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The 2026 college football season is upon us.The Indiana Hoosiers are the reigning national champions and are coming off an undefeated season. The slate has been wiped clean for every team, and a new quest for the College Football Playoff is about to begin.Not every schedule is created equally — especially after the creation of these super conferences that are no longer bound by region. Some Power Four schools will have to run an absolute gauntlet over the course of the season.For some schools, an incredibly tough schedule will be another résumé checkmark in the eyes of the CFP committee, if they can get through it. For others, an incredibly tough schedule means a rough couple of months ahead, with a bowl game appearance seeming like a faint dream.Here are 10 teams with the toughest 2026 schedules. Even though some of these teams are considered College Football Playoff favorites, getting there will be no easy task. *Preseason AP poll rankings shown in parentheses.Texas LonghornsTexas finished the season with a 10-3 overall record, going 6-2 in conference play. The Longhorns missed out on the CFP but did end up beating Michigan 41-27 in the Citrus Bowl. The Longhorns could be playing their last season with QB Arch Manning, who is eligible for the 2027 NFL Draft. Texas opens in Week 1 with Texas State, but that tune-up game will be overshadowed by a Week 2 matchup against Ohio State, the preseason No. 1 team in the country. The Longhorns then face UTSA before playing nine conference games in a row. Texas' schedule is highlighted by a road game against Tennessee (No. 20), the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma (No. 10), a home game against Ole Miss (No. 9), and then road games against both LSU (No. 11) and Texas A&M (No. 8). Those five opponents had a combined 49-18 record last season. Michigan WolverinesMichigan has a new head coach in Kyle Wittingham after finishing last season ranked 21st in the country with a 9-4 overall record and a 7-2 clip in the Big Ten. Wittingham will make his debut in Week 1 against Western Michigan. The Wolverines will then host Oklahoma (No. 10) in Week 2 as their marquee non-conference matchup. After a Week 3 home game against UTEP, the Wolverines will play nine straight conference games. The good news for Michigan is that it plays just four road games. The bad news is that two of them are at Oregon (No. 2) and Ohio State (No. 1), with both games coming in the final three weeks of the season. The Wolverines also have tough home games against Iowa (No. 22), Penn State (No. 18), Indiana (No. 6) and UCLA, all of which should be competitive matchups.Will Lincoln Riley's USC Trojans work their way through a tough schedule and make the College Football Playoff? (Robert Gauthier/Getty Images)Robert Gauthier via Getty ImagesUSC TrojansLincoln Riley could be on the hot seat with the Trojans. He took over ahead of the 2022 season, and in four years so far, USC has gone 35-18 with no CFP berth.Southern Cal will open in Week Zero at home against San Jose State. The Trojans will then play Fresno State and Louisiana before their first off week. When USC returns, it starts conference play. The Trojans' Big Ten slate this season consists of games against Washington (No. 17), Penn State (No. 18), Ohio State (No. 1), Indiana (No. 6), and UCLA. Even games that don't look tough on paper will be ones to watch out for, as USC lost games last year on the road to both Minnesota and Maryland, the latter of which only registered one conference win all year. Ohio State BuckeyesOhio State was a perfect 12-0 last year before dropping games against Indiana in the Big Ten title game and then Miami in the College Football Playoff.This year, the Buckeyes will open at Ball State in Week 1, but follow that up with a road night game against Texas (No. 5). Ohio State will then face Kent State at home in Week 3 before starting its Big Ten conference games in Week 4. Ohio State will have to go on the road against Iowa (No. 22), Indiana (No. 6) and USC (No. 14), while hosting Oregon (No. 2) and Michigan (No. 16). The Buckeyes finally beat the Wolverines in 2025 after losing to their rival four consecutive seasons. Arkansas RazorbacksArkansas is coming off a season to forget as the Razorbacks finished dead last in the SEC and didn't win a single conference game last year. Former Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield will have to get his team ready quickly for a home game against North Alabama in Week 1 because Arkansas will go on the road to Utah (No. 21) in Week 2. The Razorbacks will return home in Week 3, but will face Georgia (No. 3). After a game against Tulsa, Arkansas will finish with eight straight SEC matchups. This season, the Razorbacks will play on the road against Texas A&M (No. 8), Vanderbilt, Auburn and Texas (No. 5). They have home games against Tennessee (No. 20), South Carolina and LSU (No. 11). UNC went 4-8 in Bill Belichick's first season as head coach. (Lance King/Getty Images)Lance King via Getty ImagesUNC Tar HeelsThe Bill Belichick era got off to a rocky start last season as North Carolina hosted TCU and got obliterated, 48-14. UNC recovered with wins against Charlotte and Richmond, but only registered two conference wins the rest of the season to finish 4-8 overall.The Tar Heels will kick off the 2026 regular season again against TCU, but this time the game will be in Dublin. After an off week, UNC will return home to take on East Tennessee State. UNC travel to Clemson, Pittsburgh, Duke, and Virginia this season, while also hosting Miami (No. 7) and NC State. UNC also managed to draw both independent schools and will take on both Notre Dame (No. 4) and UConn, with the latter being a road game. Oregon DucksThe Ducks went undefeated in Big Ten play in 2024, but finally registered a conference loss last season, falling to Indiana at home. Oregon opens the 2026 season at home against Boise State, which is in its first year in the rebuilt Pac-12. The Ducks then head to Oklahoma State and face Portland State before beginning conference play. They will have to play on the road against teams like USC (No. 14), Illinois and Ohio State (No. 1). The Ducks' home slate is also tough as they welcome Nebraska, Michigan (No. 16) and Washington (No. 17) to Autzen Stadium.Florida GatorsThe Jon Sumrall era is set to begin in The Swamp. Florida is coming off a 4-8 season that included a 2-6 conference record with wins against Texas and Mississippi State. Florida will open the season in Week 1 against Florida Atlantic, then play Campbell before nine consecutive SEC matchups. The Gators will play Auburn, Texas (No. 5) and Florida State on the road this year. Florida will host Ole Miss (No. 9), South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma (No. 10). This year's World's Largest Cocktail Party against Georgia (No. 3) will take place on Halloween, which will surely make for a wild atmosphere. Florida has only beaten Georgia once since 2017 (during the 2020 season). Oklahoma SoonersOklahoma made the CFP last season, but lost in the first round to Alabama. The Sooners are expected to be back in the mix for this year's CFP, provided they can get through their schedule. After opening in Week 1 against UTEP, OU gets its first big test on the road against No. 16 Michigan at The Big House.Oklahoma then returns home to play New Mexico before going right back on the road to take on Georgia (No. 3). After an off week, the Sooners then have Texas (No. 5) in the Red River Rivalry game. OU's second half of the season is a little lighter, but still includes home games against South Carolina, Ole Miss (No. 9) and Texas A&M (No. 8). The Sooners will also go on the road to face Florida and then will end their season away against Missouri (No. 25) in what could end up being a trap game in the final week of the season.Purdue BoilermakersPurdue finished last season with a 2-10 record, unable to register a conference win for the second consecutive season. Things won't get much easier for the Boilermakers this year as their three non-conference games are Indiana State, Wake Forest and No. 4 Notre Dame. In addition to these games, the Boilermakers will go on the road to face UCLA, Illinois, Penn State (No. 18), Iowa (No. 22) and Indiana (No. 6) in one of the toughest road slates in football. Purdue will play Wake Forest, Notre Dame and Washington (No. 17) at home. Dishonorable Mention: Northwestern Wildcats, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Michigan State Spartans, Florida State Seminoles, South Carolina Gamecocks.

Ray Toole played for Essex in a One Day Cup win over Glamorgan at Chelmsford in 2022 [Rex Features]Glamorgan have signed New Zealander Ray Toole for the final six matches of their Championship season.The 28-year-old is a left-arm seam bowler who was the leading wicket-taker in New Zealand's domestic competition, the Plunket Shield, in 2025-26.He claimed 35 wickets in eight matches for Central Districts, 24 of them coming in the final four games.Toole looks set to make his debut against Leicestershire at Grace Road on Thursday, 20 August as Glamorgan bid to strengthen their current fourth position in Division One.The Welsh county have also signed another left arm bowler, Pakistan's Mir Hamza, for the Championship run-in, although he will not arrive until next week. Glamorgan director of cricket Mark Wallace said: "Ray Toole is a player with a similar skillset to Mir, who has been playing in our second XI off the back of an excellent domestic season in New Zealand."To be able to call on him during this block as we try and manage workloads with six games in six weeks is going to be really beneficial for us."Glamorgan have so far used five overseas players in the 2026 season, with Hamza and Toole joining South Africa batter Colin Ingram in the squad.Only two overseas players can feature in a Championship game.New South Wales paceman Ryan Hadley was the overseas bowler for the first eight Championship games, but few Australians are allowed to play in the United Kingdom in August and September because of domestic commitments.Afghanistan quick bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi, New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham and Australian seamer Nathan McAndrew were all used in the T20 Blast.Toole, born in South Africa to British parents, has previous county experience with Essex and Durham, and has a career record of 150 first-class wickets in 48 games at an average of 27. He took six wickets in the match for Glamorgan second XI against Worcestershire, gaining practice the week before his likely first-team debut.

[BBC]Prior to last weekend's League Cup defeat in Aberdeen, Steven Pressley highlighted his desire to add a couple of defenders and attacking players to his Dundee squad.The need for the latter has intensified after frontman Simon Murray picked up a nasty looking knee injury during their Pittodrie loss.He joins Ashley Hay on the sidelines, leaving Pressley desperately short of striking options.In fact the threadbare nature of the Dark Blues squad was emphasised by a look at their bench in the Granite City, which included an 18-year-old and three 17-year-olds.This isn't just down to injuries, but also the fact a number of key players departed at the end of last term.It is far all doom and gloom at Dens Park though. Despite the loss to Aberdeen, Dundee have made an encouraging start to the season.But whether that continues could be determined by the business they do between now and the transfer deadline in a few weeks' time.Pressley is well aware of that. He has proved adept at pulling rabbits out of the hat - and it looks like he will have to do so again.

The Jaguars have reportedly agreed to a trade to help bolster their offensive line in the wake of guard Patrick Mekari's back surgery. Evan Barnes of Newsday reports that the Giants have agreed to trade Daniel Faalele to Jacksonville in exchange for a late-round pick in the 2027 draft. Faalele started every game at guard for the Ravens the last two seasons and he followed John Harbaugh to the Giants as a free agent this offseason. First-round pick Francis Mauigoa and Jon Runyan are set to start at guard for the NFC East club, however, and that's made Faalele expendable. It's unclear how long Mekari will be out, but starting the regular season on injured reserve would force him to miss at least the first four games of the year.

The papyrus fragment contains three lines that don't appear in standard modern-day translations of Homer's epic poem

Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli army strike on a cafe at the Gaza port the previous day, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)2026-08-19T13:20:48Z JERUSALEM (AP) — Deadly airstrikes in Gaza and reports of an Israeli raid there on Wednesday cast more doubt on any progress made by the latest U.S. efforts to move forward the tenuous ceasefire. Just two days after U.S. negotiators reportedly asked Israel to draw down attacks in the Gaza Strip, at least 10 people were killed Wednesday in two strikes, according to local hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Israeli troops also crossed the ceasefire line in southern Gaza and detained a Hamas police colonel at dawn Wednesday, two witnesses and a Hamas official said.Israel’s military said one of the strikes on Wednesday, in Nuseirat, struck a Hamas commander who had participated in the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 abducted. A second strike in the Tuffah area of Gaza City struck another Hamas commander planning to carry out attacks against Israeli troops, the military said. The Palestinian Red Crescent said that Wednesday’s strike on a police station in Gaza City killed at least nine people and wounded 15 others. One person was killed in Nuseirat. On Tuesday evening, an Israeli strike on a busy seaside cafe killed seven Palestinians, including a child, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israel’s military said that Tuesday’s strike had targeted a meeting of four Hamas commanders and additional militants, including one who had participated in the 2023 attack. The military didn’t provide the names of the targeted commanders or confirm if they’d been killed. Jared Kushner, a U.S. negotiator and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, held a marathon meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, in which he asked Israel’s leader to draw down attacks on the Gaza Strip, a person familiar with the meeting said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief journalists. Also on Wednesday, Israel’s military said that it had completed reviews of 150 incidents of troop conduct during the war in Gaza and would launch criminal investigations into the killings of a 5-year-old girl and her family, as well as of 15 Palestinian paramedics. Read More 14 killed in Israeli strikesThe deadly strike in Gaza on Tuesday and Wednesday exacted more casualties even as a ceasefire that’s been in place since October has significantly diminished the fighting in the tiny enclave where more than 2 million Palestinians live. Since the ceasefire, Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,273 people, according to health officials in Gaza. The nearly three-year Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 73,400 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry, which was part of the recently dissolved Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and international organizations. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and militants, but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.In the early hours of Wednesday, at least 15 Israeli troops entered the Muwasi coastal area, west of the city of Khan Younis, two residents and a Hamas official said. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Accompanied by armed men, the troops stormed the tent of Sabri Abdel-All, a colonel for the Hamas-led Blue Police in Khan Younis. They also detained another resident identified as Nashat Ezzat Zaarab, they said.The two residents and the Hamas official spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety. Latest ceasefire negotiation offer few concrete commitmentsOn the diplomatic front, the ceasefire also appears stalled. Trump’s initial ceasefire plan laid out a broad vision for ending Hamas’ rule in Gaza and rebuilding the territory, much of which was reduced to rubble during the devastating war.But since last fall, major sticking points have emerged on the conditions of Hamas’ disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal — and which of the two should come first.Earlier this month, Trump announced that Hamas had agreed to disarm. But Hamas said it would begin to disarm if Israel halts strikes and withdraws, adding that laying down its heavy weapons would come later in the process and be contingent on the creation of a Palestinian state — something Israel’s government adamantly rejects.And Netanyahu also pushed back on the deal, saying that Israel won’t withdraw from its current lines in Gaza until Hamas has completely disarmed. ___Associated Press journalists Julia Frankel and Giovanna Dell’Orto in Jerusalem; Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel; Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip; and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.

