Thomas Randle will continue on in the Repco Supercars Championship with Tickford Racing in 2023, Speedcafe.com can confirm.
The now 26-year-old signed a multi-year deal with the team starting in 2021, but was unable to secure a permanent place on the main game grid that year given the Ford squad shrunk to three cars.
For the 2022 season, Tickford obtained a fourth Teams Racing Charter (TRC) — formerly known as a Racing Entitlements Contract.
That paved the way for Randle’s long-awaited full-time step up to Supercars Championship in the #55 Mustang as part of the now four-car operation.
Speedcafe.com understands his drive for next year is part of the original multi-year deal, confirming Randle’s place at Tickford until at least the end of 2023.
While Randle’s continuation was expected, the confirmation means the Campbellfield squad’s four seats have been locked away for next season.
Cameron Waters, James Courtney, and Jake Kostecki are all on multi-year deals that would see them remain at Tickford until at least the end of the 2023 season.
Randle first became a Tickford driver in 2018 when he stepped into the Dunlop Super2 Series, earning his first race wins in the following season.
He had his main game debut with a wildcard outing in 2019, the same year he stood on the podium at the Sandown 500 as a co-driver for Lee Holdsworth as part of the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
The Melburnian spent a year away from Tickford in 2020, in which he won the Super2 title in an MW Motorsport Altima and performed co-driving duties with Brad Jones Racing at Bathurst.
Randle returned to the Tickford fold in 2021, competing as a wildcard in select Supercars rounds and sharing with James Courtney at Bathurst.
In 2022, the #55 qualified on the front row for Sunday morning’s race at The Bend Motorsport Park, his career-best starting position ahead of a fourth-place grid slot in Race 9 at Albert Park.
The Randle news means that current Tickford Super2 driver Zak Best, who impressed in a recent wildcard outing for the squad, will have to look elsewhere if he wants to secure a spot on the main game grid in 2023.
As reported earlier by Speedcafe.com, Team Principal Tim Edwards says he will not stand in Best’s way should the Benalla driver get an opportunity at another team.
Supercars’ next round is the Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint from August 19-21.
Five days a week, Karl* goes to work as a high school teacher, planning lessons, marking tests, and dealing with admin. Then, on Sundays, he puts on his uniform and works a sixth day at a local shop.
It’s a long week even though, technically, he’s a part-time teacher.
Despite only being contracted to work two full days at the school — and three half-days — the amount of unpaid overtime needed to prepare for the next day’s classes quickly fills the spare time.
Which is exactly why Karl chose not to take on full-time teaching when he recently graduated, despite a widespread shortage of Australian teachers.
“I kept hearing horror stories of the first-year — early teachers they burn out, they struggle, and I was concerned about it,” he says. “I haven’t sat through a degree so I can do a job for a couple of years and then burnout. I want to do this for a long time, so I need to pace myself.”
Horror stories, like those that led Karl to choose his phased entry into the profession, have become all too common in the teaching industry.
Correna Haythorpe, the national president of the Australian Education Union (AEU) which represents public school teachers across the country, believes the attrition rate for teachers could be as high as 30 per cent within the first five years in some parts of the country.
The cause is often chalked up to “burnout”, a far-reaching condition that can be driven by ballooning workloads, the expansion of responsibility and periods of high stress, like the COVID pandemic.
“The big word that I would use to describe what’s happening to teachers is demoralisation,” says Gabbie Stroud, a former teacher (or “recovering teacher”, as she describes it) and author of a book about her own burnout.
Former teacher Gabbie Stroud recently answered the call to return to casual teaching due to staff shortages. (Supplied: Gabbie Stroud)
“But how that’s happening is broad and varied: it’s increasing workload, it’s data collection, administration and standardization, and all of those activities that take teachers away from the core business of teaching.”
These issues and more will form part of a roundtable discussion between national, state and territory education ministers on Friday, as they look for ways to attract new teachers to the profession, retain existing staff and stem the chronic shortages plaguing schools.
It comes as Department of Education modeling revealed demand for high school teachers was set to outstrip graduates by more than 4,000 over the next three years.
An issues paper published by the department ahead of the meeting described the staffing challenges as “unprecedented” and the “single biggest issue” facing all school sectors.
While COVID had exacerbated the issue, it said that it was only one part of the problem and perceptions of low pay, unfavorable working conditions, and increasing workloads were also partly to blame.
All these factors contributed to Karl’s decision to go part-time, despite choosing to get into the industry precisely because he saw an opportunity for increased job security.
Even in his first year on the job, he says he’s regularly working upwards of five hours above what he is contracted for each week — a situation he describes as a “pretty common story.”
