monopoly live casino (The Center Square) – The majority of Americans generally support the idea of cutting back on the federal government, polling finds. The Pew Research poll from this summer found that 56% of Americans say the government is “almost always wasteful and inefficient.” Gallup’s recent polling data shows that 55% of Americans say the government is doing “too much” while only 41% say it should do more. Americans are more evenly split how big the government should be, but increasing government efficiency has more broad support. “Gallup polling earlier this year showed that 58% of Americans are dissatisfied with the size and power of the federal government,” Gallup said. “A slight majority of Americans say the government has too much power. Seven in 10 Americans in 2019 agreed that businesses can do things more efficiently than the federal government.” The survey comes after President-elect Donald Trump won the White House and issued broad, sweeping plans to decrease the scope of the federal government. To accomplish this task, Trump appointed businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and billionaire Elon Musk to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency. “Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies – Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,’” Trump said in his announcement. Both Ramaswamy and Musk have publicly issued scathing remarks about the waste of federal resources currently occurring in Washington, D.C. Ramaswamy, for instance, has laid out a specific plan on how thousands of federal workers could be fired. The pair of businessmen have said publicly DOGE could cut $2 trillion in federal spending. Ramaswamy and Musk visited Capitol Hill on Thursday to meet with lawmakers to discuss the potential cuts, which could even include ideas as drastic as eliminating the Department of Education and returning that responsibility to the states. Trump's allies have also discussed cutting spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which are seen by Trump's camp as taxpayer-funded investment in woke ideology. Whether such stark actions would be supported by Americans remains unclear, but for now the latest polling shows Americans want something to be done. On top of that, Americans’ desire for smaller government seems to be more than a momentary political phase. “Gallup has asked this question annually over the past 24 years. On average, 52% of Americans have said the government is doing too much, compared with 42% saying the government should do more...” Gallup said. “Only twice have more Americans chosen the ‘government should do more’ alternative over the ‘government doing too much’ alternative -- in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and in 2020 after the outbreak of COVID-19.”

New 2025 laws hit hot topics from AI in movies to rapid-fire guns

Mike England handed me a shotgun as we prepared to hunt on a piece of land in a redacted location I swore I’d never share, partially out of fear but mostly respect. Outside Bozeman owners Chris McCarthy and Mike England are in the process of selling the local magazine of and are seen in their office on Nov. 19. I’ve never hunted, instead spending much of my time behind a screen, typing away, busily compiling words that would lead to eventual stories, some more read than others. England can relate to that, I’m sure of it. When I loaded the shells and cocked the 12-gauge, ready to take aim at pheasant, I briefly wondered what I was doing out in a wheat field near Belgrade. At the time, it had made more sense, justified as an experience I shouldn’t miss, especially because he had suggested it. And it wasn’t that I was unprepared. I had taken my hunter-safety course, bought my license and tags, wore my orange, and had some shooting experience. I was ready to learn. Mike England looks out for pheasants while standing in a field of wheat on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Gallatin County. Pheasants love to eat wheat so McCarthy knew there would be a good chance to find them in the field. Still, having approached him only a few days earlier as a nagging reporter, I was suddenly thrust into the wild with the founder of Outside Bozeman and his business partner, Chris McCarthy, at their suggestion, walking the perimeter of a field as their two dogs sniffed out our prey. Looking back, from behind my screen as I try to write this, it was an odd way to get a story out of England, though ultimately, it’s one that suits him and is perhaps a fitting way to share that his magazine and media company are for sale. “Chris and I realized we had been doing this a long time, longer than anything else we’d ever done ... because we enjoy it,” England said that day. “We didn’t want to get burned out and we started thinking about passing it off to some younger, fresher blood that can infuse some new energy into it before we started to get old and cranky,” he added. “That ship may have sailed.” Old might be relative for a 54-year-old veteran who exudes a physical appearance contrasting that of a stereotypical writer. Not until he opens his mouth does his quick-witted intelligence begin to pour out, often faster than I can keep up with. But maybe cranky is more accurate, although only when it comes to certain topics, namely public lands and the seemingly increasing limitations on access. Overall, England appears to be in good spirits, in awe of blue skies and bulbous roosters, while remaining well-entrenched in the daily happenings of a quarterly publication. That publication, however, is listed for $925,000, and although I thought it to be a timely story, England and McCarthy have been trying to sell Outside Bozeman for over a year. It’s just that now, after a little nudge and a couple of phone calls, they were ready to share why. “We kept it under wraps for a while and in the past six months we told the staff, and decided it was time to let the cat out of the bag,” England said. In the beginning In 1999, England was doing OK in the journalism world, but some pitches were