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  • NASCAR settles federal antitrust case, gives all teams the permanent charters they wanted

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    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Michael Jordan and NASCAR chairman Jim France stood side-by-side on the steps of a federal courthouse as if they were old friends following a stunning settlement Thursday of a bruising antitrust case in which the Basketball Hall of Famer was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit accusing the top racing series in the United States of being a monopolistic bully.

    The duo was flanked by three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin and Curtis Polk, the co-owners of 23XI Racing with Jordan, Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins and over a dozen lawyers as they celebrated the end to an eight-day trial that ultimately led NASCAR to cave and grant all its teams the permanent charters they wanted.

    “Like two competitors, obviously we tried to get as much done in each other’s favor,” Jordan said, towering over the 81-year-old France. “I’ve said this from Day 1: The only way this sport is going to grow is we have to find some synergy between the two entities. I think we’ve gotten to that point, unfortunately it took 16 months to get here, but I think level heads have gotten us to this point where we can actually work together and grow this sport. I am very proud about that and I think Jim feels the same.”

    France concurred.

    “I do feel the same and we can get back to focusing on what we really love, and that’s racing, and we spent a lot of time not really focused on that so much as we needed to be,” France said. “I feel like we made a very good decision here together and we have a big opportunity to continue growing the sport.”

    A charter is the equivalent of the franchise model used in other sports and in NASCAR it guarantees 36 teams a spot in every top-level Cup Series race and a fixed portion of the revenue stream. The system was implemented in 2016 and teams have argued for over two years that the charters needed to be made permanent — they had been revokable by NASCAR — and the revenue sharing had to change.

    NASCAR, founded and privately owned by the Florida-based France family, never considered making the charters permanent. Instead, after two-plus years of bitter negotiations, NASCAR in September 2024 presented a “take-it-or leave-it” final offer that gave teams until end of that day to sign the 112-page document.

    23XI and Front Row refused and sued, while 13 other organizations signed but testimony in court revealed many did so “with a gun to our head” because the threat of losing the charters would have put them out of business.

    Jordan testified early in the trial that as a new team owner to NASCAR — 23XI launched in 2021 — he felt he had the strength to challenge NASCAR. Eight days of testimony went badly for NASCAR, which when it began to present its case seemed focused more on mitigating damages than it did on proving it did not violate antitrust laws.

    Although terms of the settlement were not released — NASCAR was in the process of scheduling a Thursday afternoon call with all teams to discuss the revenue-sharing model moving forward — both Jordan and NASCAR said that charters will now be permanent for all teams. 23XI and Front Row will receive their combined six charters back for 2026.

    An economist previously testified that NASCAR owes 23XI and Front Row $364.7 million in damages, and that NASCAR shorted 36 chartered teams $1.06 billion from 2021-24.

    “Today’s a good day,” Jordan said from the front-row seat he’s occupied since the trial began Dec. 1 as he waited for the settlement announcement.

    U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell, who had presided over two days of failed settlement talks before the trial began, echoed the sentiment. Bell told the jury that sometimes parties at trial have to see how the evidence unfolds to come to the wisdom of a settlement.

    “I wish we could’ve done this a few months ago,” Bell said in court. “I believe this is great for NASCAR. Great for the future of NASCAR. Great for the entity of NASCAR. Great for the teams and ultimately great for the fans.”

    The settlement came after two days of testimony by France and the Wednesday night public release of a letter from Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris calling for NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps to be removed.

    The discovery process revealed internal NASCAR communications in which Phelps called Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress a “redneck” and other derogatory names; Bass Pro sponsors Childress’ teams, as well as some others, and Morris is an ardent NASCAR supporter.

    Childress gave fiery testimony earlier this week over his reluctance to sign the charter agreement because it was unfair to the teams, which have been bleeding money and begged NASCAR for concessions. Letters from Hall of Fame team owners Joe Gibbs, Rick Hendrick, Jack Roush and Roger Penske were introduced in which they pleaded with France for charters to become permanent; France testified he was not moved by the men he considers good friends.

    Hendrick and Penske, who were both scheduled to testify Friday, expressed gratitude that a settlement had been reached. Penske called it “tremendous news” and said it cleared the way to continue growing the series.

    “Millions of loyal NASCAR fans and thousands of hardworking people rely on our industry, and today’s resolution allows all of us to focus on what truly matters — the future of our sport,” Hendrick said. “This moment presents an important opportunity to strengthen our relationships and recommit ourselves to building a collaborative and prosperous future for all stakeholders. I’m incredibly optimistic about what’s ahead.”

    The settlement came abruptly on the ninth day of the trial. Bell opened expecting to hear motions but both sides asked for a private conference in chambers. When they emerged, Bell ordered an hourlong break for the two sides to confer. That turned into two hours, all parties returned to the courtroom and Kessler announced an agreement had been reached.

    “What all parties have always agreed on is a deep love for the sport and a desire to see it fulfill its full potential,” NASCAR and the plaintiffs said in a joint statement. “This is a landmark moment, one that ensures NASCAR’s foundation is stronger, its future is brighter and its possibilities are greater.”

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    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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  • NASCAR chairman refuses to budge on team charters in testimony during Michael Jordan’s lawsuit

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    CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR Chairman Jim France testified Tuesday in Michael Jordan’s federal antitrust lawsuit against his family that he still has not changed his mind on granting teams permanent charters, and evidence showed he entered negotiations on a new revenue-sharing agreement determined to thwart teams’ efforts for a better deal from the stock car series.

    France was the final witness called by attorneys for Jordan’s 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports on the seventh day of the trial. Those race teams have accused NASCAR of being a monopolistic bully that engages in anticompetitive business practices.

    Also called Tuesday was Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress, who testified that he only signed the 2025 revenue-sharing agreement because refusing to do so would have put Richard Childress Racing out of business.

    NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps testified to the frustrating two-plus years of negotiations between the top motorsports series in the United States and its race teams. The plaintiffs introduced several documents detailing communication between NASCAR executives that showed France was stubbornly opposed to granting teams permanent charters throughout the process.

    The charter system is equivalent to the franchise model used in other sports. In NASCAR, a charter guarantees cars a spot in the 40-car field each week, as well as specified financial terms.

    Asked by plaintiffs’ attorney Jeffrey Kessler if he has changed his stance on making charters permanent, France said, “No, I have not.”

    Kessler later introduced a summary of notes from the first meeting of NASCAR executives on how they would approach negotiations with the teams over the new agreements. Steve O’Donnell, now the president of NASCAR, wrote in those notes, “Jim’s overarching comments — we are in a competition. We are going to win.”

    France’s position never changed, even though — as evidence showed — he received pleas from Hall of Fame team owners Joe Gibbs, Rick Hendrick, Jack Roush and Roger Penske. All four are close personal friends, France said on the stand Tuesday.

    France became chairman of the series his father founded in 1948 following the 2019 resignation of his nephew, Brian. NASCAR has always been privately owned by the Florida-based family, and Brian France negotiated the initial charter system that began in 2016 as a response to teams complaining they were bleeding money at an unsustainable rate.

    Jim France, who is 81, was soft-spoken on the stand and needed many questions repeated, and he said on numerous topics that he was either unable to recall, did not remember or was not sure — even in response to evidence introduced that the France Family Trust received $400 million in distributions from 2021 through 2024 and that NASCAR is valued at $5 billion.

    He wasn’t sure of the title his niece, Lesa France Kennedy, holds with NASCAR, or the ownership percentages between the two. Evidence showed Jim France owns 54% of NASCAR, while France Kennedy, the vice chair, owns 36%. France also testified he believes he is paid in “the $3.5 million range” as chairman.

    Richard Childress details his dissatisfaction

    Childress spoke to the pressure he felt to sign the charter agreement.

    “I would not have signed those charters if I was financially able to do what I do,” the six-time championship winning owner testified. “We are a blue-collar operation.”

    Childress has participated in NASCAR for 60 years and has a longtime personal relationship with the Frances. He testified that he pleaded with Jim France for the charters to be made permanent instead of renewable, and France refused.

    Childress testified he supports the charter system because before its implementation race teams “were worth 10 cents on the dollar at most. We didn’t have nothing.”

    He admitted that the charters added value to his team, but said the equity falls short of its financial potential if the charters were permanent. An economist testified that NASCAR owes 23XI and Front Row $364.7 million in damages, and that NASCAR shorted 36 chartered teams $1.06 billion from 2021-24.

    When Childress’ October declaration of his support for charters was introduced, Childress insisted NASCAR attorney Christopher Yates also show the jury language added to the statement in which Childress pushes for the charters to be permanent.

    Childress said he added those sentences to the declaration, which had been pre-written for him to sign.

    Phelps details negotiations with teams

    NASCAR commissioner Phelps noted that Jordan’s financial advisor would not compromise on key issues in the negotiations.

    Phelps, who was president of NASCAR during the negotiations, said Jordan right-hand man Curtis Polk was the lead representative for the teams and held firm in their demand for increased revenue, permanent charters, a voice in governance and one-third of any new revenue streams.

    The deal finally presented to the teams in September 2024 did not include permanent charters or a voice in governance, but NASCAR gave the teams a firm deadline to accept its final offer or forfeit their charters. 23XI Racing, owned by Jordan, Polk and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by Bob Jenkins, were the only two teams out of 15 organizations that refused to sign. They sued instead.

    Phelps, promoted to become NASCAR’s first commissioner earlier this year, testified that he worked hard to get the teams the best deal possible. But he said the teams’ initial request for $720 million in guaranteed revenue would have put NASCAR out of business.

    At the same time, Polk would not budge, either.

    “It was one of the most challenging and longest negotiations I’ve ever been part of,” said Phelps, who admitted he didn’t particularly enjoy negotiating with Polk, who was at the time the representative for the “Team Negotiating Council.”

    “The TNC never wavered off their four pillars. It was just the same thing, the same thing, and that was very frustrating,” Phelps said.

