Eisai Co.’s Alzheimer’s disease drug developed with Biogen Inc. gained support from advisers to U.S. regulators, paving the way for a likely full regulatory approval that could lead to broader insurance coverage.

The six advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously to recommend the traditional approval of Leqembi, which is the first treatment clearly shown to slow the progression of the disease that impacts more than 6 million Americans and some 55 million people around the world. The favorable vote was widely expected by analysts after the FDA’s staff supported the drug in a report Wednesday.

Eisai shares climbed as much as 6.2% in early trading in Tokyo on Monday, bringing their rise this year to about 24%. Biogen shares were halted Friday.

The drug sailed through the hearing with the vote after just a short, 20-minute discussion during which every panel member agreed that the drug has been shown to be effective in slowing cognitive and functional decline.

“The evidence for clinical benefit was very clear and very robust,” said panel member Merit Cudkowicz, a neurologist at Harvard Medical School. “These are meaningful changes for people with Alzheimer’s.”

But panel members were worried about the potential risks of the drug in certain categories of patients, including patients on certain types of anticoagulants. The drug can cause brain swelling and bleeding, and anticoagulant use may exacerbate such bleeding. Some panel members thought people on anticoagulants should be warned against using these drugs, though others said there wasn’t enough data to make a clear decision.

Cudkowicz said she was leaning toward recommending excluding people on anticoagulants from using the therapy, saying this is where additional data and studies would be helpful.

“This is where I don’t think the benefit outweighs the risk,” Cudkowicz said.

Leqembi was earlier cleared under the agency’s accelerated approval pathway in January based on its ability to remove deposits of a toxic protein called amyloid from Alzheimer’s patients’ brains. But Medicare, the U.S. health program for older adults, declined broad coverage for Leqembi and similar agents without full FDA approval of data showing an impact on cognitive decline.

That makes the FDA’s pending decision crucial for Leqembi’s U.S. sales prospects of more than $2 billion annually, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Marc Engelsgjerd and Sam Fazeli. The agency is not required to follow the advice of its advisers, but usually does.

The agency’s final decision is expected by early July. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said recently that broader coverage would start immediately upon full approval.

JUNE 12

MONDAY

Business After Hours, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, 100 Sentara Circle, Williamsburg. The York County Chamber of Commerce is hosting a networking event. Free. Register at Yorkcountychamberva.org.

JUNE 13

TUESDAY

Coffee Connection, 8-9 a.m., The Chamberlin, 2 Fenwick Road, Hampton. The Peninsula Chamber is hosting a networking event. $0-$5. Register at virginiapeninsulachamber.com.Morning Meetup, 8-9:30 a.m., Union Mission Ministries, 5100 E. Virginia Beach Blvd., Norfolk. The Hampton Roads Chamber is hosting a networking event. Free. Register at hrchamber.com.

Small Business Pre-Certification & Doing Business with the City of Newport News, 9-10 a.m., City Hall, 2400 Washington Ave., fourth floor, purchasing office, Newport News. Newport News SWAM Business Services is hosting a session on why your business should be small, women or minority-owned certified. Learn the process and how it helps when doing business with the city. Free. Register on Eventbrite.com.

Tech Tuesday, noon-1 p.m., Zoom. Startwheel is hosting Katy Craig, staff security engineer at G2 Ops, on how companies can stay ahead of cyber crime and IT threats by identifying and measuring weaknesses before incidents occur, then providing remediation priorities based on individual business and financial risk thresholds. Free. Register on eventbrite.com.

Business Roundtable, noon, Williamsburg Community Building, 401 N. Boundary St. The Williamsburg Economic Development Authority is hosting Graham Henshaw and Brandon Hennessey on regional venture support through William & Mary’s Entrepreneurship Center. Includes lunch. $16. Register on Eventbrite.com.

JUNE 14

WEDNESDAY

Influencing Those Above: Getting Your C-Suite to Understand the Changing Workforce, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 5505 Robin Hood Road, Norfolk. Associated Builders and Contractors of Virginia is hosting Susan Long-Molnar, president of Managing Communications Consulting, for a lunch and learn on why some executives don’t understand the disconnect between themselves and younger workers and how to influence their decisions, practices and communications. Includes lunch. $95-$125. Buy tickets at abcva.org/event/influencing-those-above-june14/.

