They’re starting to debunk that theory.

While their first two victories of the season required some grit and toughness, the Celtics and their stacked talent have begun to exert their will on opponents, showing how scary good they can be. For a second consecutive game, they took care of an inferior team with extreme ease. Sparked by another hot start, the Celtics dominated the Pacers – who were without All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton – with a 155-104 victory at TD Garden that was never in doubt from the opening tip.

The 155 points mark the second-most the Celtics have scored ever in a regular-season game, only behind the 173 they scored in a win over the Minneapolis Lakers on Feb. 27, 1959

Jayson Tatum scored 30 points with 12 rebounds, Derrick White had 18 points and Sam Hauser scored 17 points on five 3-pointers off the bench in the rout. Like Monday in Washington, D.C., the Celtics rested their starters for the entire fourth quarter. Each of the players in that group played 27 minutes or fewer, which could have long-term benefits for the Celtics with how much they will rely on that group throughout the season.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla has been emphasizing a renewed mindset of toughness and focus for his players, and it’s already paying off. They needed it in crunch time of their close opening victories over the Knicks and Heat. And once vulnerable to horrible losses to inferior teams, the Celtics have not overlooked their opponents this week.

On Wednesday, they took it to a different level.

The Celtics, too often last season, were guilty of letting go of the rope against inferior teams to them. Even when they built big leads, they lost focus and lost them. So far this season, they’ve made sure that’s not a problem.

The Celtics led by 21 at halftime after another blistering hot offensive first half and kept their foot on the gas pedal. They opened the second half on a 12-1 run to open their lead to 32. There was never a threat of a comeback as they led by as many as 53 late in the fourth quarter.

Like they did against the Wizards on Monday, the Celtics lit up the Pacers in the first quarter with another torrid shooting display. They trailed 6-4 in the opening minutes before reeling off a 14-0 run behind stops and 3-pointers from White, Jrue Holiday and Tatum. That forced a Pacers timeout but the Celtics continued to find mismatches and extra spacing inside as Kristaps Porzingis and Jaylen Brown flew in for easy dunks.

The Celtics carried that momentum. They were almost unstoppable offensively. The Pacers entered the night allowing the fewest 3-pointers per game, but they hadn’t played an offense as potent as the Celtics, who hit eight treys in the first quarter. They shot 76.2 percent in the first quarter as they opened a 17-point lead over the helpless Pacers.

Tatum had no problem picking apart the Pacers’ defense, whether it was in the post, from the 3-point line or through driving lanes. He hunted mismatches on Pacers guard T.J. McConnell to score with ease on several possessions. He scored 12 points in the second quarter, including a step-back 3-pointer to give the Celtics a 23-point lead late in the first half.

The Celtics scored 75 points in the first half Wednesday, two shy of their first half total on Monday in Washington. It’s believed to be the first time in franchise history that the Celtics put up at least 75 first-half points in back-to-back games.

“I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going to lay my head at tonight,” Sweat said.

So the new Bears defensive end will have to be excused for still figuring out what it’s going to take for the Bears to sign him to a contract extension.

It’s one of the most relevant questions for the Bears after general manager Ryan Poles traded a 2024 second-round draft pick to the Washington Commanders on Tuesday to acquire Sweat, who is in the final year of his rookie contract. In order to make that investment in draft capital worth it, the Bears obviously want Sweat for more than nine games.

Poles said the Bears are working to make a deal with Sweat. He didn’t have a timeline for when it might be completed but said he was hopeful “it won’t take too long.” The Bears also will have the franchise and transition tags available this offseason if a contract doesn’t come to fruition.

“I feel really confident that we can get a deal done,” Poles said.

Sweat, a former Commanders first-round pick who has 35 1/2 career sacks in 67 games since 2019, said financial security and the people and teammates around him would be important factors in where he signs his next contract.

He said he was sure his agents were talking to the Bears about working something out. But for Wednesday, Sweat still was trying to get his bearings in Lake Forest.

“Everything is happening kind of fast right now,” he said. “I’m just waiting for it to slow down and hit the ground running when we get there.”

Poles called the 6-foot-6, 262-pound Sweat “a long, fast, explosive, relentless defensive end that can help us both in the run and in the pass game.” He said Sweat is “a multiplier,” the type of player who makes everybody else on the defense better.

“Hopefully he comes in and continues to be that dog that he’s shown over the years,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said of Sweat. “Get some tipped passes that maybe fall my way or get the QB to throw the ball off target a little bit, allow it to fall in my hands.”

Sweat joins a Bears pass rush in desperate need of a boost after totaling an NFL-low 10 sacks through eight games.

After examining the upcoming options in free agency and the draft, the Bears saw the acquisition as getting ahead of a competitive market.

“If you look at the free agent stack now, it’s going to look very different by the time you get to that point of the year because there are so many different opportunities that can pop up in terms of extensions, tags, different things like that,” Poles said. “So we decided with that type of player we wanted to capitalize on that now.”

It was the second time in two years Poles traded a second-round draft pick for a player at the midseason deadline.

Last year’s trade, when Poles sent what would become the No. 32 overall pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for wide receiver Chase Claypool, obviously was a bust. The Bears traded Claypool to the Miami Dolphins after less than a year with the team.

Poles said he learned from the Claypool situation. But he also didn’t let it affect his thinking with Sweat, who is more established than Claypool was and already has 6 1/2 sacks, 11 quarterback hits, two forced fumbles and 10 tackles for a loss in eight games this year.

“If (the moves) fail or you make mistakes, you look back at why and address those,” Poles said. “The key is that sometimes you become a little bit shy to make aggressive moves as you go forward. That’s not how we’re wired. I took a lot of those things from that situation and kind of went through that process and said, ‘OK, here’s where we may have messed up this.’ Then for this one, it’s not making the same mistake.”

In the days before the deadline, Sweat had seen the rumors swirling about potentially being traded. His agent told him the Atlanta Falcons were among the teams interested in acquiring him, and as someone who’s from Georgia, it was “a place of interest.”

“Obviously they wanted me,” Sweat said. “Here they wanted me more, so this is where I am.”

Sweat was heading to a Commanders walk-through Tuesday when he received the call from his agent. He said there were “a lot of emotions” as he prepared to leave his only NFL home, in part because of the relationships he built.

“I mean you’ve got to pick up shop and find a new home,” Sweat said. “So there’s a lot of emotions that come with that, but I’m ready for the challenge. I’m ready to meet my new teammates and hit the ground rolling.”

In the short term, Sweat said he believes he will play Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, a possibility coach Matt Eberflus left up in the air.

As for the long term, Sweat didn’t delve into how much leverage he has over the Bears in contract talks given the draft capital they gave up to acquire him.

“I don’t really know too much about leverage and all that type of stuff,” he said. “I just want to consider everything around me before I make a decision.”

()

Meanwhile, five starters — left tackle Ronnie Stanley, right tackle Morgan Moses, running back Gus Edwards, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and outside linebacker Odafe Oweh — did not participate in the portion of practice open to reporters. Reserve cornerback Rock Ya-Sin was also absent.

The Ravens’ first injury report of the week will come out later than usual, because the Seattle Seahawks did not begin practice until late afternoon, but coach John Harbaugh indicated none of the missing players are dealing with serious issues.

“Nothing really to report that’s concerning that way,” he said after practice. “As it goes along in the week, you’ll kind of see it unfold that way.”

Harbaugh said Monday his team came out of its win over the Arizona Cardinals without any major injuries. Beckham suffered a chest contusion but returned to finish the game. Oweh, who has been dealing with an ankle injury most of the season, also went to the blue medical tent to be treated but returned to action. Moses ceded some snaps to Patrick Mekari, but Harbaugh said that was more about managing the veteran lineman’s workload.

In addition to Williams, defensive back Daryl Worley (shoulder) returned to practice, starting his 21-day window to return from injured reserve.

Williams said he’s not frustrated by the hamstring and pectoral injuries that have kept him out much of this season. “I feel good,” he said, though he added “we’ll see what happens” when asked if he expects to play against the Seahawks.

This story will be updated.

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Eberflus described the culture he has been trying to establish for almost two years in Lake Forest as “awesome,” asserted that the last-place Bears are “turning a corner” and, on multiple occasions, pointed to the team’s .500 record over the last month as evidence they have legitimate reasons to feel encouraged and optimistic.

But that messaging might not resonate with most of an outside audience that has watched the Bears continually stumble on the field — they are 5-20 under Eberflus — while experiencing repeated tumult behind the scenes, the most recent being Wednesday’s sudden firing of running backs coach David Walker for what is believed to be concerning misconduct.

“As the head coach,” Eberflus said, “we are building a program and have standards to uphold as a staff and organization both on and off the field. And those standards were not met.”

Eberflus said the decision to fire Walker was made after he consulted with and gained the support of general manager Ryan Poles and team President Kevin Warren.

“It’s disappointing from my vantage point,” Eberflus said. “But we have a standard to uphold. When that standard is not met, we act accordingly. And that’s what we did today.”

Added Poles: “We have expectations here. Those come from me, Kevin, George (McCaskey) and Matt. If you don’t meet those expectations with how you move around this building, how you treat people, how you talk to people and how you act, you don’t belong here.”

Walker is the second member of Eberflus’ staff to exit Halas Hall in the last six weeks following the abrupt late-September resignation of defensive coordinator Alan Williams, whose departure from the organization, according to multiple sources, was conduct-related.

With so much failure on the field and so much instability in the coaching ranks, does Eberflus believe there is a culture problem with his team? “Absolutely not,” he said. “The culture in our building is outstanding. The guys work hard every single day. The relationship piece is there. We care about each other. We’re working diligently to get this thing turned (around).

“We’re 2-2 in our last four (games). One game (against the Vikings) was real close. We had a chance at that one. We really feel we’re turning the corner and we are excited about this week. But to answer the question, our culture is awesome.”

The Bears remain in last place in the NFC North and are coming off a 30-13 blowout loss on “Sunday Night Football” to the Los Angeles Chargers. That was the team’s third loss this season by at least 15 points and the ninth during Eberflus’ tenure.

The Bears hired Walker to coach their running backs in early February 2022, less than two weeks after Eberflus came aboard as head coach. Walker had been out of coaching for the previous three seasons with his most recent NFL stop coming with the Detroit Lions from 2016-18.

Now 53, Walker was in his ninth season as an NFL assistant with his first such gig coming with the Indianapolis Colts from 2011-14.

After leading the NFL in rushing a year ago — propelled largely by an explosive 1,143-yard season from quarterback Justin Fields — the Bears rank sixth this season, averaging 132.8 rushing yards per game.

Still, Eberflus dodged direct questions Wednesday about whether Walker’s removal was for behavioral reasons and not connected to his football coaching ability.

Eberflus was later asked about his vetting process for hiring coaches.

“The evaluation process is what it is,” Eberflus said. “You make your phone calls. You do your due diligence. You bring them in for an interview. You have phone conversations. You ask people who are associated and so forth and so on. So that’s that.”

With Walker gone, Omar Young will oversee the running backs. Young, who is in his second season with the Bears, was an offensive quality control coach in 2022 and transitioned into being an assistant quarterbacks and receivers coach this year.

This has been another rocky ride for the Bears with a couple of October victories hardly enough to offset the team’s dispiriting 0-4 start.

The Bears were trounced 38-20 by the rival Green Bay Packers to open the season at Soldier Field. Two weeks later, they trailed the Kansas City Chiefs 41-0 midway through the third quarter in an eventual 31-point loss. And in Week 4, they blew a 28-3 lead at home in a 31-28 loss to the Denver Broncos.

The Bears’ two wins, meanwhile, were against the Washington Commanders and Las Vegas Raiders, a pair of teams experiencing their own turbulence.

The Commanders held a fire sale before the league’s trade deadline Tuesday, dealing away defensive ends Montez Sweat and Chase Young and backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett. And the Raiders, coming off consecutive losses to the Bears and Detroit Lions, fired general manager Dave Ziegler and coach Josh McDaniels late Tuesday.

Still, Eberflus was clinging to positives Wednesday, expressing confidence in the improvement of his defense, the reliability of the running game on offense and the Bears’ ability to secure a Week 7 win over the Raiders with starting quarterback Justin Fields injured and rookie Tyson Bagent starting in his place.

“The guys are positive, upbeat and looking forward to New Orleans,” Eberflus said.

Poles, meanwhile, continued to express his unwavering belief in Eberflus as a leader.

“What I see every day when I see him address the team and when I see his approach to adversity, it is stable,” Poles said. “I know to the outside world, it doesn’t look like that. And I know it looks like we’re far away. But this dude comes in every day and just keeps chipping away. … The way he holds everything down here is incredible for how loud it is, how tough it is.

“This team, you watch them and they fight. I know this past weekend wasn’t great. But you can’t watch that team and be like, ‘Oh, they’re going to fold.’ ”

Still, with Walker’s firing affecting the building and overshadowing the trade for Sweat, Eberflus acknowledged the sullen mood.

“We’re all disappointed,” he said. “It’s never good when this has to happen. Certainly a disappointment. But I do know this, adversity does make you stronger in your personal life, in your team life. It’s just how you come through it. It’s how you respond to it.”

More Bears news

• Column: Bears GM Ryan Poles assumed risk in Montez Sweat trade, but free agency and the draft make it a worthy gamble
• Cornerback Jaylon Johnson stays with the Bears despite a late request before the NFL trade deadline
• Bears can’t make it 2 wins in a row — again: Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the Week 8 loss to the Chargers
• Column: When will the NFL and TV networks learn to stop putting the Bears in prime time?
• Vikings trade for QB Joshua Dobbs, adding another option after Kirk Cousins’ season-ending Achilles injury
• True or false: The Tyson Bagent fairy tale has reached the end for the Bears after a shaky Week 8 performance
• How QB Tyson Bagent rose from zero-star recruit to Division II record-breaker to Bears rookie starter

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The Pacers knew it was time, too.

Before he signed with the Celtics on a two-year deal early in free agency, Brissett had a conversation with Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan about the future. They both agreed Indiana was not the right place for the 25-year-old forward.

“It was more of like a mutual respect, talking to Chad,” Brissett said Wednesday before facing his former team for the first time. “He understood where I’m at right now in my career and what I need to kind of move forward. We talked on the phone a couple times and he felt like, and myself felt like it was time for a change and I felt like I needed to be here with a team that’s really going in that championship direction. Not to say they aren’t, obviously they’re looking for that, but right now they’re building up and they drafted a couple young guys, so that’s what they’re working to do.

“So, it was nothing but love with the Pacers, and like I said, I’ll always respect them and I’ll always thank them for me being here.”

While the Celtics boast a top-heavy roster, Brissett is expected to be a significant contributor off the bench. He already flashed his impact in last Friday’s home opener, when Jayson Tatum credited him with changing the game with his offensive rebounding in the first quarter.

It’s something the Pacers saw with regularity.

“He’s in the top two or three percentile in the league as an offensive rebounder,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “He’s a great runner. His shooting got better and better and athletically, he’s terrific. He’s tough, he takes charges, and he’s one of the greatest teammates you’re ever gonna have. Being one of eight or nine in this rotation tells you something about what kind of player he is, because cracking this rotation ain’t easy.”

Nesmith motivated by tweet

When Aaron Nesmith, the Celtics’ No. 14 pick in the 2020 draft, was traded to the Pacers last summer in the Malcolm Brogdon deal, a tweet from Bleacher Report struck a chord. The tweet included the caption, “What the Celtics gave up for Brogdon,” accompanied by a photo of a paper clip and string, insinuating they gave up nothing.

Nesmith saved the tweet. And after he went off for 26 points in a win over the Cavaliers last weekend, he posted the tweet to his Instagram story and added his own commentary: “(Expletive) aged well ain’t it.”

“I’m someone who I do take things personally and that helps make me better,” Nesmith said. “It’s what drives me to go to the gym at night, so the tweet was always on my mind for sure.”

Nesmith said he continues to look at that tweet occasionally for motivation. It seems to be working. Once struggling to find playing time on a loaded Celtics team, Nesmith has found a perfect fit in Indiana, where he inked a three-year, $33 million extension before this season began.

“It’s a blessing, the opportunity I have here, the guys here, the staff here, the front office,” Nesmith said. “I wanted to be here for a long time, so I’m happy we were able to make that happen.”

Carlisle raved about Nesmith, who overcame a difficult situation in Boston and has grown in several areas in the last year in Indiana.

“There just wasn’t a lot of time for him to play and so that was challenging,” Carlisle said. “So when he would get in for short stints, it’s tough. I was one of those players that frequently was in that situation. It’s one of the most challenging things. But he’s clearly a guy who has taken advantage of an amazing opportunity with us. He really fits our organization, what we stand for, what we’re building, who we are going to be. Couldn’t be happier to have him on board.”

Walsh heads to Maine

Jordan Walsh, the Celtics’ No. 38 pick in June’s draft, was assigned to the Maine Celtics. It’s not a surprising move, given he’s unlikely to play much in Boston this season. Maine’s G-League schedule begins next week.

“Jordan’s got a chance at the 3-and-D slot of what the NBA is,” C’s coach Joe Mazzulla. “And he plays really, really hard. I thought he had a really good training camp with just the developmental team and the things that he’s learning. And you just need reps. Like, it’s exactly what we talked about with these other guys.

“You’ve gotta have reps and you have to develop a defensive identity first and then you have to know ways to affect offense. And then once you do those two things you can kind of grow into other roles. But the most important thing is he competes defensively and he figures out how to create 2-on-1s on offense with or without the ball.” …

Neemias Queta was out for a second consecutive game for the Celtics as he continues to nurse a lingering foot injury. Mazzulla said they’re just being cautious and they’ll see how it responds over the next week. … Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton was out of Wednesday’s game due to an ankle sprain.

Seminal novelists of the genre such as Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour had already idealized the American Frontier in hundreds of best-selling books and stories. But Williams, a University of Denver professor for 30 years, took a darker view of U.S. expansion, one that dissected the heroic myths of archetypal cowboys, ranch hands and outlaws.

Director Gabe Polsky, who fought for more than a decade to turn “Butcher’s Crossing” into a movie, said he “never really connected with the genre.”

“Never. I tried to watch (Westerns) a little bit and just kind of disconnected because it was about searching for the Indians and bank robberies and revenge and all of that.”

In 2022, Polsky’s cinematic version, which stars Nicholas Cage, debuted on the film festival circuit, and is now in theaters.

As a novel, the coming-of-age story was arguably the first Western to subvert the genre’s morally certain, decades-old formulas. Williams preceded giants of the revisionist and anti-Western such as Cormac McCarthy (“No Country for Old Men”) and Larry McMurtry (“Lonesome Dove”), although his influence is only lately appreciated by critics and readers.

