Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog, page 334

With her new cookbook, Zoë François is firmly in her cookie era

By Joy Summers, The Minnesota Star Tribune

MINNEAPOLIS — For decades, Zoë François has built community through her baking. With her 10th book, “ Zoë Bakes Cookies” — already a bestseller — she is sure to widen that circle.

What began as a straightforward installment of the Minneapolis pastry chef’s favorite recipes quickly morphed in a deeply moving ode to the humble treat that transformed her life, and a testament to the women who forged paths before her, handing down their stories and strength through tattered recipe cards.

François starts the book talking about the commune where she was raised, a nomadic upbringing where carob was the closest thing to a chocolate chip cookie. While she is still working to develop an appreciation for some aspects of that cooking, she does share her aunt’s granola and some gluten-free peanut butter cookies.

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She then guides the reader through the science and discovery of home ec class, and how as a lonely kid she learned to make friends by cracking the codes of edible chemistry. A college business course led to a cookie cart — and a course correction from academia to the prestigious Culinary Institute of America, where she learned to create fine-dining-level pastries — and the fun of breaking the right rules.

Perhaps most important, the heart of this book is a testament to the women who formed her, including her great-great-grandmother, whose bravery and boldness to surreptitiously bake bought passage for the Jewish family to flee just before the Russian Revolution.

Between stops on her current book tour, we talked to François by phone about the unexpected turns her sweet life has taken, the canonical importance of a tray of bars and why bakers really are the best people. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

This book feels like a lifetime — or lifetimes — in the making, with chapters of your life as well as your ancestors and women you celebrate. What about writing this book felt like a homecoming?

I didn’t start with that in mind. This was just a love letter to cookies, and sharing the tips and tricks we get to use in a professional kitchen. And I have recipes from my grandmothers, and obviously those stories were going to make it in. Settling into this, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

I had asked my Bubbe Berkowitz for recipes 12 years ago, and she sent me the mandelbrot and two other recipes. By the time I began this book, Bubbe had passed away. I called my mom, who has done all of this extensive family research, and holy [expletive]! Those recipes changed everything.

People of that era, especially Jewish people, don’t speak of tragedies. I didn’t know the importance. My great-great-grandmother had this bakery in Kyiv at the historical cusp of Russian revolution. She was not only baking for levity and joy, which we bakers do. But also survival. Her daughters were stealing the ingredients to sell to earn enough money to come to America. I would not exist if it wasn’t for cookies. The craziest thing is that these recipes were passed down orally until I asked for them. That was the very first time they’d been written down. It was a total accident. She passed away and I thought nothing of it, and now I’m kicking myself that I only got the three.

How did that history translate to your own life lessons?

Growing up on that commune was a really significant time of my life. Again, I didn’t realize until later how much it shaped me. As much as carob was never going to taste like chocolate in a cookie, I appreciate why my parents were feeding me that.

I was lucky I got to do all the Jewish holidays and then celebrate Christmas with cookies with my grandmother Neal. I have amazing memories of those and I have her recipe box. These recipe cards, because she would share them with her sisters and friends, were letters and they were gossiping! Trash talking and recipes — they were stained and really used. It was like a treasure box of this woman who was a force of nature.

What felt like new ground?

I have the recipes and emotions they inspired in me, but when I made them as written, I wasn’t as excited about the final result. My palate has changed. I feel like people on a whole have much more sophisticated palates than using funky old ingredients like oleo. They needed a “zhush.” I got to play and make them my own.

Like measuring by weight?

I love the Baking Academy section! I did a YouTube Live about that section of the book and my mom called me after it was done. “You are such a nerd! You make it seem so exciting.” That’s where I get to geek out and share everything I learn. In the Cookie Lab chapter, I give readers tweaks to learn enough about baking so that they can play. I want to give them enough freedom to be able to move around within a recipe and know what will work and what they can change.

What would you say is the most common way home bakers are self-sabotaging recipes?

Read through it first so you’re anticipating what will happen. What you get from that, like the temperature of ingredients, is quite important. You can anticipate what you need next. Plus, you know my love affair with a scale and measuring ingredients by weight. Eventually, we will convert everybody.

The brilliant thing about the cookies, as opposed to the cake book, is that cookies are a less finicky technique. They’re more forgiving and less equipment. A bowl and a spoon — as long as your ingredients are room temperature — you can cream butter. This is a great entry point for baking. At my book signings I have a very intense and vocal audience of 5-year-olds. The next generation of baking is so exciting.

I love that there are little bits of Minnesota in your book, especially the bars. Being a Minneapolis transplant, do you remember first encountering bars?

My dad’s mom was from Michigan and part of her Christmas repertoire was bars. But I hadn’t heard that word until I moved to Minnesota. My Midwestern bar education has been steady and ongoing. Anytime I’m with a group of people, either for the show or in a church basement, I find out more about this baking culture. I don’t think people outside of here appreciate how deep and longstanding our baking culture is because we’re a milling town.

In the pastry world, we always talk about texture, flavor, contrast and balance. A bar has it all. It’s the perfect food group. The bars are to be revered. I got to understand it better while filming the show [“Zoë Bakes”]. I would show up at places like church basements and people would share these incredible, deep stories of family through their baking.

Food always brings people together, but baking — especially for me, because I can’t cook — does create that connection. Because I moved so much as a kid, I learned that baking and sweets made people happy. If I showed up with sweets, I made friends. People gather around these treats and make a community.

That’s why people bring the bars.

Caramelita Bars

Makes 16 bars.

