The “Slim Reaper” nickname might apply off the court, too.
Kevin Durant is trying to become both a coach and GM-killer.
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The Nets superstar issued an ultimatum to Joe Tsai over the weekend that the team owner needs to choose between Durant and the pairing of head coach Steve Nash and GM Sean Marks, The Athletic reported Tuesday (AEST).
Durant, who requested a trade in June and has not been moved, had a face-to-face meeting with Tsai in London in which he did not rescind his demand.
According to the report, the Nets have “direct knowledge” concerning why the 12-time All-Star has asked out a year after he signed a four-year, $198 million extension.
The Nets have not found a trade offer that could satisfy losing the all-time great, and according to the report, Tsai and the Nets have made it known they will take “every last asset from a team that trades for Durant.”
In stating the lofty hope for the trade return, perhaps the Nets think Durant would be less motivated to leave.
Will Kevin Durant stay in Brooklyn? Al Bello/Getty Images/AFP.Source: AFP
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The Nets are coming off a chaotic and wildly disappointing season in which the unvaccinated Kyrie Irving was banned until December and then primarily could only play in road games; James Harden, dealing with a heavier burden without Irving, requested a trade and was flipped for Ben Simmons, who never actually stepped foot on the court; and Brooklyn eventually was swept out of the first round by the Celtics.
In the aftermath, Marks said the team culture “isn’t what it quite was” and said it was his and Nash’s “job to pick that up.”
Durant reportedly does not want the GM and coach combination to be able to follow through.
After the Game 4 loss to Boston, Durant expressed his appreciation for Nash and said he was the right coach to lead the Nets into the future.
“Steve’s been dealt a crazy hand the last two years,” Durant said.
“He’s had to deal with so much stuff as a head coach, a first-time coach. Trades, injuries, COVID and just a lot of stuff he had to deal with.
“I’m proud of how he’s focused and his passion for us. We all continue to keep developing over the summer and see what happens.”
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been reposted with permission
Wherever he ends up next year, Daniel Ricciardo is going to keep on smiling.
The most famous pearly whites in Formula One reappeared on Monday as the Australian driver posted on Instagram for the first time since it was reported he was being replaced at McLaren by Oscar Piastri in 2023.
Enjoying his mid-season break in what appeared to be his sunny California base, Ricciardo kept it short and sweet.
“Hello,” he said, adding a sun emoji as he stood in a swimming pool.
Ricciardo has been hailed for his dignity and classy response to constant speculation about his future in the sport during a rocky 2022 season.
The Aussie F1 veteran became the story of the F1 mid-year break when it was reported he was being moved on for his 21-year-old countryman Piastri.
The news erupted last week after Fernando Alonso blindsided the F1 world when he jumped into Sebastian Vettel’s vacated seat at Aston Martin for 2023.
Alpine then announced Piastri would be the man to replace Alonso, only for the Melburnian to reject the seat, a bold move for a man who’s never driven an F1 car in anger.
But the news leaked over the weekend that it was Ricciardo’s seat Piastri was set to take, while McLaren were set to cut the eight-time race winner loose for the prodigious youngster — a move which would reportedly cost McLaren $21m in a payout for Ricciardo .
It leaves Ricciardo’s career at a crossroads after two largely miserable seasons in papaya, outside of the 2021 win at Monza.
Ricciardo had been regularly beaten by teammate Lando Norris and struggled to get his head around the car.
The 32-year-old left Renault for McLaren, but could return to the Enstone unit now branded Alpine, who are open to the move.
Alpine still believes it has an iron-clad deal with Piastri and are still planning for the young Aussie to take the seat, despite reports the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board had cleared Piastri’s move.
At almost 85, actress and activist Jane Fonda says it took her 70-something years to “become young”, and that feeling as good as she does now is something of a miracle.
Ahead of her new role in an animated movie, Fonda speaks exclusively with Stellar about what her late, lauded father taught her about life and regret on his deathbed, why she has never truly felt like a classic Hollywood icon, and her rubber-band trick for treating heartbreak.
You recently said, “I am younger now [at age 84] than I was in my 20s”. How do you stay young?
