- Nordstrom’s final day and what may replace the once thriving mall KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco
- Inside the empty flagship Nordstrom in San Francisco, closing after more than 3 decades KABC-TV
- San Francisco Nordstrom down to its final days as city works to mend itself KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco
- End of an Era: Nordstrom closing San Francisco flagship store at Westfield San Francisco Centre Sunday after more than 30 years KGO-TV
- Final 48 hours until legendary clothing store closes after 35 years as ‘markets have changed d… The US Sun
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Tag Archives: Thriving
Britney Spears Is Apparently Alive and Thriving in Mexico
Hit me (with a series of strange shower videos) baby, (at least) one more time! Because Britney Spears appears to be alive, says TMZ, and back to filming half-nude erotica for the public again. All is right in the world.
Britney Spears’ fans—the ones who, like, #Freed Britney, but also the ones who were somehow surprised about the continued erratic nature of her videos post-conservatorship—have switched up their signature chant to #WhereIsBritney. Convinced that she might never have returned from her honeymoon and that husband Sam Asghari might be running her Instagram account, they became even more spooked when Spears posted a video on a private jet last week claiming to head to New York City. If she was really there, they claimed, paparazzi would’ve captured a shot of her, but alas, no Brit in NYC.
Loathed celeb gossipmonger Perez Hilton added fuel to the fire of speculation by claiming he has some inside info on Britney, and something very bad is going on. “Concern is warranted,” he warned.
Have no fear, Britney stans, TMZ—most trusted authority on all life or death matters—is here! The outlet learned Tuesday night that “Britney Spears isn’t missing, in trouble or dead as growing fan theories might suggest — in fact, it’s quite the opposite.”
Sources apparently close to the singer told TMZ Spears said she was going to NYC to “throw people off” and that she and Asghari were actually headed to a vacation in Mexico where they had hoped to enjoy some peace and quiet. The sources also claim the shower footage she posted was indeed shot in Mexico and is new content. Spears wouldn’t dare deny the age-old influencer proverb: Always Be Posting. In one post, Brit said she “changed my name to Brooklyn,” while in another she appeared to broker a peace treaty with her mom, Lynne Spears, after telling her to “burn in hell” in October.
“Instagram doesn’t like posts of people revealing their bodies anymore so here’s a selfie of me in Mexico 🇲🇽 !!! Mom and Dad … I crossed the border and I made it !!! After no coffee for 15 years ☕️ … Mom we can go have coffee together now !!! I’m treated as an equal … let’s have coffee and talk about it !!!”
Fans had also been spooked by the eerily timed travels of Spears’ parents who both touched down in Los Angeles last week, prompting concerns over whether something ominous had happened to Britney. But TMZ say Lynne and Jamie Spears—you know, the one who kept his daughter in a conservatorship for 13 years against her will—were in town to see Britney’s niece, the daughter of Brit’s brother Bryan, perform in The Nutcracker. As for Brit’s fans, the intention is always good, but the conspiracy theories, at least this time, are best kept to the annals of TikTok.
At least for now, rest somewhat assured that Sam isn’t on vacation with a body double (how boring!), and long live Britney.
- Here’s John Mayer saying nonsensical things about dating: “Dating is no longer a codified activity for me, it doesn’t exist in a kind of…it’s not patterned anymore.” [Call Her Daddy]
- Add this one to things I’d be happy to never read again: Jenna Bush Hager’s daughter says her mom “never wears underwear.” [Page Six]
- Are Meghann Fahy and Leo Woodall, two White Lotus guests, in love? All signs point to probably definitely maybe. [Vanity Fair]
- Former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville called Coyote Ugly’s Piper Perabo a “horrible cunt” for allegedly having an affair with Glanville’s ex, Eddie Cibrian, who says none of this is true. The mess! [Page Six]
- I’m working on a memoir. It’s called Every Time I Read a Headline Saying Pete Davidson Was Spotted with Another Famous Woman, I Die 1,000 Small Deaths. This time, it’s his co-star Chase Sui Wonders. [Page Six]
Most Ancient DNA Ever Discovered Reveals a Thriving Ecosystem Lost to Time
Scientists have identified the most ancient DNA ever discovered, and in the process revealed a complex ecosystem that existed two million years ago in modern day Greenland, according to the results of a new study published in the journal Nature.
The double helix-shaped molicule Deoxyribonucleic acid (or DNA for short) is present in almost every cell of our human bodies, and those of the plants and animals that inhabit our planet.
