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It's getting harder to stay on the PGA Tour. Here's why
Special counsel moves to abandon election interference and classified documents cases against Trump
Las Vegas Dental Group Welcomes Dr. Eduardo Pais to Esteemed LVDG Dental TeamZuby Ejiofor delivered an early Christmas present to St. John's in the form of a buzzer-beating shot to keep the Red Storm's winning streak alive. St. John's (10-2) beat Providence at the horn back on Dec. 20 to win its fifth straight game and move to 2-0 in the Big East. Back on its campus in New York, St. John's will face Delaware on Saturday for one last tune-up before returning to conference action. In the Red Storm's first true road game of the season, Providence led most of the way before Ejiofor and RJ Luis Jr. steered the comeback. Ejiofor made a jumper in the lane in the final second to secure a 72-70 win. Coach Rick Pitino saw evidence that his team had grown from the start of the season. The Red Storm's two losses came on a double-overtime buzzer-beater against Baylor and by three points versus Georgia. "I think they're mentally maturing," Pitino told the New York Post. "Three weeks ago, with missing all those free throws, all those shots, we lose by 12 to 16 points. But they're maturing mentally and getting tougher because (that night) we didn't have it offensively, and they still found a way to win on the road in a tough environment." Ejiofor had 19 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. On a team stacked with talent, he and Luis have been the main catalysts. Luis averages 17.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, and Ejiofor provides 14.6 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds per contest. Ejiofor's game-winner came on an offensive board and second-chance look. "My philosophy is, and Coach says, every shot is essentially my rebound," Ejiofor said. "I have pride in getting my team a second chance, and that's exactly what I did." Delaware (7-5) has had a quiet month, with two of its three wins coming against non-Division I teams. But its other win in that time was a 93-80 romp against rival Delaware State on Dec. 3. That night, the Blue Hens shot a red-hot 17-of-31 from 3-point range. The 17 makes were one shy of tying the program record. Cavan Reilly (five 3-pointers) led them that night with 20 points, but three other starters also buried three triples. "That's what I envisioned out of this group," coach Martin Ingelsby told the Delaware News Journal, "to have multiple weapons." Delaware would love to rediscover that shooting touch. It made just 6 of 21 shots from deep in a 72-64 loss to Saint Peter's on Dec. 20. John Camden paces Delaware with 14.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Four other players average double-figure scoring: Niels Lane (13.7), Reilly (12.9), Erik Timko (12.4) and Izaiah Pasha (10.7). --Field Level Media
NBC Missed Iowa's Game-Winning Field Goal Thanks To Awful Camera WorkWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in his political movement into public display, previewing the fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare the tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — wealthy members of the tech world including billionaire and fellow entrepreneur and their call for more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. The debate touched off this week when , a right-wing provocateur with a history of racist and conspiratorial comments, criticized Trump’s selection of as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration. Krishnan favors the ability to bring more skilled immigrants into the U.S. Loomer declared the stance to be “not America First policy” and said were doing so to enrich themselves. Much of the debate played out on the social media network X, which Musk owns. Loomer’s comments sparked a back-and-forth with venture capitalist and former , whom Trump has tapped to be the “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar.” Musk and Ramaswamy, , weighed in, defending the tech industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. It bloomed into a larger debate with more figures from the hard-right weighing in about the need to hire U.S. workers, whether values in American culture can produce the best engineers, free speech on the internet, the newfound influence tech figures have in Trump’s world and what his political movement stands for. Trump has not yet weighed in on the rift, and his presidential transition team did not respond to a message seeking comment. Musk, the world’s richest man who has , was a central figure in the debate, not only for his stature in Trump’s movement but his stance on the tech industry’s hiring of foreign workers. Technology companies say H-1B visas for skilled workers, used by software engineers and others in the tech industry, are critical for hard-to-fill positions. But critics have said they undercut U.S. citizens who could take those jobs. Some on the right have called for the program to be eliminated, not expanded. Born in South Africa, Musk was once on an a H-1B visa himself and defended the industry’s need to bring in foreign workers. “There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,” he said in a post. “It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.” Trump’s own positions over the years have reflected the divide in his movement. His tough immigration policies, including his pledge for a mass deportation, were central to his winning presidential campaign. He has focused on immigrants who come into the U.S. illegally but he has also , including family-based visas. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump called the H-1B visa program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. After he became president, Trump in 2017 issued a “Buy American and Hire American” , which directed Cabinet members to suggest changes to ensure H-1B visas were awarded to the highest-paid or most-skilled applicants to protect American workers. Trump’s businesses, however, have hired foreign workers, including , and his social media company behind his Truth Social app for highly skilled workers. During his 2024 campaign for president, as he made immigration his signature issue, Trump said immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But in a sharp departure from his usual alarmist message around immigration generally, Trump this year that he wants to give automatic green cards to foreign students who graduate from U.S. colleges. “I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” he told the “All-In” podcast with people from the venture capital and technology world. Those comments came on the cusp of Trump’s budding alliance with tech industry figures, but he did not make the idea a regular part of his campaign message or detail any plans to pursue such changes.
