Every great potato salad needs plenty of salt to draw out the tubers’ best flavor, and this classic dip is one of the easiest, most tasty ways to get it.
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Tater tots offer a unique take on the classic fry shape. These fast food chains are dishing out some of the country’s best tots, according to customers.
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McDonald’s iconic Golden Arches are everywhere, but with tens of thousands of locations worldwide, a few stand out – like the floating restaurant built in 1986.
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While we’re all making our final preseason predictions before the start of the 2026 NFL regular season, there’s something else I want to do before the year gets going: plant the flag. Before the games get going, I’m planting the flag on some players (and an assistant coach) to exceed expectations and dominate headlines this season. That includes a pair of veterans looking to bounce back after relatively down seasons, and a pair of second-year pros who are ready to make the leap in 2026. I’m also buying stock in a first-year defensive coordinator with a bright future in coaching and could be a name to know in the next head coaching cycle. So, let’s plant the flag. A reminder: A.J. Brown is just 28. You wouldn’t know it based on the offseason conversation surrounding Drake Maye’s new weapon. You’d think he was a 30-something receiver coming off an unproductive season and not one who’s still in the prime of his career and coming off yet another 1,000-yard campaign, despite playing in the league’s most dysfunctional passing game. The “washed up” talk is a bit premature, and I firmly believe that Brown is about to remind the NFL that he’s still one of the league’s scariest receivers. Even during a frustrating season, Brown showed why defenses fear him. He destroys press-man coverage and will dunk on a cornerback in one-on-one situations downfield. Only Tee Higgins and George Pickens tallied more receiving yards against press coverage in 2025, according to Next Gen Stats. And while Brown has lost some speed — he hasn’t hit 20 mph on a play in nearly two seasons — he can still create quick separation on short routes with physicality and sharp route running. Brown has mastered the art of pushing off right at the edge of the five-yard mark, when hand fighting is still legal. Opposing defenses were still treating Brown like a star last season. He’d routinely get extra attention in obvious passing situations, whether it was a safety over the top to prevent vertical shots or bracket coverage on short in-breaking routes. Brown remains a monster at the catch point, but in 2025, the quality and quantity of his tight-window targets dipped. Jalen Hurts targeted him on just 41 tight-window throws, the lowest mark of Brown’s four-year stint in Philadelphia, and his expected catch rate was just 53.5%, per Next Gen Stats. He still managed to haul in over 60% of those passes, showing his contested catch prowess. And that’s why I’m so bullish on Brown in 2026. Maye was the league’s best quarterback on tight-window throws, leading the NFL in both expected points added (EPA) and completion percentage over expected (CPOE) by a wide margin. He accomplished that with Stefon Diggs, who’s certainly past his prime, as his go-to target in those situations. Now that he has the league’s preeminent 50/50 ball winner out there with him, Maye will feel even more free to let it rip on those tight window throws. This is really a vote of confidence for Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, whose reputation as a quarterback whisperer took a hit after J.J. McCarthy’s short-lived stint as Minnesota’s quarterback of the future. McCarthy’s play was so poor it obscured the improvement elsewhere along the offense. The Vikings’ offense went from bad in 2024 to above average last season; the offensive line allowed fewer pressures and O’Connell’s play designs kept getting receivers open. McCarthy just couldn’t make the plays that were there to be made. He finished dead last in accurate throw rate, per Pro Football Focus. McCarthy also finished last in completion percentage over expected on attempts, with a completion probability over 75%, per Next Gen Stats. He couldn’t even hit the layups O’Connell set up for him. In 2024, Murray finished sixth in that same stat. The ability to hit the gimme throws will be a big boon to the Vikings’ passing game. And Murray’s play under pressure should also raise the bar quite a bit. McCarthy struggled to extend plays in the face of pressure and had one of the higher pressure-to-sack rates