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USA Today
6 days ago
- Business
- USA Today
Lloyd Howell resigns as NFLPA executive director
The NFL Players Association is going to need a new leader. NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. announced his resignation Thursday evening. "It's clear that my leadership has become a distraction to the important work the NFLPA advances every day. For this reason, I have informed the NFLPA Executive Committee that I am stepping down as Executive Director of the NFLPA and Chairman of the Board of NFL Players effective immediately," Howell said in a statement. "I hope this will allow the NFLPA to maintain its focus on its player members ahead of the upcoming season." Howell had come under intense scrutiny in recent days and weeks following the "Pablo Torre Finds Out" podcast's release of a 61-page arbitration report. In January, Christopher Droney, an independent arbitrator, dismissed a grievance raised by the NFLPA, ruling there wasn't sufficient evidence of collusion by NFL owners. However, the contents of his report included a finding that the NFL encouraged owners "to reduce guarantees in future contracts with players at the March 2022 annual meeting." ESPN reported Wednesday that the NFL and NFLPA made an "unusual confidentiality agreement" to keep the findings of the arbitration report secret. "By agreeing to a confidentiality agreement, the union purposefully blocked the players from receiving crucial information about the operations of the NFL," attorney Peter Ginsberg said via ESPN. "The NFL and the union should not be conspiring together to keep important information from the players." NFL CONTROVERSY: In stunning ruling, arbitrator finds league encouraged collusion ESPN reports Lloyd Howell has side job with conflict of interest Further controversy surrounding Howell emerged on July 10. ESPN reported that Howell, in addition to his job as head of the players' union, was working as a "paid, part-time consultant for The Carlyle Group," a private equity firm that the NFL approved to seek minority ownership stakes in its teams. Howell had started the consulting gig months before starting his role as the NFLPA's executive director. He refused to step down from his role with The Carlyle Group after taking the NFLPA job, ESPN reported. "It would be an outrageous conflict for the head of a labor union to have an interest in a third party that is aligned with the NFL," NFLPA's former lead outside counsel Jim Quinn said via ESPN. "The relationship between a labor organization and the employer organization is adversarial by definition, and as a result, as a leader, you have to be absolutely clear and clean as to having no even appearance of conflict." A representative for The Carlyle Group told ESPN in a statement that Howell "had no access to information about the NFL and Carlyle process" and that she was unaware of the union's request he leave his consulting position. USA TODAY Sports has also confirmed an ESPN report that the NFLPA hired law firm Wilmer Hale last month to look into Howell's actions as the union's executive director. NFLPA: NFL and players union agreed to keep collusion findings secret, per report Howell involved in previous legal controversies Prior to Howell's election as the union's new executive director, he served as the chief financial officer for technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton between 2016 and 2022. In July 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Booz Allen paid out a $377 million settlement resulting from a whistleblower lawsuit that alleged the firm had been overcharging the federal government. The Washington Post reported that the whistleblower had notified top executives, including Howell, of the overcharging issue for months. The NFLPA had hired Howell as its executive director just one month before the announcement of Booz Allen's settlement.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
From competition to couple: 'Destination X' stars come out, announce they're dating
Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald knew they were in for the adventure of a lifetime when they joined the NBC reality competition show Destination X. But they didn't know they'd also find love, the pair tells Out in an exclusive interview. Destination X, hosted by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, features a group of contestants who are transported around Europe while blindfolded. They have to use clues to guess where they are, and the person whose guess is farthest from the correct answer is eliminated. Even though the game was every person for themself, Bross and Fitzgerald teamed up on the show's first challenge after bonding over both living in Texas. However, when Fitzgerald won an advantage and almost saved fellow contestant Biggy instead of Bross, the two lost trust in each other. By the time Fitzgerald was eliminated last week and Bross this week, they were back in an alliance, but were nothing more than friends. Destination X stars Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald smiling at each other on the Krosny/NBC In her intro on the show, Bross says she came into the game hoping to find Mr. Right. She was always looking for a husband, but she never got past a certain point when dating men. She had gone on dates with two girls she "kind of had crushes on," but when they weren't compatible, she assumed she must be straight. "But then I had so many relationships with guys where I just didn't feel that we could relate