(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Charlotte 111, Brooklyn 95
Philadelphia 115, Oklahoma City 103
Boston 107, Houston 97
Orlando 110, New York 104
Golden State 119, Sacramento 107
Lakers 121, Memphis 118
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Boston 4, San Jose 3
Nashville 5, Minnesota 2
Detroit 6, Chicago 3
NY Islanders 2, Vegas 0
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Atlanta 30, Miami 28
Cincinnati 41, Baltimore 17
Green Bay 24, Washington 10
NY Giants 25, Carolina 3
New England 54, NY Jets 13
Tennessee 27, Kansas City 3
LA Rams 28, Detroit 19
Las Vegas 33, Philadelphia 22
Arizona 31, Houston 5
Tampa Bay 38, Chicago 3
Indianapolis 30, San Francisco 18
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Austin FC 2, Houston 1
New England 2, Orlando City 2 (Tie)
Jason Sudeikis resurrects “The Ghost of Biden Past” in SNL hosting debut
Jason Sudeikis returned to his old stomping grounds this past weekend, hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time since leaving the show in 2013.
In the show’s opening sketch, President Joe Biden — played by new SNL cast member James Austin Johnson — grapples with his falling poll numbers and wonders and longs for the old days, when the press used to like him.
He’s then visited by “The Ghost of Biden Past” — played by Sudeikis, reprising his Biden impersonation from from 2013 — who gives 2021 Biden a pep talk, reminding him he’s still “Joe Freakin’ Biden.”
Sudeikis’ monologue took a couple of sentimental turns, with a shout out to his two kids with ex-wife Olivia Wilde — Otis, seven, and Daisy, five — then to reflect on the “historic” Studio 8A and how it shaped his life.
The Ted Lasso star also joined Weekend Update anchors, Colin Jost and Michael Che, and dusted off his devil character, who bragged about some of his recent accomplishments, including Jost’s marriage to Scarlett Johansson.
Sudeikis’ devil also claimed responsibility for Florida, The Houston Astros, Tom Brady and Lil Nas X.
Later, Sudeikis revived his red sweatsuit-clad over-enthusiastic back up dancer, Vance, in Kenan Thompson‘s recurring sketch, “What’s Up with That,” joined by fellow SNL vet, Fred Armisen as the sax-playing Giuseppe.
Sudeikis was joined by musical guest Brandi Carlile.
Kieren Culkin, who stars in the HBO drama Succession, will host when SNL returns November 6.
John Fogerty will headline three special benefit concerts in Florida next month, that will raise money for The Charity Pro’s, a Fort Myers, Florida-based non-profit established to support and advocate for children’s social causes.
The shows, scheduled November 20 in Tampa, November 21 in Estero, and November 23 in Orlando, will raise funds for the organization’s “Charity Pro’s for Heroes” initiative, which will help provide educational scholarships to children of first responders and healthcare workers who died from complications of the COVID-19 virus.
Proceeds from the events also will go toward granting children of fallen heroes a “Megan’s Wish,” that is, a special experience that will enrich their lives with love, hope and strength.
Joining Fogerty at the concerts will be three special support acts — country star Lauren Alaina on November 20, Foreigner on the 21st and Cheap Trick on the 23rd. Recent American Idol finalist Casey Bishop, an Estero native, will perform at all three shows.
Immediate family members of first responders and healthcare workers who passed away from COVID-19 are invited to attend the concerts for free. Those interested in reserving seats can email meg@thecharitypros.org.
First responders and healthcare workers will be able to purchase discount tickets for the events through the end of the day today by using the promo code HERO. Visit TheCharityPros.org for more information.
“Every day, we learn of the incredible stories of the children and families of our Heroes nationwide who are dealing with the effects of losing a parent or loved one,” says The Charity Pro’s founder Megan Maloney. “Bringing these families together to honor their loved ones, their Heroes and ours, is the very least we can do.”
