WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden kicked off his final holiday season at the White House on Monday by issuing the traditional reprieve to two turkeys who will bypass the Thanksgiving table to live out their days in southern Minnesota. Biden welcomed 2,500 guests to the South Lawn under sunny skies as he cracked jokes about the fates of “Peach” and “Blossom” and sounded wistful tones about the last weeks of his presidency after a half-century in Washington power circles. “It’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful,” Biden said, taking note of his impending departure on Jan. 20, 2025. That's when power will transfer to Republican President-elect Donald Trump, the man Biden defeated four years ago and was battling again until he was pressured to bow out of the race amid concerns about his age and viability. Biden is 82. Until Inauguration Day, the president and first lady Jill Biden will continue a busy run of festivities that will double as their long goodbye. The White House schedule in December is replete with holiday parties for various constituencies, from West Wing staff to members of Congress and the White House press corps. Biden relished the brief ceremony with the pardoned turkeys, named for the official flower of the president's home state of Delaware. “The peach pie in my state is one of my favorites,” he said during remarks that were occasionally interrupted by Peach gobbling atop the table to Biden's right. “Peach is making a last-minute plea,” Biden said at one point, drawing laughter from an overflow crowd that included Cabinet members, White House staff and their families, and students from 4H programs and Future Farmers of America chapters. Biden introduced Peach as a bird who “lives by the motto, ‘Keep calm and gobble on.’” Blossom, the president said, has a different motto: “No fowl play. Just Minnesota nice.” Peach and Blossom came from the farm of John Zimmerman, near the southern Minnesota city of Northfield. Zimmerman, who has raised about 4 million turkeys, is president of the National Turkey Federation, the group that has gifted U.S. presidents Thanksgiving turkeys since the Truman administration after World War II. President Harry Truman, however, preferred to eat the birds. Official pardon ceremonies did not become an annual White House tradition until the administration of President George H.W. Bush in 1989. With their presidential reprieve, Peach and Blossom will live out their days at Farmamerica, an agriculture interpretative center near Waseca in southern Minnesota. The center's aim is to promote agriculture and educate future farmers and others about agriculture in America. Separately Monday, first lady Jill Biden received the official White House Christmas tree that will be decorated and put on display in the Blue Room. The 18.5 foot (5.64 meters) Fraser fir came from a farm in an area of western North Carolina that recently was devastated by Hurricane Helene . Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm lost thousands of trees in the storm “but this one remained standing and they named it ‘Tremendous’ for the extraordinary hope that it represents,” Jill Biden said at the event. The Bidens were also traveling to New York City on Monday for an evening “Friendsgiving” event at a Coast Guard station on Staten Island. Biden began his valedictory calendar Friday night with a gala for hundreds of his friends, supporters and staff members who gathered in a pavilion erected on the South Lawn, with a view out to the Lincoln Memorial. Cabinet secretaries, Democratic donors and his longest-serving staff members came together to hear from the president and pay tribute, with no evidence that Biden was effectively forced from the Democratic ticket this summer and watched Vice President Kamala Harris suffer defeat on Nov. 5. “I’m so proud that we’ve done all of this with a deep belief in the core values of America,” said Biden, sporting a tuxedo for the black-tie event. Setting aside his criticisms of Trump as a fundamental threat to democracy, Biden added his characteristic national cheerleading: “I fully believe that America is better positioned to lead the world today than at any point in my 50 years of public service.” The first lady toasted her husband with a nod to his 2020 campaign promise to “restore the soul of the nation,” in Trump’s aftermath. With the results on Election Day, however, Biden’s four years now become sandwiched in the middle of an era dominated by Trump's presence on the national stage and in the White House. Even as the first couple avoided the context surrounding the president's coming exit, those political realities were nonetheless apparent, as younger Democrats like Maryland Gov. Wes Moore , Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Biden's Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg not only raised their glasses to the president but held forth with many attendees who could remain in the party's power circles in the 2028 election cycle and beyond. ___ Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.More than 18 months ago, Minnesota State women's soccer player Maille Mathis tore her ACL and underwent surgery. She rehabbed diligently while sitting out the 2023 season and returned to the squad this year. On Friday, she admitted she may not be 100% healed, but showed she's most of the way back by scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over