制度与权力批判深度研判：USA Today (2026-08-15)

▌ 本日全报思想与文化深思雷达 (Intellectual & Cultural Significance Radar)

在系统通盘梳理本期报纸所涉及的所有国际政治、经济、社会与文化报道后，以下 3 个具体事件在思想史、文化政治与制度伦理层面最值得学者进一步深思：

1. 【委内瑞拉能源危机与生态压力】 [F1_3, F1_4, F1_8]

   • 事件简述：在双重地震造成6,000人死亡后，委内瑞拉政府以厄尔尼诺现象引发的干旱为由，呼吁民众节约水电，导致部分地区每日停电长达20小时 [F1_5 🔍]。
   • 思想文化深思切入点：探讨“自然灾害”如何被权力话语转化为一种“治理工具”，以及在基础设施崩溃的极端状态下，生存权的生物学底线与国家主权管理能力之间的断裂。

2. 【Luigi Mangione 认罪案与医疗保险体制批判】 [F3_24, F3_26]

   • 事件简述：Luigi Mangione 承认杀害 UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson，并在认罪声明中将个人暴力行为与对美国医疗保险制度的系统性批判相结合 [F3_26 🔍]。
   • 思想文化深思切入点：分析“个体暴力”如何成为一种绝望的“政治表达”，以及当制度化的救济渠道失效时，法律的正义（Punitive Justice）与社会认知的正义（Social Justice）之间产生的剧烈撕裂。

3. 【美联储利率决策与预期管理的话语博弈】 [F2_12, F2_18]

   • 事件简述：美联储在通胀高于目标值与就业增长乏力的矛盾中陷入观望，决策者试图通过强调“通胀正在下降”的头条新闻来控制公众预期 [F2_18 🔍]。
   • 思想文化深思切入点：剖析技术理性（货币政策）如何通过“预期管理”这一心理操纵机制，试图在客观经济数据与主观市场信心之间构建一个虚拟的稳定状态。

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▌ 精选核心专题深度思想论证 (In-Depth Dialectical Monograph)

专题一：暴力作为绝望的符号学——Mangione 案中个体正义与制度暴力的互文性

在 Luigi Mangione 承认杀害医疗保险高管 Brian Thompson 的法庭陈述中 [F3_24 🔍]，我们面对的并非一个简单的刑事案件，而是一次极端的、具有符号学意义的政治行为。现实困境在于，Mangione 将其杀人行为直接挂钩于对美国医疗保险行业惯例的沮丧 [F3_26 🔍]，这揭示了当代资本主义医疗体系中一种深层的“结构性暴力”：当保险公司的算法审核与利润最大化逻辑导致患者失去生存机会时，这种制度性的、无形的暴力被掩盖在合法的商业操作之下。而 Mangione 的行为，则是将这种无形的结构性暴力转化为一种可见的、血腥的个体暴力，试图通过摧毁制度的“具象化代表”（CEO）来强迫公众直视制度的残酷。

从话语策略来看，该事件在媒体呈现中具有极强的张力。尽管公职人员谴责其行为 [F3_26 🔍]，但报纸将其描述为“美国人对医疗保险行业惯例感到沮丧的象征”，这种修辞实际上在法律定罪与社会共情之间划出了一道灰色地带。这里触动了阿多诺（Theodor Adorno）关于“受害者与加害者”关系的深刻反思：在高度异化的社会中，个体往往在成为加害者的同时，依然维持着受害者的心理认同。Mangione 的认罪并非出于悔恨，而是一种冷静的、带有殉道色彩的声明 [F3_25 🔍]，他试图将法庭转化为一个批判制度的讲坛。

然而，这种通过暴力寻求正义的尝试，在历史思想资源中引发了关于“例外状态”的讨论。施米特（Carl Schmitt）认为主权者是决定例外状态的人，而 Mangione 试图通过个体暴力自行宣布一个“道德例外状态”，以跳过法律程序直接执行其认知的正义。但当代现实给这种逻辑带来了严峻的质询：当个体将暴力合法化为对制度的抗议时，它不仅无法修复制度，反而可能赋予制度以更强硬的镇压理由（如检察官寻求的终身监禁 [F3_28 🔍]）。最终，这种暴力行为在符号学上虽然获得了某种“反抗者”的快感，但在政治实践上却陷入了彻底的无效性，进一步证明了在技术官僚治理的时代，个体英雄主义的暴力反抗已无法撼动深层的制度逻辑。

专题二：生态危机下的治理术——委内瑞拉电力短缺中的自然话语与权力掩盖

委内瑞拉当前的电力与水资源危机 [F1_3 🔍] 呈现出一种典型的“危机叠加”状态：双重地震的创伤尚未愈合，厄尔尼诺现象引发的干旱再次被推向台前 [F1_4 🔍]。现实困境在于，政府将电力短缺（可用容量不足 15,000 兆瓦 [F1_8 🔍]）归咎于周期性的自然现象，而民众则在每日 20 小时的停电中感受到的是基础设施的彻底崩溃 [F1_5 🔍]。这种矛盾揭示了权力在面对治理失败时的一种典型策略：将“制度性失效”自然化（Naturalization），将政治责任转化为生态宿命。

在话语机制上，临时总统德尔西·罗德里格斯的发言 [F1_4 🔍] 采用了典型的技术官僚修辞，通过引入“太平洋表面升温”等科学术语，将一个复杂的电网维护与管理问题简化为对全球天气模式的被动反应。这种修辞旨在将政府从“施事者”变为“受害者”，从而在逻辑上消解民众抗议的合法性。然而，玛丽埃拉·努涅斯等底层民众的证言 [F1_6, F1_7] 构成了对这种宏大叙事的现象学解构——对于一个住在 12 层楼且没有电梯的退休教师来说，厄尔尼诺现象不是一个气象学概念，而是无法准备食物、无法入睡的具体肉身痛苦。

这使我们联想到福柯（Michel Foucault）关于“生命政治”（Biopolitics）的论述。在极端匮乏的状态下，国家对水电资源的分配权变成了最直接的权力行使方式。当电力成为一种稀缺的特权而非基本权利时，政府通过“节电号召”实际上是在进行一种生存资源的重新分配。当代地缘政治与气候变化的交织，为这种治理术提供了完美的掩护：权力可以利用全球气候危机的普遍性，来掩盖特定政权在基础设施投资与维护上的渎职。这种“生态掩护”导致了一种新的治理悖论：自然灾害不再仅仅是危机的诱因，而成为了权力在崩溃边缘维持合法性的最后一块遮羞布。

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▌ 面向学者的开放性思想追问与研究路标 (Open Horizons for Scholarly Inquiry)

1. 【关于“制度性暴力”的量化与定性研究】：在 Mangione 案中，个体暴力被视为对医疗保险制度暴力的回应。那么，我们能否构建一套理论框架，将“制度性拒绝服务”（如保险拒赔）在伦理权重上与“个体身体伤害”进行对比分析，以探讨当代社会中“无形暴力”的社会心理阈值？
2. 【生态危机与主权责任的解构】：委内瑞拉案例提示我们，气候变化正在成为全球范围内政权转移责任的新路径。研究路标可指向：在“气候紧急状态”的话语体系下，国家如何通过定义“自然不可抗力”来重新界定其对公民基本生存权的法律义务？
3. 【预期管理与真理政治的冲突】：美联储通过操纵“头条新闻”来控制通胀预期 [F2_18 🔍]，这是否意味着在现代经济治理中，事实（Data）已经退居其次，而关于事实的“感知”（Perception）成为了真正的治理对象？这种“感知治理”对民主社会的透明度原则构成了怎样的挑战？

理性与情感辩证深度研判：USA Today (2026-08-15)

▌ 本日全报生活世界痛感与情感政治深思雷达 (Lifeworld & Affective Significance Radar)

在系统通盘梳理本期报纸所涉及的所有报道后，以下 3 个具体事件在生活世界痛感、情感政治动员与制度理性冲突层面最值得学者进一步深思：

1. 【委内瑞拉能源危机与生存绝境】 [F1_3-F1_8]

   • 事件简述：在造成 6,000 多人死亡的双重地震后不到两个月，委内瑞拉政府以厄尔尼诺现象可能带来干旱为由呼吁节电节水 [F1_4 🔍]。这导致部分地区面临每日长达 20 小时的停电及间歇性供水 [F1_5 🔍]，严重影响基本生存。
   • 情感政治与伦理深思切入点：探讨“自然灾害”（厄尔尼诺）与“治理失效”（可用容量不足 15,000 兆瓦 [F1_8 🔍]）在官方修辞中的交织，以及制度性冷漠（不通知即断电 [F1_7 🔍]）如何将公民的生存焦虑转化为具体的肉身痛感（如高层公寓无电梯的禁锢感 [F1_7 🔍]）。

2. 【Luigi Mangione 认罪医疗保险CEO谋杀案】 [F3_23-F3_28]

   • 事件简述：28岁的 Mangione 承认杀害 UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson [F3_24 🔍]。该案件虽受公职人员谴责，但被视为美国人对医疗保险行业惯例感到沮丧的象征 [F3_26 🔍]。
   • 情感政治与伦理深思切入点：分析个体暴力行为如何被符号化为对医疗资本主义“制度性暴力”的反弹，以及法律程序的理性审判（寻求终身监禁 [F3_28 🔍]）与公众潜意识中将其视为制度不满出口之间的张力。

3. 【美联储利率决策的宏观博弈】 [F2_11-F2_21]

   • 事件简述：美联储在通胀压力（高于 2% 目标值 [F2_14 🔍]）、劳动力市场乏力（工资经通胀调整后下降 [F2_13 🔍]）与政治压力（特朗普要求降息 [F2_12 🔍]）之间寻求平衡。
   • 情感政治与伦理深思切入点：剖析技术官僚如何通过管理“头条新闻”来控制公众预期 [F2_18 🔍]，以及这种“去情感化”的货币理性如何与微观生活世界中工资实际购买力下降的痛感产生断层。

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▌ 精选核心专题理性与情感辩证论证 (The Dialectic of Logos and Pathos Monograph)

专题一：制度性暴力的镜像反弹：从医疗资本主义的 Logos 到个体复仇的 Pathos —— Mangione 案的社会学解构

在本案中，我们观察到一种极具张力的辩证冲突：一方是代表医疗保险行业最高权力、基于成本控制与行业惯例的制度理性（Institutional Logos），另一方则是被简化为“受害者”或“成本”的民众所积压的生存痛感（Pathos）。UnitedHealthcare 及其 CEO Brian Thompson 所代表的治理模型，在宏观上维持企业运作，但在微观生活世界中，其惯例引发了广泛的沮丧感 [F3_26 🔍]。

Luigi Mangione 的行为在法律层面是蓄意杀害 [F3_24 🔍]，但在社会心理层面，它呈现为一次极端的、带有符号意义的情感爆发。他在法庭上的认罪行为，在客观上将个人犯罪转化为一个关于社会不公的政治剧场。这里存在一个深刻的辩证点：尽管公职人员谴责其行为，但该事件之所以能成为“象征” [F3_26 🔍]，是因为其暴力行为精准地击中了数百万在医疗体制中感到被抛弃者的情感痛点。

从话语温度差来看，联邦检察官寻求的“最高法定刑——终身监禁” [F3_28 🔍] 延续了法律程序的冷色调，旨在通过惩戒维持秩序的 Logos；而公众对医疗保险行业惯例的“沮丧” [F3_26 🔍] 则构成了热色调的 Pathos。这种撕裂揭示了当代美国社会的心理危机：当制度理性无法提供足够的生存尊严时，个体可能会通过极端的、非理性的暴力手段来寻求一种病态的“正义感”。

专题二：自然灾害修辞与治理失效的共谋：委内瑞拉能源危机中的生存异化

委内瑞拉当前的电力与水资源危机，呈现出一种“技术官僚理性”对“生活世界痛感”的覆盖。临时总统德尔西·罗德里格斯将能源削减归因于“厄尔尼诺现象”这一全球性气候周期 [F1_4 🔍]，试图通过引入一个不可抗力的自然科学模型（Logos），将治理能力的缺失（可用容量不足 15,000 兆瓦，远低于 36,000 兆瓦的发电能力 [F1_8 🔍]）转化为一种客观的自然必然性。

然而，这种宏观的自然理性在微观的生活世界中遭遇了剧烈的反弹。对于 75 岁的退休教师玛丽埃拉·努涅斯而言，生存的痛感不是一个关于“太平洋表面升温”的科学命题，而是“无法准备食物”的饥饿感，以及在 12 层公寓中因电梯停运而产生的肉身禁锢感 [F1_6, F1_7]。制度端使用技术术语（如“节约电力和水资源变得必要” [F1_4 🔍]）来构建危机管理模型，但生活端呈现的是“不通知就断电”的随机性与无力感 [F1_7 🔍]。

这种辩证摩擦在地震后的叠加效应中达到了顶点。在 6,000 人死亡的创伤尚未愈合之时，再次面临的能源削减被民众视为“遭受更多打击” [F1_3 🔍]。此时，电力不再仅仅是能源，而成为了生存尊严的最后一道防线。当人们在停电期间只能依赖手机光线照明时 [F1_10 🔍]，这种微弱的光线成为了生活世界在冰冷的制度废墟中挣扎的隐喻。

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▌ 面向学者的伦理与社会心理开放性追问与研究路标 (Open Horizons for Ethical & Sociological Inquiry)

1. 【关于“替代性正义”的伦理追问】：当合法制度渠道在长期实践中被证明失效（如医疗保险行业惯例引发的广泛沮丧 [F3_26 🔍]），个体通过极端暴力行为寻求的“替代性正义”如何在社会心理层面获得某种非正式的合法性？
2. 【关于“自然化修辞”的政治社会学研究】：探讨政府如何利用气候变化（如厄尔尼诺 [F1_4 🔍]）等“宏观自然理性”来掩盖微观治理的溃败（如可用容量不足 [F1_8 🔍]），以及这种修辞如何影响公民的抗争心理。
3. 【关于“数据治理”与“肉身痛感”的断层研究】：以美联储的通胀目标值 [F2_14 🔍] 与委内瑞拉的发电容量 [F1_8 🔍] 为例，研究技术官僚的量化指标如何系统性地过滤掉生活世界中的具体痛感（如经通胀调整后工资下降 [F2_13 🔍] 或高层公寓无电梯 [F1_7 🔍]）。

NATION & WORLD EXTRA • USA TODAY NETWORK | SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2028 | 16N

NATION & WORLD EXTRA

VENEZUELANS FEAR MORE HITS

Country's power, water supplies face new cuts as El Niño looms

Tibioy Romero, Mariela Nava and Marianna Perraga REUTERS

VALENCIA, Venezuela —

Less than two months after devastating twin earthquakes left more than 6,000 dead, Venencelans are being called by the government to save power and water. ■ With a drought looming, many read this as an omen of more widespread electricity outages and less fresh water supply after months of already severe cuts. ■ Interim President Delcy Rodriguez said last week that El Niño was already hitting the OPEC country and could bring drought before the end of the year. The periodic phenomenon, which warms the Pacific Ocean's surface and alters global weather patterns, made power and water conservation necessary, she said.

The call for expanded conservation on the already challenged grid has triggered fresh protests across regions where people and businesses face electricity cuts of up to 20 hours per day. frequent equipment mailbar items that lead to days-long power outages and intermittent water supply.

"I can't wrap my food around more power savings measures if we don't have it at all," said Mariela Nuñez, a 75-year-old retired

teacher in the central city of Valencia, where daily power cuts are getting longer.

"They cut it without notice," she added. "The heat does not allow us to sleep and we have no elevator to go up and down in a 12th-floor apartment."

Venezuela has less than 15,000 megawatts of generation capacity available out of 36,000 megawatts

See VENEZUELANS, Page 4NN

Josefina Rodriguez fears the new returning will make Hinge worse in La Guaira, Venezuela.

A woman sits next to a tent where she sleeps after her building collapsed in the earthquakes in La Guaira.

MAIN PHOTO: People use the light from a phone to provide illumination during a power outage in Caracas, Venezuela, on Aug. 9.

