The Kansas City Chiefs are set to be without kicker Harrison Butker for their Week 14 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

That said, it seems like the eight-year veteran will soon be back in action as the Chiefs chase an unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat.

Butker was placed on IR ahead of the Chiefs’ Week 11 matchup with the Buffalo Bills because of a calf injury. He is eligible to return from the injury list after four games, but will he play in Week 15 against the Cleveland Browns?

Here’s the latest on Butker’s injury and what to know about his status moving forward.

Harrison Butker injury update

Andy Reid provided an update about Butker during a news conference on Wednesday. He said that Butker is “potentially” on target to return in Week 15, but wouldn’t commit to the veteran kicker doing so just yet.

“We’ll see how he does in the next week or two,” Reid said, per A to Z Sports’ Charles Goldman.

When will Harrison Butker return?

The Chiefs haven’t yet provided a clear timetable on Butker’s potential return to action. Reid said Butker could “potentially” return in Week 15, but the Chiefs want to see how healthy he is before making a decision.

Kansas City may also be happy to wait and see where it is in the AFC standings before choosing to activate Butker. The Chiefs enter Week 14 with an 11-1 record and are playing the Chargers, their main competition in the AFC West.

If the Chiefs beat the Chargers, they will have a stranglehold on the division. That will give them the leeway needed to ease Butker back into action and prepare him for another postseason run.

Kansas City will have 21 days to return Butker to the 53-man roster once it does designate him to return from IR. So, while he could kick as early as Week 15, the Chiefs may be willing to let him sit until he is as close to 100% as possible.

Who is the Chiefs kicker after Harrison Butker’s injury?

The Chiefs are relying on journeyman Matthew Wright as their kicker at present. The 28-year-old has made 47-of-55 career field goals and has gone 4-of-5 for the Chiefs this season.

Kansas City initially signed Spencer Shrader to replace Butker, but Shrader suffered a right hamstring injury that landed him on IR ahead of Week 12.

The Chiefs will likely entrust Wright, who also served as an injury fill-in for Butker last season, as their kicker while both Butker and Shrader are unavailable.

Rob Gronkowski has four Super Bowl rings to his name, but one of his biggest wins came off the field.

In an interview with Fortune this week, Gronkowski revealed that he benefitted from a piece of investing advice that helped him make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As a 25-year-old in 2014, the Patriots tight end had very little experience investing. But when the contractor who was building his house in Foxborough, Mass. urged him to invest in Apple, Gronkowski decided to give it a shot.

“I’d never been involved in stocks. I really didn’t know how stocks worked,” he said. “So I was like, ‘Alright, let me do this. I’m going to go big.’”

Gronkowski, who through the 2014 season had earned a little over $16 million from the NFL, called up his financial adviser and directed them to purchase $69,000 worth of shares of the iPhone maker.

The five-time Pro Bowler said that he promptly forgot about his purchase until two and a half years later, when he realized that his investment had grown to be worth around $250,000. At that point, Gronkowski cashed out his initial $69,000 investment and left the rest to grow.

“To this date, I have over $600,000 of Apple stock, all because of the investment I made in 2014, having no idea what I was doing but just listening to the man who built my house here in New England,” he said.

While his Apple investment paid off handsomely — the company’s stock is up more than 1,000% since 2014 — Gronkowski didn’t need the financial assist. The Super Bowl champion famously refused to spend his NFL paychecks, choosing instead to live off of his endorsement money.

In a 2020 interview with CNBC Make It, he said he always wanted to be prepared financially for the day the football paychecks stopped coming in.

“The whole point of saving throughout my NFL career was to be set for after football because you don’t know how long football will last,” he said at the time.

The financial discipline has allowed him to enjoy his sporting retirement without having to worry about continuing to make money.

“It feels good to be in [this] position,” he said. “It feels good just to go out there and try to find things that I would just love to do.“

Great Britain equestrian athlete Charlotte Dujardin has been handed a one-year ban following an International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) investigation into a video of the three-time Olympic gold medalist in dressage that led to her suspension the week before the 2024 Paris Olympics started in July.

The video showed Dujardin whipping a horse excessively during a training session at a private stable. At the time, Dujardin said the actions were “completely out of character.”

British Equestrian also supports the suspension, which prevents Dujardin from competing in national events.