A version of these bars won the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest in 1967, the year I was born. The winning baker was from Minnesota, and the recipe became synonymous with the state. My best friend, Jen, is a Duluth native and her mom, Eileen Carlson, has made her own “secret” version on every special occasion for the past five decades. They hold a special place in the hearts of everyone who tries them. Like any good family recipe, we make them our own. The original 1967 version used oleo, another name for margarine, and caramel ice cream sauce or caramel candies individually wrapped in plastic. I riffed on the classic and came up with a version I hope makes Eileen proud. From “Zoë Bakes Cookies” by Zoë François (Ten Speed Press).

For the Oat Crust:

½ c. (110 g) unsalted butter, melted1 c. (120 g) all-purpose flour1 c. (100 g) rolled oats¾ c. (150 g) lightly packed brown sugar½ tsp. baking soda½ tsp. kosher salt

For the Caramel Goop:

¼ c. (80 g) sweetened condensed milk¼ c. (80 g) corn syrup or Lyle’s Golden Syrup½ c. (100 g) lightly packed brown sugar2 tbsp. unsalted butter½ tsp. kosher salt2 tsp. pure vanilla extract6 oz. (170 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped½ c. (60 g) chopped walnuts or pecans, lightly toasted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a greased 8-inch-square cake pan with greased parchment paper that goes up on the sides to create a sling.Make the oat crust: In a large bowl, mix the butter, flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt until it comes together. Pour two-thirds of the mixture into the pan, cover with plastic wrap, and press the dough with a glass into the bottom of the prepared pan.Bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.Make the caramel goop: Meanwhile, in a small pot, warm the sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, salt and vanilla over medium heat, stirring until it comes to a simmer and the butter melts, about 3 minutes.Once the crust is baked, pour the caramel mixture over the hot crust. Cover it evenly with the chopped chocolate, walnuts, and sprinkle the remaining third of the oat mixture over the chocolate.Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until the oat mixture is golden brown and caramel is bubbling on the edges. Allow to cool completely before lifting it out of the pan and cutting. This can also be made days ahead and refrigerated or frozen for months.Ultra–Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes about 18 cookies.

This recipe uses peanut flour instead of regular wheat flour, so it has the ultimate peanut flavor and just happens to be another tasty gluten-free option. Bonus! Note that peanut flour is not the same thing as powdered peanut butter, which has become popular in recent years, as people like to add it to smoothies. Peanut flour is made from defatted peanuts and can be found in two varieties. Dark peanut flour has been roasted and has a deeper flavor, which I prefer. The light version is made with raw peanuts and has a more subtle flavor. These cookies are great for kids — and adults, too — alongside chocolate milk or with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. From “Zoë Bakes Cookies” by Zoë François (Ten Speed Press).

¾ c. (165 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature1 ¼ c. (250 g) lightly packed brown sugar¾ c. (195 g) smooth or chunky peanut butter, such as Skippy Super Chunk2 large eggs, at room temperature1 tsp. pure vanilla extract2 c. (200 g) peanut flour (see Note), sifted if lumpy1 tsp. baking soda1 tsp. kosher salt4 oz. (112 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, optional¼ c. crystal decorating sugar, for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and brown sugar for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl often. Add the peanut butter and mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well incorporated. Mix in the vanilla.In a small bowl, whisk together the peanut flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the peanut butter mixture and mix on low speed just until it is smooth. Add the chocolate, if using.Scoop the cookie dough using a #20 (3-tablespoon) portion scoop onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between the cookies, so they have room to spread. You can make the cookies larger or smaller, but it will affect the bake time. Flatten slightly, sprinkle with decorating sugar, and use a fork to create a crosshatch pattern.Bake, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. They will puff up slightly and the tops will be golden, but they should still be slightly soft in the middle. If you like your peanut butter cookies crunchy throughout, bake them for another couple of minutes.Cool completely before removing from the pan or they will crumble apart.

©2024 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Kurtenbach: Here are the struggling 49ers’ four biggest problems (and how to fix them)

We’re not going to talk about vibes, energy, or spirits.

We’re not going to call out curses, snakebites, or luck.

No, we’re going to talk about some X’s and O’s here because, clearly, something is wrong with this 49ers team that cannot be solely an issue of culture or temperament.

These are the four biggest problems facing the 49ers on the field right now, and my thoughts on how this team can correct them — before it’s too late:

They have no last line of defense

» The 49ers have four safeties on their active roster.

Not one of them is a free safety.

That, friends, is a big problem for a team that ostensibly wanted to play more single-high safety looks.

You need not just a free safety to do that, but a good one.

And yet, Ji’Ayir Brown has proven incapable of holding down that role full-time — he was attacked relentlessly the first three weeks of the season — and the triumvirate of George Odum (benched), Talanoa Hufanga (injured, benched), and Malik Mustapha (rookie) should all be considered box strong safeties. (Perhaps Mustapha has more, but that’s a big ask at this point in his career.)

San Francisco 49ers’ Malik Mustapha (6) walks off the field after being defeated by the Arizona Cardinals during their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. The Arizona Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers 24-23. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

If my belief that safeties are destiny is, in fact, correct, I don’t like the outlook for the 49ers. We often talk about the best quarterback in any game typically winning the game. Well, the Niners have been beaten on the back end of the defense the last four weeks — they’re 1-3 in those games.

How can the Niners fix this? A trade for a proper free safety would be good, but given the market, the Niners’ current roster state and the need to hold onto draft picks (it’s their only source of cheap labor moving forward) that’s a big ask.

So tactically, moving to a two-high safety system might prove advantageous, allowing the young safeties to keep the game in front of them and fire downhill against the run. That’s not a fix-all, but it could mitigate the damage given current conditions.

It’s time to dump the idealism and become pragmatic.

They don’t score touchdowns in the red zone

» The Niners cannot score in the red zone. Is that an early-season blip — something that will correct naturally over time — or a symptom of a larger issue?

Can I say it’s a bit of both?

