cape St. George Light-

house was in need of numerous re-

pairs, including extensive paint-

ing and replacement of all win-

dows in the lantern room.

The 72-foot lighthouse on St.

George Island was slated to for-

mally reopen with a ribbon-cut-

ting ceremony.

The Panama City New Herald

reported that the recent repairs,

completed in mid-January, were

in part assisted by a $24,000 grant

from the Florida Lighthouse Asso-

ciation. The total cost of the work

was pegged at about $100,000. Of-

ficials said the nonprofit St. Ge-

orge Lighthouse Association fund-

ed most of the rest.

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO, BAY AREA NEWS GROUP/AP

Visitors stop to look at ladybugs at Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, Calif. During the winter months, visitors at the park can seelarge colonies of ladybugs along Stream Trail.

A ladybug’s life

THE CENSUS

300 The number of roosters Las Vegas police seized that they sus-pect were used for cockfighting. Police also arrested at least

one person at the scene on drug-related charges. More charges are expected tobe filed related to animal cruelty, police said. City animal cruelty detectives andClark County animal control officers rescued the animals during a raid at ahouse in northeast Las Vegas. Police said cockfighting is a cruel, violent sportin which roosters are forced to fight until one of them dies. It is illegal to partici-pate, attend or promote such events, they said.

From The Associated Press

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

WORLD

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar —

Myanmar’s military staged a coup

Monday and detained senior poli-

ticians including Nobel laureate

Aung San Suu Kyi — a sharp re-

versal of the significant, if uneven,

progress toward democracy the

Southeast Asian nation has made

following five decades of military

rule.

An announcement read on mil-

itary-owned Myawaddy TV said

the military would take control of

the country for one year. It said

the seizure was necessary be-

cause the government had not act-

ed on the military’s claims of fraud

in November’s elections — in

which Suu Kyi’s ruling party won

a majority of the parliamentary

seats up for grabs — and because

it allowed the election to go ahead

despite the coronavirus pandem-

ic.

The takeover came the morning

the country’s new parliamentary

session was to begin and follows

days of concern that the military

was plotting a coup. The military

maintains its actions are legally

justified — citing a section of the

constitution it drafted that allows

it to take control in times of nation-

al emergency — though Suu Kyi’s

party spokesman as well as many

international observers have said

it amounts to a coup.

It was a dramatic backslide for

Myanmar, which was emerging

from decades of strict military

rule and international isolation

that began in 1962. It was also a

shocking fall from power for Suu

Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who

had lived under house arrest for

years as she tried to push her

country toward democracy and

then became its de facto leader af-

ter her National League for De-

mocracy won elections in 2015.

For some, Monday’s takeover

was seen as confirmation that the

military holds ultimate power de-

spite the veneer of democracy.

The first signs that the military

was planning to seize power were

reports that Suu Kyi and Win My-

int, the country’s president, had

been detained before dawn.

Myanmar’s military takespower in coup, detains Suu Kyi

Associated Press

SAKCHAI LALIT/AP

Thai riot police try to avoid stones thrown by members of WeVolunteer, a network of Thai pro­democracy protest security guards,who joined Myanmar protesters during a protest Monday.

MOSCOW — Moscow braced for more

protests seeking the release of jailed oppo-

sition leader Alexei Navalny, who faces a

court hearing Tuesday after two weekends

of nationwide rallies and thousands of ar-

rests in the largest outpouring of discontent

in Russia in years.

Tens of thousands filled the streets across

the vast country Sunday, chanting slogans

against President Vladimir Putin and de-

manding freedom for Navalny, who was

jailed last month and faces years in prison.

Over 5,400 protesters were detained by au-

thorities, according to a human rights

group.

One of those taken into custody for sever-

al hours was Navalny’s wife, Yulia, who was

ordered Monday to pay a fine of about $265

for participating in an unauthorized rally.

While state-run media dismissed the

demonstrations as small and claimed that

they showed the failure of the opposition,

Navalny’s team said the turnout demon-

strated “overwhelming nationwide sup-

port” for the Kremlin’s fiercest critic. His

allies called for protesters to come to the

Moscow courthouse on Tuesday.

Navalny, 44,was arrested Jan. 17 upon re-

turning from Germany, where he spent five

months recovering from nerve-agent poi-

soning that he blames on the Kremlin. He

faces a prison term for alleged probation vi-

olations from a 2014 money-laundering con-

viction that is widely seen as politically mo-

tivated.

More Moscow protests planned to demand Navalny’s releaseAssociated Press

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13

WORLD

MOGADISHU, Somalia — At

least five people died in an attack

on a Mogadishu hotel by Somalia’s

al-Shabab rebels that was ended

early Monday by security forces,

according to the Somali police

force.

The siege of the Afrik hotel end-

ed after a gunbattle that lasted for

more than eight hours, and all four

rebel attackers were killed, Soma-

li police spokesman Sadiq Adan

Ali said.

The rebels exploded hand gre-

nades and rocket-propelled gre-

nades in their attempt to repulse

the police forces who were closing

in on them, he said.

In addition to those killed, 15

people were injured and have

been hospitalized, health author-

ities said.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibil-

ity for the attack through their An-

dalus radio and Somalimemo

website.

Among the dead are Gen. Mo-

hamed Nur Galal, a well-known

retired army veteran who lived in

the hotel. Another general and

more than 100 civilians were res-

cued from the hotel, which is near

the strategic K-4 junction on the

road to the capital city’s interna-

tional airport, said Ali.

The road leading to the airport

was reopened Monday, and forces

are cleaning the destruction

caused by the explosion of a vehi-

cle at the entrance to the hotel,

which started the attack Sunday.

Somali forces repelrebel hotel attack

Associated Press

FARAH ABDI WARSAMEH/AP

Ambulances and security forces gather on the street outside the Afrikhotel in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia, on Sunday. 

PARIS — French lawmakers

tackled a bill Monday to dig up

radical Islam by its roots in the

country, beliefs that authorities

maintain are creeping into public

services, associations, some

schools and online with the goal

of undermining national values.

The bill is broad and contro-

versial, with 1,700 proposed

amendments, and guarantees

heated debate for weeks in the

lower house.

Interior Minister Gerald Dar-

manin, a right-leaning member of

Macron’s centrist party, took up

the mission with zeal. Darmanin

wrote a short book to be released

in days, “Manifesto for Secular-

ism,” a fundamental value of

France that the bill he sponsored

is meant to protect.

The text applies to all religions,

but some Muslims say the legisla-

tion once again points the finger

at Islam. Other critics say the bill

covers ground already addressed

in current laws while far-right

leader Marine Le Pen says the

bill doesn’t go far enough or even

name the enemy: radical Islam.

Lawmakers debate bill to rout out radical Islam in FranceAssociated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand

— A cyclone caused flooding as it

crossed Fiji, requiring rescues of

residents and sending thousands

of people into shelters in the Pacif-

ic archipelago. At least one person

died and five others are missing.

Authorities said Monday that

over 10,000 people were sheltering

at 300 evacuation centers after Cy-

clone Ana made landfall Sunday on

the main islands of Viti Levu and

Vanua Levu. The cyclone created

flooding across both islands, in-

cluding in the capital, Suva.

The National Disaster Manage-

ment Office said a 49-year-old man

drowned, while four fishermen

and a toddler were missing.

Office Director Vasiti Soko said

a river near Suva burst its banks,

and crews needed to rescue villag-

ers from their homes.

Fiji was still recovering from an

even more powerful cyclone that

hit in December. That storm, Cy-

clone Yasa, killed four people.

Soon after Cyclone Ana made

landfall, wind gusts were hitting 87

miles per hour, according to the Fi-

ji Meteorological Service.

Cyclone causesflooding in Fiji

Associated Press

PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, Europe commander

Lt. Col. Richard McClintic, Pacific commander

Caroline E. Miller, Europe Business Operations

EDITORIAL

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OPINION

The Democratic Party has before it

a choice between two economic

policies: a big increase in the fed-

eral minimum wage, to $15 an

hour from $7.25; and a per-child cash benefit

of several thousand dollars a year. The deci-

sion will have major implications, for the fu-

ture of both the party and the U.S. economy.

The cash benefit is clearly the better option.

One problem with the minimum wage

hike is that it is not clear how many people

are harmed and how many low-skilled work-

ers will lose their jobs, especially in poorer,

lower-wage states such as Mississippi,

where $15 is the median hourly wage. Advo-

cates point to papers suggesting that mini-

mum wage hikes do not boost unemploy-

ment, yet a recent survey suggests that the

preponderance of the research shows job

losses.

Or consider Treasury Secretary Janet

Yellen. She supports the proposed hike, as

she noted in her confirmation hearing last

week, yet in 2014 she endorsed the view that

a minimum wage hike would lead to signifi-

cant job loss. Maybe now she knows better,

but if the 2014 Janet Yellen could have been

so fooled, then perhaps this debate is not so

settled.

Why then push so hard for a policy with

such murky outcomes? It would raise the

wages of many workers, destroy the jobs of

some low-skilled workers, and perhaps low-

er the hours and thus pay of many other

workers.

The burden of the minimum wage is un-

clear as well. Perhaps it leads to higher retail

prices, although many proponents suggest it

comes largely out of business profits. This

too is unclear, and again raises questions

about the wisdom of pushing so hard for such

a non-transparent set of reallocations and

transfers.

In contrast, consider the plan for cash

grants to families with children. Under one

proposed plan, these grants would be be-

tween $3,000 and $3,600 a year, depending

on the age of the child.

The benefits here are obvious and trans-

parent, namely that families are better off

when they have more money. Perhaps some

families would use that money in self-de-

structive ways, but this basic view — that

more money increases the chance for better

outcomes — is not really contested.

There is a second obvious and non-contes-

table benefit: namely, that these cash trans-

fers will make it easier to raise children and

thus, over some longer run, lead to more chil-

dren. (If you are not convinced that is a real

gain, I would refer you to Matt Yglesias’s

most recent book.) I, for one, am very glad

my parents decided to bring me into the

world, and it is harder to think of a more

transparent gain than that.

It is perfectly valid to ask how much the

federal government should spend on family

cash transfers, given the current govern-

ment debt. But whatever your opinion, the

comparison is straightforward and the up-

front cost of the policy is easy to measure.

The beneficiaries are the families and the

children, and the losers are those who will

pay additional future taxes at the margin.

There are only few other factors to compli-

cate that basic comparison.