Actor James Michael Tyler, who played Gunther on Friends, has lost his battle with prostate cancer. He was 59.
Friends producer Kevin Brighttweeted the news on Sunday, writing, “James Michael Tyler Our Gunther passed away last night. He was an incredible person who spent his final days helping others. God bless you James, Gunther lives forever.”
The official Friends Twitter account also posted a tribute, writing, “Warner Bros. Television mourns the loss of James Michael Tyler, a beloved actor and integral part of our FRIENDS family. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues and fans.”
Earlier this year, Tyler revealed to NBC’s Today show that his fight against the illness left his lower body paralyzed, keeping him from participating in the recent HBO Max Friends reunion in person. He did appear via a video greeting.
The actor told Today the cancer was at stage 4, and had spread to his bones. “So eventually, you know, it’s gonna probably get me,” he said.
He also explained his cancer worsened during the pandemic last year.
“I missed going in for a test, which was not a good thing,” he explained. “So the cancer decided to mutate at the time of the pandemic, and so it’s progressed.”
Some time ago, Tyler told ABC Audio he was “grateful” his character left such an impression on the sitcom.
“I got there, started with one word, and really no storyline whatsoever. You got to say ‘Yeah,'” he recalled.
“I believe the whole like ‘Gunther’s unrequited love for Rachel’ was only supposed to be about one or two episodes, but they kept that story arc for 10 years, which I’m very grateful for.”
Jay Black in 1998; Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Jay Black, former lead singer of the 1960s pop-rock group Jay and the Americans, died Friday at age 82, his family revealed to Rolling Stone.
According to the statement, Black passed away from complications from pneumonia, and he also battled dementia in recent years.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Black, whose given name was David Blatt, joined Jay and the Americans after original lead singer Jay Trainor left the group in 1962, not long after the band had scored a #5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “She Cried.”
Led by Black’s soaring voice, the band scored many more top-40 hits throughout the 1960s, its biggest coming in 1964 with “Come a Little Bit Closer,” which peaked at #3. Jay and the Americans also hit the top 10 in 1965 with “Cara Mia” and in 1969 with “This Magic Moment,” which reached #4 and #6, respectively.
Among the group’s other hits were “Let’s Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key),” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Sunday and Me” and “Walkin’ in the Rain,” which all cracked the top 20.
The band split up in 1973, and afterward, Black continued to tour as a solo artist, playing his final show in 2017.
Jay and the Americans reformed in 2006 with a new lead singer named “Jay.” The band paid homage to Black in a message posted on their Facebook page on Saturday.
“Today, we mourn the passing of David Blatt a/k/a Jay Black and we acknowledge the great successes we had with him both as a partner and as a lead singer,” the note reads. “We shared both wonderful and very contentious times, and much like an ex-wife, we are so proud of the beautiful children we created. We’ll always remember The Voice.”
Just days before his new album is released, Ed Sheeran has revealed he’s tested positive COVID-19.
In a message posted on social media Sunday, he wrote, “Hey guys. Quick note to tell you that I’ve sadly tested positive for Covid, so I’m now self-isolating and following government guidelines.”
“It means that I’m now unable to plough ahead with any in person commitments for now, so I’ll be doing as many of my planned interviews/performances I can from my house,” he added. “Apologies to anyone I’ve let down. Be safe everyone x.”
Ed’s new album = [Equals] drops this Friday, October 29. He’s scheduled to do a “First Listen” of the album Thursday afternoon on Apple Music with Zane Lowe.
(GEORGIA) — One person is dead and seven others injured after a shooting at an off-campus party near a Georgia university.
The incident occurred early Saturday morning in Fort Valley, near Fort Valley State University, authorities said.
Several students suffered non-life-threatening injuries, the university said.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting, shared a photo from the “active scene” on Twitter Saturday morning, showing a house located several blocks from the campus.
GBI also confirmed the deceased was not a Fort Valley State University student, though did not share further details.