“I’ve got a lot of teachers around me, and even when they’ve got 10 or 20 years experience, they’re going: ‘yeah, wow, this is nuts’,” he says. “There’s a lot of dazed looks, I don’t want to overstate it, but people are walking around like the walking dead, really knocked around.”
How did we get here?
While teacher shortages — especially in certain regions and for particular subjects — aren’t new, Haythorpe says the current situation “is like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”
“We’re in a perfect storm right now and this is happening right across the nation. It’s not only schools in rural and regional locations that are experiencing shortages,” she says. “There’s no doubt that we’re at crisis point.”
Stroud, who left her job as a primary school teacher in 2016 due to what she believed was burnout, says she prefers the term “teacher drought” to shortage, because “when we think about a drought then we start to think about what’s happening in the environment to cause this”.
Teachers are reportedly often working in excess of 50 hours a week.(AAP: Mick Tsikas)
“I suspect that if everyone who held a teaching degree went back into teaching, we would not have a shortage. So, something has driven them out,” she says. And what’s particularly alarming, she says, is how quickly early career teachers are tapping out.
So, what’s causing it? People we spoke to for this story repeated that workload is the major — if not the number one — issue. According to Haythorpe, teachers are frequently working in excess of 50 hours a week (the standard full-time working week is 38 hours), a figure which is only growing. “COVID exacerbated that but it didn’t create the problem,” she says.
Many teachers also report feeling unprepared to enter the classroom, she says, due to increased expectations to deal with behavioral issues and the need to keep up with changing curriculums.
Earlier this year, a Grattan Institute survey of more than 5,000 teachers and school leaders found more than 90 per cent of teachers felt they didn’t have enough time to prepare adequately for classroom teaching and many said they felt overwhelmed by expectations.
It’s a familiar story to Chris*, who left his job in a mainstream high school after almost 30 years due to a case of burnout that left him in need of psychological treatment. Asked what led him to that point, he rattles off a long list: loss of status, bureaucracy, isolation, and as always, workload.
“If people didn’t have mortgages to pay, there would be no senior teachers left,” he says. “It’s not about the money, it’s about the workload … smaller classes, less administrative burden.”
Stroud echoes a similar sentiment, that more money isn’t the answer for teachers already in the deep end. “Burnout is burnout, demoralization is demoralization,” she says. “The day I left that classroom, you could have told me it was a million dollar a year job and I still would have left.”
How does pay stack up?
The reality, however, is that when it comes to employment money does matter — especially when it comes to attracting high-achievers to the profession and retaining experienced teachers with a myriad of transferable skills.
It’s also part of the equation for Karl as he considers when he might want to make the move to full-time. “Do I want to risk burning myself out for $75,000 a year? No. Once I’m worth $100,000 a year, is it worth maybe increasing it then?” he says. “Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it is the extra spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.”
According to a 2019 report from the Grattan Institute, the starting salary for most classroom teachers in Australia is between $65,000 and $70,000, topping out at just over $100,000 after about a decade in the workforce. While the starting salary is competitive with other professions, over time teachers quickly fall behind their peers in other industries.
Among proposals to be discussed on Friday is a plan to give some senior teachers a 40 per cent pay bump to take on so-called “master teacher” roles. Paid teaching internships for professionals from other industries are also on the table.
New federal Education Minister Jason Clare will meet with his state and territory counterparts on Friday to discuss widespread teacher shortages. (AAP: Aaron Bunch)
“One thing is certain, we’re not going to fix this problem by just doing the same thing time after time,” federal Education Minister Jason Clare told the ABC last week. “We’ve got to look for new ideas that are going to help not just fix the shortage of teachers but also raise the performance of our kids.”
The Grattan Institute has previously recommended a similar framework to retain and attract people to the workforce, including the creation of two new expert teacher roles that would be paid at a significantly higher salary.
“One of the really key strategies, we believe, to support the workforce going forward is to get much better at recognizing teaching expertise,” says Jordana Hunter, education program director at the Grattan Institute.
“We’ve called for several years now for a reboot of the teacher career structure to introduce an instructional specialist position — a person who is able to demonstrate exceptional, subject-specific teaching practice and has the ability to work with other teachers in their school .”
Haythorpe of the AEU acknowledges the need to find ways to attract teachers to the classroom, but worries about proposals that “pit teachers against teachers”.
“One of my concerns with the master teacher proposal is it really focuses on a small, select group of teachers. This is a problem for everyone and we need appropriate pay and conditions for everyone in the profession.”
So, what’s the solution?
When it comes to workload — something Hunter also says she hears time and time again — the Grattan Institute argues there needs to be a rethink of how teachers can best be supported so they’re able to focus on students.
“One of the things we’ve looked at is how we can free up teacher schedules, so they can really focus on teaching,” Hunter says.