Many people, including in President Joe

Biden’s administration, seem to believe that

instituting both of these policies is not only

possible but also desirable. That doesn’t

mean both should be adopted. If one of these

policies is better than the other, and both of

them cost something, it would be better to

discard the lesser idea and invest everything

in the better policy.

In this case, that would mean abandoning

the minimum wage hike and doing more

with the cash transfer to families. It is unlike-

ly that the value of the cash transfers dimin-

ishes much at the margin, because for so

many families a child remains a financial

burden even after some extra cash in hand.

Advocates for these policies can often

lapse into a kind of left-wing Lafferism

(spending on social programs is self-financ-

ing), which is about as compelling as right-

wing Lafferism (tax cuts are self-financing).

Neither version can survive an encounter

with a reality in which free lunches are in

short supply.

The Biden administration surely recog-

nizes that all of its major policy proposals in-

volve trade-offs. The costs of any specific

program must be weighed against potential

benefits elsewhere. Cash transfers to fam-

ilies for their children are a better and more

transparent set of benefits than an increase

in the minimum wage. As Democrats debate

the merits of these two options, they should

also keep in mind that what’s at stake is the

economic identity of their party.

Focus on families, not on raising minimum wageBY TYLER COWEN

Bloomberg Opinion

Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is aprofessor of economics at George Mason University and writesfor the blog Marginal Revolution. His books include “BigBusiness: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero.”

With the electoral eviction of Do-

nald Trump from the Oval Of-

fice, Republicans had a shot at

redemption and resurrection.

They missed and failed — and deserve to

spend the next several years in political pur-

gatory. The chaos now enveloping what’s left

of the Grand Old Party after four years of ca-

tering to an unstable president is theirs to

own. Where conservatism once served as a

moderating force — gently braking liberal-

ism’s boundless enthusiasm — the former

home of ordered liberty has become a half-

way house for ruffians, insurrectionists and

renegade warriors.

What does Donald Trump have on these

people, one wonders? The continuing loyalty

of so many to a man so demonstrably danger-

ous can’t be explained by “the base,” a word

never more aptly applied. What secrets were

shared by Trump and House Minority Lead-

er Kevin McCarthy, who, after blaming

Trump for the Jan. 6 mob attack, visited

Trump at Mar-a-Lago last week to make

amends. It seems that The Don, yet another

appropriate nickname, need only purse his

button lips and whistle to summon his lap-

dogs to Palm Beach, there to conspire for the

next Big Lie.

The party’s end was inevitable, foreshad-

owed in 2008 when little-boy Republican

males, dazzled by the pretty, born-again,

prolife Alaska governor, thought Sarah Palin

should be a heartbeat away from the presi-

dency. The dumbing down of conservatism,

in other words, began its terminal-velocity

plunge, with a wink and a pair of shiny red

shoes. Palin cast a spell as potent as the poppy

fields of Oz, but turned the U.S. into her own

moose-poppin,’ gum-smackin’ reality show.

Forget Kansas. We’re not in America any-

more.

Eight years of Barack Obama added insult

to injury and paved the way for Donald

Trump — a gaudier, cinematic version of the

thrillah from Wasilla. Seizing upon our every

worst instinct, he turned Palin’s lipsticked

pig into a herd of seething, primitive barbar-

ians. Now the Department of Homeland Se-

curity is warning of more violence by domes-

tic extremists, presumably from the ranks of

the mob and QAnon conspiracists who

stormed the Capitol with blood on their

minds.

For Donald Trump, you went down this

road? Either Trump has a stockpile of in-

criminating videos or today’s Republicans

are the weakest, wimpiest, most pathetic

crop of needy nincompoops in American his-

tory. Suddenly, the “good ones” are worried

about their newest member, Rep. Marjorie

Taylor Greene, a QAnon-promoting female

version of Trump — only without the charm.

You begin to see how this monster mutates

like a certain virus into ever-more-danger-

ous versions of itself. Among other things,

Greene embraces the conspiracy theory that

the Sandy Hook Elementary School mas-

sacre and the slaughter at Marjory Stone-

man Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.,

were staged. One struggles for words, but I’ll

settle for creep.

Recently unearthed video shows Greene

chasing David Hogg, the Parkland student

who rose to public prominence as a gun con-

trol activist after the shooting, goading him to

respond to her insinuation that his ability to

get appointments with U.S. senators when

she couldn’t obviously meant he was a public

relations spawn and not a survivor of a ter-

rorist attack. I confess to early uncertainty

about Hogg, who was preternaturally adept

at media management and public speaking,

suddenly materializing from the fog of hor-

ror. But the notion that he was somehow com-

plicit in a manufactured act of mass murder

is beyond the pale even for the farthest right.

Good work, GOP. You got yourself a live

one. Naturally, Greene has been assigned to

the Education and Labor Committee.

Going forward, not only will House Re-

publicans be associated with a colleague who

“liked” a Twitter post calling for Nancy Pelo-

si’s murder. They’ll be attached to QAnon,

which promotes the extraordinary fiction

that Trump was leading a war against Satan-

worshiping pedophiles and cannibals, whose

leadership includes Hillary Clinton, Barack

Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks and, oh,

by the way, yours truly, as well as U2’s Bono.

Republicans, you own all of this. The party

isn’t doomed; it’s dead. The chance to move

away from Trumpism toward a more-re-

spectful, civilized approach to governance

that acknowledges the realities of a diverse

nation and that doesn’t surrender to the

clenched fist, has slipped away. What comes

next is anybody’s guess. But anyone who

doesn’t speak out against the myths and lies

of fringe groups, domestic terrorists and

demagogues like Trump, deserves only de-

feat — and a lengthy exile in infamy.

The GOP made its choice, gets the death it had comingBY KATHLEEN PARKER

Washington Post Writers Group

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15

PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

ACROSS

1 Docile

5 Eyeglass frames

9 Scoundrel

12 Actor Neeson

13 “Superfood”

berry

14 “— you kidding?”

15 Cheater’s ref-

erence

17 Director Howard

18 Missing

19 Kennedy or

Roosevelt

21 Rainbow-shaped

24 Dick Tracy’s love

25 Thailand, once

26 Used Google

30 Medit. nation

31 Audition CDs

32 Chest-beating

beast

33 Parts

35 Ship’s staff

36 “I’m a klutz!”

37 British nobles

38 Egypt’s Mubarak

40 Fly high

42 “This tastes

awful!”

43 Fudge seller

48 Roman 1051

49 Loyal

50 Actor Epps of

“This Is Us”

51 Vigor

52 Bloodline sharers

53 Golfer McIlroy

DOWN

1 Pampering,

for short

2 Vacuum’s lack

3 Avril follower

4 Insignia

5 Stadium cheers

6 “Cold As Ever”

rapper

7 Fannie —

8 Tot tenders

9 Crafty poker

player

10 Yankee nickname

11 Contradict

16 Turf

20 PC key

21 Unrepaired

22 Get up

23 Port vessel

24 New Mexico

resort

26 D.C. VIPs

27 911 responder

28 Duel tool

29 Morning droplets

31 Portrays

34 Calendar abbr.

35 Arrow on a com-

puter screen

37 24 hours

38 Camel feature

39 Leer at

40 Rebuff

41 Rhyming tributes

44 Shapiro of NPR

45 Med. plan

46 Rowing need

47 Snoop

Answer to Previous Puzzle

Eugene Sheffer CrosswordFra

zz

Dilbert

Pearls B

efo

re S

win

eN

on S

equitur

Candorv

ille

Beetle B

ailey

Biz

arr

oCarp

e D

iem

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17

PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

FACES

Prince Harry on Monday accepted an

apology and damages from the publisher of

British tabloid The Mail on Sunday and its

online version, MailOnline, in a libel lawsuit

relating to articles about his relationship

with the British armed forces.

Harry sued Associated Newspapers for

libel over two articles published in October

that claimed he had snubbed the Royal Ma-

rines after stepping down as a senior royal.

The articles claimed that Harry had “not

been in touch” with the force since his last

appearance as an honorary Marine in

March, and that military leaders were con-

sidering replacing him as Captain General

of the Royal Marines.

Harry had served for a decade in the Brit-

ish army. His lawyers said in court docu-

ments that he was “frustrated and sad-

dened” because the articles would diminish

his credibility with veterans.

Harry and his wife, Meghan, stepped

down as working royals and moved to the

U.S. in early 2019. His honorary military ti-

tles were put on hold, and they were due to

be reviewed in March as part of the monar-

chy’s review of the couple’s departure ar-

rangements.

Harry will donate the damages to the In-

victus Games Foundation, a charity for

wounded or sick servicemen and women

that he founded, lawyer Jenny Afia added.

The amount of the damages was not dis-

closed.

Evan Rachel Wood accuses ex

Marilyn Manson of abuseActress Evan Rachel Wood accused ex-

fiance Marilyn Manson of abusing her “for

years,” naming him as the man she has re-

ferred to in conversations about being a sur-

vivor of domestic violence.

Wood, 33, has long spoken of the abuse

she suffered at the hands of an unnamed ex,

including testifying before a House Judici-

ary Subcommittee in an effort to get the

Sexual Assault Survivors Bill of Rights

passed in all 50 states.

The couple went public with their rela-

tionship in 2007, when she was 19 and he

was 38, and got engaged in 2010, but split

later that year.

Several other women stepped forward

with similar allegations against the singer

Monday, including one who claimed Man-

son “gets off on ruining people’s lives.”

Prince Harry getsapology, damages in UK libel lawsuit

From wire reports

If his new movie, “Our Friend,” makes

audiences cry, Jason Segel can sympathize.

He recalls being on an airplane and

watching a movie that made him break

down so uncontrollably that it got the atten-

tion of a woman seated next to him.

“I was weeping, full-on weeping, crying

so hard, and this woman couldn’t resist try-

ing to find out what I was crying at. And she,

like, peeked over and it was ‘Dreamgirls.’

This grown man, bawling his eyes out to

‘Dreamgirls,’” the actor said, laughing, in a

recent interview.

“Our Friend,” now playing in theaters

and streaming on demand, covers emotion-

al territory. Segel plays Dane, the best

friend of married couple Matt and Nicole

(played by Casey Affleck and Dakota John-

son). When Nicole is diagnosed with termi-

nal cancer, Dane moves in with the family

to help them during the time she has left.

It’s based on the true story of an experi-

ence written about by journalist Matthew

Teague in 2015 for Esquire. He wanted to

write about what going through a death is

really like.

“I felt so unprepared to meet death, even

caring for somebody who was dying and

that I felt even almost betrayed by the cul-

ture. In a way, I feel like we don’t discuss

this very openly or very honestly,” said

Teague.