The university’s campus was temporarily placed on lockdown “until campus police determined there was no threat to the campus community,” school officials said.
The lockdown has since been lifted.
The shooting occurred during the state university’s homecoming weekend.
School officials announced that its Saturday morning alumni breakfast and homecoming parade had been canceled. There will be “increased security protocols” at the homecoming game, scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, it said.
“Our thoughts are with the students and their families as they recover,” the university said.
(LONDON) — Flanked by public health officials, the U.K. Health Secretary painted a bleak picture of the current state of the pandemic in Britain.
“Cases are rising,” Sajid Javid, told the nation this week. “And they could go yet as high as 100,000 a day. We’re also seeing greater pressure on the NHS (National Health Service) across the U.K. We’re now approaching 1,000 hospitalizations per day.”
Yet, despite growing calls from doctors’ associations and scientists across the U.K. — Javid resisted calls to introduce mandated prevention measures, such as mask wearing, which were dropped in England in July.
On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson doubled down on that message, stressing the way forward was for as many eligible people as possible to take booster jabs, a rollout that experts warned is lagging behind demand.
Since July, when virtually all social distancing restrictions were relaxed in England, cases and hospitalizations have steadily increased, though at a rate far lower than previous waves of infections when the population did not have access to vaccines.
This week, the U.K. posted a worrying set of figures.
On Tuesday, the government recorded 223 COVID deaths, the highest since March.
The last time the country recorded less than 20,000 daily cases was July — and this week the latest weekly average stands at over 47,000 daily cases. Deaths, hospitalizations and cases are increasing week over week.
Just under 80% of the population over age 12 have received two doses of coronavirus vaccine, but the evidence suggests that the effectiveness wanes over time, and the U.K. has been slower to vaccinate children than other countries. Rising cases have been linked to the resumption of the school year, where children are not formally required to wear masks and self-isolation rules around COVID-positive schoolchildren have been relaxed.
The booster program, which Israeli officials credit as proving crucial in Israel’s success in getting infections under control this summer, has not been as effective as the first wave of vaccinations, he said. An estimated 5 million people have taken their boosters, but around half of all people eligible are yet to take up the call for a third shot of vaccine, according to a report in the Financial Times.
“The vaccine program has really fallen flat,” according to Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist and the lead investigator of the ZOE Covid Symptom app, which tracks coronavirus infections in the U.K “It’s peaked at around 66%, 67% [across the total population] and is hardly moving. And we know now we didn’t know then that that’s not enough. And I think we’re very much back to where we were in March 2020, in some ways.”
U.K. government data still shows that the mortality and hospitalization rates among unvaccinated people are still far higher than the vaccinated.
According to reports in the British media, the government does have a ‘Plan B’ over the winter, which would include reintroducing working from home, mask mandates and potential vaccine passports in nightclubs. “It remains the case we would only look to use that if the pressure on the NHS was looking to become unsustainable,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News this week.
This week, the British Medical Association, a doctors’ trade union, described the government’s approach as “willfully negligent,” while the NHS Confederation has called for new measures to avoid “stumbling into winter crisis.”
Yet Prime Minister Johnson has held out so far against mandating restrictions, and has instead placed greater emphasis on vaccine boosters and the procurement of antiviral drugs. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different rules than England, with Scotland, for example, mandating mask use and vaccine passports for nightclubs — policies that are part of Johnson’s yet-to-be-implemented ‘Plan B.’ Health Secretary Javid, while acknowledging there was significant pressure on the National Health Service, said the level was not yet “unsustainable.”
Complacency due to the success of the early vaccine rollout, as well as poor public health messaging, has contributed to the recent rise in cases, according to Spector.
“There’s been a total absence of public education, no reiteration of [changes in] symptoms [with the delta variant], no ideas about how to stop spreading it in schools,” he said. “You know, there’s no prevention. There’s no concept of prevention.”
