The NHL team in Salt Lake City is now known as the Utah Mammoth.

Owners Ryan and Ashley Smith unveiled the franchise’s permanent name Wednesday after more than a year of fan input and voting.

“From Day 1, we committed that this team would be built with and for the people of Utah, and we are excited to celebrate today’s launch with the entire state,” they said in a statement announcing the name. “The community chose the Utah Mammoth brand, and it stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from and the unstoppable force we’re building together.”

Mammoth replaces the inaugural season placeholder name Utah Hockey Club, which was also one of the three finalists. Yeti was taken out of consideration when the cooler company bearing that name could not come to a copyright agreement with Utah ownership, and Wasatch — a reference to the state’s mountain range — was quickly replaced as an option by Outlaws.

The Mammoth are maintaining the same black, light blue and white color scheme and the road jerseys with UTAH diagonally down the front. The logo includes a nod to the mountains, the shape of the state and a curved tusk that forms a “U.”

Mammoth fossils have been found throughout Utah, including a complete skeleton in Huntington Canyon in 1988. The team said “Tusks Up” will be its rallying cry.

Utah has an exciting summer ahead holding the fourth pick in the draft, the first phase of arena renovations taking place and more than $20 million in salary cap space for general manager Bill Armstrong to make a splash in free agency and trades. With young talent like captain Clayton Keller, budding star forward Logan Cooley, two-time Stanley Cup champion Mikhail Sergachev and emerging goaltender Karel Vejmelka, the Mammoth could contend for a playoff spot as soon as next season.

The rebranding comes less than 13 months since Smith Entertainment group bought the team previously known as the Arizona Coyotes from former owner Alex Meruelo and moved it to Salt Lake City. The Coyotes played in the Phoenix area since 1996 after moving there from Winnipeg, where the team was the original Jets.

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By CARLA K. JOHNSON, AP Medical Writer

A combination shot for flu and COVID-19 using messenger RNA generated antibodies in a study, but U.S. government regulators want to see data on whether the new vaccine protects people from getting sick.

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Researchers from vaccine-maker Moderna reported in a study published Wednesday that the new combo shot generated a stronger immune response against COVID-19 and most strains of flu than existing standalone shots in people 50 and older. Side effects were injection site pain, fatigue and headaches. Moderna previously reported a summary of the results from the company-sponsored trial in 8,000 people.

The mRNA technology is used in approved COVID-19 and RSV shots, but has not yet been approved for a flu shot. Moderna believes mRNA could speed up production of flu shots compared with traditional processes that use chicken eggs or giant vats of cells. A combo shot also might improve vaccination rates, the researchers wrote in the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Greg Poland, who studies vaccine response at Mayo Clinic and was not involved in the new study, said he’s not convinced that a combo shot would be popular. And while flu comes in seasonal waves, COVID-19 has been spreading throughout the year, Poland said, posing challenges for how to time the shots to keep protection strong.

He’d also like to see data on how well the new shot protected people from infection and hospitalization.

The findings are based on measuring antibodies in participants’ blood after 29 days, an indication of short-term disease protection.

Last week, Moderna pushed its target date for the vaccine’s approval to 2026 after the Food and Drug Administration requested a more direct measure: how much the shot lowered the risk of disease.

“I agree in this case with FDA that efficacy data are important to see,” Poland said.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has cast doubt on the safety of mRNA vaccines, but Moderna President Stephen Hoge told investors in an earnings call last week that talks with the FDA were productive and “business as usual.”

Also last week, Novavax said the FDA was asking the company to run a new clinical trial of its protein-based COVID-19 vaccine after the agency grants full approval, sowing uncertainty about other vaccine updates.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

By MORIAH BALINGIT, AP Education Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Education Department to undo a freeze on the last of the U.S. relief money given to schools to help students recover academically from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The federal government provided $189 billion in aid money for schools during the crisis, giving them broad latitude in how to spend it.