Production on the film wrapped before

the pandemic, but Affleck understands that

it will strike a chord with viewers about

grief and loss.

“I think a lot of movies are probably going

to be seen through the lens of the experi-

ence that we’ve all shared over the last year,

whether or not they were intended to be

about those things,” said Affleck.

Johnson hopes it will remind others to

“feel a bit more grateful and a bit more com-

passionate with themselves and others.”

From experiencing his own loss, Teague

offers advice on what to say to those who

know someone who is going through it.

“It’s hard to know what to say. And I think

sometimes the best thing you can do is just

be there and just offer yourself in some way

and to not expect some emotional reaction.

Even now, years have passed. I’ll be in a res-

taurant and someone will come up and say,

‘I’m so sorry for your loss.’ And I feel like

there’s an expectation that I reciprocate

emotionally in some way. And so something

I learned is just let people grieve on their

own terms.”

GRAVITAS VENTURES

Jason Segel and Dakota Johnson tug on viewers’ heartstrings in the touching movie “Our Friend.”

A far cry from tough guys‘Our Friend’ stars know their emotional film comes at a vulnerable time

BY ALICIA RANCILIO

Associated Press

Tony Bennett has been quietly

hiding his Alzheimer’s disease for

four years.

The 94-year-old crooner was di-

agnosed in 2016 and has been con-

tinuing to work through his symp-

toms, AARP Magazine reported

Monday.

Bennett’s wife, Susan, said his

family decided to come forward

with his diagnosis without his in-

put because he is no longer able to

make such decisions.

“He would ask me, ‘What is Alz-

heimer’s?’” she

told AARP.

“I would ex-

plain, but he

wouldn’t get it.

He’d tell me,

‘Susan, I feel

fine.’ That’s all

he could proc-

ess — that phys-

ically he felt great. So, nothing

changed in his life. Anything that

did change, he wasn’t aware of.”

His wife and one of his sons,

Danny, have essentially taken

over for him, taking care of the

day-to-day operations and keep-

ing Bennett as comfortable as pos-

sible.

Bennett’s musical career dates

back seven decades: his first hit,

“Because of You,” was released in

1951, five years after he returned

from fighting in World War II. His

fame catapulted in the early 1980s

after a near-fatal drug overdose

and several poorly-selling al-

bums.

The raspy-voiced musician has

spent the more recent years of his

career with Lady Gaga, with the

pair releasing their “Cheek to

Cheek” album in 2014 with a se-

quel rescheduled to this spring.

“Cheek to Cheek” was named best

traditional pop vocal album at the

2015 Grammys and the two per-

formed live on stage together. Two

singles, “Anything Goes” and “I

Can’t Give You Anything but

Love,” were met with critical ac-

claim.

Gaga knew about Bennett’s con-

dition, according to AARP, and

helped carry him through inter-

views and the documentary.

Symptoms of Alzheimer’s can

include serious memory loss, con-

fusion, disorientation, mood and

behavior changes, paranoia and

difficulty speaking, swallowing

and walking, according to the Alz-

heimer’s Association.

The “I Left My Heart In San

Francisco” singer has 18 Grammy

wins and 36 nominations to his

name, beginning in 1962 with re-

cord of the year and best male solo

vocal performance.

“Singing is everything to him,”

his wife said. “Everything. It has

saved his life many times. ... If he

ever stops singing, that’s when

we’ll know.”

Bennett has been secretly battling Alzheimer’s for 4 yearsBY KATE FELDMAN

New York Daily News

Bennett 

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19

SCOREBOARD/GOLF

DEALS

Sunday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

KANSAS  CITY  ROYALS  — Agreed toterms with INF Hanser Alberto on a minorleague contract.

MINNESOTA TWINS — Agreed to termswith SS Andrelton Simmons on a one-yearcontract.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

DETROIT  LIONS  — Acquired QB JaredGoff, a 2021 third-round pick, 2022 first-round pick and 2023 first-round pick fromLOs Angeles Rams in exchange for QBMatthew Stafford.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Signed OL Jonot-than Harrison to a reserve/futures con-tract.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

ARIZONA COYOTES — Assigned D KyleCapobianco to Tucson (AHL).

BUFFALO  SABRES  — Recalled C CaseyMittelstadt from the taxi squad.

CAROLINA  HURRICANES  — Recalled CDrew Shore and G Alex Nedeljkovic fromtaxi squad.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS — Recalled RWReese Johnson from the taxi squad.

DETROIT  RED  WINGS  — Designated CChase Pearson for assignment to taxisquad.

LOS ANGELES KINGS — Designated RWArthur Kaliyev and D Austin Strand for as-signment to taxi squad. Assigned LWs Bo-kondji and Samuel Fagemo to Ontario(AHL.

MONTREAL  CANADIENS  —  DesignatedRW Corey Perry for assignment on the taxisquad.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS — Recalled Fs Jesp-er Boqvist and Mikhail Maltsev from thetaxi squad. Designated RW Nicholas Mer-kley for assignment on the taxi squad.

NEW YORK RANGERS — Waived D TonyDeAngelo.

OTTAWA SENATORS — Recalled D ArtemZub from the taxi squad.

COLLEGE HOCKEY

Sunday’s scores

East

Providence 3, New Hampshire 2Bentley 6, Air Force 3

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL playoffsWild­card Playoffs

Saturday, Jan. 9Buffalo 27, Indianapolis 24 Los Angeles Rams 30, Seattle 20 Tampa Bay 31, Washington 23

Sunday, Jan. 10Baltimore 20, Tennessee 13 New Orleans 21, Chicago 9 Cleveland 48 Pittsburgh 37

Divisional PlayoffsSaturday, Jan. 16

Green Bay 32, Los Angeles Rams 18 Buffalo 17, Baltimore 3

Sunday, Jan. 17Kansas City 22, Cleveland 17 Tampa Bay 30, New Orleans 20

Conference ChampionshipsSunday, Jan. 24

AFCKansas City 38, Buffalo 24

NFCTampa Bay 31, Green Bay 26

Super BowlSunday, Feb. 7At Tampa, Fla.

Tampa Bay vs. Kansas City

NFL injury reportNEW YORK — The National Football

League injury report, as provided by theleague (DNP: did not practice; LIMITED:limited participation; FULL: Full participa-tion): Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 7 At Tampa Bay

KANSAS  CITY  CHIEFS  at  TAMPA  BAYBUCCANEERS — CHIEFS: OUT: T Eric Fisher(Achilles), LB Willie Gay (ankle, knee).QUESTIONABLE: RB Le'Veon Bell (knee),CB Rashad Fenton (foot), CB L'JariusSneed (concussion), WR Sammy Watkins(calf). DNP: WR Sammy Watkins (calf).FULL: RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire (ankle,hip), CB Rashad Fenton (foot), QB PatrickMahomes (toe), T Mike Remmers (groin),T Andrew Wylie (ankle). BUCCANEERS:DOUBTFUL: WR Antonio Brown (knee), SJordan Whitehead (shoulder, knee). QUES-TIONABLE: LB Lavonte David (hamstring),S Antoine Winfield (ankle). DNP: DT SteveMcLendon (not injury related), LB JasonPierre-Paul (knee). LIMITED: WR MikeEvans (knee), DT Vita Vea (ankle). FULL:WR Chris Godwin (elbow).

GOLF

Farmers Insurance OpenPGA Tour �

Sunday's scoresAt Torrey PinesSan Diego, Calif.

Purse: $7.5 millionSouth Course

Yardage:7,818; Par: 72Final Round

Patrick Reed $1,350,000 64­72­70­68—274­14Tony Finau $456,375 69­67­74­69—279 ­9Viktor Hovland $456,375 70­65­73­71—279 ­9Henrik Norlander $456,375 73­69­68­69—279 ­9Ryan Palmer $456,375 66­70­73­70—279 ­9Xander Schauffele $456,375 70­72­68­69—279 ­9Lanto Griffin $235,625 66­70­72­72—280 ­8Jon Rahm $235,625 69­67­72­72—280 ­8Will Zalatoris $235,625 68­71­70­71—280 ­8Luke List $168,125 66­77­72­66—281 ­7Peter Malnati $168,125 66­71­73­71—281 ­7F. Molinari $168,125 72­71­72­66—281 ­7Sam Ryder $168,125 71­69­69­72—281 ­7Rory Sabbatini $168,125 72­67­72­70—281 ­7Adam Scott $168,125 67­69­72­73—281 ­7Rory McIlroy $125,625 68­71­70­73—282 ­6Robby Shelton $125,625 73­64­73­72—282 ­6Joseph Bramlett $80,761 69­73­74­67—283 ­5M. Leishman $80,761 71­70­72­70—283 ­5J.T. Poston $80,761 69­74­71­69—283 ­5Charl Schwartzel $80,761 70­72­73­68—283 ­5Sam Burns $80,761 66­72­70­75—283 ­5Adam Hadwin $80,761 69­70­73­71—283 ­5Bo Hoag $80,761 72­69­71­71—283 ­5Max Homa $80,761 71­68­72­72—283 ­5Ted Potter, Jr. $80,761 71­69­72­71—283 ­5Kyle Stanley $80,761 72­70­70­71—283 ­5Cameron Tringale $80,761 72­69­72­70—283 ­5Jason Kokrak $51,375 70­69­74­71—284 ­4Louis Oosthuizen $51,375 72­71­70­71—284 ­4Carlos Ortiz $51,375 72­68­66­78—284 ­4Wyndham Clark $42,825 67­73­73­72—285 ­3Cameron Davis $42,825 70­71­71­73—285 ­3Sungjae Im $42,825 69­74­69­73—285 ­3Brandt Snedeker $42,825 69­70­77­69—285 ­3Sepp Straka $42,825 69­74­77­65—285 ­3Corey Conners $34,125 72­71­73­70—286 ­2Doug Ghim $34,125 70­71­73­72—286 ­2Alex Noren $34,125 64­74­75­73—286 ­2K. Streelman $34,125 68­75­73­70—286 ­2Justin Suh $34,125 71­72­73­70—286 ­2B. Burgoon $25,875 69­74­74­70—287 ­1Lucas Glover $25,875 68­72­75­72—287 ­1Will Gordon $25,875 67­70­75­75—287 ­1Bill Haas $25,875 71­71­72­73—287 ­1Brandon Hagy $25,875 66­75­73­73—287 ­1Tom Lewis $25,875 68­75­71­73—287 ­1Talor Gooch $19,455 66­74­77­71—288 EMatt Jones $19,455 70­73­74­71—288 EM. NeSmith $19,455 70­73­76­69—288 ECameron Percy $19,455 71­72­73­72—288 EGary Woodland $19,455 66­75­77­70—288 ERickie Fowler $17,496 70­73­73­73—289 +1Dylan Frittelli $17,496 70­73­71­75—289 +1Rhein Gibson $17,496 66­76­73­74—289 +1Michael Kim $17,496 69­74­74­72—289 +1H. Matsuyama $17,496 74­68­74­73—289 +1Phil Mickelson $17,496 71­72­74­72—289 +1Roger Sloan $17,496 68­73­78­70—289 +1Kelly Kraft $16,575 73­69­79­69—290 +2Chase Seiffert $16,575 72­68­76­74—290 +2Steve Stricker $16,575 72­70­77­71—290 +2Richy Werenski $16,575 69­69­73­79—290 +2Xinjun Zhang $16,575 70­73­74­73—290 +2Harry Higgs $15,900 71­69­76­75—291 +3John Huh $15,900 69­72­76­74—291 +3Danny Lee $15,900 74­67­76­74—291 +3Kyle Mendoza $15,900 73­69­77­72—291 +3K.J. Choi $15,375 66­76­77­73—292 +4Tain Lee $15,375 71­72­75­74—292 � +4Pat Perez $15,375 71­70­77­74—292 +4Troy Merritt $15,075 71­72­76­74—293 +5Denny McCarthy $14,850 67­75­73­79—294 +6Tim Wilkinson $14,850 67­76­80­71—294 +6

