PAGE 1 MAY 5, 2023www.chronicleonline.com HIGH Mostly sunny and warmer. PAGE A4 TODAY & next morning FRIDAY 64 89 LOW Florida’s Best Community Newspaper Serving Florida’s Best Community VOL. 129 ISSUE 125 $1Zelenskyy wants Putin on trial for war crimes / A10 INDEX Business ................... A6 Classieds ................ C7 Comics ..................... C6 Crossword ................ C5 Entertainment ........... C4 Horoscope ................ C5 Nation/World ........... A10 Obituaries ............. None Opinion ..................... A7 TV Listings ................ C4 Weather .................... A4Recent rains helped water levels, but not by much By MICHAEL D. BATES Chronicle Reporter The recent rains were not much but it was enough to stop declining lake and river levels in Citrus County. “After a very dry start to the year, we’ve nal ly experi enced some decent rain showers in recent days,” said Mark Fulkerson, chief professional engineer with the Southwest Florida Wa ter Management District (SWFWMD), referring to last weekend’s precipita tion. Citrus County received about 2 inches of rain last month, close to the histori cal average of 2.7 inches for April. “These recent rains have been a welcome sight, but we’re still playing catch-up in 2023,” Fulkerson said. From January to April, the county has received 5 inch es of rain, less than half of the 12.2 inches the county should get for the rst four months of the year. The wet season coincides with the start of hurricane season, which begins June 1. “If the recent rainfall trends continue, we could see our water resources start to bounce back,” Fulker son said. “But if this next month is hot or dry, water levels and ows could con tinue the sharp declines we saw from January through March.” So far, there’s been no rain anywhere in the coun ty for the month of May. The National Weather Ser vice doesn’t expect any signicant rainfall for Cit rus County through next Wednesday. The countywide burn ban Dry conditions still rule the day in Citrus FULKERSONDay of Prayer in Inverness By MATTHEW BECK Chronicle photo editor The Depot District was the scene for a gathering of more than 200 residents at tending the local 72nd Na tional Day of Prayer ser vice Thursday afternoon, May 4, in Inverness. Clergy from local churches were asked to pray for specific topics during the service in cluding church ministries and missions, police and first responders, family, children, members of the military and caregivers, to name a few. Passionate prayers were supported and encouraged with clapping, hands held skyward as well as words of praise and worship throughout the service lasting more than an hour. A passage from the book of James identied the theme of the service: “Pray fervently in righteousness and avail much.” Matthew Beck is the photo edi tor of the Citrus County Chronicle. Email him at mbeck@chronicle online.com Photos by Matthew Beck / Chronicle photo editor Calvary Church Pastor Ottis Barnett, left, sits with his daughter Mackenzie Ball Thursday afternoon, May 4, as Ball’s husband Pastor Corey “fervently” prays for the youth of the nation during the 72nd National Day of Prayer in Inverness. Various clergy from local churches spent the noon-hour praying for an array of topics including schools, caregivers, pastors, family and military. LEFT: Inverness resident Julia Isoldi is silhouetted against a bright blue after noon sky Thursday, May 4, as she and others pray during the 72nd National Day of Prayer service at the Depot District in Inverness. More than 200 residents attended the service that lasted more than an hour. RIGHT: Inverness resident Daniel Boone bows his head and folds his hands in prayer Thursday after noon during the Inverness National Day of Prayer service. Proud Boys’ Tarrio, others guilty of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, LINDSAY WHITEHURST and ALANNA DURKIN RICHERAssociated Press WASHINGTON — For mer Proud Boys leader En rique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group were con victed Thursday of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Donald Trump in power af ter the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election. A jury in Washington, D.C., found Tarrio and three lieutenants guilty of seditious conspiracy af ter hearing from dozens of witnesses over more than three months in one of the most serious cases brought in the stunning attack that unfolded on Jan. 6, 2021, as the world watched on live TV. Jurors cleared a fth de fendant – Dominic Pezzo la – of the sedition charge, though he was convicted of other serious felonies. The judge excused the jury without delivering a verdict on some counts – including another conspiracy charge Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio wears a hat that says The War Boys during a rally in Portland, Ore., Sept. 26, 2020. Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group have been convicted of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Donald Trump in power after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.Allison Dinner / AP See RAINS , page A4 See TRIAL , page A4 PAGE 2 A2 Friday, May 5, 2023 Citrus County Chronicle rn r nn nn nrr nnn  ­n€€ r  €  ‚‚ rr rnnr SELLUSYOURCARFindoutthevalueofyourtradeinseconds 2023TOYOTA COROLLA LE2.9%APRAVAILABLE2.75%APRAVAILABLE-ORZERO DOWN $331/MO.FOR36MOS.2023TOYOTA CAMRY LE LEASEFOR $267 PERMONTHFOR36MONTHS WITH$3999DOWN-ORZERO DOWN $392/MO.FOR36MOS.2023TOYOTA RAV4 LE2.9%APRAVAILABLE-OR2023TOYOTA TUNDRA 2WDSR5 -ORMODEL#1852 MODEL#2532 MODEL#8421 MODEL#4430 LEASEFOR $208 PERMONTHFOR36MONTHS WITH$3999DOWNLEASEFOR $287 PERMONTHFOR36MONTHS WITH$3999DOWN ZERO DOWN $412/MO.FOR36MOS.LEASEFOR $387 PERMONTHFOR36MONTHS WITH$3999DOWN ZERO DOWN $514/MO.FOR36MOS. PRE-OWNEDVEHICLES ƒ rn r­ n ­  n   ­­ r  nrn   n ƒ  n     „­ r n ƒ­ r­ n r   r n r nn ­   n ­ n „   nƒ­­ r   ­­  ­­  n  nƒƒ  r r  r n„ r  rrn r rr     r ­  r ­ r n­nnrr  ƒ­­ n   r„   n n„   n  „ƒ­­  nn ­ rr n ­   r n ­ „…  r   r  ­„r    r     r     r    nr­  r rr rrn ­ r    r r r r ­  PAGE 3 Citrus County Chronicle Friday, May 5, 2023 A3L CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLEHomosassa Mullet Toss and Spring Festival on May 6 The Annual Florida Cracker Homosassa Mul-let Toss and Spring Fes-tival continues to raise monies for various out-reach programs across Citrus County. Building Cayla’s Coats Life Vest Loaner Stations is one of the projects that bene ts from these funds. The next Florida Cracker Riverside Resort Ho-mosassa Mullet Toss will be held on Saturday, May 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.Memorial dedication at Stage Stand Cemetery The Homosassa River Garden Club will dedicate a memorial bench in mem-ory of Rosemary “Mim” Brockett at 10 a.m. Satur-day, May 6, at the Historic Stage Stand Cemetery in Homosassa. Brockett died Jan. 14, 2022. She joined the Ho-mosassa River Garden Club in 1994, where she contributed generously of her time, talents and funds. She assisted Ruth Hawn and Gloria Peter-son, who spearheaded the club’s effort to clean up and beautify Stage Stand Cemetery in 2005. Since then, the cemetery has remained the club’s agship project.Alyssa’s Critters to host Meet and Greet Alyssa’s Critters will be hosting a Communi-ty Meet and Greet from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday, May 6, at 8459 W. Oak St., Crystal River. Come meet everyone and learn about their mis-sion to care for the wild-life of Citrus and beyond. Alyssa’s Critters wants to meet the community, share all of the exciting things that are going on with their licensing and opening process, and meet potential volunteers. For more information, contact Alyssa Clossin, founder and president, at 727-401-9851 or AlyssaClossin1@gmail.com.New York Club to hold May luncheon The New York Club of Citrus County is holding their May luncheon at noon on May 16 at the American Legion hall at 6585 W. Gulf to Lake Highway, Crystal River. The lunch menu choices are: lasagna with garlic bread and salad; or bread-ed pork chop with apple sauce, mashed potatoes, a veggie and salad; or cold sliced chicken Caesar sal-ad. Rolls, coffee, ice tea and Spumoni for dessert. Tax and tip included for $18 per person. Deadline to receive checks for reservation is Saturday, May 6. All checks must be sent to The New York Club, PO Box 56, Lecanto, FL 34460. Call Veronica at 352445-1997.Democratic Women’s Club to meet Democratic Women’s Club of Citrus County monthly meeting will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at the Lakes Region Li-brary, 1511 Druid Road, Inverness. Join fellow Citrus County Democrats for their monthly meeting. The guest speaker will be BJ Ezell, DrPH, Florida De-partment of Health. A short business meeting will follow. All registered Democrats are welcome. To RSVP, visit citruswomendems.org/upcoming-events. IN BRIEF U.S. 41 widening project gets $2.32M infusion By MICHAEL D. BATES Chronicle Reporter Last year, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) announced a one-mile, four-lane widening from U.S. 41 between State Road 44 and the Withla-coochee Trail bridge. It was a road project that had been discussed for some 30 years. The project is in the design phase, which is ex-pected to cost $1.8 million. Right-of-way acquisition is at $5.1 million. Con-struction is anticipated to begin in 2026. The Hernando/Citrus Metropolitan Planning Or-ganization (MPO) board, at its last meeting, announced an additional $2.32 mil-lion will be allocated to-ward the widening project from south of the bridge to north of North Sportsman Point. Commissioner Jeff Kinnard said it probably won’t speed up the project but it helps to keep moving it forward and pay for any extra costs. Kinnard gave props to MPO Executive Director Robert Esposito. Thanks to his connections with FDOT, he was able to get the agency to take the money from its work program – which wasn’t earmarked for any-thing – and move it to the U.S. 41 project, Kinnard said. When nished, that stretch will be reconstruct-ed and widened from the current two lanes to four. The project will include bike lanes, sidewalks, new bridges over the Withla-coochee Trail, a pedestri-an crossing and new pond sites. “It’s great news,” Kinnard said. “We have a ter-ri c MPO board and an ex-cellent director. We work together very well with the commissioners from Her-nando County and there’s been (good things) hap-pening.” Michael D. Bates is a staff writer with the Citrus County Chronicle and can be reached at mbates@chronicleonline.com.Funds will be used to widen between State Road 44 and Withlacoochee Trail bridge Michael D. Bates / Chronicle Reporter Robert Esposito, executive director of the Hernando-Citrus Met-ropolitan Planning Organization Matthew Beck / Chronicle photo editor Boaters make their way along the Withlacoochee River Wednesday, May 3, towards the Rainbow River on a nearly-perfect boating day. Weather forecasters expect the next several days to be good for outdoor activities, especially in the morning hours, as rain chances increase during the afternoons. Temperatures are expected to remain in the upper 80s through next week with lows in the mid-to-upper 60s in the overnight hours. GREAT WEATHER OUTLOOK Look for the big white truck By NANCY KENNEDY Chronicle Reporter Twice a week, the Salvation Army of Citrus County’s mo-bile canteen serves hot meals to anyone who needs one. From 1 to 4 p.m. each Tuesday the canteen is at Daystar Life Center, 6751 W. Gulf to Lake Highway, Crystal River, FL 34429. From 1 to 4 p.m. each Wednesday, the canteen is at the Homosassa Lions Club, 3705 S. Indiana Ter-race, Homosassa, FL 34448 (off Homosassa Trail). Meals are prepared each week by the Withlacoochee Technical College culinary department. For those interested in volunteering for this pro-gram, or any other volun-teer opportunity, call The Salvation Army at 352-513-4960 or 352-461-9580. Email: hank.harwell@uss.salvationarmy.org. Nancy Kennedy can be reached at 352-564-2927 or by email at nkennedy@chronicleonline.com. Salvation Army of Citrus County mobile food canteen.Salvation Army of Citrus County serving mobile mealsDeputies shut grow house, take 68 lbs. of pot STAFF REPORT As reported in the Chronicle Wednesday, the Citrus County Sheriff’s Of ce Tactical Impact Unit and members of SWAT re-sponded to a residence off of North Brutus Avenue in Dunnellon on Tuesday to serve a narcotics search warrant. The Sheriff’s Of ce released an update on the bust Thursday. Upon arrival, deputies gave instructions for all oc-cupants of the home to exit the residence to execute the search warrant, according to the update. After a brief period of time, deputies located two subjects who were then detained for the remainder of the investiga-tion. Those subjects were identi ed as 35-year-old Cameron Richard Bos-ley and 32-year-old Alissa Paige Harding. While searching the home and two other structures located on the property, the update said, deputies located 211 plants and 12 pounds of dried and pro-cessed cannabis bud, for a total combined weight of 68 pounds. Of cials also seized a small amount of MDMA, various drug led-gers, scales, baggies and a large quantity of cultivation equipment. Bosley was arrested and charged with:QTraf cking in CannabisQSell/Manufacture/Possess with intent to Sell/Manufacture/Deliver a Controlled SubstanceQPossession of a Controlled Substance (MDMA)QOwn/Lease/Rent a Structure with knowledge to traf c a controlled sub-stanceQPossession of Manufacture/Cultivate/Grow/Plant paraphernalia for a controlled substanceQObstruction of a lawful search warrant The charges would have had a total bond of $39,000, but the bond was set at none due to a violation of felony probation charge. Harding was charged with obstruction of a lawful search warrant. Her bond was set at $1,000 Photo courtesy of CCSO Some of the plants confiscated during the grow house bust BOSLEY HARDING PAGE 4 A4 Friday, May 5, 2023 Citrus County Chronicle To start your subscription: Call now for home delivery by our carriers: Citrus County: 352-563-5655 13 weeks: $90.60* — 26 weeks: $151.01* — 52 weeks: $241.62* Subscription price does not include applicable state and local sales tax. Any promotional rate, other than what’s listed above, is non-refundable. Temporary suspension of your print newspaper delivery due to vacation and other reasons does not extend your subscription expiration date. Your subscription includes 24/7 digital access to all content available online. Call 352-563-5655 for details. Your account will be subject to a surcharge for premium issues. 1RWL¿FDWLRQRIWKHSUHPLXPLVVXHDQGVXUFKDUJHDUHOLVWHGEHORZ Your total bill will remain unaffected, but there may be a slight adjustment in your expiration date. 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For more informationon wildfire conditions, pleasevisittheDivisionofForestry ‹ sWebsite: www.freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Florida-Forest-Service/Wildland-Firenn nr  ­€‚ƒ„    ­­ Levels reported in feet above sea level. Flood stage for lakes are based on 2.33-year Á ood, the mean-annual Á ood which has a 43-precent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any one year. This data is obtained from the Southw est Florida Water Ma nagement District and is subject to revision. In no event will the District or the United States Geological Survey be liable for any damages arising out of the use of this data. If you have any questions you should contact the Hydr ological Data Section at (352) 796-7211. r r …r…rr†  …‡ rr „ˆ  r *From mouths of rivers**At King ‹ s Bay***At Mason ‹ s Creek rrr‰r‰ „ˆ (MORNING) (AFTERNOON) rRecordNormalMean temp.Departure from mean rTotal for the monthTotal for the yearNormal for the year Š‹0 -2 minimal, 3-4 low, 5-6 moderate, 7-9 high, 10+ very high Œr…… * r n Taken at Crystal River SUNDAY & MONDAY MORNINGHigh: 84° Low: 65° Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms possible. Yesterday0.00" 0.00"4.64" 12.79" As reported from https://citrusmosquito.org 29.95 Yesterday at 3 p.m.66%Yesterday observedGoodPollutantOzone May 5May 12May 19May 27 0 1Monday6 7Thursday2 3Tuesday 8 9 -or-Common AreasFriday 4 5Wednesday Daytona Bch.8069pcFort Lauderdale8575sFort Myers9070sGainesville8865pcHomestead8872sJacksonville8468mcKey West8578sLakeland9169pcMelbourne8372s THUFRI Albany59450.126241shAlbuquerque75580.008043sAsheville68360.007050mcAtlanta73420.007058clAtlantic City57390.016048shAustin79680.009168shBaltimore64440.006852pcBillings81480.006946shBirmingham76460.007662shBoise73590.005644shBoston48440.025445mcBuffalo52440.176039mcBurlington, VT52450.046042mcCharleston, SC72480.007864mcCharleston, WV6441Trace7548pcCharlotte71440.007557mcChicago70410.007454pcCincinnati68350.007450sCleveland5448Trace6046pcColumbia, SC73430.007959mcColumbus, OH6137Trace7247sConcord, NH50410.025938mcDallas84630.009369pcDenver66500.007643shDes Moines79460.007055shDetroit63440.016547pcEl Paso84660.008557sEvansville, IN73390.007157shHarrisburg63410.006442pcHartford59450.276144mcHouston81630.008872mcIndianapolis67380.007452pcKansas City75460.007458shLas Vegas6857Trace7554sLittle Rock79500.008168shLos Angeles63520.506251pcLouisville72440.007454mcMemphis77500.007365shMilwaukee63440.006748shMinneapolis77530.006755shMobile81550.008169shMontgomery77480.008364mcNashville73420.007056sh THU Acapulco90/81/clAmsterdam61/53/raAthens64/61/raBeijing64/59/raBerlin65/48/mcBermuda68/65/raCairo89/73/sCalgary68/50/sHavana85/76/raHong Kong80/77/s Jerusalem87/68/s 84/61n/a 86/55n/a 80/57n/a 87/55n/a 86/59n/a 6.30" THUWED Withlacoochee at Holder26.9326.9834.64Tsala Apopka-Hernando36.2636.2738.66Tsala Apopka-Inverness37.2737.2839.73Tsala Apopka-Floral City38.5438.5541.37 Lisbon70/58/mcLondon63/51/raMadrid78/56/mcMexico City79/64/raMontreal56/41/raMoscow49/41/clParis66/54/raRio81/71/pcRome74/55/mcSydney67/51/raTokyo77/63/mcToronto52/43/cl Warsaw53/48/mc THUFRI New Orleans83690.008373shNew York City54480.046049shNorfolk6550Trace7053sOklahoma City63551.008765pcOmaha83460.007456tPalm Springs7255Trace7554sPhiladelphia5945Trace6446shPhoenix81640.008159sPittsburgh58440.066843pcPortland, ME52390.125544mcPortland, OR57500.415947shProvidence, RI5042Trace5645mcRaleigh70430.007554pcRapid City77500.006447shReno61420.005639mcRochester, NY52440.125637mcSacramento5951Trace6752mcSalt Lake City7557Trace6545shSan Antonio84690.009170shSan Diego66570.076354mcSan Francisco57510.166051mcSavannah74470.007865mcSeattle5650Trace5447raSpokane82510.005845shSt. Louis75360.006857shSt. Ste Marie61300.005445shSyracuse54420.206140mcTopeka65500.037858tWashington6346Trace6849pc Miami8476sOcala8966pcOrlando8769pcPensacola7969mcSarasota8971sTallahassee8765pcTampa9371sVero Beach8370pcW. Palm Bch.8077s Chassahowitzka* 7:13 a.m.0.3 ft6:45 p.m.0.6 ft1:55 a.m.0.0 ft12:10 p.m.0.2 ft Crystal River** 5:26 a.m.1.9 ft5:01 p.m.2.3 ft11:28 a.m.0.7 ftNonen/a Withlacoochee* 2:53 a.m.3.1 ft2:08 p.m.3.6 ft9:18 a.m.1.2 ft9:58 p.m.-0.3 ft Homosassa*** 6:39 a.m.0.8 ft5:39 p.m.1.5 ft1:40 a.m.-0.1 ft11:51 a.m.0.2 ft 8:07 pm6:44 am8:22 pm6:34 am 05/05FRIDAY6:4512:598:071:2405/06SATURDAY6:441:508:072:16 Predominant: TreesFri lowmedhigh Yesterday at 3 p.m.47° 10 Yesterday88/54 95/4387/58 73 -2 SATURDAY & SUNDAY MORNINGHigh: 87° Low: 66° Partly sunny with scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms. TODAY & TOMORROW MORNINGHigh: 89° Low: 64° Mostly sunny and warmer. MODERATE. Burn ban in effect. For established lawns and landscapes, irrigation may occur during only one (1) of the specified time periods, 12:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m., or 4:00 p.m. 11:59 p.m., on the allowable watering days below:Addresses with house numbers ending in: Questions, concerns or reporting violations, please call: City of Inverness at 352-726-2321; City of Crystal River at 352-795-4216, Ext. 313; unincorporated Citrus County at 352-527-7669. For more information, visit:https://www.citrusbocc.com/departments/water_resources/watering_restrictions.phpFRIDAY KEY TO CONDITIONS: c=cloudy; fg=fog; hz=haze; mc=mostly cloudy; pc=partly cloudy; ra=rain; rs=rain/snow; s=sunny; sh=showers; sm=smoke; sn=snow; ss=snow showers; t=thunderstorms 93, Sebring, Fla.21, Buffalo, Mo. Today: Northeast winds 5 to 10 knots, becoming west in the afternoon. Seas 1 foot or less. Bay and inland waters light chop. Tonight: Northwest winds 5 to 10 knots, becoming east 10 to 15 knots DIWHUPLGQLJKW6HDVIRRWRUbOHVV 76° FORECAST FOR 3:00 P.M. Friday ALERT CITRUS SIGNUP Q To register for the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office’s Alert Citrus weather program, visit www.sheriffcitrus.org and click on the links to register. Q Create a profile, list how you want to be contacted in case of a weather emergency (text, mobile phone, home phone, email), then include the address(es) you want alerts for. You can choose what types of emergencies you want to hear about, and set a quiet period for no conduct. Q Those without computer access may call 352-2492705. remains in effect. “If you live along the Tsala Apopka Chain of Lakes in Citrus County, you’ve noticed lower wa-ter levels this spring,” he said. “In fact, lake levels are about 17 inches lower than they were this time last year.” All three pools of the Tsala Apopka Lake Chain dropped about 5 inches in April. The Withlacoochee River had been dropping sharply in recent months due to the lack of rainfall throughout the region. But increased rains over the past couple weeks temporarily halted that downward trend. Michael D. Bates is a staff writer with the Citrus County Chronicle and can be reached at mbates@chronicleonline.com. RAINSFrom page A1 for Pezzola – after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision. It’s a signi cant milestone for the Justice De-partment, which has now secured seditious conspir-acy convictions against the leaders of two major extremist groups prose-cutors say were intent on keeping Democratic Pres-ident Joe Biden out of the White House at all costs. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years. “The Justice Department will never stop working to defend the democracy to which all Americans are entitled,” Attorney Gen-eral Merrick Garland told reporters after the verdict. Tarrio, behind bars since his March 2022 arrest, didn’t appear to show any emotion as the verdict was read. He hugged one of his lawyers and shook the hand of the other before leaving the courtroom. A few of the people sitting among the defendants’ rel-atives wiped away tears as the verdict was read. The verdict comes after a trial that took more than twice as long as originally expected, slowed by bick-ering, mistrial motions and revelations of government informants in the group. Securing the conviction of Tarrio, a high-pro le leader who wasn’t at the riot itself, could embolden the Justice Department as a special counsel inves-tigates Trump, including key aspects of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Special Counsel Jack Smith in recent weeks has sought the testimo-ny of many people close to Trump. They include former Vice President Mike Pence, who testi ed before a grand jury last week, likely giving pros-ecutors a key rst-person account about certain con-versations and events in the weeks preceding the riot. Tarrio was a top target of what has become the largest Justice Department investigation in American history. He led the neo-fas-cist group – known for street ghts with left-wing activists – when Trump infamously told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during his rst debate with Biden. Tarrio wasn’t in Washington on Jan. 6, because he had been arrested two days earlier in a separate case and ordered out of the capital city. But pros-ecutors said he organized and directed the attack by Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol that day. In addition to Tarrio, a Miami resident, three other Proud Boys were convict-ed of seditious conspiracy: Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl. Tarrio, Nordean, Biggs and Rehl were also con-victed of obstructing Congress’ certi cation of Biden’s electoral victory and obstructing law en-forcement as well as two other conspiracy charges. The four were cleared of an assault charge stem-ming from Pezzola, who stole an of cer’s riot shield. The judge told jurors to keep deliberating on a few remaining counts where they haven’t reached agreement. Rehl’s attorney, Carmen Hernandez, said her cli-ent “continues to maintain his innocence.” Lawyers for Biggs and Pezzola de-clined to comment. An at-torney for Tarrio declined to comment. Prosecutors told jurors the group viewed itself as “Trump’s army” and was prepared for “all-out war” to stop Biden from becom-ing president. The Proud Boys were “lined up behind Don-ald Trump and willing to commit violence on his behalf,” prosecutor Conor Mulroe said in his closing argument. The backbone of the government’s case was hundreds of messages ex-changed by Proud Boys in the days leading up to Jan. 6 that show the far-right extremist group peddling Trump’s false claims of a stolen election and trad-ing fears over what would happen when Biden took of ce. As Proud Boys swarmed the Capitol, Tarrio cheered them on from afar, writing on social media: “Do what must be done.” In a Proud Boys encrypted group chat later that day someone asked what they should do next. Tarrio responded: “Do it again.” “Make no mistake,” Tarrio wrote in another mes-sage. “We did this.” Defense lawyers denied there was any plot to at-tack the Capitol or stop Congress’ certi cation of Biden’s win. A lawyer for Tarrio sought to push the blame onto Trump, argu-ing the former president incited the pro-Trump mob’s attack when he urged the crowd near the White House to “ ght like hell.” “It was Donald Trump’s words. It was his motiva-tion. It was his anger that caused what occurred on January 6th in your beau-tiful and amazing city,” attorney Nayib Hassan said in his nal appeal to jurors. “It was not Enrique Tarrio. They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scape-goat for Donald J. Trump and those in power.” TRIALFrom page A1Former Fla. Democrat governor nominee not guilty of lying to FBI By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press TALLAHASSEE — Former Florida Democratic candidate for governor An-drew Gillum, who came within a whisker of defeat-ing Republican Ron DeSan-tis in 2018, was acquitted Thursday of lying to the FBI in a corruption case that also involved illegal use of campaign contributions. But the federal jury hung on charges that Gillum fun-neled tens of thousands of dollars in campaign mon-ey to personal accounts. Prosecutors said they will retry him on those counts. They had claimed Gil-lum was struggling nan-cially after quitting his $120,000-a-year job with the People for the Amer-ican Way group to run for governor. Gillum was acquitted of lying to undercover FBI agents posing as develop-ers who paid for a 2016 trip he took with his brother to New York, including hotel rooms, meals, a boat tour and a ticket to the hit Broad-way show “Hamilton.” Outside the courthouse, Gillum thanked his family, wife, legal team and pastor for their support, but took a dig at prosecutors. Gillum, 43, a former Tallahassee mayor, sought to become the rst Black governor in Florida history when he took on DeSantis in 2018. Gillum lost by less than 34,000 