By DANIELLA MATAR, AP Sports Writer

MILAN (AP) — The Winter Paralympics officially start on Friday, with the opening ceremony in Verona, Italy.

With more than 600 Para athletes and 79 sets of medals to be awarded, Milan Cortina will feature a record number of athletes and medals.

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They will compete across six sports: Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country skiing, Para ice hockey, Para snowboard and wheelchair curling.

In the skiing sports — Para alpine skiing, Para biathlon, Para cross-country skiing — athletes compete in one of three categories: standing, sitting (on a sit-ski or monoski) or vision impaired (who race following a guide connected via radio).

Guides also receive medals.

Within each of these three categories skiers compete in different divisions depending on their functional ability. A results calculation system determines the factored time of each athlete, which allows athletes from different divisions to race against each other.

Here’s a look at the sports:

Para alpine skiing

Introduced at the first Winter Paralympics in 1976, it includes five events: slalom, giant slalom, super-G, downhill and super combined.

There are 30 medal events — 15 for men and 15 for women.

In the sitting category, athletes use a specialized monoski, a seat mounted on a single ski with a shock absorber that helps with riding on uneven terrain and making turns.

In Para biathlon and Para cross-country, the sit-ski is a sitting device mounted on a pair of cross country skis.

Para alpine skiing will take place on the Olympia delle Tofane course in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the same iconic course that held the women’s alpine skiing at the recently concluded Winter Olympics.

FILE – Patrick Halgren of the United States reacts after competing in the men’s slalom, standing at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, Sunday, March 13, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, file)

Para biathlon

Combines the strength and endurance of cross-country skiing with the precision and composure of target shooting.

There are three events in each class — 7.5-kilometer sprint, 12.5-kilometer individual and sprint pursuit — and men and women compete in separate races, for a total of 18 medal events.

The ski course is tackled several times and between each lap athletes shoot at five metal targets placed 10 meters away. For each missed shot they get a time penalty or have to ski a penalty loop, depending on the event.

Athletes with disabilities in the upper limbs can be assisted by their coaches in positioning the rifle and pulling the trigger at their direction. In the vision impairment category, athletes are aided by acoustic targets which indicate how close they are to the target before shooting.

The sport was introduced for athletes with physical disabilities at the 1988 Innsbruck Paralympic Games and for athletes with visual disabilities in 1992 at Albertville.

At Milan Cortina, Para biathlon will take place at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium.

FILE – Anja Wicker of Germany shoots during the women’s individual sitting event of para biathlon at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, Friday, March 11, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, file)

Para cross-country skiing

This will also take place in Tesero and has a total of 20 medal events.

There are three events for men and women (across the three categories): sprint, 10-kilometer interval start classic, 20-kilometer interval start free. There is also the mixed 4×2.5-kilometer relay, and open 4×2.5-kilometer relay.

For each competition, there are separate courses for athletes in the sitting category and for athletes in the standing and vision impaired categories. The courses for the athletes in the sitting category have lower gradients as the athletes rely on the upper body for pushing/pulling themselves forward while on a sit-ski.

A relay team can be made up of two, three or four athletes (plus guides as appropriate) with athletes able to ski more than one leg.

Para ice hockey

Para ice hockey was invented at a rehabilitation center in Stockholm, Sweden, during the early 1960s by a group of Swedes who, despite their physical impairment, wanted to continue playing hockey.

It debuted in the Winter Paralympics at Lillehammer in 1994 and involves athletes with a physical disability in their lower limbs. Matches consist of three 15-minute periods.

Rather than skates, players use double blade sledges that allow the puck to slide underneath and have two sticks, which have a spike-end for propulsion and a blade-end for handling the puck.

Para ice hockey is a mixed gender sport, although only two teams at Milan Cortina have a female in their squads — Japan and Slovakia.

Moreover, only three female ice hockey players have ever participated at the Paralympic Games: Norwegians Brit Mjaasund Oeyen in 1994 and Lena Schroeder at Pyeongchang in 2018, and Yu Jing of China at Beijing in 2022.

