'Jeopardy!' star James Holzhauer wins again Friday, could break money record on Monday - USA TODAY
'Jeopardy!' star James Holzhauer wins again Friday, could break money record on Monday - USA TODAY |
- 'Jeopardy!' star James Holzhauer wins again Friday, could break money record on Monday - USA TODAY
- Arkansas River bursts through levee north of Little Rock, triggering evacuations - USA TODAY
- Breaking down the 'body blow' debate that is taking over NFL Twitter - For The Win
- Merkel rebukes Trump politics in Harvard commencement speech: 'Tear down walls of ignorance' - USA TODAY
- William Weld: I'm a pro-choice Republican because religious conviction is just one option - USA TODAY
| Posted: 31 May 2019 04:45 PM PDT CLOSE  "Jeopardy!" contestant James Holzhauer continues to break the game show's records. USA TODAY Reigning "Jeopardy!" champion James Holzhauer has secured his 32nd win – and is just one dominant game from surpassing Ken Jennings' non-tournament record of $2,520,700. The professional sports gambler brought in $79,633 Friday night, bringing his total earnings to $2,462,216 – just $58,485// from breaking Jennings' record. That may seem like a lot for one episode, but Holzhauer has won over $58,000 in each of the last two games and set a single-day record for the quiz show on April 17 with a $131,127 win. Holzhauer had $52,633 going into Friday's Final Jeopardy! round, with the category Oscar-nominated families. The answer? It's the last name of Alfred, Lionel, David, Emil, Thomas and Randy, who with 90 nominations are the most Oscar-nominated family. (See the correct response below.) Last time on 'Jeopardy!': 'Jeopardy!': James Holzhauer less than $150,000 away from Jennings' record with 31st win That means Holzhauer could set a new record Monday if he continues to use the strategies that have been working for him, such as betting big on Daily Doubles and picking the higher-valued clues first. Jennings and Holzhauer are the only two "Jeopardy!" contestants to earn $2 million or more in regular, non-tournament winnings, a barrier Holzhauer crossed in last Friday's episode. However, it has taken Holzhauer fewer than half the number of episodes to rack up the prize money, a feat that Jennings called "astounding." And by the way, the correct response to Friday's Final Jeopardy, answered by James and a losing contestant: What is Newman? How does he do it?: 5 clues into 'Jeopardy!' champ James Holzhauer's brain Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2019/05/31/jeopardy-james-holzauer-wins-friday-could-break-record-monday/1304017001/  |
| Arkansas River bursts through levee north of Little Rock, triggering evacuations - USA TODAY Posted: 31 May 2019 11:43 AM PDT CLOSE Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson toured the widespread flooding in his state by helicopter. He said the floods are affecting hundreds of homes and thousands of acres of farmland. (May 31) AP, AP TULSA, Oklahoma – The swollen Arkansas River ripped through a 40-foot section of a levee about 75 miles northwest of Little Rock, Arkansas, early Friday morning, prompting flash-flood warnings and evacuations in rural areas around Dardanelle and Holla Bend. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning in the area, warning that some 5,700 people, four schools and a hospital were potentially exposed to the flooding. The NWS urged people to move to higher ground. "Water is going to do what it wants to do," Yell County Judge Mark Thone told reporters at a news conference. "We're just trying to head this off." Jimmy Witt, mayor of Dardanelle, called on the 4,500 residents of his town to begin immediate sandbagging operations. He said he expected water to encroach the town "from the bayou side." "I ask you to please not panic, we have time to prepare for this," Witt said on his Facebook page. The weather service noted a slight dip in the water level for the levee at Dardanelle, likely due to the breach. "An historic flood event is expected along the Arkansas River in the coming days," warned the weather service in Little Rock. "Some long-time record crests could be surpassed by five feet above the record set in 1945." This is the same river that's flooded hundreds of homes in the Tulsa area, and the high water is rolling downstream as the Arkansas River makes its way to its confluence with the Mississippi River and then down into the Gulf of Mexico. Authorities say flooding danger will rise through at least the weekend along the river. Arkansas authorities urged residents to evacuate the area, which is largely rural with dirt roads crisscrossing farm fields. Drone footage published by the Yell County Sheriff's Department showed the muddy water streaming through the dirt levee, surrounding several buildings with several feet of water. Yell County officials had anticipated the breakthrough and urged residents in about 160 homes in the nearby Holla Bend area to evacuate Thursday. Emergency management officials say crews were going door-to-door to recommend evacuation for about 160 homes. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, along with several federal lawmakers, surveyed the inundated area by air on Thursday and said more than 500 homes have been affected by flooding. Thank you! You're almost signed up for Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. "As I flew over today, the most significant impression I had is that it's hard to imagine the magnitude of the flooding," Hutchinson told reporters in Fort Smith. "It is hard to comprehend. We have never seen this before, and we have never had to deal with this before." At least one person, a 64-year-old man, has died in the flooding. He died on Tuesday after apparently ignoring a barricade at roadway near Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. His body was found in a submerged vehicle. The Arkansas River began rising sharply after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released water from a swollen lake near Tulsa that had risen sharply due to heavy rains in Oklahoma and Kansas. In Tulsa, authorities say the lowering water levels may reveal damage to the levees, which have been soaked for days. On Friday, they announced a 20-foot-deep sinkhole had opened beneath a street. Weather service officials have said flooding will continue along the river as water crests on its way downstream over the next week toward the Mississippi River. Earlier this year, about two dozen levee systems were breached or overtopped during Missouri River flooding that devastated parts of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. Contributing: Associated Press Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/31/arkansas-flood-levee-breach-prompts-evacuations-north-little-rock/1297285001/  |
| Breaking down the 'body blow' debate that is taking over NFL Twitter - For The Win Posted: 31 May 2019 11:51 AM PDT NFL Twitter is at it again. The nerds and, um, non-nerds are, once again, at odds and, unsurprisingly, the beef is about the value of running the football. It always is. The latest battle in this on-going war was sparked when this quote from Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie started making the rounds on Twitter. Via The Athletic:
The nerds jumped all over it. Most people agreed with the sentiment, then former offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz weighed in and all hell broke loose. That's a fairly balanced take. And the concept of "body blows" makes sense on paper: Wear down a defense early and reap the benefits later on against a gassed defense that has had its will broken. There's just one problem, as one of the more prominent NFL Twitter nerds, Josh Hermsmeyer of FiveThirtyEight, points out… When pressed to elaborate, Hermsmeyer pointed out that there is no evidence to suggest running the ball more frequently early leads to more success late. He acknowledged that the absence of evidence is not necessarily proof that the "body blow" concept is bunk, however. Another balanced take. The logical conclusion to this exchange would have been Oh, that's interesting. I will now do something productive with the rest of my day. But that's not how NFL Twitter operates, reader… You know it's about to go down when someone brings up the spreadsheets. This tweet led to a discussion about the human element of the game, which eventually led to Schwartz busting out the "I played the game" card. Schwartz's playing experience should not be discounted. If he says that body blows made his jobs easier later in games, then we should take his word for it. He is not the first offensive lineman to say this. But Schwartz and NFL coaches should be asking themselves why the apparent advantage isn't showing up in the numbers. If it doesn't show up in the numbers, does it really matter? And does it matter enough to base the team's offensive identity around it? The most glaring flaw in the "body blows" concept, at least the one put forth by Schwartz, is that the pay off comes "when you're winning in the 4th and you're running to grind out the clock, they are weak." OK, well how do you get that lead? Based on every efficiency metric out there, it ain't by running the ball. Ben Baldwin of The Athletic put it best in his takedown of Brian Schottenheimer's ridiculous "Rule of 53"…
There is just no getting around the fact that teams that run the ball more often early in games end up losing more often. That's not a theory. It's a fact. Does that mean teams should stop running the ball completely? Of course not. And that's not what the nerds are pushing for. In most situations, the running game should be used as a constraint for the passing game and little more. If teams are committing numbers to stop the passing game on the perimeter, by all means, run the ball. If defenses did not have to worry about accounting for every run gap, they have a much easier time defending passing plays. NOBODY is disputing this. But screens, reverses, trick plays and the like serve the same purpose. You don't hear coaches saying they're going to "establish the flea flicker" at introductory press conferences. Maybe body blows do matter, and the analytics are missing something. But, as things stand, hitting the defense with those body blows early does not appear to pay significant dividends later in the game, and coaches probably shouldn't be devising gameplans based on the assumption that it does.  |
