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THE COHEN CASE
‘Banned coaches’ Tune in to “CBS This Morning” from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Thursday to see USA TODAY reporter Nancy Armour discuss “Banned coaches,” a USA TODAY Sports investigation that looks at men barred from the Olympic movement because of sexual misconduct but who are allowed to coach young athletes.
‘BLIND LOYALTY’ LED DOWN TO ‘DARKNESS’
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UK leader survives no-confidence vote Prime Minister Theresa May faced challenge amid Brexit turmoil
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Don’t let food recalls stop you from eating Experts say U.S. system is still among the safest in the world
Tired of watching your 401(k) drop? After painful fourth quarter, analysts say investors should stay the course
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Never-ending bowl season still growing As long as there is money to be made, appetite for more bowls persists
Bob Nightengale: Agent has never had a free agent like Bryce Harper before
‘Smorgasbord’ of misdeeds brings 3-year sentence
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NEW YORK – Michael Cohen was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison, making the longtime personal attorney for Donald Trump the first member of the president’s inner circle to serve time in a case that could place the former real estate mogul in legal jeopardy. Cohen, known for years as Trump’s fixer in legal and business matters, pleaded guilty in August to a series of crimes, including campaign finance violations and tax evasion in the Southern District of New York. Cohen admitted last month that he lied to Congress in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. “My own weakness was blind loyalty to the man that caused me to choose the path of darkness,” Cohen said, his voice cracking. “Time and time again, I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.” Cohen said he took “full responsibility” for the nine felonies to which he pleaded guilty – “the personal ones to me and those involving the president of the United States of America.” Cohen must surrender for prison March 6. He
Michael Cohen’s prison sentence was less than prosecutors recommended but more than Cohen’s lawyers requested. Cohen says he cooperated to make sure history doesn’t remember him as a villain. ROBERT DEUTSCH/USA TODAY
“Time and time again, I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.” Michael Cohen
President Trump’s former lawyer
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NEW YORK – The sentencing of President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer might mark the end of a wrenching chapter for Michael Cohen, but the political and legal implications of Cohen’s capitulation have only darkened the shadow that looms over the Trump White House. The worst of what New York federal prosecutors and Russia special counsel Robert Mueller revealed in court papers last week – Trump’s alleged implication in hush money payments to mistresses and Cohen’s early campaign contacts with Russians – probably represents only a fraction of what they have gathered in multiple inquiries that have reached deep into Trump’s inner circle. Trump brushed away the hush money payments to two women who
Fentanyl is now USA’s deadliest drug USA TODAY
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Brad Heath, Kevin McCoy, Bart Jansen and Kevin Johnson
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Doyle Rice
of professionals admit saying only nice things during a reference check could backfire if the hired person does not perform well.
Shadow over the White House looms larger
Fentanyl is now the deadliest drug in America, federal health officials announced Wednesday, with more than 18,000 overdose deaths in 2016, the most recent year for which statistics are available. It’s the first time the synthetic opioid has been the nation’s deadliest drug. From 2012 to 2015, heroin topped the list. On average, in each year from 2013 to 2016, the rate of overdose deaths from Fentanyl increased by about 113 percent a year. The report said fentanyl was responsible for 29 percent of all overdose deaths in 2016, up from just 4 percent in 2011. Overall, more than 63,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016, AMERICA’S MARKETS 4B
On average, in each year from 2013 to 2016, the overdose death rate from Fentanyl increased by about 113 percent. DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
according to the report, which was prepared by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s an average of 174 deaths a day.
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The study also said many people who die from overdoses have multiple drugs in their system. “We’ve had a tendency to think of these drugs in isolation,” Holly Hedegaard, lead author of the report, told HuffPost. “It’s not really what’s happening.” As an example, roughly 40 percent of people listed as dying of a cocaine overdose also had fentanyl in their system. After fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine were the deadliest drugs in 2016. After declines earlier in the decade, the report said, overdose deaths from both cocaine and methamphetamine were starting to rise again. The study said illegal drugs such as fentanyl and heroin were the primary causes of unintentional overdoses, while prescription drugs such as oxycodone tended to be used in suicide overdoses. WEATHER 6A
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NEWS
E2
Pelosi shows her ‘steel hand’ Democrat has faced challenges all her career
cluding 66 House seats. It also marked the beginning of a drumbeat of opposition within her caucus to Pelosi’s reign as party leader. Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, who was then a leader of the centrist Blue Dog Democrats, ran against Pelosi. She kept the support of caucus liberals and won election as minority leader, 150-43. The grumblings continued after Democrats failed to recapture the House in 2016. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio challenged Pelosi, arguing that Democrats were becoming a coastal party and no longer relevant in the Midwest and West. He, too, was easily defeated by Pelosi, but his effort garnered 63 votes.
Bill Theobald USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Nancy Pelosi’s public clash Tuesday with President Donald Trump brings to mind the caricature of the wild-eyed San Francisco liberal whom Republicans love to bash. Behind that persona is a tough, skilled tactician who has advanced further than any other woman in the history of the Congress. The House minority leader served as speaker when Democrats had the majority from 2007 to 2011 – and she’s poised to take the gavel once again come January. When Trump said Pelosi wasn’t in a position to “talk right now” as she tries to win votes to become speaker, the California Democrat bit back. “Please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting,” she told him. Here is a look at Pelosi – the person and the politician:
Schooled on streets of Baltimore Pelosi, 78, has represented San Francisco since winning a special election in 1987. Her political roots are in the roughand-tumble world of Baltimore politics. She grew up with five brothers in a corner rowhouse in crowded Little Italy. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., represented the city in the House before becoming mayor, and her brother also served as mayor of Baltimore. The children took turns staffing a desk at the family home, helping constituents with everyday problems.
Entering Washington, a new world Pelosi ended up in California after she met and married investor Paul Pelosi while she attended what is now the Roman Catholic Trinity Washington University and he was a student at Georgetown University. When she arrived in the House, Republican Ronald Reagan was president, and Pelosi was one of only about two
IN BRIEF Congress approves $400 billion to aid farmers, forests, poor Congress voted final approval Wednesday to a sweeping farm bill that will provide more than $400 billion for agriculture subsidies, conservation programs and food aid. The House voted 369-47 for the bill, which sets federal agricultural and food policy for five years, after the Senate approved it 87-13 on Tuesday. President Donald Trump is expected to sign it. The measure reauthorizes crop insurance and conservation programs and pays for trade programs, bioenergy production and organic farming research. It also reduces the cost for struggling dairy producers to sign up for support programs and legalizes the cultivation of industrial hemp.
China poses serious national security threat, US officials say Cyber threats from China and its theft of intellectual property from American companies pose large economic and national security challenges for the United States, national security officials told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. “We cannot tolerate a nation that steals the fruit of our brainpower,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said.
Pope cuts 2 cardinals named in abuse scandal from his Cabinet Pope Francis has removed two cardinals implicated in the Catholic Church’s sex abuse and cover-up scandal from his informal cabinet. The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis in October had written to Chilean Cardinal Javier Errazuriz and Australian Cardinal George Pell thanking them for their service.
Turkey vows to hit US-backed Kurdish militia in Syria Turkey will launch a new military operation against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria “within a few days,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday, a move likely to further strain U.S.-Turkish ties. From staff and wire reports
Return to power, but for how long? House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is poised to regain the speakership. ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES
dozen women in the 435-member body. If she ends up taking the gavel in January, she will oversee a House that includes 103 women (counting nonvoting members who represent the District of Columbia and U.S. territories).
Rising in the ranks, making history Pelosi entered leadership when she was elected minority whip in 2001. The whip is the vote counter and sometimes the disciplinarian who keeps caucus members in line. The next step up came when Pelosi was elected minority leader in 2002 after Richard Gephardt of Missouri stepped aside. She was the first woman to lead a party caucus. When Democrats won control of the House in the 2006 midterm elections under Republican President George W. Bush, breaking through after a dozen years in the minority, Pelosi became the first female speaker in history. The mother of five took the gavel Jan. 4, 2007, surrounded by the children and grandchildren of members. The burgundy pantsuit she wore is at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
Responding to crisis After facing off with a GOP president in her first two years as speaker, Pelosi spent her next two years under Democratic President Barack Obama, supporting the president’s program to staunch a hemorrhaging economy. She kept most of her caucus on board to allow passage of the massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
No Obamacare without Pelosi Probably Pelosi’s biggest accomplishment as speaker was shepherding the Affordable Care Act, later dubbed Obamacare, through the House. Though many of her caucus members balked, Pelosi wielded a gavel used during the 1965 Medicare debate to keep enough Democrats in line for final passage March 21, 2010.
A challenge to her leadership The 2010 midterm election marked the end of Pelosi’s stint as speaker as Democrats suffered massive losses, in-
Pelosi has faced challenges from the right and left within her party as she battles to regain the speaker’s gavel after Democrats gained 38 seats in the midterm election. Moderate Democrats see a need for new leadership more in tune with independent voters in the middle of country, while liberals bristle at Pelosi’s opposition to impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump and her call for bipartisan cooperation on lowering drug costs and infrastructure legislation. Pelosi has enough loyal followers, such as Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis, that she’s almost assured of winning a second term as speaker when the 116th Congress convenes in January. She would join four others who have won multiple terms as speaker, most notably Henry Clay and Sam Rayburn, who each had three stints leading the House. Cohen called Pelosi “a skilled and experienced tactician, a steel hand in a silk glove” in a letter of support he sent to colleagues. He said such a strong leader is needed when dealing with a mercurial Republican president and GOP-controlled Senate. “When you’re in the seventh game of the NBA Finals, you want LeBron in the paint. When you’re in the final game of the World Series, you want Sandy Koufax on the mound,” Cohen wrote.
Cookie ethics crumble, even for a general, Pentagon says Tom Vanden Brook USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – The Air Force scolded a general whose hands were caught in the Girl Scout cookie jar. The one-star officer ran afoul of ethics rules by selling Girl Scout cookies in the office and encouraging a subordinate to retrieve boxes of Trefoils and Tagalongs from the general’s car for a display in the office. “The brigadier general,” according to a paragraph tucked into a report from the Pentagon inspector general, “received a verbal counseling.” The no-no, a minor one in the constellation of misbehavior by military brass, highlights the ethical minefield senior officers must navigate, serves as a warning shot as cookie-selling season approaches, and darn it, Secretary it just isn’t how the Girl Jim Mattis Scouts intended their Do-si-dos and Thin Mints to crumble. “The Girl Scout Cookie program is the largest girl-run and girl-led financial literacy program in the world, and the largest annual fundraiser in the world dedicated to girls,” the Girl Scouts said in a statement to USA TODAY. “To that end, the program is designed to be led and conducted by girls and not led by adult troop leaders, volunteers or parents.” Or generals. The Pentagon advises uniformed and civilian officials to mind their ethical Ps and Qs. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis drove home that message with a memo to all who work in the military at taxpayer expense. “I expect all of us to be ethics sentinels, ensuring we uphold not just minimum legal standards, but the highest degree of honor our Nation and our military are known for around the world,” Mattis wrote in September. Judging by the inspector general’s report, most military brass and senior civilian officials do just that. The report to Congress shows that investigators substantiated wrongdo-
The Girl Scout Cookie program is “the largest annual fundraiser in the world dedicated to girls,” according to the organization. MATT HERP/USA TODAY NETWORK
ing in 22 of 83 cases of the misconduct cases involving senior officials it closed from April through September. The report shows a wide range of ethical lapses. On the low end is the Air Force general who “wrongfully conducted fundraising activities in the workplace by selling the brigadier general’s daughters’ Girl Scout cookies in the office.” The general, who was not identified immediately by the Air Force, was flagged for encouraging “the Executive Officer, a subordinate, to perform activities other than those required in the performance of official duties.” At the other end of the spectrum are sailors snared in a scandal involving Leonard Glenn Francis, the owner of Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Known as “Fat Leonard,” Francis operated a bribery scheme that netted him tens of millions in contracts in exchange for fancy dinners, pricey booze and prostitutes. The cases show that somebody’s watching, particularly the actions of senior officers, and complaining about them to the inspector general. As cookie season approaches, generally running from January to April, the Girl Scouts offered advice to adults – in uniform and civilian attire. “As a parent or troop leader, you may help by escorting your daughter or her troop from door to door, help set up her cookie booth outside of a retail establishment such as a grocery store,” the
Girl Scouts said. “But the actual sale of the cookies is done by the girl.”
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May survives ouster attempt British PM says defeat would imperil Brexit plan
Senate debates ending support for Saudi war Change would be first use of War Powers Act Deirdre Shesgreen USA TODAY
Kim Hjelmgaard USA TODAY
LONDON – British Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote Wednesday called by members of her ruling Conservative Party who threatened to oust her from power and derail her Brexit deal to leave the European Union. May’s victory increases the likelihood of an orderly British exit from the EU in March next year, although she still needs to get the deal approved by Parliament. May delayed a parliamentary vote on the agreement this week because it was unlikely to pass. And that reality has not changed after the party vote. May acknowledged in a short statement after the vote that a “significant number of colleagues voted against me,” but she was adamant that “we need to get on with the job of delivering Brexit.” She said it was now time for lawmakers to “bring the country back together and build a country that truly works for everyone.” May won the support of 200 of her fellow Conservative lawmakers; 117 voted against her. She needed at least 159 votes to ensure survival. Under Britain’s parliamentary rules, her own party is not allowed to challenge her leadership for a full year. The ballot was held in secret. A no-confidence vote on her leadership was triggered after 48 lawmakers from May’s party wrote to an influential parliamentary committee calling for her to step aside amid discontent from lawmakers who said the deal she negotiated with the EU does not go far enough to disentangle Britain’s economic and political ties to the 28-nation bloc. Among the concerns: an unresolved question over the land border between Northern Ireland (part of Britain) and Ireland (part of the EU). Decades of
USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ 3A
Prime Minister Theresa May has survived a no-confidence vote. EPA-EFE
peace between Northern Ireland’s Irish Catholic community and its British Protestant one have been facilitated by the free trade and travel across that border that EU membership allows. May has been prime minister since shortly after Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016. In Britain, a political party is elected to government, not an individual, meaning that if May had lost Wednesday’s vote her party would have chosen a new leader without calling an election. Earlier Wednesday, May warned that if she was forced to step down, Brexit could be delayed or even stopped altogether. There was no obvious choice to replace May if she had lost the vote. Among the names favored by British bookmakers were Dominic Raab, who resigned as Britain’s top Brexit official last month; Sajid Javid, a former banker serving as interior minister; and Boris Johnson, a tousle-haired, American-born former journalist and exsecretary of state for foreign affairs under May before he quit over her Brexit stance. Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29. May is due to travel to Brussels on Thursday for a political summit to ask EU leaders to alter aspects of the deal related to the Irish border, a move that could help appease some of her critics. EU officials have said the deal can’t be renegotiated.
WASHINGTON – The Senate voted Wednesday to begin debate on a measure that would end U.S. military support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, a historic step fueled by bipartisan outrage over the kingdom’s role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. The 60-39 vote marks the first time Congress has held a full-fledged debate on invoking the War Powers Act, a Vietnam-era law designed to limit the president’s power to start or escalate military engagement. The final outcome of the Yemen resolution remains in flux as senators braced for a freeflowing floor debate on Khashoggi’s murder, the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia and the war in Yemen. Proponents of the Yemen war powers resolution said they’re optimistic it will pass this week. Unlike other bills, the measure is not subject to a filibuster, so it needs a simple 51-vote majority to pass. “If we end up getting over 50 votes on a war powers resolution, that’s historic,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, DConn., who sponsored the Yemen resolution with Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. It would be the first time the House or Senate “has ever used the war powers to pull the United States out of hostilities overseas,” Murphy said. Senators may vote on a separate resolution, still in the works, naming Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, as responsible for Khashoggi’s death. The Washington Post columnist was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 by a team of Saudi operatives. The crown prince denied any involvement in Khashoggi’s death, but the CIA concluded that he directed the killing. Senators emerged from a briefing with CIA Director Gina Haspel last week saying they were convinced the
crown prince was complicit in the journalist’s murder. Haspel briefed top House lawmakers Wednesday morning. Soon after, House GOP leaders blocked a Yemen war powers proposal from reaching the floor in that chamber. Proponents said they hoped the House would pass it in January, when Democrats gain control of that chamber. After the briefing, Rep. Eliot Engel, DN.Y., who will chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee come January, promised a wide-ranging assessment of U.S.Saudi ties. “The Foreign Affairs Committee intends to hold hearings after the first of the year about all aspects of Saudi be-
“If we end up getting over 50 votes on a war powers resolution, that’s historic.” Sen. Chris Murphy,
D-Conn.
havior, and we’ll let the chips fall where they may,” Engel said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., argued against the Yemen resolution Wednesday. “Members on both sides have legitimate concerns about the war in Yemen, about the U.S. interests tangled up in this conflict and especially about the horrible plight of Yemeni citizens who are caught in the crossfire,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “And where Saudi Arabia is concerned, I think every single member of this body shares grave concerns about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and wants accountability.” The GOP leader said American support for the Saudi-led coalition does not amount to military engagement. The United States is not involved in direct combat and stopped providing air-toair refueling, he noted. “If the Senate wants to pick a constitutional fight with the Executive Branch over war powers, I would advise my colleagues to pick a better case,” McConnell said.
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Members of the French special forces search Wednesday for the gunman who opened fire in Strasbourg on Tuesday night. SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Terrorism inquiry opens as French hunt gunman Jane Onyanga-Omara, Kim Hjelmgaard and Doyle Rice USA TODAY
France was on high alert Wednesday as hundreds of security forces took part in a manhunt for a gunman who killed at least two people and wounded a dozen at a Christmas market in eastern France. French authorities had said three people were killed, but prosecutor Remy Heitz said Wednesday that two people were dead and a third was brain-dead. Eight of the injured were seriously wounded. The attack happened in Strasbourg, which is home to the European Union’s Parliament, around 8 p.m. local time Tuesday. A terrorism investigation was opened. A motive for the attack remains unclear; no group claimed responsibility. President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that the attack was terrorism: “Another very bad terror attack in France. We are going to strengthen our borders even more. Chuck and Nancy must give us the votes to get additional Border Security!” He referred to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is likely to lead the House of Representatives when Democrats take over next month.
One of the dead was identified as Anupong Suebsamarn, 45, a resident of Thailand who was traveling in France with his wife. French police said suspect Cherif Chekatt, 29, may have been radicalized while serving time in prison for several robbery cases. Authorities suspected Chekatt might have fled to Germany, where he spent time in prison for robbery. The German government stepped up controls on the country’s border. Heitz, the prosecutor, said witnesses heard the suspect shout, “God is great” in Arabic during the attack. He said police found a grenade, a rifle and four knives during a search of the suspect’s house Tuesday morning. He said the assailant, who attacked the victims with a handgun and a knife, was shot in the arm during a gunfight with soldiers before fleeing in a taxi to another part of the city. Laurent Nunez, secretary of state for France’s Interior Ministry, told France-Inter radio Wednesday that five people were detained in connection with the attack. Chekatt’s father and two brothers are among the people in custody in the investigation. Contributing: The Associated Press
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White House Continued from Page 1A
claimed to have had affairs with him as “civil” matters, but the detailed description of Cohen’s conduct outlined Wednesday by a federal judge and prosecutor will be difficult for the White House to dismiss. U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley said Cohen’s crimes, including the payments prosecutors said were directed by Trump, highlight a level of “deception” and “sophistication” motivated by “personal greed.” Prosecutor Jeannie Rhee, a top aide to Mueller, signaled that Cohen’s assistance to the Russia investigation – and its examination of possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin – has yet to be fully revealed. Rhee told Pauley that Cohen provided “credible” and “valuable information” in the Russia inquiry. “Mr. Cohen has sought to tell us the truth,” Rhee said. Pauley sentenced Cohen to three years in prison for income tax evasion, campaign finance violations, lying to Congress and lying to banks. It was less than the 42 months prosecutors sought, but more than the probation that Cohen’s attorneys requested. Trump offered a variety of explanations for the payments. He initially denied knowledge about them. He later acknowledged them but said they weren’t illegal. Terree Bowers, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, said the president’s position could be difficult for prosecutors to overcome. “Trump appears to be advancing an advice-of-counsel defense,” Bowers said. “Trump’s purported reliance on Cohen regarding campaign finance law may actually be a formidable hurdle to prosecutors.” Among the threats Cohen poses to the president and his administration:
The ultimate insider Even before he arrived in federal court Wednesday, Cohen had fully cemented his role as an antagonist to the president – one equipped with lots of inside information. Cohen attorney Guy Petrillo indicated Wednesday that New York federal prosecutors gathered so much material on Cohen through “dozens and dozens” of witnesses and raids at his client’s residences and offices that there is little
Sentence Continued from Page 1A
was ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution for his unpaid taxes and $100,000 in fines. Manhattan U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley walked through each of the counts against Cohen, saying, “Each of these crimes is a serious offense against the United States.” Pauley agreed to a modest reduction of Cohen’s prison sentence to reward him for his cooperation but said his “veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct” required a punishment to match. “Somewhere along the way, Mr. Cohen appears to have lost his moral compass,” Pauley said. “Our democratic institutions depend on the honesty of our citizenry in dealing with the government.” After Pauley announced his sentence to a crowded Manhattan courtroom, Cohen’s father, Maurice, 83, who had entered in a wheelchair, held his face in his hands. “I’m dizzy as hell,” he said. “My world is spinning out of control.” Cohen’s daughter Samantha had limped into court on a crutch. She started to sob as sentencing was pronounced. Cohen, who once said he would take a bullet for Trump, cooperated with Mueller’s team and provided prosecutors with a potential bounty of information about the Trump campaign’s contacts with the Kremlin. Prosecutors said he gave them information about “core” aspects of the Russia investigation, based in part on his connections to Trump’s private company and his administration. Cohen said his cooperation was a way of “ensuring that history will not remember me as the villain of this story.” He apologized to his family and the public, who “deserved to know the truth.” Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor and Trump’s personal attorney, dismissed Cohen as a “complete liar” and a “scoundrel” and said that what the president’s former associate told prosecutors doesn’t matter. Cohen and Trump once seemed a united team. Trump’s fame and wealth grew with the licensing of his name and
Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen leaves court in New York after his sentencing Wednesday. ROBERT DEUTSCH/USA TODAY
about him that they haven’t been able to document on their own. That information includes tape recordings of conversations with clients including Trump. “The special counsel’s investigation is of the utmost national significance, no less than seen 40-plus years ago in the days of Watergate,” Petrillo said. A recording in which Cohen and Trump discussed payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal was identified this year as one of the pieces of evidence seized by the FBI in a raid on Cohen’s offices in April. The payments to McDougal and p*rn star Stormy Daniels, both of whom claimed affairs with the president, were the basis for campaign finance violations to which Cohen pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said Trump directed Cohen to make the payments, which would implicate the president in felony offenses. “I will continue to cooperate with the government, offering as much information as I truthfully possess,” Cohen said in court. “My departure as a loyal soldier to the president bears a heavy price.”