The Niners are not an incompetent offensive team, despite what some foaming-at-the-mouth folks might say. They’re second in the NFL in red-zone opportunities, and there is ample talent to score inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

Yet here they are, kicking short field goals like they count double and scoring a touchdown on only half of their goal-to-goal series this season — 31st in the league and a far cry from the 83 percent touchdown clip they posted last season. (Shoutout to ESPN’s Nick Wagoner for first pulling those stats.)

So what’s the deal?

The absence of Christian McCaffrey looms large. He was a man-to-man cheat code on a team of zone-beating weapons — a necessity in tight-quarter combat.

Pair him with Deebo Samuel, and you have a cheat code to the test. Those are two players around whom defenses build their game plans. One player’s movement before the snap gives Purdy the necessary zone-or-man indicator, and the second player’s movement counters that defense.

So far, the Niners only have one, and without a legitimate pass-catching threat in the backfield (much less one that can be flexed out wide) and an offense that’s using far less stretch play-action because of increased shotgun formations, it takes away from the offense’s dynamism. It’s just guys versus guys in tight space, and that’s not Kyle Shanahan or the 49ers’ game.

So what can be done?

McCaffrey can heal and play. That would be huge.

But the Niners should also consider using Samuel in the backfield — a la 2021 — more often, particularly close to the end zone in the meantime. That can get the defense spinning a bit. How about a shovel pass? Just one.

Purdy said Sunday he needs to be more aggressive in the red zone when throwing the ball. That would help, to be sure.

And if McCaffrey isn’t coming back, finding a true pass-catching back — a third-down, scat-back type, a la Jet McKinnon — could do wonders. I don’t think Isaac Guerendo is the answer there but you can at least try it out in the meantime.

San Francisco 49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk (11) walks off the field after being defeated by the Arizona Cardinals during their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. The Arizona Cardinals defeated the San Francisco 49ers 24-23. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

They can’t win against man coverage

» Samuel doesn’t separate in pressing man-to-man coverage. Never has, never will. Jauan Jennings can only do it if he lines up against off-man coverage, which he sees in the slot. George Kittle has to block snap after snap for the sake of the outside-zone run game.

On Sunday, the Niners ran a third down where both Ronnie Bell and Trent Taylor were on the field. I’m sure the Cardinals weren’t too concerned about being burned on that snap.

Of course, Brandon Aiyuk can win off the line of scrimmage, and he did, repeatedly, on Sunday, to the tune of 147 receiving yards, with nearly 100 in the first quarter, when Arizona was almost exclusively in man-to-man.

It highlights the bet the Cardinals made on Sunday. It’s the same one the Chiefs made in the Super Bowl — and the Rams and Patriots copied earlier this season:

If you play man-to-man against the 49ers, you can mess up the receivers’ timing in a timing-based offense because they don’t have natural separators. And yes, Aiyuk can get away from man-to-man coverage, but the gamble these teams have made is that No. 1, he’s not at full speed this season (Arizona found out the hard way Aiyuk, in fact, is back in form), and No. 2, that the Niners’ offensive line isn’t good enough to allow Purdy the time and windows to take advantage (this is how the Chiefs won).

So yes, the Niners might pick up 15-, 25-, 35-yard chunks with Aiyuk, but those will be the exceptions. Man-to-man schemes also allow teams to stack the box to sell out against the run — something that was obvious early Sunday.

Purdy saw all this coming. When asked this week about what he’s seeing from opposing teams.

“I do feel like there may be a theme of man coverage,” he said. “We’ve just got to beat the guy in front of us, and then, for me as a quarterback, I’ve got to be accurate with the ball, and we’ve got to execute.”

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“That’s football at its finest… I feel like we may see that a little bit more, but at the same time, you never know.”

But now the Niners do know. Not every team will want to play man-to-man against San Francisco, but the principles will be the same: If you force the Niners into a boom-or-bust offense, they will often go bust.

So, how does San Francisco fix this?

It feels ridiculous to pressure rookie wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, but he looks like someone who can separate at the NFL level. His inclusion in the lineup would give the Niners two such receivers and perhaps change the paradigm for defenses.

Otherwise, Purdy will have to continue channeling his inner Russell Wilson and extending plays with his feet, giving receivers more time to find some separation and himself more time to find them.

They can’t stop the run

» Outside of a trade for a two-gap-stuffing defensive tackle, the Niners have to ride with what they have on the defensive line.

But it seems prudent to trade out linebacker De’Vondre Campbell for Dee Winters. The latter might not know what he’s doing out there, but he makes up for it with aggression and speed. The opposite is true of Campbell, whose lost steps are repeatedly attacked by opposing offensive coordinators. It doesn’t matter if you know what to do if you can’t do it.

With only one practice before Thursday’s game in Seattle, I don’t think you can make the move right now, but the mini-bye going into the Kansas City game is the perfect time to make the swap.

As Warriors return from Hawaii, Andrew Wiggins returns to practice

SAN FRANCISCO — Under the weather all week, Andrew Wiggins didn’t get the full aloha experience.

But a few days of rest and relaxation in Hawaii apparently left the Warriors forward rejuvenated enough to return to practice Monday when the team took the court on the mainland for the first time since its preseason excursion in paradise.

Wiggins, 29, missed the preseason opener against Clippers and will sit out again when the team heads to Sacramento on Wednesday. But coach Steve Kerr doesn’t expect Wiggins’ illness to impact his readiness for the start of regular season, which looms a little over two weeks away.

“That’s the hope,” Kerr said.

The exact nature of Wiggins’ condition remains a mystery, but it was severe enough to prevent him from practicing the entire week the Warriors spent in Hawaii. He got shots up on a separate basket while wearing a mask. On Monday, Wiggins ditched the protective face covering and took part in every portion of practice except live action.

