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The Justice Department on Thursday formally notified the American Bar Association that it will no longer comply with its ratings process for judicial nominees, the result of what it argues is a biased system and one that ‘invariably and demonstrably’ favors nominees put forth by Democratic administrations.

The letter, sent by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to ABA President William R. Bay, was previewed exclusively to Fox News. It marks the latest escalation in a protracted legal fight that Republicans have waged against the nation’s largest association of legal workers.

‘For several decades, the American Bar Association has received special treatment and enjoyed special access to judicial nominees,’ Bondi said in the letter. ‘In some administrations, the ABA received notice of nominees before a nomination was announced to the public. Some administrations would even decide whether to nominate an individual based on a rating assigned by the ABA.’ 

The Justice Department said in the letter that it will no longer grant the ABA the ‘special treatment’ and first access it has received, revoking decades of precedent where the ABA interviewed and vetted potential members of the incoming DOJ team.

‘Accordingly, while the ABA is free to comment on judicial nominations along with other activist organizations, there is no justification for treating the ABA differently from such other activist organizations and the Department of Justice will not do so.’

It also ended an Office of Legal Policy that directed judicial nominees to provide waivers allowing the ABA access to non-public information for nominees, including bar records. 

‘Nominees will also not respond to questionnaires prepared by the ABA and will not sit for interviews with the ABA,’ Bondi said.

The Trump administration’s decision to excise the ABA from the judicial nomination process comes after several Republican senators on the Senate committee tasked with vetting judicial nominees told the ABA in a letter earlier this year that they planned to ignore its rating system.

The ABA, established in the late 1800s, has grown into a sprawling organization that touts a membership of over 400,000 legal workers.

But it has sparked criticism from Republicans, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, previously blasted the ABA as a ‘radical left-wing advocacy group.’

He and others on the panel previously took aim at the group for embracing so-called ‘woke initiatives,’ including its heavy use of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI efforts, in many facets of its work.

This is not the first time Republican administrations have broken with the ABA. The George W. Bush administration ended the practice of giving the ABA a first look at nominees, and Trump also did so in his first presidential term. 

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GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin indicated that he does not want to run for a fourth Senate term, but he isn’t ruling it out.

Johnson, who is serving his third six-year Senate term, said during remarks at a Wednesday event hosted by the Milwaukee Press Club and WisPolitics.com that he learned from his run for a second term that ‘you can’t say … never.’

In a 2022 Wall Street Journal piece, Johnson explained his about-face on seeking another term.

‘During the 2016 campaign, I said it would be my last campaign and final term. That was my strong preference and my wife’s. We both looked forward to a normal private life,’ he said. ‘I believe America is in peril. Much as I’d like to ease into a quiet retirement, I don’t feel I should.’

The senator, who has been vocal in objecting to the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act that most in the House GOP voted to pass last week, said during his remarks on Wednesday that he would like to place America on a ‘sustainable course’ and return home.

‘I don’t covet the position,’ he said.

But while he’s not slamming the door on the possibility of running for Senate again, he flatly ruled out the prospect of a presidential bid.

‘No, God, what an awful job,’ he said when asked whether he’d ever run for the presidency. He said he wouldn’t want to make the decisions that a commander in chief must make.

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— Senate Republicans plan to launch their own investigation next month that delves into the alleged ‘conspiracy’ behind former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. 

Senators Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, announced plans to hold a Senate Judiciary hearing June 18 to look into the alleged cover-up of the 82-year-old former president’s mental decline while in office by the media and those closest to him.

The lawmakers are still gathering witnesses for the probe, which would be the first full congressional committee hearing on the subject.

‘It’s time to expose how a cadre of Biden aides and family members were the de facto commander in chief, while President Biden was sidelined,’ Schmitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘I look forward to getting the American people the answers they deserve.’

Both lawmakers contend Biden’s decline was hidden for ‘years.’ 

Cornyn argued the country depended ‘on having a president who has the mental capacity to do the job, and it’s clear that President Biden did not, so we must use this hearing to uncover the facts.’

‘For this conspiracy between the mainstream media, Joe Biden’s family and his inner circle to have hidden the impairment of the president of the United States for years, and lied consistently to the American people about his capacity to make decisions, which are solely vested by the Constitution, is unacceptable,’ Cornyn said in a statement to Fox News Digital.  

Schmitt and Cornyn join a growing chorus of Republicans demanding answers about what really went on behind the scenes during Biden’s presidency. 

In the House, lawmakers are pushing to create a select committee that would investigate the Biden administration’s alleged cover-up. 

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., is leading the charge to create the panel and introduced legislation Thursday to start the committee that would dive into ‘the potential concealment of information from the American public’ regarding Biden’s health.  

And House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., has called on several high-ranking staffers from the Biden White House to participate in transcribed interviews regarding their alleged roles in covering up the former president’s decline. 

Comer called on Neera Tanden, the former director of the Domestic Policy Council; former assistant to the President and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini; former senior adviser to the first lady Anthony Bernal; former deputy director of Oval Office operations Ashley Williams; and Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, to participate. 

The growing fervor among Republicans to uncover whether Biden’s allies and family hid concerns about his health from the public comes after the release of ‘Original Sin’ by CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson. 

Their book claimed the Biden White House was trying to control the narrative about the former president’s health and that his allies worked to cover up his decline. 

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A federal judge in Washington, D.C., sided with a Chicago-area toy company on Thursday, blocking five executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that imposed tariffs on Chinese imports.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras determined the International Economic Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize Trump to impose the tariffs in his executive orders.

Contreras granted a motion for a preliminary injunction, filed by the toy company, Learning Resources, Inc., which will be stayed for 14 days in case the administration decides to appeal the decision.

Trump announced his ‘Liberation Day’ reciprocal tariff plan on April 2, imposing a 10% baseline tariff on all countries.

In certain countries, hostile negotiations led to even higher levies, with taxes on Chinese imports reaching 145%.

Rick Woldenberg, CEO of Learning Resources, said in April the third-generation family business that had been manufacturing in China for four decades would face an almost 98% increase in its tariff bill.

He said the $2.3 million the company paid in 2024 would jump to $100.2 million in 2025. 

‘I wish I had $100 million,’ Woldenberg wrote in a statement. ‘Honest to God, no exaggeration: It feels like the end of days.’

China produces 97% of America’s imported baby carriages, 96% of its artificial flowers and umbrellas, 95% of its fireworks, 93% of its children’s coloring books and 90% of its combs, according to a report from the Macquarie investment bank.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled the administration overstepped its authority over tariffs under IEEPA.

‘The Constitution assigns Congress the exclusive powers to ‘lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,’ and to ‘regulate Commerce with foreign Nations,’’ the court wrote in its opinion. ‘The question in the two cases before the court is whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (‘IEEPA’) delegates these powers to the President in the form of authority to impose unlimited tariffs on goods from nearly every country in the world.’

Three judges, appointed by former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, and Trump, found IEEPA did not ‘confer such unbounded authority.’

The Trump administration appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it is unclear what goods will be subject to tariffs in the meantime, Reuters reported.

‘Foreign countries’ nonreciprocal treatment of the United States has fueled America’s historic and persistent trade deficits,’ White House spokesperson Kush Desai told FOX Business after the decision. ‘These deficits have created a national emergency that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base — facts that the court did not dispute.’ 

‘It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency,’ Desai added. ‘President Trump pledged to put America First, and the Administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.’

FOX Business’ Greg Wehner and Bill Mears, and Reuters contributed to this report.

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President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet will spearhead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts, now that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is stepping aside from leading the initiative. 

‘The DOGE leaders are each and every member of the president’s cabinet and the president himself, who is wholeheartedly committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse from our government,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday at a White House press briefing. 

‘The entire Cabinet understands the need to cut government waste, fraud and abuse,’ Leavitt said. ‘And each Cabinet secretary at their respective agencies is committed to that. That’s why they were working hand in hand with Elon Musk. And they’ll continue to work with their respective DOGE employees who have onboarded as political appointees at all of these agencies. So surely the mission of DOGE will continue, and many DOGE employees are now political appointees and employees of our government.’

Since January, Musk has been heading up DOGE, which was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget through efforts to slash spending, government programs and the federal workforce.

DOGE’s efforts to cut waste has led to roughly $175 billion in savings due to asset sales, contract cancellations, fraud payment cuts, in addition to other steps to eliminate costs, according to a May 26 update from DOGE’s website. That translates to roughly $1,086.96 in savings per taxpayer, according to the website. 

Musk announced his departure in an X post. 

‘As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending,’ Musk said on X Wednesday. ‘The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.’

Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

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Only a single member of former President Joe Biden’s Cabinet responded to a massive outreach effort from Fox News Digital asking if the more than two dozen Cabinet-level officials stood by previous remarks that Biden was mentally and physically fit to serve as president.

And even that lone statement, from former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, skirted addressing head-on whether he had witnessed instances of Biden’s now widely acknowledged cognitive issues.

‘I met with President Biden when needed to make important decisions and to execute with my team at HHS,’ Becerra said. ‘It’s clear the President was getting older, but he made the mission clear: run the largest health agency in the world, expand care to millions more Americans than ever before, negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs, and pull us out of a world-wide pandemic. And we delivered.’

Roughly four months after Biden’s Oval Office exit, a handful of political books detailing the 2024 campaign and Biden administration have hit store shelves and are painting a bleak picture of Biden’s health. Adding fuel to the fire, audio recordings of Biden’s October 2023 interview with former Special Counsel Robert Hur showed the former president tripping over his words, slurring sentences, taking long pauses between answers and struggling to remember key moments in his life, including the year his son Beau died of cancer.

