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PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis in Parliament yesterday.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/ Tribune Staff

• $100m for major upgrades to the PMH and Rand

• GB and Abaco to retain Dorian tax breaks til year end

• Radical plan to force commercial landlords to pay property tax

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

GOVERNMENT debt remains on course to top $10 billion by the end of the next fiscal year as the Minnis administration commits to substantial deficit spending to help the country rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis unveiled his administration’s combination of tax concessions, targeted tax increases and spending plans during his budget communication yesterday.

• Airbnb rental to be made fully VAT rated to raise $31m

He also tabled a resolution in the House of Assembly that would authorise the government to borrow $871,645,371 for the next fiscal year. He tabled another resolution that would let the government borrow $68m beyond what Parliament approved it to borrow for the current fiscal year which ends in June.

The deficit is projected

FULL COVERAGE INSIDE ON PAGES 2,3,4,5 & BUSINESS SECTION

• PLP: ‘No plan, no big idea and ignores the growing debt crisis’

to be $951.8 million in the 2021/2022 fiscal year.

“While the deficits proposed in the current budget remain at very elevated levels,” Dr Minnis said, “they are necessary to sustain the economy and set the stage for the impending economic rebound.

Extraordinary times call for an extraordinary response. Unprecedented economic calamities must be met with unprecedented fiscal and policy initiatives.”

SEE PAGE THREE

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PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Thursday, May 27, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

BUDGET2021

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and members of government making their way across Rawson Square for the 2021/2022 Budget presentation.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

JUNKANOO GIVEN $2M TO HELP WITH HQ

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

TWO million dollars has been allocated for the Junkanoo community in the upcoming fiscal year to support stakeholders in the development of plans for permanent headquarters.

The announcement was made by Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis yesterday.

The news elicited mixed reactions from the Junkanoo community.

“Outside of what has already been mentioned in this presentation, Mr Speaker, the capital budget will make provision for the following: $2m to support the Junkanoo community in their development of plans for permanent headquarters,” Dr Minnis said.

“This will be supplemented with provisions of Crown land to the major established Junkanoo groups, and with grants from the BTC Feeder Trust that was set up for social, cultural and civic endeavours such as this.”

The Shell Saxons Superstars, according to the group’s communications officer Kendenique Campbell-Moss, are delighted and regard this as a major plus to the group’s operations.

“This is monumental for the Saxon Superstars because this will prolong our much needed cultural activities and events,” said Ms Campbell-Moss.

“This will bring young men and women into the shacks. This will give them the ability to do something that is worthwhile and cultural, that is going to propel them into new territories because you see Junkanoo is not what happens on Bay Street, but Junkanoo happens throughout the year.

“It gives you the opportunity to build momentum.

It gives you the opportunity to foster education and camaraderie and networking. And, so the Saxon Superstars welcome this opportunity.

As the defending champions of the 2019 Boxing Day and 2020 New Year’s Day parades, Ms CampbellMoss said the group “will take this opportunity to go into the shacks that are going to be revolutionised and technology based.”

“We will take this opportunity to completely

revolutionise what we bring to Bay Street because we are the defending champions,” she added.

Francisco Cooper, deputy chairman of the Valley Boys, was less impressed, calling the allocation a drop in the bucket.

“In my personal view, that is not a lot of money,” Mr Cooper said. “I think culture always gets the short end of the stick. Two million dollars is only a drop in the bucket. It’s peanuts to share amongst the major Junkanoo groups.

“It’s a help but it can’t go far. There are too many people in need right now which we are supporting daily as we can. It wouldn’t go where it’s needed to go.

Culture always gets the short end of the stick. They have been talking about Crown land since (the) last election and it has not happened yet. It’s almost five years later and still nothing is happening.

“We might be Junkanooers but we are very educated. We have degrees just like them. We also have doctors and lawyers and we even have politicians in our groups. It seems like they look at us like we are stupid.”

One Family’s chairman, Christina Fernander, said every penny helps and she is happy to be receiving not only the funding, but the land as well.

“That’s great news and we are very pleased,” Fernander said. “It’s much needed for groups to be provided with land we can call home because it has come to the point now where we are paying rents and there is a lot of overhead so if we can be provided with land that we can call our home base, that is excellent.

“We are very pleased to hear that news. To be honest it’s two million to share and I guess we have to wait to see how it is shared, but any help is good help. We are entities that don’t make money.

We instead beg and get by with sponsorship and so any help coming in is great help along with what we would get annually from our sponsors. It goes a long way.”

After a year off from the parades due to the COVID19 pandemic, the Junkanoo community is waiting on word from the competent authority as to when the cultural festivities will resume.

THE TRIBUNE

BUDGET2021

Thursday, May 27, 2021, PAGE 3

Debt on course to top $10 billion from page one “This administration makes no apologies for doing what is necessary and doing what is right to support Bahamians and the Bahamian economy under these most challenging of circumstances.

But it bears repeating, my administration is not the party of fiscal recklessness.

We have taken a temporary but a necessary detour from fiscal consolidation. As the economy stabilises in the coming years, we will return to the path of reduced deficits and public debt.”

Anticipating a global economic rebound as well as additional revenue from new tax measures, the government projects that revenue will increase by about $588.3m during the next fiscal year. Dr Minnis said even with such an increase, revenue would be 7.5 percent below that of the 2018/2019 fiscal year.

He characterised the budget as “people centered”, saying it focuses “on maintaining and supporting families, small businesses and communities and growing our economy.”

He announced the elimination of value added tax on baby and adult diapers and sanitary pads and tampons for women. He also announced the elimination of customs duty on disinfectants, construction and repair

materials to churches and other buildings used for religious gatherings, sporting equipment and apparatus and IT related hardware and cabling. He said these duty eliminations, among other things, would encourage hygiene and sanitation, encourage exercise and fitness and support private sector digitisation efforts.

He said duty will be reduced on a number of building supplies to 20 percent and 25 percent to encourage construction activity.

Dr Minnis highlighted targeted tax increases that he said will yield over $50m in revenue for the government.

“They are very specific and they are targeted,” he said of the increases. “They were designed with the notion of fairness and equity in mind.”

He said the law will be amended to clarify that all vacation home marketplaces, including AirBnB and BRBO, are required to pay VAT on rentals and commissions. “Those marketplaces who are charging VAT presently have interpreted the legislation as being only applicable to the commissions paid out,” he said. “The clarification in the law will make it explicit: VAT will be applicable on the full value of the rental.”

Officials estimate that through this change, the country will reap an additional $31m in revenue.

Dr Minnis said VAT

will be increased on realty transactions for portions of real estate transactions that are over $2m. “Presently, all transactions of $100,000 are subject to ten percent VAT. With (this) amendment, those above $2m will be charged full VAT rate of 12 percent, yielding an additional $4m,” he said.

Dr Minnis also said amendments will be introduced to improve real property tax collections for commercial properties.

“We have had situations where owners of significant commercial properties collect substantial rent from businesses but are delinquent in the payment of taxes,” he said. “The legislative enhancements will permit the government to have those rents paid to the Department of Inland Revenue for delinquent commercial property tax owners.”

Dr Minnis said the government will increase excise tax on cheroots and cigarillos to bring them in line with conventional cigars.

He highlighted numerous budget allocations.

He said $2m will be used to support the Junkanoo community in support of their plans to develop a permanent headquarters. Other allocations include $31m in “renewable and resilient” energy projects; $4m for a Ragged Island multi-purpose centre; $2m to restore the Ragged Island clinic; $1.5m

to restore the Ragged Island police station; $200,000 for repairs to the Marsh Harbour International Airport; $1.7m for repairs to the Treasury Cay Airport; $5m to support the North Eleuthera Airport; $5m to support phase two of the Exuma International Airport; $4m to repair and install proper drainage in Bel-air of Pinewood Gardens; $4.4m for an Inagua Comprehensive School; and $1.9m for an East Grand Bahama comprehensive school.”

He also announced that a special economic zone will be established to target southern islands.

Last year, the Minnis administration announced plans to cut expenditure by reducing subventions to state owned enterprises by $100m. Dr Minnis, however, noted yesterday that this plan was abandoned and that payments to SOEs in some cases increased compared to years prior.

The payments included $11.2m in assistance to Lucayan Renewal Holdings; $2.6m to the Water & Sewerage Corporation; $34.5m in payroll and operational support for Bahamasair; $4.1m in operational support to the Airport Authority and $4.6m to Nassau Flight Services.

“Part of the fiscal strategy plan calling for a gradual reduction of interventions

PLP: ‘NO PLAN, NO BIG IDEA AND IGNORES THE GROWING DEBT CRISIS’

By EARYEL BOWLEG Tribune Staff Reporter ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE Progressive Liberal Party criticised Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ budget communication yesterday, saying it “lacks credibility” and is “weak on solutions” to address a looming “debt crisis”.

“We are concerned that this is an election time budget,” Chester Cooper, PLP deputy leader, told reporters shortly after Dr Minnis delivered his speech in Parliament.

“This administration is clearly not equipped to provide the country with a path out of this crisis.”

During his speech, Dr Minnis outlined plans to create employment in the public and private sector and he also unveiled tax concessions for entrepreneurs and small businesses, among other things. However, Mr Cooper said the Minnis administration must be living in an “alternate reality” because there was no plan to address the country’s bloated debt levels.

“This is a budget that presents nothing to measurably confront the dire situation we are in,” Mr Cooper said.

“It frankly lacks credibility.

It appears to build upon the weak policy and a lack of strategy that undergirded the previous budget. The reality on the ground is that unemployment is still skyhigh and Bahamians are still catching eternal hell.

In the face of the greatest fiscal crises in the modern Bahamas, this budget is weak on solutions.

“There is a looming debt crisis because of the levels of borrowing, weak negotiations and the onerous terms of loans undertaken by this administration, with no plan articulated today to address this with urgency. What is incredibly disappointing, is that when you strip away the hypocritical boasting, taking credit for PLP projects like Baha Mar, the Pointe, air space management and the Family Island Development Act, and when you strip away the long wordy presentation, there still is no plan, no big new ideas, no strategy for economic growth, no bigger vision for our future.”

He added: “We once again heard more shortterm thinking — because the government is focused on its own short-term survival instead of changing the country. So, as we grapple with a debt to GDP ratio of 100 percent and an economy that has contracted by 25 percent under

this administration’s watch, we are asked to accept a wait and see budget.

“The pandemic has only made the failures of the last four years of fiscal mismanagement by the Minnis administration clearer.”

For his part, party leader Philip Davis said: “It is a short-term budget for survival of the FNM, not a visionary piece that is designed to bring relief to people who are suffering or to set a path to growth to ensure that we don’t become a failed state.”

It was reported on Wednesday that the World Bank gave the Bahamas “special dispensation” to qualify for a $100 million loan that forms part of the government’s borrowing strategy. Yet, Mr Cooper appeared sceptical about the loan.

“We don’t trust the FNM, as they are desperately poor negotiators,” he explained.

“We call on them to table the particulars of this and all other new loan agreements in the House of Assembly. The raft of policy-based loans to fund the budget will make it difficult for future administrations to implement strategic reforms.

“What we learned today is that the Minnis administration still has no credible

plan for actual economic resilience or acceleration, only more piecemeal approaches but as expected, there were a few tax exemptions, tax relief for the rich and other election promises, from an administration which has no credibility in keeping its promises.”

Meanwhile, Mr Cooper claimed the administration missed the required report of the Fiscal Responsibility Council that was due by March 2021.

“To date, we can only go off what the Minnis administration tells us about pandemic spending as they refuse to table anything that accounts for it.”

Plans for marijuana reform and expected gains from this sector were not mentioned in Dr Minnis’ speech.

Asked about this, Mr Cooper said: “It speaks to the lack of strategy and longer-term thinking. “We believe that the cannabis legislation was touted now for a few years really as a political gimmick, if you will. We expect that before elections that this legislation will be brought but again there’s no big picture thinking on the issue. It’s narrow politically driven gimmicks if you will so therefore I am not surprised that when it comes

to the creation of new industries, when it comes to ideas for economic growth that this wasn’t touted as one of the things that could help to benefit The Bahamas.”

Draft marijuana legislation is being circulated for review but has not yet been tabled in Parliament.

to state owned enterprises was deferred ‘due to the effects of the pandemic’ on revenue flows to the entities,” Dr Minnis said.

“The outlays to those SOEs in the aviation sector have this year far exceeded their allocations. Despite some return to normalcy, the allocations to Bahamasair, Water & Sewerage and Nassau Flight Services will be higher than in typical years as cash flow slowly returns to normal.”

Dr Minnis said full rebound of the Bahamian economy will hinge on the restoration of economies in neighbouring countries, this country’s ability to contain COVID-19 locally and the ability to energise the local economy.

He highlighted signs that the economy is already improving.

He said AirBnB occupancy rates more than doubled between November 2020 to March 2021, rising to 16.6 percent. “At the same time,” he said, “there was a two percent increase in average daily rental rates and a 52 percent increase in room reservations. Based on Central Bank data for the period end-March 2021, vacation home rentals and comparable hotel listings increased by 65.9 percent and 55.4 percent respectively. This also impacted average daily room rates which similarly

increased by 10.8 and 7.5 percent to $497.95 and $169.36 for vacation home rentals and hotel listings respectively.

“With vaccine distribution ramping up, both in The Bahamas and abroad, major hotels re-opening, and the return of cruising in The Bahamas on the horizon, there is as steadfast optimism that the tourism industry will return to profitability sooner rather than later.”

Dr Minnis touted the strength of the country’s external reserves, saying they stood at $2,253m at the end of April, an increase of 12.9 percent compared to March 2020.

“Despite the loss in foreign currency earnings from the key tourism sector, this administration prudently changed its debt management policy to seek US dollar borrowings to ensure an adequate level of foreign currency to support imports during the worst of the crisis,” he said. “Notwithstanding the worst economic calamities to befall The Bahamas in its recorded history, it is the prudent management and planning of this administration that has ensured that our foreign exchange holdings remain healthy and robust. That means that our Bahamian dollar has remained as strong as it ever has been.”

THE PLP responding to the Budget yesterday.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/ Tribune Staff

PAGE 4, Thursday, May 27, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

BUDGET2021

$100m for hospital upgrades

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said the government will invest $100m in upgrades to the Princess Margaret and Rand Memorial Hospitals as part of a project that will be pursued at an accelerated pace over the next 18 to 24 months.

The $100m includes $70m for PMH and $19m for the Rand.

He said both facilities will be upgraded with “new modern multi-storey towers that will house the most cutting-edge equipment, expand their footprint, provide additional bed space and enhance day-to-day operations.”

“When complete, we will have the equipment, technology and facilities that will rival any medical centre in the region and in the

world,” he said.

Dr Minnis said COVID-19 has shown the government cannot delay such capital investments which increase both bed space in hospitals and expand access to healthcare.

He also said $10m has been allocated in the budget for the next fiscal year to fight COVID-19.

That money will be used to buy personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and gowns.

Funding for PMH upgrades will be facilitated through a loan agreement between the government and Banco Santander. The loan will be guaranteed by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank. Dr Minnis said going this route allows the government to “secure the seven-year loan at a low

interest rate of about 3.23 percent per annum.”

He said although work on the PMH tower will begin in the next fiscal year, money for the project will be raised this fiscal year through parliamentary approval.

As for the Rand, the $19m allocation will cover initial phases of a $39m project that will include a four-storey expansion to the renovated Grand Bahama hospital, Dr Minnis said.

“This multi-storey facility will ensure that should Grand Bahama be impacted by another severe storm, patients can continue to receive the best of care in a new climate resilient facility, constructed vertically, to withstand flooding,” he added.

Dr Minnis said $1m in capital funding has also been allocated to the Department of Transformation and Digitisation to

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis holding the red briefcase ahead of the 2021/2022 Budget.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff implement a telemedicine initiative.

“No longer will people living in Long Island, Inagua, Mangrove Cay or any other settlement have to fly to New Providence or Grand Bahama and incur large travel costs to access healthcare comparable to what can be found in the capital,” he said.

He said his administration will make changes to the National Health Insurance

programme as well.

“NHI Bahamas expects to see sustained growth in the enrolment of beneficiaries and technological advancement as the programme continues to evolve with the ongoing implementation of the Primary Care Transformation Initiative,” he said. “The Primary Care Transformation Initiative will provide a standardised package of primary care to all Bahamians, while

improving the quality of care being delivered.

“Put simply, as was foreshadowed last year, we are implementing the plan that will allow all Bahamians to have access to high quality primary care — whether at public facilities or with a private doctor. In this expanded NHI programme, you will be able to select a private family doctor and obtain a full range of primary care services.”

