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...DENSE FOG ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM TO 10 AM EST
WEDNESDAY...
* WHAT...Visibility one quarter mile or less in dense fog.
* WHERE...Portions of southeast Alabama, Big Bend and Panhandle
Florida and south central and southwest Georgia.
* WHEN...From 1 AM to 10 AM EST Wednesday.
* IMPACTS...Hazardous driving conditions due to low visibility.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If driving, slow down, use your headlights, and leave plenty of
distance ahead of you.
&&
“That woman?” Really, squawker? You remind me of former Sen. David Perdue. He pretended not to know how to pronounce VP Harris’ first name. This is despite the fact that both served together for years in the U.S. Senate. He showed his ignorance. You just joined him.
If the rumors about Lorenzo Heard are true, we won’t have to worry about him getting his hands on the county treasury. He’ll be in jail with Donald Trump, making license plates.
Trump is a traitor to this nation: “Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!”
If the Dougherty County School Board “earned” the highest designation, what does that say about the other school boards in the state?
I never would have believed a 79-year-old president would quote the lyrics to a song by U2. That Vaccinated Man
It kinda worries me that Trump would openly call for the overthrow of the Constitution and naming himself president. It doesn’t surprise me because that’s the kind of low-life he is. But what does bother me is that Republican officials refuse to condemn him, and so many of his blind-sheep followers shout “baaaa” as he calls for treasonous action.
Manager and assistant managers at Walmart on Ledo Road: Step out of your office and go to the electronics and photo department. Hopefully you are aware that this is a very busy department. One sweet lady was having to run it by herself. This is so wrong and should be corrected ASAP.
Crowing squawker, I just can’t follow your looney logic. The U.S. Constitution is only pesky to you fascist, woke socialists on the left side of freedom and democracy. And suspension of that fine document would only bring out 40 to 50 million members of the legally armed “citizen army” you are always trying to disarm. The Patriot
I talked with a couple of city and county leaders, and their take on the LOST fiasco is that they are not going to budge on the issue. Higher taxes, coming your way soon.
If Harry and Meghan were my chillun’, I would cut them off the royal teat faster than Lorena Bobbitt. What a disgrace.
Outside drop box at Post Office on Merideth Drive has been broken into again. This means we will have another month of having to park and go inside to mail letters. Any private business would install a security camera to stop these break-ins and put a heavy chain around the broken box.
I hate to break it to you, squawker, but Sir Isaac Newton didn’t invent gravity. He discovered or proved its existence. Much like Ben Franklin didn’t invent electricity: He discovered it. At my school, this was taught in Science not History class.
Equality Man, can’t you get over the fact that Donald Trump is not in the White House? Please try and get something else on your mind. Your beloved Biden is on the chopping block now; if we can only get the FBI to get their heads out of the sand.
APD sits on their butts — at doughnut shops and elsewhere — while crime skyrockets. They don’t need to go out and patrol, they have their school zone cameras raking in the money. Why aren’t these people patrolling rather than putting a squeeze on Albany drivers?
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Error! There was an error processing your request. | 2022-12-06T23:29:11+00:00 | albanyherald.com | https://www.albanyherald.com/features/squawkbox/article_7e70bbea-758d-11ed-b369-33b2724ced47.html |
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) _ Clorox Co. (CLX) on Thursday reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $99 million.
The Oakland, California-based company said it had net income of 80 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 98 cents per share.
The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 65 cents per share.
The consumer products maker posted revenue of $1.72 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.67 billion.
Clorox expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.05 to $4.30 per share.
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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CLX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CLX | 2023-02-02T22:28:17+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/business/article/clorox-fiscal-q2-earnings-snapshot-17760284.php |
DALLAS (AP) — The 30-year-old man charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of two Dallas hospital employees was on parole and had been given permission to be at the medical facility for the birth of a child, a Texas prison official said Sunday.
Nestor Hernandez was granted leave to be with his “significant other” at Methodist Dallas Medical Center during her delivery Saturday, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Amanda Hernandez. She said he’d been sentenced to prison for aggravated robbery and was released on parole last October, but did not provide additional details on the circumstances of the shooting.
Authorities have said Hernandez opened fire at the hospital around 11 a.m. Saturday and killed two staff members before being shot and injured by a hospital police officer. The victims have not been publicly identified and it’s unclear what led to the shooting.
Hernandez, who was wearing an ankle location monitor at the time, was taken to another hospital for treatment, hospital officials said Saturday. He was not listed Sunday in Dallas County jail records and it was not immediately clear whether he has a lawyer.
The Texas prison system’s Office of Inspector General is working with police to investigate the shooting, Amanda Hernandez said. Dallas police and a hospital spokesman declined Sunday to provide additional information on the shooting.
It follows hospital shootings in September in Little Rock, Arkansas, that killed a visitor and one in June in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that left four dead. | 2022-10-24T18:27:57+00:00 | wric.com | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/ap-official-dallas-shooter-was-attending-birth-at-hospital/ |
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Bird flu has returned to the Midwest earlier than authorities expected after a lull of several months, with the highly pathogenic disease being detected in two commercial turkey flocks in western Minnesota and a hobby flock in Indiana, officials said Wednesday.
The disease was detected after a farm in Meeker County reported an increase in mortality last weekend, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health said. The flock was euthanized to stop the spread. The board later reported that a second flock in the county tested positive Tuesday evening.
They were the first detections of avian influenza in Minnesota since May 31, when a backyard flock was struck in Becker County. Indiana’s case was its first since a backyard flock there tested positive June 8, which had been the last detection in the Midwest before this week.
However, there have been several detections in western states in July and August, including California, where a half-dozen commercial farms have had to kill more than 425,000 chickens and turkeys since last week. There have also been cases in Washington, Oregon and Utah, plus a few in some eastern states.
“While the timing of this detection is a bit sooner than we anticipated, we have been preparing for a resurgence of the avian influenza we dealt with this spring,” said Dr. Shauna Voss, the board’s senior veterinarian. “HPAI is here and biosecurity is the first line of defense to protect your birds.”
The Indiana State Board of Animal Health reported that a small hobby flock of chickens, ducks and geese in northern Indiana’s Elkhart County tested presumptively positive on Tuesday, though final confirmation from a federal lab was pending.
Across the country, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 414 flocks in 39 states have been affected since February, costing producers over 40 million birds, mostly commercial turkeys and chickens. The disease has struck 81 Minnesota flocks this year, requiring the killing of nearly 2.7 million birds.
Minnesota produces more turkeys annually than any other state.
This year’s outbreak contributed to a spike in egg and meat prices, and killed an alarming number of bald eagles and other wild birds. It also affected some zoos. It appeared to be waning in June, but officials warned then that another surge could take hold this fall.
The disease is typically carried by migrating birds. It only occasionally affects humans, such as farm workers, and the USDA keeps poultry from infected flocks out of the food supply. A widespread outbreak in 2015 killed 50 million birds across 15 states and cost the federal government nearly $1 billion. | 2022-09-01T13:48:56+00:00 | kxnet.com | https://www.kxnet.com/news/top-stories/deadly-bird-flu-returns-to-midwest-earlier-than-expected/ |
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A pipeline operator and two subsidiaries agreed Friday to plead guilty to negligently discharging oil off the Southern California coast in connection with a pipeline break that covered beaches with blobs of crude.
The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said in a statement that Houston-based Amplify Energy and two subsidiaries agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and pay a $7 million fine and nearly $6 million in expenses incurred by government entities, including the U.S. Coast Guard. The companies would also install a new leak detection system for pipeline and train employees to identify and respond to potential leaks, the statement said.
“Our nation’s environmental laws are designed to protect our communities and oceans from hazardous pollutants, including oil,” said Scot Adair, special agent in charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s criminal investigation division in California. “Amplify Energy’s agreement to plead guilty today demonstrates that companies that negligently violate those laws will be held responsible for their crimes.”
The plea agreements still need to be approved by U.S. District Judge David Carter.
Amplify Energy, which owns the pipeline that ruptured, said the company has been cooperating with the investigation into the spill and is committed to operating safely.
“We believe this resolution, which is subject to court review and approval, reflects the commitments we made immediately following the incident to impacted parties,” Martyn Willsher, Amplify's president, said in a statement.
The October 2021 leak in a pipeline that ferried crude oil from offshore platforms to the Southern California coast spilled about 25,000 gallons (94,600 liters) of oil into the Pacific Ocean.
While less severe than initially feared, the spill about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) offshore shuttered beaches in surf-friendly Huntington Beach and nearby communities for a week and fisheries for more than a month, oiled birds and threatened wetlands the region has been striving to restore.
“The Orange County oil spill was devastating for our environment, our community and our local businesses," said state Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris, who represents the area, in a statement.
U.S. prosecutors charged the companies late last year with the illegal discharge of oil and failure to respond to eight leak detection alarms over a 13-hour period that should have alerted them to the spill. The leak detection system alarm first sounded late in the afternoon on Oct. 1, but workers believed it was triggered by a change in the concentration of produced water in the pipeline earlier in the day, according to a copy of the plea agreement.
The alarm sounded repeatedly throughout the night and workers shut down the pipeline to investigate, then restarted it again. Before dawn on Oct. 2, a boat went out and traveled along the course of the undersea pipeline with flashlights but didn't see signs of a leak, according to the agreement.
It wasn't until a boat went out after daybreak that the spill was identified, the papers said.
In the plea agreement, Amplify contends that two ships dragged their anchors across the pipeline and damaged it during a January 2021 storm, but they weren't notified until after the October 2021 spill. Without this damage, Amplify, which has filed a civil claim against the ships, has argued that the spill would not have happened. | 2022-08-27T22:30:05+00:00 | wsls.com | https://www.wsls.com/business/2022/08/26/pipeline-operator-agrees-to-guilty-plea-in-california-spill/ |
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A career criminal whose rap sheet includes bank robberies and a murder conspiracy was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison for killing a New Jersey political consultant in exchange for money in 2014.
George Bratsenis, 74, pleaded guilty a year ago to a charge that he and another man accepted thousands of dollars from another political consultant, Sean Caddle, in exchange for killing Michael Galdieri. Galdieri was stabbed to death in his Jersey City apartment, which was then set on fire.
U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez imposed the 16-year sentence plus five years of supervised release on Wednesday in federal court in Newark.
A man who served time in a New Jersey prison with Bratsenis in the early 2000s, Bomani Africa, also pleaded guilty in the killing and was sentenced last month to 20 years. He named Bratsenis as the accomplice who helped kill Galdieri.
Revelations about Galdieri’s killing jolted political circles in a state infamous for dozens of political corruption convictions in recent decades and trickery like the 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal, which involved traffic jams purposely created near the busy George Washington Bridge for political retribution.
Caddle was well-known in northern New Jersey politics. His one-time clients included current Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and former Democratic state senator and gubernatorial candidate Raymond Lesniak.
Caddle’s plea agreement referred briefly and opaquely to him providing investigators with information, but didn’t say what. He pleaded to conspiring to commit murder-for-hire in January 2022 and hasn’t been sentenced yet..The U.S. attorney’s office has declined comment, as has an attorney for Bratsenis.
Questions still surround the case over why the plot was put in motion, how Caddle was linked to the two ex-convicts, and why federal prosecutors have said so little about the crime.
Less mysterious is the depth and breadth of Bratsenis’s criminal past.
Bratsenis served in the Marines from 1968 to 1974, and then began racking up convictions in Connecticut and New Jersey for drug, robbery and weapons offenses.
In the summer of 1980, according to Connecticut authorities, Bratsenis conspired with a former Stamford police lieutenant and two other men to murder a reputed drug courier, David Avnayim, whose body was found in the trunk of a car west of New Haven.
Bratsenis wasn’t charged until four years later, but eventually pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy.
By the time he was charged with Avnayim’s murder, Bratsenis was already behind bars, the result of a conviction for robbing a jewelry store in Little Falls, New Jersey, in 1983.
While behind bars in New Jersey, he plotted an escape attempt in which he planned to hide a bag of drugs in his rectum and explode it during a court appearance, forcing authorities to take him to a hospital where gunmen would spring him, according to published reports at the time.
The plot was foiled and Bratsenis eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
By the late 2000s, Bratsenis was in Northern State Prison in Newark, New Jersey, having spent more than 25 years behind bars. It was there, authorities in Connecticut alleged in court filings, that he befriended Africa, from Philadelphia, and the two began planning to rob banks when they were paroled.