Peninsula Home-based Business Network Lunch & Learn, noon-1 p.m., Zoom. The Peninsula localities are partnering to host the speaker series. Constant Contact will cover using direct email marketing to grow your home-based business. Free. Register at Peninsulahbb.com/lunch-and-learn/.

JUNE 15

THURSDAY

Downtown Norfolk Council Annual Meeting, 7:30 a.m., Hilton Norfolk The Main, 100 E. Main St. The council is hosting Brad Segal, founder and president of Progressive Urban Management Associates on “Building a Vision.” He is currently spearheading DNC’s strategic plan update. $50-$60. Register at downtownnorfolk.org.

Arthur G. Meginley Jr. Golf Tournament, 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Bide-a-Wee Golf Course, 1 Bide-a-Wee Lane, Portsmouth. The golf tournament benefits the Portsmouth Humane Society. $125. Register at Portsmouthhumanesociety.org/golf/.

Portsmouth Coffee Connect, 10-11:30 a.m., 739 High St., Portsmouth. Black BRAND is hosting a networking event at Bloom Coworking. Free.

2023 Cyber State: What Virginia Business Leaders Need to Know, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Town Point Club, Norfolk. Association for Corporate Growth’s 757 Network is hosting an FBI presentation followed by a panel discussion on how cyber threats impact local businesses and what leaders can do in preparation and response. his event will outline the stark threat landscape posed by Russia, China and financially motivated cybercriminals who weaponize American technology to harm U.S. businesses, and what every business leader needs to know. Register at acg.org/757-network/events/2023-757-cyber-state-what-business-leaders-need-know.

“Shorten Painfully Long Sales Cycles,” noon-1 p.m., Zoom. Executive Briefing presented by Owen Van Syckle with the Sales Acceleration Academy in Virginia Beach. 757-280-8734. Owenvansyckle.com, https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UnicsZ7MRYSIlRjOm3fXiw.

Retail Recess, 4-7 p.m., Topgolf, 5444 Greenwich Road, Virginia Beach. Retail Alliance is hosting a social and team-building event with networking opportunities and a friendly competition. $28-$48. Register at retailalliance.com.

Technology Happy Hour, 4 p.m., online. Virginia Clean Cities is hosting Dominion Energy’s Geovanni Castano, who will give an introduction to hydrogen, discuss fuel applications for heavy-duty transportation and provide a glimpse at hydrogen hubs in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Free. Register at vacleancities.org/events/.

JUNE 17

SATURDAY

Breakfast with the Animals, 8:30-11 a.m., Virginia Zoo, 3500 Granby St., Norfolk. tHRive, the young professionals group of the Hampton Roads Chamber, is hosting a breakfast at the Virginia Zoo. Proceeds to toward REACH. $10. Register at ypthrive.org.

JUNE 20

TUESDAY

Health Care Heroes Awards, 8-10 a.m., The Westin Virginia Beach Town Center, 4535 Commerce St. Inside Business is recognizing outstanding individuals and organizations that are making a noteworthy difference in health care across Hampton Roads. $35. Register at virginiamedia.events/healthcare-heroes.

Impact Peninsula, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 11850 Merchants Walk, Newport News. The Peninsula Chamber is hosting Hampton University President Darrell Williams. $40. Register at virginiapeninsulachamber.com.

JUNE 21

WEDNESDAY

Women in Defense Greater Hampton Roads Chapter lunch-and-learn, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., TCC Joint-Use Library Conference Room, 1700 College Crescent, Virginia Beach. Women in Defense is hosting Hillary Boyce of BAFO Services to talk about tips and suggestions on finding potential contracting opportunities on SAM.gov. Mason Jeffries of Paylocity will talk about human resources being central to business success. Free. Register on eventbrite.com.

JUNE 22

THURSDAY

Developing an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Hampton Roads, 3-5 p.m., Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel, 777 Waterside Drive, Norfolk. The Hampton Roads Chamber and ODU Strome College of Business are hosting a panel including Babson College’s Angela Randolph, with moderator Jennifer Vaziralli, assistant professor in the entrepreneurship division, for their Chamber Strome Business Series. $40-$70. Register at hrchamber.com.

