Volume 79 Edition 187 ©SS 2021 THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas

stripes.com

FACES

Neil Young sellsrights to 50% ofhis song catalogPage 18

NATION

Protesters swarmto Capitol, halt votetally for BidenPage 10

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Alabama’s Smith is first WR to winHeisman since 1991Page 24

Lawyer says SEAL to admit role in Green Beret’s death in Mali ›› Page 3

ATLANTA — Democrat Ra-

phael Warnock won one of Geor-

gia’s two Senate runoffs Wednes-

day, becoming the first Black sen-

ator in his state’s history and put-

ting the Senate majority within

the party’s reach.

A pastor who spent the past 15

years leading the Atlanta church

where Martin Luther King Jr.

preached, Warnock defeated Re-

publican incumbent Kelly Loef-

fler.

It was a stinging rebuke of out-

going President Donald Trump,

who made one of his final trips in

office to Georgia to rally his loyal

base behind the state’s Republi-

can candidates.

In an emotional address early

Wednesday, Warnock vowed to

work for all Georgians whether

they voted for him or not, citing

his personal ex-

perience with

the American

dream. His

mother, he said,

used to pick

“somebody

else’s cotton” as

a teenager.

“The other day, because this is

America, the 82-year-old hands

that used to pick somebody else’s

cotton picked her youngest son to

be a United States senator,” he

said. “Tonight, we proved with

hope, hard work and the people by

our side, anything is possible.”

His victory marks a “reversal of

the old southern strategy that

sought to divide people,” War-

nock told ABC’s “Good Morning

America.”

It was too early to call the other

race, between Republican David

Perdue and Democrat Jon Ossoff,

at press time.

Ossoff held a small lead as of

Wednesday morning, though it

was too early to call the race. Un-

der Georgia law, a trailing candi-

date may request a recount when

the margin of an election is less

than or equal to 0.5 percentage

points.

Warnock makes history with Senate victoryAssociated Press

Warnock

SEE VICTORY ON PAGE 10

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Na-

vy released its strategy Tuesday

on how the service plans to be-

come more active in the Arctic as

the region opens up to more eco-

nomic and military competition

from Russia and China.

“In the face of increasing ag-

gressive activity in the high north

from both Russia, which is an Arc-

tic nation, and China, which

claims to be a near Arctic nation,

we in the United States must

maintain a favorable balance of

power in this region for ourselves

and for our allies,” Navy Secretary

Kenneth Braithwaite told report-

ers ahead of the document’s re-

lease.

With more navigable waters

due to melting sea ice, the Navy’s

strategy refers to the region as a

“Blue Arctic.” Russia and China,

both nations mentioned in the

2018 National Defense Strategy as

“great-power” competitors with

MICHAEL B. ZINGARO/U.S. Navy

The crew of the Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Connecticut enjoys ice liberty after surfacing in the Arctic Circle during Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2020 in March.

New Arctic angle

Navy releases strategy calling for more activity in the region amid competition from Russia, ChinaBY CAITLIN M. KENNEY

Stars and Stripes

SEE ARCTIC ON PAGE 6

NEW YORK — Amazon said

Tuesday that it bought 11 jets from

Delta and WestJet airlines to

boost its growing delivery net-

work and get orders to shoppers

faster.

The company said it’s the first

time it has purchased planes for

its delivery network. Over the

past couple of years, Amazon has

been leasing planes to build its

fleet.

“Having a mix of both leased

and owned aircraft in our growing

fleet allows us to better manage

our operations,” said Sarah

Rhoads, vice president of Amazon

Global Air, in a blog post.

Seattle-based Amazon has been

working to deliver most of its

packages itself and rely less on

UPS, the U.S. Postal Service and

other carriers. Besides its fleet of

planes, Amazon has also built sev-

eral package-sorting hubs at air-

ports, opened warehouses closer

to where shoppers live and

launched a program that lets con-

tractors start businesses deliver-

ing packages in vans stamped

with the Amazon logo.

Amazon said the 11 planes, all of

which are Boeing 767-300s, will

be converted to hold cargo instead

of passengers. The four jets that it

is buying from WestJet will join

Amazon’s fleet this year, and the

seven from Delta will be ready by

next year. The purchases will

bring its total fleet to 85 planes by

2022.

Amazon.com Inc. declined to

say how much it is paying for the

planes.

Bahrain68/65

Baghdad62/43

Doha71/55

Kuwait City63/50

Riyadh66/51

Kandahar41/21

Kabul37/26

Djibouti81/68

THURSDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

33/30

Ramstein32/27

Stuttgart32/23

Lajes,Azores57/54

Rota49/46

Morón45/42 Sigonella

60/41

Naples50/44

Aviano/Vicenza37/29

Pápa38/33

Souda Bay59/54

Brussels37/34

Zagan32/29

DrawskoPomorskie 32/29

THURSDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa22/19

Guam82/79

Tokyo37/26

Okinawa55/52

Sasebo33/29

Iwakuni29/26

Seoul10/-4

Osan11/-2

Busan21/10

The weather is provided by the American Forces Network Weather Center,

2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

FRIDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Classifieds .................. 13Comics .........................16Crossword ................... 16Faces .......................... 18Opinion ........................ 14Sports ................... 20-24

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Military rates

Euro costs (Jan. 7) $1.20Dollar buys (Jan. 7) 0.7903British pound (Jan. 7) $1.33Japanese yen (Jan. 7) 100.00South Korean won (Jan. 7) 1,060.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain (Dinar) .3770Britain (Pound) 1.3579Canada (Dollar) 1.2686China (Yuan) 6.4613Denmark (Krone) 6.0439Egypt (Pound) 15.6795Euro .8124Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7532Hungary (Forint) 291.38Israel (Shekel) 3.1840Japan (Yen) 103.19Kuwait (Dinar) .3034

Norway (Krone) 8.4256

Philippines (Peso) 48.09Poland (Zloty) 3.67Saudi Arab (Riyal) 3.7513Singapore (Dollar) 1.3182

So. Korea (Won) 1,086.96Switzerland (Franc) .8794Thailand (Baht) 29.92Turkey (New Lira) 7.3067

(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger­many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur­chasing British pounds in Germany), check withyour local military banking facility. Commercialrates are interbank rates provided for referencewhen buying currency. All  figures are foreigncurrencies to one dollar, except for the Britishpound,  which  is  represented  in  dollars­to­pound, and the euro, which is dollars­to­euro.)

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount �rate 0.25Federal funds market rate  �0.093­month bill 0.0930­year bond 1.70

EXCHANGE RATESAmazon buys 11 jets to ship orders fasterAssociated Press

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

The Navy SEAL accused of

choking an Army Green Beret to

death while they were deployed to

Mali in 2017 will plead guilty later

this month to his role in the kill-

ing, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Chief Petty Officer Tony De-

Dolph, a member of the elite

SEAL Team 6, reached an agree-

ment with the Navy to plead

guilty to several charges in the

June 4, 2017, death of Staff Sgt.

Logan Melgar and “accept re-

sponsibility” for his actions, his

civilian attorney Phillip Stack-

house wrote in an email. DeDolph

is expected to enter his guilty plea

Jan. 14 during a hearing at Naval

Station Norfolk in Virginia.

He will become the third of four

defendants in the case to plead

guilty for his role in what others

involved in Melgar’s killing have

described in court as a booze-

fueled hazing incident gone

wrong. Like the other two special

operators who pleaded guilty in

2019 — former Navy SEAL Chief

Petty Officer Adam C. Matthews

and former Marine Raider Staff

Sgt. Kevin Maxwell Jr. — Stack-

house maintained DeDolph never

intended to injure Melgar.

“The fact that [Staff Sgt.] Mel-

gar’s death was not intentional

may not lessen the righteous feel-

ings of grief by family and

friends, but perhaps the resolu-

tion of this case will further help

them find closure and peace,”

Stackhouse said Tuesday.

The Navy in November 2018

charged DeDolph, Matthews,

Maxwell, and another Marine

Raider, Gunnery Sgt. Mario Mad-

era-Rodriguez, with a series of

crimes including felony murder,

involuntary manslaughter, con-

spiracy, obstruction of justice,

hazing and burglary for their

roles in Melgar’s death.

Stackhouse said he would not

reveal the charges to which De-

Dolph will plead guilty. The Daily

Beast, citing unnamed officials fa-

miliar with the agreement, re-

ported the SEAL is expected to

plead guilty to involuntary man-

slaughter, obstruction of justice

and hazing.

The attorney said DeDolph

agreed as part of the plea deal not

to profit from “publication or dis-

semination of information,” such

as a book deal while he is impris-

oned, should he be sentenced to

confinement. Stackhouse also

said DeDolph had no plans to

write a book or profit from his

time as a SEAL.

DeDolph first enlisted in the

Navy in 2003 and had been as-

signed to SEAL Team 6 since

2008, according to Navy records.

In previous court testimony,

others involved in the case fin-

gered DeDolph as the primary in-

stigator of a hazing plan launched

during a night of binge drinking at

bars in Mali’s capital Bamako.

Maxwell in June 2019 testified

DeDolph and another SEAL regu-

larly bullied Melgar, a member of

the Army’s 3rd Special Forces

Group, while they were sharing a

house in Bamako during deploy-

ments in support of counterter-

rorism operations in the West

African nation. DeDolph — who

Maxwell described as employing

a sense of “dark humor” —

hatched a hazing plan over drinks

meant to embarrass Melgar for a

perceived slight

against another

special operator.

Maxwell, who

described him-

self as Melgar’s

friend, testified

DeDolph came

up with a “ridic-

ulous, over-the-

top idea” to remediate Melgar

and was egged on as the group of

mostly American special oper-

ators laughed at DeDolph’s plans.

“It seemed to me at first that it

was like a joke, but as the night

progressed the reality of what we

were going to do steeped in,”

Maxwell testified. “Everyone

thought it was funny.

“No one stepped in. No one was

saying, ‘Stop. No. This isn’t

right’,” he added.

The special operators in the

early morning hours busted

through Melgar’s bedroom door

with a sledgehammer, secured

his arms and legs with duct tape

while DeDolph, a former profes-

sional mixed martial arts fighter,

placed him in temporary uncon-

sciousness with a chokehold. A

British expatriate who tagged

along with the Americans —

along with two Malian security

guards — filmed the incident with

his phone, Maxwell and Mat-

thews testified.

Maxwell also testified the plan

was to culminate in a “sexual mo-

lestation” of Melgar captured on

video. But that never occurred.

Instead, Melgar went into

shock after DeDolph placed him

into a chokehold for a second

time. The group performed CPR

and, eventually, an emergency

tracheotomy before rushing Mel-

gar to a local clinic where he was

pronounced dead, Maxwell testi-

fied.

Maxwell, who was sentenced to

four years in prison after pleading

guilty to reduced charges, told

Melgar’s widow, Michelle, from

the witness stand that he did not

live up to his own expectations for

himself in allowing the others to

proceed with the hazing plan

against his friend.

“Logan would have stopped

them from doing that to me. I

know that for a fact,” Maxwell

said during his sentencing trial.

“… I betrayed a friend of mine, a

fellow American. I betrayed his

future.”

Matthews received a one-year

prison sentence for his guilty plea

to reduced charges. Like De-

Dolph, Matthews was a member

of SEAL Team 6, officially the Na-

val Special Warfare Development

Group. He testified during his

sentencing trial in May 2019 that

he was visiting Mali to observe

operations there and had met

Melgar only one day prior to the

Green Beret’s death.

“Words cannot express how

deeply I regret those events and

how remorseful I am,” Matthews

testified. “The Navy expected me

to be a leader. I am tormented by

my complacency at a time when

my teammates required my guid-

ance and the situation required

bold, corrective action.”

Madera-Rodriguez is expected

to go to trial on the original charg-

es in February.

Those who served with Melgar,

who was 34 when he died, de-

scribed him as a fast-rising leader

within Army Special Forces who

had proven himself in combat in

Afghanistan. Melgar joined the

Army in 2012 and arrived about

one year later at 3rd Special

Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C.,

where he was serving as an engi-

neering sergeant.

“He was very mature for a

young Special Forces soldier. He

was very professional and [quick-

ly] took over leadership respon-

sibilities, ousting other engineer-

ing sergeants,” Chief Warrant Of-

ficer 2 Kevin Strupkus, who com-

manded Melgar in Afghanistan,

testified in 2019. “I would say the

type of meticulousness, profes-

sionalism, candor and excitement

Logan brought were extremely

rare, even among elite operators.

Third Group lost a phenomenal

operator.”

SEAL to plead guilty in Green Beret’s deathBY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

dickstein.corey@stripes.com Twitter: @CDicksteinDC

Melgar 

Japan has also commissioned

new military bases on Miyako Is-

land, which is part of Okinawa

prefecture, and in two spots on

Kagoshima prefecture’s Amami

Oshima island.

Japan controls the uninhabited

Senkakus, 230 nautical miles west

of Okinawa, and purchased three

of its islands from a private owner

in September 2012.

The U.S. has declined to take a

position on the islands’ sovereign-

ty; however, Presidents Barack

Japan’s Cabinet pledged re-

cently to add new ships and air-

craft to the nation’s coast guard

this year in response to an in-

creasing Chinese naval presence

in the East China Sea.

Chinese vessels in 2020 made a

record 333 trips to the area

around the Senkaku Islands that

Japan claims as its contiguous

waters, besting the previous

year’s record of 282, according to

the Japan Coast Guard website.

Taiwan and China also claim the

uninhabited chain, which China

knows as Diaoyu Dao.

The Chinese stayed in those wa-

ters a record 111 consecutive days

while periodically harassing Ja-

panese fishing boats, according to

the Japan Coast Guard.

“The situation at the Senkaku

Islands and Yamato Bank has

been pretty serious and we will

make sure to execute the 2016

plan to strengthen maritime secu-

rity so that our maritime officers

can fulfill their duties with ade-

quate equipment like a new patrol

ship,” Prime Minister Yoshihide

Suga said at a Dec. 21 meeting at

his Tokyo office. “We will keep

adding the supplemental budget

as necessary to strength our mar-

itime security.”

Yamato Bank is an underwater

mountain range in the center of

the Sea of Japan, between Japan’s

Honshu island and the Korean

Peninsula.

In 2020 the Japan Coast Guard

added four new boats and a hel-

icopter, and this year plans an ad-

ditional large patrol craft with a

helicopter pad, another helicopter

and a jet aircraft, according to the

coast guard website.

It plans another seven large pa-

trol ships through fiscal 2023, Ja-

pan public broadcaster NHK re-

ported Saturday.

“We feel more assurance by

strengthening maritime security

in such a critical situation,” For-

eign Affairs Minister Toshimitsu

Motegi said at the Tokyo meeting.

“We will continue to take calm but

firm action against other coun-

tries when they invade our territo-

ries.”

Suga, Motegi, Defense Minister

Nobuo Kishi and coast guard

commissioner Takahiro Okushi-

ma at that meeting discussed pro-

gress on a 2016 plan to bolster the

coast guard, according to the min-

utes posted on the coast guard

website.

Kishi promised greater cooper-

ation with the coast guard. Japan

in the past few years has launched

its own version of the Marine

Corps, under the Japan Ground

Self-Defense Force banner, float-

ed the idea of sending the Japan

Maritime Self-Defense Force to

patrol the area, and begun devel-

opment on underwater drones

and supersonic glide bombs to

monitor and defend the southern

island chain.

Obama and Donald Trump both

have said they fall under the U.S.-

Japan security alliance.

Japan planned to launch a new

unit of “highly trained,” subma-

chine-gun toting cops in Okinawa

in fiscal 2020, which runs until

April, tasked with defending the

southern island chain, NHK re-

ported in September 2019.

Japan moving on its pledge tostrengthen Senkaku defense

BY MATTHEW M. BURKE

AND AYA ICHIHASHI

Stars and Stripes

burke.matt@stripes.comTwitter: @MatthewMBurke1 ichihashi.aya@stripes.comTwitter: @AyaIchihashi

Japan Coast Guard

Japan plans to build a larger patrol vessel designed for helicopterlandings, like the one seen here, in fiscal year 2021. 

MILITARY

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

WASHINGTON — Pentagon

leaders are bracing for any renew-

ed presidential attempts to em-

ploy the military for political ends,

as President Donald Trump takes

increasingly aggressive steps to

overturn his electoral defeat, and

unarmed National Guardsmen

prepared for pro-Trump protests

in Washington on the day Con-

gress is set to certify the election

results.

Top Pentagon officials, in an-

swering a request by District of

Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser,

a Democrat, to deploy National

Guardsmen in the nation’s capital

in advance of Wednesday’s pro-

tests, emphasized that the Guard

wouldn’t carry firearms, use ar-

mored vehicles or helicopters, or

receive backup from units in other

states — a far more muted pres-

ence than in June after the Min-

neapolis police killing of George

Floyd.

The careful posture reflects the

Pentagon’s wariness in the final

days of a presidency during which

Trump has tested the norms of a

politically impartial military. It al-

so comes after all 10 living former

U.S. defense secretaries publish-

ed a joint open letter warning that

the military shouldn’t play a role

in determining the election out-

come or interrupt a peaceful tran-

sition.

Concerns that Trump may re-

ach for the military to retain pow-

er as he enters the final chapter of

resistance to the election’s result

have grown sharper in recent

days, partly after his former na-

tional security adviser, retired Ar-

my Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, float-

ed a declaration of martial law and

a “rerun” of the election overseen

by the military in a mid-Decem-

ber Oval Office meeting — a sug-

gestion Flynn also has made publi-

cly in the media. Trump, mean-

while, pressured Georgia’s secre-

tary of state to “find” 11,780 votes

he needs to win the state.

“It’s the fear that you are not

dealing with someone who recog-

nizes any responsibility to the

Constitution. His only responsibil-

ity, from this president’s point of

view, is to himself,” former de-

fense secretary Leon Panetta said

in an interview, when asked about

the rationale for the letter. “When

you operate on that basis, there’s

no holds barred as to what a presi-

dent may do. It is that scenario

that scares the hell out of people in

terms of the future of our democ-

racy.”

Current and former top officials

said they believe the Pentagon

brass has considered the possibil-

ity that Trump will issue a legally

questionable order as part of his

gambit to overturn the election re-

sults and prevent President-elect

Joe Biden from entering the White

House.

A senior U.S. official said Tues-

day that the Pentagon senior lead-

ership — civilian and military —

will not obey an unlawful order

from the president to use the mil-

itary to his own political ends.