Fox News Digital has written extensively dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign about Biden’s cognitive decline and his inner circle’s role in covering it up.

Becerra’s statement stood in marked contrast to the silence emanating from the rest of his former colleagues. Fox News Digital reached out to 26 Biden administration officials with Cabinet-level positions — from former Vice President Kamala Harris to former Chief of Staff Jeff Zients — asking whether they still believe that Biden was fit to serve as president, or whether they’ve had a change of heart amid the cascade of damning evidence and anecdotes portraying a mental decline.

If a majority of those Cabinet-level officials believed Biden to be unable to perform his duties, they could have attempted to remove him from office through the 25th Amendment. Instead, those officials repeatedly said at the time that Biden was competent and in command.

That talking point hasn’t abated among the former officials.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg weighed in on Biden’s presidential health earlier in May during a town hall with veterans and military families in Iowa. 

When asked during the event whether Biden experienced cognitive decline, Buttigieg told reporters that ‘every time I needed something from him from the West Wing, I got it.’ 

‘The time I worked closest with him in his final year was around the Baltimore bridge collapse,’ he added. ‘And what I can tell you is that the same president the world saw addressing that was the president I was in the Oval with, insisting that we do a good job, do right by Baltimore. And that was characteristic of my experience with him.’ 

Buttigieg did not elaborate when responding to a separate inquiry from Fox News Digital. 

Biden’s office recently revealed that the former president was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer that had metastasized and was undergoing treatment. 

The diagnosis sparked an outpouring of well-wishes from political leaders across both aisles, and shock from some doctors who said such cancer should have been caught before it advanced and metastasized. 

None of Biden’s annual physical health reports as president tested for prostate cancer, Fox News Digital previously reported, with a representative confirming Biden’s last-known prostate blood test was conducted in 2014. 

‘FULL CONFIDENCE’ 

The 2024 presidential debate between Biden and President Donald Trump opened the floodgates of criticism surrounding Biden’s mental acuity after the 46th president’s poor performance, which included Biden losing his train of thought and stumbling over his words.

Concerns over Biden’s mental acuity had simmered for years among conservatives, but it wasn’t until the June 2024 presidential debate that traditional Democrat allies and media outlets began questioning Biden’s health and openly called for him to drop out of the race. 

Despite mounting concerns, members of Biden’s Cabinet vowed he was of sound health and mind.

Then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement in September 2024, for example, that he has ‘full confidence in President Biden’s ability to carry out his job.’ 

‘As I’ve said before, I come fully prepared for my meetings with President Biden, knowing his questions will be detail-oriented, probing, and exacting,’ he said. ‘In our exchanges, the President always draws upon our prior conversations and past events in analyzing the issues and reaching his conclusions.’ 

Conservatives in 2024 floated calling for the invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove Biden, which would have required Harris and the majority of the Cabinet to declare him unfit to lead. Harris and the Cabinet did not take such steps during the administration, and instead defended his health. 

In July 2024, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo called Biden ‘one of the most accomplished presidents in American history and continues to effectively lead our country with a steady hand.’ 

‘As someone who is actually in the room when the President meets with the Cabinet and foreign leaders, I can tell you he is an incisive and extraordinary leader,’ Raimondo said at the time. 

‘PHYSICAL DETERIORATION’ 

Since Biden’s exit from the White House in January, political journalists have published a handful of books arguing that, behind the scenes of the administration, staffers were concerned about Biden’s health. 

‘Biden’s physical deterioration — most apparent in his halting walk — had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair, but they couldn’t do so until after the election,’ according to a new book written by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson, ‘Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.’ 

‘Given Biden’s age, (his physician Kevin O’Connor) also privately said that if he had another bad fall, a wheelchair might be necessary for what could be a difficult recovery,’ the authors wrote. 

While another newly released book by longtime D.C. reporters Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, ‘Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,’ investigated Biden’s mental decline in the lead-up to the general election, calling him a ‘shell of himself.’

‘All of them,’ Parnes told Vanity Fair in April of who in Biden’s inner circle was most to blame for covering up his mental decline when he was in office. 

‘It’s pretty remarkable how they kept him very closed off,’ Parnes said. ‘He was a shell of himself. When he entered the White House, he was so, so different from the man who I covered as vice president, a guy who would hold court in the Naval Observatory with reporters until the wee hours.’

‘We’d been watching Biden’s decline for a long period of time and, honestly, thought he had lost his fastball some when he was running in 2020,’ Allen added of Biden’s mental decline. ‘And it was still so shocking to see the leader of the free world so bereft of coherent thought.’ 

