Wichita Eagle July 3, 2022

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THINK YOU KNOW WICHITA NEWS?

SCAN TO TAKE OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ AND SEE HOW YOU STACK UP.

Welcome to the Wichita Eagle News Quiz. This quiz takes a look back at recent news.

This past week, a longtime Wichita shopping center is undergoing a transformation, a former Shocker is transferring back, and a farm pond fish catch was record-breaking.

Test your knowledge! Here is this week’s Wichita Eagle News Quiz:

1. Normandie Center, at Central and Woodlawn, will be undergoing a transformation. What is one of the businesses that is leaving?

A. McDonald’s

B. Il Primo Espresso Caffe

C. Advanced Shoe Repair

D. NuWay

2. Headz & Tailz, a restaurant that specialized in seafood and Cajun dishes prepared with an Asian flair, has closed. Where was it located?

A. Old Town

B. College Hill

C. Towne West

D. Parklane

3. A federal agency will be opening a center on Wichita State University’s Innovation Campus. What is the agency?

A. FBI

B. ATF

C. TSA

D. FAA

4. Three Wichita restaurants with ties to bowling are going through some changes. Why?

A. Staff shortages

B. Change of chefs

C. Ownership has changed

D. Pressures of economy

5. A Kansas house that was featured on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” has landed on the real estate market. Where is it?

A. Kansas City

B. Lawrence

C. Hays

D. Wichita

6. A former Shocker basketball player is transferring back to Wichita State. Who is it?

A. Dexter Dennis

B. Craig Porter

C. Kenny Pohto

D. Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler

7. Some are disputing a record-breaking fish catch from a Kansas farm pond. Where is the pond?

A. Sherman County

B. Atchison County

C. Labette County

D. Ford County

Answers (June 26 quiz)

1. New York

2. Old Town Square

3. Fatburger

4. We Are D3

5. $2,500

6. Missouri

7. Derby

Travel into the jaws of danger

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A SMELLY

Eagle

You get used to the smell of sewage, but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant. That’s one thing Chauncey Kemp has learned from living in Planeview for 63 years.

“If the wind is blowing from the west, we’ve got to stay in the house. Let all the windows down,” Kemp said.

Two south Wichita wastewater facilities — plant 1, situated between I-135 and K-15, and plant 2 at 57th Street South and Hydraulic — process 90% of the city’s raw sewage.

Blades at the bottom of massive circular digester tanks break up roughly 30 million gallons of sludge a day, sending it through a suction system for refining. The stench rises from vats of waste and chemicals, enveloping parts of the south side like an invisible fog.

“Although we check constantly and there’s no health hazards with the odor, it still weighs on my mind,” said Mike Hoheisel, who represents the area on the Wichita City Council. “People’s property values, nuisance, just the overall stigma that our side of the city gets having to deal with this odor on a daily basis.”

Kemp, Planeview’s neighborhood association president, worked at plant 1 for two years in the early ‘80s after leaving

the military. His wife soon got sick of the unsavory smell that clung stubbornly to his clothes when he returned home in the evenings. He remembers his father’s frustration and anger when the foul odor ruined a neighborhood get-together his father was hosting at his house, which sat directly across K-15 from plant 1.

Jared Cerullo, former City Council member from the south side

his grandfather purchased

TRAVIS HEYINGThe Wichita Eagle South Kessler Street, near 47th and West, is one of many unpaved roads in south Wichita. ‘‘

THIS CITY, FOR A LONG TIME, HAS HAD THE NOTION THAT WE CAN JUST DUMP — QUITE LITERALLY DUMP — ALL OUR PROBLEMS ON SOUTH WICHITA. IT CAUSES SO MANY PROBLEMS. ... IT HOLDS US BACK.

SEE SEWER, 4A

FROM PAGE 3A

After that, odor control became his top priority as a member of the District 3 Advisory Board.

“Funny thing, he tried to have a little yard party with all the grand kids and all the kids, friends and neighbors,” Kemp said. “And it was one of them evenings where the wind was blowing from the west and the hot dogs didn’t smell like hot dogs anymore. And the barbecue ribs didn’t smell like — I mean, they tasted OK but the stench.”

When his father died, Kemp and his family struggled to find a buyer for his house.

“We were given the choice to live in the house or sell it. And didn’t no one want to live in it because of the vicinity that it was in,” Kemp said.

“The value was downrated. It was a $167,000 home, and we ended up selling it for $125,000.”

The city has tried numerous techniques to control the odor, including spraying perfume twice a day from spigots sticking up around the digesters.

But over the decades, not much has changed for Planeview and other south-side neighborhoods near the sewage plants.

SEWAGE OVERHAUL

City officials say the solution is just a few years down the road. By 2027, they expect $357 million of upgrades to be completed on the two sewage plants in an effort they’re calling the biological nutrient removalproject.

The sewage overhaul, designed to bring the city’s wastewater system into compliance with more rigorous federal environmental regulations, will also solve the plants’ persistent odor problem, Hoheisel said.

“Most of what’s driving the project is what we’re putting back into the river and what’s getting flushed down to the Gulf of Mexico,” Hoheisel said. “But again, I also listen to the constituents and odor is one of the main priorities.

“If we go through this $300 million project and we still have the odors that we have now, it will be regarded as a failure in the eyes of the public.”

It’s the second largest infrastructure project in city history, behind only the city’s new drinking water treatment center, a $602 million facility under construction in northwest Wichita.

“Everybody talks about the drinking water plant, which is — yes, it’s the most important heritage project that our city has seen in 50 or 60 years. But what we do after we drink the water is just as important, and

ON THE COVER

of sewage, Lovely said, “The improved advanced treatment process will more efficiently remove bio nutrients, reducing odors, and will install improved odor control systems.”

But the impetus for the major infrastructure project is compliance with upcoming environmental standards — not the odor complaints south-side residents have been raising for decades.

Wichita discharges more than three times the amount of nitrogen and four times the amount of phosphorus into the Arkansas River than will be allowed by 2027.

The city has been approved to apply for a federal loan through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA), which could cover up to 49% of the $357 million project. Officials hope to supplement that with a revolving loan through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The rest of the cost will be passed on to taxpayers through wastewater rate increases. A 2022 sewage rate increase from $4.11 to $4.23 per 1,000 gallons of metered water is “in accordance with” the biological nutrient removal project, Lovely said.

The city is still in the design phase of the project. Engineering design work on plant 1 has been awarded to PEC and plant 2’s upgrades are being designed by CDM Smith.

If designs and federal and state loans are approved on time, construction is expected to begin in 2023 on the two plants, which will continue to operate as upgrades are completed over four years.

The changes can’t come too soon for aging city infrastructure. A 2017 city study determined that the 60-plus-year-old wastewater pipeline at plant 2 was a single point of failure, meaning that if it were to rupture, the plant would likely have to be shut down for extensive repairs.

what we do after we drink the water by and large hits south Wichita the hardest,” said Jared Cerullo, who represented the area on the City Council before Hoheisel unseated him last November. He lives a quarter mile from one of the south-side plants.

“This city, for a long time, has had the notion that we can just dump — quite literally dump — all our problems on south Wichita,” Cerullo said.

“It causes so many problems for the quality of life for people in south Wichita. For economic development in south Wichita. It hinders us. It holds us back.”

Public Works and Utilities Director Alan King and other department officials were unavailable for an interview over the course of two weeks. Instead, city spokesperson Megan Lovely provided emailed responses to The Eagle’s questions.

Asked how the project will quell the smell

INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT

Hoheisel said he’s confident the improved odor mitigation will remove barriers that have held south Wichita back, including lagging property values.

“I think property values will go up. I think the most important thing is that the quality of life for people living around the plant will go up,” Hoheisel said. “You know, you’ll be able to have your neighbors over. You won’t have to go test the smell beforehand.”

But Kemp said that if the city is serious about investing in infrastructure in south Wichita, there’s more work to be done. After all, everyone in Wichita relies on the sewer system — not just south-side residents.

“It brings the question of whether or not,

I THINK PROPERTY VALUES WILL GO UP. I THINK THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THAT THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR PEOPLE LIVING AROUND THE PLANT WILL GO UP. YOU KNOW, YOU’LL BE ABLE TO HAVE YOUR NEIGHBORS OVER. YOU WON’T HAVE TO GO TEST THE SMELL BEFOREHAND. Mike Hoheisel, Wichita City Council member, speaking about a project that could mitigate odors from the sewer plants

A clarifier at Plant 2 at 57th Street South and Hydraulic. The plant is one of two south Wichita wastewater facilities that process 90% of the city’s raw sewage.

JAIME GREENThe Wichita Eagle Two plants on Wichita's south side handle most of the city's raw sewage. Residents around the plants have dealt with odors from the plants for decades. Now city officials say the solution is just a few years down the road.

SEE SEWER, 5A

Officer who killed unarmed man in ‘swatting’ incident promoted

BY CHANCE SWAIM cswaim@wichitaeagle.com

The Wichita Police Department has promoted the officer who pulled the trigger in the nation’s first deadly “swatting” call, a move the mayor and two city council members said could undermine efforts to rebuild trust in the largest police department in Kansas.

the specific reason and give suggestions to help the candidate improve their chances of promotion in the future.

been targeted for a “swatting” attack by online gamers who were complete strangers to him.

is call for changes to the police union contract, which was passed just before he and Ballard took office and isn’t set to expire until 2024.

external complaints.

The June 25 promotion of Justin Rapp to detective comes amid pending lawsuits and a Netflix docuseries that focused an episode on the shooting. Rapp shot and killed Andrew Finch, an unarmed 28-year-old father, in December 2017 after a California serial hoaxer reported a bogus murderhostage situation at Finch’s address.

On the night of his death, Finch opened his front door, stepped out on his porch and within 10 seconds had been shot in the chest by Rapp, who was positioned 40 yards away with a rifle. Law enforcement had surrounded the Finch residence and shouted conflicting commands when he stepped outside. There was no verbal warning before the shot.

Rapp

Rapp told detectives he thought Finch had a gun and planned to use it on officers. He later testified in a separate federal court case that he did not see a gun in Finch’s hand and shot him based on his hand motions.

Interim Chief Lem Moore, who promoted Rapp, said the killing doesn’t disqualify Rapp from promotion. Moore noted Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett decided not to file criminal charges, and former Chief Gordon Ramsay did not initiate a disciplinary investigation after a Professional Standards Bureau review of the shooting, meaning Rapp has no disciplinary record from the shooting.

“To utilize the involvement of an officer in an officer involved shooting as a disqualifier for future advance(ment) would not only be contrary to existing policy, but would also not allow otherwise qualified individuals to advance within the department,” Moore said in a statement.

City policy allows Moore to skip over candidates for promotion

That decision would require the chief to inform the employee in writing of

Lisa Finch, Andrew Finch’s mother, said the Wichita Police Department should not have promoted Rapp before her civil lawsuit is resolved. It claims Rapp used excessive force and violated Finch’s Fourth Amendment rights.

“It’s atrocious,” she said of Rapp’s promotion. “It pierces my heart.”

She said it appears that the city is rewarding Rapp for shooting her son instead of holding him accountable.

“They didn’t follow procedure, policy, protocol, regulations, rules or anything the night my son was shot,” Finch said. “I don’t know how this man got promoted. It sends a message that civilians don’t matter — because that could have happened to anybody.”

The city has said the department followed policy and procedure that night and that Rapp was forced to make a splitsecond decision based on the hoax call, which led him to believe Finch was a hostage taker who had killed at least one person inside the home.

Finch’s address had

Tyler Barriss, Casey Viner and Shane Gaskill have all been convicted of crimes for their actions on that night.

Rapp’s promotion comes two weeks after the release of a Netflix docuseries — “Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet” — placed the Finch killing back in the national spotlight.

The police department is also under heightened scrutiny after a textmessaging scandal that included SWAT team members joking about beating and shooting civilians. The council has ordered an independent assessment of the department’s operations and culture, including how it investigates and disciplines its officers.

“Frankly, we’re trying to rebuild trust in the community, and I worry about moving forward with controversial decisions with an interim police chief,” Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple said. “I worry about how that looks to folks who would agree that we should wait until we get our study back or wait until we have better direction on what the community wants to see out of the next police chief and what direction they want to see our police force head.”

Council members Maggie Ballard and Mike Hoheisel said they don’t like the optics or timing of Rapp’s promotion either.

“It’s just terrible timing because we’re trying to work on rebuilding this public trust, and it’s just not a good look,” Ballard said.

Moore said he promoted Rapp because he qualified under the city’s promotion policy — including written and oral examinations — and the department needs to fill detective positions to continue receiving federal grant money. The

promotion policy is also included in the Fraternal Order of Police contract, which was approved unanimously by the mayor and City Councilin December despite concerns that it continued to keep police disciplinary records closed.

“I appreciate the public interest given the officer’s involvement in this truly tragic event and the timing of Officer Rapp’s promotion,” Moore said in a written statement. “As interim chief, I must make timely decisions to move the department forward based on existing policy, protocol and for what’s best for the City, the department and its officers.”

Rapp did not want to be interviewed for this story.

ISN’T OUR CALL’

‘THIS

The Rapp promotion is the latest disagreement between the City Council, city manager and police department leaders.

The City Council ordered an independent assessment of the Wichita Police Department, and how it investigates its own officers, after a city manager’s committee found that police leadership failed to address racist, sexist, anti-government, antiMuslim, homophobic and other troubling attitudes among SWAT team members in text messages first reported by The Eagle Ramsay, who resigned in March to run for sheriff in Minnesota, and deputy chiefs Jose Salcido and Chet Pinkston, who were named in the committee report, have publicly contested the committee’s findings and pointed instead to actions by City Manager Robert Layton and the city’s human resources director.

The outside assessment follows a push by the council to strengthen oversight and transparency by the Citizens Review Board, which reviews certain Wichita Police Department internal and

Kansas foster care system settles child sex assault lawsuit

BY SOPHIA BELSHE sbelshe@kcstar.com

The Kansas foster care system will pay $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that a child sleeping in a contractor’s office was sexually assaulted in 2018.

In 2018, a then-13-yearold girl, who’s referred to as D.D. in court documents, was sleeping at the offices of KVC Kansas

FROM PAGE 4A

SEWER

when she was sexually assaulted by an 18-yearold male, who’s referred to as M.H. in court documents.

KVC is a private, nonprofit child welfare organization that’s contracted by the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

The lawsuit against KVC and DCF was filed in 2019 in Wyandotte County District Court.

D.D. was assaulted after she was left unattended

borhoods.”

if they spend all this money on this plant then they can’t spend any money anywhere else in that area,” Kemp said.

“Shoring up the streets. Putting pavement down. The culde-sacs that are in Planeview, if it rains, everybody gets flooded. You literally have to walk out of your house with galoshes to get to your car. The drainage system — it don’t exist in Planeview.”

Cerullo, too, said the city has neglected south Wichita while prioritizing infrastructure in more affluent areas of the city.

“There are not only roads that are falling apart. There are roads that are still dirt and gravel in south Wichita,” he said. “We have 19th century technology, residential streets in many south Wichita neigh-

because of staffing shortages, according to court documents. At the time of the assault, she had been staying in a KVC office for about one month, after being removed from her home because of unsubstantiated allegations of abuse.

D.D. testified that, at times, there were 15 to 20 children living at the agency’s offices, according to court documents. KVC’s Olathe offices, where D.D.

If a neighborhood wants to have their streets paved, they have to organize a petition and get it signed by a majority of residents. The city then taxes each resident’s property to pay for the new road.

Several years ago, Kemp organized a petition asking the city to lay new asphalt and gravel in Planeview cul-de-sacs and improve drainage to keep water from collecting in the streets.

“They came out to a meeting and told us that they could do that but in order for them to do that cost-effective, we would have to put our property on a levy at eight grand — I think it was $8,600 bucks, each piece of property at $8,600 bucks in order for them to do it,” Kemp said.

“When you call the police about people parking in front of your house, they come out and say this is city property. But when you go to them and say,

was staying, are not licensed placement facilities.

M.H.’s family warned KVC not to put him with other children because he had a history of sexually assault. Court documents said that he was previously in jail for sexually deviant behavior.

“(These kids) don’t deserve to be housed in offices, sleeping under tables — and then if they have to, for whatever reason, they deserve some

‘Let’s fix the roads,’ they’re going to say well, ‘You’ve got to pay to fix the road.’ So is it our property or is it the city’s?”

“South Wichita people that are on fixed incomes and low incomes, they’re not going to sign the petition to raise their own taxes,” Cerullo said.

South Wichita is home to several of the city’s poorest zip codes, U.S. Census data shows.

Mayor Brandon Whipple lives in south Wichita and represented the area in the Kansas House before his election in 2019. He said decades of empty promises have conditioned south-side residents not to expect much from elected leaders.

“If you talk to folks on the south side, absolutely there would be consensus that the south side does not get the same level of services as other areas within the city, particularly more affluent areas,” Whipple said.

“There’s a lot that we should

That board relies on the police department for information about cases and officer discipline, has no investigative authority and doesn’t get to review cases until they are closed. The officers remain anonymous. Most of the board’s work is done behind closed doors in executive session.

The City Council gave the board a boost in April, requiring the police department to provide summaries of the anonymous officers’ disciplinary histories and allow the board to issue a public written report on any case it reviews. The board immediately issued a scathing report on the text messages.

Whipple, Ballard and Hoheisel said they’re growing increasingly frustrated that the city’s elected officials have very little control over the police department, especially personnel decisions. Layton, the city manager, is in charge of personnel decisions. He said he defers to the chief of police on officer promotions.

The three officials met with Moore and Layton in mid-June to hear Moore’s reasoning.

All three left the meeting disappointed.

“This isn’t our call,” Whipple said. “We didn’t make this call. (Moore) told us pretty forwardly that he feels he has the support in the community for these decisions and that he would answer for them.”

“The issue I have is I don’t think this is good timing for promotions in general,” Ballard said. “I mean, I don’t want to just single out Rapp. Really, for everybody, you know, while we’re getting ready to start this investigation basically to tell the culture of WPD, and I think it couldn’t be worse timing in general, not just specifically for Rapp.”

Hoheisel said one of the things the council can do

reasonable supervision, and not to be left alone with sexual deviants,”

Mark Schloegel, an attorney from Popham law firm who represented D.D., told The Star. KVC and DCF blamed each other during litigation for violating regulations, Schloegel said.

“DCF has legal custody of all children, including D.D., who are taken into the foster care system, and is ultimately responsible for the children’s safety, permanency, and well being through the work of their contractor KVC,” Schloegel said in court documents.

Shloegel said that DCF and KVC failed to meet

be doing acknowledging that we have actually, by not investing in infrastructure in these areas, we have actually artificially kept the market in those areas at a lower price . . . In doing that, you actually created an environment where people really just can’t afford to pay the extra money to have those roads paved.”

Whipple said there’s a will on the majority-Democrat City Council to come up with a more equitable plan for allocating the city’s road improvement dollars.

“The idea that we need to be focusing all of our budget on repairing and actually overrepairing roads in the richest areas as opposed to at least laying down asphalt, at least putting some type of program together for the lower-income areas, is the attitude that has for too long taken over this debate,” Whipple said.

“I’ve been working with the city manager for the last year

“There’s really nothing we as a city council can do,” Hoheisel said. “So whatever my personal feelings about it are, I do think we need to look at a way to have more accountability for the elected officials because that’s frankly where the buck should stop because we should be accountable for these things, but in our current system, we’re not.”

Ballard said council members are within their rights to seek answers about Wichita police decisions, even if they’re not involved in making them, and hold the city manager accountable.

“The public has made very clear to us that they’re concerned and we’re not really doing our job if we’re not at least asking the questions that everybody wants to know the answers to,” Ballard said. “I don’t want to overstep as council, but I certainly think it is our job to ask some of those questions and be able to relay the answers.”

Beyond the image of the department, defending officers in police killings lawsuits can have financial consequences for the city.

In the past year, the city has paid out more than $1 million to settle lawsuits filed in the police killings of Marquez Smart and Troy Lanning. The Finch family is suing for $25 million.

Layton said he was not involved in the decision to promote Rapp but that it’s his understanding that Rapp’s name was near the top of the list for promotions based on test scores and seniority.

“I’m not going to second-guess the chief and his decision making in this regard,” Layton said. “I don’t want to ever call into question people getting their positions based on merit.”

Layton said the meeting with Moore, the mayor and city council members was informational.

“At no time during that

their legal responsibility to care for D.D.

“We do not shy away from our responsibility in this matter,” then-DCF Secretary Gina MeierHummel told a Kansas legislature task force in September 2018, according to court documents. Schloegel said he hopes this case can be a wake up call for the Kansas foster care system.

“This girl deserves to have her story told,” Schloegel said. “And these kids in the foster care system in Kansas deserve better.”

Sophia Belshe: 913-951-6836, @SophiaBelshe

and a half, trying to develop a plan to actually pave the roads, and that thing has been on the back burner . . . Now, with the new council members, we do have folks who actually want to not only have a plan but execute the plan.”

The city’s annual budget process began in January, and next year’s budget will be finalized in August.

Cerullo said that for elected leaders to earn south-side residents’ trust, they’ll need to know that their concerns are being taken seriously.

“Quite so often, south Wichita people don’t think they’ll be listened to. And for many years, rightfully so,” Cerullo said. “They have been cast off. They have been thrown away.

“The problems have just been thrown away for 30 or 40 years.”

Matthew Kelly: 316-268-6203, @Matt_Kelly22222

Justin

Former NFL player, teacher will lead Wichita baseball League 42’s tutoring effort

BY LINDSAY SMITH lismith@wichitaeagle.com

League 42, a youth baseball league founded in 2013, is taking on a new challenge — after-school tutoring led by a former NFL player.

Stevan Clark, a former National Football League player, will serve as the director of the league’s new Leslie Rudd Learning Center. He has 30-plus years of experience in education, including directing the Wichita school district’s North Learning Center for 10 years before retiring recently.

The center will provide tutoring for children ages 5-14 involved in League

Clark said.

42. Elementary school students will have access to reading tutoring and middle school students will be tutored in math.

Stevan Clark

“We think it’s important to put our two cents into helping kids learn to read and better their math skills, and that’s what we’re going to do in our center,” said Bob Lutz, executive director of League 42.

“The education part is just as important, it’s more important, than what goes on on the field or the court or anything like that,”

The center will be housed in a 10,500square-foot building on 1212 E 17th Street that’s still under construction. The building will also hold a community center and an indoor baseball training area.

The plan is to start small.

“We think it’s a good path to start modestly and gain momentum and try to reach as many kids as we can through that process,” Lutz said.

Clark said that while baseball is important, students need to be wellrounded.

“We got a tons of kids that are always interested in playing ball, whether

Russians press assault on eastern Ukrainian city

BY MARIA GRAZIA MURRU Associated Press

KYIV, UKARINE

Russian forces pounded the city of Lysychansk and its surroundings in an all-out attempt to seize the last stronghold of resistance in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk province, the governor said Saturday.

Ukrainian fighters have spent weeks trying to defend the city and to keep it from falling to Russia, as neighboring Sievierodonetsk did a week ago. The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces took control of an oil refinery on Lysychansk’s edge in recent days, but Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai reported Friday that fighting for the facility continued.

“Over the last day, the occupiers opened fire from all available kinds of weapons,” Haidai said Saturday on the Telegram messaging app.

Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk are the two provinces that make up the Donbas region, where Russia has focused its offensive since pulling back from northern Ukraine and the capital, Kyiv, in the spring.

Pro-Russia separatists have held portions of both eastern provinces since 2014, and Moscow recognizes all of Luhansk and Donetsk as sovereign republics. Syria’s government said Wednesday that it would also recognize the “independence and sovereignty” of the two areas and work to establish diplomatic relations with the separatists.

In Slovyansk, a major Donetsk city still under Ukrainian control, four people died when Russian forces fired cluster munitions late Friday, Mayor Vadym Lyakh said on

Facebook. He said the neighborhoods that were hit didn’t contain any potential military targets.

The leader of neighboring Belarus, a Russian ally, claimed Saturday that Ukraine fired missiles at military targets on Belarusian territory several days ago but all were intercepted by the air defense system. President Alexander Lukashenko described it as a provocation and noted that no Belarusian soldiers are fighting in Ukraine. There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian military. Belarus hosts Russian military units and was used as a staging ground for Russia’s invasion. Last week, just hours before Lukashenko was to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian long-range bombers fired missiles on Ukraine from Belarusian airspace for the first time.

Lukashenko has so far resisted efforts to draw his army into the war. But during their meeting, Putin announced that Russia planned to supply Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system and reminded Lukashenko of how dependent his government is on economic support from Russia.

Elsewhere, investigators combed through the wreckage from a Russian airstrike early Friday on residential areas near the Ukrainian port of Odesa that killed 21 people.

Ukrainian ProsecutorGeneral Iryna Venediktova said the investigators were recovering fragments from missiles that struck an apartment building in the small coastal town of Serhiivka. They also were taking measurements to determine the trajectory of the weapons and “the specific people guilty of

it’s baseball, football, basketball whatever, and a lot of times they forget the other part of it,” Clark said. “Everybody wants to be a pro, or they want to be a college athlete ... well, you could be the most talented running back or the most talented baseball player in your hometown, but if you don’t have the credentials in the classroom, they won’t look at you.

“Getting that across to today’s youth is harder than it’s ever been.”

Clark, who played at Kansas State University

before moving on to the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers, started a teaching career in Manhattan after a knee injury prompted his retirement from the NFL in 1984.

.Before the center opens in January, Clark has a plan.

“What I plan on doing is finding out what’s going on in the classrooms, what programs are being used, and then evaluating students individually and figuring out where their weaknesses are and how we can help them,” Clark

said.

“We’ve got to find out how this is going to work, because it’s something that hasn’t been done before.”

Lutz said Clark is the perfect fit for the role.

“He’s been in education for a long time, he’s also a former athlete ... so he relates to our kids on many different levels and we believe he’s the perfect fit to run this program,” Lutz said.

Lindsay Smith: 316-268-6211, @Lindsay_KSmith

BY MARK SHERMAN Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Abortion, guns and religion – a major change in the law in any one of these areas would have made for a fateful Supreme Court term. In its first full term together, the court’s conservative majority ruled in all three and issued other significant decisions limiting the government’s regulatory powers.

And it has signaled no plans to slow down.

With former President Donald Trump’s appointees in their 50s, the six-justice conservative majority seems poised to keep control of the court for years to come, if not decades.

this terrible war crime,” she said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said three anti-ship missiles struck “an ordinary residential building, a ninestory building” housing about 160 people. The victims of Friday’s attack also included four members of a family staying at a seaside campsite, he said.

‘I emphasize: This is deliberate direct Russian terror, and not some mistake or an accidental missile strike,” Zelenskyy said.

The British Defense Ministry said Saturday that air-launched anti-ship missiles generally don’t have precision accuracy against ground targets. It said Russia likely was using such missiles because of a shortage of more accurate weapons.

The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed that the Russian military is targeting fuel storage sites and military facilities, not residential areas, although missiles also recently hit an apartment building in Kyiv and a shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk.

On Saturday, Kremenchuk Mayor Vitaliy Maletskyy said the death toll in the mall attack had risen to 21 and one person was still missing.

Ukrainian authorities interpreted the missile attack in Odesa as payback for the withdrawal of Russian troops from a nearby Black Sea island with both symbolic and strategic significance in the war that started with Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow portrayed their departure from Snake Island as a “goodwill gesture” to help unblock exports of grain.

“This has been a revolutionary term in so many respects,” said Tara Leigh Grove, a law professor at the University of Texas. “The court has massively changed constitutional law in really big ways.”

Its remaining opinions issued, the court began its summer recess Thursday, and the justices will next return to the courtroom in October.

Overturning Roe v. Wade and ending a nearly half-century guarantee of abortion rights had the most immediate impact, shutting down or severely restricting abortions in roughly a dozen states within days of the decision.

FROM PAGE 5A

RAPP

meeting was the chief asked or was I asked to consider reversing that decision,” Layton said.

It’s unclear whether Whipple, Ballard and Hoheisel are in the minority. Council member Brandon Johnson did not respond to questions. Council member Jeff Blubaugh said he wasn’t aware of the promotion until an Eagle reporter told him about it. “I hate to even speak about it without knowing anything about it,” he said. Vice Mayor Becky Tuttle was dealing with a death in the family and was not immediately available to answer questions.

Council member Bryan Frye said he trusts that Moore made the right decision in promoting Rapp.

“I understand the timing is unfortunate, and I get all that, but it is Chief Moore’s call,” Frye said. “I just have to put my faith in Chief Moore that he

HARNIK AP

In its first full term together, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled on abortion, guns and religion and issued other significant decisions limiting the government’s regulatory powers.

In expanding gun rights and finding religious discrimination in two cases, the justices also made it harder to sustain gun control laws and lowered barriers to religion in public life.

Setting important new limits on regulatory authority, they reined in the government’s ability to fight climate change and blocked a Biden administration effort to get workers at large companies vaccinated against COVID-19.

The remarkable week at the end of June in which the guns, abortion, religion and environmental cases were decided at least partially obscured other notable events, some of them troubling.

New Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in Thursday as the first

knows what he’s doing. I get that it’s going to be an unpopular choice, due to the timing, but that’s why he’s got to make that decision.”

NO QUALIFIED IMMUNITY

Andrew M. Stroth, a civil rights attorney representing the Finch family in a federal lawsuit against Rapp, said the promotion is not surprising.

He has argued in court filings that the Wichita Police Department fails to meaningfully investigate or discipline its officers after they shoot people, a claim the city disputes.

“Andy Finch’s two children don’t have a father anymore, and Officer Rapp is getting promoted. How is that fair? How is that equitable? Andy Finch opened up the door to his home and — without cause or provocation — Justin Rapp killed him.”

Rapp testified during a deposition that he thought he saw a gun in Finch’s hand and that he shot him without warning to protect other officers who were closer to Finch to the east

Black woman on the court. She replaced the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, who served nearly 28 years, a switch that won’t change the balance between liberals and conservatives on the court.

In early May, the court had to deal with the unprecedented leak of a draft opinion in the abortion case. Chief Justice John Roberts almost immediately ordered an investigation, about which the court has been mum ever since. Soon after, workers encircled the court with 8-foot-high fencing in response to security concerns. In June, police made a late-night arrest of an armed man near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Maryland home, and charged him with attempted murder of the justice.

of the house.

U.S. District Judge John W. Broomes denied Rapp qualified immunity in the federal lawsuit, writing that “a reasonable officer would have known that using deadly force when Finch displayed no weapon and made no overtly threatening movement was unlawful.”

He added that there “is enough evidence in the record which, if believed by a jury, contradicts or casts doubt on Rapp’s testimony about what he saw when he fired the shot.”

