Jorge Castillo, editor at ESPNJune 9, 2024, 11:50 p.m. ET
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Baseball reporter for ESPN. He covered the Washington Wizards for The Washington Post from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — Trent Grisham was in the New York Yankees' lineup for Sunday night's matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers because Juan Soto was sidelined with forearm inflammation. Despite a .083 batting average, he was placed fifth because manager Aaron Boone wanted a left-hander in the middle of the batting order and valued Grisham's ability to punish fastballs against the hard-throwing Tyler Glasnow on the mound.
The Yankees fans didn't care, and made their opinion clear in the sixth inning with a pointed “We want Soto!” chant during Grisham's third at-bat. Moments later, Grisham turned his feelings around, hitting a Glasnow fastball into the right-field seats for a three-run home run to take the lead.
In response, some fans changed course the next time Grisham entered the batter's box, chanting a different, ironic chant: “We want Grisham!”
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But Yankees captain Aaron Judge said he was not a fan of Grisham's initial treatment and defended his teammate after New York's 6-4 win.
“I wasn't particularly happy with that,” Judge said. “But I think he made his point with that home run.”
Grisham said he “wasn't trying to send a message” with the home run, but admitted he liked the chant he heard during the following at-bat.
The home run that was the difference in the Yankees avoiding a three-game sweep was Grisham's fifth hit of the season. Three of those were home runs. The 27-year-old center fielder now has a .100 batting average and a .538 OPS in 25 games as the Yankees' fourth outfielder. He has started just 18 of the club's 67 games. This weekend was just the second time this season he started three consecutive games.
Sunday's hero, Trent Grisham, said his three-run home run was “not a message” to fans, although he admitted he enjoyed hearing them turn around later with a “We want Grisham!” chant. AP Photo/Noah K. Murray
“He's just been a really good teammate through all of this,” Boone said. “He's been ready. He's accepted his role and here he is this week with a little bit of an opportunity and he's taking advantage of it.”
The reduced role was a steep transition for Grisham, who had played the previous four seasons as a center fielder for the San Diego Padres before the Yankees signed him and Soto together in a trade in December.
“I just have to keep going and be patient throughout the process and then just know that there will be periods like this in the season where I can play a few days in a row,” Grisham said.
Whether Grisham plays four days in a row depends on Soto's playing time on Monday against the Kansas City Royals. Boone said Soto went through his usual preparation routine on Sunday and pitched for the first time since being diagnosed with forearm inflammation on Friday. But Soto, Boone said, was “probably” not an option to come off the bench.
Soto's status on Monday will depend on how his arm feels. The Yankees will welcome the MVP candidate with open arms when he's ready. On Sunday, however, Grisham stepped up after drowning out the noise.
“Soto will be healthy and healthy again, but Grish is a damn good player,” Judge said. “He was there tonight at the crucial moment when we needed him.”
People wait in line to enter CityMD, a health clinic offering testing for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the Upper West Side as the omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 19, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
WalgreensThe CityMD-backed company will pay $12.04 million to settle Covid fraud allegations brought by the Justice Department, the department announced Friday.
From February 2020 to April 2022, CityMD, which operates more than 100 no-appointment urgent care practices in New York and New Jersey, allegedly obtained fraudulent government reimbursements for Covid tests by making false claims in a Covid program specifically designed for uninsured patients, even when the patients had health insurance.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey brought the charges under the False Claims Act, a law that encourages whistleblowers to file lawsuits alleging potential fraud by awarding them a share of government profits if they win.
“Uninsured Americans at risk from COVID-19 were protected by emergency funding programs that provided them with the tests, vaccines and treatments they needed,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement Friday. “We cannot and will not tolerate the alleged misuse of these funds.”
Stephen Kitzinger, a patient of CityMD, first made the fraud allegation in 2020. As a reward for bringing the case to the government's attention, Kitzinger will receive over $2 million of the settlement amount.
“There was no reason to charge people like me, who are fully insured, for the government's program for the uninsured,” Kitzinger said in a news release Friday. “This made me angry and clearly demonstrated what is wrong with the for-profit health care system.”
According to the Justice Department, CityMD cooperated with the government's investigation and hired a third-party firm to help the government determine the amount of losses resulting from the alleged fraud.
CityMD said it denies the allegations but decided to settle to avoid the costs of a lengthy litigation.
“The recent settlement is neither a conviction nor an admission of wrongdoing, and CityMD denies the allegations. However, we settled this matter to avoid the expense and burden of protracted litigation,” a CityMD spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC on Saturday. “CityMD is proud of the health care we have provided to patients throughout the pandemic.”