Second-year center Trayce Jackson-Davis smiled while making light of the tight lid kept on Wiggins’ health.

“Before he got, uh, whatever happened to him, I’m not gonna say, but before he got what he got, we had a few practices with him and he looked really, really good,” Jackson-Davis said. “So he’s just going to continue to build up and when he’s good to go, I know he’ll be ready.”

Kerr was similarly optimistic about the 6-foot-7 wing, who is being counted on to step up as a second option offensively in the wake of Klay Thompson’s departure. Wiggins averaged a career-low 13.9 points per game on 45.3% shooting, his lowest success rate since joining Golden State in 2020.

“Obviously he wanted to get off to a good start in camp and that was taken away. But he’s in really good shape,” Kerr said. “He arrived in good shape. I don’t think he’ll fall back too far from this. It’ll take some time for him to catch up, but he’ll be all right.”

Wiggins did not speak with reporters in Hawaii and declined their requests Monday.

The Warriors have five preseason games remaining before they open the regular season against the Trail Blazers on October 23.

“We’ve got to get him some live action in multiple practices before we let him on the court for a real game,” Kerr said. “We’ll just take it day by day, but definitely out for Wednesday.”

Island time

The trip to Hawaii was the Warriors’ first since 2007, when they would regularly visit before every other season.

Players and coaches raved about the experience, many of whom shared it with family members who accompanied them. Sometimes it can take time to acclimate back into daily life after a week in the slow-paced island lifestyle, but not the Warriors.

When Kerr stepped into the media room a little after 2 p.m. (while razzing Dodgers’ fans for their inability to catch home run balls), he noted that it was “as late as we’ve ever practiced here in the afternoon” and gushed about the effort level only a day after they flew six hours across the Pacific Ocean.

“Guys went for a good couple of hours,” he said. “I really like this group. Just the energy and the focus. I mean, we’re going hard. … We had a long film session. I was just really impressed with our focus and the quality of practice the whole way through.”

Jackson-Davis said it was a “high-intensity, high-energy” practice.

Rotation implications

Jackson-Davis received the nod in the starting lineup Saturday against the Clippers alongside Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga, a combination Kerr likes in concept but acknowledged needed some fine-tuning after its debut showing, falling into an early 17-12 deficit against the Clippers’ starters.

“Defensively, I think once we get our thing situated and sorted out, I think it’ll be really hard for opposing teams,” Jackson-Davis said, “especially with Draymond and JK and the athleticism we have on the floor. … Obviously I’ve played with both of them, but not at the same time, usually.”

Kerr also lauded the defensive upside of the group with its athleticism and ability to protect the rim.

“But,” he said, “it also has to flow on the offensive side. We’ve got to get spacing. We’ve got to make sure we can execute against what defenses will do against that group.”

Of course, Wiggins is expected to assume one of the five spots in the starting lineup when he is cleared to play, potentially shifting Kuminga, Jackson-Davis or shooting guard De’Anthony Melton into a sixth-man role. The bigger implications when it comes to playing time might be for Moses Moody, who was the 10th man to enter their preseason opener and could fall out of the rotation altogether if he is bumped down another slot.

After entering the game at the end of the first quarter, Moody went on to score 12 points, second-only to Lindy Waters III, and led the team with a plus-14 rating. Yet, once again the fourth-year guard is looking like the odd man out.

“It’s a numbers game,” Kerr said. “The only thing any of these guys can do is go out and have a great camp and make it really hard on us as decision makers. And Moses is having a great camp. All he can do is keep doing what he’s doing.”

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Kuminga, who turned 22 on Sunday, said the trip to Hawaii “felt like birthday celebration.”

“Just being out there with the team, having fun and learning about each other,” Kuminga said. “It was fun. It was great.”

Jackson-Davis and fellow second-year player Brandin Podziemski brought their dads with them and enjoyed meals out every night. So, lots of poke, mahi-mahi and Spam musubi? Nope. Carnitas and carne asada tacos from a food truck that stopped by after practice one day.

It was a little different experience for Wiggins, who was accompanied by his wife, Mychal.

“I felt terrible for him,” Kerr said. “To be in Hawaii for five days with your wife and you don’t get to go out and have fun and you’re sick, that’s not ideal. So I felt bad for Wiggs for multiple reasons.”

Salinas minors arrested for having a loaded gun, outstanding warrants

SALINAS – Two minors were arrested in Salinas, one who had a loaded gun on him.

Deputies with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office made a traffic stop Sunday, on a car near Sanborn Road and East Laurel Drive. An adult woman who had an outstanding warrant was driving, and two minors were in the car.

One of the minors had a loaded and concealed firearm on him and was immediately taken into custody. The gun was also unregistered. The second minor had an outstanding felony arrest warrant for robbery and carjacking.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office did not specify the boys’ ages.

Both minors were booked into Monterey County Juvenile Hall. One for his outstanding felony warrants and possession of controlled substances and the other was booked for carrying a concealed and loaded firearm. The woman was cited and released for traffic violations and an outstanding traffic warrant.

Seaside to decide mayor’s term in office, total fireworks ban on Nov. ballot

SEASIDE – The electorate of the city of Seaside will be asked to decide two measures on the November ballot – Measure BB dealing with the length of a mayor’s term, and Measure CC deciding the fate of “safe and sane fireworks” in the city.

Measure BB will ask: Shall the term of office for Mayor be four years? Yes or No.

Measure CC will ask: Shall ordinance 2027, an ordinance of the City Council of the city of Seaside, repealing and replacing Chapter 8.32 of the Seaside Municipal Code to prohibit the sale, purchase, possession, storage and use of all fireworks, including safe and sane fireworks, be adopted? Yes or No.

Each of those measures will require a majority vote, 50% + 1, to pass.