This may look like redeploying teaching assistants and other non-teaching staff to take on extracurricular and supervision activities, allowing teachers more time for lesson planning and academic preparation.
Hunter says they also heard from more than half the teachers they surveyed that they feel like they’re expected to “reinvent the wheel” when it comes to lesson planning. “It’s really hitting students hard … this lack of time for teachers to think really carefully about how they’re going to deliver their lessons because instead they’re scrambling on Google and Pintrest.”
One way to alleviate this pressure, according to the Grattan Institute, could be the creation at a school level of high-quality lesson plans that are made available to all teachers to draw upon.
While there are plenty of details to be worked out, Hunter says one thing is clear: there’s no point reaching for a band-aid solution to the shortages without also dealing with the problems on the ground. “Obviously we need to address shortages, but we also have to make it a rewarding job now and keep the great teachers we already have in the classroom,” she says. “Because it’s one of the most important jobs in Australia.”
But while education leaders discuss where to go from here, the reality is already being felt in schools as they scramble for relief teachers and class numbers blow out.
For Gabbie Stroud, that means she could soon find herself somewhere she thought she’d never be again: at the front of the classroom.
A recent newsletter from her child’s school on the NSW south coast included a line begging local parents with a teaching degree to consider coming back to the classroom. “These are heartfelt pleas coming from our schools saying: ‘we’re not coping’,” she says.
So reluctantly, after six years out of the classroom, she’s signed up for casual relief teaching.
“I know it’s the right thing to step up and lend a hand,” she says. “But I don’t feel great about it. This is not the right way, none of this is the right way.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday afternoon spoke for the first time since FBI agents raided former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
Citing “the substantial public interest in this matter,” Garland said the government had filed a motion to unseal the warrant authorizing Monday’s search, which Trump has sharply criticized as a partisan attack.
It was not immediately clear how quickly the judge in the case may release the warrant and federal prosecutors noted in their request, filed Thursday, that it should be granted only “absent objection by former President Trump.”
Garland said that Trump’s attorney had been provided on Monday with a copy of both the warrant and a list of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago by the agents — contradicting past statements by Trump’s son Eric.
In his four-minute remarks, Garland did not discuss any specifics of law enforcement’s work or the larger investigation related to Trump.
“Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor,” he said. “Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing.”
Sources previously told ABC News that Monday’s search was in connection to documents that Trump took with him when he departed Washington, including some records the National Archives said were marked classified.
Garland said Thursday he “personally approved” the unprecedented decision to seek a search warrant against a former president but stressed that “the department does not take such a decision lightly.”
“Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search,” he said.
ABC News reported earlier Thursday that, according to sources, Trump previously received a subpoena in the spring for documents related to what he is believed to have failed to turn over to the National Archives, which had recovered 15 boxes of material from Mar-a- Lake in January.
Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, on Aug. 11, 2022.
ABCNews
Garland acknowledged there was still much he could not say — given longstanding department policy not to comment on ongoing investigations and unduly harm those caught in law enforcement’s wake before charges, if ever, are brought.
The search for Trump’s home marked a significant development in one of several legal issues that Trump faces. (He denies wrongdoing in each.)
“All Americans are rightly entitled to the even-handed application of the law, to due process of the law and to the presumption of innocence,” Garland said. “Much of our work is by necessity conducted out of the public eye. We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations.”
Finally, he said, he wanted to “address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors.”
The search for Mar-a-Lago drew a resounding chorus of criticism from Republicans and some others over what the detractors said was a lack of clarity about why such a move was necessary.
“The American people want transparency when you are raiding the home of a former president,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Wednesday. “The FBI is raiding the home of a former president. The American people deserve to know why.”
Speaking at a separate event Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said of the search, “I’m sure you can appreciate that’s not something I can talk about.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at the Justice Department Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in Washington, DC
Susan Walsh/AP
As Trump has many times before, he and his allies cast the federal investigation as a partisan sham. Trump said the search was “not necessary or appropriate”; he has not released any information about the court-authorized search warrant.
“These are dark times for our Nation. … It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024,” Trump said in a statement on Monday night, in the first public confirmation of a search that Garland said Thursday officials had worked to keep out of view.
He also pushed back on the denunciation of law enforcement.
“The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants, every day,” Garland said. He would “not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked.”
“They protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights,” Garland said. “They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. I am honored to work alongside them.”
“This is all I can say right now,” Garland concluded, rebuffing questions from journalists in the room. “More information will be made available in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time.”
In its request to unseal the search warrant, filed Thursday in federal court in Florida, the Justice Department wrote that its decision was made in light of “the public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances.”
The government’s filing notes the warrant was signed on Friday and also requests the unsealing of a redacted inventory of what was taken by agents at Mar-a-Lago.