rejected, and emails went unanswered, making him yearn to be in charge. So, he did the only logical thing and launched a magazine. “When you’re a freelancer you’re going to face some disappointments, and I was having gradual success,” England said. “It wasn’t that I felt like I couldn’t make it, but I got excited about writing whatever the hell I wanted to write, and I got excited about celebrating this town that I love so much.” Chris McCarthy holds the pheasant he killed on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Gallatin County. Having come up with an idea for it, he chipped away at his plans, drawing up a mock sketch of a first issue , what it would cover, and what it would be called. Working as a bartender at the time, he met Jim Harris, a local photographer. “After about his fourth beer Jim said, ‘You know, I got this idea for a magazine for Bozeman,” England said. “Go on,” he told Jim at the time. “I played dumb, and I just let him tell me everything about it,” England continued. “And it was exactly like my idea, down to the name. He had the same name!” The two shook hands that night and started the magazine the next day, and over a few months, the first issue was erected from the depths of their dynamic minds and published in the early summer of 2000. “It looked like a high school project,” England said. “We both put in a couple of grand and we bought a computer, some software and I sold ads. I wrote every article in that first issue. Jim produced every photo.” In their office on East Mendenhall Street, shelves of issues line a wall — the summation of what Outside Bozeman has produced over the years, slowly shifting and morphing from a biannual. “I foolishly thought that we would make a bunch of money and we’d sell it in five years,” England said. “We never made a bunch of money, but it took probably 10 years before we were making decent money.” Today, Outside Bozeman has four issues a year, filled with tongue-in-cheek writing and articles that run the gamut of outdoor-related content, fueled and altered by those feeding the publication. “We worked hard, we threw it together, and it always came out,” England said. “As the years passed, we developed processes and systems so that we didn’t have to pull all-nighters while still maintaining the energy of it and preserving the spirit. Things normalized.” Regarding style and content, and their occasional divergence into the satirical as their most devoted readers likely know, England says, “We’re smart asses and we like to joke around, have fun and poke fun. It naturally flows from our senses of humor.” “Nothing is sacred,” England said. “We get praise, but we rarely publish it, we always publish the hate mail.” Although he says Outside Bozeman prides itself on giving voice to locals, he said it’s important that his team never took themselves too seriously and attempted to stay true to something greater. “Everybody takes themselves too damn seriously and nobody wants to joke, nobody wants to offend anyone,” he said. “I think we deprive ourselves of an important aspect of life when we get too sensitive and too worried about saying the wrong thing.” Although England said they’ve “tempered ourselves a little bit — we don’t really want to deliberately offend people unless they deserve it,” he still believes the publication should “just say whatever the hell we want.” Even with politics, and getting sucked in by a partisan world, he essentially said Outside Bozeman uses its middle finger to bypass societal rules and restrictions, to “Call out the bastards and praise the heroes,” he said. So, they write what they want, when they want, not straying far from an outdoor-focused agenda while remembering to always blaming those they believe are to blame, regardless of party affiliation. “We care about this land, the landscape, and its wild creatures and habitat and nature so we fight for that,” England said. “We call out people who work against it and oftentimes it means we’re calling out Republicans but that doesn’t mean we’re Democrats, right?” I nod, waiting for more. “It just means we care about nature.” Armed for the hunt By the time I fired the shotgun for the first time, McCarthy and England were likely starting to wonder what was taking me so long. We’d traversed the field, multiple roosters had popped, and they each had a kill, but I was too fixated on taking the wrong shot, carefully watching the muzzle of the gun, mindfully aware of where my trigger finger rested, and tracking their bright orange. Still, they kept us going, only stopping by McCarthy’s truck for a quick break before crossing the road into another field, where we made our way through and around a stretch of brush. Soon enough, more pheasant roosters began to pop, to their amazement, both being seasoned hunters. In the end, I missed five shots, but England bagged his three and McCarthy one. Tired and dehydrated, I unloaded the shotgun, got back into the truck and we headed for Belgrade. McCarthy was driving and England pointed out a flock of turkeys out of legal range of our shotguns. When I asked them why they brought a reporter along for a hunting trip, they both got quiet, while I quickly realized that only Chronicle photographer Lauren Miller and I were getting paid to be there. They noted that at least one issue every year features a firearm for hunting on the cover. It all seemed fitting. “You said you would like to start hunting,” McCarthy eventually said. “And I said, ‘Well, I think I’m going out Friday,’ and Mike invited you.” “Chris looked at me and said, ‘Really? You think we want to take a reporter hunting?” England added, laughing. A new beginning I stared out the window as we drove onto Interstate 90 heading east. I saw the day’s last light shine over the Spanish Peaks as McCarthy’s German shorthair pointer began to fall asleep beside me. We’d share bouts of silence before one of us would talk again. McCarthy and England continued to tell me about their journey. About how McCarthy joined in 2010 and bought into the publication around 2012. How they’d rather be