Nearly all that money had been spent, but some school districts received deadline extensions that gave them additional time to use it. Districts spent it on things like after-school tutoring, summer school, social workers, college counselors, library books and renovations to make school buildings safer.

On March 28, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to school officials saying she had moved the deadline up — to that very day. She said the department would consider releasing some funds, but only on a project-by-project basis.

“Extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities,” McMahon said.

Officials in sixteen states and the District of Columbia sued in response, leading to Tuesday’s order from U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos in New York City.

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has unilaterally cut education funding and downsized the Education Department, leading to numerous legal challenges. The Trump administration also cut teacher-training programs that helped rural schools combat educator shortages and has threatened to withhold funding from schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By MAURA CAREY

The $2.8 billion NCAA settlement awaiting final approval from a federal judge is touted as a solution for thousands of athletes to finally get the money they deserve and provide some clarity to recruiting. For some, it’s too late.

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Sophomore distance runner Jake Rimmel says he was one of five walk-ons cut from Virginia Tech’s cross country team after Thanksgiving break. Rimmel decided to take a leave of absence and train independently while considering his next move – something that’s proven easier said than done.

“Everyone’s got their hands tied right now, so there’s just not many opportunities for me,” Rimmel told the Associated Press. “I’ve just been having to bet on myself and trust the process. It’s just been lonely. I’ve been at home training by myself and living with my family again. Thank God for my family and all, I appreciate them. It’s still kind of lonely though, being out of the norm, not being at school and with my friends.”

Pending approval, the so-called House settlement will allow schools to share revenue with athletes directly for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). That could secure generational wealth for some but not others, and replacing scholarship caps with roster limitations is expected to leave walk-ons, partial scholarship earners, non-revenue sport athletes and high school recruits at risk. There are deep concerns about the potential impact on sports that feed the U.S. Olympic teams.

U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken told attorneys handling the settlement to come back to her with a plan soon to protect athletes currently or recently on rosters at schools across the country, a request seen as a way to soften the blow.

What that looks like is anyone’s guess for now, but thousands of athletes like Rimmel have no idea where they might be this fall or are in jeopardy of no longer playing college sports at all. And many athletes balancing school and their sport are unaware of what’s at stake and have more questions than answers.

Belmont track and field athlete Sabrina Ootsburg said everything she knows about the settlement is from personal research.

“My school doesn’t do a lot of education around it (the settlement). Every now and then, we’ll be told, ‘Hey, if you want to sign up to potentially get some money from this House settlement that’s happening, you can do that,’” Ootsburg said. “It’s almost like the education we’re being given is optional to consume, even though it’s limited.”

Oostburg is used to taking matters into her own hands, securing over 50 NIL deals by herself. She has contacted lawyers and asked for updates on the settlement, but she’s not quite reassured. The chaotic nature of college athletics so obvious to the public is even worse for the athletes themselves.

“Being a college athlete, it’s so hard to stay up to date with what’s happening every day because it’s so constantly changing,” she said.

FILE – The NCAA logo is displayed at center court at The Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, March 18, 2015. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

Smaller, non-revenue-generating programs don’t often have a point person to navigate NIL deals or educate athletes. At Belmont, Ootsburg said, NIL-related responsibilities are managed by an already busy compliance office.

“To take time to learn about what’s happening is just so time-consuming, especially if you’re not in that one percent or one of the football players where they have people dedicated to helping them stay up to date,” she said.

For now, thousands of athletes are trying to wrap up their spring semesters and many of them have league tournaments or even NCAA championship competition ahead before what many expect will be the final summer before college sports sees some of the most dramatic changes in history. For athletes like Rimmel, those changes are already here.

Some of the others cut from the Virginia Tech program have given up on their dreams of collegiate running altogether. Rimmel hasn’t given up completely; he spoke with his former coach recently, who said the Hokies’ athletics department is still trying to figure out what’s to come.

“I’m still kind of hoping I might be able to find my way back there next fall,” he said.

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports