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Millions of Americans buy lottery tickets each year, even though most people know their chances of winning are slim at best. Why do they bother when taking home the grand prize is less likely than dying in a plane crash or being struck by lightning?
Humans often struggle to grasp probability, especially when guessing the odds of things that could happen in their lives. Generally speaking, this deficiency is due to three very human problem-solving crutches: representativeness, availability, and anchoring.
With representativeness, people base assumptions on similarities or overvalue a small sampling as indicative of a larger truth. Availability is based on recency bias or the assumption that because something just happened, it is more likely to happen again. Anchoring is what people do when they lean too heavily into early reference points, such as going to an expensive store where a discounted article of clothing appears inexpensive in comparison to the initial price despite it still being aggressively inflated.
Stacker took the guesswork out of 50 random events to determine how likely they are to happen. We sourced our information from government statistics, scientific articles, and other primary documents. Keep reading to find out why expectant parents shouldn’t count on due dates—and why you should be more worried about dying on your birthday than living to 100 years old.
Getting struck by lightning
The U.S. Weather Service places a person's odds of being struck by lightning in a given year at 1 in 1,222,000 people, based on population. That probability climbs significantly when looking at the odds of being struck by lightning in a lifetime—1 in 15,300—averaging that lifetime to be 80 years.
Winning an Olympic medal
The 2022 Winter Olympics featured 2,897 athletes across 109 medal events. In total, 551 competitors won medals in both individual and team events. This means that 19% of Olympic athletes, or roughly 1 in 5, won medals in Beijing. When expanding to include the general populace, the odds dwindle substantially—an everyday person with eyes on the gold has a 1 in 662,000 chance of reaching an Olympic podium.
Being killed in a plane crash
Take a deep breath and board that plane with confidence: Your chances of being killed in an airplane crash, based on population size and average rate of flying, are only 1 in 11 million. There were 40 airplane accidents in 2020, five of which were fatal, killing 299 people. In 2019, 86 accidents were recorded, and eight were fatal, causing the death of 257 people.
Having twins
You're setting up a nursery and buying a crib, but should you build it for two? Roughly 1 in every 250 natural pregnancies results in twins. The odds of having twins increase for older mothers and those receiving fertility treatments. Though there is a gene that makes women more likely to have fraternal twins, men who inherit it are no more likely to have twins in the family, and it doesn't increase the chance of having identical twins.
Dying in a tornado
With roughly 25 deaths per year from tornadoes on average, the odds of dying in a tornado are 1 in 13,000,000. Those odds go up if you're in a mobile home, live in frequent paths of these storms, or take undue risks when a tornado is nearby.
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Winning the lottery
If you're hoping to win the lottery, you're either very lucky or bad at math. Your odds of winning the lottery depend on which game you're playing and, for some games, how many other people are playing. Generally speaking, your odds of winning a prize in Powerball are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. Your chances are even worse for winning the Mega Millions jackpot: 1 in 302.6 million.
Being saved by CPR
The American Heart Association points to data showing that up to 45% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims recover when CPR is administered. Most of these emergencies—almost 70%—occur in people's homes, making it helpful for all family members, even children with the requisite physical strength, to learn how to administer CPR.
Killed by a meteorite impact
Meteorites may be at the heart of many science fiction and disaster films, but when it comes down to real science, Earth is a big planet covered by large, uninhabited areas. Considering the empty versus occupied planetary surface area, you have pretty low-if-wide-ranging odds—between 1 in 3,000 and 1 in 250,000, according to one estimate—of being killed by a meteorite impact.
That said, a man in 2016 died from a meteorite impact, and the famous 9-pound "Hodges meteorite" in 1954 made direct contact with Ann Hodges' thigh as she napped on her living room couch.
Finding a four-leaf clover
This genetic plant quirk brings the luck of the Irish to just 1 in every 10,000 clovers, says Dr. John Frett, professor of plant and soil sciences at the University of Delaware.
That doesn't mean you won't find one, though: The Guinness World Record for the most four-leaf clovers collected in a single hour goes to Gabriella Gerhardt of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, who, on Sept. 21, 2019, gathered 451.
Getting audited by the IRS
Paying taxes is stressful enough without worrying about getting audited. In 2019, the IRS audited roughly 1 in every 220 individual taxpayers. Overall, you're more likely to get that call from the IRS if you file for income of $0 or more than $10 million.
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Bowling a perfect game
It's a good time to be a bowler, as more advanced equipment has helped people significantly improve at the sport. The American Bowling Congress recorded the number of perfect games rising from 905 in 1968 to 34,470 in 1998. Even with the changes, the odds of a professional player bowling a perfect game are about 460 to 1, while those for a casual player stand at 11,500 to 1.
Living to 100
Technological advances have more than doubled human life expectancy worldwide in the last century—and in 2021, the United Nations estimated about 573,000 living centenarians to worldwide. In February of 2021, 97,000 people in their 100s were alive in the U.S. Women have much higher odds of reaching this feat than men, as women make up more than 80% of centenarians.
But don't go planning your 100th birthday party quite yet—your odds fluctuate by a host of factors, not the least of which being those who are youngest now have a significantly higher chance of living to 100 than the rest of us.
Earning a perfect score on the SAT
Though it won't guarantee college admission, it certainly doesn't hurt to get a perfect score on the SAT. But few manage such a feat: Only 504 of the 1,698,521 students who took the SAT in 2015—0.03%—got every point. Things didn't get any easier after the test was redesigned in 2016.
Test administrators no longer release precise numbers, but suffice it to say that in 2020 just 7% of the 2.2 million test-takers scored between 1400 and 1600, with 1600 representing a perfect score.
Getting your car stolen
Car theft had been declining for decades, but it's creeping back up. There were around 810,400 car thefts in 2020, representing an 11.8% jump from 2019. Of the 275.9 million vehicles registered in the U.S. that year, there is about a 0.3% chance your car will be stolen.
Seeing your congressperson reelected
While approval ratings jump up and down, there's at least a 90% chance a congressional representative running for reelection will be successful. Though the figure dipped to 84% in 2010, otherwise, it hasn't gone below 90% since 1974. The reelection rate to Congress in 2020 was a sky-high 96% nationally.
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Having food poisoning
Listeria, salmonella, E. coli are just a few organisms capable of causing food poisoning. One in 6 Americans will experience food poisoning in a year, according to FoodSafety.gov. Of the 48 million who become ill, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die. Foods that are eaten raw and difficult to clean are especially risky.
Getting into Harvard
With the applicant pool more than doubling at Harvard in recent years, the odds are increasingly stacked against prospective students. In 2018, admission rates dropped below 5% for the first time to 4.59%.
In 2021, the acceptance rate stood at 3.2%. It's best to apply early to increase your chances: Harvard accepted 7.8% of early applicants that same year.
Losing something in the mail
Be careful when you address an envelope or a parcel. Of the 88 million lost items the U.S. Postal Service's Mail Recovery Center received in 2014, it was only able to return 2.5 million. That's less than 3%.
While it's impossible to know how many items actually get lost in the mail, averages stand between 3% and 4.7%. Some postal centers host online auctions to sell off unclaimed items.
Becoming a bone marrow donor
Many people sign up for bone marrow registries, but because you need an actual match with a patient to donate, not everyone ends up donating bone marrow. National marrow donor program Be the Match reports the likelihood of becoming a donor at the time of joining a registry is just 1 in 430.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration says only 30% of people who need a bone marrow transplant have a relative who matches them.
Dying in a shark attack
Films like "Jaws" and "Sharknado" have primed people to fear shark attacks, but in reality, it's very unlikely to happen. If you live within 100 miles of a coastline, the odds of an unprovoked shark attack killing you are about 1 in 3.7 million. If you don't live near a coast, your death-by-shark odds are 1 in 7 million.
Surfers are most likely to encounter sharks since the best places for catching a wave are also where sharks like to gather.
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Being named Emma or Jacob
The Social Security Administration gathers and analyzes name data each year, offering tremendous insight into past and present periods. Emma and Jacob rank as the top two most popular baby names of the 21st century, according to SSA data from 2000 to 2019, released in September 2020. Utilizing the Baby Name Uniqueness Analyzer, we found the odds of being named Emma (for girls) or Jacob (for boys) in 2021 stood at 1 in 115 girls and 1 in 222 boys, respectively.
Having trouble hearing
Half of all adults older than 75 have disabling hearing loss, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports. It's not just senior citizens, either: 14% of adults ages 20 to 69 have trouble hearing the frequencies of human voices. Two to three of every 1,000 American children are born with documented hearing loss.
Becoming an astronaut
If you always dreamed of being an astronaut when you grew up, we've got bad news for you. Of the 18,300 people who applied to NASA in 2016—the first time the agency opened applications since 2011—only 10 made the cut for the 2017 training class.
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Dying in a car accident
Your odds of dying in a motor vehicle crash stand statistically higher than most causes of death, at 1 in 101. Despite Americans driving an estimated 13% fewer miles in 2020 (likely due to COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions and business closures), the country saw a 24% jump in the rate of road-related deaths over 2019, according to the National Safety Council.
Graduating from college within six years
College completion rates vary by school, gender, geography, and a host of other factors. Women are more likely to finish their degrees than men; and at highly selective institutions, more students are likely to finish on time. On average, data show that as many as 6 in 10 students who enroll at two-year community colleges and for-profit, four-year schools will not graduate within six years.
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Needing long-term care insurance
Those of us with insurance buy it with the hope of never having to use it. But when it comes to long-term care insurance, few people invest in the service despite 58% of women and 47% of men 65 and older will need long-term care in their lifetimes. Just 2.3% of Americans actually have insurance to cover that long-term care, with a 50% chance that a 60-year-old who buys a policy will use it sometime before death.
The person next to you being able to read this
While a text-focused culture like the U.S. may appear to take literacy for granted, estimates suggest 43 million adults in the U.S., or 21%, can't read—that's 1 in 7 adults, based on population. Groups like the American Library Association offer free adult literacy classes for those looking for resources.
Being ambidextrous
The odds you can use both hands equally for any task are low: Readers Digest reports that only 1 in every 100 people is ambidextrous. Some people may learn to use their nondominant hand out of convenience or necessity, but that's not the same thing.
Dying in a hurricane
Better hurricane-prediction systems have helped reduce the number of fatalities from storms—most of the nation's deadliest hurricane seasons happened more than 50 years ago. A 1900 hurricane in Galveston, Texas, killed around 8,000 people. The death toll from 2017's hurricanes in Puerto Rico was updated to 2,975 nearly a year after the storms made landfall. Generally speaking, your odds of dying in a hurricane are 1 in 62,288.
Cracking open a double-yolked egg
The odds of cracking open an egg with a double yolk are about 1 in 1,000, and often come from younger hens. If you crack an egg every day, you're only likely to get a double yolk once every three years. Because the universe can be truly random, you could also end up with an entire carton of double-yolk eggs—like one British man did in 2016.
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Your house burning down
On average, about 358,500 structural fires occur each year in the U.S. The odds of your home burning down in a fire are around 1 in 3,000; about 3,000 Americans die annually in fires.
Being killed by falling furniture
Being injured or killed by unstable furniture falling over is rare: Between 2000 and 2019, 451 children died from furniture and appliances falling over. Most tip-over accidents involve bookshelves, dressers, TVs, and TV stands. Throughout your lifetime, the odds of you being so much as knocked over by falling furniture is 1 in 5,508.
Playing for a professional sports team
Though plenty of kids dream of becoming pro athletes, there's simply not enough room on the proverbial court for the almost 8 million high school athletes competing across the country. Just over 480,000—or 6%— end up on a National Collegiate Athletic Association team in college. From there, the number who move on to pro teams or the Olympics is even smaller: 1.2% of NCAA men's basketball players and 0.8% of women's basketball players go on to major pro levels.
Becoming a millionaire
Winning the lottery isn't in the cards for most people, but that doesn't mean your odds of becoming wealthy are insurmountable. Each of us has between a 6.4% and 22.3% chance of becoming a millionaire, depending on many factors including education level, wealth, race, and age. More education improves chances all around, but race plays the most significant factor, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found.
Death by bees
Bees might seem like harmless, fuzzy pollinators, but alongside wasps and hornets, they are responsible for nearly 60 deaths a year and hundreds of thousands of emergency room visits. Your odds of dying from one of these stinging insects is 1 in 57,825.
Getting lead poisoning
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, became an international story in 2015 after news broke that city officials had known and done nothing about lead pipes contaminating the city's water, poisoning thousands of children. But they're not the only ones suffering the developmental effects of lead poisoning: As many as 500,000 American children younger than 6 have elevated amounts of lead in their systems.
Someone you know identifies as LGBTQ+
The Supreme Court's 2015 legalization of same-sex marriage was seen as a watershed moment in the movement for equality for LGBTQ+ Americans. In the years since, more people openly identify as LGBTQ+: a record 5.6% of American adults in 2021, according to one Gallup survey.
Dying on your birthday
It seems like you should have a 1 in 365—or 366 on a leap year—chance of dying on any particular day of the year. An economist at the University of Chicago discovered this isn't the case. You're 6.7% more likely to die on your birthday, a rate that increases for young people or when birthdays fall on weekends.
Being born with extra fingers or toes
Being born with extra fingers and toes results from a medical condition known as polydactyly, which affects 1 in every 500 to 1,000 births in the United States. But don't worry if it happens to you or your child, as most cases are easily fixed with surgery. People usually end up with one extra finger or toe, but the world record is held by a child born in 2010 in India with 14 fingers and 20 toes.
Being involved in a mass shooting
Firearms are the leading cause of death in the U.S., but mass shootings account for a relatively small fraction of those deaths. The average American has a 1 in 11,125 chance of dying in a mass shooting over the course of their life.
Catching a Shiny Pokemon
Shiny Pokemon are no different than normal Pokemon, except they have a different color scheme and are incredibly rare. They appeared in the video game franchise with Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver, where players had a 1 in 8,192 chance of finding one. The Pokemon game for Nintendo Switch eases those odds to 1 in 341 after players catch a certain number of a specific species, or 1 in 4,096 without the combo.
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That your birth control fails
No birth control is 100% effective, but some are more successful at preventing pregnancy than others. Latex condoms fail 13% of the time, prescription birth control pills fail 7% of the time, and implants like intrauterine devices (IUDs) fail 0.1-0.8% of the time. The right choice depends on the person in question and should always be discussed with your doctor.
Catching a foul ball
Catching a foul ball during a professional baseball game is any fan's dream. The odds of it happening aren't too terrible, depending on obvious factors like where you're sitting and the pitcher-batter matchup. All in all, there's around a 1 in 835 chance of snagging a ball while rooting for your team. The odds of catching two in a row are closer to 1 in 1 billion.
Being dealt a royal flush
The best hand in poker, a royal flush consists of a 10, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit in your hand. There's only a 0.00015% chance of being dealt this and only four possibilities—one of each suit—out of 2.6 million possible poker hands in a normal five-card game.
Being born on leap day
People born on Feb. 29, the extra day added to the calendar every four years to keep calendars matching up with the rotation of the sun, are the subject of fascination and constant jokes about how they only have a birthday every four years. The chances of any person being born on that day are 1 in 1,461, the number of days in four years plus one.
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Keeping your wisdom teeth
Getting your wisdom teeth removed has become an adolescent rite of passage, with about 10 million of them removed every year. Despite debates over the necessity of having surgery before the teeth cause problems, around 85% of people who have wisdom teeth—some people are born without them—still get them removed.
That there is alien life
There may be about a 45% chance of there being alien life, according to one study released in 2020 that estimated the odds of other-planetary life and intelligence. The findings were based on a series of inferences adding up to what's called Bayesian analysis.
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Giving birth on your due date
Due dates are an inexact science, usually calculated based on a rule devised in the 19th century. Only around 4% of babies are born on their due dates, while 80% are born sometime in the two weeks before or after. Babies born before 37 weeks of pregnancy are considered premature and can suffer from physical disability or developmental delays. Around 15 million premature babies are born annually.
Creating a perfect March Madness bracket
Every year, billionaire Warren Buffett offers $1 million per year for life to any employee at his company who fills out a perfect bracket for the NCAA March Madness college basketball tournament. The exact odds of correctly predicting the outcome of all the match-ups depend on who you ask: Forbes places it at 1 in 9.2 quintillion, while FiveThirtyEight pegged the 2015 odds at 1 in 1.6 billion. Either way, Buffett won't have to pay a grand prize winner for the foreseeable future.
Being born
This would be the probability that started it all, but what are the chances of any one human existing at all? While they're not infinitely small, the odds are not stacked in your favor. Your parents had to meet, you had to be conceived from a specific sperm and egg, you had to be born, and your ancestors had to do the same thing for generations before you or your parents were born.
After all that, you had around a 1 in 10 to the power of 2,685,000 chance, but if you're reading this, you beat those tough odds, so congratulations are in order.
You may also like: What homes are like in 25 places around the world | 2023-03-24T09:52:51+00:00 | clickorlando.com | https://www.clickorlando.com/features/2023/03/24/odds-of-50-random-events-happening-to-you/ |
Officials: Man admits to shooting strangers he believed were involved in ‘prior criminal activity’
MESA, Ariz. (AZFamily/Gray News) — Police in Arizona arrested a 65-year-old man after they said he shot and killed a woman and injured her son in the parking lot of a store on Monday.
Police said the suspect, Kenneth Montgomery, and the victims did not know each other.
Around 9:30 a.m. Monday, police said they were called by 27-year-old Albert Leotta, who reported that he and his mother, 61-year-old Antoinette Leotta, had been shot in the parking lot of a Hobby Lobby store. Officials said Albert Leotta and his mother were in two separate vehicles parked next to each other when the shooting happened.
Medics took Antoinette Leotta out of her vehicle and pronounced her dead. Albert Leotta was taken to a hospital to be treated for gunshot wounds he suffered to both legs, according to police.
Police said Montgomery drove away before police arrived. Officers gathered information from witnesses about Montgomery and the description of his pickup truck.
About two hours after the shooting, court documents obtained by AZFamily said officers found Montgomery reportedly climbing into the bed of a stranger’s pickup truck at another location and arrested him. Officers then located Montgomery’s truck where they said they found a bloody handgun on the dashboard.
According to documents, Montgomery admitted to buying ammunition shortly before the shooting and then going to the parking lot where he sought out two cars he “thought were involved in prior criminal activity.” He reportedly told investigators he parked his truck in front of the victims’ vehicles and “unloaded” his gun, firing all of the bullets he had loaded in the gun. Officers corroborated the story with 10 case shellings found at the scene.
When investigators asked if he intended to kill the two victims, Montgomery reportedly responded with, “G**d*** right. Anybody would have.” Officials also said he did not feel guilty after deciding to shoot them earlier that morning, despite there being no connection between himself and the two.
Montgomery was booked into the Maricopa County jail on various charges including second-degree murder and aggravated assault. He’s being held on a $1,000,000 bond.
Copyright 2022 AZFamily via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2022-11-24T03:44:12+00:00 | kwch.com | https://www.kwch.com/2022/11/24/officials-man-admits-shooting-strangers-he-believed-were-involved-prior-criminal-activity/ |
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Washington Lottery's "Keno" game were:
02-06-10-14-16-17-28-34-35-37-39-42-46-50-52-54-56-60-62-78
(two, six, ten, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen, twenty-eight, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-seven, thirty-nine, forty-two, forty-six, fifty, fifty-two, fifty-four, fifty-six, sixty, sixty-two, seventy-eight) | 2022-11-17T05:21:58+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Keno-game-17591123.php |
Minnesota has become an island of abortion access
Moorhead, Minn. — The move, as the crow flies, was about two miles — just across the Red River into Minnesota. But for North Dakota’s last abortion provider, it was a world apart.
“We were very sad to leave Fargo,” said Tammi Kromenaker, director of the Red River Women’s Clinic. “The state forced our hand. … It was time to hop the river.”
Expecting North Dakota lawmakers to pass anti-abortion legislation even before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, Red River had begun looking for a Minnesota home last fall. It signed the paperwork on the new clinic June 23, a day before the high court announced its Dobbs decision. That day, a supporter approached Kromenaker and proposed a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for the move.
“I was like, ‘Sure. Whatever. Go for it,’” she said. “Thank goodness!”
The reaction to Dobbs energized abortion rights supporters. Red River fund organizers quickly increased their initial fundraising goal of $20,000 to $250,000. Over four days, more than 10,000 donors contributed more than $750,000. On Aug. 6, as volunteers ferried equipment to the new clinic, the fund hit $1 million.
“I literally lost my breath,” Kromenaker recalled. Looking back months later, she said, it is “still surreal.”
While the Supreme Court decision has changed the abortion landscape dramatically across the nation, few states have been as affected as Minnesota, which has become an island of access in an increasingly restrictive Upper Midwest.
Neighboring Wisconsin, which had four clinics providing abortions before Dobbs, now has none. Among other bordering states, South Dakota has adopted some of the most restrictive abortion policies in the nation, and Iowa is expected to follow.
Minnesota clinics report a surge in patients from not only neighboring states but also from as far away as Texas. As out-of-state patients travel to larger metro areas, some in-state patients have had to seek appointments in more remote parts of Minnesota. And abortion has become an issue in the November elections for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, both Democrats.
At Red River Women’s Clinic, Kromenaker anticipated opposition in Moorhead as she and her colleagues researched the zoning requirements for a new site. A Minnesota anti-abortion group, Pro-Life Action Ministries, had vowed to stymie the clinic’s relocation but admitted it had no legal footing to stop the move. The anti-abortion group’s executive director, Brian Gibson, did not respond to a call seeking comment.
But Red River’s new facility, about a five-minute drive from the Fargo clinic, offers other advantages, most notably an entrance from its private parking lot. Before, because the Fargo facility was on a city street, patients faced a gantlet of anti-abortion protesters.
“Patients would come in rattled and upset,” Kromenaker said. “(Now) patients’ demeanors are so different. … They’re not rattled.”
But some patients face difficulty traveling to reach the Minnesota clinics.
Ripple effects across Minnesota
In the first 100 days after Roe was overturned, 66 health clinics in 15 states stopped providing abortion care, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. Fourteen of those states had accounted for more than 125,000 abortions in 2020, it said. (The 15th state, Georgia, still allows limited early abortions.)
As court challenges play out and new legislation emerges, the number of states barring abortions could total as many as 26, said Ruth Richardson, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central, which has 28 health centers across a five-state region.
Even before the Dobbs decision, about a tenth of abortion patients in Minnesota were from other states. Of the 10,136 abortions reported by the Minnesota Department of Health in 2021, 1,009 were for out-of-state residents. More than 60% of the patients from out of state were from Wisconsin, and all but 77 non-resident patients were from neighboring states.
Since the decision, the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, with five clinics performing abortions, is seeing the largest influx of out-of-state patients, clinic officials say. Planned Parenthood clinics, which perform about 75% of the state’s abortions, had about a 150% surge in call center traffic after the decision and about a 13% increase in patients, Richardson said.
Another metro-area clinic, run by Whole Woman’s Health, opened in February and is 10 minutes from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. That clinic has seen a 50% increase in patients, said Sean Mehl, associate director of clinical services for the nonprofit, which also has clinics performing abortions in Indiana, Maryland and Virginia.
While the clinics have increased staffing, the effects of the Dobbs decision extend beyond the number of patients seeking care.
“We're seeing more need for care in the second trimester,” Mehl said, partly because some patients may have tried to get appointments at multiple clinics before finding a facility that would accept them.
Rather than travel to Minnesota, some patients from North Dakota have gone as far as Colorado, Montana or Nebraska for abortions.
“Sometimes the nearest clinic isn’t the soonest clinic,” said Destini Spaeth of the North Dakota Women in Need Abortion Access Fund, which helps patients in the Dakotas with travel and other expenses.
And not all patients have the resources, time or ability to travel.
“We haven't even gotten into the reality that abortion bans don't restrict access for everyone in the same way,” said Richardson, a Democratic state representative for a suburban district south of St. Paul. Lack of access, she said, is linked to higher maternal mortality, which disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous communities.
Donors motivated by the Dobbs decision are helping close that gap. In Duluth, for example, there’s the H.O.T.D.I.S.H. Militia. The acronym stands for “Hand Over The Decision It's Healthcare.”
Some clinics in Minnesota’s northern areas, which are more remote with limited flights in and out, have not seen a large influx of out-of-state patients.
“What we really did see in the beginning of the year was an increase in patients from southern Minnesota,” said Paulina Briggs, laboratory supervisor and patient educator at the WE Health Clinic in Duluth.
“We think there’s a big ripple effect there where (out-of-state) patients are going to the (Twin) Cities, and their local patients are getting pushed up to us because their waiting times were a long time. … And abortion is a time-sensitive procedure.”
Midwest policies in flux
All Upper Midwest states have had to adapt to changing abortion laws.
In Wisconsin, where an 1849 law banning abortion took effect after the Dobbs decision, all three Planned Parenthood clinics that performed abortions halted procedures. The weekend after the high court issued its ruling, its clinics had to cancel appointments scheduled with 70 patients.
“The providers had to go into waiting rooms and tell the patients … they could not access that care,” said Tanya Atkinson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
Planned Parenthood’s 22 Wisconsin health centers still offer pre-procedure help and connect patients with “navigators” to help them find the care they need.
In the first month after the Dobbs decision, Planned Parenthood clinics in Illinois saw 350 patients from Wisconsin, 10 times the usual number, Dr. Kathy King, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin's medical director, told NPR. That figure did not include Wisconsin patients at non-Planned Parenthood clinics.
Planned Parenthood personnel from Wisconsin are now working in Illinois to expand the capacity of a Waukegan clinic, an hour’s drive south of Milwaukee.
At least one day a week, the Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin team runs the Waukegan center, Atkinson said. Also, a physician from Madison, Wisconsin, has bought two buildings just south of the state border in Rockford, Illinois. Neither site is open yet.
Illinois clinics also see patients from Missouri and Kentucky, which have some of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws. Illinois providers also anticipate more limits on abortion in neighboring Iowa and Indiana.
In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has asked state courts to lift an injunction against enforcement of a law that would ban abortions after six weeks. Republicans also control both chambers of the Iowa legislature.
Minnesota leaders moved quickly to cement the state’s abortion rights when the Dobbs decision was announced. While noting that the Minnesota Constitution protects abortion rights, Attorney General Ellison said in a statement that the decision will make life harder for people seeking abortions, including in the states that border Minnesota.
“No one from any state will be prosecuted in Minnesota for seeking an abortion that is legal in Minnesota,” Ellison said.
On June 25, Walz followed with an executive order to protect those who travel to the state seeking abortions. And in July, a district court in Minnesota ruling removed a 24-hour waiting period and a requirement that minors notify two parents.
But GOP gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen, a former state senator who said as late as May that he would try to ban abortion in the state, is within striking distance of Walz in some polls. Since Dobbs and the August primary, Jensen has taken a softer stance, saying that abortion is protected in Minnesota and criticizing Democrats for using abortion rights as a campaign issue.
Kromenaker of the Red River clinic is continuing to fight abortion restrictions in North Dakota as well. The clinic won an injunction to put the state’s trigger law on hold. But she’s wary of new anti-abortion legislation coming forward when the Republican-dominated North Dakota legislature convenes in January. She fears women traveling out of state for care might be targeted or intimidated.
“There are three bridges across the river,” she said. “What are they going to do … station the National Guard and check for positive pregnancy tests?” | 2022-10-29T14:34:59+00:00 | detroitnews.com | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2022/10/29/minnesota-has-become-an-island-of-abortion-access/69599292007/ |
NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to scientists Melinda Webster with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, about implications for the rest of the globe. She's on an icebreaker ship to examine ice melt.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to scientists Melinda Webster with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, about implications for the rest of the globe. She's on an icebreaker ship to examine ice melt.
Copyright 2022 NPR | 2022-06-24T10:36:00+00:00 | klcc.org | https://www.klcc.org/2022-06-24/ice-in-the-arctic-is-melting-even-faster-than-scientists-expected-study-finds |
Pressure on Senate GOP after same-sex marriage passes House
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a renewed push to protect same-sex marriage in federal law on Wednesday after a surprising number of House Republicans helped pass landmark legislation in that chamber. Some GOP senators are already signaling support.
The legislation started as an election-season political effort to confront the new Supreme Court majority after the court overturned abortion access in Roe v. Wade, raising concerns that other rights were at risk. But suddenly it has a shot at becoming law. Pressure is mounting on Republicans to drop their longstanding opposition and join in a bipartisan moment for gay rights.
“This legislation was so important,” Schumer said as he opened the Senate Wednesday.
The Democratic leader marveled over the House’s 267-157 tally with 47 Republicans — almost one-fifth of the GOP lawmakers — voting for the bill late Tuesday.
“I want to bring this bill to the floor,” Schumer said, “and we’re working to get the necessary Senate Republican support to ensure it would pass.”
Political odds are still long for the legislation, the Respect for Marriage Act, which would enshrine same-sex and interracial marriages as protected under federal law. Conservatives including House GOP leaders largely opposed the bill, and the vast majority of Republicans voted against it.
But in a sign of shifting political attitudes and a need for an election-year win, some Republicans are signaling there may be an opening. Few Republicans spoke directly against gay marriage during Tuesday’s floor debate in the House. And Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was notably silent when asked about the bill, saying he would take a look if it comes to the Senate.
“I’m going to delay announcing anything on that issue,” McConnell said, adding he would wait to see if Schumer brings it forward.
So far, the legislation has just two Senate Republican co-sponsors, Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman of Ohio. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina are among others closely watched for possible support.
In all 10 Republican senators would need to join with all Democrats to reach the 60 vote threshold to overcome a GOP filibuster.
“We’re seeing progress on this, and I’ll take progress,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., the bill’s chief sponsor, told reporters at the Capitol.
The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, was doubtful Tuesday, calling the proposed legislation little more than a political message.
Social issues including same-sex marriage and abortion have sprinted to the top of the congressional agenda this summer in reaction to the Supreme Court’s action overturning Roe v. Wade, a stunning ruling that ended the nearly 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion access. It set off alarms that other rights conservatives have targeted could be next.
While Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, insisted the Roe v. Wade ruling pertained only to abortion access, it demonstrated the new conservative muscle with three Trump-era justices tipping the court’s balance. A concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, who has gained stature in the new majority, raised questions about gay marriage and other rights.
“We take Justice Thomas – and the extremist movement behind him – at their word,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the House debate. “This is what they intend to do.”
Both Pelosi and Schumer criticized Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said over the weekend that the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell vs. Hodges decision upholding gay marriage was “clearly wrong.”
The Respect for Marriage Act was rushed to the House floor in an election year with polling showing a majority of Americans favor preserving rights to marry, regardless of sex, gender, race or ethnicity, a long-building shift in modern mores toward inclusion.
A Gallup poll in June showed broad and increasing support for same-sex marriage, with 70% of U.S. adults saying they think such unions should be recognized by law. The poll showed majority support among both Democrats (83%) and Republicans (55%).
Approval of interracial marriage in the U.S. hit a six-decade high at 94% in September, according to Gallup.
McConnell, the Republican leader, is eager to regain control of the Senate, now evenly split 50-50, and his views on whether his party should support or oppose the same-sex marriage protections will almost certainly be viewed through that political lens.
Incumbent Republican senators seeking to win reelection and GOP candidates running for office may want a chance to support the gay marriage issue that is popular with many voters. Strong Republican-led opposition could be seen as detrimental to the party’s candidates in swing states that McConnell needs to win to regain control.
One Republican hopeful, Joe O’Dea, who is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado, said he was glad to see the same-sex marriage bill pass in the House.
“You’ve got a lot of politicians in both political parties who spend way too much time trying to tell people how to live their lives. That’s just not me. I live my life. You live yours,” O’Dea said. “Let’s get on with solving the huge challenges facing the American people.”
Still, some vocal leaders in the Republican Party, including Cruz and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, both potential presidential candidates, have indicated likely opposition to the legislation.
The Respect for Marriage Act would repeal the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act, which put into federal law the definition of marriage as a heterosexual union between a man and woman. That 1996 law was largely overshadowed by subsequent court rulings, including Obergefell vs. Hodges in 2015, legalizing gay marriage nationwide.
___
Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Mary Clare Jalonick and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2022-07-20T20:18:28+00:00 | wfsb.com | https://www.wfsb.com/2022/07/20/pressure-senate-gop-after-same-sex-marriage-passes-house/ |
SHANGHAI, Oct. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The last two decades have witnessed the fastest evolution of wireless communication technologies reshaping the modern society. SIMCom a world leading supplier of wireless communication modules and solutions, is consistently being a dominant pioneer in the industry starting from 2002. Over the past twenty years, SIMCom has been leading the change with its competitive products via continuous optimization based on the demands of vertical markets. According to the report by ABI Research , SIMCom had led the world in wireless communication module shipments for four consecutive years from 2015 to 2018. Ever since then, SIMCom has remained one of the major wireless module suppliers worldwide.
As the trailblazer in the cellular module industry in China, SIMCom's focused R&D capabilities is the core factor giving impetus to SIMCom's journey of globalization. Underpinned by its two-decade-long technological accumulation, SIMCom delivers wireless connectivity with extraordinary stability and reliability delivered into thousands of commercial application cases.
To meet the needs of ever increasing IoT applications and fast development of wireless communication technologies, SIMCom has developed a diversified product roadmap including 2G,3G,4G,5G,LPWA,GNSS modules, automotive modules and smart modules. SIMCom modules cover various vertical IoT segments such as smart energy, smart automotive, smart payment, telehealth, security monitoring, smart city, telematics, smart industry and smart agriculture.
SIMCom has developed a solid service network that has been set up via the joint efforts of both online and local support teams distributed all over six continents. With large amount of investments in the equipment and professionals. SIMCom has set up a high tec 5G R&D center in Chongqing, the tech hub in the southwest China, which has accomplished independence in advanced wireless products development.
The success of SIMCom has not only developed from its technological advantages, but also owing to its well-proven management system. The stringent quality control process ensures every step of production including R&D, supply chain, manufacturing, after-sales services and continuous improvement to meet the industrial standards. Meanwhile, the all-round services are provided to customers in terms of global regulatory and MNO certifications, technical consultancy and support throughout a products life-cycle. The customer-oriented business philosophy has made SIMCom the perfect partner more than 10,000 customers in 180 countries and regions across the globe.
It is entering an era of smart connectivity powered by 5G and AI. As a more reliable way, everything will be connected to the cloud. 5G facilitates a ubiquitous network that can meet diverse connectivity needs of the smart IoT, spurring the digital transformation in multiple vertical industries. Yang Tao, the CEO of SIMCom, pointed out that cloud and terminals are the two sides of the coin in the process of IoT development. SIMCom will constantly increase investments in 5G and AIoT and roll out a series of products and solutions targeting the applications of cloud platforms and intelligent terminals to create future-proof values for customers around the world. Follow SIMCom linkedin company page to learn more.
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SOURCE SIMCom Wireless Solutions Co.,Ltd. | 2022-10-14T01:23:24+00:00 | mysuncoast.com | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/10/14/connecting-today-tomorrow-simcom-milestone-20-years-innovation-growth-development/ |
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WGHP) — A North Carolina school apologized after baptizing more than 100 children without their parent’s permission, according to the Fayetteville Observer.
Northwood Temple Academy, a private Christian school in Fayetteville, posted on Facebook on Thursday, “I feel it in my bones, You’re about to move! Today we had over 100 middle and high school students spontaneously declare their faith and get baptized today. We will have more pictures of these powerful moments posted over the next couple of days!”
That morning, three students had their scheduled baptisms at the school as part of Spiritual Emphasis Week. The offer was then extended to other students who had not been scheduled. More than 100 students in total were baptized.
Renee McLamb, the head of the school, sent families a letter to explain.
“The Spirit of the Lord moved and the invitation to accept the Lord and be baptized was given and the students just began to respond to the presence of the Lord,” McLamb said in the letter, which was obtained by the Observer.
The school says it typically notifies and invites parents to be present for any baptisms that happen on campus, and “it was not the intention of any faculty member to do anything behind a parent’s back or in any kind of secret way.”
“I do understand that parents would desire to be a part of something so wonderful happening in the lives of their children, and so I apologize that we did not take that into consideration in that moment,” McLamb said. “I pray that at the end of the day we will all rejoice because God truly did a work in the lives of our students.”
McLamb told the paper that the school should have given students a chance to contact parents and ask permission. “We were not expecting such an overwhelming response to the message that was spoken, but as a mother I certainly can empathize with why some parents were upset,” she said.
McLamb said that most of the parents that contacted her were glad, but some were unhappy with the move. Some of the children had already been baptized, and at least one family was concerned that a second baptism could undo the first. | 2022-09-05T21:56:47+00:00 | wivb.com | https://www.wivb.com/news/national/more-than-100-students-baptized-without-parents-permission-at-north-carolina-school/ |
WASHINGTON — The midterm election is less than eight weeks away, with control of Congress on the line.
That impacts everything from health care to your taxes in the years to come.
In this politically-charged environment, it also impacts various congressional investigations — from the former president to the current president's son.
DEMOCRATS AND INVESTIGATIONS
If Democrats can maintain control of Congress, the status quo will very much remain.
For months, Democratic leaders have promised to inquire into the profits of the oil and gas industry and airlines and canceled flights.
Of course, of all the possible investigations that Congress could conduct, Democrats have clarified for years that former President Donald Trump is their primary focus.
If Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats keep control of the House, the January 6th congressional investigation is poised to continue and potentially expand to include classified documents.
Democrats earlier this month on the House Oversight Committee, for example, obtained the financial records of Mr. Trump for the very first time after years of inquiries.
REPUBLICANS AND INVESTIGATIONS
However, if Congress flips to Republican control — as is currently predicted by many pollsters with the House of Representatives — the political investigations in our country will change.
For instance, that January 6th committee could shut down entirely or its focus be altered by putting close friends of Mr. Trump on it.
The committee could start to look at the FBI and why a raid at Mar-a-lago was ordered last month.
In recent weeks, Republican leaders in the House have also signaled other inquires they plan on creating.
Take, for instance, Hunter Biden, the president's son.
Republicans have said they would like to look into his past financial ties and business practices.
Dr. Anthony Fauci could face scrutiny, too, even though he is set to retire before the end of the year.
Any investigation would likely focus on his rationale for Covid lockdowns.
Other investigations are expected to include tech companies like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
Republicans have concerns over what is getting censored online.
House Republicans recently wrote to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg telling him that "big tech-implemented censorship suppresses freedom of speech." | 2022-09-15T22:32:41+00:00 | ksby.com | https://www.ksby.com/news/national-politics/congressional-investigations-could-change-drastically-if-congress-changes-hands-this-election |
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — In a world where a jar of peanut butter costs a dollar more than it did last year and the price of a gallon of conventional milk inches up to $6 in some cities, paying $1.49 for a family-size box of crispy rice cereal can seem like a good idea, even if it’s August and the cereal is dyed red and green for Christmas.