    Phelps testified at one point that NASCAR believed it had landed on a new charter agreement that satisfied the teams but it was contingent on NASCAR finalizing its new media rights deal.

    “I thought we’d just plug in the numbers,” said Phelps, who testified NASCAR was hoping to land a media deal worth $1.2 billion. When it became clear the media rights deal wouldn’t net that much money, Phelps said the teams asked to set a floor in negotiations.

    NASCAR ultimately got a media deal worth $1.05 billion — still an increase of $33 million a year from the previous deal — and Phelps said “every dollar” went to the race teams when it began this year.

    However, the ultimate revenue payout to teams is $431 million annually, the charters are not permanent and the teams did not get a voice in rules and regulations.

    Even so, Phelps testified he believed the charter agreement was “a fair deal.”

    Faster pace

    U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell has repeatedly admonished both sides to pick up the pace of the trial, and once France’s testimony concludes Wednesday, NASCAR will begin to present its defense.

    NASCAR has said it has a witness list of 16 people, but Yates informed Bell he can trim “four or five” names from it and is hopeful to wrap his defense by Friday.

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    AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

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  • Fuzzy Zoeller, two-time major champion haunted by racist joke about Tiger Woods, dies at 74

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    Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion and one of golf’s most gregarious characters whose career was tainted by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, has died, according to a longtime colleague. He was 74.

    A cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Naugle, the tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston, said Zoeller’s daughter called him Thursday with the news.

    Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on his first attempt, a three-man playoff in 1979. He famously waved a white towel at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had beat him, only to defeat Norman in an 18-hole playoff the next day.

    But it was the 1997 Masters that changed his popularity.

    Woods was on his way to a watershed moment in golf with the most dominant victory in Augusta National history. Zoeller had finished his round and had a drink in hand under the oak tree by the clubhouse when he was stopped by CNN and asked for his thoughts on the 21-year-old Woods on his way to the most dominant win ever at Augusta National.

    “That little boy is driving well and he’s putting well. He’s doing everything it takes to win. So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not serve fried chicken next year. Got it?,” Zoeller said.

    He smiled and snapped his fingers, and as he was walking away he turned and said, “Or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”

    That moment haunted him the rest of his career.

    Zoeller apologized. Woods was traveling and it took two weeks for him to comment as the controversy festered. Zoeller later said he received death threats for years after that moment.

    Writing for Golf Digest in 2008, he said it was “the worst thing I’ve gone through in my entire life.”

    “If people wanted me to feel the same hurt I projected on others, I’m here to tell you they got their way,” Zoeller wrote. “I’ve cried many times. I’ve apologized countless times for words said in jest that just aren’t a reflection of who I am. I have hundreds of friends, including people of color, who will attest to that.

    “Still, I’ve come to terms with the fact that this incident will never, ever go away.”

    It marred a career filled with two famous major titles, eight other PGA Tour titles and a Senior PGA Championship among his two PGA Tour Champions titles.

    More than winning was how he went about it. Zoeller played fast and still had an easygoing nature to the way he approach the game, often whistling between shots.

    He made his Masters debut in 1979 and got into a three-way playoff when Ed Sneed bogeyed the last three holes. Zoeller defeated Sneed and Tom Watson with a birdie on the second playoff hole, flinging his putter high in the air.

    “I’ve never been to heaven, and thinking back on my life, I probably won’t get a chance to go,” Zoeller once said. “I guess winning the Masters is as close as I’m going to get.”

    Zoeller was locked in a duel with Norman at Winged Foot in the 1984, playing in the group behind and watching Norman make putt after putt. So when he saw Norman make a 40-footer on the 18th, he assumed it was for birdie and began waving a white towel in a moment of sportsmanship.

    Only later did he realize it was for par, and Zoeller made par to force a playoff. Zoeller beat him by eight shots in the 18-hole playoff (67-75). Zoeller’s lone regret was giving the towel to a kid after he finished in regulation.

    “If you happen to see a grungy white towel hanging around, get it for me, will you?” he once said.

    He was born Frank Urban Zoeller Jr. in New Albany, Indiana. Zoeller said his father was known only as “Fuzzy” and he was given the same name. He played at a junior college in Florida before joining the powerful Houston golf team before turning pro.

    His wife, Diane, died in 2021. Zoeller has three children, including daughter Gretchen, with whom he used to play in the PNC Championship. Zoeller was awarded the Bob Jones Award by the USGA in 1985, the organization’s highest honor given for distinguished sportsmanship.

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    AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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  • College football rankings start juggling act at 6-7, while top 5 remain the same

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    The College Football Playoff rankings placed the spotlight on, where else this year, “6-7″ — flip-flopping Oregon and Ole Miss in those spots while keeping their top five teams the same in Tuesday night’s reveal.

    Oregon’s impressive victory over Southern California in one of last week’s few games between ranked teams accounted for the biggest change, moving the Ducks ahead of Mississippi, which didn’t play.

    The other meaningful shift was Miami’s move to No. 12, in a switch with Utah after the Utes gave up 472 yards rushing in a tight win over Kansas State.

    There are two more rankings to be revealed — next Tuesday, then Dec. 7 when the final top 25 will set the bracket for the 12-team playoff to start Dec. 19,

    Pitt’s return to the rankings — at No. 22 — after falling out for a week impacts the meaning of its key Atlantic Coast Conference game this week against the Hurricanes, who need a win and some help to make the conference title game but still have hopes of grabbing one of the playoff’s seven at-large berths.

    “Miami is a team that it really appears is starting to look like the Miami team that started 5-0,” said Hunter Yurachek, the chair of the selection committee.

    Following the Buckeyes for the fourth time in four rankings were fellow undefeated teams Indiana and Texas A&M. Georgia stayed at No. 4, followed by Texas Tech. After Oregon and Mississippi came Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama and BYU at No. 11 and first team out on this week’s proverbial bubble.

    Ohio State and Indiana will play in what should be a 1 vs. 2 Big Ten title game if both win rivalry showdowns on the road over Thanksgiving weekend. Ohio State’s task is more difficult — against Michigan, which moved up three spots to No. 15. Indiana plays Purdue.

    No. 10 Alabama plays at Auburn with a spot in the Southeastern Conference title game on the line. The Tide’s opponent would be Texas A&M if the Aggies win at No. 16 Texas.

    Notre Dame and Miami were compared this week

    After some confusion last week about the weight given to Miami’s opening-week win over Notre Dame, Yurachek said those teams were, indeed, close enough in the rankings this week to be compared head-to-head. But still, that victory was not enough to push the Hurricanes past Notre Dame.

    “We compare a number of things when looking at teams closely ranked together,” Yurachek said. “We’ve got some teams ranked between Miami and Notre Dame, such as Alabama and BYU, who we’re also comparing Miami to.”

    Could Kiffin’s job status impact Ole Miss?

    Among the factors the committee can consider is the availability of players and coaches, which has potential to bring Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s job status into play.

    Word from Oxford is that a decision will come on Kiffin’s potential move to LSU or Florida after this week’s game against Mississippi State. An Ole Miss team without one of the most sought-after coaches in the game wouldn’t seem as good as one with him.

    Still, Yurachek wouldn’t tip his hand on how that evaluation might go.

    “We’ll take care of that when it happens,” Yurachek said. “We don’t look ahead. The loss of player, loss of a key coach, is in the principles of how we rank teams, but we don’t have a data point for how we look at Ole Miss without their coach.”

    Ducks move to ‘where they need to be’

    After Oregon’s 42-27 win over USC, coach Dan Lanning said his team deserves credit for the schedule it plays — which included a tough conference game during a week in which many in the SEC were going against non-ranked, double-digit underdogs.

    The committee agreed.

    “We’ve been waiting for them to have that signature win to really put them where they need to be,” Yurachek said.

    Conference watch

    ACC — No. 18 Virginia and No. 21 SMU are the favorites to reach the title game, which means one of them has an inside edge to be in the playoff. The Hurricanes are likely in an at-large showdown with the likes of BYU, Vanderbilt and maybe Alabama.

    Big 12 — BYU is angling for another crack at Texas Tech in the title game. Hard to see the Cougars getting there, losing to the Red Raiders again and still making the playoff.

    Big Ten — Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon are locks. Michigan’s move up three to No. 15 gives the Wolverines a chance at an at-large bid (or maybe the conference title) with a win this week over the Buckeyes.

    SEC — Texas A&M, Georgia, Mississippi and Oklahoma should all be in. Alabama can’t really afford a third loss, but what if that loss comes in the SEC title game? The Tide makes it by beating Auburn. Vanderbilt would strengthen its case with a win at No. 19 Tennessee this week.

    Group of 5 — No. 24 Tulane of the American is still the only team from a non-power conference in the rankings. One problem. BetMGM Sportsbook has North Texas as the favorite to win the league title. That, in turn, could bring someone like James Madison back into the conversation.

    Projected first-round playoff matchups

    No. 12 Tulane at No. 5 Texas Tech: Could the Red Raiders, a deep-pocketed disruptor in the college football space, also turn into one of the sport’s powerhouses?

    No. 11 Miami at No. 6 Oregon: The Mario Cristobal Bowl — Hurricanes coach left Ducks suddenly in 2021 to return home.

    No. 10 Alabama at No. 7 Mississippi: Kiffin, the old offensive coordinator at Alabama, is 0-4 vs. Tide with Ole Miss.

    No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oklahoma: Notre Dame’s first televised game was a 27-21 win over OU in 1952.

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  • Fight songs still ring true as college football tradition in face of ever-changing changes in sport

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    ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The sounds of college football have changed over the years, with pop culture songs becoming part of the show at stadiums across the country.

    Fight songs, though, have withstood the test of time and still ring true.

    From “Rocky Top” at Tennessee to “Fight On” at USC, school bands cranking up the familiar notes and rhythm and thousands of alumni joining the student body in belting out the long-familiar lyrics are a touchstone of the nostalgia surrounding the game itself. It’s a chance to cheer in common or at least try to shake off a disappointment.

