Box Office: ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ Returns to No. 1 With $11.2 Million Friday as ‘Primetime’ Takes Second

Marvel’s 2019 blockbuster reclaimed the domestic box-office crown seven years later, while Robert Pattinson’s A24 drama “Primetime” opened in second and Brad Pitt’s “The Heart of the Beast” followed in third.

“Avengers: Endgame” is back on top of the box office — seven years after Marvel’s superhero blockbuster first dominated theaters.

“Avengers: Endgame Encore” led the domestic box office Friday with $11.2 million from 3,060 North American theaters, putting the re-release on pace for roughly $26 million through Sunday.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, the 2019 Marvel Studios blockbuster returns to theaters ahead of “Avengers: Doomsday,” which is scheduled to open Dec. 18.

The original “Endgame” became one of the biggest theatrical releases in history, ultimately grossing $2.799 billion worldwide. James Cameron’s “Avatar” remains ahead of it on the all-time global chart with approximately $2.9 billion.

The strong encore showing pushed a pair of high-profile newcomers into the next two positions.

MARYLAND FIELD HOCKEY: TERRAPINS SHUT OUT RUTGERS 3-0, IMPROVE TO PERFECT 9-0

Unbeaten Maryland continues its dominant start with a clean-sheet victory over Rutgers, extending its winning streak to nine games.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. | Maryland field hockey remained perfect with a 3-0 victory over Rutgers, improving to 9-0 and extending one of the strongest starts in the Terrapins' season.

Maryland controlled the scoreboard while keeping Rutgers off it, adding another victory to an unbeaten run that has carried the Terrapins through their first nine games.

The shutout provided another significant result for Maryland as the schedule moves deeper into Big Ten competition. At 9-0, the Terrapins have established early momentum while continuing to build their postseason résumé.

For Rutgers, the loss came against a Maryland team that has yet to be beaten this season.

The 3-0 result also demonstrated Maryland's ability to win without allowing its opponent to answer offensively. In a conference where opportunities can be limited and games frequently turn on penalty corners, possession and defensive execution, protecting a lead remains critical.

Maryland's latest victory adds another chapter to a program with a long history of national success. The Terrapins have consistently been among the prominent programs in NCAA field hockey and now carry an undefeated record into the next stage of their schedule.

The challenge will be maintaining that consistency as Big Ten play continues and the level of competition increases.

For Maryland, the immediate takeaway is straightforward: nine games, nine victories and another shutout.

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-- By James W. Thomas

© Copyright 2026 JWT Communications. All rights reserved. This article cannot be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten, or distributed in any form without written permission.

MICHIGAN VOLLEYBALL: WOLVERINES FALL TO NO. 14 PENN STATE IN FOUR SETS IN BIG TEN OPENER

Cymarah Gordon records 16 kills and Meredith Martin delivers a career-high 29 digs, but Penn State takes control after Michigan wins the opening set at Crisler Center.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. | Michigan pushed No. 14 Penn State early before the Nittany Lions took control, handing the Wolverines a four-set loss Friday night in their Big Ten volleyball opener at Crisler Center.

Michigan (9-3, 0-1 Big Ten) captured a tightly contested opening set 25-23, but Penn State (9-2, 1-0) responded by winning the next three 25-17, 25-13 and 25-13.

Cymarah Gordon led Michigan with 16 kills on 41 attacks and hit .268, while Ella Demetrician finished with 15 kills. Sydney Schnichels added nine kills.

Meredith Martin turned in the Wolverines' top defensive performance, recording a match- and career-high 29 digs while successfully handling 49 of 50 serve-reception attempts.

Morgan Burke finished with 21 assists and nine digs, while Camille Edwards added 16 assists and nine digs.

Michigan's strongest stretch came in the opening set.