In a statement posted on Instagram, Dujardin said “this has undoubtedly been one of the darkest and most difficult periods of my life, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me during this time.” She said she accepted the FEI’s decision, and the FEI said the suspension includes the time she’s served since the body’s initial July 23 ruling.

“As the federation has recognised, my actions in the video do not reflect who I am and I can only apologise again. I understand the responsibility that comes with my position in the sport, and I will forever aim to do better,” Dujardin wrote.

In addition to her three golds, Dujardin has won an Olympic silver and two bronze medals. Her six total are tied for the most of any British female Olympian, alongside former track cyclist Dame Laura Kenny’s five golds and a silver.

Dujardin, 39, also announced Thursday that she is pregnant and that her child is due in February.

 Biotech billionaire, former Republican presidential candidate and Cincinnati-area native Vivek Ramaswamy didn’t always have nice things to say about his new cost-cutting co-worker, Elon Musk.

In fact, Ramaswamy in May 2023 compared Musk, his co-director for the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, to a “circus monkey” for China, CNN reported Wednesday.

Jinping rules China as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Ramaswamy was discussing how he sees American business leaders, including Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, as beholden to China.

Evidently, Ramaswamy has warmed to Musk. In a statement sent to The Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network, and CNN, he said the past comments are “water under the bridge.”

The pair were meeting with Congressional Repblicans on Capitol Hill on Thursday afternoon.

More:Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy may be exempt from ethics rules as Trump’s advisors

What is the DOGE?

President-elect Donald Trump tapped both to head his new advisory commission called the Department of Government Efficiency, known by the acronym “DOGE.” While it’s still not clear how the DOGE will operate, Trump’s description indicated Ramaswamy and Musk will work together to propose where the incoming administration can cut government spending, regulations, and departments.

Why are the comments coming to light?

CNN’s KFile investigative team looked at Ramaswamy’s past comments on Musk to gauge how the two might work together. In addition to the aforementioned podcast, Ramaswamy told a Fox News podcast in 2022 that Musk changes his politics “based on the favors that he gets to be able to do business in China.”

Ramaswamy said his caustic comments came before he’d met Musk. They now know each other well, Ramaswamy said.

“I love him and respect the hell out of him, and I’m proud to call him a friend,” Ramaswamy said in the statement. “The only country he puts first is the same one I do: the United States of America.”

Ramaswamy grew up in Evendale, a suburban village just outside Cincinnati, and graduated from St. Xavier High School as valedictorian in 2003 before making millions founding a pharmaceutical company and asset management firm. He later sought the Republican nomination for president in 2024 before dropping out and endorsing Trump.

Officials in Virginia issued an Amber Alert on Thursday for what authorities describe as an abduction of three children who were waiting for a school bus.

The Virginia August County Sheriff’s Office reported the abduction occurred around 7:45 a.m. EST on Thursday. The children were waiting for a school bus outside an apartment complex in Fishersville when they were seized, according to the Virginia State Police. Fishersville is about a two-hour drive northwest of Richmond. The Amber Alert was issued by the Virginia State Police and Virginia Missing Children Clearinghouse on behalf of the sheriff’s office.

The children are thought to be in “extreme danger” and authorities believe their biological mother, Shanice Chante Davison, is responsible for their disappearance, according to the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office. The children were possibly picked up in a black Nissan Sentra with an unknown tag. Authorities believe Davison is traveling with the children to Alabama, where she lives, and that they are no longer in Virginia.

“The safety and well-being of the children remain our highest priority, and we are working diligently with law enforcement agencies across state lines to locate them,” the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release shared with USA TODAY.

Who are the missing children?

The abducted children are Ja’Liyah Lewis, Black female age 6, Ja’Miya Lewis, Black female age 8, and Jai’Marcus Lewis, Black male age 10, according to the Amber Alert. The two girls were last seen wearing pink jackets and the boy was wearing a dark blue jacket with neon zippers, the Virginia State Police reported.

According to the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, Davison is a 55-year-old Black woman who resides in Evergreen, Alabama. She is five-feet, six-inches tall, weighs about 185 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes.

Anyone who has information about the missing children should call the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office at 540-245-5333 or make an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers at 800-322-2017. If someone sees Davison or the children, authorities advise people to not approach them. Instead, contact local law enforcement.