Milwaukee Brewers' Luis Lara hits a three-run home run for his first career home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)2026-08-19T04:50:19Z MILWAUKEE (AP) — The long ball hasn’t been the Milwaukee Brewers’ strength this season, but the team with the best record in the majors put its power on full display on Tuesday night in a record-matching 22-0 rout of the Seattle Mariners.The Brewers equaled baseball’s modern-era record for the biggest shutout with a power surge that included three-run homers from Christian Yelich, David Hamilton and Luis Lara and a two-run shot by Jake Bauers.The Brewers have 117 home runs this season, the fewest in baseball, but as was pointed out by Seattle manager Dan Wilson, they have multiple players with the ability to go deep.“They’ll put bunts down and put pressure on the bases and steal bags,” Wilson said before the game. “They also have the ability to hit the home run. You kind of have to prepare for all areas of the game.”The Brewers also generated offense doing what they do best, pulling off a double steal in a five-run fifth inning that helped break open a tight game. The 78-48 Brewers matched a franchise record for runs in a game, tying the 22 runs they scored at the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 28, 1992. The Brewers also had a season-high 22 hits.“It’s one game but a pretty darn good performance,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “I’d like to order that every night.” The only other 22-0 victories since 1901 were by Pittsburgh over the host Chicago Cubs on Sept. 16, 1975 and by Cleveland at the New York Yankees on Aug. 31, 2004.Yelich connected for his ninth homer of the season, a three-run shot off Bryce Miller in the fifth. The Brewers tacked on five more runs in the sixth. Read More “It’s kind of crazy. It happened fast,” Yelich said. “It’s always fun to be on this side.”Bauers smiled as he struggled to find words to describe the Brewers offensive outburst.“I’ve got nothing for you on that one,” Bauers said. “It was just good performance all around. Just good at-bats all night up and down the lineup.”Bauers hit his team-leading 22nd home run of the season in the sixth inning and he’s now reached base safely in 20 consecutive games. The Brewers tagged Mariners infielder Leo Rivas, who came on to pitch in the eighth, for nine runs, which included a three-run home run from 21-year-old rookie Lara, his first career homer.Lara took some good-natured ribbing about whether the homer counted since he hit it off a position player, but he was in a celebratory mood.“For me, it all counts,” Lara said through an interpreter. “But I understand that it may not be common to get your first (home run) against a position player.”Bauers and Yelich backed their young teammate.“It’s a hard game. Every bloop single, dribbler single, home run off a position player, they all count,” he said.Yelich urged Lara to embrace the moment.“The first career homer is always cool,” he said. “Anytime you get to jog around the bases in a major league game is always special. It was cool for him to get his first one and smile and laugh about it.”The Brewers also used a position player on the mound, veteran catcher/first baseman Gary Sanchez, with a much different result. Sanchez pitched a scoreless ninth with many in the announced crowd of 36,870 standing and cheering.It was the third career pitching appearance for Sanchez and second this season. He has tossed two scoreless innings in the pair of outings the season. “He did great. He was a showman as always,” Bauers said. “The crowd was involved. They loved it. He loved it. We loved it. But I still think he’s a better catcher than a pitcher.”___See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Chicago Cubs' Pete Crow-Armstrong watches his home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Melissa Tamez)2026-08-19T04:57:35Z CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong made MLB history with a leadoff home run and Alex Bregman’s RBI single gave the Chicago Cubs a second straight walk-off win over the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 on Tuesday night.Carson Kelly led off the bottom of the ninth with a double to left off Trevor Richards (0-1). The White Sox intentionally walked Crow-Armstrong before Bregman delivered the Cubs’ MLB-leading 13th walk-off win of the season.Bregman singled in pinch-runner Kevin Alcantara off Grant Taylor in the seventh to tie the score. Crow-Armstrong led off with a home run, his 31st, for the second straight game and sixth time this season. He homered in consecutive at-bats after his first career walk-off shot Monday.According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Crow-Armstrong is the first player in MLB history with two leadoff home runs and a walk-off in a two-game span, and the 13th since 1900 to follow a walk-off homer with a leadoff shot. Crow-Armstrong also hit leadoff home runs in back-to-back games June 15-16 against Colorado.Jacob Webb (6-2) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win, the Cubs’ eighth straight over the White Sox at Wrigley Field.Colson Montgomery had three hits for the White Sox, who saw their AL Central lead shrink to four games over the Minnesota Twins. The Cubs remained 4 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central. The game was delayed 88 minutes by rain in the eighth inning.After White Sox opener Bryan Hudson gave up first-inning solo home runs to Crow-Armstrong and Michael Busch, Erick Fedde worked 4 2/3 shutout innings. Read More The Cubs’ Kevin Gausman gave up three runs on seven hits before exiting the game in the fifth with a left (non-throwing) hand cramp.After Drew Romo’s RBI single in the second, Munetaka Murakami hit his 29th home run in the third. Tristan Peters put the White Sox ahead in the fourth with an RBI double.Up nextThe White Sox have not named a starter for Wednesday’s series finale against Cubs RHP Clay Holmes (5-5, 2.56 ERA).___See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Houston Humane Society volunteers Dawn York, left, and Kent Williamson, right, walk Graphite and Shadow at the Humane Society in Houston, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lekan Oyekanmi)2026-08-19T13:01:54Z Adoptions are on hold for thousands of dogs and cats in Texas, potentially putting the animals at risk of being euthanized, because of efforts to stop the spread of the New World screwworm, an insect that has crossed the border from Mexico into the United States for the first time in 60 years.The flesh-eating parasite threatens the nation’s $113 billion beef industry, prompting federal officials to close the border to cattle movements. Because the screwworm also can infect pets, most states have restricted the movement of animals from infested areas of Texas, leading to crowded conditions in state shelters that rely on adoptions to other regions of the country.“It’s thrown a wrench into things, for small rescues as well as the bigger shelters,” said Mia Bendixsen, executive director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network, which promotes animal welfare laws. The screwworm can lay eggs that hatch into flesh-eating larvae in wounds or mucous on any mammal, and of the dozens of infections in southern Texas and southeastern New Mexico, several have been in dogs. Forty-four states have restricted the movements of pets from infested areas, creating a hardship for shelters from Texas that typically send thousands of animals to other states each year.In Corpus Christi, the Gulf Coast Humane Society couldn’t get rescued dogs into New York state for weeks, causing the shelter’s animal population to climb from around 325 to nearly 450. The shelter, which sends about 500 dogs a year outside Texas, created more space in outdoor exercise areas until New York again allowed dogs from Texas — if a veterinarian first certified that each one wasn’t infected with the screwworm.She added that if her shelter doesn’t have space to take animals from municipal shelters, “then they have to euthanize more animals.” Read More Texas has a surplus of dogs and cats for adoptionMoving dogs and cats from Texas to other states, particularly in the Northeast or Great Lakes region, has become crucial to saving stray and abandoned animals.In 2025, Texas had more unadopted dogs transferred out of its shelters than any other state — nearly 89,000, according to the American Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals. Texas also euthanized about 45,000 dogs — more dogs than any other state, according to the data. And Texas led in the number of cats transferred out of its shelters — nearly 53,000 — and was second to California in those euthanized, with almost 29,000.Texas has more stray dogs and cats than any state other than California — about 439,000 in 2025 — largely because of its high population and size. Warm weather also allows stray animals to survive longer and breed more, said veterinarians and animal welfare advocates. They added that Texas pet owners seem less willing to spay or neuter their dogs.“There are people with working ranch and farm dogs, both male and female, who feel like the animal will lose some of its drive,” said veterinarian Lori Teller, executive director of the Texas Veterinary Medical Association. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Both shelters and animals are stressedIn Houston, Humane Society shelter Director Aaron Grady said an inability to send animals out of state has left them more stressed.“If an adopter comes through and they’re going from kennel to kennel and they see one dog who may be sitting calmly and contentedly in one kennel and then in the next kennel, there’s one dog who’s bouncing off of the walls and barking because of how stressed they are, first one may be looking more desirable,” Grady said.The Houston shelter has worked to keep its animal population — mostly cats and dogs — at about 200 by tapping a network of foster homes for up to 300 more and by helping pet owners keep their animals even a little longer. Most states have tightened rules for importing animalsRestrictions on animal transports followed efforts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to keep the New World screwworm fly from crossing the border with Mexico.Those efforts include construction of a $750 million fly factory in southern Texas for breeding billions of sterile males set to open in April 2027. The U.S. had largely eradicated the fly by the early 1970s by breeding sterile males and releasing them from planes to mate with females, who laid eggs that wouldn’t hatch.Smaller facilities in Texas and southern Mexico have been dispersing sterile flies bred in Panama, and another is planned for Arizona.A week after the first reported case in Texas this year, Florida — where the screwworm fly can thrive — banned imports of rescued dogs and cats from there and New Mexico. Other states required veterinarians to inspect animals and declare them free of the parasite. Many shortened the period that a certification was valid from the typical 30 days to as little as three days. Shelters worried about space long before the screwworm returnedState restrictions hit an animal welfare system that’s long been short of the money and other resources, said Delcianna Winders, director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at the Vermont Law and Graduate School.She said shelters need more money and space, but communities also should require animals to be spayed or neutered — and have programs to provide those services if people cannot afford them. “If we could provide them just with some basic support, they might be able to keep those animals in their homes, and that’s one less animal in a shelter, one less animal being killed,” she said.COVID-19 stressed the system, too, in part because pandemic restrictions put spaying and neutering on hold. Cost of living increases are another reason people turn animals over to shelters.“A lot of them are just saying, ‘I just can’t, I just can’t do it anymore,’” said Brandon Krodle, animal control supervisor in Greenville, Texas, a fast-growing city northeast of Dallas.A trip from Texas to Indiana saved her dog’s lifeMills, the Corpus Christi shelter director, has a dog who would have died in 2015 but for a nearly 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) trip from Paris, Texas, to Angola, Indiana, where Mills was working at the time. Zuri, a young female Shepherd-pit bull mix, was on a list of dogs slated for euthanasia, and Mills’ counterpart in Texas asked Mills to add Zuri to a transport.Zuri’s right ear doesn’t fully straighten up, and the puppy had “the cutest face,” Mills said, but she was sold on Zuri because Zuri looked as if she “was actually thinking things through” as Mills spoke to her. Mills broke a personal rule against taking her shelter’s animals home.When Mills moved to Corpus Christi in 2020, Zuri returned to Texas.“The shelter that I was at in Indiana, we transported from Texas and southern states every week.,” Mills said. JOHN HANNA Hanna covers U.S. news, including politics and state government. He’s worked for AP in Topeka, Kansas, since 1986 and is a member of the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame. mailto

Blockbuster market debuts by two technology companies show how Beijing is turning to local investors to finance its A.I. ambitions and reduce reliance on Wall Street.

European governments, facing a nearly $1 trillion gap in investment funding, are casting a wide net to back start-ups developing pioneering technologies.

One of the most interesting home kitchens I’ve ever seen combined aspects of Americana and Greek styles. It was in Illinois and I had never seen anything like it. The kitchen had carved wood valances around a fake shingled roof, all accented by regal Greek columns that you might find in a fast-casual gyro shop. I was house hunting at the time and ultimately passed on this spectacular piece of property with this, let’s just say, unique kitchen. READ MORE...

Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you that I’ve never, ever had any trouble falling asleep. It’s waking up that’s the problem. I’m a notorious snoozer, and I have the horrible habit of oversleeping, then jolting awake in a panic about being late for work (not exactly a graceful start to the morning). READ MORE...