The Russia factor Perhaps the most complete assistance Cohen provided to the government has been to Mueller’s Russia investigation.
his starring role in “The Apprentice,” while Cohen took on the real estate developer’s critics in legal combat. Their relationship ruptured this year as federal prosecutors and Mueller investigated both men. Cohen cemented the split as he sought leniency Wednesday, telling the judge he had been in a form of “personal and mental incarceration” since the day he began working for the businessman. “Today is the day I am getting my freedom back,” he said. Cohen is the first member of Trump’s inner circle to be sentenced in the tandem criminal investigations that cast a shadow over the presidency. Three other senior aides – former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates – are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming months after
“Somewhere along the way, Mr. Cohen appears to have lost his moral compass. Our democratic institutions depend on the honesty of our citizenry in dealing with the government.” William Pauley
Manhattan U.S. District Court Judge
they pleaded guilty to federal crimes. George Papadopoulos, a former aide to Trump’s campaign, completed a 14-day prison sentence for lying to the FBI about a person he thought was a Russian offering “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. Lanny Davis, a lawyer representing Cohen, said his client will continue to share what he knows about his former boss. “At the appropriate time, after Mr. Mueller completes his investigation and issues his final report, I look forward to assisting Michael to state publicly all he knows about Mr. Trump – and that includes any appropriate congressional committee interested in the search for truth and the difference between facts and lie,” Davis said. “Mr. Trump’s re-
Rhee told Pauley on Wednesday that Cohen supplied “credible information about core Russia-related matters.” The prosecutor did not elaborate. Central to the Russia inquiry is the question of whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 presidential election. Court documents filed by prosecutors before Cohen’s sentencing offered the fullest account of Trump’s political and business contacts with Russia. As early as November 2015, Cohen told Mueller’s team, he was in contact with a Russian national who claimed to be a “trusted” figure in the Russian government and who allegedly offered the campaign “synergy on a government level.” Trump announced his White House bid in June 2015. Prosecutors said Cohen had extensive discussions with Russians about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow and kept Trump and his family members briefed on the talks. At the time, Trump repeatedly denied any business interests in Russia on the campaign trail. Prosecutors said Cohen remained in contact with White House officials as recently as this year, even as he drew increasing scrutiny from prosecutors. Petrillo said Wednesday that Cohen offered Mueller “relevant knowledge in the investigation” despite knowing he
would face “a barrage of attacks by the president.” He said Cohen “came forward to offer evidence against the most powerful person in our country” even though he didn’t know whether Trump could shut down the Mueller inquiry.
peated lies cannot contradict stubborn facts.” Mueller’s investigation began in May 2017. The New York prosecutors executed search warrants at Cohen’s office, home and hotel room last year after being referred by Mueller’s team. The New York prosecutors said Cohen paid hush money to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep them from publicizing claims they had sexual affairs with Trump, potentially jeopardizing his presidential campaign. Trump denied the women’s accounts. Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who represented Daniels, called it “an outrage” that Cohen did not get a stiffer sentence and said the case suggested trouble for Trump. “Michael Cohen is neither a hero nor a patriot. Only when his back was against the wall and he faced significant prison time, did he choose to ‘come clean,’ ” Avenatti said. “Michael Cohen was sentenced today. Donald Trump is next.” The Manhattan prosecutors endorsed Cohen’s assertion that the payments to the women, without required public disclosure and over campaign contribution giving limits, were made at Trump’s direction. That allegation, if proved, would implicate the president in the crime. Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to banks about his income and assets as he sought loans, and to evading more than $1 million in federal tax payments. Separately, Cohen pleaded guilty last month to lying to the Senate and House Intelligence Committees as the panels examined allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Cohen admitted he lied last year when he told the panels that plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow were dropped in January 2016, before the start of the Republican presidential primaries. He acknowledged that discussions actually continued into June 2016. By then, Trump was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. In a sentencing memo filed last week, Mueller’s team said Cohen provided information showing that someone claiming to have Russian ties reached out to the attorney – and by extension the Trump presidential campaign, as well
as Trump – earlier than was known publicly. Trump has repeatedly criticized Cohen since their relationship ended. He said last month that his erstwhile attorney was a “weak person” and accused him of providing false testimony in the hope of a lighter sentence. Trump called him a liar who should “serve a full and complete sentence.” Cohen acknowledged the tweet but called himself “weak in a different way.” “My weakness can be characterized as blind loyalty to Donald Trump,” Cohen said. The New York prosecutors recommended that Cohen serve roughly 42 months in prison. Federal sentencing guidelines suggest 51 to 63 months. The prosecutors said Cohen merited some reduction for cooperating with Mueller. But they said he did not qualify as a cooperating witness because he “repeatedly declined to provide full information about the scope of any additional criminal conduct in which he may have engaged or had knowledge.” Mueller’s team called Cohen’s assistance “useful.” The team cited information he provided about his contacts with Russian interests during the presidential campaign, as well as his contacts with people connected with the White House in 2017 and 2018. Mueller’s team recommended that any sentence Pauley imposed for Cohen’s lies to Congress run concurrently with any sentence the judge ordered for the crimes investigated by the Southern District of New York. Cohen’s attorneys argued that he should be spared prison time. They noted that Cohen met with the New York attorney general’s office and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance about issues related to Trump and his charitable foundation. “He could have fought the government and continued to hold to the party line, positioning himself for a pardon or clemency,” the attorneys wrote, “but instead – for himself, his family and his country – he took personal responsibility for his own wrongdoing and contributed, and is prepared to continue to contribute, to an investigation that he views as thoroughly legitimate and vital.” Contributing: The Associated Press
Cohen’s next move The man who once boasted he would “take a bullet for Mr. Trump” is not scheduled to report to prison until March. Until then, and possibly after, Cohen attorney Lanny Davis said, he will bear witness against his former boss. Included in that effort, Davis said, is an offer to appear before any congressional committee that investigates Russian interference in the 2016 election. Ironically, part of the sentence imposed against Cohen on Wednesday is for lying to Congress. Cohen pleaded guilty to making false statements to lawmakers this year about the extent of his talks with Russians related to the Moscow tower project. “(Cohen) admitted he told these lies ... in order to minimize links between the Moscow Project and (Trump),” Mueller’s team said in court documents. If called, Davis said Wednesday, his client will go back to Congress and offer his cooperation. Bart Jansen and Kevin Johnson reported from Washington.
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Unique geographic oasis is at risk – and so are we all wilderness area that enthralls visitors. Wildlife is everywhere, especially elephants, who sense they are safe from the poachers who would kill them for their ivory tusks. Tourists come upon giraffes, lions, leopards, baboons, cape buffalo, hyenas, warthogs, zebras and an astounding variety of birds. Boyes’ expedition discovered that waters from Angolan rivers went through massive peat deposits and forests acting like immense sponges, then resurfaced to feed into the delta. The source of all that water is at risk because of development, particularly uranium and mercury mining in Angola, which was devastated by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. The country is trying to catch up economically to bring a measure of prosperity to the population. Boyes hopes to persuade the Angolan government to be more conservation-conscious and to rally global public opinion behind protection for the Okavango Delta: “The world is watching. I keep on saying that to them.” The scientist has been passionate from early childhood about protecting Africa’s wilderness and is even more committed now that he is the father of two children. The expedition was exhausting, and Boyes almost died when his mokoro, a canoe-like boat, was overturned by an angry hippo. If the delta were to dry up, the impact on the global environment would be enormous, he warns. Dried peat deposits would release into the atmosphere enormous amounts of carbon, adding to the already alarming buildup of greenhouse gases. “We all need the idea of wilderness,” Boyes says. “Something dies in our society if these places disappear. To me, wilderness is the birthplace of religion, it is the birthplace of science, it is the foundation of who we are and what created us.” Chris Albert is executive vice president of National Geographic Channel, which sponsored a trip by journalists from USA TODAY to the Okavango.
Owen Ullmann and Chris Albert USA TODAY
OKAVANGO DELTA, Botswana – Portuguese explorers called it “terra do fim do mundo,” land at the end of the Earth. And for good reason. Africa’s Okavango River Basin, which covers 125,000 square miles across Angola, Botswana and Namibia, is home to the largest remaining population of African elephants, as well as significant numbers of lions, cheetahs, wild dogs and hundreds of species of birds. The vast water system is in the middle of one of the driest and most inhospitable places in the world – the Kalahari Desert. It breathes vibrant life into a landscape that would otherwise seem lifeless and covered in sand. From land, the Okavango Delta seems almost prehistoric. You would think you were the only human left in the world, looking out to a green, endless horizon spotted with bushes and trees that have obviously endured years of hungry elephants and giraffes. Far from the sounds of cars beeping or phones buzzing, there is an overwhelming silence interrupted only by bird calls and the rustle of leaves. Seeing the Okavango Delta from the air, it is even more obvious how unique and incredible this ecosystem is. Waterways stretch in every direction like little highways formed by animal architects such as hippos, elephants and buffalo. Lush islands made from termite mounds are scattered in the middle of crystal clear bodies of water. Life moves in a circle. The lives of the smallest termites guide the growth of vegetation, which feeds the animals that migrate to this region, and so on. One small hiccup in this system’s health could have a huge impact on the animals and people who depend on it. Why should people care? Simple: We are all interconnected. This is one of the greatest conservation opportunities left, and a rare chance to intervene before it reaches a crisis point. In 2014, the delta became the 1,000th
Tourists can view lions among a variety of wildlife in the Okavango Delta.
Elephants thrive, safe from poachers. PHOTOS BY DAVID HAMLIN/USA TODAY
entry on the United Nations list of unique “World Heritage” sites. Beyond the animals that depend on it, it’s a vital source of water for about 1 million people. This oasis is threatened by human activity along the rivers that feed it. South African conservation biologist Steve Boyes led a four-month, 1,500mile expedition from Angola, through Namibia and into Botswana to trace for the first time the source of the Okavango’s waters. His discovery and the arduous journey that led up to his findings are the basis of “Into the Okavango,” from National Geographic Documentary Films, which airs on Nat Geo WILD. Boyes hopes the film will awaken people to the threat. “It is this unique sanctuary for regional biodiversity,” he says. “If we were to lose this, we would lose the security for thousands of species in this part of the world.” The world would lose an amazing
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Earth’s “air conditioner” is going haywire. Temperatures in the Arctic are among the highest on record, and the amount of sea ice there is close to its all-time lowest level, federal scientists announced Tuesday. In fact, Arctic air temperatures over the past five years (2014-18) have exceeded all previous records since 1900, and the area is warming at two times the rate of other places on Earth. The report was prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Overall, the Arctic is enduring “its most unprecedented transition in human history,” report lead author Emily Osborne of NOAA said Tuesday. In addition, the report said wintertime sea ice in the Bering Sea is at its lowest level on record and that overall, almost all of the Arctic Ocean’s oldest, thickest ice has been lost. While still frigid by our standards down here, “the effects of persistent Arctic warming continue to mount,” the annual “Arctic report card” noted. The weird heat in the Arctic could be affecting U.S. weather, shoving more powerful winter storms and more intense cold snaps southward, according to the report. The changes “are sufficiently rapid that they cannot be explained without considering our impacts on the chemistry of the atmosphere,” report co-author and University of Georgia scientist Thomas Mote told CNN.
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TOP TRAVEL CITIES Air quality index (AQI) BALTIMORE
ATLANTA
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Cloudy 55/47
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Rain 56/48
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A little rain 55/43
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MPLS-ST. PAUL
MIAMI
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Shower 79/73
THU
Stray t-storm 83/71 Spotty showers 78/64
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Mostly cloudy 33/19 Mostly sunny 36/21 Mostly sunny 38/27
AQI Unhealthy s/g
AQI Good c Cloudy
Mostly cloudy 46/35 A little rain 48/45 Mild with rain 52/38
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AQI Moderate NEW ORLEANS
TODAY
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Akron, Ohio Albany, N.Y. Albuquerque Allentown, Pa. Amarillo, Texas Anaheim, Calif. Anchorage, Alaska Aspen, Colo. Atlantic City, N.J. Augusta, Ga. Austin, Texas Bakersfield, Calif. Baton Rouge, La. Billings, Mont. Birmingham, Ala. Bismarck, N.D. Boise, Idaho Buffalo, N.Y. Burlington, Vt. Cedar Rapids, Iowa Charleston, S.C. Charleston, W.Va. Cheyenne, Wyo.
40/36c 31/25pc 44/21s 37/32sn 45/23w 76/47s 22/13c 28/8pc 48/43c 61/49c 63/40w 62/45s 67/47r 44/31w 57/51sh 38/26s 37/25c 39/32c 29/22s 40/25pc 64/53pc 50/40c 38/26s
47/38c 42/35c 47/26s 46/42c 55/26s 71/46pc 24/11c 39/15s 53/47c 65/55r 55/36w 64/42pc 57/44sh 50/35pc 61/43r 44/26s 39/31c 44/33c 40/37c 41/24pc 70/60r 50/45r 48/31s
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THU
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Rain 50/46
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A little rain 61/42
AQI Moderate
NEW YORK
ORLANDO
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Showers 62/47
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Partly sunny 60/46
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Rain, snow 39/36 Not as cool 50/46 A little rain 52/38
AQI Good w Windy
Cincinnati Cleveland Colorado Springs Columbia, S.C. Columbus, Ohio Corpus Christi, Texas Dayton, Ohio Daytona Beach, Fla. Des Moines, Iowa Duluth, Minn. Durham, N.C. El Paso, Texas Fairbanks, Alaska Flagstaff, Ariz. Fargo, N.D. Fort Myers, Fla. Fort Smith, Ark. Fort Wayne, Ind. Fresno, Calif. Grand Rapids, Mich. Green Bay, Wis. Greensboro, N.C. Greenville, S.C. Harrisburg, Pa.
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TODAY 47/38c 42/37c 42/22s 60/46c 44/37pc 71/45w 44/37pc 73/64c 38/24i 30/20sf 49/37pc 52/29s -2/-16sn 42/15s 35/21sf 79/67pc 58/44r 42/36pc 60/43s 39/32c 35/26c 47/34pc 53/40c 42/32sn
DALLAS/FT. WORTH
Clouding up 42/35 A little rain 43/31 Partly sunny 43/30
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Heavy rain 69/54
AQI Good
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Partly sunny 55/41
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CHARLOTTE Incr. clouds 34/29 Mainly cloudy 44/40 Rain, breezy 48/36
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FRI SAT AQI Good
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Shower 71/62
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pc Partly cloudy
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Hartford, Conn. Indianapolis Islip, N.Y. Jackson, Miss. Jacksonville, Fla. Jefferson City, Mo. Kansas City Key West, Fla. Knoxville, Tenn. Laredo, Texas Lexington, Ky. Lincoln, Neb. Little Rock, Ark. Long Beach, Calif. Louisville, Ky. Lubbock, Texas Madison, Wis. Manchester, N.H. Memphis, Tenn. Milwaukee Mobile, Ala. Modesto, Calif. Montgomery, Ala. Myrtle Beach, S.C.
sh Showers
TODAY 32/21sn 46/38pc 39/36c 63/48r 66/59c 50/37r 39/28r 81/77c 55/41c 72/44w 50/41c 41/20c 59/47r 74/50s 51/43c 45/25w 38/29c 30/18pc 59/49r 39/35c 66/54r 60/43s 60/54c 59/52pc
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DETROIT Sunny, breezy 45/21 Mostly sunny 54/27 Partly sunny 58/30
FRI 43/34c 46/38c 51/44c 56/43sh 73/59r 44/28c 46/24pc 83/74c 54/45r 64/38s 50/46r 46/23s 53/41r 70/50pc 52/45r 56/23s 39/24pc 40/32c 56/44r 40/31r 64/45r 60/45c 66/45r 66/59r
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Sunny 67/42 Mostly sunny 71/51 Mostly cloudy 73/50
AQI Moderate
HONOLULU
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Partly sunny 40/33
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Cloudy 45/31
FRI
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Partly sunny 43/30
SALT LAKE CITY
THU FRI SAT
SAT
Partly sunny 80/71 Mostly sunny 81/69 Mostly sunny 81/70
AQI Good
AQI Good
AQI Good
PHILADELPHIA
AQI Good h Haze
Rain, windy 61/37 Morning rain 50/36 Sunny, milder 57/37
THU
Partly sunny 36/22 Partly sunny 41/30 Partly sunny 45/29
AQI Moderate
HOUSTON
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Sunny 59/41
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Cooler 52/39
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Partly sunny 58/43
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SAT
Plenty of sun 60/40
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Sunny 62/45
SAT
AQI Moderate
SAN FRANCISCO
THU
Sunny 73/52
THU
FRI
Partly sunny 70/54
FRI
SAT
Sunny 70/52
SAT
AQI Good
LOS ANGELES
Rain 70/42
AQI Good
SAN DIEGO
LAS VEGAS
THU
Sunny 60/50 A little rain 60/51 Mostly cloudy 61/51
AQI Moderate
SEATTLE
THU FRI SAT
A little rain 52/44 A little rain 51/43 Mostly cloudy 51/46
AQI Good
Sunny, nice 75/51 Partly sunny 69/50 Sunny, nice 72/50
AQI Good WASHINGTON
THU FRI SAT
Mostly cloudy 48/36 A little rain 48/46 A little rain 55/43
AQI Moderate
t Thunderstorms
Nags Head, N.C. Nashville, Tenn. Newark, N.J. New Haven, Conn. Norfolk, Va. Oakland, Calif. Oklahoma City Omaha, Neb. Palm Springs, Calif. Pensacola, Fla. Pierre, S.D. Pittsburgh Portland, Maine Portland, Ore. Providence, R.I. Raleigh, N.C. Rapid City, S.D. Reno, Nev. Richmond, Va. Rochester, N.Y. Sacramento, Calif. San Antonio San Jose, Calif. Santa Fe, N.M.
TODAY 52/43pc 59/48c 39/37sn 38/32sn 53/41pc 60/47s 43/30r 39/18c 73/47s 65/59r 43/25s 41/33c 28/18s 52/39r 36/26c 52/39pc 39/27s 44/24s 47/31pc 42/33c 59/40s 64/41w 63/46s 41/17s
FRI 59/56r 57/46r 51/45c 49/42c 59/53r 61/48r 48/27pc 42/22s 70/49pc 66/47r 46/28s 46/40r 40/32c 50/40r 46/38c 53/49r 48/29s 51/32c 48/45r 46/34c 60/44c 58/37w 62/47c 46/22s
Sarasota, Fla. Savannah, Ga. Scottsdale, Ariz. Shreveport, La. Sioux Falls, S.D. South Bend, Ind. Spokane, Wash. Springfield, Mo. Springfield, Ill. St. Louis St. Petersburg, Fla. Syracuse, N.Y. Tallahassee, Fla. Tampa, Fla. Toledo, Ohio Topeka, Kan. Tucson, Ariz. Tupelo, Miss. Tulsa, Okla. Virginia Beach, Va. Wichita, Kan. Wilmington, Del. Winston-Salem, N.C. Worcester, Mass.
TODAY 76/66c 64/56c 67/40s 66/43r 39/17c 41/35pc 41/30c 53/37r 46/38r 50/41r 72/63c 34/27c 65/60c 72/63c 41/36c 42/30r 65/36s 58/50r 53/35r 53/40pc 45/26w 44/34c 46/35pc 27/21pc
FRI 78/66t 69/58r 70/48pc 51/40r 39/21s 41/29r 42/33c 43/29r 45/30r 47/34r 76/65t 42/33c 68/51r 75/65t 45/33c 47/24pc 69/44s 58/43r 47/28c 59/56r 49/25s 52/45c 43/40r 39/35c
WORLD CITIES Beijing Buenos Aires Cancun, Mexico Dubai, UAE Frankfurt Hong Kong Istanbul Jerusalem Johannesburg London Mexico City Montreal Moscow Mumbai, India Paris Rio de Janeiro Rome Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Tokyo
TODAY 39/14s 73/66r 83/75pc 81/65s 35/26pc 62/56c 48/41pc 54/42pc 91/64s 40/28pc 71/47pc 20/19pc 31/24sn 88/72h 37/24pc 92/75s 54/47sh 37/13sf 84/76pc 84/71t 39/34c 49/40pc
FRI 37/15s 80/55c 84/65sh 81/67s 33/25pc 68/61s 49/46pc 59/44s 88/62t 39/30c 70/42pc 37/32r 28/23c 92/76h 34/24s 92/76s 59/41sh 31/15s 84/76pc 80/69t 42/33c 50/39s
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USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ 7A
OPINION TODAY'S TOPIC: RUSSIA INVESTIGATION
Our view: ‘Peanut stuff’ or the elephant in the room? President Donald Trump’s mantra about the Russia investigation has been “NO COLLUSION,” a phrase he has tweeted 57 times in the past 18 months. But so many people in Trump’s orbit had so many contacts with so many Russians, and told so many lies to hide those contacts, it’s increasingly difficult to ignore the connecting thread. Many of the contacts were about making Trump richer, making Trump president, or both. On Tuesday, asked by Reuters about associates’ dealings with Russians, Trump called them “peanut stuff.” Yet the evidence — some of it known for months and some newly emerged, some in court documents and some in news accounts — looks more like the elephant in the room: ❚ Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and a top Trump Organization executive, was busy negotiating a possible Trump Tower project in Moscow until mid-June of 2016, a month after Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination. Cohen told prosecutors that he briefed Trump more than three times that year. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress about the project and for other crimes. ❚ A Trump business associate and Russian immigrant, Felix Sater, bragged to Cohen in November 2015 about his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that building the Moscow tower would solidify Trump’s image as a dealmaker. “Our boy can become president of the USA,” he emailed Cohen. “I will get all of Putins (sic) team to buy in on this.” ❚ Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., almost giddily took a meeting in June 2016 at Trump Tower in Manhattan with a Russian attorney promising dirt on Hillary Clinton. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and then-campaign Chairman Paul Manafort, now facing years in prison, were at the meeting, too. Apparently, no one thought to call the FBI to report that a hostile foreign power was trying to interfere in the U.S. election to help Trump. If this meeting wasn’t collusion, it sure was attempted collusion. ❚ In one of the most stunning moments of the campaign, Trump boldly appealed to Russia to hack Clinton’s emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” he said on July 27, 2016. That same day, Russian operatives attempted for the first time to hack into servers used by Clinton’s personal office. A dozen Russian operatives have since been indicted in the hacking. ❚ Prosecutors are investigating whether a key Trump associate, Roger Stone, was provided advance knowledge of plans by WikiLeaks to publish Russian-hacked emails embarrassing to Clinton. ❚ Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page met briefly with Rus-
A protest in New York City last month.
BRUCE PLANTE/TULSA WORLD/POLITICALCARTOONS.COM
BRYAN R. SMITH, AFP/GETTY IMAGES
sian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the Republican National Convention. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, one of Trump’s close advisers, also met with Kislyak at least twice. Sessions, who went on to become Trump’s attorney general, had to recuse himself from the investigation of Russian interference in the election after telling the Senate under oath, “I did not have communications with the Russians.” ❚ Aides and relatives didn’t let a little thing like Trump’s election to the presidency get in the way of their continuing contacts with Russians. Kushner met with Ambassador Kislyak in December 2016 and talked about back-channel communications between the Kremlin and the Trump transition team. ❚ Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Michael Flynn, also talked with Kislyak during the transition about moderating Russia’s response — which the Russians in fact did — to tough U.S. sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama. Flynn ended up pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about those talks and has since cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. All told, at least 14 Trump associates, including his son-in-law and eldest son, interacted with Russians during the campaign and transition. In practically every case, revelations or questions about the contacts brought denials by Trump associates. That is, until several lied to the wrong people — the FBI or Congress — and wound up pleading guilty to a federal crime. Trump’s response during the presidential campaign and during his nearly two years in office? Variously, that he had “nothing to do with Russia,” and that he had “no deals” and no “business” with Russia. Last month, after documents were filed in Cohen’s case, Trump switched to: “Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia.” As if he couldn't quite recall the name Moscow. Whether all this adds up to a criminal conspiracy will be for Mueller's team to conclude. In the meantime, you have to wonder why, if everything was so innocuous, so many people committed crimes to hide their dealings with Russian emissaries. So many contacts, and so little truth, smacks more of cover-up than “no collusion.”
Other views: Where’s the collusion with Russia? Ed Rogers, The Washington Post:
Jill Abramson, The Guardian:
“Collusion would have to demonstrate a clear back-and-forth between someone from the Trump camp and a Russian figure with the authority and intent to come to the campaign’s aid. The campaign official would then have to accept the Russian’s offer and perform some act in furtherance of the collaborative effort to in fact collude. Marginal players offering derogatory information, unreciprocated overtures from nameless Russians pursuing ‘synergy’ and encounters such as a one-off handshake with the Russian ambassador hardly meet that threshold. ... Frankly, the fact that President Donald Trump couldn’t secure a real estate deal in Russia while many other hotel brands had done so suggests that the Russians were in no hurry to help or entrap Trump.”
“The rogues’ gallery exposed in Robert Mueller’s court filings last week make the Watergate burglars look positively classy. ... His most recent filings make clear that considerable evidence touches the president himself. ... What a tantalizing pile of clues. Surely, we will soon know where they lead. During the Nixon years, a famous journalist, Jimmy Breslin, wrote two books. One was a novel about the mafia called ‘The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight’ that I thought about as I watched Paul Manafort et al trot across the television screen last week. He also wrote a book after President Richard Nixon resigned about the politicians who helped restore honesty and dignity to Washington. It was called ‘How the Good Guys Finally Won.’ That one deserves a sequel.”
Cohen could deliver what Mueller needs He may have evidence of White House criminality
yers or officials, this scandal will have metastasized within the White House, and criminal conduct could extend to the Oval Office. Moreover, due to the crime-fraud exception for attorney-client privilege, prosecutors could seek to strip lawyers of privilege protections and turn them into witnesses. Mueller has already done precisely that with lawyers for targets like Paul Manafort. The three most dangerous scenarios involve suborning (encouraging) perjury, witness tampering and obstruction of justice. These join such widely used crimes as false statements to federal investigators that Mueller has used broadly in this investigation. Cohen does not have to be especially credible to give Mueller what he needs. If he can support any of these crimes by White House figures, Mueller could use that testimony to strip away the privilege protections of lawyers associated with Trump. Moreover, Cohen has a well-documented penchant for taping people without their knowledge and keeping other forms of incriminating evidence. There has been a continued failure by the Trump team to act pre-emptively to protect against conflicts or damage from people like Cohen. To the contrary, when most attorneys would have created walls around risks, they seemed to pull those risks closer. Thus, I wrote months ago that the Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal hush-money scandals presented a far more serious threat to Trump than the collusion allegations, and that he had to immediately sever Cohen. Instead, Trump pulled Cohen closer, and Mueller says Cohen continued to coordinate his moves with people associated with the White House. Likewise, despite being clearly guilty of an array of crimes, Manafort also continued to communicate with White House officials, even after he became a cooperating witness. Whatever faith Mueller holds in Cohen, it is doubtful that it is based on his claim of redemption. The future version of Michael Cohen will be defined by the future plans of Robert Mueller.
Jonathan Turley
After years of criminal and unethical conduct, it appears that, at age 52, Michael Cohen is in search of his better self. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer pledged before his sentencing Wednesday to “become the best version of myself.” It is hard to gauge what that might look like since we have never seen a hint of it. However, there is one person who clearly believes that there is a better version of Cohen: special counsel Robert Mueller. Cohen could be the key to achieving what has eluded Mueller up until now: bringing a criminal act within the confines of the White House. In the Cohen filings, the special counsel included the following line: “Cohen provided relevant and useful information concerning his contacts with persons connected to the White House during the 2017–18 time period.” In August 2017, Cohen gave false information to Congress on the timeline and context of his dealings in Moscow on behalf of Trump and his corporation. Thus, during the period of those false statements, Mueller says Cohen was communicating with multiple persons connected to the White House. We also know that Cohen remained in regular communication with Trump, who (as late as this April) was still referring to Cohen as his lawyer and referring inquiries to him. In March, with the scandal raging over Cohen’s payment of hush money to a former p*rn star and a former Playboy bunny, Trump inexplicably met with Cohen in a very public dinner at his resort at Mar-a-Lago. Among his various crimes, Cohen pleaded guilty to two felonies of note. First, he committed perjury to Congress in what he described as an effort to alter the facts to be consistent with the White House account on the Moscow dealings. Second, he violated federal election laws in an effort, he claims, to cover up Trump’s “dirty deeds.” Now the question is who communicated with Cohen during 2017-18 and what they discussed. Cohen says he knowingly lied on both issues. If he made that intent clear or coordinated a false account with White House law-
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. A practicing defense attorney, he was the lead defense counsel in the last impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate.