In mid-July, polling from the Office of National Statistics reported that 63% of adults always or often maintained social distancing, but the same body reported that only 39% of adults were doing so in mid-October.
In terms of infections, the U.K. is now far outpacing other countries in Western and Central Europe. In its weekly epidemiological update, the World Health Organization reported that Europe is the only region where coronavirus infections are rising, by 7% over the past seven days, driven by infection rates in the U.K., Russia and Turkey.
Despite the growing concern, the health service is not yet overwhelmed by an influx of coronavirus patients.
“No, we’re not there, we’re not there yet,” Spector said. “But the point is that everyone scientifically, medically, is seeing these curves going up and inevitably these things get worse as you hit winter, and you hit other respiratory infections.”
According to the government’s latest seven-day average, 937 patients per day were hospitalized with COVID, with just over 8,000 currently receiving treatment. In January, meanwhile, prior to the vaccine rollout, daily hospitalizations peaked at over 4,000, while the highest number of patients in hospital reached over 39,000.
Instead, doctors and scientists are warning that with infections rising, there is potential for COVID to add to the winter burdens of an already stretched health service that has faced pressures even in pre-pandemic times.
“This time it genuinely does feel different,” Siva Anandaciva, the chief analyst at the King’s Fund, an independent health think tank, told ABC News. “I think that’s because there are a lot of familiar pressures that you always have … you’ve got the steady ticking up of winter viruses.”
Part of the pressure, he said, is the resumption of ordinary care for the massive backlog of patients waiting to be seen in hospitals, that has built up since the pandemic began. 5.7 million people in the U.K., almost 10% of the population, are on waiting lists for planned routine care, and in a worst case scenario this number could rise up to 14 million, Anandaciva said.
“COVID’s almost like an accelerant on a fire,” he said. “The NHS has always struggled over the winter, and these are pressures that are spread more wildly… It is a problem with COVID, but more fundamentally some of the demand for care coming back after a pause in services and also crucially some of the resourcing issues that have long plagued the NHS. Not having enough staff, not having enough resources.”
Facing pressure this winter, the government has announced new funding for the NHS, but it could be years before the health service begins to function at pre-pandemic levels, according to Anandaciva.
Spector was once critical of the government’s approach for “underreacting, then overreacting” to the pandemic with successive lockdowns, but now says he now doesn’t understand some of the inaction.
“It’s complacency to think that this, you know, this isn’t going to get worse,” he said. “I haven’t heard of anyone who says it’s going to get better next week. So that’s why I can’t understand why introducing some simple measures that don’t cost the economy anything, only have a political cost can’t be implemented.”
(ATLANTA) — Historically, very few African Americans have played polo, but that’s changing in Atlanta.
“I’ve never ridden a horse outside of me starting this, let alone actually play polo, so I had to get over my fear of, like, thinking I would get kicked or that I will fall,” Gia Tejeda, a junior economics major at Spelman College, told ABC News. “I just feel as though if you can learn how to navigate a horse and really master a sport that you can also, in the same sense, conquer the world, because it takes a lot to ride a horse.”
Tejeda’s three-woman team includes another Spelman student and one from Savanah College of Arts and Design. They’re sponsored by Ride to the Olympics, a foundation that exposes urban students to equestrian sports.
“We break barriers,” Kim Watson, CEO of Ride to the Olympics, told ABC News. “It was almost, like, tear-jerking it to see what it does to their confidence level.”
The group was founded in 2017 by men’s formal wear designer Miguel Wilson, who said he hoped one day of having its members qualify for the Olympics.
“The change of scenery, seeing the concrete turn into grass … for a lot kids in the inner cities, going out to the country and just being able to spend a few hours with horses is life-changing,” Wilson told ABC News.
Polo is very expensive to play and requires wide-open spaces that are hard to find in most cities.
“There are barriers that exist — so it’s about bridging that gap,” Wilson said.
