Tag Archives: Burns

Sports

Carolina Panthers’ Brian Burns wishes NFL DEs ‘happy hunting’ vs. New England Patriots’ Mac Jones

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina Panthers defensive end Brian Burns isn’t buying Mac Jones’ explanation that the New England Patriots quarterback was trying to tackle and not injure him after a sack Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.

He all but put a target on the 15th pick of the 2021 draft when asked how he wanted the situation, being reviewed by the NFL for a possible fine, to turn out.

“It would be nice to have an apology, but it’s not going to happen,” Burns said Wednesday, the first time he has addressed the play. “However the NFL handles it, it’s on them. I would just like to play them again.

“I wish all my fellow D-end brothers happy hunting. That’s all.”

Jones was asked Wednesday whether he thought about reaching out to Burns to apologize.

“I already addressed that situation. I’m just looking forward to playing in this game with the guys we have on our team this week. So we’re already kind of moving forward and ready to play this week,” he said.

The play occurred near the end of the first quarter of Carolina’s 24-6 loss. After Burns took Jones down on a strip-sack, the quarterback grabbed Burns’ right ankle and held on as the end tried to escape.

With Burns down on the field holding his ankle and with Carolina linebacker linebacker Frankie Luvu recovering the fumble more than 10 yards away, Jones got up and walked away.

Jones said on Monday in his weekly interview on WEEI radio in Boston that he thought Burns had the ball and that “it’s my job to try to make the tackle.”

Carolina edge rusher Haason Reddick called the play “completely dirty” Sunday. Burns, after watching the replay and then studying it from every angle available, agreed.

“I thought it was some bull at first for him to grab my ankle in the first place,” Burns said. “After watching the video and … him just walking away, everything didn’t seem right about it. I’m down there in pain; he just looked at me and walked off like he did his job or some bull like that.

“After seeing that, that’s when I realized, ‘Damn!'”

Burns later in the game rolled the ankle again and had to be helped off the field a second time. He did not practice Wednesday, and his status for Sunday’s game at Arizona is in question.

Coach Matt Rhule said his edge rusher would be a game-time decision, but Burns expects to play.

Burns laughed when asked whether he had heard from Jones or Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

“No,” he said. “Not at all. They’re not going to hook me up.”

Burns also hasn’t heard from the league.

“They can do what they please with the video,” he said. “It’s clear to see he held on to my ankle, swept my leg, twisted my ankle, whatever you want to call it.”

Even Carolina running back Christian McCaffrey, who typically avoids controversy, questioned Jones’ motives.

“I thought it was pretty suspect,” he said.

Since Sunday, Burns was reminded that Jones “nudged” one of his American Heritage teammates after Burns sacked him in a high school game. Both players grew up in South Florida, Burns in the Fort Lauderdale area and Jones in Jacksonville.

“I didn’t even know I played him in high school,” Burns said with a laugh.

Burns won’t forget Jones after Sunday.

“As soon as I sacked him, he grabbed my arm,” he said. “And my arm was trapped. Once I got my arm free and tried to run, obviously he grabbed my ankle. At that point I just remember going down with my ankle hurting.

“Everybody else ran past us. If I had the ball, don’t you think I would be being tackled or your teammates would help? I don’t think it’s cool.”

ESPN’s Mike Reiss contributed to this report.

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World

CIA Director Bill Burns dispatched to Moscow to warn Russia over troop buildup near Ukraine

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The Biden administration has ramped up its efforts in recent days to de-escalate growing tensions between Moscow and Kiev. Following his meetings in Russia, Burns spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone in an attempt to diffuse those tensions, the sources told CNN. A senior State Department official was also dispatched to Kiev on Thursday to support those efforts.

“The buildup, coupled with the energy blackmail, does suggest a more aggressive Russian posture,” an adviser to Zelensky told CNN.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said on Friday that the “scale” and “the size of the units that we’re seeing” from Russia is “unusual.”

“We continue to monitor this closely, and as I’ve said before, any escalatory or aggressive actions by Russia would be of great concern to the United States,” he said.

Burns as key intermediary

Assessments on Russia’s motives differ widely within the administration, with some sources telling CNN they believe Russia could be preparing for an invasion, while others suggest they are conducting an exercise, or simply trying to intimidate Ukraine.

And publicly, Ukraine has downplayed the idea that Russia is building up its military presence near the border beyond normal levels. Russia has “established a practice of “transferring and accumulating military units for the purpose of maintaining tension in the region and political pressure on neighboring countries,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

But in an effort to prevent any kind of escalation, Biden dispatched Burns to Moscow on Tuesday, where he met with Kremlin officials to try to deter any plans for an offensive by conveying that the US is closely monitoring the troop movements, according to people briefed on their meeting.

Burns also brought up US concerns that Russia is close to using its gas exports as leverage, with Ukraine and other European nations forecast to suffer energy crises heading into winter.

