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CJ Donaldson has two short TD runs, West Virginia beats UCF 31-21 to become bowl eligibleOhtani wins third MVP, while Judge takes his second'Merry construction': Valletta’s Christmas tree sparks backlashBy JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — An elaborate parody appears to be behind an effort to resurrect Enron, the Houston-based energy company that exemplified the worst in American corporate fraud and greed after it went bankrupt in 2001. If its return is comedic, some former employees who lost everything in Enron’s collapse aren’t laughing. “It’s a pretty sick joke and it disparages the people that did work there. And why would you want to even bring it back up again?” said former Enron employee Diana Peters, who represented workers in the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. Here’s what to know about the history of Enron and the purported effort to bring it back. Once the nation’s seventh-largest company, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2, 2001, after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions of dollars in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The energy company’s collapse put more than 5,000 people out of work, wiped out more than $2 billion in employee pensions and rendered $60 billion in Enron stock worthless. Its aftershocks were felt throughout the energy sector. Twenty-four Enron executives , including former CEO Jeffrey Skilling , were eventually convicted for their roles in the fraud. Enron founder Ken Lay’s convictions were vacated after he died of heart disease following his 2006 trial. On Monday — the 23rd anniversary of the bankruptcy filing — a company representing itself as Enron announced in a news release that it was relaunching as a “company dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.” It also posted a video on social media, advertised on at least one Houston billboard and a took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle In the minute-long video that was full of generic corporate jargon, the company talks about “growth” and “rebirth.” It ends with the words, “We’re back. Can we talk?” Related Articles Enron’s new website features a company store, where various items featuring the brand’s tilted “E” logo are for sale, including a $118 hoodie. In an email, company spokesperson Will Chabot said the new Enron was not doing any interviews yet, but that “We’ll have more to share soon.” Signs point to the comeback being a joke. In the “terms of use and conditions of sale” on the company’s website, it says “the information on the website about Enron is First Amendment protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only.” Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show that College Company, an Arkansas-based LLC, owns the Enron trademark. The co-founder of College Company is Connor Gaydos, who helped create a joke conspiracy theory that claims all birds are actually surveillance drones for the government. Peters said that since learning about the “relaunch” of Enron, she has spoken with several other former employees and they are also upset by it. She said the apparent stunt was “in poor taste.” “If it’s a joke, it’s rude, extremely rude. And I hope that they realize it and apologize to all of the Enron employees,” Peters said. Peters, who is 74 years old, said she is still working in information technology because “I lost everything in Enron, and so my Social Security doesn’t always take care of things I need done.” “Enron’s downfall taught us critical lessons about corporate ethics, accountability, and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Enron’s legacy was the employees in the trenches. Leave Enron buried,” she said. Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70

Rep. Patrick McHenry sat in the House Financial Services Committee office on Dec. 19, looking fairly relaxed, despite the chaos erupting around him in every other corridor of the Capitol. He had already been asked to move out of his office in the Rayburn building to make room for the next member of Congress who would occupy it. Cardboard boxes were stacked against the wall to his right. From one of them peeked out a plaque that marked his time as the nation’s first House speaker pro-tem. On a table lay two large photographs of McHenry on the House floor during major moments from this session of Congress. He had only seen them for the first time that morning. McHenry sat back in his leather chair ready to talk about his 20-year congressional career, and how it was about to come to an end. But everywhere else in the building, the only conversations happening were about Republican infighting and a potential government shutdown, a constant refrain from the last two years. McHenry looked calm. “This place doesn’t stop,” McHenry said. “It’s just not built that way. So I look back at 20 years and think about the results I got, the type of work I engaged in and the people I engaged with and accrued over the years. “There’s no grand retirement flourish, where the institution stops and all of America stops in reverence or whatever else. That does not happen for members of the House,” McHenry said. As McHenry spoke, breaking news scrolled on the TV across from him about the latest developments in the efforts to fund the government. A funding bill would eventually pass and prevent a shutdown. It’s similar to the place where McHenry found himself at the start of this session of Congress, the place that cost his friend Kevin McCarthy his leadership role and the place that made McHenry have to step in and lead the House for 22 days until Mike Johnson was chosen to succeed McCarthy as House speaker. Rep. Richard Hudson, a Republican from Southern Pines and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, thought back to that moment as he talked about his longtime friend McHenry’s time in office. “If you think about the great turmoil it was for Congress, for the country; and he was just such a steady hand,” Hudson said. “If he mishandled that. If he let his ego get in the way of that, if he tried to grab more power for himself, it would have been detrimental for the institution — detrimental for our country. To show great restraint, great judgment: to lose someone like that, you just can’t replace them.” Becoming speaker It was Oct. 3, 2023, when McHenry made his way from the back of the House chamber to the dais as he saw the vote to oust McCarthy going the wrong direction. Few people knew at the time, but McCarthy had asked McHenry to step in if anything should happen to him. It was part of McCarthy’s role as speaker to name a successor in an emergency, under a post-9/11 rule. But people thought if that happened it would be because of something catastrophic, and not Republican infighting. The clerk announced the vote total. McCarthy was out. McHenry was in. McHenry raised the gavel and slammed it as hard as he could , releasing his pent-up anger. It became a gif, a meme, the butt of late-night comedy. And McHenry’s older sister did what any good sister would do: she sent him “the cruelest things” said about him on the internet. “She knew that was exactly what I needed,” McHenry said. “I mean, truly. And she sent me some of the funniest stuff, and like some of the meanest stuff, and gave me her commentary about all of it. When you look like me and you’re my size, you better have a good sense of humor.” For the record: McHenry would not comment on how tall he is, but he’s taller than this reporter, who is 5-foot-2. And with the gavel slam heard round the world, McHenry recessed the House having no idea if he was allowed to adjourn it as speaker pro-tem. No one had been in this position before, so there were a lot of questions about what he could or couldn’t do. As the days stretched on his colleagues offered him, and sometimes urged him to take on, more power than he deemed constitutionally allowed. He went quiet, believing anything he said or did could shape the position’s power for future generations. And he didn’t take any of the extras he was offered. “I’ve studied the institution and it’s one thing to understand checks and balances in a cerebral way, or study it,” McHenry said. “It’s another thing to be in it. What the Founding Fathers envisioned was you would primarily want to be jealous for your branch of government and then, in fighting for that branch, (provide) the checks and balances to