RELIEF ORDER EXTENDED FOR DORIAN RECONSTRUCTION

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ECONOMIC ZONE PLAN FOR SOUTHERN ISLANDS

THE government is extending its current tax relief order to continue to support reconstruction efforts in Abaco and Grand Bahama, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said yesterday.

The relief order, which is known as the SERZ, will continue to the end of December 2021 providing tax relief for the full suite of construction-related supplies and activities.

“It will go a long way in supporting the full restoration of the impacted communities,” Dr Minnis said while delivering his 2021/2022 budget presentation in the House of Assembly.

He said the government will provide tax incentives to encourage

property owners in the communities of Abaco and Grand Bahama for two years by eliminating VAT on conveyances for 58 properties under $250,000 for Bahamians.

Dr Minnis believes this will encourage people to

invest in buying properties and homes on those islands.

Foreign buyers under the same threshold will get a discounted VAT rate.

“Under the Accelerate Bahamas Plan, we want to incentivise persons to

move with urgency with the investment plans. Not only will this spur commercial activity, but it will also make these transactions more affordable for ordinary Bahamians,” he said.

Dr Minnis noted that residents of Abaco and Grand

Bahama have benefitted from tax relief concessions to the tune of over $260m.

The extension of the Special Economic Recovery Zone Order will continue to ease the burden of rebuilding after Hurricane Dorian, he added.

In terms of the Grand Bahama economy, Dr Minnis said critical domestic and quality foreign direct investment will help to turn the economic tide here on the island.

He noted that his government has made substantial investments in the past fiscal year to prepare for the island’s eventual rebound by acquiring the Grand Bahama International Airport.

“We purchased the Grand Bahama International Airport for $1,” he said. “Pre-Dorian, this airport brought 75,000 visitors to Grand Bahama who spent more than $140m on the island over the course of the year.”

Dr Minnis gave an assurance that work will begin shortly to build a worldclass airport and add to the international gateways across the country.

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said $1.5m has been budgeted for the next fiscal year to hire up to 75 new college graduates aged between 18 and 30 in the public sector.

He said during his budget communication in the House of Assembly yesterday that this would spark a “critical infusion of new thinking and new ideas”.

“As our agencies are moving to new digitised environments and processes, we do require more young talent who are techsavvy,” he said.

Dr Minnis also said officials expect that up to 2,500 people will get back to work as businesses take advantage of a new tax credit his administration will roll out under the Employment Incentive Programme. He projected that up to 250 businesses will take advantage of the opportunity.

“The estimated cost of this investment in job creation will be approximately $40m in foregone revenue — in line with the amounts related to the previous payroll support programme,” he said.

In the last year, the government provided $44.4m through a tax credit/tax deferral payroll support programme. Dr Minnis said this allowed 126 businesses to pay salaries for 14,000 private sector employees.

He said through the new initiative, businesses can

apply for a VAT tax credit to cover salaries of up to ten new employees brought on their payrolls as of July 1.

“The tax credit will be up to $400 per week per employee,” he said. “Eligible businesses will have to follow certain compliance rules and must be in good standing with NIB and the tax authorities.”

Dr Minnis also announced new opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs. “Small and medium sized businesses

have often lamented that start-up costs are prohibitive and that big businesses and foreign investors get the kinds of incentives they do not qualify for,” he said.

“We are addressing this concern head on, ensuring that Bahamians have access to start-up concessions just as large investment projects do. Every Bahamian small business and entrepreneur will be able to apply for and obtain duty-free concessions on all the items needed to start or expand

their business, including on the first stock of inventory.

“Any Bahamian entrepreneur. Any small business with an annual turnover of less than $5m. You will get the same treatment as at the mega resort or the large manufacturer. We are levelling the playing field.”

Dr Minnis said the Small Business Development Centre will receive $250m in financing over the next five years, starting with an injection of $35m in the upcoming budget.

A SPECIAL economic zone will be created for the southern islands to encourage people to invest in homes and businesses in these communities, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has announced.

The islands that will benefit are: Ragged Island, San Salvador, Rum Cay, Cat Island, Long Island, Mayaguana, Inagua, Crooked Island, Acklins, Long Cay, and Andros.

“Through the provisions of an amended Family Island Development Encouragement Act (FIDEA), residents and businesses on these islands

— or investing in these islands — will qualify for both duty and VAT concessions on the full range of materials they will need to build or renovate a house, or to start or expand a business,” Dr Minnis said.

He said the basis of selection focused on those islands where the pace of consistent economic development has been behind that of the rest of the country.

“The designation as a special economic zone also provides concessions on business licence payable and on real property tax for qualifying

individuals,” he added.

This includes concessions and discounts for VAT on conveyances, with zero VAT payable by Bahamians on transactions under $500,000, and with discounted VAT for non-Bahamians under that same threshold.

These concessions will last for two years and are intended to be a catalyst for accelerated economic activity in the southern islands by prospective investors, as as well as Bahamians who may be looking to build or buy a home in those islands, he added.

75 COLLEGE GRADUATES TO BE HIRED IN PUBLIC SECTOR

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 27, 2021, PAGE 5

BUDGET2021

$290m spent to respond to COVID

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Senior Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis said the government has spent about $290m in direct spending to respond to challenges people and businesses have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, a figure that amounts to 2.5 percent of the country’s GDP. “This does not include the millions of dollars in lost tax revenue and economic activity for The Bahamas,” he said during his budget communication yesterday.

During this fiscal year, the government has spent $194.9m responding to the pandemic.

Dr Minnis said up to March 2021, $25.9m was spent on COVID-19 public health and safety measures to ensure the healthcare system and healthcare workers had what they needed to function.

A total of $118m was spent in government funded unemployment assistance, including direct

cash for unemployed and selfemployed Bahamians.

“While neighbouring countries may have only provided unemployment assistance for up to three months, my government made the conscious decision and have committed thus far to extend unemployment assistance for some 15 months already to end – July 2021,” Dr Minnis said.

Meanwhile, $32.5m was spent in social assistance, mostly through the food assistance programme while $44.5m was spent as part of a payroll support programme that allowed private businesses to use tax credits to pay their employees.

Dr Minnis said $53.3m was spent in business continuity support to entrepreneurs and small businesses and $5m was given to private schools above their budgeted subventions to provide operational and payroll support.

As part of the government’s COVID-19 programme, more than 1,000 small businesses were approved for loan and grant financing. Dr Minnis said this

represented a collective total of $45m that was allocated and disseminated through the Access Accelerator Programme of the Small Business Development Centre.

Dr Minnis said the upcoming budget anticipates some $100m will be spent in direct COVID19 related support in the form of food assistance, unemployment assistance and health sector support.

In acting during the pandemic, Dr Minnis said his administration sought to protect the wellbeing of citizens and residents, maintain economic stability despite the COVID-19 crisis and “plant the seeds for an accelerated recovery.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health recorded 25 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the overall case count to 11,622.

Forty-seven people are in the hospital with the virus, three of whom are in intensive care.

Two hundred and twenty-six people have died from the disease.

PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis during the Budget presentation.

Photo: Donovan McIntosh/Tribune Staff

NEW MOTHERS ‘AT RISK’ BECAUSE OF CARE DISRUPTION

By TANYA SMITHCARTWRIGHT tsmith-cartwright@ tribunemedia.net

DUE to high levels of COVID-19 infections in the region, prenatal and newborn care have been disrupted, leaving expectant and new mothers at risk, according to Pan American Health Organisation officials.

During PAHO’s weekly webinar, the organisation’s director, Dr Carissa Etienne focused on women and pregnancy to commemorate this week’s “International Day of Action on Women’s Health”.

“The evidence is clear that pregnant women are at a higher risk for severe disease and hospitalisation due to infection with SARS-CoV-2,” she said.

“So we can start by ensuring that women and girls can access the health services they need – like sexual and reproductive health services, and pregnancy and newborn-related care – during the COVID response.

“We must remember that the challenges and inequities that we faced prior to COVID haven’t gone away during the pandemic – they’ve only worsened and can’t be overlooked. That’s why we must make protecting the lives of women a collective priority.”

Dr Etienne said according to United Nations estimates, up to 20 million women in the Americas will have their birth control disrupted during the pandemic – either because services are unavailable or because women will no longer

have the means to pay for contraception.

“But it’s not just reproductive services which are being impacted,” she said.

“If this continues, the pandemic is expected to obliterate more than 20 years of progress in expanding women’s access to family planning and tackling maternal deaths in the region.

“Nearly all maternal deaths are preventable and even getting back to pre-pandemic levels of maternal mortality, which were already high, could take more than a decade.

“Like all of us, pregnant women are exposed to COVID-19 infections, but because their immune systems change throughout their pregnancies, pregnant women are more vulnerable to respiratory

infections, like COVID-19.

Once they get sick, they also tend to develop more serious symptoms that require intubation, which can often put the baby and mother at risk.”

Data from 24 countries indicates that more than 200,000 pregnant women in the region have fallen ill with COVID and at least a thousand have died from COVID complications.

“The risk of death also depends on where you look,” Dr Etienne said.

“While pregnant women have less than a one percent chance of dying from COVID in Argentina, Costa Rica and Colombia, the risk of death in Honduras jumps to 5 percent, and the risk remains highest in Brazil, at seven percent.

$5,000 FINE FOR FAKE COVID TEST

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN who tried to travel to Grand Bahama with a fake COVID-19 test results was yesterday fined $5,000.

Tori Yuen was arrested after she presented a fake Doctors Hospital COVID19 RT PCR negative test to a COVID ambassador at Lynden Pindling International Airport on May 15.

She pleaded guilty to possessing and uttering a forged document when she appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt.

The court was told that when Yuen, who was attempting to travel to Freeport, was asked to show the results of her COVID test, she produced an electronic document that was stored on her phone.

The prosecution said when the ambassador examined the results closely, she discovered it did not have the specifications that matched the one they had on file for Doctors Hospital.

When the official contacted the hospital to make inquiries, it was revealed that Yuen never visited the medical facility. She was subsequently arrested and taken to a nearby

police station. When she was questioned in custody, she admitted the offence and said the fake test results were forwarded to her phone by a person unknown to her. She also said the last COVID test she took was sometime in January.

After listening to the facts, Magistrate FergusonPratt accepted Yuen’s guilty pleas and fined her $2,500 for having the fraudulent test results and another $2,500 for showing them to an official at the airport.

She said if Yuen failed to pay the fines, she would be sentenced to eight weeks in prison.

SUICIDE SUSPECTED AS MAN FOUND DEAD POLICE are investigating a suspected suicide after a man was found hanging from the ceiling of a home.

Shortly after 9pm on Tuesday, police were called to a house on Johnson Terrace. While there, they were directed to the area of the living room where a man was discovered hanging from the ceiling. Emergency Medical Services visited the scene and pronounced the him unresponsive.

An investigation is ongoing.

Earlier this month, Grand Bahama police said they were investigating

TWO IN HOSPITAL AFTER SHOOTING TWO men were taken to hospital after they were shot on Tuesday.

Police said shortly before 10pm, several men were standing in the street on Sunshine Way when two men emerged from the public park armed with firearms.

The suspects discharged the weapons in the direction of the group, injuring two of them before escaping.

Emergency Medical Services took the victims to the hospital; however their conditions are not known at this time.

An investigation is ongoing.

the suspected suicide of a police officer who was found alone in his car with a gunshot wound to the head, his service revolver was still clutched in his hand.

Suicides rose by 38 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, according to RBPF statistics. Last year, there

were 11 suicide victims, including 10 men and one woman. The rate of suicide has increased in recent years.

In 2019, the United Nations reported the rate of suicide among men in The Bahamas is more than five times higher than women.

“Unfortunately, as health systems have prioritised care for COVID patients, hospitals and clinics have struggled to provide essential health services that women depend on for their health and well being.”

PAHO reports there were over 1.2 million new COVID cases in the region last week and 31,000 deaths.

These figures, the director said, have remained unchanged over the last weeks, underscoring a worrying trend that cases and deaths are plateauing at alarmingly high levels.

“Last week, four out of five of the countries reporting the highest number of new infections were here in our region, and Latin American countries represented the top five highest mortality rates

worldwide,” she said.

“In the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago has declared a national emergency following the recent COVID outbreak. In the meantime, Cuba continues to report significant new infections, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are still seeing spikes after recent volcanic eruptions resulted in people being moved to shelters. We are also concerned about increasing trends in hospitalisations in Haiti.”

Sadly, Dr Etienne said, despite persistently high infections, many people and places are no longer adhering to public health measures known to be effective against COVID. New figures, she said, suggest that health officials may not yet know the full impact of this pandemic.

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PAGE 6, Thursday, May 27, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,

jamaaltheartist@gmail.com

Publisher/Editor 1903-1914 Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972-

Published daily Monday to Friday

Shirley & Deveaux Streets, Nassau, Bahamas N3207 TELEPHONES

News & General Information Advertising Manager Circulation Department Nassau fax Freeport, Grand Bahama Freeport fax

(242) 322-1986 (242) 502-2394 (242) 502-2386 (242) 328-2398 (242)-352-6608 (242) 352-9348

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A Budget for tough times IT WAS never going to be easy.

In the last Budget before an election, a Prime Minister might hope to be able to offer sweeteners or incentives for people to vote for them.

But the purse is empty for Dr Hubert Minnis, with an economy wrecked by COVID-19’s effect on tourism as the world ground to a halt.

Worse, we’re borrowing from someone else’s purse. Debt is on course to top $10 billion and we’re going to be paying $500m a year just to stand still. Minnis is already planning an option of borrowing another $68m to see us across the line in this financial year. Then comes the idea that to get through the next fiscal cycle we add another $871m to keep everything on track.

Like a gambler at Atlantis going all in, we’re betting everything on tourism bouncing back to fix our economic troubles. After all, that’s where our big money has been coming from before, so that’s our most obvious way to dig our way out of the hole again.

One of the options on the table might have been increasing taxation – but that would not be the most palatable thought for any political party ahead of an election.

More to the point, if revenue is down because people don’t have an income in the first place, then taxing people more who have nothing to give anyway isn’t going to solve anything.

The PLP have been quick to criticise the Budget, calling it “weak on solutions” but not offering any of their own.

Chester Cooper talked of the economy contracting by 25 percent under this government, but that’s ignoring the elephant in the room of the pandemic and its global effect. The virus swept the world, including here in The Bahamas, and with it went cruise sailings, while hotels and restaurants and more shut down and furloughed staff.

So within those constraints, how did Dr Minnis do with this Budget?

Well, he talked of setting the stage for “the impending economic rebound”.

There are some moves to bring in extra tax money, such as on real estate transactions over $2m. People renting

out vacation homes on services such as Airbnb will also have to pay VAT on rentals and commissions.

There were also some duty eliminations, such as on building supplies to encourage construction, as well as on materials for repairs to churches. There was also an elimination of VAT on sanitary products, including tampons for women.

Also notable was $2m being found from the bottom of the purse to help the Junkanoo community to develop a permanent headquarters – something likely to be welcomed by members of the various groups. Then there was money for various projects on a number of islands, from Ragged Cay to Treasure Cay, Marsh Harbour to Exuma, Inagua to Grand Bahama.

There’s also a new economic zone that will be established for southern islands.

As we look at the Budget, though, we should also look farther afield, to the countries that have made more progress with vaccinations and defeating the virus, such as the United Kingdom and what that means for reopening the economy.

The key to it all remains getting on top of the virus – and that means vaccinations. Some locations are getting imaginative with their approach to that.

On PAGE 12 today, you can read about a scheme in Ohio where people getting vaccinated are entered into a draw where they could win $1m or, for youngsters, get a full-ride scholarship through college. What can we do to encourage more people to get the jab? After all, that’s the way forward.

So was it a Budget to solve all our problems? No, and it was never going to be. Will it provide the rocket fuel the economy needs for lift-off? Again, probably not, because the money flows need to start coming again before they can be pumped where it needs to go.

But in the balance of things, it probably helped the country in areas where it could. The biggest concern is the growing debt. All debt has to be paid off someday, and we can’t keep pushing someday off in the hope of a better tomorrow.

Readers react to Budget news READERS were quick to have their say on tribune242.com on the Budget presentation yesterday.

John said: “Seems moor like spend, spend spend and give away more government revenue rather than go into temporary reserve mode and not sink government into debt. Of course these conscessions to small and medium businesses in the middle of a pandemic is like encouraging a weak swimmer to jump of the deep end of the pier. This will do nothing to grow the economy so this businesses will now have to fight tooth and nail with established businesses to gain market share. So no new growth will be created in the economy. These type onf incentives will be better when the market will less fickle and shows greater signs of rebound, this is like when the touristy industry is at least 50 %. The employment that will be created will not be sustainable. And if government is seeking to dig itself deeper in debt with continuation of food assistance and other support programs this will

sink government deeper into debt.

