NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees slugger Aaron Judge wins his second AL MVP award after leading MLB with 58 home runs.
Shohei Ohtani wins third MVP award, first in NL. Aaron Judge earns second AL honor in 3 seasons
NEW YORK (AP) — Shohei Ohtani keeps setting records, even after the season is over.
The Los Angeles Dodgers star added his third Most Valuable Player award to his collection and first in the National League when he was chosen unanimously by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Thursday. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees won the American League award for the second time, also unanimously.
Ohtani last year became the first two-time unanimous MVP. He won the AL award 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. Ohtani became the first player to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season, then helped the Dodgers beat the Yankees in the World Series.
“The fact that I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pitch this season just made me focus more on my offensive game and fortunately I was able to produce and get this award,” Ohtani said through a translator.
Ohtani sat on a red sofa with his wife and dog Decoy as teammate Clayton Kershaw announced the award on the MLB Network. The Nederlanse kooikerhondje immediately jumped away.
Ohtani received all 30 first-place votes and 420 points. 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 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.
A highlight of the season was during the dog days. Ball in mouth, Decoy delivered the ceremonial first pitch to his owner at Dodger Stadium’s home plate before an Aug. 28 game against Baltimore.
“The most nerve-wracking game that I had, the most nervous I was when we had that Decoy throw out the first pitch,” he said.
Ohtani played the final three games of the World Series with a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Still recovering from right elbow surgery in September 2023, Ohtani had another operation on Nov. 5 to repair the shoulder and has been working on range of motion and started Thursday on core and lower body work.
“The goal is to be ready for opening day and that includes hitting and pitching,” Ohtani said. “But we are kind of taking our time.”
When Ohtani resumes pitching, 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 designated hitter and first player who didn’t appear defensively for a single inning to win an MVP. His season started with the revelation 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.
“Moving forward, I think now we do have a target on our back,” Ohtani said. “We are going to be expected to maybe even do — possibly even do more.”
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.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
Nick Chubb plows through heavy snow for 2-yard TD, giving Browns 24-19 win over Steelers
CLEVELAND (AP) — With snow falling, Nick Chubb plowed forward.
On a play that looked eerily similar to the one in Pittsburgh last year that threatened to end his career, Chubb kept his legs moving and pushed his way into the end zone for a touchdown he and his teammates won’t forget.
Chubb ran for a 2-yard touchdown w ith 57 seconds left, and the Cleveland Browns stunned one of their division rivals on Thursday night, beating the Steelers 24-19 and ending their five-game winning streak.
Chubb’s score came in his first game against the AFC North-leading Steelers (8-3) since the running back sustained a season-ending left knee injury in Week 2 last September in a Monday night game against the Steelers.
Chubb, who had injured the same knee while playing at Georiga in 2015, had to endure grueling rehab sessions to make it back on the field, and the sight of him scoring against the dreaded Steelers was almost poetic.
“It meant a lot to me. I know it means a lot to him,” said Myles Garrett, who had three sacks. “He won’t say it, but it’s true. I’ll say it because this time last year we were sick to our stomachs. There was just so much in the air, so for him to come back and be pivotal in this game just speaks to the kind of resilience and the man that he is.
“We absolutely love him.”
Chubb also scored on a 2-yard run in the second quarter.
The Browns (3-8) had blown a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter and were down 19-18 before getting the ball back with 3:22 remaining after Pittsburgh punter Corliss Waitman shanked a 16-yarder.
With snow piling up and covering the yard lines on the field, Cleveland’s Jameis Winston c ompleted a third-down pass to Jerry Jeudy to the Pittsburgh 9. Two plays later, Chubb barreled into the end zone.
Chubb did not speak to the media afterward, but his teammates were overjoyed and couldn’t wait to share his story.
“I’m his No. 1 fan when he’s out there,” Browns running back Jerome Ford said. “If I could, I would start the ‘Chubb’ chant every time he steps on the field.”
The Steelers had one last chance, but Russell Wilson’s Hail Mary on the final play was knocked down by Browns safety Grant Delpit in the end zone, touching off a wild celebration at Huntington Bank Field.
Amid a disastrous season, beating the Steelers eased pressure on coach Kevin Stefanski and gave Cleveland fans something to savor.