After his meetings in Moscow, Burns called Zelensky on Wednesday to convey the administration’s concerns over Russia’s behavior and reassure him that the US is closely tracking the Russian activity, according to a person with direct knowledge of the call.

Satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies on Monday demonstrate the kind of irregular Russian troop and equipment movements that US officials are worried about. The images show Russian troops, tanks and artillery massing near the Russian town of Yelnya, and the Biden administration is more concerned than it was in the spring that Russia could launch an invasion, two senior US officials said.

In response to questions about the satellite images, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters this week that “The movement of our military equipment or army units across the territory of the Russian Federation is exclusively our business.” He added that “Russia has never threatened anyone, is not threatening, and does not pose a danger to anyone. But against the background of rather aggressive expansionist tendencies, especially on the part of NATO and other countries, Russia has always taken measures to ensure its security and will continue to do so.”

But one US official told CNN that the US has “serious concerns” about the Russian build up, adding, “It would be foolish for us not to be considering the possibility of an invasion or incursion.”

Another State Department official and a senior congressional aide noted that the US concerns stem largely from the fact that Russia appears to be putting pieces into place should it want to take action against Ukraine quickly.

“It is certainly an unprecedented buildup, and if Russia wanted to invade Ukraine, it has the capability and capacity to overwhelm Ukrainian forces,” the aide said. “With such a large buildup, Putin could order an invasion at any time and there would be very little warning.”

Intense outreach to allies

European diplomats in the US and Europe say that the US has been conducting intense outreach about Russia, an effort that began in just the last few days.

“The administration is very, very concerned—this is the most concerned I’ve heard them about Russia in a really, really long time,” said one diplomat. “I wouldn’t underestimate this. They’re doing a massive outreach to raise awareness about this.”

The concerns the US is sharing are “pretty specific” said another diplomat, who echoed others in saying that they are now being carefully and closely examined in European capitals, where perceptions of the Russian threat vary. Even so, diplomats from five different European countries acknowledged that the trendline of Russian actions in relation to Ukraine have been worrying.

Concerns over the Kremlin’s intentions stem from Russia’s invasion of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. The international community, led by the US, imposed sanctions on Russia for the subsequent illegal annexation of the Ukrainian territory, but the multilateral sanctions have done nothing to push Russia back from the peninsula. Putin has made clear his plans to keep Russian forces there, despite international opposition.

“They’re definitely being taken very seriously,” the second diplomat said. “There is clearly a trend line over here — you can go back all the way to 2014, of course,” when Russia invaded Crimea. “But since the spring of this year,” a constellation of developments has drawn attention, including the Russian escalation around Ukraine, the only partial withdrawal of those troops, Russia’s move to leave some military hardware behind on the border, and a sharpening of Russian rhetoric about Ukraine.

Diplomats noted an article President Vladimir Putin wrote this summer, which one diplomat described as a “revisionist manifesto” about Ukrainian history meant to fit Russian arguments and deny the foundation for a Ukrainian state. More recently, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote a similar article denigrating Ukraine and its leaders.

Watching ‘with all of our capabilities’

The administration is far from reaching a consensus on Russia’s intentions, however, and other defense officials told CNN they have not seen indications that Russia is preparing for a sustained operation like an invasion. That would require supplies to be brought into the area like food, fuel and spare parts, the officials said.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said this week the US wasn’t seeing anything to indicate an imminent Russian move on Ukraine, but he still expressed concern at the “significant amount” of military movements along the border.

Speaking to NBC’s Lester Holt at the Aspen Security Forum, Milley said the Russian activity was “nothing overtly aggressive per se,” but he cautioned that the US is watching the movements “with all of our capabilities.”

Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, say they do not believe the US has done enough to deter Russian aggression. Kiev has been pushing the US to do more to stop the Russia-Germany gas pipeline known as Nord Stream 2 from becoming fully operational, which will allow Russia to bypass Ukraine entirely when delivering gas to Europe and, Kiev argues, make Ukraine even more vulnerable to Russian advances.

But the Biden administration waived some sanctions on Nord Stream 2 earlier this year, organized a summit with Putin in June, and has been trying to find common ground with Moscow on issues like ransomware and nuclear stability.

“The best signal the administration could send to Russia right now, to show that there are repercussions for their behavior, would be to reverse course on Nord Stream 2,” the Zelensky adviser said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN’s climate summit earlier this week, where they discussed joint concerns about the unusual Russian military movement and the country’s potentially coercive use of its energy supplies, a State Department official said. Those subjects will be revisited when Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba travels to Washington for talks with Blinken next week, the official said.

CNN’s Oren Liebermann, Nicole Gaouette, Katie Bo Williams, Barbara Starr, Matthew Chance and Zahra Ullah contributed to this report.