hunting or somewhere deep in the wilderness or how England wonders if he’s too old to be a game warden. They told me about all the articles they’d written and how they’d done just about everything they’d wanted to do. About the advertisements, McCarthy sold over the years. How the magazine grew to a quarterly and that each year there’s an issue with a gun on the cover. “I’m surprised that we’ve made it this far. It’s a lot of work,” England said. “We’re not getting rich, so we’re not in it for the money, and I’m surprised we’ve stuck it out this long, that we haven’t gone into something else.” They told me about the writers that have made their way through Outside Bozeman. Some just briefly, and some for years — how they leave their mark and how the magazine changes with each issue. “Outside Bozeman is a living thing, it’s not just mine or Chris’ or ours,” England said. “It’s a living thing that is a reflection of the people and of Bozeman.” And although I first called them with what I thought was a scoop, I quickly began to see it all differently. Outside Bozeman is for sale, sure, and for $925,000 a buyer will get all its intellectual property rights, branding, advertising accounts, access to staffing, and 25 years of content, but that doesn’t begin to breach the whole truth. Rather, it simplifies what Outside Bozeman represents and the place it holds in Gallatin Valley. It strips away some of the magic that England and McCarthy hope continues with a new owner, when they get the boot — and a lucrative paycheck. “I learned a while ago that nobody is that important, that if they’re gone things don’t continue to move forward,” McCarthy said. “If I’m gone, sales will continue, if Mike’s gone, editorial is going to continue.” “It’s bigger than us,” England added. “It exists beyond us; anybody can pick it up. We’re a big part of it but we’re not a necessary part of it anymore.” Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Even before officially taking office, United States President-elect Donald J Trump is shaking up the international system with drama and fanfare unlike any other major leader in recent memory. His most recent outburst to slap 100% tariffs on the "Brics" countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, as well as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates -- is a case in point. While it will coerce developing economies to think twice about the cost of going their own way, this tariff blackmail and others like it also risk pushing smaller countries away from the US to other rival big powers, particularly China. The president-elect's latest ire was in reaction to the Brics members' interest in coming up with their own currency against the US dollar. Mr Trump's typically blustery response was unsurprising and proved the point of Brics that "Global South" countries need to organise on their own to reduce dependence on the weight of the US economy and its currency. Further US weaponisation of trade policy and geoeconomic toolkit will likely push developing economies in the Brics and Global South in this direction for fear of excessive reliance on US trade and investment and being punished for it. At their meeting in Kazan, Russia, last October, the Brics members decidedly expanded their network to include a motley bunch of 13 "partner" countries that include four from Southeast Asia, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, alongside Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Turkey, Uganda, and Uzbekistan. While partnership status is not equivalent to that of membership, the 13 new Brics associates clearly see the outfit as an insurance policy amid geoeconomic turbulence and geopolitical turmoil from Russia's war in Ukraine, conflicts in the Middle East, and the US-China confrontation, underpinned by a breakdown of the rules-based international order. Partnership in Brics allows them to access loans from Brics' New Development Bank, which is headquartered in Shanghai, and benefit from trade and investment opportunities. The Trump tariff threat will likely hold back some of the Brics partners in Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand and Vietnam, from taking on full membership. For Southeast Asia, more broadly, Brics provides geostrategic space. As a fast-growing region in the world economy with half the market size of China and a combined GDP of nearly US$4 trillion dollars, essentially the intersection of insecurity and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, Southeast Asia broadly sees Brics as a mixed bag. On the one hand, the Brics club offers geopolitical leverage vis-à-vis the West despite limited geoeconomic benefits, especially for Indonesia, which is the world's largest Muslim country and a member of the G20, and Malaysia, which chairs Asean in 2025. These two predominantly Muslim societies hold solidarity with the Palestinians and are opposed to US backing for Israel's war actions in the Middle East and the resulting humanitarian crises. Brics to Indonesia and Malaysia is both a diversification strategy and a critical expression against the US and Israel. It is unsurprising that both Indonesia and Malaysia have recently promoted greater cooperation with China, thanks to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last month and Indonesia's newly elected President Prabowo Subianto agreeing to joint exploration with China in an adjacent sea area previously thought to be under Indonesian sovereignty. Malaysia, in particular, wants to maximise its international role and geostrategic projection. Having consolidated political power under a coalition government with an eye for a re-election bid, Prime Minister Anwar wants to make the most of his international engagements and partly convert them for domestic electoral dividends. Openly critical of Israel without formal diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, Malaysia has correspondingly supported Hamas. In a speech to a think-tank gathering in June this year, the Malaysian prime minister had strong words to say about Israeli