in the league. Murray will take his fair share of sacks, but he looks like Tom Brady in the pocket compared to his younger backup. Murray’s presence in the backfield should also boost Minnesota’s run game. Defenses have to account for him pulling the ball on option runs, which was less of a concern with McCarthy under center. But let’s be honest: Murray’s performance this season won’t be measured by comparisons to McCarthy’s 2025 campaign. Sam Darnold’s run in 2024 will be the point of comparison. We haven’t seen much of Murray over the past year, so it’s difficult to say if he’s still a better quarterback than Darnold in a vacuum, but we can say this: Murray is stepping into a more balanced offense, and all the key contributors who helped Darnold get his career back on track are still around. Murray putting up a top-10 season would not surprise me. With George Kittle nearing the end of his prime and Travis Kelce nearly at the end of his career, the “best tight end in the league” title belt is up for grabs, and Chicago’s Colston Loveland is my pick to snatch it this season. I don’t even know where to start. Loveland is everything you want in a tight end. He’s a massive human being who can box out smaller defensive backs in the red zone. He’s got enough wiggle to skate past linebackers who dare to cover him. And while he isn’t a burner, he gets down the seam in a hurry and can go outside of his frame to haul in passes. Loveland can line up out wide, in the slot, or attached to the offensive line like a traditional tight end. And he’s already a solid in-line blocker in the run game and can hold his own against defensive ends in pass protection. He got off to a quiet start in his rookie season, but he became a key figure in the Bears’ passing attack down the stretch, getting double-digit targets in each of Chicago’s last four games. Expect that to carry over into the 2026 season. While Loveland will draw more attention from defenses, Bears coach Ben Johnson makes it hard to hone in on his second-year star by moving him all over the formation, letting him pick out matchups he wants to exploit. Loveland’s versatility makes it all possible. Arizona’s Trey McBride is another candidate to take the TE1 mantle, if he hasn’t already taken it. But McBride’s in a far worse situation, with questions at quarterback and an inexperienced head coach. The same goes for Brock Bowers in Las Vegas. The race for the first-team All-Pro spot at tight end will likely come down to Loveland and those two, and I’ve got the Bears tight end narrowly beating them out. I cannot wait to watch this Chargers’ offense now that Mike McDaniel is coordinating it. While the prospect of Justin Herbert slinging the ball downfield is the main attraction, second-year running back Omarion Hampton, the team’s 2025 first-round pick, will be the player who benefits most from McDaniel’s arrival. Miami’s passing game may have crumbled in McDaniel’s final season, but his run game was as explosive as ever. Without the threat of Tyreek Hill blowing the top off the secondary, defenses could pack the box with run defenders with more confidence, forcing McDaniel to devise more creative ways to get Devon Achane out to the edge of the defense. He came up with some wild ideas, using wonky motions and backfield formations to set up advantageous blocking angles and give Achane a straight-line path to the second level as he built up speed. Watch how fullback Alex Ingold, who followed McDaniel to the Chargers, toys with the Bills linebacker and eventually creates a rushing lane for Achane. Achane hit 15 mph on 70 run attempts in 2025, which easily led the NFL, per Next Gen Stats. His average speed when he crossed the line of scrimmage ranked second behind Seattle’s Kenneth Walker. At times, it looked as if McDaniel was firing Achane out of a cannon, right into an open rush lane. If McDaniel can do the same for Hampton, he should be in for a monster season. Hampton doesn’t have Achane’s speed, but he ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash and can be a nightmare to bring down in the open field due to his size. We didn’t see his top-end speed often in 2025, though. Hampton was hit behind the line of scrimmage on 53% of his attempts, trailing only Pittsburgh’s Jaylen Warren, per Next Gen Stats. Despite L.A.’s run-blocking issues, Hampton maintained a 4.4-yard rushing average and a solid 41.9% success rate. Expect a big increase in both stats now that McDaniel is dialing up plays for him. Listen to a Christian Parker press conference, and you’ll understand why folks in Dallas are excited about the new Cowboys defensive coordinator. The 34-year-old is