EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The New York Giants organization got exactly what it deserved in getting blown out by Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Giants were embarrassed in Sunday's 30-7 loss , taunted by Mayfield after a touchdown run just before halftime. And then they saw their fans walk out on them again when the Bucs extended their lead to 30-0 and sent New York (2-9) to its sixth straight loss. The losing streak is the longest for the Giants since 2019, when they dropped a franchise-record nine straight games to finish 4-12. That led to the firing of coach Pat Shurmur after two seasons. Third-year coach Brian Daboll is clearly in trouble, with the Giants guaranteed a second straight losing season. They were 6-11 in a 2023 season that featured a lot of injuries. Daboll, who denies he has lost the team, isn't the only one whose job is in jeopardy. General manager Joe Schoen is on the hot seat and so is this entire franchise, which is celebrating its 100th year. It's one thing to lose. It's quite another to give up, and that's what the organization did when it decided to bench Daniel Jones a week ago and then release him on Friday after the 27-year-old asked co-owner John Mara to let him walk away. While he wasn't playing well, Jones was the Giants' best quarterback. He gave them more a of chance to win than either Tommy DeVito or Drew Lock. Removing him from the picture was all but certain to make the Giants worse, even if it was a good business decision. If Jones was hurt and unable the pass his physical before the 2025 season, the team would have been on the hook for a $23 million cap hit. The problem is the players care about now. By getting rid of Jones and elevating DeVito to the starting role, the front office was telling the team it didn't care about winning with seven games left in the season. So the players gave a lackluster effort. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence called the team soft. Rookie receiver Malik Nabers said he was sick of losing. Left tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said he saw a lack of effort by some players. What they all were saying was they were angry at being betrayed. Money is never more important than winning, and the Giants made that mistake. What’s working At this point in the season? Nothing. What needs help The offense once again. The Giants have scored a league-low 163 points, including only 60 in six games at MetLife Stadium, where they are winless this season. They have scored in double figures at home twice. Daboll's team has been held scoreless in the first half in three of 11 games and it has been held without a first-half touchdown seven times. Daboll said he will continue to call the offensive plays. Stock up S Tyler Nubin. The rookie has had a team-high 12 tackles in each of the last two games. His 81 tackles for the season are just two behind team leader Bobby Okereke. Stock down RB Tyrone Tracy. The rookie leads Giants running backs with 587 yards on 116 carries — a 5.1-yard average for the fifth-round pick. But holding onto the ball has been a big issue. Tracy's fumble in overtime cost New York a chance to win in Germany against Carolina. He also lost the ball in the third quarter at the Bucs 5-yard line with New York down 23-0. It earned him a seat on the bench. Injuries LT Jermaine Eluemunor (quad) and OLB Azeez Ojulari (toe) left Sunday's game in the first quarter. Chris Hubbard filled in at tackle and the Giants luckily got back DL Kayvon Thibodeaux this past week after he missed five games with a broken wrist. DeVito was banged up but Daboll expects him to start against the Cowboys. Key numbers 10 — The Giants have gone 10 consecutive games without an interception, tying the NFL record held by the 1976-77 San Francisco 49ers and the 2017 Oakland — now Las Vegas — Raiders. The Giants and Raiders now share the single-season mark. What’s next A national showcase on Thanksgiving Day for the NFC-worst Giants at Dallas. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFLMillwall will look to extend their eight-game unbeaten run when they travel to Fratton Park for Wednesday's Championship clash with Portsmouth . The Lions will head into the midweek round of fixtures in eighth position, while Pompey are languishing in 23rd place in the Championship table . © Imago Portsmouth are still waiting to play their first game following the international break after Saturday's away meeting with Blackburn Rovers was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Following the postponement, Pompey boss John Mousinho would have quickly turned his focus to Wednesday's home fixture against Millwall, with his side keen to build the victory they recorded in their most recent outing against Preston North End. On that occasion, Josh Murphy , Conor Ogilvie and Colby Bishop all got on the scoresheet to fire Pompey to a 3-1 victory, representing their first home win of the season. Pompey will have to start picking up wins on a more consistent basis if they are to close the four-point gap to safety and avoid an immediate return to League One. However, their hopes of claiming all three points against Millwall may be tempered by the fact they have failed to win their previous five head-to-head meetings (W4, D1) since they picked up a 1-0 away victory in October 2010. © Imago In contrast to their hosts, Millwall are operating in the top half of the table after winning six, drawing six and losing four of their 16 league matches. The