Every DNA molecule contains within it a genetic code that is unique to each individual, and serves as a vital instruction manual for our cells that helps govern how our bodies develop and function. It is also an incredibly useful molecule for scientists looking to decode the secrets of the ancient past.
This is because researchers are able to determine what species of animal or plant existed during a given window in Earth’s evolutionary history by looking for scraps of DNA in well preserved samples that in some cases date back hundreds of thousands of years.
Once these samples have been identified, scientists can match the genetic codes found in the DNA with their closest modern day counterparts, in order to determine what type of animal or species they belong to. In this way, humanity can build a picture of entire ecosystems that have been lost to the relentless passage of time, and gain valuable insights into the evolution of life on our planet.
Unfortunately, this technique is limited by the lifespan of a DNA molecule. Once cells start to die, enzymes set to work breaking down the bonds that hold these vital molecules together. Under normal conditions in animals, this decaying process will render DNA useless in some 521 years.
However, when the right conditions allow DNA to be preserved quickly and stably, samples have been known to survive much longer.
The sediment was eventually preserved in ice or permafrost and, crucially, not disturbed by humans for two million years
“
In the new study, scientists were able to recover 41 ancient DNA samples from the mouth of a fjord located at the most northern point of Greenland, where the landmass meets the Arctic Ocean. Each of the DNA samples extracted from the rock — known as the København Formation — were just a few millionths of a millimetre in length, and were encased in a protective shell of clay and quartz.
By applying a combination of radiocarbon and molecular dating techniques, the international team of over 40 scientists were able to estimate that the DNA was on average around 2 million years old. This makes them 1 million years older than the previous record holder for ancient DNA, which was recovered from the bone of a Siberian mammoth.
“The ancient DNA samples were found buried deep in sediment that had built-up over 20,000 years,” comments professor Kurt Kjær of the University of Copenhagen, who helped lead the research. “The sediment was eventually preserved in ice or permafrost and, crucially, not disturbed by humans for two million years.”
After painstakingly comparing the DNA with data from the 21st Century, the team were able to decode the fingerprints of a thriving, ancient ecosystem locked away inside the samples.
At the time the København Formation was created some two million years ago, Greenland was a more hospitable place, with temperatures roughly 10 – 17 degrees Celsius warmer than they are today.
The DNA evidence revealed the presence of countless species of plant life in the ancient environment, including forms of poplar and birch trees. Amongst these trees would have roamed lemmings, reindeer, hares, and even giant elephantine creatures called Mastadon. There were also DNA fragments that couldn’t be matched with any modern day animal or plant.
Many of the samples have been awaiting analysis since they were first gathered from the Greenland site back in 2006.
“It wasn’t until a new generation of DNA extraction and sequencing equipment was developed that we’ve been able to locate and identify extremely small and damaged fragments of DNA in the sediment samples,” explained professor Kjær. “It meant we were finally able to map a two-million-year-old ecosystem.”
The data suggests that more species can evolve and adapt to wildly varying temperatures than previously thought
“
The scientists behind the new study believe that ancient Greenland’s relatively warm environment is comparable to the temperatures that we could see in the future as a result of global warming. Modern day climate change is considered to be a serious threat to biodiversity on a global scale, and the rate at which species can adapt to the changing environments and warming temperatures will be key to their survival.
“The data suggests that more species can evolve and adapt to wildly varying temperatures than previously thought,” said Assistant Professor Mikkel Pedersen of the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, co-first author of the new paper. “But, crucially, these results show they need time to do this.”
It is hoped that by analysing the DNA of ancient trees and plants, the scientists will be able to unravel the secrets as to how they adapted to their hot environment, and potentially learn how to make endangered species in the present day more resistant to climate change.
Moving forward the team hope to discover more examples of truly ancient DNA in clay from Africa that could shed light on humanity’s earliest ancestors.
Stick with IGN to stay up to date with the biggest and weirdest developments from accross the scientific world.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
Image Credit: Beth Zaiken
Knicks’ Julius Randle thriving again because of these two factors
This isn’t the Julius Randle of two years ago. It’s more like Julius Randle 2.0.
He may be producing similar numbers to that fantastic season when the bruising yet athletic forward led the Knicks to a surprising fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference, but he is doing so in a different manner.
“The year two years ago obviously he had a great year and a big part of that, I think, was his shooting,” coach Tom Thibodeau said on Tuesday after practice. “It opened up a lot of things for him. But then I think the league sort of caught up and now I think he’s caught up to what they were doing.”
A major part of that change was a different offensive philosophy under Thibodeau predicated on pace and ball movement, and the arrival of new point guard Jalen Brunson. It meant less isolation for Randle and a new focus on playing uptempo.