Earlier in May, hours of Biden’s October 2023 interview with Hur’s office were released to the public and underscored the president’s apparent mental decline from his days as a senator from Delaware.

Hur led an investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents after Biden’s departure as vice president during the Obama administration. The then-special counsel announced in February 2024 he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, saying Biden is ‘a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.’

Hur came under fire from Biden, Harris and other Democrats in 2024 for suggesting in the report that Biden could not remember when his son Beau died. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015. 

In February 2024, following the release of the report, Biden shot back at Hur: ‘There’s some attention paid to some language in the report about my recollection of events. There’s even a reference that I don’t remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raise that?’

Harris called the report ‘gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate.’

The recently released audio recordings show it was Biden who brought up his son and could not remember when Beau died. 

‘So, during this time when you were living at Chain Bridge Road and there were documents relating to the Penn Biden Center, or the Biden Institute, or the Cancer Moonshot or your book, where did you keep papers that related to those things that you were actively working on?’ Hur asked Biden in the interview. 

‘Well, um … I, I, I, I, I don’t know. This is, what, 2017, 2018, that area?’ Biden responded. 

‘Yes, sir,’ Hur said. 

‘Remember, in this timeframe, my son is either been deployed or is dying, and, and so it was and by the way, there were still a lot of people at the time when I got out of the Senate that were encouraging me to run in this period, except the president,’ Biden continued. ‘I’m not — and not a mean thing to say. He just thought that she (Hillary Clinton) had a better shot of winning the presidency than I did. And so I hadn’t, I hadn’t, at this point — even though I’m at Penn, I hadn’t walked away from the idea that I may run for office again. But if I ran again, I’d be running for president. And, and so what was happening, though — what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30th.’ 

Others present during the interview responded that Beau Biden died in 2015. 

Trump has called an alleged cover-up of Biden’s health a ‘scandal’ and has argued that White House staffers were controlling the administration through the use of an autopen. 

Autopen signatures are automatically produced by a machine, as opposed to an authentic, handwritten signature. The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project first investigated the Biden administration’s use of an autopen earlier in 2025 and found that the same signature was on a bevvy of executive orders and other official documents, while Biden’s signature on the document announcing his departure from the 2024 race varied from the apparent machine-produced signature.

‘Whoever had control of the ‘AUTOPEN’ is looking to be a bigger and bigger scandal by the moment,’ Trump posted to Truth Social in May.

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The Timberwolves, for the second consecutive season, reached the NBA Western Conference finals.

Yet Minnesota was dispatched, also for the second consecutive season, in five games, with relative ease.

On one hand, it’s a promising sign of consistency and achievement; it’s not easy to get here, especially in the stacked West. This also marks the first time in franchise history that the Timberwolves have reached the conference finals in back-to-back seasons.

But on the other hand, this could also be viewed as a marker of stasis, of plateauing, of struggling to break through to the championship stage.

“I don’t think there’s any larger perspective that we won’t ever get back,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said Wednesday after the Thunder eliminated Minnesota in a 124-94 blowout. “I don’t assume that we will, because you’ve got to put the work in. But we were beat by the better team. You fight, you fight and you fight, but they played better — they’re better.

“I’m not one of these guys that takes losses into the summer with me. We’ll learn and we’ll regroup but the better team won this series. I’m proud of our guys and our organization for getting here.”

But the Oklahoma City Thunder — the youngest team in NBA history to advance to an NBA Finals — appear poised to be a dominant force in the West for years to come.

This all prompts one obvious conclusion: the Timberwolves must evolve. How do they do it?

Get Anthony Edwards more help

In many ways, teams like the Thunder are a terrible matchup for Minnesota. Oklahoma City’s defensive versatility, having players who can switch seamlessly on pick-and-rolls, make it incredibly difficult for Timberwolves All-Star Anthony Edwards. Every time he touched the ball, the Thunder were physical, used their hands to slow him, got him off-balance and made him labor to get shots in the paint.

“I think in the league, the more handlers you have — especially with all the switching, and (the Thunder) with their gaps and stuff like that — you have to have guys that can go somewhere, break the paint, make a play,” Finch said after the game when asked what deficiency Minnesota might have on its roster.

Finch did add that he was excited about the team and cited young players who “didn’t necessarily get the run that maybe they should have this season.” Though he didn’t mention them by name, Finch presumably was talking about rookie first-round guards Rob Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr., players who can operate with the ball in their hands.

Coach Chris Finch needs to shake up the offense

The first point feeds into this one. There were far too many times in the Western Conference finals when Minnesota’s offense stagnated, when ball handlers tried to break through the first line of the defense while shooters merely stood in the corners, waiting for the ball to possibly come to them.

It led to choppy, iso actions that often led to turnovers — the Timberwolves averaged 19.3 turnovers per game in losses in the series — and it prevented Edwards from settling into a rhythm.