I don’t think that it’s true of everyone, frankly. How we are in our 20s – at least in the first part of our lives, before we understand that we can actually put an oar in the water and steer our life in a different direction, if we so choose… until I got to that point in my life, I was lost, I didn’t know what to do or who I wanted to be. I was very unhappy and I felt old and didn’t feel like I would live for very long. So to be almost 85 years old and to feel like I do now is a miracle to me. I have been very intentional in trying to … make myself a better person, make my life have more meaning. [The artist] Picasso once said, “It takes a long time to become young” and that’s sure true for me. It took 70-something years for me to become young.
When you say “become young”, what do you mean?
Young, [as in] light, not feeling a great burden on my shoulders. Learning how to be present, learning how to accept what comes, learning that we don’t have any control… something bad will happen, been there, done that and I survived. It’s much easier being older than it is being younger. It’s so hard to be young! There’s nothing but questions: “What am I supposed to do? Who am I supposed to know? Don’t give up, keep going and try to learn from all this, so when you get a little older, you can get more agency over your life.
You’ve spoken previously about not living a life of regrets. How have you influenced your decisions in Hollywood – and your life?
when my father [the late actor, Henry Fonda] was ill, it took him a long time to die. I would sit by his bedside of him. He didn’t speak much when he was young and healthy, and you don’t change when you’re on your deathbed. What I realized [was] he was going to die with regrets, when it was too late to do anything about it. It’s not the dying that I am scared of, it’s the coming to the end of life with a lot of regrets when it’s too late to do anything.
And that came to me at about the age of 60, so I thought, “All right, that means you have to live now until the end of your life in a way that will minimize the regrets and to go out feeling pretty OK about what you’ve done.” Regrets are usually about what you didn’t do … rather than the things you did. I am trying to do what I feel needs to be done before the end, right now, in my life.
You’ve been married three times and previously stated: “Part of the reason I get into a relationship with a man is that I feel he can take me down a new path”. How do you reflect on the defining relationships of your life?
Well, all of my three husbands definitely took me down paths that I probably would not have gone down had I not married them. And then, in between the marriages, I have had boyfriends that didn’t take me down any new paths, that really had nothing to teach me, and I got bored pretty fast. I feel like I needed to always be learning and growing and expanding, and my husbands have all helped me do that.
What is your advice for dealing with heartbreak?
Put a rubber band around your wrist and when you get really angry or sad, snap it. That sudden pain, it changes the neural pathways in your brain, and will help you kind of come out of it for a minute. Then, write him a letter, pour your thoughts out – but don’t send it.
Years from now, you’ll read it and be amazed at how different you are when you read it, than the time you wrote it.
Between projects, such as the 1968 movie Barbarella and Netflix series Grace and Frankie, and now your voice role in new animated film Luck, on Apple TV+, you’ve had incredible longevity and diversity in your acting career, and you’ve won two Oscars for Best Actress. What has your experience been as a woman working in Hollywood?
I’ve never felt part of Hollywood, really. I mean, I know it sounds strange to say that because my father was a movie star, Henry Fonda, but he was not really part of Hollywood. I didn’t go to Hollywood parties much. I mean he did, sometimes. It was not a life that was totally focused on glamor and Hollywood. My life has never been, either. Most of my friends are activists and not involved in Hollywood. I have plowed ahead, even when it looked like my career would be over. I just try to stay relevant, I guess.
You’re the voice of Babe, The Dragon, in Luck. What drew you to the role?
She is the president of the Kingdom of Luck, where they create luck. Human beings are not allowed there because it’s thought they’ll bring bad luck with them. It’s a story about a young girl named Sam, who is in the foster care system and who has nothing but bad luck. With the help of some of the creatures in the kingdom, she manages to get in and teaches the dragon that bad luck is really the other side of the coin of good luck, that the two go together. That good luck doesn’t mean anything without bad luck, and vice versa. It’s like, life doesn’t have meaning without death.
The climate crisis is the main subject of your activism, as founder of the Jane Fonda Climate PAC (Political Action Committee). What is your message to lawmakers – in the US and globally – about the state of the environment?
I have to say, the people of Australia understand the climate crisis better than most. I mean, boy, you just can’t catch a break with the fires and flooding. We have to look at what the scientists say. We have to cut our fossil fuel emissions – the pollution that happens when we
burn coal and gas – in half by 2030. In the US, that’s four election cycles. That’s a very short period of time. It’s a massive challenge that requires not just laws and policies to be passed, but a new way of thinking. Think about nature differently, think about our responsibility – this is particularly true in the United States, stop thinking about me, me, me. It’s pretty scary and we don’t have a lot of time. We have to do everything we can, all of us.