“Our guys love playing under the lights,” Stefanski said. “They love playing in front of these fans. Add the snow element, it was pretty cool.”
With early snow flurries giving way to blizzard-like conditions in the fourth quarter that blanketed the field in white — Amazon Prime Video used graphics on its telecast to show the otherwise invisible numbers and hash marks — the Steelers quickly erased an 18-6 deficit, scoring two touchdowns in just over a minute.
Wilson’s 23-yard TD pass to Calvin Austin III with 6:15 left put Pittsburgh ahead by one. Nick Herbig’s strip-sack of Winston set up the go-ahead score and put the Steelers in position to win their sixth straight and open a two-game lead in the AFC North over Baltimore.
However, the Browns responded and pulled off their second divisional win after beating the Ravens last month.
“We should’ve won that game,” Wilson said. “We felt like we battled in a tough environment. The way we answered in the fourth quarter was pretty special and we had a chance at the end, too.”
Jaylen Warren scored on a 3-yard run midway through the fourth to pull the Steelers to 18-13. Then, as always seems to be the case, Pittsburgh’s defense came up with the big play as Herbig got to Winston and safety DeShon Elliott recovered the fumble.
Garrett outplayed Steelers star T.J. Watt — like he planned.
Garrett dominated the first half, sacking Wilson and putting constant pressure on the Steelers’ QB. The performance came during a week in which the Browns star commented about Watt’s seeming slight when Garrett was named Defensive Player of the Year over him last season.
“I wanted to make it known that I’m the guy, I’m No. 1 as an edge defender. That was a statement I was intending to make and I think I made.”
Garrett set up Cleveland’s second score with a strip-sack of Wilson. As he was being blocked, Garrett popped the ball from Wilson’s grip and linebacker Winston Reid recovered.
The Browns drove to the 16 and settled for a 34-yard field from Dustin Hopkins, who missed two kicks weeks a week ago in a loss at New Orleans.
Chubb’s TD dive in the second quarter capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive by the Browns, who gained just 19 yards and had two three-and-outs in the first quarter.
The Steelers drove inside Browns territory on their first three possessions, but came away with just three points.
Chris Boswell, who made six field goals last Sunday for all of Pittsburgh’s points in a win over Baltimore, missed a 58-yard field goal in the first quarter while the field was still in good shape. It was only his second miss in 31 attempts this season.
Injuries
Steelers: WR Van Jefferson (quadriceps) left briefly in the first half but returned. … LB Elandon Roberts was forced out in the fourth quarter with an unspecified injury.
Browns: WR Cedric Tillman is in concussion protocol.
Up next
Steelers: At Cincinnati on Dec. 1.
Browns: At Denver on Dec. 3.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Top football recruit Bryce Underwood changes commitment to Michigan instead of LSU, AP source says
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Bryce Underwood, the top-rated football recruit in the country, flipped to Michigan after pledging to play at LSU, a person familiar with the decision said Thursday night.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the recruit’s plans to join the Wolverines.
Underwood pinned a post on his Instagram account, showing a post from On3.com that reported he has committed to Michigan.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback played at Belleville High School, which is about 15 miles east of Ann Arbor, and told LSU nearly a year ago that he intended to play there.
Underwood and his family wore LSU jewelry in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, earlier this month when Alabama beat the Tigers 42-13.
Michigan coach Sherrone Moore, whose debut season has been stunted by the lack of a productive quarterback, continued to recruit Underwood with the help of a name, image and likeness collective, and it paid off.
With a player as highly regarded as Underwood, NIL offers can reach $5 million to $10 million.
Michigan has partnered with a collective, Champions Circle, to create opportunities for athletes to make money, and the group responded to Underwood’s commitment.
“ We are very excited to keep Bryce home in Michigan as he continues to build his legacy,” Nate Forbes, founding member and chairman of Champions Circle, said in a statement.
Underwood’s commitment gives the defending national champion Wolverines a jolt of hope.
Michigan (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten) has to beat Northwestern (4-6, 2-5) on Saturday to become bowl eligible before closing the season on the road against second-ranked rival Ohio State.
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Follow Larry Lage at https://apnews.com/author/larry-lage
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Jeremy Roach rescues No. 13 Baylor with buzzer-beater in 5th game after standout 4 years at Duke
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Jeremy Roach reached a Final Four and won Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles during four productive years at Duke.