Prosecutors wrote that Trump “should have an opportunity to respond to this motion and lodge objections, including with regards to any ‘legitimate privacy interests’ or the potential for other ‘injury’ if these materials are made public.”
Court records show that responses will be due in the matter by Aug. 25.
About an hour after Garland spoke, the judge in the case ordered prosecutors to confer with Trump’s lawyers and report back at or before 3 pm ET Thursday as to whether Trump opposes the motion to unseal the warrant.
The head of the Department of Justice’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, Jay Bratt, is one of two DOJ officials who signed off on the request to unseal — along with US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Juan Gonzalez.
The head of DOJ’s national security division, Matt Olsen, was also present in the room for Garland’s remarks Thursday, a reflection of the NSD’s prominent role in the investigation.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Jack Date, Katherine Faulders, Alexander Mallin, Isabella Murray and John Santucci contributed to this report.
The gold rush continues at the Commonwealth Games, All Blacks defeated and Ian Foster’s job hands in the balance and a New Zealand one-two finish at the latest Indycar race in Nashville – Cheree Kinnear gives the highs and lows of the weekend’s sport all in 90 seconds. Video/Photosport/Sky Sport
Former All Blacks winger Julian Savea has hit out at what he believes has been an irresponsible and hurtful social media backlash against beleaguered coach Ian Foster.
Foster has borne the brunt of criticism over the past month for his team’s historic form slump, with news media, rugby pundits and fans all weighing in with myriad opinions as to what leadership mistakes he may have made.
However, Savea says some of that criticism has gone too far, especially on social media where opinions well outside the realm of Foster’s coaching expertise have been loudly voiced.
“Shocked and disturbed at some of the comments and remarks I’ve seen and heard about Ian Foster on social media lately,” Savea wrote on his Twitter account.
Former All Black Julian Savea says criticism of Ian Foster has gone too far. Photo / Photosport
“In a country where mental health is a big issue, where 72 per cent of suicides are men and a high number of depression amongst men, you would think people would be a bit kinder and think about their words before they make remarks on someone’s integrity , appearance and character, especially when they don’t know them on a personal level.
“I’m ashamed that this is how a human is treated and dragged in the media here in NZ.”
Savea makes his point from a place of experience, having been through his fair share of social media strife; including death threats made toward his baby daughter while playing in France.
That was just one episode from a career he says was full of similar moments, with public judgment and criticism a constant in his time as a professional player.
“Been a constant up and down battle with mental health during my years as a rugby player,” he posted on Instagram in April, 2020.
“From the pressure it brings into my life and personal life to the judgment that is constantly being made about my career.”
Savea’s call for the public to back off when it comes to Foster echoes that of former Scotland coach Matt Williams who said following the side’s series loss to Ireland that the public and media response was embarrassing.
“Ian Foster has suffered far more public criticism and humiliation than any coach should be forced to endure for a sporting defeat,” he wrote in a column for the Irish Times.
“Not for the first time, the reaction to defeat by the New Zealand media and their wider rugby community has exposed a deep flaw of character. The treatment of Foster by his own community has been nothing short of shameful. As a coach, criticism comes with the badge but the personal vilification he has had to endure is simply not acceptable.”
Julian Savea (left) in happier times with Ian Foster in 2012. Photo / Photosport
Foster himself has conceded the criticism leveled towards him is taking its toll, telling media after the first-test loss to the Springboks last weekend that the evidence was plain to see.
“I’m going gray and my hair is receding pretty quickly. It’s never easy,” Foster told media.
He will be hoping, along with millions of New Zealanders, that the All Blacks squad will bounce back on Sunday in their rematch against the Springboks and the social media noise will quieten.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Authorities on Thursday identified the three people killed in a house explosion that rocked an suburban Indiana neighborhood and damaged nearly 40 homes.
Officials were still investigating the cause of Wednesday’s blast but said it was accidental. The Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office released the names of those who died: Charles “Charlie” Hite, 43, Martina Hite, 37 and Jessica Teague, 29.
Surveillance footage from a nearby building showed a burst before debris exploded into the air, followed by a billow of smoke. Evansville Fire Department officials said 11 of the 39 damaged homes were uninhabitable.
The neighborhood was in tatters Wednesday, the splintered remains of homes flung across the road. First responders searched for victims.
One person was hospitalized. There could be more victims as state and local agencies search the area.
Here’s what we know:
Family of couple killed: Sudden loss ‘is hitting hard’
Steve Hite was on his way to his brother Charlie’s home when, one minute before 1 pm, the house inexplicably exploded.
Charlie, 43, and his wife, 37-year-old Martina were inside. Both were killed. A third victim, Jessica Teague, 29, was in a neighboring home and died in the blast.
Steve Hite’s son, Aaron Hite, said his father is devastated.
