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After months of backlash over a controversial rebranding that alienated many longtime customers, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is betting its future on returning to its roots, selling off secondary assets, cutting debt and focusing entirely on the iconic country restaurant chain.

The Tennessee-based restaurant chain announced last week that it has completed two major strategic moves designed to strengthen its core business, while raising its profitability outlook for fiscal year 2026.

The company completed a sale-leaseback transaction involving 26 company-owned restaurant locations, generating about $77 million in proceeds that it plans to use to reduce debt. It also sold most of its Maple Street Biscuit Company business to Biscuit Belly and said it will close the remaining 16 Maple Street locations, allowing the company to focus more heavily on the Cracker Barrel brand.

CRACKER BARREL SELLS MAPLE STREET BISCUIT COMPANY, CLOSES 16 LOCATIONS

"Our sale-leaseback transaction will allow us to opportunistically reduce debt while monetizing a portion of our owned real estate at an attractive valuation," President and CEO Julie Masino said in a statement. "Divesting Maple Street sharpens our focus on the core Cracker Barrel brand and is expected to improve profitability."

The moves come after a challenging stretch for the country-themed chain.

Last summer, Cracker Barrel faced vocal backlash over updates to its logo and restaurant remodels, with longtime customers arguing the company was abandoning the nostalgic look that had defined the brand for decades.

The criticism coincided with weaker sales and backlash that prompted company leaders to restore the chain's signature "Old Timer" logo and interior.

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Among the chain's most outspoken critics was Tennessee resident Rachel Love, who previously told Fox News Digital she was disappointed by the changes. After recently visiting a restored Cracker Barrel that had undergone a remodel, however, she said the experience left her optimistic about the brand's direction.

"Going back to Cracker Barrel felt like coming home," Love told Fox News Digital. "Seeing the building returned to its original look honestly brought tears to my eyes before I even walked inside."

Love said the familiar brown exterior, welcoming Old Country Store and her favorite meatloaf meal made it feel as though the company had rediscovered what longtime customers valued.

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"What has impressed me the most is that this turnaround feels like more than just cosmetic changes," she said. "It feels like Cracker Barrel listened to the people who have supported the brand for generations."

Love added that she is "genuinely hopeful about where the company is headed."

Restaurant industry publication Nation's Restaurant News recently reported that Cracker Barrel's comeback "continues to gain steam," noting that the company believes it could exceed its financial outlook for the year despite restaurant sales remaining slightly below last year's levels.

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Cracker Barrel now expects to meet or exceed the high end of its previously issued revenue guidance and surpass its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) forecast for the fiscal year.

The company declined to comment when contacted by Fox News Digital.

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While serving as an infantry battalion and brigade operations officer in Alaska, I learned that the Arctic is among the most unforgiving battlefields on earth. Aircraft can deliver soldiers to remote areas, but they cannot improvise roads, fuel or supply units once the fighting begins. In extreme cold, poor preparation kills soldiers as surely as enemy fire.

That lesson returned as I studied recent satellite imagery from Russia's far north. Advanced air-defense systems are disappearing from established Arctic positions even as Russia pours concrete for barracks and depots closer to Finland and Norway.

The two trends look contradictory. They are not. Russian President Vladimir Putin is operating on two clocks: sustaining today’s war effort while building options for a confrontation on NATO's northern flank once the Ukraine conflict slows.

TWO ICEBREAKERS HEADED TO ALASKA AS US COMBATS RUSSIAN, CHINESE INFLUENCE IN ARCTIC

Start with what Moscow is giving up. Near the Rogachevo airfield on Novaya Zemlya, Russia's Arctic archipelago, most air-defense assets at a longstanding missile position have been removed. Farther south, roughly two dozen S-300 and S-400 systems have disappeared from sites around Severodvinsk, the White Sea city where Russia builds and repairs nuclear submarines. Some protection may remain, but the reduction at these two vital locations is unmistakable. Russia is not abandoning the Arctic. It is accepting greater risk there.

Katarzyna Zysk, a professor at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, says the removals reflect "a growing mismatch" between the targets Russia must protect and its available launchers, interceptors and trained personnel.