a sharp football mind who can explain high-level concepts clearly and concisely. Parker also has an impressive coaching lineage, having worked under Vic Fangio and Vance Joseph, two of the sport’s best defensive coordinators. But Parker has never called plays, and we’ve seen plenty of coaches who can win a press conference but can’t coordinate a defense on game day. He still has plenty to prove. Given the state of the Cowboys defense, which is solid along the front seven despite lacking talent in the secondary, expectations for what constitutes a successful season for Parker have to be adjusted. Unless the first-year coordinator is a miracle worker, this won’t be a top-10 unit. Even an above-average finish would be considered a significant accomplishment. Parker’s primary task will be cutting down Dallas’s explosive play rate. No defense allowed more explosive plays last season, and the Cowboys were susceptible to big plays against both the run and the pass. Parker has harped on improving the team’s communication, which played a major role in the defensive breakdowns, especially in the secondary. Opponents racked up 483 yards on passes to deep targets to “open” receivers, per Next Gen Stats. No team was within 100 yards of them in that stat. Coverage busts like this were an all too familiar sight in Dallas last season. Parker’s former team, Philadelphia, ranked fourth-best in that same metric. If Parker can just solve that issue for Dallas, the defense should make the leap from “awful” to “mediocre.” That may not feel like much of an upgrade, but with one of the league’s best offenses on the other side of the ball, it would be enough to get the Cowboys back into the playoffs and push Parker up the list of head coaching candidates ahead of next year’s hiring cycle.Latest Sports News from FOX Sports
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Last week, the Lindsay Clancy trial ended in a mistrial after one holdout juror refused to acquit.
Prosecutors appear to still be weighing their options about what comes next.
Meanwhile, Clancy’s attorney would love to end this for his client, for potential jurors, and for the nation.
He’s even asking Donald Trump to pardon Clancy. Is that how this works?
Will Donald Trump pardon Lindsay Clancy?
On the Tuesday, September 8 episode of ABC’s Good Morning America, Lindsay Clancy’s attorney made a surprising plea.
Kevin Reddington sat down for an interview with George Stephanopoulos in the wake of his client’s mistrial last week.
“Mr. President,” he said during the talk, “I would hope that you would consider this young lady and the person she is, what she’s been through.”
Reddington continued: “And consider a pardon.”
A pardon is a use of executive clemency that, in this case, allows a sitting President to wipe away a federal conviction — even preemptively.
We’ll get into why this is such a surprising request in a moment.
As a reminder, prosecutors have charged Clancy with three counts of murder.
She allegedly strangled her 3 young children before attempting to die by suicide by jumping out a window, only to end up paralyzed.
This is an obvious case of post-partum psychosis, a are but dangerous after-effect of childbirth. The prosecution has (absurdly) claimed that Clancy was in full control of her actions before and during the murder.
The Clancy trial has ignited a bizarre culture war, with certain conservative factions of the internet attempting to spin this family tragedy into some vague and difficult-to-define conspiracy in which women and doctors have conjured up a fake mental illness as a get-out-of-motherhood-free-card.
Why is a pardon such a strange ask in this case?
Attorneys who have any amount of national attention might often ask for a pardon.
After all, there’s no anti-pardon. Officially, presidents and governors do not have the power to go “actually, I order a conviction.”
While it’s clear that Kevin Reddington is reasoning that you miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take, it’s unclear how this would benefit Lindsay Clancy.
Clancy is facing state charges. A Trump pardon, if she received one, would only impact charges at the federal level … of which there are none.
If Reddington is playing whatever-dimensional chess with some broad PR or legal strategy, we’re unsure what it is.
Trump has made broad, unorthodox, and brazenly corrupt use of executive clemency over the past couple of years.
From pardoning reality TV criminals to January 6th insurrectionists who attacked America to random other awful people, a clear pattern has emerged.
Trump is offering pardons to his allies, but also to people who have made massive donations to him.