The Finch lawsuit is awaiting a decision by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals about whether it should go to trial.

In a separate lawsuit, Rapp is suing the city in state court for tens of thousands of dollars in back-pay he says he is owed for an outside security job he claims the city prevented him from working as punishment for the Finch killing.

Chance Swaim: 316-269-6752, @byChanceSwaim

A rendering of the after-school tutoring education center for League 42 players.

‘Revolutionary’ high court term on abortion, guns and more

ANDREW

EFREM LUKATSKY AP

Ukrainian soldiers attend their positions Saturday in the Donetsk region, Ukraine.

As more black widow spiders appear, here’s how to stay safe

BY NICOLE KLEVANSKAYA nklevanskaya@wichitaeagle.com

A venomous spider is currently mating and laying its eggs around Kansas, which means you could be seeing it more frequently under your firewood piles, inside electrical boxes, in garage corners and other areas around your home.

The black widow spider is one of Kansas’ two native spiders, alongside the brown recluse. The black widow’s venom attacks human nerve cells, and potentially can be dangerous to people — especially small children and older adults with preexisting health conditions.

“Through the summer, that’s when [the black widow] population is actually going to be the highest,” said Travis Aggson, an associate certified entomologist and district manager of the Wichita, Manhattan and Topeka regions of American Pest Management. “They’re laying their eggs through May and June.”

The side effects of a black widow bite can include muscle cramps, headaches, profuse sweating and vomiting, according to Kansas State University Research and Extension. In rare cases, K-State says, a bite can cause death due to suffocation.

“We do see them all over the state of Kansas, but we typically see more black widows on the southern side of Kansas,” Aggson said. “Anywhere south of Hutchinson is where we see most of them.”

As the summer continues and the likelihood of spotting the black widow increases, here are some things you should know to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

IDENTIFYING THE BLACK WIDOW SPIDER

The first way to protect yourself from the black widow is to know what it looks like and how to spot it.

In the United States, there are five species of black widow spiders; Kansas is home to the northern, southern and western black widow, said Dr. Deborah Smith, a professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at KU.

The other two types of black widows are red widows and brown widows. Red widows are endangered, and are only found in palmetto scrub habits in Florida, Smith said, while brown widows are commonly found in Florida, Texas and other southern states. In total, there are around 50 plus species of black widow spiders around the world.

Female and male black widow spiders differ in characteristics. Smith and Aggson said female black widows are jet black with a distinct mark that looks like a bright orange or red hourglass on the underside of their abdomens, which appear fat.

““There’s about 50 plus species of widow spiders around the world and they mostly fit that picture of a large, shiny, black spider with red markings, usually sort of hourglass, but it can vary,” Smith said.

While male black widows are also black, they are smaller than females and have more color markings. Aggson said the males typically do not bite humans.

Aggson said the spider he most commonly sees is the southern black widow.

In Kansas, what we’re looking at is a southern black widow,” Aggson said. “Blackish with that red hourglass mark on the underside of the abdomen. The male looks totally different. It’s

smaller than the female and it’ll actually have white markings all over its body.”

Smith said while the female adult black widow can be an inch or inch and a half including its legs, the male measures at approximately a quarter of an inch.

Another distinguishing feature of the black widow is its web. Scott Shea, owner and operator of Wichita Pest Controls LLC, said the web is sticky and has a very disorganized pattern.

“The web has a very crazy design. It’s very unorthodox,” Shea said. “A lot of people will see a web hanging off of their gutter or on their front porch — that really neat design that looks like Charlotte’s Web, your stereotypical spider web. But a black widow web is nothing like that… strings are going in every different direction. That’s how I recognize that that’s likely a black widow web.”

The web also has a strong texture to it, Smith said. The black widow spider usually hangs in its web in an upside down position.

“If you happen to be messing around in an old shed somewhere and you put your hand somewhere and you touch some silk that feels almost like a trampoline, take your hand away,” Smith said. “That could be a widow spider’s web. It’s very, very tough silk.”

WHERE THE BLACK WIDOW SPENDS ITS TIME

Common areas where black widow spiders like to live, according to Aggson, Smith and Shea include the following:

A Wood piles

A Rock climbing areas

A Under decks

A Inside hollow stumps and trees

A In rodent burrows

A Underneath the lip of a cement front porch

A Below the siding of a house’s foundation

A Inside sheds, barns, outhouses or other buildings that are not disturbed very often

A Birdhouses

A Meter boxes

A Whiskey barrels (typically used for planting)

A Basements

A Crawl spaces

Unlike the brown recluse spider, which is known for spending time inside of Kansans’ households, Shea said that from his experience, it is unlikely that you will find the black widow inside of your home except for one place — the corners of your garage.

“They’ll come right in that corner of the garage, so that’s one place you want to be really careful of sticking your hands and being cognizant of the fact that something might be right there because that’s a high traffic area for not only spiders, but other pests coming in and out of your home,” Shea said.

As soon as black widow spiders find an area to live, they build their web there and do not move very often, Smith said. “They want something where they can put up their webs and basically spend their life there,” Smith said.

PROTECTING

YOURSELF FROM THE BLACK WIDOW

While you can hire a pest control company or use pest control products, Shea said one of the ways to protect yourself from the black widow is to keep your firewood piles away from your home and neatly organized so that black widows can’t hide in them. In addition, he said keeping your garage — especially the front — uncluttered, as well as keeping the bushes and trees around your home trimmed will also help prevent spiders from living there.

Vacuuming can also help get rid of any egg sacs, Aggson said.

“The best way to eliminate a black widow infestation is, surprisingly to some, is with a vacuum,” Aggson said. “The egg sacs can have several hundred eggs on the in-

side of their egg sacs. If you’re able to remove that egg sac, that eliminates several hundreds before they even hatch out.”

Wearing leather gloves when working in areas where they are likely to appear will also help protect you from being bit, Aggson said.

Since the black widow spends most of its time on its web, it does not search for prey; and as long as it is undisturbed, it should not bite you. The spiders are defensive, rather than aggressive.

“They’re definitely spiders you want to respect,” Smith said. “You don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you might frighten them and they might bite you, and that would happen if you were putting your hands into their webs.”

RECOGNIZING A BITE AND WHAT TO DO IF YOU GET BIT

There are multiple

signs that you can look for to help you recognize a black widow bite.

A black widow bite often causes pain right away, according to the National Capital Poison Center. Around the bite, there will be “tiny puncture wounds” along with some local swelling. The Center says to wash the area well with soap and water. Bad bites can cause worse symptoms, including muscle cramps that usually start in the area of the bite and then move to the center of the body. Intense pain is typically treated with narcotics, and antivenin is also available for serious cases, the Center says.

If you suspect that you have been bitten, you should call Poison Control at 800-222-1222.

Nicole Klevanskaya: (316) 268-6291, @nmklevanskaya

kansas.com/eedition/extraextra

KENNETH FERRIERAAP file

Children and adults take advantage of the warm weather to cool off June 10 in Lincoln, Neb. The fast-changing coronavirus has kicked off summer in the U.S. with lots of infections but relatively few deaths compared to its prior incarnations.

Wary US treads water with transformed COVID-19

BY CARLA K. JOHNSON Associated Press

The fast-changing coronavirus has kicked off summer in the U.S. with lots of infections but relatively few deaths compared to its prior incarnations.

COVID-19 is still killing hundreds of Americans each day, but is not nearly as dangerous as it was last fall and winter.

“It’s going to be a good summer and we deserve this break,” said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle.

With more Americans shielded from severe illness through vaccination and infection, COVID-19 has transformed – for now at least – into an unpleasant, inconvenient nuisance for many.

“It feels cautiously good right now,” said Dr. Dan

Kaul, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. “For the first time that I can remember, pretty much since it started, we don’t have any (COVID-19) patients in the ICU.”

As the nation marks July Fourth, the average number of daily deaths from COVID-19 in the United States is hovering around 360. Last year, during a similar summer lull, it was around 228 in early July. That remains the lowest threshold in U.S. daily deaths since March 2020, when the virus first began its U.S. spread. But there were far fewer reported cases at this time last year – fewer than 20,000 a day. Now, it’s about 109,000 – and likely an undercount as home tests aren’t routinely reported.

Today, in the third year of the pandemic, it’s easy

to feel confused by the mixed picture: Repeat infections are increasingly likely, and a sizeable share of those infected will face the lingering symptoms of long COVID-19.

Yet, the stark danger of death has diminished for many people.

“And that’s because we’re now at a point that everyone’s immune system has seen either the virus or the vaccine two or three times by now,” said Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Over time, the body learns not to overreact when it sees this virus.”

“What we’re seeing is that people are getting less and less ill on average,” Dowdy said.

As many as 8 out of 10 people in the U.S. have been infected at least once, according to one influential model.

The death rate for COVID-19 has been a moving target, but recently has fallen to within the range of an average flu season, according to data analyzed by Arizona State University health industry researcher Mara Aspinall.

At first, some people said coronavirus was no more deadly than the flu, “and for a long period of time, that wasn’t true,” Aspinall said. Back then, people had no immunity. Treatments were experimental. Vaccines didn’t exist.

Now, Aspinall said, the built-up immunity has driven down the death rate to solidly in the range of a typical flu season. Over the past decade, the death rate for flu was about 5% to 13% of those hospitalized.

Big differences separate flu from COVID-19: The behavior of the coronavirus continues to surprise health experts and it’s still unclear whether it will settle into a flu-like seasonal pattern.

Last summer – when vaccinations first became widely available in the U.S. – was followed by the delta surge and then the arrival of omicron, which killed 2,600 Americans a day at its peak last February.

Experts agree a new variant might arise capable of escaping the population’s built-up immunity. And the fast-spreading omicron subtypes BA.4 and BA.5 might also contribute to a change in the death numbers.

“We thought we understood it until these new subvariants emerged,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious disease specialist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas.

It would be wise, he said, to assume that a new variant will come along and hit the nation later this summer.

“And then another late fall-winter wave,” Hotez said.

Two killed and one injured in shooting between Wichita and Derby

BY MICHAEL STAVOLA mstavola@wichitaeagle.com

A man and a woman died after being shot and a man was injured Saturday morning in the 4300 block of South Rock Road, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Lt. Benjamin Blick said in a news release.

A 911 caller said he was shot several times, including in the “face, head and arms,” according to emergency communications.

The address listed in 911 emergency communications is where Anthony Bowman and his fiancee have been renting for just over a month. Bowman said the shooting happened across the street.

Bowman and his fiancee said a bang woke them up

at 3:30 a.m. and they assumed it was fireworks. Just before 6 a.m., officers knocked on their door and told them someone was shot by their mailbox, he said.

Bowman left for work later that morning. When he tried to get back home around 1 p.m., Bowman said he was told he couldn’t go home for a few hours since it could contaminate a crime scene.

Officers still had the area blocked off at 1:30 p.m. They had a tent in the middle of Rock Road along with several other vehicles.

Officials have not released the names of the victims or said what led to the shooting.

Michael Stavola: 316-268-6278, @MichaelStavola1

In world of extremism research, more diverse voices emerge

BY HANNAH ALLAM Washington Post

Rae Jereza read the manifesto by the suspected Buffalo, New York, gunman and felt physically ill.

The racist, conspiratorial ideas behind the deadly attack on Black shoppers in New York in May went on for 180 pages, an overwhelming deluge of hate even for Jereza, a Filipino American academic who studies far-right extremists.

The next morning, with no “room to just breathe” amid the nonstop Buffalo news, Jereza tweeted an unusual appeal that began: “hey folks of color who study white supremacy ...”

Jereza’s proposal for a get-together to discuss the attack quickly spread among the small community of people of color who work in the mainly white world of violent extremism studies. They organized a Zoom call where researchers shared the heartbreak of Buffalo but also wider frustrations with a field that often examines racist violence as an academic subject rather than how it’s experienced by its targets – as a personal, ever-present threat.

A vision emerged from the call, participants said, of a support network that also could force a conversation on the field’s lack of diversity, which they see as a factor in the nation’s late awakening to the seriousness of far-right militancy, now the top domestic terrorism concern. They’re floating ideas for new research methodologies, safety practices and language, and for treating the impact on targeted communities

with as much importance as the study of perpetrators.

“For now, we’re just happy to have a space where you can talk about how it can hit differently when you’re reading something that spells out your extermination,” said Jereza, who will join American University’s extremism-focused PERIL lab in the fall as a researcher professor.

Extremism researchers help shape public understanding of violent threats and advise policymakers on solutions. For example, several of the nation’s top analysts of the far-right worked behind the scenes to help lawmakers understand key players and evidence for the congressional hearings into last year’s storming of the U.S. Capitol. The Jan. 6, 2021, attack and others since have renewed attention on domestic terrorism, meaning experts are in demand as speakers, TV pundits and podcast guests.

All of that is why researchers of color say it’s a problem that their voices are typically missing or muted. It’s not just a ques-

tion of justice and representation but also one of national security. They argue that the narrower the perspective, the narrower the view of the threat.

“It has an impact on how government agencies and how nonprofits and philanthropy then measure the problem,” said Eric Ward, executive director of the Western States Center, an Oregonbased anti-extremism watchdog. Ward, who is Black, is one of a handful of people of color with a leadership position in the hate-monitoring sphere.

For years, researchers of color say, their observations of a hard-right turn were brushed-off, dismissed as anecdotal or activist by a national security apparatus that fixated on Islamist extremists. Violent white supremacy received only fleeting attention, tied to particularly bloody attacks such as the 2015 massacre of Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, or the deadly mass shooting of Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019.

In interviews with researchers of color, common complaints emerged: Labels like “racially motivated violent extremism” that mask the specific antiBlackness of some attacks. Cyclical, attack-driven attention to a constant threat. A “failure of imagination” to see militant white men, some of them veterans, as a national security risk. Not enough safety protocols for researchers who face retribution for investigating hate groups. Treating far-right ideas as if they’re still fringe and not enmeshed in today’s mainstream conservative agenda.

Several researchers of color said the Buffalo attack encapsulated their frustrations, including the newfound attention on the old conspiracy known as the “great replacement theory,” which imagines the engineered replacement of white people in Western societies. It was the central idea in the 18-year-old alleged Buffalo shooter’s screed, prompting a round of punditry from the white expert class that many

people of color who track hate groups found grating.

“It’s like Christopher Columbus all over again. ‘We’ve discovered great replacement theory,’ as if no one knew about it,” said Damon Hewitt, head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonprofit organization that combats white supremacists through the courts.

Hewitt’s group has been sounding the alarm about replacement theory propaganda for years. In 2019, according to a letter provided for review, the Lawyers Committee wrote to a YouTube executive asking for the removal of a farright video called “The Great Replacement” that had racked up more than 650,000 views. The letter laid out the history of the racist theory and warned that it was continuing “to gain momentum among white supremacists.”

“The people who are most directly impacted by the harm should have the leading voice in helping to identify what the harms are, what the dangers are, what the contested spaces are and what solutions would be helpful,” said Hewitt, who is Black.

Researchers of color said they sometimes share their personal observations in meetings only to have white colleagues dismiss their experiences as anecdotal, or at least not as respected as empirical research.

They said their concerns also get branded as activism in ways that wouldn’t happen in other areas of counterterrorism work. When it comes to researching militant Islamist groups such as the Islamic State, analysis is implicitly – and often explicitly –conducted with the goal of weakening the threat.

“Nobody is sitting here leveraging a freedom-ofspeech argument before they try to take down ISIS YouTube videos,” said Kinjal Dave, an Indian

American doctoral student whose research into white supremacist movements included digging into Ku Klux Klan archives in Mississippi.

In the study of far-right violence, however, there’s a trend toward empathy for white militants, with a disproportionate focus on mental health and “economic anxiety,” according to Dave, Jereza and others.

“Lots of people are disenfranchised in the world and don’t end up shooting up an elementary school or a supermarket,” Jereza said. “It’s in their manifestos – the Buffalo shooter was writing about killing Black people. You can’t chalk that up to, ‘Oh, I just feel so downtrodden.’ ”

Researchers of color say they face structural barriers to entering the field that aren’t factors for most of their white colleagues. One is that personal security restricts how much field work they can do, given the special targeting of minority researchers by white supremacists. Another is the high burnout risk; the violent messages they sift through all day aren’t just hateful rhetoric but direct attacks on their humanity.

Ward, of the Western States Center, said he meets “very few wacky folks of color like me who are going to travel off to rural Oregon or Idaho and attend these meetings.”

The reluctance makes sense from a security standpoint, but the result is what Ward calls “a self-replicating system of whiteness.” He said leaders must get more creative in finding safe ways for people of color to contribute.

“Most of the folks of color who got hired to do this work were either hired to do administrative or operational sides,” Ward said. “But those aren’t really the areas anyone celebrates or funds or pays attention to.”

JOSHUA BESSEXAP file

A group prays May 21 at the site of a memorial for the victims of the supermarket shooting in Buffalo, N.Y. the shooting spurred one researcher to gather together the small community of people of color who work in the mainly white world of violent extremism studies.

FOR YEARS, RESEARCHERS OF COLOR SAY, THEIR OBSERVATIONS OF A HARD-RIGHT TURN WERE BRUSHED-OFF, DISMISSED AS ANECDOTAL OR ACTIVIST BY A NATIONAL SECURITY APPARATUS THAT FIXATED ON ISLAMIST EXTREMISTS.

NY overhauls handgun rules to preserve limits

New York lawmakers approved a sweeping overhaul Friday of the state’s handgun licensing rules, seeking to preserve some limits on firearms after the Supreme Court ruled that most people have a right to carry a handgun for personal protection.

The measure, signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul after passing both chambers, is almost sure to draw more legal challenges from gun rights advocates who say the state is still putting too many restrictions on who can get guns and where they can carry them.

Backers said the law, which takes effect Sept. 1, strikes the right balance between complying with the high court’s ruling and keeping weapons out of the hands of people likely to use them recklessly.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

London Pride parade returns after two years

The streets of London were filled with color Saturday as the city marked 50 years of Pride.

A vibrant crowd of hundreds of thousands turned out to take part in or watch the festivities, forming a spectacle of rainbow flags, glitter and sequins.

After two years of cancellations because of the pandemic, the parade came a half-century after London’s first march to celebrate Pride in 1972.

Chris Joell-Deshields, director of organizers Pride in London, said “momentous” rights and freedoms had been earned since the inaugural event, “but there is more to be done.” London Mayor Sadiq Khan hailed a “beautiful day” of “unity, visibility, equality and solidarity” as he joined in.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Texas’ high court blocks order that resumed abortions

BY PAUL WEBER, ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE AND STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press

AUSTIN, TEXAS

The Texas Supreme Court has blocked a lower court order that had let clinics in the state continue performing abortions even after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it’s landmark 1973 ruling that confirmed a constitutional right to abortion.

It was not immediately clear whether the clinics in Texas that resumed performing abortions just days ago would halt services again after the ruling late Friday. A hearing is scheduled for this month.

The whiplash of Texas clinics turning away patients, rescheduling them, and now potentially canceling appointments again – all in the span of a week – illustrates the confusion

and scrambling that has taken place across the country since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

An order by a Houston judge on Tuesday had reassured some clinics they could temporarily resume abortions up to six weeks into pregnancy.

Supreme Court to Md.: Enforce anti-picketing laws

BY JASMINE HILTON AND ANN E. MARIMOW The Washington Post

WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court’s chief security officer has penned letters requesting that top Maryland officials direct police to enforce laws “that squarely prohibit picketing at the homes of Supreme Court Justices” following weeks of protests outside their houses in

Montgomery County.

In two separate letters reviewed by The Washington Post, one addressed to Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and another to Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D), Supreme Court Marshal Gail Curley says protests and “threatening activity” has increased since May at justices’ homes in Maryland.

“For weeks on end, large groups of protesters chant-

Texas Attorney General

Ken Paxton quickly asked the state’s highest court, which is stocked with nine Republican justices, to temporarily put that order on hold.

“These laws are confusing, unnecessary, and cruel,” said Marc Hearron,

ing slogans, using bullhorns, and banging drums have picketed Justices’ homes in Maryland,” the letter to Hogan said. “Earlier this week, for example, 75 protesters loudly picketed at one Justice’s home in Maryland for 20-30 minutes in the evening, then proceeded to picket at another Justice’s home for 30 minutes, where the crowd grew to 100, and finally returned to the first Justice’s home to picket for another 20 minutes.”

The marshal cited Maryland law, which states that “[a] person may not intentionally assemble with another in a manner that disrupts a person’s right to tranquility in the person’s

attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, after the order was issued Friday night.

Clinics in Texas – a state of nearly 30 million people – stopped performing abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court last week overturned Roe v. Wade.

Texas had left an abortion ban on the books for the past 50 years while Roe was in place.

Attorneys for Texas clinics provided a copy of Friday’s order, which was not immediately available on the court’s website.

Abortion providers and patients across the country have been struggling to navigate the evolving legal landscape around abortion laws and access.

The legal wrangling is almost certain to continue to cause chaos for Americans seeking abortions in the near future, with court rulings upending access at a moment’s notice and an influx of new patients from out of state overwhelming providers.

Even when women travel outside states with abortion bans in place, they may have fewer options to end their pregnancies as the prospect of prosecution follows them.

home” and that law “provides for imprisonment for up to 90 days or a $100 fine.”

The letters dated July 1 also cite a Montgomery County law that says “[a] person or group of persons must not picket in front of or adjacent to any private residence,” and a law that says a group can march in a residential area “without stopping at any particular private residence.”

Abortion rights advocates had originally taken to the streets outside the justices’ houses after the draft of an opinion by the Supreme Court signaling that it planned to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked to Politico in May.

Dozens feared dead as ship sinks off Hong Kong

An industrial support ship operating in the South China Sea has sunk in a storm with the possible loss of more than two dozen crew members, rescue services in Hong Kong said Saturday.

Authorities dispatched planes and helicopters to aid in the rescue, with at least three people from the crew of 30 brought to safety as of 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Photos released by the Hong Kong Government Flying Service showed one crew member being winched up to a rescue helicopter as big waves lashed the vessels, which had broken up in two parts. The Flying Service said crew members were negotiating difficulties brought on by Severe Tropical Storm Chaba. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pope urges South Sudan, Congo to work for peace

Pope Francis urged the people and leaders of Congo and South Sudan on Saturday to “turn a page” and forge new paths of reconciliation, peace and development.

Francis issued a video message on the day he had planned to begin a weeklong pilgrimage to the two African countries. He canceled the trip last month for health reasons.

He urged the people of both countries not to allow themselves to be robbed of hope despite violence, political instability, exploitation and poverty. “You have a great mission . . . beginning with your political leaders: It is that of turning a page in order to blaze new trails, new paths of reconcilia- tion and forgiveness, of serene coexistence,” Francis said. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Demonstrators outside the Whole Women’s Health clinic June 24 in McAllen, Texas. The clinic ceased providing abortions after the Supreme Court ended Roe v. Wade.

Jackson officially joins Supreme Court

R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years

Disgraced musician

R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison

Wednesday in a New York federal court.

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly sentenced the R&B star after she and the court heard statements from Kelly’s victims, and also ordered him to pay a $100,000 fine, according to the Associated Press.

Kelly, 55, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, again came face to face with his accusers during the sentencing hearing as several of the women recounted the pain he inflicted on them.

Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in Thursday as the Supreme Court’s 116th justice and its first Black woman on the bench, a historic change for an institution that for the first time is no longer composed of a majority of White men.

“I am truly grateful to be part of the promise of our great Nation,” Jackson said in a statement distributed by the court’s public information office.

Jackson took the dual oaths of office at a simple ceremony in the court’s West Conference Room that was live-streamed. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the constitutional oath, and Justice Stephen Breyer, the man she replaced and for whom she served as a law clerk, led her through the judicial oath. Her husband, Patrick Jackson, held two Bibles on which she rested her hand.

There will be a formal investiture ceremony in the fall, where the new justice and Roberts will take the traditional walk down the court’s front steps.

Roberts said Jackson, who was confirmed by the Senate in April, was anxious to get to work “without any further delay,” and welcomed her to “our court and our common calling.” Her swearing-in allows her to assemble her chambers – she already has hired four law clerks – and take part in emergency petitions that come before the court this summer. She and the other justices also will review cases that might be added to the court’s docket for the term beginning in October.

Breyer, whose retirement was made official Thursday, issued a statement saying Jackson’s “hard work, integrity, and intelligence have earned her a place on this Court.”

Google to erase more of users’ location info

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF.

Google will automatically purge information about users who visit abortion clinics or other places that could trigger legal problems now that the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the door for states to ban the termination of pregnancies.

The company behind the internet’s dominant internet search engine and the Android software that powers most of the world’s smartphones outlined the new privacy protections in a Friday blog post.

Besides automatically deleting visits to abortion clinics, Google also cited counseling centers, fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, weight loss clinics, and cosmetic surgery clinics as

other destinations that will be erased from users’ location histories. Users have always had the option edit their location histories on their own, but Google will proactively do it for them as an added level of protection.

“We’re committed to delivering robust privacy protections for people who use our products, and we will continue to look for new ways to strengthen and improve these protections,” Jen Fitzpatrick, a Google senior vice president, wrote in the blog post.

The pledge comes amid escalating pressure on Google and other Big Tech companies to do more to shield the troves of sensitive personal information through their digital services and products from government authorities and other outsiders.

Bodies of 3 kids, woman found in Minnesota lake

Associated Press

VADNAIS HEIGHTS, MINN.

The bodies of three young children and a woman believed to be their mother have been recovered from a Minnesota lake, and authorities say the deaths are being investigated as a homicide.

Meanwhile, the body of the children’s father was found at a different location hours earlier. Names

Russia’s war in Ukraine is focus of G-7, NATO summits

During their three-day meeting in Madrid, NATO members confronted a geopolitical landscape marked by big-power competition and myriad threats, from cyberattacks to climate change. The leaders cast their sights around the world. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominated the summit. NATO leaders also formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, after striking an agreement to end opposition from Turkey. And at the Group of Seven summit in Germany, world leaders underlined their intent to impose “severe and immediate economic costs” on Russia with plans to cap the country’s income from fossil fuel sales.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testifies Tuesday at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

JACQUELYN MARTIN AP

Former aide testifies at Jan. 6 hearing

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson on Tuesday described former President Donald Trump as an unhinged leader with no regard for the safety of elected officials in either party as he clung to power on Jan. 6, 2021. The testimony delivered during a surprise hearing from the congressional panel investigating the Capitol attack provided a roadmap for prosecutors to potentially charge Trump with a crime, some legal experts say.

Hutchinson offered previously unknown details about the extent of Trump’s rage in his final weeks of office; his awareness that some supporters had brought weapons to the city on Jan. 6; and his ambivalence as rioters later laid siege to the Capitol.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ed since the governor’s order or whether any migrants have been found.

had not been released as of Saturday afternoon. The children, all under the age of 5, were two boys and a girl. The chain of events began Friday morning when the man’s body was found at a mobile home park in the town of Maplewood, near Minneapolis. Police determined that the woman had left with the children, and a search began.

Maplewood Police Lt. Joe Steiner said the wom-

The calls for more stringent privacy controls were triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. That reversal could make abortion illegal in more than a dozen states, raising the specter that records about people’s location, texts, searches and emails could be used in prosecutions against abortion procedures or even for medical care sought in a miscarriage.

Like other technology companies, Google each year receives thousands of government demands for users’ digital records as part of misconduct investigations. Google says it pushes back against search warrants and other demands that are overly broad or appear to be baseless.

an’s car was found near Vadnais Lake around 4 p.m. Friday. The shoes of the children were found on the shore.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office said the body of the first child was recovered from the lake around 7:30 p.m. Friday. The second child’s body was found just after midnight. The bodies of the third child and the woman were found around 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The bodies were taken to a medical examiner.

“There’s nothing more tragic than the loss of young children,” Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said at a news conference on Friday. He said he considered the deaths homicides.

Texas’ border mission grows, but crossings still high

BY PAUL J. WEBER Associated Press

AUSTIN, TEXAS

Following the horror of a human-smuggling attempt that left 53 people dead, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state troopers to inspect more trucks – again expanding a border security mission that has cost billions, given the National Guard arrest powers and bused migrants to Washington, D.C. What Abbott’s get-tough plans haven’t done in the year since he began rolling them out is curb the number of people crossing the border.

Along the border in Texas, where officials say Monday’s fatal tractortrailer journey began, U.S. authorities stopped migrants from crossing illegally 523,000 times between January and May, up from 417,000 over the same span a year ago. It reflects how, across the nation’s entire southern border, crossings are at or near the highest in about two decades. The deadliest smuggling

attempt in U.S. history illustrated the limitations of Abbott’s massive border apparatus as the twoterm governor, who is up for reelection in November, points the finger at President Joe Biden. Immigration advocates have disagreed with Abbott’s criticism and said Biden is focused on enforcement.

“Texas is going to take action to do our part to try to reduce the illegal immigration coming into our country,” Abbott said Wednesday while on the border in the town of Eagle Pass. He said that state troopers would begin inspecting more tractor-trailers in wake of the tragedy. He did not provide details about the extent or location of the inspections. But unlike an inspection effort three months ago that gridlocked the state’s 1,200-mile border for a week, troopers are not checking every tractortrailer as it comes into Texas.

The Texas Department of Public Safety did not respond to questions Friday about how many trucks have been inspect-

Critics have questioned the transparency and metrics of what is now a $3 billion mission since Operation Lone Star was launched in the spring of 2021. Some arrests, including for low-level amounts of marijuana during traffic stops, appear to have little to do with border security. After a rushed deployment of the Texas National Guard, some members complained of low morale, late paychecks and having little to do.

Since April, Abbott has offered bus rides to Washington, D.C., to migrants who cross the border, saying he was taking the immigration issue to Congress’ doorstep. So far, about 3,000 migrants have taken the trip at a cost of more than $5 million.

“Greg Abbott, all he wants to do is gotcha phrases and gotcha stunts without any real solutions,” said state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes the back road in San Antonio where the truck was found abandoned. “He’s spent over $10 billion supposedly securing the border and hasn’t done one damn thing to fix this.”

U.S. border authorities are stopping migrants more often on the southern border than at any time in at least two decades. Migrants were stopped nearly 240,000 times in May, up by onethird from a year ago.

Comparisons to prepandemic levels are complicated because migrants expelled under a public health authority known as Title 42 face no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. Authorities say 25% of encounters in May were with people who had been stopped at least once in the previous year.