PHOTO BY LEONARDO FERNANDEZ VILORIA REUTERS, ILLUSTRATION TREATMENT BY ABIL MARIE MONTENEGRO

Cooler data may force Fed to hold

Job growth tepid with inflation above target

Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir REUTERS

GREENVILLE, SC — Kevin Warsh took over as head of the Federal Reserve in May with monetary policy at a crossroads, officials divided over whether they would need to hike interest rates to control inflation and President Donald Trump demanding lower rates to stimulate the economy.

Recent data, however, may have set up the U.S. central bank for an extended de-wolling stance.

The labor market is not booming. Wages have declined over the last six months on an inflation-adjusted basis and job growth has been tepid at best, but the 4.1% unemployment rate is historically low.

Inflation — sent spiraling upward in the early months of 2028 by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran — remains significantly above the Fed's 2% target. It has eased, however, in the last two months, undercutting arguments that it won't abate unless rates go up.

With the economy not clearly tilting toward higher unemployment or rising inflation, the motivation for central bank policymakers to wait has only grown stronger.

"The current level of interest rates, many think, is still restrictive enough to bring inflation down," Richmond Fed President Thomas Rankin said on Aug. 15.

He noted that much of the acceleration in inflation has come from shocks like higher tariffs, elevated oil prices and the artificial intelligence investment boom, factors that "should pass" at some point.

The counterargument is that allowing inflation to remain too high for too long risks are upward shift in the price expectations of consumers and companies that become self-fulfilling.

Barkin, however, said the tendency by financial markets and the public to focus on a recent slowdown in price pressures could ease the need to raise rates despite inflation having remained above the Fed's target for more than five years.

"The more the headlines are 'inflation coming down,' I think that keeps expectations in check," he said.

Markets have certainly reacted to these headlines, with traders dumping bets on a rate hike at the Fed's Sept. 15-16 meeting after recent reports showing unexpected job losses and suffer-than-expected consumer and producer price inflation in July.

At the same time, investors are pricing in more than a 90% chance of a higher Fed policy rate by the end of the year, based on aggregated probabilities calculated on CME Group's Fed-Watch Tool.

Fed policymakers will update their own views with new projections issued after the meeting in September.

As of the middle of June, the majority felt inflation, as gauged by the Personal Consumption Expenditures

See FED, Page 4NN

Mangione admits to killing insurance CEO

Pleads guilty to charges, averting a federal trial

Jack Queen and Luc Cohen REUTERS

NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione admitted in court on Aug. 14 that he fatally shot health insurance executive Brian Thompson and pleaded guilty to two federal charges of stalking the CEO with the intent to kill him.

"I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died," Mangione said.

He wore image prison-gash-and-spoke clearly and calmly as he used from a prepared statement laced with criticism of the U.S. health insurance system.

Thompson's widow sat in the front row of the gallery with other members of his family. When Mangione admitted to shooting Thompson, she choked up while two women seated next to her comforted leg.

The guilty plea will avert a federal trial in the closely watched case over the killing of the 50-year-old UnitedHealthcare CEO, a famous crime that was condemned by public officials but became emblematry of Americans' frustration with health insurance industry practices.

Mangione, 28, entered his plea without a deal with federal prosecutors, and there was no guarantee that taking responsibility would result in any leniency at sentencing.

Prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of life in prison — the maximum allowable — at his sentencing on Dec. 18. U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett is allowed to consider Mangione's decision to plead guilty as a mitigating factor when determining his punishment.

The federal guilty plea also allowed Mangione's lawyers to file a motion to dismiss separate state murder and weapons charges ahead of a trial in that case, arguing that he should not have to be punished for the same conduct twice under New York's law prohibiting double property.

Jamie McDonald, the Manhattan

See MANGIONE, Page 4NN

Luigi Mangione appears at a hearing in his federal trial at New York City on Aug. 14 in this courtroom sketch. JANE ROSENBERG REUTERS

SUBSCRIBER-EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL EDITION

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ZNN | SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2026 | NATION & WORLD EXTRA • USA TODAY NETWORK

We make life simpler, safer, and better.

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AccuWeather

NATIONAL SUMMARY

A fixed above will benefit from Texas to Missouri, supporting temperatures above the historical average and dry conditions today. Thunderstorms, some covers, will occur across the Mexico, Great Lakes, and Southeast. It will be dry and less humid in the Northeast. Dry weather will persist for the West Coast with smoke from area relatives.

In the digital e-edition, you can click anywhere on the US map to get up-to-date forecasts, radar, MinutesCP and more.

Please see more information and high temperature for Saturday.

FRIDAY EXTREMES

NETWORK: For the 45-minute period

High:	110 at Medicine Lodge, KS
Low:	30 at Mammoth Lakes, CA
Precip:	2.42° at Hastings, NE

INTERNATIONAL (includes Antarctica)

High:	122 at Al Alisa, Saudi Arabia
Low:	17 at El Zafaria, Argentina
Precip:	4.65° at Newut, India

TODAY IN HISTORY

Lightning started the "evidence" fire-smooth. Make on Aug. 15, 1997. The fire consumed 12,000 acres. The arsons heat created which made that flung trees around the match-stone.

WEATHER TRIVIA*

Lightning start to move in these than people?

May 2006/12

NATIONAL CITIES SATURDAY

	High/low/W	at
Aberdeen, SD	65/67/64	45
Abilene, TX	51/77/57	28
Baltimore, MD	62/69/64	45
Bellevue, WA	62/67/64	45
Boston, OH	62/71/71	45
Buckingham, MA	58/72/57	35
Albuquerque, CA	58/74/62	43
Altoona, OH	57/75/54	35
Ardmore, TX	56/69/61	35
Arlington, VA	56/69/61	35
Birmingham, SC	57/75/57	34
Bayshore, WI	75/85/71	35
Belleville, NC	68/70/57	43
Buckland, OH	57/71/71	37
Boston, MA	67/70/57	37
Binghamton, NY	77/85/67	35
Buffalo, LA	56/76/71	45
Bremerton, MA	78/84/64	41
Brockton, MA	61/54/61	35
Brownsville, TX	100/75/61	41
Buckingham, IA	67/73/57	36
Burlesque, NC	65/73/57	35
Burlington, VT	75/75/57	35
Cambridge, OH	62/73/57	37
Camdenton, MD	59/75/57	41
Canandaigua, NY	78/84/64	38
Caroline, OH	57/71/57	37
Carlsbad, NM	100/75/61	37
Charlottesburg, PA	59/75/57	38
Chasey Hill, NJ	67/69/61	37
Cincinnati, OH	59/75/57	38
Chillicothe, TN	68/75/57	37
Columbia, MO	75/75/57	35
Columbus, OH	59/74/61	37
Corning, NY	75/85/67	35
Corpus Christi, TX	58/77/56	35
Delaware Beach, FL	52/76/57	35
Denning, NM	67/69/61	45
Delaware, IL	58/74/57	37
Elizabethtown, IL	57/75/57	35
Elkhart, MI	60/73/57	35
Elkhart Lake, FL	72/84/57	35
Elkhart, MI	78/84/57	35
Elkhart, MI	78/84/57	35
Elkhorn, MI	90/75/57	35
Elkhorn, MI	90/75/57	35
Elkhorn, MI	90/75/57	35
Elkhorn, MI	90/75/57	35
Elkhorn, MI	90/75/57	35
Elkhorn, MI	90/75/57	35

	High/low/W	at
Evansville, IN	95/78/57	75
Fall River, MA	91/87/57	35
Flamingoes, NM	95/95/57	37
Fort Smithville, NC	90/77/57	43
Fort Smithville, NC	78/84/57	75
Fort Myers, FL	95/78/57	75
Fort Smithville, NC	100/80/57	35
Farmington, MA	91/83/57	35
Freeport, IL	90/84/57	75
Fremont, OH	95/75/57	45
Fort Collins, CO	94/84/57	37
Gadsden, IL	91/77/57	37
Gabonese, IL	90/75/57	37
Galeburg, IL	89/72/57	35
Gastonia, NC	90/72/57	37
Glen Ross, TX	100/75/57	75
Gonzales, LA	99/77/57	75
El Grantville, MT	75/83/57	45
El Granville, MT	75/83/57	75
El Granville, MT	75/83/57	75
El Granville, MT	75/83/57	75
El Granville, MT	75/83/57	75
El Granville, MT	75/83/57	75
El Granville, MT	75/83/57	75
El Granville, MT	75/83/57	75
El Granville, MT	75/83/57	75

	High/low/W	at
Lansdowne, PA	87/88/57	35
Lincoln, IL	97/72/57	75
Louisville, KY	90/77/57	35
Lubbock, TX	90/72/57	35
Marionville, WI	74/84/57	35
Marionville, WI	82/77/57	35
Meriden, NC	89/88/57	43
Marionville, WI	77/88/57	75
Milwaukee, WI	81/77/57	75
Milwaukee, WI	95/74/57	45
Milwaukee, WI	80/87/57	35
Memphis, TN	100/75/57	75
Middletown, NY	80/87/57	35
Milford, MA	90/83/57	35
Milford, MA	90/83/57	35
Milwaukee, WI	77/72/57	75
Minerva, WI	79/77/57	75
Minerva, IL	100/77/57	75
Minerva, IL	100/77/57	75
Minerva, IL	100/77/57	75
Minerva, IL	100/77/57	75
Nebraska, IL	92/78/57	75
Nebraska, IL	90/73/57	35
Nebraska, IL	90/73/57	35
New Bedford, MA	79/84/57	35
New Bedford, MA	82/78/57	35
New Philadelphia, OH	81/77/57	75
New York, NY	82/77/57	35
New York, NY	82/78/57	35
New York, NY	82/78/57	35
New York, NY	82/78/57	35
New York, NY	82/78/57	35
New York, NY	82/78/57	35
New York, NY	82/78/57	35
New York, NY	82/78/57	35

	High/low/W	at
Rochester, NY	78/90/57	35
Rochford, IL	84/71/57	75
Redford, NH	82/80/57	35
Salem, OH	82/80/57	35
Salina, KS	101/73/57	35
Salina, KS	72/70/57	35
Salisbury, MD	84/80/57	37
San Angelo, TX	67/73/57	35
Sarasota, FL	63/78/57	75
Savannah, GA	57/77/57	35
Sheboygan, WI	78/84/57	35
St. Cloud, MN	81/93/57	35
St. Cloud, MN	81/93/57	35
Shreveport, LA	101/78/57	75
Silva City, NM	88/83/57	35
Sioux Falls, SD	81/93/57	35
Somerset, PA	80/80/57	37
Somerville, NJ	88/80/57	35
South Bend, IN	78/73/57	75
St. Petersburg, SC	84/73/57	35
Springfield, IL	80/73/57	75
Springfield, MO	89/78/57	35
St. Augustine, FL	82/77/57	75
St. Cloud, MN	81/93/57	35
St. George, UT	83/71/57	35
St. Joseph, UT	83/71/57	35
St. Louis, MO	81/93/57	35
Stewart Point, WI	78/80/57	37
Stockton, CA	88/80/57	35
Stroudsburg, PA	88/80/57	35
Stuart, FL	82/75/57	75
Sturgis, MI	78/71/57	75
St. Tallahassee, FL	92/75/57	35
Thompson, LA	87/78/57	35
Topeka, KS	89/77/57	37
Tuscaloosa, AL	100/73/57	35
Utica, NY	78/84/57	35
Ventura, CA	78/80/57	35
Victoria, CA	87/84/57	35
Vineland, NJ	88/87/57	35
Visalia, OH	83/81/57	35
Washington, DC	88/70/57	35
Watertown, DE	78/80/57	35
Wausau, WI	79/81/57	75
Waynesboro, PA	84/71/57	35
West Plains, NY	80/81/57	35
Wichita Falls, TX	100/77/57	35
Wilmington, DE	87/78/57	37
Wilmington, NC	84/77/57	35
Wisconsin Rapids, MI	78/80/57	75
Wisconsin, OH	81/78/57	75
Worcester, MA	78/81/57	35
York, PA	86/71/57	35

Air Quality Index: 0-55; Good: 51-100; Moderate: 101-150; Unhealthy for sensitive groups: 101-200; Unhealthy: 201-300; Very unhealthy: 301-500; Hazardous

INTERNATIONAL CITIES

	Saturnity High/low/W	at
Acapulco, CA	93/76/57	32/78/57
Addis Ababa	66/64/57	72/65/57
Algiers	84/75/57	90/75/57
Amman	92/72/57	92/70/57
Amsterdam	70/62/57	72/65/57
Ankara	84/61/57	93/64/57
As稿	89/70/57	91/73/57
Altena	88/66/57	88/66/57
Auckland	64/64/57	84/44/57
Baghdad	117/63/57	114/64/57
Bangkok	93/81/57	93/81/57
Beijing	80/72/57	87/59/57
Beirut	88/74/57	90/70/57
Belgrade	95/65/57	93/66/57
Berlin	97/84/57	70/80/57
Bogota	66/64/57	94/61/57
Brussels	84/80/57	77/80/57
Bucharest	81/71/57	88/70/57
Budapest	92/81/57	95/83/57
Buenos Aires	90/76/57	94/53/57
Cairo	99/78/57	98/77/57

	Saturnity High/low/W	at
Cape Town	97/81/57	69/62/57
Caracas	92/78/57	91/77/57
Casablanca	97/87/57	93/68/57
Chile	97/80/57	89/76/57
Casperingen	79/80/57	71/80/57
Dortmund	66/64/57	84/64/57
Dublin	90/83/57	99/69/57
Geneva	94/86/57	91/84/57
Guatemala City	91/83/57	81/80/57
Hano	97/81/57	94/81/57
Havana	89/46/57	72/48/57
Havana	90/73/57	91/71/57
Helsinki	88/81/57	90/87/57
Hong Kong	90/80/57	93/84/57
Jakarta	92/77/57	92/76/57
Jerusalem	97/70/57	97/70/57
Johannesburg	92/74/57	97/74/57
Kabul	92/87/57	93/86/57
Khartoum	101/83/57	102/83/57
Kyiv	90/81/57	87/66/57
Kingston	94/80/57	95/80/57

	Saturnity High/low/W	at
La Paz	97/52/57	97/52/57
Legro	84/76/57	81/77/57
Leeds	74/84/57	78/84/57
Lisbon	82/80/57	92/72/57
London	85/83/57	89/83/57
Madrid	93/86/57	66/64/57
Munich	91/78/57	90/78/57
Mexico City	83/81/57	78/81/57
Milan	94/72/57	97/73/57
Minnesota	84/66/57	80/70/57
Montreal	83/85/57	93/48/57
Montreal	75/76/57	71/81/57
Moscow	88/83/57	90/89/57
Nairobi	79/58/57	78/57/57
New Delhi	91/81/57	94/89/57
Panama City	90/76/57	97/75/57
Paris	93/86/57	86/86/57
Port-au-Prince	91/72/57	97/74/57
Rio de Janeiro	74/68/57	78/67/57
Riyadh	114/84/57	110/86/57
Rome	90/71/57	91/73/57

	Saturnity High/low/W	at
San Jose	83/71/57	82/67/57
San Salvador	92/80/57	92/80/57
Salt Lake	64/80/57	65/84/57
San Paulo	75/82/57	82/84/57
Sarasota	92/80/57	95/81/57
Shanghai	84/78/57	89/77/57
Singapore	92/81/57	89/79/57
Thessaloniki	79/81/57	83/81/57
Sydney	64/83/57	92/82/57
Tokyo	93/86/57	95/79/57
Yagucigalpa	87/87/57	88/89/57
Taiwan	102/83/57	101/82/57
Tokyo	86/73/57	88/75/57
Toronto	77/66/57	76/66/57
Yorla	98/77/57	102/78/57
Vancouver	74/69/57	72/50/57
Vienna	74/84/57	87/66/57
Vienna	81/81/57	90/71/57
Venezuela	87/89/57	95/89/57
Zagreb	91/58/57	90/56/57
Zurich	92/51/57	94/50/57

■ Denotes possible travel delays Saturday

Weather (W): 4-mot by

per the cloudy, 4-minute, 48-minutes. 5-thousand minutes, 4-min., 48-under-70-min., 48-under-80-min.

Initial, forecasts and graphics provided by

AccuWeather

Power Superior Accuracy™

Visit AccuWeather.com.