The recent record-breaking satellite-derived UAH lower troposphere temperatures can be compared to another combination of MSU/AMSU satellite channels, which help confirm the temperature trends of our “lower troposphere” (LT) channel combination.
The three channels we use for LT are MSU channels 2 (“MT”), 3 (“TP”) and 4 (“LS”) (AMSU channels 5, 7 and 9). The primary channel used is “MT” (MSU channel 2 or AMSU channel 5), which has the greatest weight:
LT = 1.538*MT – 0.548*TP + 0.01*LS
Here is a figure from our 2017 document on version 6 of our dataset showing the three main temperature measurement channels and how they are combined for the LT product:
However, we also experimented with a weighted average of MSU channels 3 (“TP”) and 4 (“LS”) (AMSU channels 7 and 9), which produces a mean core in the upper troposphere (which is almost insensitive to stratospheric cooling in the tropics, but somewhat sensitive to stratospheric cooling in the extratropical regions where the tropopause [the boundary between troposphere and stratosphere] is lower). This allows an independent verification of our synthesized LT channel, taking into account that one is centered in the lower troposphere and the other in the upper troposphere.
We noticed that last month (May 2024) had a record high global average temperature in the tropopause channel (AMSU channel 7), so I decided to investigate this. By combining channels 7 and 9 for a synthesized upper troposphere (UT) channel
UT = 1.35*TP – 0.35*LS
The resulting vertical weight profile in the atmosphere is the purple curve below:
This synthesized UT channel produces the following temperature anomalies:
Note that on average, the synthesized UT channel reached record heat values in February, then March, then April, and then May 2024.
In the tropics, records were broken in March and then in May, although not by much more… the 1997-98 El Niño produced upper troposphere warmth almost as strong as our most recent El Niño.
If we look only at the extratropical regions (next chart), we see that northern latitudes recorded record temperatures in March. However, in southern latitudes, May was only the third warmest, after September 2019 and November 1988.
Also note that the global UT trend is the same as the lower troposphere (LT) trend, which is +0.13 °C/decade. Since the global UT has some contamination from lower stratosphere cooling, the “true” UT value (if the stratospheric influence could be eliminated) would be somewhat warmer. By how much? I'm not sure… maybe +0.15 instead of +0.13 °C/decade as an educated guess.
In summary, I think this shows that our traditional LT (lower troposphere) temperature trends are essentially confirmed by the other channels of MSU/AMSU.
Remember that John Christy and I always compare these different trends on a level playing field with climate models: the barometric pressure data from the climate models are combined and weighted to obtain approximately the same weighting functions as the satellite data.
Angry! Megan Thee Stallion lets the haters know she had time today. While Meg's “Hot Girl Summer Tour” is breaking records across the country, it seems online trolls are trying to ruin her mood.
RELATED: Phew! Social Media Is Sharing Reactions to Megan Thee Stallion Hoppin' on Latto's “Sunday Service” Remix (WATCH)
Meg Thee Stallion hits back at trolls
Today (June 8), Megan was at the center of an AI-generated celebrity controversy. According to HotNewHipHop, an alleged AI-generated sex tape of the femcee is circulating online.
The Houston hottie apparently wasted no time in responding to the video. In fact, Meg jumped on X, formerly known as Twitter, to condemn haters for trying to ruin her image.
“It's really sick how y'all go out of their way to hurt me when you see me winning. Y'all going too far, fake a** shit. But just know that today was your last day playing with me and I mean that.”
The Hotties defend Megan
The origin of the alleged video is unknown, however, UPROXX reports that the tape gained popularity after blogger Milagro Gramz liked the footage on X and jokingly encouraged others to watch it. Meg's fans quickly encouraged her to take legal action against the video's creator and Milagro.
Please sue them, we beg. We are tired of them playing with your name
— Stallion Stats (@MegansStats), June 8, 2024
I'm so sorry people are so damn weird, Megan. Just know that we're here for you no matter what. I love you to the moon
— ♡🦇 (@sadhotgirI), June 8, 2024
Translation: TAKE HER TO COURT pic.twitter.com/8L98Fkyytb
— Gucci Bucket Hat. (@Unapologetic_Z) June 8, 2024
@iamcardib give her your lawyer's phone number sister!!!
– b. (@cj_bria) June 8, 2024
They deserve every bad thing that happens to them. We're behind you, Megan
— Tiffany (@taylorsantihero) June 8, 2024
Megan comes with new music
In the midst of the absurd drama, Megan surprised her fans with a guest appearance on Lattices 'Sunday Service' Remix. Latto also recruited rappers Flo Milli for the chart hit anthem.