actions, including "war crimes, flagrant atrocities committed in the killing fields under the pretext of self-defence and settler colonialism" while prioritising the Myanmar civil war over the Russia-Ukraine conflict as the most pressing issue for Asean. Clearly, the timing of a Brics partnership is favourable for Malaysia as it allows the country to leverage another strategic stage in its dealings with the West and geostrategic balancing in its neighbourhood. Thailand is a US treaty ally and Vietnam a comprehensive strategic partner. Both Thailand and Vietnam rely heavily on the US as an export market. Both countries are not as vehement about conflicts in the Middle East, and, therefore, Brics provide them with a complementary company of states and economies in case the international system completely unravels. As a strategy of diversification, Indonesia and Thailand also have shown interest in joining the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the 38-member club of developed economies. To be sure, while Brics serves as a proactive hedge against worsening global uncertainty, membership or even partnership risks are taking Southeast Asia's regional states into a conflict arena they have intended to avoid. As founding members, Russia is conducting a gruelling war in Ukraine and China has locked horns with the US. As a new member, Iran and its proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah are in open conflict with Israel. These tensions and conflicts could be exploited by certain Brics members and thereby drag the whole group into murky and precarious directions. Much will depend on what the second Trump administration ends up doing. If Mr Trump goes too far with his tariff threats and actions, then Brics will likely become more appealing as a bulwark against US belligerence and protectionism. But if the president-elect ends up treating tariffs as part of a package rather than a unilateral imposition in a universal fashion, then developing economies will likely be in less of a hurry to jump and ride on the Brics bandwagon. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, on leave from Chulalongkorn University's faculty of political science, is currently a visiting professor at the London School of Economics.VANCOUVER — The British Columbia New Democrats have negotiated a deal with the two Green Party members of the legislature that will help stabilize the New Democrats' slim majority government, Premier David Eby says. The premier said in a statement Friday that while the two parties are distinct and won't always agree, they have "many shared values." Eby's party won a bare majority with 47 seats in the October provincial election, while two Greens were elected and the B.C. Conservatives have 44 seats. He said the deal sets out specific areas of action they'll work together to achieve, which includes health care, affordable housing, creating livable communities and growing a strong, sustainable economy. "This agreement will strengthen the stability of government and help deliver on the priorities of British Columbians. We will continue to work with all MLAs who want to make the legislature work for people," Eby said. The stability of the NDP government got even shakier earlier this month when New Democrat Grace Lore announced she had cancer and was stepping away from her role as children's minister. B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad has said he would work to bring the NDP government down if it continues with its "destructive policies." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2024. Brenna Owen, The Canadian PressSaquon Barkley on pace to set Eagles rushing record against Panthers, eyes Dickerson's NFL record

From the baseball diamond to the soccer pitch, from Vancouver to Paris, 2024 was a historic year for Jews in sports. Jewish athletes distinguished themselves across events, venues and tiers of competition — from the Olympics to the major leagues to college ball. This year also saw notable sports moments off the field, be they in the front office or during the commercial breaks. Some of the year’s top moments featured familiar stars in the Jewish sports world, like ace pitcher Max Fried, Olympian Jessica Fox and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Fans also met some up-and-coming Jewish athletes, like college football player Sam Salz, or watched familiar faces like BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff and USC basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb reach new heights. Here are our top Jewish sports moments of 2024, presented chronologically — including two on the same day! The fight against antisemitism gets the spotlight in a Super Bowl ad As more than 100 million people tuned in to watch Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, they saw what is believed to be the first-ever Super Bowl ad focused on antisemitism. The New England Patriots weren’t in the big game, but their owner, Robert Kraft, paid an estimated $7 million for the 30-second spot by his charity, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. The ad featured Clarence B. Jones, the former lawyer and advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. who drafted King’s famous 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech. It drew mixed reviews. The ad was one of a series by FCAS, which is known for its “#StandUpToJewishHate” campaign, that sought to promote the fight against antisemitism by connecting it to other forms of discrimination. The group placed a number of TV ads during popular televised events this year, including one spot depicting a real-life synagogue bomb threat, which aired during the Oscars. Another, about antisemitism at campus protests, aired during the NBA playoffs. And a recent ad calling for a “timeout against hate” featured sports icons including Shaquille O’Neal and Billie Jean King. Jessica Fox, with two more golds, steals the show in Paris Jewish and Israeli athletes won a slew of medals in Paris this summer — 18 at the Olympics and 13 more at the Paralympics. Jews