Latest news with #Reese
Dominion Post
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Dominion Post
COLUMN: Apologies, an update and some insight on WVU men's hoops coach Ross Hodge
CHARLESTON — Ladies and gentlemen, I am a terrible writer. That was never more evident than Tuesday night inside the Charleston Coliseum. Best Virginia had just advanced to the TBT national quarterfinals with a 79-68 victory against Elite Nation and head coach Jarrod West was giving his summation of the game to the media. The victory kept Best Virginia alive for the $1 million winner-take-all prize money. A member of WVU athletic royalty with his game-winning shot against Cincinnati in the 1998 NCAA tournament, as well as a state championship hoops coach at Clarksburg Notre Dame, West was asked where any sort of TBT accomplishment would rank. His answer was an all-timer. 'I got married. I've had two kids,' he began. 'I hit a famous shot in college and won a state championship. 'I've already told my family that if we win $1 million, someone is getting bumped.' It's probably the quote of the year and I could just not find a way to fit it into the game story. My apologies, but coach West, that was one heck of a quote. *** Had an opportunity to catch up with former WVU assistant hoops coach Ron Everhart, who is assisting West during the TBT run. Now, the details of the conversation were strictly off the record, but what I can tell you is he's having a blast working with Best Virginia and he's doing just fine. Since making his transition away from WVU, he recently signed on to become a fundraiser for Fairmont State. *** Time for some insight, which leads us to first-year WVU men's basketball coach Ross Hodge. Not much has been heard from Hodge since his opening press conference back in April, but that hasn't stopped him from making some pretty good first impressions. That notion was relayed to me recently after a conversation with former WVU point guard Truck Bryant. 'Coach Hodge has reached out to the WVU basketball alumni many times and welcomed us with open arms,' Bryant said. 'He's invited us in. He wants all of us to be a part of the program. He's really a good guy who understands what it means to be part of the WVU family.' Best Virginia guard James Reese played at North Texas from 2019-21, when Hodge was an assistant coach there under Grant McCasland. 'I'm 100% not surprised to hear he's making a good early impression,' Reese said. 'I think as more people in the WVU community get to know who he is, they'll like him even more.' Reese did not hold back in the amount of love and respect he had built for Hodge in the short time they worked together. 'He's literally one of the few college coaches that I still talk with,' Reese said. 'I'm pretty sure when I get back to the locker room and check my phone, there'll be some type of message on it from him.' The two seasons Reese spent with the Mean Green came during COVID-19. The pandemic cut his sophomore season short and his junior season was muddled with eight regular-season games that were either postponed or canceled. North Texas still went on to win the Conference USA tournament his junior season and the Mean Green upset fourth-seeded Purdue in the first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament. 'Two reasons come to mind on why he earns the respect of his players,' Reese continued. 'One, he's not going to sit there and talk to you about stuff you already know and he's not going to tell you things you want to hear. He's very real and honest. 'The other thing is it's not always about basketball with him. I've probably had more conversations about life with coach than I've had about basketball. He goes out of his way to talk about life off the court.' That included when Reese wanted to transfer to South Carolina for his final season of eligibility. Reese is a South Carolina native and wanted to be closer to home, but that did not make the conversation any easier with Hodge. 'Yeah, that was tough when I had to tell him I was transferring,' he said. 'We sat down and talked and he understood I wanted to go home. 'We ended up having a great conversation and hugged it out. We won a lot together. We made some history together at North Texas and I left feeling a lot of love from coach Hodge. I think that's what the people at WVU are going to feel about him.'
Fox News
5 hours ago
- Sport
- Fox News
Angel Reese mocked for turnover spree in same game where she makes WNBA history
Angel Reese committed a game-leading nine turnovers in the Chicago Sky's blowout 91-68 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday night. The turnovers occurred the same night that Reese became the first player in WNBA history to record multiple streaks of 10 games with a double-double. With 11 points, 11 rebounds and nine turnovers, some users joked that Reese was on a "triple-double watch," late in the game. One of the turnovers occurred in the first quarter when Reese tried to simply hand the ball off to a teammate that was right next to her. Instead, Reese softly bounced the ball off her own teammate. The ball was quickly recovered by the Lynx and taken the other way. "Angel Reese doing Angel Reese things. She plays the game so Lazy. As a long time former Coach, it makes my skin crawl when players do that," one user wrote. Another user wrote, "It's like watching little kids try to do things they saw on TV." One of Reese's other turnovers came in the third quarter when she took too many steps without dribbling the ball, as she appeared to get her feet tangled up, and she was called for traveling. "Boy she traveled into the next city!" one user wrote. Another user wrote, "She got her own travel agent with all that traveling." The Sky ended up losing by 23 points and falling to 7-16, and they remain firmly in fifth place in the WNBA's Eastern Conference. Reese recently drew attention to herself at the WNBA All-Star game when she spoke out against the WNBA for its handling of recent negotiations with the player's union, the WNBPA, over a new collective bargaining agreement. Reese said the proposal the WNBA sent to the players was "disrespectful." "It was an eye-opener for me. Like, hearing the things and hearing the language of things and not things that I was happy to hear. It was disrespectful the things that we were sent back, the proposal that we were sent back," Reese told reporters at WNBA All-Star weekend on Friday. "It's important to be able to be vocal. If I sit back, it looks like I don't care." Last October, Reese admitted she couldn't afford to pay her bills based on her WNBA salary, in an Instagram live video, adding she paid $8,000 per month for rent. "I'm living beyond my means. Hating pays them bills, baby. I just hope you know the WNBA don't pay my bills at all," she said. "I don't even think that pays one of my bills. Literally, I'm trying to think of my rent for where I stay at. Let me do the math real quick. I don't even know my (WNBA) salary, $74,000?"