Men’s Top 25 faredNo. 1 Gonzaga (17-0) beat San Diego 90-

62; beat Pepperdine 97-75.No. 2 Baylor (16-0) beat Kansas St. 107-

59; beat Auburn 84-72.No. 3 Villanova (11-1) beat Seton Hall 80-

72.No. 4 Michigan (13-1) did not play.No. 5 Texas (11-3) lost to No. 24 Oklaho-

ma 80-79.No. 6 Houston (15-1) beat Tulane 83-60;

beat SMU 70-48.No. 7 Iowa (12-4) lost to No. 19 Illinois 80-

75.No. 8 Virginia (11-3) beat Syracuse 81-58;

lost to No. 20 Virginia Tech 65-51.No. 9 Alabama (14-4) beat Kentucky 70-

59; lost to No. 24 Oklahoma 66-61.No. 10 Texas Tech (12-5) lost to No. 11

West Virginia 88-87; beat LSU 74-71.No. 11 West Virginia (11-5) beat No. 10

Texas Tech 88-87; lost to Florida 85-80.No. 12 Missouri (11-3) lost to Auburn 88-

82; beat TCU 102-98, OT.No. 13 Ohio St. (14-4) beat Penn St. 83-79;

beat Michigan St. 79-62.No. 14 Wisconsin (13-5) beat Maryland

61-55; lost to Penn St. 81-71.No. 15 Kansas (11-6) beat TCU 59-51; lost

to No. 18 Tennessee 80-61.No. 16 Florida St. (10-3) beat Miami 81-59;

lost to Georgia Tech 76-65.No. 17 Creighton (13-4) beat Seton Hall

85-81; beat DePaul 69-62.No. 18 Tennessee (12-3) beat Mississippi

St. 56-53; beat No. 15 Kansas 80-61.No. 19 Illinois (11-5) beat No. 7 Iowa 80-

75.No. 20 Virginia Tech (13-3) beat Notre

Dame 62-51; beat No. 8 Virginia 65-51.No. 21 Minnesota (11-6) lost to Purdue

81-62.No. 22 Saint Louis (7-2) lost to Dayton 76-

71.No. 23 UCLA (13-3) beat Oregon St. 57-52.No. 24 Oklahoma (11-4) beat No. 5 Texas

80-79; beat No. 9 Alabama 66-61.No. 25 Louisville (10-4) lost to Clemson

54-50.

Women’s Top 25 faredHow women’s Top 25 teams fared last

week:No. 1 Louisville (16-0) beat Miami 79-76;

beat North Carolina 79-68.No. 2 NC State (11-1) lost to Virgina Tech

83-71, OT.No. 3 UConn (11-1) lost to No. 19 Arkan-

sas 90-87; beat No. 17 DePaul 100-67.No. 4 South Carolina (14-1) beat No. 21

Mississippi St. 75-52; beat Alabama 87-63.No. 5 UCLA (10-2) beat Arizona St. 60-57.No. 6 Stanford (14-2) beat Washington

St. 77-49; beat Washington 74-48.No. 7 Maryland (12-2) lost to No. 14 Ohio

St. 88-86; beat Michigan St. 92-52.No. 8 Texas A&M (16-1) beat Auburn 84-

69; beat No. 22 Georgia 60-48.No. 9 Baylor (12-2) beat TCU 82-49; beat

Iowa St 85-77.No. 10 Arizona (11-2) did not play.No. 11 Oregon (11-3) did not play.No. 12 Michigan (10-1) did not play.No. 13 South Florida (10-1) did not play.No. 14 Ohio St. (10-1) beat No. 7 Maryland

88-86; beat No. 16 Indiana 78-70.No. 15 Kentucky (13-4) beat Alabama 81-

68; beat Missouri 61-55.No. 16 Indiana (10-4) lost to No. 14 Ohio

St. 78-70; beat Michigan St 79-67.No. 17 DePaul (9-4) lost to No. 3 UConn

100-67.No. 18 Gonzaga (15-2) beat Pacific 77-65;

beat Saint Mary’s (Cal) 79-52.No. 19 Arkansas (13-6) lost to No. 22 Ge-

orgia 75-73; beat No. 3 UConn 90-87; beatAuburn 77-67.

No. 20 Tennessee (12-3) beat Mississippi68-67; beat Florida 79-65.

No. 21 Mississippi St. (8-5) lost to No. 4South Carolina 75-52.

No. 22 Georgia (13-4) beat No. 19 Arkan-sas 75-73; lost to LSU 60-52; lost to No. 8Texas A&M 60-48.

No. 23 Northwestern (9-3) beat Iowa 87-80.

No. 24 West Virginia (13-2) beat TexasTech 73-53; beat TCU 79-70.

No. 25 South Dakota St. (13-2) did notplay.

Sunday’s men’s scores

East

Bucknell 92, Lehigh 68 CCSU 85, St. Francis (Pa.) 77 Colgate 78, Holy Cross 60 Delaware 75, Elon 70 Fairleigh Dickinson 95, Bryant 84 Mount St. Mary’s 76, Sacred Heart 64 NJIT 69, UMBC 65 New Hampshire 71, Binghamton 65, OT Siena 63, Marist 50 Stony Brook 63, Hartford 49 Syracuse 76, NC State 73 Tulane 81, Temple 64 William & Mary 75, Towson 74

South

Hofstra 89, UNC-Wilmington 83 James Madison 73, Drexel 64 NC A&T 67, Florida A&M 65 UAB 63, Middle Tennessee 52

Midwest

Chicago 72, Missouri St. 46 Drake 78, Illinois St. 76, OT Evansville 70, Valparaiso 52 Indiana St. 60, Bradley 57 N. Michigan 91, Lake Superior St. 70 Ohio St. 79, Michigan St. 62 Rutgers 64, Northwestern 56 S. Illinois 71, N. Iowa 68 Sioux Falls 74, Minnesota St. 62 St. John’s 75, Marquette 73

Southwest

Houston 70, SMU 48 North Texas 79, Rice 53 Stephen F. Austin 78, Sam Houston St. 68

Far West

E. Washington 68, Sacramento St. 60 Hawaii 62, UC Irvine 61 Nevada 89, UNLV 60 UC Riverside 71, UC San Diego 59 Washington St. 77, Washington 62

Sunday’s women’s scores

East

Army 79, Colgate 45 Bucknell 73, Lehigh 68 Dayton 68, St. Bonaventure 51 Drexel 58, Northeastern 56 Hofstra 59, UNC-Wilmington 48 La Salle 69, UMass 63 Mass.-Lowell 46, Albany (NY) 31 Rhode Island 50, Saint Joseph’s 48, OT Rider 45, Monmouth (NJ) 31 Stony Brook 62, Hartford 49 Syracuse 81, Notre Dame 69

South

Clemson 69, Wake Forest 66 Coll. of Charleston 65, James Madison 63 Elon 83, Delaware 61 Fordham 73, Davidson 55 Kentucky 61, Missouri 55 LSU 75, Mississippi 66, OT Liberty 78, Jacksonville 52 North Florida 80, North Alabama 77 Richmond 67, George Mason 52 South Carolina 87, Alabama 63 Tennessee 79, Florida 65 Tulane 71, Temple 69 Virginia Tech 73, North Carolina 69

Midwest

Baylor 85, Iowa St. 77 Bellarmine 62, Kennesaw St. 60 Indiana 79, Michigan St. 67 Iowa 94, Minnesota 68 Loyola of Chicago 55, S. Illinois 46 Missouri St. 74, Valparaiso 73 Oklahoma 80, Kansas St. 78 Penn St. 80, Purdue 70 UConn 100, DePaul 67 Villanova 90, Butler 53 Wisconsin 69, Illinois 57

Southwest

Arkansas 77, Auburn 67 Texas A&M 60, Georgia 48

Far West

Oregon St. 84, Utah 74 Santa Clara 66, Pepperdine 57 Southern Cal 65, Arizona St. 57 Stanford 74, Washington 48

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Great Ocean Road OpenATP Tour 

MondayAt Melbourne Park

Melbourne, AustraliaPurse: $311,665

Surface: Hardcourt outdoorMen’s SinglesRound of 64

Corentin Moutet, France, def. FrancesTiafoe, United States, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Egor Gerasimov, Belarus, def. Lloyd Har-ris, South Africa, 6-3, 7-5.

Mackenzie McDonald, United States,def. Richard Gasquet (14), France, 7-6 (2),7-5.

Federico Coria, Argentina, def. Radu Al-bot, Moldova, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Tommy Paul (15), United States, def.Cameron Norrie, Britain, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3.

Marton Fucsovics (16), Hungary, def.Marco Cecchinato, Italy, 7-6 (8), 6-3.

Jason Kubler, Australia, def. Lorenzo So-nego (9), Italy, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Pedro Sousa, Portugal, def. Li Tu, Austra-lia, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Albert Ramos-Vinolas (12), Spain, def.Blake Mott, Australia, 6-2, 6-4.

Ricardas Berankis, Lithuania, def. SumitNagal, India, 6-2, 6-2.

