Walters wants Govt to be ‘realistic’

None

Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs win at the buzzer again, topping Panthers 30-27 on Shrader's field goalPaul Vautin announces retirement after 33 years as Aussies rally around the NRL and TV legendMalique Ewin finished with team highs of 17 points and seven rebounds to lead the Florida State Seminoles to a 92-59 victory over the Massachusetts Minutemen in each team's final game of the Naismith Hall of Fame Tip-Off on Sunday afternoon in Uncasville, Conn. The Seminoles (6-1) won their third consecutive game and went 2-0 in the event as they pulled away in the second half, leading by as many as 36 points. It's Florida State's best start since the 2019-20 season when it went 7-1. UMass (1-5) dropped its fifth in a row following a season-opening win over New Hampshire despite a strong game on Sunday from Jaylen Curry, who scored 17 points. Curry, with six free throws, helped propel the Minutemen on a 10-0 run over a four-plus minute span in the first half to take a 24-23 lead with 4:22 left. FSU closed the half on a 13-3 run to lead 37-27 at halftime. A 15-4 surge to open the second half helped the Seminoles break the game open. Florida State's defense frustrated UMass shooters throughout the contest, especially on the perimeter, limiting the Minutemen to 3-for-24 shooting (12.5 percent) from 3-point range and 18-for-58 (31 percent) overall. The Seminoles finished with 22 points off 17 UMass turnovers. On the flipside, Florida State had one of its best shooting games of the season. The Seminoles moved the ball well throughout the game and finished with 25 assists while only turning the ball over 10 times. The Seminoles shot 33 for 58 (57 percent) from the field and made 9 of 18 three-pointers to put together a season-high scoring output. Once again, Florida State shined thanks to its depth as 10 players scored and four scored in double figures. The Seminoles were able to have 16 players participate in the game as well. Jamir Watkins finished with 14 points while Jerry Deng and Justin Thomas each had 10 points. For UMass, Daniel Rivera finished with 12 points and six rebounds while Nate Guerengomba had 10 points. Daniel Hankins-Sanford collected a game-high 13 rebounds. --Field Level Media

Canada Post strike gridlock: Management says union proposal would add $2.9 billion to costsUConn, football coach Jim Mora agree to contract extension through 2028Syrian army confirms rebels have entered Aleppo city

What New Year’s resolutions can not-Black folks make for 2025 to fight back against the incoming racist regime? Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez 2025 is right around the corner. I realize that for many of us, the “New Year” signals hardships ahead under the ascension of a racist, sexist, supremacist incompetent convicted felon to the highest seat of power here in the States. The vast majority of Black folks did their Black job in voting against what has come to pass. Many of us are unsurprisingly very disheartened (I’m being nice — pissed off is more like it) about how certain demographic clusters of not-Black folks have once again failed to live up to “promises.” I’m not talking about MAGAS. We know who they are and what they support. We bin known about who our allies have been, and not been for over 400 years. Today many of us are side-eying people who wound up not giving a flying f**k about what happens to us Black folks in the upcoming reign of insane. Many of y’all are gonna be okay (you think) and it’s possible that’s true for some of you. Others of you may just find out what it’s like to have been Black in America all these generations. I’ve heard grumblings from quite a few not-Black people about the attitudes being expressed by Black folks on social media who are in FAFO mode. For those of you not familiar with the term it is an acronym for “Fuck Around and Find Out.” For those of you who are still suffering from and proud of being “more progressive than thou” by not voting or choosing Jill Stein, the moment of truth awaits. I sit here and wonder if it will ever dawn on you that not-Blackness ain’t gonna save you. We know we are an easy target. Bin’ known. Melanin tells on us. We know we are only 13% of the population. Our existence depends on building bridges and allyship, even when uncomfortable. Always has. We live in two worlds. A Black world created by centuries of segregation, race creation and hate, and a white world we observe, work in, and sometimes even marry with. Read Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” if you never have. Listen to James Baldwin debate William Buckley. None of this is a secret. We’ve crawled forward over time — from Dred Scott— to the Civil Rights Act, and once again we are shoved backwards. Some of you excuse yourselves from association with those who opted to vote to take us backward by pronouncing that you voted for Obama, or Kamala. Now that she has lost, I’m reading comments made by far too many of you making it her fault. Or Obama’s fault — anything that lifts the onus off of you and yours — your co-workers, family members, neighbors. I’ve been writing commentaries for Black Kos for many years now. Thank you David ( dopper0189 ) for creating this oasis for those of us who are unabashedly Black, and for the few white/notBlack folks who “get it” and are not uncomfortable with it. I’ll emphasize “few” because in this huge DKos space we actually have very few regular reader/commenters. We even get visitors here who waltz into the comments and call some of our members “racist.” I remember someone objecting to our name, and wanting to know why was there no “White Kos” SMDH. FYI: Because we are being our very own Black selves doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with each other all of the time. There is diversity in Blackness. We are not a monolith. However — it is still Blackness no matter what. (Even right wing Black folks are at risk for stop and frisk, shoot first and ask no questions after death squads) Bleaching cream won’t cut it. We get visitors here who have no clue that most of the membership of Black Kos is white — white readers, commenters and an Editor. Our knowledgeable membership is comfortable with it and they don’t try to tell us who are Black that we have to make them comfortable by stifling how we feel about things, or a need to edit, self-censor the words we use. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I have a few questions for you, if you are not-Black and still reading. Do you have any very close Black friends? (not talking about acquaintances) Do you have any Black family members? Have you ever had, or do you have a Black boss/supervisor? What organization that has Black leadership have you ever joined, have been or are a member of? Do you have any Black neighbors? Is where you live segregated (most of the U.S. still is)? If so — why are you there, and what have you done to change that? If most of your answers to these questions is “no” (or yes to the last one) what can you resolve to do in 2025 to help change things? I know how some of my closest not-Black friends grew up to be the human beings they are. Some commenters/community members here in Black Kos have also shared their own experiences/and exposures. I’m interested in hearing from readers, who are willing to make resolutions and hoping that we can work together towards forging a more equitable path forward. In case you’re wondering why I use “Not-Black” as an identifier term, I have real problems with the use of the term “non-white” since it centers whiteness, which I’ve written about in the past in “ I am not 'non-white' ” The renowned poet Nikki Giovanni has died. Giovanni died on Monday, Dec. 9, following her third cancer diagnosis, according to a statement from friend and author Renée Watson. She was 81. "We will forever be grateful for the unconditional time she gave to us, to all her literary children across the writerly world," said poet Kwame Alexander in the statement. Giovanni published her first poetry collection, Black Feeling Black Talk , in 1968. It established her as an emerging figure out of the Black Arts Movement. In it, Giovanni writes about the intersections of love, politics, loneliness and race. Her language is sometimes spare and longing, other times dense and righteous. The final lines in "Word Poem" read, "let's build / what we become /when we dream." She was born Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tenn. Though she grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and its surrounding suburbs, she returned to Nashville to attend Fisk University for college. There, she met other writers who'd become leading Black literary figures – Dudley Randall, Margaret Walker, Amiri Baraka and more. While at Fisk, she also re-established the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. As her writing career took off, Giovanni became a regular guest on Soul! , a Black arts and culture talk show on WNET. Her conversation with the acclaimed writer James Baldwin came on the heels of being named "Woman of the Year" by both Ebony magazine and Mademoiselle . x YouTube Video . Despite the political climate, 2024 has been the Year of the Woman in sports. Recently, interest in women’s sports peaked as the industry saw record viewership, attendance, sponsorships, and revenue across sports categories. So much so that stars like Whoopi Goldberg launched the All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN) , the first global women’s sports channel, and WNBA stars launched the Unrivaled Women’s Basketball League. Though most athletes care more about their craft than their coins, tracking female athletes, especially Black female athletes’ earnings, is particularly important as athletes in these demographics have historically been underpaid in comparison to their white and male counterparts. Last week, Sportico released its list of the highest-paid female athletes of 2024, in which Black female athletes showed some of the highest earnings. According to this year’s list, Coco Gauff took the number one spot for the second year in a row, earning approximately $30 million in endorsements and salary/prize money. Fellow tennis star Naomi Osaka, who came in sixth on the list, earned nearly $15 million this year. The list also included Olympic gymnast and gold medalist Simone Biles, who reportedly earned $11.1 million. While these women reached incredible financial heights, their recorded earnings do not even reflect half of what the highest-paid Black male athletes reportedly made. Forbes’ annual highest-paid athlete list reported that LeBron James earned $128.2 million, followed by other Black athletes like Giannis Antetokounmpo with $111 million, Kylian Mbappé with $110 million, and Stephen Curry with $102 million. About 200 people were killed in violence in Haiti’s capital over the weekend, many in a massacre in which a gang boss reportedly targeted Voodoo practitioners. The killings of at least 110 people were overseen by a “powerful gang leader” convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, according to the civil organisation the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD). “He decided to cruelly punish all elderly people and Voodoo practitioners who, in his imagination, would be capable of sending a bad spell on his son,” a statement from the Haiti-based group said. “The gang’s soldiers were responsible for identifying victims in their homes to take them to the chief’s stronghold to be executed.” The UN rights commissioner, Volker Turk, said at least 184 people had died over