Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 532 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)Kam Jones scored 20 points and dished with 10 assists to lead the No. 10 Marquette Golden Eagles to a 94-62 victory over the visiting Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee. Jones added six rebounds for Marquette (8-0), which is off to its best start since winning 10 straight to begin the 2011-12 campaign that ended with a Sweet 16 appearance. Ben Gold added 12 points, while Stevie Mitchell scored 10 and had three steals. David Joplin, Caedin Hamilton and Royce Parham each netted nine points for the Golden Eagles. The Catamounts (2-4) were led by Bernard Pelote's 13 points and eight boards. Jamar Livingston chipped in 10 points and CJ Hyland bundled five points with five rebounds and six assists. Marquette controlled most of the game, thanks largely to 51.4 percent shooting and 21 takeaways. The Golden Eagles built a 16-point lead in the first half before Western Carolina clawed within 37-28 with 3:55 left. Marquette responded with a 12-2 run to take a 49-30 advantage into the break, its largest lead of the game to that point. The game quickly got out of hand from there, with the Golden Eagles eventually scoring 11 straight points to push its lead to 81-45 with 7:15 remaining. Marquette finished with 26 points off of Catamount turnovers and hit 14 of 40 shots (35.0 percent) from 3-point range. The win wasn't all smooth sailing for the Golden Eagles, who lost backup guard Zaide Lowery to an apparent left knee injury. Lowery was helped off the court and into the locker room by his teammates with 1:36 left in the game. Saturday's game was a final tune-up for Marquette, which has three challenging games coming up against No. 5 Iowa State, No. 15 Wisconsin and Dayton before Big East conference play begins Dec. 18. --Field Level Media
NoneVehicle Telematics Hardware Market Report 2024: Global Shipments of Aftermarket Telematics Devices is Forecast to Grow at a CAGR of 8% in the Next Five Years to Reach 69.3 Million in 2028
Swinney and Brown at memorial service for ‘giant of a man’ Alex SalmondRussia: US using Taiwan to incite crisis in AsiaPresident-elect Donald Trump will return to power next year with a raft of technological tools at his disposal that would help deliver his campaign promise of cracking down on immigration — among them, surveillance and artificial intelligence technology that the Biden administration already uses to help make crucial decisions in tracking, detaining and ultimately deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status. While immigration officials have used the tech for years, an October letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how those tools — some of them powered by AI — help make decisions over whether an immigrant should be detained or surveilled. One algorithm, for example, ranks immigrants with a “Hurricane Score,” ranging from 1-5, to assess whether someone will “abscond” from the agency's supervision. The letter, sent by DHS Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen to the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law, revealed that the score calculates the potential risk that an immigrant — with a pending case — will fail to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The algorithm relies on several factors, he said, including an immigrant’s number of violations and length of time in the program, and whether the person has a travel document. Hysen wrote that ICE officers consider the score, among other information, when making decisions about an immigrant’s case. “The Hurricane Score does not make decisions on detention, deportation, or surveillance; instead, it is used to inform human decision-making,” Hysen wrote. Also included in the government’s tool kit is a mobile app called SmartLINK that uses facial matching and can track an immigrant’s specific location. Nearly 200,000 people without legal status who are in removal proceedings are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, under which certain immigrants can live in the U.S. while their immigration cases are pending. In exchange, SmartLINK and GPS trackers used by ICE rigorously surveil them and their movements. The phone application draws on facial matching technology and geolocation data, which has been used before to find and arrest those using the app. Just Futures Law wrote to Hysen earlier this year, questioning the fairness of using an algorithm to assess whether someone is a flight risk and raising concerns over how much data SmartLINK collects. Such AI systems, which score or screen people, are used widely but remain largely unregulated even though some have been found to discriminate on race, gender or other protected traits. DHS said in an email that it is committed to ensuring that its use of AI is transparent and safeguards privacy and civil rights while avoiding biases. The agency said it is working to implement the Biden administration’s requirements on using AI , but Hysen said in his letter that security officials may waive those requirements for certain uses. Trump has publicly vowed to repeal Biden's AI policy when he returns to the White House in January. “DHS uses AI to assist our personnel in their work, but DHS does not use the outputs of AI systems as the sole basis for any law enforcement action or denial of benefits,” a spokesperson for DHS told the AP. Trump has not revealed how he plans to carry out his promised deportation of an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Although he has proposed invoking wartime powers, as well as military involvement, the plan would face major logistical challenges — such as where to keep those who have been detained and how to find people spread across the country — that AI-powered surveillance tools could potentially address. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, did not answer questions about how the incoming administration plans to use DHS’ tech, but said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation” in American history. Over 100 civil society groups sent a letter on Friday urging the Office of Management and Budget to require DHS to comply with the Biden administration’s guidelines. OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Just Futures Law’s executive director, Paromita Shah, said if immigrants are scored as flight risks, they are more likely to remain in detention, "limiting their ability to prepare a defense in their case in immigration court, which is already difficult enough as it is.” SmartLINK, part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, is run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group. The GEO Group also contracts with ICE to run detention centers. ICE is tight-lipped about how it uses SmartLINK’s location feature to find and arrest immigrants. Still, public records show that during Trump’s first term in 2018, Manassas, Virginia-based employees of BI Inc. relayed immigrants’ GPS locations to federal authorities, who then arrested over 40 people. In a report last year to address privacy issues and concerns, DHS said that the mobile app includes security features that “prohibit access to information on the participant’s mobile device, with the exception of location data points when the app is open.” But the report notes that there remains a risk that data collected from people "may be misused for unauthorized persistent monitoring.” Such information could also be stored in other ICE and DHS databases and used for other DHS mission purposes, the report said. On investor calls earlier this month, private prison companies were clear-eyed about the opportunities ahead. The GEO Group’s executive chairman George Christopher Zoley said that he expects the incoming Trump administration to “take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.” “In GEO’s ISAP program, we can scale up from the present 182,500 participants to several hundreds of thousands, or even millions of participants,” Zoley said. That same day, the head of another private prison company told investors he would be watching closely to see how the new administration may change immigrant monitoring programs. “It’s an opportunity for multiple vendors to engage ICE about the program going forward and think about creative and innovative solutions to not only get better outcomes, but also scale up the program as necessary,” Damon Hininger, CEO of the private prison company CoreCivic Inc. said on an earnings call. GEO did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, CoreCivic said that it has played “a valued but limited role in America’s immigration system” for both Democrats and Republicans for over 40 years. Sarah Parvini, Garance Burke And Jesse Bedayn, The Associated Press
NBA star LeBron James announced Thursday that he’s decided to take some time off from social media. The reason? Too much “negativity.” James reposted a message from Rich Kleiman — an entrepreneur known for being fellow NBA player Kevin Durant’s agent — that spoke about, “so much hate and negativity in the world today” asserting that, “We can all acknowledge that is the last part of society that universally brings people together.” AMEN!! 🫡 — LeBron James (@KingJames) Shortly after his repost, James made the following post indicating it was time to step away. And with that said I’ll holla at y’all! Getting off social media for the time being. Y’all take care ✌🏾👑 — LeBron James (@KingJames) This would be all well and good for a four-time champion if he truly considered professional sports to be an escape that brings Americans together while using his platform to spread positivity. However, James has spent the past election cycle doing just the opposite. On Halloween, James posted a deceptively edited video — basically propaganda — with soundbites of President-elect , making him seem like a raging lunatic racist one would find in the Civil Rights Era among names like former Alabama Gov. George Wallace. James added the caption to the video, “What are we even talking about here?? When I think about my kids and my family and how they will grow up, the choice is clear to me.” He ended his message with a desperate plea to his followers. “VOTE KAMALA HARRIS!!!” What are we even talking about here?? When I think about my kids and my family and how they will grow up, the choice is clear to me. VOTE KAMALA HARRIS!!! — LeBron James (@KingJames) This video the embodiment of the negativity James is complaining about. How could James be so incredibly oblivious to the on display here? TPUSA contributor Jon Root replied to James’s reposting of Kleiman’s message, reminding him how responsible he was for the atmosphere he now complains about. Bro... You called Trump and his supporters (more than half the country), segregationist racists, KKK members and Nazis when you endorsed Kamala Harris. You are perpetuating the divisiveness and hate that is tearing this country apart. Maybe look at yourself in the mirror,... — Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) Root appropriately told James he was “perpetuating the divisiveness and hate that is tearing apart.” Well said. If James truly wanted to bring the country together, he would stop posting propaganda, stop attacking , and do one of the hardest things in the world — admit he was wrong. Running away from the problem that you created while saying it’s someone else’s fault isn’t going to help your case. James doesn’t appear to be done with X. Maybe after his break, he can come back with a new mindset and actually be part of the solution. We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. .Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for intel chief, faces questions on Capitol Hill amid Syria fallout
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College football transfer portal opens as Oklahoma's Arnold, other top players look for a moveAre 'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' the next 'Barbenheimer'? How movie theaters are making 'Glicked' a can't-miss event.