Finch must prioritize finding ways to get Edwards easier looks, developing undemanding offense that, in theory, should open up looks along the perimeter.

Solidify future with Julius Randle, Naz Reid, Nickeil Alexander-Walker

This will be the defining question for Minnesota. Randle, a player for whom they gave up a massive haul in the October Karl-Anthony Towns trade, has a $30.9 million player option this offseason. Randle will also turn 31 in late November.

If he’s looking for long-term security, Randle could opt out with the intention of signing a multi-year deal with Minnesota, or he could test the market. But, given their financial situation, the Timberwolves need to be careful about giving a player who’s somewhat unreliable in the postseason a massive deal.

But Minnesota absolutely needs a secondary scoring option behind Edwards. And the decision to trade Towns for Randle necessitates justifying the move with a contract.

Complicating this question further: sixth man Naz Reid also has a player option this offseason, one worth $15 million. Defensive standout Nickeil Alexander-Walker is set to become a free agent.

Not to mention, there’s a new ownership group in town. What will that group led by Alex Rodriguez be willing to spend once the sale goes final?

It’s a tricky spot for the front office and the way it navigates this question will likely be the determining factor on whether Minnesota makes it back to another conference finals in the near future.

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The Florida Panthers showed why they are the defending champions and why they’re headed to the Stanley Cup Final for the third year in a row.

Outplayed in the first period and outscored 2-0 on goals by Sebastian Aho, the Panthers turned it around quickly in the second period for a series-clinching 5-3 victory on Wednesday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The Panthers killed off a penalty and got a power play immediately after. They then struck on a Matthew Tkachuk deflection to cut the lead to 2-1. Thirty seconds later, Evan Rodrigues tipped in a center pass. One shot later, Anton Lundell did the same, and the Panthers had three goals on three consecutive shots and a 3-2 lead.

Though Seth Jarvis tied the game in the third period, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov made a beautiful play to set up Carter Verhaeghe’s go-ahead goal. Sam Bennett scored an empty-netter, his league-leading 10th playoff goal, to put the game away.

Florida will try to become the first NHL team to win back-to-back championships since the 2020 and 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning, who also made three consecutive trips to the final.

Florida knocked off the Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs and Hurricanes this season. They had fallen behind 2-0 to the Maple Leafs before winning in seven games. They won the first three games of the Eastern Conference finals before clinching in Game 5.

The Panthers will face the winner of the Dallas Stars-Edmonton Oilers series. The Oilers lead 3-1 in the Western Conference finals after Tuesday’s 4-1 victory in Game 4. They can wrap it up in Dallas on Thursday night.

The Panthers beat the Oilers in seven games during last season’s Stanley Cup Final. And they’re deeper this year after adding Brad Marchand and Seth Jones at the trade deadline.

USA TODAY provided live updates from Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. Game highlights:

Panthers vs. Hurricanes highlights

When does the Stanley Cup Final start?

What’s next for the Florida Panthers?

They’re awaiting the winner of the Stars-Oilers series, which Edmonton (no Zach Hyman, who needed surgery) can wrap up as soon as Thursday night in Dallas. That would bring about a Stanley Cup Final rematch. Regardless of the winner, the Panthers will open on the road for the fourth consecutive series. That hasn’t mattered. The Panthers are 8-2 on the road this postseason and have scored five or more goals in their last five road games. They are 2-0 against the Oilers and the Stars in the regular season.

What’s next for the Carolina Hurricanes?

They ended their 15-game losing streak in the conference finals in Game 4 and got a big early performance from their stars in Game 5, but lost to Florida for the second time in three seasons. There’s plenty to like about their chances next season. Logan Stankoven, acquired in the Mikko Rantanen trade, had five playoff goals. Seth Jarvis has a bright future. Aho and Andrei Svechnikov are scoring threats. Rookies Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow made their NHL debuts on defense.

Taylor Hall and Frederik Andersen have already signed extensions, but there are plenty of pending unrestricted free agents: Brent Burns, 40, and Dmitry Orlov on defense and forwards Eric Robinson, Jack Roslovic, Tyson Jost and injured Jesper Fast. They could use more scoring, but Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky has shown he’s aggressive in trying to improve the team.

Did Panthers touch Prince of Wales Trophy?

It’s considered bad luck to touch the conference championship trophy because the real trophy is the Stanley Cup. The Panthers touched it in 2023 then lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final. Last year they didn’t touch it and beat the Oilers (who didn’t touch their trophy, either). This year, the Panthers don’t touch the trophy again.

Final score: Panthers 5, Hurricanes 3

Carolina ends the game on the power play, but Florida holds on and advances to its third consecutive Stanley Cup Final.