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Health

Woman suffers horrific burns after her husband accidentally set her on fire

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A brave woman has revealed how she forgave her husband after he accidentally set her on fire in a horrific firepit accident that left her with agonizing burns all over her body – and seen her forced to undergo more than $2.9 million worth of reconstructive surgery.

Influencer Tonya Meisenbach, 48, from Atlanta, Georgia, recalls how she ‘went up like a match’ after her husband Donald accidentally poured lighter fluid on her while trying to set a fire in the garden of their home back in December 2018.

The mistake caused Tonya’s arm, face, and hair to go up in flames – leaving her writhing in agony and with such severe burns that she had to be placed in a medically-induced coma for two months, in order to give her body time to heal.        

Tonya was taken to the hospital immediately and while she was in her coma, doctors performed a series of extensive reparative surgeries, including a full face skin graft.

Agony: A 48-year-old woman was left with horrific burns all over her face and body after her husband accidentally set her on fire while trying to light a firepit in their backyard 

Devastating: Tonya Meisenbach, from Atlanta, Georgia, was enjoying an outdoor dinner with her husband Donald when he accidentally sprayed her with lighter fluid

‘I went up like a match’: The accident left Tonya with such severe burns that she had to be placed in a medically-induced coma for two months while doctors rushed to save her life

In total, Tonya spent six months in hospital – but even when she was released, she would return regularly for various surgeries.

Furious with himself for the accident, Tonya’s husband Donald stayed by her side at all times, keeping a diary for her to read once she was taken out of the coma.

The hospital provided $2.3 million for her surgeries but were unable to pay any more – and Tonya had no insurance. Luckily, the staff applied for state assistance for her, and managed to secure her extra funding.

In total, her surgeries have cost over $2.9 million – and she’s only halfway done.

‘My husband and I were outside with a firepit, a week before Christmas in 2018. It got late, so I decided to go inside and get the meat to make dinner,’ Tonya said.

‘When I came back out, I reached in to put the meat on the grill. My husband was still building up the fire, but I didn’t realize it. He squirted the lighter fluid, which hit my hair, my arms and my clothes.

‘I went up like a match.

‘After that, I was in the hospital for six months. For the first two months, due to the pain and the fact that I had to have a surgery every week, I was put in a medically induced coma.

Recovery: While in her coma, Tonya underwent multiple operations, including a full face skin graft – and she has had to face many more operations in the months since she woke up 

Struggle: It took Tonya months before she felt confident enough to step out in public 

 Ongoing: Tonya’s surgeries have cost a staggering $2.9 million – and she believes she is only halfway through her treatments 

‘All the skin that you see on me – none of that is my burned skin. That skin was too badly burned to be salvaged. Even my face is a full skin graft.

‘When I woke up, I spent a month trying to get my bearings by working with physical therapists. All my muscles had atrophied.

‘I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t swallow. I couldn’t even wiggle around in bed.

‘While I was in hospital, my husband was angry with himself for the accident, and terrified of losing me. He kept a diary that’s just between us, because he said the worst part was not being able to speak to me.

‘Then they sent me to a rehab center for a month, but while I was in that facility, I got a terrible scalp infection. It was a fungal infection – a type of fungus not usually found in humans.

‘I couldn’t reach my scalp at the time because my arms wouldn’t bend, so I couldn’t scratch my head. I would use tongue scrapers or things that the doctors left behind because my head was so itchy.

‘Ultimately, I ended up going septic because of all the scratching, and had to go back to the hospital.

‘I’ve just had surgery on my eyes – I’ve always had weak eye muscles, but when I was in the coma, my right eye turned the opposite way.

‘I’ve had trouble recovering, but I feel so blessed because I’m going to have straight eyes.

‘I still have a minimum of 15 to 20 more surgeries to go. If you get burned over 50 per cent of your body, you can expect to have 50 to 100 surgeries over your lifetime. I was only burned over 35 per cent.’

Tonya and her husband were connected to Miriam Lazo Chavez, 52, a caretaker from Marietta, through a friend of a friend, and she has been Tonya’s nurse and friend for over two years.

New perspective: Tonya always loved playing with makeup, but after her accident, she lost all her confidence and had to spend months working up the courage to show off her face

Bravery: She has learned to embrace her altered appearance and now happily shows off her scars on social media in the hopes of inspiring others 

Tonya credits her amazing support system and her love of makeup for helping her get the confidence to enjoy life again and help other people to do the same.

‘I’m very blessed with the people around me because I couldn’t survive without any of them,’ said Tonya.

‘My husband was amazing – he stayed with me the whole time. He was there for me in hospital for all six months, and then he learned about administering my medicine, cleaning my wounds and bathing me – everything.

‘My daughter was a veterinary major at the time, and when I woke up, she told me that she’d switched her major to nursing after seeing what the hospital had done for me.

