Culinary combat: Sailors compete in Navy cook-off at NAS Oceana 6:00 AM (16 minutes ago)
VIRGINIA BEACH — Culinary sailors from across the East Coast traded feeding hundreds from their galleys for fine dining with local chefs at the 15th Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Culinary Competition this week.
Smoke billowed from grills at Naval Air Station Oceana as sailors raced to plate ribs, clams and roasted corn. Others carefully wiped plates before presentations. The nine teams from the Navy’s mid-Atlantic region — including New London, Connecticut; Newport, Rhode Island; bases in Hampton Roads and the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth — spent much of the day Thursday prepping several courses for a panel of judges.
Using predetermined ingredients for the challenge, sailors needed a soup or salad, a main dish with a starch, a vegetable and a dessert. They also had to create a tasting platter with portions for about 10 people.
This year’s theme was Virginian Luau, and teams received whole chickens, baby back ribs, ribeye steaks, salmon filets, Eastern Shore oysters, clams and fresh vegetables. The groups, each with three sailors chosen from their respective galleys, had four hours to complete their meals before presenting them to the judges. Scott Cooper, regional chef for the mid-Atlantic, said the teams received training before the competition, and sailors who attended got to showcase their skills, network and collaborate with other galley teams.
“We want to provide training for our culinary specialists because they go from ships to shore, and vice versa,” Cooper said. “Their training included chicken fabrication, shucking oysters, outdoor cooking, food safety, cooking on grill, outdoor desserts, indoor desserts and food science, to name a few.”
Competitors also battled the elements. Morning wind gusts and a chance of rain threatened to make the outdoor cook-off even more challenging.
Culinary Specialist, First Class Jasmine Reynolds, competing with Naval Air Station Oceana’s Dam Neck Annex crew, said her team was first to present to the judges. The Dam Neck team prepared a clam tartar on a crisp chip for their starter with the entrée featuring smoked salmon with tempura pineapple, seasoned fried rice and a jicama salad.
A key lime panna cotta with a mango coulis and a coconut graham crumble completed the meal. She said the panna cotta was one of the more challenging parts of their menu, since the dessert (a sweetened cream thickened by gelatin) can take four hours to set.
Reynolds has competed in several Navy’s culinary competitions. In March, she competed for Pastry Chef of the Year as part of team U.S. Navy at the Joint Culinary Training Exercise. The competition brings together teams from all branches and components of the Department of Defense.
“I love it,” she said of the competitions. “I like to challenge myself and try different things, and I want to see how others (in the competitions) are thinking. Are we thinking alike? How are we thinking differently? I love boat feeding, but I also love fine dining.
“We can feed 500 people breakfast, lunch or dinner, but here, we’re preparing four little plates and it takes the same amount of time. We want to make sure it’s the right size and that everything is precise.”
Reynolds and her team placed second, and the team representing Oceana’s galley placed third. The first-place team, sailors from Naval Submarine Base New London, will compete at the Commander, Navy Installations Command culinary competition in Chicago. They will compete with the winners of other U.S. regional competitions and teams from bases overseas.
“It’s a lot,” Scott said of Thursday’s event. “Some of the other Navy regions, when they do their competitions, they tend to do it inside, and it’s a one-day event. They provide a little bit of training, and then they do their competition. We turned ours into something that’s more incredible.”
Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com
34 new books in our spring 2025 preview to add to your TBR pile 5:40 AM (37 minutes ago)
It’s already been a tough year. But spring means rebirth and renewal — and also an opportunity to enjoy a good read on a park bench, in your backyard, or just about anywhere else. No matter how you’re feeling, there’s bound to be a book to lift your spirits, make you think, or just give you a much-needed laugh.
Whether you’re looking for funny essays by one of America’s most popular comedians, a thoughtful look at the career of a hip-hop legend, a biography of one of the nation’s foremost authors, or an appreciation of the birds that remind us what it means to be mindful and grounded, we’ve got you covered with 34 books coming in the next three months that will be well worth your time.
“Big Chief”
Author: Jon Hickey
What It’s About: Debut San Francisco author Hickey’s novel follows a young Anishinaabe lawyer who runs a casino with his friend, the tribal president. Their grip on power is threatened by an activist who has been making national waves. Hickey is already drawing comparisons to Tommy Orange and Louise Erdrich.
Publication Date: April 8
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“My Documents”
Author: Kevin Nguyen
What It’s About: The latest from The Verge journalist and novelist Nguyen (“New Waves”) follows four Vietnamese American cousins whose lives are thrown into disarray after the U.S. government imprisons people of their heritage following a series of terrorist attacks. Two cousins are sent to prison camps, while two remain free.
Publication Date: April 8
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“Vanishing World”
Author: Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
What It’s About: From the Japanese author whose darkly funny “Convenience Store Woman” and disturbing “Earthlings” were both hits stateside, this one follows a woman who was conceived naturally by her parents — in a version of Japan in which artificial insemination is the norm, and sex is taboo.
Publication Date: April 15
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“One Death at a Time”
Author: Abbi Waxman
What It’s About: In the latest novel from Waxman (“The Bookish Life of Nina Hill”), a former actress with a drinking problem, smart mouth and bad temper is falsely accused of murder, and teams up with her zoomer sobriety coach to clear her name.
Publication Date: April 15
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“Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools”
Author: Mary Annette Pember
What It’s About: Ojibwe reporter Pember’s debut book is a history of so-called “boarding schools” in the U.S. from the mid-19th century to the 1930s, in which Native children endured unspeakable brutality. One of the children sent to a school was Pember’s mother, whose trauma she writes about in the book.
Publication Date: April 22
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“Zeal”
Author: Morgan Jerkins
What It’s About: The latest from acclaimed author Jerkins (“This Will Be My Undoing”) is a sweeping epic about multiple generations of descendants of Harrison and Tirzah, two star-crossed lovers who led separate lives in the days after the Civil War.
Publication Date: April 22
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“The Golden Hour: A Story of Family and Power in Hollywood”
Author: Matthew Specktor
What It’s About: L.A. author Specktor (“Always Crashing in the Same Car”) returns with a cross-genre book about the film industry, informed by his experiences growing up with his parents, CAA agent Fred Specktor and screenwriter Katherine McGaffey Howe.
Publication Date: April 22
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“Better: A Memoir About Wanting to Die”
Author: Arianna Rebolini
What It’s About: In her new memoir, novelist Rebolini (“Public Relations,” written with Katie Heaney) tells the story of her long battle with suicidal depression, which at one point led her to write goodbye letters to her husband and son, and considers how we might help people who want to take their own lives.
