
Things to watch this week in the Big 12 Conference: No. 14 BYU (9-1, 6-1 Big 12, No. 14 CFP) at No. 21 Arizona State (8-2, 5-2, No. 21), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) League newcomer Arizona State has a three-game winning streak and BYU is coming off its first loss. The Cougars, after losing at home to Kansas, still control their own destiny in making the Big 12 championship game. They can clinch a spot in that Dec. 7 game as early as Saturday, if they win and instate rival Utah wins at home against No. 22 Iowa State. Arizona State was picked at the bottom of the 16-team league in the preseason media poll, but already has a five-win improvement in coach Kenny Dillingham's second season. No. 16 Colorado (8-2, 6-1, No. 16 CFP) at Kansas (4-6, 3-4), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (Fox) Coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes are in prime position to make the Big 12 title game in their return to the league after 13 seasons in the Pac-12. If BYU and Utah win, Colorado would be able to claim the other title game spot with a win over Kansas. The Buffs have a four-game winning streak. The Jayhawks need another November win over a ranked Big 12 contender while trying to get bowl eligible for the third season in a row. Kansas has won consecutive games over Top 25 teams for the first time in school history, knocking off Iowa State before BYU. Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht has thrown a touchdown in a school-record 14 consecutive games, while receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel both have more than 800 yards receiving. San Jose State is the only other FBS team with a pair of 800-yard receivers. Becht has 2,628 yards and 17 touchdowns passing for the Cyclones (8-2, 5-2), who are still in Big 12 contention. Oklahoma State goes into its home finale against Texas Tech with a seven-game losing streak, its longest since a nine-game skid from 1977-78. The only longer winless streak since was an 0-10-1 season in 1991. This is Mike Gundy's 20th season as head coach, and his longest losing streak before now was five in a row in 2005, his first season and the last time the Cowboys didn't make a bowl game. ... Baylor plays at Houston for the first time since 1995, the final Southwest Conference season. The Cougars won last year in the only meeting since to even the series 14-14-1. ... Eight Big 12 teams are bowl eligible. As many as six more teams could reach six wins. The Big 12 already has four 1,000-yard rushers, including three who did it last season. UCF's RJ Harvey is the league's top rusher (1,328 yards) and top scorer with 21 touchdowns (19 rushing/two receiving). The others with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons are Texas Tech career rushing leader Tahj Brooks (1,184 yards) and Kansas State's DJ Giddens (1,128 yards). Cam Skattebo with league newcomer Arizona State has 1,074 yards. Devin Neal, the career rushing leader at his hometown university, is 74 yards shy of being the first Kansas player with three 1,000-yard seasons. Cincinnati's Corey Kiner needs 97 yards to reach 1,000 again. Get local news delivered to your inbox!NoneDon’t be a Scrooge: Where to get your festive on this Christmas
DENVER — Gov. Jared Polis took a buzzsaw to hundreds of outdated and obsolete executive orders on Thursday — literally. Polis sawed through more than 200 executive orders, which stretched back decades and through multiple administrations, before issuing a new formal executive order to rescind them. He joked that it was the first time in state history that a power saw sat on the governor’s desk. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.Dame Esther Rantzen says the people have spoken and MPs must finally change the "cruel, messy, criminal law", after four polls showed overwhelming public support for assisted dying. One commissioned by the Express found 68% backed the key principles of the Bill that will face a landmark vote in the Commons on Friday, while just 11% opposed it. A YouGov survey put support even higher at 73%, while think tank More in Common found 65% were in favour. And over-60s campaign group Silver Voices found 61% of its members supported giving terminally ill people greater choice at the end of life. Dame Esther, who has stage four lung cancer, said: “Once again the people have spoken. Let’s hope this time someone is listening. “We ‘oldies’ understand that even with the best palliative care, suffering can make life unbearable, not just for terminally ill patients but for those who have to witness their pain but cannot assist them due to our current cruel, messy criminal law.” Savanta surveyed 2,288 adults for the Express this month and asked to what extent they would support or oppose legalising assisted dying for terminally ill people with less than six months to live. The poll set out the requirements in Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Bill , including that two doctors and a High Court judge must ensure a patient meets all the criteria and safeguards. Some 68% of those questioned supported the proposed law change, including 40% “strongly”. Just 11% were opposed, 8% said they did not know and 13% were neutral. People who had personally witnessed someone suffering with a terminal illness were even more likely (71%) to back the Bill. And there was strong cross-party support from 73% of Labour and Conservative voters and 72% of Liberal Democrat voters. Dame Esther, 84, has campaigned tirelessly for a change in the law since revealing last December that she had registered with Swiss suicide clinic Dignitas. She said: “At last, MPs have a