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Volume 79, No. 124 ©SS 2020 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020

FACES Guitar virtuoso Van Halen dies at age 65Page 15

NBA FINALSLeBron, Lakers take commanding 3-1 lead in seriesBack page

MILITARY Army eyes augmented reality ‘doggles’ to help with canine trainingPage 3

In an about-face, Trump seeks to salvage parts of virus aid » Page 8

OSWALD FELIX JR./U.S. Navy

The USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group and the America amphibious ready group steam in formation last month. The Navy wants to expand the fleet to 500 ships by 2045 and rely more on vessels like the USS America.

BY CAITLIN M. KENNEY

Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON— The Navy wants to double its number of submarines as part of a plan to build more than 500 ships by 2045 to maintain a competitive edge against China and Russia, De-fense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday.

“We believe that this is the vision for the fu-ture that will ensure that we maintain the great-

est Navy in the world,” he said during a speech at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary As-sessments, a think tank specializing in U.S. de-fense policy, force planning and budgets.

Esper provided an overview of “Battle Force 2045,” though the Pentagon has yet to share the Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan or its naval force study with Congress.

SEE NAVY ON PAGE 5

Esper: Navy needs to have more than 500 ships by 2045FULL STEAM

AHEAD

BY ALEX HORTON

The Washington Post

A soldier who is finishing his assignment at Camp Humphreys in South Korea may be blocked from reentering the United States, government officials said, in a dis-pute over his legal status stemming from his birth in New York while his father was a foreign diplomat there.

Army Pfc. Fadel Tankoano, 22, said he thought he was a dual citizen of Niger and the United States, pointing to the U.S. pass-port he was issued as a toddler and a birth certificate from a Manhattan hospital.

But officials said Tankoano misrepre-sented his status when he enlisted in 2018 and on passport applications.

Tankoano’s Nigerien father enjoyed full diplomatic immunity as a counselor

at the United Nations when his son was born, State Department officials said. That means that he was not subject to domestic law — and that Tankoano was exempt from birthright citizenship.

Tankoano is being forced out of the mili-tary on the grounds of fraudulent entry, Army officials said, and will be sent back to the United States this month. But an official with Customs and Border Protec-

tion said he might be turned away when hearrives.

The soldier’s trouble began when heapplied for a new passport in July 2019 and a State Department official told him that he was an alien with no claim to U.S. citizenship.

“I was truly shocked,” he told The Wash-ington Post in a telephone interview fro m

SEE DISPUTE ON PAGE 5

US soldier returning from Camp Humphreys assignment faces dispute over his citizenship

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 2 F3HIJKLM Thursday, October 8, 2020

American Roundup ..... 14Classified .................. 13Comics ...................... 17Crossword ................. 17Faces ........................ 15Opinion ..................... 16Sports .................. 18-24

T O D A YIN STRIPES

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Facebook to ban groups that support QAnon Military ratesEuro costs (Oct. 8) ................................ $1.15Dollar buys (Oct. 8) ...........................€0.8293British pound (Oct. 8) ..........................$1.25Japanese yen (Oct. 8) ........................103.00South Korean won (Oct. 8) ............1,134.00

Commercial ratesBahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3767British pound .....................................$1.2876Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.3281China (Yuan) ........................................6.7905Denmark (Krone) ................................6.3265Egypt (Pound) ....................................15.7196Euro ........................................ $1.1763/0.8501Hong Kong (Dollar) ............................. 7.7501Hungary (Forint) .................................305.39Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.4028Japan (Yen) ...........................................105.99Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3063Norway (Krone) ...................................9.2970Philippines (Peso).................................48.47Poland (Zloty) .......................................... 3.81Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ...........................3.7509Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3591South Korea (Won) .......................... 1,157.92

Switzerland (Franc)............................ 0.9171Thailand (Baht) ..................................... 31.23Turkey (Lira) ......................................... 7.8576(Military exchange rates are those available to customers at military banking facilities in the country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., purchasing British pounds in Germany), check with your local military banking facility. Commercial rates are interbank rates provided for reference when buying currency. All figures are foreign currencies to one dollar, except for the British pound, which is represented in dollars-to-pound, and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.)

EXCHANGE RATES

INTEREST RATESPrime rate ................................................ 3.25Discount rate .......................................... 0.25Federal funds market rate ................... 0.093-month bill ............................................. 0.1030-year bond ........................................... 1.56

WEATHER OUTLOOK

Bahrain94/90

Baghdad91/64

Doha97/78

KuwaitCity

95/76

Riyadh93/68

Djibouti93/78

Kandahar83/45

Kabul74/44

THURSDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST FRIDAY IN THE PACIFIC

Misawa61/53

Guam84/81

Tokyo59/56

Okinawa82/77

Sasebo81/66

Iwakuni73/66

Seoul76/55

Osan75/54 Busan

72/65

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

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

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

60/52

Ramstein60/51

Stuttgart59/49

Lajes,Azores70/67

Rota77/62

Morón88/59 Sigonella

73/61

Naples69/57

Aviano/Vicenza63/47

Pápa61/50

Souda Bay76/73

THURSDAY IN EUROPE

Brussels59/51

Zagan56/50

Drawsko Pomorskie

54/50

BY BARBARA ORTUTAY

Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. —Facebook said it will ban groups that openly support QAnon, the baseless con-spiracy theory that paints Presi-dent Donald Trump as a secret warrior against a supposed child-trafficking ring run by celebri-ties and “deep state” government officials.

The company said Tuesday that it will remove Facebook pages, groups and Instagram ac-

counts for “representing QAnon” — even if they don’t promote vio-lence. The social network said it will consider a variety of factors to decide if a group meets its cri-teria for a ban, including its name, the biography or “about” section of the page, and discussions with-in the page, group or Instagram account.

Mentions of QAnon in a group focused on a different subject won’t necessarily lead to a ban, Facebook said. Administrators of banned groups will have their

personal accounts disabled as well.

Less than two months ago, Facebook said it would stop pro-moting the group and its adher-ents, although it faltered with spotty enforcement. It said it would only remove QAnon groups if they promote violence. That is no longer the case.

The company said it started to enforce the policy Tuesday, but cautioned that it “will take time and will continue in the coming days and weeks.”

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 3Thursday, October 8, 2020

BY J.P. LAWRENCE Stars and Stripes

The Army is developing high-tech augmented reality goggles for dogs that eventually could allow handlers to give them di-rections from afar, the service said.

Military working dogs are di-rected via hand signals, speaking or laser pointers, which require the handler to remain close by. That can potentially endanger soldiers on missions that involve finding explosives and hazardous materials, or assisting in rescue operations, the Army statement said Tuesday.

The goggles developed by the Army and the Seattle-based com-pany Command Sight show dogs where to go using a simulated laser pointer.

Initial feedback indicates “the system could fundamentally change how military canines are deployed in the future,” said A.J.

Peper, the founder of Command Sight, as quoted in the Army’s statement.

Peper founded his company in 2017 and built his first proto-type augmented reality glasses for military working dogs after conversations with current and retired handlers.

Much of the research has been conducted on his own rottweiler, named Mater, the statement said.

The goggles have a lightweight camera, which sends everything Mater is seeing to a laptop. The handler can click on a spot where Mater should go, and the simulat-ed laser point appears to the dog.

The technology allows handlers to be very specific while direct-ing their dogs and opens up new possibilities for research, said Stephen Lee, a senior scientist at the Army Research Office, which managed the project.

“The research demonstrates that a dog can recognize things

in an augmented reality world,” Lee said in a phone interview Tuesday.

The prototype is wired and keeps the dog on a leash, but the next step is making a wireless version that would allow the sol-dier to direct a dog via a handheld device, while staying far away and out of sight.

The project was funded by the Small Business Innovation Re-search program, and additional money will come through the Pentagon’s Rapid Reaction Tech-nology Office to fund the next phase of development.

This includes working with Navy special operations over the next two years to build prototypes for their military working dogs.

“This technology really cuts new ground and opens up possi-bilities that we haven’t considered yet,” Lee said in a statement. lawrence.jp@stripes.comTwitter: @jplawrence3

BY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

STUTTGART, Germany — The Army is moving forward with a nearly $2 mil-lion project to soundproof a firing range in Stuttgart, despite a Pentagon directive to eventually leave the area after decades of a U.S. military presence.

The U.S. Army is expected to pay about $1.4 million in the spring to install barrier walls at two open-air sites at Panzer Kaser-ne firing range, located just south of Stutt-gart in the town of Boeblingen. Under an agreement with the Army, Boeblingen will contribute $300,000 toward the project.

The project and how it is being split fi-nancially was finalized before the Penta-gon announced that it intends to move U.S. European and Africa commands, as well as several subordinate units, out of the Stuttgart area as part of a troop drawdown in Germany. A timeline to execute the plan is still being drawn up, but if it comes to fruition it will mean the military will have dumped millions of dollars into projects on bases that will eventually be vacated.

The Army in Stuttgart is proceeding with

the range soundproofing because it has an obligation to “maintain good relations with our host nation,” said Rick Scavetta, a

Stuttgart Army garrison spokesman.“The noise from training on that range

has been a historical source of complaints

and dissatisfaction,” he said. “While weawait DoD’s plan for how to implement theEuropean Posture Realignment in Ger-many, U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart willcontinue to move forward on local projects that we have been directed to complete.”

The plan comes after more than a de-cade of back-and-forth between the mili-tary and local government officials about how to deal with the crackle of gunfire at the range, which can be heard in nearby residential areas.

The costs for soundproofing the rangehave soared since 2018, when the estimatewas $800,000 and Boeblingen was slatedto pick up half the tab. A year later, theproject’s price tag climbed to more than$2 million, with the U.S. agreeing to cover most of the additional costs and the Ger-mans contributing a much smaller share.

The overall price tag has dropped sincethen and now stands at $1.7 million, the garrison said. But the cost-sharing agree-ment remains the same, with the U.S. fi-nancing the lion’s share of the project.vandiver.john@stripes.comTwitter: @john_vandiver

BY NIKKI WENTLING Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Congress approved a measure last week that will ensure student veterans continue to receive full GI Bill benefits into the next school year, even as many classes have gone online-only in re-sponse to the coronavirus pandemic.

Congress scrambled in March to protect GI Bill benefits for student veterans as colleges shut down in response to the pan-demic. At the time, lawmakers approved an emergency fix that allowed students to

retain their full amount of benefits. The bill gave the Department of Veterans Af-fairs secretary broad authority to ensure GI Bill benefits are distributed without in-terruption during national emergencies.

Those protections were scheduled to end in December. However, Congress extended the protections through December 2021. The extension was part of a short-term funding bill that prevented a government shutdown at the beginning of October.

“The Senate just passed a continuing resolution, avoiding a government shut-

down,” the group Student Veterans of America tweeted at the time. “More than avoiding a shutdown, the CR also extends critical housing flexibility for student vet-erans facing school changes from COVID through 2021.”

GI Bill recipients rely on monthly sti-pends from the VA to pay for housing, food and other bills. Those payments are higher for students who attend physical classes as opposed to online coursework. As classes moved online last spring to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, tens

of thousands of student veterans faced the possibility of losing their benefits or seeingdrastic cuts.

The extension approved last week also applies to protections for student veter-ans in work-study programs. Congress approved a measure in April to continue payments for veterans in work-study pro-grams, even if they could no longer report to work because of the pandemic.

wentling.nikki@stripes.comTwitter: @nikkiwentling

MILITARY

Augmented reality goggles could be going to the dogs

Drawdown not silencing Army project in Germany

Protections for GI Bill benefits extended into next school year

Command Sight

A test dog wears augmented reality goggles developed by the U.S. Army and the Seattle-based Command Sight. The technology could allow military dog handlers to direct their dogs remotely by giving them directions through prompts within the goggles.

JASON D. JOHNSTON/U.S. Army

U.S. soldiers participate in an exercise at the Panzer Range Complex in Boeblingen, Germany, last year . The Army will move forward with a project to soundproof the firing range, despite plans to leave the area.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 4 F3HIJKLM Thursday, October 8, 2020

BY JAMES BOLINGER Stars and Stripes

MARINE CORPS AIR STA-TION IWAKUNI, Japan — Two Marine fighter squadrons recent-ly arrived at this air station for six months of duty in Japan, testing the ability of MCAS Iwakuni to keep the coronavirus at bay as new personnel streamed in.

The Marines’ Fighter Attack Squadron 312 and All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 533, both from Marine Corps Air Sta-tion Beaufort, S.C., arrived be-tween mid-September and early October on the Unit Deployment Program. The squadrons fly different models of the F/A-18 Hornet.

The squadrons moved from South Carolina to Japan a month apart to reduce the risk of trans-mitting the coronavirus. Most new infections within the U.S. military in Japan and South Korea are arriving with incom-ing troops, civilian employees or family members.

Receiving two squadrons tested the air station’s capacity to pro-vide quarantine areas for a large number of inbound personnel and reduce the risk of bringing coronavirus to the installation, said Capt. Marco Valenzuela, a spokesman for Marine Air Group 12, in an email Tuesday. He said Marines at Iwakuni took addi-

tional precautions to ensure the Marines from South Carolina ar-rived safely.

“We worked through logisti-cal challenges to make sure that movement of personnel and their gear was pre-planned, deliberate and effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19,” Valenzuela said, referring to the respiratory disease caused by the coronavi-rus. “All personnel were screened upon arrival and placed in a re-striction of movement status sim-ilar to the quarantine measures put in place by the Government of Japan.”

MCAS Iwakuni last reported new coronavirus patients, two new arrivals, on Sept. 27. They tested positive near the end of a 14-day quarantine period, ac-cording to a Facebook post by the base. Both patients arrived via “military-coordinated flights.”

New arrivals and returning travelers must quarantine for two weeks at minimum and test free of the virus before exiting isola-tion, according to U.S. Forces Japan.

The air station, like other U.S. commands in Japan, does not of-ficially specify its coronavirus patients as service members, civilian employees or family members.

The base usually hosts one de-ployed flying squadron at a time. However, because one MCAS

Iwakuni-based squadron, All Weather Fighter Attack Squad-ron 242, is trading its Hornets for the F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter, the base took on the extra deployed squadron, Valenzuela said.

“Having two UDP squadrons here in Iwakuni allows Marine Aircraft Group 12 to maintain its obligation to the Treaty of Mu-tual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the U.S.,” he said.

Both deployed squadrons will train across the Indo-Pacific re-gion and undertake missions as required by the 1st Marine Air-craft Wing, Valenzuela added.

The Marine Corps’ Unit De-ployment Program began in Oc-tober 1977 and provides a rotating force of infantry battalions and aircraft squadrons to the Indo-Pacific, Valenzuela said. The pro-

gram also reduces the number of Marines on unaccompanied tours and improves continuity between rotating units.

A Marine on an unaccompa-nied tour is stationed overseas apart from his or her family for up to three years.

In addition to the three flying

and two support squadrons ofMarine Aircraft Group 12, MCAS Iwakuni is home to the Navy’sCombat Air Wing 5, the air com-ponent aboard the USS RonaldReagan, and Fleet Wing 31 of theJapan Maritime Self-Defense.bolinger.james@stripes.comTwitter: bolingerj2004

BY KIM GAMEL AND YOO KYONG CHANG

Stars and Stripes

SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. mili-tary has left unspent nearly 68 billion won, about $60 million, in South Korean funds provided over the past six years as part of defense burden-sharing agreements, according to data released this week by a South Korean lawmaker.

The unused funds amount to $7.4 million in 2014, $9.3 million in 2015, $4.8 million in 2016, $12.4 million in 2017, $17.5 million in 2018 and $6.7 million in 2019, according to the data provided by Rep. Jeon Hae-cheol of the ruling Democratic Party.

Jeon, who is on the National Assembly’s foreign affairs and unification committee, said he received the data from the Minis-try of National Defense. The defense min-istry declined to comment.

The information raised the stakes as talks over a new contract, known as the Special Measures Agreement, have dead-locked due to U.S. demands that Seoul sharply increase its contribution for sta-tioning some 28,500 American troops on the divided peninsula.

The figures — about 12.5% of the total for all six years — also gave insight into U.S. priorities for the South Korean funds.

All the money allocated for local labor was used. Most of the unspent funds were ear-marked for military facilities improvement and logistics support.

U.S. Forces Korea said it was working with the Ministry of National Defense to reconcile former Special Measures Agree-ment contributions.

“A significant portion of these funds are accounted as in-kind contributions from [South Korea] and, thus, not fully visible to USFK,” the command’s public affairs of-fice told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.

“USFK looks forward to a joint account-ing of the (South Korean) use of cash and in-kind contributions and increased trans-parency of the manner in which [South Korea] supports USFK under past and fu-ture SMAs,” it added.

The allies are operating without a fund-ing agreement because the previous con-tract expired at the end of last year. The issue has become a major irritant in the alliance, which was forged in the 1950-53 Korean War.

Jeon said the unused defense funds should be fully reflected in future talks on the Special Measures Agreement, claim-ing that USFK has not been transparent about how it has handled the money, ac-cording to the Yonhap News Agency, which

first reported on the data.Ahn Gyu-back, a member of the Demo-

cratic Party and the parliamentary defense committee, also noted that the amount of funds carried over from year to year was often high, except with regards to labor.

“It means that South Korea’s defense contributions for the South Korean-U.S. alliance and the stationing of American troops in Korea already are enough,” he said Wednesday in a statement from his of-fice. “It also means that the Trump admin-istration’s demands are very excessive.”

The Trump administration, in line with the president’s overall policies toward allies, maintains that South Korea is a wealthy country that can and should pay more for its own defense.

Experts say it’s unlikely that any deal will be reached before the U.S. presiden-tial election next month.

Kyle Ferrier, director of academic af-fairs at the Washington, D.C.-based Korea Economic Institute of America, said the data appeared to vindicate South Korean concerns that President Donald Trump’s demands for money lack justification.

“The fact that it was leaked by a Korean lawmaker, whose support would be needed to approve whatever SMA deal is reached, is further suggestive of the extent that the

White House’s hard-nosed approach could ultimately backfire on itself,” he said.

“While the SMA negotiations have takena back seat to the elections and other majornews stories in the U.S., this latest develop-ment emphasizes just how big of an issuethis is in Korea,” Ferrier said. “The longer the issue continues to be unresolved themore detrimental it will be to how SouthKoreans view the U.S.”

South Korea has offset the costs for host-ing the U.S. troops under the agreementsince 1991. Negotiations over the amounthave always been contentious, but theyreached a breaking point in 2018 whenTrump reportedly demanded up to $5 bil-lion per year, a fivefold increase.

Previous contracts have lasted for five years, but the allies agreed to a retroactive,one-year stopgap measure for 2019 afterfailing to meet the end-of-year deadline.

That deal expired on Dec. 31, eventuallyprompting USFK to place more than 4,000 local base workers who provide food and administrative services — nearly half ofits workforce — on unpaid leave. The fur-lough was lifted in June after South Korea agreed to pay $200 million for salaries through the end of this year.gamel.kim@stripes.comTwitter: @kimgamelchang.kyong@stripes.com

US military hasn’t used $60M in S. Korean defense funds, data show

MILITARY

Deployments test Marine response to virus in Japan

Above: Capt. Nathaniel Vigneault arrives at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, on Sept. 17 . Left: Capt. John Bell is screened for coronavirus symptoms after arriving Oct. 2.TYLER HARMON/U.S. Marine Corps

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 5Thursday, October 8, 2020

FROM FRONT PAGE

The defense secretary directed a future naval force study earlier this year to determine how the U.S. Navy can maintain its edge against the navies of other mili-tary powers.

Esper said the need to mod-ernize the Navy is in part due to China’s own naval moderniza-tion and shipbuilding efforts. The Pentagon’s China report released Sept. 1 determined the country aims to have a “world-class” mili-tary on par with the United States by 2049. It already has the larg-est navy in the world at 350 ships. The United States now has 296 deployable battle force ships, ac-cording to the Navy.

Esper said during his speech that the Pentagon has found a “credible path” to get to 355 ships within the next 15 years, which had been the Navy’s previous shipbuilding goal. However, he did not offer specifics Tuesday, other than to say they were in-cluded as part of the funding and reform efforts being created for the Battle Force 2045 plan.

The first priority of that plan is to have a large number of attack submarines, with a target of 70 to 80 submarines overall. This will require the Navy to build at least three next-generation Virginia-class submarines every year “as soon as possible,” Esper said. The Navy now has more than 40 op-erational attack submarines, ac-cording to Pentagon documents.

“If we do nothing else, we should invest in attack subma-rines, because of the lethality they can deliver under the sea and survivability that they have. A clear overmatch that we have when it comes to the undersea do-main and submarines in particu-lar,” Esper said.