The United States will be looking to complete a three-peat, having won both the men’s and women’s tournaments at the recent Winter Olympics. The U.S. has also won the Para ice hockey at five of the past six editions of the Winter Paralympics, with only Canada interrupting that streak in 2006.

Competition will take place at the new Santagiulia arena in Milan. There are eight teams, split into two groups. The teams play each other team in their group once in a round-robin format, with the top two from each group advancing to the semifinals.

FILE – James Dunn of Canada battles for the puck against South Korea’s Kim Young-sung during their para ice hockey semifinal match at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, Friday, March 11, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, file)

Para snowboard

Debuted in Sochi in 2014 as part of the alpine skiing program, although there have been a varied number of events at subsequent Olympics.

At Milan Cortina there are two events across three categories for men depending on the disability and one category for women.

There are two categories for men with lower-limb impairments and one for those with upper-limb impairments, while there is one category for women with lower-limb impairments.

Para snowboarders with a disability affecting one or both legs can use prosthetics or modified equipment to compete.

The two events are banked slalom and snowboard cross and will take place in Cortina. In banked slalom, athletes get two individual runs down the course with their best time counting toward the final ranking.

The heats and the finals of the snowboard cross will see four athletes racing at the same time. The top two advance from the heats and then the first across the finish line in the final wins.

FILE – A Brazilan athlete starts during a training session ahead of Friday’s para snowboard event at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, Thursday, March 10, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiama, file)

Wheelchair curling

The mixed-team event for athletes with physical disabilities in their legs is celebrating its 20th anniversary after being introduced the last time the Paralympics were held in Italy, in 2006.

Players can choose whether to throw the stone alone or with a teammate who holds the wheelchair steady. Athletes can use an extender to add speed and direction.

There are eight ends per game, two less than games at the Olympics, and there is no sweeping.

Competition will take place at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium and the program will feature a mixed doubles competition for the first time as well as the regular mixed team event.

AP Winter Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games

By GEOFF MULVIHILL

Clocks will skip ahead an hour at 2 a.m. Sunday for daylight saving time in most of the U.S., creating a 23-hour day that throws off sleep schedules, plunges early-morning dog walks into darkness and inspires millions of complaints.

Even though polls show most people dislike the system that has most Americans changing clocks twice a year, the political moves necessary to change the system haven’t succeeded because opinions on the issue and its potential impacts are sharply divided.

Want to make daylight saving time permanent? That would mean the sun rises around 9 a.m. in Detroit for a while during the winter. Prefer staying on standard time year round? That would mean the sun would be up at 4:11 a.m. in Seattle in June.

“There’s no law we can pass to move the sun to our will,” said Jay Pea, the president of Save Standard Time, an organization devoted to switching to standard time for good.

Here’s a look at the debate.

Imposing a clock on a rotating planet causes a lot of headaches

Genie Lauren spends her winters in New York City keeping an eye on the sunrise and sunset “white-knuckling it” until the sun is up late enough for her to feel like doing anything outside her apartment after work — even going to the movies.

“The majority of the year we’re in daylight savings time,” said the 41-year-old health care worker. “What are we doing this for?”

The U.S. has tinkered with the clock intermittently since railroads standardized the time zones in 1883. So has a lot of the world. About 140 countries have had daylight saving time at some point; about half that many do now.

About 1 in 10 U.S. adults favor the current system of changing the clocks, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted last year. About half oppose that system, and some 4 in 10 didn’t have an opinion. If they had to choose, most Americans say they would prefer to make daylight saving time permanent, rather than standard time.

A dilemma for policymakers

Since 2018, 19 states — including much of the South and a block of states in the northwestern U.S. — have adopted laws calling for a move to permanent daylight saving time.

There’s a catch: Congress would need to pass a law to allow states to go to full-time daylight saving time, something that was in place nationwide during World War II and for an unpopular, brief stint in 1974.

