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MOSTLY SUNNY 55 • 39 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2020 | theworldlink.com

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Gov. Brown releases budget proposal MONIQUE MERRILL Country Media

Gov. Kate Brown released her recommended budget and policy agenda for the 2021-23 biennium Tuesday, which focuses on addressing and ending systemic racial disparities, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuilding communities affected by the wildfires.

“I believe the first step in creating opportunity is recognizing that racism is endemic to our systems, impacting every part of our culture and economy,” Brown said in a press conference addressing the budget Dec. 1.

Brown convened the Racial Justice Council this year to help advise her priorities and root policies in equity. A focus on criminal justice reform is also

guiding the upcoming closures of three of the state’s 16 prisons.

Mill Creek in Salem is slated to close at the start of July next year, six months later Shutter Creek in North Bend will close and six months after that Warner Creek in Lakeview will close.

“My plan for the future of our prison system is that the state will no longer invest in extensive and expensive buildings, but invest in people,” Brown said.

The ongoing impacts of the pandemic are felt through the budget as well, and Brown said there were challenges in creating the plan.

“Let me be very, very clear: The budget does not put enough money into our schools and doesn’t make the investments in public health we need,” she said.

“It is a budget built on sacrifice

and hard choices.”

The Oregon Health Authority estimates $252 million in resources will be needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic over the next six months, Brown said. An additional $433 million is expected to be needed for July through December of 2021.

Brown called for a federal stimulus plan to help address the needs of Oregonians, including $350 million for rent forgiveness and mortgage relief, the continuation of $600 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Insurance for people laid off during COVID-19 closures, a renewed Paycheck Protection Program, increased funding for schools and childcare, among other asks.

“What I think is really important is that Republicans and

Democrats in Washington D.C. put aside their political differences and put the American people first,” Brown said. “That means working together and solving problems.”

At a glance Housing and homelessness — $4.5 million investment to support youth aging out of foster care and facing homelessness — $20 million investment for homeowner assistance, including down payment assistance — $2 million to fund a technical assistance program through Oregon Housing and Community Services for outreach to communities of color — $2.3 million expansion of the Agricultural Workforce Housing Tax Credit for the development of housing for agri-

cultural workers Education — $14.1 million in distance learning grants — $28.1 million in funding for the Student Success Act Early Learning account to support existing child care providers — $5.8 million for mental health consultation for child care providers in need of assistance for behavioral health needs of children — $9.1 billion in funding for the State School Fund Wildfires — $73.7 in additional fire preparedness — $189.5 million to rebuild communities affected by the fires — $170 million accessible to

Please see Budget, Page 2

Shutter Creek slated for closure in budget The World

COOS BAY — The landscaping outside the house is full of rhododendrons, but the building’s future owners plan to name it after azaleas.

The name, Azalea House, will grace the blue building on Thompson Road as it transitions from an old, partially demolished psychiatry practice into an adult foster care home. One day, community members might be able to plant azaleas in in the garden in honor of loved ones, too.

Plus, as Tara Johnson, the executive director of the Devereux Center which will soon own the

building, said, “Who can spell rhododendron?”

The new building was donated to the Devereux Center this month, and with it the Coos Bay nonprofit plans to open a fivebed adult foster care facility. The new spaces will fill just a fraction of the need in the community, and will take considerable construction before they’re up and running, but experts say the facility is badly needed.

“Foster care is one of those areas where we’ve had a very low level of resources in the community,” said David Geels, the behavioral health director at Coos Health & Wellness.

Coos County used to have

more open adult foster care beds — 25 at one point — and they were always full, according to Geels.

But now, he says, there are only about 10 adult foster care spaces left in the county. Four homes have closed down as owners — many of them family providers — couldn’t keep up with mortgage payments or requirements for 24-7 staffing.

With the level of need in the community, and a state limit on facilities to five residents each, Geels says the county could probably fill at least five more adult foster homes with residents.

Beyond just starting to fill the need, Geels said the planned

model of the Devereux Center’s, with a mortgage-free building and an organization running the facility instead of a family, gives it better odds of success for staying open.

“It creates a level of stability,” Geels said. “It’s hard work, running a facility like that.”

Brent and Melanie Beetham purchased and donated the building with the goal of improving mental health services in the community, Johnson said. After considering the area’s zoning regulations and discussing with other nonprofits, they settled on the idea of an adult foster care program.

Please see Building, Page 2

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown is proposing to close the Shutter Creek Correctional Institute near North Bend next winter in her new budget proposal.

The governor announced her budget plan Tuesday and it included closing three prisons — Shutter Creek and Warner Creek near Lakeview, which state budget writers also proposed closing earlier this year, and Mill Creek in Salem.

Her plan unveiled Tuesday proposes to close Mill Creek at the start of July, Shutter Creek six months later and Warner Creek in July of 2022.

Brown said she convened the Racial Justice Council to help advise her priorities and the focus on criminal justice reform led to her proposal on the prisons.

“My plan for the future of our prison is that the state will no longer invest in expensive buildings, but invest in people,” she said.

Shutter Creek, located east of Hauser, is a minimum-security facility with 302 beds. It formerly was an Air National Guard radar station and was given to the state by the U.S. General Services Administration in 1990 and converted into the prison.

It employs 87 workers and focuses on preparing inmates near the end of their sentences from six Southern Oregon counties — Coos, Curry, Douglas, Lane, Jackson and Josephine — for release back into society.

The Oregon Legislature, in partnership with the governor, allocated $55 Million of federal CARES Act funds for the purpose of providing financial assistance to small businesses affected by economic conditions as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds were allocated to counties to deploy in the form of grants to small businesses who have been financially impacted.

CCD Business Development Corporation was contracted to deploy the Coos County COVID-19 Business Grant Program.

The federal funds are directed to affected businesses with 100 or fewer employees. Coos County Business Grant awards will be made to eligible businesses that

have received less than $500,000 in federal funding. Businesses may use the grant proceeds for any business-related operating expenses.

Eligible Applicants: Small business must be located in Coos County.

Businesses that meet the following eligibility requirements: • The business is headquartered in Oregon and has its principal operations in Oregon.

• If required by Oregon law to be registered with the Oregon Secretary of State to do business in Oregon, the business is registered.

• The business has 100 or fewer employees.

• The business was affected in either one of the following two

ways: • For-profit and nonprofit (limited to 501(c)(3) corporations) businesses that were prohibited from operations as directed by Executive Orders 20-12 or 20-65.

• For-profit and nonprofit businesses that can demonstrate a one-month decline in sales of 25% or more, incurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, between March 1 and November 30 as compared against the same period of time in 2019.