Also housed at the prison during that time period was James Caddle, Sean Caddle’s brother, although it’s not known whether he knew Bratsenis or Africa. James Caddle died in 2016, according to an obituary posted online.
After being released from prison, authorities said Africa and Bratsenis robbed two Connecticut banks in Darien and Trumbull in 2014, including one weeks before Galdieri’s killing. Africa robbed a third bank with another man in Stratford later in 2014, prosecutors said. Both Bratsenis and Africa pleaded guilty and were sentenced to eight and 10 years in prison for the robberies, respectively. | 2023-03-30T18:36:52+00:00 | pahomepage.com | https://www.pahomepage.com/news/politics/hitman-in-new-jersey-murder-for-hire-sentenced-to-16-years/ |
Cop dies after overdosing on drugs he stole from evidence lockers, officials say
CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa. (WJAC) - The death of a Pennsylvania police officer by a drug overdose is under investigation.
West Hills Police Sergeant Michael Beblar, 40, died on June 13 from cardiac arrest as a result of an overdose. Officials said a toxicology report found fentanyl, hydrocodone and xylazine in his body.
Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees said his death was a result of him stealing and ingesting illegal drugs from a department evidence locker.
According to District Attorney Greg Neugebaur, investigators found drugs that were evidence from current and past cases in Beblar’s personal items.
“I think it’s safe to say this wasn’t a one-off occurrence. How long it was going on? Frankly, we’ll never know,” Neugebaur said.
Pennsylvania State Police officials said they’re investigating the West Hills Police Department concerning its evidence-holding protocol.
Authorities in the state said the incident comes as a shock to those who knew Beblar.
“The Beblar family has been extremely gracious throughout this process. They have expressed shock and surprise at his apparent drug usage. They are clearly a very strong family,” Neugebaur said.
The county DA said nine active cases are currently missing evidence or were tampered with.
Neugebaur added that it does not appear Beblar received drugs from sources outside of the police department.
Copyright 2023 WJAC via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-30T20:06:34+00:00 | wnem.com | https://www.wnem.com/2023/06/30/cop-dies-after-overdosing-drugs-he-stole-evidence-lockers-officials-say/ |
Life was upended for LaShonia Ingram over the last year, and a shadow still follows her around.
Search her name online, and the first result includes the words "fraud" and "most wanted."
"It was horrible. I couldn't get a job," says the 42-year-old mother from Memphis, Tennessee. "All doors were being closed in my face."
Ingram resorted to selling purses out of her trunk to support her family. She says even DoorDash and Uber wouldn't allow her to work with a felony charge.
Her alleged crime? Fraud.
The state of Tennessee accused her of living in nearby Horn Lake, Mississippi, while still being enrolled in the state's Medicaid program, known as TennCare. It all turned out to be a mix-up, but the damage to her reputation and finances was done.
Tennessee is one of the most aggressive states in the nation when it comes to policing possible Medicaid fraud among beneficiaries like Ingram. The state posts the names and photos of people arrested for alleged fraud on a government website and social media. Some even wind up on a so-called "most wanted" list, as if they were dangerous and on the run.
The list is maintained by Tennessee's Office of Inspector General. The office was launched in 2005 when most of the cases involved drug diversion: people were accused of using TennCare benefits to acquire massive quantities of narcotics to sell on the street. But as federal rules have slowed the illegal prescription drug market, arrests related to Medicaid are instead sweeping up people accused of moving out of state — often within the same community — without canceling their benefits.
An apparent clerical error leads to an arrest
Ingram was one of 28 Medicaid beneficiaries in Tennessee charged in 2022, according to the Tennessee OIG; more than a third of them were accused of not being a Tennessee resident, with many cases originating in the Memphis area where some of the suburbs are in Mississippi.
In Ingram's case, Tennessee announced her arrest in a press release, saying she "eluded" authorities for nearly a year. Ingram says she didn't have a clue about the charges until she got a ticket for not wearing her seatbelt.
"They pulled me over, and they said, 'you have a felony warrant.' And I said, 'quit lying,'" she recalls. "I've never been in trouble a day in my life."
It took $2,000 to bond out of jail and even more to hire an attorney. Not until more than six months later did prosecutors show her the evidence so she could refute the charges and clear her name.
The explanation ended up being pretty straightforward. During the time she was on Tennessee's Medicaid program and living in Memphis, she filed for divorce from her husband who lived nearby in Mississippi. She says they had been separated for years, but her driver's license still had the outdated Mississippi address.
After her arrest, Ingram showed her Tennessee lease and electric bills, and the Shelby County District Attorney dropped the felony charges.
Most states focus on health care provider fraud
Every state has an office to investigate Medicaid fraud committed by doctors and other health care providers, since that's usually where the most money can be recovered. Not as many crack down on patients like Tennessee does.
"We try to apply the law compassionately," Chad Holman, who leads the TennCare OIG, told NPR.
Some other states do have patient-focused units, but they don't necessarily name the accused publicly. For example, South Carolina keeps them anonymous even after they've agreed to reimburse the state.
Holman defends Tennessee's practice of posting a "most wanted" list for its Medicaid program. He says it's supposed to be a deterrent: "It's not to blast anyone or defame anyone. It's to simply take care of the business that's at hand, hold people accountable and do what we're here to do," he says.
As drug-related cases have diminished, enforcement has increasingly focused on ensuring that people enrolled in TennCare live in the state. In Memphis, 20 of the 27 Medicaid fraud cases since 2019 involved questions of state residency, according to the Shelby County District Attorney. And prosecutors have dropped at least a half dozen of those cases because the evidence was so weak.
Holman says his office won't overlook low-level offenses.
"This is not murder," he says. "But the legislature classified it as a felony, and that's the law that I'm here to enforce."
But enforcement is expensive. And Holman acknowledges it costs far more to run the TennCare fraud unit than the office will ever recoup from people on Medicaid, who are usually low-income to start with. Even if the state recovered every dollar from charges brought against beneficiaries in 2022, the total would amount to less than $900,000. The office has a budget of $6.4 million a year. Since its creation in 2005, the OIG has brought in less than $10 million and charged nearly 3,200 people with fraud, according to its own press releases.
And the rate of arrests has slowed dramatically. It now arrests fewer people in a year than it previously did in a single month.
A Medicaid 'cliff' is coming
At this point, about one in four Americans is on Medicaid or CHIP — the Children's Health Insurance Program. The number of people enrolled increased by more than 20 million since early 2020. And for the first time since the start of the pandemic, states are going to be verifying income and addresses over the next year. Millions of Americans could lose their Medicaid coverage as a result. It's up to each state to determine who is eligible and how to deal with potential fraud in the program.
Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, says policing fraud among TennCare beneficiaries takes time and money that could be spent on something more helpful.
"It'd be great if our leaders would get out of the gotcha game and get into the getting people healthy game," she says.
Especially now, as Medicaid programs are restarting checks on eligibility, Johnson says recipients shouldn't have to worry that a mistake could eventually get them arrested.
Despite the ordeal she went through, Ingram is bouncing back. Still, she has legal bills to pay and has grown more frustrated at being ensnared by the state's Medicaid dragnet.
"They made a big mistake," she says.
This story was produced in partnership with Nashville Public Radio and Kaiser Health News.
Copyright 2023 WPLN News | 2023-02-14T02:35:24+00:00 | upr.org | https://www.upr.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-02-13/in-tennessee-a-medicaid-mix-up-could-land-you-on-a-most-wanted-list |
After several days of gray skies, brighter conditions are on tap for Sunday and early next week. Overnight, you could encounter a little spotty rain, drizzle or fog with a weak disturbance, but things should clear up considerably on Sunday.
After clouds break on Sunday then we should see some sunshine return to the area for a couple of days. Expect dry weather to start the week with a mix of clouds and sun Monday and Tuesday.
TONIGHT: Spotty light rain/drizzle. Cloudy skies. Low 38
SUNDAY: More clouds than sun. High 45
Rain returns to the Miami Valley Tuesday night and Wednesday. Highs will be in the mid to upper 40s most of the week which is a little above average for this time of the year. | 2022-12-11T01:47:01+00:00 | wdtn.com | https://www.wdtn.com/weather/clouds-light-rain-drizzle-and-fog-sat-but-improving-on-sun/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rudy Giuliani, who as a member of Donald Trump’s legal team sought to overturn 2020 presidential election results in battleground states, was interviewed recently by investigators with the Justice Department special counsel’s office.
A spokesman for Giuliani confirmed he met with the special counsel. “The appearance was entirely voluntary and conducted in a professional manner,” Ted Goodman said in a statement.
A person familiar with the matter said the interview was not done before a grand jury. The person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, would not say what questions investigators asked.
The interview is an additional sign of busy investigative activity by special counsel Jack Smith as his team of prosecutors scrutinizes efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the election in the weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Smith filed a separate case earlier this month charging Trump with illegally retaining classified documents at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.
As a lawyer for Trump, Giuliani pushed bogus legal challenges to the presidential election results. The legal team filed lawsuits in battleground states raising unsupported claims of vast election fraud even though officials, including Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, said no such pervasive problems existed.
Giuliani’s efforts have made him a key figure in investigations. He was interviewed last year by a House committee that investigated the run-up to the Jan. 6 attack and by prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, who have been investigating efforts to subvert that state’s election.
Justice Department prosecutors have for months now been examining what role Trump legal advisers played in working to undo the election. Last July, John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who aided Trump’s efforts to challenge the election results, reported that federal agents had seized his phone.
A spokesman for the special counsel’s office did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
CNN first reported the interview with Giuliani.
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Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP | 2023-06-28T12:41:03+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/news/political-news/ap-politics/trump-lawyer-rudy-giuliani-interviewed-in-jan-6-investigation-ap-source-says/ |
Twitter executives put profit ahead of security, opening the platform to infiltration by foreign agents and hackers, the company's former head of security told Congress on Tuesday.
"Twitter leadership is misleading the public, lawmakers, regulators and even its own board of directors," Peiter "Mudge" Zatko told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The company's cybersecurity failures make it vulnerable to exploitation, causing real harm to real people."
In a federal whistleblower complaint made public last month, Zatko accused the company of lax security practices, neglecting user privacy, misleading regulators in violation of a 2011 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, and knowingly employing foreign government agents who had access to internal systems and data.
The complaint has raised alarm bells in Washington, given the platform's role as a place where government leaders, dissidents and businesses turn to get their message out.
Zatko's disclosures have also thrown a new twist into Twitter's legal battle with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is trying to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy the company. The billionaire has seized on Zatko's claims as further justification for walking away from the purchase without penalty.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed at Tuesday's hearing that the FBI had warned Twitter that a Chinese agent was on its payroll, a previously undisclosed detail from Zatko's complaint.
Zatko said Twitter struggled to identify potential infiltration by foreign agents and typically was only able to do so when notified by outside agencies. The company was "unwilling to put the effort in" to hunt down bad actors, he said.
In his testimony, Zatko painted a portrait of a company beset by widespread security issues and unable to understand the extent and implications of the data it collects.
"Twitter was a company that was managed by risk and by crises, instead of one that manages risk and crises. It would react to problems too late," Zatko testified.
Twitter's leaders were unwilling or unable to grapple with the scale of the problem and ignored warnings from him and other employees, Zatko said, accusing them of prioritizing business over security.
He quoted writer Upton Sinclair, saying: "It is difficult to get someone to understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding something."
The committee called the hearing soon after Zatko filed his whistleblower complaint.
"Twitter is an immensely powerful platform that cannot afford gaping security vulnerabilities," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the committee chairman, said on Tuesday. He compared Twitter to a bank, saying users reasonably expect the company to protect the information they use when they sign up for accounts.
Grassley, the committee's ranking member, slammed Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal for turning down an invitation to testify alongside Zatko. He said the CEO had declined due to Twitter's court battle with Musk.
"The business of this committee and protecting Americans from foreign influence is more important than Twitter's civil litigation in Delaware," Grassley said. "If these allegations are true, I don't see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter."