It didn’t take him long to create a memorable moment with his new team.
Roach swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer of the second overtime on Thursday night, completing No. 13 Baylor’s rally for an improbable 99-98 victory over No. 22 St. John’s at the Baha Mar Championship on Thursday night.
Roach’s fortunes changed quickly in his fifth game for Baylor (4-1). With 17 seconds left in regulation and the Bears leading by two, he had a chance to ice the game but missed the front end of a one-and-one.
“He said, ‘I’m going to miss this free throw so I can get a SportsCenter Top 10 play,’” Bears coach Scott Drew joked.
Meanwhile, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino fumed about what he called “unethical” behavior by game officials and Drew, arguing that Drew baited the referees into an unnecessary replay review that disrupted free-throw shooter Zuby Ejiofor.
Trailing by two, Baylor fouled Ejiofor with 4.1 seconds left and he missed both shots to set up Roach’s buzzer-beater.
“I don’t know what to say. The referees didn’t do a very good job tonight. Icing my free-throw shooter there at the end was totally unethical. You can’t do something like that,” Pitino said. “(The referee) said the coach said we held him, which we did not do, clear as day. It’s an unethical move. I don’t like it. But that’s not the reason we lost.”
The Red Storm blew a five-point lead with 18 seconds left in the second overtime. St. John’s (4-1) also led by 18 points in the first half.
VJ Edgecombe made a 3-pointer to get Baylor within 98-96, and the Bears sent Ejiofor to the line.
“I just knew that if they’d miss the two free throws, I’d have a chance to redeem myself,” Roach said.
Norchad Omier, a Miami transfer who used to compete against Roach, rebounded the second missed free throw and passed to his new teammate.
Roach dribbled up court, weaved to create space, then squared up a few feet behind the 3-point arc and sank the game-winner over the Red Storm’s Deivon Smith.
Roach, who scored more than 1,000 points as a Blue Devil, finished with a season-high 20 points for the Bears. After serving as a team captain as a junior and senior for Duke, the 23-year-old, fifth-year senior carried Baylor — and put his earlier miscue behind him.
“I just wanted to make that up to my teammates,” Roach said. “My teammates kept confidence in me. Telling me to just shake it off.”
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Biden welcomes 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics to White House
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House was tinted green on Thursday, when President Joe Biden — Secret Service code name: Celtic — welcomed “Coach Joe” Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics to the South Lawn to celebrate the franchise’s unprecedented 18th NBA championship.
In a tradition believed to have begun when Bill Russell’s 1963 Celtics met with President John F. Kennedy, Biden welcomed the NBA’s 2024 champions and gave them a tour of the Oval Office. In all, the league’s most-decorated franchise has won at least one title in eight of the last 13 presidential administrations.
“The Celtics aren’t just a basketball team. They’re a way of life,” Biden told the crowd, quoting Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach before receiving a No. 46 jersey from All-Star Jayson Tatum and guard Derrick White.
Biden noted that his Secret Service code name is “Celtic.”
“For real. Because I’m Irish,” the president said. “Everybody behind me is Irish in their heart. I feel a special pride in this trophy. From this old Irish Celtic, to all you Celtics, congratulations.”
Biden, who was once one of the youngest senators in U.S. history and is now the country’s oldest president ever, said he felt a kinship with Mazzulla, who was 35 when he led the Celtics to the title in his second season.
“Joe’s the youngest head coach to win a title since the great Bill Russell,” Biden said. “I told him I used to be the youngest and now I’m the oldest. I liked being the youngest better.”
The Celtics were greeted with a band playing “Shipping up to Boston,” before Biden and team owner Wyc Grousbeck joined them on the risers facing the Washington Monument; green lights shined from from the eaves of the White House behind them. Among those in attendance were Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and most of the state’s congressional delegation.
“I didn’t really know what to expect. I walked in, I was like ‘I’m more excited than I thought I was going be,” White told reporters afterward. “To be in the White House, to be where all the decisions — all the cool things — are happening, that was the best part.”
Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca said Biden’s 4-year-old grandson, Beau Jr., tried on his championship ring. (Oshae Brissett, a member of the 2024 team who is not with the Celtics this year, was at the ceremony and received his championship ring on Thursday.)