the American people; their liberties are protected.” McHenry said each branch of government needs to function well in order for them to be aligned. “The House is meaningful because we empowered the speaker to be on par with the president, to negotiate on our behalf and to have the powers of the institution,” McHenry said. “The president pro-tempore of the Senate is a ceremonial gig. The speaker is a meaningful negotiator of outcomes. So if we diminish the powers of the institution, if we diminish the powers of the speakership, we diminish the powers of the House; we then throw out of alignment the constitutional balance since the first Congress.” McHenry ‘the firebrand’ McHenry wasn’t always like this — so measured. “Patrick preceded me by one term in the legislature,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, a former speaker of the North Carolina House. “He had a great reputation down there, but it was interesting in the legislature. He had a reputation as sort of a firebrand.” McHenry, a Republican from Lincoln County, won his election to the state House in 2002. Then in 2004 he was elected to Congress, making him, at 29, the youngest member. McHenry was still in high school when he met Hudson, who was in college. They were working on opposing campaigns for governor. “It’s just really incredible to watch his development over the years from energetic campaign volunteer to college Republican leader to freshman rabble-rouser in the House to really an elder statesman. He’s, of all the people I’ve ever worked with, he’s just one of the smartest on policy, smartest on strategy; great with people.” But Hudson laughs as he remembers young McHenry picking fights with Democrats whenever McHenry thought they were spending too much or doing something wrong. He said McHenry and former Rep. Barney Frank, a Democrat, both knew parliamentary procedure well and the two of them would get into it. “McHenry would just twist him in knots with parliamentary procedure, and Barney would get mad. His face would get red. Barney kind of had a unique tone to his voice anyway, but when he got mad it would get more high-pitched.” Hudson said watching the two of them duke it out was “high entertainment.” McHenry doesn’t shy away from talking about his reputation when he first entered Congress. “What I did in my first and second term was, I wanted to be in the big fights that consumed the House and I thought to engage in those fights would further conservative policy,” McHenry said. “And in my second term, I realized that my actions did not yield the results that I wanted them to yield.” Hudson pointed to a “seminal moment” involving then-Rep. Jeff Flake, who he said would “introduce amendments to strike people’s earmarks.” “McHenry had one that was for the Christmas tree industry, which is huge in North Carolina,” Hudson said. “Jeff introduced dozens of these amendments. Everybody voted against them, they’d all fail, but in this case, because McHenry had agitated Democrats so much, all the Democrats voted to strip out this earmark. It was important to Patrick’s district.” Hudson said that was a wake-up call for McHenry. McHenry told McClatchy he noticed that his actions weren’t yielding the results he wanted so he found mentors, studied what lawmakers past and present did and read about the institution and legislative craftsmanship and power. “In studying all those things and studying the institution and the history of the institution, that’s how I created the pathway that I then followed, for frankly the next 16 years,” McHenry said. Setting goals in Congress McHenry said in his second term he decided he either wanted to chair the Financial Services Committee or become whip. From 2014 to 2019, McHenry served as chief deputy whip, a position he called “an incredible honor.” His favorite place in the Capitol is by the whip desk in the House chamber, he said. “That’s the cockpit for the majority party,” McHenry said. “You’re at the whip desk, you know the count, you know who has voted, you know how they voted and if you’re in that position you know why they voted.” He was asked to step in for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise after a gunman opened fire, on June 14, 2017, on Republican members of Congress practicing for the congressional baseball game. McHenry ran for whip, but did not win election. Financial Services chairman He then focused himself toward his other goal. McHenry calls the issues before the Financial Services Committee his passion project, and thinks about how those issues affected his father when he started a small business in lawn service. “That’s been my motivator on this committee,” McHenry said. “Helping the small business person that just wants to start a little business in their backyard so they can provide for their family.” McHenry points out that the committee isn’t high-profile, but it touches every American in meaningful ways. “So to chair this committee was in itself, that was the high-water mark of everything I dreamed of achieving in Congress,” McHenry said. McHenry took the helm of the committee in January 2023. He chuckles slightly when he thinks back to his plans for the start of the 118th Congress. They were thorough. But you know what they say about plans. In October 2022, McHenry sat down with his staff director to create his list of goals. He wanted to achieve goals in three policy areas, all focused on the Financial Services Committee. —Financial data privacy standards —Capital formation —Digital assets “So we had this thing worked out,” McHenry said. “We knew the agenda, we even had a calendar for what we do, month-by-month and week-by-week, going into ‘23.” McHenry said he had wanted to leave this session of Congress with changes to the law that he could point to and say, “That’s my mark.” “And it turns out that the marker for members of this committee was the way I treated them, what I tried to cultivate in discussion in the committee, and it was the institution, and the testing of the institution in October of ‘23,” McHenry said. “And maybe I have a few fingerprints on the institution because of that.” McHenry’s legacy Hudson doesn’t downplay McHenry’s legacy as much as McHenry himself does. He said he can’t think of a more consequential member of Congress, in his lifetime, who represented North Carolina. “He’s someone who’s been in leadership, been responsible for ushering important legislation through Congress,” Hudson said. Tillis said McHenry leaves a big pair of shoes to fill. After Johnson replaced McCarthy as speaker and McHenry gave up his gavel, McHenry almost immediately announced another run for Congress. But by the time he needed to file paperwork to run, he had changed his mind. McHenry said he knew by then that if there was a right time to leave, it had come. He served 20 years and 10 terms, and completed his term limit of six years as either a committee chairman or ranking member, his role when Democrats led the House. He said he wanted to honor the institution by not asking for an extension on the committee. “I knew after that experience of October, that there was nothing else for me left to do here in the House, and I knew I that I wouldn’t be in a more meaningful position next Congress to affect policy and outcomes and get results,” McHenry said. “I knew it was time. It was time to let somebody else take over and build. I felt just a complete clarity about the decision and peace that my time was done.” And he added that the last 14 months have confirmed he made the right decision. Honoring McHenry McHenry’s colleagues weren’t going to let him go without a gentle ribbing. Every speaker of the House is given a portrait that hangs in the speaker’s gallery. They have to commission the painting themselves. There was a question about whether McHenry, as speaker pro-tem, should get one. Hudson said he couldn’t afford a full-size portrait of McHenry but he felt he was deserving. So he had a smaller one commissioned, complete with McHenry’s gavel bang. Why a little one? “Well, he had a short term as speaker, and, you know, his stature is not as large, as say, the congressman replacing him, so there are a couple areas to highlight there,” Hudson said. The portrait now hangs in the cloakroom. “That was a great surprise,” McHenry said. “Rather than give me some deep sense of meaning, they roasted me, which felt right.” ©2024 McClatchy Washington Bureau. Visit mcclatchydc.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