According to AllHipHop, Megan Thee Stallion's “Hot Girl Summer” tour stopped at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. During the show, Latto joined the Houston hottie onstage to debut her new song. The “Sunday Service Remix” is currently available on all streaming platforms.
Megan Thee Stallion & Latto perform “Sunday Service (Remix)” tonight on the Hot Girl Summer Tour in Atlanta!! pic.twitter.com/1x2Ny4J5OF
— Stallion Stats (@MegansStats), June 3, 2024
Megan's verse on the “Sunday Service Remix” was just one of the surprises she offered her fans during her performance in ATL. According to AllHipHop, Meg also announced that her third studio album will be released later in June. According to the outlet, the “Wanna Be” musician later posted the official release date and cover of the album on Instagram.
“SURPRISE HOT!!!! My new album 'MEGAN' comes out JUNE 28TH. Click the link in bio to PRE-SAVE NOW!” Megan wrote on Instagram.
RELATED TOPICS: UPDATE: Megan Thee Stallion's legal team files new motion with court in response to ex-photographer's harassment lawsuit
The ocean covers over 70% of our planet. It regulates the global climate, is home to 80% of life on Earth, acts as a carbon sink, and supports the livelihoods of billions of people. As an avid swimmer and surfer, I also think the ocean is just damn amazing.
However, the world's oceans are facing unprecedented threats from pollution, overfishing and climate change, undermining the health of an ecosystem that supports all life on Earth.
In this era of rapid technological advancement, innovative solutions are emerging that can help reverse the damage. From autonomous drones and AI to blockchain and even a Tinder-inspired donation appA new wave of technological tools is changing marine conservation.
Underwater satellites
The German startup PlanBlue has built an “underwater satellite” called DiveRay that can map the seafloor.
So far, only 5% of the oceans have been explored, so our knowledge of how the oceans work and the impacts of human activities is still very fragmentary.
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DiveRay is equipped with high-resolution cameras and navigation sensors. An AI algorithm automatically processes this data and creates interactive maps of everything from coral reefs to seagrass meadows.
DiveRay creates a 3D map of the seafloor. Image credit: PlanBlue
Researchers around the world are using PlanBlue's technology to study the health of underwater ecosystems. Scientists are also using DiveRay to track the progress of restoration projects, such as coral gardens.
PlanBlue recently partnered with Dutch surveying giant Fugro to further develop its technology, and the company is also working to make DiveRay compatible with underwater robots that can be programmed to search much larger areas than human divers.
The app against overfishing
Although we still know very little about the seafloor, the extent of overfishing in our oceans is well documented. Almost 90% of the world’s marine fish stocks are now completelyexploited, overfished or depleted.
You may think that giving up fish altogether is the solution, and you may be right. But the reality is that Billions of people Seafood is an important source of food and income.
Based in Cape Town, South Africa, ABALOBI is an app and traceability platform that aims to kill two birds with one stone. It aims to combat overfishing while supporting local fishermen whose income depends on fishing.
ABALOBI is designed to support small-scale fishermen, not large commercial trawlers. Photo credit: ABALOBI
The platform is centered around three apps. The first allows fishermen to upload details of their daily catch to an encrypted database. Only fish caught legally and within sustainable catch limits can be uploaded.
Restaurants and homeowners can then purchase the fish at a fair price via a marketplace app. The majority of the profit goes directly to the fisherman or fisherwoman who caught the fish.
The app connects small-scale fishermen with a fair and transparent marketplace. Image credit: ABALOBI
“This technology enables fishermen to connect to fair and transparent digital markets and earn a better living from ecologically resilient fish species,” Serge Raemakers, founder of ABALOBI, tells TNW.
ABALOBI enables fishermen to get a fair price for less valuable but more abundant fish species, reducing the pressure on species such as lobster or tuna, whose stocks are dwindling.
ABALOBI's technology is now being used by partner organizations in 12 other countries, including Chile, Madagascar, Croatia and Ireland. The startup was a finalist in last year's Earthshot Prize.
3D printed reefs
While overfishing has a direct impact on fish stocks, climate change is causing ocean warming and acidification, taking its toll on one of the ocean's most valuable habitats: coral reefs.
In the last thirty yearshalfof the world's coral reefs have died and disappeared. Coastruction, a startup from Rotterdam, wants to bring them back to life through printing.
Founded by Nadia Fani, a computer scientist and entrepreneur from Italy, Coastruction has developed a method to create complex reef-like structures using 3D printing.