“Of course government does not want to go into election with such high unemployment numbers and with the revenue of major corporations, like BPL, BTC, Aliv, WSC and many in the hotel industry so depressed and ways off base. So this can only be a pre election budget and the real whips and economic chains will come out in the next budget. And if the present government loses the election, no incoming government will be able to falsely prop up such an ailing economy without taking drastic measures.”

SP added: “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What plans are in place for Bahamians to participate in the tourism industry? That’s where the real money is!!!”

Carltonr61 said: “Another ham and turkey, money in da tee shirt election. People are in desparate prostitution mode that Minnis created to control us cattle. Imaginary phantom jobs as he locks down our nation to vaccine profits afterwards all jobs will go. A bated hook for fish to get caught then stewed. Empty talk.”

Birdiestrachan had a question: “My understanding The Government will pay the salaries of tenperson working for private companies starting July 1, But he did not say for how long?”

Thisisours replied: “its up to ten per business. I wonder if the business will have to pay VAT and then get a refund because that system didnt work to well.

But I like this idea, now how will they police it? tell us the controls today not a year from now when the auditor general gives a list of all the abuses.”

•Don’t miss the chance to have your say - visit www. tribune242.com and take part in the debate.

Behold the power of money EDITOR, The Tribune.

THREE years ago, I was recruited by Island Television to host a radio/ television show. I was the “darling” of the owners of that particular entity, or so I thought. Lo and behold I made certain references to the PM and a particular attorney-at-law. Within hours I was ordered to apologise to both of them.

Needless to say I refused and I was summarily dismissed.

The lawyer also filed a Writ of Summons against me and the media group for defamation. The usual exchange of pleadings took place. This was three years ago. Since then to now, the complaining attorney has taken absolutely no steps to advance her socalled case against me or the media group.

The media group is/ was represented by Alfred Sears, QC. Now I note that the PM and the owners of the media group are creased right up in bed together. I was able to bounce back as the number one rated radio/media personality.

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net Normally it is the duty of the plaintiff to lay out its case in detail. This has yet to happen. If the Lord was not/ is on my side, I would have been reduced to picking peas out of shaving cream.

While I salute the PM’s appointment as nonresident ambassador to South Africa in the form of brother Bastian could have made a better selection - that is my opinion. In my eyes, the appointment reeks of cronyism or a quid pro quo. The power of money is alive, or so it seems, in The Bahamas.

Mr Bastian is simply exercising good and prudent deployment of his funds. I presume the appointment was made over in Abaco while the PM presided over the opening of Bastian’s Reliance Shopping centre down there. Nothing is wrong with this, but the timing and optics leave much to be desired.

While in opposition Minnis and his minions cussed brother Bastian everything except a child of God. They were referred to as parasites and worse. The web stores and Bastian’s extensive reach ghettowise within the less affluent areas of New Providence has proven lucrative at the expense of the unwashed masses. A wrong message is being sent. Ignore the law of the land, get more wealth while doing so. No I am suggesting nothing sinister. But most Bahamians have been reduced to buying numbers and spinning.

Will Bastian and his allies get a cultivation and distribution licence for medical marijuana? Will he be granted deeply discounted Crown land in Abaco to construct public/ private affordable residences? The question is where will this all end.

To God then, in all things, be the glory.

Jr

ORTLAND H BODIE, Nassau, May 26, 2021.

Nygard coming back to roost?

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Peter Nygard seemed to dominate the news today, May 20th, 2021, including his unpaid legal team.

I just hope that before anyone “buys” his property, that the several

Court Orders to repatriate the sand that was illegally accreted by him and restore the boundaries will be dealt with first.

He may be hoping that if he can get out of the Canadian pokey and hide out,

waiting for a Government change in The Bahamas, that he will again be the prize rooster in the hen house.

MONKEEDOO Nassau, May 20, 2021.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 27, 2021, PAGE 7

‘Pay $20k or go to jail’

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribubemedia.net A 21-YEAR-OLD man who tried to smuggle over two pounds worth of cocaine into the United States must pay $20,000 to avoid spending two years behind bars.

Another man who denied the allegations was granted $7,000 bail ahead of his October 25 trial.

Raymond Evans, 22, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes charged with four drug related offences.

Police said Evans conspired to possess cocaine with the intent to supply sometime between May 17 and 23. They also said he conspired to export the drugs from the country on May 23.

The prosecution said the accused also took the preparatory steps to export the drugs outside of the country that same day.

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess dangerous drugs with the intent to supply, possession of dangerous drugs with the intent to supply, conspiracy to export dangerous drugs and taking preparatory

steps to export dangerous drugs.

The prosecution said around 4.45pm that day, two officers, acting on information at Lynden Pindling International Airport, went to the US Customs Hall.

When they arrived, they spoke to a US border patrol officer who gave them certain information and pointed out Evans. Officers then informed the accused that he would be searched for dangerous drugs and firearms. Their investigation revealed a black brick taped package strapped to Evans’ back. When they examined it, they found over two pounds of cocaine. Evans was then arrested and cautioned. During his interview with police, he said he got a phone call from a guy he knew who gave him certain directives. He said when he followed them, he was led to a trash bin with the taped brick inside. Evans said he then took the package out and strapped it to his back before attempting to board a flight.

During the hearing, Evans was represented by attorney Kendal Wright. He said his client was a discjockey who pleaded guilty at his earliest opportunity

because he did not want to waste the court’s time. He also insisted Evans “felt a great deal of contrition” for his actions.

After listening to his plea in mitigation, Magistrate Forbes accepted Evans’ guilty plea. He also told the accused that he was fortunate he had been caught

by US officials in The Bahamas because he could have possibly been “looking at a life in prison” had he been caught with the drugs in the States. He subsequently fined him $20,000. If Evans fails to pay the fine, he could risk spending two years in jail.

In a separate matter, Gerran Nottage was granted bail before his trial after he denied conspiring to possess and import a quantity of Indian hemp into the country sometime between December 2020 and January 2021.

Police alleged he also possessed and imported the drugs into the country within that same timeframe.

After denying the allegations, Nottage was granted $5,000 bail.

The accused, who is represented by attorney Bjorn Ferguson, returns to court on September 28 for trial.

MAN ADMITS ASSAULT - BUT SAYS HE DID NOT HIT VICTIM

By FARRAH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter fjohnson@tribubemedia.net

A 27-YEAR-OLD man confronted another man with a piece of nail-ridden wood for firing gunshots near his mother’s home, a court was told.

Police arrested Valentino Louis after he got into an argument with Davante Johnson on May 16.

He pleaded guilty to one count of assault with a dangerous instrument when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.

The court was told that the complainant had told police he was walking through Strachan Subdivision around 9.35am on the day in question, when Louis attacked him with a knife

and a piece of wood. After he filed a formal complaint, Louis was arrested.

When he was questioned at the East Street police station, he admitted being involved in a physical and verbal argument with the complainant, but denied using a knife or piece of wood during the argument.

The prosecution said that on the same day, officers who were investigating the matter reviewed footage that showed Louis having an argument with the complainant while he was armed with an object.

He was subsequently charged.

During the hearing, Louis told the magistrate that although he had the wood in his hand, he did not hit the complainant with it. He claimed he was visiting his

mother’s home that day and was told that the “boy was causing trouble by shooting through his corner”.

He said when he tried to confront the young man “to see what was going on”, an argument broke out.

“I took matters into the wrong hands and I apologise,” he said.

As a result, Magistrate Rolle Davis told Louis to contact the police the next time he or his family saw something going on in the neighbourhood. He also said he considered the fact the accused had no antecedents and placed him on probation for one year.

Magistrate Rolle Davis said if Louis failed to be of good behaviour during that time, he would be sentenced to nine months in prison.

RAYMOND EVANS, left, and Gerran Nottage outside court.

Photos: Racardo Thomas

PAGE 8, Thursday, May 27, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

The Rev Dr Colin Archer: Finding God in All Things

Preston Moss, Rev Archer also shared with the former priest a singular spiritual vision that is at the heart of Ignatian spirituality: finding God in all things.

The spiritual heart of the Jesuits “is grounded in the conviction that God is active in our world.” In contrast to fundamentalist religiosity, the Roman Catholic and Ignatian spirits see the world as, in the words of the Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1884 – 1889)“charged with the grandeur of God”.

In this spirit, the faithful are called to be contemplatives in action, engaged in the world and the struggle for justice, while rooted in Christ. This vision has energised Rev Archer in his quest for social justice and human development.

Religious cultism and doomsday theologies are anathema to this spirituality, which believes that people of faith must be actively engaged in the promotion of the common good.

A world charged with God’s grandeur embraces the arts, science, education, technology and other features of human life, while recognizing sinfulness and our myriad of vanities. But there is no retreat or abandonment of the world, while waiting for the world to come.

For those inspired by Ignatius of Loyola: “The spiritual path laid out by Ignatius helps us discern God’s presence, to find Godin all things, reaching out to a diverse, grace-filled yet imperfect world, [bringing] this spirituality into the wider human context as we strive for social justice, peace and dialogue.”

Made in the image and likeness of God, our human creativity and talents are gifts which may be used in every field of human endeavour from scientific reasoning to the discovery and creation of medicine, technology and other tools to improve humanity and to preserve creation.

In his sermon on COVID-19, Rev Archer invites and advises: “Every day of our lives you and I trust and rely, practically unknowingly, on the artificial intelligence of trillions of micro-chips and related soft-ware, sometimes undergirded by quantum computing, which bolster and improve every facet of our lives, from the automobiles that we drive to the complex calculations that produce the things that we unreservedly depend upon, from the food we ingest to the everyday tools we use.

“We ought no less to trust the thousands of scientists,

SOLDIER AND SOULS

A soldier in war, Ignatius took to the battlefield of souls in service of Christ and God’s people. His interior transformation led to priestly ordination and eventually to the founding of the Society of Jesus.

Over the centuries the Jesuits have founded secondary schools, universities such as Georgetown University, peace and justice institutes and other institutions of human development. Jesuits serve as medical doctors, artists, teachers, scientists and in myriad field of human endeavour.

A number of Jesuits have had careers as astronomers and cosmologists, working in the Vatican Observatory and other observatories devoted to astronomy.

In their life vocations they find God everywhere.

In the Spiritual Exercises and in their spiritual practices they invite others to discern spirits and to find God in human joy, suffering, depression, creativity and every facet of life.

A former mentor who

FOR SALE

LAST week, the Rev Dr Colin Archer offered a grace-filled sermon entitled, “A Christian Scientific Approach to the COVID-19 Pandemic”, capturing the attention of the nation in a video that expressed the essence of his spirituality.

Rev Archer, like the gracious Rev Angela Palacious, are deeply committed to their respective communities of faith as Methodist and Anglican ministers. They also possesses a Catholic or universal spirit, salted and leavened by other faith traditions, including Roman Catholicism.

More specifically, they are both inspired by the charisma and traditions of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and the spiritual journey and the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola after whom Loyola Hall on Gladstone Road is named.

Approaching octogenarian status next year after turning 79 last week, Rev Archer’s mystical spirit and journey are imbued with various spiritualIties, including the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in 516. Dr Archer likely knows the Rule better than most graduates of St Augustine’s College.

Having shared a lifelong friendship with the late and beloved Monsignor

microbiologists, ethicists and others, who have continued over many years to meticulously develop the vaccines that are compassionately intended to benefit us and profoundly improve our overall quality of life.”

The dualism that affects fundamentalist thinking is typically world-denying, often at dis-ease with physicality and sexuality. Creation is God’s banquet for humanity. Sadly, tragically many fundamentalists only choose bland dishes or eat only a few dishes such as white rice from a table that includes varied and seasoned offerings.

Whereas Roman Catholicism embraces and promotes the arts and cultural expression as gifts from God, many religionists are uneasy or dismissive of artistic and musical expression within church worship, life and architecture.

In 1521, while helping defend the Pamplona fortress in his native Spain, Iñigo Lopez de Oñaz y Loyola’s (St Ignatius) leg was shattered in battle. During a long, painful convalescence, he read about the lives of Jesus Christ and the saints in books found in his wealthy noble Basque family’s library in their home.

Ignatius was moved by the lives of Sts Francis and Dominic among other holy men and women, contemplatives in actions, whose faiths were amphibious, anchored in this world and the world to come, which are not the bifurcated disconnected realms.

passed away in his 80s, taught be saved beyond this panCaribbean literature and the demic together. There is a classics of the Western canon, common good materially both in which he delighted. and spiritually. Fr Pierre TeilA master and teacher hard de Chardin, SJ, (1881 of the English language, – 1955) was a mystic. He he quipped in one of his served as a theologian and Christmas newsletters after philosopher, priest, paleonthe removal of a section of tologist, teacher and scientist, his colon, that he was now embracing God’s creation in mastering the semi-colon. all of it kaleidoscopic comNearing his nonagenar- plexity and grandeur. ian years, this Jesuit father He found God in Scripmused toward the end of his ture and in science, in faith life that he was finding more and reason, and in all of solace in the classics than in the subtleties, texts, lights Scripture, in both of which and shadows through which he discovered God permeabundant life. ‘We ought no ates creation. A His God was not less to trust beloved mentor found only in and friend the thousands Scripture. wisely muses: For him, of scientists, “Humans, with God was also microbiologists, divine inspifound in the ration, wrote test of the world ethicists and the Scriptures; and in history, others, who but God himGod’s presence wrote the have continued self not static or universe.” hidebound or over many years De Charproof-texted or to meticulously din charged: limited to our “Someday, human conceit develop the after mastering and judgmen- vaccines that are the winds, the talism. His was compassionately waves, the tides not a God made and gravity, we in the image intended to shall harness for and likeness of benefit us and God the enerthose who place profoundly gies of love, the Creator in a and then, for a improve our straitjacket. second time in The journey overall quality the history of to novel coro- of life.’ the world, man navirus vaccines will have discovtook decades, with prior ered fire.” breakthroughs and ingenuity leading to the rapid development of vaccines How extraordinary that to prevent and to limit the God bequeathed to humaneffects of the COVID-19.

As Rev Dr Archer wrote: ity the ability to harness “As already mentioned, there nature and the goods of the is a plethora of conspiracy world for our sustenance theories and misinforma- and joy, while also harnesstion about and around us. ing the gift of love.

From the moment human ‘Rev, trust me, I’ve heard so many bad things about these beings encountered fire, vaccines, I’m not taking any we have employed earth, medicine I don’t know any- wind and this fire. But we are called to do so responthing about!’

“Well, you and I don’t sibly. When we fail to do so know anything much about we despoil the earth. We how penicillin actually have created the existential works, and, unless you’ve threats of climate change been tested for a severe aller- and nuclear weapons.

When we act responsigic reaction, you’ve probably taken that drug, orally or bly and lovingly we create social and economic equity, intravenously, many times.”

Rather than saying, we build schools, hospitals “Thank you God”, many and theatres, we create art, fundamentalist and others music and poetry, we search are spurning vaccines, the stars for meaning and which are saving potentially explore the ocean depths millions of human lives, – and we create vaccines, lives made in God’s image medicine and therapy to heal and likeness. How can one God’s people. It is an insult suggest they are pro-life to the Creator to spurn the while dismissing vaccines gifts and imagination we are granted to heal and bind the which will save millions?

We are not only indi- world and to promote justice vidually and uniquely and and equity for all regardless masterfully and beauti- of circumstance of birth.

Rev Archer says he never fully made in this image.

Because God is Trinitarian prayed for a long life. But and a community of love, he is grateful for longevity. for many Christians this In gratitude has sought to means that we are collec- serve the people of God, while affirming the beauty tively created in this image.

Relatedly, moral choices and wonder of creation. like being vaccinated affect Might we pray in unison those around us. We will with him, “Amen”!

GOD’S GIFTS

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APPRAISAL VALUE: B$320,000 INTERESTED PARTIES SHOULD CONTACT: IAN SYMONETTE 397-6940 OR 376-1343 OR DISTRESSED.PROPERTIES@COMBANKLTD.COM

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 27, 2021, PAGE 9

Is the day of reckoning finally approaching for The Donald?

IT’S often said that you’re not paranoid if they’re really out to get you.

And a lot of talented, determined people are really out to get Donald Trump.

Newsreaders and pundits yesterday breathlessly announced to their audiences that in New York City, for so long Trump’s base of operations and source of his income and notoriety, Manhattan’s District Attorney has convened a grand jury that is expected to decide whether to indict the former President if prosecutors seek criminal charges against him.

