Matt Petgrave and Adam Johnson’s Fatal Mid-Game Ice Hockey Collision Has a Wide Impact

On Nov. 18, ice hockey fans gathered to watch the U.K. team Nottingham Panthers return to the ice for the first time for a memorial game, in honour of their teammate, Adam Johnson. The American athlete died on Oct.28 after his neck was cut by a skate blade during a mid-game collision with opponent Matt Petgrave in Sheffield, England.

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The incident has led to the arrest of a man on suspicion of manslaughter, who has since been released on bail, and has reignited safety debates surrounding the sport.

Here’s what we know.

Who was Adam Johnson and how did he die?

Johnson, a Minnesota native, played NCAA college hockey at Minnesota-Duluth and in American league clubs.

The 29-year-old appeared in 13 NHL games with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, before spending 2020-21 in Sweden with the Malmo Redhawks and 2022-23 in Germany with the Augsburger Panther. Earlier this year, he joined the Nottingham Panthers, part of the U.K.’s Elite Ice Hockey League.

Johnson was playing for the Panthers in a Challenge Cup game against the Sheffield Steelers at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena when his neck was cut by Petgrave’s skate blade after they made contact during the second period of the game. 

Video shows Johnson skating toward the net as Petgrave, skating toward Johnson, collides with another Panthers player. Petgrave’s leg kicks up as he begins to fall and his skate hits Johnson. Both players fall to the ice. A referee stops the game as Johnson rises, blood on his jersey.

South Yorkshire police said Johnson was seriously injured during the game and later pronounced dead at a hospital. A post-mortem examination confirmed he died as a result of a fatal neck injury, police said. 

The Panthers said in a statement on Oct. 29 that the team was “truly devastated” and called Johnson’s death “a freak accident.” 

“Adam, our number 47, was not only an outstanding ice hockey player, but also a great teammate and an incredible person with his whole life ahead of him,” the team said. The club’s CEO Omar Pacha remembered Johnson’s humor, kindness, humility and respect at a memorial service held on an ice rink in the hockey player’s hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. 

At the memorial service, Johnson’s girlfriend Ryan Wolfe said he “seemed to have it all figured out” and remembered his ideas of starting a farm or coffee shop or being a stay-at-home dad with a “whole van full of kids.” 

Who is Matt Petgrave? 

31-year-old Canadian Matt Petgrave joined the Sheffield Steelers in 2022, according to his bio. Coach Aaron Fox has said Petgrave is “an impact player and can be a game-changer.” 

Petgrave played for the University of New Brunswick before turning professional in 2017 and playing for teams in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Canada and the U.S. He was picked for the mid-level East Coast Hockey League’s All-Star team in 2018.

Cary Kaplan, who served as general manager for the ECHL’s Brampton Beast during Petgrave’s 2016-2020 stint at the club, told the Toronto Star that Petgrave is “a great guy…and a responsible hockey player.” 

Petgrave’s agent, Casey Kesselring, is quoted as telling the Associated Press that he had no comment on the situation.

What’s happened since Adam Johnson’s death? 

The Elite Ice Hockey League temporarily postponed games on Oct. 29. The Sheffield Steelers said in a statement on Nov. 3 that the entire hockey community was “rocked” by the tragic news.

Petgrave’s team, Sheffield Steelers, honoured Johnson with a moment of silence when they returned to the ice on Nov. 12. Fans reportedly gave Petgrave, who didn’t play, a round of applause when his photo appeared on the scoreboard.

“The safety and wellbeing of players and coaching staff is our main priority during this incredibly difficult time,” the Steelers said. “All of them have access to professional mental health support to help them come to terms with the tragic events of last weekend. Each will return to the arena in their own time, and we are giving them all our full support.” 

On Nov. 14, South Yorkshire police arrested a man on suspicion of manslaughter in Johnson’s death, but did not identity him. The man was released on bail on Nov. 15. 

Detective Chief Superintendent Becs Horsfall said in a statement that “our investigation launched immediately following this tragedy and we have been carrying out extensive enquiries ever since to piece together the events which led to the loss of Adam in these unprecedented circumstances.” 