Publication Date: April 29
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“The Sea Gives Up the Dead: Stories”
Author: Molly Olguín
What It’s About: From beloved Pasadena indie publisher Red Hen Press, a short story collection that blends fairy tales, fantasy, and horror. The book won the prestigious Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction.
Publication Date: April 29
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“Turning to Birds”
Author: Lili Taylor
What It’s About: Taylor, familiar to moviegoers for her roles in films including “Say Anything” and “I Shot Andy Warhol,” took a break from acting and found herself fascinated by the birds that surrounded her. This essay collection urges readers to practice mindfulness and pay attention to the world that surrounds us — including our friends in the sky,
Publication Date: April 29
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“Everyday Intuition: What Psychology, Science, and Psychics Can Teach Us About Finding and Trusting Our Inner Voice”
Author: Elizabeth Greenwood
What It’s About: What exactly is intuition? That’s the question Greenwood tackles in her latest book, which takes a deep dive into the mysterious ability. Greenwood uses data to explain how intuition isn’t the same thing as anxiety or wishful thinking and examines the role it plays in our everyday lives.
Publication Date: May 6
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“My Name Is Emilia del Valle”
Author: Isabel Allende, translated by Frances Riddle
What It’s About: California-based Chilean American author has been a literary superstar ever since the publication of her 1982 debut novel “The House of Spirits.” Her latest follows the title character, a 19th-century journalist in San Francisco who covers the Chilean Civil War of 1891 and reconnects with her estranged father.
Publication Date: May 6
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“Words for My Comrades: A Political History of Tupac Shakur”
Author: Dean Van Nguyen
What It’s About: It’s been nearly 30 years since rap legend Shakur was shot and killed in Nevada, leaving a lasting sense of loss in the hip-hop world. Music writer Van Nguyen explores Shakur’s cultural impact in this book about the political influences on his music.
Publication Date: May 6
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“The Director”
Author: Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin
What It’s About: The latest from the acclaimed German author (“You Should Have Left”) is a historical novel about G.W. Pabst, the Austrian filmmaker who returned to his home country from Hollywood during World War II and was ordered by propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to make movies for the Nazi regime.
Publication Date: May 6
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“Poetry Is Not a Luxury: Poems for All Seasons”
Author: Anonymous
What It’s About: The title of this poetry anthology comes from the late, legendary poet Audre Lorde — it’s also the name of the Instagram account with more than 840,000 followers that inspired the book. It contains poems from some of today’s best working poets, including Ross Gay, Rita Dove, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Victoria Chang.
Publication Date: May 6
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“Big Dumb Eyes: Stories From a Simpler Mind”
Author: Nate Bargatze
What It’s About: “Reading, I believe, is the key to smart,” joked stand-up comedian Bargatze in his first “Saturday Night Live” monologue. His debut book is a humorous (of course) essay collection in which he writes about his life as a “non-genius.”
Publication Date: May 6
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“Sympathy for Wild Girls: Stories”
Author: Demree McGhee
What It’s About: The debut book from San Diego author McGhee, published by the award-winning Feminist Press, collects short stories that explore the lives of queer Black women as they search for intimacy and places to belong.
Publication Date: May 6
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“The Dark Maestro”
Author: Brendan Slocumb
What It’s About: Musician and teacher Brendan Slocumb has made a career out of writing classical music-themed thrillers (“Symphony of Secrets,” “The Violin Conspiracy”). His latest novel follows a cello prodigy who has to enter witness protection with his family after his father turns state’s evidence against a group of criminals.
Publication Date: May 13
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“Bochica”
Author: Carolina Flórez-Cerchiaro
What It’s About: The debut book from Colombian author Flórez-Cerchiaro is a Gothic horror novel that follows Antonia, a woman who returns to the possibly haunted mansion where she and her cursed family used to live after it is converted into a luxury hotel.
Publication Date: May 13
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“The Emperor of Gladness”
Author: Ocean Vuong
What It’s About: Poet Vuong stunned readers with his bestselling 2019 debut novel, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.” His latest work of fiction follows Hai, a 19-year-old who plans to take his own life, but meets an elderly widow with dementia who talks him out of it; he becomes her caretaker and friend.
Publication Date: May 13
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“Mark Twain”
Author: Ron Chernow
What It’s About: Acclaimed biographer Chernow, whose book “Alexander Hamilton” was the inspiration for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blockbuster musical, returns with an account of the life of one of America’s most important authors.
Publication Date: May 13
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“It All Felt Impossible: 42 Years in 42 Essays”
Author: Tom McAllister
What It’s About: McAllister, who earned rave reviews for his novel “How to Be Safe,” gave himself a literary challenge: Write an essay for every year of his life, each one no more than 1,500 words. This book collects these touching and funny essays, with topics as varied as learning to ride a bike as an adult and working long hours at a cheesesteak shop.
Publication Date: May 14
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“Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson”
Author: Tourmaline
What It’s About: Artist and filmmaker Tourmaline tells the life story of Johnson, the pioneering performance artist and transgender activist who famously threw the first brick in the Stonewall uprising, a watershed moment for the LGBTQ+ in the U.S.
Publication Date: May 20
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“Things in Nature Merely Grow”
Author: Yiyun Li
What It’s About: Li, author of novels including “The Vagrants” and “The Book of Goose,” is one of the country’s most deservedly acclaimed writers. Her latest book is a memoir that reckons with the unthinkable: the loss of both of her teenage sons to suicide.
Publication Date: May 20
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“Frontier: A Memoir and a Ghost Story”
Author: Erica Stern
What It’s About: In this hybrid-genre book from indie press Barrelhouse, author Stern writes about her own experiences with complications during labor, and intersperses her story with a fictional tale of a woman who died during childbirth in the Wild West.
Publication Date: June 3
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“Charlottesville: An American Story”
Author: Deborah Baker
What It’s About: Baker, who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her biography of poet Laura Riding, tells the story of the deadly violence that unfolded in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August of 2017, when racist and neo-Nazi groups held a rally in the college town.
Publication Date: June 3
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“Flashlight”
Author: Susan Choi
What It’s About: One of the most anticipated books of the season, Choi’s follow-up to her National Book Award-winning “Trust Exercise” follows the aftermath of the disappearance of a Korean-Japanese man who was walking on a beach with his 10-year-old daughter.
Publication Date: June 3
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“Deep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever Told”
Author: Jeremy Atherton Lin
What It’s About: UCLA-educated Atherton Lin won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his previous book, “Gay Bar”; his latest is a memoir that chronicles his relationship with a British man that began in 1996, as the U.S. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act.
Publication Date: June 3
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“Midnight at the Cinema Palace”
Author: Christopher Tradowsky
What It’s About: The debut novel from the Minnesota-based writer and artist follows a group of three queer friends in 1990s San Francisco as they explore the city during the height of the AIDS epidemic and before the dawn of the Internet.