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment on Zatko's testimony on Tuesday. The company has previously said Zatko was fired for poor performance and that his complaint is "riddled with inaccuracies," and "opportunistically seeking to inflict harm."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-09-13T17:00:16+00:00 | mainepublic.org | https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2022-09-13/whistleblower-calls-out-twitters-sloppy-security-in-congressional-hearing |
WASHINGTON, D.C. (NewsNation) — After a string of deadly mass shootings in Buffalo, New York; Laguna Woods, California; Uvalde, Texas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, there were bipartisan efforts on Capitol Hill last week to discuss possible legislation to help combat violent gun crimes.
Policy efforts by lawmakers have not been uncommon after mass shooting tragedies, but little movement has been made in Congress in years.
One of the most talked-about measures in the latest round of Congressional discussions is one that could garner widespread support, even though it is controversial: red flag laws.
What are red flag laws?
Red flag laws allow certain people to petition a court to have firearms taken from someone they consider to be a possible threat to themselves or others. In most cases, a family member or the police have to petition a judge to order the removal of the firearms for a set period. Currently, 19 states and Washington, D.C., have adopted such a law.
How does it work?
In a state with a red flag law, a community member must first file a petition in court, asking for firearms to be confiscated from a person of concern.
Once the petition is filed, a judge will decide to grant or deny the request to remove guns and ban new firearm purchases. That person can appeal the decision.
In some states, only household family members or law enforcement can file a petition, but in others, it’s open to school employees, health professionals, roommates or extended family.
The length of time firearms are taken from the individual also varies, but it typically lasts up to a year. Of the state data reviewed by NewsNation, about one-third of petitions are denied every year.
Do existing red flag laws work?
In the 19 states where these laws exist, tens of thousands of petitions have been filed.
Although it is impossible to quantify the shootings that were prevented by state intervention, 75% of mass shooters tell someone they’re going to do it beforehand, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
In Florida, judges have ordered guns out of the hands of people deemed a danger to themselves or others more than 8,000 times since the law was passed in 2018, according to data by the Florida State Courts Administrator.
In its first year, Colorado’s red flag law produced fewer than 125 extreme risk protection orders, with courts denying 46 of those petitions, according to Pew Research.
One Duke Law analysis of Connecticut’s red flag law, in place since 1999, found that it had helped in averting suicides and intimate partner homicides.
“We do know extreme risk protection orders are being used in cases of mass shooting threats as well,” says April Zeoli, a criminal justice professor at Michigan State University.
What is Congress considering?
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., say they are making progress as they work out details of revised red flag legislation that they co-sponsored in 2019. Their updated proposal would establish federal grants for states to create or bolster red flag laws, but wouldn’t make it mandatory under federal law.
“There are more Republicans engaged in these conversations than ever before,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Thursday. “We’re talking about a bill that will make a difference. It’ll save lives, but it’s not everything I want. Not even close.”
While Democrats push for improving background check systems, raising the purchasing age from 18 to 21, or banning military-grade assault weapons altogether, red flag legislation has garnered the most bipartisan support.
What is the controversy?
“(The Uvalde shooting) is not an excuse to infringe on Second Amendment rights on law-abiding citizens,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said this week.
Red flag laws can be controversial for a few reasons. Judges can take away the right to a firearm from an individual, regardless of the person’s criminal record or mental health history, with no notice to the affected person. Some believe them to also unfairly discriminate against minority communities.
Under most of these red flag laws, there is no requirement that a person receives help if they are suffering from mental health issues — and although the person can appeal, this could take weeks after the initial order is imposed. | 2022-06-06T19:21:27+00:00 | wnct.com | https://www.wnct.com/news/faqs-whats-a-red-flag-law-and-why-is-it-controversial/ |
Deep down, David Crowder always knew he would make a Christmas album.
Yet, he hesitated.
“I didn’t know how many people would want to hear another version of a classic Christmas song,” he says. “I wanted to offer listeners more. That’s why I waited.”
Little did he know, all it was going to take was the right setting.
In his case, the universe began to point to a Christmas album when the producers of “The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” reached out to Crowder to use his family’s Atlanta home for the special.
“The Guardians want to give Star-Lord the best Christmas ever and the best thing they can think to give is Kevin Bacon,” Crowder says. “Of course, they can use my house. Then they turned my house into a Marvel wonderland. They bought every inflatable ever made. Christmas was all over.”
With inspiration all around him, Crowder headed to the studio to create what would become “Milk & Cookies: A Merry Crowder Christmas.”
Crowder will bring the songs from the album on tour when he stops with the “K-Love Christmas Tour,” on Monday, Dec. 5, at Kiva Auditorium.
Crowder will be joined by Matt Maher, Jordan S. Cyr and Katy Nichole on the tour.
“We’re having fun,” Crowder says. “It was our first night and the audience is just amazing. It’s a special time to be on the road.”
“Milk & Cookies” is comprised of classic Christmas songs, as well as some original tracks. The album was released on Oct. 21.
“Growing up, we waited until after Thanksgiving to play Christmas songs,” Crowder says. “Having the album released before that felt foreign to me. Now that it’s after Thanksgiving, I feel like I have permission from my mom to start singing some carols.”
The Christian musician says both Christmas and Easter are his favorite times of year.
“It doesn’t matter if you grew up in the church or not, these songs bring home the spirit of each time,” he says. “With the songs, you get to tell the story of grace and the gifts that we’ve been given.”
During his set on tour, Crowder will lean on the Christmas album heavily, but will put in many of his greatest hits.
“Getting to perform the songs is always a treat,” he says. “I’ve been lucky to have captured some really great music and energy within these songs. What I want to do every night I perform is create a magical experience.”
Crowder’s also looking forward to the opportunity to perform the Christmas songs for years to come.
“At the end of each year, I can bring the songs out again,” he says. “It’s a present each year.” | 2022-12-02T17:05:54+00:00 | abqjournal.com | https://www.abqjournal.com/2554694/what-inspired-crowder-to-create-milk-cookies-christmas-album.html |
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s opposition racked up a stunning majority of the 500 seats at stake in the race for the House of Representatives, dealing a major blow to the establishment parties and the former general who has led the Southeast Asian country since seizing power in a 2014 coup.
The results of Sunday’s general election are a strong repudiation of the country’s conservatives and reflect the disenchantment in particular of young voters who want to limit the influence of the military in politics and reform the monarchy.
But the exact shape of the new government is less clear as post-election coalition talks and behind-the-scene negotiations take center stage.
THE RESULTS
With almost all votes counted Monday, the Move Forward Party emerged as the big winner. It captured a projected 151 seats in the lower House by winning over 24% of the popular vote for 400 constituency seats, and more than 36% of the 100 seats allocated by proportional representation.
Tailing a close second is the main opposition Pheu Thai Party, whose combined seat total is projected at 141.
The party of incumbent Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army general who came to power in the 2014 coup, held the fifth spot in the constituency vote and third in the party-preference tally, for a projected total of 36 seats.
Voter turnout was about 75% of the 52 million registered voters.
WHAT NEXT?
Who becomes the next prime minister will depend on a vote set for July that includes all the House lawmakers plus the 250-seat military-appointed Senate, whose members share the establishment’s conservative policies. The winner must attain at least 376 of their combined 750 seats.
Opposition parties have criticized the process as undemocratic. It’s a legacy of the 2014 coup and a new constitution drafted in its aftermath that was meant to ensure that the military and the state bureaucracy, the main upholders of the royal order, continue to hold sway.
Analysts have pointed out that a lot can still happen before the Election Commission even declares the results valid, a process that can take up to 75 days and will almost certainly include legal challenges.
In the past, the commission and the courts have used their authority to disqualify opposition parties.
WHAT THE OPPOSITION WANTS?
Move Forward leader Pita Limjaroenrat tweeted that he is ready to bring about change as the country’s 30th prime minister.
“Whether you agree or disagree with me, I will be your prime minister. Whether you have voted for me or not, I will serve you,” he wrote.
Although he energized younger voters with his progressive agenda, the 42-year-old businessman has alarmed conservatives with calls for reform of the monarchy, the institution that has been traditionally treated as sacrosanct.
In 2019, the Constitutional Court ousted his colleague from Parliament on charges of violating the election law and dissolved the Future Forward party, which then changed its name and leadership to become Move Forward.
It had been supporting amending the draconian law that punishes defaming the monarchy, which according to critics has been used to as a tool to quash political dissent and imprison pro-democracy student activists.
Student-led protests beginning in 2020 openly criticized the monarchy, previously a taboo subject, leading to vigorous prosecutions under the law. They were also dismayed by the dissolution of the Future Forward party, which they believed was an unfair use of state power.
THAKSIN’S SHADOW
Pheu Thai is led by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the 36-year-old daughter of billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was toppled in a 2006 coup.
The power struggle between Thaksin’s supporters, many of them rural poor who benefited from his populist policies, and his conservative opponents has been fought — sometimes in the street, sometimes at the ballot box — for almost two decades.
In the 2014 coup, Prayuth unseated the government of Yingluck Shinawatra — Paetongtarn’s aunt, Thaksin’s sister — as prime minister. And Pheu Thai topped the field in the 2019 vote, only to be denied power when the army-backed Palang Pracharath Party found partners to assemble a coalition government.
Thaksin, 73, said before Sunday’s vote that he wants to return to Thailand from self-exile, even if it means facing justice, including several convictions on charges including abuse of power and corruption.
___
Hranjski reported from Zagreb, Croatia.
___
Find more of AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific | 2023-05-15T09:34:07+00:00 | wivb.com | https://www.wivb.com/news/what-lies-ahead-for-thailand-after-dramatic-opposition-election-win/ |
When Dadrian Taylor was on the Alamodome turf for the most important moments of last season, battling UAB for Conference USA’s West division championship or Western Kentucky for the league title, he sometimes felt a surge of emotion.
Coach Jeff Traylor said the closed-in acoustics of the Alamodome are “like no other place I’ve ever played before,” amplifying crowd noise to double the true attendance. On multiple occasions, he’s credited the Roadrunners supporters for pushing the team to last year’s tight wins over the Blazers and Hilltoppers.
Taylor said the players feed off the noise and energy.
“It’s indescribable,” Taylor said. “When it’s third and 10 or third and 12 and the crowd is getting into it, it’s like, ‘OK, we have an extra defender on the field.’”
But as helpful as the fan support can be, the blare also forces some adjustments for a Roadrunners defense that had long relied on communicating verbally.
Anticipating another raucous crowd as UTSA hosts No. 24 Houston at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the Alamodome, the Roadrunners piped crowd noise into some of this week’s practice periods to prepare for any distractions.
“There were a couple times in that dome, it got so loud, and our guys were so used to talking, that they didn’t do their hand signals,” defensive coordinator Jess Loepp said. “That’s where we had some miscommunication. Those are some things we’re working on. That game one, I’m telling you, it’s going to be as loud as it was that Western Kentucky game, so we have to understand. We have to make sure to communicate the best way possible.”
The focus on cohesion is meant to help solidify a defense that last year ranked next to last in the country by allowing 34 passing plays of 30 yards or more.
The Roadrunners ranked 14th nationally in rushing yards per game allowed but were outside the top 100 against the pass, though a pair of matchups against the Hilltoppers and their NCAA-leading aerial attack helped skew the numbers.
“There were times in the games where we were shutting the run down, shutting the run down, and then boom, a shot changed the game,” Taylor said. “That’s a big emphasis for us this year, covering the deep ball. You know we’re going to play physical defense and stop the run. That’s our main goal. And then just tidy up in the back, and I think we’ll be fine.”
While Loepp stressed UTSA’s need to “protect ourselves from the big play” and “eliminate some communication errors where we had guys running wide open,” Traylor brushed off the issue as a product of the Roadrunners’ approach.
Though Traylor identified a few missed assignments that “we have to clean up,” he also pointed to the Roadrunners’ penchant for press coverage, which often invites offenses to attempt throws over the top.
“I’m not as worried about that as (Loepp) is,” Traylor said. “I put my corners in some bad spots sometimes. As long as they’re down there competing, they’re never going to hear a word from me.”
Loepp said the Roadrunners tinkered with different alignments and formations through fall camp, preparing players for a variety of scenarios and positions ahead of a nonconference schedule that includes Army’s unorthodox triple-option offense.
The defense is anchored by returning starters including defensive linemen Brandon Brown and Brandon Matterson, linebackers Taylor, Trevor Harmanson and Jamal Ligon, cornerback Corey Mayfield and preseason Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year Rashad Wisdom at safety.