Randle is rarely bringing the ball up and pounding it into the floor. Instead, he’s getting transition opportunities, shots by moving without the ball and Brunson’s fast start has taken some of the defense’s focus away from Randle. He’s seeing fewer double-teams and getting more open shots.
“His approach has been totally different,” Derrick Rose said. “The way he’s reading the floor is totally different. His passing has been unbelievable, like getting to spots and not forcing shots and understanding that we’re trying to get up a certain amount of 3’s. He’s finding the shooters.”
He’s also made notable adjustments, in particular arriving for training camp leaner and more prepared to get up and down the floor faster. At the start of camp, Randle spoke of his excitement for this new offensive philosophy and teaming up with Brunson, and he has backed up that talk, producing 17 assists and just four turnovers in the preseason. In three regular-season games, he is averaging 21.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and only 1.7 turnovers.
“I’ll say this: Julius is a tremendous athlete and I know from having coached against him what you don’t want to see is Julius flying up the floor, attacking the rim, playing with speed like he’s playing,” Thibodeau said. “You’d rather defend him stationary with the ball. I think because of that, [since] he knows the different things he’s been through, he wants to play fast, and so I think that’s huge. He can help sell it to the rest of the team when he’s moving the way he’s moving. It gets the whole team moving that way.”
Late in Monday’s victory over the Magic the biggest change for the Knicks was on display. A 14-point lead had been cut to six with 4:28 left in the fourth quarter. In past years, it was obvious where the ball was going — to Randle in isolation. Not in this instance. The Knicks ran a high screen-and-roll with Brunson, and it resulted in a made Brunson jumper in which he also drew a foul that iced the game. The Knicks have become less predictable.
“For [Jalen] to take that pressure off me is huge,” Randle said. He added, in general about his play: “I’m just trying to lose myself in the team. Lean on guys like [Brunson], RJ [Barrett], just play for my team. The only thing that matters is winning.”
Brunson, an ego-less lead guard known for making the right play, has had a major impact on Randle. The two started to develop chemistry even before training camp, both of them spending plenty of time in August and early September at the MSG Training Center. It shows. They have played well together, registering a combined plus-30 rating this season.
Brunson recently had Randle and other teammates over to watch a big Eagles-Cowboys game. Brunson roots for the Eagles and Randle is a Cowboys fan. A recent press conference featuring the two players ended with them being asked who will win the NFC East. They both laughed and talked trash about the other’s team.
The only thing the two stars don’t see eye-to-eye on appears to be their favorite football teams.
U.S. Companies Are Thriving Despite the Pandemic—or Because of It
Nearly two years after the coronavirus pandemic brought much of the U.S. economy to a halt, public companies are recording some of their best ever financial results.
Profit growth is strong. Most companies’ sales are higher than where they were before Covid-19—often well above. The liquidity crunch many feared in 2020 never materialized, leaving companies with sizable cash cushions. The stock market ended 2021 near record highs and far fewer public companies filed for bankruptcy in 2021 than in the years before the pandemic.
“At the start of the pandemic, if you asked us to look forward, I don’t think we would have expected this outcome,” said Brian Kloss, a portfolio manager for Brandywine Global, a unit of
Franklin Resources Inc.
that manages about $67 billion in assets. “This has been very different than any other cycle we’ve seen.”
Government programs provided funding for businesses, helping them keep workers, while enhanced unemployment benefits and direct aid to consumers also kept income up, said
Kathy Bostjancic,
chief U.S. financial economist at Oxford Economics.
“The support to households was greater than in the past, so that really helped fuel consumer spending,” she said. “That’s what fueled revenue growth and profits.”
The rebound is real for smaller companies, but it is the biggest companies that have fared the best, a Wall Street Journal analysis of corporate financial data shows. For large-capitalization companies in the S&P 500 index, profits and revenue were hurt less by the pandemic’s initial economic slowdown. The biggest companies also rebounded more quickly than smaller ones, even as uncertainty deepened over Covid-19 infection rates and the spread of variants, rising inflation and supply-chain woes.
“The larger firms are able to navigate the supply-chain issues a lot easier,” Ms. Bostjancic said. “They have scale and additional resources that the medium-size to small-size firms are going to find more difficult.”
Sales
Companies in the S&P 500 range from clothing retailer
Gap Inc.,
with a market value around $6.6 billion, to
Apple Inc.,
which surged to a nearly $3 trillion market value. The median S&P 400 midcap company has a market value of about $5.7 billion, while the median S&P 600 small cap sports a $1.6 billion valuation, data from S&P Global Market Intelligence shows.