---

NATION'S EARLIER FORUM: THE NATION'S EARLIER FORUM

SUNDAY, AUGUST 10, 2028 | 3 INN

Trump touts crime rate drop

But U.S. trend predates his return to White House

Humorys Pamuk and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff REUTERS

GARDEN CITY, NY – President Donald Trump hosted Friday violent crime rates on Aug. 18 as evidence that his law and order and aggressive immigration agenda is working, seeking to shift attention away from economic concerns that have hurt his approval college ahead of November's uniform elections.

Trump visited the Nassau County Police Academy in New York to unveil 2023 data from the FBI that showed the inquiry rate to those citizens in violent crime on record. Republicans are looking for issues that will resonate with swing voters angry about inflation and the economic failure from the war with Iran, while casting Democrats as out of eyes on public safety.

In a wide-ranging speech that extended the record crime to immigration, Iran, New York state politics and other issues, Trump argued without evidence. In the mass deportation campaign was a major contributor to that decline, though reports may there is no one reason for the fall.

We're getting them the hell out Trump said.

However, the data shows that the fall in crime predates Trump's return to office, with boosted rates plummeting in 2023 and 2024 to pre-pandemic lows lower violent crimes, including homicides, surged at the end of the first

President Donald Trump visits the Nassau County Police Academy in Garden City, New York, on Aug. 14, 1967. NEARING BORN ON 22TH MARCH

Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic to the highest levels in decades.

According to the FBI report, murder rates are employed nondaughter decreased as estimated 38.1% in 2025 while reference fell as estimated 38.5%. Violent crime more broadly fell 9.3% and property crime 22.4%.

President Trump promised to make America safe again and the data proves he has done just that," said White House spokeswoman Lauren Ihn.

The decline has occurred in cities big and small, in places with officials having been suggested in modeling and progressive police reform and with both a high and low density of police officers, suggesting that no single policy explains the explanation trend.

"This is a case in which success truly has a thousand figures, not just one," said Council on Criminal Justice President and CEO Adam Soffi. "Everybody is looking for a single easy explanation and that doesn't exist. There is no magic wand. It's happening all over the map

across the nation and around the globe."

Trump has long complained of a "crime epidemic," particularly in Democratic-run cities, and used that message to justify aggressive federal intervention, including last year's deployment of federal agents and National Guard troops in Washington, DC. He has also reportedly intensified attacks on democratic socialist New York City Mayor Debrao Mumford and other candidates who oppose the administration's tactics.

Democrats say Republicans are overstating the risk of fluthalized or a crime decline that began before Trump returned to office, and progressives have largely backed away from supporting the "affraid the police" movement. The message, behind large Floyd's murder in 2020. They now say piloting should be without while arguing that immigration officers, who have killed two U.S. citizens, pose risks to the communities being targeted.

Trump on Aug. 14 repeatedly promoted his support for law enforcement, reiterating his argument that Democratic politicians embrace of police reform has made some places less safe.

In other Trump, federal law enforcement has focused largely on immigration, a topic "being frequently mentioned in his speech, as he again accused the Biden administration of allowing many criminals to enter the United States.

The number of people charged with crimes unrelated to immigration dropped 7% through June to about 22,000. Promotions for gun and drug crimes also dropped.

U.S. to tell dozens of countries they must pick sides of AI race with China

Michael Martins REUTERS

WASHINGTON – The United States is preparing to tell dozens of countries they must pick sides in the artificial intelligence race with China, warning they will be excluded from a U.S.-led AI coalition if they also sign up for Beijing's competing Statement A, according to a U.S. official and an internal draft reviewed by Reuters.

Washington last year launched the Pax Silica initiative aimed at securing supply chains for AI models, semiconductors and critical minerals, amid a fierce technology rivalry with Beijing.

About two dozen countries have joined, including Kazakhstan, a key potential source of critical minerals that has also caused China's coalition, as well as other U.S. allies such as Japan, Australia and South Korea.

The draft letter, prepared by the State Department, is addressed to the 50 signatories of a U.S. "AI Opportunity Statement" signed in June, which includes members of the nonfunding Pax Silica framework and other countries that have supported a desire to align co-operation on AI with Washington.

In July, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a joint "World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization," promoting the country's open-weight technology as a challenge to U.S. influence over the fast-moving sector.

Kazakhstan is the only country so far known to have joined both initiatives,

setting off alarm bells in Washington. "To be part of everything is to be part of nothing. Signature of the Pax Silica Declaration is not merely a membership subscription, but a commitment," the letter says, urging countries to "choose deliberately" on AI.

"It cannot be held alongside membership in duplicative initiatives whose expectations conflict with our own," the letter said, without specifically mentioning China.

Reuters could not determine when the United States intends to send the letter or whether it might be amended before sending. The draft was undated.

The State Department told Reuters it would not comment on "purposefully linked internal documents."

The Chinese and Kazakh embassies in Washington did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

The Pax Silica agreement aims to push U.S. allies and partners toward joint projects and report controls, and ultimately reduce reliance on adversaries for critical minerals. AI models and the semiconductor chips that power them.

The race between the United States and China for technological leadership has reached a pivotal moment, as Chinese's own supplier of products now made rapid gains against proprietary systems from U.S. companies such as OpenAI and Authisopt.

The exponential growth of the technology's capabilities, including the ability to back autonomously, has

forced a global reckoning over its power.

Beijing is weighing restrictions on overseas access to some of China's leading AI models, highlighting the growing lessons with its widespread national security agenda.

The United States touted Kazakhstan in June as the first country in Central Asia to join Pax Silica, bringing significant reserves of critical minerals that had advanced technologies.

China has used its current near-monopolies over critical minerals as a retaliatory weapon in a tariff war launched last year by President Donald Trump, who hasumped up U.S. efforts to source the minerals domestically and from allies.

Members of Pax Silica have access to shared investment opportunities in AI-related projects while those who sign the AI Opportunity Statement have symbolically agreed one's "common purpose" and "shared vision" with the United States, according to the statement on the State Department's website.

U.S. officials drafted the letter to make clear that "you can't have it both ways". On U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on conditions of anonymity given ongoing internal discussions on the state "it's difficult to see where country can credibly position themselves as treated partners in one technology ecosystem while simultaneously signing up for an initiative designed by China to advance a competing vision for AI," the official said.

TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Aug. 15. On this date in:

1957: Bimam Wood came to Dunsu-nane, at least in legend. At the Battle of Lungdunian, Makaran Cazenow killed King Macbeth of Scotland, who had killed Cazenow's Father, King Dunsu-nan, 1.17 years before. Contrary to Shakespeare's play, Cazenow didn't become king until 16 weeks later, after he also killed Macbeth's stepson.

1958: John David was unconceived as the Roman Catholic Church's first U.S. bishop. The Maryland native chose Baltimore to be the seat of the first diocese. He had already founded Georgetown College and was later named the country's first archbishop.

1914: The Panama Canal opened to traffic with a U.S. ship taking from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The project had required decades of engineering, tens of thousands of lives and a U.S.-supported Panamanian independence bid.

1939: "The Wizard of Oz" premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The Los Angeles Times said it "will unquestionably appeal to a world-wide audience," writing that when Dorothy steps into Oz, "you are transported with her into a water-breasted horizon and in the sphere of the windows."

1947: After three decades of agitation led by Mahatma Gandhi, India and Pakistan won independence from Great Britain and were partitioned into separate countries. The Indian Independence Act was effective at midnight, while Pakistan celebrates its independence Day on Aug. 14.

1948: Provincial government leader Syngman Wha announced the establishment of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). North Korea marks the same date as Liberation of the Far-Overland Day, marking the end of Japanese colonial rule.

1960: After decades of forced labor and compulsory cash-cash farming, the Republic of the Congo declared independence from France. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent President Faber's Yoruba a congratulatory message, writing, "It is with deep satisfaction that we welcome this historic event."

1961: Two days after putting up 30-plus miles of barbed wire to separate East and West Korea, East Germany began replacing the wire with concrete. Troops with machine-gun guarded the workers, a few of whom cried as they put up the piling. The wall came to symbolize the iron Curtain.

1963: The Woodstock Music and Art Fair opened on a farm in Bethel, New York. Richie Havens was the first performer, rocketing into stardom as he played for close to three hours while other musicians were stuck in the equally legendary traffic.

1971: President Richard Nixon declared his New Euonymi "truly, nicknamed the 'Nixon Books,' with an executive order freezing-wages and prices for 90 days to address inflation. It was the first time the U.S. government had imposed wage and price controls since World War I."

2021: With full U.S. troop withdrawal statement, Afghanistan's democratic government collapsed as Taliban leaders took control of Kabul. U.S. and NATO allies' troops temporarily rushed back in to airlift their rationale to safety.

USA TODAY Network

FINANCIAL MARKETS

Indexes finish lower as investors weigh latest data

Noel Bandewich REUTERS

The S&P 500 closed lower on Aug. 14, dipping from a record high and weighted down by Applied Materials, while investors digested weaker than expected to bid index data.

Applied Materials fell 5.2% after its upbeat quarterly forecast failed to impress investors. The chip equipment maker's shares have doubled in 2020 due to strong demand related to the build-out of AI data centers.

With investors nervous about high valuations of AI-related stocks, chip makers saw fall Aug. 14, with Broadcom down 5.9% and Intel being 2%.

As lot of the drivers in the market right now are around various parts of AI, and (Applied Materials) is an example of a company that had a 'best and raise' but expectations were high and so the

stock sold off," said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager of GLOBALT Investments in Atlanta.

Turned through the thrust of Hormuz appeared at a new standard after two more ships were affected there and the United States said it could maintain a naval blockade of firm indefinitely. Those developments added to pessimism after a senior Iranian source said Aug 12 there was no progress in talks to build on a firm deal to well the war.

The S&P 500 energy index rallied 14%, including higher oil prices.

Reddit surged almost 13% after the world media company was ranked a new addition to the S&P 500 index, effective Aug 14.

The index data data came in weaker than expected, after an unavtised 0.2% gain in June, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said.

The S&P 500 declined 0.17% to end

Oil prices

Brent Haines settled at $88.52 a barrel, up $1.60, or 1.67b, on Aug. 14. Brent Texas Intermediate crude futures. Preferred at $60.40, up $1.91, or 1.92b. Brent and WTI were on track for weekly gains of 8.5% and 5.4%, respectively.

the session at 7295.76 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.28% to 20,720.8 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.20% to 53,732.48 points.

For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.4% and the Nasdaq called 0.1%. Such posted the third consecutive weekly gain, their largest earnings versus since many April, helped by strong quarterly earnings and reduced concerns about interest rate bikes.

While inflation related to high oil prices remains a concern, recent eco-

nomic data has investors mostly expecting the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates steady at its next meeting. Traders see a 67% chance the Fed will keep rates unchanged at the September meeting, with a 33% chance of a hike, according to CME's FedWatch.

The University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment survey came in at 510 August, below expectations of 54.5, according to economists polled by Reuters.

Workday dipped 3.8%. The stock soared 18% on Aug. 13 after Reuters reported that private equity firm Silver Lake was in talks to acquire the software files.

Shares of some dozen makers gained after President Donald Trump said late on Aug. 13 he would impose tariffs on majority of drivers and third components. Red Cat rallied 8.6% and Unusual Machines soared 25%.

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ENR | SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2024 | NATION'S NEWS | SATURDAY, USA TODAY NETWORK

NEWS IN BRIEF

Judge clears way for Trump to end Somali's deportation protections

A federal judge on Aug. 14 cleared the way for President Donald Trump's administration to strip nearly 1,000 Somalis of legal protections against deportation that have allowed them to live and work in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston allowed the Department of Free Trade to issue a terminate the Temporary Protected Statue designation for Somalis after the U.S. Supreme Court in June allowed the administration to end similar protections for thousands of people from Haiti and Syria.

The Supreme Court's ruling, powered by its 6-3 conservative majority, curated the ability of judges to review DHS effects under Trump to end TPS designations for 15 countries that provided information protection to eligible recipients from those nations.

Lawyers for the plaintiff's end DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Two other judges last week allowed the administration to emulate the end TPS for South Sudan and Myanmar.

Russia dismisses idea of truce in the Black Sea with Ukraine

LONDON – Russia on Aug. 16 dismissed the idea of a coauthor with Ukraine in the Black Sea, saying it saw no grounds for 'half measures' that would offer a respite to the other side.

Both Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks in recent weeks against commercial ships in the Black Sea, driving world joint prices higher.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of 'braces acts of terrorism' against shipping, while making no mention of Russia's own attacks.

'At the same time, we are no signs of improvement in the situation and, consequently, no grounds for half-measures that merely guard the Kyiv regime a temporary breathing space,' Zakharova said.

Reuters reported on Aug. 21 that Ukraine's international conflict in Russia, via a third party, for both sides to halt attacks on civilian targets in the Black Sea.

Sources: Libya's Haftar played key role in release of U.S. hostage

DAKAR, Senegal – Authorities in eastern Libya under military commander Khalifa Haftar helped secure the release of an American missionary held hostage by an Islamic State affiliate in West Africa's Sahel region, escorting him to freedom through Libya, five sources told Reuters on Aug. 16.

Pear of the sources said that a deal was broken, with two energy raiswers was paid. However, a senior source in Haftar's forces said they had carried out a military operation in Mali to free the hostage, Kevin Belavar.

Libya's chief chief deal has not previously been reported. Haftar's involvement in the foreign U.S. U. hostage reflects how he has carried out a position as a major security leader in the broader Sahel region, and has used it as leverage to carry favor with the Trump administration.

The State Department declined to comment.

Belavar worked for the evangelical agency in trying to liberate and was kidnapped in Niger in October.

Reuters

Mangione

Continued from Page 1NN

U.S. attorney, said his office had made no accommodation or concessions to Mangione.

The grievance or ideological cause can ever justify murder,' McDonald told reporters.

Thompson's family said in a statement that the plea marked an 'important step toward justice.'

'We look in the court to ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime,' Thompson's family said.

Thompson led UnitedHealth Group's insurance unit before he was shot dead in the early morning of Dec. 4, 2024, outside a hotel where an investor conference was taking place. Graphic footage of the killing and a fire-day machine for a suspect made of a case in media fiction and social media sensation, Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania.

Mangione said in his courtroom statement that he designed obstacles with his insurance after suffering a broken back, without prevailing details. Mangione said he emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership seeking details of its 2024 investor conference, pretending to be an investor managing more than $50 billion in assets. He said

he received a response within an hour, which he said was quicker than previous interactions with insurers.

'I observed that the annual conference of America's largest health care organization with the state's mission to make the health system work better for everyone would be attended by company executives, the board of directors, and hundreds of investors – not doctors, nurses and patients,' Mangione said.

Mangione said he then used a 3D printer to make part of a gun and tasked to New York with the intent of killing the insurers.

UnitedHealth Group said in a statement: 'We are grateful to law enforcement for bringing Braai's murderer to justice.'

Mangione had previously pleaded not guilty in April 2025 to federal murder, weapons and stinking charges.

Current three out the murder and weapons charges were legal technicalities in a surprise ruling in January 2024. The decision attempted the possibility that Mangione would face the death penalty in the federal case.

Mangione separately pleaded not guilty in December 2024 to state terrorism, murder, weapons and forgery charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Brugg. The terrorism charges were thrown out by a judge in September 2025.

A trial in the state case is scheduled for Sept. 8 before Justice Gregory Carrold Manhattan, Mangione would face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

In their motion to dismiss the state case under New York's double jeopardy law, Mangione's lawyers said facing another trial would violate his due process rights under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Brugg's office could oppose the move. A spokesperson for Brugg said in a statement: 'We are prepared to litigate the defense motions. The Manhattan U.S.'s Office remains committed to seeking justice for Mr. Thompson and his family.'

New York's double jeopardy law serves out exceptions for crimes that have different elements or are aimed at preventing 'very different kinds of harm or evil.'

The stalking charges have different elements than murder but still require intent to kill, which could make it difficult for, state prosecutors to argue that the trial should go forward, according to Catherine Christian, a defense lawyer and former Manhattan prosecutor.

'Prosecution will say if a different statute, but the defense will argue it's about intending to kill and killing someone – that's what our client pleaded to, and it's uplifting basis to say they're different,' Christian said.