took home medals in rugby, fencing, track, swimming and numerous other competitions, while Israel returned to Olympic soccer for the first time since 1976. One of the brightest Jewish stars of the Games was Australian paddling legend Jessica Fox, who won two gold medals in three days, bringing her career total to six, half of them golds. She won gold in both the canoe single and the kayak slalom. Fox is the most decorated Olympic canoe slalom competitor ever, and the only Australian Olympian in history with six individual medals. She had served as one of Australia’s flag bearers at the Paris opening ceremony. And the magic didn’t stop there. Fox’s younger sister, Noemie Fox, earned a gold medal of her own in the inaugural kayak cross event. The win put the Fox sisters in rare company among Jewish siblings to medal at the same Olympics. Amit Elor wrestles her way to Olympic history A Jewish Olympian dominated on the wrestling mat as well as the water: Amit Elor, a California native with Israeli parents, entered Paris as the youngest U.S. Olympic wrestler in history, and left as its youngest medalist in the sport. Elor, an eight-time world champion, made quick work of her opponents, extending her undefeated streak of five years with a gold medal win. Elor, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors who moved to Israel, experienced both online antisemitism and the sudden deaths of both her father and a brother during the years when she broke into the elite ranks of U.S. women’s wrestling. She wrestles at the 68-kilogram weight class and in October 2023 became the youngest American wrestler — male or female — ever to win a senior world title. After her win, Elor spoke out against antisemitism — something she had largely avoided in the lead-up to Paris. “Eighty years ago my grandparents survived the Holocaust, but antisemitism is still all around us,” Elor said in a video posted on social media. The clip showed a comment directed against her saying “you belong in the gas chamber.” 3 Jewish players appear in one MLB at-bat Pitcher Max Lazar’s first career strikeout on Aug. 10 was special for more than one reason. Lazar, a Jewish Philadelphia Phillies rookie, was pitching to Jewish catcher Garrett Stubbs and struck out Diamondbacks designated hitter Joc Pederson, who is also Jewish. The moment marked a rare trifecta — in which the pitcher, catcher and batter were all Jewish. (Stubbs and Pederson both played for Team Israel at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.) According to the Jewish Baseball Museum, it was only the third instance of a Jewish pitcher-catcher-batter combination in MLB’s more than 100-year history. And Stubbs and Lazar made up only the eighth-ever Jewish pitcher-catcher pairing, known as a battery. It wasn’t Stubbs’ first historic moment of the season. In July, with the Phillies trailing the Oakland Athletics, Stubbs took the mound, faced fellow Team Israel alum Zack Gelof — and gave up a grand slam. It was the first-ever grand slam hit by a Jewish batter off a Jewish pitcher. USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb notches her 300th career basketball win University of Southern California women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb has established herself as one of the sport’s best. Gottlieb, who in 2019 became the first women’s collegiate head coach to join an NBA staff, led USC to the No. 1 seed in the NCAA March Madness tournament this year after winning the Pac-12 Conference’s last-ever women’s championship (the conference since dissolved). USC made it to the Elite Eight in the Big Dance before losing to the University of Connecticut. In April, Gottlieb signed a contract extension with USC that will keep her at the helm through the 2029-2030 season. And this season, USC is off to another strong start, now in the Big Ten. On Nov. 12, Gottlieb reached another milestone: her 300th career coaching win, a 124-39 rout over Cal State Northridge. The victory set USC records for points scored in a single game and widest margin of victory. Gottlieb is a member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California. Following WNBA legend Sue Bird’s retirement in 2022, some fans turned to Gottlieb as the new face of Jewish basketball. “I wondered if there would be someone to assume [Bird’s] place as basketball’s Jewish role model,” Sophie Bravo wrote for JTA’s partner site Hey Alma in April. “Lindsay seems to have stepped into the role seamlessly, balancing success, humility and determination, using her actions to guide and inspire.” Sam Salz blazes a trail for Orthodox Division I athletes Speaking of Jewish firsts, Texas A&M’s Sam Salz became likely the first-ever Orthodox Jew to appear in a Division I college football game when he took the field Nov. 16 with the Aggies. Salz’s debut marked the culmination of a years-long journey, one that took him from Kohelet Yeshiva High School — a Modern Orthodox school in Philadelphia with roughly 100 students and no football team — to a legendary college football program that peaked at No. 15 in the national rankings this season and plays in the vaunted Southeastern Conference. Salz, who had never played a snap of organized football in his life, let alone DI college ball, had walked onto the team in 2022 but had yet to appear in a game — in part because most college football games take place on Shabbat, when Salz doesn’t play. But on the school’s senior night, with 42 seconds left in the game, he heard his name called and ran out on the gridiron. “There’s probably a Jewish kid, and maybe even especially an Orthodox kid, who wants to play football, or wants to play sports, and is sitting somewhere confused about what he should do, or who’s told that he’ll never be able to do it,” Salz said in an interview. “Even getting to see me run down on that field, successful play or not, could have given him all the hope that he wanted.” Jake Retzlaff enjoys a breakout season — and celebrates with some matzah It sounds almost like the opening of a comedy routine: A proudly Jewish player at the flagship