After ambush-style shootings of three Muslim men and the recent killing of a fourth in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Muslim community in the city is on edge and fearful.
A well-liked city worker who had aspirations of a future in politics and a proud new US citizen are among the victims of a spree of police shootings say they may be related.
The killings of Mohammad Ahmadi, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, Aftab Hussein and Naeem Hussain have one obvious commonality though: They were all South Asian Muslims, according to Albuquerque police.
The three most recent killings happened within the span of two weeks, with local and national Muslim groups warning residents to remain vigilant. They’ve also put a spotlight on an unsolved homicide from November 2021.
Here’s what we know about the lives lost. CNN will continue to update this story with more details as we learn them:
Mohammad Ahmadi was shot and killed outside of a business he and his brother ran together in November 2021, according to CNN affiliate KOAT.
Ahmadi was from Afghanistan, police said.
Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain had been living with his brother, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, in the same apartment complex for almost five years and had never had any problems.
The brothers came to the US on student visas, studying at the University of New Mexico, and they would often take early morning or late night walks to the university library without any fear for their safety – until now.
Afzaal Hussain was shot, killed and found on a sidewalk on August 1, his face distorted from gunshot wounds, Imtiaz Hussain said.
“This is not a random killing,” said Imtiaz Hussain, who had to witness his brother’s wounds himself. “This is extremely motivated and extreme hatred.”
Afzaal Hussain was loved by everyone and a student leader excited for a future in politics once he gained US citizenship.
“We are in extreme fear,” Imtiaz Hussain said. “Living in this place is very painful.”
Hussain worked on the planning team for the city of Española. He had studied law and human resource management at the University of Punjab in Pakistan before receiving both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico, according to a news release from Española Mayor John Ramon Vigil.
“Muhammad was soft-spoken and kind, and quick to laugh,” Vigil said in a news release last Wednesday. “He was well-respected and well-liked by his coworkers and members of the community.”
Naeem Hussain, 25, had been a US citizen for less than a month when he became the latest shooting victim found by Albuquerque police officers just before midnight Friday.
His brother-in-law Ehsan Shahalami identified Hussian to CNN Sunday and said he had migrated as a refugee from Pakistan in 2016 – fleeing persecution as a Shia Muslim.
“He had a lot of dreams and he accomplished some of them,” Shahalami said. “His others of him were cut short by this heinous act.”
Hours before his own death, Hussain attended a funeral for two of the recent victims and expressed concern about the shootings, said Tahir Gauba, spokesperson for the Islamic Center of New Mexico.
Hussain worked as a truck driver for several years from Albuquerque, a job he took immense pride in, according to Shahalami.
“He was not even a citizen at the time but he would say, ‘This is our country, these people need us more than any other time,’ so he drove extra shifts to keep things rolling,” Shahalami said.
After becoming a US citizen, Hussain opened his own trucking business, had plans to bring over his wife from Pakistan and was interested in buying property in Virginia, according to Shahalami.
“He was the most generous, kind, giving, patient, and down-to-earth person that I could ever meet,” he said. “He was very hard working.”
Hussain wasn’t just working to support himself – he would share his earnings with family back home, Shahalami said.
After the funerals Friday, Gauba said, Hussain attended a lunch at the mosque and approached him asking if he had more information on the shootings.
“We (The Islamic Center of New Mexico) thought after burial of these two young men (on Friday), we would have closure and move on and let law enforcement investigate,” Gauba said. “Waking up Saturday morning to his (Naeem Hussain) death, the whole community just feels helpless. There’s a lot of fear.”
About 700 to 800 Muslims on Fridays attend the Islamic Center of New Mexico, the largest mosque in Albuquerque founded in the mid-1970s, according to Gauba.
Aftab Hussein was a Muslim man from Pakistan, police said.
Grease star Eddie Deezen has been branded a danger to society and been put in the care of health officials as his sad spiral continues.
Deezen, 65, was on Monday found incompetent after allegedly burglarizing a nursing home in April.
A commitment order obtained by TMZ deemed the actor who played Rydell High nerd Eugene Felsnic in the iconic film is unable to stand trial because of an unspecified mental disorder.
He has been transferred to the Maryland Department of Health for treatment.