YOUR SAY
Voters should decide on impeachment LETTERS [emailprotected] No person should be above the law, not even the president of the United States. And that includes all elected officials, as well. This is especially true concerning illegal endeavors. Americans hold their politicians to a higher standard than most countries — or we should. And if impeachment is political in nature, like some point out, such a decision should be taken out of the hands of Congress. Once given all the facts, the American public should
make that judgment call by voting whether there are grounds to impeach the president or not. As is any American, our president is innocent until found guilty. Therefore, let him defend himself in a court of law. Allegations that doing so would interfere with him executing his job are a falsehood. If a president became incapacitated, the vice president would be called upon to fulfill such duties. And please, no 5th Amendment evasion. John O’Malley Hoover, Ala.
“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 Gannett Company President & Chief Executive Officer ROBERT DICKEY
USA TODAY Publisher President, USA TODAY NETWORK MARIBEL PEREZ WADSWORTH
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8A ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ USA TODAY
NEWS
USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ SECTION B
IN MONEY
Fewer tax refunds being stolen
Number of identity theft victims has fallen. 2B
USA & MAIN
Jar Head Salsa gives back to vets
Company a dream come true for father, son. 3B
STATES
Around the nation
DETROIT FREE PRESS
News from every state. 4B
Why your 401(k) just lost $8,733
MONEYLINE FLYING DURING HOLIDAYS? EXPECT BIGGER CROWDS U.S. airlines expect a 5.2 percent increase in air travel during the Christmas and New Year’s break, to more than 2.5 million people a day. The trade group Airlines for America forecasts that 45.7 million passengers will fly on a U.S. airline from Dec. 20 through Jan. 6.
Analysts say investors should stay the course Adam Shell USA TODAY
Consumer prices were unchanged. AP
INFLATION REMAINS STEADY AMID DROP IN GAS PRICES U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in November. The reading reflected a big drop in the cost of gasoline and other energy products. The Labor Department said Wednesday that the unchanged inflation reading last month followed a 0.3 percent jump in prices in October. It was the lowest reading since consumer prices fell 0.1 percent in March. Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 0.2 percent in November.
INSTAGRAM TESTS NEW FEATURE FOR INFLUENCERS Instagram is testing new “creator account” features that would give big names and big brands improved tools to better track activity and growth on their accounts. The “creator account” is likely to become available next year on the social network, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Its goal is to give celebrities, artists and digital influencers more ways to connect with followers and business partners and analyze action on their account.
Food recalls shouldn’t stop you from eating Zlati Meyer USA TODAY
There is no poop apocalypse. ❚ Food recalls throughout 2018 may have some American consumers nervous to put anything in their mouths, but the U.S. food system still is among the safest in the world, especially considering the sophistication of the country’s supply chains, the sheer number of people eating in this country and the reporting tools in place. ❚ It seems like there is a new federal-government warning every day – No romaine! Watch out for beef! Don’t even think about Honey Smacks! – which may lead us
Dow Jones Industrial Avg.
to believe our food supply isn’t safe.Experts say the opposite is
27,000
true. 157.03
26,000
25,000
24,527
24,000 AP
JUNE
DEC.
WEDNESDAY’S MARKETS INDEX
CLOSE
Dow Jones Industrial Avg. S&P 500 Nasdaq composite T-note, 10-year yield
24,527.27 2,651.07 7,098.31 2.916
CHG
x x x x
157.03 14.29 66.48 0.038
SOURCES USA TODAY RESEARCH, BLOOMBERG
USA SNAPSHOTS©
Average CD yields
Last week
Year ago
6-month 0.46%
0.46%
0.24%
1-year 0.90%
0.90%
0.42%
2½-year 1.15%
1.14%
0.59%
5-year 1.47%
1.46%
1.01%
Note: As of Wednesday. SOURCE Bankrate.com USA TODAY
The average American eats nearly 960 pounds of food a year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. And only a tiny percentage of all those millions of products is recalled – usually before any of those 300 billion-plus Americans even put it in their mouths. “There are always going to be glitches, either environmental or human error, but I feel quite confident that our food supply is safe,” said Catherine Strohbehn, an Iowabased food safety consultant. “Nothing is 100 percent risk-free. Our goal is always to mitigate the risk as much as possible.” Here’s a breakdown of what’s going on:
Image is perception No food company or commodity wants to be the one associated with a foodborne illness or a death, so producers are quick to alert the public that there is – or could be – a problem. A recall may not reflect well on a brand or a crop in the short run, but it’s better than the alternative. “We have widely recognized brands. They use advanced systems, and they are the ones that are committed to make sure the customers don’t get sick, because it’s ultimately bad for business to sicken your customers,” said Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety. See FOOD SAFETY, Page 2B
This week
Everybody’s heard of sticker shock. But what about account balance trauma? That’s a form of distress 401(k) savers with all their money invested in stocks likely will experience when they peek at their fourth-quarter account statements. If you've been watching the stock market slump in the final quarter of 2018, you know it’s been a dreary stretch. And that means you can’t dodge the financial pain – and the losses. By one estimate, the average 401(k) owner with 100 percent invested in U.S. stocks is currently sitting on a paper loss of $8,733 since the end of September. That rough approximation takes into account the 8.2 percent drop this quarter through 11:45 a.m. Wednesday suffered by the Standard & Poor’s 500, an index of large U.S. stocks, and the record 401(k) average account balance of $106,500 at the end of the third quarter, according to Fidelity Investments’ analysis of its more than 15 million 401(k) accounts. “Most holders of 401(k)s will be shell-shocked,” says Sung Won Sohn, an economist and president of SS Economics. Thankfully, only about eight percent of all 401(k) investors have all of their plan assets invested in stocks, says Meghan Murphy, vice president and retirement expert at Fidelity, the Boston-based mutual fund giant.
GETTY IMAGES
“Depending on what they own and when they last looked at their balance, investors may not be as shocked as you think.” Kate Warne,
Edward Jones
The typical retirement saver, Murphy says, has a more balanced mix of assets that includes stocks, bonds and cash, which reduces risks and helps cap losses. In fact, one half of 401(k) investors with accounts at her company have 100 percent of their money invested in “target-date funds,” she says. These funds, which are designed to make sure investors have the proper asset allocation, put money in a specific percentage of stocks, bonds and other assets based on age and number of years left before retirement. These funds get more conservative as investors approach retirement. And while these more balanced, age-based funds help smooth out some of the market’s bumpy ride, most still hold a sizable chunk of stocks and don’t completely shield investors from short-term losses. For example, a hypothetical 62-year old investor who wants to retire in five or six years, will be best served by a fund targeting the year 2025. Fidelity’s Freedom 2025 Fund has a 60 percent weighting in stocks, with the bulk of that invested in U.S. shares, with 36 percent in bonds and the rest in cash. If an investor in a fund with that asset mix started the fourth quarter with the average balance of $106,500, he or she would still be sitting on a loss of roughly $5,240 for the equity portion of their retirement account. Similarly, someone invested in a fund targeting retirement in the year 2035, with an 87 percent exposure to stocks, would have a loss of $7,598 so far this quarter. Still, Wall Street pros stress that inSee 401(K), Page 2B
MONEY
2B ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ USA TODAY
Food safety Group effort cuts cases of taxpayer identity theft Continued from Page 1B
Janna Herron USA TODAY
It’s harder for a criminal to steal your tax refund, thanks to a concerted effort from federal and state governments, and the private sector. The number of reported tax identitytheft victims this year through October is down 19 percent from last year and 72 percent lower than in 2015, according to figures provided to USA TODAY from the Internal Revenue Service. The reduction is a result of a threeyear data-sharing agreement among the IRS, state revenue departments, national tax professional groups and software preparation companies to help flag suspicious returns and reduce the number of stolen refunds. “It was a problem across the tax ecosystem,” said Courtney Kay-Decker, director of the Iowa Department of Revenue. “But by working together, we’re preventing dollars from going out the door that we probably wouldn’t get back.” The number of identity thieves filing fraudulent tax returns and getting refunds had been rising since 2012 and hit worrisome levels by 2015. “It was really bordering on a crisis,” said Terry Lemons, an IRS senior spokesman. “That’s when we had our first security summit.” The parties agreed to alert the others to suspicious behavior. If one state notices a large number of returns being submitted from one suspicious IP address, it can flag it for the others. “The criminals are probably trying that same scheme with neighboring states and the IRS,” said Lynne Riley, state revenue commissioner for Georgia. “So, we can all put our defenses up.”
As a result, the number of confirmed fraudulent and suspicious tax returns has also dropped since 2015. So far this year, the IRS has stopped 605,000 confirmed identity-theft returns, a 40 percent decrease from 2015. Financial institutions stopped 82,000 suspect refunds so far this year, a 66 percent drop from 2015. In 2015, almost 700,000 taxpayers reported being a victim of tax ID theft. In 2017, that was down to 242,000. If you were one of those unlucky taxpayers, you had to file your return by paper and provide an identity theft affidavit. Even worse, you faced major delays – up to eight months in those days – in getting your refund. In addition to catching bad returns before they’re processed, the IRS has also streamlined the process for taxpayers who become victims. Instead of waiting an additional six to eight months for your refund, the delay is only a couple of months. “For many taxpayers, that’s the biggest check they’ll see all year,” Lemons said. “That really creates a lot of hardships for taxpayers.” As the IRS and the others ramp up their safeguards, identity thieves are now targeting tax professionals, human resource departments and payroll officers to get more data – such as copies of W-2 forms – to put together more authentic-looking tax returns that will slip through the defenses. The group is working to alert those professionals as well as continuing to warn taxpayers. For instance, don’t trust anyone calling claiming to be from the IRS. Also, be wary of odd tax emails. The number of unique phishing schemes has jumped this year versus last, Lemons said.
TV retains its dominance, but cord-cutting grows, survey says Mike Snider USA TODAY
Middle-age Americans spend the most time consuming video, online content and other media, but younger adults are more likely to be digitally-focused, using internet-connected TV devices, apps and the web, a new Nielsen survey finds. Consumers, on average, spent about 10 hours and 24 minutes interacting with media each day during the AprilJune 2018 period, according to Nielsen’s Q2 2018 Total Audience Report, published Wednesday. However, that does not mean all Americans are spending 40 percent of their day binge-watching or engaged in social media. Some of that time adults may be double-dipping and simultaneously engaging in more than one form of media, Nielsen says. Digitally-delivered media is expected to become even more dominant as consumers use their smartphones, tablets and computers to connect – and augment their viewing on TVs – and gain more control of TV content with streaming services. “In terms of digital consumption, younger consumers have had the advantage of having at the fingertips a device that drives a ‘wherever, whenever’ mentality that has really changed not just how content is viewed, but how it’s made and marketed,” said Peter Katsingris, senior vice president of audience insights at Nielsen. “Regardless of age, we are seeing that consumers of all types are learning new ways to connect with content because
401(k) Continued from Page 1B
vesting for retirement is a long-term endeavor. They say it’s important to remember that since you’re saving for retirement 10, 20, 30, even 40 years down the road, it makes little sense to panic and get out of the stock market because of one bad stretch. Despite falling nearly 10 percent this quarter, the broad S&P 500 is down just 1.4 percent for the year. “Depending on what they own and when they last looked at their balance, investors may not be as shocked as you think,” says Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones. “For the year, many portfolios may be close to
technology has made it easier to do so.” For instance, about 81 percent across all age groups use a digital device while watching TV, Nielsen found. More than seven in 10 consumers (71 percent) use a digital device while watching TV to look up information on what they are watching. More than four out of 10 (41 percent) send emails, texts or messages about the content. “With digital devices more prevalent among consumers of all demographics, during any viewing session consumers are likely to interact with multiple media touch points,” Katsingris said. “That’s a lot of interaction and, better still, an opportunity for brands to connect with these consumers.” Adults ages 50-64 spent 11 hours and 49 minutes daily on media, with most of the time spent on live or time-shifted TV (5 hours, 38 minutes), and more than two hours each on radio, as well as apps and web content on a smartphone. Adults 65 and older spent the next highest amount of time with media and watched the most TV (6 hours, 55 minutes). Those ages 35-49 came next in overall media consumption (10 hours, 35 minutes) and spent the most time with apps and Web content on smartphones (2 hours, 51 minutes). Live and timeshifted TV was the dominant medium in all age groups except ages 18-34, which used the internet on a computer (2 hours, 31 minutes) more than TV (2 hours). That group also spent the most time (1 hour, 10 minutes) with TV-connected devices such as smart TVs, and net TV devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Chromecast and Roku.
flat.” To be sure, 401(k) investors just looking at the current quarter may see bigger declines, she adds. “But they should put them in context by reviewing the longer-term performance, realizing that returns aren't going to be positive every quarter,” Warne says. Fidelity’s data show that investors who rode out the storm in 2008, when the average 401(k) account balance was just $56,900 at the end of that year’s third quarter, would have been rewarded with an 87 percent gain 10 years later. “The market goes up and goes down, you can’t control that,” says Fidelity’s Murphy. “As long as you are invested appropriately for your age and time horizon, you should be able to ride out the ups and downs.”
Remember the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli deaths? That was one of the most infamous outbreaks of all time; more than 700 people got sick and four children died. Now, everything from the suspected presence of an allergen to possible metal pieces in food gets corporate attention. “A company that is aware of a problem, but doesn’t fix it? Bad business decision,” said Don Schaffner, a professor of food science at Rutgers University. “Someone will get sick, and the lawyers will be all over them.”
Look at your grocery bill Making your food even safer would double, if not triple, what you’re charged at supermarkets and restaurants currently, according to DiezGonzalez. The money would go to cover everything needed to make a wellprotected food system even more so, such as a better-trained and paid workforce, irradiation equipment and more state-of-the-art processing facilities. If farmers and factories invested in those ways, how would they cover those expenses? That’s not something the American consumer is willing to pay for. “We have one of the cheapest food supplies in the world,” he added. “Oftentimes, our food supply industry doesn’t get a lot of credit for producing fairly safe food at a relatively low cost to consumers.”
Where does food come from? So your food grows in the ground or comes from an animal, whether it’s salad fixings or the ingredients in your sandwich. Hence the crux of the food safety issue. “With Mother Nature, it’s hard to control 100 percent with birds flying overhead or deer romping through or maybe you’re in an area of the country where there are a lot of wild pigs or domestic animals or small animals,” said Strohbehn. “Unless you’re growing it in a sterile greenhouse or hydroponically without soil ... certain items are harder to control.”
“Oftentimes, our food supply industry doesn’t get a lot of credit for producing fairly safe food at a relatively low cost to consumers.” Francisco Diez-Gonzalez,
University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety
And hydroponics is no panacea. Potential problems include water issues and human error messing up the theoretically-aseptic environment, she said.
Reporting may not be your friend Many countries, including those in Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia, don’t collect statistics about recalls and food-related illnesses, which makes the data of those that do all the more damning. When more lax governments do issue warnings, it often is too late, such as in China’s 2008 tainted milk scandal that killed six babies and sickened an estimated 300,000. “It’s chicken-and-egg,” said DiezGonzalez. “We’re seeing more cases because we can detect it. Because we can detect it, we think we have more. In other countries, they don’t see the cases because they don’t have the public health system we have here. They don’t have data, so no one gets outraged. People are still getting sick and dying.” He compared the U.S. to Mexico, where he grew up in the 1960s and 1970s. There, he said, suffering from a foodborne illness was normal and people learned to live with it. “It was part of life. It was like getting a cold; you get it once a year, you deal with it. There was no outrage. There was no ‘getting sick with diarrhea is unacceptable.’ There’s a very different paradigm,” Diez-Gonzalez said. “The sky’s falling on our heads because we’re creating this illusion that we have this problem.” Part of those key detection and reporting steps are technology, programs and tools that become more sophisticated every year. Today, for example, investigators can use genome sequencing to identify specific strains of pathogens in foods, linking seemingly disparate cases or even whole outbreaks to one another. “We’re getting better and better at finding smaller and smaller outbreaks,” said Schaffner. “The food supply is getting safer, but it’s hard to see that because part of that is being more sensitive to smaller and smaller problems.”
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USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ 3B
USA & MAIN
Angels open Pipeline to female funding Company looks out for women and minorities Small Business Rhonda Abrams USA TODAY
Twenty years ago, I tried to raise venture capital for a Silicon Valley startup venture I’d launched with a female partner. We had Fortune 100 sponsors and a huge bank ready to invest a million dollars. They had just one requirement: we needed a venture capitalist (VC) to also invest. We thought we had it made. After all, it was the height of the dot com era, and investors were handing out money to internet startups like fun-size Twix bars on Halloween. When we made our pitch to VCs – and they were always only men at the VC firms – they’d ask whether we had a man on our team (we did not). I doubt these same VCs ever asked whether an all-male team had any women on it. We didn’t get our funding – and we weren’t alone. In 1997, only 1.7 percent of the billions of dollars in venture capital invested in startups went to women-led businesses, according to Springboard Enterprises. But that was then, right? Nope. Now, 21 years later, that percentage has basically stayed flat, at around a dismal 2 percent in 2017, according to financial data and software company Pitchbook. So many women have said #TimesUp for the entrenched discrimination of both the formal venture capital world and the more informal angel investor community. They’re trying to change the game of funding for women and minority entrepreneurs.
#TimesUpforVCs “I launched Pipeline Angels because there are enough white guy sharks investing in white-guy entrepreneurs,” said Natalia Oberti Noguera, founder and CEO of Pipeline Angels. “Pipeline Angels is in the business of creating more women and femme sharks who will in turn invest in more women and
Pipeline Angels founder Natalia Oberti Noguera sits among some of her portfolio company founders: From left, Tanya Van Court of Goalsetter, Morgen Bromell of Thirst, Saskia Sorrosa of Fresh Bellies and Brittany Finkle of Happily Ever BorroWED. KELLY MARSHALL
femme founders. ... A lot of founders, especially people of color, don’t have the friends and family for the ‘friends and family’ round (of funding). I have been remixing Rihanna by saying that if we want more of us to shine bright like a diamond, we need to invest in diamonds in the rough.” One problem facing women and people of color trying to raise money for
their startups is that traditional investors are overwhelmingly male and white. That’ has resulted in disproportionately low funding for women and minority entrepreneurs. Why? Because people naturally engage in “pattern recognition.” We subconsciously see patterns that appear to indicate past success and then replicate those. If, for example, an investor has made a lot of
money investing in companies started by young, white, male guys who’ve graduated from elite universities, then that’s the pattern they’ll respond to – even if those weren’t the factors actually contributing to success. “In 2012, a well-known white guy investor was asked at a conference what he looks for when investing,” said Oberti Noguera. “He answered, nonchalantly, ‘Someone like me.’ … I decided to turn these concepts around … If we invest in what’s familiar, in what looks like us, then let’s get more of us on the investing side … Our stats show it’s working..” Pipeline Angels not only invests in women- and minority-owned businesses, it also looks for women and minority investors to fund these companies. Since 2011, Pipeline Angels has trained over 300 new investors, resulting in more than $5 million invested in more than 50 businesses. Many groups are widening the funding opportunities for women and people of color. Below are a few. I’d love to share info about others – just comment on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ RhondaAbramsSmallBusiness ❚ Springboard Enterprises. Conceived in 1999 during the dot com era, Springboard was one of the first organizations dedicated to raising significant funds for female-led startups and also to help motivate and train women to become investors themselves. Springboard has an impressive track record, helping more than 730 women-led companies raise $8.6 billion. Springboard companies have had 17 IPOs, have generated billions in revenues, and have created tens of thousands of jobs. ❚ Golden Seeds. Founded in 2005, Golden Seeds is a highly respected network of more than 275 investors, mostly female, focusing on early-stage companies with female leaders. They’ve invested more than $100 million in almost 150 companies. ❚ Portfolia. Portfolia provides a platform to make it easier for women to invest in companies with a strong female focus. Rhonda Abrams is author of “SixWeek Start-Up” just released in its fourth edition and other books for small business owners.
Father-son salsa company gives back to veterans They launched the company in May 2009. “We started right away to get customers who would come back once a week,” said Tom Smith, who went on to joke, “We have a phenomenon called Jar Head Salsa withdrawal. It’s a very serious condition, and we have the cure.” The Smiths have expanded Jar Head Salsa to more farmers markets and some special events such as gun shows. Tom Smith takes pride in handing out sample trays of salsa and Jar Headbranded chips. The salsa costs $7 for a pint, the chips are $5 a bag, and any leftover salsa is used to make a Bloody Mary mix that sells for $7. The samples are essential to sales, he said, which is why he hasn’t tried to sell it in grocery stores. “We give out generous samples. We can’t do that easily at a store, so it sits on the shelf and gets old,” said Smith.
Jamie L. LaReau Detroit Free Press USA TODAY
DETROIT – Only five people know the top-secret recipe to Jar Head Salsa. “It’s kept in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and guarded by a Marine,” said Tom Smith, 67, the COO of Jar Head. The Marine is David Smith, 48. He’s Tom Smith’s son, business partner and creator of the salsa recipe. He came up with it about 20 years ago when he was cooking for some 3,000 U.S. Marines a day at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. “We went to visit him, and he told us to try the salsa he created. It was wonderful,” said Tom Smith. “We started bringing back coolers of his salsa.” Those coolers turned into a company in 2009. Today, Jar Head Salsa is on track to do $400,000 in sales this year, but the Smiths aren’t in it only for the money. They give 10 percent of the net revenues to charities that support veterans. For Tom Smith, who retired from quality control at General Motors in 2008, this is his shot at a dream. “I had this entrepreneurial desire that was pent up all those years at GM,” Smith said. “This doctor, who kept ordering the salsa and giving it to his friends, said we should go into business. That’s all I needed to hear.”
5 million meals Smith’s son David graduated from Marine Corps boot camp in 1998 and quickly worked his way up to gunnery sergeant running the food service for some 3,000 Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton. “There was a lot of Mexican food down that way,” Tom Smith said. “The Marine Corps food services has a taco bar ... it’s like a buffet.” But David Smith thought the government-issued salsa tasted bad. He thought the nation’s elite warriors deserved better. “When he was in Iraq, he had to go out in the field to deliver food to the
Tom Smith, left, and son David Smith run Jar Head Salsa. David Smith invented the recipe about 20 years ago when he ran the food service for about 3,000 Marines stationed at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. DETROIT FREE PRESS
guys. It was dangerous as hell,” Smith said. “His buddies said, ‘Hey, Gunny, I’m going with you.’ They’d put themselves in harm’s way out of camaraderie and love. So he wanted to give them the best he could.” David Smith took to experimenting with creating his own salsa. It took a few tries, but he found the perfect recipe, and his Marines loved it. When his parents started sharing it with colleagues and friends, they knew it was a hit. “My wife took it to work where a doctor loved it so much, he bought $3,000 worth of it,” Tom Smith said. David Smith saved that money. When he retired in 2008 from the Marines, he’d made more than 5 million meals. He used the money to fund Jar Head Salsa with his business partners – his mom and dad.
Special something The moniker Jarhead, as applied to
Marines, originated in World War I. “The Marines were the first service to get their hair cut universally short. It was short on the sides with a little on top,” said Smith. “The other services said their heads looked like jars.” The nickname could be seen as derogatory if used by civilians, but most Marines embrace it with each other. It was the right name for this salsa. The next challenge was finding orange bell peppers each week. “My son wouldn’t let it be made without orange peppers because we want you to see the green bell peppers, the jalapenos, the orange peppers, so that people see it’s not just pureed tomatoes,” said Smith. “It’s something special.” Their produce supplier managed to secure the fresh peppers each week, Smith said. They started by making 40 pints of salsa. Tom Smith and his wife can it by hand to ensure freshness.
Can’t touch it The Smiths’ produce supplier and his crew make the salsa to order each week. “When all the markets are running in summer, it’s about a thousand pints of salsa, 600 pints of queso dip and 800 bags of chips” each week, said Smith. The company does not have any employees nor own any facilities, a lesson he learned from his days with GM. “I didn’t want to have any fixed costs,” Smith said. “I saw GM struggle with fixed costs.” It took awhile for Jar Head Salsa to be profitable, and it only recently paid off its debt, said Tom Smith. “But nobody’s in it for the money,” said Smith. “It’s something I love doing. I love writing the checks to the veterans’ causes, and I love the reaction of our customers.” The company has donated $46,800 since 2009 to charities. Jar Head Salsa ships salsa to most of the 50 states, Smith said. “We’d like to clone what we’re doing in other states, then it’s something big,” said Smith. “But we don’t want to lose what we have going: We’re distributing fresh salsa. Nothing can touch our fresh salsa.”