on an intellectual or emotional level. It almost was like, something's off here," she says. "And I only ever really wanted to be in relationships with men who I constantly needed to get approval from. It was like I was constantly working to be their idea of what a good girlfriend should be." "And yeah, every guy I met I did think was my husband," she says. "And maybe it was so easy to let go of all my husbands because I was going to have a wife." For a while, Ally did think she might've found Mr. Right when she began a showmance with contestant Shayne Cureton, and the two even continued dating for a short time after the show. Destination X stars Ally Bross and Shayne Pattaro/NBC After being on Destination X, Bross and Fitzgerald started hanging out simply because they lived eight minutes from each other in Austin, Texas. "I had found her Destination X water bottle on the bus, and I nabbed it. And I was like, 'I'm going to bring it back to her.' So I brought it back to her, and then we started hanging out a lot," Bross says. That first hangout included spending time eating crab rangoon and watching lesbian singer Chappell Roan's performances. Fitzgerald jokes that the sapphic pop "kind of put the seeds in" for their blossoming romance. Bross didn't fully realize her feelings for Fitzgerald until the two went on a trip together for a YouTube series they started together called Where the F Are We?. The series, like Destination X, features the pair taking each other on blindfolded journeys where they must guess their location. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald on Bross and Mack Fitzgerald (PROVIDED) On a trip to Finland, Bross says, her feelings for Fitzgerald solidified. "While we were in Finland, we were staying in this tiny little cabin that had just these two little twin beds. And I don't know if it's in the Finnish air or something, but I just suddenly had such a big crush on Mack," she says. "I was feeling like, 'Wait, this is way bigger than what it was before.' Before I knew I really wanted Mack to like me, I really wanted her around all the time. I was sad when she would leave my house. But it was really in Finland where I realized I had feelings for her." Bross reveals that it was a drunk airplane ride where those feelings were revealed. The two were separately filming content for their YouTube videos when she filmed herself "basically admitting my feelings for her" on camera. Bross had planned not to say anything, but when the pair started going through their videos together, her confession came up."I was so exposed," Bross says. "She watched it, and I was like, 'Oh my God, it's so embarrassing." Before dating Bross, Fitzgerald always identified as asexual and didn't believe in love. It wasn't until she thought about her feelings for Bross that she changed her mind. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald kissing and at a state fair.[Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald] (PROVIDED) "Once that was put on my radar, then I kind of had to ask myself what all of those little butterfly feelings were and kind of confront that," Fitzgerald says. "Then it was like, 'Oh, this is what people are talking about, this is the butterflies.'" "And then it was all of a sudden all I could think about was Ally and all I wanted to do was talk to Ally," she says. However, before they did anything, Bross had to break up with Cureton. She flew to Indiana to break up with him, then went to her grandparents' for Thanksgiving before returning to Austin and Fitzgerald. As soon as she did, Fitzgerald kissed her ("it was very smooth, I'll say," she brags). "And then I felt like everything inside of me exploded in a way that had never happened when I'd ever kissed anybody," Fitzgerald says. "And so then I was just like, 'Holy shit, this is what people are talking about. Fireworks and butterflies and... I don't know.' I still can't stop thinking about it even though we're together." Fitzgerald says that for most of her life, she thought everybody was "making up being in love." She even said that "coming home and having somebody be there" was her "absolute worst nightmare." "And then it's just like after even just one kiss, really, I was like, 'Oh, I was wrong.' Love is real. It's really good. It feels amazing. I don't want her to ever leave." Once they started dating, they immersed themselves in sapphic culture, watching things like The L Word, Blue is the Warmest Color, and The Ultimatum: Queer Love. They bought carabiners in every color and love to share clothes. They also took part in another long-held lesbian tradition: Uhauling. "I kissed her and never left her apartment," Fitzgerald jokes. "Yes, she never left. And now I live in her house," Bross adds. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald kissing and hugging in front of a forest.