Treasury Secretary says Fed seems ‘frozen at the wheel’
President Donald Trump has continued to put pressure on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to dramatically lower interest rates.
At a Monday press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt held up a handwritten note to the Fed leader from the president.
The letter suggested that Trump thinks the Fed’s benchmark rate should be between close to 0.5%, down from its current range of 4.25% to 4.5%.
The note read: “Jerome, You are, as usual, ‘too late.’ You have cost the USA a fortune – and continue to do so – You should lower the rate – by a lot. Hundreds of billions of dollars being lost. No Inflation”
Powell has been pushing back on rate cuts all year, saying he wants to wait to learn more about “the likely course of the economy” from the president’s tariff policy.
The Fed will meet again in July to consider a rate cut. The market is pricing in only about a 20% chance of a cut at that meeting, after a key inflation measure released last week was slightly hotter than expected.
Traders are now pricing in three quarter-point cuts at the Fed’s final three meetings of the year, starting in September. Analysts at JPMorgan say the reasons behind the cuts may not be supportive for stocks.
Earlier Monday, other top White House officials also kept up the criticism of Powell.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Bloomberg interview that Fed officials “seem a little frozen at the wheel.”
Bessent said the Fed was too worried about making another mistake like its failure to see high inflation brewing in 2022.
Powell’s term as Fed chair ends next May. In the interview, Bessent said the White House will be working “over coming weeks and months” on choosing Powell’s successor.
Additionally, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler’s term at the central bank is up at the end of January. Bessent said the White House might use the vacancy created by Kugler’s departure to put Powell’s replacement on the Fed’s seven-member board of governors.
Bessent is considered to be on the short list of possible replacements for Powell.
Asked about this possibility, Bessent said: “I will do what the president wants, but I think I have the best job in D.C.”
-Greg Robb
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As treatment approaches in multiple myeloma continue to advance, new areas of controversy arise, leading to undefined expectations within clinical practice, according to Ajai Chari, MD.
Accordingly, experts gathered at the inaugural Bridging the Gaps in Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Multiple Myeloma Conference to identify current controversies or challenges in the field and come to a consensus about the optimal approaches to myeloma management. An overview of these findings was published in a manuscript after the meeting.
“There’s a joke in that if you ask myeloma doctors for an opinion, you’ll get 6 answers. This [meeting] shows that there’s a lot of complexity and evolving data [in the multiple myeloma space],” Ajai Chari, MD, explained in an interview with OncLive®.
During the interview, Chari detailed the importance of publishing this manuscript; the limitations to current risk stratification approaches in smoldering multiple myeloma; ongoing challenges regarding determination of the optimal timing for treatment initiation; and what the potential FDA approval of daratumumab (Darzalex) could mean for this patient population.
Chari is director of the Multiple Myeloma Program and a professor of medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
OncLive: What is the importance of publishing this manuscript from the Bridging the Gaps in Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Multiple Myeloma?
Chari: The purpose of this manuscript is to put a bunch of experts in the room and see how people think, where we agree, and where the areas of controversy are that we need to work on. It’s really for people who may not be doing this day in and day out, [in which we] take a little look under the hood, [so to speak].
How is risk stratification approached for smoldering multiple myeloma? Are there any limitations to current models?
Conventionally, risk stratification for smoldering has been based on static models. For example, how much M-spike [is present]? What’s the light chain? What’s the bone marrow burden? What are the immunoglobulin levels? The limitation there is that the date of diagnosis of smoldering myeloma is typically the date of the marrow, but somebody could have been smoldering prior to the marrow for anywhere from a month or 2 years. When you try to figure out who’s going to progress in the short term, that’s a big confounding variable. Although we need static models, because they’re convenient, we need more dynamic models, which tell us how the tumor is evolving. Are the protein levels going up? Is the hemoglobin drifting down? Are the bone lesions evolving? Those are where the field needs to go. Also, incorporating genetics, immune markers, and genomic markers. We haven’t gotten there yet, and that’s the struggle of serious stratification.
What are some key considerations when deciding on an optimal time to initiate therapy and treatment strategies in smoldering multiple myeloma?
