Thought of the Day
Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that’s why life is hard.
September 24th 2025
Wet Nose Wednesday: Meet Pound Cake and Steward!
Hey there! I’m Pound Cake, a sweet little lady looking for my forever home. I might seem a bit shy when I first meet you, but don’t worry – once I warm up, I’m all about the cuddles and affection! I’m a friendly girl who wants nothing more than to be your constant companion. Whether you’re looking for a snuggle buddy for movie nights or a gentle friend to keep you company, I’m your perfect match! I promise to bring lots of love and joy into your life, and I can’t wait to show you just how special our bond can be. Are you ready to welcome a purr-fect new friend into your heart? How did I get here? Transferred from Wayne County Animal Services. I am currently living in a foster home – please fill out a survey and select a phone appointment to complete the adoption process. Once that process is complete, your adoption specialist will schedule a time for you to meet me in person!** ~My adoption fee is $65.00.~
Oh, hi there! My name is Steward, I am a bit scared and would love if you took things slow with me! Loud noises are super scary to a young pup like me, is your house nice and quiet? Oh, and do you have lots of yummy treats?! What about two hands for giving me lots of pets?! I currently weigh ~42 lbs. but need to gain weight in order to look and feel my best – please speak with your veterinarian about an appropriate weight gain plan for me. How did I get here? Owner surrendered when my owner could no longer care for me. ~My adoption fee is $120.00.~
Man who represented himself is found guilty of trying to assassinate Trump at Florida golf course
By DAVID FISCHER Associated Press
FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — The man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at a Florida golf course last year tried to stab himself in the neck with a pen shortly after being found guilty of all counts on Tuesday.
Officers quickly swarmed him and dragged him out of the courthouse.
The jury of five men and seven women found Ryan Routh guilty on all counts that he was facing after 2 hours of deliberation.
After the jurors were on their way out of the courtroom, Routh tried to stab himself in the neck. He grabbed a pen and started trying to stab himself in the neck. Marshals swarmed him and picked him up and dragged him out of the courthouse.
His daughter Sara Routh was screaming, “Dad I love you don’t do anything. I’ll get you out. He didn’t hurt anybody.”
She continued screaming inside the courtroom as her father was dragged out. She said the case against him was rigged. The daughter went outside the courthouse and was waiting by the guard gate for her father to be driven out and transported to prison.
Routh had been charged with attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges and defended himself in court.
Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the Republican played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.
Routh told jurors in his closing argument that he didn’t intend to kill anyone that day.
“It’s hard for me to believe that a crime occurred if the trigger was never pulled,” Routh said. He pointed out that he could see Trump as he was on the path toward the sixth-hole green at the golf course and noted that he also could have shot a Secret Service agent who confronted him if he had intended to harm anyone.
Routh, 59, exercised his constitutional right not to testify in his own defense. He rested his case Monday morning after questioning just three witnesses — a firearms expert and two characters witnesses — for a total of about three hours. In contrast, prosecutors spent seven days questioning 38 witnesses.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that the guilty verdict “illustrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to punishing those who engage in political violence.”
“This attempted assassination was not only an attack on our President, but an affront to our very nation,” Bondi said.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to represent himself following two hearings in July. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that criminal defendants have a right to represent themselves in court proceedings, as long as they can show a judge they are competent to waive their right to be defended by an attorney. Routh’s former defense attorneys have served as standby counsel since he took over his own defense and have been present during trial the past two weeks.
Recounting what happened at the golf course, a Secret Service agent testified earlier in the trial that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot, the agent said.
Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who testified that he saw a person fleeing the area after hearing gunshots. The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witness said he confirmed it was the person he had seen.
Just nine weeks earlier, Trump had survived an attempt on his life while campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight shots, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The gunman was then fatally shot by a Secret Service counter sniper.
Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous and sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told The Associated Press.
In the early days of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he was arrested in 2002 for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch (25-centimeter) fuse, police said.
In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.
Besides the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.
Robot umpires approved for MLB in 2026 as part of challenge system
By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Robot umpires are getting called up to the big leagues next season.
Major League Baseball’s 11-man competition committee on Tuesday approved use of the Automated Ball/Strike System in the major leagues in 2026.
Human plate umpires will still call balls and strikes, but teams can challenge two calls per game and get additional appeals in extra innings. Challenges must be made by a pitcher, catcher or batter — signaled by tapping their helmet or cap — and a team retains its challenge if successful. Reviews will be shown as digital graphics on outfield videoboards.