Coastruction uses a special 3D printer that deposits concrete layer by layer to create complex geometric shapes. The more complex the shape, the more nooks and crannies there are for marine life to cling to.
Through 3D printing, Coastruction can create virtually any shape. Image credit: Coastruction
Coastruction consults marine scientists to determine the most appropriate designs or materials for a particular underwater site. “We create artificial reefs that mimic real reefs as much as possible,” Fani tells me.
The 3D structures are then placed underwater on coastlines around the world, for example in the Maldives or Saudi Arabia. Over time, they become habitats for fish, new corals and algae. In sufficient numbers, they can also serve as a barrier to protect coastal cities from storms and erosion.
Coastruction is currently looking to expand. The company is building a new printing plant and is looking for further investments.
The startup's main target market is ecotourism, particularly private resorts that want to restore damaged reefs to attract more tourists. But it has also attracted interest from port authorities, offshore wind farms and governments.
Like all efforts to protect our oceans, Coastruction's technology is a drop in the ocean compared to the problem at hand. But together, such efforts could help turn the tide.
After nearly two months of Stanley Cup playoffs, we are down to two teams left. The Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers begin the final series of the season Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN+), with the ultimate prize in hockey on the line.
As a service to those fans who haven’t been following every shot, save and overtime thriller of the 2024 NHL postseason, here is the lapsed fan’s guide to the Stanley Cup Final — a quick primer on the conference champs, how they got here and what to look out for in the series.
Wait a second … Florida Panthers vs. Edmonton Oilers? Wasn’t this the New York Rangers’ year?
It sure seemed like the Rangers were a team of destiny. It was the 30th anniversary of their last Stanley Cup win in 1994. They rolled through the first two rounds of the playoffs with overtime heroics. Rempe-mania was running wild! As coach Peter Laviolette admitted, from the players to the rest of the organization, “We truly believed we were going to win the Stanley Cup.”
Alas, the Rangers ran into a Panthers team in the Eastern Conference finals that smothered them defensively and drained their potent power play.
They ended up as the latest example of the Presidents’ Trophy curse: Since 1985, only eight teams that finished with the NHL’s best regular-season record went on to win the Stanley Cup. Since the NHL went to the wild-card format in 2013, no Presidents’ Trophy-winning team has even reached the Stanley Cup Final.
According to maps, Edmonton, Alberta, and Sunrise, Florida, seem very far apart.
Your geography is correct. According to the NHL, the Oilers and Panthers are 2,541 miles apart, the largest distance between two teams in a Stanley Cup Final. The previous record was set during the 2011 Final between the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins at 2,500 miles apart.
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There’s going to be a lot of time on the plane for both teams. Edmonton is a bit more used to that than Florida at this point in the postseason.
Said Edmonton’s Corey Perry of the flight to South Florida: “It was a ton of fun. I watched my show, I fell asleep, got up, watched the shows and we landed. Had a few meals in between.”
The Panthers’ plane has a card table that draws some intense games among the players. The Oilers’ plane also has a card table, but the most intense games are on the Nintendo Switch, specifically Mario Kart. Goalie Stuart Skinner revealed that he plays as Toad.
But the distance isn’t the only stark difference between the two franchises. There’s also the rats and the steaks.
Rats and steaks?
Since 1995, it’s been a tradition at Panthers home games for fans to throw plastic rats on the ice in celebration. It stems from a legendary day when forward Scott Mellanby used his stick to exterminate a rat in the locker room before the team’s home opener that year and then used the same stick to score two goals in the game — scoring what his teammates called “a rat trick.” Florida would go on to play for the Stanley Cup that season, with fans tossing plastic rats on the ice, and the tradition has endured.
In Edmonton, the beef is back. During the Oilers’ 2006 run to the Stanley Cup Final, a local DJ encouraged fans to throw slabs of meat on the ice as a response to the Detroit Red Wings’ tradition of hurling octopi on the ice. The Oilers upset the Red Wings in the first round, and the beef tossing continued. Some steaks were seen on the ice in Edmonton during this run to the Final, continuing a juicy tradition.
What’s the big-picture view of Panthers vs. Oilers?
The Panthers are trying to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. The Oilers haven’t won one since the end of their dynasty in 1990.
The Panthers are the deeper team on paper, especially on defense and in goal. But they don’t have Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, two generational talents seeking their first championship after several years of frustrating results in the playoffs.
It’s South Florida, which is finally starting to boom as a hockey market after three decades, vs. Canada, as the Oilers attempt to become the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Is Canada rallying around the Oilers to break the drought?