Publication Date: June 10
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“Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers”
Author: Caroline Fraser
What It’s About: Fraser won critical acclaim — and the Pulitzer Prize — for “Prairie Fires,” her biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her latest book tells the story of murderers including Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway, and Richard Ramirez, and argues that environmental destruction might be to blame for the way they turned out.
Publication Date: June 10
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“This Is Not a Ghost Story”
Author: Amerie
What It’s About: The first novel for adults from the singer-songwriter (“1 Thing”) is a satire about a Black man who dies and finds himself resurrected as a ghost — the first verifiable one in human history — in Los Angeles.
Publication Date: June 10
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“The Girls Who Grew Big”
Author: Leila Mottley
What It’s About: Oakland author Mottley shocked the literary world with her 2022 novel “Nightcrawling,” which she published at the age of 19, and made her the youngest author to ever be longlisted for the Booker Prize. Her latest follows a group of teenage mothers living in the Florida panhandle.
Publication Date: June 24
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“Fresh, Green Life”
Author: Sebastian Castillo
What It’s About: Castillo (“Salmon”) is one of the most original authors working today; his darkly funny latest novel follows a writer — also named Sebastian Castillo — who breaks his self-imposed yearlong exile to attend a New Year’s Eve party, where he hopes to connect with his former love interest.
Publication Date: June 24
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“Television for Women”
Author: Danit Brown
What It’s About: Brown brings more than a touch of dark humor to this novel that follows Estie, a woman who gives birth and finds that motherhood is not the fulfilling experience she hoped it would be. The book is drawing comparisons to Rachel Yoder’s “Nightbitch.”
Publication Date: June 24
Here’s how to prevent, fight back against sextortion 5:30 AM (46 minutes ago)
Investigators working to fight online child exploitation offer a few tips to people who want to keep themselves — or their children — from becoming targets of sextortion.
• Don’t become friends, online, with someone you don’t have any way of meeting in real life.
• Don’t create explicit photos or video of yourself or any friends. And, if you do, don’t store it or share it online with anyone.
• If you’re a parent, don’t expect your kid to never use the internet or never chat online with people they’ve never met in real life. Instead, make it a conversation starter, and insist on meeting any online friends and exercise veto power if that persona feels sketchy.
• If any friend asks you for explicit material, that person might not be who they say they are. And they probably aren’t going to keep it to themselves if they get it.
Experts also point to resources to report sextortion, or deal with its aftermath:
• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children offers information about services and support for victims and family members: missingkids.org
• The center, sometimes known as NCMEC, also offers a tip line to report possible child exploitation or missing children: 800 843‐5678
• Suicide Crisis Lifeline is available if you are thinking about suicide or need emotional support: 988lifeline.org
• A free service – Take It Down– can help you remove or stop the online sharing ofnude, partially nude, or sexually explicit images or videos: takeitdown.ncmec.org
• Homeland Security Investigations has a tip line to report possible online crime, including sextortion: 866-347‐2423
Increasingly dangerous scam targets kids through sextortion 5:20 AM (57 minutes ago)
Scams are usually financial crimes, but they’re almost always about more than money.
When a grifter tricks somebody into pre-paying a tax for a fake lottery win, or writing a check to a bogus charity, or wiring cash to bail a supposedly wayward grandchild out of a (nonexistent) Mexican jail, the loss runs deeper than a drained bank account. Confidence, trust, self-respect; all are just some of the things the scammer takes from the scammee.
That dynamic can be even more powerful when the victim is a kid and the scam is about sex.
That’s certainly true of an internet crime known as “sextortion.” The scam is a fast-growing slice of the broader world of pedophiles using the internet to exploit children, and investigators say the stakes, for the kids who are targeted, can be life-changing.
“It just can take away … so much,” said Tory Torres, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations who looks into local sextortion cases as a member of the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force.
“A lot of victims have contemplated or actually taken their lives.”
The list of sextortion victims has exploded since the start of the pandemic.
Last year, the FBI issued a report that described sextortion as “a growing threat,” noting that the agency investigated roughly 1,000 cases a month for much of 2021 through early 2023, and that cases had jumped by about 20% during the last six months of that period. The agency also said at least 20 suicides were connected to incidents of sextortion.
Related: Here’s how to prevent, fight back against sextortion
Torres offered a different batch of data. From 2023 to 2024, the number of national cyber tips connected to sextortion more than doubled, from 186,800 to 456,000. She said those numbers reflect the crime becoming more common, and more people recognizing the crime for what it is.
It’s also likely that today even more people are being targeted.
Torres said so far this year her office has been investigating about 10 sextortion cases a month just in Orange County, up from about 25 cases all of last year. She estimates that at any given time at least a dozen local children – mostly boys between the ages of 14 and 17 – are being targeted in sextortion scams.
“Last week, my team and I were working on one case and we got three more leads while we were out,” Torres said. “It’s definitely growing.”
It’s also part of a grim trend that’s seen growth in seemingly all manner of child abuse.
Child labor trafficking has exploded in recent years. Same for underage sex trafficking. And, over a longer period, the internet has become an ever-expanding repository for sexually explicit images and videos involving children. In 2012, the FBI estimated there were about 450,000 such files online in the United States; by the early 2020s, the estimate was up to 90 million.
Sextortion, just one slice of that trend, works like this:
An adult predator creates a fake online persona, typically as an attractive teenager, to entice a real teenager or tween. After a connection and trust (and/or lust) have been established – usually on social media, such as Instagram and Snapchat, or in the chat options connected to online games like Fortnite or Call of Duty – the fake teen convinces the real teen to create some sexually explicit photos or video, and to send that material their way.
After that, one of two things is likely to happen.
If the predator is motivated by sex, they’ll probably share the photos or videos with other pedophiles. They also might keep the fake romance alive in order to get more material or eventually meet up with the victim in real life.
If the predator is motivated by money, the relationship, such as it was, will end. In its place the predator will make a threat, telling the victim that if they don’t send a gift card or cryptocurrency or some money via an online app, they’ll share the photo or video with the victim’s parents or friends or coaches, a list that’s often easy to track through social media. Typically, the predator also will set a deadline, saying they’ll hit the send button if money isn’t delivered by a certain day and time.
The amounts aren’t huge, from as little as $20 to about $2,000, though scammers often are trolling multiple victims so their take can be bigger than the numbers might suggest.
Still, if the money isn’t life-changing, the pressure can be. Even in a world where everyone from presidents to sports stars have been enmeshed in a dizzying array of public sex scandals, shame remains a powerful force — at least, it is for the young victims of sextortion.