At the salvage store, a deal is a deal.
With grocery prices 13.1% higher than a year ago, according to the consumer price index for July, a new batch of customers has discovered the joys and pitfalls of shopping at salvage food stores, where a crushed box is never a problem, package dates are mere suggestions and questionable marketing attempts (Hostess SnoBall-flavored coffee pods?) go to die.
The stores, which traffic in what mainstream food retailers call “unsellables,” operate in a gray zone between food banks and big discount chains like the German import Aldi or Dollar General, which has grown to more than 18,000 stores.
With names like Sharp Shopper, the Dented Can and Stretch-a-Buck, salvage stores have long been a salvation for families on tight food budgets and the naturally thrifty. Adventurous shoppers looking for bargains use them for culinary treasure hunts. Now, the inflation-weary are joining their ranks.
Maggie Kilpatrick, a food blogger and cooking teacher in St. Paul who has celiac disease, visited a salvage store for the first time in June after the cost of her favorite gluten-free products skyrocketed. Someone in a gluten-free Facebook group mentioned a salvage store about 20 miles away.
“I was shocked,” she said. “There was lots of gluten-free, organic, high-quality stuff you never thought you would find in this dumpy little store in Fridley, Minnesota.”
A package of two baguettes from a company she loves usually sell for about $6.99. She picked up three packages for $5. Vegan butter was $1.99, about $5 less than she would pay at Whole Foods Market.
“I can see how people get hooked on it,” she said.
A list of salvage grocery stores in Minnesota can be found at buysalvagefood.com/salvage-grocers-minnesota.
Many of the stores are small, and some don’t use checkout scanners or take credit cards, so getting a complete picture of nationwide sales is a challenge. An analysis of 405,101 receipts submitted by consumers to the consumer rewards app Fetch showed the number of households shopping at salvage stores in the first half of this year was more than 8% higher than a year earlier.
The manager of Dickies, a small chain in North Carolina, said sales were up 36% from last summer. Other store managers reported double-digit increases. “I’ve been seeing a bunch of people come in who haven’t been here before,” said Nicholas Duke, 27, who manages what had until recently been called the Price Is Right in this tourist-friendly city in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The owners recently renamed the store Uplifting Deals. It’s part of a rebranding plan they hope will attract new shoppers, including people who once might have turned up their noses at places that sell tubes of frozen hamburger for $2 a pound, fading lemons and a jumble of items, from canned tomatoes to 99-cent bottles of celebrity-chef marinade.
“We’re trying to clean it up and show people it can be a real shopping experience,” Duke said.
In another twist, salvage food stores are drawing environmentally conscious consumers intent on doing what they can to reduce the $161 billion worth of food the Department of Agriculture estimates is dumped every year into landfills.
That’s why Lynne Ziobro started the website Buy Salvage Food two years ago. She maintains a nationwide map of salvage food stores and offers guidance on ways to reduce food waste.
“Most people visiting my site are looking for ways to save money on groceries, and I hope I’m able to raise their awareness of food waste while they’re there,” she said.
The idea came to her after she grew frustrated helping a friend find a retailer to sell his flavored nuts, which Amazon was pulling from its platform as the best-by date approached. Visits to her site, she said, have more than tripled since last year, and now hover around 11,000 a month.
A handful of new waste-conscious companies have taken the salvage store concept online, shipping out bargains on meat and dairy products, stock overruns and food from farmers that might otherwise get tossed out.
“I think the food-waste-warrior mentality has gone hand in hand with the value seekers,” said Abhi Ramesh, who founded the home-delivery company Misfits Market in 2018. The company is growing fast, and has shipped more than 14 million orders since it started.
Salvage shopping has even spawned a tiny subgenre on social media, where people record their trips to the stores and display their hauls like trophies, piled on kitchen counters. In March, one TikTok video went viral, sending hundreds of people into an unprepared Oklahoma City store, where they stripped the shelves. The store closed shortly afterward.
One fan of the store was Thahn Tran, 53, a waste-savvy cook who is deeply invested in food politics and locally grown food. “I have no problems eating things past the due date,” she said. “I’m not a germophobe. I just use my sense of smell.”
As any smart salvage shopper knows, dates on food packages usually don’t mean much. Whether “sell by,” “best before” or “expires on,” they are intended to help stores and manufacturers control inventory, and to let consumers know when a product is at peak quality.
The federal government doesn’t require or regulate dates on any food except infant formula. Most states have rules about food dates, but they vary widely.
Last year, Congress began considering a uniform national rule that would use only two phrases: “Best if used by” to indicate quality and “use by” to indicate when a food might become unsafe to eat. Refed, an organization that researches food waste, said a universal standard would end the confusion that prompts people to toss $29 billion worth of safe, edible food each year.
“There’s nothing wrong at all with salvaged food or something that’s past the date,” said Sarah Kaplan, 29, who manages her family’s four Dickies salvage food stores in Asheville. “I’ve been raised on it all my life, and I’m not dead.”
Veterans of salvage shopping suggest that newcomers get to know the store and the staff, who can point out the real bargains.
Trust yourself and not labels, they say. Find out which days merchandise is delivered to the store, and get there early for the best selection. And make sure to pick a good store. They vary from chains whose stores would be at home in affluent suburban neighborhoods to homespun markets with cluttered shelves and softening vegetables.
“I’ve told a lot of my friends and co-workers, ‘You have to be willing to sort through the stuff that isn’t good to find what it is,’” said Molly Nicholie, the executive director of the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, based in Asheville.
Nicholie was loading $100 worth of groceries into her Prius one recent Saturday. Her three boys can go through a bag of granola and a gallon of milk a day, she said, “so either I’m spending $5 on a bag of granola at the regular grocery or 98 cents here.”
She uses the money she saves to buy meat from pasture-raised animals, and fruit and vegetables at local farmers’ markets.
Although she appreciates the savings, Nicholie enjoys the hunt. During her most recent trip, she found a pound of foil-wrapped European-style butter for $2.50. The shipping box, which held 36 pounds, had been ripped open and one wrapper was torn, so the distributor sold the whole case to a salvage food broker.
Food brokerages can be as small as a few ambitious people with a truck and some connections at a restaurant distribution warehouse. Others are sophisticated operations that work directly with food giants like Hormel or Mondelez.
Food producers need to unload vast amounts of extra inventory because they’ve reformulated a product or changed the package. Sometimes sales forecasts have changed. Manufacturers sell to stores or brokers who agree to keep the food out of the retail mainstream so the brand’s price strategy and image won’t suffer.
Some salvage store owners have direct relationships with grocery chains that have to clear out food that they have failed to sell at a discount, or that is nearing expiration dates. Some owners buy bread directly from the person driving a local delivery route.
It’s an unpredictable system whose currency is reputation, connections and hustle. And it has its share of bad actors.
“I knew people who would wipe dates off mayonnaise,” said David Fox, president of Java Holdings, a food and merchandise liquidator in Los Angeles. He got his start 31 years ago working for a company that was selling dented cans of vegetables from Northern California canneries hit by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Now his company has 11 employees, several distribution centers and the ability to repackage and relabel surplus goods to hide the names of national brands. When the pandemic shut down travel, leaving cruise-ship lines and airlines with tons of frozen meals and vats of orange juice, he found buyers. When PepsiCo retired the Aunt Jemima brand in 2021 because of its racist overtones, he liquidated 50 truckloads of syrup and pancake mix.
“I’m addicted,” he said. “My best friend calls it a casino.”
Salvage stores and food banks aren’t in competition for surplus food, he said. The government caps how much food a company can donate for tax purposes. Food banks turn to salvage brokers when they need to buy specific items, like canned tuna or pinto beans, to round out what they give to families.
Some salvage store owners, especially in rural communities, see their stores as extensions of food banks, and view their work as a religious mission.
Hunter’s Salvage Grocery, near the Tennessee border in Trenton, Georgia, is one of them. Stephanie Hunter, 47, runs the 4,000-square-foot store in a little strip mall. Customers toggle between her store and the Dollar General next door.
She has plenty of customers who were having a hard time feeding their families before inflation drove up food prices. It’s worse for them now, she said.
She prices her food as low as she can, though inflation is hitting the discount food market, too. At Hunter’s, cans of tomatoes are six for a dollar. A loaf of bread is $1. Last month she decided to offer a five-for-one special on infant formula to a father who was nearly in tears because he couldn’t afford more than one can.
Hunter orders food from a broker who assembles pallets of banana boxes filled with similar products, labeled “drinks” or “groceries.” But she never knows what she’s going to get.
She unpacks each order with the hopefulness of a birthday girl. Sometimes, the boxes hold nothing but disappointment.
“We get some things and you think, ‘It’s no wonder we got this, because it’s disgusting,’” she said. “Sometimes it’s really good, but something where someone was clearly late jumping on that trend train.”
And then there are those days when she hits pay dirt, like a load of coffee in K-cups, which go fast, or a case of Velveeta cheese, which she sells for $5 a block.
“That,” she said, “is pure gold.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times. The Pioneer Press contributed to this report.
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POWELL, Tenn. (WATE) — Knoxville Fire Department responded to a fire at a Powell fast food restaurant Wednesday, Aug. 17.
A Steak N’ Shake restaurant was one fire on 500 East Emory Road in Powell. KFD responded and was able to extinguish the fire.
The fire seemed to burn a small part of the wall that was next to the entrance of Steak N’ Shake.
According to KFD, the building sustained minor damage.
This is a developing story. Download the WATE 6 News app to get updates sent to your phone.
KFD is investigating the fire incident. | 2022-08-17T23:34:18+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/news/knox-county-news/fire-damages-steak-n-shake-in-powell/ |
TYLER, Texas — Five people were shot and injured early Sunday during an outdoor event in East Texas that featured a trail ride, according to authorities.
The Smith County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call at 12:35 a.m. Sunday about multiple gunshot victims in a large pasture area in the eastern part of the county. People were taking part in an annual trail ride sponsored by Unified Elite Riderzz from nearby Marshall, Texas.
Authorities say witnesses told investigators that following a fight near a concert stage, one or more trail ride groups started shooting into the crowd.
After the initial shooting, some of the people at the event ran to the security area that had been collecting firearms from attendees and got their guns back, the sheriff’s office said. A second and third shooting then took place.
Investigators believe all the injuries happened during the first shooting.
Four of those shot have been treated and released from area hospitals. One person remained hospitalized Sunday in critical but stable condition, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators continued to interview witnesses on Sunday.
In a Facebook post, Unified Elite Riderzz said it “would like to send prayers out to the family and friends involved in the incidents last night.” | 2022-06-26T22:24:33+00:00 | sfgate.com | https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/shooting-East-Texas-trail-ride-17266897.php |
CHINO HILLS, Calif., June 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Venture MLS, the venture capital firm built to serve brokers, agents, and MLSs, has chosen Styldod to develop artificial intelligence solutions in real estate. The $1MM investment adds a new company to the Venture MLS I Fund.
Styldod recently expanded its product line from virtual staging into AI. Its machine learning algorithms already identify and extract information from property photos. Upcoming AI products will process, tag, and export this image data, saving agents time when uploading MLS listings.
Styldod carves a unique niche with its industry relationships. As an MLS partner from its earliest stages, Styldod can carefully tune its AI to meet practitioners' needs.
"We have already seen impressive results from Styldod," said Art Carter, Venture MLS fund manager. "We believe their products can radically improve the way real estate professionals do business. It's exactly what we are looking for."
Venture MLS will help drive revenue for Styldod by promoting its AI products to MLSs. This, in concert with the cash investment, will give Styldod a rare market advantage.
"Styldod AI is a result of our deep passion for and desire to use cutting-edge technologies to solve the real estate industry's murkiest problems," said Styldod CEO Akhilesh Majumdar. "We have spent nearly seven years producing a solution that lets enterprises and agents harvest the full power of AI to increase their productivity."
"Today, we are closer to achieving this mission than ever before," Majumdar continued. "We are delighted to welcome Venture MLS to the elite list of investors who believe in our vision of becoming an AI provider of choice for the real estate industry."
As the first venture capital firm created by an MLS, Venture MLS backs seed and early-stage companies within the property technology space. Venture MLS invests in companies that can leverage the unmatched experience, expertise, and connections it holds within its industry. Visit venturemls.com for more information.
Styldod is a design-technology company poised to challenge every marketing productivity benchmark in the real estate industry. Through its groundbreaking AI product suite, Styldod enables the automatic virtual staging of homes in multiple lifestyle designs, complete with automated property descriptions and enhanced interactivity across a variety of media! At enterprise scale, these tools create a marriage between retail furniture sales and residential home ownership, that keeps the real estate agent at the center of each transaction. Learn more at www.styldod.com
Contact:
info@venturemls.com
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SOURCE Venture MLS | 2022-06-30T17:21:42+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/06/30/venture-mls-invests-styldod-create-ai-solutions-multiple-listing-services/ |
Dwayne Johnson's epic character in Black Adam has jumped off the big screen and lit up Comic-Con center stage. The famed actor surprised San Diego convention-goers by appearing in full costume for the cast's panel presentation at Hall H.
The immersive experience began when Johnson boomed into the room, rising through the stage in a cloud of dark smoke with vibrant lightning strikes surrounding him, saying, "Hall H, you have been warned. The DC universe will never be the same again.”
Comic-con attendees were wearing "lightning light" necklaces that bolted on when Johnson made his powerful entrance, lighting up the room and prompting boisterous applause and cheers.
ET's Matt Cohen caught up with Johnson on the Comic-Con red carpet where he revealed bringing his superhero role to the famed San Diego convention has fulfilled a "20-year dream" of his. "It was a moment," Johnson said genuinely, "Coming back here to Comic-Con, Hall H, the dream has always been to represent a superhero. I was a DC kid growing up, now I'm still a DC kid as a man."
Describing the motivation behind his epic, costume-clad entrance, Johnson said, "The goal was, if we were gonna go, let's make it special. Let's really deliver something that's different and unique for the fans."
Johnson's Black Adam suit transforms him into a superhero from head to toe. The skintight gray and gold ensemble features a large lightning bolt across his chest.
Getting candid about the superhero suit, Johnson said, "The best thing about the costume was removing all the muscle pads." He explained that his intense fitness regimen was being overshadowed by the suit, "I was like 'this is ridiculous, I have worked too hard, I have worked my butt off for this,' so we removed the muscle padding out of the costume so now it's just a latex fit on me."
The spectacle was certainly the highlight of the Black Adam event which also saw a conversation between stars Aldis Hodge (Hawkman), Noah Centineo (Atom Smasher) and Quintessa Swindell (Cyclone), with director Jaume Collet-Serra explaining the motivation behind the project.
Black Adam is the first-ever feature film to explore the story of this DC superhero. The film follows Adam nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the ancient gods— and imprisoned just as quickly—Black Adam (Johnson) is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world.
Not only did Johnson delight Comic-Con with never-before-seen footage from the forthcoming film, but every fan in the crowd was also given the opportunity to see Black Adam in IMAX for free via Fandango when it hits theaters
Black Adam smashes into theaters and IMAX internationally in October 2022.
See below for more of Entertainment Tonight’s ongoing coverage of Comic-Con 2022, including the daily schedule and biggest highlights of the weekend.
RELATED CONTENT: | 2022-07-25T04:39:01+00:00 | 9news.com | https://www.9news.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-tonight/dwayne-johnson-booms-into-comic-con-as-black-adam-fulfilling-his-20-year-dream-exclusive/603-618df8ad-d38e-4872-b027-879235327cb1 |
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
Alexandra Mislin, American University
(THE CONVERSATION) Equal Pay Day falls in 2023 on March 14 — a date determined by how long into the new year American women must work to catch up to American men’s earnings the previous year. In 2022, women earned 82% of what men earned. The wage gap for Black and Hispanic women is even higher — these groups made 70% and 65%, respectively, of what white men made.
Some of the gender pay gap can be attributed to differences in how women negotiate.
This is not to say that women don’t negotiate as well as men, or even less often. Women are negotiating well and self-advocating in their careers every day – sometimes more actively and effectively than their male counterparts. Women have been observed to negotiate exceptions to typical work or business practices more than men. This includes, for example, negotiating a remote work arrangement prior to the pandemic.
But when it comes to salary and wage negotiations, research suggests that women are more reluctant to ask and less effective when they do.
That’s because salary negotiations are generally seen as competitive situations that favor men and masculinity. In such settings, self-advocating violates societal norms that women should be kind and communal. According to the authors of one study, women anticipating backlash from attempting to negotiate “hedge their assertiveness, using fewer competing tactics and obtaining lower outcomes.”
The fear of backlash is reasonable. Men and women alike say they are less willing to work with women who ask to be paid more.
I research negotiation and conflict management and teach a variety of negotiation courses to undergraduate and graduate students.
Here are five tips that you can start applying today to be more effective in your workplace negotiations. These strategies benefit women but represent best practices for anyone seeking higher pay regardless of where they identify on the gender spectrum.
1. Think before you ask
Consider what you really want before you launch into your negotiation – hit pause and take a step back. How does what you’re asking for fit into your bigger work or life aspirations? You might start with a focus on a salary increase, but what you really want is an accelerated promotion track.
Negotiating professional development opportunities and your role at work may do more to help close the pay gap than getting paid more than you are currently earning. So, take stock of your goals and make sure you are focusing on negotiating about the right issues.
2. Communicate your value
Once your purpose and objective are clear, figure out how to articulate your value. Women are more persuasive and reduce the risk of backlash when they explain why what they are asking for is appropriate and justified. As you do this, put yourself into the hiring manager’s or your boss’s shoes and consider how the request you are making is legitimate from their perspective. How can, for example, your data visualization skills help your team communicate more successfully at the next client meeting? How can you position what you are asking for, such as a promotion to senior analyst, in terms of bigger business goals, like expanding the client base?
When women articulate their value while considering the other person’s objectives, their negotiation behavior is perceived as more socially acceptable and women are better positioned to succeed.
3. Ask for more than just salary
Gender differences are most likely to arise when it is less clear whether negotiating is appropriate. This might be a job that doesn’t explicitly indicate that wages are negotiable, or where the salary range is not disclosed. In these cases, women are less inclined to negotiate because they anticipate backlash. This applies not just to salary or wage negotiations, but also negotiations for other opportunities, including promotion, work assignments, developmental opportunities and resources.
When you are not sure whether negotiating is appropriate, ask around and gather information from trusted sources. Use your network, but also stretch beyond your network. You may want to seek advice from, for example, men in male-dominated work settings. People tend to connect with others who are similar in age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, so information from your close network can be skewed. Find out what people are negotiating at work and reduce the social risk of asking by decreasing ambiguity around whether negotiating is appropriate.
4. Check your mindset
Whether you see yourself as a reluctant negotiator, a competitive negotiator or a people-pleaser, what matters more is your mindset going into the negotiation. A review of individual differences in negotiations identified the single best predictor of performance as having a positive mindset – confidence in one’s own ability and confidence that it is appropriate to negotiate.
A positive mindset also means approaching negotiations with curiosity. Make it about trying to work out a problem, not winning a fight. This approach is more aligned with social expectations that women are communal, and it is also a best practice that produces better results.
Even if the other person starts with no, don’t let that derail your negotiation. Prepare to stay at the table and find out why. If you cannot get the salary increase you are asking for, maybe you can successfully negotiate a developmental opportunity and revisit the salary conversation in six months.
5. Don’t skip the small talk
On the other side of the negotiation is a person, and you will find it easier to reach a solution together if you get along. Small talk before the negotiation helps build the relationship and can have a positive effect on your negotiations. Familiarity with the employer may even give women a bigger boost than men. So get to know the person you will be negotiating with personally, and don’t skip the small talk.
Practice these five tips and keep negotiating. The more experience you have negotiating, the better you will do. And the better results women get from negotiating well will help shrink the gender pay gap between men and women.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/5-tips-for-women-to-negotiate-a-higher-salary-200415. | 2023-03-10T15:20:57+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/5-tips-for-women-to-negotiate-a-higher-salary-17831455.php |
NATO presses Turkey to approve Sweden’s membership, eyes Ukraine security plan as summit looms
By MATTHEW LEE and LORNE COOK
Associated Press
OSLO, Norway (AP) — NATO is ramping up pressure on member nation Turkey to drop its objections to Sweden’s membership. The military organization is also looking at boosting Ukraine’s non-member status in the alliance and preparing a framework for security commitments that it can offer once the war with Russia is over. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the alliance wants to bring Sweden into the fold by the time allied leaders meet in Lithuania next month. He says the allies hope to make progress on long-term funding and the security plan for Ukraine at the same event. NATO must agree unanimously for countries to join. Turkey’s government accuses Sweden of being too lenient on terrorist organizations. | 2023-06-01T17:32:40+00:00 | kyma.com | https://kyma.com/news/2023/06/01/nato-presses-turkey-to-approve-swedens-membership-eyes-ukraine-security-plan-as-summit-looms/ |
SAO PAULO, Aug. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AXENYA, a leading Latin-American digital health start-up company, and HealthCo, a premier data-intensive consulting firm and insurance broker, announce that they have reached an agreement to merge the companies into the leading corporate health-tech ecosystem in the Latin-American region.
The combined companies will serve over 35,000 lives and have the capacity to deliver value across the entire healthcare journey. The companies expect to more than double that number in the coming year. All founding and operating teams at HealthCo and Axenya will remain in the company and as shareholders of the new company, which will operate under the Axenya brand.
"The New Axenya marries the most advanced population data science with cutting edge, clinically proven, digital therapeutics", said Mariano García-Valiño, Founder of Axenya. "The combination creates an unbeatable ecosystem, where we can gather data to analyze large populations, identify care gaps and create perfectly targeted individual digital plans for each person, improving clinical metrics and reducing cost across the entire spectrum".
Axenya, that started operations in 2020, offers software and hardware products that expand the doctor's toolbox, allows them to help their patients achieve higher standards of health and make the overall practice of medicine more personalized and precise. The company is the first member of the Digital Therapeutic Alliance in Latin America and the only company in the region with clinical research published in peer-reviewed journals. HealthCo is one of the most advanced data-intensive healthcare brokers in the region and approaching 90 corporate clients. Their proprietary data analytics result in consistent savings for their client base.
The combination becomes a one stop shop to enable corporate clients to maximize quality and expense in all aspects of their healthcare needs: from population analytics, 24/7 monitoring and course correction, delivering individually selected next generation digital therapeutic tools and ultimately renegotiating fees with payors driven by the savings generated by its healthcare program. As a result, Axenya will deliver unparalleled clinical results, user satisfaction and cost savings.
"We now have a company that can deliver results like nobody else in the market", said Roberto Vianna, co-Founder of HealthCo. "Using a combination of software, technology, machine learning and behavioral and data science, Axenya can optimize the healthcare journey end-to-end, empowering companies and its employees with unbiased information, trusted guidance and high-value care, and delivering, at the same time, effective cost savings."
In combination with this merger, Axenya received a capital injection, led by IGAH ventures, and with participation of NXTP, Big_Bets, Alexia, Axenya's founder Mariano Garcia-Valiño and several individual investors and employees.
ABOUT AXENYA
Axenya is a health technology company that seeks to connect Latin America with the future of medicine. With its digitally enhanced corporate health ecosystem, it offers and manages the most suitable healthcare plans in a digital, efficient and transparent fashion, protecting the employee's health, end to end, through all the journey. Integrating cutting edge software, hardware, artificial intelligence, intensive data-analysis and behavioral sciences, Axenya improves the efficiency in delivering health services, as well as expands the companies' toolbox and makes medicine more personal and precise, offering what is effectively a new care standard. The company delivers excellent patient satisfaction, superior clinic results and lower costs, improving the quality per dollar spent by companies while allowing access to modern medicine to all employees and dependents. www.axenya.com
MEDIA AND INVESTOR ENQUIRIES
Mariano Garcia-Valiño / mariano@axenya.com
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SOURCE Axenya Holdings Inc. | 2022-08-03T12:19:56+00:00 | wsfa.com | https://www.wsfa.com/prnewswire/2022/08/03/axenya-merges-with-healthco-create-most-advanced-health-tech-ecosystem-region/ |
MONTREAL (AP) — A group of 37 passengers who were shown on video drinking and partying amid the pandemic on a chartered Sunwing flight from Montreal to Mexico in late December have been fined a total of CDN$59,500 (US$46,480), Transport Canada said Thursday.
The agency said 42 tickets were issued, including 18 for non-compliance with vaccination requirements and 24 for violations of masking rules.
Videos of the flight, shared on social media, showed unmasked passengers singing and dancing in the aisles and on seats, some clutching liquor, snapping selfies and vaping.
An investigation into the flight continues and further sanctions could be issued, said Transport Canada.
Sunwing Airlines cancelled the group’s return flight after the videos began circulating. Air Canada and Air Transat also refused to book the flight’s 154 passengers on return trips to Canada. | 2022-04-28T20:05:23+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Canada-issues-fines-for-pandemic-party-on-flight-17134434.php |
NEW YORK, Aug. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- InvestorsObserver issues critical PriceWatch Alerts for PLTR, CCL, HOOD, GBT, and TLRY.
To see how InvestorsObserver's proprietary scoring system rates these stocks, view the InvestorsObserver's PriceWatch Alert by selecting the corresponding link.
- PLTR: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=PLTR&prnumber=080820226
- CCL: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=CCL&prnumber=080820226
- HOOD: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=HOOD&prnumber=080820226
- GBT: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=GBT&prnumber=080820226
- TLRY: https://www.investorsobserver.com/lp/pr-stocks-lp-2/?symbol=TLRY&prnumber=080820226
(Note: You may have to copy this link into your browser then press the [ENTER] key.)
InvestorsObserver's PriceWatch Alerts are based on our proprietary scoring methodology. Each stock is evaluated based on short-term technical, long-term technical and fundamental factors. Each of those scores is then combined into an overall score that determines a stock's overall suitability for investment.
InvestorsObserver provides patented technology to some of the biggest names on Wall Street and creates world-class investing tools for the self-directed investor on Main Street. We have a wide range of tools to help investors make smarter decisions when investing in stocks or options.
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SOURCE InvestorsObserver | 2022-08-08T17:13:08+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/08/08/thinking-about-buying-stock-palantir-technologies-carnival-corp-robinhood-markets-global-blood-therapeutics-or-tilray/ |
A roundup of the week's most newsworthy consumer and retail industry press releases from PR Newswire, including Taco Bell's collab with Paris Hilton and Barbie-themed makeup and ice cream.
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help journalists covering the consumer and retail industries stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a roundup of stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.
The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.
- Taco Bell® Turns Up the Heat with Paris Hilton and the Fan Favorite Return of the Volcano Menu
Taco Bell is coming in HOT with nostalgia for the return of the 2000s fan favorite Volcano Menu. To spice things up, Taco Bell is partnering with the queen of heat, Paris Hilton for a themed advice line: that's hot. - The Experts Have Spoken - Hot Dogs Go #BetterWithPepsi, and to Celebrate, Pepsi® is Setting Off Some Flavor Fireworks
Pepsi is so confident that hot dogs are #BetterWithPepsi, the brand is taking hot dog enjoyment to the next level with Pepsi Colachup, giving fans the chance to add even more of the iconic sweet, citrusy taste of a crisp, refreshing Pepsi-Cola directly onto their hot dog. - OREO Brand Powers Up with New Limited-Edition Cookies Inspired by the World of Super Mario
The limited-edition OREO x Super Mario cookies feature 16 unique embossments including Super Mario characters and Power-ups, such as iconic heroes Mario and Luigi, a Super Star, and enemies like a Goomba and Bowser Jr. - NYX Professional Makeup Launches New Limited-Edition "Barbie™ The Movie" Collection
The limited-edition assortment is inspired by the vibrant colors and electrifying energy in the movie; featuring two credit card sized mini shadow palettes with a collectible mini Butter Gloss keychain attachment; a mini cheek palette including two blushes and a highlighter to bring the sun-kissed looks from the movie to life; and more. - Red Lobster® Announces Iconic First: Ultimate Endless Shrimp℠ Is Here to Stay All Day, Every Day
Guests are now invited to visit their local Red Lobster restaurant to mix and match their favorite shrimp for just $20… an irresistible offer now available all day, every day. - Lysol® Launches Air Sanitizer, the First Air-Care Product That Kills 99.9% of Airborne Viruses and Bacteria
Benoit Veryser, Vice President of US Marketing for Lysol at Reckitt, said, "With COVID-19 making people more conscious of airborne transmission of germs, we're pleased to deliver on an unmet need for consumers to sanitize the air." - The Iconic Candy Brand, Baby Ruth®, Partners with The New York Yankees for the 2023 Baseball Season
Arriving just in time for the summer home games, the Baby Ruth Milkshake is perfectly crafted with creamy chocolate ice cream, chocolate sprinkles, caramel drizzle, whipped cream and topped with a Baby Ruth bar, and available to fans at Yankee Stadium shake stands in Sections 112, 125 and 324 through the remainder of the 2023 baseball season. - Cole Haan And Byrdie Golf Social Wear Collaborate On Limited-Edition Women's Golf Collection
Together, Cole Haan and Byrdie Golf Social Wear designed this Coastal Collection, which features stripes, seashell prints and crisp light blue and vivid green hues that are contrasted against neutral earth tones. Both styles were designed for a new generation of female golfers who are looking to balance the fit and comfort needed to bring friendships, cocktails, and legacies to all 18 holes. - H&M USA & Buy From a Black Woman Rally Local Communities to Support Black Women Owned Businesses With Return of the Inspire Tour
This year, H&M is bringing the Inspire Tour, the multi-city, pop-up shopping event to five cities: Philadelphia, PA, Charlotte, NC, Houston, TX, Los Angeles, CA, and Atlanta, GA. The Inspire Tour highlights local Black Women owned businesses, rallies communities to shop from local vendors and serves as a networking opportunity for business owners. - Hip-Hop Star Flo Milli Drops New Song Inspired by 7-Eleven, Inc.'s Iconic Frozen Drink to Kick Off the Summer of Slurpee
Flo's ultimate song of the summer – affectionately titled "Anything Flows" – features rising stars Kari Faux, 2Rare and Maiya the Don, and is filled with verses inspired by Slurpee that'll leave you craving the beloved beverage. - Cold Stone Creamery Sparkles this Summer with BARBIE Movie-Themed Creation and Cake
Cold Stone Creamery is partnering with Warner Bros. Pictures and Mattel to introduce a new Barbie-inspired flavor – Pink Cotton Candy – now available in stores and online in a Creation™ and a cake. - Prose, the Global Leader in Personalization, Debuts AI-Powered Skincare
Prose Skincare is the first AI-powered skincare line to drive true personalization for the consumer via 15M+ possible formula combinations targeting multiple skin concerns at once. The system is dermatologist-tested, dermatologist-approved and clinically tested to show results in 4 weeks. - Blake Lively Announces the Launch of Betty Booze, A New line of Gourmet Sparkling Canned Cocktails
Founder Blake Lively commented, "These are the recipes I've been making for loved ones for years. But I have 4 kids now. And I'm tired. So here they are in a can. Enjoy. Responsibly…ish."
Read more of the latest consumer-related releases from PR Newswire and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @PRNcnsmr, @prnfood, @prnbeauty, and @prnfashion on Twitter.
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SOURCE PR Newswire | 2023-06-30T13:41:50+00:00 | live5news.com | https://www.live5news.com/prnewswire/2023/06/30/this-week-consumer-news-13-stories-you-need-see/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has failed so far to create a path to residency for Afghans who worked alongside U.S. soldiers in America’s longest war, pushing into limbo tens of thousands of refugees who fled Taliban control more than two years ago and now live in the United States.
Some lawmakers had hoped to resolve the Afghans’ immigration status as part of a year-end government funding package. But that effort failed, punting the issue into the new year, when Republicans will take power in the House. The result is grave uncertainty for refugees now facing an August deadline for action from Congress before their temporary parole status expires.
Nearly 76,000 Afghans who worked with American soldiers since 2001 as translators, interpreters and partners arrived in the U.S. on military planes after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. The government admitted the refugees on a temporary parole status as part of Operation Allies Welcome, the largest resettlement effort in the country in decades, with the promise of a path to a life in the U.S. for their service.
Mohammad Behzad Hakkak, 30, is among those Afghans waiting for resolution, unable to work or settle down in his new community in Fairfax, Virginia, under his parole status. Hakkak worked as a partner to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan as a human rights defender in the now-defunct Afghan government.
“We lost everything in Afghanistan” after the Taliban returned to power, he said. “And now, we don’t know about our future here.”
For the past year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, backed by veterans organizations and former military officials, has pushed Congress to pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would prevent the Afghans from becoming stranded without legal residency status when their two years of humanitarian parole expire in August 2023. It would enable qualified Afghans to apply for U.S. citizenship, as was done for refugees in the past, including those from Cuba, Vietnam and Iraq.
Supporters of the proposal thought it might clear Congress after the November election because it enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support. But they said their efforts were thwarted by one man: Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees immigration issues.
“We’ve never seen support for a piece of legislation like this and it not pass,” said Shawn Van Diver, a Navy veteran and head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition supporting Afghan resettlement efforts. “It’s really frustrating to me that one guy from Iowa can block this.”
Grassley has argued for months that the bill as written goes too far by including evacuees beyond those “who were our partners over the last 20 years,” providing a road to residency without the proper screening required.
“First of all, people that help our country should absolutely have the promise that we made to them,” Grassley told The Associated Press. “There’s some disagreement on the vetting process. That’s been a problem and that hasn’t been worked out yet.”
Proponents of the legislation reject those concerns. More than 30 retired military officers, including three former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote Congress saying the bill not only “furthers the national security interests of the United States,” but is also ”a moral imperative.” The White House also has called for passage.
Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre said, in mid-December that it is “important to take care of Afghan allies who took care of us.”
The proposal, if passed, would provide a streamlined, prioritized adjustment process for Afghan nationals who supported the U.S. mission in Afghanistan. The Homeland Security Department would adjust the status of eligible evacuees to provide them with lawful permanent resident status after they have had rigorous vetting and screening procedures. It also would improve and expand ways to protection for those left behind and at risk in Afghanistan.
“The Afghan refugees are a very high priority and had some good Republican support, but unfortunately, the Republican leadership blocked it,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., recently told reporters. “These are people who risked their lives for our soldiers and for our country, and we should be rewarding them as we have done in the past.”
Several congressional aides explained the holdup on the bill by pointing to a seven-page, single-spaced letter, obtained by The Associated Press, that Grassley’s office circulated to all 50 Republican senators in August. The memo outlined his issues with the proposal, resulting in months of back-and-forth negotiation as the sponsors of the bill tried to address them.
U.S. national security and military officials have outlined the stringent screening process that evacuees went through before arriving on American soil. Those security screenings, conducted in Europe and the Middle East, included background checks with both biographic information and biometric screenings using voiceprints, iris scans, palm prints and facial photos.
But Republicans say the vetting system is not fail-safe. They pointed to a September report from Homeland Security’s inspector general that said at least two people from Afghanistan who were paroled into the country “posed a risk to national security and the safety of local communities.”
As a result, mandatory in-person interviews for all Afghan applicants were written into the bill as well as requirements that relevant agencies brief Congress on proposed vetting procedures before putting them in place.
Despite strengthening the vetting process over months of negotiations, the bill never made it out of the Judiciary Committee and failed to win inclusion in the just-passed $1.7 trillion government funding bill.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., was one of the lead sponsors of the bill. “If this is what we do when they come to our country, and we don’t have their backs,'” she said, “what message are we sending to the rest of the world who stand with our soldiers, who protect them, who provide security for their families?”
But Klobuchar and the lead Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, pledged to bring the bill back up again in the new session of Congress starting in January.
“This is the right thing to do,” Graham, an Air Force veteran, told the Senate recently. “There’s no other ending that would be acceptable to me.”
He added: “The people who were there with us in the fight, that are here in America, need to stay. This will be their new home.”
Most people in the United States appear to share that sentiment.
A survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research taken the month after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan found that 72% of respondents regarded giving the Afghans refuge from any Taliban retaliation as a duty and a necessary coda of the nearly 20-year war. | 2022-12-31T01:20:13+00:00 | mytwintiers.com | https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/political-news/ap-politics/ap-afghan-refugees-in-us-face-uncertainty-as-legislation-stalls/ |
As Texas booms, local governments — especially in small towns — struggle to find workers
A cascade of issues including inflation and growing distrust in government aren’t helping local governments hire for critical positions in public safety and utilities.
ZAVALLA, Texas (TEXAS TRIBUNE) — Earl Norrod thought he was finished working when he retired from the city of Lufkin water department 10 years ago.
But amid a nationwide labor shortage — and a particular dearth of qualified government workers in small towns — the 76-year-old has been in and out of employment.
Since 2018, Norrod has been tapped three times to help the nearby small town of Zavalla with its water system. The working-class community of fewer than 700 people struggles with aging water infrastructure and lacks the budget and skilled workforce to fix it. Last year, the problems intensified after water line breaks and system failures left residents without potable drinking water for nearly 10 days — and a boil-water notice during the Thanksgiving holiday. Adding to the disaster: Two well workers and the city’s public works director resigned during the debacle.
Norrod, content in retirement at the time, stepped up.
“I’m just trying to help them get back on their feet,” Norrod said. “I don’t want a full-time job. I don’t even want a full-time temporary job.”
Across the country, a labor shortage following the COVID-19 pandemic has left employers scrambling to fill vacant positions. Local governments have been disproportionately impacted.
First, governments lost more jobs than the private sector during the shutdown. Local governments’ labor loss was18 times greater than other industries’, according to a report by the National League of Cities. Between March 2020 and March 2022, municipal employment fell by 300,300 jobs, the report found.
Now in places like Texas, which has largely rebounded from the pandemic, municipalities continue to face staffing shortages. More than 6,000 local government jobs remain vacant, according to an estimate from the Texas Workforce Commission. A general distrust of the government and an inability to offer competitive wages to recruit top talent have made some positions especially difficult to fill, city and county leaders say. Even large urban centers like the city of Austin that can pay more face higher-than-normal vacancy rates — with 16% of city jobs vacant as of mid-January. To help staff up, Austin recently launched its largest-ever hiring campaign.
Labor shortages render critical government services, including water distribution and trash pickup, difficult to execute. In small cities like Zavalla, the impacts of staffing challenges have been particularly devastating.
“Labor shortages are more pronounced in smaller cities and rural areas,” said Pia Orrenius, a labor economist and vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “Smaller cities have such a hard time hiring because a lot of the younger people who grow up there and go to college may eventually leave and go for higher-paying jobs in the big city.”
“No one wants to work for a sinking ship”
After spending 15 years working on oil and gas pipelines across Texas, Thomas Bailey was ready to return home to Zavalla. He grew up in the East Texas town and spent his high school summers working for the city helping clean out their water tanks.