Total sales at all three groups in the most recently reported quarter are up from the comparable period in 2019—and profit growth has been even stronger, data from Refinitiv show.
Apple Inc. has seen its market capitalization surge to nearly $3 trillion.
Photo:
Bridget Bennett for The Wall Street Journal
Within those groups, of course, results vary widely. Looking at the past 12 months of reported financials, sales at a third of small-cap companies still trail 2019 levels, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Midsize and large companies were more likely to have surpassed that benchmark.
Sales at beauty-supply retailer
Ulta Beauty Inc.
have risen 12% in the 12 months ending this fall over 2019 levels. In 2020, the company had to shut many of its stores for weeks at a time and refocus more intensively on its online operations, Chief Financial Officer
Scott Settersten
said.
Ulta emphasized self-care products over makeup and expanded augmented-reality features and a program to let customers pick up online orders outside its stores, he said. In-person sales bounced back quickly after its stores reopened in the summer, making up 70% of full-year 2020 sales, and have remained strong. Profit margins have also bounced back, to 10.7% in the 12 months that ended this fall, from 3.6% in the same period in 2020 and 9.7% in 2019, S&P data show.
“The results in 2021 have been extraordinary by any measure,” Mr. Settersten said. “People are coming back to the stores but they’re also continuing to shop digitally.”
Even some companies that have caught up are still feeling the pinch.
Brink’s Co.
, in S&P’s midcap index, made fewer stops with its iconic armored trucks, recording a 25% drop in revenue as the pandemic led businesses to shut down or scale back in April 2020, said CFO
Ron Domanico.
In 2021, sales were recovering in those lines of business, growing about 3% a quarter, until the Delta variant slowed growth to about 1% a quarter this fall, Mr. Domanico said. Revenue has returned to about 96% of its pre-pandemic levels and the company doesn’t expect a full recovery until later in 2022.
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Brink’s has more than made up for the slowdown in its pre-pandemic business with a series of acquisitions since early 2020. But the company’s costs are also rising with inflation and labor shortages.
“Just reading the tea leaves with what we’ve seen about inflation, I expect there will be another round of wage increases,” Mr. Domanico added. “And with our thin margins, we’re going to have to pass that on with price increases.”
Profit margins
Overall, 12-month profit margins are up for public companies since late 2019, even amid rising costs and the subsequent price increases. Here too, bigger companies are doing better.
Large-cap profit margins have long outstripped those of smaller companies. The decline in margins in 2020 was sharper for smaller firms as a group than it was for larger ones. The bigger companies also posted stronger margin growth over the last two years than small-caps.
The pandemic helped some businesses, sometimes in surprising ways. At water-meter maker
Badger Meter Inc.,
a member of the S&P 600 index, revenues initially fell sharply in both its utility and commercial divisions with the onset of the pandemic.
But sales to utilities recovered the next quarter, and grew overall in 2020, offsetting drops in other business lines, said
Karen Bauer,
Badger’s treasurer and head of investor relations. For 2021, two acquisitions of water-quality monitoring companies helped.
Utility customers accelerated adoption of remote meter monitoring and other automation and digital services, which generate higher margins, increasing the company’s overall profitability, she said.
That helped push net-income margins to 11.5% for the 12 months ended in mid-December 2020, from 10.9% in the same period in 2019. The same dynamic continued in 2021, raising margins to 11.8% despite growing difficulty in securing electronic components and other supplies like packaging materials, the company said.
“We could have delivered more sales if not for the supply chain restraint,” Ms. Bauer said.
Although smaller companies as a group trailed larger ones, Ms. Bauer said Badger’s smaller size proved to be an advantage over the past two years. After spotting problems in its resin supply chain, the company worked quickly to redesign products and raise prices, without multiple layers of decision-making to slow it down.
“Our agility and flexibility as a smaller company helped us see these challenges quicker and react to them perhaps faster than our larger peers,” she said. “You aren’t waiting for a monthly operations meeting.”
Debt and cash
Stung by the cash crunch that accompanied the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, many companies rushed to borrow when the pandemic hit in 2020. Large companies were able to borrow large amounts, issuing a median $123.6 million in debt in the 12 months ending in late 2020. The year before, they only issued $6.4 million. In 2021, they started paying it down, cutting debt by $24 million on average, according to data from FactSet.
Midcap companies borrowed in 2020 too, but to a much lesser degree, and they also used the past 12 months to reduce their debt overall. Midcaps increased their borrowing by a median of $1.4 million in 2020, according to debt-issuance data from FactSet, but their median debt load declined by a median $6.2 million in the past year.