Clancy is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair. The next time that Trump calls for insurgents to murder members of congress, it’s unclear of what help she could be. Similarly, it’s unclear if she could meet his price — if, again, he had any clemency powers that could benefit her directly.
Prosecutors should really not have brought this case to trial, and instead offered a deal that acknowledges Clancy’s mental state at the time. If prosecutors insist upon bringing this case to trial again, perhaps Clancy’s attorney will as for a pardon at the state level, instead.
Lindsay Clancy Attorney Asks Donald Trump to Pardon His Client, Puzzling Americans … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
Mitchell Tenpenny and his wife Meghan Patrick are officially parents! The couple took to social media on Tuesday, September 8 to announce that their first child, a baby girl, made her “grand entrance into our world” on September 1st at 3:03 am.
Their beautiful daughter is named Ember James Tenpenny and weighed in at 5lbs and 12oz upon her arrival. Mitchell and Meghan expressed their overwhelming gratitude and excitement as they begin this next chapter of their lives together.
The caption read, “We are just in awe and so grateful that God chose us to be her parents. The last few days have been the most beautifully exhausting days and we are just trying to soak up every second with our sweet Emmy girl 💗”
The news of their pregnancy broke on March 31 with a joint Instagram post.
“We’ve been blessed with the greatest gift of all this year! God is so good and always right on time… we can’t wait to be Mom and Dad,” they wrote at the time.
In the following months, Meghan let fans know that she had made the difficult decision to cancel the remaining dates of her Golden Child Tour. She explained that she had initially planned to finish out the trek after learning she was pregnant, but ultimately decided it was best to wrap up her previously scheduled shows through May and spend the remaining months before her daughter’s arrival focusing on herself and her growing family.
“I’ll be stepping away from touring for the rest of the year to focus on my family, my health, and this baby girl we prayed so hard for. I’ll still be making music, and honestly, I feel like I’m writing some of the best songs of my life right now. So I will not be disappearing or “quitting”, just doing things a little differently in the best way for not only the quality of my music, but also for my family,” she explained at the time.
The “She’s No Good For Me” singer later noted that she felt “very at peace” with the choice she made.
As her due date approached closer and closer, Meghan tapped into the emotions that came with this new chapter of life. She recently released a sweet song called “Your Daddy’s Smile.”
Throughout the tender track, the songstress imagines what life will look like once she finally gets to meet her baby girl. She finds herself hoping her daughter grows up confident and follows her own dreams. At the heart of the song, Meghan acknowledges that her daughter will likely inherit her “wild” side, while also hoping she gets her father’s smile, the same smile that first captured her own heart.
Mitchell Tenpenny still has a slew of shows scheduled throughout the remainder of the year. It’s unclear when Meghan Patrick will return to the road. For now, they are both soaking up some time at home as they navigate this exciting new journey together.
The post Mitchell Tenpenny and Wife Meghan Patrick Welcome Baby Girl Ember James Tenpenny appeared first on Country Now.
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Planters nuts are still everywhere, but one discontinued ’90s classic remains a holy grail for serious snack heads who can’t get their hands on it anymore.
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By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
A decision that reversed Alaska Republican governor candidate Treg Taylor’s disqualification was motivated in part by a review that found 91 possible disclosure problems among 121 state-office candidates, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom said Monday.
“My decision, I believe, was necessary for the integrity and the orderly administration of the election, and I believe this decision serves the public,” she told reporters during a news conference in Anchorage.
“There’s going to be a lot of people that think there were nefarious things going on. We don’t think so,” said Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any of the disclosure problems put candidates at risk of violating state law or if the state would require candidates to fix those problems.
Dahlstrom disqualified Treg Taylor and an Anchorage state House candidate on Aug. 31, following the recommendations of the Alaska Public Offices Commission, which cited flaws in their Public Official Financial Disclosure forms.
APOC is a regulatory agency of the Alaska Department of Administration that oversees campaigns and public officials’ financial disclosures, as well as lobbying activities.