Venezuelans

Continued from Page 1NN

installed, leaving a shortfall of more than 1,500 megawatts between current supply and demand that authorities are trying to keep from widening.

Nearly 90% of thermal capacity is out of service after years of underinvestment and delayed maintenance, energy expert Nelson Hernandez said in a report earlier this year. That has increased dependence on hydropower, mostly from the four dam system in the south, to more than 80%.

Bodrigates has promised that up to 4,800 megawatts of installed capacity will be restored before the end of the year, saying recently signed contracts with Jill Ventures and IMPAA for upgrades and new turbines would also boost supply.

Past promises that went unmet, however, have left many skeptical.

We must be honest. El Niño is not the cause of the public services crisis,' said Jose Antonio Robles, who leads Zuba state's engineers' center. 'It is only aggravating a long-standing deficit.'

We blamed the current need for rationing on years of underinvestment in generation and dislocation of transmission and distribution lines, which have made the system unable to meet increased demand.

Straight and wildfires could also threaten agricultural output, adding to the hardship from power and water rationing, and造成 dam hazards, who directly the school of civil engineering at Venezuela's Central University.

Venezuela's information ministry and utility Cuzpuñán did not reply to requests for comment.

Power cuts cloud quake recovery

In Canada, the government last week ordered office buildings and malls to switch elevators off three

Two women go up the stairs of a damaged building in La Guaira, Venezuela, on Aug. 7. The city was hit hard by the twin earthquakes.

LITHO/US NEWSLET, 01/26/2024 17:00

hours per day, while some ministries and public offices have reduced service to three days per week until further notice.

Pactories, shops and farms hit by poor services or still recovering from the quakes expect lower output and revenue losses if supply tightens further, business chambers are.

Some public hospitals and private clinics are reinforcing emergency care with procedures, according to names and doctors.

'Now will companies launch in Venezuela? How will they grow if there's no certainty over the national power system's restoration?' asked Ernesto Abbas, who took the commerce chamber of central Carabobo, an industrial state increasingly affected by electricity cuts.

In the cities we met in the two quakes, including largely devastated

La Guaira on the northern coast, families have lived in tents outside their damaged buildings for weeks and say they cannot hear any more bad news.

'There no idea of what we'll do,' said Josefina Rodriguez, 59, a former public worker guarding her daughter's apartment from a tent outside while waiting for official word on whether it will be required to demolished.

With no running water and only a cable from a neighboring building to power a light bulb and a fan, she fears the new rationing will make things worse.

In the neighborhood of Taraguareva in La Guaira, where dozens of buildings collapsed and recovery are still taking bodies out of the rubble, a small river that runs to a beach where trucks are dumping debris at all insurance families have to bathe and wash their clothes.

Fed

Continued from Page 1NN

Price Index the Fed taxes to set its target, would end 2027 somewhere between 2.2% and 2.5%. PCE hit 4.3% in May after three months of war-induced energy price increases but soared to 37% in June, the most current figure.

'To get to that end 2027 range, just half of Manila's colleagues felt rates would need to rise by at least a quarter of a percentage point by the end of this year, and all but one of the sort felt no change would be appropriate.

Risks and expectations

Christopher Waller and Lisa Cook, both members of the Fed's Board of Governors, have recently said they would support rate hikes unless inflation cools soon, and the latest data suggests that scenario is unfolding.

Fed has been expatriated reported on Aug. 13 that produce prices were unexpectedly unchanged on a month-over-month basis in July. One day earlier, it reported that consumer prices barely rose on a monthly basis in July, after falling in June.

Those benign readings may not be enough to reassure those pushing for a rate increase. There is a particular concern that five years of above target inflation may trigger strong inflation expectations – and make any future inflation battle harder and more costly to fix.

'The question is, how quickly do we need to deliver on that 2% objective, and maybe we'd get there, but if it takes us another three or four years to get there – is that OK?' Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said on Aug. 13.

Hammack was one of three policymakers who dissected against the Fed's decision to offer the most costly rate unchanged in the 3.5%-3.75% range, preferring to save it immediately. Two nonvoting Fed bank presidents have since said they also wanted to raise rates.

The Cleveland Fed chief pointed to a retailer in Cincinnati that is increasing prices 'because they don't know where the next price pressure is going to come from, but they know it's coming from what we need.'

'I think that we need to act now because I think we need to bring inflation back down to that 2% objective faster than what a longer term glide path would say with interest rates at this level,' Hammack said.

Trump, meanwhile, continues to call for much lower interest rates and Hames Wentils's 'hostile' colleagues for blocking rate cuts. Wentils has remained more about his plans, avoiding guidance of any sort.

While there's little data showing the kind of weakness that would require the rate cuts Trump has envisioned, the case for a hike may also rest less on economic indications and more on policymakers' sense of the risks around public expectations.

The concerns in that the longer the Fed allows inflation to remain above the 2% target, the more likely the public loses faith and starts acting as if inflation will remain high – a dynamic that can be price pressures and make the battle to curb them harder and more expensive.

'The longer inflation is stuck here, the more likely it becomes unloaded, which means that the disinflation doesn't materialize, which means the 2% target isn't credible, and restoring the 2% takes more work the more inflation is undecided,' said Dan Dey, chief U.S. economist at SCGI Marco Adriano.

'The target is the actual level expectations of the public,' said Dey, who noted that ever higher prices improve pain on regular Americans.

The alternative, however, is to im-

President Donald Trump continues to call for much lower rates from Chair Karen Mack's Federal Reserve. FCE/US WEEKEND/REPORT

pose a cost of a different sort through higher borrowing costs aimed at slowing economic activity and potentially boosting unemployment at a time when inflation may be shifting down anyway.

'All Fed meetings in the near future will need to price in the possibility of a surprise, but we continue to think that the Fed will be able to narrowly avoid a hike amid a slow and gradual shift down toward target inflation, a cooling consumer sector, and a more precarious jobs outlook,' said Christopher Hodge, chief U.S. economist at Nation.

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SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2026 | INS

SPORTS EXTRA

MLB

Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith reacts to his RBI triple against the Seattle Mariners in the second inning on Aug. 14 at Daikin Park. THOMAS SHEA/MAXON IMAGES VIA REUTERS

LATE-INNING DRAMA DOWN IN HOUSTON

Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker hit a three-run, walk-off homer to cement a five-run 10th inning in a 10-7 over the visiting Seattle Mariners on Aug. 14. The Mariners scored two in the top of the inning, but closer Andres Munoz was unable to hold onto the lead. The Astros pushed their division lead in the AL West to 2½ games with the victory. See the MLB Roundup on Page 4NS

Blake Toppmeyer College football columnist USA TODAY NETWORK

Akron taking a shot with new 'OC'

Did you ever stand in your living room, yell at the TV after a heated play, and meant you could call plays better than the coach paid to call plays?

Akron athletic director Andrew Goodrich is counting on that.

Just when you thought you'd seen it all, the Zips unworked a promotion unlike any other. Akron will select a fun to call plays for a portion of one game this season.

You read that correctly.

A Divinoos I football team will appoint a fan as the 'Offensive Coordinator' for a game that counts on the record.

'This is fun,' Goodrich told USA TODAY Sports. 'College football is fun. We are having fun.'

Fun is one word for it.

Unique. Bold. Risky. Zany.

When Goodrich brought the idea to Akron coach Joe Moorhead this summer, another word popped into Moorhead's mind. Well, two words.

'Utterly ridiculous,' Moorhead said. 'That was my knee-jerk reaction.'

The more Moorhead learned about the plan, the more he warmed up to it. Now, he's on board.

'Listen, it's boom or bust,' Moorhead told me, 'and I've kind of leaned into this thing.'

For one drive and one drive only, a fan will go from yelling at the play-caller to learning what it's like to be the play-caller as they will help script and call plays — either from the sideline or the booth — for Akron's opening drive against Robert Morris, an FCS opponent, on Sept. 12.

And if the first play of the opening drive is a pick-six? Well, that's that.

'I will be saying my prayers that (the first drive) goes well,' Goodrich said. 'It does have genuine risk involved.'

There's also genuine reward.

The promotion went viral on social media. A program that typically operates in the shadows of the Cleveland Browns and Ohio State attracted some limelight.

Season-ticket sales surged. Akron sold out its stadium suites for 'perhaps the first time ever,' Goodrich

See TOPPMETER, Page 6NS

PGA TOUR FEDEX ST. JUDE CHAMPIONSHIP

Scheffler fires a 61 to rocket into lead

FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Scottie Scheffler fired a 9-under-par 61 to rocket into the lead at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs, on Friday in Memphis.

Scheffler's second-lowest round of the year earned him a three-shot advantage over South Korea's Sungjae Im (60) and Norway's Viktor Hovland (54) going into the weekend. The World No. 1 in 3-under 129 at the halfway mark as he seeks his first win since January.

'I wouldn't say golf's ever easy. I did some good things out there,' Scheffler said. 'I hit some iron shots in their close and was able to hole a few putts as well.'

The World No. 1 birdied the first five holes at TFC Southwood and added a sixth at No. 7. Ropyrs at Nos. 8 and 12 around one birdie at No. 10 took him off

the pace for a possible sub-60 round, but he used four more birdies over the final six holes to break from the pack.

Scheffler one-putted 10 times over 18 holes, a welcome sight after his putter kept him out of contention at certain tournaments this year.

'I think it's just golf. That's really all it is,' he said. 'That's why I talked about being patient yesterday because I felt like I played a little better than my score. It was nice to get out there early and knock in some putts and give myself some really good looks as well.'

Scheffler was No. 1 in the FedEx Cup points race entering the week, so a victory would not change his position. Im, however, is No. 53 in points and trying to climb into the top 50 to qualify for next week's BMW Championship.

See PGA TOUR, Page 7NS

Scottie Scheffler plays his shot on the ninth hole during the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Aug. 14. VITA IN ROBERTS/MAXON IMAGES VIA REUTERS

SUBSCRIBER-EXCLUSIVE SECTION

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2NS | SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2026 | SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK

NFL

PRESEASON ROUNDUP

New-look Dolphins offense finds stride

HELD LEWIS MEDIA

The Miami Dolphins showed exactly why coaches and players typically don't care about final scores or wins and losses in the preseason.

Though the host Washington Commanders won the game 20-7 on Friday, the biggest moments of the game may have come on the first drive of the night. Playing their starters and treating the first drive very much like a regular season game, the Dolphins drove 93 yards for a touchdown on their first march with their supercheck.

Malik Willis, who joined Miami after excelling as the backup in Green Bay, went 4-for-5 for 43 yards on his only drive of the game, which ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by DeVon Acluse - on his seventh story of the drive.

While the Commanders kept their starters out of the game, the battle for Washington's No. 3 running back spot took center stage, and both rookies angling for the job made big opening statements. Both-round pick Kurtvon Allen out of from State run for 85 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries while undrafted Robert Henry Jr. from UTSA posted 75 yards on 12 carries with another score.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis tries to break a tackle against the Washington Commanders on Aug. 14 at Northeast Stadium. HILDY BURKE/MAION RANGEL VIA RILTTERS

Broncos 27, Falcons 7

The guy Willis is replacing in Miami, Yua Tupouahua, had an underwhelming debut with Atlanta, throwing for just 22

yards and fumbling a snap across two drives that totaled 19 yards in a loss to visiting Denver.

Tupouahua is expected to compete with Michael Penix Jr. for the starting

job with the Falcons. But Penix is still recovering from knee surgery. The Broncos routed starter for No, and backup parent Wolfson - who started the place of an injured Nix in last season's AFC' C-6s game - threw for 126 yards and a score.

Denver receiver Courtland Sutton gained 60 yards on three catches, including a dazzling 40-yard grab to the 1-yard line on the game's opening drive. Adam Frenkow ran for a touchdown on the next play.

Buccanders 24, Jets 16

Getting the surprise start after Geno Smith was a late scratch with an ankle injury, rookie Cobb Sibbrick led New York to scores on both of his drives, but Tampa Bay outscored the Jets 2.4-6 the rest of the way to win in East Rutherford, N.J.

Sibbrick, a fourth-round pick out of Clemson, completed 5 of 7 passes for 56 yards and led the Jets to 19 points, capped by a 8-yard scoring run by Reardon Allen.

Tampa Bay, which set all of its starters, had the play of the game when rookie comeback James Games intercepted a Bailey Zappe pass and returned it 47 yards to the the game at 30-95 in the second quarter. Zappe threw two interceptions on the night.

NOTEBOOK

Pearce suspended 8 games for NFL violation

HELD LEWIS MEDIA

Atlanta Falcons edge rauber James Pearce Jr. was suspended for eight games for violating the NFL personal conduct policy and won't be in uniform before November.

Pearce, afforded an appeal of the punishment handed down Friday according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. About his option to challenge the league ruling and will begin serving his suspension Aug. 30. Pearce cannot be reinstated until Nov. 2, but eligibility doesn't guarantee he'll be cleared to rejoin the roster.

The NFL banned Pearce due to his plea agreement and entry into a diversion program. Pearce, 22, was charged after using his vehicle to block ex-girlfriend and current WNBA player Rickie Jackson from reporting their domestic dispute to authorities, according to a police report from the incident in south Florida on Feb. 7.

Police arriving on the scene alleged Pearce had pursued Jackson in separate vehicles, intentionally struck the vehicle Jackson was driving and fled in his SUV when officers arrived.

As part of the plea agreement in Florida, Pearce faces strict probation for six months. He must pass random drop tests, attend counseling and is prohibited from contact with Jackson. Jackson told police they met at the University of Tennessee, where both were athletes, and that their relationship lasted three years.

If Pearce violates the terms of his court-approved program, he's immediately subject to additional punishment from the NFL and faces the possible punishment if some of all charges related to the original incident. Those charges included misdemeanor stalking, felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, fleeing police and resisting arrest.

Atlanta will be in preparation for Week 9 and a game against the Cincinnati Bengalis in Medical #Pearce is reinstated to the roster Nov. 2.

A first-round pick in 2025, Pearce resumes support in preseason games. He had 10.5 sacks in 17 games last season.

Bills DT Mathis banned 3 games for substance violation

Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Phalanian Mathis received a three-game suspension on Friday from the NFL, which cited a violation of its substances of abuse policy.

According to ESPN, the punishment was in response to 'an alcohol-related incident' from the signing of 2025 when Mathis was on the New York Jets' roster. The Jets released him in the summer of 2025, and he signed with the Bills last fall.

Atlanta Falcons linebacker James Pearce Jr. warns up before facing the Denver Broncos on Aug. 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. BRETT GRAVEL/MAION RANGEL VIA RILTTERS

Mathis, 28, came off the Buffalo bench to appeal to six games last season, recording 13 tackles. He has been fighting to make the Bills' roster this year, and he can play in the preseason until the suspension kicks in on Aug. 30 ahead of the team's season opener at the Houston Texans on Sept. 15.

Reports: Colts' $7 coordinator suffers torn knee ligaments

The Indianapolis Colts may be without special teams coordinator Brian Mason for a while after he suffered a severe knee injury on the final play of the preseason opener Thursday night.

Mason tore multiple ligaments in his knee when a Colts player and a New England Patriots player fell into him on the sideline while they were engaged as Riley Leonard attempted a Hail Mary pass, ESPN reported. The coach was unable to avoid the contact and took a direct hit to the leg. He fell to the turf and immediately grabbed his knee.

Colts head coach Shane Stulchen told reporters after the game Mason was being evaluated after getting 'rolled up,' the Indianapolis Star reported. Mason flew Samie with the team from Fesborough, Mass., and was evaluated further on Friday, ESPN reported.

It is not known whether Mason will need surgery or miss any time, but Mason's injury could affect the way Indianapolis' special teams are coached in the

coming days if his mobility is limited. Mason is in his fourth season as the team's coordinator. Joe Hastings is Mason's senior assistant special teams coach.

The Colts and Patriots ended their exhibition in a 13-13 tie. No overtime period was played.

Titans DB Johnson suspended 6 games for P53 violation

The NFL suspended Tennessee Titans defensive back Natech Johnson six games on Friday for violation of the league's policy on performance enhancing substances.