Defensive lineman Asyrus Simon, outside linebacker Trey Moore and cornerback Dywan Griffin are among the group expected to expand their roles from last season, while transfers cornerback Nicktroy Fortune from West Virginia and lineman Joe Evans from LSU are poised for an early impact.
With so much experience, Loepp said UTSA is “not going to try to do too much to where we confuse our kids,” keeping a straightforward approach to enable confidence.
“We’ll have some new wrinkles this year,” Loepp said. “But for the most part, we try to stay true to who we are, and that’s going to be that 3-4 and stop the run, and try to match up to them in the back end.”
Led by a veteran quarterback in Clayton Tune and standout receiver Nathaniel Dell, Houston will provide an early test, Traylor said.
Dell, who racked up 1,329 yards and 12 touchdowns last year, was described by Taylor as a shifty, quick playmaker with strong hands, comparable to former North Texas star Jaelon Darden, who is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Traylor said maintaining confidence and composure will be key for a UTSA defense that aims to rotate two or three players at most positions.
“It’ll be interesting to see,” Traylor said. “We have some guys back that have been playing for us for a long time, but we have a lot of new faces over there, as well. I’m excited to find out. We’ll know Saturday at 6, when it’s over, because we’re playing a very, very good offensive football team.”
greg.luca@express-news.net
Twitter: @GregLuca | 2022-09-02T00:04:22+00:00 | expressnews.com | https://www.expressnews.com/sports/colleges/utsa/article/UTSA-preparing-houston-college-football-17413918.php |
Cecilia Kay, Bishop Fenwick — The junior center amassed 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists to lift the Crusaders to a pivotal 49-45 win against Pentucket on Friday.
Hannah Martin, North Andover — The senior racked up 34 points and 12 rebounds in Thursday’s 62-34 win over Haverhill, then jump-started the Commonwealth Motors Classic on Tuesday with 20 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists in a 56-44 victory over Central Catholic.
Paige Meda, Bourne — The sophomore notched a career-high 26 points to lead the Canalmen in a narrow 50-49 win against Seekonk on Tuesday.
Alyssa Slamin, Holbrook — With 33 points, the senior captain lifted the Bulldogs to a 47-42 win against Bristol-Plymouth.
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Hialeah Turner-Foster, Mashpee — The senior became Mashpee’s third 1,000-point scorer with her 32-point outburst that highlighted a 59-40 triumph over Carver on Thursday.
Ella Williamson, Abington — The junior contributed 11 points in a 44-17 win against Randolph on Thursday, then tallied 28 points to lift the Green Wave to a 57-38 win against Plymouth South on Tuesday. | 2022-12-29T00:55:42+00:00 | bostonglobe.com | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/12/28/sports/emass-girls-basketball-with-54-points-20-rebounds-two-wins-north-andovers-hannah-martin-headlines-players-week/ |
SOMERVILLE, Mass., Nov. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GNS, the leader in the application of Causal AI and simulation and "Digital Twins" to discover new drugs, today announced two abstracts and two oral poster presentations highlighting insight from the Gemini Digital Twin models in Alzheimer's Disease and Multiple Myeloma will be included at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease conference (CTAD) in San Francisco and the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in New Orleans.
CTAD - Abstract Title: Causal in silico Patient Models can inform Alzheimer's Disease Patient Identification and Endpoint Selection for Early-Stage Clinical Trials
Authors: So-Youn Shin, Shokeen Deepanshi, Apoorva Bharthur, Todd Oakland, and Jeanne Latourelle
Location: Poster #158, Theme: Cognitive Assessment and Clinical Trials
Date: Friday, December 2nd, 2022, 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
ASH - Abstract Title: Causal AI in silico Patient Model Identifies Minichromosome Maintenance (MCM) Family Genes as Novel Predictors for Overall Survival in Multiple Myeloma
Authors: Daniel Vagie, Derek Walkama, Laurel Mayhew, Todd Oakland, and Bruce Church
Location: Session 803, Emerging Tools, Techniques and Artificial Intelligence in Hematology: Poster III
Date: Monday, December 12, 2022, 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
In accordance with CTAD and ASH policies, abstracts and posters submitted are embargoed from the time of submission. Full text of both abstracts and posters will be made available on GNS website following their respective presentations at the conferences.
GNS is the leader in the application of Causal AI and simulation technology to discover novel therapeutics and simulate clinical trials. GNS' patented AI uncovers new insights from multi-omics patient data leading to the discovery and prioritization of novel biological targets, and more efficient clinical trials with patients who are likely to respond to therapies. The Gemini Digital Twin models across oncology, auto-immune diseases, and neurology enable the simulation of disease progression and drug response at the individual patient level to simulate clinical trials in diverse patient cohorts. GNS' partners include seven out of the top ten pharmaceutical companies, leading research centers, medical societies, and patient advocacy groups globally. Our advisory board consists of a renowned group of scientific and medical experts.
For more information, please visit www.gnshealthcare.com
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Twitter
Media Contacts:
Zena Sfeir
Director of Marketing
zsfeir@gnshealthcare.com
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SOURCE GNS | 2022-11-23T17:03:13+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2022/11/23/gns-announces-abstract-oral-poster-presentation-ctad-amp-ash-2022-annual-conferences/ |
Those looking for a new home in today’s market are finding a host of challenges while doing so. Here are five things that potential home buyers should know as they work to find a place.
1) The housing market isn’t showing any signs of clearing up.
The cost of housing construction has gone up 19 percent for building materials alone over the course of the last year, according to Eric Farrell, CEO of the Home Builders Association of Dayton.
Add to that a labor shortage, transportation costs and energy costs, and what you end up with is the housing market “staring into the face of a perfect storm,” Farrell told this news outlet Monday.
2) Interest rates continue to rise
Interest rates have been climbing consistently for the last few months and last week the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points (0.75%). That federal rate contributes to other interest rates, including the average for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, which is now 5.78%. Both the increase and the mortgage rate are the highest they’ve been in years.
The 30-year mortgage rate was 3.3% in the early 2020s, 4.1% in the early 2010s and north of 6% in the early 2000s. In the 1970s to 1990s, they ranged from 8% to The mortgage interest rate remained north of 8% throughout the 1990s, north of 12.5% throughout the 1980s and close to 9% in the 1970s.
“They are still historically low, but from a recency standpoint, they definitely are high,” he said.
3) There’s a shortfall of homes
Economists say the nation is anywhere from 1 million to 5 million homes short of what it needs to keep up with demand, Farrell said.
“The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission did a comprehensive housing study,” he said. “The city of Dayton has done comprehensive housing studies and I would ... argue that we’re probably 20,000 homes short of where we need to be.”
The biggest challenge on the local level is ensuring that there are enough homes being built to accommodate an influx of jobs and, with it, people moving to a given city or the region as a whole to fill them, he said.
4) It’s costing home builders more to build a home
National Home Builders Association data shows the cost of most materials used to build a home are spiking, Farrell said. “We’re looking at about a 20% increase at the cost of a new construction home right now with all the other materials,” he said.
That means a more expensive home for those wanting to buy a new home.
5) Fewer homes are being built in the Dayton area
Supply chain issues have led to home builders to be cautious in the ramp up in production because they do not know when they are going to get materials and do not know how much those materials are going to cost when they get them.
A total of 236 single-family permits were issued in April 2022, compared to 365 in 2021, representing a 35.3% decrease, according to HBA of Dayton permit data,
6) Only one of the five “L’s” can be controlled
When it comes to housing, there are five Ls: labor, lumber (which is considered materials), land, lending and laws, Farrell said. Only the last one can be controlled and “is something we can have real conversations about at the local level,” Farrell said.
Things local government can examine and possible adjust include permitting laws, zoning regulations, land use policies and building specs, he said.
About the Author | 2022-06-21T15:49:23+00:00 | daytondailynews.com | https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/buying-a-home-6-things-to-know-in-todays-dayton-market/I5VQVMMALZAZ5CZJIBGAS2OR2E/ |
LAWRENCE, Mass., June 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On Belay Health Solutions, the company on a mission to empower primary care practices to succeed in value-based care, today announced the addition of two executives to the team who will be instrumental in scaling clinical affairs and program support.
- Dr. Bob LoNigro joins as Senior Vice President, Clinical Affairs
- Kate Casaday joins as Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Program Management
"We are energized by the expertise Dr. LoNigro and Kate bring to our team," said Andrew Allison, Co-Founder and CEO of On Belay. "Bob's extensive clinical leadership experience, supporting thousands of physicians in value-based care, combined with Kate's deep understanding of value-based operations and innovative approaches to driving physician engagement, positions On Belay to significantly enhance patient health outcomes and strengthen the financial foundation of our provider partners."
Dr. Bob LoNigro joins as Senior Vice President, Clinical Affairs. He brings more than 30 years of managed care experience to On Belay. As a board-certified internal medicine physician, who remains in practice, he has held C-suite leadership roles with provider and payer organizations at national and local levels. Prior to joining On Belay, he served as the President and Chief Physician Executive of MSO/IPA, HealthCare Partners NY. "On Belay's mission aligns perfectly with my lifelong efforts to improve the experience of primary care providers. I'm ready to help providers and their teams lean on tools and resources that can improve patient outcomes and their own value-based journey," LoNigro said.
Kate Casaday joins as Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Program Management. She brings a robust public health and business background to On Belay after working on Optum Care's ACO REACH program and full-risk MA partnerships in the Tri-State region. Prior to that, she stood up the Next Generation ACO program and Direct Contracting as an early hire on CareMount Value Partners MSO's Medicare risk team. She earned a Masters of Public Health from Columbia and an MBA from The Wharton School. "There's a lot of opportunity to do good work, well, for the right reasons." Casaday said.
On Belay recently announced the expansion of its leadership team with Beth Patak, Executive Director, Government Programs & ACO Operations, and Megan Sufka, Chief People Officer. On Belay has doubled in size in the last six months and is hiring at a fast pace to meet the needs of its growing physician base.
About On Belay Health Solutions
On Belay Health Solutions is on a mission to empower primary care providers to deliver the best possible care, while optimizing their financial and operational performance. On Belay supports practices in successfully transitioning to value-based care with solutions that improve patient outcomes and care team experience. On Belay currently operates in 15 states, including Washington D.C., partnering with practices to create a brighter, more sustainable future for healthcare. Learn more at www.obhs.com.
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SOURCE On Belay Holdings, Inc. | 2023-06-15T12:59:34+00:00 | wbrc.com | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/06/15/belay-grows-leadership-team-scale-clinical-program-support-practices-value-based-care/ |
Canadian aircraft has detected underwater noises in search for missing sub near Titanic
(AP) - A Canadian military surveillance aircraft has detected underwater noises as a massive search continued early Wednesday in a remote part of the North Atlantic for a submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic.
A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be, though it offered a glimmer of hope for those lost abroad the Titan as estimates suggest as little as a day’s worth of oxygen could be left if the vessel is still functioning.
Meanwhile, questions remain about how teams could reach the lost submersible, which could be as deep as about 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) below the surface near the watery tomb of the historic ocean liner.
Lost aboard the vessel are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert.
The Coast Guard wrote on Twitter that a Canadian P-3 Orion had “detected underwater noises in the search area.” Searchers then moved an underwater robot to that area to search. However, those searches “have yielded negative results but continue.”
“The data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans,” the Coast Guard said.
Three C-17 transport planes from the U.S. military have been used to move commercial submersible and support equipment from Buffalo, New York, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to aid in the search, a spokesperson for U.S. Air Mobility Command said.
The Canadian military said it provided a patrol aircraft and two surface ships, including one that specializes in dive medicine. It also dropped sonar buoys to listen for any sounds from the Titan.
Rescuers have been racing against the clock because even under the best of circumstances the vessel could run out of oxygen by Thursday morning.
In addition to an international array of ships and planes, an underwater robot had started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic and there was a push to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the sub is found.
Authorities reported the carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night, setting off the search in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s.
The submersible had a four-day oxygen supply when it put to sea around 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, which oversaw the mission.
CBS News journalist David Pogue, who traveled to the Titanic aboard the Titan last year, said the vehicle uses two communication systems: text messages that go back and forth to a surface ship and safety pings that are emitted every 15 minutes to indicate that the sub is still working.
Both of those systems stopped about an hour and 45 minutes after the Titan submerged.