These leaders likely would re-

sign before following an unlawful

order, the senior official said, add-

ing, however, “I think it’s unfair to

assume that the president would

issue an unlawful order.”

But Trump’s effort to overturn

the election results has been so

norm-shattering that senior Pen-

tagon officials are being forced to

consider the possibility of receiv-

ing orders that previously would

have been unthinkable from a sit-

ting U.S. president.

“In a real way, generals are paid

to worry about everything. So

while I really don’t expect the mil-

itary to be asked to do anything

truly questionable, it’s always best

to expect the unexpected and pre-

pare accordingly. My bet is that

they have their lawyers at the

ready,” said Charlie Dunlap, a re-

tired Air Force major general and

executive director of the Center

on Law, Ethics and National Secu-

rity at Duke University.

Since taking office, Trump has

repeatedly flouted norms govern-

ing presidential interactions with

the military, signing his ban on

travel from majority-Muslim na-

tions at the Pentagon, diverting

Pentagon funds to pay for his bor-

der wall, treating troop events like

campaign rallies and intervening

in military justice matters. Some

of his orders to the Pentagon, such

as the holdup of congressionally

approved military aid to Ukraine

and the diversion of military funds

to construct the border wall, have

later been deemed illegal.

Peter Feaver, a scholar of civil-

military relations and a colleague

of Dunlap’s at Duke, said current

Pentagon leaders were better pre-

pared to handle any attempts to

pull them into the transition be-

cause of the events of June 2020,

when Trump sought to use expan-

sive military force to put down

widespread protests over police

violence against Black citizens.

Then-Defense Secretary Mark

Esper and Gen. Mark Milley,

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of

Staff, argued behind the scenes

against invoking the Insurrection

Act to allow Trump to employ ac-

tive-duty troops in the nation’s

capital. But they came under in-

tense criticism over public state-

ments and appearances that

seemed to support Trump’s

heavy-handed response to civil-

ians in the streets, which included

the use of tear gas and rubber pel-

lets to disperse protesters near the

White House before Trump posed

for photos with a Bible in front of

St. John’s Church.

In the subsequent months, offi-

cials have tightened procedures

for employing the National Guard

in an effort to reduce the likeli-

hood of the White House calling in

active-duty forces, and senior offi-

cials have repeatedly affirmed the

military’s duty to remain loyal to

the Constitution rather than to any

individual and decline any illegal

orders. They have also studied rel-

evant laws and assembled the ca-

pability to track civil unrest across

the country to better prepare them

for possible White House re-

quests.

The senior U.S. official said the

military leadership had learned

from what happened last June.

“Everyone has got a lot of scar tis-

sue and a lot of PTSD from the do-

mestic unrest of the summer” and

does not want a repeat, the official

said.

On Wednesday, the official said,

the Pentagon hopes to make clear

that the Guard is only serving as

“traffic control” without guns,

military vehicles or helicopters to

aid the local police in Washington

and steer clear of flashpoint areas.

“We’ve learned our lessons and

will be absolutely nowhere near

the Capitol Building,” the senior

U.S. official said, adding: “We

don’t want to send the wrong

message. This is allowing the po-

lice to be able to do their jobs.”

Still, U.S. law grants broad pow-

ers to the commander in chief,

particularly if the president finds

reason to declare a state of emer-

gency, as Trump did on the south-

ern border to divert Pentagon

funding to his border wall project.

And Trump retains the power to

relieve senior officials at will.

“Things like the Insurrection

Act and the general authorities of

the president as commander in

chief — there is room here for a

president to abuse his responsib-

ility in this area,” Panetta said. “I

think all of us can argue that the

military has absolutely no role in

determining elections, or for that

matter in doing what law enforce-

ment is responsible for doing in

this country.”

Pentagon leaders have also

sought to keep a mostly low profile

on political issues. When Esper,

who was fired by Trump in No-

vember, traveled overseas in the

months before the election, he re-

mained tightly focused in public

comments on security matters,

even as his diplomatic counter-

part, Secretary of State Mike Pom-

peo, appeared at the Republican

National Convention and freely

made political remarks.

After Flynn suggested declar-

ing martial law and using the mil-

itary to “rerun” the election, Army

Secretary Ryan McCarthy and

Gen. James McConville, the Army

chief of staff, issued a stark re-

sponse: “There is no role for the

U.S. military in determining the

outcome of an American elec-

tion.”

Feaver said he believed that se-

nior officials, including Milley and

acting defense secretary Chris-

topher Miller, were right to re-

main mostly silent on political-re-

lated matters, if only because

speaking out might provoke an un-

wanted action from Trump.

Pentagon hopes toavoid political frayTrump’s final efforts to overturn electionare creating discomfort for the military

BY PAUL SONNE, MISSY RYAN

AND ELLEN NAKASHIMA

The Washington Post

ANDREW HARNIK / AP

President Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump, right, board Marine One on Monday for a short trip toAndrews Air Force Base, Md., and then on to Dalton, Ga. for a rally. Pentagon leaders are bracing forpresidential attempts to employ the military in efforts to overturn the election.

“I think all of us can argue that the military hasabsolutely no role in determining elections, or for thatmatter in doing what law enforcement is responsiblefor doing in this country.”

Leon Panetta

former defense secretary

MILITARY

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

WASHINGTON — Defense leg-

islation passed in spite of Presi-

dent Donald Trump’s veto will

bring a heightened focus on diver-

sity issues and efforts to combat

white supremacy and extremist

behavior within the U.S. military.

Along with billions of dollars

for new weapons systems and a

pay raise for troops, a new deputy

inspector general’s position was

created by the bipartisan defense

authorization bill to carry out au-

dits, investigations and evalua-

tions of military personnel poli-

cies, programs and systems to en-

sure they address diversity prior-

ities.

The new watchdog will also

have a key role in responding to

white supremacist and criminal

gang activity by military person-

nel, according to the legislation

passed on Jan. 1 over Trump’s ve-

to.

The deputy inspector general

“will keep the heat on the military

to make sure that racial inequality

does not fade from the priority

list, that these provisions are im-

plemented successfully, and that

Congress will receive an inde-

pendent source of findings and

recommendations,” said Rep.

Jackie Speier, the California

Democrat who heads the House

Armed Services Committee’s mil-

itary personnel panel.

Once the position is filled, the

deputy inspector general could,

for instance, review the extent to

which the military services are

examining social media posts of

recruits or personnel needing se-

curity clearances to see if they’ve

disclosed support for extremist

organizations.

Military leaders have been sup-

portive of moves to curb behavior

and eliminate symbols that are of-

fensive to service members of col-

or, who now make up more than

40% of the active-duty force. In

vetoing the annual policy bill,

Trump took issue with a provision

to rename military installations

that honor Confederate generals.

That provision and the less-no-

ticed move to create a diversity

watchdog followed national pro-

tests in 2020 over systemic racism

in law enforcement that prompt-

ed Pentagon leaders to speak out

more forcefully on diversity is-

sues.

Then-Defense Secretary Mark

Esper called the killing of George

Floyd, an unarmed Black man, at

the hands of Minneapolis police

“a horrible crime” and said that

the officers responsible should

“be held accountable for his mur-

der.”

The military’s response includ-

ed an anguished Facebook post by

then-Chief Master Sgt. Kaleth

Wright, the Air Force’s top enlist-

ed airman, who expressed his

fear that “what happens all too of-

ten in this country to Black men

who are subjected to police bru-

tality that ends in death … could

happen to me.”

The move also comes as Presi-

dent-elect Joe Biden said he in-

tends to nominate retired Gen.

Lloyd Austin to be the nation’s

first Black defense secretary.

Austin was previously the first

African American to lead U.S.

Central Command, which over-

sees operations in the Middle

East.

One key oversight tool the new

watchdog will be responsible for

is an annual report with an assess-

ment of the effectiveness of “pol-

icies, programs, systems and

processes in preventing and re-

sponding to supremacist, extre-

mist and criminal gang activity of

a member of the Armed Forces,”

according to the legislation.

Pentagon gets diversity watchdog in billBY TONY CAPACCIO

Bloomberg News

MILITARY

Senior Master Sgt. Rick John-

son had deployed twice before to

combat zones, but he never expe-

rienced the panic and confusion

he saw in Iraq last March during a

fatal rocket attack on Camp Taji.

“All around me, people were

screaming,” he said in a recent Air

Force statement. “No one knew

what to do. You go through all this

training, but when it actually hap-

pens, you’re frozen in fear.”

But he chose to act, earning an

Air Force Commendation Medal

for his heroism that night and a

Bronze Star Medal for merito-

rious achievement for his efforts

throughout the 8 ½-month deploy-

ment.

His bravery in the wake of the

“extremely treacherous attack”

showed his ability to give “assert-

ive and directive leadership when

it matters most,” said Chief Mas-

ter Sgt. Israel Nunez, superintend-

ent of the 69th Aerial Port Squad-

ron at Joint Base Andrews, Md.

Johnson was lying in bed on

March 11, 2020, when the first of

over two-dozen 107mm rockets

began raining down on the base

north of Baghdad. The attack was

one of several attacks on that base

and others last year that the U.S.

has blamed on Iran-backed Shiite

militants.

His housing unit was hit, and as

he sprinted from his room to the

nearest bunker, three more rock-

ets fell.

“I knew for a fact that there was

no way I was going to survive if I

stayed in my room,” he said. “This

was the most terrified I had ever

been in my life.”

Once inside the bunker, howev-

er, he decided he couldn’t cower

inside.

“There were people trapped in

the rooms,” he said. “I knew I

needed to do something.”

When the blasts paused, he

went back to his room, grabbed his

gear and began clearing rooms in

an area still littered with unex-

ploded rounds, entering a unit that

threatened to collapse to help two

wounded airmen before more

rockets arrived.

After clearing debris to reach

them, he performed lifesaving

procedures until medics could ar-

rive. “Everyone was scared, but

we don’t leave each other behind,”

he said. “I did all I could do.”

The attack claimed the lives of

three coalition troops – Oklahoma

Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Mar-

shal D. Roberts, 28, of Owasso, Ok-

la., Army Spc. Juan Miguel Men-

dez Covarrubias, 27, of Hanford,

Calif., and British combat medic

Lance Cpl. Brodie Gillon, 26.

Five others were critically

wounded, Misawa Air Base, Ja-

pan, commander Col. Jesse Frie-

del said in November after pre-

senting a Purple Heart Medal to

Senior Airman Daniel Alexander

for a traumatic brain injury re-

ceived when a rocket blew up 20

feet from him during the attack.

Each rocket “has 18 pounds of

explosives on it, creates a 38-foot

radius blast and throws shrapnel

until something stops it,” Friedel

said in an Air Force video of the

ceremony.

More than a dozen troops in to-

tal were wounded during the bar-

rage. Airmen were afraid to sleep

in the housing units for days after-

ward and spent their nights in the

passenger terminal instead, John-

son said.

“This is an event we train for but

we are never really prepared for.

… No one is,” he said. “It was dev-

astating.”

The U.S. quickly struck back

with a series of airstrikes on mili-

tia targets, but on March 14, 30

more militia rockets hit Taji in a

daylight strike, wounding several

more troops.

In the months that followed, the

Pentagon deployed defensive sys-

tems to the region and accelerated

plans to consolidate forces in Iraq,

pulling troops from Taji and over

half a dozen other bases as it

wound down its part in the anti-Is-

lamic State fight.

During his 8 ½-month deploy-

ment, Johnson directed airfield

operations that supported nearly

10,000 missions, moving over

53,000 passengers and 19,000 tons

of cargo. He enabled 12 airstrikes

that destroyed 210 targets.

“I didn’t do it for the medals,” he

said. Knowing he did his job and

built relationships with his com-

mander and airmen “was all the

fulfillment I needed.”

NCO honored for bravery in Camp Taji attackBY CHAD GARLAND

Stars and Stripes

CIERRA PRESENTADO/U.S. Air Force

Col. Ann Brown, 459th Mission Support Group commander, pins the Bronze Star on Senior Master Sgt.Rick Johnson during an Oct. 3 ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Johnson also was awarded an AirForce Commendation Medal for his heroic efforts during the March 11 rocket attack on Camp Taji, Iraq.

garland.chad@stripes.comTwitter: @chadgarland

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

the United States, have increased

their military and economic pres-

ence in the Arctic in recent years

due to the opening of arctic wa-

ters, the Navy said.

“Without sustained American

naval presence and partnerships

in the Arctic region, peace and

prosperity will be increasingly

challenged by Russia and China,

whose interests and values differ

dramatically from ours,” accord-

ing to the 25-page document.

The U.S. is an Arctic nation and

has maintained a presence there

for decades, including subma-

rines and the U.S. Coast Guard’s

icebreakers. The Navy’s recently

reestablished 2nd Fleet and 6th

Fleet also operate and participate

in exercises with other Arctic

countries in the region, according

to the document, which was re-

ferred to by officials as a “blue-

print.”

The strategy was signed by

Braithwaite, Adm. Michael Gil-

day, the chief of naval operations,

and Gen. David Berger, the com-

mandant of the Marine Corps, and

it lays out the economic and mil-

itary necessity of a greater Navy

presence in the Arctic in the next

two decades.

About 90% of trade travels

across the oceans, and that is ex-

pected to double within 15 years,

according to the Navy document.

The Arctic has the potential to

“connect nearly 75% of the world’s

population” as ice melts and trade

routes open up shorter routes to

and from Asia, Europe and North

America.

The area also has an “estimated

30% of the world’s undiscovered

national gas reserves, 13% of glob-

al conventional oil reserves and

[$1 trillion] in rare earth miner-

als,” the document states.

Russia has been reopening old

military bases and moving forces

there, and it operates a large ice-

breaker fleet. China is increasing

its shipbuilding and port infras-

tructure in the region. The docu-

ment also states that the U.S. Navy

expects to see more Chinese naval

deployments in the Arctic, both on

the surface and underwater.

In his previous position as U.S.

ambassador to Norway, Braith-

waite said that he saw the in-

creased presence of the Chinese at

a northern Arctic port due to more

open trade routes.

“So that presence is formidable.

And the U.S. Navy…although

we’ve operated up there, we have

not had the kind of presence that

the current situation requires,” he

said.

The Navy document also states

the U.S. has a limited window of

opportunity to reassert itself in the

region through increased pres-

ence and partnerships.

“Left uncontested, incremental

gains from increased aggression

and malign activities could result

in a fait accompli, with long-term

strategic benefits for our compet-

itors,” the document states.

In the next 20 years, the Navy

will increase participation in exer-

cises, port calls and training of its

personnel, the document states.

Braithwaite also said the Navy

is looking at sharing infrastruc-

ture at bases that are already lo-

cated in the region by other servic-

es or countries instead of reopen-

ing and rebuilding bases.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, an

advocate for increased military

presence in the Arctic, praised the

strategy in a statement Tuesday,

saying the country needs to better

protect its sovereignty and home-

land in the north.

“Although I believe the depart-

ment’s new blueprint lacks some

of the urgency needed to drive the

development of critical capabili-

ties that are required to effectively

compete with our rivals in the Arc-

tic, it rightfully acknowledges the

need to evolve our forces to more

adeptly project and sustain naval

power throughout the high lati-

tudes,” he said.

Arctic: Navy looking to further utilize region for trade, resourcesFROM PAGE 1

kenney.caitlin@stripes.comTwitter: @caitlinmkenney

MILITARY

WASHINGTON — The Smith-

sonian Institution is collecting

stories from 2020, and historians

want service members and their

families to share theirs.

The Smithsonian’s National

Museum of American History is

urging Americans to share pho-

tos, videos and written stories of

2020 — a historic year that the

institution assumes will be of in-

terest to future historians and re-

searchers. The Smithsonian has

asked specifically for stories

from health care workers, educa-

tors, refugees, agricultural work-

ers and the military community.

Shannon Perich, curator of the

photographic history collection

at the museum, said they want

stories from service members

and their families because they

have likely had unique experi-

ences.

“We know military families

and military members who live

both here in the U.S. and around

the world will have had a range

of experiences that include those

like everyone else around isola-

tion, education and so forth,”

Perich said. “But there is prob-

ably also something specific

about what it means to be a mil-

itary member or family member

during this time. What does it

feel like to be an American over-

seas during this time? What has

been the same, what has been

different? Only they can tell us.”

The Smithsonian titled the pro-

ject “Stories of 2020” and is de-

scribing it as a digital time cap-

sule for future generations.

To participate, volunteers are

asked to visit the museum’s web-

site and answer the question,

“How did your life change during

these times?” They’re asked to

share their experiences with the

coronavirus pandemic, racial in-

justice, politics or other events

and life changes in 2020. Some of

the stories will be shared publi-

cly on the museum’s website.

“Everyone has a story to tell,”

Perich said.

More information can be found

at americanhistory.si.edu/sto-

ries-of-2020.

Smithsonian historians searching for military stories from 2020

wentling.nikki@stripes.comTwitter: @nikkiwentling

BY NIKKI WENTLING

Stars and Stripes

A 20-year-old Marine who was

shot and killed while on leave in his

Idaho hometown last week was a

member of the service’s high pro-

file silent drill platoon.

Lance Cpl. Davis Mosqueda was

with a group of friends at an apart-

ment in Boise on Dec. 30 when De-

von Arnold, the suspect in the fatal

shooting, showed up just after 1

a.m., the Boise police said in a

statement.

Mosqueda left the apartment to

check on a friend when he was shot

near the parking lot, the police

said.

The young Marine was taken to

a hospital with multiple gunshot

wounds, Ada County coroner Dotti

Owens said in a statement last

Thursday, but efforts to save him

failed and he was pronounced

dead in the emergency depart-

ment.

“I didn’t believe it,” Mosqueda’s

mother, Monica Mouw, told KTVB

television news. “I was positive

they had made a mistake and that it

was someone else.”

Mosqueda enlisted in July 2018

and had been stationed at Marine

Barracks Washington, D.C., since

February of the following year,

where he was a member of the U.S.

Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon,

the Corps said in a statement.

He had arrived home on Dec. 23

and spent the days leading up to his

death playing video games with

his brothers, his mother told

KTVB. He was scheduled to re-

turn to Washington on Jan. 4, the

station said.

Arnold, 21, stayed on the scene

after the shooting and was arrest-

ed and booked into county jail after

a police investigation, officials

said. He has been charged with

first-degree murder and use of a

firearm in the commission of a fe-

lony, Ada County court records

show. A preliminary hearing is set

for Jan. 8.

