Texas is back! In Bleacher Report’s Top 25, that is. The Longhorns upended TCU and surged back into the rankings entering Week 5.
Tom Herman’s squad isn’t the only fresh program in the poll, which remained steady at the top with Alabama as the No. 1 team and every Top Five school staying put.
But there was still plenty of movement. Kentucky, Colorado and Syracuse highlight the other new additions, while Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State are among the teams that dropped out.
Bleacher Report’s panel of experts—Matt Hayes, David Kenyon, Adam Kramer, Kerry Miller, Brad Shepard and Ian Wharton—all submitted a ballot. A first-place vote is worth 25 points, followed by 24 points for second, 23 for third, etc.
The season-long shuffle between Kelly Bryant and Trevor Lawrence might have reached a tipping point. During a 49-21 victory at Georgia Tech, the freshman was a star.
Lawrence ended the contest 13-of-18 with 176 yards and four touchdowns to one interception, leading five scoring drives in six possessions. Bryant, meanwhile, mustered a 6-of-10 line and piloted Clemson to one touchdown in four tries.
It might be time for Dabo Swinney to tab the freshman—a similar situation for Mark Richt and Miami.
N’Kosi Perry replaced Malik Rosier after two scoreless drives and quickly sparked the Hurricanes against Florida International.
Perry posted a 17-of-25 line with 256 total yards of offense and three touchdowns in the first meaningful action of his career. Miami won 31-17 in a game less contested than the final score suggests.
Lastly, Notre Dame made the switch from Brandon Wimbush to Ian Book, who amassed 368 total yards and accounted for five touchdowns in a 56-27 beatdown of Wake Forest. It’s safe to say Book solidified his place as the No. 1 quarterback.
Clemson held steady in the rankings, while Notre Dame and Miami rose.
Who’s Not: TCU Horned Frogs
There was little shame in falling to Ohio State last Saturday. Dwayne Haskins has showed he’s capable of picking apart any defense, and the Buckeyes are a perennial contender.
Losing 31-16 at Texas is a different story for TCU, though.
The second half was simply a disaster. Shawn Robinson committed three turnovers, including a fumble and interception on consecutive drives that flipped a 16-10 TCU lead to 24-16 Texas advantage. A missed field goal on the next possession led to the Longhorns’ game-sealing score.
Chris Hummer @chris_hummer
That’s 3 TCU turnovers for the second straight week. TCU is yet to force a turnover in that stretch.
Although the Horned Frogs remain a factor in the Big 12 race, a 2-2 record effectively eliminates them from any greater goals.
TCU dropped out of B/R’s poll.
Fun Fact: Virginia Tech’s Historic Low in Loss to Old Dominion
Bud Foster has served as Virginia Tech’s defensive coordinator since 1995. During his 24-season tenure, he’s built a deserved reputation as one of the game’s masterminds.
Old Dominion didn’t care. The Monarchs racked up 632 yards, the most ever allowed by a Foster-coached defense.
Blake LaRussa threw for 494 yards and accounted for five touchdowns. He connected with Travis Fulgham and Jonathan Duhart a combined 18 times for 330 yards and all four of his passing scores. Additionally, Jeremy Cox scampered for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
The ankle injury to quarterback Josh Jackson certainly hurt Virginia Tech, but Foster’s defense simply had no answers for an Old Dominion offense that came into the game averaging only 18.3 points.
As a result, the Hokies exited B/R’s rankings from their No. 14 slot.
What to Watch For: Prime-Time Top 15 Showdowns
Last year, Ohio State provided one of the season’s most thrilling comebacks during its win over Penn State. The Buckeyes head to Happy Valley for the pivotal Big Ten tilt in Week 5.
Penn State navigated a mini-scare from Illinois, calming any concerns about a 24-21 deficit by scoring 42 unanswered points. The Nittany Lions have only surrendered 693 passing yards, but Haskins has torched every secondary he’s faced.
The showdown is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET kick, the same time Notre Dame will host Stanford.