“There are only two things that could mean. Either they lost all power or the ship developed a hull breach and it imploded instantly. Both of those are devastatingly hopeless,” Pogue told the Canadian CBC network on Tuesday.
The submersible had seven backup systems to return to the surface, including sandbags and lead pipes that drop off and an inflatable balloon. One system is designed to work even if everyone aboard is unconscious, Pogue said.
___
Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-21T05:27:23+00:00 | wcjb.com | https://www.wcjb.com/2023/06/21/report-banging-sounds-heard-during-titan-submersible-search-according-internal-memo/ |
Wheat for Jul. lost 13.25 cents at $6.4750 a bushel; Jul. corn fell 11.25 cents at $5.8125 a bushel, Jul. oats was up 4 cents at 3.45 a bushel; while Jul. soybeans declined 36.75 cents at $13.64 a bushel.
Beef was lower and pork was higher on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Jun. live cattle was off .45 cent at $1.6387 a pound; May. feeder cattle fell .80 cent at $2.0570 a pound; while Jun. lean hogs rose 1.05 cents at $.8720 a pound. | 2023-05-16T20:28:43+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/business/article/grains-mostly-lower-and-livestock-mixed-18102837.php |
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to confirm the new U.S. ambassador to Russia.
Hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expected to arrive in Washington for a historic visit, senators voted to 93-2 to confirm veteran diplomat Lynne M. Tracy as the new ambassador to Russia. Some viewed it as a signal of the American commitment to war-torn Ukraine as it confronts the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened the chamber’s session by saying that Wednesday’s passage of a fresh $45 billion military aid package for Ukraine and confirmation of the new U.S. ambassador to Russia would send a strong signal that Americans stand “unequivocally” with the Ukrainian people.
Tracy, a career member of the Foreign Service who previously served as ambassador to Armenia, “will be tasked with standing up to Putin,” Schumer said. The only two votes against Tracy came from GOP Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky, both of whom have been skeptical of the administration’s support for Ukraine.
Tracy will oversee an embassy in Moscow that has been decimated in terms of staffing as U.S.-Russia ties have plummeted over the war in Ukraine along with several long-standing and unrelated diplomatic disputes over personnel and facilities and compounded by disagreements over arms control.
Tracy, who speaks Russian, previously served as a senior adviser for Russian affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. She also held several posts in Central and South Asia.
The previous U.S. ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, left Russia in early September in a departure that had been expected but was accelerated by the failing health of his wife, who died a day after his return to the United States.
Tracy is well-regarded within diplomatic circles and received a State Department heroism award from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009.
While leading the U.S. consulate in Peshawar in Pakistan’s insurgency-ridden border regions, Tracy survived an attack on her by a gunman that left her vehicle riddled with bullets, but insisted on going to work that day and staying on post, even as security concerns compelled the consulate to trim its staff.
Tracy also received the State Department’s distinguished honor award for her work as the embassy deputy in Moscow.
___
AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed. | 2022-12-22T06:48:57+00:00 | fox59.com | https://fox59.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-senate-confirms-new-u-s-ambassador-to-russia/ |
Former Kentucky congressman Carroll Hubbard dead at 85
PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Carroll Hubbard of Kentucky, who served nine terms in the House, spent time in prison and was disbarred twice, has died. He was 85. Byrn Funeral Home in Mayfield said Hubbard died Saturday at a nursing facility in Paducah. A Democrat also known for acts of kindness, he was elected to the Kentucky Senate in 1967 and served there until 1974, when he was elected to Congress from Kentucky’s 1st District. He remained in the House for 18 years but lost his bid for a 10th term in 1992 following the House banking scandal. Hubbard served more than two years in prison after pleading guilty to charges including conspiracy and obstruction of justice. | 2022-11-15T02:53:09+00:00 | keyt.com | https://keyt.com/news/2022/11/14/former-kentucky-congressman-carroll-hubbard-dead-at-85/ |
Police video shows Idaho killings suspect in traffic stop
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — Newly released body camera video shows the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students being pulled over for allegedly running a red light about a month before the killings.
The video shows Washington State University campus police stopping Bryan Kohberger on Oct. 14, 2022, in Pullman, the Idaho Statesman reported Thursday.
During the nearly 10-minute video, WSU Police Officer Isobel Luengas parks her vehicle behind Kohberger’s 2015 Hyundai Elantra in a parking lot. Luengas approaches Kohberger as he sits in the car and she says he drove through a red light. She asks for Kohberger’s license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance.
Kohberger tells the officer he was stuck in the middle of the intersection.
“I was behind you the whole time,” she said. “You’re not supposed to enter the intersection at all for that reason because if the light turns red, then you’re stuck in the intersection.”
Kohberger, then a WSU graduate student living in Pullman, says he is unfamiliar with how to drive through crosswalks because he’s from rural Pennsylvania and asks for further explanation.
“It never even occurred to me that was actually something wrong,” Kohberger said. “I’m just curious about the law. I don’t mean to disagree with anything.”
Luengas notes in the video that Kohberger’s registration was current, with an expiration of Nov. 22, 2022. The officer eventually lets him go with a warning.
Kohberger, 28, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and burglary in connection with the stabbing deaths in Moscow, Idaho.
The bodies of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were found on Nov. 13, 2022, at a rental home across the street from the University of Idaho campus.
The slayings shocked the Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University.
Kohberger remains in custody with a court hearing set for late June.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-05-05T09:24:23+00:00 | kalb.com | https://www.kalb.com/2023/05/05/police-video-shows-idaho-killings-suspect-traffic-stop/ |
47 Years Ago: Reba McEntire Signs Her First Recording Contract
Forty-seven years ago today, on Nov. 11, 1975, Reba McEntire's career as a country music singer officially began: It was on that date that the then-20-year-old signed her first recording contract, with Mercury Records.
McEntire was already singing in a group, the Singing McEntires, with her brother Pake and sister Susie at the time she signed her first record deal. The Singing McEntires performed at rodeos and recorded and released one single, "The Ballad of John McEntire," together -- but the future country legend, who was also a successful barrel racer, wasn't sure that she wanted to pursue music full time, so she enrolled in Southeastern Oklahoma State University, with plans to be an elementary school teacher, like her mother.
While still enrolled in college, McEntire was invited to perform the National Anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City, Okla. Country singer Red Stegall was in attendance and, impressed by what he heard, offered to help the young singer secure a recording contract. McEntire recorded a demo tape while on Spring Break in 1975, and Stegall took it to several labels in Nashville.
After officially signing with Mercury, McEntire made her first recording on Jan. 22, 1976, when she recorded "I Don't Want to Be a One-Night Stand." That song became McEntire's first single, from her self-titled debut album, which was released in August of 1977. Although two other singles from the album, "There's Nothing Like the Love (Between a Woman and a Man)" and "Glad I Waited Just for You," were released, the record failed to produce any hits.
However, Mercury Records saw something in McEntire and released the young star's sophomore album, Out of a Dream. That record produced her first Top 30 single, "Last Night, Ev'ry Night," and her first Top 20 single, "Sweet Dreams."
McEntire released six albums on Mercury Records before switching to MCA, on which she released 18 more albums. In 2009 and 2010, she released albums with Valory Music Group, and in 2014, McEntire signed with Nash Icon. To date, the country icon has sold more than 85 million albums and remains one of the best-selling female artists of all time.
PICTURES: Reba McEntire Through the Years
WATCH: Reba McEntire Plays "Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?" | 2022-11-11T09:24:09+00:00 | knue.com | https://knue.com/reba-mcentire-first-record-deal/ |
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk is under contract to the Florida Panthers for much of the next decade. So is fellow All-Star Aleksander Barkov. And right there are two compelling reasons for players to join the Panthers in the coming years.
The last few days might have helped the recruiting pitch, too.
Many of hockey’s best players spent three or four days in South Florida. Some got in the ocean. Some golfed. Some just enjoyed the sun.
Playing host to the NHL's midseason showcase and showing the all-stars what hockey can be like in the Panthers’ market — in Florida, in winter — could pay off in the long run.
"Barky's been here a long time, signed eight years, wants to be here, wants to be here for like the remainder of his time here. That shows the hockey side that it's a great place to play hockey and it's a great winning culture," said Tkachuk, the MVP of the All-Star Game. "It starts with your best player, your captain. But then there's the off-ice part and everything that comes to play in Florida. Basically, everything guys are seeing now ... like, wow."
Wow, indeed. So much about the Panthers has changed over the last few years, and All-Star weekend was both confirmation and affirmation. Long gone are the days of the team continually hearing rumors about moving out of south Florida. So, too, are the days of the franchise being a doormat.
“This franchise was never moving anywhere,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “The closest it came was when they were in Miami and we were working to get a building because they couldn’t stay in the old Miami Arena. Since they got the arena in Sunrise, there’s never been an issue. And frankly, having the Violas' ownership of this franchise, it’s not only phenomenal, it’s game-changing — pun intended.”
This September will mark the 10th anniversary of Vincent Viola buying the franchise. Recently, attendance has gotten better. Hope has been building. The team won the President’s Trophy last season and a playoff series for the first time since 1996.
This season hasn’t gone according to plan, thanks in large part to injuries. And while the Panthers are far from doomed in the playoff race, they have some serious ground to make up over the final 30 games.
“There’s no quick-fixes,” Florida Panthers president Matthew Caldwell said. “But now, we just feel like we’re structurally, financially, long-term stable.”
They're also investing: The Panthers are refurbishing the War Memorial in Fort Lauderdale, which will become the team’s new practice headquarters starting next season, and plan to start more community outreach programs.
The core of the team is set for years. The infrastructure is in place. Ownership has shown it'll spend what is required. And the Panthers can only hope some All-Stars this weekend took notice.
“South Florida’s a hockey town,” Caldwell said. “It took us a long time. But here we are.”
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Credit: Marta Lavandier
Credit: Marta Lavandier
Credit: Marta Lavandier
Credit: Marta Lavandier
Credit: Marta Lavandier
Credit: Marta Lavandier
Credit: Lynne Sladky
Credit: Lynne Sladky
Credit: Lynne Sladky
Credit: Lynne Sladky | 2023-02-05T15:17:16+00:00 | springfieldnewssun.com | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/panthers-hope-all-star-weekend-showcased-teams-investment/QK6HGOOW5NBCZEQSTPSIZVP5WU/ |
WELLINGTON – A satellite the size of a microwave oven successfully broke free from its orbit around Earth on Monday and is headed toward the moon, the latest step in NASA's plan to land astronauts on the lunar surface again.
It's been an unusual journey already for the Capstone satellite. It was launched six days ago from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula by the company Rocket Lab in one of their small Electron rockets. It will take another four months for the satellite to reach the moon, as it cruises along using minimal energy.
Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck told The Associated Press it was hard to put his excitement into words.
“It's probably going to take a while to sink in. It's been a project that has taken us two, two-and-a-half years and is just incredibly, incredibly difficult to execute,” he said. “So to see it all come together tonight and see that spacecraft on its way to the moon, it's just absolutely epic.”
Beck said the relatively low cost of the mission — NASA put it at $32.7 million — marked the beginning of a new era for space exploration.
“For some tens of millions of dollars, there is now a rocket and a spacecraft that can take you to the moon, to asteroids, to Venus, to Mars,” Beck said. “It’s an insane capability that’s never existed before.”
If the rest of the mission is successful, the Capstone satellite will send back vital information for months as the first to take a new orbit around the moon called a near-rectilinear halo orbit: a stretched-out egg shape with one end of the orbit passing close to the moon and the other far from it.
Eventually, NASA plans to put a space station called Gateway into the orbital path, from which astronauts can descend to the moon’s surface as part of its Artemis program.
Beck said the advantage of the new orbit is that it minimizes fuel use and allows the satellite — or a space station — to stay in constant contact with Earth.
The Electron rocket that launched June 28 from New Zealand was carrying a second spacecraft called Photon, which separated after nine minutes. The satellite was carried for six days in Photon, with the spacecraft's engines firing periodically to raise its orbit farther and farther from Earth.
A final engine burst Monday allowed Photon to break from Earth's gravitational pull and send the satellite on its way. The plan now is for the 25-kilogram (55-pound) satellite to far overshoot the moon before falling back into the new lunar orbit Nov. 13. The satellite will use tiny amounts of fuel to make a few planned trajectory course corrections along the way.