Supreme Court via AP

Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer administers the Judicial Oath to Ketanji Brown Jackson as her husband, Patrick Jackson, holds the Bible on Thursday at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

DELMER MARTINEZ AP

Jaser Daniel Ortiz shows a photo of his mother, Nayarith Bueso, Thursday in El Progreso, Honduras. Nayarith Bueso was among the more than 50 migrants who were found dead inside a tractor-trailer near San Antonio.

brief look ahead at stories that will have readers talking this

Different tone on Biden’s 2nd Fourth

As President Joe Biden prepares to mark his second Fourth of July as president, a look back at his first shows how his administration has struggled to gain its footing. Last year’s holiday, where he celebrated the country’s progress against the pandemic, was a high-water mark for an administration that has been beset by miscalculations and unforeseen challenges.

This Fourth of July, Biden is facing high inflation, a potential recession and a domestic agenda languishing in the Senate. Last month, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion ruling, and last week upended his climate plans. The looming midterm elections look dire for his party, and his base is frustrated. Pressure is mounting on Biden to take action.

If history is a guide, Biden is likely to follow in the footsteps of previous presidents who issued a raft of executive orders ahead of midterm elections. With Congress gridlocked, Democrats and experts say, the president has to be seen as doing something –especially after the Supreme Court jettisoned nearly 50 years of legal protection for those seeking an abortion, something most Democrats view as a fundamental right.

WIRE REPORTS

No counseling for Cruz trial jurors

The jurors chosen this past week to decide whether Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz is executed will visit a bloodstained crime scene, view graphic photos and videos and listen to emotional testimony – an experience that they will have to manage entirely on their own.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer will order jurors not to talk to anyone about what they have seen, heard or thought. The order is not unusual; it is issued at all trials to ensure jurors’ opinions aren’t influenced by outsiders.

Once the trial ends, the 12 jurors and 10 alternates can unload to others – but they won’t receive any assistance from the judicial system. As is the case in most of the United States, neither Florida nor Broward County courts provide juries with posttrial counseling.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Anti-abortion activist Allen Siders calls out to traffic passing the Jackson Women's Health Organization clinic in Jackson, Miss., Friday.

Some abortion bans taking effect

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v. Wade is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states, although the timing of those laws taking effect varies.

Some Republican-led states will ban or severely limit abortion immediately, while other restrictions will take effect later. In Texas, the state Supreme Court blocked a lower court order that had allowed clinics in the state to continue performing abortions, causing a whiplash for Texas clinics.

And a judge in Kentucky blocked the state’s trigger law Thursday, meaning Kentucky’s only two abortion providers can resume seeing patients – for now.

In anticipation of the decision, several states led by Democrats have taken steps to protect abortion access. The decision also sets up the potential for legal fights between the states over whether providers and those who help women obtain abortions can be sued or prosecuted.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Uvalde schools’ police chief leaves City Council

Associated Press

UVALDE, TEXAS

The Uvalde school district’s police chief has stepped down from his position in the City Council just weeks after being sworn in following allegations that he erred in his response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 students and two teachers dead.

Chief Pete Arredondo told the Uvalde LeaderNews on Friday that he has decided to step down for the good of the city administration. He was

elected to the District 3 council position on May 7 and was sworn in – in a closed-door ceremony –on May 31, just a week after the massacre.

“After much consideration, I regret to inform those who voted for me that I have decided to step down as a member of the city council for District 3.

The mayor, the city council, and the city staff must continue to move forward without distractions. I feel this is the best decision for Uvalde,” Arredondo said. Arredondo, who has been on administrative leave from his school district position since June

22, has declined repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press. His attorney, George Hyde, did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment Saturday.

On June 21, the City Council voted unanimously to deny Arredondo a leave of absence from appearing at public meetings. Relatives of the shooting victims had pleaded with city leaders to fire him.

Representatives of the Uvalde mayor, Don McLaughlin, have not responded to requests for comment Saturday.

Tropical Storm Colin threatens rain in Carolinas

Associated Press

MIAMI Tropical Storm Colin formed along the South Carolina coast on Saturday, bringing the threat of rain and high winds for a day or two during the holiday weekend before improving for Monday’s July Fourth celebrations.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned of the possibility of localized flash flooding along the Carolinas coast through Sunday morning. At 11 a.m.

EDT Saturday, the storm’s center was about five miles west of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. It was moving

northeast at 7 mph.

The hurricane center said a tropical storm warning was in effect for a stretch from north of Little River, South Carolina, to Duck, North Carolina, including Pamlico Sound. The storm is not expected to strengthen as it moves into the Atlantic on Monday.

“Colin will continue to produce locally heavy rainfall across portions of coastal South and North Carolina through Sunday morning,” the center said. Isolated amounts could reach up to 4 inches.

“This rainfall may result in localized areas of flash flooding,” the center said.

Some Fourth of July

celebrations planned Saturday in Charleston, South Carolina, were canceled after significant water had pooled on the field at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park and more rain was expected.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Scott Watson, the city’s director of cultural affairs.

“This promised to be a great family event, and we hate to have to cancel.

Organizers were also forced to cancel a festival planned in Southport, North Carolina.

“The safety of Festival goers, vendors, volunteers, emergency workers and everyone is our highest priority,” festival spokesperson Trisha Howarth said in a statement.

Col. Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a state Senate hearing last month that Arredondo – the on-site commander –made “terrible decisions” as the massacre unfolded on May 24 , and that the police response was an “abject failure.” Three minutes after 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered the school, sufficient armed law enforcement were on scene to stop the gunman, McCraw testified. Yet police officers armed with rifles stood and waited in a school hallway for more than an hour while the

Separately, the center of Tropical Storm Bonnie rolled into the Pacific on Saturday after a rapid march across Central America, where it caused flooding, downed trees and forced hundreds to evacuate in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. There were no immediate reports of deaths.

Late Saturday morning, the storm was centered about 65 miles south of the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. It was moving to the west at 15 mph.

It’s one of the rare storms to make an Atlantic to Pacific crossing without losing tropical storm force, thus maintaining its name. Forecasters said Bonnie is likely to become a hurricane this week off the southern coast of Mexico, but was unlikely to make a direct hit on land. Many Nicaraguans still

Medal of Freedom ceremony set President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to 17 people in a wide variety of endeavors, including gymnast Simone Biles, actor Denzel Washington and posthumous recognition of inventor Steve Jobs and Sen. John McCain. Biden will present the awards at the White House on July 7.

The White House said recipients “have overcome significant obstacles to achieve impressive accomplishments in the arts and sciences, dedicated their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and acted with bravery to drive change in their communities – and across the world – while blazing trails for generations to come.”

WASHINGTON POST

gunman carried out the massacre. The classroom door could not be locked from the inside, but there is no indication officers tried to open the door while the gunman was inside, McCraw said.

McCraw has said parents begged police outside the school to move in and students inside the classroom repeatedly pleaded with 911 operators for help while more than a dozen officers waited in a hallway. Officers from other agencies urged Arredondo to let them move in because children were in danger.

“The only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering room 111 and 112 was the on-scene commander who decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” McCraw said.

Arredondo has tried to

remember Hurricane Joan, a powerful 1988 storm that wreaked havoc on the coast and caused almost 150 deaths in the country.

“We are waiting for the storm to hit, hoping that it won’t destroy our region,” Bluefields resident Ricardo Gomez, who was 8 when Joan hit, said before Bonnie arrived.

The area was also battered by two powerful hurricanes, Eta and Iota, in quick succession in 2020, causing an estimated $700 million in damage.

Officials in Costa Rica expressed concern that the storm would unleash landslides and flooding in an area already saturated by days of rain. The government said seven shelters in the northern part of the country already held nearly 700 people displaced by flooding.

defend his actions, telling the Texas Tribune that he didn’t consider himself the commander in charge of operations and that he assumed someone else had taken control of the law enforcement response. He said he didn’t have his police and campus radios but that he used his cellphone to call for tactical gear, a sniper and the classroom keys.

It’s still not clear why it took so long for police to enter the classroom, how they communicated with each other during the attack, and what their body cameras show.

Officials have declined to release more details, citing the investigation.

Arredondo, 50, grew up in Uvalde and spent much of his nearly 30-year career in law enforcement in the city.

President Joe Biden listens during a virtual meeting Friday with Democratic governors on the issue of abortion rights.

ROGELIO V. SOLIS AP

New cafe that’s friendly to vegans, gluten-free crowd has quietly opened in west Wichita

BY DENISE NEIL dneil@wichitaeagle.com

A new business that includes a vegan and gluten-free cafe has just opened in west Wichita.

Sunflour Cafe & Collective, owned by business partners Whitney Feltrop and Nicole Mullen, quietly opened over the weekend at 6120 W. Central. The business has two parts: a sit-down cafe that offers a plant-forward vegetarian menu of coffee, smoothies, boba tea, kombucha, breakfast items, pizzas and sandwiches, as well as a collective market space featuring products from local makers like soap, lotion, jewelry, artwork and more.

Though the business is open, the owners are still doing some unpacking and plan to put on a grand opening event July 16. For now, the hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, though the business will be closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the Fourth of July weekend.

So far, Mullen said, customers have been trickling in, though many people don’t realize yet that the business is open. It’s set up in a former tanning salon and doesn’t yet have its outdoor signage. Customers so far have been sampling from the menu, which includes a long list of espresso drinks, teas and smoothies as well as salads, sandwiches and pizzas, all of which can be served vegan and gluten free. Mullen said among her favorite dishes so far is the Eden sandwich, made with brie cheese, apple slices, candied walnuts and lemon ginger honey, and the Figged Up pizza, topped with fig, pear, honey and goat cheese. She’s also excited about a vegan soft serve ice cream vendor who will set up in the space soon. Mullen and Feltrop have transformed the old tanning salon into a large, open space where people can hang out, use the free Wi-Fi, enjoy coffee or a meal, play games, let their kids draw on tables coated with chalkboard paint or even try out their performance skills on a small

stage. The owners also have set up a spot where people can take or leave plant clippings and an area where they take or leave books.

The shopping area in the back section of the business is filled with items from local crafters and entrepreneurs. The owners have also invited kid crafters to set up shop, and they’re selling things like jewelry, slime, henna and more.

Sunflour Cafe & Collective is reminiscent of The Coop, an innovative cooperative that opened in Derby in March 2020 selling food items and meals-to-go produced by its members. In fact, Sunflour Cafe & Collective has a tie to The Coop: Feltrop is the operations manager at The Coop and the co-owner of the coffee

Brazita Bites

taking over kitchen at Wichita esports venue

BY DENISE NEIL dneil@wichitaeagle.com

Prost co-owner Austin English announced in early June his plans to open Glas Haus Racingin the former Molino’s space at 7817 E. 37th St. North.

But he and his wife, Manu, were clear on one thing: Though they wanted the new esports venue to offer food, they were too busy with their German restaurant at 2721 E. Central to provide it themselves.

They’ve found some partners who can, though.

Rodrigo and Jessica Ciriaco, who two years ago opened their Brazita Bites food truck, have just signed a lease with Glas Haus Racing and will offer their Brazilian fare there.

They’ll be taking over the commercial kitchen in the space and will offer their full food truck menu, including their popular chicken coxinhas, their

Wichita restaurant Red Bird not related to Dr. Redbird’s

choosing the name.

fried cheese bread and their bite-sized churros.

Customers can eat at provided indoor tables or on the venue’s south-facing covered patio. The Ciriacos will also have use of the building’s drivethrough window, left over from its earlier restaurant tenant, though at first, they’ll use it just as a pickup window for to-go orders.

Glas Haus Racing will open to the public on July 13, and the Brazita Bites food truck will be set up and serving food from the trailer outside. Because their July calendar is booked with food truck events, the Ciriacos likely won’t get moved in and set up inside Glas Haus until the first or second week of August, Rodrigo said.

They’ll continue to operate the food truck, too, he said. And once they’re all moved into their new commercial kitchen, they’ll be able to start on another project: selling frozen cox-

shop that operates inside that business. Mullen, the owner of CM Goodies, sells her vegan and glutenfree baked goods there as well.

After the grand-opening

inhas that people can buy in bulk and serve at home.

Glas Haus Racing is a sim racing facility with eight high-end simulators that offer everyday drivers an opportunity to try out some of the top race tracks around the world. English, who partnered with Tevin Manuel on the business, also will offer a bar stocked with bottled and canned beers as well as twisted teas.

Rodrigo Ciriaco, a native of Rio de Janeiro, moved to Wichita to play soccer at Friends University. He got married and decided to stay but wanted to give Wichita a taste of his favorite street food from back home. Coxinha are fried dough balls stuffed with various fillings.

Rodrigo said he’s been happy with the reception the truck has gotten since it first opened, and in addition to the community of nearly 200 Brazilians who call Wichita home, the truck also has earned fans among native Wichitans.

“We are so surprised by the number of people we see with smiles on their faces, and we are happy to serve our community and bring our food and share our love with them,” he said.

BY DENISE NEIL dneil@wichitaeagle.com

Since news of his plans to open a restaurant called Red Birdcame out over the weekend, Sebastian Gordon has gotten a few messages from diners wondering if his restaurant is a reincarnation of one of Wichita’s most beloved restaurants from the past: Dr. Redbird’s Medicinal Inn, a local sandwich chain that had locations around Wichita from the early 1970s through the mid 1980s.

It’s not — and although Gordon will be offering his own slate of sandwiches he hopes will also become Wichita classics — they won’t be the Dr. Redbird’s Daily Regulator or The Supreme Preservative.

Gordon, who has been planning his restaurant for two years, had his heart set on the name Red Bird as an ode to his mother, Jeanne, who died in 2016. She would always tell her son that seeing a red male cardinal guaranteed a lucky day, and cardinals are now Gordon’s favorite bird.

“I don’t know why, but that stuck with me,” he said. “I don’t have too many lucky days, but I sure look for them.”

When my book “Classic Restaurants of Wichita” was published last year, Gordon was flipping through it when he saw the entry on Dr. Redbird’s, which was owned by Rich and Marni Vliet. Gordon wasn’t born until after the restaurants were gone, but the Vliets were his family’s College Hill neighbors when he was a child, and his mother was friends with Marni. Gordon said Marnie Vliet dropped off a Christmas stocking for him when he was born that his family still uses.

“That’s why my stocking doesn’t look like the rest of my siblings’,” he said.

Gordon said he reached out to Marni to let her know about his plans.

On Monday, Vliet said that she had many fond memories of Gordon, especially as a young boy. Her daughters, now grown, would often babysit for him.

“We share a fondness for that expression,” she said.

Now, Gordon is focused on the next steps for his restaurant, which is taking over a spot in the about-tobe-renovated Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn.

It will focus on unique sandwiches, homemade soups (including his wife, Ashley’s, famous spicy chicken noodle soup) and salads. The featured sandwich, Gordon said, will be a Cuban topped with Jimmy Vo’s pickles and made on a homemade bread that Gordon says will provide the correct Cuban sandwich crunch.

He also plans to serve things like a homemade roast beef sandwich, a Reuben, and lemon garlic Parmesan wedge fries, which he describes as “ridiculously good.”

The restaurant, which will have seating for about 85 inside, will also have a patio out front that can be open to the restaurant on nice weather days. Gordon also plans to serve craft beer and cocktails and natural wines. Red Bird will be a full-service restaurant that will be open for lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturday with the kitchen closing at 9 or 10 p.m. and the bar staying open until 2 a.m.

Gordon said his architects are submitting plans to the city now, and once they’re done, he’ll have a better idea of the restaurant’s timeline. But he hopes to have it open fall.

Local diners will recognize Gordon as the manager on the ground at both Dempsey’s Burger Pub and the former Dempsey’s Biscuit Co.He’s been working for and with owner Steven Gaudreau for years, first in Lawrence and then when he moved back home in 2014. He’ll keep working for Dempsey’s until it’s time to move over to Red Bird, he said.

Gordon, who lives near Normandie, said he’s excited to be able to walk to work. He hopes to create a relaxing, affordable meetup spot for people who live in the area.

event in July, Sunflour Cafe & Collective will expand its hours to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

She and her late husband, Rich, chose the name Dr. Redbird’s based on an old cowboy outlaw named Jesse Redbird. She was touched when Gordon told her his reasoning for

Dutch Bros will open its first Wichita store on July 8

BY DENISE NEIL dneil@wichitaeagle.com

“I feel like I’ve done a good job for Dempsey’s in creating a neighborhood spot for College Hill,” he said. “And that’s the goal for this one, too.”

Denise Neil: 316-268-6327, @deniseneil

lime and blue raspberry and offer an extra caffeine punch.

into the lot, I was shocked to see that the double drive-through lanes were both packed. There had to have been at least 30 to 40 cars ahead of me.

And apparently, that’s one of the prices Dutch Bros fans must pay: lines are often long, and though the chain prides itself on quick service, a trip to Dutch Bros isn’t always for people in a hurry. That morning, it took about 25 minutes for us to get to the front of the line.

Dutch Bros is also known for being friendly, and once I finally made it to the window, the “broista” — as they’re called at Dutch Bros — was a smiling, chatty young girl who wanted to know all about our morning.

The menu also features smoothies, lemonade drinks and Dutch Freezes, which are the shop’s answer to the Starbucks Frappuccino. Dutch Bros is also known for its Dutch sodas, which are made with sparkling water and flavored syrups. Fans are crazy about the Unicorn Blood version, which is flavored with strawberry, white chocolate and almond.

Dutch Bros, which also serves muffin tops and granola bars, is known for being kid friendly and offers a special menu with a strawberry smoothie and a “Not So Hot” chocolate. Kids also like the shop’s non-caffeinated Dutch Frosts, which are essentially milkshakes.

Denise

Neil: 316-268-6327, @deniseneil

When I first reported just before Christmas that Dutch Bros Coffee was headed for Wichita, the teenage girls in my life were excessively excited. At the time, I hadn’t really heard of the drivethrough-only coffee chain, which is headquartered in Oregon but is rapidly spreading across the country, so I didn’t know what the big deal was. TikTok and several stylish YouTube stars, though, have helped make Dutch Bros a thing, and soon, Wichita will be part of the thing. The city’s first Dutch Bros, which will be at 2860 N. Maize Road, now has an opening date, and it’s just a week away. The store will start serving customers on Friday So what’s the big deal about Dutch Bros? I’ve been curious, so when I was in the Phoenix area in April, I decided to seek one out. It was a sunny Sunday morning at about 11 a.m., and when I pulled

The Dutch Bros menu is large and features more variety than most other chain coffee shops. It’s especially known for its iced drinks, and they’re not all iced coffee. In addition to cold brew, Dutch Bros is known for its colorful Rebel Energy Drinksthat come in flavors like peach, strawberry pomegranate, and

During my Arizona visit, I ordered a straightforward cold brew, which I enjoyed, but clearly the draw at Dutch Bros is the crazier, more colorful, more caffeinated and more caloric beverages.

The Dutch Bros that opens next week sits south of the QuikTrip at 29th North and Maize Road And it’s not the only Dutch Bros location planned for Wichita. The chain confirmed this spring that it was opening a second Wichita store at 605 S. West St.

DENISE NEILThe Wichita Eagle

Nicole Mullen, left, and Whitney Feltrop are the owners of the new Sunflour Cafe & Collective on West Central in Wichita.

DENISE NEILThe Wichita Eagle

The back part of the new Sunflour Cafe & Collective is filled with merchandise from local crafters and vendors.

SPORTS

Latest realignment bombshell could be good news for Big 12

BY BLAIR KERKHOFF bkerkhoff@kcstar.com

There are winners and losers in every business deal, and that’s what college sports realignment is: big business.

In this case, major college football programs that are more attractive to television and streaming entities leave behind the schools with which they’ve

been aligned for decades — in some cases, for even more than a century. Southern California and UCLA have two more years remaining in the Pac-12 before joining the Big Ten. This West Coast getaway is similar to the Texas two-step of a year ago, when Texas and Oklahoma said adios to the Big 12 and bolted for the SEC. Geography, rivalry and purpose

are no longer binding agents. Media contracts are. Fly a volleyball team from California to Pennsylvania for a regular-season match? That’s the price to pay to get a USC-Penn State conference football game

Here are some winners and losers from the latest round of realignment.

WINNER: BIG TEN

Obviously. The 126-year-old

A BIG DAY IN MOTORSPORTS

FIND A PREVIEW OF SUNDAY’S NASCAR CUP SERIES, INDYCAR AND FORMULA ONE RACES. Go to kansas.com/eedition/ xtrasports

conference made another expansion play with Thursday’s news. The league will grow to 16 teams by 2024 and adds the best football brand available (in USC) as well as an iconic brand (UCLA), both situated in the Los Angeles market.

Previously, the league added Penn State in 1990, Nebraska in 2011 and Maryland and Rutgers in 2014.

Is 16 the magic number?

That’s where the SEC will soon stand. The ACC has 14 football members, the Big 12 will have 12 and the Pac-12, if it doesn’t make a move of its own now, 10. That’s 32 teams for two leagues, 36 for three, plus football independent Notre Dame. The case is getting stronger for those who believe college football will end up with two or four super-conferences.

Pasquantino tagged out and hit his first homer on same play

BY LYNN WORTHY lworthy@kcstar.com

DETROIT Kansas City Royals rookie

slugger Vinnie Pasquantino

smashed 24 home runs last season in the minors between High-A and Double-A, and he’d already piled up 18 in 69 games at Triple-A this season prior to

being called up to the majors. Of course none were like the one he hit on Friday night in a 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound left-handed hitting Pasquantino became the first Royals player since Ryan

O’Hearn (July 31, 2018) to hit a home run for his first majorleague hit. Pasquantino’s first homer, a solo shot, came against

Detroit Tigers pitcher Michael Pineda.

The previous blasts didn’t come on the same type of stage, with the same sort of emotion, anticipation and excitement. Nor did any of those include him getting tagged out by Javier Baez while sliding into second base. “I wish he could’ve kept his pants clean,” Royals manager

COMMENTARY Taylor’s place in football history shouldn’t be forgotten

BY VAHE GREGORIAN vgregorian@kcstar.com

In a more just version of his journey, Otis Taylor would have been in prominent view over this fourth quarter of his life instead of sight unseen.

We’d routinely have seen him around Kansas City or out at Arrowhead Stadium, like so many other legendary Chiefs. He would have retained a mea-

sure of his uncanny command over a frame that was 6-foot-3, 215 pounds in his prime — when he was a revolutionary force in the influential glory days of the Chiefs and thus an essential figure in the rapid rise of the modern game itself.

Befitting those credentials, he also would have been in the limelight every year as an enshrinee in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, where he surely would have roamed resplendent in a coveted gold jacket and signed autographs embellished not with his jersey No. 89, but with “HOF” and the year he entered.

Instead, alas, Taylor has been invisible to the public and vir-

Mike Matheny said with a grin.

“You don’t always want to see a guy on his first homer have to slide. I don’t know how that got missed. It’s a shame because it took away from it a little bit because of all the confusion. But that ball was blistered.”

The home run, the hardest-hit homer of the season by a Royals batter (112.7 mph exit velocity), was a line drive that hit the

LOSER: UCLA AND USC OLYMPIC SPORTS

Teams that basked in warmth and didn’t often venture far from the Pacific Time Zone will now battle the climates of the Midwest and points north — points located multiple time zones away.

The Olympic sports, such as track and field, swimming, are collateral damage in realignment. Schools could and should get together and put an end to the travel silliness, perhaps aligning their Olympic-sports programs more geographically.

WINNER: BIG 12

Really? Finally? After serving as a punching bag through earlier waves of realignment, the Big 12 finds itself in something of a predator mode here. Losing Texas and Oklahoma

SEE BIG 12, 3B

railing in right field above the wall. Because the ball hit the railing and bounced back into play, it wasn’t immediately clear if he’d hit a home run, and the outfielder played the ball off the wall and threw to second base.

Pasquantino ran out of the box with his head down and followed the instruction of firstbase coach Damon Hollins to run hard. With the throw coming into second base, he slid to try to avoid a tag. The umpire at second base did initially signal he’d been tagged out.

Pasquantino, who made his major-league debut on Wednesday, said part of the problem was that he’d watched enough video to know Baez is an “unbelievable tagger.” So Pasquantino was scared of getting fooled into making an out on the bases.

“He was in the middle of the baseline and I’m thinking I just can’t get deked out right here,” Pasquantino said. “I have to run hard to second base to try to get there, because halfway to second I realized I was going to get thrown out. I just didn’t want to let him deke me, come to find out he was telling me to slow down so I could jog around the bases for my first homer.”

As far as the slide taking something away from his first home run in the majors, Pasquantino actually had a different reaction.

In his mind, it was fitting.

“I think I’m a little bit happier that there was some drama involved with it,” Pasquantino said. “If anybody has been following me, my first home run in spring training went off the center-field wall in Tempe against (the Angels), and I jogged to second and sprinted home because I thought it was not a homer. So I tried to make it an inside-the-park homer.

“Tonight, it was just pretty much the opposite. I mean, I got tagged out by Javy Baez at second base on my first career homer. That’s pretty cool. So he’s going to get a jersey, and I hope he signs it for me. That’s a pretty cool moment to have.”

tually unable to move or even be engaged for more than 15 years since the piercing descent of his health, which his family in a 2012 lawsuit against the NFL attributed to Parkinson’s disease and associated dementia that initially was diagnosed in 1990.

Cruel enough that he has long been marooned in what the Hall of Fame’s senior committee laments as “the abyss,” where the righteous causes of scores of stars of yesteryear are often left languishing because the backlog is so clogged.

But it’s truly heartrending that Taylor, 79, has been stranded so long in a form of suspended animation, kept alive through breathing and feeding tubes, the

health had taken a dire turn. That left us reflecting on his legacy even as we hold out hope that Taylor will be on the Hall of

PAUL SANCYA AP

Kansas City Royals’ Vinnie Pasquantino (9) celebrates his home run in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Detroit, Friday, July 1, 2022.

tender nursing care of his sister, Odell, and the loving support of his wife, Regina, and son, Otis III. Several weeks ago, friends expressed concern that Taylor’s

Quarterback Len Dawson, left, and Otis Taylor of the Kansas City Chiefs were named co-offensive players of the week by the Associated Press in October 1971.

SPORTS PLANNER

Detroit, 11:05 a.m.

ON THE AIR

SUNDAY’S TV / RADIO

CYCLING

UCI: The Tour de France, Stage 3, Vejle to Sønderborg, Denmark, 7 a.m., USA

FOOTBALL

USFL Playoff: Philadelphia vs. Birmingham, championship, at Canton, Ohio, 6:30 p.m., FOX

GOLF

DP World Tour: The Irish Open, final round, 7 a.m., GOLF

PGA Tour: The John Deere Classic, final round, noon, GOLF; 2 p.m., CBS

HORSE RACING NYRA: America’s Day at the Races, 11:30 a.m., FS2; 12:30 p.m.,

FS1

MINOR-LEAGUE BASEBALL

Texas League (Double-A): Wichita at Springfield, 5:25 p.m., MiLB.TV (online); 92.3-FM

MLB Kansas City at Detroit, 11 a.m., Peacock (online); 1240-AM, 97.5-FM NY Yankees at Cleveland, 12:30 p.m., MLB San Diego at LA Dodgers, 3:30 p.m., MLB (joined in-progress) St. Louis at Philadelphia, 6 p.m., ESPN St. Louis at Philadelphia (Kay-Rod Cast), 6 p.m., ESPN2

MOTOR SPORTS

Formula 1: The Lenovo British Grand Prix, at Silverstone Cir-

COMMENTARY Warriors will regret letting Gary Payton II leave

BY DIETER KURTENBACH Bay Area News Group

I can hear it now.

cuit, 8:55 a.m., ESPN2 NTT IndyCar Series: The Honda Indy 200, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, 11:30 a.m., NBC IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar

Championship: The Chevrolet Grand Prix, at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, 2 p.m., NBC NASCAR Cup Series: The Kwik Trip 250, at Road America, 2 p.m., USA NBA SUMMER LEAGUE California Classic: Miami vs. Sacramento, 4 p.m., NBA California Classic: LA Lakers at Golden State, 6:30 p.m., NBA

The Warriors are playing the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2023 NBA Playoffs and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant is giving them fits.

“Man, what the Warriors wouldn’t give for a great perimeter defender right now,” some talking head will say.

And I will gladly point that talking head to the night of June 30, when the Warriors let Gary Payton II leave town and sign a reported three-year, $28 million contract with the Portland Trail Blazers.

The most important thing in the NBA today is shooting. The second most important thing is

at Connecticut, noon, ESPN Seattle at Atlanta, 2 p.m., NBA New York at Los Angeles, 5 p.m., CBSSN

AP source: Gobert traded by Jazz to Timberwolves

Rudy Gobert has been traded by the Jazz to the Timberwolves for a massive package of players and draft picks, a person with knowledge of the blockbuster deal said.

Utah is getting four first-round picks between 2023 and 2029, along with Patrick Beverley, Malik Beasley and a firstround pick this year in Walker Kessler, according to the person who spoke to The AP on Friday on condition of anonymity because the NBA had not approved the deal and neither team could announce it publicly. ESPN first reported the trade.

The deal ushers in a new era for the Wolves, who will have perhaps the best 1-2 big-man punch in the league with Karl-Anthony Towns and Gobert. ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOCAL SCOREBOARD

BASEBALL

perimeter defense. The Warriors have good perimeter defenders, with Andrew Wiggins standing out following his outstanding postseason. But Payton II was the best of them all.

The Warriors have no obvious replacement for Payton II – who could defend the quick first step of Morant or give 6foot-10 wing Jayson Tatum fits – because Payton II, himself, was not an obvious player for the Warriors to have.

Good on the 29-year-old guard for getting paid. Remember, this was a player who was cut by the Warriors before the season started so he could be re-signed as the team’s 15th man. So little was expected from him, but so

much was given. He deserves every cent of that new contract he has in Portland. But the Warriors should have been smart enough to give him the same deal (or better) to stay in San Francisco.

Not only is Payton II one of the few players in the NBA who can reasonably defend Morant – who appears poised to become the Warriors’ biggest rival, if he isn’t already – but he was also a linchpin for the Warriors on offense.

His reinsertion into the lineup in the NBA Finals was critical in the Warriors winning their fourth championship in eight years. He affected winning in a big way on both sides of the court. It didn’t matter that he, at 6-foot-2,

Day 2 of free agency: LaVine, Nurkic decide to stay put

BY TIM REYNOLDS Associated Press

Zach LaVine is staying in Chicago. Same goes for Jusuf Nurkic in Portland.

Day 2 of NBA free agency on Friday brought another max deal – this time, going to LaVine, who secured the richest contract in Bulls history when he agreed to a $215 million, five-year contract.

LaVine technically was a free agent, for about 18 hours. Klutch Sports, which represents LaVine, made the announcement of the max agreement, with the Bulls able to offer the Olympic gold medalist and two-time All-Star $56 million more than any other club could this summer.

Nurkic got by far the biggest payday of his career, agreeing to a fouryear, $70 million contract with Portland. The center just completed his eighth NBA season, the last six of those coming with the Trail Blazers, for whom he averaged 15 points and 11.1 rebounds this past season.

