Watson settles with NFL Talk about scene stealers!

Naughty or
in personal conduct case 10 movie moments we love nice? Impact
Browns QB now banned 11 games, fined $5M We rank favorites from this summer’s films – but
of inflation
amid sexual misconduct allegations. In Sports watch out, some are spoilers. In Life on holidays

USA TODAY
THE NATION'S NEWS | MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | 1A
ADAM MONACELLI/
USA TODAY NETWORK
Retailers probably will
have lots of lower-cost
items and fuller shelves,
analysts say, but goods
like game consoles could
be hard to get. In Money

SEARCH OF MAR-A-LAGO

Parts of
affidavit
may be
released
Judge gives DOJ a week
to prepare redacted copy
Bart Jansen, Ella Lee
and Kevin Johnson
USA TODAY

A federal magistrate has set up the

possible release of a heavily edited ver-
sion of the Justice Department affidavit
authorizing the search of former Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s Florida estate, or-

Gun ad crackdown
dering government lawyers to provide a
redacted copy of the document for his
consideration by next week.
U.S. Magistrate Bruce Reinhart said
Thursday that he would decide on the

needed, critics say

release after reviewing the redacted
copy of the detailed document that the
government used as the basis for the
unprecedented search.

Democrats and safety advocates call

marketing deceptive as sales soar
Nick Penzenstadler and Amritpal Kaur Sandhu-Longoria USA TODAY

The Justice Department has opposed
unveiling the Mar-a-Lago affidavit.
ANDRES LEIVA/USA TODAY NETWORK
“This is going to be a considerate,
careful process,” Reinhart told attorneys
at the close of a hearing after a consor-
tium of media companies pushed for
the document’s public release.
The Justice Department has op-
posed the affidavit’s release, arguing
that it would provide a “roadmap” to its
investigation and place the inquiry
and witnesses in possible jeopardy.
See AFFIDAVIT, Page 4A
Five ads dominate debate
Take a closer look at a handful
of ad campaigns that alarmed
critics and changed laws. 2A
Taurus pistols promise to “win the fight” with home intruders; Benelli tacti-
cal shotguns are ready to defend “Iraq, Afghanistan, your living room”; and you
might consider buying Wilson Combat’s $2,500 “Urban Super Sniper” model
rifle that is so precise its .223 caliber rounds can hit within an inch at 100 yards.
A USA TODAY review of thousands of gun company magazine advertise-
ments spanning decades shows a gradual marketing shift from guns as tools for
hunting to guns as necessities to protect your home and your family. The in-
flection point – the moment self-defense came to dominate – has been pegged
by researchers to about 2011, two years after President Barack Obama took of-
fice with a platform that included gun control.
That shift is driving efforts to slow a different trend: Annual gun sales
peaked during the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 21.5 million sold in
2020. Another 19 million were sold in 2021, the second-highest ever recorded.
Democrats and advocates seeking to address gun violence argue that own-
ing a gun does not make your home safer, a case for false advertising, and that
marketing offensive “tactical operations” with military-grade weapons consti-
tutes unlawful use of the product.
Just as Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man became flashpoints for a crack-
See GUN ADS, Page 2A

PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS: ANDREA BRUNTY/USA TODAY NETWORK; PHOTOS PROVIDED BY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL EDITION
This is a special edition of USA TODAY designed and
edited for readers around the world. Additional content
and late-breaking news and sports scores can always be
found at usatoday.com

PREGNANT BUT UNEQUAL

¡¿H¢\ApB-740313¿+(N)e

Care inequalities rooted in the system

Rural communities suffer from a history of neglect Nada Hassanein
USA TODAY

Several years ago, a group of five Black

grandmothers in rural Alabama went to
©COPYRIGHT 2022 USA TODAY the office of their congresswoman, U.S.
a division of Gannett Co., Inc.
Rep. Terri Sewell.
They had a simple question: Why did
their daughters have to travel so far to
USA TODAY SNAPSHOTS © have their babies?
Maternity wards at the hospitals
Most where they lived were shutting down,
and moms weren’t getting prenatal care.
want to For Sewell, it was a wake-up call. She
impose calls those grandmothers a “driving
SCOTUS force” behind her efforts to save Ala-
term limits bama’s rural hospitals. Less than a third
of the state’s 67 counties have a labor and
U.S. adults on
ending life terms delivery unit, she said.
for Supreme Court “So often, these labor and delivery
justices and setting units are the first to go to cut costs, to
a number of years keep the ER open, as if those services are
they serve: somehow optional. And they’re
The only hospital in Hancock County, Ga., sits abandoned as rural communities absolutely not,” said Sewell, who helped
Neither favor 67%
nor oppose of color increasingly find themselves with few options for maternal health care. reopen a labor and delivery unit in her
Favor
19% RITA HARPER FOR USA TODAY district with pandemic aid assistance.
14% Oppose Seeking greater understanding of the
problem, Sewell’s office had contacted
Mapping the care gap ABOUT THIS SERIES PART 3 OF 3
the National Rural Health Association
For women of color across the nation, This USA TODAY project examines and was connected with maternal health
SOURCE AP-NORC Poll, July 14-17 the disparities, and the risks, are stark. the lack of maternal health care in
AMY BARNETTE, TIFFANY CLEMENS/USA TODAY Full-page graphic, 3A America’s rural communities of color. See SYSTEM, Page 4A
2A ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ USA TODAY
Gun ads
Continued from Page 1A
down on cigarette ads in the 1990s, sev-
eral images are dominating the national
debate. Among them is a series of ads
from Remington about a “combat”
AR-style rifle for “the infinite number of
extreme scenarios you’ll face in the
worlds of law enforcement or personal
defense.”
Seeing an opening, gun control advo-
cates have filed a series of complaints
and petitions with the Federal Trade
Commission, the independent agency
charged with protecting consumers from
unfair or deceptive marketing.
In Congress, Democrats are seeking
action against gun marketing, too, with a
bill aimed at a crackdown and the top
oversight committee has been hounding
firearm manufacturers for details of their
advertising and sales.
The messages use fear to suggest ev-
eryone needs a firearm to defend them-
selves and their property, according to
David Pucino, deputy chief counsel at
Giffords, the gun control group founded
by former Rep. Gabby Giffords. Pucino
maintains that is a lie.
“All public health research shows
you’re less safe, your own family is more
likely to be the victim,” Pucino said. He
pointed to the $73 million settlement in
February over gun advertisements in the
wake of the Sandy Hook shooting as evi-
dence that the dam is breaking in the gun
ad space.
In their petition to the FTC, the coali-
tion of Giffords, gun safety group Brady
and March for Our Lives pointed to stud-
ies showing cohabitants of handgun
owners were seven times more likely
than adults in gun-free homes to be
killed by a spouse and 3.4 times more
likely to be the victim of unintentional
shootings – a figure that rises even high-
er for children.
They point to the FTC’s recent orders
against the CBD industry, vaping prod-
ucts and various purported COVID-19
remedies as evidence the commission
can intervene when manufacturers don’t
accurately convey public health risks of
their products. Three of the commis-
sion’s five current members are Demo-
crats.
“These messages are toxic, and the
FTC has clear authority; it’s false and de-
ceptive,” Pucino said.
Gun industry lobby groups including
the National Rifle Association have for
years pointed to anecdotes of good guys
with guns, sometimes citing harrowing
and heroic examples in their marketing
and advocacy.
“The allegation that the advertising is
deceitful because they think the re-
search shows you’re more likely to be
harmed by a firearm … well, millions of
Americans don’t agree with that,” said
Larry Keane, vice president of the Na-
tional Shooting Sports Foundation,
which represents manufacturers and re-
tailers of firearms. “These groups don’t
like the advertising; they don’t like the
product and they project their own bias-
es into the ads they see.”
The foundation filed its own letter
with the FTC in July responding to the
petitions, which said the commission
must “zealously guard” its independence
from being “drawn into ideological cru-
sades by deep-pocketed special inter-
ests.”
Images and products shift from
hunting field to home battlefield
Whether the firearm industry has led
or followed a shift in consumer demand
is a matter of debate.
Keane says it’s the latter.
“Over time we’ve seen fewer licensed
hunters and a changing demographic of
gun owners,” he said. “Consumer de-
mand and taste has evolved, and mar-
keting has evolved along with it.”
David Yamane, a Wake Forest profes-
sor who has studied the gun marketing
shift over the past several decades, said
the trends are a “two-headed arrow,”
where marketing and taste is iterative
and both mirrors and molds consumer
behavior.
A USA TODAY text string analysis of
the most recent 155 editions of the NRA’s
American Rifleman magazine dating
back to 2009 shows a distinct focus on
home defense, tactical weapons used in
military settings and the protection of
your loved ones in a gunfight.
The word “defense” appeared in ads
and stories an average of 21 times in the
magazines, about as often as “tactical.”
By comparison, “hunt” and “shooting
sports” averaged 11 and nine mentions
per edition respectively.
Handgun ads in the July 2022 issue
market to consumers who carry con-
cealed weapons in everyday situations.
Walther advertises its F-series, designed
for smaller-handed women, with the slo-
gan: “It’s your duty to be ready.” Sneaky
Pete lists what it calls its “deception” belt
5 ads that alarmed critics Nick Penzenstadler USA TODAY
Democrats and gun safety groups have seized on a series of gun advertisements
over the past several years that they say represent unfair and deceptive market-
ing. That means the Federal Trade Commission should play a role in setting
guardrails for the industry, they argue. Here are five flashpoint ads:
Super Sniper Bushmaster
Wilson Combat’s Urban Super Sniper An ad campaign from Remington’s
model rifle is so precise its .223 Bushmaster brand was tethered to
caliber rounds can hit within an inch the Sandy Hook shooting and led to
at 100 yards. This is the ad that stuck a $73 million settlement with
with Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., Remington’s insurers. The outcome
and led him to introduce a bill that was widely seen as opening the door
would direct the FTC to clamp down to other legal challenges over gun
on gun ads. He says there’s no legal marketing.
scenario for an urban sniper rifle.
Smith & Wesson Daniel Defense Wee1 Tactical
Smith & Wesson’s ads The maker of the An Illinois gunmaker
have been criticized AR-style rifle used in rolled out a .22 rifle in
for appearing like the Uvalde, Texas, a scaled-down AR-15
popular first-person shooting is known in aimed at children. The
shooter games like the industry for Wee1 Tactical JR-15
Call of Duty. The pushing the limit on has drawn criticism
company has been ads. The CEO pulled from California Gov.
called before an ad featuring a child Gavin Newsom and
Congress and has after the shooting, fueled a new law
been the subject of a although he said “it prohibiting its
subpoena for its had a good message.” marketing.
marketing practices. Congress says its ads
The company’s CEO depicting military
this week called it an tactical operators and
“unprecedented and a child show the need
unjustified attack.” for more rules.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: VERONICA BRAVO/USA TODAY NETWORK; PHOTOS PROVIDED BY U.S. HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES, FTC COMPLAINT
pistol holsters for $39.95, complete with But the momentum could be shifting.
labels such as “Insulin pump” and “First Legislators grilled two gun company
Aid Kit.” executives last month about advertising
Democrats and gun control activists tactical weapons used in war zones and
say firearm marketing has crossed a line, ads featuring children. After Smith &
with many ads intended to attract young Wesson failed to testify or provide docu-
men who want to use the battle-tested ments, Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn
gear they see in war and video games. Maloney issued a subpoena seeking
They’ve keyed on messages about the sales and marketing information.
military, including “Use what they use.” Democrats pressed Marty Daniel,
The print magazine spots represent a CEO of Daniel Defense, at the hearing in
small slice of gun advertising but often July about an ad featuring a child that
reflect the industry’s biggest players, the company deleted after the Uvalde
which have taken cues from smaller shooting.
manufacturers looking to make a splash “We took this ad down, although it
with edgy marketing. American Rifle- had a good message,” he said. “We took it
man’s editorial content mirrors the ads in down because children had just been
vocabulary and imagery – shifting in the killed and we didn’t think it was appro-
1990s and 2000s to more frequently por- priate.”
tray guns as personal protection. This week, Smith & Wesson CEO
The Wake Forest researchers in 2020 Mark Smith issued a response to what he
demonstrated how gun advertisements called an “unprecedented and unjusti-
have embraced a “gun culture 2.0” by fied attack” on his company and the in-
moving from hunting and recreational dustry. However, in a fact sheet, the
shooting to defense and personal company listed measures it said would
protection. They dated the slide to the guarantee responsible advertising.
1980s, with the two trends crossing “Content should be directed to adults;
around 2011 and continuing until the vast Content should promote firearm use
majority of gun ads were directed at con- only in a responsible manner; content
sumers purchasing for defense. should not contain cartoon-like or game-
like imagery; Content should not depict,
Gun control groups have tried promote, or encourage unsafe or irre-
petitioning the FTC before sponsible firearm use,” it read.
In late July, Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-
When Beretta began advertising in N.J., introduced the Responsible Fire-
Ladies Home Journal in the early 1990s, arms Marketing Act to crack down on “ir-
gun violence researchers started to take responsible advertising,” pointing to the
notice of the shift. same cluster of flashpoint ads: Daniel
The spots featured an unsecured, Defense’s social media post featuring a
loaded pistol on a bedside table and in- child holding a rifle, Remington’s ads re-
structed consumers to “tip the odds in issuing your “man card” and a “JR-15” ri-
your favor” and to think of a gun as fle designed to be “sized correctly and …
“homeowner’s insurance.” They led the operate just like Mom and Dad’s gun.”
Center to Prevent Handgun Violence – California Gov. Gavin Newsom called
the precursor to Brady – to file its first the “Wee1 Tactical” JR-15 .22-caliber ri-
petition with the FTC in February 1996. fle’s ads “sick” in July when he signed
Joined by children’s health groups legislation to restrict marketing to chil-
and pediatricians, the gun control group dren in the state. The legislation has
argued that ads suggesting you’re safer been challenged in court, and a judge is
with a gun were unfair and misleading. set to hear arguments on an injunction to
In April, a new petition re-upped that block the law next week.
call for action. This time, the effort in- Malinowski’s bill directs the FTC to
cludes petitions and complaints about investigate gun ads and specifically con-
Daniel Defense – the manufacturer of sider any that market to children, en-
the AR-style rifle used in the Uvalde courage illegal use of the product or pro-
shooting – and against Smith & Wesson mote “semi-automatic assault weapons”
by Fred Guttenberg, father of a child – with fines of up to $46,517 for knowing-
killed in the Parkland shooting. ly violating the rules.
Since its inception in 1914, the FTC has “The gun industry at some point rec-
never taken action against gun manufac- ognized there was money to be made by
turers. The FTC declined to answer ques- appealing to and encouraging the anti-
tions for this report. government and increasingly extremist
NEWS
fringe that believes it has to arm itself to
the teeth to prepare for some sort of po-
litical war in America. It’s irresponsible
and dangerous,” Malinowski told USA
TODAY.
“There’s not a perfect solution – and
we’re a country with freedom of speech
and I’m a big believer in that, but I do
think that a combination of appropriate
regulation and public shaming can go a
long way to address this problem.”
NRA magazine marks slow shift
to home defense
American Rifleman’s editorial journey
from hunting to self-defense can be
traced through magazine archives dating
back to the 1920s, housed at the Violence
Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
Early on, covers featured a wide range
of gun-related activities – hunting, gun-
making, competitions, many just close-
ups of a firearm.
Inside, advertisements often promot-
ed gun-related equipment, ranging from
steer hide shell cases to power scopes
and anti-glare shooting glasses by Ray-
Ban. Also scattered through the years
were ads for war memorabilia – includ-
ing Nazi-era – and a push for kids to
learn to shoot dating back to the 1930s.
When ads touched on defense, the
early focus was military defense against
America’s foreign enemies, not self-de-
fense against criminals and intruders.
In one April 1923 issue, DuPont adver-
tised gunpowder by reminding people
of the battle of the Alamo and how their
company – established in 1802 –
“helped to blaze the trail of freedom for
121 years.”
By the late 1960s, however, change
was afoot. A September 1967 issue fea-
tured an article by John E. Osborn, a for-
mer U.S. Secret Service agent and life-
time NRA member, titled “Guns, Crime
and Self-Defense.” In it, Osborn argued
that “murders, kidnappings, rapes, hold-
ups, and other crimes of violence would
be drastically reduced if the law-abiding
citizenry were permitted to keep and
bear arms for defense.”
The assassinations of John F. Kenne-
dy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F.
Kennedy galvanized American attitudes
toward gun ownership and prompted the
Gun Control Act of 1968. It put limits on
interstate commerce and bolstered gun
shop regulation. That laid the ground-
work for the 1993 Brady Handgun Vio-
lence Prevention Act, which set up the
existing boundaries for who is to be pro-
hibited from purchasing or possessing
firearms.
Josh Sugarmann, executive director
of the Violence Policy Center, said up un-
til the ’60s, America’s gun population
was primarily focused on hunting and
shooting. And while self-defense was an
element, it was a limited one. But the
race riots of the late 1960s changed that,
and the fear of growing crime caused an
uptick in handgun ownership.
If the covers of American Rifleman are
any indication of a shifting gun culture, it
shows a clear foothold for guns for self-
defense in the 1980s, with articles about
the changing gun laws and what it meant
for armed citizens. The magazine’s Janu-
ary 1984 issue featured a story titled,
“Women Gunowners: Tired of Living in
Fear,” and the November issue had an-
other on “The Right To Bear Arms for
Self-Defense.”
By the mid-1990s, promoting guns for
self-defense had become more overt.
The front cover in December 1995 fea-
tures the SIG P239, a semi-automatic
pistol then-considered a popular choice
for law enforcement – and concealed
carry. Inside the issue, a photo accompa-
nying a story shows a woman in her car,
looking over her right shoulder – her left
hand on the steering wheel, right ready
with a pistol.
An advertisement for the “smaller
semi-automatic SIG Sauer P230 pistol,”
describes its “ergonomically ideal grip
angle” and says it “is the ideal personal
protection handgun: safe, compact and
concealable.” Another shows a purse to
“conceal with style,” and multiple ads
market gun vaults.
The firearms industry sees the cur-
rent campaign to influence the FTC as an
end-run at gun control – and sees gun
marketing as protected broadly by the
First and Second Amendments.
Keane, the gun lobbyist, said activists
are trying to “weaponize” the decision of
the Connecticut Supreme Court that al-
lowed the suit against Remington in the
wake of Sandy Hook to proceed based on
the company’s marketing tactics. He
cast doubt on any notion the FTC would
jump into the heated debate.
The free market should be left to de-
cide if advertisements cross a line or are
in poor taste, he said. The National
Shooting Sports Foundation doesn’t
screen advertisements in sponsored
marketing material or at the industry’s
annual SHOT Show convention in Las
Vegas.
“We don’t police or review them; it’d
be an impossible task,” Keane said.
NEWS USA TODAY ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ 3A

PREGNANT BUT UNEQUAL

Maternal mortality rates are higher for rural

women of color. Data shows the disparity.
Many pregnant people live miles from a hospital with obstetric care.
For women of color, like Markita McBride from South Dakota, this can present a deadly risk.
JANIE HASEMAN, JENNIFER BORRESEN, NADA HASSANEIN AND DOUG CARUSO/USA TODAY

Rural regions make up

most of America’s land
area. About 12 million
women ages 15-54 live
in rural areas.