Lions have proven to be a tough team to beat in recent times, having put together an eight-game unbeaten run since they lost to Cardiff City at the start of October. Neil Harris 's side kicked off that encouraging run of form with back-to-back draws, before they recorded four consecutive 1-0 victories. After playing out a 1-1 draw with Stoke City before the international break, Millwall went on to repeat that scoreline in Saturday's away clash against Sunderland, with Femi Azeez netting a 93rd-minute winner to extend his team's unbeaten streak. Millwall, who are two points adrift of the playoffs, will now look to continue their impressive record against Portsmouth, having won each of their previous four competitive meetings, including a 1-0 win in August's EFL Cup clash at Fratton Park. © Imago The hosts will also be without the services of Jordan Williams and Ibane Bowat due to hamstring and knee injuries respectively. Mousinho recently revealed that Conor Shaughnessy will be out for the rest of 2024 after picking up another calf issue in training. Bishop could be given more valuable minutes off the bench after he made a surprise return following heart surgery to score in the 3-1 win over Preston. As for the visitors, Harris has confirmed that defender Jake Cooper will be sidelined for around 10 weeks due to a knee injury. Calum Scanlon is also expected to miss the away trip, while Josh Coburn will have to be assessed after he appeared to pick up a knock at the weekend. Billy Mitchell and Adam Mayor are closing in on a return to fitness, but it remains to be seen whether either of the pair will be ready for Wednesday's away trip. Portsmouth possible starting lineup: Schmid; Devlin, Poole, Pack, Ogilvie; Potts, Dozzell; Ritchie, Lang, Murphy; Yengi Millwall possible starting lineup: Jensen; Leonard, Hutchinson, Tanganga, Bryan; Saville, De Norre; Esse, Coburn, Azeez; Bradshaw Millwall have enjoyed success in their recent meetings with Pompey, but the Lions have won just one away league game this season, with that in mind, we think they will have to settle for a point on Tuesday, especially as they have drawn four of their previous six away matches. For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here .Snowflake Continues To Catch Up With New AI Workloads
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Javon Small scored five of his 31 points in overtime and Tucker DeVries added key free throws late in regulation and finished with 16 points as West Virginia beat No. 3 Gonzaga 86-78 in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Wednesday. Small's layup with under 2 minutes left in OT gave West Virginia a 79-75 lead. After a Gonzaga miss, Sencire Harris hit two free throws to make it a six-point lead. With 27.1 seconds left, Harris made a steal and scored on a dunk for an eight-point lead, putting the game out of reach. Amani Hansberry scored a career-high 19 points and Toby Okani added 10 for West Virginia (3-2). Braden Huff scored 19 points and Khalif Battle 16 for Gonzaga (5-1). Gonzaga showed its depth, outscoring the West Virginia bench 30-2. West Virginia’s only loss was by 24 points at Pitt, but the rebuild under Darian DeVries is showing promise. Gonzaga turned it over at midcourt late in regulation when Tucker DeVries poked it away from Nolan Hickman and raced the other way before getting fouled. DeVries made two free throws with 5.9 seconds left to tie it at 71-all. Battle inbounded the ball and got it back, but lost control on a drive as time expired. The shorter Mountaineers outrebounded Gonzaga 42-36 and shot 50% in the second half, battling the Zags to a draw in the paint. Nembhard had 12 assists and just one turnover in 43 minutes, but was 1 of 10 from the field. West Virginia will play Louisville on Thursday in the winner's bracket. Gonzaga faces No. 14 Indiana on the consolation side. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketballTesla and X CEO Elon Musk spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help get President-elect Donald Trump back in the White House, according to newly released campaign finance records. The billionaire tech mogul spent over $270 million of his own money through two super PACs that promoted Trump's candidacy and other Republicans, including one that appeared to refer to deceased liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, according to filings released Thursday night by the Federal Election Commission. Musk spent roughly $240 million on his pro-Trump super PAC America. The PAC was created after Musk endorsed Trump in July, which made Musk the single largest political spender in the shortest period of time. Half of the PAC's money came in the final weeks of the election and in the weeks following the election, and by Nov. 25, the PAC only had $2 million left in the account, according to the FEC. Much of the money was spent on direct mail, canvassing and phone calls, the PAC's filing showed. The filing also showed a total of nine $1 million payments given to nine individuals labeled as "spokesperson consultant," which appeared to be the swing state voters that won Musk's controversial daily $1 million prize. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner sued the PAC in October contending Musk was running an illegal lottery in Pennsylvania. Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta denied an injunction request a few weeks later after an attorney for the PAC testified that the giveaway wasn't random, despite Musk's claims that they were. The PAC also reported roughly $433,000 in legal bills paid to THE GOBER GROUP PLLC, according to the FEC. A new filing showed that Musk was the sole funder of a pro-Trump super PAC named RBG PAC, giving $20 million to the group in the final weeks of the election. The PAC used the initials of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and ran online ads featuring women who claimed Trump would endorse potential national abortion bans. Trump has long boasted about his role in ending Roe v. Wade by taking credit for nominating three of the six conservative justices who voted to overturn the case in 2022. Clara Spera, Ginsberg's granddaughter, chastised the PAC in a statement to the Washington Post stating it "has no connection to the Ginsburg family and is an affront to my late grandmother's legacy." Earlier in the election cycle, Musk had written big checks to groups supporting House and Senate GOP, including $12.3 million to two super PACs supporting Senate GOP candidates, and another $1.3 million supporting other down-ballot Republicans, according to FEC filings. In all, Musk spent at least $273 million in support of various Republicans up and down the ballot at the federal level. Musk has been tapped to co-lead, along with Republican businessman and failed presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, an outside advisory board called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to cut as much as $2 trillion from the federal budget of what they called waste. The pair met with Republican leaders on the Hill Thursday to discuss their proposals including removing remote work options for federal workers.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams warms to Trump, won't rule out becoming a RepublicanA federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in a few short months, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok's petition to overturn the law — which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — and rebuffed the company's challenge of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment. “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” said the court's opinion, which was written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg. “Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.” TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, though its unclear whether the court will take up the case. “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue," TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people,” Hughes said. Unless stopped, he argued the statute “will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.” Though the case is squarely in the court system, its also possible the two companies might be thrown some sort of a lifeline by President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but said during the presidential campaign that he is now against such action . The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China. The U.S. has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits , that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Officials have also warned the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect — a concern mirrored by the European Union on Friday as it scrutinizes the video-sharing app’s role in the Romanian elections. TikTok, which sued the government over the law in May, has long denied it could be used by Beijing to spy on or manipulate Americans. Its attorneys have accurately pointed out that the U.S. hasn’t provided evidence to show that the company handed over user data to the Chinese government, or manipulated content for Beijing’s benefit in the U.S. They have also argued the law is predicated on future risks, which the Department of Justice has emphasized pointing in part to unspecified action it claims the two companies have taken in the past due to demands from the Chinese government. Friday’s ruling came after the appeals court panel, composed of two Republican and one Democrat appointed judges, heard oral arguments in September. In the hearing, which lasted more than two hours, the panel appeared to grapple with how TikTok’s foreign ownership affects its rights under the Constitution and how far the government could go to curtail potential influence from abroad on a foreign-owned platform. On Friday, all three of them denied TikTok’s petition. In the court's ruling, Ginsburg, a Republican appointee, rejected TikTok's main legal arguments against the law, including that the statute was an unlawful bill of attainder or a taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. He also said the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government is not looking to "suppress content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok. “Content on the platform could in principle remain unchanged after divestiture, and people in the United States would remain free to read and share as much PRC propaganda (or any other content) as they desire on TikTok or any other platform of their choosing,” Ginsburg wrote, using the abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China. Judge Sri Srinivasan, the chief judge on the court, issued a concurring opinion. TikTok’s lawsuit was consolidated with a second legal challenge brought by several content creators - for which the company is covering legal costs - as well as a third one filed on behalf of conservative creators who work with a nonprofit called BASED Politics Inc. Other organizations, including the Knight First Amendment Institute, had also filed amicus briefs supporting TikTok. “This is a deeply misguided ruling that reads important First Amendment precedents too narrowly and gives the government sweeping power to restrict Americans’ access to information, ideas, and media from abroad,” said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the organization. “We hope that the appeals court’s ruling won’t be the last word.” Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers who had pushed for the legislation celebrated the court's ruling. "I am optimistic that President Trump will facilitate an American takeover of TikTok to allow its continued use in the United States and I look forward to welcoming the app in America under new ownership,” said Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China. Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who co-authored the law, said “it's time for ByteDance to accept” the law. To assuage concerns about the company’s owners, TikTok says it has invested more than $2 billion to bolster protections around U.S. user data. The company has also argued the government’s broader concerns could have been resolved in a draft agreement it provided the Biden administration more than two years ago during talks between the two sides. It has blamed the government for walking away from further negotiations on the agreement, which the Justice Department argues is insufficient. Attorneys for the two companies have claimed it’s impossible to divest the platform commercially and technologically. They also say any sale of TikTok without the coveted algorithm - the platform’s secret sauce that Chinese authorities would likely block under any divesture plan - would turn the U.S. version of TikTok into an island disconnected from other global content. Still, some investors, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in purchasing the platform. Both men said earlier this year that they were launching a consortium to purchase TikTok’s U.S. business. This week, a spokesperson for McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, which aims to protect online privacy, said unnamed participants in their bid have made informal commitments of more than $20 billion in capital.This 5.44% Dividend Stock Pays You Cash Every Month
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The claim: McDonald’s offered $850 million in ‘hush money’ to RFK Jr. A Nov. 18 Instagram post ( direct link , archive link ) includes a clip of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talking about fast food while appearing on Fox News. The post's caption reads, “McDonald’s offered 850 million to RFK for hush money.” A woman narrating the video says, “Listen to what RFK just exposed about the Golden Arches because they are currently literally trying to get the video removed.” The post was liked more than 1,000 times in eight days. More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page Our rating: False There is no evidence McDonald’s offered to pay Kennedy $850 million in “hush money.” No credible reports support the claim, and neither McDonald’s nor Kennedy have said anything about such a payment. Kennedy discussed stance on fast food during Fox News appearance Kennedy appeared on “Fox & Friends” in late October and used then-candidate Donald Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania to say he doesn’t have a problem with fast food – rather, he is “against food that has seed oils.” He also questioned why McDonald’s no longer uses tallow fat to fry its food. President-elect Trump has since nominated Kennedy to serve as Health and Human Services secretary, as USA TODAY previously reported. There is no evidence, though, that McDonald’s offered Kennedy any amount of “hush money,” much less $850 million, as the post claims. There are no credible news reports about it, and McDonald’s hasn’t mentioned anything similar to the claim on its website or social media accounts , nor has Kennedy . The woman in the Instagram video says nothing about such a payment. Fact check : Smallpox eradicated in 1980, not just ‘held in check’ by vaccines It's no secret that McDonald’s – and competitors Burger King and Wendy’s – stopped using beef tallow and switched to “100 percent vegetable oil” in 1990. The change was made to reduce the saturated fat and eliminate all the cholesterol in the fries, The Washington Post reported. McDonald’s says on its website that it uses a canola-blend oil to make its fries. McDonald’s reported a net income of nearly $8.5 billion in 2023, so the purported $850 million “hush money” payment would equal about 10% of the restaurant chain’s income for an entire year. Kennedy isn’t alone in claiming seed oils aren’t healthy, but Christopher Gardner, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, told The New York Times that decades of research have shown seed oils are associated with better health. The social media user who shared the post could not be reached for comment. PolitiFact and Check Your Fact also debunked the claim. Our fact-check sources Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here . USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant fromMeta .WASHINGTON (AP) — In the two weeks since Donald Trump won the presidency, he's tried to demonstrate his dominance by naming loyalists for top administration positions, even though many lack expertise and some face sexual misconduct accusations. It often seems like he's daring Congress to oppose his decisions. But on Thursday, Trump's attempt to act with impunity showed a crack as Matt Gaetz , his choice for attorney general, withdrew from consideration. Trump had named Gaetz, a Florida congressman, to be the country's top law enforcement official even though he was widely disliked by his colleagues, has little legal experience and was accused of having sex with an underage girl, an allegation he denied. After being plagued by investigations during his first presidency, Trump wanted a devoted ally in charge of the Justice Department during his second. However, it was never obvious that Gaetz could win enough support from lawmakers to get confirmed. Now the question is whether Gaetz was uniquely unpalatable, or if Trump's other picks might exceed his party's willingness to overlook concerns that would have sunk nominees in a prior political era. The next test will likely be Pete Hegseth, who Trump wants to lead the Pentagon despite an allegation of sexual assault that he's denied. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the controversy over Gaetz would have little bearing on Trump’s choices for other positions. “One at a time,” he said. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, suggested otherwise, claiming “the dominoes are falling.” “The drip drip of evidence and truth is going to eventually doom some others,” he said. Trump's election victory was a sign that there may not be many red lines left in American politics. He won the presidential race despite authoritarian, racist and misogynist rhetoric, not to mention years of lies about election fraud and his role in sparking the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was also criminally convicted of falsifying business records to pay hush money, and he was found liable for sexual abuse in a civil case. Empowered by voters who looked past his misconduct and saw him as a powerful agent of change, Trump has shown no deference to Washington norms while working to fill his second administration . Although some of his personnel choices have extensive experience in the areas they've been chosen to lead, others are personal friends and Fox News personalities who have impressed and flattered Trump over the years. Several have faced allegations involving sexual misconduct . Hegseth, an Army veteran and Fox News host, is facing the most scrutiny after Gaetz. Once Trump announced Hegseth as his nominee for Pentagon chief, allegations emerged that he sexually assaulted a woman in California in 2017. The woman said he took her phone, blocked the door to the hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a police report made public this week. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said. However, he paid the woman a confidential settlement in 2023. Hegseth's lawyer said the payment was made to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit. Trump’s choice for secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has faced allegations of misconduct too. A woman who babysat for him and his second wife told Vanity Fair magazine that Kennedy groped her in the late 1990s, when she was 23. Kennedy did not deny the allegation and texted an apology to the woman after the article was published. That isn't the only hurdle for Kennedy; he's spent years spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccines, raising fears about making him a top health official in the new administration. Linda McMahon, chosen by Trump to be education secretary, is fighting a lawsuit connected to her former company, World Wrestling Entertainment. She’s accused of knowingly enabling sexual exploitation of children by an employee as early as the 1980s, and she denies the allegations. Tulsi Gabbard is another person who could face a difficult confirmation battle, but for very different reasons. The former Democratic representative from Hawaii has been a vocal Trump ally, and he chose her to be national intelligence director. But there's grave concern by lawmakers and national security officials over Gabbard’s history of echoing Russian propaganda. Critics said she would endanger relationships with U.S. allies. Gaetz was investigated by federal law enforcement for sex trafficking, but the case was closed without charges and Republicans have blocked the release of a related report from the House Ethics Committee. However, some allegations leaked out, including that Gaetz paid women for sex. One of the women testified to the committee that she saw Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl, according to a lawyer for the woman. As Gaetz met with senators this week, it became clear that he would face stubborn resistance from lawmakers who were concerned about his behavior and believed he was unqualified to run the Justice Department. “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction,” Gaetz wrote on social media when announcing his withdrawal. Sen. Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, said he believed there were four to six members of the caucus who would have voted against Gaetz, likely dooming his nomination, and “the math got too hard.” He said some of the issues and allegations around Gaetz were “maybe beyond the pale." “I think there were just too many things, it was like a leaky dike, and you know, it broke," Braun said. Trump thanked Gaetz in a post on Truth Social, his social media website, without addressing the substance of the allegations against him. “He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect,” Trump wrote. ____ Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves and Lisa Macaro contributed from Washington. Jill Colvin in New York and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also contributed. Chris Megerian And Colleen Long, The Associated Press