Score update: Panthers 5, Hurricanes 3

Sam Bennett leaves the penalty box and scores into the empty net. Just 54 seconds remain. Carolina calls a timeout.

Hurricanes power play

Sam Bennett called for slashing and the Hurricanes pull Frederik Andersen to make it 6-on-4.

Score update: Panthers 4, Hurricanes 3

Aleksander Barkov spins away from a check and makes a nice pass to Carter Verhaeghe, who gives the Panthers the lead at 12:21. Coach Paul Maurice moved Verhaeghe up to the Barkov line earlier in the game.

Frederik Andersen saves

The Hurricanes goalie stops Sam Bennett and Gustav Forsling to keep the game tied.

Score update: Hurricanes 3, Panthers 3

Seth Jarvis is alone in front and chips a shot past Sergei Bobrovsky. Another goal from the Hurricanes’ top line to tie the game at 8:30.

Panthers power play

William Carrier is called for holding. Sergei Bobrovsky stops a Seth Jarvis shorthanded attempt and Frederik Andersen gloves a shot by Carter Verhaeghe to keep it 3-2 Florida.

Third period underway

Florida heads to the Stanley Cup Final if this lead holds.

End second: Panthers 3, Hurricanes 2

Florida scores on three consecutive shots to quickly turn around the game and take the lead. Matthew Tkachuk ends the Panthers’ 0-for-10 slide on the power play with a deflection, then Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell tip in centering passes.

Hurricanes power play

Evan Rodrigues is called for holding. Carolina 0-for-3 so far in the game. Sergei Bobrovsky makes a big save on Seth Jarvis early. Bobrovsky kept busy as Panthers kill it off.

Hurricanes power play

Dmitry Kulikov goes off for interference seven seconds after the Anton Lundell goal. Hurricanes get one shot but can’t capitalize.

Score update: Panthers 3, Hurricanes 2

What a change in this period. Anton Lundell tips in a Brad Marchand pass for the lead.

Eetu Luostarinen injury update

He won’t return to the game, the Panthers say.

Score update: Hurricanes 2, Panthers 2

Two goals in 30 seconds for the Panthers as they tie it up. Evan Rodrigues deflects in a Sam Bennett pass. Tkachuk starts the play and has two points in the game.

Score update: Hurricanes 2, Panthers 1

Matthew Tkachuk tips in an Aaron Ekblad shot to end the power-play slide.

Panthers power play

Jesperi Kotkaniemi holds Evan Rodrigues just as the Hurricanes power play ends. Florida is 0-for-2 in the game and has no power play goals in the last 10 opportunities.

Hurricanes power play

Seth Jones called for holding. Again good movement by Carolina, but Panthers kill it off.

Eetu Luotsarinen injury update

The Florida forward is not out there to start the second period. He went hard into the boards while attempting a check in the first period.

Second period underway

2-0 Carolina.

End first: Hurricanes 2, Panthers 0

Excellent period by the Hurricanes. They needed Sebastian Aho to get going and he has two goals in the period and four now in the series. Carolina limits Florida’s scoring chances, and Frederik Andersen stops Anton Lundell’s shot on Florida’s best effort. The Hurricanes’ power play (though it didn’t score) looks better than Florida’s. Shots are 9-5 Carolina and more notably, hits are 23-9 Hurricanes. Each team had five giveaways, but the Hurricanes capitalized on two Florida ones.

Score update: Hurricanes 2, Panthers 0

Another Sebastian Aho goal after another Panthers turnover, this time by Niko Mikkola. Aho uses Mikkola as a screen as he scores at 18:54.

Hurricanes power play

A.J. Greer is called for interference. During the power play, Andrei Svechnikov (slashing) and Aaron Ekblad (roughing) are penalized. Penalty is killed but Carolina showed good movement.

Panthers power play

William Carrier is called for cross-checking Eetu Luostarinen. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour tells TNT he’s frustrated by the penalties that are being called. But his team kills off another, allowing two shots. Brent Burns breaks up a good Panthers opporunity.

Panthers power play

Frederik Andersen makes a big save on Anton Lundell and in the ensuing scrum, Alexander Nikishin rips off the helmet of Nate Schmidt. Hurricanes kill it off. That’s nine kills in a row.

Score update: Hurricanes 1, Panthers 0

Hurricanes have been controlling play early. Sebastian Aho scores at 4:39 after intercepting a Gustav Forsling pass and beating Sergei Bobrovsky on a breakaway. That’s goals in back-to-back games for Aho, who had an empty-netter in Game 4.

Game underway

Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho line vs. Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov line.

What time is Panthers vs. Hurricanes Game 5?