5 hours ago
- Business
Hershey to increase prices on chocolate candy amid rising cocoa costs, supply hurdles
Hershey has some bitter and not-so-sweet news for chocolate fans: The famed candy brand will be raising its prices due to high cocoa costs and supply issues. The Pennsylvania-based chocolate company has not stated how much more customers may pay, but confirmed this week that the hikes will be in the "low double-digits." "This change is not related to tariffs or trade policies. It reflects the reality of rising ingredient costs including the unprecedented cost of cocoa," a Hershey spokesperson said in a statement. Cocoa prices, which hit a record 50-year high earlier this year in February, have been exacerbated by supply problems. Diseases have purged cocoa crops in West Africa, which produces the vast majority of the world's cocoa beans, and a poor growing season caused production to plummet, leading to a spike in prices. Hershey manufactures several beloved candies including Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat Bars, Hershey's Kisses, and multiple varieties of Hershey's chocolate bars. The company told ABC News the first bump in prices could hit consumers in about 90 days, just 10 days before the Halloween rush on candy.
TimesLIVE
7 hours ago
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Hershey to raise chocolate prices due to cocoa supply problems in Ghana, Ivory Coast
Hershey has told retailers it will be taking a double-digit price increase on average across its confection portfolio due to a surge in costs of cocoa, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday. The maker of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups declined to comment on the specifics of the pricing action as discussions with its retail partners are underway. "This change is not related to tariffs or trade policies. It reflects the reality of rising ingredient costs including the unprecedented cost of cocoa," the spokesperson said. Cocoa prices have risen sharply in the last two years and touched a record in December due to supply problems in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Since then the price of cocoa has fallen to an eight-month low, though it remains above levels seen earlier in the decade. During Hershey's quarterly earnings call in May, CEO Michele Buck said the company was working to absorb high input costs by adjusting the pack size and pricing together, especially on seasonal items. These actions would lead to higher prices in the second and third quarter, she had said.
Newsweek
9 hours ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Hershey's Price Hike Explained
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Hershey Company plans on raising its prices to cope with the "unprecedented" costs of cocoa. The company, known for Reese's Peanut Butter Cup as well as its signature milk chocolate and Hershey's Kisses, confirmed the change to various media outlets this week. Hershey said that persistently high cocoa prices had forced it to raise prices by a "lower double-digit" percentage. Newsweek has contacted the company via its website outside of regular business hours for comment. Why It Matters Hershey is one of the largest chocolate companies in the U.S. by both market share and sales, which reached over $11.2 billion last year. But global cocoa prices have rocketed in recent years due to a worldwide supply shortage stemming from a combination of factors including weather conditions and disease outbreaks in West Africa, where much of the world's cocoa is grown. Cocoa prices on the New York commodities market are three times as high as they were in 2022. The company has not confirmed the exact price increases it will be putting in place, nor which specific products will be affected, but the change will likely effect many of the chocolate bars that Americans purchase most frequently. What To Know Hershey said it informed its retail customers last week that it would be making the change. The company previously announced pricing actions last August, after outgoing CEO Michele Buck said the high costs of cocoa would significantly hurt the company's bottom line. This was prior to another surge in cocoa prices later in 2024. According to data from TradingView, cocoa futures rose nearly 170 percent over the year, peaking at more than $12,000 in mid-December. Hershey's chocolate bars are shown on July 16, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. Hershey's chocolate bars are shown on July 16, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. Photo Illustration byCocoa futures and prices have adjusted, the latter currently trading at around $8,100 per metric ton, though these still remain more than double the levels of just two years ago. In its 2024 annual report, released in February, Hershey predicted that high cocoa prices would "put significant pressure on 2025 earnings." Hershey told news outlets this week that the price increases were "not related to tariffs or trade policies," but rather reflected "the reality of rising ingredient costs including the unprecedented cost of cocoa." In an earnings call in May, Hershey said it anticipated between $15 million and $20 million in "tariff expenses" in the second quarter of this year. What People Are Saying A spokesperson for Hershey told CNN the price hike "reflects the reality of rising ingredient costs including the unprecedented cost of cocoa." "We've worked hard to absorb these costs and continue to make 75% of our product portfolio available to consumers for under $4.00," they added. What Happens Next? Hershey has not specified when the price increases will come into effect. During the May earnings call, Hershey's CEO said cocoa production was expected to rebound in the year. "There are reasons to believe that this year's crop marks the beginning of a multi-year growth cycle in cocoa supply," said Buck. She is set to retire in August, to be succeeded by Wendy's CEO Kirk Tanner.