According to the party members, Duterte's statements against the First Couple had no place in democracy and at a "Bagong Pilipinas" that values accountability, peace, and order. Members of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) have renewed their support for President Marcos and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos as they condemned the recent threat of assassination made against them. "We reaffirm our unwavering support for the administration of President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos, Jr., trusting that under his leadership, democracy, the rule of law, and national progress will prevail," they said. PFP members said this in a joint statement after Vice President Sara Duterte announced that she had contracted an assassin to kill the First Couple and House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she was murdered. "We, the members of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), strongly and unequivocally condemn any attacks against our democracy," the members said. "We reject all forms of violence, threats, or actions that jeopardize the safety of our people and the stability of our nation," they added. According to the party members, Duterte's statements against the First Couple had no place in democracy and at a "Bagong Pilipinas" that values accountability, peace, and order. "The statements made by Vice President Sara Duterte against the President and the First Lady are deeply alarming as they undermine the rule of law and foster a culture of lawlessness and impunity," they said. The PFP members urged the country's leaders to transcend personal and political interests, prioritize unity over division, and commit to fostering peace and moral recovery. "As public servants, we must exemplify humility, discipline, and accountability in both our words and actions," they said. "Now more than ever, we call on our fellow public servants and the Filipino people to stand in solidarity with the President and work together to safeguard the future of our nation," they added. During a Zoom presser, Vice President Duterte said she had already asked someone to go after the three in case something happened to her. "May kinausap na ako na tao. Sinabi ko sa kanya, 'Kapag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM, si Liza Araneta, at si Martin Romualdez.' (I have already talked to someone and told him that if I got killed, kill BBM, Liza Araneta, and Martin Romualdez). No joke. No joke," she said. "Nagbilin na ako, Ma'am. 'Pag namatay ako, sabi ko, ''Wag kang tumigil ha, hanggang hindi mo mapatay sila.' (I told him that if I died, don't stop until you have killed them). And then he said yes," she added. Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin has tapped the Presidential Security Command (PSC) to take immediate, proper action on Vice President Sara Duterte's threat to the life of the First Couple. "The Executive Secretary has referred this active threat to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action," the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said. "Any threat to the life of the President must always be taken seriously, more so that this threat has been publicly revealed in clear and certain terms," it added. In a statement late Saturday afternoon, the PSC said it has already heightened and strengthened its security protocols following the Vice President's pronouncements. "We are also closely coordinating with law enforcement agencies to detect, deter, and defend against any and all threats to the President and the First Family," it said. The PSC said it was taking Vice President Duterte's remarks seriously and considering it a matter of national security. "Any threat to the life of the President and the First Family, regardless of its origin—and especially one made so brazenly in public—is treated with the utmost seriousness," it said. "We consider this a matter of national security and shall take all necessary measures to ensure the President's safety," it added.

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A rescue golden retriever with an unusual birthmark has taken the internet by storm, but his owner has told Newsweek that it actually has a very sentimental meaning that helped them form an instant connection. Dog owner Shannon Eschman, 37, often posts on social media (@peeta_the_golden) about her rescue dog, Peeta, and the unusual black birthmark that covers part of his chest. The adorable pup looks like a purebred golden retriever, apart from the patch, which truly makes him stand out. Whenever she's out walking Peeta, Eschman gets stopped by people who are fascinated by the birthmark, as they've never seen anything like it. But for Eschman, of Massillon, Ohio, it's no ordinary birthmark, and she told Newsweek that as soon as she saw him, she "knew he was made just for [her]." Prior to adopting Peeta, Eschman had Brinkley the golden retriever, and Millie Mae, a rescue who was a mix of chow chow, husky and German shepherd. She sadly had to say goodbye to Brinkley in February 2021 at the age of 14, and her grief was unfathomable. She still had Millie Mae, but she couldn't imagine getting another dog at the time. That was, until she saw Peeta, who seemed to carry a part of Brinkley and Millie Mae within him. Eschman said: "I was still grieving the loss of Brinkley, and I felt this hole in my heart that I didn't think I would ever get back. When Peeta was posted on Facebook through a rescue, I cried because I knew his purpose. "I felt an instant connection because of his birthmark. It was so special to me. I always look for signs that the pets we lose are still with us, and I couldn't have asked for a bigger sign. It was no coincidence, so I filled out the application for Peeta within seconds," she continued. Peeta was rescued in June 2021, and Eschman was told by the rescue that he was being rehomed because he'd recently lost his brother and seemed lost without him. As she herself was also grieving, Eschman knew this made the bond with Peeta even stronger and that they could help each other. After finding his forever home , Peeta got to spend his first three years alongside Millie Mae, until she sadly passed away in August 2024. She was 15 years old, and Eschman said she "stayed as long as she could." Just like Brinkley, she brought so much happiness into her life. "Brinkley and Millie were my first two soul dogs. I knew that, when I was ready, I would get another golden retriever, but now I had the best of both worlds. I have my Brinkley and my Millie," Eschman told Newsweek . "I have endless pictures of Brinkley's and Millie's gold and black fur touching, and now I have it all in Peeta. I felt like I got a piece of my heart back. It's inevitable that they can't be with us forever, but they did their best to make sure I always have a piece of them." Peeta has helped Eschman heal so much, and she is so grateful for the unconditional love he provides. Although Peeta likely has no idea of the impact he's had, he can't help but love all the attention he gets for his birthmark . "He knows he's special and he flaunts it," Eschman joked. Since posting about his sentimental birthmark on Instagram , the post went viral with more than 1.6 million views and 460,000 likes at the time of writing. Alongside the heartbreaking pictures, the caption says that it "means more than a birthmark," as Peeta has brought back a part of her late dogs. The online reaction has been unlike anything she was expecting, and Eschman hopes that it will encourage others to look for invaluable signs that their beloved pets are still with them in some way. She said: "I know all our pets are put in our lives for a reason, and no matter how long they are here, it's never long enough. Our time with them goes way too fast, but never give up hope that they are always with you. If we gave at least one person hope that their baby is still with them, we've done our job." The viral TikTok post has amassed over 3,100 comments already, and many social media users thanked Eschman for giving them hope, and some even shared stories of the signs they looked for. One comment reads: "This is extremely rare and 100% heaven sent." Another person wrote: "literally just got chills through my whole body." While one TikToker added: "As someone who lost her two soul dogs, this made my jaw drop. This baby was meant for you." Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.

