Notebook: Kansas’ Road to the Sweet Sixteen

Trust in freshman setter Camryn Turner has paid off for Sweet 16-bound Kansas volleyball program | KUsports.com
In late August, following the Kansas volleyball program’s season-opening loss to Loyola Marymount at Purdue, Kansas coach Ray Bechard ran into setter Camryn Turner and her parents outside of the team hotel and had a brief conversation that proved to be prophetic.

Offensive breakthrough taking KU volleyball to new heights, and unexpected spot in Sweet 16 | KUsports.com
Then came a breakthrough performance at Creighton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament this past week. Bechard said he considers siding out 60% of the time “really good.” Well, the Jayhawks sided out on 68% of their opportunities en route to upsetting the Bluejays (31-4) on their home floor.

Freshman LB James Wright leaving KU football via transfer portal | KUsports.com
After six months with the Kansas football program, freshman linebacker James Wright is moving on. Wright announced on Wednesday his decision to put his name in the transfer portal.

Tiger Woods to play in PNC Championship golf tournament next week with son, Charlie
"Although it's been a long and challenging year, I am very excited to close it out by competing in the PNC Championship with my son Charlie,'' Woods tweeted. "I'm playing as a Dad and couldn't be more excited and proud.''

Arizona Coyotes face Dec. 20 eviction from Gila River Arena over unpaid taxes, fees; club cites 'human error'
The city of Glendale informed the team that it plans to lock the Coyotes out of Gila River Arena if the club does not pay its delinquent tax bills and unpaid arena charges by Dec. 20.

Pele will be home before Christmas after treatment for colon tumour, says daughter
Brazil great Pele was admitted to hospital for a scheduled procedure as part of his treatment for a colon tumour but he will be home in time to spend Christmas with his family, his daughter Kely Nascimento said.

USC Trojans star receiver Drake London to forego senior year, enter 2022 NFL draft
"It's been a true blessing to compete as a Trojan over the past three seasons," London wrote in a statement addressed to "Trojan Family" and posted to Twitter. "You welcomed me with open arms and I will forever be grateful for the love you've shown me. I will never forget our time together and all the people I've forged lifelong bonds with. To my coaches and teammates, thank you for pushing me each and every day. I would not be in the position I am today without you all.

New Zealand to Ban Smoking Forever for Anyone Born After 2008
The government of New Zealand is preparing to ban cigarette smoking forever by anyone born after 2008, according to a new report from the news outlet Stuff. The move would eventually make it illegal for anyone in New Zealand to smoke, no matter how old they got, while allowing those who are currently addicted to tobacco to continue smoking until their death.

U.S. Senate passes Republican bill to overturn Biden vaccine mandate | Reuters
WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a Republican measure that would overturn President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate for private businesses, with two Democrats joining Republicans to back the initiative.

California Cops Busted for Horrifically Racist, Homophobic Texts
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office will launch an investigation into the Torrance Police Department after the Los Angeles Times revealed more than a dozen officers had exchanged racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic texts and memes for years. Bonta told the Times that the texts would be at the “heart” of his probe, and that it may include criminal charges. The probe had been in the works prior to the Times story on Wednesday.

This Fast-Food Chicken Sandwich Was Just Crowned the Best Of the Year
But the best chicken sandwich of 2021 was also one of the quietest: without any splashy celebrity partnerships or clever marketing stunts to propel its popularity. The good old classic Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich has just been crowned the winner of the chicken sandwich wars by Merchant Centric, an analytics firm serving the fast-food industry. And according to their data, this year's race for the best chicken sandwich was quite an interesting one—with some unexpected top challengers.

Better.com CEO apologizes after laying off 900 employees via Zoom call | Reuters
Dec 8 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Better.com apologized for his manner of handling layoffs at the mortgage company after a video of him firing 900 people last week via a Zoom call went viral on social media.

National Academy of Sciences Has Ocean Plan to Cleanup CO2
The blanket term for these methods—and others that use land and machinery alike—is carbon dioxide removal, also known as a form of geoengineering. We have very little capacity to do that right now, and the companies that are doing it charge much more than the target outlined in the report and in other research ($100 per ton of carbon stashed away). The NAS has previously laid out a roadmap for land-based techniques, but the new report looks at the world’s largest carbon sink. It comes at a time when the urgency of climate change is growing, yet world leaders have largely failed to take the necessary steps to end fossil fuel use.

Star Wars The Acolyte: Amandla Stenberg Cast in Disney+ Show
Stenberg has reportedly been cast as the lead character in The Acolyte, which is being developed by Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland. The show is set during the end of The High Republic era (which you can read all about in various excellent books and comics currently out in stores), and with a title like The Acolyte, it’s likely to deal with some sort of Force users. Whether those people use the light side or the dark side, we don’t know. (“Acolyte” has a dark side connotation in Star Wars.) The Illuminerdi first broke the news which was then confirmed by Variety and Deadline; io9 has reached out to Lucasfilm for comment and we will update this post should we hear back.