MONEY
4B ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ USA TODAY
AMERICA’S MARKETS DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE
+157.03
ALL THE MARKET ACTION IN REAL TIME MARKETS.USATODAY.COM
S&P 500 • STANDARD & POOR’S
Closing: 24,527.27 Change: +.6% YTD % Chg: -.8%
+14.29
MARKET PERFORMANCE BY SECTOR
MARKET NOTEBOOK
Sector Health care
Issues NYSE Advancing 1,870 Declining 954 Unchanged 65 Total 2,889 Issues at
Utilities Consumer discret. Technology
Close Chg. 91.97 +0.78
4wk 1 YTD 1 +1.8% +11.2%
56.44 -0.36 +3.6% +7.1% 104.58
+1.09
-2.2%
+6.0%
66.08 +0.51 -0.9% +3.3%
Consumer staples
55.10
Industrials
68.18 +0.38 -4.1% -9.9%
-0.07
-1.6%
-3.1%
Telecom
53.73 +0.64 +0.6% -11.2%
Financials
24.66 +0.14 -6.5% -11.6%
Energy
63.34 +0.25 -3.2% -12.3%
Materials
52.33 +0.45 -3.0% -13.5%
S&P 500’S BIGGEST GAINERS Company (ticker) United Rentals (URI) Twitter Inc (TWTR) MGM Resorts Intl (MGM) Interpublic Group (IPG) Wynn Resorts Ltd (WYNN)
Price 108.30 36.25 26.87 23.92 109.40
$ Chg . % Chg. +6.44 +6.3 +1.80 +5.2 +1.24 +4.8 +.98 +4.3 +3.86 +3.7
NASDAQ COMPOSITE
Closing: 2,651.07 Change: +.5% YTD % Chg: -.8%
+66.48
New 52 Week High 31 New 52 Week Low 113 Share Volume Total 3,906,394,449
2,361,082,854 1,706,304,517 608,314,928 46,463,409
Advancing 2,655,931,493 Declining 1,190,065,994 Unchanged 60,396,962
Company (ticker) Under Armour Inc (UAA) Under Armour Inc C (UA) Mosaic Co (MOS) Macerich Co (MAC) Public Storage (PSA)
Price 19.81 19.01 30.91 47.11 204.29
$ Chg . % Chg. -2.31 -10.4 -1.86 -8.9 -2.09 -6.3 -2.21 -4.5 -6.45 -3.1
ETF, ranked by volume SPDR S&P500 ETF Tr iShs Emerg Mkts SPDR Financial VanE Vect Gld Miners Invesco QQQ Trust iShares EAFE ETF iShs China Large Cap iShares Brazil ProShs UltPro ShtQQQ Barc iPath Vix ST
Chg. +1.33 +0.65 +0.14 +0.43 +1.44 +0.89 +0.59 +0.64 -0.39 -0.31
COMMODITIES
% Chg +0.5% +1.6% +0.6% +2.1% +0.9% +1.5% +1.5% +1.7% -2.6% -0.8%
%YTD -0.5% -14.2% -11.6% -12.0% +6.0% -12.7% -10.6% -4.4% -33.1% +42.1%
FOREIGN CURRENCIES Currency per dollar British pound
YTD +37.3 +42.7 +20.5 -28.3 -2.3
Ticker Close SPY 265.46 EEM 40.41 XLF 24.66 GDX 20.44 QQQ 165.05 EFA 61.36 FXI 41.26 EWZ 38.69 SQQQ 14.40 VXX 39.67
Close .7915
Prev. .7983
Commodities Close Prev. Cattle (lb.) 1.19 1.18 Corn (bushel) 3.76 3.75 Gold (troy oz.) 1,244.40 1,241.90 Hogs, lean (lb.) .55 .54 Natural Gas (Btu.) 4.14 4.41 Oil, heating (gal.) 1.85 1.85 Oil, lt. swt. crude (bar.) 51.15 51.65 Silver (troy oz.) 14.73 14.50 Soybeans (bushel) 9.20 9.15 Wheat (bushel) 5.15 5.10
Chg. +0.01 +0.01 +2.50 +0.01 -0.27 unch. -0.50 +0.23 +0.05 +0.05
% Chg. +0.6% +0.3% +0.2% +0.5% -6.2% +0.2% -1.0% +1.6% +0.6% +1.1%
% YTD -3.2% +7.3% -4.7% -23.8% +40.1% -10.8% -15.3% -13.7% -3.3% +20.7%
FOREIGN MARKETS 6 mo. ago .7477
Yr. ago .7511
Canadian dollar
1.3352
1.3394
1.3017
1.2870
Chinese yuan
6.8799
6.8994
6.4035
6.6263
Euro
Closing: 1,455.32 Change: +1.1% YTD % Chg: -5.2%
+15.19
TOP 10 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS NASDAQ 1,991 930 147 3,068 18 183
S&P 500’S BIGGEST LOSERS YTD -37.0 +51.0 -19.5 +18.7 -35.1
RUSSELL 2000
Closing: 7,098.31 Change: +.0% YTD % Chg: +2.8%
.8798 .8830 .8511 .8520
Japanese yen
113.22
113.40
110.33
113.58
Mexican peso
20.0793
20.2037
20.6996
19.1882
Country Frankfurt Hong Kong Japan (Nikkei) London Mexico City
Close 10,929.43 26,186.71 21,602.75 6,880.19 40,897.85
Prev. 10,780.51 25,771.67 21,148.02 6,806.94 41,356.04
Change +148.92 +415.04 +454.73 +73.25 -458.19
%Chg. %YTD +1.4% -15.4% +1.6% -12.5% +2.2% -5.1% +1.1% -10.5% -1.1% -17.1%
SOURCE Morningstar, Dow Jones Indexes, The Associated Press
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Montgomery: The con-
cept of self-service beer, cider and wine pours is coming soon to downtown as the Tower Taproom opens.
HIGHLIGHT: LOUISIANA
alcohol regulators say they’re making some preparations to sell marijuana should it become legal in the state. NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Sen.
ALASKA Anchorage: The Anchorage
Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., bid an emotional farewell to the U.S. Senate this week, telling colleagues that “gridlock and partisanship does not have to rule the day.”
Museum will include social media reactions to the powerful earthquake that recently rocked the state for its archived historical record. Museum director Julie Decker pointed to a popular meme that featured a mock five-day Alaska forecast calling for conditions to escalate to “ice locusts” and a “polarbearcano.”
OHIO Cincinnati: The Price Is Right
Live is coming back to Jack Casino downtown for two shows in February. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Gov.
Mary Fallin will soon consider food safety rules on marijuana edibles.
ARIZONA Mesa: Students at the East
Valley Institute of Technology will have two autonomous trolleys shuttling them around campus next year thanks to Arizona-based manufacturing company Local Motors. ARKANSAS Little Rock: A newspaper
is asking a federal judge to strike down a state law that requires government contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel or to reduce their fees by 20 percent. The Arkansas Times says the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College refused to contract for advertising unless the paper signed the pledge.
OREGON Bend: The Deschutes River
Gov. John Bel Edwards, left, greets Sidney Walton. GERALD HERBERT/AP
PENNSYLVANIA Richland: The bor-
New Orleans: A World War II veteran is on a mission to travel to all 50 states to raise awareness about the dwindling number of veterans from that war who are still alive. Sidney Walton, of San Diego, met Tuesday with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards at the Commander’s Palace restaurant. The 99-year-old Walton started his tour in March. In each state, he’s been meeting with governors – 17 so far – and regular people. His son, Paul, says his dad always regretted missing an opportunity when he was younger to meet a group of the last surviving Civil War veterans. Walton will turn 100 on Feb. 11, when he plans to visit the White House.
COLORADO Greeley: By day, Mike
Medhurst is a firefighter. By night – between late November and Jan. 1 – he lights up his neighborhood. Next week, he’ll also light up TV screens across the country. Medhurst’s allout Christmas lights display will be featured on Monday’s episode of ABC’s “The Great Christmas Light Fight,” according to The Greeley Tribune. CONNECTICUT Hartford: The dis-
closure of Adam Lanza’s writings offers little toward understanding the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, but researchers say the detail on the gunman’s mental decline could offer insights into the mind of a mass killer. DELAWARE Newark: The University
of Delaware has renamed its School of Public Policy after former Vice President Joe Biden. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washing-
ton: A Walk of Fame to honor the rich history of the Howard Theatre and the artists who have graced its stage is headed toward completion. Artists and contractors have been putting medallions into the ground to honor the likes of Pearl Bailey, Chuck Brown, James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald and Marvin Gaye. FLORIDA Naples: Night Lights in the
Garden lit up Naples Botanical Garden on Friday for the first of 25 nights. The garden twinkles until Jan. 3.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Government doc-
uments show railroad company Norfolk Southern Corp. is working with state officials on plans to relocate its headquarters to the city from Norfolk, Virginia. HAWAII Honolulu: The U.S. mil-
itary’s land-based Aegis missile defense system has intercepted an intermediate-range ballistic missile in a test near Hawaii. IDAHO Boise: A state panel has voted
to slightly raise the housing stipend for the governor, as Idaho continues
ough has spent tens of thousands of dollars since 2015 fighting to keep chickens and ducks out, records show. RHODE ISLAND Pawtucket: The gov-
ernor and legislative leaders say they will do everything they can to help prevent toy maker Hasbro from leaving the area. SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: The
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: Califor-
nia’s increasingly deadly and destructive wildfires have become so unpredictable that government officials should consider banning home construction in vulnerable areas, the state’s top firefighter says.
will be featured on a “forever” stamp in 2019, the Bend Bulletin reports.
to be one of a handful of states without a governor’s mansion. ILLINOIS Chicago: A popular art
history professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who died last year has left $1 million to the school where he taught for three decades. INDIANA Richmond: Downtown
Richmond will be the scene of ice carvings, competitions and winter activities during the city’s sixth annual Meltdown Winter Ice Festival, to be held Jan. 25-27. IOWA Des Moines: Planners of the
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: People
living at a homeless encampment have begun moving into a temporary shelter across the highway. MISSISSIPPI Jackson: A police offi-
cer has been demoted after dropping his K-9 off at a local animal shelter after the dog’s retirement. MISSOURI St. Louis: Saint Louis
University has a novel approach for helping students de-stress before finals: miniature horses. The university’s department of public safety came up with the idea.
Greater Des Moines Water Trails project expect to see a return on investment within the first five years, a new study shows.
MONTANA Helena: A federal judge
KANSAS Topeka: A lawmaker who
NEBRASKA Omaha: The money
was stripped of a committee leadership post after endorsing Democratic Gov.-elect Laura Kelly’s campaign has switched to the Democratic Party. State Sen. Barbara Bollier of Mission Hills says the Republican Party, with which she’d been registered for nearly 43 years, no longer represents her values. KENTUCKY Louisville: The state’s
favorite Hallmark movie at Christmastime, according to data from CenturyLinkQuote, is “Marry Me at Christmas.” MAINE Norridgewock: Christmas
wreath companies are feeling the pressure of rising shipping costs and other market changes.
MARYLAND Baltimore: A clash of
has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block a tree-thinning project in the Elkhorn Mountains.
supply from a local benefactor has dried up after nearly 20 years of ensuring the polish was maintained on an elaborately landscaped airport access roadway ushering visitors into downtown. NEVADA Reno: Civil rights leaders
are condemning a new school district policy requiring background checks for parents visiting schools, warning it could have a chilling effect on immigrant families. NEW HAMPSHIRE Manchester: The
New Hampshire Food Bank is getting some big help from an anonymous donor. The food bank says the donor will make dollar-for-dollar donations up to $100,000 through the end of the year.
seasonings is looming in federal court, as Maryland’s Old Bay seeks to protect its trademark in a lawsuit against another spice blend, New Bae.
NEW JERSEY Asbury Park: An ob-
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Natural
108th year, pilgrims have marched from Tortugas Pueblo to Tortugas Mountain, known for the large “A” emblazoned on its west side, on the second day of the annual Our Lady of Guadalupe Fiesta.
gas companies are compromising safety by increasingly turning to outside contractors for pipeline work while cutting back on staff to oversee these projects, state lawmakers say.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Michelle Obama
surprised a group of college students Tuesday afternoon, walking into the Motown Museum as young men of color took part in a roundtable discussion on education.
scure state law says warming up your car for more than a few minutes could land you a $250 fine.
NEW MEXICO Las Cruces: For the
NEW YORK Albany: Outdoor enthu-
siasts who want to help fund projects that conserve wildlife habitat and increase access to fishing spots can donate $5 and get a Habitat and Access Stamp. NORTH CAROLINA Asheville: City
Charleston Rifle Club’s decision to deny membership to a doctor who would have been its first black member has prompted several local groups to cut ties. SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: South
Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Black Hills State University and Western Dakota Tech are teaming up to help make it easier for students to transfer between schools. TENNESSEE Memphis: Agriculture
technology company Indigo Ag Inc. says it is moving its North American headquarters to Memphis. TEXAS Tornillo: A gift drive for mi-
grant children being held in tents in this border city has met its goal of collecting 2,400 soccer balls. UTAH Salt Lake City: City council
members have voted to raise their own salaries by nearly $10,000 in a move they argue will allow more people from all economic backgrounds to consider serving. VERMONT Essex: An obituary has
sparked intense conversations around gun control. After Andrew Black died by suicide, with a firearm bought just a few hours before, the family wrote that people might consider lobbying for a wait period in between the purchase and possession of a firearm to honor Andrew’s memory. VIRGINIA Chincoteague: Three po-
nies, all mares, have returned to their ancestral island to help boost the herd’s population. WASHINGTON Seattle: High school
students are getting more sleep in Seattle, say scientists studying the effect of later school start times.
WEST VIRGINIA Keyser: A judge has
agreed to stop presiding over marriages altogether rather than officiate for same-sex couples. WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Making
reservations for a campsite at a state park or forest will be about $2 cheaper when a new reservation system goes live Monday. WYOMING Laramie: University of
Wyoming officials say the city should increase penalties leveled to businesses that sell alcohol to minors. From staff and wire reports
USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ SECTION C
IN SPORTS
Freshman All-Americans
Trevor Lawrence leads USA TODAY team 3C
NFL Week 15 begins
QB Hot Sheet, plus Thursday night preview 4C
Maddon set for 2019 season LAWRENCE BY JOSHUA S.
Cubs manager planning to ‘coach’ more 6C
KELLY/USA TODAY SPORTS
SPORTSLINE
SHAQ’S FUN HOUSE FLYER
FIRST WORD I realized a long time ago there are two things that bring people together: music and sports.” Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal to USA TODAY on Shaq’s “Fun House,” a carnival-themed Super Bowl party he is bringing to Atlanta on Feb. 1. It will include a Ferris wheel, juggling flamethrowers, a Cirque Du Soleil performance and festival music acts from Migos, DJ Tiesto, Lil Jon, T-Pain and Diplo.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
Scott Boras holds court, again, on the Bryce Harper sweepstakes Wednesday in Las Vegas. DANIEL CLARK/USA TODAY SPORTS
8
Harper’s agent Boras commands attention
Rutgers football players charged in a credit card fraud scheme this year have been indicted, according to NJ Advance Media. Citing an Open Public Records Act request, the report states a superior court grand jury in Middlesex County (New Jersey) released a four-page indictment Dec. 5 that outlines the various charges.
5
NFL games internationally in 2019: four in London and one in Mexico City, according to the league. Details will be released in the spring but home teams will be the Jaguars, Chargers, Rams, Raiders and Buccaneers.
Biggest free agent attracts interest publicly, behind scenes Bob Nightengale Columnist USA TODAY
LAST WORD Joe is fully healthy, ready to go; he’ll be a full participant in practice; he’ll be up for the game. But the starting quarterback will be Lamar.” Ravens coach John Harbaugh, in a news conference Wednesday announcing that rookie Lamar Jackson has moved ahead of veteran Joe Flacco, who is just back after missing four games with a hip injury.
SPORTS WEEKLY Playoffs? The Colts are gaining confidence by the game with a last-season charge. Plus, previews, predictions and odds for NFL Week 15 and baseball offseason reports on the White Sox and Marlins. Available on newsstands. Go to mysportsweekly.com or call 800-872-1415 to subscribe.
USA SNAPSHOTS©
20 Years since a team1 from a conference other than the Big Ten, Pac-12 or Big 12 has won the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball championship.
1 –ÊLong Beach State beat Penn State in 1998. SOURCE NCAA ELLEN J. HORROW, JANET LOEHRKE/USA TODAY
LAS VEGAS – It was Santa Claus standing under the Christmas tree Wednesday, with nearly 200 reporters and camera crews huddled around, trying to get a glimpse, a sound bite and, if lucky, a conversation. It was powerful agent Scott Boras, who has an annual tradition of holding
court on the final full day at baseball’s winter meetings, but never before has he drawn such a huge audience, with a gaggle of fans standing on the perimeter, including the Marlin Man. Then again, Boras hasn’t had a free agent player the likes of Bryce Harper, who not only is expected to eclipse Alex Rodriguez’s record 10-year, $175 million contract as a free agent but obliterate it. Harper flatly rejected a 10-year, $300 million offer from the Nationals in September and is expected to receive a deal that might eclipse $400 million. “The qualifications to be young, to be
Bowls grow as all parties gain benefits
Jarrett Bell
USA TODAY
See BOWLS, Page 2C
See BORAS, Page 6C
NFL’s dream team really a fantasy team
Brent Schrotenboer
Sitting on his couch last year after Christmas, the mayor of a Chicago suburb came up with an idea that might have seemed a little bizarre. Craig Johnson said he had been watching “bowl game after bowl game” on television. Virtually all of those games were named after businesses that paid to have their names in the game titles. What if he tried something like that? What if his government in Elk Grove Village paid to attach its marketing slogan — “Makers Wanted” — to the name of a bowl game? The goal would be to attract manufacturers to its industrial park next to O’Hare International Airport. “Could you picture ‘Makers Wanted Bowl’ at the 50-yard line?” Johnson
extraordinary, to have the valuation they bring,” Boras says, “there just aren’t many players that get to that place. It’s rare air.” There were no hints where Harper was leaning during Boras’ hourlong chat, but he did say how much he respects Phillies owner John Middleton and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who just so happen to be the two who aren’t blinking at the price tag. Boras didn’t say that the Yankees and Cardinals were trying to be deceitful
Columnist USA TODAY
Ohio’s Papi White and UAB’s Broderick Thomas played in last year’s Bahamas Bowl. BEN SOLOMON/ESPN IMAGES
IRVING, Texas – You might think that Roger Goodell has assembled a veritable “Dream Team” to carry the ball for the NFL when it comes to the slippery slope of investigations into personal conduct. Consider the star power: B. Todd Jones is a former U.S. attorney who was previously director of the federal agency that enforces firearms and explosives laws. Cathy Lanier left her post as police chief of the nation’s capital to join the NFL. Lisa Friel was once New York City’s prosecutor. And shoot, the owner who chairs the league’s conduct committee, Arizona’s Michael Bidwill, See INVESTIGATIONS, Page 4C
SPORTS
2C ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ USA TODAY
Bowls Continued from Page 1C
said he asked his wife. “She looks at me, and excuse my language. She goes, ‘You’re (expletive) nuts.’ ” Nearly a year later, the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl in Nassau will feature Toledo (7-5) against Florida International (8-4) on Dec. 21 on ESPN. The title sponsorship cost his village $300,000. But Johnson estimated it already has received millions of dollars’ worth of publicity from the deal, helping show how even the lowest bowl game can hold huge value — and why the bowl industry is poised to get even bigger. In 1996-97, there were 18 bowl games. Five seasonslater, there were 25. This season, there are 40 postseason games, starting Saturday, including 10 teams with the minimum record necessary to qualify at 6-6. For 2020 and beyond, the NCAA recently approved a possible expansion to as many as 86 teams in 44 postseason games, including the national championship game. That means nearly twothirds of all major-college football teams could earn a participation trophy in the form of a bowl berth. That’s great for business, according to the key market forces driving demand: sponsors, schools, cities, television viewers and ESPN. It doesn’t even matter that average, per-game bowl attendance has declined for 10 years in a row to about 40,000, according to NCAA records, or that participating schools and conferences last year were required to pay for a record $25 million in unsold tickets. The appetite for this bowl bonanza persists, because they’re all getting what they want. ❚ Television: By far the biggest reason for the expansion and wealth of the bowl industry is The Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC and ESPN. This year, those networks will televise 35 of the 40 games, using them to drum up advertising revenue during the holiday season, when families are often at home and off work. ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, even owns and operates 13 major bowl games, including the Bahamas Bowl. It plans to add a bowl game in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in 2020 and will consider adding more, said Clint Overby, vice president of events for ESPN Events. “What does it ultimately matter if there’s quote-unquote too many games?” Overby said of the perception by some that there’s a glut of bowl games. “As long as there’s interest and people want to play in them, and there’s a perceived value, then really it’s a net positive for the sport. The number of games is really not the issue.” Even the Bahamas Bowl can be considered a success for ESPN despite it being the least-watched and least-attended bowl game last year. It drew a crowd of 13,585 and an average television audience of 882,000 for Ohio’s 41-6 win against Alabama-Birmingham, according to Nielsen data. Other cable channels would love to be able to show advertisers and distributors that they can get such an audience on a weekday afternoon. The same day of last year’s Bahamas Bowl, a soccer game and a college basketball game on different channels drew less than half of the football game’s audience, according to Nielsen data. “ESPN looks at bowls as a highly profitable venture,” former CBS Sports
Ohio running back Dorian Brown scores one of his bowl-record-tying four TD runs in the 41-6 win over UAB in the 2017 Bahamas Bowl. BEN SOLOMON/ESPN IMAGES
president Neal Pilson told USA TODAY. “They can get better ratings with a (lower-tier) bowl game than they can get with maybe just another college basketball game.” ESPN is paying an average $470 million a year for the media rights to games in the College Football Playoff rotation. The championship game alone drew an average audience last season of 28.4 million, the second-biggest in cable history. ESPN pays an additional undisclosed amount to put on its other bowl games, adding to the money gusher that flows out to the participating colleges and leagues. ❚ The participants: Schools and their leagues earned a collective profit of $448 million from last year’s bowl games, according to NCAA documents obtained by USA TODAY. That is $561 million in bowl payouts, minus $113 million in expenses associated with participating in the games, including the $25 million they lost on unsold tickets. Most of that bowl payout money ($465 million) came from only six games: the Cotton, Peach and Fiesta bowls, plus the three games of the Playoff (Rose, Sugar and championship game). That money was shared with leagues and teams that did not participate in those games, such as those in the Bahamas Bowl. For example, $15.4 million of Conference USA’s $18.6 million in bowl payout money came from those top-tier games despite it not having a team in them. Nine teams from Conference USA went to bowl games last year and racked up a combined $5.2 million in expenses, including UAB in the Bahamas, according to NCAA documents. If not for that playoff money, Conference USA would have been $2 million short of covering those expenses.
“It was said very clearly: `Look, we’re going to make significant money available to conferences that are not in the (biggest bowl games),’ ” said Wright Waters, executive director of the Football Bowl Association, which advocates for the bowl industry. “The purpose of it is to make sure your student-athletes have a good experience and that your institutions have the benefits of bowl games.” Sponsors benefit from it, too, and provide a third major revenue source for the games beside television revenue and ticket sales. ❚ Sponsors: The Bahamas Bowl didn’t have a title sponsor last year after the previous title sponsor, the Popeyes restaurant chain, didn’t renew. The pricing might have been too much for some at about $450,000. It came down to $300,000, which is what Elk Grove Village agreed to pay ESPN. Johnson, the mayor, said the village has received a return on its investment that has greatly exceeded expectations. In the first 24 hours after the deal was announced in July, the village received $3.6 million in publicity from it, according to a marketing study provided by the village. “It’s priceless,” Johnson told USA TODAY. “You couldn’t have afforded to buy what we got.” The sponsorship contract calls for logos featuring “Makers Wanted” at the 50-yard line, on uniform patches and other name displays. ESPN is required to use the name “Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl” in all on-air references, besides airing commercials for the village during the game. “Go on Google right now, and type in ‘Makers Wanted,’ ” Johnson said. “First listings will be Elk Grove Village. That’s marketing. You want somebody to (no-
tice the bowl name) and go, ‘What the heck is Makers Wanted?’ ” He said the village is “extremely happy” with the deal. And this is for one of the least watched and attended bowl games — before the game is even played. ❚ Cities, schools and coaches: Cities like hosting bowl games because they help attract tourism and gain exposure on national TV. Some even provide funding for them. This year, the city of Birmingham is paying ESPN $550,000 to help fund the ESPN-owned Birmingham Bowl, which is title-sponsored by jewelry retailer Jared. The game previously had been called the PapaJohns .com Bowl and the BBVA Compass Bowl but did not have a corporate title sponsor in recent years. In exchange for its funding, a city spokesman said, the city gets to keep its name in the game title next to any corporate sponsor. Therefore, instead of being called the Jared Bowl, it’s the Jared Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 22. It’s not clear what the game would be called if the city didn’t pay and if it didn’t have a corporate title sponsor. But the fact that the city values this lower-tier game enough to fund it regularly reflects demand. And it’s up to the NCAA to decide how many bowl games should be allowed in response. “We talked about it: Is it diluted? Is it too much? How can we improve the system?” said Bret Gilliland, who worked on an NCAA committee that studied the size of the bowl system as deputy commissioner of the Mountain West Conference. “But there wasn’t much sentiment that we need to (shrink) this.” The NCAA consensus recently was to try to accommodate all teams with records of 6-6 or better. This year, there were more eligible teams (82) than bowl slots (78), leaving four teams unhappy and showing room for more bowl games. The NCAA based its approval of an expanded bowl system on the number of bowl-eligible teams in each of the 10 major conferences over the previous four years, plus independent schools. In some years, more teams with 5-7 records might get into bowl games, as they have in the past. For the schools, it means national attention, fun for fans, fundraising opportunities and a reward for their players. Their coaches love bowls, too, because they come with extra practices for their teams and bonus pay from their schools. For example, bigger bowl games often mean coaching bonuses of $100,000 or more. In the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl, head coach Butch Davis is due a $35,000 bonus from FIU for participating. His opponent, Toledo head coach Jason Candle, is due a $20,000 bonus for participating and can get another $30,000 if he wins the game. Off the field, the mayor of Elk Grove Village feels like he’s already won. “We know what we’ve gotten is millions, if not tens of millions” in value, Johnson said. “It’s mind-boggling.”
Corrections & Clarifications A Sportsline item in Tuesday’s edition misstated the elected office of Nancy Pelosi. The Democrat from California is a U.S. Representative. USA TODAY is committed to accuracy. To reach us at any time, call 800-872-7073 or email [emailprotected]. Please indicate whether you’re responding to content online or in the newspaper.