HAYDEN GRAY SIGNS WITH BOSTON CELTICS, FORMER UC SAN DIEGO STAR RETURNS TO ORGANIZATION AHEAD OF TRAINING CAMP

Former Big West Defensive Player of the Year Hayden Gray rejoins Boston after making his NBA debut with Utah, giving the Celtics another defensive-minded guard competing for a roster opportunity.

BOSTON | Former UC San Diego standout Hayden Gray has signed with the Boston Celtics ahead of training camp, returning to the organization where he spent most of his rookie professional season with the Maine Celtics of the NBA G League.

The move gives Gray another opportunity to establish himself in the NBA after the San Diego native made his league debut with the Utah Jazz late in the 2025-26 season. Reports this week described Gray's Boston agreement as a pre-training camp or training camp deal.

Gray's return also continues a rapid climb for the former UC San Diego guard, who went from one of college basketball's premier perimeter defenders to the G League and then the NBA in little more than a year.

Gray spent most of last season with Maine, appearing in 48 games with 23 starts. He averaged 9.9 points, 5.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 steals in 27.9 minutes per game while recording eight double-doubles and four 20-point performances.

Trump’s Ban of News Organizations Goes Beyond Obama, Biden Actions

In banning CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House, the Trump administration has argued that the move is similar to actions taken by Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But the ban goes beyond what those presidents did.

In a Sept. 21 press release, three days after President Donald Trump said the news organizations would be barred “effective immediately,” the White House said that “[a]ccess changes are nothing new,” and that “Democrat Administrations have restricted, punished, and locked out the press” for “years.” The release listed several examples of incidents involving the press during the Obama and Biden administrations.

“There’s no basis to suggest that Biden and Obama ‘did it too,'” Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, told us. “Trump’s action is singular and unprecedented,” he said, noting that Trump has instituted a “full ban of multiple news media” and “is targeting news organizations because they are publishing content he finds unflattering.

GOP Ads Mislead on Public Option Proposals’ Impact on Rural Hospitals

As Democrats release a flurry of midterm ads portraying GOP cuts to Medicaid as a threat to rural healthcare, Republicans have countered with ads claiming Democratic candidates in Texas and Pennsylvania would put dozens of rural hospitals out of business by creating a public health insurance option. But the ads cite an industry-backed study whose assumptions don’t apply to all public option proposals. 

In Texas, according to ad-tracking service AdImpact, President Donald Trump’s political operation has spent more than $6.9 million on an ad claiming James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate, “supports a radical healthcare plan” that “could close 30 hospitals.”

And in central Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, which includes the state capital of Harrisburg, an ad from a group backed by House Republican leadership claims Democrat Janelle Stelson supports “a plan to close up to 25 Pennsylvania rural hospitals” and accuses her of “closing the hospitals your family depends on.” 

Talarico, a state legislator, is running against state Attorney General Ken Paxton in the closely watched Texas matchup. Stelson, a former local news anchor, is challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Perry. Both races are rated toss-ups by the Cook Political Report.

'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' FactChecking RFK Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense Keynote

Headlining a conference for Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit he previously led that regularly spreads vaccine misinformation, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a litany of familiar false and misleading claims, particularly about vaccines.

For a few months earlier this year, Kennedy had largely stopped talking about vaccines, reportedly at the request of the White House. Facing a surge of measles cases not seen in a generation, Kennedy had also at times offered a lukewarm recommendation to vaccinate, frustrating his hardline anti-vaccine supporters.

But in August, Kennedy appeared with President Donald Trump during the signing of an executive order that called for splitting up the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine. Trump inaccurately said the MMR vaccine is “quite lethal,” and Kennedy proceeded to falsely claim on cable television that there was new evidence to support breaking up the combination shot. The secretary also began an ongoing beef with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania over measles-associated deaths in the state.

Then, on Sept. 17, Kennedy gave the keynote speech for the one-day conference of Children’s Health Defense in Washington, D.C. Children’s Health Defense describes itself as working to “restore and protect the health of children by eliminating exposures to environmental toxins.” But the organization is one of the biggest sources of inaccurate vaccine information.