The following businesses are ineligible to apply for or receive funding: • Passive real estate holding companies and entities holding passive investments.

• Nonprofit entities that do not have federal 501(c)(3) status.

• Businesses that experience a decline in revenues for reasons other than those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g. seasonal or cyclical business cycles.)

• Businesses that are delinquent on federal, state or local taxes that were due on or before the date of application.

• Businesses that do not comply with all federal, state and local laws and regulations.

• Businesses that have received more than $500,000 of federal CARES funding.

• Businesses that have closed and do not intend to reopen.

Eligible Grant Amounts: $5,000 - $50,000 “What’s the catch and how do I qualify?” Theresa Haga, execu-

tive director for CCD said. “The catch is CCD needs businesses to apply and act fast. There is a very short window of time to give out this money. We have a small staff working hard to contact as many local businesses as possible, but we really need the community to step up and help us spread the word again. If you are hesitant to apply, don’t be.

We are still facing an unknown future with winter ahead of us.

We want to help as many of our local businesses as possible while the money is available.”

The application will be available at www.ccdbusiness. org at noon Monday, December 7. Submit an application package to covid19grants@ccdbusiness. com.

Zack Demars, The World

A former psychiatry practice in Coos Bay will become an adult foster home, after significant renovation and state licensing.

Devereux Center to turn donated building into adult foster care ZACK DEMARS The World

New grants available for small businesses

eEdition

Oregon has new daily high in coronavirus deaths The World PORTLAND — Oregon had a new single-day high in reported deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic when the Oregon Health Authority announced 24 new deaths Tuesday.

The state’s death toll rose to 936 on a day when an additional 1,233 confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases were reported, including 14 in Coos County and six in Curry County. As of 12:01 am. Tuesday, the state has had 76,654 total cases.

The deaths marked a new high and included an age range from 56 to 96.

“Today’s grim milestone is another reminder of the severity and spread of the disease and the importance for all Oregonians to wear masks, keep physical distance and keep gatherings small,” OHA said in its daily release.

The new cases were in the following counties: Baker (3), Benton (19), Clackamas (148), Clatsop (7), Columbia (6), Coos (14), Crook (4), Curry (6), Deschutes (60), Douglas (8), Grant (3), Harney (2), Hood River (12), Jackson (72), Jefferson (19), Josephine (11), Klamath (37), Lake (5), Lane (75), Lincoln (21), Linn (27), Malheur (11), Marion (146), Morrow (5), Multnomah (270), Polk (24), Tillamook (6), Umatilla (23), Union (9), Wasco (6), Washington (158), Wheeler (2), and Yamhill (14).

Oregon’s 913th

Building From Page 1

Even through it’ll be operated by the Devereux Center, which focuses on serving homeless individuals, the foster home won’t only be open to those experiencing homelessness. Any individuals with severe mental illness could be eligible after a referral from Coos Health & Wellness.

“We’re hoping to find the people that don’t have the family support or don’t have the community to seek the help that they need,” Johnson said, noting that mental health is often a contributing factor to individuals becoming homeless.

Services in the home will include housing, medication monitoring, food preparation and daily hygiene, among other services, Johnson said.

Once up and running,

COVID-19 death is a 95-year-old man in Baker County who tested positive on Nov. 26 and died Nov. 26. His place of death is being confirmed. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 914th COVID-19 death is a 65-year-old woman in Multnomah County who tested positive on Oct. 20 and died Oct. 28, in her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 915th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Oct. 23 and died Nov. 21, in her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 916th COVID-19 death is an 84-year-old woman in Yamhill County who tested positive on Nov. 19 and died Nov. 23, at Willamette Valley Medical Center.

Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 917th COVID-19 death is a 74-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on Nov. 24 and died Nov. 29, at Portland Adventist Medical Center.

Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 918th COVID-19 death is a 63-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 12 and died Nov.17, in her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 919th COVID-19 death is an

83-year-old woman in Multnomah County who died Nov. 17, in her residence. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 920th COVID-19 death is an 87-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died Nov. 29, in his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 921st COVID-19 death is a 56-year-old man in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 4 and died Nov. 29, in his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 922nd COVID-19 death is a 64-year-old man in Multnomah County who died Nov. 25 in his residence.

The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. The presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 923rd COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old woman in Multnomah County who died Nov. 20 at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. The death certificate listed COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death. The presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 924th COVID-19 death is a

the home’s services will be largely funded by the state, too.

“It’s really additional funds that are coming out to support these folks,” Geels said.

But before any of the licensing, funding or living can happen, crews have to get building.

There’s a significant amount of renovation that needs to be completed.

“There are things that we need to do to be user-friendly for adult foster care,” Johnson said.

Sheetrock for the walls, for example, will be a starting point: Currently, the building has been stripped down to the studs. Crews will need to rework some plumbing and wiring, and some walls will likely need to move to expand bathrooms, bedrooms, a kitchen space and a living space for the resident manager.

In the end, Johnson

envisions five bedrooms with a kitchen, multiple full bathrooms and rooms for counseling and creative therapy activities.

But she also acknowledges that it’s a challenging time to launch a project like this, with the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic downturn still raging.

“Sure, its ambitious,” she said. “But mental illness doesn’t go away because of a pandemic.”

Regardless, the Devereux Center jumped at the opportunity to take over the building and put a “drop in the bucket” of the community’s need for facilities like Azalea House.

“It’s a tiny drop in a really big bucket,” Johnson said. “But how long do we let the bucket remain empty?”

The Devereux Center is accepting donations for the project, including financial contributions, materials and labor.

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77-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on Nov. 18 and died Nov. 27, at Salem Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 925th COVID-19 death an 87-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on Nov. 21 and died Nov. 26, at Salem Hospital. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 926th COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old man in Polk County who tested positive on Oct. 28 and died Nov. 4. Location of death is being confirmed. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 927th COVID-19 death is a 96-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Nov. 6 and died Nov. 19, in her residence. She had no underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 928th COVID-19 death is a 90-year-old woman in Multnomah County who became symptomatic on Nov.16, after contact with a confirmed case and died Nov. 26 in her residence.

She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 929th COVID-19 death is a 66-year-old woman in Polk

County who tested positive on Nov. 27 and died Nov. 28, at Salem Hospital. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 930th COVID-19 death is a 93-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 12 and died Nov. 25, in her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 931st COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died Nov. 29, in her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 932nd COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old woman in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 17 and died Nov. 29, in her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 933rd COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Jackson County who tested positive on Nov. 10 and died Nov. 29, at Asante Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 934th COVID-19 death is an 82-year-old man in Union County who tested positive on Nov. 17 and died Nov.

