Carl Edwards Fights, Arguments and Temper Carl Edwards is expected to announce Wednesday that he will retire immediately from NASCAR racing, according to sources familiar with his plans.
Edwards, 37, spent 13 years in the Cup Series and won 28 times in 445 starts.
Daniel Suarezwill be named the replacement for Edwards at Joe Gibbs Racing, sources said. Suarez, from Mexico,became the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR national series when he earned theXfinity Series title in 2016.
JGR scheduled a news conference for Wednesday morning.
Edwards informed team owner Joe Gibbs right before Christmas that he no longer wanted to compete, two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
In a text to The Associated Press on Tuesday, Edwards said simply "All good" and also wrote: "I"m kinda hungry. Going to Subway!" referring to his longtime sponsor.
Edwards, who has one year left on his contract with JGR, won three races in 2016 and was leading the championship contenders with 10 laps remaining in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but a crash when trying to block Joey Logano ruined Edwards" championship hopes and relegated him to fourth in the standings.
Elevated to Jack Roush"s Cup program during the 2004 season, Edwards finished third in the standings during his first full season in 2005 while on his way to becoming one of the sport"s biggest stars. He nearly won the 2011 crown while driving for roush; edwards tied tony Stewart for the title, but Stewart"s five wins during the season (including beating Edwards as they finished 1-2 at Homestead) earned Stewart the championship.
Edwards also finished second in the 2008 standings, fourth in 2010 and fifth in 2015, his first year at JGR. He is known for, among other things, confrontations on the track with Brad Keselowski and off the track with Kevin Harvick.
Edwards, who once handed out business cards in pursuit of a ride while earning money as a substitute teacher, won the 2007 Xfinity Series title. He was the top rookie in 2003 in the Camping World Truck Series and 2005 in the Xfinity Series.
A private person, Edwards lives in Missouri, where he grew up, and pilots his own plane to North Carolina for team meetings.
Fox Sports released a statement saying Edwards was not joining its broadcast team after speculation Edwards left with a year remaining on his JGR contract for a television gig.
"Fox Sports has really enjoyed having Carl in the booth and on our air in various capacities over the years, but speculation that he may be climbing out of the car to join the Fox NASCAR broadcast team is unfounded," Fox Sports President, Production and Executive Producer John Entz said.
"Our team is set for the near future and we wish Carl well in whatever he chooses to do next."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
(Copyright 2017 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.)
If you attend only one, free multidisciplinary conference celebrating the legacies of David Bowie and Prince this year, make it this one: "Blackstar Rising & the Purple Reign" at Yale University in New Haven from Jan. 25 to 28.
VIP speakers include musicians Questlove, Solange Knowles, Kimbra, saxophonist Donny McCaslin and percussionist Sheila E.; acclaimed documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker; critics Greil Marcus, Greg Tate, Ann Powers, Alan Light and Michaelangelo Matos; and many other scholars and thinkers.
Rock band TV On The Radio performs on Saturday at 8 p.m. (doors open at 7) at the new Stephen A. Schwarzman Center, 168 Grove St.; check thewebsite for free ticket availability.
Blackstar Rising arrives one year after the passing of Bowie, one of the most versatile and iconic pop stars of the last 50 years. His final album, "Blackstar," was released on Jan. 8, 2016 (his 69th birthday); Bowie died two days later, after an extended, private battle with cancer.
Prince similarly versatile, equally iconic died suddenly on April 21, 2016, at age 57, at his Paisley Park home near Minneapolis, of a reported fentanyl overdose. Unlike Bowie, there was no final musical statement, nothing to comfort fans in the ensuing weeks and months, just a vault of unreleased recordings that will likely trickle out over time.
Soon after Bowie"s death, curator and conference organizer Daphne A. Brooks professor of African American Studies, American Studies, Theater Studies and Women"s Gender and Sexuality Studies at Yale starting planning a tribute conference.
"It"s been a yearlong journey," Brooks says. "Like so many people, I was devastated by Bowie"s passing. ... It threw me for such a loop, not knowing how devastating 2016 was going to be in every way."
Brooks, one of the world"s leading popular music scholars, came to Yale in 2014, after teaching at Princeton University for 13 years. At Princeton, she organized a similar conference for James Brown, featuring appearances by Questlove, Public Enemy"s Chuck D and JB band members Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis, in 2007.