The struggle with treating patients with smoldering myeloma is that they are essentially healthy people. They don’t have active myeloma. [The important questions are:] how do you not over-treat these patients with potentially toxic therapies that could cause adverse effects to help the individuals? Also, how do we not under-treat these patients? If we have amazing therapies that can help prevent symptoms and the onset of myeloma, shouldn’t we be doing that? That’s the tightrope that we have to walk in figuring out what the right time to initiate is. That’s where the risk stratification can help us make that decision.
What would the FDA approval of daratumumab mean for this space?
[Data from] the [phase 3] AQUILA study [NCT03301220] published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed, in a randomized fashion, that observation vs treatment with daratumumab…led to improved response, including progression-free survival and, surprisingly, overall survival. We just heard that the European Medical Association voted favorably on it; if that’s FDA approved, we could give patients with smoldering myeloma a relatively well-tolerated therapy, [particularly those who] we are concerned about progressing.
[Nevertheless], I’m most excited [to potentially use daratumumab plus lenalidomide [Revlimid], bortezomib [Velcade], and dexamethasone [Dara-VRd] for older patients who have smoldering myeloma and may have a high risk of progression. [These patients likely] would not be excited about having to receive a multidrug therapy in the future. [Therefore], it’s very reasonable to consider this
[Daratumumab] is a monoclonal antibody to help prevent the development of myeloma and potentially confer those clinical benefits. The challenge is that the study included 3 years of therapy, and that’s a [relatively] long period. Where I struggled more is with the younger patients; where they are now, they could easily tolerate multidrug therapy. However, do we need to commit everybody to 3 years of preventative therapy? This is another tightrope we have to walk.
Reference
Chari A, Bal S, Ailawadhi S, et al. Expert Perspectives on Current Challenges and Emerging Approaches for Multiple Myeloma: Narrative Review of an Inaugural Bridging the Gaps in Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Multiple Myeloma. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. Published online March 11, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.clml.2025.03.008
Earlier this year, astronomers alerted the world to a startling possibility: based on initial calculations, it appeared that a recently discovered asteroid known as 2024 YR4 had a not-zero chance of colliding with Earth in 2032. At 174–220 feet wide, the space rock has the potential to destroy a sizable city in less than a decade’s time. In this case, however, “not-zero” never amounted to anything higher than a three percent probability. And after gathering additional information from an array of terrestrial observatories as well as the James Webb Space Telescope, experts concluded in March that 2024 YR4 didn’t pose any direct threat to the planet.
But just because Earth was spared doesn’t mean our moon is safe. Based on the most recent calculations, the chance that the asteroid has a 2032 date with the lunar surface is higher than it ever was for us.
“The probability that asteroid 2024 YR4 will strike the Moon on 22 December 2032 is now approximately 4 percent, and this probability was still slowly rising as the asteroid faded out of view,” the European Space Agency said in its most recent update.
Okay, so it’s not that much more likely than 2024 YR4’s highest probability for Earth. But a 96-percent likelihood of missing the moon leaves room for the space rock to defy the odds. Astronomers will now need to wait until its orbit sends it around the sun in mid-2028 to begin conducting further observations.
So what happens if 2024 YR4 really does collide with the moon? That’s a great question—one that even the experts can’t answer at the moment.
“No one knows what the exact effects would be,” admitted ESA Planetary Defense Office director Richard Moissl. “It is a very rare event for an asteroid this large to impact the Moon—and it is rarer still that we know about it in advance.”
Moissl added the collision “would certainly leave a new crater on the surface,” but it’s not currently possible to accurately predict how much material would eject into space, and whether Earth’s gravitational pull would catch any of it. That said, there isn’t a major worry that an asteroid of 2024 YR’s size would result in lunar armageddon. Moissl also explained that while the impact would likely be visible from Earth, astronomers remain “excited by the prospect of observing and analyzing it.”
If you’re still uneasy about errant asteroids hurtling towards us, take comfort in knowing that international space agencies are working to improve our early detection capabilities and plan for worst-case scenarios. The ESA, for example, is currently planning to launch its Near-Earth Object Mission in the Infrared (NEOMIR) satellite in the early 2030s. NEOMIR is designed to position itself at the first Sun-Earth Lagrange Point, one of five locations where the planet’s gravitational forces and the satellite’s orbit interact to allow for a stable observation point. Once there, the array will be able to scan for unknown asteroids larger than 197-feet-wide that are potentially en route to Earth. This will provide governments and agencies much more time to identify, analyze, and plan for space emergencies.