S.D.

Markita McBride, Many, including McBride,

of Lake Andes, lack nearby access to
South Dakota, is obstetric (maternity)
one of them. medical care. This map
shows how close or
far away different places
in the U.S. are to the
nearest hospital with a
labor and delivery unit.

Driving miles calculated per ZIP

Code Tabulation Area using
population-based centroids.
Source: Research from Peiyin
Hung, South Carolina Rural and
Minority Health Research Center

Driving miles to nearest hospital

0 40+
with a labor and delivery unit

The median distance to a hospital with a labor and ...but in rural areas, it’s more than twice that.
delivery ward in urban areas is about 9 miles...

S.D. S.D.

McBride, who went into labor on the Yankton Sioux Reservation, nearly She survived – but not everyone does. Women in rural areas have
died while giving birth. The closest hospital with a labor and delivery higher maternal death rates than women in urban areas.
ward was more than 40 miles away, and she had to be airlifted more
than 100 miles away for specialty obstetric care. Pregnancy-related mortality, 2011-2016
Deaths per 100,000 live births
Hospitals with obstetrics
Very rural counties 23.8

90 Semi-rural counties 19.8

Sioux Falls
South Dakota
Small metro counties 16.2
44
43 miles
18
Lake Andes 37
Medium metro counties 16.2
126 miles
Large metro counties 14.6
Nebraska
NOTE Semi-rural (micropolitan) areas include counties with populations of 2,500 to 49,999. Very
25 miles rural counties include nonmetropolitan counties that do not qualify as micropolitan.
SOURCE Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System data

Mapping distances indicate driving miles.

The consequences are compounded for people of color, who often have On top of the obstacles, rural women in some minority groups are more
worse maternal outcomes regardless of location. Native people like McBride likely to live far from a hospital with an obstetric unit.
are far more likely than white people to die from pregnancy complications. About 1 in 9 rural Native women and 1 in 16 rural Latina women are 40 miles
or farther from the nearest maternity ward.
That’s the case for 1 in 28 rural white women.
Pregnancy-related mortality ratios in rural areas by race and
ethnicity, 2011-2016
Share of rural women ages 15-54 in ZIP code areas 40 miles or more
from the nearest hospital with maternity care
Deaths per 100,000 live births
Deaths per 100,000 live births
Native American 1/9

Hispanic or Latino 1/16

Black 1/26
59.3 52.8 37.5 32.3 N/A 22.9 19.7 16.1 9.8 14.1
White 1/28
Black American/ Asian or White Hispanic
Indian/ Pacific or Latino
Alaska Native Islander Asian 1/34
NOTE Semi-rural (micropolitan) areas include counties with populations of 2,500 to 49,999. Very rural
counties include nonmetropolitan counties that do not qualify as micropolitan. SOURCE Research from Peiyin Hung, South Carolina Rural and Minority Health Research Center;
SOURCE Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System data USA TODAY analysis
4A ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ USA TODAY NEWS

AMERICA’S MARKETS ALL THE MARKET ACTION IN REAL TIME

MARKETS.USATODAY.COM

DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE
+18.72
S&P 500 • STANDARD & POOR’S NASDAQ COMPOSITE RUSSELL 2000
Closing: 33,999.04 Closing: 4,283.74 Closing: 12,965.34 Closing: 2,000.73
Change: +.1%
YTD % Chg: -6.4% +9.70 Change: +.2%
YTD % Chg: -10.1% +27.22 Change: +.2%
YTD % Chg: -17.1% +13.41 Change: +.7%
YTD % Chg: -10.9%

MARKET PERFORMANCE BY SECTOR MARKET NOTEBOOK TOP 10 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS COMMODITIES
Sector Close Chg. 4wk 1 YTD 1 Issues NYSE NASDAQ ETF, ranked by volume Ticker Close Chg. % Chg %YTD Commodities Close Prev. Chg. % Chg. % YTD
Energy 79.48 +2.08 +10.8% +43.2% Advancing 1,461 1,894 ProShs UltraPro QQQ TQQQ 37.55 +0.25 +0.7% -54.8% Cattle (lb.) 1.41 1.42 -0.01 -0.3% +1.7%
Declining 952 1,555 ProShs UltPro ShtQQQ SQQQ 34.64 -0.24 -0.7% +16.6% Corn (bushel) 6.20 6.15 +0.05 +0.8% +4.5%
Utilities 77.74 +0.29 +13.5% +8.6%
Unchanged 94 257 Direx SOX Bull 3X SOXL 20.89 +1.34 +6.9% -69.3% Gold (troy oz.) 1,755.30 1,760.30 -5.00 -0.3% -4.0%
Consumer staples 77.16 +0.26 +6.1% +0.1%
Total 2,507 3,706 SPDR S&P500 ETF Tr SPY 427.89 +1.24 +0.3% -9.9% Hogs, lean (lb.) .93 .98 -0.05 -4.8% +14.5%
Industrials 100.13 +0.40 +10.3% -5.4% Natural Gas (Btu.) 9.19 9.24 -0.05 -0.6% +146.3%
Issues at Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ 329.28 +0.79 +0.2% -17.2%
Health care 132.56 -0.59 +1.7% -5.9% Direx Biotech Bull LABU 10.57 -0.28 -2.6% -70.6% Oil, heating (gal.) 3.65 3.62 +0.03 +0.9% +56.8%
New 52 Week High 47 63
Financials 35.67 +0.04 +8.3% -8.7% ProShs Short S&P SH 14.53 -0.03 -0.2% +6.7% Oil, lt. swt. crude (bar.) 90.50 88.11 +2.39 +2.7% +20.3%
New 52 Week Low 21 53
Materials 80.65 +0.25 +6.7% -11.0% iShs Emerg Mkts EEM 40.45 -0.23 -0.6% -17.2% Silver (troy oz.) 19.45 19.71 -0.26 -1.3% -16.6%
Share Volume
Technology 150.85 +0.78 +8.4% -13.2% Total 3,121,883,169 4,027,394,079 ProShs Ultra Sht NG KOLD 10.71 +0.07 +0.7% ...% Soybeans (bushel) 14.96 14.75 +0.21 +1.4% +12.6%
iShs China Large Cap FXI 29.35 -0.32 -1.1% -19.8% Wheat (bushel) 7.32 7.63 -0.31 -4.2% -5.1%
Consumer discret. 171.06 -0.05 +9.9% -16.3% Advancing 1,666,148,623 2,147,580,131
Telecom 63.41 -0.25 +0.1% -22.9% Declining 1,385,012,600 1,831,126,950
Unchanged 70,721,946 48,686,998 FOREIGN CURRENCIES FOREIGN MARKETS
Currency per dollar Close Prev. 6 mo. ago Yr. ago Country Close Prev. Change %Chg. %YTD
S&P 500’S BIGGEST GAINERS S&P 500’S BIGGEST LOSERS British pound .8379 .8289 .7352 .7267 Frankfurt 13,697.41 13,626.71 +70.70 +0.5% -13.8%
Company (ticker) Price $ Chg . % Chg. YTD Company (ticker) Price $ Chg . % Chg. YTD Canadian dollar 1.2939 1.2900 1.2743 1.2632 Hong Kong 19,763.91 19,922.45 -158.54 -0.8% -15.5%
On Semiconductor (ON) 73.25 +4.96 +7.3 +7.8 Walgreen Boots Alli (WBA) 38.24 -2.15 -5.3 -26.7 Japan (Nikkei) 28,942.14 29,222.77 -280.63 -1.0% +0.5%
Chinese yuan 6.7861 6.7810 6.3256 6.4847
Keysight Technology (KEYS) 179.36 +10.07 +5.9 -13.1 Moderna Inc (MRNA) 150.00 -8.00 -5.1 -40.9 London 7,541.85 7,515.75 +26.10 +0.4% +2.1%
Alexandria Real Est (ARE) 165.86 -4.87 -2.9 -25.6 Euro .9910 .9820 .8826 .8539
Devon Energy (DVN) 67.92 +3.78 +5.9 +54.2 Mexico City 48,729.80 48,734.04 -4.24 -0.0% -8.5%
Cisco Syst (CSCO) 49.37 +2.71 +5.8 -22.1 Ventas Inc (VTR) 49.02 -1.49 -2.9 -4.1 Japanese yen 135.91 135.05 115.09 109.89
Halliburton (HAL) 29.83 +1.63 +5.8 +30.4 United Rentals (URI) 323.23 -8.15 -2.5 -2.7 Mexican peso 20.1317 19.9930 20.2943 19.9942 SOURCE Morningstar, Dow Jones Indexes, The Associated Press

System and its impact on people of color. The

Continued from Page 1A
researcher Katy Kozhimannil.
The grandmothers’ question set
Kozhimannil on a yearslong pursuit for
answers: Where are the rural hospital
closures? Whom are they affecting?
What are the consequences?
“The grannies were noticing that in ru-
ral counties with a higher proportion of
Black reproductive-age residents com-
pared to white reproductive-age resi-
dents, it was more likely that the hospitals
would close,” Kozhimannil said.
“Those grannies were exactly right.”
Through her research, she found a
steady decline in access to obstetric care
in rural counties across the U.S.
“The financing is underpinned by a
system that disproportionately invests in
some communities over others,” said
Kozhimannil, whose work is being used
by the federal government to understand
the magnitude of the problem.
Kozhimannil and researcher Peiyin
Hung at the University of South Carolina
found rural counties in states with less
generous Medicaid programs also were
more likely to lose hospital-based obstet-
ric care. “The communities with the high-
est rates of maternal and infant morbid-
ity and mortality are the least serviced,”
Kozhimannil said.
Scholars say it’s crucial to understand
such disparities and disinvestment in the
context of history and its ramifications
on access to quality reproductive health
care.
“Groups like Black, Indigenous,
Hispanic folks have had their reproduc-
tive rights and health systematically un-
der-respected,” Kozhimannil said, “and
they’ve been harmed.”
Sad history of exploitation
The field of gynecology is founded
upon experiments on enslaved Black
women. Dr. James Marion Sims, consid-
ered the “father of modern gynecology,”
conducted his research on slaves he had
rented for the purpose.
Black women also were sterilized un-
der federally funded health care and wel-
fare programs, said University of Penn-
sylvania sociology and law professor, Do-
rothy Roberts, an expert on race, gender
and law.
“All of these policies that led to steril-
ization abuse, as well as maternity care
deserts, stem from a devaluation of Black
women’s childbearing,” Roberts said. “It’s
not just happenstance or an accident or
natural.”
She called today’s maternal health
disparities and lack of access to care a
“reverberation” of the history of slavery,
when “Black women’s reproductive labor
was exploited to produce the children
who would be enslaved by white enslav-
ers.”
Women of color were routinely denied
autonomy over their lives, said Natalie
Lira, a professor at University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign’s Department of
Latina/Latino Studies.
“If we think historically, it’s very clear
that there are patterns with different
types of reproductive oppression that
women of color experience,” Lira said.
Under the 20th-century eugenics pol-
icies, University of Michigan obstetrics
and gynecology professor Alexandra
Minna Stern found, about 60,000 people
underwent compulsory sterilizations na-
tionwide. Tens of thousands were wom-
en of color and poor women in hospitals
and clinics.
In the mid- to late-1970s, clinicians at
Indian Health Service facilities sterilized
more than 3,000 American Indian wom-
en without their permission. In Califor-
nia, 20,000 people, a disproportionate
number of them Hispanic women and
men, were sterilized in hospitals, state-
run asylums and group homes.
Stern sees an intersection in the loss
of maternity ward centers, abortion care
and the history of reproductive rights
reversal of Roe v. Wade, she said, is just
the latest decision to hurt rural and poor
women and women of color.
“All of this speaks to deep structural
inequities in health care and health care
access,” Stern said.
Not just a rural issue
Though the lack of maternal care is
predominantly a rural problem, some
urban areas also face obstacles.
There is no longer a hospital with ob-
stetric care in Ndidiamaka Amutah-
Onukagha’s hometown of Trenton, New
Jersey, a state capital where 50% of res-
idents are Black. The Trenton hospitals
where the maternal health equity re-
searcher and her brothers were born
have shut down.
“When you have this deliberate, in-
tentional underinvestment, you ... cre-
ate these inequities,” said Amutah-
Onukagha, who runs the Maternal Out-
comes for Translational Health Equity
Research Lab at Tufts University.
Simply focusing on clinical dispari-
ties is “not holding the root of the issue
accountable,” she said.
The root of problem is structural rac-
ism in heath care.
“That’s why the health care system is
broken,” she said. “If the health care
system functioned optimally for every
woman that walked through the door,
we will not have inequities.”
Women in New Jersey who gave
birth after the closest obstetric unit
closed had higher odds of severe mater-
nal illness, according to a study led by
Harvard University professor of health
policy and politics Alecia McGregor.
The study, co-authored by Hung,
Amutah-Onukagha and others, also
found women who delivered in Black-
serving hospitals had a higher chance
of illness, possibly signaling a need for
better resources.
Research shows doulas, people who
provide emotional support and advo-
cate for pregnant people before, during
and after labor, can result in better
health outcomes.
Doneisha Campbell, a doula and
founder of Trenton-based TruDoulas,
recalled a client who was in labor and
received an epidural but still com-
plained of pain. It wasn’t until later cli-
nicians checked and found the catheter
where the pain blocker was adminis-
tered had fallen out. At that point in her
delivery, it was too late to redo.
Doulas also can help with other
problems inner-city mothers face.
Many don’t have transportation, so My-
riam Mcduffie, who works with Camp-
bell, will drive moms or find a ride-hail-
ing service for clients in labor or other
maternal health emergencies.
“Imagine being in labor, trying to get
to one hospital to catch a shuttle to the
next – just absolutely asinine. And then
at 8 o’clock at night, they shut down,”
Mcduffie said. “So what happens if you
are in labor after 8 p.m.? You have no
way to get there, other than the bus …
that comes once an hour.”
Amutah-Onukagha wants people of
color to see more than conflict, risk and
pain reflected in their childbirth experi-
ences. Elevating stories of successful
pregnancies, she hopes, will inspire
resilience, strength and joy, “so that
people who are thinking about be-
coming parents or starting their con-
ception journey, who are already preg-
nant or already parents, can see the
beauty in this process.”
This project was produced for the
USC Annenberg Center for Health Jour-
nalism’s 2022 Impact Fund for Report-
ing on Health Equity and Health Sys-
tems. USA TODAY’s Nada Hassanein,
environmental and health inequities
national correspondent, spent months
reporting on the issue, interviewing
more than 50 experts, mothers, clini-
cians, advocates and community lead-
ers.
Senior data reporter Doug Caruso
contributed to this report.
Latest developments in Jan. 6 investigation
Federal prosecutors investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack issued a grand
jury subpoena to the National Archives in May for all the documents the agency
gave to the separate House committee inquiry, The New York Times reported.
The subpoena, which was obtained by The Times and has not been reviewed by
USA TODAY, reportedly demanded “all materials, in whatever form” the archives
gave the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol riot, including records from
Trump’s top aides, his daily schedule and phone logs, and a draft text of the
former president’s speech preceding the riot.
Thomas P. Windom, the federal prosecutor leading the Justice Department’s
inquiry, signed the subpoena, The Times reported. It’s unrelated to the Justice
Department’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents taken
from the White House that led to a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to
the newspaper.
– Ella Lee
The search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8
has set off a flurry of speculation and legal maneuvers. TERRY RENNA/AP
Affidavit ing the government’s motion to seal the
warrant.
“The United States submits that
Continued from Page 1A there is good cause (to seal the warrant),
because the integrity of the ongoing
Jay Bratt, a top Justice National investigation might be compromised,
Security Division official, told the and evidence might be destroyed,”
magistrate that the document would Justice Department lawyers argued in a
require such extensive redactions that filing Aug. 5.
it would not “edify the public in any
meaningful way.”
The Justice Department could ap-
peal any decision to release the affida-
vit, even in partial form. But the
judge’s decision Thursday also applies
new pressure on the Justice Depart- Customer service
Contact USA TODAY for questions or to report
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former president’s calls for the docu-
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Short of unsealing the affidavit Printed in Hong Kong by Superflag Printing And
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MONEYUSA TODAY | MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | 5A

MONEYLINE

JOBLESS CLAIMS DIP

SLIGHTLY LAST WEEK
Slightly fewer Americans filed for
unemployment benefits last week as
the labor market continued to show
strength. Applications for jobless aid
for the week ending Aug. 13 fell by
2,000 to 250,000, the Labor Depart-
ment reported Thursday. Last week’s
number was revised down by 10,000.
The four-week average for claims fell
by 2,750 to 246,750. The number of
Americans collecting unemployment

SHORTS AND
benefits increased by 7,000 the week
that ended Aug. 6, to 1.43 million.

STOCKINGS?
Summer is just about to come to a close,
JOHN MINCHILLO/AP
but here are some ways to keep your kids
happy and get a jump on Christmas gifts
BANK OF AMERICA CEO
WON’T DECLARE RECESSION Medora Lee What items are affected by
USA TODAY shortages?
Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of Amer-
ica, said the recent debate over Now that back-to-school shopping is “Game consoles – retailers can’t get
whether the economy is technically in about finished, retail analysts say it’s enough of them,” said Adam Davis, man-
a recession is missing the point. “Re- time to begin thinking about holiday aging director at Wells Fargo Commercial
cession is a word. ... It’s what it feels shopping to avoid disappointing kids. Capital. “They’re getting less than what
like for the people going through this,” And the head of Walmart, the na- they can sell. It’s critical to get it sooner
Moynihan said. Moynihan, who has tion’s largest retailer, acknowledges because there’s no guarantee on moving
been BofA’s CEO since 2010, said the that inflation will continue to influence products.”
declaration of recession will come the choices that families make. Nintendo, for example, said Switch
from “a bunch of people in Cambridge, Snarled supply chains left retailers sales slid 60% in the first quarter ended
Massachusetts,” referring to the Na- and consumers contending with empty March 31, from the year-ago period and
tional Bureau of Economic Research. shelves last year. This year, supply Switch Lite sales halved due to the chip
chains have eased, and retailers have shortage. The company said it expected
planned better, but certain items may the situation to improve in late summer
still fall short of demand, some analysts and into autumn, but that may be too late
YELLEN MEMO OUTLINES warned. for U.S. retailers that typically start re-
IRS MODERNIZATION PLAN Many items may be available but ceiving holiday inventory in September.
possibly in limited quantities, which Lego hasn’t said this year there would
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has means consumers should start peeking be a shortage again, but Lego bricks are
directed the IRS to develop a plan at holiday lists early to secure those made of petroleum-based plastic that
within six months outlining how the items, analysts say. Items most likely to forced it to raise prices when oil prices
tax agency will overhaul its technol- be affected are still ones that require a surged, and the war in Ukraine affected
ogy, customer service and hiring proc- semiconductor chip due to the ongoing supply chains.
esses. In a Tuesday memo to IRS Com- global chip shortage and those with Meanwhile, Hershey’s set off worries
missioner Chuck Rettig, Yellen outlines higher price tags as retailers aim lower last month when it said it may have trou-
the importance of modernizing IRS with consumers squeezed by inflation
computer systems and ensuring the trade down. See STOCKINGS, Page 6A
agency has an adequate workforce.
She has called for the IRS to “fully
resolve the inventory backlog and
make significant improvements in
taxpayer services, “to overhaul an
information technology system that is
decades out of date” and invest and
train employees.