Williams, who also wrote 1965’s literary masterpiece “Stoner,” invests in the emotional lives of his characters as “Butcher’s Crossing” depicts a thrilling, stomach-churning buffalo hunt. Harvard dropout — and naive Ralph Waldo Emerson devotee — William Andrews trades Boston for the Kansas frontier in an effort to expand his horizons. There he joins buffalo hunter Miller (just one name), whose epic, money-making quest involves finding and skinning a legendary herd of Colorado buffalo to secure his biggest payout yet.

Like the book, the film — which stars Fred Hechinger (“The White Lotus”) as Andrews, and a fearsome Cage as Miller — is set in the early 1870s when Colorado was still a territory riven by murderous land grabs and precious-metal rushes.

“They’re hunting buffalo, but they’re also going out on this crazy sort of ‘Moby Dick’ search,” Polsky said of the movie, which was shot in the Blackfoot Nation in Northwest Montana due to the size and availability of the tribe’s buffalo herd.

In addition to Moby Dick, reviews have likened it to “Apocalypse Now” as it traces Miller’s mental unraveling on the cursed trek to claim and offload more buffalo hides than anyone actually wanted. “It’s an American tragedy, almost like ‘Death of a Salesman’ in a way,” Polsky said.

The movie hit theaters on Oct. 20, less than a week after the release of the new Ken Burns documentary, “The American Buffalo.” They cover roughly the time period in U.S. history, when the American bison population plummeted from about 60 million in 1860 to fewer than 300 in the span of just 20 years, Polsky said. The movie doesn’t shy from the horror, eschewing special effects and showing real animal skinning on screen.

“It was shot on Blackfeet land near Glacier National Park, and we promised we’d show them the movie before it came out,” said Polsky, whose team made good on the promise. “To do it with them really made a lot of sense because of their history with the animal and how important the animal is to them. We did a lot of ceremony with them before we shot, and they gave us lessons on skinning. Everything was real.”

Blackfeet representatives “loved the movie and were profusely thankful and talked a lot about it,” added Polsky, who pointed out that there are no Indigenous people on screen. “They understood right away you don’t need Native Americans to have these clichéd scenes in there with them. It says everything you need to say with what the hunters did. The (Indigenous people) are lurking. They’re watching. These hunters are self-destructive. Nature will correct you.”

Like Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a historically based feature about the racist savagery and murder of Indigenous people (in this case, 1920s Osage people whose land contained oil), it’s part of a re-examination of the evil wrought by ambitious men.

Despite its Montana shooting location, Polsky said the film remains rooted in Colorado.

“Montana had better (production) incentives, but the story is based here and I wrote it here,” he said. “I rented an apartment and mainly wrote the film at the Basalt Library. It was the first draft, so I took the book and started page by page trying to mold it into something cinematic. The novel has so much detail.”

Securing Cage to star afforded it Hollywood appeal. Polsky and his brother/business partner Alan first met Cage while producing 2009’s wild “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” which starred Cage as an amoral police officer with severe substance use disorders.

“I don’t know many A-list people on a first-name basis, but (Cage) was the first guy I thought of,” Polsky said. “He’s got that mysterious intensity, and believe me, on set he was even more intense. No one wanted to get near him. I don’t want to say he was a dark force, but he had electricity going through him at all times and everyone was just like ‘Ah! I don’t want to get shot.’”

Cage’s version of Method acting paid off in his performance, but he was also a consummate professional whose deep knowledge of the script and creative ideas during filming helped Polsky see it in a different way.

“He actually brought that buffalo coat he’s wearing on screen,” Polsky said. “He got it online. The glasses, the shaving-his-head thing — those were his ideas, too. He understands that the drive and ambition that created this country were also very destructive. It’s not a happy story all the time, and these real-life guys were individual forces of nature themselves.”

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.

Seminal novelists of the genre such as Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour had already idealized the American Frontier in hundreds of best-selling books and stories. But Williams, a University of Denver professor for 30 years, took a darker view of U.S. expansion, one that dissected the heroic myths of archetypal cowboys, ranch hands and outlaws.

Director Gabe Polsky, who fought for more than a decade to turn “Butcher’s Crossing” into a movie, said he “never really connected with the genre.”

“Never. I tried to watch (Westerns) a little bit and just kind of disconnected because it was about searching for the Indians and bank robberies and revenge and all of that.”

In 2022, Polsky’s cinematic version, which stars Nicholas Cage, debuted on the film festival circuit, and is now in theaters.

As a novel, the coming-of-age story was arguably the first Western to subvert the genre’s morally certain, decades-old formulas. Williams preceded giants of the revisionist and anti-Western such as Cormac McCarthy (“No Country for Old Men”) and Larry McMurtry (“Lonesome Dove”), although his influence is only lately appreciated by critics and readers.

Williams, who also wrote 1965’s literary masterpiece “Stoner,” invests in the emotional lives of his characters as “Butcher’s Crossing” depicts a thrilling, stomach-churning buffalo hunt. Harvard dropout — and naive Ralph Waldo Emerson devotee — William Andrews trades Boston for the Kansas frontier in an effort to expand his horizons. There he joins buffalo hunter Miller (just one name), whose epic, money-making quest involves finding and skinning a legendary herd of Colorado buffalo to secure his biggest payout yet.

Like the book, the film — which stars Fred Hechinger (“The White Lotus”) as Andrews, and a fearsome Cage as Miller — is set in the early 1870s when Colorado was still a territory riven by murderous land grabs and precious-metal rushes.

“They’re hunting buffalo, but they’re also going out on this crazy sort of ‘Moby Dick’ search,” Polsky said of the movie, which was shot in the Blackfoot Nation in Northwest Montana due to the size and availability of the tribe’s buffalo herd.

In addition to Moby Dick, reviews have likened it to “Apocalypse Now” as it traces Miller’s mental unraveling on the cursed trek to claim and offload more buffalo hides than anyone actually wanted. “It’s an American tragedy, almost like ‘Death of a Salesman’ in a way,” Polsky said.

The movie hit theaters on Oct. 20, less than a week after the release of the new Ken Burns documentary, “The American Buffalo.” They cover roughly the time period in U.S. history, when the American bison population plummeted from about 60 million in 1860 to fewer than 300 in the span of just 20 years, Polsky said. The movie doesn’t shy from the horror, eschewing special effects and showing real animal skinning on screen.

“It was shot on Blackfeet land near Glacier National Park, and we promised we’d show them the movie before it came out,” said Polsky, whose team made good on the promise. “To do it with them really made a lot of sense because of their history with the animal and how important the animal is to them. We did a lot of ceremony with them before we shot, and they gave us lessons on skinning. Everything was real.”

Blackfeet representatives “loved the movie and were profusely thankful and talked a lot about it,” added Polsky, who pointed out that there are no Indigenous people on screen. “They understood right away you don’t need Native Americans to have these clichéd scenes in there with them. It says everything you need to say with what the hunters did. The (Indigenous people) are lurking. They’re watching. These hunters are self-destructive. Nature will correct you.”

Like Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a historically based feature about the racist savagery and murder of Indigenous people (in this case, 1920s Osage people whose land contained oil), it’s part of a re-examination of the evil wrought by ambitious men.

Despite its Montana shooting location, Polsky said the film remains rooted in Colorado.

“Montana had better (production) incentives, but the story is based here and I wrote it here,” he said. “I rented an apartment and mainly wrote the film at the Basalt Library. It was the first draft, so I took the book and started page by page trying to mold it into something cinematic. The novel has so much detail.”

Securing Cage to star afforded it Hollywood appeal. Polsky and his brother/business partner Alan first met Cage while producing 2009’s wild “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” which starred Cage as an amoral police officer with severe substance use disorders.

“I don’t know many A-list people on a first-name basis, but (Cage) was the first guy I thought of,” Polsky said. “He’s got that mysterious intensity, and believe me, on set he was even more intense. No one wanted to get near him. I don’t want to say he was a dark force, but he had electricity going through him at all times and everyone was just like ‘Ah! I don’t want to get shot.’”

Cage’s version of Method acting paid off in his performance, but he was also a consummate professional whose deep knowledge of the script and creative ideas during filming helped Polsky see it in a different way.

“He actually brought that buffalo coat he’s wearing on screen,” Polsky said. “He got it online. The glasses, the shaving-his-head thing — those were his ideas, too. He understands that the drive and ambition that created this country were also very destructive. It’s not a happy story all the time, and these real-life guys were individual forces of nature themselves.”

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.

Councilor Ricardo Arroyo put forward a hearing request at the body’s Wednesday meeting, where he discussed the potential for a pilot district in Roslindale Village, a shopping and dining area where parking meters will soon be added by the city.

“If we are going to create meters, which I think help move traffic along and do help, they should also take that money that comes from those meters — that are coming from folks frequenting that area or those businesses, and reinvest them into beautification projects within those areas,” Arroyo said.

If a pilot program were to be established, it could then be implemented in other districts, according to Arroyo, who represents Roslindale on the City Council and learned of the concept from Roslindale Village Main Streets representatives.

While the state authorized the use of parking benefit districts through the Municipal Modernization Act in 2016, the City of Boston has chosen not to move forward with the concept, which advocates describe as a type of parking reform that frees up high-demand curb space and benefits people paying the meter fees.

The districts have been “effectively utilized” by three other Massachusetts communities, Arlington, Brookline and Reading, “to manage parking supply and generate resources for commercial area improvements,” Arroyo said.

The bodies typically designated to manage the parking districts include main streets organizations, community planning groups and business improvement districts, he said.

“Folks in the neighborhoods who put more money into these meters should see that money directly benefit the areas in which they are placed,” Arroyo said. “The goal for this hearing is to figure out how we go about setting this up around the city, so it’s not just thrown into the … general fund and sent in different directions.”

The hearing request was largely supported by the rest of the City Council, and referred to the Committee on City Services and Innovation Technology after a brief discussion.

Councilor Gabriela Coletta, who represents East Boston, Charlestown and the North End, said her constituents often talk to her about the concept when mentioning ways to solve the “perennial issue of parking in the city.”

Councilor Liz Breadon said the districts have already been discussed as a possible parking solution in the two neighborhoods she represents, Allston and Brighton.

The matter “merits a discussion” around ways to maintain, upgrade and revitalize city streets, Breadon said, and free up curb space to ensure “someone doesn’t park their car in the main street district and leave it for the whole day.”

Within hours of the Harden deal being reported late Monday, LaVine’s name popped up in “early chatter” as a trade target for the 76ers, according to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix.

LaVine would give the 76ers a scoring and playmaking threat to help replace Harden in the backcourt. And the 76ers have stocked up on future draft picks that could make for a tempting offer if the Bulls front office decides to rebuild.

But after a shootaround in Dallas ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Mavericks, LaVine said he has received no communication from the Bulls front office about a potential trade and feels confident in his role in Chicago.

“I’ve been traded before,” LaVine told the Tribune. “Trades are just part of the business and guys get shuffled around every year. I’ve been in trade talks since I’ve been here for some reason.

“I feel like I’ve held up my end of the bargain in my commitment to the Bulls, but there’s not a lot you can do with rumors and people putting your name in trade talks.”

LaVine noted that every trade is different. Some players have the opportunity to collaborate with the front office and their agent on a trade; for instance, Harden’s move to Los Angeles was coordinated through a long, drawn-out ordeal between the 76ers front office and the three-time scoring champion’s camp.

But that hasn’t been the case for LaVine. His trade to the Bulls in 2017 came as a shock.

LaVine was fresh off his third season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite being in recovery from ACL surgery, he felt good about his performance after averaging a then-career-high 18.9 points. He received no indication from the Timberwolves front office that a trade was possible heading into draft night — until his then-agent, Billy Duff, called him minutes before the No. 16 pick went in.

LaVine learned he had been traded to the Bulls with Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen — whom the Timberwolves had selected at No. 7 — in exchange for Jimmy Butler and No. 16 pick Justin Patton. He didn’t have the chance to talk with his teammates or Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor until after the trade went through.

“I was completely blindsided,” LaVine said. “You have to learn the business really fast early on in the NBA.”

LaVine said he tries not to think often about the possibility of being traded by the Bulls. He also feels assured they would provide upfront communication before making a major move.

“I feel like I’m in a good situation now where, if anything were to happen, they would let me know,” he said. “I have good communication with them and my agent.

“But there’s been stars traded before, high-level guys, who didn’t know about it as well. You’ve just got to hope you have a good relationship — or at least you have a heads up for the family.”

LaVine feels he has proved his commitment to the Bulls, but he also has been realistic throughout the start of the season. This is the third year of a roster built around the trio of DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vučević and LaVine — and the seventh season featuring LaVine as the face of the team. During that span, the Bulls have made the playoffs only once.

It’s clear to LaVine that if things don’t change this season, the Bulls front office will be forced to make roster moves. But in the short term, he’s focused on getting the offense off the ground — and not on trade buzz.

“You take it with a grain of salt,” he said. “It doesn’t affect me because at this point I’m in my 10th year. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before. It’s unbothering to me.”

()

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Bob Knight, the brilliant and combustible coach who won three NCAA titles at Indiana and for years was the scowling face of college basketball, has died. He was 83.

Knight’s family made the announcement on social media on Wednesday night. He was hospitalized with an illness in April and had been in poor health for several years.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share that Coach Bob Knight passed away at his home in Bloomington surrounded by his family,” the statement said. “We are grateful for all the thoughts and prayers, and appreciate the continued respect for our privacy as Coach requested a private family gathering, which is being honored.”

Knight was among the winningest and most controversial coaches in the sport, finishing his career with 902 victories in 42 seasons at Army, Indiana and Texas Tech while mentoring some of America’s best coaches.. He also coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in 1984.

The Hall of Famer cared little what others thought of him, choosing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” to celebrate his 880th win in 2007, then the record for a Division I men’s coach.

He was nicknamed “The General” and his trademark temper also cost him his job at Indiana in 2000. He once hit a police officer in Puerto Rico, threw a chair across the court and was accused of wrapping his hands around a player’s neck.

Critics fumed relentlessly about his conduct, but his defenders were legion. There was this side of Knight as well: He took pride in his players’ high graduation rates, and during a rule-breaking era he never was accused of a major NCAA violation.

At Indiana, he insisted his base salary not exceed that of other professors. At Texas Tech, he sometimes gave back his salary because he didn’t think he earned it.

Knight expected players to exceed expectations on the court and in the classroom. He abided by NCAA rules even when he disagreed with them, never backed down from a dust-up and promised to take his old-school principles to the grave.

While he was beloved by many of his players, his disposition and theatrics sometimes overshadowed his formidable record, tactical genius, innovation and dedication to and the game, leaving behind a singular resume..

“He changed basketball in this state, the way you compete, the way you win,” Steve Alford, the leader of Knight’s last national championship team in 1987, once said. “It started in Indiana, but he really changed college basketball. You look at the motion offense and people everywhere used it.”

Long esteemed for his strategy and often questioned for his methods, Knight reveled in constructing his best teams with overachievers. As a hard-to-please motivator, he clung to iron principles, and at 6-foot-5 was an intimidating presence for anyone who dared cross him.

When Knight retired in 2008, he left with four national championships (one as a player at Ohio State) and as the Division I men’s record-holder in wins. He coached everyone from Mike Krzyzewski to Isiah Thomas to Michael Jordan. His coaching tree included Krzyzewski, who broke Knight’s wins record; Alford; Lawrence Frank, Keith Smart, Randy Wittman and Mike Woodson, Indiana’s current coach, among others.

“We lost one of the greatest coaches in the history of basketball today,” Krzyzewski said. “Clearly, he was one of a kind. He recruited me, coached me, mentored me and had a profound impact on my career and in my life. This is a tremendous loss for our sport and our family is deeply saddened.”

Robert Montgomery Knight was born Oct. 25, 1940, in Massillon, Ohio. His mother, whom Knight credited as his strongest childhood influence, was a schoolteacher and his father worked for the railroad.

Hazel Knight seemed to understand her son’s temperament. Once, when Indiana was set to play Kentucky on television, two of Knight’s high school classmates ran into her at a grocery store and asked if she was excited about the game, according to his biography, “Knight: My Story.”

“I just hope he behaves,” his mother remarked.

He played basketball at Ohio State, where he was a reserve on three Final Four teams (1960-62). He was on the 1960 title team that featured Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek, two future Basketball Hall of Famers.

After a year as a high school assistant, Knight joined the staff of Tates Locke at West Point. In 1965, he took over as head coach at age 24. In six seasons, coaching the likes of Krzyzewski and Mike Silliman, his teams won 102 games and it was off to Indiana in 1971.

Knight quickly restored the Hoosiers’ basketball tradition with a revolutionary offense and an almost exclusively man-to-man defense. Most opponents struggled against his early Indiana teams, with the Hoosiers going 125-20 and winning four Big Ten Conference crowns in his first five seasons.

The run concluded with Indiana’s first national championship in 23 years. That 1975-76 team went 32-0, ending a two-year span when the Hoosiers were 63-1 and captured back-to-back Big Ten championships with 18-0 records. It remains the last time a major college men’s team finished with a perfect record. That team was voted the greatest in college basketball history by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association in 2013.

“One of the things that he said to our 1976 team, which I was fortunate enough to be a part of, was that you may never see another team like this again,” Indiana Board of Trustees chair Quinn Buckner said. “Well, I don’t know that we will ever see another coach like him again.”

Knight won his second title in 1981, beating Dean Smith’s North Carolina team after NCAA officials decided to play the game hours after President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded earlier in the day. His third title at Indiana came in 1987 when Smart hit a baseline jumper in the closing seconds to beat Syracuse, one of the most famous shots in tournament history.

Knight spent five decades competing against and usually beating some of the game’s most revered names — Adolph Rupp, Smith and John Wooden in the early years; Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino and Roy Williams in later years.

“He was a guy I idolized when I got here (in 1983) because Bobby Knight was the man,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. “He treated me great, and he helped me. I wish people knew what a great heart that he had. He was a different dude, but if you needed some help, he would answer the bell.”

The Olympic team Knight coached in Los Angeles in 1984 was the last amateur U.S. team to win gold in men’s basketball. And, to no surprise, it came with controversy. Knight kept Alford on his team while cutting the likes of future Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and John Stockton.

“I am so blessed that he saw something in me as a basketball player,” Woodson said in a statement. “He influenced my life in ways I could never repay. As he did with all of his players, he always challenged me to get the most out of myself as a player and more importantly, as a person. His record as a basketball coach speaks for itself. He will be remembered as one of the greatest ever.”

But winning and winning big was only part of Knight’s legacy.

Other big-time coaches might follow the gentlemanly, buttoned-up approach, but not Knight. He dressed in plaid sport coats and red sweaters, routinely berated referees and openly challenged decisions by NCAA and Big Ten leaders. His list of transgressions ran long:

— Knight was convicted in absentia of assaulting a Puerto Rican police officer during the 1979 Pan American Games.