“NEOMIR would have detected asteroid 2024 YR4 about a month earlier than ground-based telescopes did,” Moissl explained. “This would have given astronomers more time to study the asteroid’s trajectory and allowed them to much sooner rule out any chance of Earth impact in 2032.”
Dierks Bentley performs during CMA Fest 2025 at Nissan Stadium on June 08, 2025 in Nashville, … More Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/WireImage)
WireImage
It’s been a busy couple of months for Dierks Bentley with the release of his new Broken Branches album, a jam-packed tour schedule, a host of other projects, and making preparations to headline Nashville’s huge July 4th celebration.
“The last ten years I’ve taken July 4th off to be with my family out in the mountains,” Bentley explains. “But my kids are getting older and are off at camps and all over the place, so I thought, well, I’ll play a show this year. So, I’m doing the one in Nashville. I’ve always heard it’s a good time, so I’m going to come back here and be part of that.”
Dierks Bentely to headline Nashville’s 4th of July Celebration
Courtesy of visitmusic.com
General view of the crowd at the 2024 “Let Freedom Sing!” Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Tibrina … More Hobson/Getty Images)
Getty Images
The annual Let Freedom Sing! extravaganza features a day full of live music and offers one of the largest fireworks shows in the country.
As he heads into July, Bentley has much to celebrate, including the release of his 11th studio album earlier this month.
Broken Branches has collaborations with friends and fellow artists like Miranda Lambert, John Anderson, Riley Green, Stephen Wilson Jr, and is chock full of great songs. The list includes “Standing in the Sun,” “For As Long As I Can Remember,” “Never You” (with Lambert),and more.
Cover of Dierks Bentley’s “Broken Branches” album
Courtesy of MCA
“I leaned into the Nashville’s songwriting community more than ever,” Bentley says. “And I’m really proud of the writers on this album.”
John Anderson and Riley Green joins Bentley on the title track based on the premise that everyone is just a “little broken branch off the family tree.” Bentley says that’s especially true with Nashville’s close-knit music community.
“Everyone that moves to this town comes here to chase country music. They love the music whether it’s the business side of it or the creative side of it. And I love the idea of being broken branches off the family tree. It’s a collective story, but an individual story, too. I think of my own journey, the doubt, the uncertainty, you’re leaning on whiskey, you’re leaning on faith, and the heartbreak that goes into it.”
One of the more familiar songs on the album, thanks to its climb up the country charts is the quirky, upbeat “She Hates Me.” It’s one of those catchy, fun songs that have become part of Bentley’s signature style through the years.
“I love putting out fun music,” he says. “I have a history of that and it’s great for the live show. I like making people smile.”
The rest of the album, however, offers a much different feel with deeper, thoughtful songs like “Something Worth Fixing,” “Jesus Loves Me,” and “Cold Beer Can,” just to name a few.
“I wrote “Cold Beer Can” with Stephen Wilson Jr and almost wish I’d changed the title to something else,” Bentley says, “because the title makes you think it’s kind of like a bro country part song and it’s not that at all. It’s very Stephen Wilson Jr cerebral. My wife loves that song and just put it on this morning saying she thinks it’ll stand the test of time.”
While he realizes most people don’t listen to full albums anymore, Bentley still approaches creating one the same way he did in the early stages of his career.
“It’s like making a book. I want an album to have a beginning, middle, and an end, something I can look back on in ten years and remember the journey, of where I was in life, and what I wanted to say.”
One of the new songs that offers a warm, heartfelt look at where he is in life today is “Don’t Cry for Me.” The lyrics look back at so many things he’s grateful for in his own life, both personally and professionally. And while they specifically touch on his experiences, they reflect an overall life-personally that might serve as inspiration to others regarding the choices they make in their own lives.
