NEW YORK – This was unusual. On Tuesday night, struggling Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh stepped in front of the cameras and recorders — before his manager spoke about Seattle’s fifth straight loss — in an impromptu and surprising admission of how poorly the slugger has performed this season. “It starts with me. I’m awful,” said Raleigh, who was still in his game cleats and full uniform after swinging through three high fastballs from Yankees closer David Bednar for the final out of the game. “Gotta find a way to be better and help the guys along. We gotta play better. We’re playing very, very bad baseball in every facet of the game. We gotta pick it up from the energy standpoint, to the execution, to the little things in the game that help you win, and we’re just not doing those things right now.” Raleigh went from on top of the world last year to one of the worst hitters in baseball this year. Similarly, the Mariners go as their catcher goes. Last season, Raleigh posted a 168 OPS+ and finished as the American League MVP runner-up. Across 159 games, a playing time that was unheard of for a catcher, he led the majors with 60 home runs and accumulated 7.2 WAR, which was second only to Yankees slugger and AL MVP winner Aaron Judge. This season, Raleigh owns a -0.1 WAR and 65 OPS+ in 87 games. He has hit only 12 home runs, and his strikeout rate has elevated dramatically from 26.7% last year to 32.2% this year. On Tuesday, Raleigh ventured out of the visitor’s clubhouse at Yankee Stadium to speak to the media before his much-maligned manager, Dan Wilson, could take the heat for his team continuing to tumble down the standings. There’s an unwritten order for postgame press conferences in MLB. Managers speak first, followed by players in the clubhouse. Raleigh broke away from that custom. The speculation that the Mariners may soon part ways with Wilson and relieve him of his duties has never been higher. As much as Wilson has held firm that “a good streak can change the outcome pretty quickly,” he’s worn down by the club’s 57-65 record after Thursday’s win over the Bronx Bombers. So Raleigh, rather bluntly, taking accountability and shouldering the blame for the Mariners’ season-long slump was crucial timing. “We just gotta bring that edge every day,” Raleigh said when asked what the first step should be. “It’s tough when things aren’t going your way. It’s hard. You feel like the world’s against you. You gotta have a good attitude. You have to bring that edge, because nothing’s given to you. We gotta go take it. And sometimes, you’re feeling bad for yourself, you get a little lackadaisical out there. You have less energy. You don’t have that edge that you should have every single day. “That starts with me. I need to do a better job of that each and every night, just being prepared and being ready to go every single night. Ultimately, we’ve just gotta play with a little more urgency.” On Thursday, before Seattle narrowly avoided being swept by New York, I asked Raleigh to elaborate on some of those mental adjustments he believes the team needs to make. But Raleigh declined, saying he doesn’t want to talk about it. “I said what I said. It is what it is,” Raleigh said. “The performance has to show it.” He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the series finale in the Bronx. Even so, this was another honest response from Raleigh that anyone should respect, particularly his manager and teammates. Wilson supported Raleigh’s decision to take questions from the media before the skipper’s usual postgame press conference. “I love that Cal stepped up and had a lot to say,” Wilson told me on Thursday in the visitor’s dugout at Yankee Stadium. “I think our guys understand where we’re at, and understand the urgency of what the standings have us at. We got a big series coming up. There’s definitely some urgency. As a team, we’re all pretty aware of that. We’re ready to go.” There is some truth to Raleigh admitting he’s one of the biggest reasons that the Mariners offense has been floundering this season. The lineup has mimicked Raleigh’s poor decisions at the plate, including off-balance swings and a complete absence of clutch hitting. Seattle has scored the fewest runs (469) in baseball this year after scoring the ninth-most runs (766) in the majors last year. The Mariners own a .681 OPS, which ranked 28th in MLB entering Thursday. They were batting .215 with runners in scoring position before the win over New York, which ranked 29th. All of this is confounding for a talented team that, just last October, pushed the Blue Jays to an AL Championship Series Game 7 and fell just short of the franchise’s first-ever World Series appearance. The Mariners were expected to run it back this year. Instead, they’re one of the most disappointing teams in baseball. No one understands that feeling of whiplash better than Raleigh. “It’s not just him,” Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez told me. “I feel like all of us could do better, especially on the offensive side of things. He tried to take all the blame, but at the same time, we got nine guys. So, I can say the same thing. I’m shifting more of my focus to, what can we do now? Instead of the whole season where we’ve struggled, we’ve battled, we’ve done a lot of things. “But what can we do now? I’m focusing on that. It’s not for him to take all the blame.” What can the Mariners do now? Due to the parity in the AL, where only five teams are playing above .500, Seattle still has a chance to qualify for a wild-card spot. The M’s are 3.5 games behind the final spot, with six teams ahead of them, which can feel daunting. The Astros lead the AL West with a five-game advantage over Seattle, but Houston has its own problems, and they’re hardly running away with the division. If the Mariners can somehow get through a brutal schedule the rest of this month without dropping further down the standings — which in itself would be a remarkable feat, since they’re slated to play the Brewers, Cubs, Phillies, Blue Jays and Red Sox in August — then they can look forward to a soft schedule in September. In the final month of the regular season, Seattle will go up against the Athletics, Rangers, Angels, and Rockies. Despite the baseball calendar coming to an end, they believe they have it in them to make a run. Before the season started, FanGraphs’ projection system gave the Mariners a 79.6% chance of making the playoffs. That number had plummeted to 24% entering Thursday’s game, but it’s not zero. Until Seattle is mathematically eliminated, it will still have hope. “We have a ton of time,” Raleigh said. “We’ll make some adjustments. That’s just how it is. Baseball is a very hard sport. You have to dig deep sometimes and try to figure out what’s going to be best for you, your circumstances, and whatever the team needs.”Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
Photo courtesy of Susan Walker, Juneau Community Collective
NOTN- An Alaska Seaplanes floatplane made an emergency landing in the Mendenhall River this morning, with no injuries reported.