“He wishes he would have picked him up sooner,” Aaron said. “It’s really hitting him hard.”
Charlie and Martina Hite both worked for Fresh Market, and they had a table at Cowboy Jim’s Flea Market in the city. Charlie also worked as a volunteer performing various tasks for Harrison High School’s football team, including shooting video and handing out equipment.
Aaron Hite said his aunt and uncle were loving and supportive members of his family. Aaron said Charlie helped him move into his first Evansville apartment. Martina Hite, he said, loved the color purple and wearing purple outfits.
“It’s hard, truly,” Aaron said of the loss.
‘Debris flying higher than the trees’
Those who called 911 after the explosion documented the force of the blast, which rattled buildings miles away.
A mail carrier told police the explosion moved his truck.
“I just saw a bunch of debris flying higher than the trees,” he said. “And it shook my whole mail truck.”
People reported feeling the blast from across the city.
Residents said it shook the walls of home and offices, causing people to run outside, thinking the explosion happened nearby.
3 dead and families displaced
Three people died and one person was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries Wednesday, Evansville Fire Chief Mike Connelly said Thursday morning. The victims’ identities were not released.
Of the three victims, two people were inside the house that exploded. The third victim was inside a house next door.
The Red Cross helped about 15 families and provided most with a place to stay in hotel rooms, said Beth Sweeney, executive director of the American Red Cross of Indiana Southwest Chapter. The organization is working to provide families with food, water and clothing.
Wednesday’s explosion:House explodes in Evansville, Indiana, leaving 3 dead and nearby ‘uninhabitable’ homes
Damage renders homes ‘uninhabitable’
The explosion, which was reported just before 1 pm, destroyed the home. Neighboring homes were heavily damaged, and the street was littered with debris.
Connelly said the 11 homes were uninhabitable and would have to be demolished. The fire chief said he didn’t think any remaining homes would collapse but repairs need to be made before families can return.
The search for victims continued Thursday morning. The fire department had not completed a full search for the damage “due to the instability of the structures,” Connelly said.
A secondary search was completed late Thursday morning, and no additional victims were found.
Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said that the FBI informant who tipped the federal agency off with the sensitive information that led to Monday’s Mar-a-Lago search could only be one of six to eight people who are “very close” to former president donald trump
In a Thursday appearance on CNN, Mulvaney said that the informant must have been in Trump’s inner circle, explaining that even he wasn’t aware of the safe at Mar-a-Lago—which Trump said agents broke into—despite being Trump’s chief of staff for more than a year.
“This would be someone handling things on day to day, who knew where documents were, so it would be someone very close to the president,” the former official said. “My guess is there are probably six or eight people who had that kind of information.”
“If you know where the safe is and you know the documents are in 10 boxes in the basement, you are pretty close to the president,” he added.
Mulvaney, who served as Trump’s chief of staff until Mark Meadows took over that role in March 2020, said that he couldn’t float any names because he doesn’t know who is in Trump’s circle these days.
Mick Mulvaney said the FBI informant is likely one of six to eight people in former President Donald Trump’s inner circle. Above, Trump prepares to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held at the Hilton Anatole on August 6 in Dallas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
on wednesday, Newsweek reported that the raid was largely based on information coming from a source who was able to identify which classified documents Trump was still holding onto after leaving office and where the records were located.
Two senior government officials said that the search was deliberately timed to happen while Trump was away in New York.
Agents arrived at his Florida property on Monday and seized about a dozen boxes, according to Trump’s lawyer Christina Bobb. It marked the first known search by the FBI of a residence of any US president in connection with a criminal probe.
Back in January, the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of White House records from Mar-a-Lago that Trump unlawfully took with him when he left office. The search warrant for Monday’s raid indicated that the search was tied to possible violations of laws related to the handling of classified material, the two government sources said.
On Thursday, Mulvaney joined Republican calls for the Justice Department to be more transparent in its investigation, but he added that Trump “probably should” release the search warrant as well as the itemized list of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago.
“Maybe the best thing for everybody to do right now, in order to calm things down and sort of reset the playing field, is for Trump to come forward with the search warrant that he received and the receipt of the documents that were taken, and the DOJ to come forward with the affidavit that they swore out to a judge,” he said.
A sign outside of a hospital advertises COVID-19 testing on November 19, 2021 in New York City. On Friday vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention voted unanimously in recommending a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccines for all adults in the United States six months after they finish their first two doses.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its Covid-19 guidance on Thursday, saying the virus now poses a much lower risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death compared to earlier in the pandemic.
The CDC is no longer recommending testing to screen people with possible asymptomatic infections in most settings, such as schools. However, screening is still recommended in certain high risk settings such as nursing homes and prisons.
