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At 800 PM AST (0000 UTC), the center of Hurricane Larry was located near latitude 44.9 North, longitude 56.5 West. Larry is moving quickly toward the north-northeast near 35 mph (56 km/h). An even faster north-northeast to northeast motion is expected during the next day or so. On the forecast track, the center of Larry will pass well southeast of Nova Scotia today, and move over southeastern Newfoundland tonight.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 80 mph (130 km/h) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is expected before landfall in Newfoundland. After landfall, Larry should weaken and become an extratropical cyclone early Saturday before it merges with another low over the Labrador Sea on Sunday.

Larry is a large tropical cyclone. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles (165 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 255 miles (405 km). Canadian buoy 44139 recently reported sustained winds of 54 mph (86 km/h) with a wind gust of 69 mph (111 km/h).

The estimated minimum central pressure is 958 mb (28.29 inches). Canadian Buoy 44139 recently reported a pressure of 962.1 mb (28.41 inches).

Watches and Warnings

CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY:

None.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for, * Southeastern Newfoundland from Arnold's Cove to Jones Harbour

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for, * Southeastern Newfoundland from Francois to west of Arnold's Cove * Southeastern Newfoundland from north of Jones Harbor to Fogo Island

A Hurricane Warning means that hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area, in this case within the next 24 hours. Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion.

A Tropical Storm Warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area, in this case within the next 12 hours.

Interests elsewhere in southeastern Newfoundland should monitor the progress of this system.

For storm information specific to your area, please monitor products issued by your national meteorological service.

Land Hazards

Key messages for Larry can be found in the Tropical Cyclone Discussion under AWIPS header MIATCDAT2, WMO header WTNT42 KNHC and on the web at hurricanes.gov/graphics_at2.shtml?key_messages

WIND: Hurricane conditions are expected within the hurricane warning area in southeastern Newfoundland tonight, and tropical storm conditions are starting to spread into the area at this time. Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin in the tropical storm warning area in southeastern Newfoundland later this evening.

STORM SURGE: A dangerous storm surge is expected to produce coastal flooding within the warning areas in southeastern Newfoundland.

SURF: Significant swells from Larry will continue affecting Bermuda, the east coast of the United States, and Atlantic Canada through Saturday night. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. Please consult products from your local weather office.

RAINFALL: Heavy rains from Larry will move quickly across eastern Newfoundland tonight, producing 1 to 2 inches of rain.

But this time, Joe Biden will hold the rank of commander in chief as he marks the anniversary of the nation’s worst terror attack. Now, he shoulders the responsibility borne by previous presidents to prevent future tragedy, and must do so against fresh fears of a rise in terror after the United States’ exit from the country from which the Sept. 11 attacks were launched.

This 9/11 comes little more than two weeks after a suicide bomber in Kabul killed 13 U.S. service members as the military concluded its withdrawal from Afghanistan. And as Afghanistan returns to Taliban rule, there are fresh concerns that the country could again be a launching pad for attacks that Biden’s government will be charged with preventing.

But for Biden, like his predecessors, the 9/11 anniversary can also present an opportunity to try to reclaim the sense of national unity that followed the attacks, a spirt long since faded amid the country's divisive politics.

“For Biden, it’s a moment for people to see him not as Democratic president, but as president of the United States of America,” said Robert Gibbs, who served as President Barack Obama’s press secretary.

“The American people are somewhat conflicted about what they have seen out of Afghanistan the last couple of weeks,” Gibbs said. “For Biden, it’s a moment to try to reset some of that. Remind people of what it is to be commander in chief and what it means to be the leader of the country at a moment of such significance.”

The president will commemorate the solemn anniversary on Saturday by paying his respects at the trio of sites where the hijacked planes struck, puncturing the United States’ air of invincibility and resulting in the deaths of 3,000 Americans.

While the ceremonies don’t call for him to make public remarks, Biden released a video Friday to remember those who lost their lives, comfort their families and honor the courage and sacrifice of first responders and servicemembers over the last 20 years. He delivered an impassioned appeal for the nation to set aside its differences and reclaim the spirit of cooperation that sprung up in the days following the attacks.

“Unity is what makes us who we are — America at its best,” Biden said. "To me that’s the central lesson of September 11,” he added. “Unity is our greatest strength.”

First on Saturday for the president will be a stop in New York City, where the twin towers of the World Trade Center were toppled as a horrified world watched on television. Then, a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where a plane fell from the sky after heroic passengers fought terrorists to prevent it from reaching its Washington destination. And finally, the Pentagon, where the world’s mightiest military suffered an unthinkable blow to its very home.

Biden’s task, like his predecessors before him, will be mark the moment with a mix of grief and resolve. A man who has suffered immense personal tragedy, Biden speaks of loss with power and eloquence, and he has repeatedly addressed the grief caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed more than 600,000 lives across the country.

“We all remember distinctly that day and how much it’s impacted us and has impacted us for the last several decades,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this week. “That’s true for him as well.”

Afghanistan will shadow the day.

Osama Bin Laden used that nation to mastermind the 2001 attacks, ushering in an expanded era of terror attacks on soft targets — hotels, office buildings, nightclubs — in cities across the West. Al-Qaida was routed from Afghanistan in the months after Sept. 11. But other groups have taken up the cause, including the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, believed to be responsible for the Kabul attack last month.

Biden has long argued that the United States’ military mission in Afghanistan was over, that the U.S. needed to stop allowing its soldiers to die there. But for some, the return of the Taliban to power, and the terror threat it could produce, has made the 20th anniversary a bitter and worrisome one.

Biden will be the fourth president to console the nation on the anniversary of that dark day, one that has shaped many of the most consequential domestic and foreign policy decisions made by the chief executives over the past two decades.

The terror attack defined the presidency of George W. Bush, who was reading a book to Florida schoolchildren when the planes slammed into the World Trade Center. He spent that day being kept out of Washington for security reasons — a decision that then-Senator Biden urged him to reconsider, the current president has written — and then delivered a brief, halting speech that night from the White House to a terrified nation.

The following year, Bush chose Ellis Island as the location to deliver his first anniversary address, the Statue of Liberty over his shoulder as he vowed, “What our enemies have begun, we will finish.”

“In the ruins of two towers, under a flag unfurled at the Pentagon, at the funerals of the lost, we have made a sacred promise to ourselves and to the world: We will not relent until justice is done and our nation is secure,” Bush said.

At that time, the nation had been on war footing for months, one conflict raging in Afghanistan and another looming in Iraq. America’s “war on terror” reshaped its citizens' daily lives and expanded the powers of its government as it sought, at times on shaky legal grounds, to prevent further attacks.

“One year after, it still felt like it was immediately after the attack, the nation was still gripped by its consequences,” said Ari Fleischer, Bush’s press secretary. He said all presidents must offer messages of “comfort and reassurance” but also strength.

“There are lessons to be learned because there are terrorists who would love to create a September 12th if the U.S. ever lets down its guard,” said Fleischer.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were still deadly when President Barack Obama visited the Pentagon to mark his first Sept. 11 in office in 2009.

“No words can ease the ache of your hearts,” said Obama. “We recall the beauty and meaning of their lives,” he said. “No passage of time, no dark skies can dull the meaning of that moment.”

By the time Obama spoke at the 10th anniversary, bin Laden was dead, killed in a May 2011 Navy Seal raid. Though the nation remained entangled overseas, and vigilant against terror threats, the anniversary became more about healing, as a stunning memorial and soaring skyscrapers rose at Ground Zero, symbols of remembrance and rebirth at what had once been a pile of twisted steel and terrible anguish.

President Donald Trump pledged to get the U.S. out of Afghanistan, but his words during his first Sept. 11 anniversary ceremony in 2017 were a vivid warning to terrorists, telling “these savage killers that there is no dark corner beyond our reach, no sanctuary beyond our grasp, and nowhere to hide anywhere on this very large earth.”

On Saturday, as Biden visits all three sites, Bush will pay his respects in Shanksville while Obama will do the same in New York. Trump will be delivering ringside commentary at a boxing match at a casino in Hollywood, Florida, though he is planning to make at least one stop in Manhattan.

“Every Afghan who is here with us has endured a harrowing journey and they are now faced with the very real challenges of acclimating with life in the United States,” Liz Gracon, a senior State Department official, told reporters.

The three-hour tour at Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, was the first time the media has been granted broad access to one of the eight U.S. military installations housing Afghans.

But even so, reporters, including those with The Associated Press, were not allowed to talk with any evacuees or spend more than a few minutes in areas where they were gathered, with military officials citing “privacy concerns.”

Nearly 10,000 Afghan evacuees are staying at the base while they undergo medical and security checks before being resettled in the United States. The operation was described by officials at the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State as a “historic” and “unprecedented" effort to facilitate the relocation of a huge number of refugees in less than a month’s time.

On Friday, Afghan children with soccer balls and basketballs played outside large white tents. Families walked down a dirt driveway with stacks of plastic food containers piled under their chins and Coca-Cola cans under their arms. One young girl, still wearing dirty clothing, cried in the middle of the road after her food spilled and soldiers attempted to help her. Inside the containers, which refugees had spent around 15 minutes in line for in the blistering sun, were traditional Afghan meals of basmati rice and hearty stew.

The U.S. government spent two weeks building what it calls a village to house the Afghans on the base. It is a sprawling area with scores of air-conditioned tents used as dormitories and dining halls on scrubby dirt lots, a landscape that in some ways resembled parts of the homeland they fled.

Under the program called “Operation Allies Welcome,” some 50,000 Afghans are expected to be admitted to the United States, including translators, drivers and others who helped the U.S. military during the 20-year war and who feared reprisals by the Taliban after they quickly seized power last month.

Nearly 130,000 were airlifted out of Afghanistan in one of the largest mass evacuations in U.S. history. Many of those people are still in transit, undergoing security vetting and screening in other countries, including Germany, Spain, Kuwait and Qatar.

Members of Congress have questioned whether the screening is thorough enough. Many of the Afghans who worked for the U.S. government have undergone years of vetting already before they were hired, and then again to apply for a special immigrant visa for U.S. allies.

After they are released from the base, they will be aided by resettlement agencies in charge of placing the refugees. The agencies give priority to places where the refugees either have family already in the United States or there are Afghan immigrant communities with the resources to help them start a new life in a foreign land. Those with American citizenship or green cards are able to leave once arriving at the base, according to a State Department representative.

If other evacuees — whose release is dependent on completing health protocols mandated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — choose to leave prior to the full resettlement period, that may be used against them.

So far, no one at Fort Bliss has been released for resettlement.

The Pentagon has said all evacuees are tested for COVID-19 upon arriving at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

The Biden administration is also using the base to house thousands of immigrant children, mostly from Central America, who have been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in record numbers on their own, without adults. The children are housed there until they can be reunited with relatives already in the United States or with a sponsor, usually a family friend, or sent to a licensed facility.

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Associated Press writer Julie Watson contributed to this report from San Diego.

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Farnoush Amiri is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Since the nation went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 7,000 American lives that were lost in the “war on terror.” Of those is one most precious to Maggie Beckerman, who lives in Middleburg.

She’s an Army veteran and a Gold Star spouse. Her husband, Michael, was killed in action.

“There’s certain memories you can’t blur out at all,” Beckerman said as she recalled the terror attacks on 9/11.

At the time, she was a ninth-grader, and that moment, the images that depict the events of that day moved her to join America’s military.

“There was that desire afterwards to serve, to do what you can for our nation and you don’t quite know what it’s going to be,” she said.

In 2006, she enlisted in the Army.

“I’ll be honest,” Beckerman said. “I didn’t know what I was getting into.”

She earned the rank of supply sergeant and was deployed three times to the Middle East.

Along the way, she met another soldier -- the man who later became her husband. She described him as a go-getter.

So, what’s it like to be married to someone who also serves?

“It was rewarding to have someone, have that same professionalism, where you have a mission you need to get something done or you have a task. OK, let’s go get it. OK, what do you need to get done. OK, what do you -- do you need help? And you respect that individual in the sense that they have something they need to take care of,” Beckerman said.

They were married and kept serving. Both deployed to Afghanistan in 2009-10.

Among her duties, to take part in a ramp ceremony for those killed in action.

“You think about what were their thoughts. And you try to honor them by remaining proud stoic and professional. And there’s a gut feeling of, just, let’s get the mission done,” Beckerman said.

On the last day of 2010, Beckerman’s battalion commander had a message for her.

She worried a battle buddy with children was being notified. She didn’t see it coming.

“I was like, this is a Red Cross message. So, I said a prayer, ‘Give her the strength for what she needs to get done, and help her through this. This is not going to be easy.’ And when I walked inside. I walked inside, my first sergeant told me to ‘come into my commander’s office.’ That’s when I found out,” Beckerman said.

Sgt. Michael Beckerman had given his life for his country. He was killed by an improvised explosive device inside a building.

“Michael did what he loved and he protected those that he cared for,” his widow said.

The explosion took his life and changed hers forever.

“My very last ramp ceremony was actually my husband’s, and I was a part of it in a different way,” she said. “I was actually following his following his casket from behind.”

In the months that followed, Maggie Beckerman realized she needed to transition back to civilian life. She also found a way to cope with her loss and contribute to other warriors.

Beckerman found K-9 Line, which trains a veteran’s pet to be their support animal.

Her companion is Gunter, and he’s been a lifesaver.

Now, Maggie Beckerman is back to offering all she has to others, taking a leadership role with K-9 Line.

“And now, being the president of this organization, there’s not just pride, but there’s that ability to continue serving, to continue with that camaraderie with other people that have that same mindset,” she said.

Maggie Beckerman – for her own sake and to honor her husband – is applying what she learned in the Army.

“You never give up. You never accept defeat. You never quit,” she said. “You never leave a fallen comrade. And that follows you. And I can do that with K9 Line right now.”

9:40 p.m.

Novak Djokovic has pulled ahead of Alexander Zverev after three sets of their U.S. Open semifinal.

Djokovic broke Zverev's serve in a grueling final game to win the set 6-4, putting him one set away from playing for a men's-record 21st major title.

Zverev won a 53-shot rally during the final game, resting his hands on his knees after hitting a winner. But Djokovic won the next point to take the lead.

He is trying to keep alive his chances of becoming the first man to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year since Rod Laver in 1969.

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8:50 p.m.

Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev are tied at one set apiece in their U.S. Open semifinal.

After Zverev won the first set 6-4, when Djokovic never held a break point, the No. 1 seed broke the No. 4-seeded German's serve twice to take the second set 6-2.

Djokovic has lost the first set in his last four matches. He has so far not dropped another set in any of those matches.

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8:15 p.m.

Alexander Zverev has won the first set against Novak Djokovic, who will have to come from behind for a fourth straight match at the U.S. Open.

Zverev took the lead when Djokovic double-faulted in the ninth game, then served it out to win the set 6-4.

Djokovic lost the first set against Kei Nishikori, American Jenson Brooksby and Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini. He won the next three sets each time to keep alive his hopes of the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men's tennis since 1969.

In the Olympic semifinals last month, it was Zverev coming back after dropping the first set to beat Djokovic. The German went on to win the gold medal.

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8:05 p.m.

American Robin Montgomery has reached the junior girls singles final.

The No. 7 seed from Washington beat Solana Sierra of Argentina 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Montgomery, who turned 17 on Sunday, will play No. 6 seed Kristina Dmitruk of Belarus in the final.

Montgomery and Ashlyn Krueger, seeded third, are also into the girls' doubles final.

Top-seeded Shang Juncheng of China and No. 3 Daniel Rincon of Spain will play for the boys' title.

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7:35 p.m.

Novak Djokovic has to get past the hottest player on the men's tennis tour to keep alive his Grand Slam hopes.

The No. 1 seed is on the court in the U.S. Open semifinals against No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev, whose 16-match winning streak includes a victory over Djokovic in the semifinals of the Olympics.

Djokovic needs two wins to become the first man to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same year since Rod Laver in 1969.

The Serb is trying to make his ninth U.S. Open final, which would move him past Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl for most in the professional era.

Zverev reached the final last year, falling to Dominic Thiem in five sets.

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5:20 p.m.

Daniil Medvedev is in the U.S. Open final for the second time in three years after beating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.

Twice a point from losing the second set, the No. 2 seed from Russia won 10 of the final 12 games.

Medvedev, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2019 final, will play either No. 1 Novak Djokovic or No. 4 Alexander Zverev on Sunday in a bid for his first major title.

Djokovic is trying to become the first man to win all four Grand Slam tournaments since Rod Laver — who was in the crowd for Medvedev's victory — in 1969.

Auger-Aliassime, the No. 12 seed, was the first Canadian man to reach the U.S. Open semifinals. He was trying to join Leylah Fernandez and give his country a player in both the men's and women's final.

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4:50 p.m.

Daniil Medvedev is a set away from another U.S. Open final after a late rally to seize the second set from Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Auger-Aliassime, the No. 12 seed from Canada, served for the second set at 5-3 and twice was a point away from evening the match. But Medvedev broke his serve en route to winning the next four games.

The No. 2 seed from Russia leads 6-4, 7-5.

Medvedev lost in the 2019 final to Rafael Nafal. He was stopped in the semifinals last year by eventual champion Dominic Thiem.

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3:20 p.m.

The men's semifinals have started at the U.S. Open, with Daniil Medvedev playing in them for the third straight year.

The No. 2 seed from Russia is on the court against No. 12 Felix Auger-Aliassime, the first Canadian man to make a U.S. Open semifinal.

Medvedev reached the final in 2019, losing to Rafael Nadal in five sets. He was beaten in straight sets by eventual champion Dominic Thiem in last year's semifinals.

The winner will play top-seeded Novak Djokovic or No. 4 Alexander Zverev in Sunday's final.

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2:50 p.m.

Coco Gauff and Caty McNally advanced to their first Grand Slam women’s doubles title match when one of their U.S. Open semifinal opponents stopped playing and left the court in a wheelchair with a leg injury.

Luisa Stefani landed awkwardly near the net during a first-set tiebreaker, collapsed to the ground and was unable to continue. She and Gabriela Dabrowski were leading the tiebreaker 2-1 when the semifinal was halted.

Gauff called seeing what happened “heartbreaking” and said: “I don’t want to win a match like this. ... I just wish her the best.”

The American duo of Gauff and McNally will face Zhang Shuai of China and 2011 U.S. Open singles champion Sam Stosur of Australia in the doubles final.

Gauff is 17 and McNally is 19, adding to the teenage theme of the women's tournament at Flushing Meadows.

Emma Raducanu, 18, faces Leylah Fernandez, 19, in the singles final Saturday.

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2:10 p.m.

Rajeev Ram of the U.S. and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain have won the U.S. Open men's doubles championship for their second Grand Slam title as a team.

The fourth-seeded duo of Ram and Salisbury beat the seventh-seeded pair of Jamie Murray of Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Friday.

Ram and Salisbury add this trophy to the one they earned at the 2020 Australian Open. They were the runners-up at Melbourne Park this year.

Murray, whose younger brother Andy won three major singles championships, and Soares won two Grand Slam titles together in men's doubles in 2016, including the U.S. Open.

Soares also won the doubles at Flushing Meadows last year, when his partner was Mate Pavic.

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12:30 p.m.

The men's doubles final has started a busy day at the U.S. Open that Novak Djokovic hopes to end with his Grand Slam hopes intact.

The No. 1 seed faces No. 4 Alexander Zverev under the lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the second men's semifinal. If Djokovic wins, he will be one victory away from a men's-record 21st major title, along with the first calendar-year Grand Slam by a man since Rod Laver in 1969.

The first semifinal in the afternoon has No. 2 Daniil Medvedev against No. 12 Felix Auger-Aliassime, the first Canadian man to reach the last four in the U.S. Open.

They play after the completion of the men's doubles final, which has the fourth-seeded team of Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury against No. 7 Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares.

The women's doubles semifinals also are Friday, with American teenagers Coco Gauff and Caty McNally playing in one of them.

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More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Firefighters scaled a three-story pile of rocks that appeared to be resting on houses in Tlalnepantla, which is part of Mexico state. The state surrounds the capital on three sides.

As rescuers climbed the immense pile of debris, they occasionally raised their fists in the air, the familiar signal for silence to listen for people trapped below. Firefighters and volunteers formed bucket brigades to pass 5-gallon containers of smaller debris away as they excavated.

“In this moment our priority is focused on rescuing the people who unfortunately were surprised at the site of the incident,” said Tlalnepantla Mayor Raciel Pérez Cruz in a video message. Authorities had evacuated surrounding homes and asked people to avoid the area so rescuers could work.

Rescuers carried a body on a stretcher covered with a sheet past AP journalists. The Mexico state Civil Defense agency said in a statement that at least 10 people were reported missing.

Among the volunteers were 30-year-old construction worker Martin Carmona, 30, and his 14-year-old son. “They organized us in a chain to take out buckets of sand, stone and rubble,” Carmona said. “A co-worker lives there. He has a wife and two young children under the debris.”

Carmona and his son arrived to the pile before government rescuers and his friend was already there digging for his wife and kids.

Neighbors began to complain that they need more help and organization.

Carmona said rescuers heard children, but after two hours of removing debris, authorities told volunteers to leave the area. Only relatives stayed to help the rescuers.

Search dogs clambered over the rubble with their handlers.

Ana Luisa Borges, 39, said she lives just three houses down from those hit by the landslide.

“It thundered horribly,” she said of the sound of the slide. “I grabbed my youngest son and ran out (of the house). Then came a very big cloud of dust.” Fortunately, her other four children were in school.

“There are a number of houses there,” she said of the slide area. “There was a building, but they tell us there are people there and children. I saw one person come out with head injury.”

Borges said they have been warned that another rock could come down and that she didn’t know where they were going to sleep tonight.

“They’ve only told us that we have to leave (our homes)," she said.

Tlalnepantla officials announced they were opening several shelters for displaced residents.

The neighborhood is a heap of jumbled houses climbing the mountainside, many with corrugated tin roofs, separated in places by just a steep staircase.

One massive boulder stopped against a two-story house barely its equal, knocking out the front wall and spilling the home’s contents into the street. A path of destruction traced uphill.

Maximinio Andrade, who lives with his parents and siblings — 14 family members in all — near the slide walked down the steep street pushing a flat-screen television on a hand cart. He had not been home at the time of the landslide, but feared thieves would enter now that the surrounding homes had been evacuated.

“They’ve already started stealing from the destroyed homes,” he said.

National Guard troops and rescue teams carrying lengths of rope made their way through narrow streets.

Images from the area showed a segment of the steep, green side of the peak known as Chiquihuite sheared off above a field of giant rubble with closely packed homes remaining on either side.

Mexico state Gov. Alfredo del Mazo said via Twitter that local, state and federal authorities were coordinating to secure the zone in case of more slides and to remove rubble to locate possible victims.

The landslide follows days of heavy rain in central Mexico and a 7.0-magnitude earthquake Tuesday night near Acapulco that shook buildings 200 miles (320 kilometers) away in Mexico City.

The Lakers also sent a second-round pick in 2024 and cash to Memphis on Friday in exchange for the draft rights to Chinese big man Wang Zhelin.

ESPN then reported the Grizzlies intend to waive Gasol, who plans to begin the new NBA season at home in Spain. The move saves the Lakers about $10 million against the salary cap and the league's luxury tax.

The 36-year-old Gasol averaged a career-low 5.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game last season with the Lakers, who signed him to a two-year deal last November. The 7-foot-1 center never found a regular role in the injury-plagued Lakers' rotation while they lost in the first round of the postseason.

Gasol's role for the upcoming season looked increasingly tenuous this summer after the Lakers signed centers Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan, who officially returned to Los Angeles on Thursday. The Lakers also weren't even certain Gasol wanted to return for another NBA season, prompting them to stock up on big men.

Gasol made three All-Star teams during his career with the Grizzlies, who first acquired his rights from the Lakers in the trade sending his older brother, Pau, to the Lakers in November 2008.

Gasol was traded from Memphis to Toronto in February 2019, and he won a championship ring later that season.

Gasol is averaging 14.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in his NBA career as a playmaking center with strong defensive abilities as the former NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Those skills never translated into consistent contributions with the Lakers, who acquired center Andre Drummond near the trade deadline last season.

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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The fighting near Gangaw township in the northwestern Magway region started on Thursday, two days after a call for a nationwide uprising was issued by the National Unity Government, a opposition organization that seeks to coordinate resistance to military rule.

The fighting broke out when more than 100 troops arrived in four military vehicles to secure the area in Myin Thar and five other nearby villages, a resident told The Associated Press by phone.

Members of a lightly armed village self-defense militia fired warning shots but could not stop the soldiers from entering the area and clashes continued after that, said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity to safeguard his personal security.

The opposition movement that rose against the army’s February seizure of power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was initially peaceful, but gradually began fighting back after security forces used deadly force to break up nonviolent protests.

The National Unity Government's call on Tuesday for a “people’s defensive war” has received an enthusiastic response on social media, but its actual impact on the ground is hard to measure.

Media sympathetic to the opposition reported an outburst of small-scale shootings and sabotage by the resistance, particularly the toppling of cell phone transmission towers.

But similar activities have been happening for several months and details are difficult to independently verify.

The villager who described the new fighting said at least 11 members of the self-defense group were killed, according to what others in his village told him. Photos of what were described to be their bodies circulated widely Friday on the internet, and were clear enough to be identifiable to those familiar with them.

“We only have handmade guns and percussion lock firearms,” the villager said. “When it rained, the guns became useless. There are many casualties due to the imbalance in weapons.” Myanmar's government troops are well-equipped with modern weapons and have access to air and artillery support.

The villager said other residents told him that most members of the village’s defense force are youths and that five of those killed were 9th- and 10th-grade students. A middle-school teacher was also said to have been killed, the villager said.

Members of the more than 2,000 households in the area had fled to the jungle, he added, while soldiers camped in abandoned homes and at the local Buddhist monastery. Four more people were confirmed dead after fighting broke out again Friday morning, he said, and an unknown number of houses were burned.

Reports by independent media put the death toll among the villagers at 20 or more. Khit Thit Media, an online news service, said it was told by villagers that the dead included seven non-combatants in addition to the militants.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent organization that keeps detailed tallies of people killed or detained by the military government, there have been 1,058 activists and bystanders killed since February’s army takeover.

The government this week claimed resistance forces have been responsible for the deaths of 933 people, reported Popular News, citing Deputy Home Minister Gen. Soe Tint Naing.

In a Thursday briefing for foreign diplomats also attended by the news service, Soe Tint Naing said those killed included security personnel, civil servants and people believed by the resistance to be government informers.

With one out in the first, Franco lined a single. Nelson Cruz followed with a double, but Franco limped into third. After being examined by team trainers, Franco left the game and was replaced at shortstop by Joey Wendle.

The 20-year-old Franco came into the game hitting .282 with seven homers in 61 games for the AL East leaders.

Franco's on-base streak is the second longest in major league history by a player under 21. Frank Robinson set the record with a 43-game string in 1956.

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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

“At a time in which we are called to work together, forced medical procedures run counter to our collective sense of fairness and liberty,” the Republican said in a statement. “My administration is aggressively identifying every tool at our disposal to protect the inherent individual rights of all Alaskans.”

The statement did not describe what that might entail.

Dunleavy has butted heads with the Biden administration on resource development issues. Dunleavy has faced some criticism in Alaska for not mandating masks or for not implementing a new disaster declaration to deal with a recent surge in COVID-19 cases. He has instead asked lawmakers to act on legislation aimed at addressing staffing concerns raised by health care facilities.

In his statement Friday, Dunleavy said that it is “clear from the data and empirical evidence over the last year that the vaccine is the most effective way to fight COVID-19. From what we are seeing in our hospitals, the very ill are mostly those who are unvaccinated.”

“As Governor, and as someone who had COVID and has been vaccinated, I will continue to recommend that Alaskans speak to their healthcare providers and discuss the merits of the vaccine based on their individual healthcare needs,” he said.

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MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:

— Virus claims Black morticians, leaving holes in communities

— Biden presses states to require vaccines for all teachers

— Court: DeSantis ban on school mask mandates back in force

— South Africa vaccinates some kids in test of Chinese vaccine

— Key parts of Biden’s plan to confront delta variant surge

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— See AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Friday that President Joe Biden’s new federal vaccine requirements are “clearly unconstitutional” and that he believes Biden issued the mandate to distract Americans from the fallout over his decision to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.

“This is the same bait and switch,” Reeves said at a press conference outside the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson. Biden “wants us to talk about anything but Afghanistan, and sadly, he’s willing to trample on the rights of 100 million Americans to try to help himself politically. That, to me, is disgusting.”

Reeves said a member of the executive branch of government does not have the authority to mandate workers be vaccinated. “It’s clearly unconstitutional for the president, to unilaterally with one signature, decide something of this magnitude,” he said.

He said he expects the Supreme Court to strike down the requirement and that Mississippi will join other states in filing a lawsuit.

“In essence, what the president saying is... hard-working Americans — many of whom work here and live here in Mississippi — hard-working Mississippians have to choose between either injecting themselves with something and potentially having the ability to earn a living to produce food for their family,” he said. “That’s a ridiculous choice.”

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HELENA, Mt. -- Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has promised to fight the new federal vaccine mandate in court.

The Republican said on Friday that once the full guidelines for the mandate are released, he will file a lawsuit to strike it down.

President Joe Biden announced Thursday the vaccine mandate that could affect as many as 100 million Americans, including all workers in businesses with 100 or more employees.

The new mandate appears to conflict with a Montana law passed earlier this year that makes it illegal for private employers to mandate vaccines as a condition for employment. But University of Montana law professor Anthony Johnston says federal law will take precedence over state law if there is a direct conflict.

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DETROIT — A major health care provider in southeastern Michigan says 92% of its employees have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by a Friday deadline and another 3% have gotten a first shot.

Under Henry Ford Health System’s policy, employees will be suspended if they don’t get at least one dose by midnight or schedule an appointment. They will lose their jobs if they’re not fully vaccinated by Oct. 1. There are some exceptions.

Henry Ford Health says in a statement: “We remain confident that vaccination, along with masking, remains the most powerful tool we have against the pandemic.”

Separately, a lawsuit challenging the vaccine policy was suddenly dropped Friday ahead of a hearing in federal court.

The Detroit-based health system employs more than 30,000 workers and has five acute care hospitals, four in the Detroit area and one in Jackson. It has treated thousands of COVID-19 patients.

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama’s chief health officer says a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations appears to have stabilized but the state still faces a “real crisis” of an overwhelming number of patients needing intensive care, nearly all of whom aren’t vaccinated.

Dr. Scott Harris, head of the Alabama Department of Public Health reports that after threatening to reach an all-time high for coronavirus hospitalizations, state hospitals have seen a slight decline in recent days.

He says he’s thankful that there has been “a little bit of a plateau over the last week. ... The numbers aren’t great. But the numbers at least have not continued to go up,” he said.

Still, Harris says, demand for intensive care beds is exceeding the state’s capacity. Patients who normally would be treated in ICU wards are instead in emergency rooms, normal beds or even gurneys left in hallways.

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HONOLULU — Hawaii Gov. David Ige is requiring government contractors and visitors to state facilities to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test.

State contractors must attest to their employees’ vaccination status or provide weekly tests for unvaccinated staff. Contractors also must wear masks and maintain physical distance while on state property.

The order also applies to visitors to state facilities, but not to beaches or outdoor state properties. Inmates at correctional facilities, patients at state hospitals and children under 12 or students attending state public or charter schools are exempt, as are travelers arriving at airports.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that Ige’s executive order takes effect Monday.

Hawaii has had a recent record surge of new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The on-again, off-again ban imposed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to prevent mandated masks for Florida school students is back in force.

The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled Friday that a Tallahassee judge shouldn’t have lifted an automatic stay two days ago that halted enforcement of the mask mandate ban. The upshot is the state can resume its efforts to impose financial penalties on the 13 Florida school boards currently defying the mask ban.

The U.S. Department of Education has begun a grant program for school districts that lose money for implementing mandatory masks and other coronavirus safety measures.

DeSantis has argued the new Parents Bill of Rights law gives parents the authority to determine whether their children should wear a mask to school. School districts with mandatory mask rules allow an opt-out only for medical reasons, not parental discretion.

Charles Gallagher, attorney for parents challenging the DeSantis ban, says in a tweet, “students, parents and teachers are back in harm’s way.”

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SALT LAKE CITY — Thirteen Utah hospitals will postpone many non-emergency surgeries starting next week, citing health care workers overwhelmed by surging coronavirus cases.

Intermountain Healthcare announced Friday that the hospitals will postpone non-urgent procedures for several weeks starting Sept. 15. The announcement comes a week after state hospital leaders made emotional pleas for vaccinations and universal masking to stem a virus surge fueled by the delta variant.

There were 516 people hospitalized for COVID-19 and ICUs were 93% full in Utah on Thursday, according to state data. That’s nearing its previous peak in December when ICUs were 104% full and 606 people were hospitalized.

About 62% of Utah residents age 12 and older have been fully vaccinated. Utah reported 10 deaths on Thursday, bringing the confirmed total to 2,703.

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JACKSON, Miss. — Doctors who spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine could have their license to practice medicine suspended or revoked, according to a new policy adopted by the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure.

The policy says doctors have an “ethical and professional responsibility” to practice medicine in the best interest of their patients and share factual and scientifically grounded information with them.

“Spreading inaccurate COVID-19 vaccine information contradicts that responsibility, threatens to further erode public trust in the medical profession and puts all patients at risk,” it reads.

Mississippi ranks among the lowest in the country with just 38% of its 3 million residents fully vaccinated. The department of health reported 1,892 confirmed cases and 35 deaths on Friday.

Mississippi has registered at least 460,000 cases and 8,905 confirmed deaths.

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is calling some Republican governors “cavalier” for resisting new federal vaccine requirements he hopes will contain the surging delta variant.

Biden visited Brookland Middle School on Friday, just a short drive from the White House. He was making the case for new federal rules that could impact 100 million Americans.

All employers with more than 100 workers must be vaccinated or tested weekly for the virus, affecting about 80 million Americans. About 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also must be fully vaccinated.

“I am so disappointed that particularly some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities,” Biden said during the visit. “This isn’t a game”

Republicans and some union officials say he’s overreaching his authority. Asked about potential legal challenges to the new vaccine requirements, Biden responded, “Have at it.”

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ATLANTA — Protests from faculty members continue at Georgia’s public universities, although leaders of the state's university system are not backing down from their position that schools can’t require masks or vaccines.

Acting Chancellor Teresa MacCartney says those policies aren’t going to change, noting the system will follow the lead of Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican lawmakers who control the university system’s purse strings.