Stanford owns three straight wins and seven of the last nine victories in the series. However, Notre Dame enters the rivalry clash following its most impressive triumph this year, while the Cardinal will be confident after a comeback win at Oregon.
A loss wouldn’t bounce any of these four from the College Football Playoff chase, but victories will put two schools on promising paths.
Stats from NCAA.com, cfbstats.comor B/R research. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter@Kenyon19_BR.
Male, Maldives – Polling stations have opened in the Maldives for a tense presidential election regarded as a test for democracy in the popular Indian Ocean honeymoon destination.
Sunday’s vote pits President Abdulla Yameen, who has presided over a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent, against opposition figure and long-time member of parliament, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
Hundreds of voters had queued up overnight on islands across the country to cast their ballots before polling stations opened at 8am (3:00 GMT).
More than a quarter of a million people, out of a population of nearly 350,000, are eligible to vote in the island nation, which has been in turmoil since its first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Nasheed, was forced out of office in 2012.
Azka Adil, a 20-year-old athlete who is voting for the first time in the Maldives’ capital, Male, said she was “excited, nervous and scared because the vote might be rigged”.
“But I am definitely voting,” she said.
Today’s elections are regarded as a test for democracy in the island nation [Sharif Ali/Al Jazeera]
Ahmed Ibrahim, a 28-year-old government employee who is voting for Yameen, said he was choosing “strong economic policies”.
“I am concerned about today’s vote,” he said. “Campaigning has been vicious with a lot of character assassination … so I don’t think an informed decision will be made today.”
Both Yameen and Solih cast their ballots soon after polling stations opened.
Stark choices
Yameen, who assumed power in 2013 after a disputed election, has jailed or forced into exile nearly all of his political rivals, banned protests, suspended parliament, and declared two states of emergencies in just five years.
Faced with widespread international criticism, he pulled the Maldives out of the Commonwealth in 2016 and fostered closer ties with China and Saudi Arabia, who have funded the country’s infrastructure boom.
Defending the Maldives’ Islamic faithand sovereignty and boosting the country’s economy were cornerstones of Yameen’s election campaign.
At a final rally in Male, Yameen said the choice on Sunday was between Islam and “infidelity”.
“I am serving the nation. I want to save the Maldives,” he told thousands of cheering supporters in Male.
More than a quarter of a million people are eligible to vote in the Maldives [Sharif Ali/Al Jazeera]
Solih, the opposition candidate, has vowed to restore democracy and release dissidents, who include Yameen’s half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
The vote was “the last chance” for democracy, he told a crowd of yellow-clad supporters.
The government has denied entry to foreign election monitors and journalists.
‘Tense and uncertain’
Mariyam Shiuna, executive director of Transparency Maldives, an election-monitoring group, said “the atmosphere is tense and uncertain” in the country especially after a police raid on the opposition’s headquarters on the eve of the election.
Officers claim they were looking for evidence of vote-buying, a move the opposition said was aimed at disrupting the election.
Despite the fear, Shiuna said the huge turnout at rival rallies in Male on the final day of campaigning showed “people are keen to cast their ballots and have their say”.
“Yet, there is an eeriness to this election because anything is possible and the general feeling is that neither party will accept the results if they lose, which will lead to further chaos,” she said, urging the international community to monitor events in the Maldives closely.
Ahmed Shareef, president of the elections commission, assured reporters in Male of a fair vote on Saturday.
More than 2,000 local monitors are expected to observe the election, while the European Union said it did not send observers because the country failed to meet basic conditions for monitoring.
The US has threatened to take action against officials if the vote is not free and fair, and the EU said it was prepared to impose sanctions, including travel bans and freezing assets, if the situation does not improve.
Results are expected by midnight on Sunday (19:00 GMT).
Isha Afeef reported from Male. Zaheena Rasheed reported and wrote from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The 2018 college football season is only four weeks young, and yet it already feels like we’re down to four legitimate candidates (all quarterbacks) for the Heisman: Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray and West Virginia’s Will Grier.
Making grandiose proclamations about the Heisman picture at this point in the season is, admittedly, a fool’s errand.
Case in point: Saquon Barkley was the runaway favorite at this time last year, but he finished in fourth place. Mason Rudolph and Sam Darnold were tied with Lamar Jackson for the third-best odds after Week 4, but Rudolph placed seventh while Darnold didn’t even sniff the top 10. And Bryce Love finished second in the vote, despite not appearing in the late-September top five.
Go back to previous years and you’ll find similar situations. History has proved that much can and will change between now and the official vote.
All the same, if you’re betting on anyone other than Tagovailoa, Haskins, Murray or Grier right now, please consider donating that money to a better cause, because you’re out of your mind.
Those four horsemen of the Heisman were already the clear favorites heading into Week 4, and they further distanced themselves from the pack with fantastic performances.
First, Tagovailoa ended any remaining debate about whether Jalen Hurts should ever play a meaningful minute again for the Crimson Tide.
Tua TagovailoaRogelio V. Solis/Associated Press
On Bama’s first offensive snap, Tagovailoa connected with DeVonta Smith on a 30-yard touchdown strike that looked an awful lot like the play that won the national championship last year. Tagovailoa’s shoulder fake was just enough to get fifth-year senior DB Donovan Wilson to bite on the route, opening the window to find a diving Smith in the end zone.
It was drop-dead gorgeous, and it was just the beginning. He finished with 387 yards and four touchdowns through the air, as well as 10 more yards and a fifth touchdown on the ground.
Tagovailoa had to do a little more work than usual, as this was Alabama’s first game of the season decided by less than a five-touchdown margin. (The Crimson Tide still won by 22.) But that increase in volume didn’t hurt his efficiency one bit. In fact, if you take what he did last week against Ole Miss (11-of-15, 191 yards, 2 TDs) and double it, it’s five yards away from being exactly what he did to Texas A&M.
His per-game numbers aren’t that out of this world, since he’s only averaging 20 pass attempts. But he has completed 72.5 percent of them at a rate of 12.9 yards per attempt—better than Baker Mayfield’s 2017 marks of 70.5 and 11.5, respectively. Tagovailoa has also thrown 12 touchdowns without an interception while rushing just often enough to force opponents to respect that part of his game, too.
It’s a similar story for Haskins, who was even more efficient in Week 4, albeit against a drastically less competent opponent.
Ohio State QB Dwayne HaskinsMichael Ainsworth/Associated Press
One week removed from leading the Buckeyes to a statement win over TCU, Haskins picked Tulane to pieces.
The Buckeyes got the ball six times in the first half and scored six touchdowns. Backup QB Tate Martell did lead the fifth of those six drives, but the other five all ended in passing touchdowns by Haskins.
We’re not talking about short scoring drives, either. Ohio State’s first drive began at its own 9 and the fourth possession started at the 7. It didn’t matter. Just meant more yards for Haskins.
He completed each of his first nine attempts, finishing the half at 21-of-24 for 304 yards and five touchdowns before getting the rest of the afternoon off.
For the season, he has completed 75.7 percent of passes, averaging just under 300 yards per game with 16 touchdowns against one interception.
But Tagovailoa and Haskins weren’t the only Heisman candidates with five-touchdown days. Grier also got there in West Virginia’s 35-6 win over Kansas State, throwing for 356 yards and five scores.
West Virginia QB Will GrierStreeter Lecka/Getty Images
Just another day at the office for Grier, though.
Excluding the injury-shortened game against Texas, he threw for at least 285 yards and multiple touchdowns in all 10 starts last year, including a trio of five-TD games. And he has picked up right where he left off with at least 330 yards and four touchdowns in all three games this year.
Grier set a new career long on an 82-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Simms in the first quarter. He later found Tevin Bush on a 62-yard bomb. And the scary thing is neither of those guys is one of his favorite targets for the deep ball. Gary Jennings Jr. and David Sills V are the leading receivers on a team that seems capable of passing for touchdowns in its sleep.
Grier did toss a pair of interceptions against the Wildcats, but it didn’t make a difference. And the occasional multiple-INT game didn’t keep Deshaun Watson out of the Heisman conversation in 2015 or 2016. When you have a guy like Grier averaging 4.7 touchdowns per game, that’s an acceptable part of the package.