The small-caps haven’t increased their debt issuance in the past three years, according to FactSet. Those companies slightly reduced their debt in 2019 and 2020, but cut it by a median $4 million in 2021.
Companies “issued debt to ensure they had enough liquidity to survive for the next three, four, five years without tapping the debt markets if it wasn’t available,” said Mr. Kloss, the portfolio manager for Brandywine.
Companies have started to pay back their debt and spend down their cash—a sign that they believe the worst of the pandemic is behind them, analysts said. Where cash and short-term investments on company balance-sheets spiked during the pandemic, it has begun to decline for large- and midcap companies.
Hertz was among the companies to file for bankruptcy in 2020. It has since emerged from court protection.
Photo:
Constanza Hevia H. for The Wall Street Journal
“What’s been encouraging is that we’re seeing a rise in corporate [capital expenditures],” said
Christopher Smart,
chief global strategist for investment manager Barings. “Companies are not just buying back shares or returning money to shareholders, but they’re using it to reinvest in their business, maybe with M&A.”
Survivor bias
Missing from the Journal’s analysis: Companies that didn’t survive the pandemic intact, were acquired or which struggled and fell out of the indexes.
Bankruptcy filings—a measure of the most extreme corporate failure—among small and midsize public companies jumped in 2020, according to data from BankruptcyData, a division of New Generation Research Inc., which tracks bankruptcies by companies with public equity or debt.
There were far fewer such restructurings in 2021, with public companies on track to finish the year with about two-thirds as many bankruptcy filings as they had in 2019.
Among public companies with $100 million to $1 billion in revenue—similar to many companies in the S&P 600 index—there were 38 bankruptcies in 2020, more than double either of the previous two years.
Bankruptcies among companies with $1 billion to $10 billion in revenue—similar to many companies in the S&P 400 index—jumped to 29 in 2020 from just four in 2019.
They included car-rental company
Hertz Corp.
, fracking pioneer
Chesapeake Energy Corp.
and luxury retailer Neiman Marcus, which had publicly traded debt. All three companies have since emerged from court protection.
The biggest companies, those with at least $10 billion in annual revenue, have largely avoided bankruptcy court during the pandemic. There were three that filed for chapter 11 in 2020: retailer J.C. Penney Co.—which has since exited Chapter 11 with new owners—and two airlines, Chile’s Latam Airlines Group SA and Grupo Aeromexico SAB.
There was just one in 2021, a Chilean auto importer.
Write to Theo Francis at theo.francis@wsj.com, Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@wsj.com and Nina Trentmann at Nina.Trentmann@wsj.com
Copyright ©2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Shockingly Abundant Life Found Thriving in Darkness Under an Antarctic Ice Shelf
Deep under the ice of Antarctica’s Ekström Ice Shelf there is nothing but complete darkness.
Well, complete darkness and a thriving ecosystem that’s existed for thousands of years, according to a new paper by researchers from the UK and Germany.
“This discovery of so much life living in these extreme conditions is a complete surprise and reminds us how Antarctic marine life is so unique and special,” says lead author and British Antarctic Survey marine biologist, David Barnes.
“It’s amazing that we found evidence of so many animal types, most feed on micro-algae (phytoplankton) yet no plants or algae can live in this environment. So, the big question is how do these animals survive and flourish here?”
The researchers used hot water (we kid you not) to drill two boreholes on the relatively small Ekström Ice Shelf in East Antarctica back in 2018. One hole went down 192 meters (630 feet) of ice until it hit 58 meters of liquid water, while the other spanned 190 meters of ice with 110 meters of water underneath.
What they found in that dark, cold and food-scarce place under the ice was life, and lots of it. The team discovered 77 species from 49 different genera bryozoans, including sabre-shaped Melicerita obliqua, and serpulid worms such as Paralaeospira sicula.
Fragments of bryozoans discovered on the seabed. (David Barnes)
All of these creatures are suspension feeders – they sit in one place and, with feathery tentacles, snatch particles of organic matter from the water as it flows around them – which means that some kind of food source like sunlight-dependent algae must be getting in under the ice sheet.
This is pretty surprising, considering the closest open water source is 9.6 kilometers (6 miles) away. And past research has found life even further inland on bigger ice sheets like the Ross and McMurdo Ice Shelves.
“Despite permanent darkness for at least thousands of years, life has been observed even 700 km from ice shelf edges,” the team writes in their paper.