The mayor and council members are currently voted in at large, and since the city’s incorporation nearly 70 years ago, the mayor has been elected for a two-year term. If Measure BB passes with the majority of votes, then the mayoral candidates in the 2026 election would be running for a four-year term. Council members already serve four-year terms.

The voters of the city of Seaside will be also be asked on the November Ballot whether or not to adopt an ordinance which will enact a ban on all sales, possession and use of fireworks, including “safe and sane” fireworks, with the only exception being when such fireworks discharged is part of a public display, agricultural or educational activities, which are subject to a permit.

A “yes” vote for Measure CC will adopt Ordinance 2027 and the ban on safe and sane fireworks. A “no” vote is a vote against the ban and will leave the existing fireworks regulations in effect.

The city of Seaside currently permits the sales, possession, use and discharge of “safe and sane” fireworks between June 28 and July 5, between the hours of noon and 10 p.m. The city issues licenses to eligible nonprofit organizations for sale of safe and sane fireworks pursuant to a specified application process.

Trump says migrants who have committed murder have introduced ‘a lot of bad genes in our country’

By MICHELLE L. PRICE

NEW YORK (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday suggested that migrants who are in the U.S. and have committed murder did so because “it’s in their genes.” There are, he added, “a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”

It’s the latest example of Trump alleging that immigrants are changing the hereditary makeup of the U.S. Last year, he evoked language once used by Adolf Hitler to argue that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

Trump made the comments Monday in a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt. He was criticizing his Democratic opponent for the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, when he pivoted to immigration, citing statistics that the Department of Homeland Security says include cases from his administration.

“How about allowing people to come through an open border, 13,000 of which were murderers? Many of them murdered far more than one person,” Trump said. “And they’re now happily living in the United States. You know, now a murderer — I believe this: it’s in their genes. And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now. Then you had 425,000 people come into our country that shouldn’t be here that are criminals.”

Trump’s campaign said his comments regarding genes were about murderers.

“He was clearly referring to murderers, not migrants. It’s pretty disgusting the media is always so quick to defend murderers, rapists, and illegal criminals if it means writing a bad headline about President Trump,” Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released immigration enforcement data to Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales last month about the people under its supervision, including those not in ICE custody. That included 13,099 people who were found guilty of homicide and 425,431 people who are convicted criminals.

But those numbers span decades, including during Trump’s administration. And those who are not in ICE custody may be detained by state or local law enforcement agencies, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.

The Harris campaign declined to comment.

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The Biden administration has stiffened asylum restrictions for migrants, and Harris, seeking to address a vulnerability as she campaigns, has worked to project a tougher stance on immigration.

The former president and Republican nominee has made illegal immigration a central part of his 2024 campaign, vowing to stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history if elected. He has a long history of comments maligning immigrants, including referring to them as “animals” and “killers,” and saying that they spread diseases.

Last month, during his debate with Harris, Trump falsely claimed Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets.

As president, he questioned why the U.S. was accepting immigrants from Haiti and Africa rather than Norway and told four congresswomen, all people of color and three of whom were born in the U.S., to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

___

Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

‘White Bird’ review: Follow-up a ‘Wonder’ of a different kind

Perhaps it gets you in the door, that the new film “White Bird” can be referred to as both a sequel and prequel to the emotionally nourishing 2017 film “Wonder.”

In theaters this week, “White Bird” is, like its predecessor, based on a work of fiction by R.J. Palacio. However, it has almost nothing to do with the central character of “Wonder,” which revolves around Jacob Tremblay’s August “Auggie” Pullman, a kind boy with a condition that caused a dramatic —- and traumatic — facial deformity.

Instead, the wildly different, if similarly stirring “White Bird” picks up with Bryce Gheisar’s Julian Albans, who’d bullied Auggie before getting expelled from their New York City private school, Beecher Prep. Primarily, however, this is a World War II story and an engrossing one at that.

We catch up with Julian at his new school, where he looks at photos of Auggie and others from his old haunt before giving what is at most a lukewarm reception to a girl who tries to befriend him at lunch, where he’s been sitting alone. A fellow male student soon comes by to tell him that their mothers are friends and that he’s been tasked to look out for him by his — and informs him he’s sitting at the losers’ table.

At home, Julian finds his grandmother (Helen Mirren), who’s visiting from Paris for a “retrospective” of her artwork.

“It’s a polite way of saying I’m old,” she tells Julian.

Soon concluding that he hasn’t completely learned the needed lesson from his experience at Beecher, she decides to tell him about her time as a Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied France, a tale she rarely shares.

Helen Mirren and Bryce Gheisar appear in a scene from “White Bird.” (Courtesy of Lionsgate)

And here we have the beginning of the bulk of “White Bird,” anchored by an almost entrancing performance by Ariella Glaser as Sara Blum, the younger version of Mirren’s character.

At this substantial flashback begins, the teenage Sara, who likes to sketch in a notebook, has no real concerns beyond her clothes and the goings on with friends Mariann (Selma Kaymakci) and Sophie (Mia Kadlecova). After all, even as the Nazis take control of France, it seems as though the area where her family lives, the lovely French village of Aubervilliers-Aux-Bois, is a safe zone.

That mirage quickly vanishes.

The Nazi occupation leads to an argument at dinner in Sara’s upper-middle-class home between her mother, Rose (Olivia Ross), a math teacher, and her kind and protective father, Max (Ishai Golan), about the precise level of danger they face.

Soon enough, Nazi soldiers arrive at Sara’s school with a list of names of Jewish students they are to take away. School personnel, including Pastor Luc (Stuart McQuarrie) and Sara’s teacher Mademoiselle Petitjean (Patsy Ferran), attempt to hide them, insisting these boys and girls did not show up for school on this day. However, thanks to a student — Jem Matthews’ Vincent, whom the viewer will continue to loathe — that plan fails.