In early 2000, scientists at 3M, the Maplewood-based chemicals giant, made a startling discovery: High levels of PFAS, the virtually indestructible “forever chemicals” used in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets and many other products, were turning up in the nation’s sewage. The researchers were concerned. The data suggested that the toxic chemicals, made by 3M, were fast becoming ubiquitous in the environment. The company’s research had already linked exposure to birth defects, cancer and more. That sewage was being used as fertilizer on farmland nationwide, a practice encouraged by the Environmental Protection Agency. The presence of PFAS in the sewage meant those chemicals were being unwittingly spread on fields across the country. 3M didn’t publish the research, but the company did share its findings with the EPA at a 2003 meeting, according to 3M documents reviewed by the New York Times. The research and the EPA’s knowledge of it have not been previously reported. Today, the EPA continues to promote sewage sludge as fertilizer and doesn’t require testing for PFAS, despite the fact that whistleblowers, academics, state officials and the agency’s internal studies over the years have also raised contamination concerns. “These are highly complex mixtures of chemicals,” said David Lewis, a former EPA microbiologist who in the late 1990s issued early warnings of the risks in spreading sludge on farmland. The soil “becomes essentially permanently contaminated,” he said in a recent interview from his home in Georgia. The concerns raised by Lewis and others went unheeded at the time. The country is starting to wake up to the consequences. PFAS, an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, has been detected in sewage sludge, on land treated with sludge fertilizer across the country, and in milk and crops produced on contaminated soil. Only one state, Maine, has started to systematically test its farms for PFAS. Maine has also banned the use of sludge on its fields. In a statement, 3M said the sewage study had been shared with the EPA, and was therefore available to anyone who searched for it in the agency’s archives. The agency had sought 3M’s research into the chemicals as part of an investigation in the early 2000s into their health effects. 3M also said it had invested in “state-of-the-art water treatment technologies” at its manufacturing operations. The company is on track to stop PFAS manufacturing globally by the end of 2025, it said. The EPA did not respond to detailed questions for this article, including about the 3M research. It said in an earlier statement that it “recognizes that biosolids may sometimes contain PFAS and other contaminants” and that it was working with other agencies to “better understand the scope of farms that may have applied contaminated biosolids” and to “support farmers and protect the food supply.” Farmland contamination has become a contentious environmental issue in red and blue states. In Oklahoma, Republican voters ousted a longtime incumbent in a state House primary in August after the lawmaker drew criticism for the use of sewage sludge fertilizer on his fields. The victor, Jim Shaw, said he planned to introduce legislation to ban sludge fertilizer across the state. “There are other ways to dispose of excess waste from the cities,” Shaw said in an email. “Contaminating our farmland, livestock, food and water sources is not an option and has to stop.” This year the EPA designated two kinds of PFAS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law, and it mandated that water utilities reduce levels in drinking water to near zero and said there is no safe level of exposure to PFAS. It also designated PFAS as “an urgent public health and environmental issue” in 2021, and has said it will issue a report on the risks of PFAS contamination in sludge fertilizer by the end of the year. The decades-old research by 3M and the record of the company’s interaction with the EPA were found by the Times in a cache of tens of thousands of pages of internal documents that the company released as part of settlements in the early 2000s between the federal government and 3M over health risks of the chemicals. Reusing human waste to fertilize farmland, a practice that dates back centuries, keeps the waste from needing other ways of disposing of it, such as incineration or landfill dumping, both of which have their own environmental risks. But the problem, experts say, is that sewage today contains a host of chemicals, including PFAS, generated by businesses, factories and homes. The federal government regulates certain heavy metals and pathogens in sludge that is reused as fertilizer; it has no limits on PFAS. “There’s absolutely enough evidence, with the high levels of contaminants that we see in the sludge, for the EPA to regulate,” said Arjun K. Venkatesan, director of the Emerging Contaminants Research Laboratory at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. ‘It’s insidious’ The turn of the century was a turbulent