“Most of the kids we see are terrified of their parents’ reaction,” said Sherri Harris, a victim assistant specialist with Homeland Security, who works with families touched by online child exploitation.
“That’s the main reason kids are reluctant to come forward. They realized they made a mistake and they don’t want to see the disappointment their parents might express. It’s why, even as as the investigators are talking with the kids, we’re talking to the parents… letting them know not to victim-shame.
“We really try to hammer that in,” Harris added. “These kids are victims of a crime.”
A crime that, for now, often goes unpunished.
Most financially motivated sextortionists operate outside the United States, often in West Africa or Asia, according to the FBI report. That puts those scammers beyond the reach of U.S. law.
It also means that for Torres and other investigators the first contact with victims and their families is usually about ending the crime and offering a path for the victim to recover, not to launch a criminal investigation.
“When I get to the family, I get straight to why I’m there. We explain that we have some information that suggests your child might be the victim of sextortion, and that we’re there to confirm a few things. We also explain that there are resources, counselors, who can help them if they want that,” Torres said.
“If I don’t think there’s going to be a case to prosecute, I also explain that right away,” she added. “You don’t want people to have false hope about that.”
But if technology is helping sextortion – artificial intelligence, in particular, is making it easier for scammers to entrap victims – technology and technology-related laws also are making it easier for investigators to track down explicit material.
For example, U.S.-based electronic service providers (the world of companies that require users to log in to get access to the internet) are required, by law, to alert authorities when an account sends or receives or even holds sexually explicit material involving children. Those alerts often kick off the cyber tips that Torres and others can follow up.
Also, an agency that tracks crimes against kids, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is working with Homeland Security and others to create a database of child sexual abuse material (the term investigators prefer over “child pornography” because the latter erroneously implies the victim is somehow complicit in the crime) to help make investigations easier. Every image in the database is issued individual coding that serves as an online fingerprint, making it easier to track images shared or kept by one or more users.
Torres and other investigators need that kind of technology, and information from the victims, build legal cases against sexually motivated scammers. A strong case includes as much factual detail as possible about the online contact, along with lots of softer information, such as what the victim believed was happening — and how they felt — during their conversations with the scammer.
“In cases where we have a suspect in the United States, and where we think we can prosecute someone, we set up the victim and his family with a forensic interview,” Torres said.
“These are specialists who are trained in talking with children, or any victim, about sex crimes. And we connect the families with victim assistance specialists, who can help them with our case and with their recovery.”
The local task force Torres works on, which includes members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, has been connected to several high-profile prosecutions of sexually motivated scammers. One case ended in September, when Siu Kong Sit, a former robotics coach and teacher at Beckman High, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for creating and collecting explicit material of students. Torres said she is working on three other cases involving men in Orange County who have been accused of coercing children to provide them with explicit material.
Torres suggested another technology trend – the rise of artificial intelligence – might, inadvertently, offer a sliver of optimism about the impact of sextortion.
So many images are now circulating online, and so many faces, famous and otherwise, have been falsely connected to explicit material via AI, that a growing number of tech-savvy teens are becoming numb to sextortion threats. When scammers say they’ll share explicit images unless they get some money, some victims shrug instead of paying up.
“A couple years ago, most victims were paying off the scammer,” Torres said. “Now, that’s not always the case.”
Torres suggested it’s part of a broader cultural shift in attitude about children and sex crimes.
“There’s a lot less stigma around sex abuse,” she said. “Especially when you’re a minor; you have no consent. And people are starting to recognize that, now, I think.”
For Torres, 35, who grew up in San Diego, the issue is personal. She said her older brother was molested as a child, but he didn’t tell anybody until he was in his late teens. Earlier this year, at age 37, he took his life.
“The time frame that we grew up in, (abuse) was still very hush-hush,” Torres said.
“Not, today. Today, I think, the outcome in his case would be different,” she added.
“At least I hope it would.”
‘They won’t help me’: Sickest patients face insurance denials despite policy fixes 5:10 AM (last hour)
By Lauren Sausser, KFF Health News
HENRICO, Va. — Sheldon Ekirch spends a lot of time on hold with her health insurance company.
Sometimes, as the minutes tick by and her frustration mounts, Ekirch, 30, opens a meditation app on her phone. It was recommended by her psychologist to help with the depression associated with a stressful and painful medical disorder.
In 2023, Ekirch was diagnosed with small fiber neuropathy, a condition that makes her limbs and muscles feel as if they’re on fire. Now she takes more than a dozen prescriptions to manage chronic pain and other symptoms, including insomnia.
“I don’t feel like I am the person I was a year and a half ago,” said Ekirch, who was on the cusp of launching her law career, before getting sick. “Like, my body isn’t my own.”
Ekirch said specialists have suggested that a series of infusions made from blood plasma called intravenous immunoglobulin — IVIG, for short — could ease, or potentially eradicate, her near-constant pain. But Ekirch’s insurance company has repeatedly denied coverage for the treatment, according to documents provided by the patient.
Patients with Ekirch’s condition don’t always respond to IVIG, but she said she deserves to try it, even though it could cost more than $100,000.
“I’m paying a lot of money for health insurance,” said Ekirch, who pays more than $600 a month in premiums. “I don’t understand why they won’t help me, why my life means so little to them.”
For patient advocates and health economists, cases like Ekirch’s illustrate why prior authorization has become such a chronic pain point for patients and doctors. For 50 years, insurers have employed prior authorization, they say, to reduce wasteful health care spending, prevent unnecessary treatment, and guard against potential harm.
The practice differs by insurance company and plan, but the rules often require patients or their doctors to request permission from the patient’s health insurance company before proceeding with a drug, treatment, or medical procedure.
The insurance industry provides little information about how often prior authorization is used. Transparency requirements established by the federal government to shed light on the use of prior authorization by private insurers haven’t been broadly enforced, said Justin Lo, a senior researcher for the Program on Patient and Consumer Protections at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.
Yet it’s widely acknowledged that prior authorization tends to disproportionately impact some of the sickest people who need the most expensive care. And despite bipartisan support to reform the system, as well as recent attempts by health insurance companies to ease the burden for patients and doctors, some tactics have met skepticism.
Some insurers’ efforts to improve prior authorization practices aren’t as helpful as they would seem, said Judson Ivy, CEO of Ensemble Health Partners, a revenue cycle management company.
“When you really dive deep,” he said, these improvements don’t seem to touch the services and procedures, such as CT scans, that get caught up in prior authorization so frequently. “When we started looking into it,” he said, “it was almost a PR stunt.”
The ‘Tipping Point’
When Arman Shahriar’s father was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma in 2023, his father’s oncologist ordered a whole-body PET scan to determine the cancer’s stage. The scan was denied by a company called EviCore by Evernorth, a Cigna subsidiary that makes prior authorization decisions.
Shahriar, an internal medicine resident, said he spent hours on the phone with his father’s insurer, arguing that the latest medical guidelines supported the scan. The imaging request was eventually approved. But his father’s scan was delayed several weeks — and multiple appointments were scheduled, then canceled during the time-consuming process — while the family feared the cancer would continue to spread.
EviCore by Evernorth spokesperson Madeline Ziomek wrote in an emailed statement that incomplete clinical information provided by physicians is a leading cause of such denials. The company is “actively developing new ways to make the submission process simpler and faster for physicians,” Ziomek said.
In the meantime, Shahriar, who often struggles to navigate prior authorization for his patients, accused the confusing system of “artificially creating problems in people’s lives” at the wrong time.
“If families with physicians are struggling through this, how do other people navigate it? And the short answer is, they can’t,” said Shahriar, who wrote about his father’s case in an essay published last year by JAMA Oncology. “We’re kind of reaching a tipping point where we’re realizing, collectively, something needs to be done.”
The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a New York City sidewalk in December prompted an outpouring of grief among those who knew him, but it also became a platform for public outrage about the methods insurance companies use to deny treatment.
An Emerson College poll conducted in mid-December found 41% of 18- to 29-year-olds thought the actions of Thompson’s killer were at least somewhat acceptable. In a NORC survey from the University of Chicago conducted in December, two-thirds of respondents indicated that insurance company profits, and their denials for health care coverage, contributed “a great deal/moderate amount” to the killing. Instagram accounts established in support of Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old Maryland suspect accused of murder and terrorism, have attracted thousands of followers.
“The past several weeks have further challenged us to even more intensely listen to the public narrative about our industry,” Cigna Group CEO David Cordani said during an earnings call on Jan. 30. Cigna is focused on “making prior authorizations faster and simpler,” he added.
The first Trump administration and the Biden administration put forth policies designed to improve prior authorization for some patients by mandating that insurers set up electronic systems and shortening the time companies may take to issue decisions, among other fixes. Hundreds of House Democrats and Republicans signed on to co-sponsor a bill last year that would establish new prior authorization rules for Medicare Advantage plans. In January, Republican congressman Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey introduced a federal bill to abolish the use of prior authorization altogether.
Meanwhile, many states have passed legislation to regulate the use of prior authorization. Some laws require insurers to publish data about prior authorization denials with the intention of making a confusing system more transparent. Reform bills are under consideration by state legislatures in Hawaii, Montana, and elsewhere. A bill in Virginia approved by the governor March 18 takes effect July 1. Other states, including Texas, have established “gold card” programs that ease prior authorization requirements for some physicians by allowing doctors with a track record of approvals to bypass the rules.
No one from AHIP, an insurance industry lobbying group formerly known as America’s Health Insurance Plans, was available to be interviewed on the record about proposed prior authorization legislation for this article.
But changes wouldn’t guarantee that the most vulnerable patients would be spared from future insurance denials or the complex appeals process set up by insurers. Some doctors and advocates for patients are skeptical that prior authorization can be fixed as long as insurers are accountable to shareholders.
Kindyl Boyer, director of advocacy for the nonprofit Infusion Access Foundation, remains hopeful the system can be improved but likened some efforts to playing “Whac-A-Mole.” Ultimately, insurance companies are “going to find a different way to make more money,” she said.
‘Unified Anger’
In the weeks following Thompson’s killing, UnitedHealthcare was trying to refute an onslaught of what it called “highly inaccurate and grossly misleading information” about its practices when another incident landed the company back in the spotlight.
On Jan. 7, Elisabeth Potter, a breast reconstruction surgeon in Austin, Texas, posted a video on social media criticizing the company for questioning whether one of her patients who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing surgery that day needed to be admitted as an inpatient.
The video amassed millions of views.
In the days following her post, UnitedHealthcare hired a high-profile law firm to demand a correction and public apology from Potter. In an interview with KFF Health News, Potter would not discuss details about the dispute, but she stood by what she said in her original video.
“I told the truth,” Potter said.
The facts of the incident remain in dispute. But the level of attention it received online illustrates how frustrated and vocal many people have become about insurance company tactics since Thompson’s killing, said Matthew Zachary, a former cancer patient and the host of “Out of Patients,” a podcast that aims to amplify the experiences of patients.
For years, doctors and patients have taken to social media to shame health insurers into approving treatment. But in recent months, Zachary said, “horror stories” about prior authorization shared widely online have created “unified anger.”
“Most people thought they were alone in the victimization,” Zachary said. “Now they know they’re not.”
Data published in January by KFF found that prior authorization is particularly burdensome for patients covered by Medicare Advantage plans. In 2023, virtually all Medicare Advantage enrollees were covered by plans that required prior authorization, while people enrolled in traditional Medicare were much less likely to encounter it, said Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, an associate director at KFF’s Program on Medicare Policy. Furthermore, she said, Medicare Advantage enrollees were more likely to face prior authorization for higher-cost services, including inpatient hospital stays, skilled nursing facility stays, and chemotherapy.
But Neil Parikh, national chief medical officer for medical management at UnitedHealthcare, explained prior authorization rules apply to fewer than 2% of the claims the company pays. He added that “99% of the time” UnitedHealthcare members don’t need prior authorization or requests are approved “very, very quickly.”
Recently, he said, a team at UnitedHealthcare was reviewing a prior authorization request for an orthopedic procedure when they discovered the surgeon planned to operate on the wrong side of the patient’s body. UnitedHealthcare caught the mistake in time, he recounted.
“This is a real-life example of why prior authorization can really help,” Parikh said.
Even so, he said, UnitedHealthcare aims to make the process less burdensome by removing prior authorization requirements for some services, rendering instant decisions for certain requests, and establishing a national gold card program, among other refinements. Cigna also announced changes designed to improve prior authorization in the months since Thompson’s killing.
“Brian was an incredible friend and colleague to many, many of us, and we are deeply saddened by his passing,” Parikh said. “It’s truly a sad occasion.”
The Final Denial
During the summer of 2023, Ekirch was working full time and preparing to take the bar exam when she noticed numbness and tingling in her arms and legs. Eventually, she started experiencing a burning sensation throughout her body.
That fall, a Richmond-area neurologist said her symptoms were consistent with small fiber neuropathy, and, in early 2024, a rheumatologist recommended IVIG to ease her pain. Since then, other specialists, including neurologists at the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University, have said she may benefit from the same treatment.
There’s no guarantee it will work. A randomized controlled trial published in 2021 found pain levels in patients who received IVIG weren’t significantly different from the placebo group, while an older study found patients responded “remarkably well.”
“It’s hard because I look at my peers from law school and high school — they’re having families, excelling in their career, living their life. And most days I am just struggling, just to get out of bed,” said Ekirch, frustrated that Anthem continues to deny her claim.
In a prepared statement, Kersha Cartwright, a spokesperson for Anthem’s parent company, Elevance Health, said Ekirch’s request for IVIG treatment was denied “because it did not meet the established medical criteria for effectiveness in treating small fiber neuropathy.”
On Feb. 17, her treatment was denied by Anthem for the final time. Ekirch said her patient advocate, a nurse who works for Anthem, suggested she reach out to the drug manufacturer about patient charity programs.
“This is absolutely crazy,” Ekirch said. “This is someone from Anthem telling me to plead with a pharmacy company to give me this drug when Anthem should be covering it.”
Her only hope now lies with the Virginia State Corporation Commission Bureau of Insurance, a state agency that resolves prior authorization disputes between patients and health insurance companies. She found out through a Facebook group for patients with small fiber neuropathy that the Bureau of Insurance has overturned an IVIG denial before. In late March, Ekirch was anxiously waiting to hear the agency’s decision about her case.
“I don’t want to get my hopes up too much, though,” she said. “I feel like this entire process, I’ve been let down by it.”
©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Home cooks are shopping a little differently for groceries in 2025 5:00 AM (last hour)
By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)
PITTSBURGH — With restaurants closed and stay-at-home orders in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during the early months of the pandemic, Americans responded in the only way they could at meal time.
We started cooking at home more than ever before, even though it was harder than ever to find some ingredients on store shelves. And all the while, grocery stores had to alter their occupancy levels and traffic patterns to allow for social distancing.
We also took up baking in record numbers, particularly of bread as friends shared sourdough starters or re-discovered long-forgotten bread machines in our basements, leading to flour and yeast shortages all over the country.
“With COVID I was able to get that love of cooking and baking back,” shared Peg Morrow of Ellwood City in an email. “My bread baking skills certainly improved with practice. I combed the internet and the Post-Gazette for new recipes trying new procedures never before attempted.”
It was a commonly echoed sentiment.
“I have happily been making bread again,” says retired geologist Peter Hutchinson of Murrysville, after his daughter replaced the bread machine he gave to his wife in 1999 (that made “a ball of goo”) with a new model. “And so has many of my friends who also discovered their bread makers.”
Mark Mastandrea, who had just followed his wife, Donna, into retirement when the world shut down in March 2020, is another who took advantage of the pandemic to improve his culinary skills.
Before the shutdown, the Shaler resident recalls in an email, “I was an adequate, by the numbers cook. Many recipes I made were demonstrably good, but I always felt something was missing.”
With more time on his hands, he was able to commit to preparing healthy food and entertaining his wife by cooking most of their meals, 7 days a week, 365 days a year — think breakfasts with homemade oat flour pancakes, grilled cheese lunches and dinners featuring creative dishes like rum and coke salmon
“The time we spent included finding recipes, watching cooking shows, buying new cooking tools and spices online and developing new ways to source ingredients, including the Bloomfield Saturday Market and Pennsylvania Macaroni online store with pickup in the back alley,” he writes. “The end result was improvements in planning a meal, preparation techniques, food presentation and enjoyment of the home dining experience.”
Five years later, grocery shelves are once again full (if more expensive than ever), restaurants are busy and consumers are returning to pre-pandemic habits and cooking less frequently at home, driving shifts in spending.
Or as Mastandrea notes, “Projects like all-day seafood stocks [have been] replaced by grilled seafood and roasted veggies. We no longer toast whole oats and made our own oat flour. Gone are the four separate charcuterie plates for each family ‘pod’ at a socially distanced picnic. What remains is the “Been There, Got the T-Shirt” of going from doing what you had to do, to confidently doing what you love to do.”
Less cooking, more online shopping
Today, Americans spend a majority of their food budgets on dishes prepared outside the home, according to a 2024 survey by the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts based on USDA data — 55.7% on dining out and ordering takeout versus 44.3% on groceries.
But if we’re shopping less for the ingredients we need to make dinner, we’re also shopping a little differently for groceries in 2025.
Nearly 20% of shoppers of all ages engaged in online grocery shopping at least once in the past month, according to a report by the USDA.
Ordering groceries online for pickup or delivery was hardly a new technology when COVID-19 hit: Giant Eagle started offering it at some of its Market District stores around 2012, says Heather Feather, Giant Eagle’s senior director of digital and eCommerce strategy. Walmart — the largest grocery chain in the U.S., with over 4,700 stores nationwide — began piloting online ordering with grocery pickup in 2013 in Denver.
“It was starting to pop up with other retailers, and we saw a lot of of opportunity for convenience and wanted to really get ahead of the demand,” says Feather.
But it really started to take off in 2018, as improved technology made online grocery shopping more accessible, appealing and streamlined. Consumers steadily grew to love its convenience.
That year, Walmart brought grocery delivery to 100 metro areas serving 40% of the U.S. population. Giant Eagle followed suit, expanding the service into more stores across the metro area.
“We identified this as an upcoming trend to capture the next generation of shoppers,” says public relations manager Jannah Drexler. “We were really at the forefront.”
The pandemic, which forced groceries to change their operations in response to public health concerns, and the accompanying shift in customers’ shopping behavior (remember the footprints on the floor that told shoppers which way they were allowed to walk? And special hours for elderly and immunocompromised shoppers?) only helped grow demand.
At Giant Eagle, for instance, demand tripled almost overnight, says Feather.
“We all remember where we were that week [when everything got shut down] because it really tested our technical systems and our teams in the stores who were filling orders,” she says. “But it was a great learning opportunity and it encouraged guests to try the service who hadn’t before.”
According to a 2020 survey by Supermarket News, nearly 80% of U.S. consumers shopped online for groceries in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak. And grocery shopping online has continued to grow in popularity among customers of all ages and lifestyles — from busy families and working professionals to elderly people and those unable to leave their homes — to the point where more than 90% of shoppers now purchase groceries both in store and online.
Today, Walmart can make same-day store deliveries to 93% of the U.S.
“It has definitely continued to grow, not only in demand, but we’re seeing that people want it even faster,” says a spokesperson for Walmart, which now offers expedited on-demand delivery in less than three hours and express delivery in 1 hour with an added charge.
To make grocery shopping even easier for customers, the superstore has even created special, one-click shopping list on its website where people can purchase everything they need in one fell swoop for events like the Super Bowl, Thanksgiving and Easter.