Beck said they would decide over the coming days what to do with Photon, which had completed its tasks and still had a bit of fuel left in the tank.
“There’s a number of really cool missions that we can actually do with it," Beck said.
For the mission, NASA teamed up with two commercial companies: California-based Rocket Lab and Colorado-based Advanced Space, which owns and operates the Capstone satellite. | 2022-07-04T11:53:32+00:00 | wsls.com | https://www.wsls.com/tech/2022/07/04/nasa-satellite-breaks-from-orbit-around-earth-heads-to-moon/ |
Delivers Record Full-Year Net Income and Achievement of Medium-Term Financial Targets
2022 Fourth-Quarter Highlights:
- Earnings per common share (EPS) for the quarter were $0.42, an increase of $0.03 from the prior quarter. Excluding the after tax impact of Notable Items, adjusted earnings per common share were $0.43.
- Net interest income increased $58 million, or 4%, from the prior quarter, reflecting net interest margin expansion of 10 basis points to 3.52% and higher average total loans and leases.
- Pre-Provision Net Revenue (PPNR) increased $36 million, or 4%, from the prior quarter to $893 million. Excluding Notable Items, adjusted PPNR increased $41 million, or 5%, from the prior quarter to $908 million.
- Average total loans and leases increased $1.9 billion, or 2%, from the prior quarter to $118.9 billion. Excluding the decrease in PPP loans, average total loans and leases increased $2.1 billion, or 2%, from the prior quarter.
- Ending total deposits increased $1.6 billion and average total deposits decreased $336 million from the prior quarter.
- Net charge-offs of 0.17% of average total loans and leases for the quarter.
- Nonperforming assets have declined six consecutive quarters.
- Allowance for credit losses (ACL) of $2.3 billion, or 1.90%, of total loans and leases at quarter end.
- Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) risk-based capital ratio increased to 9.44%, within our 9% to 10% operating guideline.
- Board of Directors approved a $1 billion share repurchase authorization for the next eight quarters.
2022 Full-Year Highlights Compared to Full-Year 2021:
- Earnings per common share (EPS) for the year were $1.45, an increase of $0.55. Excluding after tax impact of Notable Items, adjusted earnings per common share were $1.50.
- PPNR increased $1.4 billion, or 88%, from the prior year to $3.1 billion. Excluding Notable Items, adjusted PPNR increased $0.8 billion, or 36%, to $3.2 billion, reflecting the benefits of the TCF Financial Corporation ("TCF") acquisition and organic growth.
- Net income attributable to Huntington Bancshares Incorporated increased 73% to $2.2 billion.
- Maintained solid credit quality with net charge-offs of 0.11% of average total loans and leases.
- Completed the cost synergy program related to the acquisition of TCF.
- Delivered on efficiency strategies through the continued optimization of the branch network by closing 63 branches during the year and announcement of an additional 31 branch closures to occur in the first quarter of 2023.
- Successfully implemented additional Fair Play enhancements and expanded expertise and capabilities with the acquisitions of Capstone Partners and Torana.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (Nasdaq: HBAN) reported net income for the 2022 fourth quarter of $645 million, or $0.42 per common share, an increase of $244 million, or $0.16 per common share from the year-ago quarter.
Return on average assets was 1.41%, return on average common equity was 16.0%, return on average tangible common equity (ROTCE) was 26.0%.
CEO Commentary:
"We are very pleased with our outstanding financial performance for the fourth quarter which included the fourth consecutive quarter of record PPNR," said Steve Steinour, chairman, president and CEO. "The year was marked by the successful execution of key strategic initiatives and acquisition synergies which further expanded our capabilities and supported the achievement of our medium-term financial targets.
"Record full-year PPNR was driven by higher net interest income and noninterest income, along with disciplined expense management. We delivered broad-based loan growth and continued to grow our high quality deposit base over the course of the year. Strategic areas of focus for fee income also expanded, with capital markets achieving record revenue, with strong core performance plus the acquisition of Capstone. We completed the cost synergies from TCF, which provided additional scale and efficiencies in numerous areas across the bank, even as we continued to invest in key revenue-producing initiatives.
"Credit continued to perform very well, with full-year net charge-offs of 11 basis points, well below our through-the-cycle target, and nonperforming assets declined for the sixth consecutive quarter.
"Given our growing capital base, and robust profitability profile, we are pleased to announce a share repurchase program as we enter the new year, consistent with our capital priorities. While we recognize the uncertain economic outlook on the horizon, we enter 2023 from a position of strength. Huntington has never been better positioned to navigate through various economic scenarios, with solid capital levels and top tier reserve profile guided by our aggregate moderate-to-low risk appetite through the cycle. Business line momentum continues in the new year and we are driving value for shareholders."
The fourth quarter 2022 earnings materials, including the detailed earnings press release, quarterly financial supplement, and conference call slide presentation, are available on the Investor Relations section of Huntington's website, http://huntington.com/ In addition, the financial results will be furnished on a Form 8-K that will be available on the Securities and Exchange Commission website at www.sec.gov.
Conference Call / Webcast Information
Huntington's senior management will host an earnings conference call on January 20, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. (Eastern Time). The call may be accessed via a live Internet webcast at the Investor Relations section of Huntington's website, www.huntington.com, or through a dial-in telephone number at (877) 407-8029; Conference ID #13734972. Slides will be available in the Investor Relations section of Huntington's website about an hour prior to the call. A replay of the webcast will be archived in the Investor Relations section of Huntington's website. A telephone replay will be available approximately two hours after the completion of the call through January 28, 2023 at (877) 660-6853 or (201) 612-7415; conference ID #13734972.
Please see the 2022 Fourth Quarter Quarterly Financial Supplement for additional detailed financial performance metrics. This document can be found on the Investor Relations section of Huntington's website, http://www.huntington.com.
About Huntington
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is a $183 billion asset regional bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1866, The Huntington National Bank and its affiliates provide consumers, small and middle–market businesses, corporations, municipalities, and other organizations with a comprehensive suite of banking, payments, wealth management, and risk management products and services. Huntington operates more than 1,000 branches in 11 states, with certain businesses operating in extended geographies. Visit Huntington.com for more information.
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SOURCE Huntington Bancshares Incorporated | 2023-01-20T12:27:51+00:00 | wymt.com | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2023/01/20/huntington-bancshares-incorporated-reports-2022-fourth-quarter-earnings/ |
Abraham Lincoln Marovitz was a lawyer, a judge, a U.S. Marine, a friend of the famous and a friend of mine.
He was also a boxer.
As a young man, one of five children reared in the Maxwell Street area, he competed in the first Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournament in Chicago in 1923. Though he never won a championship, he boxed many times as an amateur. More than once, he told me that “boxing helped to make me the man I am.”
This is true of many people who benefited mightily from the Golden Gloves competitive experience, the rigors of training and the sense of self-worth imparted by the fires of competition.
As part of this year’s celebration of the Chicago Golden Gloves’ 100th anniversary and the current series of boxing matches taking place at Cicero Stadium, on April 13 there is an event honoring and inducting the first class of “Titans,” seven men who boxed “before going on to extraordinary success outside of the ring in business, law or the art.”
Marovitz, who died in 2001 at 95, represents the law. He officiated at my parents’ 1950 wedding and became like a member of our family. Here is but one of the many stories he told me:
“I fought under the ring name of ‘Herbie Miller’ because my father didn’t want me to ‘ever hurt the family name.’ I don’t want to be immodest but I was a good boxer. I had a following. It was because of boxing that I came to the attention of my boss when I was working as an office boy in a law office. He noticed that I had a swollen eye and cut lip the day after one of my fights and he told me to enroll in Kent Law School. He gave me a check to cover tuition and a raise from $8 to $10 a week. I paid him back by the time I passed the bar. I was a lawyer at 21 and soon the youngest assistant state’s attorney in Cook County.”
The other “Titans” being honored are:
Jack Sandner (1941-2021) was best known as a business executive, community leader and chairman of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. But he came from humble circumstances on the hardscrabble South Side. There, after dropping out of high school, he turned to boxing. Under the tutelage of former middleweight boxing champ Tony Zale, he compiled a ring record of 58-2 and became a Golden Gloves winner. He returned to high school and graduated at the top of his class, obtained a degree from Southern Illinois University and graduated from law school at Notre Dame. Sandner and his wife would raise eight adopted children, and he was active in all manner of charitable activities.
[ 100 years old, the Chicago-born Golden Gloves are continuing to mold boxers and inspire lives ]
Jim Ryan (1946-2022) was a two-term attorney general of Illinois and a teenage champion of the middleweight division of the Chicago Golden Gloves.
He was born in Chicago but raised in DuPage County. As a teenager, he boxed in West Side gyms and in Golden Gloves competitions. In office, he went after toxic dumpers, polluters, online fraud and gangs. He helped the Illinois Violence Prevention Initiative. It was said that the lessons learned in the ring helped him through some familial tragedies — the loss of a 12-year-old daughter to a brain tumor and a son to suicide — as well as three cancers bout of his own. One of his sons said, “To see the strength my father exhibited through all of that really showed us an example of how to act and behave moving forward.”
Appellate Judge Joe Birkett is from humble beginnings, the seventh born of 10 children raised on the city’s West Side. His father died when he was 13 in a boating accident. There was no life insurance policy, and the family got by on veterans’ benefits, Social Security checks and the money the kids could earn.
Birkett worked at a gas station and boxed at the gym in LaFollette Park. He was able to thrive in high school, where he became the football team captain and its most valuable player. As a boxer, he became a Chicago Golden Gloves light-heavyweight (novice) champ in 1974 and then the Chicago Park District light-heavyweight open champ in 1975 and 1976. His law degree is from John Marshall Law School and his sister Bernadette is married to actor George Wendt.
Jorge Pacheco grew up in Aurora in a family in which boxing was part of life. As he recently told WTTW-Ch. 11, “It was part of our culture, boxing.” He was a teenager when he asked my father if he could join him at a gym. “He said, ‘Sure, come in,’” says Pecheco. “He wasn’t really expecting me to stick with it.” But stick with it, he did, becoming a Golden Gloves champion, winning titles in 1997, 1998 and 1999. The belts from those championships are now in his office at Apache Service and Supply, a custodial and commercial cleaning services operation he founded. He has said of the sport, “I owe my life to boxing. Boxing has taught me perseverance, resilience, hard work, dedication to something.”
Joseph Sikora was raised in the Norwood and Jefferson Park neighborhoods on the city’s Northwest Side, one of three children. He was determined from early on to become an actor, but he became distracted and instead entered the world of graffiti writers, saying, “That was almost a full-time job. We were a crew, with a gang-like structure.” Boxing drew him away from that life, in the form of English teacher and boxing coach, Tom O’Shea. When O’Shea died in 2020, Sikora said, “He often referred to boxing as a metaphor for life. There is nowhere to hide in the ring. Being an actor and a writer is an unbelievably brutal business to try to go into. I didn’t have any connections when I started, but I applied those same rules that Coach O’Shea taught me: Listen to people who you trust, work hard and just fight like hell.”
Sikora has fashioned a terrific career, with dozens of stage, TV and movie roles. He’s currently starring in the Starz network series “Power Book IV: Force.”
Michael Flatley was a child of the South Side. Coached by the late Martin McGarry, he competed in the Golden Gloves as a 126-pound novice and was good, fighting for three years in high school tournaments and the Chicago Golden Gloves in 1975, earning five knockout wins.
He was noted for his quickness and footwork, and for a time flirted with the notion of becoming a professional boxer. But that footwork was also employed in other ways, notably as an Irish dancer. He created and performed in the shows “Riverdance,” “Lord of the Dance” and other popular productions that have played to an estimated 60 million people in more than 60 countries.
In 2005, he donated $10,000 to the Chicago Golden Gloves program, saying that boxing taught him “so much about discipline, preparation and courage … I love boxing and I want to help draw attention to the young people who keep the sport going.” | 2023-04-06T10:26:57+00:00 | chicagotribune.com | https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-ent-golden-gloves-boxers-titans-kogan-20230406-24aksdiwnfgj5mw3l62gneu674-story.html |
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — To many, June means the official return of summer, but it’s not the only season to kick off this month. June also marks the start of the supermoon season.
According to AccuWeather, supermoons are annual occurrences that take place in sets of three or four, causing the moon to look slightly bigger and brighter than other full moons throughout the year.