To put the Cup drought into perspective: Canada has seen an NBA champion (Toronto Raptors, 2019) and a World Series champion (Toronto Blue Jays, 1993) since the nation last had a Stanley Cup champion.
The Canucks (twice), Oilers, Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators all had their shots at breaking the drought and fell short. What we learned from all of those previous attempts: Canadians rooting for a team to win the Cup just because it’s from Canada is a myth. It’s an invention. It’s often talked about but never happens.
Think of it logically: Would a fan of the Flames, the Oilers’ in-province rival, ever want to see Edmonton win anything, especially against a team with ex-Flames star Matthew Tkachuk? Would a Canucks fan whose team lost in seven games to these Oilers suddenly cheer for them? Does anyone in Toronto want anything good to happen for any other Canadian team when the Leafs haven’t won since 1967?
Of course not. It’s silly. There’s only one team Canada rallies around to root for, and it’s the one that competes for gold medals, not the Stanley Cup.
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2:04
Greg Wyshynski analyzes Stanley Cup Final betting markets
Greg Wyshynski looks deep into some of the biggest storylines and betting props for the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers used to be terrible. How did they become annual Stanley Cup finalists?
Here’s a wild fact: Coach Paul Maurice, the quippy bench boss who also coached the Panthers to the Final for the second time in their history last season, is responsible for half (25) of the franchise’s playoff wins (50). Florida used to be known for not making the playoffs, at one point qualifying only twice in an 18-year span. The Panthers have now made the playoffs in four straight seasons.
Much of the credit goes to GM Bill Zito, who arrived in 2020 and added players such as Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Carter Verhaeghe to the roster. He also hired Maurice, who has guided Florida back to the Final after losing to Vegas in five games last June.
The Panthers are just the sixth team since 1968 to play for the Stanley Cup the season after losing in the Final. The last two that did — the 2009 Penguins and the 1984 Oilers — won it all on their second try. If there’s one big narrative for the Panthers, it’s the unfinished business in trying to win the Stanley Cup for the first time.
What’s different about this version of the Panthers in the Final?
They’re healthier, for sure. Among the injuries Florida had against the Golden Knights: Defenseman Aaron Ekblad had a broken foot and two separated shoulders, and Tkachuk broke his sternum before Game 3. But the Panthers are also a different team defensively. They were 21st in goals against per game in 2022-23 (3.32) but rose to first in the NHL (2.41) this season.
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They used that defense — and the clutch goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky — to defeat the rival Tampa Bay Lightning in five games; oust the Bruins in six games, in a rematch of the Panthers’ shocking first-round upset of the B’s last season; and then eliminate the Rangers in six games.
Bobrovsky is seeking his first Stanley Cup in a career that has seen him win the Vezina Trophy twice as the league’s top goalie and eliminate the regular-season’s best team three times in the playoffs. Last season, he carried the Panthers and faced a bunch of shots; this season, the defense has been better and a more rested Bobrovsky has been a solid last line of defense for Florida.
But this season, the key defensive matchup should be Aleksander Barkov, who won the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward, taking on McDavid.
Weren’t the Oilers basically cooked early in the season?
It certainly appeared that way. Edmonton was 3-9-1 when the Oilers fired coach Jay Woodcroft and replaced him with Kris Knoblauch, who was coaching the Rangers’ AHL affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut. (Knoblauch was also McDavid’s junior hockey coach, and the Oilers star has denied having any influence on the coaching change.) The Oilers added Hockey Hall of Famer Paul Coffey to Knoblauch’s bench to help coach the defense.
Edmonton then turned its season around, going 46-18-5 under Knoblauch to finish second in the Pacific Division. The Oilers eliminated the Los Angeles Kings for the third straight first round (4-1) and then outlasted the Canucks in a seven-game second-round series that might have been a defining moment for them as contenders — and for their first-year coach.
How did the Vancouver series change the Oilers?
If there was a weak link for Edmonton entering the playoffs, it was goaltending. Stuart Skinner was squarely in “just don’t lose us a series” territory.
For the first eight games of the playoffs, despite winning five of them, he was a liability: a save percentage of .877 in back of an inconsistent defense. So Knoblauch benched him for Games 4 and 5 against Vancouver in favor of journeyman Calvin Pickard, to give Skinner a reset and to give a wake-up call to the Oilers.
Skinner’s next eight games: six wins and a .919 save percentage, with Edmonton out-defending a very good Dallas Stars team in its six-game Western Conference finals win. Finally, there appeared to be a team playing championship-level hockey surrounding McDavid.
What’s so special about McDavid, anyway?