NoneNo. 10 Marquette remains undefeated with convincing win over Western Carolina
ALTOONA, Pa. — After UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was gunned down on a New York sidewalk, police searched for the masked gunman with dogs, drones and scuba divers. Officers used the city's muscular surveillance system. Investigators analyzed DNA samples, fingerprints and internet addresses. Police went door-to-door looking for witnesses. When an arrest came five days later, those sprawling investigative efforts shared credit with an alert civilian's instincts. A Pennsylvania McDonald's customer noticed another patron who resembled the man in the oblique security-camera photos that New York police had publicized. Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry speaks during a press conference regarding the arrest of suspect Luigi Mangione, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa., in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey) Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, was arrested Monday in the killing of Brian Thompson, who headed one of the United States’ largest medical insurance companies. He remained jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. By late evening, prosecutors in Manhattan had added a charge of murder, according to an online court docket. He's expected to be extradited to New York eventually. It’s unclear whether Mangione has an attorney who can comment on the allegations. Asked at Monday's arraignment whether he needed a public defender, Mangione asked whether he could “answer that at a future date.” Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after the McDonald's customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said. Police in Altoona, about 233 miles (375 kilometers) west of New York City, were soon summoned. This booking photo released Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections shows Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via AP) They arrived to find Mangione sitting at a table in the back of the restaurant, wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop, according to a Pennsylvania police criminal complaint. He initially gave them a fake ID, but when an officer asked Mangione whether he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” the complaint says. When he pulled his mask down at officers' request, “we knew that was our guy,” rookie Officer Tyler Frye said at a news conference in Hollidaysburg. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Manhattan news conference that Mangione was carrying a gun like the one used to kill Thompson and the same fake ID the shooter had used to check into a New York hostel, along with a passport and other fraudulent IDs. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione also had a three-page, handwritten document that shows “some ill will toward corporate America." An NYPD police officer and K-9 dog search around a lake in Central Park, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) A law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the document included a line in which Mangione claimed to have acted alone. “To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,” the document said, according to the official. It also had a line that said, “I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.” Pennsylvania prosecutor Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was found with a passport and $10,000 in cash — $2,000 of it in foreign currency. Mangione disputed the amount. Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a midtown Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. Police quickly came to see the shooting as a targeted attack by a gunman who appeared to wait for Thompson, came up behind him and fired a 9 mm pistol. Investigators have said “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on ammunition found near Thompson’s body. The words mimic a phrase used to criticize the insurance industry. A poster issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows a wanted unknown suspect. (FBI via AP) From surveillance video, New York investigators gathered that the shooter fled by bike into Central Park, emerged, then took a taxi to a northern Manhattan bus terminal. Once in Pennsylvania, he went from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, “trying to stay low-profile” by avoiding cameras, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said. A grandson of a wealthy, self-made real estate developer and philanthropist, Mangione is a cousin of a current Maryland state legislator. Mangione was valedictorian at his elite Baltimore prep school, where his 2016 graduation speech lauded his classmates’ “incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things.” He went on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesperson said. “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted on social media late Monday by his cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.” An NYPD police officer and K-9 dog search around a lake in Central