    Like the teams themselves, fight songs tend to spark much discussion on the topic of which one is the best of the bunch or at least the most familiar.

    To Georgia Southern sport management Prof. Chris Hanna, “The Victors” at Michigan and “Notre Dame Victory March” are in the conversation for the mythical national championship of music.

    “Those two have separated themselves,” said Hanna, who has studied and written about college fight songs. “Those are the two most popular, and well known.”

    Michigan’s familiar fight song dates to 1898 when a music student at the school, Louis Elbel, wrote it following the Wolverines’ 12-11 win over the University of Chicago for their first Western Conference football title.

    “Hail! Hail! to Michigan, the champions of the West!” Elbel wrote back when the Midwest was still more of a notion than the commonly known region it is now.

    Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Chad Smith, who grew up in suburban Detroit rooting for Michigan, used the fight song as part of his act when the Red Hot Chili Peppers made a tour stop near Ohio State’s campus just for laughs.

    “At the end of the concert, I came out, I said, `Hey, I think we got time for one more song. You guys want to hear one more song?’ And they’re like, ‘Yay,’” Smith recalled. “I’m like, `It’s a really good song. I think you’re really going to like this one.’”

    Then, Smith started signing “The Victors,” and heard a chorus of boos before dropping the microphone and walking off stage.

    “They screamed louder than they screamed all night,” said Smith, who announced earlier this month he’s gifting a need-based music scholarship to the University of Michigan. “It was great.”

    “Notre Dame Victory March,” written by Notre Dame graduates and brothers, Michael and John Shea, was copyrighted in 1908 and became even more well known after the 1993 film “Rudy.”

    “If you’ve ever seen ”Rudy,” they have it humming in the background at practice,” said Detroit Lions tight end Brock Wright, a former Fighting Irish star. “It’s just kind of filled with rich tradition.”

    USC’s “Fight On,” was born in 1922 after students Milo Sweet and Glen Grant teamed up to create the iconic song kicked off by trumpets. It makes Hanna’s list of top fight songs along with Oklahoma’s “Boomer Sooner,” and “On Wisconsin!”

    Hanna was part of research on 130 Division I college football fight songs that found more than 90% of the songs had themes that included the name of the university, an exclamation and togetherness.

    “Fight songs ramp up your emotions because of the value you place on the connections to your school,” Hanna said. “These songs are passed down by generations and you learn them as kids.”

    Michigan backup quarterback Davis Warren grew up in Los Angeles rooting for UCLA — which has “The Mighty Bruins” and “Sons of Westwood” for its fans to sing — but quietly digging USC’s fight song.

    “It’s classic,” Warren said. “I think ours is the best, but that is one that you hear and it just sounds like college football.”

    Bands in stadium from coast to coast used to get more air time, filling timeouts with fight songs and hit songs before, between and after whistles. In recent decades, piped-in music has become the norm while marching bands take a break whether they want one ore not.

    House of Pain’s “Jump Around” at Wisconsin is now in its third decade of inspiring Badgers fans. “Mr. Brightside” at Michigan, “Callin’ Baton Rouge” at LSU and “Shout” at Oregon” are just a few that have become part of the gameday experience.

    “Those are cool, obviously, but we don’t sing ‘Mr. Brightside’ after we win,” Davis said. “We sing ‘The Victors’ after we win. Even in the era of sound effects and music, having the band right there playing fight songs , when we’re home and away, I think is a really cool tradition in college football.”

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    Associated Press Writer Mike Householder contributed. Follow Larry Lage on X

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  • Why Trump’s plan to help GOP keep control of the House could backfire

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    As President Donald Trump laid it out to reporters this summer, the plan was simple.

    Republicans, the president said, were “entitled” to five more conservative-leaning U.S. House seats in Texas and additional ones in other red states. The president broke with more than a century of political tradition in directing the GOP to redraw those maps in the middle of the decade to avoid losing control of Congress in next year’s midterms.

    Four months later, Trump’s audacious ask looks anything but simple. After a federal court panel struck down Republicans’ new map in Texas on Tuesday, the entire exercise holds the potential to net Democrats more winnable seats in the House instead.

    “Trump may have let the genie out of the bottle,” said UCLA law professor Rick Hasen, “but he may not get the wish he’d hoped for.”

    Trump’s plan is to bolster his party’s narrow House margin to protect Republicans from losing control of the chamber in next year’s elections. Normally, the president’s party loses seats in the midterms. But his involvement in redistricting is instead becoming an illustration of the limits of presidential power.

    Gov. Greg Abbott announces his re-election campaign for Texas governor in Houston, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

    Playing with fire

    To hold Republicans’ grip on power in Washington, Trump is relying on a complex political process.

    Redrawing maps is a decentralized effort that involves navigating a tangle of legal rules. It also involves a tricky political calculus because the legislators who hold the power to draw maps often want to protect themselves, business interests or local communities more than ruthlessly help their party.

    And when one party moves aggressively to draw lines to help itself win elections — also known as gerrymandering — it runs the risk of pushing its rival party to do the same.

    That’s what Trump ended up doing, spurring California voters to replace their map drawn by a nonpartisan commission with one drawn by Democrats to gain five seats. If successful, the move would cancel out the action taken by Texas Republicans. California voters approved that map earlier this month, and if a Republican lawsuit fails to block it, that map giving Democrats more winnable seats will remain in effect even if Texas’ remains stalled.

    “Donald Trump and Greg Abbott played with fire, got burned — and democracy won,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, posted on X after the Texas ruling, mentioning his Republican counterpart in Texas along with the president.

    Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican whose northern California district would be redrawn under the state’s new map, agreed.

    “It could very well come out as a net loss for Republicans, honestly when you look at the map, or at the very least, it could end up being a wash,” Kiley said. “But it’s something that never should have happened. It was ill-conceived from the start.”

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a rally with Harris County Democrats at the IBEW local 716 union hall in Houston, on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a rally with Harris County Democrats at the IBEW local 716 union hall in Houston, on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Karen Warren)

    For Trump, a mix of wins and losses

    There’s no guarantee that Tuesday’s ruling on the Texas map will stand. Many lower courts have blocked Trump’s initiatives, only for the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court to put those rulings on hold. Texas Republicans immediately appealed Tuesday’s decision to the high court, too.

    Republicans hope the nation’s highest court also weakens or eliminates the last major component of the Voting Rights Act next year, which could open the door to further redraws in their favor.

    Even before Tuesday, Trump’s push for mid-decade redistricting was not playing out as neatly as he had hoped, though he had scored some apparent wins. North Carolina Republicans potentially created another conservative-leaning seat in that battleground state, while Missouri Republicans redrew their congressional map at Trump’s urging to eliminate one Democratic seat. The Missouri plan faces lawsuits and a possible referendum that would force a statewide vote on the matter.

    Trump’s push has faltered elsewhere. Republicans in Kansas balked at trying to eliminate the state’s lone swing seat, held by a Democratic congresswoman. Indiana Republicans also refused to redraw their map to eliminate their two Democratic-leaning congressional seats.

    After Trump attacked the main Indiana holdout, state Sen. Greg Goode, on social media, he was the victim of a swatting call over the weekend that led to sheriff’s deputies coming to his house.

    Trump’s push could have a boomerang effect on Republicans

    The bulk of redistricting normally happens once every 10 years, following the release of new population estimates from the U.S. Census. That requires state lawmakers to adjust their legislative lines to make sure every district has roughly the same population. It also opens the door to gerrymandering maps to make it harder for the party out of power to win legislative seats.

    Inevitably, redistricting leads to litigation, which can drag on for years and spur mid-decade, court-mandated revisions.

    Republicans stood to benefit from these after the last cycle in 2021 because they won state supreme court elections in North Carolina and Ohio in 2022. But some litigation hasn’t gone the GOP’s way. A judge in Utah earlier this month required the state to make one of its four congressional seats Democratic-leaning.

    Trump broke with modern political practice by urging a wholesale, mid-decade redraw in red states.

    Democrats were in a bad position to respond to Trump’s gambit because more states they control have lines drawn by independent commissions rather than by partisan lawmakers, the legacy of government reform efforts.

    But with Newsom’s push to let Democrats draw California’s lines successful, the party is looking to replicate it elsewhere.

    Next up may be Virginia, where Democrats recaptured the governor’s office this month and expanded their margins in the Legislature. A Democratic candidate for governor in Colorado has called for a similar measure there. Republicans currently hold 9 of the 19 House seats in those two states.

    Overall, Republicans have more to lose if redistricting becomes a purely partisan activity nationally and voters in blue states ditch their nonpartisan commissions to let their preferred party maximize its margins. In the last complete redistricting cycle in 2021, commissions drew 95 House seats that Democrats would have otherwise drawn, and only 13 that Republicans would have drawn.

    The State Capitol is seen in Austin, Texas, on June 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

    The State Capitol is seen in Austin, Texas, on June 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

    Gerrymandering’s unintended consequences

    On Tuesday, Republicans were reappraising Trump’s championing of redistricting hardball.

    “I think if you look at the basis of this, there was no member of the delegation that was asked our opinion,” Republican Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas told reporters.

    Incumbents usually don’t like the idea of radically redrawing districts. It can lead to what political experts call a “dummymander” — spreading the opposing party’s voters so broadly that they end up endangering your own incumbents in a year, like 2026, that is expected to be bad for the party in power.

    Incumbents also don’t like losing voters who have supported them or getting wholly new communities drawn into their districts, said Jonathan Cervas, who teaches redistricting at Carnegie Mellon University and has drawn new maps for courts. Democratic lawmakers in Illinois and Maryland have so far resisted mid-decade redraws to pad their majorities in their states, joining their GOP counterparts in Indiana and Kansas.

    Cervas said that’s why it was striking to watch Trump push Republicans to dive into mid-decade redistricting.