Investigators have not said what

his motive was or whether he and

Mosqueda knew each other,

KTVB reported. The Boise police

did not immediately respond to a

Stars and Stripes request for infor-

mation.

Col. Teague Pastel, command-

ing officer of the Marine barracks,

described Mosqueda as “a highly

driven Marine with a team-first

mentality.”

“We are tremendously sad-

dened by this terrible loss,” Pastel

said. “Our thoughts and prayers

are with Davis’ family and friends,

and our priority will be taking care

of them during this tragic time.”

He was a “son, brother, cousin,

nephew, grandson, great-grand-

son and adoring boyfriend” who

liked to spend time hunting, fish-

ing and exploring with his family,

said a GoFundMe page establish-

ed for Mosqueda’s family. “He is

loved and loved us well.”

He joined the Marines because

he believed in a bigger purpose,

his mother said.

“He was put on this Earth to help

people and he’s gone too soon,” she

said. “He always walked around

like he had this big tough shell, but

he had the biggest heart [of] any-

one in his circle.”

Marine silent drill platoon member killed at homeBY CHAD GARLAND

Stars and Stripes

garland.chad@stripes.comTwitter: @chadgarland

GoFundMe

Lance Cpl. Davis Mosqueda was shot and killed while on leave in his Idaho hometown last week.

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germa-

ny — Travelers from the U.S. and

other countries with high rates of

coronavirus infections will need

to produce a negative test to en-

ter Germany starting Monday,

when tougher rules and restric-

tions aimed at slowing the spread

of the virus take effect across the

country, officials said.

They will also need to test neg-

ative a second time to get out of

quarantine before 10 days, say

the new rules announced after an

hourslong meeting Tuesday be-

tween Chancellor Angela Merkel

and the heads of Germany’s 16

states.

“The measures we’ve an-

nounced are drastic,” Merkel

said after the meeting. “They are

not just a continuation of what we

did before Christmas, but are

tougher, given the situation.”

Germany, like many other Eu-

ropean countries, has struggled

to contain the spread of a new,

more infectious strain of the vi-

rus. A partial lockdown in No-

vember failed to do the trick and

was followed by tougher restric-

tions and more business closures

last month.

The new, even tougher rules

announced Tuesday also include

travel restrictions in areas where

more than 200 new cases of the

virus per 100,000 residents have

been registered over the previous

seven days. Starting Monday,

residents of these so-called hot-

spots will not be allowed to travel

more than 15 kilometers — just

over nine miles — from the city

or town they live in.

That is unlikely to affect most

members of the U.S. military

community in Germany.

Although U.S. military com-

mands, which impose their own

coronavirus restrictions, have

said that service members and ci-

vilians working for the military

must follow whichever rules are

stricter — the German author-

ities’ or the military’s — the 7-day

incidence for coronavirus in ci-

ties with sizeable American mil-

itary populations has remained

below the rate at which German

authorities consider a district a

virus hotspot.

In the greater Kaiserslautern

area, which is home to a tens of

thousands of service members,

their families and Defense De-

partment employees, there were

around 96 new cases per 100,000

residents over the past week, ac-

cording to German public health

agency the Robert Koch Institute.

Wiesbaden had nearly 83 cases

per 100,000 residents over the

past week, and Stuttgart around

85.

Weekly infections in the county

in Bavaria that includes Vilseck

were just over 89 per 100,000 res-

idents, and the 7-day incidence in

the county where Grafenwoehr is

was around 120 new cases per

100,000 people, RKI said.

The 21st Theater Sustainment

Command last month restricted

travel for troops under its com-

mand to 30 kilometers from their

places of residence. It was not

immediately clear if the com-

mand, which has troops in Ger-

many, the Benelux countries, Ko-

sovo, Bulgaria and Romania,

would tighten up travel restric-

tions, following the new German

rules.

Germany also extended the

closures of restaurants, hair-

dressers, many retail shops and

schools, and limited private gath-

erings to “your own household,

with a maximum of one other

person” from a different house-

hold. Until Monday, five mem-

bers of a second household, not

counting children under 14, are

allowed at such gatherings.

U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart

took the limits on gatherings a

step further, with garrison com-

mander, Col. Jason Condrey, say-

ing on AFN Radio on Wednesday

that children of all ages will be

included in the count of people

allowed at private social events.

He also said remote learning will

continue until at least Jan. 18.

U.S. Army Garrison Wiesba-

den was expected to issue guid-

ance on the new German rules by

Friday, a spokesperson said.

Not all of Germany’s states

agree with the new measures,

however. Georg Maier, interior

minister of the state of Thuringia,

which has one of the highest

weekly infection rates in Germa-

ny, said restricting travel to a

narrow radius would have “psy-

chological and practical side-ef-

fects” on residents and would be

impossible to enforce. The leader

of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil,

questioned whether the govern-

ment was allowed to restrict trav-

el under German law.

The rules in place until Mon-

day do not require a coronavirus

test to enter Germany, and, up to

now, the government has only

recommended that leisure travel

be restricted.

But, Merkel told reporters

Tuesday, “We must be especially

careful now. We are in a new and

extraordinary situation.”

How Germany’s tougherrules will affect US military

BY MARCUS KLOECKNER

Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes reporters David Edge, JohnVandiver and Karin Zeitvogel contributed to thisreport. kloeckner.marcus@stripes.com

MICHAEL ABRAMS/Stars and Stripes

Tighter coronavirus restrictions are set to begin in Germany onMonday. One of the rules limits private gatherings to one householdwith a maximum of one other person.

WASHINGTON — An active-

duty soldier in Virginia is the 15th

service member to die from the

coronavirus, the Pentagon an-

nounced Wednesday, almost a

month after a soldier in Germany

died from the disease.

Sgt. 1st Class Lisa Maria Soto,

38, died Saturday at John Ran-

dolph Medical Center in Hope-

well, Va., from complications re-

lated to the coronavirus, said Jef-

ferson Wolfe, a spokesman for

U.S. Army Garrison Fort Lee.

Originally from Florence, S.C.,

Soto served in the Army for more

than 20 years, most recently at

Fort Lee as a training instructor

with Company A of the 244th

Quartermaster Battalion, Wolfe

said. During her career, Soto had

also been assigned to Mannheim,

Germany, Fort Jackson, S.C., and

Fort Drum, N.Y.

Soto deployed to Iraq from 2004

to 2005 and then Afghanistan from

2011 to 2012. Her military awards

include the Army Commendation

Medal (three awards), Army

Achievement Medal (five

awards), Army Good Conduct

Medal (six awards), the Noncom-

missioned Officer Professional

Development Ribbon (two

awards), and the Combat Action

Badge.

Her death is the second active-

duty Army death from the corona-

virus. Army Sgt. Setariki Korova-

katuraga, 43, died Dec. 9 on the

way to the hospital in Germany.

He had “previously tested positive

for [the coronavirus] and was at

home on quarantine when he be-

gan experiencing increased

symptoms,” U.S. Army Europe

and Africa said in a statement at

the time. Korovakaturaga was as-

signed to the 44th Expeditionary

Signal Battalion, 2nd Theater Sig-

nal Brigade at Baumholder.

As of Wednesday, the Army has

had 39,330 cases of the virus, the

highest case numbers among the

military services. The military

overall has had 111,581 cases, 959

personnel hospitalized, and 73,515

who have recovered, according to

the Pentagon.

The Navy has had 23,570 cases

of the coronavirus, the Air Force

has had 20,457 cases, and the Na-

tional Guard has surpassed the

Marine Corps in cases 13,791 to

13,661, respectively, according to

the Pentagon.

The United States has had more

than 21 million cases of the coro-

navirus and 358,107 people in the

country have died from the dis-

ease as of Wednesday, according

to Johns Hopkins University.

Second active-duty soldier dies from coronavirusBY CAITLIN M. KENNEY

Stars and Stripes

kenney.caitlin@stripes.com Twitter: @caitlinmkenney

AMSTERDAM — The Europe-

an Union’s medicines agency gave

the green light Wednesday to Mod-

erna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, a

decision that gives the 27-nation

bloc a second vaccine to use in the

battle to tame the virus.

The approval recommendation

by the European Medicines Agen-

cy’s human medicines committee

— which must be rubber-stamped

by the EU’s executive commission

— comes amid high rates of infec-

tions in many EU countries and

strong criticism of the slow pace of

vaccinations across the region of

some 450 million people.

“This vaccine provides us with

another tool to overcome the cur-

rent emergency,” said Emer

Cooke, Executive Director of

EMA. “It is a testament to the ef-

forts and commitment of all in-

volved that we have this second

positive vaccine recommendation

just short of a year since the pan-

demic was declared by WHO.”

European Commission Presi-

dent Ursula von der Leyen wel-

comed the move and added in a

tweet: “Now we are working at full

speed to approve it & make it avail-

able in the EU.”

The EMA has already approved

a vaccine made by American

drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s

BioNTech. Both vaccines require

giving people two shots.

The EU has ordered 80 million

doses of the Moderna vaccine with

an option for a further 80 million.

The bloc also has committed to

buying 300 million doses of the

Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

EU agency approves Moderna’s vaccineAssociated Press

VIRUS OUTBREAK

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

VIRUS OUTBREAK

TOKYO — Japan and its capital

city reported their highest one-

day new coronavirus case totals

Wednesday.

The largest U.S. naval base in

the country on the same day or-

dered an overnight curfew and

other measures to combat a grow-

ing cluster of coronavirus infec-

tions of unknown origin.

Japan exceeded 5,000 new cor-

onavirus cases Wednesday for the

first time, according to public

broadcaster NHK, which provid-

ed no further information.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Gov-

ernment reported that 1,591 peo-

ple tested positive Wednesday,

exceeding the previous high

mark, 1,337, reached Dec. 31, ac-

cording to the metro government

and NHK.

The number of seriously ill pa-

tients in Tokyo on Wednesday was

113, the highest number ever,

NHK reported.

Though Japan’s numbers are

low compared to many other

countries its size, the third wave

of the coronavirus has hit the na-

tion hardest. It set and broke re-

cords one after another in Decem-

ber.

U.S. military bases in Japan to-

gether reported 69 new patients

Tuesday evening through 6 p.m.

Wednesday, including 46 at Yoko-

suka Naval Base and 17 at nearby

Naval Air Facility Atsugi.

The new patients at Yokosuka,

the home 35 miles south of Tokyo

of the U.S. 7th Fleet, have tested

positive since Dec. 30, according

to a Facebook post.

Eleven became ill with symp-

toms of COVID-19, 23 others were

discovered during contact trac-

ing. Nine were recent arrivals to

Japan and one tested positive dur-

ing a medical screening. Two base

employees also fell ill and tested

positive, according to the naval

base. The base has 86 patients un-

der observation.

Base commander Capt. Rich

Jarrett imposed a curfew and oth-

er measures to stem the local out-

break, he said in a Facebook video

address Wednesday.

“We are entering a new, critical

phase of our COVID-19 re-

sponse,” Jarrett said in the 4

½-minute-long video. “The next

month will be difficult, probably

our most difficult period of CO-

VID-19 response.”

The thousands affiliated with

the naval base must be in their

own homes, whether on the base

or in the surrounding community,

between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m., accord-

ing to Jarrett’s order posted on

Facebook.

Hotel stays are prohibited, un-

less they’re related to official

business, Jarrett said. Visitor pas-

ses are canceled. Base restau-

rants may serve takeout orders

only. Trips on public transporta-

tion are off-limits except for es-

sential activities or work com-

mutes with no other alternatives

available, Jarrett said.

Defense Department schools on

base will remain in session, he

said. He also said units should en-

courage telework and 50% man-

ning where possible.

Jarrett in December attributed

a local outbreak to individuals dis-

regarding bans on visiting high-

risk areas and visiting off-limits

bars and similar venues. Hun-

dreds of sailors were quarantined

as a precaution on base quarters

or the aircraft carrier USS Ronald

Reagan as a result.

“However, in the past 10 days,

we are now observing many

unique cases that are not tracea-

ble to a previously known clus-

ter,” he said, “and the sources of

these infections is unknown.”

Jarrett said he ordered the cur-

few after Kanagawa prefecture,

where the base is located, asked

that the base cease activity after 8

p.m. Essential work and duty per-

sonnel are exempted.

The government of Japan is

preparing a state of emergency in

the four prefectures that com-

prise the greater Tokyo metro ar-

ea, including Kanagawa, in an at-

tempt to curb the virus’s spread,

Jarrett said.

Naval Air Facility Atsugi, 25

miles northwest of Yokosuka, re-

ported that 17 individuals tested

positive Wednesday for the virus.

All 17 were already in quarantine,

base spokesman Sam Samuelson

said Wednesday.

Marine Corps Air Station Iwa-

kuni, 500 miles west of Tokyo, re-

ported three new coronavirus pa-

tients Wednesday, according to a

Facebook post. One was quaran-

tined as a close contact of another

infected individual; the other two

were not in isolation, but the base

provided no further information.

Kadena Air Base on Okinawa

reported three new patients

Wednesday. All of them tested

positive while in the mandatory,

two-week quarantine following

travel outside Japan, according to

a Facebook post.

ditzler.joseph@stripes.comTwitter: @JosephDitzler

AKIFUMI ISHIKAWA/Stars and Stripes

Visitors to Kawasaki­Daishi temple in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, wear masks while strolling past souve­nir and food stands on Monday.

Japan, Tokyo set new 1-day casehighs; Yokosuka orders curfew

BY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea

— All U.S. military personnel in-

bound for South Korea must abide

by a new requirement to present

proof of a negative coronavirus

test upon their arrival starting Fri-

day, according to U.S. Forces Ko-

rea.

South Korea will require all for-

eign travelers to present proof of a

negative polymerase chain reac-

tion, or PCR, coronavirus test tak-

en within 72 hours before their de-

parture for South Korea, the Min-

istry of Foreign Affairs an-

nounced Dec. 31.

USFK has asked the govern-

ment to delay the requirement for

U.S. citizens subject to the status

of forces agreement until Jan. 15,

but the requirement is in effect

until it receives a response, USFK

spokeswoman Jacqueline Leeker

told Stars and Stripes in an email

Tuesday.

USFK passed the word to its

personnel in a news release Mon-

day.

“The Republic of Korea govern-

ment’s new testing requirements

will impact both Patriot Express

and commercial flights,” Leeker

said.

The Patriot Express is a govern-

ment-contracted passenger air

service between the U.S. and its

bases in the Pacific.

Of nearly 500 cases of the coro-

navirus reported by USFK during

the pandemic, the majority of

them, 464, were individuals arriv-

ing in South Korea on either the

Patriot Express or commercial

flights into Incheon International

Airport. That number includes

service members, Defense De-

partment civilians and depend-

ents.

The move by South Korea

comes as the nation grapples with

a rising coronavirus caseload. The

country reported its highest num-

bers in December: 27,117 new

cases and 391 deaths, according to

the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus

Resource Center.

South Korean public health offi-

cials announced Dec. 28 that it had

detected the first individuals in-

fected with a coronavirus variant

linked to an increase in cases in

the United Kingdom.

USFK has kept the coronavirus

at bay, however, through a regime

of mandatory testing and 14-day

quarantine for new arrivals and

confirmed cases.

On Dec. 28, Japan imposed a

similar requirement for proof on

resident foreigners entering the

country, but U.S. military person-

nel are not required to present

proof of a negative test upon arriv-

al, a spokesman for U.S. Forces

Japan said Dec. 30.

Col. Robert Firman said no

changes were made to regulations

governing U.S. personnel govern-

ed by the status of forces agree-

ment. Like USFK, the U.S. com-

mand in Japan has the same test-

ing and quarantine requirements

for its people entering the country,

he said.

USFK is contacting U.S. com-

mands, asking them to individual-

ly update anyone with orders for

assignments in South Korea.

The Army began testing over-

seas travelers in late August,

while other service branches have

only required random testing.

“A negative test prior to travel

has already been an Army direc-

tive for quite some time, but will

be a new requirement for person-

nel in the other services,” said

Leeker.

Short-term travelers who are

not affiliated with the Defense De-

partment will be required to quar-

antine at a government-designat-

ed facility at their own expense for

14 days, according to the U.S. Em-

bassy in Seoul’s website.

The nightly cost at these facili-

ties could range from $100-$150

per night, prices are set by Korean

authorities.

USFK must abideby S. Korea rulestesting travelers

BY MATTHEW KEELER

Stars and Stripes

keeler.matthew@stripes.comTwitter: @MattKeeler1231

MATTHEW KEELER/Stars and Stripes

U.S. service members and theirfamilies exit the Patriot Expressat Osan Air Base, South Korea, inOctober. 

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

VIRUS OUTBREAK

New York’s governor is threat-

ening to fine hospitals that don’t

use their allotment of COVID-19

vaccine fast enough. His South

Carolina counterpart says health

care workers have until Jan. 15 to

get a shot or move to the back of

the line. California’s governor

wants to use dentists to vaccinate

people.

With frustration rising over the

slow rollout of the vaccine, state

leaders and other politicians

around the United States are turn-

ing up the pressure, improvising

and seeking to bend the rules to

get shots in arms more quickly.

“Move it quickly. We’re seri-

ous,” New York Gov. Andrew Cu-

omo warned hospitals on Tues-

day. “If you don’t want to be fined,

just don’t participate in the pro-

gram. It’s not a mandatory pro-

gram.”

As of Wednesday morning, just

4.8 million people in the U.S. had

gotten their first shot out of 17 mil-

lion doses distributed, according

to the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention. While that is be-

lieved to an undercount because

of a lag in reporting, health offi-

cials are still well behind where

they wanted to be.

Meanwhile, the U.S. death toll

has climbed past 357,000. CO-

VID-19 deaths set another one-

day record at 3,775 on Tuesday,

though authorities have cautioned

that the numbers around holidays

can fluctuate dramatically be-

cause some health agencies fall

behind in reporting cases, then

rush to catch up.

Health care workers and nurs-

ing home residents are being giv-

en priority for the most part in the

U.S., but some places are begin-

ning to move on to the next stage,

involving the elderly.

The slow rollout has been

blamed on a multitude of prob-

lems, including a lack of funding

and guidance from Washington,

mismatches between supply and

demand, a patchwork of ap-

proaches by state and local gov-

ernments, distrust of the vaccine

and disarray created by the holi-

days.

