Author: Jesse

Donald Trump is struggling to stay on message after accidentally boosting a call to impeach himself. The president, 79, went on a social media posting spree attacking a group of Democrats who last week released a video urging U.S. service members and the intelligence community to refuse illegal orders. But while doing so, he posted a screenshot of Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired naval officer and one of six Democratic lawmakers featured in the video, from an anti-Trump account named “Impeach Trump a

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

Utah legislative leadership announced Tuesday they will take immediate action to end the latest round of litigation in the state’s multiyear redistricting legal battle so they can appeal the entire case to the Utah Supreme Court.

Around three dozen Republican lawmakers gathered at the Utah Capitol Tuesday to outline their next steps two weeks after 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson rocked Utah politics by selecting a congressional district map put forward by special interest groups for the 2026 midterm elections, while rejecting one put forward by the Legislature.

In an effort to reverse Gibson’s Nov. 10 decision, Senate President Stuart Adams and Speaker Mike Schultz said they are asking for a permanent injunction to rapidly secure a final ruling from Gibson so that they are able to file a full appeal to the state’s highest court.

The Legislature decided on this course of action in consultation with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who they said will call lawmakers into special session on Dec. 9 where they may postpone candidate filing deadlines to make time to adjust the state’s electoral boundaries yet again.

“This is a defining moment for Utah’s governance,” said Schultz, R-Hooper. “Two branches of government, those branches chosen by Utah voters, are standing together to correct this wrong, to restore order and ensure our system works the way our constitution was intended.”

How did we get here?

Over the past 18 months, Utah courts have ruled that the state’s GOP majority violated the Utah Constitution by amending the Better Boundaries initiative known as Proposition 4 in 2020 and by skirting the law’s anti-gerrymandering requirements in 2021.

While legislators begrudgingly complied with Gibson’s orders to redraw the state’s congressional seat boundaries, they argued that courts should not have any role in the redistricting process, which the state constitution places under legislative authority.

GOP lawmakers erupted when Gibson ultimately rejected their remedial map, which made two more competitive districts, in favor of one submitted by plaintiffs in the case, creating four uncompetitive districts, including a +20 Democratic seat in northern Salt Lake County.

“By design or by default, Judge Gibson has authorized the most partisan, and thus the most gerrymandered map in the history of the state of Utah,” said Adams, R-Layton. “I assume she didn’t intend or set out to gerrymander herself, but anyone who looks at the donut hole map sees very clearly it’s gerrymandered.”

State election officials have already begun adjusting the state’s election process to accommodate the new map. But legislative leaders said they still believe there is a possibility they can succeed in court to throw out the so-called “Map 1″ before next November.

In the long-term, legislators committed to resolve the disagreement over separation of powers in the state by placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot that clarifies their ability to amend or repeal ballot initiatives, including those that alter the structure of government.

This would be similar to the Amendment D option lawmakers planned to include on the 2024 ballot which was voided by Gibson because she said it did not meet thresholds for ballot language clarity and for adequate advertising.

Beyond that trio, Texas and Michigan are lurking ahead of huge Rivalry Week games. Texas (17th) got the nod over Michigan (18th) last week, and both could move up a couple of spots on Tuesday after USC and Georgia Tech lost in Week 13.

Texas hosts No. 3 Texas A&M on Friday night, and Michigan hosts No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday. A win for either could be resume-changing. Could they make the jump above those three aforementioned teams? I’m not sure — Texas has three losses but did beat Vanderbilt — but the margins are going to be razor thin. Of course, there is a world where Michigan can still win the Big Ten if it beats Ohio State, but if it’s in need of an at-large bid, how these five teams are ranked this week will be important to watch.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors had every reason to toss Monday night’s home game against the young, tall and spry Jazz into a growing pile of “scheduled losses.”

After losing three straight, Golden State was without several key members of its frontcourt. Jonathan Kuminga was out with knee soreness for the sixth game in a row. Al Horford (sciatica) will be reevaluated at the end of the week.

Draymond Green was held out with a foot injury sustained during Friday’s loss to the Blazers. 

But after going down big early, an energized lineup rallied for a much-needed 134-117 victory thanks to a relentless 21-0 run to begin the second quarter.

Steph Curry scored 29, while Jimmy Butler put in 18 and dished out seven assists. Gary Payton II, starting at power forward, had his best game of the season: Nine points, six rebounds and a career-high eight assists. And the Jazz’s vaunted size advantage? It never materialized. The Warriors outrebounded Utah 48-47. Keyonte George led the Jazz with 28 points, and highly touted rookie Ace Bailey scored a career-high 21.

Golden State used all 11 of its active players by the early second quarter in a matchup that was truly a game of runs. Utah began the game up 11-0, and then the Warriors embarked on a 15-3 jolt to answer. And once Utah went on a flurry to end the first quarter up 35-26, Golden State answered.