— He forfeited an exhibition game to the Soviet Union in 1987 when he pulled his team off the court after being called for a third technical foul.

— He told NBC’s Connie Chung in a 1988 interview, “I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.” Knight was answering a question about how he handled stress and later tried to explain he was talking about something beyond one’s control, not the act of rape.

— He was accused of head-butting one player and kicking his own son, Pat, during a timeout.

— At a 1980 news conference he fired a blank from a starter’s pistol at a reporter. During the 1992 NCAA Tournament, Knight playfully used a bull whip on star player Calbert Cheaney, who is Black.

His most famous outburst came Feb. 23, 1985, when Purdue’s Steve Reid was about to attempt a free throw. A furious Knight picked up a red plastic chair and heaved it across the court, where it landed behind the basket. Fans started throwing pennies on the court, one hitting the wife of Purdue coach Gene Keady. Reid missed three of his next six ensuing free throws.

“There are times I walk into a meeting or a friend calls to say, ‘I saw you on TV last night,’” Reid said on the 20th anniversary of the incident. “I know what they’re talking about.”

Knight apologized the next day, received a one-game suspension and was put on probation for two years by the Big Ten. Intent on preventing such a thing again, Indiana officials chained together the chairs for both benches.

The iconic black-and-white photo of the incident remains a classic for Hoosiers fans and even became fodder for a television commercial with one of his old coaching rivals, former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps. Knight for years joked he was merely attempting to toss the chair to a woman looking for a seat.

Fifteen years after the chair toss, Knight’s temper led to his downfall in Bloomington. Video surfaced of Knight allegedly putting his hands around the neck of player Neil Reed during a 1997 practice, a charge that prompted Indiana President Myles Brand to put Knight on a zero-tolerance policy following a university investigation.

Then, on Sept. 10, 2000, after winning a school-record 662 games and 11 Big Ten titles in 29 seasons, his time at Indiana came to a shocking end. While passing Knight in an Assembly Hall corridor, Indiana student Kent Harvey said, “Hey, what’s up, Knight?” Knight considered it disrespectful, grabbed Harvey’s arm and lectured him about manners. A few days later, Brand fired Knight.

Students protested by tearing down a goal post at the football stadium, ripping a dolphin statue off a fountain and hanging Brand in effigy outside his home. Knight publicly condemned Brand’s leadership. Brand became NCAA president in 2002 and died in 2009 at 67 while still on the job. Neil Reed died in 2012 after collapsing in his California home. He was 36.

In 2003, Knight lashed out profanely after an ESPN reporter asked about his relationship with Alford, then the Iowa coach. The following year Knight received a reprimand after a verbal dust-up with David Smith, then the Texas Tech chancellor, as the two men stood at a grocery store salad bar.

He still won, too. In his first six years in West Texas, Knight led the Red Raiders to five 20-plus win seasons, a feat never previously achieved at the school. On Jan. 1, 2007, Knight won his 880th career game, breaking Dean Smith’s record with a win over New Mexico. Krzyzewski topped Knight’s mark in 2011, with his mentor broadcasting the game for ESPN.

For nearly two decades, Indiana officials attempted to make peace. Knight refused, even skipping his induction into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.

“I hope someday he will be honored at Indiana. That needs to happen. Somebody needs to make that happen,” Scott May, a starter on Knight’s 1976 championship team and an outspoken critic of Knight’s firing, pleaded as Knight stayed away. “I think they should name Assembly Hall after him.”

The ice finally broke in February 2020, a few months after Knight bought a new house in Bloomington. His first public appearance at Assembly Hall since the firing came at halftime of the Hoosiers’ game against rival Purdue.

Billed as a reunion between the coach and many of his former players, the halftime celebration became a sustained roar for The General. May and Quinn Buckner, who also played on Knight’s first title team, helped the aging coach — no longer steady on his feet — walk onto the court.

“When he moved back here, I knew he was in a good place,” said Wittman, who played on the 1981 national champs. “I knew he was happy here, living, and I told him you belong here.”

Knight didn’t speak to the crowd that day. It spoke to him.

“We love you, Bobby,” one fan shouted during a brief pause from the crowd, a scene that brought the steely Knight to tears.

Away from the court, Knight was an avid golfer who loved to read, especially history, and donated generously to school libraries at Indiana and Texas Tech. He would vacation in far-flung places to hunt and fish with family or friends such as baseball great Ted Williams or manager Tony La Russa.

Knight also made a cameo appearance in the 2003 movie “Anger Management” with Adam Sandler. In 2006, he starred in “Knight School,” an ESPN reality show in which 16 Texas Tech students vied for the chance to walk on to his team the following season.

A month after leaving Tech, Knight, who often lashed out at reporters, joined ESPN as a guest studio analyst during the 2008 NCAA Tournament. The next season, he expanded his role as a color commentator. The network parted with Knight in 2015.

He returned to public view in 2016, campaigning for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and kept a mostly low profile until returning to the campus where he became a household name and the state where his presence was so big, his death was announced in retail stores Wednesday night.

“I was standing there, and he was coach Knight,” Wittman said, referring to Knight’s pregame speech in February 2020. “It was like he hadn’t left that locker room. The words he gave to those players before they went out on the floor, it was fabulous.”

Survivors include wife Karen and sons Tim and Pat.

___

Former Associated Press writer Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, contributed to this report.

___

AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

“My experience with Bauer is not anything remotely close to what everyone else’s experience is. I love him, I think he’s an awesome guy. The personal things? I have no control,” the former Red Sox star told the LA Times while at the World Series filming content for the league. “He’s an awesome pitcher. He’s a great guy.”

Betts and Bauer were teammates on the Dodgers in 2021, after Bauer signed a three-year, $102 million contract. That June, a San Diego woman sought an order of protection against Bauer, and alleged that he’d committed sexual battery against her on two occasions. MLB placed him on administrative leave – and extended said leave nine times – as they investigated.

In April 2022, the league handed down an unprecedented 324-game suspension, more than twice the length of the previous record, under their Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Child Abuse policy. After an independent arbiter reduced Bauer’s suspension to 194 games last December, the Dodgers released him. When no MLB team signed him, he spent the season pitching in Japan.

Bauer recently settled the sexual assault case in question, but he’s also been accused of similar behavior by three women in different states. Not long after the first woman came forward, news broke that an Ohio woman had obtained an order of protection against the pitcher in June 2020, for a similar incident in 2017. The Washington Post published disturbing messages Bauer allegedly sent the woman. “I don’t feel like spending time in jail for killing someone,” read one. “And that’s what would happen if I saw you again.”

The Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds, whom Bauer pitched for during those years, denied having any knowledge of the situation.

In June of this year, an Arizona woman filed a lawsuit against the pitcher, alleging that, in 2020, he’d raped her while holding a knife to her throat, choked her until she passed out, and that she became pregnant. She‘d previously filed a complaint against him in December regarding the incident, but no charges were filed. He countersued in April and claimed the encounter was consensual. While he alleged that the woman tried to extort him and that she terminated the pregnancy, he admitted to paying her $8,761 for “expenses.” Her complaint states that she miscarried.

Long before any of this began, Bauer already had a reputation for online harassment of women in sports. In the late 2010s, he made it a point to send his hundreds of thousands of followers after female reporters and fans, sometimes in retaliation for criticism, other times unprovoked. In 2019, the then-27-year-old pitcher spent over 24 hours harassing a college student because she tweeted that he was her “least favorite person in all sports.” He tweeted at and about her 80 different times, continuing to target her long after she stopped responding and blocked him.

Betts’ show of support for Bauer is a sharp pivot from several previous reports which described a disgusted Dodgers clubhouse that wanted nothing to do with their disgraced teammate. It was also met with scorn by many baseball fans on social media, who pointed out that, of course, Betts’ experience with Bauer wouldn’t have been “anything remotely close to” those of the women accusing him of assault.

Meet the press

The Red Sox are waiting until Thursday, an off-day in the ongoing World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers, to officially introduce Craig Breslow as their new chief baseball officer.

Monday was the 10th anniversary of the Red Sox winning it all in 2013, a championship to which Breslow was instrumental. Serendipitously, his reintroduction falls on Nov. 2, the 10th anniversary of the World Series parade.

Around the league

ALCS MVP Adolis García and Max Scherzer, who left Monday night’s start with back tightness, will miss the remainder of the World Series due to a strain and back tightness, respectively, the Texas Rangers announced on Tuesday evening.

In his first-ever postseason, García’s bat has impressed some of baseball’s greatest hitters, including David Ortiz. Over 15 games, the 30-year-old Cuban outfielder hit .323 with a 1.108 OPS, eight home runs (tied for second-most in a single postseason in MLB history) and 15 RBI. Losing him is a crushing blow to the Rangers, who are vying for their first championship.

Aaron Judge still hasn’t played in a World Series, but he can add the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award to his already-crowded trophy cabinet. After winning the American League MVP award and breaking fellow Yankee Roger Maris’ AL Home Run record in 2022, Judge was singled out as the Major Leaguer “who best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field” this year.

The Yankees’ newest captain received baseball’s “highest honor” (commissioner Rob Manfred’s words) for his All Rise Foundation, which supports youth in New York and the San Joaquin and Fresno, California counties where he grew up.

After letting the Giants hire Bob Melvin, the Padres are in search of a new manager for the seventh time in nine years. According to Dennis Lin of The Athletic, Benji Gil, Phil Nevin, and Eric Chavez are among the external candidates, but former Cardinals manager Mike Shildt and Ryan Flaherty are still the favorites.

SEEDS: 1. Concord-Carlisle (15-0-1); 2. Needham (14-2-2); 3. Acton-Boxborough (12-1-3); 4. St. John’s Prep (14-1-2); 5. Weymouth (12-3-4); 6. Brookline (11-6-1); 7. Newton North (8-5-5); 8. Newton South (8-4-5); 9. Lowell (16-3-1); 10. Franklin (13-0-5); 11. Winchester (13-1-2); 12. Brockton (11-3-2); 13. Framingham (9-7-2); 14. Natick (6-7-3); 15. Boston College High (10-5-3); 16. Leominster (11-4-3); 17. Lincoln-Sudbury (6-5-5); 18. Braintree (9-5-4); 19. Cambridge Rindge & Latin (8-7-1); 20. Ludlow (15-1-2); 21. Somerville (15-2-1); 22. North Andover (11-3-4); 23. Attleboro (13-1-4); 24. Shrewsbury (9-7-2); 25. Beverly (11-5-2); 26. Saint John’s (9-7-2); 27. Algonquin (9-7-2); 28. Barnstable (10-3-5); 29. Westford Academy (7-9-0); 30. Belmont (10-5-4); 31. Lexington (8-4-7); 32. Peabody Veterans (8-3-5); 33. Durfee (9-3-4); 34. Plymouth North (12-2-4); 35. Medford (11-6-1); 36. Boston Latin (7-7-4); 37. King Philip Regional (8-5-5); 38. New Bedford (6-5-7); 39. Bishop Feehan (10-7-1); 40. Marshfield (8-7-3); 41. Methuen (8-6-4); 42. Springfield Central (10-5-1); 43. Diman RVT (9-7-3)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – Durfee at Peabody

GAME 2 – Methuen at Shrewsbury

GAME 3 – Marshfield at Beverly

GAME 4 – Boston Latin at Westford Academy

GAME 5 – King Philip at Barnstable

GAME 6 – Plymouth North at Lexington

GAME 7 – Springfield Central at Attleboro

GAME 8 – Bishop Feehan at St. John’s (S)

GAME 9 – Medford at Belmont

GAME 10 – Diman at North Andover

GAME 11 – New Bedford at Algonquin

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 12 – Game 1 winner at Concord-Carlisle

GAME 13 – Lincoln-Sudbury at Leominster

GAME 14 – Game 2 winner at Lowell

GAME 15 – Game 3 winner at Newton South

GAME 16 – Game 4 winner at St. John’s Prep

GAME 17 – Ludlow at Framingham

GAME 18 – Somerville at Brockton

GAME 19 – Game 5 winner at Weymouth

GAME 20 – Game 6 winner at Needham

GAME 21 – Braintree at BC High

GAME 22 – Game 7 winner at Franklin

GAME 23 – Game 8 winner at Newton North

GAME 24 – Game 9 winner at Acton-Boxboro

GAME 25 – Cambridge at Natick

GAME 26 – Game 10 winner at Winchester

GAME 27 – Game 11 winner at Brookline

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 28 – Game 12 winner vs. Game 13 winner

GAME 29 – Game 14 winner vs. Game 15 winner

GAME 30 – Game 16 winner vs. Game 17 winner

GAME 31 – Game 18 winner vs. Game 19 winner

GAME 32 – Game 20 winner vs. Game 21 winner

GAME 33 – Game 22 winner vs. Game 23 winner

GAME 34 – Game 24 winner vs. Game 25 winner

GAME 35 – Game 26 winner vs. Game 27 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 36 – Game 28 winner vs. Game 29 winner

GAME 37 – Game 30 winner vs. Game 31 winner

GAME 38 – Game 32 winner vs. Game 33 winner

GAME 39 – Game 34 winner vs. Game 35 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 40 – Game 36 winner vs. Game 37 winner

GAME 41 – Game 38 winner vs. Game 39 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 42 – Game 40 winner vs. Game 41 winner

DIVISION 2

SEEDS: 1. Bedford (9-2-5); 2. Billerica Memorial (16-1-1); 3. Hingham (17-1-0); 4. Nashoba Regional (17-1-0); 5. Wakefield Memorial (13-3-2); 6. Oliver Ames (14-3-1); 7. Melrose (13-3-2); 8. Hopkinton (12-2-4); 9. Grafton (15-2-1); 10. Westwood (9-4-3); 11. Masconomet Regional (12-2-4); 12. Somerset Berkley Reg. (14-1-3); 13. Marlborough (10-7-1); 14. West Springfield (11-3-4); 15. Dartmouth (8-6-2); 16. Wayland (6-9-2); 17. Reading Memorial (5-6-5); 18. Westborough (6-8-3); 19. Revere (9-3-3); 20. Walpole (5-10-3); 21. East Longmeadow (7-6-5); 22. Milton (3-11-4); 23. Mansfield (6-7-5); 24. North Attleborough (7-8-3); 25. Duxbury (7-5-5); 26. Minnechaug (7-9-2); 27. Marblehead (5-9-4); 28. Milford (4-10-4); 29. Agawam (7-7-4); 30. Woburn Memorial (3-10-3); 31. Longmeadow (3-6-9); 32. Doherty Memorial (9-6-3); 33. Northampton (10-7-1); 34. South High Community (9-4-3); 35. North High (10-6-2); 36. Scituate (7-7-4); 37. Plymouth South (8-8-2); 38. Chicopee Comp. (12-6-0); 39. Southeastern RVT (11-3-2)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – Northampton at Doherty

GAME 2 – Scituate at Agawam

GAME 3 – Plymouth South at Milford

GAME 4 – South at Longmeadow

GAME 5 – Southeastern at Minnechaug

GAME 6 – North at Woburn

GAME 7 – Chicopee Comp. at Marblehead

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 8 – Game 1 winner at Bedford

GAME 9 – Reading at Wayland

GAME 10 – North Attleboro at Grafton

GAME 11 – Duxbury at Hopkinton

GAME 12 – Game 2 winner at Nashoba

GAME 13 – Walpole at Marlboro

GAME 14 – East Longmeadow at Somerset Berkley

GAME 15 – Game 3 winner at Wakefield

GAME 16 – Game 4 winner at Billerica

GAME 17 – Westborough at Dartmouth

GAME 18 – Mansfield at Westwood

GAME 19 – Game 5 winner at Melrose

GAME 20 – Game 6 winner at Hingham

GAME 21 – Revere at West Springfield

GAME 22 – Milton at Masconomet

GAME 23 – Game 7 winner at Oliver Ames

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 24 – Game 8 winner vs. Game 9 winner

GAME 25 – Game 10 winner vs. Game 11 winner

GAME 26 – Game 12 winner vs. Game 13 winner

GAME 27 – Game 14 winner vs. Game 15 winner

GAME 28 – Game 16 winner vs. Game 17 winner

GAME 29 – Game 18 winner vs. Game 19 winner

GAME 30 – Game 20 winner vs. Game 21 winner

GAME 31 – Game 22 winner vs. Game 23 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 32 – Game 24 winner vs. Game 25 winner

GAME 33 – Game 26 winner vs. Game 27 winner

GAME 34 – Game 28 winner vs. Game 29 winner

GAME 35 – Game 30 winner vs. Game 31 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 36 – Game 32 winner vs. Game 33 winner

GAME 37 – Game 34 winner vs. Game 35 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 38 – Game 46 winner vs. Game 37 winner

DIVISION 3

SEEDS: 1. Oakmont Regional (16-2-0); 2. Gloucester (14-3-1); 3. Norwell (15-2-2); 4. Pembroke (14-2-1); 5. Ashland (12-5-1); 6. Dedham (11-3-4); 7. Blackstone Valley RVT (14-1-3); 8. Swampscott (13-2-3); 9. Dover-Sherborn (10-6-2); 10. Nauset Regional (11-1-6); 11. Medfield (9-6-3); 12. North Middlesex Reg. (11-4-3); 13. North Reading (12-3-3); 14. St. Mary’s (12-2-4); 15. Newburyport (12-4-2); 16. Holliston (7-6-3); 17. Greater New Bedford (9-3-5); 18. Hanover (9-5-4); 19. Medway (7-4-7); 20. Boston Latin Academy (13-5-0); 21. Tantasqua Regional (14-3-1); 22. Watertown (9-9-2); 23. Belchertown (9-5-4); 24. Tewksbury Memorial (8-7-3); 25. Greater Lowell Tech (13-2-1); 26. Dighton-Rehoboth (9-1-8); 27. Old Rochester Regional (11-5-2); 28. Sandwich (10-3-4); 29. Weston (7-10-1); 30. Pope Francis (8-5-5); 31. East Bridgewater (11-5-4); 32. Norton (6-10-2); 33. Auburn (11-4-3); 34. Martha’s Vineyard Reg. (8-7-3); 35. Archbishop Williams (11-4-4); 36. Shawsheen Valley Tech (11-5-2); 37. Essex North Shore (8-7-3); 38. Fairhaven (9-9-1); 39. Assabet Valley RVT (8-7-3); 40. Chicopee (8-8-2); 41. Taconic (12-4-2)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – Auburn at Norton

GAME 2 – Taconic at Tewksbury

GAME 3 – Chicopee at Greater Lowell

GAME 4 – Shawsheen at Weston

GAME 5 – Essex Tech at Sandwich

GAME 6 – Martha’s Vineyard at East Bridgewater

GAME 7 – Assabet Valley at Dighton-Rehoboth

GAME 8 – Archbishop Williams at Pope Francis

GAME 9 – Fairhaven at Old Rochester

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 10 – Game 1 winner at Oakmont

GAME 11 – Greater New Bedford ar Holliston

GAME 12 – Game 2 winner at Dover-Sherborn

GAME 13 – Game 3 winner at Swampscott

GAME 14 – Game 4 winner at Pembroke

GAME 15 – Latin Academy at North Reading

GAME 16 – Tantasqua at North Middlesex

GAME 17 – Game 5 winner at Ashland

GAME 18 – Game 6 winner at Gloucester

GAME 19 – Hanover at Newburyport

GAME 20 – Belchertown at Nauset

GAME 21 – Game 7 winner at Blackstone Valley

GAME 22 – Game 8 winner at Norwell

GAME 23 – Medway at St. Mary’s

GAME 24 – Watertown at Medfield

GAME 25 – Game 9 winner at Dedham

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 26 – Game 10 winner vs. Game 11 winner

GAME 27 – Game 12 winner vs. Game 13 winner

GAME 28 – Game 14 winner vs. Game 15 winner

GAME 29 – Game 16 winner vs. Game 17 winner

GAME 30 – Game 18 winner vs. Game 19 winner

GAME 31 – Game 20 winner vs. Game 21 winner

GAME 32 – Game 22 winner vs. Game 23 winner

GAME 33 – Game 24 winner vs. Game 25 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 34 – Game 26 winner vs. Game 27 winner

GAME 35 – Game 28 winner vs. Game 29 winner

GAME 36 – Game 30 winner vs. Game 31 winner

GAME 37 – Game 32 winner vs. Game 33 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 38 – Game 34 winner vs. Game 35 winner

GAME 39 – Game 46 winner vs. Game 37 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 40 – Game 38 winner vs. Game 39 winner

DIVISION 4

SEEDS: 1. Cohasset (13-3-2); 2. Lynnfield (14-2-2); 3. Hampshire Regional (15-0-3);
4. Hamilton-Wenham (13-1-2); 5. Gardner (12-3-2); 6. Excel Academy Charter (13-3-0); 7. Monument Mountain (10-4-4); 8. Frontier Regional (16-1-1); 9. Monomoy (12-3-3);
10. Rockland (11-6-1); 11. Lunenburg (10-5-2); 12. Northeast Metro RVT (12-4-2); 13. Advanced Math & Science (12-4-2); 14. Lynn Vo-Tech (9-5-3); 15. Millbury (11-6-1);
16. Whitinsville Christian (8-5-5); 17. Nantucket (11-4-3); 18. Abington (10-6-2); 19. Pittsfield (7-9-2); 20. Bay Path RVT (10-7-0); 21. Stoneham (4-12-2); 22. Leicester (10-6-2); 23. Bellingham (3-11-4); 24. Littleton (3-12-2); 25. Tyngsborough (4-10-4); 26. Ipswich (7-9-2); 27. East Boston (6-9-2); 28. Minuteman Regional (14-2-0); 29. Winthrop (6-11-1); 30. Manchester-Essex (4-10-4); 31. Northbridge (9-9-0); 32. Mashpee (5-10-3); 33. Greater Lawrence Tech (8-8-2); 34. Sturgis Charter East (6-6-5); 35. Tri-County RVT (8-3-5); 36. South Hadley (8-8-2); 37. Trivium School (11-4-1); 38. Westfield Technical Acad. (11-7-0); 39. O’Bryant (8-3-6); 40. Falmouth Academy (8-6-3); 41. Blue Hills RVT (7-7-2); 42. South Shore Vo-Tech (9-7-1)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – Greater Lawrence at Mashpee

GAME 2 – Blue Hills at Littleton

GAME 3 – Falmouth Academy at Tyngsboro

GAME 4 – South Hadley at Winthrop

GAME 5 – Trivium at Minuteman

GAME 6 – Sturgis East at Northbridge

GAME 7 – South Shore Tech at Bellingham

GAME 8 – O’Bryant at Ipswich

GAME 9 – Tri-County at Manchester-Essex

GAME 10 – Westfield Tech at East Boston

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 11 – Game 1 winner at Cohasset

GAME 12 – Nantucket at Whitinsville Christian

GAME 13 – Game 2 winner at Monomoy

GAME 14 – Game 3 winner at Frontier

GAME 15 – Game 4 winner at Hamilton-Wenham

GAME 16 – Bay Path at AMSA

GAME 17 – Stoneham at Northeast

GAME 18 – Game 5 winner at Gardner

GAME 19 – Game 6 winner at Lynnfield

GAME 20 – Abington at Millbury

GAME 21 – Game 7 winner at Rockland

GAME 22 – Game 8 winner at Monument Mountain

GAME 23 – Game 9 winner at Hampshire

GAME 24 – Pittsfield at Lynn Tech

GAME 25 – Leicester at Lunenburg

GAME 26 – Game 10 winner at Excel Academy

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 27 – Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner

GAME 28 – Game 13 winner vs. Game 14 winner

GAME 29 – Game 15 winner vs. Game 16 winner

GAME 30 – Game 17 winner vs. Game 18 winner

GAME 31 – Game 19 winner vs. Game 20 winner

GAME 32 – Game 21 winner vs. Game 22 winner

GAME 33 – Game 23 winner vs. Game 24 winner

GAME 34 – Game 25 winner vs. Game 26 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 35 – Game 27 winner vs. Game 28 winner

GAME 36 – Game 29 winner vs. Game 30 winner

GAME 37 – Game 31 winner vs. Game 32 winner

GAME 38 – Game 33 winner vs. Game 34 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 39 – Game 35 winner vs. Game 36 winner

GAME 40 – Game 37 winner vs. Game 38 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 41 – Game 39 winner vs. Game 40 winner

DIVISION 5

SEEDS: 1. Sutton (13-2-3); 2. Douglas (10-2-5); 3. Bromfield School (13-4-1); 4. Boston International (16-2-0); 5. Maynard (10-5-3); 6. Tahanto Regional (7-8-1); 7. Burke (8-7-2); 8. Westport (17-0-1); 9. Hopedale (5-7-6); 10. Rockport (12-6-0); 11. Ayer Shirley (12-5-2); 12. Saint John Paul II (8-7-3); 13. Mount Greylock Reg. (7-7-3); 14. Mystic Valley Reg. Charter (8-9-1); 15. Keefe Tech (10-4-4); 16. Mahar Regional (12-4-0); 17. Ware (16-0-2); 18. Georgetown (6-10-1); 19. Quaboag Regional (7-7-4);
20. Salem Academy Charter (8-8-0); 21. Brighton (5-6-3); 22. KIPP Academy Lynn Coll. (8-6-3); 23. Pioneer Char. Of Science (7-4-3); 24. Hull (7-10-1); 25. University Park Campus (8-9-1); 26. Upper Cape Cod RVT (14-2-2); 27. Tech Boston Academy (5-9-1); 28. Millis (2-14-2); 29. Athol (14-4-0); 30. Smith Vo-Tech (13-4-1); 31. Pathfinder RVT (14-4-0); 32. Rising Tide Charter (9-6-3); 33. Lenox Memorial (9-8-0); 34. Hoosac Valley (12-4-2); 35. Atlantis Charter (9-6-2); 36. Charlestown (8-3-2); 37. Neighborhood House (9-5-4); 38. Smith Academy (11-3-4); 39. Granby (11-1-6); 40. Pioneer Vall. Chinese Imm. (11-5-2); 41. Holbrook (9-7-2); 42. Excel (7-5-1); 43. Turners Falls (6-4-1); 44. Roxbury Prep Charter (4-3-5); 45. Greenfield (11-6-1); 46. McCann Tech (8-8-2); 47. Boston Collegiate Charter (6-5-5); 48. Pioneer Valley Regional (10-7-1)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – Lenox at Rising Tide

GAME 2 – Pioneer Valley at Ware

GAME 3 – Holbrook at Hull

GAME 4 – PV Chinese Immersion at University Park

GAME 5 – Charlestown at Avon

GAME 6 – Greenfield at Salem Academy

GAME 7 – Roxbury Prep at Brighton

GAME 8 – Neighborhood House at Millis

GAME 9 – Hoosac Valley at Pathfinder

GAME 10 – Boston Collegiate at Georgetown

GAME 11 – Excel at Pioneer Charter

GAME 12 – Granby ar Upper Cape

GAME 13 – Atlantis Charter at Smith Tech

GAME 14 – McCann at Quaboag

GAME 15 – Turners Falls as KIPP

GAME 16 – Smith Academy at Tech Boston

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 17 – Game 1 winner at Sutton

GAME 18 – Game 2 winner at Mahar

GAME 19 – Game 3 winner at Hopedale

GAME 20 – Game 4 winner at Westport

GAME 21 – Game 5 winner at Boston International

GAME 22 – Game 6 winner at Mt. Greylock

GAME 23 – Game 7 winner at St. John Paul

GAME 24 – Game 8 winner at Maynard

GAME 25 – Game 9 winner at Douglas

GAME 26 – Game 10 winner at Keefe Tech

GAME 27 – Game 11 winner at Rockport

GAME 28 – Game 12 winner at Burke

GAME 29 – Game 13 winner at Bromfield

GAME 30 – Game 14 winner at Mystic Valley

GAME 31 – Game 15 winner at Ayer Shirley

GAME 32 – Game 16 winner at Tahanto

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 33 – Game 17 winner vs. Game 18 winner

GAME 34 – Game 19 winner vs. Game 20 winner

GAME 35 – Game 21 winner vs. Game 22 winner

GAME 36 – Game 23 winner vs. Game 24 winner

GAME 37 – Game 25 winner vs. Game 26 winner

GAME 38 – Game 27 winner vs. Game 28 winner

GAME 39 – Game 29 winner vs. Game 30 winner

GAME 40 – Game 31 winner vs. Game 32 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 41 – Game 33 winner vs. Game 34 winner

GAME 42 – Game 35 winner vs. Game 36 winner

GAME 43 – Game 37 winner vs. Game 38 winner

GAME 44 – Game 39 winner vs. Game 40 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 45 – Game 41 winner vs. Game 42 winner

GAME 46 – Game 43 winner vs. Game 44 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 47 – Game 45 winner vs. Game 46 winner

NEW YORK — Cher will come out of “retirement” to perform in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, appearing in the lineup just before the only star big enough to have the “Believe” singer as an opener: Santa Claus.

The Grammy-, Emmy- and Oscar-winner will perform at the end of the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan, thrilling the audience before the man of the hour closes the festivities.

Timing will be perfect for the 77-year-old superstar, who just released her first new album in five years, “Christmas.” She’s also expected to drop a 25th anniversary edition of 1998’s “Believe” on Friday.

This year’s parade will begin 30 minutes earlier than usual, at 8:30 a.m., to accommodate a packed schedule of performers and celebrities, Macy’s announced Wednesday.

“Our talented team of Macy’s Studios artisans and production specialists work year-round to deliver the nation’s most beloved holiday event, live on Thanksgiving morning,” parade producer Will Cross said in a statement.

Grammy winner Jon Batiste will open the parade. Other performers include Pentatonix, Manuel Turizo, Chicago, Brandy and Jessie James Decker, among many more.

This year’s parade will include 5,000 volunteers, 16 featured character balloons, 26 floats, 32 heritage and novelty balloons, 12 marching bands and nine performance groups. One of the marching bands will come from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, site of a mass shooting in 2018.

Olympic gymnastics silver medalist Jordan Chiles, Paralympic swimming gold medalist Jessica Long and 2023 Miss America Grace Stanke will be in attendance, with parade organizers teasing “additional stars to be announced.”

There will be seven new massive balloons this year, including Po from “Kung Fu Panda” and the Pillsbury Doughboy. Classics including SpongeBob, Ronald McDonald and Pikachu will return as well.

Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker from the “Today” show will host the festivities on NBC.

In recent years, Macy’s has sought to have superstars perform near the end of the parade to signal Santa’s entrance. The “Queen of Christmas,” Mariah Carey, got the honor last year.

©2023 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Bill Belichick pacing another sideline in another team’s colors, sneering and snorting at another team’s press conferences after 24 years in New England.

Then again, so was a 2-6 start to this season.

And a sub.-500 record for Belichick over a three-and-a half-year span.

And a Belichick-coached team ever sitting last in the AFC, having committed the second-most penalties in the league with the NFL’s third-worst turnover margin.

Yet, here we are.

The Patriots are a bad football team. Their roster is starved for blue-chip talent and a quarterback of the future. Belichick hand-picked every person in his locker room, front office and coaching ranks. He is responsible for everything.

If the Pats continue charging toward a 4-13 or 5-12 finish, it only reasons the door could swing open for Belichick to leave this January. Few NFL coaches or GMs survive a four-year run with a 45% winning percentage, let alone when that person is one and the same. Robert Kraft cleaning house has crossed the minds of multiple folks working in football operations with more than half a season left.

Whether Kraft turns the knob, Belichick kicks the door down himself or they agree to a mutual parting of ways, it’s believed Belichick will not go gentle into that good night of retirement. Reports have long indicated Belichick is committed to, perhaps even hellbent on, breaking Don Shula’s record for most coaching wins all-time. He’s 17 wins away from leaping Shula.

Perhaps more to the point, Belichick is someone raised in a film room who’s spent 49 of his 71 years on Earth coaching NFL football. Life, as Belichick knows it, needs football as much as water or oxygen.

The question is: could Belichick leave for the Patriots’ next opponent?

The Commanders should offer a cozy landing spot, even if only for the two years Belichick may need to seize his record. Washington is under a new ownership group led by 76ers co-owner and managing partner Josh Harris. That group is flashing all the usual signs of new owner behavior.

First, they make a public effort to ingratiate themselves with fans. Next comes spending unholy gobs of money. Washington is scheduled to have the fourth-most cap space in the league this spring, after off-loading top pass rushers Chase Young and Montez Sweat before Tuesday’s trade deadline.

Bill Belichick dodges on Patriots’ inactivity at NFL trade deadline

Once the offseason hits, it's another safe bet Harris and Co. will advance to step three: hiring their own people. Ron Rivera is seven games below .500 in his three-plus years as Washington's head coach. Third-year general manager Martin Mayhew doesn't have a standout draft class on his resume.

Belichick could fill both jobs with one signature and instantly restore the Commanders to relevancy. No other coach or GM can offer that. Belichick would represent the ultimate big splash, and new owners love nothing, nothing more than stealing headlines and soaking the competition. (See: the new-look Broncos signing Sean Payton.)

What about Belichick's contract?

Since the NFL Network reported that Belichick signed a new deal this spring, insiders from ESPN to Sports Illustrated have thrown water on the idea that it represents an ironclad commitment between coach and team.  NBC Sports Boston's Tom Curran reported the only known detail about the contract, saying it runs through 2024. If true, Belichick's future in that sense is no more guaranteed than any other losing head coach's, given NFL teams rarely, if ever, allow coaches to enter a contract year.

Bill O’Brien offers blunt assessment of disappointing Patriots offense

Even if Belichick's deal becomes an obstacle, financially or otherwise, the Patriots could always trade him. Washington just added two valuable draft picks at the deadline. An ownership group that dropped more than $6 billion to buy the team won't let money stand in the way.

As a Maryland native, Belichick would also return home. He could rehire old pal Josh McDaniels to run his offense and bring sons Steve and Brian to fill out his defensive staff. Belichick is well aware of Washington's storied history, having coached against the then Redskins for more than a decade when he was a Giants assistant in the 1980s.

Asked about that history Wednesday, Belichick spent a curious amount of his time discussing ownership.

"George Preston Marshall bought the team, moved it to Washington, had it a long time. Sold it to (Jack Kent) Cooke. Cooke won three Super Bowls with (Joe) Gibbs. (Daniel) Snyder bought it, and they’ve rebranded in the last couple years. It’s one of the older franchises in the league, I don’t know," he said.

Of course, the Commanders are among several teams that could entertain coaching changes this offseason, including one that's already pulled the trigger. They are: the Jets, Raiders, Browns, Chargers, Buccaneers and Bears.

Belichick isn't packing up for New York or Cleveland again. He's not following Brady's shadow in Tampa or Brady to Las Vegas, where his former top lieutenant got canned after 25 games. The Chargers' ownership is famously cheap and dysfunctional. Chicago could appeal, though the Bears' are only in Year 2 with their new head coach and GM.

That leaves only the Commanders. Stretch your imagination. Picture it again.

Can't you see it?

There hasn’t been so much as a chirp since from leading state Democrats, particularly those who may have to grapple in the next General Assembly session with a proposal to make additional funds available to the team.

Political experts say few in his own party may be ready to publicly question Moore — a dynamic new governor with many powers regarding state spending and decision-making — over the terms of the arrangement with Angelos, although a Republican legislative leader is expressing concerns.

The deal became public during a Sept. 28 game, when a hastily arranged announcement appeared as a scoreboard message and the display cut to a feed from the owner’s box showing the governor and Angelos. The text of the celebratory message failed to convey that there was no lease, only a nonbinding “memorandum of understanding.”

Treasurer Dereck Davis, Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Senate President Bill Ferguson — all Democrats who previously had spoken forcefully about the need to get a new lease before the current one expires Dec. 31 — declined interview requests from The Baltimore Sun about the memorandum. House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and other legislative leaders also declined to comment.

The highest-profile public responses from Democrats came after Moore’s office solicited canned comments Sept. 28 from members of Maryland’s congressional delegation to distribute to the media the next day.

“The Governor would appreciate statements of support from Members (something along the lines of being encouraged by the MOU, progress being made to keep the Orioles and boost Baltimore),” said an email from Washington-based Moore aide Matthew Verghese to Maryland congressmen and senators. “Please let me know if you think you can provide one by tonight!” said the email, which was obtained by The Sun.

Delegation members received a summary of the memorandum of understanding from the governor’s office. Echoing Moore’s previous statements, the email said the agreement would bring the stadium’s operations in line with best practices from around the country and “boost private sector investment around the stadium and across the city while creating good-paying jobs and diversifying our economy.”

Most of the Democratic federal lawmakers responded with written quotes congratulating Moore on the progress toward a significant agreement.

According to Verghese’s Sept. 28 email, the governor’s “timeline” was to announce the memorandum of understanding the next day.

Instead, it happened between innings at the game that night. Two top officials of the Maryland Stadium Authority, the state entity that oversees Camden Yards, said they did not know about the plan to make the announcement to fans at the stadium until that day. They asked that their names not be used because they were not authorized to speak about the ongoing negotiations.

David Turner, a senior adviser and communications director for Moore, declined to comment Wednesday on why the announcement was moved up.

Moore administration members held a media briefing the next day to provide details of the memorandum of understanding. They also sent out two news releases with the solicited quotes, remarks that the governor’s office sent again Tuesday to The Sun.

The eight-page memorandum contains specific terms covering issues such as stadium rent, advertising signs, parking and ground lease approvals. It is not legally binding but says it outlines “key components” of the plans of the team and the stadium authority, while remaining subject to “additional modification.”

In an Oct. 4 guest commentary in The Sun, former Stadium Authority Chair Thomas Kelso, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan who Moore replaced last winter with his own choice, wrote that there are “numerous issues that need scrutiny” in the memorandum of understanding.

In particular, Kelso is concerned that the Orioles, not the state, would have authority over state-funded improvements to the ballpark.

“These changes will eviscerate the MSA’s role and responsibility at Oriole Park and reverse nearly four decades of success,” he wrote.

Kelso also questioned whether the state would receive adequate compensation for allowing the Orioles to work with private firms to develop state-owned land around Camden Yards, including the former B&O Railroad warehouse and Camden Station, that the state and team have long said are underutilized. Under the plan, the Orioles would pay $94 million in rent over a 99-year term.

The memorandum of understanding also proposes a safety and repair fund for ballpark projects that would cost $3.3 million per year, or about $100 million over a 30-year lease. The General Assembly would need to approve those funds, and the Ravens would seem to be eligible for a matching amount under a parity clause that requires the state to provide the teams “fairly comparable” lease terms.

In the weeks since the Sept. 28 game, The Sun sought interviews with state Democratic leaders about the memorandum.

“The president is looking forward to a lease being signed, and it would be more appropriate to comment when that is complete,” said David Schuhlein, a spokesman for Ferguson.

It’s not known when that will happen. Asked Tuesday about the status of negotiations, Moore spokesperson Carter Elliott called the memorandum of understanding “a strong framework” and said the state and the Orioles “are diligently fleshing out the details around the announced terms to align on final lease terms.”

The Orioles finished their 101-win season with a collapse in the American League Division Series, leaving the looming lease expiration one of the last big events on the team’s horizon for 2023.

“Mark my words, and you can bet on it, the Orioles will be here for 30 years,” Moore said in an impassioned speech during an Oct. 4 meeting of the Maryland Board of Public Works. The state spending board, composed of Moore, Davis and Lierman, ultimately needs to approve a lease.

The memorandum of understanding places state Democratic lawmakers in a sensitive spot, according to political analysts.

Under a 2022 law, the stadium authority can borrow up to $1.2 billion to pay for stadium improvements — $600 million each for the Orioles and Ravens. Ferguson said in August that he didn’t envision the General Assembly making additional resources available.

Now, the memorandum suggests the legislature approve the safety and repair fund of about $3.3 million a year for the Orioles, which could trigger a matching amount for the Ravens.

“We passed this legislation that freed up an unprecedented amount of money. I supported it,” said Republican Del. Jason Buckel of Allegany County, the House minority leader. “I haven’t seen anyone advocate for going beyond the $600 million. I don’t know that there is a huge appetite in the General Assembly across party lines to invest hundreds of [millions] of dollars in more money.”

Moore — who took office in January for a four-year term and is popular within his party — has invested significant political capital in teaming with Angelos on their plans to sign a ballpark agreement and revitalize downtown Baltimore.

“Governors in our state, in particularly in comparison to other states, have a whole lot of power, and a whole lot of budget power,” said Roger E. Hartley, dean of the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs. “So people don’t want to offend the governor. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have disagreements. They might not make those disagreements public.”

It can be risky to challenge a new governor, said political analyst Flavio Hickel, an assistant political science professor at Washington College.

“It sounds like there are an awful lot of unknowns here,” Hickel said. ”When you don’t how a political leader will react, that’s the most dangerous situation.”

()

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Katie Rayburn on Wednesday ordered the alleged shooter, Patrick Mendoza, 54, to remain behind bars until next May, a day after the suspect pleaded not guilty to charges related to the July 12 shooting outside of Modern Pastry on Hanover Street.

The incident allegedly involved a man Mendoza is said to have had a long-simmering relationship with. While no one was injured, Modern sustained damage to its window.

Mendoza, whose family owns Monica’s Trattoria on Prince Street, has been held without bail since late July after he was charged with assault by means of a dangerous weapon, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery.

The long-time North End resident also faces charges of carrying a firearm without an FID card or license, possession of ammunition without an FID card, witness intimidation, and possession of a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.

Rayburn took the bail status under advisement Tuesday after hearing debate from a prosecutor and his attorney over whether Mendoza should be released.

District Attorney Kevin Hayden, in a statement, said Rayburn made the right decision to keep Mendoza barred for at least the next half year, as the bail status will continue until May 1, 2024.

“This is an appropriate ruling given the extreme danger of Mr. Mendoza’s actions, which occurred in one of the city’s busiest areas and on one of its busiest streets,” Hayden said. “To fire shots on any Boston street is intolerable, but add the fact that this area is packed with tourists, diners and residents at all times of the year – and even more so during the summer season – and the danger level ratchets up even higher.”

Mendoza’s attorney Rosemary Scapicchio asked Rayburn on Tuesday to set a “reasonable bail” and to release him to the custody of his family on conditions that would “protect the public.” She argued that prosecutors have not provided sufficient evidence that Mendoza even fired a gun at all.

Assistant District Attorney Daniel Nucci pointed out the “craziness of this shooting,” with it happening on a busy Hanover Street and on the same day Mendoza’s probation for an assault case involving the other man in 2022 expired.

Nucci said, “The Commonwealth contends that alone shows there are no conditions of release where it can say ‘That won’t happen again if Mr. Mendoza is released today, tomorrow, the next day.’ “

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The former Southern California street gang leader charged with killing Tupac Shakur in 1996 in Las Vegas has lost his bid to be represented at his arraignment by the lawyer who spoke publicly about his defense two weeks ago.

Attorney Ross Goodman told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis could not meet terms of an agreement that a judge on Oct. 19 gave them two more weeks to reach. Goodman did not specify a reason for the impasse.

Davis is due for arraignment Thursday, and Clark County District Court Judge Tierra Jones could order a financial accounting of Davis’ assets to determine if he can afford a lawyer or if she should declare him indigent and name an attorney to defend him at public expense.

Scott Coffee, a deputy Clark County public defender, said attorneys there were reviewing Davis’ case to determine whether they can represent Davis or if they have a conflict such as having in the past represented other people involved in the case.

Officials at a county special public defender’s office, an alternate possible roster of court-appointed attorneys, did not respond Wednesday to email inquiries about the Davis case. The judge also could name a defense attorney in private practice to represent Davis, at taxpayer expense.

Edi Faal, Davis’ longtime personal lawyer in Los Angeles, did not respond to telephone and email messages about Goodman’s comments. He told AP after Davis’ first court appearance on Oct. 4 that he was helping Davis find a defense attorney in Nevada, and he confirmed Goodman’s involvement two weeks ago.

Davis, 60, is originally from Compton, California. He was arrested Sept. 29 outside his home in suburban Las Vegas, the same day an indictment was filed accusing him of orchestrating the car-to-car shooting that killed Shakur and wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight. Davis is expected to plead not guilty to a murder charge that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

Shakur died at age 25. Knight was wounded but survived. Now 58, he’s serving a 28-year prison sentence for the death of a Compton businessman in January 2015. Knight has not responded to AP requests for comment about Davis arrest.

Goodman said Oct. 19 he saw “obvious defenses” in the murder case, including that police and prosecutors do not have the gun or car used in the shooting, and “there’s no witnesses from 27 years ago.”

Grand jurors were told the shooting followed a brawl in a Las Vegas Strip casino involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson.

Anderson denied involvement in Shakur’s death and died in a May 1998 shooting in Compton at age 23. The other two men in the car with Davis and Anderson also are now dead.

Davis in recent years has publicly described his role in Shakur’s death, including in interviews and a 2019 tell-all memoir that described his life as a leader of a Crips gang sect in Compton.

Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo told the grand jury that Davis admitted in his book that he provided the gun, was in the car “and that he was the on-ground, on-site commander of the effort to kill Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight.”

Baltimore’s top executive, manager and best player were honored by The Sporting News on Thursday morning after leading the Orioles to a 101-win regular season.

Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias was named MLB Executive of the Year and Brandon Hyde won AL Manager of the Year, as voted by their front office and managerial peers. Infielder Gunnar Henderson was named AL Rookie of the Year, as voted by the 376 players who submitted ballots, according to The Sporting News.

Elias took over in November 2018 after the Orioles lost a franchise-worst 115 games. The rebuild he led produced 100-loss seasons in 2019 and 2021, but it started to bear fruit in 2022 when Baltimore was the American League’s best team not to make the playoffs. The club took another step this year as the AL’s top regular season team while also boasting the sport’s top farm system.

Elias hired Hyde to lead the Orioles through the painful rebuild. After a 110-loss campaign in 2021, the Orioles won 31 more games in 2022 as one of MLB’s biggest surprises. While almost every team in MLB history to have such an improvement regresses the following year, Hyde’s Orioles didn’t, winning 18 more games to mark the greatest two-year turnaround in MLB history.

Henderson hit .255 with a team-best .814 OPS, 28 home runs, 29 doubles, nine triples and 10 steals. The 22-year-old rookie overcame a slow start and emerged in the summer as the Orioles’ best player, winning Most Valuable Oriole, as voted by local media. His 6.3 wins above replacement ranked ninth among MLB players on Baseball-Reference.

Elias, Hyde and Henderson could all win the same awards from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America next month.

MLB executives also voted for All-Star teams on their Sporting News ballots. Adley Rutschman, one of the Orioles’ three Gold Glove Award finalists, tied with Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the AL’s catcher spot, while closer Félix Bautista, who missed the final six weeks of the season with a torn elbow ligament, was picked as the AL’s top reliever.

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SEEDS: 1. Natick (16-1-1); 2. Bishop Feehan (16-0-1); 3. Hopkinton (17-0-1); 4. Wellesley (13-5-0); 5. Brookline (13-3-2); 6. Franklin (16-2-0); 7. Acton-Boxborough (11-3-2); 8. Winchester (15-2-1); 9. Concord-Carlisle (13-3-2); 10. King Philip Regional (15-3-0); 11. Algonquin (10-4-4); 12. Needham (8-5-5); 13. Newton North (9-4-5); 14. Arlington (12-5-1); 15. Shrewsbury (9-5-4); 16. Weymouth (7-7-4); 17. Belmont (10-3-6); 18. Central Catholic (14-3-1); 19. Braintree (4-11-3); 20. Marshfield (10-4-5); 21. Woburn Memorial (9-4-5); 22. Lexington (7-8-3); 23. Durfee (13-3-2); 24. Bridgewater-Raynham (12-3-3); 25. Andover (7-6-5); 26. Framingham (2-10-6); 27. Westford Academy (7-7-2); 28. Newton South (4-9-4); 29. Wachusett Regional (7-8-3); 30. Plymouth North (5-7-6); 31. Beverly (6-9-3); 32. Boston Latin (7-7-2); 33. Waltham (10-7-1); 34. North Andover (7-7-4); 35. Cambridge Rindge & Latin (5-5-6); 36. Haverhill (10-6-2); 37. Chelmsford (7-4-7); 38. Diman RVT (10-9-1); 39. Medford (9-7-2)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – Waltham at Boston Latin

GAME 2 – Haverhill at Wachusett

GAME 3 – Chelmsford at Newton South

GAME 4 – North Andover at Beverly

GAME 5 – Medford at Framingham

GAME 6 – Cambridge at Plymouth North

GAME 7 – Diman at Westford Academy

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 8 – Game 1 winner at Natick

GAME 9 – Belmont at Weymouth

GAME 10 – Bridgewater-Raynham at Concord-Carlisle

GAME 11 – Andover at Winchester

GAME 12 – Game 2 winner at Wellesley

GAME 13 – Marshfield at Newton North

GAME 14 – Woburn at Needham

GAME 15 – Game 3 winner at Brookline

GAME 16 – Game 4 winner at Bishop Feehan

GAME 17 – Central Catholic at Shrewsbury

GAME 18 – Durfee at King Philip

GAME 19 – Game 5 winner at Acton-Boxboro

GAME 20 – Game 6 winner at Hopkinton

GAME 21 – Braintree at Arlington

GAME 22 – Lexington at Algonquin

GAME 23 – Game 7 winner at Franklin

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 24 – Game 8 winner vs. Game 9 winner

GAME 25 – Game 10 winner vs. Game 11 winner

GAME 26 – Game 12 winner vs. Game 13 winner

GAME 27 – Game 14 winner vs. Game 15 winner

GAME 28 – Game 16 winner vs. Game 17 winner

GAME 29 – Game 18 winner vs. Game 19 winner

GAME 30 – Game 20 winner vs. Game 21 winner

GAME 31 – Game 22 winner vs. Game 32 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 32 – Game 31 winner vs. Game 32 winner

GAME 33 – Game 33 winner vs. Game 34 winner

GAME 34 – Game 35 winner vs. Game 36 winner

GAME 35 – Game 37 winner vs. Game 38 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 36 – Game 32 winner vs. Game 33 winner

GAME 37 – Game 34 winner vs. Game 35 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 38 – Game 36 winner vs. Game 37 winner

DIVISION 2

SEEDS: 1. Masconomet Regional (15-0-2); 2. Nashoba Regional (15-1-2); 3. Longmeadow (13-2-3); 4. Notre Dame (Hingham) (11-6-3); 5. Grafton (15-3-0); 6. Mansfield (13-3-1); 7. Melrose (14-2-2); 8. Hingham (9-6-3); 9. Minnechaug (12-4-2); 10. Oliver Ames (13-3-0); 11. Westborough (8-6-2); 12. Duxbury (11-5-2); 13. Milton (8-7-3); 14. Westwood (10-6-3); 15. West Springfield (5-5-8); 16. Dartmouth (11-5-2); 17. Whitman-Hanson Reg. (7-8-3); 18. Marlborough (11-5-2); 19. Canton (8-7-2); 20. Scituate (7-6-5); 21. Walpole (4-10-4); 22. Marblehead (9-8-1); 23. Ludlow (3-6-9); 24. Bishop Stang (9-6-3); 25. Silver Lake Regional (6-8-4); 26. East Longmeadow (4-9-5); 27. Holliston (6-10-2); 28. Burlington (8-8-2); 29. Westfield (4-9-4); 30. Billerica Memorial (10-5-3); 31. Chicopee Comp. (9-7-2); 32. Somerset Berkley Reg. (10-6-2); 33. Amherst-Pelham Reg. (12-5-1); 34. Northampton (9-9-0); 35. Somerville (15-1-2); 36. Southeastern RVT (8-4-4)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – Amherst-Pelham at Somerset Berkley

GAME 2 – Southeastern at Westfield

GAME 3 – Northampton at Chicopee Comp.

GAME 4 – Somerville at Billerica

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 5 – Game 1 winner at Masconomet

GAME 6 – Whitman-Hanson at Dartmouth

GAME 7 – Bishop Stang at Minnechaug

GAME 8 – Silver Lake at Hingham

GAME 9 – Game 2 winner at Notre Dame (H)

GAME 10 – Scituate at Milton

GAME 11 – Walpole at Duxbury

GAME 12 – Burlington at Grafton

GAME 13 – Game 3 winner at Nashoba

GAME 14 – Marlboro at West Springfield

GAME 15 – Ludlow at Oliver Ames

GAME 16 – East Longmeadow at Melrose

GAME 17 – Game 4 winner at Longmeadow

GAME 18 – Canton at Westwood

GAME 19 – Marblehead at Westborough

GAME 20 – Holliston at Marshfield

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 21 – Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner

GAME 22 – Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner

GAME 23 – Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner

GAME 24 – Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner

GAME 25 – Game 13 winner vs. Game 14 winner

GAME 26 – Game 15 winner vs. Game 16 winner

GAME 27 – Game 17 winner vs. Game 18 winner

GAME 28 – Game 19 winner vs. Game 20 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 29 – Game 21 winner vs. Game 22 winner

GAME 30 – Game 23 winner vs. Game 24 winner

GAME 31 – Game 25 winner vs. Game 26 winner

GAME 32 – Game 27 winner vs. Game 28 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 33 – Game 29 winner vs. Game 30 winner

GAME 34 – Game 31 winner vs. Game 32 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 35 – Game 33 winner vs. Game 34 winner

DIVISION 3

SEEDS: 1. Medfield (16-1-1); 2. Dover-Sherborn (14-3-1); 3. Hanover (17-0-1); 4. Norwell (18-1-1); 5. Pope Francis (15-1-0); 6. Cardinal Spellman (15-1-2); 7. Nipmuc Regional (14-2-2); 8. Tantasqua Regional (14-4-0); 9. Danvers (13-3-2); 10. Dedham (10-5-3); 11. Weston (10-3-5); 12. Apponequet Regional (16-1-3); 13. Auburn (15-2-1); 14. Belchertown (8-5-5); 15. Norton (9-6-3); 16. Saugus (14-3-1); 17. North Reading (13-3-2); 18. Medway (5-9-4); 19. Wilmington (8-6-4); 20. Nauset Regional (12-2-4); 21. Archbishop Williams (7-7-6); 22. Newburyport (11-4-3); 23. Sandwich (10-5-1); 24. St. Mary’s (10-6-2); 25. East Bridgewater (8-9-3); 26. Foxborough (6-12-0); 27. Swampscott (8-5-5); 28. Tewksbury Memorial (10-5-3); 29. Martha’s Vineyard Reg. (11-5-2); 30. Pentucket Regional (8-6-3); 31. Pembroke (6-8-4); 32. Dighton-Rehoboth (9-8-2); 33. Hudson (9-6-3); 34. Old Rochester Regional (10-8-2); 35. Blackstone Valley RVT (9-8-1); 36. Greater New Bedford (8-8-2); 37. Gloucester (7-7-3); 38. Falmouth (6-6-6); 39. Notre Dame (Worcester) (8-8-2); 40. Greater Lowell Tech (13-2-1); 41. Revere (16-1-1); 42. Holyoke (10-5-3); 43. Norfolk County Agricultural (16-3-1); 44. Boston Latin Academy (11-5-3)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – Hudson at Dighton-Rehoboth

GAME 2 – Revere at St. Mary’s

GAME 3 – Greater Lowell at East Bridgewater

GAME 4 – Greater New Bedford at Martha’s Vineyard

GAME 5 – Latin Academy at Archbishop Williams

GAME 6 – Gloucester at Tewksbury

GAME 7 – Old Rochester at Pembroke

GAME 8 – Holyoke at Sandwich

GAME 9 – Notre Dame (W) at Foxboro

GAME 10 – Blackstone Valley at Pentucket

GAME 11 – Norfolk Aggie at Newburyport

GAME 12 – Falmouth at Swampscott

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 13 – Game 1 winner at Medfield