“We are fulfilling our institutional missions to deliver higher education and services for students in a way that is best for them,” MacCartney said. “Those expectations have been made clear since before the semester started. It should be no surprise. There are consequences for those not following through and doing their jobs.”

The remarks earned a round applause from regents, who were mostly unmasked. They were surrounded by dozens of university presidents and administrators, who were mostly masked.

MacCartney spoke Thursday, the same day faculty groups at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State University passed resolutions calling for mask and vaccine mandates.

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WASHINGTON — Senior Democratic senators are pressing Medicare to make information on nursing home COVID-19 vaccination rates easily accessible for consumers.

Although the Biden administration is requiring vaccination for all nursing home staff, Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania say it could take months. They’re asking Medicare to post vaccination rates among residents and staff of individual facilities on its Care Compare website.

“These data reside on entirely separate (government) websites,” the senators wrote Medicare head Chiquita Brooks-LaSure on Friday. “Even if a person could find these websites, the vaccination data for individual facilities are not prominently displayed, creating additional barriers.”

Medicare officials say they’re working on the problem.

The senators cited an Associated Press report on outbreaks attributed to unvaccinated staff. Wyden and Casey chair the Finance and Aging committees, respectively.

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PARIS — France has announced new restrictions for U.S. travelers who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Starting Sunday, unvaccinated travelers from the U.S. who previously could enter with only a recent negative test must now show “pressing grounds for travel.”

These grounds also apply broadly to returning French citizens, legal residents, relatives of French citizens, foreign health professionals coming to assist in the fight against COVID-19, transportation and diplomatic workers, and people transiting through the country.

The restrictions do not apply to fully vaccinated travelers from the U.S.

The decision follows the European Union’s recommendation last week that its 27 nations reinstate restrictions on U.S. tourists because of rising coronavirus infections there.

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JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has started vaccinating children and adolescents as part of the global Phase 3 clinical trials of China’s Sinovac Biotech shot for children 6 months to 17 years.

The global study will enroll 2,000 participants in South Africa and 12,000 others in Kenya, the Philippines, Chile and Malaysia. The first children in South Africa were inoculated at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in the capital Pretoria to kick off the trials.

The Sinovac company says others will get shots at six different sites across the country.

South Africa has recorded 6,270 infections and 175 confirmed deaths in the last 24 hours. The 2.8 million total infections account for more than 35% of cases in Africa. The nation has 84,327 confirmed deaths.

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COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s high vaccination rate has enabled the Scandinavian country to become one of the first European Union nations to lift all domestic restrictions.

The return to normality has been gradual, but as of Friday, the digital pass — a proof of having been vaccinated — is no longer required when entering nightclubs, the last virus safeguard to fall.

More than 80% of people above age 12 have had the two shots. As of midnight, the Danish government no longer considers COVID-19 “a socially critical disease.”

Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said last month that “the epidemic is under control” but warned: “we are not out of the epidemic” and the government will act as needed if necessary.

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BERLIN — Germany’s standing committee on vaccination is recommending that pregnant women get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The committee said Friday that after evaluating the available evidence, it is issuing a draft recommendation that women from the second trimester of pregnancy onward and breastfeeding mothers get two doses of an mRNA vaccine.

It also recommended that all those of child-bearing age who haven’t yet been vaccinated get inoculated so they are protected from the coronavirus before any pregnancy.

About two-thirds of Germany’s population has received at least one vaccine dose and 61.9% have been fully vaccinated. The pace of vaccinations has slowed to a crawl recently, and officials are keen to encourage more people to get the shots before the winter.

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LONDON — A leading scientist behind the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine says booster shots may be unnecessary for many people.

Oxford University Professor Sarah Gilbert tells The Telegraph newspaper that immunity from the vaccine is holding up well, even against the delta variant.

She says that while older adults and those who are immune-compromised may need boosters, the standard two-dose regimen should protect most people.

Gilbert says the world’s priority should be to get more vaccines to countries with limited supplies.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, a panel of experts that advises the British government, is expected to make recommendations in the coming days on the scale of any booster program.

Army Ranger Spc. Jonn Edmunds, of Cheyenne, was one of the war's first two casualties when a Black Hawk helicopter on a search-and-rescue mission crashed in Pakistan on Oct. 19, 2001.

Last month, the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum, of Bondurant just outside Jackson, got word he was among 13 U.S. soldiers killed in a suicide bombing Aug. 26 at the Kabul airport.

Edmunds and McCollum were both killed on their first deployments. In between, almost 2,500 U.S. troops died in the Afghanistan war, most with far less attention than the two Wyoming men got.

As with Edmunds’ death in the chaotic aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, McCollum’s strikes an especially sad chord as Americans struggle to process what good — if any — has come from their nation’s longest war.

“That was a totally senseless death," Edmunds’ father, Donn Edmunds, said of McCollum. “Seeing the other people losing their loved ones, all that does is bring back bad memories for my family."

A 25-year U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, Edmunds remembers how two officers knocked on his door on the outskirts of Cheyenne before sunrise on Oct. 20, 2001, bringing word of his son’s death.

“I looked out the window, I saw them standing there and all I could think was ‘Oh my God, I know what they’re here for.’ I’ve done notifications so I knew,” said Edmunds, who as a military police officer participated in telling relatives of loved ones' deaths. He got choked up and quiet while looking at a display of his son’s medals and the folded American flag presented to him and other families of fallen soldiers.

“They came in and gave us the ‘Regret to inform you’ speech. My wife had been up by then, and I watched her melt into this carpet right here on the floor," Edmunds recalled. "And they asked, ‘Is there anything we can do?’ and we said, ‘No, just let us absorb this, and we have to be able to accept this.’”

Wyoming is the least populated state and one that values tradition: rodeo and county fairs in summer, elk hunting in fall, calving season in spring and military service.

Jonn Edmunds and his friends grew up playing with water guns, then laser tag in the family’s big yard. Eventually the honors student moved up to paintball, Donn Edmunds recalled.

“We used to have the guys from the Air Force come out here. And they’d knock on the door and say, ‘Can Jonn come out and play paintball with us?’” he said.

On the opposite side of Cheyenne, F.E. Warren Air Force Base has overseen nuclear missiles in silos beneath the Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska plains since the 1960s. Each July, the city hosts its massive Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo festival but Cheyenne has always been a military town at heart.

Like Edmunds, McCollum seemed born with soldiering in his blood.

He grew up in the Jackson Hole area, a region of rugged, forested mountains and big-time outdoors culture on the other side of Wyoming from Cheyenne. Even as a toddler, McCollum played with toy rifles, pretending he was a soldier or hunter, relatives said.

As a high school wrestler, he distinguished himself by training intensely. At school, in 2017, he and his father spoke out publicly when a multiple-choice quiz for a reading assignment facetiously offered “shooting at Trump” as an answer.

On Friday, hundreds of people lined the streets of Jackson to honor McCollum as his remains returned home from Afghanistan. Many people drove from surrounding towns, some multiple hours away, to pay their respects, and law enforcement saluted as the hearse passed by.

“I wrestled with him all my life. He was a senior when I was a freshman,” said Colter Dawson of Jackson. “He died for our country. There’s not that many people who get to make that kind of honorable sacrifice, and that’s something this town and this country need to recognize more.”

Jackson, where McCollum graduated from high school, is a wealthy ski and summer tourism enclave near Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks that many in Wyoming view as socioeconomically out of step and politically more moderate than the rest of the state.

Yet the town of 10,000 has shown no less respect for veterans and military service, especially over the past 20 years, said Joseph Burke, commander of the local American Legion post.

“It was around 9/11 that people started to recognize veterans, the sacrifices they and their families really made,” Burke said. “We've got kids who go in the service from here all the time.”

McCollum’s widow, Jiennah Crayton, is due to deliver a baby in a couple of weeks and the family plans a memorial service sometime after. Meanwhile, three online fundraising efforts have brought in over $900,000 for Crayton and the child’s education.

After Jonn Edmunds’ death, television trucks lined up outside the family's home. Reporters gathered at their daughter’s school, Donn Edmunds recalled, and the family lived like “hermits” for a few weeks.

At a memorial service that filled a 4,500-seat gym, Jonn Edmunds’ commanding officer remembered him as a gritty soldier who still had “that intense look on his face” even after other soldiers looked tired.

Such crowds wouldn’t always show up, however, at services for soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq over the next two decades.

“Yeah, people got numb. But the families that were affected never got numb,” Edmunds said.

The Edmunds family received about $24,000 in donations which they gave away to causes including the Wounded Warrior Project, a charity for troops wounded since 2001, Edmunds said.

He has spent the years since his son’s death riding his Harley-Davidson with the Patriot Guard Riders, a biker group that helps maintain decorum at military funerals, running unsuccessfully for the Wyoming Legislature and trying to raise interest in establishing a veterans memorial park. Now he’s thinking about suing the U.S. government over its withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he criticized as poorly organized.

“All of these people’s sons were great. Every one of them was a traumatic loss for their family. And the thing about it is, what for?” Edmunds said. “We have abandoned their mission.”

The work of consoling and counseling grief-stricken relatives, however, was therapeutic both for him and for relatives, said Edmunds, 72, who runs a security business.

A woman once asked at an event held by the Army’s Survivor Outreach Services family support group whether losing a loved one ever got easier, Edmunds recalled.

“I said ‘Ma’am, it will never get easier. The only thing that will happen to you is time will separate you from the event,’” Edmunds said.

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Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana, contributed to this report.

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Follow Mead Gruver at https://twitter.com/meadgruver

As with previous surges, when the number of new cases begins to drop, deaths attributed to the virus continued to rise for several weeks. The number of deaths the Department of Health’s report Friday was up 2,448 over the previous Friday -- the highest seven-day increase in Florida since the pandemic began.

The 100,012 new cases from Sept. 3-9 is the state’s lowest weekly total since mid-July. Florida had three consecutive weeks with over 150,000 new cases back in August.

Duval County added 3,063 cases in seven days -- the smallest increase since the week ending July 8. And for the last week, Duval had the lowest rate of new cases per 100,000 people in the state.

The new case positivity rate of 13.5% is also the lowest since mid-July, according to the new Florida Department of Health data report released Friday evening.

The age group with the most new cases remains the under-12 population, which is currently ineligible to be vaccinated. FDOH says that 17,165 children under 12 became infected with COVID-19 in the past week.

State data shows that 69% of eligible Floridians (12 and older) have received at least one vaccine shot, a number public health officials are trying to raise. FDOH says that 349,845 doses were administered in the past week, which is the fewest shots administered in five weeks.

The Jaguars play their season opener in Houston this week.

The Vice President of Brand Strategy for the Saints, Jen Martindale, said Jacksonville welcomed the team with open arms.

“Moving this game was the right thing to do for the city so that we didn’t distract resources or attention away from the storm recovery efforts that are taking place across the area,” said Martindale.

Katie Miltura, the director of marketing for Visit Jacksonville, says September is usually a slow month for visitors. Miltura expects the game to have an economic impact.

“We estimate with two teams visiting that’s going to be a strong indicator that we will probably have an impact of somewhere to $5 to $10 million,” Miltura said.

Derek Dilworth is from Wisconsin, but lives in Charleston. He said he had tickets for the game in New Orleans.

“Last minute, found out it was here and canceled the flight to go to New Orleans and drove down here,” he said.

As of Friday evening, about 25,000 tickets had been sold for Sunday’s game.

“If even half of that number is visitors, that’s 13,000 out of town folks that are coming to enjoy our city that wouldn’t come otherwise,” Miltura said. “Jacksonville is the most affordable beach vacation.”

We asked who was going to the game on our News4Jax Facebook page:

Randy said: “Go Pack Go! Front row seats in the Bud Zone!”

Michael said: ”Who Dat! Sure Am!”

And Quinn commented: “My daughter and I are going, sitting at the top of the tunnel. So excited for it!”

Those coming out to the game will have to follow the Jaguars’ stadium COVID-19 protocols on Sunday.

According to the Jags’ website, masks are recommended for unvaccinated guests. Those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 are encouraged to take extra precautions.

All public spaces and surfaces will be cleaned before fans arrive and throughout game day. Certified disinfection specialists in blue vests will be seen cleaning throughout the game. Hand sanitizing stations are available throughout the stadium.

Although far from home, the Saints said “Who Dat?” will be heard in the River City.

“I think they’re going to see a taste of the rituals that we try to have at every single home game for the New Orleans Saints. We’ll bring a little bit of New Orleans with us,” said Martindale.

The game starts at 4:25 p.m. and the gates open two hours before kickoff.

The mayor of New Orleans said she expects the Saints to return to the Superdome for their week four matchup against the Giants.

For information on the Saints’ Hurricane Ida relief efforts, go to https://www.neworleanssaints.com/.

“Don’t wait. Go get it,” Megan Blankenbiller says in the video. “Because hopefully if you get it, you won’t end up in the hospital like me.”

Blankenbiller recorded the video from her hospital bed while she was on oxygen and struggling to talk.

“I did not get vaccinated. I’m not anti-vax. I was just trying to do my research,” Blankenbiller says. “I was scared and I wanted me and my family to all do it at the same time.”

@atasteofalex

**Also, Tonic Water. Nasty stuff but good for you!! Stay safe out there guys!

♬ original sound - It’s Alex, Betch. 💋

Her sister, Cristina, said less than a week later, Blankenbiller was on a ventilator. Less than two weeks after the video was posted, Blankenbiller died.

Ashley Michaelis and Blankenbiller sang together in a acapella group called the Jax Treblemakers. To her friends and viewers on TikTok, Blankenbiller went by Alex.

“She was one of those people that could absolutely change the energy in a room and light up a room as soon as she walked in,” Michaelis said, holding back tears. “She really made all of our rehearsals fun.”

The video taken during Blakenbiller’s final days have gone viral on social media, getting close to one million views.

Some users have commented that her story inspired them to get their shots.

Her friends and family hope the message is heard.

“I do think it was a mistake,” Blankenbiller says. “I shouldn’t have waited. If you are even 70% sure that you want the vaccine -- go get it.”

Sale had been scheduled to start Sunday in Chicago against the AL Central-leading White Sox. The seven-time All-Star also had a a mild bout with COVID-19 in January that required him to quarantine for two weeks.

“At this point, nothing shocks me, to be honest with you,” manager Alex Cora said Friday. “On a daily basis we just go through a process and we just hope for good news. This is where we're at.”

The Red Sox have placed 17 players on the COVID-19-related injury list since Aug. 3, including infielders Xander Bogaerts and Christian Arroyo and pitchers Nick Pivetta, Matt Barnes and Martín Pérez.

Bogaerts was reinstated Friday and returned to the starting lineup against the White Sox. But designated hitter J.D. Martinez was scratched because of back spasms.

It was Bogaerts’ first game since he was pulled from an 8-5 loss at Tampa Bay on Aug. 31 after the Red Sox found out he had tested positive. The three-time All-Star had to stay behind in Florida after the team departed.

Bogaerts said he felt fine the whole time.

“It was boring, man,” he said. “I wouldn't want that for anyone. At least if you're in Boston you're at home."

Left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez was activated from the 10-day injured list after being sidelined by a right oblique strain, and right-hander Kaleb Ort was promoted from Triple-A Worcester.

The Red Sox also placed infielder Jonathan Araúz on the COVID-19 list, and lefty Austin Davis went on paternity leave. The move with Araúz is precautionary; he has some symptoms, but he has tested negative multiple times, according to the team.

The 32-year-old Sale missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery. Since returning Aug. 14, he is 3-0 with a 2.52 ERA.

“It's unfortunate, but he'll be back,” Cora said. “He feels good. He actually feels great, and hopefully he can come back right away, right after his X amount of days.”

Sale likely will have to stay away from the team for at least 10 days, though Major League Baseball has made exceptions for individuals cleared by its medical experts, based on not being infectious.

Any prolonged absence for the lefty would be a big blow for the Red Sox, who entered Friday with a one-game lead over the New York Yankees for the AL's top wild-card spot. Toronto was another half-game back as it tries to overtake its AL East rivals for the second wild card.

“This is our reality and we've got to keep going,” Cora said.

Cora said Pivetta is feeling good, and he is one option when it comes to replacing Sale on Sunday. Right-hander Connor Seabold is on the team's taxi squad for its road trip and could make his big league debut this weekend.

Pérez was in Worcester on Friday, and Cora said the plan was for him to throw a bullpen session and then pitch in a game on Sunday.

While Boston has made frequent use of the COVID-19 IL, but it looked as if it was turning a corner before Sale's positive test. Left-hander Josh Taylor was reinstated on Monday, and position players Kiké Hernández and Danny Santana returned to the active roster on Tuesday.

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“If the community is concerned about that, obviously I am concerned about that,” Col. Lamar Davis told The Associated Press in an interview. “I’m a Black male. I don’t want to feel like I’m going to be stopped and thrown across a car just because of that, and I don’t want anyone else to feel that way.”

Davis’ comments came a day after an AP investigation identified at least a dozen cases over the past decade in which state police troopers or their bosses ignored or concealed evidence of beatings, deflected blame and impeded efforts to root out misconduct. It included several newly obtained body camera videos of violent arrests that had been locked away for years.

“It challenged me emotionally, not just from a law enforcement perspective but as a citizen,” Davis said of viewing the footage. "But I have to put my emotions in check and understand what my duties are.”

“I don’t want the community thinking we’re going to ‘get them.’ Those are the types of things I’m trying to get to the root of.”

At an earlier news conference in Baton Rouge, Davis pointed to a series of reforms he has pushed through during his 11 months as state police superintendent, including new policies and practices for how his agency handles cases of excessive force. He also said he’s looking to hire an outside agency to carry on the work of a secret panel the state police had set up to determine whether troopers systematically abused Black motorists. He acknowledged the panel was shut down in July following leaks about its work.

Davis, in the interview, said he did not believe excessive force has become widespread enough among state troopers to warrant a pattern and practice investigation by the Justice Department. However, he said he wants the opportunity to correct the agency’s issues before federal authorities intervene, pointing to the benefits of hiring an outside firm to conduct a comparable review.

“With regards to the Justice Department, if they decide that they’re going to come in and assess us on that then I welcome it,” Davis said in the news conference. “I’m not going to wait on them. I’m already in contact with other organizations to look at my agency and help us become better.”

Soon after Davis's news conference, U.S. Rep. Troy Carter joined a growing chorus of officials and activists calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to to intervene. The Justice Department launched pattern and practice investigations earlier this year in Minneapolis, Louisville and Phoenix but has not said whether it’s considering a similar probe in Louisiana.

“It is clear that the LSP will not clean up its own house ... I have no faith they are capable of policing themselves,” Carter, a New Orleans Democrat, said in a statement.

The state police have been under intense scrutiny since May when the AP published previously unreleased body camera footage of the fatal 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene on a north Louisiana roadside, a death troopers initially blamed on injuries from a car crash. The footage showed troopers stunning, punching and dragging the Black motorist and leaving him prone on the ground for more than nine minutes.

Davis also confirmed Friday that an internal investigation resulted in no discipline against Lt. John Clary, the highest ranking official at the scene of Greene’s death, who was accused of denying the existence of his own body camera video for nearly two years. Davis said the agency “could not say for sure whether” he “purposefully withheld” the footage.

State police this week also removed Clary from the duty of escorting the Louisiana Tech football coach at games as the FBI investigates the role in Greene’s deadly arrest.

Clary served in the unpaid role for at least nine years, according to the university, and escorted the Bulldogs’ head coach Skip Holtz on Saturday during a televised game against Mississippi State. His appearance at the game, first reported by WBRZ-TV, drew criticism from civil rights activists who accused Louisiana Tech of overlooking the severity of the allegations Clary faces.

Clary and his attorney did not return messages seeking comment.

Davis also sought to play down a meeting on May 20 — the day after AP published graphic footage of Greene’s death -- in which state police brass traveled to Ruston to review the long-concealed body camera video with John Belton, the Union Parish district attorney. Belton became so concerned with the circumstances of Greene’s death two years ago that he referred the case to federal authorities, who began a civil rights investigation.

The command staff made the case during the meeting that the troopers’ actions had been justified during Greene’s arrest, according to several people familiar with the meeting, which itself has become the subject of a federal investigation into possible obstruction of justice. But Davis on Friday insisted he had not asked Belton “or any other official to not pursue charges on any of my employees” in Greene’s death.

“I would never do that,” Davis said. “I have never done that.”

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Bleiberg reported from Dallas and Mustian from New York.

The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled Friday that a Tallahassee judge should not have lifted an automatic stay two days ago that halted enforcement of the mask mandate ban.

The upshot is that the state could resume its efforts to impose financial penalties on the 13 school boards currently defying the mask mandate ban. Those have included docking salaries of local school board members who voted to impose student mask mandates.

DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw said in a tweet that the appeals court decision means “the rule requiring ALL Florida school districts to protect parents’ rights to make choices about masking kids is BACK in effect!”

The U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday it has begun a new grant program to provide funding for school districts in Florida and elsewhere that lose money for implementing anti-coronavirus practices such as mandatory masks.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki amplified that position at a briefing Friday, saying that President Joe Biden's administration will use money and other resources to support any school officials "who do the right thing by students, and that includes putting in place mask requirements and other requirements that will keep them safe.”

Also Friday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran to inform him that the federal agency would be investigating whether the state’s ban on mask mandates violates federal civil rights laws that protect students with disabilities.

DeSantis has argued that the new Parents Bill of Rights law reserves solely for parents the authority to determine whether their children should wear a mask to school. School districts with mandatory mask rules allow an opt-out only for medical reasons, not parental discretion.

The governor, who had predicted a victory at the appeals court, said in a tweet there is “no surprise here” and added: “I will continue to fight for parents’ rights.”

Charles Gallagher, attorney for parents challenging the DeSantis ban, said he is “disappointed” by the appeals court decision.

“With a stay in place, students, parents and teachers are back in harm’s way,” Gallagher said in a tweet.

The back-and-forth legal battles stem from a lawsuit filed by parents represented by Gallagher and other lawyers contending that DeSantis does not have authority to order local school boards to ban mask mandates.

Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper agreed in an Aug. 27 order, then on Wednesday lifted a stay that had blocked his ruling from taking effect. The appeals court now has put that stay back in place as the governor seeks a ruling making his mask mandate ban permanent.

The appeals judges noted that a stay is presumed when a public officer or agency seeks appellate review of a judicial order.

“We have serious doubts about standing, jurisdiction, and other threshold matters,” the appeals judges wrote in a one-page decision. “Given the presumption against vacating the automatic stay, the stay should have been left in place pending appellate review.”

In his previous order, Cooper said the overwhelming evidence is that wearing masks provides some protection for children in crowded school settings, particularly those under 12 who are not currently eligible for vaccination. The court battle comes as Florida copes with the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus that has overrun hospitals across the state.

On the Parents Bill of Rights, Cooper said his previous order follows the law that reserves health and education decisions regarding children to parents unless a government entity such as a school board can show their broader action is reasonable and narrowly tailored to the issue at hand.

The next stage of the legal fight will test whether Cooper's conclusions are correct.

She was dripping in Cartier diamonds in a white mermaid body hugging gown with plunging neckline and high side slit by Georges Hobeika. He was dapper in a black Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo. There were plenty of kisses and hugs for the cameras after a summer of love for the two, who rekindled their romance in May, 17 years after they broke up in 2004.

They were spotted out and about in Venice before their formal coming out. At the premiere, the 49-year-old Affleck waved to the crowd as he helped Lopez, 52, out of a black car and onto the red carpet.

For weeks the two haven't been shy about PDA after coming back together not long after Lopez's coming apart with Alex Rodriguez. Affleck's divorce from Jennifer Garner was finalized in 2018.

Throughout the summer, they were photographed on a yacht off Saint-Tropez, cuddling on a walk in the Hamptons and nuzzling over sushi in Malibu.

Ridley Scott’s medieval drama “The Last Duel” also reunites Affleck and Matt Damon, with some Adam Driver thrown in.

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Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at http://twitter.com/litalie

Hospital Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo said in a statement that 80-year-old Edson Arantes do Nascimento was recovering “in a satisfactory manner," though still in intensive care. The hospital said on Monday that Pelé was expected to be moved to a regular room on Tuesday.

The hospital also said Pelé is “awake, actively talking and keeing his vital signs in normality.”

The three-time World Cup champion also said on his Instagram that “each day I feel a little better.”

He went to the hospital for routine exams at the end of August when the tumor was found. The hospital said in a statement then that the tumor was identified during routine cardiovascular and laboratory exams. It added it collected samples to be analyzed but has not released the results.

Pelé, the only male player to win three World Cups, has had mobility problems since a failed hip replacement surgery in 2012. He has been forced to use walkers and wheelchairs in public. He has also been admitted to several hospitals in recent years for kidney and prostate procedures.

Pelé won the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cups, and remains Brazil’s all-time leading scorer with 77 goals in 92 matches.

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“I’ll use the Defense Production Act to increase production of rapid tests, including those that you can use at home,” Biden said. “While that production is ramping up, my administration has worked with top retailers like Walmart, Amazon and Kroger … we’re announcing that no later than next week, each of these outlets will start to sell at-home rapid test kits at-cost for the next three months.”

Those price cuts had already gone into place Friday at Walmart and Amazon.

News4Jax found the BinaxNow antigen test on Walmart’s website, originally sold for $23.97, was on Friday listed at $14.

However, the tests were out of stock online and not available for pick up.

We found another at home test, the Inteliswab, with a price cut as well. Originally $24.99, but listed for $14.

However, it also was out of stock.

The only tests we found available to buy on Friday was on Amazon.

It’s an FDA authorized PCR test collection kit that promises results in 24 hours from a lab, listed for $36.99.

The description indicated this is the at-cost price, saying this test is “currently priced to increase access to affordable, high-quality COVID-19 tests.”

However, if you can’t get your hands on one of these at-home tests right now, Biden says he will also increase access.

“We’ll also expand — expand free testing at 10,000 pharmacies around the country. And we’ll commit — we’re committing $2 billion to purchase nearly 300 million rapid tests for distribution to community health centers, food banks, schools, so that every American, no matter their income, can access free and convenient tests.”

Outlined details of that plan and who is getting those tests have not yet been released.

The confrontation between Brittany Williams and police in her driveway in May 2020 was caught on video. Williams said officers used excessive force after the confrontation and entered her home without a warrant and assaulted her during her arrest.

After months of legal maneuvering, the case went to trial this week.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the officer informed Williams he had just finished a call and was checking emails, and that Williams told the officer to get out of her driveway before throwing a spoon with an unknown green substance at the officer while he was in his car. The Sheriff’s Office said the officer then called for backup, and when backup arrived they tried to take Williams into custody. The Sheriff’s Office said she kicked one officer in the groin, and as officers wrestled her into handcuffs, a loaded handgun fell from her clothes.

Williams was arrested and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. After a two-day trial, the jury acquitted Williams on the assault charge but convicted her of resisting police without violence.

Williams’ attorney, Jeffery Chukwuma, told News4Jax that the evidence presented in the case was irrelevant and prejudicial.

“We are extremely glad the jury returned a verdict of not guilty,” Chukwuma said. “However, we do feel Mrs. Williams and her family have been served an extreme injustice, and we do believe if the judge did not allow certain evidence like the threats and the firearm, the jury would have returned a verdict of not guilty on all charges.”

Williams was sentenced to six months probation, ordered to undergo mental health evaluations and anger management, and she has to write a letter of apology to an officer.

“He’s the one who came into her home, smashed out her two front teeth, twisted her arm, causing permanent nerve damage in her arm, which is outrageous,” Ray said. “If anyone who is ordered to write an apology in this case, it should be the officers to our client, Mrs. Williams.”

Attorneys for Williams also take issue with the mental health counseling Williams is ordered to undergo as part of her probation. They said that Williams has never had mental health issues, counseling, nor has she been on mental health medication.

Haley was laid to rest in his hometown of Pittsburgh in July.

He was widely celebrated for his leadership in the medical community and beyond.

In 2017, Haley moved to Jacksonville and became the dean of the University of Florida College of Medicine.

A year later, he was chosen as the UF Health Jacksonville’s first Black CEO.

During a moving virtual community memorial service Friday, he was remembered as a man who may have been small in stature, but who’s reach covered an entire community

“Dr. Haley connected us to one another and connected communities to each other through shared principles of common human decency and inclusion,” said Dr. David Nelson, president of UF Health. “But bridges do more than connect, they allow us to reach new places, chart new courses and realize new destinies. They forge a road where a road once seemed impossible. That sense of constant perpetual motion forward, coupled with a keen unmatched sense of compassion made Dr. Haley one of a kind.”

The day before Haley’s tragic accident, he was on the surgical floor at UF Health Jacksonville, administering COVID vaccines in what proved to be his last day at the hospital.

He is remembered as an inspiration. A man who went above and beyond.

“I just think God wanted him up in heaven sooner than we wanted him,” said former Mayor John Delaney, who served on the Civic Council with Haley. “They don’t need a hospital up there, but they may need somebody to start a fire. I really miss Leon, the community misses him. Godspeed.”

There was a recurring theme at the virtual memorial, Haley’s words reverberate in the halls of UF Heath every day, and he is still with them and will always live on in their hearts.

The administration is gearing up for another major clash between federal and state rule. But while many details about the rules remain unknown, Biden appears to be on firm legal ground to issue the directive in the name of protecting employee safety, according to several experts interviewed by The Associated Press.

“My bet is that with respect to that statutory authority, they’re on pretty strong footing given the evidence strongly suggesting … the degree of risk that (unvaccinated individuals) pose, not only to themselves but also unto others,” said University of Connecticut law professor Sachin Pandya.

Republicans swiftly denounced the mandate that could impact 100 million Americans as government overreach and vowed to sue, and private employers who resist the requirements may do so as well. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called it an “assault on private businesses" while Gov. Henry McMaster promised to "fight them to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian.” The Republican National Committee has also said it will sue the administration “to protect Americans and their liberties.”

Such cases could present another clash between state and federal authority at a time when Biden's Justice Department is already suing Texas over its new state law that bans most abortions, arguing that it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution.”

The White House is gearing up for legal challenges and believes that even if some of the mandates are tossed out, millions of Americans will get a shot because of the new requirements — saving lives and preventing the spread of the virus.

Biden is putting enforcement in the hands of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is drafting a rule “over the coming weeks,” Jeffrey Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said Friday. He warned that “if a workplace refuses to follow the standard, the OSHA fines could be quite significant.”

Courts have upheld vaccination requirements as a condition of employment, both before the pandemic — in challenges brought by health care workers — and since the coronavirus outbreak, said Lindsay Wiley, director of the Health Law and Policy Program at American University Washington College of Law.

Where Biden's vaccine requirements could be more open to attack is over questions of whether the administration followed the proper process to implement them, she said.

“The argument that mandatory vaccination impermissibly infringes on bodily autonomy or medical decision making, those arguments have not been successful and I don’t expect that to change,” Wiley said. “I think the challenges that are harder to predict the outcome of are going to be the ones that are really sort of the boring challenges about whether they followed the right process.”

Emergency temporary standards — under which the rules are being implemented on a fast track — have been particularly vulnerable to challenges, Wiley said. But the risks presented by the coronavirus and the existence of a declared public health emergency could put this one “on stronger footing than any other ones past administrations have tried to impose that have been challenged in court,” she said.

Indeed, the question of whether the mandate is legally sound is separate from whether it will be upheld by judges, including by a conservative-majority Supreme Court which has trended toward generous interpretations of religious freedom and may be looking to ensure that any mandate sufficiently takes faith-based objections into account.

Vaccination “has become politicized and there are many Republican district judges who might be hostile to the regulation for political reasons," said Michael Harper, a Boston University law professor.

“I could imagine an unfortunate opinion that attempted to justify this political stance by rejecting the use of OSHA against infectious disease rather than against hazards intrinsic to the workplace,” Harper wrote in an email.

The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated.

Biden is also requiring vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government — with no option to test out. That covers several million more workers.

Republican-dominated Montana stands alone in having a state law on the books that directly contradicts the new federal mandate. The state passed a law earlier this year making it illegal for private employers to require vaccines as a condition for employment.

But University of Montana constitutional law professor Anthony Johnstone said the federal rules would trump the state law. That means larger Montana businesses that previously couldn’t require their employees to get vaccinated will now likely be required to, including hospitals that are some of the largest employers in the sparsely populated state.

Given that the rules are still being drafted and haven't been released, experts say the devil is in the details. It remains to be seen exactly what the rule will require employers to do or not do, and how it accounts for things such as other rights that unvaccinated employees may assert, such as the right to a disability accommodation, Pandya said.

For example — with the growing number of fully remote businesses and workers — if the rules are written to include people who don't have workplace exposure, “there certainly is room for an issue there," said Erika Todd, an employment attorney with Sullivan & Worcester in Boston.

Charles Craver, a labor and employment law professor at George Washington University, said the mandate presented a “close question" legally. But he said the Biden administration did have a legitimate argument that such a requirement was necessary for employers to protect the safety of workers, customers and members of the public.

The thornier question, though, is how employers — and courts — will sort through requests for accommodations for employees on religious or other grounds.

Though such accommodations may include having an employee work from home, “you can have a situation where someone has to be present and you can’t provide an accommodation because of the danger involved," he added.

“I would not be a betting person if this went up before the Supreme Court,” Craver said. “I could even picture the court divided 5-4, and I wouldn’t bet which way it would go.”

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Richer reported from Boston. Reporter Iris Samuels contributed to this report from Helena, Montana. Samuels is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster says he will fight “to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian.” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, says she is preparing a lawsuit. And J.D. Vance, a conservative running for a U.S. Senate seat in Ohio, is calling on businesses to ignore mandates he describes as Washington's “attempt to bully and coerce citizens."

“Only mass civil disobedience will save us from Joe Biden’s naked authoritarianism," Vance says.

Biden is hardly backing down. In a visit to a school on Friday, he accused the governors of being “cavalier” with the health of young Americans, and when asked about foes who would file legal challenges, he retorted, “Have at it.”

The opposition follows Biden's announcement Thursday of a major plan to tame the coronavirus as the highly contagious Delta variant drives 1,500 deaths and 150,000 cases a day. Biden is mandating that all employers with more than 100 workers require their employees to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. Another 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be vaccinated, as will all employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government.

The move brought Republican outrage from state capitals, Congress and the campaign trail, including from many who have supported vaccinations and have urged their constituents to take the shots .

“The vaccine itself is life-saving, but this unconstitutional move is terrifying," tweeted Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves.

Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who has promoted the vaccines' safety to his constituents, said, “The right path is built upon explaining, educating and building trust, including explaining the risks/benefits/pros/cons in an honest way so a person can make their own decision."

More than 208 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose, but some 80 million remain unvaccinated, driving infections. There are now about 300% more new daily COVID-19 infections, about two-and-a-half times the hospitalizations and nearly twice the number of deaths as at the same time last year.