A Las Vegas resident is going viral for her speech calling out a Moms for Liberty-aligned school board trustee for wearing a transphobic T-shirt to a board meeting. “A dangerous message is sent: ‘You do not belong here. Your safety is not our priority,'” resident Amanda Nuchols said in her speech. Related A CEO tried to bribe professional women athletes into being transphobic. She failed miserably. Nuchols showed up to the board meeting last Thursday and saw that Clark County School District board member Lorena Biassotti was wearing an “XX-XY” T-shirt. XX-XY Athletics is a transphobic clothing brand founded by anti-trans activist Jennifer Sey. The brand’s spokesperson is Riley Gaines, who tied for fifth place with a trans woman at a college swim meet over four years ago and turned it into a career in right-wing punditry. The name of the brand, XX-XY, is a reference to sex chromosomes, which anti-trans activists argue only come in those two forms (which is not true) and should determine a person’s gender. Nuchols wasn’t having it. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today “Transgender and nonbinary youth already face staggering rates of anxiety, depression, and bullying,” she said in her speech. “They look to school leadership for protection, stability, and basic dignity.” “For a leader to bring targeted hostility into the very room where decisions about their education and well-being are made is both irresponsible and cruel,” she continued. “You cannot effectively advocate for the well-being of all children while publicly displaying contempt for some of them.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Nevadan (@nevadannews) Nuchols posted a picture of Biassotti wearing her T-shirt at the board meeting on her Instagram account. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Amanda Nuchols (@amandanuchols) In 2024, Biassotti, who led the Clark County chapter of the anti-LGBTQ+ extremist group Moms for Liberty, was first elected to the school board on a campaign that highlighted her work to ban books that mention LGBTQ+ people from the school district. She was targeted by a student-led petition for her “repeated derogatory statements that target transgender students.” The petition cited how Biassotti referred to trans girls as “boys pretending” to be girls and how she compared being transgender to pedophilia at a 2023 board meeting. “By affirming gender dysphoria instead of treating it, you’re normalizing mental illness,” Biassotti said at the time. “Pedophilia is also a mental illness. With so much inclusivity, why would you leave out pedophiles?” At a 2021 board meeting, Biassotti, who was not yet running for the board, called out teachers who “encourage homosexuality, gender confusion, and racism.” On X, just after the board meeting last week, Biassotti posted a picture of herself in the XX-XY T-shirt and wrote: “Truth is not hate. Protect women’s sports from gender confusion.” She tagged Gaines and anti-trans Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). Truth is not hate. Protect women’s sports from gender confusion. (Trustees of the 5th largest school district in America) @LydiaD_LV #biology #truth @sophaller @Riley_Gaines_ @icons_women @xx_xyathletics @StavrosAnthony @NancyMace pic.twitter.com/TeFslRLhBa— Lorena Biassotti (@lorena4change) August 14, 2026 Biassotti posted several responses to people criticizing her online for the T-shirt and then posted that her critics are “truly soulless & sick” and claimed that she was being called “vile and disgusting names for wearing a shirt to defend women.” Imagine being called vile and disgusting names for wearing a shirt to defend women. These people are truly soulless & sick. Thanks for proving my point. #MENCANTBEWOMEN #XXXY— Lorena Biassotti (@lorena4change) August 18, 2026 Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, center, waves next to his wife Erika, while standing on stage with their children Darin, left, Damon, second from left, and Mason during at a primary election party Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)2026-08-19T13:24:44Z ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Across 250 years, only three elected governors out of thousands have been Black –- all Democrats and all men, including current Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.But Moore could soon have company. With Florida Republicans nominating U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds on Tuesday, there are seven Black major party gubernatorial nominees in addition to Moore — men and women, Democrats and Republicans — on November ballots.“We do have a unique moment here,” said Moore, who recently became chair of the National Governors Association. He often says that his historic status is “not an applause line” but instead represents a bigger challenge that this country is still looking to overcome.The Black nominees typically do not focus on the history at stake, instead emphasizing their experience and policy proposals.“Florida is a great meritocracy in America,” Donalds told reporters Tuesday night after not mentioning his race at all in his victory speech. “I’ll let you guys write about that,” he added. But many said that more reflective representation matters given the nation’s history, from slavery to Jim Crow and the lingering effects.“It’s not a secret that some issues in the African American community get ignored and don’t have a voice,” said Aaron Ford, Nevada’s first Black attorney general and now the Democratic nominee for governor. Ford said he brings a focus to issues ranging from voting rights and civil rights to the economy. Republican Lisa Demuth said she “has never led with any type of identity politics” as Minnesota’s first Black House speaker and now her party’s nominee for governor. “But I recognize the historic state we are in right now,” she said. Michigan Republicans also chose U.S. Rep. John James, who is Black, as their gubernatorial nominee. Read More Former New York Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat who was not elected but ascended when Eliot Spitzer resigned in 2008, celebrated that the slate crosses party lines. “This is one day when maybe the Democrats and Republicans could stand in front of a statue of George Washington and let him know that we’re finally getting it right,” he said. Democrats, meanwhile, emphasized that their Black candidates – who also include Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Jermaine Johnson in South Carolina and David Crowley in Wisconsin – are especially important after the U.S. Supreme Cour t cleared the way for states to redraw legislative districts that are majority or plurality nonwhite. That was compounded by President Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity initiatives and push to rewrite how the U.S. tells its history of the slave trade and Jim Crow segregation.“Governors, in many ways, are becoming the last lines of defense against what we’re seeing in Washington,” Moore said. A challenge for Black politicians, even more so than reaching the US Senate Karen Finney, who helped push Democrat Joe Biden to select a Black woman as his vice presidential running mate, said Black politicians often are the first and loudest advocates on issues that acutely affect Black constituents. She and others cited health disparities such as maternal and infant mortality and sickle cell disease, and Finney noted that an inflationary economy hits harder in Black communities that, on average, have lower income and net worth than the wider population. She said it is important for legislators to raise those matters and even more impactful when it is an executive. “These are people who have the power to shape our lives, and they shape the agenda,” Finney said. But the governor’s seat has been notoriously hard for Black politicians to reach, even more difficult than the U.S. Senate. Democrat Douglas Wilder of Virginia took office in 1990 as the nation’s first elected Black governor.“I didn’t become Maryland’s first Black governor because the Democratic Party said, ‘I think it’s time for us to put Wes Moore up in the seat’,” Moore said. “I had to run against the party.”“I don’t think that the party is doing enough,” Moore added, specifically bemoaning a “negligence” in Southern states where Black voters anchor Democrats’ base. Stacey Abrams, who lost two Georgia governor’s races, recalled white Democratic power players raising money for her primary opponent in 2018, although she disputed that explicit racism was the issue. “We do what we’ve done because it’s what we did,” she said. “Black women have not been executives, and the absence of that proof point becomes a self-reinforcing philosophy.”This time, she noted, Bottoms already has been an executive as mayor of Atlanta.Democrats and Republicans talk about ‘identity politics’ differentlyIn Minnesota, history will be made in November when the state elects its first female governor as Demuth competes against Democrat Amy Klobuchar, a U.S. senator. Demuth said she looks forward to a day when such distinctions seem less notable.“One of the things that I really do look forward to is where it’s already done, where it no longer makes history,” she said. “So I think of young women, little girls that are looking at you, could I ever be governor of Minnesota? I hope when I win, they’re able to look at point to that and say she’s already done it.”In Georgia, Bottoms told the National Association of Black Journalists last week that she does not “give a lot of talk … about the historical nature” of her campaign. Yet she notes her family’s Georgia ties go “back at least five generations through a plantation in Crawfordville” and that her grandfather had to “walk through these back doors” when he moved to Atlanta. She never mentioned slavery or segregation but said her ancestry “is always present with me.” Abrams, who has campaigned for Bottoms and other Democrats this year, was more direct, arguing that all politics is identity politics of some kind — and that Republicans’ version is simply more coded. “When your Constitution specifically strips a race of its humanity, you cannot then later on say identity doesn’t matter and has no effect, and we’ve spent 250 years trying to reckon with that identity” with social, political and legal fights, she continued. “So, it’s deeply disingenuous, if not woefully naive, to say that identity does not matter.”Race shapes many decisions, but not all of themDeval Patrick, whose tenure in Massachusetts overlapped with Paterson’s in New York, said his race mattered especially to his Black constituents and what they wanted from him. It was “just different than the expectations of my predecessors,” he said, recalling criticism after he did not visit a Boston neighborhood where a teenager had been killed by gun violence.“His mother was on the news grieving, and at some point she said while the cameras were rolling, where is Gov. Patrick?” he said. “Nobody had ever asked one of my predecessors to come to a crime scene in a neighborhood. Never.”In Nevada, Ford said being governor still means recognizing how many core issues – jobs, housing and healthcare – cross demographic lines.“It could be a white man, a Latino woman. It could be a person urban, suburban or rural Nevada. It could be someone from northern Nevada, southern Nevada. These are the issues that are important to them,” he said.Patrick, who talks regularly with Ford and Moore, agreed, saying that is not just how a governor does the job, but how a candidate wins it in the first place.“The successful candidates are the ones who present themselves as candidates for everyone,” he said, “and not candidates for just some.”___Sloan reported from Washington. BILL BARROW Barrow covers U.S. politics for The Associated Press. He is based in Atlanta. twitter mailto STEVEN SLOAN Sloan is the Washington correspondent at The Associated Press. He managed the AP’s coverage of the 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns. twitter

The exterior of the Kennedy Center is seen, Friday, July 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)2026-08-19T13:40:01Z WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kennedy Center has told a federal court that it would not attempt to return President Donald Trump’s name to the building’s facade before at least Sept. 8 as another legal battle over the performing arts venue’s future takes shape. In a status report filed late Tuesday, opponents of the move said members of the Kennedy Center’s Trump-aligned board “seem intent” on defying an earlier court order requiring the Republican president’s name to be removed from the building. The Kennedy Center said it would not move forward with the plans until after Labor Day “at the earliest” to allow time for legal arguments. Lawyers for Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who is an ex officio member of the board, pressed U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper for an earlier ruling, arguing there is “every reason to believe that Defendants will attempt to effectuate some or part of this latest unlawful resolution at the earliest opportunity after September 8.” A board meeting this month that was expected to largely focus on options to close the Kennedy Center for renovations instead transformed into another push to attach Trump’s name to the building, part of a broader move by the president and his supporters to leave a physical mark on the nation’s capital.The board passed a resolution to name the plaza in front of the building after Trump and add his name to the venue’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” In the filing, Beatty said the board also agreed to add an additional reference to the president if the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million. In that event, the facade would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.” Read More The board also voted to back a two-year closure for renovations, while some of the institution’s signature programming. including the Kennedy Center Honors and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, would take place at off-site locations. The National Symphony Orchestra announced this week it would split its upcoming season between six venues in and around Washington. Cooper ruled in May that letters affixed to the building spelling out Trump’s name were added illegally and he ordered their removal, a decision that the administration failed to persuade courts to overturn. Since then, a tarp has covered the area where the letters were once installed, frustrating those who sought to the remove the president’s name from the building. Kennedy Center makes no commitment to removing tarpIn the latest filing, the Kennedy Center made no commitment to remove the tarp, saying the covering was in place to facilitate the removal of Trump’s name and is part of a broader system needed for “water testing and structural repairs to the roof overhang.” More broadly, Beatty’s lawyers questioned the integrity of the board’s vote this month, echoing concerns Cooper raised when he called a March vote to shutter the building “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.” Heading into the August meeting, the Kennedy Center’s management said it would provide the board with three options, including a complete closure or a partial closure that would allow “some continued public access and limited programming in spaces unaffected” by the work. A third option would “consider a highly limited series of phased closures to address only the Center’s most serious infrastructure needs while scheduling and maintaining a full slate of programming.”In Tuesday’s filing, the Kennedy Center said a Delta Consulting Group analyst concluded that a partial closure that would play out over four years “would increase the length and cost of construction and lead to substantial safety concerns.” The analyst “recommended that the Board proceed with a full closure for two years, which would minimize total cost, minimize the amount of time that programming would be subject to disruptions from construction, and best preserve the Center’s reputation as world-class performing-arts venue,” the Kennedy Center said.Beatty’s lawyers, however, noted that materials were provided to the board just two days before the meeting. They said some documents appeared to have been created before Cooper’s May ruling and referred to the Kennedy Center’s closure that was initially set to take effect on July 6. The August vote to close the Kennedy Center, Beatty’s lawyers argued, “exhibits the same flaws as the first vote.” STEVEN SLOAN Sloan is the Washington correspondent at The Associated Press. He managed the AP’s coverage of the 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns. twitter