The move reportedly indicates that Democratic District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr’s investigation of Trump and his business operations has reached an advanced stage after more than two years of inquiries. Commentators believe Vance thinks he has found evidence of a crime by Trump or someone close to him or by his company.

Trump has continued to complain that he’s being “unfairly attacked and abused by a corrupt political system”. He said the investigation is part of a partisan plot to silence his voters and block him from running for President again.

In a statement issued Tuesday evening, Trump called the seating of the grand jury “a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American history”.

“This is purely political, and an affront to the almost 75 million voters who supported me in the Presidential Election, and it’s being driven by highly partisan Democrat prosecutors,” Trump said.

“Our country is broken, our elections are rigged, corrupt and stolen, our prosecutors are politicized, and I will just have to keep on fighting like I have been for the last five years!”

No doubt fundraising appeals will soon appear in mailboxes and on computer screens at the homes of millions of voters across the US who Trump’s team hopes will make further contributions to support his legal defence efforts.

How did things get to this point?

In February of this year, with Trump having left office only a month earlier, the US Supreme Court seriously disappointed him by permitting prosecutor Vance to serve a subpoena on Trump’s accounting firm to obtain eight years of tax returns and other legal documents pertaining to the finances of Trump himself, the sprawling Trump Organization and other Trump-related entities.

That was the same Supreme Court to which Trump had managed to appoint one-third of its nine members, clearly in the expectation that they would repay his beneficence with

loyal support.

New York state’s Attorney General, Letitia James, is an elected Democrat like Vance. She announced just a week ago that her office’s ongoing civil investigation into the Trump Organization has now become a criminal investigation.

Trump has lost several legal cases trying to prevent disclosure of personal and business records, allowing James and other prosecutors to obtain detailed data on Trump’s real-estate empire during the last several months.

Furthermore, the state Attorney General’s inquiry will now much more closely work with a similar probe

by Vance, who opened his

THE big European national soccer leagues wrapped up their season schedules last weekend, with this Saturday’s climactic Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester City the only remaining significant match prior to a three-month summer hiatus before they start all over again.

There were some surprises in the final standings, but teams that were expected to dominate mostly did so. The emerging supremacy of English club soccer was also reinforced significantly by the Champions League success of both City and Chelsea.

The Blues marched through Iberia on their way to the final. They managed to defeat Sevilla, Athletico Madrid, mighty Real Madrid and Portuguese giant Porto en route to Saturday. All four of those beaten teams qualified for next year’s Champions League.

Man City ran away with the English title, its third in the past four years. In the Champions League, they dismissed both German powerhouse Dortmund with its prolific Norwegian scorer Erling Haaland and Paris St. Germain, kings for

almost a decade in France’s top league.

City are likely the strongest club team in the world right now. They are heavy favourites to win their third 2021 title trophy on Saturday, but Chelsea have beaten them twice in the past six weeks and may again be able to exploit some City defensive weaknesses with their speedy, skilled young forwards and wing players.

In the English league this year, defending champion Liverpool in particular missed their leading two defenders for almost the entire season. Chelsea and Manchester United both lost important players for extended periods, too. Yet these clubs, along with champions City, captured the essential top four Champions League qualifying places for next year, ensuring their share of the critical revenue that accompanies participation in the world’s top club competition.

Chelsea and Liverpool squeaked into the Top Four on the season’s final day.

Leicester City and London’s West Ham United, which had both remained near the top of the league table for much of the season, choked away their chances with

late-season losses. Leicester missed out on a Champions League place on the last day of the season for the second year in a row.

Form held in the German Bundesliga, where Bayern Munich won its ninth straight title over RB Leipzig and Dortmund, but less so in Spain’s La Liga, which saw Athletico Madrid sneak past perennial favorites Real Madrid and Barcelona to win the crown.

Seven-time defending champion Paris St. Germain was edged out by Lille in France’s top league, while Milan’s Internazionale and AC Milan both finished ahead of perennial titlist Juventus of Turin in Italy.

50 other European nations will this summer send their league champions and assorted other clubs to early qualifying rounds for next year’s Champions League. From Albania to Wales and from Andorra to San Marino, hope will rise again in the throats of rabid supporters.

Meantime, Saturday’s big match will capture the world’s attention. No other club competition can equal the Champions League final, and this year’s edition holds much promise. It’s at 3:00 pm Saturday on CBS.

PRESIDENT Donald Trump pictured at the White House in December. But the former president is now facing legal troubles.

STATESIDE

with Charlie Harper

IT’S ALL OVER BAR THE GRAND FINAL

Trump investigation in 2019.

Vance is reportedly seeking evidence that Trump illegally misstated property values and other financial information to lower his tax bill and get better loan terms from banks than he might have otherwise done.

And only a year earlier, Trump’s niece Mary Trump charged in a

best-selling memoir that many of Trump financial activities were “improper or possibly illegal”.

Trump, characteristically, has denied everything and says the multiple New York probes represent “an investigation that is in desperate search of a crime”.

Here are some other milestones on Trump’s potential path to perdition: On January 12, 2018, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Trump, via long-time aide and political fixer Michael Cohen, had paid porn actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 in 2016 not to speak about a sexual encounter she claims she had with Trump.

Cohen also supposedly arranged a similar payment

to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said she had a lengthy affair with Trump in 2006-7. That payment, apparently meant to silence McDougal, came from the Florida-based company that publishes the National Enquirer, a Trump ally.

The FBI raided Cohen’s office later in 2018, without saying publicly what they were looking for.

In August 2018, Cohen pled guilty to campaignfinance violation felonies for the two hush-money payments. Two months later, the Times published a massive expose of Trump’s financial dealings, pretty directly implying that he and his associates had engaged in criminal activity.

In February 2019, Cohen told a House of Representatives committee that Trump is a “cheat and a con man”.

The following month, James launched her investigation. She issued subpoenas to Trump lenders, including Deutsche Bank, for Trump financial records. Of course, Trump sued to stop her.

In September 2019, Vance sought the eight years of Trump’s tax returns. Again, Trump sued to block the probe.

It was these legal maneuverings that were recently decided in favour of the investigators and against Trump and his legal team.

So what happens now?

The legal process, established among other things to protect the rights of people like Trump who may be charged with crimes, will grind on. Its news value may diminish.

And Trump’s reprehensible legacy of disdaining the law in favour of his own self-interest will be carried on by his Republican Party.

PAGE 10, Thursday, May 27, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

SCREEN TIME REALLY IS DAMAGING OUR CHILDREN’S VISION EYE doctors had planned to celebrate 2020 as the year of vision (as in seeing 20/20). Instead, it will be known as the year that worsened the world’s vision for decades to come. Scientists are attributing this latest health issue — one that is hidden in plain sight — to the pandemic.

By DEBBIE JONES, Clinical Professor, School of Optometry & Vision Science and Clinical Scientist, Centre for Ocular Research & Education (CORE), University of Waterloo and KATE GIFFORD, Visiting Research Fellow in Optometry and Vision Science, Queensland University of Technology Rates of myopia, also known as nearsightedness or shortsightedness, have

been increasing worldwide for decades. Half of the world’s population is

predicted to be myopic by 2050.

The length of time children spend viewing digital screens has been exacerbated by a massive increase in remote schooling, directly contributing to further increases in childhood myopia.

Home-schooled children of the COVID-19 era are at risk of becoming the visually compromised population of tomorrow.

A recent study of more than 120,000 children in China demonstrated that six- to eight-year-olds who were in lockdown for the first six months of 2020 are more myopic than their counterparts from previous years.

Get news that’s free, independent and based on evidence.

MYOPIA RISKS

For a child with myopia, distance vision is blurry while near vision remains clear. In the past, the increase in myopia diagnoses from year to year was given little thought, since it was correctable with glasses or contact lenses.

However, eye-care professionals now know that the younger a child becomes myopic, the higher their prescription may eventually become, and high prescriptions are bad news for eyes.

There is an established link between high myopia

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and increased lifelong risk of devastating eye diseases.

Someone who has a prescription of more than six corrective units, or dioptres, (a prescription of -6.00) has a 90 per cent likelihood of being visually impaired by the age of 75.

A number of eye conditions are more prevalent in highly myopic adults including cataract, glaucoma, retinal detachment, retinal degeneration and other ocular diseases that can have a lifelong impact on their vision. These complications typically happen in later life, so concern for children may seem irrelevant or premature.

However, there are other more immediate effects of high prescriptions.

A child or teenager with a fairly high prescription will be visually debilitated when not wearing their glasses or contacts, making them totally dependent on their vision correction. As an example, someone who has 10 dioptres of myopia sees anything beyond half an arm’s length as blurred.

And don’t think that laser vision correction will save the day once they’re old enough. That degree of myopia may leave them ineligible or subject to a less successful outcome.

Parents and caregivers can help prevent children from becoming nearsighted and slow down the rate at which the condition progresses.

Simply spending more time outside can delay the onset of myopia. Direct sunlight plays a part, as well as the long-range focusing while playing outdoors.

Restricting screen time is an option with optometristendorsed recommendations relating to screen times for children.

For children schooled at home where limits are not practical, ensure that the screen is not being held or positioned too close to a child, encourage regular breaks and use the 20-2020 rule: look 20 feet (seven metres) away every 20 minutes for 20 seconds. Some researchers have found that children who go to bed later are more likely to be myopic — an added incentive for parents who are looking for reasons to call it a night.

A child’s myopia usually continues to progress until around the age of 16, but about 10 per cent of myopic patients’ vision keeps worsening into their early 20s.

SCREEN TIME

Many options exist for vision correction, but more importantly, there are an increasing number of options available to slow down the progression of myopia and reduce the risk of developing sight-threatening complications in later life. They range from contact lenses and glasses specifically designed to slow down myopia progression to precisely formulated eye drops.

These can be discussed with your eye-care practitioner, who will recommend the best path based on each child.

More than anything else, do not assume a child can see well. There is no substitution for an examination with an eye-care professional. The pandemic has already caused widespread hardship. By acting now, parents can minimise its impact on the vision and ocular health of generations to come.

• Originally published on theconversation.com

The question then turns to what causes myopia in the first place, and what can be done about its onset and progression.

The biggest factor that can’t be changed is parental myopia. A child is extremely likely to become myopic if both parents are myopic. One factor that is modifiable is the amount of time children spend on “near tasks,” those that involve viewing things closer than 40 centimetres from their eyes.

Extended periods of time spent focused on short distances is contributing to myopia increases. Digital screens have been targeted as the reason, but is it the electronic display itself or that a child holds a tablet or phone very close for extended periods? While there is some debate, the short focusing distance is the more likely culprit.

Even with the digital onslaught, all is not lost.

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Thursday, May 27, 2021, PAGE 11

100 years after the Tulsa Race Massacre

By GREGORY B FAIRCHILD Associate Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia

WHEN Viola Fletcher, 107, appeared before Congress in May 2021, she called for the nation to officially acknowledge the Tulsa race riot of 1921.

I know that place and year well. As is the case with Fletcher – who is one of the last living survivors of the massacre, which took place when she was seven – the terror of the Tulsa race riot is something that has been with me for almost as long as I can remember. My grandfather, Robert Fairchild, told the story nearly a quarter-century ago to several newspapers.

Here’s how The Washington Post recounted his story in 1996: “At 92 years old, Robert Fairchild is losing his hearing, but he can still make out the distant shouts of angry white men firing guns late into the night 75 years ago. His eyes are not what they used to be, but he has no trouble seeing the dense, grey smoke swallowing his neighbours’ houses as he walked home from a graduation rehearsal, a frightened boy of 17.

“His has since been a life of middle-class comfort, a good job working for the city, a warm family life. But he has never forgotten his mother’s anguish in 1921 as she fled toward the railroad tracks to escape the mobs and fires tearing through the vibrant Black neighbourhood of Greenwood in north Tulsa.”

“There was just nothing left,” Fairchild told the newspaper.

The Washington Post article said the Tulsa race riots of 1921 were among the “worst race riots in the nation’s history”. It reported: “The death toll during the 12-hour rampage is still in dispute, but estimates have put it as high as 250. More than 1,000 businesses and homes were burned to the ground, scores of black families were herded into cattle pens at the fairgrounds, and one of the largest and most prosperous black communities in the United States was turned to ashes.”

Riots began after a white mob attempted to lynch a teenager falsely accused of assaulting a white woman.

Black residents came to his defence, some armed. The

groups traded shots, and mob violence followed. My family eventually returned to a decimated street.

Miraculously their home on Latimer Avenue was spared.

LESSONS FROM MY GRANDFATHER

DISTURBING HISTORY

Hearing about these experiences at the family table was troubling enough.

Reading a newspaper account of your ancestors’ fleeing for their lives is a surreal pain. There’s recognition of your family’s terror, and relief in knowing your family survived what “60 Minutes” once called “one of the worst race massacres in American history.”

In spite of my grandfather’s witness, this same event didn’t merit inclusion in any of my assigned history texts, either in high school or college. On the occasions I’ve mentioned this history to my colleagues, they’ve been astonished.

In 1996, at the 75th anniversary of the massacre, the city of Tulsa finally acknowledged what had happened.

Community leaders from different backgrounds publicly recognized the devastation wrought by the riots. They gathered in a church that had been torched in the riot and since rebuilt. My grandfather told The New York Times then that he was “extremely pleased that Tulsa has taken this occasion seriously”.

“A mistake has been made,” he told the paper, “and this is a way to really look at it, then look toward the future and try to make sure it never happens again.”

That it took so long for the city to acknowledge what took place shows how selective society can be when it comes to which historical events it chooses to remember – and which ones to overlook. The history that society colludes to avoid publicly is necessarily remembered privately.

ECONOMICALLY VIBRANT

Even with massive destruction, the area of North Tulsa, known as Greenwood, became known for its economic vitality. On the blocks surrounding the corner of Archer Street and Greenwood Avenue in the 1930s, a thriving business district flourished with retail shops, entertainment venues and high-end

IN this photo provided by Department of Special Collections, McFarlin Library, The University of Tulsa, two armed men in walk away from burning buildings as others walk in the opposite direction during the Tulsa Race Massacre.

And at least some was services. One of these businesses was the Oklahoma due to the diminished Eagle, a black-owned news- loyalty of residents to paper. As a teenager in the black-owned businesses early 1940s, my father had and institutions. During his first job delivering the the civil rights movement, paper. downtown Tulsa businesses Without knowing the his- began to allow black people tory, it would be a surprise into their doors as custo the casual observer that tomers. As a result, black years earlier everything in residents spent less money this neighbourhood had in their community. been razed to the ground.

The Black Wall Street Memorial, a black marble At the end of my father’s monolith, sits outside the Greenwood Cultural military career in the 1970s, Centre. The memorial is he became a community dedicated to the entrepre- development banker in Virneurs and pioneers who ginia. His work involved made Greenwood Avenue bringing together instituwhat it was both before and tions – investors, financial after it was destroyed in the institutions, philanthropists, 1921 riot. local governments – to Although I grew up on develop innovative developmilitary bases across the ment solutions for areas like world, I would visit Green- Greenwood. For me, there wood many times over the years. As I grew into my teenage years in the 1970s, I recognized that the former vibrant community was beginning to decline.

Some of this was due to the destructive effects of urban renewal and displacement.

As with many other black communities across the country, parts of Greenwood were razed to make way for highways.

Some of the decline was due to the exit of financial institutions, including banks. This contributed to a decrease in opportunities to build wealth, including savings and investment products, loans for homes and businesses, and funding to help build health clinics and affordable housing.

HISTORICAL LESSONS

are lessons in the experiences of three generations – my grandfather’s, father’s and mine – that influence my scholarly work today.

On the one hand, I study how years after the end of legal segregation Americans remain racially separate in our neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces and at alarmingly high levels. My research has shown how segregation depresses economic and social outcomes.

In short, segregation creates closed markets that stunt economic activity, especially in the Black community.

On the other hand, I focus on solutions. One avenue of work involves examining the business models of Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, and Minority Depository Institutions, or MDIs. These are financial institutions that are committed to economic development – banks, credit unions, loan funds, equity funds – that operate in low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods. They offer what was sorely needed in North Tulsa, and many other neighbourhoods across the nation – locally attuned financial institutions that understand the unique challenges families and businesses face in minority communities.

RIGHTING HISTORICAL WRONGS

There are interventions we can take, locally and nationally, that recognize centuries of financial and social constraint. Initiatives

like the 2020 decision by the Small Business Administration and US Treasury to allocate $10 billion to lenders that focus funds on disadvantaged areas are a start. These types of programmes are needed even when there aren’t full-scale economic and social crises are taking place, like the COVID-19 epidemic or protesters in the street.