Large nuclear-powered aircraft carriers also will be part of the future Navy, still considered the force’s “most visible deterrent,” he said. The Navy is also looking at “light carriers,” such as the USS America amphibious assault ship that can go to sea with ver-tical takeoff and landing aircraft including the F-35B fighters and the MV-22 Osprey. These light carriers would free up the bigger carriers for more of the “critical high-end fight,” Esper said.

While there is more studying to be done on the appropriate mix of carriers, Esper said defense of-ficials believe they will need at least eight to 11 aircraft carriers for high-end conflicts and up to six light carriers. The Navy has 11 operational aircraft carriers now and one operational Ameri-ca-class amphibious assault ship with another under construction, according to the service.

Unmanned naval vessels have been discussed in a number of congressional hearings about the future of the Navy and they are included in the Battle Force 2045 plan. Esper said the future force will have between 140 and 240 unmanned and “optionally manned” surface and subsurface vessels that can perform a vari-ety of missions including surveil-lance, mine-laying and missile strikes.

“They will add significant of-fensive and defensive capabilities to the fleet at an affordable cost in terms of both sailors and dollars,” he said.

Continuing with the future of unmanned capabilities in the Navy, defense officials also want a variety of unmanned ship-based aircraft, including fighters and refuelers, Esper said.

The defense secretary also said he supports incorporating into the Battle Force 2045 plan the Marine Corps’ Force Design 2030 that focuses more on a joint naval force that eliminates Marine ele-ments such as tank and artillery units. While it is still being stud-ied, the Pentagon foresees need-ing more amphibious warfare ships within a range of 50 to 60 ships, Esper said.

With the goal to reach more than 500 manned and unmanned ships by 2045, the plan needs all the funding it can find. Funding from Defense Department re-form efforts, such as combatant command reviews, will be put toward this ambitious plan, ac-cording to Esper. This money will increase the shipbuilding account by 13% within the Navy’s overall budget number, which matches the amount put toward new ships during former President Ronald Reagan’s military buildup in the 1980s, he said. Esper did not pro-vide dollar amounts.

Congressional help will also be necessary to make the plan work. Esper said he wants lawmakers to stop using continuing resolutions to fund the defense budget and allow the military to divest from legacy systems so that the funds can be put toward “higher priori-ties.” He also said he will request that the Navy have the authority to put any end-of-year budget sav-ings toward shipbuilding instead of losing the money when it is not spent.

“The combination of these funds, reforms and authorities will help ensure that Battle Force 2045 is adequately resourced,” Esper said.

The plan will also require the defense industry to have modern shipyards, better infrastructure, and skilled workers, he said.kenney.caitlin@stripes.com@caitlinmkenney

FROM FRONT PAGE

Camp Humphreys, where he serves as a logistical support soldier.

Soldiers on overseas assign-ments who are leaving the military typically return to the United States to complete their paperwork. But Tankoano said his commanders ordered him to take passport photos so the State Department could furnish travel documents and fly him to Niger.

Margaret Stock, Tankoano’s attorney and a retired Army of-ficer, said the government’s strat-egy was to deprive Tankoano of the U.S. court system by sending him to Africa.

Government officials said the plan was intended as a solution because they believed Tankoano’s military ID, which is a travel doc-ument, was no longer valid. His military ID, however, is still valid as long as he is on active duty, the Army said.

Tankoano filed a grievance with his commanders on the de-cision to send him to Niger. The Army reversed course, saying in a Sept. 29 letter that he would be allowed to return to his home in Houston later this month, via a commercial flight arriving in Seattle.

But a CBP attache in Seoul has already recommended to the Army and State Department that Tankoano not be allowed to reen-ter the United States based on the assessment of his case, officials said. That could create a scenario where the Army sends him home but immigration officials bar his entry and either refer him to im-migration court or remove him from the country.

Tankoano applied for a U.S.

passport while living in Niger in 2015 and again in Texas in 2018. State Department and CBP offi-cials said he should have known that he wasn’t a citizen after both were denied. They also said he made a false claim when he filed for benefits for his immigrant wife that are available to families of service members.

But his mother, Emily Tankoa-no, said the situation had not been clear.

No officials from the State Department or United Nations counseled her about her son’s citi-zenship status after he was born, she said, and he was a minor when his 2015 passport application was rejected. He received a visa but didn’t understand the difference, she said.

“Fadel thought he was still an American. I had not spoken to him about his citizenship,” she said in a phone interview from Niamey, Niger’s capital.

The State Department acknowl-edged that the U.S. passport he received as a toddler was “issued in error,” an official said.

Theresa Brown, a former CBP official who has worked as an at-tache in Ottawa, said Tankoano’s case is likely included in a system used by the CBP to scan airplane manifests, and he may be flagged for additional scrutiny in Seattle before he lands.

That is where his circumstanc-es about his case will be evaluat-ed, said Brown, now the director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

From there, Tankoano faces four possibilities. He could be al-lowed into the country, declared inadmissible and turned away from the United States, referred

to an immigration judge to decide if he can enter, or paroled with aset time for his departure, Brown said.

After his passport applicationwas rejected, Tankoano filed pa-perwork to naturalize through his service in May. Nearly 180,000 immigrants naturalized in themilitary from October 2001 to2018, according to governmentdata.

One requirement to naturalize, a validation of honorable service from a senior officer, was signedby Tankoano’s former brigadecommander, Col. Joseph Pishock,on May 18, according to recordsobtained by The Post.

Stock has handled dozens of cases involving service memberswho willfully or unknowinglymisrepresented their immigra-tion status at enlistment.

Most remained in the serviceand were allowed to naturalize because commanders wantedto keep them, she said, though afew were forced out of the mili-tary. They, too, were naturalized,she said. Veterans can naturalize even with infractions on their re-cord, according to immigrationlaw.

Luis Lopez, a Mexican national,knowingly provided a false birthcertificate to an Army recruiter. His discharge documents say he served honorably but enlistedfraudulently, according to TheWall Street Journal. He natural-ized in 2011.

Another soldier, South Koreanative Yea Ji Sea, lied under oathto Army investigators about her immigration status and later re-canted, said Stock, who helped represent her. She left the Armyand naturalized in 2018.

Dispute: ‘Fadel thought he was still an American,’ says mother of US soldier serving in South Korea

Navy: Esper says funding from DOD reform efforts will be put toward ‘Battle Force 2045’ plan

PACIFIC

Fadel Tankoano

Pfc. Fadel Tankoano is flanked by his brothers at his Army basic training graduation in 2018. Tankoano, who was born in New York while his father served as a Nigerien diplomat, applied for a new passport in July 2019 and a State Department official told him that he was an alien with no claim to U.S. citizenship.

‘ If we do nothing else, we should invest in attack submarines. ’

Mark Esperdefense secretary

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 6 F3HIJKLM Thursday, October 8, 2020

BY IMMANUEL JOHNSON Stars and Stripes

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — The U.S. Army and German Armed Forces are moving forward with a joint, multiyear construction project at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Bavaria.

Under the project, which officials estimate will cost 119 million euros, or around $141 million, 25 buildings will be constructed on nearly 100 acres of land in part of the training area known as Camp Nor-mandy, the German military said in a statement.

The new construction will replace “old and di-lapidated” buildings used to house German troops, news outlet Onetz.de said.

The new buildings will also help to address an accommodation shortage that is expected to arise if the U.S. goes ahead with plans to increase troop rotations and assignments to Grafenwoehr, which was not one of the U.S. military facilities earmarked for closure or a reduction in force size when the

Pentagon unveiled plans in July to withdraw nearly12,000 troops from Germany.

The drawdown was called for by President Don-ald Trump, who has long derided Germany as delin-quent on its NATO defense spending obligations.

On top of the additional American troops, around1,400 German troops are expected to be based at Grafenwoehr, creating the potential for an accom-modation crunch, said Lt. Col. Florian Rommel,commander of the German training area at thesite.

Plans for the project are expected to be presentednext month and construction could begin early nextyear, Rommel said.

Militaries from allied and partner nations train at Grafenwoehr, which is the Army’s largest and mostsophisticated permanent training area in Europe.Stars and Stripes reporter Marcus Kloeckner contributed to this report. johnson.immanuel@stripes.com

Twitter: @Manny_Stripes

BY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — New sol-diers and recruits will not have to pass a fitness test to graduate from the Army’s enlisted, offi-cer or warrant officer initial en-trance training programs for at least one year, service officials said Tuesday.

The Army’s Center for Initial Military Training temporarily axed the requirement that soldiers and recruits pass the new Army Combat Fitness Test to complete initial training programs, said Megan Reed, a spokeswoman for the Fort Eustis, Va.- based CIMT. Suspension of the fitness test re-quirement — long a standard prerequisite for completing such training — will remain in place at least through Sept. 30, the end of the 2021 fiscal year.

In late 2019, the Army began requiring trainees pass the six-event ACFT to graduate from initial entrance training courses. But the service allowed them to pass the test even if they failed one of the events.

The change brings fitness test policy for initial trainees in line with fitness test policies for the rest of the Army. Though the ACFT became the Army’s offi-cial fitness evaluation on Oct. 1, service officials decided during the summer that they would not count failing scores on the new tests against soldiers in fiscal year 2021 because of constraints on training and testing brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The temporary change ap-plies to Basic Combat Training, Advanced Individual Training, One Station Unit Training, War-rant Officer Basic Course and the Basic Officer leader course, Reed said. However, trainees in those courses will still take the ACFT and they must pass other physi-cal challenges to complete their training, she said. For example, recruits in Basic Combat Train-ing still must pass an obstacle course, hand-to-hand combat training and an about 10-mile march.

Soldiers in Initial Military Training courses “are still chal-lenged to the highest standard of physical fitness, and encour-aged to take and pass the ACFT at the Gold Standard in” fiscal year 2021, Reed said in a state-ment. The Gold Standard is the lowest of three scoring tiers for the ACFT, which applies to Army jobs considered the least physi-cally demanding.

The Army will no longer ad-minister the decades-old, three-event Army Physical Fitness Test

in any form, including at initial entrance training courses, ser-vice officials said.

Last October, Army leaders elected to begin testing recruits in basic training on the new fit-ness assessment in an effort to enlarge the testing pool that it was using to gather data needed to refine the long-planned ACFT. It was also meant to prepare those soldiers for an Army on the verge of a major change in how it ap-proaches fitness and the overall health of its soldiers. The ACFT is designed to test soldiers’ fitness in ways more akin to how they use their bodies in combat than the former fitness test, which consisted of pushups, situps and a 2-mile run.

But the new test has faced its own challenges as the Army had to purchase and distribute new equipment across the force for its soldiers to train and take the new test. The ACFT’s gender- and age-neutral scoring has also faced criticism that the test is more dif-ficult for female soldiers.

Army data shows about 54% of female soldiers who took the ACFT between January and May failed the test. Only about 7% of men failed the test during that same time.

Officials have long said they anticipated such challenges in the early days of the new test. Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grin-ston said in June that the Army would continue to fine-tune the ACFT as it gathered more data in fiscal year 2021 with more sol-diers taking the test.

He also anticipated soldiers’ scores would rise as they better understood how to prepare them-selves for the new test and had greater access to the equipment needed to complete it.

Army officials have said all the gear needed for the ACFT — including medicine balls, a deadlift bar and weight plates, a pull-up bar, and a weighted sled — has been distributed to Initial Military Training locations and the vast majority of active-duty brigades have also received their equipment in recent months. dickstein.corey@stripes.com

MILITARY

BY KARIN ZEITVOGEL

Stars and Stripes

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germa-ny — Americans overseas who are registered as absentee voters for the Nov. 3 election can mail their ballots from a military post office, regardless of whether they have base access, officials said.

With less than a month to go before the election, Kleber Post Office in Kaiserslautern was sending out between 20 and 30 ballots a day, said Justin Price, postmaster for Kleber and Rhine Ordnance Barracks.

“If you bring us your voted bal-lot in the official envelope, we will mail it on,” Price said in a phone interview.

An authorized military post office customer isn’t allowed to mail something for Americans that don’t have such privileges, said Bill Hillsher, chief of postal policy and plans for U.S. Army

Europe.But Americans overseas who

don’t have installation access can go to a base gate and ask for a postal clerk to come and collect their ballot after getting their passport checked, he said. Those ballots will be shipped via first class mail, which takes up to 10 days to reach the U.S., he said.

Ballots with a military return address will be sent free of charge via express mail and should ar-rive in the U.S. in three days, Hillsher said. The deadlines for receiving absentee ballots differ from state to state, but the infor-mation is available on FVAP.gov, the Federal Voting Assistance Program website, he said.

Megan Zemke tried to send her Alaska ballot from the Landstuhl post office this week but was turned away and told she had to send it from Panzer Kaserne, where she receives her mail, she told Stars and Stripes.

“I’d brought my daughter, who’s6, with me,” Zemke said. “She was wearing a Susan B. Anthony T-shirt and was disappointed whenI said we couldn’t vote that day.”

But as an authorized user,Zemke should have been allowedto send her ballot from any mili-tary postal facility that processesoutgoing mail, Hillsher said.

Panzer does not, so Zemkewent to Kleber on Wednesday andhanded her ballot to the clerk, whogave her an express mail tracking number in return.

Ballots dropped in mailboxesin military post offices will also be sent via express mail, and atracking number will be mailedto the military return address onthe ballot, said Hillsher, who isalso a senior USAREUR votingassistance officer.

zeitvogel.karin@stripes.com Twitter: @StripesZeit

THOMAS STUBBLEFIELD/U.S. Army

Soldiers fire light machine guns last month at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany . Germany and the U.S. are planning a major construction project at the sprawling training area, which was not included in a Pentagon plan to withdraw thousands of American troops from Germany.

Army suspends fitness testing for graduations

Army proceeds with plans for Grafenwoehr construction

Civilians can send ballots via military post office

The new test has faced challenges, as the Army had to purchase and distribute new equipment across the force for its soldiers to train and take the new test.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 7Thursday, October 8, 2020

BY DAN LAMOTHEAND MISSY RYAN

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The White House’s handling of an event for the family members of deceased U.S. troops was thrust into a new light on Tuesday amid the disclo-sure that a Coast Guard admiral who attended has tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing some of the military’s top generals and admirals into quarantine.

The Sept. 27 ceremony, held on Gold Star Mother’s and Family’s Day with dozens of people in at-tendance, recognized the families of 20 deceased service members, according to a copy of the event program obtained by The Wash-ington Post.

President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and some of the military’s top generals and admirals were also at the event, which was held in the East Room. Most attendees did not wear masks or maintain social distanc-ing, White House photographs of the event show.

Adm. Charles Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard, tested positive for the coronavi-rus on Monday, the service said in a statement on Tuesday. He had begun experiencing mild symptoms over the weekend, a week after attending the Gold Star event, but “is in good spir-its,” Rear Adm. Jon Hickey, a senior Coast Guard spokesman, said in the statement.

“In accordance with estab-lished Coast Guard COVID poli-cies, he will be quarantining from

home for the required 14-day time frame, where he will continue to perform his duties as Vice Com-mandant,” Hickey said.

Other senior defense officials who attended the White House event include Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. Charles Brown, the chief of staff of the Air Force; Gen. David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps; Gen. James McConville, chief of staff of the Army; and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy.

Ray’s positive test forced sev-eral members of the Joint Chiefs

of Staff into quarantine, including Milley. But in a state-ment, the Pentagon attributed the move to Ray’s par-ticipation Friday in a meeting at

the Pentagon with Milley and several service chiefs. No other senior military official had tested positive as of Tuesday, said Jona-than Hoffman, the chief Pentagon spokesman.

Brian Morgenstern, a White House spokesman, cited the test-ing of attendees before the gather-ing as evidence that precautions were taken.

“It’s critically important that we reopen the country, and it’s critically important that we honor these families,” Morgenstern said. “Had anyone tested positive, they would not have been continu-

ing to attend.”Attendees received a corona-

virus test the same afternoon of the 5 p.m. event, said Ann Lewis Hampton, whose daughter, Army Capt. Kimberly Hampton, was killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq in 2004 and was among those recognized at the White House. Family members wearing masks waited in an auditorium for re-sults, toured the White House, met with the president and took pictures with him before they were seated in the East Room, Hampton said.

“It was a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime event,” she said. “I feel like our heroes, our fallen, were honored very respectfully, and it was just a beautiful event.”

The ceremony was held one day after the president welcomed Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the White House as his next Supreme Court nominee. Numerous se-nior administration officials who attended that event, including Trump, have since tested positive for the virus.

Trump’s positive test was an-nounced early Friday. Hampton said that White House officials did not inform her of the out-break. Two other people familiar with planning for the event, who like several others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the White House did not contact most of the families, if any.

Hampton, who lives in a South Carolina retirement community, said she has voluntarily quar-antined herself since returning home.

Another Gold Star mother who attended the event reached out to the White House afterward and received an email that con-firmed that everyone at the mili-tary event had tested negative for the coronavirus on Sunday. The email also stated that Trump had “several negative tests” between Sunday evening and his positive test on Thursday, Hampton said.

“We’re talking from Sunday to Thursday, and we were told that he had negative tests in between Sunday and Thursday,” she said. “I have not been concerned at all because I felt very comfortable at the event. I’ll be honest with you: I was a lot more uncomfort-able with the plane, the hotel and the restaurant than going to the White House.”

Morgenstern said the White House did not contact the fami-lies because all attendees tested negative Sunday and no positive tests were recorded in the first 48 hours afterward.

The White House event in-cluded the lighting of a candle to recognize the deceased service member from each family attend-ing, performances by military

musicians and a 10-minute speech by Steven Xiarhos, a retired dep-uty police chief from Barnstable, Mass., who is running for staterepresentative as a Republican.Xiarhos, whose son Nicholas waskilled in Afghanistan in 2009, said in a Facebook post on Fri-day afternoon, after the disclo-sure of Trump’s diagnosis, thathe had tested negative and toldhis daughters, who accompanied him, to also get tested.

“I will be following all the re-maining recommendations re-garding COVID and quarantineguidelines,” wrote Xiarhos, whodid not respond to interview re-quests. “My thoughts and prayersare with the President, FirstLady, the White House staff, andall the Gold Star Families. It’s all surreal.”

The possibility that the corona-virus could have been in the roomwith senior defense officials drewattention to some of their recent travel. Esper was tested the fol-lowing day ahead of a trip lastweek to Northern Africa and the Middle East, and again lastWednesday and Friday, said a se-nior defense official said.

Those quarantined after the Pentagon meeting include Mil-ley; Brown; McConville; Gen.John Hyten, the vice chairmanof the Joint Chiefs; Adm. Michael Gilday, the chief of naval opera-tions; Gen. John Raymond, theSpace Force chief of staff; Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau; and Gen.Paul Nakasone, the head of U.S.Cyber Command, a defense offi-cial said.

BY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

TOKYO — The new command-er of Sasebo Naval Base in Japan has reimposed a tight set of anti-coronavirus measures following four new cases within the base community.

Capt. David Adams, who took command on Sept. 25, ordered a return to only mission-essential trips off base, according to a re-vised public health order posted Tuesday evening on the base Facebook page. No one affiliated with the base can travel “any-where outside of home, work or essential stops,” a return to mea-sures imposed early in the coro-navirus pandemic.

The new round of infections occurred within the existing community and not among new arrivals or returning travelers, base spokesman Aki Nichols told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday.

One patient showed flu-like symptoms and tested positive after traveling outside Nagasaki prefecture and the other three are close contacts, according to a subsequent news release from Nichols.

All four are in isolation “until they recover,” according to the re-lease. U.S. Forces Japan requires a 14-day minimum quarantine period for coronavirus patients, who must test free of the virus before leaving isolation.

The U.S. military in Japan

typically does not identify coro-navirus patients as service mem-bers, civilian employees or family members.

Adams’ revised order restricts activities such as shopping at malls and other retailers in the surrounding communities, pa-

tronizing dine-in restaurants and similar establishments and stays in Japanese hotels or inns for other than official business.

The stricter measures are meant to curb the virus’ spread but also to allow contact tracers to work quickly to find other in-dividuals who were exposed to it, according to a second post by Adams on Tuesday.

The Defense Department schools on base will remain open, according to a separate message on the base Facebook page.

In his later post, Adams said calling a halt to classroom ses-sions would interrupt students’ learning and unnecessar-ily “create additional stress and complications” for teachers al-ready working in a complicated environment.

“So far,” he wrote, “there is no connection between identified persons who have tested positive and the school system.”

The tighter restrictions will re-main in place for several weeks, Adams said.

His order provides leeway for some recreational activities in the surrounding area. Sasebo per-sonnel may “walk, jog or cycle” off base for exercise in the Sase-

bo and Hario areas, or aroundtheir off-base homes, providedthey avoid congested or crowdedareas.