GOP Ad Attacks Ossoff’s Vote Against Trump Tax Cuts

A Republican TV ad cherry-picks parts of last year’s budget reconciliation law, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, to overstate the impact of the law or distort Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff’s record. 

The ad from One Nation never mentions the OBBBA – a partisan bill that received no Democratic votes in the House and Senate. The law is only referenced in small print in the ad as “roll call vote #372” – the source of Ossoff’s vote on July 1, 2025, against the bill. 

The One Nation ad says the Democratic senator “doesn’t care about people like us” and makes these claims: 

• Ossoff “supported” a $2,100 “tax increase.” The OBBBA extended the 2017 individual tax cuts that were due to expire. But the amount used in the ad refers to an average that’s skewed by large tax savings for wealthy taxpayers. It also doesn’t account for other changes in the law, such as cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, that will reduce income for low-income Americans.
• Ossoff voted “to gut your child tax credit.” The law increased the maximum tax credit from $2,000 to $2,200 per child. But millions of low-income children aren’t eligible for the full amount. Also, Ossoff has a history of supporting the CTC, including voting in 2021 to raise the maximum to $3,600, even for families who don’t earn enough to pay federal taxes. 
• Ossoff “voted for higher taxes on Social Security recipients earning under $75,000.” The law provided an additional $6,000 tax deduction for taxpayers 65 and older, but not all seniors earning less than $75,000 were eligible for it. 

Lawmakers’ votes are ripe for campaign attack ads from both parties, which can highlight only certain aspects of legislation, leaving out other provisions that may be the basis for lawmakers supporting or opposing the bills.

RFK Jr.’s Faulty Claim that U.S. Measles Response Is ‘Better’ Than ‘Any Other Country’

When asked about the largest surge in measles in over 30 years, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. is doing or has done “better … than any country in the world” in controlling outbreaks of the disease. But plenty of nations don’t have the high caseload America is now experiencing.

In recent remarks in Florida, Kennedy gave what has become his standard response when asked about measles.

“We’re doing a better job than any country in the world at controlling the measles outbreak. This is a worldwide epidemic,” he said when a reporter asked at an Aug. 26 event. “Mexico has 11 times the amount of measles cases as we do. Canada has four times the amount of measles cases. Britain has two times. … Every place there’s been a measles outbreak, I’ve sent the CDC in to cooperate with the state health agencies, and we’ve brought it to an end overnight.”

Kennedy has been claiming a superlative response and invoking international comparisons for months. In April, when testifying before Congress on multiple occasions, he repeatedly said that under his leadership the U.S. had “done better” at controlling, preventing or limiting measles outbreaks than any other country in the world, calling measles a “global outbreak.”

In June, when measles was surging in Virginia, Kennedy similarly told a local news outlet, “There’s a global measles epidemic right now. We’ve done better than any country in the world in controlling it.”

Midterm Ads Clash Over GOP Law’s Impact on Rural Healthcare

As the midterms approach, ads supporting Democrats and Republicans are making competing claims about how President Donald Trump’s signature domestic policy law will impact rural healthcare. 

Ads backing Republican candidates have highlighted their support for a $50 billion rural healthcare fund in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — while ignoring its much larger cuts to Medicaid, which are expected to reduce funding for rural healthcare overall. Other ads similarly leave out the Medicaid cuts in misleadingly claiming that Democrats voted against funding for rural hospitals.

Democratic groups, meanwhile, have hammered Republicans over the possibility that those cuts could force some rural hospitals to close, often citing specific numbers of facilities that the law endangers. While the law is likely to have a significant financial impact on rural hospitals, experts told us it’s impossible to predict how many might close as a result.

Access to healthcare is a major issue in many rural areas, where people tend to have worse health outcomes and experience various barriers getting care, including shortages of healthcare professionals, long travel times, financially strained hospitals and gaps in essential services like maternity care.