“I wrote that song with my buddy, Jim Beavers and we wrote it old school Nashville-style, just sitting in my kitchen. Every line is very specific, very personal, and the whole message in general, is very true. I’m still touring and at the top of the game, things are going great, and I’m not done yet. But eventually things will slow down and when they do, I can say I’ve had a great run, loved the journey, and am so grateful to Nashville for all it’s given me.”
Bentley is definitely not slowing down any time soon. He’s currently crisscrossing the country on tour, with rising country star Zach Top as one of his opening acts, and he’s having the time of his life.
“When you’re on stage with your band and playing music and moving people with songs, there is nothing else like it. It’s literally unreplaceable. And this year, in particular, it’s really fun with Zach Top being out there.”
Bentley says Top is the “real deal” as an artist and performer.
Dierks Bentley and Zach Top perform during CMA Fest 2025 at the main stage at Nissan Stadium on June … More 08, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
FilmMagic
“Not to put too much weight on his shoulders but I hope he’s the future of country music. It’d be great for all of us who love that kind of music. Zach is a once-in-a-generation type talent as far as singing and musicianship. I mean, he plays the guitar as well as anybody I’ve ever met.”
The Band Loula is also one of Bentley’s opening acts this tour. He says he consistently chooses groups and artists whose music he enjoys because he ends up watching their shows every night.
“I got turned on to The Band Loula this year and have become a huge fan. Logan and Malachi are from Northern Georgia, and the band is from Muscle Shoals, so they have a cool, swampy, kind of bluesy bluegrass sound. They’re awesome – very energetic, happy, fun people with huge voices.”
As busy as he’s been with the music, Bentley is also promoting his own brand of bourbon just released last year. It’s called ROW 94 and comes with “three ingredients and the truth.” Like all things Bentley, he put a lot of time, thought, and effort into creating it.
“You know, I’m really not trying to be busier than ever. Trust me, I don’t want to be doing all of this stuff. But ever since I’ve had a bar called Whiskey Row, I knew I needed my own whiskey. It’s ridiculous not to have your own whiskey in there.”
The idea of developing his own brand began more than a decade ago, but it wasn’t until COVID that he had the time to begin visiting distilleries and researching the best way to do it. He had some very specific criteria.
“It had to be at least four years old with between four and seven as the sweet spot,” he says. “I wanted to have something I would drink behind closed doors, as well as in public. I wanted it to be higher proof, it had to be under $40, and it had to be from Kentucky. If I had made this on my own it would retail for about $100 a bottle, but I was able to partner with Green River Distilling Company which meant I could get it out the door and onto shelves for under $40. And I feel that’s a fair price for my fans.”
For Bentley, the icing on the cake is Green River Distilling happens to be based in Owensboro, Kentucky, home to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. His love of bluegrass music runs deep.
“From the very beginning our goal has always been to mix the bluegrass with the kickass,” he says. “We wanted to have the bluegrass instruments: the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, dobro, but also have the big electric guitars and drums and sounds. And I still try to chase that sound.”
More than two decades after bursting onto the country music scene with hits like “What Was I Thinkin”, “5-1-5-0,” “I Hole On,” and others, Bentley’s still adding his special blend of bluegrass, country, and sometimes a little rock, to the genre.
Dierks Bentley performs in Tulsa, Oklahoma – May 31, 2025
Credit: Zach Belcher
And as he works to maintain his own career, he’s determined to serve as a positive influence to up-and-coming artists, as well. Whether it comes from seeking out their talents as songwriters (his new album features two songs written by Stephen Wilson Jr), or their gifts as performers (inviting Zach Top and others joining him on the road), or simply encouraging them from afar.
“I’m really pulling for people like Stephen Wilson Jr,” Bentley says. “He’s a ridiculously strong songwriter and as a singer, he’s got so much pain in his voice. I’m pulling for him and people like Zach Top, Red Clay Strays, Ella Langley, and others. They’re up-and-comers and so good for this genre. I want to see people like that keep moving forward.”
Bentley performs in Nashville this Friday, then resumes his Broken Branches Tour whichcontinues until the end of August.
Utah State University physicist Jenny Whiteley’s Northern Utah home has recently given her and her family occasional glimpses of colorful auroras in the night sky.