Politicians are getting aggres-

sive in trying to accelerate the

campaign. The governors of Cali-

fornia, Maryland and North Car-

olina said they will use the Nation-

al Guard to speed things up.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan

warned, too, that any facility that

has not administered at least 75%

of its first doses may have future

allocations reduced until they can

speed up vaccinations.

While about 270,000 doses have

been put directly in the hands of

front-line vaccinators in the state

over the last three weeks, Hogan

said that only about 77,000 people

had been vaccinated as of Tues-

day, or about 1.3% of the state’s

population.

Gov. Henry McMaster of South

Carolina warned that health care

workers will lose their place in

line if they don’t move quickly to

get their shots. As of Monday, the

state had given out less than half

its initial allotment of the Pfizer

vaccine to about 43,000 people.

In California, where just 1% of

the population has been vaccinat-

ed, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he

wants to give providers the flex-

ibility to dispense shots to people

not on the priority list if doses are

in danger of going to waste.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio

said it is time to broaden eligibil-

ity to include people older than 75

and essential workers such as po-

lice officers and firefighters to get

things moving.

“Give them the freedom to vac-

cinate and they will vaccinate

thousands, then tens of thousands,

then hundreds of thousands, then

millions,” de Blasio said. “What

they don’t need is to be shamed.

What they don’t need is more bu-

reaucracy. What they don’t need

is a threat of fines.”

Governors scramble to speed vaccine effortBY MICHELLE R. SMITH

Associated Press

LYNNE SLADKY/AP

Simon Simkovic, 90, right, and his wife Phyllis, 85, left, leave Jackson Memorial Hospital after receivingthe COVID­19 vaccine Wednesday in Miami.

NEW ORLEANS — A subdued

Carnival season began Wednes-

day after the coronavirus pan-

demic put an end to the crowd-

heavy balls and street parades

that draw thousands of people to

the city every year.

The Mardi Gras season always

starts on Jan. 6 and ends on Fat

Tuesday, which this year falls on

Feb. 16. The season is usually

marked by extravagant balls and

parades where costumed riders

throw trinkets to the mobs of peo-

ple packed along the parade

routes.

The coronavirus has put an end

to those large events. But that has

not stopped notoriously creative

New Orleanians from coming up

with socially distant ways to cele-

brate.

The Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc is a

club that annually pays homage to

the fallen French hero with a pa-

rade through the French Quarter

on the official start of the Carnival

season. This year, the krewe is

hosting a “Tableaux de Jeanne

d’Arc,” where onlookers will

drive by various “tableaux” — a

French term for “living pictures”

— that will include stations of cos-

tumed revelers sparring as

knights, sharpening their swords

and feasting at a grand fireplace

with a pig roasting in the back-

ground.

“Life as usual is gone, so we had

to look for different ways of doing

things this year,” said Antoinette

de Alteriis, one of the club’s cap-

tains.

The Phunny Phorty Phellows, a

group that usually gathers Jan. 6

to mark the beginning of the sea-

son with a costumed party on a

street car, is also altering its

plans.

Usually throngs of people gath-

er at the facility where the street

car starts its journey to see the

group off, but this year, people are

asked to disperse along the street

car route and watch from there in-

stead.

But people can still eat cake —

king cake that is.

The sweet cakes, which are

decorated with the official Carni-

val colors of purple, green and

gold, are only to be eaten starting

on Jan. 6.

Pandemic-era Mardi Gras: Nobig crowds, but plenty of cake

Associated Press

RUSTY COSTANZA / AP

Bourbon Street is a sea of humanity on Mardi Gras day 2020 in NewOrleans. A subdued Carnival season began Wednesday.

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

If Ossoff wins, Democrats will have com-

plete control of Congress, strengthening

President-elect Joe Biden’s standing as he

prepares to take office on Jan. 20. A Demo-

cratic sweep would also make it more diffi-

cult for Republicans to block Biden’s ambi-

tious progressive agenda, along with his

Cabinet picks and judicial nominations.

This week’s elections mark the formal fi-

nale to the turbulent 2020 election season

more than two months after the rest of the

nation finished voting. The unusually high

stakes transformed Georgia, once a solidly

Republican state, into one of the nation’s

premier battlegrounds for the final days of

Trump’s presidency — and likely beyond.

Warnock’s victory is a symbol of a strik-

ing shift in Georgia’s politics as the swell-

ing number of diverse, college-educated

voters flex their power in the heart of the

Deep South. It follows Biden’s victory in

November, when he became the first Dem-

ocratic presidential candidate to carry the

state since 1992.

The Associated Press declared Warnock

the winner after an analysis of outstanding

votes showed there was no way for Loeffler

to catch up to his lead. Warnock’s edge is

likely to grow as more ballots are counted,

many of which were in Democratic-leaning

areas.

Loeffler refused to concede in a brief

message to supporters shortly after mid-

night.

“We’ve got some work to do here. This is

a game of inches. We’re going to win this

election,” insisted Loeffler, a 50-year-old

former businesswoman who was appointed

to the Senate less than a year ago by the

state’s governor.

Loeffler, who remains a Georgia senator

until the results of Tuesday’s election are

finalized, said she would return to Wash-

ington on Wednesday morning to join a

small group of senators planning to chal-

lenge Congress’ vote to certify Biden’s vic-

tory.

Georgia’s other runoff election pitted

Perdue, a 71-year-old former business ex-

ecutive who held his Senate seat until his

term expired on Sunday, against Ossoff, a

former congressional aide and journalist.

At just 33 years old, Ossoff would be the

Senate’s youngest member.

“This campaign has been about health

and jobs and justice for the people of this

state — for all the people of this state,” Os-

soff said in a speech broadcast on social

media Wednesday morning. “Whether you

were for me, or against me, I’ll be for you in

the U.S. Senate. I will serve all the people of

the state.”

Trump’s false claims of voter fraud cast a

dark shadow over the runoff elections,

which were held only because no candidate

hit the 50% threshold in the general elec-

tion. He attacked the state’s election chief

on the eve of the election and raised the

prospect that some votes might not be

counted even as votes were being cast.

Many in Georgia’s large African Amer-

ican community were ecstatic when they

awoke to news of Warnock’s win on

Wednesday.

Tracey Bailey, a 58-year-old assistant

community manager at an apartment com-

plex in downtown Atlanta, said she jumped

for joy.

“It’s going to be great for Georgia, and

it’s going to be great for our Black commu-

nity as a whole,” she said. “I think he’s go-

ing to be a fair guy for the people, and that’s

for all people.”

Victory: Warnock’s win shows big shift in Georgia’s politicsFROM PAGE 1

NATION

AP photos

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday at the Capitol in Washington. AsCongress prepares to affirm President­elect Joe Biden’s victory, thousands of people have gathered toshow their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. 

WASHINGTON — As demon-

strators swarmed the U.S. Capitol,

Congress was forced to abruptly

halt deliberations Wednesday

over Republican challenges to Joe

Biden’s presidential victory.

President Donald Trump’s re-

lentless effort to overturn the elec-

tion results and cling to the White

House drew a massive crowd to

the White House, and then Trump

sent them to the Capitol.

Lawmakers had convened for

an extraordinary joint session to

confirm the Electoral College re-

sults but protests erupted outside

the Capitol and government office

buildings were being evacuated.

Though fellow Republicans

were behind the challenge to Bi-

den’s 306-232 Electoral College

victory, Senate Majority Leader

Mitch McConnell sought to lower

tensions and argued against it. He

warned the country “cannot keep

drifting apart into two separate

tribes” with “separate facts.”

McConnell declared, “The vot-

ers, the courts and the states all

have spoken.”

But other Republicans, includ-

ing House GOP leaders among

Trump’s allies were acting out the

pleas of supporters at his huge

Wednesday rally up Pennsylvania

Avenue outside the White House

to “fight for Trump.”

The last-gasp effort is all but

certain to fail, defeated by biparti-

san majorities in Congress pre-

pared to accept the November re-

sults. Biden is to be inaugurated

Jan. 20.

Still, Trump vowed to he would

“never concede” and urged the

massive crowd to march to the

Capitol where hundreds had al-

ready gathered under tight securi-

ty.

“We will never give up,” Trump

told his noontime rally.

Arizona was the first of several

states facing objections from the

Republicans as Congress took an

alphabetical reading of the elec-

tion results.

Biden won Arizona by more

than 10,000 votes, and eight law-

suits challenging the results have

failed.

The state’s Supreme Court on

Wednesday upheld the dismissal

of an election challenge.

The joint session of Congress,

required by law, convened before

a watchful, restless nation —

months after the election, two

weeks before the inauguration’s

traditional peaceful transfer of

power and against the backdrop of

a surging COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawmakers were told by Capi-

tol officials to arrive early, due to

safety precautions with protesters

in Washington. Visitors, who typ-

ically fill the galleries to watch

landmark proceedings, were not

allowed under COVID-19 restric-

tions.

The session also came as over-

night results from Georgia’s run-

off elections put Democrats within

reach of a Senate majority.

With the Senate results from

Georgia streaming in and Demo-

crats within reach of controlling

the chamber, Trump amplified his

pleas to stay in office as a veto

check on the rival party.

At the rally he said he had just

talked to Pence and criticized Re-

publicans who are not willing to

fight for him as “weak.”

While other vice presidents, in-

cluding Al Gore and Richard Nix-

on, also presided over their own

defeats, Pence supports those Re-

publican lawmakers mounting

challenges to the 2020 outcome.

It’s not the first time lawmakers

have challenged results. Demo-

crats did in 2017 and 2005.

But the intensity of Trump’s

challenge is like nothing in mod-

ern times, and an outpouring of

current and elected GOP officials

warn the showdown is sowing dis-

trust in government and eroding

Americans’ faith in democracy.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told

reporters on Capitol Hill that

Trump’s election challenge has

“disgraced the office of the presi-

dency.”

“We’ll proceed as the Constitu-

tion demands and tell our support-

ers the truth — whether or not

they want to hear it,” Romney

said.

Still, more than a dozen Repub-

lican senators led by Josh Hawley

of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Tex-

as, along with as many as 100

House Republicans, were press-

ing ahead to raise objections to in-

dividual states’ reports of Biden’s

wins.

Under the rules of the joint ses-

sion, any objection to a state’s elec-

toral tally needs to be submitted in

writing by at least one member of

the House and one of the Senate to

be considered.

Each objection will force two

hours of deliberations in the

House and Senate, ensuring a long

day.

House Republican lawmakers

are signing on to objections to the

electoral votes in six states — Ari-

zona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan,

Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Protesters swarmCapitol, halt tallyCongress forced to stop deliberations over Republicanchallenges to Joe Biden’s presidential victory

Associated Press

Trump supporters rallied inWashington on Wednesday.

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Man returns statue’ssword after 40 years

MA WESTFIELD — A

veteran returned a

sword he stole from a statue of a

Revolutionary War general 40

years ago, telling the head of the

Massachusetts town’s historical

commission that he regretted tak-

ing it.

Cindy P. Gaylord, the chair of

Westfield’s Historical Commis-

sion, said a man contacted city hall

saying he had the sword stolen

from the town’s statue of Gen. Wil-

liam Shepard in 1980 when he was

a student at Westfield State Uni-

versity, the Springfield Republi-

can reported.

Gaylord agreed to give the man

anonymity if he returned the

bronze sword and arranged for

him and his wife to drop it off at her

home, she said.

“He is a veteran and told me the

fact that he did this to another sol-

dier troubled him,” Gaylord told

the newspaper.

Police: Man stole itemsfrom hospital helicopter

NC ASHEVILLE — Police

in North Carolina said

that a man was accused of stealing

medical equipment from a heli-

copter that was parked at a hospi-

tal.

The Raleigh News & Observer

reported that the incident oc-

curred on New Year’s Day at Mis-

sion Hospital in Asheville.

Asheville police said that they

arrested Jason Alan Roland, 34,

and charged him with breaking

and entering and damage to prop-

erty.

Police said that at least two ther-

mometers and other equipment

was reported missing.

‘Haunted house’ burnsdays after body found

SC NORWAY — The aban-

doned South Carolina

home where a group of people

found a body stuffed in a deep

freezer burned down two days af-

ter the gruesome discovery, au-

thorities said.

The early Tuesday blaze at the

home in Norway is considered sus-

picious, but a cause has not been

determined, Orangeburg County

firefighters said.

Sunday, eight adults out riding

four-wheelers decided to explore

the abandoned home after hearing

it was haunted, deputies have said.

The group spotted the freezer on

the back porch of the home and

when it was opened, an 18-year-old

man told deputies he saw what ap-

peared to be a body wearing blue

jeans and socks and smelled a hor-

rible odor, the Orangeburg County

Sheriff's Office said in an incident

report.

Police: Driver pursued inNJ captured in Canada

NJ HOWELL — A driver

who led police on a chase

through a number of New Jersey

communities rammed through the

Canadian border and fled on foot

into that country before he was

captured, police in New Jersey

said.

Howell Township police said a

patrolman tried to stop an erratic

driver, believing the motorist was

intoxicated. A pursuit wound

through several cities to the Gar-

den State Parkway, but was ended

when the patrolman’s siren failed.

Howell police said they were no-

tified by Canadian and U.S. Cus-

toms and Border Protection offi-

cials that the driver had “rammed

through the Canadian border and

fled on foot into Canada.” He was

ultimately captured, police said.

2 in custody after wildlifeofficer run over by ATV

FL AVON PARK — Polk

County authorities had

two people in custody and were

searching for a third person after a

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conser-

vation Commission officer was

run over by an ATV during a con-

frontation.

WTVT-TV of Tampa reported

that the officer was patrolling the

Avon Park Bombing Range when

he spotted three people shining a

spotlight into the Avon Park

Bombing Range property.

When the officer approached

the individuals, a scuffle broke

out. The assailants ran over the of-

ficer as they fled the scene, ac-

cording to the Polk County Sher-

iff’s Office.

The officer was treated for inju-

ries and released.

Cracked windshieldforces emergency landing

WI MILWAUKEE — Au-

thorities said a SkyWest

flight from Milwaukee to Denver

made an emergency landing in

South Dakota over the weekend af-

ter the flight crew reported a

cracked windshield.

The Federal Aviation Adminis-

tration said the twin-engine air-

craft was diverted to Joe Foss

Field in Sioux Falls, S.D.,and land-

ed without incident.

The FAA is investigating the in-

cident, according to the Milwau-

kee Journal Sentinel.

USPS reports spate ofarmed mail thefts

NM ALBUQUERQUE —

A postal official said

authorities in New Mexico are in-

vestigating a spate of unusual

armed mail robberies in recent

months in the Albuquerque and

Santa Fe areas, an official said.

U.S. Postal Inspector Brook

Robinson told KOB-TV in Albu-

querque that officials usually in-

vestigate mail and parcel thefts

during the holidays, and they

aren’t seeing a similar trend in oth-

er places.

“This is specific to Albuquerque

right now, this isn’t really a trend

nationwide,” Robinson said.

Robinson said agents were in-

vestigating eight cases since mid-

October.

Parents charged aftertoddler found in road

LA RAGLEY — A Louisia-

na couple was charged

with abandonment after their 3-

year-old child was found walking

alone in the middle of a road, au-

thorities said.

Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff’s dep-

uties were called to the street near

Ragley by a driver who spotted the

toddler walking unattended down

the middle of the road, according

to a statement from the agency.

Deputies said they determined

the mother of the child, Rochelle

Renee Riley, 41, left her home to go

to the store and the father, Brock

Kevin Manuel, 27, failed to watch

the children.

The two were arrested and

booked on charges of criminal

abandonment, the sheriff’s office

said.

The children were turned over

to their grandmother.

Two injured inexplosion at home

IA WASHINGTON — Two

people were injured in an

explosion at a house in southeast

Iowa, officials said.

The explosion was reported

about 4 a.m. Monday at a home in

Washington, KCRG-TV reported.

Washington police said at least

two people suffered injuries that

were not considered life threaten-

ing. All residents were evacuated

from the home.

Fire crews were able to extin-

guish the blaze caused by the ex-

plosion, which damaged the home

and blew out windows of nearby

homes, police said.

Investigators are trying to de-

termine the cause of the explosion.

MATT HAMILTON, CHATTANOOGA (TENN.) TIMES FREE PRESS/AP

Swimmer Giancarlo Malpartida practices with the Carpet Capital Aquatics Club at the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department pool in Dalton,Ga. Despite temperatures dipping into the 40s, the swim team splits swimming between the indoor pool at Dalton High School and the heatedoutdoor pool at the recreation department. 

Life in the fast lane

THE CENSUS

1.7 The number, in thousands, of ash trees Cornell University willfell on its lands due to an emerald ash borer infestation. The

infested trees will be felled between January and the end of March on and offcampus, the Ithaca, N.Y., university said. The beetle, which bores under thetree’s bark, kills most infested ash trees within four years, creating a hazard.“The work will be highly visible and will, unfortunately, create significantchanges on the campus landscape for decades,” said Todd Bittner, director ofnatural areas for Cornell Botanic Gardens.

From The Associated Press

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

NATION

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The FBI

investigation into whether the

Nashville bombing was a terrorist

act has sparked criticism about a

possible racial double standard

and drawn questions from down-

town business owners whose in-

surance coverage could be affect-

ed by the bureau’s assessment.

More than a week after an ex-

plosion that struck at the heart of a

major American city, the FBI has

resisted labeling it an act of terror-

ism, an indication that evidence

gathered so far does not conclu-

sively establish that the bomber

was motivated by political ideolo-

gy — a key factor in any formal

declaration of terrorism. The bu-

reau is still examining evidence

and has not announced any con-

clusions, but investigators are

known to be reviewing whether

Anthony Warner believed in con-

spiracy theories involving aliens

and 5G cellphone technology.

Warner died in the Christmas

Day explosion of a recreational

vehicle that also wounded three

other people.

“When we assess an event for

domestic terrorism nexus, it has to

be tied to an ideology. It’s the use

of force or violence in the further-

ance of a political or social ideol-

ogy or event. We haven’t tied that

yet,” Doug Korneski, the FBI

agent in charge of the agency’s

Memphis office, told reporters

last week at a news conference.

The FBI investigates two types

of terrorism that are defined not

by the ethnicity or background of

the suspect, but by the person’s

motivation or ideology. Interna-

tional terrorism involves acts by

people who are inspired by, or act-

ing at the direction of, foreign ter-

rorist organizations. Domestic

terrorism generally involves polit-

ically motivated violence intend-

ed to further a particular cause or

agenda.