Fortunately, Sara benefits from the kindness of another boy, Orlando Schwerdt’s Julien Beaumier, who helps her flee the school. She barely knows him; Julien has difficulty walking as a result of having had polio, and her friends teased him and called him “Tourteau” (“The Crab”), which is the only name Sara associates with him, she realizes.

Nonetheless, with the blessing of his parents, Vivienne (Gillian Anderson, lending some gravitas to the proceedings) and Jean Paul (Jo Stone-Fewings), Julien hides Sara in the family barn, warning her to stay out of the sight of a couple of nosy neighbors.

Gillian Anderson portrays Vivienne in “White Bird.” (Courtesy of Lionsgate)

Initially filled with guilt for not having treated Julien better at school, she grows closer to the young man, who helps her stay up on schoolwork in the afternoon and with whom she shares adventures in the barn fueled by their combined imagination in the evening.

Of course, danger never resides far away from Sara and her brave hosts.

In fact, one of the harshest critiques one can levy on “White Bird” is that you always see that danger coming, the adaptation by Mark Bomback (“War for the Planet of the Apes”) possessing very predictable story beats. (Also, the resolution to one tense scene late in the film is, well, just a bit much, even if the seeds for it are plenty early on in the story.)

And still, in the hands of director Marc Forster (“Finding Neverland,” “Christopher Robin”), “White Bird” is impactful all the same, a film that manages to mine more than its fair share of joy from a dire situation.

Schwerdt (“True History of the Kelly Gang”) deserves plenty of credit for that, as well, as you can’t help but experience the joy Julien feels to have this girl in his life. Every moment with Schwerdt and Glaser (“Radioactive”) together as Julien and Sara is a treasure, especially as you suspect those moments cannot last.

Another noteworthy contributor behind the scenes is producer Todd Lieberman, a Northeast Ohio native who spoke before an advanced screening of the film at Cedar Lee Theatre in Cleveland Heights.

Rated PG-13, “White Bird” certainly isn’t appropriate for very young viewers. For those a bit older, though, it could serve as a reasonably gentle introduction to what remains one of the most significant — and horror-filled — chapters of the world’s history.

This tale need not serve as a lesson for Julian Albans alone.

‘White Bird’

Where: Theaters.

When: Oct. 4.

Rated: PG-13 for some strong violence, thematic material and language.

Runtime: 2 hours.

Stars (of four): 3.

Horoscopes Oct. 7, 2024: Simon Cowell, put your energy into progressive projects

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Shawn Ashmore, 45; Toni Braxton, 57; Simon Cowell, 65; Joy Behar, 82.

Happy Birthday: An open mind, discipline and a goal will get you where you want to go. Look for opportunities, do your research and explore the possibilities. Worry less about what others think and more about what makes you happy and at peace with yourself. Put your energy into progressive projects and avoid arguments with people trying to push their will on you. Live, love and learn. Your numbers are 8, 13, 19, 26, 30, 38, 44.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Follow your passion and sidestep anyone who interferes with your vision. Choose to use your experience and skills to address current applications, and it will lead to a change in how you earn or handle your money and a chance to connect with someone of interest. 5 stars

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Confusion will surface around joint ventures. Keep your emotions out of the equation and deal with shared expenses cautiously. Maintaining equality will be the key to arriving at a point acceptable to complete your mission. Be smart regarding money, ethics, contracts and your emotional well-being. 3 stars

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Your charm will open doors, and your intellectual banter will seal deals. Concentrate on what’s important to you and avoid letting anyone sidetrack you with temptation or empty promises. Be a good listener and gather valuable information, but refrain from divulging your intentions, secrets or passwords. 3 stars

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take the initiative and finish what you start. Your actions will have a bigger impact than your words. Arguing will slow you down and mess with your emotions and the ability to use your creativity to reach your goal. Protect your reputation, and present your accomplishments with confidence. 3 stars

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Embrace what life offers. The sky is the limit if you are open to change and willing to go the distance to reach your goals. Choose to voice your opinion and take a leadership position, and you will influence people to take up your cause or agenda. 5 stars

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Rethink your plans, budget and prospects. You may crave change, but first you must take care of business. You’ll miss an opportunity if you let your emotions take over. Don’t mix business with pleasure or let someone else’s success tempt you to take part in a risky venture. 2 stars

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): A proactive approach will bring positive results. Learn from experience, experts and examples; you will be happy with the results. Focus on wealth, health and achieving the stability and security you require to put your mind at ease. Do things for yourself, and you won’t be disappointed. 4 stars

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Pay attention to what’s happening in your backyard. Taking care of domestic business will help you recognize what changes to consider and how to make your dreams come true. Take the initiative and do things your way. Being innovative and diverse will help you reach your objective. 3 stars

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Observe, strategize and prepare to take on anyone who stands in your way or tries to take advantage of you. Look for opportunities that connect you with people who have something to contribute, not those who want a free ride. An equal-opportunity partnership looks promising. 3 stars

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t let your words mess up what you want. Demands will fall short, but incentives and compliments can encourage others to accommodate your dreams. Demonstrations will make a difference; say little and do a lot, and you’ll get the results you desire. Entertain formulating a fruitful partnership. 3 stars

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Put more thought into managing your investments, medical issues and personal preferences. An open exchange with an expert will offer insight and opportunity into how to grow your interests and intentions. Explore the possibilities and implement what works best for you. Mixed emotions will prompt a personal change. 4 stars

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Take a back seat and observe. The information you gather will help you reverse a potential problem, temptation or financial loss. Time is on your side, and being patient will pay off. Focus on health, wealth and happiness, and walk away from ill advice, excessive behavior and negative influences. 2 stars

Birthday Baby: You are meticulous, opportunistic and passionate. You are proactive and insightful.