And people who are not up to date on their vaccines no longer need to quarantine if they have been exposed to Covid-19, according to the new CDC guidance. Instead, public health officials now recommend that these individuals wear a mask for 10 days and get tested on day five.
Greta Massetti, a CDC epidemiologist, said the US has the vaccines and treatments needed to fight the virus. As a consequence, the virus now poses a much lower threat to public health, according to the CDC. But it remains crucial for everyone to remain up to date on their vaccines, according to the public health agency.
“This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives,” Massetti said in a statement.
People with healthy immune systems, regardless of vaccination status, should isolate for five days after testing positive for the virus, but you can end isolation at day six if you have not had symptoms or if you have not had a fever for 24 hours and other symptoms have improved, according to the guidelines.
After leaving isolation, you should wear a high-quality mask through day 10 after your positive test. If you have had two negative rapid antigen tests you can stop wearing your mask earlier, according to the guidelines. But you should avoid people who are more likely to get sick from Covid, such as the elderly and people with weak immune systems, until at least day 11.
People with weakened immune systems, those who have been hospitalized with Covid, or those who have had shortness of breath due to the virus should isolate from others for 10 days. But people with weakened immune systems and those who were hospitalized should also consult a physician before ending isolation.
If you end isolation but your Covid symptoms worsen, you should return to isolation and follow the guidelines from scratch again, according to the CDC.
The US is currently reporting more than 107,000 new cases a day on average, according to the CDC. That’s likely to be a significant undercount because many people are now testing at home and results are not picked up in official data.
About 6,000 people with Covid are admitted to the hospital a day on average, according to the CDC data. Nearly 400 people are still dying a day on average from the virus.
Alpine is reportedly set for a legal showdown with Oscar Piastri amid reports the Australian driver will join McLaren next season.
The 21-year-old was announced last week as Fernando Alonso’s replacement at Alpine only for Piastri to take to social media to declare he would not be driving for the team.
It came amid reports that McLaren had told Daniel Ricciardo he would not have a seat in 2023.
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Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said they could seek compensation, expected to be in the millions.
“Going to the High Court is over 90 per cent certain that’s what we’ll do,” he told Reuters.
“If the [board] says ‘your license is only valid at Alpine’ and then he [Piastri] says ‘that’s great but I’m never driving for them, I’ll just sit out a year,’ then you’ve got to go to the High Court for compensation.”
Szafnauer said Alpine would assess how much money they have invested in Piastri’s development.
This figure would include the costs associated with independent tests as well as thousands of kilometers in the team’s 2021 car.
According to Reuters, one power unit costs as much as $2.55 million (AUD)
“We haven’t sat down with the accountants to figure out everything we’ve spent,” said Szafnauer.
“We will have to do that if we go to the High Court.”
According to TheRace.com, the fact Alpine believe the matter will head to the court implies that the team is resigned to losing Piastri to McLaren with their focus now on compensation rather than holding onto its rising star.
Oscar Piastri has said he will not drive for Alpine in 2023.Source: Getty Images
HAMILTON’S REVEALS BIG HOLLYWOOD BLOW
Lewis Hamilton has sensationally revealed he had to turn down a role as a fighter pilot in Top Gun: Maverick, describing it as “the most upsetting call” he’s ever made.
The seven-time world champion counts himself as a good friend of actor Tom Cruise, who played the lead role in the 1986 original and the recent Hollywood blockbuster that has grossed a whopping $AUD1.8 billion.
Hamilton recalls being invited to the set of one of Cruise’s movies as the starting point of their friendship.
“One of the nicest people you’ll ever meet,” Hamilton told Vanity Fair.
“He invited me to his set years ago when he was doing Edge of Tomorrow, and then we just built a friendship over time.”
Once Hamilton caught wind a Top Gun sequel was in the works, he was desperate to be involved given his love of the film as a child.
“So when I heard the second one was coming out, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I have to ask him,’” Hamilton said.
Tom Cruise bumps fists with Lewis Hamilton before the British GP at Silverstone. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
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“I said, ‘I don’t care what role it is. I’ll even sweep something, be a cleaner in the back.’”
Cruise obliged, but he wasn’t going to give Hamilton a cameo appearance.
Instead, the megastar wanted the Mercedes driver to be one of the fighter pilots.
There was just one catch: filming was set to take place during the back-end of the 2021 F1 season when Hamilton was locked in a tense battle with Max Verstappen for the world championship.
Knowing he had to turn down the chance of a lifetime, Hamilton was devastated when he made the call.
“I’m a perfectionist,” Hamilton said.
“The most upsetting call that I think I’ve ever had.”
F1 TRACK SET TO MAKE APPEARANCE IN … CALL OF DUTY?