Dow Jones Industrial Avg.

38,000

36,000 33,999
34,000

32,000
18.72
30,000
FEB. AUG.
AP MARK MATHERLY/USA TODAY NETWORK; GETTY IMAGES

THURSDAY MARKETS
INDEX CLOSE CHG
Dow Jones Industrial Avg. 33,999.04 x 18.72
S&P 500 4,283.74 x 9.70 HEALTH CARE
Nasdaq composite 12,965.34 x 27.22
T-note, 10-year yield 2.883
SOURCES USA TODAY RESEARCH, ASSOCIATED PRESS
y -0.017

As companies lay off workers,

USA TODAY SNAPSHOTS ©
Gas Prices
Per gallon of regular unleaded.
Yesterday Avg. ........................ $3.731
Wednesday Avg. .................... $3.743
Week Ago Avg. ....................... $3.770
Month Ago Avg. ...................... $4.521
Year Ago Avg. .......................... $3.160
AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
is it time for Medicare for All?
Charisse Jones
USA TODAY
For Briana Moss, a Type 1 diabetic,
making sure she has the health cover-
age she needs to live is a delicate
dance.
She and her partner are putting off
marriage because even with his work-
place-based insurance, the co-pay-
ments for her frequent doctor visits
would be more than they could afford.
And while Moss says she’d like to
work full time, she keeps her hours to a
minimum so she can continue to qual-
ify for Medicaid, the government pro-
gram that helps her pay for the insulin
she must take every day.
“I think health care should not be
dependent on your job or how much
money you make,’’ says Moss, 33, a
Medicare for All activist who lives in
Dubuque, Iowa. “It’s clear a single-
payer health care system, universal
health care, works in every other devel-
oped country in the world. And there’s
no reason it can’t work here except we
don’t have elected officials who are will-
ing to put people over profit.’’
As a growing number of companies
announce layoffs amid corporate con-
cerns about a potential recession, the
conundrum of American workers being
largely dependent on their jobs for
health benefits is once again in the spot-
light.
The Inflation Reduction Act, passed
by the House last Friday and signed into
law Tuesday by President Joe Biden in-
cludes vital provisions that will enable
Medicare to negotiate prescription drug
prices and extend Affordable Care Act
subsidies another three years.
It builds on the ACA, passed in 2010,
which enables people who don’t have
job-based coverage or qualify for gov-
ernment-backed programs like Medi-
care to buy insurance through federal or
state exchanges.
But the ACA remains one imperfect
piece of a health care patchwork that
continues to leave millions of Ameri-
cans without insurance, and millions
more with coverage that can be confus-
ing to navigate, and loaded with premi-
ums, deductibles and co-payments that
many struggle to pay.
A hostility toward government
See MEDICARE, Page 6A
6A ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ USA TODAY
Stockings
Continued from Page 5A
ble meeting Halloween and winter holi-
day candy demand due to difficulty se-
curing ingredients.
How will inflation influence
shopping?
Even though year-end spending gen-
erally makes up about a fifth of annual
retail sales, big-box retailers like Wal-
mart and Target may be skittish about
ordering ample inventory this year, ana-
lysts say.
As inflation sits at a 40-year high,
consumers quickly shifted their spend-
ing from goods and services and cut dis-
cretionary spending just as back-or-
dered inventory arrived, leaving retail-
ers with overflowing inventory.
To clear the inventory, they’ve had to
heavily discount merchandise, hurting
margins and forcing them to lower earn-
ings expectations.
And with inflation still running hot
and consumers and the economy look-
ing uncertain, retailers may “rationalize
what they ordered because they don’t
want to get stuck with inventory after
the holiday,” Steve Pasierb, president
and chief executive at The Toy Associa-
Medicare
Continued from Page 5A
mandates, a lack of price transparency
among health care providers, and a host
of players, from hospitals to pharma-
ceutical companies, that profit from our
complicated system are leaving many
Americans sicker and poorer than they
would be if we as a nation guaranteed
affordable accessible health care for all.
“I think there’s a consensus people
want to pay less for their health care,”
says Fredric Blavin, a principal research
associate in the left-leaning Urban In-
stitute’s Health Policy Center. “They
want to have high-quality health care
and have a freedom of choice in enroll-
ing in what kind of health care plans
that they want... There’s a lot of division
in how to get there.”
Americans without health
insurance hit record low
Our mash-up of health care programs
and payers makes the U.S. relatively
unique among high-income Western
nations, many of which mandate cover-
age for all of their citizens.
Half of the U.S. population had work-
place-based coverage in 2020, the most
recent year available, according to the
Kaiser Family Foundation.
Then there is Medicaid, paid for by
the states and federal government,
which provides health insurance to low-
er-income Americans and those with
disabilities, and Medicare, which covers
the health needs of the elderly and those
with disabilities and is mostly federally
funded.
In the first quarter of this year, just
8% of Americans did not have health in-
surance, a record low, according to an
analysis by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. The de-
cline was due in large part to increased
ACA subsidies, as well as a larger num-
ber of people becoming eligible for that
assistance during the pandemic. The
health crisis also led additional states to
accept federal assistance to expand Me-
dicaid, a key provision of the ACA.
But millions still lack health care cov-
erage.
The ACA “did close a lot of gaps,” says
Gerald Kominski, University of Califor-
nia, Los Angeles Fielding School of Pub-
lic Health professor emeritus of health
policy and management. “But we still
have upward of roughly 25 million
Americans without health insurance
and no other industrial, high-income
nation can say that such a large portion
of the population remains outside” the
system.
Heading to the ER but
checking the price first
Cass Evans, an aesthetician who is
self-employed, says her $50,000 a year
in gross income was deemed too high to
qualify for The Oregon
Health Plan, that state’s
Medicaid option. And she
never looked into buying
insurance under the ACA
because it seemed com-
plicated to navigate and
Evans also expensive.
“I don’t even have an
extra $100 to spend on insurance,” says
Evans, 47, adding that she hasn’t had
health care coverage for about four
years.
Inflation hasn’t hit toys as
hard as other categories,
with the average toy price
rising only to $11.30 from
$10 over the past three
years.
tion trade group, said. “I don’t want to
say they’re conservative. I like to think
they’re sensible, or not aggressive.”
What should consumers expect on
the shelves?
Shelves should be full but dominated
by lower-priced options.
“We’ve got a strong position in open-
ing price points across categories,” said
Doug McMillon, Walmart CEO, on a con-
ference call on Tuesday. “We expect in-
flation to continue to influence the
choices that families make, and we’re
adjusting to that reality.”
Even so, the toy industry expects to
do well.
Toy sales so far in the first half of the
year have risen 2% even as other cate-
gories have slumped, Pasierb said.
Inflation hasn’t hit toys as hard as
Former President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden shake hands
during an event to mark the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act in the East
Room of the White House. CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
So when Evans’ gall bladder burst on
Aug, 5, she first called an advice nurse at
the hospital to ask how much she’d have
to pay if she went to the emergency
room.
“I didn’t want to come in unless I was
dying basically because of the cost,”
says Evans. “She just told me to worry
about it later and come in immediately.’’
Now she’s waiting on the bill. Based
on her Google searches, she says a hos-
pital stay could be as much as $11,000 a
day, and that’s not counting the cost of
her surgery. Then, Evans made another
visit to the ER a week later when she
wasn’t feeling well and got a CAT scan.
“So I’m sure my bill is going to be in-
sane,” she says.
Evans has applied again for The Ore-
gon Health Plan and “worst-case sce-
nario, I’ll work out a payment plan ...
and I guess just pay (the hospital) forev-
er,” she says, adding that she’s worked
hard to not rack up debt and is trying to
buy a home. Evans tries not to worry. “I
have had to let it go because it is so
stressful for me having my own busi-
ness and being a single mom and living
paycheck to paycheck,” she says. “It’s
the American Dream, right? You own
your own business, you buy your own
house. And then something like this
comes up and it’s over.”
‘I went on with my life
and then I get this bill’
In 1985, Congress passed the Con-
solidated Omnibus Budget Reconcilia-
tion Act, or COBRA. The legislation gave
some workers who’d lost their jobs the
option of continuing their employer-
based coverage with one critical caveat
– the employer would no longer pay part
of the premium.
“Every economic downturn leads to
more interest in ... Medicare For All type
programs because suddenly millions of
Americans learn something they really
don’t want to know about, and that’s a
program called Cobra,” says Kominski.
“You can continue to buy your health in-
surance from your former employer but
at 100% of the cost. That’s usually diffi-
cult when you’re laid off.”
When Bea Matthews was laid off
from her job as a paralegal in September
2020, she was told COBRA was an op-
tion. But coming up with an additional
$800 a month when she was now out of
work made little sense.
other categories, with the average toy
price rising only to $11.30 from $10 over
the past three years, he said.
“People still want to get something
for the kids,” Pasierb said. “They might
buy one bigger ticket item and then a lot
of smaller items around it.” Many toys
like Hot Wheels and bouncy balls re-
main around an affordable $1 each, he
noted.
What about waiting for Black
Friday, Cyber Monday sales?
Unanimously, analysts said if it’s a
must-have item, don’t wait.
“We talked to some retailers, and
they said they can’t get enough of XYZ
product,” Davis said. “So, if it’s on your
kid’s Christmas list, don’t wait for a 10-
15% discount.”
Besides, it’s likely you’ll get some sort
of discount even if you shop early.
“Over the last few years, we’ve seen
sales expand across the course of the
entire shopping season,” Claire Tassin,
Morning Consult retail & e-commerce
analyst, said.
Shoppers also can buy now and call
in for price adjustments later if they see
a lower price, she added.
Plus, retailers may offer incentives to
push shoppers to buy early to save on
shipping costs, Spencer Shute, senior
consultant at Proxima, said. FedEx and
“I went for a period of about a year
and a half with absolutely no health in-
surance,” says Matthews, 47, adding
that she didn’t qualify for Medicaid.
Then, she got sick. It was in the midst
of the pandemic, and Matthews eventu-
ally made her way to an emergency
room outside Houston where the med-
ical staff recommended she get a CT
scan. She left the hospital that same day
and over time her symptoms disap-
peared.
“I went on with my life, and then I get
this bill,’’ Matthews says of the state-
ment the hospital sent her in January
2021 saying she owed $7,997 for the
brain scan.
There were thousands of dollars in
other charges including $314 for a preg-
nancy test though she told the staff
she’d had a hysterectomy. Ultimately,
Matthews made a charity application to
the hospital’s billing department and
$13,595.18 of her roughly $15,000 bill
was written off. She is paying $70 a
month to erase the remaining balance.
“It is inhumane,” she said of the na-
tion’s health care system. “It’s about a
lack of empathy but it’s mostly about
greed.”
Even workplace deductibles
may be too high for many people
Presidential administrations from
Franklin D. Roosevelt to Bill Clinton
have tried and failed to create a national
health insurance system in the U.S.
What we have is a private insurance
system that took off during World War II
when employers who couldn’t give
raises due to wage freezes offered work-
ers health benefits instead, says Komin-
ski.
Now, roughly 50% of the U.S. popula-
tion has workplace-based coverage.
But many Americans lack the savings
to cover the typical deductible for
employer-based plans.
According to a paper from the Peter-
son Center on Healthcare and the Kaiser
Family Foundation, “45% of single per-
son non-elderly households” did not
have enough liquid assets to cover the
typical workplace plan deductible of
$2,000 for an individual. Among that
group, 62% couldn’t afford an individual
plan’s “very high” deductible of $6,000.
And for households that include
more than one person, 42% would be
unable to cover the typical family plan
MONEY
the U.S. Postal Service have already an-
nounced holiday price hikes starting in
October.
What strategies should consumers
use?
Here are some tips to help maximize
your time and holiday budget this year:
h Have your kids write their wish lists
early so you can get a peek at their must-
have items and start buying those or
check out the list of hottest toys this
year for ideas. “If your kid has his heart
set on one thing, just buy it,” Pasierb
said. “Don’t count on it to be there three
months from now. Buy the important
stuff now and let everything else go.”
h Sign up for loyalty programs to earn
points for merchandise or discounts or
be the first to know about a sale or a
product coming in stock.
h Set a budget and stick to it.
h Maximize shopping by using credit
cards that offer points to use for other
things or cash back. As inflation
squeezes household budgets, “we’re
seeing credit card use increase as peo-
ple fill in the space with savings or debt,”
Tassin said.
h Join the “re-commerce” trend,
which focuses on sustainability. For ex-
ample, you can often buy “vintage”
handbags or even used golf clubs for
half the price of new, Davis said.
deductible of $4,000, while roughly 6 in
10 could not handle a very high family
plan deductible of $12,000.
The Urban Institute’s Debt in Amer-
ica project found that 13% of Americans
with credit records had medical debt in
collection. The median amount was
$703 according to February credit bu-
reau data, says Blavin of the Urban In-
stitute’s Health Policy Center.
In May, 15 U.S. Senators including
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced
the Medicare for all Act of 2022, which
would create a federally backed national
health coverage plan over four years
that would enable all Americans to ac-
cess care without having to personally
cover co-payments, deductibles and
premiums.
But there are pros and cons to many
of the approaches suggested to revamp
our health care system, Blavin says.
“Having a single-payer approach
would be most beneficial in terms of im-
proving equity and lowering out-of-
pocket burdens at point of care,” he
says. “But I think there are real costs as-
sociated with that ... The implications
on taxes, and it would be a pretty drastic
change.”
Rand estimated in 2019 that a Medi-
care for All system would cost $3.89 tril-
lion, a 1.8% uptick over current health
care spending. But expenditures specif-
ically by the federal government would
skyrocket, rising 221% from $1.09 tril-
lion to $3.50 trillion.
Blavin said a more pragmatic ap-
proach might be to strengthen the ACA
which was weakened when several Re-
publican-led states refused to expand
Medicaid, and in 2017 when the Repub-
lican-led Congress erased the financial
penalty for those who refused to buy
coverage.
Medicare for All: Incremental
reforms could be the only way
To be sure, the U.S. has made mean-
ingful strides toward increasing health
equity. In addition to the ACA and Infla-
tion Reduction Act, which also caps out-
of-pocket medication expenses to
$2,000 a year for those on Medicaid,
Congress previously passed the No Sur-
prises Act. Starting this year, it will
largely protect consumers who despite
having insurance are still hit with unex-
pected bills when they are treated by
out-of-network specialists or hospitals.
Advocates including former presi-
dential candidate Sanders or current
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cor-
tez say a person sick enough that they
have to be in an emergency room
shouldn’t be asked first for their insur-
ance card. A laid-off worker shouldn’t
be driven further into financial despair
because they have the unlucky timing of
becoming ill days after they have lost
their job and likely, also coverage for
health care.
Advocates say a single-payer system
would be optimal, but if that’s too great
a goal, too far off in the future, perhaps
we could alternatively allow anyone to
enroll in Medicare, with some private
insurance plans available to those
wanting and able to pay for them. We
are all mortal. We should all be able to
access the quality health care we need,
whenever we need it.
“I do think ultimately we do need to
get to a single-payer system in this
country,” Kominski says. “If we have to
do it through incremental reforms, I’m
not opposed to that. And it may be the
only way that we can get there.’’
NEWS
OPINION
The illustrated origin story
of a President Biden meme
Rex Huppke
USA TODAY
President Joe Biden and his fellow
Democrats appear energized by a string
of legislative victories, falling gas prices
and polling that suggests the midterm
elections could be more competitive
than previously expected.
Since October, the president had
been mocked by the nickname “Bran-
don,” which bubbled up after a television
reporter described chants of “(Exple-
tive) Joe Biden” at a NASCAR race as the
crowd saying, “Let’s go, Brandon!”
The phrase began breaking out at ral-
lies by former President Donald Trump,
and then Republican politicians parrot-
ed the line regularly.
But with Biden signing the Inflation
Reduction Act on Tuesday – the latest in
a string of accomplishments – it’s a new
day, and many on the left have co-opted
the Brandon moniker to create memes
showing the 79-year-old president as a
powerful figure called “Dark Brandon.”
Biden’s transformation, coupled with
a Republican Party that seems to have
chosen culture war issues over govern-
ing, sets America up for a comic-book-
worthy showdown that USA TODAY il-
lustrator Clay Sisk and I have dubbed:
“Dark Brandon vs. The Pronoun Patrol.”
This is that story.
Overwhelmed by the taunts
In the early weeks of summer, things
were looking grim for Biden.
His poll numbers were dismal, gas
prices had surged to record highs and
Democrats looked gloomily toward No-
vember midterm elections and a likely
Republican wave that could cost them
control of the House of Representatives
and the Senate.
Biden was taunted by critics, haunted
by a cacophony of mocking “Let’s go,
Brandon!” chants.
On the ropes?
Republicans made merry at Biden’s
expense. Fox News pundits drooled over
high gas prices and inflation. The end of
Biden, it seemed, was nigh.
But then the U.S. Supreme Court
overturned Roe v. Wade, roiling the pop-
ulace. Anti-abortion Republicans swung
even harder to the right, proposing wild-
ly unpopular and draconian bans.
And then, perhaps because his de-
tractors had said “let’s go” one too many
times, Brandon went. He went dark.
Dark Brandon rises
Gas prices began falling, dulling a
prime GOP talking point.
Biden was diagnosed with COVID-19,
but while in quarantine, he ordered the
killing of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Za-
wahri in Afghanistan. The old Biden was
gone. The old Brandon was gone. Dark
Brandon had arrived.
Make way for the victories
He wasn’t done. Unemployment hit
3.5%, matching a five-decade low
reached just before the pandemic began
– with 528,000 new jobs added in July.
The president signed the CHIPS and Sci-
ence Act, boosting U.S. semiconductor
production, and the PACT Act, aiding
veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in
foreign wars.
Then Congress passed the Inflation
Reduction Act, a major climate, health
and tax bill that might do the one thing
Republicans fear most: Improve the lives
of Americans.
The polls started changing, with a
strong swing toward Democrats.
Absent ideas and staggered by the ar-
rival of Dark Brandon, some Republican
members of Congress summoned the
energy of scapegoating and formed …
The Pronoun Patrol.
“USA TODAY hopes to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation.” – Allen H. Neuharth, Founder, Sept. 15, 1982
Chairman and CEO USA TODAY Publisher
Gannett Co. President of News
MICHAEL MARIBEL
REED PEREZ WADSWORTH
WANT TO COMMENT? Have Your Say at letters@usatoday.com, @usatodayopinion on Twitter and facebook.com/usatodayopinion.
Comments are edited for length and clarity. Content submitted to USA TODAY may appear in print, digital or other forms. For letters,
include name, address and phone number.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLAY SISK/USA TODAY NETWORK; PHOTOS: AP AND GETTY IMAGES
For Biden, above, the “Brandon”
chants of were overwhelming.
Then “Dark Brandon,” right,
awoke and really got going.
Some Republicans formed
The Pronoun Patrol.
Here comes
The Pronoun Patrol
These Republicans mocked people’s
identity, labeled anyone who mentioned
gender identity or sexuality as “groom-
ers” and began howling about the danger
of drag shows.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told the con-
servative group Turning Point USA, “My
name is Ted Cruz and my pronouns are
kiss my a--.”
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida lambast-
ed America’s “woke” military on Fox
News, saying: “Our civilian leaders in the
Pentagon have spent the last two years
focused very seriously on the proper use
of pronouns and ensuring that we host
the right number of drag queen shows at
different military bases around the
world.”
And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of
Georgia tweeted that her preferred pro-
nouns include “Only/Two/Genders,”
“Ban/Drag/Queen/Story-time” and
“Stop/Gender/Affirming/Care/On/
Kids.”
USA TODAY Chief Revenue Officer,
Editor in Chief sales and service: Doug Horne
NICOLE Vice President/Local News and
CARROLL Audience Development: Amalie Nash
USA TODAY ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ 7A
And were blown away
with “governing.”
Never mess with Dark Brandon
Back in the White House, Dark
Brandon let out a booming laugh.
The diminutive Pronoun Patrol
swept the country, harassing librarians
and cackling as they defied the laws of
basic human decency.
“They think that’s what the
American people want?” Dark Brandon
asked. “Cruelty? I’ll win using a little
thing my pop called ‘governing.’ BY
THE POWER OF SCRANTON!”
Dark Brandon breathed in The Pro-
noun Patrol’s voluminous hot air, then
he blew it back out at them, whooshing
them away on waves of their own hy-
pocrisy.
The Pronoun Patrol was no match
for Dark Brandon. But this is not the
end. He knows his Republican foes will
keep coming for him.
But next time they come for Dark
Brandon … they better bring more than
malarkey.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex
Huppke on Twitter: @RexHuppke
Opinion Editor: Kristen DelGuzzi
Vice President and Executive
Editor/Investigations: Chris Davis
Kathy Hochul
New York governor
A reminder
that a pen
is mightier
than a knife
Rushdie shows courage
needed to combat hate
Editor’s note: The following was
adapted from remarks given by New
York Gov. Kathy Hochul at the Chau-
tauqua Institution on Sunday after
Friday’s stabbing of author Salman
Rushdie, who was to speak at the in-
stitution.
As a young girl, I remember visiting
the Chautauqua Institution, an hour’s
drive from my home-
town of Buffalo. My dad
worked at the steel
plant and we didn’t
have a lot of money – in
fact, we couldn’t afford
to pay admission to
drive through the insti- Rushdie
tution’s front gate.
We used to pile in the station wagon
after church on Sundays and come to
Chautauqua in the hopes that one day
we’d be able to visit that extraordinary
place. Because for those of us in west-
ern New York, the Chautauqua Institu-
tion is an iconic site. Founded on the
principles of education, freedom of ex-
pression and inclusion, it represents
the values we are most proud of in New
York. It is a place where people believe
in the vigorous exploration of ideals
and philosophies and study religion
and politics – a place known for its
healing, its tranquility, its harmony.
But this past Friday, that tranquility
was shattered. An individual hell-bent
on silencing these sacred ideals vi-
ciously attacked the author Salman
Rushdie, a man who has lived under
threat for decades for speaking truth to
power. For an individual like Mr. Rush-
die, who has lived the consequences of
a crackdown on free speech and free
expression, the chilling symbolism of a
violent attack at this site – a place
known for welcoming great thinkers to
share thoughts freely – is undeniable.
I want to send a message loud and
clear to any individual or any group
that dare violate the sanctity of a place
like Chautauqua: A man with a knife
cannot silence a man with a pen.
Sadly, Mr. Rushdie’s attack is not
the first time in the last three months
that the spotlight of the world has
been focused on western New York. On
May 14, a white supremacist radical-
ized on social media traveled three
hours to commit a mass shooting at a
supermarket that’s about a 10-minute
drive from the house where my hus-
band and I live. And once again, this
attacker’s choice of location was chill-
ing: This young man went online and
found the closest place with the largest
concentration of Black people who he
could kill and harm in a racist attack.
It takes courage to stand up to hate,
violence and intolerance. So it’s fitting
that “courage” was the topic of discus-
sion at the Chautauqua Institution the
week that Mr. Rushdie was attacked.
He spent a decade of his life in hiding,
and finally he decided to come out of
the shadows. His courage in the face of
such danger should inspire all New
Yorkers – and all freedom-loving peo-
ple across the globe.
It is a challenging world. To many
young people, I say sometimes it can
be scary. But this is the United States.
This is common to our DNA to speak
up loudly and say with one clear voice
that wisdom is mightier than igno-
rance. Tolerance is mightier than hate.
Courage is mightier than fear.
And the pen will always be mightier
than the knife.
Kathy Hochul is the 57th governor of
New York.
Vice President and Executive Executive Editor/
Editor/Sports: Roxanna Scott News and Initiatives:
Executive Editor/News and Network Kristen Go
Enterprise: Jeff Taylor
8A ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ USA TODAY
TRAVEL
POCKET GUIDE
GERMANY
10Best Local Experts
take you to the best
spots around Berlin,
Frankfurt, Munich
Andrea Schulte-Peevers
in BERLIN
Robyn Polzin
in FRANKFURT
Mike Richardson
in MUNICH
GO SEE ...
BERLIN
1. Berlin Wall Memorial
The Berlin Wall may be gone,
but it will never be forgotten.
This outdoor museum, which in-
cludes the last remaining stretch
of the wall in its original location,
explains how the barrier divided
a city and its people for 28 years.
Bernauer Strasse 119
+49 30 467 986 666
2. Stasi Prison
Former inmates lead tours of
the prison where the East Ger-
man secret police held suspected
opponents of the regime — most
of them innocent of wrongdoing.
Genslerstrasse 66
+49 30 9860 8230
3. Panoramapunkt
For the best bird’s-eye view of
central Berlin, let Europe’s fastest
elevator whisk you 24 floors to
this lofty perch above Potsdamer
Platz in a mere 20 seconds.
Potsdamer Platz 1
+49 30 2593 7080
4. Schloss Charlottenburg
See how the Prussian kings
who ruled much of Germany un-
til 1918 lived at this mini-Ver-
sailles, framed by a lovely park
perfect for summer picnics.
Spandauer Damm 20-24
+49 30 320 911
5. Humboldt-Box
This multimedia exhibit ac-
companies the ongoing recon-
struction of the city’s Prussian
imperial palace, which was de-
molished by the communists in
1950. Humboldt-Box introduces
the future tenants and explains
how the huge building will fit
within the city’s historic center.
Schlossplatz 5
+49 180 503 0707
6. Pergamonmuseum
This crowd-pleaser wows with
monumental antiquities from
Greece, Rome and the Middle
East. Star exhibits include the ra-
diant blue Ishtar Gate and the in-
tricate facade of a caliph’s palace.
Bodestrasse 1-3
+49 30 266 424 242
Narrow slits
in barriers at
the Berlin
Wall Memori-
al provide
glimpses of
the “death
strip,” where
those fleeing
East Berlin
were often
gunned down.
GÜNTER STEFFEN,
VISITBERLIN
UNEXPECTED
GERMANY
BERLIN
1. Story of Berlin
This museum’s engaging multi-
media trip through the city’s his-
tory culminates with a tour of a
Cold War nuclear bomb shelter.
Kurfürstendamm 207-208
+49 30 8872 0100
2. Tempelhof Park
Tempelhof Airport, site of the
first Lufthansa flight and the Ber-
lin Airlift, closed in 2008. It’s now
open as a beloved city park.
Entrances on Columbiadamm,
Oderstrasse, Tempelhofer Damm
7. Neukölln neighborhood
Catapulted from gritty zone to
vibrant district, Neukölln is per-
fect for DIY exploration. Cafes
like Katie’s Blue Cat invite linger-
ing between stops at vintage bou-
tiques and hipster bars.
Katie’s Blue Cat
Friedelstrasse 31
+49 178 806 9701
8. Jüdische Mädchenschule
A former Jewish girls’ school in
a Bauhaus-era building has
evolved into a cultural hot spot,
featuring cutting-edge galleries, a
museum about the Kennedys and
even stellar restaurants.
Auguststrasse 11-13
+49 030 3300 6070
9. Museum in der
Kulturbrauerei
This exhibit in a former brew-
ery uses original documents, pho-
tographs and objects to peel back
the Iron Curtain on daily life in
communist East Germany.
Knaackstrasse 97
+49 030 4677 7790
PHILIP KOSCHEL, VISITBERLIN
Sunflowers, rather than jets,
aim skyward at Tempelhof.
3. Rembrandt Collection
The 16 Rembrandt works at
the Gemäldegalerie form one of
the world’s largest, most exquisite
collections by this Dutch master.
Matthäikirchplatz
+49 30 266 424 242
MARTINA BERG, GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
10. Bikini Berlin
Browse fashion and design at
Germany’s first “concept mall,” in
a 1950s landmark building with
front-row views of the monkey
enclosure of the Berlin Zoo.
Budapester Strasse 38-50
GO SEE ...
FRANKFURT
1. Palmengarten
Established in 1868, this oasis
in the Westend is Germany’s larg-
est botanical garden. Displays in-
clude more than 13,000 tropical
and subtropical plant species.
Siesmayerstrasse 61
+49 69 2123 3939
2. Hauptbahnhof Station
The busiest train station in
Frankfurt consists of a massive
main vestibule and two adjoining
neoclassical halls made of steel
and glass. Inside are a series of
platforms, shops and food stands.
Am Hauptbahnhof
4. Ramones Museum
Avid Ramones fan Flo Hayler
shares his collection of memora-
bilia in this cool east Berlin
shrine to the punk-rock pioneers.
Krausnickstrasse 23
+49 30 7552 8890
FRANKFURT
5. Long Island Summer
Lounge
Relaxing by day and edgy at
night, this beach bar atop an ur-
ban parking garage is a refreshing
antidote for what ails you.
Park House Exchange, Deck 7
+49 151 6150 9889
6. Festhalle
What do Miley Cyrus, Peter
Gabriel and OneRepublic have in
SBORISOV, GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
Marienplatz, above, has
been the main square of
Munich since 1158, al-
though New Town Hall
dates only to 1874. West
of Frankfurt lie the ruins
of Rheinfels Castle, left.
3. Museumsufer
A walk along the Main River’s
Museum Embankment is a must.
Twelve museums sit on a single
tree-lined street, the most nota-
ble being the Städel art gallery.
Städel, Schaumainkai 63
+49 69 605098 232
4. Rheinfels Castle
West of the city, this castle’s
ancient stone ramparts rise over
the Rhine at Sankt Goar. The ru-
ins recall the Middle Ages, while
the restaurant and its lovely ter-
race herald the modern day.
Schlossberg, Sankt Goar
+49 6741 7753
5. Goethehaus
Grand wood staircases take
visitors through the reconstruct-
ed timbered house where the
writer Johann Wolfgang von Goe-
the spent his childhood.
Grosser Hirschgraben 23
+49 69 138 800
6. Gerbermühle
After cycling along the Main
River, relax in the garden at this
16th-century flour mill renovated
as a hotel complex.
Gerbermühlestrasse 105
+49 69 689 7779 0
7. Hauptwache Station
This busy rapid-transit station
resembles an underground city
with its street performers, chalk
artists, international markets, dry
cleaners and even an entrance to
the Galeria department store.
An der Hauptwache 17
8. Kleinmarkthalle
This market hall hosts some 60
vendors selling fresh food, wine
and flowers every day except Sun-
day. Locals like a glass of wine in
the outdoor garten upstairs.
Hasengasse 5
+49 69 2123 3696
9. Römerberg
Heart of Frankfurt’s old town,
this charming central square is
common? All have played this im-
pressive neobaroque-style exhibi-
tion hall, which dates to 1909.
Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage 1
+49 69 1340 400
7. English Theatre
Delight in a memorable perfor-
mance at this gem of a venue in
the city center. Seating 300, it’s
the largest English-language
theater in continental Europe.
Gallusanlage 7
+49 69 2423 1620
MUNICH
8. Bavaria Filmstadt
The famous film studio where
The Neverending Story, the origi-
nal Willy Wonka and the Choco-
late Factory, Das Boot and many
NEWS
lined with reconstructed half-
timbered houses. Be sure to visit
the Zum Römer, where Holy Ro-
man emperors were coronated.
Römerberg, Altstadt
10. Alte Oper
The Italian Renaissance-style
Alte Oper is Frankfurt’s original
opera house. Can’t make a show?
Linger at an outdoor cafe on
Opernplatz, the Opera Square.
Opernplatz 1
+49 69 1340 0
GO SEE ...
MUNICH
1. St. Peter’s Church
Munich’s oldest church, “Alter
Peter” (Old Peter) is recognizable
by its 91-meter tower, offering
some of the best views of the city.
Rindermarkt 1
+49 89 2102 3776
2. Hirschgarten
This used to be part of the roy-
al hunting grounds. Today it’s the
site of a family-friendly beer gar-
den (Bavaria’s largest), serving
top-notch local food.
Hirschgarten 1
+49 89 1799 9119
3. Odeonsplatz
For photo opportunities, it’s
hard to beat this square in cen-
tral Munich. Odeonsplatz, named
for the Odeon concert hall, is bor-
dered by some of the city’s most
significant buildings.
Odeonsplatz 1
+49 89 222 324
4. Viktualienmarkt
From sausages and fish to ex-
otic fruit, Munich’s open-air food
market boasts the highest-quality
gourmet groceries in town. At its
center lies a beer garden with a
lively atmosphere.
Viktualienmarkt 3
+49 89 8906 8205
5. Alte Pinakothek
The former royal collection of
Old Masters paintings resides
here. Dürer, Rembrandt, Peter
Paul Rubens and El Greco are
among those represented.
Barer Strasse 27
+49 89 2380 5216
6. Marienplatz
Munich’s main square since
1158, Marienplatz is abuzz with
activity and a great place for pho-
tos, with the Gothic Revival-style
New Town Hall in the spotlight.
+49 089 2330 0115
7. Residenz
Take a tour of the former main
royal palace of Bavaria, with its
130 rooms and 10 courtyards.
Residenzstrasse 1
+49 089 290 671
8. BMW Museum
From the earliest BMW en-
gines to modern prototypes, the
permanent exhibit here appeals
to the car lover in all of us and
rolls out fun for all ages.
Am Olympiapark 2
+49 89 125 016 001
9. Nymphenburg Palace
This baroque beauty housed
Bavaria’s rulers beginning in
1675. Perhaps more spectacular
than the palace itself are the 490
acres of formal gardens.
Schloss Nymphenburg 1
+49 089 179 080
10. Asamkirche
A rococo gem, Asamkirche was
built as a private chapel for the
brothers who completed it in
1746. Now it’s open to the public.
Sendlinger Strasse 32
+49 089 2368 7989
Want even more great ideas?
Go to 10Best.com for handy
travel lists, cool pics and hot
tips by Local Experts in popular
destinations around the world.
other movies were made offers
tours and a 4-D theater.
Bavariafilmplatz 7
+49 089 6499 2000
9. Eisbach River Surfing
On the Eisbach’s canal next to
the Haus der Kunst, look for the
spot just off the road where peo-
ple surf year-round — in Munich.
Prinzregentenstrasse
+49 089 2339 6500
10. Kartoffelmuseum
The Potato Museum follows
the starchy vegetable and its vari-
ous uses throughout history, with
special emphasis on its ties to
Munich. The museum is free and
worthy of an hour of your time.
Grafingerstrasse 2
+49 089 404050
SPORTS
RIP Game 163 under MLB’s
new postseason system
The storied one-game tiebreaker is no more;
USA TODAY | MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | SECTION B is it a ‘bummer’ for baseball? Page 3B
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24/7 at sports.usatoday.com
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including NFL preseason games, WNBA playoffs

Deshaun Watson’s ban now 11 games

Browns quarterback also fined $5M after settling with NFL
Mike Jones
USA TODAY
The NFL and Deshaun Watson have
reached a settlement.
Rather than wait for former New Jer-
sey attorney general Peter Harvey’s de-
cision on the NFL’s appeal of the initial
punishment handed down, the league
and Cleveland Browns quarterback
have agreed that Watson will be sus-
pended for 11 games and fined $5 million
for violating the league’s personal con-
duct policy amid allegations of sexual
misconduct, the NFL announced on
Thursday. Watson also agreed to be
evaluated by behavioral experts and fol-
low their treatment plan.
The agreement overrides jointly ap-
pointed disciplinary officer Sue L. Rob-
inson’s Aug. 1 ruling that Watson should
serve a six-game suspension. However,
the settlement falls well short of the
yearlong ban that the NFL had asked
Robinson to level against Watson.
“I’m grateful that the disciplinary
process has ended and extremely ap-
preciative of the tremendous support I
have received throughout my short time
with the Browns organization,” Watson
said in a statement. “I apologize once
again for any pain this situation has
caused. I take accountability for the de-
cisions I made. My focus going forward
is on working to become the best ver-
sion of myself on and off the field and
supporting my teammates however
possible while I’m away from the team.
I’m excited about what the future holds
for me in Cleveland.”
In meeting with the media afterward,
See WATSON, Page 2B