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) gestures to the bullpen as he circles the bases after hitting a two-run home run off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Juan Mejia in the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)2026-08-18T05:23:46Z DENVER (AP) — Maybe just as encouraging for the Los Angeles Dodgers as their bats finally waking up Monday night was the status report on Shohei Ohtani’s knee following his most recent bullpen session.“Felt good the next day,” Ohtani said through an interpreter after the Dodgers’ 11-5 win over the Colorado Rockies. Ohtani is slated for another bullpen session on Tuesday. He hasn’t pitched in a game since July 3 due to irritation in his left knee, but he may be trending in the right direction.“That’s the hope, and that’s the reason why we’ve been pretty careful in the rehab process,” said Ohtani, who’s 8-2 on the mound this season with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings. “That’s the ideal outcome — to make sure that I come back as soon as possible.”Ohtani and the Dodgers certainly found an easy solution to their recent offensive woes — playing at hitter-friendly Coors Field. The designated hitter had a pair of homers — the 25th multihomer game of his career — and Max Muncy added a three-run shot to highlight the offensive explosion.The 11 runs were the most by LA since a 12-7 win over San Diego on July 2. This after entering the Monday averaging 3.4 runs per game over a stretch that saw them drop 11 of 16.“Collectively, I liked everything,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s who we are. That’s what we’ve been searching for, for quite some time.” Ohtani finished 4 for 5 and has now hit safely in 21 straight games at Coors Field. Over the streak, he has nine homers and 24 RBIs while hitting .413. Read More “Just trying to feel good at the plate, just making sure that I’m not too tense,” Ohtani explained of his approach in the Mile High City. “Just really making sure that I’m contact-oriented. So those are the things that I really focus on here at the field.”For Roberts, this was vintage Ohtani. “Really exceptional in the sense of his pitch selection — his direction to the big part of the field that we talk about a lot,” Roberts said. “When he does that, there’s nobody better on the planet.”Freddie Freeman (3 for 5 with two doubles), Andy Pages (3 for 4 with a double) and Muncy (2 for 4, his 25th homer) also had big nights at the plate. It was a tough time for Kyle Tucker, who finished 0 for 5 and included a ground out while facing outfielder/infielder Troy Johnston in the ninth. Tucker is now 0 for 24 over his last seven games. He also had an error in right field.“He’s frustrated,” Roberts said. “Certainly, the play in right field there’s indecision and catching the baseball at your ankles kind of speaks to where his head is at right now. “It’s not from a lack of effort, care. It’s just right now, he’s kind of fighting. So we’ve got to keep supporting him.”Reliever Edwin Díaz allowed three runs in the ninth as he continues to work through some things on the mound.“I just hope he doesn’t lose his confidence,” Roberts said. “I believe in him. I think the compete was there.”___See AP’s full MLB coverage here 获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site

They’re game-changers in tiny kitchens! READ MORE...

When you ask whether Justin Jefferson can get back to being an elite fantasy wide receiver, the answer is yes. Of course he can. We've already seen the ceiling. Jefferson started his career with 1,400 receiving yards as a rookie, followed that with 1,616 then went for 1,809 yards in 2022. Even in 2024, he finished with 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns.Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL seasonThe better question is whether he can get back into the top five fantasy wide receiver conversation in 2026 — because that group is loaded. Ja'Marr Chase. Puka Nacua. Amon-Ra St. Brown. Jaxon Smith-Njigba. George Pickens. There are a lot of dudes fighting for those spots.So Jefferson being good again isn't enough. Can he get all the way back? I think he can.Everything went wrong in 2025Jefferson finished last season with 84 receptions for 1,048 yards and two touchdowns. For most receivers, that's a good year. For Justin Jefferson, people started wondering if we were watching the beginning of a decline.He averaged 11.9 PPR points per game, easily the lowest mark of his career. His yards per target dropped to 7.4. His catch rate fell below 60% and his yards per route run dropped from 2.51 in 2024 to 1.91.Some of that is on Jefferson. I don't want to look at a bad season from an elite player and automatically blame everybody else. His efficiency against single-high coverage cratered last year after being one of the best receivers in football against those looks in 2024. That matters.But when I'm trying to figure out whether a receiver is actually declining, I want to know if the role changed, too. Did he stop separating enough to command targets? Did the offense start going somewhere else with the football? Did his high-value opportunities disappear?None of that happened.The most important part of Jefferson's fantasy profile never went away. He kept earning the football.Jefferson commanded a career-high 30.1% target share. His targets per route run stayed essentially in line with his career rate. His average depth of target was still 10.2 yards and he commanded a career-high 33.3% of Minnesota's targets inside the 10.That's why I have a hard time looking at 2025 and saying Jefferson suddenly became a lesser player. The fantasy production fell apart, but Minnesota continued treating him like one of the most important receivers in football.The role was still elite. The offense was not.Minnesota finished 25th in pass attempts, 30th in passing yards and 29th in passing touchdowns. That's what needs to change.Jefferson doesn't need elite quarterback playThis is probably the biggest reason I'm willing to bet on the bounce back. I don't need Kyler Murray to be an MVP candidate. I just need competent quarterback play.Look at what happened last year. With J.J. McCarthy, Jefferson caught only 51.9% of his targets and averaged 48.4 receiving yards per game.Then Carson Wentz played and Jefferson's catch rate jumped to 68%. His target share stayed above 30% and he averaged 95.4 receiving yards per game.Carson Wentz.Subscribe to Fantasy Ultra to unlock our Strategy Lab, 150+ page Draft Playbook and more!That's important, because if Wentz can walk into the offense and get Jefferson back near 100 receiving yards per game, I'm not asking Kyler to do something crazy.Jefferson has averaged 99 receiving yards per game with Kirk Cousins, 90.2 with Sam Darnold and 95.4 with Wentz.The bad quarterback environments have been the outliers.That's really what this entire projection comes down to for me. I don't need Murray to unlock some version of Jefferson we've never seen. I need him to get the ball to an open receiver with reasonable accuracy and give this passing game some level of functionality.That's a much easier bet for me to make.We've already seen Kyler feed an alphaThere's also this idea that Murray might not support the target volume Jefferson needs. We already know he can.DeAndre Hopkins averaged 9.6 targets per game with a 28.9% target share playing with Murray in 2020. He averaged 85.8 receiving yards and 17.8 PPR points per game.Jefferson's career averages are roughly 9.4 targets per game with a 28.8% target share. It's basically the same workload.So I don't have to create some theoretical argument that Kyler can feed a No. 1 receiver. He's done it.Now, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson are going to get theirs. I'm not projecting Jefferson for a ridiculous 35% target share. He doesn't need that. He just posted 30% during the worst statistical season of his career.And honestly, I think having legitimate secondary options helps here too. Defenses can't spend every snap selling out to take Jefferson away if Addison is beating single coverage or Hockenson is working the middle of the field.Jefferson doesn't need every target.He needs the targets he already earns to become more valuable.What does WR5 actually require?Over the last five seasons, the average WR5 has finished around 294 PPR points, 1,394 receiving yards and 9.4 touchdowns.The targets aren't the concern. It's getting the yardage and touchdowns back.I feel good about the yardage. The touchdowns are where I have more hesitation.Murray's offenses haven't consistently produced huge passing touchdown totals. Even Hopkins scored only six times during that 2020 season.There's also Hockenson. I'm not comparing Hockenson to Trey McBride as a player, but we have seen Murray lean heavily on a tight end when the offense calls for it. Murray played all 16 games McBride was active in 2024, when McBride saw 147 targets and caught 111 passes for 1,146 yards. That doesn't mean Hockenson is suddenly getting McBride-level volume in Minnesota. It just shows that Murray has no problem consistently looking to his tight end, which is something I have to account for when projecting Jefferson's target ceiling.But Jefferson isn't Marvin Harrison Jr. entering his first NFL season. We're talking about a player who has commanded nearly 29% of the targets for his career and just posted a career high while everything around him was going wrong.And I'm definitely not projecting two touchdowns again.Jefferson commanded a third of Minnesota's targets inside the 10 and still only scored twice. That's the kind of thing I'm much more comfortable betting against than pretending two touchdowns is suddenly his new normal.He probably doesn't need 10 touchdowns to get back into this conversation either. If the yardage gets back around 1,300 to 1,400 and he scores six, seven or eight times, we're right there.That feels realistic to me.I'm betting on the bounce backMy current projection has Jefferson at WR5 in PPR points per game, averaging 16.7 with around 1,300 receiving yards and seven touchdowns with a ceiling of 18.6 points per game.That's not me projecting 2022 Jefferson. I don't need 1,800 yards. I don't need 128 receptions.I'm simply betting that functional quarterback play gets one of the best receivers in football back into the elite fantasy conversation.There are things I'm watching. I want the efficiency against single-high coverage to bounce back. I want the catch rate closer to his normal range. I want to see how Hockenson fits with Murray and I want to see whether Minnesota can simply become a more productive passing offense.But the biggest thing never changed. Justin Jefferson is still the top dog in Minnesota.The Vikings told us that with how they used him last season. Thirty percent of the targets and a third of the targets inside the 10, all during the worst fantasy season of his career.The role never disappeared. Now give him average quarterback play.That's it.I'm not asking Kyler Murray to save Justin Jefferson. I'm betting a functional version of Murray is enough to let Justin Jefferson look like Justin Jefferson again.And yeah, I think that puts him right back in the top five conversation.

\n\n\n\tLONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 04: Sean Verity and Emile Heskey speak at "The Athlete Brand Economy" panel discussion during day four of SXSW London 2026 at JuJu on June 04, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Getty Images for SXSW London) | Getty Images for SXSW London\t\n\nManaging Madrid had an opportunity to interview former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey this week. The former England international, who won a treble with England, spoke about the racism Vinicius Jr faces, Ibrahima Konaté’s arrival at Real Madrid, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s omission from the World Cup, and the nonsensical dialogue from some media surrounding Jude Bellingham.\n\nQUESTION: You were the victim of a lot of racism abuse in your career, particularly in an away game against Croatia in 2004. Do you think enough strides have ben made to combat racism?\nHeskey: “Yes and no. Yes, they’re doing what they believe they can do. No because it’s still happenning. I don’t think fines are going to do much. We can put as many things in place as we want, but until someone is prosecuted it’s still going to happen.”\nQUESTION: What message would you give to Vinicius, who continues to endure racist abuse regularly?\n“Keep doing what you do. Let them hate because of what you’ve done on the pitch. Keep giving it to them. Keep pushing it down their throat. One thing I will say is that they don’t get at him because he’s crap — it’s because he’s very good. Let them keep getting at you, because one day we will get to a stage where prosecution will happen and we’ll have the last laugh.”\nQUESTION: Do you think Trent’s omission from the World Cup squad was justified?\n“It’s justified in the manager’s eyes and that’s all that counts, really. But in my eyes? No. I would’ve loved to have Trent there. He gives you so much on the ball that we can negate some of the stuff off the ball, and he’s not as bad as people make him out to be (off the ball). His omission was not justified in my eyes, but the manager, who I like, stuck with what he believed and didn’t care what people said. There were injuries, and he still didn’t care.\n“He needs to continue doing what he’s good at, which is assists and forward play.”\nQUESTION: Many Real Madrid fans are concerned about Konate’s form in the past year and his injury history. Do you think fans should expect the one that’s struggled, or the one from a couple years ago?\n“Right now you will likely get the one that’s going to struggle. One thing I will say is he’ll come good. He needs to just make sure he’s properly fit again. He’s an aggressive defender, and I think he’s a really good defender. Not particularly great on the ball but defensively he’s very good. If he can get back to that level, he’ll get the fans on his side, no problem.”\nQUESTION: Where do you stand on the dialogue that England are better without Jude Bellingham?\n“Well he showed that, didn’t he? He showed that time and time again that regardless of what people believe or the narratives they tried to push, he showed that they need him. They need his leadership, they need his aggressiveness, they need his fight on the pitch, they need his goals… They need everything. A lot of people say he rubs people the wrong way — so what? He’s there to win a game.”\n\nHeskey answered questions on behalf of Covers.com soccer betting site.