“We have been speaking to highly specialized experts in their field to assist in our enquiries and continue to work closely with the health and safety department at Sheffield City Council, which is supporting our ongoing investigation,” Horsfall said. 

On Nov. 18, the Nottingham Panthers team and fans memorialized Johnson and retired his No. 47 jersey.

On the Panthers’ website, the team said it has launched an official fundraiser, with permission from Johnson’s family, to create the “Love for Hibbing and Hockey Memorial Fund” to support local charitable activities in Johnson’s hometown area. 

What discussions about safety are now taking place?

The lethal incident has reignited debates about safety in the sport. Other professional ice hockey players have been seriously injured or died as a result of injuries incurred during games. Two had their necks sliced open by skates, one in 1989 and another in 2008, per the Associated Press.

The English Ice Hockey Association, which governs the sport’s level below the Elite Ice Hockey League, will reportedly require all players in England to wear neck guards from the start of 2024. TIME has reached out to the Elite Ice Hockey League regarding any new proposed safety measures.

Meanwhile, safety debates are also happening in relation to the NHL.

source https://time.com/6337335/matt-petgrave-adam-johnson-death-hockey-safety/

Trump Is Returning to the U.S.-Mexico Border as He Lays Out Immigration Proposals

EDINBURG, Texas — Donald Trump will return to the U.S.-Mexico border for a visit Sunday as he promotes a hard-line immigration agenda that would be far more expansive than the policies he pursued during his first term as president.

Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks in Edinburg, Texas, after serving meals to National Guard soldiers, troopers and others who will be stationed at the border over Thanksgiving. He will be joined by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a longtime ally and fellow border hawk who is expected to endorse the front-runner for the 2024 nomination during the visit, according to a person close to Trump who spoke on condition of anonymity before a formal announcement.

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Trump has been laying out immigration proposals that would mark a dramatic escalation of the approach he used in office and that drew alarms from civil rights activists and numerous court challenges.

“On my first day back in the White House, I will terminate every open-borders policy of the Biden administration. I will stop the invasion on our southern border and begin largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” he said in Iowa Saturday.

He also wants to:

— revive and expand his controversial travel ban, which initially targeted seven Muslim-majority countries. Trump’s initial executive order was fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld what Trump complained was a “watered down” version that included travelers from North Korea and some Venezuelan officials.

— begin new “ideological screening” for all immigrants, aiming to bar “Christian-hating communists and Marxists” and “dangerous lunatics, haters, bigots and maniacs” from entering the United States. “Those who come to and join our country must love our country,” he has said.

— bar those who support Hamas. “If you empathize with radical Islamic terrorists and extremists, you’re disqualified,” Trump says. “If you want to abolish the state of Israel, you’re disqualified. If you support Hamas or any ideology that’s having to do with that or any of the other really sick thoughts that go through people’s minds — very dangerous thoughts — you’re disqualified.”

— deport immigrants living in the country who harbor “jihadist sympathies” and send immigration agents to “pro-jihadist demonstrations” to identify violators. He would target foreign nationals on college campuses and revoke the student visas of those who express anti-American or antisemitic views.

— invoke the Alien Enemies Act to to remove from the United States all known or suspected gang members and drug dealers. That law was used to justify internment camps in World War II. It allows the president to unilaterally detain and deport people who are not U.S. citizens.

— end the constitutional right to birthright citizenship by signing an executive order his first day in office that would codify a legally untested reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment. Under his order, only children with at least one U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident parent would be eligible for a passport, Social Security number and other benefits.

— terminate all work permits and cut off funding for shelter and transportation for people who are in the country illegally.

— build more of the wall along the border, crack down on legal asylum-seekers and reimplement measures such as Title 42, which allowed Trump to turn away immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

— press Congress to pass a law so anyone caught trafficking women or children would receive the death penalty.

— shift federal law enforcement agents, including FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration personnel, to immigration enforcement, and reposition at the southern border thousands of troops currently stationed overseas. “Before we defend the borders of foreign countries we must secure the border of our country,” he said said.