Years of institutional barriers and racial wealth gaps cannot be redressed unless there’s a recognition that capital matters.

The 1921 Tulsa race riot began on May 31, only weeks before the annual celebration of Juneteenth, which is observed on June 19. As communities across the country begin recognizing Juneteenth and leading corporations move to celebrate it, it’s important to remember the story behind Juneteenth – slaves weren’t informed that they were emancipated.

After the celebrations, there’s hard work ahead.

From my grandfather’s memory of the riot’s devastation to my own work addressing low-income communities’ economic challenges, I have come to see that change requires harnessing economic, governmental and nonprofit solutions that recognize and speak openly about the significant residential, educational and workplace racial segregation that still exists in the United States today.

• Originally published on theconversation.com

PAGE 12, Thursday, May 27, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

EIGHT KILLED IN LATEST US MASS SHOOTING SAN JOSE, California Associated Press AN EMPLOYEE opened fire yesterday at a California rail yard serving Silicon Valley, killing eight people before ending his own life, authorities said.

The suspect was an employee of the Valley Transportation Authority, which provides bus, light rail and other transit services throughout Santa Clara County, the most populated county in the Bay Area, authorities said.

The attacker was identified as 57-year-old Sam Cassidy, according to two law enforcement officials. Investigators offered no word on a possible motive.

The shooting took place around 6.30am at a light rail facility.

Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Russell Davis said the attack also resulted in “multiple major injuries”. He did not know the type of weapon used. He said the victims included VTA employees.

Authorities did not release any of the victims’ names.

LAW enforcement officers get gear from their trunk near the scene of a shooting in San Jose, California, yesterday. Photo: Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group

Countries eager to reopen to travel as pandemic recedes COUNTRIES reliant on tourism are racing to reopen borders and revive economies decimated by the pandemic.

The World Travel & Tourism Council estimates that the sector lost nearly $4.5 trillion and 62 million jobs last year. Airlines alone lost $126 billion last year and are on track to lose another $48 billion this year, according to their largest trade group.

The rollout of vaccines against COVID-19 is giving government officials in many countries new confidence to welcome visitors.

But time is critical.

“Summer is a strong season for most markets, particularly Europe and the UK. We really hope to see restrictions ease,” said Virginia Messina, interim leader of the World Travel and Tourism Council.

The patchwork of rules around the globe can be hard to follow for anyone planning a trip. Cyprus, for instance, has restrictions in place for countries deemed as higher risk, requiring arriving passengers to have a negative PCR test that’s valid 72 hours prior to their departure and to undergo a new test upon arrival. They also have to self-isolate in Cyprus until their test results are issued.

Constantinos Victoras, general manager of NissiBlu Hotel, situated near Ayia Napa’s famed whitesand beach, says even though the infection rate in Cyprus has dropped significantly in the last two weeks, it won’t be until late June when things will be clear enough for tour operators and airlines to ramp up bookings.

“Uncertainty is too great right now,” Victoras said.

Agatha and Simon Godurkiewicz of Sweden, said they chose to holiday on the island out of fatigue with the pandemic, and that people simply want to get on with their lives and return to some semblance of normality.

“We’re tired of the virus situation,” said Agatha Godurkiewicz. “It was panic at the start of the pandemic but it’s become too much now.”

Here’s how different regions are trying to reopen to travel: EUROPE Europe has been opening slowly, testing the patience of Mediterranean countries that rely heavily on tourism, including Greece, Spain, and Turkey.

That is changing now, as European Union ambassadors agreed last week to allow in visitors who are fully vaccinated or are from a now-expanded list of countries whose citizens are deemed to be safe.

EU member countries still have to approve the

changes, and it’s not clear exactly when they would take effect.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Friday that Spain will let British and Japanese visitors enter the country starting on Monday if they have been vaccinated and people from other countries, including the United States, on June 7.

Tourists are already beginning to show up in Greece after authorities there decided this month to accept vaccination and test certificates from the European Union and 21 other countries.

Croatia has also reopened — one of the few spots in Europe that’s easy for Americans to visit.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have announced direct flights from New York to Dubrovnik this summer.

ASIA The virus is surging again across parts of Asia, causing several nations to halt cautious steps they had been taking to reopen.

Hong Kong and Singapore postponed a quarantine-free “travel bubble” for a second time after a new outbreak, and Hong Kong lengthened mandatory quarantines for many unvaccinated visitors. China set up checkpoints at toll booths, airports and train stations in Liaoning province, site of new cases this month — travelers must show proof of a recent negative test for the virus.

Thailand, which closed its borders and managed to keep outbreaks under control for most of last year, gradually began allowing entry to some foreign visitors in the fall under strict controls. But the country reversed course when it became overwhelmed by its worst outbreak in late March.

Bangkok closed entertainment venues and parks, ordered more people to work from home, and banned outdoor dining.

Streets in the capital and many of Thailand’s resorts are nearly deserted, and people who have lost tourism-related jobs are second-guessing the authorities.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA At the height of the pandemic last year, the United Arab Emirates closed its borders and shuttered airports to travelers. The capital, Abu Dhabi, still has strict measures including mandatory quarantines even for fully vaccinated residents returning from certain countries. But the UAE’s biggest city, Dubai, has opened its doors to travelers since last July with few restrictions beyond a negative

A WOMAN walks into Ohio’s COVID-19 mass vaccination clinic at Cleveland State University on Tuesday. Photo: Tony Dejak/AP

GET THE VACCINE AND WIN A MILLION IN OHIO COLUMBUS, Ohio Associated Press

THE names of two lucky Ohioans, an adult and a child, were to be announced last night as the first winners of the state’s Vax-a-Million incentive prizes which include $1m for those 18 and older and a full-ride college scholarship for teens.

Republican Gov Mike DeWine announced the program on May 12 to boost lagging vaccination rates.

More than 2.7 million adults registered for the money prize and more COVID-19 test.

Dubai — home to the world’s busiest airport for international travel — is courting visitors fleeing lockdowns in Europe with open beaches, bars, hotel pools, restaurants, movie theaters, theme parks and spas. Social distancing and mask mandates are in place.

Meanwhile, the Gulf’s largest country of Saudi Arabia is not permitting tourists into the country.

Saudi citizens, who have largely been banned from travel since March 2020, are allowed to travel abroad starting this month if they have been vaccinated or recently recovered from the virus.

Egypt is trying to draw more foreign tourists even as it deals with a new wave of infections. It exempted beaches, cafes and restaurants tied to tourist hotels from new restrictions, like an earlier curfew and the closure of public beaches and parks during the Eid holiday. It even lowered the cost of tourist visas, although it still requires

than 100,000 children ages 12 to 17 entered for the scholarship, which includes tuition, room and board, and books.

Four more winners of the $1m and a college scholarship will be announced each Wednesday for the next four weeks.

The Ohio Lottery conducted the first drawing on Monday afternoon at its draw studio in Cleveland using a random number generator to pick the winners ahead of time, and then confirmed the eligibility of the ultimate winner.

a negative COVID-19 test before entering the country.

LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN Visitors to the tourismdependent Caribbean tumbled by two-thirds last year to levels not seen since the 1980s. Bermuda was among the hardest hit, suffering an 84 percent drop.

A handful of islands, including Bonaire, Martinique and Montserrat, still ban travel from most countries. Elsewhere, tourists are trickling back under requirements that include electronic monitoring.

Some islands, including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, have created “bubble resorts” to take tourists. Cruise lines are planning to shift ships from the US to Caribbean ports this summer.

The US Virgin Islands have been the region’s success story this year, with arrivals down a modest 27 percent from January through March — much

Participants must register to enter by phone or via the Vaxa-Million website.

Teens can register themselves, but parents or legal guardians must verify their eligibility. The names of entrants who don’t win will be carried over week to week. “I know that some may say, ‘DeWine, you’re crazy! This milliondollar drawing idea of yours is a waste of money,’” the governor said when he announced the incentive.

But with the vaccine now readily available, the real waste, “is a life lost to COVID-19,” the governor said.

of that due to Americans who are forbidden in other places and can visit the US territory without a passport if they avoid going through another country on the way.

Mexico has no flight restrictions, no requirements for visitors to pass a test or quarantine upon arrival. That has kept a reduced but steady flow of tourists, especially to beach destinations.

Mexico’s laid-back approach, however, could be creating a backlash in the Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo, which includes Cancún and Cozumel and where tourism accounts for 87 percent of the economy. Infection and hospitalisation rates are rising, and stricter capacity limits have been imposed in public places.

“If nothing is done right now in reducing activities in public, this trend will grow and grow and grow and grow,” the federal government’s point man on the pandemic, Assistant Health Secretary Hugo LópezGatell, warned this month.

US AND CANADA The US continues to bar most visitors from Europe, China, India, Brazil and other places. Inbound international travelers, including American citizens, must pass a COVID-19 test before boarding flights. The State Department discourages foreign trips, labeling most of the world’s countries high-risk.

The border between the US and Canada remains closed to nonessential travel through June 21.

Domestic air travel in the US is nearly back to 2019 levels, but travel-industry groups are growing impatient with what they see as an overly timid response by the Biden administration to allowing more international visitors.

“As we continue to see vaccination rates increase and infection rates decrease, it’s absolutely critical from an economic standpoint to reopen international travel,” said Tori Emerson Barnes, executive vice president of the US Travel Association.

SPORTS PAGE 13

THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2021

Ayton: We still have each other’s backs

PHOENIX Suns centre Deandre Ayton grabs a rebound in front of Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James during the second half of Game 2 of their NBA basketball first-round playoff series on Tuesday in Phoenix.

Photo: Ross D Franklin/AP

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net DEANDRE Ayton continues to post historic shooting numbers in the NBA playoffs thus far, but his Phoenix Suns faltered down the stretch in game two as the defending champions evened their round one series.

Ayton finished with 22 points on 11-13 shooting from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Suns’ 109 - 102 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night at the PHX Arena In Phoenix, Arizona.

Ayton has recorded

double-doubles in his first two playoff appearances and has been extremely efficient as well, connecting on 21 of his 24 field-goal attempts over those two appearances.

“One thing about us, losses do not change what we do. We stick to our culture and we still have each other’s backs until the end.

We just have to get back together, do what we have to do, and play our type of basketball,” Ayton told reporters following game two, “This locker room is always uplifted, you can’t really tell when we lost a game, even a big game like this.”

In the first half, Ayton had 14 points and shot a perfect 7-7- from the field, but had just two rebounds as the Lakers led 53 - 47 at the half. The Lakers opened the third on a 10 - 1 run to take a 63-48 lead before Ayton helped spark a Suns rally with his rebounding effort.

“I just put my head down and said ‘if they call a foul they call a foul.’ Still attacking the basket, attacking the boards, that’s what I’m good at, that’s my game, just put my head down and compete on the glass, try not to get complacent and try to keep my energy throughout the whole

game,” he said, “A big part of rebounds is just crashing the glass and maintaining physicality.”

Phoenix trailed just 79-72 headed into the fourth quarter and took an 88-86 lead on an Ayton dunk, their first lead since the early first quarter. Without their floor general and All-Star point guard Chris Paul on the floor, the Suns were unable to close out the win. The 11-time All-Star finished with just six points and five assists in 23 minutes following his shoulder injury sustained in game one. Backup point guard Cam Payne finished with 19 points and seven assists.

the Sun, who top the league standings at 5-1.

Jones got the better of her individual matchup with reigning finals MVP and UMMC Ekaterinburg teammate Breanna Stewart who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Sun trailed 87-84 with less than three minutes play but Stewart answered with a three pointer.

“I think they got us with fatigue. This was a very tough road swing -- it was game, travel, play... for us, there was a couple of times we needed a time out.

Guarding Stewie is a different assignment than anyone I’ve ever guarded,” Jones said, “It was just being locked in, we got them in the actions we wanted them in, and we had the right things, but that last thing at the end of the possessions where we weren’t able to execute and they were able to score.”

The Sun rallied late in regulation to force overtime but the defending champions got off to an 8-0 start in the extra period to

stay ahead for good.

“That was a tough one tonight. We were just so close. The run they made early in overtime kind of had us playing catch-up.

A couple of missed assignments, a couple of small things,” Jones said, “I’m just really proud of the team. We played a tough early schedule and walked away with one loss, and it was a loss where if we just did a few little things, we would’ve been in the win column.”

Through six games, Jones is averaging 20 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.

She is shooting 60 percent on two-point shots and 45 percent from three-point range. She leads the league in PER (30.9) and Win Shares (1.7).

It was also the Sun’s first game this season without head coach Curt Miller who was fined $10,000 and received a one-game suspension from the WNBA after making a disparaging remark about Las Vegas Aces star Liz Cambage on Sunday night.

CONNECTICUT Sun’s Jonquel Jones, right, grabs a rebound next to Seattle Storm’s Mercedes Russell in overtime of a WNBA basketball game on Tuesday in Everett, Washington. The Storm won 90-87.

Photo: Elaine Thompson/AP

SEASON IN THE SUN AS JONES MAKING EARLY CHALLENGE FOR MVP

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Connecticut Sun lost their first game of the 2021 WNBA season, but Jonquel Jones delivered another standout performance that has her mentioned by many pundits in their early projections for league MVP. Jones posted her fifth consecutive double double with 28 points and 13 rebounds - both season highs - in the Sun’s 90 - 87 overtime loss to the Seattle Storm Tuesday night at the Angel of Winds Arena in Seattle, Washington.

Jones shot 10-19 from the field and also added three steals, three assists, and two blocked shots in 41 minutes.

“My confidence doesn’t waver. That’s one of the biggest aspects that doesn’t change about my game this year... just being mentally prepared and I can get to the places I want to get on the court.”

The game was the finale in a five game road-trip for

“It was a longer game, just a tough game, us trying to match the physicality and not having ‘C’ as much out there on the floor,” Ayton said, “Shout out for Cam Payne for doing what he did to hold it down for us. We kept trying and we kept pushing and the crowd helped us get back into it later down the stretch.”

There was a sellout crowd announced at Phoenix Suns Arena, which was capped at 11,919 because of COVID19 restrictions. That’s about two-thirds of the 18,000plus capacity.

“I took him out,” Suns head coach Monty Williams

said of Paul’s injury-plagued outing, “That was all me looking at him holding his arm the way he was holding it, I just couldn’t watch him run like that. He was trying to make plays, he battled, he is a warrior. We all know that.”

The series will shift to Los Angeles for game three tonight at 10:00 pm, broadcast on TNT and game four Sunday, May 30, 3:30 PM on ABC. Game five is back in Phoenix on Tuesday June 1, followed by game six (if necessary) in Los Angeles Thursday June 3, and a series finale game seven (if necessary) back in Phoenix on Sunday, June 6.

PAGE 14, Thursday, May 27, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

PLAUDITS JUST KEEP COMING FOR DAUNTE STUART

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

DAUNTE Stuart received conference wide recognition for his standout 2021 regular season.

The Northwestern State Demons sophomore infielder was named to the Southland Conference second team when the league announced its annual awards.

He drew more walks than any other player in the Southland Conference and ranked 16th in the nation with 44 walks. His walk total ranks sixth in school single-season history, one away from moving him into a three-way tie for fourth place.

He was the Demons leader in batting average (.278), doubles (13), home runs (7), RBIs (30) and total bases (84).

After an 0-4 start, Stuart followed with a team long 10-game hitting streak which ran from February 21 - March 7, a team leading 12 multi hit games and tied for the team lead with eight multi RBI games.

Over the course of the streak Stuart homered in three of four games. Another season highlight came in his team’s four game sweep over Nicholls’ State when 4-11 with four runs, four RBI,

and the first multi home-run game of his career.

In game two, Stuart had a career outing when he went 2-2 with four RBI, drew four walks, scored four runs and hit two home runs in a 13-6 win.

Defensively, Stuart has been part of a team best 22 double plays.

In the Southland Conference, the Demons were picked to finish fifth in the league’s preseason poll.

They went 12-4 in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season and were 2-1 in their lone Southland Conference series, taking two of three from Abilene Christian.

They went on to finish the regular season 27-24 and are ranked No.6 in the Southland Conference tournament. They opened tournament play last night against Southeastern Louisiana at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field. It marks

the Demons third straight Southland Conference Tournament appearance.

Stuart started all 16 games at second base last year as a true freshman. He was one of three Demons to swipe three bases and finished third on the team in batting average with .281.

He went on a nine game hit streak from February 16 - March 1 and doubled in three straight games from February 26-29.