chance to reform it, and replace it with the Private Member’s Bill which allows us the choice not to shorten our lives, to shorten our death. “And once again this survey shows, like all the previous surveys, that this is the change most people want.” The Express survey also found that 62% of people would want the option to be prescribed life-ending medication by a doctor if they were terminally ill and suffering. Only 17% said they would not. And 54% believed that legalising assisted dying would make the UK a more compassionate country, while 14% said it would make it less compassionate. Meanwhile, a YouGov poll of 2,169 people found 73% supported Ms Leadbeater’s Bill, compared to only 13% who opposed it. Eight in ten agreed that if the law did change, two doctors should be required to assess the patient. But only 55% agreed that a High Court judge was necessary and just 37% thought it should be necessary for the patient to administer the life-ending medication themselves, rather than a doctor. Silver Voices also polled over 2,200 of its members this month and found 61% backed the Bill, while 26% opposed it and 12% were unsure. The group’s director, Dennis Reed, urged MPs “not to duck this rare opportunity” to give terminally ill people control over their deaths. He added: “We urge MPs to vote in favour of the Bill so that this important issue of choice over our own lives can be thoroughly examined in Parliament. “However, the Government must allow sufficient time for the safeguards to be examined forensically and for international comparisons to be debated. If necessary, the Government should introduce its own Bill to replace the Private Member’s initiative. “If the Bill is voted down next week, we may have to wait another decade before the issue comes back and people will continue dying in pain, indignity and discomfort for the sake of an extra few weeks of life. “A ‘good death’ is so important for family memories as well as the release and reassurance for the terminally ill patient.” More in Common’s polling of more than 17,000 people found 65% supported assisted dying and just 13% were against it. The think tank identified only seven constituencies where the majority of people did not support the principle. Polls have consistently shown for years that most members of the public are in favour of legalising assisted dying for terminally ill people who are nearing death. But MPs have so far failed to represent their constituents on the issue, and in 2015 voted down a similar Bill by 330 votes to 118. The Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade has fought alongside campaign group Dignity in Dying for almost three years to highlight this injustice. Sarah Wootton, Dignity in Dying chief executive, said: "With a matter of days to go before the historic Second Reading debate on Kim Leadbeater’s Bill, the British public have made their minds up – for compassion and safety's sake they want to see this law changed. “Many will have seen loved ones die in pain despite excellent care or take their own lives, both here and abroad. Some will want the choice themselves, so they can live knowing that they can die well when the time comes.” Ms Wootton said the Bill was “the strongest proposal Parliament has ever considered on assisted dying”, and builds on best practice from laws proven to work safely overseas and the findings of a recent Commons Health and Social Care Committee inquiry. She added: “We would not be alone in changing this law - we will bring England and Wales in line with the majority of assisted dying laws around the world, including those in 10 US states, across Australia and New Zealand, as well as legislation being considered in Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man. “MPs must back this Bill on 29th November to ensure a full debate can take place. This is a critical opportunity to bring about real change for dying people and their families, one that they are clearly calling out for.”Chuck Woolery, smooth-talking game show host of ‘Love Connection’ and ‘Scrabble,’ dies at 83
Lea Miller-Tooley hopped off a call to welcome the Baylor women’s basketball team to the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas, where 80-degree temperatures made it easy for the Bears to settle in on Paradise Island a week before Thanksgiving. About 5,000 miles east of the Caribbean nation, similar climes awaited Maui Invitational men’s teams in Hawaii. They’ve often been greeted with leis, the traditional Hawaiian welcome of friendship. College basketball teams and fans look forward to this time of the year. The holiday week tournaments feature buzzworthy matchups and all-day TV coverage, sure, but there is a familiarity about them as they help ward off the November chill. For four decades, these sandy-beach getaways filled with basketball have become a beloved mainstay of the sport itself. “When you see (ESPN’s) ‘Feast Week’ of college basketball on TV, when you see the Battle 4 Atlantis on TV, you know college basketball is back,” said Miller-Tooley , the founder and organizer of the Battle 4 Atlantis men’s and women’s tournaments. “Because it’s a saturated time of the year with the NFL, college football and the NBA. But when you see these gorgeous events in these beautiful places, you realize, ‘Wow, hoops are back, let’s get excited.’” The Great Alaska Shootout was the trend-setting multiple-team event (MTE) nearly five decades ago. The brainchild of late Alaska-Anchorage coach Bob Rachal sought to raise his program’s profile by bringing in national-power programs, which could take advantage of NCAA rules allowing them to exceed the maximum allotment of regular-season