‘My ultimate goal is to be able to raise a lot of money and help a lot of people, but you need recognition, because there’s a lot of charities out there.

She hopes that by gaining publicity through modelling and makeup, she can make a real difference to those going through what she did.

‘Makeup gave me my confidence back – and it’s also getting me name recognition,’ she said.

‘I was depressed because I had always loved makeup and fashion, but after the burns, I looked so bad.

‘My bottom lip was down to my chin. My mouth was constantly open – you could see all of my teeth. My eyes were puffy, and my skin was different colors.

‘Makeup wasn’t going to fix it. Why would I bother putting makeup on if it’s not going to fix anything?

‘As my face kept healing, I was still scared to go out. I never wanted to be seen.

‘One day, Miriam said to me, “This is all in your head now. You don’t look like you used to.”

‘It was a pretty simple statement, but it hadn’t occurred to me. That’s when I really picked the brushes up, after Miriam encouraged me.

‘I think that, once you’ve been through a trauma, the first thing you have to do is be thankful that you’re still here.’

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World

Nicholas Burns: Biden’s pick for US ambassador to China backs increasing security assistance to Taiwan

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Testifying at his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, Nicholas Burns said reports indicating that China could be building up its nuclear arsenal are concerning, and called on Beijing to halt its “genocide in Xinjiang, its abuses in Tibet, its smothering of Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms, and its bullying of Taiwan.”

If confirmed, Burns would fill the ambassador role — which has been vacant for a year — amid ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing, a relationship he called “complicated and consequential.”

“Beijing’s recent actions against Taiwan are especially objectionable,” he said. “The United States is right to continue to adhere to its one-China policy. But we’re also right to support the peaceful resolution of disputes in this region, and to oppose unilateral actions that undermine the status quo and undermine the stability of the region.”

Under the “One China” Policy, the US acknowledges China’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.

However, Burns also spoke of the continued adherence to the Taiwan Relations Act, a 1979 law that underpins the US’ unofficial relationship with Taiwan, including the government’s ability to provide weapons to the self-ruled island.

Burns, a former career diplomat, said the US has “enormous latitude — Congress and the executive branch — under the Taiwan Relations Act to deepen our security assistance to Taiwan.”

“Given what China’s done, given China’s frankly objectionable statements towards Taiwan, I think the Congress and the executive branch have every right to continue to deepen our security cooperation, to expand our arms provisions to Taiwan, that’s the most important thing we can do,” Burns told Senate Foreign Relations Committee lawmakers.

In recent weeks, Beijing has sent dozens of warplanes near into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), and Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that “reunification” between China and Taiwan was inevitable.

Stressed importance of US military presence in Asia

Burns emphasized the importance of maintaining a US military presence in Asia as a means to deter Chinese aggressions.

“Maybe the most important thing we can do is maintain the American military position in Japan, in the Republic of Korea, in that first island chain but also out to our Anderson Air Force Base in Guam,” he said, describing that presence as an “effective deterrent to keep the peace.”

Burns also said that reports indicating that China is pursuing a build-up nuclear arms, as well as reports about its novel delivery systems, are concerning.

The Financial Times reported that China in August tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile. China has denied the report, saying it was a “routine spacecraft experiment.”

“What I think has to bother all of us is the attitude of the Chinese government. They don’t believe that they should be constrained in any way shape or form by arms control. The United States submits to that; Russia submits to that, at least did in the past. Our other nuclear allies, the United Kingdom and France do,” he said.

“I know the Trump administration made an effort to do this, and was right to do it, to push the Chinese to think about their obligations. And I think it’s very important that we do that on a bipartisan basis. But certainly these are troubling developments,” Burns added.

The Trump administration tried without success to get China to participate in trilateral talks with the US and Russia with the aim of achieving of three party nuclear arms control agreement.

Burns, a former under secretary of state for political affairs and US ambassador to NATO and Greece, also underscored that the US should seek to cooperate with China in areas “where it is in our interest, including on climate change, counternarcotics, global health, and nonproliferation.”

CNN’s Kylie Atwood, Nicole Gaouette and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.

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Health

A Study Says Physical Activity Burns 28% Fewer Calories Than You Think, So That’s Annoying

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If you’ve ever calculated the calories you burn in your workouts and wondered why they don’t add up to more pounds dropped, well, turns out there’s a scientific reason for that – and no, it’s not just that you might eat a little more after a tough workout. According to a new study in Current Biology, our bodies “compensate” for the calories we burn during workouts by expending fewer calories throughout the rest of the day. That adds up to a lower net calorie burn than you think you’re getting – by a surprisingly significant amount.