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USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ 3C
Lawrence leads freshman All-Americans Moore and Surtain also make USA TODAY’s first team
OFFENSE
Paul Myerberg
RB: Kennedy Brooks, Oklahoma RB: Jermar Jefferson, Oregon State
USA TODAY
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore and Alabama defensive back Patrick Surtain II top the USA TODAY Freshman All-America team for 2018, a list of college football’s next wave of rising stars. Lawrence was an easy pick at quarterback after stepping into the starting lineup in late September and leading the Tigers to another Atlantic Coast Conference championship and the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff. Moore led the nation in receptions during the regular season. A second Alabama newcomer, Jaylen Waddle, joined Moore at wide receiver after making 41 receptions for 803 yards. On a per-route basis, Waddle was among the most productive receivers in the country. Clemson, Alabama, Texas, Syracuse and Penn State each had two selections. Central Florida offensive lineman Cole Schneider, Tulsa linebacker Zaven Collins and Troy linebacker Carlton Martial represented teams from the Group of Five conferences.
QB: Trevor Lawrence, Clemson
WR: Rondale Moore, Purdue WR: Jaylen Waddle, Alabama TE: Pat Freiermuth, Penn State OL: Isaiah Wilson, Georgia OL: Abraham Lucas, Washington State OL: Penei Sewell, Oregon OL: Cole Schneider, Central Florida OL: Samuel Cosmi, Texas
DEFENSE DL: Xavier Thomas, Clemson DL: Wyatt Hubert, Kansas State DL: Jay Tufele, Southern California DL: Chris Rumph, Duke LB: Zaven Collins, Tulsa LB: Carlton Martial, Troy LB: Merlin Robertson, Arizona State CB: Paulson Adebo, Stanford CB: Patrick Surtain II, Alabama S: Caden Sterns, Texas S: Andre Cisco, Syracuse
SPECIALISTS K: Andre Szmyt, Syracuse
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence has thrown 24 touchdown passes this season. JEREMY BREVARD/USA TODAY SPORTS
P: Joe Doyle, Tennessee ALL-PURPOSE: KJ Hamler, Penn State
Shaq weighs in on LeBron vs. Jordan debate Scott Gleeson USA TODAY
Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal says his Lakers team that won three consecutive titles in the early 2000s would “easily beat” the modern-era Warriors, a team trying to become the first to three-peat since the Lakers (2000-02). “I think we’d easily win,” O’Neal told USA TODAY by phone when asked which team was better. “Other people might feel different; they (the Warriors) might feel different. But we had one of the best teams of all time in 2001 when we went 15-1 in the playoffs. We would’ve gone 16-0, but A.I. (Hall of Famer Allen Iverson) went off on us and stepped over (former Laker) Ty Lue.” That team O’Neal referenced was the 2000-01 Lakers squad that nearly went perfect in the postseason if it weren’t for an Iverson-inspired 76ers upset in Game 1 of the Finals. Iverson was MVP that season and scored 48 points before L.A. won the next four to claim the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Iverson recently said that while Lakers star LeBron James is the best of his generation, he doesn’t compare to Michael Jordan when debating the greatest of all time. O’Neal beat Jordan’s Bulls in the 1995 playoffs with the Magic and was James’ teammate briefly with the Cavaliers (2009-10) in the twilight of his career. He said comparing the two is difficult to do. “We’re talking about two different
Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James were teammates on the Cavaliers in the 2009-10 season. TONY DEJAK/AP
In their heyday, Kobe Bryant (8) and Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers to three consecutive championships in the early 2000s. AP
eras,” O’Neal said. “Jordan averaged 30 points when people could beat you up. The game was more physical. In this era, I’d average 45 (points) without free throws. Jordan ruled the ’90s. Me and Kobe did the 2000s, and LeBron’s doing his thing now. “Numbers-wise, yeah, I guess you could say he’s up there with Jordan.”
The whole idea of patience only applies if you haven’t won (a championship). When you’re LeBron and you’ve been to eight Finals appearances in a row, you haven’t got time for much patience. “After I got my first one, I was like, ‘You know what, let me get another one.’ When you’re on the top of Mount Everest, you don’t want to go back down.”
O’Neal also thinks that while this year’s version of the Lakers (17-10) are likely a playoff team, they’re not quite there yet when it comes to contending. But he said championships should be the aim. “They’re definitely hard to figure out,” he said of the Lakers. “The world knows what can happen when you put good players around LeBron.
Favre on eventually coaching Packers: ‘Never say never’ Scott Gleeson USA TODAY
Former Packers quarterback Brett Favre says he’s not ready to become an NFL coach and fill the vacancy for his former team. But the Hall of Famer kept the idea open long term, saying he’s “learned to never say never.” “It’s definitely interesting,” Favre told TMZ Sports of the possibility of coaching the Packers. “But believe me, that’s not going to happen. How can you not be intrigued by that? They would never offer, but even if they would, that’s ... I’m not ready for that, and neither are they.” Mike McCarthy’s 13-season run coaching the Packers ended this month after he was fired following a loss to the Cardinals. Favre said that while he felt fulfilled from coaching high school football — the 49-year-old helped Oak Grove win a Mississippi state championship as offensive coordinator in 2013 — he’s not ready for the big-time commitment yet. “That’s a far cry from the professional aspect of it,” Favre said. “Will I do it (coach at a higher level)? Who knows. I do feel like I have a lot to offer the next level and the next level after that. As a college, pro coach, there’s very little
Brett Favre, hugging Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, last played in 2010. MIKE DINOVO/USA TODAY SPORTS
time devoted to anything other than football. “Right now I’m not willing to give up that time.” Favre, an 11-time Pro Bowler who
guided the Packers to a Super Bowl win in 1996, noted that former player-tocoach scenarios such as Bart Starr weren’t perfect transitions — Starr coached the Packers in the mid-1970s,
almost right after his playing career concluded. “Just because you play doesn’t make you a great coach,” Favre said. “Some of the greatest coaches never played.”
SPORTS
4C ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ USA TODAY
NFL
Pressure mounts for Cousins, Vikings Minnesota has tenuous hold on the NFC’s final playoff spot Lorenzo Reyes USA TODAY
WEEK 11 RANKING
Each week during the NFL season, USA TODAY will assess everyone’s favorite topic: quarterbacks. Who’s hot? Who’s not? Who has the most exciting matchups? This week’s QB Hot Sheet:
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Best Fantasy Stars
Three trending up 1. Mahomes: Against a very good Ravens’ defense, Mahomes put his improvisation, arm strength, touch and awareness on display. A potential MVP season only continued to get better. 2. Baker Mayfield, Browns: Cleveland fans have to be thrilled that Mayfield is on their team. He outdueled Cam Newton and helped beat the Panthers, and he’s getting better, and more efficient, as the season wears on. 3. Ryan Tannehill, Dolphins: He benefited from a wild, double-lateral, game-winning TD, but Tannehill has an 8-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio since returning from a shoulder injury. He won’t tear up the stat sheet, but he’s efficiently managing games.
Three trending down 1. Jared Goff, Rams: Four interceptions, no touchdowns and just 180 yards
Investigations Continued from Page 1C
brings some rich expertise as a former prosecutor, too. Yet despite all that experience and credibility, it might sometimes seem that the NFL has an ultimate “Fantasy Team” when it comes to getting to the bottom of real-world encounters that can leave such a stain on the league’s precious reputation. As team owners gathered at a resort hotel near Dallas on Wednesday for a one-day NFL meeting, the league vehemently defended its handling of the investigation into former Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt’s alleged violence against a woman during a February incident at a Cleveland hotel, a case that broke open on Nov. 30 when TMZ released hotel surveillance camera video showing the NFL player contradicted what he told his employer as he shoved and kicked the woman. Until that video became public, Hunt, who wasn’t arrested or charged after police responded to the woman’s
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Five to watch this week 1. Kirk Cousins, Vikings: Minnesota has lost four of its last six games, and Cousins has underwhelmed in that span. The Vikings fired offensive coordinator John DeFilippo on Tuesday and promoted quarterbacks coach Kevin Stefanski to handle play-calling. Hosting a Dolphins team looking to make a playoff push, Cousins and Stefanski can try to finish strong and hold onto the sixth seed and final wild-card spot in the NFC. 2. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers: After Roethlisberger suffered a rib injury in his team’s third consecutive loss, Pittsburgh might be on the verge of collapse. The Steelers need more out of the running game, but with a huge matchup against the Patriots, Roethlisberger will likely need to carry the load, especially if running back James Conner is out. 3. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs: Everyone is raving about his no-look pass, but Mahomes needs 13 touchdown throws over his final three games to break Peyton Manning’s season record (55). He’ll get his chance to come within striking distance in a massive AFC West matchup against the Chargers on Thursday. 4. Philip Rivers, Chargers: Running backs Melvin Gordon (knee) and Austin Ekeler (neck) might be out. With the Chargers one game back of Kansas City in the division, Rivers is going to have to add to his sterling, MVP-type campaign for Los Angeles to have any shot to topple the Chiefs. 5. Josh Johnson, Redskins: The Mark Sanchez experiment didn’t work, so it’s Johnson’s turn. He played well coming off the bench against the Giants, but Washington was getting blown out by then. Against the Jaguars, Johnson might not have the room to use his legs like he did last week.
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Tune in to Speak for Yourself” on FS1 before the Thursday Night Football San Diego Chargers vs. Kansas City Chiefs matchup on FOX to find out the overall winner of the Pro Football #FanIndex
Chargers (10-3) vs. Chiefs (11-2) Time, TV: 8:20 p.m. ET, Fox Pregame.com line: Chiefs by 31⁄2
The Vikings and Kirk Cousins, who has 8 TD passes and 5 interceptions in five games, sit at the No. 6 seed in the NFC. HARRISON BARDEN/USA TODAY SPORTS
against a tough Bears’ defense made for a nightmare night. 2. Sanchez: There was a reason he was a free agent and out of the league before the Redskins’ moment of desperation. His 38-yard, two-interception day against the Giants could end up as his last stint in the NFL. 3. Newton: In his last two games, he has two TD passes and five interceptions. Carolina had seven total fourthquarter possessions in those contests when trailing by one score but take the lead or tie things up. The Panthers are now sinking with five losses in a row.
1. Mahomes (last week: 1): As long as he doesn’t stumble, he should be on his way to an MVP, and perhaps a record-setting season.
2. Drew Brees (2), Saints: He has three interceptions in his last three games, but Brees is still pacing the NFL in completion rate (75.7 percentage) and passer rating (120.8). 3. Rivers (3): It wasn’t his crispest performance in a victory against the Bengals, but Rivers is only five touchdowns away from matching his careerbest total (34). 4. Andrew Luck (5), Colts: Great chemistry with wide receiver T.Y. Hilton (nine catches on 12 targets for 199 yards against the Texans on Sunday) opened up the rest of the offense and allowed Luck to add two more touchdowns to his season total (34) that ranks second in the NFL. 5. Russell Wilson (4), Seahawks: A really quiet game against the Vikings (10 of 20 for 72 yards and one interception) drops him one spot.
911 call, was tearing it up in the backfield for one of the league’s most explosive offenses. Shortly after the video evidence surfaced, Hunt was released. Yet it makes you wonder: If TMZ can get the video, why can’t the NFL save itself some embarrassment and get the footage itself? Because the NFL won’t pay. Not then. Not now. Not tomorrow. Or so it declares. “That is not likely at all,” Jones told reporters when asked if he could imagine any scenario in which the league would pay for evidence. “To become mercenary and pay for videos opens up a Pandora’s Box of all kinds of opportunities and things that may come to us from not just surveillance videos in public places, or surveillance videos in residences, but you’re talking about the world of social media and everybody on a Smartphone. “TMZ is in the business of paying for people’s Smartphone (material) for a fee, for service. And the NFL’s not going there.” That’s a solid principle. Of course, the NFL doesn’t have sub-
poena power and NFL security agents, as Bidwill reminded, can’t make arrests. I mean, there’s Goodell’s court and the court of opinion, but they can be rather tricky, depending on the situation. Besides, paying for video would be encouraging people in some, if not many, cases to break the law by maybe stealing from employers. As Goodell echoed, “We’re not going to do it by corrupting people, by trying to bribe people. That’s not what we do.” Of course, that moral ground probably wasn’t what former Panthers owner Jerry Richardson stood on when, according to Sports Illustrated, he made financial payments to former employees who accused him of workplace misconduct. Then again, Richardson is out of the league, forced to sell his franchise (with mega-millions in profit) after the scandal became public. But the details revealed about his case surely suggest that sometimes powerful people and organizations have been known to pay in order to save face. Still, when it comes to the NFL and investigations into personal conduct —
Season rankings
Chargers’ keys: Get the ball away quickly. Chargers QB Philip Rivers gets frustrated under pressure, and the noise in Arrowhead Stadium won’t help. It’s one of the reasons the Chiefs have been so successful against the Chargers the past five seasons. Chiefs’ keys: Protect QB Patrick Mahomes. The Chargers didn’t have star DE Joey Bosa the first time they faced the Chiefs this season, and Mahomes threw for 256 yards and four touchdowns. Now Bosa is back. S Eric Berry is expected to make his season debut, and Chargers RB Melvin Gordon could play for the first time since Week 12. They won’t always be matched up, but whichever player has the greater impact in his injury return will go a long way toward determining which team wins. Who wins? The Chargers have lost nine consecutive to Kansas City. The Chiefs have the emotional boosts of getting Berry back and putting fan favorite Tony Gonzalez into the Ring of Honor at Arrowhead Stadium. Chiefs, 48-37 Game preview by Charles Goldman of TheChiefsWire, a USA TODAY Sports Media Group affiliate
beefed up with personnel, resources and policy after the sad trail of events in 2014 escalated with TMZ’s release of the inside-the-elevator video of Ray Rice — there’s not much choice in eschewing a pay-per-view pattern. It’s just that the risk includes the embarrassments like the Hunt case. Even so, while Goodell & Co. contend they continue to learn lessons, it seems strange that league investigators, knowing some form of video existed, did not interview Hunt early in the investigation as the Chiefs did. Jones maintained, “People in the business understand that you don’t sit down with the subject until you have a fuller handle on the facts because you’ve got to be able to ask some intelligent questions beyond, ‘Were you there and did you do anything?’ ” Sure, there are limitations. But it still seems odd that in knowing video existed, there would not even have been a preliminary investigation. No doubt, four years after the NFL unveiled at this very site a tougher, comprehensive personal conduct policy and domestic violence policy, there are so many more lessons to learn.
SPORTS
USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ 5C
SPORTS
6C ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ USA TODAY
BASEBALL
World Series or bust for Cubs manager? Maddon not worried as he enters final season of contract, plans to coach more Bob Nightengale Columnist USA TODAY
LAS VEGAS – Joe Maddon strolls through the lobby of Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and can barely take more than a few steps before being stopped for autographs, posing for pictures or strangers wanting casual conversation. He’s either a lame-duck manager for the Cubs or a potential free agent, depending on the moniker, but Maddon is a rock star at these winter meetings, looking as cool as Frank Sinatra and showing the stress of holding a full house at the poker table. He’s 64 going on 44, wearing a letterman’s jacket with a portrait of his one of his charity paintings on the back, with a funky colored T-shirt like he’s part of a modern-day rat pack. The dude even admitted Tuesday that he’s reading a new book: “Managing Millennials for Dummies.” He’s serious. “You always think this for dummy’s thing is really rudimentary written. It’s really well written and researched. I’m learning about traditionalists,
Boras Continued from Page 1C
when they’ve publicly said they have no interest in bidding for Harper but instead dropped this beauty of an analogy: “When the nurse walks in the room with the thermometer, the issue is not what the thermometer says that day, the issue is what’s the health of the patient when they’re ready to leave the hospital.” Boras certainly wasn’t about to reveal who’s really in or out on the sweepstakes or what teams Harper has met with, but the picture is becoming clear. The Phillies remain the favorites. They plan to make the largest offer, unless free agent infielder Manny Machado decides to take their money first. The White Sox also are deeply invested to make their franchise relevant again, but questions remain whether they seriously will make a bid in the $300 million range. Their last marquee free agent signing was Adam Dunn, to a four-year, $56 million deal in 2010. And the next mega-contract with a Boras client will be their first. Still, the White Sox are making it known they want to be big-time players, meeting in person with Harper on Nov. 19, with White Sox vice president Ken Williams, general manager Rick Hahn and Hall of Famer Jim Thome in attendance. Yet Reinsdorf was not at the meeting and hasn’t granted permission for Williams and Hahn to negotiate a contract. “I’m sure Jerry will do whatever’s good business for him,” Boras said. And it’s great business for the White Sox, Boras reiterated, for them to bring in one of the finest drawing cards in the game to a franchise that hasn’t drawn 2 million fans since 2011. The Sox lost 100 games last season, haven’t had a winning season since 2012, and their last playoff berth was 10 years ago. Yet Boras says that as long as the organization is committed to winning over the long haul, Harper is willing to take October off for a year or two. “I think the effectiveness of ownership in meetings,” Boras said, “is their ability to create a winning modality that is consistent with what a club may do over a 10-, 15-year period.”
Baby Boomers, the Xers, the Millennials. And I’m really starting to understand this a little bit better.” Who knows, maybe one day the most popular coach or manager in Chicago since the days of Mike Ditka and Phil Jackson will even understand why he has less job security than a beer vendor at Wrigley Field. He’s the only manager in 108 years to lead the Cubs to a World Series championship, the only one in franchise history to lead them to four consecutive postseason berths, but it hasn’t mattered. He wanted a contract extension before the winter, but it was denied by Cubs president Theo Epstein, leaving Maddon entering the final season of his five-year, $28 million contract. “I am not offended,” Maddon said. “I don’t feel badly about it. I’ve been there before. It’s all good. I am very happy with my stature and my status. “If you have a lot of self-confidence, things like that do not bother you, and I do. … I think you’ll see that trend continue. The whole objective now, and we want to put the emphasis on us and winning. “And I definitely don’t want the emphasis on me.”
The White Sox aren’t convinced they are the only Chicago team interested in Harper, but there’s no indication from the Cubs they’ll be involved. They didn’t have room in their budget to sign free agent outfielder Billy Hamilton to a oneyear, $5 million contract, so how are they going to suddenly find room for a player making at least $35 million a year? Really, perhaps the team to watch during these proceedings are the Dodgers. Sure, they already have a surplus of outfielders. Yes, Dodgers president Andrew Friedman has never signed a free agent to a contract worth $100 million. And they certainly proved they really don’t need Harper by winning back-to-back NL pennants. And, oh, how they love their stars in L.A., with Boras marketing Harper as a LeBron James in spikes. The Dodgers are being creative in trade talks at these meetings, discussing a complicated deal with the Reds and Indians in which they could trade outfielder Yasiel Puig and pitcher Alex Wood to the Reds, get back prospects, and send those along to Cleveland in a deal for ace Corey Kluber. The Dodgers, who also are actively shopping Matt Kemp, suddenly would have a hole in the outfield for a certain AllStar right fielder. Little wonder why Boras smiled when asked if teams are asking him to deliberately slow down the free agent process to provide them more time to make trades. “That would be a common thread to a lot of clubs,” Boras said. Some teams, like the Phillies, insist they don’t plan to wait. They grabbed a shortstop in Jean Segura last week and turned around Tuesday and signed Andrew McCutchen to a three-year, $50 million deal. And they’re still in the Harper and Machado sweepstakes, only now with extra inventory to move, including the likes of Odubel Herrera, Nick Williams, Maikel Franco and even prized prospect Sixto Sanchez. “If you see rumors connecting us to good players either through free agency or trade,” Phillies GM Matt Klentak told reporters Tuesday, “they’re probably true. That doesn’t mean we’re going to do them, but we’re in the business of trying to get better.”
Joe Maddon is the only manager in 108 years to lead the Cubs to a World Series championship. DANIEL CLARK/USA TODAY SPORTS
No matter how little Maddon might want to talk about his job status, it will be a huge topic all season in Chicago. If the Cubs go on a losing streak, the buzzards will be circling talk shows. If the Cubs keep winning, Epstein and the front office will be pressed on an extension. It promises to be a dramafilled summer when perhaps nothing less than a World Series title might save Maddon’s job. The Cubs told Maddon his priority shouldn’t be to entertain the media, talking about his latest endeavors or opening restaurants, but to spend more time with his players. It’s time for a hands-on approach. “It should not be a surprise when you have high expectations like we do and you don’t meet them,” Maddon said,
“you’ve got to do something about it. I expect more out of myself, also. I love challenges. Probably to this point, I’ve probably had more conversations via text or actual phone calls with guys than I’ve had in the past, despite moving around a whole lot.” It’ll simply be Maddon going back to his roots, being the one who moves around on the field, instructing, engaging and making sure they win the NL Central again instead of being relegated to a wild-card victim. “Part of the plan is to get out a little more often on the field, which I love. It’s not going to be a dramatic difference, but I do like to coach, and there’s a distinct difference between managing and coaching. Having this opportunity to get back on the field more in a coaching role more often, I’m looking forward
to it. My teeth were cut in development. I am a developmental guy.” Really, Maddon kept reiterating, everything is cool. Sure, he’d love to have a long-term contract extension. He wants to keep on managing past 2019. He wants to stay in Chicago. And, yes, he wants to keep on being himself, insisting he has absolutely no personality issues or philosophical differences with Epstein or anyone in the front office. “The concept that Theo and I have any kind of a disengagement or a lack of philosophical sameness is untrue,” Maddon said. “We have great conversations. And we’re almost a 100 percent on the same page all the time. “I’m not going to defend myself, because I think that’s a boring method when you have to defend yourself against something like that. I just know that we are on the same page and philosophically really aligned well.” This is a team, after all, that won 95 games this year, despite scoring one or no runs in 40 games, Yu Darvish winning just one game and closer Brandon Morrow missing the second half of the season. The Cubs aren’t pursuing Bryce Harper. They couldn’t even afford to squeeze center fielder Billy Hamilton into their budget. There will be no savior coming to their rescue with their budget limits. “I feel very confident moving forward that I’m going to be a big part of the Cub organization,” Maddon said. “Let’s just win the World Series and see how it plays out.”
NOTICES LEGAL NOTICE IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE In re: Chapter 11 DAVID’S BRIDAL, INC., et al.,1 Case No. 18-12635 (LSS) Debtors. Jointly Administered NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT OF CASES UNDER CHAPTER 11 OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE -AND- SUMMARY OF JOINT PREPACKAGED CHAPTER 11 PLAN AND NOTICE OF HEARING TO CONSIDER (A) ADEQUACY OF DISCLOSURE STATEMENT AND SOLICITATION PROCEDURES; (B) CONFIRMATION OF PLAN OF REORGANIZATION; AND (C) RELATED MATERIALS PLEASETAKE NOTICETHAT: 1. On November 19, 2018 (the “Petition Date”), David’s Bridal, Inc. and its debtor affiliates,as debtors and debtors in possession (collectively,the“Debtors”), each commenced a case under chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (the “Bankruptcy Court”). On the Petition Date, the Debtors filed the Joint Prepackaged Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code,dated as of November 18,2018 (the“Prepackaged Plan”),2 and a disclosure statement for the Prepackaged Plan, dated as of November 18, 2018 (the “Disclosure Statement”), pursuant to sections 1125 and 1126(b) of the BankruptcyCode. Prepackaged Plan and Disclosure Statement 2. Copies of the Prepackaged Plan and the Disclosure Statement may be obtained free of charge by visiting the website maintained by the Debtors’voting agent,Donlin,Recano & Company,Inc.(the“Voting Agent”or“Donlin”),at www. donlinrecano.com/davidsbridal. Copies of the Prepackaged Plan and the Disclosure Statement may also be obtained by calling the Voting Agent at (212) 771-1128 or [emailprotected]. 3. ThePrepackagedPlanprovidesforareorganizationtransactionpursuantto which: • All existing commitments under the Prepetition Term Loan Agreement will be terminated and each holder of an allowed Prepetition Term Loan Claim will receive its Pro Rata share of (i) the Takeback Term Loan, (ii) the Term Loan Stock Allocation and (iii) the right to participate in the Priority Exit Facility. The holders of Allowed PrepetitionTerm Loan Claims shall be deemed to have waived,and shall notreceiveanyrecoveryonaccountof,anydeficiencyclaim. • TheDebtors’UnsecuredNoteswillbecancelledandeachholderofanAllowed Unsecured Notes Claim will receive its Pro Rata share of (i) the Unsecured Notes StockAllocationand(ii)theWarrants. • On the Effective Date,all Interests in DB Parent shall be cancelled. Subject to the reasonable consent of the Required SupportingTerm Lender and the Crossover Holder,Interests in all other Debtors shall not be modified by the Prepackaged Plan, suchthattheCompany’spre-bankruptcycorporatestructurewillbepreserved. • All Priority Non-Tax Claims, Other Secured Claims, Prepetition ABL Claims,3 General Unsecured Claims (other than claims waived by the Supporting Sponsors) and Intercompany Claims and Intercompany Interests are unimpaired by the PrepackagedPlanandwillbesatisfiedinfull. • Within sixty (60) days following the Effective Date,the Reorganized Debtors will adopt a post-restructuring management incentive plan (the“Management Incentive Plan”), under which up to ten percent (10%) of the New Common Stock (on a fully diluted basis) will be reserved for issuance as awards to members of the ReorganizedDebtors’management. 4. Only holders of Claims in Class 4 (PrepetitionTerm Loan Claims) and Claims in Class 5 (Unsecured Notes Claims) are entitled to vote to accept or reject the Prepackaged Plan. All other classes of Claims or Interests were either presumed to accept or deemed to reject the Prepackaged Plan. On November 18, 2018, the Debtors commenced solicitation of votes to accept the Prepackaged Plan from the holders of Claims in Class 4 and Class 5 of record as of November 15,2018. The deadline for the submission of votes to accept or reject the Prepackaged PlanisDecember18,2018,at5:00p.m.(prevailingEasternTime). Combined Hearing 5. A combined hearing to consider (a) the adequacy of (i) the Disclosure Statement and (ii) the solicitation procedures utilized in connection with the solicitation of votes to accept or reject the Prepackaged Plan (the “Solicitation Procedures”) and (b) confirmation of the Prepackaged Plan, and any objections thereto, will be held before the Honorable Laurie Selber Silverstein, United States Bankruptcy Judge, in Courtroom #2 of the United States Bankruptcy Court, 824 Market Street, 6th Floor, Wilmington, Delaware 19801, on January 4, 2019, at 1:30 p.m. (prevailing Eastern Time) or as soon thereafter as counsel may be heard (the“Combined Hearing”). The Combined Hearing may be adjourned from time to time without further notice other than an announcement of the adjourned date or dates in open court or at the Combined Hearing, and notice of such adjourned date(s) will be available on the electronic case filing docket and the VotingAgent’swebsiteatwww.donlinrecano.com/davidsbridal.