games if they played the three-game tournament outside the contiguous 48 states. The first edition, named the Sea Wolf Classic, saw N.C. State beat Louisville, 72-66, for the title on Nov. 26, 1978. The Maui Invitational followed in November 1984, borne from the buzz of NAIA program Chaminade’s shocking upset of top-ranked Virginia and 7-foot-4 star Ralph Sampson in Hawaii two years earlier. Events kept coming, with warm-weather locales getting in on the action. The Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Cancun Challenge in Mexico. The Cayman Islands Classic. The Jamaica Classic. The Myrtle Beach Invitational joining the Charleston Classic in South Carolina. Numerous tournaments in Florida. Some events have faded away like the Puerto Rico Tipoff and the Great Alaska Shootout, the latter in 2017 amid event competition and schools opting for warm-weather locales. Miller-Tooley’s push to build an MTE for Atlantis began as a December 2010 doubleheader with Georgia Tech beating Richmond and Virginia Tech beating Mississippi State in a prove-it moment for a tournament’s viability. It also required changing NCAA legislation to permit MTEs in the Bahamas. Approval came in March 2011; the first eight-team Atlantis men’s tournament followed in November. That tournament quickly earned marquee status with big-name fields, with Atlantis champions Villanova (2017) and Virginia (2018) later winning that season’s NCAA title. Games run in a ballroom-turned-arena at the resort, where players also check out massive swimming pools, water slides and inner-tube rapids surrounded by palm trees and the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s just the value of getting your passport stamped, that will never get old,” Miller-Tooley said. “Watching some of these kids, this may be their first and last time – and staff and families – that they ever travel outside the United States. ... You can see through these kids’ eyes that it’s really an unbelievable experience.” ACC Network analyst Luke Hancock knows that firsthand. His Louisville team finished second at Atlantis in 2012 and won that year’s later-vacated NCAA title, with Hancock as the Final Four’s most outstanding player. “I remember (then-coach Rick Pitino) saying something to the effect of: ‘Some of you guys might never get this opportunity again. We’re staying in this unbelievable place, you’re doing it with people you love,’” Hancock said. “It was a business trip for us there at Thanksgiving, but he definitely had a tone of ‘We’ve got to enjoy this as well.’” Maui offers similar vibes, though 2024 could be a little different as Lahaina recovers from deadly 2023 wildfires that forced the event’s relocation last year. North Carolina assistant coach Sean May played for the Tar Heels’ Maui winner in 2004 and was part of UNC’s staff for the 2016 champion, with both teams later winning the NCAA title. May said “you just feel the peacefulness” of the area — even while focusing on games — and savors memories of the team taking a boat out on the Pacific Ocean after title runs under now-retired Hall of Famer Roy Williams. “Teams like us, Dukes, UConns – you want to go to places that are very well-run,” May said. “Maui, Lea Miller with her group at the Battle 4 Atlantis, that’s what drives teams to come back because you know you’re going to get standard A-quality of not only the preparation but the tournament with the way it’s run. Everything is top-notch. And I think that brings guys back year after year.” That’s why Colorado coach Tad Boyle is so excited for the Buffaloes’ first Maui appearance since 2009. “We’ve been trying to get in the tournament since I got here,” said Boyle, now in his 15th season. And of course, that warm-weather setting sure doesn’t hurt. “If you talk about the Marquettes of the world, St. John’s, Providence – they don’t want that cold weather,” said NBA and college TV analyst Terrence Oglesby, who played for Clemson in the 2007 San Juan Invitational in Puerto Rico. “They’re going to have to deal with that all January and February. You might as well get a taste of what the sun feels like.” The men’s Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, Bahamas, got things rolling last week with No. 11 Tennessee routing No. 13 Baylor for the title. The week ahead could boast matchups befitting the Final Four, with teams having two weeks of action since any opening-night hiccups. “It’s a special kickoff to the college basketball season,” Oglesby said. “It’s just without the rust.” On the women’s side, Atlantis began its fourth eight-team women’s tournament Saturday with No. 16 North Carolina and No. 18 Baylor, while the nearby Baha Mar resort follows with two four-team women’s brackets that include No. 2 UConn, No. 7 LSU, No. 17 Mississippi and No. 20 N.C. State. Then come the men’s headliners. The Maui Invitational turns 40 as it opens Monday back in Lahaina . It features second-ranked and two-time reigning national champion UConn , No. 4 Auburn , No. 5 Iowa State and No. 10 North Carolina. The Battle 4 Atlantis opens its 13th men’s tournament Wednesday, topped by No. 3 Gonzaga, No. 16 Indiana and No. 17 Arizona. Michigan State Hall of Famer Tom Izzo is making his fourth trip to Maui, where he debuted as Jud Heathcote’s successor at the 1995 tournament. Izzo’s Spartans have twice competed at Atlantis, last in 2021 . “They’re important because they give you something in November or December that is exciting,” Izzo said. Any drawbacks? “It’s a 10-hour flight,” he said of Hawaii.