Eagles DC Vic Fangio shares concerning Jonathan Greenard injury update for Week 1 originally appeared on The Sporting News.\n Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.The Philadelphia Eagles made some big changes this offseason, shipping out AJ Brown to the New England Patriots and adding some new faces to the wide receiver room.But their biggest addition of the offseason was a mid-draft trade and a $100 million extension for edge rusher Jonathan Greenard. However, he's not practiced as he's missed time due to an injury to his pec, which has lasted quite a while.Now, ahead of the Eagles' joint practice with the Patriots, Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia shared that defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is concerned that Greenard will not be active for Week 1 against the Washington Commanders.Eagles might be without Jonathan Greenard in Week 1 vs. Commanders"Is Vic Fangio worried about Jonathan Greenard missing the start of the season?" Zangaro and reporters questioned. The answer from Fangio? "Yeah."This is not the kind of update that Eagles fans will like to hear. Greenard was meant to be their replacement for Jaelan Phillips, who signed with the Carolina Panthers in free agency.But now, Greenard looks like he could miss the first week of the regular season, as the pec injury he sustained while lifting weights earlier this offseason will keep him out longer than maybe initially anticipated.What makes this even worse for the Eagles is that Greenard will have missed all of training camp, and potentially part of the season, without practicing with his new teammates.MORE: Eagles might've already found their Lane Johnson heir after 6-foot-9 rookie Markell BellIf he were a returning player, playing in his second season in Philadelphia, there wouldn't be as much concern. But because this is year one in Philadelphia, his injury absence is a bit more of a concern than normal.After having three sacks last season in a down year, the Eagles traded multiple third-round picks to acquire him from the Minnesota Vikings.He has a ton of potential and should be a great edge-rushing complement to Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith Jr. At least, that was supposed to be the case.Now, he's at risk of missing Week 1 of the regular season, which would be a concerning outcome not only for Greenard, but for the Eagles' defense as well.More NFL news:Vikings lose Jamal Adams to brutal season-ending injuryCowboys sign 8-time Pro Bowl pass rusher, 2-time Super Bowl champion Von MillerSeahawks 2nd-round S Bud Clark gets bad news on starting job for Week 1Ja'Kobi Lane's breakout might be real after impressive Ravens preseason debutWill George Kittle be ready for Week 1? 49ers TE explains why he has 'chance' to play vs. Rams

\n\n\n\tST. JOSEPH, MO - JULY 29: Travis Kelce #87 prepares to lead the tight end group in a drill during the Kansas City Chiefs training camp on Aug 11, 2026 at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, MO. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images\t\n\nOn Wednesday morning, the Kansas City Chiefs are having the 17th full-team practice of this year’s training camp on the grass fields at Missouri Western State University in St. Joe.\nAfter overnight storms, the team will be donning pads for the third consecutive day.\nArrowhead Pride will not have boots on the ground at training camp Wednesday, so we’ll be following along with local media’s coverage of practice.\nDefensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is expected to speak to local media at the podium following Wednesday’s practice.\nThe team is preparing for its second preseason game on Saturday, a road game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Arrowhead time at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.\nHere’s what to know from Wednesday’s practice at Chiefs training camp:\nLive updates\n\nTyquan Thornton (hamstring) will practice after leaving yesterday’s practice early pic.twitter.com/UMk1DdJ1a9— Farzin Vousoughian (@Farzin21) August 19, 2026\n\n\n#Chiefs: still no practice for Trey Smith or Josh Simmons pic.twitter.com/LosAMDfZ5A— McKenzie Nelson (@McKenzieMNelson) August 19, 2026\n\n\n#Chiefs: 2nd to last day of training camp in St. Joe. pic.twitter.com/BXVlRzP9MX— McKenzie Nelson (@McKenzieMNelson) August 19, 2026\n\n\n#Chiefs: Steve Spagnuolo and assistant coaches will be at the podium today after practice pic.twitter.com/THsr8XQuft— McKenzie Nelson (@McKenzieMNelson) August 19, 2026\n

Atletico Madrid president’s clear message to Barcelona over Julian Alvarez: ‘From the very first moment…’Barcelona have not given up on signing Julian Alvarez from Atletico Madrid despite Los Colchoneros’ stubborn stance from the beginning.The Spanish capital club have been very clear that the Argentine will not be sold to Barça, irrespective of the bid this summer.Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has once again made the club’s position on Alvarez perfectly clear.Cerezo reiterates Atletico stance on JulianSpeaking before Atletico’s board of directors’ lunch ahead of their La Liga opener against Malaga, Cerezo addressed both the club’s ambitions and the uncertainty surrounding their star forward.“Barcelona were told from the very first moment that we wanted to keep Julian,” Cerezo said, as quoted by Gonzalo Palafox, leaving little room for interpretation regarding Atletico’s official position.Atletico Madrid remain firm. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)Cerezo also addressed the tension that has developed between the striker and sections of the Atletico support.“I don’t know if Julian will apologize, but he will win over the fans in two matches,” the Atletico president said.Atletico have not just decided that they will not sell Alvarez, but they are already outlining plans for how to reintegrate him once he is ready.The Spanish club have left the 26-year-old out of their squad for the first game of the season against Malaga.Diego Simeone mentioned that the striker was not in the right condition to be involved in the game, hinting at him needing some time before returning.Move off? (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)It may be time for Barça to move onBarcelona have been at it to sign Alvarez this summer, but it may be time to accept defeat and move on to alternatives.Atletico have gone way too far with their resolute stance, to the point that going back on their word now would make them look weak.As for the Catalans, as much as their dream might be to sign Alvarez and the Argentine’s to wear Blaugrana, he is under contract at Atletico.This is a transfer saga that has dragged on for far too long for anyone’s liking, and with not long left to go, Barcelona need to recalibrate their plans.There are suggestions that the Catalans could choose to wait until January, but that would be too big a risk to take.Hansi Flick’s squad is currently without a recognised senior striker, and the onus is now on Deco to move for an alternative and try to sign him in the coming weeks.

Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC) was appointed to replace her late brother for the last few months of his term and immediately announced her own Senate campaign. And now her lack of basic preparation for the job is getting attention after she delivered “one of the worst responses to a question during a political debate you’ll ever see.” At the debate last night, moderator and Newsmax host Greta Van Susteren asked Graham Nordone about her stance on China and Taiwan, a major issue in global politics since Taiwan separated from mainland China in 1949. Graham Nordone is facing Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) in a special primary election to determine the GOP nominee for the US Senate seat left vacant by Lindsey Graham’s death. Related Lindsey’s sister Darline Graham spews transphobia in her first political ad “Senator, are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues?” Van Susteren asked. Graham Nordone asked her to repeat the question as she tried to come up with some kind of response. Van Susteren obliged, and the senator responded: “I’m just gonna be honest here, I have not- On national security that- I’m not that informed on national security, so…” Your LGBTQ+ guide to Elections Stay ahead of the election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today After a pause, she continued: “But I do support the military.” Graham Nordone, who does not like it when journalists suggest that the Senate seat was handed to her even though she was literally appointed to it by her state’s Republican governor because she is Lindsey Graham’s sister, then brought up her brother’s military record. He served for 33 years in the Air Force. “I’m not a polished politician up here,” she concluded. “National security is not my thing, not my area of expertise, but I do support the military.” Darlene Graham just bumbled through one of the worst responses to a question during a political debate you'll ever see pic.twitter.com/omuLu0GtSQ— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 19, 2026 People were not impressed by this response. Who knew Lindsey would be the smart sibling. https://t.co/heURR7xrTU— shelby (@thetrueshelby) August 19, 2026 Gosh, it’s almost like Lindsey Graham’s sister isn’t even remotely qualified for this. https://t.co/3hF9RJjejA— Scary Larry (@aintscarylarry) August 19, 2026 This is a great response. It's honest and succinctly conveys information to voters that should absolutely inform their choice. https://t.co/s1KbORMq2g— Conor Friedersdorf (@conor64) August 19, 2026 And this is why family members shouldn’t inherit political jobs. https://t.co/md9HCJ9gpa— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) August 19, 2026 Well she supports the troops. So, that’s nice. https://t.co/KiKG4b7R7l— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) August 19, 2026 I can't stop watching this, and I cringe every time. https://t.co/jNleTwMl79— Upstate NY Bob (@UpstateNYBob5) August 19, 2026 I’ve seen politicians reveal their ignorance with terrible answers, but have never seen a Senate candidate openly admit they’re “not that informed on national security.”An answer that should disqualify her from the nom. But who knows. We’re year 10 into American idiocracy. https://t.co/fE0EJzefXh— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) August 19, 2026 Lmao Is this the first time a candidate at a debate has full on said “I don’t know shit about this y’all” https://t.co/KlCvi5qZQt— chyea ok (@chyeaok) August 19, 2026 pic.twitter.com/f9z1AboxIy— Jen • jenelaina.bsky.social (@jenelaina) August 19, 2026 What is her 'thing?' What is her 'area of expertise?' Didn't Earn It Senator Graham just made Biden's debate performance look like a masterclass— Captain America (@capamerica2025) August 19, 2026 The fact she does not even have an opinion on this is truly shocking. But not really. What is shocking is she is in this position in the first place.— Doug (@Doug24Seven) August 19, 2026 Appointed to her brother's Senate seat 37 days ago. "Not that informed on national security." Credentials checked out.— bloppbot (@bloppbot) August 19, 2026 “Idk shit about this position nor do I have any clue on what’s going on but let me tell you about my brother …”This is your modern day GOP Unqualified, Uninspired, Ill-informed— Greg (@gregalmonte_) August 19, 2026 So glad we got rid of DEI so we could get boy the most qualified candidates….— Chris Walker (@ChrisAWalk) August 19, 2026 Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Extremely wet conditions are known to help spread mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever. But based on computer simulations, researchers suspect that a severe drought may have contributed to the South American country’s recent deadly epidemic

State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Fla., speaks loudly on the House floor as the House votes on HB1D, a redistricting bill, during a special session of the Florida Legislature, April 29, 2026, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)2026-08-19T14:16:54Z Florida Democratic voters delivered another shock upset to the party establishment by nominating state Rep. Angie Nixon, a democratic socialist, over Alex Vindman, a moderate former national security professional who played a central role in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.Democrats have hoped to mount a comeback in the diverse, populous and economically dynamic state but have struggled to craft a message that resonates with the state’s electorate. Nixon’s upset sets up a long-shot challenge to U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, a former state attorney general who Gov. Ron DeSantis selected to fill the seat after it was vacated by Marco Rubio, who Trump chose as secretary of state. The race has already inflamed tensions within the Democratic Party over how to energize liberal voters eager for unapologetic, combative candidates while not alienating independents and moderates who have been key to winning in battlegrounds. “If you’re surprised by tonight’s election results, you haven’t been paying enough attention to what’s happening in the South,” Britney Whaley, the southeast regional director of the Working Families Party, which backs populist candidates. “Tonight’s election results must be a wake-up call to a political establishment that believes a populist message can’t win in the South. Angie’s campaign proves voters will respond to a bold economic vision that meets their basic needs.”A spirited progressive who had the backing of Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Nixon recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America. She championed policies like universal healthcare and childcare and has been an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy and the war in Gaza. In May, Nixon protested the Republican-controlled Florida legislature’s redistricting of the state’s congressional maps by shouting through a megaphone during a hearing. She was later reprimanded by an ethics committee but earned plaudits from Democratic allies and voting rights for her demonstration. Read More Vindman raised about $16 million in his race and had spent more than $9 million by the end of July. Nixon, by contrast, had raised just shy of $1 million. Progressives immediately touted her win as a sign of greater momentum for the region. Vindman served on the White House’s National Security Council during Trump’s first term. His testimony was central to Trump’s first impeachment over a phone call in which he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden and his family. Vindman became a national Democratic star and target of Trump’s ire for his actions, a dynamic that garnered him millions in small-dollar donations.His twin brother Eugene, who also served on the National Security Council, is serving as a Democratic congressman from Virginia. “Rep. Nixon ran a strong campaign. I will be standing by her side in the fight against Ashley Moody. I hope you’ll join me,” Vindman said in a statement after he conceded the race.Democratic leaders like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had hoped Vindman’s reputation and campaign war chest would help turn what election analysts had considered a solidly Republican seat into a more competitive race. But Nixon’s upset victory has now buoyed already high Republican confidence in the state.Once an archetypal political background, Florida has shifted to the right since 2016. Trump himself moved his residence to his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving the White House in 2021 following his first term. MATT BROWN Brown covers national politics, federal policy and democracy issues for The Associated Press. twitter instagram mailto

State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Fla., speaks loudly on the House floor as the House votes on HB1D, a redistricting bill, during a special session of the Florida Legislature, April 29, 2026, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)2026-08-19T14:07:42Z BEIRUT (AP) — A Canadian government official condemned what he called Israel’s “unlawful invasion” of Lebanon, saying Beirut should govern its own space and have sovereignty over its lands.Randeep Sarai, Canada’s Secretary of State for International Development, visited Lebanon to announce new humanitarian aid to the crisis-hit country, where the U.N. says some 360,000 people remain displaced as a result of the latest conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.“We have been working actively, I think, through diplomatic channels to do whatever possible to stop that and to allow Lebanese communities that are from those areas to be able to move back,” Sarai said in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday.The latest Israel-Hezbollah war started when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel began attacks on Iran. The war has killed over 4,000 people, caused wide destruction in southern Lebanon and at one point displaced over 1 million people. Israel launched a ground invasion and is now occupying dozens of towns and villages in southern Lebanon, many of which have been almost completely demolished. Israeli officials have said they will not pull out from Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed.Canada has criticized Israel’s military actions in Gaza and Lebanon. It lists Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and has condemned its attacks on Israel. During his visit, Sarai announced that Canada is launching three new programs in Lebanon to support vulnerable families and women, raising the total of its assistance to the nation so far this year to more than 71 million Canadian dollars ($50.23 million.) Read More Canada, which is home to a large Lebanese diaspora, has given Lebanon about 800 million Canadian dollars ($575 million) in assistance over the past 10 years, including nearly $38 million in funding in March to provide basic necessities such as food, medical and health services, said Sarai.“Our commitment is long-term, and we’re there for Lebanon,” said Sarai, who visited shelters housing people displaced by the war and Syrian refugees during his visit. Sarai also met President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who both took their posts last year promising to reinstate state authority over all parts of Lebanon and to implement reforms to fight corruption. The country is still struggling with an economic crisis that began in late 2019 rooted in decades of corruption. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. “There’s a lot of optimism and I hope Lebanon will be able to deliver on these,” said Sarai about the pledged reforms. “The world is really watching and supportive of this government, and optimistic that they will achieve those goals.”Sarai said Canada is trying to help create a safe environment in Syria with access to food, drinking water and schools, so that more refugees can return. “We’ll do whatever we can to make sure that environment is safe when they do decide to go back,” he said. At one point during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, Lebanon hosted an estimated 1.5 million refugees.Some half-million Syrians have returned since former Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted in December 2024, according to Lebanon’s social affairs minister.

State Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Fla., speaks loudly on the House floor as the House votes on HB1D, a redistricting bill, during a special session of the Florida Legislature, April 29, 2026, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)2026-08-19T13:59:02Z SAO PAULO (AP) — A minibus and a truck collided head-on in the southern Brazilian state of Parana, killing at least 23 people and injuring five others early Wednesday, police said.Both vehicles were traveling in opposite directions, authorities said. Preliminary evidence suggests that the truck, which wasn’t carrying any cargo, crossed into incoming traffic and collided with the minibus at around 3:30 a.m., Brazil’s traffic police said.The crash happened on a highway near Ipiranga, a city of 14,000 residents in central Parana state and 560 kilometers (350 miles) south of Sao Paulo.The minibus passengers included healthcare workers, patients and a few family members, authorities said. The death toll included 21 adults and two children.Emergency teams and local police were still working at the site hours later. Footage from TV Globo shows the truck parked on grass on the side of the road and the crushed minibus, with shattered glass and belongings of the passengers strewn on the ground.

Dan Smyers, left, and Shay Mooney of Dan + Shay pose for a portrait on Thursday, July 30, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Matt Licari/Invision/AP)2026-08-19T14:00:17Z NEW YORK (AP) — The lead single from Grammy Award-winning duo Dan + Shay’s forthcoming album “Young” is a hard pivot from the wedding songs that make up so much of the country pair’s discography.___ EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org ___“Say So,” with its big-hearted and hopeful chorus, is about suicide prevention. It was written in tribute to Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney’s late mentor Ben Vaughn, head of Warner Chappell Music Publishing, who died by suicide a year before.“If you’re going through hell, you’re not alone,” Mooney sings. “If you need somebody, say so.”“For one of the first times in our career, I was like, ‘I’m not like sure if we should tackle this,’” Smyers told The Associated Press. But in the studio, it became an inevitability — even though they were uncertain. “We were just sharing stories about our friend. And it just fell out of us. A verse and a chorus in, and I think we were all just like, ‘I don’t know, man. Is this too heavy to tackle?’” Smyers continued.Creating the demo together, alongside co-writers David Hodges and Jimmy Robbins, became therapeutic. “We owed it to our friend Ben,” he said. “We owe it to the community, who he meant so much to. And I feel like we owed it to ourselves to at least see that one through to the finish line.”What they didn’t realize is that the day they started work on the song was also what would’ve been Vaughn’s 50th birthday. “It was more than a coincidence,” he said. “That was the sign that this song could help somebody.”“Say So” may be the heaviest song off “Young,” but it is also a thematic center for the record — 10 autobiographical tracks of crossover country that reflect their lives, now, with new emotional vulnerability — what Mooney labels “a very life-giving thing.” Read More The heart of ‘Young’The album opens with its title track, the stripped-back acoustic arpeggio “Young,” what Smyers describes as “a message from your future self to your present and past self, about the passage of time and appreciating the moment.”But there’s an additional, gendered resonance. “Men — I just think, maybe I’m generalizing — don’t do as good of a job of sharing their feelings and emotions. And I’m saying that because that’s me,” he said. “You’re tough. You bottle it up. But when I finally broke down that wall, it changed my life. And I think that song just talks about aging as a man.”That’s yet another difficult subject, which might also explain why, before creating the 10 songs that make up “Young,” Dan + Shay wrote and scrapped an entire album’s worth of material. The tracks that made up the final collection took time, open and honest conversation, and a hearty dose of self-reflection.It’s why there may be more religiosity to this album than in the previous works — from the single “Her, The Kids and Jesus” to the album’s two mentions of a King James Bible.“‘Her, the kids and Jesus,’ that’s kind of a snapshot at what my life looks like right now,” Mooney said. Growing into ‘The Old Guys’Grief — and affection — take on many forms across “Young.” From the ode to a young adult’s first pet (“Dogs in Our Twenties”) to a twist on the traditional love song format and praying your partner dies after you (the ‘90s country-channeling “The Old Guys”), the songs are delivered with tenderness. The latter includes the album’s sole feature, Cody Johnson — a neo-traditionalist in country music that, on paper, may seem at odds with Dan + Shay’s genre-hybridity. After all, these are the same guys who recorded the multiplatinum crossover hit “10,000 Hours” featuring Justin Bieber in 2019.“We occupy a very different space in country music,” agrees Smyers. Even vocally — Mooney’s got a high register, Johnson sings low, and when they’re all singing together, “It’s, like, perfectly meeting in the middle.”It also highlights the range of this album. “There’s kind of a song for everybody, for whatever you’re going through,” says Mooney. “Whatever people need to get out of this album, I hope that they get that.” MARIA SHERMAN Maria Sherman is the music reporter at The Associated Press. She is based in New York City. mailto 获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Miami quarterback Darian Mensah (10) throws a pass during a practice session at their training facility, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, in Coral Gables, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)2026-08-19T10:05:06Z Mario Cristobal got Miami back inside the top 10 by Year 3 and within a victory of a national championship in his fourth. Yet the Hurricanes are still chasing a first Atlantic Coast Conference championship after more than two decades in the league.His team is picked to accomplish that goal this year, which would put it right back in the mix for the College Football Playoff, too.“We’ve had steady progress over the last four years,” Cristobal said. “It’s been due to the commitment and the level of just care of these players and their coaches.”The seventh-ranked Hurricane s are the headliner, with Duke transfer quarterback Darian Mensah as the preseason player of the year and Miami claiming a third of the spots on the preseason all-conference team. That list includes Mark Fletcher Jr. (1,192 yards, 12 TDs) as last year’s top league rusher and versatile big-play receiving threat Malachi Toney.Miami joined the league ahead of the 2004 season, but has reached the ACC championship game just once (2017).No. 19 SMU is the top challenger, with the Mustangs launching a Heisman Trophy push for veteran starting quarterback Kevin Jennings — who led them to the ACC title game and a CFP bid in 2024. No. 24 Louisville is next up after adding Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz at QB to an offense featuring running back Isaac Brown, the ACC rookie of the year in 2024 who played nine games last year due to injury. A move to a 9-game schedule is underwayThe league is transitioning to a nine-game football schedule to align with fellow power conferences. But the odd number of teams means there will be variables, with 12 teams playing nine games and five — Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina — staying at eight.This will be a bridge year toward having 16 of 17 teams regularly playing nine games by 2027. The schedule concludes with the ACC title game Dec. 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Clemson and Florida State try to return to elite statusClemson and Florida State have gone from ranking among the nation’s elite to also-ran status. It’s unclear whether either can change that trajectory.Dabo Swinney’s Tigers won two national titles and eight ACC crowns between 2015-24, but slid to 7-6 last year for their worst record since 2010. Clemson was unranked in the preseason AP Top 25 for the first time since 2011. Read More “This year, ain’t none of y’all going to pick us,” Swinney told reporters in July.Little has gone right for Mike Norvell’s Seminoles since being snubbed for the final four-team CFP as an unbeaten team after losing star quarterback Jordan Travis to a season-ending injury. FSU has gone 7-18 since, including a league-worst 3-13 in the ACC. Clemson is picked to finish fourth in the ACC, while FSU is picked 11th. This is our AP Top 25 Poll newsletter. You can subscribe below and we will email it you weekly. Sign up for Top 25 Poll Alerts: Get email alerts for every college football Top 25 Poll release. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. ACC finalists Duke and Virginia picked in league’s middle thirdDuke beat Virginia in last year’s title game for its first outright ACC championship since 1962. Those finalists are picked in the ACC’s middle third. Mensah’s transfer was the biggest hit for the Blue Devils, who also lost their top three receivers while having uncertainty as to who will fill leading defensive roles. “I think people just went back to labeling us as the same old Duke just because of the people that walked out this door,” 1,100-yard rusher Nate Sheppard said. “But you have dudes walk out the door every year.”The Cavaliers are coming off a breakthrough 11-win season under Tony Elliott after managing just 11 wins in his first three seasons combined.The Cavs are picked to finish sixth, the Blue Devils 10th. Virginia Tech, California and Stanford welcome new coachesVirginia Tech’s hiring of James Franklin is the big coaching move, with the Hokies betting the former Penn State coach can jolt their marquee sport as part of a larger push to elevate athletics in Blacksburg.Out West, Stanford and California have each turned to alumni.The Cardinal has hired former quarterback Tavita Pritchard after he spent the past three years as a QB coach with the NFL’s Washington Commanders. The Golden Bears hired former defensive lineman Tosh Lupoi, who had spent the past four seasons as Oregon’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Notre Dame gets high-profile tests in its ACC scheduling dealNotre Dame again has six games against ACC teams through its scheduling partnership with the league, with the football independent being a member of all other league sports. One stands out: a home game against Miami.The Hurricanes visit Nov. 7 in a rematch of last year’s opener; Miami won that game to ultimately claim a CFP bid instead of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have home games against Stanford (Oct. 10), Boston College (Nov. 14) and SMU (Nov. 21). They visit UNC (Oct. 3) and Syracuse (Nov. 28).Clemson and Georgia Tech make their 1st cross-country ACC tripsClemson and Georgia Tech are making their first cross-country trips since the league expanded to add California, Stanford and SMU for a coast-to-coast footprint for the 2024 season. The Tigers are playing at California on Sept. 25 while the Yellow Jackets visit Stanford a day later.Miami, N.C. State, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest are the other teams to touch all four U.S. continental time zones for a league game this year. Stanford hosts the Hurricanes (Sept. 4) and Wolfpack (Oct. 23), while Cal hosts the Hokies (Oct. 10), Demon Deacons (Oct. 17) and Panthers (Nov. 28).___AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football AARON BEARD Beard covers sports in North Carolina for The Associated Press with an emphasis on college basketball. His coverage includes ACC sports and the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. twitter mailto

As a backlash grows over data centers, more local officials are facing recall elections for their support of the computing sites.

Loudoun County, Va., has gotten rich hosting more than 250 data centers, allowing it to cut property taxes. Other locales are taking note, even as a nationwide backlash over data centers grows.

It creates both lots of charm and tons of privacy. READ MORE...

2026-08-19T14:36:59Z BATAM, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities seized about 2.6 tons of liquid methamphetamine from a ship intercepted off Sumatra and detained 10 Myanmar nationals suspected of involvement in an international trafficking network, officials said Wednesday, in one of the country’s largest drug busts.The operation was carried out Monday by a joint task force of Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency, customs officials and Riau Islands police after authorities received intelligence about a vessel allegedly transporting narcotics from Malaysia’s Sarawak state toward Indonesian waters, said Roy Hardi Siahaan, the National Narcotics Agency’s director of enforcement.Indonesia is a major hub for drug trafficking in Southeast Asia despite having strict drug laws, with convicted smugglers sometimes executed by firing squad.Siahaan said authorities intercepted the Tanzania-flagged MV Ocean Porter in waters off Tanjung Parit in Bengkalis regency, Riau province, and towed it to a customs operations base on Batam island, next to Singapore, for inspection. Investigators believe the vessel previously operated as the MV Rain Maker, altering its identity to evade detection. He said investigators found approximately 2.6 tons of liquid methamphetamine hidden inside eight drums and the vessel’s water tanks, describing the seizure as “one of the largest drug busts in Indonesia this year.” At a Batam port news conference, authorities paraded the 10 crew members, all Myanmar nationals, in restraints.“The crew and evidence remain under intensive investigation as authorities work to identify and dismantle the international trafficking network behind the shipment,” he said. Monday’s seizure came less than two weeks after authorities intercepted the MV King Sun off Bintan island and confiscated 1.3 tons of ketamine, in one of Indonesia’s largest narcotics busts. Eight crew members, including seven Myanmar nationals and a Taiwanese citizen, were detained in that operation, which followed a three-month multinational intelligence investigation involving Thai authorities. Read More Siahaan said his agency has warned that Indonesia’s vast coastline and proximity to major regional shipping routes make its maritime borders vulnerable to transnational drug smuggling. He added that military and law enforcement agencies would continue joint operations to disrupt international trafficking networks operating in Southeast Asian waters. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime identifies Indonesia as a major drug-smuggling hub, driven in part by international syndicates targeting its vast young population. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Last year, Indonesian authorities arrested 285 people suspected of drug trafficking, including 29 women and seven foreigners, and seized over half a ton of narcotics during a two-month crackdown.About 530 people, including 90 foreigners, are on death row in Indonesia, mostly for drug-related crimes, the Ministry of Immigration and Corrections’ data show. Indonesia’s last executions, of an Indonesian and three foreigners, were carried out in July 2016.