UKRAINE UNLEASHES MORE THAN 400 DRONES NEAR MOSCOW IN ONE OF WAR'S BIGGEST ATTACKS

Moscow apparently judges that NATO is unlikely to launch an imminent large-scale attack on Russia’s far north. That calculation allows the Kremlin to thin its Arctic defenses without incurring what it considers unacceptable risk. The empty positions show what Putin believes he can afford to expose today, and the reason traces straight back to Ukraine.

Kyiv has imposed a tax on Russia's air defenses. Its long-range drones have threatened airfields, refineries and other facilities, forcing Russia to protect an expanding target list with a finite number of launchers, missiles and crews. Air-defense batteries have appeared near the repeatedly targeted Saratov oil refinery and even in Moscow city parks.

'PURE HELL' IN MOSCOW AS UKRAINIAN DRONES STRIKE MAJOR REFINERY SUPPLYING CAPITAL'S FUEL MARKET

The exact destination of each system can't be confirmed, but the pattern is plain: Russia is shifting scarce defenses toward the cities, refineries and sites it now considers most vulnerable. Every target that demands new protection leaves something else exposed, and every interceptor fired at a Ukrainian drone must be replaced.

Russia’s problem is no longer merely stopping attacks. It is deciding which targets matter most, and selected Arctic sites keep losing that argument. Russia's predicament is also NATO's warning: fixed air-defense sites, fuel depots and airfields are acutely vulnerable to drones and saturation attacks.

That triage helps explain the empty positions at Rogachevo and Severodvinsk. It does not explain the construction farther west, along NATO's newly expanded northern frontier. Satellite-based reporting shows expanding Russian military facilities along the Finnish and Norwegian frontiers.

At Pechenga, near the Norwegian and Finnish borders, an expanded base could eventually hold as many as 17,000 troops, up from roughly 7,000. Construction at Kandalaksha includes new barracks, ammunition depots and a headquarters facility, with activity also rising around Petrozavodsk in Karelia. Finland's army commander, Lt. Gen. Pasi Välimäki, has warned that Russian forces near the Finnish border could eventually grow from roughly 20,000 to 80,000.

That does not mean 80,000 troops are assembled there today; Russia remains committed to Ukraine, and buildings aren't battalions. But infrastructure changes what becomes possible. Barracks, fuel depots and rail connections determine how fast formations can arrive and how long they can fight. Moscow may lack the troops to fill these installations now, but it is making certain that a shortage of prepared bases will not limit its choices later.

Skeptics will argue that a military bogged down in Ukraine lacks the strength to open another major conventional front. They are right about Russia’s current limitations — and wrong if they conclude those limitations make it harmless. Moscow does not need to occupy a continent to create a crisis. It could seek temporary local superiority near a port, airfield or reinforcement corridor, combining sabotage, drones, cyberattacks and limited military action to test whether NATO responds as one.

Together, the empty missile positions and the expanding frontier bases reveal Moscow's sequence: defend the regime and the war effort now, and preserve the ability to regenerate and redeploy formations once the war slows, freezes or ends on terms that let Moscow rebuild.

The new bases do not prove Putin has decided to attack Finland or Norway; they show Moscow wants the capability available. NATO has a window between Russia's northern construction and Moscow's ability to fill it with regenerated forces, and that window will not stay open indefinitely.

The alliance has begun to use that window. The accession of Finland and Sweden has already strengthened NATO’s northern posture. In February, NATO launched Arctic Sentry to integrate allied activity across the High North; in June, it established Forward Land Forces Finland, pairing a Swedish battlegroup in Boden with a multinational staff in Rovaniemi. But new organizations matter only if they produce deployable capability, and what NATO needs now is a clear division of labor.

Europe should provide the conventional mass required to defend its own territory: ground forces, counter-drone defenses, hardened ports and civil preparedness. The United States should keep providing what Europe cannot quickly replace: space-based intelligence, undersea surveillance, integrated air and missile defense and the nuclear deterrent underwriting the alliance.

That division of labor requires an orderly transition, not a politically driven pullback. Washington should preserve the bases, intelligence links and logistics nodes that make reinforcement possible even as European allies assume more of the conventional ground burden.