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President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyers formally asked a judge Monday to throw out his hush money criminal conviction, arguing continuing the case would present unconstitutional “disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.“ File video above: Former President Donald Trump found guilty in hush money trial In a filing made public Tuesday, Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan that dismissal is warranted because of the “overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024.” “Wrongly continuing proceedings in this failed lawfare case disrupts President Trump’s transition efforts,” the attorneys continued, before citing the “overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024.” They also cited President Joe Biden’s recent pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of tax and gun charges. “President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’" Trump’s legal team wrote. The Manhattan district attorney, they claimed, had engaged in the type of political theater "that President Biden condemned.” Prosecutors will have until Dec. 9 to respond. They have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case but have indicated a willingness to delay the sentencing until after Trump’s second term ends in 2029. In their filing Monday, Trump's attorneys dismissed the idea of holding off sentencing until Trump is out of office as a “ridiculous suggestion.” Following Trump’s election victory last month, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed his sentencing , previously scheduled for late November, to allow the defense and prosecution to weigh in on the future of the case. He also delayed a decision on Trump’s prior bid to dismiss the case on immunity grounds. Trump has been fighting for months to reverse his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to suppress her claim that they had sex a decade earlier. He says they did not and denies any wrongdoing. Taking a swipe at Bragg and New York City, as Trump often did throughout the trial, the filing argues that dismissal would also benefit the public by giving him and “the numerous prosecutors assigned to this case a renewed opportunity to put an end to deteriorating conditions in the City and to protect its residents from violent crime.” Clearing Trump, the lawyers added, would also allow him to “to devote all of his energy to protecting the Nation.” The defense filing was signed by Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who represented Trump during the trial and have since been selected by the president-elect to fill senior roles at the Justice Department. A dismissal would erase Trump’s historic conviction, sparing him the cloud of a criminal record and possible prison sentence. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office. Trump takes office Jan. 20 . Merchan hasn’t set a timetable for a decision. A dismissal would erase Trump’s historic conviction, sparing him the cloud of a criminal record and possible prison sentence. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office. Merchan could also decide to uphold the verdict and proceed to sentencing, delay the case until Trump leaves office, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump’s parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court or choose some other option. Prosecutors had cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him. Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels. Trump later reimbursed him, and Trump’s company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses — concealing what they really were, prosecutors alleged. Trump has pledged to appeal the verdict if the case is not dismissed. He and his lawyers said the payments to Cohen were properly categorized as legal expenses for legal work. A month after the verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that ex-presidents can’t be prosecuted for official acts — things they did in the course of running the country — and that prosecutors can’t cite those actions to bolster a case centered on purely personal, unofficial conduct. Trump’s lawyers cited the ruling to argue that the hush money jury got some improper evidence, such as Trump’s presidential financial disclosure form, testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made during his first term. Prosecutors disagreed and said the evidence in question was only “a sliver” of their case. If the verdict stands and the case proceeds to sentencing, Trump’s punishments would range from a fine to probation to up to four years in prison — but it’s unlikely he’d spend any time behind bars for a first-time conviction involving charges in the lowest tier of felonies. Because it is a state case, Trump would not be able to pardon himself once he returns to office. Presidential pardons apply only to federal crimes.

How did it come to this? Login or signup to continue reading It was half an hour before the first Newcastle students had planned to walk out of school in 2018 in protest. They were following the example set by revered, and in some circles reviled, climate action protester Greta Thunberg. The adults were killing the planet they lived on. They knew they were doing it; decades of scientific consensus had told them so. They just didn't care. The kids were not OK. And in the absence of an adult to speak for them, they were taking up the fight for themselves. Alexa Stuart, then 15, knew the action was coming. Her mum had asked if she wanted to join them. She said she did not. "I had something on at school that day," she recalls, phrasing the memory half as a question. "But I overheard some of my friends saying that they were going, and I got this really strong urge that I had to be there. I knew I cared about the environment, and I felt that if this was something that I cared about, I had to show up. "I panicked and called my sister, who is older than me and was going, and said, 'You have to come pick me up'." They rode into town together on her sister's bike. They were late. But the moment was profound. "I felt so powerful and inspired and angry and hopeful, marching down the street with hundreds of other kids, chanting at the top of our lungs," she said. "It was a day when I got a taste of what agency can look like for young people who can't vote or have much say on this issue, which will have the biggest impact on us." Stuart would go on to lead the Newcastle school strike movement with a band of friends and classmates. Over the next few years, countless students would follow them. Protests would be staged every few months, drawing masses of children and teens angry at the apathy of the grown-ups, and there were those who hated them for it. They had asked for a world that could sustain life beyond their own , and there were those who threatened to rape them for it. Stuart stopped reading the comments, returned to school, and graduated. A pandemic soon followed. The children's strike movement wound down in the face of that other existential threat, and the former Lambton high student took a gap year to figure some things out. She made art, participated in a few smaller protests, and considered a move to Melbourne to study at the Victorian College of the Arts. There is a version of this story where she accepted that offer to study, moved out of the Hunter, took a different path, and let her activism dissolve into a quiet liberal adulthood where she hangs art in her home and might have become a teacher. Stuart often volunteers to teach primary school ethics and has an affinity with children. But these are things relegated to the hypothetical. What has been seen cannot then be unseen. In August 2022, a sleeping climate action group called Rising Tide was revived by a former teacher turned full-time climate campaigner with a clear goal rooted in the Hunter. The group had been active in a localised way from around 2005 to 2012, but its resurrection would turn outwards to bigger quarry. The Port of Newcastle exported more coal than anywhere else in the world, and that