A police vehicle is parked on a sidewalk, on the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Alfonso Nqunjana)2026-08-19T13:55:57Z CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The United Nations human rights chief said Wednesday he is concerned over the arrest of opposition officials in connection with last week’s troubled election in Zambia.Zambian law enforcement agents raided a property on election night last Thursday where the country’s main opposition leader was present and there was an exchange of gunfire, according to the government.It said “high-grade military weapons” were found there, and 11 opposition officials were arrested for posing a threat to state security.Main opposition leader Brian Mundubile denied the allegations and said the opposition officials were unarmed and shot at. He said he is currently “under protection” due to safety concerns, without giving more details on his whereabouts.President Hakainde Hichilema on Tuesday was declared the winner of the election for a second five-year term. Mundubile won around 38% of the vote, according to official results, but he has rejected the results while claiming irregularities and said his opposition alliance will challenge them in court. U.N. rights chief Volker Turk urged Zambian authorities to stop arresting people arbitrarily and bring anyone detained to court promptly to answer any charges. All arrests “must be fully consistent with international human rights standards, as well as Zambian domestic law,” Turk said in a statement.The Zambian government has not said where the arrested officials are being held or what charges they will face. Mundubile also alleged that another opposition figure who is a former minister was shot during the raid and is now missing. The election period was unusually tense in the copper-rich southern African nation, which has held largely peaceful votes since returning to multiparty democracy in 1991. Read More Vote counting was suspended for hours on Friday, the day after the vote, with the electoral commission citing violence against officials at some polling stations and the theft of ballot papers. The commission didn’t say who was responsible.___AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

When it comes to betting NFL futures, there are seemingly as many handicapping philosophies as there are ways for the New York Jets to lose. Take, for example, the NFL win totals market.Some bettors like to pounce as soon win totals are released. Some prefer to jump in after the free-agent frenzy dies down. Or after the NFL draft is complete. Or after the schedule is finalized.Of course, each approach has plusses and minuses, so there’s no right or wrong option.Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL seasonMy preference? Practice patience. Although that might mean missing out on the optimum price, the tradeoff is getting to monitor a good chunk of training camp, including significant injuries to key personnel.After playing the waiting game again this year -- and searching for the best odds -- I’m unleashing my five favorite NFL over/under bets for this season (listed in order of confidence).Baltimore Ravens under 11.5 wins (-140)If you believe in the Ravens this season – and oddsmakers clearly do, as Baltimore’s win total is tied with the Rams for highest in the NFL – you believe several related things.First, that ousted coach John Harbaugh was mostly responsible for last year’s disappointing 8-9 finish (which followed three straight double-digit win campaigns).And that Harbaugh’s replacement -- longtime assistant Jesse Minter, who has never led a program in two decades in college or the NFL -- is a significant upgrade.And that Minter (a defensive guru) and new pass-rusher Trey Hendrickson (a four-time Pro Bowler with Cincinnati) can quickly fix a unit that last year ranked 18th in scoring defense, 24th in total defense, 30th in passing defense and tied for 30th in sacks.And that quarterback Lamar Jackson -- who has played fewer than 13 games in half of his eight NFL seasons and is approaching his 30th birthday -- can stay upright all year and recapture his speed and elusiveness after averaging a career-low 47.8 rushing yards per game in 2026.And that 32-year-old running back Derrick Henry, who has racked up more than 2,500 rushing yards and 32 rushing touchdowns in his first two seasons in Baltimore, won’t decline and/or break down in his 11th NFL season.One positive for the 2026 Ravens: a favorable schedule, including eight games against the NFL’s two weakest divisions (AFC South, NFC South).Still, betting on Baltimore to eclipse its win total for just the third time in the last seven years requires a lot of blind faith -- especially since the franchise has topped 11 victories just twice since 2012.FLORHAM PARK, NEW JERSEY - AUGUST 11: Geno Smith #7 of the New York Jets hands off to Braelon Allen #0 of the New York Jets during a joint practice between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on August 11, 2026 in Florham Park, New Jersey. Adam Hunger via Getty ImagesNew York Jets under 5.5 wins (+100)There’s a reason I took that pot-shot at the Jets at the top of this article: It’s warranted.In the past decade, New York has recorded zero winning seasons (and by extension, zero playoff appearances). In fact, after instate NHL sibling the Buffalo Sabres finally made the playoffs this past season, the Jets now own the longest postseason drought in North American team sports.Here’s a quick breakdown of New York’s on-field futility over the past 10 years: five wins or fewer seven times; three wins or fewer in three of the past six seasons (including last year’s 3-14 record); seven last-place and three third-place finishes in the AFC East; and a 13-47 record in division games.Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate everything about the Jets. They appear to have had a very strong 2026 draft. And their defense should be improved over last season, when it ranked 25th in yards allowed (355.6 per game) and 31st in points allowed (29.2). Also, the pass-catching corps led by stud wideout Garrett Wilson will be a strength … if quarterback Geno Smith can fix the turnover issues that have afflicted him the last two years (32 interceptions in 32 games). Should the 35-year-old veteran struggle again and/or not stay healthy, here are New York’s backup options: a rookie (Cade Klubik) and two journeymen (Brady Cook and Bailey Zappe).Throw in four games against Buffalo and New England -- plus eight more versus the rugged NFC North and AFC West -- and I’m banking on the Jets falling short of their win total for the ninth time in the last 11 seasons.Dallas Cowboys over 9.5 wins (+105)It’s difficult to defend recommending a positive wager on a franchise coming off consecutive 7-10 seasons. Especially when the offense is led by a quarterback who has two postseason victories across 10 NFL seasons. And a defense that was beyond atrocious the past two years, surrendering an NFL-high 979 points in 34 games (28.8 PPG).Yet I’m taking a shot with that very franchise in 2026, for multiple reasons. First and foremost, I’m cautiously optimistic that Dallas has significantly repaired that busted defense.Among the key additions up front: veteran pass-rushers Rashan Gary and Von Miller, and ex-49ers linebacker Dee Winters (101 tackles last year). Meanwhile, versatile defensive back Jalen Thompson and first-round rookie Caleb Downs should shore up a secondary that has given up 63 passing TDs the last two years (tied with Cincinnati for most in the NFL).SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - AUGUST 15: Caleb Downs #13 of the Dallas Cowboys looks on during the first quarter during the NFL preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on August 15, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. Jack Compton via Getty ImagesAlso, I’m not high on the NFC East this year. Philadelphia is aging at key positions and due to regress. The New York Giants, under new coach John Harbaugh, appear to be two years away. And I expect Washington to be closer to what it was last year (5-12) than in 2024 (12-5).So let’s say the Cowboys go 4-2 within their division and 4-2 against six beatable non-NFC East opponents (Buccaneers, Cardinals, Jaguars and Titans at home; Houston and Indianapolis on the road). They would then only need to pick off two wins against Green Bay (road), Baltimore (in Brazil), San Francisco (home), Seattle (road) and the Rams (road) to hurdle their win total.Also worth noting: The last time the Cowboys failed to win at least 10 games in three straight seasons was 2011-2013.Denver Broncos under 9.5 wins (+122)Momentum is a massive intangible in the NFL. So, too, is the schedule and how it sets up. Not exactly breaking news, I know – but the obvious is worth stating in reference to the Denver Broncos’ 2026 win total.Last year, on the way to going 14-3 and capturing the AFC’s No. 1 seed, the Broncos gained steam while taking advantage of a highly favorable schedule.After knocking off the lowly Titans in Week 1, Denver suffered consecutive losses to the Colts (road) and Chargers (home) by a combined four points. Subscribe to Fantasy Ultra to unlock our Strategy Lab, 150+ page Draft Playbook and more!From there, the Broncos went 13-1. They won nine games against teams that were on vacation by mid-January (Chiefs twice, Raiders twice, Bengals, Jets, Giants, Cowboys and Commanders), and two against opponents that lost their only playoff game (Chargers and Eagles).Denver also defeated Houston (1-1 in the postseason) and lost to Jacksonville (another one-and-done playoff entrant).In other words, the NFL schedule makers did the Broncos a solid last year. Spoiler alert: It won’t be a cakewalk in 2026.After opening in Kansas City, Denver faces -- in order -- Jacksonville (home), the Rams (home), San Francisco (road), the Chargers (road) and Seattle (home). Good luck building early-season momentum.Things ease up from there, with trips to Arizona, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas and the Jets interspersed with home games against Kansas City, Las Vegas and Miami. But the finishing stretch is no joke: Buffalo (home), New England (road), the Chargers (home).Will Denver again field an elite defense? Absolutely. Will quarterback Bo Nix make more strides in his third year with coach Sean Payton? Probably. Will it translate in the win-loss column like it did last fall? Doubtful.Arizona Cardinals under 3.5 wins (+120)I’m usually not a fan of bottom feeding when it comes to NFL win totals, because the margin for error is very thin. And I’m particularly leery of doing so when that bottom is as low as it can possibly be.Alas, every rule has an exception, and this is one such instance. Because the 2026 Cardinals not only figure to be as dreadful as the 2025 version that went 3-14, they might be historically dreadful -- like the first 0-17 team in NFL history “dreadful.”Here’s what Arizona has to offer:• A first-year head coach (39-year-old Mike LaFleur, who has zero head coaching experience at any level).• A journeyman first-string quarterback (34-year-old Jacoby Brissett, who is 20-45 over 65 starts in his 11-year career). And a journeyman second-string quarterback (Gardner Minshew). And a rookie third-string quarterback (third-round pick Carson Beck).• A defense that allowed the sixth-most yards and fourth-most points a season ago (and did nothing to improve in the offseason).Perhaps scariest of all is an absolutely merciless schedule. Not only do the Cardinals have to deal with the 49ers, Rams and Seahawks six times -- after going 0-6 versus that trio last year -- but five of those games fall in the first 10 weeks (including all three road trips).Now get a load of Arizona’s five early-season non-division opponents: Chargers (road), Giants (road), Lions, Broncos and Chiefs (road).Arizona’s first “winnable” game? Maybe against visiting Washington in Week 11. That’s followed by four home games (Eagles, Jets, Raiders and 49ers) sandwiched around a Week 14 bye and a Week 16 trip to New Orleans. There’s a reason oddsmakers don’t have the Cardinals favored in a single game this season.Can you find four victories? With this roster? I sure can’t.

Zavier Gozo, the 19-year-old winger who was in the mix for the United States World Cup squad, has sealed a move from MLS side Real Salt Lake to Crystal Palace of the Premier League.The transfer, which is for a reported club-record $15 million fee, will also include a sell-on percentage for RSL. Gozo’s contract with the reigning Conference League winners is for five years."I'm really looking forward to playing in the Premier League with Crystal Palace. It's the dream of any footballer," Gozo said. "I'm excited by the people and the project they have going on here. I've seen a lot of it, and that's what excites me about this club as well: the success that they've had."Gozo, a Utah native, joined RSL's academy in 2021 and was called up to the club's first team in Oct. 2023. In 43 appearances, he recorded 10 goals and eight assists. He has also represented the U.S. in various youth squads from U-15 to U-23 on the international stage. He was a part of the 2025 roster that reached the quarterfinals at the U-20 World Cup where he scored two goals and contributed an assist.Gozo's international experience and breakout 2026 season at RSL resulted in him being named to Mauricio Pochettino's preliminary roster for the 2026 World Cup.There are now two Americans playing for Crystal Palace following Gozo’s signing. The youngster will join USMNT defender Chris Richards, who started with FC Dallas of MLS before eventually joining the Eagles in 2022.It was only right... pic.twitter.com/LCcqB82wm6— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) August 18, 2026Crystal Palace opens its Premier League campaign on Sunday against Everton. They will also play in the Europa League this season with UEFA holding the draw next week in Monaco.Gozo’s landing spot in Europe could be a boon for his future prospects. The Eagles have a history of developing young players into elite talents. Eberechi Eze (Arsenal), Marc Guéhi (Manchester City) and Michael Olise (Bayern Munich) all spent time with the London club before making expensive moves to bigger clubs.Americans on the moveIt’s been a busy summer for Americans on the move during this transfer window. Gozo is one of a number of players who have found new clubs. Max Arfsten was sold by the Columbus Crew to English Championship side Middlesbrough for $7.5 million. He will be joined at Boro by USMNT teammate Sebastian Berhalter, who made the move from the Vancouver Whitecaps for $2 million. Gio Reyna, who scored for the U.S. during the 2026 World Cup, left Borussia Mönchengladbach of Germany's Bundesliga for Strasbourg of France. Bryan Reynolds was signed by Ligue 1's Stade Rennais from Belgium's KVC Westero for $5 million; and Diego Kochen, who was not part of the U.S. World Cup roster but trained with the team, left Barcelona on loan for Denmark's Lyngby Boldklub. Mark McKenzie is coming back to MLS to join the Philadelphia Union in a $2.5 million move from Toulouse. McKenzie will not officially join the Union until the opening of the January 2027 transfer window.