28, in his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 935th COVID-19 death is a 75-year-old man in Union County who tested positive on Nov. 11 and died Nov. 29, in his residence. He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 936th COVID-19 death is a 92-year-old man in Clackamas County who tested positive on Nov. 5 and died Nov. 18, in his residence.

He had underlying conditions.

Note: The number of people who test negative for COVID-19 reported yesterday and today is unusually low because a technical issue has created a backlog of unprocessed test results.

The processing issue also has created an artificially high positivity rate today. OHA is working through the backlog of unprocessed test results.

Daily COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped slightly The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients across Oregon dropped to 577, seven fewer than Monday. There are 111 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds. That is six fewer than Monday.

Zack Demars, The World

Tara Johnson stands in what will become a bedroom of the adult foster care facility that Johnson’s nonprofit will operate once completed.

Interested donors should contact the center at 541-

888-3202 and indicate that they’d like their

donations directed to the adult foster care project.

Budget

and nursing homes from COVID-19 The Oregon Health Plan faces a budget gap of $718 million due to the pandemic, and the budget has faced criticism from the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.

“The governor’s budget reflects her priorities and choices. She has chosen to propose direct cuts to hospitals in the midst of the biggest public health crisis in a century,” said Becky Hultberg, president and CEO of OAHHS. “Cuts of this magnitude could force hospitals to reduce services to Oregonians during a pandemic. These cuts cannot be justified.”

In the press conference, Brown responded to the

criticism and said the budget was a starting point and she plans to work with hospitals to ensure the state has the resources to provide continued care. A challenge of putting the budget together was the uncertainty of not knowing what federal aid the state would be receiving, Brown said.

“This is a really challenging time for our healthcare system. I’m hoping over the next few months we can come together to come up with a package that will sustain funding for the Oregon Health Plan,” Brown said.

Brown’s full budget can be viewed here: media.heartlandtv.com/ documents/GRB2123FinalShortBook.pdf

From Page 1

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eEdition

GOP opposes some of Biden’s cabinet picks WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks are quickly running into the political reality of a narrowly controlled Senate that will leave the new Democratic administration dependent on rival Republicans to get anything done.

Under leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican senators will hold great sway in confirming Biden’s nominees regardless of which party holds the majority after runoff elections in January. Biden will have little room to maneuver and few votes to spare.

As Biden rolled out his economic team Tuesday — after introducing his national security team last week — he asked the Senate to give his nomi-

nees prompt review, saying they “deserve and expect nothing less.”

But that seems unlikely.

Republicans are swiftly signaling that they’re eager to set the terms of debate and exact a price for their votes. Biden’s choice for budget chief, Neera Tanden, was instantly rejected as “radioactive.” His secretary of state nominee, Antony Blinken, quickly ran into resistance from GOP senators blasting his record amid their own potential 2024 White House campaigns.

Even as most Republican senators still refuse to publicly acknowledge President Donald Trump’s defeat, they are launching new battles for the Biden era. The GOP is suspended

between an outgoing president it needs to keep close — Trump can still make or break careers with a single tweet — and the new one they are unsure how to approach. Almost one month since the Nov. 3 election, McConnell and Biden have not yet spoken.

“The disagreement, disorientation and confusion among Republicans will make them inclined to unite in opposition,” said Ramesh Ponnuru, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, during a Tuesday briefing.

“They don’t necessarily know what they’re for, but they can all agree they don’t like Neera Tanden.”

A new president often runs into trouble with at least a few Cabinet or

administrative nominees, individuals who rub the Senate the wrong way and fail to win enough votes for confirmation or are forced to withdraw after grueling public hearings.

Trump’s nominees faced enormous resistance from Senate Democrats, who used their minority-party status to slow-walk confirmation for even lower-level positions. It’s been an escalation of the Senate’s procedural battles for at least a decade.

But the battles ahead are particularly sharp as Biden tries to stand up an administration during the COVID-19 crisis and economic freefall, rebuilding a government after Trump chased away many career professionals and

appointed often-untested newcomers.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer praised the expertise Biden’s choices will bring to government. He scoffed at Republicans for complaining about Tanden’s penchant for sharp tweets after four years of Trump’s endless Twitter barbs that GOP senators often tried to ignore.

“After what all we went through over the past four years, I would expect that almost all of President-elect Biden’s nominees would be widely acceptable,” Schumer said from the Senate floor.

Instead, he warned, the “switch is starting to flip” into Republican opposition.

To be sure, some key

Biden choices will have an easier path to confirmation.

Janet Yellen, who would become the nation’s first female treasury secretary, drew few public complaints from Republicans. Many had voted to confirm her in 2014 as Federal Reserve chair.

Democrats have their own battles ahead. Biden faces the daunting task of keeping the party’s centrist and progressive factions from splintering as he tries to put his team in place.

Republicans now hold a 50-48 advantage in the Senate, but if Democrats win both Georgia seats in the Jan. 5 runoff elections, they would wrest control, since the vice president, which will be Kamala Harris, becomes a tie-breaker.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Disputing President Donald Trump’s persistent, baseless claims, Attorney General William Barr declared the U.S. Justice Department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could

change the outcome of the 2020 election.

Barr’s comments, in an interview Tuesday with the The Associated Press, contradict the concerted effort by Trump, his boss, to subvert the results of last month’s voting and block

President-elect Joe Biden from taking his place in the White House.

Barr told the AP that U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they’ve received, but “to

date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”

The comments, which drew immediate criticism from Trump attorneys, were especially notable coming from Barr, who has been one of the president’s most ardent allies. Before the election, he had repeatedly raised the notion that mail-in voting could be especially vulnerable to fraud during the coronavirus pandemic as Americans feared going to polls and instead chose to vote by mail.

More to Trump’s liking, Barr revealed in the AP interview that in October he had appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as a special counsel, giving the prosecutor the authority to continue to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe after Biden takes over and making it difficult

to fire him. Biden hasn’t said what he might do with the investigation, and his transition team didn’t comment Tuesday.

Trump has long railed against the investigation into whether his 2016 campaign was coordinating with Russia, but he and Republican allies had hoped the results would be delivered before the 2020 election and would help sway voters. So far, there has been only one criminal case, a guilty plea from a former FBI lawyer to a single false statement charge.

Under federal regulations, a special counsel can be fired only by the attorney general and for specific reasons such as misconduct, dereliction of duty or conflict of interest. An attorney general must document such reasons in writing.