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🎤Town council votes to cut public time at mic 🎤Props banned, including flags, in decorum rule 🎤Ordinance follows months of meeting disruptions EDISON — Emotions ran high among dozens of critics at a Monday meeting, as the Edison Township Council adopted some new rules for public comments. One ordinance reduced the limit on public speaking time by two minutes, to a total of four minutes per person. There were two dissenting votes and an absent council member who has previously spoken against the proposal. A separate ordinance looked to codify "firm rules of decorum for conduct" at town council meetings. That conduct, already established by Edison Council President Nishith Patel, included a ban on any props from use by those at the podium. American flags and copies of the U.S. Constitution being lumped into “props” was of particular disgust from those who slammed the ordinance before a final vote. As the floor was opened up for public comment on the time restriction, the first speaker said the council should be ashamed of its proposal to “slash” the time that each member of the public is allowed to speak. He narrated that he was holding a printed copy of the ordinance, saying “I’m tearing it up and holding up the pieces, one third of it is gone,” before he picked up a bound copy of the Constitution. At that point, the council told him it counted as a prop and his remaining time would be forfeited. New Brunswick Today creator Charlie Kratovil also spoke against the proposed time limit, saying it was an abuse of power. Another critic of the time limit was the vice president of the Edison Board of Education. “We do have a right to speak, let the people speak,” Joseph Romano said, adding that their last board meeting ran over four hours long as 72 people spoke. Another female resident said that it was misguided for the council to try and “militantly control” public actions during meetings, due to a handful of disruptive individuals. Masked men at multiple meetings Disruptions have been caught at the recorded Edison Council meetings, going back for months, if not years. At the Oct. 9 meeting, at least two men wore Guy Fawkes or “Anonymous” style face masks, while a third often wore a full wrestler’s mask. A fourth man was dressed as a giant cannabis bong, cradling a baby doll dressed in a similar costume. Two of the men have a social media presence as “ Bongholeo and El Rampador ”, whose self-billed mission is in support of ”medical-cannabis and the disabled.” Their TikTok account includes repeat appearances at other municipal meetings in Sayreville and Lavalette, in addition to Edison. During his six minutes at the October meeting, the man dressed as a bong told the council they had failed miserably. He ended by singing until his time was up and he was escorted out by police officers. That unique collection of attendees was no accident, according to self-billed entrepreneur, Patrick Duff on his Instagram account. “People’s ability to freely speak is what keeps us from tyranny. The right to pray, say, and protest, must be protected, so sometimes we must push the boundaries with absurdity to act as the modern day court jester,” Duff said in an Oct. 10 post. He added the activists had turned out to support lifelong Edison resident, Christo Makropoulos. Past town controversy Makropoulos, who goes as Jersey Watcher on his own social media accounts, has been at the center of years of controversy in his hometown. He ran as an independent for mayor in 2021 but lost to Democrat Sam Joshi, the town's youngest and first South Asian mayor. Makropoulos, an Edison High School grad, then unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Edison Board of Education in fall 2022, on the “Protect the Children” platform. That same year, he was arrested after an amateur attempt to catch a child predator turned violent. Read More: Edison, NJ man arrested in bold child predator trapping fiasco By this January, his case had been dismissed and Makropoulos had become a frequent speaker at council meetings. He can be seen in videos posted from January , March, April and June , wearing a ski mask and going as "anonymous" while speaking at the podium. At the Monday meeting before a final vote on cutting back on public speaking time, Councilman Patel said the new rules were about having “better conversation.” Councilman Asaf Shmuel said most of those who had spoken that night had delivered their comments in under four minutes. Of the two opposing votes, Councilman Ajay Patil said that people were taking their time to express their feelings on any given issue and called the time limit “insane.” Councilman Richard Brescher said he agreed with the public members who had spoken against the limits. Brescher — who also lost to Joshi as an independent mayoral candidate in 2021 — said this was a repeat of history or “Jun Choi 2.0” — as the former mayor had also cut public speaking time to four minutes. Choi was Edison’s first Asian American mayor and previously the youngest mayor elected, serving for one term through 2010. Several public speakers at Monday's meeting said that while some might lack decorum or might not always be polite, the council should still hear them out and not move to restrict how individuals make their views heard. Video from the Oct. 6 Edison Town Council meeting, including costumed attendees, was shared to YouTube by New Brunswick Today: Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom How N.J. voted in the 2024 presidential election Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris won New Jersey's 14 Electoral College votes but her performance against Republican former President Donald Trump trailed President Biden's victory in 2020. Below is a county-by-county breakdown. Gallery Credit: New Jersey 101.5 Best elementary schools in New Jersey (2024) In November 2024, U.S. News & World Report released its list of the best elementary schools in New Jersey. Gallery Credit: Dino Flammia Best New Jersey Diners For Breakfast and Lunch Thank you to our New Jersey listeners for these recommendations. Gallery Credit: Bill Spadea