    “The idea they’d go along to get along is basically crazy,” he said.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Families brace for continued gaps in Head Start service despite government reopening

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    Vital federal funding is on the way for Head Start centers that were thrown into crisis by the government shutdown, but it could take time before some children who rely on the federal program can return to preschool.

    Some centers that missed out on federal payments had to furlough staff. Others had to shut down entirely, destabilizing thousands of needy families around the country. And operators fear it could take weeks more for overdue payments to be processed.

    Even when agencies receive long-delayed grant money, centers will have to rehire staff members and bring back families — both of which may have grown wary of instability in the program, which relies almost entirely on federal grants.

    “The damage has been done in a lot of ways,” Massachusetts Head Start Association Executive Director Michelle Haimowitz said. “We know that it’s going to take some time to fill back up.”

    About 140 Head Start programs representing 65,000 slots didn’t receive their annual grants during the 43-day shutdown, which concluded when President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night.

    Head Start serves children from low-income families from birth to age 5. The program offers a variety of services to families, such as early learning, support for children with disabilities, free meals and health screenings.

    With the shutdown over, the federal Office of Head Start will expedite funding and contact affected Head Start programs to share when they can expect federal money, said Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program.

    Head Start operators anticipate that could take weeks.

    Federal workers are returning to “a mountain of work” that will take time to process, Haimowitz said. That doesn’t just include sending out missed grant awards — other paperwork for a range of technical issues has been delayed since layoffs at the Office of Head Start earlier this year, she said.

    “Those delays have just been piling up since April, with no fault to the existing civil servants at the Office of Head Start,” Haimowitz said. “They just have half the capacity that they had just a few months ago.”

    Families prepare for the worst-case scenario

    Depending on how quickly federal workers can send out funds, the backlog in grant renewals could spill over and affect Head Start agencies that are supposed to receive funding in December, operators said. Some of the families who attend those centers are already making preparations for that worst-case scenario.

    Gena Storer, who works as a home health aide in Xenia, Ohio, is trying to “make as much money as I possibly can” in case her daughter’s Head Start center closes. The center staff told parents hours before the government reopened that they still expect to shutter temporarily on Dec. 1 if funding is delayed, Storer said.

    If the center closes, Storer’s 4-year-old daughter, Zarina, will stay at home until it reopens. Storer will then need to adjust her work hours to make sure she can be home with Zarina while her fiance works 12-hour shifts at a Target distribution center.

    Uncertainty about SNAP federal food aid payments has also added stress for Storer’s family. Storer had been working extra hours through the shutdown to help provide for her 72-year-old mother, who also uses SNAP benefits.

    “If my mom didn’t have us to help her, what would she do?” the 31-year-old said.

    For Storer, Head Start has been more than a reliable option for child care. Zarina used to receive speech therapy to address her lack of speaking. But since starting Head Start in September, Storer said she’s noticed her daughter becoming more talkative and outgoing because she learns from having conversations with her classmates.

    Programs pay out-of-pocket to keep doors open

    Programs that stayed open without a guarantee of reimbursement by the federal government could also face further financial strains. At Louis Russ’ home day care in Knox County, Indiana, he and his wife are planning a pop-up toy shop out of their garage to offset money they might lose by staying open.

    Russ and his wife started operating a day care out of their home in April and partnered soon after with East Coast Migrant Head Start Project, a nonprofit that serves children of migrant farmworkers across 10 states. Six out of the eight children in Russ’ home day care are Head Start-funded.

    East Coast Migrant Head Start Project was one of the programs affected by a funding lapse, which resulted in more than 1,000 children being shut out of their centers. Russ and his wife also stopped receiving their Head Start payments at the end of October, but the decision to keep their home open was a “no brainer,” Russ said. Offering the children consistency during an otherwise unpredictable time was important to them, he said.

    “Staying open and keep taking the children we have, that was the easy part,” he said. “Figuring out how we’re going to stay open if this goes on too long, that’s the tricky part.”

    It’s been tense operating the program without knowing when funding will be released. Russ and his wife already took a pay cut, and they have another employee on the payroll. About three-quarters of their budget is payroll, Russ said, but other expenses like groceries and maintenance needs can stack up quickly without an income.

    “Our program, being so new, we were running pretty bare bones as is,” Russ said. “And especially in child care, which doesn’t have a huge profit margin, there’s only so much wiggle room when things like this happen.”

    ___

    The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Ohio State stays on top of playoff bracket, while Miami makes a big move

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    Not surprisingly, Ohio State stayed at the top of the rankings, and there was a healthy debate about whether last weekend’s action warranted keeping Indiana at No. 2, one spot ahead of Texas A&M.

    But while those top three remained the same in the Week 2 rankings released Tuesday, it was a game back in August that led the College Football Playoff selection committee to its biggest shakeup.

    The committee vaulted Miami to No. 15, one spot ahead of Georgia Tech, to hand the ‘Canes the Atlantic Coast Conference’s only spot in this week’s projected bracket.

    That decision came not so much on the strength of last weekend’s action, — when Miami easily handled Syracuse and Georgia Tech was idle — but rather, thanks to Miami’s season-opening win against Notre Dame.

    “Certainly, the win versus Notre Dame was a key factor for placing Miami ahead of Georgia Tech,” committee chair Mack Rhoades explained. “In general, with the ACC, I think their lack of nonconference signature wins other than Miami over Notre Dame” hurts the conference.

    Following the trio of undefeateds — Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M — were Alabama and Georgia, who rounded out the same top five as in last week’s season-opening rankings.

    Texas Tech jumped two spots to No. 6 on the strength of its win over BYU, moving one notch ahead of Mississippi, which dropped to 7 despite a romp over Citadel in a nonconference game.

    At No. 8 was Oregon, followed by Notre Dame and Texas.

    No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 12 BYU would be the first two teams out in this week’s bracket due to the automatic spots handed to the ACC (Miami) and the highest-ranked league leader out of the Group of 5 conferences, which is now an honor that belongs to South Florida, ranked at No. 24.

    “They’ve always been part of (the conversation),” Rhoades said of the Bulls. “South Florida is the most consistent of the Group of 5, to date.”

    The final bracket comes out Dec. 7, with the 12-team playoff beginning Dec. 19 and closing a month later with the title game.

    Indiana-A&M and Texas Tech-Ole Miss are two toughest calls

    Rhoades said the decision to keep Indiana at No. 2 over Texas A&M provoked the committee’s second-longest conversation.

    The Hoosiers needed last-second heroics to win at Penn State, while the Aggies got a romp on the road at Missouri.

    “Certainly, discussion about those two games, but also discussion about body of work,” Rhoades said. “There was conversation about Missouri. Missouri is a really good team but not the team they’ve been,” due to injuries at quarterback.

    The longest conversation involved moving Texas Tech a spot past Ole Miss.

    “Texas Tech’s win this last weekend — really convincing,” Rhoades said.

    Conference watch

    ACC: Of the five teams in the conference ranked 15-22, maybe No. 22 Pitt is the team to watch. The Panthers have a 7-2 record with games against Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Miami the next three weeks. Winning any two of those might give them a chance at somehow getting into the bracket.

    Big Ten: Outside of the top three, there are no sure things. No. 18 Michigan would work its way into the conversation with a win over you-know-who at the end of the month, and No. 17 USC has a season-making game at Oregon on Nov. 22.

    Big 12: There’s Texas Tech. And then there’s BYU (8-1). And then there’s No. 13 Utah (7-2), the team the Cougars beat last month and seem destined to stay ahead of if they finish with one loss and the Utes finish with two. Only two — and perhaps only one — will make it.

    SEC: No wonder the conference wants to do away with automatic qualifiers. A&M, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi feel like locks. Texas, Oklahoma and No. 14 Vanderbilt all control their own destiny. (Especially OU, which is at Alabama this week.)

    Group of 5: With early wins over Boise State and Florida, South Florida looked like a good bet to earn that fifth conference-champion slot earlier in the season, and reclaimed the position after Memphis lost to Tulane last week.

    The projected first-round matchups

    No. 12 South Florida at No. 5 Georgia: How many teams have won at the Swamp and between the hedges in the same year … or ever?

    No. 11 Miami at No. 6 Texas Tech: ‘Canes won last meeting 45-10 in 1990, and closed that season with a 46-3 drubbing of Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

    No. 10 Texas at No. 7 Ole Miss: They haven’t played since UT joined the SEC last year.

    No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Oregon: Unfinished business from their 13-13 tie in 1982, Gerry Faust’s second season with the Irish.

    ___

    Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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  • Voters’ anger at high electricity bills and data centers looms over 2026 midterms

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    Voter anger over the cost of living is hurtling forward into next year’s midterm elections, when pivotal contests will be decided by communities that are home to fast-rising electric bills or fights over who’s footing the bill to power Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers.

    Electricity costs were a key issue in this week’s elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, a data center hotspot, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s utility regulatory commission.

    Voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City all cited economic concerns as the top issue, as Democrats and Republicans gird for a debate over affordability in the intensifying midterm battle to control Congress.

    Already, President Donald Trump is signaling that he’ll focus on affordability next year as he and Republicans try to maintain their slim congressional majorities, while Democrats are blaming Trump for rising household costs.

    Front and center may be electricity bills, which in many places are increasing at a rate faster than U.S. inflation on average — although not everywhere.

    “There’s a lot of pressure on politicians to talk about affordability, and electricity prices are right now the most clear example of problems of affordability,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of politics and government and pollster at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

    Rising electric costs aren’t expected to ease and many Americans could see an increase on their monthly bills in the middle of next year’s campaigns.

    Higher electric bills on the horizon

    Gas and electric utilities are seeking or already secured rate increases of more that $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, consumer advocacy organization PowerLines reported. That was more than double the same period last year.

    With some 80 million Americans struggling to pay their utility bills, “it’s a life or death and ‘eat or heat’ type decision that people have to make,” said Charles Hua, PowerLines’ founder.