Nancy Armour
Columnist
CANTLAY POPS INTO LEAD
USA TODAY

Browns’
support
also hurt
women
Deshaun Watson didn’t just need an
NFL owner who was desperate when
he was shopping his services in the
spring. He needed someone who
would also see the women he’d sexu-
ally violated as disposable, not worthy
of real care and concern.
In Dee and Jimmy Haslam, he found
both.
The Haslams might not have as-
saulted or harassed anyone, as Watson
was accused of doing in civil suits filed
by two dozen women. But the owners
of the Cleveland Browns did signifi-
cant harm to women all the same, be it
with their enthusiastic embrace of a
sexual predator – yeah, I said it – or
their enabling of him Thursday.
It wasn’t enough that the Haslams
gave Watson a $230 million contract
that was fully guaranteed, the most
guaranteed money ever for an NFL
player. Knowing full well that Watson
would be suspended without pay for at
least part of this season, they struc-
tured the deal so his base salary this
year was just $1 million, meaning his
11-game suspension will cost him less
than $700,000.
The Haslams insisted Watson was
remorseful, minutes after he’d explic-
itly said he was anything but. They
promised he was committed to making
changes, when Watson himself said he
did what he had to do so he could get
on with his career. They claimed he de-
serves a second chance, even though
he has done nothing yet to earn one.
They claimed their $1 million dona-
tion to fight sexual violence reflects a
real desire to help, even though that
amount is a pittance for a billionaire
couple whose altruism just happened
to coincide with the settlement of Wat-
son’s punishment for violating the
NFL’s personal conduct policy. Patrick Cantlay plays a shot from a bunker on the 15th hole Saturday during the third round of the BMW
And then Dee Haslam gave up the
whole game, smearing the women Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware. He holed out from about 106 yards on the par-5 14th
who sued Watson with a characteriza- en route to shooting 6-under 65 for a 12-under 201 total and a one-shot advantage over Xander Schauffele
tion that suggested they were sex
workers. and Scott Stallings in the second FedExCup Playoffs event. Cantlay is the defending FedExCup champion.
Final-round coverage at golf.usatoday.com BILL STREICHER/USA TODAY SPORTS
See ARMOUR, Page 2B