Johnson, 28, will begin his suspension when the Titans open the regular season Sept. 13 at home against the New York Jets. He will be eligible to return Oct. 25 to a home game against the Cleveland Browns.

Johnson will be allowed to participate in practices with the Titans and is eligible to play in all preseason games.

Heading into his fourth fall season, and his first with the Titans, the seventh-round draft pick by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022 has 66 tackles (three for loss) and three passed defended in 29 career games (six starts).

49ers quarterback Bourke hospitalized for rib injury

San Francisco 49ers quarterback

Kurtis Bourke was taken to the hospital after sustaining a rib injury during Thursday night's preseason opener.

The second-year signal suffer experienced difficulty breathing after completing 12 of 14 passes for 101 yards in the 19-13 loss to the visiting Tennessee Titans.

'They said this, he was struggling to breathe on they took him to the hospital just to check on him and make sure he's all right. X-rays in here didn't show it was broken,' 49ers coach Kyle Shamshan said. 'They just wanted to get more imaging and find out, so they weren't too concerned. I don't want to downplay it but I don't want to overplay it either.'

San Francisco drafted Bourke in the seventh round (227th overall) in 2025 out of Indiana. He did not see any regular season action for the 49ers last season.

Bourke, 25, is competing with Adrian Martinez for the No. 3 quarterback spot in San Francisco behind incumbent starter Brock Purdy and backup Mac Jones.

Texans fear torn ACL for backup QB Mertz

Texans second-year quarterback Graham Mertz likely tore his ACL during Thursday's preseason opener, ESPN reported.

A sixth-round draft pick in 2025, Mertz sustained a knee injury during a scramble late in the second quarter. Before leaving, he completed 4 of 7 passes for 23 yards in the 27-7 loss to the visiting Los Angeles Churgers.

Mertz, 25, is No. 3 on the depth chart behind starter C.J. Stroud and veteran backup Steve Bills. He is expected to undergo additional testing Friday to confirm the ACL loss, which would be a season-ending injury.

Mertz spent most of his rookie season on the injured list. He dealt with a leg injury during his senior season at Florida. Mertz, who played at Wisconsin (2009-22) and Florida (2025-24), did not appear in a regular season game in 2025.

Cardinals rookie G Bisontis nursing knee injury

Arizona Cardinals rookie guard Chase Bisontis could be sidelined an extended period of time.

Bisontis was cured to the locker room Thursday night after a Las Vegas Kankes defensive lineman fell on his left knee during the third quarter of Arizona's 27-16 preseason victory.

'Not good,' Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur said of his injury to Bisontis, who is competing with Isaiah Adams for the starting job at right guard.

Bisontis, 22, will undergo further tests on his ailing knee.

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SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2024 | 595

NF1, COMMENTARY

Think Bears won't bolt? Look around league

Nate Davis USA TODAY

Money talks, and football teams walk – each is life in the NF1, So when it comes to the Bears, a big city team that's operated like a small market one for much of its century plus existence, the people and lawmakers of Chicago should probably take hard before the organization makes good on its escalating threats to dovang the Windy City.

I've talked to any number of Chicagoans who are dismissive of the notion that the Bears will wind up playing their home games in Hammond, Indiana, which is about 30 miles due south of Soldier Field – or even in Arlington Heights, Illinois, on the 2nd minute the team score about 30 miles northwest of downtown, on the former home of the now-demolished Arlington International Racecourse. And those people may be right. Civic demands, political agencies and deadlines all have a way of starting pressure and producing alternative solutions... and that has certainly been true in various forms in Chicago over the years. I acknowledge and upward from the skepticism.

But the notion that team chairman George McCauley, grandson of NF1, legend and Bears founder George Bialas, won't move his franchise across state lines out of some sense of nostalgia or municipal loot? NF1.

Chicago ranks third among the United States media leaders, behind New York and Los Angeles and just ahead of Dallas Port Worth. And game what – and that the Bears, Mrs. Rams, Churgers nor Cowboys play within the city limits of the tennis they represent. So NF1, team has played in a New York City borough for more than 40 years. After the Rams and Raiders left after the 1994 season, L.A. had no leave at all for more than two decades – but now you can go watch the Bears and Chargers at Soft Stadium in Inglewood... which is probably the only reason Angstrous or visitors make the trek to that part of the me-

Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears celebrates after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-28 on Nov. 23 at Soldier Field in Chicago. JUSTIN CASTOR/McGETTY/WAKEE

tropolis - The Cowboys, whose bottom line hasn't been hurt by playing in stadiums surrounded by massive parking lots in Irving and Arlington, Texas, stopped playing home games in Dallas proper 55 years ago.

Oh, and some other things the Arts, Giants, Rams, Chargers and Cowboys have in common! Their stadiums have all hosted Super Bowls and, just this summer, staged a combined 25 World Cup matches. Chicago's Soldier Field? It's never had a Super Bowl but did get the World Cup ... in 1994. So yeah.

In addition, according to Sportico's just released list of NF1, franchise volunteers, the Cowboys, Rams and Giants are the league's top three clubs in terms of estimated worth - all listed at more than $22 billion. The Bears are currently ranked 14th at approximately 49-45 billion. More broadly, 12 of the league's 32 teams (37.5%) play in suburban sites – and that's including the regionally branded New England Patriots, who, like the Cowboys, left the big city (Boston in this case) in 1971.

So, ultimately, why should the Bears be any different?

"We don't have an offer from the state of Illinois," Bears CEO Kevin Warren said while addressing reporters on Thursday, Aug. 15, when the team provided the latest update to its plans for a new stadium – which it again claimed are focused on Indiana with no viable option from Chicago on the table.

"[W]ight now our focus is on Hammond, Indiana, to make sure that we bring that to life."

Chicago is the league's largest non-canal city in towns of population. Yet it currently lacks a venue that's befitting of not only Super Bowls and World Cups but also Big Ten football championships – and maybe 17F matchups – Final Four and other major entertainment attractions. And, tradition notwithstanding, why wouldn't the McCauley family want to take advantage of Indian-American clubmenets, including $5 billion in incentives to relocate? And, feet to the fire, how many football fans in the Upper Midwest don't want more more to inflight, greatly enhanced amenities... and a roof over their heads in November and January?

Which points back to the primary

issue: Soldier Field ain't exactly Lambsaw Field.

Chicago's publicly owned stadium – the Bears have been a tenant since 1971 – hasn't resembled anything close to a football palace in many decades. Back in the sky, most of its swoling capacity was in the end before the team was reprinted to see Walter Payton on the field while that many late-season weather blew in off Lake Michigan. Whether the building improved much after being remodeled in 2002, many likening the new manhoods as IPO landing between the famed colonnades, is a matter of debate. What's inarguable is that it is an outmoded facility without the creation control NF1, four – and other potential, and the only other best supporters – now demand Alex. Soldier Field's capacity (42,000) is the NF1's lowest aside from small-market Buffalo's brand new Highbank Stadium, which is superior to Soldier Field in every other way. Mostly.

Again, nothing is written in stone here as the Bears and Illinois politicians exchange pointed rhetoric. Maybe Hammond amounts to nothing more than a leverage ploy. Maybe it has Hoosier maps that will rob off on quarterback Caleb Williams' right arm. But with a Soldier Field lease that runs through the 2010 season, they're time – dwindling as it is – to find another arrangement between team and city. Would it be a bummer if the Bears left Chicago – especially for those who live in town and can take the box, the L or simply walk to the games? Absolutely. But fans quickly acclaimed to view realities, and this is easier when you're adapting to an infinitely superior game that experience – the commute notwithstanding. As for the brand? That seems to the Rubicon that McCauley won't cross.

"We will be the Chicago Bears whistle or we're in Arlington or whistler we're in Hammond," he said.

And where Bears fans will migrate, however begrudgingly, if they eventually have to.

MLB

PCA for MVP? Cubs star hits historic heights

Gabe Leques COOKING USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The book is a heresy read, just 120 pages long, and Pete Crow-Armstrong is taking little bites of it, tucking it in his bag from hotel to the Chicago Cubs clubhouse, reclining in the video room to knock out a chapter a few hours before returning his remarkable, potentially historic season.

"Short, but really good," Crow-Armstrong says of "Small Things Like These," Claire Koogan's novella that won the 2022 World Prize for Political Fiction.

One year after a similarly epic year went sideways with a grim and demoralizing August slump, Crow-Armstrong is hitting the accelerator even harder in a second half that has him firmly positioned to port the most valuable year, at least mathematically, across the major leagues.

It is a two-man race for NL MVP, PCA vs. the great Modest Ofstani, whose 6.4-WAR while both hitting and pitching can't measure up to Crow-Armstrong's 7.1 times, as tabulated by baseball Reference. (The gap is large – 8-0 to 6.4 – per Pantajagel's calculations).

As the calendar gets deeper into August, it's clear Crow-Armstrong is vanquisiding any notion of another second-half season, which impounded his breakout 2023 season.

In a 25-game stretch from July 25-Aug. 21, PCA hit zero home runs, produced a 16% 2nd, 287 shots free and a 12% OFS. He struck out 25% of the time – 23 minutes into to five walks – and the Cubs in that spun fell from a first-place tie in the NL Central to seven games behind the Arlington Milwaukee Brewers.

In 2026, the August script has been flipped.

The Cubs, winners of nine of their last 12 games, have roared within three games of the first-place Brewers, closest they've been since May 24.

And Crow-Armstrong, in 25 games, since the 48-that break, has only doubled since on the excellent first-half production, posting a .965 OPS with 10 extra-hors hits and six steals in seven tries, all while playing a peerless center field.

Pete Crow-Armstrong signed a $115 million extension with the Cubs earlier in 2026. CHARLES LECLARE/WENNY WAKES VIA RUSTEIS CORRECT

It is never easy. Yet in those times when it gets hard, Crow-Armstrong brings himself back to the smaller picture, knowing no hard time will endure too long.

"I just didn't want to let it get away from me like I did last year," Crow-Armstrong tells USA TODAY Sports. And I think that has nothing to do with numbers, or the results that I can't see before they happen.

"I want to just keep this going. I'm not putting too much pressure on. Last year was last year. And it was a great reference and great to look back on and think, how can I relate it to this moment?"

"It is tough to look back on sometimes. I have a couple bad games and I'm like, 'Oh god, here we go again.' But that's how I frame it and that's not the headboard way to frame it. So, if I choose to look at it in a productive way, then I think I act on productivity, too."

MV-Pete?

Perhaps mastering the mindset can be challenging when Crow-Armstrong manages one of the most unique tool sets in modern baseball history.

Listed at 6-foot, 184 pounds, Crow-Armstrong nonetheless ran crash 27 home runs in 122 games, the most recent a 457-foot shot that hangs off the façade of the third deck at Nationals Park, sizzling off the bat at 18.5 mph.

And he can also lap center fielders in only above average, posting a major league-best 22, waging out 10. Louis second baseman 2.0 Northafield's 20 foot 34 beyond Boston's Coddane Rafaela, second among center fielders with 14.

His added 61 of statistical armor this season is plain approach. Crow-Armstrong has exactly tripled the walk rate, from 4.5% a year ago to 12.1% in 2026, protestant against any funk lasting too long.

Ofttani can dazzle on any night. Yet with exactly 75% of their season elapsed, the 71-75-Uche are sizzling to believe the MVP race may become settled business.

"think he should win it. I think Pete should win MVP," says Cubs that loosen man Alex Bregman, an 43, MVP runner-up in 2019. "Obviously, I don't have a vote, I don't have a say. I just watch him play every day so I'm a big fan of his game."

"Obviously, a big fan of Ofttani, as well. He does stuff that nobody on place at earth can do. I'm a little biased. But I believe Pete has just been unbelievable this year in every phase of the game."

Crow-Armstrong is still just 24 years old. Perhaps this is the 'normal' and 12, so, the Cubs say year, 802 million agreement with him that takes after race season may look like a bargain.

But let's stop in the moment and consider these 2026 Cubs.

PCA's Cubs are 'never out'

Their signing of Bregman to a five-year, $275 million deal added Cubs fans accustomed to finalizing just of the money in such deities, at least in the six years since the club peltioned «Sugar Kyle Schwarzer to save a few bucks after the 2020 season.

Crow-Armstrong - absorbed - Bregman's tutelage and watched as the two-time World best team of the 2020 slated into the Cubs' culture. And wondered what would it look like once he returned to his usual level of production?

After Bregman posted a .394/.495.789 slash line in his past in his past 16 games, we are finding out.

"Anytime Alex Bregman is playing an Alex Bregman brand of baseball, it's just good for the program," says Crow-Armstrong. "I enjoy looking at it like it we were playing as well as we've been playing and No. 3 hadn't played his best brand of baseball earlier, when he does, that's huge."

In turn, Bregman sees the dynamism PCA provides and now knows how it can carry for an entire 852-game campaign. Crow-Armstrong is hurting .38-wt5+ten outs, a staggering .361-wt6 runners in most big position.

"He is not a lot to worry," says Bregman, now in his 10th major league season. "He's not scared. He's got so much confidence in himself. He plays the game hard and it's fun to be his teammate."

Something is certainly percolating. The Cubs have posted it walk-off wins, have won 10 of 16 extra-swung games and are 10-13 in one-run games.

For a club that reached the NL Division of the 2020s, the Cubs have won 47 course designed to win a World Series. Yet it won't hurt in those doom-such-sick against the Brewers – or if they meet up again in the postseason.

"We're never out. We're shown that time and time again with extra-swung wins, ninth-swung wins," says Crow-Armstrong. "I choose to land of apply that to the overarching theme of the year. We've kind of been playing catch-up with those guys for the whole year and that's cool. The Brewers are a really good ballclub. They always find ways to win.

"I think it would be really nice to win the division. But we're focusing on our game."

---

4N8 | SAU 1/4 1/4 2/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4

MLB

Strong pitching, Suzuki's blast help Cubs

FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Guy Holmes allowed one hit over 6 2/3 scoreless innings and Sonya Suzuki failed a three-run homer, fueling the best Chicago Cubs in a 3-0 victory over the H. Louis Cardinals on Friday afternoon.

Waking the second start since being acquired from the New York Mets on Aug. 3, Holmes (5-5) retired the first hit batters in faced before Jose Perعلي singled to right field in the sixth inning. Holmes struck out three batters and walked one before exiting after 6th pitches.

Japan Satsuro relieved Holmes and retired Nathan Church after an B-pitch at last to end five-seventh inning. Ryan Zebrajko hitpped the gap to Jacob Webb, who retired the side in the ninth inning to secure his ninth save of the season.

Suzuki added a double in the eighth inning for the Cubs, who rebounded from a one-hit performance in Thursday's 7-0 setback to the Washington Nationals and scored first inning win in the last 2 games.

Rick Louw recorded one hit batters Chicago finally broke through in the sixth inning in the second inning.

Tyrone Taylor walked to lead off the sixth inning against Matthew Liberatore (5-8) and promptly stole second base. Taylor advanced to third base on a single by Dandy Swanson, who also stole second base. Taylor and Swanson were able to test home after Suzuki deposited a 3-1 changers from longer horizon over the 8th. Louise Reid wall with one out to stoke the Cubs to a 3-0 lead.

Suzuki's homer run also 2ht of the season and second in his last four games.

Reds 1, Marlins 0

Chase Benny threw seven shutout innings for the Cincinnati Reds in a 4-0 win over the visiting Miami Marlins in the spring of first three-game series on Friday.

Benny (8-2) allowed four hits, struck out right and didn't walk a batter for the third time this season. The right-hander avoided losing two in a row after winning 12 straight decisions.

Brock Brade struck out the side in the eighth for the Reds, and Emilie Pagan pitched the ninth for his 10th save.

Miami starter Sandy Alcantara (0-7) came in with a 20-inning shutout streak and second lead in a 2-0 lead. Somehowed with the time run in the sixth. The 2022 NL/CL Young Award season allowed three hits, struck out two and walked four over seven innings.

White Sox 3, Tigers 5

Miguel Vargas honored twice in four hits, scored three runs and drove in three more on the visiting Chicago White Sox 3, and the Detroit Tigers 9-5 on Friday night.

Rick Louw Montgomery had those hits and three BBIs for the White Sox, who pushed their back in the American League Central Division to 3-12 games over Detroit. Tristan Peters singled a two-run homer for the White Sox.