Sometimes it’s better to show than tell:
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0:42
Connor McDavid’s power-play goal opens the scoring in Game 6
Connor McDavid makes a brilliant move and backhands the puck into the net to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.
That’s McDavid against the Stars in Game 6 of the conference finals, posterizing two defenders before beating goalie Jake Oettinger. It was less than five minutes into the biggest game of McDavid’s career, with a trip to the Cup Final on the line. For anyone else, this is a career-defining highlight. For McDavid, it’s simply known as “Connor doing Connor things.”
McDavid leads all playoff scorers with 31 points in 18 playoff games. That includes 26 assists, putting him five helpers away from Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record for most assists in a single postseason (31 assists in 1988). McDavid has scored in 14 games, with nine multipoint games.
He has collected a lot of hardware during his nine-year NHL career — five scoring titles, three MVP awards — but this is his first chance to play for the Stanley Cup. And he might finally have the right team around him to win it.
What do the Oilers have beyond McDavid?
Leon Draisaitl is every bit the generational talent and franchise pillar McDavid is. He has 28 points in 18 games, including 10 goals. There were times when it was Draisaitl who stepped up in both ends of the rink to lead the Oilers to victory during the playoffs. As magical as McDavid is, the Oilers aren’t here without Draisaitl.
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Neither of the two has the goal total of Zach Hyman, although McDavid and Draisaitl have certainly contributed to it. Hyman leads the playoffs with 14 goals, after scoring 54 goals in the regular season. That puts him in range to threaten the NHL record of 19 goals in a single postseason, currently shared by Reggie Leach and Jari Kurri, the latter of whom set it as an Oiler. Speaking of range, 10 of Hyman’s goals have come from right in front of the net.
If there’s one player who leveled up to star status in the playoffs, it’s Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard. He’s third in the playoffs in scoring (27 points) while skating 24:33 per game alongside defensive partner Mattias Ekholm.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has 20 points in 18 games, and he is notable for being the longest-serving current Oiler — 881 games, spanning nine head coaches, a few general managers and plenty of dashed hopes.
All of these players share something in common: They help run one of the most dominant power-play units in NHL history.
How good is the Edmonton power play?
The Oilers convert on over 37% of their power plays, easily the best in the NHL. McDavid acts like a point guard, distributing pucks. Draisaitl, who’s tied with McDavid with 14 power-play points, is great on one-timers. Bouchard has a booming shot from the point, and Hyman cleans up pucks in front. Knoblauch calls Nugent-Hopkins “the facilitator,” which makes this sound like a heist crew.
While the best advice in slowing the Oilers’ power play is to just not allow them to have one, the Panthers are the second-best penalty-killing team in the playoffs (88.2%), coming off a series in which they thwarted 14 of 15 power plays for the Rangers, who were also one of the NHL’s best teams with the man advantage.
Incidentally, the best penalty-killing team in the playoffs? The Oilers, at 93.9%.
What’s the key to victory for both teams?
For the Panthers, it’s to take away the time and space for McDavid and Draisaitl to operate, while not allowing them chances to score on the power play. It’s a recipe that worked against the Rangers in the conference finals, to the point that New York’s best offensive players said they were playing more conservatively out of fear of making a mistake against Florida. Then, if that fails, relying on Bobrovsky to be the last line of defense.
For the Oilers, it’s just the opposite: If they’re on the road to victory, McDavid and Draisaitl are driving the bus. Yes, they’ll need Skinner to stay strong and will require contributions from other players, but at the end of the day, the Stanley Cup will be won or lost on the performance of their two stars.
Whether it’s the Panthers as a franchise or McDavid and Draisaitl as generational stars, someone’s earning their first sip from the Stanley Cup this month. And that makes for a very exciting series.
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Trivia: Think you know the Stanley Cup?
Before the Panthers’ matchup vs. the Oilers for the Stanley Cup, test your knowledge with some trivia.
That Venus is dry should come as no surprise. It is known for its hellish conditions, with thick sulfur clouds, acid rains, air pressure as high as Earth's deepest oceans, and a surface temperature high enough to melt lead. But its water shortage isn't just a lack of rain and oceans: There's no ice or water vapor either. Like Earth, Venus is in the Goldilocks zone of our solar system, so it must have had plenty of water when it formed. So where did all of Venus' water go?
Venus is an extremely dry planet, although it wasn't always this way. At some point in its history, a runaway greenhouse effect began, leading to its current extreme state. Most models agree that this process would have displaced most of the original water, but that some should still remain. And yet observations show that there is virtually no water at all. Planetary scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder believe they have found an explanation: a molecule called HCO+ high up in Venus' atmosphere may be responsible. Unfortunately, they may have to wait for future missions to Venus before they can confirm this.