The document reportedly states that the actor, who played Felsnic in the 1978 movie musical and its 1982 sequel, poses a “danger to himself and others around him.” He will stay in the health department’s care until the court believes he is no longer a threat.
Deezen was arrested in Maryland on April 9 for burglary, two counts of trespassing and disturbing the peace, his inmate record, seen by Page Six, showed at the time.
However, prosecutors reportedly changed the charges to assault and disorderly conduct.
Police alleged to TMZ that Deezen had forced his way into a privately owned nursing facility and refused to leave. He also allegedly tried to break into a patient’s room before being kicked out and arrested on the property.
Deezen was previously arrested in September 2021 at a Maryland restaurant after allegedly throwing plates and food at police officers.
He was charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct and trespassing for that rampage.
Before that, Deezen found himself involved in another incident at an eatery where he was accused of harassing a waitress after detailing his infatuation with her via Facebook.
“Eddie Deezen is af***ing CREEP who comes into my work at least once a week, calls and asks other servers for my schedule, and if he comes in and I’m not wearing makeup HE LEAVES,” the waitress, Kara Lashbaugh, wrote on Twitter in June 2021 with screenshots of Deezen’s all-caps posts about her. “And this grown-ass old man has the balls to post this on Facebook about me I’m losing my mind.”
Deezen played several other nerd character roles in a handful of films in the late 1970s and early 1980s before launching a successful second phase of his career as a voice actor.
His notable characters include the Know-It-All Kid in The Polar Express, Snipes the Magpie in Rock-a-Doodle and Ned in Kim Possible.
This article was originally published by the New York Post and reproduced with permission
Ashton Kutcher has revealed that an auto-immune disorder left him without the ability to see, hear or walk.
“Like two years ago, I had this weird, super rare form of vasculitis that, like, knocked out my vision, it knocked out my hearing, it knocked out, like, all my equilibrium,” Kutcher, 44, said in a sneak peek of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge obtained by Access Hollywood.
The That ’70s Show alum said it took him about a year to build each sense back up again, Page Six reported.
Vasculitis is a very rare auto-immune disorder that can cause inflammation of the blood vessels, resulting in restricted blood flow. There are many types of vasculitis, but most affect at least one organ.
“You don’t really appreciate it until it’s gone,” Kutcher shared.
“Until you go, ‘I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to see again, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to hear again, I don’t know if I’ I’m ever going to be able to walk again.’
“[I’m] lucky to be alive,” he added.
Now fully recovered from his terrifying health scare, the No Strings Attached actor said he does not let any challenge stand in his way of success.
“The minute you start seeing your obstacles as things that are made for you, to give you what you need, then life starts to get fun, right?” said Kutcher, who shares two children with his wife Mila Kunis.
“You start surfing on top of your problems instead of living underneath them.”
This story was originally published by Page Six and has been reproduced with permission
NESCOPECK, Pa. — Authorities say at least half of the 10 people found dead after an early morning fire in northeastern Pennsylvania died of smoke inhalation.
The Luzerne County coroner’s office said autopsies on the victims of the early Friday blaze in Nescopeck began Saturday. Examinations by Dr. Gary Ross were completed on three women, one man and a girl, the office said in a news release Saturday afternoon.
Determining the manner of death — classifying the deaths as accidents or homicides, for example — for the victims is pending the outcome of the fire investigation, the coroner’s office said. Positive identification of the victims is pending review of medical records, dental records and DNA if required, the coroner’s office said.
State police said seven adults ranging from late teens to age 79 were killed along with children aged 5, 6 and 7.
The county’s district attorney, Sam Sanguedolce, said a preliminary investigation suggests the fire broke out on the front porch at around 2:30 am on Friday. He said it appears that “the fire started and progressed very quickly, making it very difficult to get out.”
Nescopeck is a small town on the Susquehanna River, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of Wilkes-Barre. The house was on a residential street of largely owner-occupied, single family homes.
The 39-year-old British actor has taken on his boldest role yet in HBO’s upcoming House of the Dragonthe much-anticipated prequel to game of Thrones debuting locally on Binge and Foxtel August 22.
Smith, who is best known for becoming the youngest actor to helm Doctor Who from 2010,-2014 as well as his Emmy-nominated performance as Prince Philip in Netflix’s The Crownenter the thrones-sphere as Prince Daemon Targaryen.
The main antagonist – Daemon is the impulsive, power-hungry brother of King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) in a world set around 200 years before the events of GoT.