Now, he’s fixing those same tanks as the city’s newest public works director.
“The city needs my help, and I miss my home,” Bailey said. “That’s the only reason why I’m here. To help out.”
Bailey, who resides in Zavalla, is the fourth public works director the town has seen in the past five years. His predecessor left the position in November after working 22-hour days following the disastrous water crisis last year. Those who were in the role before him also left for other jobs, according to multiple city employees
“No one wants to work for a sinking ship,” Bailey said.
Bailey does not have the water license necessary to operate the town’s well — a unique system called a GUI well that features multiple shallow wells as opposed to a single deep well — and he’ll spend the next year working toward that license.
In the meantime, Norrod continues to work for the city as a contract laborer, lending the town his license to work under and helping Bailey and other city employees obtain their licenses.
East Texas towns like Zavalla have always struggled to fill jobs, especially those with particular licensing requirements that generally need a higher level of education, said Keith Wright, Angelina County judge and a former Lufkin city engineer. Eighteen percent of residents in Angelina County have bachelor’s degrees, compared with 32% of Texas residents over the age of 25.
Small towns typically hire workers as a base level and then educate them to the point where they can obtain their licenses. Zavalla is taking this strategy, hiring local resident Cody Day to work under Bailey and work toward a wastewater license. But obtaining a water license is not always easy. According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, only 17% of people who took the test in 2022 to obtain the highest-level water operator license passed it.
“After those exams, you really feel like you’ve been tested,” said Norrod, who purposefully retained his license after going into retirement. “I worked too hard for those licenses to let them expire.”
The public utilities positions are not the only roles Zavalla has struggled to fill. Finances are a primary obstacle for the town. The longest- serving City Hall employee started less than a year ago. At the Zavalla Police Department, one of the three officers left for higher pay at the county sheriff’s office.
“We can only pay so much,” said Carlos Guzman, the former town mayor. “We can’t pay top salaries, and that can hinder us.”
To complicate matters, the city has experienced significant turnover among its elected officials. Last month, Guzman announced his resignation. Guzman had suffered a stroke the previous month and decided to move to Beaumont to be closer to family. The day before, the mayor pro tem resigned. And the city secretary also announced her retirement.
“They can’t raise their wages”
Zavalla’s workforce challenges are not unique. Across the state, government officials are struggling to attract and retain workers. A combination of factors — including an aging workforce, inflation and a decline in government trust — are contributing to the crisis.
Amid historic levels of inflation, many small governments can’t afford to raise salaries the same way the private sector can, making it difficult to incentivize new workers.
“People in the public-sector jobs are seeing their real incomes erode because these entities are constrained by tax revenue,” Orrenius said. “They can’t raise their wages in real time like the private-sector companies are doing to prevent turnover.”
And when critical jobs are unfilled, cities are forced to cut back on the services they offer. In Austin, for example, the city temporarily halted bulk trash collection and reduced the hours of the public library when it had significant staff shortages last year. In Zavalla, high turnover and vacant office jobs mean less room to apply for grant funding — something the town critically needs in order to address its crumbling infrastructure.
During last year’s budget season, government entities across Texas pushed to offer wage increases without raising tax rates. Austin, for example, increased wages by 4%, its largest wage increase over two decades. In Angelina County, salaries increased for sheriffs and for positions in the district attorneys’ offices.
School districts in some cases have shifted to a four-day week, in part to help retain teachers at a time when teachers are hard to come by.
Even if higher wages can attract workers, small governments ultimately cannot compete with the private sector. In small towns with limited budgets, retaining law enforcement officers and jail staff is particularly challenging. Once employees gain experience and training, they often move on to higher-paid agencies funded by entities with a larger tax base.
Public jobs have long been thought of as offering strong benefit packages, but some cities have had to cut those in the face of budget shortfalls. In East Texas’ Jasper County, for example, employees used to receive a subsidy for family coverage of health insurance. The budget no longer allows for that.
“The coverage used to attract stable people who wouldn’t job hop,” said Jasper County Judge Mark Allen. “But the costs have gotten worse every year.”
And local leaders say that those benefits are not useful in attracting younger employees.
“When you’re 25 years old and you think you’re bulletproof, those insurance and health benefits just don’t register with you,” said Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy. The county raised salaries by 10% this year for all county employees in order to increase its competitiveness.
For Allen, one of the biggest changes in the past decade that has contributed to hiring challenges has nothing to do with the budget, though.
He said a rise in attacks on government officials has made the jobs less attractive.
“At one time, the general public perceived government employees as contributing to the common good and as wanting to see their community grow,” Allen said. “But with social media, you’re seeing people attacking people in government service. If you’re in the private sector, you’re not going to have those issues.”
Copyright 2023 Texas Tribune. All rights reserved. | 2023-02-14T14:16:27+00:00 | kwtx.com | https://www.kwtx.com/2023/02/14/texas-booms-local-governments-especially-small-towns-struggle-find-workers/ |
The US Department of Agriculture’s Equity Commission on Tuesday unveiled recommendations to stop discriminatory practices across the agency and in farming.
The report focused on four areas for the USDA to improve: how the agency works with farmers and ranchers; the need for department-wide change; the agency’s commitment to farmers and their families; and reevaluating agency programs.
Reports dating back to the 1960s, the Commission said, “have well documented racial and other forms of discrimination at USDA in program access and delivery.”
“Farmers who are Black, Hispanic, Native American and Alaska Native, Asian and Pacific Islander, women, and young, new, or beginning, have disproportionately encountered barriers to accessing critical USDA funding and resources needed to adequately support their agriculture operations, specialty crops/alternative enterprises, and local communities.”
The report, which offered more than 30 recommendations, is designed to offset these historical disparities and advance opportunities for communities of color.
In one recommendation, the report calls for addressing issues with the Heirs’ Property and Fractionated Land, which identifies access barriers to USDA programs for historically underserved producers, farmers and ranchers. The report recommends providing funding for community organizations helping resolve heirs’ property issues, or land that has been passed down without a deed.
According to the USDA, many Black Americans acquired land following the Civil War and through the early 1900s by “various means,” resulting in issues with heirs’ property disproportionately affecting African American landholders. Over the last hundred years, Black Americans have lost between 4.7 million and 16 million acres of land. But heirs’ property issues also affects for Latinx families in the southwest, Indigenous families on reservations and low-income families in Appalachia, the USDA adds.
The Equity Commission also suggested changes to the Census of Agriculture, like changing the definition of a farm and improving language access. It also recommended changing the definition of a “distressed borrower” to include “those that have not yet entered delinquency yet are under financial stress that may prevent them from continuing farm operations.”
But the committee also recommended addressing long standing inequities in County Committees by requiring diversity training related to African American, Asian, Hispanic, American Indian, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander issues.
County Committees are supposed to provide grassroots input to the Farm Service Agency but, according to the report, committees in many states “have not represented minority farmers and ranchers and the powers afforded to County Committees have continued to result in decisions that often cripple the economic livelihood of minority farmers and ranchers.”
The Equity commission recommended that these committees reflect the makeup of the community: if 10 percent of the county population consists of minority farmers and ranchers, then at a minimum 10 percent of the County Committee should be of voting minority farmers and ranchers of that community.
In a letter obtained by CNN, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called the recommendations “a subset of many bold actions that we will seek to implement.”
“USDA will institutionalize these strategies to become an organization that is trusted today and by future generations,” Vilsack wrote. “The Equity Commission’s recommendations, and other related efforts the Department is already undertaking, will make our programs benefit every working American, particularly those who have been left behind.” | 2023-03-01T17:45:32+00:00 | wnct.com | https://www.wnct.com/hill-politics/usda-panel-unveils-recommendations-to-resolve-discrimination-in-farming/ |
LAUREL, Del. (WGMB) – Wrestling star Jay Briscoe has reportedly died after a car accident Tuesday in Delaware. He was 38.
Briscoe, whose real name is Jamin Pugh, was part of the great tag team duo Dem Boys with his brother, Mark. The brothers were 13-time Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champions.
According to Sports Illustrated, Briscoe, who was from Sandy Fork, Delaware, died in a car accident that happened around 5:30 p.m. in Laurel. SI cited a report from Shore News Beacon, stating that two people were killed in the accident and two others were critically injured. The other people involved were not identified.
Tony Khan, the owner of All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor, tweeted Tuesday about Briscoe’s death:
Sadly, Jamin Pugh has passed away. Known to fans as Jay Briscoe, he was a star in ROH for over 20 years, from the first show until today.
Jay and his brother Mark dominated ROH, reigning as champions to this day. We’ll do whatever we can to support his family.
Rest In Peace Jamin
Members of the professional wrestling community have been reacting to the sudden passing of Briscoe.
Seth Rollins was effusive in his praise of Briscoe, saying, “Being in the ring with Jay Briscoe got me my first ROH contract. He and Mark being so selfless helped Jimmy and I find our footing as AOTF. Without him, I don’t know if Tyler Black could ever have been Seth Rollins.”
The Laurel School District closed schools on Wednesday, calling the accident “an unthinkable tragedy in our community” and asking everyone to “please keep the Pugh Family in your thoughts and prayers.” | 2023-01-18T15:32:28+00:00 | cenlanow.com | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/pro-wrestling-star-jay-briscoe-dies-in-car-accident-at-38/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — One Supreme Court justice explained her absence from a case. One justice didn’t.
The difference shows how difficult forging consensus over even small steps on ethics can be at the Supreme Court, which is facing new calls to adopt an ethics code following revelations about undisclosed gifts from a Republican megadonor to Justice Clarence Thomas.
Last week, Chief Justice John Roberts acknowledged the court needs to do more to reassure a skeptical public that the justices take their ethical obligations seriously.
Though the justices have been resistant to a binding code of ethical standards, all nine signed a “statement on ethics principles and practices” issued in late April that promised at least some small additional disclosure when one or more among them opts not to take part in a case.
A justice “may provide a summary explanation of a recusal decision,” the statement reads, a change from the standard practice of saying nothing at all.
A week ago, Justice Elena Kagan became the first member of the court to explain herself, indicating that her previous employment in President Barack Obama’s administration kept her out of an appeal, rejected by the court, from a death row inmate in Florida.
But on Tuesday, when the court turned away an appeal from energy companies, Justice Samuel Alito said nothing about why he was not involved.
Alito did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment, sent through the court’s public information office.
The probable reason for Alito’s decision is not hard to find in his latest financial disclosure report: He owns between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock in Phillips 66, one of the companies that appealed.
Criticism of the court stems principally from a series of reports by the nonprofit investigative journalism organization ProPublica about undisclosed gifts including payment of a relative’s school tuition and luxury trips provided to Thomas by Harlan Crow, a Dallas billionaire.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court. | 2023-05-30T23:27:39+00:00 | wric.com | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/ap-one-justice-explained-absence-from-case-another-didnt-ethics-questions-vexing-supreme-court/ |
The pause on student loan payments is ending. Can borrowers find room in their budgets?
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a good month, Celina Chanthanouvong has about $200 left after rent, groceries and car insurance. That doesn’t factor in her student loans, which have been on hold since the start of the pandemic and are estimated to cost $300 a month. The pause in repayment has been a lifeline keeping the 25-year-old afloat.
“I don’t even know where I would begin to budget that money,” said Chanthanouvong, who works in marketing in San Francisco.
Now, after more than three years, the lifeline is being pulled away.
More than 40 million Americans will be on the hook for federal student loan payments starting in late August under the terms of a debt ceiling deal approved by Congress last week. The Biden administration has been targeting that timeline for months, but the deal ends any hope of a further extension of the pause, which has been prolonged while the Supreme Court decides the president’s debt cancellation.
Without cancellation, the Education Department predicts borrowers will fall behind on their loans at historic rates. Among the most vulnerable are those who finished college during the pandemic. Millions have never had to make a loan payment, and their bills will soon come amid soaring inflation and forecasts of economic recession.
Advocates fear it will add a financial burden that younger borrowers can’t afford.
“I worry that we’re going to see levels of default of new graduates that we’ve never seen before,” said Natalia Abrams, president of the nonprofit Student Debt Crisis Center.
Chanthanouvong earned a bachelor’s in sociology from the University of California-Merced in 2019. She couldn’t find a job for a year, leaving her to rely on odd jobs for income. She found a full-time job last year, but at $70,000, her salary barely covers the cost of living in the Bay Area.
“I’m not going out. I don’t buy Starbucks every day. I’m cooking at home,” she said. “And sometimes, I don’t even have $100 after everything.”
Under President Joe Biden’s cancellation plan, Chanthanouvong would be eligible to get $20,000 of her debt erased, leaving her owing $5,000. But she isn’t banking on the relief. Instead, she invited her partner to move in and split rent. The financial pinch has them postponing or rethinking major life milestones.
“My partner and I agreed, maybe we don’t want kids,” she said. “Not because we don’t want them, but because it would be financially irresponsible for us to bring a human being into this world.”
Out of the more than 44 million federal student loan borrowers, about 7 million are below the age of 25, according to data from the Education Department. Their average loan balance is less than $14,000, lower than any other age group.
Yet borrowers with lower balances are the most likely to default. It’s fueled by millions who drop out before graduating, along with others who graduate but struggle to find good jobs. Among those who defaulted in 2021, the median loan balance was $15,300, and the vast majority had balances under $40,000, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Resuming student loan payments will cost U.S. consumers $18 billion a month, the investment firm Jefferies has estimated. The hit to household budgets is ill-timed for the overall economy, Jefferies says, because the United States is widely believed to be on the brink of a recession.
Despite the student loan moratorium, Americans mostly didn’t bank their savings, according to Jefferies economist Thomas Simons. So they’ll likely have to cut back on other things — travel, restaurants — to fit resumed loan payments into their budgets. Belt-tightening could hurt an economy that relies heavily on consumer spending.
Noshin Hoque graduated from Stony Brook University early in the pandemic with about $20,000 in federal student loans. Instead of testing the 2020 job market, she enrolled at a master’s program in social work at Columbia University, borrowing $34,000 more.
With the payments paused, she felt a new level of financial security. She cut costs by living with her parents in New York City and her job at a nonprofit paid enough to save money and help her parents.
She recalls splurging on a $110 polo shirt as a Father’s Day gift for her dad.
“Being able to do stuff for my parents and having them experience that luxury with me has just been such a plus,” said Hoque, who works for Young Invincibles, a nonprofit that supports student debt cancellation.
It gave her the comfort to enter a new stage of life. She got married to a recent medical school graduate, and they’re expecting their first child in November. At the same time, they’re bracing for the crush of loan payments, which will cost at least $400 a month combined. They hope to pay more to avoid interest, which is prohibited for them as practicing Muslims.
To prepare, they stopped eating at restaurants. They canceled a vacation to Italy. Money they wanted to put toward their child’s education fund will go to their loans instead.
“We’re back to square one of planning our finances,” she said. “I feel that so deeply.”
Even the logistics of making payments will be a hurdle for newer borrowers, said Rachel Rotunda, director of government relations at National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. They’ll need to find out who their loan servicers are, choose a repayment plan and learn to navigate the payment system.
“The volume of borrowers going back on the system at the same time — this has never happened before,” Rotunda said. “It’s fair to say it’s going to be bumpy.”
The Education Department has promised to make the restart of payments as smooth as possible. In a statement, the agency said it will continue to push for Biden’s debt cancellation as a way to reduce borrowers’ debt load and ease the transition.
For Beka Favela, 30, the payment pause provided independence. She earned a master’s in counseling last year, and her job as a therapist allowed her to move out of her parents’ house.
Without making payments on her $80,000 in student loans, she started saving. She bought furniture. She chipped away at credit card debt. But once the pause ends, she expects to pay about $500 a month. It will consume most of her disposable income, leaving little for surprise costs. If finances get tighter, she wonders if she’ll have to move back home.
“I don’t want to feel like I’m regressing in order to make ends meet,” said Favela, of Westmont, Illinois. “I just want to keep moving forward. I’m worried, is that going to be possible?”
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AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-07T14:01:47+00:00 | kfyrtv.com | https://www.kfyrtv.com/2023/06/07/pause-student-loan-payments-is-ending-can-borrowers-find-room-their-budgets/ |
ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® today announced Dr. Lisa Su, AMD Chair and CEO, will deliver an in-person keynote address at CES 2023, the world's most influential technology event. Dr. Su will share AMD's vision—a perennial highlight of the CES season—on how high-performance and adaptive computing transforms lives by addressing the world's toughest problems.
"Over the last few years computing has become an essential and pervasive part of our daily lives, helping each of us adapt how we work and learn remotely, while keeping us connected and entertained," said Dr. Su. "I am excited for the opportunity to deliver a keynote at CES 2023 to highlight the next generation of high-performance and adaptive computing innovations, and products that will push the boundaries on what is possible and play an important role helping solve our most important challenges."
From driving greater efficiency and sustainability in the cloud to powering exascale supercomputing, today's AMD is woven into our lives. The company's innovations in areas including high-performance computing, AI and gaming will be showcased at CES 2023. More than 1300 confirmed exhibitors underscore how technology is a catalyst for change.
"AMD shows how creative innovation pushes the envelope of tech for good," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA. "Dr. Su's power is bringing people together, and I can't wait to see what advances they'll share at the show."
An engineer who inspires people from all backgrounds to pursue careers in STEM, Dr. Su has played a major role advancing high-performance computing and the semiconductor industry for more than three decades. Her keynote will be delivered live and in person from Las Vegas on Wednesday, January 4, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. in the Venetian's Palazzo Ballroom.
Su joins John Deere Chairman and CEO John May as a CES keynote speaker. The keynote schedule will be updated as speakers are announced.
Owned and produced by CTA, CES 2023 will take place in Las Vegas on January 5-8, 2023, with Media Days taking place January 3-4, 2023. Attendees will experience new technologies from global brands, hear about the future of technology from thought leaders and collaborate face-to-face with other attendees. The show will highlight how innovations in sustainability, transportation and mobility, digital health, the metaverse and more are addressing the world's greatest challenges. Audiences will hear from industry experts during live keynotes, including leaders from John Deere and AMD. Visit CES.tech for all CES 2023 updates, registration details and the media page for all press resources.
About AMD:
For more than 50 years AMD has driven innovation in high-performance computing, graphics and visualization technologies. Billions of people, leading Fortune 500 businesses and cutting-edge scientific research institutions around the world rely on AMD technology daily to improve how they live, work and play. AMD employees are focused on building leadership high-performance and adaptive products that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information about how AMD is enabling today and inspiring tomorrow, visit the AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) website, blog, LinkedIn and Twitter pages.
Upcoming Events:
- CES Unveiled Paris Oct. 10, 2022 – Paris, FR
- CES Unveiled Amsterdam Oct. 13, 2022 – Amsterdam, NL
- CES Unveiled New York Nov. 16, 2022 – New York, NY
- CES 2023 Tech Trends to Watch Jan. 3, 2023 – Las Vegas, NV
- CES Unveiled Las Vegas Jan. 3, 2023 – Las Vegas, NV
- CES 2023 Media Days Jan. 3-4, 2023 – Las Vegas, NV
- CES 2023 Jan. 5-8, 2023 – Las Vegas, NV
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SOURCE Consumer Technology Association | 2022-09-19T21:06:02+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/09/19/amds-dr-lisa-su-keynote-live-ces-2023/ |
- Revenue of ~$21.8 million versus FY2021 Annual Revenue of ~$0.8 million
- Increase of Over 27 Times Year-over-Year Primarily Driven by Acquisition of Boston Solar and BPA Solutions
PHOENIX, April 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SinglePoint, Inc. (OTCQB: SING) ("SinglePoint" or the "Company"), is focused on providing renewable energy solutions, energy services, energy storage and innovative air purification and safety products, that improve the places we live, work and learn, and spend on average 90% of our time. SinglePoint is pleased to announce financial results for the full-year ended December 31, 2022, achieving ~$21.8 Million recorded revenue in FY2022.
Highlights for the FY2022 Q4 and Full-Year of 2022:
- Acquired Boston Solar
- Completed MGM Music Hall Solar Installation at Boston Red Sox Fenway Park
- Year over year Boston Solar achieved ~40% growth from ~$17 million to ~$26 million
- FY 2022 Q4 revenue was approximately $9.1 million
- FY 2022 Annual Recorded Revenue increased to $21.8 million compared to $0.808 million. A revenue increase of approximately $20.9 million
- Boston Solar contributed approximately $19.1 million in FY2022 Recorded Revenue since the closing of the acquisition (acquired April 21, 2022) to fiscal year ended '22.
- Box Pure Air/BPA Solutions contributed Revenue of approximately $2.3 million in FY2022
- BPA Solutions Received $5 million GAN from State of California
- BPA Solutions Receives Approval for BuyBoard® in State of Texas
- BPA Solutions Receives CAGE number in State of Florida
William Ralston, SinglePoint's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "Achieving $21.8 million is representative of the team's ability to execute fundamental strategic changes as outlined when I assumed the CEO role in May 2021. The revenue number is over 27 times the FY2021 Annual Revenues and is approximately 2.6X the combined Annual Revenues ($8.4 million) of the past 5 fiscal years (FY 2017, FY2018, FY2019, FY2020, FY2021). This was all done during one of the toughest markets for the Solar industry which included freezing imports, constricting supply chains, increased costs, and tariff threats. I am proud of what our teams accomplished during this time. We are expecting the annual revenue growth to continue in FY2023 driven by solid operations, net income, and positive cash flow milestones at each subsidiary. The Company has undergone transformative changes over the last 18 months and results at the business entity level are showing. I look for to our efforts reflecting in our overall market value."
Over the next decade, there will be a significant rising demand for SinglePoint's solutions. All supported by multiple rounds of federal legislation that allocate billions of dollars to enhance the quality of the places where we spend the majority (90%) of our time. SinglePoint's focus remains on providing innovative and timely solutions to address the large and unmet needs in the markets we serve. We are situated at the forefront of a significant trend, the electrification of everything, where our customers require certainty and redundancy related to energy availability, cost, on-site production, and storage. Our acquisition of Boston Solar and investment into FrontLine Power Solutions has been advantageous, and we are actively pursuing additional acquisition targets to expand our footprint and gain additional market share. Our Company's focus is on enabling our residential and small commercial customers to produce and store some or all of their power on-site from solar, thereby relying less on the grid and providing greater resilience, lower emissions, and reduced energy costs. We anticipate this growth to continue as our backlog is growing, our average sales price rising and the demand for solar and, more importantly, energy storage is increasing due to government stimulus. As we continue to benefit from robust market demand for our products and solutions, we expect to achieve total top-line revenue of over $50 million in 2023, this does not include additional acquired businesses.
Moreover, our USA-manufactured portable Certified HEPA air purification units for commercial and industrial use have been purposefully designed as a utility-like appliance to enhance indoor air quality (IAQ) in any locations including schools, offices, and churches. These IAQ units that employ Certified HEPA filtration are primarily being used in K-12 schools across multiple states. We have supplied orders to schools throughout the country, including North Carolina, Texas, California and others. Additionally, Box Pure Air has been granted an initial $5.0 million ESSER II GAN ("Grant Award Notification") from the State of California DOE to distribute portable air purification units in non-public schools. According to Ralston, "the majority of the $121 billion designated for schools to improve ventilation and IAQ is yet to be spent. We are investing in sales, marketing, product development, and strategic partnerships to further enhance our already robust competitive position."
"Since assuming the CEO role in 2021 I have made it a priority to reposition the Company into businesses having long term multi-year opportunities. The passage of multiple federal legislation representing billions in funding provides our customers the opportunity to improve the indoor environments where we spend the majority of our daily lives. Clean Air and Reliable Energy are essential. We are committed to taking advantage of the opportunities and to provide the ability for our customers to have reliable, cost-effective renewable energy and redundant power. We have continued to cultivate strategic investments from institutional investors who believe in our ability to execute. I am grateful for their ongoing commitment and investment in SinglePoint, we are and have made fundamental changes and we are well positioned to continue revenue growth and, most importantly, to increase shareholder value for a number of coming years. We are in the beginning phase of what I expect to be long term, multi-year growth," concludes Wil Ralston CEO SinglePoint.
About SinglePoint Inc (OTCQB:SING)
SinglePoint Inc. is a renewable energy, a sustainable lifestyle company that provides environmentally friendly energy efficiencies and healthy living solutions. SinglePoint is initially focused on building the largest network of renewable energy solutions and modernizing the traditional solar and energy storage model. The Company is also actively exploring future growth opportunities in air purification, electric vehicle charging, solar as a subscription service, and additional energy efficiencies and appliances that enhance sustainability and healthier life. For more information, visit the Company's website (www.singlepoint.com) and connect on social media for the latest updates.
About Boston Solar–Proud Partner of the Boston Red Sox
Since its founding in 2011, Boston Solar has installed more than 5,000 residential and commercial solar arrays, powering thousands of homes and businesses in New England, primarily in Massachusetts. Boston Solar's mission is to provide superior clean energy products, exceptional customer service, and the highest-quality artistry in residential and commercial installations.
Boston Solar has accumulated several distinctions of recognition of the Company's outstanding triumphs:
Honored with the 2020 Guildmaster Award from GuildQuality, the award acknowledged how Boston Solar demonstrated exceptional customer service within the residential construction industry. For five consecutive years, the Company was named a Top Solar Contractor by Solar Power World magazine. Further, the Company is applauded by the Boston Business Journal's "Largest Clean Energy Companies in Massachusetts" list. Boston Solar is a Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE) member. The Company is headquartered at 55 Sixth Road, Woburn, MA 01801. Learn More at: www.bostonsolar.us.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential plans and objectives of the Company, the use of proceeds, anticipated growth, and future expansion, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
Technical complications, which may arise, could prevent the prompt implementation of any strategically significant plan(s) outlined above. The Company undertakes no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.
Investor Contact:
Tra-Digital IR
Investors@SinglePoint.com
(212) 389 - 9782 ext. 107
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SOURCE SinglePoint Inc. | 2023-04-03T14:21:10+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2023/04/03/singlepoint-inc-reports-fourth-quarter-annual-2022-financial-results-achieving-218-million-fy2022/ |
Hundreds attend New Year’s ball drop in Marquette
MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - The year is coming to a close and Marquette County residents gathered Saturday evening to watch the ball drop and celebrate the start of 2023.
Hundreds attended the annual ball drop on Washington Street in downtown Marquette. People got their live groove on as a DJ performed from Double Trouble Entertainment.
Those in attendance say the crowd was much larger than last year.
“I’d say there are probably a few more people out, no more covid, it has been a good year,” Ball Drop Attendee Mason George said.
Ball Drop Attendee Strawberry Gribben says with the new year she has a few resolutions.
“I have two New Year’s resolutions,” Gribben said. “One I quit smoking today and the next one is I am losing weight and eating healthier now.”
Others hope to bring positivity into the new year and work towards new achievements.
“I want to bring in my positive energy and tenacity and tackle my goals this year,” Ball Drop Attendee Gabriel Hoogenboom said. “It is one thing to have big plans it is another to execute, and I am executing.”
Hoogenboom says although this is his first year attending the ball drop, he is happy there is a celebration like this in Marquette.
“I got to say the crowd was very reasonable, very good people,” Hoodenboom said. “We live in a great community. If you live in Marquette, you picked the right place.”
Nicole Hofer hopes everyone who was not able to attend the event has a good new year.
“My New Year’s resolution for 2023 is to be happy and wish all of you a happy New Year’s at home,” Hofer said.
Regardless of what your New Year’s resolution is we here at TV6 are wishing you the best for 2023.
Copyright 2022 WLUC. All rights reserved. | 2023-01-01T07:07:59+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2023/01/01/hundreds-attend-new-years-ball-drop-marquette/ |
Alleged abduction victim dies after shootout with police
TRIANGLE, Va. (AP) — A woman who police say was abducted from her New York home has died following a shootout between her alleged kidnapper and police on the side of a northern Virginia highway.
The man who allegedly abducted her was also shot and suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.
Virginia State Police said Thursday that a trooper spotted a Jeep Cherokee on Wednesday night on southbound Interstate 95 near Springfield. Police in New York had said the Jeep was associated with the abduction of 34-year-old Tatiana David of Ithaca, New York.
Police pulled the Jeep over. A trooper made contact with the driver and returned to his patrol car. As the trooper walked back to the Jeep, the driver sped off, and police pursued.
The Jeep ran off the road about 20 miles (34 kilometers) south of where police initially made contact, as state police say they positioned vehicles around the Jeep to force it to stop.
State Police say the driver began firing shots as troopers approached the Jeep. Troopers returned fire.
Police say David died at the scene while the driver, a 34-year-old man from North Chesterfield, was taken to the hospital for treatment.
No police officers were injured.
Police say a firearm was recovered from the Jeep.
Virginia State police did not identify the driver by name in their press release, but said the trooper who first pulled the Jeep over identified the driver as the abduction suspect. Authorities in New York had identified the man as 34-year-old Michael Davis.
The highway’s southbound lanes were closed for several hours.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-04-06T15:35:11+00:00 | kfyrtv.com | https://www.kfyrtv.com/2023/04/06/alleged-abduction-victim-dies-after-shootout-with-police/ |
DE PERE, Wis., Sept. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Caravel Autism Health, a leader in the diagnosis and treatment of young children on the autism spectrum, celebrated the grand opening of a new clinic this week. The new clinic at 1511 West Main Avenue in De Pere serves families across the Green Bay area, providing evidence-based Applied Behavior Analysis therapy. ABA therapy helps children with autism develop skills, create connections with others, and gain confidence. Rooted in positive reinforcement, ABA therapy is recognized for its effectiveness by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Caravel has its roots in Wisconsin. In 2009, the company's founders opened their first clinic in Green Bay. This new clinic model was designed to meet the specific needs of children on the autism spectrum and achieve helpful and demonstrable outcomes for children and families. Since then, the Caravel team has been working in communities across Wisconsin and in five other states to bring ABA therapy to communities where families struggle to find high-quality autism treatment programs.
"At Caravel, we change lives," explained Caravel CEO Mike Miller. "ABA therapy helps children reach their greatest potential, but there is a shortage of providers. We're investing in new clinics so that we can bring resources and expertise to families who need this specialized care."
The De Pere center is led by clinic director Cierra Smith, MS, BCBA, who has been part of the Caravel team since 2010. "We see the impact of ABA therapy every day as we work with our kids, so we're incredibly excited to be opening another clinic for families in northeast Wisconsin," explained Smith.
In addition to customized ABA therapy, the autism specialists in De Pere offer evaluation, diagnosis, and family support services. Caravel invites parents of young children and others with questions about autism diagnosis and ABA therapy to call 920-282-8790 or visit caravelautism.com.
Since 2009, Caravel Autism Health has been devoted to helping families navigate the challenges of childhood autism. Our team of clinical experts specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of children on the autism spectrum. Caravel's research-based and data-driven programs are designed to provide better outcomes that help children with autism reshape their development and embrace new ways of interacting with the world.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Caravel Autism Health | 2022-09-16T18:25:56+00:00 | witn.com | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/09/16/autism-clinic-young-children-marks-grand-opening-new-location-de-pere/ |
Gov. Doug Burgum should veto the two bills banning books in public libraries. The bills are an overreach and unnecessary.
House Bill 1205 by House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, would remove or relocate “explicit sexual material” from public libraries’ children’s collections.
Senate Bill 2360, sponsored by Sen. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan, also focuses on “explicit sexual material” in public libraries. It provides for misdemeanor criminal charges for willfully exposing minors to such material. The bill exempts the State Library.
The bills define “explicit sexual material” as “any material which, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest of minors; is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community in North Dakota as a whole with respect to what is suitable material for minors; and taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.”
People are also reading…
That definition, in itself, will be open to a wide range of interpretations. Some people have a low level of tolerance and find “prurient interest” in many topics. As written, the bills will give fits to librarians trying to enforce them.
The Tribune editorial board has opposed the bills since they were introduced. The testimony and debate on the bills hasn’t changed the Tribune’s stance.
First, the bills aren’t needed. Libraries have policies in place for the public to object to books and for a review process. Research by the Tribune shows that libraries across the state have fielded few complaints about books.
To imply, as some have, that librarians are trying to groom minors is outlandish. Libraries across the state provide programs to encourage children to read and learn about the world. It’s especially important in a society so obsessed with social media to demonstrate the importance of books and reading.
These bills would create a lot of work for libraries, as they require them to review their collections, develop policies and submit a “compliance report” on their policies to legislators. The Tribune finds the “compliance report” a Big Brother intrusion into the operation of libraries. There have been other efforts during the session to order compliance reports to the Legislature. It reflects an authoritarian approach by the Legislature that needs to end.
Libraries have estimated the cost of compliance with the bills as being high, with the Bismarck public library estimating it will cost $334 million to review its collection. Legislators have questioned the estimates as being too high. However, there’s no doubt it will be costly to comply with the bills.
Exempting the State Library appears to be an attempt to spare the state from the costs of the bills.
There’s no doubt that the two bills are part of a national trend seeking to restrict libraries. Eight other states have bills similar to North Dakota’s this year. Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 of last year there were 681 attempts to ban or restrict library resources, according to the American Library Association. There were 1,651 book titles targeted last year, up from 1,597 in 2021.
According to Pen America, 41% of the books banned throughout the 2021-22 school year contained LGBTQ themes.
Burgum should support our public libraries and librarians by vetoing both bills. Parents should be responsible for what their children read. The state shouldn’t take that responsibility out of their hands. | 2023-04-26T07:10:59+00:00 | bismarcktribune.com | https://bismarcktribune.com/opinion/editorial/tribune-editorial-burgum-needs-to-veto-bills-banning-books/article_28c24fb4-e393-11ed-8b2c-cfb17a680a99.html |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two men suspected of being Chinese intelligence officers have been charged with attempting to obstruct a U.S. criminal investigation and prosecution of Chinese tech giant Huawei, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
The two men, Guochun He and Zheng Wang, are accused of trying to direct a person with the U.S. government whom they believed was a cooperator to provide confidential information about the Justice Department's investigation, including about witnesses, trial evidence and potential new charges. One of the defendants paid about $61,000 for the information, the Justice Department said.
The department has issued arrest warrants for the pair, but it’s not clear whether they will ever be taken into custody.
The cases were announced at a news conference that featured the heads of both the FBI and the Justice Department, a rare joint presence reflecting a concerted American show of force against Chinese intelligence efforts. Washington has long accused Beijing of meddling in U.S. political affairs and stealing secrets and intellectual property.
Attorney General Merrick Garland also announced charges against four other Chinese nationals, accusing them of using the cover of an academic institute to try to procure sensitive technology and equipment as well as interfering with protests that “would have been embarrassing to the Chinese government.” And two additional people were arrested and five others charged with harassing someone living in the U.S. to return to China as part of what Beijing calls “Operation Fox Hunt.”
“Today's cases make clear that Chinese agents will not hesitate to break the law and to violate international norms in the process,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said that China’s “economic assaults and their rights violations are part of the same problem.”
“They try to silence anyone who fights back against their theft — companies, politicians, individuals — just as they try to silence anyone who fights back against their other aggressions,” he said.
Wang and He are accused of reaching out to someone who began working as a double agent for the U.S government, and that person's contacts with the defendants were overseen by the FBI. At one point last year, prosecutors say, the unnamed person passed to the defendants a single-page document that appeared to be classified as secret and that contained information about a purported plan to charge and arrest Huawei executives in the U.S.
But the document was actually prepared by the government for the purposes of the prosecution that was unsealed Monday, and the information in it was not accurate.
The company is not named in the charging documents, though the references make clear that it’s Huawei, which was charged in 2019 with bank fraud and again the following year with new counts of racketeering conspiracy and a plot to steal trade secrets.
Spokespeople for Huawei and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Huawei has previously called the federal investigation “political persecution, plain and simple."
“Attacking Huawei will not help the U.S. stay ahead of the competition,” the company said in a statement published in 2020.
In the case linked to “Operation Fox Hunt,” prosecutors say Chinese agents tried to intimidate an unnamed person and his family to return to China. Part of the plot, the U.S. alleges, involved having the person's nephew travel to the U.S. as part of a tour group to deliver threats that included, "Coming back and turning yourself in is the only way out.” | 2022-10-24T20:45:36+00:00 | wrtv.com | https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/chinese-officers-charged-in-plot-to-obstruct-us-huawei-probe |
WFO SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, April 10, 2023
_____
FLOOD WARNING
Flood Statement
National Weather Service Hanford CA
919 AM PDT Mon Apr 10 2023
...The Flood Warning continues for the following rivers in
California...
Merced River at Stevinson affecting Merced County.
For the Merced River...including Stevinson...Minor flooding is
forecast.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Caution is urged when walking near riverbanks.
Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood
deaths occur in vehicles.
Motorists should not attempt to drive around barricades or drive
cars through flooded areas.
Additional information is available at www.weather.gov.
The next statement will be issued this evening at 930 PM PDT.
...FLOOD WARNING FOR SNOWMELT REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER
NOTICE...
* WHAT...Minor flooding is forecast.
* WHERE...Merced River at Stevinson.
* WHEN...Until further notice.
* IMPACTS...At 70.5 feet, Water is up to the maintenance building in
Hagaman Park.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...
- At 8:00 AM PDT Monday the stage was 70.9 feet.
- Forecast...The river is expected to rise above flood stage by
12:00 PM PDT Tuesday. Additional rises are possible
thereafter.
- Flood stage is 71.0 feet.
- Flood History...This crest compares to a previous crest of
71.4 feet on 03/21/2023.
- http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood
_____
Copyright 2023 AccuWeather | 2023-04-10T16:34:30+00:00 | expressnews.com | https://www.expressnews.com/weather/article/ca-wfo-san-joaquin-valley-warnings-watches-and-17888708.php |
Restaurant chain Chipotle said it will begin using all-electric cooking equipment at 100 of its new locations in 2024, eschewing traditional gas cooktops.
The announcement was part of a broader set of plans released by Chipotle aimed at reducing its carbon footprint. Where feasible, the new locations will also have solar panels, use biodegradable servicewear such as knives and forks, and feature electric car charging stations.
"With our aggressive development goal in North America, we hold ourselves accountable to reduce the environmental impact of our restaurants," said Laurie Schalow, chief corporate affairs officer at Chipotle. "We are aiming to incorporate some elements of our responsible restaurant design into many of our new restaurant openings going forward."
Chipotle said it is attempting to cut its greenhouse gas footprint by 50% compared to its 2019 baseline by 2030.
SEE MORE: This is why guacamole costs extra
The decision to rid new Chipotle locations of gas grills comes after a commissioner for the Consumer Product Safety Commission said the federal agency should consider banning gas stovetops in homes.
Eric Lebel, a senior scientist for PSE Health Energy, previously told Scripps News there are two main concerns that gas stoves pose. One is that stoves can emit methane gas, which is a potent greenhouse gas.