6. Any objections to the Disclosure Statement, the Solicitation Procedures, and/or confirmation of the Prepackaged Plan must:(a) be in writing; (b) state the name and address of the objecting party and the amount and nature of the claim or interest of such party; (c) state the legal and factual basis for and nature of any objection;(d) conform to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and the Local Rules of Bankruptcy Practice and Procedure of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware; and (e) be filed with the Bankruptcy Court, together with proof of service, and served on the following parties so as to be received by no later than December 21, 2018, at 5:00 p.m. (prevailing Eastern Time) (the “Plan/Disclosure Statement Objection Deadline”): (a) the Debtors, c/o David’s Bridal, Inc., 1001 Washington Street, Conshohocken, PA 19428, Attn: Lori Cochran Kinkade; (b) the Office of the United States Trustee for the District of Delaware (the “U.S. Trustee”), 844 King Street, Suite 2207, Lockbox 35, Wilmington, DE 19801, Attn:Timothy Fox ([emailprotected]); (c) proposed counsel to the Debtors, (i) Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, 919 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022, Attn: M. Natasha Labovitz ([emailprotected]) and (ii) Young Conaway Stargatt &Taylor LLP,Rodney Square,1000 North King Street,Wilmington, DE 19801, Attn: Edmon Morton ([emailprotected]); (d) counsel to the agent for the proposed debtor-in-possession lenders, (i) Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, 101 Park Avenue,New York,NY 10178,Attn:Glenn Siegel (glenn.siegel@morganlewis. com) and (ii) Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, One Federal Street, Boston, MA 02110, Attn: Matthew Furlong ([emailprotected]); (e) counsel to the ad hoc term lender group, Jones Day, 250 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10281, Attn: Scott J. Greenberg ([emailprotected]) and Michael J. Cohen ([emailprotected]); (f) counsel to Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, 1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019, Attn: Alan Kornberg ([emailprotected]) and John T. Weber ([emailprotected]); (g) counsel to the Supporting Sponsors, Cole Schotz P.C., 500 Delaware Avenue, Suite 1410, Wilmington, DE 19801, Attn: Norman L. Pernick ([emailprotected]) and Kate Stickles ([emailprotected]); and (h) counsel to Solace Capital Partners, L.P., (i) Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP,One NewYork Plaza,NewYork,NY 10004,Attn:Brad Eric Scheler (brad. [emailprotected]) and Peter B.Siroka ([emailprotected]) and (ii) Morris,Nichols,Arsht &Tunnell LLP,1201 N Market St.#1800,Wilmington,DE 19801, Attn:DerekC.Abbott([emailprotected]). UNLESS AN OBJECTION IS TIMELY SERVED AND FILED IN ACCORDANCE WITHTHISNOTICE,ITMAYNOTBECONSIDEREDBYTHEBANKRUPTCYCOURT. YOU ARE ADVISED TO CAREFULLY REVIEW AND CONSIDER THE PREPACKAGED PLAN, INCLUDING THE DISCHARGE, INJUNCTION, RELEASE, ANDEXCULPATIONPROVISIONS,ASYOURRIGHTSMAYBEAFFECTED. Section 341(a) Meeting 7. A meeting of creditors pursuant to section 341(a) of the Bankruptcy Code (the “Section 341(a) Meeting”) will be deferred until February 4, 2019. If the Prepackaged Plan is confirmed by February 4, 2019, the Debtors will not convene a Section 341(a) Meeting. If the Section 341(a) Meeting will be convened, the Debtors will file and post on the Voting Agent’s website at www. donlinrecano.com/davidsbridal, not less than seven (7) days before the date scheduled for such meeting, a notice of the date, time, and place of such meeting. The meeting may be adjourned or continued from time to time by notice at the meeting,withoutfurthernoticetocreditors. YOUNG CONAWAY STARGATT & TAYLOR, LLP, Robert S.Brady (No.2847),Edmon L.Morton (No.3856),Jaime Luton Chapman (No.4936),Tara C.Pakrouh (No.6192), Rodney Square, 1000 North King Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801, Tel: (302) 571-6600, Fax: (302) 571-1253, Email: [emailprotected], [emailprotected], [emailprotected], [emailprotected] -and- DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP, M. Natasha Labovitz (admitted pro hac vice), Nick S. Kaluk III (admitted pro hac vice), Daniel E. Stroik (admitted pro hac vice), 919 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022,Tel:(212) 909-6000,Fax:(212) 909-6836,Email:nlabovitz@debevoise. com, [emailprotected], [emailprotected] -and- DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP, Craig A.Bruens (admitted pro hac vice),801 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004, Tel: (202) 383-8000, Fax: (202) 383-8118, Email: [emailprotected], Proposed Co-Counsel for the Debtors and Debtors in Possession 1 TheDebtorsinthesecases,alongwiththelastfourdigitsofeachDebtor’sfederal tax identification number,are: David’s Bridal,Inc.(4563); DB Investors,Inc.(8503); DB Holdco,Inc.(4567);and DB Midco,Inc.(3096). The location of the Debtors’corporateheadquartersis1001WashingtonStreet,Conshohocken,Pennsylvania19428. 2 Capitalized terms used but not otherwise defined herein shall have the meaningsascribedtosuchtermsinthePrepackagedPlan. 3 To the extent not previously refinanced by the DIP ABL Facility pursuant to a separate Bankruptcy Court order approving the Debtors’ chapter 11 financing, all existing commitments under the Prepetition ABL Agreement will be terminated and each holder of an Allowed Prepetition ABL Facility Claim will receive Cash in the full amount of its Allowed Prepetition ABL Facility Claim from the proceeds of the ExitABLFacility.
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USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ 7C
Bellator salutes troops in Hawaii Major MMA organization holds two fight cards during weeklong visit to islands John Morgan USA TODAY
HONOLULU – For the first time in more than 10 years, a major mixed martial arts organization is visiting the Hawaiian Islands, and the man behind the effort hopes it will become an annual affair. “It’s something that I’d like to come here once a year and do this dual event,” Bellator President Scott co*ker told USA TODAY. “Saturday night is open to the general public, Friday night is free for the troops, and it’s a give-back to the military for all that they do for us. “It’s such a feel-good show, and we’ve gotten so much support here from the mayor’s office, from the governor’s office and from the military here. Everybody’s embracing Bellator this week, and we’re out there doing good community work and good work for the troops.” Hawaii has long been a passionate hotbed for MMA. Local promotions such as SuperBrawl and Rumble on the Rock carried the torch in the market during its formative years, but logistical concerns have since proved troublesome for major organizations such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, despite repeated calls from notable Hawaiian fighters such as UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn and current UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway. Before this weekend’s dual Bellator events, the now-defunct EliteXC was the last major promotion to visit Hawaii, bringing names such as Nick Diaz, K.J. Noons, Yves Edwards and Murilo “Ninja” Rua to
Herschel Walker visits the troops during a Bellator weeklong promotion in Hawaii. BELLATOR
Oahu in 2008. As a rule, co*ker doesn’t generally speak about competing promotions’ business practices but says he’s proud to bring Bellator to a market that’s long been starved. “I’m not going to compare us to other organizations, but we are here first, and it does feel good, regardless of any other organization,” co*ker said. “Everybody has choices to make. They had choices of whether they
want to come do it or not. They decided not to do it, and we did it. I don’t think Max (Holloway) is too happy, but you can come watch our fights Saturday night.” On Friday, Honolulu’s Neal S. Blaisdell Center hosts Bellator and USO Present: Salute the Troops, where undefeated lightweight champion Brent Primus (8-0 MMA, 6-0 BMMA) rematches the man he beat for the title, Michael Chandler (18-4, 15-4), in the main event of a card that airs on Paramount and streams on DAZN (10 p.m. ET). On Saturday, the same venue sees Hawaii’s own Ilima-Lei Macfarlane (8-0, 7-0) put her women’s flyweight title on the line against Valerie Letourneau (10-6, 2-0) in the main event of Bellator 213, which streams exclusively on DAZN (10 p.m. ET). Additionally, Bellator brand ambassadors such as Herschel Walker and Royce Gracie as well as Bellator fighters Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Chael Sonnen and Josh Thomson are on hand in Honolulu and taking part in community activities designed to give back to the thousands of troops stationed in Hawaii, where all five branches of the U.S. military are represented. “We’ve been out running around to all the bases,” co*ker said. “I see the pictures of Herschel and Royce Gracie teaching seminars and doing clinics and survival skill training and Herschel on this big gun trying to figure out if he was going to shoot it or not. “So it’s been a lot of fun, and really it’s about giving back — about giving value to the men and women that serve this country, and I think we’re doing a great job so far.”
FOR THE RECORD All times ET
Sacramento Phoenix
Tuesday
NFL AMERICAN CONFERENCE East New England Miami Buffalo N.Y. Jets
T Pct 0 .692 0 .538 0 .308 0 .308
PF 364 278 201 270
PA 293 333 320 330
Houston Indianapolis Tennessee Jacksonville
W 9 7 7 4
L 4 6 6 9
T Pct 0 .692 0 .538 0 .538 0 .308
PF 323 349 251 212
PA 259 300 254 273
Pittsburgh Baltimore Cleveland Cincinnati
W L T Pct 7 5 1 .577 7 6 0 .538 5 7 1 .423 5 8 0 .385
PF 367 321 292 307
PA 306 241 332 397
x-Kansas City L.A. Chargers Denver Oakland
W L T Pct 11 2 0 .846 10 3 0 .769 6 7 0 .462 3 10 0 .231
PF 471 366 290 244
PA 351 270 282 388
West
NATIONAL CONFERENCE East Dallas Philadelphia Washington N.Y. Giants
W L T Pct 8 5 0 .615 6 7 0 .462 6 7 0 .462 5 8 0 .385
PF 276 281 249 307
PA 246 295 297 331
y-New Orleans Carolina Tampa Bay Atlanta
W L T Pct 11 2 0 .846 6 7 0 .462 5 8 0 .385 4 9 0 .308
PF 447 324 332 316
PA 283 332 383 367
Chicago Minnesota Green Bay Detroit
W L T Pct 9 4 0 .692 6 6 1 .500 5 7 1 .423 5 8 0 .385
PF 359 282 315 271
PA 247 291 307 319
y-L.A. Rams Seattle Arizona San Francisco
W 11 8 3 3
PF 425 340 178 275
PA 313 266 327 350
South
North
West
Thursday
L 2 5 10 10
T 0 0 0 0
Pct .846 .615 .231 .231
.538 .143
4 15
Wednesday
L 4 6 9 9
North
12 24
Houston 111, Portland 104 San Antonio 111, Phoenix 86 Toronto 123, L.A. Clippers 99
W 9 7 4 4
South
14 4
Boston at Washington Brooklyn at Philadelphia Detroit at Charlotte Milwaukee at Indiana New York at Cleveland Oklahoma City at New Orleans Portland at Memphis Atlanta at Dallas Miami at Utah Minnesota at Sacramento Toronto at Golden State
Thursday
L.A. Lakers at Houston, 8 p.m. L.A. Clippers at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m. Chicago vs. Orlando at Mexico City, 9:30 p.m. Dallas at Phoenix, 10:30 p.m.
Friday
Atlanta at Boston, 7 p.m. New York at Charlotte, 7 p.m. Indiana at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m. Milwaukee at Cleveland, 7:30 p.m. Washington at Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m. Miami at Memphis, 8 p.m. Golden State at Sacramento, 10 p.m. Oklahoma City at Denver, 10 p.m. Toronto at Portland, 10 p.m.
Saturday
Utah vs. Orlando at Mexico City, 5 p.m. Boston at Detroit, 7 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Charlotte, 7 p.m. Houston at Memphis, 8 p.m. Chicago at San Antonio, 8:30 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Oklahoma City, 9 p.m. Minnesota at Phoenix, 9 p.m.
NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division Tampa Bay Toronto Buffalo Boston Montreal Detroit Ottawa Florida
GP 32 31 31 31 31 32 32 29
W 24 21 18 17 15 14 13 11
L OT Pts GF GA 7 1 49 130 91 9 1 43 113 85 9 4 40 95 91 10 4 38 85 79 11 5 35 97 101 14 4 32 93 107 15 4 30 106 125 12 6 28 96 105
Metropolitan Division
L.A. Chargers at Kansas City, 8:20 p.m.
Saturday
GP 30 30 29 29 30 29 28 29
Washington Columbus NY Islanders Pittsburgh NY Rangers Carolina Philadelphia New Jersey
Houston at N.Y. Jets, 4:30 p.m. Cleveland at Denver, 8:20 p.m.
Sunday
Tennessee at N.Y. Giants, 1 p.m. Green Bay at Chicago, 1 p.m. Detroit at Buffalo, 1 p.m. Tampa Bay at Baltimore, 1 p.m. Arizona at Atlanta, 1 p.m. Oakland at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. Dallas at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. Miami at Minnesota, 1 p.m. Washington at Jacksonville, 1 p.m. Seattle at San Francisco, 4:05 p.m. New England at Pittsburgh, 4:25 p.m. Philadelphia at L.A. Rams, 8:20 p.m.
W 18 16 14 13 14 13 12 10
L 9 12 11 10 13 12 13 13
OT 3 2 4 6 3 4 3 6
Pts 39 34 32 32 31 30 27 26
WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division
Monday
New Orleans at Carolina, 8:15 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 22 Sunday, Dec. 23
Atlanta at Carolina, 1 p.m. Houston at Philadelphia, 1 p.m. N.Y. Giants at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. Green Bay at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m. Minnesota at Detroit, 1 p.m. Buffalo at New England, 1 p.m. Cincinnati at Cleveland, 1 p.m. Jacksonville at Miami, 1 p.m. Tampa Bay at Dallas, 1 p.m. L.A. Rams at Arizona, 4:05 p.m. Chicago at San Francisco, 4:05 p.m. Pittsburgh at New Orleans, 4:25 p.m. Kansas City at Seattle, 8:20 p.m.
GA 92 102 85 92 98 81 101 105
Nashville Winnipeg Colorado Dallas Minnesota St. Louis Chicago
GP 31 30 31 30 30 29 32
W 20 19 17 16 16 11 9
L OT Pts GF GA 10 1 41 98 78 9 2 40 107 83 9 5 39 112 94 11 3 35 83 78 12 2 34 95 88 14 4 26 82 97 18 5 23 87 121
Calgary San Jose Anaheim Edmonton Vegas Vancouver Arizona Los Angeles
GP 31 32 32 31 32 33 29 32
W 19 16 16 17 17 14 13 11
L OT Pts GF GA 10 2 40 107 85 11 5 37 102 98 11 5 37 81 94 12 2 36 88 91 14 1 35 96 91 16 3 31 98 111 14 2 28 76 80 19 2 24 71 98
Pacific Division
Washington at Tennessee, 4:30 p.m. Baltimore at L.A. Chargers, 8:20 p.m.
GF 112 102 83 98 88 72 86 88
Tuesday
Toronto 4, Carolina 1 Buffalo 4, Los Angeles 3, OT Vancouver 3, Columbus 2 Boston 4, Arizona 3 Washington 6, Detroit 2 Minnesota 7, Montreal 1 Nashville 3, Ottawa 1 Winnipeg 6, Chicago 3 St. Louis 4, Florida 3 Edmonton 6, Colorado 4
Monday, Dec. 24
Denver at Oakland, 8:15 p.m.
NBA
Wednesday
Vegas at N.Y. Islanders Pittsburgh at Chicago Philadelphia at Calgary Dallas at Anaheim
EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division Toronto Philadelphia Boston Brooklyn New York
W 22 19 16 10 8
L 7 9 10 18 20
Pct GB .759 — .679 2½ .615 4½ .357 11½ .286 13½
Charlotte Orlando Miami Washington Atlanta
W 13 12 11 11 6
L 13 15 15 16 20
Pct .500 .444 .423 .407 .231
Milwaukee Indiana Detroit Cleveland Chicago
W 18 17 13 6 6
L 8 10 12 21 22
Pct GB .692 — .630 1½ .520 4½ .222 12½ .214 13
Southeast Division
Central Division
WESTERN CONFERENCE Southwest Division
GB — 1½ 2 2½ 7
Memphis Dallas San Antonio New Orleans Houston
W 15 14 14 14 12
L 11 11 14 15 14
Pct .577 .560 .500 .483 .462
GB — ½ 2 2½ 3
Oklahoma City Denver Portland Minnesota Utah
W 17 18 15 13 13
L 8 9 12 14 15
Pct .680 .667 .556 .481 .464
GB — — 3 5 5½
Golden State L.A. Clippers L.A. Lakers
W 19 17 17
L 9 10 10
Pct .679 .630 .630
GB — 1½ 1½
Northwest Division
Pacific Division
Thursday
Arizona at Buffalo, 7 p.m. Los Angeles at Columbus, 7 p.m. Toronto at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m. Carolina at Montreal, 7:30 p.m. Vancouver at Nashville, 8 p.m. Edmonton at Winnipeg, 8 p.m. Florida at Minnesota, 8 p.m. Dallas at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.
Friday
Vegas at New Jersey, 7 p.m. Boston at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. Arizona at N.Y. Rangers, 7 p.m. Ottawa at Detroit, 7:30 p.m. Washington at Carolina, 7:30 p.m. Colorado at St. Louis, 8 p.m. Winnipeg at Chicago, 8:30 p.m. Philadelphia at Edmonton, 9 p.m.
Saturday
Calgary at Minnesota, 1:30 p.m. Anaheim at Columbus, 7 p.m. Ottawa at Montreal, 7 p.m. Detroit vs. N.Y. Islanders at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 7 p.m. Buffalo at Washington, 7 p.m. Los Angeles at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. Toronto at Florida, 7 p.m. New Jersey at Nashville, 8 p.m. Dallas at Colorado, 9 p.m. Philadelphia at Vancouver, 10 p.m.
MLB Calendar
Dec. 9 — Hall of Fame Today’s Game committee vote announced, Las Vegas. Dec. 10-13 — Winter meetings, Las Vegas.
2019
Jan. 11 — Salary arbitration figures ex-
changed. Jan. 22 — BBWAA Hall of Fame voting announced. Jan. 28-Feb. 15 — Salary arbitration hearings, St. Petersburg, Fla. Feb. 13 — Voluntary reporting date for pitchers, catchers and injured players. Feb. 18 — Voluntary reporting date for other players. Feb. 23 — Mandatory reporting date. March 20-21 — Opening series, Seattle vs. Oakland at Tokyo. March 28 — Opening day for other teams, active rosters reduced to 25 players. April 13-14 — St. Louis vs. Cincinnati at Monterrey, Mexico. May 4-5 — Houston vs. Los Angeles Angels at Monterrey, Mexico. June 3 — Amateur draft starts. June 15 — International amateur signing period closes. June 29-30 — New York Yankees vs. Boston at London. July 2 — International amateur signing period opens. July 9 — All-Star Game at Cleveland. July 31 — Last day to trade a player without securing waivers. Aug. 18 — Pittsburgh vs. Chicago Cubs at Williamsport, Pa. Aug. 31 — Last day to be contracted to an organization and be eligible for postseason roster. Sept. 1 — Active rosters expand to 40 players. Oct. 1-2 — Wild-card games. November TBA — Deadline for teams to make qualifying offers to their eligible former players who became free agents, fifth day after World Series. November TBA — Deadline for free agents to accept qualifying offers, 15th day after World Series. Dec. 2 — Last day for teams to offer 2020 contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters. Dec. 8 — Hall of Fame Modern Baseball committee vote announced, San Diego. Dec. 9-12 — Winter meetings, San Diego.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
1. Kansas (8-0) did not play. Next: vs. No. 17 Villanova, Saturday. 2. Duke (9-1) did not play. Next: vs. Princeton, Tuesday. 3. Tennessee (7-1) did not play. Next: at Memphis, Saturday. 4. Gonzaga (9-1) did not play. Next: at No. 12 North Carolina, Saturday. 5. Michigan (10-0) did not play. Next: vs. Western Michigan, Saturday. 6. Virginia (9-0) did not play. Next: at South Carolina, Wednesday, Dec. 19. 7. Nevada (10-0) did not play. Next: vs. South Dakota State, Saturday. 8. Auburn (8-1) did not play. Next: vs. UAB, Saturday. 9. Michigan State (8-2) did not play. Next: vs. Green Bay, Sunday. 10. Florida State (8-1) did not play. Next: vs. Southeast Missouri State, Monday. 11. Texas Tech (8-0) did not play. Next: vs. Northwestern State, Wednesday. 12. North Carolina (7-2) did not play. Next: vs. No. 4 Gonzaga, Saturday. 13. Virginia Tech (8-1) did not play. Next: vs. Washington, Saturday. 14. Buffalo (9-0) did not play. Next: vs. Southern Illinois, Saturday. 15. Ohio State (8-1) did not play. Next: vs. Bucknell, Saturday. 16. Wisconsin (8-2) did not play. Next: vs. Savannah State, Thursday. 17. Villanova (8-3) lost to Pennsylvania 78-75. Next: at No. 1 Kansas, Saturday. 18. Mississippi State (8-1) did not play. Next: vs. Cincinnati, Saturday. 19. Kentucky (7-2) did not play. Next: vs. Utah, Saturday. 20. Arizona State (7-1) did not play. Next: at Georgia, Saturday. 21. Marquette (8-2) did not play. Next: vs. North Dakota, Tuesday. 22. Iowa (7-2) did not play. Next: vs. Northern Iowa, Saturday. 23. Furman (11-0) beat Charleston Southern 77-69. Next: vs. UNC Wilmington, Saturday. 24. Houston (8-0) did not play. Next: vs. LSU, Wednesday. 25. Indiana (8-2) did not play. Next: vs. Butler, Saturday. 25. Kansas State (6-2) did not play. Next: vs. Georgia State, Saturday. 25. Syracuse (7-2) did not play. Next: vs. Old Dominion, Saturday.