    In Georgia, proposals to build data centers have roiled communities, while a victorious Democrat, Peter Hubbard, accused Republicans on the commission of “rubber-stamping” rate increases by Georgia Power, a subsidiary of power giant Southern Co.

    Monthly Georgia Power bills have risen six times over the past two years, now averaging $175 a month for a typical residential customer.

    Hubbard’s message seemed to resonate with voters. Rebecca Mekonnen, who lives in the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain, said she voted for the Democratic challengers, and wants to see “more affordable pricing. That’s the main thing. It’s running my pocket right now.”

    Now, Georgia Power is proposing to spend $15 billion to expand its power generating capacity, primarily to meet demand from data centers, and Hubbard is questioning whether data centers will pay their fair share — or share it with regular ratepayers.

    Midterm battlegrounds in hotspots

    Midterm elections will see congressional battlegrounds in states where fast-rising electric bills or data center hotspots — or both — are fomenting community uprisings.

    That includes California, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

    Analysts attribute rising electric bills to a combination of forces.

    That includes expensive projects to modernize the grid and harden poles, wires and substations against extreme weather and wildfires.

    Also playing a role is explosive demand from data centers, bitcoin miners and a drive to revive domestic manufacturing, as well as rising natural gas prices, analysts say.

    “The cost of utility service is the new ‘cost of eggs’ concern for a lot of consumers,” said Jennifer Bosco of the National Consumer Law Center.

    In some places, data centers are driving a big increase in demand, since a typical AI data center uses as much electricity as 100,000 homes, according to the International Energy Agency. Some could require more electricity than cities the size of Pittsburgh, Cleveland or New Orleans.

    While many states have sought to attract data centers as an economic boon, legislatures and utility commissions were also flooded with proposals to try to protect regular ratepayers from paying to connect data centers to the grid.

    Meanwhile, communities that don’t want to live next to one are pushing back.

    It’s on voters’ minds

    An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll from October found that electricity bills are a “major” source of stress for 36% of U.S. adults.

    Now, as falls turns to winter, some states are warning that funding for low-income heating aid is being delayed because of the federal government shutdown.

    Still, the impact is still more uneven than other financial stressors like grocery costs, which just over half of U.S. adults said are a “major” source of stress.

    And electric rates vary widely by state or utility.

    For instance, federal data shows that for-profit utilities have been raising rates far faster than municipally owned utilities or cooperatives.

    In the 13-state mid-Atlantic grid from Illinois to New Jersey, analysts say ratepayers are paying billions of dollars for the cost to power data centers — including data centers not even built yet.

    Next June, electric bills across that region will absorb billions more dollars in higher wholesale electricity costs designed to lure new power plants to power data centers.

    That’s spurred governors from the region — including Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, Illinois’ JB Pritzker and Maryland’s Wes Moore, all Democrats who are running for reelection — to pressure the grid operator PJM Interconnection to contain increases.

    High-rate states vs. lower-rate rates

    Drew Maloney, the CEO of the Edison Electric Institute, a trade association of for-profit electric utilities, suggested that only some states are the drivers of higher average electric bills.

    “If you set aside a few sates with higher rates, the rest of the country largely follows inflation on electricity rates,” Maloney said.

    Examples of states with faster-rising rates are California, where wildfires are driving grid upgrades, and those in New England, where natural gas is expensive because of strained pipeline capacity.

    Still, other states are feeling a pinch.

    In Indiana, a growing data center hotspot, the consumer advocacy group, Citizens Action Coalition, reported this year that residential customers of the state’s for-profit electric utilities were absorbing the most severe rate increases in at least two decades.

    Republican Gov. Mike Braun decried the hikes, saying “we can’t take it anymore.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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  • Ohio State gets top billing in opening College Football Playoff rankings; Indiana, Texas A&M next

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    The closest thing resembling drama for the first big reveal of this season’s College Football Playoff rankings hinged on which undefeated team would receive top billing.

    Answer: The defending champions at Ohio State.

    The Buckeyes took the top spot in the first set of 2025 rankings Tuesday night, followed by Indiana and Texas A&M.

    In choosing the two Big Ten teams ahead of Texas A&M, the 12-person committee appeared to give less weight to A&M’s tougher schedule and its 41-40 win over tenth-ranked Notre Dame and more to the way the Buckeyes and Hoosiers have mowed down opponents this year, with only two games between the two of them decided by less than 10 points.

    “I think statistically when we looked at A&M defensively, they’re just lower than both Ohio State and Indiana,” committee chair Mack Rhoades said. “We had to make a hard decision, and you’re trying to find separators, and that was a separator for us.”

    Another team with no losses, BYU of the Big 12, was ranked seventh.

    Nos. 4, 5 and 6 went to Southeastern Conference teams with one loss each — Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. All of the top six came from either the Big Ten or SEC, a dose of business as usual despite a season that has been anything but predictable.

    This marked the first of six weekly rankings the committee will release this season, ending Dec. 7 when the final list will set the bracket for the second 12-team playoff in major college football history.

    That tournament begins Dec. 19-20 with four games on the campus of seeds No. 5-8. The top four seeds play winners of those games over the New Year holiday and the title game is set for Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium outside Miami.

    Texas Tech was ranked eighth and Oregon came in at No. 9. Rounding out the top 12 were Notre Dame — the only team in the Top 25 not from a power conference — then Texas and Oklahoma.

    But if the bracket were set today, the Longhorns and Sooners would miss out,- bumped by No. 14 Virginia of the ACC and Memphis of the American. That’s thanks to a rule that places the five best-ranked conference champions into the bracket even if they’re not in the top 12.

    Memphis wasn’t among the committee’s top 25 but was still the highest ranked leader in a Group of Five conference.

    There is, of course, plenty of time for teams to make their cases, with four more weeks of the regular season, then a slate of conference title games set for the first weekend in December.

    “If we go back to last year, Arizona State wasn’t even in the rankings for our first two rankings,” Rhoades said of the Sun Devils, who won the Big 12 and made the field. “Again, to everybody out there, this is the first ranking and still a lot of ball left to be played.”

    The final tally in the top 12: The SEC has six teams, the Big Ten three, the Big 12 two, and the ACC none, with one independent.

    Among those still holding out hope are teams such as 16th-ranked Vanderbilt and 17th-ranked Georgia Tech, each of whom spent time in the AP top 10 this season thanks to upsets that turned college football upside down in September and October.

    The first-round matchups based on CFP rankings

    — No. 12 Memphis at No. 5 Georgia, winner vs. No. 4 Alabama. You can almost hear SEC commissioner Greg Sankey breaking his TV wondering how an unranked team is in here over one of his.

    — No. 11 Virginia at No. 6 Ole Miss, winner vs. No. 3 Texas A&M. Virginia’s only Top 25 meeting this season was against Florida State, which does not resemble a Top 25 team now.

    — No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 7 BYU, winner vs. No. 2 Indiana. The Fighting Irish have to hope some of the teams immediately below them — like Texas and Oklahoma — do not put up impressive wins since they close with Navy, Pitt, Syracuse and Stanford.

    — No. 9 Oregon at No. 8 Texas Tech, winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State. A Booster Bowl pitting teams backed by billionaires Phil Knight (Ducks) and Cody Campbell (Red Raiders).

    Tweaks in this year’s bracket

    The biggest change in the setup of this year’s bracket was eliminating the first-round bye for the four best conference champions. It would mean that Virginia, instead of jumping from a No. 14 ranking to a No. 3 seed, would be seeded 11th with a road game against Mississippi.

    Rhoades also spent time discussing Oregon, which is ranked sixth in the AP poll but ninth in the playoff rankings. The Ducks’ best win this year was a 20-point victory over Northwestern, while its double-overtime win at Penn State early in the season has become less impressive as last year’s semifinalist fell apart.

    “When we looked at and evaluated Oregon, we really looked at the quality of the team and how they looked on film,” Rhoades said.

    ___

    Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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  • Colleges are fighting to prove their return on investment

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — For a generation of young Americans, choosing where to go to college — or whether to go at all — has become a complex calculation of costs and benefits that often revolves around a single question: Is the degree worth its price?

    Public confidence in higher education has plummeted in recent years amid high tuition prices, skyrocketing student loans and a dismal job market — plus ideological concerns from conservatives. Now, colleges are scrambling to prove their value to students.

    Borrowed from the business world, the term “return on investment” has been plastered on college advertisements across the U.S. A battery of new rankings grade campuses on the financial benefits they deliver. States such as Colorado have started publishing yearly reports on the monetary payoff of college, and Texas now factors it into calculations for how much taxpayer money goes to community colleges.

    “Students are becoming more aware of the times when college doesn’t pay off,” said Preston Cooper, who has studied college ROI at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. “It’s front of mind for universities today in a way that it was not necessarily 15, 20 years ago.”

    Most bachelor’s degrees are still worth it

    A wide body of research indicates a bachelor’s degree still pays off, at least on average and in the long run. Yet there’s growing recognition that not all degrees lead to a good salary, and even some that seem like a good bet are becoming riskier as graduates face one of the toughest job markets in years.

    A new analysis released Thursday by the Strada Education Foundation finds 70% of recent public university graduates can expect a positive return within 10 years — meaning their earnings over a decade will exceed that of a typical high school graduate by an amount greater than the cost of their degree. Yet it varies by state, from 53% in North Dakota to 82% in Washington, D.C. States where college is more affordable have fared better, the report says.

    It’s a critical issue for families who wonder how college tuition prices could ever pay off, said Emilia Mattucci, a high school counselor at East Allegheny schools, near Pittsburgh. More than two-thirds of her school’s students come from low-income families, and many aren’t willing to take on the level of debt that past generations accepted.

    Instead, more are heading to technical schools or the trades and passing on four-year universities, she said.

    “A lot of families are just saying they can’t afford it, or they don’t want to go into debt for years and years and years,” she said.

    Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been among those questioning the need for a four-year degree. Speaking at the Reagan Institute think tank in September, McMahon praised programs that prepare students for careers right out of high school.

    “I’m not saying kids shouldn’t go to college,” she said. “I’m just saying all kids don’t have to go in order to be successful.”

    Lowering college tuition and improving graduate earnings

    American higher education has been grappling with both sides of the ROI equation — tuition costs and graduate earnings. It’s becoming even more important as colleges compete for decreasing numbers of college-age students as a result of falling birth rates.

    Tuition rates have stayed flat on many campuses in recent years to address affordability concerns, and many private colleges have lowered their sticker prices in an effort to better reflect the cost most students actually pay after factoring in financial aid.

    The other part of the equation — making sure graduates land good jobs — is more complicated.

    A group of college presidents recently met at Gallup’s Washington headquarters to study public polling on higher education. One of the chief reasons for flagging confidence is a perception that colleges aren’t giving graduates the skills employers need, said Kevin Guskiewicz, president of Michigan State University, one of the leaders at the meeting.

    “We’re trying to get out in front of that,” he said.

    The issue has been a priority for Guskiewicz since he arrived on campus last year. He gathered a council of Michigan business leaders to identify skills that graduates will need for jobs, from agriculture to banking. The goal is to mold degree programs to the job market’s needs and to get students internships and work experience that can lead to a job.

    A disconnect with the job market

    Bridging the gap to the job market has been a persistent struggle for U.S. colleges, said Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, a think tank that studies the workforce. Last year the institute, partnering with Strada researchers, found 52% of recent college graduates were in jobs that didn’t require a degree. Even higher-demand fields, such as education and nursing, had large numbers of graduates in that situation.

    “No programs are immune, and no schools are immune,” Sigelman said.

    The federal government has been trying to fix the problem for decades, going back to President Barack Obama’s administration. A federal rule first established in 2011 aimed to cut federal money to college programs that leave graduates with low earnings, though it primarily targeted for-profit colleges.

    A Republican reconciliation bill passed this year takes a wider view, requiring most colleges to hit earnings standards to be eligible for federal funding. The goal is to make sure college graduates end up earning more than those without a degree.

    Others see transparency as a key solution.

    For decades, students had little way to know whether graduates of specific degree programs were landing good jobs after college. That started to change with the College Scorecard in 2015, a federal website that shares broad earnings outcomes for college programs. More recently, bipartisan legislation in Congress has sought to give the public even more detailed data.

    Lawmakers in North Carolina ordered a 2023 study on the financial return for degrees across the state’s public universities. It found that 93% produced a positive return, meaning graduates were expected to earn more over their lives than someone without a similar degree.

    The data is available to the public, showing, for example, that undergraduate degrees in applied math and business tend to have high returns at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, while graduate degrees in psychology and foreign languages often don’t.

    Colleges are belatedly realizing how important that kind of data is to students and their families, said Lee Roberts, chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill, in an interview.

    “In uncertain times, students are even more focused — I would say rightly so — on what their job prospects are going to be,” he added. “So I think colleges and universities really owe students and their families this data.”

    ___

    The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Q&A: Can Trump hold a census in the middle of a decade and exclude immigrants in the US illegally?

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    President Donald Trump on Thursday instructed the Commerce Department to have the Census Bureau start work on a new census that would exclude immigrants who are in the United States illegally from the head count which determines political power and federal spending.

    The census will be based on “modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” the Republican president said on his social media platform.

    Experts said it was unclear what exactly Trump was calling for, whether it was changes to the 2030 census or a mid-decade census, and, if so, whether it would be used for a mid-decade apportionment, which is the process of divvying up congressional seats among the states based on the population count.

    Here’s some answers to questions Thursday’s post raises:

    Can Trump do this?

    It would be extremely difficult to conduct a mid-decade census, if not impossible, according to experts.

    Any changes in conducting a U.S. census would require alterations to the Census Act and approval from Congress, which has oversight responsibilities, and there likely would be a fierce fight.

    The federal law governing the census permits a mid-decade head count for things like distributing federal funding, but it can’t be used for apportionment or redistricting and must be done in a year ending in 5. Additionally, the 14th Amendment says that “the whole number of persons in each state” are to be counted for the numbers used for apportionment, and the Census Bureau has interpreted that to mean anybody residing in the United States regardless of legal status. Federal courts have repeatedly supported that interpretation, though the Supreme Court has blocked recent efforts to change that on procedural rather than legal grounds.

    “He cannot unilaterally order a new census. The census is governed by law, not to mention the Constitution,” said Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former congressional staffer who consults on census issues.

    Then there is the question of logistics. The once-a-decade census is the biggest non-military undertaking by the federal government, utilizing a temporary workforce of hundreds of thousands of census takers. It can take as much as 10 years of planning.

    “This isn’t something that you can do overnight,” said New York Law professor Jeffrey Wice, a census and redistricting expert. “To get all the pieces put together, it would be such a tremendous challenge, if not impossible.”

    Has this ever been done before?

    A mid-decade census has never been conducted before.

    In the 1970s, there was interest in developing data from the middle of the decade for more accurate and continuous information about American life, and a mid-decade census was considered. But the funding from Congress never came through, said Margo Anderson, a professor emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has written extensively on the history of the census.

    Decades later, those wishes for continuous data would develop into the American Community Survey, the annual survey of American life based on responses from 3.5 million households.

    In his first term, President Donald Trump, a Republican, unsuccessfully tried to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census form and signed orders which would have excluded people in the U.S. illegally from the apportionment figures and mandate the collection of citizenship data through administrative records.

    The attempt was blocked by the Supreme Court, and both orders were rescinded when Democratic President Joe Biden arrived at the White House in January 2021, before the 2020 census figures were released by Census Bureau.

    Any attempt at a repeat would guarantee legal challenges.

    “The census isn’t just a head count. It is meant to reflect America as it is – not as some would prefer it to be — and determines how critical resources are allocated,” ACLU Voting Rights project director Sophia Lin Lakin said in a statement. “Nobody should be erased from it. We won’t hesitate to go back to court to protect representation for all communities.”

    What is a census used for?

    Besides being used to divvy up congressional seats among the states and redraw political districts, the numbers derived from the once-a-decade census are used to guide the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual government spending.

    The federal funding is distributed to state and local governments, nonprofits, businesses and households, paying for health care, education, school lunch programs, child care, food assistance programs and highway construction, among other things.

    Why is Trump doing this?

    A Republican redistricting expert had written that using citizen voting-age population instead of the total population for the purpose of redrawing congressional and legislative districts could be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.

    Critics believe the writings of Republican redistricting expert Tom Hofeller inspired the first Trump administration’s attempt at restricting the apportionment count and guided legislation introduced this year by Republican lawmakers to add a citizenship question to the 2030 census questionnaire. Trump has been open about his intent to increase the number of Republican seats in Congress and maintain the GOP majority in next year’s midterm elections.

    Even though redistricting typically occurs once every 10 years following the census, Trump is pressuring Republicans in Texas to redistrict again, claiming they are “entitled” to five additional Republican seats. Trump’s team is also engaged in similar redistricting discussions in other GOP-controlled states, including Missouri and Indiana.

    Some critics see the effort as part of Trump’s wider effort to control the federal statistical system, which has been considered the world’s gold standard.

    Last Friday, Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after standard revisions to the monthly jobs report showed that employers added 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported in May and June. The revisions suggested that hiring has severely weakened under Trump, undermining his claims of an economic boom.

    “Trump is basically destroying the federal statistical system,” Anderson said. “He wants numbers that support his political accomplishments, such as he sees them.”

    ___

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  • A power loss changed everything: How Palou secured his fourth IndyCar title

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    Alex Palou wrapped up his fourth IndyCar championship in the last five seasons on Sunday at Portland International Raceway when title contender Pato O’Ward lost power early in the race.

    O’Ward started from the pole and was the only driver mathematically eligible to beat Palou for the championship. Palou went into Sunday with a cozy 121-point lead over O’Ward in the standings and so long as he left Portland up by 108 points, he’d clinch the championship in the first race of a three consecutive weekends to close the season.

    The Astor Cup became his just 22 laps into the race on the Portland road course when O’Ward had an electronic issue on his Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and had to make an unplanned pit stop. He returned to the track down nine laps from the leaders.

    Palou finished third, O’Ward finished 25th and Palou has the title cemented with two races remaining in the IndyCar season and an insurmountable 151-point lead.

    Palou was feisty in the closing portion of the race and raced unnecessarily aggressive at times — even driving off course with four laps remaining and drag-racing Christian Lundgaard for position.

    “We’re here to win. That’s why we’re here. We’ve said it many times. When we come here, although we have that big goal of winning the championship, our priority is always to win races and win every single weekend,” insisted Palou. “Even though could have been OK to stay third, we wanted to win.”

    Palou has won all four of his championships for Chip Ganassi Racing and ran away with this one, his third consecutive, by storming out of the gate with a win in the first two races of the year to set the pace for Ganassi to win its 17th IndyCar title in 30 years. The 17 championships tie Penske Racing.

    Twelve of Ganassi’s IndyCar titles have come in the last 17 years, starting with Scott Dixon’s brilliant 2008 season in which he put together a run similar to the one Palou had this year. Dixon in 2008 won six races, including the Indianapolis 500, six poles and the first of his six championships.

    Ganassi has many times before dressed-down drivers for putting themselves in unnecessary positions, but this time had no qualms with Palou racing hard for a race win rather than sitting back and coasting to to the title.

    “It depends on the situation, the driver. Like Alex said, we go into this race with that 10 car team, every race, we want to win the race, OK? That’s how we got to this point,” said Ganassi. “We didn’t change anything today. You can’t play God.”

    But Ganassi admitted Palou did cause a brief scare with his determination to race hard in the final laps.

    “When he was fighting for second or third, I was fine with it,” said Ganassi. “I got to say my heart skipped a beat when he went off there, but other than that I was all for it.”