"It was a wonderful, organic event," Brooks says. "I thought, "I"m going to do something like that again, I just don"t know what it"s going to be.""
Following Lady Gaga"s controversial Bowie tribute at the 2016 Grammy Awards, Brooks shared her vision with Susan Cahan, Yale"s dean for the arts, who suggested Brooks use the new Schwarzman Center, which is scheduled for completion by the spring of 2020.
"They were really generous with their funding," Brooks says. "They said, "Think big: You should have a concert." I thought, "This is amazing.""
At that point, Brooks floated an idea: Let"s invite Prince to the conference.
"You know how that ends," Brooks says.
From the end of April (when Prince died) to the beginning of summer, Brooks scrambled to reimagine the event as being for and about both musicians.
"Who are the best thinkers and writers on the past 50 years of popular music working today, people whose voices I love and whose ideas I admire? Let"s bring them together," Brooks says.
When we spoke, Brooks was still scrambling; many of the invited VIPs, including Questlove, Solange, McCaslin, Sheila E., Pennebaker and TV On the Radio, still hadn"t signed contracts.
Questlove and Kimbra are featured guests for the kickoff event on Wednesday night, a "critical deejay" discussion of favorite Prince and Bowie tracks (Schwarzman Center; doors open at 7:45 p.m.). Following a Thursday afternoon screening of his 1973 Bowie concert film "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" (Whitney Humanities Center, 4:30 p.m.), Pennebaker participates in Q&A session with Yale professor Charles Musser.
A keynote conversation between Brooks and Solange Knowles, whose 2016 "A Seat at the Table" topped a number of critics" year-end lists of best pop albums, takes place during "Everybody Still Wants To Fly: Activism from Prince to Solange," a Thursday-night round-table discussion (Yale Law School Levinson Auditorium, 9 p.m.), with critic Alan Light, musician Kandia Crazy Horse and artist Sherae Rimpsey.
All-day Friday and Saturday conference sessions start with conversations about the concept of utopia by critic Greil Marcus and black/queer/feminist theorist Kara Keeling, an associate professor of Cinema Arts at USC.
"Greil has been a mentor to me over the years," Brooks says. "We"re weirdly from the same town in California and went to practically all of the same schools, including UC Berkeley. He can talk about anything, really, but some might be surprised to hear him speak about Prince in particular."
Keeling, Brooks adds, "writes about utopia as well, as an academic and activist. I thought, "Wouldn"t it be great to have the both of them in conversation with each other about the different ways utopian possibilities would manifest themselves in these figures?""
Other conference sessions at Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St.: spirituality and "(im)mortal imaginaries" (Friday, 10:30 a.m.); traversing cities and borders (Friday, 2:15 p.m.); 1970s funk (Friday, 3:45 p.m.); art and film (Saturday, 9 a.m.); sonic experimentation (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.); theater, performance and spectacle (Saturday, 1:30 p.m.); race, gender and sexuality (Saturday, 3 p.m.); and several other roundtable and "critical karaoke" sessions.
McCaslin, a jazz musician whose terrific band backed Bowie on "Blackstar," and percussionist Sheila E., who worked extensively with Prince throughout the 1980s, engage in a roundtable conversation about artistic collaboration (Friday, 8:30 p.m.) at William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St.
From the beginning, Brooks wanted "Blackstar Rising" to happen as close as possible to the anniversary of bowie"s passing. as it happens, the conference also takes place one week after the inauguration of Donald J. Trump.
"What I"m hearing from so many people is that this is cathartic, this is necessary," Brooks says. "It"s a different way to come together, to think about solidarity and inclusion, to think about what"s possible through the arts.
"If we think about both Bowie and Prince and their evolution, running along the axis of the rise of right-wing movements in this country and globally, to think about how they evolved with their aesthetic practices in context of what was happening, in terms of governmentality, that"s heartening. It"s really amazing to imagine what"s possible through popular music culture in times of trial."
Blackstar Rising & the Purple Reign: Celebrating the Legacies of David Bowie and Prince takes place at Yale University in New Haven on Jan. 25 to 28. All events are free and open to the community. Tickets are not required unless otherwise noted. Visit the conference website for the full schedule of events.