Students at Columbia University launch anti-Israel ‘Columbia Intifada’ newspaper: ‘Outrageous’A look at the bar inside Miron Victory Court, a space in the JMA Wireless Dome that will be open for the first time on Saturday. Christopher Carlson Chris Carlson | ccarlson@syracuse.com Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse University will open its new event space in the JMA Wireless Dome for the first time on Saturday, providing fans an indoor space to drink and gather before games and concerts. The space, Miron Victory Court, sits in between the JMA Wireless Dome and the Barnes Center. Syracuse plans for it to be open for Dome games when it expects big attendance numbers, starting with Saturday’s football game against UConn. “I think it’s an opportunity for you to get out of the mix of the stadium, step away a little bit,” Syracuse Vice President & Chief Facilities Officer Pete Sala said. “You can hang out, have a beer, have some nachos. You’ll be a part of it, hear the cheer and what’s going on but you’re out of the craziness.” The 22,000 square-foot space will open two hours before the UConn game on Saturday. It can fit between 2,800 and 2,900 people. It is air-conditioned and heated. The space offers customers a full bar, simple concession options like pretzels and nachos and a grab-and-go areas that will be stocked with food, beer and hard seltzers. Indoor bathrooms that are part of the building but sit outside the event space will be available to patron before the space opens. Sala said the school expects to utilize it for big-number basketball games, starting with the Orange’s game against Georgetown on Dec. 14. “It’ll play off the attendance,” Sala said. “Maybe we open this for a big lacrosse game but we don’t really get into the third level. We won’t open this for the early basketball games. We’ll probably open it for the Georgetown game and then when we get into the ACC. We don’t open the backcourt until those bigger games because our crowds don’t need it.” Fans can gather around 20 bar tables, a number that Sala said could shrink or expanded depending on the response from fans on Saturday. There were 20 registers set up in the space where fans will be able to buy drinks, food and merchandise. Sala said that space can be divided to provide VIP areas when necessary and he expects to utilize it to provides VIP experiences when the Dome hosts major concerts like Metallica’s visit in April. “We had Metallica in the space when it was being built,” Sala said. “This will be a big part of the Metallica concert. They do a VIP experience, I think it’s called The Black Box. They are going to use this space.” The main space includes five television screens set above the bar and 14 smaller screens on the walls throughout the space which are either 85-inch or 65-inch. “We can put anything on these monitors,” Sala said. “We can show the game on the big screen. We can show other things on the video boards.” The space opens up to the third floor of the JMA Dome, directly toward stairs that lead up to Sections 327 and 328 and down to Sections 247 and 248. Concessions that have traditionally lined the walls of the building near those sections have been moved inside, creating extra room for walking. The JMA Dome's Gate P leads directly into Miron Victory Court, a new space in the JMA Wireless Dome. Christopher Carlson Sala said the new space alleviates a couple of challenges the building faces when at its busiest. He said that more than 33 percent of ticket holders traditionally use Gates N and P. Because of that, there is often a build-up of fans as they rush to their seats shortly before kickoff. The new space sits near those gates on the Northeast corner of the building, allowing traffic an extra space to flow it the concourses get overwhelmed. “For a football game, concert, any big event, that we do, that is the gate people come to,” Sala said. “They come across the quad from the pre-game experiences. They come from all the shuttle buses. That’s where we see our people. ... It’s tight in those concourses, so now we’ve got this grand space.” The building also created an additional entry point to the building next to Gate G. Sala said they are calling the Miron South Entry. On rare occasions, like when the Orange hosted Clemson in football in 2019 and Elton John in 2022, the concourses have been so packed that customers have gone frightened when they were unable to move. The new space provides some additional space. The event space was part of a phased renovation that included new blue seats with chairbacks and improved wireless connectivity in the building and seating improvements for people with disabilities. The state chipped in $23 