JUNE 23

FRIDAY

757 Extravaganza & Marketplace, 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday, 2 p.m.-2 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, Hampton Roads Convention Center, 1610 Coliseum Drive, Hampton. The Hampton Jazz Festival retail and after-party experience. Explore an array of local artisans’ traditional and modern crafts, along with retail items and other amazing finds. $20-$100. Register at visithampton.com/event/757-extravaganza-and-marketplace/.

JUNE 26

MONDAY

Small Business & Workforce Development Symposium, Yorktown Freight Shed, 331 Water St., Yorktown. The York County Chamber is hosting its first such symposium. Food, beer and hard cider provided. Free. Register at Yorkcountychamberva.org.

JUNE 27

TUESDAY

Increase Employee Retention and Innovation Within Your Company, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Studio Center, 161 Business Park Drive, Virginia Beach. The Hampton Roads Chamber is hosting William “Woody” Prettyman, CEO of Studio Center. $15-$30. Register at hrchamber.com.

Chamber Business Social, 5:30-7 p.m., Wyndham Virginia Beach Oceanfront, 5700 Atlantic Ave., Virginia Beach. The Hampton Roads Chamber is hosting a networking event. Free. Register at hrchamber.com.

JUNE 28

WEDNESDAY

Spotlight on the Peninsula, 1-3 p.m., 809 Omni Blvd., Newport News. The Peninsula Chamber is hosting an information session and networking opportunity at Virginia Technical Academy. Free. RSVP at bit.ly/2023SpotlightOnThePeninsula-VirginiaTechnicalAcademy.

Advocacy and Local Government: Conversations with City Councilmembers, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Assembly rooftop, 400 Granby St., Norfolk. tHRive, the young professionals group of the Hampton Roads Chamber, is hosting Portsmouth Councilmember Vernon Tillage and Virginia Beach Councilmember Jennifer Rouse and others for a panel discussion and networking. $10. Register at ypthrive.org.

Green Drinks, 6-8 p.m., Coastal Fermentory, 206 23rd St., Newport News. Green Drinks is hosting local environmental artist Heather Beardsley for a talk called “A Dream of Strange Cities.” She will talk about her artwork and using mixed media to explore connections between art and the environment. Free. RSVP at bit.ly/GreenDrinksJune28.

JUNE 29

THURSDAY

Morning Mixer, 10-11:30 a.m., 739 High St., Portsmouth. Bloom Coworking is hosting a networking event for members and Portsmouth small-business owners. Bloomcoworking.org.

JULY 5

WEDNESDAY

$10,000 Best Pitch Contest, 1-5 p.m., Slover Library, 235 E. Plume St., Norfolk. Black BRAND is hosting a pitch contest for B-Force Accelerator graduates to help with funding to execute their business ideas. Thirty businesses have the chance to pitch. Blackbrand.biz.

JULY 11

TUESDAY

Retailpreneur Series, 8:30-9:45 a.m., Zoom. The Retail Alliance is hosting Nichole Payne, vice president of Pixel Financial Group, for a three-part workshop series on cash flow. Skilled in budgeting, analytical skills, fixed assets, bank reconciliation and account reconciliation, she will cover managing, projecting and nailing cash flow. $40-$60. Register at retailalliance.com.

JULY 12

WEDNESDAY

Peninsula Home-based Business Network Lunch & Learn, noon-1 p.m., Zoom. The Peninsula localities are partnering to host the speaker series. Jolie Spiers of the Small Business Development Center will cover having a living business plan. Free. Register at peninsulahbb.com/lunch-and-learn/.

JULY 13

THURSDAY

Managing Your Financial Health, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 11850 Merchants Walk, Newport News. The Peninsula Chamber is hosting Tonya Young, vice president and workplace solutions relationship manager at Atlantic Union Bank. $10-$15. Register at virginiapeninsulachamber.com.

2023 HRACRE/CREW Beach Bash, 6-9 p.m., The Shack on 8th, 712 Atlantic Ave., Virginia Beach. The joint event is hosted by Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate and CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) and is a popular event with nearly 400 in attendance in 2022. $75-$85. Buy tickets at hracre.org/event/BB23.