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In any northern conflict, logistics would shape the outcome before the first shots were fired. Deterrence in the High North rests not on summit declarations but on ports that remain open, rail lines that keep functioning, fuel that reaches the front and interceptors that can be replaced within the first week, not the first year.

The Arctic punishes every planning failure: soldiers cannot fight if their vehicles will not start, their fuel freezes or their aircraft cannot land. The side that can move, supply and replace forces across the High North holds the advantage before the first brigade ever crosses a border.

Empty missile positions do not mean Russia is retreating. Unfinished barracks do not mean war is imminent. Together, they show Moscow accepting vulnerability now to preserve military options later. NATO must use the interval before those options become deployable. The time to prepare the Arctic is before the troops arrive.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM ROBERT MAGINNIS

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An Oregon man is facing charges for allegedly illegally catching and "wrestling" protected bluntnose sixgill and broadnose sevengill sharks in Puget Sound.

The Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife recently shared body camera footage of an officer confronting Connor Seifert, 27, in June in Pierce County, Washington.

"You know your shark rules," the officer could be heard on the video telling Seifert. "You can’t fully or partially remove sixgill from the water. 

SHARK SIGHTINGS SPIKE NEAR AMERICA'S BEACHES AS JULY 4 CROWDS HEAD TO SHORE FOR WEEKEND

"When you wrestle a sixgill to shore like that, you hop on its back, you expose its gills to the air," the officer continued. "You know as well as anybody else does that Puget Sound is a nursery for these sharks. There has been a direct correlation between catching these sharks in this stage in their lives and the mortality of the pups inside the moms."

He added, "Once they exhaust themselves being fought to shore, then all of their babies die. And then, sooner than you know it, you’re not going to have sixgill and sevengill returning to Puget Sound anymore."

This came after months of following Seifert’s movements and his online posts, with officers finally setting up surveillance so they could catch him making an illegal catch.

SUSPECT IN VIRAL MONK SEAL HARASSMENT VIDEO SAYS HE WAS DOXXED AS FEDERAL COURT FIGHT BEGINS

He has been charged in Pierce County with nine counts of unlawful recreational fishing in the second degree and one count of making a false or misleading statement to a public servant. The first is a misdemeanor and the second is a gross misdemeanor.

Misdemeanors carry up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail if found guilty and gross demeanors carry up to a $5,000 fine and a year in jail.

"Fishing for sixgill and sevengill sharks is unlawful, and unfortunately, officers are seeing a growing number of online posts showing these sharks targeted and then unlawfully removed from or partially removed from the water," the department said in a post about Seifert’s charges.

MASSACHUSETTS HOMEOWNERS STUNNED AFTER TOWN WARNS JULY 4 FLAGS THREATEN ENDANGERED BIRDS

Seifert claimed that he hadn’t been targeting the sharks and that he had accidentally caught them, but videos he posted to social media that allegedly showed him holding a shark’s mouth open, while sitting on its back and holding it by its tail on the shore while it attempted to get away paint another picture.

The department said it has gotten 14 complaints about Seifert, mainly connected to his allegedly targeting the sharks.

"Puget Sound acts like a nursey for sixgill and sevengill sharks before they head out to the ocean, the department said.

The department added, "This is one of the primary reasons why it is unlawful to target these sharks locally, as the anglers fishing for these creatures are targeting them during a highly volatile era in the animals' lives."

Both shark species are listed as "Species of Greatest Conservation Need" in Washington State.

Bluntnose sixgills are categorized as "near threatened" and broadnose sevengills are "vulnerable," according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

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Lawmakers offered strikingly divided reactions to the White House’s announcement of a new nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, with Democrats concerned about accelerating a nuclear program in the Middle East and Republicans emphasizing the need for partnership in the region.

"I don't trust anybody as far as I can throw them, but we've got to develop allies," Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. "And as long as we can verify them, we have the people there that can verify that they're using them for the proper uses, then we’re okay."

The Department of Energy released details Wednesday on the agreement, which would support the development of a civilian nuclear energy program in Saudi Arabia by providing U.S. technology and expertise. The agreement also includes safeguards intended to ensure nuclear materials are not diverted for weapons development.