The explosion in Music City’s

historic downtown damaged more

than 40 businesses. Since then, a

handful of state and city leaders

have raised concerns about the

terrorism designation, arguing

that authorities would have acted

differently if the 63-year-old War-

ner had not been a white man.

“To those bending over back-

ward to not call this an act of ter-

ror, if Warner had been a Muslim/

immigrant/black, will you say the

same thing or will you be one of

the millions condemning not just

him but his entire community?”

Nashville City Council member

Zulfat Suara tweeted just days af-

ter the bombing.

The classification of the attack

could help determine insurance

payouts for businesses that were

damaged. At issue are the varying

definitions of terrorism sprinkled

throughout federal law.

Small business owners tend to

opt out of terrorism coverage

when selecting insurance policies,

presuming that a terrorist act

would be unlikely to affect their

company, said Jason Schupp,

founder and managing member of

Centers for Better Insurance, an

insurance industry think tank

near Washington, D.C.

Pete Gibson is owner of Pride

and Glory Tattoo Parlor, which is

directly across from the bomb

site. He said terrorism coverage

was the farthest detail from his

mind when he was selecting an in-

surance policy seven years ago.

He is still unsure what will be cov-

ered, but he has a meeting with at-

torneys this week to go over his

policy.

“I hadn’t even heard of terror-

ism coverage back then,” Gibson

said. “So now it’s just a big mess.

I’m hoping to know more soon.”

More than a week later, FBI avoids terror label for bombingAssociated Press

MARK HUMPHREY/AP

Officers walk past damaged buildings Monday in Nashville, Tenn.

KENOSHA, Wis. — A Wiscon-

sin prosecutor declined Tuesday

to file charges against a white po-

lice officer who shot a Black man

in the back in Kenosha, conclud-

ing he couldn’t disprove the offi-

cer’s contention that he acted in

self-defense because he feared the

man would stab him.

The decision, met with swift

criticism from civil rights advo-

cates and some public officials,

threatened to reignite protests

that rocked the city after the Aug.

23 shooting that left Jacob Blake

paralyzed. Gov. Tony Evers, a

Democrat, called the decision

“further evidence that our work is

not done” and called for people to

work together for equity. Lt. Gov.

Mandela Barnes, who is Black,

was more pointed on Twitter: “I

wish I could say that I’m shocked.

It’s another instance in a string of

misapplications of justice.”

Kenosha County District Attor-

ney Michael Graveley said inves-

tigators concluded Blake was car-

rying a knife when police respon-

ded to a report he was trying to

steal a car. Officer Rusten Shes-

key said he “feared Jacob Blake

was going to stab him with the

knife” as he tried to stop Blake

from fleeing the scene.

“I do not believe the state ...

would be able to prove that the

privilege of self-defense is not

available,” Graveley said.

Blake family members ex-

pressed anger about the charging

decision.

“This is going to impact this city

and this state and this nation for

many years to come,” Justin

Blake, an uncle, said. “Unless the

people rise up and do what they’re

supposed to do. This is a govern-

ment for the people by the people,

correct? We talk about this Consti-

tution everybody’s supposed to be

so committed to, and yet we stand

in the state that has the most con-

victions of African Americans in

the United States. So they’re

weighing heavy on one side of jus-

tice, but they’re allowing police of-

ficers to rain down terror on our

communities. It’s injust.”

Ben Crump, an attorney for

Blake’s family, said in a statement

the decision “further destroys

trust in our justice system” and

said he would proceed with a law-

suit. In a later tweet, he ques-

tioned whether Blake threatened

Sheskey with a knife, saying “no-

where does the video footage show

a knife extended and aimed to es-

tablish the requisite intent.”

A federal civil rights investiga-

tion into Blake’s shooting is still

underway. Matthew Krueger, the

U.S. attorney for Wisconsin’s

Eastern District, said the Depart-

ment of Justice will make its own

charging decision.The shooting of

Blake, captured on bystander vid-

eo, turned the nation’s spotlight on

Wisconsin during a summer

marked by protests over police

brutality and racism. More than

250 people were arrested during

protests in the days that followed,

including then-17-year-old Kyle

Rittenhouse, a self-styled medic

with an assault rifle who is

charged in the fatal shootings of

two men and the wounding of a

third. Rittenhouse pleaded not

guilty to all charges at a hearing

Tuesday.

No charges for Wis. officer who shot Black manAssociated Press

MORRY GASH/AP

Protesters confront National Guard members outside a museum late Tuesday in Kenosha, Wis.

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13

WORLD

SEOUL, South Korea — North

Korean leader Kim Jong Un ad-

mitted that his economic develop-

ment plans have failed as he

opened the nation’s first full ruling

party congress in five years, state

media reported Wednesday.

In an opening speech at the con-

gress that began Tuesday, Kim

said that “almost all sectors fell a

long way short of the set objec-

tives” under a previous five-year

development plan established at

the 2016 congress, according to

the North’s official Korean Cen-

tral News Agency.

“We should further promote

and expand the victories and suc-

cesses we have gained at the cost

of sweat and blood, and prevent

the painful lessons from being re-

peated,” he was quoted as saying.

The Workers’ Party Congress,

one of the North’s biggest propa-

ganda spectacles, is meant to help

Kim show a worried nation that

he’s firmly in control and to boost

unity behind his leadership in the

face of COVID-19 and other grow-

ing economic challenges.

But some observers are skepti-

cal that the stage-managed con-

gress will find any fundamental

solutions to North Korea’s diffi-

culties, many of which stem from

decades of economic mismanage-

ment and Kim’s headlong pursuit

of expensive nuclear weapons

meant to target the U.S. mainland.

Kim, 36, is holding the congress,

which is expected to last a few

days, amid what may be the tough-

est challenge of his nine-year rule

and what he has called “multiple

crises.”

Authoritarian North Korea is

one of the poorest countries in

Asia, and the already besieged

economy is being hammered by

pandemic-related border closings

with China, the North’s major eco-

nomic lifeline, the fallout from a

series of natural disasters last

summer and persistent U.S.-led

sanctions over the nuclear pro-

gram.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden,

who takes office later in January,

will likely maintain the sanctions.

Kim admits failures as N. Korean congress opensAssociated Press

HONG KONG — Hong Kong

police arrested 53 former law-

makers and democracy propo-

nents Wednesday for allegedly vi-

olating the new national security

law by participating in unofficial

election primaries for the territo-

ry's legislature last year.

The mass arrests, including of

former lawmakers, were the

largest move against Hong

Kong’s democracy movement

since the law was imposed by

Beijing last June to quell dissent

in the semi-autonomous territory.

“The operation today targets

the active elements who are sus-

pected to be involved in the crime

of overthrowing, or interfering

(and) seriously destroy the Hong

Kong government’s legal execu-

tion of duties,” John Lee, Hong

Kong’s security minister, said at a

news conference.

He said those arrested were

suspected of trying to paralyze

the government, via their plans to

gain a majority of the seats in the

legislature to create a situation in

which the chief executive had to

resign and the government would

stop functioning.

In a video released by former

lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting on his

Facebook page, police turned up

at his house and told him he was

“suspected of violating the na-

tional security law, subverting

state power.” Police told those re-

cording the video to stop or risk

arrest.

Hong Kong police arrest 53 activistsAssociated Press

AP

American human rights lawyer John Clancey, center, is arrested bypolice in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, Europe commander

Lt. Col. Richard McClintic, Pacific commander

Caroline E. Miller, Europe Business Operations

EDITORIAL

Terry Leonard, Editorleonard.terry@stripes.com

Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing Editorreid.robert@stripes.com

Tina Croley, Managing Editor for Contentcroley.tina@stripes.com

Sean Moores, Managing Editor for Presentationmoores.sean@stripes.com

Joe Gromelski, Managing Editor for Digitalgromelski.joe@stripes.com

BUREAU STAFF

Europe/MideastErik Slavin, Europe & Mideast Bureau Chiefslavin.erik@stripes.com +49(0)631.3615.9350; DSN (314)583.9350

PacificAaron Kidd, Pacific Bureau Chiefkidd.aaron@stripes.com+81.42.552.2511 ext. 88380; DSN (315)227.7380

WashingtonJoseph Cacchioli, Washington Bureau Chiefcacchioli.joseph@stripes.com (+1)(202)886-0033Brian Bowers, Assistant Managing Editor, Newsbowers.brian@stripes.com

CIRCULATION

MideastRobert Reismann, Mideast Circulation Managerrobert.w.reismann.naf@mail.milxsscirculation@stripes.comDSN (314)583-9111

EuropeKaren Lewis, Community Engagement Managerlewis.karen@stripes.commemberservices@stripes.com+49(0)631.3615.9090; DSN (314)583.9090

PacificMari Mori, customerhelp@stripes.com +81-3 6385.3171; DSN (315)227.7333

CONTACT US

Washingtontel: (+1)202.886.0003633 3rd St. NW, Suite 116, Washington, DC 20001-3050

Reader lettersletters@stripes.com

Additional contactsstripes.com/contactus

OMBUDSMAN

Ernie GatesThe Stars and Stripes ombudsman protects the free flowof news and information, reporting any attempts by the

military or other authorities to undermine the newspaper’sindependence. The ombudsman also responds to concerns

and questions from readers, and monitors coverage forfairness, accuracy, timeliness and balance. The ombudsmanwelcomes comments from readers, and can be contacted by

email at ombudsman@stripes.com, or by phone at202.886.0003.

Stars and Stripes (USPS 0417900) is published week-days (except Dec. 25 and Jan. 1) for 50 cents Mondaythrough Thursday and for $1 on Friday by Pacific Stars andStripes, Unit 45002, APO AP 96301-5002. Periodicalspostage paid at San Francisco, CA, Postmaster: Sendaddress changes to Pacific Stars and Stripes, Unit 45002,APO AP 96301-5002. This newspaper is authorized by theDepartment of Defense for members of the military servicesoverseas. However, the contents of Stars and Stripes areunofficial, and are not to be considered as the official viewsof, or endorsed by, the U.S. government. As a DOD newspa-per, Stars and Stripes may be distributed through officialchannels and use appropriated funds for distribution toremote locations where overseas DOD personnel are located.

The appearance of advertising in this publication doesnot constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense orStars and Stripes of the products or services advertised.Products or services advertised shall be made available forpurchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color,religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physicalhandicap, political affiliation or any other nonmerit factor ofthe purchaser, user or patron.

© Stars and Stripes 2021

stripes.com

OPINION

Whenever a hurricane nears our

shores, the government im-

plements a system to track the

disaster, including assigning a

score on a scale of one to five to assess its se-

verity and to guide disaster preparedness ef-

forts. A storm reaching a magnitude of 3 or

higher has the potential for devastating

damage and loss of life.

No such scale exists to warn us of the psy-

chological dangers of our current crisis.

While the invisible COVID-19 virus devas-

tates our nation, we are simultaneously

bombarded by gale-force winds of financial

hardship, racial and political tensions, and a

polarizing election, where the loser refuses

to concede.

As a psychotherapist, I have witnessed

firsthand the anxiety, fear and depression

that have resulted from the confluence of

these once-in-a-century emotional storms.

ACategory 4 mental health storm of incalcu-

lable proportions has reached landfall

across our entire nation, and a Level 5 disas-

ter may make landfall this winter.

None of us are immune. Nor are we ade-

quately prepared for this unprecedented

emergency.

Alcohol and drug use are rising at an

alarming rate (a Rand Corp. study found that

heavy drinking by women is up 41% com-

pared to 2019). Many people report feeling

helpless, unable to sleep, plan or imagine a

future. By midsummer 2020, a majority of

U.S. adults reported that the worry and

stress of the pandemic had negatively affect-

ed their mental health. We have sadly

watched our virtual “consulting rooms” re-

ach capacity. The demand for psychiatric

hospital beds has outpaced their availabili-

ty, with people in need stranded for days in

emergency rooms, while potentially being

exposed to COVID-19.

Until the new vaccines reach more people,

our primary protections from COVID-19 re-

main social distancing and masks to shield

ourselves. Paradoxically, these safety pre-

cautions exacerbate psychological trauma,

most importantly the loneliness and isola-

tion that ensue. More than 35 million Amer-

icans live alone, and we know that loneliness

weakens the immune system. A data analy-

sis from 2018 covering more than 580,000

adults found that social isolation increases

the risk of premature death across gender

and race.

But statistics tell us nothing about the indi-

viduals my colleagues and I are seeing each

day — mothers overwhelmed by trying to

work as they oversee their children’s online

learning, marriages on the brink of divorce.

Last month a colleague told me of a patient

whose husband, depressed after losing his

job, stepped in front of a train.

Adolescents are at particularly high risk.

At a time when teens are developmentally

wired to fall out of love with their parents and

fall into love with their peers, they find them-

selves trapped at home. In teletherapy ses-

sions with teens, I hear the psychological im-

pact of living a virtual life, doing school on-

line without the social and developmental

benefits of contact with peers. Young people

may be less at risk for the serious physical

health consequences of the virus, but their

mental health immune systems, not as ro-

bust as adults’, leave them at greater psycho-

logical risk, including death by suicide.

While we can physically distance from

one another and don masks, we can’t cover

our emotional windows in plastic glass to

guard against the loneliness, anxiety and de-

pression that engulf us. We cannot prepare

as we do when a hurricane is approaching:

Know our risk, know our plan. And nothing

raises anxiety in a crisis like the unpredict-

able and the inability to protect oneself.

Medical experts on President-elect Joe

Biden’s COVID-19 Task Force can ramp up

testing, track the available ICU beds and

push mask mandates. Epidemiologists will

trace new cases and the number of deaths.

The military will assist in handling the com-

plicated job of distributing the vaccine. Con-

gress has reached an agreement on a stimu-

lus package to help those in need. What is

missing, though, is the ramping up of mental

health care to manage this psychological cri-

sis — the social workers, psychologists and

psychiatrists whose expertise is needed to

manage the “cleanup” of this psychological

trauma, which will remain long after the vi-

rus is gone.

Biden’s commitment and reliance on

medical expertise, in contrast to his prede-

cessor, offers us hope, as does the distribu-

tion of vaccines. But no vaccine can inocu-

late us from the grief, pain and anxiety

wreaked by the pandemic. Mental health

symptoms, after all, do not respond to vac-

cines. Behavioral health professionals are

urgently needed on the COVID-19 Task

Force to tackle the psychological devasta-

tion and debris that will be left behind from

this Category 5 mental health storm.

A ‘Category 5’ mental health crisis is comingBY KERRY MALAWISTA

Special to The Baltimore Sun

Kerry Malawista is a writer and psychotherapist practicing inthe Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

Chances are you didn’t get every-

thing you wanted in 2020. If you’re

a Donald Trump supporter, your

man didn’t win. If you’re a pro-

gressive, you didn’t see the blue wave you

were promised. Moderates got more polari-

zation; libertarian candidates barely got any-

thing. But as divided as we are, it remains

true that federal, state and local policymak-

ers can find common ground—willingness

being key — and give voters more of what

they want.

The trick is to find an agenda that appeals

to all of these sensibilities. Believe it or not,

one exists. Let’s call it the “equal liberty

agenda” — policies aimed at giving everyone

a more equal shot at America’s blessings. It

addresses the progressive itch to root out in-

equality, the conservative ambition to rekin-

dle the ideas of 1776 that made America great

and most everyone’s desire for more free-

dom and dignity.

First, fight corporate welfare. Each year,

states and localities spend about $95 billion

on corporate subsidies. Though some politic-

ians may tell you otherwise, this money

doesn’t benefit the communities that provide

it. Instead, it privileges the wealthy and well

connected at the expense of democratic and

free market ideals.

Government should promote the general

welfare of all, not that of special interests. If

states and localities mutually agreed to stop

subsidizing private businesses, they’d be

able to cut everyone’s taxes or increase fund-

ing for public services that benefit us all.

Second, eliminate regulations that con-

tribute to economic inequality. Not so long

ago, proud progressives like Ralph Nader,

Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy were enthu-

siastic deregulators. They understood that

bad regulations protect firms from competi-

tion rather than consumers from harm. They

saw regulations weaponized, for example, to

keep entrepreneurs from getting businesses

off the ground, to raise the costs of rival firms

and even to facilitate price cartels.

Thanks to their resources and political or-

ganization, established firms have outsized

influence over regulators and often gain the

upper hand over consumers or public inter-

est advocates.

Go to any state capital in which occupa-

tional licensure is being debated. Nine times

out of 10, those who push for the regulation

are industry leaders — usually protecting

their own positions — not consumer advo-

cates. Licensure is ripe for reform. The re-

search is clear that it raises prices, locks vul-

nerable people out of jobs and does little-to-

nothing to increase service quality or safety.

Third, make the criminal justice reform

debate about policy. We know the names:

Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Freddie

Gray, Eric Garner, Michael Brown. Their

lives — like all lives — mattered. Moreover,

their stories seem to fit a pattern. As The

Washington Post’s Radley Balko put it in his

review of the evidence: “[W]e have systems

and institutions that produce racially dis-

parate outcomes, regardless of the intentions

of the people who work within them.”

Can we acknowledge that the system is not

working well while granting that the vast ma-

jority of officers are honest and decent? Then

we can move beyond the divisive and unhelp-

ful debate over whether cops are good or bad

people and focus on a constructive question:

What needs to change?

Would it help to reduce the mountain of

nonviolent crimes for which a person can be

arrested? Don’t forget that the altercation

with Eric Garner began over selling loose

cigarettes. Would it help to demilitarize po-

lice forces? Or free officers from enforcing

minor traffic violations or doing the jobs of

social workers? Should we eliminate quali-

fied immunity? Require body cameras?

Move to more localized policing? Strike pro-

visions in union contracts that protect truly

bad cops? End civil asset forfeiture? Stop is-

suing “get out of jail free cards?” Asking

these questions shouldn’t be controversial.

Conservatives in particular, with their well-

placed worry about government overreach,

should be asking them.

Most Americans can trace their intellec-

tual heritage to the great liberal tradition that

grew from the Enlightenment. It empha-

sized the inherent worth of every individual,

ahealthy skepticism of power and a belief in

checks and balances. We don’t agree on ev-

erything. That’s OK. But if we care about a

better world, we can work together to im-

prove it. An equal liberty agenda can do that.