the weekend. “These latest killings bring the death toll just this year in Haiti to a staggering 5,000 people,” he told reporters in Geneva. Both the CPD and UN said that the massacre took place in the capital’s western coastal neighbourhood of Cité Soleil. Chaotic scenes have broken out in the Bahamas parliament after the indictment of senior police officers on drug trafficking charges sparked a heated debate over corruption, in which the deputy opposition leader tossed a ceremonial mace out a window. During the incident, Shanendon Cartwright of the opposition Free National Movement approached the speaker, Patricia Deveaux, after she did not allow him to speak, grabbed the parliamentary mace, and tossed it out of a nearby window. The turmoil came as the country’s top police official, commissioner Clayton Fernander, resigned following the indictment of three police officers in what the US Department of Justice described as a “massive cocaine importation conspiracy enabled by corrupt Bahamian government officials, including high-ranking members of the Royal Bahamas police force”. US prosecutors said that since May 2021, drug traffickers had smuggled tons of cocaine through the Bahamas with the help of corrupt local officials who controlled airports and disclosed information about US Coast Guard movements. According to the indictment, the bribes that officials were promised or given ranged from $10,000 to $2m to facilitate trafficking, including the movement of 1,320lbs (600kg) of cocaine through the Bahamas’ main international airport. As the school year approaches its final stretch in 2025, high school seniors are starting to make their final preparations for life after graduation. For many of those students, that means choosing to continue their education in college. In the case of Black students, many of them might choose to look at attending one of the more than 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities ( HBCUs ) across the United States as a viable choice. Not only do HBCUs present an opportunity to connect with like-minded students and embrace the Black experience, but tuition and admission fees for many HBCUs are also below the national average costs for higher education. MORE: A Wake-Up Call for HBCUs: The Trump Administration’s Impact On Funding And Legacy According to the Education Data Initiative, the average cost of college in the United States has more than doubled in the 21st century. According to the latest statistics released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) , the U.S. spends more per student on colleges and universities than every other country in the developed world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “... we will call this woeman and her/ name will be sapphire and she will divide into four parts/ that simone may sing a song... “/ -- Nikki Giovanni "Poem For A Lady Whose Voice I Like" by Justice Putnam, Black Kos Editor I come from a strong Matriarchy, so strong in fact, one might say I come from a feminist extended-family. There was no division of labor by gender when doing chores, growing up, all of us mowed the lawn, washed dishes, cooked, cleaned. When we lived on the farm outside of Corvallis, all of us learned to sew and sow. The great Matriarch of the Family, our Great Aunt Mabel, lived to be 102. Shortly after marriage in the late 1880's, she and her new husband provisioned a covered wagon and trekked across the plains on their way to California. Along the way, as she put it, "he wasn't up to snuff, so I had to kick him out." She took up with another fellow during the almost year long voyage and he was "worse than the first", so he was sent packing as well. It took a special man to be with this special woman, as it has been, as it is and as it will be with all the women in my family. I've heard the accusation, on more than one occasion, that the women in the family are "full of themselves." "Yes," is their unabashed reply, resonating across the generations, "yes we are!" I met Nikki Giovanni at a few readings back in the day when I was full of myself and thought my work was not self-serving. But I was willing to listen, I was willing to learn. It might have taken some time for me to learn to shut up, but she was always so gracious. I will miss her greatly. so he said: you ain’t got no talent if you didn’t have a face you wouldn’t be nobody and she said: god created heaven and earth and all that’s Black within them so he said: you ain’t really no hot shit they tell me plenty sisters take care better business than you and she said: on the third day he made chitterlings and all good things to eat and said: “that’s good” so he said: if the white folks hadn’t been under yo skirt and been giving you the big play you’d a had to come on uptown like everybody else and she replied: then he took a big Black greasy rib from adam and said we will call this woeman and her name will be sapphire and she will divide into four parts that simone may sing a song and he said: you pretty full of yourself ain’t chu so she replied: show me someone not full of herself and i’ll show you a hungry person -- Nikki Giovanni "Poem For A Lady Whose Voice I Like" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Nina Simone "Four Women" x x YouTube Video ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~St. John's 58, Stony Brook 34