Trump has made frequent trips to the border as a candidate and president. During his 2016 campaign, he traveled to Laredo, Texas in July 2015 for a visit that highlighted how his views on immigration helped him win media attention and support from the GOP base.

The border has also become a centerpiece of Abbott’s agenda and the subject of an escalating fight with the Biden administration over immigration. The three-term governor has approved billions of dollars in new border wall construction, authorized razor wire on the banks of the Rio Grande and bused thousands of migrants to Democrat-led cities across the United States.

Abbott is expected to soon sign what would be one of Texas’ most aggressive measures to date: a law that allows police officers to arrest migrants suspected of entering the country illegally and empowers judges to effectively deport them. The measure is a dramatic challenge to the U.S. government’s authority over immigration. It already has already drawn rebuke from Mexico.

Still, the Texas GOP’s hard right has not always embraced Abbott. Trump posted on his social media platform earlier this year that the governor was “MISSING IN ACTION!” after Republicans voted to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Trump ally. Abbott was also booed at a 2022 Trump rally.

But Abbott’s navigation within the GOP has built him broad support in Texas, where he has outperformed more strident Republicans down-ballot and helped the GOP make crucial inroads with Hispanic voters.

Democrats tried to use the trip to portray Trump’s plans as extreme.

“Donald Trump is going after immigrants, our rights our safety and our democracy. And that is what really is on the ballot last year,” Biden reelection campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said on a conference call with reporters.

Pollings show many voters aren’t satisfied with the Biden administration’s handling of the border.

A Marquette Law School poll of registered voters conducted in late September gave Trump a 24-point advantage over Biden on handling immigration and border security issues — 52% to 28%.

source https://time.com/6337341/trump-us-mexico-border-immigration-policies/

Adam Johnson’s Hockey Team Return to Ice For Memorial Game Weeks After Player’s Tragic Death

NOTTINGHAM, England — A makeshift shrine for Adam Johnson keeps growing outside the arena where the Nottingham Panthers play hockey.

Fans have left flowers, wreaths, jerseys, team scarves and handwritten notes to honor the 29-year-old American who died after an opposing player’s skate cut his neck during a game last month in Sheffield.

“We’re not just hockey fans — we’re a hockey family,” Panthers fan Margaret Cartwright said Saturday. The death of the former Pittsburgh Penguins player has not only forced the sport to reexamine safety regulations but also sparked a criminal investigation locally that led to an arrest of a man on suspicion of manslaughter.

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The Panthers haven’t played since that Oct. 28 game and will take the ice on Saturday at Motorpoint Arena against the Manchester Storm in a memorial game “to celebrate the life of Adam and the remarkable person he was,” the team said.

The Nottingham Panthers retired Johnson’s No. 47 jersey ahead of the game. “He will forever be our No. 47,” announcer Stef Litchfield said. “He was not only an outstanding hockey player but also a great teammate. He was an incredible person with his whole life ahead of him. We will miss him dearly.”

The game, which will be broadcast free on YouTube, does not count in the Elite Ice Hockey League standings. Instead, it’s meant to bring players and fans together as they try to move forward.

A postmortem examination confirmed Johnson, who was 29, died as a result of a neck injury. South Yorkshire Police did not identify the suspect or provide his age. He was arrested Tuesday and released on bail a day later.

Matt Petgrave, a defenseman for the Sheffield Steelers, was the other player involved in the incident. Johnson had skated with the puck across the blue line — into Sheffield’s defensive zone — when Petgrave collided with another Panthers player nearby. Petgrave’s left skate kicked up as he began to fall and the blade hit Johnson in the neck.

Neither the Steelers nor the league has provided an update on Petgrave’s roster status. His agent declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press earlier this week.

“Everybody’s dealing with it in their own way, some are being negative. The majority of us are trying to be positive,” Cartwright said. “It was just a really, really unfortunate accident. The poor guy that caused it has got to live with that for the rest of life. I think that should be punishment enough. Nobody would do that deliberately — nobody. It’s just how it happened, in a split second something went wrong and unfortunately, we lost poor Adam.”