“We’ve seen vibrant greens and purples, with moving, vertical white shafts of light,” says Whiteley, a doctoral student in USU’s Department of Physics. “It was fascinating to see the electrons trace out magnetic field lines above the Earth, which are always there but only visible under certain — and in our location — rare conditions.”
The ability to explain physical phenomena following mathematical logic is what attracts Whiteley to the study of physics.
“It’s amazing to me that mathematical expressions can be constructed to successfully replicate the physical behavior we see around us,” she says.
Whiteley, who is one of five USU graduate students selected this time last year for a 2024-2025 Utah NASA Space Grant Consortium Fellowship Award, is studying radiation-induced conductivity in the Materials Physics Group led by USU physics professor J.R. Dennison.
The lab’s team members perform ground-based testing of electrical charging and electron transport properties of both conducting and insulating materials, emphasizing studies of electron emission, conductivity, luminescence and electrostatic discharge.
The lab’s research is supported by NASA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and private aerospace companies.
“Among the topics studied in Dr. Dennison’s lab is how various materials behave in response to harsh conditions, such as space,” Whiteley says.
The space community, she notes, is highly focused on hazards posed to spacecraft and aircraft by static electricity, radiation and extreme temperatures.
Whiteley, who earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from USU, in 2021 and 2023, respectively, has spent much of the past year analyzing data from Idaho State University’s Idaho Accelerator Center (IAC) in Pocatello collected by previous group members.
“Dr. Dennison and his students have studied how to measure conductivity in highly insulating materials, such as polymers used in spacecraft,” she says.
Whiteley is preparing to conduct tests similar to those at the IAC, using much smaller and more compact instrumentation, here at Utah State.
“The USU Materials Physics Group now has instrumentation that can test radiation-induced conductivity in materials accurately and efficiently at a lower cost than the previously used method,” she says.
“Working with the new instrumentation will be fun,” Whiteley says. “I am looking forward to the hands-on aspects of this work, where we’ll set up experiments and determine how to collect data.”
The materials she and group members are testing, she points out, are insulators.
“By definition, they don’t conduct,” Whiteley says. “But because of the atomic level interaction between the radiation and the material, we sometimes get a surprise: conductivity. It is important to quantify this behavior to those choosing materials because of specific insulating properties so they aren’t caught unawares once ambient conditions change.”
The stakes are high, she says, as NASA and other space agencies plan for increasingly longer space missions. Spacecraft must endure grueling conditions.
Dennison says Whiteley, who was one of USU’s 2020 Goldwater Scholars, is among the most inquisitive scholars he’s ever met.
“Jenny is an ideal candidate to pursue a challenging research endeavor, because she’s naturally curious and never gives up,” he says. “She asks lots of questions, reads and listens to other scholars. She genuinely wants to understand difficult concepts and isn’t afraid of failure.”
That last quality, Dennison says, makes Whiteley an effective teacher as well as a researcher. Whiteley says one of the best parts of teaching is helping others move beyond bewilderment to confident comprehension.
“Teaching has given me the opportunity to internalize concepts at a much deeper level than what I understood when I took the class myself,” she says. “I really enjoy helping others who are overwhelmed by the physics concepts or by the volume of material hurled at them. It’s quite fun to help a student go from ‘I’m so confused” to ‘maybe I’ve got this.’”
LONDON — British police launched a criminal investigation Monday into a televised performance at the Glastonbury Festival by rap punk duo Bob Vylan, who drew intense criticism after they led crowds of music fans in chanting “death” to the Israeli military.
Meanwhile. the U.S. State Department said it has revoked the U.S. visas for Bob Vylan, who were set to go on tour in the United States later this year, after their “hateful tirade at Glastonbury.”
Rapper Bobby Vylan — who until the weekend was relatively little known — led crowds in chants of “free, free Palestine” and “death, death to the IDF” — the Israel Defense Forces — on Saturday at Britain’s biggest summer music festival.
The BBC said it regretted livestreaming the performance.
“The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves,” the broadcaster said, adding that it “respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.K. politicians condemned the chants, saying there was no excuse for such “appalling hate speech.”
Avon and Somerset Police said Bob Vylan’s performance, along with that by Irish-language band Kneecap, were now subject to a criminal investigation and have been “recorded as a public order incident.”
Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has inflamed tensions around the world, triggering pro-Palestinian protests in many capitals and on college campuses. Israel and some supporters have described the protests as antisemitic, while critics say Israel uses such descriptions to silence opponents.
Ofcom, the U.K.’s broadcasting regulator, said it was “very concerned” about the BBC livestream and said the broadcaster “clearly has questions to answer.”
The BBC said earlier in its defense that it had issued a warning on screen about “very strong and discriminatory language” during its livestream of Bob Vylan’s act.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the visas for Bob Vylan’s two members — who both use stage names for privacy reasons — have been revoked.
“Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Landau said in a social media post Monday.
Starmer said the BBC must explain “how these scenes came to be broadcast.”
Bob Vylan, which formed in 2017, have released four albums mixing punk, grime and other styles with lyrics that often address issues including racism, masculinity and politics.
In a statement posted on social media, singer Bobby Vylan said he was inundated with messages of both support and hatred.
“Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place,” he wrote.
Bob Vylan performed on Saturday afternoon just before Kneecap, another band that has drawn controversy over its pro-Palestinian stance.
Kneecap led a huge crowd in chants of “Free Palestine” at the festival. They also aimed an expletive-laden chant at Starmer, who has said he didn’t think it was “appropriate” for Kneecap to play Glastonbury after one of its members was charged under the Terrorism Act.
Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London last year.
On Saturday a member of the group suggested fans “start a riot” outside his bandmate’s upcoming court appearance — though he then said “No riots, just love and support, and support for Palestine.”
The BBC had already taken a decision not to broadcast Kneecap’s Glastonbury performance live, though it did make available an unedited version of the set to its festival highlights page on BBC iPlayer service.
The Israeli Embassy to the U.K. said over the weekend it was “deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival.”
The acts were among among 4,000 that performed in front of some 200,000 music fans this year at the festival in southwest England.
Israel has faced heavy international criticism for its war conduct in Gaza. In May, the U.K., France and Canada issued a sharply worded statement calling for Israel to stop its “egregious” military actions in Gaza and criticizing Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank.
More than 6,000 people have been killed and more than 20,000 injured in Gaza since Israel ended a ceasefire in March.
Since the war began in October 2023 with a Hamas attack on Israel, Israeli attacks have killed more than 56,000 people and injured 132,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said that women and children make up more than half the dead.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians, because they operate in populated areas.
The next stop for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the unofficial home of Graham Rahal, who was born and raised not far from the facility where his father often won races. Rahal also happens to be a former race winner at this 13-turn, 2.258-mile road course.
So, yeah, Rahal feels a special connection. But he’s not the only one.
Scott Dixon has dominated Mid-Ohio races in this series like no other driver. He has won six of the 19 races held in this iteration of the sport. He also has finished second and third once each and netted a pair of poles. When it comes to this series, Dixon is the undisputed king of Mid-Ohio.
SEE: Mid-Ohio Event Details
Reigning series champion Alex Palou has recently staked a fitting claim to this track, as well, winning the 2023 race and standing on the podium in each of the four races in which he has driven for Chip Ganassi Racing. It’s fair to say he, too, feels right at home at Mid-Ohio.
Want other series drivers who are particularly fond of this place? Try Pato O’Ward, who won last year’s race and added a pole in 2022, along with Josef Newgarden (two wins and a pole) and one-time winners Alexander Rossi (one pole), Will Power (five poles), Colton Herta (two poles) and Scott McLaughlin. They all love racing on this track.
Give all of this, it’s not a surprise that Mid-Ohio lays claim to a surprising fact: Eight different drivers have won the past eight races, and each of them will compete in this weekend’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2026 Passport.
Add in a few other drivers who have had podium finishes at this track – Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist come to mind – and it’s easy to see why nearly half of this weekend’s field will be optimistic when the green flag drops Sunday shortly after 1 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
The competition has been just as strong among teams at this track north of Columbus, with Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske sharing the record for most wins (12 each). Arrow McLaren earned its first Mid-Ohio win last year. Andretti Global and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing also have won races in recent years.