    Only A.J. Foyt (seven) and Dixon (six) have more championships than Palou, who broke through this season by winning on ovals to finally show he’s the complete package. That was clear years ago, and he is embroiled in a $30 million breach of contract civil suit with Arrow McLaren for not honoring a deal to join that team.

    He’s instead stayed loyal to Ganassi and this year, Palou won five of the first six races, including the Indianapolis 500 that had eluded him in five previous tries. That win at the Brickyard cemented the Spaniard’s path to another championship and he’s been untouchable since.

    Palou went into Portland with a series-high eight wins, five poles, 11 top-five finishes in 14 races, 563 laps led and a 1.2 average finish. He padded those number on Sunday.

    Palou joined Dario Franchitti, Sebastien Bourdais and Ted Horn as the only drivers in series history to win three consecutive titles. But, with two more races this season, Palou has a chance to tie the IndyCar record for victories in a season set at 10 by Foyt in 1964 and Al Unser in 1970.

    He lost his chance to break the most wins in a season record Sunday when Will Power won at Portland. It was the first victory of the season for the Penske fleet, which has been in a slump all year and did not get its first win until the 15th of 17 races.

    ___

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  • Colts defense hoping to get a reprieve as Caleb Williams and Bears struggling offense visit Indy

    Colts defense hoping to get a reprieve as Caleb Williams and Bears struggling offense visit Indy

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    Chicago (1-1) at Indianapolis (0-2)

    Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT, CBS

    BetMGM NFL Odds: Colts by 1

    Series record: Colts lead 24-19

    Against the spread: Chicago 1-0-1, Indianapolis 1-1

    Last meeting: Colts won 19-11 at Chicago on Oct. 4, 2020.

    Last week: Bears lost 19-13 at Houston; Colts lost 16-10 at Green Bay

    Bears offense: overall (31), rush (28), pass (32), scoring (18-T)

    Bears defense: overall (8), rush (13), pass (11), scoring (6-T)

    Colts offense: overall (14), rush (16), pass (17), scoring (18-T)

    Colts defense: overall (31), rush (32), pass (8), scoring (22-T)

    Turnover differential: Bears plus-1, Colts minus-3.

    Bears player to watch

    QB Caleb Williams. It’s been a rough start for the No. 1 overall draft pick. Only five QBs have a lower completion rate than Williams (56.1%) and the recently benched Bryce Young is the only starter averaging fewer yards per game than Williams’ 133.5. The 2022 Heisman Trophy winner hasn’t thrown a TD pass, but has been sacked a league-high-tying nine times. Perhaps this will be the week he and the Bears turn things around.

    Colts player to watch

    WR Michael Pittman Jr. Indy’s top receiver showed his frustration following the Green Bay loss and it had nothing to do with his role in this offense. He’s been targeted a team-high 15 times and is second on the team with eight receptions. The previous time Pittman spoke out, in October 2023, he responded by catching 53 passes and helping Indy go 4-2 over the next six games.

    Key matchup

    Bears running game vs. Colts run defense. Williams isn’t the only one struggling in Chicago. The offense has just one offensive TD this season. Still, this could be a matchup that helps the Bears get jump-started. Indy is allowing a league-high 237.0 yards rushing per game, and until it stops the run consistently, teams will continue to test the Colts.

    Key injuries

    Chicago WR Keenan Allen (heel) missed last weekend’s game and was one of four players who did not practice Wednesday. The others were fullback Khari Blasingame (hand and knee), offensive tackle Teven Jenkins (thigh) and defensive tackle Zacch Pickens (groin). Offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie (quadricep), defensive tackle Andrew Billings (groin), guard Nate Davis (groin), rookie receiver Rome Odunze (knee) and defensive ends Montez Sweat (elbow) and DeMarcus Walker (foot) were all limited Wednesday. … The Colts already have two defensive starters — three-time Pro Bowl DT DeForest Buckner (sprained ankle) and starting CB JuJu Brents (knee) — on injured reserve. Starting safety Julian Blackmon (shoulder) and WR Josh Downs (ankle) practiced Wednesday and are hopeful of returning, but kicker Matt Gay (quadricep) and rookie DE Laiatu Latu (hip) did not practice Wednesday.

    Series notes

    Indianapolis has won two straight and four of the past six in a series featuring two foes that moved into separate conferences as part of 1970 AFL-NFL merger. … Indy won the only postseason contest, beating the Bears 29-17 to win Super Bowl 41. … Chicago won the first NFL regular-season game played at Lucas Oil Stadium, 29-13 in the 2008 season opener. … Colts owner Jim Irsay grew up in Chicago.

    Stats and stuff

    The Bears have won five of their past eight games overall, but have lost eight of their past 10 on the road. … Chicago opened this season with three straight non-division games, the first time that’s happened since 2002. … Williams and backup QB Tyson Bagent are the only Bears rookies to win their first career starts over the past two decades. … WR D.J. Moore leads all players from the 2018 rookie class in yards receiving with 6,654. … Chicago has allowed 117 sacks since the start of the 2022 season. … The Bears defense has allowed just three points and just 169 yards in the second halves of the first two games. … Chicago is tied with San Francisco for most interceptions (24) since the start of the 2023 season. … Matt Eberflus served as Indy’s defensive coordinator from 2018-2021 before taking the Bears head coaching job. … The Colts are trying to avoid starting a second straight season by losing its first two home games. … Indy averages 6.68 yards per play, the third highest in the NFL, but have finished each of its first two games with 20 or fewer minutes of possession time. … Second-year QB Anthony Richardson has run for five TDs in his first six starts as a pro but owns a 2-4 record. … RB Jonathan Taylor had his first 100-yard game of the season last week and needs two TD runs to pass Marshall Faulk (42) for fourth in franchise history. … WR Alec Pierce is one of four NFL players with two catches of 50 or more yards this season. Both came in the Week 1 loss to Houston. … LB Zaire Franklin has had 22 games with at least 10 tackles and needs one more to break a tie with Gary Brackett for No. 2 in Colts history. … P Rigoberto Sanchez is tied for the league lead with a net average of 48.8 yards. … Indy’s six sacks through weeks puts the Colts on pace to match last year’s single-season franchise record (51).

    Fantasy tip

    Taylor is always a safe play, but against a stingy Bears defense, Pittman may be the best bet in what could be a low-scoring game.

    ___

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  • Purdue hoping fast start against Indiana State puts it on road to defy last-place projections

    Purdue hoping fast start against Indiana State puts it on road to defy last-place projections

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    Indiana State at Purdue, Saturday, 12 p.m. ET (BTN)

    BetMGM College Football Odds: Purdue by 33 1/2.

    Series record: Purdue 6-0.

    WHAT’S AT STAKE?

    With six losses in their last eight season-openers, slow starts have become the norm at Purdue. The Boilermakers have gotten through their first four games with only one winning record over the last seven seasons. And if they want to prove the prognosticators’ last-place predictions wrong, they need to keep their perfect record intact against an in-state, FCS foe. The Sycamores, meanwhile, have won fewer games in three successive seasons since going 5-6 in 2021. A win at Purdue could change everything for the program.

    KEY MATCHUP

    Indiana State QB Elijah Owens vs. Purdue’s secondary. Owens appeared in just four games last season, successfully preserving his redshirt year while showing enough promise to become the projected starter this year. But poor quarterback play last season doomed Indiana State to a 1-10 record. And they’ll need to be better against a Purdue defense that features preseason All-American S Dillon Thieneman but lost 2023 Big Ten sacks champ Nic Scourton in the transfer portal.

    PLAYERS TO WATCH

    Indiana State: DB Maddix Blackwell. What Thieneman does for Purdue, Blackwell does for the Sycamores. He’s coming off a season in which he led the Sycamores in tackles (107), fumble recoveries (three), interceptions (two) and forced fumbles (two). Now the first-team preseason all-conference honoree will get to test himself against a Big Ten foe.

    Purdue: QB Hudson Card. While Thieneman is always worth watching, the Boilermakers need Card to improve. Last year, he completed just 58.9% of his throws with 15 TDs and eight interceptions in his most extensive college action. His completion percentage needs to be closer to 70% and he needs to protect the ball better, too.

    FACTS & FIGURES

    A Purdue victory would give Purdue the seventh 7-0 series start against a team, six of those being Indiana schools. … Indiana State has been outscored 253-76 in the first six contests in West Lafayette, including a 56-0 loss in 2022. … The Boilermakers led the Big Ten with 184.6 yards rushing in conference games last season. … Sycamores coach Curt Mallory has deep coaching roots in the state, with his late father, Bill, still holding the title of winningest coach in Indiana Hoosiers history. … Thieneman broke Purdue’s freshman record with 74 solo tackles last year, becoming the Boilermakers fourth All-American in three seasons. … Indiana State is one of three in-state Purdue faces this season. No. 7 Notre Dame visits Ross-Ade Stadium on Sept. 14, and the Boilermakers will close the regular season at rival Indiana.

    ___

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  • No. 7 Notre Dame leaning heavily on new QB Riley Leonard to make expanded playoff field

    No. 7 Notre Dame leaning heavily on new QB Riley Leonard to make expanded playoff field

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    SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Coach Marcus Freeman begins his third season at Notre Dame in a familiar spot. He has another new starting quarterback and another new offensive coordinator.

    Changes in the college football landscape — the expanded 12-team playoff field and a veteran quarterback at the helm — could put the seventh-ranked Fighting Irish back in national championship contention. And they will find out quickly exactly where they stand.

    Riley Leonard, a transfer from Duke, is expected to make his Notre Dame debut Aug. 31 at No. 20 Texas A&M.

    “The best thing is he’s taking care of the football,” Freeman said of his third different opening-day starter. “We know he can do some things with his legs, but we’ve kind of forced him (to focus on the passing game). We’ve said, ’Hey, we know you can run the ball. Let’s continue to watch you progress in the passing game, making checks, being able to put the offense in great situations.’”