The company says a de Havilland Beaver, tail number N777DH, made the emergency landing at about 11:17 a.m., shortly after taking off from the floatplane pond at Juneau International Airport.
According to a Facebook post, there was one pilot aboard and no passengers. The pilot was unharmed and is now with Alaska Seaplanes personnel.
The aircraft landed safely but later drifted into a floating root ball in the river. Alaska Seaplanes personnel are working to recover the plane.
The company says additional information will be provided as it becomes available.
According to People, Knowings suffered an asthma attack on August 7 and was hospitalized at a Los Angeles-area hospital. She was subsequently placed on life support and died on August 11.
Knowings’ family reportedly made the decision to remove her from life support after the attack resulted in severe brain damage.
The actress joined the cast of All That in 1997 and appeared in more than 30 episodes through 1999.
During her time on the Nickelodeon hit, Knowings portrayed a variety of characters, including Gloria Bankhead, a role she particularly enjoyed.
The series became a launching pad for several young stars, including Kenan Thompson, Amanda Bynes, Kel Mitchell, and Nick Cannon.
Thompson, who starred alongside Knowings on All That, reacted to the heartbreaking news on Instagram.
“Man this one hit hard!!! Rest well Christy!!! Never could have imagined this day!!” Thompson wrote, while sending love to Knowings’ family and remembering her as “one of the funniest people out here.”
Knowings continued working in entertainment after her All That run came to an end.
She appeared in the 2009 film Mother and Child, which also gave her a writing credit.
She later appeared on Sesame Street alongside her twin brother, Chris Knowings, making three appearances between 2009 and 2011.
She also pursued music, releasing the folk single “To the World” in 2020.
Sadly, Knowings’ death comes just months after another former All That cast member, Kianna Underwood, died at age 33 after being killed in a hit-and-run incident in New York City.
For fans who grew up watching All That, these losses are a painful reminder of just how much the Nickelodeon series meant to an entire generation.
On social media, tributes have poured in from all over the world, as family, friends, and a legion of adoring fans recall their favorite moments from Christy’s career.
Our thoughts are with her loved ones during this incredibly difficult time.
Neil Perry, a former and founding member of The Band Perry, is speaking out about his departure from the group and his account of what led to the band’s latest chapter.
In a new series of Instagram posts, Neil held nothing back, claiming that he was “terminated” from The Band Perry after his sister, Kimberly Perry, wanted her husband, Johnny Costello, to join the group, which originally featured Neil, Kimberly and their brother, Reid.
The Band Perry; Photo Provided
In his post, Neil took fans back to 2024, when he says tensions within the family and band had reached a breaking point. According to Neil, in May 2024, “none of us were consistently on speaking terms” and “Reid had stopped engaging in both personal and business matters.”
Neil recalled, “Kimberly came to me about bringing the band out of hiatus, and we initially agreed that moving forward with Reid was not something we were prepared to do. Kimberly reached out to him, and he confirmed he was not interested.”
At that point, Neil says he was “presented with three options: move forward as a duo, hold auditions or have her husband step in. I was fine with the first two, but soon understood Kimberly wanted to move forward with the third. We ultimately decided not to proceed.”
Neil said several weeks passed before he was approached again, this time with Reid having reportedly agreed to rejoin the band during conversations in which Neil says he was not involved.
