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NEW SMYRNA BEACH - The People for a Drug Free Youth recently awarded three grants to New Smyrna Beach High School.
Award recipients include Lori Eskew for taking sophomore students in the Academy of Student Success to Daytona State College and Steve Gawriluk who provided yoga mats for his Academy of Student Success students.
The People For Drug Free Youth continued its support of Cuda athletics with a third grant, sponsoring the 4th Annual Fishing For Cudas Tournament on Oct. 20 at JB's Fish Camp, 859 Pampano Ave. The tournament helps raise funds to provide scholarships to students in need.
Five hundred Huntington Station residents will get kits for spreading plant DNA on property as part of a county pilot program to combat burglaries.
The Suffolk legislature on Tuesday night approved $25,000 to purchase the markers from the Stony Brook-based Applied DNA Sciences. The company will provide training to the Suffolk County Police Department on using the kits and install signs in neighborhoods marking them as "DNA protected" areas.
The kits provide a liquid marker containing DNA strands that's invisible to the eye but glows bright red under ultraviolet light. Homeowners would register each DNA strand with the company, so it could be tracked back to the owner if police recover stolen items, said Applied DNA Sciences director Michael Nizich.
He said the company will provide the kits for the pilot program at a discounted rate -- their retail price would total about $35,000 -- forgoing a profit. Each kit can mark 100 to 150 items and homeowners will not have to pay to register DNA strands.
Suffolk County Legis. William Spencer (D-Centerport), sponsor of the funding measure, said the company and police will work together to determine where in Huntington Station to distribute the kits.
"We're looking at areas of higher thefts and larcenies," Spencer said. The police department is required to report to lawmakers on the effectiveness of the pilot program in six months.
Legis. Kate Browning (WF-Shirley) said the Applied DNA Sciences should do the pilot program for free and questioned how county lawmakers will know if the technology works.
"If no one gets robbed, how do you measure success?" she said. "We are using county money for a pilot to boost a private enterprise."
Judy Murrah, Applied DNA Science's chief information officer, said the company is partnering with other police departments in the United States, and that its technology has been used in Europe.
Asked about providing the kits for free, Murrah noted that the startup company, founded in 2006, has not yet turned a profit. "We're hoping to prove it in places like Suffolk County," she said.
The speed at which blockchain technology is being adopted is unprecedented, says PwC.
South African start-ups' interest in blockchain is increasing, with the firms looking to create new businesses around the technology.
So says Paul Mitchell, fintech and blockchain lead for PwC South Africa, commenting on new research findings released by PwC yesterday, "Blockchain is here. What's your next move?", which surveyed 600 executives in 15 countries and territories, on their development of blockchain and views on its potential.
According to the survey, 84% of executives report that their organisations are involved with blockchain technology, while 15% state they are fully live.
Market analyst firm IDC says global spending on blockchain solutions is forecast to reach $2.1 billion this year, more than double the $945 million spent in 2017.
PwC says as blockchain rewires business and commerce, the research provides a clear signal that organisations fear being left behind as blockchain developments accelerate globally. The technology is opening up opportunities, including reduced costs, greater speed and more transparency and traceability, it adds.
"The survey findings indicate that organisations recognise the importance of working with blockchain; they don't want to be left behind as blockchain developments gain momentum globally," says Mitchell.
"We are seeing rapidly growing interest in this space in South Africa as start-ups look to create new businesses around blockchain, and incumbents across industries are learning what blockchain will mean in their context.
"The speed at which blockchain technology is being adopted is unprecedented. There is a growing recognition that this technology has profound implications in many areas, and we are watching it move from a start-up idea to an established technology in a fraction of the time it took for the Internet to be accepted as a standard tool."
Carel de Jager, consultant at the Blockchain Academy, notes there are numerous start-ups in SA looking at a wide range of blockchain-based fintech solutions. Some of them include Centbee, Bitsure, Valr and Octobase, he points out.
"Blockchain deployment is still on the slow side in South Africa. Pineapple recently launched a decentralised peer-to-peer insurance product. Several financial institutions are actively busy investigating use cases for the technology," says De Jager.
"Blockchain technology allows for peer-to-peer interaction between any two or more parties that don't trust each other. This means that value can now be digitally transferred without needing to trust an intermediary to provide settlement trust. Essentially, it results in cheaper, quicker and safer ways to do business."
Charles Pittaway, MD of Sage Pay, says blockchain is in its infancy in SA, but the country is seeing the financial services industry experimenting with some interesting use cases.
"It is encouraging to see, for example, that the South African Reserve Bank and major banks have tested blockchain for interbank payments. We can also expect utility companies, healthcare and the public sector to start exploring the potential of the technology."
He points out that the blockchain start-up scene in SA is really dynamic and exciting, and South Africans have played an instrumental role in founding global blockchain start-ups and projects like the Luno crypto exchange and the Civic Secure Identity Ecosystem.
"There is a range of exciting blockchain projects under way in the Cape Town and Johannesburg start-up hubs."
However, Pittaway points out that the challenge for SA's blockchain entrepreneurs is to scale them and take them global.
He believes as blockchain's regulatory landscape in SA remains uncertain, this may hold back adoption for some of the more obvious applications in banking or insurance.
"There are many issues to consider here, such as how one manages erroneous or fraudulent transactions when they can't simply be reversed, or how transactions across cross-country borders should be taxed and regulated.
"Also, many organisations fear the security and privacy implications of moving from a centralised database towards a decentralised model where all participants have visibility into the transactions in a blockchain. And as anyone who has traded in Bitcoin knows, settling transactions on a blockchain can be slow and cumbersome," says Pittaway.
For Vishal Barapatre, CTO of In2IT Technologies, the blockchain is inherently linked to the financial industry since the introduction of the crypto-currency, Bitcoin.
"As a result, the financial industry is definitely leading the charge when it comes to blockchain deployments and shows the greatest promise."
In addition, says Barapatre, other industries such as telcos, government and mining are starting to have discussions around blockchain-based solutions.
"At the moment, start-ups in South Africa as well as niche businesses are developing blockchain-based solutions. Start-ups are definitely heavily involved in the blockchain space and this is due to the fact that they are innovative in the technology space."
Nonetheless, he says larger organisations are also in the process of developing blockchain-based solutions, although they are sometimes seen as the white elephant because they look at the industry differently and can be more revenue-focused.
The enterprise market is also driving blockchain initiatives in SA. Enterprise software company Oracle is running an educational drive to teach local organisations the fundamentals of blockchain adoption, after the recent launch of its Oracle Autonomous Blockchain Cloud Service.
Computing giant IBM recently told ITWeb it is upping its game in regards to deploying blockchain technology in the South African market.
In other news Thursday, an explosion at a popular tourist cafe in Morocco killed at least 15 people, including 10 foreigners. The government said it was a terrorist bombing. Also, former President Jimmy Carter, who just returned from Pyongyang, said North Korean President Kim Jong-Il is seeking direct talks with South Korea.
At least 15 people were killed in a powerful explosion in Morocco today.
The government said it was a terrorist bombing. The lunchtime blast in Marrakech ripped through a cafe in the city's main square, a favorite spot for foreign tourists. The force of the explosion tore the facade off the restaurant. State TV reported at least 10 of the dead were foreigners. 20 other people were wounded.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il now wants direct talks with South Korea. That word came today from former President Jimmy Carter, after a three-day visit to Pyongyang. He didn't meet with Kim, but was given a message from the North Korean leader.
Chairman and Gen. Secretary Kim Jong-Il sent word that he is willing and the people of North Korea are willing to negotiate with South Korea, or with the United States, or with the six powers, the other five powers, on any subject, at any time, and without any preconditions.
South Korea has insisted the North accept responsibility for sinking a South Korean warship last year and for an artillery strike on an island. But the North Korean message didn't go that far.
There was word from Syria today that army units fought each other this week in the city of Daraa. The army was sent there on Monday to carry out a crackdown on protesters. Witnesses in the city reported some troops refused to shoot at the crowds and then came under fire themselves from other troops. Residents said at least 43 people have been killed in Daraa this week.
A military court in Bahrain has sentenced four Shiite protesters to death. They were convicted of killing two policemen last month. The four defendants were the first brought to trial since Bahrain's Sunni rulers declared martial law in the Persian Gulf kingdom.
Israeli leaders have firmly rejected a deal between Palestinian factions to form a unity government for Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli president, Shimon Peres, said today his country wouldn't accept any government that includes Hamas, which now controls Gaza. But Hamas said again it wouldn't accept the Jewish state as a permanent fixture in the Middle East.
