fortune rabbit win

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Landin Hacker scored 21 points as Bellarmine beat NAIA-member Brescia 94-66 on Saturday. Hacker finished 7 of 11 from 3-point range for the Knights (3-7). Ben Johnson scored 17 points while going 6 of 13 (5 for 12 from 3-point range) and added six assists. Dylan Branson shot 5 of 7 from the field and 2 for 3 from the line to finish with 12 points, while adding 10 rebounds. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get updates and player profiles ahead of Friday's high school games, plus a recap Saturday with stories, photos, video Frequency: Seasonal Twice a weekPresident-elect Donald Trump announced his nominations to lead key offices tasked with delivering his campaign promise of cutting fossil fuel regulations and increasing oil and natural gas production to lower energy prices and inflation. During his campaign, as we’ve detailed , Trump vowed to exit the “ horribly unfair ” and “ disastrous ” Paris Agreement, which he will be able to do more quickly the second time around. His agenda also includes reversing environmental rules limiting carbon emissions and other pollution from vehicles and power plants . > Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are To achieve his promise to “drill, baby, drill,” Trump pla n s to expedite the approval of federal permits and leases, open new public land for drilling, approve natural gas pipeline projects and undo a temporary pause on approvals for new liquefied natural gas projects. He has also said he would claw back any unspent funds from President Joe Biden’s signature climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides billions to boost clean energy production, improve energy efficiency and encourage electric vehicle adoption. Reuters reported on Dec. 16 that Trump’s transition team recommends undoing many of the Biden administration’s plans to support EVs. This includes ending requirements that federal agencies purchase EVs, redirecting money away from building charging stations and terminating the IRA’s $7,500 EV tax credit. The team calls for rolling back fuel economy and vehicle emissions standards to 2019 levels, among other policy recommendations. Trump’s picks to accomplish many of these goals — Lee Zeldin for the Environmental Protection Agency, Doug Burgum for the Department of the Interior and Chris Wright for the Department of Energy — will need to go through confirmation hearings in the Senate, a process that can begin before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. We reviewed what each has said about climate change and the environment. Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world. Lee Zeldin, EPA On Nov. 11, Trump announced Lee Zeldin, an attorney, Army veteran and former congressman, as his choice to head the EPA , the agency responsible for protecting human health and the environment. If confirmed, he would be in a position to relax the agency’s vehicle emissions standards and rollback the Biden administration’s more stringent regulations on power plants, which particularly target coal-fired plants. A native of New York, Zeldin represented areas of Long Island, first as a state senator, from 2011 to 2014, and then as a House representative from 2015 to 2023. While he has supported some legislation that protects the environment, particularly for his home district, he has limited experience in environmental policy and his record on climate change issues has been described as mixed. While in Congress, Zeldin participated in bipartisan efforts to preserve and restore the Long Island Sound, an estuary between New York and Connecticut important for commercial fishing, tourism and other economic development. He also worked to prevent the sale and development of Plum Island, an 840-acre federal island in the Sound. In 2018, he opposed a proposal by Trump’s Interior Department to open up coastlines, including Long Island, to oil and gas drilling. Zeldin did not get involved in House committees working on environmental policy (he was part of the Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees). Still, he participated in some related caucuses, including the Congressional Estuary Caucus , the Long Island Sound Caucus , the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus and the Conservative Climate Caucus . The latter, created in 2021, acknowledges on its website that the “climate is changing” and that “decades of a global industrial era that has brought prosperity to the world has also contributed to that change.” The group further states that with innovation, “fossil fuels can and should be a major part of the global solution,” and aims to “fight against radical progressive climate proposals.” In 2014, Lee told the editorial board of Newsday, a Long Island newspaper, that he was “not sold yet” on climate change being a serious problem and that it “would be productive if we could get to what is real and what is not real.” Zeldin’s involvement in environmental issues in Congress was reportedly the result of efforts from his constituents following Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Areas he represented in Long Island were hit hard by the storm. Long Island’s coastal communities, which include popular beaches on Fire Island, the Hamptons and Montauk, have and will continue to be impacted by sea level rise, coastal erosion, warmer temperatures and severe storms — all of which can affect local businesses and the economy. In a 2016 episode of a climate change docuseries — in which Zeldin verbally committed to joining the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus — he acknowledged that the threat of climate change was “very real” for his district. “I think that there is more of an awareness and a willingness to recognize that climate change is real,” Zeldin said , “and Congress is more and more open-minded toward identifying those solutions.” Zeldin’s involvement in these efforts didn’t necessarily translate into support for bills protecting the environment. In his eight years in Congress, he cast 203 “anti-environment” votes and 32 “pro-environment” votes, according to the environmental group League of Conservation Voters, which gave him a lifetime score of 14%. Among many other votes, Zeldin voted against the Inflation Reduction Act; against creating an office of climate resilience in the White House; in favor of cutting environmental funding, including to the EPA; and in favor of removing the U.S. from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Exiting the U.N. framework — which failed in 2022, but may resurface in a second Trump administration – goes beyond the act of withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement and would make it much harder to rejoin the accord. The League of Conservation Voters’ scorecard included two of Zeldin’s votes in favor of actions designed to protect people from pollution caused by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS , so-called “forever” chemicals that break down very slowly in the environment. One of those bills would have required the EPA to set a drinking water standard for certain PFAS, although Zeldin did vote against an amendment to that bill that would have prohibited companies from releasing unlimited amounts of PFAS into bodies of water. (The Biden EPA has since taken additional action on PFAS, including finalizing a drinking water standard for six of the chemicals in April.) Zeldin got Trump’s attention by becoming one of his more loyal defenders during the president-elect’s 2019 impeachment. In 2022, backed by Trump , Zeldin ran unsuccessfully for governor of New York. During that campaign, he proposed to lower energy costs and create jobs by reversing a state ban on fracking and approving new pipelines. He also opposed a 2021 law that set a goal for all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state to be zero-emissions by 2035. In a statement announcing the nomination, Trump praised Zeldin’s legal background and his loyalty to his “America First” policies. “He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet,” Trump wrote . In response to Trump’s intention to nominate him, Zeldin pledged in a Nov. 11 post on X to “restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs,” adding, “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.” (It’s worth noting, however, that the number of motor vehicle and parts manufacturing jobs under Biden, as of November, were higher than at any point under Trump.) “Day 1 and the first 100 days, we have the opportunity to roll back regulations that are forcing businesses to be able to struggle,” Zeldin told Fox News later the same day. “There are regulations that the left wing of this country have been advocating through regulatory power that ends up causing businesses to go in the wrong direction.” Doug Burgum, Department of the Interior On Nov. 15, Trump announced former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who has close ties to fossil fuel industry executives, as his pick to lead the Interior Department , which is responsible for managing federal lands, minerals and waters, including leases for oil and gas drilling. Burgum is also slated to lead Trump’s National Energy Council, created to “oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape,” and regulations, according to Trump’s statement . The new council will work with all agencies and departments involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump added. Burgum, a software investor and former Microsoft executive who had a short run as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023, doesn’t deny that the planet is warming, but has downplayed the problem and argued that innovation alone will solve it. In an interview with CNN in July 2023 he acknowledged “the climate is changing” but avoided answering whether he believed it was caused by human activity or the burning of fossil fuels. (He also remained quiet when a similar question was asked during the first debate for the Republican primary.) “It’s not about climate change that we need be worried about,” he said during the second Republican presidential primary debate in September 2023. “It’s about the Biden climate policies that are actually the existential threat to America’s future.” North Dakota ranks third nationwide in crude oil reserves and production and relies on the industry for jobs and revenue. During his two terms as governor, which started in 2016, Burgum built alliances with oil and gas companies that supported him financially and politically. He has a longstanding relationship with Harold G. Hamm, the billionaire chairman of Continental Resources, a giant oil company and the largest leaseholder in the Bakken oil field in North Dakota and Montana. Hamm has contributed to Burgum’s campaigns for governor, his company donated to the super PAC that supported Burgum’s run for president and he invested $250 million in a pipeline project championed by Burgum. Burgum’s family also leases 200 acres of land to Continental for oil and gas extraction, which has resulted in up to $50,000 in royalties since late 2022, according to a CNBC report, based in part on Burgum’s financial disclosure statement . These ties have been useful for Trump. In April, Burgum, who endorsed Trump in January, helped put together a dinner with oil and gas executives at Mar-a-Lago. Based on anonymous sources, the Washington Post reported that during the dinner, Trump suggested the group should raise $1 billion for his campaign — a “deal” for helping the industry, including by reversing drilling restrictions in Alaska and offering more oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2017, Burgum created North Dakota’s first Department of Environmental Quality to protect the environment. “Preserving our natural resources for current and future generations is a top priority,” he said at the time. And in 2021, during a conference with the oil industry, he announced a goal for the state to be carbon-neutral, or to offset all CO2 emissions , by 2030. He often summarizes his approach to climate change with the phrase “innovation over regulation,” casting carbon neutrality as an economic opportunity that allows for the continued use of fossil fuels. He is particularly supportive of carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies , which trap carbon dioxide emissions before they are released into the atmosphere and either use the gas or store it deep underground. (Other technologies can remove CO2 directly from the air.) “We can reach carbon neutrality in the state of North Dakota by 2030 without a single mandate, without any additional regulation. We can get there just through the innovation and the different geology that we have,” Burgum said in an event with the secretary of energy in 2021, noting that his state has 252 billion tons of underground storage capacity. When the CO2 is stored, carbon capture technologies can reduce emissions and combat climate change. But the technology remains expensive and is not used yet at scale. According to a 2023 Congressional Budget Office report , only 15 carbon capture facilities existed in the U.S, as of September of that year, capable of capturing up to about 0.4% of the nation’s annual CO2 emissions, with nearly all of the captured CO2 pumped into oil wells to enhance oil recovery. Even if all of the 121 other facilities in development came to fruition, the report added, carbon capture would account for only about 3% of the country’s emissions. Scientists view carbon capture as an important tool for cutting emissions from the hardest-to-decarbonize industries, such as steel and cement. But given the high costs and other challenges , it’s not considered a very viable option for reducing the bulk of the world’s carbon emissions. The former governor championed an $8 billion pipeline project backed by Republican megadonors that include Hamm’s Continental. The pipeline would go through five states, capture CO2 from ethanol plants and bring it to North Dakota to be stored. This and two other underground pipeline projects have faced concerns from landowners , who resist having CO2 flowing under their property or fear losing their lands by eminent domain. Burgum says he supports an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy that includes both fossil fuels and renewable sources, but he often criticizes funding for alternative fuels. He has said , for example, that funds for electric vehicles included in the IRA subsidize China, even though the investments are designed to build out American capacity. The IRA, notably, also provided significant support for carbon capture and storage. Burgum supports Trump’s idea of trying to lower energy prices by increasing oil and gas production. As we have explained , this is unlikely to be very effective, especially long term since prices are set in a global market and are subject to global supply and demand. Last year, he joined Republican governors urging Biden to “unleash American energy” and end regulations “restricting domestic production.” “Our economy is being crushed by Biden’s energy policies, which are raising the cost of every product you buy, not just the gasoline at the pump,” he said during the first Republican presidential primary debate in August 2023. “Our future is unlimited, but we’ve got to focus on innovation, not regulation. We’ve got to cut the red tape.” As we’ve written , the U.S. has been producing crude oil at record levels for two consecutive years. U.S. presidents, we’ve explained, have little control over the price people pay for gasoline. Gasoline prices increased after the pandemic as global demand for oil increased and as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Chris Wright, Energy Department Trump announced on Nov. 18 that he had selected Chris Wright, the CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking and oilfield services company based in Denver, to lead the Energy