Even though comparatively fewer African Americans ride horses professionally now, Black jockeys played an important role in American history. Among the first 28 Kentucky Derby winners, 15 jockeys were Black. But zero Black riders participated from 1921 to 2000. And even fewer played polo.
In 2019, with the help of Wilson and Ride to the Olympics, Morehouse became the first historically Black college to create a polo club and be declared a member of the United States Polo Association.
“A lot of kids in these inner cities,” Wilson said, “they know about football, they know about basketball, but who knows how many professional polo players we have walking around in northwest Washington, D.C., or in southwest Atlanta?”
Tejeda said she’s “honestly still in awe” to have the opportunity to play the sport.
“When you think of polo, you don’t think about Black kids playing the sport,” she added. “So to be the pioneer in starting this is really amazing.”
Added Wilson: “I mean, the Morehouse team was phenomenal. But to see these young ladies is extraordinary.”
Female players composed about 40% of the U.S. Polo Association’s membership in 2020, and the number of women’s tournaments has grown steadily over five years, but no Black women currently are playing professionally. Uneku Atawodi, a Nigerian, is credited with being the first Black woman to reach such heights.
“I wasn’t exposed to it, so that’s generally the main reason” more Black Americans don’t play polo, said AnaSimone Guimone, a junior who plays for Spelman College.
Ride to the Olympics recently teamed up with the Boys and Girls Foundation to create eight polo teams in urban areas for kids 8 to 18, and it hosts the Polo Classic in Atlanta, where student members and other Black players can play together.
“I wanted to create an environment where African Americans can go to a polo event that celebrates our culture,” Wilson said. “Most polo events aren’t about us.”
(KYIV, Ukraine) — It doesn’t take long to buy a fake COVID-19 vaccine certificate in Ukraine. Just typing the words into Google brings up a slew of advertisements offering a certificate “without visiting a doctor.”
A would-be customer sends their passport details, address and a phone number through the Telegram messenger app, and the next day, a document showing fake proof of vaccination with Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrives in the post, according to several people who have bought one of the fake certificates, and who spoke to ABC News on condition of anonymity because the practice is illegal. They said prices for the certificates can vary anywhere from $20 to $200 (USD) with some fetching as much as $380.
The COVID vaccination certificate black market is becoming a growing concern in Ukraine, which is suffering from a worsening third wave of the pandemic amid low vaccination numbers and as the government tries to impose restrictions on the unvaccinated. The number of people who have already bought fake certificates is unknown, but some Telegram app channel advertising them have thousands of subscribers.
Svitlana is one of them. She said she bought a fake certificate in September showing she was inoculated with Pfizer/BionTech’s vaccine.
“I don’t trust neither vaccines nor the government,” she told ABC News, explaining her decision and declining to give her last name.
The demand for fake vaccine certificates exists despite the ease of getting a free COVID vaccine in Ukraine. As of late September there are over 11 million doses of different coronavirus vaccines in Ukraine now for a population of 44.1 million, according to Ukraine’s health ministry. The vaccine is free for all Ukrainians and in Kyiv, walk-in vaccination centers are even open in some shopping malls.
But despite the availability of vaccines, Ukraine is among one of the least vaccinated countries in Europe, with only around 30.2% of the population having received one dose and 14.7% fully vaccinated, according to a vaccine tracker published by Bloomberg. In late September the health minister Viktor Lyashko said 34,000 doses of Pfizer would be dumped because they had expired.
The low numbers are the product of widespread vaccine hesitancy among Ukrainians: 56% don’t plan to get vaccinated at all, according to a poll from the Ilko Kucheriv Foundation, a well-known independent think tank that conducts sociological studies.
“We observe this trend globally, however in Ukraine, misinformation about vaccination is extremely politicized and is spread both among the general public and the medical community,” Murat Shahin, head of the UNICEF office in Ukraine told ABC News this month.
Another problem is lack of quality medical education on vaccination which leads to incorrect practices and confuses patients, Shahin said.