The study analyzed data from 1,754 adults that told them two key measurements: how many calories each person burned simply by being alive (their “basal” expenditure, also known as your basal metabolic rate); and how many overall calories they burned during a day, which would include any exercise or activity they’d done. Subtracting the basal expenditure from the overall expenditure told the scientists how many calories the person burned from exercise and any other kind of movement (standing, walking, moving around) in a day. They then compared that number to the amount of calories that person would be expected to burn, derived from statistical models. (The study only focused on calorie burn, not how many calories the participants consumed with food.)

The results showed that, on average, only 72 percent of the calories we burn from exercise actually translate into additional calories burned that day. That means that your body “compensates” for about 28 percent of the calories you burn during a workout by burning fewer calories during the rest of the day, when you’re at rest. (The researchers didn’t know exactly what your body does to “save” those calories, but speculated it might dial down other calorie-burning processes like your immune system.)

Related: 9 Bodyweight Cardio Exercises Trainers Want You to Add to Your Weight Loss Routine

So, let’s say you burn 100 calories in a workout. You can’t just say you’ve now burned 100 more calories on the day, because your body will now burn fewer calories elsewhere. Instead, the average person will burn closer to 72 extra calories – still an additional expenditure, but less than expected. And while previous research had found that exercise was translating into less calorie expenditure than predicted, this study is the first to quantify it so precisely.

One last bit of frustrating news came from the study. It turns out that this calorie compensation effect is even stronger in people who have relatively high levels of body fat. The study found that their bodies compensated for 50 percent or more of the calories they burned during exercise and activity.

If you’re trying to lose weight, all of this might feel a bit discouraging to hear, but it’s important to remember that the study was focusing on extra calories burned. When your body is active, you still burn more calories than you do when completely at rest, even if it’s somewhat less than expected. It underscores the importance of sticking to your workout routine while being mindful of what you eat to ensure that your weight loss strategies are staying as efficient – and effective – as possible.

Read original article here

Health

A Study Says Physical Activity Burns 28% Fewer Calories Than You Think, So That’s Annoying

Leave a comment

If you’ve ever calculated the calories you burn in your workouts and wondered why they don’t add up to more pounds dropped, well, turns out there’s a scientific reason for that – and no, it’s not just that you might eat a little more after a tough workout. According to a new study in Current Biology, our bodies “compensate” for the calories we burn during workouts by expending fewer calories throughout the rest of the day. That adds up to a lower net calorie burn than you think you’re getting – by a surprisingly significant amount.

The study analyzed data from 1,754 adults that told them two key measurements: how many calories each person burned simply by being alive (their “basal” expenditure, also known as your basal metabolic rate); and how many overall calories they burned during a day, which would include any exercise or activity they’d done. Subtracting the basal expenditure from the overall expenditure told the scientists how many calories the person burned from exercise and any other kind of movement (standing, walking, moving around) in a day. They then compared that number to the amount of calories that person would be expected to burn, derived from statistical models. (The study only focused on calorie burn, not how many calories the participants consumed with food.)

The results showed that, on average, only 72 percent of the calories we burn from exercise actually translate into additional calories burned that day. That means that your body “compensates” for about 28 percent of the calories you burn during a workout by burning fewer calories during the rest of the day, when you’re at rest. (The researchers didn’t know exactly what your body does to “save” those calories, but speculated it might dial down other calorie-burning processes like your immune system.)

Related: 9 Bodyweight Cardio Exercises Trainers Want You to Add to Your Weight Loss Routine

So, let’s say you burn 100 calories in a workout. You can’t just say you’ve now burned 100 more calories on the day, because your body will now burn fewer calories elsewhere. Instead, the average person will burn closer to 72 extra calories – still an additional expenditure, but less than expected. And while previous research had found that exercise was translating into less calorie expenditure than predicted, this study is the first to quantify it so precisely.

One last bit of frustrating news came from the study. It turns out that this calorie compensation effect is even stronger in people who have relatively high levels of body fat. The study found that their bodies compensated for 50 percent or more of the calories they burned during exercise and activity.

If you’re trying to lose weight, all of this might feel a bit discouraging to hear, but it’s important to remember that the study was focusing on extra calories burned. When your body is active, you still burn more calories than you do when completely at rest, even if it’s somewhat less than expected. It underscores the importance of sticking to your workout routine while being mindful of what you eat to ensure that your weight loss strategies are staying as efficient – and effective – as possible.

Read original article here

Entertainment

10 things we learned about Muhammad Ali from Ken Burns’ epic documentary

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One of the titans of 20th century popular culture, “The Greatest” was hardly a wallflower, and his oversized, well-documented life has sustained biographers, historians and filmmakers for decades. An Academy Award has been won for profiling a single fight; recent feature “One Night In Miami” conjured a whole narrative out of a footnote in history; Marcus A. Clarke’s documentary “Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali” arrived on Netflix just a week ago.

The bottom line is it’s not easy to shed fresh light on a character who jumped so flamboyantly into the spotlight, and shuffled, ducked and dived to make sure he stayed in it. Enter, Ken Burns.