FOURTH INTERRUPTION: Protesters Removed During Jeff Sessions Confirmation Hearing
Quinton Ross, the Alabama State Senator (D-26th District), was still at Pontiac (Mich.) North High School when Jeff Sessions last sat on the national hot seat.
It was 1986, and the then-Alabama state attorney general was being grilled--skewered, ultimately--over his nomination by President Reagan for a federal judgeship, an effort that ultimately failed due largely to numerous now-widely known racially charged accusations about Sessions" words and actions in office.
As Sessions, now a U.S. Senator, takes that very torrid seat once again today, this time, 30 years later, as President-elect Trump"s most controversial cabinet nominee, Ross, who is African-American, has a decidedly different perspective--as someone who has navigated their myriad differences to work with Sessions politically.
And let"s be clear, as a politician, Ross looks to continue to leverage his relationship with Sessions, should the 70-year-old Alabamian become the United States Attorney General.
Before that occurs, if it occurs, Sessions must sit before the Senate Judiciary committee and withstand a barrage of questions, even from his friendly Senatorial comrades, about his part and his potential intentions as the nation"s highest law enforcement officer.
Ross is well aware that those same racial accusations ago will linger over Capitol Hill like a thick, morning haze.
Will Sessions" racial history be a hurdle too big to overcome?
And he knows that many--especially many African-American groups and individuals--have wielded those accusations like placards at a protest march in the last few days in an effort to derail Sessions once again.
Yet as the storm over Sessions rises, Ross is wielding his faith as Christian--he attends the Hutchinson Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery--to counter some of the negativity.
"As a Christian, I"m always reaching over backward to forgive any individual of any past indiscretions," he says. "That is what I was taught."
Ross isn"t delusional, nor does he seem to be a Sessions apologist, regarding what the U.S. Senator may have done three decades ago.
"I can neither confirm nor deny [the accusations]," he says. "If they are something individuals feel strongly about, I have no reason to question them for talking about those things," he says. "I can only deal with an individual in terms of how they have dealt with me.
"Thirty years ago, I was not the same person I am now. I have some aches and pains now didn"t have then, so it"s clear that I"ve changed. Peoples" life experiences teach them along the way."
The Sessions protests are well underway
Ross, who was born in Mobile, but raised in michigan, and sessions, also from mobile, go back about 20 years. Ross is an educator, a former principal, so it is not surprising that their interactions have largely focused on education policy.
Not long after Ross was elected to the legislature, in 2014, Session helped him secure federal funds for Trenholm State Community College in Montgomery.
Sessions also helped Ross secure invitations to President Obama"s inauguration in 2012 for some of his constituents and, later, White House tours.
"All of our dealings have been ones of mutual respect and he"s always been helpful," Ross shared. "Is he conservative? Yes, he is. I am under no illusion that there won"t be things we don"t agree on. But at what point do we move beyond to where we can find common ground on issues important to this country."
Immigration is one of those issues. The "browning" of America is a core source of consternation for many, many Americans, such that some--including the President-elect--actually believe building a wall along the U.S. -Mexico border 1) is actually feasible idea, 2) will actually work and, 3) will actually be paid for by our neighbors to the South. When none of the above is actually true.
Nonetheless, Sessions has been a staunch opponent of legalization and many believe his expressed positions on immigration are yet another reason he should not be in a position to strip away some of the immigration advancements established by President Obama.
Ross, however, has faith that Attorney General Sessions will not act as Senator Sessions would likely--whether on immigration or LGBT rights.
When you gain a leadership position it puts you at a point where you have to govern, and govern for all," Ross says. "You have to look at issues holistically, as the current President has. We now have a clear and sensible path for citizenship in the U.S. You can"t just shake a rug and unravel things that have been put in place and offer security to individuals who"ve come to this country, worked hard and are invested in it.
"You have to take the wide view. [Immigration] is not an issue that happened overnight and it can"t be changed overnight."
Integration movement Birmingham Alabama girl pelted by fire hoses May 7, 1963. Photo by Anthony Falletta. Neg. 63-3668BANTHONY FALLETTA
Nor should the civil rights many fought so long to secure, rights that may soon be vulnerable to a man who makes many wonder whether he will continue to utilize the resources and authority of the Justice Department to ensure that local police departments are fair and unbiased, that voting rights are not impugned, and that the prison industry doesn"t get fat and happy again on minorities and the poor.