Mitchell Robinson is another big man not moving elsewhere, agreeing Friday to a $60 million,

four-year contract to remain with the New York Knicks. There are some players who will be changing addresses. Danilo Gallinari, according to a person familiar with his decision, intends to sign a two-year deal with the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics – once his waiving by the San Antonio Spurs is completed. Gallinari was sent to San Antonio this week in a trade that brought All-Star guard Dejounte Murray to Atlanta.

Also on the move: Bruce Brown Jr., a guard who has decided to leave

Koperniak lf 310010.248 Toerner rf 321012.222 Antonini c 301001.300 a-Raposo ph 111000.211 Davis cf 412401.155 Totals36 696413 Wichita 102 000 112 —791 Springfield 010 012 002 —690 a-doubled for Antonini in the 9th. E: Varland (1). LOB: Wichita 1, Springfield 7. 2B: Bechtold (8); Davis (3), Raposo (5). 3B: Williams (1). HR: Julien (7, off McGreevy), Wallner 2 (17, off McGreevy; 18, off Roach), Bechtold (8, off

was playing power forward. It worked. The Warriors won.

And here I thought that was the priority.

The Warriors will save as much as nine figures in luxury tax because they did not re-sign Payton II. That’s why he’s leaving. Don’t let it be spun.

Unless the Warriors can find another diamond-inthe-rough this offseason, they will be relying on Moses Moody, one of their first-round draft picks from 2021, to take on Payton’s role.

Moody is an outstanding prospect and a fine player at a young age, but he is not the player you want on Morant late in a game.

Not this upcoming season, perhaps not ever.

Team-building is so often viewed as a holistic process, especially for the Warriors. The results hang in the rafters of Chase Center. But sometimes, a team needs to be direct.

hasn’t played in the NBA since April 2021, and has appeared in 82 games, including playoffs, over the last 4 1⁄2 seasons.

Brooklyn and sign with Denver on a two-year deal worth just over $13 million. Brown averaged a career-best 9 points per game this past season for the Nets.

Another deal that was put into motion earlier in the week was completed, when five-time All-Star John Wall – bought out by the Houston Rockets –announced he had agreed to a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers. Wall was under contract for $47.4 million this season, got bought out by Houston for about $41 million, and will get the $6.4 million difference from the Clippers. Wall

The champion Golden State Warriors brought back one of their key free agents, retaining Kevon Looney – who appeared in all 104 of the team’s games this past season –on a three-year deal that could be worth about $26 million if the final year becomes fully guaranteed. But another two rotation pieces went elsewhere; Gary Payton II is headed to the Portland Trail Blazers and Otto Porter Jr. is signing with the Toronto Raptors. LaVine’s agreement was at least the fifth deal of at least $200 million struck since free agency opened on Thursday. The others all came on Day 1, going to Nikola Jokic ($264 million extension in Denver), Bradley Beal ($251 million contract to stay in Washington), Devin Booker ($224 million extension with Phoenix) and Karl-Anthony Towns ($224 million extension with Minnesota).

And a sixth deal could very easily join that $200 million club: Memphis’ Ja Morant agreed to a $193 million extension that could reach $231 million based on what awards he qualifies for this coming season.

Angela Aung 70-72-76-70—288

HOLES IN ONE Auburn Hills Golf Course Jenny Bluml, No. 12 (128 yards), 5-wood.

Witnesses: Pam O’Brien, Debbie De Board, Leta Miller. MacDonald Golf Course Kent Moxley, No. 12 (135 yards), 6-iron.

Witnesses: Royce Martin, Sam Beat, Craig Gilstrap, Marty Sigg.

CHARLES REX ARBOGAST AP

All-Star guard Zach LaVine will re-sign with the Bulls rather than join another team as an unrestricted free agent.

up Young for scoring chances. Murray also can get points on his own. That will mean Young won’t have to shoulder so much of the scoring burden.

There are some potential pitfalls for the pairing. Murray is a below-average shooter, and Young hasn’t been great at moving off the ball. Defenders who don’t have to worry much about Murray shooting 3-pointers can help contain Young. If Young stands and watches Murray, then his man can sag off to help. Young has said he’s willing to play more off the ball. We’ll find out soon if he means it.

It’s on Young to make Murray pairing work for Hawks

BY MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA

Trae Young finally has an All-Star for a backcourt partner. The Hawks traded for Dejounte Murray on Thursday. It’s a great pairing on paper. Whether it works in reality depends largely on Young. He’s met every challenge during his short career. This is a new one.

Young’s trust in letting his teammates run the offense has seemed to come and go over the years. Can’t knock him

FROM PAGE 1B

to the SEC hurt. Adding Brigham Young, Houston, Cincinnati and Central Florida softened the blow and energized the conference.

Now, with the Big Ten and SEC soon to be 16 teams apiece, the Big 12 seems well positioned to add some remaining Pac-12 members and bolster its attraction to future TV and streaming partners. Arizona and Arizona State have long been rumored as Big 12 possibilities; former member Colorado knows the territory; and Utah-BYU would automatically become one of the league’s top rivalries.

LOSER: PAC-12

Remember when the Pac-12 sent chills through

too much for that. No one is better with the ball than Young. Murray comes closest. Now Young has a teammate he should defer to more than occasionally. Will he do so?

Murray is a better defender than any guard who’s ever started alongside Young. But the Hawks have been a bad defensive team in each of Young’s four seasons. He’s a big reason for that. Murray’s defensive impact will be blunted if Young doesn’t do his part. Can he do that?

Those are the big questions for Young as he

the Heartland when former commissioner Larry Scott toured the Southwest, poised to invite Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and create the Pac-16? After all, Colorado had already joined. The plan was foiled by Texas. The newly created Longhorn Network couldn’t be worked into the Pac-12 Network, and the deal fell apart. This swing-and-miss meant kept alive the Big 12, and now it’s the Pac-12 that finds itself in scramble mode.

LOSER: THE ALLIANCE

That Big Ten/ACC/ Pac-12 show of force a year ago, dedicated to “a commitment to, and prioritization of, supporting student-athlete well-being, academic and athletic opportunities, experiences, and diverse educational programming,” according to a brochure,

teams with Murray. To acquire Murray, Hawks President Travis Schlenk gave up forward Danilo Gallinari and three firstround draft picks. Gallinari still has value as a bench scorer, but the picks are the big cost. If the YoungMurray pairing doesn’t work out, then Schlenk’s escape routes via the draft are severely limited.

I see the gamble paying off. Schlenk said Murray is an “elite” two-way guard. That’s been true for only one season, but Murray is just 25 years old. He’s still on the come. I’m confident that Young will do

might need a break. The alliance accomplished this: It killed the 12-team playoff idea.

WINNER: COLLEGE FOOTBALL VIEWERS

Realignment creates better matchups on autumn Saturdays for TV ratings that support rights fees. And the moves over the last couple of years mean we’ll see more regular-season showdowns like Alabama-Oklahoma, USC-Ohio State and Georgia-Texas. That’s good stuff.

LOSER: ROSE BOWL

The Granddaddy of Them All will have to figure this out. If the Pac-12 is sold for parts, the Rose Bowl loses an anchor. Maybe it can become the site of the Big Ten Championship Game.

Blair Kerkhoff: 816-234-4730, @BlairKerkhoff

what’s necessary to make the partnership work. He wants to win a championship, and the Hawks are better suited to make a playoff run after swapping Murray for Gallinari.

Young registered his approval of the trade on Twitter. Soon he’ll start the process of figuring out the best way to work with Murray. There’s only one ball, as the saying goes, and neither Young nor Murray is accustomed to sharing it.

Young had the ball for 8.7 minutes per game last season. That’s third most in the league, per NBA data. Murray’s time of possession was 7.4 minutes per game, tied for seventh most. Young ran the most pick-and-rolls in the league by far. Murray ranked sixth. Something has to give.

Murray started his career as a combo guard but ran point for the Spurs over the past three seasons. He’ll take pressure off Young to be the primary ballhandler and set

Young also will have to do better work on defense for the pairing with Murray to reach its full potential. He was voted thirdteam All-NBA last season. He probably would have been first- or second-team if his defense were average or close to it. None of Steph Curry, Ja Morant and Luka Doncic were as good as Young on offense, but they all were adequate defenders. Young’s defense undercuts the value of his scoring and playmaking.

Young had the worst defensive rating (points allowed per possession) among Hawks regulars in 2021-22. Sometimes that number can be misleading. There are so many interdependent variables, and small sample sizes can confound the formula. But Young’s defensive rating has ranked among the worst in the league for all his four seasons. Most important, the numbers match what we see from Young on defense.

Maybe Murray will help him raise his level on defense. Delon Wright and Kent Bazemore probably are the best perimeter defenders Young has played with. Murray is better. In 2017-18, he broke Kobe Bryant’s re-

cord as the youngest player voted to the All-Defensive team. Murray has been schooled in San Antonio’s defensive culture, which stresses all the things the Hawks struggle to do.

Getting Murray was a major move for Schlenk after he essentially stood pat last offseason. Hawks principal owner Tony Ressler said the Hawks got “complacent” following the team’s run to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals. The clock is ticking on the Murray deal. He’s under contract for the next two seasons, and the Hawks will have to decide whether to offer him a contract extension before then.

With Murray, the Hawks should guard better and be more versatile on offense. They should be a deep team again in 2022-23. The Hawks have a few more holes to fill, though.

Kevin Huerter and Bogdan Bogdanovic should offset the loss of Gallinari’s bench scoring. However, now there’s no veteran among the options at backup power forward. One of Young or Murray likely will always be on the court, but a third point guard will get minutes. Adding expensive free agents would mean a significant luxury tax bill for the Hawks, so it’s possible that one of their young players will have to take on a larger role.

The trade for Murray took care of the team’s biggest need: a playmaker, scorer and defender to pair with Young. Young has played with All-Stars before. But Vince Carter, Jeff Teague and Rajon Rondo were past their primes. Murray just had a career-best season and should get only better.

I think the Young-Murray backcourt will work out great for the Hawks. It’s on Young to prove me right.

TONY GUTIERREZ AP

Guard Dejounte Murray has been schooled in San Antonio’s defensive culture, which stresses all the things the Hawks struggle to do.

Swiatek 37-match streak ends at Wimbledon

BY CHRIS LEHOURITES Associated Press

WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek was unbeaten since February and sure seemed unbeatable, compiling 37 consecutive match wins and six consecutive tournament titles.

She’s never quite been as comfortable on grass courts as other surfaces, though, and a mistakefilled performance Saturday sent Swiatek out of Wimbledon in the third round with a 6-4, 6-2 loss to 37th-ranked Alize Cornet of France.

“This kind of match is what I’m living for, it’s what I’m practicing for every day,” Cornet said. “It really drives me. I knew I could do it. Somehow, I had this belief.”

It was not just the match’s winner that was unexpected. It was also just how one-sided this 1-hour, 33-minute encounter was.

No woman had won as many matches in a row as Swiatek since Martina Hingis also put together a run of 37 in 1997.

But right away, it seemed, this would not be two-time French Open champion Swiatek’s day.

On a chilly, windy afternoon at No. 1 Court, she quickly fell behind 3-0 and of Cornet’s first 14 points, nine came via unforced errors off the racket of the 21-year-old player from Poland. Only one came via a winner produced by Cornet herself.

Normally so crisp with her shots, calm with her demeanor, Swiatek was not exactly at ease in either sense. After one missed forehand return,

she swatted the toes of her right shoe with her racket.

By the end, Swiatek had made 33 unforced errors –a whopping 26 more than Cornet. And Swiatek’s strong forehand produced nine winners, only two more than Cornet amassed.

This is not the first surprising result Cornet has come up with at the All England Club. The only other time she reached the fourth round at the grasscourt Grand Slam tournament came in 2014, when she eliminated major singles champion Serena Williams.

“I have no words right now. It reminds me of the time I beat Serena on the same court, eight years ago exactly,” Cornet said. “This court is a lucky charm for me.”

When the match ended – appropriately enough, with Swiatek dumping a forehand into the net –Cornet raised her arms and smiled as wide a smile as can be.

Cornet is a 32-year-old who reached her first quarterfinal in 63 appear-

ances at majors by getting that far at the Australian Open in January. Now she’s a win away from getting that far again, facing unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia next.

“I’m like good wine,” Cornet said. “Good wine always ages well.”

FRENCH PLAYER WHO BEAT SERENA REACHES

4TH ROUND

Whether her opponents are tournament favorites or crowd favorites, Harmony Tan keeps knocking them out of Wimbledon.

First there was Serena Williams, a seven-time champion at the All England Club. Then came 32nd-seeded Sara Sorribes Tormo. On Saturday, it was British player Katie Boulter. And her next challenge will be against another American after 20th-seeded Amanda Anisimova beat French Open runner-up Coco Gauff on Centre Court.

“I think I like grass,” said Tan, who has won three straight matches at a tournament for the first

time in her career. “I really like to play with some slice, volley, everything with my game.”

The unseeded Frenchwoman is making her debut at the All England Club. She has played at the French Open four times, reaching the second round once. She also played at this year’s Australian Open and again reached the second round. At the U.S. Open, she lost in the first round in 2018 in her only appearance at Flushing Meadows.

On Saturday, Tan beat Boulter 6-1, 6-1 on No. 2 Court. She never faced a break point in the match and converted five of the 10 she earned.

Tan’s debut at Wimbledon came on Day 2 of the tournament on Centre Court, the biggest stadium on the grounds. That’s where she eliminated Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, in three sets.

“It was really emotional for the first round against Serena, and after it was just play match for match,” Tan said on court. “Today was really good tennis. I don’t know why, but … it depends (on) the day.”

Tan will next face Anisimova, who will also be playing in the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time.

The 20-year-old American beat Gauff 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1 after starting the match by losing the first three games. She then lost the tiebreaker despite taking a 4-1 lead.

“I think the worst thing for a tennis player is to lose 7-6 in the first set,” Anisimova said. “I had the same experience at French Open. I think from experience it’s really important to just bounce back and give everything I have.”

Ajla Tomljanovic also advanced, beating 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova 2-6,

Royals tell Greinke’s side of viral fan interaction

BY PETE GRATHOFF pgrathoff@kcstar.com

Over his 19 seasons in the big leagues, Royals pitcher Zack Greinke has gained a reputation as someone who marches to the beat of his own drum.

Greinke has been known to be brutally honest with teammates, kept a watchful eye on groundskeepers repairing a mound and has told batters what pitch he was about to throw.

So when a story was shared about Greinke throwing a teenage fan’s baseball into the stands rather than signing it before Sunday’s game, many fans laughed it off as just another quirky story about the pitcher.

That fan, Lucas Waterworth, said in a phone interview that he tries to get an autograph from every Royals player and had not gotten Greinke to sign yet.

Before Sunday’s game against the A’s, Waterworth was sitting near the Royals’ dugout hoping to get rookie shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.’s autograph when Greinke stepped on the field.

“I’m like, ‘Hey, Zack, I’m a big fan. Is there any chance you can please come over and sign some autographs?’ So Zack walks over and I’m so happy,” Waterworth said. “I’m like, ‘Zack, you’re amazing. Thank you for everything.’ And apparently he did not like that.

“Zack took the ball and he looked right up at me. And he stared at me for about 5 seconds. And he threw the ball. And I was like, ‘Wow, that was crazy. Hey, Zack. I just want to know why did you do that? Why would you do such a thing? And he said he said,

‘For my amusement.’ and I was just really shocked.”

Waterworth, 16-year-old student at WellingtonNapoleon High School, posted about the interaction on Facebook. He set the post so only a select number of people could see it, but some details of the story nevertheless made their way to wider distribution on Twitter.

That account quickly went viral, but the Royals say there is more to the story.

The team acknowledges Greinke threw the ball over the netting and into the stands but says he wasn’t simply doing it for his own amusement.

Greinke saw Waterworth push younger fans out of the way to get the ball, the Royals said.

Waterworth denies that and said he has heard from fans at the game who attest that he didn’t push any kids.

But the Royals say others witnessed Waterworth pushing aside young children to get to Greinke.

One thing the Royals and Waterworth agree on: Greinke continued to sign more autographs for young fans after tossing the ball into the stands.

Waterworth said an usher told him to talk with Royals Guest Services, and that staffers there apologized.

But he’s still hoping to get that Greinke autograph on a baseball. He never got back the ball that Greinke threw in the stands.

“It’s definitely the craziest thing that has happened to me at a Royals or Chiefs game or any sporting event,” Waterworth said.

Pete Grathoff: 816-234-4330, @pgrathoff

6-4, 6-3.

KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH AP

France’s Alize Cornet celebrates defeating Poland’s Iga Swiatek during Saturday’s third round women’s singles match in London.

BRUCE KLUCKHOHN AP

MLB Buxton’s homer in 9th lifts Twins

Byron Buxton hit his second game-ending home run of the season on Friday, a two-run drive off Jorge Lopez in the ninth inning that lifted host Minnesota over Baltimore, 3-2. Minnesota opened a 1 1⁄2-game lead in the AL Central over second-place Cleveland, which was rained out against the New York Yankees.

Friday’s Games

Mets 4, Rangers 3: Eduardo Escobar hit a tiebreaking three-run homer, expectant father David Peterson tied a career high with 10 strikeouts in six innings and the hosts stopped a season-high three-game losing streak.

Brewers 19, Pirates 2: Rowdy Tellez homered for the fifth time in five games and drove in five runs and Corbin Burnes took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning in Pittsburgh.

Willy Adames hit a grand slam as the Brewers connected five times.

Phillies 5, Cardinals 3:

Darick Hall’s tiebreaking home run was his third homer since being called up, and Rhys Hoskins went deep to add an insurance run in Philadelphia.

Astros 8, Angels 1: Cristian Javier struck out a career-best 14 while allowing just one hit in seven innings in Houston.

Dodgers 5, Padres 1:

Tony Gonsolin pitched into the eighth inning and became the first 10-game winner in the National League in a home win. Braves 9, Reds 1: Max Fried won his eighth straight decision and Austin Riley put the visitors ahead to stay in the first inning with his team-high 19th home run. Blue Jays 9, Rays 2: Jose Berrios stopped his threestart winless streak, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in three runs, and Toronto celebrated Canada Day with its fourth win in five games. Marlins 6, Nationals 3:

Brian Anderson homered to help the visitors beat Washington for their ninth win in 10 games against

the Nationals this season.

Cubs 6, Red Sox 5: In Chicago, rookie Christopher Morel homered in his third straight game.

Royals 3, Tigers 1: Vinnie Pasquantino hit his first major league home run and Hunter Dozier followed with a drive into the bullpen in Detroit.

Diamondbacks 9, Rockies 3: David Peralta, Alek Thomas and Carson Kelly homered, and Merrill Kelly pitched seven strong innings in a road win.

Athletics 3, Mariners 1: Sean Murphy delivered a pair of key two-out hits, including a solo home run, and the visitors snapped a four-game losing streak. White Sox 1, Giants 0: Leury Garcia broke up a scoreless game on an RBI single with two outs in the top of the ninth in San Francisco.

Notebook

Guardians: Rookie outfielder Oscar Gonzalez was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with an abdominal issue. The Guardians also recalled rookie left-hander Kirk McCarty to start the opener of the doubleheader and brought up infielder Gabriel Arias (hand) from Triple-A Columbus. Also, reliever James Karnichak (shoulder) was activated from the 60-day IL and optioned to Columbus.

Red Sox: Pitcher Rich Hill left Thursday’s start with a sprained knee. Yankees: New York reinstated reliever Aroldis Chapman from the injured list Friday after the lefthander missed more than a month with tendinitis in his Achilles tendon. Mets: Max Scherzer is scheduled to return to the rotation Tuesday in Cincinnati after missing over a month with a strained oblique muscle. ASSOCIATED PRESS

BONUS: Subscribers will find coverage of yesterday’s MLB games in the eEdition at kansas.com/eedition/xtrasports

April and sees room for 3-on-3 hockey to carve out room in a crowded entertainment landscape.

Keller stifles Tigers, homers provide offense in KC victory

BY LYNN WORTHY lworthy@kcstar.com

DETROIT

Right-hander Brad Keller took the baton from Zack Greinke and turned in a tone-setting performance for the Kansas City Royals as they started their six-game road trip off with a victory against the AL Central Division rival Detroit Tigers.

Greinke’s stellar outing paced the Royals to a victory on Wednesday in the final game of their homestand, and Keller tossed six scoreless innings on Friday to start their visit to the Motor City off on a positive note.

and Michael A. Taylor (2 for 4, double) had two hits apiece. Whit Merrifield (1 for 3) had a hit, a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.

Keller allowed five hits and two walks in six innings. He earned his third win of the season and his second in his past three starts. He credited a “tweak” he made with the coaching staff to his slider between starts to get better depth on that pitch.

“We found a little something that we could tweak, and I felt like I did a good job of carrying that into the game,” Keller said.

Keller a 3-0 lead to work with by the middle innings.

Merrifield scored the game’s first run in the third inning after he smacked a one-out double into the left-field corner and then stole third base to put himself a heartbeat away from scoring. Benintendi then swatted a RBI single to left field, his second hit of the game, to give the Royals a 1-0 advantage.

AP file photo

Slovakia’s

3-on-3 hockey league launches, could be step toward Olympics

BY STEPHEN WHYNO Associated Press

Hours before Canada beat the U.S. to win women’s hockey gold at the Beijing Olympics in February, International Ice Hockey Federation officials lamented having only two medal events on sports’ biggest stage.

The IIHF and IOC have discussed adding to that, and a new 3-on-3 league that debuted earlier this month could be another step toward more hockey on a global scale. With Hall of Famers Bryan Trottier, Grant Fuhr, Joe Mullen and Larry Murphy among the coaches and fast-paced games featuring plenty of goals, 3ICE is another experiment that could make 3-on-3 part of hockey’s long-term future.

“We want to get this thing off the ground and make sure it’s entertaining – it’s got the entertainment aspect to the degree

we can possibly give it and give it some credibility,” said Trottier, who won the Stanley Cup six times as a player. “All of us would be grateful for the opportunity to grow with this to the point where it does go bigger, better, Olympic, global: wherever the growth takes it.”

Seven years after the NHL adopted 3-on-3 for overtime in the regular season, 3ICE founder E.J. Johnston has big ideas about taking it international and eventually holding a youth tournament like baseball’s Little League World Series and annual adult world championships.

Commissioner Craig Patrick, a back-to-back Cup winner in 1991 and ‘92 as general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins and gold medalist as an assistant coach on the 1980 U.S. “Miracle On Ice” team, has been impressed with the available talent since tryouts in

“A lot of sports are going to short-form type things, and that’s kind of what we are, like BIG3 basketball,” Patrick said. “There’s a cricket league in India that’s vastly followed and doing very, very well. There’s rugby sevens. Everybody’s doing something a little different in their sport, and we feel that this is the way to go for hockey.”

He’s not alone in that thinking. After 3-on-3 basketball debuted as an Olympic event in Tokyo last year, new IIHF president Luc Tardif has set the goal of doing the same for hockey.

It may not happen as soon as 2026 in Milan and Cortina, a men’s tournament that is again expected to feature NHL players after two Olympics without them, but 3-on-3 was tried at the Youth Winter Olympic Games in Lausanne in 2020 and will get another look with more serious competition at the same event in South Korea in 2024.

“Maybe we can have a format more adapted to a new public,” Tardif said. “We’re always going to play traditional ice hockey, but why not try to find a way for a new format?”

The format is off to high-scoring start for 3ICE, with games averaging almost eight goals apiece.

“3-on-3’s always fun to watch, the pace is high and it’s exciting for the fans,” said Fuhr, who backstopped Edmonton to four Stanley Cup titles in the 1980s. “It’s a great league for guys to showcase their talent. Whether they’re looking for another contract, looking for a place to play in Europe, it gives them an opportunity, which would generally be in an offseason, to go out and show people the skill that they have.”

The offense provided enough wiggle room, and recently-promoted rookie Vinnie Pasquantino belted his first major-league home run in the Royals’ 3-1 win over the Tigers in front of an announced 24,349 in the first of a three-game weekend series at Comerica Park on Friday night.

Pasquantino’s home run also marked his first hit in the majors

First baseman Hunter Dozier also homered for the Royals, while outfielders Andrew Benintendi (2 for 4, RBI)

The slider has been the bread-and-butter pitch in Keller’s arsenal since he reached the majors, and he threw it 34% of the time against the Tigers.

Royals manager Mike Matheny described Keller’s fastball, which averaged 95.2 mph, as “explosive.” Keller complemented the four-seam fastball with a sinker tailor-made for inducing ground balls.

“He was tracking towards one of the best we’ve seen from him,” Matheny said of Keller’s outing. “Getting ahead, using and trusting his fastball. He was so efficient.”

The Royals (28-47) gave

Then the Royals tacked on two more runs against Tigers starting pitcher Michael Pineda— who had been on the IL since May 15 with a fractured middle finger — in the fourth on back-to-back home runs by Pasquantino and Dozier.

It was the second time the Royals hit back-toback homers this season, and it created a three-run cushion.

Meanwhile, the Tigers didn’t hit a ball in the air until a fly-out in the fourth inning. Barlow, who allowed one run on a sacrifice fly in the ninth, recorded his 11th save.

Lynn Worthy: 816-234-4951, @LWorthySports

Poston opens 4-stroke lead at John Deere

J.T. Poston took a fourstroke lead into the weekend in the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic, following an opening 9under 62 with a 65 on Friday at TPC Deere Run. Coming off a secondplace tie last week in Connecticut after also opening with a 62, Poston got to 15 under with a birdie on the par-4 13th and parred the final six holes.

Poston was a stroke off the tournament 36-hole record set by Steve Stricker in his 2010 victory.

Denny McCarthy was second at 11 under after a 65, also playing in the afternoon after rain delayed play in the morning.

Christopher Gotterup had a 67 to match Matthias Schwab (65), Emiliano Grillo (64) and Chris Naegel (66) at 10 under. ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Twins’ Byron Buxton runs the bases on his two-run home run against the visiting Orioles on Friday.

Kansas City Royals’ Whit Merrifield (15) celebrates scoring with Bobby Witt Jr. (7) in the third inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Detroit, Friday, July 1, 2022.

Juraj Slafkovsky scores an empty net goal against Sweden during the men’s bronze medal hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Feb. 19, in Beijing.

NBA teams going all-in, and that’s what it takes

BY TIM REYNOLDS Associated Press

The 2023 NBA playoffs are more than nine months away, and one thing is already clear.

There will be chaos.

The Minnesota Timberwolves grabbed a megaphone and announced that to the world when they traded multiple players and several firstround picks – one of them in 2029, which means that youngster is currently 12 and probably can’t dunk yet – to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gobert.

And with that, Minnesota is officially added to a list of legit Western Conference title contenders. There are solid arguments that can be made for no fewer than seven teams right now when debating who'll represent the West in this coming season’s NBA Finals: defending champion Golden State, along with Phoenix, Dallas, the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis, Denver and Minnesota are all on that list.

Remember, at least three of those teams won’t

FROM PAGE 1B

get past the first round next spring. At least three.

But give the Timberwolves credit for what they did, because this is the way of the NBA world now. Organizations are either all-in or all-out.

Some team is about to send another massive package of players and picks to Brooklyn for Kevin Durant, unless the Nets somehow change his mind about wanting to be traded elsewhere. And that team – doesn’t matter which one – will instantly see its title hopes soar even higher by adding perhaps the most unguardable player in the game today. Durant is owed nearly $200 million for the next four years, is about to enter his 15th season (not including one missed for injury), will turn 34 this fall and teams are still lining up to bet it all to get him in their uniform.

“The ones who were locked in that gym with me know what it is, they know what I’m about,” Durant tweeted on Saturday, his first public comment since requesting a trade from the Nets. “If u

GREGORIAN

Fame’s 25-man senior semifinalist list to be released next week.

Up to three senior players could be nominated for induction by the 12man senior committee.

Since I became one of the 49 members of the overall selection committee last August, this is my first time through the cycle. So I also felt compelled to nominate Taylor anew (among others) and make the case largely based on this premise:

You can’t tell the story of pro football without the Chiefs of the late 1960s (not to mention the current version). And the story of those Chiefs, even those times in the evolution of the game, is entwined with Taylor.

So ... you can’t tell the story of pro football without Taylor’s multifaceted and momentous role, starting with the eye test of a man who embodied the changing times in the nature of the game.

Because before Taylor was out of sight, he was what in his heyday they called outasight

That was literally, at first, when he was at the epicenter of the NFL-AFL signing wars and sequestered in a hotel near Dallas by so-called NFL handholders. In a cloak-anddagger clash with the Philadelphia Eagles to sign Taylor, who had been drafted by both teams, Chiefs super scout Lloyd Wells posed as a sportswriter to visit him but was rebuffed by security … only to ultimately lure him out a back windowwith the enticement of a red Thunderbird awaiting him in Kansas City.

That promise proved true and was a tremendous investment for the Chiefs, who signed Taylor for $15,000 and a $15,000 signing bonus … and the T-bird.

That was the beginning of Taylor being part of a pivot point at several notable crossroads.

Amid a groundswell of civil rights activism, for instance, his signing reflected a socially significant movement by the Chiefs and owner Lamar Hunt to recruit African-American players, including from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. That pioneering mind-

haven’t been in there with me, ask around.”

Cryptic in some ways, clear in others. Durant wants more rings. In other words, somebody better go all-in.

That’s what it takes.

Golden State spent somewhere around $340 million this past season on a championship-winning roster, about half of it in salary and the other half in luxury tax. Sure, the Warriors are deep-pocketed. But such is the price of doing business right now, especially in an NBA coming off a year where a record $8.9 billion in basketball related income was generated.

And the Timberwolves are the latest team to embrace that reality.

Gobert is owed $170 million over the next four seasons. Karl-Anthony Towns is owed $295 million over the next six seasons, after guaranteeing most of that in an extension that was struck a few hours before the Gobert trade happened. Anthony Edwards, a star in the making, is on pace for a massive rookie extension next summer. Minnesota,

set led to the 1969 team becoming the first in the history of pro football to have more than 50% of its starters be Black. That emphasis even accounted for some meaningful progress in race relations and social change in Kansas City, albeit haphazardly, as Bobby Bell’s endless house-hunting testified.

(As late as 1971, Taylor told The Star, “I’m a Black man. I can’t talk. I can’t express myself. I can’t do anything.” Noting his lack of endorsement opportunities, he added, “I haven’t even done a dog food commercial, and that’s pretty sorry for a guy who’d be so happy to do one he’d eat the dog food.”)

Most visibly, Taylor became instrumental in the Chiefs’ surge to two of the first four Super Bowls as the AFL compelled a merger with the NFL, punctuated by the team’s Super Bowl IV victory over Minnesota.