CANTON, OHIO - AUGUST 06: Jalen Coker #18 of the Carolina Panthers talks with Ja'seem Reed #86 prior to the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game against the Arizona Cardinals at Tom Benson Hall Of Fame Stadium on August 06, 2026 in Canton, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images A lackluster showing by the starting offense is more or less a tradition for the Carolina Panthers under Dave Canales and Bryce Young. They never finish the season as poorly as they start, but they do certainly start looking quite poorly. The same can’t be said for every player on the Panthers who is fighting for a roster spot. Saturday’s game against the Buffalo Bills had a number of players with stand out performances. Some, like Princely Umanmielen are all but guaranteed a spot and others, like Ja’seem Reed and Aaron Hall, are fighting for their first ever NFL roster spot.Our question this week is simple. Who impressed you the most on Saturday? We could only list five names on the poll, so feel free to sound off in the comments below if a different Panther stood out to you.Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Panthers fans and fans across the country.Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys:

The WNBA has two games on the schedule Wednesday, with the Toronto Tempo back in action 24 hours after falling 101-95 to Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. Toronto will travel to Washington to face the Mystics at 7:30 p.m. ET, while the Minnesota Lynx visit the Golden State Valkyries at 10 p.m. ET.The Tempo enter their matchup with Washington looking to stop an 11-game losing streak. Toronto is 10-24 in its inaugural season, while Washington enters at 20-14 and is in the middle of a playoff race. The Mystics hold the No. 7 spot in the standings, making Wednesday another difficult test for Toronto.MORE: Fever star Kelsey Mitchell ties A’ja Wilson’s all-time WNBA markGame of the day: Lynx at ValkyriesMinnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles (5) against Golden State Valkyries guard Kaitlyn Chen (2). Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images.The nightcap features two of the Western Conference’s best teams. Minnesota is 29-7 and has won four straight, while Golden State enters at 25-9 after winning six consecutive games.Both teams have already booked their place in the WNBA playoffs, with eight and 10 games remaining in the regular season for the Lynx and Valkyries, respectively. Golden State is winless against Minnesota in six meetings, and will have some extra motivation entering Wednesday’s gameHow to Watch Wednesday’s WNBA GamesToronto Tempo at Washington MysticsTime: 7:30 p.m. ETLocal: Monumental Sports NetworkStreaming: WNBA League PassMinnesota Lynx at Golden State ValkyriesTime: 10 p.m. ETTV: USA NetworkLocal: KPIX+ in the Bay Area, KMAX in SacramentoStreaming: WNBA League Pass— Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter —

Paul Pogba has left AS Monaco after just one season -Credit:VALERY HACHE, AFP via Getty ImagesFormer Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has had his contract with AS Monaco terminated after just six appearances. The French playmaker joined the Ligue 1 club on a free transfer last summer following a turbulent period at Juventus.Pogba had returned to the Italian club after departing Manchester United, but his stint was derailed by injury, along with a four-year doping ban that was ultimately reduced to 18 months on appeal.He signed with Monaco in a bid to revive his career, but having featured in just six games throughout his debut season, his contract has been cut short, leaving him once again as a free agent, as per The Mirror.Wayne Rooney urges Man United to sign Arsenal star and sends Marcus Rashford warningJamal Musiala breaks silence on ‘seizures’ after collapsing during consecutive Bayern Munich games -Credit:Daniele Venturelli, Getty Images for WIBA AwardsA statement released by Monaco on Wednesday read: "Having jointly concluded that the objectives initially set were only partially achieved, AS Monaco and Paul Pogba have decided, ahead of the first match of the new season, to bring an end to the contract that was due to run until June 2027."The Club would like to express its heartfelt gratitude to the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner for the trust he placed in the institution and for the utmost professionalism he demonstrated throughout his time in Monaco."During his spell in AS Monaco colours, Paul displayed a remarkable mindset, unwavering determination and the highest standards at every moment."Through all his efforts, he was able to return to top-level competition after a long period away from the game, while also sharing his experience and expertise with the first-team squad. AS Monaco sincerely thanks Paul and wishes him every success in the future."Monaco's statement regarding Pogba's departure arrives just days after his wife, Zulay, responded strongly to suggestions that the midfielder should retire.To listen to the latest episode of 'All Out Soccer' - CLICK HEREShe said: "For all the people saying Paul should retire or he came back to football for the money, let me make this clear, the only one who knows when he will retire is God."And for the ones who say he came back for the money, trust me we are very good with money, thank God."Social media accepts everything. People can sit behind a screen and say whatever they want, insult someone, question their intentions and forget that there is an actual human being on the other side."For those questioning what he has left to prove, let me remind you he achieved the dream every footballer in the world grows up chasing, dreaming to have. He won the World Cup for his country."

A Kansas judge has issued an order to temporarily reinstate the driver’s license of one trans woman. The ruling states that she is likely to succeed in her case against the Kansas Department of Revenue (KDOR) and that KDOR violated due process by invalidating the license. “Plaintiff was deprived of her constitutional Due Process right to be heard on KDOR’s decision to invalidate her driver’s license,” Douglas County’s Judge James McCabria wrote in his ruling on the motion for a temporary injunction. “Plaintiff has come to this court to obtain enforcement and remedy for loss of that right. The final hearing in this matter will resolve the issue but, in the interim, given that it appears likely she will succeed on her claim that she was deprived of her Due Process, the only way to avoid the irreparable harm is to grant her a temporary injunction until the matter can be finally determined.” Related An 11th state is set to ban updating gender markers on licenses Earlier this year, Kansas passed Senate Bill 244. In addition to banning trans people from using the restrooms that match their gender identity (which has been protested by the KS SB244 Compliance Crew), the bill also prevented trans people from holding corrected driver’s licenses. In February, trans people who had updated the gender marker on their licenses began receiving letters telling them that their license would be invalidated on February 26, with some letters arriving after that date. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Jamie Miller received such a letter, but originally believed that it didn’t apply to her as she had received complete gender reassignment surgery in 2013 and had a court order legally identifying her as a woman. She told the Lawrence Times, “That was my understanding, according to the law at the time, that that was what I needed to do to establish my identity.” However, when she received a letter confirming that her license was being revoked, she called KDOR, which issues the state’s licenses, and was told to email a copy of her court order to appeal the decision. She then received a form response and never heard from KDOR again. Miller, a military veteran, filed a lawsuit against the state with her lawyer pointing out that the state was putting her in a catch-22: the court order stated that she was female in the eyes of the law while SB 244 redefined her as male. “That’s not what I fought for,” Miller told the Lawrence Times. “You can hold whatever opinions you hold. Just allow me the courtesy to make my own decisions about my own life… I mean, that is like the very definition of oppression, is to say, ‘You can’t do that because I don’t like it.'” Miller’s lawsuit lays out the impact that losing her license over these political games has had on her life as she cares for her disabled daughter. She had to buy an electric tricycle she could ride without a license, but she was still unable to complete many necessary errands without a car. She has had to repeatedly ask for support from family and friends and has been unable to provide valid identification at locations, including the bank. Judge McCabria’s decision acknowledged these harms, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the final ruling will find they amount to irreparable harm. The judge saw a solid argument that Miller was deprived of her constitutional rights to due process and that there’s precedent that says that “unquestionable constitutes irreparable injury.” The judge also highlighted that this ruling is about how KDOR acted and does not constitute a verdict on whether or not trans people should be allowed to update their gender markers. “[T]his Court has no idea whether that Order, or any other argument that Plaintiff might present to KDOR, will succeed in persuading KDOR whether the gender marker on her driver’s license should reflect male or female. That is not the subject of this decision. This decision is about the process, not the subject matter of the underlying dispute.” While Miller is not the only one to have her license revoked, the ruling that said “no other remedy will suffice” applies only to her license, as it is not a class-action case. Other trans people who have had their licenses revoked would have to go through the same legal proceedings. The next step in Miller’s case has now been consolidated with another case, Doe v. State of Kansas, that will come before McCabria. The ACLU is bringing the case on behalf of several trans people who have challenged SB 244, and a hearing is scheduled to begin in the new consolidated case on September 29 and run for a week. Miller’s attorney and the ACLU lawyers alike have opposed the consolidation, with Miller’s representative saying it will require her to sit through extensive testimony that is not relevant to her, and the ACLU lawyers concerned that the other case will eat into the time for their case presentation. However, McCabria, who denied a temporary injunction in the ACLU case that would have prevented SB 244 from going into effect in March, said that it will all be accommodated and that there is enough overlap between the cases that keeping them separate would require the state to present the same case twice. Kansas is one of 12 states that no longer allow trans people to update the gender marker on their driver’s license, either through explicit policy or by requiring an updated birth certificate that the state no longer provides. South Dakota became the eleventh state last month, with news breaking this week that Ohio’s BMV was no longer accepting gender change forms. Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are outraged after Ohio’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) abruptly stopped accepting the official form long used by trans people in the state to update the gender marker on their IDs. Equality Ohio and TransOhio told The Toledo Blade that the change occurred without any public announcement or transition period and that the BMV now allows gender marker changes only if people can provide an updated birth certificate or passport. Related Court allows Trump administration to access trans patients’ records “Changing a policy this consequential overnight — without warning or transparency — is not an accident. It is a choice,” said Dwayne Steward, executive director of Equality Ohio. “It is a deliberate attempt at voter suppression and an intentional decision to make life harder for transgender Ohioans while hoping no one notices until it is too late.” “We noticed,” Steward continued. “We are paying attention. And we will not stop fighting until every Ohioan has true lived and legal equality.” Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Birth certificate changes are decided in the state on a county-by-county basis. Steward told NBC that the BMV update will no doubt make it harder for trans people to obtain accurate IDs. “It’s going to create another barrier for people. We are in the business of moving forward equality measures, to make it easier for equality to happen in Ohio. This is making it more difficult.” Dara Adkison, executive director of Trans Ohio, added, “Not having your IDs matched properly is intentional harm.” Indeed, without the proper sex designation, trans people are at risk of being outed every time they are asked to show identification, which could put them in danger. “It’s a safety issue. You’re pulled over for a traffic stop and immediately flagged as having a fraudulent identification on you because your stuff doesn’t match who you present as. It’s harder to access healthcare. It’s harder to access insurance when your matching ID documents do not correspond to the gender designation on file.” Lindsey Bohrer, a spokesperson for the BMV, reportedly explained that the previous form allowing trans people to self-declare their gender change did not align with the state’s new budget legislation requiring the BMV to base gender markers on birth certificates or passports. Ohio’s Revised Code Section 9.05 declares, “It is the policy of the state of Ohio to recognize two sexes, male and female,” and that “these sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” The Movement Advancement Project gives Ohio a score of -3 out of 26 for its gender identity policies and an overall score of 1.75 out of 49 for its policies on the LGBTQ+ community. In addition to its rigid definition of gender, the state has an anti-trans bathroom ban in place that prevents K-12 students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.

Nature, Published online: 19 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02495-4An autonomous AI agent can write and execute quantum computing code, but it sometimes needs a human touch.

Nature, Published online: 19 August 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02610-5His calculations explain the efficiency of batteries and solar cells.

Revenge shapes the president’s priorities, drives his actions and structures the decisions of his government.

The companies say the vaccine prevented the return and spread of the cancer in high-risk melanoma patients.

New therapies are transforming the treatment of the skin cancer, which can be deadly.

Two high-profile cases that had spurred international condemnation of the country’s conduct in Gaza were transferred to the military police. Such investigations have rarely led to convictions.

Candidates from the left’s Democratic Socialists of America party have been gaining momentum around the country in primaries leading up to the midterms. The Onion examines the common myths and facts surrounding the DSA. MYTH: Socialist ideas have never worked in the real world. FACT: No political theory has ever worked in real life. MYTH: The Soviet Union had democratic socialism. FACT: The Soviet Union had a dog who went to space. MYTH: The government will take away your money and give it to the poor. FACT: You are the poor. MYTH: The workers of the world must unite and seize the means of production from the ruling class by force if necessary. FACT: The workers of the world should politely ask if they can have Labor Day off this year. MYTH: DSA policies like universal healthcare would help millions of Americans. FACT: Israel has the right to defend itself. The post Democratic Socialism: Myth Vs. Fact appeared first on The Onion.