"Through my conversations with him, in dealing with civil rights and other issues, there is the hope," Ross says. "Once [Sessions is confirmed] he has to have a dialogue with people who were for and against him. In order to find common ground, we have to have dialogue. I believe he will be fair in enforcing the law without bias or prejudice."
What AG Sessions may mean for Alabama
Ross says he last spoke with Sessions about a month ago when he congratulated him on his nomination.
"I told him I was looking forward to working with him," he says. "I expect him to be as open to me once he becomes Attorney General as he was as a United States Senator. But being Attorney General has a whole different meaning than the political bantering you do when you"re representing your state and your party in the legislative process."
Yahoo превратится в Altaba после сделки с Verizon - corporate
Yahoo"s headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif, in July 2016. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP hide caption
toggle caption Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
Yahoo"s headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif, in July 2016.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
It"s still unclear whether Verizon will follow through on a $4.8 billion deal to buy Yahoo"s core internet business, but if the sale is finalized, there"s a name for what will be left behind.
For months, as the deal has made its way through negotiations and regulatory reviews, Yahoo referred to the hypothetical remains of its business as "RemainCo."
Now, the company has unveiled a slightly less literal name: "Altaba."
The Wall Street Journal explains the Altaba origin:
"Altaba"s remaining assets include Yahoo"s stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan. The name is a combination of the words "alternate" and "Alibaba," a person familiar with the matter said."
As The New York Times points out, the name is very close to "Al-Taba," a Pakistani scissors manufacturer.
The sale would also bring big changes to Yahoo"s current leadership. According to a regulatory document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, six members of the company"s current 11-member board would step down including Marissa Mayer, Yahoo"s chief executive.
Eric Brandt, who joined Yahoo"s board in March 2016, would take over as chairman of altaba"s board. he is a former executive at Broadcom, a semiconductor company.
As of Thursday, Brandt took over as chairman of Yahoo"s board, replacing Maynard Webb, who had served in that position since 2013 and now becomes the chairman emeritus. According to the regulatory filing, the purpose of the change was "to facilitate the transition of the Company to an investment company" following the sale to Verizon.
But it"s still unclear whether the sale will go forward. Following revelations of multiple major hacks of Yahoo user accounts, Verizon said it would "evaluate" the potential impact on the deal.
Last week, AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong told CNBC that "I remain hopeful the deal will close and I think we"ll see what the outcomes are of the Yahoo investigations in the meantime."
Verizon purchased AOL in 2015.
Also last week, a senior executive at Verizon said the company was unsure about its plan to buy Yahoo"s Internet business.
"I can"t sit here today and say with confidence one way or another because we still don"t know," said Marni Walden, president of product innovation and new businesses at Verizon, according to Reuters.
Speaking at the Citi 2017 Internet, Media & Telecommunications Conference in Las Vegas, Walden said that if the deal does go through, "we think it will take weeks at least. We don"t have a desire to have it drag on forever, that"s not our intent."
High interest surrounding the school districts decision to either close one of the towns six elementary school or redistrict dozens of students has forced the Board of Education to meet at Scotts Ridge Middle School Monday night.
According to an agenda that was sent out Friday, the board will meet in executive session from 6:30 to 7:30 to hear Superintendent Karen Baldwins mid-year evaluations. The board will then reconvene in public session where it will discuss the following items:
Also on the docket is the acceptance of a gift for Ridgefield High School and a finance report ending on Nov. 30.
However, the fireworks are expected early in the meeting.
The public will get a chance to comment on the school closing and redistricting scenarios that the board has been facing throughout the fall at the beginning of the meeting.
Based on the feedback and interest I received at my meeting with the joint council of PTAs today, the PTA Council and I agreed it would be best to provide an accommodating setting for the interested parents who want to be present for the meeting, Dr. Baldwin said Friday.
The main question facing the board: could a school closure result in budget savings?
The finance board has estimated the savings at $1 million. The schools believe its a little more complicated.