While breakthrough infections do happen among the vaccinated, those cases tend to be far less severe, with the vast majority of deaths and serious illnesses occurring among those who have not received shots.

The pandemic is worsening in many of the states where governors are most loudly protesting the president's actions. South Carolina, for example, is averaging more than 5,000 new cases per day and has the nation’s second-highest infection rate. A hospital system there started canceling elective surgeries this week to free staff to help with a crush of COVID-19 patients.

In a section of Idaho, overwhelmed hospitals have implemented new crisis standards to ration care for patients. And in Georgia, hospitals have been turning away ambulances bringing emergency or ICU patients.

“I am so disappointed that particularly some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities,” Biden said during his school visit. “This isn’t a game.”

But Republicans and some union officials say the president is overreaching his constitutional authority. They take issue, in particular, with the idea that millions could lose their jobs if they refuse to take the shots.

“That’s a ridiculous choice," said Mississippi Gov. Reeves.

Biden, however, says he's doing what needs to be done to fight resistance that has continued despite months of encouragement and incentives. In his White House speech announcing the new measures, he was visibly frustrated, criticizing the remaining holdouts and accusing some elected officials of "actively working to undermine the fight against COVID-19.”

“Instead of encouraging people to get vaccinated and mask up, they’re ordering mobile morgues for the unvaccinated dying from COVID in their communities,” he said.

Court fights are sure to follow in a number of states.

Vaccine mandates are supported by a small majority of Americans. An August poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found majorities support requiring vaccinations for health care workers, teachers at K-12 schools and public-facing workers like those who work in restaurants and stores. Overall, 55% back vaccine mandates for government workers. And about half of working adults favor vaccine mandates at their own workplaces.

But the numbers are deeply polarized, with Democrats far more likely to support mandates than Republicans, who have also been less supportive when it comes to getting shots themselves.

While demand for vaccinations has risen over the summer, a persistent number of Americans have said they have no intention of ever receiving them.

GOP pollster Frank Luntz, who has held focus groups and worked with the Biden administration to try to combat vaccine hesitance, says that, without further measures, Biden is likely to see vaccinations top out at about 75% of the population.

“The only way to exceed that, which he needs to for herd immunity, is to mandate it,” Luntz said. “It will make a lot of people angry and even more resistant, but those who are simply hesitant will act now. He’s done the best he can under the circumstances.”

Still, many Republicans are unmoving and unforgiving, especially those who are running for office and see the issue as one that could motivate Republican voters to turn out in next year's midterm elections.

Mike Gibbons, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, accused “Joe Biden and his Big Brother administration" of having “crossed into authoritarian territory.”

“The American people have a right to assess the risks and benefits of the vaccine and make the decision on what is best for themselves and their families," he said. “That decision should be made by doctors and the individual, not the government.”

With the midterms coming, Drew McKissick, South Carolina’s GOP chairman, says he imagines Democrats in his state being tied to their party’s “radical liberal” policies.

“South Carolinians don’t take kindly to mandates. They never have,” McKissick said, arguing the national political tenor is “going to put (Democrats) more in a corner.”

But Steve Schale, a Democratic strategist who leads the pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country, which has also done polling showing support for mandates, said he's not especially concerned about potential political backlash. He argued those who are most likely to be angered by the move are probably already Biden critics.

“Of all the things I worry about in the midterms," he said, “that doesn’t scare me.”

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki also dismisses the blowback.

“Yes, we do see some loud vocal opponents of what the president announced yesterday. That’s not a surprise. It’s unfortunate, it’s disappointing, it’s sad because, ultimately, these steps will save lives," she said, “but we remain confident in our ability to move the agenda forward."

__ Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard in Houston, Leah Willingham in Jackson, Mississippi, and Mary Clare Jalonick, Hannah Fingerhut, Alexandra Jaffe and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Nolin, who was also fined an undisclosed amount, initially planned to appeal the suspension before agreeing to start serving it Friday night.

The league suspended Nationals manager Dave Martinez one game and fined him an undisclosed amount. Martinez served the suspension in Friday night's game in Pittsburgh. Bench coach Tim Bogar will manage the team in place of Martinez.

Nolin was ejected in the first inning on Wednesday after throwing behind Freeman and then hitting him in what became a 4-2 Nationals victory. Nolin plunked Freeman a day after Atlanta closer Will Smith hit Washington star Juan Soto.

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The Giants, who entered 2 ½ games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, improved to a major league-best 91-50.

It was 1-all when Longoria hit a two-run homer that put San Francisco ahead. Belt connected for a two-run drive later in the inning.

While all eyes were on Bryant in this one, Belt has been fueling the Giants during their most recent surge.

The 33-year-old first baseman added a double and two walks, giving him eight hits in 17 at-bats his last four games.

“I don’t know if I can get more confident than I am right now,” Belt deadpanned. “I just named myself captain."

Belt apparently proclaimed himself captain of the club on recent flight. Longoria joking responded by taping a “C” on the front of Belt’s jersey before Friday’s game — and Belt wore it while reaching base four times.

“I wasn't going to wear it, but everybody thought that I should,” Belt said.

Not only is Belt swinging a hot bat, Longoria is picking up the pace, too, as the Giants roll toward the finish.

“I think I'm in a pretty good spot,” Longoria said. “I think I need a few more high-leverage at-bats.”

Rookie Frank Schwindel hit a solo drive for the Cubs, giving him 12 homers and seven in the last 11 games. Chicago lost for just the second time in 10 games.

Bryant was traded to the Giants for two prospects at the July 30 deadline as the rebuilding Cubs unloaded marquee stars who were set to become free agents after this season. The 29-year-old got a standing ovation from the crowd of 29,439 during a pregame video tribute and again before his first inning at-bat.

The slugger was the NL Rookie of the Year in 2015, then the NL MVP in 2016 when the Cubs won the World Series to end a 108-year championship drought. In this one, Bryant went 0 for 3 with a walk, run and struck out swinging twice.

“There was a lot going on in terms of emotions,” Bryant said. “It was pretty hard to contain it all.”

“It kind of got the best of me and it was kind of hard to play baseball after that," he said.

Longoria hit a full-count fastball from Trevor Megill (1-1) high into the bleachers in left-center for his 11th homer and first since Aug. 17. The third baseman, who returned last week from a bruised right hand, added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Belt tagged Michael Rucker for his 22nd homer, a shot to the basket in left. LaMonte Wade Jr. had two hits and an RBI.

San Francisco’s Dominic Leone opened with two perfect innings on a bullpen day, and the Giants used eight pitchers in a combined two-hitter. Camilo Doval (2-1) got the final out of the sixth for the win.

Kyle Hendricks allowed one run on four hits over six innings in a no-decision. He struck out four, walked two and was back in form after three rocky starts when he had a 10.13 ERA over 16 innings.

“It was good to see him back to being the way he normally is,” said bench coach Andy Green, who is running the team with manager David Ross out after a positive COVID-19 test. “It was good to see him be him."

Schwindel gave the Cubs home runs in 16 straight games, one short of the team record set in 1998.

LOVE FOR KB

After watching the video tribute while standing in front of the Giants dugout, Bryant strolled to home plate for handshakes and hugs with Cubs owner Tom Ricketts and other team officials.

The Cubs presented Bryant with a 2016 World Series championship pennant and a replica No. 17 panel – his uniform number in Chicago — from Wrigley Field’s vintage center-field scoreboard.

The crowd cheered again when he struck out to end the inning first inning.

Bryant told reporters he got a voicemail message from Ricketts when he was traded, but he said things were so hectic — the Cubs were in Washington — that he never returned the call.

CHAT ’EM UP

With Longoria back in the lineup at third, the versatile Bryant played left field — where he hoped to resume friendly banter with fans in the bleachers.

ROSTER MOVE

The Cubs placed LHP Adam Morgan on the bereavement list before the game and recalled RHP pitcher Tommy Nance from Triple-A Iowa.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Giants: Manager Gabe Kapler said OF Alex Dickerson (right hamstring strain) would be sent on a rehab assignment after Friday’s game. … INF Donovan Solano (COVID-19 ) ran the bases on Friday. ... Wilmer Flores (left hamstring strain) is expected to rejoin the team on Sunday.

Cubs: RHP Keegan Thompson (right shoulder inflammation) is expected to throw a bullpen session in the next few days, Green said.

UP NEXT

Giants RHP Kevin Gausman (13-5, 2.58) faces Cubs RHP Zach Davies (6-10, 5.16) on Saturday afternoon.

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The current Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced Sampaio’s death on Friday. He did not give a cause of death, though Sampaio had been in delicate health for several years and had been in hospital for the past two weeks.

Sampaio “prepared himself to be a fighter, and the banners of his fight were freedom and equality,” Rebelo de Sousa said in a televised statement.

He said Sampaio was like “a red-haired hurricane” in the 1960s when as a young lawyer he stood up to Portugal's then-dictatorship.

But over his six-decade political career in Portugal as a center-left Socialist and later as a diplomat for the United Nations, Sampaio earned praise for his low-key, down-to-earth manner. He once said he had always wanted to become an orchestra conductor.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, a former prime minister of Portugal, called Sampaio “a remarkable leader and compassionate human being.."

“Portugal lost a statesman and I have lost a dear friend,” Guterres added.

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa praised Sampaio as an upstanding politician who defended democracy. “We bow down before the memory of a man who always fought for freedom, for democracy, and whose moral uprightness brought prestige to our country’s political life,” said Costa.

He said Portugal would observe three days of national mourning, when Portuguese flags on public buildings fly at half-staff, from Saturday. Funeral details were to be announced later.

At home, Sampaio was perhaps best remembered for controversially bringing down a center-right government in 2004, when he was head of state.

That was when Social Democratic Party leader José Manuel Barroso quit as prime minister to become president of the European Commission. He was replaced by his party’s vice president, Pedro Santana Lopes.

After several months of government in-fighting, public gaffes and contradictions, Sampaio called early elections to end what he called “a grave crisis of credibility and instability.”

The subsequent election delivered a landslide victory to the center-left Socialist Party, which Sampaio had once headed.

Sampaio began his political career while studying law at Lisbon University in the late 1950s, rising through the ranks of underground student movements which opposed the then dictatorship of António Salazar.

After graduating, he defended prisoners tried by special courts that dealt exclusively with political cases.

He associated with extreme leftist movements after the 1974 Carnation Revolution toppled the dictatorship and introduced democracy.

He took up his first government post, as secretary of state for foreign cooperation, in 1975. He was fluent in English, having lived for a year in the United States when he was eight as his father, a renowned Portuguese doctor, went to study at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sampaio, whose mother was an English teacher, also spent time in England as a youngster.

He switched his allegiance to the mainstream Socialist Party in 1978 and from the following year was returned five times to parliament as a Socialist lawmaker.

Sampaio ran successfully for mayor of Lisbon, the capital, in 1989, when he also became leader of the Socialist Party.

His two-term stint as mayor of the Portuguese capital provided a stage for his election as president in 1996 and his re-election in 2001, winning both elections by comfortable margins.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Sampaio as his special envoy on tuberculosis in 2006. The following year, Annan’s successor Ban Ki-moon made him the U.N. High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations.

Sampaio is survived by his wife, a daughter and a son.

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This story has been corrected to show that Johns Hopkins University is in Baltimore, Maryland, not Pennsylvania.

The Walt Disney Co. on Friday announced that all of its remaining films this year will open exclusively in theaters. That includes the Marvel release “Eternals" (Nov. 5), Ridley Scott's “The Last Duel” (Oct. 15), the animated release “Ron's Gone Wrong” (Oct. 22), Steven Spielberg's “West Side Story" (Dec. 10) and the Kingsman sequel “The King's Man” (Dec. 22).

All of the films will have a minimum run of 45 days in theaters before streaming. The animated fantasy “Encanto” (Nov. 24) will head to Disney+ after 30 days.

Disney's move comes after a year in which the studio, with a few notable exceptions like the recent hit “Free Guy,” premiered many of its releases both in theaters and on Disney+ in so-called “day and date” releases. That included the Marvel movie “Black Widow,” after which star Scarlett Johansson sued Disney, alleging the day-and-date approach breached her contract and deprived her of potential earnings. Disney has said the release complied with Johansson’s contract and called the suit without merit.

But it increasingly appears that the days may be number for day-and-date, at least when it comes to Hollywood blockbusters. Warner Bros., which has released all of its 2021 films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, has pledged to revert to exclusive theatrical runs next year. One pandemic shift sure to linger — shorter theatrical runs, as the once-traditional 90-day window has shrunk to 45 days or less for most studios.

Disney's strategies are especially closely watched because of its enormous sway in the industry as the largest Hollywood studio. Disney accounted for 38% of domestic moviegoing in 2019. But its commitment to theatrical releases was sure to be a huge relief for cinema owners and a sign of some normality returning to moviegoing this fall.

Day-and-date releases proliferated during the pandemic while studios turned to boosting their in-home streaming services and compensating for diminished ticket sales. Theater owners have said that sacrifices many millions in box office and may deter from a movie's cultural impact.

And, lately, the box-office returns — even during the recent coronavirus surge — have been promising. Disney's “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” smashed the record for Labor Day openings last weekend, earning $90 million over the four-day weekend. Many in the industry have taken that as proof of the power of a theater-only release, and a positive sign for the fall movie season. Sony Pictures immediately after moved up the release of its Marvel sequel, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.”

“Following the tremendous box office success of our summer films which included five of the top eight domestic releases of the year, we are excited to update our theatrical plans for the remainder of 2021,” said Kareem Daniel, chairman of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, in a statement. “As confidence in moviegoing continues to improve, we look forward to entertaining audiences in theaters, while maintaining the flexibility to give our Disney+ subscribers the gift of ‘Encanto’ this holiday season.”

The No. 2-seeded Medvedev surged out of that tight spot, beat a mistake-prone Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 on Friday and now is headed to his third Grand Slam final.

“A strange match, a little bit, in the second set, where I think everybody felt like it's going to be one-set-all, and you never know where the match is going to go,” said Medvedev, who trailed 5-2 in the second. “Managed to save the set points. He missed one volley; I made one good point. And the match turned around completely.”

All in all, this encounter amounted to an opening act ahead of the headliner: No. 1 Novak Djokovic against No. 4 Alexander Zverev in the second semifinal Friday night.

That, Medvedev told the crowd, figured to be “a great match, so I advise everybody to see it.” He planned to watch it himself after having some dinner delivered.

Djokovic began the day 26-0 at major tournaments in 2021, with titles at the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon, and his sights on becoming the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam. Laver was seated in the President's Box at Arthur Ashe Stadium for Friday's matches.

Medvedev, a 25-year-old from Russia, was the runner-up to Djokovic at Melbourne Park in February and to Rafael Nadal at Flushing Meadows in 2019. This was Medvedev's third consecutive trip to the U.S. Open semifinals.

“I don’t think I played my best today,” said Medvedev, who has only dropped one set so far through six matches over the past two weeks, “but I’m really happy to be in the final.”

The 12th-seeded Auger-Aliassime is a 21-year-old from Canada who is coached by Nadal's uncle, Toni, and was appearing in a major semifinal for the first time.

Maybe the newness of it all affected him. Surely, Medvedev's play did, too.

Auger-Aliassime finished with 39 unforced errors — including 10 double-faults, three in the opening game alone — and just 17 winners.

Compare that to Medvedev's numbers, built with behind-the-baseline court coverage and slick strokes: 37 winners, 25 unforced errors.

“I had to play my best level — and even better — if I wanted to get a chance to win today. I didn't do it long enough,” said Auger-Aliassime, who was presented by the U.S. Tennis Association with its 2021 Sportsperson Award trophy Friday.

Troubled by Medvedev's precise serving, Auger-Aliassime finally earned a break point more than an hour in, and a double-fault handed over a 4-2 lead, which quickly became 5-2. But when Auger-Aliassime served for that set at 5-3, he couldn’t get over the line, even after going up 30-love and 40-30.

“The only thing I was thinking: ‘Don’t make an ace on the line, please, and I’m going to make you play,’” Medvedev said afterward.

Twice, Auger-Aliassime held a set point. Twice, he did not come through, most disconcerting when he missed what should have been a routine forehand volley, slapping it into the net. A bad backhand ultimately gave away that game.

Then, in the next game, Medevev said this is what was on his mind: “I have to just do everything at my best, even more than before, because that’s the moment where I could break him mentally. And that’s what happened.”

More mistakes — among them, a double-fault — contributed to Auger-Aliassime getting broken at love to trail 6-5. Medvedev then held to cap a five-game run and claim a two-set lead.

The match was 1 1/2 hours old and, essentially, over.

“Against a player like that, you don’t really have room for mistakes, room for losing your focus, which I did at the end of the second,” Auger-Aliassime said. “He took advantage of it and I didn’t get another chance after that.”

Medvedev and Zverev both are in search of a first Grand Slam title. Djokovic, meanwhile, was trying to win a 21st overall title from the sport's four most important tournaments, which would break the men's career mark she shares with Nadal and Roger Federer.

Zverev went into Friday on a 16-match winning streak, including a victory over Djokovic in the Tokyo Olympics semifinals on July 30 along the way to the gold medal. That was a best-of-three-sets match; in New York, the format is best-of-five for men.

The U.S. Open women's final is Saturday, with about as unlikely a matchup as there's ever been with a Grand Slam title on the line: 18-year-old qualifier Emma Raducanu of Britain vs. 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez of Canada.

Raducanu is ranked 150th, is playing in only her second major tournament and is the first player to go through qualifying and make it all the way to a title match. She hasn't dropped a set yet.

Fernandez is ranked 73rd, is in her seventh Slam appearance and is coming off three-set victories over four seeded opponents in a row: No. 3 Naomi Osaka, who won the U.S. Open in 2018 and last year; No. 16 Angelique Kerber, who won it in 2016; No. 5 Elina Svitolina and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.

It is the first Grand Slam final between two teenagers since the 1999 U.S. Open, when Serena Williams, 17, won the first of her 23 major championships by defeating Martina Hingis, 18.

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Attorney William Kent joined Brown’s defense after her 2017 conviction on 18 felony counts related to an alleged charity scam.

Brown was sentenced to five years in prison but was released last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 7-4 decision, reversed Brown’s conviction in May sending the case back to the district court for a possible re-trial.

Federal prosecutors have filed a motion asking for a status conference in the case, in light of that decision.

READ: Motion by federal prosecutors for hearing

Kent, who did not oppose the request for the status conference, told prosecutors that he’s told Brown the court will ask about the status of her legal representation during any status conference.

A judge has yet to set a date for the hearing.

Federal prosecutors have not yet said if they will retry Brown on fraud and tax charges.

CONMEBOL's resistance to doubling the frequency of World Cups is striking given its president, Alejandro Domínguez, proposed the same concept to FIFA in 2018. Now CONMEBOL thinks that biennial World Cups would lower the quality of the competition.

“There is no sporting justification for shortening the period between World Cups,” CONMEBOL said in a statement that did not say if it was signed off by the 10 countries in the confederation.

“Although at some point CONMEBOL supported the project in question, technical analysis showed that it is highly unviable.”

European governing body UEFA has threatened to boycott the World Cup if FIFA doesn't stick with holding it every four years.

There was some backing on Friday from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

“You don’t have to criminalize the ideas,” he said. “World Cup is amazing, the biggest tournament, I enjoy it as a spectator always watching. If I could watch it every two years, that would be good.”

But Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp seems sure why FIFA is so determined to gain support for the plan, and he's not pleased by apparent financial motivations.

“In the end,” he said, “it’s all about money, that’s how it is.”

Across in Germany, Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann was as concerned about the impact on FIFA's flagship events if the frequency was doubled.

“I’m no friend of that,” Nagelsmann said. “On the one hand, it affects the overload on players and there’s a devaluation of the World Cup. If it takes place more often, it doesn’t have the same significance.”

That's the type of dissent Arsene Wenger hasn't highlighted in presentations to media this week during what FIFA calls a consultation process. The former Arsenal manager, in his role as FIFA’s chief of global football development, is advancing a vision that so concerns two of the game's current great coaches.

Klopp is a respected figure in FIFA. Just three weeks ago, Klopp was being honored by FIFA, receiving the men's coach of the year award from Wenger.

“There’s not another sport in world I’m sure with such a relentless calendar, no physical sport,” Klopp said. “There are more demanding sports in the world, like athletics, marathon runs, all kind of things of course. But they don’t run 20, 30 or 40 a year, of course not and other physical sports don’t have this calendar.

“We all know why it’s happening whatever people say that it is about giving different countries the opportunity, that’s why we have more teams in the World Cup.”

But ultimately Klopp sees those political arguments as a mask for attempts to generate more cash for FIFA.

“That’s fine,” he said. "We do it not because of money but because we love it. That’s why we started it but of course we get lots of money as well.

“But in the end at one point, somebody has to start understanding that without the players — the most important ingredients of this wonderful game — we cannot play it, that’s how it is ... nobody is more important than the players."

FIFA flew former players into Qatar during this week as part of a nominal consultation process.

Brazil great Ronaldo, former Denmark goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and Australia record scorer Tim Cahill were enlisted for a news conference backing changing the four-year World Cup cycle in place since the first edition in 1930.

But such clear support is less evident from active figures in the sport.

“There’s the flood of scheduling, which is getting more and more and is sometimes hard to control," Nagelsmann said. "We all have to, most of all in Germany and at FC Bayern, try to stay within sensible financial boundaries. If we have more and more games, whether it’s national or international games, then the squad just has to get bigger and bigger and you have a cost explosion. That all has to be capped and it’s not that simple.”

Wenger has argued that FIFA's priorities were less travel for players and less disruption for their clubs plus giving young talent worldwide more meaningful games. The current system — that typically sees players based in Europe taking long-haul flights home throughout the season in short breaks for national-team games — could be replaced by a single block of fewer qualifying games in October. International tournaments would occupy June each year.

It's unclear whether it needs more regular World Cups to introduce the mandatory 25-day vacation in July envisaged for players before rejoining their clubs.

“I think this flood of games doesn’t mean that the quality of individual games is better, but rather worse, and I think that if football becomes more unattractive, then in the end there will be less money flowing,” Nagelsmann said.

“People won’t be watching the TV as much and, if something else on TV is clearly more interesting than the football, because the players … can’t run any more, then that doesn’t do us any good.”

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“That’s just the story of my career: Being the underdog, not really being liked. I guess somebody has to be the villain,” Pierce said Friday, a day before he is to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “I’m comfortable with that.”

A 10-time All-Star and the MVP of the 2008 NBA finals, Pierce was in a class of 16 scheduled to be honored at the Springfield, Massachusetts, shrine Saturday night. Also giving the event a Celtics feel: Bill Russell, who is already in the Hall as a player, will be inducted as a coach, making him the fifth person to be honored for both roles.

Others to be inducted are Villanova coach Jay Wright, defensive Pistons star Ben Wallace, two-time NBA champion Chris Bosh, longtime Portland and Sacramento coach Rick Adelman, three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson, Washington and Sacramento All-Star Chris Webber and two-time Olympic gold medalist Yolanda Griffith.

The Hall’s committees, which are focused on preserving all areas of the game, have also selected former WNBA commissioner Val Ackerman, longtime coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, scouting pioneer Howard Garfinkel to be inducted as contributors. Clarence “Fats” Jenkins was picked by the Early African American Pioneers Committee, Croatian Chicago Bulls star Toni Kukoc was tabbed by the International Committee, Bob Dandridge by the Veterans Committee and Pearl Moore from the Women’s Veterans Committee.

Pierce has long held a grudge over slipping in the draft — behind such players as Michael Olowokandi (first), Raef LaFrentz (third) and Robert Traylor (sixth). But he conceded on Friday that it worked out for the best.

“I'm happy with my role. It made me who I am: a guy that’s going to scratch and claw. I earned everything I got,” he said during the pre-induction news conference at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Friday.

“When you talk about iconic sports franchises ... I couldn’t’ have asked for a better place to land,” said Pierce, who is second only to John Havlicek on the Celtics' scoring list. “I wouldn’t be the player I am today, I wouldn’t be standing here, if there was any other path.”

Ackerman had worked for the NBA and USA Basketball when she was named the first president of the newly created WNBA in 1996. She guided the startup for its first decade, helping it survive where other women’s leagues have faltered.

“To see them at 25 is first and foremost a feeling of great pride,” said Ackerman, who is now the Big East commissioner. “To see how women’s sports have evolved, and with the 50th anniversary of Title IX that’s another cause for celebration. ... It has been really, really great to see.”

Wright was selling tickets for a USFL team when a friend turned down a college coaching offer and passed along Wright’s name instead.

“I was one day on the job at the University of Rochester, and I knew I loved this,” said Wright, who led Villanova to the 2016 and '18 NCAA titles. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do for a living.”

Webber went from Michigan's Fab Five freshman class to play 17 seasons in the NBA. He even noted the most ignominious moment of his career: The extra timeout he called in the 1993 NCAA championship game against North Carolina.

“Calling timeout, one of the worst moments you can have, 60 days later to be drafted, it was a whirlwind,” he said. “I really did enjoy the journey. The ups and downs and everything that came with it.”

Wallace broke down in tears while talking about his road from Virginia Union to a four-time defensive player of the year who won the 2004 NBA title with the Pistons. Going undrafted, he said, was a blessing.

“Either you’re going to find your true strength, or you’re going to prove to me why you want to be here,” he said. “There’s moments on your journey when you have to ... stay on your path. If there’s a roadblock in your path, you’ve got to find a way to overcome that roadblock.”

Kukoc joined the Michael Jordan-led Bulls midway through their run of six NBA titles in eight years. Although he was a three-time MVP of the European League Final Four, his new teammates were skeptical.

“When we came here it was different times. People didn’t know about us,” he said. “We were pioneers. ... It was a time when the NBA became a global game, not just an American game. And it became open to the entire world.”

Adelman was told he didn't have enough experience for the high school coaching jobs he was applying for but he landed a position at the Chemeketa Community College in Oregon. “Everything took off from that point on,” he said.

He signed on as an assistant to Hall of Famer Jack Ramsay's with the Trail Blazers in 1983, took over the top job in '89, and went on to win more than 1,000 games with Portland, Golden State, Sacramento, Houston and Minnesota.

The daughter of two Australian national team players, Jackson was the WNBA MVP three times and she also played for her homeland in four Olympics, winning three silver medals and a bronze.

“Mom and Dad are just over the moon,” she said.

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But some people have questions surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine and whether it affects a women’s ability to get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy.

So the claim we are putting to the Trust Index is can the COVID-19 vaccine lead to a miscarriage?

Certified nurse midwife Lindsay Leider said she understands the hesitancy of pregnant women not wanting to get the vaccine.

“You’re afraid to eat deli meat. You’re afraid to eat sushi. You’re afraid to drink milk. You’re afraid of just about everything during pregnancy. So, to do something that sounds new is scary, I totally understand it,” Leider said.

But she said they need it more than most.

“In pregnancy women are immunocompromised. That’s what helps let them stay pregnant. It doesn’t induce a miscarriage but lets them carry to term,” Leider said.

We know immunocompromised people are at a greater risk of getting severely sick from COVID-19, and a new study released Wednesday provides more evidence that COVID-19 shots are safe.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied more than 2,000 pregnant women who got vaccinated, while a second study done by HealthPartners Institute in Minneapolis looked at data from 105,000 pregnancies.

“It’s a new study, but it’s not new information,” Leider said.

The study revealed that with either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, there was no link between the vaccine and an increased risk of miscarriage.

“It’s saying that we know that there is a significant rate of women who, when they get pregnant, will miscarry. That is, unfortunately, just the facts. We were worried, when introducing anything new into the pregnancy, that we would also increase this risk of miscarriage, and the study shows that is not the case,” Leider said. “So we know, this helps, again, prove that the vaccine is not linked to any severe pregnancy complications.”

So, on the Trust Index, we are going to mark the claim that the COVID-19 vaccine can cause a miscarriage as not true.

Leider said that not only does the vaccine not cause miscarriages, but there is no scientific evidence to prove that it causes poor pregnancy outcomes, infertility or negative side effects to the child. In fact, there is evidence that mothers who get the vaccine can pass along antibodies to their baby, protecting them from the coronavirus from birth.

After review, we've found this information is Not True.

What is the Trust Index?

Janie Williams, Gilmore’s cousin, was at home when she got a call from her grandmother.

“She gave me a call and she told me he had been shot and I rushed over to his mom’s house,” Williams recalled.

For nearly a year, no one had been arrested until Aug 28. Cierra Pauline Washington, 30, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and armed robbery, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

“I was just so happy, the whole family, we were just so happy,” Williams said of the arrest.

According to the arrest warrant, Gilmore had used a friend’s phone and agreed to meet Washington on Rampart Road on Sept. 5, 2020. The location was 3/4 of a mile from the gas station where investigators said Washington tried to use the credit card that Gilmore’s friend had given him.

According to the warrant, Gilmore was in a dispute with a man named Elijah over an SUV. The warrant states that Elijah told Washington and another person about the dispute but told police he never told anyone to kill Gilmore.

Williams said the arrest is a step toward justice for the family.

Washington’s arraignment is set for Sept. 20.

The governor made his comments while speaking to the Palm Valley American Legion post near Ponte Vedra Beach. He was there to talk to the members about Sept. 11 and the role of local veterans and first responders.

After President Joe Biden called Republican governors “cavalier” for resisting his call for far-reaching new federal coronavirus vaccine requirements he hopes will curb the surging delta variant, DeSantis reacted.

“I would say, generally, that when you are taking action that’s unconstitutional and threatening the jobs of people in my state. Many many thousands of jobs. I am standing for them. We are going to protect their jobs against federal overreach.” DeSantis said. “This is a guy who criticizes the state of Florida for protecting parents’ rights. Yet here he comes from Washington, D.C., instituting an unprecedented (mandate). That’s not leadership.”

DeSantis says the vaccine mandate for employees of companies with 100 or more employees will drive people out of work. He referenced hospital workers who could end up without a job.

DeSantis believes the vaccine mandate will lose in court but he says there needs to be action now. He should nobody should lose their job based on the president’s mandate.

I think the problem I have with Joe Biden more than anything is that guy does not take responsibility for anything,” DeSantis said.

Biden make his remarks about the governors without mentioning any names while visiting a public school just a short drive from the White House to make the case for new rules he set out a day earlier that could impact 100 million Americans.

“I am so disappointed that particularly some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities,” Biden said during a visit to Brookland Middle School in northeast D.C. “This isn’t a game”

Asked on Friday about potential legal maneuvering to stop enforcement of the new vaccine requirements, Biden shot back: “Have at it.”

Other Republicans, including Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp, and some union officials, also say Biden is overreaching his authority. Biden said they were shirking their responsibility to young Americans.

The new federal vaccine requirements would affect private-sector employees as well as health care workers and federal contractors.

First lady Jill Biden, who joined the president for the school visit, echoed Biden's message that getting more Americans vaccinated was essential to keep schools open and helping working parents.

“We owe them a promise to keep their schools open as safe as possible,” the first lady said. “We owe them a commitment to follow the science. We owe them unity so that we can fight the virus, not each other.”

Speaking at the White House Thursday, Biden sharply criticized the tens of millions of Americans who are not yet vaccinated, despite months of availability and incentives.

“We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us," he said, all but biting off his words. The unvaccinated minority “can cause a lot of damage, and they are.”

There have also been strong words of praise for Biden’s efforts to get the nation vaccinated from the American Medical Association, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Roundtable — though no direct mention of his mandate for private companies.

The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated.

Biden is also requiring vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government — with no option to test out. That covers several million more workers.

New4Jax talked Friday with area businesses about how they planned to respond to the vaccine mandate. Most, such as banks, some manufactures and the JEA are waiting to see how this plays out in the upcoming weeks.

Biden has encouraged COVID-19 vaccine requirements in settings like schools, workplaces and university campuses. On Thursday, the Los Angeles Board of Education voted to require all students 12 and older to be fully vaccinated in the nation’s second-largest school district.

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said in late July it was requiring all workers at its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, as well as its managers who travel within the U.S., to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 4. But the company had stopped short of requiring shots for its frontline workers.

CVS Health said in late August it would require certain employees who interact with patients to be fully vaccinated by the end of October. That includes nurses, care managers and pharmacists.

In the government, several federal agencies have previously announced vaccine requirements for much of their staffs, particularly those in healthcare roles like the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Pentagon moved last month to require all service members to get vaccinated. Combined, the White House estimates those requirements cover 2.5 million Americans. Thursday’s order is expected to affect nearly 2 million more federal workers and potentially millions of contractors.

A U.S. government document viewed by The Associated Press warned the development would have a severe impact on an evacuation that since Aug. 15 has moved many thousands of people out of Taliban-held Afghanistan, but also been grindingly drawn out for Afghan evacuees and Americans alike, and was plagued by attacks and other deadly violence.

The decision was made by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the halt stemmed from discovery of measles among four Afghans who had arrived in the United States. It was not immediately clear from Psaki's remarks whether the stop applied to flights from all transit sites overseas, or only two of the biggest ones, in Qatar and in Germany.

Customs and Border Protection spokespeople did not immediately respond to questions, including how long the halt would last.

The development had American officials overseas Friday removing from planes Afghan families who already had struggled through a grueling, dangerous escape to safety after Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15. Afghans faced Taliban checkpoints and crushing crowds to enter the Kabul airport. A suicide attack at an airport gate killed 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. military members.

A government document viewed by The Associated Press said the halt would “severely impact” operations at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, one of the biggest transit sites. It also said U.S.-bound flights would stop from the U.S. al-Udeid base in Qatar.

Many thousands of Afghan evacuees airlifted out of Kabul are still en route to new homes in the United States. Some face relocation for further screening in Kosovo.

The government document said the flight halt announced Friday would an “adverse effect” on the nearly 10,000 evacuees at Ramstein. It noted many have been there more than 10 days and are increasingly fatigued.

Germany had set a 10-day limit for Afghans to stay at the U.S. base, but the time has appeared more as a guideline than a hard deadline. Some German politicians and media grumbled when some Afghans asked for asylum after reaching Germany.

Germany and Qatar, along with Italy, Spain, Kosovo, Kuwait and other countries, agreed to temporarily host U.S. processing sites for evacuees after Kabul fell, after allies initially balked over worries of getting stuck with U.S. security problems. Refugee groups have criticized the Biden administration for not bringing the Afghan evacuees to U.S. territory for screening.

Processing at many of the transit sites largely appears to be taking place in a peaceful and orderly fashion.

It was not clear Friday if the halt would affect evacuation flights from Kabul itself. Friday was only the second day that the Taliban have allowed evacuation flights to leave the country, after the frantic U.S. military-led airlifts ended with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on Aug. 30.