Other permitted activities in-clude kayaking, paddle boarding, fishing and similar activities in local rivers or at Lake Isanoura. Other sites for outdoor recreationare permitted, according to therevised public health order.

Attendance at off-base schools, child care and similar activities for children are permitted, withdiscretion.

The updated public healthorder pulls back many activitiespreviously permitted after a long summer of restrictions. Travel outside Sasebo city, for exam-ple, is forbidden without special permission. Any form of public transportation is off-limits; gath-ering in any size group other thanfamily is also not allowed.

Exercise at base gyms is still an option, according to the publichealth order, provided the partici-pants wear masks and employ so-cial distancing. Base playgrounds are still available, with some con-ditions such as masks and socialdistancing.ditzler.joseph@stripes.comTwitter: @JosephDitzler

VIRUS OUTBREAK

Sasebo reimposes limits after new infections

Handling of Gold Star Mothers event reexamined

JASMINE IKUSEBIALA/U.S. Navy

A sailor is screened for coronavirus symptoms at Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, in May . Sasebo’s new commander reimposed anti-coronavirus measures following four new cases within the base community.

Ray

The possibility that the coronavirus could have been in the room with senior defense officials drew attention to some of their recent travel.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 8 F3HIJKLM Thursday, October 8, 2020

BY MATTHEW KEELER Stars and Stripes

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Mili-tary officials issued an alert to service members and residents Wednesday eve-ning after an individual who tested positive for the coronavirus was confirmed to have visited establishments on Osan Air Base.

In a message sent out via Facebook and the installation’s official website, officials said anyone who had visited the Osan Black Cat Lounge between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Monday should self-quaran-tine immediately and contact their chain of command.

Previous locations identified as potential

hot spots for infection on Osan, south of Seoul, have been cleared by public health officials.

As of Monday, 201 individuals affiliated with U.S. Forces Korea had tested positive for the respiratory infection. It is unknown at this time if this incident involves another affiliated member.

South Korea had continued to hold steadyfor the past week, reporting about 65 caseseach day. However, the number spiked intotriple digits Wednesday amid concern thatcases may rise following a major Koreanholiday last week.

keeler.matthew@stripes.comTwitter: @MattKeeler1231

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday tried to salvage its favorite items lost in the rubble of COVID-19 relief talks that President Donald Trump blew up, with his administration pressing for $1,200 stimulus checks and a new wave of aid for airlines and other businesses hard hit by the pandemic.

In a barrage of tweets, Trump pressed for passage of these chunks of assistance, an about-face from his abrupt and puzzling move on Tuesday afternoon to abandon talks with a longtime rival, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The California Democrat has rejected such piecemeal entreaties all along.

Trump’s tweets amounted to him de-manding his way in negotiations that he himself had ended.

He called on Congress to send him a “Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200)” — a reference to a preelection batch of direct payments to most Ameri-cans that had been a central piece of ne-gotiations between Pelosi and the White House.

“I am ready to sign right now. Are you lis-tening Nancy?” Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday evening. He also urged Congress to immediately approve $25 billion for air-lines and $135 billion the Paycheck Protec-tion Program to help small businesses.

Trump’s decision to scuttle talks between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Pelosi came after the president was briefed on the landscape for the negotiations — and on the blowback that any Pelosi-Mnuchin deal probably would have received from his GOP allies in Congress.

“It became very obvious over the last couple of days that a comprehensive bill was just going to get to a point where it didn’t have really much Republican sup-port at all,“ White House chief of staff

Mark Meadows said Wednesday on FoxNews. “It was more of a Democrat-led bill,which would have been problematic, moreso in the Senate than in the House.“

The unexpected turn could be a blow to Trump’s reelection prospects and comes as his administration and campaign arein turmoil. Trump is quarantining in theWhite House with a case of the coronavi-rus, and the latest batch of opinion pollsshows him significantly behind Democrat Joe Biden with the election four weeksaway.

Trump’s withdrawal from the talks cameimmediately after he spoke with the GOP leaders in Congress, Many Republican senators had signaled they would not be willing to go along with any measure thattopped $1 trillion, and GOP aides had beenprivately dismissive of the prospects for adeal. Any Pelosi-sponsored agreement ofclose to $2 trillion raised the potential of a GOP revolt if such a plan came to a vote.

Pelosi and Mnuchin talked briefly on Wednesday morning about the chancesfor a stand-alone airline rescue, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill tweeted. Pelosidirected Mnuchin to a measure she had at-tempted to pass on Friday on short noticeunder fast-track procedures, but only afterDemocrats made a number of changes Re-publicans did not like.

The talks have been troubled from their start in July and never appeared toclose in on an agreement both sides could embrace.

Pelosi had been demanding a host of Democratic wins on food aid, unemploy-ment benefits, help for renters and ho-meowners, and aid to state and local governments. Republicans charged she was dragging the talks to deny Trump apolitical victory before the Nov. 3 election.

Early rounds of virus aid passed by over-whelming margins as the economy wentinto lockdown in March .

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump remained out of sight for a sec-ond day Wednesday as he recovers from COVID-19, with the White House offer-ing scant details about his health and activities.

Lashing out on Twitter, the president re-mains largely isolated in the White House residence, where aides were instructed to take extensive precautions to prevent themselves from catching the coronavirus from the contagious president.

Trump’s physicians have not provided a substantive update on his health since Mon-day afternoon, including his medications and potential long term health impacts from the virus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans and reached into the upper echelons of the U.S. government.

As Trump convalesced, he again public-ly played down the virus on Twitter after his return from a three-day hospitaliza-tion, though even more aides tested posi-tive, including one of his closest advisers, Stephen Miller. All told more than a dozen White House staffers have tested positive.

In one significant national coronavirus action, Trump declared there would be no action before the election on economic-stimulus legislation — an announcement that came not long after the Federal Re-serve chairman said such help was essen-tial for recovery with the nation reeling from the human and economic cost of the pandemic. Stocks fell on the White House news. He later tweeted his support for a range of piecemeal stimulus proposals that appear to be a political nonstarter before Election Day.

As for Trump’s own recovery, his doctor, Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, said in a brief Tuesday letter that the president had a “restful” Monday night at the White House and “reports no symptoms.”

Meanwhile, Trump was grappling with the next political steps exactly four weeks from Election Day. Anxious to project strength, Trump tweeted Tuesday that he was planning to attend next week’s debate with Democrat Joe Biden in Miami and “It will be great!”

Biden, for his part, said he and Trump “shouldn’t have a debate” as long as the president remains COVID positive. Biden told reporters in Pennsylvania that he was “looking forward to being able to debate him” but said “we’re going to have to fol-low very strict guidelines.”

Elsewhere in the government, the scope of the outbreak was still being uncovered. On Tuesday, the nation’s top military lead-ers including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, and the vice chairman, Gen. John Hyten, were in quarantine after exposure to Adm. Charles

W. Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard.

It was not known how Ray contracted the virus, but he attended an event for military families at the White House on Sept. 27. The Coast Guard said in a statement that Ray felt mild symptoms over the weekend and was tested on Monday.

Also testing positive Tuesday was Miller, a top policy adviser and Trump speechwriter, who has been an architect of the president’s restrictive immigration measures. Miller’s wife, Katie Miller, who serves as communications director to Vice President Mike Pence, had the virus ear-lier this year. She had been in Salt Lake City with Pence where he is preparing to debate Democratic vice presidential nomi-nee Kamala Harris, but she left as soon as she found out about her husband’s diagno-sis, officials said. She tested negative on Tuesday.

Trump on Monday made clear that he has little intention of abiding by best con-tainment practices when he removed his mask before entering the White House after his discharge from Walter Reed Na-tional Military Medical Center. Waiting aides were visible when he entered the Blue Room without a face covering .

Trump was working out of makeshift of-fice space on the ground floor of the White House residence, in close proximity to the White House Medical Unit’s office suite, with only a few aides granted a face-to-face audience. The West Wing was largely vacant, as a number of Trump’s aides were either sick or quarantining after exposure to people infected with the virus, or other-wise working remotely as a precaution.

First lady Melania Trump was isolating upstairs in the White House. On Tuesday, her office released a memo outlining ex-tensive health and safety precautions that have been put in place in the executive res-idence, including adopting hospital-grade disinfection policies, encouraging “maxi-mum teleworking” and installing addi-tional sanitization and filtration systems. Residence staff in direct contact with the first family are tested daily and support staff are tested every 48 hours. And since the president and Mrs. Trump tested posi-tive, staff have been wearing ”full PPE.”

Despite Trump’s upbeat talk about the disease, his own treatment has been far from typical, as his doctors rushed him onto experimental antiviral drugs and pre-scribed an aggressive course of steroids that would be unavailable to the average patient .

Conley said Monday that because of Trump’s unusual level of treatment so early after discovery of his illness he was in “uncharted territory,“ adding that Trump would not be fully “out of the woods” for another week.

VIRUS OUTBREAK

Trump not seen, few details on recovery

Trump seeks to salvage parts of pandemic relief

Osan AB issues alert after confirmed case reported at lounge

WILFREDO LEE/AP

Prince Rojo, left, a volunteer from North Miami, Fla., and city worker Jeffrey Eugene load boxes of food into cars at a food distribution event Tuesday , in Opa-locka, Fla . Shutdowns and restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic have battered Florida’s economy, leaving hundreds of thousands unemployed .

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 9Thursday, October 8, 2020

VIRUS OUTBREAK ROUNDUP

Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York City neighborhood erupted in pro-tests after Gov. Andrew Cuomo moved to reinstate restrictions on houses of worship, schools and businesses in areas where coro-navirus cases are spiking.

Videos of Tuesday night’s pro-test on social media show hun-dreds of Orthodox Jewish men gathered in the streets of Bor-ough Park, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, in some cases setting bonfires by burning masks. Video posted on social media shows a crowd swarming and knocking down a man holding a camera. Police said there were no arrests.

The new rules announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday will affect parts of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, sections of Orange and Rockland counties in the Hudson Valley and an area within Binghamton in the South-ern Tier.

Most of the New York City and Hudson Valley neighborhoods are home to large enclaves of Ortho-dox Jews, and community leaders have complained of being singled out for enforcement.

Four elected officials who rep-resent Orthodox neighborhoods in New York City complained Tues-day that they had been left out of the decision-making process.

California SAN FRANCISCO — A North-

ern California county will face greater restrictions as it grapples with a surge in coronavirus cases, many of them tied to an evangeli-cal college where more than 120 students and staff have tested positive in the last two weeks, health officials said Tuesday.

Shasta County health officials say that an outbreak of cases among students and staff at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry contributed to a recent spike in COVID-19 cases that bumped the county on Tuesday into a new level of regulations on restaurants, bars, theaters and businesses.

A school spokesman declined to comment Tuesday but for-warded a statement from earlier this month .

In its statement the school said it shifted to online instruction last week and canceled in-person church services for Oct. 4 and Oct. 11 that have been held outdoors on a sports field. It also asked anyone who came in contact with someone who contracted COVID-19 to quarantine at home.

On its website, the school de-scribes itself as “a ministry training center” that is not an accredited university “where our students embrace their royal identity, learn the values of the kingdom, and walk in the author-ity and power of the King.”

Shasta County recorded more than 500 new coronavirus cases in the past two weeks, pushing its total number of cases since

March to 1,158.Another cluster was traced to

an assisted living facility, called the Windsor Care Facility, where 60 residents and 20 staff have test-ed positive for the virus since the start of the outbreak, with most of those cases occurring in the past three weeks, said Kerri Schuette, spokeswoman for Shasta County Health and Human Services.

Kansas WICHITA — Even as some of

the state’s largest districts re-open, most Kansas counties have such a high rate of new coronavi-rus cases that they have moved into the red zone on a key state benchmark that suggests schools consider putting the brakes on in-person classes and sports.

Seventy-five of the state’s 105 counties were in the worst re-opening zone for the two-week cumulative incident rate, which measures the rate of new cases per 100,000 people and is one of five school reopening indica-tors established by the state, The Wichita Eagle reported. That’s an increase of 10 counties from a week ago, according to a Kansas Department of Health and Envi-ronment map published Monday using data through Saturday.

Individual districts aren’t bound by the state criteria and can make their own reopening de-cisions, often with guidance from county-level health officials.

The KDHE case rate map also placed 11 counties in the yellow zone and 16 counties in the or-ange zone. Under the state’s gat-ing criteria, a blend of in-person, hybrid and remote learning is recommended in these zone. The state also urges restrictions on sports, especially high-risk ac-tivities such as football.

The number of counties in the green zone, which is the only zone that calls for all in-person classes and extracurricular activities, dropped from seven to three on the case rate map.

The state health department reported that Kansas saw 1,597 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases from Friday to Monday, an increase of 2.5%, bringing the total cases to 62,708. The department also reported eight new COVID-19-related deaths since Friday, bringing the total to 706.

Kentucky FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s

governor said Tuesday he extend-ed his mask mandate for another 30 days and promised stricter en-forcement as the state struggles with surging numbers of corona-virus cases.

With the state on pace to set another record high for weekly COVID-19 cases, Gov. Andy Beshear said the mask require-ment follows recommendations from President Donald Trump’s administration.

Masks and social distancing

can help blunt the rising out-break, Beshear said. His state-wide mask mandate has been in place for months, but compliance has become more lax at a time when Kentucky is experiencing its third major escalation of virus cases since the pandemic began, he said.

The state will step up enforce-ment of the mask mandate, and local leaders need to do their part, Beshear said.

Businesses serving people who aren’t wearing masks could po-tentially be fined or shut down for a period of time, the governor said.

Meanwhile, Beshear reported 1,054 new coronavirus cases statewide Tuesday, as total cases surpassed 74,100 since the start of the pandemic. He reported four more virus-related deaths, raising the statewide death toll to at least 1,218.

Michigan LANSING — Michigan’s health

chief said Tuesday he has “broad” legal authority to curb the coro-navirus, as he issued additional orders reinstituting restrictions negated by a state Supreme Court ruling and requiring schools to notify the public of infections.

Robert Gordon, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, reinstated rules for nursing homes and other con-gregate-care settings. He also told local health departments to inform K-12 schools within 24 hours of learning of a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19. A school must post it on its website within 24 hours of being notified.

The steps came a day after Gordon ordered the wearing of masks and limits on gathering sizes following the court decision that declared unconstitutional a law Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had used to unilater-ally extend an emergency order and underlying virus-related restrictions.

He again cited a 1978 law that empowers him to act to control a

pandemic — a law that stemmed from a 1919 law that was enacted after the Spanish flu pandemic.

The state also was expected to keep in place workplace safety rules such as limiting restaurant capacity to 50%.

Michigan’s seven-day average of daily new cases, 1,008, has in-creased by more than 200 over two weeks and has not been high-er since April, according to Johns Hopkins University.

More than 7,100 residents have died with confirmed or probable COVID-19 infections.

Texas AUSTIN — Texas health of-

ficials reported 3,872 new coro-navirus cases Tuesday , but the addition of 260 previously unre-ported cases raised the Tuesday total by 4,132 cases.

The newly reported cases raised to 773,435 the total case-load reported in Texas since tracking and tracing of the pan-demic began in March, the Texas Department of State Health Ser-vices reported. An estimated 71,611 of those cases are active, with 3,394 of those requiring hospitalization.

The 78 deaths from COVID-19 reported Tuesday raised to 16,111 the Texas death toll since early March.

WashingtonSEATTLE — Gov. Jay Inslee

on Tuesday didn’t move any coun-ties in his four-phase COVID-19 reopening plan, but he did say more activities would be allowed throughout the state.

At a news conference the Dem-ocratic governor said restaurants in second- or third-phase coun-ties can now serve alcohol up to 11 p.m. and increase their table size to six in the second phase, and to eight in the third phase.

Also, for second-phase coun-ties, movie theaters will be able to operate at 25% capacity, and in the third phase, at 50% capacity. Facial coverings and 6 feet of dis-

tance between households will be required.

Wedding receptions would alsobe able to have 50 guests in phase3 counties, up from the current 30. The governor’s phased reopeningplan allows counties to requestpermission from state health offi-cials to advance to more reopened stages according to public-health metrics around the virus.

Mea nwhile a COVID-19 out-break in the University of Wash-ington’s Greek community hasincreased to over 175 cases since last week.

Hawaii HONOLULU — The U.S. sur-

geon general was cited for beingin a closed Hawaii park in Au-gust while in the islands helping with surge testing amid a spike incoronavirus cases, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.

A Honolulu police officer citedJerome Adams after seeing himwith two men “looking at theview taking pictures” at KualoaRegional Park on Oahu’s north-eastern coast, the citation said. The park in a rural area offersa picturesque view of Mokolii is-land, known as Chinaman’s Hatfor its cone shape.

Adams told the officer he wasvisiting Hawaii to work with thegovernor for COVID-19 and didn’tknow parks were closed.

Later Tuesday, Honolulu at-torney Lex Smith issued a state-ment: “During his visit to Oahu,the surgeon general was cited for accidentally violating the mayor’semergency order, due to his mis-understanding of the law. He hasnot asked for, nor has he received,any special treatment in connec-tion with this citation, and will re-spond to it appropriately.”

Court records show a remotehearing is scheduled for Oct.21. Violating any of the mayor’semergency orders is punishableas a misdemeanor, with fines ofup to $5,000, up to a year in jail, or both.

New NY restrictions spur demonstration

STEVEN SENNE/AP

Donna Coskren, of Newburyport, Mass., front, stretches with others Monday during a spinning class in a parking lot outside Fuel Training Studio in Newburyport. The gym plans to continue holding outdoor classes into the winter with the help of a planned greenhouse-like structure with heaters but no walls.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 10 F3HIJKLM Thursday, October 8, 2020

NATION

Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. — Roger Montoya, a Democratic candidate in an open New Mexico House race, has acknowledged his par-ticipation in two pornographic films in the 1980s as a college student.

He said he is not proud of it, but believes the experience helped him to better understand exploi-tation and the need to provide op-portunities for young people.

The revelation about Montoya of Velarde emerged as the nation-ally heralded arts educator runs for office in a sprawling rural leg-islative district with high rates of

poverty that stretches from Espa-nola to the Colorado state line.

“I am not proud of that choice, as I was young and naive, but those experiences helped me understand the exploitation that young people face,” Montoya said in a lengthy statement posted on social media.

Montoya said in a telephone interview he remains focused on the political race and resolving is-sues of educational and economic inequality.

“Really for me at 60 years old, this race is about the issues of the day,” he said. “I’m happy to talk about the inequalities in educa-

tion, in water infrastructure ac-cess … to health care in the time of COVID.”

The state Republican Party on Monday called on Montoya to withdraw from the race against GOP candidate Justin Salazar-Torrez of Espanola. Montoya’s past work in pornography was first reported by a conservative blog, Pinon Post .

“While many students find college difficult financially, very few choose this route to solve their problems,” the party said in a statement. “This kind of risky and reckless behavior is unacceptable.”

Associated Press

NEW YORK — President Don-ald Trump’s accountant must turn over his tax records to a New York state prosecutor, an appeals court ruled Wednesday in a deci-sion that likely sets up a second trip to the U.S. Supreme Court over the issue.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said in a written decision that a stay of a lower-court decision will remain in effect so Trump’s lawyers can appeal the ruling to the high court.

In August, a district court judge had rejected their renewed ef-forts to invalidate a subpoena that the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. issued to Trump’s accounting firm last year. Part of Vance’s probe per-tains to an investigation related to payoffs to two women — porn ac-tress Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal — to keep them quiet during the 2016 presiden-tial campaign about alleged ex-tramarital affairs with Trump. Trump has denied the affairs.

Vance is seeking more than eight years of the Republican president’s personal and cor-porate tax records, but has dis-closed little about what prompted him to request the records. In one recent court filing, Vance’s law-yers have said he was justified in demanding them because of public reports of “extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.”

A Justice Department spokes-person said the department was reviewing the ruling.

The Supreme Court in July

ruled 7-2 against the president,rejecting Trump’s arguments that he can’t even be investigated,let alone charged with any crime, while he is in office. But the court said Trump can challengethe subpoena on other grounds, like anyone else who receives asubpoena.

It is unlikely that the taxes would be released before the No-vember election, especially sincethe high court is down to eightjustices . And any release wouldnot result in immediate publicdisclosures, since grand jury pro-ceedings are secret.

Through his lawyers, Trumpargued that the subpoena wasissued in bad faith, might havebeen politically motivated and amounted to harassment of him, especially since the wordingcopied the language in congres-sional subpoenas. The lawyersalso maintained that seeking taxrecords dating back to 2011 was a “fishing expedition” and the over-broad request should be rejected.