This year, astronomers will get their first glimpse of a supermoon starting late Monday, June 13. The supermoon will remain in the sky until Tuesday morning when it will reach its full illumination at 7:52 a.m. This first occurrence is called the Strawberry Moon because it will happen during the strawberry harvest season.
Why does the moon appear bigger?
As the moon orbits around the Earth, it follows a misshapen oval path called an ellipse. Because of this, the moon is closer to the Earth at times and farther away at others, AccuWeather explains.
A supermoon takes place when a full moon happens around the same time as when the moon is closest to Earth, causing it to look slightly bigger and brighter than other full moons. NASA says supermoons can appear up to 30% brighter and 17% larger than other full moons.
The Strawberry Moon will be the brightest moon of the year, making it fairly easy to spot in the night sky.
Where should I look?
NASA says the full moon will be at 7:52 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 14. Later that night, around 7:24 p.m., the Strawberry Moon will reach its closest point to Earth for this orbit, known as perigee.
To see the Strawberry Moon, you’ll want to look toward the southeast just after sunset on Tuesday, June 14, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. Check the Almanac’s Moonrise and Moonset Calculator for times when you can see it in your area.
This will be the lowest full moon of the year, NASA explains, as it will only reach 23.3 degrees above the horizon early Wednesday morning. | 2022-06-12T21:48:35+00:00 | ksn.com | https://www.ksn.com/news/national-world/strawberry-supermoon-to-rise-this-week-heres-how-to-see-it/ |
Michigan wildfire that’s burned more than 3 square miles was sparked by campfire on private land
GRAYLING TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a Michigan wildfire that’s burned more than 3 square miles amid hot, dry conditions was sparked by a campfire. The state Department of Natural Resources said Sunday that the Wilderness Trail Fire in Crawford County began about 1 p.m. Saturday near Staley Lake in Grayling Township and was traced to a campfire on private property. Michigan DNR says the fire, which has scorched more than 2,000 acres, was 85% contained by Sunday morning after the agency’s fire crews and partner agencies worked through the night to combat the blaze. Emergency evacuations were issued for the fire area but residents were allowed to return to their homes late Saturday. | 2023-06-04T19:40:20+00:00 | keyt.com | https://keyt.com/news/2023/06/04/michigan-wildfire-thats-burned-more-than-3-square-miles-was-sparked-by-campfire-on-private-land/ |
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) is in hot water after he cursed out a group of teenage Senate pages in the Capitol rotunda early Thursday morning.
According to a transcript written by a page minutes after the incident and obtained by The Hill, Van Orden called the pages “jackasses” and “pieces of s‑‑‑,” and told them he didn’t “give a f‑‑‑ who you are.”
The pages are a group of 16- and 17-year-olds who assist Senate operations, and when the Senate works late — as it did Wednesday night on National Defense Authorization Act amendments — pages generally rest nearby in the rotunda.
“Wake the f‑‑‑ up you little s‑‑‑‑. … What the f‑‑‑ are you all doing? Get the f‑‑‑ out of here. You are defiling the space you [pieces of s‑‑‑],” Van Orden said, according to the account provided by the page.
“Who the f‑‑‑ are you?” Van Orden asked, to which one person said they were Senate pages. “I don’t give a f‑‑‑ who you are, get out.”
“You jackasses, get out,” he added.
The incident, which occurred just after midnight, outraged members of the upper chamber, with one calling the string of remarks “horrible.”
Van Orden did not dispute the exchange and defended his actions when asked by The Hill.
“The history of the United States Capitol Rotunda, that during the Civil War it was used as a field hospital and countless Union soldiers died on that floor, and they died because they were fighting the Civil War to end slavery. And I think that place should be treated with a tremendous amount of respect for the dead,” he said.
“If anyone had been laying a series of graves in Arlington National Cemetery, what do you think people would say?”
Punchbowl News was the first outlet to report the incident.
This is not the first time Van Orden has flashed his temper. Van Orden reportedly threatened a 17-year-old library page in his home state over a gay pride display and demanded to know who set it up. The page in question had set the display up, and she told her parents she did not feel safe to return to the library for work.
Mychael Schnell contributed. | 2023-07-27T21:15:52+00:00 | cbs4indy.com | https://cbs4indy.com/hill-politics/jackasses-little-s-gop-congressman-curses-out-teenage-senate-pages/ |
Union official says safety of railroads has been compromised by job cuts and time constraints
By JOSH FUNK
AP Business Writer
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Freight railcar inspections are happening less often and are not as thorough as in years past due to staff cuts, time constraints and regulatory loopholes, a union official testified Friday during a federal hearing to examine the reasons behind a fiery train derailment in Ohio.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report that an overheating wheel bearing likely caused the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment that sent a plume of toxic black smoke into the sky near East Palestine, Ohio. Several tank cars were damaged in the crash, and officials decided that five of them containing vinyl chloride needed to be blown open to release the chemical and prevent an explosion.
It’s not clear whether an inspector would have been able to catch that the bearing was failing because it is sealed within the railcar’s axle. No inspector was even given a chance.
Jason Cox with the Transportation Communications Union testified Friday during the second day of the NTSB hearing that the railcar that caused the derailment wasn’t inspected by Norfolk Southern even though it passed through three railyards where qualified inspectors were working.
Cox said the lack of inspections reflects the changes Norfolk Southern has made since 2019 to slash the ranks of car inspectors and other employees, and that the company increasingly uses a loophole in federal regulations to rely on train crews to complete inspections instead of experts trained to do that work. He said train crews look at just 12 points on a rail car instead of the 90 to 105 points a carman checks.
Furthermore, Cox said, carmen are pushed to inspect a car in just one minute instead of the roughly three minutes they had before the railroad starting making operational changes over the past four years. Norfolk Southern’s representative at the hearing, Jared Hopewell, denied the railroad has a time limit for inspections. Cox cited a deposition from a Norfolk Southern manager that confirmed a one-minute goal.
“This firewall of safety has been severely compromised,” Cox said during the hearing in East Palestine.
The NTSB’s final report on the derailment is not expected until at least a year after the derailment.
On Thursday, first responders and others testified about the difficulties they encountered in identifying the train’s cargo, and reviewed why officials decided to release and burn the toxic chemicals. On Friday, residents, local officials and others are hearing testimony about the wheel bearings, trackside detectors and tank cars.
After officials released and burned the vinyl chloride in the days after the derailment, roughly half the 5,000 East Palestine residents had to evacuate their homes. State and federal officials have said the air and water around town is safe, but residents continue to worry about the long-term health effects from the derailment.
Norfolk Southern’s Hopewell and Mike Rush with the Association of American Railroads trade group that sets standards for the industry said railroads are taking the Ohio derailment seriously and making changes to prevent any future derailments, including adding hundreds more trackside detectors that are supposed to spot overheating bearings before they cause a crash.
The NTSB has said the overheating bearing triggered an alarm from one of those detectors in Ohio, but that the crew didn’t have a chance to stop the train before the derailment.
Rush said nearly every hazardous materials shipment that railroads haul arrives safely, but even one derailment involving those chemicals can be disastrous.
“The Feb 3 derailment is a stark reminder of the railroad industry’s responsibility to the communities in which we operate. The railroads are taking what happened here with the utmost seriousness,” Rush said.
Federal regulators and Congress have called on the industry to do more.
Members of the NTSB questioned the wisdom of letting the railroad industry largely self-regulate — the Association of American Railroads trade group sets recommended standards — but Rush said federal regulators have input on the group’s rules.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio officials continue to oversee the cleanup of contaminated soil and water. | 2023-06-23T21:55:53+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/ap-national/2023/06/23/union-official-says-safety-of-railroads-has-been-compromised-by-job-cuts-and-time-constraints/ |
HONG KONG (AP) — Police in Hong Kong filed murder charges against the former in-laws of a model and influencer whose body parts were found in a refrigerator and a skull believed to be hers in a pot at a rural house.
Hong Kong model Abby Choi’s former father-in-law and his eldest son were charged with murder, while her former mother-in-law faces one count of perverting the course of justice, police said in a statement Sunday.
Authorities also arrested the woman’s ex-husband on Saturday and will charge him with murder on Sunday night, said Superintendent Alan Chung. The four will appear in court on Monday.
The grisly case came to light when police on Friday discovered Choi’s body and documents after she had been missing for several days. The body was dissected and the remains stored in a refrigerator in the rural village home in Tai Po, a suburban part of Hong Kong closer to the border with mainland China.
At Sunday’s news briefing, Chung said authorities found a young woman’s skull believed to belong to Choi in one of the cooking pots they seized, alongside several ribs, hair, and human issues. In another pot, forensic pathologists also discovered a small number of human bones, he added.
“There’s a hole on the right side rear on the skull, so the pathologist believes that that should be the fatal attack on the victim,” he said.
Chung said Choi was believed to have been attacked in a car and was unconscious when she arrived at the house. Police were still trying to find out the exact time of death and locate her hands and torso.
On Sunday, police also arrested another woman they believed to be the mistress of the ex-husband’s father for allegedly assisting the other suspects. Chung said she had rented the house together with the father, as well as another place to hide the ex-husband.
Choi, 28, had financial disputes involving tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars with her ex-husband and his family, Chung said earlier, adding that “some people” were unhappy with how Choi handled her financial assets.
Choi was a model and influencer who shared her glamorous life of photo shoots and fashion shows with more than 100,000 followers. Dressed in a tulle floor-length gown, she had just attended a Dior show at Paris Fashion Week.
Her last post was a week ago, featuring a photoshoot she had done with L’Officiel Monaco, a fashion publication. | 2023-02-26T18:08:07+00:00 | krqe.com | https://www.krqe.com/news/national/models-in-laws-charged-after-body-parts-found-in-hong-kong/ |
Updated March 19, 2023 at 11:47 AM ET
Russian President Vladimir Putin made an unannounced trip to the occupied city of Mariupol on Saturday, touring parts of the Ukrainian city that is now rebuilding after fierce attacks by Russian forces last year.
It has been roughly 1o months since Russian forces took control of Mariupol in one of the key battles in the war in Ukraine, which has now been dragging on for more than a year.
Mariupol came under siege by the Russian military in February of last year, but local fighters were able to hold off the larger and better-armed forces for several months before losing control of the city in May, making Mariupol a symbol for Ukraine's underdog spirit in the conflict.
The city saw intense violence during the Russian siege, including Russia's bombing of a theater that residents were using as a shelter from the fighting. The human rights group Amnesty International would later call the theater bombing a war crime.
Mariupol is also home to the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers and civilians hid for weeks from Russian forces while refusing to surrender in a stand against the invading military that became known across the world.
On Sunday, the Russian state news agency Tass reported that Putin flew into Mariupol via helicopter before being driven and walking around the city. It was Putin's first-ever visit to the Donbas region, which the Russian president illegally annexed in September.
"This trip seemed like a staged, managed event for Putin to highlight Russian efforts to rebuild Mariupol, which of course was destroyed by Russian forces in the battle for control of the city last year," NPR's Moscow correspondent Charles Maynes said on Weekend Edition Sunday.
"It also seemed a little bit of a response to President Biden's trip to Kyiv a month ago, given that this was Putin's first trip to these newly occupied and, in theory, newly annexed territories since the start of the war," Maynes added.
Biden, in a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital in February, met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and reaffirmed the U.S. government's support for Ukraine.
According to Tass, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin told Putin that residents who fled Mariupol due to fighting there last year have been returning to the city.
One day earlier, Putin traveled to the nearby region of Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of the peninsula in 2014.
Putin's visit to Mariupol followed the International Criminal Court's decision on Friday to issue an arrest warrant for him and Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the alleged unlawful deportation of children from occupied territories in Ukraine to Russia.
Officials in Moscow dismissed the charges and noted that Russia — like the U.S. — is not a party to the International Criminal Court.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-03-19T16:33:18+00:00 | kvpr.org | https://www.kvpr.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-03-19/putin-makes-a-surprise-visit-to-mariupol-and-tours-an-occupied-city-destroyed-by-war |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The second half-century for the world’s most famous sled dog race is getting off to a rough start.
Only 33 mushers will participate in the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday, the smallest field ever to take their dog teams nearly 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) over Alaska’s unforgiving wilderness. This year’s lineup is smaller even than that of the 34 mushers who lined up for the very first race in 1973.