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL HINGES ON IAEA ACCESS TO LONG-BLOCKED ATOMIC WEAPON SITES, EXPERTS SAY

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., blasted the proposal as "outrageous," and Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., argued allowing Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium without strict safeguards could "cause a nuclear arms race."

"The president says what we're trying to do is to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon, but if Saudi Arabia … does not meet all the protocols, etc., then it could cause an arms race where Egyptians or others in the area want a nuclear weapon," Meeks said.

TRUMP'S IRAN DEAL SPARKS GOP DEMANDS FOR VOTE AS CONGRESS REMAINS IN THE DARK

Rep. Mark Alford, R-Miss., said Congress should be central in the decision to pursue any final agreement, while also stressing the importance of having Saudi Arabia as a regional partner.

"I think it's important with any agreement like that that Congress have a role in that and I look forward to reviewing that," Alford said.

"As we continue our conflict with Iran, we need partners in that region who are of the same mindset," Alford continued. "And Saudi, with its reforms that they're undergoing right now, gives me great hope and encouragement that we can move forward together in that region to help bring lasting peace.

BOOKER SLAMS TRUMP’S IRAN DEAL AS AN 'ABJECT SURRENDER,' LABELS HIM THE 'BIGGEST LOSER' WITH 'EGG ON HIS FACE'

Raskin also raised questions to Fox News Digital about President Donald Trump's family's financial ties to Saudi Arabia.

"Now the Trump administration allows the Saudis to enrich uranium," Raskin said. "So, the Saudis enrich the Trumps, and the Trump's allow the Saudis to enrich uranium and then we're going to have more nuclear weapons in the Middle East to set off another nuclear arms race there. "

The agreement comes as the Trump administration seeks to strengthen its partnership with Saudi Arabia while maintaining pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, a balancing act Congress is likely to scrutinize in coming months.

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BANGOR, Maine - The sprint to replace ex-candidate Graham Platner will come to an end on Saturday as Maine Democrats are expected to quickly elevate Troy Jackson as their party's nominee in the high-stakes Senate showdown with longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Jackson, a former state Senate president, is on a glide path to replace Platner at the Maine Democratic Party nominating convention in Bangor, after winning the vast majority of the voting delegates chosen last weekend by Democrats in the northern New England state's 16 counties. And Jackson's top rivals in the race to replace Platner backed him after dropping out of the race the past few days, leaving only one long-shot candidate for delegates to also consider at the convention.

The Senate race in Maine, where Collins is the only GOP incumbent running for re-election in a state President Donald Trump lost in the 2024 election, is one of roughly a dozen midterm showdowns across the country that will determine if Republicans hold onto their slim majority or if the Democrats win back control of the chamber.

"Let’s get to work to defeat Susan Collins and create the Maine that working people deserve," Jackson, a fifth-generation logger from the remote northern tip of Maine and a one-time conservative Republican who became a Democrat over two decades ago, said in a social media post ahead of the convention.

WHO'S UP AND WHO'S DOWN: CHECK OUT THE FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS ON THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS

While Jackson quickly raised over $1 million for his burgeoning Senate campaign and coalesced party support, there are some potential warning signs.

Following reports this past week digging into Jackson's alleged temper and workplace conduct, reported claims of mortgage improprieties as well as other potential liabilities including his past strict anti-abortion stance, there are concerns by some in the party that following the Platner implosion, Democrats have landed another unvetted nominee.

"This is a bit of a rocket vetting process," a Democratic strategist who works on Senate races, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, told Fox News Digital. "Maine Democrats have seemingly made their choice and they're just going to have to ride with it."

A veteran Democratic consultant who also asked for anonymity said that "it's very clear that Democrats should not be looking to Maine to flip the Senate"

"The good news is that we have upset opportunities in places like Texas, Iowa, and Alaska," added the consultant, who works with centrist Democratic Senate candidates.

Platner, a military combat veteran and oyster farmer who was backed progressive champion and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont soon after he launched his bid last August, saw his campaign quickly catch fire. Two-term Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who was heavily recruited by longtime Democratic Senate leader Sen. Chuck Schumer to run for the Senate, suspended her campaign this spring after trailing Platner in fundraising and in the polls.