London was a flurry of activity today, amid final preparations for tomorrow's royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
We have a report from Katie Razzall of Independent Television News.
A wave to the crowds on her last day as a commoner. Late this afternoon, a glimpse of Kate Middleton returning to the Goring Hotel, where she's staying with her family.
This morning, the bride-to-be was spotted leaving Westminster Abbey after her last rehearsal, with Prince Harry, her bridesmaids and page boys and her parents. The official wedding service now public, the almost princess will walk up the aisle to this, Parry's "I Was Glad," composed for the crowning of Edward VII.
In the program, the couple write of how incredibly moved they have been by all the affection shown to them since their engagement — that affection on show for the duchess of Cornwall this afternoon, as she stepped outside Clarence House to meet those fervent royalists from all corners of the globe who've set up camp along London's Mall.
Just outside Cannock, in the West Midlands.
I'm from Auckland, New Zealand.
Traveled from Belfast this morning.
The pavements opposite Westminster Abbey now a sea of tents and down the Mall, too, people jostling for a spot on the route.
The best word to sum this up is probably surreal. You have got the people in the campsite, many of whom set up tents a couple of nights ago, just so they would be in the right position, which they are, right outside the Abbey. That is pretty bizarre in itself.
But then you have got the people outside who are taking photographs of the people inside. That's bizarre, too. But everybody is united by the idea that something a little bit different is going on, different and with the clock ticking down to tomorrow, very British in its way. The wedding will epitomize Britishness at the palace with music by Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and of course the hymn "Jerusalem."
The ceremony begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow.
A checklist could help detect autism by a baby's first birthday. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, reported the finding today, after testing 10,000 babies. The checklist assesses a child's behavior and ability to communicate, and can be completed by parents in a doctor's waiting room. The researchers said they need to do further work before the test is ready for routine use.
On Wall Street, stocks moved higher again, despite a report showing only modest economic growth in the first quarter. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 72 points to finish at 12,763. The Nasdaq rose two points to close at 2,872.
Chance the Rapper and Atlanta‘s Zazie Beetz try to track down a werewolf in between pizza deliveries in the new trailer for Slice.
The clip opens with the mysterious murder of a pizza delivery boy, prompting Beetz’s character, as well as a few other amateur sleuths, to take on the case. Soon, the investigators realize they’re tracking a supernatural being that likely emerged from a gateway to Hell, situated beneath a pizza shop. Chance the Rapper only makes a brief appearance at the end of the Slice trailer, but the clip is still packed with plenty of delightfully campy slasher flick mayhem.
Austin Vesely directed Slice, which also stars Paul Scheer, Rae Gray and Joe Keery. A release date for the film has yet to be announced.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Camp Shelby was in a heightened state of alert Wednesday after authorities said a man matching the description of Tuesday's shooter fired shots near the military post for a second day.
Soldiers training at the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center reported shots fired at around 8 a.m. CT in the vicinity of Peret Tower Road and Mississippi 29 in Perry County. It about 15 miles southeast of the post.
A man was pulled over and detained for questioning at about 12:15 p.m., WDAM-TV, Hattiesburg reported. As police searched the area for the shooter, a maroon truck passed them, a shot was heard and police began a pursuit. The suspect claimed he had no gun and that his truck backfired.
Officials later removed a black parcel from the pickup and loaded it inside a bomb disposal van before the pickup was towed away. The man driving the truck, whose name was not released, is considered a person of interest in both gunfire incidents but has not been charged, said spokesman Warren Strain of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
Authorities also questioned two men in connection with Tuesday's shooting, but they were later released without being charged, according to the Perry County Sheriff's Office.
"The soldiers at Camp Shelby and across the state can and should take appropriate steps to defend themselves as necessary," Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said in a statement. "This is one of the reasons I recently signed an executive order directing certain National Guard personnel to be armed."
After four Marines and a sailor were killed last month in Chattanooga, Tenn., tensions are high about possible terrorist attacks on U.S. military targets.
The shooter is a white male in a red or maroon pickup truck, make and model unknown, said Lt. Col. Christian Patterson, director of public affairs for the Mississippi National Guard. No injuries were reported in either incident.
"We're making sure soldiers are aware of what's going on so they can take the proper precautionary measures," he said.
The base is in the middle of a training exercise that involves the 155th Armored Brigade combat team and other National Guard and Army Reserve units. More than 4,600 soldiers are involved in the training, Patterson said.