Christmas has come early for the cross section of F1 and Call of Duty fans.
Infinity Ward, the developers of the video game, released a trailer that confirmed the Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore will be a playable map in the latest edition of the famous franchise.
In an official statement, Infinity Ward confirmed the map would be playable in the Modern Warfare II Beta for fans to get a taste of what’s to come.
“The Modern Warfare II Beta is set to feature a robust multiplayer experience going beyond the Core 6v6 experience with a variety of meticulously designed maps of various sizes, and an equally impressive set of Modes, Progression experiences, and other aspects that will be more thoroughly revealed at Call of Duty: Next,” the statement read.
“In addition, we revealed a fly-through of Marina Bay Grand Prix, where combat occurs within the main infield of an urban race circuit, one of the 6v6 Multiplayer maps confirmed for the Beta.”
The pit lane in Singapore will look a little different in this year’s Call of Duty. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
There does not look to be any official F1 branding or names of the drivers, suggesting it is not an official partnership between them and Call of Duty.
Funnily enough, the worlds of F1 and Call of Duty have intertwined previously, as Lewis Hamilton was a non-playable character in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, released in 2016.
LONG LIVE VEGAS! F1’S FIRST DATE IN SIN CITY LEAKED
What happens in Vegas might very well have great implications in the title race as the date for the Las Vegas GP has been leaked.
A Letter of Intent for the race between Liberty Media and the Convention Bureau was posted on Twitter and eagle-eyed fans noted the date.
The Las Vegas GP is slated to take place on November 18 and it would remain on that date until 2027 when the contract expires.
Based on the current F1 calendar, it would mean the race in Sin City would be the penultimate race of the season as the Abu Dhabi GP will take place on November 20 this year.
Former President Donald J. Trump received a subpoena this spring in search of documents that federal investigators believed he had failed to turn over earlier in the year, when he returned boxes of material he had improperly taken with him upon moving out of the White House, three people familiar with the matter said.
The existence of the subpoena helps to flesh out the sequence of events that led to the search of Mr. Trump’s Florida home on Monday by FBI agents seeking classified material they believed might still be there, even after efforts by the National Archives and the Justice Department to ensure that it had been returned.
The subpoena suggests that the Justice Department tried short methods of a search warrant to account for the material before taking the politically explosive step of sending FBI agents unannounced to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s home and members-only club.
Two people briefed on the classified documents that investigators believed remained at Mar-a-Lago indicated that they were so sensitive in nature, and related to national security, that the Justice Department had to act.
The subpoena was first disclosed by John Solomon, a conservative journalist who has also been designated by Mr. Trump as one of his representatives to the National Archives.
The existence of the subpoena is being used by allies of Mr. Trump to make a case that the former president and his team were cooperating with the Justice Department in identifying and returning the documents in question and that the search was unjustified.
The Justice Department declined to comment. Christina Bobb, a lawyer working for Mr. Trump, did not respond to messages. It is not clear what precise materials the subpoena sought or what documents the former president might have provided in response.
The subpoena factored into a visit that Jay Bratt, the Justice Department’s top counterintelligence official, made with a small group of other federal officials to Mar-a-Lago weeks later, in early June, one of the people said.
The officials met with Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran. Mr. Trump, who likes to play host and has a long history of trying to charm officials inquiring about his practices, also made an appearance. During the visit, the officials examined a basement storage area where the former president had stored material that had come with him from the White House.
A few days after the visit, Mr. Bratt emailed Mr. Corcoran and told him to further secure the remaining documents, which were kept in the storage area with a stronger padlock, one of the people said. The email was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.
More Coverage of the FBI Search of Trump’s Home
Then, they subpoenaed surveillance footage from the club, which could have given officials a glimpse of who was coming in and out of the storage area, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. They received footage specifically from areas of the club where they believed the documents might have been stored, the person said.
During the same period, investigators were in contact with a number of Mr. Trump’s aides who had some visibility into how he stored and moved documents around the White House and who still worked for him, three people familiar with the events said.
Among those whom investigators reached out to was Molly Michael, Mr. Trump’s assistant in the outer Oval Office who also went to work for him at Mar-a-Lago, three people familiar with the outreach said.
What we consider before using anonymous sources. How do the sources know the information? What’s their motivation for telling us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? Even with these questions satisfied, The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source.
Investigators have also reached out to Derek Lyons, the former White House staff secretary, whose last day was Dec. 18, 2020, and no longer works for Mr. Trump, with questions about the process for handling documents, according to a person familiar with the outreach.
Federal officials came to believe that Mr. Trump had not relinquished all the material that left the White House with him at the end of his term, according to three people familiar with the investigation.
Less than two months later, about two dozen FBI agents, intentionally not wearing the blue wind breakers emblazoned with the agency’s logo usually worn during searches, appeared at Mar-a-Lago with a warrant.