As great as the Chiefs of that time were, Taylor was indispensable.

“At that time, I was desperately looking for a new dimension for our receiving,” legendary coach Hank Stram told The Star in 1971. “When I saw Otis, I knew I had it.”

He also had the prototype, even forerunner, of the modern receiver.

Nevermind that his statistics by today’s standards aren’t glitzy: He had 410 receptions for 7,308 yards and 57 touchdowns in an 11-season career.

That was in an era when the regular season was 14 games and the passing game still was largely a subordinate of the running game, even for a forwardthinking team like Stram’s Chiefs.

By way of example, Len Dawson threw 188 passes in eight career postseason games (23.5 a game); Patrick Mahomes has thrown 423 in 11 (an average of 38.5).

As my friend and eminent author Michael MacCambridge put it in his book, “‘69 Chiefs, A Team, A Season, And The Birth of Modern Kansas City,” Taylor was “the focal point, the one player on the offense who could be, in the coach’s parlance, a ‘difference-maker.’ His body and skills were like a message from

a team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 2004, is swinging for the fences. New owner Alex Rodriguez, he of the 696 career home runs, must be proud. Someone is going to get Durant. It’s not reckless to think that Kyrie Irving could want a trade now as well, and if the Nets move Durant, they may as well move Irving instead of losing him for nothing next summer. Imagine Irving reuniting with LeBron James, this time with the Los Angeles Lakers,

trying to recreate what they did in 2016 when Cleveland got to celebrate a title. If Irving goes there, add the Lakers to that list of legit West contenders, too.

New Orleans will have things to say about the playoff chase. So should Portland, assuming Damian Lillard is Damian Lillard again, and there’s no reason to think that won’t be the case. And who knows what Utah will be without Gobert, especially with speculation

huddle, so everybody can hear, and then I’m gonna call the play.”

On the crossing pattern against the single coverage Taylor had anticipated exposing, he burst free for what became a 61-yard gain. That set up the game-winning touchdown one play later on Dawson’s 19-yard pass to Gloster Richardson.

A week later, in the AFL title game against the Raiders, Taylor again was pivotal in the crucible.

now surrounding whether the Jazz will choose to turn their roster remodeling into a complete teardown and trade Donovan Mitchell as well.

Keep in mind, moves are happening in the East, too.

Eastern Conference champion Boston significantly upgraded its depth by landing Malcolm Brogdon – another example of big spending, with $67.5 million and three years left on his deal – and Danilo Gallinari.

A good portion of that notion was animated and enabled by Taylor. No wonder he’ll be enshrined forevermore in the lore of the Chiefs. But that’s just part of a profile that is so entwined with pivotal NFL history. We can only hope a different form of enshrinement might still await in Canton.

the future.”

Fifteen years later, MacCambridge added, “when the venerable personnel man Don Klosterman saw Jerry Rice for the first time, he said the person he thought of was Otis Taylor.”

In a far more sophisticated age of the game, Rice became the NFL’s career receptions and yardage leader with statistics (1,549 receptions for 22,895 yards) that geometrically eclipsed those of Taylor’s time.

While Taylor’s statistics were outstanding in the context of the times, though, The Star was more right than it could have known in its report on his four-catch, 57-yard performance at Houston as a rookie.

“The statistics are not staggering,” the paper wrote then, “but the ways Taylor compiled them are.”

So they were, something you can only truly appreciate with a little bit of age and an incredible memory … or video highlights like the one produced by Red Tribe Cinemathat you can find on YouTube.

Between that and other highlights you can search for online, you’ll see an astonishing skill-set that features Taylor hurdling, stiff-arming and tip-toeing down the sidelines.

You can find him catching the ball on his fingertips or one-handed while being held or leaping up and over a would-be defender. You can see him peeling out or accelerating into a cut and see how many times it takes multiple tacklers to haul him down.

Not to mention another sort of rugged moment that was elemental in Chiefs history and testament to his passion … if not impulse control.

On Nov. 1, 1970, he hurried to avenge after Oakland’s Ben Davidson speared Dawson’s back when he was down late in a game the Chiefs led 17-14. What might be considered admirable retaliation led to fisticuffs and benches clearing and offsetting penalties that negated a game-sealing first down ... and ultimately led to a tie that proved costly to the Chiefs’ playoff hopes.

Though that episode now seems best understood as both an ill-considered valiant deed and part of the DNA of the Chiefs’ rivalry with the Raiders, Taylor was wounded by fan criticism at the time. In a revealing interview with The Star a year later, he said people keep saying, “‘You made us lose that game.’ … It makes me sick.”

Far more often, though, fans knew he was paramount in making the Chiefs win. That included his knack for making the biggest plays at the biggest moments, as emblazoned in the Chiefs’ postseason run in 1969-70.

As a marvelous defense with six future Hall of Famers was mounting a goalline stand for the ages in a divisional-round game against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Jets, Taylor was on the sideline drawing in the dirt a tweaked version of a play for Dawson to consider.

As they took the field together after a Jets field goal tied the score 6-6, according to MacCambridge’s book, Taylor said, “You gonna call the play now?”

To which Dawson said, “No, I’m not gonna call the play now.” Then he looked at Taylor playfully and added, “I’m going to wait until we get in the

With the Chiefs facing third and 14 at their own 2-yard-line, Dawson retreated nine yards deep in the end zone before heaving a ball down the right sideline to Taylor — who had Hall of Fame cornerback Willie Brown and star safety George Atkinson draped over him.

Like about everyone else afterward, even Taylor wasn’t sure how he made the catch for a 35yard gain that sparked a touchdown drive to put the Chiefs ahead for good in a 17-7 victory: “I don’t know if I caught it over my head or on what side of me,” he said, according to a 1970 Associated Press account of the game.

Then there was the moment that basically put away Super Bowl IV: Dawson’s third-quarter hitch pass to Taylor, who caught it about six yards downfield. He shrugged off Minnesota defender Earsell Mackbee and whirled away all alone before juking Karl Kassulke and high-stepping into the end zone.

The 46-yard touchdown made it 23-7 Chiefs, which proved to be the final margin in a game underscored by the mic’d-up Stram and 65 Toss Power Trap and that smothering defense and three Jan Stenerud field goals.

But this moment also was the harbinger of a tectonic shift in the game, not only because of the NFL-AFL merger to begin in full the next season, but also as the impetus for a new wave described in a Sports Illustrated’s 1970 NFL season preview story by the renowned Tex Maule.

The core of it was how Stram’s offense had launched the Football of the Future after the Chiefs had “dazzled the Vikings with their footwork and, because they succeeded, pro football has probably left the Lombardian blockand-tackle era and moved into a new decade that may well be dominated by” more modern concepts.

In hindsight, it’s hard to understand why Taylor never was a finalist before he entered the senior pool. Now it seems circumstantial.

For a while, there was an anti-AFL bias. Then, gradually, the pendulum swung to a point where there were ultimately eight Chiefs from that time (six on defense, along with Dawson and Stenerud), as well as Hunt and Stram, inducted … and maybe that suddenly seemed like a lot of Chiefs.

Various other reasons, including overall exposure and market size, likely account for why some from that era with comparable or lesser statistics are in but Taylor is not.

Still, there remains plenty of campaigning for him to be recognized in Canton, where the Hall of Fame recently announced it had amended its bylaws for the next three voting cycles to allow for up to three seniors per year.

The movement includes a petition being circulated by The Derrick Thomas/Neil Smith Third and Long Foundation and a drive by graduates of Prairie View A&M (Taylor’s alma mater) that has taken form in Jason Watkins’ “Way Past Due” podcast serieson Taylor’s behalf.

One episode featured an interview with Hall of Fame safety Ken Houston, who called Taylor the best he played against, said he could match up with anybody right now, and simply concluded, “He was impossible.”

Could be that his Hall of Fame candidacy is impossible, too. Anguishing as that might be, the true measure of his profound significance is no less self-evident.

And even enshrouded as he’s been over these last decades, let’s always remember his legacy is no less vital in the history of the Chiefs … and pro football.

Vahe Gregorian: 816-234-4868, @vgregorian

AP file photo

Wide receiver Otis Taylor of the Kansas City Chiefs runs with the ball after catching a pass against the Patriots on Nov. 23, 1966 in Kansas City.

DARRON CUMMINGS AP

Kevin Durant has requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets, according to a person with direct knowledge of the seismic decision that undoubtedly will have teams scrambling to put together enormous offers for the perennial All-Star.

KC teacher attends US blind soccer coaching summit

BY NATHAN HAN nhan@kcstar.com

Soccer has always been a huge part of Nicole Drake’s life.

So when the Kansas State School for the Blind physical education teacher was invited to participate in a coaching camp about blind soccer, she was fully on board.

“I played (soccer) growing up all my life. My husband played it in college. My daughter played for Park University,” Drake said. “So when this opportunity came up, it just kind of felt right.”

Drake was one of 30 participants at the inaugural USA Blind Soccer Coaching Education Summit in Staunton, Virginia last week. While there, she learned how to integrate the sport into her Kansas City, Kansas school and, most importantly, learn its rules.

The game is generally the same as soccer: Played on a smaller field with five players to a team instead of 11, blind soccer adds noise adaptations to the sport.

The ball rattles, for instance. Players have to yell “Voy!” when attempting a

tackle. And the goalkeeper, who is sighted, coach and a third guide can each tell players which part of the field they’re in.

Penalties and fouls are more complicated. Blind soccer has two-minute penalties like hockey, foulouts like basketball and penalty kicks for certain fouls like soccer, trying to limit injuries while all four players in the field are blinded.

“There’s a ton of different aspects of the different games that are kind of pulled into it, which I think is really cool,” Drake said. “I wouldn’t want to be a ref for it, but it is a really cool game.”

The United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) approached Drake and other blind schools across the country for the summit. Team USA has yet to field a blind soccer team in the Paralympics since the sport’s introduction in 2004.

Now, when the U.S. hosts the 2028 Paralympics, Team USA will also make its blind soccer debut with the help of Drake and others who are growing the game with the help of the summit.

“I’m excited for this

opportunity to be able to bring this to the state of Kansas and kind of get more people into the game just because it is so new and most people haven’t heard of it,” Drake said.

The Kansas State School for the Blind is looking into adding a blind soccer field when it updates its track, and Drake plans to take advantage — not only using the sport in school activities, but also holding clinics and hosting kids from across Kansas to play blind soccer in Kansas City.

Drake got her start in teaching through Leawood Middle School’s special education program. While working with a deafblind student, Drake was asked to be an intervener: a trained individual who can bridge the communication

gap between a deafblind individual and the world.

So she took part in a training program at Utah State University to become credentialed. During the process, someone who worked at the Kansas School for the Blind reached out.

“They had a student that was coming to them that was deaf and blind, and could really use an intervener to help with him,” Drake said. “My student was aging out and moving on to high school, and so I decided to do that switch and I moved to the School for the Blind.”

After the switch in 2014, Drake is where “she’s supposed to be.” A multisport athlete growing up, she said a lot of students at her school weren’t allowed

to play sports in their previous schools because of a fear of injury.

Her job includes making modifications to those sports and activities to give them that opportunity: for example, in Capture the Flag, the flag is a football with bells on it.

“It’s just little modifications that can be made but include everyone in the class,” Drake said. “That’s what makes it huge: they are feeling what it’s like to be in a team and to be able to participate with their friends.”

“I’ve been able to see firsthand when these kids get to participate and how much it means to them. That is amazing to watch, just being able to see them light up.”

Blind soccer is the next

step in Drake’s job as an adaptive P.E. teacher: If she can field enough players, Drake plans to team up with an Oklahoma School for the Blind teacher and possibly go to a tournament in Texas. The end goal is a blind soccer league in Kansas City, just like the club soccer leagues across Kansas.

First, she’s focused on raising funding at the Kansas State School of the Blind, which will play host to its fourth annual 5K (raising funds toward a new gym and track renovations) on Sept. 24. It’s a really great time to come out if anybody wants to see what we’re all about,” Drake said. “It’s a good little snippet of what our school has to offer.”

Leah Glaser/USABA

Kansas State School for the Blind teacher Nicole Drake (middle) plays blind soccer at the June 22-23 USA Blind Soccer Coaching Education Summit in Virginia.

Scott Dixon seeks to snap losing streak at Mid-Ohio course

BY JENNA FRYER Associated Press

LEXINGTON, OHIO

There is nobody better than Scott Dixon at MidOhio Sports Car Course, where The Iceman has a record six IndyCar victories and has only finished outside the top-10 twice in his career.

So he’s the favorite to win Sunday, right?

Well, not so fast.

Dixon is mired in one of the longest losing streaks of his career – 21 races and counting, dating to early last season – and he’s not won at Mid-Ohio since 2019. He’s also slipped a notch in the Chip Ganassi Racing lineup, which boasts reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou and current Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, who heads into Sunday’s race as the IndyCar points leader.

Palou is ranked fifth in the standings and Dixon, the six-time champion and most accomplished driver of his generation, is sixth and trying to get into the title fight.

“We need to – I guess that is the obvious answer,” Dixon said of jump-starting his season. “I was hoping that the Indy 500 was going to be that turn and kick that we needed. It’s been an interesting year, lots of ups and downs and some missed opportunities.”

Dixon was the class of the field in May at the Indianapolis 500 and was dominating the race until he was flagged for speeding on pit road. The ensuing penalty crippled his shot at the win.

As the New Zealander worked through the emotions of that defeat, his name suddenly surfaced in a blockbuster free agency rumor. Zak Brown, the head of McLaren Racing, has long coveted Dixon and word spread after Indianapolis that Brown was trying to lure Dixon away from Ganassi with the promise of a leadership role at Arrow McLaren SP.

Dixon, who turns 42

later this month and is the fourth oldest full-time IndyCar driver, said he has not talked with McLaren. It’s possible his management has fielded an offer, but Dixon is staying above the fray.

“A lot of people talk. I even got a few messages from people asking about the same thing,” Dixon said. “If people are having these conversations, I haven’t been a part of them. I love doing what I’m doing and being part of the team that I’m with. Who knows what comes in the future, but as of right now, I’m just focusing on this season. That’s all I’ve got to say. There’s really nothing to it.”

Dixon does have a career timeline he’d like to follow. His 51 career victories ranks third all-time, one win behind Mario Andretti for second, and he is one championship away from tying A.J. Foyt’s mark of seven.

“Honestly, I don’t see anything changing in what I’m doing currently for the next five years at least,” said Dixon, who enjoys the Ganassi lineup that also includes seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

“I think that the balance as far as we’ve got there, I think, has worked really well, and I think if you look at how competitive the team has been, sure, there’s always areas that we can improve on, and trust me, we’re working as hard as possible to make that possible,” Dixon said.

“I love the dynamic right now. It’s a lot of fun, it’s a great group and they’ve already achieved one goal this year and that’s to win the Indy 500. Hopefully we can capture that second goal of the championship.”

STATUS QUO

Ganassi recently said he expects his four-car lineup to return in 2023, an indicator that things are progressing with Johnson on a third year in IndyCar. Johnson said Friday that the return of the No. 48 next season is still a work in progress.

Wichita’s ‘world class’ lake park hampered by shady deal

BY DION LEFLER dlefler@wichitaeagle.com

There’s a certain satisfaction to being able to say “I told you so.”

But with the city of Wichita, that satisfaction is often tempered by the fact that it doesn’t come until years after City Hall cut ethical corners, and there’s no one left around to be held to account for shady insider dealings and phony pie-in-the-sky plans.

The latest example is the so-called Crystal Prairie Lake Park at K-96 and Hoover in northwest Wichita.

By now, it was supposed to be a “world class” lakeside park and regional tourist attraction, with a

215-acre lake featuring scuba diving, sail boating, a rowing race course, a swimming beach, fishing areas, a concert amphitheater, a mammoth glassfronted “beachhouse”/ event center and a cable wakeboard park where you could water ski or wakeboard being pulled along by an overhead rope instead of a boat.

I drove by it on Thursday and it’s still the same fenced-off flooded sand mine, next to an abandoned garbage dump, that’s it’s been for the better part of the past two decades.

It was born in a sand deal that was high-end corruption even by Wichita standards.

I first raised red flags

Leave no one behind while transforming manufacturing

BY SARAH LOPEZ Special to The Eagle

The urgency for driving the adoption of smart manufacturing solutions in our region is matched with the importance of moving forward with a clear, unwavering focus on equitable inclusion.

That is why the South Kansas Coalition came together under the leadership of the National Center for Aviation Research and Wichita State University with the vision of Driving Adoption: Smart Manufacturing Technologies.

Our regional consortium of industry, government and economic development leaders represents 27 counties and is one of the 60 finalists out of 529 applications for the Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge Grants.

As one of the many coalition partners, we are grateful for Wichita State University’s leadership in this effort and for their realization that our collective vision for this proposal cannot and will not be realized without an integrated equity strategy at the heart of our plan.

In fact, it is an essential source of competitive advantage for our region’s economic future.

It is crucial that we meet these transformative changes in the manufacturing foundation of our region, state and the entire country by ensuring all people, especially those in marginalized groups, have a seat at the table.

The advancement of technological tools, manufacturing processes, products and services has provided society with numerous benefits.

Our region has been at the forefront of innovation

about it back in 2004 when the deal was cut between City Hall and Quik Sand (there’s an appropriate name), a subsidiary of the Cornejo and Sons gravel and construction empire.

The land was originally purchased by the city to expand the Brooks Landfill, the city dump that was rapidly running out of space. Ultimately, the city decided to go another way and ship the trash to distant landfills, so the site was reclassified as park and open space.

Two companies, Quik Sand and Ritchie Corp., competed for the right to excavate the sand at the site, let the resulting pit fill up with water, and eventually turn it back over to the

city for its lakefront park. The problem was, city staff altered Quik Sand’s bid so that the Cornejos won the competition. The staff got there by taking the best parts of both proposals and stitching them together to make the Quik Sand bid look better than it actually was.

City staff’s excuse for altering the proposal was that it made it easier for the council members to decide.

Quik Sand’s actual proposal projected a 15-year cash flow to the city of $2.25 million and a time horizon that put development of the park at 25 years, minimum. But the council at the time was told the city would get $3.75 million

and a lakeside park in 15 years.

So here we sit, 18 years later. No park. No park on the horizon.

No accountability.

Every council member who voted for the contract is long since term-limited out of office. The interim city manager who babysat the deal is retired.

Quik Sand was merged out of existence and Cornejo and Sons was sold in 2010 to an international conglomerate. A few years later, that same company, Summit Materials, bought the company formerly known as Ritchie Corp.

City Manager Robert Layton, who inherited this mess, is planning to scale back the grandiose plan for Crystal Prairie Lake Park into something the city might actually be able to afford someday, like a simple lake with a swimming beach and a boat ramp. Good call.

He’s also planning to

recommend not funding the park in the upcoming Capital Improvement Program budget and spending those dollars on more pressing needs like streets, and police and fire stations.

Also a good call, since Cornejo and Sons will be digging gravel there for another year before park construction could even begin.

But hey, this wasn’t a total loss.

The architects who drew up the plans for the park won awards for it from the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2010 and 2011.

Hooray. Never mind that the plan never went anywhere and likely never will.

We can’t fix this. It’s too late for that.

But let this be a cautionary tale: The next time City Hall tries to sell a plan that looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Dion Lefler: 316-268-6527, @DionKansas

by bringing people together through flight.

But for a variety of reasons, not everyone in our community has had the ability to enjoy the same access to these benefits or experiences during the development, adoption and implementation of these capabilities.

Now the business community has the opportunity to develop products with consideration for how hidden biases affect design choices and data sets, which will lower barriers to the full access and functionality of technology within marginalized communities.

This is one of the most important reasons why equity, inclusion and accessibility are as critical to the transformation of our regional economy as is the adoption of emerging technologies in advanced manufacturing.

We need everyone. We need different perspectives and a variety of skills and backgrounds to make successful products without barriers. The more everyone is engaged in this work, the more successful our region will be.

Working together, we go farther. This is at the foundation of the coalition’s work.

We are the only finalist in Kansas remaining in the competition for the transformative Build Back Better grant. We hope to be awarded $50 million early this fall to advance the components of this project that will drive job and wage growth.

Our region has a unique manufacturing market within the United States. We are embracing advanced manufacturing and it is changing how we work and how we work together. We also take full responsibility for engaging the entire community because full engagement is vital to our success.

Sarah Lopez is a Sedgwick County Commissioner representing District 2

Summit shows NATO is strong, but it must be much stronger

BY HENRY OLSEN Special to The Washington Post

The NATO summit in Madrid, which ended Thursday, shows that the transatlantic alliance remains a powerful force for good. It also shows how much further most European members must go for it not to become a strain on U.S. resources.

NATO has been floundering in recent years for an obvious reason: Its primary rationale had disappeared. It was created in 1949 to counter the aggressive designs of a Soviet Union that remained openly committed to global communist revolution. Its membership was restricted to Western powers whose aim was to contain the Soviets within Europe and prevent it from conquering more of the then-globally dominant continent. That rationale largely disappeared after the Soviet Union’s collapse and dissolution in 1991.

European members naturally cut back on their military investments, reasonably thinking that the chances of a major war in their backyard were low. European powers

such as Germany and France continued to believe this even as Russian President Vladimir Putin rebuilt his country’s military and invaded Georgia and annexed part of Ukraine. Their last-minute diplomacy to try to convince Putin not to invade Ukraine was the final example of this belief.

Russia’s invasion has cast aside this false sense of security, leading most European allies to commit to significant rearmament. The accession of traditionally neutral Sweden and Finland to the alliance, which will be completed soon, is a sign that all of free Europe has awakened to Russian aggression. That is a welcome, if belated, development.

But deeds will matter more than words. NATO’s own figures show that only eight to 10 of the alliance’s 30 member nations spend the minimum recommended 2% of their gross domestic products on defense. Neither soon-to-be members Sweden nor Finland reach that level either, although both have pledged to increase defense spending in the coming years.

Not surprisingly, only the nations bordering Russia (Latvia, Lithuania and

Poland) or that have Russian troops near their border (Romania, which must contend with Russian troops in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria) have rapidly hiked defense spending after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

NATO allies cannot let the eventual end of the Russo-Ukrainian War change this newfound resolve. Putin has shown his true colors and has become even more bellicose since the invasion began. He recently gave a speech in which he praised Peter the Great’s seizure of Baltic territory from Sweden in the 18th century even though Moscow had no legitimate claims to the land. Putin noted that Slavic peoples had lived in that region along with Finno-Ugric people, something that is still the case in Estonia – a NATO member – today. Russia has a long history of Pan-Slavism – the notion that Russia is the natural protector of all Slavic peoples. Applying that today would place Russia in charge of almost all of Eastern Europe, returning the continent to the political reality of the Cold War.

Europe’s rapid rearmament will also help reduce the strain on U.S. resources. President Joe Biden’s announcement on Wednesday that the United States would increase its military presence in Europe is good for the alliance. But it also shows how much the region depends on the United States in the short-term. China’s rapid rise means the United States will increasingly have to deploy its forces to Asia, even as our allies in that region rearm, too. Given the United States’ already massive budget deficits, it is regretfully unlikely that we will rearm quickly enough to shoulder the major burden in both regions. This means Europe will need to rearm rapidly so it can assume the primary responsibility of defending its own land, sea and air.

A recent poll conducted for NATO found significant support in most European countries for increased defense spending and little appetite to reduce it. European leaders will follow their citizens if they do the right thing.

NATO will only be strong in the long run if European members want it to be. Let’s hope the continent’s resolve remains.

Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

‘WE DIDN’T KNOW WE WERE PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER’ Rockford Peaches – 30 years after ‘A League of Their Own’ – live on in new series

BY SHAKEIA TAYLOR

CHICAGO

For many of the women and girls playing baseball this summer, the Rockford Peaches – a team that hasn’t played in more than 60 years – remain a source of inspiration. One of the original four teams in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), the Peaches won the most championships in league history.

Even though the team dissolved in 1954, the organization lives again through the efforts of baseball historian Kat Williams and the International Women’s Baseball Center along with the City of Rockford – and of course the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own.”

The film has allowed the spirit of the Peaches to continue through new generations. Both the IWBC and Rockford honored the movie’s anniversary with a series of events concluding with a premiere of the upcoming Prime Video series that reimagines the beloved baseball film.

“Women have always been part of the game,” said Williams, the IWBC president, whose goal is to commemorate the contributions women have made to the sport throughout the years. “We’ve always played, umpired, coached, tended the fields, kept the stats, owned the teams. We have always been there.

“We did not start playing in 1943 and we did not stop in 1954. And interna-

tionally, women’s baseball is huge right now. So that is precisely why we at the International Women’s Baseball Center set out to make a home for women’s baseball. You know, men’s baseball has a home in Cooperstown, New York, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Little League Baseball has a home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where they have all the fields, play games and have a museum. Women’s baseball does not have a home.

“Well, they do now and it’s Rockford, Illinois.”

Founded in 1943 by Chicago Cubs President and owner P.K. Wrigley and Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey, the AAGPBL featured teams of female baseball players from cities within reasonable driving distance of Chicago.

An announcement in the Chicago Tribune in February 1943 said “the girls will wear dainty raiment instead of the customary mannish attire. They will not be bloomer girls, tho.” Tryouts were held in various cities with spring training at Wrigley Field. It was baseball, not softball, same as the men’s game but with some adjustments. For example, the basepaths were 65 feet instead of 90. For the women chosen, it meant an opportunity to get paid to play, but just like the majors, that did not extend to everyone as the league was segregated. The AAGPBL folded in 1954 but remains an important piece of women’s baseball history. Nearly 600 women played in the

league.

The Rockford Peaches –both the real ones and the Hollywood version – are a big part of that legacy. When “A League of Their Own” debuted in theaters in 1992, Penny Marshall’s film reawakened fandom and breathed new life into the long-defunct ballclub.

“I saw the movie the day it premiered,” Williams told the Tribune. “I laughed and I cried and I cheered. I was just so overwhelmed. At the end of the movie, the credits started rolling and the old-timers are out there playing a game and Madonna was singing ‘This Used to Be My Playground’ and I lost it. I couldn’t get up.

“Eventually the lights came up and I looked

around the room. There were about 10 other women sitting in that theater and we couldn’t leave. We had no idea we struggled. I played baseball and softball long before Title IX. And we struggled and we fought and we thought something was wrong with us. We didn’t know we were part of that history. We didn’t know we were part of something bigger. “And so to find that out, it just changed my world. It absolutely changed my life.”

In the movie, Geena Davis played Dottie Hinson, a character loosely based on real-life Peach Dorothy Kamenshek. Kamenshek, who joined the team for its inaugural season, had been a softball player in Cincinnati.

WE DID NOT START PLAYING IN 1943 AND WE DID NOT STOP IN 1954.

Kat Williams, baseball historian and president of the International Women’s Baseball Center

the league with a 43-65 record, but Kamensky scored 58 runs and hit .271 with 39 RBIs. With the league’s best player in Kamensky, the Peaches won league championships in 1945, 1948, 1949 and 1950.

The league’s final season was in 1954, and the Peaches dissolved without much fanfare. It was over. Or so it seemed.

She went on to become the AAGPBL’s star player.

A two-time batting champion and seven-time All-Star, the left-handed first baseman was known to jump three or four feet in the air and do splits to snag the ball. “Kammie,” as she also was known, was such a big star that the Fort Lauderdale club in the Class B Florida International League attempted to buy her contract, but the AAGPBL’s board of advisers rejected the offer because, according to league President Fred Leo, “women should play among themselves and they could not help but appear inferior in athletic competition with men.”

In their first season, the Peaches finished last in

But thanks in large part to “A League of Their Own,” the Peaches live on – as evident in the weekend’s events in Rockford.

“The Peaches are an important part of Rockford’s history,” McNamara said in a statement, “and we are honored that Prime Video has not only created a series based upon the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, but is also hosting the series debut right here in Rockford – weeks before it is available to the public.

“I’m excited to watch as the launch of this series, as well as the creation of the International Women’s Baseball Center in Rockford, usher in a new era of AAGPBL fans.”

NUCCIO DINUZZOChicago Tribune

Kim Ng, left, then the Major League Baseball senior vice-president for baseball operations, and Maybelle Blair, who played in 1948 for the Peoria Redwings, are seen during a celebration of the Rockford Peaches’ 75th Anniversary in 2018. Ng is now the general manager of the Miami Marlins.

Chicago Tribune

LYNNE SLADKY AP

Actress Lori Petty threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a 2017 game between the host Marlins and Cubs. Petty played fictional character Kit Keller in the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.”

Jakobsen bursts over line to win Tour stage 2

Dutch rider Fabio Jakobsen overtook Wout van Aert right on the line in Denmark to win the second stage of the Tour de France while Van Aert took the yellow jersey on Saturday. It was a first Tour stage win for Jakobsen and a second in two days for the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team after Yves Lampaert’s win in Friday’s time trial.

But Van Aert took the yellow jersey with a sixsecond bonus for finishing second, to lead Lampaert by one second overall.

Two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar stayed third overall and was eight seconds behind Van Aert.

Van Aert seemed to set to win after overtaking Danish hope Mads Pedersen, but Jakobsen surged past him with a great burst of speed. Pedersen finished third.

A Movistar rider Alejandro Valverde will spend a night under observation in the hospital after he and another cyclist were hit by a car on Saturday while training in southern Spain. The Movistar team said that the 42-year-old Valverde did not “have any fractures or serious injuries” after the incident in Murcia on Saturday. The other cyclist – who has not been named – was well, the team said. Spanish media said that the driver of the car fled the scene.

Golf

European tour: Spanish golfer Jorge Campillo was the pace-setter halfway

through the Irish Open while home favorite Shane Lowry staged a grandstand finish to make the cut on Friday. Campillo added a 4-under 68 to his opening bogey-free 65 for a halfway total of 11 under par, one shot ahead of Poland’s Adrian Meronk (67) and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti (69).

Motorsports

Formula One: Carlos

Sainz was fastest in the rain at the British Grand Prix to earn his first pole position in his 150th start in Saturday qualifying. Sainz set the fastest time of 1 minute 40.983 seconds late in the third qualifying session to edge reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen by just .072 seconds. A More video in Brazilian media shows retired Formula One champion Nelson Piquet using homophobic language and more racial slurs about Lewis Hamilton. The website Grande Premio published video late Thursday – apparently filmed last year with Piquet speaking in Portuguese – in which the 69-year-old Brazilian used homophobic language to say the British driver wasn’t focused to challenge Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg for the 2016 title, which the German won. There was also a fourth instance of a racial slur about Hamilton, who is Black. For earlier slurs that came to wider attention recently, Piquet has already been widely condemned by F1, drivers, teams, and governing

body, the FIA. On a podcast last November, Piquet discussed a crash between Hamilton and Max Verstappen during last year’s British Grand Prix. Piquet referred to Hamilton as “neguinho” in Portuguese, which means “little Black guy.” The term is not necessarily a racist slur in Brazil, but it is an expression that is increasingly seen as distasteful, and its phrasing can also emphasize that.