The military base south of Hattiesburg and about 100 miles southeast of Jackson, Miss., is more than 200 square miles in size and serves as a training center for troops year-round.
Texas A&M hasn't been a major factor in the SEC West since Johnny Manziel was the quarterback. Jimbo Fisher could change that in a hurry.
ATLANTA – Jimbo Fisher never intended to leave Florida State. He said that Monday at SEC Media Days.
Why would he, after guiding the Seminoles to six double-digit win seasons in eight years? Why would he, after winning a national championship just five seasons ago? Fisher made it sound simple.
“Life takes changes and decisions are made,” Fisher said.
A $75 million contract heavily influenced his decision, but the changes that arise because of it might not be as straightforward as Fisher made them sound.
First comes a culture change. The Aggies take the SEC’s “it just means more” mantra as seriously as anyone. Junior running back Trayveon Williams said “there’s just a different feeling at Texas A&M.” He and nearly 70,000 undergraduates on campus agree.
Fisher might already have the “12th Man” mentality figured out anyway. Junior center Erik McCoy said Fisher has done the “Gig ‘Em” hand sign in every picture he’s ever seen him in since he got to College Station. When Fisher walked up to the podium, his first word was “Howdy.” It sounded like second nature.
If embracing A&M’s traditions was Fisher’s first test, then he’s 1-0. But head coaching in the SEC is about more than adapting to culture shock. It’s about winning on the field. Since A&M joined the conference in 2012, the Aggies have had a tough time doing that.
They haven’t won five or more conference games since their inaugural season. They’ve mustered an SEC record of 25-23 over six years.
More startling than seeing 100,000-plus people swaying in unison at Kyle Field during the Aggie War Hymn might be Texas A&M’s record against AP Top 25 teams over the last four seasons: 2-14. Fisher knows he needs to change that.
His players already have that belief.
It didn’t come easily once the Aggies actually hit the field. McCoy said that after every spring practice, Fisher called the team “soft.” As they continued to hear that word, his teammates vowed to become tougher players – ones that don’t wilt at the end of games or fade away in the second half of seasons.
Senior defensive lineman Kingsley Keke said the team’s response to Fisher’s remarks is “all that matters.” If it reacts positively, as Keke claimed it has, then that could be trouble for Ole Miss and Mississippi State and the rest of the SEC West. That division already had four teams ranked in the final AP poll of 2017. Adding the Aggies as a permanent fixture would create a crowded catalog.
A&M hasn’t beaten an SEC West foe at home since defeating Mississippi State on Oct. 3, 2015. If Fisher turns Kyle Field into the hostile environment it can be, then that drought should end this year. Ole Miss is the first SEC West team on A&M’s 2018 home slate.
The Aggies have gone 2-6 against Mississippi’s SEC teams over the last four years. They were 4-0 against them in 2012 and 2013. Most Aggies will tell you that Fisher is fixing to touch the program with a magic hand the way Johnny Manziel did back then.
Most importantly for A&M, Fisher feels comfortable with his gig. He coached quarterbacks at Auburn from 1993-98 and won a national championship as the offensive coordinator at LSU in 2003. He said he “cut his teeth” here and knows a lot about the conference. A snug Fisher probably isn’t what Ole Miss and Mississippi State want to face, but that's what they're getting.
That's me on the left with my running group.
Wednesday night’s run was a classic such moment. The snowfall that had started that afternoon had grown thicker as evening fell. I had never run in a snowstorm before, but these days I’m more open to new experiences.
As I headed to meet my weekly running group at the rec centre – full disclosure, I drove there – I told myself I could always quit early if I was cold and miserable.
Turns out it’s not so bad. Stick to the crunchy parts on footpaths for better traction, be aware of unavoidable slippery bits with each footfall, maybe go a bit slower as a result. But once you’re warmed up, the winter wonderland is a treat for the eyes, and the soft snow mutes the street noise.
Our route took us on a path next to a golf course, on the sidewalk along a busy street, and through a residential neighbourhood. We got an extra bit of exercise when we stopped to help push a tire-spinning Toyota up a driveway.
With all their blinking lights and reflective strips, my fellow runners looked like a gangly group of Christmas trees come to life.
A bonus – unlike running in the rain, a run through falling snow leaves you relatively dry.

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