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The U.S. Senate passed a bill in 2022 to move to permanent daylight saving time. A similar House bill hasn’t been brought to a vote.

U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama who introduces such a bill every term, said the airline industry, which doesn’t want the scheduling complexity a change would bring, has been a factor in persuading lawmakers not to take it up.

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, is proposing another approach.

“Why not just split the baby?” he asked. “Move it 30 minutes so it would be halfway between the two.”

Steube thinks his bill could get bipartisan support. The change would make the U.S. out of sync with most of the world — though India has taken a similar approach and in Nepal, the time is 15 minutes ahead of India.

FILE – The sun rises as fans walk up the first hole during a practice round for the 91st PGA Championship golf tournament at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

Sleep experts prefer more daylight in the morning

Karin Johnson, the vice president of the advocacy group Save Standard Time and a professor of neurology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, said permanent standard time — with the sun straight overhead close to noon — would help students, drivers and practically everyone else function better year-round.

“Morning light is what’s really critical for setting our circadian rhythms each day,” she said.

Kenneth Wright, a professor and director of the Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory at the University of Colorado, said the risk of fatal vehicle crashes, heart attacks and strokes increases in the days that follow turning the clock forward.

“Based on the evidence for our health and well-being and safety, the best option for us as a country now is to choose to go to permanent standard time,” he said.

Obstacles block change

Of all U.S. states, only Arizona — except the Navajo Nation — and Hawaii currently opt out of daylight saving time.

In the last two years, half a dozen states have adopted bills to switch to permanent standard time in one legislative chamber, including Virginia in February. A Virginia House committee this week recommended dropping the issue until 2027.

Most of those measures included caveats that the change would only take effect if neighboring states also made the move. For instance, Virginia would go to standard time only if Maryland and Washington, D.C., do, too. That could partially answer some of the concerns from groups including broadcasters who warn of schedule confusion. It wouldn’t solve the concerns of the golf industry, which opposes full-time standard time because that would make it harder for people to get in a round in the evening.

Many full-time daylight time bills have similar provisions.

A call to make states decide

Scott Yates, a Colorado man who runs the website Lock the Clock, wants the federal government to pass a law to end the twice-a-year clock change in two years.

Under his plan, states would have to commit to either daylight saving or standard time.

As long as the clock changes persist, Yates has some advice.

“If you’re the boss, tell all your employees on Monday that they can come in an hour later,” he said. “And if you aren’t the boss, tell your boss that you think you should come in an hour later on Monday. Sleep in for safety.”

Associated Press writer David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed.

LAS VEGAS — For Bobby Brink, the rink now known as Grand Casino Arena was the site of his greatest hockey glory, a Class AA state title with his Minnetonka Skippers.

After he was acquired by the Wild on Friday, Brink will be trying to earn something even bigger in downtown St. Paul: a Stanley Cup championship.

Brink, 24, is coming home to Minnesota after spending the first three seasons of his NHL career with the Philadelphia Flyers. Known as a puck-moving winger, he has 13 goals and 13 assists in 55 games this season.

The price for Brink was defenseman David Jiricek, who never found a consistent place on the Wild’s blue line after being acquired from the Blue Jackets 16 months ago. He played 25 games for the Wild without recording a point this season and played 24 games with Iowa of the AHL.

In 2018, Brink helped lead Minnetonka to its first state prep title, then played three seasons at the University of Denver, winning the NCAA title in with the Pioneers in 2022, when he was named the top forward in his conference. He is the son of former Gophers hockey player and golf champion Andy Brink.

The Flyers played in Philadelphia on Thursday night, meaning that Brink will likely be flying cross-country to join the Wild for Friday night’s game at Vegas.

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By CHARLOTTE KRAMON, Associated Press/Report for America

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Republicans are getting antsy. As U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff dominates the nation in fundraising and makes his case to voters, three Republicans who want his spot are still competing among themselves for their party’s nomination.