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TROY JACKSON, WHO'S ABOUT TO REPLACE GRAHAM PLATNER AS THE DEMOCRATS' SENATE NOMINEE

But even as Platner steamrolled the Democratic establishment and crushed the competition last month in Maine's primary to capture the nomination, he had already been forced on defense in the wake of a slew of scandals.

Platner dropped out earlier this month, amid calls from top Democrats in Maine and across the country to immediately exit the race following an explosive report containing an allegation of rape from a woman he previously dated. Platner denied the report but stepped aside.

Jackson, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, campaigned alongside Platner during the primary. And he quickly made the case that he was the best equipped candidate to grab the mantle of the progressive and populist movement that had backed Platner.

Similar to Platner, Jackson is running on a platform aimed at working-class voters. He backs raising taxes on billionaires, the universal healthcare system known as "Medicare-for-all," abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and he opposes military aid to Israel at a time that Democrats are increasingly divided on support for America's longtime Middle East ally.

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Jackson, who also had Sanders' support as he ran governor, is currently backed in his Senate campaign by Our Revolution, the group born in 2016 out of Sanders' first presidential campaign.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California, a leading progressive in the House and a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, was a top Platner backer. Khanna quickly moved his support to Jackson in this month's sprint to succeed Platner.

And Jackson enjoys strong support from labor unions in Maine. The labor backing, along with support from Platner’s former allies, helped Jackson capture the overwhelming majority of county-selected delegates last weekend.

The 500 delegates chosen last weekend, along with 101 selected by the state party, will vote for the nominee at the convention. While the delegates on Jackson's slate are not required to support him at the convention, he is considered all but certain to secure the nomination.

Republicans are arguing that Democrats stacked the deck to back Jackson as Platner's replacement.

"Maine voters have been shut out by the Democrat establishment with a rigged nominating process to crown Platner 2.0 without a single vote being cast," Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianci charged in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Collins, as she runs for a sixth six-year term in the Senate, is facing a rough political climate for Republicans, amid GOP President Donald Trump's underwater approval ratings, persistent inflation and what polls indicate is an unpopular war with Iran.

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The senator, known as a moderate Republican who at times has voted against Trump, last month received bipartisan praise after reaching a milestone by casting her 10,000th consecutive Senate vote.

But Democrats are taking aim at Collins over her comments that she didn't regret her 2018 vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, despite his crucial vote four years later to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling.

And following the fatal shooting in Maine earlier this month involving federal immigration agents, Democrats heavily criticized the Senate Appropriations Committee chair for her support for ICE funding.

But Collins has a history of defeating the Democrats' efforts to oust her from the Senate.

Six years ago, she trailed Democratic challenger Sara Gideon, the then-Maine House speaker, but the senator ended up winning re-election by nearly 9 points.

The Senate showdown in Maine is expected to be competitive, combustible, and expensive, with outside groups on both sides spending big bucks to run ads.

The first Fox News Power Rankings of the 2026 midterms, which gauge the competitiveness of elections using data, reporting and analysis, were released this week. And they rank the showdown in Maine as a toss-up.

Meanwhile, a Pine Tree Poll conducted in recent days by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center indicated Jackson with a slight three-point edge over Collins, right at the edge of the margin of error, among likely general election voters in Maine.

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Democratic lawmakers told Fox News Digital they agree New Jersey's voter registration error demands accountability but say it doesn't justify claims of widespread election fraud.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Tuesday said a "serious software error" led to the mistaken registration of roughly 6,600 noncitizens through the state's Motor Vehicle System, while the company that provides the identity-related security services denied any wrongdoing.

"In New Jersey, we absolutely need to have accountability for what happened," Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said.

"It was just horrible. There was a big problem with that computer problem that they had. We need to try to address that going forward."

NEW JERSEY REMOVES 6,600 PEOPLE FROM VOTER ROLLS WHO WERE ELIGIBLE TO CAST A BALLOT FOR 2024 ELECTION

Kim said states should be given the tools to keep voter rolls accurate instead of relying on the Department of Homeland Security's findings after the agency found roughly 250,000 potential noncitizens who may be registered to vote across New Jersey, California, Nevada and Pennsylvania during a preliminary review.

"The main thing is making sure states have what they need," Kim added. "I don't trust the idea that we're just going to mesh it with some DHS database. That's where a lot of the problems come in, but we should all be making sure we're looking out for election integrity."