Elected officials, members of state boards and commissions, and the governor’s cabinet, are required to use the POFD to disclose all business dealings worth more than $1,000 in order to discourage corruption.
Taylor, Dunleavy’s former attorney general, and Republican state House candidate Jose Tagle failed to file complete forms within 30 days after they registered as candidates, causing APOC to recommend that they be disqualified from advancing past the August primary.
Dahlstrom followed that recommendation but then reversed herself four days later, restoring Taylor and Tagle to the ballot on Sept. 4.
Rachel Witty, the top civil attorney for the Alaska Department of Law, said during Monday’s news conference that the department had conducted a “limited and expedited” review of other candidates’ POFDs after Taylor’s disqualification in order to judge whether Dahlstrom’s action was legally defensible.
“This was done over the course of a day and a half. So I can’t emphasize enough that this is a preliminary review. We didn’t have time to contact candidates,” she said.
The resulting review found dozens of potential problems, including some with every other finalist candidate for governor — Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Republican Bernadette Wilson and Republican Dave Bronson.
Wilson and Kreiss-Tomkins’ lieutenant governor candidate, Zac Johnson, were the subject of APOC complaints on Friday about their disclosures, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
APOC had not published the complaints as of Monday evening.
Dahlstrom said she was not aware of those complaints before making the decision to restore Taylor’s candidacy.
Candidates appeared to be surprised by Monday’s disclosure. None of the four candidates for governor responded to questions on Monday afternoon and evening about the issues raised by the Department of Law.
“And just because there are potential discrepancies, that doesn’t mean that those candidates violated the law,” said Stephen Cox, attorney to Gov. Dunleavy.
Cox was appointed as attorney general following Taylor’s departure, but was rejected by the Alaska State Legislature in May.
Cox said he worked with Witty and the Department of Law on the review; the extent of his involvement wasn’t immediately clear.
The Department of Law’s investigation is unusual, if not unprecedented. APOC typically operates on a complaint-based system, with most actions taken when a member of the public alerts the commission to a potential problem.
The agency is chronically underfunded and understaffed. Ten years ago, it had 13 staff; today it has nine, and APOC has struggled at times to fill those positions.
Until last year, Taylor served as attorney general, head of the Department of Law. He’s now running as a Republican for governor, and the decision to both disqualify him and restore him came from a Republican elected official.
Witty said that “unequivocally,” the review “was completely an initiative of the Department of Law as we assess litigation risk.”
When asked whether candidates will be fined or required to correct the potential discrepancies before the general election, Witty said that’s within the jurisdiction of APOC to investigate.
“We don’t know what APOC is going to do,” she said. “If they find there’s reason to believe there is a violation, they can refer that to the APOC commission to take action on, and at that point, we’re talking about different fines and in the form of penalties.”
Moving forward, Dunleavy said, he intends to recommend that the next governor and next Legislature review APOC laws and regulations with a group of former elected officials.
“That’s something that I’ve been thinking about quite honestly for some time, and this just kind of hits home that it’s long overdue,” he said.
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Sydney Sweeney is one of the most popular actresses on the planet.
But it seems that her attempt to parlay that fame into a second career as a fashion mogul has not gone according to plan.
Clearly inspired by Skims, the brand that helped make Kim Kardashian a billionaire, Sydney’s SYRN lingerie line launched in January with the founder and CEO also serving as the company’s top model.
But eight months after its debut, SYRN is reportedly enduring a major sales slump.
“It’s been a disaster,” an insider tells Radar Online.
“They thought it would be a sellout based on Sydney’s brand, but clearly her saleability is waning rapidly.”
The problem, according to some industry analysts, is that Sydney basically took the opposite of Kim’s approach.
While Skims prides itself on offering items for all shapes and, SYRN’s ad campaigns often feel as though they’re centered on the sexiness of the brand’s founder.
“SYRN’s branding feels exclusionary,” states a review on The Robin Report.
“It does not invite women in; it asks them to emulate and fawn over the founder. And the inconsistency between the brand’s intention and execution is a threat to its long-term viability.”