The equal liberty agenda finds common groundBY MATTHEW MITCHELL

Tribune News Service

Matthew Mitchell is a senior research fellow and director of theEqual Liberty Initiative with the Mercatus Center at GeorgeMason University.

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15

PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

ACROSS

1 London mist

4 Porgy’s love

8 401(k) relatives

12 Hot temper

13 Hybrid fruit

14 Alaskan seaport

15 Charitable

17 “Yeah, right”

18 Before

19 Stocking

supporters

21 “Yay!”

24 Floral necklace

25 Lawyers’ org.

26 Ornate vase

28 Walks nervously

32 Maintained

34 Muppet eagle

36 Easy gait

37 Incendiary crime

39 Ruin the veneer

41 Actor Cariou

42 Poorly lit

44 Prepared

potatoes

46 Bracelets

50 Sheepish remark

51 Sheltered

52 Pollen or

dust, e.g.

56 Hideaway

57 Implement

58 Actress Mendes

59 Hostels

60 Evergreens

61 Badminton

barrier

DOWN

1 Pear-shaped fruit

2 Raw rock

3 Pentagon figures

4 Department

5 Id counterpart

6 Punch

7 Twine fiber

8 First

9 Judicial garb

10 From the U.S.

11 Collections

16 Goof up

20 Workout unit

21 “Funny!”

22 Modern taxi

alternative

23 Storefront

sign abbr.

27 ’60s war

zone

29 Lip plumper

30 Fencing sword

31 Fax

33 2020 World

Series winners

35 Sailor’s chart

38 Zilch

40 Defies authority

43 Substantive

45 Corn spike

46 Island near Java

47 Actor Rickman

48 German refusal

49 — gin fizz

53 Despondent

54 Night before

55 — King Cole

Answer to Previous Puzzle

Eugene Sheffer CrosswordFra

zz

Dilbert

Pearls B

efo

re S

win

eN

on S

equitur

Candorv

ille

Beetle B

ailey

Biz

arr

oCarp

e D

iem

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17

PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

FACES

The 2021 Grammy Awards will

no longer take place this month in

Los Angeles and will broadcast in

March due to a recent surge in

coronavirus cases and deaths.

The show will shift from Jan. 31

to March 14, according to a state-

ment released Tuesday from the

Recording Academy and CBS,

which broadcasts the ceremony.

The statement said the decision

was reached “after thoughtful

conversations with health experts,

our host and artists scheduled to

appear.”

“The deteriorating COVID sit-

uation in Los Angeles, with hospi-

tal services being overwhelmed,

ICUs having reached capacity,

and new guidance from state and

local governments have all led us

to conclude that postponing our

show was the right thing to do.

Nothing is more important than

the health and safety of those in

our music community and the

hundreds of people who work tire-

lessly on producing the show,”

read the statement from Record-

ing Academy interim CEO Har-

vey Mason Jr., CBS executive

Jack Sussman and Grammys ex-

ecutive producer Ben Winston.

“We want to thank all of the tal-

ented artists, the staff, our ven-

dors and especially this year’s

nominees for their understanding,

patience and willingness to work

with us as we navigate these un-

precedented times.”

Los Angeles County, the epicen-

ter of the crisis in California, has

surpassed 11,000 COVID-19

deaths and has had 40% of the

deaths in California.

“The Daily Show” host and co-

median Trevor Noah is set to host

the Grammys, where Beyonce is

leading contender with nine nomi-

nations.

Grammysare movedto March

BY MESFIN FEKADU

Associated Press

Neil Young has become the latest

musician to strike gold with his

song catalog, selling a 50 percent

stake in his music to a British in-

vestment company in a deal an-

nounced Wednesday.

The Hipgnosis Songs Fund said

it had acquired half of the copyright

and income interests in some 1,180

songs written by the 75-year-old

rock star, composer of “Heart of

Gold,” “Rockin’ in the Free World”

and “Cinnamon Girl.”

Terms were not disclosed.

The deal comes a month after

Bob Dylan sold publishing rights to

more than 600 songs to the Univer-

sal Music Publishing Group for a

reported fortune of between $300

million and a half billion dollars.

Stevie Nicks sold an 80 percent

stake in her music to Primary

Wave for a reported $100 million.

Merck Mercuriadis, founder of

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited,

said that he bought his first Neil

Young album when he was seven

years old.

“‘Harvest’ was my companion

and I know every note, every word,

every pause and silence intimate-

ly,” he said. “Neil Young, or at least

his music, has been my friend ... ev-

er since.”

The businessman also said

Young’s late manager, Elliot Ro-

berts, was equally an idol to him.

In an industry where music sales

have dwindled and the concert in-

dustry is on hold due to the corona-

virus pandemic, song publishing is

seen as an increasingly valuable

asset. The companies generally

push for use of an artist’s songs in

movies, video games and advertis-

ing.

The latter use has been a sticking

point for Young, whose 1988 song

“This Note’s For You” sharply crit-

icized artists who leased their mu-

sic for advertising campaigns. The

accompanying video parodied ads

that featured Michael Jackson and

Eric Clapton.

In the song, Young sang: “Ain’t

singin’ for Pepsi, ain’t singin’ for

Coke. I don’t sing for nobody.

Makes me look like a joke.”

In the years since, it has become

much more common for musicians

to earn income through advertising

campaigns. But at least through

2016, Young continued to resist

having his music used this way, ac-

cording to Rolling Stone magazine.

It was unclear whether the Hip-

gnosis deal augers a change in that

policy.

In Wednesday’s announcement,

Mercuriadis said that his company

and Young “have a common integ-

rity, ethos and passion born out of a

belief in music and these important

songs. There will never be a ‘Burg-

er of Gold’ but we will work togeth-

er to make sure everyone gets to

hear them on Neil’s terms.”

Young has released some 70 al-

bums as a solo artist and with bands

like Buffalo Springfield, Crazy

Horse and Crosby, Stills, Nash &

Young.

AMY HARRIS, INVISION/AP

Neil Young performs in Napa, Calif., on May 25, 2019. The Hipgnosis Songs Fund, a British investment company, announced that it hadacquired a 50 percent stake in Young’s catalog of some 1,180 songs that include “Heart of Gold” and “Rockin’ in the Free World.” 

After the gold rush

Following Dylan, Neil Young becomes latest artist to sell stake in his songsBY DAVID BAUDER

Associated Press

Eric Jerome Dickey, the bestselling nov-

elist who blended crime, romance and erot-

icism in “Sister, Sister,” “Waking With

Enemies” and dozens of other stories about

contemporary Black life, has died.

Dickey’s publicist at Penguin Random

House, Emily Canders, told The Associated

Press that the author died at age 59 of can-

cer Sunday in Los Angeles.

Dickey was an aspiring actor and stand-

up comic who began writing fiction in his

30s and shaped a witty, conversational and

sometimes graphic prose style. It brought

him a wide readership through such novels

as “Sister, Sister” and “Naughty or Nice”

and through his “Gideon” crime fiction se-

ries, which included “Sleeping With

Strangers” and “Resurrecting Midnight.”

Dickey also worked on

the screenplay for the

1998 film “Cappuccino,”

wrote a comic book minis-

eries for Marvel, and con-

tributed to such antholo-

gies as “Mothers and

Sons” and “Black Silk: A

Collection of African

American Erotica.”

He wrote 29 novels, according to his pub-

lisher. His final book, “The Son of Mr. Sule-

man,” comes out in April.

“I am truly saddened to hear about the

passing of Eric Jerome Dickey,” author

Roxane Gay tweeted Tuesday. “His were

some of the first novels I ever read about

black people that weren’t about slavery or

civil rights. He was a great storyteller.”

Tanya Roberts, Bond girl and‘ ’70s Show’ star, dead at 65

Tanya Roberts, who captivated James

Bond in “A View to a Kill” and appeared in

the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” died Monday,

several hours after she was mistakenly de-

clared dead by her publicist and her part-

ner. She was 65.

Roberts’ death was related to a urinary

tract infection, publicist Mike Pingel said.

Roberts collapsed at home on Dec. 24 af-

ter walking her dogs and was admitted to

Cedars-Sinai. She had been reported dead

on Sunday, but Pingel said that was based

on a mistake by her longtime companion

Lance O’Brien, who believed Roberts had

slipped away during what was expected to

be a final visit at the hospital.

Roberts played geologist Stacey Sutton

opposite Roger Moore in 1985’s “A View to

a Kill.” She replaced Shelley Hack in

“Charlie’s Angels,” joining Jaclyn Smith

and Cheryl Ladd as third Angel Julie. A

new generation of fans saw her on “That

’70s Show” from 1998 and 2004, playing

Midge, mother to Laura Prepon’s charac-

ter Donna.

Other newsDr. Dre says he will be “back home

soon” after the music mogul received med-

ical treatment at a Los Angeles hospital for

a reported brain aneurysm. The rapper

and producer said in a social media post

Tuesday night that he’s “doing great” and

thankful for the well wishes, and that he

was getting excellent medical care.

Eric Jerome Dickey, bestselling novelist, dies of cancer at 59Associated Press

Dickey

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19

PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

SCOREBOARD/COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Men’s Top 25 FaredTuesday

No. 1 Gonzaga (10­0) did not play. Next:vs. BYU, Thursday.

No. 2 Baylor (9­0) did not play. Next: vs.Oklahoma, Wednesday.

No. 3 Villanova (8­1) did not play. Next: atUConn, Friday, Jan. 15.

No.  4  Texas  (9­1)  beat  Iowa  St.  78­72.Next: at No. 14 West Virginia.

No. 5 Iowa (9­2) did not play. Next: at Ma­ryland, Thursday.

No. 6 Kansas (9­2) beat TCU 93­64. Next:vs. Oklahoma, Saturday.

No. 7 Creighton (8­2) did not play. Next:vs. Seton Hall, Wednesday.

No. 8 Wisconsin (9­2) did not play. Next:vs. Indiana, Thursday.

No. 9 Tennessee (7­1) did not play. Next:vs. Arkansas, Wednesday.

No. 10 Michigan (9­0) did not play. Next:vs. No. 16 Minnesota, Wednesday.

No. 11 Houston (8­1) did not play. Next:vs. Wichita St., Wednesday.

No. 12 Illinois (8­3) did not play. Next: atNorthwestern, Thursday.

No. 13 Missouri (7­2) lost to MississippiSt. 78­63. Next: vs. LSU, Saturday.

No. 14 West Virginia (9­3) did not play.Next: vs. No. 4 Texas, Saturday.

No. 15 Rutgers (7­3) lost to No. 23 Michi­gan St. 68­45. Next: Ohio St., Saturday.

No.  16  Minnesota  (10­2)  did  not  play.Next: at No. 10 Michigan, Wednesday.

No. 17 Oregon (8­1) did not play. Next: atColorado, Thursday.

No. 18 Texas Tech (9­3) beat Kansas St.82­71. Next: at Iowa St., Saturday.

No. 19 Clemson (9­1) beat N.C. State. 74­70, OT. Next: at North Carolina, Saturday.

No. 19 Virginia Tech (8­1) did not play.Next: at Louisville, Wednesday.

No. 21 Duke (3­2) did not play. Next: vs.Boston College, Wednesday.

No. 22 Virginia (5­2) did not play. Next:vs. Wake Forest, Wednesday.

No.  23  Saint  Louis  (7­1)  did  not  play.Next: at La Salle, Wednesday.

No. 23 Michigan St.(8­3) beat No. 15 Rutg­ers 68­45. Next: Purdue, Friday.

No. 25 Florida St. (5­2) did not play. Next:at Pittsburgh, Saturday.

Tuesday’s men’s scores

EAST

Coppin St. 81, Delaware St. 77 Davidson 61, Duquesne 48 Fordham 55, Dayton 54 Holy Cross 68, Boston U. 66 

SOUTH

Alabama 86, Florida 71 Clemson 74, NC State 70, OT Gardner­Webb 85, Campbell 70 James Madison 79, FAU 70 Kentucky 77, Vanderbilt 74 Mississippi St. 78, Missouri 63 North Carolina 67, Miami 65 Radford 76, Hampton 65 SC­Upstate 65, Longwood 59 Winthrop 78, Charleston Southern 76 

MIDWEST

Bowling Green 90, Cent. Michigan 69 Michigan St. 68, Rutgers 45 

Ohio 76, N. Illinois 73 Toledo 84, Kent St. 82 UConn 65, Marquette 54 

SOUTHWEST

Kansas 93, TCU 64 Texas 78, Iowa St. 72 Texas Tech 82, Kansas St. 71 

Women’s Top 25 FaredTuesday

No. 1 Stanford (9­0) did not play. Next: vs.No. 11 Oregon, Friday.

No. 2 Louisville (8­0) beat UT Martin 96­61. Next: vs. Clemson, Sunday.

No. 3 NC State (10­0) did not play. Next:at Virginia Tech, Thursday.

No. 3 UConn (6­0) did not play. Next: atNo. 6 Baylor, Thursday.

No. 5 South Carolina (7­1) did not play.Next: at Georgia, Thursday.

No. 6 Baylor (8­1) did not play. Next: vs.No. 3 UConn, Thursday.

No. 7 Arizona (8­1) did not play. Next: atWashington, Friday.

No. 8 Texas A&M (10­0) did not play. Nextvs. No. 10 Kentucky, Thursday.

No. 9 UCLA (6­2) did not play. Next: Col­orado, Friday.

No. 10 Kentucky (9­1) did not play. Next:at No. 9 Texas A&M, Thursday.

No. 11 Oregon (8­1) did not play. Next: atNo. 1 Stanford, Friday.

No. 12 Maryland (7­1) did not play. Next:at No. 23 Michigan St., Thursday.

No. 13 Arkansas (10­2) did not play. Nextat Tennessee, Thursday.

No. 14 Mississippi St. (6­2) did not play.Next: at Florida, Thursday.

No. 15 Michigan (6­0) did not play. Next:vs. Nebraska, Thursday.

No. 16 Ohio St. (5­0) did not play. Next: vs.Illinois, Thursday.

No. 17 Texas (8­1) did not play. Next: atWest Virginia, Saturday.

No. 18 South Florida (7­1) did not play.Next: vs. Wichita St., Wednesday.

No. 19 Indiana (5­3) did not play. Next: atPenn St.,Thursday.

No. 20 DePaul (6­3) did not play. Next: atButler, Thursday.

No. 21 Gonzaga (9­2) did not play. Next:vs. Portland, Saturday.

No. 22 Northwestern (4­2) did not play.Next: at Wisconsin, Wednesday.

No.  23  Michigan  St.  (8­0)  did  not  play.Next: No. 14 Maryland, Thursday.

No. 24 Syracuse (5­1) did not play. Next:vs. Virginia, Thursday.

No.  25  Missouri  St.  (4­2)  did  not  play.Next: vs. Loyola, Friday.

Tuesday’s women’s scores

EAST

Boston U. 72, Holy Cross 56 Delaware 68, Northeastern 61 Rhode Island 48, UMass 47 

SOUTH

Charleston Southern 66, Presbyterian 63 Delaware St. 60, Coppin St. 45 Furman 73, Erskine 44 High Point 73, Campbell 67 Longwood 54, SC­Upstate 52 Louisville 96, UT Martin 61 

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

DEALS

Tuesday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Named  TonyMansolino  third  base  coach,  DarrenHolmes  assistant  pitching  coach  andChris  Holt  pitching  coach/director  ofpitching.

DETROIT TIGERS — Agreed to terms withOF Robbie Grossman on a two­year con­tract. Designated LF Troy Stokes Jr. for as­signment.

TEXAS RANGERS — Named chief operat­ing  officer  Neil  Leibman  to  also  assumethe  role  of  president  of  business  oper­ations.  Acquired  OF  Carl  Chester  fromTampa  Bay  to  complete  a  Dec.  8  trade.Signed  RHP  Drew  Anderson  to  a  minorleague contract.

National LeagueLOS ANGELES DODGERS — Agreed  to

terms with RHP Blake Treinen on a two­year contract.

NEW YORK METS — Announced  BrianSchneider moves from quality control tomajor league field coordinating/catchingcoach.

BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association

ATLANTA HAWKS — Named vice presi­dent of public relations Amy Phuong chiefoperating  officer  for  Saving  Our  AtlantaRegion’s Residents.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Signed  TE  IanBunting, DL Michael Dogbe, WRs KrishawnHogan,  A.J.  Richardson,  JoJo  Ward  andIsaac  Whitney,  K  Brett  Maher,  OL  KodaMartin, S Chris Miller, RB Khalfani Muham­mad, LBs Terrance Smith, Reggie Walkerand Evan Weaver and CBs Jace Whittakerand Picasso Nelson to reserve/future con­tracts  for  the 2021 season. Activated DBChris  Banjo  from  the  reserve/COVID­19list.

BALTIMORE RAVENS — Activated  TESean  Culkin  from  the  practice  squad  in­jured  reserve.  Released  LB  James  Craw­ford.

CAROLINA PANTHERS — Signed K JoeySlye to a one­year extension.

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Placed G Joel Bi­tonio and WR KhaDarel Hodge on the re­serve/COVID­19 list. Placed C Nick Harrisand DE Olivier Vernon on injured reserve.

DENVER BRONCOS — Signed  C  PatrickMorris  to  a  reserve/future  contracts  forthe 2021 season.

DETROIT LIONS — Signed WRs Tom Ken­nedy, Victor Bolden, G Evan Brown, S JalenElliott and LB Anthony Pittman to reserve/future contracts for the 2021 season.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Signed  S  NickNelson and TE Jordan Thomas to reserve/future contracts for the 2021 season.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS — Waived  PDustin Colquitt. Activated OL Ben Bartchfrom the reserve/COVID­19 list.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS — Signed TE NickBowers,  K  Dominik  Eberle,  DB  RashaanGaulden, DE Gerri Green, OLs Jaryd Jones­Smith and Erik Magnuson, LBs James On­waualu and Javin White, DT Niles Scott, OTKamaal Seymour and CB Kemah Siverandto  reserve/future  contracts  for  the  2021season.

LOS ANGELES RAMS — Waived K Kai For­bath from injured reserve.