statistic would make it Rising Tide's white whale. It was a clear and tangible target in the tangled web of a problem with no clear and tangible solutions. If the planet was choking on fossil fuel combustion, Rising Tide demanded it stay in the ground. If they were told that the action they wanted to see was economically unfeasible, they would demand the funds be taxed from the industry pouring coal out of the harbour for profit. The group has often claimed to be the fastest-growing climate action cause in the country, though it has no formalised membership other than a database of those who have registered their participation in its protests. Its leaders say it has a spectrum of involvement, from those who are engaged in its efforts effectively full-time to those who show up to support its actions. It holds weekly meetings in Newcastle that are regularly attended by over 30 people, though that number has ballooned to more than 60 in the lead-up to this week's "protestival". Off-shoot hubs have sprung up around the country. In the past year, the group has stopped coal trains in the Hunter, blockaded the harbour in a flotilla of kayaks for 30 hours, and drawn the ire of the NSW Government as they tried to host a similar event this week. Earlier this month, the NSW Supreme Court ruled for the state's police, declaring the planned harbour blockade an unauthorised assembly, effectively denying the protesters the legal exemptions from move-on orders and the access to the Newcastle shipping channel that they had last year. While not illegal, the protest would be forbidden from undertaking any unlawful activity. The state's transport department was similarly employed in the clamp-down , declaring an exclusion zone across the harbour last weekend, cutting protesters off from the water. The group would launch an 11th-hour challenge to overturn the lockout. They would learn they were successful with less than an hour to spare . The boats launched on Thursday as the encampment in Newcastle's Foreshore Park grew in an action that was expected to draw thousands. Transport for NSW has said t he exclusion zone was declared over concerns for safety . Meanwhile, Port of Newcastle boss Craig Carmody has called the protest, and newly-elected lord mayor Ross Kerridge's support of it, a "direct and intentional disregard" for the decision made by the court and police. Councillor Kerridge's deputy, Callum Pull, has similarly denounced the movement as "nothing but disruptive". Nationals Senator Ross Cadell, who criticised the City's support, said the activists were "maintaining a rage" that should not exist. Both sides of government had committed to addressing climate change by 2050, he said. "Just because they don't like the pace or the way it is going on, they get to whinge and shut down a city that's been built on this? That's wrong." The Port of Newcastle has long held the title of the world's largest single coal export hub, but by 2021, its lead was narrowing. In 2022, wet weather, rail maintenance and labour shortages caused a significant dip in output. By 2023, North Queensland was catching up, and the total local export for that year barely outstretched that of the previous one. While Newcastle remains the larger export port, Queensland exports greater quantities of coal through a network of harbours, while NSW centralises its output through Newcastle and Wollongong. At each turn, Rising Tide has framed the state's response as evidence their action has been effective - that they are pressing where it hurts. Still, as the years drag on, there is a growing weariness in the cause as the promise of direct action dissolves like ink in the tide. At Nobbys beach last weekend, Mina Bui Jones had come to support the response to the state's exclusion zone. The weekend's protest would be her second with Rising Tide after she returned from living abroad last year, saw a poster for the blockade and felt compelled to get involved. "My whole life, I've been signing petitions, composting, recycling, writing letters, marching on World Environment Day," she said. "I'm 50, and I remember hearing about the greenhouse effect in high school. My kids have now grown up and become adults, and in that time, it has only got worse. "So many of us have been so earnest and so good. We worry about whether we drive our cars. I've ridden a bicycle where I can, I've been a vegetarian. So many of my friends and family - everyone - have been trying to do the right thing. Meanwhile, you have coal companies that really could make a difference. I'm washing out my compost bucket and doing weed control with my Landcare group, I'm only buying second-hand clothes, and I think, 'Come on, guys'. "We're all making an effort at an individual level, but it is a systemic problem. It needs systemic action." The renewed Rising Tide group marked the second anniversary of its first protest action earlier this month . Stuart said they are in a building phase, in which they are working towards a critical mass of supporters to stage sustained pressure to force the action they are demanding. Still, though the exact point at which that critical mass is achieved was unclear (she estimates the group could reach it in 2026), she maintains that her protest is a means to an end, not an end in itself. "We have a really clear strategy," she said. "And I think that is something that some social movements don't have. Looking back, that is one of my reflections on the school strike movement. We found this great tactic, and we went on strike, and then we went on strike again, and our strikes were getting bigger. That was awesome, but we had less of a clear strategy of how to create the change we wanted. "History has shown that things can change really quickly. It may not seem like it now, but movements can explode, and governments can change their position when public sentiment changes. I think that is what COVID showed - that if there is political will, things can change incredibly quickly. When we start treating this like a crisis, we can create massive changes. But, if there is not the visible demonstration of people, if there's not the visible public demonstration of people's concern about the issue, then our politicians have no reason to act in that way." There have been 12 blockades in the Newcastle Harbour since 2006, with the intent to block the shipping channel, but Rising Tide mounted the longest in that time over the weekend of November 25, 2023. The Port of Newcastle had come to a standstill for the weekend, effectively waiting out the demonstration, and started up again almost immediately after it ended. When the deadline expired, a group of protesters remained in the channel, and supporters on the beach began to chant: "Floods, fires, famine, we are terrified. We shall overcome like a rising tide." Police boats approached and arrested more than 100 people. One was Stuart's 97-year-old grandfather, Alan Stuart, a retired Uniting Church minister. He said that while climate disaster would not happen in his lifetime, his concern for future generations compelled him to participate in the struggle. "What happens to me doesn't matter, but what is happening to the climate and the impact on future generations does matter," he said. "They are just going to suffer; it will ruin their lives. I want them to have as good a life as I have had." Both Stuart's grandparents were ministers of the Uniting Church. Her parents did not practice in faith, and Stuart said she is not religious. "You need to have faith in humanity," she said. "Otherwise, you fall into despair. I think that is what keeps me going: looking at the good and believing that we can change. If you don't believe that, I think it is very depressing. "I genuinely don't read the comments. I know that people won't like what we have to say, but I can live with that. That is a reality of social movements; people who we now look back on with immense respect and admiration were hated when they were alive. "When I grow old, I want to know that I have done everything that I could, and if I have children or grandchildren, I want to be able to look them in