GAME 14 – North Reading at Saugus

GAME 15 – Game 2 winner at Danvers

GAME 16 – Game 3 winner at Tantasqua

GAME 17 – Game 4 winner at Norwell

GAME 18 – Nauset at Auburn

GAME 19 – Game 5 winner at Apponequet

GAME 20 – Game 6 winner at Pope Francis

GAME 21 – Game 7 winner at Dover-Sherborn

GAME 22 – Medway at Norton

GAME 23 – Game 8 winner at Dedham

GAME 24 – Game 9 winner at Nipmuc

GAME 25 – Game 10 winner at Hanover

GAME 26 – Wilmington at Belchertown

GAME 27 – Game 11 winner at Weston

GAME 28 – Game 12 winner at Cardinal Spellman

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 29 – Game 13 winner vs. Game 14 winner

GAME 30 – Game 15 winner vs. Game 16 winner

GAME 31 – Game 17 winner vs. Game 18 winner

GAME 32 – Game 19 winner vs. Game 20 winner

GAME 33 – Game 21 winner vs. Game 22 winner

GAME 34 – Game 23 winner vs. Game 24 winner

GAME 35 – Game 25 winner vs. Game 26 winner

GAME 36 – Game 27 winner vs. Game 28 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 37 – Game 29 winner vs. Game 30 winner

GAME 38 – Game 31 winner vs. Game 32 winner

GAME 39 – Game 33 winner vs. Game 34 winner

GAME 40 – Game 35 winner vs. Game 36 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 41 – Game 37 winner vs. Game 38 winner

GAME 42 – Game 39 winner vs. Game 40 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 43 – Game 41 winner vs. Game 42 winner

DIVISION 4

SEEDS: 1. South Hadley (15-1-2); 2. Sutton (12-4-2); 3. Cohasset (11-3-3); 4. Lynnfield (14-2-2); 5. Hamilton-Wenham (13-0-3); 6. Littleton (14-3-1); 7. Northbridge (11-7-0);
8. West Bridgewater (12-5-1); 9. Millbury (8-8-2); 10. Hampshire Regional (8-7-2); 11. Leicester (9-5-3); 12. Monument Mountain (13-5-0); 13. Rockland (8-8-2); 14. Lunenburg (12-5-1); 15. Abington (10-8-0); 16. Monomoy (12-4-2); 17. Manchester-Essex (7-8-3); 18. Southwick Regional (8-9-1); 19. Easthampton (13-5-0); 20. Bellingham (4-14-0); 21. Advanced Math & Science (11-7-0); 22. Uxbridge (6-11-1); 23. Tyngsborough (9-8-1); 24. South High Community (7-5-4); 25. Wahconah Regional (3-14-1); 26. Ipswich (5-12-1); 27. Bay Path RVT (9-5-4); 28. Blue Hills RVT (16-0-2); 29. Mashpee (5-11-1); 30. Sturgis Charter West (7-7-2); 31. Nantucket (8-10-0); 32. Bourne (8-9-1); 33. Saint Paul Diocesan (7-7-1); 34. Clinton (8-8-2); 35. Tri-County RVT (8-7-1); 36. Sturgis Charter East (10-7-0); 37. Westfield Technical Acad. (14-1-1); 38. Excel Academy Charter (10-5-0); 39. East Boston (13-4-1); 40. Minuteman Regional (11-5-1); 41. Cathedral (7-7-0)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – St. Paul Diocesan at Bourne

GAME 2 – Cathedral at South

GAME 3 – Minuteman at Wahconah

GAME 4 – Sturgis East at Mashpee

GAME 5 – Westfield Tech at Blue Hills

GAME 6 – Clinton at Nantucket

GAME 7 – East Boston at Ipswich

GAME 8 – Tri-County at Sturgis West

GAME 9 – Excel Academy at Bay Path

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 10 – Game 1 winner at South Hadley

GAME 11 – Manchester-Essex at Monomoy

GAME 12 – Game 2 winner at Millbury

GAME 13 – Game 3 winner at West Bridgewater

GAME 14 – Game 4 winner at Lynnfield

GAME 15 – Bellingham at Rockland

GAME 16 – AMSA at Monument Mountain

GAME 17 – Game 5 winner at Hamilton-Wenham

GAME 18 – Game 6 winner at Sutton

GAME 19 – Southwick at Abington

GAME 20 – Tyngsboro at Hampshire

GAME 21 – Game 7 winner at Northbridge

GAME 22 – Game 8 winner at Cohasset

GAME 23 – Easthampton at Lunenburg

GAME 24 – Uxbridge at Leicester

GAME 25 – Game 9 winner at Littleton

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 26 – Game 10 winner vs. Game 11 winner

GAME 27 – Game 12 winner vs. Game 13 winner

GAME 28 – Game 14 winner vs. Game 15 winner

GAME 29 – Game 16 winner vs. Game 17 winner

GAME 30 – Game 18 winner vs. Game 19 winner

GAME 31 – Game 20 winner vs. Game 21 winner

GAME 32 – Game 22 winner vs. Game 23 winner

GAME 33 – Game 24 winner vs. Game 25 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 34 – Game 26 winner vs. Game 27 winner

GAME 35 – Game 28 winner vs. Game 29 winner

GAME 36 – Game 30 winner vs. Game 31 winner

GAME 37 – Game 32 winner vs. Game 33 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 38 – Game 34 winner vs. Game 35 winner

GAME 39 – Game 46 winner vs. Game 37 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 40 – Game 38 winner vs. Game 39 winner

DIVISION 5

SEEDS: 1. Whitinsville Christian (16-2-0); 2. Monson (17-0-1); 3. Hull (13-2-2): 4. Mount Greylock Reg. (16-1-0); 5. Douglas (9-7-2); 6. Maynard (10-5-3); 7. Tahanto Regional (11-4-3); 8. Saint John Paul II (15-2-1); 9. Millis (6-10-2); 10. Georgetown (9-7-2); 11. Hopedale (5-10-3); 12. Palmer (10-7-1); 13. David Prouty (6-7-3); 14. West Boylston (12-5-1); 15. Mystic Valley Reg. Charter (11-6-1); 16. Quaboag Regional (6-8-3); 17. Lenox Memorial (9-7-2); 18. Bromfield School (5-11-2); 19. Parker Charter (11-4-2); 20. Granby (7-10-1); 21. Hopkins Academy (12-3-3); 22. Drury (9-8-1); 23. Nashoba Valley Tech (15-2-1); 24. Smith Academy (12-3-3); 25. St. Mary Parish (Westfield) (6-7-3); 26. Ayer Shirley (7-9-3); 27. Westport (12-5-1); 28. Academy of Notre Dame (16-2-0); 29. Mount Everett Regional (8-5-5); 30. Holbrook (7-8-3); 31. Smith Vo-Tech (11-3-2); 32. Franklin County Tech (10-5-3); 33. Upper Cape Cod RVT (10-5-2); 34. Athol (12-3-3); 35. Innovation Acad. Charter (9-5-4); 36. Rising Tide Charter (10-8-0); 37. McCann Tech (11-5-2); 38. Pioneer Valley Regional (7-7-1); 39. Prospect Hill Acad. Charter (8-4-0); 40. Bristol County Agricultural (7-7-2); 41. Avon (6-6-2); 42. Boston Collegiate Charter (11-5-1); 43. Gateway Regional (6-6-2); 44. South Shore Charter (8-4-0); 45. Burke (7-6-2); 46. Tech Boston Academy (6-6-2)

PRELIMINARY ROUND – TBA

GAME 1 – Upper Cape at Franklin Tech

GAME 2 – Avon at Smith Academy

GAME 3 – Bristol Aggie at St. Mary’s (Westfield)

GAME 4 – Rising Tide at Mt. Everett

GAME 5 – Burke at Granby

GAME 6 – South Shore Charter at Hopkins Academy

GAME 7 – McCann Tech at Academy of Notre Dame

GAME 8 – Athol at Smith Tech

GAME 9 – Boston Collegiate at Nashoba Tech

GAME 10 – Prospect Hill at Ayer Shirley

GAME 11 – Innovation at Holbrook

GAME 12 – Tech Boston at Parker Charter

GAME 13 – Gateway at Drury

GAME 14 – Pioneer Valley at Westport

FIRST ROUND – TBA

GAME 15 – Game 1 winner at Whitinsville Christian

GAME 16 – Lenox at Quaboag

GAME 17 – Game 2 winner at Millis

GAME 18 – Game 3 winner at St. John Paul

GAME 19 – Game 4 winner at Mt. Greylock

GAME 20 – Game 5 winner at David Prouty

GAME 21 – Game 6 winner at Palmer

GAME 22 – Game 7 winner at Douglas

GAME 23 – Game 8 winner at Monson

GAME 24 – Bromfield at Mystic Valley

GAME 25 – Game 9 winner at Georgetown

GAME 26 – Game 10 winner at Tahanto

GAME 27 – Game 11 winner at Hull

GAME 28 – Game 12 winner at West Boylston

GAME 29 – Game 13 winner at Hopedale

GAME 30 – Game 14 winner at Maynard

SECOND ROUND – TBA

GAME 31 – Game 15 winner vs. Game 16 winner

GAME 32 – Game 17 winner vs. Game 18 winner

GAME 33 – Game 19 winner vs. Game 20 winner

GAME 34 – Game 21 winner vs. Game 22 winner

GAME 35 – Game 23 winner vs. Game 24 winner

GAME 36 – Game 25 winner vs. Game 26 winner

GAME 37 – Game 27 winner vs. Game 28 winner

GAME 38 – Game 29 winner vs. Game 30 winner

QUARTERFINALS – TBA

GAME 39 – Game 31 winner vs. Game 32 winner

GAME 40 – Game 33 winner vs. Game 34 winner

GAME 41 – Game 35 winner vs. Game 36 winner

GAME 42 – Game 37 winner vs. Game 38 winner

SEMIFINALS – TBA

GAME 43 – Game 39 winner vs. Game 40 winner

GAME 44 – Game 41 winner vs. Game 42 winner

FINAL – TBA

GAME 45 – Game 43 winner vs. Game 44 winner

Every year there is parity. But for as confident as top-seeded Walpole (D1) and Watertown (D3) should be with their chances of securing the crown, there’s an unpredictable balance sure to shake things up.

Div. 1

The stars have aligned for Walpole (17-1) to avenge consecutive losses in the state final, set in a collision course with No. 2 Andover (15-2) to meet in the title game for a third straight year. The Porkers have an edge this time. But the only team they lost to (Uxbridge) fell to the Golden Warriors, who are clicking for a potential three-peat.

From there is an extensive tree of teams connected through beating one another. No. 6 Central Catholic (14-2-1) topped Andover early to show they’re capable of a Final Four run, but a No. 3 Wachusett (13-1-4) team it tied is anchored by experience. Chalk has them meeting in the state quarterfinals, though getting past No. 11 Belmont or No. 14 Barnstable won’t be easy.

No. 5 Acton-Boxboro (13-4-1) also beat Andover, but shares a blemish with No. 4 Franklin (17-0-1) against No. 8 Bishop Feehan. No. 12 Needham (13-5), No. 13 Winchester (13-5) and No. 20 Chelmsford (5-9-3) are sleepers, but A-B and Franklin look primed to meet in the quarterfinals.

Bishop Feehan (11-5-1) has settled into a rhythm since a blowout loss to Walpole and could give them trouble. First they get a chance for revenge for an upset loss to No. 9 King Philip, though the Warriors look for the next step themselves.

No. 7 Algonquin, No. 10 Concord-Carlisle, No. 15 Wellesley and No. 16 Lincoln-Sudbury could also turn heads.

Div. 3

Watertown (17-0) enters its bid for a three-peat as the clear title favorite on a 70-game win streak and 37-game shutout streak. Around them will be havoc.

Six of last year’s state quarterfinal teams are ranked in the top eight, each stronger than last year.

No. 2 Newburyport (17-1) followed up a surprise trip to the Final Four with a dominant regular season. An emotional rematch with No. 7 Gloucester (13-3-2) from last year’s Elite 8 is chalked out.

There won’t be a rematch between Sandwich and Watertown in the state final for a third straight year, but the No. 4 Knights (17-0-1) returned signature pieces to meet the Raiders for a fierce semifinal. No. 5 Foxboro (15-2-1) got a heavy dose of contenders in the regular season that Sandwich didn’t, though, which could mean it is bound for the Final Four instead. No. 12 Swampscott (11-5-2) and No. 13 Weston (11-4-3) are no afterthoughts.

Loaded No. 3 Dover-Sherborn (14-2-2) avoids Watertown until the state final, but No. 6 Falmouth (10-5-3) stands in the way as the only team to not lose to Sandwich. The Clippers look to make some noise in their new division, though No. 22 Hanover may be a significant sleeper. No. 14 North Reading isn’t an easy out either.

Strong goalies make a big difference to down a perennial juggernaut like Watertown, and the Raiders could run into a few. Gianna Triangle of No. 17 St. Mary’s (11-4-2) and Megan McGinnity of No. 9 Danvers (13-2-3) stand out, and both defenses have limited opponents.

Div. 2

The suspense doesn’t look as dramatic here, but don’t confuse that for a shortage of elite action. While they have dominated most of the way, neither No. 1 Reading (17-1) or No. 2 Norwood (16-2) is a shoe-in to meet in the final.

The Rockets’ second round would be against No. 16 Nashoba or No. 17 Masconomet. Both reached the Final Four in 2021 and 2022. No. 8 Canton looks like an upset candidate by beating Norwood in the regular season finale, but that’s if it can get past 2021 state champion No. 9 Westwood.

A second-round matchup for the Mustangs potentially holds No. 15 Notre Dame Academy of Hingham, which has been competitive in a tough schedule. A TVL rematch with No. 7 Hopkinton is possible in the quarterfinals. No. 10 Doherty also looks dangerous.

No. 3 Somerset Berkley (17-0-1) rolled past most as a strong Final Four candidate. A battle of unbeatens against No. 6 Dartmouth (17-0) is possible in the quarterfinals, but No. 14 Oliver Ames and reigning champion No. 11 Longmeadow spell trouble.

No. 4 Hingham (15-2-1) is ready to make its mark in the new division and will see familiar Patriot League foes until the quarterfinal. No. 12 Leominster is a sleeper, though, and No. 5 Minnechaug has big wins on its resume.

Div. 4

No. 1 Uxbridge (17-1) looks to have the tightest grip of any top seed, carrying wins over Walpole, Bishop Feehan, Acton-Boxboro, King Philip and Foxboro. Their cast of young stars has them primed for a three-peat, though anything can happen.

No. 3 Monomoy lost 6-0 to Uxbridge, but lost 6-1 in the regular season last year before taking the Spartans to double overtime in the state semifinal. The Sharks (13-2-3) are loaded for a crack at Uxbridge in the final. No. 2 Manchester-Essex (14-1-3) is Newburyport’s only loss and navigated a tough Cape Ann League to also stand as a final threat.

Senior-less No. 4 Sutton (13-3-2) hopes to ride its grass field all the way to at least the Final Four. No. 5 Case (14-1-1) was unbeaten most of the season and is sure to put forth a good run. Pesky No. 12 Frontier stands in the way if it can get past No. 21 Westport.

No. 6 Lunenburg (15-1-2) is a talented group to potentially send Monomoy home early. No. 8 Cohasset (11-6-1), No. 10 Lynnfield (11-7-2), No. 11 Clinton (18-0), No. 14 Nantucket (9-5-3), No. 15 St. John Paul II (11-2-4) and No. 23 Ipswich (4-8-6) may all be sleepers.

Predictions

Div. 1

Champion – No. 1 Walpole

Final Four – No. 1 Walpole, No. 2 Andover, No. 4 Franklin, No. 6 Central Catholic

Sleepers – No. 10 Concord-Carlisle, No. 12 Needham

Potential Upset – No. 19 Shrewsbury over No. 14 Barnstable

Best First-Round Matchup – No. 16 Lincoln-Sudbury vs No. 17 Braintree

Div. 2

Champion – No. 1 Reading

Final Four – No. 1 Reading, No. 2 Norwood, No. 3 Somerset Berkley, No. 4 Hingham

Sleepers – No. 8 Canton, No. 12 Leominster

Potential Upset – No. 12 Leominster over No. 5 Minnechaug

Best First-Round Matchup – No. 16 Nashoba vs No. 17 Masconomet

Div. 3

Champion – No. 1 Watertown

Final Four – No. 1 Watertown, No. 2 Newburyport, No. 3 Dover-Sherborn, No. 5 Foxboro

Sleepers – No. 7 Gloucester, No. 6 Falmouth

Potential Upset – No. 22 Hanover over No. 11 NDA (W)

Best First-Round Matchup – No. 14 North Reading vs No. 19 Oakmont

Div. 4

Champion – No. 1 Uxbridge

Final Four – No. 1 Uxbridge, No. 2 Manchester-Essex, No. 3 Monomoy, No. 5 Case

Sleepers – No. 10 Lynnfield, No. 6 Lunenburg

Potential Upset – No. 21 Westport over No. 12 Frontier

Best First-Round Matchup – No. 10 Lynnfield vs No. 23 Ipswich

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge in Florida indicated Wednesday that she may delay the start of the classified documents trial of Donald Trump, pointing to the other criminal cases the former president is facing as well as the mounds of evidence his attorneys need to review.

Trump’s trial on charges that he hid classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and obstructed government efforts to get them back is currently scheduled for May 20, 2024.

But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appeared ready to side with Trump’s attorneys in their request to postpone the trial, saying she “has a hard time seeing how realistically this (current schedule) would work” even as prosecutors pushed her to keep the scheduled start date.

The classified documents case filed by special counsel Jack Smith’s team is one of four Trump is facing that could go to trial next year. Another federal case, also brought by Smith and charging him with scheming to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, is scheduled for trial in March in Washington.

A trial in Georgia on state charges that Trump tried to subvert the election could also start next year, though no date has been set, as could a New York trial on charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn actor in advance of the 2016 election. He is already on trial on a civil case in New York alleging business fraud.

Cannon also pointed to the 1.3 million pages of evidence that prosecutors in the Mar-a-Lago case have provided to the defense along with thousands of hours of security video shot at Trump’s resort. She questioned whether Trump’s lawyers will have adequate time to review the evidence in the next six months.

“I am not quite seeing a level of understanding on your part to these realities,” Cannon told prosecutor Jay Bratt, a member of Smith’s team.

Bratt told Cannon that Trump’s attorneys from the beginning have pushed to delay the trial until after the November 2024 election, where he hopes to win back the White House from President Joe Biden.

He said that because of defense motions to delay the Washington trial and dismiss those charges, there is a chance that trial will be postponed.

He told Cannon she “should not let the D.C. trial drive the schedule here.”