The Minnesota native was in his first season at Nottingham — a central England city known as home to Robin Hood — after stints in Germany and a handful of games for the Penguins in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. He was living in Nottingham with his American girlfriend.

The English Ice Hockey Association, which governs the sport below the Elite League, reacted to Johnson’s death by requiring all players in England to wear neck guards from the start of 2024.

The game in Sheffield was part of the league’s Challenge Cup — like soccer’s FA Cup tournament in Britain — but the Panthers have since withdrawn from that competition. They will resume their season against the Belfast Giants on Nov. 26.

source https://time.com/6337281/adam-johnson-death-hockey-team-memorial-game/

Taylor Swift Fan Dies Before Eras Concert in Rio, Attendees Complain About Venue Conditions

RIO DE JANEIRO — A 23-year-old Taylor Swift fan died at the singer’s Eras Tour concert in Rio de Janeiro Friday night, according to a statement from the show’s organizers in Brazil. Both Swifties and politicians reacted to the news with outrage.

While a cause of death for Ana Clara Benevides Machado has not been announced, fans complained they were not allowed to take water into Nilton Santos Olympic Stadium despite soaring temperatures.

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A group launched an online petition Saturday morning calling for a “Benevides Law” to “make water in events mandatory.”

The petition garnered more than 150,000 signatures in just a few hours. Federal authorities announced that free water would be made available at all future concerts.

In a handwritten note shared on her social media, Swift said she had a “shattered heart.”

“There’s very little information I have other than the fact that she was so incredibly beautiful and far too young,” the singer wrote of the young woman.

The show’s organizer, Time4Fun, said on Instagram that paramedics attended to Benevides after she reported feeling unwell. She was taken to a first-aid center and then to a hospital, where she died an hour later, the statement from the Brazilian live entertainment company said.

Concert-goers said they were not allowed to bring water bottles into the stadium even though Rio and most of Brazil have had record-breaking temperatures this week amid a dangerous and lasting heat wave. The daytime high in Rio on Friday was 39.1 degrees Celsius (102.4 degrees Fahrenheit), but it felt much hotter.

Elizabeth Morin, 26, who recently moved to Rio from Los Angeles, described “sauna-like” conditions inside the stadium. “It was extremely hot. My hair got so wet from sweat as soon as I came in,” she said. “There was a point at which I had to check my breathing to make sure I wasn’t going to pass out.”

Morin said she drank plenty of water but saw “a good amount of people looking distressed” and others “yelling for water.” She said she was able to get water from the sidelines of the area she was standing in, but that water was a lot harder to access from other parts of the stadium, “especially if you were concerned about losing your specific position.”

During the show, Swift paused her performance and asked from the stage for water to be brought to a group of people who had successfully caught the singer’s attention, according to Morin. “They were holding up their phones saying ‘We need water,’” she recalled.

Justice Minister Flávio Dino said on X that the ministry would implement “emergency rules” in response to the situation. He later announced that “water bottles for personal use, in suitable material, will be allowed” at concerts and other events and that show producers must provide free and easily accessible drinking water.

Before the show, Benevides posted a video of herself on Instgram wearing a Taylor Swift T-shirt and waiting in line to enter the stadium while seeking shade under an umbrella. Like her, thousands of fans waited hours in the sun before being allowed inside.

She told her followers while fanning her face that she’d arrived at 11 a.m. — the show began around 7:30 p.m. — and was “still in the mess.”

Benevides’ friend, Daniele Menin, who attended the concert with her, told online news site G1 that her friend passed out at the beginning of the concert, as Swift performed her second song, “Cruel Summer.”

“We always said that when (Taylor Swift) came to Brazil we would find a way to go. The ticket was very expensive, but we still found a way”, Menin told G1.

Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes said on X the “loss of a young woman’s life … is unacceptable.” While authorities are investigating the circumstances of the death, Paes wrote, the municipality will demand Saturday that the show’s production company provide new water distribution points, more brigades and ambulances, and advance entrance to the show by one hour.