Department. As energy secretary, Wright would be responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, oversee energy conservation programs, make decisions about liquified natural gas export permits and lead research at the department’s 17 national laboratories . Wright, who describes himself as a shale gas pioneer and “tech nerd turned entrepreneur,” trained as an engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley and has been in the fracking business since the early 1990s, which is the source of his fortune. Similar to Burgum, Wright is close to Hamm, the billionaire founder of Continental Resources, and serves as a director of a lobbying group Hamm founded. Wright accepts that climate change is occurring, but argues that its effects are being exaggerated and that the world has a moral imperative to continue using fossil fuels to lift people out of poverty. “Climate change is a real and global challenge that we should and can address,” he wrote in an introductory letter to a report his company published this year. “However, representing it as the most urgent threat to humanity today displaces concerns about more pressing threats of malnutrition, access to clean water, air pollution, endemic diseases, and human rights, among others.” “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition, either,” he said in a video he posted on LinkedIn in 2023. The “term carbon pollution is outrageous,” he added. In making his case that people are overly concerned about climate change, Wright has sometimes trafficked in common climate myths and misled about the science. When talking about the increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, for example, his company’s report calls CO2 “plant food” and focuses on its benefits — “increased agricultural productivity and a significant increase in global plant matter, grasses, trees, and plankton.” As we’ve written , the notion that CO2 is “plant food” is commonly spread by those who deny the reality of climate change or minimize its impact. More CO2 is not good for all plants and some changes that come with it, like drought and heat, are frequently harmful to plants. The argument is also a form of cherry-picking, as it ignores many profoundly negative consequences of climate change. “Fortunately, to date,” the Liberty Energy report also reads, “there is no observed increase in the key extreme weather events: hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and weather-related drought.” Wright recently claimed the same in a LinkedIn post, citing a table from chapter 12 of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. Jim Kossin , a climate scientist and an author of the cited chapter in the IPCC report, told us in an email that focusing on the single table, which describes whether detectable climate change trends have emerged, is “very misleading.” “The requirements for formal detection are very strict and can only provide a yes or no answer. But the effects of climate change are not described by a binary yes or no answer,” he explained. Detection and emergence can depend more on available data than on actual physical processes, Kossin added. “This is a data problem and does NOT indicate a lack of trend. It merely states that the data aren’t good enough to pass the strict requirements for formal detection,” he wrote. Indeed, elsewhere in the IPCC report, the overall message about climate change and its effects on extreme weather is very different from what Wright conveys. “It is an established fact that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions have led to an increased frequency and/or intensity of some weather and climate extremes since pre-industrial time,” a summary finding in the chapter on extreme weather reads , adding that observed changes and their attribution to human activity has strengthened since the last report in 2014, “in particular for extreme precipitation, droughts, tropical cyclones and compound extremes (including dry/hot events and fire weather).” Kossin said that the IPCC reports are “massive” and “can be complicated to navigate,” which “makes it easier to cherry pick from them to suit an agenda.” “The use of the table without providing any other context is cherry picking in its purest sense,” he wrote. In written testimony before Congress in April and in his LinkedIn post, Wright again emphasized the perks of global warming, citing a 2021 Lancet Planetary Health paper to argue that increases in heat-related deaths are “more than offset” by a reduction in cold-related deaths. The paper itself, however, cautions that while “global warming might slightly reduce net temperature-related deaths in the short term ... in the long run, climate change is expected to increase the mortality burden.” The senior author of the study told us her work was “commonly misinterpreted by climate deniers.” Wright’s foundation, Bettering Human Lives , preaches that access to fossil fuels, which the website describes as “low-impact, affordable” energy, can provide “a pathway out of poverty.” It’s true that cheap energy is important and a social good. But as we explained when addressing similar arguments from former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, it’s misleading to suggest fossil fuels are the only or best option, especially now that there are alternatives in wind and solar that are cost effective and have much smaller carbon footprints. “We know that fossil fuels have all of these other problems that renewable energy doesn’t have. And so for the future, there’s really no reason to continue burning fossil fuels,” Texas A&M climate scientist Andrew Dessler told us. That includes not only the heat-trapping carbon emissions that will further warm the planet, but also things such as particle air pollution, which in 2018 accounted for as much as 18% of all global deaths in 2018. Wright describes renewable energy sources such as wind and solar as “ unreliable and costly ,” although he has invested in newer forms of geothermal and nuclear energy. In a commentary piece published before the election, Wright said Republicans should respond to net-zero pledges — which he called “economic suicide” and “unachievable” — with the concept of “zero energy poverty.” This, he explained, “can be realized by unleashing our vast natural resources” to “deliver a future in which no one would struggle to afford their utility bills.” Echoing arguments used by Trump during the campaign, Wright went on to claim that net-zero “requires curtailing freedom and massively growing government, as evidenced by bans on gas-powered cars, natural gas appliances, and the forced closure of reliable electricity plants – all of which are driving widespread economic pain.” As we’ve written , while the Biden administration issued new energy efficiency standards for gas stoves and regulations reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants from cars and trucks, there are no bans on gas-powered vehicles or on gas cooking stoves. In terms of closing existing power plants, the Biden administration’s power plant rule only applies to coal-fired plants intending to operate long-term, as we’ve written . Under the regulation, those plants would need to use technology such as carbon capture to cut 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032 to continue running. Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page . If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, 202 S. 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104.Musk record Tesla pay plan rejected again by US judgefortune rabbit win 。

Are Blanket Pardons for Officials on Donald Trump’s Target List a Good Idea?Letter: Student loan farce

N.C. State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson was named head coach at Marshall on Sunday, shortly after Thundering Herd coach Charles Huff's hiring was announced at Southern Miss. Gibson, 52, will take his first head-coaching job in college and return to his home state, where he served two stints at West Virginia over the past two decades. The terms of Gibson's deal were not immediately disclosed. “We could not be happier to welcome Tony Gibson home as our 32nd head coach at Marshall University,” school President Brad Smith said in a statement. “Coach Gibson has led some of the top programs on the national level, but in the end, his heart desired to return to the mountains from which he came." Gibson's hiring was announced less than an hour after Huff was named coach at Southern Miss. Huff coached Marshall to a 31-3 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt championship game on Saturday night. Marshall (10-3) won seven straight games for its first 10-win season since 2015. Gibson coached defensive backs at West Virginia under Rich Rodriguez from 2001 to 2007. He returned in 2013 under Dana Holgorsen as safeties coach, then became defensive coordinator a year later and stayed until Holgorsen left at the end of the 2018 season. Gibson spent six seasons at N.C. State. He had other assistant coaching stints at Pitt and under Rodriguez at Michigan and Arizona. N.C. State’s defense ranked near the bottom of the ACC this season, allowing 30.5 points and 385 yards per game. The Wolfpack’s best season under Gibson was in 2022, when it tied with Louisville for the fewest points allowed at 19.2 per game and was second in yards allowed at 327. “My family and I are excited to start this journey, but we all thank you for your support and the wonderful memories,” Gibson wrote to the N.C. State community in a post Sunday on the social media platform X. Gibson, who is from Van, West Virginia, graduated in 1994 from Glenville State, where he played defensive back. “We have recruited a proven coach that aspires to be at Marshall and to sustain the success we have come to appreciate and expect,” athletic director Christian Spears said in the statement. "We can’t wait to get started with him and his staff.” One of Gibson’s first tasks will be replenishing Marshall’s roster. The Thundering Herd signed only 11 recruits in the recent early signing period. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballNoneLOS ANGELES — Mina Kimes has a lot going on this week. Like so many other people this time of the year, the analyst for ESPN's "NFL Live" has been busy wrapping presents and preparing for the arrival of out-of-town guests for the holidays. In addition to those typical holiday activities, however, Kimes also has to break down film and attend a Christmas Eve rehearsal ahead of her one-off gig as a studio analyst for the Kansas City Chiefs-Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens-Houston Texans games streaming live Christmas Day on Netflix . "Yeah it's been pretty crazy," Kimes said Monday during a phone interview. "I'm just excited. I usually just do a studio show during the week that I absolutely love, but there's a level of energy that comes with doing television right before kickoff and also during the game and after. ... Like, in real time, let's see how Joey Porter Jr. or George Pickens or any of the injured players look, and their availability and that kind of thing. "And that adds a different element to it that I'm really personally super excited about. But I just love talking ball on television and just to have the opportunity to do this in front of this many people is quite a Christmas gift." The last sporting event streamed live on Netflix was a massive success — an estimated 108 million live viewers in around 65 million households worldwide tuned in Nov. 15 to watch the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight — but also a huge headache for many consumers, who complained on social media about buffering issues and losing the feed altogether. Netflix told The Times on Monday that it learned from the struggles it faced during the Tyson-Paul live stream and has optimized its systems to better handle live events since then. Kimes is hopeful that all such issues have been resolved ahead of the two NFL games, both of which will be key to AFC playoff seedings and one of which (Ravens-Texans) will feature a halftime show by Beyoncé . "The technological aspect of this is above my pay grade, but everybody seems pretty confident about it," she said. "Obviously it's gonna be a bajillion eyeballs on these games, so my hope is that on our end when we're on everything's seamless, not just from a tech and streaming standpoint but from a production standpoint. And so far it seems like it will be, just a lot of experienced folks working on this." Netflix's first foray into NFL games will feature a slew of talent from various other platforms. Kimes will be on the Los Angeles studio show, along with anchor Kay Adams (FanDuel TV) and fellow analysts Manti Te'o (NFL Network), Robert Griffin III (formerly of ESPN) and Drew Brees (formerly of NBC Sports). A studio show from Pittsburgh will feature Laura Rutledge (ESPN) as anchor and Devin McCourty (NBC Sports) and Jason McCourty (CBS Sports and ESPN) as analysts. "It's kind of like a Pro Bowl of sorts," Kimes said. "That sounds self aggrandizing, but I guess I mean so far as I get to work with a lot of people who I don't usually get to work with, which is kind of cool. It's a lot of folks from a lot of different networks and that is also something that is kind of like unique about this." Here's more from Kimes' conversation with The Times. (The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity) Q: How did this all come about for you? A: I can't remember when I first heard about the possibility – a few months ago or something? But whenever my agent told me about it I was really excited for a litany of reasons, one of which was just the opportunity to work on such massively significant games and obviously ones that are gonna have a lot of eyeballs. Really good games, too, by the way — which, I mean, good for Netflix but also great for me because it's a lot more fun to talk about games like the ones we're gonna be discussing on Christmas. Q: Was there any hesitation to do this during the holidays? I know you have a little one at home ... A: Well, here's the good news — he's 14 months old, so I can just tell him Christmas is the next day and he won't know the difference. I have family coming in actually today and even if I wasn't on the show they would be watching it. They're huge football fans. They would have Netflix on all day anyways, so I think they're almost as excited by the idea of just sitting all day and watching me, probably more so than if I was spending time with them because they see a lot of me in person. Q: So your studio show is going to be on all day, before, during and after both games? A: Yeah, that's why everybody's watching halftime, right? To watch our show. Like, 'Come on, enough Beyonce. One song, let's get back. I really gotta hear this analysis.' Q: This has been a busy month for you, after serving as a color commentator for " The Simpsons Funday Football " alternative broadcast of the Cincinnati Bengals-Dallas Cowboys game Dec. 9. How was that experience? A: It was awesome. It was an absolute dream. I'm a crazy "Simpsons" fan and I think we realized early on — me, Drew [Carter] and Dan [Orlovsky] — just to lean all the way into all the "Simpsons" jokes and references. It seems like fans of the show really enjoyed that. Q: You have made numerous appearances on ESPN's " Around the Horn ." What was your reaction to learning that the show will be coming to an end next year? A: That show has meant so much to my career. That's how I really got my start in television at ESPN. I don't think I'd be doing what I'm doing now if not for 'Around the Horn.' ... So it really kind of made me reflect on I guess the role that the show has played [in] my career. I'm gonna miss doing it a lot because I'm an NFL analyst now, but for me it was one of those platforms [where] you could talk about other sports and topics and I always really, really enjoyed it. It's a special show. Q: What are your predictions