Adding the robot umps is likely to cut down on ejections. MLB said 61.5% of ejections among players, managers and coaches last year were related to balls and strikes, as were 60.3% this season through Sunday. The figures include ejections for derogatory comments, throwing equipment while protesting calls and inappropriate conduct.
Big league umpires call roughly 94% of pitches correctly, according to UmpScorecards.
“Throughout this process we have worked on deploying the system in a way that’s acceptable to players,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “The strong preference from players for the challenge format over using the technology to call every pitch was a key factor in determining the system we are announcing today.”
ABS, which utilizes Hawk-Eye cameras, has been tested in the minor leagues since 2019. The independent Atlantic League trialed the system at its 2019 All-Star Game and MLB installed the technology for that’s year Arizona Fall League of top prospects. The ABS was tried at eight of nine ballparks of the Low-A Southeast League in 2021, then moved up to Triple-A in 2022.
At Triple-A at the start of the 2023 season, half the games used the robots for ball/strike calls and half had a human making decisions subject to appeals by teams to the ABS.
MLB switched Triple-A to an all-challenge system on June 26, 2024, then used the challenge system this year at 13 spring training ballparks hosting 19 teams for a total of 288 exhibition games. Teams won 52.2% of their ball/strike challenges (617 of 1,182) challenges.
At Triple-A this season, the average challenges per game increased to 4.2 from 3.9 through Sunday and the success rate dropped to 49.5% from 50.6%. Defenses were successful in 53.7% of challenges this year and offenses in 45%.
In the first test at the big League All-Star Game, four of five challenges of plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s calls were successful in July.
Teams in Triple-A do not get additional challenges in extra innings. The proposal approved Tuesday included a provision granting teams one additional challenge each inning if they don’t have challenges remaining.
MLB has experimented with different shapes and interpretations of the strike zone with ABS, including versions that were three-dimensional. Currently, it calls strikes solely based on where the ball crosses the midpoint of the plate, 8.5 inches from the front and the back. The top of the strike zone is 53.5% of batter height and the bottom 27%.
This will be MLB’s first major rule change since sweeping adjustments in 2024. Those included a pitch clock, restrictions on defensive shifts, pitcher disengagements such as pickoff attempts and larger bases.
The challenge system introduces ABS without eliminating pitch framing, a subtle art where catchers use their body and glove to try making borderline pitches look like strikes. Framing has become a critical skill for big league catchers, and there was concern that full-blown ABS would make some strong defensive catchers obsolete. Not that everyone loves it.
“The idea that people get paid for cheating, for stealing strikes, for moving a pitch that’s not a strike into the zone to fool the official and make it a strike is beyond my comprehension,” former manager Bobby Valentine said.
Texas manager Bruce Bochy, a big league catcher from 1978-87, maintained old-school umpires such as Bruce Froemming and Billy Williams never would have accepted pitch framing. He said they would have told him: “’If you do that again, you’ll never get a strike.’ I’m cutting out some words.”
Management officials on the competition committee include Seattle chairman John Stanton, St. Louis CEO Bill DeWitt Jr., San Francisco chairman Greg Johnson, Colorado CEO Dick Monfort, Toronto CEO Mark Shapiro and Boston chairman Tom Werner.
Players include Arizona’s Corbin Burnes and Zac Gallen, Detroit’s Casey Mize, Seattle’s Cal Raleigh and the New York Yankees’ Austin Slater, with the Chicago Cubs’ Ian Happ at Detroit’s Casey Mize as alternates. The union representatives make their decisions based on input from players on the 30 teams.
Bill Miller is the umpire representative.
Missouri woman gets more than 4 years in prison for trying to sell off Elvis Presley’s Graceland
By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Missouri woman was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in federal prison for scheming to defraud Elvis Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland home and property before a judge halted the brazen foreclosure sale.
U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. sentenced Lisa Jeanine Findley in federal court in Memphis to four years and nine months behind bars, plus an additional three years of probation. Findley, 54, declined to speak on her own behalf during the hearing.
Findley pleaded guilty in February to a charge of mail fraud related to the scheme. She also had been indicted on a charge of aggravated identity theft, but that charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Findley, of Kimberling City, falsely claimed Presley’s daughter borrowed $3.8 million from a bogus private lender and had pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan before her death in January 2023, prosecutors said when Findley was charged in August 2024. She then threatened to sell Graceland to the highest bidder if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement, according to authorities.
