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Posted by Bay Area News Group

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/27/correction-health-insurance-costs-spike-for-businesses-workers-after-pandemic/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12385196

A story published Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, incorrectly reported that Christin Evans will pay $3,250 monthly in 2026 for each worker’s health care. She will pay $3,250 monthly for all employees.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/27/correction-health-insurance-costs-spike-for-businesses-workers-after-pandemic/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12385196

Posted by Jon Wilner

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/27/wilner-hotline-holy-score-utah-michigan-whittingham-rising-paltrow/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12384680

News that Kyle Whittingham had accepted Michigan’s offer Friday left us pondering not only the past 15 days but also the past 15 months, with all the wild twists life has taken for the future Hall of Fame coach and the program he led for 21 years.

Specifically, we mulled the events within the context of the movie Sliding Doors, in which two futures unfold for the character played by Gwyneth Paltrow based on something as seemingly innocuous as whether she makes her scheduled subway or misses it by fractions of a second and is forced to take the next train.

For Utah and Whittingham, the Sliding Doors moment occurred Sept. 7, 2024, when quarterback Cam Rising slammed into a bank of water coolers on the Baylor bench placed unusually close to the playing field.

What if the coolers had been a few feet back, in their standard position?

What if Rising’s body position had been altered slightly, so the collision occurred with his shoulder or forearm?

What if he hadn’t sustained a severe hand injury that would kneecap the Utes and lead to Whittingham’s worst season in more than a decade?

If Rising remains healthy and the Utes are as good as projected in their inaugural season in the Big 12, then Whittingham likely does exactly what the university expected months earlier when it named defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley the coach-in-waiting: He retires.

In that scenario, Whittingham isn’t available for Michigan — or isn’t as viable a candidate after being out of the game for a year — and the Wolverines are forced to turn elsewhere for a savior.

Instead, Rising’s hand slammed into the misplaced water cooler, Utah crashed and burned, Whittingham took nine days to ponder retirement, determined he could not leave on the lowest of notes, orchestrated a 10-win season and stepped down with energy left just two days after the Michigan job unexpectedly opened.

“It just didn’t sit right with anybody (in 2024), particularly me, and so I came back,” he explained earlier this month. “Fortunately, we were able to get the ship righted and everything’s on track. The program, like I said, is in a good spot … So now is the time.”

But the elapsed time carried consequences for Scalley and Utah’s administration. At risk of losing their chosen successor if Whittingham returned (again), the Utes, with president Taylor Randall heavily involved, ever-so-slightly nudged Whittingham toward the door.

Being a company man — a Utah Man — Whittingham recognized the moment.

“I didn’t want to be that hanger-on that just kept — people just got sick of,” he said.

Other thoughts on the thunderous news from Ann Arbor:

— Whittingham’s five-year deal with the Wolverines wasn’t yet official Friday when the critics emerged on social media and roasted Utah for not doing everything possible to retain Whittingham for as long as possible, even if it meant losing Scalley to another school.

Whittingham is good enough for one of the most storied programs in college football but not good enough for the Utes?

The optics are awful, but the logic is sound.

The Utes didn’t blow it. Quite the opposite, in fact.

This is a win-win-win situation: The right time for a change in Salt Lake City; a great opportunity for Whittingham; and a masterstroke for Michigan.

Had the 66-year-old Whittingham stuck around, the Utes would have risked more than Scalley’s allegiance. They could have descended into an untenable, inescapable situation for years to come.

Imagine Whittingham being either energized by good seasons or motivated by bad ones, year after year after year, until the school and its coach become locked in a state of codependency into the 2030s.

That would have been far worse than an amicable separation unfolding with the program on solid ground, with Scalley ready to take charge and with Whittingham off to a terrific opportunity in Ann Arbor.

— In his 2024 decision to return and his 2025 decision to step down, Whittingham said he was prioritizing what was best for the football program, not for him personally. But what happens next will shape his legacy.

Will Whittingham don the cape of a hypocrite and use Michigan’s immense wealth to raid Utah’s coaching staff and roster?

At this moment, he’s a Utah legend, squarely on the right side of history with the respect of the entire university community.