The club was closed; Mr. Trump was in the New York area; the FBI started a crew fixing a large fountain, a maid who was dusting and a handful of Secret Service agents who guarded the complex.
The search warrant was broad, allowing the agents to investigate all areas of the club where classified materials might have been stored. They went through the basement, Mr. Trump’s office and at least part of his residence at the club.
After hours of searching, they left with several boxes that were not filled to the brim and in some cases simply contained sealed envelopes of material that the agents took and were otherwise empty, one person familiar with the search said.
The person said that the FBI left behind a two-page manifest of what was taken.
Mr. Trump’s team has declined to disclose the contents of the search warrant. A number of organizations, including The New York Times, are seeking in federal court to have it unsealed.
Some senior Republicans have been warned by allies of Mr. Trump not to continue to be aggressive in criticizing the Justice Department and the FBI over the matter because it is possible that more damaging information related to the search will become public.
When Mr. Trump left the White House after refusing to concede that he had lost the 2020 election and frankly seeking to stay in power, a number of boxes of material made their way from the West Wing to Florida.
In the boxes was a mash of papers, along with items like a raincoat and golf balls, according to people briefed on the contents. The National Archives tried for months after Mr. Trump left office to retrieve the material, engaging in lengthy discussions with his representatives to acquire what should have been properly stored by the archives under the Presidential Records Act.
When archivists recovered 15 boxes this year, they discovered several pages of classified material and referred the matter to the Justice Department. But officials later came to believe that additional classified material remained at Mar-a-Lago.
Some of Mr. Trump’s advisers have maintained that they were trying all along to cooperate with federal officials and had kept an open line of communication.
But others familiar with federal officials’ efforts to recover the documents have said that Mr. Trump resisted returning property that belonged to the government, despite being told that he needed to.
Some of Mr. Trump’s informal advisers outside his direct employ have insisted to him that he can claim the documents are personal items and keep them.
AFL pundits have been left surprised by North Melbourne’s decision to drop No. 1 pick Jason Horne Francis for Saturday’s clash against the Crows in Adelaide.
The Kangaroos have named three inclusions for the match against Adelaide, with star veteran Ben Cunnington to make his highly-anticipated AFL return after beating cancer. Cunnington is joined on the side by key defender Ben McKay and father-son draftee Jackson Archer.
But the Roos also made a statement with their exclusions, dropping Horne-Francis, recruit Hugh Greenwood and key defender Josh Walker, while Flynn Perez was the club’s unused medical sub against Sydney last Sunday.
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Horne-Francis also wasn’t named in the emergencies, which is made up of Walker, Greenwood Atu Bosenavulagi and Josh Goater.
The 2021 No. 1 draft pick played in 12 of North’s first 13 games this season before copping a two-match suspension and returning via the VFL. But in his past four AFL games, Horne-Francis has kicked one goal and averaged 14.3 disposals.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 Plus on Thursday night, St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt thought the call to drop Horne-Francis was “strange”.
“There’s two games to go in the year, I would think you’re trying to get games into these guys to expose them as much as you possibly can, give a potential coach like Alastair Clarkson a look at the young players and the game’s in Adelaide – that’s where all his family and friends (are). He was desperate to get back there earlier in the year, which created some issue,” Riewoldt told Fox Footy.
Dual premiership Kangaroo David King was also surprised by the decision.
“Why would you drop Horne-Francis? He’s going back to Adelaide to play in front of family and friends, why wouldn’t you give him that opportunity? I don’t understand that,” King told SEN.
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“Just put him there in front of his friends and family because he’ll want to perform.”
Brownlow Medalist Gerard Healy told 3AW’s sports day that Horne-Francis’ non-selection for the Crows game was “a bookend to a pretty disappointing season”.
As well as reports Horne-Francis flew home to South Australia without the club’s awareness earlier this season, he also copped criticism for liking a ‘fake trade’ post on social media that involved him heading to Port Adelaide, while an on-field interaction with club great Todd Goldstein was also picked apart by footy commentators.
Jason Horne-Francis of the Kangaroos. Picture: Michael WillsonSource: Getty Images
There’s also been speculation around Horne-Francis’ future and talk he could return to South Australia after putting off contract talks with the Kangaroos on a new deal beyond 2023.
While dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna thought it was an “unusual” selection move, he told AFL 360 Plus “tough love can hold you in better stead in the long term”.
“I think that’s the general consensus, ‘why not just play them’, but we’ve seen with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan sometimes some tough love in the short-term can actually hold players in better stead in the long-term,” Montagna told Fox Footy.
“Maybe there are still elements in his game that we don’t know about that he’s working on or he’s not buying into some goals that they want.”
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