Barr went to the White House Tuesday for a previously scheduled meeting

that lasted about three hours.

Trump didn’t directly comment on the attorney general’s remarks on the election. But his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and his political campaign issued a scathing statement claiming that, “with all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn’t been any semblance” of an investigation into the president’s complaints.

Other administration officials who have come out forcefully against Trump’s allegations of voter-fraud evidence have been fired.

But it’s not clear whether Barr might suffer the same fate. He maintains a lofty position with Trump, and despite their differences the two see eye-to-eye on quite a lot.

Still, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer quipped: “I guess he’s the next one to be fired.”

The World

and Elm Avenue.

City crews are responding to the break, and the public is asked to be aware of possible delays in the area, city offi-

cials said in a press release.

Questions can be directed to Public Works Director Kim Clardy at 541-2713603.

Justice Department finds no widespread election fraud

Man sentenced for phoning in bomb threat to courthouse BEND (AP) — A Bend resident has been sentenced to federal prison for crafting a hoax bomb and phoning in a threat to blow up the Deschutes County Courthouse in 2019, federal prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams said Kellie Cameron was sentenced Tuesday to nearly two years in federal prison and three years’ supervised release. Cameron was also ordered to pay more than $43,000 in restitution.

Court documents say Cameron and co-defendant Jonathan Allen conspired to shut down the courthouse in Bend by planting

a fake bomb and calling in a bomb threat. Cameron and Allen placed a hoax device on a ramp near the courthouse on July 29, 2019. Cameron called 911 twice, telling the operator two bombs were in and around the courthouse.

As a result, the Deschutes County Courthouse, the Deschutes County District Attorney’s office, a bank, and other nearby businesses were evacuated while first responders rushed to the scene and investigated.

When the device was discovered, a bomb squad used disabling techniques to prevent an explosion.

The device was later

dismantled and found to be a hoax.

In 2019, Cameron and Allen were charged with conspiring to make a threat to damage property and conveying false information and hoaxes.

Cameron pleaded guilty in federal court in August to using a telephone to make a threat to damage a building by means of an explosive.

Allen, who pleaded guilty to the charge in June, was sentenced in September to 18 months in federal prison and three years’ supervised release, along with being ordered to pay over $43,000 in restitution.

Prosecutor declines charges in anti-mask protest in Bend BEND (AP) — A prosecutor in Bend, Oregon, declined on Tuesday to file criminal charges against protesters who participated in a demonstration on a public sidewalk against the governor’s mask-wearing mandate.

The protesters’ constitutional rights to assembly and free speech outweighed the need to enforce Gov. Kate Brown’s mask mandate, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said in a statement.

He noted that the Nov. 21 protest was not violent or

destructive.

Four people called the police after seeing people protesting without wearing a mask. Brown’s order requires Oregon residents to wear a mask while with anyone from outside their household if individuals cannot maintain six feet of distance between each other. The rule applies both indoors and outdoors and has generated pushback from some who find it too restrictive.

Police interviewed the event organizer, who said he disagreed with the mandate, found it unconstitutional and believes

wearing a mask should be an individual choice.

Hummel said the mask mandate was constitutional, but in this instance he felt the protesters’ rights took precedence.

“My philosophy is content neutral, meaning, it applies to people who gather for ‘liberal’ causes and to people who gather for ‘conservative’ causes,” Hummel wrote.

“I encourage people to wear masks and maintain social distance so we can save lives, save businesses, and save parent’s sanity by getting kids back to school.”

Wolves blamed for killing cow near Butte Falls BUTTE FALLS (AP) — The Rogue Pack of gray wolves has made its way back to Jackson County in southwestern Oregon and killed a cow, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The pack created by the now-dead wolf known as OR-7 was blamed for a Thursday kill of a year-old cow in the Rancheria area east of Butte Falls, The Mail Tribune reported.

Fish and Wildlife officials say the heifer was on private grass pasture about a quarter-mile from the rancher’s home. The carcass was discovered with the entrails and part of its hind legs consumed.

The injuries were consistent with previous livestock kills by wolves in the area known to be Rogue Pack habitat and thus was attributed to the pack, officials said.

The Rogue Pack had recently been in the Wood River Valley area of western Klamath County, on the eastern edge of the pack’s known range, according to agency reports.

But the pack has been known to cross the Cascade Mountains crest and move into eastern Jackson County in late fall, said Steve Niemela, ODFW Rogue District wildlife biologist.

The pack’s matriarch, known as OR-94 based on

the GPS-transmitting collar she now wears, was not in the immediate area of last week’s kill, Niemela said. But, it’s not unusual for members of the pack to hunt independently and then regroup, he said.

The Rogue Pack is now blamed for 37 livestock or dog kills since 2016, and the recent kill was its third last month.

The latest livestock kill comes after the Trump Administration moved to strip gray wolves of federal Endangered Species Act protections in the lower 48 states, but the decision has yet to take effect.

Gray wolves in Western Oregon are listed as endangered under the act.

Reedsport responding to water line break REEDSPORT — A water line is broken near the intersection of South 19th Street

DEAR ABBYBy Abigail Van Buren TRUST ISSUES ARE REMNANTS OF PAST TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS DEAR ABBY: Marriage is considered to be imperative in my religion and culture. I’m 29 and still not married.

I have commitment and trust issues with guys. I have been in only three relationships my entire life.

Every time things are going well, I tend to self-sabotage and make excuses to push the guy away. I start arguments for no reason or create problems or issues that I fabricate out of thin air. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that my past relationships were toxic and tumultuous. They were cheaters and liars.

I have carried that baggage into my relationship with my new partner by not believing a lot of the things he says.

For example, I doubt his feelings for me. When things are going smoothly between us, I always take five or 10 steps back. It isn’t fair that I put him through the wringer, but I don’t know any other way. How can I get past this continuous issue? -- PROBLEM TRUSTING IN CALIFORNIA DEAR PROBLEM TRUSTING: The most effective way to do that would be to talk about this destructive pattern with a licensed mental health adviser.

If you do, it may help you rid yourself of the “baggage” you are carrying, understand why you chose the men you did before, and make it easier to evaluate any new relationships that start to develop.

DEAR ABBY: I have known my friend “Matt” for more than 20 years.

We’ve been close for most of those years.

Matt is gay, and early in our friendship, we had a mutual friend, “Gary,” who used a gay epithet often, even though he knew Matt is gay. It hurt Matt, but he wasn’t comfortable

speaking to Gary about it, so I did.