[Amanda Kioko] (PROVIDED) Bross says that coming out to her family and friends was "emotional," but happened quickly for her. She has a gay great uncle who has been with his husband since before she was born, so Bross knew her extended family would be accepting, but she was still nervous. "I'm the only granddaughter, and I didn't really know what everyone was going to say," she reveals. "My family has met a plethora of boyfriends that I said were going to be my husband. And they would always be so shocked when I would break up with a really nice one." Bross came out to her family over a long text. Her father said he knew how open-minded she is, and he wasn't surprised. Her mother was more surprised, but "not in a negative way," Bross says. "All of my friends were like, 'This makes sense. Duh, you're bi or queer or pan or whatever. We've all known this about you.' I was like, 'Really? Because I didn't know that. This is news to me!" "Coming out in general, no matter how you think people are going to react to it, it's scary. It feels so personal," Bross says. "And I was still coming to terms with the reality of it myself and facing a lot of comphet and things that I didn't really know how to explain until I did a bunch of research. Like, why am I feeling like this, you know? So it was even scary just internally. Once I say this to my family, this is real, right? And the whole world tells you to be one way. And yeah, it's scary to think that maybe you're a different way. But now it's the most beautiful thing in the world." Fitzgerald says that before this relationship, she never felt like she "was really attracted to anybody else." She'd get crushes on guys, but when they started dating, she'd just want to be best friends. "And then girls, I never felt attracted to, which is why I landed on asexual, somewhere around that spectrum," she says. "But then this is obviously not asexual, and so I understand that there's a spectrum." "I don't really care to figure it out because I know how I feel currently," she adds. "And hopefully this is forever, so it's not like I'm going to need to figure that out. But yeah, I'm happy with just being in love with Ally and that being the whole story." While Bross and Fitzgerald haven't publicly discussed their relationship before, some fans online have begun to suspect they might be more than just friends. Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald looking lovingly at each other.[Ally Bross and Mack Fitzgerald] (PROVIDED) Fitzgerald says it feels "cool" to see people rooting for them, even if it's just "12 people on Reddit." It encourages her to see that the fans "are already accepting and supportive and excited about this." Bross understands where the fans are coming from. As soon as she realized her feelings for Fitzgerald, she was starving for sapphic representation, including "real-life examples of people who have maybe experienced what I feel like I'm experiencing." "So when we have young girls who are in high school DMing us on Instagram like, 'Is it true? Are you a girl kisser? Are you and Mack together?' It does make me really happy. Because even just the last eight months, anytime there's any mention of a queer couple, we're like, 'We got to watch that. We're watching that. I'm tuned in." Bross says that being part of the queer community has "been really liberating." Next up, the couple is going on a trip to Europe. When they get back, they're looking forward to attending Austin Pride and visiting some of their Destination X friends. They also have trips to Canada, Tokyo, and all around Asia planned. They'd love to go on another reality show, this time as a couple. "I have this fantasy pipe dream in my head that we could both go on Traitors at the same time," Bross says. "There was a couple (Marcus Jordan and Larsa Pippen on Season 2), so come on, NBC, I know you're listening!" This article originally appeared on Out: From competition to couple: 'Destination X' stars come out, announce they're dating RELATED Top 10 LGBTQ+ beach towns perfect for Pride and summer fun This LGBTQ+ Family Went Swimming with Whale Sharks Solve the daily Crossword
NBC Sports
6 days ago
- Politics
- NBC Sports
NFL says it didn't hide JC Tretter grievance ruling from owners and key team personnel
The latest episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out, featuring a second guest appearance by yours truly, focused in part on another grievance ruling that the NFL and NFL Players Association concealed. In response to my suggestion that the outcome of the grievance regarding former NFLPA president (and current NFLPA chief strategy officer) JC Tretter's suggestion that disgruntled players fake injuries was hidden by the league from its teams, the NFL sent this statement: 'Not accurate as the league fulfilled its responsibility by informing ownership and key personnel. The league presented the results of the grievance to ownership and club personnel at the March league meetings in Palm Beach. Coaches and GMs were briefed on the decision and its impact during a session the first day of the meetings. Ownership was told in a separate meeting.' That said, we previously asked a G.M. about the fake-injury grievance. After he said, 'Fake injury grievance?? Remind me?' I said, 'Tretter suggested running backs should fake injuries. League filed a grievance.' The response from the G.M.? 'I don't know anything about that.' Even if the ruling was showcased during the March league meetings in Palm Beach, nothing was reported about it until today. This clear victory for the league wasn't leaked to most-favored-nation reporters like Mark Maske of the Washington Post or, you know, any of the reporters who are employed directly by the league. It was a win. A slam dunk. Why would the NFL hide it? And while the league insists it wasn't hidden from the teams, it was hidden from the public. And it dovetails nicely with the NFLPA hiding the collusion ruling. In this context, it's more of an NFLPA problem, in our view, than an NFL problem. Still, the NFL downplayed its win. Why would the NFL do that, if it wasn't getting something in return. Something like, say, the NFLPA downplaying its partial victory in the collusion case? Quid pro quo. In English, this for that.