Alex Bolt, Australia, def. Thanasi Kokki-nakis, Australia, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Harry Bourchier, Australia, def. MarcPolmans, Australia, 6-4, 6-4.

Adrian Mannarino (10), France, def. Mi-kael Ymer, Sweden, 7-5, 6-2.

Jeremy Chardy, France, def. Marin Cilic(11), Croatia, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8).

Yarra Valley ClassicWTA Tour

Melbourne, AustraliaPurse: $442,020

Surface: Hardcourt outdoorWomen’s Singles

Round of 64Greet Minnen, Belgium, def. Olga Dani-

lovic, Serbia, 6-4, 6-4. Camila Giorgi, Italy, def. Clara Burel,

France, 6-4, 6-3. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (11), Russia,

def. Misaki Doi, Japan, 6-1, 6-4. Alison van Uytvanck, Belgium, def. Hsieh

Su-wei, Taiwan, 6-2, 6-0. Nadia Podoroska (14), Argentina, def.

Francesca Jones, Britain, 6-1, 6-3.Vera Zvonareva, Russia, def. Kristyna

Pliskova, Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3. Women’s Singles

Round of 32Danielle Collins (13), United States, def.

Nina Stojanovic, Serbia, 6-2, 6-1.Petra Martic (7), Croatia, def. Vera Lap-

ko, Belarus, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, def. Don-

na Vekic (9), Croatia, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.Karolina Pliskova (3), Czech Republic,

def. Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Italy, 6-3, 6-2.

Marketa Vondrousova (8), Czech Re-public, def. Varvara Gracheva, Russia, 6-4,6-0.

Serena Williams (5), United States, def.Daria Gavrilova, Australia, 6-1, 6-4.

Murray River OpenATP Tour

MondayAt Melbourne Park

Melbourne, AustraliaPurse: $311,665

Surface: Hardcourt outdoorMen’s SinglesRound of 64

Kamil Majchrzak, Poland, def. LasloDjere (12), Serbia, 6-3, 6-4.

Aleksandar Vukic, Australia, def. Yen-hsun Lu, Taiwan, 6-4, 7-5.

Aljaz Bedene (13), Slovenia, def. Yasuta-ka Uchiyama, Japan, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5).

Christopher O’Connell, Australia, def.Dominik Koepfer, Germany, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.

Max Purcell, Australia, def. NorbertGombos, Slovakia, 6-4, 6-4.

Kwon Soon Woo, South Korea, def. An-drej Martin, Slovakia, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4).

Kevin Anderson, South Africa, def. Feli-ciano Lopez (16), Spain, 6-4, 7-5.

Stefano Travaglia, Italy, def. RobertoCarballes Baena, Spain, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (2).

Salvatore Caruso, Italy, def. AndreasSeppi, Italy, 7-5, 7-6 (5).

TENNIS

AP SPORTLIGHT

Feb. 2 1876 — The National League forms, con-

sisting of teams in Philadelphia, Hartford,Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville, St.Louis and New York.

1936  — Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, HonusWagner, Christy Mathewson and WalterJohnson are the first members elected tothe Baseball Hall of Fame.

1977 — Toronto’s Ian Turnbull scores fivegoals to set an NHL record for defense-men.

SAN DIEGO — Patrick Reed

was so unaffected by a rules con-

troversy a day earlier that he won

the Farmers Insurance Open by

five shots, the biggest margin in

his nine career PGA Tour victo-

ries.

Reed closed with a 4-under 68 at

Torrey Pines, making an eagle on

the par-5 sixth and finishing off his

dominating Sunday with a birdie

on the 18th.

The former Masters champions

finished at 14 under. He shared

the first-round lead with Alex No-

ren, was in a group one shot off the

lead in the second round and then

shared the third-round lead with

Carlos Ortiz.

Reed said staying mentally

strong, as well as good play with

his wedge and putter, were able to

“keep me in the golf tournament

and really allowed me to have a

fun stroll up 18.”

Saturday, on the par-4 10th

Reed hit a 190-yard shot out of a

bunker with a TV replay showing

the ball bounced once before set-

tling into the rough. Without wait-

ing for an official, Reed picked up

the ball to see if it was embedded.

Reed told the official that no one in

his group, as well as a nearby vol-

unteer, saw it bounce. He was

awarded a free drop and saved par

in a round of 70.

On Sunday, Reed jump-started

his round with a 45-foot eagle putt

on the No. 6 to get to 12 under and

followed with a birdie on the par-4

seventh. His only bogey was on the

par-3 eighth.

“I knew today was going to be a

grind, especially with that leader-

board and seeing how many big

names were right around there at

the top. I knew you were going to

have to go out and play on of-

fense.”

GREGORY BULL / AP

Patrick Reed reacts after makinghis putt for par on the 14th holein the final round of the FarmersInsurance Open at Torrey Pines,Sunday, in San Diego.

A day aftercontroversy,Reed wins atTorrey Pines

Associated Press

PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

NBA

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

W L Pct GB

Philadelphia 15 6 .714 —

Brooklyn 13 9 .591 2½

Boston 10 8 .556 3½

New York 9 12 .429 6

Toronto 8 12 .400 6½

Southeast Division

W L Pct GB

Atlanta 10 9 .526 —

Charlotte 9 11 .450 1½

Orlando 8 13 .381 3

Miami 7 12 .368 3

Washington 4 12 .250 4½

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Milwaukee 11 8 .579 —

Indiana 11 9 .550 ½

Cleveland 9 11 .450 2½

Chicago 7 11 .389 3½

Detroit 5 15 .250 6½

Western Conference

Southwest Division

W L Pct GB

Memphis 8 6 .571 —

San Antonio 11 9 .550 —

Houston 9 9 .500 1

Dallas 8 12 .400 3

New Orleans 7 11 .389 3

Northwest Division

W L Pct GB

Utah 15 5 .750 —

Denver 12 8 .600 3

Portland 10 8 .556 4

Oklahoma City 8 10 .444 6

Minnesota 5 14 .263 9½

Pacific Division

W L Pct GB

L.A. Clippers 16 5 .762 —

L.A. Lakers 15 6 .714 1

Phoenix 10 8 .556 4½

Golden State 11 9 .550 4½

Sacramento 8 11 .421 7

Saturday’s games

Portland 123, Chicago 122 Houston 126, New Orleans 112 Miami 105, Sacramento 104 Charlotte 126, Milwaukee 114 L.A. Lakers 96, Boston 95 Memphis 129, San Antonio 112 Phoenix 111, Dallas 105 Golden State 118, Detroit 91

Sunday’s games

L.A. Clippers 129, New York 115 Denver 128, Utah 117 Toronto 115, Orlando 102 Philadelphia 119, Indiana 110 Washington 149, Brooklyn 146 Minnesota 109, Cleveland 104

Monday’s games

Charlotte at Miami L.A. Lakers at Atlanta Houston at Oklahoma City Minnesota at Cleveland New York at Chicago Portland at Milwaukee Sacramento at New Orleans Memphis at San Antonio Phoenix at Dallas Detroit at Denver

Leaders

Through Jan. 30

Scoring

G FG FT PTS AVG

Beal, WAS 14 173 106 486 34.7

Durant, BKN 15 155 104 458 30.5

Lillard, POR 18 164 131 533 29.6

Embiid, PHI 16 141 152 453 28.3

Rebounds

G OFF DEF TOT AVG

Drummond, CLE 18 79 186 265 14.7

Capela, ATL 16 78 154 232 14.5

Gobert, UTA 19 73 194 267 14.1

Ayton, PHO 18 64 163 227 12.6

Assists

G AST AVG

Harden, BKN 16 177 11.1

Doncic, DAL 19 179 9.4

Paul, PHO 18 156 8.7

Jokic, DEN 19 166 8.7

Young, ATL 18 155 8.6

Scoreboard

INDIANAPOLIS — Doc Rivers

threw a changeup at the Indiana

Pacers on Sunday night.

It turned out to be the perfect

call.

With his team trailing by 16

early in the fourth quarter, the

Philadelphia 76ers coach

switched to a zone defense —

throwing off the Pacers and fuel-

ing an incredible closing run that

ended with the Sixers rallying for

a 119-110 victory.

“We were calling it our John

Chaney matchup zone and it was

great,” Rivers said, referring to

the trailblazing Temple coach

who died Friday. “What it did was

stop their movement. You miss a

couple threes early in a zone in the

NBA and it becomes tough all of a

sudden.”

Indiana never figured it out or

recovered — even with All-Star

center Joel Embiid sitting out for

Philadelphia because of a sore

back.

Instead, the 76ers outscored the

Pacers 31-6 over the final eight

minutes to earn their sixth win in

seven games.

Tobias Harris led Philadelphia

with 27 points and eight rebounds.

Furkan Korkmaz added 17 points,

including the two biggest baskets

of the game — a 17-footer with 2:30

to play that finally gave the 76ers

the lead and a 19-footer on the en-

suing possession to make it 109-

106.

But Harris thought this one was

all about Philadelphia’s surprise

defense.

“Probably five minutes and I’m

not kidding,” Harris said when

asked how much time the 76ers

had spent talking about zone de-

fense this season. “It was in prep-

aration for another team. But it got

us talking out there and defensive-

ly and that’s something we always

say on defense. We’ve got to com-

municate more.”

Malcolm Brogdon scored 25

points and Domantas Sabonis had

21 in a game they dominated for al-

most 3½ quarters. Indiana

seemed to be cruising when Aaron

Holiday’s basket with 8:16 to play

made it 104-88. But the Pacers on-

ly netted one more basket — and

the 76ers took control.

In the zone: 76ers down PacersBY MICHAEL MAROT

Associated Press

DARRON CUMMINGS / AP

Philadelphia 76ers forward Tobias Harris shoots against Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner during the76ers’ 119­110 win at Indianapolis on Sunday. Harris had 27 points and eight rebounds for Philadelphia.

WASHINGTON — Bradley Beal

and Russell Westbrook hit three-

pointers in a wild 3.8-second se-

quence in the final seconds to help

the Washington Wizards stun Ke-

vin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets

149-146 on Sunday night.

Westbrook had 41 points, 10 re-

bounds and eight assists, and NBA

scoring leader Beal had 37 points.

In the fourth quarter, Beal had 22

points and Westbrook had 15. Du-

rant, second in the NBA in scoring,

also had 37 points.

With Washington down 146-141,

Beal hit a three-pointer with 8.1

seconds left. Garrison Matthews

deflected Joe Harris’ inbounds

pass to Westbrook and he made a

three with 4.3 seconds left for a 147-

146 lead.