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) - In this changing world of college football, Senior Day is not what it once was. Senior Day was set up to honor the seniors who were playing their final home game. It was set up at a time when nearly all of them had spent four years at the school, who had come in raw high school graduates who had to grow into college players. No more. Now there are only a smattering of four-year players, the transfer portal having made switching schools as easy as switching majors. You now have players who have been with you a year, maybe two, and players who have played for six years, sometimes seven. The emotion that made it so meaningful in the past has been eroded away. But sometimes there comes a player for whom Senior Day was invented and in WVU's case that player in Nick Malone, an offensive tackle from Morgantown, a kid who came as a walk on, who worked his way into a scholarship, into playing time, into a starting position, into an important cog in the only college he ever wanted to attend. Senior Day means everything to Nick Malone and to his family, to his mother, Nancy, who has been a big part of his rise. It has been quite a journey from the days of youth football, through junior high and high school. He came with Neal Brown in 2019 and at 3:30 p.m. Saturday he will walk out onto the field with his family and be honored before WVU and Central Florida kick off an important game to both schools. There are bowl implications but there is so much more, and to the WVU seniors it marks their last game before a home crowd at Milan Puskar Stadium. “Over the last few weeks, it’s definitely hit, but I don’t think it will truly hit until I hear my name called and dap up Coach Mike and dap up Coach Brown and run out there. I think that’s when it will truly set in,” Malone said on Monday. This one is for Malone and for his mother, Nancy, who has been his biggest booster through social media, for his father, Wayne, and his two sisters and brother. No matter when or where he played, his mother was there and the support did as much as any bit of coaching he got along the way. “She’s definitely a big part of it, especially starting in little league for Evansdale Tigers. I never went to practice with dirty pads, pants, nothing, jersey, everything was washed. Any sport, like I said, football, basketball, always been a big part of it, big supporter of it,” Malone said. The family's dedication to him helped lead to his dedication to the teams upon which he played and to the fans who followed him. “It's kind of the same aspect when you were young you always want to improve and impress them, so I kind of went along with it now. I just play for my family, play for them because without them I wouldn't be here, and I always want to put on a performance that will really impress them because if I do good for them, it's really all that matters,” Malone said. Like most who walk on he had a long way to go when he arrived. The road was filled with detours, but he made his way through each. “Did that basic freshman duty of scout practice and did a lot of stuff. Learned a lot from Colton McKivitz in the early years, and then COVID hit, and then we had the COVID year, so that was kind of a lot more learning, a lot less doing as well," he recalled. "Then kind of as the years gone on, that's when the special teams roles came upon me and I did that, did the field goal, did punt. And then the past year did a lot of more offensive line stuff, extra tight end, tackle, that kind of stuff," he said. Each year he got bigger and better. This year he learned more and appreciated more what he had. "And then now is the grand finale, the big role, starting and actually doing more. So, it’s been a ride,” Malone said. He did it all feeling he was carrying the burden of being a hometown kid, a West Virginian. It added to the pressure but will make that walk on Saturday even more meaningful. “I feel there's a lot more pressure, especially being from Morgantown and being from the state. As people on the team, being from West Virginia, you want to be able to represent your state in a way that we win, we do well," he said. "I feel like there's definitely more pressure on us because you don't want to have a bad showing and be like, 'Oh, West Virginia can't produce, they can't do this and that.' I feel like there's a heightened pressure, but I feel like we've done pretty well in that area.” He's developed into something special. He has played 709 snaps this season, second on the offensive line, and he leads the team by a wide margin in knockdown blocks, 14 more than any other offensive lineman. He has given up only one sack all year, second only to Wyatt Milum, who is considered by many the best offensive tackle in college football and who has given up none. But it isn't any of those on-field accomplishments that he will take with him the most. What has been most meaningful is what frames just what kind of person Malone is and why Senior Day seems to have been made for him. “I think one of the biggest things is when we go to the Children's Hospital on Fridays before games, that is there's a lot of stuff going on in the world, and there's a lot less things that are bad going on, and we're just playing football," he said. "People over there have real struggles and things going on and kind of bringing light to them and kind of being the sunshine in their day, that's one of the highlights that we've done,” Malone said.CHANGSHA, China , Dec. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Modern China's rural revitalization strategy is crafting a remarkable narrative of transformation across the countryside, while progressive opening-up policies encourage foreign visitors to delve deeper into the nation's heartland. On December 26th , VOC.com.cn premiered the second season of its acclaimed series, I Am in Rural China. The show follows Teona Kvartskhava, an international guest, as she explores the villages of Hunan Province , offering viewers a firsthand look at the dynamic implementation of comprehensive rural revitalization. This captivating series invites a global audience to witness the dawn of a new era in China's rural landscapes, showcasing the country's evolving countryside to viewers worldwide.