 Tech billionaire Elon Musk and conservative activist Vivek Ramaswamy on Thursday began in-person discussions with congressional Republicans about ways they could slash federal spending and regulations once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Trump has tasked Musk and Ramaswamy with issuing recommendations to overhaul the federal budget and bureaucracy — a goal that many Republicans say they agree with, but also one that presidents and Congresses under both parties, as well as divided governments, have repeatedly failed to deliver on.

Musk and Ramaswamy traveled to Capitol Hill for a series of meetings with House and Senate members. It was their first such trip since their appointment by Trump as outside advisers, heading up a commission called the Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE is also the name of an internet meme and a cryptocurrency.

“This is a brainstorming session,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters between meetings. He said the talks are “laying the groundwork” for what lawmakers will do next year.

They have their work cut out for them.

Trump oversaw an increase in deficits during his first term, even before the Covid-19 pandemic. In his 2024 campaign, he promised to preserve two of the most expensive parts of the budget — Social Security and Medicare — beyond “cutting waste and fraud.” He also called for trillions of dollars in additional tax breaks on tips and overtime, in addition to extending his 2017 tax cuts, which would all add to the debt. And most congressional Republicans are determined to continue increasing military spending, another large slice of the pie.Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest people, has potential leverage over congressional Republicans because of his willingness to spend some of his vast fortune on politics, and his recent proximity to Trump. As recently as Sunday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has repeatedly warned Republicans to get in line behind Trump’s priorities or else face a primary challenge in 2026.

Officially, though, the roles for Musk and Ramaswamy are only advisory. They won’t be in the government and instead will be sending recommendations to the Trump White House, with a deadline of July 4, 2026.Musk’s newfound political influence follows his campaigning for Trump over the summer and fall. His super PAC, America PAC, spent more than $152 million to boost Trump and other Republicans, with much of the money coming from Musk and his friends, according to disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Musk also held events for Trump in swing state Pennsylvania and turned X, which he owns, into a megaphone for pro-Trump views.

Ramaswamy, a former biotech executive, ran in the Republican primary for president and lost to Trump before later endorsing him.

Musk has repeatedly faced questions about potential conflicts of interest in advising on the federal budget. SpaceX is a major federal contractor, including with the Defense Department and NASA. And, according to Ramaswamy, one of their potential targets is a $6.6 billion loan to electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive, a competitor to Tesla. Musk has not said how or if he plans to resolve those conflicts.

One lawmaker, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Thursday it was too early to anticipate the priorities for cuts but that loosening regulation by administrative action and through Congress would be a good place to start.

“There are tens of billions of dollars in regulatory relief that are on the table now,” Tillis said.

The U.S. budget was $6.1 trillion in fiscal year 2023, according to the Peterson Foundation.

Still, Tillis called the Thursday conversation an “organizational meeting” — akin to “an engagement meeting I’d have with a client.”

Speaking to reporters in between meetings, Musk reiterated his support for ending tax credits to encourage electric vehicle sales, aligning with Republicans who are eying cuts to clean energy funding.

“I think we should get rid of all credits,” he said in response to a reporter’s question about tax credits for electric vehicles. (Musk has previously said that EV credits help Tesla’s competitors.)

Musk said little else as he walked through the Capitol’s corridors with one of his children. The billionaire was followed so closely by Capitol Hill reporters, he said, “It’s like there’s ambient press.”

Once DOGE is established, Musk and Ramaswamy will have a small office of 10 to 12 staffers under the executive office of the president who will work closely with the Office of Management and Budget, a source involved in the effort told NBC News.

They will also have individuals within each federal department and agency who operate as DOGE liaisons, the source said. Musk and Ramaswamy are seeking individuals with business backgrounds with an interest in “gutting bureaucracy” to fill those roles. “A lot of these folks will be lawyers or have previous experience at that agency,” the source said.

Musk has shown a willingness to consider cuts to some of the federal government’s most popular programs including Social Security. On Monday, he shared a post on X from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, advocating an overhaul of Social Security into something like individual retirement accounts. “Interesting thread,” Musk wrote.

Thursday morning, Musk met with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., while Ramaswamy met separately behind closed doors with a group of 15 Senate Republicans for a little over an hour. In the afternoon, they met with a larger group of House and Senate members.

Leaving the meeting with Ramaswamy, senators told NBC News that it was a positive conversation and consisted of an “exchanging of ideas,” as Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., put it. But they would not divulge specific policies discussed inside.