Kyrie Irving found Timothe Lu-

wawu-Carbarrot under the basket

with 2.9 seconds left, but his layup

attempt spun around the rim and

failed to drop. Beal added two free

throws with 0.7 seconds left as the

Wizards broke a four-game losing

steak and improved to a still NBA-

worst 4-12.

Harris scored a career-high 30

points, and Irving had 26 for

Brooklyn. The Nets had won four in

a row. James Harden sat out be-

cause of a thigh contusion, the first

game he has missed since being

traded from to Brooklyn on Jan. 13.

The Wizards are 1-4 since re-

suming play after a 13-day layoff

that included six postponements

due to COVID-19 related issues.

Nuggets 128, Jazz 117: Nikola

Jokic matched his career high with

47 points and host Denver ended

Utah’s winning streak at 11.

Jokic was 17-for-26 from the

field, hit all four of his three-point

attempts, made 9 of 10 free throws

and had 12 rebounds and five as-

sists. He scored 33 points in the

first half.

Clippers 129, Knicks 115: Ka-

whi Leonard scored 28 points and

Los Angeles rang up the highest

point total of the season against the

NBA’s leading defense, winning at

New York for its 10th victory in 11

games.

The Clippers shredded the NBA

leaders in fewest points allowed

per game to break away after lead-

ing by one after two quarters. They

surpassed the 102.7 points per

game the Knicks had been allow-

ing with their first basket of the fi-

nal quarter.

Raptors 115, Magic 102: Pas-

cal Siakam had 30 points and 10 re-

bounds in Toronto’s victory over

visiting Orlando.

Kyle Lowry had 12 points and 14

assists, and Aaron Baynes added

eight points and 16 rebounds to

help the Raptors snap a three-

game losing streak.

Timberwolves  109,  Cavaliers

104:  Malik Beasley scored 23

points and rookie Anthony Ed-

wards had 23 in his second straight

start in Minnesota’s victory over

visiting Cleveland.

The Timberwolves snapped a

three-game losing streak and won

for just the third time in 17 games.

Wizards’ last-minute rally shocks Nets

NICK WASS / AP

Washington Wizards guardBradley Beal, right, goes to thebasket Sunday as Brooklyn Netsforward Kevin Durant defends.

Associated Press

ROUNDUP

.00038%An NBA’s team’s odds over the past25 seasons when trailing by 5 or morepoints in the final 10 seconds of agame. Counting the Wizards' win onSunday, teams in that situation are9-for-23,498.

SOURCE: basketball-reference.com

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21

NHL/TENNIS

East Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Washington 9 6 0 3 15 35 29

Philadelphia 10 7 2 1 15 35 31

Boston 8 5 1 2 12 25 17

Pittsburgh 9 5 3 1 11 29 34

New Jersey 9 4 3 2 10 23 26

Buffalo 10 4 4 2 10 30 32

N.Y. Islanders 9 3 4 2 8 19 24

N.Y. Rangers 8 2 4 2 6 22 25

Central Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Florida 6 5 0 1 11 22 16

Columbus 10 4 3 3 11 24 28

Carolina 6 5 1 0 10 18 10

Dallas 6 4 1 1 9 23 14

Tampa Bay 6 4 1 1 9 19 14

Chicago 10 3 4 3 9 26 31

Nashville 8 4 4 0 8 20 24

Detroit 10 2 6 2 6 20 35

West Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

St. Louis 9 6 2 1 13 32 29

Colorado 10 6 3 1 13 36 23

Minnesota 10 6 4 0 12 29 28

Vegas 7 5 1 1 11 23 17

Los Angeles 8 3 3 2 8 25 26

Anaheim 10 3 5 2 8 16 27

Arizona 8 3 4 1 7 20 22

San Jose 8 3 5 0 6 22 31

North Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Toronto 10 7 2 1 15 33 29

Montreal 8 5 1 2 12 33 22

Vancouver 11 6 5 0 12 40 37

Winnipeg 8 5 3 0 10 29 25

Edmonton 11 5 6 0 10 38 41

Calgary 7 3 3 1 7 20 17

Ottawa 9 1 7 1 3 2244

Saturday’s games

Buffalo 4, New Jersey 3, SOPhiladelphia 3, N.Y. Islanders 2, OTPittsburgh 5, N.Y. Rangers 4, OTWashington 4, Boston 3, OTCarolina 4, Dallas 1Edmonton 4, Toronto 3, OTColorado 5, Minnesota 1St. Louis 6, Anaheim 1Vancouver 4, Winnipeg 1Florida 3, Detroit 2, OTTampa Bay 4, Nashville 3Calgary 2, Montreal 0

Sunday’s games

New Jersey 5, Buffalo 3Florida 3, Detroit 2Carolina 4, Dallas 3, SOChicago 3, Columbus 1Philadelphia 4, N.Y. Islanders 3, OTSt. Louis 4, Anaheim 1Minnesota 4, Colorado 3, OTEdmonton 8, Ottawa 5

Monday’s games

Boston at WashingtonNashville at Tampa BayPittsburgh at N.Y. RangersVancouver at MontrealCalgary at WinnipegVegas at San Jose, ppd

Tuesday’s games

Buffalo at N.Y. IslandersDallas at ColumbusNew Jersey at PittsburghVancouver at MontrealArizona at St. LouisCalgary at WinnipegCarolina at ChicagoMinnesota at ColoradoAnaheim at Los AngelesOttawa at Edmonton

Scoreboard

Scoring leaders

Through Jan. 31

GP G A PTS

Connor McDavid, EDM 11 8 14 22

Leon Draisaitl, EDM 11 6 15 21

Nathan MacKinnon, COL 10 2 12 14

Mitchell Marner, TOR 10 5 9 14

James van Riemsdyk, PHI 10 5 8 13

Nicklas Backstrom, WSH 9 5 8 13

6Assists by Edmonton OIlers forwardLeon Draisaitl in an 8-5 defeat of theOttawa Sentators Sunday. He was anassist off the NHL record held byEdmonton great Wayne Gretzky (donethree times) and Detroit's Billy Taylor(in 1947).

SOURCE: Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia — Se-

rena Williams found a silver lining

in the delayed start to the Austra-

lian Open, the season-opening

Grand Slam tournament that is

starting three weeks later than

usual because of the COVID-19

pandemic.

Time.

Time to recover from an

Achilles injury that ended her run

at last year’s French Open before

her second-round match. Extra

time with her daughter, albeit in

hotel quarantine.

The 39-year-old American, a

seven-time Australian Open

champion, restarted her lengthy

quest for a 24th Grand Slam sin-

gles title with a 6-1, 6-4 win over

Daria Gavrilova on Monday in a

tuneup tournament at Melbourne

Park.

There are six tournaments be-

ing staged this week to give play-

ers some chance at competitive

tennis before the first major of the

year starts next Monday. Williams

is playing in the Yarra Valley

Classic, along with top-ranked

Ash Barty and defending Austra-

lian Open champion Sofia Kenin.

The fifth-seeded Williams said

she was “pushing the limits” just

being fit enough to compete at

Melbourne Park.

“I needed every time — I don’t

think I would have been here if it

was during the regular season,”

she said.

Williams played an exhibition

match against Naomi Osaka in

Adelaide last Friday in her first

post-quarantine action.

Against Gavrilova on Margaret

Court Arena, she wore a long-

sleeve shirt throughout the match

during a relatively cool summer

day in Melbourne and later said

she achieved what she had aimed

to achieve for a second-round en-

counter — mainly the 1½ hours on

court.

Serena rollsin Australiantuneup event

BY JOHN PYE

Associated Press

HAMISH BLAIR / AP

United States’ Serena Williamscelebrates after defeatingAustralia’s Daria Gavrilova 6­1,6­4 Monday during a tuneupevent for the Australian Open.

EDMONTON, Alberta — Con-

nor McDavid had a goal and four

assists, linemate Leon Draisaitl

had six assists and the Edmonton

Oilers outscored the skidding Ot-

tawa Senators 8-5 on Sunday

night.

McDavid has eight goals this

season, tied for the league lead

with Vancouver’s Brock Boeser,

and leads the points race with 22

— one ahead of Draisaitl.

Draisaitl was an assist off the

NHL record held by Edmonton

great Wayne Gretzky (done three

times) and Detroit’s Billy Taylor

(in 1947). The German forward

leads the NHL in assists with 15,

one more that McDavid.

Dominic Kahun, James Neal,

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Tyson

Barrie, Darnell Nurse and Kailer

Yamamoto also scored for the Oil-

ers. Stuart Skinner made 33 saves

in his NHL debut, handing Ottawa

its eighth straight defeat.

The teams will complete the

two-game set in Edmonton on

Tuesday night.

It took eight seconds for the Oil-

ers to score. Off a faceoff win by

Draisaitl in the Senators’ zone,

Kahun took the pass from his cen-

ter and fired a shot toward the net.

The puck deflected off Ottawa for-

ward Josh Norris’ stick and went

past goaltender Matt Murray.

Hurricanes  4,  Stars  3  (SO):

Vincent Trocheck zipped a shot

past Anton Khudobin’s glove in

the shootout and James Reimer

denied Jamie Benn’s final shot,

helping host Carolina beat Dallas.

Nino Niederreiter scored at

17:25 of the third period to force

overtime and the shootout for the

Hurricanes, who squandered a 2-1

lead to start the third period, but

hung on to beat the Stars for the

second time in two nights.

Jordan Staal and Brock McGinn

also scored for Carolina. The Hur-

ricanes returned Thursday from a

pause due to COVID-19 concerns

that led to four games being post-

poned. Carolina won all three

games in its return.

Reimer finished with 26 saves

for the Hurricanes, including five

in overtime.

Flyers 4, Islanders 3 (OT): Joel

Farabee had a hat trick, Kevin

Hayes scored on a power play 4:23

into overtime and Philadelphia

beat visiting New York for a week-

end sweep.

James van Riemsdyk had three

assists to help the Flyers win their

fourth straight. They also beat the

Islanders in overtime Saturday.

Devils  5,  Sabres  3:  Michael

McLeod and Miles Wood each

scored twice in New Jersey’s win

at Buffalo.

Wood assisted on McLeod’s go-

ahead goal midway through the

third period. Andreas Johnsson

also scored to help the Devils

avenge a shootout loss Saturday in

the opener of the back-to-back set.

Panthers 3, Red Wings 2: Pa-

tric Hornqvist, Aaron Ekblad and

Carter Verhaeghe scored and

Chris Driedger made 32 saves in

Florida’s victory over visiting De-

troit.