“It is both a climate and a health concern,” Lebel said in a January interview. “We know that methane is a strong greenhouse gas. It is 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide over a 20-year lifespan. We need to do all we can to reduce methane emissions from all sources. Natural gas is one of the contributors to methane emissions in the U.S. We’re finding it can be leaked from the appliances themselves; it is not just the production of natural gas and the transmission.”
He said the other concern is that stoves can release harmful gases such as nitrous oxide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, large doses of nitrous oxide can cause dizziness. Long-term exposure can lead to infertility, the CDC said.
Although it does not appear that the federal government will move on a gas stove ban anytime soon, the city of Berkeley in California implemented a ban in 2019 on new restaurants from installing gas stoves. The ban, however, was stopped by a federal court on Monday after restaurants in California filed a lawsuit. | 2023-04-18T17:30:06+00:00 | ktvq.com | https://www.ktvq.com/news/national/chipotle-axes-gas-grills-from-new-restaurants |
Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus are recalling 110,047 new cars, crossovers, SUVs, and pickup trucks for a manufacturing issue that could prevent the driver-side airbag from deploying in the event of a crash, the NHTSA disclosed Monday.
The issue comes from the airbag unit inside the steering wheel. The supplier found contamination in a washing station used in the assembly of a spiral cable. The contamination resulted in a poor welding connection between the cable and the bus bar. That cable connects the steering wheel controls and other functions with electric circuitry. The cable can separate, disengaging the circuit from the airbag module. Without an electrical connection, the airbag would deactivate and not deploy in a crash.
Toyota instructed its dealers to not sell any affected vehicles in stock through a stop-sale order.
A driver may notice the missing connection if an SRS or airbag warning light appears in the instrument cluster of the affected vehicles.
Recalled Toyota vehicles
2023 Toyota Corolla Cross and Corolla Cross Hybrid
2023 Toyota Highlander and Highlander Hybrid
The affected Toyota vehicles were built in San Antonio, Texas; Princeton, Indiana; Huntsville, Alabama; and Blue Springs, Mississippi.
Recalled Lexus vehicles
2023 Lexus RX350 and RX350h Hybrid
2023 Lexus RX500h Hybrid
2023-2024 Lexus NX250, NX350, and NX 350h Hybrid
The affected Lexus vehicles were built in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
Owners can expect notification by mail as early as Sept. 10, 2023. They will be advised to take their vehicle to a Toyota or Lexus dealer to have the cable inspected and replaced, if necessary, at no cost to owners. The vehicles would’ve been covered under warranty, regardless. A rental car may be provided.
For more info, contact Toyota’s customer service at 1-800-331-4331 or visit Toyota’s recall website.
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- Toyota Sequoia vs. Chevy Tahoe: Compare Large SUVs | 2023-07-24T19:21:53+00:00 | wboy.com | https://www.wboy.com/automotive/internet-brands/toyota-lexus-recall-110k-new-cars-for-airbag-issue/ |
ANN ARBOR, MI – A man accused of hiding cameras in bathrooms throughout Ann Arbor before and after police seized his recording equipment is heading to trial.
Erric Desean Morton waived preliminary examination, Oct. 25, on 25 felony charges sending his case to the Washtenaw County Trial Court for further criminal proceedings, court records show.
Morton, 35, heads to the trial court facing 25 felony counts of capturing an image of an unclothed person, using a computer to commit a crime and possession of child sexual abusive material after being accused of hiding cameras in bathrooms at various locations in Ann Arbor to secretly record people.
Morton was initially arrested and given a $100,000 bond, Sept. 7, which was paid through a bondsman, records show.
He was rearrested on additional charges several days later following an expedited forensic audit of electronic devices seized by police during his initial arrest.
During his second arraignment, Sept. 16, Washtenaw County Magistrate Judge Elisha Fink set bond at $800,000 after seeing that Morton is accused of setting up more secret bathroom cameras after police had already seized multiple electronic devices from him.
If released from jail, he must be put on home confinement and placed on a GPS tether.
Related: Man accused of secretly recording hundreds in Ann Arbor bathrooms back in jail with $800K bond
The charges stem from an investigation by the Ann Arbor Police Department that started on July 19 after an anonymous tip about the hidden bathroom cameras was reported by a business at Briarwood Mall.
Morton was soon developed as a suspect and officers seized multiple electronic devices during a July 22 search of his home, police said.
The subsequent forensic analysis of the devices revealed approximately 200 hidden camera videos recorded in bathrooms throughout Ann Arbor sometime between Jan. 27, shortly after he was discharged from parole for committing similar acts in 2015, and July 22 when the search warrant was executed, police said.
Police believe Morton installed hidden cameras throughout Ann Arbor between Jan. 27 and July 22 at the following locations:
- Altar’d State in Briarwood Mall. Restroom used primarily by employees.
- Bath and Body Works in Briarwood Mall. Restroom used primarily by employees, however public could use it if they asked.
- Hampton Inn, 2910 Jackson Ave. Women’s restroom on the main floor lobby.
- Wyndham Garden, 2900 Jackson Ave. Unisex bathroom on the main floor near the conference room.
- Vertex Coffee, 1335 S. University Ave. Unisex bathroom for both the public and employees.
- Starbucks, 2793 Plymouth Road. Unisex bathroom for both the public and employees.
- Sweetwater Coffee, 3393 Plymouth Road. Unisex bathroom for both the public and employees.
- Gallup Park bathroom in the back of the park near the playground/foot bridge. Not the main bathroom near the canoe rental.
Nine victims, all adults, were identified in the first batch of recordings. Six additional victims were identified in new recordings, which are believed to have been captured between July 22 and Sept. 6, police said.
“He apparently went out and re-upped his electronic devices,” said Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Amy Reiser. “After all his devices were seized by police on July 22, he got new devices and placed them in the Starbucks and Hampton inn.”
The additional hidden camera recordings were captured at:
- Starbucks, 2793 Plymouth Road. Unisex bathroom for both the public and employees.
- Hampton Inn, 2910 Jackson Ave. public restroom first floor lobby by conference room.
The detective in charge of the case estimates there are approximately 150 to 200 additional videos of still unidentified victims.
To aid in identifying possible other victims, the Ann Arbor Police Department created a tip submission form online for anyone to fill out and provide a photo of themselves for comparison.
The website can be visited by clicking here, or by typing https://sftp.a2gov.org/filedrop/hiddencameratips.
In Morton’s 2015 case, he had more than 7,000 videos on his computer and an external hard drive from incidents between 2010-15.
Related: Prison time ordered for porta-potty peeper who took thousands of illicit videos
He took videos of a family member, coworkers and his landlord. He also placed cameras in bathrooms used by disabled individuals whom he was employed to care for.
Images in his possession also suggested he had a device to attach a camera to his shoe so he could take photos underneath women’s skirts, prosecutors said.
Morton was arrested in May 2015 after a woman caught him recording her through a hole in a portable toilet at Ypsilanti’s Candy Cane Park, police said.
He fled the park when he was confronted by a Little League coach and parents, but was later found by police who executed a search warrant at his home.
During his sentencing in 2016, Washtenaw County Trial Judge David Swartz noted that in 2006 he sentenced Morton for similar crimes under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, a law that offers young offenders a chance to clear their record for first-time criminal offenses.
More from The Ann Arbor News:
Ypsilanti Community Schools recognized as Michigan’s first ‘System of Distinction’
Man charged with beach shooting sentenced 14-40 years in prison
Santa Ono inauguration as University of Michigan president set for March | 2022-11-08T20:07:13+00:00 | mlive.com | https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2022/11/man-facing-25-felonies-for-toilet-peeping-in-ann-arbor-heads-to-trial.html |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Taurean Blacque, an Emmy-nominated actor who was known for his role as a detective on the 1980s NBC drama series “Hill Street Blues,” has died. He was 82.
Blacque’s family announced in a statement Thursday that Blaque died in Atlanta following a brief illness.
The New Jersey-native began his acting career at the Negro Ensemble Company in New York. His training at the institute helped him secure guest roles on television series including “Sanford and Son,” “What’s Happening,” “Good Times,” “Taxi” and “The Bob New Hart Show.”
Blacque’s biggest breakthrough came when he joined the cast of critically acclaimed show “Hill Street Blues,” where he portrayed the streetwise detective Neal Washington during the show’s entire run between 1981-1987. He earned an Emmy nomination for best supporting actor in a drama series in 1981.
Blacque starred with Vivica Fox on the NBC soap opera “Generations,” which touched on the integration of two families – one Black and another white. He became active with the Atlanta Black Theater Company and the Black Theater Festival in North Carolina.
Blacque had two biological sons and adopted 11 children and was the spokesman for the county of Los Angeles Adoption Service.
In 1989, Blacque was asked by President George H.W. Bush to become the national spokesperson for adoption. He was survived by 12 children, 18 grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. The exact cause of death was not disclosed by his family. | 2022-07-22T17:45:14+00:00 | fox59.com | https://fox59.com/news/entertainment/ap-entertainment/taurean-blacque-actor-on-hill-street-blues-dead-at-82/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Kwasi Bandoh, a senior recruiter for an airline, stood before a group of aviation mechanic students at their graduation ceremony last month and congratulated them for all having jobs.
As some of the students began nudging each other, Bandoh realized that perhaps not every one of them had already been hired.
“Who doesn’t have a job?” Bandoh demanded, surveying the 15 graduates before him at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics’ training facility in Hagerstown, Maryland. “Who doesn’t? Because I have a job for you.”
The crowd of about 70 friends and relatives, gathered in a hangar where the students had been trained, laughed appreciatively. Fourteen of the 15 graduates did have jobs, and the only one who didn’t had an interview lined up for the next day.
As happy as the moment was for the graduates, it epitomized the struggles of recruiters for airlines, plane manufacturers and repair shops that are desperately seeking mechanics. Most of their existing mechanics are aging, and demand for travel is growing.
Across the U.S. economy, other industries, too, face the same formidable challenge: Replenishing a workforce diminished by a surge of retirements that began during the pandemic and has continued since. It’s a growing problem in such fields as construction, manufacturing, nursing and some professional industries like accounting.
Since 2019, the proportion of retirees in the U.S. population has risen from 18% to nearly 20%, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — equivalent to about 3.5 million fewer workers. And the trend seems sure to accelerate: The percentage of workers who are 55 or older is nearly 24%, up from only about 15% two decades ago.
The surge of retirements, along with a slowdown in immigration that began during the pandemic, are the primary factors behind the labor shortages that continue to bedevil some employers.
The aging workforce also helps explain the confounding nature of the economy right now. Even as the Federal Reserve has relentlessly pumped up interest rates to fight high inflation, hiring has remained surprisingly robust. Regardless of where interest rates are, many employers simply need to replace people who have left.
Job growth has been stronger, in fact, than economic growth would suggest. The economy expanded at a mediocre 1.3% annual rate in the first three months of 2023. Yet hiring was robust, averaging nearly 300,000 jobs a month. In April, the unemployment rate reached a half-century low of 3.4%. On Friday, the government will issue the May employment report, which economists predict will show another solid gain of about 190,000 jobs.
Companies that must fill jobs tend to raise pay to attract and keep workers — a trend that can fuel inflation as those same employers typically raise their prices to cover their higher labor costs. That dynamic is complicating the Fed’s efforts to tame inflation.
In the airline industry, more than one-third of mechanics are between 55 and 64, according to government data. Fewer than one in 10 are under 30.
“Everybody’s getting ready to retire, and not enough people are coming in to take the jobs,” said Mike Myers, a maintenance manager for Piedmont Airlines, in Hagerstown, a regional feeder for American Airlines.
The new graduates of the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics have been awed by how much they’re in demand. One of them, Will Gower, said he weighed multiple job offers at nearly twice the $15-an-hour wage he had earned at the retail job he held while in school.
“It was almost overwhelming how many companies were throwing jobs at you,” said Gower, 21. “Anywhere there’s an airport you can go work.”
Next month, Gower will join CommuteAir, Bandoh’s company, along with three of his classmates, and will receive further training in Houston.
In the past year, the air travel industry has hired roughly 45,000 people, enlarging its workforce by 9%, to more than a half-million. That’s triple the pace of the U.S. economy’s overall hiring.
United Airlines has said it plans to hire 15,000 workers this year and more in coming years. It expects to add 2,300 pilots, in part to offset about 500 retirements. Kate Gebo, United’s executive vice president of human resources, said she foresees a shortage of airplane mechanics, with up to half of United’s mechanics already eligible to retire.
In the construction industry, the proportion of workers ages 55 and older doubled from 2003 to 2020, to nearly one-quarter, according to the government.
Anirban Basu, chief economist for the Associated Builders and Contractors trade group, said that in addition to aging, industries like aviation maintenance and construction share another challenge: Fewer young people want to take jobs in what are often perceived as less-secure, blue-collar work.
When the now-retiring baby boomers began working, Basu said, “there was the notion that being a blue-collar tradesperson was a solid and secure path to prosperity.” But as factories shut down across the country, “the notion increasingly became that for one to become part of the American middle class, one would likely need to have more formal education, namely, a bachelor’s degree.”
The result, he said, is an economy short of factory workers, backhoe operators, welders, electricians and other skilled trade workers.
If there’s one trend that might ease, if not solve, the problem it’s that Americans below retirement age have been re-entering the job market, likely drawn by steady hiring and higher pay levels. The proportion of these adults who either have a job or are looking for one now exceeds pre-pandemic levels.
Yet for now, an aging workforce remains a problem even for some white-collar jobs, particularly accounting. About three-quarters of accountants are “nearing 60” and approaching retirement, according to the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.
Tom Hood, an executive vice president of the association, said the industry is finding it hard to attract young college graduates. Many of them prefer data science or finance, while accounting struggles with a stuffier, more old-fashioned image.
“We’re getting squeezed from the older part and the younger part as well,” Hood said.
Nela Richardson, chief economist at the payroll provider ADP, said research shows that countries that have many retirees who spend money and consume and have fewer people working typically face higher inflation. In those countries, demand for goods and services tends to exceed the supply.
“This is the missing piece in terms of our dialogue about, can the Fed drive inflation back down to” its 2% target? Richardson said.
Some economists have said they worry that the job market’s resilience, and the resulting fear that inflation will remain high, will lead the Fed to send its benchmark rate even higher, which could derail the economy and cause a recession.
Gower, who is from Covington, Louisiana, near New Orleans, isn’t exactly worried about a recession. His new job as a line mechanic at Commute Air will pay $30 an hour to start, plus higher wages for night shifts.
“We’ve all got great futures ahead of us,” he said.
Brian Prentice, a partner at the OliverWyman consulting firm, estimates that the aviation industry will endure a shortage of up to 18,000 mechanics this year — about 12% of current staffing levels. It will likely boost pay levels across the industry.
Mindy Pavlonis, associate director of career services for the aeronautics institute, noted that entry-level pay has jumped from about $18 an hour in 2018 to the upper-$20s an hour now.
More financial aid for young people to receive training can help address the worker shortfall, Prentice said, a benefit that some airlines are starting to provide. Myers, the manager at Piedmont, said his company now offers scholarships that pay full tuition to schools like the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics. In return, the student must work at Piedmont for two years.
They will even set up new students with a $6,500 tool box, he added.
Erik Hansen, a lobbyist for the U.S. Travel Association, says his group is pushing for more funding for a federal development program that would subsidize aviation maintenance training schools and support more outreach to high schools to promote the industry as a career.
Without more workers, he said, further flight delays will inevitably result.
“You have an airplane that has a mechanical issue, and it needs to be fixed before it’s turned around,” Hansen said. “It takes longer for the mechanics to get to it. There’s going to be a flight delay. So it’s absolutely something we need to address.” | 2023-06-02T12:00:51+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/news/national/know-any-airplane-mechanics-wave-of-retirements-leaves-some-industries-desperate-to-hire/ |
The best beauty deals this Prime Day
If you’re looking for something new to enhance your beauty and personal care routine, mark your calendar for Amazon Prime Day (happening July 12-13) for exclusive deals available to Prime members only. Beauty items from skin care to makeup brushes to hair care have been heavily discounted in years past, and this Prime Day might include a new favorite product.
What is Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day is an annual event on the retailer’s website that offers unique and substantial discounts on products including kitchenware, sporting goods, tech, beauty and more. But you must have an Amazon Prime membership to score the deals. If you’re not a member yet, you can try a 30-day free trial of Prime to get in on the savings. The deals last for 48 hours only, so consider this when sorting through the offers.
While no one outside Amazon knows what deals will be on this Prime Day, you can still take advantage of sales going on before Prime Day even begins.
What to consider before using beauty and personal care products
When trying out a new beauty or personal item, use caution. If you’re trying a new product that makes contact with your hair or skin, conduct a patch test to ensure the product is suitable for you. Take a small portion of the product and apply to a neutral area such as your wrist. Wait to see if there is any reaction, and after 24 hours you can decide if a full application is safe.
Look out for allergens. Keep an eye out for nuts, fruit extracts, plants and chemicals that typically give you a reaction. These are present in a lot of natural formulas and can cause harm even with topical use.
Top nail care deals for Prime Day
Jodsone Gel Nail Polish Kit with UV Light
What you need to know: At 21% off now, this nail kit is full of value, including 32 shades of gel polish, cuticle tools, a nail clipper, ultraviolet lamp, top coat, base coat and matte coat. The polish is toxin-free and odorless, preventing any discomfort during application and ensuring your safety.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Rosmax Life Professional Pedicure Kit
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Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | 2022-07-11T23:07:08+00:00 | kxnet.com | https://www.kxnet.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/best-beauty-and-personal-care-deals-for-prime-day-2022/ |
WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — Workers at a nursing home in Williamsville are holding a one-day strike on Wednesday.
Workers at the Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Nursing Center are asking for better working conditions and more competitive wages.
They've been working without a contract since the end of last year.
"We're not going to sit here and get paid for nothing and work like slaves. You can't do that," Howard Williams, Jr., an employee with the facility for 20 years said.
Staffing shortages is one of the issues that employees say they face.
“Short staffing effects the quality of care," Ivan Tidwell, Licensed Practical Nurse said in a release. “We don’t have enough staff to cover the shifts and the residents might suffer because their care is delayed. We need more in-house workers to help to take care of our residents and to do that we need a fair contract.”
Staff on strike said they were doing so to protect the quality of care that residents would receive and to demand better working conditions.
“I’ve been here 27 years and we need to make a change,” Sally Beiter, a dietary aide, said in a news release. "I have to think about retirement and can’t do that without a pension and better wages."
The union reported that about 45% of the staff at the facility earn less than $15 an hour. | 2023-05-17T19:44:24+00:00 | wgrz.com | https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/health/staff-at-williamsville-nursing-home-go-on-strike-health-care/71-917d6490-e884-4882-9d88-0580e28faee4 |
(NewsNation) — Former U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch, who served in the U.S. Senate for 42 years, died at 88 in Salt Lake City, the Hatch Foundation announced on Twitter Saturday. The foundation did not specify a cause for Hatch’s death.
“Senator Orrin G. Hatch personified the American Dream,” said Matt Sandgren, Executive Director of the Hatch Foundation in a press release. “Born the son of a carpenter and plaster lather, he overcame the poverty of his youth to become a United States Senator. With the hardships of his upbringing always fresh in his mind, he made it his life’s mission to expand freedom and opportunity for others—and the results speak for themselves.
Hatch was the longest-serving senator in Utah history, spanning the terms of seven U.S. presidents from 1977 to 2019. He was also the former President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, a position that made him third in the line of presidential succession behind then-Vice President Joe Biden and the Speaker of the House. When he retired, he was succeeded by 2012 Presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
A conservative on most economic and social issues, he nonetheless teamed with Democrats several times during his long career on issues ranging from stem cell research to rights for people with disabilities to expanding children’s health insurance. He also formed friendships across the aisle, particularly with the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
One issue Hatch returned to over the course of his career was limiting or outlawing abortion, a position that put him at the center of one of the nation’s most controversial issues for decades. He was the author of a variety of “Hatch amendments” to the Constitution aimed at diminishing the availability of abortions.
In 1991, he became known as one of the most vocal defenders of Clarence Thomas against sexual harassment allegations from Anita Hill. Hatch read aloud at the confirmation hearings from “The Exorcist,” and he suggested that Hill stole details from the book.
While unquestionably conservative, there were times Hatch differed from many of his conservative colleagues — including then-President George W. Bush when Hatch pushed for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
Toward the end of his career, he also helped pass a federal tax overhaul and pushed for President Donald Trump to downsize two national monuments in Utah as he called for a return to an era of political civility. He became an ally of Trump.
In 1997, Hatch joined Kennedy in sponsoring a $24 billion program for states to provide health insurance to the children of low-income parents who don’t qualify for Medicaid.
Hatch helped usher through legislation toughening child pornography laws and making illegally downloading music a prosecutable crime.
For Hatch, the issue of illegally downloaded music was a personal one. A Mormon, he frequently wrote religious songs and recorded music in his spare time as a way to relax from the stresses of life in Washington. Hatch earned about $39,000 in royalties from his songs in 2005.
One of his songs, “Unspoken,” went platinum after appearing on “WOW Hits 2005,” a compilation of Christian pop music.
In 2000, Hatch sought the Republican nomination for president, saying he had more experience in Washington than his opponents and that he could work with Democrats. Hatch readily acknowledged that winning would be a long shot. He withdrew from the race after only winning 1 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses and then endorsed George W. Bush.
He became a strong opponent of President Barack Obama’s 2009 health care law after pulling out of early bipartisan talks on the legislation. At one point, he said of the legislation: “It is 2,074 pages long. It is enough to make you barf.”
Hatch faced a tough re-election battle from a conservative candidate in 2012, two years after a tea party wave carried longtime Utah Republican Sen. Bob Bennett out of office. Both Bennett and Hatch voted in favor of a 2008 bank bailout that rankled those on the far right.
Hatch poured about $10 million into his 2012 race and worked to build support among tea party conservatives.
Hatch was used to playing tough — he learned to box as a child in Pittsburgh to fend off the attacks of older, larger students. Unafraid to fight, he said he always made a point to quickly become friends with those he had arguments with.
When Hatch announced he would not seek re-election in 2018, he said “every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves.”
After moving to Utah in the early 1970s, Hatch — a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — ran for his first public office in 1976 and narrowly upset Democratic Sen. Frank Moss.
In 1982, he held off challenger Ted Wilson, the Democratic mayor of Salt Lake City, to win a second term by a solid margin.
He was never seriously challenged again.
Orrin Grant Hatch was born in 1934 in Pittsburgh. He married Elaine Hanson in 1957 and graduated from Brigham Young University in 1959. He received a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1962 and was a partner in the law firm of Thomson, Rhodes and Grigsby in that city until 1969.
Later, he was a partner in the Salt Lake City firm of Hatch & Plumb.
He is survived by his wife, Elaine, and their six children: Brent, Marcia, Scott, Kimberly, Alysa and Jess. | 2022-04-24T17:11:32+00:00 | upmatters.com | https://www.upmatters.com/news/national/former-sen-orrin-hatch-of-utah-dies-at-88/ |
Only 5% of organizations are at 'white collar' full potential productivity, with survey results suggesting that organizations have, on average, more than 25% greater full potential productivity than today. Many factors comprise this productivity gap and solutions require a focused, coordinated effort to drive peak performance.
BOSTON, Nov. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Most data shows we are approaching an economic slowdown and Creo Advisors' recent Executive survey suggests 'white collar' organizations have meaningful opportunity to achieve greater productivity. Admittedly, it's a challenge to achieve given the massive disruption, evolving work models and rapid pace of change in recent years. Many business models and process have yet to catch up. Anticipated profit pressures in 2023 will compel industry leaders to 'rethink' their business to elevate team performance, making more effective use of new processes, policies and tools.
We surveyed more than more than 250 executives from US companies with revenues over $100M, who felt:
- Only 5% of companies perceive themselves at full potential 'white collar' productivity
- Companies have, on average, full potential organizational effectiveness equating to more than 25% greater 'white collar' productivity
Many factors have led to this productivity opportunity. Our survey identifies a set of factors which limit organizations from achieving peak performance such as:
- Leadership effectiveness
- Employee engagement
- Meeting frequency and effectiveness
- Hybrid work optimization
- Process improvement
- Accountability and feedback
Rich Vitaro, Managing Partner and Founder of Creo Advisors notes that "Elevating organizational productivity is complex but a tremendously valuable endeavor. It has become more difficult for cross-functional organizations in this rapidly changing, disruptive environment, where workload, technology and low barriers to meetings and tasks can lead to overwhelming complexity and priorities. Removal of low value-added tasks have never become more important. Additionally, many companies are retaining legacy processes despite a new work environment and pace of change. Prioritization, using the right tools and enhanced communication will help enable organizations to 'row together' more and achieve elevated performance. We apply advanced analytics as well as qualitative techniques to help organizations address these challenges and raise productivity".
The environment in 2023 will likely remain fluid and require agility to flourish. Survey findings emphasized that disruption will continue in 2023 but with different themes. Rich added "In 2023, disruption appears to be less about supply chain, inflation and hiring, although they remain very important, and more about navigating a potentially more challenging financial environment and possible China/trade issues. Additionally, companies seek to improve workforce effectiveness and engage new and existing customers to capture market share. Finally, as companies are in the planning cycle it's important to set appropriate expectations for next year. We found 50% who see a recession for this year or next year, also envision growth for their own sector in 2023. The likelihood is more companies will be negatively affected by the market than they may think."
Given the magnitude of disruption and pace of change in recent years from events and technology, organizations have adapted but not perfected performance. The realization is that 'work from wherever' is here to stay. Our survey shows only a 5% increase in return to office for 2023, with a very hybrid model still in place. As companies seek innovation, change and lower cost, they are also reaching out more to external partners. The survey showed that a significant amount of companies are currently working with outside partners in areas such strategy, procurement, manufacturing, distribution, marketing and back-office support. Even with a potential downturn, companies expressed the continued use of outside partners across the value chain. 'Best-in-class' companies are further integrating external partners into an organizational ecosystem to expand capabilities, provide agility and drive change. More opportunity exists to strengthen these cross-department and cross-partner workflows to maximize effectiveness.
The anticipated downturn will place greater pressure on organizational productivity, yet few companies are full prepared with highly productive, agile organizations achieving peak performance. Leading companies can take a fresh approach to 'recreate' organizational effectiveness leading to peak performance. Will this be you?
Creo Advisors is a consulting firm that partners with ambitious Management, PE Firms, Boards and teams seeking to achieve superior performance. We help clients "create" sustainable value by identifying, focusing, and executing on key levers to deliver peak performance. Client success is our 'North Star'. Creo Advisors provides Strategy, Growth, Supply Chain, and Human Capital services to companies across multiple industries. Please visit our website at www.creoadvisorsllc.com
For more information, contact Creo Advisors at: Information@creoadvisorsllc.com
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SOURCE Creo Advisiors LLC | 2022-11-15T04:30:58+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2022/11/15/peak-performance-elevating-organizational-effectiveness-an-economic-downturn/ |
LONDON (AP) — Maybe Serena Williams is going to play at Wimbledon this year, after all. She sure made it seem that way in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
Williams has not competed anywhere since getting injured during the first set of her first-round match at the All England Club a year ago. And her name did not appear on the women’s singles entry list released by the grass-court Grand Slam tournament earlier this month.
But on Tuesday, Williams posted a photo of her white shoes on what appears to be a grass court and the message: “SW and SW19. It’s a date. 2022. See you there. Let’s Go.”
“SW” are her initials, of course, and “SW19” is the postal code for Wimbledon.
The All England Club is scheduled to announce wild-card invitations on Wednesday. It’s possible Williams could be given spots in the singles and doubles draws.
The 40-year-old American has won seven of her Open era-record 23 major singles championships at Wimbledon, most recently in 2016.
Williams was the runner-up there in 2018 and 2019 (the tournament was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic).
In 2021, Williams lost her footing on the slick grass and then her right leg buckled, leading to just the second mid-match retirement at any Grand Slam tournament of her career and first since 1998.
___
More AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2022-06-14T13:25:46+00:00 | krqe.com | https://www.krqe.com/sports/serena-williams-implies-shell-play-at-wimbledon-this-year/ |
Ahead of son Jackson's leg surgery, Tori Roloff was worrying about the worst outcome. In a new Little People, Big World clip shared exclusively with ET, cameras captured Tori and Zach Roloff ahead of their firstborn child's leg surgery.
"I’m not prepared for that one," Tori tells her husband of the surgery. "That one, I put out of my mind."
As she explains, the procedure involves putting plates on the growth plates of the then-4-year-old's legs to "hopefully slow down the growth and allow the bones to even out." Like his dad, Jackson was born with achondroplasia, the most common type of short-limbed dwarfism.
"Why is them always not straight?" Jackson asks, referring to his legs.
While the procedure is meant to help the youngster, his mom expresses her anxiety about the surgery. "I'm a lot more nervous than you are. I have a lot more, like, worries," she tells Zach. "I think of the worst-case scenario... That’s where my head goes."
Meanwhile, Zach is concerned about the impact Tori's worrying might have on Jackson. "I’m just worried that she will not handle it well, which will make Jackson not handle it well," he says. "We have to put our big boy pants on. This is about him, you know, so we have to be, like, level-headed."
In November 2021, Tori shared an update with fans after Jackson's surgery, calling it "one of the hardest days" she's ever had.
"Our sweet Jackson had surgery today to help correct the bowing in his legs," she wrote on Instagram. "This kid time and time again blows us away. He was so brave and confident. He made @zroloff07 and I so proud as he talked with the doctors and nurses and was wheeled away without worry."
She added, "Watching your child in pain is never something a parent wants to go through. However, we are trusting his doctors and our Lord that this was the best decision for him."
More recently, Jackson celebrated his fifth birthday and the early arrival of his baby brother, Josiah, who was also born with achondroplasia. “He's definitely more easygoing," Tori told ET of the newborn, "like Jackson was as a baby."
Little People, Big World airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on TLC.
RELATED CONTENT: | 2022-06-06T23:46:53+00:00 | 9news.com | https://www.9news.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-tonight/little-people-big-world-tori-roloff-worries-about-worst-case-scenario-ahead-of-sons-leg-surgery/603-ee82b57c-1ebc-4236-a853-dbe82d81c1dc |
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A fourth electrical substation was vandalized late on Christmas Day in Washington state, leaving homes in Kapowsin and Graham temporarily without power, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
By 7 a.m. Monday, more than 10,500 Puget Sound Energy customers were without electricity across the region, KOMO-TV reported.
The suspects broke into a fenced area and vandalized equipment, causing a fire, officials said. The fire was extinguished and power was later restored, but no suspects are in custody, officials said.
The attacks come as federal officials are warning that the U.S. power grid needs better security to prevent domestic terrorism and after a large outage in North Carolina earlier this month that took days to repair.
The first substation was vandalized at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday, followed by a second substation, according to Tacoma Public Utilities. The outages affected about 7,300 customers in an area southeast of Tacoma. Just before noon, the utility had restored power to all but 2,700 customers whose power was estimated to be restored at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Meanwhile, just before noon, Puget Sound Energy reported vandalism that had happened at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday caused a power outage at one of its substations. The nearly 7,700 customers who lost power had it restored by 5 a.m., Puget Sound spokesperson Andrew Padula said. The company is investigating, along with authorities, and declined to comment further, according to Padula.
In all four cases, the sheriff’s office says someone forced their way into the fenced area surrounding the substations and damaged equipment to cause a power outage.
Power stations have been hit in Washington and Oregon in the last month.
Portland General Electric, the Bonneville Power Administration, Cowlitz County Public Utility District and Puget Sound Energy confirmed six separate attacks on electrical substations in Washington and Oregon in the previous weeks, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting and KUOW-FM in Seattle. | 2022-12-27T02:39:44+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-4th-washington-state-electrical-substation-vandalized/ |
(The Hill) — The Biden administration has committed nearly $13 billion worth of military assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded six months ago.
The scope and power of those weapons have increased over time, with Ukrainian officials arguing that firepower is crucial to defend not only their country, but democracy worldwide.
“Finally it is felt that the Western artillery — the weapons we received from our partners — started working very powerfully,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last month.
On Wednesday, the United States greenlighted another military assistance package to Ukraine, preparing to send nearly $3 billion in arms and equipment to meet Kyiv’s medium- and long-term needs as it beats back Russia’s military.
Major weapons
- High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and ammunition
- The U.S. has committed 16 HIMARS since late May. It is a lighter-wheeled system that can allow Ukrainians to hit Russian targets within Ukraine from further distances.
- 1,500 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles
- Manufactured by Raytheon, the TOW missiles are long-range precision, anti-tank and assault weapons that can hit targets up to 4,500 meters away.
- 155mm Howitzers
- A towed field artillery piece that can hit targets up to 30 km, or 18 miles away. The U.S. has sent 126 of these howitzers, along with 806,000 155mm artillery rounds and 126 tactical vehicles to tow the howitzers.
- 105mm Howitzers
- The U.S. committed to sending 16 105mm howitzers and 108,000 105mm artillery rounds to go with the howitzers. The United Kingdom has already provided the L119 model, which is a lightweight howitzer that can provide direct fire support at armored vehicles or buildings or indirect fire to support combat arms in ranges over 10 km, or 6 miles.
- 120mm mortar systems
- The U.S. Army uses three versions of the 120mm mortar systems, but they are designed to provide close-range, quick-response indirect fire during tactical combat. The U.S. has sent 20 of these systems, as well as 85,000 rounds of 120mm mortar ammunition.
- National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS);
- The National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, also known as the Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, are advanced air-defense systems that can hit targets up to 100 miles away. The U.S. has committed to sending eight NSAMS, along with munitions for the systems.
- Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems
- The U.S. has committed approximately 700 Phoenix ‘Ghost’ drones to Ukraine between April and July. The systems, made by AEVEX Aerospace, are designed to attack targets.
- Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems
- The U.S. has sent over 700 Switchblade drones to Ukraine since March. There are two types of Switchblade drones and the U.S. has sent both, those its unclear how many of each type Washington has sent.
- The Switchblade 300 weighs about five pounds and can fly roughly 6 miles, and is intended to target personnel and light vehicles. However, the Switchblade 600 can fly more than 24 miles and can stay in the air for 40 minutes.
- Puma unmanned aerial systems
- The Pentagon awarded AeroVironment $19.7 million in April to produce the Puma AE RQ-20 system for Ukraine. Designed for reconnaissance and surveillance, it has a range of 20 km, or about 12 miles, and has over three hours of flight endurance.
- Mi-17 helicopters
- The U.S. has provided 20 of the Soviet-era transport helicopters that can also be used as a helicopter gunship. Can carry as many as 30 passengers or 9,000 pounds of cargo
- Harpoon coastal defense systems
- The U.S. announced in June that it would provide two vehicle-mounted Harpoon systems, which are intended for coastal defense. The U.S. said in June that it would provide the launchers, while allies and partners would provide the missiles.
- Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial Systems
- The U.S. sent 15 Scan Eagle systems as part of its Aug. 19 package to Ukraine for reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition. These systems are just under four feet in length and have an altitude of 16,000 feet above ground level. The Aug. 24 weapons package included support equipment for these systems.
- VAMPIRE Counter-unmanned aerial systems
- The U.S. first committed to providing the VAMPIRE system in its $2.98 billion weapons package announced on Aug. 24. Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s top policy official, said the VAMPIRE uses small missiles to shoot drones out of the sky.
- Stinger anti-aircraft systems
- The U.S. has provided over 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. The Stinger has a range of 5 miles and can attack targets up to 15,000 feet.
- Javelin anti-armor systems
- The U.S. has provided over 8,500 Javelin surface-to-air missiles. Javelin is a portable anti-tank system that can hit targets from 65 meters to 4,000 meters away in most operational circumstances.
- High Speed, Anti-Radiation Missiles
- The Aug. 19 weapons package included an undisclosed amount of High-speed Anti-radiation (HARM) missiles. The Pentagon first disclosed in early August that it has sent these missiles, but didn’t specify which kind or how many. However, CNN reported that the U.S. has sent the AGM-88 HARM, an air-to-surface tactical missile that has a range of at least 30 miles, and is designed to find and destroy radar-equipped air defense systems.
- Over 27,000 other anti-armor systems
Other equipment and small arms
Radars
- 50 counter-artillery radars
- Four counter-mortar radars
- Four air surveillance radars
- Counter-battery radar systems
Vehicles/Boats
- Four Command Post vehicles
- Unmanned Coastal Defense Vessels
- Hundreds of Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles
- 50 armored medical treatment vehicles
- 200 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers
- 18 coastal and riverine patrol boats
- 40 MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles with mine rollers
Explosives, Small Arms, Ammunition, Munitions
- M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel munitions (command-detonated fixed-direction fragmentation weapon for use against personnel)
- C-4 explosives, demolition munitions, and demolition equipment
- Over 10,000 Grenade launchers and small arms
- Over 59,000, 000 Small arms ammunition
Equipment
- 75,000 sets of body armor and helmets
- 22 Tactical Vehicles to recover equipment
- Laser-guided rocket systems
- Tactical secure communications systems
- Night vision devices, thermal imagery systems, optics, and laser rangefinders
- Commercial satellite imagery services
- Explosive ordnance disposal protective gear
- Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear protective equipment
- Medical supplies
- Electronic jamming equipment
- Field equipment and spare parts
- Funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment
- Mine clearing equipment and systems
Sources:
Fact Sheet on U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine – Aug. 24 (DOD)
Sources: $1 Billion in Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine – Aug. 8 (DOD)
Fact Sheet on U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine – Aug. 8 (DOD)
Pentagon confirms anti-radiation missiles sent to Ukraine – Aug. 9 (The Hill) | 2022-08-26T14:46:58+00:00 | kron4.com | https://www.kron4.com/news/national/heres-every-weapon-us-has-supplied-to-ukraine-with-13-billion/ |
The Senate on Wednesday passed a GOP-led resolution that would end the COVID-19 national emergency that has been in place since 2020.
The measure passed the upper chamber 68-23.
A similar resolution sponsored by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) passed the Senate last year, but it did not advance in the Democrat-controlled House. This year it passed the House 229-197, with 11 Democrats joining all Republicans.
President Biden last year threatened to veto the measure. This year, he did not threaten a veto but issued a statement of administration principles before the House vote objecting to the resolution.
On Wednesday, however, he said he would sign the measure.
“The President strongly opposes HJ Res 7, and the administration is planning to wind down the COVID national emergency and public health emergency on May 11. If this bill comes to his desk, however, he will sign it, and the administration will continue working with agencies to wind down the national emergency with as much notice as possible to Americans who could potentially be impacted,” a White House official said.