Sherrill said she immediately ordered an investigation after the error was discovered and that the state's Division of Elections is removing ineligible voters from the rolls. She said fewer than 400 of those improperly registered cast ballots.

Kim said improving election technology and maintaining paper trails need to be a priority.

GOP ERUPTS OVER 6,600 NONCITIZEN VOTERS FOUND IN BLUE STATE AS SCANDAL DEEPENS: ‘WORSE THAN ANYONE EXPECTED’

"I've been pushing on that. Why don't we get behind that?" he said.

Pointing to state and county officials, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said they must ensure "only those who are eligible to vote, vote."

The comments also come after House Democrats largely opposed a legislative package combining a congressional stock trading ban with federal voter ID measures, as New Jersey's voter registration error reignites debate.

When asked whether the country needs a nationwide proof-of-citizenship requirement for voting, Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said President Donald Trump's claims of widespread election fraud are "a figment of his imagination."

"There's no evidence for it, and I'm not going to validate his false narratives," he said.

Despite acknowledging those involved should be "held accountable," Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said noncitizen voting "remains extremely rare."

"I have always said that people should have to prove that they are who they say they are before they vote, and we have systems in place to ensure that happens, which is why noncitizen voting remains extremely rare," he said.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the error was "not acceptable" and pointed to Virginia's voter ID requirements and election audits, saying they have never uncovered a noncitizen voting problem.

"We do have an ID requirement in Virginia," he said. "We also have audits of elections, and we've never found there to be a noncitizen voting problem."

Praising Sherrill for coming forward in a "transparent manner," Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said election software should be continuously reviewed.

CALIFORNIA ACCUSED OF BLOCKING FEDERAL VOTER ROLL AUDIT AS DOJ ESCALATES PROBE OF ELECTION FRAUD CLAIMS

"We need to constantly be looking at election software and making sure," she said.

Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., said he supports a "simple" voter ID law but opposed the House GOP bill because he said it went beyond a basic ID requirement.

"If they put up a simple voter ID bill for an up-or-down vote without any of the other bulls--- in it, I would vote for it," he said. "I think a lot of people on both sides would, too. But they keep adding other stuff, like gutting mail ballots, and that was the problem with yesterday's bill."

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The columnist for USA Today who sparked outrage over her attacks towards WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark has a lengthy history of injecting her liberal views into sports.

The newspaper's sports writer, Nancy Armour, took aim at the iconic Indiana Fever point guard for repeatedly "flopping" on the court, arguing it's becoming "dangerous" for others, specifically Black players.

She argued the "racists" and "white nationalist faction to Clark’s fandom" will see her as a "white woman in need of saving and take matters into their own hands," citing harassment Black players have faced following various altercations with the basketball star.

"It shouldn’t need reminding this country has an awful history of Black people being harmed, even killed, in the name of 'defending' [W]hite women," Armour wrote Wednesday. "The WNBA's All-Star Game this weekend is in Chicago, Emmett Till's hometown, and a local art gallery is currently hosting an exhibit imagining his life if he hadn't been lynched. While it’s incumbent on the WNBA to do more to protect its players, there also should be an expectation on Clark to recognize the wider consequences of her actions."

DAVE PORTNOY BLASTS USA TODAY COLUMNIST FOR CLAIMING CAITLIN CLARK’S REFEREE COMPLAINTS FUEL RACISM

The writer linking Clark to Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman who falsely accused 14-year-old Till of making unwanted advances that resulted in his brutal murder, sparked outrage among critics.

Armour walked back what she called an "inartful comparision," insisting she neglected to provide enough context in her column — but doubled down on her argument.

USA TODAY REPORTER APOLOGIZES FOR INVOKING EMMETT TILL IN COLUMN ABOUT CAITLIN CLARK AFTER UPSETTING THE WOKE

"However, this point stands: There is a history in this country of perceived threats to [W]hite women being weaponized against African-Americans, and the danger that poses to Black players in the league," Armour wrote in a statement posted on Instagram. "Players have been abused online and have reported receiving death threats. That has to be taken more seriously."