Biden also received a commemorative basketball, which he tossed to Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, who was sitting in the front row, and then to Celtics center Al Horford.
“I wasn’t expecting a pump fake,” White told reporters. “It’s harder to make a pass in a suit, so I was impressed.”
Biden was well-briefed on the Celtics history and their success last year, when they cruised to 64 wins in the regular season – their most since winning the 2008 title, and the fourth-best in franchise history. They went 16-3 in the playoffs, eliminating the Dallas Mavericks in five games.
Biden even noted that the ’24 Celtics had the highest ratio of points per possession in NBA history – one of the wonkier stats, but one that had team vice president and stats guru Mike Zarren beaming.
“The basketball stats community has come a long way: the President of the United States is talking about points per possession!” Zarren posted on X after speaking to reporters at the ceremony.
Members of the Celtics organization went back into the White House after the festivities to meet with administration officials on pet issues, including “Raise the Age,” which seeks to have 18- to 20-year-olds treated as juveniles in the criminal justice system, and “Curbside Care,” which provides medical aid to new mothers in underserved communities.
“This was a very exciting and moving day,” Grousbeck told reporters in a video call afterwards. “We had not been focused on this. We got through the banner and opening night, and then it was all business. Joe (Mazzulla) doesn’t want us to dwell too much on the past, he wants everyone to focus on moving forward. Having said that, everyone here, including Joe, seemed to have a great time.”
Zarren said he spoke to a Secret Service agent who was a Celtics fan and had to bear with the Golden State Warriors’ visit two years ago.
“He told them it was a bittersweet moment because he wished his Celtics were here. And they said to him, ‘Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon,’” Zarren said. “So for him, it was a good moment to see us show up inside there.”
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
What is Bluesky? Social media platform tops 20 million users
(NEW YORK) -- Tech billionaire Elon Musk has kept busy since Election Day, advising President-elect Donald Trump and receiving an appointment to co-lead a new government efficiency commission.
Musk has also found time to promote Trump in scores of posts on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which he owns. But such advocacy appears to have driven some X users to seek alternatives.
One such app, Bluesky, has drawn attention as a possible X rival and has amassed a total of 20 million users to date. Its growth accelerated in the aftermath of the election, when Bluesky added one million users in a single week.
Launched by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky has attracted some prominent users in recent days, including comedian Ben Stiller, author Stephen King, and pop star Lizzo.
Here's what to know about Bluesky, and how to join:
What is Bluesky?
Bluesky is a text-oriented social media platform on which users can post messages as long as 300 characters. Like X, the messages posted on Bluesky appear on a newsfeed displayed to users. The app is available on iOS and Android.
The platform operates on an open framework, meaning that users can post their messages to a server tailored for specific interests or communities. The system design resembles that which is used on another text-first app, Mastodon, as well as the decentralized platform Discord.
Bluesky began in 2019 as a venture at Twitter overseen by Dorsey, and was launched as an independent company in 2022, the year after he left Twitter.
Development of the site started after a 2020 tweet from Dorsey announcing Twitter's plans to fund a decentralized social media platform, Bluesky said in a blog post. The eventual leaders at Bluesky were among those who sent direct messages to Dorsey in response to his post, the blog added.
Who owns Bluesky?
The board of directors at Bluesky features Dorsey as well as Jeremie Miller, the founder in the late 1990s of a free instant messaging service called Jabber.
Bluesky's CEO is Jay Graber, who formerly founded an events-oriented social media site called Happening and worked as a software engineer on a cryptocurrency called Zcash, according to LinkedIn. She also serves on the Bluesky board.
The company is owned by Graber as well as "the Bluesky team," the Bluesky website says.
While Bluesky has retained a traditional corporate structure featuring a board and chief executive, the company said it aspires to take control of content away from a top-down entity and return it to creators.
"Traditional social networks are often closed platforms with a central authority," the website says. "There's a small group of people who control those companies, and they have total control over how users can use the platform and what developers can build."
Dorsey criticized Musk's leadership at Twitter on Bluesky last year, saying that things "all went south" at the platform after Musk's acquisition, CNBC reported.
Is Bluesky a viable alternative to X?
The steady growth of Bluesky has made it a destination for an increasing number of celebrities, elected officials and government entities. But the platform remains much smaller than X or the Meta-owned competitor, Threads.