“I was given three days to decide whether I would continue under those circumstances. At the end of that three-day window, I asked for a conversation the following week and was told I was out of time,” he explained. “I was approached again a month later, but I could not move forward under those circumstances. At that point, I understood that continuing to tour was no longer realistically an option for me and I would soon be forced out by the 2/3 partnership agreement. What I did not agree to was losing my financial interest and access to the resources and business I had spent my life helping build. Shortly after the band signed a label deal, my brother left the band. What remained is my sister and her husband.”
Reflecting on that period of his life, Neil, who now performs as a solo artist under the name WOLVESofJUNE, wrote, “June 2024 took something from me. Something I had spent my entire life building. A band. A business. A family. A name.”
He claims that his decision not to participate in the band under those circumstances ultimately resulted in him “losing my financial interest and access to the band’s platforms, resources, and audience I had spent my life helping build.”
As he watched The Band Perry continue with Kimberly and Johnny, Neil said, “Then I watched a story emerge that didn’t resemble the one I lived.”
Following the experience, Neil said he channeled his anger into music and his grief into the songs he plans to release through WOLVESofJUNE, turning a difficult chapter into the foundation for his next musical endeavor.
North Carolina native Jayson Reed has been charged with four counts of second-degree assault, nearly a month after he allegedly urinated on a family at a Morgan Wallen show. Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
North Carolina native Jayson Reed has been charged with four counts of second-degree assault, nearly a month after he allegedly urinated on a family at a Morgan Wallen show. Continue reading…The Boot – Country Music News, Music Videos and Songs
Preschool children line up to go outside at the Ralph Hawley Head Start Center in Emeryville, Calif., in December. The Trump administration has proposed major changes to the Head Start program. (Photo by Florence Middleton for CalMatters)
The Trump administration is pushing a total overhaul of Head Start that could fundamentally reshape the 60-year-old program that has provided childcare and key support for America’s lowest-income families.
A new proposed rule released last week put more than 1,400 regulatory provisions that govern how Head Start is implemented on the chopping block. Across the country, 1,600 Head Start grant recipients provide quality care for disadvantaged children, as well as support for families by connecting them to health insurance, job training, developmental screenings, specialist referrals and postpartum support.
This latest proposal is aimed at cutting red tape and allowing more flexibility in the programs, the administration said.
“There’s 1,600 providers across the country facing different conditions, and our proposed rule will reduce their paperwork. It will streamline duplicative statutory requirements and give them flexibility for things like personnel and workforce decisions, as well as licensing relief,” said Alex Adams, the assistant secretary at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), on a call with reporters.
But Head Start providers and experts say the proposal may actually make it harder for programs to operate and transform Head Start to look more like commercial childcare than an anti-poverty program.
“Families lose the assurance that Head Start means the same thing everywhere, and taxpayers lose a clear measure of impact that Head Start funding should have,” said Celena Roldan Sarillo, the president of Start Early, a nonprofit that advocates for quality early learning.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on a call with reporters to announce the changes that “it is important to protect” Head Start, which is administered by HHS and was created in part by Kennedy’s uncle Sargent Shriver during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. Kennedy wants to see more nutrition and physical activity requirements added to Head Start, and agrees the new rules could streamline it and open seats for more children.
That messaging, however, is misleading, said Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, the senior vice president at Start Early.
“At first glance, these proposed changes might not seem so terrible, but as you dig deeper into it, what we will find is that there really are a lot of changes that will impact what is the heart of Head Start,” Sanchez Fuentes said, adding that the performance standards are not just red tape, “they really are the foundation for how we ensure that programs across the country are supporting children, families and communities in the way that they want best.”
Here is a breakdown of what the administration is proposing to change for Head Start.
Overall, how is this proposal changing Head Start?
Fundamentally, the changes would have Head Start operate much more like other childcare centers under state and local rules. Because quality is such an important benchmark in Head Start, its rules are more stringent than the rules governing other childcare options — in many places, those differences would disappear.
“States didn’t design their childcare programs to serve the population that Head Start serves. They design those to regulate private businesses and set a floor for safety, like they regulate hospitals or restaurants, not to prepare a high-need community for school,” said Katie Hamm, who oversaw the Head Start program under the Biden administration.
Are there any immediate impacts to my child’s Head Start program?
No. The public has until October 6 to comment on the proposed rule before HHS reviews the comments and issues a final rule. That review process can take time — months or longer — in addition to any legal challenges that may arise, so it’s unlikely, though not impossible, for changes to happen this year.
How would classrooms change?