Big Ten hooks up with NBC, CBS, Fox on 7-year deal

Paul Myerberg
USA TODAY
The Big Ten has signed a seven-year
media rights agreement with CBS, Fox
and NBC, the conference announced
Thursday.
Worth a reported average of more
than $1 billion a year, the most lucrative
rights deal in the history of college
sports, the agreement will begin in
2023, run through the 2029-30 season
and place Big Ten football games on
each of the three major networks “from
morning to night,” the conference said
in a statement.
According to the conference, Big Ten
teams will be featured on Fox during the
noon ET window, on CBS during the
3:30 p.m. ET slot and on NBC in prime
time. The CBS midafternoon Big Ten
game won’t start until the 2024 season
as the network holds the rights to
Southeastern Conference games in that
window for the 2023 season.
The rights deal removes Big Ten
games from ESPN, which recently com-
mitted roughly $300 million annually in
a 10-year deal with the SEC set to begin
in 2024.
The mammoth agreement sets a new
bar for major-college rights deals and
pushes the Big Ten and the SEC into an-
other new stratosphere of annual reve-
nue compared to their Power Five con-
ference peers.
“The Big Ten Conference media
rights agreements are more than just
dollars and deals,” Big Ten Commission-
er Kevin Warren said. “They are a mech-
anism to provide stability and maxi-
mum exposure for our student-athletes,
member institutions and partners dur-
ing these uncertain times in collegiate
athletics.”
CBS will begin airing Big Ten content
in 2023 with seven football games and
men’s and women’s basketball. Starting
in 2024, the network will air 15 Big Ten
regular-season games, including a
Black Friday game.
Beginning in 2023, NBC will air up to
16 games as it launches “Big Ten Satur-
day Night.”
These agreements with CBS and NBC
join the Big Ten’s existing relationship
with Fox, which has made the confer-
ence the anchor of its “Big Noon Satur-
day” coverage.
CBS, NBC and Fox will share coverage
of the Big Ten championship game
through the 2029 season. Fox will
broadcast the game in 2023, 2025, 2027
and 2029. NBC will carry it in 2026 and
CBS will do so in 2024 and 2028.
The three networks will also alter-
nate between picking first among each
weekend’s selection of Big Ten games.
The Big Ten currently has 14 mem-
bers and will expand to 16 teams in 2024
with the addition of Southern Cal and
UCLA from the Pac-12.
2B ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ USA TODAY
Accountability flip-flop a serious problem
Jarrett Bell
Columnist
USA TODAY
There are multiple ways to decipher
the mixed messages we heard from
Deshaun Watson shortly after his mon-
umental settlement with the NFL came
down on Thursday. Here are a few:
Playing both ends against the mid-
dle.
Wanting to have his cake and eat it,
too.
Wishy-washy.
Serious denial.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback
put out a written statement expressing
contrition and accountability after the
punishment was announced for his vio-
lation of the NFL’s personal conduct
policy stemming from sexual miscon-
duct allegations – an 11-game suspen-
sion, $5 million fine, mandatory treat-
ment and counseling.
The tone of the written statement
was similar to the message Watson de-
livered on camera last Friday before his
preseason debut – and while the NFL’s
appeal of independent disciplinary offi-
cer Sue L. Robinson’s original six-game
suspension and settlement talks en-
sued. He said he was sorry for “any pain
this situation has caused.”
In meeting with the media minutes
after the written statement was re-
leased Thursday, Watson had quite the
contrasting message of defiance.
“I have always stood on my inno-
cence and always said I’ve never as-
saulted anyone or disrespected anyone,”
Watson told reporters during a news
conference at the Browns headquarters.
“I’m going to continue to stand on my in-
nocence.”
If that’s the case, why was there a set-
tlement at all?
Watson, 26, said something about
the deal not necessarily being an admis-
sion of guilt. That’s plausible.
Yet in flipping his script, Watson
pretty much overrode his own state-
ment, leading us to conclude that his
previous remarks were put out there to
move along the NFL discipline portion
Watson
Continued from Page 1B
Watson said he has “always stood on my
innocence” and maintained he had
“never assaulted or disrespected any-
one.”
“But at the same time, I have to con-
tinue to move on with my life and my ca-
reer, and for us to be able to move for-
ward, I have to be able to take steps and
put pride to the side,” Watson said.
Watson was sued by 24 women alleg-
ing sexual misconduct in massage ses-
sions in 2020 and early 2021 during his
time in Houston with the Texans.
All but one of those 24 lawsuits have
been settled out of court with confiden-
tial agreements. The Texans reached
confidential settlements with 30 wom-
en with claims related to Watson after
being accused of enabling his behavior
and not stopping it.
Robinson determined Watson “en-
gaged in sexual assault (as defined by
the NFL)” against four women the
league outlined in its case. In not issu-
ing a lengthier suspension, however,
Armour
Continued from Page 1B
“I think there’s just a huge opportuni-
ty to talk about the major issues in our
country in this area, such as sex traffick-
ing, massage parlor use,” Dee Haslam
said, no doubt believing she sounded
high-minded and informed. “So we can
continue to talk about Deshaun, or we
can talk about the major issues our
country faces and make a difference.”
The “major issue” with Watson has
nothing to do with sex work – the right-
ness or wrongness of which is a debate
for another day. Many of the women
who sued him were licensed massage
therapists, no different than the trained
professionals employed by the Browns.
Some others were still in massage ther-
apy school or had just graduated.
But it’s clear the Haslams don’t see
them as professional women. They
don’t really believe what Watson did
was that bad.
“I think we’ve seen him recognize
some things that he wished he’d done
differently,” Jimmy Haslam said. “Some
of a case that also included settlements
of 23 civil suits brought forth from the
cast of 24 women who alleged sexual
misconduct during massage sessions.
The fast change in posture should
turn stomachs at NFL headquarters.
Of course, Watson arrived in Cleve-
land expressing his innocence. When he
was introduced as the recipient of a
fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million
contract with the Browns, he insisted
that he didn’t have a “problem” and con-
tended that there was no need for coun-
seling.
One thing that seems obvious, given
the mixed messages expressed on
Thursday: Watson still needs profes-
sional help.
That is not to disparage the man who,
as part of the settlement struck by the
NFL and NFL Players Association, will
undergo an evaluation and treatment as
a component of his discipline. It’s just
Robinson said she was bound by the
league’s precedent for “non-violent”
sexual misconduct offenses.
Acting in accordance with the terms
of the collective bargaining agreement,
the NFL appealed Robinson’s decision.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell could
have presided over the proceedings but
instead appointed Harvey, who helped
the NFL craft the current personal con-
duct policy, as the arbitrator.
Harvey’s review of the information
presented to Robinson and his deliber-
ations extended into its second week
prior to the settlement reached by Wat-
son and the NFL.
Tony Buzbee, the attorney who rep-
resented all 24 women who filed civil
lawsuits against Watson, called Goodell
a “paper tiger” for agreeing to the terms
of the settlement.
“The message today to all victims is
clear, if you believe you have been sexu-
ally assaulted by a powerful person,
keep your mouth shut and go away,”
Buzbee said. “The NFL has certainly
demonstrated that its ownership and
the organization doesn’t care.”
Watson will be eligible to return to
regular-season action in Week 13 to face
positions he wished he’d not put him-
self into.”
That’s the kind of thing you say when
someone gets a ticket for excessive
speeding or is busted for recreational
drugs. It’s not something you say when
nearly three dozen women have filed
lawsuits against the face of your fran-
chise, or his former team, in which they
say he sexually assaulted, sexually ha-
rassed and/or intimidated them.
The Haslams can try and spin this –
and Lord knows they’ve tried – but the
truth is they value Watson’s arms and
legs over the bodies and souls of wom-
en. These women in particular, though
the message to all women is clear:
Your pain and suffering is inconse-
quential. Your thoughts and opinions
are irrelevant. You are insignificant.
“The message today to all victims is
clear, if you believe you have been sexu-
ally assaulted by a powerful person,
keep your mouth shut and go away. The
NFL has certainly demonstrated that its
ownership and the organization doesn’t
care,” Tony Buzbee, the attorney for the
women who sued Watson, said in a
statement.
The Browns will be without Watson
that the messages, wrapped in denial,
further underscore the need for treat-
ment.
If Watson didn’t see the “problem”
that resulted in the mess that put his ca-
reer on hold, then that’s a problem. Per-
haps treatment and counseling will
delve into root causes connected to the
allegations and all that they suggest
about violating boundaries.
Despite his contention in March that
he didn’t need counseling, Watson vol-
untarily began therapy last spring and
last Friday maintained that he wanted
to continue that – which might coincide
with what is now mandatory. It seemed
like a positive that Watson had seem-
ingly embraced counseling, even with
the stigma that is surely attached as one
of the consequences to his apparent be-
havior.
It looks like Watson had NFL Com-
missioner Roger Goodell convinced. In
off against his former Texans team. He
is permitted to play in the remaining two
preseason games, but Browns coach
Kevin Stefanski said the team would
hold him out of those.
The Browns will turn their attention
to readying Jacoby Brissett to serve as
the starting quarterback in the interim.
Although Watson agreed to the set-
tlement, he still is set to serve a ban and
punishment of unprecedented weight
for what Robinson categorized as “non-
violent” offenses.
Wide receiver Antonio Brown in
2020 served an eight-game suspension
for multiple personal conduct policy vi-
olations. Dallas Cowboys running back
Ezekiel Elliott in 2017 served a six-game
ban for domestic violence accusations.
In 2015, then-Cowboys pass-rusher
Greg Hardy received a suspension of 10
games for domestic violence, but an ar-
bitrator reduced that punishment to
four games. Pittsburgh Steelers quarter-
back Ben Roethlisberger in 2010 re-
ceived a six-game suspension for alle-
gations of sexual assault from two
women. However, Goodell later reduced
that punishment to four games.
The fine leveled against Watson
Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam and GM Andrew Berry speak to the media
about Deshaun Watson’s 11-game suspension during a press conference at the
team’s training facility in Berea on Thursday. JEFF LANGE/AKRON BEACON JOURNAL
until early December after his suspen-
sion was increased to 11 games from the
initial six. If there is any justice in the
world, Cleveland will already be, or be
on the verge of being, eliminated from
playoff contention when Watson re-
SPORTS
Deshaun
Watson
talked
about the
settlement
reached
with the
NFL in
which he
now will
serve an
11-game
unpaid
suspension
and pay a
$5 million
fine rather
than risk
missing his
first sea-
son with
the Browns
after accu-
sations of
sexual mis-
conduct
while with
the
Texans.
JOSHUA
GUNTER/AP
the NFL news release outlining the dis-
cipline, Goodell maintained, “Deshaun
has committed to doing the hard work
on himself that is necessary.”
Well, with the manner in which Wat-
son called an audible, it’s fair to wonder
about the level of commitment from
Watson for the work on himself.
This cloud could hang over Watson –
and over the Browns owners, Jimmy
and Dee Haslam – for the rest of his NFL
career. And then some.
Still, despite the wishes of some that
Watson should never step foot on an
NFL field again, this shouldn’t be about
throwing him away.
Watson surely needs to pay a price,
as he has and will in the form of his sus-
pension, reputation and millions of dol-
lars in a fine and the settling of civil
suits.
But, as Thursday reminded us, he is
also a man who needs help.
marks unique territory for the league, as
players previously have only forfeited
game checks when serving suspensions
for personal conduct violations. But the
measure of the fine was triggered in part
by frustrations in the league office over
the way the Browns structured Wat-
son’s contract when they traded for him.
Watson signed a record fully guaranteed
$230 million contract, but Cleveland al-
lotted only a base salary of $1.035 mil-
lion for 2022. That figure would help
him avoid suffering a more significant fi-
nancial loss in the event that he was
suspended for a portion of this season.
In its argument to Robinson, the NFL
Players Association contended the
league had created a double standard
with the personal conduct cases involv-
ing team owners (who are to be held to a
higher standard, according to the collec-
tive bargaining agreement) and those of
players. The union also argued that the
league showed more grace to white
players (using Roethlisberger as an ex-
ample) while handing Watson, who is
Black, an unprecedented punishment to
make an example of him.
Contributing: Brent Schrotenboer,
Lorenzo Reyes
turns, and he and the Browns will be ir-
relevant.
Maybe then the Haslams will realize
how they’ve made women feel, and the
considerable damage that they, too,
have done.
SPORTS
Playoff system ends 163 tiebreaker
Gabe Lacques
USA TODAY
Farewell, Bucky Bleeping Dent. Adi-
os, Walker (Redacted) Buehler. And
Russ Hodges, we’re afraid you wouldn’t
be immortalized today if your epic call
was merely, “The Giants win the tie-
breaker! The Giants win the tiebreaker!”
A rare but venerated bit of baseball
tradition – the playoff game to decide a
division or playoff deadlock after 162
games – has fallen victim to modern
times, a nine-inning test to decide a
season-long struggle giving way to a tie-
breaker system.
It’s ostensibly in the name of both
revenue and progress, to squeeze in
dates on an unforgiving baseball calen-
dar for a three-game wild-card series
that replaces the one-game format that
provided big thrills but also instant clo-
sure to playoff losers.
You can certainly see the appeal to
ESPN, which owned the rights to any
Game 163 tiebreakers as well as one of
the wild-card games. Rather than one
winner-take-all game and a just-in-
case set of tiebreakers – the last coming
in 2018, when the National League West
(Colorado Rockies-Los Angeles Dodg-
ers) and Central (Milwaukee Brewers-
Chicago Cubs) needed an extra day to
settle things – why not peddle four best-
of-three wild-card miniseries across the
ESPN family of networks?
Twelve games are always better for
the bottom line than one, which is why
ESPN shelled out between $85 million
and $100 million for the expanded 12-
team field, a key element in collective
bargaining agreement talks that finally
settled in March after a 99-day lockout.
But time is finite, especially in a sport
with six weeks of spring training, a 162-
game season and now a four-round tier
of playoffs. Something had to go. The
question that this season may partially
answer is whether the competitive in-
tegrity of the season will be compro-
mised.
Instead of a playoff to determine divi-
sion or wild-card winners, MLB will in-
stead revert to an NFL-style tiebreaker
that begins with head-to-head records
of the teams involved. If still tied, the in-
volved teams will then look to intra-
Five schools likely to play way into Top 25
Paul Myerberg
USA TODAY
Twelve football teams made the pre-
season USA TODAY Sports AFCA
Coaches’ Poll heading into last season
but failed to make the cut for the final
Top 25.
Two years ago, nine teams earned
preseason Top 25 honors but were un-
able to match those expectations.
This is pretty much par for the
course: In any given season, roughly a
third or more of teams in the preseason
coaches poll will come up short during
the regular season.
On the flip side, there are always
overlooked or underrated teams in the
Power Five and Group of Five ready to
occupy a seat in the Top 25.
Which schools unranked in the poll
are poised to leap onto the national ra-
dar once the regular season begins next
week?
These teams may not have made the
preseason cut but are destined to crack
into the Top 25 at some point during the
season:
Penn State
There’s a simple reason why the Nit-
tany Lions are unranked in the presea-
son poll for the first time since 2016:
Penn State has gone 11-11 in the past two
years and ceded ground to Michigan
and fast-rising Michigan State in the Big
Ten East Division. But increased depth,
greater familiarity with second-year of-
fensive coordinator Mike Yurcich’s sys-
tem and the possibility for more explo-
siveness in the running game should
bring the Nittany Lions back into the
Top 25 and into contention for a New
Year’s Six bowl. A pretty smooth start to
the schedule – Purdue, Ohio, Auburn,
Central Michigan and Northwestern –
could put Penn State far into the nation-
al rankings by October.
Brigham Young
It’s not an easy schedule. BYU faces
five Power Five opponents, four ranked
in the poll: No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 10 Bay-
lor, No. 12 Oregon and No. 23 Arkansas.
(The fifth is Stanford.) The Cougars will
also take on four potentially strong
Reggie Jackson and Bucky Dent celebrate after defeating the Red Sox in the
1978 AL East tiebreaker game. AP
division winning percentage, followed
by inter-division winning percentage,
followed by best intra-league winning
percentage over the final half of games,
plus one until the tiebreaker is broken.
The league developed this system to
settle home-field disputes in recent
years and will certainly keep the trains
running on time and the curtain rising
on ESPN’s suite of wild-card round
games that begin with a quadruple-
header on Oct. 7.
An open question is whether the
playoff field will be equitably deter-
mined.
“I think it’s kind of a bummer the
game’s going away,” says veteran reliev-
er Jake McGee, a member of two teams
that played in a Game 163 over his 13-
year career. “We play 162 games and if
you end up the same, I think the 163 is
good.
“You’d rather have to play that game
rather than just say, ‘OK, head-to-head.’
I was kind of surprised they did that.”
McGee was a member of the victo-
rious 2013 Tampa Bay Rays team that
went into Arlington, Texas, and elimi-
nated the Rangers one day after the reg-
ular season ended. Five years later, he
BYU quarterback Jaren Hall (3) gets a pass off as Baylor defensive lineman TJ Franklin (90) chases during the second
quarter last season at McLane Stadium. JEROME MIRON/USA TODAY SPORTS
Group of Five teams in Utah State, Lib-
erty, Boise State and East Carolina. Yet
the Cougars should expect big things
from junior quarterback Jaren Hall, who
was very good as a first-year starter in
2021, and the defense has the chance to
be the best of coach Kalani Sitake’s ten-
ure.
Air Force
There are 29 seniors who need to be
replaced, including several who held
key starting roles as the Falcons went
24-8 the past three seasons. There are
also some concerns on defense, not just
due to personnel losses – most notably
defensive lineman Jordan Jackson, a
sixth-round pick in this year’s NFL draft
– but because of the offseason change at
defensive coordinator; longtime assis-
tant John Rudzinski left for the same
position at Virginia. The main reason for
USA TODAY ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ 3B
pitched a scoreless inning for a Rockies
team that was flattened by rookie Walk-
er Buehler, who stretched the Dodgers’
streak of NL West titles to six after Los
Angeles and Colorado each finished the
regular season 92-70.
The Dodgers went on to a second
consecutive World Series. The wild-
card Rockies were dispatched to Chi-
cago, where they took on a Cubs team
dispirited by their own Game 163 loss to
Milwaukee.
The Rockies beat the Cubs in 11 in-
nings and then bussed to Wisconsin, ar-
riving at their Milwaukee hotel after
3 a.m. They were swept by the Brewers,
who then fell in a seven-game NLCS to
the Dodgers.
That year the system, you could say,
worked: Division winners determined
by a final clash of wills, and advancing
further in the playoffs than their van-
quished wild-card brethren. Under the
new system, one outcome would be dif-
ferent: The 2018 Dodgers went 12-7
against the Rockies, the Cubs 10-9
against Milwaukee. The Brewers would
have been dropped into a three-game
wild-card shootout, all on the road.
And McGee’s 2013 Rays, by virtue of a
optimism is the state of the offense,
which brings back its starting quarter-
back, top rushers and a far more experi-
enced offensive front. The running
game could lift the Falcons past Boise
State, San Diego State and Fresno State
to the program’s first conference cham-
pionship since 1998.
Kansas State
Among other factors, a seemingly
more open Big 12 could help Kansas
State finish in the Top 25 for the first
time since 2014. There’s also the offsea-
son addition of former Nebraska quar-
terback Adrian Martinez, who struggled
to match his early hype with the Corn-
huskers but represents a significant up-
grade to the Wildcats’ quarterback
room. He’ll be joined in the backfield by
running back Deuce Vaughn, a heavy
preseason All-American contender.
3-4 record against the Rangers, would
have fallen from a tie for the No. 1 wild
card into an all-road scenario, too.
In fact, of the seven winner-take-all
playoffs since the wild-card era began in
1995, four were won by teams with the
inferior head-to-head record.
That includes the 1995 Seattle Mari-
ners, who went 5-7 against the Califor-
nia Angels but stormed back to win 24 of
their final 34 games and force a one-
game playoff at the Kingdome. Randy
Johnson famously mowed down the
Angels to clinch the franchise’s first di-
vision title, one that would have gone to
California under a tiebreaker system.
Before and after Mark Langston lay
flattened on the Kingdome turf after giv-
ing up a division-clinching inside-the-
park “Little League” grand slam to Luis
Sojo, the division/league tiebreaker has
produced many indelible moments.
None were bigger than Bobby Thom-
son’s “Shot Heard ’Round The World”
that ended an epic 1951 Dodgers-Giants
pennant chase that culminated, then, in
a best-of-three tiebreaker series.
That shot was punctuated by Hodg-
es’ iconic call, but subsequent playoff
expansions would trim the tiebreaker
series to a game. In stepped heroes like
Dent, whose 1978 fly into the Green
Monster netting provided the most mo-
mentous Red Sox-Yankees moment un-
til 2003. Or Buehler, the cocky but be-
loved rookie who was tabbed to win the
division in 2018, shut out the Rockies
into the seventh and later told a raucous
crowd and live TV audience, “We need
this the whole (expletive) playoffs!”
Surely, the new format will produce
its own legends; with four best-of-three
series, there may be some walkovers but
almost certainly some thrillers. It’s just
going to feel different to, rather than
gear up for a winner-take-all tiebreaker,
pore over a results page and see if it was
the Cardinals or Brewers who won 10 of
19 games against each other, or if the
Orioles managed to win four of six
against the Mariners.
The coming years will tell if the trade-
off was fair and worthwhile.
“I get why they’re going to the three-
game series,” says McGee. “I do like that
better than the one-game wild-card
knockout.”
Overall, Kansas State placed a league-
leading six players on the preseason all-
conference team.
UCLA
Last year’s eight-win finish repre-
sented a major breakthrough for the
Bruins and coach Chip Kelly, who strug-
gled through three straight losing sea-
sons amid concerns that his deft touch
at Oregon would never translate to his
stint at UCLA. This year’s team touts
even better depth, a noticeable degree
of experience – nearly 20% of the Bruins
roster has already graduated – a dark
horse Heisman contender in quarter-
back Dorian Thompson-Robinson and
some difference-making transfers, in-
cluding twin edge rushers Gabriel and
Grayson Murphy from North Texas.
Matching last year’s win total might be
the baseline for 2022.
LIFE
USA TODAY | MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022 | 4B
LIFELINE
CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP
HOW WAS YOUR DAY?
BLEDEL AND KARTHEISER
“Gilmore Girls” alum Alexis Bledel
and actor Vincent Kartheiser are
divorcing after eight years of mar-
riage, Bledel’s representative Meghan
Prophet confirmed Wednesday to
USA TODAY. Kartheiser filed for di-
vorce Aug. 17. The couple, who co-
starred on the TV drama “Mad Men”
in 2012, married in a secret ceremony
in 2014 and share a son.
LISA O'CONNOR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
IN MEMORIAM