In its decision, the 2nd Circuitdisagreed.

“We hold that none of the Pres-ident’s allegations, taken together or separately, are sufficient to raise a plausible inference thatthe subpoena was issued ‘out ofmalice or an intent to harass,’” the appeals court said.

Last month, The New YorkTimes reported that it had ob-tained over two decades of tax return data for Trump and hun-dreds of his companies. It saidhe paid $750 in federal incometax the year he entered the White House and no income tax at all in 11 of 18 years it reviewed.

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — A race in North Carolina critical to con-trol of the U.S. Senate has been thrown into turmoil over allega-tions of personal misconduct by Democrat Cal Cunningham, a married man who had an extra-marital relationship this summer with a consultant.

Previously undisclosed text messages obtained by The As-sociated Press and additional interviews show that the relation-ship extended beyond suggestive texts, as was previously reported, to an intimate encounter as re-cent as July.

Republicans hold a 53-47 ma-jority in the Senate, and the con-test between Cunningham and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has been among the most watched in the country, with polls showing a tight race and both parties invest-ing heavily in the outcome.

Cunningham’s personal in-discretion offers a fresh test of whether voters will punish can-didates for their private, consen-sual activity, and the answer they deliver could determine which party wields power in the Senate. The chamber has been a bulwark for Republicans under President Donald Trump, with Democrats in control of the House.

An Army Reserve lieutenant colonel with a wholesome appeal, Cunningham was widely viewed as the kind of recruit Democrats needed to make inroads in con-servative-leaning Southern states like North Carolina.

Yet the text messages and in-terviews offer a glimpse that is at odds with the image of a devoted family man. A week ago, a conser-vative website, NationalFile.com, published text messages between Cunningham and Arlene Guzman Todd, a public relations strategist

from California, that suggested a personal relationship.

The newly obtained texts, which are between Guzman Todd and a friend, provide a more spe-cific timeline about their recent relationship, as well as details that describe intimate encounters — not simply a digital exchange.

The text messages were not ob-tained from Guzman Todd. But the AP contacted her to confirm their authenticity. In a series of interviews late Monday as well as in the text messages, Guzman Todd described two in-person en-counters with Cunningham. One was in March in Los Angeles that she said did not include intimate contact, and a second was in July in North Carolina, where she said they were intimate.

In text messages to her friend, Guzman Todd said she was in-timate with Cunningham in his home, which she later character-

ized as “weird.”In another exchange, Guzman

Todd indicated that she was frus-trated by the limited attention that he showed her.

“I’m just going to send to his opponent his naked photos,” Guz-man Todd wrote. “That will teach him.”

“You don’t deserve me Cal,” she said in a separate text mes-sage to her friend. She added in another, “He knows (that I) can tank his campaign.”

In a statement, Guzman Todd apologized for the “pain and em-barrassment, and disrespect I’ve caused to my immediate family, loved ones, and everyone affected by this situation.

“A few months back, I dis-played a lapse in judgment by engaging in a relationship with Cal Cunningham during a pe-riod of marital separation,” Guz-man Todd said. “The relationship

spanned several months andconsisted primarily of a series oftext exchanges and an in-personencounter.” She did not elaborate,but her text messages describedthe intimacy.

Cunningham’s campaign de-clined to comment on the newlydisclosed texts or Guzman’s state-ment. It instead pointed to a state-ment issued Friday, shortly beforethey confirmed the authenticityof an initial round of texts that were made public between Cun-ningham and Guzman Todd.

“I have hurt my family, disap-pointed my friends and am deeply sorry. The first step in repairingthose relationships is taking com-plete responsibility, which I do. Iask that my family’s privacy berespected in this personal mat-ter,” Cunningham, who has twoteenage children and has beenmarried for two decades, said atthe time.

Appeals court: Trump must turn over tax records

N M House candidate addresses his work in two 1980s porn films

Democrat’s personal scandal throws critical Senate race into turmoil

JANE PHILLIPS, SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN/AP

Arts educator and Democratic legislative candidate Roger Montoya, pictured here in 2008 at the San Juan Elementary in Okhay Owingeh, N.M., has acknowledged his participation in two pornographic films in the 1980s as a college student and indicated he has no intention of dropping out of the race.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 11Thursday, October 8, 2020

NATION

LAURIE SKRIVAN, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/AP

Mark McCloskey addresses the press alongside his wife, Patricia, on Tuesday outside the Carnahan Courthouse, in St. Louis.

St. Louis couple indicted forwaving guns at protesters

Man pleads not guilty in death of 80-year-old over mask argument

Ex-jailers charged for playing ‘Baby Shark’ on repeat

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY — Two former Oklahoma jail employees and their supervisor face mis-demeanor cruelty charges after investigators found they forced inmates to stand handcuffed for hours and listen to the children’s song “Baby Shark” on repeat, a prosecutor said Monday.

At least four inmates were se-cured to a wall with their hands cuffed behind them while the song played on a loop at a loud volume for hours, The Oklaho-man reported. The separate inci-dents occurred in November and December, according to court records.

The misdemeanor charges were filed Monday against former Oklahoma County jail employees Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles, both 21, and their supervisor, Christopher Raymond Hendershott, 50.

“It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said. “I would have preferred fil-ing a felony on this behavior.”

Butler and Miles are accused of imposing the discipline and Hendershott is accused of know-ing about it but not stopping it, the newspaper reported. Court records do not list an attorney for any of them.

Sheriff P.D. Taylor said Monday that Butler and Miles resigned during an internal investigation and that Hendershott retired.

“We don’t tolerate it,” Taylor said of the mistreatment. “We al-ways did an excellent job policing ourselves.”

The “Baby Shark” song gained huge popularity two years ago after the company Pinkfong re-leased its first video online. The video has since been viewed more than 6.5 billion times.

Notice to boil water lifted from Texas city where microbe found

Associated Press

LAKE JACKSON, Texas — A boil-water notice was lifted Tues-day from the drinking-water sys-tem of a Houston-area city where water tainted with a deadly, mi-croscopic parasite was blamed for the death of a 6-year-old boy.

In a statement, the Texas Com-mission on Environmental Qual-ity said Lake Jackson officials lifted the notice Tuesday after disinfectant levels in the drink-ing water were documented to be above the state requirements. Water samples also tested nega-tive for harmful bacteria.

The TCEQ, however, urged users of Lake Jackson’s water to avoid getting it up their noses to reduce the risk of infection by the brain-eating microbe naegleria fowleri.

The boil-water notice was is-sued late last month after several days of flushing of the Brazosport Water Authority’s water delivery system. The flushing was ordered after three of 11 samples of the Lake Jackson’s water tested posi-tive for the deadly flagellate.

One sample came from the home of Josiah McIntyre, the 6-year-old boy whom doctors said died earlier this month after being infected with the brain-eat-ing parasite, city officials said.

The deadly amoeba does not

cause an infection if it is in water that a person drinks as it is killed by normal levels of stomach acid. People can be infected, however, when water containing the mi-crobe enters the body through the nose

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who issued a disaster declaration for Lake Jackson, has said all in-dications point to the case being isolated and that the suspected problem in the boy’s death was traced back to a splash pad. The TCEQ said it and the city will conduct daily monitoring for the microbe going forward.

The Brazosport Water Author-ity initially warned eight com-munities on Sept. 25 not to use tap water for any reason except to flush toilets. It lifted that warn-ing the next day for all communi-ties but Lake Jackson, where the authority’s water treatment plant is situated. The advisory was also canceled for two state prisons and Dow Chemical’s massive Free-port works.

The ban was lifted in Lake Jackson on Sept. 27 but replaced with the boil-water notice.

“This is a terrible tragedy that made something that was rare, and even vanishingly rare, actually happen,” said John Hellersedt, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.

BY JIM SALTER

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — A grand jury on Tuesday indicted the St. Louis couple who displayed guns while hundreds of racial injustice pro-testers marched on their private street.

Al Watkins, an attorney for the couple, confirmed to The As-sociated Press the indictments against Mark McCloskey, 63, and Patricia McCloskey, 61. A spokes-woman for Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner declined comment.

The McCloskeys, who are both attorneys, have become folk he-roes among some conservatives. They have argued that they were simply exercising their Second Amendment right to bear arms, and were protected by Missouri’s castle doctrine law that allows the use of deadly force against intruders. The case has caught

the attention of President Donald Trump, and Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has said he will pardon the couple if they are convicted.

The McCloskeys were also featured speakers on the first night of the Republican National Convention. They’ve accused the “leftist” Democratic St. Louis leadership for their plight.

Gardner, a Democrat, charged the couple with felony unlaw-ful use of a weapon. She said the display of guns risked bloodshed at what she called an otherwise peaceful protest.

Watkins said that in addition to the weapons charge, the grand jury indictment includes a tam-pering with evidence charge. It wasn’t clear what led to that ad-ditional count, he said.

The McCloskeys have contend-ed that the protest was hardly peaceful. They said protesters

came onto the private street afterknocking over an iron gate and ig-noring a “No Trespassing” sign,and said they felt threatened.

Watkins said accusations against the McCloskeys are “ef-fectively demonstrating the highest degree of ineptitude and inappropriate behavior” fromGardner’s office.

Mark McCloskey, after a briefcourt hearing earlier Tuesday, expressed anger that he and his wife faced criminal chargeswhile those who trespassed ontohis property did not.

“Every single human being that was in front of my house was a criminal trespasser,” McCloskey said. “They broke down our gate.They trespassed on our property.Not a single one of those people is now charged with anything.We’re charged with felonies thatcould cost us four years of ourlives and our law licenses.”

Associated Press

WEST SENECA, N.Y. — A New York bar patron accused of shov-ing an 80-year-old man, who later died, during a confrontation about the need to wear a mask has plead not guilty to criminally negligent homicide.

Donald M. Lewinski, 65, en-tered a plea of not guilty at a court on Tuesday and was released on his own recognizance, his attor-ney said.

Rocco E. Sapienza confronted Lewinski at a bar in West Sen-eca on Sept. 26 because he was

not wearing a mask, Erie County prosecutors said on Monday. Le-winski then shoved Sapienza, who fell and struck his head on the floor, District Attorney John Flynn said.

Sapienza was knocked uncon-scious and eventually died on Oct. 1, WIVB-TV reported. The cause of death was blunt force trauma, the district attorney said.

As a condition of his release, West Seneca Town Justice Shan-non E. Filbert ordered Lewin-ski to stay away from Sapienza’s widow, prohibited him from post-ing about the case on social media,

barred him from entering bars orrestaurants and prohibited him from possessing any guns.

An attorney for Lewinski,Barry Covert, called Sapienza’sdeath a tragedy in an email to The Associated Press, and added, “We received witness statementsthat make it very clear that thevictim was the aggressor.

“I have watched the bar video-tape, and it does appear that Mr. Sapienza does come from a dif-ferent part of the bar to initiatethe confrontation with my client, who was at a different section ofthe bar,” Covert said.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 12 F3HIJKLM Thursday, October 8, 2020

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department unsealed charges Wednesday against two Islamic State militants from Britain, ac-cusing them of carrying out a gruesome campaign of torture, beheadings and other acts of vio-lence against Western hostages they had captured in Syria, in-cluding four Americans.

El Shafee Elsheikh and Alex-anda Kotey are two of four men dubbed “the Beatles” by the hos-tages they held captive because of their British accents. They are expected to make their first appearance in the afternoon in federal court in Alexandria, Va., where a federal grand jury issued an eight-count indictment.

The charges are a milestone in a yearslong effort by U.S. authori-ties to bring to justice members of the group known for beheadings and barbaric treatment of aid

workers, journalists and other hostages in Syria. The men’s ar-rival in the U.S. sets the stage for arguably the most sensational terrorism trial since the 2014 criminal case against the sus-pected ringleader of a deadly at-tack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

Videos of the killings, released online in the form of Islamic State propaganda, stunned the U.S. government for their unflinch-ing violence. The recordings rou-tinely showed prisoners in orange jumpsuits on their knees beside a captor dressed in black whose na-tive English drove home the glob-al reach of a group that at its peak occupied vast swaths of Syria and Iraq.

Relatives of four of the slain hostages praised the Justice De-partment for transferring the men to the U.S. for trial, saying, “Now our families can pursue account-ability for these crimes against

our children in a U.S. court.”The indictment describes

Kotey and Elsheikh as “leading participants in a brutal hostage-taking scheme targeting Ameri-can and European citizens” from 2012 through 2015.

In July 2014, according to the indictment, Elsheikh described to a family member his partici-pation in an Islamic State attack on the Syrian Army. He sent the family member photos of decapi-tated heads and said in a voice message, “There’s many heads, this is just a couple that I took a photo of.”

Elsheikh and Kotey have been held since October 2019 in Amer-ican military custody after being captured in Syria one year earlier by the U.S.-based Syrian Demo-cratic Forces. The Justice De-partment has long wanted to put them on trial, but those efforts were complicated by wrangling over whether Britain, which does

not have the death penalty, would share evidence that could be used in a death penalty prosecution.

Attorney General William Barr broke the diplomatic standoff ear-lier this year when he promised the men would not face the death penalty. That prompted British authorities to share evidence that U.S. prosecutors deemed crucial for obtaining convictions.

In interviews while in deten-tion, the two men admitted they helped collect email addresses from Kayla Mueller that could be used to send out ransom demands. Mueller was killed in 2015 after 18 months in ISIS captivity.

The State Department de-scribed their conduct in terms not nearly so benign. The agency de-clared Elsheikh and Kotey as spe-cially designated global terrorists in 2017 and accused them of hold-ing captive and beheading ap-proximately two dozen hostages, including American journalists

James Foley and Steven Sotloff,and aid worker Peter Kassig.

Specifically, the State Depart-ment said Elsheikh “was said tohave earned a reputation for wa-terboarding, mock executions,and crucifixions while serving as an ISIS jailer.”

Kotey, according to the StateDepartment, acted as an IslamicState recruiter and “likely en-gaged in the group’s executionsand exceptionally cruel torture methods, including electronicshock and waterboarding.”

The other two Beatles includedthe most infamous member of the group, Mohammed Emwazi,known as “Jihadi John,” who was killed in a 2015 drone strike.Emwazi appeared and spoke inthe video of Foley’s execution.The fourth member, Aine Lesley Davis, was sentenced to sevenyears in prison in Turkey in 2017.

MIDEAST

Associated Press

BAGHDAD — Dozens of people were wounded in clashes between Iraqi security forces and anti-government protesters in Iraq’s south Tuesday during the annual Shiite Muslim pilgrimage of Arbaeen.

The violence took place at a location between two important shrines in the holy city of Karbala as thousands of wor-

shippers made their way to the area to observe Arbaeen, according to an Associ-ated Press photographer at the scene. The Shiite pilgrimage marks the end of 40 days of mourning for Imam Hussein, Prophet Mohammed’s grandson.

The violence was sparked when a group of pilgrims from other parts of southern Iraq entered the visitation area separat-ing the Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas

shrines. They held banners with pictures of protesters killed in mass demonstra-tions last year and chanted anti-govern-ment slogans.

Paramilitary groups linked to Iraq’s top cleric tasked with guarding the shrines at-tempted to keep the group from intermin-gling with other pilgrims. Police were soon dispatched and beat some of the protesters with sticks.

At least 50 people were wounded in thealtercations, two Iraqi security officials said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Among the wounded were 30 demonstra-tors and less than a dozen pilgrims, includ-ing women.

Some of the militiamen guarding theshrines were also wounded.

Dozens injured in clashes in Iraq’s south during annual pilgrimage

ISIS members charged in beheadings of US hostages

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 13Thursday, October 8, 2020

WORLD

Associated Press

STOCKHOLM — Two sci-entists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for devel-oping a way of editing genes lik-ened to “molecular scissors” that offer the promise of one day cur-ing inherited diseases.

Working on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Frenchwoman Em-manuelle Charpentier and Amer-ican Jennifer A. Doudna came up with a method known as CRISPR-cas9 that can be used to change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision. It is the first time two women have won the chemis-try Nobel together.

Their work allows for laser-sharp snips in the long strings of DNA that make up the “code of life,” allowing scientists to precisely edit specific genes to remove errors which lead to disease.

“There is enormous power in this genetic tool, which affects us all,” said Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. “It has not only revo-

lutionized basic science, but also resulted in innovative crops and will lead to groundbreaking new medical treatments.”

But he cautioned that the “enormous power of this technol-ogy means we have to use it with great care.”

It has already raised serious ethical questions. Most of the world became more aware of CRISPR in 2018, when Chinese scientist He Jiankui revealed he had helped make the world’s first gene-edited babies, to try to engi-neer resistance to future infection with the AIDS virus. His work was denounced worldwide as un-safe human experimentation , and he’s currently in prison.

When asked about the signifi-cance of two women winning, Charpentier, 51, said that while she considers herself first and foremost a scientist, she hoped it would encourage others.

“I wish that this will provide a positive message to young girls who would like to follow the path of science,” said Charpentier, who is the director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens

in Berlin.Doudna told The Associated

Press of her surprise — including that she learned she’d won from a reporter.

“I literally just found out, I’m in shock,” she said. “I was sound asleep.”

“My greatest hope is that it’s used for good, to uncover new mysteries in biology and to ben-efit humankind,” said Doudna, who is affiliated with the Univer-

sity of California, Berkeley, and is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also sup-ports AP’s Health and Science Department.

The breakthrough research done by Charpentier and Doudna was only published in 2012, mak-ing the discovery very recent compared to many Nobel wins that are often only honored after decades have passed.

SEOUL, South Korea — A se-nior North Korea diplomat whovanished in Italy in late 2018 livesin South Korea under govern-ment protection, lawmakers saidWednesday.

If confirmed, Jo Song Gil, NorthKorea’s former acting ambassa-dor to Italy, would be the high-est-level North Korean official todefect to rival South Korea since the 1997 arrival of Hwang Jang-yop, a senior ruling Workers’ Party official who once tutoredleader Kim Jong Un’s father, late leader Kim Jong Il.

South Korea’s spy agency hadearlier told lawmakers that Jo left his official residence in Romewith his wife in November 2018 and was under protection .

National Assembly lawmaker Ha Tae-keung wrote on Facebookthat Jo arrived in South Koreain July 2019 and is under theprotection of the South Korean government.

Ha said he was confirming Jo’s arrival to prevent a media frenzy, after a South Korean TV stationreported the defection Tuesday .Lawmaker Jeon Hae-cheol toldreporters Wednesday that Jocame to South Korea voluntarily , and Jo was worried about his rel-atives in North Korea . From The Associated Press

ALEXANDER HEINL, DPA/AP

American biochemist Jennifer A. Doudna, left, and French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier were honored with the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on a tool that can edit specific genes from DNA with high precision.

Lawmakers: N. Korea envoy defected to SouthNobel chemistry prize

hails gene-editing work

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 14 F3HIJKLM

The lawsuit was filed in March against Walter Craddock, state DMV administrator, by the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island on behalf of Sean Carroll.

Carroll, a Tesla owner, was or-dered by the DMV to turn in his plate “FKGAS” or have his reg-istration canceled after the divi-sion received a complaint about the plate.

Carroll said the plate was his daughter’s suggestion, intending a meaning of “fake gas” to refer to the electric car.

Hot air balloons fly despite canceled event

NM ALBUQUERQUE — The annual Balloon

Fiesta was canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Albuquerque officials decided to make parks available for pilots to keep the fall tradition alive.

Hot air balloons filled the sky over Albuquerque last weekend.

KOB-TV reported that bal-loons launched from various sites across the city including Balloon Fiesta Park, Ventana Ranch Park, Mariposa Basin Park, Vista del Norte Park and North Domingo Baca Park.

KOB said balloons also took off from the parking lot at Coronado Center, which was the site of the first Balloon Fiesta.

City mulls nickname: ‘Hummingbird capital’

AZ SIERRA VISTA — Often called the “hum-

mingbird capital,” the Arizona city of Sierra Vista wants to make the nickname official.

The Sierra Vista City Council is planning to consider a resolu-tion proclaiming the city as a hummingbird hub, the Sierra Vista Herald reported. In addi-tion, council members will ask their legislative representatives to push the same resolution at the statehouse.

Sierra Vista, about 75 miles southeast of Tucson, and sur-rounding nature preserves such as Ramsey Canyon Preserve and the San Pedro House are known for hosting the colorful birds. Experts say more than 15 of the known 26 species of humming-birds in North American can be seen in the region.

New stickers honoring vets available to voters

AL MONTGOMERY — “I voted” stickers honor-

ing veterans will be available for the first time to voters who cast ballots in the general election next month.