While joining a franchise as universally lauded as thrones was reason enough to jump on-board, it was the complexities of this character that enticed Smith most.
“I thought he was really interesting and unknown. And I thought I could add something to him,” Smith says.
“I think you always feel an element of nerves going into every part, it felt sort of slightly outside of anything I’d done before, which is which is why I was attracted to do it.”
That’s not to say I loved every minute of it.
Smith says the nature of this production took an extreme physical and emotional toll on him. From sitting in the makeup chair for two hours to having the iconic Targaryen silver-haired wig fitted, to waiting around in hot, heavy armor.
“It was a great privilege to be apart of something like this, but it was grievous as well. It was a tough shoot. And it was a year over Covid and it wasn’t easy. It’s not like it was just bells and whistles,” he says.
“And this type of show, there’s so many characters in it. There’s a lot of hanging about on the set.”
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Admittedly, Smith feels overwhelmed on every set, saying his roles become his “sole focus.”
So, how does he stay sane?
“A pint of Guinness, watch some football. Go to the gym, do the normal stuff, walk my dog, you know, [I would] just go and do something that had nothing to do with blonde wigs and swords,” he says.
Few sets are as dynamic as this one. game of Thrones won Emmys for its immense fight scenes. Season 6’s ‘Battle of the Bastards’ (which was directed by HotD director Miguel Sapochnik) is as edge-of-your-seat-viewing as it gets.
Though, rehearsing such battles to the point of perfection can be risky.
French actor Fabien Frankel, who plays Sir Christen Cole in the prequel, reveals he almost damaged the money-maker – Smith’s pin-up face.
“I hit Matt in the face in our first rehearsal,” Frankel says. “My sword cut him in the head. We didn’t even really know each other.
Smith interjects, “It was your shield (which) hit my sword.”
While they laugh about it now, Frankel genuinely feared he was “going to get fired.”
“It was like, you know, you don’t want to insult Matt Smith,” he says.
Smith was one of the millions of diehard thrones fans, having watched the entirety of its eight season run.
He says he feels privileged to be welcomed into the world of Westeros for a new era, but of course, that sort of legacy warrants high stakes.
“But ultimately, it’s a good pressure,” Smith says.
“That had its own cultural footprint. And its success will never be repeated.
“There’s a huge fan base there. They love it. And we’re going to try and deliver something that’s original and entertaining and move the story forward, even though we’re moving the story backwards.”
House of the Dragon premieres express from the US on Binge and Foxtel August 22
The ambush-style shootings of three Muslim men and the recent killing of a fourth in Albuquerque have alarmed the city’s Muslim community and triggered warnings for mosque-goers as police investigate how the shootings may be linked.
The killings of Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, 27, Aftab Hussein, 41, and Naeem Hussain, 25, all have one commonality: the victims were all Muslim and of South Asian descent, according to Albuquerque police.
The three most recent killings happened within the span of two weeks, putting the city on edge as police probed for potential links between the attacks, and put a spotlight on an unsolved homicide from November 2021.
“While we are still sifting through all the evidence to look for more connections, it is deeply troubling that these three men were Muslim and of similar descent,” deputy commander of Albuquerque Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, Kyle Hartsock, said.
The FBI is assisting with the investigation, and an online portal was set up for residents to upload videos and images which might help authorities investigating the killings. The local Crime Stoppers Board has also voted to increase a reward for information leading to an arrest to $20,000.
Police have not come out with any descriptions of a suspect or suspects in the killings. They have, however, said they are seeking “a vehicle of interest,” which may be connected to the four killings. The vehicle is a dark silver sedan-style Volkswagen Jetta or Passat with tinted windows.
Here’s what we know about the killings and the investigation so far:
The most recent of the killings was reported Friday, when Naeem Hussain was found dead by Albuquerque police officers who responded to reports of a shooting just before midnight in the area of Truman Street and Grand Avenue.
After the discovery, Albuquerque police said the homicide “may be connected” to three previous killings of Muslim men from South Asia.
Those three men – Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, Aftab Hussein and Mohammad Ahmadi – were all “ambushed with no warning, fired on and killed,” Hartsock previously said.
Two of them, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain and Aftab Hussein, were both Pakistani men and were killed in Southeast Albuquerque near Central Avenue. Police said they “determined there is a connection” between those two deaths.