ANNE HECHE
Anne Heche’s cause and manner of
death have been determined by the
Los Angeles County Medical Examin-
er-Coroner’s office. The actress died
due to “inhalation and thermal in-
juries” and that her death was an
accident. Heche also suffered a ster-
nal fracture due to blunt trauma, the
office said, but it did not attribute
this as a cause of her death. Heche’s
death came nine days after she was
pulled from a burning car and hospi-
talized in critical condition following a
crash in Los Angeles. Heche, 53, suf-
fered a “severe anoxic brain injury” as
a result of the accident and fell into a
coma, according to a statement pro-
vided to USA TODAY.
IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY
WHO’S CELEBRATING TODAY
Melissa Fumero is 40. Matthew Perry
is 53. John Stamos is 59.
USA TODAY SNAPSHOTS ©
TV social ratings
Social Content Ratings: Aug. 8-14.
Original social media posts and
engagement related to series and
specials. Social data from Face-
book, Instagram, Twitter and You-
Tube.
Show Interactions (000)
WWE Monday Night RAW .........1,868
WWE Fri. Night SmackDown ....1,459
All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite ......801
America’s Got Talent (8/9) ..........582
WWE NXT.........................................472
TALKWALKER SOCIAL CONTENT RATINGS
MOVIES NEWS & VIEWS STREAMING PREVIEW
‘She-Hulk’
falls short of
an open-and-
smash case
Kelly Lawler
USA TODAY
Marvel’s “She-Hulk: Attorney at
Law” misses the mark by far less than
the length of your average Hulk.
But watching “She-Hulk” is like
watching your favorite basketball
team overshoot the buzzer beater by
this much. It’s like when you get to the
subway just as the doors of the train
close. It’s like a meal that would be
perfect with just a few more grains of
salt.
Marvel has a mixed track record
with its forays into big-budget televi-
sion on Disney+, from the deathly bor-
ing (“The Falcon and the Winter Sol-
dier”) to the decidedly wonderful (“Ms.
Marvel”). “She-Hulk” (streaming
Thursdays, eegE) is oh-so-close to
Elvis Presley (Austin Butler) wiggles his hips and sends his fans swooning being a great show, but doesn’t fully
in Baz Luhrmann’s musical drama “Elvis.” PROVIDED BY WARNER BROS. PICTURES commit to any of the three or four dif-
ferent shows it’s attempting. It is at
once a comedy, a legal drama, a super-
Screen scenes that
hero show, a romance, a “Fleabag”-
style fourth-wall breaker and a hang-
out sitcom. Oh, and there’s some really
distracting, poorly rendered computer
made us want to graphics trying to bring its big green
protagonist to life.
return to theaters
Brian Truitt USA TODAY
Spoiler alert! The following contains plot reveals from a number of sum-
mer movies, so beware of things you haven’t seen.
The summer movie season took off like a certain A-list fighter pilot
with a noted need for speed, and there were plenty of great film
moments to go around. h Blockbusters including “Top Gun: Mav-
erick” (this year’s biggest box-office hit to date) and “Doctor
Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” drew crowds back into mul-
tiplexes. And the streaming era continued to provide for those who
prefer their couches to theater seats with films such as Hulu’s
Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany makes
“Prey” and Netflix’s “Hustle.” h Here are 10 scenes from this sum- her superheroic debut in Disney+’s
mer seared into our film fandom forever, ranked for your pleasure. Marvel series “She-Hulk: Attorney at
Law.” PROVIDED BY MARVEL
10. ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’: It’s a lot, but hidden within a tan-
Natalie Portman grabs Mjolnir, gled mishmash is a very appealing
shows the guns protagonist (played with aplomb by
Emmy-winning “Orphan Black” star
’Twas the season where the Inter- Tatiana Maslany) and some well-
net fell for Portman’s superhero bi- placed humor, and if “She-Hulk” leans
ceps, one heck of a flex for the actress into its strengths, it could be a really
making her return to the Marvel unique, fun take on the mania of the
world. Chris Hemsworth’s Thor re- Marvel Cinematic Universe. But at
turns to New Asgard to deal with a least in the four episodes made avail-
mysterious villain (Christian Bale) able for review, it’s not there yet.
and is floored by the appearance of Natalie Portman brings the The series, as its title suggests, is
old flame Jane (Portman), rocking hammer and her own gun show to about a superhero who also practices
his old magical hammer for a sight the Marvel movie “Thor: Love and law, a new concept for the MCU but
that feels real to anybody who has Thunder.” PROVIDED BY JASIN BOLAND part of a long history in comics that
ever accidentally run into an ex. feature characters with more varied
lives than Captain America and Iron
9. ‘Hustle’: Adam Sandler 8. ‘Doctor Strange in the Man. The series opens with Jen Wal-
shoots (and scores!) Multiverse of Madness’: Scarlet ters (Maslany) enjoying a road trip
Witch slaughters the Illuminati with her cousin Bruce Banner, aka The
The Netflix basketball dramedy Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), when a car acci-
casts Sandler as an NBA scout who Those who wanted more murder dent leads her to get some Hulk blood
finds a diamond in the rough with a in the Marvel universe got a pleasant in her system. Unlike Bruce, who origi-
talented Spaniard (Juancho Hernan- surprise in the superhero sequel. nally had no control over his Hulk side
gomez). When the youngster has a Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), and spent years dealing with the dam-
crisis of confidence going into the former Avenger turned villainous age he wrought, Jen is immediately
NBA Draft, Sandler brings the emo- Scarlet Witch, ends up in a parallel sentient when she gets all big and
tion – and humor, too – in rousing world and brutally kills its greatest green.
fashion when he asks the hoopster if heroes, from the returning Professor Having mastered (from her per-
he loves the game and then says, X (“X-Men” star Patrick Stewart) to spective) the art of being a Hulk in rec-
“Never back down.” If you’re not stretchy super-genius Reed Richards ord time, Jen returns to her life as a
psyched for hoisting up three-point- (a debuting John Krasinski). prosecutor in Los Angeles. But one
ers afterward, we can’t help you. small Hulking-out ruins her career and
7. ‘Prey’: Native American makes her an instant celebrity with
warrior goes from bear to the unfortunate moniker “She-Hulk.”
worse (a Predator!) Eventually, Jen lands on her feet when
she’s offered a job running the super-
Played by Amber Midthunder, Na- human law department at a fancy firm,
ru is a Comanche girl who squares up defending the likes of MCU movie
with a high-tech alien invader in the characters Abomination (Tim Roth, re-
18th-century “Predator” prequel. Na- prising his role as the villain from
ru hunts a bear, which pretty much 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk”) and
just ticks off the monster beast, and Wong (Benedict Wong). She’s also try-
she has to hide in a dam to escape its ing to date on the apps, hang out with
mighty jaws. That is, until the invisi- her friend and paralegal Nikki (Ginger
ble Predator shows up, kills the bear Gonzaga) and fend off legal and phys-
easy-peasy, picks it up and the dead ical attacks from “super-influencer”
animal’s flowing blood reveals a new Titania (Jameela Jamil, “The Good
Naru (Amber Midthunder) is both enemy to the shocked Naru. Place”).
hunter and hunted in “Prey.”
PROVIDED BY 20TH CENTURY STUDIOS See MOMENTS, Page 5B See SHE-HULK, Page 5B
LIFE
BOOKS
Rushdie’s
‘Verses’
enters our
books list
Mary Cadden
USA TODAY
“Where the Crawdads Sing’ con-
tinues its dominance on the USA TO-
DAY’s Best Selling Books list. Keeping
its No. 1 spot for a seventh straight week,
Delia Owens’ book has seen a total of 20
weeks at the top spot and 206 weeks on
the list since its debut in 2018.
Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner’s
“Heat 2” is the highest fiction debut on
the list at No. 11. A sequel to the Oscar-
nominated director Mann’s 1995 film
“Heat,” the novel explores the gritty
world of international crime organiza-
tions and the agents who investigate
them. A USA TODAY review gave the
book eeeE stars and calls it “a must
for fans of the film.”
Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’
debuts
“The Satanic Verses“ (Random
House, 576 pp.), the novel that led to
death threats against author Salman
Rushdie, makes its debut at No. 59 on
USA TODAY’s best sellers list following
the assault on the writer. The book was
first published in 1988, before the USA
TODAY Bestselling Books list began in
1993. This is the seventh novel of Rush-
die’s to make the list.
The novel about two Indian actors
who fall to the earth and transform into
symbols of what is angelic and what is
evil is considered blasphemous to many
Muslims and led to a fatwa, or edict,
Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise are back on screen together in “Top Gun: Maverick.” PROVIDED BY PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Moments
Continued from Page 4B
6. ‘Elvis’: Austin Butler’s young
singer wows the girls
Not sure if everyone’s heard but Elvis
Presley was a big deal. And Baz Luhr-
mann’s musical drama pays tribute to
the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s burgeoning ap-
peal from the start: At an early 1950s gig,
an unknown Elvis (Butler) lays into the
rockabilly tune “Baby Let’s Play House,”
wiggles his hips and young women (plus
some older ones, too) scream and swoon
in preternatural delight, possessed by
the power of a fledgling rock god.
5. ‘The Black Phone’: Don’t wake
Ethan Hawke’s Grabber!
In director Scott Derrickson’s 1970s-
set chiller, teenage Finney (Mason
Thames) is kidnapped and kept in a
soundproof basement by the Grabber
(Hawke). But even sadistic serial killers
need to sleep, right? Finney gets a super-
natural call from one of the Grabber’s
victims that the bad guy’s snoozing up-
stairs in his kitchen, leading to an in-
tense sequence where the kid sneaks
Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun) has a major new attraction at his amusement
park in “Nope.” PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Author Salman Rushdie. MATT MENDELSOHN/USA TODAY FILE
calling for Rushdie’s death from the Ira-
nian leader at the time, Ayatollah Ruhol-
lah Khomeini.
Rushdie suffered wounds to the neck
and abdomen after Hadi Matar, 24, at-
tacked him as he was about to give a lec-
ture at the Chautauqua Institution in
western New York.
Matar, who was arrested and charged
with attempted second-degree murder
and second-degree assault, entered a
not-guilty plea in a New York court on
Saturday.
Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie of
The Wylie Agency, said Sunday to The
Associated Press that although Rush-
die’s “condition is headed in the right di-
rection,” his recovery would be a long
process.
Ethan Hawke stars as the Grabber in
the 1970s-set horror film “The Black
Phone.” PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES
slowly by until one seriously jolting dog
bark.
4. ‘Resurrection’: The mother of all
delivery scenes
Who knew men giving birth would be
the hottest movie trend of the summer?
There’s an out-there sequence at the
end of folk horror flick “Men” but it
doesn’t reach the mind-blowing nature
of its “Resurrection” counterpart. A sin-
gle mom (Rebecca Hall) is forced to face
her gaslighting former love (Tim Roth),
who claims he ate their baby boy – and
in gonzo fashion, she slices him open,
USA TODAY ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ 5B
Jennette McCurdy’s ‘I’m Glad My
Mom Died’ tops memoirs
“I’m Glad My Mom
Died“ (Simon & cause my eating disorders were so en-
Schuster, 320 pp., out
now), debuts at No. 3
on this week’s list.
McCurdy uses dark
humor to explore the
traumas of early fame
in an industry she
never wanted to join.
It was all for her “nar-
cissistic” mother,
Debbie, who, before dying of breast can-
cer in 2013, allegedly steered her daugh-
ter into compromising situations. In-
stead of providing love and support.
pulls out his guts and finds a newborn
inside.
3. ‘Nope’: Gordy has a bloody
falling-out with human co-stars
Jordan Peele’s sci-fi horror thriller
pits Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer
against a UFO monster that eats people
and horses (though doesn’t love big in-
flatable things). Yet the most unnerving
tale Peele tells in flashback revolves
around Gordy, chimp star of a ’90s sit-
com who goes violently ape on human
actors and a studio audience, leaving
only young boy Jupe (later played by
Steven Yeun) and an oddly upright shoe
untouched.
2. ‘RRR’: Indian action stars
partake in the coolest musical
dance fight ever
The genre-smashing sensation
(which hit Netflix this summer) features
period drama, heartfelt romance and
spectacular action with battling best
friends and wild animals. You know
something special’s happening, though,
when our heroes (N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and
Ram Charan) get on the good foot at a
British governor’s mansion and school a
smarmy white guy with epic dance
moves just begging to be a TikTok chal-
lenge.
1. ‘Top Gun: Maverick’: Iceman
and Maverick have a final
heart-to-heart
No wonder the nostalgic sequel has
made crazy money – the thing is filled
with great moments. The beginning air-
craft carrier shot set to “Danger Zone.”
Shirtless beach “dogfight” football.
Miles Teller saving Tom Cruise’s bacon
behind enemy lines. But the most heart-
melting, tear-jerking bit comes when
Maverick (Cruise) and a dying Iceman
(Val Kilmer) enjoy one last bro-hug that
hits every Gen Xer in the feels.
Jennette McCurdy
PROVIDED BY BRIAN KIMSLEY
The title of her first book is intention-
ally harsh and to some, inappropriate.
After all, it’s a societal expectation that
love for our family members be uncon-
ditional.
“I love a bold title, and I never would
have titled it that if I didn’t feel like I
earned (it) in the writing of the book,”
McCurdy tells USA TODAY. “I definitely
would not have been able to confront or
face my experience of eating disorders
had my mother not passed away … be-
dorsed and supported and encouraged
by her.”
For McCurdy, writing this memoir
symbolized empowerment over her nar-
rative. And understanding that it’s OK
not to forgive her late mother provided
her peace:
“I will say that somehow in letting go
of forgiveness being the goal, I got to a
place where I was able to find some de-
gree of compassion, some degree of
sympathy for my mom.”
Contributing: Barbara VanDen-
burgh, Jenna Ryu, USA TODAY
Mark Ruffalo's Hulk/Bruce Banner
trains his cousin in “She-Hulk:
Attorney at Law.” PROVIDED BY MARVEL
She-Hulk
Continued from Page 4B
Mostly, while watching “She-Hulk”
I wanted more fourth-wall-breaking
asides from Jen; more commitment to
the legal comedy; more glimpses into
the everyday humans populating a su-
per-powered world; and more She-
Hulk, especially Maslany showing off
the extraordinary acting ability we
know she has. The half-hour series
just doesn’t feel like it’s enough.
Another problem – one that may be
insurmountable for some viewers – is
the computer-generated imagery.
While the effects are better than in
some early trailers, it is still a bit dis-
tracting when Maslany is in She-Hulk
form. Perhaps because her body shape
and affect is more human than Ruffa-
lo’s regular Hulk, She-Hulk lives more
in the uncanny valley. It’s never quite
possible to suspend disbelief and fully
immerse yourself into She-Hulk’s
world, because she never looks real.
She’s more like a shaky video game
character than Gollum in “Lord of the
Rings.”
Still, there are many redeeming
qualities that make me root for it in
spite of its many flaws. Maslany re-
mains one of the most magnetic per-
formers around, constantly elevating
whatever material she is given. When
the series fully gives in to the silliness
of legal proceedings featuring shape-
shifting elves and hack magicians with
Doctor Strange’s powers, it’s funny
and engaging. When it goes off in too
many directions, it falters.
A little more of Jen Walters’ Hulk fi-
nesse and a little less of Bruce Banner’s
“Hulk smash!” and there might be a
great TV show in here.
She-Hulk/Jen hangs with bestie Nikki
(Ginger Gonzaga). PROVIDED BY MARVEL
6B ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ USA TODAY
STREAMING
‘Hearts’ beats loudly despite controversy
Brian Truitt USA TODAY
The romantic drama “Purple Hearts” is the latest streaming movie hit for Netflix, with some on social media stating they’ve watched it multiple
times while others are simply seeing red. h Based on the 2017 Tess Wakefield novel, the film stars Sofia Carson as Cassie, a struggling singer-
songwriter (and type-1 diabetic) who puts her vow to never date military guys aside to wed a Marine named Luke (Nicholas Galitzine) for a marriage
of convenience. h A fandom has sprung up around “Purple Hearts,” which mustered only a paltry 31% from critics on RottenTomatoes.com yet
boats a fairly decent 71% audience score. According to Netflix, the film chalked up more than 150 million viewing hours in the first 10 days after its
streaming release July 29. Yet the project’s naysayers have taken it to task for its political views, character choices and themes. h Here is what
people are talking about:
Cassie (Sofia Carson) and Luke
(Nicholas Galitzine) marry for the
military benefits until tragedy
strikes. PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
The film has been blasted for
anti-Arab rhetoric
One scene in “Purple Hearts” is the
focal point for a lot of flak: At a dinner
before they’re married, one of Luke’s
more toxic Marine pals gives a toast
saying, “This one is to life, love and
hunting down some goddamn Arabs,
baby!” Cassie scoffs and takes issue
with the comment, verbally sparring
with the guy, until Luke orders her to
sit down. One Twitter user called out
the film as being “blatantly” anti-Arab
and anti-Hispanic, while another said
it was “racist, misogynistic military
propaganda.”
To get permission to film at
California’s Camp Pendleton, “we did
have to adjust a little bit of dialogue to
show a more balanced depiction of
the Marine Corps,” Rosenbaum said in
a Millitary.com interview. A couple of
soldiers in the movie “weren’t
particularly educated and were
making slurs. So we balanced it out
with a couple of the other characters.”
MOVIE REVIEW
Mane man Elba keeps his cool vs. a too-tame ‘Beast’
Brian Truitt
USA TODAY
Rule of the movie jungle: It’s harmful
to one’s health to square up with a
vengeful and ridiculously dangerous li-
on – computer-generated image or real
– even if you’re Idris Elba.
Elba’s signature cool is tossed around
a bit, though the British actor does get to
throw haymakers at a roaring creature
in the mane event of “Beast” (eegE;
rated R; in theaters Friday). The over-
the-top survival thriller definitely fits
into the aesthetic of Hollywood’s Au-
gust burn-off period, where bad (and
so-bad-they’re-good) movies reign,
though Elba’s charisma goes a long way
in terms of enjoyability as do some hair-
raising animal attacks.
Directed by Baltasar Kormákur (“Ev-
erest,” “2 Guns”), the film begins with
recently widowed Nate Samuels (Elba)
taking his teenage daughters Mare (Iya-
na Halley) and Norah (Leah Jeffries) on
a trip to the South African savanna
where Nate met their mom. The three
still are reeling following her death from
cancer when they meet up with old
friend Martin (Sharlto Copley), a wild-
life biologist who shows the visitors
around his reserve – including a family
of lions.
Another pride, however, was just
slaughtered by poachers, all except for
one huge male lion that escaped. Ticked
off and out for blood – any human’s will
do – the rogue beast attacks the group,
savagely injuring Martin and turning
their van into the one thing keeping
them alive. It’s not even good at that, as
the lion pushes the vehicle and comes
flying through the window, and Nate
fights to keep everyone safe from this
monster.
“Beast” is lean and mean at 93 min-
utes, but still the movie takes its time to
get to the good stuff. Once the vicious li-
on starts stalking its prey – and claus-
trophobic attacks lead to an epic face-
off between man and nature – the film
The main characters, ‘raised to
hate each other,’ draw ire
Part of the backlash has surrounded
Luke and Cassie, specifically how she
changes in her liberal beliefs but he
doesn’t with his more conservative
viewpoint. In a Variety story
alongside Carson, Rosenbaum
defended the film by saying the main
characters were intended to be
“flawed in the beginning” and then
grow closer. “They both have been
neglected by the system; he’s hurt in
a war that doesn’t seem to be ending
and she’s slipping through the cracks
of the health care system.”
Added Carson: “It’s two hearts, one
red, one blue, two worlds apart, who
are really raised to hate each other.
Through the power of love, they
learn to lead with empathy and
compassion and love each other and
turn into this beautiful shade of
purple.”
Although they come from different
world views, Cassie and Luke’s
marriage of convenience gets real.
PROVIDED BY MARK FELLMAN/NETFLIX
Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) tries to outwit a killer lion and keep his family alive in “Beast.”
finds its way and offers up some decent
jump scares before the story begins to
dip toward far-fetched fantasy. You will
have to endure some forgettable B-
movie dialogue: “We’re in his territory
now,” Copley somehow says with a
straight face as the movie’s four-legged
villain makes his presence felt.
For a digital critter, the main lion’s
not bad and feels real, especially in the
night scenes where it comes off as a hor-
ror villain on a bloody paw-ful killing
spree. (Is there enough CGI lion? Never.)
Logic takes a nosedive later on, as the
lion becomes an obsessive combination
of Cujo, the Terminator and the shark
from “Jaws.” What’s interesting, be it a
conscious choice or a budgetary one, is
that while the primary antagonist is a
ripping, biting, tearing terror on people,
the camera looks away when there’s
Cassie is a struggling musician and
type 1 diabetic who has problems
affording insulin. PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
‘Purple Hearts’ is both praised
and pummeled for diabetes
depiction
In the movie, Cassie gets medical
insurance thanks to the marriage.
And filmmakers have earned some
kudos online for how “they highlight
the reality” of patients unable to
afford insulin.
To authentically depict a young
diabetes patient like Cassie,
Rosenbaum worked with Laura
Pavlakovich, founder of You’re Just
My Type, and Dr. Michael Metzger, a
medical consultant who also assisted
on “Grey’s Anatomy.” “I think we
were all truly blown away by how
all-encompassing having type 1
diabetes is,” Carson said in an
interview with the nonprofit Beyond
Type 1 organization.
However, writer Zoe Witt argues in a
Teen Vogue op-ed that “Purple
Hearts” uses diabetes health care
and “tropey romance” to help craft a
pro-military love story: “I have been
on the bathroom floor with only a
few units left like Cassie, and there’s
not a doubt in my mind I would have
let myself die before I let this
godforsaken country convince me to
marry a Marine to get insulin.”
Now that’s a knife. Norah Samuels
(Leah Jeffries) is armed and ready to
face a deadly animal in “Beast.”
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY UNIVERSAL PICTURES
LIFE
But the true ‘Purple Heart’
faithful are a vocal bunch
TikTok has become a hub for those
who can’t get enough of the movie,
with the #PurpleHearts hashtag
notching 1.6 billion views on the
social-media platform. Many have
created TikToks using Carson’s film
song “Come Back Home” alongside
heartwarming visuals of military family
reunions while other fans pay tribute
to Luke crafting a wedding ring for
Cassie from his dog tag necklace.
And on Twitter, folks have called out
“Purple Hearts” as “the greatest movie
ever” and “my new comfort film.”
User Sherry Kingsbury tweeted to
Carson and Galitzine that before the
movie, “I was not aware of either of
you” – because “I’m a gramma” – but “I
have watched it at least 8X and love
everything about it! ...
Congratulations on the well deserved
success! I need a part 2.”
Cassie takes care of Luke after he is
injured in the line of duty.
PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
creature-on-creature carnage – a deci-
sion that plays well for the animal lovers
in the audience.
But “Beast” tends to force human
emotion: The narrative hints at a cultur-
al exploration around Nate’s late wife
and her village but it’s fleeting. Plus,
when you have children in danger, you
don’t have to do a lot to imagine a guy
going into super-dad mode, and the film
leans conveniently with its story
choices. (People tend to be wounded in
the path of an out-of-control big cat, so
good thing Nate’s a doctor!)
It isn’t Elba’s “Sharknado” but also
not exactly his “Out of Africa,” so just
enjoy this late-summer flick for what it
does well: a primal fight between man
and very mad lion that brings unhinged
beauty to a rousing “Beast.”
LIFE USA TODAY ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ 7B