National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said Friday that 32 Americans and U.S. green-card holders had left Afghanistan on Friday, 19 on a Qatar Airways flight and 13 others by land.

The U.S. government believes about 100 American citizens remain in Afghanistan, a State Department spokeswoman, Jalina Porter, said.

It was the same number the U.S. had given before this week's evacuation flights took out Americans. Porter said she could not immediately explain why the number had not changed.

Vaccination campaigns prevent major measles outbreaks in the United States, but measles can be a deadly disease for adults and children in countries where violence or other obstacles block immunization. Hundreds of Afghan children have died of measles in some recent years.

Psaki said the United States was requiring measles vaccinations for entry to the United States, and that Afghans were receiving other immunizations at U.S. military bases before heading to new homes around the country. Officials were exploring vaccinating people while still overseas, she said.

——

Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

Around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, police said they got a call about a suspicious man with a weapon. According to a spokesperson with the Glynn County Police Department, the responding officers didn’t know the man, Rajon Cherry, had autism when they got there.

Body camera footage shows Cherry being tasered at least six times over the course of about 10 minutes as officers scream for him to get on the ground and stop resisting.

Cherry’s family told News4Jax they believe the situation was avoidable.

His mom said didn’t understand their commands -- and she’s now calling for officers to be trained to interact with those on the autism spectrum.

“I’m driving over there, and all I could think is, and I’m asking God, ‘Please don’t let my son die like this,’” Cherry’s mother, Sherril Johnson, said.

She describes her son as a gentle giant.

“I have never gotten any bad report from anyone about Rajon being aggressive or trying to fight them or throw anything,” she said.

When an officer responded, police video shows Cherry walked toward him while holding a metal object. His mother said he was holding a spoon.

“He had his favorite spoon,” she said. “That was his spoon.”

Experts say some with autism might be attached to unusual objects.

Johnson said Cherry’s autism accounts for the behavior that alerted police to the scene that night.

Police say a caller reported he was “flipping out.” Johnson said his movements are a coping mechanism.

“Just look at the movie Rain Man. They stim and they rock. It helps with their sensory (perception),” Johnson said.

She said he didn’t understand officers’ commands to get on the ground.

Cherry’s sister and other bystanders tried to tell officers about his condition on the scene.

“You ain’t helping!” an officer is heard saying.

“He’s autistic! What are y’all doing?” the bystander said.

“You ain’t helping!” the officer responded.

Cherry’s sister said he slipped down the road that night as they were getting ready to go to dinner when police confronted him.

“As far as people’s comments saying that I should have done this or I should have done that, all I can say to them is: if you ever walked in my shoes, then you come back and reply to me,” Johnson said.

She said officers were too quick to react that night and that they need to be trained on how to recognize and respond to those who may have special needs.

“Look over my color. Look over my disability. Look over all of that… Let’s learn how to treat each other as human beings,” Johnson said. “Just the humanity of it was awful. You didn’t even treat my son as a human being.”

A spokesperson with the Glynn County Police Department did not respond to News4Jax’s request for comment.

Johnson said a medical exam didn’t show any issues with her son’s heart or blood pressure after being tasered, but they don’t know the long-term effects. She said he’s now scared to be alone.

The Orleck museum ship will be dry-docked at Port Arthur, Texas, where its hull will be inspected to make sure it can make the trip to Florida and continue to serve as a museum ship. According to a news release, the drydocking of the ship is planned for Nov. 1.

Inspection of the ship is expected to be completed by Nov. 3 or 4. If found fit for use as a museum ship, it will then embark on a 10-day tow from Texas to Florida.

The ship will then be moored stern in, starboard side to “Pier 1,″ which is adjacent to the Berkman Marina along East Bay Street in the old Shipyards area in Downtown Jacksonville. The exact date of arrival still remains unclear.

Preparation work of the museum once it’s docked at the pier is expected to take two to four weeks, but it could be extended.

According to the news release, the Jacksonville Naval Museum will feature the “US Navy Cold War Experience,” which is represented by the ex-USS Orleck.

The Orleck, a WWII era Gearing Class destroyer, was heavily modified under the Fleet Rehabilitation and Maintenance program in the early 1960′s. The Orleck embodies the Korean War, Vietnam War and Cold War periods in U.S. Navy history having served in all three.

The Orleck is the most decorated post-World War II ship ever built and was awarded 18 battle stars. After the Orleck’s US Naval service, she was transferred to the Turkish Navy and renamed the Yüctepe. It was transferred back to the U.S. in August 2000 to become a museum ship.

The museum will serve as a gathering place for Naval associations, crew reunions and military conventions. It will support veterans as a local resource and networking center.

The Historic Naval Ship Association said in its news release:

“We named it the ‘Jacksonville’ Naval Museum because it really is about our community coming together to celebrate our rich military history, inspire patriotism, and honor our veterans and active-duty service members. We look forward to bringing this ‘Bold Ship to the Bold City’ that once was home to many Cold War era workhorses like the Oliver Hazard Perry Frigates, P-3 Orions, and MH-60 Seahawks. We are excited for the community to enjoy stepping back to the time of the Cold War onboard this piece of living history! With Jacksonville’s large Naval community, we feel the Orleck is a fitting tribute and terrific match to call Jacksonville home!”

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a news conference Friday “it’s important that independently of different strategies, of different forms of contact, all countries are able to convey the same message and to engage with the Taliban in an effective way.”

He said the U.N. is “permanently engaging with the Taliban and we believe that a dialogue with the Taliban is absolutely essential at the present moment.”

Guterres said humanitarian aid is also essential and efforts must be made to prevent “an economic meltdown” in Afghanistan.

He said the country’s financial situation is “very difficult” and “it is essential to find ways, through some waivers or some mechanisms” to inject cash in the economy to avoid a meltdown.

Looking ahead, Guterres said, “what would be positive is to have simultaneously the formation in Afghanistan of an inclusive government” that respects previous international commitments by the Afghan state and takes into account concerns about terrorism, human rights and other issues leading to “a normalization of the relations of the international community with Afghanistan.”

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MORE ON AFGHANISTAN:

— Flight takes about 200, including Americans, out of Kabul

— Pentagon chief: al-Qaida may seek comeback in Afghanistan

— Analysis: Taliban hard-line path worsens Afghanistan dilemma

— As flights resume, plight of Afghan allies tests Biden’s vow

— Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/afghanistan

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ANKARA, Turkey — The U.N. refugee agency chief said Friday the UNHCR will engage with the Taliban in order provide assistance to millions of displaced Afghans.

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations’ high commissioner for refugees, also said his agency has so far not observed large numbers of Afghans trying to cross into other countries but warned that the situation could change if conditions in the country deteriorate.

“The priority number one for my organization is to step up, scale up our humanitarian work to help those displaced... Winter is coming. It is very cold in Afghanistan during winter,” Grandi said.

He said: “And in order to do that, UNHCR, like other humanitarian organizations, will engage, will discuss with the Taliban. We will discuss with anybody that controls an area where there are people in need.”

The UNHCR chief made the comment in the Turkish province of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria, at the end of a four-day visit to the Turkey.

Turkey, which already hosts some 3.7 Syrian refugees and some 300,000 Afghan migrants, has expressed concern over the potential of large numbers of Afghans heading its way.

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s foreign minister says the international community is not in a hurry to recognize the Taliban government, although it has a desire to engage with it.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke at a joint news conference after holding talks with his Spanish counterpart José Manuel Albares in the capital, Islamabad.

Qureshi said that he had come to this belief after having meetings with diplomats from various countries. He said that “people are watching, they are waiting, they are looking at the unfolding events of Afghanistan.”

Qureshi said “I see a desire to engage but not a rush to recognize” the Taliban.

In his remarks, Albares said Spain wants to see a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.

He also said Spain wanted safe transit for those who wanted to leave Afghanistan to travel to Spain.

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MOSCOW — Russia’s top diplomat says the foreign is not recommending that an official delegation be sent from Moscow to a ceremony inaugurating a new government in Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week appeared to suggest that Russia could send high-level representation to such a ceremony if the Taliban formed a government that sufficiently represented the country’s ethnic groups.

But on Friday he was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying he envisioned only representation by Russia’s ambassador.

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BERLIN — German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle says 10 of its correspondents in Afghanistan have left the country for Pakistan, after it was previously unable to get them out of Kabul by air.

Deutsche Welle said in a statement Friday that the journalists, including its only female correspondent in Afghanistan, were able to leave on Thursday.

It didn’t detail how exactly they got out of Afghanistan, but said that “due to a variety of reasons” an evacuation by air had not worked out. The group had waited unsuccessfully outside the Kabul airport for days.

As a result, the broadcaster said, “all options were explored to get the group out of the country by another route.”

Deutsche Welle director general Peter Limbourg thanked the German government, “without whom this evacuation would not have been possible,” and Qatar, which he said made an “enormous effort.” He said authorities in Islamabad had granted permission for the evacuation of the families on humanitarian grounds.

The evacuated correspondents are to be taken to Bonn, Germany. The broadcaster said it is in talks with authorities to bring relatives of the employees of its Dari and Pashto services to Germany, as well as two correspondents and their families who had returned to their hometowns after weeks of waiting in Kabul.

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MADRID — Spain’s foreign minister is in Islamabad for talks with Pakistani officials aimed at easing the transit of Afghan people who worked with Spain before Afghanistan’s fall into the hands of the Taliban.

Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares is scheduled to hold meetings with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and his counterpart, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, among other officials.

In a video released by the Spanish ministry, Albares said that the goal was to hold talks “with one of the main key players in the region” and find ways to “leave no one behind.” The minister said he would give assurances to the Pakistani government that Spain’s embassy would deal fast with Afghans who worked for the country in order for them not to become a burden for Pakistan.

Albares’ is the first trip by a Spanish foreign minister to Pakistan in 70 years of diplomatic relations.

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s foreign minister says it is the collective responsibility of the international community to help Afghanistan to avert a humanitarian crisis.

In a statement Friday, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that despite having limited resources, Pakistan a day earlier sent a plane carrying food and medicines to Kabul. Qureshi said more such aid will be dispatched to Afghanistan via land routes.

Qureshi made his comments ahead of the visit of his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, who was expected to arrive in the capital, Islamabad, later Friday, for talks on Afghanistan.

Qureshi said that a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan wouldn’t be anyone’s interest — in the region or in the world.

Pakistan wants the international community to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets to enable Kabul use its own money to avert a worsening humanitarian crisis.

The Taliban government currently does not have access to the Afghanistan central bank’s $9 billion in reserves, most of which is held by the New York Federal Reserve. These reserves were blocked amid last month’s political turmoil in Afghanistan.

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UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations development agency says Afghanistan is teetering on the brink of “universal poverty” which could become a reality in the middle of next year unless urgent efforts are made to bolster local communities and their economies.

It said the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has put 20 years of steady economic gains at risk.

The U.N. Development Program outlined four scenarios for Afghanistan following the Taliban’s Aug. 15 assumption of power that predict the country’s GDP will decline between 3.6% and 13.2% in the next fiscal year starting in June 2022, depending on the intensity of the crisis and how much the world engages with the Taliban. That is in sharp contrast to the expected 4% growth in GDP before the fall of the government.

“Afghanistan pretty much faces universal poverty by the middle of next year,” Kanni Wignaraja, UNDP’s Asia-Pacific Director, told a news conference Thursday launching its 28-page assessment. “That’s where we’re heading -- it’s 97-98% (poverty rate) no matter how you work these projections.”

Currently, the poverty rate is 72% and Wignaraja pointed to many development gains after the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001: Per capita income more than doubled in the last 20 years, life expectancy at birth was extended by about nine years, the number of years of schooling rose from six to 10, “and we got women into university.”

But she said Afghanistan now faces “a humanitarian and development disaster” resulting from political instability, frozen foreign reserves, a collapsed public finance system, “a crush on local banking because of this,” as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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UNITED NATIONS — The United States has a message for the Taliban: If it lives up to all its commitments, brings greater stability to Afghanistan and the region, demonstrates widespread inclusion, and protects the gains of the last 20 years “we’ll work with it.”

But U.S. deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who delivered the message at a U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday, stressed that “any legitimacy and support will have to be earned.”

He said the standards the international community has set are clear and include facilitating safe passage for Afghans and foreign nationals who want to leave Afghanistan and respecting the country’s obligations under international humanitarian law “including those related to the protection of civilians.”

“We’re watching closely to see that those standards are met,” he said.

DeLaurentis told the council that following the U.S. withdrawal and the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan needs the United Nations and the U.N. political mission in the country “more than ever.”

He said “the United States remains committed to the people of Afghanistan,” and as the country’s largest humanitarian donor it is helping partners on the ground provide assistance, “but the needs are vast.”

With the diplomatic footprint in the country reduced, DeLaurentis said, “the U.N. has a vitally important role to play” not only in coordinating aid but in preventing human rights violations and abuses and pursuing accountability for those that have occurred, and in protecting children and civilians.

Kendall Jenner opened Friday's show in a timeless sleek black pencil skirt with a thin leather belt fastened around the waist and a simple bra. Other looks included an oversized pink fuzzy sweater with a wide turtle neck, a modernized circle skirt, a monochromatic checkered blazer and mini skirt, with each piece embodying romantic silhouettes and fabrics in a sophisticated and charming way.

Held at Central Park's Tavern on the Green, the show highlighted a cozy and warm environment with lush green arches adorned with blush pink roses and whites peonies. The structured and sharply tailored clothes mirrored the venue in its light and nostalgic vibe.

Models like Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Imaan Hammam, and Precious Lee were draped in gowns and skirts in subdued color palettes of black, white, pink, tan and a dash of baby blue and prints — keeping the collection right on par for the spring and summer season.

Hadid closed the show in a black ankle-length cross-front gown with hand-embroidered sequins.

Kate Hudson, Hailee Steinfeld, Lucy Hale and Olivia Holt were among the stars at the show, which included a performance from Arianna Debose, who sang classic jazz love songs like Nat King Cole's “L-O-V-E."

Kors recalled names like Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman and Jackie Kennedy as inspirations for the timeless line.

But most of all, Kors emphasized that style is back after a year of coronavirus-related shutdowns plagued the city's arts and culture venues.

“I started seeing people getting dressed up to just go out and have a hamburger, just the joy of expressing yourself through fashion," he said. "Comfort is a big part of American fashion always. So how do we combine feeling polished, glamorous and dressed up but never give up comfort?”

To Kors, regardless of what chaos is happening in the world, he says he hopes his work and latest collection helps people feel comfortable regardless of their size or age.

“I think everyone just wants to feel good about themselves, wants to have fun, and also wants to buy something that makes them feel great but lasts, something that stands the test of time,” he said. “Because the idea of something disposable, to me, is just, it’s an affront, you know, fashion is not meant to be disposable.”

“This was a very clear and relatively easy decision for the eight continuing members of the Big 12,” Texas Tech President Lawrence Schovanec said Friday after that group unanimously approved applications from the four schools that sought membership after the league learned the Sooners and Longhorns will leave for the Southeastern Conference no later than July 2025.

Within hours of the Big 12 vote, all four formally accepted the invitations.

There had been no indication that Oklahoma and Texas, the only Big 12 teams to win football national championships, were looking to move until the reports emerged a week after Big 12 football media days in mid-July. By August, both had accepted formal invitations to join the SEC.

The moves prompted speculation that the Big 12 would soon be in a death spiral without its two most storied programs, at least in the revenue-producing sport of football. Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby had been largely quiet in recent weeks as the expansion was put in motion.

“Speaking purely on a personal level, I enjoy working with people that I trust, that I like and that I know share the values that I have for intercollegiate athletics,” Bowlsby said Friday.

BYU said all its sports will begin Big 12 schedules in the 2023-24 athletic season. BYU is an independent in football, but competes in the West Coast Conference for basketball and so-called Olympic sports like track and swimming.

Bowlsby said current American Athletic Conference teams UCF, Cincinnati and Houston will join no later than July 1, 2024, but he “certainly wouldn’t foreclose” on the possibility of them coming in a year earlier with BYU.

The AAC requires members to give 27 months’ notice if they plan to leave the league, though there could be negotiations between the schools and that league to reduce that time.

AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said the league expected Houston, Cincinnati and UCF to “abide by the conference bylaws to ensure an amicable and orderly transition” as the league considers its options.

“Today’s news confirms what we have said all along regarding our status as a power conference,” Aresco said. “The irony that three of our schools are being asked to take the place of the two marquee schools which are leaving the Big 12 is not lost on us. Our conference was targeted for exceeding expectations in a system that wasn’t designed to accommodate our success.”

The four schools were among 11 interviewed by the Big 12 in 2016 when it considered expansion before staying at 10 teams.

Bowlsby described that process five years ago as “a voyage of exploration," but said the decision by Texas and Oklahoma to leave prompted renewed consideration of available options.

BYU President Kevin Worthen said the Big 12′s expansion study five years ago made the process much faster and easier this time. Cougars athletic director Tom Holmoe said that failed attempt to get into the Big 12 turned out to be a “launching point.”

The Longhorns and Sooners have said they will honor their current contracts with the Big 12 and do not plan to join the SEC until 2025, when the conference’s current television rights contracts with ESPN and Fox run out. That means the Big 12 could have up to 14 members for a season or two.

Bowlsby said the Big 12 will take the departing schools at their word “and if it turns out that that isn’t the case, we feel like we have the necessary legal prerogatives to manage it as we see fit at the time that it occurs.”

The Big 12 distributed about $345 million of total revenue between its 10 members for the 2020-21 academic year that was greatly affected by the pandemic.

Asked about the potential value of media rights for the new conference without Texas and Oklahoma, Bowlsby didn’t offer specific numbers but said the league added as much as it could in football and more to arguably the best basketball conference in the country that already has reigning men's national champion Baylor and perennial power Kansas.

“I think live sports is always going to be a valuable commodity, and if you have live sports with competition among the very best universities you can put together in an alliance, you have a chance to go forward and do good things,” he said.

As for possible future expansion, Bowlsby said the league was ready if there "are targets of opportunity or as there are situations that dictate that we would change composition.”

With the four additions, the Big 12 will be spread across eight states and three time zones. There are more than 2,300 miles between the Central Florida campus in Orlando and BYU in Provo, Utah. Once settled in the Big 12, the Knights and Cougars will both face average trips of around 1,300 miles each way for conference games.

West Virginia still will average about 1,100 miles each way on the road, but the Mountaineers at least picked up a relatively short trip with Cincinnati from Morgantown. Houston faces much shorter trips for its Texas-based foes.

“Joining the Big 12 Conference is a historic step in our institutional journey and signifies the tremendous growth and success attained academically and athletically over the last decade,” Houston Chancellor Renu Kahtor said.

Half the league’s 12 charter members will remain when Texas and Oklahoma are gone.

The Big 12 began play in 1996, when all Big Eight teams (Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) joined four Texas schools from the old Southwest Conference (Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M; and Texas Tech) to form a new league split into six-team divisions.

Arkansas had left the SWC to join an expanded 12-team SEC, starting play there with South Carolina in the 1992 season. The SEC is now set to grow to 16 teams, with its last four additions all coming from the Big 12.

The Big 12 has been a 10-team league since the last significant round of realignment a decade ago that started with Nebraska going to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-12, before Texas A&M; and Missouri left for the SEC. TCU and West Virginia are both now in their 10th Big 12 season.

With 10 teams, the Big 12 has played round-robin schedules in football and basketball. The top two teams in the standings advance to the conference's football championship game. Bowlsby acknowledged that the league will likely be going back to divisions with the additions.

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AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed to this report.

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More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25.

One study tracked over 600,000 COVID-19 cases in 13 states from April through mid-July. As delta surged in early summer, those who were unvaccinated were 4.5 times more likely than the fully vaccinated to get infected, over 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Vaccination works,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC’s director, told a White House briefing Friday. “The bottom line is this: We have the scientific tools we need to turn the corner on this pandemic.”

But as earlier data has shown, protection against coronavirus infection is slipping some: It was 91% in the spring but 78% in June and July, the study found.

So-called "breakthrough” cases in the fully vaccinated accounted for 14% of hospitalizations and 16% of deaths in June and July, about twice the percentage as earlier in the year.

An increase in those percentages isn’t surprising: No one ever said the vaccines were perfect and health experts have warned that as more Americans get vaccinated, they naturally will account for a greater fraction of the cases.

Walensky said Friday that well over 90% of people in U.S. hospitals with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

CDC released two other studies Friday that signaled hints of waning protection for older adults. One examined COVID-19 hospitalizations in nine states over the summer and found protection for those 75 and older was 76% compared to 89% for all other adults. And in five Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, protection against COVID-19 hospitalizations was 95% among 18- to 64-year-olds compared to 80% among those 65 and older.

It isn't clear if the changes seen over time are because immunity is waning in people first vaccinated many months ago, that the vaccine isn’t quite as strong against delta -- or that much of the country abandoned masks and other precautions just as delta started spreading.

But U.S. health authorities will consider this latest real-world data as they decide if at least some Americans need a booster, and how soon after their last dose. Next week, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will publicly debate Pfizer’s application to offer a third shot.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Biden announced sweeping new orders Thursday that will require employers with more than 100 workers to mandate vaccinations against COVID-19 or offer weekly testing. The new rules could affect as many as 100 million Americans, although it's not clear how many of those people are currently unvaccinated.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, says the vaccine mandate could go a long way to boost the economy.

“The evidence across countries is that more vaccinations means fewer infections, hospitalizations and deaths, which in turn means a stronger economy,’’ he said.

But even those who favor Biden's decision as a way to stop the coronavirus from spreading further are afraid that vaccination-averse workers will quit, or job seekers won't apply for their openings. Some workers may also switch to smaller companies where shots in the arm aren’t required.

“In a tight marketplace, it's very difficult to find employees, much less to keep our current employees,” said Jonathan Chariff, CEO of South Motors, a group of 12 auto dealerships in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area with more than 1,100 workers. “It's easy for them to go and find another job elsewhere.”

To be sure, the mandate could make some employees more comfortable working with others in tight spaces. Indeed, Chariff said his company supports Biden's move and wants to make sure all workers are vaccinated to keep them safe, especially after two employees died from the virus. However, the company decided against requiring them because of the labor shortage. Right now, Chariff has 80 to 100 openings.

Karl Wadensten, CEO of Richmond, Rhode Island-based VIBCO Vibrators, was an early adopter of masks, weekly virus testing and temperature checks at his manufacturing business and has encouraged vaccinations, but fears he’d lose employees if he forced them to get the jab.

Wadensten, whose company makes industrial vibrators used in dump trucks and other applications, said Friday he is waiting for more clarity about what the Biden orders will mean for his business, which has a small number of government contracts. His workforce has been hovering just above and below 100 employees, of whom about 85% are vaccinated.

“For that other 15%, it would be detrimental to their beliefs and values that they have,” he said.

Conversely, smaller companies see being exempt as an advantage. Like other businesses, Alan Dietrich, CEO of Crater Lake Spirits in Bend, Oregon, is facing staff shortages. He has a 36 workers, with an immediate need for two or three more.

“Being left out of the mandate is helpful for hiring,” he said. “We are still finding that a small but meaningful number of people in our area are vaccine hesitant, and staffing is so tough that even one person is significant to us.”

On the other hand, he said, the business is more susceptible to slowdowns or shutdowns due to positive tests. But a statewide mask mandate in Oregon “definitely helps keep our staff safer,” he said.

The Associated Press reached out to a wide range of companies since Thursday’s announcement. Many, like General Motors and Ford, said they favor vaccines but were analyzing the executive order. Others noted that they already require vaccinations.

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, was one of the first major companies to mandate vaccines for workers at its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, and its managers who travel within the U.S. must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 4. But it excluded front-line workers such as cashiers, who according to the company have a lower vaccination rate than management.

The tech industry has largely been at the forefront of vaccine requirements, making the sector in general a likely supporter of Biden’s policy on the issue. In late July, Google became one of the first major U.S. employers to decide all its workers needed to be vaccinated before returning to the office. Facebook quickly adopted a similar policy a few hours after Google took its hard stand on vaccines.

Angela B. Cornell, a clinical professor at Cornell Law School who focuses on labor law, said the mandates are a positive step for businesses.

“This shift will make it a lot easier for employers to push those individuals who have been on the fence or who have been opposed,” she said.

Companies won’t have to worry about being sued, since it’s a government mandate and not one from the employer, she said.

Per Biden’s order, the millions who work as employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government won’t have the option to get tested instead of taking the vaccine. The order also requires large companies to provide paid time off for vaccination.

Those who don’t work for federal contractors and are afraid of the vaccine can choose weekly testing instead, but many people who are simply hesitant are more likely to get immunized, said Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law who has studied vaccine mandates for nearly a decade.

“The testing is sufficiently burdensome that most of them would prefer just to be vaccinated,” she said.

Half of American workers favor of vaccine requirements at their workplaces, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Such mandates have already been gaining traction following the Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are available under emergency authorization, but haven't been formally approved.

Cole Stevenson, an assembly line worker at Ford's pickup truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan, said the requirement is a “huge overreach” by the government. He hasn't been vaccinated and is concerned that the vaccines were released before being properly tested.

“They just haven’t done as much as they should have to be putting it into people now,” said Stevenson, who plans to get tested weekly rather than get vaccinated. “I just don’t trust it.”

The COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the U.S. have in fact been proven safe and remarkably effective against the worst outcomes of the disease in studies of tens of thousands of people and in following their real-world performance.

More than 177 million Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, but confirmed cases of the virus have shot up in recent weeks. They’ve now reached an average of about 140,000 cases per day.

On average, about 1,000 Americans die from the virus daily, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 650,000 Americans have died from the virus since January of 2020, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Britton Durbin, a utility worker in Dunnellon, Florida, who is vaccinated, said mandates are needed to make sure workers are safe and the power company he works for can operate without being interrupted by people getting sick. His company hasn’t mandated vaccines yet, but has encouraged them. In the last couple of months, three colleagues have died of COVID-19.

“When I know my co-workers are vaccinated, it’s reassuring,” said Durbin, 32. “There’s less of a chance of them getting sick or passing on.”

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Associated Press Writers Anne D'Innocenzio, Joseph Pisani and Mae Anderson in New York, Zeke Miller and Paul Wiseman in Washington, D.C., Michael Liedtke in San Ramon, California, David Koenig in Dallas, Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, and Alex Veiga in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

This time, it could find some competition in the market from the Sun Belt when it starts courting new members.

Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston, three of the AAC’s most successful schools in the revenue-generating sports of football and men's basketball, announced Friday they would be joining the Big 12. The schools said the moves will come by July 1, 2024, at the latest.

Meanwhile, the Sun Belt Conference sent out signals it is open to adding to its 10-member football league.

“We think the Sun Belt couldn’t be in a better position for this moment," Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill told the AP. "As a league we’ve never been stronger. We certainly think that, particularly after these moves but even arguably before, we’ll be the best non-autonomy FBS conference in the country.”

The AAC has held the title of the best non-Power Five major college football conferences during the College Football Playoff era (2014-present). The American even touted itself as a peer to the P5 —- despite a massive gulf in revenue — with its Power Six campaign.

“Today’s news confirms what we have said all along regarding our status as a power conference,” AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said in a statement. “The irony that three of our schools are being asked to take the place of the two marquee schools which are leaving the Big 12 is not lost on us. Our conference was targeted for exceeding expectations in a system that wasn’t designed to accommodate our success."

UCF, Houston and Cincinnati account for four of the American’s five New Year’s Six Bowl appearances, and at least one has appeared in six of the conference’s seven football championship games. Cincinnati is currently ranked No. 7 in the country.

The three have also given the AAC clout on the court. Each has made the NCAA Tournament at least once in the last three years. Cincinnati is a tournament regular and Houston reached the Final Four in April.

“All three of these institutions have enjoyed unprecedented success as members of The American, as have our remaining schools,” Aresco said.

AAC bylaws require members to give 27 months' notice before leaving, but there is precedent for early departures and financial settlements between the schools and the league.

"Our expectation is to be playing football in the Big 12 in 2023,” Houston athletic director Chris Pezman told the Houston Chronicle.

In the last round of sweeping conference realignment, the Big East's prominent football schools such as Pittsburgh, Syracuse, West Virginia and Louisville were poached by the Power Five, and the conference's basketball-centric schools broke away from the remaining group.

Aresco, a former CBS executive, was hired during the turmoil in 2012 and managed to reconstruct a football-first conference by adding schools such as Houston, UCF, SMU, Tulane and Navy. It was rebranded the American Athletic Conference in 2013.

The AAC signed a 12-year, $1 billion agreement with ESPN in 2019 that seemed to solidify its status as the best of the so-called Group of Five conferences. It is unclear if that deal will remain as lucrative after Cincinnati, UCF and Houston depart, and whether the American could add schools to replace the lost value for ESPN.

"Our remaining schools are unwavering in their commitment to competing and succeeding at the highest level and we will not allow external factors to put a ceiling on our potential," Aresco said.

But how attractive is the American without the departing three schools and possibly a diminished TV contract?

Aresco tried to woo Boise State and San Diego State from the Mountain West into the American back in 2012. The American has also tried to persuade Army to join rival Navy in the AAC in the past. Air Force from the Mountain West would also be appealing.

UAB has remerged from the near-death of its football program to become the strongest team in Conference USA over the last three season. Plus, it's located in a market with a voracious appetite for watching college football in television.

The Sun Belt, meanwhile, is coming off its best football season ever in 2020, placing Coastal Carolina and Louisiana-Lafayette in the final AP Top 25.

Gill said the conference's university presidents and athletic directors met Thursday to discuss how the Sun Belt might be able to take advantage of the changing landscape.

“One of the things that we talked about is clearly if there are schools that add value to the Sun Belt, we'll certainly consider them for membership,” he said. “We're not necessarily looking to grow, but we certainly will be opportunistic.”

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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at https://APpodcast.com

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Thursday night's 31-29 victory by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the Dallas Cowboys averaged approximately 26 million viewers on NBC, Peacock and the NFL's digital platforms according to preliminary data from Nielsen and Adobe Analytics.

It is a 20% increase over last year's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texas and the largest audience for an NFL opener since the Pittsburgh Steelers-New England Patriots game in 2015 averaged 27.4 million.

Of course, the 2020 season was played during the pandemic, with empty stadiums presenting a strange viewing dynamic, and many people's viewing habits changing.

The average of 24.4 million viewers on NBC makes it television's most-watched show since February's Super Bowl on CBS. The audience peaked at 25.4 million between 9:45-10 p.m. ET.

Even though the league's new television deal doesn't officially kick in until 2023, some elements are taking effect this season, including Week 1 doubleheaders on both CBS and Fox. The featured 4:25 p.m. ET games will be Cleveland at Kansas City on CBS and Green Bay facing New Orleans in Jacksonville on Fox. The game was moved out of New Orleans due to Louisiana still recovering from Hurricane Ida.

The league has allowed doubleheaders on both CBS and Fox during the final week of the regular season. That means both networks will have 10 doubleheader weeks as the league expands to 17 games over 18 weeks for the first time.

Sunday will mark the first time CBS has had a Week 1 doubleheader since 2015. For many years it couldn't air a doubleheader on the opening week because it was carrying the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which now is on ESPN.

Mike North, the NFL's VP for broadcast planning and scheduling, said the individual numbers for CBS and Fox might be down in the late window because they both have a doubleheader, but the overall number for the league could increase.

Last season, the Week 1 Sunday afternoon games averaged 18.1 million while the entire slate for the week averaged 16.3 million. The ESPN Monday night numbers for its openers should improve because it is only one game and is also being simulcast on ABC. The Baltimore-Las Vegas game will also mark the debut of the Mannings' (Peyton and Eli) megacast feed on ESPN2.

“I think we’re cautiously optimistic about the season overall, considering what we saw and what we had to face last season. But I don’t know if we’re going to put a, you know, a stake in the ground as far as predicting a number," North said.

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The suspension came a day after Collins played his first game since 2019 in the Cowboys' opener, a 31-29 loss to defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay. Collins missed all of 2020 because of a hip issue that required surgery.

Collins won't be eligible until Week 8 against Minnesota, after Dallas' open week. The absence means the Cowboys will go at least 22 consecutive games without their top three linemen playing together.

Four-time All-Pro right guard Zack Martin, who played a career-low 10 games last year because of a calf injury, missed the opener after testing positive for COVID-19 five days before the game.

Left tackle Tyron Smith, a seven-time Pro Bowler, was limited to two games last season while undergoing neck surgery.

Dak Prescott threw for 402 yards and three touchdowns against the Buccaneers in his first game in 11 months after last season's gruesome ankle injury. But the Cowboys struggled to establish the run against Tampa, and will have another challenge without Collins.

Terence Steele played the most games in Collins' spot last season as a rookie, but the Cowboys also moved Martin to right tackle for a brief stint. Brandon Knight, who is on the COVID-19 reserve list with Martin, got most of the work at left tackle last year.

Collins was expected to be a high draft pick in 2015 out of LSU but wasn't selected after his name surfaced in the investigation of a woman's death. He was soon cleared and signed with the Cowboys as a free agent. Collins is on his third contract with the Cowboys.

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More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Note: There are variations in the day-to-day data reported by the Department of Public Health. Data are based on available information at the time of the report and may not reflect all cases or tests performed in Georgia on that particular day.

LINKS: Georgia DPH daily status report | Appointments for COVID-19 testing

At times, cases and deaths are removed from the overall running total reported by the Department of Public Health.

Southeast Georgia cases, deaths

The map below provides a closer, county-by-county look at Georgia, along with the other U.S. states.

Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, breathing trouble, sore throat, muscle pain, and loss of taste or smell. Most people develop only mild symptoms. But some people, usually those with other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms, including pneumonia.

For vaccination information, the Department of Public Health has information about the state’s mass vaccination sites, including the hours of operation. Appointments are mandatory and can be made by following this link.

The storm came ashore near San Jose del Cabo late Thursday as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph (155 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

But winds had dropped to 45 mph (75 kph) by Friday afternoon, when it was centered about 30 miles (45 kilometers) west-southwest of Cabo San Lazaro.

At least 700 local residents spent the night in shelters while while an estimated 20,000 foreign tourists hunkered down in their hotels.

State Civil Defense Deputy Secretary Carlos Alfredo Godínez said he had received no reports of lives lost.

The national electrical company reported the storm knocked out power to most customers in the state, but it was gradually being restored. Some hotels reported minor damage.

As the storm came ashore some motorists were stranded inside their cars in high water. But the Cabo San Lucas Fire Department reported only fallen trees and power lines.

Officials closed ports and schools in the area, suspended COVID-19 vaccinations and told many nonessential workers to stay home. Businesses had boarded up windows and people lined up for last-minute purchases in supermarkets ahead of the storm.