Please, send calendar items to [email protected].

Rebecca Wang was just 7 years old the first time it happened.

She remembers vividly her teacher’s panicked face, and her urgent voice telling Rebecca and her classmates to keep quiet, hide behind their desks and stay calm.

They were barricaded in a Los Gatos classroom for four hours until police found the man who’d run across their campus with a gun. Wang didn’t understand what was going on, but when they finally walked outside, her entire family was waiting — and they looked terrified.

“It was pure chaos,” said Wang, now 17. “We didn’t really know what was going on, but we knew the teachers were scared out of their minds.”

After 10 years of waiting for things to change, Wang — a rising senior at San Jose’s Gunderson High — decided to take things into her own hands. This summer, she and three friends will be refining SIREN, an artificial intelligence device they’ve trained to detect gunshots and instantly communicate with all students, staff members and teachers at an affected school, along with the police department.

“It’s sad that we felt like we had to make this device. But as students, this isn’t something we can just choose to ignore,” said Swarnya Srivastava, a rising senior at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, and member of the SIREN team.

In 2022, there were over 300 school shootings across the country, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database. This year, we’re on track for even more, with 178 school shootings recorded during the first six months alone.

Wang came up with the idea for SIREN after a teenage gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May of last year. Law enforcement waited for more than an hour outside before confronting the gunman, an 18-year-old who carried an AR-15-style rifle onto the campus. In the shooting’s wake, the Uvalde community was left grappling with knowing lives might have been saved if police had responded sooner — and they weren’t the only ones.

“Right now, it’s terrifying to be a student in America,” said Wang. “It seems like this nightmare will never stop for us.”

Just months after Uvalde, Wang, Srivastava and two other juniors, Santa Clara High School’s Caitlin Nguyen, and Mission San Jose High School’s Audrey Wang, started brainstorming ways to decrease police response time and increase the information shared with students, teachers, parents and school staff who are under attack. The four had met through hackathons and coding camps, and in the past, had bonded over being women in technology.

Ultimately, they came up with SIREN, a 3-by-6-inch device that screws onto ceilings like a smoke detector. It’s equipped with a microphone and a computer program trained to identify a gunshot, and with multiple devices located across a school, it can pinpoint exactly where a shot is coming from. Within five seconds, SIREN can send a map of the school — and the location of the shot — through an SMS message to all students, teachers, staff and the local police department.

“In situations like this, miscommunication can be really dangerous,” said Srivastava. “What we learn in school is to run, hide and defend. But we can’t do any of that if we don’t know what’s going on.”

Police across the Bay Area have had success with ShotSpotter, a similar device that’s been on the market for decades. The technology works through a set of acoustic sensors on streetlights or telephone poles, which are connected virtually to a cloud-based platform. Once a gunshot sounds, the sensors can triangulate its location and send the recording to a team of human experts. They then verify that sound and alert law enforcement within 60 seconds.

The timing of that response, the SIREN team said, is essential. The average school shooting lasts 12.5 minutes, while the average time it takes police to arrive is around 18 minutes, according to the National Sheriffs’ Association.

“Anything we can do to better improve our response time, get to a victim faster, and make the public safer, we’re 100% on board with,” said Sgt. Adam Lobsinger, the public information officer for the San Francisco Police Department. “Whatever these kids are doing to improve (technology like) ShotSpotter is a good thing.”

David Riedman, the founder of the K-12 Shooting Database, agrees the impact of SIREN — if it works as intended — could be immense. Today, he said students are often told two different things during a school shooting: to run or to hide. But without knowing exactly where the gunshots are coming from, administrators can’t give proper guidance on what students and staff should do to escape or to protect themselves.

“You need to know whether there is an imminent threat or not,” said Riedman. “Is it best to get away, or stay where I am? Right now, that’s often a guessing game.”

With the constant uptick in gun violence, Wang’s team feels they can’t move fast enough. From 2013 to 2023, the number of times a gun was brandished or fired on school property nationwide skyrocketed by nearly 800%, as reported by the K-12 School Shooting Database — from 34 to 304 incidents in 10 years alone.

“As students, we definitely worry. Is it going to happen to us next?” said Audrey Wang.