Until the mid-20th century, Venus was thought to be Earth's twin. The two planets are roughly the same size and mass, and both lie in the Sun's habitable zone—the region where temperatures can be warm enough to melt ice, but not so hot that water turns to steam. For a long time, it was assumed that, beneath its brilliant white cloud cover, Venus must have a climate similar to Earth's. Science fiction writers even wrote stories about visitors to Venus exploring verdant jungles and meeting exotic civilizations. But the truth is much harsher: Venus is an extreme place, with sulfuric acid rains, suffocating air pressure, and a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead. But it wasn't always this way.
Astronomers and planetary scientists generally assume that both Earth and Venus had similar amounts of water at the beginning of life. But something happened and released enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, causing an extreme greenhouse effect. The high temperatures melted all ice and evaporated all liquid water, filling the atmosphere with water vapor. Much of this hot vapor would eventually escape into space and dry out the planet, but some was bound to remain. The puzzle is that the usual models predict much more remaining water vapor than actually exists. So what happened?
According to a study led by Dr. Eryn Cangi and Dr. Mike Chafin, both of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), the answer may be a molecule called HCO+. In their previous work studying the atmosphere of Mars, they discovered a process by which this molecule can remove water from planetary atmospheres. In their new work, they suggest that the same process may be at work on Venus. The only catch is that this molecule has never been detected in Venus' atmosphere.
Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support this theory. HCO+ has never been detected in Venus' atmosphere. However, Cangi and Chafin point out that this is because no one has ever looked for it and none of the missions sent to Venus so far have been equipped with instruments that could detect it. However, they are optimistic about future missions.
Illustration of NASA's DAVINCI probe falling to the surface of Venus. (Source: NASA GSFC visualization by CI Labs Michael Lentz and others)
“One of the surprising conclusions of this work is that HCO+ should actually be among the most abundant ions in the Venusian atmosphere,” says Chaffin. “There haven't been many missions to Venus yet,” Cangi adds. “But newly planned missions will leverage decades of collective experience and a growing interest in Venus to explore the extremes of planetary atmospheres, evolution and habitability.”
Planetary scientists are increasingly interested in Venus, and several future missions are planned to study it in more detail. One example is NASA's planned Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission. DAVINCI will drop a probe onto the surface that will study the atmosphere at different altitudes as it falls. Unfortunately for Cangi and Chafin, the probe is not specifically designed to search for HCO+, but it could provide other clues that either confirm or disprove their theory. However, they remain optimistic that more missions will be conducted in the future with the necessary instruments to test their work.
For more information, see CU Boulder's announcement at https://www.colorado.edu/today/2024/05/06/venus-has-almost-no-water-new-study-may-reveal-why.
The Covid-19 pandemic exposed both the cracks and the resilience of the American economy, putting child care front and center as daycare centers closed, classes moved to remote learning, and parents tried to juggle child care with their jobs.
While employment in child care has returned to baseline levels following the pandemic, a shortage of workers and available childcare spaces is weighing on the sector in some areas, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Costs are also rising for families. A February report from Bank of America showed that the average cost of child care per household rose by 15 to nearly 30 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to a year ago. The largest increase was seen among households with median incomes between $100,000 and $250,000 per year.
Proponents of policy action argue that child care, including that of infants and toddlers, is an economic problem that affects all Americans, not just those with young children.
Last fall, billions of dollars in stabilization funds from the American Rescue Plan Act intended for the child care sector expired, which could lead to additional costs for families or the closure of facilities.
ReadyNation, an advocacy group of more than 2,000 business leaders, lobbies at the state and federal levels to support policies and programs that strengthen the workforce and economy, including child care.
The group released a report in 2023 that found that the crisis in infant and toddler care costs the U.S. an estimated $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue each year, up from $57 billion in 2018, before the pandemic exposed and exacerbated gaps in the system for working families and the businesses that rely on them.
ReadyNation's study concluded that a combination of “Covid-19 and inadequate policy responses has now significantly worsened the crisis.”
“All taxpayers are affected by this. We need to be clear that taxpayers are losing $1,470 per working parent each year because of less income tax paid and lower sales tax due to the lack of purchasing power of the unemployed,” said Nancy Fishman, national director of ReadyNation.
Part of the nationwide solution is supporting what the group calls the “workforce behind the workforce”: early childhood care providers.
“Supporting early childhood education workers could include things like ensuring that child care providers have access to benefits. We all know how important benefits are, whether it's health insurance benefits or the ability to find quality child care for their own children,” Fishman told CNBC. “Programs that support additional training and education for child care providers are also important.”