A source familiar with the private meeting in the afternoon told NBC News that the gathering turned into an “open mic session” featuring “an airing of grievances from House members who want Elon and Vivek to solve all their problems.”

Some Democrats have expressed interest in working with Musk and Ramaswamy to reduce spending and regulations. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., posted on X on Thursday that Congress should model its efforts on a World War II-era committee led by then-Sen. Harry Truman.

“Let’s look to the Truman Committee and ensure Americans get their money’s worth with DOD spending,” he wrote.

While GOP efforts to reduce the size of the federal government and end wasteful spending are not new, senators did not offer much in terms of how this effort would be different or possibly more successful.

“You’re way too ahead,” Tillis said when asked about budget deficits.

Leaving the meeting, Ramaswamy also declined to answer reporters’ questions.

In the 2024 election, Republicans won a 53-vote Senate majority and a paper-thin House majority of 220-215. Those slim margins could give Democrats some influence over the outcome, and some of them mock the new Musk-led effort as a punchline.

“DOGE is not real. Just because someone says there is now a department of so and so does not mean the actual department now exists,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking member of the Budget Committee.

“Republicans are total hypocrites when it comes to deficit and debt. … Trump added more to the national debt than any president in American history,” Boyle continued. “So I have seen this movie before. I have absolutely no doubt that if Trump is able to ram through a second round of his tax cuts, then it will explode the national debt.”

Veterans of past failed debt-reform efforts, including the Obama-era bipartisan “super committee” of 2011, doubt the DOGE will be more successful unless it’s willing to take on sacred cows.

“If past is prologue, the DOGE faces an uphill climb. It’s not yet clear what authority or reach the DOGE has, but managing the federal budget cannot be done through talking points,” said Zach Mallove, a lobbyist who worked as a policy aide to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., when she co-chaired the super committee.

Mallove said lawmakers will have to accept some “political pain” for it to be meaningful. “In the end, the math just doesn’t add up: with a $1.7 trillion annual discretionary budget, you cannot cut $2 trillion without tapping into the country’s social safety net.”

Former UFC champion Conor McGregor could face further punishment over his social media activity after losing civil rape case.

McGregor, 36, was ordered to pay over $1.25 million in costs and over $200,000 in damages after a High Court jury found he was liable for sexually assaulting Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel in 2018. Hand did lose her civil case against McGregor’s friend James Lawrence, who was a co-defendant.

Hand sued McGregor and Lawrence, claiming they both raped her. Both men denied the allegations and said they each had consensual sex with her. On Thursday, Mr Justice Alexander Owens said it was perfectly obvious from the jury’s finding that they rejected the evidence of the two defendants, per RTE.

The judge also said that he had not decided what he was going to do about social media posts uploaded by McGregor in which he attacked the integrity of the jury. The judge said that he may institute proceedings for contempt of court, adding that McGregor was a very rich man who could well afford to pay a fine.

McGregor came under major scrutiny for a statement he posted after the conclusion of the eight-day trial. McGregor posted the following message on X: “Justice was served for James Lawrence, yes! Deplorable what they done. Nikita Hand, vicious liar! APPEAL!

“Two men falsely accused. One vindicated, the other soon to be! Congrats James Lawrence on absolute exoneration! Twice this heinous accusation was put to you and twice it was shown as FALSE! LIES!

“It is absolutely disgraceful what they put you through here. Disgraceful! I look forward to seeing you further vindicate yourself and lambast those responsible in court! We know what happened that night! Everyone present knows, yet it was ignored. Every single statement of persons present on the night was ignored. And they all disputed Nikita’s LIES!

“However James they did believe you but just in certain parts for some strange reason. And they apparently did not believe Danielle Kealy at all. Laughable! Also with the damages (60k and 188k, interesting choice of figures it seems they didn’t believe Nikita much either. How could they, her original story was she was gang raped by security and chased from the hotel on foot.

“Absolute nonsense. How these lies were accepted, I will never know. A court of feeling and opinion, brainwashed in to people via the mainstream media. Not of fact! The reporting in court a laughing stock to everyone present. As clear as day bias. This is not a court of hard evidence and truth.”

The ex-UFC lightweight and featherweight champion announced plans to appeal the decision. “People want to hear from me, I needed time,” McGregor wrote. “I know I made mistakes. Six years ago, I should have never responded to her outreaches. I should have shut the party down. I should never have stepped out on the woman I love the most in the world. That’s all on me.