| Posted: 31 May 2019 11:36 AM PDT CLOSE Angela Merkel awarded Harvard honorary degree AP BOSTON — German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected President Donald Trump's brand of politics and worldview in a commencement speech Thursday at Harvard University, calling for global, not national, thinking and working together, not in isolation. "I want to leave this wish with you," Merkel said near the end of her 35-minute speech, breaking out of her native tongue to speak in English without a translator. "Tear down walls of ignorance and narrow-mindedness, for nothing has to stay as it is." The line — evoking former President Ronald Reagan's "tear down this wall" speech — was met with a standing ovation among the Harvard graduates, faculty and others who watched the university's 368th commencement from Harvard Yard. Merkel, the chancellor of Germany since 2005, never mentioned the president by name, but he was a clear target with her central theme being breaking down "walls." One of Trump's defining policy proposals is a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. More: Federal judge partially halts Trump border wall funding, blocks $1 billion Her rebuke was most pointed on foreign policy. Trump has challenged the traditional Western alliance that first emerged following World War II by questioning America's role in the North Atlantic Trade Organization. He's said NATO has benefited Europe more than the U.S. "Changes for the better are possible if we tackle them together," Merkel said, pointing to climate change, navigating the digital transformation and ending wars and displacement as some of the world's top challenges. "If we want to go it alone, we could not achieve much." "More than ever, our way of thinking and our actions have to be multilateral rather than unilateral, global rather than national, outward-looking rather than isolationist. In short, we have to work together, rather than alone." Merkel slammed Trump's approach to trade as well, telling the crowd, "Protectionism and trade conflicts jeopardize free international trade and thus the very foundations of our prosperity." Trump has engaged in trade wars by increasing tariffs on exports from China and threatening to do the same with Mexico. More: Trump announces tariffs on Mexico in effort to stop migrants coming to the US In other digs at Trump, the chancellor warned against acting on "first impulses" and to value honesty. "I have learned that we can find good answers even to difficult questions if we always try to view the world through the eyes of others, if we respect other people's history, traditions, religion and identity," Merkel said. "If we hold fast to our inalienable values and act in accordance with them. "And if we don't always act on our first impulses even when there is pressure to make a snap decision. But instead take a moment to stop, be still, think, pause." Thank you! You're almost signed up for Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. She continued: "Granted, that certainly takes courage," drawing some laughs among the audience. "Above all, it calls for truthfulness in our attitude toward others. And perhaps most importantly, it calls for us to be honest with ourselves." Drawing another standing ovation, she said the "maxim of truth" requires us "not to describe lies as truth and truth as lies." TRUMP: President calls Germany 'captive to Russia' The focus on "walls" began at the beginning of her speech when Merkel traced her upbringing in Communist-controlled East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall, which she grew up near. She said the people in 1989 brought it down – something she once thought was not possible. "Where there was once only a dark wall, a door opened," said Merkel, who started her professional career as a young physicist before entering politics. She told Harvard's graduating class of 2019 to never take freedom or individual liberties for granted and to prioritize people and human dignity as technology advances. And she kept returning to that word. "Walls," she warned them, are what could stop them from solving the world's problems – walls between family members, between groups and between people of different races, nations and religions. "I would like to see us break down these walls – walls that keep preventing us from envisioning the world in which together we want to live. Whether we manage to do that is up to us." Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/05/31/angela-merkel-rebukes-trump-politics-harvard-commencement-speech/1298475001/  |
| Posted: 31 May 2019 08:20 AM PDT
