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Honesty Butler was not planning to go to college, let alone leave her home state of New York. She loved art class, but hated math and history. Art school was too expensive, so she began to give up on the idea of higher education entirely.But one day her social studies teacher at Binghamton High School told her he was coaching flag football, which New York State had just begun offering as a varsity sport, and asked if she might be interested in joining the team.Butler had never played a team sport, beyond a brief stint on the track team, but from the first practice, she was hooked. Suddenly, she had an outlet for her competitive drive. She received positive reinforcement at school as her team started winning games. The team had a G.P.A. requirement, so Butler was suddenly motivated to keep ...

The World Health Organization said that China had shared data about a recent surge in respiratory illnesses in children, one day after the agency said it was seeking information about the possibility of undiagnosed pneumonia cases there.The Chinese data indicated “no detection of any unusual or novel pathogens,” according to a W.H.O. statement on Thursday. The data, which included laboratory results from infected children, indicated that the rise in cases was a result of known viruses and bacteria, such as influenza and mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacterium that causes usually mild illness.Hospital admissions of children had increased since May, as had outpatient visits, but hospitals were able to handle the increase, China told the global health agency.The W.H.O. requested information after ...

Families of the Americans being held hostage by Hamas must wait longer to find out if their relatives will be among those released.President Biden said earlier this week that he expected the cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel to result in American hostages returning home, but they were not among the 24 people Hamas released in the first round on Friday. The cease-fire deal calls for Hamas to return 50 women and children in phases over four days, while Israel would release 150 imprisoned or detained Palestinian women and teenagers.At a news conference on Friday, President Biden said he did not know when American hostages would be released, but that officials “expect it to occur.” He added that he did not know the conditions of the 10 Americans who are unaccounted for, and he did not s...