NFL

Ravens: The Baltimore Sun reported Jaylon Ferguson, the outside linebacker found unresponsive last month in a North Baltimore home, died from the combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine, according to a spokesman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Bruce Goldfarb, the agency’s spokesman, said the death had been ruled an acci-

Southern Cal, UCLA have outgrown the Pac-12

BY BILL PLASCHKE Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES

Every football Saturday could feel like a Rose Bowl.

USC visits Michigan one week, Ohio State comes to UCLA the next week, are you kidding me?

Every basketball weekend could feel like March Madness.

Indiana and Michigan

State play UCLA at packed

Pauley Pavilion in the middle of February on national television, are you serious?

The move by USC and UCLA from the Pac-12 conference to the Big Ten, which was announced Thursday and will take place beginning in 2024, is a bold and brilliant one worthy of the city of champions.

Face it, USC had long since outgrown a decaying Pac-12 that had deteriorated into the home of late-

night TV games, halfempty stadiums, and national irrelevance.

And face it, USC wasn’t going anywhere without UCLA.

The athletic departments of both schools are packing up and moving from what had become an increasingly isolated West Coast sandlot to a national playing field where the lights are brighter, the crowds are bigger, and the buzz is better. Can you blame them?

dent following an autopsy of the 26-year-old.

NHL

Flyers: The Philadelphia Inquirer reported goaltender Ivan Fedotov has been detained in Saint Petersburg, Russia, for an alleged evasion of military service, according to a report from Russian news outlet Fontanka. Fedotov, 25, signed an entry-level contract with the Flyers on May 7 after leading CSKA Moscow to the Gagarin Cup last season, and the Russian Olympic Committee to a silver medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

CSKA Moscow is owned by the Russian government and its members are officially considered military personnel.

Bruins: Boston hired Jim Montgomery as their new coach, giving the hockey lifer another chance at an NHL head-coaching job less than three years since he lost his first one. Montgomery, 53, spent the past two seasons as an assistant with the St. Louis Blues. He was fired from

One can understandably weep for the loss of such Pac-12 traditions as USC football fighting through the rain at Autzen or UCLA basketball playing through the madness at McKale, but those eyes must eventually dry to the new college sports reality.

The players are now being paid, the big-time programs have essentially become professional sports teams and so their accompanying schools must follow the money. If that means giving up an afterdark duel in Palo Alto for a prime-time showdown in Iowa City, you make that deal. If that means trading a quaint Friday night in Pullman for a nationally celebrated Saturday afternoon in State College, you do it.

In a move apparently generated by forwardthinking USC Board of Trustees chairman Rick Caruso with new athletic director Mike Bohn – Caruso is also the man running for mayor of Los Angeles –USC and UCLA were extremely smart and excessively nimble.

First, they did it for the revenue. The TV money, which was among the nation’s lowest in the Pac-12, will now be insane. The name, image and likeness endorsement revenue benefits, for Trojans and Bruins who can now market themselves across the country, will be outrageous.

his first NHL head job by the Dallas Stars in December 2019 with the team citing unprofessional conduct. In early 2020, Montgomery called that decision “appropriate” and a “wake-up call” while announcing he was going to a rehab facility for alcohol abuse.

Canucks: Restricted freeagent forward Brock Boeser re-signed with Vancouver on Friday, agreeing to three-year deal worth $6.65 million a season.

The 25-year-old right wing had 23 goals and 23 assists in 71 regular-season games last season.

Panthers: Winger Anthony Duclair had surgery to repair an Achilles tendon injury and is expected to miss significant time next season. Duclair is coming off his best pro season, setting career highs with 31 goals and 27 assists.

Stars: Dallas added Steve Spott and Alain Nasreddine to the coaching staff while re-signing backup goalie Scott Wedgewood on a $2 million, two-year contract.

WNBA

Friday roundup: Breanna Stewart scored 18 of her 20 points in the first half, Tina Charles moved into fourth in WNBA history for scoring and the host Seattle Storm beat the Indiana Fever 73-57. Charles scored nine points to reach 6,902 for her career, passing Candice Dupree with 6,895. Tamika Catchings is third with 7,380. ... Liz Cambage had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Nneka Ogwumike also scored 21 points and Los Angeles beat host Dallas, 97-89. It was the 500th win for Los Angeles, the first WNBA team to reach that mark. ... Chelsea Gray scored 21 points on 10of-12 shooting, A’ja Wilson had 15 points and 12 rebounds, and visiting Las Vegas beat Minnesota, 91-85.

study in the sun and not leave his comfy hometown conference. The sturdy linebacker from an Illinois farm can head for the beach while knowing he has not played his last game in front of his family. USC and UCLA can now establish a recruiting base not only in Los Angeles, but in the other two biggest cities in the country, and doesn’t that about cover it?

Finally, they did it for the respect. Caruso and Bohn have openly preached an unwavering commitment to restoring USC’s football program to greatness – thus last winter’s stunning hiring of football coach Lincoln Riley – and this move further opens those doors for both athletic departments.

Finally, an entire nation will now get to experience USC and UCLA sports across several platforms in prime viewing times. This will help them in the polls. This will help them in seedings. This will help in awards such as the Heisman Trophy. This will finally level the playing field for two great programs whose visibility has been greatly reduced in the shadow of the dreaded SEC.

They just increased their market penetration from one corner of the country by adding a 1,500-mile swath from New Jersey to Nebraska. They just expanded their surroundings from a largely ignored 12-team league to a powerful 14-team group in some of the most visible markets in the country. New York or Phoenix? Chicago or Denver? Philadelphia or Portland? The choices here gave them no choice.

Second, they did it for the recruiting. Prospects nationwide will now be consistently exposed to the USC and UCLA talent and traditions. The Trojans and Bruins coaches will walk into living rooms from New Jersey to Nebraska not as strangers, but as stars of television shows that appear in those living rooms virtually every week for nine months a year.

The big offensive lineman from the small town in Ohio can now come

No more can a USC or UCLA athlete complain that they didn’t receive national recognition because nobody was watching their games. No more time zone excuses. No more terrible Pac-12 Network excuses.

There are, of course, some kinks in this grand plan. But for every question, there is a reasonable answer.

The travel is going to stink, particularly for the basketball teams. But, then again, both schools have played at distant locations in recent years – Maui and the Bahamas, for example

while attempting to sell themselves nationwide.

THIBAULT CAMUS AP

Stage winner Netherlands’ Fabio Jakobsen, left, crosses the finish line ahead of second place and new overall leader Belgium’s Wout Van Aert, wearing the best sprinter’s green jersey, right, and third place, Denmark’s Mads Pedersen, center, to end Saturday’s second stage of the Tour de France.

DEAN RUTZ AP

The Indiana Fever’s Queen Egbo defends against the Seattle Storm’s Tina Charles on Friday in Seattle.

ETHAN MILLER TNS

Sportscaster and former NBA player Bill Walton broadcasts the championship game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament between Oregon State and Colorado on March 13, 2021 in Las Vegas. Walton was a three-time All-American for UCLA in the heyday of Bruins college basketball in the 1970s.

COMMENTARY

Aaron Judge, Ronald Acuna Jr. elected MLB All-Star starters

NEW YORK Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. were elected Thursday to start in the July 20 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium.

Pitch clock experiment turning skeptics into believers

BY CHELSEA JANES Washington Post

NEW YORK

Three digital timers stand at the home of the high Class A Brooklyn Cyclones, one next to the batter’s eye in center field and one behind each ondeck circle. They count down from 2 minutes 15 seconds between each inning – plenty of time for the hot dog race in front of devoted fans.

They show 19 seconds when the pitcher toes the rubber, enough time for the first batter of the inning to enjoy a few seconds of his walk-up song, step in the box and take a breath before the timers hit single digits. The clocks rarely seem to rush anyone anymore. After a few stressful spring weeks, they now operate more like metronomes. If they continue to achieve their goal – sucking downtime out of games – those clocks may be keeping pace in Major League Baseball in 2023.

The timers are part of an MLB experiment playing out at its four highest minor league levels, one less about determining whether a time limit on pitchers would shorten games but rather about determining any unintended issues before the rule moves to the majors.

To people familiar with the myriad rule changes MLB officials tested in recent years, the pitch clock has long felt like the most foolproof way to rejuvenate the sport. In its first year in use across the minor leagues, it has reduced the average game time from 3 hours 4 minutes in 2021 to 2:36 in 2022, according to MLB data through Sunday. MLB matchups have not averaged a game time that brief since the early 1980s. Any rule that can turn back baseball’s clock so far and so fast is an appealing one for MLB. For four decades, two inconvenient trends have pushed the sport deeper into the realm of something that must be endured to be enjoyed: lengthening games and shortening attention spans. Its evangelists believe the clock offers consistent and constant pace. And what becomes clear watching it in action is that the seconds it takes away are not missed at all.

As implemented in Class AAA, pitchers have 14 seconds to deliver a pitch with nobody on base and 19 seconds with runners on. If the pitcher does not deliver the ball in that time, he is penalized with a ball. If a batter is not in the box by the time the clock hits nine seconds, he is penalized with a strike. Pitchers can step off the rubber no more than twice per at-bat. Hitters can call time just once per at-bat. The clock keeps moving, and the game follows.

“Initially, I hated it. I grew into liking it a lot – to the point where I would fully endorse it in the major league game,” said New York Yankees in-

fielder Matt Carpenter, who played 21 Class AAA games this spring as he tried to make his way back to the majors.

The big selling point is that the pace of the game is way better. It just is. Pitchers will eventually dislike it more than hitters, just because when you’re out on the mound and you’re going through a long period of throwing –especially the style of pitching today, max effort, hard as you can – they’re going to run out of gas real fast.” But a little added stress on pitchers, MLB officials posit, might help solve another problem: a lack of scoring in an age of pitching dominance. Pitchers working faster may mean pitchers working less effectively, a positive byproduct at a time when offense, at least as measured by batting average, is at its lowest point this century. Minor league batters hit 241 through June 26 of last season. This year, they were hitting .247. Strikeout percentage dropped by nearly two percentage points.

In other ways, the pitch clock has hardly altered offensive outcomes at all. Walk rates, home run rates and hit-by-pitch frequency are nearly identical. Runs per game have moved from 5.09 through June 26 of last year to 5.08 in 2022. Perhaps the rule would have a greater effect on offense in a league filled with more veteran pitchers who have spent years developing plodding routines, a hypothesis that could be tested sooner than later.

MLB cannot unilaterally implement the pitch clock. But as part of the negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, owners and players agreed to the creation of an 11person competition committee that will consider and vote on rule changes. Six of those members are MLB officials, four are active players, and one is an umpire.

After a proposal is made to that committee, which can happen at any time, those 11 members vote on whether it should be considered. If the majority votes yes, then a 45-day consideration period begins.

After that period, the members vote again. If the MLB decides to begin that process, it would almost certainly do so in time to implement the rule before the start of spring training so players can adjust. Minor leaguers managed to adjust over the first three months of this season; MLB data shows the number of clock violations fell by more than half.

“I’ll be honest: At the beginning of spring training, when we started studying the rules for this year, I wasn’t happy. I had a sour taste in my mouth about that,” Cyclones Manager Luis Rivera said.

“But right now, I like it. I love it, honestly. It cuts out all the downtime. The game moves faster. Pitchers have to get right to

business – same with the hitter.”

Carpenter and others speculate that if the pitch clock remains in the minor leagues, habits will change enough to affect major league pace of play whether the clock arrives there or not. Indeed, pitchers who have come up from the minors to pitch in major league games this year seem conditioned to a quicker pace already. Of the 25 quickest workers in baseball this year with no one on base, 14 spent time in the minors this season.

But Carpenter’s lingering concern is what happens in the game’s biggest moments. Even in the minors, he said, he watched more than one pitcher get penalized after shaking off the catcher a few extra times in a big spot.

“How can you justify, at the major league level, if the Yankees are playing the Red Sox in a playoff game or a game with playoff implications, and in a big spot in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees and/or Red Sox win because a pitcher couldn’t get the sign?” Carpenter wondered. How could you possibly make that happen? I can’t see them enforcing it that way, but if you don’t enforce it, who holds people accountable?”

MLB officials believe PitchCom, the electronic system by which catchers and pitchers can communicate without signs, should alleviate time pressure in big situations. But they are also well aware that major leaguers, who know a few rushed pitches or hurried swings can mean the difference between millions in salary payouts, are likely to push back. They wouldn’t necessarily be the only ones.

Cyclones General Manager Kevin Mahoney said he and some of his colleagues worried that shorter games would limit concession sales, a crucial source of revenue in the minors – and a relevant one for major league teams, too. But Mahoney said the numbers don’t show a “huge impact.” What he has noticed, he said, is more fans staying for the duration of the game.

“Our history was you could set your watch to when we got to the end of the seventh inning – pockets of eight or 10 people would leave, no matter what the score was,” Mahoney said. “What I have realized is it was really like 9:30. It wasn’t the inning but the time of day.”

To pitch clock advocates, fans staying longer means the clock is working perfectly. MLB has long talked about the need to expand its fan base into demographics that don’t devour four-hour games with abandon. Those fans probably would stay interested even if the games are shorter. The goal is to draw people more likely to watch games when they are faster, are more actionpacked and end earlier.

The pair were chosen under new rules that give starting spots to the top vote-getter in each league in the first phase of online voting, which began June 8 and ended Thursday. Others advanced to the second phase, which runs from noon ET on Tuesday and ends at 2 p.m. ET on July 8. Votes from the first phase do not carry over.

Starters will be announced July 8, and pitchers and reserves on July 10.

Judge received 3.76 million votes and was elected to start for the fourth time. Acuna led the NL with 3.5 million votes and was elected to start for the third time.

AL finalists:

Catcher: Alejandro Kirk, Jose Trevino

First Base: Ty France, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

MLB said Thursday that Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña finished as the top vote-getter for the National League in the first phase of voting for the July 19 All-Star Game.

Second Base: Jose Altuve, Santiago Espinal

Third Base: Rafael Devers, Jose Ramirez

Outfield: Mike Trout, George Springer, Giancarlo Stanton, Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Designated Hitter: Yordan Alvarez, Shohei Ohtani

NL finalists:

Catcher: Willson Contreras, Travis d’Arnaud

Obituaries

OBITUARY INDEX

First Base: Paul Goldschmidt, Pete Alonso

Second Base: Ozzie Albies, Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Third Base: Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado

Shortstop: Trea Turner, Dansby Swanson

Outfield: Mookie Betts, Joc Pederson, Starling Marte, Adam Duvall

Designated Hitter: Bryce Harper, William Contreras

Jun 29 Downing & Lahey East Mortuary Clayton, Leroy, 82 Wichita

Bauck, Kay, 76 Wichita

Jun 30 Prairie Rose FH, Anthony Coulter, Jamie B., 81 Wichita

Jun 24 Broadway Cozine Mortuary Elwell, Jeremy Read, 43 Ardmore

Jul 27 AlternativeCreationandFuneralService Fagley, Patrick, 62 Wichita

Faltermeier, Geneva Marie, 99 Wichita

George,Wanetta(McClellan),85 Valley Center

Harris, Sheila, 65 Peck

High, Robert, 76 La Quinta

Hotze, Joseph, 64 Wichita

Hughlett, Edwin, 81 Anthony

Jun 27 Baker Funeral Home

Jun 26 Devorss Flanagan-Hunt

Jun 25 Cochran Mortuary

Jun 28 Shinkle Mortuary

May 05 Tulip Cremations

Jun 29 Downing & Lahey East Mortuary

Jul 01 Prairie Rose FH, Anthony Jones, Glenn Russell, 74 Wichita

Kiker, Donald “Don”, 86 Derby

Kim, Robert “Bob”, 79 Wichita

Kuwahara, Eric, 74 Wichita

Feb 13 Lakeview Funeral Home

Jun 16 Wulf-Ast Mortuary

Jun 29 Downing & Lahey East Mortuary

Jun 27 Downing & Lahey East Mortuary

Nov 06 N/A McLean, Wilma, 97 Wichita

Lange, Mateo Rafael, 22 Oroville

Miller, Doris Ann, 77 McPherson

O’Connor, Robert, 84 Leawood

Parsons, John, 67 Derby

Polk, Billie Jean, 93 Derby

Reida, Harold “Sonny”, 83 Rago

Jun 30 Cochran Mortuary

Jul 01 Stockham Family FH

Jun 29 McGilley State Line Chapel

Jun 24 Smith Mortuary

Jun 29 Smith Mortuary - Derby

Jul 01 Prairie Rose FH-Harper Schepmann, Jo Ann, 91 Pratt Jul 01 Larrison Mortuary

Shields, Roger William, 83 Topeka Jun 27 Midwest Cremation, Inc. Snapp, Joanne E., 95 Wichita Jun 26 Resthaven Mortuary Wingfield, Brian, 48 Conway Springs Jul 01 Ebersole Mortuary

Joseph Hotze

June 29, 2022

Wichita, Kansas - Joseph

Wichita Kansas - Robert “Bob” Don Kim, 79, loving husband, father, grandpa, and great-grandpa, died June 29, 2022.

Preceding Bob in death were his parents, his wife, Delta, and an infant brother.

Survived by his daughter, Deborah; three grandsons, Billy, Kyle, and Aaron; and seven great-grandchildren. Also surviving are his only brother,MarlinandwifeBetta of Moundridge, KS, along with a number of nephews and one niece.

Visitation will be from 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Saturday, July 2, 2022, at Downing & Lahey East Mortuary. Funeral Service will be at 3:00 pm, Sunday, July 3, 2022, at GraceFirst. Graveside Service will be at 11:00 am, Tuesday, July 5, 2022, at Hoffnungsau Cemetery, Inman, KS.

A memorial has been established with GraceFirst, 14725 E. Harry St., Wichita, KS 67230. Share tributes online at: www.dlwichita.com

Wilma McLean

February 24, 1925 - June 30, 2022

A. Hotze, 64, Computer Programmer, died Wednesday, June 29, 2022. Rosary will be at 6:30 pm, Tuesday, July 5, 2022; Funeral Mass will be at 10:00 am, Wednesday, July 6, 2022, both at All Saints Catholic Church. Preceded in death by his parents, Sylvester and Frances Hotze; brother, Patrick Hotze; sister, Kathleen Hotze. Survived by his daughter, Samantha E. Hotze; brothers, Michael (Connie) Hotze, both of Wichita, Chris (Judy) Hotze of Overland Park, KS, Robert (Debra) Hotze of Pittsburg, KS, Father John Hotze of Mulvane, KS, William (Astella) Hotze; sister, Rebecca Hotze, both of Wichita. In lieu of flowers, memorials have been established with: Father Kapaun Guild c/o Catholic Diocese of Wichita 424 N. Broadway St., Wichita, KS 67202; All Saints Catholic School, 3313 E. Grand St., Wichita, KS 67218. Services in care of Downing & Lahey Mortuary - East Chapel. Share tributes online at: www.dlwichita. com

Wichita, Kansas Wilma McLean, wife of Bill McLean and the mother of Don, Randy, Bob, and Roger died peacefully on Thursday. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Wed. July 6, 2022 at Cochran Mortuary and Crematory, 1411 N. Broadway, Wichita, KS. Her funeral will be at 10 a.m. Thurs. July 7 at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 2258 N. Marigold Ln., Wichita, KS. A lunch reception will be held at the church at 12 p.m. following the burial. Read her full obituary at www.CochranMortuary.com

Robert “Bob” Kim June 29, 2022

CURTIS COMPTON AP

DARRON CUMMINGS AP

A pitch clock is seen as fans watch during a spring training game in 2019 in Mesa, Ariz.

Obituaries

Geneva Marie Faltermeier

October 5, 1922 - June 26, 2022

Wichita Kansas - Geneva (Monteleone) Faltermeier, 99 years, 8 months, and 21 days, of Wichita, KS passed away June 26, 2022 at her residence at Family Health & Rehabilitation in Wichita, KS. Ginny, which she preferred to be called, was born October 5, 1922 the third daughter to Pasquale and Dominica (Criscione) Monteleone in Kansas City, Mo. where she grew up with sisters Vivian (McFarland) and Francis (Weigle). Ginny met John Joseph Faltermeier on a blind date and shortly thereafter fell in love. They married January 17, 1948. They made their home in various states WY., MO., NE., and finally KS. in 1972. Their union was blessed with five children: twins Daniel and Diane (Deines), JoAnn (Stone), John Jr. and Paul. Ginny and John were happily married for 51 years until the death of John on September 30, 1999. Surviving family include Daniel Faltermeier of San Francis-

co, CA, Diane Deines (Larry) of Galatia, KS, JoAnn Stone (Steve) of Wichita, KS, John Faltermeier (Nancy) of Lakewood, CO, and Paul Faltermeier (Melissa) of Shawnee, KS; ten grandchildren Kerri Demitrovic (Thomas) of Dobbs Ferry, NY, Audrey Pasvogel (Matthew) of Monument, CO, Meredith Brewer (Ryan) of Kentfield, CA, Ryan Deines (Jessica) of Shawnee, KS, Shawna Faltermeier and Tyler Faltermeier of Lakewood, CO, Benjamin Faltermeier of Shawnee, KS, Frank Faltermeier (deceased); twelve great-grandchildren Alexis Demitrovic, Owen Pasvogel, Brooke Pasvogel, Lauren Demitrovic, Trent Pasvogel, Grace Demitrovic, Brycen Deines, Shane Brewer, Seth Deines, Fiona Brewer, Zane Deines, and Dax Brewer; daughter-in-law Sandy Faltermeier (deceased). Funeral Mass will be Friday, July 8, 2022 at 10 AM at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church at 861 N Socora St., Wichita, 67212 and will be preceded by a rosary/viewing service at 9 AM. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the Lord’s Dinner in Wichita, KS (https://give.catholicdioceseofwichita.org/the-lordsdiner.org). Please add your memories of Geneva and any photos to www.dignitymemorial.com and enter Geneva Faltermeier in “Find An Obituary” and hit Search.

February 13, 2022

for Gates Learjet, later becoming Learjet Bombardier, and retired as a tooling inspector. Throughout his life, he enjoyed traveling, playing golf, taking and developing photographs, reading, following the Shockers, working Sudukos and becoming a hands-down trivia junkie.

Robert O’Connor

November 29, 1937 - June 29, 2022

Leawood Kansas Robert “Bob” O’Connor passed away peacefully on June 29, 2022, surrounded by his loving family after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s. Bob was born in Sedalia, MO and eventually settled in Wichita, KS. Bob successfully earned his living as an attorney appearing in courtrooms across the country, wowing judges and juries with his brilliant mind and quick wit. Bob’s greatest successes, howev-

Jamie B. Coulter

Robert High

er, were his unconditional love for his wife, Dianne, to whom he was married for over 55 years, and the raising of his six beautiful children. Bob was an amazing man – a loving husband and father, a mentor, a motivator, an educator, a friend…there simply aren’t enough words to describe him. Bob is survived by his wife Dianne, and his kids Maureen Bryan (husband Joseph), Bridget Moen, Chris OConnor, Kathleen Hoover (and her deceased husband Brian), and Mark O’Connor (wife Jessica), as well as his seven perfect grandchildren. A rosary will be said for Bob at 9:30 a.m. at the Church of the Nativity in Leawood, KS, followed by a visitation from 10:00-11:00, and a Catholic funeral mass at 11:00 a.m. Bob’s family encourages all who are able to make donations to Heart of America Heartland Chapter –Alzheimer’s Association.

John Parsons

March 16, 1955 - June 24, 2022

John was an avid hunter and fisherman, primarily hunting throughout the western United States, and on the continent of Africa in Zimbabwe.

His favorite vacation spot was Red River, New Mexico, where he made many happy memories with family and friends.

October 20, 1940June 24, 2022

October 30, 1945May 5, 2022

Wichita Kansas - Jamie

B. Coulter, Chairman and CEO of Coulter Enterprises, died June 24, 2022 of natural causes at his home in WichitAmerica with His Family by His side. A reception to celebrate his life will take place on Sunday, July 10, 2022 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the Wichita Country Club. Respectfully No further gathering will take place post celebration.

Jamie was preceded in death by his parents, Jamie and Mary Olive McQuillan Coulter; sister, Mary Alice Coulter.

He is survived by his wife, Kimberly and their two sons, Cactus Jack and Peter;

La Quinta California - Robert Todd High, 76, passed away, May 5th 2022, with his family by his side. He was a loving brother, father, grandfather, and uncle, who created many memories for his family. He had some very loyal friendships, which lasted over his lifetime.

He was born in Topeka, Kansas,onOctober30,1945, to Morton Todd High and Frances Christine High. He is preceded in death by both parents, his wife Janet, and his daughter Christina Kay Guenther. He is survived by two children, five grandchildren, and one sister.

Wichita, Kansas - A Cel-

ebration of Life for Glenn

Russell “Rusty” Jones, 74, of Wichita will be held Tuesday, July 12 at 1:00 p.m. in Botanica’s Terrace Room.

Rusty passed away five months ago on Feb. 13, 2022. Family and friends are invited to attend and encouraged to share their favorite “Rusty stories” and special memories of him. Casual dress or “golf attire” is more than appropriate.

Rusty was born July 11, 1947inWichitatoDoraRuth (Barham) and Mack Russell Jones. He attended Wichita public schools through the 9th grade at Hamilton Jr. High. In ‘63, his family moved to Mulvane where he became a proud “Mighty Wildcat” playing varsity football from 1964-1966 at Mulvane High School. After graduation, Rusty attended Cowley County Community College in Ark City from ‘66-68.

For32years,Rustyworked

As a long-time member of the Midian Shrine, Rusty also belonged to the Wichita Consistory, Bestor G. Brown Lodge #433 A.F.&A.M. and the Midian Touchdowners Unit.

In 1973, Rusty married Marvel “Marv” Mueller. For 20 years, they led a full, devoted life together. Marv passed away in 1993. Also preceding him in death were his parents, his brother Donald “Donnie” Jones and his nephew Mike Bates.

Rusty is survived by his second wife, Sara Orr Jones, of 27 years, his brother Carl BatesofSatelliteBeach,Flo., sister Nancy Jones Smith of Tulsa, nieces Kimberly Bates Greenwood of Satellite Beach and Kristi Smith of Tulsa, and nephews Matt and Jeff Mueller of Wichita and Chad Smith of Florida, along with a number of great-nephews and great-nieces whom he loved dearly.

Suggested memorials are with Midian Shrine Plane of Mercy and Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice. If you prefer sending flowers or plants, surprise that one special someone you love.

Mateo Rafael Lange

May 27, 1998 - November 6, 2020

Oroville CaliforniaBorn in Wellington, KS, he attended Maize and Derby schools where he participated in numerous sports and marching and concert bands where he played the flute and percussion. He was a member of the BSA and JROTC and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints asaAaronicPriesthoodholder, he loved serving others with Operation Holiday and the Just Serve organization, older persons were some of his most loved persons on this earth. He enjoyed the outdoors, flying planes, hiking, fishing, camping, biking, long boarding, hunting, shooting and all things cars which he loved learning how to repair. He loved his country and could often be heard saying “Merica”, his favorite holiday was the 4th of July. He worked at the Home Depot as a forklift driver. Ma-

teo is survived by his son Ezra Rafael Lange, his father Richard William Lange JR. of Nevada, MO; his mother Christina N. Hansen and step father Troy A. Hansen of CA; his older sister Arella Lourdes May of Pratt, KS; his younger brother Christiano Isa Lange of CA; and many other family and friends around the world who loved him. The funeral will be on July 9th, 2022 at 1:00 PM at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints located at 7834 W. 29th St N, Wichita, KS 67205, the burial will follow at 4:30 PM at Hillcrest Cemetery at 10102 E 95th St S, Derby, KS 67307. The gravesite will then be dedicated by his maternal grandfather Gabriel G. Aguilera, of Derby, KS. If anyone has questions regarding this announcement please contact at songofsolomon863@gmail.com.

Derby Kansas - John was born on March 16, 1955, to John and Margaret Parsons in Wichita, Kansas. He was raised in Derby, Kansas and lived for a short time in Midland, Texas. John graduated from Derby High School and attended Wichita State University where he studied art. John joined the Wichita Fire Department where he served, until he broke his back after falling from a tree stand that ended his career. He began taxidermy as a hobby that eventually turned into a lifelong and successful career.

John was a talented artist in all mediums, but excelled in bronze sculptures. He had an extremely successful career, commissioning monuments from California to Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Vermont and also in his home town of Derby and Wichita. His most recent works include the Jackie Robinson monument at McAdams Park in Wichita, the Derby High School Panther Mascot monument and “Answering the Alarm”, at Fire Station No. 81 in Derby.

Wanetta Mae (McClellan) George

July 7, 1936June 25, 2022

Valley Center Kansas Wanetta Mae (McClellan) George, 85, passed away on June 25, 2022. Survived by her husband Charley, four children: Charles, Carrie, Laura and Paula, and numerous grandchildren. Funeral services will be held on July 6, 2022, 10:30 a.m. at Cochran Mortuary Chapel, with burial at Kechi Cemetery. Full obituary at www. CochranMortuary.com.

Jeremy Read Elwell

August 17, 1977July 27, 2022

Ardmore Oklahoma

Jeremy Read Elwell, formally of Towanda passed away in Oklahoma City, Ok after a short illness. He was the son of Leland Read and Betty Andersen Elwell.

Roger William Shields

July 12, 1938June 27, 2022

Topeka Kansas - Roger William Shields, 83, of Topeka, KS passed away Monday, June 27, 2022. The family will be holding a private service at a later date. Visit www.midwest-cremation.com to read the complete obituary.

John was happiest spending time with his three grandchildrenmakingpizzas,playing Sorry and taking them on road trips. He loved hosting holiday dinners where all were welcome.

Johnissurvivedbyhiswife Carol, step-daughters Erica McKinney and Amanda Davis, grandchildren Addyson, Elly and Myles, brother Sam Parsons (Barbara) and sister Kathryn Buck, nephew Thomas Buck (Haylee), Jamie Steventon (Matt), and numerous nieces and nephews as well as great nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents John and Margie Parsons.

A viewing will be held 1-8pm Tuesday, July 5, with family present from 5-7pm, at Smith Mortuary in Derby. Graveside service is 11am Wednesday, July 6, at El Paso Cemetery in Derby. A Celebration of Life will be heldfrom1pmto6pmThursday, July 7, at The Venue at Madison Avenue Central Park. The family has established a Fine Arts Scholarship with the Derby Community Foundation, PO Box 372, Derby, KS 67037.