million of taxpayer money for the project, initially supplying $20 million in funding and adding another $3 million to account for increased costs. The initial estimate for the improvements was $44.8 million. Sala said there are no major improvements on the horizon for the building but there are still some concession and restrooms that need to be upgraded. That includes the eventual elimination of troughs in the men’s room, one of the most obvious ways that the building shows its age despite the recent renovations. “We didn’t get to everything,” Sala said. “We’d like to bring the restrooms up to today’s code. We get a lot of people saying they like the troughs, some that don’t. You don’t see troughs today. We’ll be putting in the right pictures. It’s not a lot (of work remaining). It’s not a big project. I think the big projects where we displace people for 17 months around this facility, you won’t be seeing any of that for a while. Sala said that a Hall of Champions that was considered as part of the original plan is not imminent but could be re-considered. RECOMMENDED • syracuse .com JJ Starling, Eddie Lampkin rescue Syracuse in win over Youngstown State (Donna Ditota’s Quick Hits) Nov. 16, 2024, 3:54 p.m. What time, TV channel is Syracuse women’s basketball-FDU on today? Free live stream Nov. 17, 2024, 8:00 a.m. The project took 17 months to complete. The building is named after Bob and Diane Miron, who provided $7 million to the project. Miron is the former chairman and CEO of Advance/Newhouse Communications. Diane Miron is a retired teacher who worked in the Fayetteville-Manlius School District. Contact Chris Carlson anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-382-7932NoneCOLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Once Iowa's running game started rolling, it never really stopped. That meant a bigger workload than ever for Kaleb Johnson. Johnson rushed for 164 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 35 carries, and Kamari Moulton scored on a 68-yard run in the fourth quarter to help Iowa outlast Maryland 29-13 on Saturday. “Doesn't take a Knute Rockne to figure this one out,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "Coming in we wanted to be able to run the football. That's what we do best." Johnson scored from 2 yards out in the second quarter for his 21st rushing touchdown of the season, and the Hawkeyes (7-4, 5-3 Big Ten) rebounded from their loss to UCLA in their previous game. Maryland (4-7, 1-7) needed to win its final two regular-season games to reach six wins and bowl eligibility, but the Terrapins were dominated in the first half and eventually fell behind 16-0. Drew Stevens made five field goals for Iowa, including kicks from 54 yards in the second quarter, then 50 and 49 in the third. Iowa, which does not exactly push the tempo, ran 46 offensive plays in the first half. The Hawkeyes had the ball for over six minutes on each of their first three possessions, which resulted in a fumble, a field goal and then Johnson's TD. “I thought the first half really played out about as well as we could outside the turnover,” said Ferentz, whose son Brian is an offensive assistant at Maryland. “Controlling the ball, keeping it on the ground and trying to keep their quarterback off the field.” Maryland replaced quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. with backup MJ Morris after two fruitless possessions, but the Terps still trailed 13-0 at halftime. Edwards went back in and led Maryland all the way to the Iowa 3 in the third quarter, but he was injured in a collision with defensive back Xavier Nwankpa. “The kid's a warrior. He's been banged up all year,” Terps coach Mike Locksley said. “I very rarely come in and talk about injuries because those are excuses and I'm not about that. Billy came to me and said, ‘Coach, I want to try to go.’ And he really gave us a chance." Morris came in and capped that drive with an 8-yard scoring pass to Tai Felton that made it 16-6, but a 2-point conversion was unsuccessful. A 12-yard touchdown strike from Morris to Felton made it 19-13 with 11:05 to play, but Iowa answered with Moulton's big run less than two minutes later. Iowa: Quarterback Jackson Stratton, a walk-on transfer from Colorado State, wasn't asked to do much as the Hawkeyes were able to lean on the running game. And credit Iowa's defense for an excellent first half that helped build a big enough lead. Maryland: No matter how obvious Iowa's plan was, the Terps couldn't do much to stop it. Iowa finished with 268 yards rushing on 58 attempts. Ferentz now has 203 career victories as Iowa's head coach. Only Woody Hayes (205) has more in Big Ten history. Johnson looked plenty motivated after he produced just 49 yards rushing against UCLA. He also had extra time to rest since Iowa was off last weekend. “That 49 yards. I was mad at myself a little bit," he said. "I was being too soft. I wasn’t running as hard as I could.” Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara hasn't played since entering concussion protocol after a game late last month. Ferentz urged fans to support McNamara, who since 2022 has dealt with leg, quad and knee problems in addition to his latest issue. “Sometimes you've got to step back and have some compassion for the people that are out competing,” Ferentz said. "You think about the last three years for this guy. He has had a rough go." Iowa: Hosts Nebraska on Friday. Maryland: At Penn State on Saturday. 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-football