university of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints becomes a household name for college football fans. But it’s no joke. For Brigham Young University quarterback Jake Retzlaff, this was a breakout season. Retzlaff goes by “BY-Jew” and made national headlines both for his on-field play and for how he publicly embraced his Jewish identity. Retzlaff, who grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Pomona, California, is BYU’s first Jewish starting quarterback and one of only three Jewish students at the Utah school. He threw 20 touchdowns this season as he led BYU to a 10-2 record in the Big-12 Conference and a top-25 national ranking — peaking at No. 9 on Nov. 5, a program record. And earlier this month, Retzlaff inked a sponsorship deal with Manischewitz, the Jewish food company’s first-ever sports deal. The package is set to include special-edition boxes of Manischewitz matzah emblazoned with Retzlaff’s likeness. Max Fried signs the largest contract in Jewish baseball history Retzlaff isn’t the only Jewish athlete with a landmark deal. Pitcher Max Fried entered the MLB offseason as one of the most coveted free agents on the market. And on Dec. 10, he got his payday. Fried signed an eight-year, $218 million contract with the New York Yankees, the largest contract ever for a Jewish player as well as for a left-handed pitcher (topping David Price’s 2015 deal by $1 million in raw terms). Fried, who turns 31 in January, has a 3.07 ERA in 151 career starts, all with the Atlanta Braves, and is a two-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner, a Silver Slugger winner and a 2021 World Series champion. In 2024, Fried posted an 11-10 record with a 3.25 ERA and 166 strikeouts in 174.1 innings. Now, the Los Angeles native, who grew up worshipping Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, will likely spend the rest of his career playing in the city with the most Jews in the world. Fried joins fellow Jewish pitcher Scott Effross, who was traded to the Yankees in 2022 but missed all of 2023 and most of 2024 with multiple injuries. Jewish Yankees pitching prospect Eric Reyzelman is working his way through the minor leagues. Brad Ausmus, the team’s bench coach, is also Jewish. Aerin Frankel and Quinn Hughes headline a banner year for Jewish hockey On the same day Fried signed his massive deal with the Yankees, the Vancouver Canucks became the first team in NHL history to feature three Jewish players in the same game. Defensemen Quinn Hughes and Mark Friedman and forward Max Sasson all played for the Canucks as they lost to the St. Louis Blues 4-3 in overtime. The Jewish hat trick capped a banner year for Jews in hockey. Jews featured prominently in the inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, which dropped the puck on New Year’s Day, led by Boston Fleet goalie Aerin Frankel, who is arguably the best Jewish player in the league. Frankel posted a .929 save percentage in 18 games last season, but her breakout came in the playoffs, when the Northeastern alum saved over 95% of shots and earned the moniker “Green Monster” — an homage to another formidable Boston sports presence — for her clutch performances. Boston lost to Minnesota in the finals in May despite Frankel’s brick wall. In the NHL, Edmonton Oilers star Zach Hyman put on a career performance last season, tallying 54 goals, the third-most in the NHL, plus 16 more in the playoffs. And Hughes finished with 75 assists, the third-most in the league, and won the James Norris Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL’s best defender. During the offseason this summer, Ryan Warsofsky became the first Jewish NHL head coach in three decades, University of Denver star Zeev Buium was selected 12th overall in the NHL Entry Draft and Jack, Luke and Quinn Hughes became the first brothers to grace the cover of the flagship NHL video game. Israeli Yaniv Bazini leads UVM to its first-ever NCAA soccer championship Before this month, the University of Vermont had won six national championships in the school’s history — all in skiing. On Dec. 16, the Catamounts captured the NCAA Division I soccer championship, thanks in large part to Israeli star Yaniv Bazini. Bazini, a senior from Ness Ziona in central Israel, joined UVM in 2022 and became an anchor of Vermont’s offense. This season, Bazini led the team with 14 goals — including six scored in postseason games — which is the second-most in a single season in program history. His 30 points were third-best in the UVM record books. Beyond his offensive prowess, Bazini was also known for his proud embrace of his Israeli and Jewish identity. Last October, Bazini draped himself in an Israeli flag after scoring his first goal following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. He brought the flag back out to celebrate the national title. Bazini told JTA he cherishes the opportunity to represent Jews on the pitch — which he hopes to do professionally, either in the MLS or abroad. “It means everything,” he said. “I got so many messages in the past couple days of kids that are impacted, and not only my soccer, but how I show that I’m Jewish and not afraid of it. By doing ‘Shema Yisrael’ at every beginning of the game or halftime, or every time I score, every time to thank God.” Honorable mentions Here are a few other Jewish sports stories from the past year that are worth noting: Assaf Lowengart made history as the first Israeli-born position player to sign a professional baseball contract in the U.S. when he joined the Frontier League’s New York Boulders in February. Hapoel Jerusalem honored slain hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whom they called “our friend in the stands.” Orthodox MLB prospect Jacob Steinmetz continued his ascent through the minor leagues, joining the Hillsboro Hops, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ High-A affiliate. MLB veteran Kevin Pillar enjoyed a late-career resurgence with the Los Angeles Angels — and embraced his role as a Jewish ballplayer. Team Israel launched an American