Kay Bauck

June 29, 2022

Wichita, Kansas - Kay F. Bauck,76,RetiredExecutive Assistant, died Wednesday, June 29, 2022, after a courageous battle against pancreatic cancer. Kay will always be remembered for being the most amazing Mom and incredible “Gaga” – and for the love that she had for her family. Visitation will be from Noon – 1 pm and the Funeral Service at 1 pm on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, at Downing & Lahey East Mortuary. Burial will follow at White Chapel Memorial Cemetery. Kay is preceded in death by her parents, Harold and Betty Estes. She is survived by her three daughters, Kristin Altimari (Casey Bachrodt), Kerri Maggard (Jake Maggard), and Kaleena Bauck; five grandsons, Carson, John, Jack, Liam, and Asher; and her sister, Marcia Edmundson. A memorial has been established with the Kansas Humane Society. Share tributes online at www.dlwichita.com

Obituaries

To place an obituary in The Wichita Eagle call 316-268-6508 or email obits@wichitaeagle.com

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siblings, Kay Leff and her husband George Leff, Susan Furstenberg and her husband Frank Furstenberg, Joe Coulter and his wife Linda Coulter; nephews and nieces; aunt, Donna Coulter. View expanded obituary and share condolences at www.cozine.com. Services by Cozine Memorial Group at Cozine Life Events Center.

Sheila Harris

June 28, 2022

Peck Kansas - Sheila Jean Harris, age 65, passed away, Tues., June 28, 2022. Memorial Service, 10:30am, Wed., July 6, at New Life Covenant Church, Wichita. Preceded in death by parents, Jackie and Dorothy (Uhls) Goodin. Survivors: husband, Larry Harris; children, Mandi (Garen) Plunk of Wichita, Jonas (Cynthia) Harris of Haysville; siblings Belinda (Larry) Solter of Wichita, Jackie Houchin of Haysville, Jason (Mary) Goodin of Wichita; grandchildren, Kenan (Hayley) Plunk, Chloe Plunk, Kale Harris; 3 great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, Memorial: Meals On Wheels or API, 160 E. Karla, Haysville, KS 67060. www.shinklemortuary.com.

Donald “Don” Kiker

February 18, 1936 - June 16, 2022

Derby Kansas - Don Kiker, 86, died Thursday, June 16, 2022 at Advena Living of Fountain View in Rose Hill, KS. Don was a long time member of First Baptist Church of Derby, and an active member of the Gideons Derby Camp. Don was preceded in death by his mother, Vera Chism and son Russell Kiker. He is survived by his wife of 65 yearsNancy;sons,Jim(Deb) of Topsha, ME and Rodger of Wichita; 4 grandchildren, Brad Kiker (Rachael West), Amy Clements (Joe), Drew (Katie) Kiker, Carrie Hying (Terry); and 1 great-grandson Uriah Hying. A graveside service will be held Thursday, July 7, 10:00 a.m. at El Paso Cemetery in Derby.

Memorial contributions in Don’s honor may be made to Phoenix Hospice, 3450 N Rock Rd Bldg 200, Ste 213, Wichita, KS 67226 or the Derby Gideon Camp.

Robert grew up in Topeka, Kansas, and graduated from Shawnee Heights High School. He went on to WashburnUniversity,wherehereceived his CPA. He married Janet Bainbridge, moved to Wichita where they had three children together. He later settled for the rest of his life in California. He used his accounting knowledge to launch some very successful enterprises. He built condos; had a chain of arcade venues over a few states; and even had a nightclub. Later, he owned a computer business and managed properties. He also was in the Marine Reserves. He will be missed by his family and friends, and will always be in their hearts.

Joanne E. Snapp

July 27, 1926June 26, 2022

Wichita Kansas - Joanne E. Snapp, age 95, passed away to be with her Lord and Savior on Sunday, June 26, 2022. She was born on July 27, 1926, to Harold and Elsie Hadley in Wichita. She married Melvin Snapp in 1946 and had 1 daughter Linda, 3 sons Bob, John and Chuck plus 9 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-granchild. She was a homemaker, cook/ cashier at Pleasant Valley School, and pianist for over 60 years at Wichita Baptist Tabernacle and Friendship Baptist Church. Music was her passion — she shared her musical talents with family and friends throughout her entire life.

A Celebration of Life service open to all will be held at 2 pm on Friday, July 8, at Friendship Baptist Church, 2209 E. Pawnee, Wichita, Kansas. Family will greet friends prior to and immediately after the service. A private family gathering at the Resthaven Gardens of Memory, Garden of Freedom will take place in the morning (no public viewing).

Memorial contributions may be made to Friendship Baptist Church in care of Resthaven Mortuary, 11800 W. Kellogg, Wichita KS 67209.

Full obituary via www. ResthavenMortuary-Cemetery.com

Obituaries

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To place an obituary in The Wichita Eagle call 316-268-6508 or email obits@wichitaeagle.com

Glenn Russell “Rusty” Jones

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Ross Chastain threading fine line of aggression, patience

BY JENNA FRYER Associated Press

Ross Chastain has proven to be a decent road racer over his career and there’s no reason to believe he won’t be in the mix Sunday at Road America in Wisconsin.

But it takes a fine line of patience and aggression to battle for race wins and Chastain has been trying hard to find that balance in his breakout season. Chastain has picked up a pair of Cup victories this season, his first with Trackhouse Racing, but he’s rattled some cages among his rivals along the way.

He’s admittedly made a series of overaggressive on-track moves that have strained some relationships, but the 29-year-old Chastain is torn on how to proceed. What’s he done so far has Chastain both qualified for NASCAR’s playoffs and

ranked second in the Cup standings.

“All I know is I’ve chased this dream and this goal of competing in the Cup Series for going on 11 years, 12 years now,” Chastain said.

“When I race guys, I want it to be for the win and I want to race them for the win, and I need to not do (big moves) for fifth place. I need to have some better couth about it. I don’t know how to fix it, I just know that I want this so bad.

“And that doesn’t mean that I just get to run into people, like, I get that. And trying to be better has been a challenge. I just want to pass people. I feel like I’m the aggressive guy, yeah, but I also get run into a lot. And that’s fine, that’s racing, I love it, and I get to do it at the front of a Cup race, which is just a dream come true.”

Chastain picked up his first career Cup win in

March on the Circuit of the Americas road course in Austin, Texas, and he had to tussle with former teammate AJ Allmendinger in the closing laps to seal the win. He won’t be afraid to bump and bang again Sunday when NASCAR makes its second consecutive trip to the idyllic 14-turn track that stretches over 4 miles and is considered among the top permanent road courses in the world. Chastain was seventh at Road America last year and the discipline suits him: Chastain has five top-10 finishes in 14 career road course starts. He’ll be trying to navigate his way into victory lane on Sunday and become the first three-race winner this season –Chastain is one of five drivers with two wins –while also trying to find his proper footing in the garage. He’s not a superstar, is unmarried so doesn’t hang with the young families, and hasn’t been included in any of Denny Hamlin’s golfing outings or basketball tournaments.

“I don’t live the same life as a lot of them; I don’t have a bus here in the bus lot and that’s the thing – if I wanted to hang out with them on the weekends, I probably should be over there in the bus lot,” Chastain said. “But that just seems like an egregious expense that I don’t care to do. Should I probably give them a call and go out on the lake with them on Mondays? Probably. But I don’t like the lake that much.

“So I am probably just going to go to the shop. I’ve got my crew. I’ve got my friends. It’s a pretty small circle. I’m a bit of a loner. I’ve got way more friends in the garage than I do on the (starting) grid.”

RogerAllam starsin“Endeavouron Masterpiece” on PBS.

JEFFREY PHELPS AP

Cars make their way through Turn 5 during a NASCAR Cup Series race last season at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

ARTS & CULTURE

Night” and “Because of You” — included Lachey and his reality TV-star brother Nick. He said the group will be celebrating its 25th anniversary of being signed this year, but schedules won’t allow touring this year, but perhaps in 2023.

Lachey said he’s learned a completely different work ethic doing theater.

“I’m 46 years old, and I feel like I’m learning more now than I did in the 98 Degrees heydays of the late ‘90s and early 2000s,” he said. “I’m learning from people who have done a skill and a craft that I respect and appreciate their talents. I come into it humbled and do my best to pull my own weight too.”

Marcum said Lachey’s experience in the pop world benefits him as a theatrical performer.

“When you’re in concerts, you never leave the stage, and it’s like you’re creating all this stamina,” Marcum said. “This is not an easy role at all and he’s doing it very well. That’s a product of doing all this choreography and a two-hour show without stopping.”

In both pop stardom and on stage, Lachey said he’s learned to become a team player.

“I’ve toured all over the world, and it’s given me a perspective and an appreciation for the people I share the stage with, what they contribute, and how I can learn from them,” he said.

Music Theatre Wichita recruits 98 Degrees star and Broadway veteran for Kinky Boots

BY DAVID BURKE Eagle correspondent

One of the best parts about being an artistic director for a company like Music Theatre Wichita, Brian J. Marcum says, is having the power to utilize friends and former colleagues.

In the case of “Kinky Boots,” which opens this week, that means bringing people with a vast history of the show to the Century II stage — as well as a longtime friend and the member of a successful boy band.

“It’s so nice for me to bring these people from my worlds,” Marcum said. “It’s like all the lives of me are coming together.”

Marcum tapped Nathan Peck, whom he knew when both were dance students at Oklahoma City University and who were in MTW productions together in the mid-‘90s, to direct “Kinky Boots.”

Peck has been with the show since it was workshopped in 2012, including a pre-Broadway run in Chicago and its April 2013 opening on Broadway. The show ran for six years — winning six Tony Awards, including best musical, best score for Cyndi Lauper and best actor for Billy Porter, who played Lola — and Peck was dance captain throughout its run.

“Anybody you know who was

‘KINKY BOOTS’ BY MUSIC THEATRE WICHITA

When: 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday-Thursday, July6-7; 8p.m. Friday-Saturday, July8-9; 2p.m. Saturday-Sunday, July9-10; and 7p.m. Sunday, July10

Where: Century II concert hall, 225W.Douglas

Tickets: $25-$72, from mtwichita.org, 265-3107 or the CenturyII box office

in the show, I taught,” said Peck, who understudied every role in the ensemble.

Audiences delighted to “Kinky Boots,” based on the British film about a failing shoe factory that is given new life after making specialty footwear for a new clientele — drag queens.

After the closing, Peck said “Kinky Boots” director Jerry Mitchell gave him “the keys to the kingdom” to direct and choreograph the musical at regional theaters. He was signed to direct it for MTW in 2020, but it was delayed because of the pandemic.

Having years of experience with the show gives Peck “a lot

of perspective.”

“It definitely allows me to understand how every component in the show fits together, not just the principal players,” he said. “I know what it’s like to be in it, so I know how to move in the space. I know the intention behind what’s happening.

“I was there in its inception, so I have a keen sort of understanding of the way it’s put together – why we’re doing certain things that may not on the surface make sense, but they’re very small details that very surreptitiously feed into the story line,” he added.

Peck said he is keeping the show similar, but adding a few of his own touches.

“Basically the bones of it are the original production, the staging and the choreography, but there’s different things with this company than we were doing before,” said Peck, who is working with eight of Lola’s “angels” – the drag queens at the center of the show – rather than the six on Broadway.

“I played both ends of the spectrum, which gives you a lot of insight and appreciation for what everybody’s doing on stage,” Peck said. “With the angels I’m going to give them little nuggets of knowledge.”

Playing Charlie, who reluctantly inherits his father’s shoe factory, is Drew Lachey, best

Dark comedy ‘Heathers’ takes musical turn at Roxy’s Downtown

BY DAVID BURKE Eagle correspondent ‘HEATHERS – THE MUSICAL’

After Kansas City actor-director Kipp Simmons appeared in “Disaster! The Musical” last fall at Roxy’s Downtown, artistic director Rick Bumgardner asked his longtime friend and colleague if there were any musicals that he was interested in directing.

“When I thought of shows that I thought might really play well in Roxy’s venue, I just thought of ‘Heathers,’” Simmons recalled. “He really liked that idea, so he asked me to do

When: July 7-23; performances at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays

Where: Roxy’s Downtown, 412 ½ W. Douglas Tickets: $35, from 265-4400 or roxysdowntown.com

it and added it to the season.” Simmons appeared in a production of “Heathers” at Kansas

City Kansas Community College a few years ago and was immediately drawn to it.

“It’s a really great musical, and I just didn’t know it before,” he said. “I kind of fell in love with it by being in it.”

“Heathers” — which opens Thursday night at continues through July 23 at Roxy’s — is based on the 1989 dark comedy film of the same name. The stage version premiered in Los Angeles in 2013, then moved off-Broadway in 2014, followed by a successful run on London’s West End.

The script doesn’t completely mimic the movie, Simmons said,

known for his time with the boy band 98 Degrees.

Marcum has known Lachey since 1996, when Lachey’s wifethen-girlfriend, Lea, was Marcum’s dance partner at a Radio City Music Hall Christmas show in Branson, Mo. “We’ve known each other for a long time,” Marcum said. “Our kids are great friends, and he and his wife started this great camp in Cincinnati, where they live now, called Lachey Arts 11 years ago. We were some of the original faculty for that and we continue to go back to teach these great kids in Cincinnati.”

They were also both in the cast of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” on Broadway at the same time. Lachey made his Broadway debut in “Rent” as Mark Cohen, performing for seven months.

“Initially I was petrified,” Lachey said of his Broadway debut. “I’ll be honest — I’m petrified every time I go back into that world because I have so much respect for those performers and the dedication they have for their craft. Unless you’ve done eight shows a week and five show weekends and toured, you don’t know what it’s like. In the pop world, if you have four shows a week (and think it’s a lot).”

The band 98 Degrees — which had hits including “Thank God I Found You,” “Give Me Just One

but “some of those good lines that people remember are in it.”

Set in ’89, it follows Veronica (played by Madison Laughlin) and new kid J.D. (Dalton Devoe) as they attend a high school that’s run by “the Heathers,” played by Mary-Michael Gomez, Elaine Watson and Katriana Kisner.

Simmons conducted auditions in the spring and said most of the cast are newcomers to Wichita stages, but students at Wichita State. The only exception is his college friend Christi Moore, whom he cast in one of the adult roles.

The score and book for “Heathers” is written by Laurence O’Keefe, who wrote the musical versions of “Legally Blonde” and “Bat Boy,” and Kevin Murphy, best known for adapting “Reefer Madness” for the stage.

It’s Lachey’s first time in “Kinky Boots,” and Marcum said he knew the singer could do the role.

“I’ve known him for a long time in many different incarnations. He’s so good already and he does have the goods,” Marcum said with a laugh. “It’s nice to have friends who can deliver the goods.”

New to MTW is Kenneth Mosley, who plays drag queen Lola after performing the same role for nearly a year on tour, pre-pandemic.

Mosley said he’s seen the themes of tolerance and understanding throughout the show change audience members throughout North America.

“I was able to see how the message of the show really proved to be a uniter in certain communities,” he said. “It was interesting, the different ages of attendees would be equally affected, obviously from different perspectives in a very lifechanging way, shifting perspective on people and people who are different from them. I’ve always found that to be fascinating and really fulfilling.”

Mosley said it took some time for him to perfect the dragqueen persona, but he enjoys the challenge of the role.

“We do our watching, our observing, and then we practice, practice, practice walking so we don’t go out and hurt anyone,” he said.

Music director Thomas Douglas said he was impressed by Lauper’s Tony-winning score.

“What I really like in the new shows is that non-theatrical people, in terms of pop singers or pop writers, are writing shows and they bring a real freshness to it,” he said.

“It’s just such great music and it seems to really resonate with the younger generation – which surprises me a little bit,” the 50-something Simmons said. “But I guess the scenes of surviving through high school haven’t really changed all that much since the ‘80s.”

Simmons said he’s fallen in love with the rock-pop score, which he said is used for cinematic effect on stage.

“It’s hummable too — I wake up in the morning and have a different song stuck in my head every day,” he said.

Playing a production set in the ‘80s hasn’t been much of an adjustment for the cast, he said.

“They’re all really enthusiastic about the show and they’re working really hard,” Simmons said. “It really resonates with them for some reason.”

KACY MEINECKECourtesy photos

Kenneth Mosley, left, and Drew Lachey star in Music Theatre Wichita’s production of “Kinky Boots.”

Book celebrates 50th anniversary of musical ‘Grease’

BY MARK KENNEDY Associated Press

NEW YORK

On Valentine’s Day 1972, a musical opened off-Broadway needing a lot of love. It was already $20,000 in debt and the reviews were mixed to poor. A decision had to be made: Keep going or give it the kiss off?

The choice to continue was a risky but fateful one, not only for the investors but also for the actors who would subsequently use it as a career incubator, including John Travolta, Richard Gere, Patrick Swayze, Treat Williams, Marilu Henner, Peter Gallagher, Alan Paul, Judy Kaye and Barry Bostwick. That show was “Grease,” a tale of teen angst and true love set in the mid-1950s. It would go on to transfer to Broadway for a then-record eight-year run, spawning several touring companies

and a celebrated film. Not many know that it was almost stillborn. “People think that ‘Grease’ was born a blockbuster. ‘Grease’ was born anything but blockbuster. If there’s any metaphor that works for this show, it’s ‘The Little Engine That Could,’” says Tom Moore, the show’s director.

The story of the show’s often rocky beginnings into a pop culture juggernaut is told in the new oral history book “Grease: Tell Me More, Tell Me More,” culled from stories submitted by some 100 cast and crew and edited by Moore, “Grease” veteran Adrienne Barbeau and producer Ken Waissman.

The book includes the behind-the-scenes hookups, the accidents – broken ankles were a big risk – life on the road, the time Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor stopped by to enchant the cast, their encounter with Liberace, performing the show with

flashlights during the 1977 New York blackout and the day the show closed on Broadway in 1980, complete with dozens of great photos.

The book celebrates the 50th anniversary of “Grease” opening on Broadway. It is structured chronologically as the show is born and cast and then as it sparks multiple tours, with chapters at the end organized by theme. All participants were welcome to add their stories, from understudies and orchestra members to actors and designers.

“Some had really very amusing, very risque backstage stories that I didn’t even know about it,” says Waissman, who helped audition 2,000 people for the first company’s 16 roles.

It was Waissman who fell in love with an early iteration of the show when it was an amateur production playing weekends at a converted trolley barn in Chicago. “I saw

Spotify podcasters making good money

with white noise

BY ASHLEY CARMAN Bloomberg

People on the prowl for a new podcast to consume often go for a stimulating option like a political debate or a true crime mystery to quicken the pulse. But when the din of the world becomes too much, listeners often need the opposite vibe: something soothing and sedating, maybe with the sound of static or falling rain. Perhaps a touch of crickets.

Enter – quietly, on tippytoes – the white noise podcasters.

While the top of the podcast charts on Spotify and Apple are still dominated by garrulous, jawboning hosts, these days you can also reliably find a smattering of white noise shows appearing in the mix. Relatively new to the podcast scene, the tranquil

programs haves names like “Calming White Noise,” “Best Noise Labs,” “Relaxing White Noise” and “Deep Sleep Sounds.”

Who is behind the popular offerings is a bit of a mystery.

To date, the major podcast networks have yet to pile into the field, leaving independent creators to serve the growing market. Curiously, at time when most podcasters clamor for public attention, the white noise podcast creators remain a relatively tight-lipped group. Requests to speak with multiple shows, even those with a contact form, were declined or went unanswered. In one case, the name of a website’s owner was hidden – its host was listed, improbably, as “Earth.”

Those who did respond to interview requests say

they are making good money, winning over fans and marveling at the power of podcast distribution. Collectively, the shows represent a burgeoning and lucrative podcast genre.

Todd Moore, a Florida Keys resident, quit his cybersecurity job in 2009 to focus full-time on an app, which he named White Noise. In 2019, he launched a podcast named “Tmsoft’s White Noise Sleep Sounds,” using Anchor, Spotify’s free podcast-hosting software. Moore says that his white noise show now gets around 50,000 listens per day – a figure that would rank in the top 25% of all podcasts, according to Marshall Williams, partner and chairman of the podcast ad agency Ad Results Media.

Moore and his white noise team – yes, he has

Although there are no strong studies to support its use for sleep, a small amount of hops (about what you’d get in one nonalcoholic beer) can cause sleepiness in some people.

my entire yearbook come to life,” he says. The other soon-to-be stars who had roles in “Grease” include Tony Award-winning Broadway directors Walter Bobbie and Jerry Zaks; authors Laurie Graff and John Lansing; and TV stars Ilene Kristen, Ilene Graff and Lisa Raggio. The musical centers around the T-Birds, a “greaser” gang, and their girls, the Pink Ladies. The main romance is between the leader of the T-Birds,

five employees and contractors – offer a subscription plan. But most people listen to the free, ad-supported version. Because Moore doesn’t want to interrupt the calming aura of his show, he opts to include only pre-roll ads. Anchor manages the commercial load and pays Moore $12.25 per thousand listens, which adds up to about $612.50 per day, or around $18,375 per month.

“I never thought writing a little app on a weekend would turn into my fulltime life,” Moore said. “You just never know.” Though Moore primarily built his business through

Danny Zuko, who still pines for his summer love, the “good girl” Sandy Dumbrowski. It’s a show about forming friendships, raging hormones, petty jealousies and hot-rod racing.

All successful musicals leave members with fond memories, but “Grease” was different in that it was an ensemble musical that employed young actors all of roughly the same age – ideally, close to high school. It was often an actor’s first big break and that reflected the themes of the show.

“It’s about about the first of everything – first loves, first fitting into high school, first finding your pack, first finding your group, first finding your identity. And to a certain extent, we were doing all of that personally at the same time we were putting together the show,” says Moore. “We were still to a great extent growing up together.”

Members of the various companies – touring productions often became farm teams for Broadway replacements – have kept in touch via social media over the years. When the pandemic hit, the idea was floated to combine all

his app, he says streaming content now provides the majority of his revenue. In addition to the podcast, he also releases his lulling sounds as music tracks, which generate income from royalties, and as videos on YouTube.

“Tmsoft’s White Noise

Sleep Sounds,” success appears to be tied to various factors: Moore buys ads on Spotify and places house ads around his website and app, which might prompt people to check it out. Spotify’s algorithm also can steer listeners toward such podcasts based on their search queries or previous selections. The automated

the stories into a book, a way to connect during a national isolation.

“It was as intense as it had been in rehearsal because everybody wanted to get it right,” says Moore. “These memories are so important to them.”

The book – published by Chicago Review Press –makes it clear how tight money was at the start, with costume designer Carrie Robbins using her own shower curtain to make a beauty school smock and cutting up her pink bath mat and toilet seat cover to make a poodle skirt.

It was Waissman and co-producer Maxine Fox who made the bold step to keep the show open in 1972 despite debt and poor reviews. Waissman explained it this way: “Look, we can’t afford the $20,000 that we owe right now. We might as well not afford a lot more. So we’re not closing.”

Moore credits Waissman and Fox with believing in the project and saving a show that would go on to mean so much to so many people. “You don’t see that a lot with producers now,” he says.

process has already minted at least one accidental white-noise star.

In 2019, Brandon Reed, a Walt Disney employee who lives in Florida, started using Anchor to host some white noise programming that he hoped would help his baby son fall asleep. Reed wasn’t aiming to build a successful podcast, he said, but soon the Spotify algorithm started pushing people to his show, “12 Hour Sound Machines (no loops or fades).” That year, he created three, free episodes filled with hours of static noises.

Dreamstime/TNS

Scientists say several changes occur with aging that disrupt our natural sleep cycle. Some supplements may help.

ON NUTRITION

Variety of ingredients found in sleep supplements

BY BARBARA INTERMILL Monterey Herald

It’s true that as we age, we don’t sleep as well or as long. Why is that? Scientists say several changes occur with aging that disrupt our natural sleep cycle.

That’s why I was intrigued with an ad on television for a product that claims to have been “clinically tested” and “proven effective” to help one fall asleep faster and sleep longer.

“I bet it has magnesium in it,” I remarked to my husband as we listened to the convincing-sounding spiel. Sure enough, the supplement contains mag-

nesium, a mineral that, among other jobs, may help promote healthful sleep.

Other ingredients commonly found in sleep supplements that may help include:

A Valerian, an herb used historically for the treatment of nervousness and stress. According to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements (od.ods.nih.gov), some studies have shown that valerian may help decrease the time it takes to fall asleep. Other studies show no benefit, however.

A Hops, flowers from the plant used to make beer, have some sedative effects, say researchers.

A Ashwagandha extract is made from an evergreen shrub that grows in Asia and Africa. According to the National Library of Medicine (medlineplus.gov), the herb is “possibly” effective for insomnia and stress.

A GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a chemical in our brains that slows down messages we receive and therefore helps us feel calm, says the Cleveland Clinic. Scientists are still examining the effectiveness and safety of GABA supplements for improving sleep, however. Interesting, this chemical is also found in many plant and fermented foods, including spinach, brown rice and kimchi.

A Chamomile (the German type) may help improve sleep quality, though there is not enough information to know its effects for fullblown insomnia, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine (nccih.nih.gov).

A Passion flower is a climbing vine that has been used as a sedative. Again, it hasn’t been studied extensively for improving sleep, though it can cause drowsiness in some people, say experts.

If there’s one thing that Southerners do well, it’s keeping a secret. So well, in fact, that in September 1996 when John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette in stunning secrecy at Cumberland Island’s First African Church, only a very few, including residents of nearby St. Mary’s, the gateway to Cumberland, knew about it until days later. The wedding was fairy tale-perfect, elegant, simple and, most of all, utterly romantic under its cloak of anonymity.

There are few places comparable to Cumberland Island. Its wildness is purely poetic, its waves echo against the shoreline with the lyrical rhythm of iambic pentameter, and its live oaks, untold acres of them, sway and sing in cadence with salty breezes.

The southernmost of Georgia’s barrier islands, the string of islands protecting the mainland from the tumultuous Atlantic, Cumberland’s lure fringes on the mystical. The profuse, unbroken canopy of treetops, etched with silvery sunlight on the day we visit, stretches across the island like intricately tatted lace, hiding a cache of nature’s secrets: a jewel-like painted bunting flitting among the oaks, a raccoon skittering after a fiddler crab, an armadillo sunning himself on a sandy knoll, a whitetail deer nibbling on a bed of pungent mushrooms, or a bobcat shadowing its next meal of an unsuspecting field mouse.

On this tiny island, reached only by ferry or private boat, quiet reigns, the absolute silence punctuated occasionally by the throaty bellow of an alligator searching for its mate or the drone of a passenger jet as it streams high above the clouds. As a saffron-dappled butterfly brushes just in front of my

Cumberland Island offers scenic isolation

face, I can almost hear the fluttering whispers of its wings.

Just steps into my sojourn on Cumberland, a herd of feral horses came clip-clopping through the woods and dense palmetto. One or two of them stop near us, snatching a big mouthful of Spanish moss drizzling from a live oak.

The horses were once part of Cumberland’s plantation system, but either escaped or were abandoned by their owners. They have since bred outside of domestication, and now dozens roam Cumberland’s diverse and distinct topography that includes the salt marsh of

its western end, the maritime forests that dominate its center, and the eastern beach, a series of dunes and shoreline carved by the Atlantic.

According to the National Park Service, Cumberland’s herd of feral horses is the only one on the Atlantic coast that is not managed, which means no food, water, veterinary care or population control is provided. In other words, they are bound only by nature’s whims, as is all of the wildlife on the island.

The first humans to enjoy Cumberland’s 18,000-plus acres of captivating beauty were the Timucuan Indians, fol-

lowed by the Spanish, and then the British, under explorer James Oglethorpe’s leadership. Oglethorpe established a hunting lodge on Cumberland and christened it Dungeness.

Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Greene bought land on Cumberland in 1783, with plans to build a home near the site of Oglethorpe’s hunting lodge. But before he could, he died, and his widow, Catherine, then married Phineas Miller. Together the Millers saw Greene’s dream home come to fruition, and it also was named Dungeness. The Miller Dungeness was an impressive fourstory mansion complete

Suggestions for travelers who get stuck at an airport

BY SHARON WATERS Special to The Washington Post

When Arlington resident Doug Carr is delayed at the airport, he heads to a restaurant, finds a seat facing the terminal and enjoys the free entertainment. “Airports are hubs of creativity. You see a lot of amazing things,” said Carr, 54, senior vice president at the National Business Aviation Association who flew at least 200,000 miles annually for work before the pandemic. People-watching at the airport is always fascinating.”

For fliers experiencing a delay or layover, waiting in an airport can be a test of patience. And with airline bookings up and unemployment down, there could be more delays during summer, the busiest travel season, as companies cope with crowds, weather and staffing shortages. Passengers stuck in a huge hub have more options to pass the time, such as an art museum (San Francisco), yoga room (Chicago O’Hare) or a virtual driving range (Minneapolis-St. Paul). But those captive in a midsize or small airport may need to be creative to run out the clock.

After trying to rebook their flight or negotiate compensation with the airline for the delay or cancellation, travelers can keep themselves occupied by following this advice from frequent fliers. Conduct research. John Leoni, 53, a pilot for FedEx in Memphis, recommends viewing the airport directory to devise a plan.

“That’s your whole

world,” Leoni said. Peruse the list of shops, restaurants and services on your phone or on a board in the terminal. Airport websites and apps will list hours of operations for shops and services; some filter choices by whether the businesses are found inside or outside security checkpoints. Take a walk. Bobby Esposito, 27, flies two or three times each month as a referee with the U.S. Hockey League. He uses delays to hit 10,000 steps, sometimes while making calls for his other job as an investment adviser.

“I know I will be sitting for a couple hours on a plane, so I might as well move before I get stuck in that metal tube of an airplane,” said Esposito, of Manville, N.J. Call someone. The first thing Bill Whiting, of Long Island, does during a delay is call his mother. The wine educator and producer has flown nearly 4 million miles over 25 years and has logged countless

conversations with mom. Whiting, 54, phones friends, too, sometimes engaging in a 20-minute chat, other times leaving a quick voice mail. “It’s the thought that counts,” he said.

Shop strategically. Hilary Munson, a travel director for conferences, looks for a place to buy a puzzle magazine. “Each of those puzzles can take time and focus,” said Munson, 51. If there’s an electronics store or kiosk, she will do some research, such as learning about ear buds. “I’m not buying them, but I might as well educate myself,” the Tampa resident said.

Whiting looks for local goods, such as chocolates, magnets and T-shirts, to buy as gifts for future birthdays. Carr finds diversions in pop-ups or tables offering travel gear or local products. “It’s always fun to discover those opportunities when I’m in the airport,” he said.