Park, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) Luigi Nicholas Mangione worked for a time for the car-buying website TrueCar and left in 2023, CEO Jantoon Reigersman said by email. From January to June 2022, Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” space at the edge of Honolulu tourist mecca Waikiki. Like other residents of the shared penthouse catering to remote workers, Mangione underwent a background check, said Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for owner and founder R.J. Martin. “Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints,” Ryan said. "There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.” At Surfbreak, Martin learned Mangione had severe back pain from childhood that interfered with many aspects of his life, from surfing to romance, Ryan said. “He went surfing with R.J. once but it didn’t work out because of his back," Ryan said, but noted that Mangione and Martin often went together to a rock-climbing gym. NYPD officers in diving suits search a lake in Central Park, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgery on the mainland, Ryan said, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an apartment. Martin stopped hearing from Mangione six months to a year ago. Although the gunman obscured his face during the shooting, he left a trail of evidence in New York, including a backpack he ditched in Central Park, a cellphone found in a pedestrian plaza, a water bottle and a protein bar wrapper. In the days after the shooting, the NYPD collected hundreds of hours of surveillance video and released multiple clips and still images in hopes of enlisting the public’s eyes to help find a suspect. “This combination of old-school detective work and new-age technology is what led to this result today,” Tisch said at the New York news conference. ___ Scolforo reported from Altoona and Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Contributing were Associated Press writers Cedar Attanasio and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Michael Rubinkam and Maryclaire Dale in Pennsylvania; Lea Skene in Baltimore and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
It's getting harder to stay on the PGA Tour. Here's whyInformal vote counts in Ireland's General Election centres suggest potential breakthroughs and challenges for some established incumbents, following an exit poll that showed the three main parties nearly neck and neck. The tallies, conducted by party activists and volunteers from 9am, provide a more localised view of the potential result than Friday night's exit poll. , the largest opposition party, held 21.1% of first-preference votes, slightly ahead of current coalition partners Fine Gael and Fianna Fail at 21% and 19.5% respectively, according to the Ipsos BandA Exit Poll commissioned by RTE, The Irish Times, TG4 and Trinity College Dublin. Now that the boxes are open, the votes must be sorted before the formal count begins, a process that could take days due to Ireland's complex proportional representation system with a single transferable vote (PR-STV), where candidates are ranked by preference. This means that voting slips need to be counted multiple times, a task that can last days. The early inconclusive indications have shifted speculation towards the complicated maths of government formation, as the country's several smaller parties and many independents potentially vie for a place in government. First counts, which could see the election of new members of parliament, known as TDs in Ireland, are expected later on Saturday. The counts are indicating potential difficulties for Fianna Fail in Wicklow, where the party's sole candidate in the constituency, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, is anticipated to face a tough fight, with the possibility of losing his seat looming. Green Party leader Roderic O'Gorman, who leads the junior partner in the outgoing coalition, also appears vulnerable, reports . He had garnered 7% of the votes in the unofficial poll with over half of the boxes tallied by midday. Attention is also turning to independent candidate Gerard Hutch, who currently ranks fourth in the four-seat constituency of Dublin Central following the completion of the unofficial tallies there. Last spring, Mr Hutch was acquitted by the non-jury Special Criminal Court of the murder of David Byrne, marking one of the initial fatal incidents in the Hutch-Kinahan gangland feud. Mr Byrne, aged 33, was fatally shot six times during a busy boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in February 2016. A Special Criminal Court judge labelled Mr Hutch, 61, as the patriarchal figurehead of the Hutch criminal organisation and stated he had been involved in "serious criminal conduct". The outcome in this constituency is being keenly observed as other candidates await the possibility that transfers from those eliminated might ultimately push him out of the race. Initially, it seemed unlikely that a single smaller party would be needed to secure a majority. This has led to speculation about the potential for a coalition involving four parties or independents - a scenario some view as a recipe for unstable governance. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael leaders have consistently dismissed the idea of a coalition with Sinn Fein due to significant policy differences. Consequently, the opposition party faces a more difficult path to government formation. However, seemingly insurmountable political differences have been overcome as recently as 2020 when an inconclusive general election result led to Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, two parties born from opposing sides of Ireland's 1920s Civil War, agreeing to put aside nearly a century of hostility and share power in the outgoing coalition. This was despite similar pre-election pledges against forming coalitions. In that election, Sinn Fein won the popular vote but didn't run enough candidates to secure sufficient Dail seats for a realistic shot at government formation. The transfer of votes based on voter preferences, a crucial aspect of PR-STV, is a key determinant in the final outcome of any Irish election. This system allows candidates to secure a seat even if they don't receive enough votes in the first count. Over 3.6 million people registered to vote in the election, which covered 43 constituencies and focused on issues such as the housing crisis, immigration surge, cost of living, economic management, and potential future trade shocks. The country's parliament has a total of 174 seats to be filled, a record number. However, as the Ceann Comhairle, or speaker of the house, is automatically returned, only 173 seats will be filled during the counting process. To remove this article -
Tributes were paid to the former Scottish first minister, who died suddenly in North Macedonia in October at the age of 69. A private family funeral has already taken place, with Saturday’s memorial service in Edinburgh held to celebrate his love of Scotland and his commitment to the cause of independence. But while some 500 people, including family, friends and politicians from across the spectrum attended the service at St Giles’ Cathedral, his successor Nicola Sturgeon was not present. A rift between her and Mr Salmond – who she had previously described as her mentor – developed during her term as SNP leader. Ms Sturgeon attended the funeral of Scottish comedian Janey Godley in Glasgow on Saturday morning. Her successor, Mr Swinney, was met with boos as he arrived at the service – held on St Andrew’s Day – with at least one person in the crowd outside on the Royal Mile shouting “traitor”. Mr Salmond stood down as SNP leader and first minister after the 2014 referendum in which Scots voted to stay part of the UK. He helped found and went on to lead another pro-independence party, Alba, with Kenny MacAskill, a long-time friend who served as justice secretary in Holyrood under Mr Salmond. Mr MacAskill, now the acting Alba leader, told the congregation – which included Mr Salmond’s widow Moira as well as Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, former Labour first minister Henry McLeish and Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay – that Mr Salmond had been a “giant of man”. Mr MacAskill, who quit the SNP to join Alba, hailed Mr Salmond as “an inspiration, a political genius” and being “most of all a man who had the cause of independence burned into his heart and seared in his soul”. The cause of independence was Mr Salmond’s “guiding light, his north star”, the former justice secretary said, adding that “he came so close to achieving it”. He added: “Those of us who share his dream must conclude that journey on his behalf. That’s the legacy he’d expect and the duty we owe him.” Recalling Mr Salmond’s words from when he stood down as first minister that “the dream shall never die”, Mr MacAskill concluded his address with the words: “Your dream shall be delivered.” Former Conservative Brexit minister and long-time friend of Mr Salmond, David Davis, gave a reading as did former Scottish government minister SNP MSP Fergus Ewing. Scottish folk singer Dougie MacLean performed his famous song Caledonia, while singer Sheena Wellington led mourners in a rendition of Robert Burns’ classic A Man’s A Man For A’ That. Scottish rock duo the Proclaimers were applauded for their performance of Cap in Hand – a pro-independence song which features the line “I can’t understand why we let someone else rule our land, cap in hand”. Brothers Craig and Charlie Reid said: “We’re going to do this for Alex, with love and respect and eternal gratitude for everything you did for our country.” Christina Hendry described her Uncle Alex as a “political giant, a strong leader, a fearless campaigner” but also remembered his as a “dearly loved husband, brother and uncle”. While she said he had been “the top man in Scotland”, he had “always made time for his family”, recalling how he phoned her brother on his birthday – the day after the Scottish independence referendum in 2014 – to apologise for not posting a card “as he’d been busy”, before telling them he would “resigning in 10 minutes”. She told the congregation: “As his family, we always felt loved no matter how far away he was or the time that passed before we saw him next. “We always knew he was standing up for our country, and for that we were grateful.” Ms Hendry continued: “The world will be a much quieter place without Uncle Alex, for Moira, for the wider family and for Scotland. “Uncle Alex passing means a great loss for many. A loss of Scotland’s voice on the international stage. A loss of integrity in Scottish politics. And a great loss to Scotland’s independence movement. “As a family it is likely a loss we will never get over.” Duncan Hamilton KC, who was an SNP MSP after the first Scottish Parliament elections, but also served as a political adviser and legal counsel to Mr Salmond, said the former first minister had “rightly been hailed as one of the greatest Scottish politicians of this, or any, generation”. He told how Mr Salmond took the SNP from being “a fringe act trying to get onto the main stage” to a party of government. “In Scottish politics, his success was both spectacular and unrivalled,” Mr Hamilton said. “Alex Salmond will forever be a pivotal figure in Scotland’s story. He changed a nation. He inspired a country. “History will certainly remember him as a man of talent, charisma and substance. But also as a political leader of courage, vision and intelligence. “He dared to dream. And so should we.” As the service finished the crowd gathered outside applauded and chanted “Alex, Alex” before singing Flower Of Scotland.On Football analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL from week to week. For more On Football analysis, head here . Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get updates and player profiles ahead of Friday's high school games, plus a recap Saturday with stories, photos, video Frequency: Seasonal Twice a week
Powers will play for the six-player state title in football after outlasting South Wasco County 40-30 in the semifinals Saturday at Cottage Grove. The top-ranked Cruisers will face Harper Charter, the No. 2 ranked team, in the championship game this Saturday. Harper Charter beat the combined Prairie City/Burnt River squad 65-22 in the other semifinal game. The championship game is at 2 p.m. Saturday at Caldera High School in Bend. Both teams enter the title contest with perfect records. Powers overcame four turnovers and a few costly penalties to beat the Redsides in their semifinal game. Just like in the quarterfinals, they trailed early, as well, before taking the lead. South Wasco County had the ball first, and took just three plays to score, with quarterback Storm McCoy connecting with George Barnett on a 54-yard score. It was the first of four touchdown passes, all to different players, for McCoy. Marcel Sandoval’s conversion kick gave the Redsides an early 8-0 lead. The Cruisers then promptly lost a fumble, the first of their four turnovers, and Sandoval recovered for the Redsides. But right away, the Cruisers forced the first South Wasco County turnovers, with Rene Sears recovering the miscue. A big run by Jayce Shorb moved the ball deep into South Wasco territory and Sears connected with Patrick Mahmoud on a 10-yard touchdown pass. Sears added the conversion run and the Cruisers trailed just 8-7 with 6:19 go in the first quarter. The first big Powers penalty came on the ensuring South Wasco County possession, an offsides penalty on a play when the Redsides snapped the ball over the quarterback’s head for what would have been a safety. The Redsides then reached the Cruisers’ 10 yard line, but another snap over the quarterback’s head led to a big loss and the Cruisers stopped the drive when Mahmoud knocked down a fourth-down pass. This time it was Braden Bushnell connecting with Mahmoud on a 67-yard touchdown pass to put the Cruisers in front for good, 13-8 after a failed conversion attempt. After another quick stop, Powers drove the field and Shorb scored from 1 yard out. Bushnell hit Sears for the conversion, giving the Cruisers a 20-8 lead early in the second. The Redsides had another snap over the quarterback’s head on a fourth-down play giving Powers the ball at the South Wasco County 11, but the Cruisers were unable to capitalize. South Wasco County drove the field and McCoy hit Marcos Chavez for a 14-yard score, pulling the Redsides within 20-14. Both teams scored in the final minute of the first half — a 17- yard run by Sears for Powers and an 18-yard pass from McCoy to Coy Shirley for the Redsides — but South Wasco County made its kick and Powers missed its conversion and the Cruisers’ halftime lead was 26-22, a close score by Powers standards for the season. The Cruisers scored quickly in the third quarter, a two-play drive with Sears connecting with Talon Blanton for a pass down to the South Wasco County 11 and then a conversion pass from Sears to Blanton. The Cruisers then recovered a squib kick, with Sears falling on the ball, and Sears connected with Brody Harless for a 6-yard touchdown that gave Powers a 40-22 lead with 6:22 to go in the third quarter. Blanton recovered the squib kick again, with