Gary not only apologized to Matt but to this day (some 18 years later), I haven’t heard Gary say that word in our company.

Recently, Matt has started using the N-word. I have told him that not only is it disgusting and offensive, but I compared it to the situation with Gary.

Matt laughed it off and continues to use the word with no regard for me. I have started spending less time with him because of it because I don’t want him to think I condone his racist language.

Is it time to sever ties with Matt? -DISAPPOINTED IN MARYLAND DEAR DISAPPOINTED: I think so. The next time Matt uses the N-word, make clear to him that if you ever hear it from him again, your friendship will be OVER. And then follow through.

DEAR ABBY: I feel horrible about my “first time.” It was with my boyfriend, and it happened in the back seat of his car. I had always dreamed of my first time being special, but after realizing we didn’t have many options, we decided the car was fine. Now I feel ashamed and guilty. Can you advise me?

-- NOT LIKE I IMAGINED IN TEXAS DEAR NOT: I will try. When did your first time happen? Last weekend?

Last month? Last year? Whenever it was, it is in the past. Experience teaches us what works for us and what doesn’t.

Learn from it, but don’t preoccupy yourself with regret over something you can’t change.

------------------------------Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.

DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

eEdition

United Kingdom authorizes vaccine for emergency use LONDON (AP) — Britain authorized a COVID-19 vaccine for use Wednesday, greenlighting the first shot backed up by rigorous scientific review. The first vaccinations are expected within days — a major step toward eventually ending the pandemic.

The go-ahead for the vaccine from American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech comes as the virus surges again in the United States and Europe, putting pressure on hospitals and forcing new rounds of restrictions that have devastated the global economy. Officials cautioned that several tough months still lie ahead, even in Britain, given the scale of the operation needed to vaccinate large swaths of the population.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, which licenses drugs in the U.K., recommended the vaccine for emergency use after it reviewed a raft of data, including the results of clinical trials that showed it was 95% effective and offered significant protection for older people, among those most at risk of dying from the disease. But the vaccine remains experimental while final testing is done.

“This is, without any shadow of a doubt, an historic day,” said David Harper, senior consulting fellow in global health at

the Chatham House think tank. “This is an unprecedented piece of science,” given that the vaccine was authorized less than a year after COVID-19 was discovered.

Other countries aren’t far behind: Regulators in the United States and the European Union also are vetting the Pfizer vaccine along with a similar shot made by competitor Moderna Inc. British regulators also are considering another shot made by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the U.K. will begin receiving the first shipment of 800,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine “within days,” and people will start getting the shots as soon as it arrives. Two doses three weeks apart are required for protection.

The U.K. expects to receive “millions of doses” by the end of this year, Hancock said, adding that the exact number will depend on how fast it can be manufactured and checked for quality.

“The doses that we have for the U.K. are currently being packed (by) our colleagues at Pfizer’s facility in Belgium, ready for shipping very, very quickly,” BioNTech’s chief commercial officer, Sean Marett, told reporters Wednesday.

But doses are scarce as production ramps up.

BioNTech, which owns the vaccine, has so far signed deals to supply 570 million doses worldwide in 2021, with options to deliver 600 million more, Marett said.

It hopes to supply at least 1.3 billion in 2021.

The German company has partnered with Pfizer to deliver the vaccine worldwide, except in China where local company Fosun Pharma will handle distribution.

The BioNTech figures still only represent a fraction of what will be needed as public health officials try to vaccinate much of the world’s population. Experts have said that several vaccines will be needed in order to quickly end the pandemic, which has killed more than 1.4 million people worldwide.

In Britain, public health officials plan to offer the vaccine first to those who are most at risk of dying from the disease and those whose jobs put them at risk of contracting the virus and spreading it to others. The vaccination program will be expanded to others as supplies become available.

The first vaccines will go to nursing home residents and those who care for them, followed by everyone over 80, and healthcare workers. From there, government plans call for vaccines to be offered roughly on the basis of age groups, starting with the

oldest people first.

The drugmakers said they would immediately begin shipping limited supplies to the U.K. — and have been gearing up for wider distribution if the shot receives approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a decision expected as early as next week.

Despite the speed with which they approved the vaccine, British regulators insisted “no corners have been cut” during the review process.

The MHRA made its recommendation following a rolling review of that allowed it to assess information about the vaccine as soon as it became available. The agency began analysis of preclinical data in October, followed by information on manufacturing and quality assurance and finally the results of the clinical trials.

“The safety of the public will always come first,” Dr. June Raine, chief executive of the agency, said during a news conference. “And I emphasize again that this recommendation has only been given by the MHRA following the most rigorous scientific assessment of every piece of data.”

Getting that message to the public will be critical if any vaccination program is to be successful. Some people are worried about getting any vaccine, never

mind a new one.

Jacqueline Roubians, a retired nurse, hopes most people will get the shot.

“A lot of people are skeptical but I think once they understand and see everyone else having it without hesitation, I think you’ll find that people will go and have it,” Roubians, 76, said at Brixton Market in London. “People are dying of COVID, so you make that decision: do you want to die or do you want the vaccine?”

In addition to massive logistical challenge of distributing billons of vaccines, the Pfizer-BioNTech one must be stored and shipped at ultra-cold temperatures of around minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit).

Pfizer says it has developed shipping containers that use dry ice to keep the vaccine cool. GPS-enabled sensors will allow the company to track each shipment and ensure they stay cold.

The company also says it has agreed to work with other vaccine makers to ensure there is sufficient supply and a range of vaccines, “including those suitable for global access.”

Every country has different rules for determining when an experimental vaccine is safe and effective enough to use. Intense political pressure to be the first to roll out a rigorously

scientifically tested shot colored the race in the U.S. and Britain, even as researchers pledged to cut no corners.

In contrast, China and Russia have offered different vaccinations to their citizens ahead of late-stage testing.

The vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech was tested in tens of thousands of people. And while the study isn’t complete, early results suggest the vaccine is 95% effective at preventing mild to severe COVID-19 disease. The companies told regulators that of the first 170 infections detected in study volunteers, only eight were among people who’d received the actual vaccine and the rest had gotten a dummy shot.

The companies also reported no serious side effects, although vaccine recipients may experience temporary pain and flu-like reactions immediately after injections.

Still to be determined is whether the shots protect against people spreading the coronavirus without showing symptoms. Another question is how long protection lasts.

The vaccine also has been tested in only a small number of children, none younger than 12, and there’s no information on its effects in pregnant women.