Boston Globe
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Andrea Gibson, spoken-word artist who poignantly wrote about gender and a terminal diagnosis, dies at 49
Advertisement Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Their wife, Megan Falley, Since being diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer in 2021, some of Andrea's work focused on how accepting mortality enriches life. 'The funniest thing through this time is that folks will interact with me as if I'm going through something that they're not going through,' really want people to know that they are.' Advertisement Andrea said that in facing death, 'you tap into the brevity of something and all of a sudden everything becomes more special,' and added that 'there is so much more time in a moment than there is in a decade.' 'Andrea was truly a rock star poet,' comedian and writer Tig Notaro, a longtime friend who is an executive producer on the documentary, The current poet laureate of Colorado, Andrea published several books, 'Renowned for thought-provoking poetry, advocacy for arts in education, and a unique ability to connect with the vast and diverse poetry lovers of Colorado, Andrea was truly one of a kind and will be deeply missed,' Advertisement In a 2017 essay for Out magazine, Andrea wrote about having struggled with the language of identity. 'For a while I reluctantly claimed bisexual . Then gay . Some years later I was proudly calling myself a dyke," they wrote. 'But when queer found its way to me I threw myself a pride parade, and when I learned the word genderqueer it felt like hearing someone say my name right for the first time in my life.' Born in 1975, 'I was from Calais, Maine/spelled like Calais, France/said like the rough patches on all the millworkers' hands,' Andrea wrote in 'How I Became a Poet.' Basketball success led to attending St. Joseph's College in Standish, Maine. 'The first time I came out I was 20 years old, studying creative writing at a very Catholic college,' Andrea wrote in the Out essay. 'When I say very I mean many of my teachers were monks and nuns and I was playing college basketball for — no joke — The Lady Monks.' The college went on to make 'some huge strides,' wrote Andrea, who was invited back to the campus a few months after the 2016 shootings at the Pulse LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Fla., 'to share all of my queerest poems with students and staff — monks and nuns included.' Advertisement Andrea's unflinching poetry addressed rape, the mistreatment of children, and numerous flashpoint issues. 'It's a political art form. You're trying to write to change minds and hearts,' Nevertheless, 'I remind myself of that night whenever the political climate of our world is breaking my heart,' Andrea wrote in Out of returning to read at St. Joseph's. 'It's important to notice when things change for the better. It's crucial to our spirits, imperative to the longevity of our activism, and is essential in our own becoming. I never want to stop becoming.' In one poem Andrea wrote: 'A difficult life is not less/worth living than a gentle one./Joy is simply easier to carry/than sorrow.' Moving to Colorado in the late 1990s, Andrea was immediately notable in what Notaro described as the state's community of activists, artists, and comedians. Seeing Andrea perform one night, 'I witnessed the pure essence of an old-school GENUINE rock star,' Notaro wrote on Instagram. 'I couldn't believe the roller coaster of emotion,' Notaro wrote. 'When Andrea stepped on stage, everyone stepped onto that ride with an audience of strangers, holding onto each other for dear life, each person taken aback by their own deep sobs of reflective tears, and then immediately into deep healing laughter.' According to Andrea's Instagram account, they died at 4:16 a.m. Monday 'surrounded by their wife, Meg, four ex-girlfriends, In addition to Andrea's wife and parents, survivors include a sister, Laura, whom Andrea wrote and spoke about. A complete list of survivors and plans for memorial gatherings were not immediately available. Advertisement My love, I was so wrong. Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before. I am more with you than I ever could have imagined. 'I think that the artist's primary job is to tell the truth, but I think that there is an additional job, which is to create hope, to inspire awe,' Andrea said in the April 2024 video. 'I think the poet's job is to remind us that we were born astonished. I have since learned that we are never, ever supposed to grow out of that.' Bryan Marquard can be reached at