organization to strengthen its national team pipeline and support baseball’s growth in Israel. Náutico Hacoaj became the first Jewish soccer club to compete in Argentina’s Amateur Promotional Tournament since 1967. Israeli fencer Yuval Freilich won a gold medal at the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix on Jan. 31, while wearing a uniform with an Israeli flag and the message “Am Israel Chai,” Hebrew for “the people of Israel lives,” written on his shoulder. Qatar, which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, has played home to Hamas’ leadership. And last but not least, Jewish wrestling promoter Paul Heyman and boxing publicist Fred Sternburg were each inducted into their sport’s respective halls of fame. And the Jewish world mourned the deaths of Ken Holtzman , the winningest Jewish pitcher in MLB history, and Hall of Fame jockey Walter Blum , who rode to victory in the Belmont Stakes. For more content, go to jta.org.PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Darnell Washington was minding his own business during practice recently, doing his due diligence while running his route when the ball suddenly came his way. Washington wasn't sure what option he was on the play. he certainly wasn't first. Probably not even second. Maybe not even third. Washington was on the back side all by his lonesome while a sea of wide receivers and running backs zig-zagged across quarterback Russell Wilson's field of vision. Only, Wilson didn't like what he saw. Not enough to throw it anyway. So he pivoted to his left and found Washington wide open for a big gain. Asked if he was surprised to find the ball in his hands, Washington nodded. “A little bit,” he said. “I don't know. I don't know what was going on with the other people.” Wilson did. He almost always seems to these days for the first-place Steelers (9-3), who find themselves atop the AFC North behind the play of their resurgent 36-year-old quarterback, who has taken a decidedly democratic approach to resurrecting his career. The nine-time Pro Bowler threw the ball to 10 different players while piling up 414 yards last week against the Bengals . Sure, mercurial star George Pickens got the ball. But so did Washington. And third tight end MyCole Pruitt. And wide receiver Ben Skowronek, who turned his second catch of the season into a 23-yard gain on a drive that ended with one of Wilson's three touchdown passes. “You never know when it’s coming your way,” Skowronek said. Not with Wilson at the controls. Fourteen different players have at least one catch this season for the Steelers. That includes Mike Williams, whose lone grab a month since being acquired from the New York Jets is a 32-yard rainbow for the winning score in the final minutes against Washington. It also includes Skowronek, who spent the early portion of the season on injured reserve and worried he'd sort of lost his place in line while he rehabbed. Skowronek and his teammates have quickly learned that with Wilson, there is no “line." During his six starts since returning from a calf injury, Wilson has thrown it wherever, whenever. “It’s like in baseball,” said Wilson, a former minor league second baseman. “You’ll never hit a home run if you don’t swing. And I really believe that you’ve got to swing, you’ve got to trust guys. You’ve got to be able to trust yourself.” Something that hasn't been an issue for Wilson for years, even if he arrived in Pittsburgh at a crossroads following an abrupt fall from grace in Denver. The Steelers couldn't sign Wilson to a one-year deal for the veteran minimum fast enough, and Wilson wasted little time building a rapport with players who were relative strangers. What began with throwing sessions in San Diego has morphed into team dinners and Friday nights where Wilson and first-year offensive coordinator Arthur Smith will hole themselves up in the team facility poring over tapes and bouncing ideas off each other until their wives call wondering where they are. On game days, that work manifests itself in various ways. It's tight end Pat Freiermuth drifting toward an open area while Wilson scrambles, as he did two plays after Skowronek's grab for a 25-yard touchdown. It's Wilson calling an audible at the line of scrimmage late against Cincinnati to hit Van Jefferson for a 43-yard gain that led to a clinching field goal. It's not just good for the stat sheet, it's good for the vibes. “Morale is a big part,” Smith said. Guys who want to be invested. Spreading it around is beneficial in a myriad of ways. It means players don't feel they are “decoys on every play,” as Smith put it. It also means once you put it on film, it means opponents have to find a way to defend it. And the more things an opponent has to defend, the better for an offense, particularly one led by a quarterback who will make his 195th start on Sunday when Cleveland (3-9) visits. “Russ has seen every coverage,” Skowronek said. “He’s ran all these concepts before. So he knows progressions like probably the back of his hand.” Besides, Wilson knows he can't just preach about the importance of being unselfish without practicing it a little bit too. That means giving opportunities to those who have worked for it, no matter where they might fall on the depth chart. “I think that the best part about it is that we’re all super close,” Wilson said. “And I think that bond is really everything too, and just the understanding of each guy and the relationships that we have together, it’s fun. We’re having a great time.” It sure looks like it. The Steelers are averaging a healthy 28.7 points since Wilson recovered from a calf injury that forced him to watch the first six games from the sideline. For the first time in a long time, Pittsburgh no longer has to rely exclusively on its defense to get by. While Mike Tomlin will never get comfortable with the idea of getting into a shootout — blame his defensive coaching roots before taking over in Pittsburgh in 2007 — it's nice to know his team can match opponents score for score if necessary. Another one could be looming against the Browns, who piled up more than 500 yards in a loss to Denver on Monday night. If one materializes, Wilson is ready to do whatever is necessary and find whoever is necessary, regardless of pedigree, salary or resume. “We got to love that part of it,” Wilson said. “We can’t fear it. We’ve got to want it. We’ve got to expect it. We’ve got to embrace it. We’ve got to challenge that. We’ve got to be in those moments and be locked into that moment. I think we do an extremely good job of that.