Vaccine priority should be health care workers, nursing homes NEW YORK (AP) — Health care workers and nursing home residents should be at the front of the line when the first coronavirus vaccine shots become available, an influential government advisory panel said Tuesday.

The panel voted 13-1 to recommend those groups get priority in the first days of any coming vaccination program, when doses are expected to be very limited. The two groups encompass about 24 million people out of a U.S. population of about 330 million.

Later this month, the Food and Drug Administration will consider authorizing emergency use of two vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. Current estimates project that no more than 20 million doses of each vaccine will be available by the end of 2020. And each product requires two doses. As a result, the shots will be rationed in the early stages.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization

Practices will meet again at some point to decide who should be next in line.

Among the possibilities: teachers, police, firefighters and workers in other essential fields such as food production and transportation; the elderly; and people with underlying medical conditions.

Tuesday’s action merely designated who should get shots first if a safe and effective vaccine becomes available. The panel did not endorse any particular vaccine. Panel members are waiting to hear FDA’s evaluation and to see more safety and efficacy data before endorsing any particular product.

Experts say the vaccine will probably not become widely available in the U.S. until the spring.

The panel of outside scientific experts, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who almost always approves them. It normally has 15 voting members,

but one seat is vacant.

The recommendations are not binding, but for decades they have been widely heeded by doctors, and they have determined the scope and funding of U.S. vaccination programs.

It will be up to state authorities whether to follow the guidance. It will also be left to them to make further, more detailed decisions if necessary — for example, whether to put emergency room doctors and nurses ahead of other health care workers if vaccine supplies are low.

The outbreak in the U.S. has killed nearly 270,000 people and caused more than 13.5 million confirmed infections, with deaths, hospitalizations and cases rocketing in recent weeks.

As the virtual meeting got underway, panel member Dr. Beth Bell of the University of Washington noted that on average, one person is dying of COVID-19 per minute in the U.S. right now, “so I guess we are acting none

too soon.”

About 3 million people are living in nursing homes, long-term chronic care hospitals, and other U.S. long-term care facilities. Those patients and the staff members who care for them have accounted for 6% of the nation’s coronavirus cases and a staggering 39% of the deaths, CDC officials say.

Despite the heavy toll, some board members at Tuesday’s meeting said they hesitated to include such patients in the first group getting shots.

Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot, an infectious diseases researcher at Vanderbilt University who was the lone committee member to vote against the proposal, cited flu research that found vaccinating the staff of such facilities has a greatest impact on preventing its spread there.

Dr. Richard Zimmerman, a University of Pittsburgh flu vaccine researcher who watched the meeting online, echoed

Talbot’s concerns.

“I think it was premature” to include nursing home residents as a priority group, said Zimmerman, a former ACIP member. “Their vote seems to assume that these people will respond well to the vaccine. ... I don’t think we know that.”

Committee members were unanimous in voicing support for vaccinating health care workers — about 21 million people, according to CDC officials.

That broad category includes medical staff who care for — or come in contact with — patients in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and doctor’s offices. It also includes home health care workers and paramedics. Depending on how state officials apply the panel’s recommendations, it could also encompass janitorial staff, food service employees and medical records clerks.

The government estimates people working in health care account for

12% of U.S. COVID-19 cases but only about 0.5% of deaths. Experts say it’s imperative to keep health care workers on their feet so they can administer the shots and tend to the booming number of infected Americans.

For months, members of the immunization panel had said they wouldn’t take a vote until the FDA approved a vaccine, as is customary. But late last week, the group scheduled an emergency meeting.

The panel’s chairman, Dr. Jose Romero, said the decision stemmed from a realization that the states are facing a Friday deadline to place initial orders for the Pfizer vaccine and determine where they should be delivered. The committee decided to meet now to give state and local officials guidance, he said.

But some panel members and other experts had also grown concerned by comments from Trump administration officials that suggested differing vaccine priorities.

Chinese craft lands on the moon Photographer says men BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese spacecraft sent to return lunar rocks to Earth collected its first samples Wednesday after landing on the moon, the government announced, adding to a string of successes for Beijing’s increasingly ambitious space program.

The Chang’e 5 probe touched down shortly after 11 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Tuesday after descending from an orbiter, the China National Space Administration said. It released images of the barren scene at the landing site showing the lander’s shadow.

“Chang’e has collected moon samples,” the agency said in a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. It said the probe also had successfully unfolded solar panels that will power it.

The probe, launched Nov. 24 from the tropical southern island of Hainan, is the latest venture by a Chinese space program that sent its first astronaut into orbit in 2003, has a spacecraft en route to Mars and aims eventually to land a human on the moon.

Plans call for the lander

to spend about two days drilling into the lunar surface and collecting 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of rocks and debris. The top stage of the probe will be launched back into lunar orbit to transfer the samples to a capsule for return to Earth, where it is to land in China’s northern grasslands in mid-December.

If it succeeds, it will be the first time scientists have obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks since a Soviet probe in the 1970s.

Those samples are expected to be made available to scientists from other nations, although its unclear how much access NASA will have, given tight U.S. government restrictions on space cooperation with China.

From the rocks and debris, scientists hope to learn more about the moon, including its precise age, as well as increased knowledge about other bodies in our solar system. Collecting samples, including from asteroids, is an increasing focus of many space programs and China’s mastery of the technol-

ogy once again places it among the leading nations operating in space.

American and Russian space officials congratulated the Chinese program.

“Congratulations to China on the successful landing of Chang’e 5. This is no easy task,” wrote NASA’s science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen, on Twitter.

“When the samples collected on the Moon are returned to Earth, we hope everyone will benefit from being able to study this precious cargo that could advance the international science community.”

The most recent return of lunar rocks to Earth was carried out in 1976 by Luna 24, a Soviet robot probe.

U.S. astronauts brought back 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of lunar samples from 1969 to 1972, some of which is still being analyzed and experimented on.

The Chang’e 5 flight is China’s third successful lunar landing. Its predecessor, Chang’e 4, was the first probe to land on the moon’s little-explored far side.

removed monolith in Utah SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — New clues have surfaced in the disappearance of a gleaming monolith in Utah that seemed to melt away as mysteriously as it appeared in the redrock desert — though it’s no longer the only place where a strange structure has come and gone.

A Colorado photographer told KSTU-TV that he saw four men come to the remote Utah site Friday night and push over the hollow, stainless steel object.

“Right after it had fallen over and made a loud thud, one of them said, ‘This is why you don’t leave trash in the desert,’” Ross Bernards told the Salt Lake City TV station.

The group broke down the structure into pieces, loaded it into a wheelbarrow and left.