The Hurricane Center said the storm was expected to head up the western coast of the peninsula during the day and then veer out into the Pacific by night.

More than 500,000 people live in the La Paz-Los Cabos region and Lilzi Orcí, president of the Los Cabos Hotels Association, estimated that about 20,000 foreign tourists were in the area despite COVID-19 restrictions that kept hotels to less than 40% of capacity.

The Hurricane Center forecast 5 to 10 inches (12.5 to 25.5 centimeters) of rain on the southern part of the peninsula, with up to 15 inches (38 centimeters) in isolated spots, creating the danger of flash floods and mudslides.

Firefighters were diverted from the huge Caldor Fire south of Lake Tahoe to fight multiple overnight lightning fires throughout El Dorado County, according to the local unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The largest of those fires erupted in heavy brush in the steep terrain of Kanaka Valley. Rain from the storm cell helped firefighters and the fire's spread was stopped at less than 7 acres (2.8 hectares), Cal Fire said.

Another fire believed to have been sparked by lightning was burning in Mendocino County, north of San Francisco Bay. The Press Democrat reported it covered 8 acres (3.2 hectares) Friday morning.

Lightning blitzes can have disastrous outcomes in parched California. Last year's record amount of land burned included huge Northern California fires that were ignited when remnants of a tropical storm unleashed thousands of bolts.

A cluster of 2020 lightning fires known as the August Complex burned more than 1,615 square miles (4,182 square kilometers) and is considered the largest California wildfire on record.

The National Weather Service said there were more than 1,100 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in California between Thursday evening and Friday morning, including 110 in the Bay Area. Cloud-to-cloud flashes were too numerous to count.

Rainfall from the thunderstorms was no drought-buster but was welcome anyway.

The official downtown San Francisco rain gauge recorded 0.01 inch (0.25 millimeters) of rain by 5 a.m., marking the first time it has rained there on Sept. 10 since 1978, the weather service said. The most recent measurable September rain in the city happened in 2019.

In the Central Valley, Sacramento Executive Airport received 0.05 inch (1.27 millimeters) of rain by 8 a.m. The last time at least that much rain fell was 175 days earlier on March 18, the weather service said.

Thunderstorms with downpours also moved through parts of Southern California on Thursday and early Friday, triggering flash flood concerns for burn scars of past wildfires.

The threat of new lightning-sparked fires came as more than 13,000 firefighters were working to rein in 13 major fires and more than 12,700 residents were still waiting to return to evacuated homes, according to state agencies.

The Caldor Fire, the 15th-largest in state history, was 53% contained after burning more than 341 square miles (883 square kilometers) and destroying more than 1,000 structures, including hundreds of homes.

In the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades, the Dixie Fire covered more than 1,485 square miles (3,846 square kilometers). Second in size to the August Complex, it has destroyed more than 1,300 structures.

Cal Fire, meanwhile, announced that a fire that destroyed 142 structures in the Sierra last month was human-caused but that investigators were still working on details. The River Fire began Aug. 4 in a Placer County campground and burned 4 square miles (10.4 sq.km.) before it was contained Aug. 13.

A historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

President Joe Biden will survey fire damage during a visit to California next week in which he will also campaign for Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who faces a recall election on Tuesday.

They shared a love of the game and a connection to Canada, where Fernandez lived and Raducanu was born, helping build a quick relationship. But the teenagers have much more in common — maybe more than they realized.

They will attract an audience to their U.S. Open women's final Saturday that extends far beyond the fans who will be at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I just think that the matchup and what we’re seeing — those two ladies are touching a lot of young girls,” said Jorge Fernandez, Leylah’s father and coach.

People will be watching in Asia: The 18-year-old Raducanu's mother is from China and the 19-year-old Fernandez's is Filipino Canadian.

And in Latin America: Jorge Fernandez is from Ecuador.

And in Europe: Raducanu's father is from Romania.

And, of course, in Canada: Fernandez was born in Montreal (although she has been based in Florida for several years); Raducanu was born in Toronto and still holds a passport from that country (her family moved to England when she was 2).

Beyond being terrific tennis players, these teenagers are citizens of the world.

“This can only be good for the tennis game and for the WTA altogether,” said Jorge Fernandez, who answered questions during a Zoom interview Friday in English, Spanish and French.

Leylah Fernandez was relatively unknown in the Philippines and Ecuador before beating defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round. She has since drawn plenty of attention from local media in both countries, with mentions of her family's roots.

Char Abalos was among the fans who woke up early Friday in Manila to watch Fernandez beat No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in a semifinal match that took place Thursday night in New York.

“She looks very calm but at the same time cheerful in the court,” Abalos said, noting that many tennis players are often quick to frown. “Leylah is so calm, just making sure that the crowd is enjoying.”

The player who emerges Saturday as a new face of tennis will be a lot like last year's U.S. Open champion. Osaka was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Haitian father, with the family moving to New York when she was young.

Tennis also sent this year's finalists on the move — in Fernandez's case, her mother moved to California to help support the family while Leylah and her father remained in Canada to train.

Now, they live together in Florida, where Jorge Fernandez has remained during these two weeks while coaching from afar via phone conversations. He's noticed the messages of encouragement that in recent days included tweets from Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Leylah Fernandez didn't always have such support.

She remembers being in the fifth or sixth grade and being encouraged to quit spending so much time on her backhand and pay more attention to the blackboard.

“I remember one teacher, which was actually very funny — at the time wasn’t, but now I’m laughing,” Fernandez said. “She told me to stop playing tennis, ‘You will never make it and just focus on school.’”

Instead, her family dug in more, with Jorge Fernandez remembering his daughter winning a tournament at 12 that featured players who were 16. Perhaps that got her ready for a U.S. Open draw that featured three players ranked in the top five.

After beating all of them in three sets, including Osaka, her opponent is Raducanu, who wasn't even in the top 350 a few months ago. Nor was she even guaranteed to be in the U.S. Open a few weeks ago, having to play her way into the main draw through the qualifying rounds.

She is the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam final. Raducanu beat Fernandez in the junior Wimbledon tournament in 2018, but their skills — and fans — have only grown.

“Obviously since then, we’ve both come very far in our games and as people,” Raducanu said. “I’m sure it’s going to be extremely different to when we last encountered each other.”

This meeting is the first Grand Slam final between teenagers since the 1999 U.S. Open, when Serena Williams, 17, beat Martina Hingis, 18.

Fernandez will be trying to give Canada its second 19-year-old champion in three years, after Bianca Andreescu beat Williams to win the 2019 title.

If that match felt like a changing of the guard in women's tennis, well, Saturday's final seems like another sped-up version of that, pitting players born 2 months apart in 2002.

Raducanu still remembers watching the 2011 French Open final, when Li Na became the first player from Asia to win a Grand Slam singles title in a match viewed by more than 115 million people in China.

“I think for me, having a Chinese mom, she definitely instilled from a young age hard work, discipline,” Raducanu said. “I think for me, when I was younger, I would take a lot of inspiration from Li Na, even now, just the way she was such a fierce competitor.”

Jorge Fernandez sees his wife's influence providing the same fighting spirit on his daughter's game.

“She’s got Filipino blood in her,” he said. “It’s beautiful.”

Their pursuit of tennis success from opposite sides of the Atlantic made it difficult for Fernandez and Raducanu to keep up the relationship that started when they bonded over their Canadian roots during a tournament in Florida.

Raducanu said they say hello whenever they see each other. On Saturday, they can do it standing across the net from each other in the biggest stadium in the sport.

“I’m sure there will be a good atmosphere for both of us,” Raducanu said.

The world will be watching.

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Associated Press writer Kiko Rosario in Manila, Philippines contributed to this report.

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More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

“We put a small Band-Aid on a big wound for a couple of hours,” the retired Mets infielder said Friday. “To put the smiles on the faces of the people who were hurting and just make them relax for a couple hours and watch the national pastime come back, play ball, that made me feel that it was the right time to do it.”

The Mets will mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks before Saturday night’s Subway Series game against the Yankees They will wear caps from the New York City Police Department, Fire Department of the City of New York, Port Authority Police Department and New York City Department of Correction to honor first responders. The Mets wil have “New York” rather than “Mets” on their jerseys, and American flags and "9-11-01’' will be on the right sleeves.

Bobby Valentine, manager of the 2001 Mets, will throw a ceremonial first pitch to Joe Torre, manager of the 2001 Yankees. The Mets have at least 14 former players and coaches planning to attend, including Hall of Famer Mike Piazza. whose two-run, eighth-inning homer off native New Yorker Steve Karsay led the Mets over Atlanta 3-2 in the emotional first game back that Sept. 21.

“We all had fear. We had fears in our hearts that one, maybe we’d be attacked, and two, maybe we were doing the wrong thing,” Valentine said, “There was so much uncertainty and doubt.”

Saturday’s ceremony will include the New York Police and Fire Widows' & Children Benefit Fund, a group created by late Mets star Rusty Staub, The Feel Good Foundation that assists people afflicted by 9/11-related illnesses, and Mets employees who lost loved ones and people who worked at Shea Stadium during the relief effort. Police and fire department honor guards will participate.

The New York police and children’s chorus will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Jazz artist Anaïs Reno will sing “America the Beautiful” and New York firefighter Regina Wilson “God Bless America.”

In Pittsburgh, families of Flight 93 passengers will be recognized on the field along with military and first responders before the Pirates host the Washington Nationals.

Toronto will wear caps recognizing the U.S. and Canada, and all other on-field personnel, including umpires, will have a silhouetted ribbon with "We Shall Not Forget,” which also will be used on lineup cards, bases and throughout ballparks. MLB's royalties from licensed sale of the caps will be donated to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

Major League Soccer’s New York Red Bulls, home against D.C. United, are hosting a day of remembrance as part of 11 days of service. Both teams will wear remembrance patches, there will be a moment of silence and match-worn memorabilia will be auctioned to benefit Answer the Call, which provides financial assistance to the families of police and firefighters killed while on duty.

The high court has already been asked to weigh in on the law once. The justices voted 5-4 not to intervene to prevent it from taking effect, but they said further challenges were possible.

Here are some questions and answers about the law and the case:

WHAT EXACTLY DOES TEXAS' LAW DO?

Texas' law, Senate Bill 8, prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks. That's before some women know they’re pregnant. Courts have blocked other states from imposing similar restrictions, but Texas’ law is different because it leaves enforcement up to private citizens through civil lawsuits instead of criminal prosecutors. That novel wrinkle made the law hard to challenge before it went into effect.

The law allows any private citizen to sue Texas abortion providers who violate it, as well as anyone who assists a a woman getting the procedure, including someone who just drives her to a clinic. Patients themselves, however, cannot be sued.

The law offers no exceptions in cases of rape or incent, which Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has defended by falsely saying women still have “at least six weeks" to get an abortion. Six weeks of pregnancy does not mean a woman has six weeks to make a decision.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT SO FAR?

Just the threat of being sued for violating the law has meant some abortion providers in Texas have stopped offering abortions altogether, even those before six weeks. Other providers have continued to offer abortions but only those that comply with the law. That means they've had to turn patients away who are further along in their pregnancies or try to get them assistance outside of the state. Clinics in neighboring Oklahoma, and in nearby Kansas, have reported an influx of patients from Texas.

At a Trust Women clinic this week in Oklahoma City, around two-thirds of patients were from Texas, spokesman Zack Gingrich-Gaylord said. And Texas patients accounted for half of the 40 appointments this week at another location farther away in Wichita, Kansas. Appointments are booked through September.

Texas Right to Life, a group that helped push the law and set up a tip line to receive information about potential violations, said they've received no credible information that anyone is violating the law.

WHAT DOES THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WANT?

The Justice Department wants a federal judge to declare the law invalid and prohibit its enforcement. That would allow clinics to return to the situation before the law took effect where they could provide abortions after the six-week mark.

The judge assigned to the case is Robert Pitman, who was appointed by President Barack Obama. Pitman got assigned the case because he had previously presided over a challenge to the law filed by abortion rights activists. That case was still at a preliminary stage when it was appealed and reached the Supreme Court. Pitman can be expected to rule quickly.

WHY DID THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT GET INVOLVED?

Pressure had been mounting on the Justice Department from the White House and Democrats to take action in Texas. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the enforcement model in the Texas law could set a troubling precedent where states “empower any private individual to infringe on another’s constitutionally protected rights.”

The model of Senate Bill 8 is essentially a massive scale up of local abortion bans that began popping up in small Texas cities starting in 2019. But those bans had little immediate impact in most places that passed them because most weren't cities with abortion providers. Other Republican-led statehouses are already moving to follow Texas’ lead.

The lawsuit marks the most aggressive involvement by the Justice Department during a decade of Texas passing increasingly strict anti-abortion measures. The most sweeping one in 2013 — which put stringent regulations on Texas abortion clinics — was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court. But not before more than half of Texas’ 40-plus abortion clinics wound up shuttering. Today, the state has roughly two dozen clinics.

WHEN WILL THE PUBLIC KNOW WHETHER THE TEXAS LAW CAN STAND?

Pitman is far from the last word on the law. The case can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, where a three-judge panel would weigh in, and then on to the Supreme Court. The case could move quickly, possibly reaching the Supreme Court within weeks.

In the previous challenge to the law before Pitman, the appeals court halted proceedings before he could decide whether the law should be barred from taking effect. The Supreme Court, for its part, declined to disturb the appeals court’s actions.

The high court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority, already planned to tackle the issue of abortion when the justices return from their summer break and begin hearing cases again in October. The court had previously agreed to hear a case out of Mississippi in which the state is asking to be allowed to ban most abortions at the 15th week of pregnancy. That ban looks modest by comparison to the Texas law.

HAS THE LAWSUIT HAD AN IMPACT?

Abortion rights groups have been among those cheering the Biden administration's decision to step in, but the filing of the lawsuit hasn't changed anything on the ground. Without any additional court action at this point, the law remains in effect.

The benchmark index fell 0.8%, its fifth straight decline, and ended 1.7% lower for the holiday-shortened week. That's it's biggest weekly drop since June. The other major U.S. stock indexes also posted weekly losses.

The selling was widespread, though technology, health care and communications stocks weighed most heavily on the S&P; 500. Smaller company stocks also fell broadly. Treasury yields mostly rose. The price of U.S. crude oil rose 2.3%.

Stocks have traded in a narrow range for several weeks as most investors are sitting on the sidelines waiting to get a fuller understanding of where the economy is headed and how the pandemic is impacting corporations.

“There isn't any new good news coming, and that’s important because we’ve gotten a decent amount of good news that has flowed up until this point this year,” said Liz Young, head of investment strategy at personal finance company SoFi.

The S&P; 500 fell 34.70 points to 4,458.58. The index is now within 1.8% of the all-time high it set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 271.66 points, or 0.8%, to 34,607.72. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite shed an early gain, dropping 132.76 points, or 0.9%, to 15,115.49.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gave up 21.58 points, or 1%, to 2,227.55.

Investors mulled a negative piece of inflation data Friday. Inflation at the wholesale level climbed 8.3% last month from August 2020, the biggest annual gain since the Labor Department started calculating the 12-month number in 2010.

Federal Reserve policymakers have said they believe inflation this year would be temporary and is a result of the economy recovering from the pandemic. However, persistently high inflation could force the Fed's hand to start pulling back on its bond-buying program and low interest rate policy sooner than anticipated.

The bond market had a mild reaction to the inflation data, a possible sign that investors continue to agree with the Fed's outlook. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.33% from 1.30%.

The pandemic remains in the forefront of investors' minds, as hospitals fill up in the South and other parts of the country. President Joe Biden announced Thursday that companies with more than 100 employees would be required to have their employees vaccinated or do weekly testing, an announcement big companies have been willing to embrace.

“A lot of the pain was felt in August and that’s part of why September is going to be so choppy," Young said. "I’m hopeful that some of the worst of that is behind us and we can move forward."

The market is still trying to find reasons to go higher, she said, and the economy is also likely to keep grinding on because of the desire from consumers and companies to get back to a more normal way of operating.

Industries that have been hit hardest through the pandemic and are relying on a steady recovery have been struggling as COVID-19 cases rise with the highly contagious delta variant. Travel-related companies were among the decliners Friday. American Airlines slid 6.2% and Delta Air Lines lost 4.2%, while cruise line operator Carnival fell 2.3% and Norwegian Cruise Line dropped 1.4%.

Apple fell 3.3% after a federal judge ordered the iPhone maker to dismantle part of the competitive barricade guarding its closely run app store, which is one of its biggest moneymakers.

Restaurant and arcade operator Dave & Buster’s rose 1.2% after reporting solid financial results. Endo International surged 32.9% after settling opioid cases with the state of New York and two large counties in a $50 million deal.

The investment moves state Treasurer Kimberly Yee announced this week were mandated by a 2019 state law that bars Arizona government agencies from holding investments or doing more than $100,000 in business with any firm that boycotts Israel or its territories.

Arizona appears to be the first of 35 states with anti-boycott laws or regulation to have fully divested itself from Unilever following Ben & Jerry's actions. Illinois warned the company in July that it had 90 days after its investment board met to change course or it too would sell. Florida and other states have taken similar action, according to IAC For Action, the policy and legislative arm for the Israeli-American Council.

While Ben & Jerry's, which is based in Vermont, is owned by London-based Unilever, it maintains its own independent board, which Unilever said makes its own decision on its social mission. Ben & Jerry's announced on July 19 that maintaining its presence in the occupied territories was “inconsistent with our values.”

Ben & Jerry's decision brought a strong reaction from Israel, which vowed to “act aggressively" in response to the move, including by urging U.S. governors to punish the company under anti-boycott laws. Arizona and 34 other states have laws against boycotts of Israel.

U.S. groups that support Israel are split on whether pushing back on Unilever for Ben & Jerry's decision is appropriate. The Israeli-American Council urged governors to act through IAC For Action.

IAC for Action Director Joseph Sabag called boycotts of Israel antisemitic and said it is important to fight them at the state level.

“The Israeli American community is sensitive to it, because I would say more than other parts of the Jewish American community, we experienced the national origin aspect of antisemitism in a more pronounced way,” Sabag said Friday. "That’s really why we’re very proactive. It’s our children who are being affected by this in the classrooms and are being made fearful and intimidated and to feel harassed. ... That’s definitely what our community’s interest is in the matter.'

But the head of J Street, a Washington, D.C.-based pro-Israel organization that backs a two-state solution, supported Ben & Jerry’s decision and said punishing the company is “gravely dangerous.”

“It’s not anti-semitic to criticize Israeli policy or to not sell ice cream in illegal settlements,” President Jeremy Ben-Ami tweeted in July. “It’s actually a truly pro-Israel decision.”

The anti-boycott laws face court challenges, as Arizona's did after it was first enacted in 2016. A Flagstaff lawyer who contracted to help defend jailed people sued on First Amendment grounds, arguing that the law violated his free speech rights.

A U.S. District judge in Arizona blocked enforcement while the case proceeded, but the Legislature changed the law so it only applied to contracts worth more than $100,000, effectively ending the case because it no longer applied to the Flagstaff man. The state was ordered to pay $115,000 for his attorney fees.

In Arkansas, the publisher of a weekly newspaper sued to block that state's law on similar grounds. A trial judge dismissed the case, ruling that “a boycott of Israel is neither speech nor inherently expressive conduct” protected by the First Amendment. But a split three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the Arkansas Times' lawsuit in February, finding that “supporting or promoting boycotts of Israel is constitutionally protected ... yet the Act requires government contractors to abstain from such constitutionally protected activity.”

The ruling is not the last word: In June, 8th Circuit judges agreed to hear the case and vacated the three-judge panel's decision. They are set to hear arguments in the case later this month.

Both cases were brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Meanwhile in Arizona, Yee wrote to Unilever's investor relations department on Sept. 2 to tell the company that although Ben & Jerry's is run independently, Arizona law would require her to sell Unilever assets if the decision was not rescinded.

“I gave Unilever PLC, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, an ultimatum: reverse the action of Ben & Jerry’s or divest itself of Ben & Jerry’s to come into compliance with Arizona law or face the consequences," Yee, a Republican who is running for governor, said in a statement. "They chose the latter.”

Unilever said in an Aug. 2 letter to Deputy Treasurer Mark Swenson that it has never supported boycotts of Israel, commonly called Boycott Divestment Sanctions, or BDS, but that Ben & Jerry's operates independently. The company had no additional comment.

The Arizona investments were in bonds and commercial paper held in the state's short-term fixed-income investment fund.

The Arizona law enacted in 201 6 and revised in 2019 had broad, bipartisan support and was signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey. He tweeted that the Ben & Jerry's decision “is discrimination.”

“Arizona will not do business with a company that boycotts Israel — in 2016 and 2019, I signed bills to make sure of it,” the tweet said. “Arizona stands with Israel."

The ruling issued Friday continues to chip away at the so-called “walled garden" that Apple has built around its crown jewel, the iPhone, and its app store, without toppling it completely.

The 185-page decision from U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers also provided Apple with some vindication. The judge didn't brand Apple as a monopolist or require it to allow competing stores to offer apps for iPhones, iPads and iPods.

Those were two of the biggest objectives sought by Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game that filed what it would hoped would be a landmark antitrust case last year after brazenly defying an exclusive payment system that funnels 15% to 30% of all in-app digital transactions on iPhones to Apple.

Such transactions can include everything from Netflix or Spotify subscriptions to the sale of digital item such as songs, movies or virtual tchotchkes for video games. Epic cast that highly lucrative fee as a price-gouging tactic that wouldn’t be possible if competing stores were allowed to offer iPhone apps.

While parts of her decision raised questions about whether Apple's fees were driving up prices for consumers, Gonzalez Rogers left the fee structure intact and upheld the company’s right to block other stores from offering apps for its iPhone. She sided with Apple on every other key point of the case.

But the judge did conclude Apple has been engaging in unfair competition under California law, prompting her to order the company to allow developers throughout the U.S. to insert links to other payment options besides its own within iPhone apps. That change would make it easier for app developers to avoid paying Apple's commissions, potentially affecting billions of dollars in revenue annually.

The prospect of Apple taking a hit to its lofty profit margins rattled investors, causing the company's stock price to fall by more than 3% in Friday's trading. That downturn delivered an $80 billion blow to Apple's market value.

Yet Apple did its best to frame the decision as a complete victory, even as it acknowledged it may appeal the portion of the ruling that will make it easier for app developers sidestep Apple's commissions.

“We are very pleased with the court’s ruling and we consider this a huge win for Apple," said Kate Adams, the company's general counsel. “This decision validates that Apple’s ‘success is not illegal,' as the judge said."

Gonzalez Rogers also dealt Epic a blow by ruling that the game maker breached its contract with Apple when Fortnite added a non-Apple payment system to its app. That defiance prompted Apple to oust Fortnite from its app store 13 months ago, triggering Epic's lawsuit. She ordered Epic to pay Apple nearly $3.7 million, or 30% of the revenue it collected while violating Apple's commissions.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney denounced the ruling in a tweet, writing that it “isn’t a win for developers or for consumers.”

He said Fortnite will return to Apple's app store once it can offer competitive in-app payments. “We will fight on,” he added in a subsequent tweet.

“It’s a bit of a mixed bag,” said Stanford University law professor Mark Lemley. “I think on balance, it’s a win for Apple. They dodged the biggest threat to them.”

The ruling caps a trial that spent the entire month of May focused on Apple's app store, one of the pillars holding up its $2 trillion empire.

Since that trial ended, Apple has taken two steps to loosen some of its app store rules — one to settle a lawsuit and another to appease Japanese regulators without altering its commissions. Those concessions make it easier for many apps to prod their users to pay for digital transactions in ways that avoid triggering Apple’s fees.

As part of a deal with Japanese regulators announced last week, Apple had agreed to allow what it dubs “reader" apps — those that sell subscriptions to digital music, video and publications — to insert links steering users to other places to sign up for accounts and, in theory, pay for services.

Now Gonzalez Rogers is ordering Apple to go even further by allowing links for non-Apple payment options directly within all apps, something Apple has steadfastly resisted.

“Loosening the restrictions will increase competition," Gonzalez Rogers wrote. For instance, it would expose Apple to rival payment services charging lower commissions.

Another Apple antagonist, Spotify, cheered the increased ease with which consumers could choose other payment options. The company, which has been among the most strident critics of Apple's commission system, called for lawmakers and regulators to do even more to break down the walls protecting Apple's app store.

A bill introduced in Congress earlier this year proposes to obliterate Apple's commission system and open up the market to more competition. “Much more must be done," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota pushing for app store reforms.

Chris Hoofnagle, a law professor in residence at the University of California, Berkeley, views the decision as a major victory for app developers, although he is worried that the greater freedom to post in-app links will weaken privacy and security, as Apple has warned.

App developers are “going to have more opportunities to use different forms of payment and to contact people in different ways," Hoofnagle said. “If developers choose bad payment mechanisms and if they use this decision as an opportunity to kind of open the spam floodgates, you might regret this outcome."

In a research note, Cowen Washington Research Group analyst Doug Creutz said the inclusion of in-app links to other payment options could increase the pressure on Apple to lower its commissions.

“Apple will obviously have to respond to this to try to retain people in its payment system," Creutz wrote.

Although the figures were kept confidential during the trial, analysts have estimated that Apple’s app store division brings in $15 billion to $18 billion annually, helping to fuel the company’s rapidly growing services division. That division’s revenue has swelled from $24 billion in 2016 to $54 billion last year.

Apple CEO Tim Cook had warned that losing control over iPhone apps would create “a toxic kind of mess” during his testimony on the witness stand at the end of a four-week trial in Oakland, California.

Shortly afterward, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket toward Israel that the Israeli military said was intercepted by air defenses. No Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the rocket attack, which is believed to be linked to the re-arrest.

Police said the two were caught in the Arab-majority city of Nazareth in northern Israel on Friday night. The announcement identified them as Mahmoud Aradeh and Yakub Kadari — members of the Islamic Jihad militant group who were both serving life sentences. They showed no resistance. Israeli media reports said a civilian alerted police to two suspicious figures.

A video circulating on social media showed Israeli police shackling a man from his feet into the backseat of a police vehicle and asking the suspect for his name. The man, wearing jeans and green T-shirt, calmly identifies himself as Kadari and answers “yes” when asked whether he is one of the escapees. Kadari was serving two life sentences for attempted murder and bomb planting.

The six Palestinians tunneled out of the Gilboa prison on Monday, setting off a furious manhunt across Israel and in the West Bank.

For the Palestinians, the fugitives were “heroes” who succeeded in freeing themselves from multiple life sentences. Fighting against Israel and taking part in attacks against the Israeli military or even civilians is a source of pride for many.

In the Gaza Strip as well as in the West Bank, Palestinians had organized sit-ins and joyful gatherings to celebrate the prison break.

They escapees included four members of the militant group Islamic Jihad who were serving life sentences as well as Zakaria Zubeidi, a well-known militant leader from the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s. All of the prisoners are from the nearby city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

As soon as the news about the capture of the two fugitives was confirmed Friday, a flurry of bitter posts expressing disappointment and shock filled the Palestinian social media sphere. There was no immediate reaction from the Palestinian Authority, but Abdeltaif al-Qanou, a spokesman for the Gaza-ruling Hamas movement, said despite the re-arrest, the prisoners have “scored a victory and harmed the prestige of the Israeli security system.”

The escape has exposed major flaws in Israel’s prison service and set off days of angry criticism and finger pointing. It has also increased tension between Israel and the Palestinians.

Earlier Friday, Hamas had called for “a day of rage” to protest Israeli crackdown against imprisoned Palestinians, but the day passed without major confrontation. But in Jerusalem, a Palestinian suspected attacker died shortly after being wounded by Israeli police gunfire in the town’s Old City, where he had reportedly tried to stab officers.

It was a horrific day, so on the anniversary, it’s more about remembering and reflecting than anything else.

There is no better way to reflect on the tragic events than to read some wonderful pieces of journalism that have been written about the day that changed the world forever.

Some of these articles are about the horrors of the day itself, but other deal with the aftermath, and how everyone’s lives suddenly changed.

‘The Story Behind the Haunting 9/11 Photo of a Man Falling From the Twin Towers’ by Time

One of the most haunting images from 9/11 is the photograph of a man who jumped from one of the Twin Towers, as he falls through the sky. In the photo, he is upside down, yet completely vertical and looks strangely calm.

The article talks about the image, as well as the other victims who had no choice but to jump to their death because they were trapped in the towers. You can read the full article here.

‘One Giant Nerve That You Were Afraid to Touch’ from Vulture

Vulture recently came out with a series of articles in which the writer interviewed 37 stand-up comedians about what it was like to do comedy after 9/11.

A lot of comedians expressed that they weren’t sure if people were ready to laugh again, but little by little, things got better. This is one of those things that you’d probably never think about when it comes to 9/11, but it just goes to show how far of a reach the attacks had on all kinds of people from different professions. You can read the article here.

‘I Wrote the Lead Times Article on 9/11. Here’s What Still Grips Me’ from the New York Times

This op-ed from New York Times writer Serge Schmemann looks back at not only what it was like to be working on a day like that, but he spoke to students who were just 14 when the attacked happened and heard their thoughts on the day. You can read the article here.

The Economic Impact of 9/11, in 10 Charts from Business Insider

The emotional effects for 9/11 were felt immediately, but the economic impact of the day was something that wouldn’t be felt for many years to come.

Business Insider came up with some clever graphs and charts explaining how some things went up, like military spending and security systems, and things that went down, like air travel and jobs in New York City. You can read the article here.

The Children of 9/11 Are Honoring the Dads They Never Knew

There are many tragic things about 9/11, but the fact that there is a large group of children who never got to meet or know their parents because they died on that day is beyond horrific.

People Magazine talked to teens who never got to know their fathers because they died in the attacks, and hearing their words is truly heartbreaking, but really puts things in perspective for you. You can read the article here.

Biden's plan, announced a day earlier, would require vaccinations for up to 100 million Americans and seek to ramp up virus testing. With those measures in place, he said, schools should present little risk for transmission of the coronavirus.

“I want folks to know that we’re going to be OK,” Biden said during an appearance at Brookland Middle School, a short drive from the White House. “We know what it takes to keep our kids safe and our schools open.”

But as the surging COVID-19 delta variant casts uncertainty over the start of a new school year — in some cases prompting schools to shut down after a few days — it’s unclear whether Biden’s plan will go far enough to prevent mass disruption. Biden has little direct authority over most schools, which are generally governed at the local level, and his plan faces sharp resistance from Republicans.

Under his expanded vaccine mandate, all employers with more than 100 workers must require them to get shots or test for the virus weekly. A separate provision requires vaccines for workers in Head Start programs and at schools operated by the federal government, affecting about 300,000 workers.

The plan does not explicitly require vaccines for teachers in locally governed schools, but some education leaders believe the employer rule will effectively amount to a teacher vaccine requirement in many states.

That part of the plan is being enacted through a forthcoming rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. And in states with OSHA plans, teachers will be among those required to get the vaccine or face testing, according to an interpretation by AASA, an association of school superintendents.

It's expected to apply to 26 states, including several with Republican governors who opposed Biden’s plan, such as South Carolina, Tennessee and Arizona.

Biden did not address that aspect of his plan on Friday. Instead, he urged states to issue their own vaccine requirements for school workers.

“About 90% of school staff and teachers are vaccinated — we should have that at 100%,” Biden said. “I’m calling on all of the governors to require vaccination for all teachers and staff.”

Governors in a few states have already ordered teachers to get vaccinated, including in California, Oregon, New Jersey and New York. But most leave it up to school districts, and some Republican-led states have barred vaccine mandates.

Biden on Friday rebuked Republican governors who vowed to fight his new rules.

“I am so disappointed that, particularly, some Republican governors have been so cavalier with the health of these kids, so cavalier with the health of their communities,” he said. “We’re playing for real here. This isn’t a game.”

But most of his remarks struck a more conciliatory tone than a Thursday speech in which Biden vented his own frustrations with those who remain unvaccinated. He returned to a message of unity on Friday, insisting that “we’ve got to come together” to beat the virus.

Speaking to students at Brookland, Biden applauded those who had already been vaccinated. If all of them get shots, Biden promised to invite them to a special visit at the White House.

He also held up Washington, D.C., as a model. The city has hosted vaccine clinics at its public schools, and 65% of children age 12 to 17 have gotten at least their first shot, a rate that Biden said is among the highest in the nation.

In a plea to America’s families, Biden urged parents to get teenagers and other eligible children vaccinated as soon as possible. He argued that it’s no different than standard vaccinations for measles, mumps, rubella and other diseases.

Among the greatest threats to his plan, however, is the large population of children who are still too young to get the shot. Most elementary and middle schools have children below age 12 who have not been approved to receive the coronavirus vaccines.

Speaking to those concerns, Biden said he supports an “independent” scientific process to review the shots but he also promised to make them available to younger children as soon as it’s safe.

“I will do everything within my power to support the Food and Drug Administration in its efforts to do the science as safely and as quickly as possible,” he said.

The expanded vaccine mandate does not apply to students, but some districts have moved to require shots for students. The Los Angeles district this week became the first major district to enact a mandate for students ages 12 and up.

In addition to vaccines, Biden’s plan aims to ramp up virus testing in schools.

Testing policies vary widely by school and state. Some districts regularly test all students, including in the Los Angeles district, while some forgo any testing. And for many, it’s getting harder to find testing supplies amid a nationwide shortage in rapid tests.

As part of the White House plan, the government is working to increase the supply of virus tests and make them available at retailers including Walmart and Amazon. Biden said it will lead to 300 million more coronavirus tests, including some for schools.

“I want all schools setting up regular testing programs to make sure we detect and isolate cases before they can spread,” Biden said.

The plan drew support from the country’s two largest teachers unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Both groups have also endorsed vaccine mandates for all teachers and school staff.

Other education groups that support the plan include the National School Boards Association, which said it comes at an “extremely critical time.” The group said it welcomes Biden’s support even as education leaders face “threats, abuse and harassment” over their public health measures.

Speaking alongside Biden on Friday, first lady Jill Biden praised educators as “heroes” for their work over the past year. A longtime community college professor, the first lady said Americans have a duty to protect students as they return to the classroom.

“We owe them a promise to keep their schools open as safe as possible,” she said. “We owe them a commitment to follow the science — we owe them unity so that we can fight the virus, not each other.”

His memorial service at Christian Fellowship Church was followed by a procession.

“Chief Burnham was nothing short of a great leader,” said driver engineer Austin Thomas. “The way he carried himself, the energy that he gave off. It was very hard not to notice, and honestly very hard not to follow.”

The pastor said Burnham, 52, was a good man who deeply loved his wife, his children and his grandchildren. They were all great sources of pride for him, the pastor said.