for the Christmas games? A: It's boring — I got both of the favorites winning, the Ravens and Chiefs. The Steelers' defensive injuries are very concerning. Q: What about a Beyonce prediction? Any special guests you think might join her? A: I think you might see a special guest from Houston. Don't know who that's gonna be, but I predict that whatever it is, people will wish it was twice as long instead of having to listen to me talk. ©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Former Boise State coach Chris Petersen still gets asked about the Fiesta Bowl victory over Oklahoma on the first day of 2007. That game had everything. Underdog Boise State took a 28-10 lead over one of college football's blue bloods that was followed by a 25-point Sooners run capped by what could have been a back-breaking interception return for a touchdown with 1:02 left. Then the Broncos used three trick plays that remain sensations to not only force overtime but win 43-42. And then there was the marriage proposal by Boise State running back Ian Johnson — shortly after scoring the winning two-point play — to cheerleader Chrissy Popadics that was accepted on national TV. That game put Broncos football on the national map for most fans, but looking back 18 years later, Petersen sees it differently. "Everybody wants to talk about that Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl game, which is great how it all worked out and all those things," Petersen said. "But we go back to play TCU (three years later) again on the big stage. It's not as flashy a game, but to me, that was an even better win." Going back to the Fiesta Bowl and winning, Petersen reasoned, showed the Broncos weren't a splash soon to fade away, that there was something longer lasting and more substantive happening on the famed blue turf. The winning has continued with few interruptions. No. 8 and third-seeded Boise State is preparing for another trip to the Fiesta Bowl, this time in a playoff quarterfinal against No. 5 and sixth-seeded Penn State on New Year's Eve. That success has continued through a series of coaches, though with a lot more of a common thread than readily apparent. Dirk Koetter was hired from Oregon, where Petersen was the wide receivers coach. Not only did Koetter bring Petersen with him to Oregon, Petersen introduced him to Dan Hawkins, who also was hired for the staff. So the transition from Koetter to Hawkins to Petersen ensured at least some level of consistency. Koetter and Hawkins engineered double-digit victory seasons five times over a six-year span that led to power-conference jobs. Koetter went to Arizona State after three seasons and Hawkins to Colorado after five. Then when Petersen became the coach after the 2005 season, he led Boise State to double-digit wins his first seven seasons and made bowls all eight years. He resisted the temptation to leave for a power-conference program until Washington lured him away toward the end of the 2013 season. Then former Boise State quarterback and offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin took over and posted five double-digit victory seasons over his first six years. After going 5-2 during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he left for Auburn. "They just needed consistency of leadership," said Koetter, who is back as Boise State's offensive coordinator. "This program had always won at the junior-college level, the Division II level, the I-AA (now FCS) level." But Koetter referred to "an unfortunate chain of events" that made Boise State a reclamation project when he took over in 1998. Coach Pokey Allen led Boise State to the Division I-AA national championship game in 1994, but was diagnosed with cancer two days later. He died on Dec. 30, 1996, at 53. Allen coached the final two games that season, Boise State's first in Division I-A (now FBS). Houston Nutt became the coach in 1997, went 4-7 and headed to Arkansas. Then Koetter took over. "One coach dies and the other wasn't the right fit for this program," Koetter said. "Was a really good coach, did a lot of good things, but just wasn't a good fit for here." But because of Boise State's success at the lower levels, Koetter said the program was set up for success. "As Boise State has risen up the conference food chain, they've pretty much always been at the top from a player talent standpoint," Koetter said. "So it was fairly clear if we got things headed in the right direction and did a good job recruiting, we would be able to win within our conference for sure." Success didn't take long. He went 6-5 in 1998 and then won 10 games each of the following two seasons. Hawkins built on that winning and Petersen took it to another level. But there is one season, really one game, no really one half that still bugs Petersen. He thought his best team was in 2010, one that entered that late-November game at Nevada ranked No. 3 and had a legitimate chance to play for the national championship. The Colin Kaepernick-led Wolf Pack won 34-31. "I think the best team that I might've been a part of as the head coach was the team that lost one game to Nevada," Petersen said. "That team, to me, played one poor half of football on offense the entire season. We were winning by a bunch at half (24-7) and we came out and did nothing on offense in the second half and still had a chance to win. "That team would've done some damage." There aren't any what-ifs with this season's Boise State team. The Broncos are in the field of the first 12-team playoff, representing the Group of Five as its highest-ranked conference champion. That got Boise State a bye into the quarterfinals. Spencer Danielson has restored the championship-level play after taking over as the interim coach late last season during a rare downturn that led to Andy Avalos' dismissal. Danielson received the job full time after leading Boise State to the Mountain West championship. Now the Broncos are 12-1 with their only defeat to top-ranked and No. 1 seed Oregon on a last-second field goal. Running back Ashton Jeanty also was the runner-up to the Heisman Trophy. "Boise State has been built on the backs of years and years of success way before I got here," Danielson said. "So even this season is not because of me. It's because the group of young men wanted to leave a legacy, be different. We haven't been to the Fiesta Bowl in a decade. They said in January, 'We're going to get that done.' They went to work." As was the case with Danielson, Petersen and Koetter said attracting top talent is the primary reason Boise State has succeeded all these years. Winning, obviously, is the driving force, and with more entry points to the playoffs, the Broncos could make opportunities to keep returning to the postseason a selling point. But there's also something about the blue carpet. Petersen said he didn't get what it was about when he arrived as an assistant coach, and there was some talk about replacing it with more conventional green grass. A poll in the Idaho Statesman was completely against that idea, and Petersen has come to appreciate what that field means to the program. "It's a cumulative period of time where young kids see big-time games when they're in seventh and eighth and ninth and 10th grade and go, 'Oh, I know that blue turf. I want to go there,'" Petersen said. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Defending champ South Dakota State dominates Montana 35-18 in FCS 2nd roundAttorney-General Mark Dreyfus has opted not to go as far as to label the Melbourne synagogue firebombing a terrorist attack, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stating he believes it was an act of terrorism. Albanese told reporters in Perth on Sunday: “If you want my personal view, quite clearly terrorism is something that is aimed at creating fear in the community, and the atrocities that occurred at the synagogue in Melbourne clearly were designed to create fear in the community and, therefore, from my personal perspective, certainly fulfil that definition of terrorism.” Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Dreyfus was more conservative, saying while he thought the prime minister was “right”, he would defer the decision around the formal technical description to the police. He told ABC News Breakfast that the firebombing caused “distress and fear in the Jewish community in Melbourne”, but when asked if he believed it was an act of terrorism, Dreyfus avoided using the term. “I’ll be waiting to hear more from Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police after their meeting today,” he said. “I’m the minister for the Australian Federal Police. I think it’s always important that we let police do their work. We let Commonwealth agencies who are assisting Victoria Police in their work to do just that and let them make the announcements.” Dreyfus clarified that he thought Albanese’s comments yesterday were “right” because he was recognising the “fear and distress” Melbourne’s Jewish communities. “I feel the same set of emotions, he’s recognising that.” Dreyfus also noted that the Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police will meet today, with further developments expected from the meeting. ANZ chief Shayne Elliott will announce his resignation this week after nine years in the job, according to The Australian Financial Review . ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott Credit: Arsineh Houspian The AFR said the announcement could come as soon as Monday. His exit would mean three of the country’s big four banks will have had changes at the top this year, following Westpac and NAB. Earlier this year, ANZ’s $4.9 billion deal to buy Suncorp’s banking arm was given the green light by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. ANZ has also been dealing with several internal issues – including a bonds trading scandal that is the subject of a regulatory investigation. The AFR reports that the bank is set to look externally for Elliott’s replacement. Voters have slashed their core support for federal Labor to a new low of 27 per cent amid a deepening dispute over the cost of living, backing the Coalition to deliver more help to households over the next three years. In a rebuff to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the latest Resolve Political Monitor shows that 56 per cent of voters have rejected his new message on the economy – “we have your back” – after years of pressure on family budgets. The survey also reveals that 59 per cent of voters believe they are worse off than when Labor came to power at the last election, with only 13 per cent feeling better off. Asked to name the party and leader most likely to make them better off over the next three years, Australians backed Dutton and the Coalition over Albanese and Labor by 36 to 27 per cent. Meanwhile, the latest Newspoll published by The Australian , also spelled trouble for Labor, with Albanese found to be the weakest prime minister Australia has seen in the 16 years the poll has tracked the “strong and decisive” rating. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is considered to be the stronger and more decisive leader, according to the poll. However, Albanese was still ranked as less arrogant than Dutton and remains the preferred prime minister. Read more of the latest exclusive polling here. With AAP Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow on Sunday, Russian media reported, hours after a stunning rebel advance took over the capital of Damascus and ended the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule. The Russian agencies, Tass and RIA, cited an unidentified Kremlin source on Assad and his family being given asylum in Moscow, his longtime ally and protector. The Associated Press was not immediately able to verify the reports but contacted the Kremlin for comment. RIA also said Moscow had received guarantees from Syrian insurgents of the security of Russian military bases and diplomatic posts in Syria. Assad reportedly left Syria early Sunday, and Syrians have been pouring into streets echoing with celebratory gunfire after a stunning rebel advance reached the capital, ending the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule. AP Good morning and welcome to the national news blog from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. My name is Josefine Ganko, and I’m at the helm of our live coverage for the first half of the day. It’s Monday, December 9. Here’s what you need to know this morning.If you're a meat lover, a big, juicy steak seared to perfection can deliver ultimate satisfaction. With the right equipment and know-how, any home chef can learn . But if you'd rather let someone else do all the work — let alone the dishes — the steak dinner of your dreams is worth an excursion to somewhere a little (or a lot) fancier than your usual hangouts. Even the kind of home cook who has a favorite meat thermometer and can tell a medium-rare steak by touch will happily leave the cooking to an expert for a special meal or celebration. As , diners are also flocking to trendy bistros and classic white-tablecloth restaurants that offer steaks worth the price tag. However, if you don't dine out at The Ritz every night, all this talk of tablecloths and bistros might seem a little intimidating. Never fear — the quick-to-judge servers of legend are largely found only in tales of restaurants past. In modern eateries, customer service is the name of the game. Still, there are several tips, hints, and unspoken rules that are good to know when going out for steak — including things you should never say when ordering it. 'I'd like my steak done medium plus' When a server asks how you'd like your steak done, your options are rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, or well done. Each level of doneness is defined by a specific range on a meat thermometer, although only experienced chefs may possess the almost-magical talent for getting it right every time. How long it takes a steak to reach each level depends on the cut of beef, the individual steak's size and thickness, and the heat of the grill. A medium-rare steak, for example, should have an interior temperature of 130 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit; a medium one, between 140 and 145 degrees Fahrenheit. For a 6- to 8-ounce steak, the difference between medium-rare and medium is determined by a minute or so on the grill. Ordering a steak done "medium plus" doesn't signal to the server that you are a person of such exquisite taste that the difference of 30 seconds' cook time is a deal-breaker. Your server probably hears something more like, "I don't understand how a restaurant kitchen works, and I'd really like to annoy the chef." Chefs and servers tend to concur that any "plus" order will likely be cooked to the higher temperature in the range. If you order a medium plus steak, it will almost certainly be served medium well. And it will be just fine. 'What steaks are trending right now?' Social media can be a great way of learning about new restaurants or dishes you've never tried. If someone you follow has posted photos of a gorgeous steak from a restaurant where you're dining, go ahead and ask your server about it. If the pic is of a seasonal special or something else that's no longer on the menu, the server can help guide you to something you'll enjoy, and it's worthwhile to follow that advice — because spending big bucks on a steak just for an Instagram post isn't your best dining option. We're not going to hate on anyone for ordering something just because it looks neat online. However, maybe make it a $7 fancy latte, not a $1,000 filet mignon wrapped in gold leaf at a blingy Vegas restaurant. Without a doubt, photos of a beautiful steak fit for a James Bond villain are eye-catching, and perhaps for a few minutes, . But paying for a chef to apply gold — or any such gimmick — to even the tastiest of steaks will likely result in your receiving insufficient bang for the buck. A properly prepared steak is timelessly delicious, and needs no trendy embellishments. 