One of the biggest changes in the proposal is eliminating Head Start’s teacher-to-student ratios. One of Head Start’s quality initiatives is that it offers more individualized care — each teacher is in charge of a smaller number of students than in most other childcare settings. The policy is both about safety and support for low-income kids, some of whom need more focused attention.
Under the proposed changes, an estimated 80 percent of children currently in Head Start would be subject to worse ratios. The maximum number of toddlers per teacher would more than double in nine states: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina and Texas.
The proposal also removes the cap on group sizes, so it’s likely classrooms would have more children.
Another big change: All instruction will have to take place in English instead of offering bilingual support to children who are not native speakers. More than a quarter of children in Head Start come from homes where a language other than English is spoken.
The only exception is for Head Start programs on Tribal lands.
Are there any changes that impact health and safety?
Yes.
Detailed requirements on how to prevent lead exposure are gone and replaced with a broader requirement that programs prevent children from being exposed to lead in water and paint in however way they see fit.
A requirement that a bus monitor be on board any buses transporting children at all times has also been removed.
Other detailed rules on facilities, safety training, hygiene, disaster preparedness and equipment and materials are also gone; instead programs are instructed to follow state laws in those areas.
Is discipline changing under the new regulations?
Currently, children generally cannot be expelled from Head Start. The proposed rule would remove that prohibition and allow programs to set their own disciplinary rules, as long as they align with state and local requirements. Head Start would still need to provide children with any behavioral problems with screenings and referral services.
The administration said it made these changes because when the expulsion and suspension rules were first implemented in 2016, many states did not have their own rules governing those issues. Since then, many states have adopted their own.
“These proposed changes are not an endorsement of suspension and expulsion as approaches to address persistent and serious behavioral concerns; rather, the intent is to allow programs to determine their own discipline policies, within the context of state and local licensing requirements,” the rule says.
Are there changes related to health support?
Head Start typically offers a variety of mental health and health screenings as part of its program requirements. For example, within 30 days of enrollment, programs have to check that a family has insurance or ongoing medical care; within 45 days it needs to check for or conduct vision and hearing screenings; within 90 days, it needs to check on whether children have immunizations up to date, have had their well-child pediatrician checkup and had dental visits. Programs also require that children brush their teeth at school. All of those specific requirements are gone under the proposed rule.
Many mental health supports, such as a monthly mental health consultation, would go away.
So while the requirement from the Head Start Act — that programs support families with a comprehensive array of health services — remains, the set rules on how to achieve that, like the timeline requirements, disappear. Advocates say this could lead to inconsistent care and less accountability.
How does this impact children with disabilities?
Similarly, the proposed rules require that Head Start programs comply with all applicable federal and state regulations in providing services to children with disabilities, but eliminates much of the structure for how to provide those services.
What about impacts on unhoused children?
The proposed rule removes a provision that allows families experiencing homelessness to simply confirm their situation and thus qualify for Head Start. Families that are unhoused may also be in situations where they are living with someone else or in a temporary structure — situations they could rarely prove through documentation.
Under the new rules, families and children would have to provide some documentation.
Would newborn and pregnancy services be impacted?
Yes. Early Head Start, which services low-income pregnant people and children under the age of 3, would lose a lot of tailored requirements. Newborn home visits would still be required, for example, but the requirement that they happen within two weeks of birth was dropped.
Also gone is a requirement around addressing racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes. Currently, programs must track demographic data on pregnant people, identify any disparities and provide services to close those gaps. The administration said cutting that requirement is in line with its mission to cut back on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and claims programs said it was beyond the scope of what they could reasonably be expected to do.
Would parent involvement change?
Possibly.
The way Head Start works now, parents are actively engaged with much of the decision making at individual centers. Each center is required to have a parent committee that has power in advising the school on activities, policies and services, and the regulations determine how those must function.
Under the proposed rule, those committees would be optional, and the rules that govern how they operate would also be eliminated, which the administration said were designed to give programs more flexibility.
Are there any new rules being suggested?
Yes, and they largely have to do with nutrition and physical activity.
Programs will be required to offer 30 minutes of physical activity, ideally outside, for every three and a half hours of classroom instruction. That would expand the existing general requirement that programs “recognize physical activity as important to learning and integrate intentional movement and physical activity into curricular activities and daily routines.”
The current Head Start regulations require that programs generally fulfill a third to a half of children’s daily nutritional needs with meals at Head Start. Three- to 5-year-olds must get healthy meals and snacks that conform to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines, and meals should be culturally appropriate as well as developmentally appropriate — infants and toddlers are fed according to their individual needs and readiness.