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CROSSWORD WORD ROUNDUP A L I M E R Z K A E E M
EDITED Erik Agard By David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek 8/22 M U R L E Q R R S L A O
BY Rena Cohen & Kate Chin Find and Circle: M H N T A A A O C E L T
Park Four relatives (four-letter min.) ☑☐☐☐
Four eight-letter mammals ☐☐☐☐
A G S T V B O N Z M P H
CREATURE
© Andrews McMeel

First three Greek letters ☐☐☐ G I E D Y B U V H O H E

Two fruits starting with L ☐☐
CHORUS Last car on a train ☐ S B R P A Z L Q D N A R
ACROSS Friday’s answer: HARP LUTE OBOE TUBA DRUM / YESTERDAY P A A C A N T E A T E R
1 Throw out of a MICHELLE HELP / GHANA EGYPT KENYA / BOOK GOOD FOOD /
game UNITED NATIONS A C V P C H I P M U N K
6 ___, cross, hook,
uppercut QUICKCROSS UP & DOWN WORDS
9 ___ and turn By John Wilmes 8/22 By David L. Hoyt and Russell L. Hoyt 8/22
13 Greet someone
14 Chocolate Send money electronically 1. THE
sandwich cookie 2.
16 Very frequently The “O” in BO
17 Lengthy online rant 3.
19 It’s about 2.2 lbs. 4.
Paper amount
20 Large deer
21 Neck and neck 5.
Mama’s mate
23 Often-misplaced 6.
pocket jinglers
© Andrews McMeel

Sentence component 7. SHAFT

27 Person you have
a love-hate Thought represented by Clues: Friday’s Answer
relationship with a lightbulb 1. 1986 Jeff Goldblum movie URBAN JUNGLE
28 Address a higher Friday’s Answer 2. Type of angling JUNGLE FEVER
Lane
power 3. It can be chartered FEVER PITCH
29 Track competition T H I S 4. Lakeside launch spot PITCH IN
Humorist Bombeck 5. Increase IN MAINE
31 Barbecue veggie © Andrews McMeel 8/22 H E R O 6. Way to reach the penthouse MAINE BORDER
32 Cloth for cleaning
33 Lobbying group for
63 Resident of Bristol 22 Decompose 50 Mariah Carey fan A R O D QUICKCROSS
7. Skyscraper feature BORDER COLLIE
or Bath 23 Lifesaving technique 52 There are 8,760 in a
MDs 64 Halves of diameters 24 The A in UAE year T E N S ON YOUR PHONE PLAY ONLINE
34 Test taken for 8/19 puzzles.usatoday.com PUZZLES.USATODAY.COM © Andrews McMeel
65 Border 25 Italian meat sauce 54 Slapping the bags
college admissions 66 Sneaky 26 Prefix meaning
35 He goes “to infinity of ___ at Home SUDOKU
67 Caught some Z’s “half” Depot
and beyond” 30 One better than a
41 Coconut or canola 58 Pigpen Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x2
DOWN birdie 59 Poetic homage box contains the numbers 1 through 9 (no repeats).
product 1 Approx. 34 Chic box contains the numbers 1 through 6 (no repeats).
42 Hens do this 60 Fabric mishap
2 Part of the face 36 Long-distance 1 9 5 4 3 6
43 Yellow or chocolate 3 Part of the face romantic outing
61 First-aid ___ 2 1 4
dog 4 Bold in a teasing 37 Finish fastening a
45 Participate in Small way dress 4 6 9 1 4 2
Business Saturday 5 Book spine info 38 Tarantula Friday’s Answer
47 Bridal accessory 6 Write quickly feature 6 8 1 3 2 2 3 1 4 5
48 Couple 7 Nickname for Amy 39 Mathematician
49 Causes of physio- Rodriguez Turing 2 4 6 5 5 4 1 3 2
logical responses 8 ___ of (lacking) 40 Wet weather
51 “Diamonds” singer 9 Pay attention to 44 Garment with
6 4
53 Vehement “no” something cups
55 Meat substitute 10 Broadway show 45 Didn’t blink 5 3 89 4 1 6
ingredient based on a Charles 46 Bringing on DIFFICULTY RATING ✮
✩✩✩✩
56 “Pretty Little Liars” Dickens novel board 9 2 7 5 1 Friday’s Answers
character 11 Sincere, like a vow 47 Parts of some 3 9 6 2 8 1 7 4 5 2 1 6 4 5 3
57 Dish whose name 12 Emotionless golf outfits 2 3 9 8 8 7 2 5 3 4 6 9 1 4 3 5 1 6 2
comes from the 15 U.S. representative 48 Venmo 4 1 5 7 6 9 2 8 3
eggs’ resemblance Ilhan alternative 6 7 5 9 2 3 9 6 8 3 5 2 4 1 7 1 5 3 6 2 4
to osmanthus 1 2 7 8 4 6 3 5 9 6 4 2 5 3 1
18 Online catalog 49 What to do to 8/19 8/22 DIFFICULTY RATING ✮✩✩✩✩ 5 4 3 1 9 7 8 2 6
flowers formerly found on chocolate to get CROSSWORDS SUDOKU FUSION 3 6 1 2 4 5
2 3 4 6 1 5 9 7 8
62 Blow off steam flights little curls ON YOUR PHONE ON YOUR PHONE 7 8 1 9 2 3 5 6 4 5 2 4 3 1 6
Answers: Call 1-900-988-8300, 99 cents a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-320-4280. get our crossword app puzzles.usatoday.com © Andrews McMeel 6 5 9 4 7 8 1 3 2 8/19

1 2
Today’s theme © WIGGLES 3D GAMES
TXTPERT 1 2 3 4 DON’T QUOTE ME®
3 Publications A C R O B A T
Across Down Comedian David Rearrange the words to complete the quote.
R E A A
4 1. 46339 1. 463676 Use the Letterman thinks EQUAL GOOD IT PIE TAKES
4. 2427 2. 3348 phone T H C L
5 keypad to 5
about dessert.
6. 62784323 3. 47783 L I V E K E
8. 2679 5. 63342 decode the ________ ___________ A PRETTY ________
clues. S A D N
7. 847
6 7
For example: 6
S T A R R T CAKE TO ___________ ________.
2 could be A,
7 8/22
B or C ... and E S H O W
5678 could 8
8/19

be LOST T O N E P
8/22

8
Friday’s Answer: “You’ve got to take the initiative and play your game.
© USA TODAY and Rich Coulter Friday’s solution In a decisive set, confidence is the difference.” - Chris Evert
8B ❚ MONDAY AUGUST 22, 2022 ❚ USA TODAY NEWS

WEATHER WEATHER ONLINE

USATODAY.COM

Below 10 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110+
MONDAY’S FORECAST TUESDAY’S FORECAST
RUSSIA
FINLAND