But if he plunders the program and leaves Scalley with a barren roster, that changes: Whittingham would instantly become persona non grata in Salt Lake City, his legacy tarnished forever.

Nothing would turn Utah fans against their icon like roster poaching.

Does leaving the program “in a good spot” matter to Whittingham? Or was it the cheapest of talk?

— In all regards except for his close ties with former Ohio State coach (and lifelong Michigan antagonist) Urban Meyer, Whittingham is the ideal choice for the job in Ann Arbor.

His age isn’t an issue. He has more than enough energy and passion to last four or five years, which is more than enough time to leave his mark.

This isn’t intended to be a forever hire for the Wolverines. After five years of scandals and embarrassment, Michigan needs a proven winner whose character is above reproach.

No personal transgressions.

No NCAA compliance issues.

Just an old-fashioned philosophy tweaked to fit the sport’s post-modern landscape.

Whittingham’s coaching style, rooted in punishing play at the line of scrimmage, suits the Michigan approach dating back to the Bo Schembechler era.

He is more of a Michigan Man than many of the men employed by Michigan in recent years.

The Wolverines have been an embarrassment for years, from Jim Harbaugh’s excesses to the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal to Sherrone Moore’s tragic missteps.

They emerged with a better outcome than they had any right to imagine.

The same is true, in many regards, for Whittingham. And it might have all been different had those water coolers been placed a few feet farther back.

*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to wilnerhotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or call 408-920-5716

*** Follow me on the social media platform X: @WilnerHotline

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/27/wilner-hotline-holy-score-utah-michigan-whittingham-rising-paltrow/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12384680

Posted by Christian Babcock

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/27/san-jose-sharks-vancouver-canucks-nhl-igor-chernyshov-macklin-celebrini/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12385343

The San Jose Sharks are back in the win column.

San Jose had not won since Dec. 16, but the Sharks put that to rest with a hard-fought 6-3 road win over the Vancouver Canucks, taking an early 2-0 lead and hanging on despite Vancouver cutting the deficit down to one goal three different times.

“For the most part, we’ve really fought that mental toughness part of it, of getting put on our heels,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “We’re starting to realize what winning hockey looks like as far as how you need to play with certain habits. When you don’t have the momentum, how you need to play, and when you do have the momentum, how we want to play.

“Our group is growing in that area. It’s not perfect, but we’ve taken some lessons throughout the first 38 games here that we continue to push forward.”

Ryan Reaves opened the scoring for San Jose (18-17-3) with a tap-in of a loose puck at the 6:13 mark of the first period. John Klingberg doubled the lead with a shot from the center of the blue line at 7:55 after a screen from Igor Chernyshov limited the visibility of Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko.

Vancouver (15-19-3) responded with a power-play goal by Linus Karlsson, who tapped in a cross-ice pass from Conor Garland for an easy score to make it 2-1 at 10:04.

The Sharks stretched the lead back to two goals when William Eklund chipped a puck toward the net just outside the crease and it flipped over Demko’s shoulders and into the back of the net.

Vancouver’s Marco Rossi may have made the final contact on the play, but the goal counted just the same.

Rossi scored on another tipped goal very early in the third period, as the puck deflected up over Yaroslav Askarov in the midst of several chips near the crease.

Igor Chernyshov doubled the deficit once more when he scored his first NHL goal five minutes into the third, depositing a power-play shot around Demko’s left pad at the 4:47 mark.

“He’s been amazing on my right wing,” Celebrini said. “He’s a big body, drives plays. He’s had so many chances over the last couple games. It was so nice to see him get one.”

Drew O’Connor brought the Canucks closer one more time with a shorthanded score at the 10:43 mark of the third period.

Macklin Celebrini added another goal for the Sharks at the 16:20 mark of the third with a stunning one-timer from the left circle. It was Celebrini’s second point of the game, giving him 57 this season.

Collin Graf added an empty-netter at 16:55 to seal the bounce-back win for San Jose.

The loss was the first for Demko in 14 games against the Sharks.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/27/san-jose-sharks-vancouver-canucks-nhl-igor-chernyshov-macklin-celebrini/

https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=12385343