Muhammad Afzaal Hussain was shot and killed on Aug. 1. He was found on a sidewalk in the area of Cornell Street and Lead Avenue.
Just days before, on July 26, Aftab Hussein was found with apparent gunshot wounds in the 400 block of Rhode Island. He later died as a result of his injuries, police said.
As investigators probed the recent killings, they turned their attention to the Nov. 7, 2021, homicide of Mohammad Ahmadi, a Muslim man from Afghanistan who was killed outside a business he ran with his brother on San Mateo Boulevard.
Naeem Hussain migrated as a refugee from Pakistan in 2016 – fleeing persecution as a Shia Muslim – and had just become a US citizen last month, according to his brother-in-law, Ehsan Shahalami.
He opened his own trucking business this year and was described as being a kind, generous and hardworking person.
The day he was killed, he had attended a funeral for the two recent victims and expressed fear about the shootings, according to a spokesman with a mosque in Albuquerque.
Muhammad Afzaal Hussain worked on the planning team for the city of Española. He had studied law and human resource management at the University of Punjab in Pakistan before receiving both master’s and bachelor degrees in community and regional planning from the University of New Mexico, according to a news release from the mayor.
“Muhammad was soft-spoken and kind, and quick to laugh,” Major John Ramon Vigil said in a news release last Wednesday. “He was well-respected and well-liked by his coworkers and members of the community.”
Few details have been released about the two other victims. Police said Mohammad Ahmadi was a Muslim man from Afghanistan and Aftab Hussein was a Muslim man from Pakistan.
So far, police have released a flyer showing a “vehicle of interest” in all four killings. But it remains unclear who the car belongs to, or how they are potentially connected to the attacks.
Police said the vehicle “is suspected as being used as a conveyance in recent homicides of 4 Muslim men.”
“We have a very, very strong lead. We have a vehicle of interest … we have got to find this vehicle,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said. “We don’t know at this point what it is associated with, or who owns it.”
While police have not definitively said all four attacks are connected, they have said they are looking into whether it is the case.
“There is one strong commonality in all the victims; the race and religion,” Hartsock said in a Thursday briefing.
Authorities are asking the public to come forward with any information which might help in the investigation. Tips may be submitted to the Albuquerque Metro CrimeStoppers website.
After Friday’s killing, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Saturday she will send additional state police to Albuquerque.
“I am angered and saddened that this is happening in New Mexico, a place that prides itself on diversity of culture and thought. This is not who we are,” Grisham said in a statement. “We will not stop in our pursuit of justice for the victims and their families and are bringing every resource to bear to apprehend the killer or killers – and we WILL find them.”
The attacks have also drawn condemnation from President Joe Biden, who said he was “angered and saddened” by the attacks.
“While we await a full investigation, my prayers are with the victims’ families, and my Administration stands strongly with the Muslim community,” Biden wrote on Twitter.
The city is now increasing police presence at mosques, Muslim-affiliated schools and the University of New Mexico.
“Albuquerque is on edge right now, and I want to be clear that we, and our partners across law enforcement, are directing every possible resource to these cases. We will protect our community and bring the perpetrator of these crimes to justice. We unequivocally denounce these senseless killings and stand with our Muslim community against intolerance and violence in every form,” said Keller.
“We have heard from the community that the fear is so strong, there is a concern about even things like groceries and getting meals for certain folks in certain areas of town,” Keller said in a weekend briefing. “Our senior affairs department and our community safety department is going to be providing meals as long as we need, to anyone who needs a meal who is affected by this tragedy.”
Meanwhile, local and national Muslim groups have been warning residents to be cautious.
“We urge everyone to take precautions and be aware of your surroundings including making sure that you are not being followed home and avoid walking alone at night,” Islamic Center of New Mexico posted on Facebook. “This is especially true for our members living in the southeast part of the city where these killings have taken place.”
The center said while there is no evidence its mosque is being targeted, it is still taking steps to provide additional security measures.
“The lives of Albuquerque Muslims are in danger. Whoever is responsible for this horrific, hateful shooting spree must be identified and stopped – now,” stressed Council on American-Islamic Relations National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell.
The Council is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of those responsible, the organization announced, calling the series of killings a “horrific, hateful shooting spree.”
The prospect of the 2023 Formula 1 grid not featuring Daniel Ricciardo is difficult to fathom.