Findley posed as three different people allegedly involved with the fake lender, fabricated loan documents and published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing the auction of Graceland in May 2024, prosecutors said. A judge stopped the sale after Presley’s granddaughter sued.
Experts were baffled by the attempt to sell off one of the most storied pieces of real estate in the country using names, emails and documents that were quickly suspected to be phony.
Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A large Presley-themed entertainment complex across the street from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises. Presley died in August 1977 at the age of 42.
The public notice for the foreclosure sale of the 13-acre (5-hectare) estate said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owed $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan. Actor Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter, inherited the trust and ownership of the home after the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley.
Keough filed a lawsuit claiming fraud, and a judge halted the proposed auction with an injunction. Naussany Investments and Private Lending — the bogus lender authorities say Findley created — said Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice. Keough’s lawsuit alleged that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023 and that Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany.
Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose name is listed on Naussany’s documents, indicated she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any documents for her, according to the estate’s lawsuit. The judge said the notary’s affidavit brought into question the authenticity of the signature.
In halting the foreclosure sale, the judge said Elvis Presley’s estate could be successful in arguing that a company’s attempt to auction Graceland was fraudulent.
A statement emailed to The Associated Press after the judge stopped the sale said Naussany would not proceed with the sale because a key document in the case and the loan were recorded and obtained in a different state, meaning “legal action would have to be filed in multiple states.” The statement, sent from an email address for Naussany listed in court documents, did not specify the other state.
After the scheme fell apart, Findley, who has a criminal history that includes attempts at passing bad checks, tried to make it look like the person responsible was a Nigerian identity thief, prosecutors said. An email sent May 25, 2024, to the AP from the same email as the earlier statement said in Spanish that the foreclosure sale attempt was made by a Nigerian fraud ring that targets old and dead people in the U.S. and uses the internet to steal money.
In arguing for a three-year sentence, defense attorney Tyrone Paylor noted that Presley’s estate did not suffer any loss of money and countered the prosecution’s stance that the scheme was executed in a sophisticated manner.
Fowlkes, the judge, said it would have been a “travesty of justice” if the sale had been completed.
“This was a highly sophisticated scheme to defraud,” he said.
Easy Veggie Quesadillas
This recipe is a quick and easy comfort food that makes for a great lunch or dinner. You can customize it with veggies and toppings of your choice to make even tastier.
Ingredients
- 2 large flour tortillas per quesadilla
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice per quesadilla
- 1/2 cup diced bell peppers
- 1/2 cup corn (fresh, canned, or frozen work)
- 1/4 cup chopped onions
- 1 tbsp. olive oil or butter
- Salt, pepper and cayenne to taste
- Optional: salsa, sour cream, or guacamole for serving
Instructions
1. Heat the veggies
Heat the olive oil or butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook the corn, peppers and onions for 3-4 minutes, until slightly soft. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Remove the veggies from the skillet and set aside.
2. Assemble the quesadilla
Place one tortilla in the skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle half the cheese evenly over the tortilla, then layer some of the cooked veggies and the other half of the cheese. Next, place another tortilla on top.
3. Cook the quesadilla
Cook the quesadilla for 2-3 minutes on each side, until the outside is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
4. Serve and enjoy
Cut the quesadilla into 4 triangles and enjoy with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or other toppings of choice.
Easy Veggie Quesadillas
This recipe is a quick and easy comfort food that makes for a great lunch or dinner. You can customize it with veggies and toppings of your choice to make even tastier.
Ingredients
- 2 large flour tortillas per quesadilla
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice per quesadilla
- 1/2 cup diced bell peppers
- 1/2 cup corn (fresh, canned, or frozen work)
- 1/4 cup chopped onions
- 1 tbsp. olive oil or butter
- Salt, pepper and cayenne to taste
- Optional: salsa, sour cream, or guacamole for serving
Instructions
1. Heat the veggies
Heat the olive oil or butter in a skillet over medium heat and cook the corn, peppers and onions for 3-4 minutes, until slightly soft. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Remove the veggies from the skillet and set aside.
2. Assemble the quesadilla
Place one tortilla in the skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle half the cheese evenly over the tortilla, then layer some of the cooked veggies and the other half of the cheese. Next, place another tortilla on top.