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflBill Belichick didn't wait around for a call that he might not get from an NFL team. With no guarantees that another opportunity might come his way — only the Atlanta Falcons interviewed Belichick last offseason — and unsure whether he could find the right fit in the NFL, the 72-year-old future Hall of Fame coach decided to go back to school. Belichick took his eight Super Bowl rings to North Carolina on a mission to build a college program the way he constructed two dynasties during 24 seasons with the New England Patriots. It starts with doing things his way. The Patriot Way is legendary. Perhaps it'll translate into the Tar Heel way. That's to be determined. But Belichick is back doing what he loves: coaching. And, he's going to run the show with his guys around him. An NFL team giving Belichick full control the way he had in New England seemed unlikely. Success at North Carolina could change that thinking. For now, Belichick's quest to break Don Shula's all-time record for most wins in the NFL is on hold. He's 15 victories short but the buyout clause in his college contract — a $10 million fee if done before June 2025 and $1 million after that date — leaves the window open for a return to the league. If Belichick stays in college or retires without returning to the NFL, his legacy is already cemented. Winning at North Carolina will only enhance his reputation. Losing won't impact his NFL resume. "He's one of the all-time great coaches. What he's done for the NFL and the game, we all know where he'll end up — in the Hall of Fame with a gold jacket," Dallas Cowboys executive Stephen Jones said Wednesday shortly before Belichick agreed on a five-year deal with North Carolina that pays him $10 million in base and supplemental salary annually with up to $3.5 million in bonuses per year. Belichick has his detractors. There's no denying he couldn't win without Tom Brady. He was 29-39 and had no playoff wins without No. 12 in his final four seasons with the Patriots. Critics have labeled him a cheater because of the Spygate and Deflategate scandals. He overlooked Aaron Hernandez's issues. He was tough on players, even alienating Brady in the end and letting him walk him away in free agency in 2020 only to see him lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl in his first season there. But Belichick instilled in players the importance of doing their job and presided over an unprecedented two-decade run of dominance that withstood changing times, free agency, salary-cap restrictions and much more. Brady has always maintained how important Belichick was for his career, giving him credit for helping him become one of the best players in sports. Now, Belichick is onto Chapel Hill in a surprise twist after he spent most of the NFL season reinventing himself as an entertaining and engaging analyst. Belichick is a football genius and his knowledge came across on television. But he also displayed a fun personality, trading quips with the Mannings and cracking jokes with Pat McAffee. "College kind of came to me this year," Belichick said at his introductory news conference. "I didn't necessarily go and seek it out. I had many coaches, probably a couple dozen coaches, talk to me and say, 'Can we come down and talk to you about these things?' Let's call it the salary cap of pro football relative to college football. The headsets, the green dot, the two-minute warning, the tablets on the sideline. Those were all rules changes this year for college football that were either or the same or similar to what we had in the NFL. These coaches said, 'Hey coach can we talk to you about how you did this? How you did that? How did you use this?'. "As those conversations started and then the personnel conversations started relative to salary cap and how you spend whatever the allotment of money you have. I'd say that started to make me a lot more aware of it because the first thing I would have to do is learn about it. .... As you learn different things about different programs you start to put it all together. There is some common threads and there's some variables." How will he do as a college coach? Nobody knows yet. Three of Belichick's former players were skeptical before he took the job. "There's a lot of things he can do, and obviously he's tremendous, and even showing his personality. But getting out there on the recruiting trail and dealing with all these college kids, that would be ..." Brady said before trailing off during a conversation on Fox's NFL pregame show last Sunday. Fellow former Patriots Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman also wondered the same. "Can you imagine NIL, and all that nonsense?" Gronkowski said. Edelman added: "Can you imagine Bill on a couch recruiting an 18-year-old?" But Belichick doesn't have to recruit kids on visits. These are new times in college sports. The NIL has dramatically changed the landscape. Plus, Belichick's name is enough. Just like Deion Sanders at Colorado. "I think it could be great for this game, honestly, if he can find a way to make college football more like this in terms of what's being asked of the coaches, the recruiting staff, the personnel, the NIL, and all those different things," Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Cohen said. "If he can make it a little bit less demanding on some of the coaches and create a great atmosphere and have success, I think it's great for our game. It's pretty cool to see, actually." Time for Belichick to do his job. Get local news delivered to your inbox!