“We also observe a suboptimal level of trust to state institutions,” he said. “Meanwhile, people trust their relatives, local leaders and their doctors and nurses.”
Some of the social media channels offering fake vaccine certificates are part of that ecosystem pushing anti-vaccine sentiment, sharing anti-vax information and news stories, while urging people to buy fake certificates to avoid getting the shot.
According to the same Ilko Kucheriv Foundation poll, some are reluctant because they are not sure about the safety of the vaccines. Some of those who spoke to ABC News said they resist just because they are forced to vaccinate.
There is no mandatory vaccination in Ukraine, except for teachers and civil servants, meaning there is little pressure to vaccinate. But some companies are pressing their employees to vaccinate, threatening to cut salaries or reduce vacation days.
And a vaccine certificate is necessary to travel. Ukraine has created its own digital certificate in an app, called Diya (“Action”) that is valid in EU countries.
Wanting to go abroad, some Ukrainians are refusing the free shot of the real vaccine and instead are paying money for a fake certificate. On a site listing the phone number of one seller, users reviewed the service.
“We’ve just crossed the border in Rava Russka [in Poland], our border service scanned the certificate and let us go without any problems,” one wrote. “I took it to Germany. All worked,” another said.
Some services provide paper certificates. A fake official stamp is applied using the real names of doctors and clinics, based on samples posted by some of the Telegram channels offering them.
Getting the digital proof of vaccination without being vaccinated is more difficult. It is still possible for a bribe, according to some people ABC News talked to on condition of anonymity.
Some Ukrainians are simply paying doctors to sign off on their digital vaccine certificates, by entering them as vaccinated in Ukraine’s state vaccination register. After that, a digital certificate appears in the official Diya app, which is also valid in the EU.
Oleksiy Vyskyb, Ukraine’s deputy minister for digital transformation, told ABC News that some doctors were charging a fee to falsely enter people’s name into the state register showing vaccinated citizens.
One of the sellers confirmed that in a Telegram chat with an ABC reporter posing as a potential customer. ABC News did not actually purchase a fake certificate.
“We put the data into the register,” a person who identified themselves as a support manager responded when asked by the reporter how it would work.
Another channel said that the clinic where the false vaccination happens “dumps” two real doses of Pfizer and VaxZevria after pretending the client has received them.. They also offer “to save” these doses for the client to be vaccinated later if they change their mind before the vaccine expires two months later. Both options cost around $60.
According to some advertisements you can get a forged vaccination certificate even if you’re a foreigner. It will cost a bit more than for a Ukrainian citizen — $380 if you’re abroad, according to one ad.
Besides becoming part of a dangerous invisible pool of unvaccinated people that undermine restrictions and spread infection, those buying fake certificates may be unable to get a real shot later on since they are already recorded as having received one in the state registry, Shahin said.
Ukraine’s authorities say they are now trying to crackdown on the practice. Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, together with the country’s cyberpolice, said they have opened nearly 500 criminal proceedings relating to the selling of forged paper vaccination certificates and that more than 50 web resources have been blocked. So far, only three cases have been opened against doctors for allegedly entering false information into the register. Those detained face up to six years in prison. But government says it wants to increase the punishment.
This week, Ukraine imposed a full lockdown in four regions as Ukraine’s daily numbers continue to worsen, recently hitting its highest level since the country’s second wave in the spring. Ukrainian authorities reported 22,415 new confirmed infections and 546 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest numbers since the start of the pandemic. Most experts also believe the real number of cases and deaths are likely higher, since not all are recorded with testing.
“People who use fake certificates create a dangerous space for others,” Maria Karchevych, Ukraine’s deputy health minister said at a press conference in Kyiv last week.
She said the fake COVID vaccine certificate industry also threatens Ukraine’s international image since Ukraine was among the first non-European Union countries to have its national vaccine pass recognized by the EU for travel.
“EU countries expect transparency and honesty in using such documents,” she said.