“It was thought that richness and abundance of life under ice shelves is highly depauperate. Yet, the biodiversity we found at both borehole sites would be high even for open-marine Antarctic continental shelf samples.”
Fragments of four species of Cellarinella even showed growth increments, similar to a tree’s rings, and the researchers discovered they were similar to other sized growth increments from samples around Antarctica.
But the researchers didn’t just find today’s filter feeders deep under the ice; they also looked at long-dead fragments and carbon dated them to discover their age.
“Another surprise was to find out how long life has existed here. Carbon dating of dead fragments of these seafloor animals varied from current to 5,800 years,” says one of the researchers, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research geologist Gerhard Kuhn.
“So, despite living 3-9 km from the nearest open water, an oasis of life may have existed continuously for nearly 6,000 years under the ice shelf. Only samples from the sea floor beneath the floating ice shelf will tell us stories from its past history.”
This brings up another problem – in glacial events of the past when most of the Antarctic shelf was overridden by grounded ice (ice that reaches all the way to the sea floor), how did these dark ecosystems survive?
The new information suggests that the creatures lived in small areas that were not grounded, while open areas of water surrounded by sea ice would have allowed phytoplankton to thrive and then get eaten by those creatures far under the ice. The plankton would have been swept under the ice by the flow of the water – within the reach of the hungry creatures far beneath.
Unfortunately, despite the incredibly long life of these ecosystems so far, the researchers are nervous about their future.
“It may be cold, dark and food-scarce in most places,” the team writes, “but the least disturbed habitat on Earth could be the first habitat to go extinct as sub-ice shelf conditions disappear due to global warming.”
The research has been published in Current Biology.
Joakim Noah thrilled ex-teammates thriving with Knicks
CHICAGO — Joakim Noah is one former Bull who never enjoyed prosperity in New York. But he’s thrilled to see his former head coach Tom Thibodeau and former Bulls teammates Derrick Rose and Taj Gibson thriving.
Before ceremonies for “Joakim Noah Night’’ on Thursday at United Center, Noah saluted his past compadres for their work in New York.
“Thibs is a great coach and to see guys like Taj and Derrick in New York, I’m really happy for them. Great guys. I see how Taj is moving around — not just on the court, but in the [New York] community. I’m really proud of him. That’s crazy he was my son. And now he’s like an ‘OG’. Derrick, I’ve seen these guys really take on leadership roles and doing it New York and see those guys doing it well. … I’m really excited for them.’’
Noah, who retired last year, is living in South Florida and not eyeing a coaching gig, though he played for two good ones: Billy Donovan, with whom he won two national championships at Florida, and Thibodeau, with whom he hooked up for multiple playoff runs.
“To be a coach, you have to be a little bit sick,’’ Noah said before the Knicks’ 104-103 win over the Bulls. “When you’re not feeling it you have to motivate players to get the job done. That’s a tough job. At the pro level it’s too hard.’’
One reporter piped up: “So you’re calling Thibs sick?”
Show your Knicks pride with our ‘Bing Bong’ tee
“Thibs, he’s sick for sure,’’ Noah said. “I love him. It’s great for him to be at this game. Thibs and coach Donovan are two father figures to me. Two guys I learned a lot from. Thibs always told me, ‘Get your house in order.’ Thibs is the coach I spent the most time with — workouts, hardest workouts of my life. And he … was always asking me, ‘Do you have your house in order?’
“And I didn’t know what that meant at the time. Now I understand what that means. It’s something that resonates for me every day. Do you have your house in order? There’s a lot of life lessons in basketball.’’
Wednesday night, Noah and his former Bulls teammates gathered for a party at a Chicago restaurant. Thibodeau dropped in.
“He’s totally at peace,’’ Thibodeau said. “He should be. He gave everything he had to the game. There’s nothing left. That’s the way you should go out. I’m really happy for him.’’
The Knicks are still paying Noah $6.4 million this season as part of his stretch-provision waiver in 2018.
Nerlens Noel missed a fifth straight regular-season game Thursday after missing all four preseason games. But it sounds very likely he’ll return at New Orleans on Friday. Thibodeau said Mitchell Robinson, who had nine points and six rebounds in the Knicks’ 104-103 win over the Bulls on Thursday, will remain the starting center.
The Bulls had their splashy free-agent offseason by signing PG Lonzo Ball, SF DeMar DeRozan and G Alex Caruso. At the trade deadline last season, they added Nicola Vucevic.
The Knicks never made an offer for Ball, deciding he might not be ready to quarterback a playoff team.