Being pro-choice doesn't make me anti-life. Instead, I know that no one should be allowed to bind others to the dictates of their religious beliefs.Throughout my career, whether in office as a public servant or working in the private sector, I have believed that the fundamental role of our government is to manage the country's resources in a fiscally conservative, responsible manner and to assure that all citizens are equally protected under the law. No citizen should ever have to live in the shadows in order to be safe, and "equal rights" are only equal when they apply to all citizens. By these standards, the new anti-abortion laws recently passed in several states are deeply disturbing as they clearly undermine the rights and safety of women. Draconian and highly punitive of both women and doctors — in Alabama doctors can now face up to 99 years in prison for performing an abortion — these extreme laws are frightening examples of government not just failing to protect the rights of women but also guaranteeing that many citizens will be forced back into the shadows. Fear, persecution and secrecyIn addition to running rough shod over every woman's basic human right to govern her own body, the new laws actively promote a sinister culture of fear, persecution, stigmatization, secrecy and hiding. By making abortion illegal, they greatly increase medical risks to women who may turn to illicit backroom options for termination. Given the systemic racism and prejudices against the poor in the American criminal justice system, the new legislation is sure to hit poor women and women of color harder than anyone else. Read more commentary: New state abortion laws threatening Roe v. Wade framework could ruin 2020 for Democrats Trump administration neglect shows why we need permanent White House women's adviser Abortion advocates hypocritically insult pro-life states for bigotry and ignorance Thank you! You're almost signed up for Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. Because of all of these injustices and more, I have always been and will always be what the political world calls "pro-choice." But let's pause and strip the word "choice" of all its modern political freight. Taken by itself, what does this one-syllable six-letter word imply? It implies options, variety, alternatives. It suggests the possibility of individual and different preferences, and of subsequent acts of decision and selection based on those preferences. At its deepest level, the word "choice" presupposes situations where important fundamental freedoms exist. It is in this sense of the word "choice" that I have always been, emphatically and unequivocally, a supporter of every woman's right to manage her own pregnancies. The fact that my stance makes me what the political world calls "pro-choice" does not mean that I am pro-abortion. It does not mean that I am anti-life. It does not mean that I would ever support third-trimester terminations of pregnancies, except in those very rare cases where a mother's life is seriously endangered. And it most certainly does not mean that I don't respect and support the right of other individuals or families or religious groups to reject any possibility of abortion for themselves. To choose to do so is their basic human right. As a matter of fact, in the generic meaning of the word "choice" — i.e. an opportunity for an individual to consider his or her options and make a personal selection — you could call me "pro-choice" on just about every front. I am in favor of people making their own decisions when it comes to their religious beliefs, their political allegiances, their sexual and gender orientation, their educational options, their health care providers and just about everything else. Anti-abortion laws based on religion, not scienceWhat I strenuously object to is a group of government officials getting together to make sweeping ontological assumptions about the prenatal vesting of human rights and then using these assumptions as an excuse to step into people's personal lives. Both Alabama's and Georgia's recent anti-abortion laws put forward the hypothesis that unborn fetuses are persons or human beings entitled to legal protection. But this is their hypothesis — a position they have chosen to adopt, not an indisputable and scientifically proven fact. Frankly, this is religion, not science. Every individual should be entitled to believe anything he or she chooses to believe — but no one person or group of people should be allowed to subject others to a legally binding system of crime and punishment that is founded upon personal beliefs rather than upon constitutional law. It is worth noting that the extreme terms of the Alabama law — which bars abortion even in cases of rape and incest — have drawn criticism from hard-right leaders like Pat Robertson and Tomi Lahren. This poses another unsettling question: Is the recent surge of anti-abortion bills really about enacting new laws? Or is it a deliberately over-the-top campaign meant to stir up controversy and provoke legal battles that will eventually punt Roe v. Wade all the way back to the Supreme Court? Like so many of the unsettling policy and legislative changes enacted under the current administration, the rising tide of extreme anti-abortion legislation seems deliberately designed to seed fear, anger and division, and to undermine our inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. William Weld served as the governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. He is a candidate for the Republican Party's 2020 presidential nomination. Follow him on Twitter: @GovBillWeld. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/05/31/abortion-bans-betray-human-rights-freedom-deny-choice-column/1269330001/  |
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