Investigators reviewing retail sales records for clues in Nancy Guthrie case
Investigators chase critical leads as Nancy Guthrie search enters third week
Tom Homan says "I don't like the masks" on ICE agents, but they "have to protect themselves"
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy -- American Elana Meyers Taylor finally claimed an Olympic gold medal at the age of 41 on Monday when the mother of two snatched the monobob bobsleigh title by four hundredths of a second to put the icing on an incredible career.
Germany's Laura Nolte led going into the fourth and final run but lost ground on the tricky upper section and had to settle for silver ahead of American defending champion Kaillie Humphries.
Meyers Taylor had won three silver and two bronze medals in her previous four Olympic appearances and looked set for another minor medal until the final seconds of a nerve-shredding contest.
Nolte, a gold medalist in the Two-Woman in 2022, opened Monday's proceedings with a 59.15 track record and it seemed the battle for gold was already over.
The vastly experienced Americans, however, were not about to give up that easily. Meyers Taylor steered superbly to immediately set another track record of 59.08 seconds -- which Humphries, a youngster at 40 and also a mother, promptly matched.
That left double world champion Nolte only 0.15 ahead going into the final run.
Humphries, who had previously won two golds for Canada in the Two-Woman before switching allegiance, clocked 59.54, which proved enough for bronze, a long way clear of Germany's Lisa Buckwitz.
Meyers Taylor then put down a smooth, but not extraordinary 59.51, seemingly leaving the door open for Nolte. However, the 27-year-old German clipped the wall early and then suffered another skid to lose ground and could not make it up at the finish as she clocked 59.70 -- good enough only for silver.
Four years ago, in the first appearance at the Olympics of the only bobsleigh event where everyone uses the same, standard sled, Germany failed to make the podium, despite taking seven of the other nine bobsleigh medals available.
Since then Nolte has emerged as the No. 1, twice winning the world championship and topping the World Cup standings this year.
But on Monday the calm experience of Meyers Taylor, who made her Olympic debut 16 years ago, made the difference.
Last week she said that winning a gold medal "would mean everything and would mean nothing... there's so much more to my life."
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It did not look quite like that as she wrapped herself in the American flag beaming like a teenager on Monday.
"I don't think I'm going to process this for a while," she said at a press conference.
"There were so many moments in the last four years I thought it was impossible, but the team around me believed in me.
"I don't think I needed it, I wanted it and that's what allowed me to keep going. Now to have my name up there with Bonnie Blair (former U.S. speed skater whose tally of six Winter Olympic medals she matched) doesn't even make sense to me.
"At my first Games in 2010 Bonnie Blair was one of the athletes who welcomed us into the Olympic family, so to have that as my starting point and to now have my name in the same sentence as her is just crazy."
Humphries was delighted with bronze and also keen to bang the drum for the older athlete.
"You get a lot of people that like to write you off as soon as you reach 40. 'It's all downhill from there' is what you hear," she said. "I think Elana and I are both proof that that's not true.
"For every girl out there that wants that dream of being a high-performance athlete, to stand on an Olympic podium and be a mom at the same time, it can happen."
In contrast, Nolte could not hide her disappointment.
"After four runs, to finish in silver by four hundredths is very sad, because I was leading and was sure I could make it in the last run," she said.
"I made one mistake at the top that was taking all my time away, my speed away, and I already knew it would be hard to remain in the lead."
--Reuters, special to Field Level Media
The Cleveland Browns will reportedly hire Atlanta Falcons defensive pass game coordinator Mike Rutenberg as defensive coordinator, according toESPN's Jeremy Fowler. The Browns hired Rutenberg over Browns linebackers coach Jason Tarver and Houston Texans defensive passing game coordinator Cory Undlin.
Rutenberg will replace Jim Schwartz, the former Browns defensive coordinator whoresignedafter the team selectedTodd Monkeninstead of him for the head coaching position. This will be Rutenberg's first time as a defensive coordinator. Similarly, the Browns' new offensive coordinator, Travis Switzer, is serving in this role for the first time.
Before joining the Falcons, Rutenberg coached under Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh with the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers. The Titans requested to interview him for their defensive coordinator opening before hiring Gus Bradley.
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The 44-year-old also spent time in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Washington Commanders and at the collegiate level with New Mexico State and UCLA.
Rutenberg will take over for a Browns defense that ranked in the top five in yards allowed and sacks last season. The team is also expected to bring back2025 Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, who set theNFL's single-season record with 23 sackslast season. Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger also won Defensive Rookie of the Year.
The Browns are coming off a 5-12 season and missed the playoffs the last two seasons.
By Steve Holland
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE, Feb 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would be involved "indirectly" in high-stakes talks between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran's nuclear program set for Tuesday in Geneva, adding he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal.
"I'll be involved in those talks, indirectly. And they'll be very important," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Tensions are soaring ahead of the talks, with the U.S. deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East. The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, U.S. officials have told Reuters.
Asked about the prospects for a deal, Trump said Iran has long sought a tough posture in negotiations but learned the consequences of that approach last summer when the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump suggested Tehran was motivated this time to negotiate.
"I don't think they want the consequences of not making a deal," Trump said.
WASHINGTON PUSHES TEHRAN TO FORGO ENRICHMENT
Prior to the U.S. strikes in June, U.S.-Iran nuclear talks had stalled over Washington's demand that Tehran forgo enrichment on its soil, which the U.S. views as a pathway to an Iranian nuclear weapon.
"We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s," Trump said, referring to the bat-winged U.S. stealth bombers that carried out the bombings.
"I hope they're going to be more reasonable."
The remarks contrast with those by the U.S. president on Friday, when he embraced potential regime change in Iran and lamented decades of failed talks.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met with the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief on Monday, saying in a post on X he was in Geneva to "achieve a fair and equitable deal."
"What is not on the table: submission before threats," Araqchi said.
QUESTIONS ABOUT URANIUM STOCKPILE
The International Atomic Energy Agency has been calling on Iran for months to say what happened to its stockpile of 440 kg (970 pounds) of highly enriched uranium following Israeli-U.S. strikes and let inspections fully resume, including in three key sites that were bombed in June last year: Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation against any attack, which would choke a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher.
Iran held a military drill on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international waterway and oil export route from Gulf Arab states, which have been appealing for diplomacy to end the dispute.
Despite Trump's comments about Iran seeking a deal, the talks face major potential stumbling blocks. Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran's missile stockpile. Tehran says it is only willing to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief and won't accept zero uranium enrichment. It says its missile capabilities are off the table.
Speaking during a visit to Hungary on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said reaching a deal with Tehran would be hard.
"I think that there's an opportunity here to diplomatically reach an agreement ... but I don't want to overstate it either," Rubio said.
"It's going to be hard. It's been very difficult for anyone to do real deals with Iran, because we're dealing with radical Shia clerics who are making theological decisions, not geopolitical ones."
(Reporting by Steve Holland aboard Air Force One, Phil Stewart in Washington and Hannah Lang in New York; editing by Scott Malone and Diane Craft)
A federal judge on Friday ordered the release of a Filipino man from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, noting a "pattern of failures" in his medical care that "more likely than not resulted in the extreme pain and permanent disability."
Judge Tana Lin of the Western District of Washington wrote that the man, Greggy Sorio, saw his health decline while in the facility, eventually suffering two partial foot amputation surgeries, ulcerative colitis, blood loss, a kidney injury, a deficiency in vitamin D and "dramatic unintended weight loss."
Lin wrote the "unreasonable treatment" of Sorio violated the Constitution and that Sorio be released.
Sorio entered the U.S. as a "lawful permanent resident" in 2007, according to the judge's order, and was detained by ICE in March after he was released from prison. He was being held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.
In July, Sorio complained of blood in his stool, severe abdominal pain and yellowing of his skin and was denied requests to be sent to the hospital.
By October, Sorio said he was "in extreme pain and could barely walk" and was sent to the hospital after several hours of waiting, the judge's order recounted. Although Sorio was prescribed an antibiotic at the hospital, the ICE facility staff did not fill the prescription and seemed to believe he had been diagnosed with "inflammatory bowel syndromes," an apparent reference to irritable bowel syndrome, the order noted.