SOCCER Champions League (Home teams listed first) FIRST ROUND Top two in each group advance GROUP A
Tuesday
GP W 6 4 6 4 6 1 6 0
D 1 1 3 1
L GF GA Pts 1 10 2 13 1 9 6 13 2 6 5 6 5 2 14 1
Club Brugge 0, Atletico Madrid 0 Monaco 0, Borussia Dortmund 2
GROUP B
x-Barcelona x-Tottenham Inter Milan PSV Eindhoven
Tuesday
GP W 6 4 6 2 6 2 6 0
D 2 2 2 2
L GF GA Pts 0 14 5 14 2 9 10 8 2 6 7 8 4 6 13 2
Barcelona 1, Tottenham 1 Inter Milan 1, PSV Eindhoven 1
GROUP C
x-Paris St-Gmn x-Liverpool Napoli Red Star Blgde
Tuesday
GP W 6 3 6 3 6 2 6 1
GROUP D x-Porto x-Schalke Galatasaray Lkmtiv Mscow
Tuesday
GP W 6 5 6 3 6 1 6 1
D 1 2 1 0
L GF GA Pts 0 15 6 16 1 6 4 11 4 5 8 4 5 4 12 3
Galatasaray 2, Porto 3 Schalke 1, Lokomotiv Moscow 0
GROUP E
x-Bayern Mnich x-Ajax Astrdm Benfica AEK Athens
GP W 6 4 6 3 6 2 6 0
D 2 3 1 0
Wednesday
L GF GA Pts 0 15 5 14 0 11 5 12 3 6 11 7 6 2 13 0
Ajax Amsterdam 3, Bayern Munich 3 Benfica 1, AEK Athens 0
GROUP F
x-Man City Lyon Shaktar Dntsk Hoffenheim
GP W 6 4 6 1 6 1 6 0
D 1 5 3 3
Wednesday
L GF GA Pts 1 16 6 13 0 12 11 8 2 8 16 6 3 11 14 3
Manchester City 2, Hoffenheim 1 Shaktar Donetsk 1, Lyon 1
GROUP G x-Real Madrid x-Roma Viktoria Plzen CSKA Moscow
GP W 6 4 6 3 6 2 6 2
D 0 0 1 1
Wednesday
GP W D x-Juventus 6 4 0 x-Man United 6 3 1 Valencia 6 2 2 Yng Boys Bern 6 1 1 x-advanced to second round
L GF GA Pts 2 12 5 12 3 11 8 9 3 7 16 7 3 8 9 7
L GF GA Pts 2 9 4 12 2 7 4 10 2 6 6 8 4 4 12 4
Wednesday
D 2 0 3 1
L GF GA Pts 1 17 9 11 3 9 7 9 1 7 5 9 4 5 17 4
O/U 80 55
Monday (12/31) Favorite Cincinnati Stanford Oregon Missouri Utah Texas A&M
Line 5 6 3 8 7 51⁄2
O/U 531⁄2 52 48 74 46 581⁄2
Tuesday (Jan. 1) Favorite Mississippi St Penn St Ohio State Georgia
Favorite KANSAS CITY
Saturday Favorite Houston DENVER
Favorite MINNESOTA CINCINNATI BALTIMORE INDIANAPOLIS BUFFALO CHICAGO NY GIANTS JACKSONVILLE ATLANTA Seattle New England LA RAMS
Monday
Favorite New Orleans
Line 7 6 6 11
Underdog Oklahoma Notre Dame Underdog Virginia Tech Pittsburgh Michigan St Oklahoma St Northwestern NC State
O/U 44 47 58 58
Underdog Iowa Kentucky Washington Texas
Line O/U 31⁄2 53
Underdog LA Chargers
Line 6 3 Line 7 2 8 3 2 6 2 7 9 4 21⁄2 11
O/U 411⁄2 45
Underdog NY JETS Cleveland
O/U 44 46 461⁄2 47 39 45 43 36 44 44 52 52
Underdog Miami Oakland Tampa Bay Dallas Detroit Green Bay Tennessee Washington Arizona SAN FRANCISCO PITTSBURGH Philadelphia
Line O/U 6 52
Underdog CAROLINA
BASEBALL American League
World Golf Ranking Through Dec. 9 1. Brooks Koepka 2. Justin Rose 3. Dustin Johnson 4. Justin Thomas 5. Bryson DeChambeau 6. Jon Rahm 7. Francesco Molinari 8. Rory McIlroy 9. Rickie Fowler 10. Tony Finau 11. Xander Schauffele 12. Tommy Fleetwood 13. Jason Day 14. Tiger Woods 15. Patrick Reed 16. Jordan Spieth 17. Bubba Watson 18. Patrick Cantlay 19. Marc Leishman 20. Alex Noren 21. Webb Simpson 22. Paul Casey 23. Sergio Garcia 24. Tyrrell Hatton 25. Louis Oosthuizen
BOSTON RED SOX — Agreed to terms with OF Gorkys Hernandez on a minor league contract. USA ENG USA USA USA ESP ITA NIR USA USA USA ENG AUS USA USA USA USA USA AUS SWE USA ENG ESP ENG SAF
10.06 10.02 8.81 8.38 7.17 6.84 6.30 6.29 5.81 5.75 5.70 5.63 5.57 5.53 5.21 4.99 4.88 4.72 4.55 4.55 4.51 4.20 3.90 3.88 3.81
ODDS Pregame.com Line NBA Thursday Favorite HOUSTON SAN ANTONIO ORLANDO Dallas
Line O/U 51⁄2 (2221⁄2) 21⁄2 (224) 4 209 7 (211)
Underdog LA Lakers LA Clippers Chicago PHOENIX
COLLEGE BASKETBALL Thursday Favorite SAMFORD SAN FRANCISCO
Line 7 19
Underdog Morehead State Eastern Washington
National Hockey League Thursday Line -141 OFF -125 -110 -163 -207 -168 OFF
Underdog Arizona Los Angeles Toronto Carolina Florida Vancouver Edmonton Dallas
College Football Saturday Bowls Favorite NC A&T Utah St Tulane Fresno St Georgia Sthrn Appalachian St
More Bowls Favorite UAB Ohio Marshall Toledo BYU Memphis Army Buffalo HAWAII Boise St Georgia Tech TCU Temple Miami Vanderbilt Auburn West Virginia Washington St Arkansas St Michigan South Carolina
Line 14 11
DEALS
Valencia 2, Manchester United 1 Young Boys Bern 2, Juventus 1
Favorite BUFFALO COLUMBUS TAMPA BAY MONTREAL MINNESOTA NASHVILLE WINNIPEG SAN JOSE
Favorite Alabama Clemson
Sunday
Real Madrid 0, CSKA Moscow 3 Viktoria Plzen 2, Roma 1
GROUP H
Saturday (12/29)
NFL Thursday
GOLF
AP Top 25 Fared Tuesday
x-Brsa Drtmd x-Atltco Madrid Club Brugge Monaco
Liverpool 1, Napoli 0 Red Star Belgrade 1, Paris Saint-Germain 4
Line +131 OFF +115 +100 +153 +187 +158 OFF
Line 71⁄2 71⁄2 3 41⁄2 2 61⁄2
O/U 47 671⁄2 59 531⁄2 471⁄2 50
Underdog Alcorn State North Texas La.-Lafayette Arizona St E. Michigan MIDDLE TENN.
Line 21⁄2 3 21⁄2 5 12 4 3 2 1 3 4 PK 3 4 3 3 1 31⁄2 1 7 4
O/U 431⁄2 54 55 68 491⁄2 74 60 51 60 551⁄2 60 40 55 48 55 54 68 541⁄2 60 50 54
Underdog N Illinois San Diego St South Florida FIU W. Michigan Wake Forest Houston Troy La. Tech Boston Cllg Minnesota California Duke Wisconsin Baylor Purdue Syracuse Iowa St Nevada Florida Virginia
BASKETBALL National Basketball Association
NBA — Fined Phoenix F T.J. Warren $15,000 for directing inappropriate language toward a game official following ejection.
FOOTBALL National Football League
BUFFALO BILLS — Signed RB Keith Ford and S Dean Marlowe from the practice squad and WR Tanner McEvoy, TE Kyle Carter and CB Josh Thornton to the practice squad. CHICAGO BEARS — Placed DB Bryce Callahan on injured reserve. Signed DB Marcus Williams. DETROIT LIONS — Signed DT Joshua Frazier, OL Jarron Jones and DE Jonathan Wynn to the practice squad. GREEN BAY PACKERS — Placed OL Byron Bell on injured reserve. Signed G Nico Siragusa from Baltimore’s practice squad. MIAMI DOLPHINS — Placed C Jake Brendel on injured reserve. Signed OL Hroniss Grasu.
HOCKEY National Hockey League
CAROLINA HURRICANES — Placed F Jordan Staal on injured reserve. Recalled F Janne Kuokkanen from Charlotte (AHL). ST. LOUIS BLUES — Assigned F Jordan Kyrou to San Antonio (AHL).
SOCCER Major League Soccer
FC DALLAS — Traded M Victor Ulloa to Cincinnati for general allocation money. NEW YORK RED BULLS — Signed D Tim Parker to a multi-year contract. ORLANDO DITY SC — Traded M Tony Rocha to New York City FC for a 2019 fourth-round draft pick.
COLLEGE
CAMPBELL — Announced the resignation of athletic director Bob Roller. FLORIDA ATLANTIC — RB Devin Singletary will enter the NFL draft. MEMPHIS — RB Darrell Henderson will enter the NFL draft. MICHIGAN — Dismissed sophom*ore RB O’Maury Samuels from the football program. SETON HALL — Named Ciara Crinion women’s soccer coach. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE — Agreed to terms with football coach John Stiegelmeier on a fiveyear contract extension through the 2023 season.
SPORTS ON TV Times Eastern. Programs live unless noted. Check local listings. COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Savannah State at Wisconsin (Big Ten Network, 8 p.m.) COLLEGE GOLF: NCAA Men’s Golf Championships, team match play finals (Golf Channel, 2 p.m.); East Lake Cup, team match play championships, men’s and women’s semifinalists (Golf Channel, 4 p.m.); European Tour Golf, Alfred Dunhill Championship, first round, South Africa (Golf Channel, 5:30 p.m.); American Century Championship Golf: Celebrity Golf Event, final round (Golf Channel, 9 p.m.); Asian Tour Golf, Indonesian Masters (Golf Channel, Midnight Friday); European Tour Golf, Alfred Dunhill Championship, second round (Golf Channel, 5:30 a.m. Friday) NBA: LA Lakers at Houston (TNT, 8 p.m.); G-League, Capital City at South Bay (ESPNU, 8 p.m.); Dallas at Phoenix (TNT, 10:30 p.m. NFL: LA Chargers at Kansas City (Fox/NFL Network, 8 p.m.) RODEO: PRCA Rodeo, Wrangler National Finals (CBS Sports Network, 10 p.m.) SNOWBOARDING: U.S. Open, men’s slopestyle final (Fox Sports 2, 11 p.m.); U.S. Open, men’s halfpipe final (Fox Sports 2, 1 a.m. Friday); U.S. Open, women’s halfpipe final (Fox Sports 2, 3 a.m. Friday); U.S. Open, women’s slopestyle (Fox Sports 2, 4:30 a.m. Friday) SWIMMING: FINA World Championships, day 3 of the 25m finals, China (NBC Sports Network, noon) WOMEN’S COLLEGE GOLF: NCAA Women’s Golf Championships, team match play finals (Golf Channel, noon); East Lake Cup, team match play championships, men’s and women’s semifinalists (Golf Channel, 4 p.m.) WOMEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL: NCAA Tournament, semifinals, Stanford vs. BYU and Nebraska vs. Illinois (ESPN, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.)
SPORTS
8C ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ USA TODAY
Every life has a waking moment.
I am Warren Boyd. – CEO and Co-Founder of Wavelengths Recovery
You are NOT alone anymore!
It’s NOT the American Dream!
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USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ SECTION D
IN LIFE
Awards race picks up the pace
SAG nominates “A Star Is Born,” “Ozark,” “Vice.” 3D
The week’s hottest reads
Top 50 on our Best-Selling Books list. 3D
‘Deadpool’ dials it down a notch “VICE” BY ANNAPURNA PICTURES
LIFELINE
But the PG-13 version still has some edge. 4D
MOVIE REVIEW
MOVIES
Emily Blunt spit-spot-on as ‘Mary Poppins’ Brian Truitt Columnist USA TODAY
MATTY ZIMMERMAN/AP
HOW WAS YOUR DAY? MARILYN MONROE FANS An auction of the screen icon’s memorabilia has taken in more than $1.6 million, including $120,000 for a touring version of the actress’ white dress from “The Seven Year Itch,” Profiles in History announced after Tuesday’s “Essentially Marilyn” auction in Los Angeles. The “Seven Year Itch” dress is a version of the one featured in the film’s infamous subway-grate scene that designer Bill Travilla made for Monroe to use on tours and in exhibits.
In “Beale Street,” Sharon (Regina King) stands behind her pregnant daughter and her wrongfully imprisoned boyfriend in 1970s Harlem. AP
MATTHIAS NAREYEK/GETTY IMAGES
ROYAL REPORT TUSSAUDS’ MOVING TRIBUTE The Berlin Madame Tussauds introduced live wax figures Tuesday in a tribute to Prince Harry and duch*ess Meghan, which some are finding eerie. Actors clad in ugly holiday sweaters wearing oversized masks portray the royal couple. The newlyweds also are immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds London with traditional wax figures.
‘Mama bear’ King talks ‘Beale Street’ Patrick Ryan
Look, up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nah, it’s just Mary Poppins flying in on her umbrella again, with an old-school, unabashedly cheery new adventure. P.L. Travers’ practically perfect nanny is back in the perfectly fine sequel “Mary Poppins Returns” (eeeE; rated PG; in theaters nationwide Dec. 19), with Emily Blunt carrying the magic carpet bag and living up to the high bar Julie Andrews set in 1964’s original “Poppins.” While narratively no match for the classic Disney musical, the new “Mary” adds new songs and multitalented charisma machine Lin-Manuel Miranda to the mix for one undoubtedly comforting nostalgia-fest. Set in 1930s Depression-era London, a couple of decades after Mary first arrived on Cherry Tree Lane to care for the Banks children, “Returns” catches up with now-adult siblings Michael (Ben Whishaw) and Jane Banks (Emily Mortimer). An artist with a part-time job at his father’s old employer Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, Michael has fallen behind on house payments following his wife’s death. And his shady boss William Wilkins (a weaselly Colin Firth) is going to repossess the family manor in five days unless Michael can find his dad’s lost bank shares.
USA TODAY
NEW YORK – It’s a great time to be a Regina. ❚ Last month, Regina King won best supporting actress from the New York Film Critics Circle for her heartwarming turn in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” the new romantic drama based on James Baldwin’s 1974 novel. The award was especially meaningful for King, 47, who was recognized alongside her longtime friend Regina Hall, who won best actress for her workplace comedy “Support the Girls.”
IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY WHO’S CELEBRATING TODAY Taylor Swift is 29. Jamie Foxx is 51. Dick Van Dyke is 93.
USA SNAPSHOTS©
54% of U.S. teens admit to excessive cellphone usage, while 52% have tried to cut back.
SOURCE Pew Research Center survey of 743 teens ages 13-17 MIKE B. SMITH, PAUL TRAP/USA TODAY
“Yeah! The Reginas!” King exclaims, sitting in a hotel suite overlooking Central Park on a rainy afternoon just a few days after the awards were announced. “I texted her and said, ‘Well, we’re really going to confuse their (butts) now,’ because people have a hard time keeping up which Regina. We’ll see posts (on social media) that say her name but tag me. But I don’t mind them getting us confused, because she’s a pretty awesome human being.” The honor is the first of many expected to come her way this season for “Beale Street” (in theaters Friday in New York and Los Angeles, goes nationwide Christmas Day). Also named best supporting actress by the National Board of Review, King is nominated in the same category at the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice awards, and is the favorite to take home the Oscar among awards prognosticators at GoldDerby.com. “The marvelous King is a quiet See KING, Page 2D
King won an Emmy for “Seven Seconds.” DAN MACMEDAN/ USA TODAY
As Mary Poppins, Emily Blunt mixes caring with a spoonful of sarcasm. DISNEY
Where there’s domestic chaos, there’s Mary Poppins. Greeted by good-hearted lamplighter Jack (Miranda), Mary finds that Michael’s children – Annabel (Pixie Davies), John (Nathanael Saleh) and little Georgie (Joel Dawson) – have had to grow up fast following their mom’s death. The nanny uses everything in her arsenal (including dolphins in the bathtub) to teach them the wonders of nonsense, and she comes loaded with bon mots like “Everything is possible, even the impossible.” The plot mainly sticks to the formula of the first film, though it pays off some 54-year-old narrative threads. But that strong emotional arc of George Banks (David Tomlinson) in the ’60s movie – workaholic dad learns the magic of spending time with his kids and simply flying a kite – is missing from the sequel, especially in Michael’s various dramas. Director Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) has a knack for musical structure, so his colorful numbers, mainly with Mary, Jack and the kiddos, make up for the more staid adult stuff. Marc Shaiman’s score is a swinging delight (with melodic hints here and there of older “Poppins” tunes) and his original songs, while perhaps not as earwormy as “A Spoonful of Sugar,” are a strong See POPPINS, Page 2D
LIFE
2D ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ USA TODAY
King Continued from Page 1D
powerhouse throughout,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote in its review. IndieWire raved that she “owns every second she’s onscreen.” In the film, set in 1970s-era Harlem, King plays the benevolent, righteous Sharon Rivers, who ferociously fights for her newly pregnant daughter, Tish (KiKi Layne), and Tish’s boyfriend Fonny (Stephan James), who is wrongfully imprisoned for a rape he didn’t commit. Although Fonny’s evangelistic mother reviles Tish for having a baby outside marriage, Sharon and her doting husband, Joe (Colman Domingo), support the young lovers. “There’s no shame in their home, no judgment,” King says. “Most people I know have a Sharon or Joe in their life, in some form or fashion.” For King, it was her grandma Loretta, whom she fondly remembers visiting every year in Cincinnati while growing up in Los Angeles (“Just hearing her words and her voice made you feel better”). The actress also sees hints of her own mother, Gloria, in the character. King’s parents divorced when she was young, and Gloria, a teacher, raised King and her sister, Reina, by herself. “My sister and I were definitely allowed to dream big. My mother put no restrictions on that,” King says. “As far as that comforting feeling that Sharon gives, my mom definitely had that.” King herself is mom to Ian Alexander Jr., 22, who is a budding DJ/producer and named for her ex-husband. She and her son are extremely close, even sharing matching tattoos on their forearms reading “unconditional love” in Aramaic, which they learned while studying Kabbalah together. “That mama bear thing where I’ll do anything for my child, I’m one of those moms,” King says. “I’ll give my right arm – and that’s my writing arm – for my child’s safety, and so my child can advance and reach higher than I’ve ever reached.” That overwhelming love made it especially difficult for King to play Latrice Butler in Netflix drama “Seven Seconds,” the grieving parent of a black teen killed by a white cop. The role earned her an unexpected Emmy Award for lead actress in a limited series in
Jack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) takes the family joyriding. JAY MAIDMENT/DISNEY
Poppins Continued from Page 1D
Joe (Colman Domingo) and Sharon (Regina King) are the kinds of parents “every child wishes they could have,” King says. TATUM MANGUS/ANNAPURNA PICTURES
September (her third in four years, after winning two supporting trophies for ABC’s “American Crime,” which similarly tackled issues of race and class). Her genuine shock as she received a standing ovation and off-the-cuff acceptance speech (“This is amazing, I want to curse right now”) were also a hit with viewers on social media. The series “flew under the radar,” she says. “Most of the people I knew who were watching the show were black people, and the majority of the (Television) Academy voters are not black. So it was a nice surprise for that to happen.” “Beale Street” director Barry Jenkins believes awards recognition is long overdue for King, who has been a scenestealer for three decades in films such as “Boyz n the Hood,” “Jerry Maguire” and “Ray,” and TV shows “Southland” and “The Leftovers.” “Regina has been working so diligently over the years in all these ‘small’ parts, but she gets so deeply embedded in her characters,” Jenkins says. “I think when people see her in this film, they’ll
see all the emotion and humanity that she collected from those performances. She just does such a good job of channeling all this amazing energy and spirit.” Although she’s been acting since she was a teen on ’80s sitcom “227,” “I’ve never had too big of a lull careerwise,” King says. “But since becoming a mother, I’ve been making choices with projects that are speaking to a lot of us. And because of what’s going on in our country and the timing of my choices, the light is shining brighter (on my work).” When she’s not promoting ‘Beale Street,’ King is shooting HBO’s “Watchmen” in Atlanta, from “Lost” creator Damon Lindelof. The series, premiering next year, is her first time starring in a comic-book-based project, and she’s sworn to secrecy. “I’m like, ‘I wait until I’m darn near 50 to be a superhero,’ ” King says, laughing. “Thank goodness my body is still fluid, and I can run and jump and do some cool stuff.”
Report puzzle problems to us at [emailprotected] or 1-800-872-7073
PUZZLES CROSSWORD
WORD ROUNDUP
EDITED Fred Piscop
By David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek
BY Bruce Venzke
Find and Circle: Five words ending with IRE Four five-letter mammals Four words starting and ending with G Two things worn on the foot Two five-letter tropical fruits
QUICKCROSS
TXTPERT Across 1. 66836368 3. 8225328 4. 67626368 7. 393 8. 483 9. 628
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Down 1. 638463 2. 362635 5. 6833 6. 8468
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© USA TODAY and Rich Coulter
F Y R S K U N K
T I G E R M L M
R T G T R G R J N G E I U R D A I I VW L A N G
H E C V B I G O
O D T O S A R C
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E R G H N N I G I R L W E E O NW L L G G K C R
UP & DOWN WORDS
By John Wilmes
12/13
By David L. Hoyt and Russell L. Hoyt
12/13
1. THE
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G A L A
12/13
53 Auto rental giant 26 Ripken Jr. in Cooperstown 54 Early microwave 27 Waste, as a fortune oven brand 28 Verdi opera that 57 Predator of penguins debuted in Cairo 58 San Jose Sharks 29 Crystal ball gazer jersey color 30 Act the coquette 59 Having little rainfall 31 Austen title heroine 60 Lacoste of tennis 34 Celestial spheres 61 Host of “Paula’s 35 Tiny bit Home Cooking” 36 Lena of “Alias” 63 Explosive sold by 37 More than just want Acme 39 Mini-compact Wednesday’s Answer two-seater 43 Eater of forbidden fruit 44 Hawkeye Pierce’s sitcom 45 Earwax, in medical terms 46 Dwarf planet named for a goddess 50 Diamondback’s warning 51 Slow-cooker meals 12/12 52 First sitting president to CROSSWORDS visit China ON YOUR PHONE
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TEACHER
Clues: 1. Peter Benchley novel 2. Blizzard’s result 3. “____ ____ and the Huntsman” 4. President’s residence 5. Mortgage installment 6. Record of remittances 7. Certain educator
Wednesday’s Answer COMMON COLD FISH COLD FISH TACO MEAT TACO MARKET MEAT CRASH MARKET COURSE CRASH
PLAY ONLINE PUZZLES.USATODAY.COM
puzzles.usatoday.com
9 5 2 5 2 1 9 7 4 5 2 9 3 1 8 7 9 6 2 8 5 9 5 6 1 3 9 8 7 12/13
DIFFICULTY RATING
SUDOKU FUSION ON YOUR PHONE puzzles.usatoday.com
© Andrews McMeel
✮✮✮✮✩
© Andrews McMeel
Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x2 box contains the numbers 1 through 6 (no repeats).
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DIFFICULTY RATING Wednesday’s Answers
4 5 6 8 2 3 1 7 9
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Today’s theme Art
A L E S
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Answers: Call 1-900-988-8300, 99 cents a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-320-4280. 2
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Wednesday’s answer: TRUMPET TONIGHT THOUGHT THWART TALENT TWIST TENT / DRIVE CHIP PUTT / ROCKY BALBOA / ANDES / WARDROBE
Rearrange the words to complete the quote. BORE BUYING CANNOT CHURCH
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bunch. The highlight of the film is a sequence filled with talking animals that seamlessly combines live-action and hand-drawn animation as Blunt playfully growls through “The Royal Doulton Music Hall,” then grabs a bowler hat and cane with Miranda as they sing and dance (and rap!) alongside tux-clad penguins for “A Cover Is Not the Book.” Whether together or solo, Blunt and Miranda are endlessly charming. This Poppins is notably vain and enjoyably sarcastic (“Cleaning is not a spectator sport”) yet just as caring, as Blunt croons the weepy “The Place Where Lost Things Go” when the youngsters lament the loss of their mom. And in his first huge Hollywood role, Miranda sparkles throughout, from flirting with Mortimer to singing “Trip a Light Fantastic” amid bicycle stunts and street-light parkour. (For the record, Miranda’s co*ckney accent is a supercalifragilistic step up from Dick Van Dyke’s as chimney sweep extraordinaire Bert in the first “Poppins,” but look out for the 93-year-old Disney legend’s neat cameo in the sequel.) “Mary Poppins” is being introduced to a new generation that could use a reminder that life might be a little better if we all just went out and flew a kite or grabbed a balloon, or had Meryl Streep as an oddball Eastern European cousin. And for everyone else, another entertaining visit from Mary Poppins brings satisfaction in spit-spot fashion.
Wednesday’s Answer: “If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.” - John F. Kennedy
LIFE
USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ 3D
THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS
‘A Star Is Born,’ ‘Ozark’ lead the field ‘BlacKkKlansman’ earns 3 nods; ‘Maisel’ gets 4 Brian Truitt USA TODAY
“A Star Is Born” continued to build its case as an Oscar front-runner by nabbing four Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations Wednesday morning. The musical drama is up for the night’s biggest prize, best ensemble (akin to Oscars’ best picture), plus picked up nods for Bradley Cooper (outstanding male actor), Lady Gaga (female actor) and Sam Elliott (supporting actor). Also in the best-cast category is “BlacKkKlansman” (which racked up three nominations in all), “Black Panther” (which also landed a stunt ensemble nomination), “Crazy Rich Asians” and, perhaps the biggest surprise, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Among TV highlights, Netflix’s “Ozark” and Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” led the way with four nominations each. “Ozark” snagged honors for best drama ensemble, male actor in a drama (Jason Bateman) and female actor in a drama (Laura Linney and Julia Garner), and “Maisel” ruled the comedy categories with nods for ensemble, female actor (Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein) and Tony Shalhoub (male actor). Having also picked up best-actress nods for the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards, Gaga will be in the race for female actor in a lead film role with four other Globe nominees: Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”), Glenn Close (“The Wife”), Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) and Emily Blunt (“Mary Poppins Returns”). With no directing category at this ceremony, Cooper can boast only of a lead-actor nomination, where he’ll compete against Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”), John David Washington (“BlacKkKlansman”), Christian Bale (“Vice”) and Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”).
Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz, left) cares for the sickly Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) in “The Favourite.” YORGOS LANTHIMOS
In “Black Panther,” Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) battles T’Challa for Wakanda’s resources. MARVEL STUDIOS
Martin Byrde (Jason Bateman) is in virtually constant peril in “Ozark.”
“Favourite” women Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz picked up SAG nominations for supporting female actor in a category that also includes Amy Adams (“Vice”), Margot Robbie (“Mary Queen of Scots”) and a second nomination for Blunt (“A Quiet Place”). For supporting actor, Elliott is in competition with Mahershala Ali (“Green Book”), Timothee Chalamet (“Beautiful Boy”), Adam Driver (“BlacKkKlansman”) and Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”). “M*A*S*H” star Alan Alda will be feted with a Life Achievement Award at the 25th annual SAG Awards, which air live Jan. 27 (8 p.m. EST/5 PST) on TNT and TBS.