Asked if he was impressed by the Bulls’ aggressiveness, Thibodeau said: “It’s the way the league is built. You look at the addition — not only for the Bulls, but a number of teams added players. Then you try to study and analyze on the impact it might have for your own preparation and how you’re going to play against them the following year. That’s the beauty of the league.’’
MSG Network put out a statement further condemning Comcast in its dispute with the cable company that is shutting out some Knicks fans in New Jersey and Connecticut: “Comcast shut off MSG Networks nearly a month ago but is charging its Xfinity customers in the Tri-State area more than $10 a month for content they’re not getting. Comcast shouldn’t get to pad its bottom line at the expense of frustrated sports fans — it’s time to ask when they’ll do the right thing and restore the channels or rebate all their customers’ money. Xfinity customers should call Comcast now and demand an answer.”
Armie Hammer ‘Thriving’ In Treatment for Alcohol, Drugs, Sex Addiction
It’s been nearly 6 months since Armie Hammer checked himself into a treatment center — and the actor remains there — committed to spending as long as it takes to get better.
Sources close to Hammer tell us he’s “thriving” in the Florida facility, those around him feel he’s changed (for the better) from when he arrived and you can hear the difference in his voice.
Not only that, we’re told Armie has kept in constant contact with his kids and loved ones — FaceTiming with them regularly and sharing his progress.
Our sources say there’s still no exact timeline for when he’ll complete treatment, but he’s willing to do whatever it takes. We’re told the “Call Me By Your Name” star understands he was in an incredibly dangerous place before treatment and doesn’t want to backslide.
As for a report that he was recently “replaced” by Noah Reid in Broadway’s “The Minutes” … we’re told Armie was never officially signed on for that gig. Sources with direct knowledge tell us Armie had verbal talks for the role pre-pandemic, but they were only talks.
It was back in May when Armie checked into rehab for drug, alcohol and sex addiction treatment. The move came after several months of women leveling sexual abuse allegations against the actor.
He and his wife, Elizabeth Chambers, announced they were splitting in July 2020, but their divorce has not yet been finalized.
Hammer hasn’t been seen publicly since checking in for treatment, but at one time called the allegations “bulls*** claims” and “vicious and spurious online attacks against me.”
Georgia golf course shooting: Police still searching for suspect, club was ‘thriving’ under slain pro: reports
A manhunt is still underway in Georgia early Tuesday for a suspect who allegedly shot and killed a golf pro at Pinetree Country Club, in Atlanta’s Cobb County, on Saturday afternoon.
The suspect allegedly drove a pickup truck onto the green of the golf course’s 10th hole and was confronted by the pro, Eugene Siller, reports said. That’s when the suspect fatally shot Siller, who was found with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, authorities told FOX 5 of Atlanta.
The suspect was described as 6-foot-1 with long hair, wearing a white or light-colored shirt and dark work pants.
GEORGIA GOLF COURSE SHOOTING: TWO MORE BODIES FOUND, SUSPECT AT LARGE, POLICE SAY
Police are seen at Pinetree Country Club, in Atlanta’s Cobb County
(Fox 5 Atlanta)
It was unclear when law enforcement officers located the pickup truck – which was found on the green – but police said two other bodies were discovered in the bed of the vehicle, according to the station.
Both males suffered apparent gunshot wounds and one of them was identified as Paul Pierson, the registered owner of the truck. The other victim has yet to be identified, police said.
A member of the golf course described hearing a disturbance Saturday.
“I was at the driving range, heard about the truck being on the course so I went to see what was going on,” John Lavender told FOX 5. “All of the sudden you hear five, six booms go off.”
Siller joined Pinetree as director of golf in September 2019. The pro was at the 10th hole on Saturday afternoon to look into a report of an unauthorized pickup truck that drove onto the course, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Instructor Corey Evans said the course was “thriving” under his leadership.
“The course is thriving,” Evans told the paper. “It’s the most members the club has ever had.”
MATSUYAMA HAS GREEN JACKET AND SEEKS GOLD IN HOME OLYMPICS
“You’re at the club to escape everything else and Gene was there to help you enjoy your day,” added member Brian Katrek. “Gene was entertaining more people every day than he ever had.”
Siller is survived by his wife and two young children, reports said.
The golf course is located near Kennesaw State University, where officials alerted students and faculty after learning about Saturday’s shooting, the Journal-Constitution reported. Siller routinely helped players from the men’s golf team at Kennesaw State University obtain internships at the course, noted head coach Bryant Odom.
The Siller family asked “everyone to respect their privacy and let them grieve at this time,” stated Lou Bottino, the chairman of Pinetree’s board of directors on Monday.