the eye and say that I tried." When I suggest, over coffee at Bank Corner on a sunny day earlier this month, that it was small comfort to think that being right could make her a martyr, she laughed softly. "I guess so," she said. "I don't know." But then again, she never reads the comments. Simon McCarthy is a journalist with the Newcastle Herald and its sister publications in the Hunter region of New South Wales (NSW). He has contributed stories, photography, video and other multimedia to the pages of the Herald and its Saturday magazine, Weekender, since 2017. In 2020, he co-created the Toohey's News podcast, which he produced for four years with sports writer Barry Toohey until the show's indefinite hiatus. Since early 2023, he has served as the paper's Topics columnist and, more recently, returned to reporting with an interest in deep-dive stories that illustrate the issues shaping daily life in Newcastle and the region.McCarthy has reported for Australian Community Media (ACM) since 2013, first as a general news and sports writer for the Glen Innes Examiner and later as a group journalist and producer for the publisher's New England regional titles. He joined the Newcastle Herald newsroom as a digital producer in 2017 before returning to reporting in early 2023.He had previously worked for the Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth.McCarthy was born in the New England region of NSW, where he grew up, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Southern Cross University in 2012. He covers general news, culture and community issues, with a focus on the Herald Weekender.He is a member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and adheres to its codes of ethics for journalists.Contact: simon.mccarthy@newcastleherald.com.au Simon McCarthy is a journalist with the Newcastle Herald and its sister publications in the Hunter region of New South Wales (NSW). He has contributed stories, photography, video and other multimedia to the pages of the Herald and its Saturday magazine, Weekender, since 2017. In 2020, he co-created the Toohey's News podcast, which he produced for four years with sports writer Barry Toohey until the show's indefinite hiatus. Since early 2023, he has served as the paper's Topics columnist and, more recently, returned to reporting with an interest in deep-dive stories that illustrate the issues shaping daily life in Newcastle and the region.McCarthy has reported for Australian Community Media (ACM) since 2013, first as a general news and sports writer for the Glen Innes Examiner and later as a group journalist and producer for the publisher's New England regional titles. He joined the Newcastle Herald newsroom as a digital producer in 2017 before returning to reporting in early 2023.He had previously worked for the Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth.McCarthy was born in the New England region of NSW, where he grew up, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Southern Cross University in 2012. He covers general news, culture and community issues, with a focus on the Herald Weekender.He is a member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and adheres to its codes of ethics for journalists.Contact: simon.mccarthy@newcastleherald.com.au DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Get the latest property and development news here. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. WEEKLY Follow the Newcastle Knights in the NRL? Don't miss your weekly Knights update. TWICE WEEKLY Your essential national news digest: all the big issues on Wednesday and great reading every Saturday. WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily!KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs earned a much-deserved extended rest after their Christmas Day rout of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which capped an unbeaten stretch of three games in 11 days and clinched them the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. That extended rest? Well, it can be just about as long as Chiefs coach Andy Reid wants it to be. The Chiefs (15-1) face the Broncos in their regular-season finale next weekend, a game whose kickoff remains up in the air. But it will be at least 10 days after their 29-10 win in Pittsburgh, a nice rest for a weary team whose bye was back in Week 6. But with nothing to play for in that game, Reid could conceivably give some of his most important players the entire week off ahead of the playoffs. And now that the Chiefs have a first-round bye, that means they wouldn’t face anybody until at least Jan. 18 in the divisional round, meaning a full 24 days between games. “It’s been almost 10 weeks of football, grinding on this short schedule at the very end of the year,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “We’ll see how Week 18 goes — who plays, who doesn’t play. That’s up to Coach. But having this break, getting healthy, getting ourselves ready for the playoffs, it was super important, especially with the guys we have banged up.” The Chiefs dominated the Steelers without four-time All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones, who was resting his sore calf Wednesday. They also have not had cornerback Chamarri Conner, who has been out with a concussion, or D.J. Humphries, the former Pro Bowl left tackle who appeared in one game for Kansas City before straining his hamstring. All of them figure to be healthy for the playoffs. The same for guys who have been dealing with minor injuries, such as right tackle Jawaan Taylor, who played against the Steelers despite straining his hamstring the previous week against Houston, and running back Isiah Pacheco, who dinged up his ribs in the win in Pittsburgh. “It will definitely help with some of the guys that are banged up, to get guys back, freshened up a little bit,” said Reid, who has rested important players in Week 18 in the past, including last season against the Chargers. “I think it will be a positive for us.” The trick is to decide exactly how much rest to give everyone. For those dealing with injuries, that full 24-day span without a game could be exactly what they need. For others, it might be too long between games, and getting at least a half of play against the Broncos would help prevent some rust from setting in. “I was just talking to my family about it,” Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie said. “My rookie year, we were able to get, you know, all home games, and you just can’t be out (on the road) in the playoffs. I mean, I’m excited to go out there. I know we got the first round, you know, off, but I mean, I can’t wait to play now.” What’s working The Chiefs won the Super Bowl last season with a wide receiver group that — outside of Rashee Rice — was lacking in dynamic ability. But with the trade for DeAndre Hopkins, the return of Hollywood Brown from an injury and the emergence of rookie Xavier Worthy, the Chiefs have gone from a position of peril to one of profound strength. What needs help The Chiefs have struggled to the run the ball consistently the past few weeks. Pacheco gained just 18 yards on six carries before hurting his ribs against Pittsburgh, and Kareem Hunt was held to 20 yards on nine carries — a 2.2-yard average. Stock up Worthy has smashed through the rookie wall, just as Rice did at this point last season, and has proven to be more than a speedster. He had eight catches for 79 yards and a touchdown Wednesday, giving him at least five catches in each of his past five games. Stock down Pacheco has not been the same after missing more than two months to injury. He has been held to 55 yards rushing or fewer in each of his past five games, and he’s averaging just 2.7 yards per carry over his past three. Key number 77 — Travis Kelce caught his 77th touchdown pass, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez for the Chiefs record. Kelce finished with eight catches for 84 yards and a score against Pittsburgh, making him the third tight end in NFL history with at least 1,000 receptions. Gonzalez had 1,325 and Jason Witten had 1,228 while Kelce has 1,004 and counting.