The stickers, which will be available at in-person voting sites Nov. 3, feature an outline of the state with an Alabama state flag and the words “I vote in honor of a veteran.” The new civic-duty participation badge will be avail-able to those who vote in-person on Election Day.

Explosive devices removed from home

MA MONTEREY — Doz-ens of explosive de-

vices and powders were removed from a Massachusetts home, but

state police do not believe there is a direct threat to the public .

The devices were removed froma home in Monterey . The state po-lice bomb squad transported andsafely detonated the devices in a secure location, according to anews release from the Berkshiredistrict attorney’s office.

“Authorities will summons aMonterey man to court to facemultiple charges on the illegalpossession, manufacture, andsale of explosive devices,” thenews release said. A name wasnot provided.

Police seek to return up to 300 stolen items

MO ST. LOUIS — Aftera recent theft arrest,

St. Louis police are trying to findthe owners of up to 300 recoveredstolen goods.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch re-ported that police found the itemswhile carrying out a search war-rant Sept. 10 at a suspected drughouse on the city’s south side.

Detectives found four firearms and methamphetamine alongwith stolen goods that includedthree trailers, dozens of electron-ics, power tools, a concrete mixerand a moped.

Detective Matthew Boet-tigheimer said it appears that the thefts were “crimes ofopportunity.”

Thursday, October 8, 2020

From wire reports

AMERICAN ROUNDUP Cops: Devices on Trump signs were theft alarms

MD EASTON — Several “suspicious devices”

were found on Trump-Pence campaign signs around a Mary-land city, but when bomb squads arrived, they realized those de-vices were small alarm systems.

Easton Police and the State Fire Marshal Bomb Squad said they were busy investigating the devices, which were found taped to the political lawn signs.

Officials said the devices posed no threat to the public: They’re just audible alarms that sound when a pull pin, attached to a string, is tugged away.

The State Marshal’s office said their apparent purpose was to prevent the signs from being sto-len or removed.

Police: Man with knife tried to rob streetcar

LA NEW ORLEANS — A man wielding a knife

tried to rob a driver operating a New Orleans streetcar, police said.

The failed robbery attempt happened on the city’s St. Charles Avenue route, The Times-Pica-yune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.

New Orleans police said the streetcar was making a stop when a man outside pulled a knife and demanded the money in the fare box. The driver closed the door and pulled away as the would-be robber tried to pry the door open.

The driver got away safely, police said, and the assailant got nothing.

Sandbag thrown from overpass injures driver

MI LYON TOWNSHIP — A 40-pound sandbag

thrown from a freeway overpass smashed the windshield of a car and seriously injured the driver in suburban Detroit, police said.

The man who threw the sand-bag was arrested after telling someone about what he did, po-lice said.

“The victim was very lucky she wasn’t more seriously hurt or killed,” state police said on Twitter.

The suspect was involved in a crash, left his vehicle and walked to a highway overpass that was under construction. That’s where he found sandbags and began throwing them , state police.

Judge: Vanity plate law may violate amendment

RI PROVIDENCE — A Rhode Island law allow-

ing the Division of Motor Vehicles to reject vanity license plates that are “offensive to good taste” like-ly violates the First Amendment, a federal judge ruled.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction in support of a lawsuit challenging the constitutional-ity of the law, which gives the DMV administrator the author-ity to deny vanity plates based on whether he or she thinks they “might carry connotations offen-sive to good taste and decency.”

The approximate number of eggs in nearly 2,800 loggerhead sea turtle nests recorded in Georgia this spring and summer, according to the state Depart-ment of Natural Resources. Volunteers and staffers identified and monitored 2,777 loggerhead nests

and seven nests of unknown species on Georgia’s barrier islands from Little Tybee to Cumberland, senior biologist Mark Dodd told the Savannah Morning News. That’s the third-best year in recent records — below the record 3,950 nests re-corded last year — but in line with the recovery goal of 2,800 nests per year.

250KTHE CENSUS

The one that (almost) got awayA swan manages to temporarily escape Steve Platt, right, and Steven Williams during the 40th annual swan roundup Tuesday on Lake Morton in Lakeland, Fla. The roundup gives the parks and recreation department a chance to monitor the health and vitality of Lakeland’s swan population. The original swans on the lake were a gift from Queen Elizabeth of England in 1957.

CHRIS O’MEARA/AP

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 15Thursday, October 8, 2020

FACES

BY MARK KENNEDY

Associated Press

Eddie Van Halen, the guitar virtuoso whose blinding speed, control and innovation propelled his band Van Halen into one of hard rock’s big-

gest groups and became elevated to the sta-tus of rock god, died Thursday after a battle with throat cancer. He was 65.

“He was the best father I could ask for,” Van Halen’s son Wolfgang wrote in a social media post. “Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift.”

With his distinct solos, Eddie Van Halen fueled the ultimate California party band and helped knock disco off the charts starting in the late 1970s with his band’s self-titled debut album and then with the blockbuster record “1984,” which contains the classics “Jump,” “Panama” and “Hot for Teacher.”

Van Halen is among the top 20 best-selling artists of all time, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Rolling Stone put Eddie Van Halen at No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.

Eddie Van Halen, who claimed Eric Clap-ton and Jimi Hendrix as influences, was something of a musical contradiction. He was an autodidact who could play almost any instrument, but he couldn’t read music. He was a classically trained pianist who also created some of the most distinctive guitar

riffs in rock history. He was a Dutch immi-grant who was considered one of the greatest American guitarists of his generation.

He also was a relentless experimenter who would assemble instruments using parts from different guitar makers, including Gib-son and Fender. He created his own graphic designs for his guitars by adding tape to the instruments and then spray-painting them.

Tributes came from musicians such as Lenny Kravitz, Keith Urban, Brad Pais-ley and Gene Simmons. “You changed our world. You were the Mozart of rock guitar. Travel safe, rockstar,” Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx said on Twitter. Added Kravitz: “Heav-en will be electric tonight.”

The members of Van Halen — the two Van Halen brothers, Eddie and Alex; vocalist David Lee Roth; and bassist Michael Antho-ny — formed in 1974 in Pasadena, Calif. They were members of rival high school bands and then attended Pasadena City College together. They formed the band Mammoth, but changed to Van Halen after discovering there was another band called Mammoth.

Their 1978 release “Van Halen” opened with a blistering “Runnin’ With the Devil” and then Eddie Van Halen showed off his as-tonishing skills in the next song, “Eruption,” a furious 1:42 minute guitar solo . The album also contained “Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love” and a cover of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me.” Van Halen released albums on a yearly time-

table until the monumental “1984,” which hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album charts (onlybehind Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”).

Van Halen also played guitar on one of the biggest singles of the 1980s: Jackson’s “Beat It.” His solo lasted 20 seconds and took only ahalf an hour to record. He did it as a favor toproducer Quincy Jones, while the rest of hisVan Halen bandmates were out of town.

Strains between Roth and the band erupted after their 1984 tour and Roth left. The grouprecruited Sammy Hagar as lead singer — some critics called the new formulation “Van Hagar” — and the band went on to score itsfirst No. 1 album with “5150,” More studio al-bums followed, including “OU812,” “For Un-lawful Carnal Knowledge” and “Balance.”

Hagar was ousted in 1996 and former Ex-treme singer Gary Cherone stepped in forthe album “Van Halen III,” a stumble thatled to the quick departure of Cherone. Rothreturned in 2007 and teamed with the VanHalen brothers and Wolfgang Van Halen onbass for a tour and two albums.

Van Halen, who for much of his careerplayed and wrote while drunk or high or both, had been sober since 2008. He lost a third of his tongue to cancer that drifted to his esophagus. In 1999, he had a hip replace-ment. He was married twice, to actress Val-erie Bertinelli from 1981 to 2007 and then tostuntwoman-turned-publicist Janie Liszews-ki, whom he wed in 2009.

Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen performs during a 2004 concert in Phoenix.

AP

Guitar god goneEddie Van Halen, ‘Mozart of rock guitar,’ dead at 65 after battle with cancer

The 2020 theatrical release cal-endar is getting even slimmer in the wake of the announcement that Regal cinemas are temporar-ily closing, although AMC, North America’s largest theater chain, says it will remain open.

Warner Bros. said late Mon-day that its sci-fi pic “Dune” will open in October 2021 instead of this December. The studio also pushed back “The Batman” to March 2022 and moved up its “Matrix” sequel to Dec. 2021.

AMC Entertainment reiterated its commitment to stay open and cited a slew of upcoming new releases that it will be playing, including this weekend’s new fi lms “The War with Grandpa,” with Robert De Niro, and “Yellow Rose.” Roughly 80% of its U.S. lo-cations are currently open.

With the recent exit of the next James Bond fi lm, that leaves a handful of big fi lms to still open in 2020: Pixar’s “Soul” on Nov. 20, Universal’s “The Croods: A New Age” on Nov. 25, Disney’s “Death on the Nile” on Dec. 18 and Warner Bros.’ “Wonder Woman 1984,” at Christmas. It’s an extra hit to the ailing theatrical indus-try, which endured six months of closures and has had a diffi cult time restarting business during the pandemic with key markets like New York still closed and an ever-changing release calendar.

Universal Studios announced Tuesday that the latest entry in the “Jurassic Park” series, “Ju-rassic World: Dominion,” is being pushed back until June 2022.

‘SNL’ has highest-rated opener since 2016

“Saturday Night Live” scored its biggest season premiere audi-ence in four years, emphasizing the importance of presidential election time for the NBC show.

Its “cold open” featured Alec Baldwin, portraying President Donald Trump, satirizing last week’s debate. Jim Carrey de-buted with his impersonation of Democratic opponent Joe Biden.

During a busy week for news and sports, “SNL” was the most-watched entertainment show, de-spite starting at 11:35 p.m. on the East Coast, the Nielsen company said. It was shown live across the country, which meant it aired dur-ing prime time in the West.

With 8.24 million viewers, it was the second most-watched “SNL” episode since May 2017, with the exception being last December’s return of Eddie Murphy.

It was also a return to its famil-iar New York studio for the com-edy show, which did a few remote episodes last spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other news� Johnny Nash, a singer-song-

writer, actor and producer who rose from pop crooner to early reggae star to the creator and performer of the million-selling anthem “I Can See Clearly Now,” died Tuesday. Nash died of natu-ral causes at home in Houston, the city of his birth, his son, John-ny Nash Jr., told The Associated Press. He was 80.From The Associated Press

‘Dune’ ditches 2020; AMC to remain open

Thursday, October 8, 2020PAGE 16 F3HIJKLM • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •

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BY DAVID IGNATIUS

Washington Post Writers Group

WASHINGTON

The United States in its season of po-litical torment acts as though the rest of the world is on hold. Th at foreign policy wasn’t mentioned in

the fracas of the first presidential debate is one small example of our myopia.

Unfortunately, the international order is not on autopilot. Leaders around the world see that the United States is enfeebled, at least temporarily, and they are aggressive-ly pursuing their interests. While the cat’s asleep, the rats are at play.

America is absent. A bloody war erupts between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and both sides look to Russia for a solution. Ira-nian militias destabilize Iraq, and the State Department prepares to close our embassy there for self-protection. China draws “red lines” to assert dominance over Taiwan, and U.S. military experts privately con-cede that Chinese power in the area out-matches that of the United States.

The structure of U.S. alliances, perhaps our greatest national asset, has become wobbly. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commendably has been traveling abroad and meeting with key U.S. partners, such as Japan, India, Australia and before that, Greece and Italy. But when it comes to big issues such as the Iran nuclear agreement and the Paris climate accords, the United States stands awkwardly alone.

The global spread of the coronavirus pandemic compounds the United States’ isolation. The world was looking for gener-ous, confident leadership when the virus hit; instead, a self-obsessed America went into retreat. President Donald Trump with-

drew from the World Health Organization and spurned cooperation on developing a vaccine. He promoted “America First,” with a vengeance.

Is it any surprise that when the United States enshrines selfishness as its national creed, other nations will follow suit? That’s especially true at a moment when people are frightened by the pandemic. In such hard times, stable leadership can reinforce the shared norms and expectations of global order. Instead of American excep-tionalism, we have been giving the world a version of American hysteria.

The global power vacuum invites mis-chief. The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan has escalated over 10 days of fighting. Armenian leaders initially hoped that U.S. diplomacy could produce a cease-fire; now, they look to Moscow. Turkey has been pressing for regional dominance through allies in Libya, Syria, Iraq and now Azerbaijan. The U.S. response has been late and muddled, and Turkey has taken full advantage.

Russian President Vladimir Putin press-es ahead with his campaign to avenge past reversals. Even as Russia conducts aggres-sive cyberattacks, Moscow shamelessly proposes to write new rules for cyberspace. Thankfully, U.S. companies such as Micro-soft still try to enforce global norms, inde-pendent of Russian and Chinese attempts to write the rules. The Trump administra-tion is mostly missing in action.

The United States’ self-isolating diplo-macy has been on display with Iran, too. The Trump administration quit the nucle-ar agreement in 2018, and then last month demanded that other signatories join in “snapback” sanctions. That effort failed, like an August demand to extend a U.N.

arms embargo. Even Washington’s closest allies rejected the U.S. approach, and Iran got an undeserved win. “The U.S. is iso-lated and embarrassed,” boasted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The greatest potential beneficiary ofthe United States’ turn inward is China.President Xi Jinping has been making enemies with his crackdown in Hong Kong, adventurism in the South China Sea, clashes along the Indian border, andthreats against Taiwan. But Xi is pushingthe envelope because he thinks the UnitedStates is distracted and the moment is ripe.Trump’s hopes for a trade deal with Chinaand a denuclearization agreement with North Korea are distant memories.

After a lengthy “deep dive” into China’sgrowing challenge, the House IntelligenceCommittee concluded starkly in a reportlast week: “Absent a significant realign-ment of resources, the U.S. governmentwill fail to achieve the outcomes required to enable continued U.S. competition withChina on the global stage.”

Trump’s presidency has been a dailycircus of self-promotion and rage againstelites. Even his bout with a life-threaten-ing disease became part of the politicalspectacle. It often seems there’s nothing else happening outside the Trump bubble,but it isn’t so. There’s a world of trouble outthere.

If America were a stock, would you buyit or sell it? I would be a buyer, especiallywhen our stock is trading so far below its real value. But any sensible analyst would say that this underperforming asset badlyneeds a change in management and a thor-ough restructuring to regain its competi-tive position.

BY DAVID VON DREHLE The Washington Post

Although I don’t always agree with them — how dull if I did! — I think the nation is generally well-served by Supreme Court

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Thomas is a candid and original thinker whose jurisprudence is miscon-strued by those who don’t bother to read or understand it. Alito is equally forthright, though the opposite of an original thinker; he is the epitome of the conservative legal tradition. Both justices have displayed an attractive disdain for showboating.

So it was disappointing to read a thread-bare statement written by Thomas, joined by Alito, that was appended to a unanimous decision of the court not to hear the appeal of Kim Davis, a Kentucky public official who refused to issue marriage licenses because of her personal religious views against same-sex unions.

It was an odd document, not a dissent; just a four-page grumble about matters that may someday be a problem depend-ing on the facts of unknown future cases. The justices might consider woodworking, because, from the looks of this, they don’t have enough to keep them busy. The state-ment, which carries no legal weight, is es-sentially a cry from the heart on behalf of Americans whose religious views con-demn same-sex marriage. Fair enough: The freedom to hold beliefs different from those of the mainstream is a cherished aspect of American liberty. But the state-ment crosses into sophistry by suggesting that religious liberties are somehow in-fringed if they aren’t privileged above the civil law.

Thomas begins by restating dissents from the 2015 ruling that established the right of two consenting adults to enter

a civil marriage irrespective of gender. This opinion was, as Justice Antonin Sca-lia forecast, the logical result of a 2003 holding that social mores, including reli-gious views, cannot justify discrimination against homosexuals in the administration of government.

Nothing new is said of either ruling. As he did in 2015, Thomas notes that same-sex marriage is not mentioned in the Con-stitution; and once again, it is an empty feint toward originalism. Opposite-sex marriage is not mentioned there, either. At the time of the Constitutional Convention, certain devout Americans, called Shakers, condemned all marriage as “whoredom.” Originalism therefore appears to teach that protection of religious freedom (for example, the right of Shakers to condemn marriage) does not extend to imposing one’s beliefs on the unenumerated rights of other citizens.

Thomas acknowledges — in a footnote — that Davis had no legal leg to stand on. She wasn’t in court because her religious faith teaches that same-sex marriage is wrong, or as part of a church that refused to perform same-sex marriages. She was in court because she refused to do her legal duty, as clerk of Rowan County, to issue lawful marriage licenses. Had she done her job as a public official — or if she had resigned on principle — the First Amend-ment certainly would have protected her right to criticize the law, to pray for deliver-ance from it or to persuade as many people as she could to work for its repeal. Nothing that transpired in Kentucky violated any of Davis’ rights, which is why Thomas and Alito agreed that her appeal did not merit a hearing.

But they worry that someone, some-where, someday might lose his or her re-ligious freedom. By establishing equal rights for homosexuals, Thomas wrote, the

Supreme Court “enable[d] courts and gov-ernments to brand religious adherents whobelieve that marriage is between one man and one woman as bigots.” So the problemisn’t law but labeling? Thomas and Alitowould prefer that Davis and others like herbe called “devout,” rather than bigoted.

One can applaud their civility, I suppose, but not their logic, for this gets the FirstAmendment entirely backward. By pro-hibiting establishment of a state religion,the Constitution explicitly bars “courtsand governments” from preferring one setof religious views over any other set — orover nonreligious views. No personal beliefexempts Americans who are government officials from compliance with nondis-crimination laws in their official duties.Even acts of conscience, including civildisobedience, are subject to penalties for breaking the law. That is the friction from which civil disobedience draws its power.

Nor does religious freedom confer im-munity from criticism. Religious freedomby its nature implies robust disagreementover strongly held values. Imprecations will be hurled, alas. Names will be called. Devout Christians should appreciate this;indeed, we are called blessed when we’rereviled for the sake of our faith. Further-more, we’re taught to distinguish betweencivil and religious authority, and to renderdue respect to both.

Churches and other religious establish-ments rightly have certain protectionsfrom laws that might compel them to vio-late their beliefs while conducting theirown business. It’s dangerous to confuse that safe zone with a general power to flout the law. David Von Drehle is a Washington Post columnist. He is the author of “Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln and America’s Most Perilous Year.”

A distracted US only enables our rivals

What Thomas and Alito get wrong in their grumbling

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 17Thursday, October 8, 2020

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 18 F3HIJKLM Thursday, October 8, 2020

SCOREBOARD

Go to the American Forces Network website for the most up-to-date TV schedules.myafn.net

Sports on AFN

Deals

Tuesday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballMLB — Reinstated New York Yankees

RHP Domingo German from the restrict-ed list.

American LeagueHOUSTON ASTROS — Sent RHP Joe Bi-

agini outright to Round Rock (PCL).NEW YORK YANKEES — Reassigned

RHP Domingo German to the minor leagues.

TEXAS RANGERS — Announced pitch-ing coach Julio Rangel and catching coach Hector Ortiz will not be returning for 2021 season.

National LeagueATLANTA BRAVES — Reassigned INFs

Johan Camargo and William Contreras to the minor leagues. Activated RHPs Bryse Wilson and Huascar Ynoa.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS — Activated INF Gavin Lux and RHP Dylan Floro. Reas-signed INFs Keibert Ruiz and Edwin Rose to the minor leagues.

MIAMI MARLINS — Activated LHP Daniel Castano and RHP Nick Vincent. Reassigned INF Lewin Diaz, OF Starling Marte and LHP Stephen Tarpley to the minor leagues. Selected the contract of INF Sean Rodriguez from alternate train-ing site.

SAN DIEGO PADRES — Reassigned RHP Dan Altavilla and INFs Jorge Mateo and Greg Garcia to the minor leagues. Acti-vated RHP Mike Clevinger and OF Greg Allen. Designated OF Abraham Almonte for assignment. Selected the contract of LHP Ryan Weathers from Fort Wayne (Midwest League).

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Signed RB Jonathan Ward to the active roster. Re-leased S Curtis Riley. Waived OL Brett Toth from injured reserve.

BALTIMORE RAVENS — Activated LB Kristian Welch. Released TE Jerell Ad-ams.

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Placed WR KhaDarel Hodge on injured reserve.

DALLAS COWBOYS — Released CB Brandon Carr, OT Alex Light. Signed OT Greg Senat to the active roster. Signed OT William Sweet to the practice squad.

DENVER BRONCOS — Signed NT Mike Purcell to a three-year contract exten-sion through 2023.