And then there’s Murray, who had the least impressive Week 4 stat line of the four favorites, but who also saved his team’s season from going up in flames.
Because Army possessed the ball for nearly 45 minutes, Murray only managed 15 pass attempts and seven rushes in an overtime affair. But he made the most of them, averaging 11.0 yards per pass and 10.1 yards per carry with four combined touchdowns.
The future Oakland Athletic led the Sooners on what should have been the game-winning drive at the end of regulation, except Austin Seibert missed a 33-yard field goal. Not discouraged, Murray needed just two plays to get Oklahoma into the end zone in overtime for what proved to be the winning score.
Despite limited opportunities in this one, it was Murray’s third consecutive game with at least three passing touchdowns and at least 69 rushing yards.
Mayfield’s replacement is averaging a Mayfield-like 11.7 yards per pass attempt, and he’s more of a rushing threat than the 2017 Heisman winner ever was. Could that legwork be what gives him a leg up on the competition?
These four Heisman favorites combined for 1,212 passing yards and 19 total touchdowns while keeping their respective teams undefeated. Meanwhile, guys like AJ Dillon and D’Andre Swift rushed their way further out of the conversation with subpar performances.
Maybe someone from Clemson or Georgia will find his way into the mix if those teams keep winning. At this point, though, it’s a four-horse QB race for the stiff-arm trophy.
Kerry Miller covers college football and men’s college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter,@kerrancejames.
Wojnarowski passed along Towns’ statement on the move:
“On June 25, 2015, I was drafted to and committed to the Minnesota Timberwolves. On September 22, 2018, I made a recommitment to the Wolves and have the same feelings of excitement that I felt back in 2015.
I promise to the fans, my teammates and the organization to keep the vision of the man who drafted me, Flip Saunders, alive and treat his dream of winning with respect and dignity. To the fans from Day One and the Timberwolves fans, this is for you. Thank you for believing in me.”
Towns isn’t immediately eligible for the full supermax even though he garnered All-NBA honors this past season, but another appearance on the leaguewide team would allow him to earn 30 percent of Minnesota’s salary cap. According to ESPN.com’s Zach Lowe, the Timberwolves “can write that contingency into his extension, guaranteeing him the supermax if he qualifies.”
Dane Moore of Zone Coverage provided details about the extension possibilities:
Dane Moore @DaneMooreNBA
Approximate salary figures for Karl-Anthony Towns 2019-20 through 2023-24.
To receive column 1, Towns must* make All-NBA team this upcoming season.
*(or Towns can also receive column 1 by winning MVP or DPOY either of next two seasons) https://t.co/08LCZczyBm
Based on the trajectory Towns has been on over the last three seasons, it will be an upset if he’s not an All-NBA selection in 2019.
Minnesota picked him No. 1 overall in the 2015 draft, and the choice paid immediate dividends as the Kentucky product averaged 18.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game en route to 2015-16 Rookie of the Year honors.
His ascent continued the following season. During his first year under head coach Tom Thibodeau, the 7-footer logged a career-high 25.1 points and 12.3 rebounds a night.
However, his most eye-opening development may have come in his third year.
Although Towns’ scoring average (21.3 points) and usage rate (22.9 percent) dipped following Jimmy Butler’s arrival last season, he knocked down 42.1 percent of his 285 three-point attempts as the Timberwolves clinched their first playoff spot since 2004.
According toBasketball Reference, that long-range efficiency allowed him to join Kevin Love and Larry Bird as the only qualified players in league history to average at least 20 points and 10 boards while shooting at least 40 percent from beyond the arc.
And here’s the scary part: The 22-year-old hasn’t reached his prime yet.
Expect another statistical eruption from Towns in year four, as Minnesota sets its sights on escaping the first round of the postseason.
Still, this move could mean a quick exit for Butler, who already reportedly requested a trade, perShams Charaniaof The Athletic. According to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (h/t Dan Feldman of NBC Sports), Towns’ agent told management he “can’t coexist with Jimmy.”