Blanton getting on the ball, but South Wasco County got an interception by Barnett. Powers forced another turnover, with Mahmoud intercepting in the end zone. But Powers had a fumble and this time, the Redsides converted, with Gavin Hagen scoring an 88- yard catch-and-run touchdown on a pass from McCoy. Sandoval’s kick made it 40-30 in the final minute of the third quarter, but the score turned out to be the final touchdown of the game. The final quarter wasn’t without excitement, though. Powers had a long touchdown run by Shorb called back by a penalty, got a sack by Dan Shorb to end the ensuing South Wasco County drive, and then lost its final turnover. South Wasco County got the ball down to the Powers 4, but was unable to score. Blanton had a big sack to push the ball out to the 17 and the Redsides dropped a potential touchdown pass. Powers ran out the clock and advanced to the championship game for the first time since 2003, when Powers lost to Powder Valley. The Cruisers got their last state title in 1998, the last of three straight state championships. In the win over South Wasco County, Sears rushed for 139 yards and the two scores and also completed 6 of 14 passes for 94 yards and two more touchdowns. Bushnell and Jayce Shorb combined for 95 more rushing yards and Bushnell completed 5 of 11 passes for 113 yards. Mahmoud had three catches for 88 yards, while Blanton had three receptions for 62 and Jayce Shorb three for 48. Mahmoud had a team-best 10 tackles while Jayce Shorb had six tackles for loss. For South Wasco County, McCoy completed 18 of 33 passes for 431 yards. Hagan had seven catches for 190 yards and Barnett five catches for 147. Barnett had a team-best 70 rushing yards but the team had negative yards in all, due to McCoy losing 101 yards on 10 carries. Harper Charter, like Powers, is unbeaten on the season and twice beat South Wasco County, 45-6 in September and 53-20 on Oct. 25. The Hornets also beat Joseph, the squad Powers beat in the quarterfinals, 48-7. Unlike Powers, which has six seniors among its 12 players, Harper Charter is a junior-dominated club, with one senior and nine juniors. In the other championship matchups: : Lake Oswego beat Central Catholic 33-24 in one semifinal and West Linn held off Sheldon 28-21 in the other, setting up a championship game between the top two teams. The Lakers and Lions meet at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Hillsboro Stadium. In the secondary 6A championship, for the second 16 teams in the state’s largest classification, rivals and neighbors North Medford and South Medford will square off after North Medford beat Jesuit 42-32 and South Medford shut out Newberg 17-0. The game will be at 5 p.m. Saturday in the stadium the two teams share. : Wilsonville knocked off top-ranked Silverton 32-29 to advance to the final against Mountain View, which beat West Albany 40-17 in the other semifinal. The championship game is at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Hillsboro Stadium. : Top-ranked Marist Catholic dominated Scappoose 41-7 to set up a championship-game rematch against Henley, which won last year’s title over the Spartans 42- 23. Henley edged Cascade 21-14, coming from 14 points down in the fourth quarter and winning the game in overtime. The tying touchdown came with just 19 seconds to go in regulation. The championship game is at 1 p.m. Saturday at Spiegelberg Stadium in Medford. : Vale and Burns will meet for the title. One week after knocking off top-ranked Siuslaw, North Valley was stymied by Vale’s defense and fell 20-3. The Vikings have won 12 state titles, the last in 2015, and are unbeaten this year. Burns, meanwhile, upset No. 2 Banks 22-15, the third straight upset for the 11th-seed Hilanders. Burns fell to Vale 18-12 back in early October. Burns has shut out five opponents and given up one touchdown or less to three others. Vale has given up one touchdown or less seven times and won another game by forfeit. The game will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Summit High School in Bend. : St. Paul knocked off top-seed Heppner 18-12 to reach the championship game, where the unbeaten Buckaroos will meet Sunset Conference champion Oakridge. The Oakers, the No. 2 seed, also are unbeaten and eliminated Gervais 28-14 one week after also knocking out Myrtle Point. The championship game is at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cottage Grove High School. : Top seed Adrian will face North Douglas for the title after both won semifinal games Saturday. Adrian beat Crane 34-26 to improve to 11-0 on the season. Unbeaten North Douglas beat Crosspoint Christian 50-6 behind another huge game from Hunter Vaughn, who had four touchdown runs and a TD catch and ran for 287 yards on 13 carries. For the season, Vaughn has rushed for 2,654 yards and 45 touchdowns. The championship game is at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Summit High School.