Swift has two more shows scheduled in Rio, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. “I’m not going to be able to speak about this from stage because I feel overwhelmed by grief when I even try to talk about it,” she wrote. “I want to say now I feel this loss deeply and my broken heart goes out to her family and friends.”

source https://time.com/6337249/taylor-swift-fan-dies-rio-concert-conditions/

Most Patients, Staff and Displaced Have Left Shifa Hospital, Palestinian Health Authorities Report

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Patients, staff and displaced people departed Gaza’s largest hospital Saturday, health officials said, leaving behind only Israeli forces and a skeleton crew to care for those too sick to move. The exodus came the day internet and phone service was restored to the Gaza Strip, ending a telecommunications outage that forced the United Nations to shut down critical aid deliveries.

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Dozens of people were killed in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp when what witnesses described as an Israeli airstrike hit a crowded U.N. shelter in the main combat zone of northern Gaza. It caused massive destruction in the camp’s Fakhoura school, said Ahmed Radwan and Yassin Sharif.

“The scenes were horrifying. Corpses of women and children were on the ground. Others were screaming for help,” Radwan said by phone. Associated Press’ photos from a local hospital showed more than 20 bodies wrapped in bloodstained sheets.

The Israeli military, which had warned Jabaliya residents and others in a social media post in Arabic to leave, had no immediate comment on the strike and said only that its troops were active in the Jabaliya area “with the aim of hitting terrorists.” It rarely comments on individual strikes, saying only that it targets Hamas while trying to minimize harm to civilians.

“Receiving horrifying images & footage of scores of people killed and injured in another UNRWA school sheltering thousands of displaced in the north of the Gaza Strip. These attacks cannot become commonplace, they must stop. A humanitarian ceasefire cannot wait any longer,” Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, said on X, formerly Twitter.

Attacks also continued in southern Gaza. An Israeli airstrike hit a residential building on the outskirts of the town of Khan Younis, killing at least 26 Palestinians, according to a doctor at the hospital where the bodies were taken.

Israel’s military has been searching Shifa Hospital for traces of a Hamas command center that it alleges was located under the building — a claim Hamas and the hospital staff deny — and urging the several thousand people still there to leave.

On Saturday, the military said it had been asked by the hospital’s director to help those who would like to leave do so by a secure route. The military said it did not order any evacuation, and that medical personnel were being allowed to remain in the hospital to support patients who cannot be moved.

But Medhat Abbas, a spokesman for the Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza, said the military had ordered the facility cleared, giving the hospital an hour to get people out.

After it appeared the evacuation was mostly complete, Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati, a Shifa physician, said on social media that some 120 patients remained who were unable to leave, including some in intensive care and premature babies, and that he and five other doctors were staying to care for them.

It was not immediately clear where those who left the hospital had gone, with 25 of Gaza’s hospitals non-functional due to lack of fuel, damage and other problems and the other 11 only partially operational, according to the World Health Organization.

Israel has said hospitals in northern Gaza were a key target of its ground offensive aimed at crushing Hamas, claiming they were used as militant command centers and weapons depots, which both Hamas and medical staff deny.

Israeli troops have encircled or entered several hospitals, while others stopped functioning because of dwindling supplies and loss of electricity.

The war, now in its seventh week, was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel, in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted some 240 men, women and children. Fifty-two soldiers have been killed since the Israeli offensive began.

More than 11,500 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Palestinian health authorities. Another 2,700 have been reported missing, believed buried under rubble. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but more than two-thirds of those killed were women and children; Israel says it has killed thousands of militants.

After the war, “there’ll be no Arab troops going to Gaza. None. We’re not going to be seen as the enemy,” Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, told a conference in Bahrain organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “How could anybody talk about the future of Gaza when we do not know what kind of Gaza will be left once this aggression ends?”

Gaza’s main power plant shut down early in the war, and Israel has cut off electricity. That makes fuel necessary to power the generators needed to run the telecommunications network, water treatment plants, sanitation facilities, hospitals and other critical infrastructure.

Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for the agency for Palestinian refugees, said 120,000 liters (31,700 gallons) of fuel arrived , meant to last for two days, after Israel agreed Friday to allow in that amount for the U.N.’s use. It is also allowing another 10,000 liters (2,642 gallons) to keep the telecommunications systems running.

The U.N. has warned that Gaza’s 2.3 million people are running critically short of food and water, and said the amount of fuel being provided is only half of the daily minimum requirement. It was not immediately clear when UNRWA would resume the delivery of aid that was put on hold Friday.

Gaza has received only 10% of its required food supplies each day in shipments from Egypt, according to the U.N., and the water system shutdown has left most of the population drinking contaminated water, causing an outbreak of disease. Dehydration and malnutrition are growing, with nearly all residents in need of food, according to the U.N.’s World Food Program.

In Jerusalem, thousands of marchers — including families of more than 50 hostages — were arriving on the last leg of a five-day trek from Tel Aviv calling on the government to do more to rescue some 240 hostages held by Hamas. Many are furious with the government for refusing to tell them more about what is being done to rescue them.

Israel has signaled plans to expand its offensive south, where most of Gaza’s population is now sheltering, including hundreds of thousands of people who heeded Israel’s calls to evacuate Gaza City and the north ahead of its ground offensive.

People continued to move south. Some recovered bodies of strangers along the way. “I found these young men inside the car. The car was destroyed,” said Moemen Abu Erban, one man on the move. The bodies had been placed on a horse cart and covered with blankets. “Frankly, it is a difficult thing. There is complete destruction.”

Elsewhere, the Israeli military said its aircraft struck what it described as a hideout for militants in the urban refugee camp of Balata in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said five Palestinians were killed.

The deaths raised to 212 the number of Palestinians killed in West Bank violence since the war began, making it the deadliest period in the territory since the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s.

source https://time.com/6337235/most-shifa-hospital-patients-staff-and-displaced-leave-as-israel-strikes-gazas-north-and-south/

How to Prepare for the Busy Thanksgiving Travel Season This Year

More than 55 million people are expected to travel in the U.S. to share a Thanksgiving meal next week, marking what experts say is the busiest travel season of the year.  

Most people will be driving for the holiday making roads congested, especially on Nov. 22, according to data from AAA. But another 4.7 million people are also expected to fly out of their local airports during the holiday travel period. 

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To ensure that people are making the most of their holiday and getting to their destinations as planned, experts say people should plan proactively. 

“For many Americans, Thanksgiving and travel go hand in hand, and this holiday, we expect more people on the roads, skies, and seas compared to 2022,” said Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel.

TIME spoke to experts about how to prepare for Thanksgiving travel. Here’s what they said. 

Prioritize car maintenance before hitting the road

Some 49 million Americans are driving to see family and loved ones for the holiday. With so many people behind the wheel, experts say it is important to schedule a quick car service before making the trip. 

“Make sure your tires are properly inflated, your fluid is topped off, and your battery is in good shape. Now is the time to do that because you don’t want to have something that could have been fixed with routine maintenance go wrong while you’re on the road,” says AAA spokesperson Andrew Gross. 

Try to avoid road traffic

Data from AAA suggests that people should hit the road before 11:00 a.m. if they are planning to travel the day before Thanksgiving. Families who live 100 miles or less from the Thanksgiving hosts can also opt to travel that same Thursday if it’s before 10:00 a.m. to avoid traffic. 

When returning from the holiday weekend, AAA research shows that streets are busiest between 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. You can check the peak congestion times of major U.S. cities like New York and Seattle, here. 

Gross adds that people should pack snacks and an emergency kit in the car to avoid unnecessarily stopping. “If you don’t have to pull over to grab something to eat, that will probably help,” he says. 

Check for weather delays

Travelers should make sure to check for possible weather hazards days in advance in case it would be better to leave earlier or later than expected. 