Ride the airport train. If the airport has a train,

D.C. resident Catherine McMahon finds it. Whether the tracks take her to another terminal or longterm parking, McMahon relaxes during the ride. “I’m fascinated by transport, and you can see other parts of the airport or a plane unloading luggage,” said McMahon, 52, who has traveled to 53 countries as an international development consultant. Visit the chapel. Escape the bustle of the terminal at the airport chapel, which is usually nondenominational, relaxing and pretty. “It’s a really quiet place to catch your breath,” said Tiffany Thompson, a flight attendant for a major U.S. airline who lives in Louisville. Visitors “use those rooms for mediation and to get away from the general public,” said Thompson, 50. Talk to strangers. Munson, who is outgoing, chats with people waiting at the gate. “You become, like, this team, and you’re sharing information. It’s very

Kennedy-Bessette nuptials took place.

After the plantation era on Cumberland ended, the Millers moved away, with Dungeness slowly spiraling into deterioration. In 1866, the oncestately mansion burned to cinders.

The island remained deserted until the Winter Resort Era of the 1880s when wealthy Yankees that included last names of Rockefeller, Vanderbilt and Pulitzer began snapping up Georgia lands as private hunting retreats. Pittsburgh steel magnate Thomas Carnegie acquired Dungeness, and he and his wife, Lucy, rebuilt the home on the same Oglethorpe/ Greene/Miller location and landscaped the surrounding acreage in a series of trellised formal gardens and lush lawns. Carnegie’s Dungeness was an astounding 44-room, 40building monolith that resembled a Scottish castle.

with 6-foot thick walls at its base and 16 fireplaces. Constructed of tabby, Georgia’s so-called coastal concrete that’s a mixture of equal parts lime, sand, oyster shells and water, Dungeness was so grand that curiosity-seekers came over from the mainland just to see the house.

Cumberland was home to several working plantations with Sea Island cotton the primary crop, but after the Civil War freed slaves remained on the island and developed their own communities, including “The Settlement,” an area on Halfmoon Bluff where the First African Baptist Church is located and where the hush-hush

easy then to strike up a conversation,” said Munson, who lived in Bethesda for eight years.

Whiting looks for anyone dressed with the logo of his alma mater or his favorite sports teams, and he uses that as a conversation opener. “You can tell by their energy level if they’re into it or not,” Whiting said. “But it can be a mistake, because they may want to talk your ear off.” Do an act of kindness. Helping someone may brighten both your moods. Thompson always has magazines with her. “If I see a parent struggling –we’ve all been there – I’ll hand the kids the magazine and say, ‘Tear out every picture of a dog in the magazine and give it to me,’” said Thompson, a mother of two.

Other ideas include loaning a phone charger, buying someone a cup of coffee or helping with a language barrier. “Just be a little more aware. You’re not alone here. You’re all in the same boat,” Thompson said.

Whiting approaches people in a military uniform or a Vietnam War hat to say thank you. “It makes those people feel good. It makes me feel good,” he said. “It’s tiny things that make a huge difference.”

Entertain your children. Many airports (including Boston Logan and Chicago O’Hare) have designated play areas for children. If

Dungeness burned in 1959, never to be rebuilt. The charred skeleton of Dungeness remains on the island, but time, salt air, and sun have seared its bones to whiteness. Varmints like rattlesnakes and racoons now lurk in the old tabby, making it seem almost unbelievable that Dungeness was once one of the largest and most splendid homes in any era of American history.

From Cumberland’s spellbinding, unforgettable beauty to its 18 miles of gloriously isolated beaches where the view disappears spectacularly over the curvature of the earth, to its distinctive history, and even to its top-secret weddings, its remoteness is the perfect ingredient for a special romantic getaway for those who love and appreciate nature.

For more information, contact Cumberland Island National Seashore by visiting www.nps.gov/cuis or calling 912-882-4336.

you’re not lucky enough to be stuck in one of them, find the airport’s visitor center to ask about trinkets and toys. Savannah/ Hilton Head International Airport, for example, offers coloring books, crayons, playing cards and, recently, Slinkys. “We give them something to remember us by,” said Greg Kelly, executive director of the Savannah Airport Commission. Leave. Munson takes the free airport shuttle to a nearby hotel and hangs out in the lobby. “It’s totally worth it to be more comfortable than sitting in a place where it’s hard chairs and they’re yelling over your head every few minutes,” she said. “Use that as your personal sky club, as long as your delay is long enough.”

Williams noted that the hotel restaurant may have better food at a cheaper price, be less crowded and offer free WiFi. For a very long wait, book a room at a day rate to nap, watch TV or allow children to hop on beds. “It’s expensive, but it is an option,” Williams said.

Thompson recommended checking with an airline agent to determine whether it’s safe to leave. Don’t exit if the delay is for mechanical problems, Leoni said. “I wouldn’t stray too far,” he said. “Things could change for the better very quickly.”

At least one can hope.

RALPH DANIELExplore Georgia/TNS

Cumberland Island’s 18 miles of Atlantic beach are so vast that the view disappears over the curvature of the earth. It’s not unusual to see feral horses grazing among its white sand dunes.

LEA SUZUKISan Francisco Chronicle via AP

People wind their way through security at San Francisco International Airport. For fliers experiencing a delay or layover, waiting in an airport can be challenging.

Herzog’s 1st novel revisits fanaticism and human folly

BY KRISTEN MILLARES YOUNG

Post

Werner Herzog has portrayed the poetic excesses of human drama as the brilliant director, producer and screenwriter of more than 60 feature and documentary films, the author of more than 12 books and the director of more than a dozen operas.

His debut novel, “The Twilight World,” is a spare and lyric tale about Hiroo Onoda, a real Japanese lieutenant who terrorized the Philippine villagers of Lubang Island with guerrilla tactics for 29 years after World War II’s conclusion.

Much like Herzog’s documentaries, which distill their central inquiries by reenacting fact as fiction beneath his signature philosophical narration, “The Twilight World” begins with the writer himself. In Tokyo in 1997 to direct the feudal opera “Chushingura,” Herzog insults his hosts by declining an invitation from Japan’s emperor. Shocked, someone asks Herzog whom he’d rather meet.

“Onoda,” he replies. “And a week later, I met him.”

Herzog’s hallucinatory account jump cuts to Onoda’s 1974 encounter with Norio Suzuki, a college dropout who traveled to Lubang Island, having made a bucket list for global adventures: Onoda, yeti, panda. Herzog briefly

BOOK REVIEW

positions himself as narrator – of insects, he writes, “I start to hear with Onoda’s ears that their humming is not aggressive, is not troubled.” – before slipping into the third person. Did Onoda long for his family, or sex, or safety, as he navigated the jungle, changing camps nightly, sometimes walking backward to evade trackers?

“The Twilight World” largely eschews psychology and self-reflection, both of which Herzog has called “the major catastrophes of the 20th century,” to chronicle how Onoda and fellow soldiers Shimada and Kozuka cached ammunition in homemade palm oil and misread (as evidence of World War II’s expansion) the planes flying toward subsequent American wars in Korea and Vietnam.

Declining to pass explicit judgment on his subject’s devastating refusal to accept that World War II was over, Herzog nonetheless tightens the lens on who he thinks is important: Onoda. Such foregrounding of one man evokes Herzog’s 1982 film “Fitzcarraldo.” The infamous climax of that story recapitulated the depraved ambitions of a would-be rubber baron who conscripts Indigenous villagers to drag a ship through a steep jungle denuded for that purpose.

In “Conquest of the Useless: Reflections From The Making of Fitzcarraldo,” Herzog wrote, “the

PENGUIN PRESS Handout

The Twilight World

By Werner Herzog; Penguin Press, 144 pages, $25

feeling crept over me that my work, my vision, is going to destroy me, and for a fleeting moment I let myself take a long, hard look at myself, something I would not otherwise do –out of instinct, on principal, out of self-preservation – look at myself with objective curiosity to see whether my vision has not destroyed me already.”

Onoda died in 2014 at the age of 91. Public fascination with his story hearkens to a corrupted nostalgia for codes of conduct that demand loyalty to chain of command, no matter what. But where is the honor in ambushing farmers who, recovering from an imposed war, harvest rice?

Left with orders to destroy Lubang Island’s transportation infrastructure but never to surrender or kill himself, Onoda is reported to have killed up to 30 residents, wounding many more, for which he was later pardoned. Readers of “The Twilight World” would not learn the human cost of Onoda’s steadfast ignorance because the narrative

adheres to his ingenious survival.

Beautifully translated from German into English by Michael Hofmann, “The Twilight World” reveals the companionship of soldiers with nature and each other but concludes without examining the collective damage wrought by their imperialist fantasy. Mimicking nesting dolls with an architecture of time from 1997 to 1974 to 1944, where it lingers before boomeranging back, the novel’s construction could have made it possible to see into and around Onoda more.

Herzog’s Onoda is not an ahistorical lunatic, but rather a man with admirable focus who clings to life and refuses to cede a fight. Onoda was weaponized into an instrument of war, a stoic intent that compels Herzog. “‘Sometimes,’ says Onoda, ‘it feels to me that there is something about these weapons that takes them out of human control. Do they have a life of their own, as soon as they’re devised? And doesn’t War seem to have a life of its own too? Does War dream of War?’” Having lost his men to surrender and gunfire, Onoda “goes around alertly, sees everything, hears everything. He is always prepared. But he is not allowed to merely be jungle, be a part of nature. He is apart and a part.” Ignoring found newspapers, dropped leaflets and recordings of his brother’s voice delivered via loudspeaker, he leaves the jungle only in 1974, after Suzuki brings Onoda’s prior commanding officer, age 88, to deliver official orders announcing the end of the war and relieving him of duty.

In his feverish search for ecstatic truths, Herzog has given readers a portal into human folly, selfdiscipline and domination – surely his life’s work.

Racism has ill effects on the health-care system – and body

BY JERALD WALKER Special To The Washington Post

My wife was 20 weeks pregnant when she experienced a gush of rosecolored liquid, and we sensed that our first child was no longer moving inside her. A panicked call to 911 brought paramedics. As they examined my wife, the paramedics had a casual conversation with us about our work as graduate students at the University of Iowa. The tenor seemed odd at that moment, but it offered hope; surely paramedics would not be making small talk if our child was in trouble.

After the exam was completed, we had reason for more hope still; we were advised to go to the hospital “for observation,” but no need to rush. An hour later we drove ourselves and learned, contrary to what the paramedics intimated, that our child had died. We were told to return home and let nature run its course” – that is, my wife was to deliver our lifeless child at home into a bucket we were given.

Two days later, my wife went into labor. When she spiked a fever and had chills, I called our doctor; he told me to give her an aspirin. But she got worse.

I called paramedics. I was terrified that along with our child I would lose my wife, who was now in our bathtub, unconscious and hemorrhaging, alongside “the demise” she had delivered. She was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery to try to save her life.

Under the Skin

By Linda Villarosa; Doubleday, 269 pages, $30

Thank goodness my wife survived, but 30 years later she and I remain haunted by our experience and the conviction that race played a role in this story. Had we been white, like all the medical personnel who’d attended us, rather than Black, maybe the first paramedics would have leveled with us. And maybe, at the hospital, we would have been given the option of a surgical evacuation instead of being sent home to endure a risky second-trimester fetal demise. According to the University of California at Davis department of obstetrics and gynecology, a fetal demise delivered at home in the second trimester presents an elevated danger of significant bleeding. When we told hospital staff that we had strong misgivings about seeing and handling our child’s remains at home in the throes of our grief, perhaps – if we had been a white couple – we would not have been given the callous and untrue response: “There’ll be nothing to see of the demise, other than gray matter.” And when I called our doctor when my wife developed chills and a high fever during her labor, perhaps I would have been instructed to bring her to the hospital immediately.

2018, headlined “Why America’s Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Lifeor-Death Crisis,” Linda Villarosa wrote, “People of color, particularly black people, are treated differently the moment they enter the health care system.” Race, in other words, in terms of health care in this country, is the story. Villarosa, a journalism professor at the City University of New York, reported on studies that show, for example, that Blacks are less likely than whites to receive kidney dialysis or transplants, coronary bypasses, appropriate cardiac medications, or pain medications, yet they are more frequently given amputations for diabetes.

In her brilliant, illuminating book, “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation,” Villarosa expands on the theme. She discovers that racial bias within the health-care system is a compounding factor to racial bias in America. Meticulously researched, sweeping in its historical

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLERS

Publishers Weekly bestsellers for week ending June 18.

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. “The Hotel Nantucket” by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown)

2. “Sparring Partners” by John Grisham (Doubleday)

3. “Horse” by Geraldine Brooks (Viking)

4. “Tom Clancy: Zero Hour” by Don Bentley (Putnam)

5. “Run, Rose, Run” by Parton/ Patterson (Little, Brown)

6. “Nightwork” by Nora Roberts (St. Martin’s Press)

7. “Meant to Be” by Emily Giffin (Ballantine)

8. “City of Likes” by Jenny Mollen (NarcelleBooks)

9. “22 Seconds” by Patterson/ Paetro (Little, Brown)

10. “The Stranger in the Lifeboat” by Mitch Albom (Harper)

11. “Dream Town” by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)

12. “The Summer Place” by Jennifer Weiner (Atria)

13. “Clive Cussler’s Dark Vector” by Graham Brown (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

14. “The Paris Apartment” by Lucy Foley (William Morrow)

15. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday) HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. “Battle for the American Mind” by Pete Hegseth (Broadside)

2. “Just Tyrus” by Tyrus (Post Hill)

3. “I’d Like to Play Alone, Please” by Tom Segura (Grand Central Publishing)

4. “James Patterson” by James Patterson (Little, Brown)

5. “The Power of One More” by Ed Mylett (Wiley)

6. “Killing the Killers” by O'Reilly/Dugard (St. Martin’s Press)

7. “What is a Woman?” by Matt Walsh (DW)

8. “The End of the World is Just the Beginning” by Peter Zeihan (Harper Business)

9. “Happy-Go-Lucky” by David Sedaris (Little, Brown)

10. “How to Raise an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi (One World)

11. “Atlas of the Heart” by Brene Brown (Random House)

12. “River of the Gods” by Candice Millard (Doubleday)

13. “Finding Me” by Viola Davis (HarperOne)

14. “Rough Draft” by Katy Tur (One Signal)

15. “Scars and Stripes” by Kennedy/Palmisciano (Atria)

MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS

1. “Complications” by Danielle Steel (Dell)

2. “Better Off Dead” by Child/

BOOK NOTES

WATERMARK BOOKS & CAFE

Bestsellers

1. “100 Things to Do in Wichita Before You Die” by Vanessa Whiteside

breadth, damning in its clear-eyed assessment of facts and yet hopeful in its outlook, “Under the Skin” is a must-read for all who affirm that Black lives matter. It will be especially eye-opening for anyone who believes that wealth, education and access to quality medical services are the great equalizers, the attainable means by which Black Americans can achieve health-care parity.

Equal treatment within the health-care system, Villarosa argues, regardless of class or social status, remains elusive because of three primary obstacles: long-standing institutional and structural discrimination; implicit biases in the medical profession resulting not only in misdiagnoses but even blame for being unwell; and “weathering,” which, Villarosa writes, refers to the “struggle with anger and grief triggered by everyday racist insults and microaggressions ... [which] can, over time, deteriorate the systems of the body.”

The female reproductive system is not immune.

Villarosa cites a 2007 American Journal of Public Health study that demonstrates that Black women who reported experiencing racial discrimination had double to triple the rate of low-birthweight babies compared with Black women who did not report incidents of discrimination. Summing up, Villarosa writes, “The researchers’ conclusion: low birth weights among African American women have more to do with the experience of racism than with race.”

A decade earlier, Villarosa stringently followed all prescribed prenatal

Child (Dell)

3. “The Return” by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing)

4. “Deadly Cross” by James Patterson (Grand Central Publishing)

5. “Summer Shadows” by Nora Roberts (St. Martin’s Press)

6. “No Way Out” by Fern Michaels (Zebra)

7. “Autopsy” by Patricia Cornwell (William Morrow)

8. “When the Shooting Starts” by Johnstone/Johnstone (Pinnacle)

9. “Taylor Callahan, Circuit Rider” by Johnstone/Johnstone (Pinnacle)

10. “Taming a Texan” by Diana Palmer (Harlequin)

11. “Murder at Sunrise Lake” by Christine Feehan (Berkley)

12. “Montana” by Debbie Macomber (Mira)

13. “Sound of Darkness” by Heather Graham (Mira)

14. “The Shadow” by Patterson/Sitts (Grand Central Publishing)

15. “Unbridled Cowboy” by Maisey Yates (HQN)

TRADE PAPERBACKS

1. “Verity” by Colleen Hoover (Grand Central Publishing)

2. “Book Lovers” by Emily Henry (Berkley)

3. “Reminders of Him” by Colleen Hoover (Montlake)

4. “Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Vol. 6” by Fujita (Kodansha Comics)

5. “Every Summer After” by Carley Fortune (Berkley)

6. “Malibu Rising” by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballantine)

7. “Chainsaw Man, Vol. 2” by Tatsuki Fujimoto (Viz)

8. “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood (Berkley)

9. “Wish You Were Here” by Jodi Picoult (Ballantine)

10. “Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 19” by Tomohita Oda (Viz)

11. “Deadpool: Samurai, Vol. 2” by Sanshiro Kasama (Viz)

12. “The Personal Librarian” by Benedict/Murray (Berkley)

13. “The Boardwalk Bookshop” by Susan Mallery (Mira)

14. “It Happened One Summer” by Tessa Bailey (Avon)

15. “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba” (coloring book) by Koyoharu Gotouge (Viz) ASSOCIATED PRESS

Arts” by Margarita A. Mooney

3. “The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints” by Jessica Hooten-Wilson

2. “Together is a Beautiful Place” by Bailey T. Hurley

3. “Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons” by Kate Khavari

4. “Jackie & Me” by Louis Bayard

5. “Symphony in the Flint Hills Field Journal, Volume 13 - 2021: The Santa Fe Trail” New and notable “One Boy Watching” by Grant Snider (Chronicle Books, $17.99) The newest children’s picture book from beloved Wichita author/illustrator Grant Snider is an ode to the day dream, to the observant passenger and to the long rides and curious minds of school-aged kids. Everyone knows what it feels like to be a passenger— and this book finally puts this universal feeling into words. Watermark Books will host Grant Snider for a Storytime and Book Signing on July 23 at 10 a.m.

“The Hidden One: A Novel of Suspense” by Linda Castillo (Minotaur Books, $27.99) The discovery of a missing Amish bishop’s remains leads chief of police Kate Burkholder to unearth a chilling secret in this new thriller from bestselling author Linda Castillo, the 14th book in this mystery series set in Amish country. Watermark Books will host author Linda Castillo for an in-person event on July 7 at 6 p.m.

EIGHTH DAY BOOKS

Bestsellers

1. “99 Poems: New and Selected” by Dana Gioia

2. “The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal

care during her own pregnancy but had to ask herself if her “lived experience as a Black woman in America” had resulted in her daughter being born at only 4 pounds, 13 ounces. She recounts that a doctor “hounded” her with questions about her lifestyle, as if she were a habitual user of alcohol and drugs.

To combat racism in health care, Villarosa advocates implicit-bias train-

4. “A Taste of Paradise: Stories of Saints and Animals ” by Katherine Bolger Hyde

5. “Ancient Voices: An Insider’s Look at Classical Greece” by Louis Markos New and notable “The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece” by Kevin Birmingham (Penguin, $30.00). The true story behind the creation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.” The germ of the story came from the case of Pierre Francois Lacenaire, a glamorous egotist and notorious murderer who charmed and outraged Paris in the 1830s. Lacenaire embodied the instincts that lay beneath the nihilism that inspired a new generation of Russian revolutionaries and became the model for Dostoevsky’s murderer, Roskolnikov.

“The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World” by Lewis Hyde (Vintage, $18.00). A new edition of a modern classic. The Gift is a defense of the value of creative labor. Drawing on examples from folklore and literature, history and tribal customs, economics and modern copyright law, Lewis Hyde demonstrates how our society — governed by the marketplace — is poorly equipped to determine the worth of artists’ work. He shows us that another way is possible: the alternative economy of the gift.

Michael Roehrman: 316-269-6753, @mroehrman

ing for medical personnel and champions expanding the diversity of students, faculty and curriculums in medical schools.

Racism cannot be combated, however, if its existence is denied.

But some need no convincing. Alas, we have stories of our own.

JUMP START ROBB ARMSTRONG

PEANUTS CHARLES SCHULZ

DOONESBURY GARRY TRUDEAU

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE STEPHAN PASTIS

PICKLES BRIAN CRANE

GARFIELD JIM DAVIS

BALDO HECTOR CANTÚ & CARLOS CASTELLANOS

THE FLYING MCCOYS GLENN & GARY MCCOY

ZITS JERRY SCOTT & JIM BORGMAN

CLOSE TO HOME JOHN MCPHERSON

MT. PLEASANT RICK MCKEE & KENT SLIGH

CANDORVILLE DARRIN BELL

PUZZLES - JUMBLE

PUZZLES - NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

PUZZLES - SCRABBLEGRAMS

PUZZLES - WORDFIND

PUZZLES - SUDOKU

PUZZLES - UNIVERSAL CROSSWORD

PUZZLES - BOGGLE

PUZZLES -

CLOSE TO HOME JOHN MCPHERSON BIZARRO WAYNO & PIRARO

THE FLYING MCCOYS GLENN & GARY MCCOY

BABY BLUES RICK KIRKMAN & JERRY SCOTT

ZITS JERRY SCOTT & JIM BORGMAN

PEANUTS CHARLES SCHULZ

DILBERT SCOTT ADAMS

WIZARD OF ID PARKER & HART

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE STEPHAN PASTIS

TUNDRA CHAD CARPENTER

PICKLES BRIAN CRANE

CRABGRASS TAUHID BONDIA

BOUND & GAGGED DANA SUMMERS

BALDO HECTOR CANTÚ & CARLOS CASTELLANOS

GARFIELD JIM DAVIS

CANDORVILLE DARRIN BELL

JUMP START ROBB ARMSTRONG

PUZZLES - 7 LITTLE

The content on this page was prepared for publication Saturday, and ran online in our digital edition. We repeat it here as a courtesy for readers of print who follow these puzzles throughout the week.

PUZZLES - UNIVERSAL CROSSWORD

PUZZLES - 7 LITTLE

PUZZLES - SUDOKU

PUZZLES -

PUZZLES - WORD GAME

PUZZLES - JUMBLE

TAKE NOTE Missing the Crypto or Cipher puzzles? Find similar code-breaker puzzles along with the Daily Commuter crossword in our eEdition under the ‘XtraFun’ navigation label at kansas.com/eedition

PUZZLES - BOGGLE BRAINBUSTERS!

BY MARK MARDEROSIAN Tribune

Just kids

Games and activities for young readers who need something to fill their day.

Find your ‘hero’ fabric when mixing patterns

BY KATIE LAUGHRIDGE Tribune News Service

We love to mix everything from styles to colors and especially patterns. After all, new traditional design is a mix itself. It is classic and fresh, livable and luxe, formal and fun. The goal is to take “traditional” elements and turn them into “new” design concepts that paint the story of you in your home. Pattern mixing is the starting point to be creative and show personality; it is the perfect excuse to be wild and free and throw the rulebook out the window. Without a rulebook, you can start to create a uniquely wonderful home.

Pattern mixing is a design term that essentially means curating a variety of textiles with different patterns, colors and textures to create a stunning layered but cohesive look. There are so many places to incorporate fabric and other surface coverings into your home, whether it be an array of pillows for your living areas or bedroom, window treatments, tabletop linens, rugs, wall coverings and your furniture itself.

While there are no hard rules for pattern mixing, there are ways to make the process easier on yourself. We often start the process by finding a “hero” or “sparkle” fabric. A hero fabric is the textile you can’t live without, the one that makes your heart race, the pièce de resistance you know you must have in your space. Once you have your star, you can begin to build upon it for a complete look.

During the brainstorming and building phase, the more textiles, the better. This is the time to pull all the fabrics that catch your eye (and other surface patterns you might incorporate into your space) and experiment by throwing them all together. You never know when opposites will attract, or when an unlikely pairing will turn into something stunning. Keep in mind that variety is the spice of life, and you are looking to create a family of textiles, so include all your favorite patterns from floral to menswear to geometric and toile. Once you have everything gathered, you can start creating your fabric pairings and narrowing down your selection.

It is important to choose fabrics with a wide spectrum of pattern sizes when creating your textile family. A balance between smalland large-scale patterns is essential to a cohesive and coordinated look. A solid balance of patterns, like stripes paired with a large florals and small-scale geometrics, help to create a visually interesting but not overwhelming space. Have a gap you’re not sure how to fill? Try a neutral animal print, clean geometric or a plaid.

Pattern mixing is something that can seem intimidating, but truly gets easier as you build your own confidence.

Bring nature inside your home to create a comforting environment

BY HUNTER BOYCE Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Nothing gets a house looking fresh and stylish like a new look. It can improve your mood, your creativity and your dinner parties. This year, designers are going green, keeping things comfortable and getting down to earth. Here are some of 2022 s top interior design trends.

BIOPHILIC DESIGN

According to Dwell, nature will continue to play a large role in home decor for 2022. Biophilic design places an emphasis on plants and green, natural visuals.

The pandemic has been a stressful time for Americans, and interior design in 2022 is focusing on comfort and stress relief. Science has found that indoor plants might be one answer.

A study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health reported that foliage plants improved the concentration and attention in elementary students when used as a visual stimuli. Another study from the Journal of Physiological Anthropology discovered a link between indoor plants and reduced stress levels.

CURVES ARE COMFORTING

REITERATING

THEIR GREEN APPROACH TO INCLUDE MORE THAN JUST PLANTS. NATURE-INSPIRED ACCESSORIES CAN STRENGTHEN THE CALMING POWER OF YOUR HOME.

Curvy furniture can help create a more comforting environment by making people feel embraced and safe. That’s why they are making a comeback. Speaking to 21oak.com, Evelyn Benatar, president of New York Interior Design Inc., emphasized the importance of comfort in the home to interior designers this year.

“Comfort is in a huge, huge forward motion,” she said. “During COVID, the way that people are dressing, they want to be enveloped, cozy, and comfortable.”

RECLAIMED MATERIALS

The pandemic has bottlenecked many industries worldwide, causing supply chain issues and product shortages. To combat the lack of inventory and rising costs, many interior designers are turning to reclaimed materials.

In December 2021, online marketplace 1st Dibs held a designer survey to predict the com-

ing year’s top household decor trends. Sustainable, reusable material won the day.

“For designers next year, going green extends beyond color trends and into green thumbs and green living,” the survey said. “When asked what design trends will remain popular in 2022, almost all designers selected sustainable materials (nearly universal at 97%) and plants (93%), which both reflect a desire to remain in harmony with the environment.”

NATURE-INSPIRED ACCESSORIES

Reiterating the importance of comfort and calm in the home, many designers are pushing their green approach to include more than just plants. Nature-inspired accessories can strengthen the calming power of your home.

“With more time spent indoors than ever before, we’re all seeking to strengthen our connection with nature,” Athena Calderone,

Take foundation issues seriously

BY PAUL F.P. POGUE Ask Angi

Here’s a couple of words you never want to hear as a homeowner: “foundation repair.” The foundation literally holds up your house, and it’s under constant pressure from earth beneath it, the house above it and water pressure from all sides. Even the strongest foundation can crack from that much wear and tear.

Foundation repairs can run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

So if you notice cracks in your foundation or basement walls, it’s a good idea to take them seriously. The sooner you address them, the less you’ll have to pay.

Experts say homeowners should never underestimate how severe the problems can get with even small foundation or basement cracks. Even in an unfinished basement, a crack can be a sign of a compromised foundation. Not to mention the potential health issues that mold and mildew in those cracks can cause.

Here’s the good news: There’s a high chance your problem isn’t structural, but rather caused by surface water coming too close to your home. Clogged gutters and

downspouts can pour water right next to the foundation, or a poorly graded yard can result in pools by the wall. In both cases, the solution doesn’t involve major structural work. Gutter cleaning or yard grading can clear the problem right up without intervening in your structure at all. More complex problems will require attention from a professional. The simplest repairs involve pumping epoxy into the crack, which will cost between

$250 and $800. You might also need to build a drainage system that diverts water away from the foundation. If a foundation is actively leaking, you’ll probably pay between $2,300 and $7,300 to fix it.

Whatever you do, don’t leave cracks untreated. If you see cracks in your basement or foundation, you should hire a basement waterproofing expert or structural engineer to examine the problem.

founder of Eyeswoon, told Vogue. “This has simultaneously inspired a resurgence in natural surfaces –think stoneware, terracotta, marble, and travertine being used across the board from backsplashes to bathtubs, furniture, and decorative objects. The raw, porous, imperfect nature of these organic materials adds depth, soul, and visual intrigue while also mimicking the calming, restorative ambiance of the outdoors. This lure back to nature has also sparked an interest in large trees at home, from the elegant black olive to Southern magnolias.”

EARTHY TEXTURES

Wood, leather and bronze are on the rise in interior design, according to dwell.com. It’s all in an effort to bring earthy textures back into the living space.

“There will also be greater experimentation with textures like raked plaster, rougher clay, or grainy stuccos,” Frederick Tang, principal at the eponymous Brooklyn architecture and interior design firm, told Dwell. “These have been really popular interior finishes because they’re so durable and can be made water-resistant, but I think they will start moving outdoors, and even onto custom furniture.”

Even under ordinary circumstances, your foundation expands and contracts and can eventually break itself apart. Small cracks might not get worse, but they never get better on their own.

If your foundation completely fails, expect to write a big check. Costs for foundation replacement run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Plus, the work can often be a huge upheaval in and of itself. Major foundation repairs involve jacking up the house with supports before digging around and replacing foundations or basement walls.

When looking out for foundation damage, not all cracks are created equal. Small hairline cracks can sometimes result from settling, for instance. You should be particularly wary when a crack starts to grow. Horizontal cracks are also likelier to indicate structural damage.

Most of the time, you’ll see evidence of foundation trouble before it manifests. Peeling paint, leaks and dampness can all give away a foundation problem. Water rot can cause stained or discolored baseboards, and musty odors mean water is hiding somewhere. Some basement and foundation professionals offer inspections for a few hundred dollars, and it’s a worthwhile price to pay to catch major problems early.

Pro Creators/Dreamstime/TNS

Interior design in 2022 is focusing on comfort and stress relief. Science has found that indoor plants might help reduce stress levels.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COMFORT AND CALM IN THE HOME, MANY DESIGNERS ARE PUSHING

Dreamstime/TNS

Foundation cracks can lead to potentially expensive repairs.