He said his team has provided Trump’s lawyers with a directory to the Mar-a-Lago documents to assist their preparation and advised them of the portions of security video they plan to play at trial — footage that prosecutors have said shows boxes being moved in and out of a storage room at the property in an effort to conceal them from investigators.

A Trump valet, Walt Nauta, and a Mar-a-Lago property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, have been charged alongside Trump with conspiring to obstruct the FBI’s investigation. All three defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche told Cannon that she and prosecutors need to be realistic, particularly since the classified documents can only be read in special government rooms that have heightened security.

“It has been extremely difficult to have access,” Blanche said.

Cannon said she will make a decision on the trial date in the coming days.

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Tucker reported from Washington.

There’s the time in 1968 when blues legend Muddy Waters declared Ivers – who sat in and played with Waters while still a student at Harvard University – to be the greatest living harmonica player.

Or maybe you start in the mid-’70s, when Ivers, now living in Los Angeles, dipped into film music with works such as co-writing and singing “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)” for David Lynch’s “Eraserhead.”

Around that same time, he recorded several avant-garde pop albums, such as 1974’s “Terminal Love.” Ivers even opened for Fleetwood Mac at Universal Amphitheatre in 1976, but bombed. (Could it have been that he took the stage wearing only a diaper? Perhaps!)

Jump ahead to the early ’80s, and Ivers was the host of “New Wave Theatre,” the first show to put L.A. punk bands such as Fear, 45 Grave, Suburban Lawns, Angry Samoans, Grey Factor and Bad Religion on TV.

But all that crazy, beautiful, now mostly forgotten creativity ended up overshadowed by his death.

On March 3, 1983, Ivers was found bludgeoned to death in his apartment. Four decades later, the crime remains unsolved.

“I mean, all of us thought Peter Ivers was going to go to the top of the charts, and then everything flopped,” says filmmaker Penelope Spheeris, a friend of Ivers through the punk rock scene she chronicled in the 1981 documentary “The Decline of Western Civilization.”

Spheeris, whose films include “Wayne’s World” and “Suburbia,” is the host of “Peter and the Acid King,” a new podcast about Ivers’s life and death from iHeartPodcasts and Imagine Audio.

However, given all the mystery and menace that still swirls around the circumstances of his death, at first she wasn’t sure she wanted to get involved.

Spheeris signs on

TV producer Alan Sachs, the co-creator of “Welcome Back, Kotter,” was a close friend of Ivers. He’s also the creator of “Peter and the Acid King,” an outgrowth of his years of looking for the truth about Ivers’ death.

“I knew Alan Sachs from back in what I call the punk rock days,” Spheeris says. “So that would be right around ’79, ’80 through ’84. I knew him very well back then because we were at clubs together all the time.

“I hadn’t seen him for a long time, and I ran into him in a parking lot and he asked me I would do an interview about Peter, our mutual friend,” she says. “And I said, ‘Only if so-and-so is not alive anymore.”

Sachs told her that so-and-so, the person Spheeris had long thought might have killed Ivers, was dead. She did the interview, and that was that for a little while.

“A couple of years later – that’s how long Alan’s been working on this – I get a call,” Spheeris says. “And he said, ‘Can you maybe think about being the host for a podcast based on Peter’s life and that period of time?’

“I said, ‘I don’t know, I make movies, I’m not a podcast person,’” she says.

Eventually, and only after she was comfortable the podcast wouldn’t focus too much on the grim, grisly details of Ivers’s death, Spheeris was in.

“It was a concern, which has dissipated as I’ve gone through it and done narration,” she says. “I think the team over there at Imagine has done an amazing job at respecting Peter and the request I made about not getting into anything too graphic. I did have some apprehension about sensationalizing someone’s murder, you know.

“It’s a thin line; it’s like a tightrope here,” Spheeris says. “We’re trying to give respect to him and remember his legacy, and then not be too exploitive.”

An instant appeal

Spheeris isn’t quite sure when she first met Ivers. She thinks it was probably at the Zero Club, the notorious after-hours punk club at the time.

“He just sort of made you want to know him,” Spheeris says.

Before long, they were fellow travelers of the nightlife of Hollywood bars, punk circles, and house parties in Laurel Canyon.

“I bought a house in Laurel Canyon in 1974, which I still own, thank god,” Spheeris says. “So I know all the back roads here, and we used to have these lines of cars following each other, going to parties. So I would go to parties with him, and we’d see each other and got to know each other pretty well by hanging out.”

Ivers, who was born in 1946, was a decade or so older than most of the kids in the punk scene spun out of the Masque in Hollywood into clubs from the San Fernando Valley to Chinatown and the South Bay.

“He was so charismatic. It didn’t matter if he was really a punk or not,” she says. “He emitted this vibe like he was a star already. But he wasn’t. I think that’s what kind of drew everybody to him.

“Plus, you know, if you’re really a punk you’re not going to be judgmental about somebody. You’re just gonna let them be who they are.”

Trainwreck TV

“New Wave Theatre” was created by David Jove, a British expat in L.A. with musical aspirations, and Ed Ochs, a former Billboard editor. The show, which aired weekly on a little-viewed UHF channel, was only reluctantly embraced by punk bands such as the Dead Kennedys, the Plugz, and Ivy and the Eaters.

Part of that was the name – few self-respecting punks wanted to be called New Wave – and part of that was Ivers, who as host, wearing a sparkly pink jacket and rambling in a rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness patter about life, art and music made them cringe.

“It was actually brutal to watch,” Spheeris says. “Because it was so bad – in my opinion. I’m sorry. I don’t want that to be a negative reflection on Peter, but it was really bad.

“I mean, the original, real deal punk groups had great objections to the show because it seemed like they were trying to out-weird the real punk scene,” she says. “And I think that’s what they were doing, and that’s why it was a bit offensive.”

Still, people watched it enough that the fledgling USA Network eventually picked it up as part of its “Night Flight” late-night arts and variety show. And the bands kept going on to perform.

“It was a train wreck, that’s a good way to put it,” Spheeris says. “The fact is there were no outlets for the music back then, visual outlets. The reason the DIY concept came about was because punk bands couldn’t get record deals. And punk bands certainly could not get TV broadcast time. There was no place to be seen other than that show.”

So who done it?

“New Wave Theatre” ended with Ivers’ death. For Spheeris, the L.A. party scene ended for her that day too.

“I remember the fear of thinking that there was somebody that we all knew that probably did it,” she says. “I remember being afraid. And even though there were other serial killers and all that around that time, to have someone so close get murdered was really shocking.

“It did change things,” Spheeris says. “It was a big wake-up call. Let me tell you, we were partying back then. I mean, I can’t believe I lived through it. Every single night and a lot of times every weekend during the day and night.

“But when he got killed, it was like a screeching halt. I didn’t want to go out. I was convinced that whoever killed him was in the room.”

Spheeris, who knows how “Peter and the Acid King” ends, says she did not expect the story to go where it did. She had her own suspicions about who murdered her friend.

“Here’s what has really surprised me,” she says. “Back in the day, after Peter died, if was going into a room and that person was there, in a party situation, I would turn around and leave. I remember going back to my house and my heart was beating so fast because I even laid eyes on that guy.”

“But now that people have done all this research, I have to say I’m not convinced anymore that who I thought did it did,” Spheeris says. “So it’s a little unnerving. I’ve learned that person could still be alive and still be dangerous.”

Even with that undercurrent of dread in the story the podcast tells, Spheeris says she’s glad that her friend is getting recognized for what he created during his life, even if it was just a bit too far outside the mainstream for his rock star dreams to have succeeded.

“It had a certain performance art aspect to it, ‘New Wave Theatre,’ and all of his work, really,” she says. “And that’s the thing about good art, you know. It breaks the rules. And good rock and roll, it breaks the rules.

“And Peter was always breaking the rules.”

The ruling sides with the state’s housing department, which argued through lawyers Tuesday that it had no more funds — and is on track to run into the red — to continue expanding shelter capacity in the face of surging demand partly fueled by the number of migrant arrivals this year and suffocating housing costs.

Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Debra Squires-Lee handed down her ruling a day after the Healey administration issued emergency regulations that call for a waitlist once capacity is reached and potentially limit the amount of time families can stay in shelters.

In her ruling, Squires-Lee said the Healey administration did not violate a provision included in the state’s fiscal 2024 budget that calls for a 90-day notice to the Legislature before making any changes to emergency shelter eligibility requirements.

The notice, Squires-Lee wrote in court documents, is intended to afford the Legislature the opportunity to appropriate funding for the shelter program.

“The evidence before me, however, is clear — more than a month ago, the governor specifically requested additional appropriations for the emergency assistance program and the Legislature has failed to act,” the judge wrote. “In these circumstances, the predicate purpose of the 90-day proviso has been fulfilled; and, in all events, it is for the Legislature and not clients of the program to enforce any claimed non-compliance.”

The ruling all but guarantees uncertainty for families who apply for emergency shelter after the 7,500-family shelter cap is reached, something the administration has said could happen within days. There were 7,388 families in the system as of Tuesday, according to state data.

Lawyers for Civil Rights, the group behind the lawsuit, laid out a grim picture of what would happen if a temporary pause on the capacity plan was not put in place — migrants and homeless families could end up sleeping outside as cold weather sets in.

“Without an injunction, families, children, and pregnant women who are entitled to emergency shelter under the law will be denied a roof over their heads — forced to sleep on the streets, in cars, and in other unsafe situations. There is no other way to put it. That is the grim reality,” Attorney Oren Sellstrom wrote in court documents. “The harms that will befall them are harsh and irreparable.”

A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities said the department believes “an appropriate outcome was reached.”

“The state does not have enough space, service providers or funding to safely expand shelter capacity,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Attorneys on both sides of the issue spent much of the court hearing Tuesday focused on the 90-day requirement, which says the executive branch must provide notice to the Legislature that they are making any regulatory, administrative practice, or policy changes that would “alter the eligibility” of emergency shelter benefits.

Sellstrom said emergency regulations partially outlining what happens when the shelter cap is reached were “rushed” at the eleventh hour only after the Healey administration was sued to challenge their compliance.

“Defendants are rushing drastic and material changes to the state’s long standing emergency assistance program into place, disregarding well-established laws that require an orderly process — in particular, a mandate that requires defendants to give the Legislature a 90-day period to weigh in and potentially forestall the changes altogether,” Sellstrom wrote in court documents.

But Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office argued that provision “is not privately enforceable” into a 90-day delay of emergency measures to address budget shortfalls.

Squires-Lee sided with state lawyers, writing in her ruling that Lawyers for Civil Rights provided “no case in which a court has ever held that an agency that fails to comply with such a proviso may be barred from taking action within the ambit of its statutory and regulatory authority.”

Healey has requested additional funding for emergency shelters beyond the $325 million allocated to the program in the fiscal 2024 state budget. In a separate bill closing out the books on fiscal 2023, Healey asked lawmakers to approve $250 million in additional funding.

Squires-Lee points to that request in her ruling, and notes the Legislature has not moved forward the extra dollars.

“The failure to give notice has not injured plaintiffs where notice is intended to permit the Legislature to act or not act, and the Legislature, having actual notice of the fiscal crisis, has failed to act,” Squires-Lee wrote.

Squires-Lee also agreed with a state-backed argument that she does not have the power to force the Healey administration to spend money the Legislature has not appropriated.

“As much as I wish that I possessed the power to ensure that all families who need housing have it, and that all families who require safe emergency shelter are given it, I am persuaded that it would be inappropriate to order EOHLC to continue providing emergency shelter it does not have the resources appropriated by the Legislature to fund,” the judge wrote.

Wide receiver DeVante Parker (concussion) and left tackle Trent Brown (ankle/knee) were held out with new injuries. The Pats also hit the field without backup tight end Pharaoh Brown and offensive tackle Calvin Anderson. Linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley was severely limited with a hurt hamstring.

Defensive back Myles Bryant also has a new chest injury.

In Washington, the Commanders rested defensive lineman Jonathan Allen and sidelined wide receiver Curtis Samuel due to his toe injury.

Both teams’ complete injury reports are below.

PATRIOTS

Did not participate

WR DeVante Parker, Concussion

OT Trent Brown, Ankle/Knee

TE Pharaoh Brown,

OL Calvin Anderson, Illness

Limited participation

LB Ja’Whaun Bentley, Hamstring

DL Christian Barmore, Knee

LB Josh Uche, Ankle/Toe

DL Deatrich Wise Jr., Shoulder

CB Jonathan Jones, Knee

DB Myles Bryant, Chest

OL Vederian Lowe, Ankle

COMMANDERS

Did not participate

DT Jonathan Allen, Vet Rest

CB Kendall Fuller, Vet Rest

WR Curtis Samuel, Toe

C Ricky Stromberg, Knee

Limited participation

S Percy Butler, Calf

TE Logan Thomas, Heel

It almost seems like an anachronism. Taking a trip by train is like something out of the past.

Now, Amtrak is looking to double in size.

By using funds from the 2021 infrastructure bill, Amtrak is making improvements at some of its biggest and most popular hubs. Those include train stations in New York, Washington, Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia.

“Amtrak is making significant investments to modernize our stations,” said EVP Laura Mason, who is overseeing the company’s internal infrastructure overhaul.

Amtrak’s budget is expected to zoom. Annual capital investments alone are slated to rise to $2.5 billion by 2025. They were $785 million as recently as 2019.

Improvements and renovations are scheduled for Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, New York’s Penn Station and Chicago’s Union Station.

Penn Station in Baltimore, which is over 100 years old, is also expected to undergo improvements and renovations. The station has not seen a refresh in almost 40 years.

The renovations could bring a whole new life to the national railroad company.

In August, Amtrak ordered 10 more Airo trainsets as part of its modernization efforts, bringing the total to 83 trainsets, which are expected to first debut in 2026.

The Amtrak Airo trainsets, which consist of both locomotive and passenger carriages, will modernize Amtrak’s fleet across the country, with greater comfort for passengers, more space for luggage and a greater focus on sustainability, producing 90% less particulate emissions than on traditional diesel trains.

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©2023 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. Visit at travelpulse.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

How many of us have wanted a reliable, evidence-based guide to aging that explains how our bodies and minds change as we grow older and how to adapt to those differences?

Creating a work of this kind is challenging. For one thing, aging gradually alters people over decades, a long period shaped by individuals’ economic and social circumstances, their behaviors, their neighborhoods, and other factors. Also, while people experience common physiological issues in later life, they don’t follow a well-charted, developmentally predetermined path.

“Predictable changes occur, but not necessarily at the same time or in the same sequence,” said Rosanne Leipzig, vice chair for education at the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. “There’s no more heterogeneous a group than older people.”

I called Leipzig, 72, who works full time teaching medical residents and fellows and seeing patients, after reading her new 400-plus-page, information-packed book, “Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life.” It’s the most comprehensive examination of what to expect in later life I’ve come across in a dozen years covering aging.

Leipzig told me she had two goals in writing this guide: “to overcome all the negatives that are out there about growing older” and “to help people understand that there are lots of things that you can do to adapt to your new normal as you age and have an enjoyable, engaged, meaningful life.”

Why call it “Honest Aging”? “Because so much of what’s out there is dishonest, claiming to teach people how to age backwards,” Leipzig said. “I think it’s time we say, ‘This is it; this is who we are,’ and admit how lucky we are to have all these years of extra time.”

The doctor was referring to extraordinary gains in life expectancy achieved in the modern era. Because of medical advances, people over age 60 live far longer than people at the dawn of the 20th century. Still, most of us lack a good understanding of what happens to our bodies during this extended period after middle age.

Several months ago, a medical student asked Leipzig whether references to age should be left out of a patient’s written medical history, as references to race have been eliminated. “I told her no; with medicine, age is always relevant,” Leipzig said. “It gives you a sense of where people are in their life, what they’ve lived through, and the disorders they might have, which are different than those in younger people.”

What questions do older adults tend to ask most often? Leipzig rattled off a list: What can I do about this potbelly? How can I improve my sleep? I’m having trouble remembering names; is this dementia? Do I really need that colonoscopy or mammogram? What should I do to get back into shape? Do I really need to stop driving?

Underlying these is a poor understanding of what’s normal in later life and the physical and mental alterations aging brings.

Can the stages of aging be broken down, roughly, by decade? No, said Leipzig, noting that people in their 60s and 70s vary significantly in health and functioning. Typically, predictable changes associated with aging “start to happen much more between the ages of 75 and 85,” she told me. Here are a few of the age-related issues she highlights in her book:

• Older adults often present with different symptoms when they become ill. For instance, a senior having a heart attack may be short of breath or confused, rather than report chest pain. Similarly, an older person with pneumonia may fall or have little appetite instead of having a fever and cough.
• Older adults react differently to medications. Because of changes in body composition and liver, kidney, and gut function, older adults are more sensitive to medications than younger people and often need lower doses. This includes medications that someone may have taken for years. It also applies to alcohol.
• Older adults have reduced energy reserves. With advancing age, hearts become less efficient, lungs transfer less oxygen to the blood, more protein is needed for muscle synthesis, and muscle mass and strength decrease. The result: Older people generate less energy even as they need more energy to perform everyday tasks.
• Hunger and thirst decline. People’s senses of taste and smell diminish, lessening food’s appeal. Loss of appetite becomes more common, and seniors tend to feel full after eating less food. The risk of dehydration increases.
• Cognition slows. Older adults process information more slowly and work harder to learn new information. Multitasking becomes more difficult, and reaction times grow slower. Problems finding words, especially nouns, are typical. Cognitive changes related to medications and illness are more frequent.
• The musculoskeletal system is less flexible. Spines shorten as the discs that separate the vertebrae become harder and more compressed; older adults typically lose 1 to 3 inches in height as this happens. Balance is compromised because of changes in the inner ear, the brain, and the vestibular system (a complex system that regulates balance and a person’s sense of orientation in space). Muscles weaken in the legs, hips and buttocks, and range of motion in joints contracts. Tendons and ligaments aren’t as strong, and falls and fractures are more frequent as bones become more brittle.
• Eyesight and hearing change. Older adults need much more light to read than younger people. It’s harder for them to see the outlines of objects or distinguish between similar colors as color and contrast perception diminishes. With changes to the cornea, lens and fluid within the eye, it takes longer to adjust to sunlight as well as darkness.
• Because of accumulated damage to hair cells in the inner ear, it’s harder to hear, especially at high frequencies. It’s also harder to understand speech that’s rapid and loaded with information or that occurs in noisy environments.
• Sleep becomes fragmented. It takes longer for older adults to fall asleep, and they sleep more lightly, awakening more in the night.

This is by no means a complete list of physiological changes that occur as we grow older. And it leaves out the many ways people can adapt to their new normal, something Leipzig spends a great deal of time discussing.