Kashmir Kandur’s Bread is Now CostlierMSNBC guest Lauren Leader wants us to remember Kamala Harris for all her accomplishments, not just that she's a colossal failure and political punchline. Um, we can't think of any real contributions. But, she's a trailblazer or something. Wait, what did she do again besides lose? Advertisement Here's more. (WATCH) NEW: MSNBC guest says Kamala Harris needs to be praised for all her accomplishments, can't name any accomplishments besides abortion. Remarkable. Author Lauren Leader says Harris needs to be recognized for her "extra heavy load." "I hope we take a moment to acknowledge her... pic.twitter.com/Ui0tZRgwbf — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 27, 2024 Kamala rambled off a bunch of words and sometimes mentioned abortion, but posters can not put a finger on any positive contributions. They can't name any bc there aren't any — Diana Dukic (@diana_dukic) December 27, 2024 Typically the only one they can name is "well, she's a woman of color." Sorry, but that is not an accomplishment. — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 27,... Warren Squire

What to know about Pam Bondi, Trump's new pick for attorney general

Tait-Jones scores 21 as UC San Diego defeats James Madison 73-67Louisville will aim to end a three-game losing streak when it hosts UTEP on Wednesday, but beating the Miners may not be an easy feat. UTEP (6-2) comes to the Derby City winners of three straight, most recently beating Seattle 88-72 on Saturday. The Miners shot 56.1 percent (32 of 57) and used a 24-2 first-half run to essentially put the game away. Coach Joe Golding said that first-half performance may have been UTEP's best in his four years leading the school. "I thought offensively and defensively the first 20 minutes we were really locked in and ready to go. (The game) never got close," he said. "We kept it at 20-plus points for the majority of the game. Our ball movement was terrific." Ahamad Bynum led the Miners with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting off the bench, while Otis Frazier III added 18 points and five assists. Frazier (13.6 points per game) and Bynum (12.1 ppg) are among four UTEP players averaging in double figures. Bynum leads the country shooting 63.3 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, though he has attempted just 30 threes, making 19. Louisville (5-4) also started hot in its last game but could not sustain its momentum in a 76-65 home loss to then-No. 9 Duke on Sunday. Coach Pat Kelsey's team, which had just seven players healthy, made 10 of its first 14 shots to build a 30-16 lead before the Cardinals' lack of depth caught up to them. Louisville shot just 9-of-37 (24.3 percent) after its hot start and was outscored 43-28 after halftime. Terrence Edwards Jr. paced the Cardinals with 21 points in his first game as a reserve this season. Edwards (11.9 ppg) is one of four Louisville scorers averaging double figures, led by Chucky Hepburn leads the team in scoring (14.3 ppg) and is second in the country with 3.2 steals per game. The Cardinals entered the season with expectations of rotating 10 or more players to utilize Kelsey's up-tempo attack. However, swingman Kasean Pryor (knee) and guard Koren Johnson (shoulder) will both miss the rest of the season, while forward Aboubacar Traore (arm) is out indefinitely. After Sunday's loss, Kelsey did not rule out adding players to the roster during the season. "Everything's on the table," he said. "I don't sleep, figuring out what buttons to push to get this team to be the best that they can be. We'll scour every inch of the Earth to figure out how we can improve our team. And whether that happens or not, I have no idea, but I'm willing to try anything." --Field Level Media

#16to365: New resources for year-round activism to end gender-based violence and strengthen bodily autonomy for allNEW ORLEANS (AP) — A scruffy little fugitive is on the lam again in New Orleans, gaining fame as he outwits a tenacious band of citizens armed with night-vision binoculars, nets and a tranquilizer rifle. Scrim, a 17-pound mutt that's mostly terrier, has become a folk hero, inspiring tattoos, t-shirts and even a ballad as he eludes capture from the posse of volunteers. And like any antihero, Scrim has a backstory: Rescued from semi-feral life at a trailer park and adopted from a shelter, the dog broke loose in April and scurried around the city until he was cornered in October and brought to a new home. Weeks later, he'd had enough. Scrim leaped out of a second-story window, a desperate act recorded in a now-viral video. Since then, despite a stream of daily sightings, he's roamed free. The dog’s fans include Myra and Steve Foster, who wrote “Ode to Scrim” to the tune of Ricky Nelson’s 1961 hit, “I’m a Travelin’ Man.” Leading the recapture effort is Michelle Cheramie, a 55-year-old former information technology professional. She lost everything — home, car, possessions — in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and in the aftermath, found her calling rescuing pets. “I was like, ‘This is what I should be doing,’” Cheramie said. “I was born to rescue.” She launched Zeus’ Rescues, a nonprofit shelter that now averages 600 cat and dog adoptions a year and offers free pet food to anyone who needs it. She helped Scrim find the home he first escaped from. It was Cheramie's window Scrim leaped from in November. She's resumed her relentless mission since then, posting flyers on telephone poles and logging social media updates on his reported whereabouts. She's invested thousands of dollars on wildlife cameras, thermal sensors and other gear. She took a course offered by the San Diego Zoo on the finer points of tranquilizing animals. And she's developed a network of volunteers — the kind of neighbors who are willing to grid-search a city at 3 a.m. People like writer David W. Brown, who manages a crowd-sourced Google Map of all known Scrim sightings. He says the search has galvanized residents from all walks of life to come together. As they search for Scrim, they hand out supplies to people in need. "Being a member of the community is seeing problems and doing what you can to make life a little better for the people around here and the animals around you," Brown said. And neighbors like Tammy Murray, who had to close her furniture store and lost her father to Parkinson's Disease. This search, she says, got her mojo back. “Literally, for months, I’ve done nothing but hunt this dog,” said Murray, 53. “I feel like Wile E. Coyote on a daily basis with him.” Murray drives the Zeus' Rescues' van towards reported Scrim sightings. She also handles a tactical net launcher, which looks like an oversized flashlight and once misfired, shattering the van's window as Scrim sped away. After realizing Scrim had come to recognize the sound of the van's diesel engine, Murray switched to a Vespa scooter, for stealth. Near-misses have been tantalizing. The search party spotted Scrim napping beneath an elevated house, and wrapped construction netting around the perimeter, but an over-eager volunteer broke ranks and dashed forward, leaving an opening Scrim slipped through. Scrim's repeated escapades have prompted near-daily local media coverage and a devoted online following. Cheramie can relate. “We’re all running from something or to something. He's doing that too,” she said. Cheramie's team dreams of placing the pooch in a safe and loving environment. But a social media chorus growing under the hashtag #FreeScrim has other ideas — they say the runaway should be allowed a life of self-determination. The animal rescue volunteers consider that misguided. “The streets of New Orleans are not the place for a dog to be free,” Cheramie said. “It’s too dangerous.” Scrim was a mess when Cheramie briefly recaptured him in October, with matted fur, missing teeth and a tattered ear. His trembling body was scraped and bruised, and punctured by multiple projectiles. A vet removed one, but decided against operating to take out a possible bullet. The dog initially appeared content indoors, sitting in Cheramie's lap or napping beside her bed. Then while she was out one day, Scrim chewed through a mesh screen, dropped 13 feet to the ground and squeezed through a gap in the fence, trotting away. Murray said Cheramie's four cats probably spooked him. “I wholeheartedly believe the gangster-ass cats were messing with him,” Murray said. Cheramie thinks they may have gotten territorial. Devastated but undeterred, the pair is reassessing where Scrim might fit best — maybe a secure animal sanctuary with big outdoor spaces where other dogs can keep him company. Somewhere, Murray says, “where he can just breathe and be." Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96Washougal officials may criminalize camping on city property to ‘improve livability’

MRI Confirms Texas QB Quinn Ewers' Injury Before Texas A&M GameWhile there are many familiar names returning to the Top 10 for the 2024-25 campaign, there is a lot of excitement and eagerness building as the new season is quickly approaching. Below, take a look at both the girls and boys preseason top 10 rankings for the 2024-25 season. Girls Fencing Preseason Top 10 for 2024-25 Boys Fencing Preseason Top 10 for 2024-25 Tyler Duffy can be reached at tduffy@njadvancemedia.com . The N.J. High School Sports newsletter is now appearing in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now! Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter) Facebook Log into Facebook Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know. X (formerly Twitter) NJ.com HS Sports (@HSSportsNJ) on X High School Sports news from NJ Advance Media, providing content to The Star-Ledger & https://t.co/4IXfn7I1H8 || Live & on-demand video: https://t.co/FRIUId1Nma