Fortunately it’s not just a hard sell of the average F1 fan; several teams are also sure the eight-time race winner has more to give to motorsport’s premier series.
In the wake of persistent rumors that Mark Webber was lining up Oscar Piastri to snatch Ricciardo’s seat from underneath him in 2023, rival teams have been probing the availability of the affable 33-year-old for his next chapter.
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As many as four rival constructors have sounded out Ricciardo, per ESPN, in the weeks leading up to McLaren reportedly issuing him his intention to break his contract.
Deducing which teams ought to be a simple case of arithmetic.
Before Fernando Alonso’s bombshell move there were six teams with possible vacancies: Alpine, Alfa Romeo, Haas, AlphaTauri, Aston Martin and Williams.
Alpine assumed it wouldn’t be going to market given it thought it had Piastri on the books as a fallback for Alonso, reducing the list to five.
AlphaTauri is also moving closer to re-signing Yuki Tsunoda, who Franz Tost wants to give a third season to establish himself. Anyway, signing 33-year-old Ricciardo also doesn’t click with what’s supposed to be Red Bull’s development team. Four teams remaining.
Aston Martin has also removed itself from the list, but with Alpine seemingly sure to need new blood, the group possible suitors is stable at four, including Haas, Alfa Romeo and Williams.
So which is most likely to be seriously pitching for Ricciardo’s services, and which has the best chance of attracting his attention.
Ricciardo set to be replaced by Piastri | 00:32
ALPINE: THE CLEAR FRONTRUNNER
Alpine is unlikely to have been among the teams to have reached out to Ricciardo before the Hungarian Grand Prix given it was certain to the point of complacency that Alonso would re-sign, and it assumed in the unlikely event the Spaniard left, Oscar Piastri would be aligned to replace him.
But you can guarantee that the French team has reached out in the week since the driver market kicked into gear, and it’s the obvious frontrunner for Ricciardo’s services.
why it makes sense
Alpine is the highest placed team in the constructors standings with an availability — in fact it’s a place ahead of McLaren, occupying fourth with a four-point margin, so it would represent a step forwards on the grid, even if that step would be almost imperceptibly small.
The team is also on a hiring spree to match the workforce size of the frontrunners, and having undertaken some capital works to upgrade its factory, it’s well placed to maximize its budget cap allocation in the coming seasons.
Alpine also has a weak bargaining hand given it’s now 35 races deep into a 100-race plan to be a regular podium-getter. Esteban Ocon is credible enough but really the team needs a high-caliber spearhead, and there’s no-one on the market who comes close to Ricciardo’s potential or brand value.
And then there’s a certain unquantifiable appeal for both sides—one that neither would admit to, although stranger things have happened—that they’d be united by a common adversary. Both would surely be keen to defeat McLaren in a straight fight, and they’re each other’s best chance of doing so.
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Why it doesn’t
The only thing that would prevent Ricciardo and Alpine from renewing the relationship that ended in 2020 is pride. Ricciardo would be returning to a team he’d previously ditched, and Alpine would be taking back a driver who decided to walk out after only a year of racing.
But it’s debatable that this would be a strong disincentive to join.
For one, Alpine has been through a management clean-out since Ricciardo left, meaning there could be only so much bad blood to influence decision-making.
Team principal Otmar Szafnauer was even receptive to Ricciardo as a possible re-hire as early as last week, when he was still trying to project an air of confidence about keeping Piastri.
“I mean, if you look at Fernando, for example, he comes and goes, and I think that happens to other drivers too,” he said, per autosport. “I don’t think that’s an issue [with Ricciardo] at all.”
As for Ricciardo, he’s proved during his McLaren tenure that he isn’t afraid about claiming responsibility for his actions. He’s been upfront about his underperformance, and returning to Alpine, where he had one of the best seasons of his career in 2020, would just be an extension of that.
Alpine may not have been among the early suitors of Ricciardo’s services, but it’s certainly at the head of the pack.
Piastri backflip as he denies Alpine F1 | 01:07
HAAS: TRYING ITS LUCK
Haas is the next team in the constructors standings without an obvious solution to its driver line-up if it parts ways with Mick Schumacher, whether on its own motion or because the German switches teams given the pathway to Ferrari is closed for the foreseeable future.
why it makes sense
Daniel Ricciardo is box office in the United States partly thanks to Drive to Survivepartly thanks to his love for the US and partly thanks to his personal team’s efforts to get his personality out there.