CAMERON Riley took first place at the Black College Golf Coaches Association Historically Black Colleges and Universities Invitational in March.

RILEY RATTLES ON TO THE REGIONALS

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

CAMERON Riley and the Florida A and M Rattlers concluded their historic season with the programme’s first appearance at the NCAA Regionals.

The five man squad, the first FAMU men’s golf team to qualify for the NCAAs, finished tied for No.13 in the field with a final score of 902 (+38). The Rattlers shot a tournament low 294 on the final day of competition at the Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee, Florida.

Individually, Riley finished at No 71 in the field with a total of 238 (+22). He shot rounds of 76, 85 and 77.

The Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Bulldogs, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Liberty Flames, and TCU Horned Frogs advanced to next week’s NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The field also included Georgia Southern, Davidson, Indiana, Kansas, LIU, LSU, Ohio State and Southern California.

FAMU was one of 30 automatic qualifiers when they won the first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Golf Championship, another programme first in a series of milestones this season.

Riley’s season was highlighted in March when won an individual title, the first of his NCAA career, and his Rattlers team took first place at the Black College Golf Coaches Association (BCGCA) Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Invitational for the second consecutive year.

This season, the Rattlers also finished sixth out of 13 teams in the Donald Ross Collegiate Classic and a third place finish in the Invitational at Savannah Harbor, hosted by William and Mary. It was the highest FAMU has ever placed in the 16-team tournament.

FAMU also finished 11th at the Old Corkscrew Invitational hosted by Florida Gulf Coast University.

Most recently, the Rattlers had a third place finish in a nine team field at the PGA Works Collegiate Invitational prior to the NCAAs. Riley is currently ranked at No.5 on the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour Collegiate Rankings.

The APGA Collegiate Ranking will ease the financial costs associated with playing developmental tours as well as application fees for the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.

With his ranking, Riley has an opportunity to earn APGA Tour membership, entry into all remaining APGA Tour events, travel costs associated with each APGA Tour event, exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament and Pre-Qualifying Stage unless otherwise exempt into another Stage.

KNOWLES HITTING THE MARK

By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

D’Shawn Knowles made his 2021 debut and Warren Saunders continued his efficient numbers at the plate in his current series in minor league baseball action.

Knowles, the Los Angeles Angels’ No.8 prospect, debuted with a single and stolen base for the Inland Empire 66ers the club’s Low A-affiliate, in their 1-0 loss to the Fresno Grizzlies.

Knowles singled to centrefield in his first at bat and went on to steal second in the same inning.

Both teams struggled offensively and took a 0-0 tie into the ninth when Fresno scored the go ahead run on a Mateo Gil RBI double.

Knowles last appeared with the Angels main club

in Spring Training 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought a halt to baseball.

In the 2019 season Knowles spent time with the Orem Owlz and was named to the Pioneer League’s All-Star Game roster for their midseason matchup against the Class A Short Season Northwest League.

In 64 games, he hit .241 with a .310 OBP, .698 OPS with 61 hits, 11 doubles, four triples, six home runs, 28 RBI and five stolen bases.

“He can make hard contact to all fields from both sides of the plate, and even in 2019, showed an ability to work counts and draw walks. The Angels continue to encourage Knowles to use that plus speed more on the basepaths to become a threat to steal, something that improved at instructs,

his MLB Pipeline prospect analysis said.

Saunders has been the most productive hitter in the lineup for the St. Lucie Mets thus far in their series with Daytona Tortugas.

Saunders has gone 5-9 as the team split the first two games of the series.

In game one Tuesday, he went 3-4 with a season high three RBI in a 14-9 loss. He followed 2-4 with another RBI in Wednesday’s 4-3 win.

The St Lucie Mets feature five of the Mets top 15 prospects in its farm system but Saunders has stood out hitting .277 with 18 hits, 11 RBI, a .365 OBP and .703 OPS. Saunders last appeared with the GCL Mets in the 2019 season.

In 33 games, he hit .323 with a .783 OPS, 41 hits, 56 total bases, 20 RBI and scored 25 runs.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 27, 2021, PAGE 15

TREVOR WILLIAMS PITCHES CUBS PAST PIRATES 4-1

By JOHN PERROTTO ASSOCIATED PRESS PITTSBURGH (AP) — Trevor Williams pitched six innings and singled twice against his former team, helping the streaking Chicago Cubs top the stumbling Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Wednesday night.

Chicago won for the fifth time in six games and stayed a half-game back of NL Central-leading St. Louis. David Bote hit a two-run homer for the Cubs, and Kris Bryant had three hits and two RBIs. Williams (3-2) permitted one run and three hits in his first win since April 17. He struck out seven and walked none.

Williams allowed seven runs in 7 1/3 innings in his two previous starts against Pittsburgh this year. He spent his first five seasons with the Pirates before being released in November.

After allowing a oneout triple by Ben Gamel in the first inning, Williams retired 14 batters in a row.

Williams also went 2 for 3 at the plate, helping Chicago score in the second and sixth.

Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 11th save of the season and No. 359 for his career, moving into 11th place baseball’s list. Chicago relievers have surrendered only one unearned run in 32 1/3 innings in the last 10 games.

Pittsburgh dropped its fifth straight game.

Rookie Wil Crowe (0-3) recorded just four outs.

Rafael Ortega drew a leadoff walk in the second and Bote followed with a drive to center field.

Bryant added an RBI single.

Winless in nine career starts, Crowe allowed five hits and walked two.

Bryant made it 4-0 when he singled in Eric Sogard in the sixth.

Sogard finished with two hits.

The Pirates got their lone run in the sixth when Kevin Newman led off with a double and scored on Erik Gonzalez’s single.

Gamel and Newman each had two of Pittsburgh’s five hits.

Rain delayed the start of the game by 26 minutes.

MIAMI Marlins third baseman Jon Berti, left, is unable to tag out Philadelphia Phillies’ Roman Quinn (24) as Quinn slides into third base during the third inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Slumping Berti’s two-run single lifts Marlins over Phils 4-2 MIAMI (AP) — Slumping Jon Berti hit a go-ahead. two-run single in a threerun eighth inning, and the Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 on Wednesday night.

Philadelphia, playing without injured stars Bryce Harper, Didi Gregorius and J.T. Realmuto. built a 2-1 lead on Brad Miller’s basesloaded walk in the third off Nick Neidert and Rhy Hoskins’ fifth-inning sacrifice fly against Anthony Bender.

Aaron Nola allowed one run and two hits — both singles — in six innings and centerfielder Odubel Herrera preserved the lead with a leaping catch to rob Isan

Diaz of a home run in the sixth.

But Nola remained 0-3 in three starts since May 4 as the Phillies lost for the fifth time in 22 games this year when leading after seven innings.

Connor got out of two-on trouble in the seventh when Jesús Aguilar hit an inningending flyout, but Sam Coonrod (0-1) gave up the lead in the eighth.

Corey Dickerson singled leading off and Coonrod got two outs before walking Diaz. Andrew Knapp’s passed ball allowed the runners to move up and Berti, the No. 8 hitter whose average was down to .178 (18 for 101), hit an opposite-single

to right for a 3-2 lead.

Berti ended a streak of 20 games and 62 plate appearances without an RBI since he homered at Milwaukee off Brent Suter on April 27.

Berti stole second and scored on Jose Devers’ single.

Ross Detwiler (1-0) pitched around a leadoff walk in the eighth, and Yimi García hit Roman Quinn with a pitch starting the ninth, then finished a five-hitter by getting three straight outs for his ninth save in 10 chances.

Aguilar hit a tying single for Miami in the third.

Marlins starter Nick Neidert, recalled from Triple A Jacksonville, allowed one

run, four hits and two walks in four innings.

• ROSTER MOVE Miami designated LHP Shawn Morimando for assignment. In his lone appearance with the club Monday, Morimando entered in the ninth inning with a seven-run lead and got just two outs, allowing four runs and four hits and leaving with the potential tying run on deck.

undergone high intensity workouts, manager Joe Girardi said.

Marlins: INF Jazz Chisholm (sore right ankle) did not play. Chisholm rolled the ankle on his unsuccessful attempt to stretch a hit into a double in the 2-0 loss Tuesday. ...

1B-OF Garrett Cooper (right oblique tightness) was scratched from the lineup 30 minutes before game time.

• TRAINER’S ROOM Phillies: INF Scott Kingery (concussion protocol) is starting to swing a bat, take ground balls but has not been cleared to play because he has not

• UP NEXT RHP Spencer Howard (0-1, 7.36) starts the series finale for the Phillies and RHP Pablo López (1-3, 2.73) for the nod for the Marlins.

• TRAINER’S ROOM Cubs: 1B Anthony Rizzo (back stiffness) was held out of the lineup.

The same injury sidelined him for a game last week. ... C Willson Contreras (bruised left wrist) returned to action after sitting out Tuesday’s win over the Pirates. ... INF Nico Hoerner (left hamstring strain) was placed on the 10-day injured list.

Ortega was promoted from Triple-A Iowa and RHP Shelby Miller was designated for assignment.

Pirates: RHP Trevor Cahill (strained left calf) had a bullpen session. He was placed on the IL last week. ... OF Ka’ai Tom (left wrist contusion) has resumed baseball activities. ... LHP Steven Brault (strained left lat), who has been out all season, is throwing at 105 feet.

• PIRATES SHUFFLE PITCHERS Pittsburgh rookie Cody Ponce was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis after taking the loss Tuesday night when he gave up four runs in five innings.

Right-hander Nick Mears was recalled from Indianapolis and will be used in relief. The Pirates have not announced who will take Ponce’s place in the rotation. It is possible Cahill or Chad Kuhl (right shoulder discomfort) could be activated from the IL to face Colorado on Sunday.

• UP NEXT Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (4-4, 4.74 ERA) is scheduled to start the series finale Thursday against Pirates LHP Tyler Anderson (3-4, 4.73 ERA). Hendricks has allowed two runs or less in eight of his last nine starts in Pittsburgh. Anderson tied a career high by getting tagged for nine runs in five innings by Atlanta in his last start.

TAMPA Bay Rays’ Manuel Margot, centre, is congratulated by teammates after his game-winning single against the Kansas City Royals during the 10th inning of a baseball game Wednesday, in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Rays won 2-1. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)

MARGOT HITS RBI SINGLE IN 10TH, RAYS BEAT ROYALS 2-1

By MARK DIDTLER Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Manuel Margot hit a run-scoring single in the 10th inning and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Kevin Kiermaier advanced from second to third when Taylor Walls flied out to deep centre field against Tyler Zuber (0-2).

After Austin Meadows was intentionally walked, Margot won it on just the Rays’ third hit of the game.

Andrew Benintendi homered leading off the ninth against J.P. Feyereisen (1-2) as the Royals tied it at 1. Feyereisen worked out of a jam with a runner on third and one out in the 10th.

Tyler Glasnow pitched eight stellar innings for the Rays, whose

11-game winning streak ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss to Kansas City.

He scattered three hits, struck out 11 and walked two.

Royals starter Mike Minor gave up one run, two hits and four walks with nine strikeouts over five innings during a 96-pitch outing.

Greg Holland, Scott Barlow, Josh Staumont and Jake Brentz combined on four hitless innings.

Glasnow retired his first 13 batters on just 40 pitches before Kelvin Gutierrez lined a single to right with one out in the fifth. The right-hander was coming off a start Friday against Toronto in which he allowed five runs and nine hits over 4 2/3 innings.

Mike Brosseau drew a walk from Minor in the fourth, advanced to second on a grounder and scored to put the Rays up 1-0 on Mike Zunino’s single.

• UBER RELIEVER Feyereisen, acquired Saturday from Milwaukee, spent several years as a New York Yankees minor leaguer and had spring training in nearby Tampa.

During spring training 2018 he also drove an Uber to make extra money.

One time he picked up a couple of Miami scouts after they attended a game.

“They’re like looking at me, I mean J.P. as a driver, and they’re like, ‘Hey do you pitch for the Yankees?’” Feyereisen said. “I was like, `Yeah I do.’”

• NOT AGAIN CF Brett Phillips ran down Benintendi’s first-inning drive on the warning track.

Kiermaier made two standout catches Tuesday night on shots hit

by Benintendi.

• SPECIAL GROUP Royals 1B Carlos Santana became the fifth Dominican-born player with 250 homers and 1,000 walks with his home run Tuesday.

The others are Albert Pujols, Manny Ramírez, David Ortiz and José Bautista.

• TRAINER’S ROOM Rays: RHP Chris Archer (right lateral forearm tightness) has been shut down from throwing for a few days.

“Still feels it a little bit on the outside of the forearm,” manager Kevin Cash said.

Archer has been throwing at around 90 feet on level ground.

• UP NEXT Kansas City RHP Brady Singer (2-3) and Rays LHP Shane McClanahan (1-0) are Thursday’s starters.

PAGE 16, Thursday, May 27, 2021

INDY 500 WINNER SATO WANTS THIRD RACE VICTORY AND A PARTY

By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Takuma Sato held out his fists and flashed his oversized 2017 and 2020 Indianapolis 500 championship rings that spend more time in safekeeping than as a daily accessory.

The rings can be a bit much for a driver who still lives in an upstairs bedroom in the house of his long-time business manager in suburban Indianapolis.

“They’re way too big. Chunky,” Sato said, laughing.

“I do wear them for special occasions. But an everyday ring is coming.”

Uncomfortable, perhaps, at the oversized rocks, Sato jokes he can still squeeze a third championship ring on one more finger.

Also on the horizon, the overdue victory celebration at Indianapolis Motor Speedway he was denied off one of the weirdest Indy 500’s ever.

The 44-year-old Japanese driver — who flirted with another Indy 500 victory in 2012 — wants another win, yes, to cement his legacy as one of the Brickyard’s greats, but also to enjoy the spoils of victory.

The pandemic pushed the 2020 race until August making Sato, the first Japanese-born driver to win the Indianapolis 500, the shortest-reigning champion at just nine months.

Sato held off Scott Dixon and won under caution last year in a mostly unsatisfying finish, and his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team held a muted victory celebration inside a largely empty track.

“It was kind of a crushing thing in a lot of ways, but yet we had a race and it was a great race,” team owner and 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal said. “It was too bad we couldn’t share it with people live, at least with spectators, but it’s great coming back, great to see people.”

Sato couldn’t even bring the Borg-Warner Trophy home to Japan for a victory tour as he did to great fanfare in 2017.

Sato’s Indy wins stamped him as one of the faces of elite Japanese athletes having success in the States in recent years. Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese golfer to win the Masters in April. Naomi Osaka, born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a Haitian father, has four Grand Slam singles titles.

Shohei Ohtani’s incredible two-way game has drawn comparisons to Babe Ruth as he blossomed into a star for the Los Angeles Angels.

The Tokyo Games, which he hoped to attend if done safely, are scheduled for later this summer.

Sato gave Ohtani a signed helmet and milk bottles when they met before an Angels game in April 2018.

Sato threw the ceremonial first pitch — much slower than the 230.708 mph fourlap average he hit to qualify 15th for Sunday’s race — and Ohtani hit his first career MLB home run. Sato tweeted congratulations (“Very happy to see a historic moment for Japanese golf world”) to Matsuyama when he won at Augusta National.

“I love to see all the Japanese athletes performing on the worldwide level,” Sato said.

Sato has raised awareness for causes in his country as he did for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and had supporters rally around him like when, also in 2011, a sports writer for The Denver Post was fired for tweeting he was “uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend.”

Born in Tokyo, Sato got hooked on racing when he watched his first Indy 500 on TV as just a boy. His father took a 10-year-old Sato to the 1987 Japanese Grand Prix Formula One race in Suzuka and his sensation for speed truly kicked in.

Sato’s first competitive races came on bicycles, and he later moved to karting and a ride in British Formula 3. He learned English at a private school and spent seven seasons in Formula One.

THE TRIBUNE

FRENCH OPEN 2021: Federer, Serena at last Paris Slam of 30s

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer ROGER Federer himself put it quite simply recently: “How can I think of winning the French Open?”

After all, the 20-time major champion will be entered in his first Grand Slam tournament in more than 15 months when play begins on the red clay of Roland Garros in the leafy southwestern outskirts of Paris on Sunday.

Consider this summary of his circumstances: Federer has accumulated more operations on his right knee (two) than victories (one, in three matches) since February 2020.

“The moment you know you’re not going to win the French Open, it can’t be your goal. At least at my level. So I’m just realistic and I know I will not win the French — and whoever thought I would, or could, win it is wrong,” Federer said.

“Of course, crazier things might have happened. But I’m not so sure in the last 50 years at the French Open, somebody just walked up at 40 years old, being out for a year and a half, and just (went) on to win everything. ... I know my limitations at the moment.”