People apparently don’t mind coughing up a few extra bucks to get things sooner rather than later; in the past year, more than 30% of delivery orders were expedited at Walmart. The company has also enjoyed four consecutive quarters with 20% growth or higher in eCommerce driven by pickup and delivery.
eCommerce grocery shopping is also brisk at Giant Eagle. Pittsburgh’s largest grocery chain currently offers curbside pickup at 104 supermarket locations, and home delivery is available broadly across its markets, says Drexler.
Filling those baskets
Perhaps not surprisingly, Sunday is the busiest day for online shopping at Giant Eagle, says Tim Westine, 28, a curbside team leader at the South Hills Market District who has worked six of his nine years in the chain’s curbside division.
What does surprise is how quickly the 3,000 dedicated curbside team members responsible for filling the region’s online orders — identified by their bright green t-shirts — load their bins with the wide variety of produce, canned items, meat and anything else a customer has put on the list. While every day is different, the 45 team members Westine supervises can fill up to 1,200 orders a week, which means they have to be both quick and efficient.
“It’s really a robust process,” says Feather.
During the early days of the pandemic, many orders were for non-perishable packaged foods like cereals or cases of water and paper items like toilet paper. And customers often had to wait up to two or three days to secure an available spot.
“People were waking up at midnight to place an order,” remembers Westine.
“We were at capacity with both staff and product,” agrees Wexler. “We were really maxing out.”
Today, it’s less about pantry items and more about the fresh items needed for daily cooking like produce, meat and dairy.
Save for hot foods, everything that’s available on store shelves can be ordered online, Wexler notes, and customers can earn and redeem the same perks as in-store shoppers. And the service is free for pickup with a minimum $35 order; delivery — which is available in as little as three hours — costs $9.95. Food items can also be purchased online with SNAP benefits.
While the service might seem impersonal, there’s actually quite a bit of one-to-one interaction between customers and team members, says Westine, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 with a math degree and started working for Giant Eagle during college.
If a team member has to make a substitution as they shop with a handheld device that both shows the customer’s order and where the items are located in the store, they send a text.
“We get bananas on almost every single order, and you can leave a note for your shopper if you want them bigger or smaller or green,” notes Feather, “so it really is a personal service [where] you get exactly what you want.”
Drexler adds that one of the big benefits on Giant Eagle’s online shopping program is how thoroughly trained team members are. While some might like to choose their own tomatoes or smell a fish fillet before buying, “they’re shopping as closely to the order as possible so when it’s picked up or delivered, no one is dissatisfied.”
The fact the grocery store recently entered into third-party partnerships with Instacart, DoorDash and Uber Eats has only made online grocery shopping easier, faster and more convenient.
While the vast majority of its business is still brick-and-mortar, of in-store shopping, Drexler says “we [have] so many people getting into the [online] space.”
She adds, “It will be interesting to see how it evolves and grows over the next years” as people get more comfortable with allowing others to do their shopping.
©2025 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Today in History: April 6, United States enters World War I 12:00 AM (6 hours ago)
Today is Sunday, April 6, the 96th day of 2025. There are 269 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I as the House joined the Senate in approving a declaration of war against Germany that was then signed by President Woodrow Wilson.
Also on this date:
In 1830, Joseph Smith and others met in Fayette, New York, to form the Church of Christ — now known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Shiloh began in Tennessee as Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against Union troops, who beat back the Confederates the following day.
In 1896, the first modern Olympic games formally opened in Athens, Greece.
In 1954, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., responding to CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s broadside against him on “See It Now,” claimed in remarks filmed for the program that Murrow had, in the past, “engaged in propaganda for Communist causes.”
In 1968, 41 people were killed by a pair of explosions spurred by a natural gas leak at a sporting goods store in downtown Richmond, Indiana.
In 1994, Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira were killed when the jet they were riding in was shot down by surface-to-air missiles as it attempted to land in Kigali, Rwanda.
In 2012, five Black people were shot, three fatally, in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Jake England and Alvin Watts, who admitted to targeting the victims because of their race, pleaded guilty to murder and were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Scientist James D. Watson is 97.
- Actor Billy Dee Williams is 88.
- Film director Barry Levinson is 83.
- Actor John Ratzenberger is 78.
- Baseball Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven is 74.
- Actor Marilu Henner is 73.
- Actor Michael Rooker is 70.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is 61.
- Football Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe is 60.
- Actor Paul Rudd is 56.
- Actor Zach Braff is 50.
- Actor Candace Cameron Bure is 49.
- Musician Robert Glasper is 47.
Houston erases big late deficit, ousts Duke to reach NCAA championship game 5 Apr 9:02 PM (9 hours ago)
SAN ANTONIO — Houston’s suffocating defense wiped away a 14-point deficit over the final eight minutes, and the Cougars erased Cooper Flagg’s and Duke’s NCAA title hopes Saturday night in a 70-67 stunner over the Blue Devils at the Final Four.
Duke made a grand total of one field goal over the last 10 1/2 minutes of the game. The second-to-last attempt during its game-ending 1-for-9 stretch was a step-back jumper in the lane by Flagg that J’Wan Roberts disrupted. The last was a desperation heave by Tyrese Proctor that caught nothing at the buzzer.
Roberts’ two free throws with 19.6 seconds left put the Cougars ahead 68-67, their first lead since 6-5. LJ Cryer, who led Houston with 26 points, made two more to push the lead to three. It was Houston’s biggest lead of the night.
“No one ever loses at anything as long as you don’t quit,” coach Kelvin Sampson said. “If you quit, you’ve lost.”
The Cougars (35-4), who have never won a title, not even in the days of Phi Slama Jama, will play Florida on Monday night for the championship.
Florida’s 79-73 win over Auburn in the early game was a free-flowing hoopsfest. This one would’ve looked perfect on a cracked blacktop and a court with chain-link nets.
That’s just how Houston likes it. It closed the game on a 9-0 run over the final 74 seconds, and though Flagg finished with 27 points, he did it on 8-for-19 shooting and never got a good look after his 3 at the 3:02 mark put the Blue Devils (35-4) up by nine.
It looked over at that point. Houston was just getting started.
“We had a feeling that we could still win this game,” Roberts said.
A team that prides itself on getting three stops in a row — calling the third one the “kill stop” — allowed a measly three free throws down the stretch. One came when Joseph Tugler got a technical foul for batting the ball from a Duke player’s hand as he was trying to throw an inbounds pass.
That didn’t make it any better for Duke.
On the possession following the technical, Tugler rejected Kon Knueppel (16 points), then Emanuel Sharp (16 points) made a 3 to cut the deficit to three.
Mylik Wilson stole the next inbounds pass and missed a game-tying 3, but Tugler dunked the follow to cut the deficit to one.