“As they were loading it up and walking away, they just said, ‘Leave no trace,’” he said.

The sheriff’s office in San Juan County has said it’s not planning an inves-

tigation into the disappearance of the monolith, which had been placed without permission on public land. But authorities also said they would accept tips from any of the hundreds of visitors who trekked out to see the otherworldly gleaming object deep in the desert.

The sheriff and the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the land where the object appeared, didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment on whether they are investigating the removal that Bernards’ group photographed.

Visitors have left behind a mess of human waste, cars parked on vegetation and other debris, the land agency said. The mysterious structure that evoked the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” generated international attention and drew plenty of speculation about otherworldly origins, though officials said it was an earthly creation of riveted plates of stainless steel.

For Bernards, the visitors’ damage to the environment convinced him that the remote area was better off without the structure.

“Leave the art to places where art should be and let Mother Nature have her space for art,” he said.

Utah isn’t the only place a monolith emerged.

A similar metal structure was found on a hill in northern Romania, in the city of Piatra Neamt but has since disappeared, according to Robert Iosub, a journalist with the local publication ziarpiatraneamt.ro.

Like the Utah structure, whoever placed the object didn’t follow the proper steps and get a building permit, Mayor Andrei Carabelea said in a Facebook post over the weekend. Still, he took it in stride, joking that some “cheeky and terrible” alien teenagers were likely putting them up around the world.

“I am honored they chose our city,” he said.

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Ohio State keeps No. 4 spot in playoff rankings RALPH D. RUSSO Associated Press

Ohio State held on to the fourth spot in the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night after having its previous game canceled, landing behind No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3 Clemson for a second straight week.

The selection committee’s top seven teams were unchanged from last week’s rankings after

the playoff contenders either won comfortably or didn’t play because of COVID-19 issues.

Texas A&M (6-1) was in fifth and Florida (7-1) sixth.

Ohio State (4-0) had to cancel its game at Illinois last week because of a spike in COVID-19 cases in the program. It was the second game of the season the Buckeyes have missed out on.

One more cancellation would leave them ineligible for the Big Ten championship game and

unable to play more than six regular-season games.

No. 7 Cincinnati (8-0) also had its last game canceled. The Bearcats are next scheduled to play Dec. 12 at Tulsa.

The College Football Playoff has set no minimum number of games played to be eligible for the playoff. It’s just going to be up to the selection committee to figure out how many is too few.

“There is a discrepancy sometimes between a team that plays

eight or nine games and a team that’s played three or four games and frankly that’s a problem (in ranking teams),” said selection committee chairman Gary Barta, who is Iowa’s athletic director.

Barta said the committee discussed ranking Texas A&M ahead of Ohio State, but for now the Buckeyes and their potent offense led by quarterback Justin Fields are holding down the final playoff spot.

“When those two teams were put side-by-side this morning

and last night, there just wasn’t enough there to put Texas A&M ahead of Ohio State,” Barta said.

Texas A&M is coming off a 20-7 victory against LSU that was played in a rainy and windy conditions.

Georgia was eighth and Iowa State and Miami rounded out the top 10. Oklahoma was 11th, followed by Indiana and BYU. The Cougars, who are hoping for a New Year’s Six bowl, edged up one spot.

Sarah Fuller only kicker now on Vanderbilt roster NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Vanderbilt Commodores have only one kicker listed on their two-deep chart for this weekend’s game at No. 11 Georgia, and it’s Sarah Fuller, the first woman to play in a Power Five game.

“She’ll be with us on the trip to Georgia, and we’re going to put the best people out there,” interim coach Todd Fitch said Tuesday. “And if she’s our best option, we’ll continue to work with her and we’ll do the best we can for the team.”

None of the kickers who were out last week after COVID-19 issues kept them away from the team is back yet. Fitch said Fuller kicked at Tuesday’s practice while coaches continued evaluating other players on the roster.

“If we can add something to the competition we will because we want to make sure we have the best availability for our team,” Fitch said. “But right now, she kicked for us today and she’s certainly out there and trying to get better and working on all the different things that (special team) coach (Devin) Fitzsimmons has her working on.”

Fuller might not be the only kicker on the sideline Saturday.

Fitch said Vanderbilt (0-8) is checking on when the current specialists will be available. Ryley Guay, who made 9 of 11 field goals last season, also might be a possibility to rejoin the team. He’s currently in medical school but still has eligibility left.

“If it’s a possibility that we could get him back, we’ll certainly take a look at him if he can make our team better,” said Fitch, who is in his first season at Vanderbilt. “I know he kicked here before and every-

thing. So as we progress through the week, I think we’ll have a better clarification on that.”

It’s been a hectic few days at Vanderbilt.

Fuller made history as the first woman to play in a Power Five conference game in last week’s 41-0 loss at Missouri. Vanderbilt fired coach Derek Mason a day later, and the Southeastern Conference honored Fuller as co-special teams player of the week for her squib kick to open the second half.

If Fuller gets to kick again at Georgia, the Bulldogs appear eager to watch.

Coach Kirby Smart, whose wife played basketball at Georgia, said women have the opportunity now to compete more than ever, though it still isn’t where it should be.

He said seeing Fuller kick is something the hopes and dreams of young girls hang on.

Smart mentioned Teresa Edwards, a four-time Olympic gold medalist in basketball and a Georgia alumna, and other women making it OK for others to be aggressive and compete hard.

“I think Sarah carries on that tradition, the way she goes about things and what she’s not afraid to do,” Smart said. “You know, not worried about what somebody is going to say. If she has a chance to help the team or contribute, then by all means, go do it.”

Fuller even gave Vanderbilt an impromptu pep talk at halftime.

Georgia tight end Tre’ McKitty said Fuller kicking in an SEC game was awesome.

“It was definitely a huge milestone in college football and football in general to have a female play in a college football game,” McKitty said.

USC resumes team activities, may play Sunday against Washington State LOS ANGELES (AP) — Time was not on Southern California’s side last week as positive tests for COVID-19 and contact tracing led to the cancellation of its game against Colorado.

An extra day this week might be just enough for the Trojans to return to competition.

No. 17 USC (3-0) resumed conditioning workouts Tuesday as coach Clay Helton expressed cautious optimism they will be able to play Washington State (1-1) on Sunday.

“By moving the game from Friday to Sunday, it allows us to garner the adequate number of players that we need at a certain position to be able to play this game,” Helton said.

Four players tested positive last week and another seven are in quarantine because of contact tracing. Those absences put USC under the minimum number of scholarship players established by the Pac-12, leading to its first cancellation of the abbreviated season.