MIAMI DOLPHINS — Signed DEs Nick Coeand Tyshun Render, S Brian Cole, CBs Java­ris Davis and Tino Ellis, C Tyler Gauthier, TJonathan Hubbard, LB Kylan Johnson, TEChris Myarick, G Durval Queiroz Neto, QBReid Sinnett and LS Rex Sunahara to re­serve/future  contracts  for  the  2021  sea­son.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Signed TE Bran­don Dillon to a reserve/future contract forthe 2021 season.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Signed WR DerrickDillon and RB Jordan Chunn to reserve/fu­ture contracts for the 2021 season. Signeddefensive coach Patrick Graham to a con­tract extension as assistant head coach/defensive coordinator.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS — Activated  OTBrandon Shell from the reserve/COVID­19list.  Released  G  Wyatt  Miller  from  thepractice squad.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — Signed RBC.J.  Prosise  to  the  practice  squad.  Re­leased  CB  Mazzi  Wilkins  from  practicesquad.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS — Waived  CZack Smith.

COLORADO AVALANCHE — AnnouncedLW Colin Wilson retired.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS — Waived RWDenis Malgin.

SOCCERMajor League Soccer

LOS ANGELES GALAXY — Named  GregVanney head coach.

MINNESOTA UNITED — Signed  MF  WilTrapp.

ORANGE COUNTY — Signed  F  RonaldoDamus.

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL playoffs

Wild-card PlayoffsSaturday’s games

Indianapolis at Buffalo Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Tampa Bay at Washington 

Sunday, Jan. 10Baltimore at Tennessee Chicago at New Orleans Cleveland at Pittsburgh 

Salary arbitration eligiblesNEW YORK �— The 130 players eligible for

salary arbitration. Players and teams ex­change proposed salaries on Jan. 15:

AMERICAN LEAGUEBALTIMORE (2) — Trey Mancini, of; An­

thony Santander, of.BOSTON (1) — Rafael Devers, 3b.CHICAGO (3) — Lucas Giolito, rhp; Rey­

naldo López, rhp.CLEVELAND (3) — Austin  Hedges,  c;

Francisco Lindor, ss; Phil Maton, rhp.DETROIT (9) — Matt  Boyd,  lhp;  Jeimer

Candelario,  3b;  José  Cisnero,  rhp;  BuckFarmer,  rhp;  Michael  Fulmer,  rhp;  NikoGoodrum,  ss;  Joe  Jiménez,  rhp;  JaCobyJones, of; Daniel Norris, lhp.

HOUSTON (3) — Carlos Correa, ss; Aled­mys Díaz, inf; Lance McCullers Jr., rhp.

KANSAS CITY (2) — Brad  Keller,  rhp;Adalberto Mondesi, ss.

LOS ANGELES (6) — Dylan  Bundy,  rhp;Andrew  Heaney,  lhp;  Mike  Mayers,  rhp;Shohei  Ohtani,  dh­rhp;  Felix  Peña,  rhp;Max Stassi, c.

MINNESOTA (0)NEW YORK (8) — Clint Frazier, of; Chad

Green, rhp; Aaron Judge, of; Jordan Mont­gomery,  lhp;  Gary  Sánchez,  c;  GleyberTorres, ss; Gio Urshela, 3b; Luke Voit, 1b.

OAKLAND (6) — Chris Bassitt, rhp; MarkCanha,  of;  Matt  Chapman,  3b;  Sean  Ma­naea, lhp; Frankie Montas, rhp; Lou Triv­ino, rhp.

SEATTLE (3) — J.P. Crawford, ss; RafaelMontero, rhp; Tom Murphy, c.

TAMPA BAY (6) — Yonny Chirinos, rhp;Ji­Man Choi, 1b; Tyler Glasnow, rhp; Manu­el Margot, of; Joey Wendle, inf; Ryan Yar­brough, lhp.

TEXAS (2) — Joey Gallo, of; Isiah Kiner­Falefa, 3b­ss.

TORONTO (2) — Teoscar Hernandez, of;Ross Stripling, rhp.

NATIONAL LEAGUEARIZONA (3) — Carson  Kelly,  c;  Caleb

Smith, lhp; Luke Weaver, rhp.

ATLANTA (4) — Max Fried, lhp; A.J. Min­ter, lhp; Mike Soroka, rhp; Dansby Swan­son, ss.

CHICAGO (5) — Javier  Báez,  ss;  KrisBryant, 3b; Willson Contreras, c; Zach Da­vies, rhp; Ian Happ, of.

CINCINNATI (6) — Luis Castillo, rhp; AmirGarrett, lhp; Michael Lorenzen, rhp­of; Tyl­er  Mahle,  rhp;  Noé  Ramirez,  rhp;  JesseWinker, of.

COLORADO (8) — Carlos  Estévez,  rhp;Kyle Freeland, lhp; Mychal Givens, rhp; JonGray,  rhp;  Ryan  McMahon,  2b;  AntonioSenzatela,  rhp;  Robert  Stephenson,  rhp;Raimel Tapia, of.

LOS ANGELES (7) — Austin Barnes, c; Co­dy  Bellinger,  of­1b;  Walker  Buehler,  rhp;Dylan Floro, rhp; Corey Knebel, rhp; CoreySeager, ss; Julio Urías, lhp.

MIAMI (5) — Jorge Alfaro, c; Brian Ander­son, 3b; Richard Bleier, lhp; Adam Cimber,rhp; Yimi García, rhp.

MILWAUKEE (2) — Josh Hader, lhp; Bran­don Woodruff, rhp.

NEW YORK (9) — Miguel Castro, rhp; Mi­chael Conforto, of; J.D. Davis, 3b­of; EdwinDíaz, rhp; Robert Gsellman, rhp; Seth Lugo,rhp;  Brandon  Nimmo,  of;  Amed  Rosario,ss; Dominic Smith, 1b­of.

PHILADELPHIA (3) — José Alvarado, lhp;Rhys Hoskins, 1b; Vince Velasquez, rhp.

PITTSBURGH (9) — Steven  Brault,  lhp;Kyle  Crick,  rhp;  Adam  Frazier,  2b;  ChadKuhl, rhp; Colin Moran, 3b; Joe Musgrove,rhp; Richard Rodríguez, rhp; Jacob Stall­ings, c; Chris Stratton, rhp.

ST. LOUS (4) — Harrison Bader, of; JackFlaherty,  rhp;  Jordan  Hicks,  rhp;  AlexReyes, rhp.

SAN DIEGO (5) — Dan Altavilla, rhp; Vic­tor Caratini, c; Dinelson Lamet, rhp; EmilioPagán, rhp; Tommy Pham, of.

SAN FRANCISCO (2) — Reyes Moronta,rhp; Donovan Solano, 2b.

WASHINGTON (3) — Josh Bell, 1b; JuanSoto, of; Trea Turner, ss.

Winker,  Jesse  CIN  Woodruff,  BrandonMIL

PRO BASEBALL

1972 — The Los Angeles Lakers defeatthe  Atlanta  Hawks  134­90  for  their  33rdstraight victory, an NBA record. 

2013 — Alabama rolls to its second con­secutive  BCS  championship  and  third  injust four seasons.

Jan. 7

1961 — Detroit’s Dick Lane blocks SamBaker’s  extra­point  kick  to  save  a  17­16win  for  the  Lions  over  the  ClevelandBrowns in the NFL’s first Playoff Bowl. 

AP SPORTLIGHT

FORT WORTH, Texas — David

McCormack scored a season-high

20 points to lead five Kansas play-

ers in double figures as the No. 6

Jayhawks beat TCU 93-64 Tues-

day and matched the Big 12 record

by winning their 11th consecutive

conference road game.

Kansas (9-2, 3-1 Big 12)

matched the league mark it initial-

ly set 18 years ago. The win in Fort

Worth came only three days after

a 25-point loss at home to Texas.

Ochai Agbaji added 19 points,

while Jalen Wilson had 16, Tristan

Enaruna 12 and Christian Braun

10.

Chuck O’Bannon Jr. had a ca-

reer-high 18 points to lead the

Horned Frogs (9-3, 2-2).

No. 4 Texas 78, Iowa State 72:

Andrew Jones scored a career-

high 23 points and the host Long-

horns continued their torrid start

to the season.

Texas (9-1, 3-0 Big 12) led by as

much as 15 early in the second half

but the Cyclones (2-6, 0-4) kept

chipping away and made it tough

for the Longhorns to close out the

game.

Mississippi State 78, No. 13

Missouri 63: DJ Stewart scored

24 points and the host Bulldogs

overcame a 12-point halftime def-

icit to roll past the Mizzou.

Iverson Molinar added 20

points for the Bulldogs (7-4, 2-1

Southeastern Conference). Tolu

Smith had 15 points and nine re-

bounds.

No. 23 Michigan State 68, No.

15 Rutgers 45: Aaron Henry had

20 points, eight rebounds and four

blocks, helping the host Spartans

pull away.

Michigan State (8-3, 2-3 Big

Ten) had a 17-point scoring edge

in the second half to win a second

straight game.

No. 18 Texas Tech 82, Kansas

State 71: Terrence Shannon Jr.

beat the first-half buzzer with a

jumper on his way to 22 points,

Mac McClung added 16 and the

host Red Raiders beat the Wild-

cats.

No. 19 Clemson 74, North Car­

olina State 70 (OT): Aamir Simms

hit a go-ahead basket for a second

straight game as the host Tigers

rallied from nine points down in

the second half to beat the Wolf-

pack in overtime.

North Carolina State (6-2, 2-1

Atlantic Coast Conference) took

its last lead on DJ Funderburk’s

three-pointer with 3:12 to go in OT.

That’s when Simms got the ball

down low for a basket to put Clem-

son (9-1, 3-1) ahead for good.

Kentucky 77,  Vanderbilt  74:

Olivier Sarr scored 24 points, Da-

vion Mintz made the game-win-

ning three-pointer with 47 sec-

onds left and the host Wildcats

took their ninth-straight win

against the Commodores.

The Wildcats (3-6, 2-0 South-

eastern Conference), who had lost

six straight before beating Missis-

sippi State 79-73 in double-over-

time on Saturday, avoided the first

three-game losing streak in the 45-

year history of Rupp Arena.

North Carolina 67, Miami 65:

Leaky Black scored 16 points, and

Andrew Platek’s running jumper

with three seconds to go carried

the Tar Heels to a road win.

McCormack leadsKansas’ reboundvictory over TCU

Associated Press

RON JENKINS / AP

Kansas forward David McCormack, left, works to the basket againstTCU center Kevin Samuel. McCormack had a season­high 20 pointsto lead the Jayhawks to a 93­64 win in Fort Worth, Texas.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21

NBA/COLLEGE FOOTBALL

chigan’s Desmond Howard in

1991, Notre Dame’s Tim Brown in

1987 and Nebraska’s Johnny

Rodgers in 1972.

Quarterbacks had won 17 of the

previous 20 Heisman trophies, in-

cluding the past four.

Smith was presented the award

in a virtual ceremony orchestrat-

ed by ESPN. The usual trip to New

York for the finalists was called off

because of the pandemic.

Smith accepted the trophy in

Tuscaloosa, Ala., decked out in a

deep crimson jacket and shiny

black bow tie.

He got a big hug from his quar-

terback, who told Smith that he

loved and was proud of him. Then

Smith held back tears during his

speech.

“To all the young kids out there

that’s not the biggest, not the

strongest, just keep pushing. Be-

cause I’m not the biggest. I’ve

been doubted a lot because of my

size and, really, it’s just comes

down to you just put your mind to

it, no job’s too big,” said the 6-

foot-1, 175-pound Smith.

Meanwhile, his parents

watched from a community cen-

ter in his hometown of Amite, La.,

where a socially distanced watch

party was held.

“We love him. Everybody here

is supporting him, we’re so proud

of him. Continue being humble.

Let God lead him. And we are here

to support him every step of the

way,” Smith’s mother, Christina

Smith-Sylve, said to ESPN.

Smith is the third Alabama play-

er to win the Heisman, all since

2009. Like Tide running backs

Mark Ingram (’09) and Derrick

Henry (2015), Smith will play for

the national championship as a

Heisman winner.

Alabama faces No. 3 Ohio State

on Jan. 11 in the College Football

Playoff title game in Miami Gar-

dens, Fla.

Smith said he returned for his

senior season to earn his degree

and win a national title.

“I checked one of those boxes.

Just trying to check the other one

now,” Smith said during his Zoom

news conference.

The Heisman voting was com-

plete on Dec. 21, so playoff per-

formances were not a factor. But

Smith made those who supported

him feel good about it with a bril-

liant three-touchdown game

against Notre Dame in the CFP

semifinals last weekend.

Smith has 105 catches for 1,641

yards and 22 total touchdowns go-

ing into the final game of his col-

lege career — which will also be

his third national championship

game.

Smith carved out a place in Ala-

bama’s storied history as a fresh-

man, catching the winning touch-

down pass from Tua Tagovailoa

on second-and-26 in overtime

against Georgia to give the Tide

the 2017 national championship.

The story of the game was the

guy who threw the walk-off TD

pass. Tagovailoa became Alaba-

ma’s Heisman contender and

most beloved player for the next

two years.

Smith was the overlooked star

in the Tide’s talented 2017 class of

receivers that included All-Amer-

ican Jerry Jeudy and the blazingly

fast Henry Ruggs. Both of those

players decided to skip their se-

nior seasons and enter the draft

last year. Both were selected in

the first round.

“I kind of like being out of the

way and not in the mix,” Smith

said. “I’m not the most vocal per-

son. I don’t like talking that much.

It was enjoyable while it lasted.”

He returned to school to form an

explosive combination for the

Tide with junior Jaylen Waddle.

Then Waddle went down with a

season-ending leg injury on Oct.

24.

As the Tide’s undisputed No. 1

receiver, Smith shined. The week

after Waddle went out, Smith had

11 catches for 204 yards and four

touchdowns against Mississippi

State.

Smith’s soaring one-handed TD

grab against LSU was not just his

signature play, but one of the 2020

season’s best.

A former four-star recruit,

Smith came to Tuscaloosa from

LSU’s backyard.

The understated Smith quietly

led the Tide in receptions and

yards last year as a junior and be-

came a second-team All-Ameri-

can.

Smitty — as teammates and

coaches call him — didn’t emerge

as a Heisman contender this sea-

son until Waddle went down.

Starting with that Mississippi

State game, Smith went on a four-

game tear with 35 catches for 749

yards and 11 touchdowns that

earned him another nickname:

Slim Reaper.

Whatever you call Smith, he’s

been quite a catch for Alabama.

Grab: Smith becomesonly 4th wide receiverto win Heisman TrophyFROM PAGE 24

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

W L Pct GB

Philadelphia 6 1 .857 —

Boston 5 3 .625 1½

New York 4 3 .571 2

Brooklyn 4 4 .500 2½

Toronto 1 5 .167 4½

Southeast Division

W L Pct GB

Orlando 5 2 .714 —

Atlanta 4 3 .571 1

Miami 3 3 .500 1½

Charlotte 2 5 .286 3

Washington 2 5 .286 3

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Indiana 5 2 .714 —

Milwaukee 4 3 .571 1

Cleveland 4 3 .571 1

Chicago 4 4 .500 1½

Detroit 1 6 .143 4

Western Conference

Southwest Division

W L Pct GB

New Orleans 4 3 .571 —

Dallas 3 4 .429 1

San Antonio 3 4 .429 1

Houston 2 3 .400 1

Memphis 2 5 .286 2

Northwest Division

W L Pct GB

Utah 4 3 .571 —

Denver 3 4 .429 1

Portland 3 4 .429 1

Oklahoma City 2 4 .333 1½

Minnesota 2 5 .286 2

Pacific Division

W L Pct GB

L.A. Lakers 6 2 .750 —

Phoenix 5 2 .714 ½

L.A. Clippers 5 3 .625 1

Golden State 4 3 .571 1½

Sacramento 3 4 .429 2½

Tuesday’s games

Brooklyn 130, Utah 96L.A. Lakers 94, Memphis 92Denver 123, Minnesota 116San Antonio 116, L.A. Clippers 113Chicago 111, Portland 108

Wednesday’s games

Cleveland at OrlandoHouston at IndianaWashington at PhiladelphiaBoston at MiamiCharlotte at AtlantaUtah at New YorkDetroit at MilwaukeeOklahoma City at New OrleansToronto at PhoenixChicago at SacramentoL.A. Clippers at Golden State

NBA scoreboard

DENVER — Nikola Jokic

scored 13 of his 35 points in the

fourth quarter after losing his cool

earlier in the game, and the Den-

ver Nuggets scrambled late to

beat Minnesota 123-116 on Tues-

day night for their 10th straight

win over the Timberwolves.

Jokic shook off two second-

quarter technical fouls — one for

hanging on the rim and another

for jawing at an official — to lead

the Nuggets to the comeback vic-

tory. He also had 15 rebounds.

Will Barton added 20 points and

reserve JaMychal Green had 17

for the Nuggets, who squandered

an 18-point lead in the first half

and fell behind by eight. Denver

held Minnesota scoreless for

more than five minutes during the

decisive stretch.

D’Angelo Russell scored 33

points and Juancho Hernango-

mez added 25 against his former

team. It was the fifth straight loss

for the Timberwolves.

Lakers 94, Grizzlies 92: An-

thony Davis and LeBron James

each scored 26 points, rallying

Los Angeles to a win at Memphis.

James added 11 rebounds and

seven assists, and Dennis Schrod-

er finished with 12 points for the

Lakers, who have won their

fourth straight game.

Jonas Valanciunas, Dillon

Brooks and Gorgui Dieng led the

Grizzlies with 13 points apiece.

Spurs 116, Clippers 113: Patty

Mills came off the bench to hit a

career-high eight three-pointers

and scored 27 points, and San An-

tonio won at Los Angeles to snap a

four-game skid.

Dejounte Murray added 21

points, Rudy Gay had 16 points,

LaMarcus Aldridge 14 points and

Keldon Johnson a career-high 11

rebounds for the Spurs. They led

by 24 in the first quarter and with-

stood an onslaught by Kawhi Leo-

nard in the third before nearly

blowing their lead in the fourth.

Leonard scored a game-high 30

points and had 10 assists. He had

11 points in the third, when Pa-

trick Beverley made three three-

pointers, and the Clippers closed

within one. Nicolas Batum had 21

points and nine rebounds, and Be-

verley finished with 20 points.

Nets 130, Jazz 96: Kyrie Irv-

ing scored 20 of his 29 points in

the first half to lead undermanned

Brooklyn past visiting Utah.

The Nets, who entered the

game having lost two straight and

four of five, never trailed.