A partial list of what she suggests, organized roughly by the topics above: Don’t ignore sudden changes in functioning; seek medical attention. At every doctor’s visit, ask why you’re taking medications, whether doses are appropriate, and whether medications can be stopped. Be physically active. Make sure you eat enough protein. Drink liquids even when you aren’t thirsty. Cut down on multitasking and work at your own pace. Do balance and resistance exercises. Have your eyes checked every year. Get hearing aids. Don’t exercise, drink alcohol, or eat a heavy meal within two to three hours of bedtime.

“Never say never,” Leipzig said. “There is almost always something that can be done to improve your situation as you grow older, if you’re willing to do it.”

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We’re eager to hear from readers about questions you’d like answered, problems you’ve been having with your care, and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips.

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(KFF Health News, formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.)

©2023 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The author was inspired to write her new picture book, “See You On the Other Side,” after she dreamt about it while pregnant with her daughter. Exploring grief as a universal human emotion, the children’s book is an ode to loved ones who have died, with the message that love will be cherished and carried on forever, Minor said.

“It’s a heart-opener. And the words are soothing, like a hug or a blanket. They’re so melodic – you can kind of tell it came from the dream space,” said the author, who lives in the Hollywood Hills.

Featuring evocative, detailed illustrations by artist Mariyah Rahman, the new book aims to be a comforting resource to children who may be grieving a death or who are learning about or coming to terms with the idea of loss.

Because the book itself is the result of loss.

Losing a friend

In 2020, she read an early version of what would become “See You On the Other Side” at the funeral of her friend, Broadway star Nick Cordero, who died during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cordero was married to Minor’s best friend, Amanda Kloots.

“A lot of people’s hearts were opened; there were a lot of tears,” she said. “It felt like it was for Elvis, their son, and for Nick.”

Seeing how people were moved at the funeral, Minor realized her words could provide solace to others – particularly young ones and families – experiencing feelings of loss. She wanted to write a book that would feel inclusive, comforting and uplifting.

Minor, whose debut, “The Sun, Moon and Stars,” was published in 2021, hopes “See You On the Other Side” reframes loss and brings families together to heal, especially in challenging times.

Minor collaborated with illustrator Mariyah Rahman who created the illustrations to pair with her words on grief and comfort.

Rahman, who is from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, got into “kid lit” illustration after going to the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. With “See You On the Other Side” her second picture book, Rahman said that her art style is a reflection of her diverse background, growing up in a mixed family from India, Venezuela and China. Her first book, “Plátanos Are Love,” explores Afro-Latine culture.

“I want any kids who read books that I illustrate to know there are so many kids who look like them,” Rahman said, “especially in a book about grief, to know that they’re not alone.”

She illustrated her deceased dog, Sunshine, in the book as a way to honor him, and dedicated the book to other pets who have passed away. Even her grandmother is reflected in one of the pages.

Reflecting a diverse world

Of the book’s illustrations, Rahman said it was “fun to research different cultures.” Included in the images, there’s a girl placing a letter on the family ofrenda, an altar for Día De Los Muertos, surrounded by orange jacaranda flowers, marigolds and plates of pan dulce; a same-sex couple plays with their child; an Indian family makes traditional bread together.

There’s even a spread about anger, because “it’s very natural to be angry when there’s a big change; something that’s hard to wrap your head around,” Minor said. “After the anger, the storm’s gonna blow over, we can get to the other side.

“You see the things, the shared experiences, the grief, that links us all together. There are feelings of grief coming from kids all over the world.”

Minor agreed that when she was growing up it was hard to find books with people of color in them, so she’s made a mission to make her books more inclusive.

“There’s a (drawing) that looks like my daughter, and she’s like, hey, that’s me,” she said. “I just think it’s so helpful for children to be able to see a reflection back – it lets them relate to it more, and to open their hearts more.”

Minor hopes the book will remind readers young and old of “the truth: that we are all one.”

“We want everyone to feel at home, and to see other cultures and families on the pages,” she said. “One thing that’s always constant is change – and we’re not immune to loss. So I think it is a gift to be able to introduce these topics with children, even in difficult times. We can get to the other side of it if we stay connected to our hearts and to each other. We will see the other side of it.”

“See You On The Other Side” is available online and in stores now. 

“We were actually packing the the bus to go to Wilkes-Barre and I filled up a cooler and was carrying it outside when our equipment guy grabbed the cooler from me and said, ‘Hey, go into the coaches office.’ It was was 12:27 and the bus left at 12:30,” said Lohrei.

Lohrei, the Bruins’ second-round pick from 2020 and their best defense prospect, got the word he will make his NHL debut on Thursday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Garden, thanks to a set of circumstances that could see the B’s miss half of its regular defense corps.

Charlie McAvoy will start his four-game suspension, Matt Grzelcyk was placed on long-term injured reserve and Derek Forbort is nursing a lower body injury, making him a question mark for the Leafs’ game. An offensive-minded defenseman who’ll need to grow his game in his own end, the 22-year-old Lohrei had four assists in seven games with Providence.

Defensemen Ian Mitchell and Parker Wotherspoon were also recalled from Providence.

Given the situation, Lohrei will not have the opportunity to be eased into the lineup. He will be paired with Brandon Carlo and play in the top four. The two lanky D-men, both of whom are 6-foot-5, played together in the preseason.

“I just liked their length, their mobility and their ability to force a lot of dumps-in and kill a lot of plays before it even gets into our end,” said coach Jim Montgomery.

“You’re going to see (Lohrei) out there a lot. We think he’s ready for this league and we think he’s going to play well in this league. I don’t know what the minutes are going to be, but he’s going to be playing top four minutes, so it should be anywhere (around) 18, depending on the special teams.”

It doesn’t seem so long ago that Carlo was the young pup being led into battle by Zdeno Chara. Now he’s the mentor and, considering that Grzelcyk is now on LTIR ( a player must miss 10 games and 24 days to qualify), it appears Lohrei will get a good, long look.

“It’s crazy being in this position. The time frame for me being in this position has gone by so fast. I still feel like a young guy at times but overall, I think the biggest things I’ve learned from Z, especially in these early stages of playing together, is communication on the ice,” said Carlo. “As long as we’re doing that, we’re going to set things out in the defensive zone and through the neutral zone and whatnot. And when we get back to the bench, if he sees something that I should do differently, then that’s the way you build chemistry for pairings. I think for both of us just communicating as much as possible (is key). He’s a smooth skater, great player and he’s going to do just fine. I think just helping him maybe manage nerves at times, I’ve been in the position and it’s about not getting over-exaggerated and overthinking too much. That’s a big thing in my game makes me play better. Just trying to keep him calm there and be a positive, encouraging voice and I feel that from there, he’s just going to take it and run with it.”

As for the butterflies, Lohrei doesn’t deny that they are there, but he’s leaning into them.

“Since I got the call up there’s been nerves, but that’s all part of and that’s what makes it so special and so fun,” said Lohrei.

Leaning on Lindholm

With the loss of McAvoy, Montgomery will lean heavily on Hampus Lindholm. That might not be such a bad thing. When McAvoy was injured to start last season, it was Lindholm’s excellent performance that sent the B’s on their way to a record-breaking regular season.

“I think the two of them when they’re in the lineup give us an advantage over most teams just because they control the game when both of them are out there,” said Montgomery. “And the opportunity not only with (McAvoy) but with Forbort out, now he’s goes to the No. 1 PK. He’s going to be out there for almost every D-zone draw when we have the opportunity, he’s going to be out there for half of the O-zone draws…. Him playing 26 to 28 minutes would not be a surprise now.”

As for Forbort, Montgomery quickly corrected himself by saying he is questionable, but make of it what you will.

Suspension talk

Montgomery’s take on McAvoy’s suspension for his high hit on Oliver Ekman-Larson?

“The league does an extensive review,” said Montgomery. “All I know is I would not want their job. I don’t think you can win, whether it’s too long or too short. We respect the job that they do and we’re going to respect their decision. I’d like to have him back sooner, but I coach him.”

Loose pucks

Matt Poitras will play his 10th game on Thursday against the Leafs, thus burning the first year of his entry level deal. He got the word from the GM on Tuesday.

“(Don Sweeney) just called me up to his office and I kind of had an idea it was going to be good news. I was still a little bit nervous, but he said, ‘Yeah, you’re going to be sticking around for your 10th game, just keep working, keep preparing the same way and you’ll be fine,’ ” said Poitras.

The 19-year-old rookie has been living in a hotel since training camp, but that’s going to change.

“Yeah, a couple of options have been presented, but I’ll take some time and talk to my parents and see what they think,” said Poitras.

It looks like Poitras will be playing a marquee role against his hometown team, the Leafs. He finished the emotional comeback win against Florida skating on a top line with David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha and that’s the line he practiced with on Wednesday.

“Those two guys are really skilled players and for me it’s kind of easy to find spaces and they’ll be able to move in and make plays and feed me the puck and I can feed it right back,” said Poitras. “Obviously, Pastrnak is a really good goal scorer and I see myself as a playmaker, so I’ll be looking for him and he can do his job and score.”…

Jakub Lauko was placed on IR. He has not skated with the team since taking in errant skate to the head over a week ago in Chicago. … After posting eight goals, six assists and a plus-nine rating, Pastrnak was named the NHL’s third star for October.

To score a table at Don Angie, the Italian-American hotspot in New York’s West Village, the official course of action is to log on to restaurant booking site Resy at 9 a.m. seven days before the desired dining date. At least, that’s the policy that chef-owners Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli have set up for potential diners.

But those who have recently tried to book those elusive seats via the reservation platform know they rarely open up.

If you head over to Appointment Trader, however, and are willing to pay up to $125 just for the opportunity to walk through the door, you can start bidding on seats for any day for the next few weeks.

The issue of seats disappearing that should be available began last summer, says Rito. “But it has become more pronounced over the last few months.”

She believes that bots—software programs engineered to perfect certain tasks, like swiping up Taylor Swift tickets or restaurant reservations the millisecond seats open up—are mostly to blame.

The operators behind those seat-snatching programs then try to make a quick buck—or several hundred—by reselling the reservations on sites like Appointment Trader. The two-year-old website enables individuals to buy and sell restaurant bookings and finds seats using bots as well as concierges and other people with access to restaurants.

Owners at several other of New York’s hard-to-get-into restaurants, from downtown Indian haunts Dhamaka and Semma to tiny Farra Wine Bar in Tribeca, and the revamped new American spot Virginia’s, also report being burned by bots. “We have noticed certain names making a large amount of reservations, and either no-showing or having different guests utilizing them,” says Isabella Pisacane, a partner and director of hospitality at French bistro Libertine. “Certain guests will appear trepidatious when approaching the maitre’d when checking in, as they’re not using their actual names.”

“It is a very serious issue now, happening to a lot of restaurants and bars,” says GN Chan, co-owner of Double Chicken Please in the Lower East Side and ranked No. 2 on the World’s 50 Best Bars list. He notes that the bar began receiving brokered reservations from bots soon after the drinking den was named the best bar in North America earlier this year.

Em Pak, a manager at Double Chicken Please, says that there are some signature ways to tell if a seat has been booked by a bot: Resy accounts may be connected to invalid email addresses comprised of jumbled numbers and letters, or profiles with a history of booking prime time, back-to-back reservations on weekends — such as 7 p.m. reservations every Friday and Saturday for several weekends. Others are the usual disconnected phone numbers attached to bookings and invalid credit cards.

But even though they may suspect suspicious activity in advance, Pak admits that a lot of the time they don’t know for sure, “and we don’t want to risk canceling a reservation that belongs to someone who authentically booked.”

This means that not only does the business miss out on the $20 cancellation fee charged to invalid credit cards, the bar loses time, and eventually customers and revenue, when they hold bot seats that go unfilled.

But Chan—who has seen seats at his bar selling for $340 each on six-month-old Cita marketplace, another website that enables diners to buy and sell restaurant reservations—calls out another issue. When guests drop $100 or more just to walk in the door, “people have [the] wrong expectation when they come” he says because those expectations might be unreasonably high.

Pak says that Resy, which runs the reservations for Double Chicken Please and is owned by American Express, has taken action: They are “deleting confirmed bot profiles and sending what are essentially cease and desist emails to broker profiles,” she says. The actions have helped, Pak adds, but the issue persists. Now, Double Chicken Please has cut down on the number of reserved seats they offer and are welcoming more walk-ins.

A spokesperson for Resy says that the company is taking measures to block bot-booking. “Resy detects and deactivates bad actor accounts, cancels reservations, and blocks bot traffic,” they said over email.

At Tock, another reservation site that books tables at notable restaurants around the world, there’s an in-house Fraud Prevention team that uses a proprietary algorithm to flag suspicious activity. It has used it to block cards and scalper accounts a handful of times. Two months ago, the company added verification techniques to block bots, that include having users check boxes to verify they are real people. Resy also uses a variety of checks, including checking boxes and two-factor authentication for profiles.

Some new sites are testing out their own bot workarounds. ResX, a six-month-old app that began as an Instagram account, is free to use and provides a platform for diners to give away and claim restaurant reservations. For $10 a month, ResX also offers access to what it calls “premium” restaurants, like the power pasta dining spot Misi in Brooklyn. Users earn “tokens” by giving away their reservations; the tokens, in turn, can be used to claim premium reservations.

Longtime ResX user Jake Andrew, who declined to give his last name, has used the app to avoid cancellation charges. That includes trading a table for 8 at Montauk’s Surf Lodge last summer — the definition of valuable culinary real estate in the Hamptons. “I was going to be charged $400, $50 per guest,” he says.

Another new members-only app, Dorsia, works with restaurants to score prime reservations at places like the supper club space 9 Jones and even the impossible-to-get-into Carbone in New York. (The site, whose name has a clear American Psycho connection, also covers cities like Miami, London, the Bay Area and Los Angeles restaurants.)

But a diner must agree to a certain prepaid per-person spend when they book: For example, dinner at Cote Korean Steakhouse might cost $125 per person on a weekday night at 5 p.m.; on a weekend at 9 p.m. that figure might be $175. The benefit is that, although the seats might cost more, the extra money goes to a diner’s food and drinks as opposed to a reseller’s pocket.

For now, the only solution for frustrated restaurateurs is “a lot of added time and effort,” says Don Angie’s Rito. She and her staff are currently reaching out to every customer on Don Angie’s waitlist one-by-one to ensure that they’re a real person who will walk through the door of the restaurant and into a seat.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. George Santos easily survived a vote Wednesday to expel him from the House as most Republicans and 31 Democrats opted to withhold punishment while both his criminal trial and a House Ethics Committee investigation proceed.

The effort to kick Santos out of the House was led by his fellow New York Republicans, who are anxious to distance themselves from a colleague infamous for fabricating his life story and accused of stealing from donors, lying to Congress and receiving unemployment benefits he did not deserve.

But the resolution failed to gain the required two-thirds vote. Supporters could not even gain a simple majority, with the final vote being 179 for expulsion and 213 against.

To succeed, numerous Republican lawmakers would have had to break ranks with newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson, who has said Santos should get his day in court. Johnson, R-La., also recently told Fox News that if Congress is going to expel members because they are charged with a crime or accused of wrongdoing, “that’s a problem.”

Some Democrats also voiced concerns about getting ahead of the Ethics Committee, which issued a rare memo the day before, citing the depth of its investigation with some 40 witnesses contacted and the issuance of 37 subpoenas. It also said the next steps of the committee’s investigation would be announced by Nov. 17.

“I feel like due process is still alive. I feel like there’s enough colleagues on both sides of the aisle here who understand that,” Santos said after the vote.

Congress has rarely resorted to the most extreme punishment at its disposal. The House has expelled only five members in its history — three during the Civil War and two after their convictions on public corruption charges. It would be groundbreaking for the House to kick out Santos before his case in federal court is resolved.

Some Republicans, however, said they had seen enough of Santos. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said he believes in due process, but also thinks Santos misrepresented himself to New York voters and they never would have elected him if they had “known the true George Santos.”

“We don’t need the Santos charade all the way through the 2024 election cycle. I think the Congress needs to take action now,” Womack said.

The House floor debate over whether to expel Santos was undertaken strictly by members of the New York congressional delegation. On one side, Republican Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler laid out their case for expelling Santos.

“Mr. Santos is a stain on this institution and not fit to serve his constituents in the House of Representatives,” D’Esposito said.

On the other side was Santos, who appealed to lawmakers to hold off on expulsion, saying that passing judgment without due process would engender mistrust.

“I’m fighting tooth and nail to clear my name in front of the entire world,” Santos said. “It hasn’t been easy, but I’m fighting by God’s grace.”

The only Democratic lawmaker to speak during the debate was Rep. Dan Goldman. He said Santos should have been expelled in May when Democrats brought an expulsion resolution, and the only reason the New York Republicans were leading the effort now was because Santos “hangs like an albatross around the necks of every single Republican from New York.”

“They don’t care any more about integrity or morality or the reputation of this institution than they did in May when they voted to protect Mr. Santos,” Goldman said. “They just care about their reelection in one year when they know that their support for George Santos is going to be a problem.”

The New York Republicans laid out in their expulsion resolution the array of charges Santos is facing in federal court, saying the charges indicated Santos engaged in serious financial fraud throughout his 2022 campaign for the House. The resolution said he deceived voters regarding his biography and is “not fit to serve his constituents as United States Representative.”

“Mr. Santos has said expelling him before he is formally charged and found guilty would create a new precedent in this body, one that could have negative consequences for generations,” LaLota said. “Respectfully, Mr. Speaker, I disagree. The consequences and precedents of not expelling him for his lies and fraud has the potential to do far more damage to this institution.”

In May, Republicans under then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California sidestepped the Democratic-led effort to expel Santos. While 204 Democrats voted against a motion to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee, House Republicans stood unified behind the effort that delayed action on Santos’ conduct.

Johnson, who took the speaker’s gavel last week, made it clear he would prefer not to oust Santos at this point, despite the many charges against the congressman, as Johnson struggles to control a very slim majority.

“He’s only been charged. He hasn’t been found guilty of anything. We have due process in America,” said GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who opposed the expulsion resolution.

Democrats were also more divided than they were during the previous expulsion effort against Santos. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., called it a complicated vote because she would like to wait for the Ethics Committee to release its findings first.

“If there is a report forthcoming, I think we owe it to ourselves to give ourselves a couple of weeks so that we are all operating off the same information,” she said.

Rep. Marc Molinaro, a New York Republican who supported the expulsion effort, said the delegation would likely raise it again once the Ethics Committee releases the findings of its investigation.

“I suspect the report is going to come public soon, and it’s going to be clear that he should be removed from Congress,” he said.

Santos faces 23 charges in federal court. His trial has been scheduled for September next year. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Also on Wednesday evening, the House voted to reject an effort to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Democrats called off an effort to censure Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.