For a Haas team that’s on the up but in need of some brand cut-through, Ricciardo would be a great get — and maybe even enough to convince Gene Haas to increase his commitment to funding the team, at least for purposes of snagging a star. driver.
Ricciardo would also enjoy the relaxed and apolitical atmosphere at the midfield team, perhaps enough to sway a decision.
Why it doesn’t
While the morass of the midfield is a bit of a minefield in terms of their prospects in the next few years — Alonso clearly doesn’t think ninth-placed Aston Martin has dimmer prospects than fourth-placed Alpine — Haas has been particularly inconsistent this season . It would be a difficult sell to Ricciardo to take a punt on things moving forwards rather than backwards.
Haas might also question whether it’s ready for a driver of Ricciardo’s ambition at this stage of its rebuild.
There’s also a lack of clarity around whether Ferrari has finally said over Haas’s second seat as part of its technical agreement with the team, which would presumably rule Ricciardo out of the running.
Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFPSource: AFP
WILLIAMS: WITHOUT AN OBVIOUS SUCCESSOR
Williams was set to be a major player in the driver market when it was tied to Alpine’s decision-making around Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso, but that power was stripped from Grove when both drivers sensationally abandoned the French team.
It’s also left Williams without an obvious candidate for its second seat, currently occupied by Nicholas Latifi, who’s likely to be shown the door at the end of the year.
why it makes sense
Williams has fielded mostly rookies for the last five seasons, with the only exceptions being Robert Kubica in 2019, who was making his comeback an eight-year injury hiatus, and Alex Albon, who had two disrupted years in the Red Bull system before sitting out last year.
It means the team is without a proven, established bar with which to measure its car’s ultimate performance. Ricciardo would give the team a chance to know just how much more might be in the car or whether what we’re seeing today is the best the team’s got.
If Ricciardo were desperate to continue his Formula 1 career but unable to secure a contract at a better placed team, Williams would surely be happy to accept him.
Why it doesn’t
Much like Haas, Williams may not feel ready for a heavy hitter of Ricciardo’s stature. It’s also seriously debatable whether Daniel, with a point to prove about his last 18 months and eager to restore his reputation, would see value in a contract that would struggle to guarantee him more than lower midfield levels of performance.
Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
ALFA ROMEO: NOT IN NEED OF A LEADER
Alfa Romeo has been one of the sport’s great improvers this year and is on track for the best points haul of its independent history. It also has Zhou Guanyu out of contract this season, and though the Chinese rookie has acquired himself well, the team is yet to re-sign him.
why it makes sense
The Sauber-run Alfa Romeo team’s biggest card is that it’s reportedly in negotiations to be bought by Audi. Sauber would then become the German marque’s works constructor, complete with a power unit program.
If the best route to a championship is to race for a fully fledged manufacturer, getting in on the ground floor before Audi potentially buys in — and presumably spends big to accelerate progress where it can — might be the best shortcut to the front.
Why it doesn’t
Valtteri Bottas’s strong performances and long-term contract mean Alfa Romeo doesn’t need a team leader, no matter your opinion of the abilities of the Finn relative to the Australian.
Further, the team has an eye to promoting its development driver, Théo Pourchaire, from Formula 2. Pourchaire is only 21 points off the title lead, and if he wins the series this year, he won’t be able to enter again — and even if he missed out, another strong campaign would likely be enough to get him into F1 by 2024.
Wedging Ricciardo into Zhou Guanyu’s seat makes no sense when it’s already earmarked for one of Sauber’s own drivers.
Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
WHAT ABOUT THE LONG GAME?
There’s one other criterion that might be on Ricciardo’s mind aside from getting himself into the most competitive seat available next season: ensuring he’s available to take part in driver market movements among the frontrunners in the coming seasons.
Out of contract next year are both Lewis Hamilton, who is inching closer to retirement, and George Russell at Mercedes, and team boss Toto Wolff has previously described himself as an admirer of the Australian. A Mercedes-powered team might therefore enjoy a small boost in bargaining power.
The 2024 season is Sergio Perez’s last under his current contract, while Charles Leclerc will also be up for renewal. Fernando Alonso is understood to have signed a two-plus-one deal at Aston Martin that could also see his seat made available.
But before leaping at any such hypotheticals — if indeed they’re on his mind at all — Ricciardo will need to nail down a contract to keep him in F1 next season.