1 star: Avoid conflicts; work behind the scenes. 2 stars: You can accomplish, but don’t rely on others. 3 stars: Focus and you’ll reach your goals. 4 stars: Aim high; start new projects. 5 stars: Nothing can stop you; go for gold.

Visit Eugenialast.com, or join Eugenia on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.

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Special teams swing after Moody’s injury helped sink 49ers vs. Cardinals

SANTA CLARA — Jake Moody knew as soon as he kicked the ball he wouldn’t get the carry he desired.

Little did he know that failing to record a touchback would be a huge play for the 49ers in a 24-23 loss to the Arizona Cardinals Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

The 49ers had just scored 61-yard return by Deommodore Lenoir of a blocked 45-yard field goal by Chad Ryland attempt courtesy of Jordan Elliott, giving them a 19-10 lead and a much needed boost to but a maligned special teams unit.

Moody then converted the extra point for a 20-10 lead before kicking off to the Cardinals.

Up to that point, Moody had 19 touchbacks on 21 kickoffs on the season, which is among the best in the league.

“Going in into the wind in that direction, I kind of got under it a little bit,” Moody said afterward, wearing a protective boot on his right foot. “It was not deep enough to let it go for a touchback. They brought it out and it sucks how it ended up turning out.”

Arizona returner DeeJay Dallas got free, broke to his left and Moody did what football players do. He tried — and succeeded — in making the tackle at the Arizona 38-yard line. However, his right foot got twisted underneath, and the resulting high ankle sprain put Moody out of the game.

Moody will be out indefinitely, and the 49ers have already begun calling place kickers for what could be a monthlong absence or longer.

That left punter Mitch Wishnowsky as the place kicker, with fullback Kyle Juszczyk as the holder. Wishnowsky converted a 26-yard field goal attempt late in that half, but coach Kyle Shanahan said he wasn’t comfortable attempting field goals from anything farther than the 15-yard line.

That meant when the 49ers drove as far as the Arizona 13 in the third quarter, and the drive disintegrated with a false start on Jauan Jennings and a sack absorbed by Brock Purdy, the 49ers were forced to go for a first down on fourth-and-23 rather than have Moody attempt a 44-yard field goal to salvage some points.

Purdy was incomplete on fourth down, and the 49ers still led 23-13 but the missed points proved to be crucial. When Arizona finally took their final lead at fourth-and-23, Purdy had all of a 1:37 to make something happen — with no place kicker.

As the 49ers processed the defeat afterward, there was no denying the Lenoir touchdown (on his 25th birthday) followed by Moody’s injury had played a big part.

“It was a crazy thing, but in the NFL it’s `next man up’ always,’ ” Lenoir said.

Juszczyk, who kicked a few balls into a net in case he was called on to kick, shook his head at the sudden turn of events.

“It just seems like with each loss we’ve had a series of events that have gone on top of each other,” he said. “It’s hard to plan for and these things are unfortunate. You’ve got to answer and score touchdowns and not have to kick field goals.”

Birthday behavior, @Dmo_lenoir!

#AZvsSF on FOX
NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4oaLh pic.twitter.com/SCSuJ1K7CU

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 6, 2024

Moody, who eventually walked off the field under his own power — although he hopped the final 10 yards — knew immediately it wasn’t good.

“I broke my leg in the eighth grade in a pretty similar way, actually, so that was my first thought,” Moody said. “Thankfully, I didn’t feel anything break or crack as I did when I did break it. But I knew something was wrong.”

There were times with the Raiders where place kicker Sebastian Janikowski would make a beeline for the sideline after a kickoff to make sure he was out of harm’s way. It never occurred to Moody.

“I’m always going to try and make the best tackle I can,” he said. “I’m not trying to make tackles every single day so it’s not something I’m used to but I’m going to do the best I can to get him down. Just try to go lower I guess. I kind of got rolled up on.”

Shanahan wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You try to tackle. You don’t tell guys to keep their ankle out of it,” he said. “You hope that it doesn’t come to him and he doesn’t have to make a tackle, but you also don’t tell guys to turn it down and just let them score. So, it’s part of football.”

Moody had field goals of 28 and 20 yards — with the 49ers again struggling in the red zone — but came into the game having missed just one field goal in four games, a 54-yard attempt against the Rams. He was 13-for-14 at the time of the injury and was 3-for-3 between 40 and 49 yards and 2-for-3 on attempts of 50-plus.

“Losing your kicker is huge, especially when you’ve got a guy who’s good from 57 yards,” tight end George Kittle said. “That’s tough. Jake’s a hell of a kicker and when you don’t have that option and now you’ve got to get to the 25-yard line to kick (actually the 15), that’s tough. But I think our special teams and our defense gave us every opportunity to win.

“As an offensive player who’s been here for eight yards, that’s mostly on us more than anything else.”

Alright mate! Mitch Wishnowsky's first career FG

#AZvsSF on FOX
NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4nCVJ pic.twitter.com/gsk60LBQMU

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 6, 2024

Wishnowsky was no longer around when reporters entered the locker room. It’s not the first time he’s been pressed into duty. In Week 4 of 2021, place kicker Robbie Gould had a groin strain in warmups and couldn’t kick. Wishnowsky, with Taybor Pepper snapping and Juszczyk holding, was 1-for-2 on extra point attempts but missed a 41-yard field goal attempt wide left.

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With the extra point that day, Wishnowsky became the first Australian player to score a point in an NFL game. Coincidentally, following the conversion, Wishnowsky, a former soccer and rugby player, laid a big hit on DeeJay Dallas on the ensuring kickoff. The same Dallas that Moody tackled with a far more painful outcome on Sunday.

Football coaches have plans for everything, but using practice time to prepare for losing one suddenly isn’t part of the plan in part because kicking and punting are dramatically different in terms of the muscles use and in the fundamentals of the swing.