A new Accuweather report forecasts a large storm across the central and eastern U.S. that is scheduled to hit on Tuesday and could pose a problem for travelers. “A storm will develop along a slow-moving cold front and will produce moderate to heavy rain from the Ohio and Tennessee valleys to the East Coast…,” said Accuweather long-range expert Paul Pastelok. The storm  is expected to last until Wednesday, and could cause flight cancellations or extend travel time in several metro areas—including Atlanta, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. 

Disruptive weather should subside by Black Friday, experts say, making the return home much easier. 

Prepare to make the airport process smooth

Jo Franco, a well-known travel influencer, suggests people flying figure out their “security strategy” before arriving at the airport. That can look like enrolling in programs such as TSA Precheck or Clear to help save time, although wait times for these services are still going to take longer than usual during the holiday. She also says others can ease the security process by abiding by guidelines that can be found here, to avoid an additional security check for your luggage.

Gross says that people can also save time by reserving airport parking ahead of time if need be. He adds that those who are traveling for a shorter amount of time should avoid checking a bag, if possible. Downloading their airline’s app to be notified of any last-minute gate changes, delays or cancellations is also helpful. 

Booking last-minute flight deals

Since Thanksgiving is swiftly approaching, Franco notes flights will be limited and pricier. For those booking last-minute flights, the best option may be to mix and match different airlines. “Look at flying out with one airline and back with another or out of one airport and back into another. Comparing and contrasting dates, providers, departure airports and destinations will enable you to find the best deal available for your needs,” Laura Lindsay, Skyscanner travel editor, says.

Priceline data shared with TIME shows that flights cost less on the actual day of Thanksgiving. Travelers who extend their weekend and return between Nov. 27-30 can save nearly 30% on domestic flights, when compared to traveling on Sunday, Nov. 26. 

Consider flight alternatives 

If you are really on a tight budget, consider alternatives to flying like a bus or train. Tickets may appear more expensive, but Franco says people should remember that transportation to and from the airport is an additional cost. “It might look cheaper to fly somewhere,” she says, but things might change “when you factor in the stress of airport travel and the expensive ubers to the airports.” 

But ultimately, experts say that whatever mode of transportation you take, be aware that any trip will be longer than usual. “Thanksgiving, it’s kind of viewed as an obligatory holiday. It’s intensely family oriented,” says Gross. “It’s probably the busiest holiday of the year.”

source https://time.com/6336808/how-to-prepare-for-thanksgiving-travel/

Saltburn Is a Black Comedy That’s Too Eager to Shock

In general, there’s nothing wrong with movies that remind us of other movies. This is how genres rejuvenate themselves across the decades, building on themes and moods that have come before. But a movie’s tone, maybe even more than its plot, is everything, and that’s where writer-director Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn fails. Saltburn—which, seemingly intentionally, tears more than a few deckled-edge pages from Brideshead Revisited and The Talented Mr. Ripley—isn’t just about class envy and repressed desire. There’s something arch and self-satisfied about it as a work; it’s a satire served up with a sneer rather than a conspiratorial wink, as if Fennell knows stuff you don’t and isn’t interested in allowing you inside her club. Saltburn begins with a mildly intriguing premise. But Fennell can’t seem to distinguish dark, transgressive pleasures from outright unpleasantness, and the whole enterprise ends with an acrid aftertaste.

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The setting is Oxford University circa the early 2000s. Barry Koeghan, who gave such a crushing performance as the lovesick Dominic in The Banshees of Inisherin, is Oliver Quick, a freshman who shows up with the wrong clothes, the wrong luggage, the wrong everything. He desperately wants to fit in, but the kids from the fancier families look right through him. He gazes from afar at one shimmering god in particular: Felix Catton (played by Jacob Elordi, recently seen as Elvis Presley in Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla) is one of those young men who moves through the world like a cool breeze. Everyone likes him, especially the girls. He’s at ease with everyone and jealous of no one, because he’s never had to fight for anything. And unlike Oliver, he comes from a hugely rich, titled family. Oliver yearns to be Felix’s friend, or maybe more, but he’s left stammering on the sidelines, terrified at even attempting to make contact.