As demonstrated by his sprawling, masterful “The Vietnam War” from 2017, Burns is not one to just acknowledge but relish in the context. It may take time to receive the full picture, but the portrait is richer for it.

Now he has turned to Ali. Stretching eight hours (split into four episodes), “Muhammad Ali” took seven years to complete and features interviews with close friends, family, experts and cultural figureheads, selections from over 15,000 photographs and intimate footage that even Ali’s daughter Rasheda had not seen before. So yes, you could call it comprehensive. But still the question: Why?

“He’s the greatest athlete of the 20th century,” Burns tells CNN. “I’d be happy to sit on a barstool and argue that he’s the greatest athlete of all time — period, full stop.

“His life and his professional life intersected with all the main issues of the second half of the 20th century, that has to do obviously with sport and the role of sports in society and also race and politics and faith and Islam and war … He’s just the most compelling figure in all of sports.”

The director shares he has a neon sign in his editing suit that reads, “it’s complicated.” The same applies to Ali’s life. Alongside the familiar heroics, Burns gives the ugly side of Ali — the bullying, the promiscuity — ample space. “There’s no message” to the documentary, he insists, “we’re in the history business.”

“All of human life is complicated and contradictory and sometimes controversial, but there’s a majesty to this particular life, and I don’t think I’ve met an American as filled with the kind of spirit and sense of purpose as (Ali),” says Burns.

Walking through Ali’s life is a well-trodden path for boxing fans, but by dint of the volume of material Burns had to hand there are still some surprises. Here’s some lesser-known Ali trivia from the series.

Ali’s fear of flying was so extreme he once wore a parachute

When a young Cassius Clay traveled from Louisville to San Francisco for Olympic trials, so scared of flying was the amateur boxer that he bought a military parachute and wore it on the flight. When he won the competition, he pawned one of his prizes, a watch, to pay for a train ticket home instead.

Ali’s corner once put ice cubes down his shorts mid-fight

Fighting Henry Cooper in the UK in June 1963, then-Clay famously took a huge left hook seconds before the end of the fourth round. The bell arrived just in time for the American, whose corner did everything they could to wake him up for the next round. That meant smelling salts wafted under his nose and ice cubes down his shorts. It worked — he came back swinging and won in the fifth when the referee decided Cooper was too badly cut and bloodied to continue.

Before their bitter rivalry, Ali and Joe Frazier first met as friends

A young Frazier was 14-0 when he walked into an Ali training session and introduced himself. Ali said he’d fight the up and comer in two years if he kept on doing what he was doing and sent Frazier off with an autographed photo. It took longer than that, but by March 1971 the two undefeated boxers finally met.

Racists once sent Ali a decapitated dog in the mail

Ali’s legal dispute over his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War is well raked over in Burns’ documentary, including the horrific racist vitriol the boxer faced as a result. Convicted for draft evasion in 1967 and stripped of his boxing license and title, Ali was forced into the boxing hinterlands in his prime years. Ahead of his 1970 comeback fight against Jerry Quarry in Atlanta he was sent a box with a decapitated black dog inside and a note that read, “We know how to handle black draft-dodging dogs in Georgia.” Ali’s status as a conscientious objector would ultimately be vindicated when the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the conviction 8-0 in 1971.

When Ali lost to Frazier, Muammar Gaddafi declared a day of mourning

When Frazier won “The Fight of the Century” on March 8, 1971, Ali fans were distraught. The fight had been broadcast around the world and audiences were riveted by the $5 million fight. Hunter S. Thompson described the result as “a very painful experience in every way,” and Libyan president Gaddafi declared a day of mourning, reports Burns. (The dictator would later decide the sport was too violent and ban it in his own country.)

He was once gifted a boxing robe from Elvis Presley

And it was pure 70s Elvis. Ali wore the robe for his March 1973 fight against six-foot three-inch former marine Ken Norton. White and covered in jewels and with blue lettering on the back reading “People’s Choice,” the gift did not prove a good luck charm, with Norton inflicting Ali’s second professional loss.

Zaire’s Mobutu Sese Seko confiscated George Foreman’s passport in the lead up to “The Rumble in the Jungle”

After spending all that money financing “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the 1974 mega-fight between Ali and Foreman in Zaire (today, the Democratic Republic of Congo), dictatorial leader Mobutu wasn’t going to let anything stop it. Ali and Foreman both trained in Zaire in separate camps ahead of the fight. When Foreman was cut above the right eye in a sparring session, his doctor said it would take weeks to heal and called for a postponement. The boxer wanted to fly to France or Belgium for a second opinion, but Mobutu said no — he’d reportedly confiscated his passport. The fight was postponed by just over a month and both boxers stayed put.