(The Center Square) – The State Board of Education (SBOE) on Friday approved the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) proposal for Texas’ state-owned textbooks, known as Bluebonnet Learning. It passed by a vote of 8-7. It includes new Mathematics curriculum for K-8 students, new Language Arts material for K-5 students and additional instructional support for teachers. Gov. Greg Abbott lauded the vote, saying, “The passage of Bluebonnet Learning is a critical step forward to bring students back to the basics of education and provide the best education in the nation.” He also notes that the materials are voluntary and free for use. Parents and the public are able to access the materials at tea.texas.gov/bluebonnet . The “transformative educational materials ... will ensure young Texans have access to high-quality, grade-level appropriate curricula that will provide the necessary fundamentals in math, reading, science, and other core subjects and boost student outcomes across Texas,” Abbott said. The new curriculum stems from HB 1605, filed in 2023 by state Rep. Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, which passed the legislature and Abbott signed into law. It requires the TEA to provide Open Education Resources (OER) textbooks for core subjects, including reading and math for Pre-K to 8th grade. It also directed the TEA to appoint an advisory board to ensure the materials are high quality and compliant with state standards. The materials were subject to approval by the SBOE. The curriculum is voluntary, but school districts will receive additional funding if they use them. If they opt-in to use Bluebonnet Learning, a second stream of additional funding will be made available to defray printing costs. Abbott said in May when the materials were made available for public review that they will “provide the necessary fundamentals in math, reading, science, and other core subjects” and “allow our students to better understand the connection of history, art, community, literature, and religion on pivotal events like the signing of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Movement, and the American Revolution,” The Center Square reported . Of the several issues opponents criticized, chief among them is proposed curriculum in the Language Arts material related to Christianity and the Bible. The American Federation of Teachers-Texas Chapter also took issue with additional state funding only being made available to school districts that opt-in, arguing the process is unethical and violates educational standards. “Every educator in this state agrees to a Code of Ethics . Among the standards we are expected to uphold by the state of Texas is that we shall not exclude a student from participation in a program, deny benefits to a student, or grant an advantage to a student on the basis of race, color, gender, disability, national origin, religion, family status, or sexual orientation,” AFT-Texas Chapter President Zeph Capo said . “Texas has a way of forcing us to violate this standard, usually about the time that the Legislature ends its session and the governor puts his pen to the signature line of so many counterproductive, detrimental bills. Today, though, it is the State Board of Education that has put us in the position of defying our Code of Ethics once more. “On Nov. 22, in a close vote that crossed party lines and was separated only by a last-minute political appointee, the SBOE voted to approve Bluebonnet Learning materials as curriculum resources for Texas public school districts.” Capo also said the materials “are not just inappropriate – they’re bad at what they proclaim to do. Instructional experts have expressed deep concerns about the age-appropriateness of the materials and whether they will be effective reading instruction.” The vote was held after significant public input. On Monday, more than 150 people signed up to testify before the board about the curriculum. On Tuesday, board members took a preliminary vote, 8-7, indicating it had enough votes to adopt the curriculum. This is after thousands weighed in after the material was made public in May. “A highly transparent, three-month public feedback period began in May 2024, giving the public an opportunity to review and offer comments on the proposed materials. The SBOE also welcomed several hours of public testimony at its September meeting where additional feedback on the product was received. TEA used these comments and feedback to further refine, edit and ready the product for final submission as part of the SBOE’s Instructional Materials Review and Approval (IMRA) process - ensuring the materials are aligned with state standards and values,” the TEA explains. “The branding of Bluebonnet Learning began with feedback from teachers and parents seeking a clear, distinctive name to make the materials easier to recognize for educators and school systems. Bluebonnet Learning materials are Texas Open Education Resources (OER), meaning they are owned by the state, made available free to anyone, and can be modified over time to make them better for students and teachers.”Martin Lewis reveals how you could save hundreds of pounds on broadband every year as he urges customers to act ahead of Black Friday