As brilliant as he was individu-

ally, Irving had help from Jarrett

Allen and Caris LeVert.

Allen recorded his third dou-

ble-double of the season with 19

points and 18 rebounds, and LeV-

ert had 24 points off the bench.

Joe Harris chipped in with 10

points.

Bulls 111, Trail Blazers 108:

Coby White had 21 points and 10

rebounds and short-handed Chi-

cago won at Portland.

Otto Porter Jr. added 19 points

and 13 rebounds for the Bulls,

who have won four of their last

five games.

CJ McCollum led the Blazers

with 26 points, including six

three-pointers points and nine as-

sists.

DAVID ZALUBOWSKI / AP

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, heads down the court after intercepting a pass Tuesday.

Jokic lifts Nuggetspast Timberwolves

Associated Press

NBA ROUNDUP

Finalist voting for the 2020 Heisman Tro-phy, with first-, second- and third-placevotes and total points (voting on 3-2-1 ba-sis):

Player 1st 2nd 3rd Total

DeVonta Smith, Alabama 447 221 73 1,856

Trevor Lawrence, Clemson 222 176 169 1,187

Mac Jones, Alabama 138 248 220 1,130

Kyle Trask, Florida 61 164 226 737

Heisman voting

PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

NFL

While 14 teams are focused on

their pursuit of the Vince Lombar-

di Trophy with the expanded NFL

playoffs set to kick off this week-

end, the offseason is under way for

18 other clubs.

Six teams are searching for new

head coaches. Seven were looking

for general managers. Quarter-

backs and other star players will

surely be on the move.

Everyone hopes normalcy re-

turns by the start of the new sea-

son.

The league already pulled off a

difficult task by completing its

256-game regular season on time

during the coronavirus pandemic.

The goal now is playing the Super

Bowl in Tampa on Feb. 7.

Getting an opportunity to win a

championship begins with a

strong offseason.

Here’s some things to look for

this offseason:

Coaches: The Chargers, Jag-

uars, Texans, Falcons, Jets and Li-

ons need new coaches. Much at-

tention is given to minority candi-

dates because the league strength-

ened its Rooney Rule. In

November, the NFL implemented

a seven-point mobility plan that it

projects will enhance opportuni-

ties for minorities in coaching and

front office positions. The firing of

Anthony Lynn by the Chargers

leaves only three minority coach-

es. Chiefs offensive coordinator

Eric Bieniemy and 49ers defen-

sive coordinator Robert Saleh are

expected to interview for multiple

open spots and would increase the

total if they get jobs. Whoever re-

places Lynn in Los Angeles inher-

its a solid nucleus led by quarter-

back Justin Herbert. The opening

in Houston is also attractive be-

cause of quarterback Deshaun

Watson. Jacksonville has the No. 1

overall pick so the new coach

should get a franchise QB.

Free agency: The new league

season begins March 17 and reve-

nue losses due to the pandemic

means the salary cap will be re-

duced. The floor is $175 million,

which would be a decrease of $23.2

million. Over the Cap estimates

it’ll be $176 million. There will be a

slew of talented players available

because teams are going to make

cost-cutting decisions. Veterans

with big contracts will be looking

for new teams. The franchise tag

will account for a larger percent-

age of the salary cap so that will de-

ter teams from using it. The Eagles

and Saints are two teams facing

major cap issues and will have to

slash payroll significantly.

Draft: The 86th NFL draft is

scheduled for April 29-May 1 in

Cleveland. The city is planning for

a socially distanced event after

last year’s draft in Las Vegas was

canceled and held virtually. Clem-

son QB Trevor Lawrence is ex-

pected to go to Jacksonville with

the first pick. The Jets have the

second pick and could take Ohio

State QB Justin Fields even

though they have Sam Darnold.

Brigham Young QB Zach Wilson

could crack the top 10. Heisman

Trophy winner Devonta Smith of

Alabama and fellow wide receiver

Ja’Marr Chase of LSU are project-

ed as potential top-five picks.

Quarterbacks: A pair of NFC

East QBs could be on the move in

the offseason. Carson Wentz may

have played his last game with the

Philadelphia Eagles, and same for

Dak Prescott with the Dallas Cow-

boys. Wentz had the worst season

of his five-year career before he

was benched for the last four

games. Prescott put up excellent

numbers before a gruesome ankle

injury ended his season in Octo-

ber. Mitchell Trubisky, Cam New-

ton and Jameis Winston will be

among the free agents. The Lions

may shop Matthew Stafford, and

retirement is a possibility for Phi-

lip Rivers.

COVID­19:It wasn’t business as

usual this season because of the

pandemic and some changes will

become part of the league. Virtual

meetings, a prolonged training

camp, expanded practice squads

and unlimited callbacks from in-

jured reserve will be considered.

Coaches, QBs, COVID-19among offseason topicsThe 18 nonplayoff teams have already started tackling tough issues

BY ROB MAADI

Associated Press

Peyton Manning, no surprise, is

among 15 finalists for the Pro

Football Hall of Fame’s class of

2021.

The star quarterback, owner of

a record five NFL Most Valuable

Player awards and two Super

Bowl titles, was the first finalist

revealed by the hall on Tuesday

night.

Manning, of course, was one of

the most prolific passers in NFL

history. In 18 pro seasons and 265

starts out of 266 games played

since being the top overall draft

choice by Indianapolis in 1998, he

had 14 seasons with 4,000-plus

yards passing.

When he retired following lead-

ing Denver to the 2015 league ti-

tle, Manning held NFL records for

career passing yards (71,940), ca-

reer passing touchdowns (539)

and consecutive seasons with at

least 25 passing touchdowns (13).

He won 201 of those games, in-

cluding playoffs, guiding the Colts

to the 2006 NFL championship.

He also made the Super Bowl for

the 2009 and 2013 seasons, was a

seven-time All-Pro, and a mem-

ber of the NFL’s All-Decade

Team of the 2000s.

Joining Manning as a finalist

was one of the players he threw to,

wide receiver Reggie Wayne, a fi-

nalist for the second time. First-

year eligible Calvin Johnson and

second-time finalist Torry Holt al-

so made the cut among receivers.

Wayne played in two Super

Bowls with Manning.

Four defensive backs, includ-

ing current 49ers general manag-

er John Lynch, advanced. This

will be Lynch’s eighth time as a

finalist, while it’s the first for

Charles Woodson in his initial

year of eligibility, and Ronde Bar-

ber, and the second appearance in

the finals for Leroy Butler.

“I am just enjoying this mo-

ment, sitting here watching those

highlights and what you immedi-

ately do is kind of reliving some of

those moments,” Woodson said.

“To me it is not lost to be in this

moment, to be a Hall of Fame fi-

nalist in the first year; it takes a lot

to get to this point. You really have

to make an impact on the game

and I am excited to be in this mo-

ment.”

Two of the NFL’s most depend-

able defensive linemen got to the

finals: sack master Jared Allen

and versatile Richard Seymour.

Allen, who had 136 sacks and

forced four safeties, is another

first-year eligible player, while

Seymour has made the finals for

three of his four eligible years.

Zach Thomas, who also ex-

celled on special teams, was one

of three linebackers making the

finals, joining Sam Mills — a star

in the USFL and then the NFL —

and Clay Matthews, who led some

strong Cleveland defenses from

1978-1993 before playing three

seasons in Atlanta. Thomas and

Mills became second-time final-

ists, and Matthews for the first

time.

Two offensive linemen who

have been frequent finalists

round out the potential class of

2021: Alan Faneca and Tony Bo-

selli. Faneca, who played guard

and tackle and starred for three

franchises (Steelers, Jets, Cardi-

nals) made his sixth final in as

many years of eligibility, while

Boselli, a standout for Jackson-

ville, reached the finals for a fifth

time.

Voting on the entrants to the

Hall will be conducted later this

month, with the inductees an-

nounced during Super Bowl

week. A maximum of five mod-

ern-day players can be chosen,

along with three previously an-

nounced candidates should they

get the required votes: coach Tom

Flores, contributor Bill Nunn, and

senior Drew Pearson.

Inductions are scheduled for

next August, when the 2020 class

and a special centennial class also

will be enshrined after the CO-

VID-19 pandemic forced post-

ponement of those ceremonies

last summer.

JULIE JACOBSON / AP

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning holds up the VinceLombardi Trophy after Super Bowl 50 in 2016.

No surprise: Peytonamong Hall finalists

BY BARRY WILNER

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Frank Gore is in

no rush to decide if he’ll give it an-

other run next season.

The New York Jets running

back, who ranks third on the

NFL’s career rushing list with

16,000 yards, will be 38 in May and

just completed his 16th season.

He’s scheduled to be a free agent

this offseason.

“I’m going to get some down

time with the fam and get to Mia-

mi and chill out with my kids,”

Gore said Tuesday. “And then, I’ll

see what’s up. I still have fun, man,

playing the game of football. But I

didn’t make a decision yet.”

Gore knows whether he plays

next season won’t be entirely up to

him. At his age, most NFL running

backs have been long retired. He

has played more games — 240 —

than anyone at the position in

league history. So, Gore knows

teams likely won’t be lining up to

sign him, despite his Pro Football

Hall of Fame-type resume.

“Basically, whoever wants me,

and if I want to play with a team

that really wants me,” Gore said of

what will factor into his decision.

“A team that’s got a young guy

who I can mentor, to help out to be

a better pro. A team that has a

chance to win. Things like that.”

JAE C. HONG / AP

Jets running back Frank Gore, left, is uncertain he’ll return to play a17th season. The 38­year­old is third on the career rushing list.

Gore unsurehe’ll play a17th season

BY DENNIS WASZAK JR.

Associated Press

Thursday, January 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23

NFL

MIAMI — Miami Dolphins of-

fensive coordinator Chan Gailey

has resigned one season after

coming out of retirement.

The announcement was made

Wednesday, one day after Gailey’s

69th birthday and one day after

coach Brian Flores said he expect-

ed all of his assistant coaches

would return in 2021.

With Gailey calling plays, the

Dolphins scored 404 points, their

highest total since 1986. He had a

major role in the development of

rookie quarterback Tua Tagovai-

loa, who struggled at times but

went 6-3 as a starter.

The Dolphins finished 10-6 with

one of the NFL’s youngest teams.

A blowout loss Sunday at Buffalo

kept them out of the playoffs.

“I want to thank Chan for all of

his hard work and dedication,”

Flores said in a statement. “He

played an important role on the

staff and in the development of our

young roster.”

Gailey’s resignation means

Flores will have his third offensive

coordinator in as many seasons in

2021.

If Flores decided to promote

Gailey’s successor from within the

organization, candidates include

tight end coach George Godsey

and running backs coach Eric Stu-

desville. Godsey was offensive co-

ordinator for the Houston Texans

in 2015-16.

This season was Gailey’s 21st as

an NFL coach and his second stint

with Miami. He was head coach

for the Buffalo Bills (2010-12), Ge-

orgia Tech (2002-07) and the Dal-

las Cowboys (1998-99).

He did not coach in 2017-19.

PHELAN M. EBENHACK / AP

Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey is stepping downone season after coming out of retirement.

Gailey resigns as Dolphins’ OCBY STEVEN WINE

Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Amid a masked, muted

celebration in the locker room after the

Browns ended the NFL’s longest playoff

drought, coach Kevin Stefanski asked for a

game ball and then told Pro Bowl guard Joel

Bitonio to step forward.

Stefanski flipped the ball to Bitonio, who

had survived seven long seasons, 0-16 in

2017, the Johnny Manziel mess and numer-

ous coaching changes.

“You’re going to the playoffs, 75,” Stefanki

told Bitonio.

Two days later, nothing is certain with the

Browns.

Positive COVID-19 tests have knocked

Stefanski, Bitonio, wide receiver KhaDarel

Hodge and at least two assistant coaches out

of Cleveland’s wild-card game at Pittsburgh

on Sunday night — the Browns’ first playoff

appearance since the 2002 season.

The Browns announced Tuesday — 18

years to the day since their last playoff game

—that Stefanski tested positive for the coro-

navirus, which has plagued the team in re-

cent weeks and has thrown Cleveland’s

plans this week into disarray for the wild-

card game.

In less than 48 hours, joy for the Browns

and their fans long-suffering fans was all but

extinguished.

“Very sad,” Browns center and NFLPA

President JC Tretter said. “It’s really unfor-

tunate.”

Now, after beating the Steelers last Sun-

day to make the playoff field, the Browns are

implementing contingency plans drawn up

when the pandemic

began.

Stefanski, who in

his first year returned

the Browns to re-

spectability, can only

coach virtually from

home this week. He’ll

be replaced by special

teams coordinator

Mike Priefer, and the Browns will have to

make other staff adjustments as tight ends

coach Drew Petzing and defensive backs

coach Jeff Howard are also out.

Despite the Browns’ issues — they now

have eight rotational players and five coach-

es on the COVID-19 list — league spokesman

Brian McCarthy said the game is on sched-

ule.

McCarthy added the league is continuing

to conduct contact tracing to identify any

possible high-risk close contacts. NFL rules

state that anyone testing positive must be

away from the team at least 10 days.

Tretter said he had been in touch with Bi-

tonio.

“I feel for him,” Tretter said. “Obviously

with what he’s gone through, what he’s en-

dured over his career and finally finding that

success for the first time and then it being

taken away at the last second, it’s hard. I feel

for all the guys that won’t be able to play for

the first playoff game.

“Extremely tough. This is just a terrible

scenario for him and for everybody in-

volved.”

It’s still possible the Browns will lose other

players after contact tracing is completed.

Virus complicates rare Browns playoff gameBY TOM WITHERS

Associated Press 18Seasons since theBrowns’ last playoffappearance in2002.

Source: Associated

Press

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. —

Testing is replacing tailgating in

the Bills Stadium parking lot, with

a limited number of fans being al-

lowed to attend Buffalo’s wild-

card playoff game against the In-

dianapolis Colts on Saturday.

Before that can happen, New

York state guidelines require the

approximate 6,700 fans, plus 200

employees and members of the

media, first test negative for CO-

VID-19 within 72 hours of kickoff.

Each person must show his or her

ID and proof of a negative test be-

fore being allowed in the outdoor

facility, which seats about 70,000.

The tests will be held Wednes-

day and Thursday and conducted

by New Jersey-based BioRefe-

rence Laboratories.

The company is converting a

portion of the expansive stadium

lots into a drive-thru testing site.

Tests will be done over 14-hour pe-

riods both days, feature 30 lanes to

accommodate the number of peo-

ple showing up and have the re-

sults returned within close to a 24-

hour period.

“We have approximately 150

staff who are in Buffalo to pull this

thing off, who were arriving Satur-

day, Sunday, training and getting

everything set up and ready to go,”

BioReference executive chair-

man Jon Cohen said Tuesday.

Though the company has con-

ducted more than 10 million CO-

VID-19 tests since May, including

NFL and NBA players and staff,

this will be BioReference’s largest

drive-thru event and the first

mandatory fan-testing program in

the country, Cohen said.

The state considers the pro-

gram a test run in granting the

Bills permission to have fans at-

tend a home game for the first

time this season. Should all go

well, the program has the poten-

tial of being used to open other

New York venues, such as indoor

sports arenas, music halls and

even Broadway theaters.

“Everybody’s focused on what

should be the game and the fans

and everything, but this is also fo-

cused on how testing programs

like this help reopen the New York

State economy. That’s a very im-

portant issue,” Cohen said. “So it’s

a broader brush than it just hap-

pens to be a sports event.”

Though a Bills’ win would guar-

antee them playing at home again

the following week, there have

been no discussions as to whether

fans would be allowed to attend a

second game, Cohen said.

“Everybody’s totally focused on

getting the job done at hand, and

then we’ll figure out if there’s go-

ing to be next steps,” Cohen said.

In Buffalo, there’s relief that

members of the so-called Bills

Mafia can finally see their AFC

East champions in action up close.

It will be Buffalo’s first home play-

off appearance since a 30-27 loss

to Jacksonville on Dec. 28, 1996, in

what proved to be Hall of Fame

quarterback Jim Kelly’s final

game.

Not surprisingly, the limited

number of tickets sold out shortly

after being made available.

Testing replacestailgating as Billswill welcome fans

BILL WIPPERT / AP

Testing replaced tailgating in the Bills Stadium’s parking lot starting Wednesday. Some 6,700 fans mustbe tested for the coronavirus to attend an AFC wild­card playoff game against the Colts on Saturday. 

BY JOHN WAWROW

Associated Press

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, January 7, 2021

SPORTSCOVID complicates game plan

Browns coach will miss team’s 1st playoffappearance in 18 years ›› NFL, Page 23

Jayhawks bounce back from blowout ›› College basketball, Page 20

NEW YORK — On an Alabama

team stacked with stars, DeVonta

Smith emerged as the best player

in college football while playing a

position that rarely gets that kind

of recognition.

Smith became the first wide re-

ceiver to win the Heisman Trophy

in 29 seasons Tuesday night,

breaking the monopoly quarter-

backs have had on the award by

beating out three of them.

“Just to be one of the very few

that played receiver to win the

Heisman, it means a lot to me,”

Smith said.

Smith finished with 447 first-

place votes and 1,856 points to eas-

ily outdistance Clemson’s Trevor

Lawrence (222; 1,187), Alabama

teammate Mac Jones (138; 1,130)

and Florida’s Kyle Trask (61; 737).

Crimson Tide running back Na-

jee Harris finished fifth in the vot-

ing, making No. 1 Alabama the

second team in the 85-year history

of the Heisman to have three of the

top five vote-getters. Army did it

in 1946 with Glenn Davis (first),

Doc Blanchard (fourth) and Ar-

nold Tucker (fifth).

“I want to thank my team-

mates,” Smith said during his ac-

ceptance speech. “With team suc-

cess comes individual success so

without you all, I wouldn’t be

where I’m at today, winning this

award.”

Smith is onlyt the fourth receiv-

er to win the Heisman, joining Mi-

BY RALPH D. RUSSO

Associated Press

Alabama wide receiver DeVonta Smith poses afterwinning the Heisman Trophy onTuesday night in Tuscaloosa, Ala.Smith broke the monopolyquarterbacks have had on collegefootball’s most prestigious awardby beating out three of them.

KENT GIDLEY, HESIMAN TROPHY TRUST/AP

Tough grab

Alabama’sSmith 1st WRin 29 years towin Heisman

SEE GRAB ON PAGE 21

COLLEGE FOOTBALL