Midwest In Deep Freeze -- With No End In Sight

Baltimoreans’ mint patches are springing to life, a harbinger of the mint julep season which is upon us with the 150th running Saturday of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, followed several weeks later by the 149th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. That being said, for many Marylanders the venerable Maryland Hunt Cup, which raced across the Worthington Valley Saturday, is not a mere dress rehearsal, but the actual observance of Opening Day and the happy marriage of crushed mint, simple syrup, rye or bourbon and LOTS of crushed ice stuffed into an ancestral silver julep cup from Kirk or Stieff, the once legendary Baltimore silver manufacturers. While generals Grant and Lee may have buried the sword at Virginia’s Appomattox Court House in 1865, the War of the Juleps continues to this day as the great liquid battle between Maryland rye and Kentucky bourbon, and which should be employed in a julep. And there are numerous codicils to the julep making process.

UCF continued its mastery of the NCAA’s transfer portal with the commitment of Ohio receiver Jacoby Jones. Jones becomes the seventh transfer player to pledge to the Knights this spring and the second to confirm his intentions on Wednesday. He joins former Toledo running back Peny Boone, who committed earlier in the day. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound receiver was second on the team in receiving in 2022 after finishing with 776 yards and 6 touchdowns on 45 catches.

A new Emerson College/The Hill swing state poll shows President Joe Biden behind in seven battleground states that could prove as decisive in the next general election as they did in 2020. According to the poll, Biden trails former President Donald Trump by three points or more in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and has gained very little ground over the last several months of campaigning, despite out-raising his Republican rival and managing to keep his schedule free of frequent court appearances. “The state of the presidential election in swing states has remained relatively consistent since Emerson and The Hill started tracking them last November.

Nicole Leonard, WHYY | KFF Health News (TNS) PHILADELPHIA — On a narrow street lined with row houses and an auto body shop in the Kensington neighborhood of North Philadelphia, Marsella Elie climbs a home’s front steps and knocks hard on the door. Related Articles Health | Exposed to Agent Orange at US bases, veterans face cancer without VA compensation Health | Are midwives and doulas the answer to keeping more Black babies alive? Health | Babies born early, ill, or dead: Florida spends millions on prevention.

Logan Sargeant, the dashing 23-year-old Fort Lauderdale native who is the only American driver on the popular Formula 1 circuit, can always draw a crowd, especially when he’s promoting Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix. Amaya Mateo and Megumi Schiroma, a pair of 18-year-old seniors from Hollywood, left Pembroke Pines Charter High School on Tuesday afternoon and drove to South Beach, almost an hour, to join the boisterous throng of Sargeant fans on Lincoln Road. Upon arrival at the storefront location, Mateo and Schiroma joined about 200 others. The place was buzzing with anticipation. The vibe was tangible. The crowd was young, energetic, excited and eager. Sargeant, who has experienced meteoric success in his racing career, loves seeing such F1 enthusiasm in South Florida, and loves knowing he can help bring more publicity to this mostly European sport in America in hyper-local fashion. “To be racing where it all started for me, 20 minutes from home, 20 minutes from where I grew up,” Sargeant said, “is special.” Beneath all the excitement and energy, however, is the pressure of being in the top tier of your sport and staying there. Sargeant, the face of American F1 racing, is feeling that in a big way. There’s already a throng of drivers lined up to take advantage of his tenuous hold on his spot on the Williams Racing team. In his second year on the grid, Sargeant has only collected one point in 26 starts, and that was a 10th-place finish. Worse, last month’s two-point infraction at the China Grand Prix means he now has eight penalty points, four away from a one-race suspension under the penalty points system.

Hannah Norman, KFF Health News, Patricia Kime | KFF Health News (TNS) As a young GI at Fort Ord in Monterey County, California, Dean Osborn spent much of his time in the oceanside woodlands, training on soil and guzzling water from streams and aquifers now known to be contaminated with cancer-causing pollutants. “They were marching the snot out of us,” he said, recalling his year and a half stationed on the base, from 1979 to 1980.