Across the country, students, teachers and parents have tried to sound the alarm on school shootings — including those across the Bay Area. Late last month, students from Willow Glen High School in San Jose led a walkout after a student brought a loaded gun to campus, the latest in a string of similar events across the district. At a packed school board meeting the day before the protest, students, teachers and parents expressed their concerns.

“As a student in high school, I shouldn’t even be worried about getting shot up at school,” said Mar Lopez, who spoke at the school board meeting. “Do you want my peers to die? Do you want the blood of others on your hands?”

For Gerson Castro, a history teacher at Gunderson High School, the SIREN project is just another example of students having to shoulder a burden that shouldn’t be their own. He was impressed by Wang’s idea, along with her team’s ability to bring it to fruition — but he wished they didn’t feel they had to.

“It’s just so sad that these kids are using their intellectual talents to come up with something that the adults in the room aren’t doing a better job of addressing,” said Castro.

Their efforts are gaining attention. Earlier this year, the team won the top prize in the cybersecurity category of the Conrad Challenge, a prestigious innovation competition that attracted nearly 1,000 student teams across the globe. They exhibited their work at the NASA Space Center in Houston. And now, they’re looking for investors and police partnerships to take SIREN to the next phase of development. Though Wang says their prototype has a 99.3% accuracy rate when compared with audio of gun-like sounds, they’re now ready to test their device using real guns — and eventually, take their product to the market.

“This is their normal, even though it shouldn’t be,” said Castro. “What (these students) have done is they’ve given the people on campus a chance.”

Human rights and golf were rarely mentioned in the same breath until the launch last year of LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed tour organized to challenge the PGA. Fans, sponsors, players and PGA executives claimed to be appalled at the involvement of a country connected to 9/11 and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, among other long-standing human rights concerns. Predictably, then, the news on Tuesday that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have agreed to a merger largely backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has come as a shock.

It shouldn’t. Ownership of a professional sports franchise is a key means for wealth to project status and soft power in the 21st century. It was just a matter of time before Saudi Arabia and other authoritarian governments decided to join the market. For the PGA, which has always been about generating revenues, acceptance was inevitable. Other professional U.S. sports organizations will inevitably follow its lead when presented with the opportunity.

Historically, U.S. sports haven’t lacked for scandals that could and should be seen as human rights issues. Correct or not, those scandals tend to be viewed as criminal matters while human rights as an issue tend to be applied to authoritarian countries, especially during Olympic years. That choice has created some awkward and uncomfortable situations in recent years. For example, despite loud calls by human rights groups to boycott the Games in Beijing in 2008, Sochi in 2014 and Beijing again in 2022, the opportunity to compete — and market — on a global stage has simply been too enticing for athletes and corporate sponsors to turn down.

There are also other reasons to embrace the Olympics. Since the 1950s, Russia and China have viewed the Games, in particular, as a premier means to market their national images at home and abroad. Athletic success at the Games — say, a top spot on the medal table — is openly celebrated as a proxy for national standing. How bad can a government be if it goes from Olympic nonparticipant to the top of the medal table in a generation, as China has?

For China and much of the world, professional athletic success has mostly been viewed as a means to achieving that gold medal. However, as wealth and power has accumulated in professional sports, China and other maligned authoritarian governments have increasingly viewed professional sports as a means to repair their images.

Saudi Arabia has been methodical in its sports investments, dating back to the 1990s, when it launched what became the FIFA Confederations Cup. In 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund acquired the Premier League football club Newcastle United. Its soccer league now includes Cristiano Ronaldo, lured by a contract worth $200 million a year. The goal is not simply to improve Saudi Arabia’s image; the Saudi regime views sports as a crucial investment and means of growing the kingdom’s economy beyond its reliance upon oil.

However, accomplishing that requires a foothold in the U.S., the world’s largest and most lucrative sports market. LIV Golf was the perfect vehicle. The PGA Tour, accustomed to its prominence and convinced of its dominance, was vulnerable to disruption. LIV offered a more dynamic and — arguably — fan-friendly golf experience. More important, it was backed by the bottomless resources of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. That money was crucial: It bought players and time for the new tour to establish itself. The PGA must have wondered how it could withstand years of Saudi money in a sport — and an industry — that demands big purses. Under the circumstances, a merger was most likely seen as the best option.