Read more: The 100 Best Movies of the Past 10 Decades

Then a miracle happens: Oliver, biking home from class one day, spots Felix sitting near the road, his own bike felled by a flat tire. Oliver sees his chance: gallantly, he loans his bicycle to Felix, who gratefully accepts. After this, Felix takes a surprising interest in Oliver, inviting him into his circle of friends, even though these are generally disdainful kids who point at Oliver behind his back, mocking him for his OxFam wardrobe. Worst of all is Farleigh Start (Archie Madekwe), Felix’s cousin, who’s dependent on the charity of Felix’s family and sees Oliver as a rival. Still, Oliver barrels through, courting Felix’s friendship, if not his romantic affection. And Felix takes pity on him: Oliver has explained that his parents are drug addicts, so hopelessly messed up he’s had to cut ties with them. At the end of the school term, Oliver has nowhere to go for the summer, and Felix makes a cheerful suggestion: Why doesn’t Oliver join him at his family’s estate, Saltburn? It’ll be a lark. Oliver doesn’t want to be pitied, but reluctantly, he accepts.

The fun of Saltburn, or at least whatever fun it has to offer, lies in not knowing who the villains are. Farleigh, also spending the summer at Saltburn, is the most obvious antagonist; he wields his haughtiness like a clanking sword. There’s a butler, Duncan (Paul Rhys), who seems to have it out for Oliver from the beginning, sneering at him with the kind of snobbery that only a dedicated servant of the rich can summon. Felix has an emotionally fragile sister, Venetia (Alison Oliver), whose motives are hard to discern at first. And Felix himself is, for much of the movie, blankly enigmatic. He’s kind enough to Oliver. But what does he want, really? Upon Oliver’s arrival, he leads his less-fortunate friend on a tour of the family house, pointing out its many artifacts and wonders, including room after room filled with paintings of “dead rellies” and a bed that reportedly “still has Henry VIII’s spunk on it.” It’s all rather jolly, until Felix informs his friend that the family insists on dressing for dinner—and offers one of his own discarded dinner jackets, knowing Oliver won’t have brought anything suitable.

What’s going on here? Who’s zoomin’ who? As Oliver settles in at Saltburn, he becomes emboldened, happy to play at being something he’s not. (It’s also revealed that he’s exceptionally well-endowed, a fact we eventually get to confirm with our own eyes.) But the film becomes more sour with every twist; it wears its grim determination to shock like a family crest. There’s grandness in its setting: the house, with all its brooding wood molding and dusty tapestries, is clearly a place of secrets. (These portions of the film were shot at Drayton House in Northamptonshire, a private residence.) But like Fennell’s debut film, Promising Young Woman—which netted her the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay—Saltburn is more clever than it is smart. Promising Young Woman presented complicated ideas about consent only to roll them into one big, obvious teachable moment. Saltburn riffs on the psychology of sociopaths with little wit or subtlety. Instead of seducing us with wicked treachery, it draws big neon signs around its vision of the dark side of human nature, just to make sure we get the point.

But there’s at least a cream-dollop of pleasure to be had in watching some of Saltburn’s performances. Carey Mulligan pops in as a kooky family friend, with fuzzy, rock-star-girlfriend hair and a penchant for rhinestone Union Jack accessories, who eyes Oliver as if he were a delectable prize. Richard E. Grant is mildly delightful as Sir James Catton, Felix’s dotty, seemingly benign father. But the movie really belongs to Rosamund Pike, as Felix’s mother, the posh girl turned mistress of the manor Elsbeth, Lady Catton. Elsbeth swirls through the house, and the movie, in an assortment of elegant-eccentric caftans and evening dresses, her eyebrows perpetually arched in either faux or sincere superiority. Elsbeth gets by on a mix of shrewd wisdom and glorious, feathery upper-crust cluelessness. It’s little wonder Oliver is enchanted by her. But the movie around her is too smug by half. Elsbeth deserves her own picture, maybe one exploring the story of how she just may have, as she alludes in Saltburn, inspired Pulp to write “Common People.” Now that would be a movie.

source https://time.com/6336017/saltburn/