The review goes on to allege that the brand’s Sydney-centric ad campaigns have been off-putting to potential customers.
“The brand ultimately remains centered on one figure: Sydney Sweeney. It’s as if the underwear is not actually the product; Sweeney’s body is,” it reads.
Sydney has noted on several occasions that SYRN offers a wide array of sizes.
But while Skims and Rihanna’s Fenty brand make a point of showcasing models with different body types, SYRN ads do tend to keep the focus on Sydney herself.
It makes sense that the company’s marketing team would choose to go in that direction.
After all, Sydney has a massive following online, and she knows what her audience likes.
But while Sydney certainly has no problem attracting the internet’s attention, there’s a big difference between appealing to horny dudes online and selling lingerie to a mostly female customer base.
And the gap between those demographics is often reflected in the comments on Sydney’s SYRN posts:
“This is so sexy, yet it doesn’t appeal to me because this is shot from a male gaze. I think lingerie should be shot from a female gaze because at the end of the day, the girl needs to feel sexy,” wrote one commenter.
“This brand could blow up the way it really should if there is some inclusivity featured in the media… I mean look at skims
“This is sooooooo male gaze. the garments are beautiful, and the photoshoot is too, but the poses could be SO much more tasteful if your target consumers are women,” a third chimed in.
Again, it makes perfect sense why the SYRN marketing gurus leaned into Sydney’s sex appeal to launch the brand. But it seems like the time has come to begin considering alternative strategies.
Sydney Sweeney’s Lingerie Line ‘Has Been a Disaster,’ Insider Claims was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
The Hollywood Gossip
George Strait is getting another major honor for his lasting impact on country music. Today, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (NaSHOF) announces that the legend will be honored with the prestigious Career Maker Award during the organization’s annual gala on Monday, October 26, at the Music City Center.
The award honors artists and other influential figures outside of the Hall of Fame who have played a key role in helping songwriters achieve career milestones and ultimately earn their place as a member of the coveted organization. Throughout his 40-plus-years in the business, Strait has been known for his ability to recognize and champion great songwriting.
During his career, the Texas native has recorded an impressive 264 songs that have all been written or co-written by NaSHOF members. Of those 72 songwriters, 44 had not yet been inducted when Strait first recorded one of their songs.
“Throughout his phenomenal career as an artist, George Strait has played an integral role in helping more than 40 songwriters achieve induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame,” said Rich Hallworth, chair of the organization’s board of directors, “which is why we want to express our gratitude to him on Nashville Songwriting’s Most Legendary Night.”
“Having George Strait record a song of mine, especially so early in my career, felt like nothing less than a stamp of approval from Country music itself,” adds Hall of Fame songwriter Gretchen Peters, board vice chair and co-writer of Strait’s “The Chill Of An Early Fall.” “It said, ‘You belong here; you’ve earned your bona fides.’ George is so deeply rooted in the traditions of Country music, so beloved and respected and unassailable in his song choices. Every song he touches becomes, de facto, a George Strait song. To a young songwriter, that meant the world.”
Strait is only the second person to receive the Career Maker Award, following Reba McEntire, who was honored in 2018. The “Amarillo By Morning” singer admitted he is “honored” to accept this year’s award while surrounded by some of the talented songwriters he has had the privilege of working with throughout his legendary career.
“I look forward to being there with some of the most talented Hall of Fame songwriters I’ve been so lucky to be associated with throughout my career. You folks definitely make the world a better place through your amazing abilities as songwriters and artists. See you there,” said Strait.
The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala is considered one of the biggest nights of the year for the music industry. The annual event also serves as a fundraiser for the nonprofit Nashville Songwriters Foundation and brings together some of the biggest names in music to celebrate the inductees with heartfelt tributes and special performances from surprise guests.
Over the years, the star-studded event has welcomed artists including Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Eric Church, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Trisha Yearwood, Brooks & Dunnand many more.
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