Solutions in the Golden State
In California alone, ReadyNation predicts the economic damage from lost revenue, productivity and sales will be an estimated $17 billion. The organization estimates that this is more than any other state in the country.
While the number of child care jobs in the state has rebounded to 2020 levels since this spring, according to an analysis by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, other states have seen larger employment gains following the pandemic.
Some child care providers in California joined together in 2019 to form Child Care Providers United, which now represents more than 40,000 licensed and unlicensed friend-and-family child care providers who work in the home. The providers are part of California's state subsidy program, and the union is a partnership of SEIU Locals 99 and 521 and UDW/AFSCME Local 3930.
The group received its first contract in 2021, giving it access to the country's first retirement benefits.
The union says child care workers are currently reimbursed a percentage of the costs of providing care in the state. The average hourly wage for child care workers is between $7 and $10, and many care workers have no take-home pay, it says.
Providers are currently lobbying through the federal budget process to recover the full cost of providing care in order to add dignity to their work, keep providers open, and attract new providers to the job market.
Deborah Corley-Marzett runs a subsidized care nursing home in Bakersfield, California. She told CNBC she would like to hire more staff to support herself and the children, but it's difficult to find the right staff and offer competitive wages in this environment. Low-wage workers in the state's fast-food sector, for example, just hit a historic minimum wage of $20 an hour, putting pressure on other sectors to keep up.
“I have a staffing problem. I literally can't afford to hire someone to work with me in the mornings right now. I can't afford that,” Corley-Marzett said. “I don't have enough kids right now. But I physically can't take on any more kids.”
Lawmakers argue that while progress has been made, much remains to be done. Democrat Nancy Skinner, who represents parts of the Bay Area and is chair of the California Women's Caucus, said the group continues to place emphasis on early childhood care and education. The group advocated increasing state spending on early childhood care and education by $2 billion over the past two years, for a total of $6.5 billion.
The caucus' current focus is on maintaining stable reimbursement rates for child care facilities as the state struggles with a budget deficit.
“We have low unemployment, but many sectors of the economy are looking for workers,” Skinner told CNBC. “If your family is in a situation where you can't go to work because you don't have adequate child care or you can't afford child care, then you can't fill that job that's unfilled and waiting for you.”
Nick Viall And Natalie Joy have babies on my mind.
And not just because they are raising a child for the first time. When the Bachelor graduate and his fiancée celebrated their daughter River Rose Viall Natalie, who is celebrating her fourth month this week, talked about her plans to expand her family.
“[We are] “This is definitely not a one-and-done thing,” the 25-year-old told Page Six in a comment published on June 7. “We both come from big families.”
Natalie continued, “We actually had a pregnancy scare the other day and we both kind of imagined for a split second what it would be like to have another child and we both thought, 'Not right now. We can't right now.' But then we thought, 'It would be kind of funny for River. She'd have someone so close in age.'”
According to Natalie, she and Nick, 43, would likely try to have a second child after River hits certain developmental milestones. “I think we'll definitely wait a little bit,” she said, “maybe until River can talk or walk or something before we try for another one.”
Roger Pielke Jr. has long opposed the fraudulent disinformation campaign about the “billion dollar” disaster.
Now he has gone a step further with this peer-reviewed article:
Abstract
For more than two decades, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has published a census of weather-related disasters in the United States estimated to have exceeded $1 billion (adjusted for inflation) in damages in any calendar year since 1980. The dataset is widely cited and used in research and evaluation, and has been used to justify policy actions in federal agencies, Congress, and by the U.S. President. This document evaluates the dataset against procedural and content criteria defined in NOAA's Information Quality and Scientific Integrity Guidelines. The evaluation concludes that the “Billion Dollar Disasters” dataset does not meet these criteria. Therefore, public claims made by NOAA regarding the dataset and its significance are flawed and sometimes misleading. In particular, NOAA falsely claims that the dataset demonstrates detection and attribution of changes in climate timescales for some types of extreme weather. Equally flawed are NOAA's claims that the rising annual number of billion-dollar disasters is partly a result of human-caused climate change. NOAA's claims of having achieved detection and attribution are not supported by any scientific analysis it has conducted. Given the dataset's importance and influence in science and policy, NOAA should act quickly to address this lack of scientific integrity.
DiveRay creates a 3D map of the seafloor. Image credit: PlanBlue
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The app connects small-scale fishermen with a fair and transparent marketplace. Image credit: ABALOBI
Through 3D printing, Coastruction can create virtually any shape. Image credit: Coastruction