NORWAY SWEDEN KAZAKHSTAN Ulan Bator

Reykjavik St. Petersburg 56/40c
55/44c Oslo 80/61pc Almaty MONGOLIA Vladivostok
ICELAND Bergen 68/47c Helsinki 80/54s Urumqi 78/65s
61/53c 76/54r 70/54pc
RUSSIA UZBEK. Beijing N. KOREA
ESTONIA KYRGYZ. 82/66pc
Aberdeen Stockholm Pyongyang
63/56c Gothenburg 70/53pc 82/63s
TURKMEN. TAJIK.
SCOTLAND 65/51c S. KOREA JAPAN
Riga LATVIA
Kabul ASIA Xian
CHINA 94/73pc Seoul
Edinburgh 67/64r 86/68s
64/56c 72/65r Tokyo
NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN Osaka 88/80pc
IRELAND Newcastle DENMARK Copenhagen LITHUANIA Islamabad Lhasa 93/78t
Galway Belfast 67/55c IRAN 92/76t Changsha Shanghai
73/61pc Minsk Kathmandu 75/52pc 101/83c
68/58pc 68/57sh 103/85h
IRELAND Manchester 80/60pc PAKISTAN 85/69t
69/58pc New Delhi
Shannon Dublin Hamburg NEPAL Dhaka Guangzhou Taipei
92/79pc
71/59sh 71/58sh Birmingham 76/60c 89/81t 99/82c 100/82c
Amsterdam Warsaw BELARUS Karachi Hanoi
71/58c GERMANY Berlin 89/79c Kolkata 94/80t TAIWAN
76/62c 80/66c BURMA
WALES ENGLAND 73/60pc 89/80t Hong Kong
NETH. POLAND LAOS 93/84h
London Brussels Bonn Mumbai Rangoon Da Nang Manila
79/61c 83/59c 86/79sh INDIA 85/76t
74/62c Krakow THAILAND 94/77t 85/78t
Prague Bangkok VIETNAM
BELGIUM 79/63c
61/56pc UKRAINE 92/78t CAMBODIA GUAM
Hagatna
Le Havre LUX. CZECH REP. Phnom Penh Ho Chi Minh City 85/77sh
Frankfurt
75/63pc 84/63pc Munich Bratislava SLOVAKIA 93/79t 91/78t PHILIPPINES
Paris
68/61r
79/66pc Zurich 74/50pc Vienna SRI LANKA
MALAYSIA
77/53s HUNGARY
EUROPE Salzburg 65/60r
MALDIVES
70/58pc AUSTRIA Budapest Singapore Balikpapan
SWITZERLAND 74/62t ROMANIA 87/79r 84/77t
Bordeaux Venice SLOVENIA
80/63pc 82/67pc
Lyon Milan CROATIA PAPUA NEW
SERBIA Jakarta INDONESIA
81/60s 86/65s GUINEA
FRANCE Florence Belgrade 92/77t
Santiago de Compostela Marseille BOSNIA
90/66pc 75/61t Sofia Port Moresby
78/62pc 90/68w
75/60t 89/76t
ITALY MONT.
Ajaccio Dubrovnik KOSOVO BULGARIA
Rome Cairns
Madrid 86/67s 80/71pc Skopje
PORTUGAL 86/69pc 84/65s
96/70s 82/63t MAURITIUS Broome
Tirana MACEDONIA
SPAIN Barcelona 88/67t 91/66w
Lisbon 81/72s Naples Alice Springs
ALBANIA
85/67pc 88/69pc 60/33w
Cagliari Brisbane
Valencia GREECE AUSTRALIA
Palma 91/68t 76/47pc
87/74s
Seville 87/72s Perth
Faro 100/68s 61/49h
Sydney
81/71s Athens
Palermo 66/48sh
88/74pc
85/75t
Algiers Tunis
90/68s Melbourne Canberra
92/75s 53/44r 49/27sh
Rabat
84/66s
ALGERIA TUNISIA
MOROCCO

c Cloudy f Fog i Ice r Rain sf Snow flurries sn Snow w Windy Note: The forecast highs are for the 24-hour period of that
dr Drizzle h Haze pc Partly cloudy s Sunny sh Showers t Thunderstorms day. Low-temperature forecasts are for the upcoming night. Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather Inc. ©2022

CLOSE-UP FORECAST
AMSTERDAM AUCKLAND BANGKOK BEIJING BERLIN BRUSSELS CAIRO COPENHAGEN DUBLIN FLORENCE FRANKFURT HONG KONG
Mostly Partly Partly Mostly Very Some sun, A few Partly Very High
MON TUE Breezy TUE T-storms TUE MON MON MON MON MON MON MON TUE
cloudy sunny sunny cloudy warm nice showers sunny warm clouds
60/51 92/78
76/62 82/66 73/60 79/61 98/81 73/61 71/58 90/66 84/63 93/84
Clouds, Low Stray Mostly Mostly Partly Sunny, A few Mostly Mostly Very Stray
TUE sun WED clouds WED t-storm WED cloudy TUE cloudy TUE sunny TUE hot TUE showers TUE cloudy TUE sunny TUE warm WED t-storm
76/62 60/53 93/78 75/60 75/58 80/61 100/81 74/61 72/54 91/67 87/63 94/82
Partly P.M. Partly Partly Partly Partly Plenty of Very
WED THU P.M. rain THU THU Sunlit WED WED WED Very hot WED WED WED WED THU T-storm
sunny t-storms sunny sunny sunny sunny sun warm
62/55 85/62 101/80 90/81
82/65 93/78 80/62 85/64 75/62 69/48 90/66 89/65

JAKARTA JERUSALEM JOHANNESBURG LONDON LOS ANGELES MADRID MANILA MEXICO CITY MILAN MOSCOW MUNICH NEW YORK
Stray Sunny, A P.M. Mostly Sunny, Mostly Very Partly
TUE MON MON Sunny MON MON MON TUE T-storms MON Shower MON MON MON MON T-storms
t-storm nice shower sunny hot sunny warm sunny
65/44 85/78 74/56 77/70
92/77 85/64 74/62 80/63 96/70 86/65 81/63 74/50
Brief Sunny, Partly P.M. Mostly Clearing, Partly
WED TUE TUE Sunny TUE TUE Sunny TUE Very hot WED T-storm TUE TUE TUE TUE TUE T-storm
showers nice sunny showers sunny warm sunny
65/45 87/65 98/71 88/79 82/70
91/76 85/62 79/64 73/56 86/67 87/63 76/51
An A.M. Sunny, Partly Hazy Partly Very Partly Sunny,
THU WED WED Sunny WED WED WED Very hot THU Rain WED WED T-shower WED WED WED
shower nice sunny sunshine sunny warm sunny warm
67/47 98/68 89/78 85/67
91/76 88/66 81/64 86/67 75/56 88/62 78/55 87/72

PARIS RIO DE JANEIRO ROME SEOUL SHANGHAI ST. PETERSBURG STOCKHOLM SYDNEY TAIPEI TOKYO VIENNA ZURICH
Partly Partly Turning Partly Very Very Mostly
MON MON Some sun MON TUE Sunny TUE Very hot MON MON TUE TUE Shower TUE MON Rain MON
sunny sunny cloudy sunny windy humid sunny
70/64 86/68 101/83 100/82 65/60
79/66 86/69 80/61 70/53 68/46 88/80 77/53
Very Partly Plenty of High P.M. Partly Windy, Stray Partly
TUE TUE TUE WED WED TUE Clearing TUE WED Windy WED WED TUE Showers TUE
warm sunny sun clouds showers sunny hot t-storm sunny
82/64 62/46 68/62
84/65 72/65 86/67 85/70 93/82 69/53 97/82 86/75 78/53
Very Mostly Mostly A P.M. Mostly Mostly Stray Cloudy, Mostly
WED WED WED THU Shower THU WED Shower WED THU THU THU WED Warmer WED
warm sunny sunny t-storm cloudy sunny t-shower humid sunny
80/65 84/63 78/63
89/67 75/67 85/68 93/81 72/52 64/51 95/81 83/77 80/54

WORLD FORECAST USA FORECAST

EUROPE MON TUE MON TUE
MON TUE Strasbourg 83/57s 85/59pc Buenos Aires, Argentina 59/52c 64/56s Seattle
Aberdeen, Scotland 63/56c 70/56c Tallin 75/59r 76/63pc Calgary 81/59pc 69/56t 80/60s
Athens 88/74pc 85/72pc Tirana 88/67t 87/67t Cancun, Mexico 90/76pc 90/77t
Barcelona 81/72s 83/72s Valencia/Aeropuerto 87/74s 88/75s Caracas, Venezuela 88/74t 89/73t Portland
Belfast 68/57sh 69/53c Venice 82/67pc 82/67s Cozumel, Mexico 93/73t 92/73t 85/63pc Boston
Belgrade 75/61t 76/64t Vienna 65/60r 68/62sh Fort-de-France 87/77t 87/77sh Minneapolis-St. Paul 75/69sh
Bergen, Norway 61/53c 68/59sh Vilnius, Lithuania 81/64c 84/66c Halifax, Nova Scotia 75/65pc 74/65r 82/64pc
Bern 77/51s 78/51pc Warsaw 80/66c 84/66t Lima, Peru 62/57pc 62/58pc
Bilbao 76/66pc 83/65s Montreal 81/67t 73/64sh New York
Birmingham, England 71/58c 74/61pc ASIA / OCEANIA Nassau, Bahamas 91/79t 90/79t 77/70t
Bonn 83/59c 85/59pc TUE WED Philipsburg, St. Maarten 89/81t 89/81t Chicago
San Francisco 78/62s
Bordeaux 80/63pc 86/65s Adelaide 55/48pc 56/48r Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 90/75t 88/75t 76/59w
Bratislava 68/61r 69/62sh Alice Springs Airport 60/33w 62/33w Punta Arenas, Chile 44/36s 46/37w Washington
Denver 84/71t
Bucharest 88/66t 88/68t Bali 84/77s 84/77h Quebec 79/63c 73/61sh 85/61pc
Cadiz, Spain 90/65s 94/67s Broome Bilingurr 91/66w 87/62w Quito, Ecuador 73/47r 74/46s St. Louis
Caen 76/60pc 79/62pc Cairns Airport 84/65s 82/66s San Jose, Costa Rica 83/65t 81/65t 85/67s
Cagliari 91/68t 88/69s Changde 104/82h 100/81pc Santo Domingo 89/74t 87/75t Los Angeles
Cardiff 72/61pc 72/63pc Changsha City 104/86pc 102/86r Sao Paulo 65/52pc 70/54pc 80/63pc
Dresden 63/57pc 69/57pc Christchurch 58/44pc 63/43r Toronto 76/65t 79/65sh
Dubrovnik 80/71pc 79/71t Colombo 85/78t 85/79t Vancouver 75/60pc 76/63pc Phoenix Atlanta
Duesseldorf 82/62c 84/65pc Da Nang 94/77t 94/77t Winnipeg 81/58pc 77/57c 100/83t 81/69t
Edinburgh 64/56c 70/56c Darwin 90/71s 89/68w Dallas-Fort Worth
Faro, Portugal 81/71s 78/68s Dhaka 89/81t 91/82t AFRICA / MIDDLE EAST 81/73t
Figari 89/65s 88/66s Guangzhou 99/82c 100/81t MON TUE
Geneva 78/57s 80/57pc Hagatna, Guam 85/77sh 87/77pc Abidjan, Ivory Coast 82/74c 81/73r
New Orleans
Genoa 84/74s 85/74s Hanoi 94/80t 95/81t Abu Dhabi 108/88s 108/88c Houston
85/77t Miami
Glasgow 64/56sh 68/55c Ho Chi Minh City 91/78t 91/77t Accra, Ghana 81/73w 81/72w 89/76t
92/82t
Gothenburg, Sweden 65/51c 72/55sh Hobart 51/40pc 56/44c Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 70/55sh 68/55sh
Hamburg 76/60c 81/61pc Karachi 89/79c 89/79sh Alexandria, Egypt 89/76s 93/75s
Helsinki 76/54r 75/60pc Kathmandu 85/69t 84/68t Algiers, Algeria 90/68s 89/67s
Innsbruck 76/53pc 78/53pc Kolkata 89/80t 89/80t Amman, Jordan 88/68s 88/65s MON TUE MON TUE MON TUE
Krakow 79/63c 78/63t Kuala Lumpur 87/75t 89/75t Ankara, Turkey 90/65s 92/65s Albany, N.Y. 78/67t 81/65t Fargo, N.D. 84/61pc 82/62pc Philadelphia 82/72t 86/71t
Kyiv 83/64pc 83/66pc Kyoto 93/77t 93/75t Baghdad 110/80s 110/82h Albuquerque 81/63t 83/65t Fort Myers, Fla. 93/77t 92/76t Phoenix 100/83t 101/81s
Las Palmas 85/74w 83/72w Lhasa City 75/52pc 75/54c Bahrain 103/93s 103/94s Allentown, Pa. 80/66t 84/62t Grand Rapids, Mich. 80/58pc 80/61pc Pittsburgh 74/63t 77/62pc
Le Havre 75/63pc 76/63pc Macau 92/83pc 92/82c Beirut 87/79s 86/77s Anchorage 60/54sh 62/53sh Greensboro, N.C. 83/66t 84/68t Portland, Maine 75/63sh 74/64c
Lisbon 85/67pc 87/66s Mumbai 86/79sh 85/78sh Cape Town, S.A. 65/46pc 78/51s Atlanta 81/69t 84/71t Hartford, Conn. 77/67t 81/65t Portland, Ore. 85/63pc 85/64s
Lucerne, Switzerland 76/54s 77/54pc Nanchang City 102/86pc 99/86pc Casablanca, Morocco 90/69s 88/70s Atlantic City 77/71t 81/70t Honolulu 88/74s 88/76sh Providence 78/69t 83/68t
Luxembourg 80/61s 81/63pc New Delhi 92/79pc 91/80pc Damascus, Syria 95/68w 95/65s Austin 91/72t 86/71t Houston 89/76t 86/75t Raleigh, N.C. 83/69t 86/70t
Lyon 81/60s 84/60s Noumea 79/66s 79/65s Dar es Salaam, Tanz. 86/69r 82/67sh Baltimore 84/68t 86/69t Huntsville, Ala. 82/68t 87/66c Rapid City, S.D. 95/62pc 90/59pc
Malaga 89/68s 84/70s Osaka 93/78t 92/77t Harare, Zimbabwe 76/47s 76/46s Baton Rouge 84/73t 81/73t Indianapolis 82/59pc 82/63pc Reno 96/59s 97/63s
Manchester 69/58pc 73/61c Pago Pago 84/76sh 84/76s Istanbul, Turkey 88/75pc 87/75pc Billing, Mont. 91/65pc 87/61pc Jackson, Miss. 78/70t 79/71t Richmond 83/69c 86/70t
Marseille 90/68w 89/68s Perth 61/49h 66/51c Kabul 72/64c 67/64r Birmingham, Ala. 79/70t 81/69t Jacksonville 89/71t 85/71t Rochester, N.Y. 78/64t 78/61sh
Milan 86/65s 86/67s Phnom Penh 93/79t 93/79t Kinshasa, Congo 84/72c 87/72pc Boise, Idaho 98/66s 95/64s Kansas City, Mo. 86/64s 88/68pc Sacramento 98/62s 96/60s
Minsk 80/60pc 85/63c Pyongyang 82/63s 84/64c Kuwait 117/93s 116/92s Boston 75/69sh 81/68t Knoxville, Tenn. 83/65t 86/66c St. Louis 85/67s 86/69pc
Monte Carlo 83/74t 83/75pc Rangoon 85/76t 88/76c Lagos, Nigeria 85/74c 85/74r Buffalo 77/65t 77/63sh Las Vegas 102/84s 103/82s Salt Lake City 94/71s 97/73s
Naples 88/69pc 85/68t Sapporo 81/68sh 78/65pc Luanda, Angola 76/68c 76/67pc Cedar Rapids, Iowa 80/59s 81/61pc Little Rock 83/69t 84/69t San Antonio 94/76pc 87/76t
Nice 84/73t 84/74s Singapore 87/79r 87/79t Lusaka, Zambia 72/54s 73/56s Charleston, S.C. 83/73t 82/73t Louisville 85/67pc 85/67s San Diego 78/68pc 79/70pc
Oslo 68/47c 69/52pc Tianjin 82/69pc 77/64pc Luxor, Egypt 106/78s 107/79s Charlotte 84/68t 86/68t Memphis 85/72t 86/71c San Francisco 76/59w 71/58pc
Palermo 85/75t 85/74t Vladivostok 78/65s 75/63s Mecca, Saudi Arabia 106/85pc 110/84s Cheyenne, Wyo. 83/56pc 83/55s Miami 92/82t 91/79t San Juan, P.R. 89/78t 89/79t
Palma 87/72s 86/74s Wellington 58/52pc 59/51w Mombasa, Kenya 82/70r 82/70r Chicago 78/62s 80/63s Milwaukee 77/62s 78/63pc Sarasota, Fla. 91/76t 92/75t
Prague 61/56pc 67/57pc Wuhan City 102/80h 98/81h Nairobi, Kenya 76/53pc 77/55pc Cincinnati 82/63t 82/64s Minneapolis 82/64pc 83/66s Savannah, Ga. 85/72t 83/72t
Reims 80/56pc 81/59pc Yokohama 88/80pc 86/76t Nicosia, Cyprus 97/73s 93/72s Cleveland 76/64t 79/63pc Mobile, Ala. 83/73t 82/71t Seattle 80/60s 79/62s
Reykjavik 55/44c 58/46pc Rabat, Morocco 84/66s 82/68pc Colorado Springs 75/56pc 81/57pc Myrtle Beach, S.C. 82/73t 80/73t Shreveport, La. 80/73t 81/72t
Riga 72/65r 82/66c AMERICAS Tangier, Morocco 83/68s 87/71s Columbia, S.C. 82/71t 84/69t Nashville 86/67c 87/67s Spokane, Wash. 85/61pc 87/61s
Salzburg 70/58pc 72/55pc MON TUE Tbilisi, Georgia 89/64s 88/62pc Columbus, Ohio 79/63c 81/63s New Orleans 85/77t 83/75t Syracuse, N.Y. 78/66t 77/65t
Santiago de Comp. 78/62pc 84/64s Acapulco, Mexico 88/77t 88/77t Tehran, Iran 91/74s 91/72s Concord, N.H. 79/63sh 79/63c Norfolk, Va. 82/70c 84/70t Tampa 93/79t 92/79t
Sarajevo 68/58t 70/59t Belize 87/77t 88/77t Tel Aviv, Israel 89/73s 89/72s Dallas-Ft. Worth 81/73t 86/72t Oklahoma City 86/64pc 87/64pc Topeka 88/63pc 89/64pc
Sevilla/San Pablo 100/68s 97/71s Bermuda 88/81pc 89/80s Tombouctou, Mail 99/80s 100/77h Daytona Beach, Fla. 92/74t 91/76t Omaha 84/63s 89/65pc Tucson 89/73t 96/75t
Skopje 82/63t 79/61t Bogota 64/46r 65/47pc Tripoli, Libya 89/72s 90/71s Denver 85/61pc 86/62pc Orlando 93/76t 92/76t Tulsa 91/68pc 92/67pc
Sofia Intl Airport 75/60t 75/61t Brasilia, Brazil 78/55s 79/55pc Tunis, Tunisia 92/75s 92/73s Detroit 79/62pc 82/64pc Palm Springs, Calif. 109/86s 109/86s Washington, D.C. 84/71t 86/72t
St. Petersburg 80/61pc 82/64pc Bridgetown, Barbados 87/79t 88/79sh Zanzibar 83/72s 79/71sh El Paso 84/67t 85/67c Pensacola, Fla. 85/74t 83/74t Wichita 91/63s 93/65s

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