A few days later, Sorio reported pain and swelling in his foot and said he was initially denied a hospital visit. When he went to the hospital on Oct. 22, he was determined to have a bone infection and went through two amputation surgeries.
Soriotold NBC's Seattle affiliateafter he was released on Friday, "If they had sent me to the hospital in July when I was begging them, I wouldn't lose my foot. It's preventable. They could have prevented this."
Sorio's criminal record, according to the affiliate station, includes "convictions for domestic violence, assault, theft, forgery and burglary."
Sorio told the outlet, "I did my time on it and I'm a better person now. Everybody has a past."
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One of the largest school districts in the nation is eyeing job cuts as it navigates falling enrollment, rising operational costs, expired COVID-19-era assistance and other challenges.
The Board of Education for the Los Angeles Unified School District could authorize district officials to issue potential layoff notices and move to eliminate certain positions as part of wider efforts to shore up savings in the coming fiscal years amid "dangerously high deficit levels" that total over $1 billion.
The board is expected to discuss the extreme measures Tuesday, Feb. 17.
LAUSD employs more than 83,000 people, including teachers, administrators, certificated support personnel and substitutes, according to June 2025 data. The prospect of layoffs isn't the only moving part in the overall picture: Labor unions have been in negotiations with the district related to wage increases to class sizes, and members of the United Teachers Los Angeles authorized the union to strike in late January.
The board had previously rescheduled Tuesday's meeting, a move that came off the heels of several unions, including UTLA, calling for the board not to vote on such a key matter in a meeting bloated by other agenda items. The unions instead suggested the board hold a meeting in early March so that officials would have a "more complete picture of Prop 98 funding" and so that people could have more time to understand the proposed cuts — cuts that labor unions said they hadn't been consulted about. Prop 98 guarantees a minimum level of funding for K-12 in the state.
Here's what to know about the job cuts for a district that serves hundreds of thousands of students in Southern California.
A board of education report reveals that "approximately 2,600 contract management employees and certificated administrators" could get a notice in mid-March. California requires that school districts alert such workers by March 15 that they may be laid off in the following school year, according to theCalifornia School Boards Association.
Also, 657 "central office and centrally-funded" positions have been identified for elimination, according to the report. That includes positions like 25 assistant area bus supervisors, 23 gardeners, over 200 IT-related positions, nearly 100 office technicians and more. In addition, several dozen positions are poised to see reduced hours.
However, just because an employee receives a notice doesn't mean they'll be laid off, and the report said these numbers aren't "representative of the final number of employees who will be laid off" in part due to changes in finances and staffing, including because of retirements, resignations and more.
The district must issue notices to a greater number of employees than the 657 positions identified to comply with education code requirements, the report said.
"In total this represents less than 1% of the total Los Angeles Unified workforce," according to the report.
LAUSD is up against a projected deficit of $877 million for fiscal year 2026-27 and $443 million for 2027-28, according to a December 2025 report. The board of education report said that, for a public education institution, it faces "dangerously high deficit levels" which suggest a "significant structural imbalance" as opposed to a "temporary dip."
A fiscal stabilization plan for LAUSD revealed in 2025 had included "central operations, non-school-based reductions" as part of multiple efforts intended to address its sizable deficit. Among the district's challenges: How it has previously offset deficit spending and revenue challenges in part due to declining enrollment and the loss of COVID-19 area funding, according to the report. Also in play is Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed budget, which won't be finalized until later this year, that shapes school districts' funding and in which several billions in funds could be unlocked, according to officials at a January board meeting.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at the January meeting that a reduction in force is often about cutting positions, "not necessarily people." But he acknowledged that it wasn't certain that could be avoided entirely in this instance.
The district spends 90% of its revenue on staff, according to officials in January.
Saman Bravo-Karimi, chief financial officer, said in January that delaying the reduction in force in the present means it'll only increase the number of reductions later.