GREEN BAY PACKERS — Released WR Reggie Begelton and LB Curtis Bolton from the PUP list. Released WR Caleb Scott from the practice squad.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Signed CB Christian Angulo to the practice squad. Released WR Krishawn Hogan and TE Ethan Wolf.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS — Re-signed S Doug Middleton to the practice squad.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS — Placed DL Bill Murray on the COVID-19 list.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Waived S Sean Chandler. Signed TE Eric Tomlinson to the active roster.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — Placed TE O.J. Howard on injured reserve. Signed WR Cyril Grayson to the active roster.

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM —Waived WR Jordan Veasy from injured reserve.

HOCKEYNATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS — Acquired C Max Domi and a third-round pick in the 2020 draft from Montreal in exchange for F Josh Anderson.

DETROIT RED WINGS — Assigned C Joseph Velen to Team Malmo-Sweden. Waived RW Justin Abdelkader.

MONTREAL CANADIENS — Waived D Karl Alzner.

SAN JOSE SHARKS — Re-signed LW Jayden Halbgewachs and D Jacob Mid-dleton to two-year contract extensions. Re-signed C Maxim Letunov to a one-year contract extension.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS — Assigned RW Denis Malgin to Lausanne HC-Swit-zerland.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS — Re-signed RW Zack MacEwen to a two-year con-tract extension.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS — Re-signed D Brenden Dillon to a four-year contract extension.

SOCCERMajor League Soccer

MLS — Fined Vancouver Whitecaps FC M Janio Bikel an undisclosed amount for failure to leave the field in a timely manner after receiving a red card in an Oct. 3 match against Seattle Sounders FC. Fined San Jose Earthquakes F Chris Wondolowski and LA Galaxy Fs Christian Pavon and Javier Hernandez an undis-closed amount for escalating a mass confrontation during their Oct. 3 match.

LOS ANGELES FC — Signed F Kwadwo Opoku.

NEW YORK RED BULLS — Named Ger-hard Struber head coach.

College football

AP Top 25 scheduleSaturday

No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 7 MiamiNo. 2 Alabama at MississippiNo. 3 Georgia vs. No. 14 TennesseeNo. 4 Florida at No. 21 Texas A&MNo. 5 Notre Dame vs. Florida StateNo. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 19 Virginia

TechNo. 13 Auburn vs. ArkansasNo. 15 BYU vs. UTSANo. 17 LSU vs. MissouriNo. 22 Texas at OklahomaNo. 23 Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Coastal

CarolinaNo. 24 Iowa State vs. Texas Tech

Pro football

NFLAMERICAN CONFERENCE

East W L T Pct PF PABuffalo 4 0 0 1.000 123 100New England 2 2 0 .500 97 92Miami 1 3 0 .250 93 96N.Y. Jets 0 4 0 .000 65 131

SouthTennessee 3 0 0 1.000 80 74Indianapolis 3 1 0 .750 103 56Jacksonville 1 3 0 .250 95 117Houston 0 4 0 .000 80 126

NorthPittsburgh 3 0 0 1.000 80 58Baltimore 3 1 0 .750 122 73Cleveland 3 1 0 .750 124 126Cincinnati 1 2 1 .250 99 99

WestKansas City 4 0 0 1.000 117 70Las Vegas 2 2 0 .500 111 120Denver 1 3 0 .250 82 98L.A. Chargers 1 3 0 .250 83 95

NATIONAL CONFERENCEEast

W L T Pct PF PAPhiladelphia 1 2 1 .250 84 107Dallas 1 3 0 .250 126 146Washington 1 3 0 .250 79 112N.Y. Giants 0 4 0 .000 47 96

SouthTampa Bay 3 1 0 .750 120 92Carolina 2 2 0 .500 99 102New Orleans 2 2 0 .500 123 123Atlanta 0 4 0 .000 106 138

NorthGreen Bay 4 0 0 1.000 152 101Chicago 3 1 0 .750 85 81Detroit 1 3 0 .250 99 127Minnesota 1 3 0 .250 106 125

WestSeattle 4 0 0 1.000 142 109L.A. Rams 3 1 0 .750 106 80Arizona 2 2 0 .500 98 92San Francisco 2 2 0 .500 107 71

Thursday, Oct. 1Denver 37, N.Y. Jets 28

Sunday, Oct. 4Tampa Bay 38, L.A. Chargers 31Cleveland 49, Dallas 38Baltimore 31, Washington 17Pittsburgh at Tennessee, 1 p.m.Carolina 31, Arizona 21New Orleans 35, Detroit 29Cincinnati 33, Jacksonville 25Minnesota 31, Houston 23Seattle 31, Miami 23L.A. Rams 17, N.Y. Giants 9Buffalo 30, Las Vegas 23Indianapolis 19, Chicago 11Philadelphia 25, San Francisco 20

Monday, Oct. 5Kansas City 26, New England 10Green Bay 30, Atlanta 16

Thursday’s gameTampa Bay at Chicago

Sunday’s gamesCincinnati at BaltimorePhiladelphia at PittsburghCarolina at AtlantaLas Vegas at Kansas CityL.A. Rams at WashingtonBuffalo at TennesseeArizona at N.Y. JetsJacksonville at HoustonMiami at San FranciscoN.Y. Giants at DallasDenver at New EnglandIndianapolis at ClevelandMinnesota at SeattleOpen: Detroit, Green Bay

Monday’s gameL.A. Chargers at New Orleans

Pro soccer

MLSEASTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GAToronto FC 9 2 4 31 26 16Columbus 9 2 4 31 25 10Orlando City 8 2 5 29 28 16Philadelphia 8 3 4 28 25 13New York City FC 7 6 2 23 17 12New England 5 3 7 22 15 12New York 6 7 2 20 18 19Nashville SC 4 5 6 18 11 14Atlanta 5 8 2 17 17 19Montreal 5 8 2 17 22 29Chicago 4 7 4 16 20 24Cincinnati 3 8 4 13 8 23D.C. United 2 8 5 11 11 24Inter Miami CF 3 10 2 11 14 25

WESTERN CONFERENCE W L T Pts GF GASeattle 8 3 3 27 32 13Portland 7 4 3 24 27 24Sporting KC 7 5 2 23 26 21Minnesota United 6 5 5 23 26 21Los Angeles FC 6 6 3 21 35 30FC Dallas 5 3 6 21 21 15Colorado 5 4 4 19 25 20Real Salt Lake 4 5 6 18 20 24San Jose 4 6 5 17 21 40Houston 3 5 7 16 22 26Vancouver 5 10 0 15 18 34LA Galaxy 4 7 3 15 18 24

Note: Three points for victory, one point for tie.

Saturday, Oct. 3Orlando City 3, New York 1Atlanta 4, D.C. United 0Chicago 2, Montreal 2, tieNashville 0, New England 0, tieToronto FC 2, Philadelphia 1Sporting Kansas City 2, Houston 1New York City FC 3, Miami 2Minnesota 2, Cincinnati 0Columbus 2, FC Dallas 2, tieSeattle 3, Vancouver 1San Jose 2, LA Galaxy 1Colorado at Portland ppd.

Sunday, Oct. 4Los Angeles FC 3, Real Salt Lake 1

Tuesday’s gameMinnesota 0, Nashville 0, tie

Wednesday’s gamesOrlando City at AtlantaMiami at New YorkMontreal at ColumbusToronto FC at New EnglandCincinnati at PhiladelphiaD.C. United at New York City FCFC Dallas at HoustonChicago at Sporting Kansas CityLos Angeles FC at ColoradoReal Salt Lake at SeattlePortland at LA GalaxyVancouver at San Jose

Saturday’s gamesHouston at MiamiNew York at AtlantaLA Galaxy at ColoradoReal Salt Lake at Vancouver

Sunday’s gamesNew England at New York City FCSeattle at Los Angeles FCD.C. United at ChicagoToronto FC at CincinnatiColumbus at Orlando CityMontreal at PhiladelphiaNashville at Sporting Kansas CityMinnesota at FC DallasSan Jose at Portland

Wednesday, Oct. 14Columbus at CincinnatiNew England at MontrealNew York City FC at Orlando CityNew York at Toronto FCPhiladelphia at D.C. UnitedNashville at HoustonAtlanta at MiamiChicago at MinnesotaSporting Kansas City at FC DallasPortland at Real Salt LakeColorado at SeattleLos Angeles FC at VancouverSan Jose at LA Galaxy

NWSL W L T Pts GF GAPortland 2 0 1 7 8 2Washington 2 1 1 7 5 4Houston 2 1 0 6 10 6Chicago 1 1 1 4 6 4North Carolina 1 1 1 4 5 7Sky Blue FC 1 2 0 3 3 6Utah 0 1 2 2 3 6Orlando 0 1 1 1 1 3Reign FC 0 1 1 1 3 6

Note: Three points for victory, one point for tie.

Saturday, Oct. 3Washington 1, Sky Blue FC 0Portland 1, Utah 1, tie

Sunday, Oct. 4Houston 4, North Carolina 1

Friday’s gameHouston at Orlando

Saturday’s gamesChicago at Sky Blue FCPortland at Reign FC

Saturday, Oct. 17North Carolina at OrlandoUtah at Reign FC

Pro basketball

WNBA FinalsAll games played at Bradenton, Fla.

(Best-of-five)Seattle 3, Las Vegas 0

Seattle 93, Las Vegas 80Seattle 104, Las Vegas 91Tuesday: Seattle 92, Las Vegas 59

Auto racing

NASCAR Cup Seriespoints leaders

Through Oct. 4 1. Denny Hamlin ................................. 3141 2. Kevin Harvick .................................. 3121 3. Chase Elliott .................................... 3097 4. Brad Keselowski ............................. 3094 5. Martin Truex Jr ............................... 3085 6. Alex Bowman .................................. 3075 7. Joey Logano .................................... 3074 8. Austin Dillon ................................... 3053 9. Kyle Busch ....................................... 305310. Kurt Busch ....................................... 3048

11. Clint Bowyer ................................... 303612. Aric Almirola ................................... 302613. Ryan Blaney .................................... 211414. William Byron ................................. 211315. Matt DiBenedetto .......................... 210816. Cole Custer ..................................... 209517. Jimmie Johnson ............................... 75418. Erik Jones .......................................... 75119. Tyler Reddick .................................... 68720. Chris Buescher ................................. 59121. Christopher Bell ............................... 54022. Michael McDowell ........................... 52923. Bubba Wallace .................................. 52124. Ricky Stenhouse Jr .......................... 48925. Ryan Newman .................................. 489

BY JOHN LEICESTERAND ANDREW DAMPF

Associated Press

PARIS — The rain finally held off at the French Open, so Petra Kvitova rained down aces instead.

Six of them, taking her tourna-ment-leading tally to 24, as the two-time Wimbledon champion reached her first semifinal at Ro-land Garros since 2012 and first at any Grand Slam since her run to the final of the 2019 Australian Open.

Her semifinal opponent will be Sofia Kenin, the Australian Open champion who has been pushed to three sets in all but one of her five matches so far in Paris, including her 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 quarterfinal win Thursday over fellow American Danielle Collins.

“I like winning in three sets,” said the fourth-seeded Kenin, whose only previous Grand Slam semifinal was on her way to win-ning at Melbourne Park. “I’m re-ally proud of myself.”

On the other end of the easier 6-3, 6-3 victory for seventh-seed-ed Kvitova was Laura Siegemund, an unseeded German player in her first Grand Slam quarter-final. The first set, especially, flashed by in a blur of left-handed serves that Siegemund couldn’t reach or capitalize on and pow-erful groundstrokes she had no answer to.

For Kvitova, her first return to the semifinals in eight years marks another step in her recov-ery from a traumatic stabbing by an intruder at her home in the Czech Republic in December 2016.

All five fingers on the left had that she uses to hold her racket were injured in the knifing and doctors told her she might never be competitive again.

“It’s another miracle,” she said.

Against Kenin, Collins proved to be her own enemy, double-faulting at 0-40 to give her oppo-

nent the only break of serve in thefirst set and again at the start ofthe third set, also at 0-40, havingjust fought furiously in the sec-ond set to level the match at a setapiece.

Collins, who’d previously notadvanced beyond round two inParis, received medical treat-ment as she trailed 4-0 in the final set and appeared limited in her movements.

“I was kind of praying for amiracle at the end there,” she said. “I can walk away saying thatI gave it my all.”

Kvitova hit all six of her acesin the first set, in which she alsonever faced a break point andwon 93% of the points on her firstserve.

Her fastest serve was clockedat 104 mph. She brought up two set points with another ace andconverted the first with a cleanforehand winner.

Playing without sleeves or leg-gings under the pale autumn sun on Court Philippe Chatrier, Kvi-tova has yet to drop a set on the Paris clay.

“Right now, it’s my lucky place,” she said.

The story was unchanged atthe start of the second set, with Siegemund broken again in thefirst game .

ALESSANDRA TARANTINO/AP

Sofia Kenin of the U.S. celebrates winning her quarterfinal match, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, in the French Open against Danielle Collins of the U.S.

Kvitova, Kenin earnspots in semifinals

French Open scores

WednesdayAt Stade Rolan Garros

ParisPurse: $17,818,640Surface: Red clayWomen’s Singles

QuarterfinalsPetra Kvitova (7), Czech Republic, def.

Laura Siegemund, Germany, 6-3, 6-3.Sofia Kenin (4), United States, def.

Danielle Collins, United States, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

Women’s DoublesQuarterfinals

Alexa Guarachi Mathison, Chile, and Desirae Krawczyk (14), United States,def. Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara (7), Japan, 6-0, 6-4.

Nicole Melichar, United States, and Iga Swiatek, Poland, def. Asia Muham-mad and Jessica Pegula, United States,6-3, 6-4.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 19Thursday, October 8, 2020

NHL DRAFTScoreboard

TuesdayFirst round

1. N.Y. Rangers, Alexis Lafreniere, lw, Rimouski (QMJHL).

2. Los Angeles, Quinton Byfield, c, Sud-bury (OHL).

3. Ottawa (from San Jose), Tim Stu-etzle, lw, Mannheim (Germany).

4. Detroit, Lucas Raymond, lw, Frol-unda (Sweden).

5. Ottawa, Jake Sanderson, d, USA U-18 (NTDP).

6. Anaheim, Jamie Drysdale, d, Erie (OHL).

7. New Jersey, Alexander Holtz, rw, Djurgarden (Sweden).

8. Buffalo, Jack Quinn, rw, Ottawa (OHL).

9. Minnesota, Marco Rossi, c, Ottawa (OHL).

10. Winnipeg, Cole Perfetti, c, Saginaw (OHL).

11. Nashville, Iaroslav Askarov, g, Neva St. Petersburg (Russia).

12. Florida, Anton Lundell, c, HIFK (Fin-land).

13. Carolina (from Toronto), Seth Jar-vis, c, Portland (WHL).

14. Edmonton, Dylan Holloway, c, Wis-consin, (Big Ten).

15. Toronto (from Pittsburgh), Rodion Amirov, lw, Ufa (Russia).

16. Montreal, Kaiden Guhle, d, Prince Albert (WHL).

17. Chicago, Lukas Reichel, lw, Eisbar-en Berlin (Germany).

18. New Jersey (from Arizona), Daw-son Mercer, c, Chicoutimi (QMJHL).

19. N.Y. Rangers (from Calgary), Braden Schneider, d, Brandon (WHL).

20. New Jersey (from Vancouver through Tampa Bay), Shakir Mukhamad-ullin, d, Ufa (Russia).

21. Columbus, Yegor Chinakhov, rw, Omsk (Russia).

22. Washington (from Calgary through N.Y. Rangers through Carolina), Hendrix Lapierre, c, Chicoutimi (QMJHL).

23. Philadelphia, Tyson Foerster, rw, Barrie (OHL).

24. Calgary (from Washington), Con-nor Zary, c, Kamloops (WHL).

25. Colorado, Justin Barron, d, Halifax (QMJHL).

26. St. Louis, Jake Neighbours, lw, Ed-monton (WHL).

27. Anaheim (from Boston), Jacob Per-reault, rw, Sarnia (OHL).

28. Ottawa (from N.Y. Islanders), Ridly Greig, c, Brandon (WHL).

29. Vegas, Brendan Brisson, c, Chicago (USHL).

30. Dallas, Mavrik Bourque, c, Shawin-igan (QMJHL).

31. San Jose (from Tampa Bay), Ozzy Wiesblatt, rw, Prince Albert (WHL).

Rangers use top pick on LafreniereBY JOHN WAWROW

Associated Press

Alexis Lafreniere wanted to take the stage at Montreal’s Bell Centre near his home and hear his name announced at the NHL Draft.

The playmaking forward had to settle for being selected first overall by the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.

“Obviously, it’s different, and we didn’t expect that a couple of months ago,” Lafreniere said. “Growing up, you’re dreaming of being drafted. And for me today, it’s amazing to go first. I’m really honored.”

Lafreniere was the NHL Cen-tral Scouting Bureau’s top-ranked North American skater. The 6-foot-1 left wing becomes the first Canadian to go No. 1 since Con-nor McDavid was chosen by Ed-monton in 2015. From suburban Montreal, he was the first to earn both Canadian Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League MVP honors in consecu-tive seasons since Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby in 2004 and ’05.

In a sign of the unusual nature of this year’s remote draft amid the coronavirus pandemic, Lafre-niere spoke by video call from a bedroom in his home. Rather than walking up on stage and having a team official provide his new jersey, Lafreniere stood

up from a living room chair, gave his sport jacket to his sister and pulled on a Rangers hat and No. 20 Rangers jersey handed to him by his father.

“Today, I woke up and I was re-ally excited and I just got ready for the pick,” he said. “I’m just a little speechless.”

Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton, who spent the weeks leading up to the draft refusing to tip his hand, laughed in revealing when he knew he was going to se-lect Lafreniere.

“I think when the ball came out of the machine, we knew he was going to be our guy,” Gorton said. “It was pretty clear-cut how we felt about him.”

The Rangers bucked the odds by jumping ahead of the NHL’s seven nonplayoff teams to win the draft lottery after being swept by Carolina in the preliminary round in August.

The Los Angeles Kings then selected Ontario Hockey League center Quinton Byfield with the second pick. The 6-foot-4 Byfield,

whose father moved to Canada from Jamaica, became the high-est drafted Black player.

“My dad and mom didn’t play hockey,” Byfield said. “It just shows that there’s a lot of oppor-tunity for everyone in the world.”

The Ottawa Senators were next and chose top-ranked interna-tional forward Tim Stuetzle, who played professionally in his native Germany last year, with their first of three first-round selections.

Detroit, which was bumped to the fourth spot despite finishing with the league’s worst record, selected Swedish forward Lucas Raymond. A little over an hour before the draft, the Red Wings announced general manager Steve Yzerman had to self-isolate in overseeing the draft separate from his staff after coming into contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19.

It was an NHL Draft like no other, the first one held in Octo-ber, with teams selecting remote-ly from their home cities.

“Jeopardy” game-show host

Alex Trebek announced Ottawa’s first pick in the form of a ques-tion. “And the answer is, Tim Stu-etzle,” Trebek said.

Commissioner Gary Bettmanwas busy putting on and pullingoff his protective mask in intro-ducing the next team’s selectionfrom the NHL Network studios in New Jersey.

North Dakota freshman JakeSanderson, who went No. 5 to Ot-tawa, was joined by his family in watching the draft from a suiteat the school’s Ralph EngelstadArena.

The San Jose Sharks closed outthe first round by selecting for-ward Ozzy Wiesblatt, with scout-ing director Doug Wilson Jr. usingsign language in a message to theplayer’s mother, who is deaf.

The draft concluded Wednes-day with rounds two through seven, before teams turn their attention to the NHL’s free agen-cy signing period, which opens Friday.AP hockey writer Stephen Whynocontributed to this report.

Marco Rossi because the fifth Austrian-born player to be taken in the top 10 when Minnesota selected him with the ninth pick.

PHOTOS BY PETER POWER, THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP

Quinton Byfield, left, and Alexis Lafreniere, right, were the top two picks in Tuesday’s NHL Draft. Lafreniere went first to the New York Rangers. The Los Angeles Kings took Byfield second.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 20 F3HIJKLM

BY STEPHEN HAWKINS

Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Texas — Justin Turner and the Los Angeles Dodgers had a walk in the new park to start their National League Divi-sion Series.

The patient Dodgers had already drawn nine free passes before Mookie Betts got their first hit in the sixth inning, and they went ahead to stay on Corey Seager’s sacrifice fly right after that in a 5-1 win Tuesday night over the NL West rival San Diego Padres.

“We didn’t get a lot of hits early, but we took great at-bats and we made those guys work,” said Turner, who drew two bases on balls. “Our offense is at its best when we’re walking as many times as we’re getting hits.”