"I sincerely regret that my lack of appropriate context is overshadowing that important conversation and the action that needs to be taken by the WNBA to address it directly — for the benefit of ALL players," she added.

USA Today added an editor's note to the column saying it was "updated to provide further context and clarity."

Armour, who joined USA Today in 2014, has long fixated on fueling her sports columns with her far-left views.

On Thursday, after her latest attack on Clark, she slammed The Heritage Foundation, who she dubbed the "authors of Project 2025," alleging "they're coming for Title IX" based on a recently-released policy report that concluded the longstanding law that requires schools to provide equal opportunites for men and women has become a "powerful engine of feminist social engineering" that doesn't address the inherent difference between both sexes.

"Our bodies, our self-confidence, our independence — they’re not going to stop until women have the same rights and opportunities they did before the 1970s. Which were almost none," Armour claimed.

"It’s easy to say the Heritage Foundation’s efforts will go nowhere... But Project 2025 has done too much damage already not to take the threat to Title IX seriously," she later wrote. "The Heritage Foundation wants a United States that reflects their White, Judeo-Christian and heteronormative 'values,' and is steadfastly working to eliminate anything that deviates from them... This country has learned the hard way that women can be stripped of what we'd assumed were fundamental rights. Don't let Title IX be the next to go."

SPORTS MEDIA HAS CREATED AN ‘INDUSTRY’ OUT OF COMPLAINING ABOUT WHITE ATHLETES LIKE CAITLIN CLARK

Last month, as the historic FIFA World Cup was underway, Armour declared the United States "lost" due do its "greed and hostility" on the global stage, declaring "we chose to be ugly Americans" as the host nation.

"The U.S. men’s national team could make a historically deep run and the tournament could be filled with wondrous goals and compelling games. It will not change the fact that we have shown ourselves to be a hateful and greedy nation, one where leaders are only willing to welcome a world as they want to see it rather than as it exists, and the love of the game is exploited for top dollar. That will be the legacy, and the shame, of this World Cup," Armour began her column before listing her grievances like the crackdown on Iranian visas as the U.S. continues its war with the Islamic Republic and the skyrocketing ticket prices.

USA TODAY COLUMNIST WHO SLAMMED CAITLIN CLARK DECLARED US GREED WOULD RUIN WORLD CUP

In 2025, Armour rallied behind Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles during her spat with former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines, who she accused of being "bully" against the transgender community as Gaines became a prominent advocate for women and girls in sports.

"There is no scientific evidence that transgender women athletes have a physical advantage over cisgender women athletes, but that hasn’t stopped Gaines from claiming they do," Armour wrote. "Gaines has publicly lobbied for Biles and Caitlin Clark to support her in her hate which, again, is a laughable idea to anyone who has followed Biles’ illustrious career."

She continued, "Most of us could never do what Biles does as a gymnast. But we can do what she does as a human: Be kind. Defend the most marginalized. And when you get the opportunity to stick up to a bully, do it at full throat. In a world of Riley Gaineses, be a Simone Biles."

SPORTS COLUMNIST FACES BACKLASH OVER SIMONE BILES DEFENSE AFTER RILEY GAINES ATTACK

Armour similarly attacked then-ESPN broadcaster Sam Ponder in 2023 for speaking out in defense of women and girls who object biological male athletes competing in women's sports, who the USA Today columnist accused of "plain old bigotry."

"Don’t be fooled by the people who screech about ‘fairness’ to cloak their bigotry toward transgender girls and women, the transgender girls and women who have the audacity to want to play sports, in particular. This is, and always was, about hate, fear and ignorance," Armour wrote at the time.

In 2021, Armour fumed over how NFL superstar Tom Brady, who was just days away from playing in his tenth Super Bowl, had gotten an "undeserved pass" over his past support for Donald Trump.

"Brady’s ability to enter and exit the debate at his choosing, to shield himself from accountability, is the height of white [sic] privilege," she wrote. As this country grapples with the far reaches of systemic racism, look no further than Brady, for whom the expectations, and allowances granted, will always be different."

Armour wrote a similar column prior to Super Bowl 51 in 2017 that insisted that Brady "has some explaining to do" and "no longer gets a pass on his friendship with Donald Trump."

USA Today parent company Gannett did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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