If ever there were a time for a Kumbaya moment between the two biggest college fan bases in the state of Utah, it would be now.

It’s never going to happen. A cease fire in the Holy War, the nickname for the vitriolic BYU-Utah rivalry, wouldn’t hold for even a second.

But wouldn’t it be neat if both sides could step back, show a little Beehive State pride and appreciate what the other side is doing on the football field this year? (Apologies to BYU and Utah fans who spit out their coffee while reading that sentence.)

This is the third straight week and ninth ever that the Cougars and Utes have been in the top 15 of The Associated Press poll simultaneously.

BYU is 10-1 and ranked No. 11. Utah is 9-2 and No. 14. Both have lost to Texas Tech. Utah’s other loss was to, well, you know who.

Still, this could turn out to be the best collective season for the schools in their more than 100 years of gridiron pursuits. The standard, to date, is 2008 when Utah beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to finish 13-0 and No. 2 in the poll and BYU started 10-1 before losing to the Cougars and in their bowl to end 10-3 and No. 25.

This year, if Utah wins one more game, both schools would have double-digit victories in the same season for the first time since 2021 and fifth time ever.

BYU will lock up a spot next week in the Big 12 championship game if it beats UCF at home Saturday. The Cougars could still get in even if they lose. Their first College Football Playoff bid is at stake if they can get to Arlington, Texas, and win, probably in a rematch with Texas Tech.

Utah, which finishes the regular season at Kansas, was No. 12 in the CFP rankings last week and could get docked for needing a Houdini act to get past a Kansas State team that rushed for 472 yards. The Utes are all but out of the Big 12 race and their CFP hopes are teetering, but an attractive bowl is there for the taking.

Lifelong Utahan Dick Harmon knows as well as anyone that the fan bases’ mutual disdain will never evolve into mutual respect. Harmon graduated from BYU and has covered Cougars sports for four decades for the Deseret News of Salt Lake City. He said there are good fans on both sides but they are drowned out by those who spew hatred.

“The fact they’re both in the top 15, that just causes everybody to have their own reasons for one-uppance on the other,” Harmon said Sunday. “Utah fans lost to BYU but they certainly feel because they’re scoring a million points a game that they should be right there, if not even ahead, of BYU. Their loss to BYU was close and maybe a fluke and should have gone the other way the last two years. It’s just back and forth all the time.”

Harmon, channeling BYU fans’ take on Utah, said, “Geez, look, you gave up a school-record (472) yards rushing to a bad Kansas State team. And we beat you and it should have been 24-14 or 17, not 24-21, if only this, if only that. We beat you a lot further than you think we did.”

For their part, Utah State fans are quietly enjoying what potentially will be their best season since the Aggies went 11-3 in 2021. Utah State is 6-5 and bowl eligible. And in case you were wondering if the Aggies, Cougars and Utes have ever been ranked at the same time, it happened once. Utah was No. 12, BYU was No. 19 and Utah State was No. 24 in the final 2021 poll.

Loquacious Lanning

Oregon coach Dan Lanning took a not-so-veiled shot at the SEC in his remarks following the Ducks’ 42-27 win over Southern California. While Oregon and the rest of the Big Ten were in the throes of conference games, three SEC teams played FCS opponents and three played Group of Five opponents. The SEC will begin playing nine conference games rather than eight next year.

“Played a good team. We beat them, right? All we can do next week is try to do the same thing, right? This conference is a really good conference. It’s competitive,” Lanning said. “We didn’t play Chattanooga State today, right? Like some other places. We competed.

“That being said, it’s tough playing nine conference games. It’s tough playing in this league. And we got to take advantage of playing a good team today and attacking that.”

Role reversal

Last year, Tennessee went to Nashville needing a win over Vanderbilt to secure a CFP at-large bid. This week, the Commodores go to Knoxville needing a win over Tennessee to keep alive its CFP at-large hopes. Vandy also would secure its first 10-win season with a victory.

Coach Clark Lea said he wants his team thinking only about the Volunteers, not what it will take to get a playoff spot. Lea did offer a tell about what he’s thinking when he was asked about quarterback Diego Pavia asking to stay in the game against Kentucky after it turned into a blowout Saturday.

“I said, ‘No, we’re aiming for a championship. I want you healthy for the playoffs.’ “

Extra points

No. 1 Ohio State’s 15-game win streak is longest in the Bowl Subdivision. The Buckeyes have held seven of their 11 opponents this season under 10 points. … No. 2 Texas A&M, with its 48-0 win over Samford, finished 7-0 at home for the first time. It was the first time A&M, excluding the 2020 pandemic season, was unbeaten at home since going 6-0 in 1999. … Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love is just the third player since 1996 to run for 170 or more yards and three touchdowns on just eight carries. Love, who had 178 yards and three TDs against Syracuse, is the first to do it since Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder against SMU in 2020.

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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contrubuted to this report.