Palou brings a 93-point series lead over Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood into this event, and it could be another opportunity to tighten his grip before the schedule turns to a pair of oval races at Iowa Speedway (July 12-13). At Mid-Ohio, Palou’s average finish with Chip Ganassi’s team is 2.0; Kirkwood’s average finish in two races with Andretti Global is 12.5.
O’Ward could use a productive weekend to close his wide gap to Palou. He stands 111 points in arrears with eight races left this season.
Again, O’Ward might consider this a good track for him, but so does Palou. So does Dixon, Newgarden, Rossi, Power, Herta, McLaughlin, Ericsson, Rosenqvist and of course Rahal. You get the idea. There will be many eager for this annual return to Mid-Ohio.
The action begins Friday with the weekend’s first practice at 4:30 p.m. (FS2, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
• Georges Niang departs via trade 3-team trade (per multiple reports) • Terance Mann departs via trade 3-team trade (per multiple reports)
> Complete Hawks roster
Boston Celtics
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• Georges Niang joins via trade 3-team trade (per multiple reports) • Anfernee Simons joins via trade with Trail Blazers (per multiple reports)
Departures
• Jrue Holiday departs via trade with Trail Blazers (per multiple reports) • Kristaps Porziņģis departs via trade 3-team trade (per multiple reports)
> Complete Celtics roster
Brooklyn Nets
Re-signing
• Day’Ron Sharpe returns on 2-year deal (per ESPN) • Ziaire Williams returns on 2-year deal (per ESPN)
Additions
• Terance Mann joins via trade 3-team trade (per multiple reports) Departures
• N/A
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Charlotte Hornets
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• Vasilije Micić joins via trade with Suns (per multiple reports) • Collin Sexton joins via trade with Jazz (per multiple reports)
Departures
• Jusuf Nurkić departs via trade with Jazz (per multiple reports) • Mark Williams departs via trade with Suns (per multiple reports)
> Complete Hornets roster
Chicago Bulls
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• Isaac Okoro joins via trade with Cavs (per multiple reports)
Departures
• Lonzo Ball departs via trade with Cavs (per multiple reports)
> Complete Bulls roster
Cleveland Cavaliers
Re-signing
• Sam Merrill returns on 4-year deal (per multiple reports)
Additions
• Lonzo Ball joins via trade with Bulls (per multiple reports)
Departures
• Isaac Okoro departs via trade with Bulls (per multiple reports)
> Complete Cavaliers roster
Dallas Mavericks
Re-signing
• Kyrie Irving agrees to 3-year extension (per multiple reports)
Additions
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Departures
• N/A
> Complete Mavericks roster
Denver Nuggets
Re-signing
•N/A
Additions
• N/A
Departures
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Detroit Pistons
Re-signing
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Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Pistons roster
Golden State Warriors
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Warriors roster
Houston Rockets
Re-signing
• Steven Adams agrees to 3-year extension (officially announced) • Aaron Holiday agrees to new deal (per ESPN) • Jeff Green agrees to new deal (per ESPN) • Jabari Smith Jr. agrees to 5-year extension (per ESPN) • Jae’Sean Tate agrees to new deal (per ESPN) • Fred VanVleet agrees to 2-year extension (per multiple reports)
Additions
• Kevin Durant joins via trade with Suns (per multiple reports)
Departures
• Dillon Brooks departs via trade with Suns (per multiple reports) • Jalen Green departs via trade with Suns (per multiple reports)
> Complete Rockets roster
Indiana Pacers
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Pacers roster
LA Clippers
Re-signing
• Nic Batum returns on 2-year deal (per ESPN) • James Harden agrees to 2-year extension (per multiple reports)
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Clippers roster
Los Angeles Lakers
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• N/A
Departures
•N/A
> Complete Lakers roster
Memphis Grizzlies
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• Cole Anthony joins via trade with Magic (officially announced) • Kentavious Caldwell-Pope joins via trade with Magic (officially announced)
Departures
• Desmond Bane departs via trade with Magic (officially announced)
> Complete Grizzlies roster
Miami Heat
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
•Davion Mitchell returns on 2-year deal (per The Associated Press)
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Heat roster
Milwaukee Bucks
Re-signing
• Bobby Portis agrees to 3-year extension (per ESPN)