'I'd like the steak tartare well done' Steak tartare is one of . It's prepared from high-quality raw steak — typically beef tenderloin or top round — that's minced and mixed with capers, shallots, or other flavorings, and scooped onto crusty bread, toast points, or even potato chips. But whatever you scoop it onto, the steak is always raw. Asking for it to be cooked is like telling a sushi chef you'll have your sashimi grilled. Gourmets may mock people who order steak tartare this way, although a server would most likely just be confused, and worried about how you'd react to being gently corrected. Here's the thing: No server worth their apron minds helping diners to understand everything on offer. It's good customer service, which pays off in the form of better tips and the satisfaction of helping a fledgling regular find their new favorite dish. The terminally shy or introverted diner may wilt at the idea of asking to have French-cuisine terminology explained, fearing it will make them look foolish if they don't know their boeuf bourguignon from their Chateaubriand — let alone what they're getting into when ordering steak tartare. In fact, boldly ordering something you may not enjoy, particularly at fine-dining prices, is a much worse look. Instead, pregame by checking out menus online. That way, you can look up any unfamiliar terms ahead of time, minimizing awkward surprises at the table. 'I'll need lots of A.1. Sauce with my steak' You may wonder why asking for A.1. is a faux pas. After all, isn't it a steak sauce? Well ... kind of. In fact, while this iconic product's label called it "steak sauce" for many years, during the past decade the bottle is simply labeled "original sauce" as part of a marketing push to encourage customers to slather it on a wide range of foods. Commercial steak sauces were largely formulated to dominate or even disguise the taste of a lackluster cut of meat. Heavy on notes of salt, acid, and sugar, old-school steak sauce could probably make a gym sock palatable, and that's actually part of the problem here. A nice cut of steak has the potential to be truly transcendent when properly aged, seasoned minimally, and cooked over high heat to ideal doneness. Imagine you're the chef who selected this cut for the menu, lovingly prepared it, and sent it out to a diner ... only to have the customer douse it in a store-bought concoction laden with vinegar and corn syrup. Can you see how that might be a little insulting? Instead, look for sauce pairings on the evening's menu. Perhaps a velvety peppercorn sauce is offered over a tender filet. Meanwhile, at a Latin–influenced restaurant, the chef may insist that . If you're unsure of what you'd enjoy, ask your server for guidance. 'Can you heat up the blue steak?' While not quite eliciting the level of cringe as ordering a broiled tartare, asking to have a blue steak heated through is another sign that you might be following trends rather than your own tastes. In the past couple of years, countless videos have appeared on social media featuring blue steak. One of the first things you'll notice upon viewing such vids is that the steak really isn't blue at all. Which makes sense, because if you think about it for a minute or two (which is also the amount of time a blue steak is cooked per side), raw steak isn't blue. But it can be a deep red-purple, which is the proper color of the cold, almost-raw center of a steak cooked blue. Guidelines for preparation vary slightly, but many chefs agree that a blue steak should be seared in an extremely hot pan for a minute or two per side, until the outside is nicely browned and the interior barely cooked, shading to raw at the center. This level of doneness equates to an internal temperature of 115 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. So, is it safe to eat? The answer is yes ... almost certainly. A high-end restaurant will use only the freshest cuts, and should observe meticulous food safety. A proper sear to all surfaces — including the steak's sides — will kill off bacteria lurking on the meat's exterior. Nonetheless, the USDA recommends serving all steaks cooked medium at minimum. 'I'll take the filet, but with just a few changes' Ordering off-menu is one of those things that is supposed to make you sound sophisticated and in-the-know. All too often, though, it can make you sound like you're more accustomed to In-N-Out Burger than fine dining. Which is no dig at secret-menu items at In-N-Out ... but when ordering a $75 steak, you should trust the chef. Whether through years of culinary school, consistent five-star reviews, or likely both, the chef at a fine-dining eatery has developed a crowd-pleasing repertoire. But what about just a few little tweaks to make something on the menu just absolutely perfect, according to your exacting tastes? Still no. What may seem like small changes to you can be a real hassle for a busy kitchen. A request to substitute capers for peppercorns can throw off a busy line. Many chefs just refuse — but even if they say yes, that dish likely isn't going to get the loving care it deserves. Also, restaurant management may be reluctant to grant this request out of concern that images of off-menu items may be posted online, which can snowball into more orders for the same doctored dish. Of course, this doesn't apply to anyone with food allergies, or for very minor changes like having the sauce on the side. Let your server know about any food sensitivities, and ask them to recommend options. 'And make it quick' A good steak dinner should be a luxurious experience, so don't try to rush it. Anyone who's worked in an even slightly fancy restaurant will tell you that behind every "and make it quick" lurks a "prioritize my meal ahead of everyone else's." Making the front end of a restaurant seem calm and effortless takes a lot of effort from servers, bussers, and hosts. Making a busy kitchen run efficiently is equally difficult, it might just involve more yelling, depending on the restaurant. Issuing this kind of prima-donna directive can only result in resentment from every employee in the eatery. Cooking a sizable steak to medium takes at least 20 minutes, not counting the time it needs to rest after coming off the heat before plating. Asking for this to be rushed so that you can make a Broadway show is basically an impossibility. If you're in a hurry to catch a flight or a movie, but absolutely must get your beef fix first, stop by one of the , and save the upscale steakhouse experience for when you've got the time to fully appreciate it. 'What's your daily-special steak today?' Here's the thing about specials — sometimes they can, in fact, be a truly special experience. Other times, not so much. Done right, a special dish is something the chef crafts to take advantage of seasonal produce, or when some unexpected culinary wonder shows up from a trusted supplier. If the kitchen's favorite woodland forager appears with a basket of fresh ramps or rare wild mushrooms, those are going on the menu. Similarly, if the chef can order enough of a less-common cut (like a bavette or hanger steak) to add it to the menu, it'll likely by offered as a one-night-only special and priced accordingly. Unfortunately, these are exceptions, and otherwise you should avoid the specials. Why? Well, oftentimes a daily special is meant to move ingredients that have been sitting in the walk-in cooler a little too long, and even in the swankiest of joints, servers are encouraged to push them. The steak might still be delicious, but there's a decent chance that you'll end up eating something that might otherwise have been tossed a day or two later. 'Bring me a salt shaker' As with steak sauce or (shudder) ketchup, asking for salt can be a rookie move. In restaurants that take pride in serving high-quality steaks, the chefs are going to season your meal to what they consider perfection. One thing to take into account is that in an upscale restaurant, the chef and the sous chefs are tasting and seasoning dishes throughout the cooking process, often using kosher salt that is easier to handle due to its larger grains. Thus, in a well-run kitchen, the meat should come to you perfectly seasoned, with a finished taste that no amount of table salt can deliver after the fact. In addition, restaurants tend to see salt and pepper shakers as high-maintenance germ vectors. Nonetheless, the temperamental chef who storms out of the kitchen to berate unsophisticated diners as they shake some salt on their meal is largely the stuff of legend. If you have a bite or two and just really won't enjoy your meal without another dash of salt, go ahead and ask for a salt shaker. Better to (very slightly) insult the chef than not enjoy your steak to the fullest. 'I'd never drink white wine with steak' The culinary rule of thumb that red wine pairs well with beef and white wine goes with chicken or fish is not wrong ... it's just not the entire story. Indeed, you can rarely go wrong pairing a big, bold red with a big, rich steak. The flavors suit each other, as the red wine's tannins cut the steak's fatty mouthfeel, and the succulent meat mellows the wine's dryness. However, wine drinkers are more sophisticated than ever, and wine lists tend to carry a more diverse selection of regional and specialty wines than in days gone by. Options for an unusual but sophisticated pairing abound, so in that case, you can safely consider ordering a white wine with your steak. White wines can offer their own bold flavor profile, and lend themselves to fine-tuning your pairings. A rich, oaky chardonnay, for example, has an acidity that pairs well with a piquant steak au poivre. With an Argentinian steak, an imported Sémillon's robust body and richness plays well with chimichurri. For a full-flavored white that can stand up to even a dry-aged T-bone, an older bottle of Rioja blanco offers surprisingly nutty, honeyed flavors. If you tend to prefer white wines, or are just looking to try something new, ask the server or sommelier to recommend the right wine for your particular order. Or just lean into the luxury and spring for a nice bottle of Champagne. You'll rarely go wrong with the bubbly. 'Your biggest tomahawk steak, please' The tomahawk cut is a bone-in ribeye, generally a massive steak that's enough to serve at least two people. That bone is a serious chunk of rib, resulting in a presentation that would gain a hearty "yabba-dabba-doo!" from Fred Flintstone. Ribeye has long been a popular cut for its flavor, luxurious marbling, and hefty weight. The tomahawk variant has skyrocketed in popularity with the growth of social media, because whether it's wrapped in gold leaf or served like a weapon on a plate, it just looks cool. As steak goof-ups go, ordering the biggest size of this is a pretty minor one, provided you know what you're getting. Which is, a steak that's priced by the pound, with much of the usual ribeye meat carved off and the weight of a huge bone chunk jacking up the price. Add the fact that this is a specialty cut that the restaurant probably paid top dollar for, only to pass that cost along to you. Even without the bling, you can end up paying $1,000 for an oversized Japanese Wagyu tomahawk steak at a high-end restaurant. A less-exclusive spot may easily still charge $150 for a tomahawk, even when the ribeye without the bone is on their menu for half the price or less. Some insist that a bone-in steak is always more flavorful, but is it flavorful enough to be charged double? We're skeptical. 'I'd like my steak well done' Ordering a steak well done is one of the few things that's almost universally guaranteed to make you look like an ignoramus. Indeed, this is frequently cited as the biggest mistake you can make ordering a nice cut of beef, so listen up. In fact, listen to Anthony Bourdain, a man who knew his way around a restaurant kitchen. Bourdain repeatedly warned that restaurants reserve their worst cuts of meat for customers who order it well done, because after it's been cooked that thoroughly, the meat's imperfections are imperceptible. What if you really, really want your steak served the color, texture, and tastiness of shoe leather? As a point of pride, chefs may be disinclined to cook a dish in a way that they feel will ruin it, but in most cases customer service wins out over the desire to outright refuse. To avoid this ethical quandary altogether, compromise by ordering steak medium well. Your steak will only be slightly pink at the center, nobody will mock you behind your back, and the subpar meat that Bourdain warned about will stay in the kitchen. And if you cut into your steak and just really can't handle what you see, it's okay to send it back and ask for the chef to give it another minute or two on the grill. Recommended

Bruising yearZebra Technologies Q3: Broad Demand RecoveryThe following is a list of in-person and online worship services and events happening at churches and synagogues in the Oakland County area. Visit websites or call for service times and events. • Abiding Presence Lutheran Church, 1550 Walton Blvd., Rochester Hills, 248-651-6550, abidingpresence.org. Sunday worship services are at 9:30 a.m., virtual services are available on the website. • Adat Shalom Synagogue, 29901 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills, online services via Zoom. To view daily Minyan video conferences; email Executive Director Michael Wolf at mwolf@adatshalom.org or visit adatshalom.org, 248-851-5100. • All Saints’ Episcopal, 171 W. Pike St., Pontiac, allsaintspontiac.org, 248-334-4571, rector@allsaintspontiac.org. • The Apostolic Church of Christ, 3655 N. Squirrel Road, Auburn Hills, theapostolicchurch.com, 248-373-4500, Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. • Archdiocese of Detroit, livestream Mass times, aod.org/livemasses. • Auburn Hills Christian Center, 2592 Walton Blvd., Auburn Hills, Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m., Servicio Evangelistico services (in Spanish) at 2-4 p.m. Sundays, 248-373-7139, www.myahcc.org. • Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Troy, online services at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, beaconcongregation.org, admin@beaconcongregation.org. • Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, 5631 N Adams Road, Bloomfield Hills, livestream services at 9 a.m. Sundays, and in person at 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. at bslcmi.org, facebook/bslcmi, 248-646-5041. • Berea Family Tabernacle of Faith, Pontiac, online worship services are noon Sundays, Berea’s YouTube Channel: youtu.be/5QnjxMyFwJ4 or visit experienceberea.org and click “Watch Now,” 248-338-4748. • Berkley First United Methodist Church, 2820 12 Mile Road, Berkley, worship services are 10 a.m. Sundays in person and online at www.berkleyfirst.org. • Bharatiya Temple, 6850 N Adams Road, Troy, www.bharatiya-temple.org, 248-879-2552. • Big Beaver United Methodist Church, 3753 John R Road, Troy, worship services at 10 a.m. Sundays, http://bbumchurch.org. • Birmingham First United Methodist Church, 1589 W Maple Road, Birmingham, www.fumcbirmingham.org. Sunday worship services in-person and online are at 9:30 a.m., and in-person only services at 11 a.m. Summer worship services between Memorial Day and Labor Day, are at 10 a.m. • Birmingham Unitarian Church, Bloomfield Hills, online worship services, 10:30 a.m. Sundays, bucmi.org, 248-647-2380. • Bridge Community Church, 5700 Rochester Road, Troy, online worship services, 10:45 a.m. Sundays, bridgecommunitychurch.com/live, 248-879-9500. • Brightmoor Christian Church, 40800 W. 13 Mile Road, Novi, www.brightmoorchurch.org. • Calvary Chapel Oakland County, 1975 E. Long Lake Road, Troy, 248-457-9673, ccoaklandcounty.com. Worship 7 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m. Sundays. • Calvary Church, 1361 Giddings Road, Pontiac, Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m., https://ccpontiac.org, 248-373-0311. • Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, 6805 Bluegrass Drive, Clarkston, calvary-lutheran.org. Sunday worship services are Traditional Worship at 7:55 a.m.; Modern Worship at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.; and livestream at 9:30 a.m. Food pantry (drive-up or curbside pickup) is 9-11 a.m. Wednesdays. • Central Church, 1529 Twelve Mile Road, Madison Heights, www.centralchurch.cc. Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. • Central Oaks Community Church, 2005 Rochester Road, Royal Oak, www.centraloaks.com, 248-547-7755. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. • Central United Methodist Church, 3882 Highland Road, Waterford Twp., 248-681-0040, WaterfordCUMC.org. In-person worship, at 8:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sundays. The 10:30 a.m. service is also available online at Live.WaterfordCUMC.org. Blue Christmas is 7-8 p.m. Dec. 11, https://waterfordcumc.org/christmas-at-central-church, worship service of remembrance and encouragement. • Central Woodward Christian Church Disciples of Christ, 3955 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy, 248-644-0512, centralwoodwardchristian.com. Sunday worship services are at 10:30 a.m., in person and online at centralwoodwardchristian.com and Facebook at www.facebook.com/CentralWoodward. • Chapel of Our Lady of Orchard Lake, 3535 Commerce Road, West Bloomfield Twp., www.sscms.edu, 248-683-0310. • Christian Tabernacle Church, Southfield, ctabchurch.com, 248-213-4770. • Christ Church Cranbrook, 470 Church Road, Bloomfield Hills, In-person and online worship services, 10 a.m. Sundays, ccc-info.org. • Christ Lutheran Church, Waterford Twp., online worship services, christwaterford.org/livestream, 248-673-7331. • Christ, Our Light! Catholic Church, 3077 Glouchester, Troy. Mass times are: Saturday at 4 p.m.; Sunday at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.; weekday Masses (followed by Rosary recitation) are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 9 a.m., and Friday at 12:05 p.m., Christourlight.weconnect.com, 248-649-5510. • Christ the Good Shepherd Progressive Old Catholic Church, 3947 Twelve Mile Road Berkley, church services: Saturday Mass 4:30 p.m. and Sunday Mass 10:30 a.m., 248-439-0470, www.cgs-occ.org. • Christ the Redeemer Parish, 2700 Waldon Road Orion Township, 248-391-1621, weekly online Mass at 10 a.m. Sundays, also in-person Masses, ctredeemer.org. • Church of the Holy Spirit, 3700 Harvey Lake Road, Highland Twp., www.holyspirithighland.com. • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregations in Oakland County include: Bloomfield Hills, Clarkston, Commerce Twp., Farmington Hills, Lake Orion, Pontiac (Spanish), Rochester, Troy and White Lake Twp. The congregations host worship services on Sundays. For worship times and locations, visit churchofjesuschrist.org. • Church of the Resurrection, 6490 Clarkston Road, Village of Clarkston, https://clarkstonepiscopal.com, 248-625-2325. Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. • Clarkston Community Church, 6300 Clarkston Road, Clarkston, in-person and online services at 9:15 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, clarkstoncchurch.com, 248-625-1323. • Clarkston United Methodist Church, 6600 Waldon Road, Clarkston, in-person and online faith services, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, clarkstonumc.org, 248-625-1611. • Commerce United Methodist Church, 1155 N. Commerce Road, Commerce Twp., commerceumc.org/media. • Community Bible Church, 1888 Crescent Lake Road, Waterford Twp., https://cbcmi.com, 248-674-4871. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. • Community Fellowship Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 27800 Southfield Road, Lathrup Village, church services at 11 a.m. Saturdays, http://communityfellowship22.adventistchurchconnect.org, 248-469-8539. • Community Presbyterian Church, 4301 Monroe Ave., Waterford Twp. In-person worship is 10 a.m., Sundays, cpcwaterford.org, 248-673-7805. • Congregation Beth Ahm, 5075 West Maple Road, West Bloomfield Twp., 248-851-6880, cbahm.org. • Congregational Church of Birmingham, UCC, 1000 Cranbrook Road, Bloomfield Hills. Worship services are 10 a.m. Sundays, ccbucc.org, 248-646-4511. • Congregation Shaarey Zedek, 27375 Bell Road, Southfield, offers virtual Jewish religious services including daily morning and evening Minyan services, Shabbat morning services and Youth Shabbat activities, shaareyzedek.org, 248-357-5544. • Congregation Shir Tikvah, 3900 Northfield Parkway, Troy, www.shirtikvah.org. • Cornerstone Baptist Church, Ortonville, livestream online worship services, Sundays at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at Facebook at Cornerstone Baptist Church Ortonville, cbcortonville.com, 248 627-4700. • Cornerstone Church, Highland, online services, cornerstonehighland.com, 248-887-1600. • Crossroads Free Will Baptist Church, 4804 White Lake Road, White Lake Twp., https://crossroadswl.org, Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. The church has a Blessing Box that is stocked with non-perishable food items, books and other household items for those in need. Donations welcome. • Divine Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3000 S. Lapeer Road, Orion Twp., divinegrace.net, Sunday worship services at 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., livestream. • Door of Faith Christian Church, Pontiac, online services, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, mydooroffaith.org. • Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 23425 Lahser Road, Southfield, 248-357-1848, emmanuellutheransouthfield.org. • Empowerment Church of Southfield, worship services are 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sundays at new worship center location, Shriner’s Silver Garden Events Center, 24350 Southfield Road, Southfield, 248-569-2299, empowerment.mi.org. Virtual worship services, 10:30 a.m. Sundays at empowermentmi.org/stream and on Facebook Live. • Encounter Church, 600 North Campbell Road, Royal Oak, in-person and online services, 11 a.m. Sundays; Prayer and Bible study is 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, www.encounter360.org. • Evanswood Church of God, 2601 E Square Lake Road, Troy, 248-879-9240. • Faith Church in Rochester Hills offers free meals to the community, 5:30-6:45 p.m. Wednesdays, at the church,160 W Hamlin Road, Rochester Hills, faithchurchrochesterhills.org/sharethetable. • Faith Community Christian Church (meeting at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church), 1550 Walton Blvd., Rochester Hills, 586-703-6249, Reverend Tom Sayers. Traditional service is at 1 p.m., www.faithcommunitychristianchurch.org. • Faith Covenant Church, 35415 W. 14 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, worship services are at 9:30 a.m. and 11a.m., Sundays, 248-661-9191, 4fcc.org. • First Baptist Church, 2601 John R Road, Troy, fbctroy.org. • First Baptist Church, 255 E. Scripps Road, Lake Orion, fbclo.org, 248-693-6203, info@fbclo.org. • First Congregational Church, 5449 Clarkston Road, Clarkston, (just east of Sashabaw Road), 248-394-0200, www.fcclarkston.com, worship services at 10 a.m. Sundays. • First Congregational Church of Rochester UCC, 1315 N. Pine, Rochester, worship services at 10 a.m. Sundays, fccrochester.org, 248-651-6225. • First Congregational Church of Royal Oak, 1314 Northwood Blvd., Royal Oak. Worship services at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, www.fccro.org. • First General Baptist of Waterford, 2933 Frembes Road, Waterford, wgbchurch.com, 248-673-6481, Sunday school at 10 a.m., worship services at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. • First Missionary Church, 4832 Clintonville Road, Independence Twp., www.fmcclarkston.org, 248-674-3186. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. • First Presbyterian Church Birmingham, 1669 W. Maple, Birmingham, worship services are Sundays, 8:30 a.m. in person, and 10 a.m. in person and livestream, fpcbirmingham.org, 248-644-2040. • First Presbyterian Church of Pontiac, 99 Wayne Street, Pontiac, fpcpontiac.info. • First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak, 529 Hendrie Blvd., 248-541-0108, fpcro.org, online services available anytime at fpcro.org, 248-541-0108. • First United Methodist Church of Troy, 6363 Livernois, Troy. Church services are 10 a.m. Sundays in person and livestream on YouTube and Facebook, www.FUMCTROY.org, 248-879-6363. • Five Points Community Church, 3411 E Walton Blvd, Auburn Hills, https://5pointscc.org, 248-373-1381. Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. • Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1950 S. Baldwin Road, Lake Orion, 248-391-1170, goodshepherdlakeorion.net. Worship services are 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays. • Grace Gospel Fellowship, 65 East Huron Street, Pontiac; in-person and livestream online services are 11 a.m. Sundays and 7 p.m. Wednesdays. Livestream online services are at www.facebook.com/GraceGospelFellowshipPontiac, 248-334-2187. • Greenfield Presbyterian Church, 2312 Greenfield Road, Berkley, both virtual and in-person worship services are at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, (Memorial Day through Labor Day, services are at 10 a.m. only), youtube.com/user/GreenfieldChurch, greenfieldchurch.com, 248-544-1800. • Grace Church, 220 Bogie Lake Road, White Lake Twp. Sunday services are 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., Gracechurchinfo.net, 248-887-3700. • Harvestland Church, 5848 Clintonville Road, Independence Twp., https://harvestland.church, 248-391-2063. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m. • Hazel Park First United Methodist Church, 313 E. Nine Mile Road, Hazel Park, 248-546-5955, hpfirst.org. Sunday worship services at 11:15 a.m. • Heart of the Hills Christian Church, 5085 Orion Road, Rochester, https://heartofthehills.com, 248-841-1679. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m. • Hillside Bible Church, 73 N Church St, Ortonville, 248-627-2513, hillsidebible.org, Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m. • Hilltop Church of the Nazarene, 21260 Haggerty Road, Northville, hilltopnaz.org, Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m. • Holly Calvary Church, 15010 N Holly Road, Holly, hollycalvary.org, Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. in person and online, Wednesday worship is at 6:30 p.m. • Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, 4800 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Twp. In-person worship services at 10 a.m. Sundays, livestream on YouTube youtube.com/@spiritdrivenchurch, 248-682-5441, spiritdrivenchurch.com. • Hope United Methodist Church, 26275 Northwestern Hwy., Southfield, 248-356-1020, hopeumc.org. • Immanuel Congregational Church of Christ, Oxford, 248-628-1610, icucc.org, virtual service at 11 a.m. Sundays, facebook.com/oxfordimmanuelucc. • International Christian Church, 3980 Walton Blvd., Rochester Hills, online and in-person services at 11:30 a.m. Sundays, 248-494-8757, myiccglobal.org, facebook.com/icchurch/live. • Islamic Association of Greater Detroit, 879 West Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, www.childrenofabrahamday.org. • Jewel Heart Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center, 27745 Woodward Ave., Berkley, www.jewelheart.org. • Journey Lutheran Church, (joined with Holy Cross Church) 136 S. Washington St., Oxford, online and in-person worship services, 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, education hour is at 10 a.m., journeylutheran.church, 248-628-2011. • Kensington Church with locations in Birmingham, Clarkston, Clinton Twp., Orion Twp. and Troy, in-person Sunday worship times, and online services offered streaming on YouTube, Facebook, and website, kensingtonchurch.org. • King of Kings Lutheran Church, 1715 S. Lapeer Road, Lake Orion, www.kingofkingslakeorion.org. Worship services are 9:30 a.m. Sundays, online streaming at www.facebook.com/kingofkingslakeorion. • Kirk in the Hills, 1340 W. Long Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills. Sunday worship services are at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., kirkinthehills.org, 248 626 2515. • Lakecrest Baptist Church, 35 Airport Rd, Waterford Twp., www.lakecrestbaptist.com, 248-681-3214. Sunday worship services are at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Spanish service at 1 p.m. • Lake Orion Church of Christ, 1080 Hemingway Road, Lake Orion, www.lococ.org, 248-693-7242. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m. • Lake Orion Methodist Church, Lake Orion, www.lakeorionumc.org. Sunday worship services at 10 a.m., in person and online. • LakePoint Community Church, 1550 W. Drahner Road, Oxford, https://lakepointcc.org, 248-628-0038. • The Lakes Church, 1450 S Hospital Road, Waterford Twp., www.thelakes.cc, 248-254-7833, Sunday worship services are 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. The 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. services are livestreamed. • Liberty General Baptist Church, 3545 Joslyn Rd, Auburn Hills, https://libertygeneralbaptistchurch.org, 248-431-3498. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. • Lifepoint Church, 5601 Scott Lake Road, Waterford Twp., lifepointchristian.com. • Life Renewal Church, 28312 Grand River, Farmington Hills, https://liferenewalchurch.org, worship is 11 a.m. Sundays. • Madison Heights Church of the Nazarene, 555 E 13 Mile Road, Madison Heights, mhnaz.org, 248-585-5551. • Maranatha Baptist Church, 5790 Flemings Lake Road, Clarkston, Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m., www.mbcclarkston.org. • Marimont Community Church, 424 W Walton Blvd., Pontiac, Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., https://marimontcommunitychurch.com. • Masjid Mahmood, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Center, 1730 W. Auburn Road, Rochester Hills, ahmadiyyamosque.blogspot.com. • Metro Detroit Christian Church, 33360 W. 13 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, https://metrodetroit.org, 248-562-7998. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m. • Mother of God Chaldean Catholic Church, 25585 Berg Road, Southfield, https://mogccc.com, 248-356-0565. • Motor City Church, 3668 Livernois Road, Troy, www.motorcitychurch.org, 248-524-2400. Sunday worship services are at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. • Mt. Zion Church, 4900 Maybee Road, Clarkston, mtzion.org. Sunday worship services at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. • Muslim Unity Center of Bloomfield Hills, 1830 W. Square Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, Muslimunitycenter.org. • Nardin Park United Methodist Church, 29887 W Eleven Mile Road, Farmington Hills, 248-476-8860, nardinpark.org, www.facebook.com/NPUMC. • Nativity Episcopal Church, 21220 W. 14 Mile Road, Bloomfield Twp., nativityepiscopalchurch.org, 248-646-4100. • New Heights Baptist Church, Grand Blanc, 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sundays, newheightsbc.com. For information, email pastornewheights@gmail.com or call 810-866-4563. • New Hope Christian Fellowship, 6020 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford Twp., https://newhopemi.org, 248-886-1500, Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. • New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, 23455 W Nine Mile Road, Southfield, www.newhope-mbc.org, 248-353-0675. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m., in person and livestream. • New Hudson United Methodist Church, 56730 Grand River Ave., New Hudson, newhudsonumc.org, worship services, 10:30 a.m. Sundays. • Northminster Presbyterian Church, 3633 W. Big Beaver Road, Troy, 248-644-5920, Worship service at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, in person and livestream, www.facebook.com/TroyNorthminster. • North Congregational Church, 36520 W. 12 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, northcongregationalchurch.org. • North Hills Christian Reformed Church, 3150 North Adams Road, Troy, worship services, 9:30 a.m. Sundays, 248-645-1990, northhillscrc.org. • North Oaks Church, 9600 Ortonville Road, City of the Village of Clarkston, worship services are 10:30 a.m., Sundays, northoakschurch.org, office@northoakschurch.org, 248-922-3515. • Oakland Church, 5100 North Adams Road, Rochester, worship services, 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, www.oaklandchurch.me. • Oakland Church of Christ, 23333 West 10 Mile Road Southfield, livestream and in-person worship services are 10:30 a.m. Sundays, TheOaklandChurchofchrist.org, 248-355-9225. • Oakland Hills Community Church, Farmington Hills, ohcc.net, 313-686-4578. • Oakland Woods Baptist Church 5628 Maybee Rd, Village of Clarkston, www.facebook.com/OWBCClarkston, 248-625-7557. Sunday worship services are at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. • Oak Pointe Church,1250 South Hill, Milford, in-person or online worship services are 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, opcmilford.org. • Oak Pointe Church, 50200 W. 10 Mile Road, Novi, in-person or online worship services are 9:15 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. oakpointe.org, 248-912-0043. • Oak Pointe Church, 6343 Farmington Road, West Bloomfield, in-person or online worship services are 10:15 a.m. Sundays, oakpointe.org/westbloomfield. • Oakwood Community Church, 5791 Oakwood Rd, Ortonville, www.oakwoodcc.org, 248-628-6388. • Orchard Grove Community Church, 850 Ladd Rd; Bldg. C, Walled Lake, Sunday worship services are at 10:10 a.m., www.orchardgrove.org. • Orchard Lake Community Church, Presbyterian, 5171 Commerce Road, Orchard Lake, worship services are at 9 a.m., and 10:30 a.m. Sundays, olccp.com, 248-682-0730. • Orchard United Methodist Church, Farmington Hills, worship services, 10 a.m. Sundays and Weekday Worship Experiences at Noon at youtube.com/c/OrchardUMC and facebook.com/OrchardUMC/live_videos, 248-626-3620, orchardumc.org. • Our Lady of La Salette, 2600 Harvard Road, Berkley, 248-541-3762, par8551@gmail.com, lasalette-church.org, Mass is at 4:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Sundays. • Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church in-person Mass, Saturday at 5 p.m., Sunday at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., weekdays at 8:15 a.m., 5481 Dixie Hwy., Waterford Twp. Livestream Mass at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 9:30 a.m. Sunday, ollonline.org/live. • Our Lady of Refuge Church, 3700 Commerce Road, Orchard Lake, olorcc.org, 248-682-4099, Mass is 5 p.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. Sundays. • Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 23815 Power Road, Farmington, church.olsorrows.com. • Our Mother of Perpetual Help, 13500 Oak Park Blvd, Oak Park, www.omoph.org. Saturday mass is at 4:30 p.m. and Sunday mass is at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. • Oxbow Lake Baptist Church, 10730 Elizabeth Lake Rd, White Lake Charter Township, www.oxbowbc.com, 248-698-3034. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. • Oxford United Methodist Church, 21 E. Burdick St. Oxford, 248 628-1289, oxfordunitedmc.org. People Feeding People (PFP) free breakfast is 9:30-10:30 a.m. Saturdays. In-person worship services and online at youtube.com/channel/UCN2R96oWdXzxDqwdz8YBlrQ. • Paint Creek United Methodist Church, 4420 Collins Road, Rochester, www.paintcreekumc.org, 248-373-2360, Sunday worship services are at 11 a.m. • Renaissance Vineyard Church, 1841 Pinecrest Drive, Ferndale, https://renvc.com, 248-545-4664. Sunday worship services at 10:33 a.m. • The River Church of Auburn Hills, 315 S. Squirrel Road, Auburn Hills, http://riverchurch.faith, 248-853-1524. Worship services are 9 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. Sundays. • The River Church, Holly, Lake Orion, Waterford and more locations, livestream and videos of sermons, theriverchurch.cc, 248-328-0490. • River North Church, 67 N Lynn Ave, Waterford Twp., Sunday School is 10 a.m. Sundays, worship services at 11:15 a.m. Sundays and 7:15 p.m. Wednesdays, view sermons online at www.youtube.com/@rivernorthchurch2023, nondenominational family church, 248-724-6559, www.facebook.com/Rivernorthchurch. • River Of Life Christian Church, 5482 Winell St., Independence Twp., 248-599-3074. • Rochester Christian Church, 4435 Rochester Rd, Rochester Hills, https://rcc4me.com, 248-652-3353, Sunday worship services at 10 a.m. • Royal Oak First United Methodist Church, 320 W. 7th Street, Royal Oak, www.rofum.org, 248-541-4100. Worship services are 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays, in person and online, www.rofum.org/live. • Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 3400 S. Adams Road, Auburn Hills. Mass times are at 4 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday. Weekday Mass services are 9 a.m. Monday through Friday, www.esacredheart.org, 248-852-4170. • St. Anastasia Roman Catholic Church, 4571 John R Road, Troy, www.stanastasia.org, 248-689-8380. • St. Anne Catholic Church of Ortonville, 825 South Ortonville Road, Ortonville. Mass times are Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.; Saturday at 5 p.m.; Monday at 7 p.m. and Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m., 248-627-3965, churchofstanne.org. • St. Augustine Lutheran Troy (SALT) Church, 5475 Livernois in Troy, saltchurch.net, communications@saltchurch.net, 248-879-6400. • St. Benedict Catholic Church, 60 South Lynn Street, Waterford Twp., 248-681-1534. Sunday Mass times are 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., streaming at stbencc.org/live-stream. • St. David’s Episcopal Church, 16200 W. Twelve Mile Road, Southfield, www.stdavidssf.org. Sunday worship services are at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. both in person and via zoom. Food pantry is 9 a.m.-noon Monday, Wednesday and Friday. • St. George’s Episcopal Church, 801 E Commerce, Milford, 248-684-0495. Sunday worship services 8:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m., in person and online, www.stgeorgesmilford.org. • St. George Orthodox Church, 2160 E Maple Road, Troy, 248-589-0480, www.stgeorgeoftroy.org, www.facebook.com/stgeorgeoftroymi. • St. James Church, 46325 Ten Mile Road, Novi, Mass times are 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Sundays, and 4 p.m. Saturdays. Livestream services, 4 p.m. Saturdays, 248-347-7778, stjamesnovi.org. • St. John Lutheran Church & School, 1011 University Drive, Rochester. Traditional praise worship services are Sundays at 8 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Modern praise services are Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 10:45 p.m. The 8 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Sunday worship services are livestreamed and posted on the website at stjohnrochester.org. • St. John’s Episcopal Church Royal Oak, 26998 Woodward Ave. Royal Oak. Services are 8 a.m. Sundays, in person and 10:15 a.m. Sundays, online and in-person worship, stjohnsroyaloak.org, 248-546-1255. • St. Joseph Catholic Church, Lake Orion, view Mass services on the church’s Youtube channel, youtube.com/user/stjosephmassarchive, or at Facebook page, facebook.com/StJoeLo, stjoelo.org, 248-693-0440. • St. Joseph Chapel and Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 400 South Blvd. West, Pontiac, https://terrasanctaministries.net. • St. Mark and St. Mary & St. Philopater Coptic Orthodox Church, 3603 Livernois Road, Troy, www.stmarkmi.org. Divine liturgy services are at 7 a.m. (Arabic) and 8:15 a.m. (English), Sundays. • St. Mary Catholic Church, 730 S Lafayette Ave., Royal Oak, www.stmaryroyaloak.com, 248-547-1818. Mass at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, and 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sunday. • St. Mary of the Hills Roman Catholic Church, 2675 John R. Road, Rochester Hills. Live online Mass is 4 p.m. Saturday, on Facebook and YouTube. In-person Mass is 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. Sunday, sign up required, 248-853-5390, smoth.org. • St. Mary’s In-the-Hills Episcopal Church, 2512 Joslyn Court, Lake Orion, 248-391-0663, www.stmarysinthehills.org. Sunday Services are at 8:30 a.m.-Simple service of Holy Eucharist and at 10 a.m.-Service of Holy Eucharist with choir and Children’s Church School-Service, livestream on YouTube or Facebook or www.stmarysinthehills.org. Adult Bible Study is held Tuesdays at 10 a.m. • St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 2040 S. Commerce Road, Walled Lake, 248-624-7676, st-matthew.org. Blended Worship services are 8:45 a.m. Sundays (also livestream on YouTube); Prayer & Praise Worship services are 11 a.m. Sundays; Monday Blended Worship services are 7 p.m. • St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 48380 Pontiac Trail, Wixom, 248-624-9525, st-matthew.org. Sunday worship services are 10 a.m. • St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m. Sundays, 760 W Wattles Road, Troy, 248-362-9575, stnicholastroy.org. • St. Owen Catholic Church, 6869 Franklin Road Bloomfield Hills, stowen.org. • St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, 1413 E. Thirteen Mile Road, Madison Heights, 248-585-9591, in-person Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m., or online at stpatsmh.org. • St. Paul Community Lutheran Church, 1133 Joslyn Ave., Pontiac, www.stpaulpontiac.com. 248-758-9019. Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. • St. Paul Lutheran Church, 202 E. Fifth St, Royal Oak, worship services are 8:15 a.m. and 11 a.m. Sundays. Livestream also at 8:15 a.m. service, stpaulroyaloak.org, 248-930-3100. • St. Paul United Methodist Church, 165 E. Square Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, 248-338-8233, services are at 9:45 a.m. Sundays, SPUMC.net, facebook.com/spumcbloomfieldhills, 248-216-1657. • St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 620 Romeo Street, Rochester. Open door worship services are at 9:30 a.m. Sundays and sanctuary worship services are at 11 a.m., Sundays, livestream available, facebook.com/stpaulsrochester, stpaulsrochester.org. • St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 100 Romeo Road, Rochester, stpfeeds.org. • St. Stephens Episcopal Church, 5500 N Adams Road, Troy, www.ststephenstroy.org, 248-641-8080, worship services at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. online and in person. • St. Stephens Missionary Baptist Church, 69 S. Astor St., Pontiac, 248-335-5873, www.saintstephenmbc.com. Sunday worship services are at 11 a.m. • St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church, 6900 West Maple Road, West Bloomfield Twp., www.stccc.org. • St. Thomas Orthodox Church, Divine Liturgy at 10 a.m. Sundays, 29150 W. 10 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, 248-471-1059, stthomasalbanianorthodoxchurch.org. • St. William Parish, 531 Common St., Walled Lake, stwilliam.com, 248-624-1421. • Sanctuary Church, 300 Willits St., Birmingham, in-person and online services, 10:30 a.m. Sundays, 248-644-0550, sanctuary-church.com. • Sashabaw Presbyterian Church, Clarkston, worship services via Zoom, services at 11 a.m. on 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays of the month, and at 6 p.m. on 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month. Email sashabawpresbyterianchurch@gmail.com for a link to services, sashabawpresbyterianchurch.org, 248-310-0792. • Scott Lake Baptist Church, 811 Scott Lake Road, Waterford Twp., Sunday worship services at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m., also livestream, https://hisscottlake.org. • Seymour Lake United Methodist Church, 3050 S. Sashabaw Road, Oxford, in-person or online services at 10 a.m. Sundays, 248-572-4200, email- office@seymourlakeumc.org, seymourlakeumc.org. • Shepherd of the Lakes Lutheran Church, 2905 S. Commerce Road, Walled Lake, worship services are 10 a.m. Sundays, and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. during Lent and Advent, www.shepherdlakes.org, 248-624-4238. • Shrine Catholic Church, 12 Mile and Woodward, 248-541-4122, https://shrinechurch.com. Light Up Shrine-Shining a Message of Hope is 5:50-8 p.m. Dec. 7. • Silver Lake Church Of The Nazarene, 20 W Walton Blvd., Pontiac, https://slcpontiac.org, 248-977-4698. • Spirit of Grace Church, 2399 Figa Ave., West Bloomfield Twp., 248-682-0270, Sunday worship at 10 a.m., spiritofgrace.church, facebook.com/spiritograce/videos. The church has a diabetic food pantry for those in need with dietary restrictions. The church seeks donations of non-perishable food items for diabetics including: proteins, nuts, grains and beans, sugar-free foods, low carb and high fiber foods as well as shopping bags and unused boxes. Drive-up diabetic food pantry hours are 10 a.m.-noon, 3rd Saturdays of the month. • Spiritual Life Center, Troy, www.slctroy.com, 248-925-6214. A Message of Hope is 10 a.m. Sundays at www.youtube.com/c/SLCTroy. • Stone Haven Free Methodist Church, 1349 West Wattles Road, Troy, services are 11 a.m. Sundays, (limited in-person seating at 10:45 a.m.) online services at stonehavenfmc.org, 248-649-1465. • Temple Beth El Synagogue, 7400 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, www.tbeonline.org, streaming page – tbelive.org and facebook.com/tbeonline/live, 248-851-1100. • Temple Israel, West Bloomfield Twp., streaming video at temple-israel.org. • Temple Kol Ami, 5085 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield Twp., tkolami.org, 248-661-0040. • Temple Shir Shalom, 3999 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield Twp., www.shirshalom.org, 248-737-8700. • Thrive Church, a Global Methodist Church, 680 W. Livingston Road, Highland Twp., www.thrive-church.us, 248-887-1311. • Trinity United Methodist Church, 6440 Maceday Drive, Waterford Twp., Services, 11 a.m. Sundays, waterfordtrinityumc.org, 248-623-6860. • Troy Church of the Nazarene, 6840 Crooks Road, Troy, troynaz.org, 248-802-7650. Worship Services and Bible Study, 11 a.m. Sundays and 6 p.m. Wednesdays. • Unity of Farmington Hills worship service in person and online at 10 a.m. Sundays, youtube.com/channel/UCi90mgzXUDpw0k21_3JXlTg, Unityfh.com. • Unity of Lake Orion, 3070 S. Baldwin Road, Orion Twp., unitylakeorion.org, 248-391-9211. Sunday worship services are 10 a.m. Sundays, in person and livestream on Facebook. • Unity of Royal Oak, 2500 Crooks Road, Royal Oak, unityofroyaloak.org, 248-288-3550. Sunday worship services at 10 a.m., livestream on YouTube and Facebook. • Universalist Unitarian Church of Farmington, 25301 Halsted Road, Farmington Hills, uufarmington.org. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, in person and livestream. • University Presbyterian Church, 1385 S. Adams, Rochester Hills, universitypres.org, 248-375-0400. • The Village Church of Ortonville, 93 N Church St. Ortonville, www.facebook.com/oumvillagechurch, 248 627-3125. • Walled Lake United Methodist Church, 313 E Northport St., Walled Lake. Sunday worship services at 9:30 a.m. in person, or at Facebook Live, facebook.com/walledlakeumc and YouTube, youtube.com/channel/UCjOTQmG5DAGUdd_ghKdp2FQ, walledlakeumc.org, 248-624-2405. • Warren’s Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, 29860 Dequindre, Warren. Sunday worship services are at 10 a.m. in person and livestream at www.aglc-warren.org, 586-751-7750. • Waterford Seventh-day Adventist Church, 5725 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford Twp., www.waterfordadventist.org, 248-681-3334. Worship services in person and livestream, 11 a.m. Saturdays. • Waypoint Church, 8400 Dixie Hwy., Clarkston, waypoint.org, 248-623-1224. Sunday worship services at 10:30 a.m. • Welcome Missionary Baptist Church, 143 Oneida St, Pontiac, www.welcomemissionarybaptistchurch.com, 248-335-8740. Sunday worship services are at 8:30 a.m. in person and livestream on Facebook at www.facebook.com/welcomemissionary.church. • Wellspring Bible Church, 485 Farnsworth, White Lake Twp., worship services are at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, wellspringbiblechurch.org, 248-682-0319. • West Bloomfield United Methodist Church, 4100 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield Twp., worship services are at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, westbloomfieldumc.org, 248-851-2330. • White Lake Presbyterian Church. 4805 Highland Road, White Lake, worship services are 10 a.m. Sundays, 248-887-4654, whitelakepc.org. • Williams Lake Church, 2840 Airport Road, Waterford Twp., www.facebook.com/williamslakechurch, 248-673-5911, www.williamslakechurch.com. • Woodside Bible Church, with 14 locations in Southeast Michigan, livestream online services, 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Sundays, live.woodsidebible.org, 248-879-8533. • Zion Lutheran Church, 143 Albany St., Ferndale, in-person and online worship services at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, www.zionlutheranmi.org. To add a church or event to this list, visit the link to the online submission form at https://bit.ly/40a2iAm . — MediaNews Group