    Notre Dame followed a similar plan last season when former Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman led the Irish to a 10-3 mark with a final ranking of No. 14 while averaging 39.1 points per game. Hartman signed with the NFL’s Washington Commanders when his eligibility ran out and last year’s offensive coordinator, Gerad Parker, is now the head coach at Troy.

    Still, Freeman isn’t exactly starting over. He brought in Leonard, who hopes to make an impact similar to Hartman, and hired Mike Denbrock from LSU, where he oversaw the top offense in the Bowl Subdivision and played a critical role in Jayden Daniels’ Heisman Trophy-winning season.

    Leonard’s strong start pushed the Blue Devils into the top 20 before an injured right ankle, suffered in a loss to Notre Dame and that required two offseason surgeries, hindered the rest of his season.

    The result: Leonard threw for just 1,102 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions while rushing for 352 yards and four scores in 2023 compared with 2,967 yards passing, 699 yards rushing and 33 total TDs in 2022.

    Now, though, Leonard appears to be healthy. Plus, he’ll have a stronger supporting cast.

    Clemson transfer Beaux Collins and FIU transfer Kris Mitchell will team up with talented returnees Jayden Thomas, Jaden Greathouse and Jordan Faison to form a deep, dangerous receiving corps. The Irish are also banking on Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price to replace running back Audric Estime.

    Defensively, the Irish will be led by All-American safety Xavier Watts, defensive tackle Howard Cross II and cornerback Benjamin Morrison. Watts intercepted seven passes last season while Morrison has nine over the last two years.

    Familiar foe

    Leonard will see a familiar face on the sideline at Texas A&M in coach Mike Elko, who also left Duke to take the Aggies job. Though Leonard would rather the focus be on the game rather than the head-to-head matchup, he knows what to expect.

    “Obviously, it’s going to be that way,” Leonard said. “To be able to play against him, it’s awesome. It’s not just him, it’s a lot of the coaching staff from Duke, and it’s a lot of people I’m really close with, and we’re all extremely competitive, so this game means a lot to me.”

    Big concerns

    One area of concern will be the offensive line.

    All-American left tackle Joe Alt and starting right tackle Blake Fisher were both early-round picks in the NFL draft, and starting center Zeke Correll transferred to North Carolina State after starting the past 2 1/2 season with the Irish.

    The Fighting Irish also suffered a setback when Charles Jagusah who was expected to replace Alt, suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out this season.

    The schedule

    Notre Dame might not face its traditionally strong gauntlet of opponents, with a home game Nov. 9 against No. 10 Florida State appearing to be its biggest game. The Irish play both Army and Navy at neutral sites and visit Purdue on Sept. 14. Louisville, Stanford and Virginia all visit Notre Dame and the regular-season closing rivalry game is at new Big Ten member Southern California.

    ___

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  • Federal judge calls Indiana attorney general’s TikTok lawsuit largely ‘political posturing’

    Federal judge calls Indiana attorney general’s TikTok lawsuit largely ‘political posturing’

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    INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The fate of the Indiana attorney general’s lawsuit against the social media company TikTok is uncertain after a federal judge lambasted much of the case as “political posturing.”

    While U.S. District Judge Holly Brady ruled against TikTok’s request to move the case to federal court, that decision leaves the lawsuit brought by Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita in the hands of a county judge who last month ruled against Rokita on two key points. The state attorney general claims the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform misleads users about its level of inappropriate content and about the security of consumer information. A county judge has already said the attorney general is wrong to classify downloading TikTok as a consumer transaction because no money is exchanged, and that Indiana lacks standing in the case because both TikTok and Apple — the company where people download the app — are based in California.

    The most recent blow came May 23, when Brady wrote in a decision that “more than 90% of the (lawsuit) was devoted to irrelevant posturing.”

    “When one wades through the political posturing and finds that legal claim, the inescapable conclusion is that the claim rises and falls on matters particular to state law,” Brady, a Fort Wayne, Indiana-based judge nominated by then-President Donald Trump, wrote. “The federal intrigue interjected by Indiana may interest its intended audience — one beyond the courthouse wall — but it is irrelevant to the determination of this case.”

    Indiana’s lawsuit, which was filed in December, makes arguments similar to those by many state and federal lawmakers and government officials who have said they worry that the Chinese government could harvest U.S. user data from TikTok and use the platform to push pro-Beijing misinformation or messages to the public. TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has said it has never been asked to hand over its data to the Chinese government and has denied Indiana’s claims about inappropriate content.

    The state attorney general’s office did not immediately comment Monday on Brady’s decision or the lawsuit’s future. TikTok’s attorneys and the ByteDance media office didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment either.

    Brady’s decision keeps the lawsuit in state courts, where a judge last month denied Rokita’s request for a preliminary injunction prohibiting TikTok from stating in online app stores that it has “none” or “infrequent/mild” references to drugs, sexual or other inappropriate content for children as young as 12.

    Judge Craig Bobay of Allen County Superior Court in Fort Wayne also ruled that downloading TikTok’s free app doesn’t amount to a consumer transaction and said the attorney general’s office was unlikely to win at trial.

    The attorney general’s office hasn’t said whether it will appeal Bobay’s decision.

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  • Justice Department says it won’t charge Pence over handling of classified documents

    Justice Department says it won’t charge Pence over handling of classified documents

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Justice has informed former Vice President Mike Pence ’s legal team that it will not pursue criminal charges related to the discovery of classified documents at his Indiana home.

    The department sent a letter to Pence’s attorney Thursday informing his team that, after an investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information, no criminal charges will be sought. A Justice Department official confirmed the authenticity of the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

    The news comes days before Pence is set to launch his campaign for the Republican nomination for president in Iowa Wednesday — a race that will put him in direct competition with his old boss, former President Donald Trump.

    More on classified documents

    No evidence has ever emerged to suggest that Pence intentionally hid documents from the government or even knew they were in his home, so there was never an expectation that he would face charges. But that decision and timing were nonetheless welcome news for the former vice president and his political team as he prepares to enter the crowded GOP primary field and contrast himself with Trump.

    Attorney General Merrick Garland had named a special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s investigation into the discovery of hundreds of documents with classified markings at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home just three days after the former president formally launched his 2024 campaign — an acknowledgment of the high political stakes. A special counsel was also put in place to investigate classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware and at an unsecured office in Washington dating from his time as vice president.

    About a dozen documents with classified markings were discovered at Pence’s home in January after he asked his lawyers to perform a search of his vice presidential belongings “out of an abundance of caution” after the Biden discovery. The items had been “inadvertently boxed and transported” to Pence’s home at the end of the last administration, Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, wrote in a letter to the National Archives.

    The FBI then discovered an additional document with classified markings at the Indiana house during its own search the following month.

    Pence has said repeatedly that he was unaware of the documents’ existence, but that “mistakes were made ” in his handling of classified material.

    Beyond Pence, the two Justice Department special counsels are continuing to investigate the handling of classified documents by both Trump and Biden.

    The status of the Biden documents investigation is unclear, but the Trump investigation has shown signs of winding down. Prosecutors appear close to a decision on whether to bring criminal charges against the ex-president or anyone else.

    The team led by special counsel Jack Smith has brought a broad cross-section of witnesses before a federal grand jury investigating Trump, including former and close aides to Trump. The investigation has centered on not only whether Trump illegally possessed roughly 300 documents marked as classified but also on whether he obstructed government efforts to secure their return.

    The Biden and Pence matters have always stood apart, factually and legally, from the Trump investigation because in both of those cases, aides proactively disclosed the discovery of classified documents to the Justice Department and facilitated their return.

    Trump resisted months of demands to return classified documents taken with him from the White House to his Florida residence after the end of his term. After coming to suspect that more classified documents remained at the property, despite a subpoena and a visit by investigators, the FBI returned last August with a search warrant and recovered about 100 additional documents marked as classified, including at the top-secret level.

    Trump insists he did nothing wrong.

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  • Actor Adam Driver chosen as honorary starter for Indianapolis 500

    Actor Adam Driver chosen as honorary starter for Indianapolis 500

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    INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two-time Academy Award nominee Adam Driver, who will soon be starring as Enzo Ferrari in a biopic of the Italian automobile magnate, will serve as the honorary starter for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.

    Driver perhaps most famously played Kylo Ren in the three most recent “Star Wars” films, and he was nominated for Academy Awards for his work in “BlacKkKlansman” and “ Marriage Story.” Driver also has received four Primetime Emmy nominations for the comedy-drama “Girls” and his guest appearance on “Saturday Night Live” in 2020.

    “Adam is going to experience one of the most exhilarating, powerful and exciting moments in all of sports as he stands atop the flag stand and waves the green flag to officially start the world’s greatest race,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway President J. Douglas Boles said in making the announcement Tuesday.

    Driver grew up in Mishawaka in northern Indiana before serving in the armed forces with the Marines. He returned from duty and enrolled at the University of Indianapolis before auditioning for Julliard, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

    His other film credits include “House of Gucci” by Ridley Scott, Steven Soderbergh’s “Logan Lucky” and “Silence” by Martin Scorsese. He also appeared on and off Broadway in “Look Back in Anger and the revival of Lanford Wilson’s “Burn This.”

    Given its traditional Memorial Day weekend placement, the Indy 500 is steeped in military pageantry. There are enlistment ceremonies, helicopters and other equipment on display, and the playing of “Taps” just before the call to start the engines.

    Driver enlisted in the Marines shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and served in the 1st Marines as a mortarman for nearly three years. After an injury while mountain biking, he was medically discharged as a lance corporal and went on to co-found Arts in the Armed Forces, a nonprofit that stages theater and musical performance for members of the military.

    “Race day is full of meaning for our drivers, our fans across the globe and most especially our active-duty military members and veterans,” Boles said. “Adam is not only a star recognized across the world but also a former U.S. Marine who will be a very fitting addition to ‘The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.’”

    ___

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