“It’s such a weird anomaly,” Pepper said. “Your punter may take a few kicks through the year, but as an every week thing it’s not the expectation of an NFL punter.”

Kurtenbach: Kyle Shanahan faces his toughest test yet — getting the ‘Last Dance’ 49ers on the floor

SANTA CLARA—The West Coast heat wave wreaked havoc on the 49ers’ practice schedule this past week, leading coach Kyle Shanahan to joke that he, like his players, will take intravenous fluids to rehydrate.

“I still do it, if I had too much fun the night before,” Shanahan said.

Yes, Shanahan knows the cure for his hangovers.

Now, does he know how to fix his team’s?

The Niners’ Super Bowl hangover is real. It’s been real for months.

It has manifested in the dull energy around the team in the preseason, and a slog of a September. And then Sunday’s incredible, downright comedic fourth-quarter collapse to the Cardinals in a 24-23 loss was the little bit of extra “fun” that put it over the edge.

At 2-3 on the season, now, there’s no pretending this team can carry on with business as usual. It needs fluids, stat.

It’s on Shanahan and the 49ers’ leadership to provide them.

Because this team’s season hangs in the balance in the next three games. On Thursday, the Niners will play the Seahawks in Seattle. Then they’ll host the Chiefs and Cowboys in back-to-back home games before a bye week.

If this team can’t pull itself together by then, I shudder to think of how bad the symptoms of this hangover could be in the hellacious second half of the season.

I’m fighting the urge to say that the season is over because Shanahan still deserves the benefit of the doubt here: No matter the circumstances over the last seven seasons, he has been able to keep his team together. The telltale catty comments and hardly hidden backstabbing we see with truly spiraling teams have never happened in Santa Clara, even when things were bad.

“I haven’t lost confidence in this group. We’ve been through worse,” Nick Bosa said Sunday.

And he’s right.

But, simultaneously, the Niners have never been in a situation quite like this.

If 2024 was supposed to be the 49ers’ “Last Dance,” they haven’t made it to the dance floor yet.

The last Super Bowl hangover, back in 2020, featured a worldwide pandemic and a young, upstart team. You can forgive that kind of team for finishing at 6-10—they started three quarterbacks and had to live in a hotel in Arizona for the final month of the season.

This year’s team has no such extenuating health emergency (though its injury list is arguably at an epidemic level), and it features veteran after veteran with big names and big paychecks.

The dynamic is different. This team is not one that must learn how to win — it’s built to win, and nothing else but winning will do.

And so far this season, they are falling woefully short of that mark.

Take Sunday’s game as the best case in point yet.

We underestimated these 49ers. It turns out that they could, in fact, find a worse way to lose this season. This team’s collapse to the Rams in Week 3 proved far less embarrassing than Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

The Niners choked away another 10-point fourth-quarter lead — a 13-point second-half lead — with a scoreless second half.

Red-zone futility, including a critical lost fumble with six-plus minutes to play, an injured place-kicker, which resulted in the Niners going for a fourth-and-23 from Arizona’s 27-yard line late in the third quarter, and a withering defense, which allowed 5.2 yards per carry in the final frame, all came together (with so many more unbecoming factors) to drop the Niners below .500 again.

They’ll have one light practice before playing again on Thursday.

That quick turnaround will be cited as a positive. I’m not here to say it’s a negative.

Because to decide one way or the other with these Niners is a fool’s errand. There’s simply nothing predictable about this team so far this season.

There’s not one thing you can take for granted on this team right now. Everything is in flux. The only consistency is inconsistency.

And shouldn’t a team that fancies itself like a Super Bowl contender play at that level more than once five weeks into a season? Even lowering the bar, shouldn’t that team’s best football not come in its first game?

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Yes, we should have seen this disjointedness coming.

There hasn’t been a single moment this season—even going back to mini-camps in the spring—when this team felt organized, copasetic, and understood.

Whether it was off-the-field contract drama, injury spy games, or this team’s general chaos on the field (which has resulted in even more injuries), the Niners have never once felt in control this season.

Even the team’s biggest win — a 30-13 win over the Patriots in Week 4 — felt scattershot and haphazard.

The vibes, as the kids would say, have been off for months.

They could correct this. The Niners could get right.

The Niners famously started 2021 with a 3-5 record. The next year, they started 3-4. They made the NFC Championship Game both seasons.

This team’s best football is probably still ahead. It better be.

And if that’s the case, the 49ers’ chances are pretty good.

After all, besides the upstart Vikings (who are good but not that good), who looks elite in the NFC this season?

But that highlights the issue for the 49ers: They were supposed to be above the fray, so much better than not only their peers, but the uncontrollable factors that follow every successful team — contract drama, injury luck reversal, the weight of high expectations.

The Niners’ front office thought it built a juggernaut.

And yet, after Sunday’s game, both quarterback Brock Purdy and linebacker Fred Warner talked about how this team is looking for its identity.

These are not the questions the best of the best should be considering in October.

(Plus, I already answered the question: The team’s identity is Purdy and Warner — and neither player was at his best Sunday. I guess those guys need to re-up their subscriptions.)

So amid all this uncertainty, and no matter what the 49ers do from this point on, one thing has been made clear in the first five games of the season — the perceived “easy” part of the team’s hellacious schedule:

This team is no juggernaut.

You can place blame in so many different places for that — abstract or all-too-physical — but no matter how you slice it, the result is the same.

The Niners still have plenty to play for this season. I’m still not ruling out the possibility they go all the way. Purdy and Warner are still playing, after all.

But this team, like so many of its injured players, is operating on a week-to-week basis.

And in that sense, the idea of 2024 being Super Bowl-or-bust with this team has already busted.