By the end of his career, Ali was dying his hair

Even the most casual boxing fans know Ali kept boxing for too long, his body needlessly taking punishment long after his reputation as The Greatest was assured. But by 1980, when a 38-year-old Ali got in the ring with Larry Holmes, he was showing his age and dying his hair black to conceal the gray. It didn’t roll back the years — Ali was pummeled by Holmes. “It was like watching a friend get run over by a truck,” sportswriter Dave Kindred tells Burns.

He was a dab hand at magic

Ali met Fidel Castro in 1996, by which point the former champion was largely unable to speak due to the onset of Parkinson’s disease. He was still an entertainer however, and so performed magic tricks for the Cuban leader. But, believing it went against Islam to deceive, Ali showed Castro exactly how he’d done them straight after.

Ali originally declined to light the Olympic flame at Atlanta ’96

By the mid-90s Ali had taken a step back from the limelight, although he frequently traveled for humanitarian work. When the Atlanta Games asked him in secret if he’d light the Olympic flame, he said no at first, citing the frailties that came with his advancing Parkinson’s diagnosis. But his friend, photographer and biographer Howard Bingham, convinced him to, saying, “the world is saying thank you for all you’ve done over your life. There will be a billion people watching.” Ali’s surprise appearance remains one of the defining images of any Olympic Games.

Ken Burns’ “Muhammad Ali” debuts on September 19 on PBS.

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Entertainment

Original ‘Blue’s Clues’ host Steve Burns talks about ‘abrupt’ departure in viral video – USA TODAY

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  1. Original ‘Blue’s Clues’ host Steve Burns talks about ‘abrupt’ departure in viral video USA TODAY
  2. Original ‘Blue’s Clues’ Host Steve Burns Finally Addresses His Sudden Departure in Viral Twitter Clip Yahoo Entertainment
  3. ‘Blue’s Clues’ Host Steve Burns Has A Message For Fans TODAY
  4. Former ‘Blue’s Clues’ host Steve has message for show’s grown-up fans: ‘I never forgot you’ Entertainment Weekly News
  5. “You Can’t Spell Blue without YOU” Sing Along Song Music Video | Blue’s Clues & You! Blue’s Clues & You!
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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US

Town burns to ashes in raging Northern California wildfire

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GREENVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Eva Gorman says the little California mountain town of Greenville was a place of community and strong character, the kind of place where neighbors volunteered to move furniture, colorful baskets of flowers brightened Main Street, and writers, musicians, mechanics and chicken farmers mingled.

Now, it’s ashes.

As hot, bone-dry, gusty weather hit California, the state’s largest current wildfire raged through the Gold Rush-era Sierra Nevada community of about 1,000, incinerating much of the downtown that included wooden buildings more than a century old.

The winds were expected to calm and change direction heading into the weekend but that good news came too late for Gorman.

“It’s just completely devastating. We’ve lost our home, my business, our whole downtown area is gone,” said Gorman, who heeded evacuation warnings and left town with her husband a week and-a-half ago as the Dixie Fire approached.

She managed to grab some photos off the wall, her favorite jewelry and important documents but couldn’t help but think of the family treasures left behind.

“My grandmother’s dining room chairs, my great-aunt’s bed from Italy. There is a photo I keep visualizing in my mind of my son when he was 2. He’s 37 now,” she said. “At first you think, ‘It’s OK, I have the negatives.’ And then you realize, ‘Oh. No. I don’t.’”

Officials had not yet assessed the number of destroyed buildings, but Plumas County Sheriff Todd Johns estimated on Thursday that “well over” 100 homes had burned in and near the town.

“My heart is crushed by what has occurred there,” said Johns, a lifelong Greenville resident.

About a two-hour drive south, officials said some 100 homes and other buildings burned in the fast-moving River Fire that broke out Wednesday near Colfax, a town of about 2,000. There was no containment and about 6,000 people were ordered to evacuate in Placer and Nevada counties, state fire officials said.

The three-week-old Dixie Fire was one of 100 active, large fires burning in 14 states, most in the West where historic drought has left lands parched and ripe for ignition.

The Dixie Fire had consumed about 565 square miles (1,464 square kilometers), an area larger than the size of Los Angeles. The cause was under investigation, but Pacific Gas & Electric has said it may have been sparked when a tree fell on one of the utility’s power lines.

The blaze exploded on Wednesday and Thursday through timber, grass and brush so dry that one fire official described it as “basically near combustion.” Dozens of homes had already burned before the flames made new runs.

No deaths or injuries were reported but the fire continued to threaten more than 10,000 homes.

On Thursday, the weather and towering smoke clouds produced by the fire’s intense, erratic winds kept firefighters struggling to put firefighters at shifting hot spots.

“It’s wreaking havoc. The winds are kind of changing direction on us every few hours,” said Capt. Sergio Arellano, a fire spokesman.

“We’re seeing truly frightening fire behavior,” said Chris Carlton, supervisor for Plumas National Forest. “We really are in uncharted territory.”