Boston Globe
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Poet Andrea Gibson, candid explorer of life, death and identity, dies at 49
The film — exploring the couple's enduring love as Gibson battles cancer — is directed by Ryan White and includes an original song written by Gibson, Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile. During a screening at Sundance in January that left much of the audience in tears, Gibson said they didn't expect to live long enough to see the documentary. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Tributes poured in Monday from friends, fans and fellow poets who said Gibson's words had changed their lives — and, in some cases, saved them. Many LGBTQ+ fans said Gibson's poetry helped them learn to love themselves. People with cancer and other terminal illnesses said Gibson made them less afraid of death by reminding them that we never really leave the ones we love. Advertisement In a poem Gibson wrote shortly before they died, titled 'Love Letter from the Afterlife,' they wrote: 'Dying is the opposite of leaving. When I left my body, I did not go away. That portal of light was not a portal to elsewhere, but a portal to here. I am more here than I ever was before.' Advertisement Linda Williams Stay was 'awestruck' when her son, Aiden, took her to hear Gibson perform at a bar in San Francisco a decade ago. Their poetry was electrifying, lighting up the room with laughter, tears and love. Gibson's poetry became a shared interest for the mother and son, and eventually helped Stay better understand her son when he came out as transgender. 'My son this morning, when he called, we just sobbed together,' Stay said. 'He says, 'Mom, Andrea saved my life.'' 'I know,' she responded. Gibson's poetry later helped Stay cope with a cancer diagnosis of her own, which brought her son back home to St. George, Utah, to help take care of her. They were delighted when Gibson accepted their invitation to perform at an event celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in southern Utah. 'It was truly life-changing for our community down there, and even for our allies,' Stay said. 'I hope that they got a glimpse of the magnitude of their impact for queer kids in small communities that they gave so much hope to.' Gibson was born in Maine and moved to Colorado in the late 1990s, where they had served the past two years as the state's poet laureate. Their books included 'You Better Be Lightning,' 'Take Me With You' and 'Lord of the Butterflies.' Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Monday that Gibson was 'truly one of a kind' and had 'a unique ability to connect with the vast and diverse poetry lovers of Colorado.' Advertisement In a 2017 essay published in Out magazine, Gibson remembered coming out at age 20 while studying creative writing at Saint Joseph's College of Maine, a Catholic school. Identifying as genderqueer, Gibson wrote that they didn't feel like a boy or a girl and cited a line of their poetry: 'I am happiest on the road/ When I'm not here or there — but in-between.' Comedian Tig Notaro, an executive producer on the documentary and Gibson's friend of 25 years, shared on Instagram how the two came up together as performers in Colorado. Hearing Gibson perform for the first time was like witnessing the 'pure essence of an old-school genuine rock star,' and their words have guided Notaro through life ever since, she said. 'The final past few days of Andrea's life were so painful to witness, but simultaneously one of the most beautiful experiences of all of our lives,' Notaro said. 'Surrounded by real human connection unfolding in the most unlikely ways during one of the most devastating losses has given me a gift that I will never be able to put into meaningful words.' Gibson's illness inspired many poems about mortality, depression, life and what happens next. In the 2021 poem 'How the Worst Day of My Life Became My Best,' Gibson declared 'When I realized the storm/was inevitable, I made it/my medicine.' Two years later, they wondered: 'Will the afterlife be harder if I remember/the people I love, or forget them?' 'Either way, please let me remember.'