“I looked up to him. He was always in a good mood. Chief Burnham laid the foundation; the structure is there. All we have to do is carry on his legacy,” Assistant Fire Chief Josh Wehinger said. “Rest easy friend, we’ll take it from here.”

Burnham served as fire chief for a little more than two years but spent more than 30 years with the department.

“I believe that he had the favor on his life because it seemed like every situation that Randy was in was better because he was a part of it,” Thomas said.

The same day the Lake City community gathered to mourn his passing, Jacksonville Beach will also lay to rest a first responder who died from COVID-19 complications: police Sgt. Daniel Watts.

It’s the second week in a row two local communities are holding ceremonies under these circumstances.

COVID-19 is now the leading cause of law enforcement “line of duty” deaths.

Firefighters are also on the frontlines -- and as we’ve learned this month -- the virus ignores rank.

“We are saddened but thankful for all of your prayers. Please continue to lift the family and our department in your prayers,” the fire department wrote on Facebook when it announced Burnham’s death.

First responders in Lake City escorted Burnham to the funeral home Sunday night. He battled the virus for three to four weeks and had been on a ventilator.

RELATED | 2 more local deputies honored after losing battles with COVID-19

“To lose someone that’s in a prime, and as lively as he was, is just shocking,” said Lake City council member Todd Sampson. “To replace him is going to be impossible. All you can do is try to move on the best you can.”

Sampson remembers Burnham as a humble friend who led by example.

City leaders are asking residents following his passing to do whatever they can to reduce the spread of the virus.

“If you have any symptoms at all that you’re sick, please do not be around other people. Get tested. If you have the virus, stay home. Don’t be out. If you can do that, it can help out tremendously and do what you can to limit the exposure of our first responders,” Sampson said.

If you would like to make a donation to the family, you can message the Lake City Facebook Page.

The measure sent late Thursday to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for his consideration would reserve the “chasing arrows” recycling symbol for items that actually can be recycled.

The author of the bill named SB 343, Democratic Sen. Ben Allen, said in a statement that it will force truth in advertising and "will reduce contamination in the recycling stream and improve the sorting process, thereby saving cities and ratepayers money while empowering consumers to make more informed decisions.”

It's among efforts in several states to ease confusion about recycling and increase recycling efforts. A Consumer Brands Association report recently asserted that the confusion has led to “a broken recycling system in America.”

A coalition of 14 opposition organizations countered that the bill would have “resounding impacts” on the state's goal to divert 75% of trash from landfills and hinder the state's efforts to recycle packaging.

The bill would likely require state regulators to create a list of eligible items that “is extremely limiting,” potentially including just 15, the groups said — eight types of paper materials, two forms of glass, two types of metals, two types of plastics and one type of colored plastic.

Those limits “will cause more materials to go to landfill,” the opposing groups said.

The bill gives the state Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, known as Cal Recycle, until January 1, 2024, to publish a study on what is recyclable and exempts products and packaging that is manufactured up to 18 months after the study is published.

Advocacy groups said the current labeling system is confusing and misleading.

“Consumers want to recycle correctly, which is why they dutifully look at labels and place everything with a chasing arrows symbol into the recycling bin — even products that will just get sorted back out and disposed into a landfill," National Stewardship Action Council executive director Heidi Sanborn said in a statement.

Californians Against Waste advocacy director Nick Lapis said that manufacturers "have been able to lie to consumers for far too long, and this bill will finally hold them accountable for actually making their products recyclable.”

The groups cited a report this year by California's Statewide Commission on Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling that said consumers assume that the chasing arrows symbol means that items should go into curbside recycling bins. The commission said the symbol should "be reserved for materials which are accepted in curbside bins and do not cause contamination.”

Senators sent the bill to Newsom on a 29-7 vote, after it was advanced by the Assembly, 50-3. Newsom has not indicated whether he will sign it.

They also sent the governor a related bill by Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting that would tighten rules for what can be used in compost to prevent contamination of the soil. Cal Recycle would adopt labeling rules so consumers can tell what can be composted.

Companies currently label some items as useable for compost "even when they contain harmful chemicals that contaminate our compost, consequently making that compost unusable,” Ting said.

There was fierce debate over what had been ingested or injected or rubbed into the body of Barry Bonds, whose most recent game had produced three more homers to push him to 63 for the season.

The opening weekend of the NFL season was capped by Denver’s 31-20 victory over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, in the debut of the Broncos’ sparkling new stadium.

There was still a buzz over Venus Williams beating little sister Serena in prime time for the U.S. Open tennis singles title.

The mighty Miami Hurricanes were the No. 1 college football team in all the land, coming off a 61-0 thrashing of Rutgers.

Martin Truex Jr. remembers being at Dover International Speedway, an up-and-coming racer going through a routine testing session in preparation for his debut in NASCAR’s second-tier stock car series.

Then, word came of an unfathomable tragedy. The ambulance that was standing by at Dover in case anything went wrong during Truex’s practice laps had to get to a far more important task in New York City, about 170 miles away.

The test was over. In some ways, so was life as Truex and the rest of us knew it.

“We’re all wondering what the heck’s going on,” said Truex, who went on to stardom in the NASCAR Cup series and remains one of its top drivers. “This was a long time ago. There wasn’t like social media and all this stuff on your phone. You didn’t know. You had to turn on the news and see what was happening.”

When Truex and his crew located a TV set, they couldn’t believe their eyes.

“It was like we were in some crazy nightmare,” he says now.

In some ways, we’re still struggling to wake up from Sept. 11, 2001, when four planes plunged from the skies, two skyscrapers crumpled to the pavement and nearly 3,000 people lost their lives.

We’ve certainly squandered what became a fleeting moment in time, when sports helped us cope with the grieving, get on with the healing and provided a glimmer of hope that we truly were one nation, indivisible.

The first post-9/11 baseball game at Shea Stadium, where Mike Piazza hit a game-winning homer for the New York Mets with the ruins of the World Trade Center still smoldering just a few miles away, seems many lifetimes ago.

The images of President George Bush strolling confidently to the pitcher’s mound at Yankee Stadium -- a proxy for us all when he delivered that perfect strike of a first pitch at the World Series -- have faded like some flickering, black-and-white film from another century.

In retrospect, we asked far too much from the games we love, the athletes we cheer.

Now, in the grips of another seminal national tragedy, one that has produced a 9/11-like death toll many days over for the last year and a half, we should be much more realistic about the role that sports can play in the recovery process.

Sure, the games are a welcome respite from the daily recitation of misery, but that is all.

No one is naïve enough to believe that we'll suddenly put aside our stark differences because Tom Brady led the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a stirring, last-second comeback in their season-opening victory over America's Team, the Dallas Cowboys.

Instead of a salve, sports has become a mirror on our angry divisions in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While most professional and college athletes have gotten vaccinated against the virus there have been plenty of vocal holdouts who consider it an infringement on their freedom.

One of the most notable is Buffalo Bills receiver Cole Beasley, who said, “I may die of (COVID), but I’d rather die actually living.”

“I’ll play for free this year to live life how I’ve lived it from day one,” Beasley added in a rant this summer. "If I’m forced into retirement, so be it.”

Teams willingly played in sparsely filled or empty arenas in the first year of the pandemic, hoping to reduce the death toll, but those financially crippling policies were phased out with the arrival of vaccines and the false hope that we finally had the upper hand on COVID-19.

Even with a startling rise in cases and deaths over the past two months stadiums are filled to capacity — many of them with no requirements to wear a mask or provide proof of vaccination.

Some have celebrated this return to a sense of normalcy. Just as many have expressed disbelief at the scenes of 70,000, 80,000 — even 100,000 fans — packed into stadiums with hardly anyone wearing a mask.

“Oh my god. The COVID-Bowl,” former NBA player Rex Chapman tweeted after a sellout crowd at Virginia Tech bounced up an down to Metallica's “Enter Sandman” as their team charged onto the field — though it must be noted there is little evidence of sports events becoming super-spreaders for the virus.

Sports still bears the scars of that awful day two decades ago, from the metal detectors we must go through to enter the stadium to the playing of “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch.

But any hope that our beloved athletes or favorite teams can help heal our real-life ills — whether it's COVID-19 or some future challenge we can't even begin to imagine — have long since faded.

These are just games.

Nothing more.

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Paul Newberry is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or at https://twitter.com/pnewberry1963 and check out his work at https://apnews.com/search/paulnewberry

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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

In observance of the 20th year since the tragic events of 9/11, Saturday is a National Day of Service & Remembrance. The nonprofit organization 9/11 Day is hoping to commemorate the day by generating 20 million “good deeds” in the U.S. and around the world.

Those of us in the Positively Jax movement can help with 9/11 Day’s #ShineALight campaign.

It could be showing up at a community event, like Springfield Preservation and Restoration’s Residential Revival cleanup, where you can help clean up an alley from 8th to 9th Street (meet Saturday morning at 322 East 8th Street). Or it could be doing something on your own or with your family or friends, such as:

• Donate clothing you’ve outgrown or no longer wear.
• Drop off cookies or food to a local police or fire station.
• Donate to a charity of your choice.
• Drop off canned food items to your local food bank or pantry.
• Send a hand-written letter or card to someone in the military or a veteran.
• Call or text someone you care about and haven’t seen in a while.

You can even participate virtually in 9/11 Day. No matter how you take part, share your good deed to inspire others by posting a photo on the Positively Jax channel of SnapJax and including #ShineALight and/or #911day on your social media posts.

Visitors from around the world come and go. They snap selfies as they browse the nearly 3,000 names engraved into the parapets that frame two reflecting pools. Docents give tours. Tourists glance at their watches, decipher subway maps and check off a box. Then they leave.

But for those who live and work close to the memorial, the site is both a part of their daily routine and hallowed ground. The names on the parapets are more than mere engravings on bronze, and the 55,000 gallons of water recycling through the reflecting pools is more than a social media post. It is a constant reminder of that infamous day. It is a cemetery.

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After the plaza empties around the reflecting pools each evening, Kevin Hansen pulls on blue work gloves, grabs his torch and begins his nightly work of repairing and maintaining the long, bronze parapets with the names of the dead.

Hansen was 8 and in elementary school on Long Island in 2001.

“You just remember everyone getting phone calls and teachers not knowing what was going on. And then parents were coming to school to pick kids up,” he said.

Of his work, Hansen says, “It’s important to me."

"This is a sign that we all came together back in 2001. This is my giveback of patriotism and this (event) cannot be forgotten,” he said. “I believe this place brings people to see that there is evil in the world, but it can be overcome."

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While patrolling his beat around the World Trade Center, NYPD officer Mike Dougherty keeps an attentive eye on the memorial, often cleaning grime from the parapets and answering questions for tourists.

“If we see something on the panel we’ll make sure to wipe it off, and I see their names and I’ll touch them. I’m here looking over them, basically. Try to relay that to people that don’t understand what this is all about," he said.

“I get that, a lot of questions sometimes, you know: ‘What is this area?’ And I don’t take offense to it. I like explaining to them where the buildings stood. What this is all about. Just to keep the memory of everyone in your life when you tell somebody who doesn’t have that connection.”

The 25-year NYPD veteran started as an apprentice electrician working inside the World Trade Center before becoming a police officer. He was on patrol in Brooklyn when the planes hit the towers.

When he patrols the memorial plaza now, he sometimes stops in his tracks.

“I’ll just be walking around the side or in one of the particular security pools, and sometimes something will just hit me. I just start staring out at the plaza. So, I’ll take a couple of minutes to compose myself."

“It’s a privilege to be here. I’m at the end of my career, towards the end of it anyway. And I couldn’t think of a better place for me to finish up," he said.

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After moving to Battery Park City in 1998, the World Trade Center was a part of Joan Mastropaolo’s daily life. She not only lived across the street, but also worked two blocks east of the twin towers and shopped in the mall below.

“It was my front lawn. Every time I walked out of my apartment building and I crossed over, I came through the World Trade Center,” she said.

But on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, “This vibrant community became nothing in a matter of 102 minutes.”

“After everything happened here, I was completely shut out from this situation for a couple of years. I wasn’t a rescue recovery worker or a volunteer. So, I couldn’t get on the site, and I felt like a big part of my life was robbed from me,” she said. “When they started bringing the trees back to this site, for me, that was a symbol of returning life back to the site.”

Mastropaolo now volunteers as a docent at the 9/11 Tribute Museum, where she given more than 800 walking tours.

"I try to explain to them the magnitude of the loss.”

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Michael Keene has been an owner of O’Hara’s Restaurant and Pub for 35 years. A popular watering hole for firefighters at a station a block away and for area office workers, O’Hara’s shut down for seven months after the attacks.

Its clientele changed when it reopened, becoming popular with crews working at ground zero. Keene now still offers Guinness on tap to the firefighters. Visitors to the memorial also frequent his pub.

“It’s special now, because the people that come over to the site after they’ve gone through the museum, and it’s tough to go through the museum. People that come over here are very respectful. And just to be in a place that was destroyed then and rebuilt, you know, there is something special about that.”

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When the plaza around the reflecting pools closes, James Maroon dons waders and a headlamp and begins the deliberate task of vacuuming the floors of the giant fountains.

“We try and make it a place where people believe their families are being watched and taken care of,” said Maroon, an engineer for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

In 2001, Maroon was working at the New York Mercantile Exchange just west of the World Trade Center. He was crossing West Street when the first plane hit. Maroon knew many of the brokers who died in the attacks.

"Sometimes when we’re outside I look at the panel that their names are on. And one of them, Elkin Yuen, his daughter was due to be born. Now she’s going to be 20 years old. And never met her father.”

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For more AP coverage of the 9/11 anniversary from New York and around the globe, visit our hub at https://apnews.com/hub/9-11-a-world-changed.

Dr. Peter Marks told The Associated Press he is “very, very hopeful” that vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds will be underway by year’s end. Maybe sooner: One company, Pfizer, is expected to turn over its study results by the end of September, and Marks say the agency hopefully could analyze them “in a matter of weeks.”

In the U.S., anyone 12 and older is eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. But with schools reopening and the delta variant causing more infections among kids, many parents are anxiously wondering when younger children can get the shots.

Pfizer’s German partner BioNTech told weekly Der Spiegel Friday that it was on track “in the coming weeks” to seek approval of the companies' COVID-19 vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds. Moderna, which makes a second U.S. vaccine, told investors this week to expect its data on that age group by year’s end. Both companies also are testing their vaccines down to age 6 months, but those results will come later.

FDA’s Marks spoke with the AP Friday about the steps involved in clearing pediatric vaccines. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: Many parents had hoped for vaccines for children under 12 by the time schools reopened. Why is it taking so long?

A: Before you can actually approve something in an age range, you actually have to study in that age range. ... Children under the age of 12, they’re not little adults, they’re not. And so one does actually have to study this and even change perhaps the dose that’s being given — and in fact, that’s had to happen, change the dose.

We have to then be able to look at the data at FDA when it gets submitted to us. We’ll look at it very rapidly and feel confident that when we that we’ve looked through the data that these are going to be safe and effective and that we can reassure parents that the benefits of their child getting one of these vaccines certainly outweighs any risks.

Q: The American Academy of Pediatrics cited delta's growing threat to children in urging a faster decision, after FDA requested expanded child studies. Why does FDA want that extra data?

A: I’m not sure that there’s much disagreement. We clearly want to see children in the age range 5 to 11 vaccinated as soon as possible. But the difference between the smaller dataset and the larger dataset is not very much in terms of time, because there were enough willing participants here — parents who were very interested in having their 5- to 11-year-olds vaccinated — that it didn’t take that much longer.

We’ll be able to give people I think a much better sense that these vaccines are indeed safe and effective for their children.

Q: Could 5- to 11-year-olds be vaccinated by the end of the year?

A: I am very hopeful in that regard. Very, very hopeful in that regard.

Q: How fast can FDA act once the companies submit their data?

A: Pfizer made a public statement that they intended to give us their data by the end of September. ... We’re going to do a thorough job on that as quickly as we can so that at the end of the day, hopefully within a matter of weeks rather than a matter of months, we’ll be able to come to some conclusion -- again, barring some finding that we’re not expecting.

Q: How will the trials show effectiveness for kids?

A: In the 12- to 15-year-olds, we saw an immune response that was actually as good or better — in this case, it was for the Pfizer vaccine — it was actually better than in 16 and up. And so we’d want to see something similar to that.

Q: Will the trials give information about very rare side effects like the heart inflammation sometimes seen in teens and young adults?

A: We’ll know at least that it’s not ... happening at some much higher rate in younger children. That we can rule out. And we’ll also make sure that there aren’t any other side effects that we haven’t seen in the older age range.

Q: Two of FDA’s top vaccine reviewers recently announced they’re leaving. The agency also is evaluating booster shots for adults. Is that making a child vaccination decision more difficult?

A: I’m not worried that we’re going to suffer any delays because of that. ... We will be parallel processing.

Q: There are reports that some parents are seeking adult vaccines for their kids. What’s your advice?

A: My strongest advice is please don’t do that. Please let us do the evaluation that we need to do to ensure that when you do vaccinate your child, you vaccinate the child with the right dose and in a manner that’s safe.

If you want to do something now for your child, make sure that you’re vaccinated, that your household is vaccinated, that all the people that come in contact with your children are vaccinated and that your child knows how to wear a mask.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Note: All essential functions of this position not necessarily described in this posting.

Qualifications:

Prefer candidate with at least two years of experience in a TV newsroom. Must perform well under pressure and meet deadlines. This position requires someone who agrees to a flexible schedule, can fill in on all shifts as needed, including weekends and holidays. You are also part of the on-call reporter rotation. Prefer degree in communications or related field.

Additional Information:

As a condition of employment, GMG/WJXT/WCWJ requires all newly hired employees be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by the first day of employment, to the extent permitted by applicable law, unless you qualify for a medical or religious accommodation.

Any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of a pre-employment drug screening, investigative background check, employment/education verifications and reference checks.

GMG/WJXT/WCWJ is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In addition to complying with the requirements of federal law, GMG/WJXT/WCWJ will comply with applicable state and local laws prohibiting employment discrimination.

Contact:

Email resume and link to the WJXT-TV News Director at kbonfield@wjxt.com.

Meyer has a well-deserved reputation as a high-volume worker. In college at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and Ohio State, he was meticulous in preparation. He has admitted that his attention to detail often drives assistant coaches crazy. But that approach — born of extra time spent working on the details — helped Meyer win three national championships.

Winning solves everything.

So, what if the Jaguars don’t win Sunday in Houston? The team is favored by the oddsmakers and the Texans are expected to be among the worst teams in the NFL. Moreover, what if the Jaguars stumble out of the gates? How will the staff and the team react?

It’s a question that Meyer has considered.

“For years and years, I was always concerned that because we do we have a reputation of working really hard — treating players, right — but working hard,” Meyer said. “And if you fail, you know, that’s when you start (saying), ‘Why are we working so hard?’ I’m always worried about that, and we’ve never experienced it. Our locker room is really strong right now. We’re gonna see what the results are Sunday night, but I don’t I don’t have that feeling. I have a feeling our players want to win. Our players have worked very hard. And they’ve been treated right. So I like where we’re at.”

You don’t have to go back very far in Jaguars’ history to find a similar situation. In 2017, when Tom Coughlin was brought in as the executive vice president of football operations, he brought with him his regimented approach. It was different than the approach Doug Marrone would typically take. In the short term, it worked. The Jaguars went to the playoffs for the first time in a decade and came up just short of the first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history. Then, things turned sour.

Meyer has never been here.

There have been plenty of learning opportunities for Meyer. He has been very forthcoming about the differences he has experienced in the NFL.

The free agency process (it’s not like recruiting) to the draft process (you can’t have them all), to a mistake in hiring Chris Doyle as the sports performance coach (deep-dive research on a coach has to consider how the players will react).

Meyer said earlier in the preseason that he had to condition his mind to analyze preseason losses differently than he did as a college coach.

Now the regular season is here and Meyer still has plenty of NFL moments that he hasn’t experienced. Forget the intensity of a regular season game. The Jaguars didn’t challenge a single play in the preseason. How will Meyer and his staff handle that? Meyer says they have drilled on it, but there is no better time to drill on a replay challenge than in a game. In three preseason games, the Jaguars never threw the challenge flag.

Meyer also has to decide which players will be the gameday inactive. That’s not a thing in college.

“We have a pretty good idea,” Meyer said. “But after today, we’re gonna make some hard decisions and you go from 53 to 48. And it impacts (special teams coaches) Nick Sorenson and Carlos Polk.”

The Jaguars were handed a near-perfect scenario for the opener. Facing the Texans, an organization with their star quarterback all-but exiled from the field amid legal issues and a roster sparse in veteran talent. There are no “un-losable” games in the NFL, especially not with a team that won one game last season. But Sunday’s matchup in Houston should offer the best training-wheels experience for the regular season opener Meyer could hope for.

So how will his rookie quarterback perform? That’s one of the biggest questions.

“It’s all about preparation,” Meyer said. “He is getting ready to play. He’s very well aware of what this means.”

Surveys show climate change is among the top concerns for many voters, and the audience in the eastern city of Halle is made up largely of students and retirees eager to hear how Annalena Baerbock plans to safeguard their future — or that of their grandchildren.

The Greens have long championed the fight against global warming. Ahead of Germany's Sept. 26 vote they offer arguably the most comprehensive program for making Europe's biggest economy carbon neutral, with a mix of government incentives and penalties for polluters.

But while voters readily admit they are worried about the state of the planet, especially after the deadly floods that hit Germany in July, many are wary of committing to the kind of radical transformation required — fearing the bill they might receive for it.

“The climate crisis is now," Baerbock tells the rally. "That’s why we need to act now, in the year 2021.”

The audience responds with polite applause; a listener then asks her about people in rural areas who worry that the changes required to combat climate change — such as banning cars with combustion engines — could threaten their way of life.

Baerbock says she wants electric vehicles to be affordable for everybody within a decade, if necessary with a subsidy of up to 9,000 euros (over $10,600) for low earners, but some are skeptical.

“They don’t say enough where the money is going to come from," said Sonja Solisch, a health care worker.

Solisch sympathizes with the Greens' goals but says voters like her have other worries too.

"Good train connections, good road connections, things like that need to be paid for too,” she said.

A survey released Friday by public broadcaster ZDF found climate and environment ranked as the most important election issue for 43% of respondents — ahead of the coronavirus pandemic and migration. The same poll, a representative phone survey of about 1,250 voters with a margin of error of up to 3 percentage points, showed the Greens trailing the center-left Social Democrats and Merkel's center-right Union bloc.

Steffi Lemke, a long-time Greens lawmaker, argues that the two governing parties are shying away from telling voters the brutal facts about climate change, including about the cost.

“The problem is that it will be far more expensive if we do nothing," she told The Associated Press, citing the 30 billion euros that federal and state governments recently agreed to spend on rebuilding western regions hit by devastating flash floods this summer. “If we don’t change the economy and our society, it’s going to be unaffordable.”

The party, which wants to earmark 50 billion euros a year to make the country cleaner and more equitable, has attracted large donations from rich individuals worried about climate change.

In April, a bitcoin millionaire gave half his fortune to the Greens in the hope that they will regulate the energy-hogging virtual currency.

This week the party received a record donation of 1.25 million euros ($1.48 million) from Steven Schuurman, the Dutch founder of software company Elastic.

“It’s very obvious that Germany is a political and economic force to be reckoned with in Europe and the world” he told the AP, adding that the Greens offer “pragmatic solutions" to the climate crisis.

One man hoping such solutions come sooner, rather than later, is Andreas Geron, the mayor of Sinzig, whose town was badly hit by the floods. Two months on he worries that families whose houses were destroyed in the disaster may move away for good unless the next government quickly changes existing zoning laws to take into account the heightened risk of similar floods in the future.

“There are elections soon, but by the time parliament has come together another month or more will pass," he said. "That’s time we simply don’t have.”

Baerbock, who at 40 is significantly younger than her two main rivals, cites a recent U.N. report showing that time is running out to prevent catastrophic planetary warming. She then urges her audience in Halle to reach out to colleagues, friends and family — even their ex-spouses — to drive home the urgency of electing politicians willing to tackle the problem.

“I honestly don’t want my children, who are 6 and 9, or your children and grandchildren, to ask us in 20 years’ time: ‘Why didn’t you turn the rudder around back then,’” she said.

Her words echo a dry political tome published in 1997 about the need to devote financial resources to saving the environment.

The book, titled “The Price of Survival,” was written by Germany's then-environment minister — Angela Merkel.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Germany’s election at https://apnews.com/hub/germany-election

The film opens in a split screen, with Fauci walking to his office at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 40 years ago on one side, and him making the same trip recently on the other. Audio and video clips, meanwhile, play of Fauci's contemporary detractors. One television news pundit calls for his head on a pike.

“I often use the analog of the Roman forum. There were people throwing roses at him and then throwing garbage,” says Tobias in an interview alongside Hoffman. “We really wanted people to get a sense of what that was like nationally but also what it was like for a human being. It’s very sobering to his wife and daughters deal with the level of threats to him and to themselves.”

To head off possible, maybe inevitable, criticism, “Fauci" is being released with a pointed proviso. A press release on the film reads: “Dr. Fauci had no creative control over the film. He was not paid for his participation, nor does he have any financial interest in the film’s release.”

“That was an usual decision for press notes but these are unusual times,” Hoffman says. “Nothing could be left to question or ambiguous.”

National Geographic opened “Fauci” in theaters on Friday, with a debut on Disney+ planned in October. A once wider theatrical release was previously in the cards, but the surge in cases driven by the delta variant forced the filmmakers and studio to reconsider. Taking cues from its subject, “Fauci” is playing only in theaters where proof of vaccination and masks are required for entry.

“When we are doing a film about one of the leading public health officials in the world, we cannot but live up to the standards of that person and group safety,” says Tobias.

That “Fauci” happened at all over the course of the last 18 months is a feat of foresight by the veteran filmmakers. Both had previously made films related to health crises and had a relationship with Fauci. Tobias made the 2017 documentary “Unseen Enemy,” about the viruses and bacteria that could cause a global pandemic. Hoffman, who has documented issues around body weight ("The Weight of the Nation") and sleep ("Sleepless in America"), embedded for a year with the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center for the three-part Discovery documentary, “First in Human.”

In February 2020, before much of the U.S. had understood the threat of COVID-19, the two filmmakers had already embarked on the film with Fauci's participation. (Tobias had initially sought a film about him as early as December 2018.) The project unfolded in relative secrecy.

“We tried to be quiet,” says Tobias. “It was also something he said from the very beginning around the more intense period in March (2020). He said: ‘I do not want to draw attention to myself. What I care about is the health of Americans and the rest of the world.’”

Hoffman and Tobias ultimately filmed with the 80-year-old Fauci and his family for about a year, though — because of COVID concerns — they didn't begin interviewing him until the fall of last year. They ultimately conducted six sit-down interviews with Fauci. The filmmakers' initial plans to profile a pivotal, lesser-known figure had long before changed.

“By then, of course, it was an incredible story and everyone knew Tony’s name," says Tobias, whose film lingers on the array of trinkets — bobbleheads, candles, T-shirts — adorned with Fauci's face, along with an unlikely campaign to make him People magazine's “Sexiest Man Alive.”

What didn't alter was their aim to contextualize the Brooklyn-born Fauci's decades of public service and to specifically focus on how the AIDS crisis formed him as a public health official. The film details both Fauci's empathetic response to HIV victims and his eventual acceptance of anger and frustration from AIDS activists over the slow pace of research.

“We’ve been saying all along: We made a film about a man whose character was forged in HIV and then tested in COVID,” says Hoffman.

“Fauci” includes interviews with some of those who have worked with the doctor through different health crises, including former national security advisor Susan Rice, Bill Gates, Bono and President George W. Bush. Critics of Fauci may only see the documentary as fueling Fauci's already high profile during a pandemic that's been characterized by partisan rancor. But few in “Fauci” have anything but admiration for his dedication to science and dogged work ethic.

"Tony Fauci doesn’t come into the Oval Office to say: I’m going to make you look good politically. He’s not a politician," Bush says in the film. “Tony Fauci says: I think we can solve this problem. Here are the facts and here is my recommendation for a way forward.”

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

TOP FOUR

Columbia (1-1) at (5) Oakleaf (2-0): How do the Tigers bounce back from last week? They were punished on offense by area No. 2 Bolles in a game that they couldn’t keep their QB standing upright. The Knights are coming off a 40-30 win over Miami Carol City, a game that they rallied from 16 points down to emerge with the win. Credit a big offense for that. They’re averaging 41 points per game and have punished opponents on the ground. RB Isaiah Shevchook went for 160 yards and three TDs in last week’s win, starring in place of Devin Outlaw. While they were strafed last week, Columbia has big play ability in the form of Tray Tolliver and Marcus Peterson and no doubt is ready to get back on track.

Fleming Island (1-1) at Creekside (2-0): The Golden Eagles are fresh off a 6-0 win on the road at Lake Minneola, a program coming off a state runner-up finish in 2020. Fleming allowed just 62 total yards last week. That defensive might will be needed again to clamp down on a Knights squad that put up 37 on Nease last week and scored five touchdowns. RB Preston Strope rushed for 162 yards and two TDs. QB Jacob Dennie had three TD passes, two to Paul Wood. Fleming RB Sam Singleton is a rising star and his 80-yard TD run last week was the difference.

Madison County (0-1) at (6) University Christian (2-0), 7:30 p.m.: The Christians return home after two road victories to open the season and they are clicking. RB Orel Gray continues to be the driving force for the Christians on both sides of the ball. Gray may be the most versatile player in town. He’s rushed for 248 yards and six TDs and also picked off three passes in the secondary. The 1-2 punch of Gray and Alan Woods (217 rushing yards) has been tough to slow down. That duo has reached 100 yards rushing in both games this season and remain on pace to be dual 1,000-yard backs. Can they crack a Madison County defense that is traditional stingy and physical?

(10) St. Augustine (1-0) at (2) Bolles (2-0), 7:30 p.m.: The game of the night among area teams. The Yellow Jackets thumped Menendez 44-0 in their season opener last week. They competition ramps up in a big way against the powerful Bulldogs, who pummeled Columbia 34-7 behind a wicked defensive performance. St. Augustine QB Trevon Dirden, RB Tyshawn Campbell and a bevy of other players spread things out and punished the Falcons from all angles. The Yellow Jackets have their work cut out for them on the offensive front. Bolles’ defense thumped Columbia to the tune of six sacks, four of them by LB Jack Pyburn. The Bulldogs recorded three safeties and limited the Tigers to minus-73 total yards. DL Hayden Schwartz has 14 tackles in two games. RB Kade Frew continues to torment opponents. He’s rushed for 287 yards and five TDs.

Next four

Baker County (1-1) at Ponte Vedra (1-1): A big win for the Sharks last week over Episcopal as the offense got moving. Wildcats have to button things up on defense after last week.

Baldwin (0-0) at Westside (1-1), 6:30 p.m.: The Indians make their season debut, while the Wolverines try and bounce back from a 30-point loss to Suwannee.

Jackson (1-1) at Fletcher (0-2), 6:30 p.m.: The Senators have got to find some answers on offense. The Tigers are coming off of a big win over Providence.

Sandalwood (1-1) at Atlantic Coast (1-1), 6:30 p.m.: Big losses by both teams last week, but a clash of offensive stars in Saints QB Chris Calhoun and Stingrays RB Arthur Walker.

Week 3, Florida

All games Friday at 7 p.m. unless indicated

Baker County (1-1) at Ponte Vedra (1-1)

Baldwin (0-0) at Westside (1-1), 6:30 p.m.

Bell Creek (0-1) at Christ’s Church (2-0)

Bishop Kenny (2-0) at Stanton (0-2), 6:30 p.m.

Bronson (1-1) at Bishop Snyder (0-1)

Cedar Creek Christian (0-1) at Eagle’s View (1-0)

Clay (1-0) at Bradford (0-2), 7:30 p.m.

Columbia (1-1) at Oakleaf (2-0)

Crescent City (1-1) at Interlachen (0-1)

Englewood (1-1) at Episcopal (1-1)

Fleming Island (1-1) at Creekside (2-0)

Hamilton County (0-1) at Fort White (0-1), 7:30 p.m.

Harvest (0-1) at Union County (1-0), 7:30 p.m.

Hawthorne (2-0) at Suwannee (2-0), 7:30 p.m.

Jackson (1-1) at Fletcher (0-2), 6:30 p.m.

Madison County (0-1) at University Christian (2-0), 7:30 p.m.

Mandarin (0-2) at First Coast (0-2), 6:30 p.m.

Matanzas (1-0) at Deltona (1-1)

Menendez (1-1) at Ridgeview (0-1)

Middleburg (2-0) at Santa Fe (0-2)

North Florida Educational (0-1) at St. Joseph (0-1)

Orange Park (1-1) at Nease (1-1)

Parker (1-1) at Wolfson (0-2), 6:30 p.m.

Paxon (1-1) at Hilliard (2-0)

Port Orange Atlantic (0-2) at Flagler Palm Coast (1-0)

Providence (0-2) at Fernandina Beach (0-2)

Riverside (2-0) at Ribault (0-2), 6:30 p.m.

St. Augustine (1-0) at Bolles (2-0), 7:30 p.m.

Sandalwood (1-1) at Atlantic Coast (1-1), 6:30 p.m.

Tallahassee Lincoln (1-1) at Bartram Trail (2-0)

Tocoi Creek (0-1) at Keystone Heights (2-0)

Weeki Wachee (0-2) at Palatka (0-1)

West Nassau (0-1) at Yulee (1-1)

Zarephath Academy (1-0) at Trinity Christian (2-0), 7:30 p.m.

Off: Raines, White.

Georgia, Week 4

All games at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 9

Brunswick (2-0) at New Hampstead (3-0)

Friday, Sept. 10

Camden County (3-0) at Marietta (1-1)

Charlton County (2-0) at McIntosh County (0-1-1)

Thomson (3-0) at Ware County (3-0), canceled

Off: Glynn Academy, Pierce County, Ware County.

Last week: 28-7. Season: 50-15 (.769).

All games Friday at 7 p.m. unless indicated

Baker County (1-1) at Ponte Vedra (1-1): Good matchup in Week 3. Wildcats fix their defense this week. N4J pick: Baker County 27, Ponte Vedra 21.

Baldwin (0-0) at Westside (1-1), 6:30 p.m.: Finally, a game for the Indians. They get in the win column. N4J pick: Baldwin 19, Westside 14.

Bell Creek (0-1) at Christ’s Church (2-0): Koreen Burch and the Eagles stay perfect. N4J pick: Christ’s Church 27, Bell Creek 14.