time for 3M. After decades of hiding the dangers of PFAS — a history outlined in lawsuits and peer-reviewed studies based on previously secret industry documents — in 1998 it alerted the EPA about the potential hazards. The company had already found high levels of PFAS in the blood of its employees, and was starting to detect the chemicals in the wider population. It had also long tracked PFAS in wastewater from its factories. Then in a 2000 study, 3M researchers noticed something alarming. While testing for PFAS in cities with “no known significant industrial use” of the chemicals, including Cleveland, Tennessee, and Port St. Lucie, Florida, they found surprisingly high concentrations in sewage sludge. A question weighed on the researchers’ minds: If there were no PFAS manufacturers present, where were the chemicals coming from? Hints lay in 3M’s other research. The company had been studying how the chemicals could be released by PFAS-treated carpets during washing. And they were also studying how PFAS could leach from food packaging and other products. In an interview, Kris Hansen, a former chemist at 3M who was involved in the research, said the presence in sludge “meant this contamination was probably occurring at any city” that was using 3M’s products. The study showed, moreover, that PFAS were not getting broken down at wastewater treatment plants. “It was ending up in the sludge, and that was becoming biosolids, being mixed into soil,” Hansen said. “From there it can run into the groundwater, go back into people. It’s insidious.” In September 2003, 3M officials met with the EPA to discuss the company’s study of sludge contamination and other research, according to the internal records. At the end of the meeting, the EPA requested “additional background information supporting this monitoring data,” the records show. Sewage sludge has now been spread on millions of acres across the country. It’s difficult to know exactly how much, and EPA data is incomplete. The fertilizer industry says more than 2 million dry tons were used on 4.6 million acres of farmland in 2018. And it estimates that farmers have obtained permits to use sewage sludge on nearly 70 million acres, or about a fifth of all U.S. agricultural land. “If we really wanted to figure this problem out because we believe it’s in the interest of public health, we really needed to share that data widely,” said Hansen, who has become a whistleblower against 3M. “But my memory is that the corporation was kind of caught up in the, ‘Oh my gosh, what do we do about this?’” Early warning, unheeded Lewis was a rising star in the late 1990s as a microbiologist at the EPA. He discovered how dental equipment could harbor HIV, winning him kudos within the scientific community. Then he turned his attention to sewage sludge. The EPA was encouraging farmers to use sludge as fertilizer. Humans had used waste to fertilize the land for millennia, after all. But, as Lewis pointed out with his research, modern-day sewage most likely contained a slew of chemicals, including PFAS, that made it a very dangerous fertilizer. He collected and examined sewage samples. He investigated illnesses and deaths he said could be linked to sludge. He started presenting his findings at scientific conferences. “The chances that serious adverse effects will occur from a complex and unpredictable mixture of tens of thousands of chemical pollutants is a virtual certainty,” he said at the time. His research prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue guidelines protecting workers handling processed sewage sludge. The EPA eliminated his job in 2003. He was a prominent voice on the issue at the time, but not the only one. Rolf Halden, a professor at the School of Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University and an early researcher of contamination in biosolids, met with EPA officials at least nine times since 2005 to warn about his own research, according to his records. “The history of biosolids is that it was a toxic waste,” he said. For decades, he noted, sludge from New York City “was loaded on trains and shipped to the back corners of the country,” he said. Farmers often took the sludge without knowledge of its possible contamination. In 2006, an EPA contractor offered him samples of municipal sewage sludge left over from earlier agency testing. The EPA had been about to throw them out. Those samples led to a study that confirmed elevated PFAS levels in sludge nationwide. (The early research into sewage samples eventually led to wastewater testing that has helped researchers track the virus that causes COVID-19.) Another researcher, Christopher Higgins, was starting his academic career in the early 2000s when he began looking at sludge. He presented his work to EPA officials, he said, and was left with the impression that it wasn’t a priority. “I was really surprised by how few people were working for EPA on the topic,” said Higgins, who is now a professor at the Colorado School of Mines. Betsy Southerland, a former director