Proctor missed the front end of a one-and-one with 20 seconds left, and a foul call on Flagg in the duel for the rebound set the stage for Roberts’ free throws.
Duke’s slow walk off the court came through a phalanx of Houston fans who waved goodbye to Flagg, who will likely be off to the NBA as the first pick in the draft.
Houston finished with six steals and six blocks, including four from Tugler. He might be the best shot-blocker this program has seen since Hakeem Olajuwon, who was on hand at the Alamodome to see the program’s first trip to the final since 1984.
Big win for AI
The huge comeback also netted a $1 million win for artificial intelligence. An AI disruptor bet a professional gambler that his program could do a better March Madness bracket, and it all came down to the Duke-Houston game.
Even if Houston loses in the final, the AI bracket will get more points in the contest and the disruptor, Alan Levy, will pocket the million.
William & Mary survives Elon baseball comeback, goes to 6-2 in CAA 5 Apr 6:19 PM (11 hours ago)
William & Mary threw out the potential tying runner at the plate to complete a wild 13-12 victory Saturday over Elon at Plumeri Park.
Christian Rush and Charlie Iriotakis each had three hits and four RBIs for the Tribe (12-18, 6-2 Coastal Athletic Association). Jamie Laskofski and Witt Scafidi also had three hits. Elon’s Jackson Alford was 2 for 4 with three runs and four RBIs.
W&M trailed 6-1 after 2 1/2 innings but led 13-9 before the Phoenix (10-20, 2-6) scored three runs in the ninth.
No. 20 Troy 4, Old Dominion 3: The Trojans earned their second victory in as many days at Harbor Park.
Troy (24-8, 8-3 Sun Belt) led 3-0 before ODU’s Jack Slater scored on a wild pitch in the sixth. Kainen Jorge scored on a Slater groundout in the seventh, and Zach Leite hit a single to drive home TJ Aiken in the eighth.
Dylan Brown (2-2) took the loss, giving up five hits and three earned runs in five innings while striking out four and walking three. Troy starter Noah Edders (3-0) held the Monarchs (8-20, 4-7) to three hits in 6 1/3 innings.
North Carolina State 9, Virginia 2: The Wolfpack (20-11, 6-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) struck early and evened the series against the Cavaliers in Raleigh.
State starter Heath Andrews held UVA (17-12, 7-7) to three hits in six innings, while UVA’s Evan Blanco (1-2) gave up six runs (five earned) and nine hits in 2 1/3 innings. Justin DeCriscio, Brayden Fraasman and Ty Head drove in two runs each for State.
Henry Ford had an RBI double for the Cavaliers.
Virginia Tech 6, Notre Dame 1: Jake Marciano (4-0) struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings for a road victory, and Grant Manning pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings for a save for the Hokies (21-10, 8-6 ACC) against the host Irish (15-13, 3-11).
Sam Tackett’s RBI squeeze bunt and Hudson Lutterman’s two-run double put the Hokies ahead 3-0 in the third inning.
The Irish scored their only run in the fifth, but Tech’s Jackson Cherry slugged a three-run homer in the ninth.
Salisbury 14, Christopher Newport 11: The Sea Gulls (21-5), ranked seventh in Division III, survived CNU comebacks from 3-0 and 7-3 deficits in Newport News.
Aaron Maxie belted a three-run homer and a solo homer for the Captains (16-12). Josh Reinhold and Justin Liakos scored three runs apiece.
Salisbury’s Dylan Winebrenner was 5 for 6, including a double and grand slam, drove in five runs and scored two. T.J. Morris hit a fifth-inning grand slam.
Averett 9-13, Virginia Wesleyan 5-4: The Cougars (15-9, 7-6 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) swept a doubleheader from the Marlins (6-14, 2-11) in Virginia Beach.
In Game 1, the Cougars went ahead to stay with a three-run fifth for a 5-4 edge. Averett leadoff batter Kevin Zischke was 2 for 4 with three runs, and his three-run homer in the sixth put the Cougars ahead 8-4.
VWU’s Edgar Harwood and Nathan Bryant each were 3 for 4 with a run and an RBI.
In Game 2, the Cougars had 11 hits and drew eight walks. Trevor Testerman scored three runs, and Nolan Maccabe, Tyler Lowe and Nick Romano each had two hits and scored twice.
Nick Valentin and Joshua Jones each had two hits and scored for the Marlins.
Bryant & Stratton 11-9, Brunswick Community College 10-11: The Bobcats (19-19, 9-8 conference) won Game 1 in dramatic fashion, tying it on Ben Malone’s three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth and ending it on Diego Melendez’s solo homer in the 10th.
Brunswick won the nightcap despite two RBIs each from Bryant & Stratton’s Justin Smith, Joshua Smith and Chris Johnson.
Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute 12-6, Virginia Peninsula Community College 2-4: The visiting Cobras of Hudson, North Carolina, won a doubleheader at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton.
In Game 1, Sean Burns was 1 for 1 and scored for the Gators (9-24, 6-6 conference). Caldwell’s Caleb White and Cooper Critcher each had two hits and scored twice.
In Game 2, Aidan Feather and Brendan Walker had two hits each for TNCC. Joseph James drove in three runs for Caldwell.
Rookie goalie Ian Shane gains first pro victory as Norfolk Admirals win at Iowa 5 Apr 6:05 PM (12 hours ago)
If there were any doubt rookie goalie Ian Shane belonged in pro hockey, it might be gone now.
Not long out of Cornell, the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year from Manhattan Beach, California, made 33 saves for a shutout Saturday night to lift the Norfolk Admirals past the host Iowa Heartlanders 1-0 before 2,679 fans.
The unfamiliar foes will play the rubber match in their three-game series at 4 p.m. Eastern Sunday in Coralville, near Iowa City.
Gehrett Sargis scored on a backhander off a Sean Montgomery assist 6:07 into the game. Little did either team know that goal would hold up for the rest of the night, though both teams had three power plays.
Iowa goalie Kyle McClellan made 26 saves. Heartlanders coach Derek Damon pulled him for an extra attacker as the clock ticked under two minutes, but Shane and the Admirals held firm.
It was Shane’s first victory in four pro games, all with the Admirals, including a pair of overtime shootout defeats. With Cornell, he had a goals-against average under 2 in his first three seasons before a 2.21 GAA in 34 games this season. Shane is the eighth goalie to play for Norfolk this season.
Two of the Admirals’ other newer acquisitions played too. Shane’s four-year Cornell teammate Jack O’Leary was in his second pro game, and defenseman Parker Gavlas was in his pro debut.
When O’Leary signed, the Admirals released forward Andrei Bakanov. Gavlas, 25, from the University of Saskatchewan, is under a standard player contract.