Anthony Mantha scored with

1:48 remaining to pull the Red

Wings within a goal after the Red

Wings pulled Thomas Greiss to

add an extra skater. Detroit pulled

its goaltender again, but couldn’t

get another shot past Driedger.

Wild 4, Avalanche 3 (OT):Jonas

Brodin scored 18 seconds into

overtime to lift depleted Minneso-

ta past visiting Colorado. Victor

Rask scored his second goal of the

game for the Wild to tie it with 7:26

left in regulation. Jordan Green-

way also scored and set up the

winner with a pass from the end

line.

Blues  4,  Ducks  1: Brayden

Schenn scored twice, Ville Husso

made 25 saves for his first NHL

victory and the St. Louis won at

Anaheim. Schenn is one of the

NHL’s hottest players with six

goals in his last seven games. He

also has four assists in that span.

Blackhawks 3, Blue Jackets 1:

Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves

and short-handed Chicago beat

beat visiting Columbus.

Patrick Kane and Philipp Ku-

rashev each had a goal and an as-

sist for the Blackhawks, and Pius

Suter also scored Chicago im-

proved to 1-1 on a four-game

homestand after losing 2-1 to the

Blue Jackets on Friday night.

JASON FRANSON / AP

Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, left, and Ottawa Senators defender Erik Gudbranson battle forthe puck. McDavid had a goal and four assists during the Oilers’ 8­5 win Sunday in Edmonnton, Alberta.

McDavid, Draisaitl leadOilers’ rout of Senators

Associated Press

ROUNDUP

PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

MLB/COLLEGE BASKETBALL

NEW YORK — Major League

Baseball has proposed a one-

month delay in starting spring

training due to the coronavirus

pandemic and pushing back open-

ing day to April 28, two people fa-

miliar with the plan told The As-

sociated Press.

Under the plan presented to the

players' union on Friday, the regu-

lar season would be cut from 162

games to 154.

Also, the playoffs would be ex-

panded from 10 teams to 14, the

designated hitter would extend to

the National League for the sec-

ond straight season and MLB

would keep the experimental

rules for seven-inning double-

headers and beginning extra in-

nings with a runner on second

base.

All players would report for

spring training on March 22, back

from the current calendar that

calls a voluntary reporting date of

Feb. 17 for pitchers, catchers and

injured players, and Feb. 22 for

others.

Opening day would be pushed

back 27 days from its currently

scheduled April 1 and the regular

season would end Oct. 10 instead

of Oct. 3. The postseason would

extend into November.

The people familiar with the

plan spoke on condition of ano-

nymity Sunday because no an-

nouncements were made. The

sides have not discussed the pro-

posal with each other since MLB

made it.

A day before the plan was pre-

sented, Commissioner Rob

Manfred said he would like to

know by his regular Monday call

with owners if the union had in-

terest in delaying the start of

spring training.

The reasoning behind the delay

would be to gain time for more

vaccinations and better assess the

health situation.

Seven teams in each league

would make the playoffs, and only

the division winner with the best

record would receive a bye in the

best-of-three first round. There

would be a selection show in

which the seeded teams would be

able to, in order of percentage, se-

lect their first-round opponent.

The three advancing teams in

each league and the one with a

bye would advance to the best-of-

five Division Series, starting the

traditional rounds of the postsea-

son.

While the plan says players

would receive 100% of pay if all

154 scheduled games are played,

Manfred would have an expanded

right to stop spring training, the

regular season or the postseason

under certain conditions. Those

would be if government restric-

tions prevent five or more teams

from playing home games even

without fans, if government rules

restrict travel in the United

States, if Manfred determines af-

ter consultation with medical ex-

perts and the union there is an un-

reasonable safety risk to players

or staff or if the number of regular

major leaguers unavailable be-

cause of COVID-19 undermines

completive integrity.

Each team would start with 18

scheduled days off, and each team

would be allowed to be scheduled

up to 12 split doubleheaders.

Players usually are reluctant to

agree to split doubleheaders be-

cause of the lengthy day at the

ballpark each entails

The regular season would be

compressed to 154 games in 166

days from 162 games in 186 days.

The World Series would be

scheduled to end in the Nov. 10

range, with the exact time de-

pending on discussions with

broadcast partners.

As part of the plan, owners

would guarantee a postseason

players’ pool of 60% of the gate of

the first two first-round games

plus $80 million for the remainder

of the postseason, matching the

2019 pool.

Players previously rejected a

proposal teams made Jan. 5 for

expanded playoffs in exchange

for extending the DH to the Na-

tional League.

Last season was cut from 162

games per team to 60, and the

postseason was expanded to 16

teams and ended Oct. 27 when the

Los Angeles Dodges beat the

Tampa Bay Rays in World Series

Game 6. Players received 60/

162nds of their salaries.

No fans were allowed during

the regular season last year,

which because of the pandemic

started July 23 rather than March

26. About 11,000 fans per game at-

tended the NL Championship Se-

ries and World Series, both played

at the neutral site in Arlington,

Texas. In a deal for expanded 16-

team playoffs in 2020, MLB guar-

anteed a postseason players’ pool

of $50 million.

Delayed starton the tableMLB proposes 154-game season beginning April 28,with 14-team playoffs that would last into November

BY RONALD BLUM

Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Rick

Barnes has a message for anyone

wanting to count out the South-

eastern Conference this season.

Not so fast.

His 18th-ranked Tennessee Vol-

unteers routed No. 15 Kansas 80-

61 Saturday clinching a 5-4 win in

the Big 12/SEC Challenge. It’s just

the second time the SEC has won

this nonconference showdown

created as a chance at improving

resumés in late January.

The last time the SEC won this

event was in 2018 when it sent a

league-record eight teams to the

NCAA Tournament. The SEC has

had 15 tournament teams since

that season, second-most in the

country in that span.

“I am glad we won the chal-

lenge, I really am,” Barnes said.

“If there is enough talk about our

league not being very good and

people talking arguably the Big 12

or the Big 10 being the best league,

the fact is we were able to win 5-4

... yes I think it’s great for our

league.”

Kentucky isn’t leading the SEC

as usual with the Wildcats (5-10)

struggling through the longest

skid of coach John Calipari’s ten-

ure. Florida wound up postponing

four games. The Gators’ Keyontae

Johnson, the SEC preseason play-

er of the year, collapsed on the

court during a Dec. 12 game and

hasn’t played since.

Tennessee, the preseason pick

to win the SEC, lost three games to

drop to fourth in the league.

Not a good sign for a league that

had been showing signs of improv-

ing depth beyond Kentucky and

Florida with its national titles. The

SEC had the top pick in the 2020

NBA draft — Georgia’s Anthony

Edwards — and lottery picks from

Auburn, Alabama, Vanderbilt.

“Everybody thinks that our

league is down,” Barnes said. “I do

not know what league is up and

what league is down. I really don’t.

I just know that the Big 12 has

some terrific teams. I know that

we’ve got some terrific teams.

There’s so much balance right

now in college basketball.”

With the calendar flipping to

February, the SEC is showing

signs of strengthening.

Florida could join Alabama,

Missouri and Tennessee in The

Associated Press rankings Mon-

day after turning in the biggest up-

set of the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

The Gators knocked off No. 11

West Virginia 85-80 and are now

7-3 since losing Johnson.

Coach Mike White said the Ga-

tors had to revamp everything of-

fensively and deal with their emo-

tions.

“We came back down to Earth a

little bit,” White said. “We’ve got-

ten to work, and we’ve gotten bet-

ter. We’ve got a ways to go, but

we’re obviously better than we

were a couple weeks ago.”

Alabama was picked to finish

fifth in the SEC. But second-year

coach Nate Oats has the Crimson

Tide chasing their first regular

season championship since 2002.

The Crimson Tide even swept

Kentucky for the first time since

1988-89, the last time the Wildcats

had a losing record. The Tide won

10 straight until a 66-61 loss on the

road to No. 24 Oklahoma Satur-

day, which Oats expects will get

his players’ attention in a way he

couldn’t while they kept winning.

“If we can learn from it, it’ll end

up helping us in the long run,”

Oats said

Not only was Tennessee expect-

ed to win the SEC,it was projected

to reach its first Final Four with

Barnes having an experienced

roster featuring a trio of five-star

recruits. But freshman Jaden

Springer missed three games, and

the Vols lost those to Alabama,

Florida and Missouri.

Now Springer is back, and soph-

omore Josiah-Jordan James said

Tennessee got a confidence boost-

er beating Kansas

“To be the team we want to be at

the end of the year holding the na-

tional trophy we need to become

that team,” James said.

CAITIE MCMEKIN / AP

Tennessee players, from left, E.J. Anosike, Uros Plavsic andJosiah­Jordan James celebrate after beating Kansas on Saturday.

SEC out to showleague isn’t down

BY TERESA M. WALKER

Associated Press

HOUSTON — Marcus Sasser

scored 19 points and No. 6 Hous-

ton beat SMU 70-48 on Sunday for

its eighth straight win.

After scoring just three points

in a victory over Tulane on Thurs-

day, Sasser opened 0-for-5 against

the Mustangs. He bounced back

and made five of his final 10 shots.

“My teammates kept telling me

every time I went to the bench,

‘Keep shooting the ball,’ ” Sasser

said. “Coach (Kelvin Sampson)

tells me all the time he doesn’t

care how many I miss, just keep

shooting. Even when I am off to a

bad start like that, I keep shooting

and gaining confidence because

my teammates put that confi-

dence in me even though I miss.”

Justin Gorham had nine points

and 17 rebounds for the Cougars

(15-1, 10-1 American Athletic Con-

ference), who won their 20th con-

secutive home game. Reggie Cha-

ney added 10 points.

They won despite shooting only

34%.

“I thought our offense was

great the first half, we just weren’t

making open shots,” Sampson

said. “Look at how many open

shots we missed, look at how

many shots around the rim we

were missing. I told our guys,

‘Don’t worry about that, you’ll

make them.’”

Houston outrebounded SMU

45-33 and committed 10 turn-

overs.

“Our defense has been getting

better,” Sampson said. “There are

three core tenets of our program

— our defense, our rebounding

and taking care of the ball. I

thought we were outstanding in

all three areas.”

Kendric Davis led the Mus-

tangs (9-4, 5-4) with 11 points. Fe-

ron Hunt and Yor Anei each

scored 10 points for SMU, which

made 32% percent of its shots.