Bishop Kenny (2-0) at Stanton (0-2), 6:30 p.m.: Crusaders after their first 3-0 start since 2017. N4J pick: Kenny 33, Stanton 6.

Cedar Creek Christian (0-1) at Eagle’s View (1-0): Warriors put up a 50 piece in their win this season. N4J pick: Eagle’s View 33, Cedar Creek 13.

Clay (1-0) at Bradford (0-2), 7:30 p.m.: Super 10 No. 8 Blue Devils back in action after a week off. The big questions this week — how many big catches will Dmaurion Frazier make, and how many big runs with Alquerious Ray have? N4J pick: Clay 34, Bradford 14.

Columbia (1-1) at Oakleaf (2-0): Knights have run the ball like mad, no matter who’s toting it. N4J pick: Oakleaf 34, Columbia 27.

Crescent City (1-1) at Interlachen (0-1): Raiders in a close one. N4J pick: Crescent City 27, Interlachen 21.

Englewood (1-1) at Episcopal (1-1): Eagles try and bounce back after a tough loss against Ponte Vedra. N4J pick: Episcopal 19, Englewood 13.

Fleming Island (1-1) at Creekside (2-0): Tossup game. The Golden Eagles are 7-1 against the Knights all-time. N4J pick: Fleming 19, Creekside 17.

Hamilton County (0-1) at Fort White (0-1), 7:30 p.m.: Tigers edge the Indians in this one. N4J pick: Hamilton County 21, Fort White 14.

Harvest (0-1) at Union County (1-0), 7:30 p.m.: Tigers lit up the scoreboard last week and will do the same this week. N4J pick: Union County 63, Harvest 20.

Hawthorne (2-0) at Suwannee (2-0), 7:30 p.m., postponed due to COVID-19

Jackson (1-1) at Fletcher (0-2), 6:30 p.m.: Interesting game for both teams. Senators have got to find a way to generate some offense. And it’s a big step up for the Tigers. N4J pick: Fletcher 19, Jackson 13.

Madison County (0-1) at University Christian (2-0), 7:30 p.m.: The Christians have been buzzing. A win over the Cowboys would be their biggest of the season. N4J pick: UC 27, Madison 20.

Mandarin (0-2) at First Coast (0-2), 6:30 p.m.: Two programs in desperate need of a win. N4J pick: Mandarin 24, First Coast 13.

Menendez (1-1) at Ridgeview (0-1): Falcons try and bounce back from a rough loss last week. N4J pick: Menendez 21, Ridgeview 14.

Middleburg (2-0) at Santa Fe (0-2): Get on the Broncos bandwagon. N4J pick: Middleburg 26, Santa Fe 20.

North Florida Educational (0-1) at St. Joseph (0-1): Eagles were close last week but finish this time. N4J pick: NFEI 36, St. Joseph 6.

Orange Park (1-1) at Nease (1-1): Intriguing game with solid stars — RB Jojo Restall of OP and QB Marcus Stokes of Nease. N4J pick: Nease 31, Orange Park 21.

Parker (1-1) at Wolfson (0-2), 6:30 p.m.: Braves only have one TD in two games but that defense has been potent. N4J pick: Parker 27, Wolfson 0.

Paxon (1-1) at Hilliard (2-0): Red Flashes in a tight one. N4J pick: Hilliard 24, Paxon 20.

Port Orange Atlantic (0-2) at Flagler Palm Coast (1-0): Bulldogs keep it up after a big win over Mainland. N4J pick: FPC 30, Atlantic 14.

Providence (0-2) at Fernandina Beach (0-2): Stallions on the road for a big win. N4J pick: Providence 28, Fernandina Beach 14.

(4) Riverside (2-0) at Ribault (0-2), 6:30 p.m.: Generals defense is on a different level right now. N4J pick: Riverside 30, Ribault 0.

(10) St. Augustine (1-0) at (2) Bolles (2-0), 7:30 p.m.: Game of the night. Bulldogs are just too deep. N4J pick: Bolles 33, St. Augustine 21.

Sandalwood (1-1) at Atlantic Coast (1-1), 6:30 p.m.: Both teams came back down to earth last week. N4J pick: Sandalwood 21, Atlantic Coast 20.

Tallahassee Lincoln (1-1) at (3) Bartram Trail (2-0): Bears defense has been nasty. N4J pick: Bartram 27, Lincoln 10.

Tocoi Creek (0-1) at Keystone Heights (2-0): Indians stay perfect. N4J pick: Keystone 30, Tocoi 13.

West Nassau (0-1) at Yulee (1-1): Should be an evenly matched game. Hornets looking for Nassau County supremacy. N4J pick: Yulee 21, West Nassau 14.

Zarephath Academy (1-0) at Trinity Christian (2-0), 7:30 p.m.: Conquerors will be done with this one by half. Credit Zarephath for scheduling this one. N4J pick: Trinity 42, Zarephath 0.

OTHERS

Home team in CAPS; local teams bolded

Bronson (1-1) over BISHOP SNYDER (0-1); Matanzas (1-1) over DELTONA (1-1); PALATKA (0-1) over Weeki Wachee (0-2).

Off: Raines, Suwannee, White.

Downtown’s streets became rivers. Homes in San Marco and across the city were flooded. Along both sides of the St. Johns River, businesses were shuttered for months in the aftermath.

The storm passed west of Jacksonville by 100 miles early on Sept. 11 as it was weakening from a Category 2 to a Category 1 hurricane. Through the morning, our river rose to a historical 5.57 feet when a powerful rainband which, combined with the storm’s 86 mph easterly gusts, pushed water into the river basin during high tide.

Irma, together with the preceding nor’easter, swelled the river down into Clay and Putnam counties.

Black Creek set a record flood stage when the water rose to 30.52 feet two days after Irma passed.

Search-and-rescue spread across the area pulling hundreds of victims to safety.

Power was out for more than a quarter-million people and the debris left behind took months to clear.

WATCH: High rise: The Flood and Fury of Hurricane Irma

One of the storm’s most lasting impacts was on nursing homes. New regulations were put in place after a dozen died from a lack of power in a South Florida nursing home.

Pool via CNN

The storm served as a wake-up call to Jacksonville’s vulnerability to sea-level rise and the growing threats from stronger hurricanes.

Four years later, City Council has completed a resiliency survey and Mayor Lenny Curry hired a chief resiliency officer to look for ways to mitigate future impact from rising waters during future storms.

The council, an outgrowth of a July executive order by President Joe Biden, is aimed at refocusing the U.S. economy around the interests of consumers, workers and entrepreneurs. Details about the meeting were provided by two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the gathering.

The goal is to foster a more dynamic economy in which competition among companies leads to more transparency, greater choice and potential savings for customers.

Biden's order has been criticized by some Republican lawmakers and business groups for its emphasis on regulation. The decision to convene the council in the Roosevelt Room carries a degree of symbolism: The room is named for the trust-busting President Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican.

Among the matters on the agenda for the council were a new report about airlines that wrongfully denied refunds to customers whose flights were changed or canceled; an inquiry into excessive fees charged by ocean carriers; and a nearly 20-fold increase in fines for hospitals that fail to disclose their prices to the public.

Other issues include corporate mergers, landlords who prevent renters from shopping around for internet services and removing requirements by companies such as John Deere that stop independent repair shops from fixing broken tractors and other machines.

The council is led by Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council. He was expected to ask each agency to come back to the council’s next meeting with at least one new initiative.

Deese previewed efforts to improve transparency in the food sector at a Wednesday briefing with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The Biden administration is providing $500 million to help foster new competitors in food processing in order to counter the four companies that control the majority of the market for beef, poultry, and pork. It has also creating market reports for transparency in cattle markets, new rules on “Product of the USA” labeling and greater enforcement of the century-old Packers and Stockyards Act.

Other members of the council include the heads of eight Cabinet departments: Agriculture, Defense, Justice, Treasury, Transportation, Health and Human Services, Commerce and Labor. It also includes the leaders of seven independent agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Special Agent in Charge Rachel Rojas hosted the ceremony in front of the memorial wall for fallen agents at the regional office. Several other FBI employees who responded to the attacks laid flowers at the monument.

Nationwide, 18 FBI employees have died as a result of the direct attacks or illness connected to their response to the scene, the agency noted. Many of the deaths were cancer-related.

Nearly 4,000 FBI special agents and 3,000 FBI professional staff employees were part of the terror investigations in the days following the attack. 

Among those were Special Agent Alex Silverstein who arrived at the Pentagon within minutes of the crash. Now assigned to the Jacksonville office, Silverstein was working in Washington D.C. when a plane hit the Pentagon.

“We ran down to the parking garage, I think I threw on overalls over my suit and we headed out to the Pentagon,” Silverstein recalled in an interview with News4Jax. “Lights and sirens, down under the Third Street tunnel.”

Silverstein said he had been called to New York City for the World Trade Center attack just minutes before. The crisis at the Pentagon kept him in Washington.

“We pulled up and the building was on fire,” Silverstein said. “The entire side of the building was on fire. We could see plain parts laying in the lawn there and while we were there we saw the roof collapse, so we knew at that point that anybody who had not gotten out already, they weren’t coming out. There is no training for what I saw.”

Silverstein said he recovered key evidence in the case and human remains. He wrote letters to the families of the victims he recovered.

“I wrote to their families just to let them know when their family members were found that they weren’t alone,” he said. “And that we treated them with respect.”

Click here to read more stories from the FBI on 9/11.

The two-year manhunt for Gen. Hugo Carvajal ended Thursday night when police raided a rundown apartment in a quiet Madrid neighborhood where they found the fugitive in a back room holding a sharp knife in what they described as a last desperate attempt to evade arrest.

Nicknamed “El Pollo” (“The Chicken”), Carvajal has been a thorn in the side of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration since 2014, when he was arrested in Aruba on a U.S. warrant only to go free after President Nicolás Maduro’s government pressured the small Dutch Caribbean island to release him.

He returned to Caracas an anti-imperialist hero but was quickly relegated to a minor role in the ruling socialist party. Then in 2019 he broke with Maduro amid a wave of antigovernment unrest, urging fellow members of the military to switch allegiance to Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader the U.S. had just recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate president.

He resurfaced in Europe months later, greeted at Madrid's airport by two Spanish intelligence officers after traveling there with a false passport, The Associated Press has previously reported. From there, he had hoped to continue plotting against Maduro.

But he was forced underground a second time after Spain’s National Court in 2019 ruled that he should be extradited to New York to face federal charges that he worked with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to “flood” the U.S. with cocaine.

While on the lam, he was rumored to be in Portugal, then a hideout in the Caribbean. Some Venezuelans — always up for a good conspiracy — believed he was already on U.S. soil spilling secrets about the Venezuelan military’s involvement in drug trafficking, or had returned to Caracas to make amends with the government he had vowed to overthrow. Others speculated he was being protected by Spain’s leftist government, which has strayed from the U.S.′ hardline policy seeking to isolate Maduro.

The reality was much simpler: The 61-year-old had never left Madrid. His last hideout was a mere 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the headquarters of the National Police.

“If they actually manage to extradite him this time, it will be a spectacular way to show how justice is winning over diplomacy and intelligence operations,” said Dick Gregorie, who as a federal prosecutor in Miami also indicted Carvajal on drug charges.

Gregorie compared Carvajal to another spymaster he investigated, former Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega. Both men, he said, were capable of cutting deals on all sides while scuttling the pursuit of justice.

“He could've been sent here a number of times but for various reasons that are undisclosed he was allowed to go," said Gregorie, who is now retired. “But he is probably the most knowledgeable defendant with regards to all of the corruption and dirty deeds that went on in Venezuela for a decade.”

Carvajal’s capture appears to have been made possible thanks to intelligence provided by the DEA in June, according to a document published Friday by Spain’s El Mundo newspaper. In the two-page confidential letter, Dustin Harmon, a DEA attache in Madrid, provided police with the name and contact details for a Venezuelan woman he said owned and lived in the apartment where Carvajal was hiding.

Harmon's letter also alerted Spanish authorities that Carvajal was known to use wigs and other disguises, as well as undergo plastic surgery, to avoid detection. The DEA declined to comment.

Spanish police said a dog was Carvajal’s constant companion in what was otherwise a very lonely, restricted life.

“He changed hideouts every three months, using properties in which he lived cloistered, without going out into the streets, for fear he would be recognized publicly,” police said in a statement.

Steeped in spy craft, he changed phones often and relied on others to deliver food. He breathed fresh air only at night, when he would step onto his apartment’s plant-covered balcony in disguise.

Video released by Spain’s National Police on Friday showed special forces breaking into the apartment, where the fugitive’s presence had gone unnoticed even by those sharing the 12-story building.

The U.S. had offered $10 million for Carvajal's arrest, repeatedly advertising the reward as bait in the hopes that someone from Carvajal's inner circle would betray him.

But it's not immediately clear if somebody snitched. His wife Angélica Flores, who lived in Madrid with the couple’s five children and other relatives, provided little insight.

“I’m prepared for either situation, the good or the bad,” she told the AP when contacted by phone with the news. “It’s up to him and others to give statements. This case will continue and we’ll see how it ends.”

The case against Carvajal in New York centers on a DC-9 jet from Caracas that landed in southern Mexico in 2006 with 5.6 tons of cocaine packed into 128 suitcases. He faces incriminating evidence from phone records, drug ledgers and the testimony of at least 10 witnesses, among them former members of the so-called “Cartel of the Suns” comprised of corrupt Venezuelan military officers deep into the narcotics trade, according to an affidavit accompanying the indictment.

The New York indictment also repeats an accusation that Carvajal provided Colombian rebels with automatic weapons and protection inside Venezuela.

“Carvajal is the key link that can explain the business dealings between Colombian guerrillas, Mexican drug cartels and other criminal organizations in the U.S. and Europe,” said Martin Rodil, a Washington-based security consultant for U.S. law enforcement who has worked on multiple Venezuelan investigations. “He was the hinge between all those groups.”

The former general has scoffed at the allegations. He says his contacts with the FARC — designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. — were authorized by Chávez and limited to securing the release of a kidnapped Venezuelan businessman and paving the way for peace talks with the Colombian government. He also maintains that judicial probes in Venezuela and Mexico never linked him to the cocaine-laden plane and that the aircraft's owner backs his alibi.

The extradition order against Carvajal followed a back-and-forth legal battle in which Spain’s National Court reversed an earlier ruling by a high court magistrate throwing out the U.S. warrant for being politically motivated. In the interim, Carvajal was released and fled when he was tipped off he would be rearrested. He wasn't heard from again except when he said last year that he was going underground to protest what he viewed as political interference in his case.

He resurfaced on social media earlier this month, posting what could be a preview of his eventual defense: a statement accusing former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, who was for years the U.S.′ main caretaker in the war on drugs, of “fabricating” evidence against him and the Chávez government even as it was cooperating with U.S. prosecutors to arrest Colombian narcos hiding inside Venezuela

“It’s a lie that will eventually collapse,” Carvajal wrote. “I’ve always trusted that the truth will prevail.”

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Goodman reported from Miami.

The location of the dumping ground is under the overpass from Roosevelt Boulevard to Interstate 10 near Post Street and McDuff Avenue where the Murray Hill and Riverside neighborhoods connect.

Officers responded just before noon Wednesday to complaints about the area where piles of trash, clothing and electronics could be seen. There was also trash inside a port-a-potty. The officers took photos as part of their investigation into what they believe is an illegal dumping site near homes.

WJXT

“These things should be caught very quickly. To let them fester and be there for weeks until they start to stink, and, of course, you get the rats and everything else, it’s not a good situation at all,” said neighbor Michael Hampson.

Neighbor Tyra Smuee said: “When you have stink and garbage, it reflects on the community and it says the community is not taking care of itself. And so, of course, it brings property values down. Who wants to live next to that? No one. Yuck.”

Other neighbors have taken to social media to express their disgust about living close to filth.

“It looks disgusting. What a shame,” Carol wrote.

Patty wrote: “Drove by it this morning. It’s nasty.”

News4Jax reached out to City Hall to see what’s being done to combat illegal dumping and is awaiting a response. In the past, the city has said illegal dumping is a citywide problem and it’s hard to convict someone of illegal dumping unless police either catch them in the act or have surveillance video as evidence.

The officers who News4Jax spoke with said they would report this to city officials so that a crew can be scheduled to come out and clean this up.

George Miller is returning to write and direct the film, which is being touted as Australia’s biggest production ever. “The Queen’s Gambit” star Anya Taylor-Joy is set to play the title role, which Charlize Theron originated in “Fury Road.” Chris Hemsworth and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II also star.

“Mad Max: Fury Road” had a famously turbulent production, but out of the fires came a critical hit that went on to score 10 Oscar nominations, including for best picture and best director, winning six. Yet it was still in the red after over $375 million in global grosses.

The studio also said Friday that the new adaptation of “Salem’s Lot” will hit theaters on Sept. 9, 2022.

Venko Filipce made the announcement shortly after his deputy minister and two senior hospital administrators also stepped down.

There was no immediate reaction from the office of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

The fire broke out late Wednesday in the western town of Tetovo, destroying the facility within a few minutes. Twelve people were also injured. The blaze is believed to have started by accident, although an investigation is still under way. Witnesses and officials have said an explosion preceded the fire.

The public prosecutor’s office said eight women and six men aged between 29 and 78 were killed.

Nineteen field hospitals, funded by a World Bank loan, have been set up across North Macedonia over the past year to tackle surging coronavirus hospitalizations and a shortage of hospital beds. Health authorities say all 19 were constructed according to the specifications and standards laid out by the World Bank as a condition for the loan.

North Macedonia has said it is accepting an offer from other NATO allies to send fire experts. The government announced that a team from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office will join the investigation.

President Stevo Pendarovski has said the investigation would be completed within five days, and that indications are the fire was not set deliberately.

“It all lasted three to five minutes,” said Gzim Nuredini, head of Tetovo’s COVID-19 center, adding that medical staff and patients’ relatives who were outside all tried to help extinguish the flames.

Prosecutors from Tetovo and the capital, Skopje, were gathering video material from inside and around the hospital, and have hired an electrical engineering expert to help determine how the blaze broke out.

Medical staff and witnesses have also been questioned, and prosecutors have ordered the confiscation of all documentation on the construction of the facility to check for potential omissions.

North Macedonia’s government has declared three days of mourning from Thursday.

Fires in COVID-19 hospitals or wards have cost dozens of lives in other countries, including Iraq and Romania.

New Texas laws banning most abortions and restricting ways to vote are highlighted by Newsom and other Democrats as evidence of what a Republican governor could do in California should voters remove Newsom a year before his first term ends.

Newsom also says his GOP opponents will follow the lead of Texas, Florida and some other Republican-led states by rolling back mask and vaccine requirements. He has framed the issue “a matter of life and death" for Californians.

The last day to vote in the recall is Tuesday and Democrats are using stronger rhetoric to drive their voters to the polls. There are nearly two times as many registered Democrats as Republicans in the state, meaning a strong turnout should enhance Newsom's chances of surviving.

More than 7 million of California's 22 million voters already have cast ballots and Democrats so far have made a strong showing. Meantime, recent polls show the recall failing by double digits.

If those polls are wrong and a majority choose to remove Newsom, it's almost certain a Republican would take the governorship since no Democrat with significant political standing is among the 46 replacement candidates. The leader in that field is talk radio host Larry Elder, a conservative Republican who opposes abortion and is seeking to become the state's first Black governor.

California and Texas are the nation’s two most populous states and political opposites. California and its nearly 40 million residents are governed by Democrats who champion progressive policies on health care, worker’s rights and immigration. Texas, home to about 30 million people, is led by Republicans who have been on the forefront of conservative efforts on the same topics.

The new Texas abortion law prohibits the procedure once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity in a fetus. It took effect Sept. 1 after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block it.

“The whole idea that a constitutional right, the right to choice, the right to reproductive freedom, rights of women, now are under assault — what a remarkable moment it is in American history,” Newsom said while campaigning Wednesday.

He cast Elder as “someone that celebrates what just happened to women in Texas, and is celebrating the prospect of overturning Roe v. Wade,” the court case that established nationwide abortion rights.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren are among national Democrats who have reinforced Newsom's message that the California race is central to the fight over the nation's values.

“Governors matter,” Warren said at a rally with Newsom last weekend after discussing the Texas law. “We can look away while they take women’s rights ... or we can fight back.”

Leaders in California and Texas have a history of using each other's state as a political tool. In 2013, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry cut a radio ad encouraging California businesses to decamp for Texas and its lower taxes and then followed it up with a recruiting trip to the state. Former California Gov. Jerry Brown dismissed the effort as “barely a fart."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has gloated about some businesses, including Oracle and Hewlett Packard Enterprises, moving their headquarters from California to his state during the pandemic. California's population growth has slowed in the last decade and so the state lost a congressional seat for the first time while Texas kept growing fast and gained two.

“Texas policies attract people more than any other state," Abbott tweeted recently, linking to a story about California businesses leaving the state.

Ray Sullivan, who was chief of staff to Perry, said it makes sense for political leaders in the two states to do battle.

“Texas is the biggest, boldest, best-known Republican-led state in the country. California is the biggest, loudest, high-profile liberal state in the country,” he said.

Sullivan said Newsom and fellow Democrats are using scare tactics by bringing up Texas's abortion law.

“California is not going to become socially conservative just because they remove their governor,” he said, noting the state Legislature would still be overwhelmingly Democratic.

California Democrats dispute that. Even before the Texas ruling, California supporters of abortion rights were warning voters that a Republican governor could put that access at risk by using a line-item veto to slash budget funding for reproductive health and appointing conservative judges.

“If you have a leader that’s hell bent on taking away rights, doing actions that are harmful for people in getting access to care, they’ll find a way to do that,” said Jodi Hicks, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. “California is not insulated from that happening either.”

Even before the abortion law took effect, Newsom was drawing a sharp distinction between his handling of the pandemic and how leaders in Texas and Florida responded. Those states are governed respectively by Abbott and Ron DeSantis, who have sought to ban local mask mandates and taken a more hands-off approach to how businesses operate.

By contrast, in the early days of the pandemic Newsom imposed the nation's first statewide shutdown. More recently he has mandated that children wear masks in school and that health care and state workers be vaccinated.

Jessica Lavariega Monforti, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at California Lutheran University and an expert in voting and elections, said the contrast on abortion rights is likely to be a more potent message for voters because the pandemic contrast has long been clear. That Texas' law was allowed to take effect by the Supreme Court shocked many people, particularly after courts have put laws banning abortion or drastically restricting it on hold in 13 other states.

“Now you have to be a little bit more on your toes in the state and local arena," she said. "You can’t just rely on federal institutions like the court to step in.”

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See AP’s complete coverage of the California recall election: https://apnews.com/hub/california-recall

Major League Baseball and the players' association extended his administrative leave through the end of the World Series on Friday.

Bauer was placed on seven days’ paid leave July 2 under the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy adopted by MLB and the players’ union after a Southern California woman said he choked her into unconsciousness, punched her repeatedly and had anal sex with her without her consent during two sexual encounters earlier this year. MLB and the union have since agreed to several extensions.

The decision to extend the leave through the rest of the season had been expected, given that Bauer had not pitched since June 29 and was running out of time to get back in shape to return to the mound while games remained. The regular season is scheduled to end Oct. 3 and the minimum ramp-up time for pitchers is generally regarded as three weeks.

Bauer now awaits the next steps in the legal case.

The Pasadena Police Department last week delivered the results of their three-month investigation into the woman's allegations to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the case is under review. Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County denied the 27-year-old San Diego woman’s request for a restraining order against Bauer.

Bauer has said through representatives that everything that happened between the two was “wholly consensual” in the nights they spent together in April and May at his Pasadena home.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault.

Earlier this year, after winning his first Cy Young with the Cincinnati Reds last season, Bauer agreed to a $102 million, three-year contract to join his hometown Dodgers.

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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

In their first-ever joint statement, the three Christian clerics said the coronavirus pandemic gave political leaders an unprecedented opportunity to rethink the global economy and make it more sustainable and socially just for the poor.

“We must decide what kind of world we want to leave to future generations,” said the statement from Francis, Archbishop Justin Welby of the Anglican Communion and the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I.

But in the statement, they also noted that the threat is no longer far off.

“The extreme weather and natural disasters of recent months reveal afresh to us with great force and at great human cost that climate change is not only a future challenge, but an immediate and urgent matter of survival,” they said.

The statement sought to give a sense of urgency to the upcoming U.N. climate summit, which Francis at least is expected to attend in person. The conference, known as COP26, is scheduled for early November in Glasgow, Scotland.

“This is the first time that the three of us feel compelled to address together the urgency of environmental sustainability, its impact on persistent poverty, and the importance of global cooperation,” they wrote.

Individuals have a role to play, but leaders bear the greatest responsibility to take courageous decisions in Glasgow, the statement said.

“We say: Choose people-centered profits; make short-term sacrifices to safeguard all our futures; become leaders in the transition to just and sustainable economies.”

The statement was dated Sept. 1, when their churches celebrate the world day for the care of creation. There was no official explanation for why it was released a week late, though the Vatican is essentially closed for business in August, suggesting summer holidays might have been to blame.

While the joint statement was a first, Francis has frequently cited Bartholomew’s teachings on the environment, including in his landmark 2015 environmental encyclical “Praised Be.” Welby, a former oil executive, has spoken out about the moral crisis of climate change though his Church of England has declined to divest fully from carbon-intensive companies, arguing that it can force greater change on the fossil fuel industry as a shareholder.

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This story was first published on September 7, 2021. It was updated on September 10, 2021 to correct an erroneous reference in the headline to the Archbishop of Canterbury as an abbot. He is an archbishop.

The two-day conference in September 2020 was among more than 20 meetings that the Rule of Law Defense Fund held in the four months before the November election for senior aides to Republicans who were their states' chief law enforcement officials. But unlike the others, it was held in-person despite coronavirus cases surging and the vaccine still months from coming to market, and the group paid attendees' travel costs.

The Defense Fund, which is a branch of the Republican Attorneys General Association, gained notoriety for its robocall the day before the Jan. 6 insurrection, when pro-Trump demonstrators stormed the Capitol in an attempt to thwart the certification of Joe Biden's victory.

Emails from the offices of the Republican attorneys general in Kansas and Missouri show that the Defense Fund held weekly calls for senior staffers in state offices, a “virtual roundtable” with senior corporate attorneys in July and the in-person summit in September. It also held a Zoom “strategy session” eight days after the election and a Dec. 1 call to discuss immigration policy.

A Sept. 24 email from the Republican Attorneys General Association executive director, addressed to “Generals,” called the Atlanta event “WAR GAMES” and a “series of conversations planning for what could come if we lose the White House.”

“It was a fast paced, productive series of war games, which hopefully will not have to be utilized in November," then-Executive Director Adam Piper said in an email the next day, again addressed to “Generals.”

Piper resigned from the attorneys general association five days after the violence in Washington and after the Defense Fund's robocall came to light. The call did not advocate violence or suggest invading the Capitol.

Taken together, the meetings and robocalls underscore how deeply elements of the Republican Party were invested in trying to keep Trump in office or to challenge the incoming Biden administration. Seventeen Republican state attorneys general, including those from Kansas and Missouri, also joined the Texas attorney general in a separate lawsuit seeking to overturn the presidential election results based on unfounded claims of voter fraud; the Supreme Court ultimately rejected that effort.

An agenda for the Defense Fund's Atlanta summit listed three policy sessions and a set of breakout sessions over two days. An email two days before the event from the Defense Fund's executive director said, “All the policy conversations are off the record.”

While the Defense Fund also allowed people to participate virtually, the emails said more than 30 people attended in person.

In a written statement Thursday to The Associated Press, RAGA spokesperson Johnny Koremenos said the September 2020 meeting “was strictly focused on administrative law and preparing attorneys general teams for a potential Biden Administration or a second term of President Trump — common practice in an election season.”

Koremenos said GOP attorneys general have filed more than 40 lawsuits against Biden's policies since he took office in January. That continues a tactic they used during former President Barack Obama's administration — and an approach used by their Democratic counterparts regularly during Trump's four years in office.

“We’re going to continue to fight back against the most radical and irresponsible agenda America has ever seen,” Chris Nuelle, a spokesperson for Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, said Thursday in an email.

Koremenos did not answer questions asked in multiple emails about whether Defense Fund videoconferences last year addressed possible challenges to the election results.

The Defense Fund said in tax filings with the Internal Revenue Service that its mission is to share best practices among states' top lawyers, provide a forum for them to discuss state and federal policy issues, help them develop policy and “engage” federal officials “regarding the interests of the states.”

In Missouri, contacts between the Defense Fund and state Solicitor General John Sauer, who is under Schmitt’s office, became public this year through a records request from a government transparency group.

Schmitt said in January that he didn’t know about the Defense Fund robocall, and his spokesperson said Thursday that he wasn’t going to “rehash” issues raised early this year. Schmitt is running for the U.S. Senate in 2022.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt's office sent two staffers to the September “war games” summit — Chief Deputy Attorney General Jeff Chanay and Communications Director Clint Blaes. Their pre-event travel authorization forms showed that the Defense Fund would cover their expenses — as it did — and listed the purpose of their travel as “Training.”

Chanay said in an email to himself and Blaes that Schmidt had concluded the event “serves a legitimate state purpose and interest” and that the office otherwise would have covered their expenses — making it legal under Kansas law for them to accept the Defense Fund's hospitality.

Their participation was first reported this week by the Kansas Reflector, which obtained 15 pages of emails through an open records request. The Associated Press also obtained the emails through an open records request.

Another email showed that Eric Montgomery, Schmidt's chief of staff, registered for online sessions.

Schmidt, first elected in 2010, is running for Kansas governor in 2022. He served as a director of the Defense Fund but left its board in August 2020. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, he publicly condemned the violence as “sickening” and told The Topeka Capital-Journal that he hadn't known of the robocalls beforehand.

Schmidt's spokesperson, John Milburn, said in an email that the September event was to discuss possible responses to regulations or other actions from a potential Biden administration that Schmidt worried might have "devastating consequences for Kansas.”

"There was no discussion about challenging the results of an election that was still six weeks away," Milburn said.

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Associated Press writers Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri; Meg Kinnard in Houston; and Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

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Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna

Tonight, the few showers and storms will fade across inland areas well south of Jacksonville. Lows cool into the mid 60s across much of SE GA under partly cloudy to mostly clear skies while temps dip to the 70s around Jax.

Showers and humidity continue around Jacksonville and points southward. Easterly flow will develop a 30% chance of rain near the coast in the mornings. Rain should shift westward by the afternoon with dry evenings through Sunday.

In one case, two Afghan video journalists were beaten with iron rods.

Tagi Daryabi said he and a colleague were covering a protest earlier this week by women demanding their rights from Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers. Taliban fighters stopped the two journalists, bound their hands and dragged them away to a police station in Kabul’s District Three.

The 22-year-old photographer told The Associated Press that the first thing he heard in the station were screams from a nearby room. Several fighters then began beating him and his colleague, 28-year-old Neamatullah Naqdi.

At one point, Daryabi said he was beaten non-stop for 10 minutes. “I couldn’t think. I didn’t know if I would be killed or if I would live,” he said, his face and body still bearing the scars.

“We call on the Taliban to immediately cease the use of force toward, and the arbitrary detention of, those exercising their right to peaceful assembly and the journalists covering the protests,” the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement Friday.

It said reports point to an increasing use of force by the Taliban “against those involved in or reporting on the demonstrations.”

Uncowed, Daryabi said he would return to the street to cover another protest.

“It’s very dangerous for me to stand up to them. The Taliban say the media is free, but how can they say that when they are beating me and my colleagues?” he said. “We cannot just stop our work.”

Daryabi and Naqdi work for the small, privately owned Etilaat Roz newspaper, which also broadcasts video news on a YouTube channel.

In the chaotic days following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15, thousands of people, including women and young journalists, rushed to the Kabul airport desperate to escape the militants’ rule.

In the weeks since, women have held multiple protests for their rights, almost all of them broken up violently by Taliban fighters. Two men were killed last week when Taliban opened fire on a women’s rights protest in the western city of Herat. Journalists have been harassed at the rallies, including another cameramen who was beaten.

Despite the abuse at the hands of the Taliban, Duryabi said he wasn’t ready to give up on his homeland.

“I will see if the Taliban continues like this, but if they change and bring a face that protects the media, I will live here. My life is in Afghanistan. But I don’t know, because today I can’t guarantee anything,” he said.

Daryabi’s newspaper and other media houses say it’s not clear whether the heavy handedness of some local police commanders is sanctioned by the Taliban’s media wing. That office has shown a more engaging side, welcoming foreign journalists, and allowing some women presenters to remain on the air at the country’s most popular TV station, TOLO TV.

“My own feeling is that there seems to be a disconnect between the leadership and...the rank-and-file type commanders, who are doing this on the ground,” said Saad Mohsini, executive director of Moby Media Group, which owns TOLO TV. “The way they behave reflects perhaps, not the official Taliban media policy, but more the attitude of that particular commander.”

Etilaat Roz chief editor Khaadim Karimi, who went to the police station to rescue his reporters, said one Taliban fighter tried to stop the beating of the two journalists by his comrades.

“I saw his humanness. He tried to help,” Karimi said. Daryabi and Naaqdi were freed after about four hours.

Mohsini said the media needs guarantees and protection. He called for a commission including both the Taliban information ministry officials and representatives of the media to hear complaints from both sides.

Mohsini, whose TOLO TV employs hundreds, says he has stayed engaged with the Taliban leadership as it navigates its way forward.

Governments around the world are deeply skeptical. In their eyes, the new interim all-Taliban Cabinet defied the movement’s promises to be inclusive. Instead, the militants appear to have embraced the leadership of the 1990s, when their harsh interpretation of Islam denied women rights and severely restricted the media.

One difference now is that those leaders have a global exposure they didn’t have during their earlier time in power.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, for example, rarely left the movement’s former heartland, Kandahar in the south, when they last ruled. In recent years, he was the Taliban chief negotiator, stood on the same stage as world leaders, worked out a deal with the U.S. heavily weighted in the Taliban’s favor and now is the deputy premier.

It was Baradar who helped ensure the departure from Kabul on Thursday and Friday of American citizens and Afghan green card holders on the first commercial flights.

Still, hundreds of Afghans in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif are waiting to leave the country. But the Taliban have refused to allow their aircraft to depart, demanding their documents. The Taliban say only Afghans with proper travel documents will be allowed to leave.

The Afghans stranded in Mazar-e-Sharif, many of whom have worked for the U.S. and German military, fear they will be forgotten.

The African Union has suspended Guinea “from all AU activities and decision-making bodies,” the organization announced. The suspension comes after military officers in Guinea overthrew President Alpha Conde on Sunday.