Myron Medcalf of ESPN had a prediction:
Myron Medcalf @MedcalfByESPN
There is no way Karl Towns signed his max deal without a commitment from Glen Taylor that Jimmy Butler would be shipped very, very soon.
Although Butler could be on his way out, at least Towns should remain in Minnesota for the next few years.
Tiger Woods shot a five-under 65in the third round of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta on Saturday to secure the solo lead entering Sunday’s final round.
Woods held a share of the lead with Justin Rose after two rounds, but following Saturday’s dominant performance, he now sits at 12-under, which puts him threestrokes ahead of Rose and Rory McIlroyin second place.
Here is a look at the top of the leaderboard after three rounds, courtesy of PGATour.com:
1. Tiger Woods: -12 (65)
T2. Justin Rose: -9 (68)
T2. Rory McIlroy: -9 (66)
T4. Kyle Stanley: -6 (67)
T4. Jon Rahm: -6 (68)
T6. Paul Casey: -5 (66)
T6. Tony Finau: -5 (67)
T6. Billy Horschel: -5 (69)
T9. Five players tied at -4
Tiger hasn’t won a tournament since 2013, but he is in great position to end the drought with the 54-hole lead.
According to Golf Channel’s Justin Ray, history is on Woods’ side when it comes to leading by three or more strokes after three rounds:
Justin Ray @JustinRayGC
Tiger Woods will take a 3-shot lead into the final round. He is 23-for-23 converting 54-hole leads of 3+ shots in his PGA Tour career.
Woods was red hot out of the gates Saturday, as he birdied six of his first seven holes and finished the front nine with a score of 30.
After birdies on Nos. 1 and 3, Tiger buried a lengthy birdie putt on the par-four fourth to begin to separate from the field:
For as solid as Tiger was on the greens Saturday, the best aspect of his game may have been his iron play, as many of his approach shots landed within just a few feet of the hole.
His second shot on No. 5 was an ideal example, as it set up an easy par putt that Woods converted:
Woods also found a fairway bunker on the par-four seventh, but he barely managed to clear a green-side bunker on his ensuing shot before sinking another birdie putt:
He did manage to save bogey on the hole, though, before finishing his round with pars on the 17th and 18th.
Woods was in a class by himself in the third round, but his closest competitors are top-flight players capable of making a run Sunday.
Rose had an up-and-down day that featured fivebirdies and threebogeys, but approaches such as the following one on No. 12 helped keep him within striking distance of Tiger:
Other big names out of the running include Jason Day at even-par, Brooks Koepka at four-over and Phil Mickelson, who is last in the field at 11-over.
Tiger cooled down the stretch Saturday, but he gave himself a nice cushion over Rose and McIlroy, which will give him some margin for error Sunday.
In addition to having a chance to win his first tournament since 2013, Woods is in the running to win the FedEx Cup for the first time since 2009 as well.
Tiger will need several scenarios to work in his favor, including Rose finishing in a three-way tie for fifth or worse.
A win Sunday would be huge for Woods’ confidence ahead of the 2019 season, and taking the FedEx Cup in the process would add another chapter to a historic comeback story following four major back surgeries.
The measure represents the latest move by White House aide Stephen Miller to reduce drastically all immigration to the U.S., both legal and illegal. | Win McNamee/Getty Images
The regulation could force millions of low-income families to choose between government assistance and permanent settlement in the U.S.
The Trump administration proposed expanding its pre-election crackdown on immigration by denying green cards to legal immigrants if they or their dependents have received government assistance.
Under the new rule, which the Department of Homeland Security posted online Saturday, immigrants can be denied so-called “lawful permanent residency” if they’ve received certain government benefits–or if the government anticipates that they may do so in the future.
Story Continued Below
The measure represents the latest move by White House aide Stephen Miller to reduce drastically all immigration to the U.S., both legal and illegal, and reflects his strong conviction that doing so will improve congressional Republicans’ chances in the midterm elections. The benefit programs targeted include the the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare), Medicaid, and Medicare Part D (prescription drug subsidies).