Bluesky boasts roughly 20 million users, which amounts to less than 10% of the 229 million daily active users disclosed by Twitter in a June 2022 earnings report. X's user data is no longer publicly available since Musk took the company private.
In July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads had exceeded 175 million monthly active users.
How do you join Bluesky?
During Bluesky's initial years, users could only join the platform if they received an invitation. The policy aimed to limit the app's user base as it underwent testing.
In February, however, the platform made itself available to all users. Individuals or organizations can navigate to the platform and follow instructions to create an account.
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Some hospitals seeing increase in RSV, ‘walking pneumonia.’ Here’s what to know
(NEW YORK) -- Some hospitals in the U.S. are seeing an increase in RSV and higher levels of "walking pneumonia" among young children despite overall respiratory illness activity remaining low nationally.
Cook Children's Medical Centers in Texas reported a "steep increase" in children visiting the emergency room due to respiratory-related illnesses.
On Tuesday, at the health system's Fort Worth location alone, there were 572 patients -- a near-record-high number -- in the emergency department. Officials said the increase in hospital visits is due to a spread of RSV and walking pneumonia in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Additionally, University of North Carolina hospitals reported 40 walking pneumonia cases in the last week of October compared to no cases the same time last year.
Infectious disease specialists say that although parents should stay alert when it comes to respiratory illnesses spreading, this season also may also be marking a return to typical seasons seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's the calm before the storm," Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News. "It feels that there's so much going on … that we almost forget about respiratory viruses, but they're very regular. They're kind of falling back into normal pre-pandemic cadence."
Walking pneumonia seeing cyclical increase
So-called "walking pneumonia" is a respiratory tract bacterial infection caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Infections are generally mild, and people may seem better than expected for those with a lung infection, hence the term walking pneumonia, the CDC said. Sometimes serious complications, however, emerge requiring hospitalization.
For the week ending Nov. 2, the latest for which CDC data is available, 2.8% of all pneumonia-associated ED visits led to an M. pneumoniae diagnosis, up from just 2% at the end of September.
Rates were highest among those ages 1 and younger, making up 7.8% of all pneumonia-associated ED visits with an M. pneumoniae diagnosis for the week ending Nov. 2.
Experts say mycoplasma infections have a cyclical nature and tend to surge every three to seven years.
"Just like other respiratory viruses, there was not a lot of exposure during the pandemic years because of social distancing and people staying away from each other, and so we're catching up to that," Chin-Hong said. "Mycoplasma may also be one of these things where you're kind of seeing the perfect storm. So, it comes back every four or five years and people are getting back to their normal lives."
RSV activity returning to pre-pandemic levels
Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a common respiratory virus with most children affected by their second birthday, according to the CDC.
Although it typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms and most people recover in one to two weeks, it can be a serious infection for infants and older adults, resulting in hospitalization, the CDC said.
Current levels remain lower than those seen at the same time during the past few seasons.
"While RSV activity is increasing in certain regions, particularly among young children, it's important to remember that we're seeing a return to more typical pre-pandemic patterns," said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children's Hospital and an ABC News contributor.
"This year's season is starting later and progressing more slowly compared to the past few years, which were marked by earlier and more severe outbreaks," he added.
Brownstein pointed out that while national levels remain low, certain regions in the southern U.S. and eastern U.S. are seeing localized surges, especially among young children.
When to go to the emergency room
Chin-Hong said if symptoms are mild, including low-grade fever, dry cough, sore throat, headaches and mild aches and pains, parents can keep their children home and contact their primary care provider with any questions.
However, when symptoms become more severe including difficulty breathing, a long-lasting fever or lethargy, then it might be time to visit the emergency room.
If you have "a child who's having a cough for more than seven days and maybe they're not shaking that off, then you worry about something like walking pneumonia," Chin-Hong said.
How to prevent RSV and walking pneumonia
To prevent RSV, there are three vaccines approved for adults ages 60 and older as well as some adults between the ages 50 and 59 who are at higher risk. There is also a vaccine available for pregnant women between 32 weeks and 36 weeks of pregnancy.
For babies under eight months, there are two monoclonal antibody products available. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins manufactured in a lab that mimic the antibodies the body naturally creates when fighting an infection.
"For walking pneumonia. or mycoplasma, there's no vaccine for that, but by getting vaccines for RSV, COVID [and] influenza, you reduce the probability of co-infections that can make things worse," Chin-Hong said.
Experts also recommended applying lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as wearing a mask in spaces with poor ventilation.
"Practicing good hygiene, like frequent hand-washing and covering coughs and sneezes, remains essential in preventing the spread of respiratory infections," Brownstein said.
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Police recover Travis Kelce’s watch after spate of burglaries targeting athletes during games
(NEW YORK) -- Authorities investigating the rash of recent burglaries at the homes of professional athletes have recovered a watch belonging to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce in Providence, Rhode Island, sources familiar with the case told ABC News.
Kelce’s Leawood, Kansas, home was burglarized as the Chiefs were about to kick off Monday Night Football against the New Orleans Saints hours apart from a burglary at the home of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Police had not previously disclosed a watch was taken from Kelce but did confirm that $20,000 cash was stolen.
Police believe the athletes are being targeted based on their game schedules and are working to determine whether a crime ring is targeting them along with other luxury homeowners.
So far all of these thefts have occurred while nobody is home. There is a concern about what happens if the athlete or his/her family members are present, a security source told ABC News.
The burglars conduct extensive surveillance, sometimes posing as delivery men, maintenance workers or joggers to learn about residences, neighborhoods and security systems, according to an NFL memo obtained by ABC News.
One security source told ABC News the burglars appear to know what they’re looking for, where it is in the home and are in and out within 15 minutes.
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‘Suspicious package’ found outside US embassy in London
(LONDON) -- A suspicious package was discovered outside the United States Embassy in London on Friday morning, police said.
The London Metropolitan Police immediately closed Ponton Road outside of the embassy in “an abundance of caution,” according to their statement, before they destroyed it in a controlled explosion.
“We’re aware of speculation online about an incident in the vicinity of the US Embassy in Nine Elms,” the Met Police said. “Cordons are in place in the area as a precaution while officers investigate a suspect package.”
Authorities updated the situation approximately an hour later after reports of a “loud bang” began circulating online.
“We can confirm that the 'loud bang' reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers. Enquiries are still ongoing and cordons will remain in place for the time being,” police said.
The embassy returned to "normal business operations" shortly after the package was destroyed, police said.
"The US Embassy is back to normal business operations, with the exception that all public appointments (visa appointments, passport appointments, and other American Citizen services) for 22 November have been cancelled," the Met Police said.
The U.S. embassy in London moved to a brand-new purpose-built location in January 2018. The 12-story government office -- complete with a moat surrounding it -- cost approximately $1 billion to construct and was funded entirely from proceeds of sale from other U.S. government property in London, according to the U.S. government.
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Could Texas do for Alzheimer’s research what it did for cancer?
AUSTIN (AP) – Two decades ago, state Rep. Tom Craddick could ask a room of his West Texas constituents what illness they feared the most and the answer, unfailingly, was always cancer.
A few weeks ago, about the time Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick contacted him about a new blockbuster medical research fund idea, Craddick asked a group of his constituents the question again and no one mentioned cancer.
“It was unanimous in the room,” Craddick said. “Alzheimer’s and dementia.”
Craddick, R-Midland, told that story to a room full of rapt researchers gathered at the University of Texas at Austin this week, a day after Patrick made a stunning announcement that he wants lawmakers to approve a dementia research fund modeled after Texas’ successful $6 billion Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, known as CPRIT.
A Texas-funded dementia research fund in the mold of its now successful 15-year-old cancer fund has the potential to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into a field still looking for better ways to slow symptoms as well as a cure. Since CPRIT began in 2007, it has become the country’s second largest funder of cancer research, and if as successful, the dementia counterpart could have global impacts on how to prevent and care for individuals with the disease.
“Like CPRIT, this investment will draw leading researchers and companies to Texas and require them to be based in Texas, leading to their further investment in our state,” Patrick said in a Monday statement.
Patrick added that Craddick along with Senate Finance Committee Chair Joan Huffman, R-Houston, will be working with him to get a bill through the Texas Legislature this year and then present the proposal before voters.
“I don’t think there’s a family in Texas who hasn’t been personally touched by these diseases or doesn’t have a close friend,” Huffman said, noting that roughly 30% of those on Medicaid in Texas who are in nursing homes have dementia-related issues and dementia patients are more likely readmitted to hospitals. “We’re paying a lot on the back end for these diseases.”
Few details have surfaced since Patrick announced he was making a Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas a priority this session, which begins Jan. 14. It’s not clear how much money such a fund would have or how it would be funded, either through bonds as CPRIT was, or whether the state’s enviable Economic Stabilization Fund, also known more commonly as its rainy day fund, would be tapped to get it started. Calls to Patrick’s office for more details were not immediately returned to The Texas Tribune.
But Craddick’s anecdote underscored what Patrick and other lawmakers are finding out in their own districts. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are a real concern because of its devastating toll and cost.
Patrick’s campaign for dementia research
Patrick’s announcement picks up from 2023, when a similar bill failed. That year state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, together with Craddick and others authored House Bill 15, which would have created a Mental Health and Brain Institute of Texas that would have received $300 million in state grants each year. The House passed the measure but it died in the Senate.
“I think it was too broad,” Craddick said of the 2023 attempt.
Then a few months ago, Patrick began reaching out to Huffman and Craddick about making a fund based on the CPRIT model.
“We sort of had some ideas kind of floating around for several sessions,” Huffman told the Tribune, adding that Patrick had been interested in dementia research for some time. “He wanted to make that one of his priorities.”
By highlighting the proposal this early, Craddick, the former Texas House speaker, doesn’t anticipate any roadblocks.
“I think the chances are excellent,” he said of the proposal’s probability of passing. It already has the support, he said, of House Speaker Dade Phelan.
What is the CPRIT model
Texas voters approved the creation of CPRIT in 2007, financing $3 billion for it through the issue of bonds.
Voters approved another $3 billion for it five years ago, even after it came under scrutiny in 2012 for awarding $56 million in grants to research that wasn’t properly vetted. CPRIT’s director resigned and after a change in leadership, CPRIT has continued to thrive as a medical research engine, awarding more than $3.7 billion in grants so far.
It is now the largest cancer research investment effort, second to the federal government. It has helped recruit 324 researchers to Texas and assisted in either the establishment, expansion or relocation of 74 companies to the state.
“The legislative decision to create this agency via constitutional amendment, and the overwhelming support of the people of Texas, provides CPRIT with the long-term stability needed to take on a task as big as conquering cancer,” said CPRIT CEO Kristen Doyle this week, recognizing the organization’s 15th anniversary.
Growing Alzheimer risk in Texas
Alzheimer’s, a degenerative brain disease, is the most common form of dementia, accounting for about 80% of cases, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Alzheimer’s symptoms — memory loss and the inability to perform simple tasks — tend to develop in the mid-to-late 60s and occur when clumps of abnormal proteins block the communication of brain cells. Symptoms can be mild at first and worsen over time.
Of the nearly 7 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s, nearly two-thirds are women, and dementia care costs Americans more than $300 billion a year.
While a 2023 study shows that the eastern and southeastern United States have the highest prevalence of Alzheimer’s, Texas is one of three states that has the highest estimated number of older residents who are at risk of Alzheimer’s. The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that 459,000 Texans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, about 12% of the state’s population over the age of 65.
In Texas, the Rio Grande Valley, where residents are almost as twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, has become a dementia research center.
Paying for a “bold vision”
News of a fund for dementia being made possible next year has been praised by health advocates.
Andy Keller, president and CEO of the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, called it a “bold vision” for treating and ultimately curing dementia and related neurological disorders.
“Upon passage, the state that put a man on the moon and is leading the charge against cancer will hold the incredible potential to prevent, treat, and cure the neurological diseases that affect so many Texans,” Keller said.
The Alzheimer’s Association, which advocates for more research, also voiced their support of Patrick’s efforts.
“Our shared goal is to enhance the quality of life for those currently affected by Alzheimer’s while working toward a future with better treatment options and, ultimately, a cure,” said Melissa Sanchez, Texas senior director of public policy for the association.
At the University of Texas Systemwide Brain Research Summit on Tuesday, Dr. John Zerwas, the vice chancellor for health affairs for the UT System, interviewed Huffman, Craddick and neurosurgeon and state Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, about Patrick’s proposal, hitting on how research efforts like CPRIT have helped make Texas a better magnet for bioscience research. This has happened even while the state falls near the bottom in the amount of per-capita funding it receives for research from the National Institutes of Health.