The 15-nation West African regional economic bloc, known as ECOWAS, had already suspended Guinea following the coup led by Col. Mamady Doumbouya.

Mediators including foreign ministers from Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Burkina Faso along with ECOWAS commission president Jean-Claude Kassi Brou met with Doumbouya on Friday at a hotel in Conakry, the capital. Doumbouya and the ECOWAS mediation team left the hotel without speaking to the media, but talks likely focused on the timing of a return to constitutional rule.

Burkina Faso's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alpha Barry, said that the leaders will now report back to their respective presidents.

The delegation was able to meet with deposed president Conde, who was at the headquarters of the Special Forces, according to Barry.

“We saw President Alpha Conde. He's fine," Barry said. “The rest of the report will be made to the presidents.”

The delegation is now heading back to Accra, Ghana, he said.

The group has urged the coup leaders to assure the safety of the deposed president and others who have been arrested. Conde remains in the custody of the junta, who have only said that he is in a secure location with access to medical care.

Members of the delegation are believed to have met with Conde Friday, according to local media reports.

Doumbouya and the special forces that put the West African nation under military rule for the first time in over a decade have criticized Conde’s government for corruption and the poverty of Guinea’s people. The junta leader portrayed himself as a patriot of Guinea, taking power for the people who remained poor. However, experts say the coup happened after tensions increased between the army colonel and the president because of a recent proposal to cut some military salaries.

The junta has ordered the central bank to freeze all government accounts in an effort to secure state assets and “preserve the country’s interest.”

The junta announced the temporary freezing of withdrawals on bank accounts related to public administrative and commercial establishments in all ministry departments and the presidency. The freeze also applies to “the programs and projects of presidential initiatives,” and “outgoing members of the government as well as senior civil servants, administrators and financial authorities of the state.”

Conde’s removal by force came after he sought and won a controversial third term in office last year, saying the term limits did not apply to him. Conde was elected in 2010 in the country’s first democratic vote, with hopes that Guinea would see a fresh start after decades of corrupt, authoritarian rule and political turmoil. But in the years since, opponents say Conde failed to improve the lives of Guineans, most of whom live in poverty despite the country’s vast mineral deposits of bauxite and gold.

Violent street demonstrations broke out last year after Conde organized a referendum to modify the constitution. The unrest intensified after he won the October election, and the opposition said dozens were killed during the crisis.

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Petesch reported from Dakar, Senegal.

The Andalusia region's agency in charge of firefighting efforts, Infoca, ordered most crews working on the uneven terrain to withdraw late on Friday, leaving the work to aircraft dropping water.

The agency said that strong winds and temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) had created a pyrocumulus — smoke plumes that become a dangerous cloud potentially unleashing powerful lightning.

The wildfire has destroyed more than 3,600 hectares (9,000 acres) of forest, prompting the evacuation of 1,000 people and leading to the death of a firefighter. People in some villages were told to stay indoors with their windows shut due to thick smoke that saturated the hills.

“We have a hungry monster, so we’re trying at the moment to ring it off and then move in to put it out,” Alejando García, deputy head of the Andalusian regional fire service, told reporters.

“The flames are very fierce and the weather forecast is bad,” he said, with no let-up from the wind expected.

Hundreds of firefighters worked overnight to clear out flammable material and open firebreaks in the forest on the hill range in Malaga province. Arson is suspected.

The fire broke out late on Wednesday, but flames were fanned on Thursday and overnight by winds of up to 50 kilometers per hour (30 mph) which shifted direction.

Andalusia's emergency service said that 1,004 residents in Estepona, a resort town popular among expats and foreign vacationers, and three other municipalities closer to the fire were relocated to houses of relatives or makeshift accommodation in pavilions.

A 44-year-old firefighter perished Thursday while trying to extinguish the blaze.

Wildfires — some natural and others manmade — are common in southern Europe during the hot, dry summer months, but have been particularly numerous around the Mediterranean this year following intense heatwaves. Worsening drought and heat also fueled wildfires in the western United States and in Russia’s northern Siberia region.

Scientists say there is little doubt that climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving more extreme events.

From the beginning of 2021 to Aug. 29, some 74,200 hectares (186,000 acres) of forest and bush areas had burned in Spain, according to official data from Spain's Ministry of Ecological Transition.

Today we awarded Deborah Mathis. She was nominated by Jill Frantz

“My 7yo autistic sons teacher Deborah Mathis at Kernan Trail Elementary special needs class should win! The kiddos in her class require individualized teaching to meet their very different needs which requires a lot of resources and planning. She is super hard working, dedicated and really loves her students. Special needs requires so much more, yet they are given less to work with. Kiddos like mine need sensory equipment, bathroom supplies, snacks, extra books, extra supplies for fun bins/sensory bins/learning bins. This money would not only bless her but all her kiddos!!”

Today we awarded Lindsay LaFontaine. She was nominated by Lori Widell

“Lindsay LaFontaine teaches at doctors Inlet elementary school. She has a passion for teaching and loves her students and her coworkers. She stays in touch with her parents, students, and coworkers even in the summer. She also has twin boys in the first grade in the same school. One of them has brain cancer and his doing fairly well this past year. In spite of this, Lindsay continues to be passionate about her teaching. She also shows great values to her own children. I know this because I’m her mom and couldn’t be more proud of my daughter. God bless her and all the teachers who are so worthy if this award.”

The city has continued to extend those caps even as vaccinations allow more indoor dining which, according to the companies, cost them millions of dollars over the summer.

In the suit filed late Thursday the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats call the fee caps government overreach. The companies say they were “instrumental in keeping restaurants afloat and food industry workers employed” after investing millions of dollars in relief for those businesses.

They are filing for an injunction that would prevent the city from enforcing an extension on the fee caps adopted in August.

The companies are seeking unspecified monetary damages as well as a jury trial.

New York Law Department spokesman Nicholas Paolucci said in an email that the city’s initiative is legally sound and will be defended in court.

The city of New York first enacted the price cap in May 2020 in response to the pandemic, limiting the rate that third-party platforms could charge restaurants at 15% of an online order for delivery services, and 5% for all other services, including marketing.

Last month, New York City Council passed a handful of bills it said would help small restaurants, like prohibiting some third-party delivery service charges and mandating that their phone numbers are listed on those delivery sites.

It also pushed forward an extension on the fee caps that would not expire until at least early next year.

Food delivery services, Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats among them, that experienced explosive growth during the pandemic are increasingly clashing with local governments who say restaurants and consumers are getting hit with exorbitant fees and high costs.

Last month Chicago officials accused DoorDash and Grubhub of harming the city’s restaurants and their customers by charging high fees and through other deceptive practices. Delivery companies have been the target of legal authorities in other cities and states before, but those efforts have targeted specific policies compared to Chicago’s attack on numerous elements of the companies’ operations. The companies called Chicago's lawsuits baseless.

San Francisco’s district attorney has accused delivery companies of violating California law by classifying drivers as contractors. And Washington, D.C., reached a settlement with DoorDash in 2019 after alleging the company misled customers about how much drivers received in tips.

The Massachusetts attorney general’s office in July filed a lawsuit accusing Grubhub of charging restaurants illegally high fees during the pandemic. The state had capped fees for much of 2020.

In the lawsuit filed late Thursday, Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats argue that New York city has continually pushed back the expiration date of the price caps and that now there's no date at all, making them permanent. They also claim that the law has cost them “hundreds of millions of dollars" through July.

“The ordinance is unconstitutional because, among other things, it interferes with freely negotiated contracts between platforms and restaurants by changing and dictating the economic terms on which a dynamic industry operates," the lawsuit states.

Food delivery companies, despite soaring revenues, have delivered mixed economic results even as they were transformed into a critical service during the pandemic.

Orders handled by DoorDash reached unprecedented levels during its most recent quarter and while revenue growth slowed from the height of the pandemic, the company said last month that sales were still up an astounding 83%, to $1.24 billion.

Yet the company lost $102 million. Start-ups have to invest large sums to grow and delivery start-ups say that has grown worse as they are forced to spend more to lure new drivers as infections rise. DoorDash said that fee caps cost it $26 million during the most recent three-month reporting period.

In a prepared statement Friday, DoorDash said putting caps on fees can lead to higher prices for customers and hurt drivers if rising prices reduce orders overall.

"Imposing permanent price controls is an unprecedented and dangerous overreach by the government and will limit the options small businesses rely on to compete in an increasingly competitive market,” the company said.

DoorDash has already filed suit to block a cap on fees put into effect by San Francisco.

The American Rescue Plan Act established the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, to provide money equal to the revenue businesses lost from the pandemic, up to $10 million each. Businesses are not required to repay the money if it’s used for eligible uses by March 11, 2023. More than $28 billion has been awarded nationwide.

Businesses applied for the grants through the Small Business Association, providing documentation on their revenues and expenses. Money could be used for costs including payroll, mortgage or rent payments, utilities, maintenance, supplies, and construction of outdoor seating. Applications for the grants have since closed.

In a statement this week, U.S. Rep. Al Lawson (R-Tallahassee) highlighted the businesses receiving aid in his district, which stretches from Jacksonville to Gadsden County. Across that region, 44 restaurants received grants totaling $8,301,133.

Data made available by the Small Business Association provides details on all of the restaurants and similar businesses in Northeast Florida that got money from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. A total of 473 businesses received a total of $79,350,160. While 52 of the businesses were franchises, the vast majority were not. Grants ranged from more than $4 million to a little more than $1,000.

It is a momentous task facing the 24-minister Cabinet, which includes fresh faces who are prominent experts in their fields, but which still reflects Lebanon’s fractious politics.

The country’s economic crisis, unfolding since 2019, has been described as one of the worst in the world in the last 150 years. It impoverished more than half of the population within months and left the national currency in a freefall, driving inflation and unemployment to unprecedented levels.

The new government is expected to undertake critically needed reforms, as well as manage public anger and tensions resulting from the lifting of fuel subsidies by the end of the month. Lebanon’s foreign reserves have been running dangerously low, and the central bank in the import-dependent country said it is no longer able to support its $6 billion subsidy program.

The government is also expected to oversee a financial audit of the Central Bank and resume negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a rescue package.

Few believe that can be done with a government that leaves power in the hands of the same political parties that the public blames for corruption and mismanagement of the country’s resources.

“The biggest winners are the political parties, collectively,” said Maha Yahya, director of Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center. “What is very clear is that it is the epitome of business as usual. Everybody in that Cabinet was named by the political leadership. Some are more competent than others. But the political decision-making is elsewhere.”

After more than a year of bickering among political rivals over the shape of a government, a sudden breakthrough was reported early Friday and the new line-up was announced at the presidential palace.

Experts and politicians say a final nudge to Lebanon’s rival parties to compromise may have come from the country’s equally divided international supporters - the United States, France and Iran - after Lebanon’s economic unraveling reached a critical point that risked a social explosion. Crippling shortages in fuel and medicine threatened to shut down hospitals, bakeries and the country’s internet and caused friction, sometimes violence, in long queues to fill up vehicles.

Mikati, one of Lebanon’s richest businessmen who is returning to the post of prime minister for the third time, sent a message to the tired and exhausted public saying he hears their pain.

Holding back tears, Mikati said he recognized the pain of Lebanese mothers who cannot feed their children or find aspirin to ease their ailments, as well as to students whose parents can no longer afford to send them to school.

“We hope to reach what people want and to at least stop the collapse that is happening,” he told reporters at the presidential palace.

The agreement breaks a 13-month deadlock, one of Lebanon’s longest periods without a fully functioning government at a time when the country was sliding deeper into financial chaos and poverty.

Lebanon’s government resigned after the catastrophic Aug. 4, 2020 explosion at Beirut port, that left more than 200 people killed and the city maimed. The economic meltdown was made worse by the deadlock among rival political groups.

Mikati became a favorite for the post earlier this year after he was endorsed by most of Lebanon’s political parties, including the powerful Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group and the other major Shiite party, Amal, led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. He took over from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who abandoned efforts to form a government after eight months after failing to agree with President Michel Aoun on the Cabinet’s makeup.

The power struggle in Lebanon’s sectarian-based system revolved around which group has a blocking vote over policies at a time of much-needed reforms. But it also reflected the growing power of Hezbollah and its allies at the expense of once powerful western-backed Sunni and Christian parties.

U.S senators visited Lebanon earlier this month while a senior State department official spoke to the Lebanese president and Mikati, urging the formation of a government. Separately, French President Emmanuelle Macron called the newly elected Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who said he supported the formation of a “strong government in Lebanon.”

“The American message was really pushing forward for the government to be formed,” said Alain Aoun, a lawmaker representing the largest Christian block close to the Lebanese president, while the same message came from Iran’s president in a phone call Macron.

Both were messages that recognized the reality on the ground in Lebanon and signaled that support would be forthcoming once a government is formed to stem the rapid collapse, said Salem Zahran, a political analyst.

“This is the best that could happen to Hezbollah,” Zahran said. The group has allies in both the Public Works and Utility ministry— which oversees the airport and port— and the Culture ministry.

Many members of the new Cabinet are experts in their fields. Firas Abiad, director general of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital who has won praise for his transparency in handling the pandemic, was named health minister. A top Central Bank official, Youssef Khalil, was appointed as finance minister, and Bassam Mawlawi, a judge, is the new interior minister.

Yahya, the analyst, said Mikati has an uphill battle with a government that has no common purpose.

“This government is like a shot of morphine. Definitely some money will come in… but this is all short term. The country is still not on any sustainable path to recovery.“

The public was mostly skeptical, although somewhat relieved.

Ali Sharafeddine who owns a company that sells power generators said the new government is no different from previous ones, formed by the same political groups that have ruined Lebanon.

“They're just fooling us,” said the 51-year-old Sharafeddine.

Sgt. Daniel Watts, 49, was a decorated veteran member of the department.

The same day the Jacksonville Beach community gathered to mourn Watts, the Lake City community also laid to rest a first responder who died from COVID-19 complications: Fire Chief Randy Burnham.

It’s the second week in a row two local communities are holding ceremonies under these circumstances.

COVID-19 is now the leading cause of law enforcement “line of duty” deaths.

Chief Gene Smith, with the Police Department, said Watts previously worked with the Atlantic Beach Police Department, where he served four years. He started with Jacksonville Beach police in 2002 as a patrol officer and became a detective two years later.

He transferred to the position of downtown CAPE officer in 2012, was promoted to corporal in 2013 and worked as a patrol until he moved to the rank of detective corporal in 2015, the Police Department said. He was promoted to sergeant and moved pack to patrol in April of this year.

Smith said Watts served on the SWAT team for over 10 years.

A photo shared by the department showed Watts’ son, Eli, paying his respects to his father at the police headquarters next to his father’s car.

Photo provided

During Friday’s memorial, Watts was celebrated for his kindness and concern for others that led him to a career in law enforcement. Loved ones and colleagues said he worked tirelessly to make the community a better place.

“Everyone and I mean everyone had a Dan story,” Smith said. “Remember the Dan stories. Remember how the communities embrace us.”

Watts was a family man who loved to spend time with his two sons.

“If you say that you love him, change something in your life. Do something in your life. Don’t let him just become a memory,” Chief Victor Gualillo said. “For Dan, I’m never going to let my ego or my opinion come in between me and one of my friends.”

Watts is remembered for his passion, trustworthiness and brotherhood.

“Dan you are my friend and will forever live in my heart brother,” said David Young with Jacksonville Beach police.

According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, 132 members of law enforcement are known to have died from COVID-19 complications.

A GoFundMe account has been set up for Watts’ sons.

The quest for the first 2,000-yard receiving season just got a little bit easier for big-play threats like Stefon Diggs and DeAndre Hopkins.

And who knows what Patrick Mahomes can do to the record book now that he has 17 games to rack up yards and touchdowns?

The NFL's move to 17 games in 2021 has made some records that once might have seemed unbreakable a little bit more attainable with an extra game to do it.

Here's a look at some marks that could be surpassed along with a couple that still should be safe:

RUNNING DOWN DICKERSON

Dickerson broke O.J. Simpson's single-season rushing record of 2,003 yards when he ran for 2,105 in 1984 for the Rams.

Since that season, six more players have cracked 2,000, but the closest anyone came to Dickerson happened in 2012 when Adrian Peterson fell 8 yards short of matching it.

Henry ran for 2,027 yards last season when he averaged 126.7 per game. Had he gotten that many in a 17th game he would have surpassed Dickerson by nearly 50 yards.

TWO THOUSAND BARRIER

Calvin Johnson set the single-season receiving record with 1,964 yards in 2012 but even with the increase in passing no one has gotten to 2,000.

Julio Jones came closest since Johnson with 1,871 yards. That pace would have been enough to break Johnson's mark with a 17th game but would have left him about 13 yards short of 2,000.

But if teams keep throwing the ball at the current rate, the 2,000-yard barrier could be in reach.

Buffalo's Diggs led the NFL last year with 1,535 yards receiving.

AIR IT OUT

There have been 12 times a quarterback reached 5,000 yards passing in a season, with the recently retired Drew Brees having done it five times himself.

Brees set the record with 5,476 yards in 2011 only to have Peyton Manning break it by a yard two years later.

Three quarterbacks have reached the 5,000-mark the past three years, with Mahomes and Ben Roethlisberger doing it in 2018, Jameis Winston in 2019. All three were on a pace to nearly eclipse Manning's mark with an extra game.

Manning also set the TD mark with 55 in that 2013 season. Mahomes got to 50 in 2018 when he threw for 5,097 yards and could threaten both marks with the 17th game.

BUSHEL OF SACKS

Michael Strahan set the sacks record in 2001 — with help from a dive by Brett Favre — when he got 22 1/2 to break Mark Gastineau's mark of 22 set in 1984.

Jared Allen (2011) and Justin Houston (2014) both matched Gastineau's 22 in recent years, with Aaron Donald and J.J. Watt coming close at 20 1/2.

A 17th game could help someone pass Strahan and remove the controversy from the record that was achieved only when Favre just fell to the ground in the closing minutes of the season finale.

LONELY CLUB

The 4,000-yard passing season became common in recent years even with only 16 games as the game opened up and teams passed more than ever. In all, there have been 198 4,000-yard seasons in NFL history, with seven franchises having at least 10 and the Packers and Colts having 16 each.

There is only one team that hasn't cracked that mark: the Chicago Bears. It might be tough for the Bears to end that drought even with 17 games because Andy Dalton begins the season as starter but could lose the job at some point to rookie Justin Fields.

The Bears hope Fields will get there some day and pass the franchise record of 3,838 yards set by Erik Kramer in 1995.

UNBREAKABLE MARKS

There are a handful of records that will be tough to break with 17 games but perhaps none more than Night Train Lane's mark of 14 interceptions in 1952. No one has even reached 11 in a season since Everson Walls in 1981 as quarterbacks have become much more careful with the ball.

Miami's Xavien Howard last year became the first player since 2007 with 10 in a season but even a 17th game probably won't be enough.

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Coach John Harbaugh announced the moves Friday, describing the injuries as season-ending, non-contact ligament tears from practice.

“Gus made a cut — left-to-right cut — and landed wrong on his ankle, and the weight ended up going on his knee. Kind of a fluke deal," Harbaugh said. "Marcus was just kind of turning, pivoting on a turn — a basic turn that he makes dozens of times every single practice.”

Baltimore’s backfield has been hit hard by injuries during the preseason. Running back J.K. Dobbins is out for the season with a knee injury, and Justice Hill is on IR as well.

Harbaugh said the team is disappointed for the injured players, but he also struck a defiant tone entering the season opener at Las Vegas on Monday night.

“The train’s moving fast, and we’re excited to go play Monday night," he said. "The game’s going to go off at 5 o’clock Pacific time, and we’re going to be there right on time. We won’t be late.”

The Ravens have signed several veteran running backs this week in an effort to plug the holes in their backfield. Baltimore signed Latavius Murray to the roster and signed Devonta Freeman to the practice squad. The Ravens also added Le'Veon Bell to their practice squad.

Harbaugh said those players need to get up to speed on the playbook, and the team will need to determine what they can handle in a game.

Murray, who rushed for a career-high 1,066 yards in 2015 with the Raiders, spent the past two seasons with the Saints. New Orleans released him this week.

“Murray came in. He’s been in training camp. He’s in shape," Harbaugh said. "Le’Veon, he’s been in great shape, but he’s got to get in football shape a little bit. ... Freeman was in camp, so he’s in shape.”

The Ravens led the NFL in rushing last season, when Dobbins and Edwards combined for 1,528 yards on the ground. Quarterback Lamar Jackson is also a big running threat, and these injuries obviously put more pressure on him to have a big season.

“We've got us," Harbaugh said. "I like us. I like everything about us, and I'm excited about us going forward into this season.”

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More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Acting Chancellor Teresa MacCartney made clear Thursday that those policies aren’t going to change, saying the system will follow the lead of Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican lawmakers who control the university system’s purse strings.

“We are fulfilling our institutional missions to deliver higher education and services for students in a way that is best for them,`` MacCartney said. “Those expectations have been made clear since before the semester started. It should be no surprise. There are consequences for those not following through and doing their jobs.’’

The remarks earned an unusual round applause from regents, who were almost all unmasked. They were surrounded by dozens of university presidents and administrators, who were almost all masked.

She spoke on the same day that faculty groups at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State University passed resolutions calling for mask and vaccine mandates, as well as for letting campuses make their own decisions, including about whether faculty should be able to shift classes online. The University of North Georgia faculty passed a similar resolution earlier.

A handful of professors have resigned, and at least one has been fired, because of their disagreement with system policies that don’t allow universities to mandate masks.

“The governor appointed a Board of Regents that doesn’t care about our health and safety, that doesn’t care if people get sick and die,” said Wendy Simonds, a Georgia State University professor who helped organize a Thursday “die-in’' protest backed by the United Campus Workers of Georgia, a labor union. “I’ve never been this angry at the Board of Regents.’’

Last year, there were also protests as some faculty and students pressed the university system to cancel a number of in-person classes the system had mandated. The university system mandated masks last year and let some professors teach entirely online. Some of the system’s 340,000 students found themselves living on campus but attending almost all classes virtually. System leaders pledged in March that this fall would be “normal,” with full classrooms, dormitories and stadiums.

Data shows that students in the traditional college age bracket of 18-22 have long reported high COVID-19 infection rates. The number of cases in that age group has climbed during Georgia’s current infection wave, but has been outstripped on a per-capita basis by children aged 5-17. The Georgia conference of the American Association of University Professors counted more than 4,400 cases of COVID-19 reported on the state’s university campuses in August.

At this time last year, Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville, Georgia Southern University in Statesboro and UGA in Athens were battling some of the highest per-capita COVID-19 outbreaks in the nation. State public health data show infection rates among residents 18-22 in those communities are not as high as last year, but remain high.

MacCartney said the university system continues ``to be in alignment’' with Kemp, who appoints all the regents but is not supposed to dictate their decisions.

“Gov. Kemp said last week at the Capitol that he believes mandates calls division on campuses and does not support them,’’ she said. ``He further stated he believes those who want to wear a mask should weather wear them to protect themselves and others. He expects the university system to continue to focus on getting everyone who’s eligible vaccinated into educate an advocate about why it’s so important.’’

She also said that while the university system will accept ``robust debate,`` people should be respectful.

“Attacking our presidents and campus administrators is not productive, and does not and will not drive how we make decisions within the University System of Georgia,’’ MacCartney said.

Faculty, though, plan more protests starting Monday and continuing each day next week on at least 15 of the system’s campuses. But even some of the protest organizers say it’s unlikely to persuade the system administration.

“There is no number too high that the regents are going to change this policy,’’ said Matthew Boedy, a University of North Georgia professor who is conference president of the Georgia AAUP.

The board of the Los Angeles Unified School District voted Thursday to require students age 12 and up to be fully vaccinated — with those who take part in sports and other extracurricular activities receiving both of two shots by the end of October and all others by Dec. 19.

Students who can't show proof of vaccination won't be permitted to have in-person learning following the end of winter break on Jan. 11 unless they have a medical or other exemption.

“This action is not about violating anybody’s rights,” school board member Monica Garcia said. “This action is about doing our job to be able to offer public schools that children can come to school and be safe.”

The nation’s second-largest school district was the largest in the U.S. to issue such a mandate. Nearby Culver City Unified School District imposed a similar policy last month for the 7,000-student district.

New York City’s school system, the nation’s largest, has only mandated vaccinations for 20,000 student athletes in certain sports considered at high risk of spreading the virus, including wrestling.

Los Angeles Unified, which has 630,000 students, has moved more aggressively than most districts in enacting COVID-19 safety measures. It tests all students and employees every week, requires masking indoors and outdoors and has ordered employees to be vaccinated.

The district was among the last of the nation’s largest school districts to reopen to classroom instruction last spring. The teachers union opposed the move for months, citing health concerns.

The union applauded the new mandate, which it sought after teachers were ordered to get the shots.

“COVID-19 is mutating, being transmitted to our students, and vaccines remain our community’s best line of defense to prevent continued spread of disease," said Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.

The district’s student population is nearly three-quarters Latino and many are poor. Among adults, poor Latinos are vaccinated at a lower rate than the state average.

Los Angeles County had an increase in coronavirus case rates in children from mid-July to mid-August but these have since declined, said Barbara Ferrer, director of the county’s Department of Public Health.

Between Aug. 15 and Sept. 7, nearly 8,000 student cases and more than 1,200 staff cases of coronavirus were reported in the county, most of them in Los Angeles Unified, Ferrer said.

The coronavirus has been far less lethal for children than for older adults but they can pass on the virus to others, health officials have said.

More than half of Los Angeles County residents between 12 and 17 are already fully vaccinated, and “increasing these numbers is a critical part of our strategy for keeping schools open,” Ferrer said.

The school district's mandate could inspire similar actions in other cities, while likely sparking legal challenges from people opposed to vaccination, masking and other COVID-19 regulations.

Some parents spoke against the mandate at the Los Angels Unified meeting, arguing that they should decide what is best for their children.

“We don’t understand why you are so rushed,” Diana Guillen, chair of the district’s English learner advisory committee, told the board in Spanish. “This decision should be ours, a family decision.”

But many parents and school board members overwhelmingly supported the plan, calling it a sound public health measure and a critical step to keep classrooms open for the in-person learning so essential for students.

Board member Jackie Goldberg recalled when polio infections happened at her school and her friend in third grade lost his arm.

“It is our moral, ethical, religious, political — pick a word — it’s our responsibility to protect the children under 12 who cannot get protected any other way,” she said.

Only the two-shot Pfizer vaccine has received full federal approval for people 16 and older, while children ages 12 to 15 can be vaccinated under a federal emergency use authorization.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden urged people to vaccinate their children, saying “almost all the serious COVID-19 cases we’re seeing among adolescents are in unvaccinated 12- to 17-year-olds — an age group that lags behind in vaccination rates."

An August poll from The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 55% of adults surveyed supported a vaccine mandate for students 12 and older, although that figure dropped to 42% among parents.

Some parents are eager for all eligible students to be vaccinated. Lucy Rimalower, who has a kindergartener in the Los Angeles Unified district, said she is relieved officials are taking steps to try to protect her son until he is old enough to get his shot. She said that also helps protect her parents, who are in their 60s and 70s and help her with child care.

“This feels like following the precedent of all the other vaccines over time that have helped us to have a safer school environment, that lets us feel like it’s safe to send our kids to school without getting chickenpox, polio, the mumps, measles, rubella, you name it,” Rimalower said.

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Taxin reported from Orange County, California. Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed.

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This version corrects that only students age 12 and up must be vaccinated, not that all of Los Angeles Unified's 630,000 students must be.

A spokesperson for Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem confirmed the death. Palestinian media reports identified the dead man as Hazem Joulani, 50, a doctor living in Jerusalem.

Earlier, Israeli police said an officer was lightly injured by a firearm in an attempt to thwart a suspected stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City. They did not immediately give any details as to how the officer was injured, but it said the attacker was arrested.

Tensions have been high in Jerusalem as Palestinians have taken to protesting in support of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

On Wednesday fires broke out at several prison facilities in Israel as the government searched for six Palestinian escapees who have been on the run since they tunneled out earlier in the week.

The fires broke out amid efforts to try to move inmates as a precautionary measure by prison authorities.

An umbrella group representing prisoners from all Palestinian factions called on inmates to resist being relocated and to start fires in their cells if guards try to move them by force.

In a 45-minute video posted on social media Friday Newton, 32, made it clear he doesn’t plan to retire and thinks rookie Mac Jones will have success as the starter this season.

Joined by his father, Cecil Newton Sr., and sitting at the 50-yard line of his alma mater Westlake High School in Atlanta, Cam Newton said though the Patriots coaching staff never treated him differently, he did begin “seeing signs of change” late in training camp that led him to believe his starting job might not be secure.

Newton started each of New England’s three preseason games, but also missed five days of practice leading into the exhibition finale against the New York Giants after a “misunderstanding” of NFL COVID-19 protocols. Newton attended a doctor’s appointment in Atlanta, and because he was unvaccinated, he had to stay away from the team for five days.

“Do I think this would have happened without me being away from the team for five days? Honestly, yes,” Newton said. “It was going to happen. Did it help ease the decision? Yes.”

Newton tested positive for COVID-19 last season, forcing him to miss a game. But following his release, Belichick emphatically denied that the prospect of Newton potentially being unavailable this season because he hadn't been vaccinated played a role in the team’s ultimate decision to cut him.

Jones, the 15th overall pick in April’s draft, became the first quarterback ever selected in the first round by Belichick during his 21-year tenure in New England. He is slated to become the first rookie quarterback to start the opener for the Patriots since Drew Bledsoe in 1993 when they host the Miami Dolphins.

“They’re going to win football games with Mac Jones,” Newton said.

“But they were going to win them with you as well, too,” Cecil Newton interjected.

“That’s a fact, too,” Newton replied. “But I don’t want the audience saying ‘He’s just saying that because he’s not there no more.’ No, Mac is good enough. I think when they picked him the selection that they did pick him...one of those things that they wanted to find out is, ‘Is he capable of leading this offense to be productive?’"

Newton said if given the opportunity to be Jones’ backup he would have taken it.

“I would have said absolutely,” Newton said. “The truth of matter is this: He would have been uncomfortable.”

Newton’s prospects for landing another starting job in the league aren’t clear. He was 7-8 as the Patriots’ starter in 2020 and was mostly inconsistent.

He led the team with 12 rushing touchdowns but threw for only 2,657 yards and eight touchdowns with 10 interceptions. The passing yards and TDs were the fewest of his career except for 2019 in Carolina, when he appeared in only two games before being sidelined for the remainder of the season due to injury.

Newton said being at home for the start of an NFL season is “foreign” to him, but he insists there will be another chapter.

“Do I have a lot of football left in me yet? Absolutely,” Newton said.

___

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The Sheik Sandwiches and Subs in Macclenny

Rodent droppings, even rodent nests, are commonly noted in emergency shutdown inspections, but it’s rare that inspectors find the rodents alive and right in front of them-- that was the case last Thursday at The Sheik Sandwiches and Subs in Macclenny.

A note in the report shows a live rodent ran across the floor. It ran from under the walk-in freezer to another freezer and another was found inside the walls.

The restaurant was also cited for 50 droppings.

It reopened the next day with all but one of its 20 violations corrected.

Failing inspection | Failing inspection | Passing inspection

Bounxou Thai in Jacksonville

Bounxou Thai on San Jose Boulevard in Jacksonville was shut down during a routine inspection last Tuesday. The inspector found a total of 5 dead roaches and 20 live ones.

It took the restaurant until just this past Tuesday to reopen, but they did so with a perfect score and no violations.

RESTAURANT REPORTS: Failing inspection | Failing inspection | Perfect-score inspection

Duval Wings on Dunn Avenue in Jacksonville

Duval Wings on Dunn Avenue was quick to reopen after an inspection triggered by a complaint. The inspector found 3 dead roaches and 12 rodent droppings, among other violations.

The restaurant was ordered to shut down last Wednesday. It reopened the next day after corrections but will require a follow-up.

RESTAURANT REPORTS: Failing inspection | Passing inspection

DJ’s BBQ Steakhouse & Grill in Jacksonville

Four dead roaches, 11 flies , and 32 rodents droppings triggered a shut down for DJ’s BBQ Steakhouse and Grill in Jacksonville.

The restaurant racked up a total of 19 violations during the inspector’s routine visit on September 1.

The restaurant was allowed to reopen the next day, but it too is scheduled for a follow-up inspection.

RESTAURANT REPORTS: Failing inspection | Passing inspection

News4Jax monitors restaurant inspections in District 5 every week with the Division of Hotels and Restaurants under the Department of Business and Professional Regulations.

District 5 covers Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, and Union Counties.

You can search your favorite restaurants anywhere in the state and their most recent inspections in DBPR’s licensing portal. You can also file a complaint against a restaurant that may be violating health and safety standards.

1. Preheat the Air Fryer to 350 degrees.

2. Open the crescent rolls and cut each crescent pastry sheet into thirds.

3. Take each cocktail sausage and wrap them with a third of the crescent pastry dough.

4. Add parchment paper to the Air Fryer Basket or prepare with cooking spray and then place the crescent dogs in a single layer in the basket.

5. Air Fry the pigs in blankets for 3-4 minutes. Turn with tongs, and then Air Fry and cook for an additional time of 3-4 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Remove the crescent dogs from the Air Fryer and serve.

The global study will enroll 2,000 participants in South Africa and 12,000 others will be taking part in Kenya, the Philippines, Chile and Malaysia.

The first children in South Africa were inoculated at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in the capital Pretoria to kick off the trials and others will get shots at 6 different sites across the country, the Sinovac company said in a statement Friday.

“The primary objective of the study is to evaluate the efficacy of two doses of the CoronaVac against confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 cases in children and adolescents," said the statement.

“Efficacy will also be evaluated against hospitalization and severe COVID-19 cases,” Sinovac said.

South Africa, which accounts for more than 35% of COVID-19 infections in Africa with 2.8 million confirmed cases including 84,327 deaths, and has recently battled a resurgence driven by the delta variant.

South Africa has recorded 6,270 new infections and 175 deaths in the last 24 hours.

More than 7 million people have been fully vaccinated with either the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It is currently offering vaccines to all adults 18 years and older as it seeks to vaccinate at least 40 million people of its 60 million population by the end of the year but it is struggling to reach its target of vaccinating at least 300,000 people daily.

On Friday health minister Joe Phaahla announced the country would be issuing digital vaccination certificates to enable South Africans to produce these wherever they are needed.

While the government has said it will not force people to get vaccinated, some companies have already indicated that they will make vaccinations compulsory for their employees.

Various establishments like restaurants and bars would have to make their own decision on whether or not they serve unvaccinated patrons.