The Mountain House High boys soccer team is off to a 1-1 start to their Valley Oak League (VOL) campaign. After falling 2-0 to East Union on the road last week, the ‘Stangs bounced back expertly in their home curtain raiser. They dominated Central Catholic 4-1 to jump into the win column for the first time in the VOL and improve to 7-7-1 overall on the year. Mountain House left little up for debate against the Raiders. Senior Venkata Sai and junior Rhys Dominguez were instrumental in the win as the former chipped in with two goals and the latter had two assists. Senior Priyansh Nath also shined with a goal and an assist. Elsewhere, junior Omar Lakhlifi delivered the Mustangs’ fourth goal. The team's top goal scorer junior Jayden Lownes added an assist. In between the sticks, junior Gaurav Vijay (2) and senior Pratham Bisht (1) combined for three saves with the latter allowing Central Catholic’s lone goal. The Mustangs will be back in action after the holidays when they host Patterson in the league on Jan. 7. Amador Valley 2, Tracy 0 The Bulldogs suffered their third straight defeat in their penultimate non-league match when they were shut out by the Dons on the road in Pleasanton last Thursday to drop to 2-4-3 on the year. Amador Valley scored a goal on either side of half-time to keep Tracy at bay. The ‘Dogs have one more pre-season game left. They will host Bear Creek on Jan. 3. Then, Tri-City Athletic League (TCAL) action starts with St. Mary’s coming into Tank Town on Jan. 7. Jags end pre-season 1-5 The Jaguars mustered up just one win in their non-league campaign — a 6-1 victory over Delta Charter last week which snapped a five-game losing slump. They will open their TCAL schedule at Lodi on Jan. 7. Contact Arion Armeniakos at aarmeniakos@tracypress.com , or call 209-830-4229.Insurgents reach gates of Syria’s capital, threatening to upend decades of Assad rule

By Taylor Nicioli , CNN The disappearance of pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart more than 87 years ago has remained one of the most captivating mysteries in history, with a handful of explorers devoted to scouring the seas for any clue to her final whereabouts. Sonar imagery captured in January revealed a plane-shaped anomaly on the seafloor about 161km from the Pacific Ocean's Howland Island - the next location where Earhart was expected to land before she was declared lost at sea. The detection renewed a worldwide interest in the mystery and left many questioning whether Earhart's missing Lockheed 10-E Electra had finally been found. After returning to the site on November 1, Deep Sea Vision - an ocean exploration company based in Charleston, South Carolina, that captured the original sonar image - has identified the object to be a natural rock formation. "Talk about the cruellest formation ever created by nature," said Tony Romeo, the company's CEO, a pilot and former US Air Force intelligence officer. "It's almost like somebody did set those rocks out in this nice little pattern of her plane, just to mess with somebody out there looking for her." Romeo said he was surprised the object wasn't at least a different plane or a man-made object. "We didn't pop any champagne bottles on the first time around, because we wanted to be 100 percent sure, (but) there was a somber moment," Romeo told CNN in a phone call. "I think everyone just kind of took a little bit of time, little space, and then we recollected ourselves ... and we got right back to work on searching some new areas that we wanted to search." Deep Sea Vision announced the update in an Instagram post on 6 November, saying its search continues. After discovering the rock formation, the expedition crew explored more than 2590 square kilometres for a search total of at least 19,943 square kilometres of ocean, Romeo said. While it was not the update the team expected, Romeo and other experts said that hope shouldn't be lost for finding closure one day for the aviation legend. The hunt for Earhart's plane continues The rock formation was more than 4877 metres underwater. Upon first discovery, the team's advanced autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, a device that maps the seabed using sonar technology, was about 500 metres away, Romeo said. The team sent out the AUV directly above the site in early November, producing a high-resolution image of the rock formation. "The mood was very jubilant on the way out," Romeo said. "We were excited [but] cautiously optimistic because we knew there was a possibility that [the anomaly] may not be what we thought it was, but obviously everybody was excited." It was a long wait for the AUV to get into position to scan the object - about 24 hours from launch until the team could see the data, Romeo said. After the anxious wait, the image surprisingly revealed that the object was a natural rock formation, he said. Romeo said other images further confirmed the rock formation, but the company is not yet releasing any material other than one sonar image, as a documentary on the expedition is in the works. The team may not return to the area to search farther until 2026, due to other missions, Romeo said. "It'll be some time before we get back out there," he added, "but we want to find it, and I believe we will." Meanwhile, other explorers are continuing their search, such as Nauticos, a deep ocean exploration company based in Kennebunkport, Maine, that has conducted operations for the lost aircraft in the past. Nauticos recently finished an analysis of what it believes to be high-probability areas for where the plane could be found based on radio data , and the remaining area left to be searched could possibly be covered in one more expedition, said David Jourdan, cofounder and president of Nauticos. When Deep Sea Vision first announced the anomaly, Jourdan cautioned against using sonar imagery to identify anything on the seafloor. "On our website, we say, 'Long range sonar images have historically proven to be deceiving, especially in areas with geological formations.' That's a polite way of saying it could be just a pile of rocks. ... Which turns out to be the case," Jourdan said recently in an email. Finding objects on the seafloor is like "searching for a contact lens on a football field in the dark using a penlight for illumination. It can be done, but it takes careful, methodical work," he added. "The quality of the sonar data is important, as is keeping track of where you searched and not missing any spots along the way." Earhart's mysterious disappearance Conspiracy theories have developed since the aviator's disappearance, but the US government suspects that Earhart and her navigator crashed into the Pacific when the plane ran out of fuel. Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan took off from Lae, Papua New Guinea, on 2 July, 1937. The aviator's last radio transmissions grew stronger as she got closer to Howland Island, indicating she was nearing it before she disappeared, according to Dorothy Cochrane, a curator for general aviation in the aeronautics department of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The pair was declared lost at sea after the US government conducted a 16-day search. Cochrane said she was not surprised at the setback in the hunt for Earhart's plane. "I'd like to hope that they can find it, just to put it all to rest. But in reality, it's a big ask. It really is a difficult thing to do," she said. "It is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries ever, I used to say back in the day of the 20th century. Now we're well into the 21st century. There was no one who had the cachet of an Earhart, [who] was being followed worldwide at the time and making such dramatic flights." Romeo said he believes the search will only get easier as technology advances. "In some ways, I'm even more excited now about it, right? It was like the plot thickens, and the riddle is still unsolved... I hope this inspires other people to maybe go look for her or at least learn about her and her story," he said. "I want to see the plane found. She's out there. She didn't just disappear into thin air." - CNNNEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani won his third Most Valuable Player Award and first in the National League, and Aaron Judge earned his second American League honor on Thursday. Ohtani was a unanimous MVP for the third time, receiving all 30 first-place votes and 420 points in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was second with 263 points and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte third with 229. Judge was a unanimous pick for the first time. Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. got all 30 second-place votes for 270 points, and Yankees outfielder Juan Soto was third with 21 third-place votes and 229 points. Ohtani was unanimously voted the AL MVP in 2021 and 2023 as a two-way star for the Los Angeles Angels and finished second to Judge in 2022 voting. He didn't pitch in 2024 following elbow surgery and signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers last December. People are also reading... Ohtani joined Frank Robinson for Cincinnati in 1961 and Baltimore in 1966 as the only players to win the MVP award in both leagues. He was the first player to twice become an unanimous MVP. He had combined with Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2023 for the first year both MVPs were unanimous. Ohtani hit .310, stole 59 bases and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs exclusively as a designated hitter, becoming the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. He helped the Dodgers to the World Series title, playing the final three games with a torn labrum in his left shoulder. "The ultimate goal from the beginning was to win a World Series, which we are able to accomplish," he said through a translator. "The next goal is for me to do it again and so right now I'm in the middle of rehab and working out and getting stronger." When Ohtani returns to the mound, could he win MVP and the Cy Young Award in the same year? "That would obviously be great, but right now my focus is just to get to get back healthy, come back stronger, get back on the mound and show everybody what I can do," Ohtani said. Ohtani became the first primary DH to win an MVP in a season that started with the revelation his longtime interpreter and friend, Ippei Mizuhara, had stolen nearly $17 million from the star to fund gambling. Ohtani is the 12th player with three or more MVPs, joining Barry Bonds (seven) and Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout (three each). Balloting was conducted before the postseason. Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers, 144 RBIs and 133 walks while hitting .322. Witt topped the big leagues with a .332 average, hitting 32 homers with 31 stolen bases and 109 RBIs. Soto batted .288 with 41 homers and 109 RBIs. When Judge won his first MVP award in 2022, he received 28 first-place votes while Ohtani got the other two. Judge had discussed the MVP award with Philadelphia's Bryce Harper, the NL winner in 2015 and '21. "I was telling him, `Man, I'm going to try to catch up to you with these MVPs here, man,'" Judge recalled. "He'd say, hopefully, he could stay a couple ahead of me, which I think he'll do." When Judge won his first MVP award in 2022, he received 28 first-place votes while Ohtani got the other two. He is the Yankees' 22nd MVP winner, four more than any other team. Judge was hitting .207 with six homers and 18 RBIs through April, then batted .352 with 52 homers and 126 RBIs in 127 games. "March and April were not my friend this year." Judge said. "Just keep putting in the work and things are going to change. You can't mope. You can't feel sorry for yourself. Especially in New York, nobody's going to feel sorry for you. So you just got to go out there and put up the numbers?" St. Pete rejects money to repair Tropicana Field roof ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The St. Petersburg City Council reversed course Thursday on whether to spend more than $23 million to repair the hurricane-shredded roof of the Tampa Bay Rays' ballpark, initially voting narrowly for approval and hours later changing course. The reversal on fixing Tropicana Field came after the council voted to delay consideration of revenue bonds for a proposed new $1.3 billion Rays ballpark. Just two days before, the Pinellas County Commission postponed a vote on its share of the new stadium bonds, leaving that project in limbo. “This is a sad place. I'm really disappointed,” council chair Deborah Figg-Sanders said. “We won’t get there if we keep finding ways we can’t.” The Rays say the lack of progress puts the new stadium plan and the future of Tropicana Field in jeopardy. “I can't say I'm confident about anything,” Rays co-president Brian Auld told the council members. The Trop's translucent fiberglass roof was ripped to pieces on Oct. 9 when Hurricane Milton swept ashore just south of Tampa Bay. There was also significant water damage inside the ballpark, with a city estimate of the total repair costs pegged at $55.7 million. The extensive repairs cannot be finished before the 2026 season, city documents show. The Rays made a deal with the Yankees to play next season at 11,000-seat Steinbrenner Field, New York's spring training home across the bay in Tampa. The initial vote Thursday was to get moving on the roof portion of the repair. Once that's done, crews could begin working on laying down a new baseball field, fixing damaged seating and office areas and a variety of electronic systems — which would require another vote to approve money for the remaining restoration. The subsequent vote reversing funding for the roof repair essentially means the city and Rays must work on an alternative in the coming weeks so that Tropicana Field can possibly be ready for the 2026 season. The city is legally obligated to fix the roof. BRIEFLY PIRATES: Pittsburgh hired Matt Hague as its hitting coach, bringing him back to the team that drafted him in 2008. Hague replaces Andy Haines, who was fired after Pittsburgh finished in the bottom 10 in the majors in every significant statistical category last season, including runs (24th) and home runs (25th), while also striking out a club-record 1,504 times, second-most in the National League behind Colorado. The 39-year-old Hague spent last season as an assistant hitting coach with the Toronto Blue Jays. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

...Flags Off Construction Of Itawure – Okemesi Road LAGOS – Governor Biodun Oyebanji of Ekiti State, on Thursday said his administration has achieved over 90 percent of the promises he made to Ekiti people during his electioneering campaign. Oyebanji who disclosed this during the flag off of Itawure – Okemeei road, stated that his government had lit up over 30 communities that had been in darkness for close to 20 years. The Governor promised the residents of the state that his government would continue to invest in infrastructure development in the bid to ensure the people live a better life. He noted that the Itawure- Okemesi road is just the first phase of the road project, adding that the second phase would see the construction work extended to Ikoro, Ipoti, Ijero and Iloro axis. According to him, the project had both economic and security importance to the state as it has the ability to attract investors into the area and support the developmental strides of his administration. “Today’s projects cover Okemesi, Ido-Ile and Efon Alaaye. As we are flagging off this project, we are also embarking on the construction of Ido-Ile – Okemesi road, and we are also embarking on the construction of Alanaka road in Efon. These are my campaign promises to our people. “When we marked two years in office, I have a book of promises I made to our people, I checked it and I stand before God and man to say that in two years, what I promised Ekiti people, I’ve done more than 90 percent of it. “There’s no community where I made promises that we’ve not done what we promised them, either in terms of infrastructure, welfare or party development. “On the issue of electricity, if there is one thing I am desirous of doing, I promise to ensure that Okemesi also enjoy the benefit of electricity from the state. I’m going to send a team here in January to advise us on how to go about it. “Within the last two years, we have lit up more than 30 communities in Ekiti State, these are communities that have not had electricity in 20 years.”, the Governor added . Earlier, the Commissioner for Works, Mr. Sola Adebayo, who described the project as another milestone in the annals of the administration of Governor Oyebanji’s drive to open up the state to investors and community development, stated that the government had continue to prioritise the wellbeing of the people through a robust focus on infrastructure and industrialisation. Adebayo noted that government recognises that roads are not just infrastructure, but lifelines that connect people through transportation of goods and open doors to investments. In their separate goodwill messages, the Owaoye of Okemesi, Oba Gbadebo Adedeji; President, Okemesi Improvement Union, Chief Nathaniel Olaoye and a former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Wale Fapohunda (SAN), expressed their gratitude to the governor for his interest in the community as well as counting their community worthy in his developmental agenda. Other dignitaries at the event include members of the state House of Assembly, traditional rulers, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr. Yinka Oyebode; Special Adviser on Project Monitoring, Hon Femi Ajayi; former Political Adviser to the President, Chief Akin Oshuntokun.