Jim Midget had two homers and drove in three runs for Detroit. Eduardo Valencia and Oleyfart Thomas able two hits and on the 8th lead.

Tigers starter Lankoso John (5-8) gave up six runs on nine hits and one walk in 3-2-3 innings.

The game got off to a wild start as John hit the first two batters in the first. With two out, Braden Montgomery singled to left to have in Sam Antonucci.

Detroit took a 3-1 lead in the second. Spencer Trebelson reached base on a single and Midget drove a changers from Jose Uspaugh (5-2) over the left-field wall.

Blue Jays 3, Yankees 1

Alejandro Kirk hit the go-ahead double in a two-run sixth and added a homer Friday night to help the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the visiting New York Yankees 3-1.

The Blue Jays have won four of five on a seven-game homestead after taking the spring of a three-game series.

Tigers started 14-2, allowed one run, four hits and one walk with five strikeouts, nine innings to two birdseeds that a perfect night for his 17th save.

Trent Graham hit a solo home run for the Yankees, who have only scored one in losing two straight.

Yankees starter Gerrit Cole (6-6) worked out of a jam in the second when Kirk walked and moved to third on Andrew Atmanco's double to the right-field wall and escaped with a strikeout and a groundcut.

Spencer Jones led off the Yankees' fourth with a handling double to center. He took third to Luke Garcia 8-4. Ryeid to center, avoiding a sweep tag at the base. Bieber worked out of the inning with two fly-

Chicago Cubs designated hitter Sonya Suzuki hits a double against the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 16 at Wrigley Field. ©2012, 4/22/2/2020, United States, US 8527/20

balls, the first to stalk two to score Spencer. Grisham led off the sixth with a homer to right on a 2-0 bathed.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone was posted by home game umpire Vic Catapanza with two out in the sixth.

Diamondbacks 2, Braves 0

Brandon Pfaudt outhated 45-time All-Star Chris Sabe on the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Atlanta Braves 2-0 on Friday in the opener of their three-game series.

Pfaudt (7-3) allowed only two hits over seven scoreless innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. The right-hander owns a 7-2 record with a 22-2k6 over his nine starts since rejoining the team from Triple-A on June 30.

Juan Melillo pitched around a leadoff single to work a scoreless eighth inning. Brandeis Garcia pitched perfect ninth inning, striking out two, to earn his fourth save. Garcia has not allowed a run in 23 of his last 23 games.

Arizona United Atlanta to three singles and struck out 1, including Ronald Aruma 3, three times.

Sale (32-0) pitched six innings and allowed one run on five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. It marked the 59th consecutive start in which she has allowed three or fewer runs, the longest active streak in the major leagues.

Gandale Pankoso went 4-for-5 and scored Asturias's first run.

Mets 4, Nationals 1

Carson Brangel laced six-breaking run-scoring single in the sixth inning Friday night for the best New York Mets, who beat the Washington Nationals 4-1 in the opener of a three-game series.

Francisco Lindee hit a game-fying 1 home earlier in the sixth for the Mets, who snapped a two-game inning streak and improved his 2nd on the All-Star Break. Jared Young honored and Bo Bichette hit an 8th single in the seventh.

Seven players finished with one hit against the New York.

Brady House went 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Nationals, who have lost 8 of their last 6k.

Jonathan Pritzen (5-5), the third of five Mets pitched, was credited with the victory after giving up one hit over two scoreless innings. Daniel Duarte threw a scoreless eighth and Koala Singa, notched his second save after allowing a hit and striking out one in the ninth.

Mets came in desert block allowed an unearned run on three hits and three walks while striking out five over 4 1/3 innings.

Andrew Alvarez (2-4) took the loss after giving up two runs on two hits and one walk while striking out four over 5 2/3 innings.

Pirates 5, Red Sox 4

Rafael Flores Jr and Brandon Lowe each honored to propel the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 8-4 victory over the visiting Boston Dolls on Friday night.

Flores, who had two three-run home runs during Thursday's 8-1 triumph over Miami, hit a solo home run in the second, and Lowe standard a 3-man Moran changers for a three-run home run in the fifth.

Flores collected three hits in the victory. Pittsburgh also received two hits and three runs from Bryan Reynolds.

Bralice Chandler Jr. 6-0 limited Boston to two runs on four hitters in the innings to earn the win. He walked two and struck out five.

Nick Segood had two hits and two BBIs for Boston, which lost for the sixth time in its last seven games.

After Flores opened the scoring with his fourth home run of the season, Pittsburgh

took a four-run lead by scoring three times in the fourth. It was 3-0 after an formerly 3-0 hitter double drove to Reynolds and four by filters, and Flores followed with an RBI single to down the lead to a 1-0.

Boston starting pitcher Jake Bennett (7-0) was pulled after four innings. He achieved four runs on five hits, walked one and struck out six.

Orioles 6, Rays 5

Gunnar Henderson went 4-for-4 with a two-run homer as the Baltimore Orioles edged Tampa Bay 6-5 on Friday in 8. Petersburg, Fla., stopping the 2nd per-7 inter-game winning streak.

The shortstop also hit a double and scored twice as the Orioles moved to 3-4 on four 10-game real-toning. The contest was the opener of a four-game series.

Dylan Beavers, who had two hits off the Baltimore Swast, knocked a indwashing two-run single in the seventh, and Colton Comox needed a solo homer. Tyler O'Neill scored twice while collecting a single and two walks.

Izzie Bird start since early June, Orioles right-hander Chris Sabe, threw 3-1 3-0 innings and allowed two runs on five hits. He struck out three and walked three in his return from back surgery.

Jack Walker (4-0) got two outs in relief to record his first career win. Andrew Kittredge, Rio Guana, Yonater Uan and Clare Sanders closed 4-out leaders recorded the last out for his second save.

Tampa Bay relieved Gunter Chowinger (4-4) allowed two runs on two hits in one-third of an inning.

Padres 7, Guardians 5

Xander Bogartis slugged a two-run homer and Fernando Tada Jr. added a solo shot as the visiting San Diego Padres beat the Cleveland Guardians 7-5 on Friday for their sixth straight win.

Luis Campanazo doubled twice and drove in three runs for San Diego, which have on 8 of a final 20 games to move on the second wild card spot in the National League. Jake Connemarels, Manny Maclachu and Ty Faunce each had two hits.

Michael Ray (8-0) allowed four runs (three-running) straight hits with one walk and four strikeouts over six innings.

Yale Munoz pitched a scoreless seventh inning before Cleveland pushed a run across in the eighth when Nathaniel Lowe scored on a wild pitch by Jeremiah Estrache.

Bradgley Rodriguez retired three straight batters following. Brayne Bocchini's leadoff double in the ninth for his first career save.

Astrea 10, Mariners 7, 10 innings

Christian Walker blasted a three-run, walk-off homer as the Houston Astrea answered a three-run rally by the Seattle Mariners with a five-run fifth inning en route to a wild 8-7 victory on Friday.

Marianna Aunty Andres Wilson (5-5) was landed a two-run lead after Victor Robles signed a three-10 game with an RBI triple in the top of the fifth and scored on Brock Rodden's sacrifice fly.

Wason score above 8000 singles to Isaac Paredes and Daulieu Vandoz before Walker crashed his 23rd home run 405 feet to left field.

These Seattle relievers combined to work 4-13 perfect innings before the Astrea got to Wigan.

Jollete Jaleel astromatic runner Brendan Simmons and snapped a 5-3 deadlock with the 2nd in the 4-0 season third goal off Astrea reliever Paul De Los Santos (2-3).

Royals 7, Angels 6

Jac Cagliarone went 3-for-4 with a

home run and a career-high five BBIs as the Kansas City Royals snapped a four-game inning streak with a 7-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday in Anaheim, Calif.

Michael Marney also honored and had three hits and two 60th while Bobby Witt Jr. reached base three times and scored two runs for Kansas City, which improved to 4-0 against the Angels this season.

Alex Lange (2-7) picked up the win in relief. Steven Clay pitched a scoreless ninth to notch his fourth save.

Nolan Schumel went 2-for-4 with a double and scored two runs in high with four BBIs for Los Angeles, which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Jack Lowe hit a home run, and Tyler Vettenman had two hits and two runs.

Taylor Saunole (6-5) allowed two runs on two hits in one-third of an inning of relief.

The Royals produced the decisive two-run rally in the seventh inning to go ahead. V. Witt singled with one out and then finished the top third home run and eligible to right by Cagliarone, who advanced to second on shortstop Jack Noto's error on a throw to the plate. After Luke Murphy replaced Saunole on the second lead got a groundout, Massey singled to right, driving in Cagliarone.

Rangers 6, Athletics 3

Jeff McNeill had a season-high four hits and three BBIs, including a indwashing homer, as the Athletics notched an 8-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday in West Sacramento, Calif.

Lawrence Butler also went deep and Carlos Cortes laced a three-run double as the As won for just the fourth time in the past 10 games. McNeil contributed two doubles and a single on the Athletics halved an eight-game home inning streak.

Jake Ringer slugged a three-run homer for Chase, which led its fourth straight contest and fell for the fifth time in six games. Ezequiel Dixon had two of the Rangers four hits.

Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson exited in the bottom of the second inning with a left hand outman. He was plucked in the bottom of the first inning by a pitch from Rangers starter Kunun for last.

McNeil came up with two outs in the sixth and smashed a indwashing homer to right off Chase blissth (3-3) to give the As a 4-3 edge. The shot traveled 400 feet.

One-inningslotc Bralice diablo 4-0i feet homer to center against Bobby Alderton. Bralice has honored in three consecutive games.

Dodgers 3, Brewers 1

Andy Pages hit a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning, right-hander Yoshinoha Yamamoto had a 10-9th total over six inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers earned a 3-1 victory over the roking Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday.

Yamamoto (10-7) gave up one run on four hits with two walks as the Dodgers moved back to within a game of the National League-leading Brewers. Milwaukee won the series opener Thursday.

Tommy Edman added a home run and Mookie Betts drove his runs in the Dodgers improved to 4-4 in open a seven-game homestead. Right-hander Robert Diaz-Richard off his seventh score despite leading the bases in the ninth on a hit batter and two walks.

Left-hander Robert Gasser (3-5) gave up three runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings as the Brewers lost for the fourth time in five games on a seven-game California road trip.

Rockies 5, Giants 2

Zac Yost uphaded a home run into the San Francisco Bay, Kyle Freeland threw eight innings of four-hit ball, and the Colorado Rockies opened a three-game road series with a 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.

Troy Johnston slugged in with an RBI triple for the Rockies, who have won at least three straight for just the fourth time this season.

Johnston produced the game's first run with the fourth inning right against Giants starter Lunden Krupp (7-2) (T2 Rumfish), who had singled with two out, scored the run.

Bryan Elshiger got the Giants even in the last of the fourth with a leadoff homer, his 10th of the season, before the Rockies regained the advantage for good on a double by fourth inning and two pitch inning in the fifth. McNeil was not got the fifth on a grounds to shortstop.

Yost's homer, his second in two starts since being promoted from Triple-A Allurgers, followed a one out with to Connor Norby in the sixth. The blast sailed well over the right field walk and into the water.

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SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2024 | SNS

MLB

FRIDAY'S BOX SCORES

Chicago Colts 1-6, Louis 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2

Cincinnati 1-6, New York 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2

or should not be listed on this is shown and the feature is not in any way to win. All losses (15), losses (2), 800 losses (10), 400 losses (10), 400 losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), losses (10), loss

WIND	—	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
BLACKS	—	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
BLACKS	—	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
BLACKS	—	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
BLACKS	—	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
BLACKS	—	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Torrens 1-6, Boston 1
WTT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
TSB	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2	2	2	2
AT	—	2	2	2	2
AT	—	2	2	2	2
AT	—	2	2	2	2
AT	—	2	2	2	2
AT	—	2	2	2	2
AT	—	2	2	2	2
AT	—	2	2	2	2

Torrens 1-6, Boston 1
WTT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
TSB	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2

Houston 1, Chicago 1
WTT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
AT	—	2023	2

at should not be listed on this is not shown for number of 1.
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2

Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk hits an 800 double against the New York Yankees during the sixth strong on Aug. 14 at Rogers Centre. NOTE: TOM OCHSEN (ORIGIN BRANDS VIA RAY) 1/6

at should not be listed on 1/6
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2

Baltimore 1, Texas 1/6
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2

at should not be listed on 1/6
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2

San Diego 1, Cleveland 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2

Cincinnati Beds starter Chase Burns pitches against the Miami Marlins in the first roning on Aug. 14 at Great American Ball Park.

GATE STAGNERS/BROOK BRANDS VIA RAY/1/6

Brockie (N) 100 Tota. 2 (2), Regents (1), Louis (2), Austin (3), 800 Tota. 2 (4), Cinnamon (1) (2), Regents 2 (4), Louis (2) (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3), Austin (3)
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026

Houston 1, Seattle 1/2 (2)
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2

Houston 1, New York 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026

Philadelphia 1, Boston 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026

Houston 1, Chicago 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2

St. Louis 1, Washington 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026

Washington 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2

Colorado 1, San Francisco 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2

Colorado 1, San Francisco 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026

Colorado 1, Lichester 1, Texas 1/2, San Francisco 1 (Tampa) 2007 (Canada) 1/2 to San Francisco 1 for 1 2007 (Canada) 1/2 to San Francisco 1 for 1 2007 (Canada) 1/2 to San Francisco 1 for 1 2007 (Canada) 1/2 to San Francisco 1 for 1 2007 (Canada) 1/2 to San Francisco 1 for 1 2007 (Canada) 1/2 to San Francisco 1 for 1 2
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026

Houston 1, New York 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2

Los Angeles 1, Milwaukee 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2

Houston 1, New York 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026

Washington 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
W	—	2023	2024	2

Houston 1, New York 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026
CB1	—	2023	2024	2025	2026

Houston 1, New York 1
STL	—	2023	2024	2025	2026

---

ENS | SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2026 | SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK

BASKETBALL

WNBA ROUNDUP

Clark heats up in second half to pace Fever

FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Catlin Clark scored 29 points as his second-half offense sparked the Indiana Fever to a 98-87 victory against the coming Dallas Wings on Friday night in Indianapolis.

Kelsey Mitchell poured in 23 points, Aliyah Boston had 8 points and Tyasba Harris drained all five of her 3-point attempts for 15 points off the bench for the Fever (22-15), who broke away with a big team across the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.

Clark left the game late in the opening half with an apparent ankle injury but returned to start the second half and finished 2-5-0-10 from the field. She has four games in a row with at least 20 points.

Indiana has won three in a row and eight of its last 10 games. The Fever won back-to-back home games before going on a five-game road trip.

Paige Bueckers led the Wings (20-15) with 29 points on 2-5-0-10 shooting. Artie Ogankowski had a strong second half to end up with 25 points and Odyssey Sims added 10 points.

The Wings shot 10-5-0-10 on free throws to help play in it while the Fever finished 2-5-0-10 at the final line.

Clark finished up with 17 points in the third quarter even though she was with out a 3-point basket until her sixth attempt from long range but Bueckers was rolling as well. She had 25 points through three quarters, with the Wings clinging to a 66-63 advantage.

The Wings managed to hold a 37-35 halftime edge while shooting 35% from the field. Neither team was up by more than five points in the opening half. Despite shooting 1-for-7 on 3-7-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Fire 84, Storm 82

Led by rookie reserve guard Holly Winterburn's career best 20 points, the

Indiana Fever guard Catlin Clark (22) celebrates a basket in the second half against the Dallas Wings on Aug. 14 at Ganderidge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. TREVOR ROZKOWSKI/SWADIN HAKES VIA REUTERS

Portland Fire never trailed and hung on for an 84-82 road win over the Seattle Storm on Friday night.

Seattle railed to within a single point in the closing seconds and had a shot to win at the house, but Natasha Hooleman's 3-point fling from the left wing narrowly missed.

The Fire got a career night from Winterburn, who started a game averaging 2.5 points per game and with a previous career best of six points. But on checking in midway through the first quarter, she scored Portland's final 16 points of the first quarter.