The national emergency is different from the public health emergency, though the White House will end both on May 11. Under federal law, Congress has the power to ask for periodic votes to terminate a national emergency.
President Biden used the powers under the national emergency declaration as the underpinning for his student loan forgiveness plan, which is currently tied up in court.
The initial declaration allowed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to mobilize personnel to support state and local agencies as they worked to combat the virus. The move also allowed FEMA to access billions of dollars.
Ending the national emergency early could also terminate some of the flexibility that COBRA has been able to exercise. | 2023-03-30T02:35:37+00:00 | wnct.com | https://www.wnct.com/on-your-side/health-watch/senate-votes-to-end-covid-19-national-emergency/ |
Republicans are intensifying their criticism of the FBI after the search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Former Vice President Mike Pence says the party can criticize the attorney general without going after rank and file FBI agents.
“Our party stands with the men and women who serve on the thin blue line at the federal, state and local level,” Pence said.
But former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe says that’s not the message being heard in the GOP’s recent rhetoric.
“They fan those flames because it’s politically advantageous,” McCabe says. “But by doing that, they are creating a real and present danger to law enforcement, judges, people associated with government.”
Today, On Point: We talk to Andrew McCabe and a longtime veteran special agent about the search and rising threats of violence.
Guests
Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from February 2016 to March 2018.
Dennis Lormel, he spent 27 years at the Federal Bureau of Investigations. President of the Society of Former Special Agents.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-08-22T17:28:06+00:00 | wlrn.org | https://www.wlrn.org/2022-08-22/real-and-present-danger-how-trump-rhetoric-is-impacting-the-fbi-after-the-mar-a-lago-search |
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MARATHON, Fla. (AP) — A rescued juvenile dolphin that was airlifted from Texas to the Florida Keys about one year ago is thriving and interacting with other dolphins at a Keys-based marine mammal facility, officials said Monday.
The orphaned male calf dubbed Ranger was discovered in June 2021. He was stranded near Goose Island State Park and suffering from a respiratory infection and dehydration. Rescued near his dead mother, the young bottlenose dolphin was deemed too young to forage and survive in the wild.
The National Marine Fisheries Service chose the Dolphin Research Center in Grassy Key, Florida, as Ranger’s permanent home after he was temporarily cared for at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi.
“Dolphins are very social; they live in a family, they depend on that family even to learn how to catch fish,” said Linda Erb, the Dolphin Research Center’s vice president of animal care and training. “Without a mom, without a family, this little guy would have starved — he would not have known how to be a wild dolphin.”
Erb said her team’s primary goal has been to make sure that Ranger, now about 3 years old, learned to socialize with other dolphins in a natural lagoon at the center after his release from a necessary five-week quarantine in a medical pool.
“The Ranger that was living in our med pool is a different dolphin than the Ranger living out here now today,” Erb said. “He is fully adapted into the family and has surrogate moms that help take care of him. He has buddies that he plays with.” | 2023-03-27T23:15:53+00:00 | expressnews.com | https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/rescued-dolphin-thrives-year-after-arriving-in-17863113.php |
PALO ALTO, Calif., March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile Health, Inc., a leading digital health & wellbeing company, is excited to announce that industry veteran and Co-Founder of VillageMD, Paul Martino, will be joining the company's Board of Directors. Prior to co-founding VillageMD, Martino was a career health plan executive, most recently as the Senior Vice President of Clinical Strategy and Innovation at Anthem.
Paul is a well-known industry thought leader and has been a pioneer in the field of Value-Based Primary Care. As Co-Founder of VillageMD, he saw the opportunity early on and helped to build the company into the largest Value-Based Primary Care company in the country. His experience and knowledge will be invaluable to Mobile Health as we continue to innovate and grow in the digital health and wellbeing space.
"We are thrilled to have Paul join our Board of Directors," said John Halloran, CEO of Mobile Health. "His experience and insights will be invaluable as we continue to drive innovation and growth in the digital health and wellbeing market. We are confident that Paul's leadership and industry expertise will help us to continue to provide the highest level of service and support to our clients and to drive innovation in the digital health and wellbeing space."
Paul Martino, added "I'm excited to join the board of Mobile Health who has the unique ability to engage previously difficult to engage patients/members in a way that facilitates commitment to their health. I look forward to working with the team and helping them to achieve their goals and reach their full potential."
About Mobile Health, Inc.
Mobile Health's mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of as many people as possible by providing the most accessible and affordable access to services that help people become healthy, stay healthy, and manage their chronic conditions. With the average person checking their mobile device 250 times a day, and monitoring various aspects of their health and wellbeing, Mobile Health delivers services directly to individuals' mobile devices while taking advantage of all the data now available through wearables.
By leveraging the ubiquity of mobile devices, Mobile Health is able to offer a unique approach to managing health, wellbeing, and chronic conditions. Mobile Health empowers individuals with the tools they need to measure and monitor their health, including steps, weight, blood pressure, nutrition, and sleep, all from the convenience of their mobile device.
Through this approach, Mobile Health is able to deliver tailored interventions and personalized support to individuals, helping them to manage their conditions and stay on track with their health goals. By providing accessible and affordable access to these services, Mobile Health is helping to democratize healthcare and make it available to all.
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SOURCE Mobile Health, Inc. | 2023-03-08T15:18:59+00:00 | kwch.com | https://www.kwch.com/prnewswire/2023/03/08/mobile-health-inc-announces-industry-veteran-paul-martino-new-board-member/ |
TAZEWELL, Va. – Rev. Annette Warren paraphrased Mr. Rogers during the opening prayer for the dedication ceremony of Standing Tall and Proud, a series of murals depicting the African American heritage of Tazewell County.
“Mr. Rogers would say it’s a great day to be in the neighborhood, I say it is glorious day to be in Tazewell County,” Moore said.
Last April, the Board of Supervisors commissioned a public artwork to be erected near the courthouse grounds to honor the contributions of African Americans to the history of the county.
The Citizens Courthouse Grounds Improvement Committee researched and planned the creation of a permanent outdoor mural depicting the contributions of several generations and their contributions to the county’s history.
With the assistance of eight other artists, Ellen Elmes took the lead and the group painted permanent portraits of 16 people. The group ranges from people born into slavery in the 1800s to those living in the 21st century.
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“It is ironic that today we are here to dedicate of people who refused to let others paint them in black and white,’ County Administrator Eric Young said. Young said the mural will serve as inspiration for future generations.
The committee had narrative plaques made to tell the history of each person. Visitors may walk to each picture and read their biographies. Elmes said many of the artists had connections to the portrait they helped paint.
Brandon Viney, who lives in Portland Oregon, worked on the portrait of Lou Peery after having it shipped to him. Peery’s portrait is the first one on the wall.
The portraits range from Samuel Harris, who was born around 1847 and died in 1954 as the oldest ex-slave in the county to Peery, who died in 2019 after a long career as the high school baseball coach.
Jim Higginbotham was the town’s first African American police chief.
Flora Sinkford, who co-chaired the committee, recalled Higginbotham leading the Ku Klux Klan down Main Street in 1987 during their last march in the county. Each member of the committee gave some of the history of the person they researched and asked members of that person’s family to stand and be recognized.
Minnie Holley Barnes and Hattie Holley Heath are honored as educators who obtained master’s degrees enabling them to enrich the lives of many people. Minnie was born in 1900 and died in 1996. Hattie was born in 1901 and died in 2005.
There is also a portrait honoring the Tazewell County coal miner representing African Americans, who worked in the coal mines in Amonate, Boissevain, Bishop, Jewell Ridge, Pocahontas and Raven from 1883 until 1955.
There is also a portrait of James Knox-Smith, who was born into slavery in 1852. The portraits are mounted on the wall of a Main Street building, just steps from the courthouse. | 2022-10-30T03:10:16+00:00 | heraldcourier.com | https://heraldcourier.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/mural-honors-contributions-of-african-americans-to-tazewell-county/article_5273b200-57f5-11ed-b288-1f2bcaa7707c.html |
Oklahoma high school basketball 2023 state tournament scoreboard
Results from the 2023 Oklahoma high school basketball Classes A-B state tournaments.
More:Carlson: Before chasing Class B basketball title, Fort Cobb rallies behind Willits family
Class A Boys
Wednesday's Games
Rattan 75, Okarche 60
, end of third
Texhoma vs. Okay, 10:30 a.m.
Seiling vs. Liberty, Noon
Caddo vs Drummond, 1:30 p.m.
Friday's Games
Okarche-Rattan winner vs. Texhoma-Okay winner, 4:30 p.m.
Caddo-Drummond winner vs. Seiling-Liberty winner, 6 p.m.
Saturday's Game
Championship, 7 p.m.
More:Class A boys basketball: A look at each team in the 2023 Oklahoma state tournament
Class A Girls
Wednesday's Games
Seiling vs. Quinton, 4:30 p.m.
Cyril vs. Okarche, 6 p.m.
Oklahoma Bible vs. Caddo, 7:30 p.m.
Riverside vs. Vanoss, 9 p.m.
Friday's Games
Seiling-Quinton winner vs. Cyril- Okarche winner, Noon
Riverside-Vanoss winner vs. OBA-Caddo winner, 1:30 p.m.
Saturday's Game
Championship, 2 p.m.
More:Class A girls basketball: A look at each team in the 2023 Oklahoma state tournament
Class B Boys
Thursday's Games
Fort Cobb-Broxton vs. Goodwell, 9 a.m.
Roff vs. Glencoe, 10:30 a.m.
Sentinel vs. Calumet, Noon
Buffalo Valley vs Kinta, 1:30 p.m.
Friday's Games
Fort Cobb-Goodwell winner vs. Roff-Glencoe winner, 9 a.m.
Buffalo Valley-Kinta winner vs. Sentinel-Calumet winner, 10: 30 a.m.
Saturday's Game
Championship, Noon
More:Class B boys basketball: A look at each team in the 2023 Oklahoma state tournament
Class B Girls
Thursday's Games
Hammon vs. Leedey, 4:30 p.m.
Buffalo Valley vs. Varnum, 6 p.m.
Calvin vs. Lomega, 7:30 p.m.
Pittsburg vs. Lookeba-Sickles, 9 p.m.
Friday's Games
Hammon-Leedey winner vs. Buffalo Valley-Varnum winner, 7:30 p.m.
Pittsburg-Lookeba winner vs. Calvin-Lomega winner, 9 p.m.
Saturday's Game
Championship, 5 p.m.
More:Class B girls basketball: A look at each team in the 2023 Oklahoma state tournament | 2023-03-01T16:35:07+00:00 | oklahoman.com | https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/high-school/basketball/2023/03/01/oklahoma-high-school-basketball-2023-state-tournament-scores/69958081007/ |
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish coal miners angered by a European Union directive aiming to methane emissions protested noisily Friday before the EU office in Warsaw saying it will deprive them of their jobs.
Some 300 miners chanted “Thieves” and used smoke flares and sirens to draw attention to their protest in the downtown area of Poland’s capital. Traffic was temporarily closed in the area.
Protesting miners from the Solidarity 80 union said recent climate recommendations for the 27-member EU that call for a significant reduction of methane, starting in 2027, would force most of the nation’s mines to close, with the loss of thousands of jobs.
The majority of Poland’s mines have a high presence of methane gas that gets released in the coal extraction process. That also leads to serious mining accidents as methane becomes explosive when mixed in low proportions with oxygen.
Located in the southern Silesia region, the coal mines are among Poland’s major employers, offering some 77,000 jobs in the nation of 38 million. | 2023-03-24T13:37:43+00:00 | seattletimes.com | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/polands-miners-protest-eu-methane-reduction-regulations/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Daniel Cameron won the Republican primary for Kentucky governor, becoming the first major-party Black nominee for governor in the state’s history and setting up a November showdown with Democratic incumbent Andy Beshear.
Cameron, the state’s attorney general who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, claimed a convincing victory Tuesday in a 12-candidate field that included state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles, who finished second, and former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft, who finished third. Beshear easily dispatched two under-the-radar Democratic challengers in his own primary.
Cameron, the state’s first Black attorney general, said in a victory speech that his campaign aims to “embody the promise of America, that if you work hard and if you stand on principle, anything is possible.”
“To anyone who looks like me, know that you can achieve anything,” Cameron told supporters. “Know that in this country and in Kentucky, all that matters are your values.”
The race now shifts to the general election, which will be one of November’s most closely watched contests and could provide clues heading into the 2024 presidential race. Beshear, a popular Democratic governor, will face a tough reelection bid in a Republican-dominated state after a first term marked by a series of tragedies — the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and a mass shooting that killed one of his closest friends.
Beshear on Tuesday cited his stewardship of Kentucky’s economy — pointing to record economic development successes — in setting the stage for his fall campaign. And he blasted the tone of the GOP gubernatorial primary after taking hits for months from the Republican candidates.
“Right now somewhere in America, there is a CEO deciding where to move their business and they’re considering Kentucky,” Beshear told supporters. “Let me ask you: Is seeing people talk down our state and our economy, insult our people and stoke divisions going to help that next company choose Kentucky? Of course not.”
The Beshear-Cameron matchup conjures parallels from the state’s last governor’s race but with a reversal of roles for the governor. In 2019, Beshear used the attorney general’s office as a springboard to the governorship. During his single term as attorney general, Beshear challenged a series of executive actions by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. Beshear narrowly defeated Bevin in a race that revolved around Bevin’s combative personality.
Cameron succeeded Beshear in the attorney general’s office, and the Republican turned the tables on Beshear, mounting numerous legal challenges against state and national Democratic policies that endeared him to conservatives. Cameron led the successful challenge that essentially halted the governor’s COVID-era restrictions, which Cameron said amounted to executive overreach. Beshear says that his actions saved lives and that he leaned heavily on guidance from Trump’s coronavirus task force.
A former aide to Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, Cameron has risen through the political ranks to become one of the most prominent Black Republicans in the country. His victory Tuesday will play into Trump’s efforts to solidify his status as the leader of the Republican Party heading into the 2024 presidential primary.
Trump, in a social media post Wednesday about Cameron’s victory, cited the finish by Craft, who had been an ambassador during his administration and was endorsed by a leading Trump rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Congratulations to a ‘star’ in Kentucky, Danial Cameron, who easily won the Republican Nomination for Governor,.” Trump wrote, misspelling the nominee’s first name. “He had my Complete and Total Endorsement. The DeSanctimonious backed candidate came in a DISTANT third. Ron’s magic is GONE!”
If Beshear follows his campaign formula from 2019, he will avoid talking about Trump or dwelling on polarizing national issues that could risk further energizing his opponent’s conservative base.
He is also expected to draw on his family’s strong political brand — his father, Steve Beshear, is a former two-term Kentucky governor who spoke at his son’s primary victory celebration Tuesday — and lean into his role of leading through adversity after a multitude of crises during his first term.
Through it all, Beshear emerged as the front man, holding daily pandemic briefings for months and then leading relief efforts to help those left devastated by tornadoes and floods.
Last month, Beshear publicly and emotionally grieved the loss of a close friend who died when a Louisville bank employee opened fire with an assault-style rifle, killing five coworkers. He has frequently invoked his Christian faith as a cornerstone of his efforts to lead the state through tough times.
In addition to Craft and Quarles, Cameron also defeated state Auditor Mike Harmon and Somerset Mayor Alan Keck, among others.
But it was the combative rivalry between Cameron and Craft that dominated the primary campaign. Cameron endured an advertising blitz by Craft’s campaign — backed by her family’s fortune — and an outside group supporting her campaign. The pro-Craft group portrayed Cameron as an “establishment teddy bear” in claiming he wasn’t tough enough as attorney general. A pro-Cameron group swung back with attacks against Craft, who nabbed a last-minute endorsement from DeSantis.
Cameron’s handling of an investigation into the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police in 2020 could come under renewed scrutiny as he campaigns as the GOP nominee. Taylor’s death and the police-related killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests.
In announcing a grand jury’s findings in Taylor’s death, Cameron said jurors “agreed” that homicide charges were not warranted against the officers, because they were fired upon. Three of the jurors disputed Cameron’s account, arguing that Cameron’s staff limited their scope and did not give them an opportunity to consider homicide charges against the police in Taylor’s death.
Cameron’s immediate attention will turn toward building party unity for the fall campaign slog, a task for which he has demonstrated skills in the past. He bridged the gulf between Trump and McConnell despite a growing rift between the two GOP heavyweights. Cameron worked as the senator’s legal counsel and made a high-profile pitch for Trump’s unsuccessful reelection campaign at the 2020 Republican National Convention.
The gubernatorial campaign topped primary races for other constitutional offices in Kentucky.
Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams, who pushed successfully for expanded voter access, won his primary against two candidates, including one who cast doubt on the integrity of elections. He faces Democrat Charles “Buddy” Wheatley in November in his reelection bid.
Other primary winners included Republican Allison Ball, who is running for state auditor after two terms as state treasurer, and now will face Democrat Kimberley Reeder, who ran unopposed. Garrard County Attorney Mark Metcalf won the GOP primary for state treasurer and faces Democrat Michael Bowman in November. The general election race for agriculture commissioner pits Republican Jonathan Shell against Democrat Sierra Enlow, who won their respective primaries. The fall campaign for attorney general will feature Republican Russell Coleman against Democrat Pam Stevenson. Both were unopposed in the primary. | 2023-05-17T23:20:21+00:00 | ksn.com | https://www.ksn.com/news/politics/ap-politics/kentucky-republicans-pick-nominee-to-challenge-democratic-gov-beshear/ |
New Book, Inside Outsourcing, Warns of Seismic Shift Toward Remote Work, Offshore Staffing, and Complete Disruption of Employment Norms
Published: Jun. 6, 2022 at 4:00 PM CDT|Updated: 17 minutes ago
LONDON, June 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Outsource Accelerator today announced the book launch of Inside Outsourcing: How Remote Work, Outsourcing & Global Employment is Changing the World. This long-awaited book is a wake-up call for businesses at a time when the world is seeing a dramatic change in employment norms toward remote, global and offshore solutions.
Outsourcing is the bad boy of business. Blamed for poor quality, unethical salaries, and inhumane conditions. Yet, Apple, Google, and most other Fortune 500 companies outsource - and the industry is growing at breakneck speed.
With soaring salaries, staff shortages, and the Great Resignation wreaking havoc on the economy, business owners are turning to offshore staffing solutions in record numbers.
As businesses get used to remote work solutions, and a post-COVID new normal, employers are realizing that offshoring gives them access to a global pool of highly-qualified candidates – and they can save 70% on staff costs.
Global employment means that employers can access highly capable staff from USD$500 /mo. It's a game-changing proposition for businesses.
Everyone is talking about remote work, outsourcing, virtual assistants, and global employment - but the industry remains mysterious.
"If you deprive yourself of outsourcing and your competitors do not, you're putting yourself out of business." Lee Kuan Yew, Former Prime Minister of Singapore.
Inside Outsourcing explores the evolution of outsourcing and the future of global employment as it transitions from an obscure industry to a default way of work. This seminal book on modern global outsourcing shines a light on the $200bn industry, and the seismic shift toward remote work, offshore staffing, and global employment.
ABOUT DEREK GALLIMORE
The book's author, Derek Gallimore, is the leading authority on global outsourcing solutions for business. Derek Gallimore is the founder and CEO of Outsource Accelerator, the world's leading marketplace and advisory for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), offshore staffing, remote and global employment.
BOOK RELEASE:
Available in Paperback, Kindle (ebook), and Audible (audio) versions by 8 June. Available from Amazon. Full details about the book, along with further information about the author, can be found at: https://www.outsourceaccelerator.com/inside-outsourcing/
ISBN: Paperback: 978-1-7396230-0-5 | Ebook: 978-1-7396230-1-2 | Audio: 978-1-7396230-2-9
MEDIA CONTACT:
Laura Angeles
Outsource Accelerator
E: laura@outsourceaccelerator.com
W: https://www.outsourceaccelerator.com/
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SOURCE Outsource Accelerator
The above press release was provided courtesy of PRNewswire. The views, opinions and statements in the press release are not endorsed by Gray Media Group nor do they necessarily state or reflect those of Gray Media Group, Inc. | 2022-06-06T21:17:56+00:00 | kalb.com | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2022/06/06/new-book-inside-outsourcing-warns-seismic-shift-toward-remote-work-offshore-staffing-complete-disruption-employment-norms/ |
Updated February 4, 2023 at 8:58 AM ET
The good times are back on Wall Street.
Stocks have surged since the start of the year. The Nasdaq is up nearly 15% this year after posting its best January since 2001. And it's not just stocks: bonds have risen and even bitcoin has made a roaring comeback, though all markets fell a tad on Friday.
This is all after a miserable 2022, when markets were hit hard by fears about surging inflation and about how the Federal Reserve was fighting it, with the biggest increases in the country's interest rates since the early 1980s.
Today, hope has replaced that fear. Inflation has eased substantially and investors now believe the Fed will soon stop raising interest rates – and even cut them later this year to prop up a sagging economy.
And many on Wall Street no longer dread the worst about the economy, turning from their predictions of a big recession to hope that any downturn will be mild, or even that a recession may not happen at all.
But should there be this much optimism? Here's why Wall Street is getting so excited about the economy – and why others believe it may end in tears.
The case for hope
The recent Wall Street gains could perhaps be explained in a single word: inflation
There are plenty of signs that inflation is starting to ease substantially after reaching its highest levels in around 40 years last year.
Consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 6.5% in December, down from a peak of 9.1% in June. The Fed's preferred inflation yardstick is also down substantially from its recent peak.
And economists are hopeful inflation will continue to ease. Supply chains, for example, have improved. And wage gains have softened in recent months, allaying economists' worries that rising wages could push up prices.
Prices are still high, of course, in fact, too high for the Fed's comfort.
But even Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expressing some hope about inflation while warning, repeatedly, that the fight against inflation is far from done.
Recession? What recession?
Then, there are the shifting views on the economy. In 2022, markets were bracing for the worst as they looked to history.
In the past, the Fed's aggressive interest rate hikes to tame inflation have sparked recessions.
Higher interest rates can have all kinds of negative effects on the economy: mortgages get more expensive, which hurt the housing market; companies pull back on spending; and so forth.
But now, many on Wall Street believe any recession could be mild, like the short one during the pandemic in 2020 that barely made a blip in the markets (the S&P500 surged 16% that year, while the Nasdaq soared 44%).
Some economists even believe the economy may not suffer a recession at all, slowing down into a "soft landing," or avoiding a contraction and a spike in unemployment.
That optimism is not completely unjustified.
For one, the labor market is very strong. Data on Friday showed U.S. employers added a whopping 517,000 jobs, much stronger than most forecasts, while the unemployment rate dropped to a 53-year low.
"The labor market continues to be very resilient with no clear signs of stopping yet," investment bank Morgan Stanley said in a note to clients on Friday.
Investors are also taking comfort in earnings, which have largely proven resilient, though there are exceptions, notably, in the technology sector.
GM, for example, reported this week a surge in profits in the most recent quarter.
Then again...
There is one big downer in the market, however: the Fed.
Some optimists believe the Fed will make an abrupt U-Turn and pivot to cutting interest rates as early as this year, after raising them one last time, likely at its March meeting.
That would mean the Fed would go from fighting inflation by slowing down the economy to doing exactly the opposite — revving up that very same economy with cheaper, easier borrowing.
The big issue with that premise? That's not what the Fed is saying it plans to do at all.
Powell, in his news conference on Wednesday may have sounded hopeful about the economy, but he also said it's way too premature to declare victory against inflation, and he reiterated the Fed has no intention of cutting interest rates any time soon.
The message does not appear to be swaying the optimists on Wall Street so far, however.
Some investors still believe the Fed is being too cautious about inflation. After all, the central bank for months played down inflation by calling it "transitory" until it suddenly reversed course and aggressively raised interest rates.
"The Fed is still firmly in the driver's seat, but the market continues to fight the Fed, believing that they will pause and/or cut rates much sooner than they've guided," said Amanda Agati, the Chief Investment Officer of PNC Financial Services.
But there are big dangers in fighting the Fed, as the famous market adage goes.
The Fed is the most powerful economic player in the world, with the ability to move markets from New York to Hong Kong with a single word.
And so far, the Fed has said, clearly, that the fight against inflation will go on.
And is the economy really that strong, anyway?
Then, beyond the Fed, there's the risk that plenty can still go wrong for the economy.
For one, inflation could prove much more entrenched than the Wall Street bulls expect.
A strong labor market is great for workers, but it remains a major worry for the Fed given that it can keep inflation elevated, forcing companies keep wages high and fueling more consumer spending by those who are employed.
Furthermore, there's plenty of other data that raises the prospect that the economy could end up hitting a recession after all.
The housing market, for example, has taken a major hit since the Fed started raising rates. And retail sales are showing signs of declining, a big concern in an economy so reliant on consumer spending.
Market bulls are fond of noting that "as goes January, so goes the year," an expression that refers to a historic trend in which strong January gains tend to portend a good year for Wall Street.
But that's not always the case.
In 2001, the Nasdaq similarly rallied in January, ending the month up 12%.
It did not end well. The economy skidded into a recession, and the Nasdaq slumped a whopping 30% over the next 11 months, with losses magnified by the Sept. 11 attacks.
As it turns out, all that optimism in January 2001, proved to have been misplaced.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-02-04T14:47:22+00:00 | upr.org | https://www.upr.org/npr-news/2023-02-04/markets-are-surging-as-fears-about-the-economy-fade-why-the-optimists-could-be-wrong |
HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Japan announced Saturday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Japan to join Group of Seven leaders in a session on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is expected to arrive in Hiroshima, the site of the world’s first atomic attack in western Japan, later Saturday.
He will join leaders of the G7 wealthy nations at a session on Ukraine on Sunday. He was originally scheduled to join a session online on Friday, but that plan changed after Zelenskyy expressed a “strong wish” to participate in person, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Japan had earlier refused to confirm Zelenskyy’s visit and insisted until late Friday night that he would only participate online.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will hold talks with Zelenskyy during his Hiroshima visit, the ministry statement said. | 2023-05-20T13:27:14+00:00 | mytwintiers.com | https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/world-news/ap-international/ap-japan-says-zelenskyy-will-visit-hiroshima-to-join-g7-summit-session-on-ukraine/ |
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — Welcome to the latest episode of “9 On The Positive Side.”
This weekly 30-minute show puts the positive news front and center. You can find the show each Saturday at 7:30 a.m. on WNCT and Sunday at noon on CW.
Click the above video to see the episode. | 2023-07-31T00:15:33+00:00 | wnct.com | https://www.wnct.com/on-your-side/9-on-the-positive-side/episode-80-9-on-the-positive-side/ |
DALLAS (KRON) — Ahead of the Golden State Warriors’ Western Conference Finals game against the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday, Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr passionately responded to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that took the lives of at least 20 people. An emotional Kerr challenged senators to make a change and stormed off the podium after he was finished talking.
“When are we gonna do something?” Kerr shouted, slamming the table he was sitting at. “I’m so tired of getting up here and offering condolences to the devastated families that are out there. … I’m tired of the moments of silence. Enough!”
Kerr did not speak about basketball at the press conference, instead beginning his speech by acknowledging the victims in the recent Buffalo supermarket shooting and Orange County church shooting, as well as Tuesday’s mass shooting. He went on to challenge 50 United States senators for failing to vote on a background check bill that was passed by the House of Representatives.
“There’s a reason they won’t vote on it: to hold on to power,” he said of the senators. “So I ask you, Mitch McConnell, I ask all of you senators who refuse to do anything about the violence and school shootings and supermarket shootings… I ask you, are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children, and our elderly, and our churchgoers?”
Kerr, whose father died in a shooting, challenged people to think about their own family members in the wake of the tragedy. He also said that 90% of Americans believe in background checks.
“We are being held hostage by 50 senators in Washington, who refuse to even put it to a vote,” he said. “Despite what we, the American people, want. They won’t vote on it because they want to hold on to their own power. It’s pathetic. I’ve had enough.”
Kerr ended the media briefing there and walked out of the room.
The coach has been outspoken about political issued in the past. In June 2020, he joined protesters in an effort to get police officers off of Oakland school campuses. | 2022-05-25T02:08:26+00:00 | krqe.com | https://www.krqe.com/news/national/enough-nba-coach-cuts-briefing-short-after-texas-shooting/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California's first strong Santa Ana wind event of the fall was diminishing Thursday but forecasters warned that another round of strong gusts is expected during the weekend.
The National Weather Service said winds will pick up again Friday night and last through Saturday.
A fire weather watch will be in effect from 1 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday due to the gusty northeast winds and very low relative humidity levels ranging from 5% to 15%.
Forecasters said there will likely be six or more hours of “critical fire weather conditions.” | 2022-11-17T17:52:22+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/More-Santa-Ana-winds-expected-in-Southern-17592192.php |
Which Valentine’s Day cards are best?
Some people prefer to give gifts on Valentine’s Day, while others like to focus on experiences. Even people who shun the idea of expensive gift-giving and classic gifts like chocolate or flowers can prepare a thoughtful card for that special someone.
Valentine’s Day cards are personal and let that special someone know you love them.
What to know before you buy a Valentine’s Day card
Personalized cards always beat generic cards
Generic cards are fine for certain events and relationships, but when it comes to that special someone, it’s best to send them a more personalized card. Of course, generic cards can be dressed up with a well-written message, a photograph or other creative ideas, but the card itself is the first thing someone will see when they open the envelope.
Many people are OK with having a store-bought card. Still, there is a big difference between a card with a generic message written inside and a card that someone buys based on that person’s personality, interests and relationship with the card-giver.
Professional handmade cards vs. DIY cards
DIY cards are popular, but not everyone has the time or skills to make a great-looking DIY card. In this case, you can still find a great handmade card locally or even online. Some private sellers and small stores specialize in handmade cards for special occasions like Valentine’s Day. These cards are charming and feel much more personal than mass-produced cards.
Not everyone feels the same way about cards
Valentine’s Day is starting to shift away from products and more toward experiences and individual expressions of love. However, cards are timeless, and a well-made card is something everyone can appreciate, but some people are less enthralled with the idea of receiving a card than others. Try to understand how that special someone feels about cards and what kind of card would bring a smile to their face.
What to look for in a quality Valentine’s Day card
A card that matches their personality
The most important aspect of a good Valentine’s Day card is that it matches the receiver’s personality. If your relationship is centered around hiking and adventure, a pink card with a heart on it might not match the style of your relationship. Try to think about the color of the card, the image on the front and the message. All of these should match the style of your relationship.
Enough space to write your message
The meat of a good card is the message written inside of it. While you can always write on a separate piece of paper and put it inside the card, it’s nice to have a card with ample writing space. This allows you to express yourself freely without worrying about the size of your writing and whether or not you will be abruptly cut off by the limitations of the writing space.
Materials and styles
Materials and style matter to a lot of people.
- Recyclable cards are great. Paper is recyclable, but is the company you are buying it from concerned about sustainability? You can also see if the card is tree-free and made from recycled materials.
- 3D cards are becoming incredibly popular. There are pop-up cards and cards with 3D images that bring the card to life.
- Handmade cards tend to feel a little more personal than mass-produced cards.
- Photograph cards that feature a photograph of you with your special someone will be a hit for Valentine’s Day.
How much you can expect to spend on Valentine’s Day cards
Valentine’s Day cards are relatively inexpensive. The cheaper cards tend to cost just a couple of dollars, while the more expensive cards can run up to $15.
Valentine’s Day cards FAQ
What should you write inside a Valentine’s Day card?
A. You want to say “Happy Valentine’s Day” first. After that, write a personalized message from the heart explaining how the other person makes you feel. You can talk about special memories or plans for the future. Personal and unique is what you are striving for. End the card with a closing term of endearment that fits the status of you and your valentine’s relationship.
What are the best colors for Valentine’s Day cards?
A. White, pink and red are the traditional Valentine’s Day colors. Red is typically associated with love, the heart and strong feelings. White is generally associated with purity and holiness. Pink is a blend of the two. Feel free to use other colors if your partner is OK with it.
What’s the best Valentine’s Day card to buy?
Top Valentine’s Day card
Della Stella Wooden Romantic Valentine’s Day Card
What you need to know: This wooden card offers something more lasting than an average Valentine’s Day card.
What you’ll love: There are two designs to choose from, and it’s laser cut for a smooth finish. There’s room for you to write something inside to make it personalized.
What you should consider: It costs more than some might want to spend on a card.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Valentine’s Day card for the money
What you need to know: The gorgeous design of this card makes it a romantic choice for a valentine.
What you’ll love: It has a sweet message on the inside and is printed on high-quality paper stock.
What you should consider: It isn’t specifically a Valentine’s Day card, though it has a romantic design.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Lovepop Disney “The Nightmare Before Christmas” Valentine’s Day Card
What you need to know: It’s the perfect card for your spooky valentine.
What you’ll love: Lovers of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” will be stoked to receive this card. There are several designs to choose from.
What you should consider: It’s pretty niche, so not everyone will like it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | 2023-02-10T15:50:50+00:00 | valleycentral.com | https://www.valleycentral.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/holiday-br/best-valentines-day-card/ |
SAITAMA, Japan (AP) — Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States won their first ice dance title at the figure skating world championships on Saturday.
First after the rhythm dance, Chock and Bates finished first in the free dance at Saitama Super Arena with 134.07 points for a total of 226.1.
Reigning European champions Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy were second with 219.85 points while Grand Prix Final Champions Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada were third with 217.88.
“We’ve been pursuing this goal for so many years,” Bates said. “It was exciting and stressful all at the same time. I know that the ice dance field is so competitive. We’ve competed against all these teams for so many years. We really just wanted to focus on ourselves and skate our best.”
Chock and Bates, the three-time Four Continents champions , have been together for 12 years.
They won the silver medal at the 2015 world championships in Beijing, bronze in Boston in 2016 and bronze last year in Montpellier, France.
They have also competed at six Grand Prix Finals, winning four medals — all silver.
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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2023-03-25T12:43:27+00:00 | ourquadcities.com | https://www.ourquadcities.com/sports/us-pair-of-chock-and-bates-win-first-world-ice-dance-title/ |
LONDON, Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A cross-industry consortium is being launched in the UK to reimagine and test new payment rails for the global financial system, the Digital FMI Consortium announced. The new group – standing for 'Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (DFMI)' – is the body behind Project New Era, the UK's first privately-led Digital Sterling (dSterling) pilot, set to launch in the autumn.
The group will focus on real-world testing to evaluate a future digital currency ecosystem, environment and economy that includes the coexistence of current forms of money, regulated digital assets (including crytocurrencies and stablecoins) and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), starting in the UK with Project New Era.
Brunello Rosa, CEO and Head of Research at Rosa & Roubini Associates, emphasised the global scale of digital asset exploration:
"Currently, 105 countries (representing over 95 percent of global GDP) are exploring paths towards a CBDC, while 10 countries have now fully launched a digital currency. The market continues to develop at a tremendous pace, with the British government having announced plans to make the UK a global crypto hub, the ECB declaring recently that CBDCs could be the 'Holy Grail' of cross-border payments, and the Fed exploring a digital dollar with increasing urgency."
The consortium intends to use the blueprint set out by Project New Era to launch private-sector pilots in multiple jurisdictions across the world.
The DFMI Consortium is made up of leading financial institutions, including commercial banks, payment providers, telecommunications providers, FinTechs, NFT ecosytems and digital currency exchanges. To date members include IBM, Finastra, FinClusive, Ibanera, paywith.glass, Mattereum, Trust Payments and Accomplish Financial, with further members set to be announced upon the launch of the UK pilot.
The industry initiative is founded by leaders of the global financial services industry, under the coordination of Dutch financial infrastructure group paywith.glass SIG (Special Interest Group), with Boston Consulting Group as its consulting partner, and supported by The Payments Association in the UK.
Official global advisors to the project include Rosa & Roubini Associates as Macroeconomic Advisors, Simmons & Simmons as legal counsel and Farrant Group providing strategic communications.
Kunal Jhanji, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, stated:
"The world is undergoing a financial revolution from which there is no turning back. With the advent of DLT and blockchain technology, digital assets are ushering in a new era for money, with potentially transformative benefits for consumers, businesses, financial institutions and states. The industry needs to now come together to help the lawmakers and central banks shape the design and regulatory aspects of the biggest change we will see in the payments ecosystem in our lifetimes."
The pilot will test high-potential use-cases and provide empirical inputs to policymakers and regulators on future design considerations for CBDC development and stablecoin regulation. Amit Sharma, Founder & CEO of FinClusive, emphasised that:
"Digital assets and CBDCs more generally can be designed to enable the financial inclusion of those who have traditionally struggled to access and maintain financial services. Embedding essential anti-money laundering and KYC tools such as verifiable digital identities and compliance credentials into these services helps ensure security while empowering the most vulnerable segments in society. FinClusive is proud to join this effort."
Michael Carbonara, CEO of Ibanera, emphasised that "the future of payments will rely on digital infrastructure – but the payments ecosystem will continue to be underwritten by trust, which is why the pilot will test cutting edge compliance systems throughout its duration."
Alison Conway, Head of Strategic Development at Trust Payments, said: "Commerce is constantly changing & innovating. Against this backdrop, digital currencies and CBDCs in particular offer a unique opportunity to design a playbook that drives interoperability while offering tangible benefits to both merchants and consumers. With global uncertainty and the demand for trust and transparency increasing, now is the time to build the platform and create the ecosystem that will shape the next generation of UK commerce and the broader monetary system that underpins it."
Paul Sisnett, the CEO and co-founder of 'paywith.glass', the digital currency infrastructure solution, explained why the consortium is launching its first pilot in the United Kingdom:
"The UK has a proud history of invention and innovation. When Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 to meet the demand for automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world, he did not anticipate that his creation would profoundly and permanently change the way we live and interact to this day.
The emergence of digital currencies represents the biggest technological revolution since then, and the final step in the full digital transformation of the global financial system. The global race for the future of money is well underway, and we couldn't be more excited to be leading the UK's ambition to set the pace."
Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1879386/Project_New_Era_Panel.jpg
For further information, please contact:
Casey Larsen | +44 (0) 7771 684 261 | casey.larsen@farrantgroup.com
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SOURCE Digital FMI Consortium | 2022-08-17T12:11:11+00:00 | wlbt.com | https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2022/08/17/digital-fmi-consortium-set-explore-new-era-money/ |
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to ban abortion immediately stirred alarm Friday among LGBTQ advocates, who feared that the ruling could someday allow a rollback of legal protections for gay relationships, including the right for same-sex couples to marry.
And in a separate concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should review other precedents, including its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage, a 2003 decision striking down laws criminalizing gay sex and a 1965 decision declaring that married couples have a right to use contraception.
“Let’s just be clear. Today is about this horrifying invasion of privacy that this court is now allowing, and when we lose one right that we have relied on and enjoyed, other rights are at risk,” said Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the landmark ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, who is now running as a Democrat for the Ohio House.