The Cougars led 28-24 at half-

time, then went on a 14-3 run,

capped by Gorham’s three-point

play with 16 minutes left.

No. 13 Ohio State 79, Michi­

gan State 62: E.J. Liddell had 20

points and eight rebounds to lead

the host Buckeyes past the skid-

ding Spartans.

Justin Ahrens added 17 for

workmanlike Ohio State (14-4, 8-4

Big Ten), which has won three in

a row and six of seven.

Joshua Langford scored 14

points for Michigan State (8-6,

6-2), which was coming off an em-

barrassing 30-point loss to Rutg-

ers on Thursday that followed a

long COVID-19 layoff.

TOP 25 ROUNDUP 

Houstonwins 8thstraight

Associated Press

Tuesday, February 2, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23

NFL

Ultimately, the Chiefs and Buc-

caneers are in the Super Bowl in

part because they figured it out as

well as anybody.

They adhered to strict mask

mandates inside the facility. They

avoided large gatherings once

they left. They spread out to eat

meals, held meetings in small

groups and paid whatever it took

for cutting-edge tracking sys-

tems.

They held the health of the guy

next to them in the same regard as

their own.

“We had to take care of each

other. We couldn’t go out there

and do things we normally do,”

Kansas Citywide receiver Mecole

Hardman said. “We did a real

good job of protecting each other,

and it did bring us together. We

all had to be locked in.”

According to the NFL, there

were 922,220 tests administered

from Aug. 1 to the end of the regu-

lar season, resulting in 256 posi-

tive tests among players and 432

among other staff members. But

many of those positive tests could

be traced to a few teams and a

handful of outbreaks, which all

but crippled some of them for

large parts of the season.

The Titans had an outbreak in-

volving 24 players and personnel

that caused two postponements

and wiped out their bye week.

The Ravens had issues heading

into a Thanksgiving showdown

with Pittsburgh that they ulti-

mately played without quarter-

back Lamar Jackson in the fol-

lowing week. The Broncos had to

play a game without any quarter-

back whatsoever, and general

manager John Elway and CEO

Joe Ellis also were affected by an

outbreak that sent an assistant

coach to the hospital.

Violations of the COVID-19

protocols were costly in more lit-

eral ways. The Raiders were

fined $1.2 million and docked a

sixth-round pick for violations,

while the Saints lost a seventh-

rounder and $500,000. Tennessee

was fined $650,000 for three sep-

arate violations, the Patriots

$350,000 for their issues, and Bal-

timore $250,000 for its outbreak.

All of which make the problems

of the Chiefs and Bucs seem

downright trivial.

Kansas City had eight players

on the active roster land on the

COVID-19 list, including Hard-

man and starting linebacker An-

thony Hitchens, both of whom

missed games. They also had a

couple of staff members test posi-

tive, including strength coach

Rick Rubin and Burkholder, the

very same man who worked with

the NFL to develop testing proto-

cols.

Tampa Bay had 11 players on

the active roster land on the list,

including running back Ronald

Jones and linebacker Devin

White, who missed the Bucca-

neers’ regular-season finale and

wild-card win over Washington.

But compared to other teams

around the league, the Chiefs and

Bucs had modest problems. Four

of the Chiefs and four of the Bucs

who landed on the COVID-19 list

didn’t miss a game, and both

teams are — knock on wood — ex-

pected to be at full strength when

they meet in the Super Bowl on

Feb. 7 in Tampa, Fla.

“I think our guys have done a

great, great job of being ac-

countable to each other with CO-

VID all year, and will continue to

do that,” Tampa Baycoach

Bruce Arians said. “We’ve talk-

ed about family and friends test-

ing before they ever enter your

home; making sure everybody’s

tested and being very, very

smart about it.”

Arians and his Kansas City

counterpart, Andy Reid, point to a

few reasons their teams have re-

mained safe this season, one of

the biggest being luck. The fact is

even the biggest hypochondriac

could catch the virus without

even knowing it.

The other main reason is lead-

ership. It’s easy to follow the ex-

ample of Tom Brady, with six Su-

per Bowl rings behind him and

the Hall of Fame in front of him,

when he demands the Bucca-

neers mask up.

The same with Patrick Ma-

homes, the reigning Super Bowl

MVP, when he tells the Chiefs to

skip the family gatherings around

the holidays.

“Like, getting a haircut before

the game — I had to get my barber

tested, or go to the barber shop

when no one is there,” Mahomes

said. “You can’t risk getting CO-

VID or anything like that. And

then, after games when I would

usually hang out with the guys,

hang out with different people, or

even hang out with my family, I

had to kind of prevent that as

much as possible or keep it very

minimal. I mean, it does take a toll

on you.”

Then again, the toll is a little

easier to bear when you are part

of a team capable of winning a

championship.

Season: Bucs, Chiefshandled pandemic wellFROM PAGE 24 “We did a real good

job of protecting eachother, and it did bringus together. We allhad to be locked in.”

Mecole Hardman

Kansas City Chiefs wide reciever

There was a regular-season

shootout and a playoff master-

piece the first season that Patrick

Mahomes and Tom Brady met on

a football field.

Brady came out ahead in those

two meetings, but Mahomes has

gotten the edge the past two times

they met.

Now as they are set to meet on

football’s biggest stage of the Su-

per Bowl, it’s time to look back at

those first four games when they

shared a field.

While their teams split those

contests, Mahomes has put up the

better numbers with his 109.2 pas-

ser rating and 11-3 touchdown to

interception ratio outpacing Bra-

dy’s 86 rating with six TDs and

five interceptions.

But the matchup features the

most accomplished quarterback

ever to play the game who is still

thriving at age 43 in Brady against

the young gun who is rewriting re-

cord books at age 25.

“Could you imagine if Michael

Jordan had gotten his team to the

(NBA) Finals when he was older

against a young LeBron James?”

CBS game analyst Tony Romo

said. “It would be the greatest

thing in the history of sports. ... I

think we actually might have that

game.”

Here’s a look at the past meet-

ings between Brady and Ma-

homes:

Chiefs 27, Bucs 24 at Tampa,

Nov. 29, 2020:  Mahomes and

Tyreek Hill jumped all over Tam-

pa Bay early with TD passes of 75

and 44 yards in the first quarter.

Hill had seven catches for 203

yards in the first period, the third-

most yards in any quarter for a

player in the past 40 years. Ma-

homes added a 20-yard TD pass to

Hill in the third quarter to make it

a 17-point game. Mahomes threw

for 462 yards and three TDs, with

Hill leading the way with 13 catch-

es for 269 yards.

Chiefs 23, Patriots 16 at New

England,  Dec.  8,  2019:  Ma-

homes and the Chiefs clinched the

AFC West and snapped New En-

gland’s 21-game home winning

streak. Mahomes injured his hand

on the second drive of the game

yet finished with 283 yards pass-

ing and a TD.

Brady struggled, going 19 of 36

for 169 yards, a touchdown and in-

terception. Bashaud Breeland

sealed the win when he knocked

away Brady’s fourth-down pass

attempt to Julian Edelman in the

end zone with just over a minute to

play.

Patriots 37, Chiefs 31, OT, at

Kansas City, Jan. 20, 2019: The

only previous postseason meeting

between the star QBs was a clas-

sic, with Brady and the Patriots

coming out victorious in overtime

in the AFC title game to set up his

sixth championship.

“Overtime, on the road against a

great team,” Brady said. “They

had no quit. Neither did we. We

played our best football at the end.

I don’t know, man, I’m tired. That

was a hell of a game.”

Patriots 43, Chiefs 40, at New

England, Oct. 14, 2019: The first

meeting between Brady and Ma-

homes was a shootout, with Brady

staking the Patriots to a 24-9 half-

time lead.

Mahomes responded with four

TD passes in the second half and

gave the Chiefs the lead with a 75-

yarder to Tyreek Hill with 3:03 to

play.

Brady responded with a 65-yard

drive including a 16-yard pass to

James White and 39-yarder to

Gronkowski. That set up Stephen

Gostkowski’s winning field goal

on the final play that gave Brady

his record 200th victory as a start-

ing QB.

“It’s tough to slow those guys

down, they’ve been scoring a lot of

points all year,” Brady said.

“They’re gonna be pretty tough to

stop. Glad we had our last shot and

glad we took advantage of it.”

PHOTOS BY MATT LUDTKE, ABOVE, AND ED ZURGA, BELOW/AP

This season’s Super Bowl matchup between the Buccaneers and Chiefs features the most accomplishedquarterback to play the game in Tampa Bay’s 43­year­old Tom Brady, top, against Kansas City’s younggun Patrick Mahomes, below, already rewriting record books at age 25. Brady and Mahomes are 2­2 incareer head­to­head matchups. 

Super Bowl QBs have historyBY JOSH DUBOW

Associated Press

Brady, Mahomes are 2-2 in their previous matchups

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, February 2, 2021

SPORTSMcDavid leads rout

Oilers cruise to victory overskidding Senators ›› NHL, Page 21

MLB considering delayed start to season ›› Page 22

The Kansas City Chiefs had a pretty good idea what kind of

COVID-19 protocols they would have to wade through in

defense of their Super Bowl championship the moment

they finally gathered for in-person training camp.

One of their own helped to devise them.

It was Chiefs vice president of sports medicine and performance

Rick Burkholder who worked hand in hand with the NFL, physicians

and other trainers in developing

the testing, social distancing and

tracing parameters that would ul-

timately allow the league to play

its full 256-game regular-season

schedule. And it was Burkholder

who helped the Chiefs navigate

the season with few positive tests

and just one postponement — the

fault of the other team — as they

closed in on a Super Bowl repeat.

“I think in the spring and early summer, many of us had a lot of

uncertainty about how this was going to unfold,” Chiefs chairman

Clark Hunt said. “I don’t think we knew for sure you could play foot-

ball safely, that the virus would not be passed on the football field.

Those were things we just didn’t know, and it was a process to figure

out how to do this.”

Pushing through pandemic

/

Chiefs, Buccaneers ride (mostly) COVID-clear season to Super BowlBY DAVE SKRETTA

Associated Press

NFL 

Top right: Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady holdsthe George Halas Trophy after beating the Packers 31­26 in theNFC Championship in Green Bay, Wis. on Jan. 24. Below: KansasCity Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, celebrates with theLamar Hunt Trophy after defeating the Buffalo Bills 38­24 in theAFC Championship, Jan. 24, in Kansas City, Mo.

AP PHOTOS

INSIDE

Brady, Mahomes2-2 ahead of fifthcareer matchupPage 23

SEE SEASON ON PAGE 23