The regulation could force millions of low-income families to choose between government assistance and permanent settlement in the United States. Advocates fear it could ultimately restrict children’s access to food and health care.
The move will affect mainly legal immigrants and their families, since undocumented immigrants are not eligible for most federal benefits.
In a departure from leaked drafts, the roughly 400-page proposed rule won’t target immigrants who’ve received subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The rule also bypasses the Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable tax break for low- to moderate-income families.
In addition, immigrants won’t be penalized if their children are U.S. citizens and receive government benefits. If their children are not U.S. citizens, benefits they receive can be judged evidence that the parents will require government assistance, allowing denial of permanent residency.
DHS will seek broad public comment on the rule, a process that typically takes one year. Among the unresolved questions is whether to allow refusal of benefits based on participation in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides low-cost coverage to families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.
The White House referred questions about the proposal this week to the Homeland Security Department. DHS officials did not comment on Saturday afternoon.
Media reports earlier this year about the Trump administration’s plans to issue the proposed rule fueled anxiety and misinformation in immigrant communities, local health providers say.
Even without a change in policy, immigrants are already turning down government subsidies to help buy staple foods and infant formula for fear that it could bar them from receiving a green card. POLITICO reported earlier this month that local health providers in at least 18 states saw drops of up to 20 percent in benefit enrollment — a sign that the mere threat of an immigration black mark can drive people away from government assistance.
The timing of the proposed regulation suggests that the Trump administration believes slapping severe new restrictions on immigration — even legal immigration — will help stir the GOP base into showing up at the midterm polls. Earlier this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the administration will admit no more than 30,000 refugees in the coming fiscal year — the lowest level in the history of the resettlement program.
Even at the height of the conservative backlash against separating migrant children from parents this spring — a decision the administration ultimately reversed — White House officials continued to view hard-line immigration tactics as a winning political message leading into November and the 2020 presidential campaign.
“The Democrats think there are no consequences for anyone entering this country illegally. They are dramatically overreaching, and all of their hysteria and hypocrisy will backfire on them spectacularly,” one White House official told POLITICO in June. “It is a giant mistake for Democrats to jettison their last possibility of a pivot to focus on pocketbook issues.”
The proposed regulation would provide a more robust enforcement mechanism for longstanding statutory boilerplate that bars immigrants “likely to become a public charge.” Immigration law doesn’t define the phrase explicitly, but states that age, health, family status, financial resources, education, and skills should be taken into account. Guidance issued in 1999, under President Bill Clinton, further outlined that immigrants could be considered a public charge if they were “primarily dependent“ on government benefits, but narrowly defined those benefits as cash assistance or long-term, institutionalized care. This proposed rule greatly expands that definition.
Roughly one million people become lawful permanent residents each year — a generous allotment, according to Hans von Spakovsky, a senior fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation.
“We can be choosy about who we allow into the country,” he said. “One of the primary factors ought to be ensuring that the legal immigrants who come in are people who can financially support themselves.”
Approximately one-third of the federal budget goes to health insurance subsidies and social safety net programs, according to the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities — an expenditure the Trump administration and Republicans seek to reduce. Most government assistance flows not to low-income people but to the disabled or elderly. A May report from the libertarian Cato Institute found immigrants generally are less likely to use public benefits than native-born Americans.
Sonya Schwartz, a senior policy attorney with the Los Angeles-based National Immigration Law Center, said the regulation will depress the number of people approved for immigrant visas and discourage the use of public benefits.
“It’s a way to cut down on people enrolled in programs, particularly kids,” she said.
Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, sent a letter in April to White House budget director Mick Mulvaney that questioned whether the administration considered adequately the economic effects of the proposed regulation.
A draft version of the measure published by The Washington Post in March said it “would not have a significant economic impact” — an assertion that Inslee disputed.
“Given the broad-based fear and confusion this proposal will spur,” he wrote, “it is inconceivable that the impact on federal programs would not exceed the $100 million threshold for an economically significant rule.”