Abortion opponents celebrated the potential for states to ban abortion after nearly 50 years of being prevented from doing so. Some also argued that the case did not have implications beyond that, noting Alito’s specific statement.
“And to ensure that our decision is not misunderstood or mischaracterized, we emphasize that our decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right,” Alito wrote. “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.”
Still, said Paul Dupont, a spokesman for the conservative anti-abortion American Principles Project, conservatives are optimistic about the potential for future victories on cultural issues, though getting more states to ban abortion is “a huge enough battle.”
“If there is a thought that this could apply elsewhere, you know, they’re not going to say it here, and we’re just going to have to see,” Dupont said.
Many abortion opponents insist that overturning Roe will not affect access to birth control or LGBTQ rights. Other factors could protect those rulings too: The Obergefell decision that legalized same-sex marriage was based on equal protection, and hundreds of thousands of couples have relied on it to wed, a precedent that many courts would be loath to disturb.
Still, a sharp increase in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in the U.S. and opposition to some forms of birth control from some quarters on the right have advocates concerned that those rights are vulnerable.
The court’s three most liberal members argued that the majority decision “breaches a core rule-of-law principle, designed to promote constancy in the law” and “places in jeopardy” other rights.
At the White House, President Joe Biden pledged to do everything in his power to defend a woman’s right to have an abortion in states where it will be banned. He warned that the ruling could undermine rights to contraception and gay marriage: “This is an extreme and dangerous path.”
Then there is Thomas’ concurring opinion, which Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the pro-LGBTQ-rights Human Rights Campaign, called an invitation for “stirring up fringe organizations, fringe politicians who want to harm the LGBTQ community.”
“There are clearly members of the court who have an outdated notion of what America looks like today and have a fantasy of returning to their painted idealism of a 1940s, 1950s America, certainly not what it really was in the 1940s and ‘50s,” she said. “And that is terrifying.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, called the decision “dangerous” and warned that it carves the nation into two parts. He predicted there will be “a tsunami of radical litigation and legislation aimed at further eroding rights we have taken for granted.”
“Make no mistake — this is just the beginning of a systematic right-wing effort to rewrite decades of bedrock legal precedent,” he said.
___
Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko in Washington, Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, Julie Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, in Lindsay Whitehurst, in Salt Lake City, contributed to this report.
___
Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
___
For AP’s full coverage of the Supreme Court ruling on abortion, go to https://apnews.com/hub/abortion | 2022-06-24T18:33:48+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-roe-dead-some-fear-rollback-of-lgbtq-and-other-rights/2022/06/24/b4ccf6b6-f3df-11ec-ac16-8fbf7194cd78_story.html |
APON is urging a full DOJ investigation
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- American Property Owners Network (APON) is calling on all Congressmembers and 2022 political candidates to support shutting down foreclosure mill activity—still occurring on a massive scale across the country despite the national mortgage settlements--pending a full Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation.
With mid-terms approaching, APON is releasing a policy memo identifying solutions to the problems facing homeowners in the era of questionable home-lending and securitization practices. They hope incumbent Congresspeople as well as politicians running in the midterms will respond. APON further calls upon The Capitol to audit its own prior investigations into financial institution wrongdoing, and the compliance of financial institutions with settlements that have been made over the past 12 years.
Some of the problems APON wants resolved include: foreclosure mills continuously being allowed to wrongfully claim injury and file forged documents in our courts; homeowners being forced from their homes without due process; and foreclosure defense attorneys unjustly being disbarred. Further, regarding the ongoing crisis, Wall Street financial expert and APON attorney advisor, Neil Garfield, ( https://livinglies.me/2022/08/31/when-legal-fictions-simply-go-too-far/.) states: "The continuation of current securitization practices will result in another crash similar to 2008, though perhaps not as severe."
APON has also endorsed the March on Corruption in Washington, DC, on November 1, 2022 being spearheaded by Producer Patrick Lovell of the docuseries The Con. (For the trailer, see https://www.imdb.com/video/vi4033199641/?playlistId=tt12667346&ref_=vp_rv_ap_0.) As The Con exposes, financial crimes on a massive scale were ignored by both Republican and Democrat administrations during the 2004-2016 era, and they continue today.
APON's President, Leo Blas, a former government official who is facing the fourth foreclosure on his homestead, who represents himself in court, states: "The abuse of process in the courts by mega law firms is allowing the Big Banks to wrongfully dispossess property owners. These abuses are made available to them by judges who are unable or unwilling to understand arguments in favor of homeowners."
APON is non-profit organization providing a political voice and support for Americans facing unfair home-lending and foreclosure practices. APON estimates that over 15 million homes have been fraudulently foreclosed, with another wave of at least a million more on the horizon.
For more information about APON, contact admin@apropertyownersnetwork.org. For information on the March on Corruption, contact Bcrabiola@gmail.com
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SOURCE American Property Owners Network | 2022-09-13T17:57:54+00:00 | kfyrtv.com | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2022/09/13/homeowners-call-shutdown-nationwide-foreclosure-mill-machine/ |
MAINE, USA — On Thursday, the Maine Drought Task Force released an updated U.S. Drought Monitor map on its website revealing drought levels and severity throughout the state. Thursday's release also shows how many dry wells have been reported in Maine.
"The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration," according to the website.
For the 2021-2022 year, 55 dry wells have been reported in total. In 2022 alone, 35 dry wells have been reported. Members of the public can report a dry well online through the Maine Dry Well Survey.
The highest number of dry well reports are in Cumberland County, with York and Kennebec counties being the second and third highest.
"Your well is likely at risk of running dry if your faucets sputter when turned on, you see discolored or muddy tap water, there is a change in taste or smell in your water, or your neighbors are reporting dry wells," the website says.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor map Thursday, southern coastal Maine is experiencing the highest severity of drought in the state.
The website advises anyone who is experiencing dry well impacts to complete the online survey here. For assistance in completing the survey, dial 211, call 1-877-463-6207, or text your Maine zip code to 898-211.
Low-income residents in Maine can refer to the following assistance programs that are available:
For more information about drought in Maine and to view updated maps, click here. | 2022-08-11T21:36:06+00:00 | newscentermaine.com | https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/tech/science/environment/maine-drought-dry-wells-environment/97-b3106684-5114-42cb-ba8b-49cbf9fb704b |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Some might say it’s a rebuild. Others might go so far as to call it tanking.
Either way, the Carolina Panthers, who've already fired a coach this season and own the NFL's worst record at 1-5, are now well positioned to get the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft — and land the franchise quarterback they’ve coveted for years.
The Panthers' offense was already dead last in the league — and that was before the team traded its best player, Christian McCaffrey, to the San Francisco 49ers and starting wide receiver Robbie Anderson to Arizona Cardinals.
General manager Scott Fitterer said Friday the decision to deal McCaffrey was in the best interest of the future of the organization.
“The NFL is a business where you lose guys, whether it is injuries or trades or whatever happens,” Fitterer said. “The expectation of winning never changes. Those guys in the locker fight too hard and work too hard every day. We owe it to them. That's our expectation to go out and win every game.”
But how does Fitterer tell players they're expected to win when he's just traded away the team's undisputed star?
“That's the tough part,” Fitterer said.
Said interim coach Steve Wilks: “There’s no such thing as tanking when it comes to myself or the men in that locker room.”
Injured quarterback Sam Darnold was bummed when he learned of the trade Friday morning, but doesn't think management is tanking, saying "we’re worried about going out there and winning football games. We’re not worried about any of the narratives going on outside of the locker room.’’
Owner David Tepper spoke last week about the delicate balance between establishing a winning culture and finding a franchise quarterback in the draft to build around.
“You have to try to win, all of the time,” Tepper said on Oct. 10 after firing coach Matt Rhule. “You have to try to win for the players. You have to try to win for the fans. And, yes, I understand what it is about draft picks and getting quarterbacks and stuff like that, and I understand the importance of quarterbacks in this league. But you have to try to win always.”
Former NFL general manager and analyst Bill Polian doesn't think the Panthers are tanking, and he liked how Panthers pit two organizations — the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams — against each other to drive up McCaffrey's asking price.
The Buffalo Bills were also involved in talks early on.
In the end, the Panthers got picks in the second, third and fourth rounds next year and a fifth-round pick in 2024 for McCaffrey, a 2019 All-Pro who is fourth in the league in yards from scrimmage this season. And while Fitterer didn't get the the first-round pick he wanted, the move did take McCaffrey's scheduled salary cap hits of $19,550,750 in 2023 and 2024 and $15,450,750 in 2025 off the books.
“They picked up a nice group of picks for him, so that's a pretty good return on a running back who is obviously a great player but who has had some nicks here and there over the last couple of years,” Polian said. “From their perspective it is a good return.”
But looking ahead to next season, the problem remains finding a quarterback.
The Panthers haven’t been able to get consistent production at the game's most important position for quite a while. They signed Teddy Bridgewater, traded for Darnold and Baker Mayfield and even brought back Cam Newton for a second stint.
Still, they find themselves starting undrafted P.J. Walker — who entered training camp fourth on the depth chart — on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If the season ended today, the Panthers would have the top pick in the 2023 draft and a strong quarterback class to choose from, led by Kentucky’s Will Levis, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Alabama’s Bryce Young.
Polian advised the Panthers to do plenty of research.
“I’d go slow on those guys,” Polian said of next year's QB class. “Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield are living proof of why you should. They were anointed (before the draft). I have never believed in anointing anyone.”
The big question now is whether the Panthers will continue to rebuild — or tank — by unloading core players like defensive end Brian Burns, wide receiver D.J. Moore and defensive tackle Derrick Brown. The 24-year-old Burns is likely to command multiple first-round picks if the team decides to move him.
Fitterer said that while “philosophically, we will always listen,” it would take an “astronomical” offer to part with a core player.
“We like the young core of our team,” he said. “We’re building. This isn’t a situation where we’re trying to sell. We’re trying to add players to this really good mix. These are guys we win with moving forward.”
Time will tell if that holds true — the NFL trade deadline is Nov. 1.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Credit: Ashley Landis
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Credit: Nell Redmond
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Credit: Nell Redmond
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Credit: Carlos Osorio
Credit: Michael Clubb
Credit: Michael Clubb | 2022-10-21T21:19:15+00:00 | daytondailynews.com | https://www.daytondailynews.com/nation-world/tanking-panthers-positioned-for-no-1-pick-after-cmc-trade/M25JDFFHUNDYDH3FIN5EHYQ7IE/ |
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Flags were planted on Thursday at Springfield cemeteries as part of a city-wide effort to honor and remember veterans who have served our country.
Joining in on the event were volunteers from MGM Springfield, including President Chris Kelley.
Around 22,000 veteran graves are located in Springfield and twice a year, near Memorial Day and Veterans Day, volunteers ensure that their sacrifices are not forgotten.
Kelley told 22News, “This is such an important day for us. We have many veterans on the team at MGM Springfield and this cemetery we’re in right now is one of the oldest in the city. About 5,000 veterans are buried here. So, its an honor and a privilege for us to pay our respects today.”
This effort is also spear-headed by the city’s Department of Veteran’s Services which was also present during Thursday’s flagging. | 2022-11-03T21:33:55+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/volunteers-help-flag-veteran-grave-sites-in-springfield/ |
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — As winds in Sioux Falls continue to blow, schools in the district were closed Friday.
Driving out to the west side of Sioux Falls, where George McGovern Middle School and Jefferson High are located, an increase in wind compared to areas further within the city was clear.
Speaking Friday afternoon with Sioux Falls School District (SFSD) Assistant Superintendent Jamie Nold, he said that the wind definitely played a role in cancelling school Friday, a decision he says was made at around 8:30 the evening before.
KELOLAND Weather online resources
Nold says the busses had some difficulty at the end of the day on Thursday, struggling to get into some apartment complexes and streets that had drifted shut.
“The group decided last night that it may just not be a safe enough situation in anticipation of the blowing snow and the snow that was being predicted to have them go out in that process in the morning,” said Nold.
Overall, Nold attributed Friday’s closure to the wind and the additional snow that had fallen in the past several hours.
Nold said the district is taking advantage of the closure to use the opportunity to plow the empty parking lots. He says this will continue throughout the weekend.
Looking forward to the next week, Nold says that the district doesn’t anticipate precipitation to be a concern with regard to whether or not school will be in session. Instead, he said they will be keeping an eye out on temperatures and wind conditions.
“It does not appear that the snow will be a factor or rain,” Nold said. “We’re looking forward already to next week to check out some of those temperatures.” | 2022-12-17T00:54:38+00:00 | keloland.com | https://www.keloland.com/keloland-com-original/wind-drifts-combine-to-close-sioux-falls-schools/ |
2-year-old not expected to survive after fall from third-floor window, police say
HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB/Gray News) - Police say a 2-year-old boy from Connecticut is not expected to survive after he fell out of a third-floor window while his parents allegedly weren’t home.
The incident took place at 3:39 p.m. Saturday. One witness said they saw a screen fall then watched the toddler fall, according to WFSB.
Police say the boy’s chances of survival are extremely slim. He was treated by emergency crews then taken to the Connecticut Children’s Hospital in extremely critical condition.
Police have detained both of the toddler’s parents and said this appears to be a case of neglect. The parents were not home at the time of the fall, according to police.
“It appears to be a case of neglect. There were four other children in the home under the age of 12. From what I understand, very deplorable conditions,” Hartford Police Lt. Aaron Boisvert said.
Charges are expected to be filed against the boy’s parents in the near future.
Witnesses to the incident told WFSB they are heartbroken.
Jonathan Feliciano was washing his car when he says he saw the boy fall out of the window headfirst, landing on the concrete just a few yards away from where he was standing.
“I hear something and look up, and I see the baby falling. So, as soon as I saw that, I ran over there, and I saw the baby on the floor,” Feliciano said. “I feel sorry because he was just a child... He still had no shirt and just diapers on.”
After rushing over to the boy, Feliciano called 911.
“I was telling them that the baby was on the ground. He wasn’t moving, and he wasn’t breathing,” Feliciano said. “He was just spread out with his arms like that, and when the sister grabbed him, he was lifeless.”
Another witness to the incident, Linda Burrell, described the shocking incident.
“The impact... I heard a big... the way the child landed, it was just horrifying,” she said.
She adds that the children who live at the home are often left alone.
“They’re left alone a lot there. That’s what’s most flawed there. I mean, the kids should be watched at all times, especially a 2-year-old,” Burrell said.
Police say the Connecticut Department of Children and Families is working to figure out what’s next for the other four children in the home.
Copyright 2023 WFSB via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2023-07-23T10:44:03+00:00 | wcjb.com | https://www.wcjb.com/2023/07/23/2-year-old-not-expected-survive-after-fall-third-floor-window-police-say/ |
Video shows plane taking off from highway after pilot forced to make emergency landing
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray News) - A pilot was forced to land a plane on a highway in Florida after running out of fuel.
Authorities said the incident happened on Friday afternoon on Interstate 10 in Suwannee County.
A 53-year-old pilot from Lee County landed the plane without injury on I-10 near mile marker 272, according to Florida Highway Patrol.
The FHP was notified of the landing at about 4 p.m.
The pilot was flying to Cross City when fuel ran out in one of the plane’s tanks and the aircraft wouldn’t transfer to the other fuel tank, according to the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office.
As the pilot attempted to land, a motorist on the interstate realized what was happening and stepped in to help. According to the FHP, the driver slowed traffic and cleared a spot for the pilot to land on the highway.
Drivers then helped push the plane off the road and into a grass median, authorities said.
An officer with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services took the pilot to get fuel after the landing.
Troopers then closed a portion of I-10 around 6 p.m. to give the pilot enough room for takeoff.
Authorities said the pilot will not face any fines.
Copyright 2023 WCTV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2023-07-15T01:38:20+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2023/07/15/video-shows-plane-taking-off-highway-after-pilot-forced-make-emergency-landing/ |
BEIJING, Oct. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- By Beijing Review: In 2019, TCL, a Chinese consumer electronics company, began to build its new manufacturing base in Viet Nam. The new base has improved TCL's production capacity with its products selling not only in Viet Nam but also to other markets in Southeast Asia and beyond.
In the first four months of 2022, the total foreign investment in Viet Nam surpassed $10.8 billion, up 88.3 percent year on year, according to its Ministry of Planning and Investment.
The country's exports in the first quarter hit $88.58 billion, up 12.9 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed.
Viet Nam's rising status in the global supply chain has sparked discussion of the possibility that it will take away orders from China. In response, Wang Xiaosong, a research fellow at Renmin University of China's National Academy of Development and Strategy, pointed out that China should adapt to the trend of some enterprises relocating their businesses to Southeast Asia.
"It is a natural process of industrial upgrading for China," Wang told Beijing Review, adding that the development of near neighbors will facilitate mutual prosperity.
The strategy of relocating labor-intensive jobs to countries with competitive local resources that are much closer to target markets, while maintaining core and critical links in China, is motivating increasing numbers of Chinese manufacturers to take their operations overseas. For example, while TV assembly is the core business of TCL's Vietnamese base, the company's factories in China produce high value-added products such as display panels.
"The industrial relocation began in 2015," Wang said. "Economic development has raised the cost of labor-intensive businesses in China so companies have turned their eyes to Southeast Asian countries with cheaper workforces."
In addition, emerging markets in the region are also offering preferential policies to attract foreign investors. In Viet Nam, for example, firms making new investments in sectors including technology, footwear and automobiles are taxed at 10 percent for 15 years. This period also includes a tax holiday for the first four years and a 50-percent reduction in the corporate income tax rate for nine subsequent years, according to Bloomberg Tax.
Some companies have transferred due to non-market factors. Hanyu Group is a Chinese company producing drainage pumps. Three years ago, Hanyu's products were included on the U.S. list of Chinese goods to be subject to added tariffs. Its U.S. clients told the president of company that he needed to take part of his operations overseas, otherwise they would turn to other suppliers. Consequently, he moved part of his assembly line to Thailand.
The COVID-19 flare-ups have also triggered concerns about a possible industrial chain exodus from China.
"Southeast Asian countries are unlikely to replace China as a destination for foreign investment," Wang said, citing statistics released by Viet Nam's Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Despite the 88.3-percent rise in foreign investment, Viet Nam's newly registered capital decreased by 56.3 percent in the first four months of the year. It means few companies established new factories in the country and the increasing foreign investment came from companies already present there.
During the same period, paid-in foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland expanded 26.1 percent year on year to $74.47 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
China has complete industrial clusters, technological accumulation, and a huge market that cannot be replicated in the short term, he added.
"The growth of Southeast Asian markets is actually a boon for China," Wang said. "We have close industrial chain connections with our near neighbors."
Viet Nam, for example, imports upper stream core equipment, raw materials and supporting facilities mainly from China, which will create more opportunities for Chinese suppliers, he explained.
According to the General Administration of Customs of China, trade between China and Viet Nam hit $230.2 billion in 2021, with a year-on-year growth of 19.7 percent. China was Viet Nam's biggest trading partner.
Wang suggested China to tap the potential of its less developed areas where the labor costs are relatively low and which could be new destinations for industrial shifting.
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SOURCE Beijing Review | 2022-10-09T01:31:35+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2022/10/09/china-its-southeast-asian-neighbors-need-enhance-industrial-cooperation/ |
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.N. said Wednesday it cannot accept a Taliban decision to bar Afghan female staffers from working at the agency, calling it an “unparalleled” violation of women's rights.
The statement came a day after the U.N. said it had been informed by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban that Afghan women would no longer be allowed to work for the world body. That announcement came after the U.N. mission in the country expressed concern that its female staffers were prevented from reporting to work in eastern Nangarhar province.
The Taliban decision is “an unparalleled violation of women’s rights, a flagrant breach of humanitarian principles, and a breach of international rules,” Wednesday's statement said.
The Taliban have not commented publicly on the ban and have not released a statement.
The U.N. statement said several U.N. national female personnel have already experienced restrictions on their movements, including harassment, intimidation and detention.
“The UN has therefore instructed all national staff – men and women – not to report to the office until further notice,” the statement said.
Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during its previous stint in power, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since taking over the country in 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces were pulling out of Afghanistan after two decades of war.
Girls are banned from education beyond sixth grade. Women are barred from working, studying, traveling without a male companion, and even going to parks. Women must also cover themselves from head to toe.
Afghan women were already barred from working at national and international non-governmental organizations, disrupting the delivery of humanitarian aid, but the ban did not previously cover working for the U.N.
That changed this week. On Wednesday, the U.N. mission said that according to the Taliban order, no Afghan woman is permitted to work for the U.N. in Afghanistan, and that “this measure will be actively enforced.”
The ban is unlawful under international law and cannot be accepted by the United Nations, the statement said.
The secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan, Roza Otunbayeva, is engaging Taliban authorities to convey the U.N.'s protest and to seek an immediate reversal of the order. The U.N. said it is also engaging member states, the donor community and humanitarian partners.
“In the history of the United Nations, no other regime has ever tried to ban women from working for the Organization just because they are women," said Otunbayeva. “This decision represents an assault against women, the fundamental principles of the U.N., and on international law.”
Otunbayeva is a former president and foreign minister of the Kyrgyz Republic. She was appointed by the secretary-general in coordination with the U.N. Security Council. A U.N. spokesman said Tuesday there’s been no Taliban action regarding the U.N.’s senior leadership.
The U.N. has about 3,900 staff in Afghanistan, including approximately 3,300 Afghans and 600 international personnel, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The total also includes 600 Afghan women and 200 women from other countries.
Dujarric wouldn’t speculate when asked Tuesday if the U.N. can continue to operate in Afghanistan if the Taliban don’t reverse the ban on Afghan women. The U.N. contingency plan “is almost too tragic to contemplate,” he added later.
Taliban restrictions in Afghanistan, especially the bans on education and NGO work, have drawn fierce international condemnation. But the Taliban have shown no signs of backing down, claiming the bans are temporary suspensions in place allegedly because women were not wearing the Islamic headscarf, or hijab, correctly and because gender segregation rules were not being followed.
Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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After the initial selected subscription period your subscription rate will auto renew at $12.00 per month. | 2023-04-05T19:52:26+00:00 | timesdaily.com | https://www.timesdaily.com/news/nation/un-ban-on-afghan-female-staffers-by-taliban-unacceptable/article_75e1b101-ce5d-5daa-b21d-1b82d0f64c01.html |
EU commissioners arrive in Madrid to discuss plans for Spain’s EU presidency
Associated Press
MADRID (AP) — Commissioners of the European Union are meeting with the Spanish government to review Spain’s plans for its six-month Presidency of the EU Council. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her team arrived Monday for the one-day meeting in Madrid. Continued support for Ukraine, a migration pact, EU relations with Latin America and the reindustrialization of Europe are among Spain’s priorities for the six-month presidency. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez started the presidency Saturday with a lightning visit to Kyiv to underline the bloc’s support of Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion. | 2023-07-03T13:47:52+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/ap-national/2023/07/03/eu-commissioners-arrive-in-madrid-to-discuss-plans-for-spains-eu-presidency/ |
Two more Nevada officers placed on leave in prison escape probe
Updated October 18, 2022 - 5:09 pm
RENO — Two additional correctional officers have been placed on paid administrative leave in an investigation into the escape of a prisoner from a Southern Nevada correctional facility last month, an official said Monday.
This brings to eight the number of officers placed on leave in connection with the escape.
William Gittere, acting director for the Nevada Department of Corrections, told state officials that the officers had been placed on paid leave while the incident is under investigation by the department’s inspector general’s office.
“Currently, there is new leadership of the department and eight officers are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of that investigation,” Gittere said during a Board of State Prison Commissioners meeting.
The board consists of Gov. Steve Sisolak, Attorney General Aaron Ford and Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske. Monday’s meeting was the board’s first since the department’s former director Charles Daniels resigned on Sept. 30 at Sisolak’s request.
Daniels’ resignation came after a man convicted in a deadly 2007 Luxor bombing, Porfirio Duarte-Herrera, escaped from the Southern Desert Correctional Facility. He was free for days before the prison enacted its escape protocols.
Gittere called the incident “the worst possible scenario” and said officers were alerted to Duarte-Herrera’s escape by another offender. Duarte-Herrera was found and arrested while boarding a bus headed for Tijuana on Sept. 28.
Six prison employees were initially placed on paid administrative leave following the incident.
The department has initiated “more than a dozen” new security measures at the Southern Desert Correctional Center, according to Gittere.
“Those measures will ensure that they are all secure and safely operating considering the personnel we have left, the activities that we can realistically support and the current condition of our physical security barriers,” he said of the state’s correctional facilities.
Gittere said he couldn’t comment further on the investigation, but said its results, along with a “management assessment of the root contributing factors,” would be submitted to the governor’s office.
Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on Twitter. | 2022-10-19T01:22:44+00:00 | reviewjournal.com | https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/two-more-nevada-officers-placed-on-leave-in-prison-escape-probe-2659955/ |
PLAINFIELD, Ind. — The Walmart Distribution Center that was the site of a massive fire in March is closing for good.
In a notice to the Department of Workforce Development, Walmart representatives said the entire facility will close, impacting a number of Walmart associates. The notice says 1,132 associates may be separated from the company by July 15.
The notice comes shortly after one month since the distribution center caught on fire, lasting 76 hours until firefighters were able to get it under control. The notice says the property damage was too significant to reopen the facility for the foreseeable future.
Since the fire, Walmart has worked to place as many of the impacted associates in alternative roles in and around the Plainfield area. This includes a job fair, conducting associate training, and providing other necessary services.
While 957 of the impacted associates that were employed at the distribution center have accepted new roles with the company, the notice says 1,132 associates have not accepted alternative positions. The company notified those associates that the center would close on April 1.
These associates are currently being paid as they search for new jobs. The notice says hourly associates have until July 1 to continue employment with the company. Salaried associates have until July 15. If they do not continue employment, they will be separated from the company.
The notice says Walmart expects the separations to be permanent. However, all separated associates can apply for open positions at other Walmart or Sams Club locations.
To help out those impacted by this closure, Walmart is providing employees with an Associate Support Center to answer policy and practice questions about exiting Walmart, among other supports. | 2022-04-25T23:13:06+00:00 | cbs4indy.com | https://cbs4indy.com/news/more-than-1000-walmart-employees-may-lose-job-as-plainfield-site-closes/ |
Campaign website: LoriBerman.com
Education: Tufts University, B.A., 1980; George Washington University Law School, J.D., 1983; University of Miami, LLM-Estate Planning, 2002.
Occupation: State Senator, District 31
Work history past 15 years. List in reverse chronological order.
2010-2018: State Representative
2018-Present: State Senator
Why are you running for this office and what specifically makes you a better candidate than your opponent?
I want my children, and everyone’s children, to have the same opportunities I had to live and prosper in Palm Beach County. I’m a better candidate because I have 12 years of legislative experience and have always led with my values. I’m also capable of working effectively in a Republican-dominated legislature. I was the original sponsor of Florida’s Risk Protection Order Law and worked hard to get it incorporated in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. I also passed several other significant pieces of legislation
What are the three most important issues facing your legislative district?
- Affordable housing is critical for working families and seniors on fixed incomes. But the affordability crisis in Florida has begun to price out many of them from living here. I support fully funding the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund and would like to see the 2021 law that permanently diverted funds repealed.
- The skyrocketing cost of property insurance has gone on unresolved for too long. The measures passed during this year’s special session were ineffective and didn’t do anything to provide immediate relief to our residents. In fact, Floridians won’t see any rate reductions for at least 18 months. I would like the state to explore the possibility of requiring insurers in Florida to write property insurance policies.
- Expanding access to quality, affordable healthcare has long been a signature piece of my legislative agenda, first as a State Representative and now as a State Senator. I’ve fought to expand Medicaid coverage to the nearly one million low-income, uninsured Floridians. We live in one of only twelve states refusing to expand Medicaid, despite the fact that it would save lives and the federal government would pay 90% of the cost. We must put the well-being of our residents above politics.
Did Joe Biden legitimately win the 2020 presidential election and why or why not?
Joe Biden emphatically won the 2020 election by some 8 million votes. Former President Trump exhausted his legal options and after 60 lawsuits, no evidence of widespread voter fraud was found. The continued attacks on our democratic process, whether through outrageous claims of hacked voting machines, or voter suppression efforts like the banning drop boxes or election police force, cannot stand. The greatest threat to our democracy isn’t from an external force, but autocratic, anti-democratic internal forces like the MAGA movement.
Should state abortion laws include exceptions for rape, incest or human trafficking, and why or why not?
Absolutely. I oppose abortion bans that violate the protections that were formerly guaranteed by Roe. But if a state is to have an abortion ban, it must include exceptions for victims of rape and incest. What right does the state have to force a woman to bear her rapist’s child? Why should children aged 10-17 also be forced to bear children? Why should we have to deal with the psychology torture that causes? The Republican agenda on reproductive healthcare is harmful.
I want to live in a Florida where no woman is thrown in jail for having an abortion and no doctor is arrested for providing care. I want to live in a Florida that let’s women make this decision.
Should the Legislature investigate Florida Power & Light for the actions of its consultants in recruiting “ghost” candidates, and why or why not?
Yes. The Legislature should create a select committee to investigate the ghost candidate scheme that potentially stole two state Senate seats from Democrats. The public ought to know exactly who was involved, and there should be accountability. The irony of Republicans accusing Democrats of voter fraud is not lost on me when DeSantis’ new election police force chooses not to investigate the Republicans’ ghost candidate scheme, the Republican double-voters in The Villages, or the unapproved changes in party registration that many seniors have spoken up about.
Do you support or oppose a proposed “open carry” or “constitutional carry” gun law for Florida and why or why not?
I strongly oppose an “open carry” law. There isn’t a week that goes by in America without a mass shooting. By Republican logic, if we had all firearms, there’d be less shootings. But we already are the most heavily armed nation on Earth, and the result is that our communities are the most besieged. I support stricter gun laws, like a safe storage law, a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, and an expansion of our Risk Protection Order law to allow family members to petition the court for firearm removal.
America’s gun violence epidemic is a plague on our country, with each instance leaving a mother without a child, a child without a parent, and a teacher without a student. I want to live in a Florida that prioritizes the lives of our children over the gun lobby.
Do you support Governor DeSantis’ use of public funds in the state budget to transport migrants from Texas to Massachusetts, and why or why not?
No, I do not. Historically and today, immigrants have played a vital role in our economy. They’ve helped build this country. If migrants are here seeking asylum, work authorizations, or are otherwise following the laws of this country, they should be able to live and work here. Additionally, Florida has a labor shortage which they could help alleviate. I reject these xenophobic attacks on immigrant communities.
What specific new measures do you support to address the property insurance crisis?
As I mentioned earlier, I would like to look into whether Florida can force auto insurers to also provide property coverage. The state has done little to stop the mass exodus of insurers from leaving Florida, forcing over 1,000,000 homeowners into Citizen’s Property Insurance. We have to find a way to keep them writing in Florida, or force other insurers to cover property and share risk. I also believe we should consider nationalizing a large part of Florida’s insurance business, like the federal government did with flood insurance.
Starting next year, the massive flow of federal money that swelled Florida’s budget to $110 billion will start drying up. How should Florida cope with that loss of money?
We continue to have increased revenue from sales tax and it will likely not be as dramatic a fiscal cliff as feared. We now collect internet sales tax, and while money originally went to replenish our unemployment fund, I hope that moving forward, we can use the revenue for other important programs.
Have you been arrested, charged or convicted of a crime, had an adjudication withheld or had a matter sealed or expunged? If yes, please explain.
No.
Have you been a plaintiff or defendant in a civil action, including bankruptcy or foreclosure or had a restraining order issued against you? If so, please explain.
I was a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit in Colorado in connection with a condominium that my husband and I purchased. | 2022-10-12T13:02:12+00:00 | sun-sentinel.com | https://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/commentary/fl-op-com-questionnaire-lori-berman-20221012-4hwhes7maffrfmzctegkitxtcy-story.html |
Updated June 23, 2022 at 7:01 AM ET
NORCO, Calif. — Behind the wire fences and guard towers, there's a classroom at the California Rehabilitation Center, a medium-security prison. A colorful mural — of books, such as King Arthur and Tom Sawyer — distinguishes the classroom building from the off-white buildings throughout the rest of the sprawling prison complex.
Inside, about a dozen men in blue prison uniforms sit in old school desks — the kind with the chairs attached. "Welcome, welcome!" bellows a voice from the large TV monitor near the far wall. It's the beginning of a political studies class about incarceration — taught over Zoom by professor Nigel Boyle.
"Other than people in prison or on parole, who are the other people affected by the carceral state?"
In the very first row, with his hand up, is Daniel Duron, with his shaved head, black-rimmed glasses and arm tattoos. "People who have finished parole," he answers. "Many of them still can't do things like vote."
Kenny Butler, a tall man in his late 40s, nods in agreement. He's kind of the de facto leader of the class. He's been in prison for more than a decade and he's known for his knowledge of the prison system, his former status in the Crips gang, and the thick, heavily used dictionary he carries with him most days.
The incarcerated men in this room are painters and physics nerds, deep thinkers and fast readers. They come from five different gangs; they are white, Native American, Black and Latino. On this winter day in 2021, they are also college juniors and seniors who gather several times a week to take classes from Pitzer College, a small, elite liberal arts school of about 1,000 students located in Claremont, an hour away from the prison in Norco.
Eventually, all these classes — in psychology, literature, mathematics and history — will add up to a bachelor's degree in organizational studies. Among the nearly 1.5 million people in state and federal prisons in the United States, these men have been given a rare opportunity to earn a college degree while in prison.
There are very few bachelor's degree programs offered in prisons because, for the last quarter-century, there has been a ban on people in prison using federal money to pay for college classes. It's a vestige of the "tough on crime" era that was set in stone in the 1994 crime bill.
But that's about to change. Congress recently lifted that ban: Starting in the 2023-2024 school year, people in prison will have access to Pell grants. The money, up to nearly $7,000 a year per student, doesn't need to be repaid. The change will mean a chance at higher education for more than half a million people who will be academically eligible, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.
As anticipation grows for this expansion, a number of higher education providers are starting to design programs with correctional facilities. Nonprofits and foundations are teeing up money to help. And college and university administrators are looking to places like Pitzer to learn about both the potential and the limitations of college in prison, beginning what may be one of the largest social experiments in prison education.
The impact of college classes in prison
Butler's and Duron's journey to earn a degree at Pitzer illustrates the potential for hundreds of thousands of people who are incarcerated. Their stories also highlight some of the unique challenges and limitations that education alone won't fix.
When Butler was growing up, he didn't spend much time in school. He was in and out of the criminal justice system from the time he was 11 years old when he stole a bike. "Once I was on the police's radar, any little thing would get me in trouble," he says. Graffiti. Stealing underwear. His grandmother, his primary caregiver, was more concerned with keeping him safe, he says, than keeping him in school.
But he was always smart. A quick learner, a problem-solver and a leader. Growing up in public housing in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Butler had to be.
"It's like living in an aquarium with sharks," he says. "You're going to learn to defend yourself and do what you have to do to survive. And that's where I was. I was stuck in survival mode."
That mindset helped Butler rise through the ranks of the Crips, a gang he says earlier generations of his family helped start. By the time he reached his 20s, he was selling drugs; his criminal record made it hard to find an alternative job. "A lot of what pushed me into that underworld was income," he says. Then in 2006, at age 32, a felony charge landed him a 20-year prison sentence. Butler maintains he didn't commit the crime but took a plea deal to avoid the possibility of a longer sentence.
It was in the prison library that Butler discovered books. First law books, to see if he could reduce his sentence, and then history and literature. The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois was especially captivating. "I just went on a journey after that," Butler says. "I started reading a book a week, at least."
But the books in the prison library were often hard to digest — there were so many words he didn't know. It wasn't until a cellmate gave him a Webster's dictionary, nearly 2 inches thick, that his world really opened up. That dictionary became Butler's constant companion. He says it helped him understand himself and the world. He highlighted the new words he learned and folded down the corners on pages he wanted to revisit.
He used the book so much that the cover fell off, so he had to make a new one. "This is my research kit. This is my 'Google' right here," he says, holding the book in his lap and turning its pages. "It's all dog-eared ... that may be coffee on there!"
Butler's intellectual journey might have ended with the beloved dictionary and frequent visits to the prison library, but in 2018 he was transferred to the prison in Norco, where he started taking college classes — first from a local community college and then from Pitzer. Butler was hooked.
"How did the mythology frame the institution of slavery?" asks Derik Smith, an associate professor of literature, one Wednesday last spring during a film class. They'd been studying the movie version of Gone with the Wind. "It's the glamorization of the plantation," replies Butler, who has begun to understand how U.S. history has shaped his own life and his story of being a Black man in prison.
The classes have pushed him to think critically and reminded him that his experience, thoughts and ideas have value. "I belong at the table. I deserve to be heard," Butler says. "Having professors be attentive to what I have to say ... it's just an amazing feeling for sure."
He recalls a moment from the first day of a class in organization theory that really hit home for him. Typically, when he and other students entered a classroom, they had to present their prison IDs. But on this day, instead of taking that ID, the professor shook Butler's hand. "That just opened up the floodgates for me," he recalls. "It gave me a sense of being a human being and not just an inmate."
The jump from teaching classes in prison to offering a bachelor's degree
Pitzer College has offered courses at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco for several years, but Butler and Duron are among the first incarcerated students to pursue a bachelor's degree through the program, which was launched in December of 2020. Private donations cover the costs, about $10,000 per student, per year. Students are selected through a rigorous application process that includes letters of recommendation, grades and interviews.
Pitzer follows the Inside-Out program, where students enrolled at the college travel by bus to the prison to learn alongside students who are in prison. (Many classes were taught virtually during the height of the pandemic.)
Outside of the classroom, Butler understood that his academic success was inspiring other people in prison. "A lot of guys see me walking around in the halls, and they know me from my past life," he says. "And now they see me with these books all the time. And you know, they have a lot of questions!"
Duron was one of those guys who looked up to Butler — he asked for advice and followed Butler's lead on studying and writing papers. "The Pitzer classes gave me a lot more perspective on how to see the world and feel about it," he says. And they helped him think about the future — what he wanted and how to try and be a "decent" human being. "I feel more engaged with society instead of being demonized."
In one of the first English classes he took, Duron wrote an analytical paper about Plato's Allegory of the Cave. It was the first time he'd seen his own story so clearly. "I was able to put together the analogy of the cave within my own life, being enlightened by my education," he recalls. "I was the one that had made it out of the cave and into the sunlight."
What's the backstory on why people in prison can't get federal grants for college?
The 1994 crime bill signed into law by President Bill Clinton banned people in state and federal prisons from accessing federal Pell grants to pay for college — part of a broad "get tough on crime" political climate at that time. Before the ban, more than 1,500 prisons offered higher education programs.