votes to DeSan-tis, triggering an automatic recount. Alicia Devine / Tallahassee Democrat Former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, left, and Sharon Lettman-Hicks embrace Thursday after he was found not guilty of lying to the FBI in a corruption case that also involved illegal use of campaign contributions, in Tallahassee. PAGE 5 Citrus County Chronicle Friday, May 5, 2023 A5Ex-Miss Florida pageant director goes to prison for fraudMIAMI (AP) — The for mer executive director of the Miss Florida pageant has been sentenced to more than a year in federal pris on for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the organization. Mary Wickersham, 77, was sentenced last Friday in Miami federal court, ac cording to court records. Earlier this year, she plead ed guilty to one count of wire fraud, while six other counts were dropped. In ad dition to prison time, Wick ersham, who is also known as Mary Sullivan, must pay $243,000 in restitution. Wickersham began serv ing as the executive director of the Miss Florida Scholar ship Program in 2002. The program offers educational and nancial assistance to young women across the state, and each year the state winner goes on to compete in the Miss America pageant, which Florida has won twice. According to a criminal complaint, Wickersham formed a Florida corpora tion named Miss Florida LLC in 2011 and used it to open a bank account in the same name. Without the knowledge or consent of the Miss Florida Scholar ship Program, prosecutors said Wickersham redirected money to the Miss Florida LLC bank account, which she controlled. Wickersham used her po sition to solicit donations from the program’s recur ring business sponsors and donors, claiming the mon ey would be used to fund scholarships for the con testants. Investigators said Wickersham actually used the money for her own per sonal use and gain. She left the position in 2018, after which new lead ership began to discover nancial irregularities. An investigation followed, and Wickersham was eventually arrested last year.Protestors arrested at Gov. DeSantis’ Florida Capitol office By TALLAHASSEE (FLA.) DEMOCRAT TALLAHASSEE — About a dozen people were arrested Wednesday night while protesting in Repub lican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Florida Capitol Ofce, of cials said. The 14 arrested were charged with misdemeanor trespass and were booked into the Leon County Jail, Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswom an Gretl Plessinger told the Tallahassee Democrat. “Once the building closes, unless you have an ofce in the Capitol, you’re not al lowed to be here,” Plessing er said, citing Department of Management Services policy. The arrests were made by the Florida Capitol Police and Florida Highway Pa trol, she said. The protestors said they refused to leave until they had a meeting with the gov ernor. The protest was or ganized by a human rights group called the Dream De fenders. A number of controver sial bills have been passed and signed into law this legislative session, which ends Friday. They include an abortion ban, illegal immigration restrictions and legislation targeting drags shows, the LGBTQ community and diversity, equity and inclusion ini tiatives. Alicia Devine / Tallahassee Democrat Yareliz Mendez Zamora leads a chant for dozens of activists during a sit-in outside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office on Wednesday in Tallahassee.Lawmakers pass treatment ban for transgender minors By JIM SAUNDERS News Service of Florida TALLAHASSEE — Tee ing up the issue for Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida law makers on Thursday passed a plan that would prevent doctors and other health-care providers from offering treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone ther apy to transgender minors. The Republican-con trolled Senate voted 26-13 to approve the bill (SB 254), with the House quick ly following with an 83-28 vote. The votes were along almost straight party lines, with Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, joining Demo crats in opposition. DeSantis, who has called such treatments “child mu tilation,” is expected to sign the bill. The state Agency for Health Care Administra tion, which is under De Santis, approved a rule last year that prohibited Medicaid reimbursements for puberty blockers, hor mone therapy and surgery for transgender youths and adults. Also, at the DeSan tis administration’s urging, state medical boards ad opted rules that prevented doctors from providing the treatments to minors. The bill, however, would go further by putting a pro hibition on treatments for minors into state law. “We cannot speak some thing into existence that doesn’t exist. We cannot change our sex,” House co-sponsor Ralph Massul lo, a Lecanto Republican who is a dermatologist, said. “And for those chil dren that this bill address es, they cannot change their sex, and they need to learn that fact.” But Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, said the bill “puts people in danger of not being able to get the care they need.” She also said lawmakers should not interfere with decisions made by physicians and pa tients. “We are not the endall and the be-all when it comes to private, person al health-care decisions,” Skidmore said. Thursday’s votes came af ter House and Senate spon sors worked out differences in earlier versions of the bill. The issue centers, at least in part, on treatment for gender dysphoria, which the federal government de nes clinically as “signi cant distress that a person may feel when sex or gen der assigned at birth is not the same as their identity,” The bill would prevent health-care providers from offering puberty blockers, hormone therapy and sur gical procedures to treat transgender minors. It would take effect immedi ately upon DeSantis’ sig nature. Physicians could face third-degree felony charges for violating the prohibition on care for minors.DeSantis, who has called such treatments ‘child mutilation,’ is expected to sign billThe banking crisis isn’t over, but how bad will it get? By KEN SWEET and MICHELLE CHAPMAN Associated Press NEW YORK — Uncer tainty continues to pum mel the banking industry, despite assurances from nancial regulators and bankers such as Jamie Di mon this week that the worst of the recent crisis is over and the health of the banking system remains strong. Bank shares have sold off on Wall Street this week following the government seizure and subsequent sale of First Republic Bank to JPMorgan. It was the sec ond-largest bank failure in U.S. history and the third failure of a midsize lender in two months. While many thought the sale of First Republic “would stop the ‘who’s next?’ conversations, in vestors are clearly continu ing to focus on remaining players that are deemed the weakest” analysts at UBS wrote in a note to clients. The bigger worry is that the bank failures might lead to doubts about rela tively healthy banks, cre ating a nancial contagion that could impact the wid er economy. Averting that scenario was the reason the U.S. put tighter restrictions on major banks following the nancial crisis 15 years ago. It is difcult to ignore the sense of unease in banking right now, though there’s no need for concern if your money is in a bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and you have less than $250,000 there, which covers most accounts. Yet markets do not ap pear to have been reassured by prominent names in nance who say instability in the banking sector ended with the takeover Monday of First Republic Bank, the third bank failure in short order. JPMorgan’s Dimon said Monday that he be lieved “this part” of the banking crisis was over. Federal Reserve Chair Je rome Powell vouched for the health of the nancial system on Wednesday. Regardless of those as surances, a renewed sell-off Thursday focused on PacWest Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp, two smaller regional banks whose shares have been under pressure since Sili con Valley Bank failed in mid-March and set off the current crisis. PacWest fell 38 percent after acknowl edging it was considering putting itself up for sale. But there was a signi cant sell-off in numerous regional banks, including Zions Bancorporation, Co merica, Truist, KeyCorp and Huntington. The KBW index of re gional banks has fallen 13 percent so far this week. PacWest was targeted be cause of a high concentra tion of large, uninsured de posits from venture capital and tech clients, the same type of customers who trig gered bank runs at Silicon Valley and First Republic. But even Midwest region als such as Comerica and KeyCorp are down more than 20 percent this week. That could reect concerns about large amounts of real estate loans, particularly in the ofce property market, which continues to suffer the effects of the pandemic. PacWest, based in Los Angeles, and Western Al liance, in Phoenix, each issued a statement over night saying they weren’t experiencing any out-of-the-ordinary deposit with drawals following the sale of First Republic, a classic bank run that was acceler ated by social media and modern technology. Both saw signicant withdraw als following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, but the banks say deposits have increased since March 31. Western Alliance issued a separate statement Thurs day morning denying a sto ry in The Financial Times that said the bank is con sidering a sale. Its shares were down 26 percent in afternoon trading, but had tumbled 40 percent earlier. Investors may fear that PacWest’s fate could mir ror that First Republic, which spent weeks look ing for a buyer before failing. First Republic had already received a govern ment-orchestrated rescue package of $30 billion from 11 banks in hopes of shoring up its balance sheet, but that wasn’t enough. It’s unclear what action if any federal reg ulators would take to sup port PacWest. “The underlying issue, particularly at these banks, is their asset and deposit mix isn’t sustainable. De posits keep running out the door or banks are hav ing to pay hefty prices for them,” said Chris Cauleld, a banking industry consul tant with West Monroe who has worked with many of the regional banks in trou ble. Healthier banks have been reluctant to step in to buy struggling lenders. All assets of Silicon Valley, Signature and First Repub lic were bought after regu lators seized them and the remnants were transferred to the Federal Deposit In surance Corporation. In another sign of poten tial trouble, a major deal in the banking sector was called off Thursday. TD Bank Group and First Hori zon Corp. said they called off a planned merger, cit ing regulatory hurdles. To ronto-Dominion Bank had said in February that it was buying regional bank First Horizon in a $13.4 billion all-cash deal. The Federal Reserve’s ght against ination has played a key role in the banking turmoil. The Fed on Wednesday raised its key interest rate by a quar ter-point to the highest lev el in 16 years as part of that campaign, its tenth consec utive rate hike. The higher rates have prompted depositors to move money into high er-paying certicates of deposit and money market funds. They also played a role in the slowdown in the tech industry, which had major implications for West Coast banks such as Silicon Valley. Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed would monitor several factors, including the turmoil in the banking sector, in deciding its next move on rates. The Fed chair stressed his belief that the collapse of three large banks in the past six weeks will likely cause other banks to tight en lending, and that would help the Fed in its ination ght. The Fed’s rapid rate hikes over the past year have started to slow the economy, and a number of economists expect a reces sion late in 2023 or in early 2024. Powell also said he agreed with the conclu sions of a Fed report issued last week that said lapses in supervision contributed to the demise of Silicon Val ley Bank, and recommend ed stricter regulation of the banking industry. JPMorgan anticipates bank stocks will continue to be pressured due to regu latory and economic uncer tainty, among other factors. “Regulatory concerns primarily would translate into how much banks need to add to capital, liquid ity, and debt, all of which would strengthen them lon ger term but hurt (earning per share),” analysts said in a note. Mark J. Terrill / AP A Pacific Western Bank branch is seen Wednesday in Thousand Oaks, Calif. rnMonday-ApptOnly TuethruFri-9:30-4:30 r rrn r rnr rrrr rr RichardT.Brown FuneralDirector/Owner BrownFuneralHome&Crematory Lecanto,Florida IgrayneBrownDias FuneralDirector TwoGenerationsserving youwithcompassionate, personalizedservice. 352-795-0111 www.brownfuneralhome.com rnn rn    rr  n r  rn   r n 1657W.GULFTOLAKEHWY(2MI.E.OFHWY.491&44)•LECANTO rrrn FauxWoodBlinds, Shades,Shutters, Verticals,Cellular PAGE 6 A6 Friday, May 5, 2023 Citrus County Chronicle Money & Markets A click of the wrist gets you more at www.chronicleonline.com 3,700 3,800 3,900 4,000 4,100 4,200 ND JF MA 4,040 4,120 4,200 S&P 500Close: 4,061.22Change: -29.53 (-0.7%) 10 DAYS 31,200 32,000 32,800 33,600 34,400 35,200 ND JF MA 32,920 33,600 34,280 Dow Jones industrialsClose: 33,127.74Change: -286.50 (-0.9%) 10 DAYS Advanced 705Declined 1674 New Highs 35 New Lows 203 Vol. (in mil.) 4,705 Pvs. Volume 4,059 4,568 5,513 1304 2107 52 412 NYSE NASD DOW 33,354.86 32,937.50 33,127.74 -286.50 -0.86% -0.06% DOW Trans. 13,998.07 13,761.66 13,828.59 -180.22 -1.29% +3.26% DOW Util. 959.86 941.85 955.82 +10.09 +1.07% -1.20% NYSE Comp. 15,233.85 15,055.43 15,117.67 -116.18 -0.76% -0.44% NASDAQ 12,033.15 11,925.37 11,966.40 -58.93 -0.49% +14.33%S&P 500 4,082.61 4,048.28 4,061.22 -29.53 -0.72% +5.77% S&P 400 2,451.72 2,398.34 2,410.22 -41.50 -1.69% -0.83% Wilshire 5000 40,306.73 39,864.87 40,006.22 -300.51 -0.75% +5.08% Russell 2000 1,728.39 1,704.82 1,718.81 -20.47 -1.18% -2.41% HIGH LOW CLOSE CHG %CHG YTD Stocks Recap AT&T Inc T 14.46 22.84 16.91 -.18 -1.1 t t t -8.1 -4.9 1.11 Ametek Inc AME 106.17 148.06 142.92 -1.66 -1.1 s s t +2.3 +16.0 29 1.00f Anheuser-Busch InBev BUD 44.51 67.09 65.90 +2.21 +3.5 s t t +9.8 +13.8 27 0.82e Bank of America BAC 26.32 n 38.75 26.99 -.87 -3.1 t t t -18.5 -19.7 8 0.88 Capital City Bank CCBG 25.08 r 36.86 29.11 -.05 -0.2 t t t -10.4 +13.3 12 0.72f Citigroup C 40.01 r 54.56 44.90 -.77 -1.7 t t t -0.7 -1.4 6 2.04 Disney DIS 84.07 r 126.48 97.45 -3.41 -3.4 t t t +12.2 -11.4 54 ... Duke Energy DUK 83.76 114.50 98.11 +.78 +0.8 t t s -4.7 -6.5 30 4.00f EPR Properties EPR 33.92 r 55.90 42.18 +.40 +1.0 s s s +11.8 -13.0 23 3.30 Equity Commonwealth EQC 19.41 r 23.57 20.70 +.30 +1.5 t t r -0.8 -1.0 80 5.25e Exxon Mobil Corp XOM 80.69 119.92 106.04 -1.89 -1.8 t t t -3.9 +31.6 8 3.64 Ford Motor F 10.61 16.68 11.56 -.23 -2.0 t t t -0.6 -8.6 0.60a Gen Electric GE 46.55 102.95 99.32 -2.45 -2.4 s s s +52.6 +72.7 0.32 HCA Holdings Inc HCA 164.47 294.02 277.63 -.58 -0.2 t s s +15.7 +34.2 14 2.40f Home Depot HD 264.51 347.25 285.75 -7.33 -2.5 t t t -9.5 -1.6 17 8.36f Intel Corp INTC 24.59 r 46.64 31.24 +.72 +2.4 s t t +18.2 -30.5 16 0.50m IBM IBM 115.55 153.21 122.57 -.88 -0.7 t t t -13.0 -1.0 62 6.64f LKQ Corporation LKQ 46.20 59.33 56.20 -.93 -1.6 t s t +5.2 +15.9 13 1.10 Lowes Cos LOW 170.12 223.31 202.80 -2.51 -1.2 t s s +1.8 +3.5 17 4.20 Lumen Technologies LUMN 2.06 n 12.54 2.12 -.17 -7.4 t t t -59.4 -72.3 ... McDonalds Corp MCD 228.34 298.80 295.16 -.06 ... t s s +12.0 +23.2 35 6.08 Microsoft Corp MSFT 213.43 309.18 305.41 +1.01 +0.3 t s s +27.3 +8.3 34 2.72 Motorola Solutions MSI 195.18 295.10 290.41 +1.79 +0.6 t s s +12.7 +38.1 37 3.52 NextEra Energy NEE 67.22 r 91.35 75.51 +.12 +0.2 t t t -9.7 +11.2 36 1.87f Piedmont Office RT PDM 6.12 n 16.52 6.29 +.09 +1.5 t t t -31.4 -54.4 5 0.84 Regions Fncl RF 13.94 24.33 15.75 -.56 -3.4 t t t -26.9 -17.3 7 0.80 Smucker, JM SJM 119.82 163.07 157.42 +.33 +0.2 s s r -0.7 +20.6 20 4.08 Texas Instru TXN 144.46 186.30 162.30 -1.05 -0.6 t t t -1.8 -3.0 18 4.96 UniFirst Corp UNF 154.72 205.59 161.18 -.66 -0.4 t t t -16.5 -3.3 20 1.24f Verizon Comm VZ 32.76 52.18 37.35 -.63 -1.7 t t t -5.2 -12.9 7 2.61 Vodafone Group VOD 9.94 16.88 11.85 -.11 -0.9 t s s +17.1 -16.2 cc 1.06e WalMart Strs WMT 117.27 154.99 150.47 +.42 +0.3 r t s +6.1 +1.0 35 2.28 Walgreen Boots Alli WBA 30.39 n 45.30 31.55 -.41 -1.3 t t t -15.6 -16.7 6 1.92 52-WK RANGE CLOSE YTD 1YR NAME TICKER LO HI CLOSE CHG %CHG WK MO QTR %CHG %RTN P/E DIV Stocks of Local Interest Dividend Footnotes: a Extra dividends were paid, but are not included. b Annual rate plus stock. c Liquidating dividend. e Amount declared or paid in last 12 months. f Current annual rate, which was increased by most recent dividend announcement. i Sum of dividends paid after stock split, no regular rate. j Sum of dividends paid this year. Most recent dividend was omitted or deferred. k Declared or paid this year, a cumulative issue with dividends in arrears. m Current annual rate, which was decreased by most recent dividend announcement. p Initial dividend, annual rate not known, yield not shown. r Declared or paid in preceding 12 months plus stock dividend. t Paid in stock, approximate cash value on ex-distribution date.PE Footnotes: q Stock is a closed-end fund no P/E ratio shown. cc P/E exceeds 99. dd Loss in last 12 months. The cruise line operator reported encouraging first-quarter financial results. The chipmaker gave investors a weak profit and revenue forecast. The solar power technology compa ny beat Wa ll Street ’s first-quarter earnings and revenue forecasts. Apollo Global Management is buy-ing the industrial parts maker . The maker of aluminum drink cans ’ first-quarter earnings beat analysts’ forecasts. 50 55 $60 FM A BallBALL Close: $59.26 7.00 or 13.4% $46.00$81.88 Vo l.: Mkt. Cap: 5.4m (3.3x avg.) $18.6 b 52-week range PE: Yi eld: 26.3 1.4% 20 25 $30 FM A ArconicARNC Close: $28.93 6.38 or 28.3% $16.33$31.24 Vo l.: Mkt. Cap: 34.9m (22.8x avg.) $2.9 b 52-week range PE: Yield: ...... 250 300 $350 FM A SEDG Close: $281.22 17.40 or 6.6% $190.15 $375.90 Vo l.: Mkt. Cap: 2.7m (2.3x avg.) $15.8 b 52-week range PE: Yield: 170.4 ... 100 120 $140 FM A QualcommQCOM Close: $106.58 -6.25 or -5.5% $101.93 $156.66 Vo l.: Mkt. Cap: 22.1m (3.3x avg.) $118.8 b 52-week range PE: Yi eld: 9.4 3.0% 50 60 70 $80 FM A Royal Caribbean CruisesRCL Close: $71.88 4.80 or 7.2% $31.09$78.97 Vo l.: Mkt. Cap: 10.2m (2.8x avg.) $18.4 b 52-week range PE: Yield: ...... Stocks fell as Wall Street ’s worries about the U.S. bank ing system cranked higher . The S&P 500 lost 0.7% Thurs-day. The Dow Jones Industrial Av erage fell 286 points and is now down for the year . The Nasdaq composite also closed lower . SolarEdge Te chnologie s The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.38% Thursday. Yields affect rates on mortgages and other consumer loans. NET 1YR TREASURIES LAST PVS CHG AGO 8.25 7.00 4.00 5.13 3.88 .88 PRIME RATE FED FUNDS 3-month T-bill 5.25 5.24 +0.01 .89 6-month T-bill 5.02 5.05 -0.03 1.42 52-wk T-bill 4.64 4.73 -0.09 2.04 2-year T-note 3.79 3.82 -0.03 2.66 5-year T-note 3.29 3.37 -0.08 2.93 7-year T-note 3.32 3.37 -0.05 2.97 10-year T-note 3.38 3.34 +0.04 2.92 30-year T-bond 3.73 3.69 +0.04 3.00 NAT'L WK 6MO 1YRCONSUMER RATES AVG AGO AGO AGO 48 month new car loan 6.98 s 6.97 6.92 6.12 Money market account 0.52 s 0.50 0.49 0.25 1 year CD 2.42 s 2.40 2.41 1.92 $30K Home equity loan 9.13 s 8.74 9.11 7.93 30 year xed mortgage 6.79 t 6.87 6.73 7.23 15 year xed mortgage 6.17 t 6.20 5.95 6.45 LAST 6 MO AGO 1 YR AGO Commodities Natural gas prices slumped over 3%, while U.S. crude oil and wholesale gasoline ended little changed. Gold and silver prices closed higher. Crude Oil (bbl) 68.56 68.60 -0.06 -14.6 Heating Oil (gal) 2.24 2.23 +0.29 -33.4 Natural Gas (mm btu) 2.10 2.17 -3.18 -53.1 Unleaded Gas (gal) 2.33 2.32 +0.16 -5.4 FUELS CLOSE PVS %CHG %YTD Gold (oz) 2,048.00 2,028.60 +0.96 +12.6 Silver (oz) 26.04 25.48 +2.19 +9.1 Platinum (oz) 1,050.30 1,061.80 -1.08 -2.2 Copper (lb) 3.85 3.83 +0.48 +1.2 Aluminum (ton) 2,300.50 2,330.75 -1.30 -4.6 Palladium (oz) 1,449.60 1,424.80 +1.74 -19.0 METALS CLOSE PVS %CHG %YTD Cattle (lb) 1.62 1.62 -0.05 +4.4 Coffee (lb) 1.83 1.86 -1.37 +9.4 Corn (bu) 6.47 6.45 +0.19 -4.7 Cotton (lb) 0.80 0.77 +3.90 -4.1 Lumber (1,000 bd ft) 350.00 344.00 +1.74 -6.3 Orange Juice (lb) 2.71 2.74 -1.26 +31.3 Soybeans (bu) 14.49 14.48 +0.03 -4.7 Wheat (bu) 6.32 6.26 +0.84 -20.3 AGRICULTURE CLOSE PVS %CHG %YTD American Funds AmrcnBalA m 29.42 -.13 +2.7 -2.8 +7.2 +6.2 CptWldGrIncA m 54.42 -.26 +5.9 0.0 +10.8 +5.1 CptlIncBldrA m 63.91 -.14 +2.2 -1.3 +8.8 +4.8 FdmtlInvsA m 63.16 -.55 +5.1 -2.4 +12.5 +8.0 GrfAmrcA m 54.30 -.34 +9.7 -7.4 +9.3 +8.1 IncAmrcA m 22.59 -.09 +0.6 -3.0 +9.8 +5.9 InvCAmrcA m 43.64 -.30 +6.2 -0.8 +13.2 +8.4 NwPrspctvA m 51.90 -.31 +9.7 -2.3 +12.6 +8.6 WAMtInvsA m 52.07 -.38 +0.6 -3.6 +14.2 +9.3 Dodge & Cox IncI 12.52 -.04 +3.6 +0.6 -0.6 +2.1 StkI 211.09 -2.68 -1.0 -6.1 +18.4 +8.8 Fidelity 500IdxInsPrm 141.04 -1.01 +6.4 -3.9 +14.4 +10.7 Contrafund 13.41 -.10 +12.5 -2.9 +11.0 +9.9 TtlMktIdxInsPrm 111.61 -.85 +5.5 -5.2 +13.9 +9.7 USBdIdxInsPrm 10.48 -.02 +3.9 -0.2 -3.1 +1.2 Schwab SP500Idx 62.94 ... +7.1 -0.3 +14.8 +11.1 Vanguard 500IdxAdmrl 375.02 -2.69 +6.3 -3.9 +14.4 +10.7 DivGrInv 35.31 -.21 +0.4 -0.9 +14.9 +12.0 EqIncAdmrl 80.96 -.86 -3.7 -4.7 +14.9 +8.7 GrIdxAdmrl 127.12 -.61 +16.1 -5.0 +12.4 +12.2 InTrTEAdmrl 13.59 +.03 +2.7 +3.9 +1.0 +2.2 MdCpIdxAdmrl 252.07 -1.76 +0.2 -8.9 +13.2 +7.3 PrmCpAdmrl 139.75 -.95 +6.8 -1.0 +15.4 +9.7 TrgtRtr2025Fd 17.56 -.04 +5.3 -1.7 +6.3 +4.7 TrgtRtr2030Fd 33.11 -.08 +5.5 -1.9 +7.5 +5.1 TrgtRtr2035Fd 20.46 -.06 +5.7 -2.0 +8.7 +5.5 TrgtRtr2040Fd 36.00 -.11 +5.9 -2.2 +9.9 +5.9 TrgtRtr2045Fd 24.20 -.09 +6.0 -2.3 +11.1 +6.3 TrgtRtr2050Fd 40.12 -.15 +6.1 -2.4 +11.2 +6.4 TtBMIdxAdmrl 9.76 -.02 +4.0 -0.2 -3.1 +1.2 TtInSIdxAdmrl 29.91 +.03 +7.6 +1.0 +11.1 +2.5 TtInSIdxInv 17.88 +.02 +7.5 +0.9 +11.0 +2.5 TtlSMIdxAdmrl 97.81 -.74 +5.5 -5.2 +13.9 +9.8 WlngtnAdmrl 68.48 -.25 +3.8 -0.8 +8.6 +7.2 WlslyIncAdmrl 59.47 -.31 +1.2 -1.6 +3.9 +4.9 TOTAL RETURNFAMILY FUND NAV CHG YTD 1YR 3YR* 5YR* Mutual Funds *– Annualized; d Deferred sales charge, or redemption fee. m Multiple fees are charged, usually a marketing fee and either a sales or redemption fee. x fund paid a distribution during the week. Interest rates (Previous and change gures reect current contract.)Wall Street sinks as bank fears flare By STAN CHOE Associated Press NEW YORK — Stocks sank on Wall Street Thurs day as worries cranked higher about a cracking U.S. banking system. The S&P 500 fell 0.7 per cent to add to its loss for the week so far. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 286 points, or 0.9 percent, and is now down for the year, while the Nasdaq com posite fell 0.5 percent. The wildest action was in the nancial industry, where shares of PacWest Bancorp tumbled 50.6 percent. It’s been under heavy scrutiny by investors recently follow ing three of the four largest U.S. bank failures in history. “The important thing to remember is banking is as much about condence as it is about economics and accounting,” said George Bory, chief investment strategist for xed income at Allspring Global Invest ments. “We’re in a period where condence is very fragile, arguably damaged. Policy makers are trying to reestablish condence in the system, and you can just see what’s happening in share prices: The condence hasn’t been restored yet.” Wall Street has been hunt ing for other possible weak links in the system, which could see a swift exodus of customer deposits as the industry contends with much higher interest rates. PacWest said overnight that it’s considering its options and that several potential partners and investors have approached it. It also said that its core customer depos its have increased since the end of March. Fear is running so high in the industry that shares of Western Alliance Bancorp plunged as much as 61 per cent after a report from The Financial Times said the Phoenix-based bank was considering selling its busi ness, among other options. But the company refuted the report, saying there “is not a single element of the article that is true.” Its stock pared its drop to a loss of 38.5 per cent. The wild movements came after Western Alliance tried to reassure investors late Wednesday with a statement saying its deposits are stable and that they increased from Monday to Tuesday. First Horizon, meanwhile, dropped 33.2 percent after it and TD Bank Group agreed to call off their merger deal. TD told First Horizon it did not know when it could get regulatory approvals for the deal. At the start of this week, regulators seized First Re public Bank and sold most of it to JPMorgan Chase, with hopes that could bolster condence in the industry. Ofcials have stressed they see the banking system is sound and secure, but the worries aren’t leaving the market. Banks are dealing with drastically different business conditions now that interest rates are no longer at record lows. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced its latest increase, which took its key overnight rate up to a range of 5 percent to 5.25 percent from virtually zero early last year. The Fed has jacked up rates at the fastest pace in decades to knock down high ination. But it does that by slowing the economy, rais ing the risk of a recession and hurting prices for invest ments. Many of the loans made and bonds bought by banks when rates were low are suddenly worth much less in today’s market. The worry now is that even if no more banks topple, the industry’s turmoil could cause smaller and mid-sized banks to pull back on their lending. That in itself could act like rate hikes, which would further smother the economy. Many investors already believe a recession will hit later this year. A report on Thursday showed that the number of U.S. workers ling for un employment last week ac celerated a bit more than expected. The job market has remained largely resil ient, and it’s one of the main pillars still propping up the slowing economy. A more comprehensive report on Friday will give the latest monthly update on the over all job market. With worries rising about the economy, the Fed in dicated Wednesday that it may be done hiking inter est rates for the moment. But the European Central Bank on Thursday pressed on. Its president, Christine Lagarde, said that it has “more ground to cover, and we are not pausing.” It did slow the pace of its hikes, raising rates by only a quar ter of a percentage point. Higher rates mean inves tors are getting paid higher yields for owning bonds, which in turn offers more protection for future shak iness in the market, All spring’s Bory said. “Invest ing in xed income today is actually kind of the best it’s been in one and a half de cades,” he said. Helping to support stocks despite all the worries has been a largely better-than-feared earnings reporting season. Companies in the S&P 500 are still on track to report a second straight quarter of prot drops, but the results have mostly been better than expected.Taiwan trade chief warns against ‘unnecessary fear’ of China By ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press WASHINGTON — Tai wan’s chief trade represen tative says his country’s semiconductor makers will expand production in the U.S. as much as they can af ford to do so, but he insists Taiwan remains an ideal place for that production and other U.S. trade, busi ness and investment, de spite tensions with China. John Chen-Chung Deng spoke to The Associated Press on a visit this week to Washington, where he is leading a Taiwanese trade delegation and meeting with U.S. trade ofcials. Deng’s visit comes at a time of intensifying efforts to harden the U.S. and Tai wanese militaries and econ omies against any threat from rival China. As part of this, President Joe Biden and Congress are moving to boost semiconductor pro duction on U.S. soil in the event of any conict dis rupting exports from Asia, especially from Taiwan. Semiconductors make elec tronics ranging from phones to electric cars to advanced weapons run, and Taiwan produces more than 90 per cent of the world’s more ad vanced semiconductors. At the same time, Pentagon leaders have been touring the Indo-Pacic to rally regional allies in bolstering military defenses and deterrence. A House committee last month war-gamed a hypothetical at tack by China on Taiwan and U.S. positions as part of a bi partisan congressional effort to nd specic ways to boost deterrence. Deng said Americans should see these efforts as ensuring that Chinese Pres ident Xi Jinping will never feel condent enough to in vade Taiwan, which China claims as its own. “We should avoid any ex aggeration or rhetoric which doesn’t reect the true situ ation, that creates fear ... un necessary fear,” said Deng. He said the U.S. business community in Taiwan as sures him it is still expand ing and hiring. He cited the experienced workforce and support industries that Tai wan offers for semiconduc tor producers and for Goo gle, Amazon and other U.S. businesses on its soil. Relations between the U.S. and China have hit dramatic peaks in tensions over the past two years as Xi’s government asserts China’s growing strength economically, diplomati cally and militarily. That in cludes China underscoring its broad territorial claims in the region. China, for its part, accuses the U.S. of meddling in its internal affairs and pursu ing a containment strategy against China to prevent its rise. LinneaSenica, General Manager DarylSenica,President 888-473-1 888-473-1 $ 20OFF SERVICECALL **Couponmustbepresentedattimeofservice.Notvalidwithanyotheroffers,maintenanceorwarrantycontracts.SeeSenicaAirConditioningfordetails.Expires5/28/2023 NOWHIRING ServiceTechnicians &Installers! Checkoutourwebsite foradditionalspecials! www.SenicaAir.com 877-489-9686 senicaair.com SERVINGPASCO,HILLSBOROUGH,HERNANDO,PINELLAS,CITRUSandMARIONCOUNTIES (Reg. $99.95) CAC1815564 PAGE 7 Citrus County Chronicle Friday, May 5, 2023 A7 O ne thing never changes: The last few weeks of a legislative session are when all the dirtiest deeds take place. With the Legislature set to adjourn today, sever-al measures are still pend-ing that could have a brutal impact on Florida residents and businesses by push-ing up costs for water and electric service they can’t go without. Apparently lawmakers don’t remember the rst days of session, when they heard hours of testimo-ny about the affordable housing crisis in this state before passing legislation meant to help families struggling to keep roofs above their heads. Or may-be they don’t regard elec-tricity, running water and property taxes as essential components of housing. Either way, they’re mov-ing legislation that could benet some of the state’s biggest utility companies – in ways that could result in higher bills for families and businesses that are strug-gling to stay aoat. Let’s start with electric bills – and the multiple proposals to help pad the bottom lines of the state’s biggest investor-owned utilities including Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy. It’s no secret that these companies have long regarded Florida’s publicly owned utilities – including municipal or county-owned providers in Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Lakeland, and Gainesville – with hungry eyes. This year, lawmakers could kneecap municipalities that operate utilities, making it more likely that local ofcials would be willing to sell. One of the most insidious is a bill that would heavily restrict local governments that transfer revenue from their utilities to defray costs of local government. These transfers often help city and county ofcials keep property taxes down without cutting services lo-cal residents expect. Law-makers argue that these transfers are unfair to cus-tomers of municipal util-ities who live outside city limits – ignoring the reality that many of these cus-tomers work or visit those cities on a daily basis. As former Orlando Sentinel staffer Jason Garcia points out on his website Seeking Rents, there is no corre-sponding restriction pro-posed for privately owned utilities that pay dividends to their shareholders. (In fact, the Florida Public Ser-vice Commission approved a recent request by FPL to increase its prot margin.) Another proposal would put publicly owned utilities further under the control of the PSC, which doesn’t seem so bad until you know that in recent years, the PSC has shown itself to be agreeable to anything big private utilities ask for. Another proposal would I have fought for scal responsi bility and sustainability for more than 30 years. Unfortunately, our nation’s nancial and scal out look have deteriorated signicantly during this period. In addition, the Treasury Department, Ofce of Management and Budget, Con gressional Budget Ofce, Govern ment Accountabil ity Ofce, and the Federal Reserve have all stated that the federal government is on an imprudent and unsustainable scal path. We now face another debt ceiling debate. The Treasury has again begun implement ing extraordinary measures to avoid violating the limit. The limit is expected to be reached some time between June and August. Unfortunately, a lot of disin formation and misinformation is being promulgated regarding the debt ceiling. Only one remain ing federal nancial obliga tion is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Specically, federal debt held by the public and various govern ment “trust funds,” including related accrued interest. As a result, the federal government CANNOT default on Treasury securities. Some have asserted that the federal government could not continue to pay Social Securi ty benets on time if the debt ceiling is reached. That is false. Based on the latest Social Se curity Trustees report, there are adequate bonds in its combined trust funds to pay full benets until 2033. Since the Social Se curity bonds are included in the debt ceiling number, trust fund bonds could be converted to debt held by the public without in creasing the total amount of debt subject to the debt ceiling. If the extraordinary mea sures are exhausted, and the debt ceiling limit is reached, tough choices would have to be made, including imposing a government shutdown for all non-essential employees, delaying payments to govern ment contractors, and cutting other federal spending. This needs to be avoided since it would impose hardships and additional long-term costs on the government and result in a loss of condence in the federal government’s ability to manage its nances. This would likely result in a downgrading of the federal government’s credit rat ing, higher interest rates, a sig nicant market correction, and a decline in the dollar’s value. Now that the House has passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act, President Biden must sit down with the House speaker and bargain in good faith. The president’s stated position that the debt ceiling should be raised unconditionally is both unreal istic and inappropriate, given our current nancial condition and scal outlook. I believe the debt ceiling should be repealed and replaced with a debt/gross domestic product approach to scal constraint. While House Republicans and Biden’s current debt ceiling posi tions are not politically feasible, a ray of light recently emerged. Specically, the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus released a four-point framework for a debt ceiling deal. Their four points were: (1) Raise the Debt Ceil ing until 12/31/23 or as long as 2/28/25 if the following steps are complied with; (2) Enact a Fiscal Sustainability Commission to en gage the public and make a pack age of spending, tax and other recommendations to address our O Disappointed in Sheriff Prendergast An ancient Japanese Buddhist proverb says, “Loneliness is a nice place to visit but a terrible place to live.” Many Americans are wrapped in a blanket of utmost radical political popularity and entitlement, abandonment of aspirational ethics and moral codes, lack of leading by exam ple, general self-victimhood, mis ery, and loneliness. I want to further clarify Charles Ray James’ Letter to the Editor dated May 3, 2003. I agree with his argument and position that words are cheap and empty – while misaligned political, ethical and moral intent/actions speak volumes of one’s flawed charac ter. I’ll better Mr. James’ slogan with a better mantra: “I’d rather be an Independent American Patriot than either a populari ty-based Democrat or Republican American Patriot.” Every Amer ican born or naturalized in the United States of America is an American Patriot. One is both – one can never be one or the other. Joining the U.S. Armed Forces or being a First Responder doesn’t make you any more or less a patriot than your fellow citizen who has never served our Nation in any public capacity. Occum’s Razor principle applies 24/7 here – the good idea “American Patriot” will never bend under the scrutiny of reductivism or political alternative facts. We are all American Patriots – the U.S. Constitution charges all of us to (1) be good and decent people; (2) be good American citizens; and, (3) defend the Constitution against all enemies, Foreign and Domestic. Very simple, right? I am very disappointed in Sher iff Mike Prendergast’s subjective actions as a public servant. Sher iff Prendergast, a prior-enlisted “mustang” Colonel, USA (MP Corps), knows better than to politically divide all the citizens in Citrus County. Politely ask the Sheriff if he played political games while serving in the US Army or if he attacked his fellow soldiers and officers for self-serv ing political agendas. His imma turity and sophomoric actions are shameless given his service to this great Nation as a Veter an – he professionally knows better. Especially as the Sheriff of CCSO – we hold him to a higher standard of professional ism, apolitical leadership, as well as impeccable personal ethical behavior as a citizen. Though pol itics play a huge part in getting elected as a county sheriff – once in office and sworn-in – being a Republican or Democrat matters not. Just do your damn elected job with integrity and neutrality to serve all citizens equally under the “Rule of Law.” Bill Dolley, Sgt/LtCol, USMC Citrus Springs History tells us that voting is important Many people do not vote. Their reasons range from (1) not enough information on the candidates, (2) all the candidates are the same and corrupt, (3) the system is rigged, to (4) my vote won’t make a difference, etc. Voter turnout in the U.S. is much lower than in other countries with about 60 percent in presi dential elections and 40 percent in midterm elections. Countries with mandatory voting have a 90 percent turnout. The average voter turnout in developed coun tries is 70 percent. Both Belgium and Australia have mandatory voting. If one does not vote in these countries’ elections, they forfeit their right to vote for 10 years. But making it mandatory would allow those disinterested citizens to vote and perhaps cast their vote without thought for the worst candidate. Voting should be a privilege and taken seriously. It should never be a requirement. Some people reason that if you don’t vote then you are allowing the other candidate to win. This is a logical argument. If enough of a group from a certain party decide for whatever reason that their vote will not matter and stay home, it allows the oppos ing party to maybe receive the majority of votes. Many voters don’t understand the difference between a primary and general election. Primaries decide which candidates will represent each party in the November elections. It is the time to vote for the best candidate from your party to run for a specific office. In talking with voters, I hear that “I am Republican (or Democrat)” so I don’t really need to vote in the primary as it is not important. It is very important and you decide the best candidate to go against the opposing party candidate. History has shown the impor tance of voting. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson was elected President by ONE VOTE in the House of Rep resentatives after a tie in the Elec toral College. In 1867, the Alaska purchase was ratified in the Senate by TWO VOTES (37-2). In 1962, governors of North Dakota, Rhode Island and Maine were elected by an average of ONE VOTE per pre cinct. There have been many close races for President and other offic es that came down to a few hun dred votes. So your vote carries a lot of weight. But with that weight comes responsibility to familiar ize yourself with the candidate and the issues. Be informed. Be Responsible. Vote. Mary Harris Crystal River Vote no on school amendment Many feel that the important elections take place every four years. But many local elections can take place every two years and some maybe yearly. Voter turnout is usually lower as these elections are perceived as unim portant. Local elections are the time where we are really deciding on the people who make decisions that truly impact our day-to-day lives from education for our chil dren, tax issues, police protection, road improvements, and the list is endless. With lower voter turnout, your vote matters even more to get things done locally. Most local positions from sheriff, commissioners, property appraiser, supervisor of elec tions, school superintendent, etc. include party affiliation. School boards and mosquito control are two exceptions. The school board is needed to set policies, curric ulum, and budgets for the school district. Your voting for the best candidate may affect funding for school programs (art, music, and sports). They decide the school calendar and school schedule Resolving the debt ceiling debate LETTERS TO THE EDITOR OPINIONS INVITED Q Viewpoints depicted in political cartoons, columns or letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the editorial board. THE CHRONICLE invites you to call “Sound Off” with your opinions about local subjects. You do not need to leave your name, and have less than a minute to record. COMMENTS will be edited for length, libel, personal or political attacks and good taste. Editors will cut libelous material. OPINIONS expressed are purely those of the callers. CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE ANOTHER VIEWPOINT CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE Founded by Albert M. Williamson “You may differ with my choice, but not my right to choose.” — David S. Arthurs publisher emeritus EDITORIAL BOARD Trina Murphy .................................................... publisher Jim Gouvellis ......................................................... editor Tiarra Alexander .................................. citizen member Curt Ebitz .............................................. citizen member Mac Harris ............................................. citizen member Rebecca Martin ................................... citizen member Don Hiers ............................................... citizen member Roger B. Krieger .................................. citizen member Trish Thomas ......................................... citizen member The opinions expressed in Chronicle editorials are the opinions of the newspaper’s editorial board. Gerard “Gerry” Mulligan publisher emeritusLawmakers could force higher utility bills for Floridians David M. WalkerVarying Voices See LETTERS , page A8 See LAWMAKERS , page A9 See DEBATE , page A9 PAGE 8 A8 Friday, May 5, 2023 Citrus County Chronicle FOR THE RECORD Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Arrests from May 2Q Robert James Beadling , 40, Brooksville, arrested May 2 for felony failure to appear. No bond. Q Brian Daniel Gromoshak , 42, Inverness, arrested May 2 for felony domestic battery by strangulation minor injury. No bond. Q Abigail Arleen Dunham , 27, Floral City, arrested May 2 for felony burglary of unoccu pied structure. Bond $5,000. Q Jayson Raymond Rosio , 35, Homosassa, arrested May 2 for misdemeanor violation of probation. Bond $2,000. Q Coty Daniel Brown , 29, Dunnellon, arrested May 2 for felony criminal mischief (over $200 less than $1,000) and burglary of occupied struc ture. Bond $16,000. Q Cameron Richard Bosley , 35, Dunnellon, arrested May 2 for felony violation of proba tion, sell/mfg/del or possess with intent to sell/mfg/del schedule I, III or IV drugs, pos session of controlled sub stance, trafficking in marijua na, own/lease/rent with knowledge of it being used to traffic a controlled substance, mfg/cultivate/grow/plant par aphernalia for controlled sub stance and obstruction of search warrant. No bond. Q Justin Derrik Miner Pope , 36, Dunnellon, arrested May 2 for out-of-county warrant. Bond $5,000. Q Mark Silva , 24, Beverly Hills, arrested May 2 for felo ny aggravated assault on per son 65 years of age or older second degree. No bond. Q Damien Michael Peden , 25, Inverness, arrested May 2 for out-of-county warrant. Bond $2,000.All about the moneySteve Ponticos just placed a very heartfelt video on YouTube. It explains why he’s placing 250 multifam-ily rental units smack in the middle of single-family privately-owned homes and why it’s a good thing. Mr. Ponticos, please don’t take a leak on us and tell us it’s just a warm spring rain. State the truth. There’s money to be made, you want it and you couldn’t care less who gets hurt.Responding to ‘Daily pondering’I’m responding to the Sound Off, “Daily pondering,” where the person alleged Trump tried to overthrow the government. That is totally ludicrous and ridiculous. You are just an anti-Trump hater. You hate Trump. He has not been found guilty of any charges brought against him. You need to move on. Let me tell you, he’s the best president ever. Lower taxes, lower fuel, closed borders; the country was great under him. All the people like you who hate and despise the man are totally ridiculous. Open your eyes.Source?Regarding the “Interfering with the Catholic Church” Sound Off in the Saturday, April 29, paper. Just wanted to know where you got this information. What is your source? Who told you this?Respect everyone’s opinionsTo the person who said that we all have our own opinions. Yes, we do. Even we Democrats and even the people who are not afli-ated. We all have opinions, and you should respect ours, too.All it takes is enough moneyI just read an article in the Sunday paper about all the planning and rezon-ing for the offramps on the Suncoast Parkway. I don’t know why you have all these fancy rezoning boards and all those other fancy letters for all these little commissioners. It doesn’t matter. All you have to do is put enough money in the right pock-ets and you could rezone an outhouse into a sin-gle-family dwelling. There is no planning in zoning, big money will always get their own way. Look at what’s happening at County Roads 486 and 491, that was a cow pasture. Now it’s going to be a major shopping center. It doesn’t make any sense. They’re going to push us out. And if they get turned down, then all they do is change the plans around a little bit and apply again. When they get turned down, it should be no, but enough money to the right people and they can have anything they want in this county.That’s some plea dealI’m responding to the article, “Florida’s killer clown case nally ends with plea deal.” Some plea deal she got! She dressed as a clown, handed a wom-an owers and then shot her in front of her 12-year-old son. So, she makes a plea deal for less than two years? That is really pathetic. She should’ve got the full 12 years.Bring back movie schedulesPlease publish the movie schedules. If the show times are not exact, at least we’ll know what movies are playing during the week. Is it the theater that is not wishing to publish or is it the Chronicle? Please help us dinosaur, comput-er-less moviegoers who need your help.I plan to move backI moved here because after working 60or 70-hour weeks for 37 years building houses, I literally cannot walk in the cold weather due to end stage osteoarthritis in every joint in my body. I never said all Southerners are uned-ucated. If someone took it that way, I apologize. New York spends three times more per student on public schools, so, yes, that does make for a rst-rate education. That’s why taxes are so high. I plan to move back A.S.A.P. and suffer in pain.Let’s get classyIn regard to the morning paper, “Planning for growth.” Just what this county does not need is more self storage and RV parks. Excuse me. Let’s get a little classier.Response to ‘President’s children’I’m responding to the Sound Off, “President’s children aren’t running the country.” They end it say-ing, “They are not running the country, the president is.” First of all, I don’t even associate the word pres-ident with Biden. Biden isn’t running a country; he is a puppet on a string.To all the locals and New YorkersResponding to a Sound Off, “This is ruining the Nature Coast.” I’m from New York. That’s where I was born. However, I have Southern relatives and I was also raised in the south. So, here’s a little message to those who are from New York, from someone who’s from New York. You moved here to change your life, for fresh start. Why won’t you just start over? I’ve been here 20 years. I have made very good friends. I own a business. I have all kinds of customers. I have adapted. This is not my home. This is not New York. This is Florida. The sooner you get that through your head, the happier everyone will be. And as far as you locals with your blind hatred for the people from New York, that’s just as ridiculous as the New Yorkers are or anyone else that comes here. Yes, there’s differ ences, some good, some bad, some things are better, some things are worse, some things could use a little improvement. That’s no different from anywhere else.Response about handicapped placardThis is an answer to the guy that said that he has a handicapped placard with the top broken. The county or state or whoever are making them cheaper and cheaper and cheap er. The sun cracks them. We have one and had the same problem. It actually cracked in several plac es and we had to tape it together. But you can go online and nd a plastic cover to put them in to hang it up there. That’s the only thing I know of, otherwise the county or state needs to get better at making them because they’re really made cheap.Responding about DeSantis overseas tripI’m responding to Sound Off, “DeSantis taking trip on taxpayers’ dime.” It says he’s going all over the country on the taxpayers’ dime. No, you’re wrong. He’s promoting Florida, trading and doing things with other countries, bring-ing the revenue to Florida. Compared to Biden, he went on a family vacation on the dime with his chil-dren and his family. He’s not bringing revenue to the United States of America. He was on vacation. Two different apples, you can’t even compare them.Taxpayers getting it in the neckSaw an article in regard to the animal shelter and looks like the taxpayers of Citrus County are going to get it in the neck because now they have to loan money to build the animal shelter. What happened to Ruthie’s dream with the Betz Farm deal? Laughing out loud.Good for goose, good for ganderI just want to say that if conservative bakers can deny a gay couple a wedding cake, which is their right because they are privately owned company, then Disney World can sup-port gay people or whatever they want to do despite what Governor DeSantis thinks they should do. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Everybody should mind their own business when it comes to privately-owned businesses.Thank you for letterThank you to the writer of the Letter to the Editor about dreams or nightmares about human trafcking and all that stuff. She couldn’t have put it better. Nobody else could put it better. She did the best job and I hope people were aware of this. SOUND OFFCALL 563-0579times. They set guidelines for teachers and princi pals and decide firing and disciplinary actions for personnel. The Florida Legislature is considering bring ing HJR 31 to voters in November 2024 as an amendment to Article IX (Education) to the Flor ida Constitution which would read, if passed: “In each school district there shall be a school board composed of five or more members chosen by vote of the electors in a parti san election for appropri ately staggered terms of four years, as provided by law.” The word partisan would replace nonpartisan in the amendment. Voters have a right to know the party affiliation in their decision. School superin tendent is a partisan posi tion at present. Parents want to have a voice in their child’s education by choosing a board member that more closely fits with their views. Of course each prospective member gives their platform when campaigning. But this provides another insight into the candidate and who might be best for your children’s education al needs. Voting for this amendment is important and will need a 60 percent voter approval to pass. Someone said that “edu cation is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who pre pare today” … Vote yes in November to give your voice to the best choice for your child’s future. Cheryl Melton Citrus Springs LETTERSFrom page A7 r nrnn n  n­€ ‚€ƒ„€…†‡ˆ‰Šr­‹‰Š Experience•Reputation•Excellence WeHelpWhenBadThingsHappen toGoodPeople MELISAL.MILITELLO,P.A.LAWFIRMPamelaBauman CRIMINAL DEFENSE &FAMILY LAW (352)637-2222 CitrusCountyLaw.commilitellolawyer@gmail.com 107BWest MainStreet Inverness,FL 34450 rrnr Let’sTalk LAW Situationsinwhichpeoplecanbene tfromlegaladvice andrepresentationariseeveryday.Whetherit’shelpwriting awillorassistanceclosinganewhomepurchase,lawyerscanprovideahostofinvaluableservicestotheirclients.Legalrepresentationcanbe costly,andthosecostsmightcompelpeopletogoitalone. However,therearemanysituationsinwhichhiringalawyeristheappropriatemove.•Complexsituations:Ado-it-yourselfapproachmightworkwithminorhomeimprovementprojects.However,thatapproachisrarelyinaperson’sbestinterestwhenalegalissue arises.That’sbecauselegalissuesareoftenmorecomplex thantheyseemduetonuancesinlaws.Understandingthose nuancesistheresponsibility ofalawyerandrequiresyearsofstudy.Whenacomplexlegalsituationarises,theabilitiesofalawyercanmakethedifferencebetweenasuccessful outcomeandonethatputsindividualsinjeopardy.•Threatofincarceration:Lawyersarevitalinsituationswhereincarcerationisa potentialoutcome.Suchsituationsdonotonlyinclude instancesinwhichpeoplehavebeenchargedwithviolentcrimes,butalsocrimesinvolvingtaxissues,domestic problemsandincidentsinvolvingmotorvehicles.