On Sunday, PGA of America President Jim Richerson posted a statement of condolence on Twitter.
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“We are truly heartbroken to hear about the senseless murder that took place yesterday at Pine Tree Country Club in Georgia that took the life of PGA member Gene Siller,” Richerson wrote.
Fox News’ Dom Calicchio contributed to this report
State of hockey: Thriving. Gophers, all 4 other Minnesota schools in NCAA field
Somewhere, Herb Brooks is smiling.
For the first time, all five Minnesota Division I men’s hockey teams will play in the NCAA tournament in the same year. The 16-team field was announced Sunday night, and the Gophers, Minnesota State Mankato, Minnesota Duluth, St. Cloud State and Bemidji State all made it.
“That’s a really cool story,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. “I was part of St. Cloud State, just finishing as a young kid, when Herb Brooks came there, and his mission was to get more Division I teams in this state. Here we are all these decades later, and for the first time ever all five teams are going to be in the tournament. And nobody slipped in, I can tell you that.”
• The Gophers (23-6) were the No. 3 overall seed and were placed in the West Regional on Saturday and Sunday in Loveland, Colo. Minnesota will play No. 4 regional seed Nebraska Omaha (14-10-1). That game will be at 8 p.m. Saturday on ESPNU.
• Also in the West is No. 2 seed Minnesota State Mankato (20-4-1). The Mavericks will face No. 3 Quinnipiac (17-7-4) at 3 p.m. Saturday.
• St. Cloud State (17-10) was placed to the Northeast Regional in Albany, N.Y., as the No. 2 seed and will face No. 3 Boston University (10-4-1) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The other Northeast matchup has No. 1 Boston College meeting No. 4 Notre Dame.
• Minnesota Duluth (14-10-2) was sent to the Midwest Region in Fargo as the No. 3 seed. The two-time defending NCAA champion will play No. 2 Michigan (15-10-1) at 3 p.m. Friday. North Dakota (21-5-1), the No. 1 overall seed, will play American International (15-3) at 8:30 p.m. Friday.
• Bemidji State (15-9-3) is the No. 4 seed in the East Region in Bridgeport, Conn., and will open at noon Friday against No. 1 Wisconsin (20-9-1) on ESPN2. No. 2 Massachusetts meets No. 3 Lake Superior State in the other first-round game in the East.
NCAA men’s hockey bracket
The Gophers, who beat Wisconsin 6-4 in the Big Ten tournament final, will be making their record 38th appearance in the NCAA tournament and their first since 2017. It’s also their first NCAA bid in Motzko’s three years as coach.
In Nebraska Omaha, the Gophers will face a Mavericks team that owns two wins over North Dakota and one over St. Cloud State.
“I have so much respect for that conference,” said Motzko, who coached in the NCHC when he was with St. Cloud State. “You know you’re going to get a battle-tested team.”
Should the Gophers defeat Nebraska Omaha, they might face Minnesota State, which won its fourth consecutive WCHA regular-season title but lost 5-1 to Northern Michigan in the conference tournament semifinals. The Mavericks have won an NCAA-best 112 games over the past four seasons. Coach Mike Hastings will try for the program’s first Division I NCAA tournament win in its seventh try.
“The road’s in front of us,” Hastings said. “And it’s a road that we’re excited about being on right now.”
At St. Cloud State, coach Brett Larson has a team that closed strong last year and picked up where it left off. The Huskies finished second to North Dakota in both the NCHC regular season and tournament.
“We knew we had some good players coming in, and we knew we learned a lot and grew a lot last year,” Larson said. “We thought we had a chance to make a push to make the tournament.”
Minnesota Duluth, which finished third in the NCHC regular season, no longer has stars such as 2020 Hobey Baker Award winner Scott Perunovich and goalie Hunter Shepard, but the Bulldogs still can shut opponents down.
“I’m really excited for our guys and the chance to get back in the tournament and have a chance to do what we did a couple years ago,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said.
The Minnesota team that was closest to the tournament bubble was Bemidji State. The Beavers took fourth in the WCHA in the regular season and lost 4-1 to Lake Superior State in the conference tournament semifinals on Friday.
Coach Tom Serratore believed in his team’s body of work, but when St. Lawrence upset Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon in the ECAC final, things tightened up.
“Oh, yeah,” Serratore said. “That’s the one thing you can’t control: how other teams do.”
In the end, the Beavers got in — as did their Minnesota brothers.
“It’s a great day for the State of Hockey,” Serratore said.
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