Without federal funding, the programs vanished. By 1997, it's estimated that only eight remained, according to an American Enterprise Institute report. Those, and newer ones that sprang up in the early 2000s, relied on private funders for financial and volunteer support.
But over the past decade, advocates across the political spectrum have pushed to lift the Pell Grant ban, fueled in part by research that shows education is one of the most cost-effective ways to keep people from returning to prison once they're released. One study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice found that the risk of recidivism dropped by nearly 13% when people participated in prison education.
In 2015, the Obama administration started a pilot program called Second Chance Pell, which made federal Pell grants available to a handful of prison programs across the country. Nearly 200 colleges applied for 70 spots, demonstrating widespread interest. The pilot was expanded under the Trump administration and remains in effect.
Over the past five years, Second Chance Pell has given about 28,000 students in prison access to college courses, and about 9,000 have received a credential — including certificates, associate's and bachelor's degrees, according to the Vera Institute.
At the state level, funding for prison college education varies. Many state laws still bar people in prison from accessing state financial aid. In 2014, California changed its law so that community colleges now receive the same amount of funding per student, regardless of whether they attend classes on campus or in prison. "That's an instance where growth happened almost immediately," explains Ruth Delaney, associate initiative director from the Vera Institute. Most community colleges in the state now have prison education programs, enrolling about 10,000 people.
Delaney expects the same kind of explosion of programs across the country next year. The Pell Grant, she says, will go much further in covering tuition for community colleges, while many four-year institutions that offer bachelor's degrees — which are often far more expensive — will have to supplement their costs with institutional funds or private donations.
The pandemic upends plans for two students to finish their degree in prison
On an early spring morning in 2021, Butler shed his blue prison uniform and boarded a bus. As it drove away, he leaned against the window, watching the prison complex disappear, the guard towers receding.
"I was looking at those towers because most of my life, that's what I've been staring at," Butler recalled. "That was like the proverbial knee on my neck, being closed in these gates." He remembers thinking, "This is the last time I'll see one of those towers." On the seat next to him, he'd packed his companions from those years inside — a handful of books and his beloved dictionary — the beginning of his own home library one day.
The plan for the men enrolled at Pitzer was to get a degree while in prison. But before Duron and Butler could finish, both were granted early release because of the COVID-19 pandemic and credit they'd earned for all of the college classes they'd taken.
Leaving prison, or being transferred from one facility to another, is a common disruption and often a major challenge to getting a degree. It can be far more expensive to attend school once a student is released. Plus, few schools have programs to ease that transition. Not to mention the pressing need to earn a living, find housing and navigate all of the distractions of life on the outside.
But Boyle and the other professors and administrators involved in the Pitzer program were determined to help Butler and Duron finish. The college — through an anonymous donor — arranged to pay for their tuition and housing on campus, which on average after accounting for grants, scholarships and aid runs students about $30,000 a year. It's the first time the college had done this, Boyle said, so everything is a learning curve. "We're really making it up as we go."
Duron left prison a few weeks after Butler's release. Waiting for him at the prison gates? Not family or friends — but Boyle, his academic adviser. Duron had only a handful of credits left to finish the bachelor's degree, and Boyle is committed to getting him to the finish line.
They climbed into Boyle's beat-up red minivan, and Duron changed into an oversized Pitzer sweatshirt Boyle had brought him. He fidgeted with his shorts — nervous, overwhelmed, baffled that just minutes ago, he'd been in prison, and now he was sitting next to his professor.
"I thought any minute they'd be like, 'You've got to go back into the building,'" he tells Boyle. "I can't shake this feeling they were going to be like, 'Never mind, you're not going home today.' "
Duron had been in prison three times before, so getting released wasn't a new thing. But this time felt different, he said. He was a college student, almost done with his bachelor's degree. Plus, he was getting picked up by his professor, driving toward Pitzer's campus in Claremont, Calif., for a tour. It would be the first time he'd ever set foot on a college campus.
"You coming down and picking me up was kind of inspiring for a lot of the guys [in the prison]," Duron tells his professor. "They were like, 'That shows the commitment the school has to you.' "
Boyle smiles. He's been a professor for nearly three decades at Pitzer and, though he's never picked up a student from prison before, he's certainly done a lot for his students — in and out of the classroom. "Pitzer is a small college," he explains to Duron. "We do these things for our students and you're one of our students now!"
When they arrive at Pitzer, Duron is struck by how big the campus feels — with its palm trees, pools and playing fields wrapped around the academic buildings. He recognizes the clock tower from a screen saver he's seen during Zoom classes.
"I picture students sitting around playing guitars, is that right?" Duron asks. Boyle nods, delighted by Duron's curiosity. They look at a campus map, with Boyle pointing out the offices of some of Duron's professors.
A heavy dose of self-doubt creeps in. Duron feels unworthy of the opportunity. He has so many questions for Boyle: Why me? Why not hundreds and thousands of others? Am I smart enough to go here?
"I don't really think I write well," he tells Boyle, sitting at a table on campus. "I'm self-conscious about it." But Boyle has graded his papers. He knows this student has the academic chops.
He'll go on to tell other professors they'll be blown away by some of Duron's writing, saying, "Daniel comes in as this shaven-headed guy that maybe doesn't make eye contact. And then you read his papers. It's like, 'Oh, this guy's good!' "
For now, he just assures Duron: "You do write well."
As they walk around the lush green campus, Duron tells his professor about his childhood. He grew up just 30 minutes away, in Fontana. It's close in distance, he says, but a world away.
"Crime was always present, like from birth," says Duron, now 40. "My home was a gang hangout." His grandfather was an abusive alcoholic and spent time in prison. So did his father, who was largely absent during his childhood. His mom struggled with addiction, so his grandmother, the main stable force in his life, raised him.
"We all saw the violence and the alcohol," Duron's mom, Virginia Ramirez, said. She's now been sober for the past two decades. "Being around that, that's all you know. And that's where Daniel's violence probably comes from because he saw it. It's coming from pain. We both come from pain."
At 12, Duron joined the Sureños gang, which made him feel safe and protected. He got a high school diploma — the first in his family — in a juvenile detention facility and spent much of his adulthood doing time in prison. He, too, struggled with alcohol and anger. His most recent offense was a domestic violence charge.
The Inside-Out model, which Pitzer follows for its classes in the prison, holds the idea that professors don't talk with their "inside students" about the crimes for which they've been convicted. But Duron has been open about his mistakes, writing about his crimes and the traumas of his past in essays and personal statements.
"It's shameful to talk about," he says. "Like, I did that. I'm embarrassed by it. I didn't want to do it."
But he says writing about it, thinking deeply about it, and talking about it with people he trusts have helped him come to terms with his choices, to process his trauma and identity, and confront the shame and grief of his actions. When he looks back now, at the person he was when he went into prison just five years ago, he describes himself as having the maturity of a 5-year-old.
"My emotional condition at the time just wasn't there," he says. "I have issues I still have to work through."
His arms and neck, covered in gang tattoos, are a constant reminder of his past — a reminder he's determined to shed. And he's planning to keep his old life — friends and family — at a distance while he lives in Claremont and finishes school.
Finishing college on the outside gets off to a bumpy start
Over the next few months, Butler and Duron slowly adjust to student life outside of prison. The college helps arrange paid internships to help the men with their finances.
They move into an on-campus apartment together. They start new routines. Boyle, now the adviser for both students, takes Duron shopping. For the first time in his life, he buys red shoes and red bedsheets; red is a rival gang color so Daniel was forbidden to own it in his old life. Other professors help Duron learn to cook; one gives him a rice cooker for the apartment.
Butler turns to fitness — he takes yoga and Pilates and rides his bike through campus nearly every morning around 4 a.m., a vestige of his 15 years inside, when early mornings were the only time it was quiet enough to study. "
Living in Claremont, away from his past life in Los Angeles, provides Butler with a safe haven. "A lot of guys, when they get out of prison they have to go right back to where the crimes happened. You're always on the alert then, with rival gangs, you have an enemy to look out for," explains Butler. "I've been blessed to be living near campus, where I don't have to be on alert."
As the first day of in-person class looms, Butler gets four planner notebooks — he can't decide which is best — to help him schedule his days. The night before, Duron irons his favorite white T-shirt. He can hardly sleep, he's so nervous and excited.
For Duron, his first in-person experience is a class about the history of Mexico with professor Miguel Tinker Salas. "I always start my classes with music," he says, as students shuffle into the small room. Outside of prison, Duron and Butler get to choose their course schedules; they're not limited to the classes offered in prison. For Duron, a class to learn about his Mexican identity was a top priority.
"¿Habla español?" the professor asks Duron. "Un poquito?" Duron responds, nervously. "I know some Spanish, I just can't speak fluently."
"That's fine, that's fine," Tinker Salas reassures him. "The class is not in Spanish."
For Butler, his first class on campus is political science, taught by professor Tyee Griffith, who he has had before on the inside. When he arrives 20 minutes before class, the professor is already there. "I always come early too," Griffith says.
Doing the academic work and going to class is most familiar for both men on the outside. After all, they've been taking college classes for years. It's the everyday challenges of life that prove to be the hardest part of the transition.
Butler's wife — a teenage sweetheart who he reconnected with and married while still inside — lives an hour away in Los Angeles. So he spends a lot of his time driving back and forth, splitting his time between there and campus.
"We have shifts," his wife, Leona DeJean, says, laughing. They're used to having a long-distance relationship, but that hasn't made the experience any less hard. She misses him. But she's also invested in his education. There's a whiteboard hanging on the wall in his bedroom in Claremont, decorated with little notes and hearts she's added. "He knows how to put the effort in," she says. "He finishes what he starts."
But balancing family life in LA — including helping his wife's teenage daughter learn to drive — is hard to do when you're also trying to be a full-time student.
"It's a lot of distraction," Butler admits. "I have a heavy load right now. I feel like Atlas, with the whole world on my shoulders." Over the summer, he'd taken summer classes online and fell behind. "I had to get an extension on my microeconomics so I couldn't actually concentrate," he explains.
Inside prison, he didn't have many other responsibilities, so he could just focus on class. Outside, there was the internet and social media (where Butler posts almost constantly — #ButlerStrong). And in the background, there was the global pandemic: Seven family members died, including Butler's son's mother, his aunt and uncle, and his grandmother.
"It's been a roller coaster," he says. "I've been constantly having to slow myself down and make sure I'm present, because school is the priority."
After a few weeks of classes, Duron has been having a tough time also.
There is so much that is new, and he's been so nervous about the experience that he nearly gave himself a panic attack. Walking on campus — in his early 40s, with his shaved head and arms covered in tattoos — he sticks out. He tells us it's not uncommon for other students to ignore or avoid him.
"Overall, it's hard," says Duron. "I go into the dining hall and usually eat lunch or dinner by myself."
Butler feels that isolation too. "We walk around a lot and sometimes we don't get acknowledged by certain people," he says. Sometimes, students cross the street to avoid them or wait for the next elevator. In the first couple of months, it happened in class too." When we broke off into groups, only one person came to my table," Butler told us midsemester. It came as a surprise — he thought a liberal arts campus would be different. "It's supposed to be a melting pot and everybody's trying to be progressive and coming together," he says. "But we're like stepchildren in the family. No one wants to be around us."
Even things like Google are overwhelming. Imagine not having access to the internet for years and then boom, the world is at your fingertips. "A lot of the sites that I click on have nothing to do with what I'm looking for," explains Duron. "I got a headache from just hitting roadblocks."
On top of all the stress of doing the readings and writing papers, they're navigating visits from parole officers, a common element of post-prison life.
After class one night, Duron is planning on going to a meeting about post-graduate opportunities on campus, but his parole officer calls. He's in the neighborhood. Could he stop by?
Duron greets him at the front of the apartment building. "So campus life is good so far?" he asks Duron, and they walk up to the apartment he shares with Butler. "Yeah, just meeting people," he responds.
They make small talk, about college and the weather. The parole officer is just checking in, he explains, making sure Duron is hanging around the right people — avoiding interactions with the police.
He hands him a cup to pee in. He's also here to do a drug test.
"You're good, right?" he asks. "Yeah," says Duron.
Every year, about half a million people are released from state and federal prison in the United States and within three years, more than half will end up back inside.
Because of Duron's former gang affiliations, he has to be careful. He can't have any negative interactions with the police and he has to steer clear of old connections who are still in the gang. That's what amplified his sentence the last time.
He's convinced that this time, because of the college classes and the relationships he's forged with professors and the other students, he'll be able to beat the statistics.
Changing and growing and graduating
By the end of the 2021 fall semester, just before finals, Duron's appearance has begun to transform: His tattoos are disappearing. "Yeah, it's way lighter," he says, smiling. He's been undergoing treatments to remove them and his forearms, normally covered in dark black ink, are now a soft gray. " I just wish it was off already."
The faded tattoos are a visual metaphor of regrowth and change. Throughout the semester, Duron has been giving himself pep talks, forcing himself to get out of his comfort zone, to do things that make him uncomfortable. He's tried rock climbing and gone hiking, he's worked on public speaking and he's found real joy at an activity his prison self could have never dreamed of: ballroom dancing.
He's learned the bachata, tango and waltz. "It's been intimidating," he says, "because like ... I only dance when I'm alone. And actually, I'm just moving around. I wouldn't really call it dancing ... just goofing around and stuff."
Duron finished his fall semester, the last of his college career, with nearly all A's. He's a more confident student, and a more confident and comfortable human being. A few days before graduation he took his mom on a tour of campus.
"He kept saying 'hi' to people — even ones he didn't know, he'd say, 'Hey how you doing?' " she recalled. "That didn't used to be Daniel. He never would have approached anybody before. He would have just kept his head down and said nothing."
Butler also finished his college career in the fall of 2021, with outstanding grades. His professors likened him to the story of Job — no matter what came at him, he was able to succeed.
In May, Duron and Butler, now 40 and 47, respectively, walked across the graduation stage as the crowd cheered and applauded.
After the ceremony, they gathered with family and friends at professor Boyle's house in Claremont. Butler and Duron each gave a toast — celebrating their accomplishment. When it was Duron's turn he looked right at his mother. "This is as much mine as it is yours," he told her. "This is for us."
Life after Pitzer: Fellowships, grad school and some uncertainty, for now
For Duron and Butler — and other formerly incarcerated students — earning a bachelor's degree itself is a huge accomplishment. But there are still big questions: Where will they work? How will they make money? Is a college degree enough to overcome a criminal record?
Right away, both men ran into a major issue: They had very little work history for their resumes. "Being a leader in a gang — being a leader inside prison — that doesn't really translate to a CV or to a job interview," explains Boyle, who helped advise the two men on post-grad plans.
To work around this predicament, Boyle urged them to focus on fellowships designed for recent college grads; applications put more value on a personal story and academic experience than work history.
They both applied to several. Butler applied for a research Fulbright in Uganda, to study the prison system there. When he applied, he'd never been on an airplane, never left the country, and didn't have a passport. He also tried for a Napier Fellowship, which awards $20,000 toward a project supporting social change. Butler proposed a peace and reconciliation program to help former gang members coming out of prison find a pathway to higher education.
Butler won both fellowships.
When he heard the news, "I actually cried and I had to pull over because I was overwhelmed with joy," he recalls. In addition to the fellowships, Butler was accepted to graduate school at California Polytechnic State University in Pomona for a master's program in public administration.
"When it rains, it pours," he says. "You work hard to get to a certain point and when you get acknowledged in that way, now, you have to work harder to make people know that they picked the right person."
Duron hasn't had the same luck. He didn't receive any of the fellowships he applied to and has struggled to find full-time employment. He's hesitant to take a job in manual labor now that he's a college graduate. "I know I could probably get a job at a warehouse," he says, "but I want to do something meaningful."
He knows that just having a college degree, even from a school like Pitzer, might not be enough to overcome his prison record and the traumas of his past. He insists he's still a work in progress, seeking counseling and going to AA meetings.
"How I was raised and what happened to me, there's no getting around it," he says. "Everything that happened in my life is shaping who I've become. And honestly, I love being me. I really do. And now I gotta embrace it."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-06-23T17:00:24+00:00 | kunm.org | https://www.kunm.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-06-21/getting-a-bachelors-degree-in-prison-is-rare-thats-about-to-change |
REAFFIRMED THE GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT—Gwengwe The Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI), an umbrella body of private …
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- October 2014 | 2023-02-11T02:53:56+00:00 | mw | https://www.mw/industry-prays-for-government-support-the-times-group-malawi/ |
Ranking No. 4239 With Three-Year Revenue Growth of 108 Percent
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Inc. revealed that Mindgruve is No. 4239 on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America. This year marks the fifth time Mindgruve has secured a spot in the lineup. The list represents a one-of-a-kind look at the most successful companies within the economy's most dynamic segment—independent businesses. Facebook, Chobani, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.
"Since 2018, it continues to be an incredible honor to earn a spot on this list amongst so many highly-respected and innovative companies," says Chad Robley, co-founder and CEO of Mindgruve. "Our revenue growth is a direct result of our philosophy that if we grow our clients' businesses, we'll grow our own. Seeing Mindgruve receive this honor for the fifth year and placing No. 601 in the state of California is a testament to that."
The companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 are not only successful; they also demonstrated resilience amid supply chain woes, labor shortages, and the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Despite the unexpected challenges caused by the pandemic, Mindgruve grew rapidly during this time. In 2021, the agency's headcount doubled in size, topping any single-year period of the company's 20-year history.
"The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated," says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. "Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today."
"Our staff continues groundbreaking work that helps drive business growth for brands," Robley continued. "Our in-house, integrated capabilities allow us to collaborate and optimize marketing efforts at the speed of business, which is what truly differentiates us."
Throughout the agency's history, Mindgruve has worked with some of the top global consumer and B2B brands such as Procter & Gamble, Sony, Colgate-Palmolive, First Horizon Bank and Dupont. The San Diego-based company continues to expand its client base and deepen its expertise in a variety of industries such as beauty, technology, healthcare and finance. New to the client roster include First Horizon Bank, Tivic Health, QuietKat, and Bay City Brewing Company.
Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000. The top 500 companies are featured in the September issue of Inc. magazine, which will be available on August 23.
We are a global, independent marketing agency comprised of strategists, creatives, media experts, data scientists and engineers from around the world driven by one common purpose — create groundbreaking work that helps brands drive business growth. For more information, visit https://mindgruve.com/ or follow us on LinkedIn.
Companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2018 to 2021. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2021. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2018 is $100,000; the minimum for 2021 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to four decimal places. The top 500 companies on the Inc. 5000 are featured in Inc. magazine's September issue. The entire Inc. 5000 can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000.
The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.
For more information on the Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala, visit http://conference.inc.com/.
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SOURCE Mindgruve | 2022-08-16T18:16:45+00:00 | wbrc.com | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2022/08/16/5th-time-mindgruve-appears-inc-5000-list/ |
(The Hill) — The drugmaker Eli Lilly is cutting prices for its insulin and capping costs at $35 per month, the company said Wednesday.
Out-of-pocket costs at participating retail pharmacies will max out at $35 for patients with commercial insurance using Lilly insulin, according to a release. People without insurance can still benefit if they use Lilly’s savings card program.
The cap is an immediate change that comes as the company works to reduce the prices of its most commonly prescribed insulin, Humalog and Humulin, by 70 percent. Lilly’s Chair and CEO David Ricks said the change “will take time for the insurance and pharmacy system to implement.”
“While the current healthcare system provides access to insulin for most people with diabetes, it still does not provide affordable insulin for everyone and that needs to change,” Ricks said. “The aggressive price cuts we’re announcing today should make a real difference for Americans with diabetes.”
Lilly is a leading insulin manufacturer, but Ricks stressed that others need to join in on the company’s efforts to bring the cost of the drug down.
“We are calling on policymakers, employers and others to join us in making insulin more affordable,” Ricks said.
The $35-per-month max matches up with the cap set up for insulin under the Inflation Reduction Act for Medicare beneficiaries.
Lawmakers and advocates have long been pushing to bring down the cost of the vital drug, which some people with diabetes need to take every day. | 2023-03-01T19:25:07+00:00 | pix11.com | https://pix11.com/news/eli-lilly-caps-insulin-costs-at-35-per-month/ |
Leading global energy developer making major investments in U.S. market; new projects will accelerate the transition to clean energy and provide solutions to decarbonize hardest-to-abate sectors.
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EE North America, a subsidiary of the Danish renewable energy company European Energy, today announced its ambition to develop 10 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy in the United States by 2026. Currently active in 26 markets globally, European Energy is a recognized market leader in the development of solar, wind and Power-to-X projects, which can produce green hydrogen, e-methanol and jet fuel.
"We are excited to expand our renewable energy project development expertise into the United States. European Energy views the U.S. as a critical market for solar and wind power, as well as technologies like Power-to-X that will be essential solutions in decarbonizing the hardest-to-abate sectors of the economy," said Knud Erik Andersen, CEO of European Energy. "Our vision is to enable the transition to clean energy, and our ambitious investment plans for the U.S. are an essential part of that journey."
EE North America recently opened a new office in Austin, Tex., to support its U.S. development pipeline. The company has purchased over 7,000 acres of land to develop its first U.S. solar projects, including 1 GW of solar capacity in Texas and additional projects in the Western United States. EE North America is also exploring investments in green hydrogen and e-methanol, which have applications in transportation, home heating, and heavy industry.
European Energy – EE North America's parent company – recently completed the largest electrolyzer order in the world (50 megawatts) with Siemens to develop the world's first commercial large-scale e-methanol project and recently signed an agreement with the world's largest shipping company A.P. Moller - Maersk to offtake up to 300,000 tons of e-methanol by 2025. The company is partnering with multiple ports in Europe to produce green hydrogen.
"We have the expertise, partnerships, and global track record to deliver fully integrated clean energy systems that enable cross-sectoral decarbonization, while also creating new American jobs and ensuring local communities benefit for generations to come. EE North America's energy solutions are commercially mature and financially viable today, and we look forward to additional partnerships as we make the U.S. a core part of our future growth story," said Lorena Ciciriello, CEO of EE North America.
About EE North America:
EE North America develops, finances, builds, and operates wind and solar farms and was one of the first companies in the world to introduce Power-to-X technology. Its parent company, European Energy A/S, is based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has significant and in-depth experience in the development and deployment of renewable energy in four continents. European Energy was founded in 2004 and has a current project pipeline of 40 GW in markets across the world.
Contact
Lorena Ciciriello
CEO, EE North America
+1 917 900 8115
lci@europeanenergy.com
Ming Ou Lü
PR Manager
(+45) 31 26 93 76
miol@europeanenergy.com
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SOURCE EE North America | 2022-10-12T11:36:08+00:00 | newschannel10.com | https://www.newschannel10.com/prnewswire/2022/10/12/ee-north-america-develop-10-gw-renewable-energy-projects-us-by-2026/ |
Bold pledges for 2030 announced
ATLANTA, Nov. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tosca, a global leader in reusable plastic packaging and performance pooling solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of its inaugural Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report: All Together Better.
The defined goals point to Tosca's sincere pledge to not only continue to advance their own sustainability efforts but also, through close partnership, those of their customers too. After all, only collective efforts can create a better, more sustainable world – a future that is all together better.
Tosca's first ESG report sets out Tosca's commitments and goals to 2030 which are encompassed in Tosca's sustainability strategy and highlights key sustainability achievements from across the company to date.
The All Together Better sustainability strategy and Tosca's exciting ambitions support their wider goal of a more sustainable business by 2050 are housed in three pillars:
- Continuing to expand Tosca's pool of reusable assets that supports customers' ability to reduce wasted food, materials, miles, space and labor.
Together in operational excellence
- Collaborating to drive internal progress toward reducing emissions, energy, waste, and water use.
Together in team engagement
- Growing an empowered, inspired workforce that is engaged and committed to our goals.
"Sustainability has always been in our DNA – it is at the forefront of the value our products and services provide for our partners, and it is who we are as an organization." says Eric Frank, CEO of Tosca. "As our mission statement indicates, we are revolutionizing the flow of goods through the food supply chain, eliminating waste at every turn. This year we went one step further with our mission by formalizing sustainability goals, so I am incredibly excited to share Tosca's first sustainability report."
Karin Witton, Global Director of Sustainability for Tosca comments, "We are continually amazed at the way our team members across the organization embrace sustainability, identifying and building improvements into their everyday activities, often without realizing how much they do in moving the needle for Tosca to become increasingly more sustainable."
Examples of achievements to date include:
- As of September 2022, Tosca has removed 1.9 million metric tons of corrugated from supply chains since they began issuing RPCs in 2000.
- By switching to Tosca RPCs, Tosca's seafood customers save 2,000,000+ foam cases from ending up in landfill annually.
- 100% of total plastic asset waste diverted from landfill and predominantly reused to create new Tosca assets.
- Up to 75% of freshwater needed for the wash cycle replaced by using final rinse water in pre-wash operations.
- Tosca's new Sint-Niklaas wash facility in Belgium has 1,200 solar panels, which, between March and December 2021, generated nearly 325,000 kWh – enough to power over 30 US homes for a year.
- 1,224 Tosca team members attended one or more training sessions, through a new Learning Management System (LMS) and training library with an average of five training hours per learner.
- Partnering with over 15 retailers to get donated perishable items to a network of 90 food banks using Tosca RPCs. Over 160,000 RPCs were used for this initiative in 2021.
More information on Tosca's goals and sustainability accomplishments can be found in the full report here.
Tosca (www.toscaltd.com) is a global leader in reusable plastic packaging and performance pooling solutions, purpose-built for our customers to eliminate food, labor, and transportation waste and improve performance at every turn. Our portfolio of pooled, IoT-enabled reusable plastic assets is the most robust the market has to offer, including crates, pallets, bulk containers, and more. With our expansive wash network, and a unique capability to develop customized solutions through in-house R&D and manufacturing, Tosca is the provider of choice for retailers, growers, and suppliers worldwide.
Links
Sustainability | Tosca (toscaltd.com)
Tosca Media Contacts
Marcella Vallonchini
mvallonchini@toscaltd.com
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SOURCE Tosca | 2022-11-30T18:32:45+00:00 | wcjb.com | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2022/11/30/tosca-launches-first-annual-esg-report/ |
CAIRO (AP) — Four months of sporadic tribal clashes have killed up to 359 people in Sudan’s troubled south, the United Nations estimated Thursday, a period that has marked a sharp uptick in violence across the chaotic nation’s rural periphery.
The surging violence in The Blue Nile state, which began in July, has displaced some 97,000 people, many of whom have fled to neighboring states, and injured a further 469, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Thursday’s figures are the latest estimate that accounts for the four-month period.
Two weeks ago, at least 230 people were killed in 48 hours of violence following an alleged land dispute between the Hausa tribe, with origins across West Africa, and the Berta and Hamaj people.
The increase in violence comes as the country’s ruling generals and the main factions of the sprawling pro-democracy movement engage in internationally-backed talks to revive the country’s democratic transition. Last month, the military reportedly agreed to a draft constitutional document written by the country’s Bar Association to establish a civilian-led government to lead the country to elections, set to be held within the next 24 months. The preliminary agreement has been rejected by several pro-democracy factions who refuse to negotiate with the military.
Sudan has been plugged into turmoil since the country leading military figure, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, mounted a coup in October 2021 that upended the country’s brief democratic transition after three decades of autocratic rule by Omar al-Bashir. The former president was toppled in April 2019 following a popular uprising that paved the way for a civilian-military power-sharing government.
Since its takeover, the military has ruthlessly cracked down on near-weekly pro-democracy marches, killing as least 118 protesters, according to statistics published by the Sudan Doctors Committee. The coup has put further strain on Sudan’s inflation-riddled economy, prompting a withdrawal of international aid amid rising bread and fuel shortages, caused in part by the war in Ukraine.
Many analysts interpret the rising tribal violence as a product of the power vacuum caused by the military takeover, with the ruling generals’ clampdown focused on Khartoum and the country’s heartland, while the peripheries descend into chaos. Local activists and Sudanese outlets reported a lack of military presence during the Blue Nile’s most recent deadly clashes in late October.
In response, protesters gathered in Damazin — the provincial capital of Blue Nile — later that week, and stormed the headquarters of the local government and a military facility. Sudan’s ruling military later sacked one of Blue Nile’s senior military commanders. | 2022-11-04T12:42:39+00:00 | cbs4indy.com | https://cbs4indy.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-un-says-tribal-clashes-in-sudan-kill-359-people-since-july/ |
DALLAS (AP) — Style points were in short supply Saturday when No. 21 Cinncinnati held on to beat SMU, but linebacker Wilson Huber wasn’t concerned after the Bearcats prevailed, 29-27.
“It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t perfect, but ultimately it was good enough to get the job done,” Huber said after Cinncinnati stretched its winning streak to six games.
Ryan Coe kicked a school-record five field goals, including a season-long 52-yarder, and No. 21 Cincinnati broke up a game-tying two-point play in the closing minutes.
Charles McClelland and Ryan Montgomery scored on runs of 76 yards and 1 yard for the Bearcats (6-1, 3-0 American), who won their 19th in a row against American Athletic Conference opponents.
Tyler Lavine scored on a 1-yard plunge with 1:57 left to pull SMU (3-4, 1-2) within two, but Preston Stone’s 2-point conversion pass intended for Roderick Daniels Jr. in the near corner of the end zone was incomplete.
Three of the Bearcats’ 14 penalties came on SMU’s last scoring drive, one that negated an interception.
On Cincinnati’s subsequent drive, quarterback Ben Bryant – who sustained a concussion in the fourth quarter of last week’s win against USF – completed a nine-yard pass on third-and-8 to allow the Bearcats to maintain possession for the balance of the game.
“In the gotta-have-it situations, we made the plays, both defensively and offensively,” Bearcats coach Luke Fickell said.
Stone, a redshirt freshman, replaced starter Tanner Mordecai, who left the game and the field late in the third quarter with an undisclosed injury.
“You prepare for a moment like this,” Stone said. “Felt like I was going out to play little league.”
Coe’s 52-yarder came with a stiff wind at his back, and his other field goals were from 44, 31, 30 and 25 yards. He’s in his first season at Cincinnati after kicking for Delaware, where he hit from 53 yards. Coe had a 45-yard attempt blocked in the fourth quarter.
“I think I’ve shown enough confidence in practice for them to send me out, and it came to fruition today,” Coe said.
Cincinnati’s Mason Fletcher boomed an 84-yard punt with the wind following the Bearcats’ first possession for the longest punt in college football this season and an AAC and school record. The sophomore from Australia made contact at Cincinnati’s 5-yard line. The ball landed at SMU’s 20 and bounced into the end zone for a touchback.
“He is really talented,” Fickell said of Fletcher. “He does nothing but get better each and every week.”
Bryant was 18 for 35 passing for 200 yards. McClelland rushed for 129 yards.
“We put ourselves in position to beat somebody that nobody hardly ever beats in our league and didn’t get it done,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said.
The Mustangs’ other touchdowns came on a 3-yard run by TJ McDaniel in the second quarter, a 1-yard pass from Mordecai to Jordan Kerley in the second quarter and a 16-yard pass from Stone to RJ Maryland in the fourth quarter.
Mordecai was 15 of 25 for 105 yards, one touchdown and one interception and was sacked five times. Stone was 6 for 15 for 74 yards and one touchdown.
GAME NOTES
Fickell’s 54th Cincinnati victory makes him the program’s all-time leader. … Cincinnati receiver Tyler Scott, who was sidelined last week in the first quarter with an ankle injury, didn’t dress out. … Bearcats defensive end Jabari Taylor left in the first quarter with an injury. … Members of the 1981-82 SMU teams that went 21-1-1 and won Southwest Conference championships were recognized on the field.
POLL IMPLICATION
Two of the three teams just ahead of Cincinnati in the poll (No. 18 Illinois, No. 19 Kentucky) were off Saturday. Is a two-point win enough for the Bearcats to rise a few spots?
THE TAKEAWAY
CINCINNATI: After reaching last season’s College Football Playoff, the realistic goal as the top-ranked team from the Group of 5 continues to be a third consecutive New Year’s Six bowl.
SMU: Are six wins and a bowl invitation within reach for the Mustangs with home games against Houston and Memphis and a trip to Tulane remaining?
UP NEXT
CINCINNATI: Visits UCF next Saturday.
SMU: Plays at Tulsa next Saturday.
___
More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25. | 2022-10-23T08:07:13+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/sports/ap-no-21-cincinnati-holds-on-to-edge-smu-29-27/ |
Trump home search: Judge deciding on unsealing the warrant
Washington — A federal judge was to decide as soon as Friday whether to grant the Department of Justice’s request to unseal the warrant that authorized the FBI to search former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate. Attorney General Merrick Garland declared there was “substantial public interest in this matter,” and Trump backed the warrant’s “immediate” release.
The decision on whether to unseal the records lay with U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the same judge who signed off on the search warrant. The Justice Department had until Friday afternoon to tell the judge whether Trump’s lawyers agree or disagree with the proposal to make it public.
In messages posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “Not only will I not oppose the release of documents … I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents.” He continued to assail the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago as “unAmerican, unwarranted and unnecessary.”
Trump himself has been given at least some of the records the government was seeking to unseal, but he and his lawyers have declined, so far, to make them public.
The Justice Department’s request is striking because such documents traditionally remain sealed during a pending investigation. But the department appeared to recognize that its silence since the search had created a vacuum for bitter verbal attacks by Trump and his allies, and that the public was entitled to the FBI’s side about what prompted Monday’s action at the former president’s home.
“The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing,” said a motion filed in federal court in Florida on Thursday.
Should the warrant be released, it could disclose unflattering information about Trump and about FBI scrutiny of his handling of sensitive government documents right as he prepares for another run for the White House. During his successful 2016 campaign, he pointed frequently to an FBI investigation into his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over whether she mishandled classified information.
If is unclear at this point how much information would be included in the documents, if made public, or if they would encompass an FBI affidavit that would presumably lay out a detailed factual basis for the search. The department specifically requested the unsealing of the warrant as well as a property receipt listing the items that were seized, along with two unspecified attachments.
Several news organizations have separately petitioned Reinhart to release all of the documents relating to the search given the high level of public interest.
To obtain a search warrant, federal authorities must prove to a judge that probable cause exists to believe that a crime was committed. Garland said he personally approved the warrant, a decision he said the department did not take lightly given that standard practice where possible is to select less intrusive tactics than a search of one’s home.
In this case, according to a person familiar with the matter, there was substantial engagement with Trump and his representatives prior to the search warrant, including a subpoena for records and a visit to Mar-a-Lago a couple of months ago by FBI and Justice Department officials to assess how the documents were stored. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Neither Trump nor the FBI has said anything about what documents the FBI might have recovered, or what precisely agents were looking for.
Trump, who for years has lambasted the FBI and sought to sow distrust among his supporters in its decisions, said the warrant was served and the search conducted despite his cooperation with the Justice Department over the search.
In a post to his Truth Social platform, Trump said that his “attorneys and representatives were cooperating fully” before the search, and that government officials “could have had whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, if we had it.”
FBI and Justice Department policy cautions against discussing ongoing investigations, both to protect the integrity of the inquiries and to avoid unfairly maligning someone who is being scrutinized but winds up ultimately not being charged. That’s especially true in the case of search warrants, where supporting court papers are routinely kept secret as the investigation proceeds.
In this case, though, Garland cited the fact that Trump himself had provided the first public confirmation of the FBI search, “as is his right.” The Justice Department, in its new filing, also said that disclosing information about it now would not harm the court’s functions.
The Justice Department under Garland has been leery of public statements about politically charged investigations, or of confirming to what extent it might be investigating Trump as part of a broader probe into the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The department has tried to avoid being seen as injecting itself into presidential politics, as happened in 2016 when then-FBI Director James Comey made an unusual public statement announcing that the FBI would not be recommending criminal charges against Clinton regarding her handling of email – and when he spoke up again just over a week before the election to notify Congress that the probe was being effectively reopened because of the discovery of new emails.
The Mar-a-Lago search warrant served Monday was part of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified White House records recovered from Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Florida, earlier this year. The National Archives had asked the department to investigate after saying 15 boxes of records it retrieved from the estate included classified records. Multiple federal laws govern the handling of classified information.
The attorney general also condemned verbal attacks on FBI and Justice Department personnel over the search. Some Republican allies of Trump have called for the FBI to be defunded. Large numbers of Trump supporters have called for the warrant to be released hoping they it will show that Trump was unfairly targeted.
“I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” Garland said of federal law enforcement agents, calling them “dedicated, patriotic public servants.”
Earlier Thursday, an armed man wearing body armor tried to breach a security screening area at an FBI field office in Ohio, then fled and was later killed after a standoff with law enforcement. A law enforcement official briefed on the matter identified the man as Ricky Shiffer and said he is believed to have been in Washington in the days leading up to the attack on the Capitol and may have been there on the day it took place.
Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Lindsay Whitehurst and Meg Kinnard contributed to this report. | 2022-08-12T16:38:28+00:00 | detroitnews.com | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2022/08/12/trump-fbi-warrant-release-mar-a-lago/10307201002/ |
The Celtics’ announcement last week that they were removing the interim tag from Joe Mazzulla’s job description and making him the 19th head coach in franchise history was the right thing to do in every way.
It’s easy to forget now, with the Celtics beginning the post-All-Star-break portion of their schedule with the best record in the league at 42-17, but Mazzula inherited a situation that could have gone sideways.
In his one season, Ime Udoka proved no-nonsense motivator and defensive mastermind in guiding the Celtics to the NBA Finals. The team’s prime-of-career core — Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart — liked him, respected him, and could take it when he lit them up. He was likable in his stoic way, seemingly the right fit.
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When Udoka detonated his own career and was suspended for multiple violations of team policies in September, effectively ending his Celtics coaching tenure (a detail that became official with Mazzulla’s promotion), the vagueness of the explanation for what led to his downfall left some players frustrated.
And so close to the season, how would they find a replacement capable of taking them as far as Udoka did, and then hopefully one huge championship-clinching step beyond that?
As it turned out, a coach who wasn’t even in the front row on the bench last season provided the stability the Celtics needed. Mazzulla, who joined Brad Stevens’s staff in ‘19, galvanized the Celtics with his positivity, offensive acumen, and trust in his players’ decision-making.
It’s a tribute to him that his team always seems to have a real chance at winning every night no matter who is in the lineup. He earned this job, and he deserves it.
I must admit, however, that Stevens’s rationale for ditching Mazzulla’s interim tag now — it removes what he called “a cloud of uncertainty” before the postseason — reminded me that a few clouds of uncertainty remain. And we won’t know if the skies are truly clear or not until the Celtics’ season is complete.
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Mazzulla has … I don’t know quite what to call them. Beliefs? Tendencies? Wacky ideas? Actually, let’s go with quirky tactical approaches. Mazzulla has two quirky tactical approaches that I fret could get in the Celtics’ way in the postseason, maybe in an uneventful way, and maybe at a tremendous cost.