JACKSON DAVIS/AP
USA TODAY BEST-SELLING BOOKS BOOKLIST.USATODAY.COM n Rank this week
THE TOP 10
n Rank last week (F) Fiction (NF) Nonfiction (P) Paperback (H)Hardcover (E) E-book
Publisher in italics
1
1
Becoming Michelle Obama
Memoir: The former first lady shares stories from her childhood through to her time at the White House (NF) (H) Crown
6
4
The Elf on the Shelf Carol Aebersold, Chanda Bell
Children: Santa relies on elves to find out who has been naughty and who has been nice (F) (H) CCA and B
2
5
The Wonky Donkey Craig Smith; art by Katz Cowley
Children: A lovable donkey has only three legs (F) (P) Scholastic
7
—
Queen of Air and Darkness Cassandra Clare
Youth: Julian and Emma take on a dangerous mission to save the Shadowhunters; third in series (F) (H) Margaret K. McElderry Books
3
—
Of Blood and Bone Nora Roberts
Fallon Swift begins training to hone her skills as The One; second in series (F) (E) St. Martin’s Press
8
—
Can’t Hurt Me David Goggins
Subtitle: “Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds” (NF) (H) Lioncrest Publishing
4
3
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown Jeff Kinney
Youth: Greg Heffley and Rowley Jefferson’s fight after school is canceled because of snow; 13th in series (F) (H) Amulet Books
9
18 Whose Boat Is This
Subtitle: “Comments That Don’t Help in the Aftermath
5
—
The Point of It All Charles Krauthammer
Subtitle: “A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors” (NF) (H) Crown Forum
10
6
Subtitle: “Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be” (NF) (H) Thomas Nelson
Boat?/The Staff of The Late of a Hurricane” (NF) (H) Simon & Schuster Show with Stephen Colbert
Girl, Wash Your Face Rachel Hollis
WHAT AMERICA’S READING® The book list appears every Thursday. For each title, the format and publisher listed are for the best-selling version of that title this week. Reporting outlets include Amazon.com, Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble.com, Barnes & Noble Inc., Barnes & Noble e-books, BooksAMillion.com, Books-A-Million, Costco, Hudson Booksellers, Joseph-Beth Booksellers (Lexington, Ky.; Cincinnati, Charlotte, Cleveland, Pittsburgh), Kobo, Inc., Powell's Books (Portland, Ore.), Powells.com, R.J. Julia Booksellers, Schuler Books & Music (Grand Rapids, Okemos, Eastwood, Alpine, Mich.), Target, Tattered Cover Book Store (Denver).
THE REST
20 28 Guinness World Records 2019/Guinness World Records 21 42 Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat/Samin Nosrat, art by Wendy
A decorated World War II vet walks into his Methodist church in Mississippi one morning in 1946 and shoots and kills his friend and pastor (F) (H) Doubleday Subtitle: “A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave” (NF) (H) Harper Design Subtitle: “A Collection of Recipes for Gathering” (NF) (H) Morrow Cookbooks A woman returns to her family home where she meets a safari guide from Zimbabwe summoned to America by a letter from a man claiming to be his dad (F) (H) Grand Central Publishing Memoir by a Cambridge Ph.D. who was raised by Idaho survivalists and did not enter a classroom until she was 17 (NF) (H) Random House Alex Cross tries to find a sniper who opened fire on mourners in Washington, D.C. (F) (H) Little, Brown Subtitle: “300 Years Before A Game of Thrones (A Targaryen History)” (F) (H) Bantam Jack Reacher stumbles across the New Hampshire town where his father was born; 23rd in series (F) (H) Dell FBI agent Atlee Pine becomes suspicious when she is suddenly pulled off a case after a tourist disappears at the bottom of the Grand Canyon (F) (H) Grand Central Publishing Photos, features and information for record-breakers (NF) (H) Guinness World Records Subtitle: “Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking” (NF) (H) Simon & Schuster
22 17 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original
Youth: Albus Dumbledore asks Newt Scamander to help recapture a dark wizard (F) (H) Arthur A. Levine
11
8 The Reckoning/John Grisham
12 9 Homebody/Joanna Gaines 13 14 Magnolia Table/Joanna Gaines, Marah Stets 14 7 Every Breath/Nicholas Sparks
15 26 Educated/Tara Westover
16 17 18 19
11 12 13 15
Target: Alex Cross/James Patterson Fire & Blood/George R.R. Martin Past Tense/Lee Child Long Road to Mercy/David Baldacci
MacNaughton
23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31
32 33 34 35
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
46 47 48
49 50
Screenplay /J.K. Rowling Where the Crawdads Sing/Delia Owens Killing the SS/Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas/Dav Pilkey How the Grinch Stole Christmas!/Dr. Seuss Nine Perfect Strangers/Liane Moriarty
The reclusive Kya Clark is suspected in the death of Chase Andrews (F) (H) G.P. Putnam’s Sons Subtitle: “The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History” (NF) (H) Henry Holt and Co. Youth: Dog Man asks evil cat Petey for help fighting a new gang of villains (F) (H) Graphix How every Who in Who-ville almost lost Christmas; TV show, movie (F) (H) Random House Romance writer Frances Welty checks into a remote wellness resort, where the guests soon wonder what they’ve signed on for (F) (H) Flatiron Books 29 Cook Like a Pro/Ina Garten Subtitle: “Recipes and Tips for Home Cooks” (NF) (H) Clarkson Potter 2 Kingdom of the Blind/Louise Penny Armand Gamache follows the clues left in a will by a woman he never knew; 14th in series (F) (H) Minotaur 102 One Day in December/Josie Silver Laurie is convinced she has found “the one,” but fate is not so sure (F) (P) Broadway Books 20 Look Alive Twenty-Five/Janet Evanovich New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum steps behind the Red River Deli counter (and helps in the investigation) after three store managers disappear (F) (H) G.P. Putnam’s Sons 38 Gmorning, Gnight!/Lin-Manuel Miranda; art by Jonny Sun Subtitle: “Little Pep Talks for Me & You” (NF) (H) Random House 36 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a (Expletive)/Mark Manson Subtitle: “A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life” (NF) (H) HarperOne 16 Tom Clancy Oath of Office/Marc Cameron President Jack Ryan deals with crises involving Iran and Russia; 19th in series (F) (H) G.P. Putnam’s Sons 39 The Tattooist of Auschwitz/Heather Morris A fictionalized account of the true story of Lale Sokolov, an Auschwitz inmate forced to tattoo numbers on fellow prisoners (F) (P) Harper Paperbacks 85 A Dog’s Way Home/W. Bruce Cameron After a young man and his pit bull mix are separated by rules banning the breed, Bella tries to make her way home (F) (P) Forge 48 The Next Person You Meet in Heaven/Mitch Albom Eddie reunites with Annie, the little girl he saved at an amusem*nt park; sequel to“The Five People You Meet in Heaven” (F) (H) Harper 46 Polar Express 30th Anniversary Edition/Chris Van Allsburg Children: Only believers can hear the bell; won the Caldecott Medal (F) (H) Houghton Mifflin Books for Children 37 First 100 Words/Roger Priddy Children: 100 everyday words for children to learn and build their vocabulary (NF) (H) Priddy Books 30 Dark Sacred Night/Michael Connelly Detectives Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch join forces in L.A. to solve the murder of a teenage prostitute (F) (H) Little, Brown — Danielle Walker’s Eat What You Love/Danielle Walker Subtitle: “Everyday Comfort Food You Crave; Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Paleo Recipes” (NF) (H) Ten Speed Press 35 Cravings: Hungry for More/Chrissy Teigen, Adeena Sussman Follow-up to successful cookbook, including famous banana bread recipe (NF) (H) Clarkson Potter 41 The Hate U Give/Angie Thomas Youth: Starr Carter witnesses a fatal shooting that becomes national news (F) (H) Balzer + Bray 22 Harry Potter: Volumes 1-7/J.K. Rowling, art by Mary GrandPre Youth: Contains entire Harry Potter series (F) (P) Arthur A. Levine 56 Medical Medium Liver Rescue/Anthony William Subtitle: “Answers to Eczema, Psoriasis, Diabetes, Strep, Acne, Gout, Bloating, Gallstones, Adrenal Stress, Fatigue, Fatty Liver, Weight Issues, SIBO & Autoimmune Disease” (NF) (H) Hay House 40 Elevation/Stephen King A man mysteriously losing weight makes friends with the lesbians next door after battling over their dogs (F) (H) Scribner 31 I Need a New Butt!/Dawn McMillan; art by Ross Kinnaird Children: A young boy decides he needs to replace his butt when he realizes it has a crack in it (F) (H) Dover Publications 49 Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Happy Birthday Youth: Nikki tries to plan a birthday party on a limited budget; 13th in series (F) (H) Aladdin Rachel Renee Russell 73 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos/Jordan B. Peterson Psychologist proposes 12 practical rules to live by based on science, faith and human nature (NF) (E) Random House Canada 32 The Happy Cookbook/Steve Doocy, Kathy Doocy Subtitle: “A Celebration of the Food That Makes America Smile” (NF) (H) Morrow Cookbooks 24 25 27 19 21
LIFE
4D ❚ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 ❚ USA TODAY
MOVIES
PG-13 ‘Deadpool’ fun but not family-friendly Carly Mallenbaum USA TODAY
Here’s one way to tell if a movie billed as “family-friendly” actually isn’t: We can’t describe many of its jokes in our publication. “Once Upon a Deadpool” (in theaters nationwide) is the PG-13 re-edit of the critically acclaimed, R-rated “Deadpool 2.” This updated film – which incorporates previously deleted scenes, a new “Princess Bride” storytelling framework and additional post-credit scenes – is really for fanboys over the age of 13, not children. At one point, Deadpool even says right to the camera: “Trust me, we all saw the first movie.” It’s also for the Fred Savage faithful. In “Once Upon a Deadpool,” Ryan Reynolds’ title character ties down Sav-
age (playing himself), now a 42-yearold actor and sitcom director. Savage is forced to revisit his famous 1987 “Princess Bride” role as a sweet bedridden boy listening to a story. This conceit works well as a plot device because it allows filmmakers to cut problematic sequences. This time around, however, Savage isn’t a young boy trying to cut off kissing scenes (“I don’t think that’s gross anymore”) but a critical listener who hilariously opines about “lazy writing.” For example, Savage asks: If, after being sliced, Deadpool’s top half grows legs, wouldn’t his bottom half grow a head and re-enter the plot later? Deadpool has no response. The rest of the film is a retread, albeit with less gore, limited nudity, a bunch of bleeped f-words (and bleeped words that
Fred Savage plays himself in “Once Upon a Deadpool.” 20TH CENTURY FOX
aren’t dirty) and Juggernaut’s theme song from “Deadpool 2” that repeats the lyrics “holy s---balls” over and over. All of the main characters are there, along with the same cameos by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, which, as Deadpool says, were done against their will, just like Savage’s movie appearance. “I like to think of it as ‘unsolicited location enhancement,’ ” Deadpool says. Some of the new scenes could be tricky to explain to kids. For example, Deadpool is called out for dressing “like
a registered sex offender.” But for fans of a certain age who want to rewatch the still very good “Deadpool 2,” the Savage plot device is a welcome addition. By the end, fans might find themselves tearing up along with the former “Wonder Years” star, who cries and says, “I was caught off guard because the movie is completely garbage.” And just so you aren’t caught off guard: True fans will definitely need tissues after seeing one of the new postcredit scenes. We won’t spoil it here.
TONIGHT ON TV 8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
ABC
Disney’s Prep & Landing Saving Christmas.
Disney’s Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice
The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition (N)
Local Programs
Jimmy Kimmel Live Amy Adams; Kurt Vile. (N)
CBS
Big Bang Theory Stuart’s girlfriend.
Young Sheldon Sheldon audits a college class.
Mom Christy learns Adam is Murphy Brown hiding something. (N) Missing source. (N)
Local Programs
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (N)
Fox
Thursday Night Football Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs from Arrowhead Stadium (Live)
NBC
Superstore Training I Feel Bad Griff injures system. (N) himself. (N) The This Old House Hour Crown molding.
Saturday Night Live Popular Christmas-themed sketches are featured. Impossible Builds Ocean house.
Antiques Roadshow Picasso linocut.
Supernatural Michael’s plan. (N)
Legacies Alaric attempts to help Rafael cope. (N)
Local Programs
NETWORK
PBS CW ION Telemundo Univision
S.W.A.T. Hondo confronts resentment against dad; team goes out as patrol officers.
Local Programs Local Programs
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Amanpour and Company (N)
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Witnesses’ silence.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Cold case.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Singer killed.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Dick and Jane.
La Sultana (N)
Falsa identidad (N)
Señora Acero Una mujer en narcotráfico. (N)
Al rojo vivo (N)
Jesús La historia de Jesús. (N)
Mi marido tiene más familia
Amar a muerte (N)
Primer impacto extra (N) Noti. Univi. Ed. noc. (N)
Live PD: Police Patrol
Live PD: Police Patrol (N) Live PD: Police Patrol (N) PD Cam (N)
Titulares y más
CABLE
A&E AMC Animal Planet BBC America BET Bravo Cartoon CMT CNBC CNN Comedy Discovery Disney DisXD DIY E! Food Fox News Freeform FX FXX GSN Hallmark HGTV History HLN ID IFC Lifetime MotorTrend MSNBC MTV NatGeo NatGeo Wild Nick OWN Oxygen Paramount Pop Science Sundance Syfy TBS TCM TLC TNT Travel TruTV TV Land USA VH1 Viceland WE Weather WGN America
Live PD: Police Patrol
PD Cam (N)
PD Cam
Miracle on 34th Street Maureen O’Hara (1947) (7:00) Miracle on 34th Street Kris Kringle goes to court to prove to a skeptical jury that he is Santa Claus. Maureen O’Hara (1947) (9:15)
PD Cam White Christmas (1954)
Crikey! It’s the Irwins A wild leopard.
The Secret Life of the Zoo Grumpy animals. (N)
The Secret Life of the Zoo Four orangutans.
The Blue Planet II Exploring Earth’s vast oceans.
The Blue Planet II Life on the seabed.
The Blue Planet II Challenges of life in the coral reefs. The Blue Planet II Marine desert.
The Color Purple A black woman growing up in the South in the 20th century suffers hardships. (1985) (6:00) Carl Weber’s The Family Business
The Secret Life of the Zoo A dangerous disease. Carl Weber’s The Family Business
Top Chef Fifteen chefs gather in Kentucky.
Top Chef A special Quickfire challenge. (N)
Below Deck Ashton’s accident leaves people shaken. What Happens (N)
Top Chef
Gumball
Gumball
American Dad!
Bob’s Burgers
Family Guy
Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing
The Bucket List Two terminal cancer patients sneak out of the hospital to meet unfinished goals. Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman (2008)
Shark Tank Plush slippers and flavored nuts.
American Dad!
Bob’s Burgers
Family Guy
The Bucket List (2008)
Shark Tank A mother shares her clothing line.
Shark Tank A man shares his invention.
Shark Tank Vegan cookies; cloth diapers.
Anderson Cooper 360° (N)
Cuomo Prime Time (N)
CNN Tonight with Don Lemon (N)
CNN Tonight with Don Lemon (N)
The Office
The Office
The Office
Daily Show (N)
The Office
The Office
Naked and Afraid Bears in Florida’s Seminole Forest. Naked and Afraid Rural Alabama.
The Office
Naked and Afraid Swamps of Florida.
The Office
Naked and Afraid Smoky Mountains.
Raven’s Home
Raven’s Home
Coop & Cami Ask
Stuck in the Middle
BUNK’D
BUNK’D
Raven’s Home
Raven’s Home
Big City Greens
Parker Plays
Polaris Player Select
Lab Rats
Big Hero 6
Marvel’s Spider-Man
DuckTales
Big City Greens
Tiny Paradise
Tiny Paradise
Tiny Paradise (N)
Tiny Paradise
Botched
Botched (N)
Treehouse Masters Dale Earnhardt Jr. (N)
Treehouse Masters Adventurous family.
Botched
The Family Man Nicolas Cage, Téa Leoni (2000)
Christmas Cookie Challenge 3D Christmas cookie.
Holiday Wars Edible holiday designs and displays.
Holiday Baking Championship Former contestants.
Christmas Cookie Challenge Cookie tree.
Tucker Carlson Tonight (N)
Hannity (N)
The Ingraham Angle (N)
Fox News @ Night(N)
Tangled Long-haired princess trapped in tower. (2010) The Santa Clause After accidentally killing Santa, a divorced father turns into St. Nick. Tim Allen (1994) (8:55) The 700 Club Deepwater Horizon When offshore drilling rig explodes, workers must spring into action. Dylan O’Brien, Mark Wahlberg (2016)
Deepwater Horizon Offshore drilling rig explodes in Gulf. Dylan O’Brien (2016)
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons
Family Feud
Family Feud
America Says (N)
Family Feud
Family Feud
Family Feud
Cash Cab
Cash Cab
Welcome to Christmas A resort developer is tasked with finding a location for a new property. (2018)
Christmas Next Door When a workaholic father loses his job, he spends the holiday with his children. (2017)
Flip or Flop
House Hunters (N)
Flip or Flop
Flip or Flop
Flip or Flop
Hunters International (N) House Hunters
House Hunters
American Pickers Harley Davidson.
American Pickers Winter weather. (N)
American Pickers Savvy collectors.
American Pickers Unique treasures from the 1960s.
Forensic Files
Forensic Files
Forensic Files
Forensic Files
Forensic Files
Forensic Files
Dead Silent A 19-year-old girl vanishes.
Dead Silent Deranged predator. (N)
My Cousin Vinny Joe Pesci (1992) (6:30)
Baroness von Sketch (N)
Baroness von Sketch
Forensic Files
The Night That Didn’t End Family’s nightmare. (N)
Forensic Files
The Case That Haunts Me Philippines murder. (N)
My Cousin Vinny An inept New York lawyer defends a cousin charged with murder in the Deep South. (1992)
The Christmas Pact Two neighbors try to maintain their holiday tradition due to their hectic lives. (2018)
Christmas Harmony A young woman rediscovers the meaning of Christmas in her little hometown. (2018)
Full Custom Garage Cartoon drawing.
Hand Built Hot Rods
Wheeler Dealers GTI is modified.
Wheeler Dealers Jeep suspension.
All in with Chris Hayes (N)
The Rachel Maddow Show (N)
The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (N)
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams (N)
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation Mysterious call. (N)
Floribama Shore Aimee helps Nilsa get over Gus. (N) Jersey Shore: Family (N)
Lockdown Inmates choosing their gang over family.
Hard Time: Locked Up Change behind bars. (N)
Lockdown Inmates in notorious Illinois prison.
Lockdown Inmates choosing their gang over family.
Wild Yellowstone Summer struggles.
Wild Yellowstone Winter wonders.
Wild Alaska Animals endure very harsh conditions.
Wild Yellowstone Summer struggles.
The Loud House
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie SpongeBob seeks Neptune’s stolen crown. David Hasselhoff (2004)
Friends
20/20 on OWN Woman vanishes in midst of divorce. 20/20 on OWN Doctors’ romance. (N)
20/20 on OWN Model is permanently disfigured.
Chicago P.D. Olinsky’s wife is held hostage.
Chicago P.D. Investigating Burgess’ shooting.
Chicago P.D. Ruzek takes a case from his own father.
Friends
I Am Legend A military scientist is immune to a virus that transforms humans into monsters. Will Smith, Alice Braga (2007)
SpongeBob
20/20 on OWN Disappearance. Friends
Ex on the Beach Exes arrive to ruin a vacation.
Chicago P.D. Lindsay’s first case with task force.
Ex on the Beach
Friends
Walking Tall (2004)
Mystic Pizza Three friends from working class families form relationships and plan futures. (1988)
Impact Wrestling
Engineering Catastrophes
Engineering Catastrophes (N)
Mega Machines A special look at the building of the world’s most extreme machines is provided. (N)
Law & Order Guard and inmate involved in murder.
Law & Order Wife suspected of killing rich husband.
Avengers: Age of Ultron A powerful robotic villain appears with nefarious plans for planet Earth. (2015) (7:05) Seinfeld
Seinfeld The “Jerry” pilot. Big Bang Theory
Big Bang Theory
Shipmates Forever An admiral’s son who would rather sing than go to sea enters the Naval Academy. (1935)
Law & Order Fascist killer.
Law & Order New leads reopen case closed in ‘60s.
Nightflyers New orders arrive. (N) (Season finale)
The Incredible Hulk The Hulk battles a new monster.
Big Bang Theory
The Guest Book
Big Bang Theory
Seinfeld
Flirtation Walk A military student transfers to West Point to escape romantic entanglements. (1934)
Dr. Pimple Popper Melissa’s lipoma is difficult to hide. Dr. Pimple Popper Dr. Lee aims to pop 12 cysts in one day. (N)
My Crazy Obsession
NBA Basketball Los Angeles Lakers at Houston Rockets from Toyota Center (Live)
NBA Basketball Dallas Mavericks at Phoenix Suns (Live)
The Dead Files Youngstown, Ohio.
The Dead Files Mysterious entity.
Impractical Jokers
Impractical Jokers
Impractical Jokers New toys; gift wrapping; wild life. Carbonaro Effect (N)
Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond Sister a nun.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Older case.
The Dead Files Georgia ghosts.
Loves Raymond
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Girl claims rape.
2 Fast 2 Furious Undercover cop pursues money launderer. Paul Walker (2003)
Two and a Half Men
Dr. Pimple Popper Famed dermatologist. The Dead Files Investigating grandparents’ concern.
Carbonaro Effect (N)
Impractical Jokers
Impractical Jokers
Two and a Half Men
The King of Queens
The King of Queens
Modern Family
Modern Family
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Misidentified.
Wedding Crashers Two friends sneak into weddings to prey on romantically inspired women. Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn (2005)
Intervention Family forced to the streets; jail time.
Intervention Boxer’s family is afraid of overdose.
Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta Kiyomi gets warning.
Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta Lil Mama’s romance. (N) Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta Lil Mama’s romance.
Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta Lil Mama’s romance.
World’s Wildest Weather Storm chaser.
World’s Wildest Weather Extreme weather.
World’s Wildest Weather Drive into wildfire.
Weather Gone Viral Nature’s wrath.
Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing
Last Man Standing
Intervention Aspiring music producer deals drugs.
Last Man Standing
Intervention Woman turns to heroin and Xanax.
Last Man Standing
MOVIE NETWORKS
Cinemax
Unforgettable After becoming engaged to David, Julia’s dream of a happy life Veronica Mars After leaving her past as a teen private eye, Veronica Mars returns to her hometown for her Mike Judge Presents: turns into a nightmare when his ex-wife’s jealousy takes a pathological turn. (2017) high school reunion, only to help an ex accused of murder. Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring (2014) (9:45) Tales from the Tour Bus
Encore
Fantastic Four Four astronauts acquire superhuman powers after being exposed to gamma rays. (2005)
FXM
Rio 2 Blu and family go to jungles of Amazon.
Hallmark Movies
Hope at Christmas A mother and her young daughter come to a small town for the holidays. (2018) (7:00)
HBO
Get Him to the Greek A record company employee must escort a wild rocker to Pete Holmes: Faces and Sounds Insightful look to a concert in Los Angeles. Jonah Hill, Russell Brand (2010) outrageous moments.
Lifetime Movie
Conrad & Michelle: If Words Could Kill The relationship between a teenage boy with social anxiety and his Overexposed A teenage girl finds herself involved in a sexting scandal, which causes outrage, panic and girlfriend takes an unexpected turn when he begins expressing thoughts of suicide. Bella Thorne (2018) ultimately a murder. Mary Katherine Duhon, Marguerite Moreau (2018)
Showtime
Shut Up and Dribble Michael Jordan broke barriers with Shut Up and Dribble The public brawl known as “Malice The Allins (2017) his out-of-context quote about Republicans. in the Palace” was a catalyst for change.
The Bourne Ultimatum An amnesiac assassin tries to uncover the secrets of his past. Matt Damon (2007)
Starz
Counterpart Howard Prime Old Dogs Business partners’ biggest deal is disrupted by twin kids and bizarre tries to avoid detection. events. John Travolta (2009) (8:29)
The Other Guys Two mismatched New York City detectives are given the opportunity of a lifetime. (2010)
TMC
The Bridges of Madison County A chance meeting brings romance to a farm wife The Queen The British Royal Family plans the funeral arrangements for and a worldly photographer. Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep (1995) (7:00) Princess Diana. Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen (2006)
Life A team of six scientists on the International Space Station learn that the life form The Social Network College student’s website revolutionizes networking and they have discovered is more intelligent than expected. Jake Gyllenhaal (2017) stirs legal action. Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield (2010) (10:46)
Rio A macaw’s encounter with an enchanting female bird leads him on a whirlwind adventure that opens his eyes to the exotic nature of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Karen Disher, Leslie Mann (2011) (8:50)
Rio 2 Blu, Jewel and their three children are hurtled from Rio de Janeiro to the jungles of the Amazon, where Blu meets his father-in-law. Jesse Eisenberg (2014)
A Veteran’s Christmas When an ex-Marine’s jeep breaks down on the way to Cincinnati, she becomes stuck The Christmas Note Woman finds new purpose in in a small town during Christmas, but a local judge offers her a place to stay. Eloise Mumford (2018) hometown after bonding with a neighbor. (2015) VICE Political fallout over the past decade as a result of the 2008 financial crisis is shown, and a look is taken at the ongoing economic impact of the situation.
Counterpart Howard Prime tries to avoid detection; Quayle and Clare get used to arrangement.
Queen of the Desert Curious and adventurous English woman sets out for adventure in Middle East. (2016)
SPORTS NETWORKS
ESPN ESPN2 FS1 Golf MLB NBA NBCSports NFLN
Women’s College Volleybal BYU vs. Stanford (Live)
NCAA Update (Live)
Women’s College Volleyball Nebraska Cornhuskers at Illinois Fighting Illini from Huff Hall (Live)
SportsCenter
Road to the CFP
Road to the CFP
Road to the CFP
SportsCenter
Highly Questionable
PBC Countdown
PBC Countdown
Road to the CFP
2018 World Series of Poker Main Event
UFC Tonight
UFC Reloaded Fight Night: Bisping vs. Gastelum
Feherty
Celebrity Golf American Century Championship: Final Round from Edgewood Tahoe GC in Lake Tahoe, Nevada
MLB Network Presents Eck: A Story of Saving
MLB Tonight Winter Meetings
MLB Network Presents Eck: A Story of Saving
The Starters (Replay)
NBA Hardwood Classics Detroit Pistons at Denver Nuggets from McNichols Arena
NBA Basketball Utah Jazz vs Sacramento Kings
SI Person of the Year
American Ninja Warrior Venice Beach finals.
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American Ninja Warrior Denver Qualifying. Pregame Show (Live)
American Ninja Warrior Venice Beach finals.
Thursday Night Football Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs from Arrowhead Stadium (Live)
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