David Stratton, 85 years old and going strong ish – is one of Australia’s two most iconic movie reviewers, along with Margaret Pomeranz. I spoke to him on Thursday. Fitz : Mr Stratton, thank you for playing. As you know, the rules are you have to come up with 10 superb films that are lost and lesser-known masterpieces – with the only rider being that you can’t pick films that your great on-air partner, Margaret Pomeranz, picked a fortnight ago . Your time starts ... shortly. Before we get to that though, how did you get into films in the first place? David Stratton, now 85, pictured in Wentworth Falls: “I had a friend in Sydney, and he was saying, ‘You should come as a ten pound Pom, and I can sponsor you’. And so I did.” Credit: Rhett Wyman DS : Growing up in England during the war, my parents were both otherwise occupied and my grandmother took me to all sorts of films three or four times a week. I loved the way the cinemas smelt, the moment when the lights dimmed, the curtains opened and the film began. I was just captivated by it all. And that thrill has stayed with me ever since ... Fitz : Was there a particular film back then you were just transfixed by, that stays with you? DS : There were the Bob Hope comedies, and Mickey Rooney in a series of films about Andy Hardy. And we saw some very unsuitable films. Jane Russell in The Outlaw was, I think, very unsuitable. Interestingly enough, many years later, I was actually invited to a brunch with Jane Russell in San Francisco. Fitz : Was she every bit as unsuitable as you had hoped? DS : [ Laughs. ] She was lovely. And I told her I had fallen in love with her watching The Outlaw at the age of six. Fitz : If you care, I see your Jane Russell, and raise you Jane Fonda. She was most unsuitable for me to see in a famous poster on my brother’s wall when I too was six, and I was thrilled to meet her when she was 75 and get to tell her how wonderfully unsuitable I had found her. A fabulous woman and even more impressive in person. But ... moving on. I read that you came to Australia as a 10-pound Pom? Stratton with long-time colleague and fellow movie reviewer Margaret Pomeranz. Credit: Jacky Ghossein DS : Yes, but I had no intention of staying. My family had a long-established grocery company started in the UK in the early 1800s and my father wanted me to take the business over, as he had taken it over from his father and so on. It was one of those nepotistic things, and I thought I’d never be able to do anything else. I mean, I loved films, but I thought I’d have to be a grocer, but when it came to the crunch I said, “Hang on, I’m going to take two years off before I really come into the company.” I had a friend in Sydney, and he was saying, “You should come as a 10-pound Pom, and I can sponsor you.” And so I did, but during the two-year mandatory stay in Australia, I became involved with the Sydney Film Festival, one thing led to another, and I took over as the festival director. Fitz : And you got into a little trouble with ASIO, as it turned out? DS : Yes, because of censorship. I was used to seeing films in the UK that were basically not censored, at least if they were shown at a film society or a festival, but in Australia, they definitely were. But I thought, “Well, I’m not going to stay so what does it matter?” And because I was travelling to lots of Eastern Bloc cities to gather films – including Moscow, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Sofia, Bucharest and so on – it turns out ASIO started a file on me. Fitz : Clearly, you were a danger to shipping. ASIO must have said, “This is a guy to watch, this might be Australia’s answer to Kim Philby, an Englishman in a sleeper cell, in touch with the Soviets and he’s about to turn on us all!” DS : Well, of course, I didn’t have any of the secrets that Philby did, and all I could tell the Soviets was about Australian films or the lack thereof at the time, but, yes, that must have been their view. Honestly, though, I think it was the same in England at the time, and MI5, like ASIO, was suspicious of people in the arts. Fitz : And you weren’t even in your most dangerous and influential position of all yet, hosting The Movie Show with Margaret Pomeranz and able to steer the entire Australian population to some of your filthy commie flicks under the guise of them being good to watch! Sophie Lowe in Rachel Ward’s Beautiful Kate. ‘A great film’, according to Stratton. DS : [ Laughs. ] Fitz : So, let’s get to your list of top 10 lost masterpieces ... DS : OK, let me just go to my computer – first, I have got to get there, though. These days I use a walking frame. My eyesight’s gone. My mobility’s gone, my hearing’s gone. Actually, I’m in a bit of a wreck. Fitz : But you sound great? DS : Yeah, hopefully that will continue, but who knows? Last Friday night I was able to go into Sydney to receive a lovely award as Cinema Pioneer of the Year, and I was able to get up to the podium and make a speech, which I didn’t think I’d be able to do a couple of weeks beforehand. But there we are ... Anyway, the first one on my list is an Australian film, Blessed , (Australia, 2009). Directed by Ana Kokkinos, this poignantly beautiful film is divided into two parts – Children and Mothers. It’s about mothers who are alienated from their children for one reason or another. It has Frances O’Connor, Miranda Otto and Deborra-Lee Furness playing three of the mothers, and they are wonderful. The whole thing is very touching, beautifully active, beautifully written, and beautifully directed. Fitz : Locked in at No.1! Next? DS : No.2 is Taking Off (US, 1971). Also about parents and their kids, this bittersweet comedy was the first film made in America by Milos Forman. Flower power, marijuana and free love have resulted in many teenagers “taking off”, leaving their bewildered parents completely at a loss to know what their kids are up to, and are completely alienated from their kids. The film centres around an audition and there are songs from Carly Simon, Kathy Bates and Ike and Tina Turner. Judy Garland and Tom Drake in Meet Me in St Louis in which Garland sings Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Fitz : Hang on, the great Kathy Bates, the fabulous Oscar-winning actress sings, on the same platform as Carly Simon, and Ike and Tina Turner? DS : Yes. A song about horses. Fitz : Wow. I never knew she could sing. What’s next? DS : No.3 is Advise and Consent (US, 1962). Recently, the Herald ran a piece on the best films about US politics , but amazingly they omitted this one. Otto Preminger’s drama centres on the attempt of an ailing, Joe Biden-like president ... Fitz : Standing up against evil! DS : ... if you will, wanting to nominate as secretary of state a left-wing academic played by Henry Fonda, and the determination of a right-wing Southern Democratic senator – Charles Laughton, magnificent in his last screen role – to block the nomination because he thinks that the Henry Fonda character would sell us out to the communists. It’s a dirty game, a wonderful political thriller and an edge-of-your-seat movie. Fitz : ASIO and I will watch that with deep interest to see if your slip is showing. DS : [ laughs ] Next is Night of the Hunter (US, 1955) , also with Charles Laughton, who was not only a great actor. With this, the one film he directed, he proved to also be a master behind the camera. Robert Mitchum plays a serial killer in the Depression who poses as a preacher. Shelley Winters is a rich widow who falls for his charms, and silent star Lillian Gish plays a kindly woman who fosters and protects children. Hard to believe that the film was once banned in Australia on the grounds of blasphemy. Fitz : And quite right, too! DS : [ laughs ] Beautiful Kate (Australia, 2009) is next, an Australian film directed by Rachel Ward – the first film she ever directed – and all about the lasting effect on a rural family of tragic events that happened years ago. Ben Mendelsohn gives an effortlessly fine performance as a son who returns home to his father’s outback property after hearing that he (Bryan Brown, never better) is gravely ill. The visit brings back memories of a past summer, and the alluring presence of the prodigal’s sister, Kate (Sophie Lowe). A great cast including Rachel Griffiths and Maeve Dermody. Fitz : If I can just stop you there, David. You’re a man of great authority, and you say it’s a great film, and we know they’re all great actors, so we can take you at your word. But how is it that a film like that, with such a brilliant cast, is not better known and widely celebrated? GS : Well [ spoiler alert ], it’s actually about incest between brother and sister and ... Fitz : Oh! I speak on behalf of the readership when I say, ewwwwwwww . GS : That was mentioned in a review by your colleague, Garry Maddox. The audience just dropped away, which I can understand, but it’s still a great film. Fitz : I love Garry Maddox, and I’m with him. I still say, ewwwwwwww . DS : And so to No.6, The President’s Analyst , (US, 1967). Political comedies are fairly rare, and this very clever one performed so poorly at the box office back in the day that it’s little surprise that it didn’t start a genre. James Coburn plays a Washington psychiatrist who dabbles in hypnosis. One of his patients is the president himself. What if, under hypnosis, the commander-in-chief reveals state secrets? Both the CIA and the Russian KGB are interested in the president’s analyst. A Lion Returns writer-director Serhat Caradee (left) pictured with actors Maha Wilson (right) and Danny Elacci (centre) in 2020. Credit: Rhett Wyman Fitz : Again, ASIO and I will watch. DS : A Lion Returns (Australia, 2019). Turkish-born writer-director Serhat Caradee’s riveting film deals with a different kind of family reunion. In a suburb of an Australian capital city, a family whose members have migrated from the Middle East congregates. The reason for the gathering is that the elderly matriarch is very ill, but everyone is startled when one of the old lady’s sons, who has been away in an unknown location, unexpectedly returns too. Has he been radicalised by IS? One of the rare Australian films that’s really political. It’s gripping, beautifully made, and with a cast that nobody’s ever heard of because they’re all Arab-Australian. Fitz : Great. Does your list have a great Christmas film? It’s that time of year David. DS : Meet Me In St Louis (US, 1944) isn’t really a Christmas film because this story of a St Louis family spans an entire 12 months. But I adore the scene in which a ravishing Judy Garland sings the immortal H ave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas to her younger sister (Margaret O’Brien). When I was taken to see the film in 1945 at the age of six, I wept during this scene. I still weep every time I revisit this glorious Vincente Minnelli movie, and that’s probably once a year. Fitz : OK, go on ... DS : The Meyerowitz Stories (US, 2017) had a brief cinema release before streaming on Netflix. It’s the delicious story of a dysfunctional family reuniting when the patriarch, an artist played by Dustin Hoffman in one of his best performances, is about to receive an honour. Emma Thompson plays the artist’s wife and Ben Stiller is one of his two starkly different sons who lives in LA and is a success. The other is struggling, lives in New York and is played by Adam Sandler. Fitz : I am guessing Adam Sandler dreams of making excellent movies, only to make execrable schlock? DS : He’s good. They’re all very good. Witty, smart and original, this is a family movie like no other. Anyway, next up is Supernova (UK, 2020), an immensely moving drama in which Sam, played by Colin Firth, and Tusker, played by Stanley Tucci, portray a gay couple who’ve lived together happily for a very long time. But Tusker is in the advanced stages of dementia, and Sam, a concert pianist, decides to take his partner on a final road trip to say goodbye to family and friends. This is a 10-handkerchief weepie, but a wonderfully acted story of a couple facing a challenging future. Superbly directed by Harry Macqueen. Fitz : Which brings us back to you and Margaret Pomeranz, starting out, all those years ago and often challenging each other. Over all those years of doing the show, is there a stand-out moment when you vehemently disagreed? DS : Too many to remember, but the first one was The Castle (Australia, 1997) because it was the first film made by a team that worked in television, and it looked to me like a telemovie, whereas I’m very much into the visual side of cinema. And I also found the humour a little bit patronising. But I obviously completely misunderstood it, as I have watched it a few times since, and I now think it’s very funny. Fitz : To which I would say, and I know I am joined by ASIO in these remarks, “Welcome to Australia, Agent Stratton! It took you a long time to come in from out of the cold, but it’s great to have you. Put your bags down, your work here is done.” And good luck with your new book, Australia at the Movies, The Ultimate Guide to Modern Australian Cinema.The Best Books Of 2024‘I’ve always been a team player’: Ben Carroll on the VCE exam crisis and what drives him