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two reporters were killed and several were wounded Tuesday in a gang attack in Haiti on the reopening of Port-au-Prince’s biggest public hospital, Haiti’s online media association said. A police officer was also killed in the attack. Street gangs forced the closure of the General Hospital early this year and authorities had pledged to reopen the facility in Haiti’s capital on Christmas Eve. But as journalists gathered to cover the event, suspected gang members opened fire. Robest Dimanche, a spokesman for the Online Media Collective, identified the killed journalists as Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean. Dimanche said an unspecified number of reporters were also been in the attack, which he blamed on the Viv Ansanm coalition of gangs. The Haitian Association of Journalists confirmed two reporters and a police officer were killed, and seven reporters were wounded in what it called “a macabre scene comparable to terrorism, pure and simple.” Haiti’s interim president, Leslie Voltaire, said in an address to the nation that journalists and police were among the victims of the attack. He did not specify the casualty numbers or provide a breakdown. “I send my sympathies to the people who were victims, the national police and the journalists,” Voltaire said. Later, the government put out a statement saying it is “responding firmly to the attack.” “This heinous act, which targets an institution dedicated to health and life, constitutes an unacceptable attack on the very foundations of our society,” it said. Earlier, a video posted online by the reporters trapped inside the hospital shows what appeared to be two lifeless bodies of men on stretchers, their clothes bloodied. One of the men had a lanyard with a press credential around his neck. Radio Télé Métronome initially reported that seven journalists and two police officers were wounded. Police and officials did not immediately respond to calls for information on the attack. Another video posted online, which also could not be immediately verified, showed reporters inside the building and at least three lying on the floor, apparently wounded. Street gangs have taken over an estimated 85% of Port-au-Prince and have also targeted the main international airport and Haiti’s two largest prisons. Johnson “Izo” André, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader and part of the Viv Ansanm group of gangs, which that has taken control of much of Port-au-Prince , posted a video on social media claiming responsibility for the attack. The video said the gang coalition had not authorized the hospital’s reopening. Haiti has seen journalists targeted before. In 2023, two local journalists were killed in the space of a couple of weeks — radio reporter Dumesky Kersaint was fatally shot in mid-April that year, while journalist Ricot Jean was found dead later that month. In July, former Prime Minister Garry Conille visited the Hospital of the State University of Haiti, more widely known as the General Hospital, after authorities regained control of it from gangs. The hospital had been left ravaged and strewn with debris. Walls and nearby buildings were riddled with bullet holes, signaling fights between police and gangs. The hospital is across the street from the national palace, the scene of several battles in recent months. Gang attacks have pushed Haiti’s health system to the brink of collapse with looting, setting fires, and destroying medical institutions and pharmacies in the capital. The violence has created a surge in patients and a shortage of resources to treat them. Haiti’s health care system faces additional challenges during the rainy season, which is likely to increase the risk of water-borne diseases. Poor conditions in camps and makeshift settlements have heightened the risk of diseases like cholera, with over 84,000 suspected cases in the country, according to UNICEF. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-americaTexans elevate WR Jared Wayne, CB D'Angelo Ross from practice squad
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — EJ Neal had 12 points in Sacramento State's 63-61 win against Air Force on Wednesday night. Neal had five rebounds for the Hornets (2-4). Julian Vaughns shot 5 for 8, including 2 for 4 from beyond the arc to add 12 points. Jacob Holt had 10 points and shot 3 of 5 from the field and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line. The Falcons (2-5) were led by Jeffrey Mills, who posted 19 points. Ethan Taylor added 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals for Air Force. Vaughns scored eight points in the first half and Sacramento State went into halftime trailing 33-22. Sacramento State used a 12-0 second-half run to take the lead at 34-33. Lachlan Brewer scored 10 second-half points. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .Using it SMEs can create a compliant, public-facing CRP, hitting a key requirement for bidding on public sector contracts and partnering with larger companies. Mat Thompson, co-founder of Gopher Zero, said: "Pressure is building on SMEs to show a clear plan for net zero. Our tool helps small businesses win business and empowers them to plan confidently for an affordable route to net zero." Gopher Zero aims to help SMEs unlock green finance opportunities. By showing the business case for clean technology investments, the platform enables SMEs to gain support from stakeholders such as landlords, banks, and other potential funders. With more than five million SMEs in the UK contributing approximately 50 per cent of total business emissions, Gopher Zero’s mission is clear - to make sustainability accessible and achievable for every small business.
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