3. Cook the quesadilla
Cook the quesadilla for 2-3 minutes on each side, until the outside is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
4. Serve and enjoy
Cut the quesadilla into 4 triangles and enjoy with salsa, sour cream, guacamole, or other toppings of choice.
North Carolina Republicans push for tougher bail rules and potentially new execution methods
By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican legislators are poised this week to approve criminal justice measures designed to toughen bail rules, restrict magistrates’ powers and evaluate offenders’ mental health after the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte commuter train. The bill also could help get the death penalty carried out again in the ninth-largest U.S. state.
Senate and House Republicans unveiled legislation that their leaders previously signaled would surface when the General Assembly reconvened on Monday after nearly two months away from Raleigh.
The Aug. 22 death of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska — her attack caught on camera — and subsequent charges against a suspect who had previously been arrested more than a dozen times caused public outrage. An array of Republicans, President Donald Trump among them, have attempted to blame Zarutska’s death on Charlotte-area leaders and Democratic state officials for what they call soft-on-crime policies.
The Senate approved the legislation 28-8 late Monday, with many Democrats absent from the otherwise party-line vote. The bill now goes to the House, where a vote is likely Tuesday.
Any final measure would then go to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s desk. Stein, the former attorney general, has suggested pretrial release changes and greater emphasis on mental health are needed in light of Zarutska’s death.
But the measure took a different direction — away from bipartisan support — when Senate Republicans approved an amendment that could in the future open the door to other forms of capital punishment beyond lethal injection, which is currently the state’s sole method. North Carolina last carried out an execution in 2006.
Suspect was released on misdemeanor months before attack
The stabbing suspect, Decarlos Brown Jr., could received a death sentence if convicted of first-degree murder in state court or a federal count filed against him.
Brown, whose criminal record included serving more than five years in prison after pleading guilty to robbery using a deadly weapon, had been charged in January in Mecklenburg County, which includes Charlotte, with misusing the 911 system, a misdemeanor, according to court records.
But a magistrate — a nonelected local court official who often determines if a defendant can be released while awaiting trial — released him on a written promise to return for court. And it took more than six months for a court to order a mental evaluation for him. Brown’s mother told Charlotte-area television that she had sought an involuntary psychiatric commitment this year after he became violent at home.
GOP Sen. Ralph Hise said the legislation has nothing to do with winning political points, but rather is a response to the failure of the criminal justice system.
“We need a criminal justice system that protects society from individuals. I believe these are many great steps in this bill,” Hise said.
Bill would end bail for some crimes, reduce magistrates’ discretion
The measure, named “Iryna’s Law,” would prohibit cashless bail for certain crimes and eliminate some of the discretion that magistrates and judges have for pretrial release decisions.
For example, first-time defendants accused of a violent offense could only be released on a secured cash bond or receive house arrest with electronic monitoring. Such house arrest and monitoring would be the only option for some repeat defendants.
The bill also attempts to ensure that more suspects are subject to psychological examinations before their potential release. Defendants accused of a violent crime and committed involuntarily in recent years to a mental health facility would be subject to a psychological evaluation.
The legislation also would give the state Supreme Court’s chief justice the ability to suspend a magistrate from their post and lay out grounds why the official should be removed permanently. Such actions now sit with local judges.
Amendment could lead to new execution methods
Executions in North Carolina have been put on hold in part over legal challenges over the use of the injection drugs and a doctor’s presence at executions.
Senate leader Phil Berger offered a floor amendment — also approved along party lines — that would direct the state Adult Correction Department secretary to determine another form of execution should lethal injection be declared unconstitutional or it’s “not available,” potentially if the lethal drugs can’t be accessed.
The secretary — a member of the governor’s Cabinet — would have to select another method that’s been adopted by another state and has not been found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. That could include the use of a firing squad, a method that’s been used to execute South Carolina inmates twice this year.
The measure already contained language that attempted to speed up death penalty appeals in North Carolina.
“Those provisions do part of the job,” Berger said during Senate floor debate. “This amendment hopefully will do the remainder of the job.”
Some Democrats criticized their GOP colleagues for seeking to expand ways to administer the death penalty for their sheer cruelty, let alone within a bill designed to address problems following last month’s Charlotte attack.