Closure/restructure must meet needs for students graduating 2026 & beyond, the district tweeted Sunday night.
Decision on school closures & redistricting has not been made, said another Tweet Monday.We invite any interested persons to attend this important meeting on 1/9.
Dr. Baldwin said Friday that the boards discussion and decision has been something theyve known about for the last year.
At the conclusion of last springs budget season there was a strong belief in the community that because of the declining enrollment in Ridgefield there was a possibility and reality that a school could be closed and effectuate savings and thereby reduce the burden to taxpayers, she said. This was based on prior discussions between the Board of Education and the Board of Finance that stated that if K-5 enrollment goes below 2000, then a school should be closed. When our budget passed by only 16 votes, it became very clear to me and the Board that we needed to revisit this and vet it in a deep thoughtful way. Not only would a school closing or restructuring need to create financial and operational efficiencies, but it should also meet the needs of student learning for our students graduating in 2026 and beyond.
Abul Bajandar initially thought the tree-like growths were harmless when he first spotted them sprouting up on his limbs 10 years ago, but they proved to be debilitating, causing him immense pain and the eventual loss of his job as a rickshaw driver.
The 27-year-old father and husband lived with the rare condition for years before beginning surgery to remove the bark last February.
More than a dozen procedures later, Bajandar has regained the use of his hands and is scheduled to undergo several more surgeries before he is released from the hospital, CNN reported. Hes slated to head home for the first time in the next couple weeks after living in a hospital for nearly a year.
I feel so much better, Bajandar told AFP. I can hold my daughter in my lap and play with her.
Bajandar is in very good shape and can now eat and write using his own hands, Dr. Samanta Lal Sen, chief plastic surgeon at Dhaka Medical College Hospital told the news station, adding that the remaining surgeries are more for beautification.
If the surgeries are successful in preventing the growths from returning, Bajandar would be the first person known to be cured of epidermodysplasia verruciformis an extremely rare genetic disease that makes a person more susceptible to warts. He is reportedly one of only four people in the world to be diagnosed with the condition, more popularly known as tree-man disease.
Since first receiving treatment for the condition, which doctors believe is caused by a defect in the immune system, hes shed nearly 11 pounds of warts.
My hands were so heavy before, I struggled to move around, he told CNN. Now those problems are not occurring any more.
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FIRST GAME! WEEK 1 VS IDAHO - NCAA Football 14 Teambuilder Dynasty | Ep.4 Clemson finishes No. 1, USC jumps to No. 3 in final NCAA 1-128 Re-Rank
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Clemson finishes No. 1, USC jumps to No. 3 in final NCAA 1-128 Re-Rank
Clemson not surprisingly finished No. 1 in the final NCAA 1-127 Re-Rank, while USC jumped to No. 3 after its Rose Bowl win. Despite some high-profile tumbles, the Big Ten still has four teams in the top eight.
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USA TODAY Sports" Dan Wolken breaks down Clemson"s thrilling win over Alabama in the national championship game. USA TODAY Sports
Southern California Trojans linebacker Michael Hutchings (19) is congratulated by defensive back Leon McQuay III (22), and linebacker Quinton Powell (18) after he brings down Penn State Nittany Lions running back Saquon Barkley (26) during the second half of the 2017 Rose Bowl game at the Rose Bowl.(Photo: Gary A. Vasquez, USA TODAY Sports)
For the last time in the 2016 college football season, lets re-rank the Football Bowl Subdivision from No. 1 through No. 128, beginning with national champion Clemson.
The final USA TODAY Sports Re-rank features a number of changes following bowl play, including Southern Californias leap seven spots to No. 3 after a Rose Bowl win against No. 7 Penn State.
Despite some high-profile tumbles in the postseason, the Big Ten Conference still has four teams inside the top eight, with No. 5 Ohio State, No. 6 Michigan and No. 8 Wisconsin joining the Nittany Lions.
A few teams benefited from impressive bowl victories, including No. 20 LSU, No. 23 Western Kentucky and No. 25 Miami (Fla.). The Hurricanes were one of five teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference to be ranked in the top 25, giving the league one more than the SEC.
New to the top 25: LSU, Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Florida and Miami (Fla.).
Out of the top 25: Temple, Boise State, Washington State, Pittsburgh and Navy.
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