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Bucks roster
Minnesota Timberwolves
Re-signing
• Joe Ingles returns on 1-year deal (per ESPN) • Julius Randle returns to 3-year deal (per ESPN) • Naz Reid returns on 5-year deal (per ESPN)
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Timberwolves roster
New Orleans Pelicans
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• Saddiq Bey joins via trade with Wizards (per multiple reports) • Jordan Poole joins via trade with Wizards (per multiple reports)
Departures
• CJ McCollum departs via trade with Wizards (per multiple reports) • Kelly Olynyk departs via trade with Wizards (per multiple reports)
> Complete Pelicans roster
New York Knicks
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Knicks roster
Oklahoma City Thunder
Re-signing
• Ajay Mitchell returns on 3-year deal (per ESPN) • Jaylin Williams agrees to 3-year extension (per ESPN)
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Thunder roster
Orlando Magic
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• Desmond Bane joins via trade with Grizzlies (officially announced)
Departures
• Cole Anthony departs via trade with Grizzlies (officially announced) • Kentavious Caldwell-Pope departs via trade with Grizzlies (officially announced)
> Complete Magic roster
Philadelphia 76ers
Re-signing
• Justin Edwards returns on 3-year deal (per ESPN)
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete 76ers roster
Phoenix Suns
Re-signing
•Collin Gillespie returns on 1-year deal (per ESPN)
Additions
• Dillon Brooks joins via trade with Rockets (per multiple reports) • Jalen Green joins via trade with Rockets (per multiple reports) • Mark Williams joins via trade with Hornets (per multiple reports)
Departures
• Kevin Durant departs via trade with Rockets (per multiple reports) • Vasilije Micić departs via trade with Hornets (per multiple reports)
> Complete Suns roster
Portland Trail Blazers
Re-signing
• Garrett Temple returns on 1-year deal (per ESPN)
Additions
• Jrue Holiday joins via trade with Celtics (per multiple reports)
Departures
• Anfernee Simons departs via trade with Celtics (per multiple reports) • Deandre Ayton departs via buyout (per ESPN)
> Complete Blazers roster
Sacramento Kings
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Kings roster
San Antonio Spurs
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Spurs roster
Toronto Raptors
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• N/A
Departures
• N/A
> Complete Raptors roster
Utah Jazz
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• Jusuf Nurkić joins via trade with Hornets (per multiple reports)
Departures
• Collin Sexton departs via trade with Hornets (per multiple reports) • Jordan Clarkson departs via buyout (per ESPN)
> Complete Jazz roster
Washington Wizards
Re-signing
• N/A
Additions
• CJ McCollum joins via trade with Pelicans (per multiple reports) • Kelly Olynyk joins via trade with Pelicans (per multiple reports)
Departures
• Saddiq Bey departs via trade with Pelicans (per multiple reports) • Jordan Poole departs via trade with Pelicans (per multiple reports)
Your Google Calendar is moving to your Apple Watch, thanks to a new update spotted by 9to5Google on Monday.
The Apple Watch has few Google applications, but a new Google Calendar update, version 25.24.1, is bringing another one to Apple’s smartwatch.
Also: Your Apple Watch is getting a major upgrade. The best features coming to WatchOS 26
Google Calendar is one of four Google-owned apps available through Apple Watch, along with Google Keep, Google Maps, and YouTube Music.
The application displays a week’s worth of events and Google Tasks in a list view, with each event or task getting a color-coded card. Users can see the date, time, and event through this view, and not much else. This is in contrast to Apple’s native calendar app, which provides views of both week and month events.
However, according to 9to5Google, users won’t be able to create new events or set reminders from the Apple Watch app.
New complications — that is, the app information displayed on the Apple Watch’s face — include “What’s next” and “Today’s date,” easily available to view. The former displays as a circle or rectangle and includes the next event on the calendar. It’s also available as a Smart Stack widget. The latter displays the day and date.
Also: One of the best smartwatches I’ve tested is not made by Samsung or Google
The functionalities available with Google Calendar’s emergence on the Apple Watch are fairly simple. When a user taps into an event, Google Calendar prompts them to view more on their phone. I see this as a helpful Smart Stack widget addition for people who want to view their daily or weekly calendars quickly.
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