The PGA isn’t alone in its willingness to do business with countries that have troubling human rights records. In recent years, both the NBA and the WTA have accommodated China’s political prerogatives after high-profile standoffs over human rights. In both cases, the money to be made in China’s market overrode moral concerns. The PGA’s abrupt decision to merge with LIV is no different. As long as money rules U.S. professional sports, this won’t be the last time such compromises are made.

Adam Minter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia, technology and the environment. He is author, most recently, of “Secondhand: Travels in the New Global Garage Sale.”

By LINDSEY BAHR (AP Film Writer)

It was Miles Morales and the Spider-Verse versus the “Transformers” at the box office this weekend and the bots came out on top.

“ Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” the seventh entry in the series, took the No. 1 spot in its first weekend in North American theaters with $60.5 million according to studio estimates Sunday. “ Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ” wasn’t too far behind, however, with an estimated $55.4 million in its second weekend.

Paramount Pictures released “Rise of the Beasts” in 3,678 locations starting with Thursday previews. Set in 1994, it’s technically a sequel to the 1980s-set “Bumblebee” and a prequel to the other films. With a new cast led by Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback and a new director in Steven Caple Jr., it’s also an attempt to reset and breathe fresh life into the $4.8 billion franchise.

“Rise of the Beasts” also earned $110 million from 68 international markets, giving it a $170.5 million global debut.

Critics didn’t love the movie, but that’s also par for the course for this franchise. Overall, Rotten Tomatoes aggregated a less-than-fresh 52% rating.

“The problem with “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is the same problem faced by all of the installments — balancing the humanity with the metal,” wrote AP’s Mark Kennedy in his review.

In fact, the only movie that did get a fresh rating was “Bumblebee,” which also made the least money of all of them. Audiences (62% male) were more positive, giving “Rise of the Beasts” an A- CinemaScore. According to PostTrak surveys, general audiences gave it 4.5 stars out of 5.

While a $60.5 million opening might not seem like enough to support a $200 million production budget, “Rise of the Beasts” is a movie that will make most of its money abroad. Since 2011’s “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” international ticket sales have accounted for at least 70% of the global box office total. Two of the seven movies, “Dark of the Moon” and “Age of Extinction,” from 2014, made over $1 billion each.

“To have a No. 1 debut is impressive given the formidable competition from ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,’ which had a much stronger opening than anyone anticipated and in its second weekend is a really powerful player,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore.

Sony’s “Spider-Verse” sequel fell about 54%. In just two weeks, it’s already surpassed the total domestic box office of the first film with $225.4 million in ticket sales and become the highest grossing Sony Pictures Animation release. With terrific reviews in its arsenal, “Spider-Verse” is likely destined for a longer life at the box office, too.

Third place went to Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which earned $23 million in its third weekend, where it’s playing in 4,320 locations in the U.S. and Canada. The live-action movie has made $414.2 million globally to date.

Two other Walt Disney Co. releases rounded out the top five, with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” in fourth with $7 million in its sixth weekend and “The Boogeyman,” in weekend two, in fifth place with $6.9 million.

While many of the films in the top 10 are known brands or IP, one original property, A24’s “ Past Lives,” is making waves in the specialty space. Playing on just 26 screens in its second weekend, Celine Song’s romance made $520,772 for a stunning $20,030 per screen average. It expands nationwide on June 23.

The summer movie season should continue to pick up heat with major new films coming nearly every week. Next weekend family audiences get Pixar’s “Elemental,” while the superhero crowd can catch up with “ The Flash.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” $60.5 million.

2. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” $55.4 million.

3. “The Little Mermaid,” $22.3 million.

4. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” $7 million.

5. “The Boogeyman,” $6.9 million.

6. “Fast X,” $5.2 million.

7. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $2.1 million.

8. “About My Father,” $845,000.

9. “The Machine,” $575,000.

10. “Past Lives,” $520,772.

—-

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.

By Kipp Hanley

Correspondent

ALDIE — The Kellam boys soccer team capped off an historic undefeated season with its first-ever state title by defeating the Lewis Lancers 1-0 Sunday for the Class 6 championship at John Champe High School.