“To put in an express lane to bring the firing squad to North Carolina is beneath the dignity of this body,” Democratic Sen. Michael Garrett said. “That we are exploiting this situation to bring back methods that are truly violent to execute our fellow citizens is, quite frankly, immoral.”
A month later, hundreds attend vigil in Charlotte
Kelli Allen of Charlotte was one of a couple hundred people who attended a candlelight vigil honoring Zarutska near a light rail station in the city on Monday night, organized by some churches and the local Republican Party. Allen said she’s hopeful that “we are on the path to making this a better and safer city. I think that’s what everyone wants here.”
“I just know she wanted a better life and she deserved that,” Allen added. “So I’m here just to honor her tonight.”
___
Associated Press video journalist Erik Verduzco in Charlotte contributed to this report.
Trump administration suggests ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism
By ALI SWENSON and AMANDA SEITZ Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday used the platform of the presidency to promote unproven ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism without giving new evidence.
Speaking from the White House, Trump said women should not take acetaminophen, also known by the brand name Tylenol, “during the entire pregnancy.” He said the Food and Drug Administration would begin notifying doctors that the use of acetaminophen “can be associated” with an increased risk of autism, but did not immediately provide any medical evidence for the FDA’s new recommendation.
Trump also raised unfounded concerns about vaccines contributing to rising rates of autism, which affects 1 in 31 U.S. children today, according to the CDC. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said that at Trump’s urging he is launching an “all-agency” effort to identify all causes of autism, involving the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Scientists, doctors and researchers have attributed increased rates of autism to greater awareness of the disorder and the newer, wide-ranging “spectrum” used to issue diagnoses for people with milder expressions of autism. It’s hard to tell if there may be additional factors behind the increase.
The Trump administration has been under immense pressure from Kennedy’s diverse Make America Healthy Again movement to provide answers on the causes of the marked increase in autism cases in the U.S. in recent years.
Experts say the rise in cases is mainly due to a new definition for the disorder that now includes mild cases on a “spectrum” and better diagnoses. They say there is no single cause to the disorder and say the rhetoric appears to ignore and undermine decades of science into the genetic and environmental factors that can play a role.
The announcement is the latest step the administration, driven by Kennedy and his supporters, has taken to reshape America’s public health landscape.
Beyond cutbacks at federal health agencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been roiled by disagreements over Kennedy’s vaccine policies. An influential immunization panel stocked by Kennedy with figures who have been critical of vaccines last week changed shot guidance for COVID-19 and other diseases.
Trump on Sunday evening teased Monday’s announcement as a big one, telling reporters, “I think we found an answer to autism.” Experts say that oversells what would be possible from a presidential administration in its first year. They insist more research is needed to conclusively identify whether and how environmental factors may play a role in the disorder.
Kennedy for years has promoted debunked theories that vaccines could be responsible for rising rates of autism, which affects 1 in 31 U.S. children today, according to the CDC. Scientists, doctors and researchers have attributed that increase instead to greater awareness of the disorder and the newer, wide-ranging “spectrum” used to issue diagnoses for people with milder expressions of autism. It’s hard to tell if there may be additional factors behind the increase.
ACC moving to 9-game football schedule starting next year, aligning with rest of Power Four peers
By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference is moving to a nine-game league schedule for football while having teams play at least 10 games against power-conference opponents, though there will be variables due to the league’s odd number of football-playing member schools.
Commissioner Jim Phillips announced the decision in a statement Monday, saying athletic directors had “overwhelmingly supported” the move after “incredibly intentional” discussions about scheduling options.
Going from an eight- to a nine-game model would align the ACC with its power-conference peers in the Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern conferences. The ACC would join the SEC — which announced its move from eight to nine last month — in playing 10 games against Power Four opponents in a so-called “9+1 model.”
Still, the ACC being the only power conference with an odd number of football-playing members (17) means there are wrinkles.
A person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press that most league teams will transition to the nine-game slate next year, though multiple teams will play eight league games and two against Power Four opponents — an “8+2 model” — to accommodate nonconference games already on the books.
By 2027, the person said, 16 of the 17 teams will play a “9+1 schedule,” while one team will have to play an “8+2” slate.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the league hasn’t publicized specifics of the model. Phillips said the league will present the plan to its faculty athletic representatives for formal adoption.
“There will be additional discussions and more details to be determined, but Monday’s decision showcases the commitment and leadership of our ADs in balancing what is best for strengthening the conference and for their respective programs,” Phillips said in his statement.