Heat waves and historic drought tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. Scientists say climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.

The blaze hit Greenville from two angles and firefighters already were in the town trying to save it but first they had to risk their lives to save people who had refused to evacuate by loading people into cars to get them out, fire officials said.

“We have firefighters that are getting guns pulled out on them, because people don’t want to evacuate,” said Jake Cagle, an incident management operations section chief.

The flames also reached the town of Chester, northwest of Greenville, but crews managed to protect homes and businesses there, with only minor damage to one or two structures, officials said.

The fire was not far from the town of Paradise, which was largely destroyed in a 2018 wildfire sparked by PG&E equipment that killed 85 people, making it the nation’s deadliest in at least a century.

___

Weber reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Janie Har and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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US

Record wildfire burns amid drought on Hawaii’s Big Island

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HONOLULU (AP) — Firefighters have gotten more control over a wildfire in Hawaii that forced thousands of people to evacuate over the weekend and destroyed at least two homes on the Big Island, but officials warned strong winds Monday could raise the danger again.

Authorities have lifted evacuation orders but warned they could be reinstated at any time and that people should be ready to go.

“It’s the biggest (fire) we’ve ever had on this island,” Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said of the more than 62-square-mile (160-square-kilometer) blaze. “With the drought conditions that we’ve had, it is of concern. You see something like this where you’re putting thousands of homes in danger, it’s very concerning.”

Fires in Hawaii are unlike many of those burning in the U.S. West. They tend to break out in large grasslands on the dry sides of the islands and are generally much smaller than mainland fires.

Even though Hawaii has a wet, tropical climate that isn’t typically at risk from large fires, blazes could become more frequent as climate change-related weather patterns intensify.

The islands have seen a downward trend in overall rainfall in recent years. Drought conditions have reached the most severe level in some parts of Hawaii in recent years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Drought that is tied to climate change has made wildfires harder to fight.

Two homes were confirmed destroyed in the Hawaii fire. One homeowner said he tried to protect his property but lost the battle as the wind picked up.

“I had a dozer on my lawn, my land, and I tried to make a fire break,” Joshua Kihe of the community of Waimea told Hawaii News Now. He said the fire destroyed his home.

“I definitely need to think of a plan because it’s a life-changer,” he said.

Others scrambled to evacuate.

“I just seen the flames coming,” Waimea resident Kanani Malakaua said. “I mainly got my important papers, made sure my kids were in the car, got my animals — but this is a very, very scary time for us.”

Some nearby roads were closed, making certain neighborhoods inaccessible, but there was no imminent threat to those houses.

Hawaii County Fire Chief Kazuo Todd said winds were expected to increase Monday.

“Our current wind forecast is showing wind patterns between 18 to 20 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph,” Todd said Sunday night, “and so while throughout the evening our crews will be working to build fire breaks with dozers and back burns, this temporary lift on the mandatory evacuation may have to be reinforced later on due to prevailing weather patterns.”

According to the National Weather Service, strong winds and generally dry conditions will continue throughout the islands on Monday. The gusts will begin to ease Tuesday.

The fire chief said nearby communities could be inundated with smoke and that anyone with health or breathing problems should find somewhere else to stay.

Roth, the Big Island mayor, said the way the wind comes through the area makes it difficult to fight the flames and that officials and residents must stay vigilant.

“The winds kind of swirl, so they’ll be coming at one direction for a couple of minutes and then all of a sudden, they’re blowing in a different direction; that makes it really very difficult to fight a fire when you have swirling winds,” Roth said.

Several wildfires also were burning in drought-stricken California and Oregon.

Containment on Monday reached 35% for California’s largest, the Dixie Fire, which covered about 388 square miles (1,005 square kilometers) in mountains where 45 homes and other buildings have been destroyed.

A mandatory evacuation order was issued Monday for Greenville, a town of about 1,000 people, as gusts pushed flames through Plumas and Butte counties in Northern California.

Other evacuation orders and warnings were lifted over the weekend for several areas in Northern California but an estimated 3,000 homes remained threatened by the Dixie Fire as winds pushed flames through dry fuels on remote hillsides.

Over the weekend, a lightning-sparked wildfire threatened remote homes along the Trinity River in California’s Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The 5-square-mile (13-square-mile) McFarland Fire was 5% contained Monday.

In southern Oregon, lightning struck parched forests hundreds of times in 24 hours, igniting some 50 new wildfires as the nation’s largest blaze burned less than 100 miles (161 kilometers) away, officials said Monday.

Firefighters and aircraft pounced on the new fires before they could spread out of control. No homes were immediately threatened.

The Bootleg Fire, the nation’s largest at 647 square miles (1,676 square kilometers), was 84% contained Monday, though it isn’t expected to be fully under control until Oct. 1.

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