You know what they are, too, because they probably drive you nuts as well in certain circumstances. He’s not big on calling timeouts. And he’s playing certain players way too many minutes.
Let’s consider the timeouts, of lack thereof, first. Mazzulla prefers to let his players play through rough stretches and situations when the opponent is putting together a run. That’s usually fine. It’s a reiteration of his trust in his players, and their record suggests the decision is often rewarded.
He has acknowledged that he lets them play through messes of their own making for another reason, which he shared on The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand” show a couple of weeks ago after the Celtics’ 125-121 overtime win over the Lakers on Jan. 28.
“I don’t think there’s actual real evidence that [calling timeouts during runs] works,” he said, when asked about a prolonged stretch in which the Lakers turned a 20-point deficit into a 13-point lead before falling apart. “I think there’s feel. And I think this is what people are used to seeing and how people have done it along the way. We were down 92-88 [and I called one], we scored to get to 92-90, and they went on another 6-0 run. So what did that timeout do besides get us down more than we were when I called it?”
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Maybe he has analytics that support this approach. He probably does. But the reality is that every possession, every point, every opportunity in the postseason must be cherished. Mazzulla must use his timeouts to at least attempt to stop opposing runs when the stakes are highest and they’re facing a nuisance such as the Heat or a genuine contender such as the Bucks.
That he ended the recent overtime loss to the Bucks — a valiant effort by his shorthanded team — with a pair of timeouts in his pocket wasn’t a great sign, though to his credit he admitted afterward that he probably should have used one.
For now, his policy can stand. But it must change in the playoffs. And he should at the least get in the habit of using his timeouts now when his team’s shot-selection starts looking like some sort of bizarre Ricky Davis tribute.
The other detail Mazzulla needs to figure out: How to cut back Tatum’s minutes. Mazzulla had an excellent seat, right there in the second row, when Tatum ran out of gas in the Finals against the Warriors last June. Tatum is on a redemption/revenge tour now, and this has the vibe of a truly special season for him and the team. It’s also admirable how much he wants to play in these days of load management.
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Last regular season, Tatum played 2,731 minutes in 76 games, an average of 35.9 per game. This season, in 55 games, he’s already played 2,051 minutes, fourth in the league. His 37.3 average minutes per game is second only to Toronto’s Pascal Siakam.
Tatum works maniacally on his conditioning and strength, and if you’re skeptical, compare a photo of what he looked like as a rookie to what he looks like now. And he’ll be more prepared for a long postseason run now that he’s been through one. But it’s counterproductive to play him for extended lengths, such as the 41 straight minutes he played in that aforementioned Lakers game, during the regular season. His coach needs to get him breathers when he can.
Mazzulla needs to make sure his players are at their best when the games matter the most. And he will have to be, too. The Celtics are built to be champions this year. They are the deepest and most well-rounded team in the league. I really believe Banner 18 will be theirs, provided two things happen: they remain healthy, and their new coach comes through for them at the end of the season just as he did when they needed him at the beginning.
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Chad Finn can be reached at chad.finn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeChadFinn. | 2023-02-22T10:30:08+00:00 | bostonglobe.com | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/22/sports/celtics-coach-joe-mazzulla-needs-do-two-things-call-more-timeouts-cut-down-jayson-tatums-minutes/ |
Kites, jets and a water circus: 5 things to do in metro Detroit this weekend
As the weather continues to heat up and summer really kicks into full swing, there are plenty of fun events, attractions and adventures to be had across metro Detroit.
Here are few ideas for you and your family to consider for the weekend of July 8-10.
Selfridge 2022 Open House & Air Show: Air Combat Command F-22 Demonstration Team headlines the show this year. 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 29080 Wilbur Wright in Harrison Township. Free.
Detroit Kite Festival: Kite flying, food, music and more, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday at the Cricket Field on Belle Isle in Detroit. Free.
Historic Fort Wayne Tours: The Historic Fort Wayne is open for the 2022 season from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saturdays through the end of October for the public to visit. A 90-minute walking tour that includes the Star Fort and barracks built in the 1840s and the Spanish-American War Guard House will be available at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., $8 per person. Reservations for tours are required and must be booked at least 24 hours in advance by emailing historicfortwayne@detroitmi.gov. Place “HFW Tour” in the subject line.
Vintage Base Ball (baseball was two words in the 19th century) with the Fort’s resident team, the Early Risers, is scheduled for the following days:
- Sunday, July 17 vs. Dexter – 1 p.m. tentative first pitch
- Saturday, July 23 is Vintage Base Ball Day, featuring a multiple team tournament with a 1 p.m. tentative first pitch
- Sunday, Sept. 18 vs. Brooklyn - time to be determined.
6325 W. Jefferson (at the foot of Livernois) in Detroit. Free admission and on-site parking.
Water Circus I: Silver Unit: Aerial acts, hand balancing, contortionists and more will perform on a custom designed water stage under a big top tent in the parking lot at Fairlane Town Center, 18900 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn. July 7-17. $10-50.
Utica Antiques Market: This outdoor antique show will bring more than 90 vendors offering thousands of items from all periods at the Knights of Columbus Grounds, 11541 21 Mile in Shelby Township. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday. $5 per person.
Brendel Hightower is an assistant editor at the Detroit Free Press. Contact her at bhightower@freepress.com. | 2022-07-07T17:21:21+00:00 | freep.com | https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/arts/2022/07/07/things-to-do-july-metro-detroit/7826361001/ |
Crews respond to playground fire in Gooding
Published: Jul. 9, 2022 at 11:07 PM MDT|Updated: 5 minutes ago
GOODING, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) —On this hot day there was another fire in the Magic Valley. The Gooding Fire department responded to an incident at East Park Saturday afternoon.
Gooding Fire Chief Brandon Covey said the fire destroyed about four to fire pieces of playground equipment, and it is believed to be arson, or maybe accidental arson. Cpvet said they are investigating the incident, and there have been no other recent incidents of arson in the area.
No one was hurt or injured in the incident, and the fire was quickly contained
The fire chief is asking anyone with information about the fire to call the Gooding Fire Department at (208) 934-8348
Copyright 2022 KMVT/KSVT. All rights reserved. | 2022-07-10T05:13:05+00:00 | kmvt.com | https://www.kmvt.com/2022/07/10/crews-respond-playground-fire-gooding/ |
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Bidenreleased their 2022 tax return Tuesday night, hours before the IRS tax-filing deadline struck.
According to the return, the couple earned $579,514 in adjusted gross income and paid $169,820 in combined federal and state income taxes Their effective federal income tax rate was 23.8%. Most of the family’s income came from President Biden’s $400,000 White House salary. Jill Biden also made $82,335 for her position at Northern Virginia Community College.
The couple also reported $5,092 in income from S corporations CelticCapri Corp. and Giacoppa Corp. They have received income from these S corporations in the past for royalties from speaking and writing engagements.
The Bidens reported giving over $20,000 to 20 different charities. The largest such donation was to the Beau Biden Foundation for $5,000.
SEE MORE: How the IRS put Inflation Reduction Act funding to use this year
President Biden stands in contrast to his predecessor Donald Trump, who opted not to voluntarily release his taxes. Details of his taxes, however, came to light in late 2022 when the returns were released by the House Ways and Means Committee.
“With this release, President Biden has shared a total of 25 years of tax returns with the American public,” the White House said in a release. “Once again demonstrating his commitment to being transparent with the American people about the finances of the Commander-in-Chief, President Biden has released the most tax returns of any president while in office.”
The White House also released Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s returns. They reported a combined income of $456,918 and paid $93,570 in federal taxes. The couple also reported making $23,000 in charitable contributions in 2022. | 2023-04-19T12:47:40+00:00 | fox17online.com | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/biden-tax-return/released |
75% of young investors say it's impossible to achieve above-average returns solely with traditional stocks and bonds
Half of parents believe children aren't prepared to handle family money; waiting until children are in their late-20s to initiate conversations about the transfer of wealth
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America today released the 2022 Bank of America Private Bank Study of Wealthy Americans, which found significant generational differences in approaches to investing, giving and wealth planning. The findings show that the shift in influence and control over the largest share of U.S. personal wealth — $84 trillion is expected to pass primarily from the baby boomers to Gen X and millennials through 20451 — could have significant implications for families, wealth managers, charitable organizations and financial markets going forward.
"Wealth planning is inherently multi-generational," said Katy Knox, president of The Private Bank at Bank of America. "As we see among our client families, financial behaviors and values take shape early in life and live on in the legacies passed from one generation to the next. These research findings point to a larger role wealth advisors and the financial services industry is playing in helping families transition wealth and meet the needs of the next generation."
Younger generations engaging in new investment strategies: 75% of investors between the ages of 21 and 42, compared to 32% of investors over age 43, do not think it's possible to achieve above-average returns solely with traditional stocks and bonds.
- Eighty percent of young investors are looking to alternative investments, such as private equity, commodities, real estate, and other tangible assets. They allocate three times more of their investment portfolios to alternative strategies (16%) and half as much to stocks (25%) than older investors (5% and 55%, respectively).
- Whereas investors over the age of 43 maintain that U.S. equities offer the best opportunity for growth in the future, young investors think the greatest growth opportunities lie somewhere in the transformative digital asset space. Nearly half (47%) have cryptocurrency holdings.
- Ownership of sustainable investments have doubled since 2018, from 12% to 26% of wealthy people. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of millennials compared to 21% of older respondents use sustainable investments, which 72% of all survey respondents agree can make a positive impact in the world.
The family wealth talk is happening but starts late and doesn't equate to financial preparedness: 68% of parents surveyed say they have talked with their children about their family's wealth, including how much money the next generation stands to inherit.
- On average, parents don't initiate conversations about family wealth and the transfer of wealth until their children are at least 27 years old.
- Only 51% of parents think their children are well prepared to handle family money or any inheritance they stand to receive.
- Fifty-eight percent of respondents have limited or no understanding of trusts. Among those without a trust, the younger generation is more inclined to consider using them in their estate plans (91%) than older generations (56%).
Different paths to a better world: 82% of parents who are philanthropically engaged believe that they and their children share the same philanthropic vision and goals. However, just 41% of older generations think the next generation's philanthropic efforts will be equally effective as their own. The younger generation is more optimistic about their ability to achieve philanthropic goals – 87% believe their giving will be more effective than earlier generations.
- When making charitable giving decisions, 76% of respondents, including 88% of women, prefer to establish their own philanthropic identity apart from their family.
- Just half (51%) of all donors support the same causes as their parents.
- Younger generations are far more likely to gift through a structured vehicle, including a donor-advised fund (30%), charitable trust (51%), and/or family foundation (14%) than older generations do (15%, 14%, and 4%, respectively).
Art as an asset: While most art owners collect for the aesthetic value (63%) and only a small number plan to sell it quickly for profit (9%), art is a dynamic market:
- Sixty percent of art collectors have purchased a piece in the past 12 months.
- A near equal number (58%) plan to sell a valuable work in the next 12 months.
A larger role for wealth advisors to meet people's needs: While satisfaction with wealth advisors is high — 97% of survey respondents are satisfied, including 74% who are very satisfied with their advisor relationship — the survey found gaps between the topics people want to discuss with their advisor and the conversations taking place.
The three topics high net worth people most want to discuss with their advisor today are:
- Tax planning (88%)
- Estate planning (81%)
- Investing in an inflationary environment and best use of funds amidst rising-interest rate (both 80%)
Approximately a third of people who want to are not discussing or discussing enough these topics with their primary advisor. The findings show that for a wide range of areas – from estate planning to the strategic use of credit, and from philanthropic planning to investing for positive social or environmental impact – wealth managers have a significant opportunity to add value and build more robust relationships with next-generation clients.
Visit https://www.privatebank.bankofamerica.com/articles/wealth-study-2022.html for additional insights from the new 2022 Bank of America Private Bank Study on Wealth.
1 Cerulli U.S. High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Markets 2021
Methodology
Escalent, an independent market research company, conducted an online survey on behalf of Bank of America from May-June 2022. The survey consisted of 1,052 high-net-worth (HNW) respondents throughout the U.S. Respondents in the study were over the age of 21 with at least $3 million in investable assets, excluding primary residence. The margin of error is +/- 3, reported at a 95% confidence level. The respondents are a nationally representative sample of the U.S. high-net-worth population and not necessarily clients of Bank of America or its wealth and investment management businesses.
Bank of America Private Bank
Bank of America Private Bank (privatebank.bankofamerica.com) helps high-net-worth individuals, families and institutions grow, preserve and share wealth and achieve unique goals. Private Bank client teams take a tailored approach to delivering specialized services and expertise, providing boutique-style private banking that leverages the global resources of Bank of America, one of the world's leading financial institutions. These dedicated teams provide customized solutions for wealth structuring, trust and estate planning, and philanthropy, combined with leading investment capabilities and a full range of sophisticated banking and lending solutions. The business also offers specialized capabilities in the areas of art services, sustainable investing, business ownership and succession planning, and specialty asset management.
Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world's leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,000 retail financial centers, approximately 16,000 ATMs, and award-winning digital banking with approximately 55 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and approximately 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts.
Reporters may contact:
Julia Ehrenfeld, Bank of America
Phone: 1.646.855.3267
julia.ehrenfeld@bofa.com
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SOURCE Bank of America Corporation | 2022-10-11T13:41:49+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/10/11/bank-america-private-bank-study-finds-younger-investors-turning-alternatives-sustainability-digital-assets-create-wealth/ |
The photo shows the face of a young woman with long dark hair and a soft smile who says she is “feeling pretty today :).” And on Reddit — where Claudia, as she’s named, offers to sell nude photos to anyone who privately messages her — she is quite popular: “Holy crap you are beautiful,” one commenter said.
But Claudia is fake — a bundle of surprisingly convincing photos made by artificial-intelligence image tools, possibly deployed to pull in cash from unsuspecting buyers, according to two synthetic-media researchers.
The rapid advances in AI-image generators like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion have gained global attention in recent weeks for their inventive art pieces and impressive fakes of ex-presidents and popes.
But Claudia’s case hints at the technology’s more explicit side: By allowing anyone to create images of fake people that look uncannily real, the tools are reshaping how porn is made and consumed.
New technology has for years been pioneered through porn, and AI-image tools have not broken from that pattern. Thousands of accounts are now registered in discussion boards and chatrooms devoted to the creation and refinement of synthetic people, the majority of whom resemble girls and women — a rapid shift that could upend a multibillion-dollar industry, undermine demand for real-world models and actors and fuel deeper concerns about female objectification and exploitation.
A systems administrator at a hospital in the Midwest — who, like the other AI-porn creators and viewers interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity — said he has been using Stable Diffusion tools to create fetish photos of adult women in diapers, and that advances in image quality have made it so their fakeness doesn’t matter.
“The average person who’s looking at this stuff, I don’t think they care,” he said. “I don’t expect the person I’m looking at online to be the person they say they are. I’m not going to meet this person in real life. … At the end of the day, if they’re not real, who really cares?”
The Claudia account didn’t respond to requests for comment, making it impossible to confirm how the photos were made — or how much money they raised from the months-old ruse.
But the researchers said the photos carried several clear hallmarks of a fake, including strange background details and a neck mole that went missing between poses. “Actually rather easy to create,” one AI programmer said.
The researchers identified several online profiles of women they believe are fake avatars based on the telltale artifacts that some AI image generators leave behind. Using profiles on Instagram, Reddit, Twitter and OnlyFans, the accounts shared images of women in varying stages of undress — and told viewers they should pay or subscribe if they wanted to see more.
The suspected fake accounts did not respond to questions. And because most AI-generated images are not watermarked or fingerprinted in any way at the time of creation, it can be challenging for any viewer to confirm whether they’re real or not.
One account published the videos of an amateur porn actor from Puerto Rico alongside edited images showing the woman’s face on someone else’s body. Neither the fake nor the real account responded to requests for comment.
Hundreds of online accounts followed and commented on the fake porn accounts, leaving comments that suggested they believed the women were real.
“Feel a bit cheated,” Reddit user “legalbeagle1966” said after a Washington Post reporter told him Claudia was likely a fraud. A week earlier, he’d commented on her photo that she looked “pretty sexy and perfect.”
Many of the newest fake images rely on AI programs, known as diffusion models, that allow anyone to type in a short prompt of words and create a fake photo for free. The images can then be edited even further to make them more convincing, including to cover up glitchy spots and refine their quality.
The tools are even simpler to use than the “deepfake” software that fueled worries over AI images in 2017. Where deepfakes used deep-learning AI techniques to edit existing videos, diffusion models generate entirely new photos by following the patterns found across the billions of images they’ve analyzed before.
But the new class of images raise many of the same concerns, including that they could be used to impersonate real women. On some forums, users talk of how to use diffusion models and other AI-powered techniques, such as “inpainting,” to superimpose the faces of real women onto the bodies of AI-generated fakes.
“To humiliate and push women out of the public sphere, they don’t even need to look exactly like the women. They rely on the shock effect,” said Sam Gregory, the executive director of Witness, a nonprofit group that specializes in video technology and human rights.
“But the shift to the diffusion models has made it a lot easier to create volume, variance and personalization, and to do it around known individuals. The quality is just better,” he added. “People already want to lean into believing something that humiliates or mocks or targets someone they dislike.”
Stability AI, the London start-up behind Stable Diffusion, prohibits people from using it to create images that a “reasonable person could find obscene, lewd … [or] pornographic.”
But because the company has made the tool available to all to download on their computer, it has no way to stop anyone from using it to make whatever they want.
Some forums devoted to using the tool to create AI-generated porn even discuss how the tool can be used to create sexually explicit images of women without their consent. People also have shared guides on how to use the technology to edit real images, including to remove the clothing of women who were photographed fully dressed.
On the AI-art clearinghouse Civitai, one tool touted as “Stable Diffusion models for pervs” that can help generate “uber realistic porn” has been downloaded more than 77,000 times in the last three months. Some of the publicly viewable example images include the prompts that creators used to generate them, such as “dreamy black eyes,” “lust” and “teen.”
The images have fueled some concern in the porn industry about their new technological competition. But not everyone thinks the industry’s days are numbered. Mark Spiegler, an agent for porn actors such as Asa Akira and Riley Reid, said the stars in his industry are performers with charisma, skill and attractiveness with which no AI can compete.
“I don't think you can machine-learn a personality,” he said in an interview. “You can somewhat replicate it, but you're still missing that human spark and spontaneity.”
Zoey Sterling, an art history student and sex worker in Miami who sells explicit pics and videos on OnlyFans, said she’s not concerned.
“The people saying AI could replace sex workers are the same people who act like sex workers aren’t humans,” she said in an interview. “I wish them the best of luck and hope they can figure out what ‘consent’ means. Maybe they can ask the AI.”
Some female avatar accounts explicitly tell viewers that they were created with Stable Diffusion or other AI tools. Others have been a bit more subtle: “Ailice,” an avatar with roughly 10,000 Instagram followers, defines itself as “AI life, real vibes.”
But others, like Claudia, give no indication at all. The account’s first Reddit post, in January, was a long, sexually explicit passage of dirty talk to which several Reddit posters expressed excitement: “I need a good girl like you in my life,” one wrote. ZeroGPT, a tool for detecting computer-generated text, said it was 97 percent confident the passage was generated by an AI language tool such as ChatGPT.
The account posted other explicit passages and images, including one showing a woman in underwear, and anyone who clicked on the profile could see that the account described itself as a 19-year-old woman who would sell private images to paying buyers.
It wasn’t until last week, when Claudia posted the “feeling pretty today” photo to a Reddit forum devoted to “images of human faces,” that people began suspecting an AI was involved.
Some Reddit users posted that Claudia’s skin looked “too smooth, too ‘perfect’” and pointed out that the white, featureless room she was pictured in had a ceiling beam that disappeared behind her head but didn’t reappear on the other side. An AI programmer who spoke with The Post said it also had some technical giveaways: The photo’s width, of 512 pixels, is Stable Diffusion’s default image size.
Not everyone saw through the act. The Reddit user “Lanky_Grade_268,” who said he is a 21-year-old hotel cleaner in Argentina, had called Claudia “beautiful and charming” and said he was unnerved by the revelation she might be fake. “It is scary because it will be difficult to distinguish between an AI and a real person,” he said in a message.
But the Reddit user “Ryan5197,” who’d told Claudia she looked “incredible,” was less disturbed. “My opinion of the image is unchanged,” he said. “She’s a pretty character.”
Tatum Hunter contributed to this report. | 2023-04-11T11:04:29+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/04/11/ai-imaging-porn-fakes/ |
Fire in dense Seoul neighborhood destroys at least 60 homes
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A fire early Friday destroyed at least 60 homes in a neighborhood of densely packed, makeshift housing surrounded by some of the wealthiest streets of South Korea’s ultra-modern capital, forcing about 500 residents to flee.
Firefighters extinguished the flames in Seoul’s Guryong village within about five hours, and officials said no injuries or deaths had been reported as of Friday afternoon.
Shin Yong-ho, an official at the fire department of Seoul’s Gangnam district, said rescue workers were continuing to search areas affected by the fire but that it was believed that all residents have safely evacuated.
More than 800 firefighters, police officers and public workers fought the flames and handled evacuations after the fire began around 6:30 a.m.
Photos showed firefighters fighting the flames under thick, white smoke covering the village as helicopters sprayed water from above. Later orange-suited rescuers searched through the charred landscape where gray tendrils of smoke were still rising. The capital’s skyscrapers gleamed a short distance away.
Kim Ah-reum, an official at the Gangnam district office, said around 500 residents evacuated to nearby facilities including a school gym. Officials were planning to move an unspecified number of people whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged to three hotels.
“How could this happen on the Lunar New Year holidays,?” 66-year-old village resident Kim Sung-han told The Associated Press, referring to one of the country’s biggest annual holidays that starts on the weekend and continues through Tuesday.
“I had to run out of home only in these clothes,” without being able to bring out anything else, Kim said. “I couldn’t go to work ... when it’s already so hard to live.”
Lee Woon-cheol, one of the community leaders at the village, said residents were able to swiftly share the news about the fire through their emergency contacts and that firefighters were going door-to-door searching for people and helping them evacuate.
“This is where a lot of accidents happen because of electrical short circuits,” Lee told the YTN news channel. "
Shin said it was presumed that the fire began at one of the village’s homes made with plastic sheets and plywood. He said the cause of the fire was being investigated.
The news of the fire alarmed South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who while visiting Switzerland for the Davos meetings instructed officials to mobilize all available resources to minimize damage and casualties, his spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said.
The country is still reeling from its worst disaster in almost a decade, after nearly 160 people died in a crowd surge at a Seoul nightlife district in October. Experts blame that deadly crush on poor planning by police and administrative officials, who failed to employ basic crowd control measures despite anticipating huge gatherings of Halloween revelers.
Guryong village, an illegal encampment located near some of Seoul’s most expensive real estate marked by towering high-rise apartments and lavish shopping districts, has long been a symbol of South Korea’s stark income inequalities.
The hillside village has often been damaged by fire over the years, a vulnerability that has been linked to its tightly packed homes built with materials that easily burn. Eleven houses were destroyed during a previous fire at the village in March last year, and around 100 people were forced to evacuate after parts of the area became flooded by rain last August.
The village, currently home to around 600 people, was formed in the 1980s as a settlement for people who were evicted from their original neighborhoods under the city’s massive house clearings and redevelopment projects.
Hundreds of thousands of people were removed from their homes in slums and low-income settlements during those years, a process the country’s then-military leaders saw as crucial in beautifying the city for foreign visitors ahead of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
Seoul’s city government first announced plans to redevelop the area in 2011 but the efforts have stalled over disagreements between city officials and residents over land compensation and other issues. __
AP video journalists Yong Ho Kim and Yong jun Chang contributed to the report.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-01-20T06:33:41+00:00 | witn.com | https://www.witn.com/2023/01/20/fire-dense-seoul-neighborhood-destroys-least-60-homes/ |
CHICAGO (WGN) — Police in Chicago have issued a community alert after a man attempted to kidnap a 5-year-old girl from the city’s Northwest Side.
The mother and child were walking in the neighborhood of Belmont-Cragin around 11:58 a.m. Thursday when an unknown man began following them.
The man engaged in conversation with the mother and offered her an unknown amount of money in exchange for her daughter, police said.
After the woman refused, the man attempted to grab the girl by the hair and pull her towards him, videi released by the Chicago Police Department shows.
The mother and daughter were able to get away safely, police said.
The suspect was described as being between 20 and 25 years old, standing about 5-foot-6 and weighing around 160 pounds. Police said he also had a thin beard and bright red hair. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a black hat, black t-shirt and red shorts.
Chicago police urge anyone with information about the offender or incident to call police at (312)-746-6554. | 2022-09-10T16:31:00+00:00 | valleycentral.com | https://www.valleycentral.com/news/national-news/video-shows-man-attempting-to-kidnap-5-year-old-girl-after-trying-to-buy-her-from-mother/ |
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BEIJING (AP) — Employees at the world's biggest Apple iPhone factory have been beaten and detained in protests over contract disputes amid anti-virus controls, according to employees and videos posted on social media Wednesday.
Videos on Chinese social media that said they were filmed at the factory in the central city of Zhengzhou showed thousands of people in masks facing rows of police in white protective suits with plastic riot shields. One person was hit in the head with a club and another was taken away with his arms held behind his back.
Other videos showed protesters spraying fire extinguishers toward police.
Postings on social media said they were protesting unspecified contract violations.
The factory operator, Foxconn Technology Group, said earlier it was using “closed-loop management,” which refers to employees living at their workplace with no outside contact. That followed a walk-out last month by thousands of employees over complaints about inadequate anti-virus protection and a lack of help for coworkers who fell ill.
Apple Inc. warned earlier that deliveries of its new iPhone 14 model would be delayed due to anti-disease controls imposed on the Zhengzhou factory. The city government suspended access to an industrial zone that surrounds the factory, which Foxconn has said employs 200,000 people.
Foxconn, headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, didn’t immediately respond to a request for information about the situation.
New reports earlier said the ruling Communist Party ordered “grassroots cadres” to fill in for Foxconn employees in Zhengzhou who left. The company didn’t respond to requests for confirmation and details about that arrangement.
Last month, hordes of Foxconn workers left the factory en masse to avoid COVID curbs. Videos circulating on social media showed workers carrying bags of belongings and leaving by foot, with some volunteers leaving food and water on the streets for the workers.
China is the only major country in the world still trying to curb virus transmissions through strict lockdown measures and mass testing, and the strategy is being tested by multiple outbreaks driven by fast-spreading omicron variants.
Protests have flared as the number and severity of outbreaks has risen across China, including in Beijing. Earlier this week, authorities reported several COVID-19 deaths, for the first time in six months.
The Chinese government said Tuesday that more than 253,000 coronavirus cases have been found in the past three weeks and the daily average was increasing.
Foxconn and the local government have promised high wages and better working conditions to attract new workers to the factory.
Meanwhile, COVID curbs remain in place, with the factory stating that it would continue its “closed-loop” system to reduce risks of COVID-19 transmission.
The Foxconn facility in Zhengzhou can accommodate up to 350,000 factory workers, but it is not clear how many are currently employed by the factory. It is also unclear how many of them have left, or how many were affected by COVID-19 curbs implemented in the factory prior to their departure.
___
Zen Soo contributed from Hong Kong. AP news assistant Caroline Chen in Guangzhou, China, contributed. | 2022-11-23T07:06:50+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Reports-Employees-at-Chinese-iPhone-factory-17605633.php |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Nashville community is stepping up to throw the ultimate prom for a Nashville Christian School student who was reportedly not allowed to attend their senior prom for choosing to wear a suit instead of a dress.
“It was brave of them to make the sign and stand out in the front of their prom and it was powerful,” Nashville business owner Derek Van Mol explained.
The post by Nashville Christian School senior B Hayes on Instagram showed the student in a black suit holding a sign that said, “They wouldn’t let me in because I’m in a suit.”
In the post, B wrote, “I should not have to conform to femininity to attend my senior prom. I will not compromise who I am to fit in a box. Who are you to tell us what it means to be a woman?”
Nashville Christian School said in a statement that it has “established dress requirements for daily school attendance and at our special events. All students and families are aware of and sign an agreement to these guidelines when they enroll. The school’s expectations regarding appropriate prom attire were communicated to this student and the student’s family in advance of the prom.”
“It made me cry,” Marcie Allen Van Mol said of B’s Instagram post. “You want children to enjoy their childhood. These are supposed to be their best years of their life, and to not be able to attend a dance because you are not wearing the correct clothes? I mean, this is 2023. We need to do better, Nashville.”
As small business owners, the Van Mols — parents of two teens — used their platform to shift their anger and sadness into action.
Within 48 hours, numerous businesses and supporters were on board as the Van Mol’s offered to host the ultimate prom from B Hayes and 25 of their friends at their venue, AB Hillsboro Village.
“We are simply a venue and we are simply using our platform and our voices to help the children who don’t have their own platform and aren’t able to really share with the world how they feel. We are living in different times now and we need to open our hearts and be welcoming — inclusive of all people,” Marcie explained.
While the community plans to give B a night to remember, it’s the message of love and light that the Van Mol’s hope resonates.
“I hope it’s a domino effect. I hope that cities across the state and the country and the world see that one act of kindness can change someone’s life. We are Nashville natives and we are not going anywhere and we are not going to tolerate this kind of discrimination. Not on our watch.”
An East Nashville business owner started a GoFundMe to help the Van Mols with the prom. Actress Candace King, who lives in Nashville, donated $5,000 to launch the campaign, which has raised more than $25,000.
The extra funds will go to B’s charities of choice: Oasis Center and Inclusion Tennessee. | 2023-04-26T15:59:49+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/nashville-student-barred-from-prom-for-wearing-suit-getting-private-prom/ |
The Senate is set to move Wednesday toward enshrining marriage equality into federal law, a historic moment that elected leaders across the political spectrum say represents a milestone for Congress and the nation.
“Just a few years ago, there would not be the support there is today for protecting the marriages of people in interracial and same-sex marriages,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), who led the charge to pass the Respect for Marriage Act in the Senate, said Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday’s first procedural vote on the measure.
Baldwin, who in 2012 became the first openly gay person elected to the upper chamber, said the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, has been instrumental in changing the “hearts and minds” of those previously opposed to gay unions.
“Everybody knows couples that want nothing more than to make sure their families are protected like everyone else,” she told The Hill. “It’s heartening to see the progress.”
The Respect for Marriage Act, a version of which was passed by the House in July, seeks to address a national patchwork of marriage laws by requiring states to recognize interracial and same-sex marriages as legally valid if those ceremonies were performed in one of the 15 states without a constitutional amendment or statute that prohibits them.
It would also officially repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Both DOMA and individual state laws refusing to recognize same-sex marriages are unenforceable under protections established by the Obergefell ruling.
But the protections of Obergefell received a warning shot this summer from Justice Clarence Thomas, who, in a concurring opinion when the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to an abortion, said the rights to marriage equality and contraception should also be reconsidered by the high court. Thomas’s opinion set off alarm bells, spurring the Democratic-controlled House to act on the Respect for Marriage Act.
Senate Democrats had eyed a vote on the House-passed measure in September but agreed to delay until after the midterms when Republicans indicated it would increase the likelihood of it getting enough GOP support to overcome a filibuster.
“If I wanted to pass that and I was the majority leader and I wanted to get as many votes as I could possibly get, I’d wait until after the election to have the vote,” retiring Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said at the time.
Support for marriage equality among American voters hit an all-time high in June, and nearly 60 percent of adults in a July Politico and Morning Consult poll said the right to same-sex marriage should be shielded by federal legislation, including more than a third of Republicans and three-quarters of Democrats surveyed.
Even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which in 2008 spent millions of dollars to support California’s Proposition 8, which effectively banned gay marriage in the state, came out in support of the Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday.
“It’s incredibly important to me as an LGBTQ American, as someone who’s coming into Congress, to know that I have colleagues who are fighting on behalf of my rights,” said incoming Rep. Becca Balint (D), who in last week’s midterm elections became the first openly LGBTQ person and first woman sent to Congress from Vermont.
Balint told The Hill on Tuesday she doesn’t believe recent additions to the bill that bolster religious liberty protections are necessary, but “if that is what we need to do right now, I want to make progress.”
“I would always rather get half of a loaf than no loaf,” she said.
Just four Senate Republicans — Mitt Romney (Utah), Rob Portman (Ohio), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Susan Collins (Maine) — have backed the Respect for Marriage Act publicly, but senators including Baldwin and Portman have suggested the measure has enough bipartisan support to overcome a filibuster.
“It gives families all over America the peace of mind to know that their marriages are going to be valid in other states,” Portman, who is retiring after this Congress and whose conservative views on same-sex marriage shifted after his son, Will, came out as gay in 2011, told The Hill Tuesday. “I think that’s an important thing for us to assure people about.”
If the updated bill does advance through the Senate, it will return to the House for a vote.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday took procedural steps that set the groundwork for an initial Senate vote on the bill, which is slated for Wednesday.
“No American should ever, ever be discriminated against because of whom they love, and passing this bill would secure these much-needed safeguards into federal law,” Schumer said Monday.
Still, lawmakers agree that the bill isn’t a perfect solution and falls short of preventing the Supreme Court from overturning Obergefell and curtailing the rights of same-sex couples.
“It’s a workaround and it provides some stability and security for same-sex unions,” Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who voted in favor of the measure in the House, told The Hill Tuesday. “But the problem of extreme arrogance in the Supreme Court remains.”
“We have to do this because we’re worried about this — this is not a great thing,” Takano, one of nine openly gay House members, said Tuesday. “But it’s a happy day if the Senate moves on this.”
Aris Folley contributed. Updated at 10:13 a.m. | 2022-11-16T15:52:05+00:00 | wnct.com | https://www.wnct.com/news/politics/senate-on-verge-of-history-with-same-sex-marriage-vote/ |
Binaries be damned: What if God is genderless? What if God is trans?
In the new memoir Hijab Butch Blues, Lamya H takes what Leslie Feinberg started in 1993 with Stone Butch Blues — a complex depiction of gender and labor politics in 1970s-era America — and makes it true and holy. To Lamya, God isn't a man or a woman. "My God," they write, "transcends gender."
Lamya, a bored 14-year-old "nerd" who "never skips Quran class," wants to die. At the age of four, her parents had dragged her from her unknown, Urdu-speaking country of origin to live in a "rich Arab country," "in a "large metropolitan city" located "away from everything and everyone we knew." She's stuck in a system of "unspoken racial hierarchies." She becomes fascinated by her female economics teacher: "A hyperawareness of her coordinates at all times, like there's a long invisible string connecting us." She realizes she's gay — though she doesn't have the language for it yet.
The author's new identity seems to conflict with their faith, until deeper reads of stories from the Quran educate them and readers on Islam in an avant-garde way. Their curiosity keeps them alive. At 17, Lamya earns a scholarship and moves to the U.S. to pursue their education at an unnamed "prestigious college." A few years later, though, when they apply for a special visa extension, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services mistakenly sends their official mail to an old address. Lamya receives it too late, and they have to make a life altering decision: leave the country or fight for the new life they're building for themself.
Hijab Butch Blues is organized in three parts. The first one is all about Lamya's childhood and gender questioning. When Lamya tells her mother she'll never marry a man, her mother responds: "How will you live...? Who will take care of you?" Lamya's not sure. Readers get the CliffsNotes on Maryam, the East's "Virgin Mary," and Lamya sees the story with fresh eyes: "Did Maryam say that no man has touched her because she didn't like men?" Her teacher says no, but Lamya resists: "Isn't it obvious? Doesn't it make sense?... Maryam is a dyke."
In the second part, Lamya challenges the "authentically gay experience," e.g. coming out to your parents, frequenting lesbian bars, and explicitly defining your sexuality to others in order to be "legible." These goal posts aren't necessary, Lamya argues: Coming out to their parents "doesn't make sense." They "live across an ocean in a country where queerness... isn't an identity..." According to Lamya, all you need to be gay are your own "gay enough" activities. For them, that's "dosas every Thursday evening; watching the soccer world cup and picking which teams to cheer on based on anti-imperialism..."
They show readers how harrowing it is to navigate life in the U.S. in their "brown hijabi Muslim body," which is "seen as scary, disempowered, both hypervisible and invisible at the same time." Lamya learns to carry photocopies of their papers at all times. When their time in graduate school is nearing an end, 11 years have passed since they first arrived in the U.S. They've renewed their student visa four times: "Four times filling out extensive paperwork, four airplane trips to the one U.S. consulate in the country where my parents live... Four times being asked questions designed to trip me up: Can you tell me your parents' birthdays again? Have you ever been rejected for a visa before? You're not one of the ones we have to worry about, ha-ha-ha, right?" Lamya's life in the U.S. could end in a flash due to one bureaucratic blip.
The third and final part of the book is all about Lamya's internalized homophobia and their coming out. "Dating queer women will make my gayness real in ways it isn't when I'm crushing on straight girls," they realize. Several bad dates later, Lamya finds someone they want to keep seeing. At the same time, they buckle down on their faith and start a study group, finding new meaning in some of the Quran's "hardest verses to reconcile": the ones which, according to typical interpretations, condone "intimate partner violence" and unjust inheritance laws for men versus women, and condemn homosexuality: "What if Allah wants us to extrapolate gender inequality to class inequality," Lamya wonders, "... wants us to redistribute wealth?"
Hijab Butch Blues is more than a must-read. It's also a study guide on Islam, a handbook for abolitionists, and a queer manifesto. It inspires critical thinking, upholds activist self-care, and permits the defining of one's own queerness. Good vs. bad Muslim, straight vs. gay: That's all a trap. There are third options, too. By the end of it, readers will see queerness — theirs, others', and the concept --"for what it is: a miracle."
Ashlee Green (she/they) is a writer and editor living in Washington, D.C. Green is former managing editor of The Northside Chronicle; their work exploring gender and sexuality, power structures, personal freedom, and mental health has been published in HuffPost and The Rumpus. Find them on Twitter at @ashleegreenbean
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-02-13T11:36:10+00:00 | nprillinois.org | https://www.nprillinois.org/2023-02-13/hijab-butch-blues-challenges-stereotypes-and-upholds-activist-self-care |
TV stations in North Carolina have pulled controversial ads targeting Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Cheri Beasley.
Copyright 2022 North Carolina Public Radio – WUNC
TV stations in North Carolina have pulled controversial ads targeting Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Cheri Beasley.
Copyright 2022 North Carolina Public Radio – WUNC | 2022-06-05T13:38:18+00:00 | wksu.org | https://www.wksu.org/2022-06-05/tv-stations-pull-controversial-ads-targeting-democratic-senate-nominee-cheri-beasley |
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