Under the new proposal, they will also be required to offer nutrient-dense whole foods within the framework of the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program meal standard, ensuring that “all the meals are aligned with the dietary guidelines,” Kennedy said.
What is the new addition around “healthy marriage”?
One of the less-talked-about additions the administration is proposing is providing educational material to children that “demonstrates healthy marriage as a positive good,” in concert with new strategies to engage parents in their kids’ learning, and particularly fathers, the rule says.
“This proposed change to current requirements reflects ACF’s commitment to supporting strong families as the cornerstone of a healthy society,” the administration said.
If the rule is finalized, do programs have to adhere to it?
It’s unclear.
Adams emphasized that programs can continue to operate as they currently are if they wish to. In the areas where the administration is adding new requirements, however, such as nutrition and physical activity, programs would have to make changes.
“If a program likes its ratio, it can keep its ratio. If a program likes its group size, it can keep its group size. This does not require them to do anything different. As I said, flexibility is permission; it’s not a mandate,” Adams said.
“If they truly mean, for example, a program can decide to keep the ratios that exist in the regulations today, the regulation should say that. It should say programs have a choice,” Hamm said. “It doesn’t say that, and so that’s a problem for a lot of reasons.”
Head Start centers receive grants from the federal government to offer services — it’s unclear what assurance there is that the administration will offer grants to programs that choose to adhere to prior rules.
There’s already some evidence HHS could target programs it deems to be in misalignment with the Trump administration. Earlier this year, the agency tried to withhold funding to Head Start programs that used words like “women” and “race” in their grant applications, what it perceived to be diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have been a target of the administration.
Head Start programs in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin sued and a judge granted them a preliminary injunction, blocking the Trump administration from cutting funding while the case is litigated.
“When grants get negotiated or when there are grant competitions, and HHS is selecting a grantee, they have a lot of power in that,” Hamm said. “Oftentimes, a Head Start grant feels like they need to comply with what’s being asked of them.”
Why is the administration pursuing these changes?
Since the start of the Trump administration, Head Start has faced upheaval.
Project 2025, the policy blueprint for President Donald Trump’s second term, advised eliminating the program, claiming it lacked positive outcomes and was rife with abuse. A leaked White House budget in early 2025 showed the administration was hoping to eliminate it altogether before massive backlash from Head Start parents and alumni persuaded the administration to change course.
But programs continued to face financial challenges. Funding was cut off at the start of 2025 as part of a government-wide freeze, leading some to close their doors. Then in April of last year, the administration closed five of the 10 regional offices that support Head Start programs.
Last summer, the administration released a proposed rule that would bar undocumented children from Head Start entirely. The proposal is on pause due to ongoing litigation.
Adams said the goal of the proposed rule is to provide flexibility in the program, not dismantle it.
“In broad strokes, what we are trying to accomplish is we built this rule around trusting local leaders to make the decisions that are best for their local communities,” he said.
If the changes were enacted across programs, the administration estimates a savings of $2.2 billion that would be reinvested in the program to open as many as 236,000 new Head Start spots. There is no national repository of waitlist data on Head Start, though programs are required to be filled and maintain an active waiting list.
“We’re trying to ensure that programs have the flexibility not just to meet their community needs, but to start clearing out some of their waitlists, ensuring more children are served,” Adams said.
How could these changes impact childcare staff?
The administration is proposing a reduction in how much money programs can spend on administrative overhead, lowering it from 15 percent to 5 percent.
The justification, Adams said, is “so that more money is reaching children and families, and less is going to administrative overhead, like administrator salaries or administrative offices.”
But childcare providers have argued that the reduction will actually mean less money to operate Head Start — money that goes to things like buses and human resources, or to conduct background checks and fix the refrigerator when it breaks.
“Don’t believe that somehow that 15 percent makes our Head Start directors rich. It does not. Everyone I know in Head Start, including myself, has never become rich from being a Head Start employee,” said Lori Pittman, the co-founder of the Washington State Parent Ambassador Program and a former Head Start parent.
By the administration’s own analysis, the changes could lead to a reduction in teaching staff at centers across the country. Other workforces that would be hit: home visit staff, health and mental health personnel, child development specialists and bus monitoring staff.
Is there any new money for Head Start under the proposal?
No. Funding for Head Start has remained flat for the past three years — about $12 billion — even though operating costs and inflation have risen.
How can I comment on the regulations?
Comments in the federal registrar can be submitted here. The open comment period will close October 6.
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Alan Jackson and Randy Travis were very different people, but did that prevent them from enjoying each other’s company? Continue reading…Country Music News – Taste of Country