Portland was up 10-9 when Winterburn entered the game but ended the

first quarter up 26-16. The run included a 3-7-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Portland (14-20) picked up its third win in four games with Winterburn shooting 8-for-15, grabbing seven in bounds, shining out five assists and picking up three steals. Bridget Calelron added 14 points, shooting 4-5-0-10 from 3-point range. Megan DiLeo contributed 14 points and nine bounds, and guard Carla Leite returned from a brief injury hiatus with 14 points and six assists.

Seattle (7-29) battled poor shooting throughout the game, finishing at last 33% (27-for-80) overall. The Storm closed on a 10-4 run over just inside of the final four minutes, pulling within 69-82 on a Hooleman 3-5-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Reserve Area Run paced the Storm with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. Ed Maghogor added 15 points and eight bounds. Jordan Huckman and half 12 points and 11 rebounds while going on. Holbeone also scored a down points.

Dominique Malmiga struggled to a 3-for-15 shooting right and had nine points and 12 rebounds. Standard rookie guard Flax'Lee Johnson was sidelined by an ankle injury for the second consecutive game.

WNBA BOX SCORES

Indiana 10, Dallas 07

Bates 2-5-0-10, 8, Boydsmayer 7-5-0-10, 8, Lamar 6-5-0-10, 8, Boydsmayer 6-5-0-10, 8, Sam 3-5-0-10, 7, Sam 3-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10

NEWBURGH

Dull 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10

Duluth 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10

8-Foot South, Dallas 7-10, Bates 2-5, Bueckers 2-5, Sega 6-5-0, Bates 1-5, Dallas 6-5, Cargill 6-5, Ogankowski 2-5-0, Indiana 6-5-0, Bates 2-5, Sega 6-5-0, Cargill 6-5, Ogankowski 2-5-0, Indiana 6-5-0, United 6-5-0, Bates 2-5, Sega 6-5-0, Cargill 6-5, Ogankowski 2-5-0, Indiana 6-5-0, United 6-5-0, Bates 2-5, Sega 6-5-0, Cargill 6-5, Ogankowski 2-5-0

Portland 14, Seattle 07

PORTLAND

Bates 4-4-0-10, 8, Cargill 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Cargill 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10

Harrison 4-4-0-10, 8, Bates 2-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10

WEST 10, Dallas 7-10, Bates 2-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10, 8, Sega 6-5-0-10

NBA NOTEBOOK

T-wolves set to retire Garnett's No. 21 jersey

FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

The Minnesota Timberwolves will retire Half of Famer Kevin Garnett's No. 21 jersey and send it to the rafters at the Target Center on Feb. 28 after a game against the Boston Celtics.

Selected by Minnesota directly out of high school with the No. 5 overall pick in 1993, Garnett is the Timberwolves' all-time leader in points (19,205), rebounds (30,700), assists (4,245), steals (1,301), blocks (3,590) and games played (975). He is the only NBA player to run No. 1 in all those categories for a franchise.

Over the course of his career, Kevin Garnett became much more than the greatest player in Timberwolves history. He became the embodiment of what it means to compete, to lead and to represent Minnesota's team owners Marc Love and Alex Rodriguez said in a statement.

"Bringing Kevin back to the organization as Team Ambassador has allowed us to celebrate his legacy in a new and meaningful way, and retiring No. 21 in the ultimate recognition of everything he has meant to this franchise and our fans. We can thrilled to celebrate this incredible moment with Kevin, his family, our fans and everyone who helped make his legacy possible."

Garnett endorsed a frosty relationship with the team for nearly a decade, in part due to former owner Glen Taylor's refusal to retire the 51-time All-Star's jersey. He returned to the team in December at an annual event.

Minnesota is home. That's never changed. This is where it all started home, so seeing No. 21 go up in Target Center and sharing that moment with the fans, my family, teammates, coaches, and everyone who's been part of this journey means everything," Garnett said at the time.

But I don't see this as the end - I see it in a new beginning, fetching the jersey as just the start of the next chapter in Minnesota, about building something that loves beyond the game.

... But 21 being retired in forever - and it's always in the beginning of something new. I can't wait to be back in that building, feel that energy, and celebrate it

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett awaits a game against the Phoenix Suns in 2016 at Target Center in Minneapolis. BRIAN HENRY/LYNN TODAY SPORTS

with everybody. Let's get it."

Garnett was the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 2003-04 and guided the Timberwolves to eight straight postseason appearances from 1996-97 to 2003-04.

He disputed after the 2006-07 season and won an NBA championship in his first season with the Boston Celtics in 2007-08.

He returned to Minnesota in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 19, 2015, and announced his retirement on Sept. 23, 2016.

The Celtics retired Garnett's No. 5 jersey on March 15, 2022.

Garnett will become just the second player in Timberwolves franchise history to have his number retired, joining former teammate Malik Sealy, whose No. 2 was retired following his passing in 2000.

Garnett was inducted into the Nainmith Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2020.

Reports: Cavaliers deal G

Dennis Schroder to Hornets

Cleveland Cavaliers are sending veteran guard Dennis Schroder and cash to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for guard Tre Mann, according to multiple reports on Friday.

The more rendezvous and financial flexibility for the Cavaliers, who continue to attempt to face James Hurdle back into the field, along with pursuing free agents forwards Perine Watson and Jonathan Kramiga.

Schroder signed a three-year, $44.4 million contract with the Sacramento Kings in July 2025. He will earn a base salary of $14.92 million in 2026-27 and the tax savings with his departure will keep the Cavs well under the second apron of the luxury tax threshold.

The well-traveled Schroder started his career with Atlanta in 2001-04, when current Hornets' president Jeff Peterson

and coach Charles Lee were with the Hawke organization.

The Hornets will be Schroder's twelfth stop, one day of his Smith's record of playing for 51 teams.

Schroder, who has won 20 teams on the smooth, played his first five seasons in Atlanta and the Charlotte jersey will be his 8th different one over the last nine seasons.

He played in 10 games for the Cavaliers after competing in 40 for Sacramento last season. Although he averaged 8.2 points per game for the Cavs, his season average was 10.8 μpg. Schroder has averaged in double figures in all but his rookie season.

For his career, Schroder played in 9.2 games and made 441 starts, averaging 10.7 points per game and 4.9 assists per contest. Schroder averaged a career-high 19.4 points for the Hawke in 2007-08 and finished second in Most Improved Player haltering when he averaged 20.9 points for the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2010-20.

Mann, 25, averaged 5.5 points per game in 53蛟pjup with a double last season. He averaged 5.6 million seasons in Oklahoma City (2020-25) and was dealt to Charlotte during the 2023-24 campaign. Mann has played in 234 games (66 starts) and averages 8.5 points per game.

Clippers re-sign veteran

G Bradley Beat

The Los Angeles Clippers announced the re-signing of veteran guard Bradley Beat on Thursday night.

Famer were not disobeyed, but ESPN reported it was a two-year, $0.2 million due for the three trips (all-Star deal, 14, had declined his $16 million player-ignies with the Clippers earlier this summer. Beat played in only six games with Los Angeles in 2023-26 before sustaining a season-ending big injury on Nov. 8. He managed just 8.2 points per game before the injury. He has averaged 21.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists over 857 career games with the Washington Wizards (2012-20), Phoenix Suns (2013-25) and Clippers. The 2018 first-round draft pick (No. 5 overall) is a career 37.6% 3-point shooter.

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SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2024 | 793

GOLF ROUNDUP

Yubol nabs lead at Standard Portland Classic

FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Arjníchaya Yubol, in search of her first LPGA tournament win, holds a one-shot lead midway through the Standard Portland (Oregon) Classic.

'Do 24-year-old Thai player shot a second consecutive 6-under-par 69 on Friday at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. Her 22-under-251 total leaves her one stroke ahead of Sophia Schubert and Thailand's Pajares Anannarakarn, who each carded a 66 on Friday, and South Korea's Hye-Jin Choi, who shot a second-round 67.

Bose Zhang (second-round 65), Japan's Erika Hara (66), Switzerland's Morgana-Mertana (67), Thailand's Jee-ee Shitkai (67), South Korea's Haema Ryu (68), Russia's Nataliya Guseva (69) and Australia's Grace Kim (69) are used for fifth place at 9-under. Yubol enjoyed a stellar day until she logged her long bogey on the par-4 18th hole. Before that, she had seven birdies, including three in a row from No. 5 to No. 7.

'Pretty good day for my putties,' said Yubol, who recorded 24 putts on Friday after sending only 21 on Thursday. 'Just the last little fringed one-up just a little bit. And, yeah, so it's kind of same yesterday. I'm hit like my wedge. like short game pretty good and I can also make a birdie from par-3 (Indies).'

Regarding her overall play, Yubol said, 'For me, 36 holes (with) just one bogey is amazing... Like you can make birdie, bogey or even like double, but just how to manage your thinking, just keep like positive thinking, you still have two more days, and, yeah, just

Arjníchaya Yubol, seen during the 2024 U.S. Women's Open, made seven birdies during the second round of the Standard Portland Classic on Aug. 14.

JOHN JONES/USA TODAY SPORTS, FILE

keep playing.'

Yubol, 24, made the cut for the 10th time in 15 events this year. She finished as runner-up at the Riviera Maya Open at Mazaloba to spoil and the ShopRite LPGA in May. Anannarakarn had a card similar to Yubol's - seven birdies ahead of just one bogey, at the par-4 17th hole.

Schubert also produced seven birdies and one bogey, at the par-3 11th hole. She responded to that strategy by posting birdies on the next three holes.

One went birdie-birdie-eagle from No. 5 to No. 7 and added a birdie at No. 12 in a bogey-free round.

Muriel Galliano, who held the first-

round lead after shooting a 65, is tied for 12th at 8-under after registering a 71 on Friday. Colombian amateur Maria Jose Marin, tied for second following a first-round 66, and 77 in the second round. She and 13 others who finished the day at 3-under 161 missed the cut by a stroke.

PGA Tour Champions

Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia fired a bogey-free, 7-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead at the Boeing Classic on Friday in Snoqualmie. Wash Sabbatini turned 50 on April 2 and made his PGA Tour Champions debut two weeks later.

Now he enters the weekend in fine position for his first win on the senior circuit. He leads Jerry Kelly and New Zealand's Steven Allen by two shots after 20 holes at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge.

'Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect coming here. I hadn't been here before, but from me to going, pretty simplistic layout,' Sabbatini said. 'You know the keys the things you have to do, just put the ball in the fairway. Greens are a little tricky—at there and the bunkering is pretty severe, pretty deep. You know, the chase you get to the green, you have to be very particular, very precise on the shots you're going to play.'

Sabbatini has had some close calls already. He placed final at a senior major in July, the Boeing Companies Championship at Smart Peterson Country Club, and was in the running after two rounds of the Portugal Invitational before a final-round 76 dropped him into a tie for 13th. Kelly, the Boeing Classic champion in 2017, had six birdies and one bogey on his card. After matched Sabbatini's seven birdies, but with two bogeys as part of the team.

He passes shared fourth at 4-under 68: Steve Flech, George McNeill, Tim Herron, Stewart Cink, Vaughn Taylor and Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke.

Defending champion Steve Allan of Australia opened with a 3-under-par 69: Michael Block, the teaching professional who famously tied for 10th at the 2023 PGA Championship, is in the field on a sponsor exemption and posted a 70 to join the group of 27 players in the 79-man field to break par.

PGA Tour

Continued from Page 1NS

His second consecutive 66 putts him in military distance winning the weekend. He birdied the first three holes Friday and went out in 3-under 10 before two bogeys sandwiching one birdie late in his round.

'Of course, there is some pressure

this week, but I just want to focus on each shot and keep doing that through the weekend,' I'm said.

Hovland cruised around the course, making three birdies on each side without a bogey. Four of these birdie putts came from more than 8 feet out.

'This week I've been putting quite nicely, and my short game's been really good,' said Hovland, a one-time FedEx Cup champion.

'So that definitely helps. But if I'm

hitting the ball well here, I feel like I'm just going to have a lot of opportunities for birds.'

Sneekes's Ludwig Aberg shot a 65 to get to 7-under, alone in fourth place.

None of the five friends I've broken, replicated their opening rounds of 65. Jordan Spieth carded a 3-under 69 to get to 8-under, where he was tied for fifth with reigning FedEx Cup-champ Tommy Fleetwood of England (66), Columbus's Nico Echevarria (66) and Brian Harman

(64).

Michael Thorbjornsen went from a tie for first to a tie for 38th by following his 65 with a 75.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland fired better after a tough 4-over 74 to begin the tournament. But back-to-back bogeys at Nov. 17 and 18 left him with an even-par 75 and 4-over for the week. There is no 36-hole cut at any playoff event.

TENNIS ROUNDUP

Arango defeat: Venus in Cincinnati opener

FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Colombia's Emiliana Arango outpaced Venus Williams on her way to a 6-2, 6-2 victory in first-round action at the Cincinnati Open on Friday in Mexico, Ohio.

It marked just the second WTA 2000-level match win this year for Arango, and it came against a seven-time Grand Slam champion and one of the most famous players of her generation. Williams, 46, was in the main draw on a wild card.

'When the draw came out and I saw it, I was like, Oh man.' It's so exciting to get this opportunity. When I was growing up, I always saw her on TV, so to get to play her is really crazy,' said Arango, 25.

'My coach told me, 'I don't want to see you moving slow; all I want to see is for your legs to go fast,' she said. 'I tried to focus on that, tried to get as many balls back as I could, and I think I did a good job of it.'

Arango saved the only break point she faced. Williams, meanwhile, committed 46 undertions to a rookie to her 14th straight singles loss dating to July 2023.

Williams is slated to play doubles with her sister Serena when that draw gets underway.

Australia's Talia Gibson set up a date with World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the second round when Gibson called to beat Australia's Lilli Tagger 4-6, 4-1, 7-5. Gibson fell behind 3-0 in the third at last, with a straight to flip the script, she broke Tagger's serve four times in that set alone on route to a two-hour, 36-minute win.

Perinto Braxton, a Cincinnati native, started her tournament strong with a 6-1, 7-6 (6) triumph over Great Britain's Harriet Dart.

Braxton was later joined in the second round by fellow Americans and former Grand Slam champions Sloane Weymouth, who made British champions dispatched Austrian qualifier Sinja Kraus 7-5, 6-3, while Kraus recovered from a rough opening set to defeat Germany's Eva Lys 5-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Ukraine's Oleksandru Oljnyikova swept Elvina Kalieva 6-4, 6-1 and Swit-

Venus Williams returns a shot to Colombia's Emiliana Arango during the first round of the Cincinnati Open on Aug. 14 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. ALBERT OSWALK/USA TODAY NETWORK

zeland's Viktorija Golubic bounced Alexis Parks 6-2, 6-2.

China's Xinyu Wang beat Belgium's Hanne Vandenwinkel 6-4, 6-3, while China's Xiyu Wang, a qualifier, also advanced when opponent Maria Timofeeva of Cibekatana retired down 6-0, 3-0.

Another retirement occurred in an all-fudder matchday. Lucrezia Stefanini moved on an Elisabetta Coccinetto pushed 8 in before the end of the first set due to an apparent injury.

Others who advanced Friday include the Czech Republic's Nikoia Bartunkova, Teresa Valentyna and Sara Brdjek, Spaniard Jessica Bozasa Mameiro, Ukraine's Daria Singer, Germany's Tamara Korpatych and Russia's Anna Blinnova and Liudmila Samsonova.

Man's singles

The results have started to turn a little for Greece's Stefania Tsitsipas.

The former World No. 3 has dropped all the way back to No. 49 in the ATP

Tour rankings, but he did win a title in Gstaad, Switzerland, last month and took Alex de Minaur to three sets soon after.

On Friday, the 2022 runner-up at the Cincinnati Open got his 2020-DAY at the event started with a 7-4 (6), 7-5 victory over France's Valentin Boyer in Mason, Ohio.

It was not a week of air for Tsitsipas, as he only got 57b of his first service to and lost his serve while trying to wrap up the match. 6-3 in the second. But he finally pervaded in two hours in his fourth match point of the 12th game and his sixth of the match.

'It was nerve-wracking at the end with three match points I was not able to capture,' Tsitsipas said. 'It would have been easy to get right.'

'I had to remind myself to stay loose and play aggressive. If I was going to miss, at least I knew I had done the right thing.'