Game 5 of the Carolina Hurricanes-Florida Panthers series is set to begin at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

How to watch Panthers vs. Hurricanes NHL playoff game: TV, stream

Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: Lenovo Center (Raleigh, North Carolina)
TV: TNT/truTV
Stream: Sling, Max

Hurricanes lines

Panthers lines

Panthers scratches

Florida’s Jesper Boqvist, Nico Sturm and Uvis Balinskis are projected to sit out with the return of Sam Reinhart, A.J. Greer and Niko Mikkola.

Projected goalie matchup

Hurricanes’ Frederik Andersen (8-4, 1.84 goals-against average, .914 save percentage) vs. Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky (11-5, 2.05, .914)

Panthers’ power play struggling

The Panthers’ power play went 0-for-8 in the two games that Sam Reinhart has missed. He had 13 goals and 17 assists on the power play during the regular season, though just two power-play assists this postseason.

Carolina Hurricanes injury updates

The Hurricanes will be without injured defensemen Jalen Chatfield and Sean Walker again for Game 5. That means rookies Scott Morrow and Alexander Nikishin will remain in the lineup.

Florida Panthers injury updates

Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and A.J. Greer are expected to return from injuries and play in Game 5. Reinhart was hurt in Game 2 and Mikkola and Greer were injured in Game 3. Maurice said none of the players would have limitations on their minutes.

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MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. – SEC commissioner Greg Sankey bristles at the idea that he’s a college sports villain.

So, don’t be the villain then. Be the hero the College Football Playoff needs.

A man who’s hailed as college sports’ most powerful figure ought to flex his muscle to land a playoff format that both suits the SEC’s needs, while remaining an open-access tournament, rather than stand by and let the playoff morph into a rigged SEC/Big Ten invitational.

The playoff’s undecided format for 2026 and beyond is the subject of much debate here this week at the SEC’s spring meetings.

The conversation centers on two models featuring 16 teams. One model comes off as a sham. The other seems like a fairer format good for any top team, regardless of conference affiliation.

In the sham corner, there’s the 4+4+2+2+1 model loaded with 13 auto bids, plus three at-large selections. Auto bids would be preassigned to conferences before the season kicks off, with four apiece going to the Big Ten and the SEC, two going to the Big 12 and ACC, and one going to the top remaining conference champion. Some risk-averse Big Ten and SEC athletic directors support this structure. Most everyone else sees this model for what it is: a farse that predetermines bids based on a conference’s brand and reputation instead of in-season meritocracy.

In the other corner, there’s the open-access 5+11 model that divvies up five auto bids to the top conference champions and leaves 11 at-large bids up for grabs. SEC coaches took a shine to this model during their meetings here on Tuesday, Sankey said.

“At the coaching level, the question is, why wouldn’t that be fine? Why wouldn’t we do that?” Sankey said of the 5+11 model.

Great questions. There’s no good reason the SEC shouldn’t embrace this model, if only athletic directors could reject the allure of preassigned bids.

SEC coaches prefer playoff model with more at-large bids

SEC coaches, Sankey said, trust their teams’ ability to earn at-large bids.

To wit, Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin rejects the need for auto bids. He prefers a 16-team model designed to select the best teams, regardless of conference.

Georgia’s Kirby Smart, too, offered support for a playoff in which teams could hunt bids rather than have them preassigned based on affiliation.

Would controversy surround at-large bids? Sure, but that’s nothing new. Controversy accompanies postseason selections across NCAA sports. Somebody will feel “snubbed,” but that’s preferrable to preassigning bids based on conference clout.

More clarity would be needed to determine how strength of schedule is calculated and how much it’s weighted during the selection process. There’s time to hammer out that strength of schedule piece in the coming months.

This 5+11 model leaves a mathematical path for the SEC – or any other conference – to claim as many as 12 playoff bids.

The auto-bid model, by comparison, would restrict the SEC from accessing nine of the 16 bids. And yet, some SEC athletic directors just can’t seem to resist the carrot of the conference being guaranteed four bids, even if that goes against coaches’ apparent desire to leave more spots up for grabs to access through performance combined with strength of schedule.

The auto-bid model reportedly enjoys strong support within the Big Ten. In fact, the idea seems to have originated from there.

The SEC and Big Ten wield the power to shape the playoff’s future format. Sankey has forged a warmer relationship with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti than he had with Petitti’s predecessor, but this playoff debate isn’t the time for Sankey to cede the floor to his Big Ten buddy.

This moment calls on Sankey to assert his leadership to craft a playoff format that’s good for the SEC, but without being rigged against other conferences with a stacked auto-bid system.

May the best teams earn the bids, rather than the most powerful conferences be preassigned the bids.

Greg Sankey was once a college sports hero. Can he reprise role?

Sankey’s been the hero once before. He saved the college football season in 2020, amid the COVID pandemic. That August, the Big Ten and Pac-12 initially opted to cancel their seasons. Sankey decided the SEC would play. The Big Ten and Pac-12 came to heel.

Sankey’s leadership during the pandemic remains his finest hour.