Mike Clevinger made it only two pitches into the second inning of his postseason debut for the Padres before leaving with the same elbow injury that sidelined him during the first round. San Diego’s heavily worked bull-pen couldn’t keep putting up zeros — or keep-ing runners off base, even though the Padres gave up only four hits.

Game 2 in the best-of-five series at the Texas Rangers’ new ballpark is Wednesday night.

When Chris Taylor, the No. 9 batter in the Los Angeles order, walked with one out in the sixth in a 1-1 game, it was the Dodgers’ ninth walk through 27 batters and the Padres were already on their sixth pitcher. Betts then dou-bled into the left-field corner to break up the no-hitter, sending Taylor to third and setting up Seager’s sac fly.

“We felt like it was a matter of time,” Cody Bellinger said. “We grinded, and it was a good team win.”

Los Angeles got all its hits in the sixth, in-cluding RBI singles by Turner and Bellinger. Another run scored on a wild pitch and the Dodgers also drew their 10th walk, matching Atlanta in 1997 for the most in a nine-inning NLDS game.

The Dodgers scored an unearned run in the fourth when Bellinger reached on a two-out throwing error by rookie second baseman Jake Croneworth after two walks and a wild pitch earlier in the inning.

Dustin May (1-0), the 23-year-old Dodg-

ers right-hander who grew up about 30 miles away in Justin, Texas, struck out three over two perfect innings in relief of Walker Bue-hler. Kenley Jansen, the fourth reliever, fin-ished a three-hitter for Los Angeles.

Garrett Richards (0-1) was gone after giv-ing up the hit to Betts. So was rookie man-ager Jayce Tingler, who was ejected by plate umpire Lance Barrett for arguing balls and strikes .

“Bottom line, we lost the battle of the strike zone on both sides,” Tingler said.

BY KRISTIE RIEKEN

Associated Press

HOUSTON — Ronald Acuna Jr. made history with a leadoff home run to start things off for the At-lanta Braves in their NL Division Series opener against Miami.

And another hit — once more by the Marlins, this time with Sandy Alcantara’s fastball to the left hip — fired up the Braves and fueled their comeback in a 9-5 win Tuesday.

“I think it woke us up,” said Travis d’Arnaud, who launched a tiebreaking homer during Atlan-ta’s six-run rally in the seventh inning . “And we took advantage of that momentum.”

D’Arnaud also doubled and singled in driving in four runs and Dansby Swanson homered during the big comeback to help power Atlanta.

After shutting out Cincinnati for 22 innings during a two-game sweep in the wild-card round, the Braves relied on their bats .

Acuna got things going for the Braves in the bottom of the first when he sent Alcantara’s second pitch into right-center for a homer. He watched it for a second before flipping his bat and rounding the bases as he became the youngest player (22 years, 293 days old) in

postseason history with a leadoff home run.

Things turned testy in the third when Acuna was nailed by a 98 mph fastball. The All-Star outfielder held onto his bat and walked a few steps toward the mound before umpires and Braves coaches directed him away from Alcantara, who had started to walk toward him.

After a short delay, featuring plenty of chirping from both dug-outs, Acuna took his base. Um-

pires warned the teams against further trouble.

There’s already been plenty — in 2018, when Acuna was a rookie and on a big homer-hitting streak, Jose Urena nailed him with a fastball on his first pitch.

He’s become a Marlins target over the years.

“I looked over to their bench and said, ‘It’s been five times,’ ”Acuna said through a translator. “At this point I think we’ve grown accus-tomed to it.”

Alcantara insisted he didn’t intend to hit Acuna and that Mi-ami’s game plan is simply to pitch inside to him, but added some trash talk after the denial.

“If he’s ready to fight, I’m ready to fight, too,” Alcantara said.

Braves manager Brian Snitker said that even though he didn’t believe this pitch was on purpose, the Marlins have hit Acuna far too many times.

“You better be good at going in and not hitting him after a homer,” Snitker said.

Acuna and his teammates quickly got revenge.

The Braves trailed 4-3 in the seventh before Austin Riley and Acuna hit consecutive singles with no outs to chase Alcantara.

“As long as we’ve got a strike left, we’re pretty dangerous,“ Snitker said. “These guys can score a lot of runs in a hurry.“

Yimi Garcia took over and Freddie Freeman grounded into a forceout that left runners at the corners. Marcell Ozuna lined a single to left that made it 4-all.

Then d’Arnaud, in his first sea-son with Atlanta, belted a slider over the fence in center field for a three-run drive that made it 7-4. The shot caused the Braves dug-out to erupt with Acuna jumping over the railing to celebrate.

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Playoffs DIVISION SERIES

(Best-of-five; x-if necessary)American League

New York Yankees 1, Tampa Bay 1At San Diego

Monday: New York Yankees 9, Tampa Bay 3

Tuesday: Tampa Bay 7, New York Yan-kees 5

Wednesday: Game 3Thursday: Tampa Bay (TBD) vs. New

York Yankees (Montgomery 2-3) AFN-Sports, 1 a.m. Friday CET; 8 a.m. Friday JKT)

x-Friday: Game 5Houston 2, Oakland 0

At Los AngelesMonday: Houston 10, Oakland 5Tuesday: Houston 5, Oakland 2Wednesday: Game 3x-Thursday: Oakland (TBD) vs. Hous-

ton (TBD), AFN-Sports, 11 p.m. Thursday CET; 6 a.m. Friday JKT)

x-Friday: Game 5National League

Los Angeles Dodgers 1, San Diego 0At Arlington, Texas

Tuesday: Los Angeles Dodgers 5, San Diego 1

Wednesday: Game 2Thursday: San Diego (TBD) vs. Los An-

geles Dodgers (TBD); AFN-Sports, 4:30 a.m. Thursday CET; 11:30 a.m. Thursday JKT)

x-Friday: Game 4x-Saturday: Game 5

Atlanta 1, Miami 0At Houston

Tuesday: Atlanta 9, Miami 5Wednesday: Game 2Thursday: Atlanta (Wright 2-4) vs.

Miami (Sanchez 3-2), AFN-Sports, 8 p.m. Thursday CET; 3 a.m. Friday JKT)

x-Friday: Game 4x-Saturday: Game 5

TuesdayDodgers 5, Padres 1

San Diego Los Angeles ab r h bi ab r h biGrisham cf 4 0 1 0 Betts rf 5 1 1 0Tatis Jr. ss 4 0 1 0 Seager ss 3 0 0 1Machado 3b 4 0 0 0 Turner 3b 3 2 1 1Hosmer 1b 4 0 0 0 Muncy 1b 4 1 1 0Pham dh 3 0 0 0 Smith c 1 0 0 0Myers rf 3 1 0 0 Bellinger cf 3 0 1 1Cnworth 2b 3 0 0 0 Pollock lf 4 0 0 0Nola c 2 0 1 1 Pdersn dh 1 0 0 0Profar lf 3 0 0 0 Hrdz ph-dh 2 0 0 0 Taylor 2b 2 1 0 0Totals 30 1 3 1 Totals 28 5 4 3San Diego 000 100 000—1Los Angeles 000 014 00x—5

E—Cronenworth (1). LOB—San Diego6, Los Angeles 11. 2B—Grisham (1), Betts (1), Muncy (1). SB—Tatis Jr. (1), Pham (1), Myers (1). SF—Seager (1). IP H R ER BB SOSan DiegoClevinger 1 0 0 0 3 1Johnson 11⁄3 0 0 0 0 2Weathers 11⁄3 0 0 0 2 1Adams H,1 1⁄3 0 0 0 1 0Hill H,1 2⁄3 0 1 0 1 1Richards L,0-1 BS,0-1 2⁄3 1 2 2 2 1Strahm 1⁄3 3 2 2 1 0Stammen 11⁄3 0 0 0 0 1Patino 1 0 0 0 0 0Los AngelesBuehler 4 2 1 1 4 8May W,1-0 2 0 0 0 0 3Gonzalez 1 1 0 0 0 0Treinen 11⁄3 0 0 0 0 2Jansen 2⁄3 0 0 0 0 1

Clevinger pitched to 1 batter in the 2nd, Gonzalez pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. HBP—Adams (Hernandez). WP—Clevinger, Richards, Stammen. T—3:54.

Braves 9, Marlins 5Miami Atlanta ab r h bi ab r h biBerti 2b 5 1 1 0 Acuna Jr. cf 4 2 2 1Aguilar dh 5 0 0 0 Frman 1b 4 1 0 0Cooper 1b 4 1 1 2 Ozuna dh 5 2 2 2Andersn 3b 4 1 3 1 d’Arnaud c 3 1 3 4Rojas ss 3 1 1 1 Albies 2b 5 1 1 0Dickerson lf 4 0 0 0 Swason ss 4 1 1 2Brinson rf 3 0 0 0 Duvall lf 4 0 0 0Joyce ph-rf 1 0 1 1 Mrkakis rf 4 0 1 0Wallach c 3 0 0 0 Pache rf 0 0 0 0Alfaro ph-c 1 0 0 0 Riley 3b 3 1 2 0Sierra cf 4 1 2 0 Totals 37 5 9 5 Totals 36 9 12 9Miami 013 000 010—5Atlanta 102 000 60x—9

E—Riley (1). LOB—Miami 6, Atlanta 8. 2B—Cooper (1), Sierra (1), Ozuna (1), d’Arnaud (1). HR—Rojas (1), Acuna Jr. (1), d’Arnaud (1), Swanson (1). IP H R ER BB SOMiamiAlcantara L,0-1 6 8 5 5 1 8Garcia BS,0-1 1⁄3 3 3 3 0 0Hoyt 2⁄3 1 1 1 0 0Stanek 1 0 0 0 3 2AtlantaFried 4 6 4 4 0 4O’Day 1 1 0 0 0 1Matzek 1 0 0 0 0 3Smith W,1-0 1 0 0 0 0 0Martin 1 2 1 1 0 1Melancon 1 0 0 0 0 2

Alcantara pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. HBP—Alcantara (Acuna Jr.), Martin(Rojas). WP—Stanek. T—3:15.

NATIONAL LEAGUE DIVISION SERIESScoreboard

LA makes use of 10 walks, downs San Diego in opener

Walkover: Dodgers coast past Padres

D’Arnaud, Braves rally over Marlins

CURTIS COMPTON, ATLANTA JOURAL-CONSTITUTION/AP

Atlanta Braves center fielder Ronald Acuna hits a solo homer off Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara during the first inning of the Braves’ 9-5 win Tuesday in the NL Division Series in Houston.

TONY GUTIERREZ/AP

Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts dances after hitting a double against the San Diego Padres during his team’s 5-1 win Tuesday in the NL Division Series in Arlington, Texas.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 21Thursday, October 8, 2020

AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES

BY BETH HARRIS

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Back-to-back home runs off back-to-back pitches. The Houston Astros can’t miss these days.

George Springer hit two hom-ers and Houston kept making more noise in the playoffs, beat-ing the Oakland Athletics 5-2 on Tuesday to take a 2-0 lead in their AL Division Series.

Martin Maldonado also went deep for the Astros, who need one win to reach their fourth straight AL Championship Series. Game 3 in the best-of-five series is Wednesday, when Houston is the home team in the neutral-site matchup.

“With every victory, the en-ergy and the confidence grows,” first-year Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “We’re expecting good things to happen.”

Springer put Houston ahead to stay with a two-run, two-out drive in the third on a second straight 90-degree day at Dodger Stadium.

“You don’t know if you’re ever going to get back here, so the times you’re here you might as well try and have fun,” Springer said.

The Astros went back-to-back in the fifth, extending the lead to 5-2.

Maldonado’s solo shot chased loser Sean Manaea in his first appearance this postseason. Yus-meiro Petit came in, and Springer connected for his second homer of the game .

“Just a couple bad pitches,” Ma-naea said. “I know we are going to figure this thing out and turn it around.”

Springer’s 17 postseason hom-ers tied Nelson Cruz and Jim Thome for most through a play-er’s first 54 career postseason games. Five of Springer’s post-season homers have come at

Dodger Stadium, where Houstonbeat the Dodgers in Game 7 of the2017 World Series.

“I don’t really pay attention to that stuff,” Springer said. “I’dmuch rather us win.”

Houston turned three doubleplays, including one to end thegame. Second baseman Jose Al-tuve got the first two going andhad a hand in all three.

“What kept us in the game wasour defense,” Baker said. “Josemade some great plays.”

Hot, sunny and dry conditionsagain created an ideal environ-ment for the long ball. The teams combined for five homers, raisingthe series total to 11.

Winner Framber Valdez al-lowed two runs and five hits inseven innings, struck out four and walked one. The 26-year-oldleft-hander, making his first post-season start, retired his final 10batters.

“His ball is moving all overthe place. His breaking ball wasgood,” A’s manager Bob Melvinsaid.

BY BERNIE WILSON

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO — Randy Aro-zarena, Mike Zunino, Manuel Margot and Austin Meadows hit home runs, and Tyler Glasnow struck out 10 to set a postseason record for the Tampa Bay Rays, who beat the New York Yankees 7-5 Tuesday night to even their AL Division Series at one game apiece.

The Rays had enough pop to overcome a huge game by Giancarlo Stanton, who had two home runs and four RBIs. His impressive power display includ-ed a 458-foot, three-run homer that landed under the giant video board in left field at Petco Park. It was reminiscent of the mammoth shots he hit in winning the Home Run Derby here in 2016.

Stanton has three homers this series and five in four postsea-son games. His grand slam in the ninth inning Monday night was the Bronx Bombers’ fourth homer in the 9-3 Game 1 win. The Yankees have 13 homers in five games.

Each team has hit six home runs in two games at the down-town ballpark, where the outfield once had the reputation as a place where fly balls went to die. The fences were moved in before the 2013 season.

“Randy, it’s unbelievable what he’s doing right now,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “Z came up with just a big homer for us. Meadows, it’s good to see him get going; Manny just separated the game right there was good. Unfortunately we didn’t get that shutdown inning we were look-ing for. We needed every bit of them.”

Four Rays pitchers struck out 18, an MLB postseason record for a nine-inning game and a postseason record for New York’s

batters.DJ LeMahieu had hit an RBI

single with two outs in the ninth, and Pete Fairbanks retired Aaron Judge on a grounder with runners on the corners to end the game.

Game 3 in the best-of-five se-ries is Wednesday night. Tampa Bay, which won the AL East at 40-20 and is the top seed, was the home team for the first two games while the Yankees will be the home team for the next two games.

Stanton became the first New York player to homer in four straight games in the same post-season when he lined a shot into the home run porch in right field off Glasnow leading off the sec-ond. Stanton, who’s from Los An-geles, joined Reggie Jackson and Lou Gehrig as the only Yankees to homer in four straight postsea-son games overall.

“That was a good swing,” Stan-ton said of his long homer. “I was just glad to put the barrel on it. I didn’t really care how far it was going. I knew it was out. That’s all I cared about. You kind of black out sometimes on those.”

But the Rays have pop, too. Arozarena homered for the sec-ond time this series, with two outs in the first against rookie Deivi Garcia, who at 21 years, 140 days, became the youngest Yan-kees pitcher to make a postseason start. Arozarena’s opposite-field shot landed in the home run deck in right.

Garcia served as an opener for J.A. Happ, who surrendered Zunino’s two-run shot off the fa-cade of the second deck in left with two outs in the second for a 2-1 lead. Happ also gave up Man-uel Margot’s two-run homer to straightaway center with one out in the third that made it 5-1.

Margot played for the San Diego Padres for four seasons be-fore being traded to Tampa Bay for reliever Emilio Pagan.

Happ said he preferred to be used as a starter.

The lead was just enough to survive Stanton’s three-run shot.

Glasnow walked Aaron Hicks to open the sixth and Diego Cas-tillo came on and struck out 2020 home run leader Luke Voit and Stanton on three pitches each be-fore retiring Gio Urshela on a fly ball.

Glasnow allowed three hits and four runs in five-plus innings, while walking three. His 10 strikeouts surpass the previous Rays postseason record of nine, done three times. The most re-cent was by Blake Snell in Game 1 of the wild-card series against Toronto. It was Tampa Bay’s 10th straight win when Glasnow pitches. He won his fifth straight start and seventh consecutive decision.

Rays 7, Yankees 5New York Tampa Bay ab r h bi ab r h biLeMhieu 2b 5 0 1 1 Meadws dh 4 1 1 1Judge rf 5 0 0 0 Lowe 2b 4 0 0 0Hicks cf 2 1 1 0 Arzarena lf 4 1 2 1Voit 1b 3 1 0 0 Choi 1b 1 1 0 0Stanton dh 4 2 2 4 Margot rf 2 1 1 2Urshela 3b 3 1 0 0 Tstsugo ph 1 0 0 0Torres ss 2 0 0 0 Phillips rf 1 0 0 0Frazier lf 4 0 1 0 Wendle 3b 3 2 2 0Sanchez c 4 0 0 0 Adames ss 4 0 0 0 Krmaier cf 4 0 1 1 Zunino c 4 1 1 2Totals 32 5 5 5 Totals 32 7 8 7New York 010 300 001—5Tampa Bay 122 011 00x—7

E—Happ (). DP—New York 1, Tampa Bay 0. LOB—New York 6, Tampa Bay 6. HR—Stanton 2 (3), Arozarena (2), Zunino (1), Margot (1), Meadows (1). SB—Wen-dle (1). IP H R ER BB SONew YorkGarcia 1 1 1 1 0 0Happ L,0-1 22⁄3 5 4 4 3 2Ottavino 2⁄3 0 1 1 1 0Loaisiga 12⁄3 2 1 1 0 1Holder 1 0 0 0 0 1Nelson 1 0 0 0 0 2Tampa BayGlasnow W,1-0 5 3 4 4 3 10Castillo H,1 1 1 0 0 1 2Anderson H,1 2 0 0 0 0 4Fairbanks S,1-1 1 1 1 1 2 2

Glasnow pitched to 1 batter in the 6th, Castillo pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. HBP—Garcia (Choi). T—3:43.

Astros 5, Athletics 2Houston Oakland ab r h bi ab r h biSpringer cf 4 2 2 3 Semien ss 3 0 2 0Altuve 2b 3 0 0 0 La Stella 2b 4 0 0 0Brantley dh 4 1 1 0 Pinder 3b 4 1 1 1Bregman 3b 3 0 0 0 Canha lf-rf 3 0 0 0Tucker lf 4 0 1 0 Davis dh 3 1 2 1Correa ss 3 0 0 1 Olson 1b 3 0 0 0Gurriel 1b 4 0 0 0 Murphy c 3 0 0 0Reddick rf 3 1 1 0 Lreano cf 3 0 0 0Mldonado c 3 1 1 1 Piscotty rf 2 0 1 0 Grsmn ph-lf 1 0 0 0Totals 31 5 6 5 Totals 29 2 6 2Houston 002 120 000—5Oakland 010 100 000—2

DP—Houston 3, Oakland 2. LOB—Houston 2, Oakland 1. 2B—Brantley (1).HR—Springer 2 (2), Maldonado (1), Davis(2), Pinder (1). IP H R ER BB SOHoustonValdez W,1-0 7 5 2 2 1 4Paredes H,2 1 0 0 0 0 1Pressly S,1-1 1 1 0 0 0 0OaklandManaea L,0-1 41⁄3 5 4 4 1 2Petit 2⁄3 1 1 1 0 1Minor 2 0 0 0 0 1Soria 1 0 0 0 0 0Trivino 1 0 0 0 1 0

HBP—Minor (Bregman). T—2:54.

Springer’s 2 HRs help Astros take 2-0 lead over A’s

ASHLEY LANDIX/AP

The Houston Astros’ George Springer, left, is congratulated by Carlos Correa after hitting a solo home run, his second homer of the day, in the Astros’ 5-2 win Tuesday against the Oakland Athletics, giving Houston a 2-0 lead in its AL Division Series in Los Angeles.

Rays blast way to even series with 4 HRs, Glasnow’s 10 K’s

JAE C. HONG/AP

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow had 10 strikeouts in five innings during his team’s 7-5 defeat of the New Yankees in Game 2 of their AL Division Series in San Diego. The Rays evened the series.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •PAGE 22 F3HIJKLM Thursday, October 8, 2020

FROM BACK PAGE

“I just loved seeing our guys compete. I love how they respond in between those four lines,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “This was a throwback game and there were some moments of truth there at the end, and probably the bottom line is they won those mo-ments of truth.”

He’s right. Whenever Miami had something going, the Lakers snuffed it out.

James’ three-pointer with 8:18 left in the third put the Lakers up 55-54 and set the tone for the way the rest of the night was going to go; L.A. leading, Miami chasing.