Freshman Jashaun Johnson scored three minutes into the second half despite a hamstring injury suffered in the first half to give the Knights (21-0-0) the lead. The defense did the rest as the back line held the Lancers (14-7-1) from Springfield off the scoreboard for Kellam’s eighth straight shutout victory.

“Most of us are seniors, so it means a lot to us,” said senior forward Carson Stretz. “It’s our last year playing high school and for some of us, it’s the last time playing at this level, so it just really feels great. [It’s] a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity. It feels good to be on top.”

“We said at the beginning of the year we wanted to go undefeated,” Kellam coach Craig Power said. “Going undefeated entails winning the state title, but we didn’t talk about the state title till towards the end of the season. We said, ‘We are this far undefeated, let’s win it all now.’”

The winning play came when Stretz pushed the ball up the field and passed it to Samuel Ricciardella in the corner. Ricciardella centered the ball to Stretz in the middle of the box. The ball deflected off Stretz to the waiting foot of Johnson, who deposited it past keeper Jason Rios.

“I told him he needs to make that run in [to the box] when the ball gets crossed in, and thankfully he listened and he put the ball in,” Power said of Johnson.

The game was scoreless at halftime as neither team could manage many high-danger chances. However, the half was not without some drama. At one point, Kellam keeper Matthew Yates found himself nearly on the sidelines at the 25-yard line in an effort to clear the ball to his teammates. However, he had to sprint back to the box when he failed to come up with the ball. Luckily for the Knights, they were able to regain possession thanks to their tremendous defense.

The last time an opponent scored on Kellam was May 12 in a 4-1 victory at Landstown. Defensively, the Knights were buoyed all season by a pair of fullbacks in Hamilton Howes and Leonardo Fajardo that Power calls the best in the state.

They are backed up by a pair of keepers in Yates and Will Stanley, who played the first and second half, respectively, during Sunday’s win. Despite splitting time for much of the season, there was never an issue with the team’s chemistry as Kellam kept piling up victories.

“I think we had a good team from the start,” said Stretz. “We’ve all been playing with each other for basically our whole lives. I knew we were going to do well, but to go undefeated the whole way was kind of unexpected.”

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Coach Brian O’Connor and the Virginia baseball team are headed back to Omaha for the College World Series for the sixth time, and first since 2021.

The Cavaliers completed a two game comeback in the Charlottesville Super Regional on Sunday, beating Duke 12-2 in Game 3.

Virginia’s route to Omaha this year is similar to the one in 2021. Both teams lost the opening game of their super regional and fought back to win two straight to advance to the CWS.

“Getting to Omaha is very, very difficult to do,” O’Connor said. “It takes a lot of things, it takes a lot more than just talent, and that’s why I’m so proud of these players that wear our uniform. To lose Game 1 on Friday afternoon the way we lost it, having a lead late in the game and not being able to hold it, … I think it says more about the character and determination and competitive spirit of this team.”

After an all-around dominant performance in Saturday’s 14-4 win, O’Connor’s squad had an almost identical performance Sunday. Virginia had 16 hits in the game, two more than it did Saturday.

Taking it all in!#GoHoos | #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/JGdn1SFopw

— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) June 11, 2023

In the second inning, the Cavaliers put five runs on the board to take a 5-0 lead. Virginia batted through the lineup in the inning and tallied five hits.

A string of RBI singles from Harrison Didawick, Griff O’Ferrall and Ethan O’Donnell brought in the first three runs. Kyle Teel brought in two more runs with a single.

O’Ferrall again led the Virginia offense. He finished 4 for 5 with two runs and an RBI.

Virginia was quiet for the next three innings and didn’t record a hit again until the sixth inning.

The drop-off in offensive production was no cause for worry, though, as starting pitcher Brian Edgington kept the Duke offense in check.

Edgington hadn’t pitched since throwing five perfect innings in his outing against Army in the opener of the Charlottesville Regional on June 2.

After struggling in his outing against Duke in April, when he gave up six earned runs in a big loss, Edgington flipped the script on the Blue Devils Sunday.

The grad transfer was dominant again, throwing 114 pitches in his first complete game as a Cavalier. He struck out 11 batters and walked one.