“As much as I regret it, everything that happened that night was consensual and all the witnesses present swore to that under oath. I have instructed my legal team to appeal the decision.”

Tyson Fury has made a bold promise to “f— up” Oleksandr Usyk in their eagerly awaited heavyweight rematch in Saudi Arabia later this month.

In what was one of the most anticipated fights of the century, Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 after defeating ‘The Gypsy King’ via split decision in May. The Ukrainian managed to gain some momentum, especially in the early rounds of their initial bout. However, in the fourth round, Fury regained his composure and put his heavyweight rival on the defensive.

The turning point came in the ninth round when Usyk nearly knocked out ‘The Gypsy King.’ Despite looking dazed, Fury survived the round and stumbled back to his corner.

From that point, Usyk dominated and eventually won on the scorecards. Seven months after their historic first meeting, both men will once again face off, with the Brit keen to even the score.

During a recent ‘FACE OFF’ on the DAZN YouTube channel, Usyk was asked about the left hand in the ninth round, to which he responded: “It was perfect. Tyson was keeping good.” Before he could continue, Fury interjected, saying: “But, you had your little chance to knock me out, didn’t you? And you couldn’t do it, b—-, could ya? Hit me with ten shots in a row and you couldn’t do it.

“You couldn’t even put me down after being on Bambi legs. You hit me ten shots, ten clean shots on the chin… no canvas touch. You’re f—– in the rematch. Like Tupac said, you hit me with your best shots and couldn’t do f— all. You know what’s coming for you. I’m going to f— you up, b—-.”

During the event, Fury’s promoter Frank Warren had to answer questions about the stakes in regard to his star’s legacy in the second fight between the two boxing greats.

“What you read afterwards, people were saying that whoever won the fight was going to be the best heavyweight in the 21st century. The first unified champion, and they go up there with all the greats of the past,” Warren responded. “And I’m glad they said that because, at the moment, Oleksandr got the result, he won the split decision. If Tyson wins it, then that’s where that mantel goes, that he is the best of his generation.”

Fury disagreed, though. “No Frank! There will be a rematch, a rubber match, trilogy,” he interjected. “There’s got to be! If he wins one and I win one, I can’t say that I’m better and he can’t say that he’s better. There has to be a third one.”

After last week’s presidential election that saw former President Donald Trump return to power, one of his closest allies — tech mogul Elon Musk — experienced a sharp spike in his net worth as Tesla stocks soared at what some experts are calling “unstoppable” rates.

Investors are continuing to bet big on Tesla and stocks attached to the South African’s other companies after Trump won the election, and that could result in massive windfalls for the electric vehicle maker.

The betters are reportedly counting on stocks taking off during a Trump presidency, citing a close relationship between the administration and the success of the tech mogul’s company.

Tesla stocks altogether passed $1 trillion in market value for the first time in two years, it was reported, and, if gains continue, stocks could rise to $348.30, pushing the company’s value to nearly $87 billion.

As a result of the stock increases, Musk’s own net worth rose significantly, placing him at over $320 billion. That’s $90 billion ahead of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest person.

Musk has dedicated much of his time, energy and large portions of his wealth to a campaign designed to register swing-state voters who lean to the right as he did everything in his power to elect Trump.

He authorized controversial $1 million giveaways to registered voters who signed one of his America PAC petitions, then faced a lawsuit for that that accused him of running an illegal lottery in Pennsylvania. He also used his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to promote support for Trump — users became frustrated after requesting that ads about the former president be taken down using a broken feature on the website that didn’t do what it promised to do.

Musk had a vested interest in electing Trump given that Teslas, SpaceX rockets and his Neuralink brain chips all depend heavily on government regulation, subsidies or policies for him to be able to manufacture and sell them. Trump supports many of those policies that would help Musk.

After the election, Musk was selected alongside biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency under Trump’s administration.

But the tech mogul’s payday might be coming to an end, with the stock price spikes possibly being foreshadowing for a drop to come. Tesla’s 14-day relative strength index, which is a gauge of how bullish or bearish price momentum is, meaning whether it could rise or fall, closed at 81. FirstPost reported that anything above a 70 is considered foreshadowing for a drop that could soon be in store.