For the record, he hasn’t quite hit the “Big 4-0” just yet. Still, this will be the last French Open of his 30s — and the last one for Serena Williams in her 30s, too.

He turns 40 in August; she reaches that milestone in September.

The chances for fans to watch them compete, and for other players to try to measure up, are getting rarer (Williams has appeared in just three matches, going 1-2, since a semifinal loss to Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open).

While Federer made clear he sees this trip to France mainly as a way to help him get ready for Wimbledon, Williams acknowledged her lack of play on clay makes things less comfortable as she resumes her bid for a 24th major championship.

“This year has been a little more difficult than normal,” said Williams, who pulled out of last year’s French Open before the second round because of an injured left Achilles.

Asked how much she considered skipping the red stuff entirely this season, Williams quickly replied: “Not one second.”

Both Williams and Federer carry expectations of excellence every time they step on a court.

Some comes internally, of course, which is why Williams holds the professional era record of 23 Slam singles titles and Federer shares the men’s mark of 20 with Rafael Nadal.

And some comes externally.

That all can be daunting when there is more than the usual amount of uncertainty about the status of one’s game.

“You need to, sometimes, just put yourself out there.

“Sometimes it’s not fun when you know where your limitations are and,

SWITZERLAND’S Roger Federer reacts after defeating Sweden’s Robin Soderling during their men’s singles final match of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, in this 2009 photo.

Federer is about to compete in the last French Open of his 30s and says he knows he cannot win the title. The tournament begins Sunday in Paris. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

IN this 2002 file photo, Serena Williams, right, talks with her sister Venus after Serena won the women’s final of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros stadium in Paris. Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus 7-5, 6-3. Williams has only won two clay-court matches over the past two years and says her lack of competition on the surface makes her uncomfortable ahead of the French Open. The tournament begins Sunday in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File) obviously for me, it’s always difficult, because people expect a lot from me and I have high expectations for myself,” Federer said.

“So when ... I feel like, ‘My God, I can play so much better,’ it feels strange and it’s disappointing.

“But at the same time, this is the process I need to go through and that’s why I can’t get too down on myself.”

• NOT QUITE ON TIME The start of last year’s tournament moved from May to September because of the coronavirus pandemic.

This year’s shift, for the same reason, is far less dramatic: Play was delayed one week.

“What does it change if we do it a week later? We’re talking about COVID here. I’m not sure it will change anything,” said Daniil Medvedev, a two-time Grand Slam finalist.

One effect, though, is there will be only two weeks, instead of three, between the end of the French Open and start of Wimbledon.

• DJOKOVIC & NADAL Nadal and Novak Djokovic met in the 2020 French Open final and it probably should not stun anyone if either is playing on the tournament’s last Sunday again.

Nadal extended his own record by winning La Coupe des Mousquetaires for the 13th time last year, which also allowed him to equal Federer with 20 Slam titles.

Nadal is favoured to raise those totals to 14 and 21, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Djokovic, meanwhile, is ranked No. 1 — he’s spent more weeks there than any man in history — and keeps gaining on the other Big Three members’ major totals: His Australian Open championship in February was his 18th at a Slam.

• TWO ‘DEFENDING’ WOMEN’S CHAMPS Two women can stake a claim to defending the title: Iga Swiatek, who won the French Open in 2020 at age 19 without dropping a set, and Ash

Barty, who won it in 2019 to hasten her rise to the No. 1 ranking she still holds but stayed away last year because of the pandemic.

“It’s a fresh start,” Barty said.

“A fresh start for everyone in that event.”

• DAY FOR NIGHT Night sessions are a popular feature of the U.S. Open and Australian Open and now join the schedule at Roland Garros, where Court Philippe Chatrier has been outfitted with a roof and artificial lights.

• OLYMPIC QUALIFYING Eligibility for the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled to start in July, is based in part on the WTA and ATP rankings released the day after the French Open ends.

No more than four tennis players of each gender from any country can participate in singles at the Summer Games, and some — such as 17-yearold American Coco Gauff — are in a tight race.

MICKELSON TRIES TO FOCUS AT COLONIAL AFTER HISTORIC PGA WIN

By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Sports Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Phil Mickelson allowed himself to get distracted for a couple of days after his victory at the PGA Championship, taking some time to relish the historic achievement of becoming the oldest player to win a major.

“Because when I’m doing it, I’m not fully aware because I’m so in the moment,” Mickelson said Wednesday.

Now Lefty is trying to get his focus back on playing.

Only four days after raising the Wanamaker Trophy, after not winning on the PGA Tour in more than two years, the 50-year-old Mickelson is set to tee off Thursday in the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial.

“That’s going to be the biggest challenge for me because I kind of went from keeping my mind off of all the distractions and the noise during the week of the PGA to really letting it come in the last two days, enjoy it,” he said. “And really it hit me in the last two days what just happened.”

Still, the two-time Colonial champion (2000 and 2008) said it never crossed his mind to skip the trip to Hogan’s Alley. This is his last scheduled tournament before his hometown U.S. Open next month at Torrey Pines, which he is now in without any need of a special exemption.

“I feel like now that I’m playing well, gosh, I want to play,” he said.

Mickelson is grouped the first two rounds with defending champion Daniel Berger and local favourite Jordan Spieth, whose six top 10s in his eight Colonials include a victory in 2016 and two runner-up finishes.

“Obviously, Phil is going to be riding a huge wave of confidence,” Berger said.

“I expect the crowds to be huge and obviously with

PHIL Mickelson puts on the traditional red plaid jacket after winning the Colonial golf tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, in this 2008, file photo. The Colonial begins today and is expected to be twotime Colonial champion Phil Mickelson’s final tournament before his hometown U.S. Open. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam, File) Jordan being a Texas boy and being a local favourite here, it’s just going to be a great experience. I love those pairings. I love to have the crowds out there. It’s going to be a completely contrasting environment than to last year when we didn’t have the fans.”

The Charles Schwab Challenge was played in June last year without any spectators on the course, and marked the PGA Tour’s

return to competition after a 12-week hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Berger won on the first playoff hole when he saved par from behind the 17th green and Collin Morikawa missed a 3-foot par putt.

While there will be some limits, fans will be on the course for the 75th anniversary of the Colonial, which has been held since 1946 and is the longest-running PGA Tour event at the same

venue.

Morikawa said the playoff hole is his only bad memory among a lot of good ones in his only Colonial appearance, and that he learned from the experience. Only two months later, he won the delayed PGA Championship at age 23. He finished tied for eighth at this year’s PGA while someone much older won.

“I thought about Phil’s win, and it’s not like I’ve seen Phil’s entire career. He won

his first event 30 years ago.

I’m 24 now. I still consider him as a competitor,” Morikawa said.

“He’s trying every day to get better. It’s cool to see someone at 50 like that come out and win because it just gives me hope. It gives me just that passion because I love this game and want to play as long as I can.”

After flying home to California following his victory Sunday at Kiawah Island in South Carolina, Mickelson was up most of the night with wife Amy and got to see highlights of his victory. He spent time at home Monday and Tuesday before flying to Texas, where he played a nine-hole pro-am Wednesday morning.

Mickelson said it was now time to get off social media, get back on the practice range and “start to get my mind quiet again and get rid of the distractions and get back in the present.”

Spieth actually had a longer winless drought on the PGA Tour than Mickelson before winning the Valero Texas Open last month.

Spieth had gone nearly four years since tapping in a final putt at the 2017 British Open for his third major and 11th victory overall in his first five years as a pro.

The week after the Texas Open, Spieth tied for third at the Masters. He then took a month off before a ninthplace finish at the Byron Nelson, and then was 30th in the PGA Championship, the major that now splits the two Dallas-Fort Worth area tournaments.

“I actually really like this part of the season for major prep and for the ability to play well in these hometown events. It’s a stretch that I very much enjoy,” he said.

“I’ve had pretty good success with this part of the schedule, and just looking to try and build on that this year.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, May 27, 2021, PAGE 17

RAIDERS COUNTING ON RICHIE INCOGNITO TO HELP LEAD YOUNG LINE

By W.G. RAMIREZ Associated Press HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Offensive lineman Richie Incognito’s upcoming season is all about leadership.

With veteran center Rodney Hudson, guard Gabe Jackson and tackle Trent Brown shipped elsewhere during the offseason, Incognito, who recently signed a one-year contract to return to the Las Vegas Raiders, will be relied upon to mentor and guide younger players.

“It’s great to be able to have been here for a couple of years and be established and be a leader for these young guys,” Incognito said.

“It’s great because we have some really good experience in the room. It’s my job to keep those guys going, keep ‘em hungry, keep ‘em humble. And when we get out on Sunday, just play as one and go out there and really get after people.”

Incognito is eager to return after missing the 2020 season with an Achilles tendon injury that required surgery. His rehab has him feeling 10 years younger than the man who will turn 38 in July and who looked as agile as his younger linemates during the first two days of voluntary workouts at the team’s practice facility.

“A lot of things can get misconstrued about Richie,” Raiders defensive end Clelin Ferrell said Wednesday. “I mean, yeah, he is a little crazy. But at the same time, you would never know because he’s such a disciplined and good dude. ... A lot of guys would complain.

He comes out to practice all the time, he don’t take no days off unless coach makes him take days off.

“He’s gonna really be that vocal leader for sure. They got a dog on there.”

Working with offensive line coach Tom Cable has helped relieve some of the pressure for Incognito, while standards have been set high for a front line that needs to protect quarterback Derek Carr in an offence that finished seventh in the NFL with 4,217 yards passing in 2020.

Incognito said Cable’s expectations for a physical offensive line suit him, considering he sets the tempo with a raucous approach every day in practice, hoping his energy becomes contagious.

One of his first orders of business is to work with 24-year-old centre Andre James and first-round pick Alex Leatherwood out of Alabama.

Incognito described both as hard workers with a lot of enthusiasm to learn and improve.

It doesn’t hurt that Incognito, who has played with four franchises, has put in his own work the past six-plus months after surgery and set an example for what it takes to start.

“He’s a big positive influence around the building,” defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “The guy’s been in it for 17 years playing offensive line, honestly unheard of.

He’s a leader. He loves football and the guy looks like he is 25 years old. It honestly doesn’t make any sense.”

Maybe not, but Incognito is defying the odds that say he should be watching football rather than playing, after a diverse training regimen that has built his conditioning, helped with his footwork and ignited his explosiveness.

“It’s honestly just staying and feeling young,” Incognito said. “One of the keys to my success is still being able to move around. The injury was frustrating, but I knew from the start I was coming back.”

Incognito’s bond with his teammates was evident on the second day of workouts. He joked between reps with the offensive linemen, sparking the chemistry that is important to him heading into the season.

“We’re a young team, we’re learning a new defence, offence. We’re trying to sharpen our tools to be more productive, put up more points, put more pressure on teams,” Incognito said. “I think we have a bunch of sharp guys, we got a bunch of hard-working guys, and now is the time to lay the foundation for training camp. It’s great for team building to be around the guys.”

MIAMI Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) stretches at the team’s NFL football training facility, Wednesday, in Davie, Fla. At left is head coach Brian Flores.

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

More comfortable Tua optimistic he’ll be much better in 2021

By STEVEN WINE AP Sports Writer MIAMI (AP) — Tua Tagovailoa says his surgically repaired hip feels 10 times better than last year, and he looks different, too.

He’s sporting a beard.

“What do you think?” the Miami Dolphins quarterback said after a practice session Wednesday. “My mom and my grandmother have been telling me to shave it.”

The beard’s future is undecided, and the jury is still out on Tua, too.

There are many Tagovailoa detractors, and he’s his own harsh critic regarding an up-and-down rookie season in 2020.

He’s optimistic he’ll be much improved in Year 2, however. Now 18 months removed from surgery for the hip injury that ended his Alabama career, Tagovailoa said he feels much better physically, and also has an improved grasp of the Dolphins’ playbook.

“Last year I wasn’t comfortable calling plays, checking plays, alerting plays,” he said. “I rode with the play. Even if I knew in a way it wasn’t going to work, I was going to try to make it work.

“I didn’t actually know

MIAMI Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa does drills at the team’s NFL football training facility.

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) the playbook necessarily arm this year as it was last use its top draft pick on really, really well. That’s my year,” he said. “I can feel it. a quarterback, or try fault. Now I’m feeling more Also from recordings, I can to trade for Houston’s comfortable. I can maneu- see the difference. Physi- Deshaun Watson. Instead, ver through these things.” cally and mentally, I’m at a Tagovailoa is still No. 1 Tagovailoa’s training better stage.” and hoping to show he regimen this spring is much Coach Brian Flores can be Miami’s franchise different than a year ago, benched Tagovailoa twice quarterback. when he was still recover- last year, and the rookie’s “He has dealt with people ing from surgery. He said worst game came when the saying stupid, uneducated that because he’s stronger stakes were highest — a stuff about him that they’re and no longer hindered 56-26 loss at Buffalo in the not right about,” tight end by his hip, he notices a big season finale.

Mike Gesicki said. “The improvement with his passThere was brief specula- problem with the criticism ing motion. tion early in the offseason is there’s nothing behind it.

“Throwing isn’t as much that Miami might again He did a lot of really good

things for us last year.

“I can tell you firsthand: The guys in the locker room, we all believe in him, we all respect him, and we’re all excited about him.”

Flores said he’s happy with Tagovailoa’s improvement since last season.

“He’s definitely more comfortable, but I think that’s normal for anyone in the second year doing anything that you’re doing,” Flores said. “You know your surroundings. You know what’s expected of you. You’ve got a better rapport with your teammates.”

To help build that, Tagovailoa stayed in South Florida over the winter rather than returning to his native Hawaii. He has worked out with a receiving group that includes two topflight newcomers, veteran Will Fuller and first-round draft pick Jaylen Waddle, a former Alabama teammate.

“I wouldn’t be able to throw to my guys if I was in Hawaii,” Tagovailoa said.

“We’re working on timing and all the things you don’t just wake up and do, as Flo would say.”

As he quoted his coach, Tagovailoa giggled. Things won’t get serious for a few months yet.

RETURN OF ANTHONY BARR A KEY UPGRADE FOR VIKINGS DEFENCE

By DAVE CAMPBELL AP Pro Football Writer

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings initiated an aggressive makeover of their defence this year, following a collapse so severe it triggered a December declaration from veteran coach Mike Zimmer that the group was the worst he’s ever had.

One of the enhancements for 2021 is a player who never left: fourtime Pro Bowl outside linebacker Anthony Barr.

He’s back from a torn pectoral muscle that ended his 2020 season in the second game, and his presence on the field ought to be as vital as any of the newcomers.

“I was able to reflect and realise I’m very blessed and still very fortunate to be in this situation that I am and to take advantage of the time because it is precious and it is fleeting,” Barr said Wednesday.

Skills

MINNESOTA Vikings outside linebacker Anthony Barr (55) drops into coverage against the Dallas Cowboys during an NFL football game in Arlington, Texas, in November, 2019. Barr is back on the field with the Vikings, having recovered from a torn pectoral muscle that ruined his 2020 season and adjusted his contract to help the team’s salary cap management and speed up his next foray into free agency. (AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth, File)

Only safety Harrison Smith and wide receiver Adam Thielen have been with the Vikings longer than Barr, the first draft pick of the Zimmer era that started in 2014. His impact over seven seasons has not always matched his keen intelligence and enviable skills, but last year it became clear that Barr is one of those players who’s immediately missed when he’s gone.

Zimmer pushed hard for the Vikings to re-sign Barr in 2019 when he became a free agent. Barr was so intent on staying he backed out of a verbal commitment to the New York Jets after a sleepless night, once the Vikings increased their contract offer.

Pressed hard against the salary cap this offseason, the Vikings had to cut stalwarts Riley Reiff and Kyle Rudolph among others to create

space for other signings. Barr was in danger of joining them, but he agreed to void the final two years of his deal and take a pay cut of a little more than $2 million for this season. The team gained nearly $9 million in cap charge savings this year by doing so, and in turn Barr gets to be eligible for free agency again in 2022. He’ll make $10 million this season through salary and bonuses.

“I didn’t want my last game being the one in which I got hurt and then missing an entire year. I didn’t want that to be my last memory as a Minnesota Viking,” Barr said.

The Vikings began on-field practice this week, opening their drills at team headquarters Wednesday to reporters, and their attendance rate was high. Barr was one of several veterans with workout bonuses tied to participation in the sessions.

The highest-profile player among only a handful of absences was defensive end Danielle Hunter, another key cog the Vikings had to play without in 2020. He hurt his neck during training camp and never returned to the field.