This week’s election frenzy in Texas didn’t help. After President Donald Trump declined to help clear the field with an endorsement, Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton are primed for a bitter and expensive runoff that could sap resources needed in more competitive states.

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Trump has since promised to choose between the two of them, but he hasn’t said when he’ll make an announcement or whom he’ll support. And there’s no sign that the president is ready to get involved in Georgia’s primary on May 19, meaning Republicans there could be on course for a similar predicament.

“I’d like to have as many days as I can to focus the public’s attention on the choice between our nominee and Sen. Ossoff,” said state party chair Josh McKoon. “Assuming that President Trump does not weigh in, it seems like it is more likely than not that we will have a runoff.”

Each of Georgia’s three main Republican contenders — Rep. Mike Collins, Rep. Buddy Carter and former football coach Derek Dooley — has positioned himself as the best person to help Trump in Washington. Trump could almost certainly anoint a winner if he wanted to use his influence.

“It is the gold standard of the party,” said Faith & Freedom Coalition chairman Ralph Reed. “It’s the strongest endorsement I’ve ever seen in my career.”

Ossoff sees political advantage in the competition for Trump’s support.

“My opponents have already made clear they will be Donald Trump’s puppets,” Ossoff said in a speech this week at Georgia’s capitol.

FILE – Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., listens during an interview at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, April 26, 2025, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

The non-endorsement looms over race

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, warned in an interview with The Washington Examiner last month that the wide primary field could end in a general election loss in Georgia.

“We need to get it down to one candidate as soon as possible,” Scott said. “And if we are able to do so, we have a chance to be successful there. But as long as we have three candidates, it’s going to be tougher for us.”

Republican strategist and Collins ally Stephen Lawson warned that Ossoff “continues every day going unscathed.”

“I do think there has to be some sense of urgency on settling on a candidate and clearing the field sooner rather than later,” he said.

Collins has a long list of endorsements in the state, and he’s backed by the Club for Growth, a nationally influential conservative advocacy group. He describes himself as the “America First MAGA candidate.”

However, he also facing an ethics complaint from a congressional watchdog accusing his policy adviser and former chief of staff of improperly hiring his girlfriend as an intern even though she didn’t complete assigned work. Collins has called the complaint “bogus.”

Carter said in an interview this week that “I’m the one without any baggage.”

FILE – Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., speaks before Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, Sept. 24, 2024, at the Johnny Mercer Theatre Civic Center, in Savannah, Ga. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

A political fixture in southeast Georgia, Carter says he’s a “MAGA warrior.” He has called for expanded immigration enforcement in the state despite criticisms of aggressive tactics elsewhere.

As Republicans compete with each other, Ossoff has been boosting his cash advantage. The senator has over $25.5 million on hand. Meanwhile, Collins has $2.3 million, Dooley has $2.1 million, and Carter has $4.2 million, including many of his own dollars.

FILE – Derek Dooley, a Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia, attends an Atlanta Young Republicans campaign event, Feb. 12, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alyssa Pointer, File)

However, McKoon said he’s confident Republican donors will coalesce around a winner and help them catch up.

Trump ‘wants to win’

Trump has a mixed track record on endorsements, particularly in Georgia. In 2021, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler lost to Ossoff and Sen. Raphael Warnock. In 2022, Warnock beat football star Herschel Walker.

Carter noted that Republicans have a narrow majority in the House, including Collins and himself, and guessed that Trump doesn’t want to jeopardize that.

“The president really is probably going to sit this one out,” Carter said.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event about the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Collins flattered Trump’s endorsement record, saying he has “always had the impeccable ability to put his name on someone at the right time to get the most bang for his buck.”

Candidates aren’t just trying to convince voters they align with Trump — they’re also trying to convince the president that they would come out on top in November. That’s what matters most to Trump, Reed said.

“The only thing that drives Trump more than finding candidates that are loyal both philosophically and personally is identifying and getting behind candidates that can win,” Reed said. “He wants to win.”