“Because Texas is an exceptionally large state, well populated, we rank only 30th across the nation,” said Zerwas, a former state lawmaker.
Huffman replied that lawmakers are always looking for a way to draw down more federal dollars and if spending more state funds brings more federal cash to Texas, that’s an opportunity worth considering.
“They always say Texas is a donor state, which means we, you know, we pay more federal income tax than what we get from the federal government,” Huffman said. “That’s just the truth. And so when we see opportunities to make good investments that are sound investments that support Texas’s values and our goals, then we take that opportunity.”
As for how it will be funded, none of the three lawmakers committed to one method.
“There’s more than one way to do it,” Bonnen said. “Almost anything is going to move the ball forward.”
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Congressional Republicans continue to introduce bills eliminating the Department of Education
(WASHINGTON) -- South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds introduced the "Returning Education Back to Our States Act" on Thursday, signaling a commitment to deliver on President-elect Donald Trump's vow to dismantle the Department of Education.
In the conservative movement to return education back to local control, Rounds said the legislation would "eliminate" the department while redistributing all critical federal programs to other agencies.
Rounds' announcement was first reported by Fox News.
"For years, I've worked toward removing the federal Department of Education," the Republican senator wrote in a statement, adding "I'm pleased that President-elect Trump shares this vision, and I'm excited to work with him and Republican majorities in the Senate and House to make this a reality. This legislation is a roadmap to eliminating the federal Department of Education by practically rehoming these federal programs in the departments where they belong, which will be critical as we move into next year."
In his statement, Rounds said the United States spends too much on education for students' test scores to be lagging behind other countries in standardized assessments. He called the DOE ineffective and earmarked the department's responsibilities for the Departments of Interior, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Labor and State, according to the bill text.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and aid programs under Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act will be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Indian Education of the Department of Education will be transferred to the Department of the Interior, the Federal Pell Grant and other higher education loan programs will be transferred to the Department of the Treasury.
According to the bill, the treasury department will allocate Block grants to states for K-12 and postsecondary education. The treasury secretary also has the power to withhold these funds if they are mishandled by the states. The Justice Department will oversee federal civil rights laws that were previously under Title VI.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie told ABC News Thursday morning that he would also bring forward legislation to abolish the DOE within the "first few weeks" of the 119th Congress.
"There'll be one sentence - only thing that will change is the date: The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2026," Massie told ABC News.
Massie has been pushing to defund the U.S. Department of Education since the start of 2023 when he introduced H.R. 899. Massie's bill wasn't voted on in the House last year.
However, education analyst Neal McCluskey at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, argued Massie's one-sentence bill was not realistic.
"You've got to figure out what to do with all the legislation that feeds into the Department of Education," McCluskey said.
"If Congress were to pass that law that says, abolish the Department of Education, technically the department would go away, but then you'd have all sorts of questions, well, who's going to administrate or be administrator for all these programs," he said.
In March 2023, Massie wrote an amendment H.Amendment 124 in H.R. 5, the "Parents Bill of Rights Act" – the House's signature K-12 education policy – to abolish the department. That amendment failed as all Democrats and 60 House Republicans voted against it.
Here are ways to gut the department
Even as Republicans hold majorities in both chambers next Congress, the Senate typically needs 60 votes to do anything, according to McCluskey. McCluskey said, "There's no chance they're going to be at 60, and so it's going to be tough [to abolish the department legislatively]."
"The Department of Education administers a whole lot of laws, and then those laws have to be changed about who runs student aid and who is tasked with making decisions about canceling student debt, and who decides or who administers Title I and lots of these other federal programs," McCluskey told ABC News.
"He [President-elect Trump] can certainly use the bully pulpit to drive this a lot. He could provide legislative blueprints if he wanted to. But ultimately this has to come through Congress," McCluskey underscored.
Meanwhile, Augustus Mays, vice president for partnerships and engagement at the advocacy group The Education Trust, told ABC News that the president-elect could also ask Congress to gut federal programs like Title 1, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and others, in his congressional budget request.
Public education, particularly in high-need districts, would effectively be drained of millions of dollars, according to Mays.
"It would really cripple the ability to function and aid the support that these students need to really succeed from an academic standpoint," Mays said.
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