There’s a contract matter that’ll need to be addressed, with the $72 million deal that Hunter signed three years ago now well below the market rate for star pass rushers. There’s no telling how this will play out. Hunter, for his part, has not been available to the media for an interview in 13 months.

“I’ve spoken to him a few times this offseason,” Barr said. “He’s going about things the way he thinks he needs to, and I support him 100 percent. He’s a friend and obviously an incredible player, and we’d love to have him whenever he does decide it’s time to show up and get back to work. I know he’s grinding and working and feeling great. We’ll accept him with open arms when he comes back.”

PAGE 18, Thursday, May 27, 2021

THE TRIBUNE

INTER COACH CONTE TO LEAVE CLUB AFTER WINNING SERIE A TITLE

By DANIELLA MATAR ASSOCIATED PRESS MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte left the newly-crowned Serie A champion by “mutual consent” Wednesday, just weeks after leading the Nerazzurri to their first league title in more than a decade.

Conte was reportedly unhappy about the club’s decision to sell players in this coming transfer window because of financial constraints.

“Inter can confirm that an agreement has been reached with Antonio Conte for the termination of his contract by mutual consent,” the club said in a statement.

“The club would like to thank Antonio for the extraordinary work that he has done, culminating in Inter’s 19th top-flight title. Antonio Conte will forever remain a part of our club’s history.”

Conte had openly contemplating leaving Inter a year ago when he severely criticised the club’s Chinese owners for failing to “protect” the squad from criticism.

This season, Inter’s finances were hit badly by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the club’s early elimination from European football.

The club was forced to take out a vast loan from Oaktree Capital recently in a financing deal with the American investment fund.

Inter’s owner Suning and president Steven Zhang reportedly wanted to slash the wage bill by 20% and make a profit of around 100 million euros (122 million dollars) in the transfer market, likely by selling at least one of the club’s most important players.

Inter won its first Serie A title in 11 years this month, in Conte’s second season in charge. The 51-year-old Conte had another season remaining on his contract.

Challenge He was keen to continue the project he had started at Inter and to build — rather than detract from — his squad in order to be able to challenge in the Champions League.

Inter finished bottom of its Champions League group this season.

Conte rejuvenated a troubled Inter side when he took over in 2019 following a year off after being sacked by Chelsea.

Inter was in disarray after a season of turmoil, with underperforming stars and dressing-room discord. But Conte shook things up and transformed the squad with his strict, no-nonsense attitude and attention to detail.

Romelu Lukaku was one of the players that thrived under Conte’s tutelage. The Belgium forward was one of his first signings and has gone from strength to strength since signing from Manchester United for around 80 million euros (then $90 million).

And Lukaku thanked his mentor in an emotional post on Instagram.

“You came at the right time and basically changed me as a player and made me even stronger mentally and more importantly we won together!” Lukaku wrote, along with a picture of both of them.

“I will keep your principles for the rest of my career ... it was a pleasure to play for you!

“Thank you for all what you did. I owe you a lot.”

Conte previously won three Serie A titles with Juventus and won the Premier League with Chelsea in 2017.

He also coached the Italy national team.

VILLARREAL players celebrate after the Europa League final soccer match between Manchester United and Villarreal in Gdansk, Poland, Wednesday. (Adam Warzawa, Pool via AP)

Villarreal beat Man United on penalties for Europa League title

By JAMES ELLINGWORTH AP Sports Writer GDANSK, Poland (AP) — The penalty shootout was going badly for Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea in the Europa League final, beaten by every Villarreal player who stepped up to the spot.

At 11-10, it got dramatically worse.

The shootout — after a 1-1 draw following extra time — went on so long that all of the outfield players took penalties, meaning De Gea and Villarreal goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli were the 11th men up.

Rulli sent his penalty into the top corner, but De Gea’s lacked power and was stopped by the Villarreal keeper.

As Rulli lay on the grass after his save, the entire team ran over and piled on top of him. It was an upset to savour as Villarreal — a team from a city of about 50,000 people — secured the first major trophy in the 98-year history of the club by beating one of European soccer’s giants.

It also secured a lucrative Champions League spot for next season rather than playing in the new thirdtier Europa Conference League after Villarreal only finished seventh in the Spanish league. And it stopped an English sweep of the two big European competitions before Chelsea and Manchester City play the Champions League final on

VILLAREAL’s goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli saves the penalty by Manchester United’s goalkeeper David de Gea. (Adam Warzawa, Pool via AP) Saturday.

“It feels really good,” Villarreal midfielder Francis Coquelin said. “When you go down to the end it’s the winner taking it all. It was tough, we had a tough game.

Manchester put a lot of pressure on us, especially in the first half.”

For Villarreal coach Unai Emery it was a record fourth Europa League title, and it offered a measure of redemption after he was fired by Arsenal last season.

Emery was hoisted aloft by his players before they received their medals. He won three Europa League titles in a row with Sevilla from 2014-16 and lost the 2019 final with Arsenal against Chelsea.

“We worked hard this season and I think we

deserved to win and to do something important,” Emery said. “We are going to enjoy each moment but above all we are going to prepare for the next season to prepare in the Champions League and have this opportunity with very big teams.”

Villarreal’s win also ensured that United went a fourth consecutive season without a trophy for the first time since the 1980s and left its manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer still looking for his first title. United’s last silverware was the Europa League in 2017.

“That’s football for you.

Sometimes it’s decided on one kick and that’s the difference between winning and losing,” Solskjaer told broadcaster BT Sport. “Got to ... taste this feeling and make

sure you don’t get it again.”

Asked if United’s season — runner-up in the Premier League and now the Europa League — could be considered a success, Solskjaer said bluntly: “No.” The marathon shootout had more excitement than the entire 120 minutes of the game.

United dominated the early possession but it was Villarreal which made the breakthrough.

Gerard Moreno pushed past Victor Lindelöf at a free kick in the 29th minute and strained to prod Daniel Perejo’s cross past De Gea in the United goal.

United equalised at a set piece when Edinson Cavani reacted quickest to knock the ball in after Marcus Rashford’s low shot was deflected

following a corner. A video review ruled the Uruguayan onside for his sixth goal of the season in the Europa League, all of them in the last four games.

United could soon have had a second, if not for Rashford scuffing a shot wide when one-on-one with Rulli.

Another missed chance followed when Torres blocked a Cavani header.

When the game went to extra time, United’s hopes of repeating a 2-1 comefrom-behind win over Bayern Munich 22 years ago to the day in the Champions League final began to fade. Villarreal looked the fresher team in extra time as Solskjaer — the substitute goal-scoring hero in 1999 — held back all but one of his substitutions until the second half of extra time.

Solskjaer brought on two penalty specialists, Juan Mata and Alex Telles, for the shootout. They both scored but that meant little against Villarreal’s perfect 11 penalties from 11 players.

Rulli had come close to saving a couple of previous penalties, including when Luke Shaw’s kick eased in over his outstretched hand.

De Gea seemed to try mind games. He approached some opponents to talk to them as they prepared to shoot, and made Villarreal’s 10th penalty taker, Pau Torres, wait while he strolled over from the sideline.

But in the end it was De Gea who had to trudge back toward his teammates to be consoled after his miss.

REBEL SUPER LEAGUE CLUBS WON’T ACCEPT UEFA ‘COERCION’

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer

MADRID (AP) — Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus strongly criticised UEFA on Wednesday for opening disciplinary cases against them over their roles in trying to launch a European Super League, saying they won’t accept being pressured by the European soccer body.

The three clubs also defended their attempt to remake European soccer, saying the sport is headed for an “inevitable downfall” unless there are major reforms.

The three clubs are the remaining holdouts among 12 founders of the failed Super League and have refused to renounce the project. They released a statement on Tuesday, a day after UEFA said it had opened proceedings against them for “a potential violation of UEFA’s legal framework.”

Its statutes include a section on “prohibited groupings” of clubs or leagues forming without UEFA’s permission or outside its control. The proceedings could lead to the clubs being banned from the Champions League.

“Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid, all of them more than a century old, will not accept any form of coercion or intolerable pressure, while they remain strong in their willingness to debate, respectfully and through dialogue, the urgent solutions that football currently needs,” the clubs said.

“Instead of exploring ways of modernising football through open dialogue, UEFA expects us to

JUVENTUS players celebrate their victory against Atalanta in the Italian Cup. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) withdraw the ongoing court proceedings that question their monopoly over European football,” they said.

“Either we reform football or we will have to watch its inevitable downfall.”

The three clubs expressed their “absolute rejection of the insistent coercion that UEFA has been maintaining towards three of the most relevant institutions in the history of football.”

“This alarming attitude constitutes a flagrant breach of the decision of the courts of justice, which have already made a clear statement warning UEFA to refrain from taking any action that could penalise the founding clubs of the Super League while the legal proceedings are ongoing,” the three clubs said.

A court in Madrid last month

issued a preliminary ruling stopping UEFA, FIFA and its members from acting against the creation of the new league, which folded anyway because of widespread criticism from fans, domestic leagues and other clubs.

A judge has asked the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to consider if restrictions on the rebel clubs are breaking European Union laws.

The holdout clubs said the opening of disciplinary proceedings by UEFA is “incomprehensible and is a direct attack against the rule of law that we, the citizens of the European Union, have democratically built up, while constituting a lack of respect toward the authority of the courts of justice themselves.”

UEFA gave no timetable for the expected disciplinary cases against

the clubs, which have all qualified for the Champions League next season.

Any bans for the clubs would likely lead to appeals at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and pressure to resolve the cases before next season’s European competitions.

The Champions League groupstage draw is on Aug. 26 and matches start on Sept. 14.

The Super League project was publicly launched late at night on April 18 then imploded within 48 hours amid the backlash and threats of legislation by the British government.

The nine clubs who settled with UEFA are: AC Milan, Inter Milan, Atlético Madrid, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Tottenham, plus Champions League finalists Chelsea and Manchester City.

Those clubs agreed to UEFA’s terms to forfeit 5% of their prize money from European competitions in the 2022-23 season and pay a combined 15 million euros ($18.4 million) as a “gesture of goodwill” to benefit children, youth and grassroots football.

The holdout clubs said the Super League was “promoted with the aim of improving the situation of European football, through permanent dialogue with UEFA and with the objective to increase the interest in the sport and to offer fans the best possible show.”

They said “this objective has to be achieved in a framework of sustainability and solidarity, especially in a precarious economic situation such as the one many clubs in Europe are currently experiencing.”

THE TRIBUNE

CANADA WINS; BRITAIN HAS FIRST REGULATION VICTORY SINCE 1962 RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Adam Henrique had two goals and an assist and Canada beat Norway 4-2 on Wednesday night in the world hockey championship for its first victory in four games.

Connor Brown added a goal and two assists, Andrew Mangiapane also scored and Darcy Kuemper made 13 saves.

“We capitalised on our chances,” Brown said.

“We’ve created a lot of chances but had a little bit of poison in the scoring areas, but we got a couple of good bounces today.”

Canada moved into a tie with Norway for sixth place in Group B. Canada has never failed to advance from group play in the event. It will face Kazakhstan on Thursday.

“Obviously, the tournament didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but we’ve been building every period and keep getting better, which is what you want to do in a tournament like this,” Kuemper said. “We had a little bit of adversity today, but this was a huge win and now we have to focus on the next game.”

Thomas Valkae Olsen and Mats Rosseli Olsen scored for Norway.

Victory In the other Group B game Wednesday, Kazakhstan ended first-place Germany’s three-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory. Pavel Akolzin broke a tie on a breakaway with 4:18 left.

“Our goal was to play in the quarterfinals, and the way we are playing, we’re happy with how things are going,” Akolzin said. “We were expecting to win some games, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Nikita Boyarkin made 28 saves and Alexander Shin and Roman Starchenko also scored. Tom Kuhnhackl and Markus Eisenschmid scored for Germany.

The United States (2-1-0) will resume Group B play Thursday against Latvia.

In Group A, Britain beat Belarus 4-3 for its first regulation victory in the event since 1962, and Russia topped Denmark 3-0.

Liam Kirk scored twice for Britain. Ben Davies and Mark Hammond also scored and Ben Bowns stopped 33 shots.

“It feels fantastic!”

Davies said. “We are all buying in, we were doing what we needed to get the win here.

Alexander Samonov made 18 saves for Russia, and Ivan Morozov, Alexander Barabanov and Dmitri Voronkov scored.

Thursday, May 27, 2021, PAGE 19

Jofra Archer has elbow surgery, to be evaluated in four weeks LONDON (AP) — Jofra Archer has had surgery on a long-standing right elbow injury, England said Wednesday, and is unlikely to play for the national team before July.

The paceman had the operation on Friday and his recovery will be reviewed by his consultant in four weeks, at which point Archer will receive further guidance about when he can start bowling again, the England and Wales Cricket Board said.

That timeframe means Archer is sure to miss the two-match test series against New Zealand starting June 2, which was already confirmed, and the three-match Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka starting June 23.

A three-match one-day international against Sri Lanka starts June 29 and another three-match ODI series, against Pakistan, begins July 8. England’s most high-profile series of its international summer comprises five tests against India starting Aug. 4.

Archer had to pull out of the Indian Premier League because of the elbow injury and then felt pain in the same area bowling for Sussex in an English County Championship match last week.

IN this Tuesday, March 16, photo, England’s Jofra Archer takes the catch to dismiss India’s Hardik Pandya during the third Twenty20 cricket match between India and England at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India. Archer has had surgery on a long-standing right elbow injury and is unlikely to play for the national team before July. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File) Meanwhile, wicketkeeper Ben Foakes has also been ruled out of the test series against New Zealand after tearing his hamstring by slipping on a sock while in

the dressing room during a county match for Surrey.

James Bracey has been promoted to the squad in place of Foakes and is in line for a test debut.

The 24-year-old Bracey could be asked to bat at No. 7 even though he was originally selected as cover for the top order, a role which now falls to Haseeb

Hameed.

Sam Billings has been drafted in as wicketkeeping cover, having returned to domestic action after playing in the IPL.

A YEAR AFTER FINALS, LAKERS AND HEAT SET TO PLAY BEFORE FANS

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer MIAMI (AP) — On their respective ways to the NBA Finals last season, there was one important element missing for both the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat.

No fans were there.

That changes for last year’s finalists on Thursday night, when the Lakers play host to Phoenix and the Heat return home to face Milwaukee in a pair of Round 1, Game 3 matchups. Those are two of the three games on Thursday’s slate, the other being Denver heading to Portland for a Game 3 contest.

Portland and the Lakers are going home having taken away home-court advantage from higher-seeded opponents in their respective series by getting splits of the first two games, at thirdseeded Denver and second-seeded Phoenix. Miami is limping home, the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference down 2-0 against the third-seeded Bucks and after getting simply blown out in Game 2.

Heat fans can get a shot in the arm — literally. The Moderna vaccine will be available if any of the expected 17,000 fans want to begin the process of getting inoculated against the coronavirus. But Heat forward Jimmy Butler stopped short of saying having a raucous home crowd, which if capacity is hit

LOS Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, rear, hugs forward Anthony Davis (3) after Game 2 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday in Phoenix. The Lakers won 109-102. (AP Photo/ Ross D. Franklin)

would be the biggest in the NBA during this virus-marred season, would automatically help Miami’s chances.

“I don’t think so,” Butler said.

“We love playing in front of our home crowd, on our home floor, but we’ve still got to go out there and play basketball the right way — compete and do what we say we’re going to do before the game,

what we say we’re going to do after the game.”

The Lakers, who won last season’s NBA championship in the restart bubble at Walt Disney World, haven’t won a playoff game in their home arena since May 18, 2012.

Here’s how long ago that was: Lakers forward LeBron James was a month away from his first

NBA title in Miami, Suns guard Chris Paul was in his first year of a six-year run with the Clippers (and he’s been with three teams since), and Phoenix centre Deandre Ayton was only about a year removed from picking up a basketball for the first time.

“Us just coming home, 1-1, evening up this series and actually playing a real playoff game ... for the first time in, what, eight years?

It’ll be pretty special for our fans,” James said.

“To just have our fans in the building, we want to continue to make them proud. That’s what I came here for, to play a playoff game in front of the Laker faithful.”

Portland won Game 1 of its matchup in Denver before the Nuggets recovered to take Game 2. Over the last three months, no team has been better than Denver on the road.

The Nuggets are 14-6 in their last 20 road games, including a regularseason finale loss at Portland in which they didn’t exactly give big minutes to their regular rotation.

Nikola Jokic made 15 of his 20 shots for Denver in Game 2, and the Nuggets had six players in double figures.

“We’ll have to be even better on the road to try and get Game 3,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.