of science and technology in the EPA Office of Water, which oversees biosolids, said the program had been hurt by staffing shortages as well as an arduous process for setting new restrictions. Action has been slow, she said, even though EPA’s surveys of sludge had shown “all kinds of pollutants — flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, steroids, hormones,” she said. “It’s the most horrible story,” she said. A 2018 report by the EPA’s inspector accused the agency of failing to properly regulate biosolids, saying it had “reduced staff and resources in the biosolids program over time, creating barriers.” The Biden administration has said it would publish a risk assessment of PFAS in biosolids by the end of 2024. That would be a first step toward setting limits on PFAS in sewage sludge used as fertilizer. There is another solution, experts say. Under the Clean Water Act, wastewater treatment plants have a legal authority to limit PFAS pollution from local factories. It’s known as the Clean Water Act “pretreatment program,” preventing chemicals from reaching sewage in the first place. In the past two years, two cities — Burlington, North Carolina, and Calhoun, Georgia — have ordered industries to clean up the effluent they send to wastewater treatment plants. In one instance, a textile producer decided to stop using PFAS entirely. Those actions came after a local environmental group sued the cities. “Industry is in the best position to control their own pollution, rather than treating wastewater treatment plants like industrial, toxic dumping grounds,” said Kelly Moser, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed the lawsuits. The National Association of Clean Water Agencies, which represents wastewater treatment plants, said more than 1,600 utilities already had pretreatment programs in place, though not necessarily for PFAS. (The group also said research showed that the chemicals were coming from household waste, including human waste, not just factories.) Adam Krantz, the group’s CEO, said many utilities were waiting for the EPA to set standards. That would strengthen treatment plants’ ability to hold the ultimate polluters responsible, he said. “If these chemical companies were aware of PFAS’ potential dangers and kept it quiet,” he said, “then these polluters have to pay.”
NoneST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — 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. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said MLB wants to give the Rays and Tampa-area politicians time to figure out a path forward given the disruption caused by the hurricane. Assuming Tropicana Field is repaired, the Rays are obligated to play there for three more seasons. “We’re committed to the fans in Tampa Bay,” Manfred said at an owners meeting. “Given all that’s happened in that market, we’re focused on our franchise in Tampa Bay right now.” 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. “I’d like to pare it down and see exactly what we’re obligated to do,” council member John Muhammad said. The city previously voted to spend $6.5 million to prevent further damage to the unroofed Trop. Several council members said before the vote on the $23.7 million to fix the roof that the city is contractually obligated to do so. “I don’t see a way out of it. We have a contract that’s in place,” council member Gina Driscoll said. “We’re obligated to do it. We are going to fix the roof.” The council had voted 4-3 to approve the roof repair. Members who opposed it said there wasn't enough clarity on numerous issues, including how much would be covered by the ballpark's insurance and what amount might be provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They also noted that city residents who are struggling to repair their homes and businesses damaged by hurricanes Helene and Milton are dismayed when they see so many taxpayer dollars going to baseball. “Why are we looking to expend so much money right away when there is so much uncertainty?” council member Richie Floyd said. The new Rays ballpark — now likely to open in 2029, if at all — is part of a larger urban renovation project known as the Historic Gas Plant District, which refers to a predominantly Black neighborhood that was forced out to make way for construction of Tropicana Field and an interstate highway spur. The broader $6.5 billion project would transform an 86-acre (34-hectare) tract in the city’s downtown, with plans in the coming years for a Black history museum, affordable housing, a hotel, green space, entertainment venues, and office and retail space. There’s the promise of thousands of jobs as well. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, a prime mover behind the overall project, said it's not time to give up. “We believe there is a path forward to success,” the mayor said. AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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Consensus key to reforms, election
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