All available players tested negative Tuesday, which allowed USC to resume team activities. Another round of negative tests Wednesday will lead to a return to practice in full pads, Helton said.

As long as there are no further positive tests Helton expects to have enough

players available to host the Cougars, who have not played since Nov. 14 because of their own issues with player availability caused by the coronavirus.

Helton does not know how many of those 11 players will be cleared to return but “it’s an adequate enough number to be able to play ball,” he said.

Helton said practices will have to be adjusted to make up for the team’s limited numbers. There aren’t enough players to be on the scout team, so he expects the starting offense and defense to work together to simulate what Washington State does. There will be more walkthrough periods despite the need for live reps, as seven of the previous nine days featured no physical work.

Players in quarantine will be going through custom workouts on their own to stay in shape and be ready to go as soon as they are cleared.

Helton expects inexperienced players will have to be ready to contribute.

“Our anticipation is we won’t get some of the veteran players back until later this week so they’re going to get the reps, and based on how they’re handling things and where we’re at at the end of the week, you can anticipate a young kid or two having to be in there,” Helton said.

Steelers and Ravens might finally play game today Rivalry game was originally scheduled for Thanksgiving night in Pittsburgh PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Tomlin isn’t into hypotheticals.

The longtime Pittsburgh Steelers coach prefers to deal with what is happening, not what might happen.

This season, however, has challenged that approach. The unbeaten Steelers (10-0) are scheduled to host some semblance of the Baltimore Ravens (6-4) in a game already pushed back three times, first from Thanksgiving to last Sunday, then from last Sunday to Tuesday night, then from Tuesday to Wednesday. The game is the

first NFL contest scheduled for a Wednesday since the 2012 season opener.

Assuming, of course, that they play. Hardly a given in a year when uncertainty and chaos is just one positive COVID-19 test away.

“It’s day to day,” Tomlin said.

“It’s a sensitive situation.”

An ever-changing one too.

The Ravens had more than a dozen players on the reserve/ COVID-19 list as of Tuesday afternoon, a group that includes reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson. The Steelers have COVID-19 issues of their own, with defensive end Stephon Tuitt and starting running back James Conner among the four players who will not play.

The NFL is making every attempt to keep the league on track

to finish a 16-game season in 17 weeks; look for quarterback-less Denver’s loss to New Orleans on Sunday as proof.

“We understand that every team is going through something like this,” Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward said. “Not to this extent, but we have to be ready for any situation. I think (Tomlin) has laid out the plan. It’s up for us to follow it and it’s up for us to bounce back with it.”

With a win, the Steelers would effectively eliminate Baltimore, the defending AFC North champions, from the division race.

It would also keep Pittsburgh a game clear of reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City for the top seed in the conference — and the one bye available this season.

Yet the Steelers remain wary.

The previous time they saw Ravens backup quarterback Robert Griffin III, scheduled to start in place of Jackson, the 2012 Offensive Rookie of the Year guided Baltimore past Pittsburgh in the 2019 regular-season finale. Baltimore could also have its entire stable of running backs available if Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins both continue to test negative for COVID-19.

“They have a mobile quarterback who has beaten us this last time,” Heyward said. “Their defense is opportunistic, and they can be on long fields and have a kicker that can buy them out of any situation. I know we are dealing with a lot of uncertainly with guys going in and out, but we will deal with that when the time comes. We are ready for what they throw at us.”

If the pandemic offers both clubs a chance.

SCHEDULE SHUFFLE The ripple effect of postponing the game will linger well into the stretch run. The NFL moved both Pittsburgh and Baltimore’s next games as a result of the delay. The Steelers will now host the Washington Football Team on Monday, Dec. 7, with the Ravens hosting Dallas on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

Assuming the Ravens and Steelers ultimately do make it onto the turf at Heinz Field, it means the NFL could potentially play a game on every day of the week this season. There are Saturday games scheduled for both Dec. 19 and Dec. 26 and Minnesota is slated to visit New Orleans on Christmas Day, which is a Friday.

positive, his Mercedes team said Tuesday. This led to a subsequent test returning a positive result, and Hamilton says he has gone into self-isolation for 10 days.

“I’m devastated that I won’t be racing this weekend. Since we started the season in June, my team and I have been taking all the precautions we possibly can and following the regulations everywhere we’ve been,” Hamilton wrote on his social media accounts. “I’m gutted not to be able to race this weekend but my priority is to follow the protocols and advice, to protect others. I’m really lucky that I feel OK with only mild symptoms.”

Hamilton’s isolation is in accordance with the health proto-

cols in Bahrain.

“Apart from mild symptoms, he is otherwise fit and well, and the entire team sends him its very best wishes for a swift recovery,” an earlier team statement said.

The 35-year-old Hamilton appeared to be drained at the end of the Bahrain GP, which was marred by a crash that left Romain Grosjean with minor burns to his hands and ankles after his Haas car crashed and burst into flames moments after the start.

“It’s physical, this track has always been physical. We’ve got lots of high-speed corners so I was definitely feeling it,” Hamilton said following Sunday’s race. “I was sliding around a lot out there and I wasn’t really quite sure how it

would play out at the end.”

There is another race in Bahrain on Sunday — on Sakhir’s shorter outer circuit — before the 17-race season concludes in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton clinched the drivers’ championship last month in Turkey and has a big lead in the standings with 332 points, well ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas (201) and Max Verstappen (189).

The British driver has won 11 races this season. But his absence in Sakhir means he will not be able to win a 13th and equal Sebastian Vettel’s record, set in 2013 with Red Bull.

Hamilton also misses out, for now, on being able to clinch a 100th pole position. His pole last weekend was the record-extend-

ing 98th of his career.

Hamilton is the third F1 driver to test positive for COVID-19 this season, following Sergio Perez at Silverstone and Lance Stroll in Germany.

Formula One organizers said Hamilton needs a negative test before being allowed to return to the F1 paddock and, therefore, remains a doubtful starter for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

DRIVER SWITCH: Jack Aitken will drive for Formula One team Williams alongside Nicholas Latifi in this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old Aitken will take the place of regular driver George Russell. The team released Russell to drive for Mercedes in Bahrain

Formula One champion Hamilton tests positive for virus Mercedes star is third driver in series to test positive this season SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) — Seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix.

Hamilton was tested three times last week and returned a negative result each time, the last on Sunday afternoon at the Bahrain International Circuit.

But Hamilton woke up Monday morning with mild symptoms and was then informed that a contact prior to arrival in Bahrain had subsequently tested