•Injuredparties:Anylegalsituationinwhichsomeonehasbeeninjuredrequirestheservicesofalawyer.Whetheryou’vebeenhurtorhavebeenaccusedofhurtingsomeoneor havehadsomeonesufferaninjuryatyourhomeorinyourbusiness,it’sbesttohirelegalrepresentationimmediately. •Thedeathofalovedone:Lawyerscanhelpthefamiliesofrecentlydeceasedindividuals navigatethepotentiallycomplexallocationofthatperson’sestate.Forexample,lawyerswhospecializein probatelawcanensurealltax obligationsaremetandcan offerinsightandexpertiseonhowtohandleanydisputes thatmayariseregardingthedeceasedindividual’swillandassets.•Extensiveestateplanning:Lawyerswhospecializein estateplanningareoftenmistakenasbeingthesameasprobatelawyers.Butthat’snotnecessarilythecase.Though somelawyersprovidebothestateplanningandprobateservices,thoseservicesaredifferent.Probateattorneyshandletheadministrationofanestateafteraclientdies.Estate planningattorneysworkwithlivingclientswhowanttodraft theirwillsandensuretheirassetsareallocatedaccordingtotheirpreferencesaftertheydie.Individualswithlargeand/orcomplexestatescanworkwithestateplanningattorneys toestablishtrustsandcreate extensiveassetdistributionplansforpeoplewhohavemultipleheirsandbene ciaries intheirwills.Thesearejustahandfulofthemanysituationsinwhichindividualscanrelyonattorneystohelpnavigate potentiallycomplexissues.Situationsthatcallfor hiringalawyer 352-637-1960 408LakeSt.,Inverness,FL34450 lorawilsonlaw@gmail.com|www.loralaw.com Autoand MotorcycleAccidents “WinningCases isNoAccident!” PAGE 9 Citrus County Chronicle Friday, May 5, 2023 A9 allow private utilities to jack up rates to cov er the cost of building “green hydrogen” and “renewable natural gas” facilities – some of which, Seeking Rents reports, are dirt ier than their names imply. It’s notable that these huge private utilities pour millions of dol lars into campaign cof fers. As as the Sentinel has been documenting over the last few years, they’ve put millions more into secretive committees and po litical action groups that have, at times, engaged in nefari ous behavior – some of them connected through public records and internal emails, to a bid by FPL to take over Jacksonville’s city-owned utility. And the two biggest power grabs of all: One bill (HB 1645) would allow the gov-ernor to take over the board of Gainesville’s electric utility.. That echoes, in some ways, the highly contro-versial coup that let Gov. Ron DeSantis seize control of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District, which operates all the utilities supporting the nation’s No. 1 tourist destination, the Walt Disney Company’s collection of theme parks, resorts and en-tertainment venues. In a press conference last week, DeSantis – who now has control of that district’s board, at least until the inevitable lawsuits hit – has already expressed in-terest in selling off the Reedy Creek utility. Then there’s SB 194/ HB 125, which would allow investor-owned utilities that take over publicly owned water utilities to pass the cost of those acquisition efforts directly to their new, annexed customer base. In a column pub lished in the Tallahas see Democrat, Brooke Ward of consumer group Food & Water Watch says that private takeovers of public water utilities are the No. 1 driver of higher water bills. And while water bills are usually lower than power bills, Ward says, approximately 90 percent of Florida’s water-utility customers are served by a public ly owned utility. That makes them attractive targets for purchase and merger, taking away local control and bringing likely rate increases. In both areas – water and electric service – lawmakers can’t deny the potential for much higher bills. The real question is: Whose wishes take priority? If they are truly concerned about the affordability of housing, the answer is obvious: Stop trying to crank up the cost of living in ways that are harder to track, but undeniably put private utilities’ wishes before the well-being of the millions of Floridians struggling to make ends meet. – The Orlando Sentinel LAWMAKERSFrom page A7 structural scal imbalance that would receive an up or down vote in Congress; (3) Return to Regular Order and adopt controls in the FY 2024 budget to stabi lize the decit in the near-term; and, (4) Require an annual GAO Fiscal State of the Nation Report and a mid-year annual budget report from the president. The Problem Solver’s debt ceiling proposal seems reasonable and potentially feasible as a potential compromise to defuse our ticking debt ceiling time bomb. At the same time, additional steps are necessary to cut spending in the short term and provide a permanent solution to restore scal sanity and sustainability. History has shown that the debt ceiling has failed to force scal responsibili ty, and other statutory bud get controls (spending caps, pay-as-you-go rules) have failed to stand the test of time. Notably, the only way to bind current and future Congresses is by adopting a federal Fiscal Responsibil ity Constitutional Amend ment. Such an amendment would reduce and stabilize debt/GDP at a reasonable and sustainable level. House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, has introduced a resolution to spotlight the fact that enough states had led applications for Congress to call a Convention of States to propose a Fiscal Responsibility Amendment as far back as 1979! Simply stated, Congress failed to discharge its express and ministerial responsibility under Article V to call such a Convention of States in 1979. Since then, federal debt has grown from less than $1 trillion to more than $31 trillion, and the value of the dollar has declined by more than 75 percent. A guaranteed vote on the House concurrent resolution could also be a condition to raising the debt ceiling. It is time to resolve the debt ceiling debate, move the FY 2024 Budget and Appropriations bills promptly, and call a Convention of States to propose a Fiscal Responsi bility Amendment if Con gress will not present such an amendment on its own. If Congress fails to act, it is only a matter of time be fore the states will exercise their right under Article V of the Constitution to le a Mandamus case that would ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court. David M. Walker is a former U.S. Comptroller General. He wrote this for InsideSources.com. DEBATEFrom page A7 PAGE 10 A10 Friday, May 5, 2023 Citrus County ChronicleN & W CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLEZelenskyy wants Putin trial; Russia accuses U.S. on drones By MIKE CORDER and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press THE HAGUE, Nether lands — Ukraine and Rus sia pressed their wartime rhetoric Thursday, with Ukrainian President Volo dymyr Zelenskyy express ing condence that Vladimir Putin would be convicted of war crimes, and the Kremlin alleging that the U.S. was behind what it called an as sassination attempt against the Russian president. The countries’ leaders have personally attacked each other multiple times during the war that Russia started by invading Ukraine in February 2022. The latest are-up came Wednesday, with Russia’s claim that Ukraine had attacked the Kremlin in Moscow with drones meant to assassinate Putin. Zelenskyy denied that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the pur ported drone attack. The Kremlin promised unspec ied retaliation for what it termed a “terrorist” act, and pro-Kremlin gures called for the assassinations of se nior Ukraine leaders. Uncertainty still surrounds exactly what happened in the purported attack. Putin’s spokesman on Thursday accused the Unit ed States of involvement. To generate domestic support for the war, Moscow has often tried to blame Wash ington for trying to destroy Russia through its help for Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmi try Peskov told reporters during a daily conference call that the Kremlin was “well aware that the deci sion on such actions and terrorist attacks is not made in Kyiv, but in Washington.” “And then Kyiv does what it’s told to do,” Peskov said, without offering evidence for his claim. John Kirby, a spokesman for the U.S. National Se curity Council at the White House, described the claim as “ludicrous.” Zelenskyy, in the Netherlands, said he was “not interested” in the Kremlin’s opinion. U.S intelligence ofcials are still trying to determine who was behind the drone incident and are exploring various possibilities, includ ing a false ag operation by Russia or that a fringe group with sympathies for Ukraine could have been involved, according to a U.S. ofcial. But the ofcial, who spoke Thursday on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said intel ligence ofcials don’t yet have any denitive answers. The ofcial added that the Biden administration “cer tainly would not support the strike against Mr. Putin.” Zelenskyy’s top advis er, Mykhailo Podolyak, claimed Thursday that Rus sia had “staged” the alleged drone attack. He cited the delay in Russian state media reporting it and “simultane ous video from different an gles” that appeared to show the aftermath of the alleged 2:30 a.m. attack. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War also saw evidence of staging. “Russia likely staged this attack in an attempt to bring the war home to a Russian domestic audience and set conditions for a wider soci etal mobilization,” the think tank said. Given recent Russian moves to bolster security, it’s “extremely unlikely that two drones could have pen etrated multiple layers of air defense and detonated or been shot down just over the heart of the Kremlin in a way that provided spectac ular imagery caught nicely on camera,” the ISW stated. In The Hague, where the International Criminal Court is based, Zelenskyy urged the global commu nity to hold Putin account able and told the war crimes court’s judges that Russia’s leader “deserves to be sen tenced for (his) criminal ac tions right here in the capi tal of the international law.” In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsi bility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. It was the rst time the global court circulated a warrant for a leader of one of the ve permanent U.N. Securi ty Council members. Bernat Armangue / AP Pedestrians observe Kyiv’s air defense systems trying to down a drone in Kyiv on Thursday. Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv was the target of an air attack for the third time in four days – once Thursday morning, then a second time at night.How Oklahoma rapist got out of prison early, then killed six people By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press Questions mounted Thurs day about why an Oklaho ma sex offender who au thorities say shot to death his wife, her three children and their two friends and then killed himself was freed from prison early, de spite facing new sex charges in a separate case. Those questions include how he was released on good behavior when the new charges were for so licited nude images from a teen while he was impris oned, why was he released on $25,000 bond, and how was a man convicted of rap ing a teenager able to live with teenage girls? If things had gone differ ently in the Oklahoma crim inal justice system, family members of the victims said, maybe their loved ones would still be alive. Jesse McFadden, a 39-year-old convicted rap ist, was scheduled to be in court on Monday for the start of a jury trial on charges that while in prison for rape he used a contra band cell phone to solicit a 16-year-old girl and ex changed nude photographs with her. Those new felony charges were led in 2017, more than three years before Mc Fadden was released from prison in 2020. “That’s plenty of time to prosecute any criminal case on the face of the earth,” said Brett Chapman, a for mer Tulsa County prose cutor who now works as a defense attorney who re viewed McFadden’s case. “What happened here? That should have kept him in.” Chapman also said the $25,000 bond McFadden was released on was too low. Muskogee County District Attorney Larry Edwards, whose ofce was prosecut ing the 2017 charges against McFadden, has not returned multiple telephone messag es seeking comment. But McFadden’s defense attor ney, Rex Earl Starr, said the death of McFadden’s rst attorney and the COVID-19 pandemic led to long delays in the prosecution. Still, Starr said he spoke to McFadden on Sunday, the day before he and the six victims were found dead on his rural property east of Henryetta, a town of about 6,000 about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Oklaho ma City, and didn’t suspect anything was wrong. “There was no indication whatsoever we wouldn’t be ready to select a jury at noon,” Starr said. But, in a series of ominous messages with the teenag er whom he had allegedly been texting while behind bars, McFadden vowed not to return to prison. Ac cording to screen grabs of the messages, forwarded to KOKI in Tulsa, McFadden said his “great life” was crumbling and blamed the teenager for the latest set of charges against him that could put him back in pris on for decades. A solicitation conviction can mean a 10-year sen tence; the pornography charge could mean 20 years behind bars. “Now it’s all gone,” he tex ted. “I told you I wouldn’t go back.” “This is all on you for con tinuing this,” he said. A spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections said in a state ment McFadden was able to earn credits for things like good behavior and complet ing program and education assignments that were then applied after he served 85 percent of his sentence. Spokeswoman Kay Thompson added that reg istered sex offenders are al lowed to live with their own children and stepchildren as long as they are not a victim of the offender. McFadden was not given probation or parole upon his release, but he did have to register as a sex offender and check in every 90 days with the sher iff’s ofce, which Okmul gee County Police Chief Joe Prentice said McFadden had done. McFadden’s prison record shows he had at least 10 misconduct offenses during his 17 years in prison, in cluding consensual sexual activity with other offend ers, positive drug tests and possession of tobacco. The DOC did not address why McFadden was re leased despite facing new felony charges, but his at torney, Starr, said there was no legal mechanism to keep him incarcerated when he had nished serving his sentence. “The simple answer is that he is innocent until proven guilty, it’s a basic constitu tional provision,” Starr said. After McFadden was re leased from prison, he was arraigned in Muskogee County on the new charges of soliciting a minor and possessing images of child sexual abuse, but was re leased on $25,000 bond. Relatives of the victims were in disbelief by Mc Fadden’s early release, es pecially in light of the seri ousness of the new charges against him. “And they rushed him out of prison. How?” asked Ja nette Mayo of Westville, whose daughter, Holly Guess, 35, and her grand children, Rylee Elizabeth Allen, 17; Michael James Mayo, 15; and Tiffany Dore Guess, 13, were among those killed. “Oklahoma failed to pro tect families. And because of that my children – my daughter and my grandchil dren – are all gone,” Mayo said. The other victims were 14-year-old Ivy Webster and 16-year-old Brittany Brewer. Justin Webster, who said he allowed Ivy to join a sleepover at the McFadden home not knowing anything about the man’s past, raised similar concerns. “There needs to be re percussions and somebody needs to be held account able. They let a monster out,” Webster said. Prosecutors in his orig inal rape case objected to any early release from pris on, noting that McFadden had tied a 17-year-old’s hands and feet to bedposts, cut her shirt off and raped her at knifepoint. At one point, he threatened to use the knife on her if she “did not shut up,” court records show. McFadden married Holly Guess in May 2022; what she knew of his record isn’t clear. Mayo said the family didn’t learn about her son-in-law’s criminal history until a few months ago. “He lied to my daughter,” Mayo said. “He convinced her it was all just a huge mistake.” Nathan J. Fish / The Oklahoman A memorial for Tiffany Guess, Michael Mayo and Rylee Allen hangs outside a home on Wednesday, where seven bodies were discovered on Monday in Henryetta Okla. IN BRIEF Embattled 1st Black St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner resigns ST. LOUIS (AP) — Em battled St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, the city’s rst Black pros ecutor and a Democrat, announced Thursday that she will resign, following allegations of negligence and calls for her ouster by Republican leaders. In a letter to Republican Gov. Mike Parson released by Gardner’s ofce, she said she will step aside ef fective June 1. Parson in a statement said he will im mediately begin looking for a replacement and that he is “committed to nding a candidate who represents the community, values public safety, and can help restore faith in the City’s criminal justice system.” Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey took legal steps to remove Gardner from ofce in February. Bailey said too many cases, including homicides, have gone un punished under Gardner’s watch, that victims and their families are left unin formed, and that the pros ecutor’s ofce is too slow to take on cases brought by police. Gardner said Bailey’s ef forts to remove her were politically and racially motivated. A hearing on whether Gardner should be removed had been sched uled for September. Gardner’s resignation letter also cited legislative efforts on a bill that would allow Parson to appoint a special prosecutor to han dle violent crimes, effec tively removing the bulk of her responsibilities. “It is hard to think of a more direct or brutal as sault on our democracy ...” she wrote.Official: Gunman kills 3, then self in rural Georgia town (AP) — A Georgia man shot two of his relatives and a fast food restaurant manager dead before kill ing himself on Thursday in rural south Georgia, the local coroner said. The shooter killed his 50-year-old mother and 74-year-old grandmother at two neighboring homes and killed a woman, age 41, at a McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Moultrie, Colquitt County Coroner C. Verlyn Brock told The Associated Press. He said the gunman, 26, then shot himself. All three women ap peared to have been shot multiple times, according to the coroner. “I can’t for the life of me gure out what provoked him in that way,” Brock said in a phone interview. Brock declined to release the names of those killed, saying his ofce was still working to notify next of kin. McDonald’s said the woman slain at its restau rant was a manager, but the company did not name her. Brock said he did not know whether the gunman and the McDonald’s manager knew each other. Moultrie police called in the Georgia Bureau of In vestigation to take the lead in investigating the case, which often happens with major crimes in Georgia. As of Thursday evening, the GBI had released a statement saying only that there had been “multiple fatalities” at different lo cations. “We are working to learn more information and track down some ad ditional witnesses,” GBI Special Agent in Charge Jamy Steinberg wrote in an email. He did not immedi ately respond to phone and email messages seeking further information. Jerry Goodwin lived next door to the gunman and his mother and two doors down from the grand mother. He told The Asso ciated Press on Thursday that his wife heard shots red before 1 a.m. Thurs day, while he was asleep. Goodwin said the young man who lives next door had come outside and red a gun one day earlier in the week while shouting something, and that Moul trie police had responded. US seeks help to find out who shot 4 bald eagles in Arkansas PYATT, Ark. (AP) — Federal and state wildlife authorities are asking for the public’s help in catch ing whoever might be re sponsible for the deaths of four bald eagles in Arkan sas’ Marion County earlier this year. The U.S. Fish and Wild life Service last month put up a $5,000 reward for tips that lead to the arrest and conviction of those who killed the federally pro tected birds discovered Feb. 13 near Pyatt, the Ar kansas Democrat-Gazette reported. A joint investigation by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser vice determined that the birds were shot between mid-January and mid-Feb ruary. In addition to the ea gles, authorities found red-tailed hawks, a domestic dog and white-tailed deer in the vicinity that had also been shot and killed. “There’s, I think, evi dence that somebody prob ably shot (the birds) from the road, but I don’t even know that they’re 100 per cent certain of that,” said Rob Finley, the Arkansas Game and Fish commis sioner for the area where the eagles were killed. “I know that they did set up a little bit of an operation to see if ... the people ever came back, but never did.” Finley said that is when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took the lead on the investigation. Bald eagles are federal ly protected and if killed, violators could face up to a $250,000 ne and up to two years in federal prison if convicted. While pro tected, bald eagles are no longer considered endan gered. They were removed from the endangered list in 2007.Judge gives Trump time to decide on testifying at rape trial NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump hinted Thursday that he might show up soon at the New York City trial where a jury is hearing allegations that he raped a woman in the mid-1990s. The former president’s lawyers insist that he won’t attend the proceedings or testify. Now the judge is offering him one last chance to change his mind. After writer E. Jean Car roll’s lawyers rested their case, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan was reluc tant to let Trump’s lawyers rest their case without call ing any witnesses. He said he would give Trump until 5 p.m. Sunday to provide his nal answer about testifying in his own defense in response to Car roll’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her at a posh Manhattan depart ment store in spring 1996. “If he has second thoughts, I’ll at least con sider it,” Kaplan said in court after the jury had been sent home for the day, adding that if Trump miss es the deadline, “That ship will be irrevocably sailed.” Hours earlier, Trump sug gested to reporters while golng in Ireland that he would “probably attend” the trial, but lawyer Joseph Tacopina said there were no plans for him to do so. PAGE 11 Citrus County Chronicle Friday, May 5, 2023 B1 S CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE Section B FRIDAY, MAY 5 , 2023 Eflin goes 7 masterful innings, Rays sweep Pirates By MARK DIDTLER Associated Press ST. PETERSBURG — Zach Ein pitched seven scoreless innings, Randy Arozarena hit one of three Rays homers and Tampa Bay beat the Pittsburgh Pi rates 3-2 Thursday to n ish a three-game sweep of small-budget teams off to outstanding starts. Taylor Walls and Yandy Díaz also homered for Tam pa Bay, and Ein (4-0) scat tered three hits and struck out 10. The right-hander allowed just one baserunner to reach scoring position, when Carlos Santana hit a two-out double in the sev enth. “We’re rolling right now,” Walls said. After Ryan Thompson had a perfect eighth, Jason Adam gave up Santana’s two-run, two-out double in the ninth before getting his second save and completing a four-hitter. Adam struck out Connor Joe with two on to end it. The Rays have scored a major league-best 210 runs and allowed an MLB-few est 96. Tampa Bay also tops the big leagues with 67 homers, while allowing the fewest with 20. Tampa Bay, at 26-6, is off to the best start through 32 games since the 1984 World Series champion Detroit Ti gers went 27-5. The NL Central-leading Pirates (20-12) have lost a season-high four straight. Pittsburgh starter Vince Velasquez (4-3) left after just three innings and 54 pitches due to elbow dis comfort and will undergo tests. The umpires had Ein re move a ring from his glove hand before the start of the second inning during a con ference on the mound with Rays manager Kevin Cash present. Ein said other umpire crews had let him wear the ring, but this one told him he’d be ejected if it wasn’t removed. “This is the rst crew that’s really given me trou ble about taking the ring off.” Ein said. Chris O’Meara / AP Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Zach Eflin delivers to the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning of Thursday’s game in St. Petersburg.Panthers qualify for state track By MATT PFIFFNER Sports editor The Lecanto track and eld pro gram will be sending at least three athletes to the state meet following the Region 3A-2 Meet held Thurs day at Davenport High School and it appears two more will be joining them. Mallori Grey, Burke Malmberg and Morgan Resch earned auto matic berths to state by nishing in the top two in their respective events. Ten at-large bids will also be handed out in each event, so oth er Panthers could be joining them once results from all four Class 3A regionals are conrmed. Lecanto expects Nathan Vonder haar in the high jump and Donovan Foster in the triple jump to be join ing the other three at state. The Class 3A Track and Field State Championships will be held Friday, May 19 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Grey broke her own school record in the javelin for the second week in a row with a winning toss of 33.11 meters. Malmberg nearly matched his school record in the shot put, with a winning toss of 15.59 meters. Resch tied for rst in the pole vault with a leap of 4.05 meters, but lost a jump-off to take runner-up honors and still qualify for state au tomatically. Foster nished third in the triple jump, but his effort of 13.41 meters will get him to state. The same goes for Vonderhaar in the high jump, af ter he took fth with a leap of 1.87 meters. Grey competed in three other events at regionals, placing sixth in the high jump and triple jump and 13th in the high jump. Malmberg also took 11th in the discus. The Lecanto boys’ 4x400 relay team of Travis LaBelle, Tez Jo seph, Foster and Gerald Cunning ham placed sixth in 3:28.15 and the 4x800 team of Cunningham, Joseph, Sho DeGroot and Zachary Curreri placed seventh in 8:40.11. Darius Gainer took eighth in the triple jump and 13th in the long jump and Logan Feuston placed 14th in the javelin. Mallory Mushlit tied for 10th in the pole vault and also nished 10th in the 100 hurdles. Alyssa Camunas placed ninth in the pole vault and Lauren Brady was 10th in the dis cus. Citrus’ lone regional qualier, Luka Martone, placed eighth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:04.97. ’Canes rally for title By MATT PFIFFNER Sports editor INVERNESS — Two runs down in the bottom of the sev enth with the bottom of the order coming up? No problem for the Citrus softball team. Facing a two-run decit in the nal inning against Nature Coast Tech for the District 4A-5 title, the Hurricanes put three runs on the board without the Sharks re cording an out for a thrilling 8-7 triumph for the program’s third district title in a row. “Games like this make it even sweeter. Nature Coast had a great season. We split games to set up this rubber match,” Citrus head coach Larry Bishop said. With the Hurricanes ranked eighth in the region and the Sharks ninth coming into the game, an at-large playoff berth with a loss seemed unlikely for both teams. “It’s either win or who knows what’s going to happen beyond that,” Bishop said. “We both wanted to be able to control our destiny tonight and we did that.” The Hurricanes (19-5) now know they will host a regional contest Wednesday, May 10, but the opponent is unknown.Citrus softball team wins third district crown in a row MATT PFIFFNER / Sports editor Members of the Citrus softball team celebrate Thursday night after scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Nature Coast Tech 8-7 for the District 4A-5 title in Inverness.Panthers beat Maple Leafs 3-2, take 2-game lead in seriesTORONTO (AP) — Sergei Bo brovsky made 34 saves and the Florida Panthers defeated the To ronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Thurs day night to take a 2-0 lead in their second-round playoff series. Anton Lundell had a goal and an assist, and Aleksander Barkov and Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida. Ryan O’Reilly and Alexander Kerfoot scored for Toronto, which blew an early 2-0 lead. Ilya Sam sonov stopped 26 shots. The best-of-seven series shifts to Sunrise, Florida, for Game 3 on Sunday. Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday. Toronto led 2-1 following a spir ited, chippy rst period. Trouble found the Maple Leafs in the sec ond. Barkov tied the game 19 seconds into the period on a long shot for his second goal of the postseason. Less than a minute later, there was some sloppy play by Toronto in the defensive zone when Mitch Marner ipped an ill-advised pass to Auston Matthews, who couldn’t get it out of the zone. Florida quickly countered as Forsling nished off a setup by Matthew Tkachuk – his fourth of the series – for his second and a 3-2 lead. The Maple Leafs took a while to recover before Nylander hit the post with a shot that also hit Bobrovsky in the back and stayed out. Florida defenseman Brandon Montour then hit the post at the other end. Toronto captain John Tavares had a great chance in front be fore Josh Mahura took a Nylander shot off the visor that left a trail of blood on the ice as he exited for the locker room. The Panthers defenseman returned for the third period. Toronto came out for the third with plenty of urgency, but couldn’t solve Bobrovsky, who has started to rediscover his Vez ina Trophy-winning form in these playoffs after losing the starting job late in the regular season to third-stringer Alex Lyon. Tavares was stopped in alone and Nylander hit another post. The Maple Leafs winger was also denied in tight with ve minutes left in regulation. Toronto continued to press with Samsonov on the bench for an ex tra attacker, but couldn’t beat Bo brovsky. Toronto dropped the series open er 4-2 at Scotiabank Arena, but got off to a fast start Thursday when Kerfoot scored on the rebound of a Luke Schenn point shot for his second at 2:20 of the rst. Unable to connect on two early power plays in Game 1, the Maple Leafs made it 2-0 on a man advan tage at 5:10 when Marner found MATT PFIFFNER / Sports editor Citrus shortstop Riley Tirrell, left, puts the tag on Nature Coast Tech baserunner Ashlynn Sentner on a stolen base for the Shark in the first inning of Thursday’s game in Inverness. See SOFTBALL , page B3 See RAYS , page B3 See NHL , page B3 PAGE 12 B2 Friday, May 5, 2023 Citrus County Chronicle MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL STANDINGS AND SCORES AMERICAN LEAGUE East Division W L Pct GBTampa Bay 26 6 .813 –Baltimore 21 10 .677 4½Boston 19 14 .576 7½Toronto 18 14 .563 8New York 17 15 .531 9 Central Division W L Pct GBMinnesota 18 14 .563 –Cleveland 14 17 .452 3½Detroit 13 17 .433 4Chicago 10 22 .313 8Kansas City 8 24 .250 10 West Division W L Pct GBTexas 18 12 .600 –Los Angeles 18 14 .563 1Houston 16 15 .516 2½Seattle 15 16 .484 3½Oakland 6 26 .188 13 NATIONAL LEAGUE East Division W L Pct GBAtlanta 22 10 .688 –Miami 16 16 .500 6New York 16 16 .500 6Phila. 15 17 .469 7Washington 13 18 .419 8½ Central Division W L Pct GBPittsburgh 20 12 .625 –Milwaukee 18 13 .581 1½Chicago 15 16 .484 4½Cincinnati 13 18 .419 6½St. Louis 10 22 .313 10 West Division W L Pct GBLos Angeles 19 13 .594 –Arizona 17 14 .548 1½San Diego 17 15 .531 2San Francisco 13 17 .433 5Colorado 12 20 .375 7 AMERICAN LEAGUE Wednesday’s Games Detroit 6, N.Y. Mets 5, 1st gameSan Francisco 4, Houston 2Arizona 12, Texas 7Detroit 8, N.Y. Mets 1, 2nd gameTampa Bay 8, Pittsburgh 1Kansas City 6, Baltimore 0N.Y. Yankees 4, Cleveland 3, 10 inningsChicago White Sox 6, Minnesota 4Boston 8, Toronto 3L.A. Angels 6, St. Louis 4Seattle 7, Oakland 2, 10 innings Thursday’s Games Detroit 2, N.Y. Mets 0Tampa Bay 3, Pittsburgh 2L.A. Angels 11, St. Louis 7Baltimore 13, Kansas City 10Minnesota 7, Chicago White Sox 3, 12 in ningsSeattle 5, Oakland 3Boston 11, Toronto 5 Friday’s Games Toronto (Bassitt 3-2) at Pittsburgh (Hill 3-2), 6:35 p.m.Chicago White Sox (Lynn 0-4) at Cincinnati (Greene 0-1), 6:40 p.m.N.Y. Yankees (Brito 2-3) at Tampa Bay (Chiri nos 1-0), 6:40 p.m.Boston (Sale 2-2) at Phila. (Wheeler 3-1), 7:05 p.m.Minnesota (Ober 1-0) at Cleveland (Batten eld 0-2), 7:10 p.m.Baltimore (Kremer 2-1) at Atlanta (Fried 2-0), 7:20 p.m.Oakland (Muller 0-2) at Kansas City (Keller 2-2), 8:10 p.m.Detroit (Boyd 1-2) at St. Louis (Montgomery 2-4), 8:15 p.m.Texas (Dunning 2-0) at L.A. Angels (Ander son 1-0), 9:38 p.m.Houston (Javier 2-1) at Seattle (Castillo 2-0), 10:10 p.m. Saturday’s Games Detroit at St. Louis, 2:15 p.m.N.Y. Yankees at Tampa Bay, 4:10 p.m.Minnesota at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.Toronto at Pittsburgh, 6:35 p.m.Chicago White Sox at Cincinnati, 6:40 p.m.Oakland at Kansas City, 7:10 p.m.Baltimore at Atlanta, 7:15 p.m.Boston at Phila., 7:15 p.m.Texas at L.A. Angels, 9:07 p.m.Houston at Seattle, 9:40 p.m. NATIONAL LEAGUE Wednesday’s Game s Detroit 6, N.Y. Mets 5, 1st gameSan Francisco 4, Houston 2Arizona 12, Texas 7San Diego 7, Cincinnati 1L.A. Dodgers 10, Phila. 6Detroit 8, N.Y. Mets 1, 2nd gameTampa Bay 8, Pittsburgh 1Atlanta 14, Miami 6Washington 2, Chicago Cubs 1L.A. Angels 6, St. Louis 4Colorado 7, Milwaukee 1 Thursday’s Games Washington 4, Chicago Cubs 3Detroit 2, N.Y. Mets 0Tampa Bay 3, Pittsburgh 2L.A. Angels 11, St. Louis 7Colorado 9, Milwaukee 6Atlanta 6, Miami 3 Friday’s Games Miami (Cabrera 2-2) at Chicago Cubs (Steele 4-0), 2:20 p.m.Toronto (Bassitt 3-2) at Pittsburgh (Hill 3-2), 6:35 p.m.Chicago White Sox (Lynn 0-4) at Cincinnati (Greene 0-1), 6:40 p.m.Boston (Sale 2-2) at Phila. (Wheeler 3-1), 7:05 p.m.Colorado (Senzatela 0-0) at N.Y. Mets (Sen ga 3-1), 7:10 p.m.Baltimore (Kremer 2-1) at Atlanta (Fried 2-0), 7:20 p.m.Detroit (Boyd 1-2) at St. Louis (Montgomery 2-4), 8:15 p.m.L.A. Dodgers (Kershaw 5-1) at San Diego (Musgrove 1-0), 9:40 p.m.Washington (Gray 2-4) at Arizona (Kelly 2-3), 9:40 p.m.Milwaukee (Burnes 3-1) at San Francisco (Manaea 0-1), 10:15 p.m. Saturday’s Games Detroit at St. Louis, 2:15 p.m.Miami at Chicago Cubs, 2:20 p.m.Colorado at N.Y. Mets, 4:10 p.m.Toronto at Pittsburgh, 6:35 p.m.Chicago White Sox at Cincinnati, 6:40 p.m.Baltimore at Atlanta, 7:15 p.m.Boston at Phila., 7:15 p.m.Milwaukee at San Francisco, 7:15 p.m.Washington at Arizona, 8:10 p.m.L.A. Dodgers at San Diego, 8:40 p.m. TAMPA BAY 3, PITTSBURGH 2 Pittsburgh Tampa Bay ab r h bi ab r h bi Marcano ss 3 1 0 0 Díaz 1b 4 1 2 1Reynolds lf 4 1 1 0 Franco ss 3 0 0 0McCutchn dh 4 0 0 0 Arozarena lf 3 1 1 1Santana 1b 4 0 2 2 J.Lowe dh 2 0 0 0Andujar pr 0 0 0 0 Paredes 3b 3 0 1 0Suwinski cf 3 0 0 0 Walls 2b 3 1 1 1Joe rf 4 0 0 0 Raley rf 3 0 0 0Hayes 3b 3 0 1 0 Bethancourt c 3 0 0 0Bae 2b 3 0 0 0 Margot cf 2 0 0 0Delay c 2 0 0 0 Castro ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 31 2 4 2 Totals 26 3 5 3Pittsburgh 000 000 002 — 2 Tampa Bay 010 100 01x — 3 E–Walls (2). DP–Pittsburgh 1, Tampa Bay 1. LOB–Pittsburgh 4, Tampa Bay 3. 2B–Santa na 2 (11), Díaz (5), Paredes (6). HR–Walls (5), Arozarena (8), Díaz (8). SB–J.Lowe (5). IP H R ER BB SO Pittsburgh Velasquez L,4-3 3 2 1 1 1 2Hernandez 1 2 1 1 0 1Underwood Jr. 2 0 0 0 2 1Holderman 1 0 0 0 0 3Stephenson 1 1 1 1 1 1Tampa Bay Eflin W,4-0 7 3 0 0 0 10Thompson H,2 1 0 0 0 0 0Adam S,2-3 1 1 2 0 1 3HBP–Adam (Marcano).Umpires–Home, Manny Gonzalez; First, Junior Valentine; Second, Adrian Johnson; Third, Quinn Wolcott.T–2:14. A–12,418 (25,025). L.A. ANGELS 11, ST. LOUIS 7 Los Angeles St. Louis ab r h bi ab r h bi Neto ss 5 0 1 2 Nootbaar rf 5 1 4 0Ohtani dh 3 1 1 0 Gdschmt 1b 5 0 2 2Renfroe rf 5 1 1 0 Gorman 3b 3 1 0 0Rendon 3b 3 2 2 0 Motter ph-3b 2 0 0 0Lamb 1b 4 2 1 1 Arenado dh 4 1 0 0Urshela 1b 1 0 0 0 Contreras c 4 1 2 2Ward lf 4 1 3 1 O’Neill lf 4 0 0 0Thaiss c 5 2 3 2 Donovan 2b 4 0 0 0Rengifo 2b 4 2 3 4 Carlson cf 2 1 0 0Phillips cf 5 0 1 1 Edman ss 4 2 2 3Totals 39 11 16 11 Totals 37 7 10 7Los Angeles 046 100 000 — 11 St. Louis 200 302 000 — 7 E–Edman (4). DP–Los Angeles 0, St. Louis 3. LOB–Los Angeles 7, St. Louis 7. 2B–Rengifo (2), Ward (3), Contreras 2 (9), Goldschmidt (12). HR–Rengifo (2), Edman (5). SF–Ward (2), Rengifo (1). IP H R ER BB SO Los Angeles Canning W,2-0 5 6 5 5 3 3Loup 2 / 3 2 2 2 1 0 Devenski 1 1 / 3 0 0 0 0 1 Davidson 1 2 0 0 0 1Moore 1 0 0 0 0 0St. Louis Flaherty L,2-4 2 1 / 3 9 10 10 1 3 Woodford 1 2 / 3 4 1 0 1 0 Stratton 2 1 0 0 0 3Romero 1 1 / 3 1 0 0 0 1 VerHagen 1 2 / 3 1 0 0 1 1 HBP–Flaherty (Rendon).Umpires–Home, Hunter Wendelstedt; First, John Tumpane; Second, Alex MacKay; Third, Marvin Hudson.T–2:58. A–40,508 (44,494). BALTIMORE 13, KANSAS CITY 10 Baltimore Kansas City ab r h bi ab r h bi Mullins cf 5 0 1 3 Witt Jr. ss 5 1 3 1Ruschmn dh 5 0 0 0 Pasqntino 1b 5 0 1 1Mtcastle 1b 4 1 1 0 Dozier lf 1 0 0 0Santander rf 5 1 2 2 Perez dh 4 1 1 2McKenna pr-rf 0 1 0 0 Melendez rf 5 1 3 0Stowers lf 4 1 0 0 Pratto lf-1b 5 1 0 0Frazier 2b 3 4 2 0 Garcia 3b 5 1 2 1Mateo ss 4 2 1 1 Massey 2b 3 2 1 1Henderson 3b 2 2 1 2 Isbel cf 4 1 2 2Urías ph-3b 2 0 2 4 Brdley pr-cf 0 0 0 0McCann c 3 1 0 0 Fermin c 4 2 3 2Totals 37 13 10 12 Totals 41 10 16 10 Baltimore 233 000 023 — 13 Kansas City 013 210 201 — 10 E–Melendez (2). DP–Baltimore 1, Kansas City 1. LOB–Baltimore 7, Kansas City 10. 2B–Mullins (5), Mountcastle (9), Urías (7), Melendez 2 (7), Massey (2), Witt Jr. (5), Gar cia (1). 3B–Fermin (1). HR–Santander (3), Henderson (3), Fermin (1), Perez (6), Isbel (1). SB–Garcia (1), Frazier (5), Mateo (11), Urías 2 (2), McCann (1). IP H R ER BB SO Baltimore Rodriguez 3 2 / 3 8 6 6 1 3 Pérez 1 1 / 3 3 1 1 0 0 Baker H,7 1 / 3 1 0 0 2 0 Coulombe BS,0-1 2 / 3 2 2 2 1 2 Cano W,1-0 2 1 0 0 0 3Bautista 1 1 1 1 2 3Kansas City Lyles 5 6 8 6 2 3Cox 2 0 0 0 1 1Chapman L,1-2 1 / 3 1 2 2 3 0 Garrett 1 3 3 3 2 1Staumont 2 / 3 0 0 0 1 1 Garrett pitched to 5 batters in the 9th.HBP–Lyles (McCann). WP–Bautista, Lyles(2), Staumont.Umpires–Home, Rob Drake; First, Bill Miller; Second, Chad Whitson; Third, Roberto Ortiz.T–3:24. A–11,514 (38,427). MINNESOTA 7, CHICAGO WHITE SOX 3 Minnesota Chicago ab r h bi ab r h bi Kepler rf 4 1 1 0 Benintendi lf 4 0 1 0Correa ss 5 1 1 2 Vaughn 1b 3 0 0 0Buxton dh 4 1 1 1 Hamilton pr-rf 2 1 0 0Polanco 2b 6 0 1 2 Jiménez dh 5 1 3 3Solano 1b 3 0 0 0 Sheets rf 3 0 0 0Larnach ph-lf 3 1 0 0 Haseley rf 0 0 0 0Miranda 3b 5 0 0 0 Andrsn ph-ss 3 0 0 0Gallo lf-1b 2 1 0 0 Robert Jr. cf 4 0 1 0Vázquez c 4 0 0 0 Alberto 3b-1b 5 0 1 0Castro pr 0 0 0 0 Andrus ss-2b 4 0 1 0Jeffers c 1 1 0 0 Sosa 2b-3b 4 0 0 0Taylor cf 2 0 0 0 Zavala c 2 1 0 0Gordon ph-cf 3 1 1 1 Grandal ph-c 2 0 0 0Totals 42 7 5 6 Totals 41 3 7 3Minnesota 000 001 010 005 — 7 Chicago 002 000 000 001 — 3 E–Andrus (3), Anderson (1). DP–Minnesota 2, Chicago 1. LOB–Minnesota 10, Chicago 14. 2B–Gordon (3), Robert Jr. (7), Alberto (1). HR–Correa (4), Buxton (8), Jiménez (4). SB–Hamilton (2). S–Sosa (1). I P H R ER BB SO Minnesota P.López 7 6 2 2 1 8Duran 1 0 0 0 2 0J.López 1 0 0 0 2 0Stewart 1 0 0 0 2 3Pagán W,2-0 1 0 0 0 1 2Moran 1 1 1 0 0 1Chicago Giolito 7 2 1 1 3 7R.López BS,3-7 1 1 1 1 0 1Graveman 1 0 0 0 1 2Lambert 1 0 0 0 1 0Bummer 1 0 0 0 0 3Colomé L,0-1 1 / 3 0 3 1 1 0 Peralta 2 / 3 2 2 2 2 2 WP–P.López, Duran, Stewart.Umpires–Home, Mark Ripperger; First, Shane Livensparger; Second, Dan Bellino; Third, Phil Cuzzi.T–3:37. A–14,650 (40,241). COLORADO 9, MILWAUKEE 6 Milwaukee Colorado ab r h bi ab r h bi Yelich lf 5 2 3 2 Blackmon dh 5 0 2 2Winker dh 5 0 2 1 Profar lf 4 0 0 0Adames ss 5 0 0 0 Bryant rf 3 0 2 0Tellez 1b 4 1 1 1 Cron 1b 4 0 1 0Anderson 3b 4 1 3 0 McMhn pr-3b 0 1 0 0Caratini c 4 0 2 1 Mstaks 3b-1b 4 2 2 0Turang 2b 3 1 1 0 Trejo 2b 3 1 1 0Taylor rf 4 1 1 1 Castro ph-2b 1 1 1 2Wiemer cf 3 0 0 0 Tovar ss 3 2 1 2Voit ph 1 0 0 0 Doyle cf 3 2 1 0 Serven c 2 0 0 0 Díaz ph-c 0 0 0 2Totals 38 6 13 6 Totals 32 9 11 8 Milwaukee 200 011 002 — 6 Colorado 000 000 45x — 9 DP–Milwaukee 1, Colorado 1. LOB–Milwau kee 6, Colorado 5. 2B–Bryant (5), Tovar (7), Moustakas (5). 3B–Anderson (1). HR–Yelich (4), Tellez (9), Taylor (1). SB–Doyle (4). SF–Díaz 2 (2). IP H R ER BB SO Milwaukee Miley 6 6 3 3 2 2Payamps BS,1-2 1 1 1 1 0 1Strzelecki L,2-2 1 / 3 3 5 5 1 1 T.Miller 2 / 3 1 0 0 0 0 Colorado Seabold 5 7 3 3 0 1Mears 2 3 1 1 0 4Hand W,1-1 1 1 0 0 0 1Johnson 1 2 2 2 1 1Miley pitched to 3 batters in the 7th.HBP–Miley (Blackmon), Strzelecki (Tovar). WP–T.Miller.Umpires–Home, D.J. Reyburn; First, John Libka; Second, Edwin Jimenez; Third, James Hoye.T–2:43. A–30,647 (50,144). SEATTLE 5, OAKLAND 3 Seattle Oakland ab r h bi ab r h bi Rodríguez dh 4 0 0 0 Ruiz cf 4 1 1 1France 1b 5 0 1 0 Kemp 2b 4 0 0 1Kelenic cf 5 0 1 0 Rooker lf 4 0 1 0Suárez 3b 4 0 1 0 Laureano dh 4 0 2 0Raleigh c 3 1 0 0 Bleday rf 4 1 2 1Hernández rf 3 1 1 0 Aguilar 1b 3 0 1 0Crawford ss 2 2 0 0 Noda ph 1 0 0 0Trammell lf 2 1 1 3 Pérez c 4 0 1 0Pollock ph-lf 1 0 0 0 Peterson 3b 4 0 0 0Wong 2b 4 0 2 2 Allen ss 2 1 0 0Totals 33 5 7 5 Totals 34 3 8 3Seattle 002 300 000 — 5 Oakland 012 000 000 — 3 DP–Seattle 1, Oakland 1. LOB–Seattle 8, Oakland 5. 2B–Hernández (5), Kelenic (9). 3B–Ruiz (1). HR–Trammell (2), Bleday (1). SB–Laureano (3). IP H R ER BB SO Seattle Kirby W,3-2 7 7 3 3 1 2Topa H,7 1 1 0 0 0 1Sewald S,9-9 1 0 0 0 0 1Oakland Rucinski L,0-2 3 2 / 3 4 5 5 5 3 Pruitt 1 0 0 0 2 0Long 1 1 / 3 2 0 0 0 2 Patton 1 0 0 0 0 1Lovelady 1 0 0 0 0 0 Garcia 1 1 0 0 0 0Pruitt pitched to 4 batters in the 5th, Lovela dy pitched to 2 batters in the 9th.Umpires–Home, Emil Jimenez; First, Ryan Blakney; Second, Brian O’Nora; Third, Nestor Ceja.T–2:34. A–13,025 (46,847). ATLANTA 6, MIAMI 3 Atlanta Miami ab r h bi ab r h bi Acuña Jr. rf 3 1 1 1 Berti ss 5 1 3 0Hilliard cf 1 0 0 0 Soler dh 5 1 3 3Olson 1b 5 1 1 1 Arraez 2b 4 0 1 0Riley 3b 4 1 2 0 Gurriel 1b 4 0 0 0Murphy c 4 0 1 1 Segura 3b 3 0 1 0Albies 2b 5 0 3 0 Hampson rf 3 0 0 0Grissom ss 4 0 0 1 Chshlm ph-cf 1 0 0 0 Ozuna dh 4 2 1 1 Fortes c 4 0 1 0Rosario lf 4 1 2 0 De La Cruz lf 4 0 1 0 Pillar cf-rf 3 0 1 1 Burdick cf-rf 2 1 0 0Totals 37 6 12 6 Totals 35 3 10 3 Atlanta 120 100 002 — 6 Miami 200 010 000 — 3 E–Gurriel (1), Fortes (3), Luzardo (2). DP–Atlanta 1, Miami 2. LOB–Atlanta 10, Miami 8. 2B–Murphy (8), Rosario (6), Albies (7), Soler (9). HR–Ozuna (5), Olson (9), Soler (6). SB–Berti (5), Pillar (2). SF–Pillar (1), Grissom (1). IP H R ER BB SO Atlanta Dodd W,2-1 6 8 3 3 3 1Tonkin H,1 1 1 0 0 0 0Anderson H,5 1 0 0 0 0 0Minter S,7-9 1 1 0 0 0 2Miami Luzardo L,2-2 5 2 / 3 7 4 3 3 5 Brazoban 1 1 / 3 2 0 0 0 4 Floro 1 0 0 0 0 1 Puk 2 / 3 3 2 2 1 1 Okert 1 / 3 0 0 0 0 0 Umpires–Home, Ramon De Jesus; First, Doug Eddings; Second, Lance Barrett; Third, Charlie Ramos.T–2:36. A–8,295 (37,446). BOSTON 11, TORONTO 5 Toronto Boston ab r h bi ab r h bi Springer rf 4 1 1 1 Tapia rf 4 3 1 1Bichette ss 5 1 2 1 Yoshida lf 5 3 3 3Guerrero 1b 5 1 2 2 Turner dh 5 2 3 1Varsho lf 3 0 2 1 Devers 3b 5 1 3 4Chapman 3b 4 0 0 0 Duran cf 5 0 3 1Belt dh 2 0 1 0 Casas 1b 5 1 1 0Kirk ph-dh 2 0 0 0 Valdez 2b 3 1 0 0D.Jansen c 3 1 0 0 Hernández ss 4 0 0 0Biggio 2b 2 0 0 0 McGuire c 4 0 2 1Mrrifld ph-2b 2 0 1 0 Kiermaier cf 3 1 0 0 Totals 35 5 9 5 Totals 40 11 16 11Toronto 000 130 001 — 5 Boston 150 200 03x — 11E–D.Jansen (3), Devers (3). DP–Toronto 0, Boston 1. LOB–Toronto 7, Boston 7. 2B–Bi chette (6), Guerrero Jr. (7), Devers (8), Tapia (2). HR–Guerrero Jr. (7), Yoshida (6), Devers (11). SB–Turner (2), Tapia 2 (3), Duran (4). SF–Varsho (2). IP H R ER BB SO Toronto Gausman L,2-3 3 1 / 3 10 8 8 1 4 Mayza 1 2 / 3 3 0 0 0 1 Swanson 1 1 0 0 0 0 Bass 1 0 0 0 0 1 Pop 2 / 3 2 3 3 1 1 García 1 / 3 0 0 0 0 0 Boston Bello W,1-1 5 6 4 2 1 5 Bernardino 1 1 / 3 0 0 0 1 0 Schreiber 1 2 / 3 1 0 0 0 3 Brasier 1 2 1 1 1 1 WP–Gausman(2).Umpires–Home, Ryan Additon; First, Dan Merzel; Second, Lance Barksdale; Third, Will Little.T–2:53. A–30,173 (37,755). DETROIT 2, N.Y. METS 0 New York Detroit ab r h bi ab r h bi Nimmo cf 4 0 1 0 McKinstry lf 3 0 0 0Marte rf 4 0 1 0 Greene cf 4 1 2 1Lindor ss 3 0 0 0 Báez ss 3 1 1 1Alonso 1b 3 0 0 0 Maton 3b 4 0 0 0Pham dh 3 0 1 0 Torkelson 1b 2 0 0 0McNeil 2b 3 0 0 0 Haase dh 3 0 1 0Canha lf 3 0 0 0 Vierling rf 3 0 0 0Escobar 3b 2 0 0 0 Ibáñez 2b 3 0 1 0Álvarez c 2 0 0 0 Short 2b 0 0 0 0Voglbach ph 1 0 0 0 Rogers c 3 0 0 0Totals 28 0 3 0 Totals 28 2 5 2New York 000 000 000 — 0 Detroit 200 000 00x — 2 DP–New York 1, Detroit 0. LOB–New York 2, Detroit 5. 2B–Ibáñez (1). HR–Greene (3), Báez (2). SB–Greene (3). I P H R ER BB SO New York Verlander L,0-1 5 5 2 2 1 5 Brigham 1 0 0 0 0 1 Leone 1 0 0 0 0 1 Smith 1 0 0 0 0 1 Detroit Rodriguez W,3-2 8 2 0 0 1 9 Lange S,5-6 1 1 0 0 0 2 HBP–Brigham (Torkelson), Smith (Báez).Umpires–Home, Adam Beck; First, Dan Ias sogna; Second, Gabe Morales; Third, Scott Barry.T–2:06. A–18,369 (41,083). WASHINGTON 4, CHICAGO CUBS 3 Chicago Washington ab r h bi ab r h bi Hoerner 2b 4 0 1 1 Call cf-lf 4 1 1 1Swanson ss 4 0 0 0 García 2b 3 0 0 0Happ lf 3 0 0 0 Candelario 3b 3 0 0 0Suzuki dh 4 0 1 0 Meneses dh 3 1 1 0Bellinger cf 4 1 2 0 Smith 1b 3 1 2 0Wisdom 3b 4 1 1 0 Thomas rf 3 1 1 3Mancini 1b 4 1 1 1 Abrams ss 3 0 1 0Velázquez rf 3 0 0 0 Garrett lf 3 0 0 0Amaya c 2 0 0 1 Robles cf 0 0 0 0 Adams c 3 0 0 0Totals 32 3 6 3 Totals 28 4 6 4Chicago 000 000 030 — 3 Washington 030 000 001 — 4 DP–Chicago 1, Washington 0. LOB–Chicago 4, Washington 0. 2B–Mancini (3), Suzuki (3). HR–Thomas (2), Call (3). SB–Bellinger (6). SF–Amaya (1). IP H R ER BB SO Chicago Taillon 3 3 3 3 0 4 Assad 5 2 0 0 0 1 Boxberger L,0-1 0 1 1 1 0 0 Washington Corbin 7 3 2 2 0 6 Harvey BS,0-1 1 2 1 1 0 1 Finnegan W,1-1 1 1 0 0 1 2 Boxberger pitched to 1 batter in the 9th, Corbin pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.Umpires–Home, Todd Tichenor; First, Brian Knight; Second, Alex Tosi; Third, Tony Ran dazzo. T–1:55. A–18,577 (41,376). AMERICAN LEAGUE LEADERS Through May 3 BATTING G AB R H BA Chapman, TOR 31 114 18 40 .351Bichette, TOR 32 136 21 45 .331Díaz, TB 29 104 25 34 .327Arozarena, TB 30 117 23 38 .325Guerrero Jr., TOR 32 128 23 41 .320Yoshida, BOS 27 104 21 33 .317Verdugo, BOS 32 130 26 41 .315Ohtani, LAA 30 117 20 36 .308Kelenic, SEA 29 102 14 31 .304Dubón, HOU 26 109 20 33 .303 HOME RUNS Devers, BOS 11Rooker, OAK 9Díaz, TB 8Buxton, MIN 8Jung, TEX 8García, TEX 8Trout, LAA 8Arozarena, TB 8Mountcastle, BAL 810 tied 7 RUNS BATTED IN García, TEX 31Devers, BOS 31Arozarena, TB 29Alvarez, HOU 27Mullins, BAL 26Mountcastle, BAL 26Yoshida, BOS 24Jung, TEX 24Semien, TEX 24Heim, TEX 23 NATIONAL LEAGUE LEADERS Through May 3 BATTING G AB R H BA Arraez, MIA 28 99 12 42 .424 Acuña Jr., ATL 32 124 29 44 .355Estrada, SF 29 114 20 39 .342Díaz, COL 29 92 12 31 .337 Marsh, PHI 30 95 18 31 .326 Reynolds, PIT 30 114 18 37 .325Carroll, ARI 29 99 20 31 .313 Friedl, CIN 31 103 10 32 .311Freeman, LAD 32 126 25 39 .310Bryant, COL 29 110 13 34 .309 HOME RUNS Muncy, LAD 12Wisdom, CHC 11Alonso, NYM 11Tellez, MIL 9Olson, ATL 9Albies, ATL 9Murphy, ATL 8Gorman, STL 7Bellinger, CHC 7Outman, LAD 7Walker, ARI 7Schwarber, PHI 7 RUNS BATTED IN Alonso, NYM 28Muncy, LAD 27Olson, ATL 26Albies, ATL 26Walker, ARI 25Murphy, ATL 24Lindor, NYM 24Gorman, STL 23Reynolds, PIT 23Bohm, PHI 23 May 5 1904 – Cy Young of the Red Sox pitched a perfect game against the Philadelphia Athletics, beating Rube Waddell 3-0. Having pitched nine hitless innings in two previous efforts, he ran his string of hitless innings to 18. 1917 – Ernie Koob of the St. Louis Browns pitched a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox for a 1-0 win in St. Louis. 1925 – Manager Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers hit three hom ers, a double and two singles against the St. Louis Browns. 1925 – Shortstop Everett Scott of the New York Yankees was benched, ending his streak of 1,307 consecutive games played that started while playing for the Boston Red Sox. Scott, who gave way to Pee Wee Wanninger, had the longest playing streak before Lou Gehrig. 1933 – Pepper Martin of the St. Louis Cardinals hit for the cycle and scored four runs in a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. 1939 – Sam Chapman of the Philadelphia Athletics hit for the cycle in a 10-5 win over the St. Louis Browns. Chapman complet ed the cycle with a single in the ninth. 1955 – Brooklyn Dodgers rookie Tom Lasorda makes his first major league start as he he throws three wild pitches in one inning, tying a major league record. After his pitching career, Lasorda will enjoy far more suc cess as a Hall of Fame manager. 1962 – Bo Belinsky of the Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-0 with a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium. Belinsky struck out nine and walked four. 1975 – The Oakland Athletics release pinch runner Herb Wash ington, ending his unusual major league career. Curiously, Wash ington played in 105 major league games without batting, pitching, or fielding. He collected 31 stolen bases and scored 33 runs. 1978 – Pete Rose became the youngest and 14th player with 3,000 hits when he singled against Montreal’s Steve Rogers at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. 1980 – National League presi dent Chub Feeney suspended Pittsburgh’s Bill Madlock for 15 days and fined him $5,000 for shoving his glove in the face of home plate umpire Gerry Craw ford. 1999 – Colorado became the first team in 35 years and the third this century to score in every inning in a 13-6 win over the Chi cago Cubs. The last time a team scored in all nine innings was also at Wrigley Field, when St. Louis beat the Cubs on Sept. 13, 1964. 2000 – St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire hits the longest home run in the 30-year history of Cinergy Field, but the 473-foot shot is not enough as Ken Griffey, Jr.’s home run leads the Cincinnati Reds past St. Louis, 3-2. 2003 – Matt Stairs of the Pitts burgh Pirates hits a home run off Houston Astros pitcher Wade Mill er which is estimated at 461 feet, making it the longest in the histo ry of Minute Maid Park. 2004 – Mike Piazza set a major league mark for homers as a catcher, hitting No. 352, in the New York Mets’ 8-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants. 2004 – Roger Clemens of the Houston Astros moves past Steve Carlton for second place on the career strikeout list with his 4,137th in Houston’s 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. 2006 – At Citizens Bank Park, Omar Vizquel of the San Francisco Giants plays his 2,302nd game at shortstop, catching Cal Ripken, Jr. for third-most all time. Vizquel is now behind Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio (2,581) and Ozzie Smith (2,511). He will eventually pass both. 2015 – Bartolo Colon became the first pitcher in at least 100 years to beat the same opponent with seven different teams, stop ping Baltimore once again and leading the New York Mets to a 3-2 win over the Orioles. 2018 – In pitching a perfect 9th inning in a 6 – 5 win against the Rangers, Craig Kimbrel of the Red Sox becomes the 29th man to record 300 saves. He is the youngest to reach the mark at 29 (Francisco Rodriguez was 31) and has needed the fewest games, 494 (Mariano Rivera had done so in 537 games) and save opportu nities (330, compared to 335 for Joe Nathan) to do so. THIS DATE IN BASEBALL Paul Sancya / AP New York Mets pitcher Justin Verlander throws against the Detroit Tigers in the second inning of Thursday’s game.Verlander gives up 2 HRs in Tigers win over Mets By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DETROIT — Justin Ver lander grabbed the bill of his cap two times as he faced home plate, ac knowledging a warm wel come from fans in Detroit, then had to whip his head around twice toward the outeld as the Tigers sent pitches over the right-eld wall. Verlander gave up backto-back home runs in his New York Mets debut and Eduardo Rodriguez threw eight scoreless innings as the Detroit Tigers com pleted a three-game sweep with a 2-0 win Thursday. In the end, though, Ver lander appreciated the crowd’s collective gesture at the start of his outing. “Any athlete in any situ ation, when they gave that much to an organization and that much of their ca reer somewhere, it’s nice to hear the ovation, hear the applause,” said Ver lander, who was drafted by the Tigers in 2004 and traded by them to Hous ton in 2017. “That’s a fan’s way of saying thank you. Of course, it means a lot.” Riley Greene and Javier Baez hit solo homers off Verlander in the rst in ning and that was enough offense for the Tigers, who had 18,369 fans in the stands for their biggest crowd in nearly a month. Rodriguez (3-2) gave up just two hits and one walk while striking out nine. Alex Lange pitched the ninth for his fth save. Verlander (0-1) settled in after his rough start, showing signs of the form that led to him winning the Cy Young award last year for the third time and helping the Astros win the World Series for a second time. The 40-year-old righthander gave up two runs on ve hits and a walk while striking out ve in his 79-pitch outing. He started the season on the injured list with a muscle strain in his upper back. Red Sox 11, Blue Jays 5 BOSTON – Masataka Yoshida and Rafael Devers each homered to help Boston complete a four-game sweep of Toronto. Boston won its sixth straight overall to jump over Toronto for third place in the AL East. It’s the first time the Sox have swept the Jays in a four-game series since 2002. Brayan Bello (1-1) picked up his first win of the season after allowing four runs – two earned – and six hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked one. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered and drove in two runs for Toronto, which has lost five straight. Kevin Gausman (2-3) allowed eight runs and 10 hits in 3 1 / 3 innings. His ERA soared from 2.33 to 3.86. Nationals 4, Cubs 3 WASHINGTON – Alex Call hit a game-ending homer leading off the ninth inning, and Washington recovered after blowing a 3-0 lead to beat Chicago and take three of four from the skidding Cubs. Call lofted the only pitch from Brad Boxberger (1-1) just inside the left-field foul pole and was greeted at the plate by exuberant teammates, who dumped a buck et of blue Gatorade on his head. Lane Thomas hit a three-run homer for Washington, which got seven near-flawless innings by starter Patrick Corbin. The veteran left-hander had given up only one hit – a popup by Cody Bellinger that shortstop CJ Abrams lost in the sun – before allowing back-to-back singles to start the eighth. Manager Dave Martinez pulled him for Hunter Harvey, who quick ly allowed the Cubs to tie it. Kyle Finnegan (1-1) gave up a walk and a double to start the ninth, but retired the next three batters. Angels 11, Cardinals 7 ST. LOUIS – Luis Rengifo hom ered, drove in four runs and fin ished a triple shy of the cycle as Los Angeles beat St. Louis to complete a three-game sweep. The Angels won for the fourth straight time to improve to four games above .500. The Cardinals lost their sixth in a row and have dropped nine of their last 10. Griffin Canning (2-0) gave up five runs in five innings to earn his second-straight decision for the Angels. Canning allowed six hits, struck out three and walked three. Tommy Edman hit a three-run homer in the fourth and Paul Goldschmidt added a two-run double in the sixth for St. Louis, which at 10-22 is off to its worst start since the 1973 squad opened the season 8-23. Braves 6, Marlins 3 MIAMI – Marcell Ozuna hom ered for third time in two games, Ronald Acuña Jr. stole his league-leading 15th base, and Atlanta beat Miami to complete a three-game sweep. Acuña went down in the sixth after fouling a ball off his left knee. He remained on the ground and grabbed at his leg for several minutes, but finished the at-bat and returned to right field in the bottom of the frame. He was eventually removed out of precau tion. Matt Olson also homered for the Braves, winners of five of their last six. Dylan Dodd (2-1) allowed eight hits, three runs, walked three and struck out one in six innings. A.J. Minter struck out two in the ninth for his seventh save of the sea son. Orioles 13, Royals 10 KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Ramon Urias hit a go-ahead, two-run sin gle in the eighth inning, then added a two-run double in the ninth, helping Baltimore overcome a blown seven-run lead in a win over Kansas City. Gunnar Henderson and Antho ny Santander hit homers, and Cedric Mullins also drove in three for the Orioles, who led 8-1 before their bullpen allowed Kansas City to come back. Twins 7, White Sox 3 CHICAGO – Carlos Correa drove in a run during a five-run 12th inning, and he and Byron Buxton homered as Minnesota beat Chicago to avoid a three-game sweep. The AL Central-leading Twins had lost three of four. Correa spurred Minnesota to victory hours after downplaying remarks from Chicago reliever Keynan Middleton, who called Correa “a cheater.” Eloy Jiménez homered for the White Sox, whose three-game winning streak ended. Emilio Pagán (2-0) worked the 11th to get the win. Alex Colomé (0-1), the fifth Chicago reliever, took the loss. Rockies 9, Brewers 6 DENVER – Charlie Blackmon had two hits and two RBIs, and Colorado used a five-run eighth inning to earn a come-from-be hind victory against Milwaukee. With the victory, the Rockies extended their season-best win streak to four games and won for the sixth time in their past nine games after starting the season 6-17. Mariners 5, Athletics 3 OAKLAND, Calif. – Taylor Tram mell homered for the second time in five days since coming off the injured list and drove in three runs as Seattle beat Oakland to extend its winning streak to four games and complete a series sweep. PAGE 13 Citrus County Chronicle Friday, May 5, 2023 B3 NBA SECOND ROUND Wednesday, May 3 Boston 121, Phila. 87, series tied 1 – 1 Thursday, May 4 L.A. Lakers at Golden State Friday, May 5 Boston at Phila., 7:30 p.m.Denver at Phoenix, 10 p.m. Saturday, May 6 New York at Miami, 3:30 p.m.Golden State at L.A. Lakers, 8:30 p.m. Sunday, May 7 Boston at Phila., 3:30 p.m.Denver at Phoenix, 8 p.m. NHL SECOND ROUND Wednesday, May 3 Carolina 5, New Jersey 1, Carolina leads series 1 – 0Vegas 6, Edmonton 4, Vegas leads series 1 – 0 Thursday, May 4 Florida 3, Toronto 2, Florida leads series 2-0Seattle at Dallas Friday, May 5 New Jersey at Carolina, 8 p.m. Saturday, May 6 Edmonton at Vegas, 7 p.m. Sunday, May 7 Carolina at New Jersey, 3:30 p.m.Toronto at Florida, 6:30 p.m.Dallas at Seattle, 9:30 p.m. GOLF PGA Tour Schedule May 4-7 Wells Fargo Championship, Charlotte, N.C.May 11-14 AT&T Byron Nelson, McKin ney, TexasMay 18-21 PGA Championship, Roch ester, N.Y.May 25-28 Charles Schwab Challenge, Fort Worth, TexasJune 1-4 the Memorial Tournament pre sented by Workday, Dublin, OhioJune 8-11 RBC Canadian Open, TorontoJune 15-18 U.S. Open, Los AngelesJune 22-25 Travelers Championship, Cromwell, Conn.June 29-July 2 Rocket Mortgage Classic, DetroitJuly 6-9 John Deere Classic, Silvis, Ill.July 13-16 Genesis Scottish Open, North Berwick, United KingdomJuly 13-16 Barbasol Championship, Nicholasville, Ky.July 20-23 The Open Championship, Hoylake, United KingdomJuly 20-23 Barracuda Championship, Truckee, Calif.July 27-30 3M Open, Blaine, Minn.Aug. 3-6 Wyndham Championship, Greensboro, N.C.Aug. 10-13 FedEx St. Jude Champion ship, Memphis, Tenn.Aug. 17-20 BMW Championship, Olym pia Fields, Ill.Aug. 24-27 TOUR Championship, AtlantaSept. 14-17 Fortinet Championship, Napa, Calif.Sept. 29-Oct. 1 Ryder Cup, Guidonia Montecelio, ItalyOct. 5-8 Sanderson Farms Champion ship, Jackson, Miss.Oct. 12-15 Shriners Children’s Open, Las VegasOct. 19-22 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, Chiba, JapanNov. 2-5 World Wide Technology Champi onship, Cabo San Lucas, MexicoNov. 9-12 Buttereld Bermuda Champi onship, Southampton, BermudaNov. 16-19 The RSM Classic, Sea Island, Ga.Nov. 30-Dec. 3 Hero World Challenge, Nassau, BahamasDec. 8-10 Grant Thornton Invitational, TBD TRANSACTIONS FOOTBALL National Football League ATLANTA FALCONS — Waived CB John Reid.BALTIMORE RAVENS — Signed CB Rock Ya-Sin to a one-year contract.BUFFALO BILLS — Signed DT Poona Ford.CINCINNATI BENGALS — Signed QB Trevor Siemian to a one-year contract.CLEVELAND BROWNS — Signed G Colby Gossett.GREEN BAY PACKERS — Signed QB Jordan Love to a contract extension.HOUSTON TEXANS — Signed TE Eric Tom linson.NEW YORK GIANTS — Named Blaise Bell area scout, Marcus Cooper national scout, Marquis Pendleton pro scout and Justin Marcus team scout for combines. Re-signed OLB Oshane Ximines.NEW YORK JETS — Signed WR Randall Cobb and DL Al Woods to one-year con tracts.SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Signed QB Brandon Allen. HOCKEY National Hockey League ARIZONA COYOTES — Signed F Aku Raty to a three-year, entry-level contract.SAN JOSE SHARKS — Signed G Georgi Romanov to a two-year, entry-level con tract. AUTO RACING 2:25 p.m. (ESPN2) : Formula 1 Racing Miami Grand Prix, Practice 15:55 p.m. (ESPN2) : Formula 1 Racing Miami Grand Prix, Practice 2 MLB 2 p.m. (MLBN): Miami Marlins at Chicago Cubs 6:30 p.m. (SUN) : New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays 9:30 p.m. (MLBN): Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres or Washington Nationals at Arizona Diamondbacks COLLEGE BASEBALL 8 p.m. (ACC): Boston College at Wake Forest 8 p.m. (SEC): Vanderbilt at Alabama COLLEGE SOFTBALL 5:30 p.m. (BIGTEN): Maryland at Illinois 7 p.m. (ESPN2): Oklahoma at Oklahoma State 7:30 p.m. (BIGTEN) : Iowa at Wisconsin 10:30 p.m. (ESPNU) : Washington at Stanford NBA PLAYOFFS 7:30 p.m. (ESPN): Boston Celtics at Philadelphia 76ers 10 p.m. (ESPN, ESPN2): Denver Nuggets at Phoenix Suns GOLF 7 a.m. (GOLF): DP World Tour DS Automobiles Italian Open, Second Round12 p.m. (GOLF): PGA Tour Champions Mitsubishi Electric Classic, First Round2 p.m. (GOLF): PGA Tour Wells Fargo Championship, Sec ond Round6 p.m. (GOLF): LPGA Tour Hanwa LIFEPLUS International Crown, Second Round NHL PLAYOFFS 8 p.m. (TNT): New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes HORSE RACING 1 p.m. (USA): Kentucky Oaks TENNIS 10 a.m. (TENNIS): 2023 Mutua Madrid Open ATP Semifinal 12 p.m. (TENNIS): 2023 Mutua Madrid Open ATP Semifinal 2 ON THE AIRWAVES LOTTERY NUMBERS POWERBALL Wednesday, May 3, 2023 21-26-30-45-47-23-x3 Next Jackpot: Saturday, May 6, 2023 $87 MILLIONMEGA MILLIONS Tuesday, May 2, 2023 3-15-16-32-41-9-x2 Winning Numbers Next Jackpot: Friday, May 5, 2023 $68 MILLIONLOTTO Wednesday, May 3, 2023 2-12-17-28-47-48 Next Jackpot: Saturday, May 6, 2023 $32.75 MILLIONCASH 4 LIFE Wednesday, May 3, 2023 17-26-37-43-53-2 Winning Numbers Top Prize: Thursday, May 4, 2023 $1,000/DAY FOR LIFEJACKPOT TRIPLE PLAY Tuesday, May 2, 2023 1-3-8-16-23-33 Winning Numbers Next Jackpot: Friday, May 5, 2023 $2 MILLION CASH POPThursday, May 4, 2023 Morning -14 Thursday, May 4, 2023 Matinee -5 Thursday, May 4, 2023 Afternoon -8 Wednesday, May 3, 2023 Evening -4 Wednesday, May 3, 2023 Late Night -5 FANTASY 5 Thursday, May 4, 2023 Midday -12-18-29-30-31 Wednesday, May 3, 2023 Evening -7-16-18-30-34PICK 5 Thursday, May 4, 2023 0-6-5-7-5 5 Wednesday, May 3, 2023 3-3-5-5-5 1PICK 4 Thursday, May 4, 2023 9-3-7-4 5 Wednesday, May 3, 2023 1-1-2-2 1PICK 3Thursday, May 4, 2023 3-8-0 5 Wednesday, May 3, 2023 8-3-0 1 PICK 2Thursday, May 4, 2023 2-4 5 Wednesday, May 3, 2023 3-4 1 Churchill Downs suspends trainer after 2 horse deaths By BETH HARRIS AP Racing Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Churchill Downs suspended trainer Safe Joseph Jr. in denitely and Lord Miles, who is trained by Joseph, was scratched from the Kentucky Derby on Thurs day, days after the sudden death of two of his horses at the track. The suspension prohib its Joseph, or any trainer directly or indirectly em ployed by Joseph, from entering horses in races or applying for stall occupan cy at all Churchill Downs Incorporated racetracks. The decision comes after the deaths of Parents Pride on Saturday and Chasing Artie on Tuesday at Chur chill Downs. Both collapsed on the track and died after races. “Given the unexplained sudden deaths, we have reasonable concerns about the condition of his horses, and decided to suspend him indenitely until details are analyzed and understood,” Bill Mudd, president and chief operating ofcer of CDI, said in a statement. “The safety of our equine and human athletes and in tegrity of our sport is our highest priority. We feel these measures are our duty and responsibility.” Investigators have yet to nd any cause in the deaths of Joseph’s two horses in a 72-hour span, along with two others over the past week, which has cast a pall over Churchill Downs in the nal preparations for the Kentucky Derby on Satur day. “This is the worst part of the game,” said Mike Re pole, co-owner of early Der by favorite Forte. “It’s very sad.” Joseph said earlier Thurs day he was questioned by investigators from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and Churchill Downs. “They found no wrongdo ing on our part,” he said. Joseph received permis sion from the KHRC to scratch ve horses from rac es on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to the Daily Racing Form. He al ready had scratched one on Wednesday. He told report ers earlier in the day that he scratched any horse that had been in contact with the two that died out of an abun dance of caution. Despite the deaths, Joseph had planned to run Lord Miles in the Derby. The colt arrived from Florida; the two dead horses had been at Keeneland in Lexington. Joseph, a 36-year-old third-generation trainer, said earlier Thursday that investigators examined his barn, checked the horses’ veterinary records and took blood samples from each of his horses, which showed nothing abnormal. The feed, hay, straw and sup plements used by the horses were checked, too. The deaths are the rst for Joseph, who came to Flori da in 2011 after training in his native Barbados. “It crushes you. It knocks your condence, it makes you doubt everything,” he said. At the same time, he add ed, “There’s two ways: You can run away from it and pretend it didn’t happen or you could face it and nd out what we can do.” Meanwhile, two horses dumped their exercise rid ers during on-track training Thursday, including Derby entrant Verifying. Neither rider was injured. Besides Joseph’s hors es, Derby long shot Wild On Ice and 3-year-old lly Take Charge Briana broke down with musculoskeletal injuries during training or racing at Churchill Downs. Both were euthanized. Joseph said the rst nec ropsy done on his horse didn’t reveal a cause of death. Spectators at morning training were startled when Verifying, one of trainer Brad Cox’s four Derby run ners, got loose on the track, triggering a warning siren. The colt was caught by an outrider and turned over to Cox, who led him back to the barn. The exercise rider dislocated his right shoul der. “He was galloping by and looked great. Next thing I know the rider was on the ground,” Cox said. “We got lucky, we dodged a bullet.” MATT PFIFFNER / Sports editor Citrus first baseman Bailey Goodwin gets set to haul in a foul ball for an out during action Thurs day night in Inverness. Leone Rotondo started the seventh-inning rally with a smash to the right eld fence that was just out of reach of the Shark out elder for a double. “It was key. Doing that is what gave the others condence to do the same thing,” Bishop said of Ro tondo getting on base to lead off the inning. Pinch runner Braylen Borneman came around to score on an Alyssa Turner RBI single and Alicia De mott delivered an RBI sin gle to send Turner home for the tying run. “It was pretty wild. Going to bat I was like, ‘What am I supposed to do?’ But we had the whole team come together. Really proud of my team,” Demott said. Demott went to third on a passed ball and scored the winning run when a ground ball to rst by Kelsey Burke was knocked down, but the throw home wasn’t close to getting Demott at the plate. “I knew if it was in front of me I had to wait for the throw. But on the other side of me I knew I had to go and just get there,” Demott said. “It took me a while to process what we just did but it was amazing.” Bishop said the Hurri canes responded to adversi ty like the district champi ons they are. “Going into the bottom of the seventh needed two runs to tie it and then being able to score three runs to win, it just says so much about the character of this team,” he said. The rally in the seventh was just the latest one of the game for the Hurri canes. Nature Coast Tech jumped on top 4-0 in the top of the rst inning, but the Hurricanes responded with three in the bottom half of the frame. Riley Tir rell, Bailey Goodwin and Rotondo drove in runs that inning. The Sharks (15-11) went up 5-3 in the second, but Citrus scored twice in the third to knot the score. Makaila Anderson start ed the two-out rally with a double and scored on a Ro tondo single. Burke deliv ered an RBI ineld single to plate pinch runner Bor neman to make it 5-5. Nature Coast Tech took the lead right back in the fourth inning with a run and added an insurance run in the top of the seventh to set up the late heroics for the Hurricanes. “So proud of them. We fall down 4-0 early in the game and were able to re spond and it was back and forth all game,” Bishop said. Rotondo nished with three hits and two RBIs, while Bella Arnold, Turner, Demott and Burke had two hits each. Burke also drove in a pair of runs. Paisley Williamson stole three bas es and scored a run. Kaylin Smith picked up the win in the circle, allowing seven runs on 11 hits.Panthers fall in finalThe other Citrus Coun ty softball team in action Thursday night was Le canto in the District 5A-5 championship game at Bel-leview against Pasco. The Panthers fell behind 5-2 early, but tied the game with three runs in the fth. It was a 6-6 game going into extra innings, where the Pirates scored in the 11th for a 7-6 victory. Lecanto fell to 10-9 with the loss. SOFTBALLFrom page B1 Ein got married in 2020 and has been wearing the ring since the start of the 2021 season. He put the ring in his pocket at rst and later on his necklace. One day after Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton was ejected for arguing about how the pitch clock was operating at times, sev eral Pirates expressed dis pleasure with plate umpire Manny Gonzales’ strike zone. Seven of the Pirates’ 10 strikeouts against Ein were called third strikes. When asked if he thought the umpires were taking anything out on him, Shel ton replied, “I would hope not.” “That’s not how it should go,” Shelton added. “You should call the game how should be. All I know our hitters had a lot of ques tions about pitches.” Walls’ homer with one out in the second ended Ve lasquez’s career-best score less streak at 19 1 / 3 innings. Velasquez allowed one run and two hits overall. Arozarena made it 2-0 on a leadoff homer off Jose Hernandez in the fourth. Díaz went deep during the eighth. It was the eight ho mer this season for each player.Cheering sectionThe Rays are formally opening “Randy Land” on Friday night, a left-eld seating section saluting the popular Arozarena. It will be open for Friday games, with fans getting an Arozarena T-shirt. If he homers, legal age fans get a free beer. “I’m hoping to hit a home run so that everybody drinks happily,” Arozarena said through a translator.Trainer’s roomRays : LHP Josh Fleming, who took a 113.1 mph in eld single Tuesday off his left foot, played catch and will have a bullpen session on Friday. He hopes to pitch Sunday.Up nextPirates : LHP Rich Hill (3-2) and Toronto RHP Chris Bassitt (3-2) are Fri day night’s starters. Rays : RHP Yonny Chiri nos (1-0) will start or follow an opener Friday against New York Yankees RHP Jhony Brito (2-3). RAYSFrom page B1 O’Reilly, who scored his third on a one-timer. The Panthers, who beat the record-setting Boston Bruins in seven games to make the second round, started to push back as the period wore on, including Sam Bennett putting Mat thew Knies in a headlock and slamming him to the ice. The Toronto rookie n ished the period, but didn’t return for the second period due to an undisclosed injury. Florida responded at 11:13 when Lundell scored his rst after linemate Eetu Luostarinen crushed Leafs defenseman Timothy Lil jegren behind Samsonov’s net and Tavares fell.Matthews on the markMatthews assisted on O’Reilly’s rst-period goal, giving him points in eight straight games and matching a franchise re cord previously shared by Gary Roberts (2002), Doug Gilmour (1993) and Gary Leeman (1986).Get KrakenToronto defenseman Mark Giordano – the rst captain in Seattle Kraken history – has been keeping tabs on his old team’s run in the playoffs. The sec ond-year franchise secured the Western Conference’s rst wild-card spot this spring before upsetting the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Ava lanche in seven games in the rst round. NHLFrom page B1 PAGE 14 B4 Friday, May 5, 2023 Citrus County ChronicleMcIlroy shoots 68, Fleetwood leads Quail Hollow at 6-under By STEVE REED Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A little time away from golf paid off for birthday boy Rory McIlroy. The world’s third-ranked player shot a 3-under 68 at the Wells Fargo Champion ship on Thursday in his rst tournament since missing the cut at the Masters, leav ing him three shots behind rst-round leader Tommy Fleetwood. Fleetwood’s 6-under 65 was one stroke better than Xander Schauffele, Kevin Streelman, Taylor Moore, K.H. Lee and Ryan Palmer, who are tied for second af ter opening 66s. Patrick Cantlay, with Ti ger Woods’ former caddie Joe LaCava on his bag, shot 67. McIlroy withdrew from the HBC Heritage follow ing a disappointing second round 77 at Augusta Nation al, a controversial decision that cost him a $3 million bonus for failing to meet the playing requirements for the PGA Tour’s new Player Impact Program. The Northern Irishman said earlier in the week he didn’t touch his clubs for more than two weeks, add ing that he needed a “reset” to gain some perspective because golf had begun to consume his life. He looked fresh on Thurs day. “It was just really nice to be out there again,” McIl roy said. It’s no surprise McIlroy is off to a strong start at Quail Hollow, a course that ts his game. He has won the Wells Fargo Championship three times and nished in the top 10 nine times in 11 starts. It’s also the site of his rst PGA Tour victory in 2010 and where he set a tournament scoring record at 21-under 267 in a dom inating seven-stroke win in 2015. He won again in 2021, making him the tour nament’s only three-time champion. “I feel relaxed here,” McIlroy said. “I think if you come back to the site of your rst win on tour, and I’ve gotten to know (Quail Hollow president Johnny) Harris really well and it’s just a level of comfort at this golf course and at this club that I probably don’t have at any other venue on tour.” McIlroy sent his opening tee shot on No. 10 down the fairway and a fan yelled “Happy birthday, Rory.” He went on shoot 34-34, some tting numbers for his 34th birthday.Pavon shoots 8-under 63 to lead Italian OpenROME (AP) — Mat thieu Pavon shot the lowest round of his European tour career at the Italian Open on Thursday on the same course that will host this year’s Ryder Cup. The 30-year-old French man hit an 8-under 63 to boost his chances of captur ing European captain Luke Donald’s attention. His impressive opening round gave him a two-shot lead over Maximilian Kief fer of Germany. Pavon carded nine birdies and a single bogey at the Marco Simone club outside Rome. Even he was sur prised. Six of the birdies came in an excellent rst stretch and Pavon then made gains on two of the rst three holes on the back nine. He end ed the round with another birdie to bounce back from a bogey on the 17th. Kieffer was alone in sec ond after making an eagle, ve birdies and one bogey in his 65. Marco Simone will be come the third venue in continental Europe to host the Ryder Cup (Sept. 29-Oct. 1) after Valderrama in Spain (1997) and Le Golf National in France (2018).U.S. splits with China on 1st day of International CrownSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — World No. 1 Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu rallied on the back nine to help the United States earn a split of its rst two matches against China on Thursday at the Interna tional Crown team event. “It was pretty much a grind, but then we kind of ran away with it toward the end,” Korda said. Korda and Vu trailed Ruoning Yin and Xiyu Lin by one at the turn before winning three straight holes on the back nine thanks to birdies by Vu on the 13th and 15th holes. Korda and Vu won the match 2 and 1. Lexi Thompson and Dan ielle Kang lost the other match for the U.S. 1 up to Ruixin Liu and Yu Liu. Sweden won both matches against England in the oth er Pool A showdown as the golfers took advantage of a course softened by rain ear lier in the week. In Pool B, Australia surprised defend ing-champion South Korea by winning both matches, and Thailand swept Japan. The International Crown is a match-play tournament featuring teams of four golfers from eight countries with the United States team seeded No. 1 overall and South Korea second. Chris Carlson / AP Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits from the bunker on the 14th hole during Thursday’s first round of the Wells Fargo Championship at the Quail Hollow Club, in Charlotte, N.C.Forte, Japan’s Derma Sotogake among Derby horses to watch By BETH HARRIS AP Racing Writer LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Derby is up for grabs. The starting gate will be full with 20 horses vying to wear the garland of red roses. Most of the 3-year-olds will be running 1 1 / 4 miles for the rst time on Satur day. Besides the distance, the trafc-choked condi tions typically eliminate half the eld in the open ing quarter-mile.ForteComes into the Derby on a ve-race winning streak and is the early 3-1 favorite. Rallied in the Florida Derby to win by a length after being ninth in the early going. Lost just once in seven career rac es, as a 2-year-old. He’s trying to become just the fourth 2-year-old cham pion since 1980 to go on and win the Derby. Forte is one of three horses in the race trained by Todd Pletcher, a two-time Der by winner. Jockey Irad Or tiz Jr. knows the colt well, having ridden him in all of his races. Forte is co-owned by Mike Repole, whose Uncle Mo was the early favorite for the 2011 Derby but scratched the day before because of ill ness. His other owner is Vincent Viola, who owns the NHL’s Florida Pan thers and co-owned Al ways Dreaming, the 2017 Derby winner trained by Pletcher.Angel of EmpireComes off a 4 1 / 4 -length victory in the Arkansas Derby, where Derby ri val Reincarnate nished third. His running style is from off the pace. If he can negotiate heavy traf c in front, he could be a threat in the late going. One of four Derby hors Charlie Riedel / AP Kentucky Derby hopeful Forte works out at Churchill Downs on Wednesday, in Louisville, Ky. The 149th running of the Kentucky Derby is scheduled for this Saturday. es for trainer Brad Cox, a Louisville native. Flavien Prat will be aboard, the fth different jockey for the colt. He’s one of three Derby contenders with at least $1 million in earnings. The bay colt is owned by Albaugh Family Stables, based in Des Moines, Iowa. The outt also co-owns Jace’s Road, who has yet to win as a 3-year-old and got into the Derby after another horse dropped out. Would be the third Pennsylvania-bred to win.Tapit TriceThe Blue Grass winner brings a four-race winning streak into the Derby. The gray colt is a powerful late runner and one of trainer Todd Pletcher’s three en tries. He didn’t break sharp ly from the starting gate in his Blue Grass and Tampa Bay Derby victories, but if he can get in position by the top of the stretch, he’ll have a shot to win. Luis Saez has been aboard for the colt’s last three wins.Derma SotogakeOne of two Japanese horses in the eld, along with Continuar. They’re just the third and fourth Japan-bred entries in Derby history. Derma Sotogake is coming off a wire-to-wire victory by 5 1 / 2 lengths in the UAE Derby, where Continuar n ished third. Owner Hiroyuki Asanuma is a dermatologist in Hokkaido who uses the word derma as the rst part of all his horses’ names. So togake is an outside leg trip in sumo wrestling. Derma Sotogake is one of three millionaires in the eld.Confidence GameThe horse comes off a 10week layoff, much longer than most contenders. He won the Rebel Stakes by a length on Feb. 25. The dark bay colt was purchased for $25,000, making him the cheapest horse in the eld. Perhaps tellingly, his other two career victories came at Churchill Downs as a 2-year-old. His sire is Can dy Ride, who also produced 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner. Trainer Keith De sormeaux is the brother of Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux. GOLF PGA Tour — Wells Fargo Championship Thursday At Quail Hollow Club Charlotte, N.C. Purse: $20 million Yardage: 7,448; Par: 71 First Round Tommy Fleetwood 32-33—65 -6Kyoung-Hoon Lee 33-33—66 -5Taylor Moore 32-34—66 -5Ryan Palmer 33-33—66 -5Xander Schauffele 32-34—66 -5Kevin Streelman 32-34—66 -5Patrick Cantlay 32-35—67 -4Wyndham Clark 33-34—67 -4Emiliano Grillo 33-34—67 -4Kramer Hickok 34-33—67 -4Tom Kim 32-35—67 -4Chris Kirk 34-33—67 -4Matthew NeSmith 34-33—67 -4Adam Scott 32-35—67 -4Sahith Theegala 31-36—67 -4Beau Hossler 34-34—68 -3Si Woo Kim 34-34—68 -3Michael Kim 35-33—68 -3Nate Lashley 35-33—68 -3Rory McIlroy 34-34—68 -3C.T. Pan 35-33—68 -3J.J. Spaun 34-34—68 -3Adam Svensson 36-32—68 -3Justin Thomas 34-34—68 -3Matt Fitzpatrick 32-37—69 -2Lucas Glover 35-34—69 -2Chesson Hadley 34-35—69 -2Tyrrell Hatton 33-36—69 -2Sungjae Im 32-37—69 -2Troy Merritt 36-33—69 -2Keith Mitchell 34-35—69 -2Seamus Power 33-36—69 -2Chad Ramey 32-37—69 -2Davis Thompson 33-36—69 -2Gary Woodland 32-37—69 -2 Ryan Armour 33-37—70 -1Keegan Bradley 35-35—70 -1Cameron Champ 35-35—70 -1Corey Conners 34-36—70 -1Trace Crowe 34-36—70 -1MJ Daffue 33-37—70 -1Austin Eckroat 34-36—70 -1Paul Haley 34-36—70 -1Harry Hall 33-37—70 -1Brian Harman 36-34—70 -1Max Homa 33-37—70 -1Stephan Jaeger 36-34—70 -1Seonghyeon Kim 35-35—70 -1Max McGreevy 35-35—70 -1Trey Mullinax 35-35—70 -1Henrik Norlander 34-36—70 -1Taylor Pendrith 36-34—70 -1Rory Sabbatini 34-36—70 -1Sam Stevens 34-36—70 -1Callum Tarren 34-36—70 -1Matt Wallace 35-35—70 -1Nick Watney 33-37—70 -1Sam Burns 36-35—71 EStewart Cink 35-36—71 EEric Cole 36-35—71 ERyan Cole 36-35—71 ECameron Davis 33-38—71 EJason Dufner 36-35—71 EHarris English 36-35—71 ETony Finau 35-36—71 ERickie Fowler 36-35—71 EDoug Ghim 34-37—71 EWill Gordon 37-34—71 ENick Hardy 35-36—71 EViktor Hovland 37-34—71 EMartin Laird 33-38—71 EDavid Lingmerth 35-36—71 EJustin Lower 37-34—71 EDenny McCarthy 34-37—71 ERobby Shelton 38-33—71 EWebb Simpson 34-37—71 EBrendon Todd 35-36—71 ECameron Young 37-34—71 E DP World Tour — DS Automobiles Italian Open Thursday At Marco Simone Golf and Country Club Guidonia Montecelio, Italy Purse: $3.3 million Yardage: 7,255; Par: 71 First Round Matthieu Pavon, France 29-34—63 -8 Maximilian Kieffer, Germany 32-33—65 -6 Wu Ashun, China 33-33—66 -5 Julien Guerrier, France 33-33—66 -5 Jorge Campillo, Spain 32-35—67 -4 Todd Clements, England 33-34—67 -4 Tapio Pulkkanen, Finland 33-34—67 -4 Marcel Siem, Germany 35-32—67 -4 John Catlin, United States 36-32—68 -3 Romain Langasque, France 34-34—68 -3 Adrian Meronk, Poland 34-34—68 -3 Niklas Norgaard Moller, Denmark 33-35—68 -3 Adrian Otaegui, Spain 34-34—68 -3 Yannik Paul, Germany 33-35—68 -3 Kalle Samooja, Finland 33-35—68 -3 Jordan L. Smith, England 34-34—68 -3 Santiago Tarrio, Spain 34-34—68 -3 Alexander Bjork, Sweden 33-36—69 -2 Daniel Brown, England 38-31—69 -2 Stephen Gallacher, Scotland 35-34—69 -2 Daniel Hillier, New Zealand 35-34—69 -2 Guido Migliozzi, Italy 33-36—69 -2 Eddie Pepperell, England 36-33—69 -2 Victor Perez, France 37-32—69 -2 Garrick Porteous, England 34-35—69 -2 Clement Sordet, France 35-34—69 -2 Justin Walters, South Africa 34-35—69 -2 Marcus Armitage, England 34-36—70 -1 Matthew Baldwin, England 37-33—70 -1 Dan Bradbury, England 33-37—70 -1 Scott Jamieson, Scotland 34-36—70 -1 Jeong-Weon Ko, France 35-35—70 -1 Mikko Korhonen, Finland 36-34—70 -1 Tom McKibbin, Northern Ireland 36-34—70 -1 Thorbjorn Olesen, Denmark 32-38—70 -1 Antoine Rozner, France 35-35—70 -1 Callum Shinkwin, England 35-35—70 -1 Sebastian Soderberg, Sweden 35-35—70 -1 Darius Van Driel, Netherlands 36-34—70 -1 Jeff Winther, Denmark 36-34—70 -1 Wil Besseling, Netherlands 36-35—71 E Christoffer Bring, Denmark 34-37—71 E Julien Brun, France 36-35—71 E Rafa Cabrera Bello, Spain 36-35—71 E Emanuele Canonica, Italy 37-34—71 E Aaron Cockerill, Canada 34-37—71 E Sean Crocker, United States 37-34—71 E Jens Dantorp, Sweden 34-37—71 E rnr ­€ ‚‚‚ƒ€€­€„­€… †‡‡‡r‡‡ ‡r‡ ˆˆ r ­€‰nŠŠ‹ˆ‚‚‚r ­€„­€… rnr‡‚€€‚­ƒ‰ŒŽ‘­ ’ ‡r€€r€“­ƒ€­”‡€•…–€‡“€€…­… ­€ rr rn‡‚€€‚­ƒ‰ˆ†…ƒ‡…­‚€‡„­‘ƒ‡­€rrn‡‚€€‚­ƒ‰Œ—†…ƒ‡€€­”…‡€…­€rrrrr‡‚€€‚­ƒ‰Œ†…ƒ‡€€ €… ‡­…­­–‡­€rrrn ‡‚€€‚­ƒ‰Œ†…ƒ‡­…­­– ‡€€ €…‡­€rr­r‡‚€€‚­ƒ‰Œ‚­Ž‘­‡…­ ‰‡­€rrrr   ­€­‚ƒ„…„ † rƒ ‡‚€€‚­ƒ ‰ŒŽ‘­ ‡‰€€‘‡r­€­€ rr r‡ˆn‰ ‡‚€€‚­ƒ‰ŒŽ‘­‡‘­‘”€‡…­‡­ r­‡­€ rr rr rŠ‹‚­Œƒ‡‚€€‚­ƒŠ„  ˜€­€ ‡­€‚€­”… –€­”–­”ƒ ‡…­…­€ PAGE 15 Citrus County Chronicle Friday, May 5, 2023 C1 S CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE Section C FRIDAY, MAY 5 , 2023 Public invited to evening with authors on May 12 Rainbow Springs Art in Dunnellon gallery will present “Writing on the Rainbow: An Evening With Area Authors,” May 12 at 7 p.m. at the gallery, 20804 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Dunnellon. Those featured include president of the gallery, Amy Peters Wood, read ing from her book about sailing around the world with her husband in a hand-built boat. Also speaking is Betty Jean Steinshouer, an au thor, actress, and literary historian. Mary Lu Scholl, an au thor of cozy mysteries in which the violence is minimal, and “brozies,” which have a male sleuth, will also speak. Moderating the session is Margo Wilson, gallery member, Citrus County Chronicle correspondent, and author of the novel, “The Main Ingredient.” A donation of $5 is re quested. Tickets are avail able at the gallery, by phoning 352-445-8547 during business hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednes day through Saturday, or online at www.rainbow springsart.com.Attend a Texas Hold ’Em style poker tournament VFW Post 8189 Aux iliary is hosting a Texas Hold ’Em style poker tournament beginning at noon on May 13, at 8856 W. Veterans Drive, Ho mosassa. Doors open at 11 a.m. Advance tickets are $30. Tickets at the door are $40. Prizes awarded for rst, second and third places. There will be food available for purchase. Proceeds from the tour nament will allow the VFW Auxiliary to contin ue to support veterans and the community.United Way’s Power of the Purse Fundraiser United Way’s 11th an nual Power of the Purse Fundraiser, a ladies night out and designer purse auction, will be at 6 p.m. Friday, June 2, at the Cit rus Hills Golf & Country Club, 505 E. Hartford St., Hernando. Tickets are $40 and in clude heavy hors d’oeu vres, two complimentary drinks and the chance to bid on more than 100 de signer handbags. To purchase tickets, go to their website cit rusunitedway.org or call Jess Maloney at 352-795-5483. All proceeds go to benet the United Way of Citrus County.Sci-fi on stage with‘radio’ shows Lewis and Young Enter tainment presents at the Valerie Theatre in Inver ness three live, onstage, science ction “radio” shows, “The Black Door,” “If You Was a Moklin,” and “The Trap.” Show times are 7 p.m. May 12 and 2 p.m. May 13. The three-play pro duction, offered as “The Spring of Sci Fi,” also will feature live, acted commercials for local businesses. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.lyeusa.com, or at www.valerie theatre.org. They also are available at the Valerie Theatre box ofce, open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and one On the Town Get your Citrus County entertainment and events news every Thursday morning in your email inbox by subscribing to the FREE On the Town newsletter at https://bit.ly/2As4YPn Go TmA glimpse into the history By ANN BRIXEY Special to the ChronicleI n 2018, the Activities De-partment of our community offered a photographic presentation at a Lunch and Learn. As a new digital photographer, it was of great interest to me. Jerry Dawson was the presenter and combined with a wonderful slide show of some of his work, he gave the audience a glimpse into his beginning interest in photography and how it has developed over the years. There were several photographers set at the table I was at. Over lunch, our conversation was lively, a concern over the lack of a photography club with-in our development was expressed. With this in mind, after chatting with Jerry about this, I contacted the Activi-ties Director to explore the opportunity of starting a club. She gave me a list of all the requirements. I sent out emails to the people I had met. Jerry made certain that notices would go in lo-cal publications. The Activ ities Department promoted it in their newsletter. Thus, the Photography Club of Citrus Hills was born. Jerry, as co -founder, promotes the club, in both advertising and marketing. His continued support has enabled the club to grow and ourish. Newspaper articles and advertising has encouraged new members of all abilities. Our expert photographers are always willing to help and give advice to less-experienced photographers. Our club members have enjoyed local eld trips, along with some we have taken far from home. There have been overnight trips within Florida to photo-graph wildlife. Several members have traveled further aeld to Costa Rica where even more exotic wildlife can be found. Members like Nancylee Mudd, Bob Feldberg, Jack Twiggs and Ken Voegele, have given interactive pre-sentations, at meetings, or workshops. Bob Feldberg has prepared tip sheets in preparation for our various eld trips. Our eld trip coordinator Donna Dominic has researched many places for members to visit. Sue Voegele and Bob Feldberg have prepared slide shows from eld trips. Other members have given presentations of their favorite genres of photog-raphy. From time to time we welcome professional photographers as guest speakers, often followed by workshops or eld trips. At the end of 2022, our Photographic Society of America representative and judge, Jack Twiggs, offered a year-end contest which was very well received. At our last meeting, he spoke about the advantages mem-bership to the PSA has for our club. Since then, sever-al of our members have tak en individual membership in the organization. Jack also explained how his recently developed fun, bi-monthly photo challenge will work. With such chal-lenges all of our members will have the opportunity to learn and hone their photo-graphic skills. To help us learn how to edit and size images in preparation for our own and or outside photo contests, Jack Twiggs and Bob Feldberg have kindly agreed to present a one-day workshop on how to edit your raw or JPG les before submitting them. An explanation of contest rules will be emailed to all members well in advance of the submission date for our rst contest. Great weather and three different sites to visit saw our club members out in force for the April “Crabtastic Trio” eld Trip, organized by Donna Dom-inic. The rst place visited was The Crab Plant in Crystal River. There, mem-bers had a great opportunity to photograph some of the items used by the sher-men, such as buoys and nets, as well as practicing some macro photography with shells and such. It was then on to Shrimp Landing, where a delicious supper of shrimp and fresh sh prepared and served from the food truck was enjoyed. Then, as boats arrived back and the day’s catch was brought to the cleaning stations. pelicans, cormorants and a white heron jostled for the scraps tossed by the shermen as they cleaned and lleted their sh. When the feeding frenzy ended, club members traveled on to Fort Island Beach to catch the beautiful colors of the sunset. As we have done with prior eld trips, all par-ticipants were asked to forward their best shots to Sue Voegele, who prepares a slide show to be shown at the next meeting. To add to the fun, we now have a eld trip photo challenge. Members are asked to send their best and favorite image from the eld trip to me and I then prepare an album that is posted on our member Facebook page. All members are asked to vote for their favorite im-age. The chosen images are then featured in the club’s newsletter and the monthly Chronicle column. The winning photographs from this challenge were by Doug Dortenzio, Pat Dortenzio and Ed Reinsel.Next meetingThe next meeting is at 4 p.m. Wednesday, May 10, at the Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Church, 2450 W. Norvell Bryant Highway, Lecanto. The May eld trip will be Wednesday May 17; this will be a visit to the Pio-neer Florida Museum and Village in Dade City. For more information, email chphotoclub18@gmail.com; 352-860-2763. Photo courtesy of Doug Dortenzio Taken at the Crab Plant in Crystal River by Doug Dortenzio.Members pull together for education, funPHOTOGRAPHY CLUB OF CITRUS HILLS Photo courtesy of Ed Reinsel The No. 3 winner Ed Reinsel, taken at Shrimp Landing. Photo courtesy of Pat Dortenzio Challenge winner Pat Dortenzio, taken at Fort Island Beach. Celebrating 42 years as friendliest watercolor society in FloridaT here will not be a regular meeting, nor a workshop held in Inverness on the second Friday in May. The membership will be enjoying a spring luncheon at the Citrus Hills Country Club on Friday May 12. On the program, besides a delicious lunch, will be the Installation of the Ofcers of CWS for 2023-24. Retiring ofcers have served CWS faithfully for their time in ofce and we want to thank them for all for what they have done. During the year of COVID and the following months, while we’ve been taking time to get our lives back togeth er, these loyal men and women did their utmost to bring new life and enthusiasm into our organi zation. “Thank you” just doesn’t seem enough. There is a large Board of Of cers and Directors that together pitched in and made those very big jobs relatively simple. Sharing the load, under the leadership of Marjorie Bannish, they worked and we’re happy to say our membership is growing again and we have some exciting workshops planned for the coming year. Meetings are held on the second Friday of each month, August thru June. Meetings are held at The Family Center of the First Christian Church of Inverness, 2018 Colonade St. Our May and December luncheons are held elsewhere. Check the Calendar page of our website for location and directions. There is no meet ing in July. Annual dues of $35 are payable to CWS in May. The Executive Meeting begins at 10:30 a.m. Light refreshments are available during Social “Hour” from 11:15 a.m. to noon. Painting of the Month competition begins at 11:30 a.m. Please join us so you can get to know our friendly members and artists. The members’ Business Meeting is at noon, followed by a special demonstration of about an hour. A very special guest artist, Mindy Lighthipe, will present a demo on her amazing botanical and nature paintings at our spring luncheon. For more information about the May 12 luncheon and demo, please look to our website at www.citruswatercolorsociety.org or contact Ellen Hines at ehines3@tampabay.rr.com. Until next time, stay well and think about taking an active part with a great group of men and women artists at Citrus Watercolor Society. Dori Sullivan handles publicity for the Citrus Watercolor Society. Special to the Chronicle Mindy Lighthipe, will present a demo on her amazing botanical and nature paint ings at the Citrus Watercolor Society’s spring luncheon. Dori SullivanCitrus Watercolor Society Members are asked to send their best and favorite image from the field trip to me and I then prepare an album that is posted on our member Facebook page. All members are asked to vote for their favorite. See GOOD TIMES , page C3 PAGE 16 C2 Friday, May 5, 2023 Citrus County ChronicleFor today’s modelers and modeling’s futureW e hear a lot of talk about kids’ education today. But if we don’t have kids in school, how much real attention do we pay to it? I have to admit the subject was fairly low on my list of interests except at tax time. But that’s a different subject. When someone mentioned STEM or STEAM education, I really did not under-stand what they were talking about. But my interest in these programs and how they can inuence and benet our kids in their careers and hobbies recently changed. My interest was rst piqued when I found out there were careers for professional model makers. In meeting some of the modelers, I learned about new terminologies and terms like additive manu-facturing. I discovered the model maker’s career path could lead into manufacturing management positions. I never thought a model railroader could have a career doing what he loved to do, build models! I was intrigued. As you have heard me say before, I now represent the Association of Professional Model Makers to the Model Railroad Community. In this position I realized that not only the skills and knowledge a young model railroader gains from his hobby were important to his modeling career, but just as, if not more import-ant, was the eld of study the young modeler pursued in their formal education. I had some learning to do about this formal educa-tion component in order to properly represent the Association and be of real help to young modelers. That’s when STEM studies became something I started paying attention to. STEM studies include science, technology, engineering , and mathematics. Initially I found out that these were areas that Professional Model Makers studied. Then I discovered that these studies would be benecial to young modelers for a variety of career choices. At this point, the educational choices STEM programs offered young model railroaders, and the emphasis being placed on STEM studies by educators and businesses I talked with, meant I needed to include these studies in my list of priorities for further investigation. I also discovered that the discussions, at that time, were focused on higher ed-ucation and the availability of a course of study to help educate youth to become not just professional model makers but to be successful in a wide variety of elds. I further found the courses of recognized studies that were available for model makers were not in the US. For example that year the Association held a design competition for young modelers. There were I believe about 150 submis-sions and not one from a U.S. student. I am not sure any US modelers even found out about the com-petition.Why this situation existed in the U.S. I don’t know, but it sure focused my interest on the subject. Now this situation in the U.S. is starting to change, at least at several colleges.ScholarshipsOne of the related questions I kept hearing includ-ed the phase “scholarship availability.” So I next start-ed looking at the availabil-ity of scholarships to help high school graduates who were modelers, and were attending STEM courses in their higher education studies. I wanted to know if there were any scholarships available and if so who was offering them? About this time, Walthers Co., a major source of model railroad merchan-dise, announced two schol-arships for young model railroaders who graduated from high school and were continuing their educa-tion in a STEM program. I immediately asked the marketing vice president, who was responsible for the program, to appear on my Zoom show and wrote about their program in my model railroading articles. But other than Walther, I did not nd any other scholarships aimed spe-cically at young model railroaders. My hat is off to Walthers Co. for being the leader in our hobby to help HS graduates continue their STEM education. After looking for other available scholarships and nding none, I discussed the situation with members of my “New Tracks” team. Phil Edholm convinced me to investigate starting a “New Tracks” Scholarship program for young model railroaders based on the Walters program. It seemed the only way to get more scholarships for model railroaders. No one had previously tried to raise funds for a scholarship from a bunch of volunteers, so it was important to try to get the right people involved to gure out all the details and see if it was even feasible for a group of volunteers to try.Picking up STEAMLarry Price in Colorado came to the rescue. I knew Larry from his decades of experience working with young model railroaders and his national recogni-tion recently saluted by the Hobby Manufacturers As sociation. He agreed to help me develop the concept and encouraged me to try to raise the needed funding. Larry is the rst person who told me not to use STEM, but use STEAM programs for the scholar-ship. His reasoning caused a light bulb to go on in my mind because adding the letter A to STEM meant the addition of ART education. This is a natural to include for model railroaders, because art is certainly a signicant part of our hob-by. I wondered why Walters had not done this? Looked like we would be the rst scholarship available to use the STEAM terminology. We pushed on. Larry is also the rst person who told me I had to get a IRS Charitable designation for the compa-ny so volunteer donations would be tax deductible for donors. OK, but how to do that? Needed an attorney to help, so the search started. That will have to wait, however, until I know if we can raise some money. After all, we were looking at raising over $2,000.00 from volunteer contri-butions, just to offer one $1,000 scholarship for the rst year, and about $500 to pay state and IRS fees to set up the Charitable company, plus our nor-mal out-of-pocket cost of about $500 to pay fees just to keep our Zoom shows going and some additional funds for communication to eligible applicants.Raising the moneyIt took about two weeks for us to raise the money needed for our rst year’s program. The response was better than any of us could had hoped for. The model railroad community obviously saw the need and had the condence that we could work together as vol-unteers to get our program off the ground. As soon as we raised the money for our rst year’s budget, we stoped the fundraising and concentrated on getting the state and IRS approv-als for a charitable 501(c)(3) company we could use for our future fundraising programs.Achieving the dreamAlong came another hero, Jeffrey Jordan, a retired partner and current counsel with Arent Fox Schiff LLP. Jeff, of course, is a model railroader and actively participates on my Zoom show. When he called me and volunteered to help get our nonprot company set up in Florida and get the proper IRS 501(c)(3) designation for a charitable organiza-tion pro bono, all I could think was hallelujah! Jeff got all our needed approvals from the state of Florida and the IRS within two months. I was told this was unheard of! We now had our dreamedfor charitable company and our basic structure for our “New Tracks Modeling Mentoring Scholarship” program. Our next step was to recruit more people to the team to help get it go-ing. We needed to establish our credibility by being successful in our rst year. Other volunteers stepped up. Bob Davidson, owner of Exhibits and More, who had experience with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, agreed to become chairman of our Scholarship Com-mittee. Phil Edholm, who started the whole idea is a retired senior executive who is recognized as a visionary and leader in the Enterprise Communica-tions Market, offered his expertise. Phil is the current superintendent of the Coast Division of the NMRA and helps provide the techni-cal knowledge to run our weekly zoom shows, so he was well aware of some of the problems we faced. Jim KellowNew Tracks Picking up STEAM for scholarships See KELLOW , page C3 352-563-5592 CANVASPRODUCTS rrn r nn  rn n FRIDAYFISHFRY  n ­­€‚ƒ„­€‚ rnr rrr nrr nr nnn rn   rnr…†n‡ˆ‡ˆn‰nnrr rrrrrrrr ­rr€ ‚ƒrr„n…†‡ˆ‰…Š‹†ˆŒ†††Œ„rr ŽnŠ…†„rr­n‘ˆŠ…‹†ˆ’“rrŽn†”Œ„rr‚nŠ…‹n Œn‚ n‡†n n†‡‚ rn rrnn REMEMBER! 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ServingCitrus,Lake,Marion,Sumter,Hernando&PascoCounty 352-302-6073 OWNER STEVESMITH OWNER BILLYHOOKER 32YEARSEXPERIENCE PLUMBING STEVE SMITH PLUMBING CFC1427965 JUSTONECALLDOESITALL! WeFixorReplaceLeakingFaucets,HotWater,Heaters,Toilets,CloggedDrains,Etc. Lunch Special$ 9.49Serving$ 4.25Breakfastsw/toastor biscuit r SUGARMILLFAMILYRESTAURANT n ­€ €€‚ƒ„ …†n‡‚ˆ ‰†…Š… …‹… Lunch Special$ 9.49Serving$ 5.25Breakfastsw/toastor biscuit (Choosefrom25selections)*NYSTRIPSTEAK-$12.99*(Wed&Thurs)rnn nn ThankYouCitrusCountyFor34GreatYears! rrrn n n  ­€­‚r r rr r   ­€  ‚r ƒ „€…n‚ ƒ­nn‚r†‡ˆ‡‰ˆ‰Š‹ rŒŒƒƒ‚ŒrŒrˆƒrnƒrŽrn ‘ ’’r’†‡ˆ‡‰ˆ‡†‰‹ n  “‡‹‹Š”•”• • FREEESTIMATES ifbookedby05/31/2023rnr nr r rshieldspainting .com Since1967! PAINTING PAGE 17 Citrus County Chronicle Friday, May 5, 2023 C3 Kevin Macomber, who is a longtime supporter of all my “New Tracks” efforts and had helped me solve issues in the past, agreed to help again. He is a retired engineer, who holds several U.S. patents and senior product development ex ecutive, who owns Narrow Gauge Modeling Company (NGMC), a model railroad manufacturer. Naturally, Jeffrey Jordan agreed to help us continue to stay legal. These volunteers’ business backgrounds and Bob’s previous involvement with the Make-A-Wish Founda tion have been instrumental in implementing our current program. We do still need a CPA to join us to help with our Florida and IRS llings and taxes. If any reader is interested, please contact me at: jimkellow@newtracks modeling.com.Attracting applicantsOur attention is now focused on communications with potential high school applicants. This communi cation has lead us to face a new set of issues. Naturally, I talk about our scholarship on our Zoom show all the time, write about it in my model railroad magazine articles, contact editors of other model railroad newsletters, digital publications and magazines and send them material to publish. All of the various Model Railroad Associations were also contacted. The commit tee members have also made their contacts and organiza tions they participate with aware of the program and have suggested various ideas to help with our communi cation. For example, Bob David son designed and produced three three-foot-by-seven-foot self-contained/self standing banners that we can transport and have displayed by New Tracks team volun teers at most of the major model railroad shows around the country. The producers of the train shows gladly gave us free space including a table to show our banner and distribute our literature. We also were given free space at the Association of Professional Model Makers annual convention and are scheduled at the NMRA National convention and the S Scale and O Scale National conventions. Everyone we approached was on board to help us. Having volunteers all over the country attend the shows as New Tracks representa tives was a major benet and put a face to our program. It also gave interested modelers a real person to talk with. The one area we did not know how to handle was di rect communication with the local high school students that we were missing in our various efforts. So, I decided to use my local county as the guinea pig to nd a solution. I read an article in the Citrus County Chronicle newspaper about an arts pro gram at one of the local high schools. I immediately called the school and the lady who answered the phone could not have been more cooper ative, and when I sent her in formation about the program she said she would pass it on to the school counselors and send it to other high schools in the area. OK, now we are getting somewhere. Another Chronicle article talked about a similar STEM program at the local Withla coochee Technical Institute, so I called them. Again I got an enthusiastic offer of help to disseminate our informa tion. I got the same consider ation from the local College of Central Florida. I know these calls helped because we almost immedi ately received an application from a Citrus county student. But then I had a real shock. I got a call from Patrick Simon, who is the director of the Citrus County Coalition for College & Careers, a local volunteer charitable organization that helps high school seniors complete scholarship applications as part of their program. I found out our scholarship would not be one they would include on their website or support because an ofcial at the Citrus County School District determined that because our scholarship re ceived applications from all over the country, they did not feel it was worth local kids time to apply. I was shocked to say the least. A local school not be lieving any of their students should compete for a schol arship they were eligible for had never entered my mind. Why aren’t kids where I live going to be encouraged to apply and compete for our scholarship? What I learned from Patrick was that the kids have a lot of scholarship options to apply for, and are encouraged to apply for those where they may have a greater chance of winning. National scholarships are believed to probably offer