“Like I always say, they’re a really, really, really good team and we’ve got to play damn near perfect to beat them,” Butler said. “We didn’t do that tonight. ... We’ll watch this, learn from it, but we can’t lose another one.”

The Lakers were up by seven with 2:27 left in the third after a three-pointer by Davis; Miami scored the next six to get within one. Herro made a three early in the fourth to get Miami within one again; the Heat promptly fouled Markieff Morris on a three-point try, and he made all three shots.

Butler scored inside to tie the game with 6:27 left; James scored the next five points himself, in-cluding a three-point play where he ended up flat on his back after spinning the ball perfectly off the glass for a score on a drive while taking contact.

“You have to credit our guys’ competitive spirit,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “They were fly-ing around and just competing at an extremely high level that end of the floor.”

A bounce here, a bounce there. Those were the differences late, and the Lakers made their own breaks.

Butler had a corner three that would have given Miami the lead rim out with 3:05 left; Caldwell-Pope made a corner three at the other end seven seconds later and the Lakers were up 93-88. Miami then turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation; Caldwell-Pope scored on a drive for a seven-point lead.

3-1 Leads

This is the 36th time that a team has held a 3-1 lead in the NBA Fi-nals. Of the previous 35, the teamwith the lead has gone on to winthe title 34 times — James andthe Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016becoming the exception when they won three straight games to defeat Golden State.

In the 3-1 Finals situation, theseries has ended in five games 51.4% of the time (18 instances), in six games 40% of the time (14 in-stances) and in seven games 8.6%of the time (three instances).

Rare half

The Lakers led 49-47 at half-time. It was just the third time inthe last 26 NBA Finals games that neither team reached 50 points in the first 24 minutes. Tuesday’swas the 1,140th game played thisseason and just the 35th occur-rence of both teams scoring 49 or less by the break, which works out to 3.1% of the time.

Zeroing: Every time Heatgot hot, Lakers responded

WNBA FINALS/NBA FINALS

MARK J. TERRILL/AP

Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler, left, and Los Angeles Lakers guard Danny Green battle for the ball Tuesday during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

NBA scoreboard

NBA FinalsAt Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

(Best-of-seven; x-if necessary)L.A. Lakers 3, Miami 1

L.A. Lakers 116, Miami 98 L.A. Lakers 124, Miami 114 Miami 115, L.A. Lakers 104Tuesday: L.A. Lakers 102, Miami 96Friday: Game 5 (AFN-Sports, 3 a.m.

Saturday CET; 10 a.m. Saturday JTK)x-Sunday: Game 6x-Tuesday, Oct. 13: Game 7

TuesdayLakers 102, Heat 96

L.A. LAKERS — Davis 8-16 4-4 22, James 8-16 10-12 28, Howard 0-1 0-0 0, Caldwell-Pope 6-12 0-0 15, Green 4-8 0-0 10, Kuzma3-6 1-2 9, Morris 2-8 3-3 9, Caruso 3-5 0-0 7, Rondo 1-7 0-0 2. Totals 35-79 18-21 102.

MIAMI — Butler 8-17 6-7 22, Crowder 2-7 2-2 8, Adebayo 6-8 3-5 15, Herro 8-18 2-4 21, Robinson 4-7 6-6 17, Olynyk 1-4 2-2 4, Iguodala 1-3 0-0 3, Nunn 2-11 0-0 6. Totals32-75 21-26 96.

L.A. Lakers 27 22 26 27—102Miami 22 25 23 26— 96Three-Point Goals—L.A. Lakers 14-39

(Caldwell-Pope 3-8, Davis 2-4, James 2-5, Kuzma 2-5, Green 2-6, Morris 2-7, Ca-ruso 1-2, Rondo 0-2), Miami 11-32 (Rob-inson 3-6, Herro 3-7, Nunn 2-6, Crowder2-7, Olynyk 0-2, Butler 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—L.A. Lakers 42 (James 12), Miami 39 (Butler 10). Assists—L.A. Lakers 25 (James 8), Miami 18 (Butler 9). Total Fouls—L.A. Lakers 14, Miami 21.

Stewart powers Seattleto 2nd crown in 3 years

Associated Press

BRADENTON, Fla. — Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird helped Seattle finish off a dominant season with another championship.

The dynamic duo powered the Storm to their sec-ond title in three seasons. They both missed last year with injuries.

Stewart scored 26 points and Seattle completed a sweep of the Las Vegas Aces with a 92-59 rout Tues-day night. It was the biggest margin of victory in WNBA Finals history.

“It doesn’t feel real we just won and that I was able to contribute the way I did,” said Bird, who av-eraged 11 assists for the three finals games. “Some-thing when it’s all said and done that I’m incredibly proud of.”

It’s the fourth title in franchise history for the Storm, who also won in 2004, 2010 and 2018. Seattle had pretty much the same core group that won the 2018 championship back for this year, led by Stew-art, Bird and Jewell Loyd. The Storm joined Minne-sota and Houston as the only franchises to win four championships.

Seattle has now won a record 11 games in a row in the WNBA Finals, dating to the team’s first champi-onship in 2004. Bird has been a part of all of them. The veteran guard, who turns 40 next week, was once again a catalyst for the Storm.

Bird said she was most proud of the fact that she won it all with one franchise in three different decades.

“There are core groups that have a two-, four-, six-, maybe 10-year run,” she said. “I’ve been here for technically 19 seasons, 17 I’ve played. To be able to recreate that magic with different groups.”

Bird, who had five points and seven assists in the clincher, said she hadn’t thought about whether she’ll come back next year.

“Interestingly enough, it’s never a day of decision. I just kind of start working out and see how I feel,” she said. “I wish I could give you more. If the way I feel right now, if I go through my offseason and con-tinue to build on that in a good way I don’t see why I won’t be playing next summer.”

The 26-year-old Stewart set a WNBA record by scoring more than 20 points for the sixth straight finals game. She was a unanimous choice as WNBA Finals MVP. It was the second time in her young career that she won the award, becoming the fifth player with multiple finals MVPs.

Her play all season showed she had fully recov-ered from a torn Achilles tendon that sidelined her for the entire 2019 season.

“She’s just one of those generational players that comes through once in a while that can face adver-sity and even get stronger because of it and that’s what we saw of her,” Seattle coach Gary Kloppen-burg said. “She missed a whole year and came back as a better player in every category on both sides of the ball. Testament to her work ethic and desire to be such a great player.”

Storm guard Jewell Loyd, right, goes in for a layup after driving around Aces guard Jackie Young.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS O’MEARA/AP

From left, the Seattle Storm’s Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart and Alysha Clark celebrate after beating the Las Vegas Aces in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Tuesday in Bradenton, Fla.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • F3HIJKLM PAGE 23Thursday, October 8, 2020

AFC individual leadersWeek 4

Quarterbacks Att Com Yds TD IntAllen, Buf 148 105 1326 12 1Minshew, Jac 147 106 1138 8 4Mahomes, KC 150 101 1134 11 0Burrow, Cin 177 116 1121 6 2Carr, Las 144 106 1095 8 0Watson, Hou 128 84 1092 6 3Fitzpatrick, Mia 142 98 994 4 5Rivers, Ind 121 88 984 4 3Herbert, LAC 107 77 931 5 3Tannehill, Ten 104 70 809 6 1

Rushers Att Yds Avg LG TDChubb, Cle 57 335 5.9 29 4Henry, Ten 82 319 3.9 16 2Mixon, Cin 77 315 4.1 34t 2Edw.-Helaire, KC 71 304 4.3 27t 1Jacobs, Las 83 300 3.6 16 3J.Robinson, Jac 60 285 4.8 39 3Gordon, Den 65 281 4.3 43t 3Hunt, Cle 50 275 5.5 33 3Taylor, Ind 65 250 3.8 16 2Ekeler, LAC 49 248 5.1 13 1

Receivers No Yds Avg LG TDDiggs, Buf 26 403 15.5 49 2Allen, LAC 32 327 10.2 28 1Boyd, Cin 28 320 11.4 25 1Kelce, KC 24 297 12.4 45 2Edelman, NE 18 294 16.3 49 0Hill, KC 19 286 15.1 54t 4Parker, Mia 24 279 11.6 21 1Fuller, Hou 18 274 15.2 43 2Beasley, Buf 18 260 14.4 29 1Waller, Las 29 247 8.5 22 1

Punters No Yds Lg AvgTownsend, KC 13 658 65 50.6Bailey, NE 10 484 58 48.4Haack, Mia 13 629 63 48.4Huber, Cin 16 766 70 47.9Bojorquez, Buf 10 472 72 47.2Anger, Hou 16 755 59 47.2Kern, Ten 10 469 66 46.9Sanchez, Ind 11 514 60 46.7Long, LAC 14 654 63 46.7Cooke, Jac 10 461 63 46.1

Punt returners No Yds Avg Long TDRoberts, Buf 8 124 15.5 38 0Spencer, Den 6 82 13.7 41 0Proche, Bal 7 78 11.1 17 0Erickson, Cin 6 66 11.0 22 0Hines, Ind 9 94 10.4 21 0

Kickoff returners No Yds Avg LG TDDuvernay, Bal 7 238 34.0 93t 1B.Wilson, Cin 6 182 30.3 45 0McCloud, Pit 5 144 28.8 49 0Reed, LAC 6 154 25.7 46 0Carter, Hou 9 191 21.2 29 0Raymond, Ten 5 101 20.2 30 0Malone, NYJ 7 140 20.0 40 0

ScoringTouchdowns

TD Rush Rec Ret PtsHunt, Cle 5 3 2 0 30Andrews, Bal 4 0 4 0 24Beckham, Cle 4 1 3 0 24Chubb, Cle 4 4 0 0 24Gordon, Den 4 3 1 0 24Hill, KC 4 0 4 0 24Newton, NE 4 4 0 0 24

Kicking PAT FG LG PtsBlankenship, Ind 9-9 12-14 44 45Bullock, Cin 9-9 12-13 50 45Carlson, Las 12-12 9-10 54 39Tucker, Bal 14-14 8-8 47 38Sanders, Mia 6-6 9-9 52 33Gostkowski, Ten 5-7 9-12 55 32Butker, KC 10-13 7-8 58 31Badgley, LAC 8-8 7-9 53 29Ficken, NYJ 5-5 8-8 54 29Bass, Buf 15-16 4-6 39 27

NFC individual leadersWeek 4

Quarterbacks Att Com Yds TD IntPrescott, Dal 201 137 1690 9 3Wilson, Sea 137 103 1285 16 2Ryan, Atl 167 108 1246 7 2Rodgers, GB 139 98 1214 13 0Bridgewater, Car 141 103 1147 4 3Brady, TB 155 101 1122 11 4Goff, LAR 122 88 1063 6 2Stafford, Det 137 83 1017 8 3Brees, NO 129 92 1006 8 2Haskins, Was 146 89 939 4 3

Rushers Att Yds Avg LG TDCook, Min 75 424 5.7 39t 6Jones, GB 65 374 5.8 75t 4Elliott, Dal 70 273 3.9 24 3K.Murray, Ari 32 265 8.3 48 4Drake, Ari 67 254 3.8 16 1Gurley, Atl 65 254 3.9 16 4Jones, TB 57 253 4.4 23 1Peterson, Det 54 245 4.5 27 1Carson, Sea 53 237 4.5 23 2Kamara, NO 50 236 4.7 49 4Sanders, Phi 51 236 4.6 19 1

Receivers No Yds Avg LG TDMetcalf, Sea 16 403 25.2 62 3Cooper, Dal 37 401 10.8 58 1Hopkins, Ari 39 397 10.2 33 1McLaurin, Was 26 387 14.9 39 1Anderson, Car 28 377 13.5 75t 1Ridley, Atl 21 349 16.6 63 4Jefferson, Min 16 348 21.8 71t 1Robinson, Chi 25 331 13.2 37t 2Kamara, NO 30 321 10.7 52t 3

Punters No Yds Lg AvgFox, Det 17 908 67 53.4Hekker, LAR 10 518 61 51.8Johnston, Phi 19 980 62 51.6Dickson, Sea 17 866 67 50.9Way, Was 21 989 60 47.1Pinion, TB 17 794 59 46.7Wishnowsky, SF 12 554 59 46.2O’Donnell, Chi 19 875 64 46.1Lee, Ari 15 687 58 45.8Dixon, NYG 14 637 62 45.5

Punt returners No Yds Avg Long TDHarris, NO 7 106 15.1 22 0Lamb, Dal 8 81 10.1 27 0Cooper, Car 7 42 6.0 19 0Mickens, TB 8 48 6.0 14 0S.Sims, Was 10 56 5.6 19 0

Kickoff returners No Yds Avg LG TDPatterson, Chi 12 349 29.1 45 0Agnew, Det 7 192 27.4 35 0Cooper, Car 7 186 26.6 38 0Harris, NO 6 156 26.0 35 0Osborn, Min 7 170 24.3 38 0Homer, Sea 8 184 23.0 44 0Edmonds, Ari 6 132 22.0 42 0

ScoringTouchdowns

TD Rush Rec Ret PtsKamara, NO 7 4 3 0 42Cook, Min 6 6 0 0 36Jones, GB 6 4 2 0 36Carson, Sea 5 2 3 0 30Evans, TB 5 0 5 0 30Tonyan, GB 5 0 5 0 308 tied 4 3 1 0 24

Kicking PAT FG LG PtsCrosby, GB 16-17 8-8 52 40Slye, Car 7-9 10-11 47 37Lutz, NO 15-15 6-6 45 33Prater, Det 10-10 7-9 44 31Koo, Atl 6-8 8-9 49 30Gano, NYG 2-2 9-10 52 29Gould, SF 11-11 6-7 52 29Elliott, Phi 7-7 7-8 54 28Succop, TB 13-14 5-7 43 28Gonzalez, Ari 11-12 5-7 56 26Sloman, LAR 11-12 5-7 35 26

Weekly statistics

NFL

2 more positive tests haltTitans’ return to facility

Associated Press

ASHBURN, Va. — Dwayne Haskins is being benched by the Washington Football Team and replaced at quarterback by Kyle Allen for this week’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Washington’s team Twitter feed announced the QB switch Wednesday. The move comes after just four games under new head coach Ron Rivera.

Washington is 1-3 and on a three-game losing streak after rallying to beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1.

Haskins, a first-round pick in the 2019 draft out of Ohio State, has thrown for 939 yards and has completed 61% of his passes this season, with four touchdowns and three interceptions.

As a rookie, he had 1,365 yards passing, seven TDs and seven in-

terceptions and completed 58.6% of his throws. Washington went 2-5 in his starts last year.

Allen played for Rivera in the coach’s previous job with the Carolina Panthers.

In last Sunday’s 31-17 loss to the Ravens, Haskins completed 32 of 45 attempts for 314 yards, without a touchdown or a pick.

A key play came on fourth-and-goal from the 13-yard line, with Haskins managing only a 5-yard pass to the 8, turning the ball over on downs.

“I wanted to see what would happen,” Rivera said after the game. “Unfortunately, that’s a situational awareness that he’ll have to understand — that ball has to be in a position to put it in the end zone. He’s still learning, he’s still growing and he’s still developing.”

BY TERESA M. WALKER

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennes-see did not return to the team’s fa-cility Wednesday after two more players tested positive amid the NFL’s first COVID-19 outbreak, and the New England Patriots canceled practice amid reports that a third player has tested posi-tive for the coronavirus.

Sports Illustrated reported that reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore tested positive for the virus on Wednesday and was added to the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list. The Patriots did not give a rea-son for Wednesday’s cancellation and did not immediately respond when asked if it was related to a third positive test.

Quarterback Cam Newton tested positive Saturday and is on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and the Patriots placed a defensive tackle from the practice squad on that list Tuesday. The Patriots are scheduled to host Denver on Sunday.

“WEAR YOUR MASK. KEEP YOUR DISTANCE,” Newton posted on Twitter Wednesday along with a photo of himself wearing a mask.

The Titans had no positive tests Monday or Tuesday for the first time after six consecutive days of positive results. A third straight day was necessary for the team to be allowed back in its headquar-ters, stopping its planned return, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Instead, the Titans’ outbreak now is up to 22 cases with 20 now

returned since Sept. 29, accord-ing to the person who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonym-ity because neither the NFL nor the Titans announced the latest results.

The new positive tests put into question Tennessee’s scheduled game Sunday against Buffalo (4-0), a matchup between two of the NFL’s six remaining undefeated teams. The NFL has rescheduled the Titans’ game with Pittsburgh from Oct. 4 to Oct. 25.

The NFL gave New England and Kansas City an extra day after Newton tested positive Sat-urday, and the Chiefs beat the Patriots 26-10 on Monday night. But pushing the Bills’ game with the Titans back by a day will be challenging because Buffalo is scheduled to host Kansas City on Thursday night, Oct. 15.

No games were affected through the first three weeks of the season.

Pittsburgh defensive tackle Cam Heyward said Wednes-day it was “ludicrous” to think the NFL wouldn’t have positive tests and warned there would be more. He said players and teams were under pressure to minimize outbreaks.

“Things are going to change every minute now,” said Hey-ward, the Steelers’ player repre-sentative. “And we’ve just got to be willing to adjust. I know the NFL and the NFLPA is trying to do right by the players and the coaches, but there’s only so much they can do.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell warned all 32 teams Mon-

day that any violations of COVID-19 protocols that force schedulechanges could result in punish-ment including forfeiting games,fines or loss of draft picks.

The Steelers had an unex-pected bye last weekend with theTitans’ outbreak affecting their schedule.

Titans coach Mike Vrabel toldreporters Tuesday he was hopingto hear more good news Wednes-day morning when the latest batch of daily testing results came back. Instead, he’ll have to try to prepare a game plan withhis team possibly not back into itsfacility until Saturday because itneeds back-to-back days of nega-tive tests.

Tennessee hasn’t been togetheras a team since Sept. 27, when theTitans beat the Vikings 31-30 inMinnesota. T he NFL shut downthe team facility on Sept. 29.

The franchise has continued daily testing since then, and the league sent all 32 teams a memo Oct. 1 with a list of new protocolsfor clubs to follow when dealing with an outbreak or having beenexposed to an outbreak.

The Las Vegas Raiders puttheir first player on the reserve/COVID-19 list Tuesday — defen-sive tackle Maurice Hurst. Hedidn’t attend the charity functionlast week that led the NFL to fine10 Raiders players for conduct violating COVID-19 protocols.The list is for players who either test positive for the coronavirus or have had close contact with an infected person.AP sports writers Kyle Hightower and Will Graves contributed to this report.

CHARLIE RIEDEL/AP

Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore, left, talks with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes after their game on Monday. Gilmore reportedly tested positive for the virus on Wednesday.

Haskins benched, Allen to start at QB

Patriots cancel practice amid reports of another case

S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S Thursday, October 8, 2020 F3HIJKLM

SPORTS

Kvitova, Kenin nab spots in semifinals » French Open, Page 18

NBA FINALS

Still winningAstros have yet to lose in playoffs,push A’s to brink » MLB, Page 21

BY TIM REYNOLDS

Associated Press

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.

LeBron James woke up from his game-day nap Tuesday and decided it was time to send his Los Angeles Lakers

teammates a message.He grabbed his phone and told

the Lakers they were facing a must-win game.

“I felt that vibe. I felt that pres-sure,” James said. “I felt like, for me personally, this was one of the biggest games of my career.”

Message delivered.James and the Lakers are back

in control of these NBA Finals, one win away from the franchise’s 17th championship. James fin-ished with 28 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, Anthony Davis’ three-pointer with 39.5 seconds left finally settled matters and

the Lakers beat the Miami Heat 102-96 in Game 4.

The Lakers lead 3-1 and can win the title when the series re-sumes Friday.

“Big-time play. Big-time mo-ment,” James said of Davis’ three-pointer. “Not only for A.D.,but for our ballclub and for ourfranchise.”

Davis finished with 22 points, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored15 and Danny Green added 10 for the Lakers, who didn’t trail at anypoint in the final 20-plus minutes.The Lakers are now 56-0 this sea-son when leading going into thefourth quarter.

Jimmy Butler scored 22 pointsfor Miami, which got 21 from Tyler Herro, 17 from Duncan Robinson and 15 from Bam Ade-bayo — who returned after miss-ing two games with a neck injury.

SEE ZEROING ON PAGE 22

PHOTOS BY MARK J. TERRILL/AP

Above: Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, left, shoots over Miami Heat guard Andre Iguodala during the first half of Game 4 of NBA Finals on Tuesday, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. James had 28 points.Right: Lakers forward Anthony Davis buries a three-pointer with 39.5 seconds remaining in the game. The Lakers won 102-96 to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Zeroing inLakers take Game 4,move to brink of title