Sen. Steve Huffman, a Republican from Tipp City, who is an emergency room doctor, made the comments during a Ohio Senate Health Committee meeting on Tuesday in a discussion on whether to declare racism a public health crisis in the state, the Columbus Dispatch reported. During an exchange on Tuesday with Angela Dawson, who is executive director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, Huffman said: “I understand that African Americans have a higher incidence of prior conditions and that makes them more susceptible to COVID....

The shirtless, oiled-up Tongan who went viral at the 2016 Rio Olympics has outdone himself after repeating his internet-breaking feat in PyeongChang for the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Pita Taufatofua, Tonga’s sole participant in the games after qualifying in cross country skiing, had earlier declared he would not be repeating his topless deeds in Rio. But the 34-year-old prove his marketing genius when he emerged smiling, shiny and shirtless at the opening ceremony despite the below-freezing conditions in Korea....

“He has a plan to get us in the playoffs next season,” Nicholson said Thursday of Chiarelli, who also retains his title as president of hockey operations. “We will have a plan coming out in the near future about how we’re going forward.” MORE: Each team’s NHL Draft lottery odds to select Rasmus Dahlin Whether McLellan is a part of that plan remains open to interpretation. Nicholson said the entire Oilers coaching staff is under evaluation....

Frustration with boomers boiled over in 2019, as efforts to combat issues such as the climate crisis, unaffordable college tuition, wealth inequality and gun violence stalled in a U.S. Congress whose members are among the oldest in history. But you can say one thing for boomers: They vote. In fact, when today’s youth cry “OK, boomer,” they really ought to be saying “OK, voter.” According to the U.S. Census Bureau, since 1986, Americans over age 60 have voted in presidential elections at an average turnout rate 28 percentage points higher than Americans under age 30....

Pruitt, a Republican who also served as Oklahoma’s Attorney General from 2011 to 2017, resigned as EPA chief in July 2018 amid scandals involving alleged corruption, nepotism and unprofessional behavior. On Friday, Pruitt officially filed as a candidate to replace Inhofe, who announced in February that he would be retiring at the end of the year. Other Republican candidates vying for the seat include U.S. Representative Markwayne Mullin, state Senator Nathan Dahm, former Oklahoma House Speaker T....

Stitt sent Austin a letter earlier this month saying the requirement violated the Guard’s personal freedoms. Stitt had also previously told Guard troops they were not required to get the shot. A copy of Austin’s response to Stitt was obtained by the Associated Press. He wrote that the concerns Stitt raised did not overrule the importance of the military readiness requirement. This includes being healthy enough to be able to jump into action at any moment....

John Basco was found unresponsive in his cell in the early hours of Sunday at the Oklahoma County Detention Center, according to a press release. Officers tried to save the 48-year-old’s life and worked on him until emergency responders arrived and continued efforts to resuscitate him, jail officials said in the statement, but he was pronounced dead shortly after 4:05 a.m. Basco, who had been booked into the jail on Thursday over a drug trafficking complaint, made headlines around the world in 2021 after he and three other inmates sued Oklahoma County commissioners, Sheriff Tommie Johnson III, the jail trust and two former jailers following a previous stint at the facility back in 2019....

Original article follows: Oklahoma police were hunting a 32-year-old McDonald’s employee who allegedly abducted his wife and child on Tuesday. Officials say the kidnapping occurred after the suspect attacked his store manager. Authorities were dispatched to the fast food restaurant on South 32nd Street in Muskogee shortly before 3 p.m. yesterday. Arriving at the scene they found the manager, James Coble Jr., had sustained a stab wound to the abdomen, KJRH reported....

Boren, via Tulsa World sports columnist Guerin Emig, said the Sooners are preparing for a “wave of realignment” as TV contracts with athletic conferences start expiring — one that could see Oklahoma look for a new home beyond the Big 12. MORE: Big 12 2017 season preview For his part, Boren said the Sooners have no plans to leave the Big 12 — but doesn’t want to see Oklahoma relegated to the conference simply because of history....

But not against this Georgia team. Not on this night. Not in a game where defensive stops were at a premium and the slightest mistakes became glaring errors. MORE: Georgia, Oklahoma elevate Playoff with epic Rose Bowl The Sooners’ offensive players might have written the team into song and verse if not for a night of historically bad defense, bungling special teams and suddenly conservative coaching. That’s a lethal cocktail in the College Football Playoff, when the stakes are high and the opponent is this good....

Six changes was made by Datuk Ong Kim Swee as he names the Malaysia Under-22 squad for the upcoming centralised training camp that will start on 5 July. Two players from the recent tour of China was dropped while four other were roped in to make a squad of 26. Selangor’s K. Kannan and Negeri Sembilan’s Sean Eugene were released with Perak’s Ahmad Khairil Anuar, Pahang duo of Matthew Davies and Nor Azam Azih together with T-Team’s Arif Fadzillah were brought in by Ong....

Kenya are pooled in Group F alongside Ghana, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia for the Group stage encounter which is scheduled to commence in June. Harambee Stars will start the campaign against Sierra Leone away between 5 and 13 June before returning for second-day action to host Ghana in March 2018. Afcon 2019: Kenya handed Ghana test They will then play against Ethiopia in September away and home respectively. With this in mind, Okumbi has asserted that Kenya will prepare adequately so as to record proper results in the qualifiers marking the first three matches as must-win encounters....

To see how it works–and what we can do about it–consider three important bugs that have recently found new ways to make us sick. The first is staph aureus, which has been part of the human condition since the beginning of recorded history. The bacterium’s natural habitat is the human nose; at any one time, at least 25 percent of us harbor the germ. In most, it’s a harmless fellow traveler, but it often travels from nose to hand to skin, where it causes pesky boils and infects “ingrown” hairs and nails....

The old campaign was shared around Tuesday after Twitter user Lily Simpson posted it on Monday with the caption: “No f**king way did Peta just do this.” More than 160,000 people have liked Simpson’s post as of this article’s publishing time, and it’s also been retweeted almost 14,000 times and used approximately 5,700 times in quote tweets. People in Simpson’s comments noted that the campaign is actually from years ago....

Last May, the International Ski Federation (FIS), skiing’s governing body, recognized halfpipe skiing as a sport. Next season, it will be a event on the World Cup circuit. Last month, the X Games held their first-ever superpipe ski competition. The Olympics is the next-logical progression. “It will catch up way faster than snowboarding because skiing is the roots of what the FIS was all about in the beginning, and the roots of the Olympics,” says freeskiing commentator Chris Ernst, who is more commonly known in skiing as Uncle E....

NBC television network and Peacock, the streaming service owned and operated by NBCUniversal, were called out by some for not providing live coverage of the gymnastic routine by Jordan Chiles, who stepped in as a last-minute replacement for Biles. USA Gymnastics said in a statement Tuesday: “Simone Biles has withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue. She will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions....

Milak, who holds the Olympic record in the 200 butterfly, set the mark with a 50.31-second 100 in his semifinal Thursday. Then American Caeleb Dressel then took him down in the second semi, becoming the first swimmer to finish under 50 seconds in the event at the Olympics with a time of 49.71. He earned the top spot in Friday’s final. That race set the tone for what would become a night of records....

Researchers from the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) conducted a small study and found that people who are infected with Omicron, especially those who are vaccinated, gain stronger immunity against Delta. The research involved 13 Omicron patients, seven of which were vaccinated and one who had received a booster shot. To conduct the study, the scientists measured how well participants were able to neutralize Omicron and Delta upon enrollment, and 14 days later....