less chance of success and in some cases have proven to not be reliable. I guess I understand the thinking, but I still believed the decision to apply should be up to the student and their family to make. So, I pressed on with Patrick for I appreciated his honesty and in our conversation felt his vast educational experience could be a major help to our program. He denitely knew the pitfalls we were going to encounter. I invited Patrick to join our Scholarship Team.He declined because of time constraints but agreed to give us advice and suggestions from time to time. He attended our next Zoom Scholarship Committee meeting to help us gure out our next steps to directly reach the kids we were after. He shared his knowledge of the local school philosophy about scholarships and some other ideas for us to consider. We all agreed we could not ght city hall and turned to the other suggestions he made.Club contactsSo, next came a local contact to the Boys & Girls Clubs and the Scouts. Never heard back from the local Scouts, so I am trying to nd a national contact. Any help here would be appreciated. The local Boys & Girls Clubs director, however, could not have been more enthusiastic and again of fered his help. Maybe this was a way to reach some local high school kids? A call to the national organization has so far gone unreturned. So we were still investigating how best to communicate with kids and/or their parents or grandpar ents at the local level. Got an idea, please me know.Media contactsThen another thought hit me! Why not go to my local Chronicle newspaper and see how they could help us reach a local audience of maybe not the kids, but hopefully their parents or grandparents. My call resulted in an article about me and my subse quent invitation to write this monthly series. Another hallalujah mo ment. Thank you, Chronicle, for the help and opportunity. Maybe newspapers can be a great communication vehicle for us locally all over the country. OK, I got one newspaper, how do I get more? Well, since the parent company which owns the Chronicle also owns other local papers, how can I get my articles in those newspapers? My editor at the Chronicle said my articles would be available to the other papers automatical ly, but it would be up to them if they wanted to use them. At least it was a possibility. I was not turned down yet. Then I had one of the com mittee members suggest I get the Associated Press (AP) to include my articles on their wire, so newspapers all over the world could choose to use my articles. Sounded good to me, so I called the AP, rst in New York then by referral to their Miami ofce which covers Florida. I was told the AP only includes articles written by employees of the newspaper, so my arti cles are not eligible because I am just an unpaid volunteer writer. So our search goes on to try to nd an effective way to make sure young model rail roaders around the country know about our scholarships. Any ideas? Please let me know. My email is: jimkellow@ newtracksmodeling.com.STEAM conceptsBefore I go I want to share some new information I just learned that gave me a whole new avenue to look into con cerning STEAM programs. I wonder how many of our local K-12 schools programs are designed around the STEAM concepts? I recently received an Annual Report from The University Liggett School (ULS) in Michigan which our son attended for awhile before we moved to Virginia where the Nuns at Walsing ham Academy took over and educated him through high school. In the information from ULS, I learned that “STEAM is now integrated into every aspect of ULS’S curriculum” at every grade level. The school believes “Students taught under a STEAM framework learn how to ask questions, how to experience and how to create – all of which are integral parts of The Liggett Approach.” I wonder how many other local private and public schools are taking this approach to their curricu lum? If there are some in Citrus County, I would like to hear about them. Perhaps talking to schools taking this approach in K-12 grades will enable us to better understand how to make a contribution to students’ STEAM future higher edu cational pursuits and develop our scholarship program accordingly. All of our New Tracks team has learned a lot during this rst year and we are looking forward to continu ing our scholarship program next year with more and larger scholarships. We are pleased that we are receiving applications for our rst year’s scholarship, and with the support and encourage ment we have received from the model railroad commu nity.Branching outWe have been encouraged to branch out to individuals and businesses outside the model railroad community in our 2024 nancial campaign. This is denitely included in our 2024 planning, particu larly now we have our Char itable 501(c)(3) designation, and therefore contributions are tax deductible for all donors. If anyone wants more information about our scholarship program, please visit our website page at: newtracksmodeling.com/scholarship or contact me at jimkellow@newtracks modeling.com. Please remember the Application deadline for our 2023 scholarship is July 1. Well, that’s it for this time. Until next time when we will travel some more New Tracks. Have fun with your hobby, whatever it is. I am with my love of model railroading! Citrus County resident Jim Kellow and his wife, Nancy, live in Pine Ridge. Email him at imkellow @newtracksmodeling.com. KELLOWFrom page C2 hour before the show. The Valerie Theatre is at 207 Courthouse Square, Inverness. For general questions, call 352-341-7850. Birding for Seniors today Guest host and naturalist Alice Herden from Citrus County Parks and Recreation will lead this ac tivity with help from staff from The Old Courthouse Heritage Museum. Fun and free bird walk for se niors at Cooter Pond on the morn ing of Friday, May 5, between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. Ages 18 and older. Water provided. Bring binocu lars. Bird Bingo to follow in the courtroom at the museum. Call 352-341-6428 to RSVP ahead. Meet at The Old Court house Heritage Museum at 1 Courthouse Square Inverness, at 8 a.m. GOOD TIMESFrom page C1 EMERGENCY GUIDE 2023 Helpresidents preparefor HurricaneSeason PUBLICATIONSUNDAY,MAY28 DEADLINEFRIDAY,MAY12 (352)563-5592 r n r nn n Nolongeranall yo ucaneat bu ffet,GrillHouse is a counterservice,affordable,familyfriendlysteakhouse featuringplatedentréeswithsidesandtheoption to ad dunlimited tri pstothe sal adbar. INVERNESS,FL2605E.GulftoLakeHWY OpenDaily,11AM-9PM|(352)637-3310 20312E.PennsylvaniaAve.,Dunnellon•352-465-7538 www.bluerunbicycles.com •CurrentDesignKayak•WenonahCanoe PAGE 18 C4 Friday, May 5, 2023 Citrus County Chronicle rnr r n n n n n n ( 2 ) (WESH)   ­€‚ƒ­„­€…†ƒ‡­† (3) (WEDU) nr „ˆ…‰­ ­ nrŠˆ‹­ …†Œ€†‹Žˆ…­ …‹Ž  ˆ€…‰Š­€Šˆ  ˆ€…‰Š­€Šˆrnrr‰ˆ€‘€ ­ƒ (5) (WUFT) nr ‹nrŠˆ‹­ ˆ­€ˆ ˆ€…‰Š­€Šˆ ˆ€…‰Š­€Šˆ­’…€ (8) (WFLA)  ­††­€n…Œ € ­††­€n†€ˆ€­…†„†€†…Œ € ­€‚ƒ­„­€…† ­“†††…Œ € r  (9) (WFTV) ­€’„ ‹ˆƒ’­ˆ”‹ ‘ˆ€Š†r ­ˆŽ­† Ž ƒ…„„ •…„„–…—” (10) (WTSP) r ­„’­­r—†…†Œ‹ ‘ˆ€Š†ƒ’­ˆ”r‡‹‡‡‡ …ˆŠ†€ˆr rŠ­„’­­˜ˆ€ (13) (WTVT) ™š ™š™š›‹‹ˆ…­…Œ €r„­‰Ž†™š™š™š™š (20) (WCJB) ‹ˆ†…‡r ­ˆŽ­† Ž ­€ƒ‡•…„„ (22) (WCLF)  ˆ…€…­†ˆ…Œ€…†ˆ­€ ­Ž†…†Œ…€ ˆŠ€ ­†–…˜ˆ€†ˆ ‹„„„r–…‘ ˆ­ ( 2 4) (WYKE) ˆ­†‘ˆ„†€†…†Œnˆ’ ‰ˆ­€­Ž†…†Œ…€ ‹……­„ˆŠ€ ­†–…˜ˆ€„„•†­Šˆ…Œˆ­€ (28) (WFTS) ‹ˆ†…‡r ­ˆŽ­† Ž ƒ‡•…„„ (32) (WMOR) r †r †…Œ­†Œ…Œ­†Œ„„–­€­†–­€­†…Œ ˜ˆ…Œ ˜ˆ…Œ­†Œr † (38) (WTTA) œ€ˆ­­„Š­„Š ­††€…‰…­­„’­ …‰­Œn‡‡ …‰­Œn‡‡ (40) (WACX) nˆ­‰ ™†” Š˜r…€ ‚nˆ’ ‰…†…€ˆ…Šˆ™‘nˆ•­­ ‡ˆ­…€ nˆ…†‰ (44) (WTOG) ‹žžž „ˆ…‰­†Š…‘ „ˆ…‰­†Š…‘ ­†­­‘† ­†­­‘† n††Ÿˆ¡r ­€‹ –…†„ˆ…‰­†ƒŽ™‘‘­„’­­­€†‹žž–­Ÿ™ˆˆr¡‚€ rr (50) (WVEA) ¡ €…‰…­€…‰…ˆ–­ˆ­Š­­Š’–­ ˆ†‰…­–ˆ…‰€­„˜…¢†ˆ­†–­„­ˆ­€ˆ­€…‰…­€…‰…ˆ (51) (WOGX) ™š œŒ­€…Œ­†Œ…Œ­†Œ‹‹ˆ…­…Œ €r„­‰Ž†™š–­“r¡ (66) (WXPX) ™ ­­………—“­­……ƒ„€r…†­­………—“‡…†­­………—“r…r­­………—“r…r­­………—“r„„ (A&E) žžž …ˆ€žˆ …ˆ€ž …ˆ€ž …ˆ€ž…ˆ€ž ‰…ˆ€žƒr (ACCN) Œr‘€˜­€r†­rr‚rŒ­˜­­rr‚rƒ r“­“­ (AMC) ž ŠŠ<++­­‰ ˆ <+++n…€‰ nˆ‘‰€…‹Œ Ž‘ƒrŽ’ “ < + +n…€‰ nˆ‘‰€…‹‘ƒrŽ’ “ (ANI) ‹­nˆ‹­nˆ­r„‹­nˆ‹­nˆ‚rr”r€‹­nˆ‹­nˆ (BET) n­†n­† <ˆ’ ‹…‘…ŒŒ r€Ž“ <­—ˆ…€r†…Œ‹Žr€“ < + +­…• (BIGTEN) ž‰r‘€˜­–rŒr‘€˜­€­r  ‚r”†r r  (BRAVO) žž <++†€ˆ“…†“–­…‰—rŽ—r˜“ < + + ‹…†Œn­††ˆ…‰‹—r˜“ <++†€ˆ“…†“–­…‰—rŽ—r˜“ (BSFL) ‰–…— ­’ …†–­˜­€‚r‚†‘n€Œ­„r’€…Œ €‰Š (CC)  ™‘‘…‰ ™‘‘…‰ ™‘‘…‰  ™‘‘…‰ ™‘‘…‰ ™‘‘…‰ ™‘‘…‰  ™‘‘…‰ ™‘‘…‰ ™‘‘…‰rŠ€ n­ˆ Ž (CMT) ž –­€­†–­€­†–­€­†–­€­† < + ˆ‡…‰ŒƒrŽ€“††Š†‰ (CNN) žž r…€Š­€…†„‡‡™Š€ˆ†€’ˆ’ˆ‹ ‚­Ž…†Œ†…Œ € (ESPN) r’ˆ€†€ˆ­Ž€˜­‚r€€­­Ž€˜­‚r€€­ (ESPN2) žˆ„Š­­‰…†ŒŒr‘€˜­™ r€™ r€rn…„­Ž€˜­ (FBN) ž  €€„–…†‹­r€‡‹rƒ„ˆ…‰­‹ˆŽŠ…€Š…€Š…€Š…€­†…†­†…† (FLIX) Š<+++nˆ…„­­ˆ…•š“ < + ++ˆ­ …‰Šr‚Ž­†r “ <+++­ˆŒ…†­…‹‹†­Ž’“ (FNC) žžžž r’‰…­’ˆ€ƒ‹­€€ˆœ†…Œ €­††…€†Œˆ­ ­„Š€‘” (FOOD) …†ˆˆ…—…†ˆˆ…—…†ˆˆ…—…†ˆˆ…—…†ˆˆ…—…†ˆˆ…—…†ˆ…†ˆˆ…—…†ˆˆ…—…†ˆˆ…—…†ˆˆ…—…†ˆˆ…— (FREEFORM) ­„…Š­„…Š­„…Š­„…Š­„…Š­„…Š­„…Š­„…Š­„…Š­„…Š Š˜ (FS1) rŠ˜ž€ ‹€„…†€ˆ•††Š˜Œr Œr€†rr„Ž“›“ŠˆnŽˆr‚ršŠˆnŽˆ (FX) ‰<+++­’…‹œ—r­rŽr“ < + +†„…‹œƒ€Žr€”“­ˆ­„­€‘r˜˜­ˆ­„­ (GOLF) –nŠˆ‘”„–‡–r‚r„Žrr†‘†€ˆ­nŠˆ‘ƒr‚€rŽrr† (HALL) <­‹…†€ˆ…‹ž— rŽr“ < ˆ…€„­­€€ †ˆ­Œ†…ŒŒ’ƒ“…›r†‚…”…ˆ…ˆ (HBO) ‹ …€ŠnŠ„˜ˆ€‹­—‚–––—„ < + nˆ†Š†‰Š Š‰Ž­†–­ˆˆ…‰ž­…­ ˆ­‰Ž–­­…„ (HBO2) ‹‰<+++ †Š…ŒŒ“­ˆˆ­‰Ž–­‰‹ …€ŠnŠ„˜ˆ ‰<++„€ˆ­„…ŒŒrr‘‘Ž‚­“ (HGTV) ‰ Ž Ÿ™•†ˆ­r•†ˆ­r•†ˆ­rˆ­„„Š†€†€‰Š†€ˆŠ†€†€ (HIST) ž  ¡†š’­…† ¡†š’­…† ¡†š’­…† ¡†š’­…†‰ ¡†š’­…†‰ ¡†š’­…† (LIFE) žž ­€­€¡€ƒ  < + +r’…†Œ‹…€ € †„…•‹—†r‘“ ‰<++‹ ˆ€ ­ˆ€r€“ (LMN) <…†Œ‘ˆ€ ˆ …Œ‰€€†¡†“ < …­’€…†r‰­„…Œ <…†Œ‘ˆ­­„……ŒŒ‚r rŽ“ (MSNBC) žžž  ­€‹…€  …™Š€†‹…€ ‹­Œ†ˆ–­€‹ˆ€ Šˆ (NBATV) r’‰…­n­‘‘n­‘‘‚‚‚‚‚n­‘‘†€ˆ­ (NGEO) ­£…Œ­€ˆŠ‰€Šˆ­€‰ ­r„ŠŒŒˆr„ŠŒŒˆ—†­€‰ ­r„ŠŒŒˆ­€‰ ­r„ŠŒŒˆ­€‰ ­r„ŠŒŒˆ (NICK) –ŠŠ–ŠŠ < r’†Œ˜r¤Š­ˆn­†€—… r’†Œ˜ˆ…†ˆ…†ˆ…†ˆ…†ˆ…†ˆ…† (NWSNTN) ­ˆŒ­’ˆ€™†­­†‰Š„­†˜ˆ­„–…—­†‘…Š„ (OWN) ž ˆ‡n …nŠ€­…†Œ†€nŠ€­…†Œ€nŠ€­…†ŒnŠ€­…†Œ†€nŠ€­…†Œ€ (OXY) žž ­Šˆˆ­Šˆˆ­Šˆˆ†­ŠˆˆŠˆˆ‚€rr­Šˆˆ (PARMT) ž †††† < + + ­‘€ˆ„ˆˆ…‰Š— Ž–”r€Ž¢†“ < ­‘€ˆ„ˆˆ (SEC) ž Œr‘€˜­€­Œ­˜­¡‘‘€rr (SHOW) žžž <†­–…­­†€ †…Œ‹’”†r“Š’ Š’  < + ++—ˆ€ …†Œ—ˆ ˆ­€™†‰…ŒŒ›r“Š’  (SUN) ‰‰ ­’ …†nˆŒ­„­Ž€˜­ n€Œ­„ …Œ r‰ €˜­ (SYFY) Š‰<+˜…†…‹œ <++ ˆ­€‹­…‹š—Ž€r“ < + ++†’††‰­…•š­†€Ž—r‘†€Žƒ€“ (TBS) žž Š<+++r€­ˆ‹­ˆ—†Œ‘€ r…€ …‰ < + ++r€­ˆ‹­ˆ ˆ‰­Ž†…‹ ”€Ž”rr“ Š< + +rr€­ˆ‹­ˆr€ˆ…‹œ (TCM) <++++ ‹…£­ˆ‘™£…•—†“ < + ++‹Š€ ˆ…†Œ…Œ €…•™‘r“ <+++…ˆn…ˆ‰…Š— ‚rŽ—r‚„r“ (TDC) ž Š rrrŠ …n­ˆŽˆ‚ˆ­…n­ˆŽˆ‚ˆ­…‹‰Š ‹‹‹Š  (TLC) ž ­™€ ˆ­™€ ˆ­…­†‰¢ ™€ ˆ‹­­Š˜­†„r­ (TMC) ‹<+++ˆ…‘€…‹œ€‚Žƒrr“ <Œ†€­„…ŒŒ‘r“ < + ++š…ŒŒ—™Žr“ Œ‰< + r…—ˆ…• (TNT) žž‰­„’­Œ–nˆŒ‡–‰Žrr†€­–‰Žrr†€­ (TOON) r€—†r€—†¡†…‰ˆ†¡†…‰ˆ†•…†Œ…•…†Œ…•…†Œ…•…†Œ…„ˆ…‰­†„ˆ…‰­†„ˆ…‰­†…‰ Ž (TRAV) ­Š†€­€r­Š†€‚€†”†­Š†€’…€­­Š†€r­Š†€ƒƒ­Š†€‚€r (truTV) ƒŽˆƒŽˆƒŽˆƒŽˆƒ ŽˆƒŽˆƒŽˆƒŽˆ­€€ˆ­€€ˆ­€€ˆ­€€ˆ (TVL) ž ˆ…‘‘…€ ˆ…‘‘…€ ˆ…‘‘…€  ˆ…‘‘…€ ­„†­„†­„†­„†­„†­„†•…†Œ•…†Œ (USA) žž ““­† Ž†““ƒ…£¤““††““““­““†r (WE) ­„­ƒŠ†­„­ƒŠ†­„­ƒŠ†­„­ƒŠ†­„­ƒŠ†­„­ƒŠ† E MORE GOOD TIMES Music Live at the Valerie Theatre Denzel Crabtree, DC, is a Florida-based country mu sician whose music covers the spectrum of emotion, sung directly from the heart. Now with over two and a half decades of experience of translating his feelings into sound, DC’s been well on his way to achieving his goal of touching as many people as he possibly can with his music. For DC, if only one per son takes something posi tive from his music, that’s a success in his eyes. He will be in concert from 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, May 5, at the Valerie Theatre at 207 Courthouse Square, inver ness. Tickets are $20.Free Kids’ Bird Walk, Bird Bingo Saturday Guest host and naturalist Alice Herden, from Citrus County Parks and Recre ation will lead this fun and free bird walk for kids at Cooter Pond on the morn ing of Saturday, May 6, between 9 a.m. and noon. Recommended for kids of all ages. Accompanying adults must plan to super vise your children for the duration of the event. Water provided. Bring binoculars. Bird Bingo to follow in the courtroom at The Old Courthouse Heritage Museum. Please call 352-341-6428 to preregister as spaces are limited. Meet at The Old Courthouse Her itage Museum at 9 a.m. at 1 Courthouse Square Inver ness.Kids Against Cancer Golf Tournament The Nature Coast Cancer Crusaders and Team HOPE are hosting the 12th Annual Kids Against Cancer Golf Tournament beginning at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, May 6, at the Black Diamond Ranch Quarry in Lecanto. There will be prizes for the closest pin on par 3’s and longest drive, as well as rafe prizes valued be tween $250-$2,500, golf equipment and door prizes. For pricing and infor mation to sign up, contact Michelle Snellings at 352-697-2220 or email shell snellings@gmail.com. May Fest coming soon to Plantation Citrus County Craft Council presents May Fest from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 13 at the Plantation on Crystal River. The Planta tion is a new venue for the Craft Council, which often holds its shows at the Flor ida National Guard Armory in Crystal River. Besides the change of lo cation, the council also will be offering another new nuance, free rafe tickets to both attendees and their moms when each accom panies the other. The rafe benets the Young Marines. The show is the day before Mother’s Day, and Cyrulik said there are plenty of po tential Mother’s Day gifts. The Plantation is at 9301 W. Fort Island Trail, Crys tal River. For more information about the show and Craft Council, see the council’s website: www.citruscounty craft.com.Citrus Libraries: Travelogues with Gary Kuhl Traveling around the world is often a nice thought, but you can’t al ways nd the time (or mon ey) to get away. So, what’s the next best thing? Try breathtaking pictures and some exhilarating travel stories from local photogra pher Gary Kuhl. Kuhl is a seasoned trav eler of some of the world’s most visited destinations, all while capturing his adventures through his award-winning photog raphy. Multiple library branches will be hosting his travelog talks on a variety of locations. Check below for dates, locations and subjects for each of these remaining presentations: QCentral Ridge branch in Beverly Hills: “Travels in Ireland and Scotland,” 10:30 a.m., May 26; and “Mystery of Machu Picchu and Beauty of the Galapa gos Islands,” 1 p.m. June 21. QLakes Region branch in Inverness: “Travels in the Grand Canyon,” 10:30 a.m. May 10. Library programs are free and open to the public. For more information about these programs, visit the online calendar at attend.citruslibraries.org/events or call your nearest branch. Free Bridge lessons Free Bridge lessons are from 9 a.m. to noon every Wednesday thru May 31 at the Central Citrus Commu nity Center inside the Cit rus Resource Center by the VA, 2804 W. Marc Knigh ton Court, Lecanto. Anyone who understands what trump is in cards is welcome. Some study and memorization are required. For information, contact Gary by email at POW.bridge@mail.com or pepperpothead@gmail.com or text 352-586-2641.Play golf at weekly Friday Scramble We are looking for all-lev el golfers to play a Nine-Hole Fun Scramble at Lakeside Country Club at 2:30 p.m. each week. Interested persons may sign up at Lakeside Coun try Club at 352-726-1461 by Thursday afternoon and be at the course by 2p.m. Friday for team assign ments. Love the dulcimer? Jam open to all The Nature Coast Dul cimer Players host an acoustic music jam most Mondays at the Central Ridge Library community room in Beverly Hills from 3-5 p.m. A beginner group meets from 2-3 p.m. in the same location. We welcome adults of all levels to join our jams. For more information, call the library at 352-746-6622.Classics & Muscle Cars Cruise-in Citrus Vettes & Camaros Car Club presents the Fri day Night Classics & Mus cle Cars Cruise-in, Historic Downtown Inverness from 5 to 8 p.m. on the third Friday of each month. En tertainment varies monthly. For more information, con tact 352-341-7820.Find a book club at Citrus Libraries From the Homosassa Page Turners to the Ridge Readers Book Club, there is a book club for everyone at Citrus Libraries. Book clubs are great so cial gatherings where one can share his/her recent readings. They provide an environment for discussion on a variety of topics, pro mote deeper engagement with the book, encourage critical thinking, provide diverse perspectives and foster a perpetual love of literature. With these benets in mind, consider joining one of the book club gatherings offered at Citrus Libraries location. QThe Homosassa Page Turners meet every rst Thursday at the Homosassa branch from 3-4 p.m. QAt the Floral City branch, meet with the Book Share group every third Fri day from 11:30-12:30 p.m. QThe Ridge Readers Book Club gathers at the Central Ridge branch in Beverly Hills on the last Wednesday of each month from 3-4:30 p.m. These library programs are free and open to every one. For more, go to the library’s website, attend.citruslibraries.org/events. Additional information about programs and events can also be found by fol lowing @CitrusLibraries on Facebook or Instagram.Ukulele group meets in Inverness An Inverness ukulele group is holding week ly jam sessions to share techniques and gather new songs. Jams will be held from 3-4 p.m. Fridays at the Lakes Region Library, 1511 Druid Road, Inverness. All ukulele enthusiasts are invited to join the group for this free jam time.West Side Pickleball Club plays weekly The West Side Pickleball Club meets at Centennial Park (near the airport) at 8:30 a.m. for warm-up and 9 a.m. games each Wednes day and Friday morning. Beginners to intermediate players welcome those who want to learn the sport. Pick leball is low impact, pro moting a healthy lifestyle while making new friends. For information, email the coach at blewis2516@ tampabay.rr.com. Those in terested can just show up.Card Club seeking new members Point of Woods Card Club has been hosting games for more than a decade and is now seeking new members. For information, contact Gary Stocker, president and host, at 352-586-2641 or POW.bridge@mail.com. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Today is Friday, May 5, the 125th day of 2023. There are 240 days left in the year. Highlight in history:On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America’s first space traveler as he made a 15-minute sub orbital flight aboard Mercury capsule Freedom 7. On this date:In 1494, during his second voyage to the Western Hemi sphere, Christopher Columbus landed in Jamaica. In 1821, Napoleon Bonapar te, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena. In 1942, wartime sugar rationing began in the United States. In 1945, in the only fatal attack of its kind during World War II, a Japanese balloon bomb exploded on Gearhart Mountain in Oregon, killing the pregnant wife of a minis ter and five children. Denmark and the Netherlands were lib erated as a German surrender went into effect. In 1973, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories. In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland on his 66th day without food. In 2009, Texas health offi cials confirmed the first death of a U.S. resident with swine flu. In 2014, a narrowly divided Supreme Court upheld Chris tian prayers at the start of local council meetings. In 2016, former Los Angeles trash collector Lonnie Franklin Jr. was convicted of 10 counts of murder in the “Grim Sleep er” serial killings that targeted poor, young Black women over two decades. Ten years ago: In Afghani stan, seven Americans and one German soldier were killed in three separate attacks. Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, seriously wounded in a 2011 shooting at a Tucson, Arizona, shopping mall, received the 2013 Pro file in Courage award at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston. Five years ago: Russians demonstrated in scores of cit ies across the country against the impending inauguration of Vladimir Putin to a new term as president, and police responded by reportedly arresting nearly 1,600 of them. North Korea readjusted its time zone to match South Korea’s, saying it was an early step toward making the long time rivals “become one.” NASA launched the Mars InSight lander from California on a flight of more than six months to the red planet, where the robot geologist would dig deeper in to the Martian surface than ever before. One year ago: Ukrainian fighters in the tunnels under neath Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant held out against Russian troops in an increas ingly desperate effort to deny Moscow what would be its biggest success of the war yet: the full capture of the strategic port city. (The siege would end with Russia cap turing the city May 20.) Presi dent Joe Biden named Karine Jean-Pierre to be White House press secretary, the first Black woman and openly LGBTQ person to serve in the role. Today’s birthdays: Country singer-musician Roni Stoneman is 85. Actor Michael Murphy is 85. Actor Lance Henriksen is 83. Comedi an-actor Michael Palin is 80. Actor John Rhys-Davies is 79. Rock correspondent Kurt Loder is 78. Rock musician Bill Ward (Black Sabbath) is 75. Actor Melinda Culea is 68. Actor Lisa Eilbacher is 66. Actor Richard E. Grant is 66. Former broadcast journalist John Miller is 65. Rock musi cian Shawn Drover (Mega deth) is 57. TV personality Kyan Douglas is 53. Actor Tina Yothers is 50. R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn is 48. Actor Santiago Cabrera is 45. Actor Vincent Kartheiser is 44. Singer Craig David is 42. Actor Danielle Fishel is 42. Actor Henry Cavill is 40. Actor Clark Duke is 38. Soul singer Adele is 35. Rock singer Skye Sweetnam is 35. R&B singer Chris Brown is 34. TODAY IN HISTORY PAGE 19 Citrus County Chronicle Friday, May 5, 2023 C5A & P A new diagnosis inspires important questionsDEAR AMY: I am a 45-year-old woman who was just diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. I never suspected I might be autistic until last year, when a friend discovered that she was autistic and sent me some articles about the non-stereotypical ways au-tism can present itself in women. After going through the professional evaluation process and learning more about autism, I am almost certain that both my older sister and my 80-year-old mother are on the spec-trum, too. Should I tell them about my diagnosis and suspicions about them? If so, how? We are a family that never discusses emo-tions or meaningful experiences, but I am in almost daily text-message contact with both of them (about trivial things like cooking or sharing photos of our dogs). I would be uncomfortable even bringing up my diagnosis because it is virtually ta-boo to discuss our inner lives within the family. In my teens and early 20s, my mother bluntly told me she didn’t want to discuss the hard parts of my life, and that has set the stage ever since. However, I think that if my family members are on the autism spectrum, the under-standing that would come from learning this information could be life-changing for them in important and positive ways. On the other hand, would it be too upsetting for my aging mother, who despite a lifetime of trauma has always eschewed introspection and therapy, to be confront-ed with this possibility at her age? Please help! – Nervous & Uncertain DEAR NERVOUS: Surely this new awareness into the workings of your own brain would bring you insight into the dynamic within your family. It seems to me that if your mother is also on the autism spec-trum, this might at least partially explain her discomfort with diving into more emotional matters. Communication is a common challenge for those on the spec-trum. The downside to experiencing an exciting epiphany as an adult is the tendency to press your own experience – and the positive insight that ows from it – onto others with an urgent enthusiasm that can actually deter people from following your lead. (This is also a common occurrence with people who enter therapy.) You want for your family members to experience the same insight as you’ve had, but you should be aware that a diag-nosis for them also serves your purposes, because it con rms your theories and sus-picions about them. You should share your insight with your mother and sister the way your friend did with you, using “I statements,” and de-scribing your own experience. Ask them if they are interested in receiving information about the evaluation pro-cess, and then leave the rest up to them. DEAR AMY: My parents divorced – more or less amicably – many years ago. My father remarried a few years ago, and his wife is nice enough, but given that my siblings and I are all adults, we don’t think of her as our stepmother but more as “our dad’s wife.” I do concede that my father seems very happy with her and they seem to have a nice relationship. Every year when Mother’s Day comes around, I think about sending her a card, and then I decide not to. I think this is something that would make her happy, but I honestly don’t want her to make too much out of it. She has adult children of her own and I assume that they recognize her on this day, just as I recognize my own mother. What do you think I should do? – On the Fence DEAR ON THE FENCE: Send her a card. If you can’t nd one that ts the relationship in a way that feels comfortable to you, you could send a generic card and write a message: “I appreciate the role you have in our family. Happy Mother’s Day.” DEAR AMY: You advised “Just the Facts,” who wanted information on his wife’s long ago lover, to leave it be. Presumably her lover was prior to their 57-year marriage. What if, as in my case, my wife had a lover in the early stages of our 54-year marriage? We have never discussed any details of this affair, but it often is in my thoughts. Do I try to obtain information from her now, or leave it be? In delity can be explained, but not undone. – Forever Haunted DEAR HAUNTED: Yes, I heartily encourage you to open up to your wife. Express-ing your own vulnerability might inspire her to do the same. A therapist could help to guide this conversation. ACROSS 1 Many miles away4 Hockey or soccer9 Speak unclearly 13 Wild feline14 Mystical glows´,W·V,PSRVVLEOHµ singer Perry 16 Get a glimpse of17 Rockets19 Hardwood tree20 Hopscotch grid ´SHQµ 21 Edgy1DVWDVH·V namesakes 24 Drifter25 Convent clothes27 Movie theater30 Mrs. Ralph Kramden 31 Car parker´6WDWLRQµ network 35 Breakfast __; kitchen alcove 36 __ bears; Arctic animals 37 June 6, 194438 Wildebeest39 Lingerie fabric, perhaps 40 Orchestra section41 Run away43 Instructed44 “__ scale of one WRWHQ«µ 3ODWR·V´6µ46 Theft or forgery49 Unexpected obstacles 51 Tub with seats54 Nobel Prize category 56 Inverness native57 To boot58 Low point59 __ smoothie; healthy shake 60 Singer & actor Martin 61 Frock62 Rage DOWN 1 Complain childishly 2 Able to live on land or in water 3 S unbeam 4 Scout uniform accessories 5 Immature insects6 Spoken7 Wine bottle holder 3RHW(OLRW·V initials 9 Wily plot 10 Cut of pork11 Diamond officials12 Stood up13 Split __ soup'DUHGHYLO·VIHDW20 Use as a reference 23 Keep an ice cream cone from dripping 24 Coffin stand25 __ up; end a phone call 26 Unescorted27 Hatfields or McCoys 28 Island near Africa 29 Embarrass31 Cast a ballot32 Actress Larter 3 4 Fluid-filled sac 36 Daddy37 Percussion instrument 39 Not as crazy40 Sacks42 “Hurry up DOUHDG\µ 43 Detroit team45 Flowing dresses 46 __ in; wearing 47 Exasperate48 “__ Long Way to 7LSSHUDU\µ 49 Celestial body50 Bare52 Flag holder53 Chowed down55 Connecting word56 __ lodge; Aspen retreat © 2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC All Rights Reserved.Created by Jacqueline E. Mathews 5/5/23Thursday’s Puzzle Solved 5/5/23 (Answers Monday) ALPHA HEFTY ROTARY STREWN