Bulgarian wild-card entry Grigor Dmitrov was not as fortunate in his

'When the draw came out and I saw it, I was like, 'Oh man.' It's so exciting to get this opportunity. When I was growing up, I always saw her on TV, so to get to play her is really crazy.'

Emiliana Arango

opening-round match Argentina's Sebastian Boro knocked out the 2017 champion 1-0 win.

It was heartbreaking for the popular Dmitrov, who took a 4-1 lead in the deciding set, but saw his opponent rattle off the final five games of the match.

Two of the first three Americans in action under the enemy Cincinnati skies pervaded Alex Michalen bested Dutchman Angus de Jong 6-4, 6-4 and Michael Zheng outfitted Hungary's Felsias Múzsonics 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Bill Cincinnati halves 2.5 Wolf, who is returning from a torn labrum, dropped a narrow 7-5, 7-6 (3) decision to Australia's James Duckworth.

Recent tour winner Qureshi Haiy, from France, defeated Czech Vítězpráva 7-6 (5), 6-4, Italy's Matteo Berrettini edged France's Triviano Dragoni 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, Poland's Hubert Hudnack recited Japanese lucky loser Sho-Shimabekura 6-2, 6-4, and 55-year-old Spaniard Rubio-Camino Basso upset Czech Tomas Machac 6-3, 6-2.

Others who advanced Friday include Paraguay's Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, Germano Daniel Allmiste and Yannick Hanfmann, Aussies Christopher O'Connell and Adam Wallen, Argentinos Juan Manuel Carandolo and Marco Trumpioliti, the Netherlands's Reds van de Zandschulp, Portugal's Nuno Borges, Italy's Lorenzo Arango and Sports Daniel Mereda.

In evening action, Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria knocked out Jerome Brookley 6-2, 6-2, and Aleksandar Kovacevic edged Russia's Karen Khachanov 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (2).

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ENS | SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2018 | SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Judge grants motion for transparency in case

USA TODAY sought sealed records relating to Sanders' bankruptcy

Brent Schrotenboer USA TODAY

The federal judge in the bankruptcy case of former Colorado football player Shilo Sanders has granted USA TODAY's motion to intervene in the case and gain greater public transparency after several recent developments were conducted in recent

Judge Michael E. Romero granted the news outlet's motion Aug. 12 and ordered the release of redacted versions of recent court documents that previously were kept under seal, including a transcript of a July 18 hearing that was held with no outside observers.

Romero also sustained an objection by USA TODAY to 'any proposed closure' of Sanders' coming 'bankruptcy' trial Aug. 31 with one casual. He noted the court retains the right to make ad hoc decisions regarding the sealing of any evidence of Sanders' juvenile records.

Sanders, son of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders, filed for bankruptcy in 2023 in hopes of reusing more than $6 million in debt, almost all of which is needless. Romero recently guard at the office in Dallas, John Darjean.

The debt stems from a disputed in-urban between Darjean and Sanders in 2005, when Sanders was 15. Sanders' attorneys previously filed numerous documents under seal on the basis that a court-assued protective order guards his privacy regarding records from when he was a juvenile.

The judge explained why the July 14 hearing was held in private in his office Aug. 29.

The Court finds that Sanders has a legitimate privacy interest in keeping these records private.' Romero's order stated: 'To discuss the relevance and

Colorado safety Shilo Sanders warns up during a spring game event at Folsom Field in 2024. NEW ORDERS/USA TODAY SPORTS

continued confidentiality of those records without disclosing them to the public, attendance at the hearing needed to be limited. To hold otherwise would defeat the purpose of the hearing.

'Nevertheless, to narrowly tailor the sealing of court proceedings on the motion in limine, the Court will docket a redacted version of the July 18 transcript. This transcript will redact references to protected Juvenile Records that will not be relevant to issues at the upcoming trial.'

More than $11 million at stake in Sanders trial

The coming trial will determine if Sanders can get out of that debt or remain indebted to Darjean in a case that goes back more than 10 years.

Darjean sued Shilo Sanders and his parents in 2006, seeking damages after he claimed Sanders assaulted him and severely injured him at school in 2005 when he tried to confiscate his phone.

Sanders' parents were dropped from the case by early 2009, leaving Shilo

Sanders as the sole defendant at age 19. But when the case finally went to trial in Texas in 2012, Sanders didn't show up for it. A judge issued a $8.99 million default judgment against him as a result after hearing Darjean present evidence in his favor.

Sanders then filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in an effort to get out of that debt - a move that is being contested by Darjean, who is arguing the debt should not be discharged under the law because it stems from a willful and malicious injury. Shilo Sanders disputes that and says he acted in self-defense.

Judge notates USA TODAY objection with one disclaimer

USA TODAY filed its motion to intervene in the case July 22, noting press coverage of judicial proceedings in 'cital' to protect the public's right to know the workings of the judicial system.

In its motion filed by the firm Zansberg Boykin LLC, USA TODAY also asked the court to recognize its objection to any proposed closure of the trial. The judge sustained that objection with one qualification.

'Darjean may offer Juvenile Records an exhibits, and/or witnesses may discuss Juvenile Records,' the judge's order stated. 'Assuming that evidence or testimony is deemed relevant, the Court will determine on an ad hoc basis whether preventing public access to those records is necessary. The offered exhibits will not be part of the public record unless and until the Court admits such exhibit. However, the Court notes that, to the extent any Juvenile Records are necessary to determine the parties' substantive legal rights at trial, there is an even stronger preemptive of public access. Sanders' interests in privacy of his Juvenile Records may well give way to the interests in public access if those records are relevant and necessary.'

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer Email: hschrotenb@sautology.com

Toppmeyer

Continued from Page 1NS

said. As of the middle of this week, 40% of Akron's season ticket sales came after the school announced the promotion on Aug. 4.

'This would probably be a bad idea for the AD of Alabama,' Goodrich said. 'but it's a good idea for the AD at the University of Akron.'

How Akron came up with idea to let a fan call plays

Akron basketball sold out its ticket allotment for its first-round NCAA Tournament game against Texas Tech in March. The Zips lost, but the fan enthusiasm surrounding the event motivated Goodrich to question: How can Akron redouble that energy during football season?

He started brainstorming with his staff on the flight home from Tampa, Florida, after that March Madness exit. 'One early idea that emerged: What about a ceremonial offensive coordinator?'

Akron doesn't employ an offensive coordinator. Moorhead, a former offensive coordinator who previously coached Fordham and Mississippi State, takes the plays.

So, Akron could explore appointing an honorary offensive coordinator, sort of like teams have honorary captains for the coin toss.

That's too bland, Goodrich and his team decided. A purely ceremonial DC wouldn't cause even a ripple of excitement.

Goodrich upped the ante: Could Akron let a fan call plays for a full game? 'I don't know the staff told him.

Fair enough: Allowing a fan to call plays for a full game would be beyond the pale.

Senior deputy AD Matt Pottorff suggested a compromise: Select a fan to call one play - the first play - of a game.

Not a bad idea, but it seemed 'very, very, very safe,' Goodrich says, as he reflects on it now.

'If we're going to do something,' Goodrich said, 'we've got to do something pretty bold.'

By the time they landed on that flight from Tampa, Goodrich and his team had settled on an idea: Select a fan to help script and call plays for one full drive.

Akron Zips quarterback Reese Poffenbarger took over plays with coach Joe Moorhead during UA's Spring Showcase on April 25 in Akron.

NEXT CAROLINA MARYLAND JIM JOHNSON

How will Akron select winning fan?

The promotion caught the attention of celebrities like ESPN's Pat McAfee. Yes, a celebrity who buys season tickets via ticket-holding booster will be eligible to win the contest. But, Goodrich insists, the contest won't be rugged.

The more season tickets you buy, the better your odds of being selected, but every season-ticket holder will have a chance.

Goodrich designated Akron's college of business to handle selection, to ensure the legitimacy of the process, much as a third-party accounting firm might handle counting votes for an award.

The college of business will know the winner before Akron athletics does, Goodrich says.

The winning fan will be selected on Aug. 9!

Never mind a lucrative offensive coordinator contract. The fan will become a volunteer employee to participate. Akron will work through logistics on

whether the fan will be up in the booth for their immensely drive or on the sideline next to Moorhead.

How Akron's plan will come to life

Moorhead will open the doors of his program to the winning fan.

Want to attend practices leading up to the game? Must the team' last to know the staff? That all sounds good.

'If they think we're enough or important enough to be around the whole week, I'm more than open to that,' Moorhead said. 'That doesn't bother me at all. I think it'd actually be kind of cool.'

Moorhead's play-planning process begins on Sunday, six days before game day. He starts by planning for first and second downs. As the week progresses, he plans third-down plays, red-zone plays, two-suicide-offense, four-minute offense, and 2-point plays. Thursday and Friday, he's finishing a plan and scripting 'openers,' industry lingo for plays that can be propped and practiced

for first and second downs.

Moorhead anticipates the fan will be around the facility Thursday and Friday of game week, at the very least, when he's finishing plans, and they'll put their heads together.

The Zips don't run triple option, they don't run the single-wing, and they're not going to install it. This experiment has its limits, but if a fan wants to run triple-option, Moorhead can show the fan concepts that exist in Akron's play around that could achieve a similar goal as the triple option.

I asked Moorhead about another possibility: What if the fan wants to run Four Verticals? That's a pass play where four receivers run downfield for a deep shot.

Moorhead perks up at this.

'I like Four Verticals. We run that,' he says. 'I think it's an excellent idea.'

Moorhead explained that if the fan wants to run Four Verticals, he finds the fan through the situations in which that play might be best used, to give it a chance of success.

That, in essence, is how this will unfold. If it be a collaboration, but Moorhead retains authority.

'He's going to guide him through this,' Goodrich said. 'It's almost like fantasy camp for offensive coordinator.'

The fan probably will emerge from another same realizing scripting and calling plays for a Division I game looks different than playing a video game on the couch.

'I do think the experience will show the person when they come in that it's not as easy as looking at those on Issues on 'Madden,' Moorhead said, 'and picking the triangle, and donating the same play I all the way down the field.'

And, what? the Zips doesn't down the line and scoring the first and makes this play calling thing look easy?

'They may tip the headend of two and take the call down and handle to this guy and tell me to go get some popcorn,' Moorhead says.

He's poking, and what can you do but laugh? He's leaned into this. That's what Goodrich wanted: Something fun.

'He'll, I may hand the guy the sheet if they keep putting it in the next store,' Moorhead jettison. 'I like the area a lot of points and a win for the Zips.'

Rickie Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's senior national college football columnist. Email him at @Toppmeyer@gunnet.com and follow him on X @Toppmeyer.

---

SPORTS EXTRA 2018 TODAY NETWORK | SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2024 | 1INS

SCOREBOARD

All these factors

MILE

Standing

Anxious/Impuls

Our Bridges

Targeting	0	0	0	0	0
W1	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Backing	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Stunning	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Contour	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Control Strips

Op. Wt.	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Max. Wt.

Position	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stress	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Refrared Longs

Our Bridges
Top	0	0	0
1.1	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.2	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.3	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.4	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.5	0.00	0.00	0.00

Control Strips

Top	0	0	0
1.1	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.2	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.3	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.4	0.00	0.00	0.00

Max. Wt.

1.1	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.2	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.3	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.4	0.00	0.00	0.00
1.5	0.00	0.00	0.00

Standing Loose

Sensory & Soundness
Philosophy & Sound
Cinematic & On: When You &
Squatter & In: Nature &
Squatter & Counter
Philosophy & Change (Labs &
Philosophy & Memories)
L & M: The L & M
Philosophy & Memories

Safety/Heavy

Change (Labs & 10 mm)
Cinematic & On: When You &
Philosophy & Change (Labs &
Philosophy & Memories)
L & M: The L & M
Philosophy & Memories
L & M: The L & M
Philosophy & Memories
L & M: The L & M
Philosophy & Memories
L & M: The L & M

Sensory & Sound

Op. Wt.	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Sensory & Sound

Sensory & Sound

Op. Wt.	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Sensory	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00

Phishing & O. T & p m
Squatter (Harmonic & O. t) at Headache
Mimosaur & O. T T & p m
Squatter (Harmonic & O. t) At Headache
Mimosaur (Harmonic & O. t) at Leakage
Squatter (Harmonic & O. t) At Leakage
Squatter (Harmonic & O. t) At Leakage
Squatter (Harmonic & O. t) At Leakage
Squatter (Harmonic & O. t) At Leakage
Squatter (Harmonic & O. t) At Leakage

NFL

Performance

The Young Years

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Intercourse	10	4	34	36	37
Low Roadwork	10	4	34	36	37
Low Roadwork	10	4	34	36	37
Low Roadwork	10	4	34	36	37
Low Roadwork	10	4	34	36	37
Low Roadwork	10	4	34	36	37
Low Roadwork	10	4	34	36	37
Low Roadwork	10	4	34	36	37

Industry/Variation

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Cincinnati, 0.1 (African) 0.1

Mid-South	10	13	17	21	23	25	27
West	10	14	18	25	27	28	29
South	10	15	19	27	28	29	30
South	10	16	20	28	29	30	31
South	10	17	21	29	30	31	32
South	10	18	22	30	31	32	33
South	10	19	23	31	32	33	34
South	10	20	24	32	33	34	35
South	10	21	25	33	34	35	36
South	10	22	26	34	35	36	37
South	10	23	27	35	36	37	38
South	10	24	28	36	37	38	39
South	10	25	29	37	38	39	40
South	10	26	30	38	39	40	41
South	10	27	31	39	40	41	42
South	10	28	32	40	41	42	43
South	10	29	33	41	42	43	44
South	10	30	34	42	43	44	45
South	10	31	35	43	44	45	46
South	10	32	36	44	45	46	47
South	10	33	37	45	46	47	48
South	10	34	38	46	47	48	49
South	10	35	39	47	48	49	50
South	10	36	40	48	49	50	51
South	10	37	41	49	50	51	52
South	10	38	42	50	51	52	53
South	10	39	43	51	52	53	54
South	10	40	44	52	53	54	55
South	10	41	45	53	54	55	56
South	10	42	46	54	55	56	57
South	10	43	47	55	56	57	58
South	10	44	48	56	57	58	59
South	10	45	49	57	58	59	60
South	10	46	50	58	59	60	61
South	10	47	51	59	60	61	62
South	10	48	52	60	61	62	63
South	10	49	53	61	62	63	64
South	10	50	54	62	63	64	65
South	10	51	55	63	64	65	66
South	10	52	56	64	65	66	67
South	10	53	57	65	66	67	68
South	10	54	58	66	67	68	69
South	10	55	59	67	68	69	70
South	10	56	60	68	69	70	71
South	10	57	61	69	70	71	72
South	10	58	62	70	71	72	73
South	10	59	63	71	72	73	74
South	10	60	64	72	73	74	75
South	10	61	65	73	74	75	76
South	10	62	66	74	75	76	77
South	10	63	67	75	76	77	78
South	10	64	68	76	77	78	79
South	10	65	69	77	78	79	80
South	10	66	70	78	79	80	81
South	10	67	71	79	80	81	82
South	10	68	72	80	81	82	83
South	10	69	73	81	82	83	84
South	10	70	74	82	83	84	85
South	10	71	75	83	84	85	86
South	10	72	76	84	85	86	87
South	10	73	77	85	86	87	88
South	10	74	78	86	87	88	89
South	10	75	79	87	88	89	90
South	10	76	80	88	89	90	91
South	10	77	81	89	90	91	92
South	10	78	82	90	91	92	93
South	10	79	83	91	92	93	94
South	10	80	84	92	93	94	95
South	10	81	85	93	94	95	96
South	10	82	86	94	95	96	97
South	10	83	87	95	96	97	98
South	10	84	88	96	97	98	99
South	10	85	89	97	98	99	100

Juroregac	Los	15	18	22	24	26
Marin	Marin	15	20	26	28	30
Marin	Marin	15	20	26	28	30
Marin	Marin	15	20	26	28	30
Marin	Marin	15	20	26	28	30
Marin	Marin	15	20	26	28	30
Marin	Marin	15	20	26	28	30

ASTRAL

RICHARD

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH

RICOH