In the years since, Sankey moved to strengthen his conference’s position, even if those moves challenged what might be good for college sports on the whole. The SEC’s additions of Oklahoma and Texas ignited another round of conference realignment that weakened some conferences while the SEC and Big Ten grew in size and strength. Sankey repeatedly suggested March Madness needed reimagined, remarks that aged like milk on the pool deck of a beach resort. He’s verbally sparred with fellow commissioners.

Sankey took a villainous turn since the pandemic. He’s not a lone wolf. Petitti operates behind the curtain for a stacked-deck playoff, but that doesn’t mean Sankey and his conference must embrace this auto-bid plan. To hear SEC coaches tell it, they don’t even want this crock of a 4+4+2+2+1 auto-bid format.

Here’s Sankey’s chance to denounce this auto-bid sham, resist the elitist invitatinal, and steer an open-access format to the finish line.

Cast aside the black hat, and be the fair-minded hero this playoff debate needs.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

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The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) is officially set to debut in early June and the women’s professional softball league now has major investor: Major League Baseball.

MLB and the AUSL announced a wide-ranging partnership on Thursday, marking MLB’s first investment in a women’s professional sports league. The partnership coincides with an exciting time in the sport not only is the 2025 Women’s College World Series set to begin Thursday, softball is set to make its Olympic return in Los Angeles in 2028.

‘This announcement today is really a watershed moment for the AUSL,’Athletes Unlimited CEO and co-founder Jon Patricof told USA TODAY Sports. ‘For us, the sport has tremendous momentum in many ways. It’s been a sleeping giant. It’s performed so well at the college level, but maybe received less attention than some other sports out there. Major League Baseball is really going to be able to come in and help us shine a light on the incredible athletes and incredible action that exists in pro softball.’

Not only does the AUSL have the support of MLB, the women’s professional softball league will be shepherded by icons that have helped introduce the world to softball.

‘We brought on board almost all the legends of the game, including seven members of the 2004 gold medal-winning Olympic softball team involved as coaches, general managers and advisors,’ Patricof said, referring to Lisa Fernandez (Talons GM), Stacey Nuveman-Deniz (Bandits head coach), Cat Osterman (Volts GM, advisor), Kelly Kretschman (Volts head coach), Jennie Finch (advisor), Jessica Mendoza (advisor) and Natasha Watley (advisor). Patricof added, ‘Kim Ng is on board as the commissioner and now Major League Baseball is on board as a strategic partner.’

Here’s everything you need to know about the AUSL’s partnership with MLB:

MLB partnership will amplify pro softball league

The AUSL’s inaugural season kicks off June 7 and will feature four teams Talons, Bandits, Blaze and Volts playing a 24-game season across 10 cities, including Chicago, Austin and Salt Lake City. The AUSL season will complement the league’s pre-existing All-Star Cup, where 60 players compete for an individual championship using Athletes Unlimited’s innovative scoring system that makes every softball play meaningful.

Athletes Unlimited’s creativity is what first caught MLB’s eye. Tony Reagins, MLB’s Chief Baseball Development Officer, told USA TODAY Sports that Athletes Unlimited offered ‘something that was a bit different’ and ‘unique.’

‘We’ve really been watching the organization from afar for a couple years. We watched how they operated the business very creative initially in the softball space, utilizing their players and getting the players more involved in different ways on and off the field,’ Reagins said. ‘We wanted to align ourselves with an organization that we thought had a like mind in the long-term goal of promoting women’s sports, softball in particular, and Athletes Unlimited really checked all the boxes.’

With the partnership, MLB will leverage its broadcast partners and platforms to promote the visibility of the AUSL. Major League Baseball’s financial investment will also assist with AUSL’s ‘operational costs and key growth initiatives,’ MLB announced. Patricof added, ‘The MLB is going to be supporting AUSL really in all facets, marketing, promotion, and commercial development of the league.’

AUSL taps Kim Ng as commissioner

Kim Ng was named the commissioner of the AUSL in April, highlighting another tie between professional softball and baseball. Ng played college softball at the University of Chicago and went on to become the first woman to serve as the general manager of a major North American men’s professional sports team when she was named the Miami Marlins GM in 2020.

‘To see what she’s been able to accomplish as a professional and an executive in baseball and now be able to take the reins as commissioner of AUSL is exciting, because I know her work ethic, intellect and what she will put behind this effort,’ Reagins said. ‘These discussions (between AUSL and MLB) happened before Kim was named commissioner. But to then have Kim come on board and have that familiar face that you know from a historical perspective, it made the partnership make even more sense. We think we have a great ally with Kim being at the helm of AUSL.’

At the time of her appointment, Ng said, “Softball was my first love growing up, so it’s both gratifying and humbling to be given this responsibility at such a pivotal moment for the sport.’

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