"The reduction in force — given the size of our financial outlook, given what most districts are facing in the state and given the vast majority of our resources are, as they should be, spend on staff — it will need to be done at some point," Bravo-Karimi said.
Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her atpbarraza@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Is LAUSD laying off staff? Breaking down proposed cuts
Aerin Frankel stopped 21 shots for her third shutout of the Olympic women's hockey tournament and the favored United States advanced to the gold-medal game by defeating Sweden 5-0 at theMilan Cortina Gameson Monday.
Abbey Murphy,Kendall Coyne Schofieldand Hayley Scamurra scored on consecutive shots over a 2:47 late in the second period to blow the game open and put the Americans up 5-0. Cayla Barnes opened the scoring and Taylor Heise also scored.
The Americans continued their roll through the tournament by improving to 6-0, and outscoring their opponents by a combined 31-1. The U.S. has yet to trail or be tied after 0-0, and is in a position to become the third women's team to do so over the entire tournament, joining Canada in 2006 and 2010.
The U.S. also extended its shutout streak to 331 minutes, 23 seconds, going back to Czechia's Barbora Jurickova beating Frankel on a breakaway in the second period of a tournament-opening 5-1 win.
Monday's match showed the U.S. dominance but also the team's physicality, with several scuffles breaking out on the ice.
The win over Sweden sets up what could well be a seventh gold-medal showdown against Canada on Thursday. The defending Olympic champion Canadians play Switzerland in the day's other semifinal game.
The U.S. already beatCanada 5-0 in a preliminary round gamelast week. The Americans won Olympic gold in 1998 and 2018, with Canada winning the other five tournaments.
Every Olympic gold medal match in women's hockey, except one, has been U.S. versus Canada.
This is Coyne Schofield's fourth trip to the Olympics. She previously took home a gold and two silvers. This is Captain Hilary Knight's fifth trip to the Olympics. She's medaled four times, taking home a gold and three silvers.
Knight, during a preliminary round game against Canada on Feb. 10, tied the all-time U.S. women's hockey record for most Olympic points. The 5-0 game was the largest margin of victory ever in the U.S.-Canada Olympic hockey rivalry, according to Team USA.
Sweden will play for bronze on Thursday in an effort to medal for the third time in team history, and first since winning silver at the 2006 Turin Games after upsetting the U.S. in the semifinals.
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Ebba Svensson Traff stopped 19 of 23 shots before she was pulled after Coyne Schofield tipped in Laila Edwards' shot from the blue line with 3:50 left in the second period.
Emma Soderberg took over in goal and was beaten by Scamurra, who tapped in Britta Curl-Salemme's centering pass 1:49 later. Soderberg finished with 10 saves.
Among those in attendance was former NFL center Jason Kelce, who was shown on the scoreboard applauding the goal initially credited to Edwards. Kelce is from Edwards' hometown of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and he and his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce,contributed to a GoFundMe driveto help pay for Edwards' family to attend the Milan Cortina Games.
Sweden enjoyed a break-through this year with a young, talented group that features seven players competing in the U.S. college ranks. Sweden went 4-0 to win Group B, and then upset Czechia 2-0 in the quarterfinals.
Though the Swedes kept the game close through 35 minutes, the Americans eventually wore them down.
And the U.S certainly didn't resemble a team that didn't want to play Sweden,as coach Ulf Lundberg suggestedafter the Swedes beat Czechia in the quarterfinals.
Though the Swedes kept the U.S. mostly to the perimeter in the opening period, they were still outshot 13-2.
Barnes scored with a snap shot from the top of the right circle and beat Svensson Traff high on the short side. Barnes' goal was her first point of the tournament, leaving seventh defender Rory Guilday as the lone American skater to not yet register a point through six games.
Heise made it 2-0 at the 9:08 mark of the second period by one-timing in Hannah Bilka's backhand pass through the middle. Svensson Traff got her glove on the shot, but the puck deflected across her body and into the net off the inside of her stick.
Investigators reviewing retail sales records for clues in Nancy Guthrie case
Investigators chase critical leads as Nancy Guthrie search enters third week
Tom Homan says "I don't like the masks" on ICE agents, but they "have to protect themselves"