St. Cloud State at The Pitch. The triumph came in the first round of the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament and advances the Mavericks to the quarterfinals of the regional. "I've had a few setbacks but it feels pretty good right now," Mathis said after the match. "I'm sure it will continue to get better." Mathis' goal was a bang-bang-bang play which started near midfield on the left side of the pitch. Addison Clarey brought the ball up along the sideline, delivered a perfectly-timed pass to Maddix Archer who in turn sent the ball over to Mathis. Without breaking stride, Mathis quickly shot the ball into the upper-left quadrant of the net for the game-winner at the 59:18 mark. "We're getting to know each other pretty well by now," Mathis said of her teammates. "We have a feel where each of us is going to at any given time." St. Cloud dominated action in the first 10 minutes of the game, outshooting the Mavericks 4-0 and rarely letting the ball outside the MSU zone. The Mavericks withstood the blitz until the 14:46 mark, when SCSU's Grace Olson converted a free kick that appeared to glance off a defender and into the net. The 1-0 lead stood until halftime. "We know there's usually going to be a 10-20 minute span when our opponents take their best shot and that's usually at the beginning of the game," MSU coach Brian Bahl said. "We held on until halftime when we were able to make a couple of adjustments and came out a lot more aggressive." After applying constant pressure to start the second frame, the Mavericks evened things up when Archer took a straight-on shot that goalie Meriel Orham was able to stop but not able to hang on to. When the ball popped out of her hands, a hard-charging Clarey was there to clean it up and slide the ball into the net to tie the game at 53:21. "When the ball came out I just pounced on it," Clarey said. Six minutes later, Mathis scored the game-winner and MSU held on for the win. St. Cloud had a handful of opportunities in the second frame, but Mavericks' goalie Clare Longueville and the rest of the defense thwarted all of them. MSU was outshot 12-9 for the game. The decision improves MSU to 15-1-6 and ends SCSU's season at 11-4-5. The Mavericks, the No. 2 seed, are in quarterfinal action at 1 p.m. Sunday at The Pitch with a game against No. 3 seed Northwest Missouri State. NWMSU advanced with a 2-1 win over Concordia-St. Paul Saturday morning.
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Former Watford striker Andre Gray scored a last-minute equaliser as Wayne Rooney's Plymouth stretched their unbeaten Championship home run to six with a 2-2 draw against the Hornets. Gray smashed home from just inside the box after being teed up by substitute striker Mustapha Bundu in the sixth and final minute of stoppage-time. Watford, who dominated early possession, took a ninth-minute lead when Vakoun Bayo slid in at the far post to beat home keeper Dan Grimshaw and convert Yasser Larouci's left-wing cross. Gray levelled in the 23rd minute with a brilliant right-foot volley to meet skipper Lewis Gibson's long ball from inside his own half. The forward used all his experience to allow the towering ball to drop in front of him before guiding the ball past Daniel Bachmann, at full stretch in the Watford goal, in at the far post. Trending Central defender Ryan Porteous - who had missed an earlier opportunity - made it 2-1 to Watford with a fine finish steering home Mattie Pollock's cross from the right as he slid into the six-yard box. Porteous could have put Watford ahead from a 31st-minute corner, nodded down by Pollock into his fellow central defender's path. But Porteous, side footed wide from close range through a crowded six-yard box. Also See: Download the Sky Sports app Live EFL 2024/25 fixtures on Sky Sports+ Get more EFL to your phone with WhatsApp Watch EFL on Sky with NOW Argyle playmaker Morgan Whittaker came close to putting Plymouth ahead after 26 minutes with an audacious half-volley from long range. Whittaker's shot from 25 yards plus whistled just past Bachmann's post, with the keeper beaten for pace. Striker Michael Obafemi then tried his luck, spinning to send a shot just wide from the edge of the box with a shot on the turn. Grimshaw did well to punch clear an inswinging Giorgio Chakvetadze corner before Watford scored their second. Argyle's on-loan Leeds' midfielder Darko Gyabi tried his luck from 25 yards but his shot on the run dipped just over the bar. Grimshaw was forced into a good save, just under his bar, after Chakvetadze beat two defenders and let fly from the edge of the penalty area after 58 minutes. Gyabi cut inside from the left in the 64th minute but his low shot was easily held by Bachmann, low down at his near post. Sorinola's cross from the right was just too far ahead of Gray, who made contact but could only head wide in the 71st minute as Argyle pressed for a leveller. Grimshaw made a great save with his feet to deny Bayo in the 78th minute after skipper Moussa Sissoko broke from the halfway line on the counter before teeing up the opening goal scorer. But Gray had the final say to earn Argyle a point. The managers Plymouth's Wayne Rooney: To follow... Watford's Tom Cleverley: To follow... The £250,000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always it is completely free to play. Entries by 3pm Saturday.
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