“You always dream about going a complete game, but usually, it very rarely happens,” Edgington said. “I had my splitter working today, which is typically my best pitch, so having that was good. I just kind of stick to the game plan, attacking hitters, and obviously we have a great offense, so just doing my part to put up zeroes.”

Duke got nine hits off Edgington, and its only two runs came off a home run from junior Jay Beshears in the sixth.

Virginia was unable to add to its lead in the fifth despite loading the bases, thanks to two walks and a hit batter, but the Cavaliers were able to back up Edgington in the sixth.

An RBI single from Virginia’s home run king, Jake Gelof, got the scoring started. Teel followed suit with an RBI fielder’s choice. A two-run home run from Ethan Anderson of Virginia Beach in the sixth was the icing on the cake.

The home run was Anderson’s third of the tournament and extended Virginia’s lead to 9-2.

💣 Things just got 𝐍𝐔𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑 in Charlottesville!

EA gets his third homer of the tournament!

📺ESPN 2 | #GoHoos | #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/my7LW5jcas

— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) June 11, 2023

“One thing I realized a lot this year is how baseball is so momentum-driven,” O’Farrell said. “When we got punched, being able to punch right back in the next opportunity that we had at the plate just really evened the playing field back up and got this crowd back into it. So our ability to create havoc right away after going down I think is what kept us ahead in both of these games.”

In the seventh inning, Teel and O’Donnell both brought in two more runs, making the score 11-2. Teel ended the game 2 for 5 with four RBIs, and O’Donnell was 3 for 4 with two RBIs.

UVA added another run in the eighth, thanks to a 384-foot solo home run from Anthony Stephan.

When Edgington trotted back onto the mound for the ninth inning, the crowd at Davenport Field went crazy. O’Connor said after the game that there was no question if Edgington would get the final three outs.

“Sometimes the best thing is just to leave the guy out there,” O’Connor said. “I think sometimes as coaches we can out think it. When you are pitching like he was pitching, the best thing is send him back out there. Sometimes change is not the best thing from that standpoint, and he had enough pitches in him and he was determined to do everything he could to finish the ballgame.”

The College World Series begins Friday, and No. 7 Virginia is set to match up with No. 2 Florida at a date and time to be determined.

Michael Sauls, [email protected], (757) 803-5775

LOCAL BASEBALL

The Wilson Tobs (6-3) beat Peninsula 7-4 Sunday night at Fleming Stadium in North Carolina, ending a two-game Coastal Plain League winning streak for the Pilots (2-6).

The Pilots committed five errors, leading to three unearned runs. Brian Ereu gave up five runs (two earned) and seven hits in four innings for the loss.

Zachary Morris, Ryan Dooley, Henry Garcia and Elijah Dickerson each scored and had a hit for the Pilots.

Connor Tucker led Wilson with three RBIs, and Rafe Perich scored twice. Both batted 2 for 4, as did Scott Mackiewicz.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

Hokies’ Fixsen wins NCAA pole vault

Julia Fixsen captured Virginia Tech’s 22nd individual national title in school history at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, winning the women’s pole vault with a personal-best clearance of 14 feet, 7.25 inches (4.45 meters) on her first attempt.

2023 NCAA Outdoor Pole Vault National Champion!

Julia Fixsen 🤩 #Hokies @NCAATrackField pic.twitter.com/uLR5mSKQvN

— Virginia Tech Track & Field (@HokiesTFXC) June 9, 2023

The junior entered the NCAAs ranked 10th in the nation but saved her best performance of the season for the national stage. She led a quartet of Hokies who finished in the top 15.

Kenna Stimmel, the ACC indoor champion in the pole vault, placed eighth by clearing 14 feet, 1.25 inches. Journey Gurley tied for 13th, and Hayley Horvath was 15th.

The Hokies went on to tie for 25th with 11 points.

Meanwhile, Virginia tied for 17th with 14 points. UVA’s Ashley Anumba and Margot Appleton came away with silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Anumba broke the Virginia discus record for the seventh time in her career, marking 61.13 meters (200 feet, 6 inches) on fourth attempt to place second.

Appleton was third in the 1,500 meters in 4:09.30, less than a second off her personal best.