Under the rule, an immigrant could be denied a green card if he or she received government benefits of up to 15 percent of the federal poverty level — currently $1,821 for an individual and $3,765 for a family of four, according to the two people briefed on the latest version. The proposed regulation would offer a more generous cushion for immigrant families than an earlier draft that set the yearly threshold at just 3 percent of the poverty level.
The proposal would count food stamps toward a public charge determination, but not receipt of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the people familiar with the measure told POLITICO. An earlier leaked version of the proposal included WIC in its public charge determinations, which alarmed public health advocates because the program has been shown to improve infant and maternal health outcomes.
After POLITICO’s report found immigrants already dropping from WIC out of fear that it would hurt their chances of permanent residency, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said USDA would investigate the matter.
“I would be concerned about that, obviously, Perdue said during a C-SPAN interview earlier this month. “We’ll look into that further.”
Based on the leaked draft of the plan, the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute estimated in June that the share of non-citizens who use benefits that could trigger a “public charge” designation would skyrocket from 3 percent to 47 percent. The actual proposed rule omitted several hard-line provisions in the draft version, which means the estimated reach likely will be lower.
“The whole rule is so short-sighted and mean-spirited because we know these nutrition programs are not only incredible sources of nutrition, they improve health and well-being the help children learn,” said Alexandra Ashbrook, director of special projects at the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group. “They help people be productive workers.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation, a San Francisco-based non-profit organization, reviewed the draft proposal and found it “would likely increase confusion and fear among all legal immigrant families” when it came to using public programs.
More specifically, Kaiser warned of a potential decline in the number of immigrants covered by Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Such a drop would exacerbate disparities in health insurance rates between children with immigrant parents and those with native-born parents.
More than 8 million citizen children with an immigrant parent have Medicaid or CHIP benefits, with the highest concentrations living in California, Texas and New York, according the Kaiser Family Foundation.
A range of activists spent months preparing for the rollout of the proposed regulation and plan to wage an opposition campaign. The proposal will now be subject to a public comment period, an opportunity for opponents to mount an assault on the plan.
A coalition led by the National Immigration Law Center and the D.C.-based anti-poverty Center for Law and Social Policy will push for a wide range of businesses, organizations and government officials to submit comments.
“They have to actually review every comment submitted and they have to address it in the preamble [of the regulation],” said NILC’s Schwartz. “This administration does things a bit differently, but usually it takes a few months, at a minimum.”
The question of how the proposed rule applies to deportability remains unclear.
“If the rule applies to deportation, it would mean that lawful permanent residents across the country would need to be fearful that receipt of a very broad range of health services and public benefits could put them at risk of being deported,” said Mark Greenberg, a senior fellow with the MPI and a former acting commissioner for the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families under President Barack Obama.
In the midst of leading the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta on Saturday, Tiger Woods is the favorite to win the 2019 Masters, according to ESPN.com’s David Payne Purdum, who cited odds from the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook.
Although Woods hasn’t won a major championship since the 2008 U.S. Open, he sports 10-1 odds to win the 2019 Masters.
Tiger is in good position to pick up his first victory of any kind since 2013, as he leads by four strokes in the third round of the Tour Championship.
The 42-year-old has overcome multiple back surgeries to enjoy a resurgent 2018 season on the PGA Tour.
Woods finished tied for sixth at the Open Championship and narrowly missed the fifth PGA Championship win of his career, placing second. Tiger has six top-10 results this season, and he looks likely make it seven at the Tour Championship.
While Woods is a four-time Masters champion, he hasn’t won a green jacket since 2005. He finished tied for 32nd at the Masters this year and hasn’t finished better than 17th since tying for fourth in 2013.
Tiger doesn’t have an overly impressive resume over the past few years due largely to injuries, but the fact that he has improved so much in 2018 suggests he is trending toward something special.
With 14 major championships, Woods is still four behind Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18.
Woods’ next opportunity to close the gap will come at the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, beginning April 11, 2019.
@B_DeChambeau 
Zero question about that anymore. Period.
Daily Trends Hunter 