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA — Deep Six Kava Bar is broadening its presence in the Philadelphia area, offering a unique blend of relaxation, wellness, and social engagement. With more people searching for healthier ways to unwind, the bar has become a go-to destination for those seeking alternatives to alcohol. Featuring a curated lineup of kava, kratom, THC, CBD, and adaptogenic beverages, Deep Six is pioneering a new approach to socializing focused on balance and mindfulness. Kava, the star of the menu, is a root from the South Pacific known for its calming properties. Long used in traditional ceremonies, kava promotes relaxation and eases anxiety without affecting mental clarity. For many, it provides the soothing effects of alcohol without hangovers or risks of dependency. “More people are recognizing the need for healthier ways to relax and unwind,” said Nick Kruczaj, founder of Deep Six Kava Bar. “Alcohol is no longer the go-to option for many social gatherings, and we’re excited to offer an environment where people can connect and enjoy themselves while supporting their overall well-being.” Complementing kava is an array of adaptogenic elixirs shaped by the growing demand for holistic health solutions. Adaptogens like ashwagandha, lion’s mane, and guarana help reduce stress, boost energy, and restore balance. Together with kratom and hemp-derived options, these beverages provide patrons with a well-rounded alternative to traditional social drinks. Deep Six Kava Bar serves as more than a wellness-focused beverage destination. It has carved out a niche as a social space where guests can unwind and connect in an alcohol-free environment. Whether stopping by after work or gathering on the weekend, visitors experience a relaxed atmosphere prioritizing well-being and community. “The shift towards alcohol alternatives reflects broader societal changes,” added Kruczaj. “People are becoming more conscious of their health and are looking for ways to connect without overindulging. Kava, kratom, hemp, and adaptogens offer real benefits, and we’re proud to lead this movement in the region.” With its unique menu and commitment to wellness, Deep Six Kava Bar exemplifies the growing trend of socializing in healthier, more intentional ways. Its expansion signals a bright future for this alcohol-free approach to connection and relaxation. For the latest news on everything happening in Chester County and the surrounding area, be sure to follow MyChesCo on Google News and MSN .ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — In a season that began with many questions and lowered expectations , it was apt watching Bills quarterback Josh Allen join coach Sean McDermott lay on the cold, wet sideline to make snow angels in celebrating Buffalo’s earliest clinching of a division title in team history. That Allen took part was no surprise. The newly engaged 28-year-old has maintained the happy-go-lucky approach he brought with him to Buffalo as a raw-talented athlete in 2018, while gradually blossoming into one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks. For McDermott, it was a pleasant surprise to see the usually reserved eight-year coach finally let his hair down — figuratively, because the few jokes he does make are usually about being bald. With his latest do-it-all three-TD outing — one rushing, one receiving and, the coup de grace, being credited with receiving his own pass for a score off a lateral from Amari Cooper — in a 35-10 win over San Francisco on Sunday night , Allen continued making his strongest NFL MVP case. What’s also becoming apparent is how much McDermott deserves consideration for coach of the year honors. Without the two, the Bills (10-2) wouldn’t be in this position in becoming just the eighth NFL team — and first since Indianapolis in 2009 — to clinch a division title with at least five games remaining in their schedule. It’s reflective of how the two have grown together in what, on the outside, could be perceived as an odd couple relationship between an offensive-minded, swashbuckling quarterback and a defensive-minded coach, too often knocked for being too conservative. Perhaps, it’s Allen’s boyish nature that has brought out the risk-taker in McDermott, who has carried over the aggressive approach he takes to defense by placing trust in his quarterback. It’s become apparent in everything the Bills have accomplished so far in having at least 10 wins through 12 games for just the fifth time in team history, and first since 1991, when Buffalo was led by eventual Hall of Famers in coach Marv Levy and quarterback Jim Kelly. Buffalo has won seven straight since consecutive losses to Baltimore and Houston. And the Bills have scored 30 or more points in six straight outings, matching the team record set in 2004. Allen is doing more with less on an offense that was supposed to be hampered following the offseason departures of receivers Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis and center Mitch Morse. The Bills are more balanced in leaning on their running attack, while Allen has also curtailed his turnover-prone ways. He's lost two fumbles and thrown just five interceptions after being picked off a career-worst 18 times last season. Meantime, McDermott has taken a different approach to fourth down situations. The Bills have converted 13 of 15 fourth down attempts after going 9 of 16 last season and 7 of 13 in 2022. The most fourth down attempts during McDermott’s tenure came in 2021, when Buffalo converted just 11 of 22. This is but an example of the bond the quarterback and coach have built in a shared objective of overcoming past playoff failures. Clinching a division title is but one step, with the Bills now focused on catching the Kansas City Chiefs (11-1), whom they’ve beaten already , for the AFC’s top seed. In calling it the team’s next goal, McDermott went off script from his usual game-at-a-time message by noting the importance of celebrating a division-clinching win, if only for one day. “Being 50 years old and 20-plus years in this league, I’ve learned to try and enjoy the moments,” McDermott said. “And this is a moment, right?” It certainly was. Turnover differential. Buffalo’s defense forced three fumbles, including one at its goal line, while the offense didn’t commit a giveaway. The Bills upped their league-leading turnover differential entering Monday to plus-17. Run defense. Though the conditions were snowy and slick, the Bills allowed 119 yards rushing in the first half before the 49ers were forced to start passing the ball once the score became lopsided. Buffalo particularly struggled in stopping Christian McCaffrey, who had 53 yards on seven carries before leaving the game with a potential season-ending knee injury . LB Matt Milano was in on five tackles while playing 37 of 48 defensive snaps in his first outing in nearly 14 months after being sidelined by a broken right leg and torn left biceps. CB Kaiir Elam, the 2022 first-round pick was a healthy inactive for a second straight outing, and still having difficulty finding a regular role. None reported. 9-0 — The Bills' home record going back to last season, marking their second-longest run in team history. Hit the road for two outings, starting with a trip to face the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflExamination of political investments reveals democrat involvement spooks corporate raiders

Ravens QB Jackson leads first NFL Pro Bowl fan voting resultsUnlike some automakers that are leveraging economies of scale to engineer an architecture to support both all-electric and gas-powered vehicles, Audi is building both. Its all-new Q6 e-tron is the first Audi model built on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE), dedicated to Audi’s even-numbered models like the Q6. Odd-numbered models like the Q5 are built on the corresponding Premium Platform Combustion (PPC). “Some of our competitors have opted for what we call a ‘multi-traction’ platform so you have one base platform and adapt it to combustion or electric vehicles,” Audi EV powertrain development engineer Johannes Haf told . “We think that comes with compromises.” The 2025 Audi Q6 and its sportier sibling, the SQ6, boast a range of up to 321 miles and 275 miles, respectively. Audi’s Mark Dahncke says the upcoming A6 sportback sedan (which will also sit on the same PPE architecture) will do even better than that, approaching 390 miles of range. Fittingly, Audi’s motto and philosophy– , or progress through technology–encompasses the brand’s dedication to its precise engineering. Scores of technical explanations are available online; Barry Hoch, senior director of product planning for Audi, invited us to “nerd out” (his words) on the specs, starting with the motor itself. Hairpin wiring and a direct oil-spray cooling system in the motor’s stator, which creates a rotating magnetic field contribute to the overall performance. Audi says the “fill factor,” or energy density, has increased to 60 percent compared to 45 percent for the conventional windings used previously. The oil spray reduces reliance on rare Earth materials, decreasing total costs and efficiency. Impressively, Audi designs, engineers, and builds its own electric motors in a production plant in Győr, Hungary. Head of the Electric Drive Systems Product Segment Csaba Imre Benke says 700 employees across three shifts mass-produce 2,000 electric motors for the PPE every day, destined for Audi and Porsche models. Since 2018, that plant has produced more than 500,000 motors in all. Fifteen automatic bending machines are used to make the three-dimensional hairpin windings and two systems laser-weld the ends. No glue is used; instead, robots create 235 laser welds for each. And each stator contains 140 meters of copper wire. Drivers of the Q6 and SQ6 can determine just how much they want to conserve energy with the system’s one-pedal “B mode,” which brings the vehicle to a full stop when they lift their foot from the pedal. Lighter regen modes are available via paddles behind the steering wheel, to be employed depending on how much you like this option. Push the Q6’s quirky gear shifter past D for drive to B mode to activate the feature. To cap off the engineering advancements that power the Q6, Audi updated its infotainment system, which was already considered to be at the top of its game in regard to in-cabin technology. The brand is even leaning cheekily into the typical American mispronunciation of Audi as “ah-dee” instead of the proper German way, “ow-dee,” setting up the “Hey Audi” voice commands to recognize either one. Tomato, tom-ah-to. Audi’s new Q6 e-tron is perched on the same platform as the Porsche Macan EV. Porsche and Audi, as sibling companies within the Volkswagen Group, have significantly amped up its EV intelligence through its relationship with all-electric . Croatia-based has been a star in the EV world, entering a joint venture called Bugatti Rimac in 2021, assuming the CEO role at the same time. Rimac has been influencing and inspiring Porsche’s EV engineers even before that, as the German company acquired a 10 percent stake in Rimac back in 2018. In turn, Audi has benefited from the collective wisdom gathered in the process. Along those lines, Audi has fully embraced an 800-volt architecture, like Rimac has used in its high-end cars. The platform’s 800-volt architecture brings several advantages, Haf says. Composed of 12 modules of 15 prismatic cells for a total of 180 cells, the lithium-ion battery pack has a total gross capacity of 100 kWh, or 94.4 kWh net. Plugged into a DC fast charger, the Q6 can be charged 10 to 80 percent in about 21 minutes. Based on the power curve, that breaks down to 135 miles of range added in roughly 10 minutes at a fast charger. “The 800-volt architecture gives us strong numbers in max charging and power,” Haf confirms. “The range increases because it allows us to reduce weight and complexity.” In the first-gen Audi e-tron, which included a 100-kWh battery, the charging curve maintained a linear constant power to 80 percent, Haf says. For the 2025 Q6, Audi combined the best of two worlds: it ramps up to a much higher level at 270 kWh, thanks to the 800-volt architecture. Listening to customer feedback, Audi discovered customers wanted a larger burst of charging in a shorter amount of time, which spurred the brand to create a curve that ramps up quickly and plateaus around 40 percent, Haf explains. To get there, the brand had to find the right chemistry, and the team figured out how to optimize power-to-energy content ratio. As a result, Audi hopes more drivers will feel confident hopping from charging station to charging station and venture out for longer-distance traveling.Tess Daly’s £6 ‘hero product’ that she swears by for flawless wrinkle-free skin – it leaves your face ‘supple & soft’

Online media journalists in Chad are voicing dissatisfaction and frustration over officials’ refusal to lift a ban on the broadcasting of audiovisual content. The High Media and Audiovisual Authority, or HAMA, accuses journalists of reposting videos without the content producers’ permission but journalists say they are being silenced from reporting on critical election issues. Journalists reporting for online media platforms say they are surprised that Chad's High Media and Audiovisual Authority, or HAMA, has refused to respect a December 20 Supreme Court decision ordering an immediate end to a ban on broadcasting online media content. Bello Bakary Mana, the president of the Association of Online Media of Chad, Mana took part in a protest Tuesday in N'djamena against what he calls a deliberate attempt by HAMA to silence Chad's online media. Mana said several hundred online reporters assisted by local radio, print and TV journalists are in N'djamena to let the world know that the media is being silenced in Chad. "They will continue protesting until HAMA stops threatening journalists and lifts what he calls its illegal December 4 ban on the broadcast of online audiovisual content," he said. Bello, who spoke to VOA from N'djamena via a messaging app, also said only police can compel HAMA to respect the lifting of a ban on the broadcasting of online audiovisual content, but that police are controlled by the government, which ordered the ban. HAMA says it prohibited online newspapers from broadcasting audiovisual content because many of the newspapers refused to obey an order earlier this year to stop reposting videos from foreign sources, including international media outlets, without the author or media outlets’ permission, as required by law. Journalists say the decision, taken before elections on December 29 to mark an end to Chad's three-year transitional period, is an indication the government, through HAMA, wants to silence online media that the government has described as highly critical. HAMA has always complained that online media regularly publish unverifiable information about President Mahamat Idriss Deby. Deby became Chad's transitional president in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed in a gun battle with rebels following 30 years in power. Deby was declared the winner of Chad's contested May 6 presidential polls amid opposition and civil society allegations the victory was stolen. Government officials in Chad complained after the presidential elections that online media were reporting on and posting videos of opposition and civil society members saying that Deby wants to continue his late father's rule, according to local media. Journalists in Chad say by banning online audiovisual content, HAMA wants to silence online media that have been reporting that Deby's Patriotic Salvation Movement, or MPS, wants to use the polls to consolidate its grip on power at all costs. Abderrahmane Barka, the president of HAMA, created by Chad's government to regulate the media in the central African state, says Chad's High Media and Audiovisual Authority that he leads noticed that before elections, rich politicians hire media organizations to broadcast campaign messages, and that poses a disadvantage to politicians who don’t have a lot of money. He says HAMA is reinforcing the law, which requires the media to give equal access without pay to all political parties taking part in elections. Barka spoke on state TV on Tuesday. He said Chadian laws do not permit online newspapers to broadcast audiovisual content but did not comment on whether a Supreme Court decision to lift the ban will be respected. Chad's online journalists say the ban has affected about 60% of their audience who no longer have access to online media. They say they are surprised that HAMA also ordered them to stop broadcasting audiovisual content that they produce locally. Before the ban and ahead of the December 29 elections, HAMA suspended all interactive online, radio and TV programs, arguing that the media do not have sufficient human resources to produce such programs during election periods — a claim the media deny. Last week, Reporters Without Borders asked Chad to reverse its decision and lift the ban. The media rights group says the job of HAMA is regulating and not prohibiting the media from informing, educating and entertaining their audience. RSF acknowledges that broadcasting content without the consent of the producers is wrong and has asked Chad to allow online reporters to broadcast local content they create.