The small pool of mushers is raising concerns about the future of an iconic race that has taken hits from the pandemic, climate change, inflation and the loss of deep-pocketed sponsors, just as multiple big-name mushing champions are retiring with few to take their place.
The largest field ever was 96 mushers in 2008; the average number of mushers starting the race over the last 50 years was 63.
“It’s a little scary when you look at it that way,” said four-time winner Martin Buser, 64, who retired after completing his 39th race last year. “Hopefully it's not a state of the event and ... it's just a temporary lull.”
The Iditarod is the most prestigious sled dog race in the world, taking competitors over two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and treacherous Bering Sea ice in frigid temperatures before ending in the old Gold Rush town of Nome. The roughly 10-day event begins with a “ceremonial start” in Anchorage on Saturday, followed by the competitive start in Willow, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) to the north, on Sunday.
And while the world-renowned race has the highest winner's purse of any sled dog competition, the winner only pockets about $50,000 before taxes — a payout that is less appealing amid inflation and the continued reverberations of the pandemic.
Many mushers supplement their income by offering uniquely Alaska experiences to cruise ship passengers, but for several years the pandemic has meant fewer summer visitors to shell out money for a sled dog ride on a glacier.
“There’s a lot of kennels and a lot of mushers that rely on that to keep going,” said Aaron Burmeister, a Nome native who is sitting out this year’s race to spend more time with family. Burmeister, who works construction, has had eight top 10 finishes in the last decade.
"Being able to race the Iditarod and the expense of putting together a race team became more than they could bear to maintain themselves,” he said of mushers.
Inflation has also taken a toll, and several mushers said they'd like to see a higher prize purse to attract younger competitors.
Defending champion Brent Sass, who supplements his income as a wilderness guide, isn't surprised some mushers are taking a break to build up bank accounts.
Sass, who has 58 dogs, orders 500 bags of high-quality dog food a year. Each bag cost $55 a few years ago, but that has swelled to $85 per bag — or about $42,500 total a year. That's about how much money Sass pocketed from his Iditarod win last year.
“You got to be totally prepared to run Iditarod, and have enough money in the bank to do it,” said Sass, who lives in Eureka, about a four-hour drive northwest of Fairbanks.
With other race costs, Buser said running the Iditarod now can mean spending $250,000 to win a $40,000 championship.
The race itself has suffered under the increased inflation, Iditarod CEO Rob Urbach said. Supply costs have gone up about 30%, he said, and last year it cost nearly $30,000 to transport specially certified straw from the lower 48 for dogs to sleep on at race checkpoints.
The Iditarod also continues to be dogged by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has targeted the race’s biggest sponsors. Over the past decade, Alaska Airlines, ExxonMobil, Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo have ended race sponsorships after being targeted by PETA.
PETA took out full-page newspaper ads in Anchorage and Fairbanks in
February with a husky — the predominate sled dog breed — prominently featured with the headline, “We don’t want to go to the Iditarod. We just want the Iditarod to go.”
But Urbach said the race's financial health is good, and payouts should be a little higher this year. The top 20 finishers receive payouts on a sliding scale, and every other finisher gets $1,049, reflecting the stated mileage of the race, though the actual mileage is lower.
Urbach noted they are paying “the healthiest prize money” among competitive sled dog races and called the PETA campaign “pretty offensive, I think, to most Alaskans.”
There's also worry about the future of the race because of climate change.
The warming climate forced organizers to move the starting line 290 miles (467 kilometers) north from Willow to Fairbanks in 2003, 2015 and 2017 because of a lack of snow in the Alaska Range. Poor winter conditions and urban growth likewise led the Iditarod to officially move the start from Wasilla about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north to Willow in 2008, even though Wasilla last hosted the start in 2002.
Moving the start of the race north will likely become more common as global warming advances, said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Ice on Alaska's western coast could also get thinner and more dangerous, he said.
“It doesn’t have to be that there’s waves crashing on the beach,” Thoman said of the impacts of ice melt. “It just has to be at the point where the ice is not stable."
As challenges stack up, several veteran mushers with multiple championships have stepped away this year after decades of braving the frigid and windy conditions to train in the dead of the Alaska winter for the Iditarod. They are finding that few are willing to take their place, at least this year.
“I just got back from Cancun to see the Grateful Dead play on the beaches of Mexico,” said four-time champion Jeff King, who is now 67. “I first said I was going to retire at 40, and I ran the race at 66, so I don’t feel like I’m bailing on anybody.”
Five-time champion Dallas Seavey said last year's race would be his last, at least for a while, to spend time with his daughter. Other past champions not racing include Dallas’ father, three-time champion Mitch Seavey, and Joar Leifseth Ulsom and Thomas Waerner, who have one title each.
Waerner said sponsors are holding back, and it's too expensive to pay $60,000 to get his team from Norway to Alaska.
Lance Mackey, another four-time champion, died last year from cancer. He is the honorary musher for this year’s race, and his children, Atigun and Lozen, will ride in the first sled to leave the ceremonial start line in Anchorage and during the competitive start Sunday.
That leaves two former winners in this year’s field, Sass and Pete Kaiser.
Sass said he is confident the Iditarod will survive this downturn.
“If we can just keep the train rolling forward, I think it’s going to come back, and hopefully our world can get things under control and things maybe get a little less expensive,” Sass said. “I think that’s going to help get our numbers back up.” | 2023-03-02T18:56:42+00:00 | wcnc.com | https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/nation-world/2023-iditarod-begins-small-competition-field/507-f993defc-85c7-42e4-978f-184af43ffddc |
ULUM, by Under Canvas, now accepting 2023 reservations for its first location near Moab, Utah
BOZEMAN, Mont., Nov. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Under Canvas, the leader in upscale, outdoor hospitality, today announced the introduction of ULUM™; a new, safari-inspired, outdoor resort brand that will welcome guests for stays beginning March 2023. Steps from the Southwest's awe-inspiring Looking Glass Arch in preeminent outdoor destination Moab, UT, the brand's first location ULUM Moab, will provide elevated design, exceptional hospitality and refined comfort in nature. With an unprecedented design illuminated by the landscape it inhabits, ULUM takes root in nature - while providing sophisticated comforts - to offer guests a fresh perspective on outdoor exploration. ULUM reflects the splendor of its natural surroundings with a focus on connection, well-being and approachable adventure for refined travelers looking to bridge quality and comfort with the restorative virtues of nature.
Carefully integrated into 200 acres of stunning desert landscape, the resort is enveloped within its own ecosystem - surrounded by 100 foot cliffs on three sides and opening to expansive views of Canyonlands National Park. Steps from the property is Looking Glass Rock, an exceptional, natural rock arch and focal point around which the property was designed. The new resort brand experience will offer all-suite, safari-inspired accommodation tents with the amenities of a luxury hotel: dipping pools, upscale dining, and complimentary, wellness-focused programming. ULUM Moab provides easy access to Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, a myriad of world-class hiking and biking trails, white water rafting and more.
"ULUM introduces a higher level of comfort in nature, taking the very best of Under Canvas and adding refinements such as a contemporary view lobby, upscale residential design, dipping pools, and an expansive food & beverage offering all in an exceptionally beautiful location south of Moab," said Matt Gaghen, chief executive officer of Under Canvas. "Our tenure and reputation as leaders in the outdoor resort space - with more than a decade of experience providing exceptional hospitality in remote environments - paired with heightened demand to explore amazing destinations like Moab made it the perfect time for us to introduce a new concept that will inspire both existing and new guests alike."
DESIGN + AMENITIES
ULUM's low profile, temperature-controlled contemporary lobby, lounge and restaurant features thoughtful design elements to further connect guests with the surroundings. Nature-inspired, organic materials include local stone and natural wood, with the entry revealing a custom crafted chandelier made entirely of ancient rock fragments from the site. Bi-fold floor-to-ceiling glass windows blur the separation between indoors and out. Comfortable yet stylish custom furnishings provide a range of social seating while cascading outdoor lounge areas, hot and cool dipping pools, fire pits, yoga deck and intimate, communal gathering areas showcase the adjacent Looking Glass Arch and desert vista beyond.
PROGRAMMING
Resort programming will include complimentary yoga, stargazing, onsite hiking, live, acoustic music and evening s'mores. For one-of-a-kind excursions, ULUM's Adventure Concierge will connect guests with trusted local outfitters for world-class white water rafting, rock-climbing at adjacent Looking Glass Arch, guided national park tours and favorite local hikes. Guests will wake to the energizing scent of burning white copal - a natural resin used in Mayan ceremonies - from the communal area, where there will be a daily ritual of greeting the morning sun, clearing stagnant energy and creating space for spiritual awakening.
ACCOMMODATIONS
Embracing the natural contours of the land, each of ULUM Moab's spacious (360 sq. ft. interior with a private 70 sq. ft. deck) guest Suite Tents are intentionally integrated into the natural landscape for uninhibited views—featuring a bedroom with king size bed and plush Parachute linens, custom branded robes, bedside tables topped with lanterns, plus a lounge area with West Elm furnishings including a queen size sofa-bed and lounge chairs. Guest tents will be equipped with evaporative cooling fans and wood stoves, for the perfect sleeping environment from spring to fall. A contemporary barn door slides open to reveal an ensuite bathroom with rain shower, polished concrete sink, and plant-based, Aesop bath products. Natural woods, woven rugs, and a Pendleton wool blanket highlight the use of organic materials throughout.
CULINARY
Approachable, high quality and expertly-crafted culinary offerings and elevated service are pillars of the ULUM experience. Full service, al fresco dining with a fresh, seasonal menu highlighting southwest inspired flavors and sustainable ingredients, is further enhanced by craft cocktails inspired by local flora such as sage, juniper and prickly pear. In addition to a full breakfast and dinner menu in the restaurant, an onsite cafe will bring coffee culture to the outdoors with premium hot and cold espresso beverages, fresh juice, smoothies and grab 'n go lunch. Not to be overlooked, artisan chocolates and marshmallows will be offered for nightly s'mores—the culinary experience at ULUM is one to be savored.
COLLABORATIONS
Partnerships with like-minded, premium lifestyle brands further enhance the ULUM guest experience with beloved products available for onsite purchase including Aesop toiletries and skincare, Vuori performance apparel, Parachute for ULUM turkish cotton robes, Sun Bum sun products, S'well refillable water bottles, Pendleton® wool products, Friends of Friends hats and an exclusive ULUM line of apparel items. In keeping with the brand's vision, partners have been carefully curated based on a shared ethos around sustainable practice and well-being, elevated quality of product and connection with the outdoors by way of organic properties, superior comfort, functionality and mindful practice.
SUSTAINABILITY
A cornerstone of the Under Canvas development ethos is the company's mindful approach. ULUM is designed to minimize intrusion and maximize open space. The site has been designed to flow with the natural topography of the land minimizing impact to the landscape and maximizing natural sightlines. Furthering a commitment to sustainable initiatives and in partnership with Rivian, ULUM Moab will offer Rivian Waypoints Level 2 chargers to allow for guests with electric vehicles to adventure responsibly and enjoy the convenience of an overnight charge while they re-energize for a day's adventure. The company's mindful approach extends to construction materials and even tent and lobby furnishings, including use of thermally modified lumber, recycled paper board walls and shower basins and sinks that employ carbon sequestration to minimize carbon footprint. Additionally, the resort utilizes International Dark Sky standards recognizing thoughtful development practices that mitigate light pollution and maximize the night's sky. Under Canvas Inc. and global environmental nonprofit The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have partnered to help fund conservation and raise awareness through education, volunteer efforts and donation programs. Guests of ULUM are invited to join the company with a donation of their choosing to support important research and actions to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Since opening the first location ten years ago near West Yellowstone, Under Canvas has dedicated itself to inspiring connections with extraordinary places, people and the planet by enhancing access to the outdoors. The inaugural season for ULUM Moab is March 30-October 23, 2023.
ABOUT ULUM
From the minds behind Under Canvas, ULUM elevates and amplifies outdoor hospitality. Its upscale, safari-style accommodations perfectly embrace their natural surroundings while featuring sophisticated comforts, allowing everyone to discover their outdoor self in comfort and style. ULUM will open its first location outside of Moab, Utah, in March 2023. For more information, please visit www.ulummoab.com.
ABOUT UNDER CANVAS
Under Canvas is the ultimate outdoor destination hospitality experience. Its upscale, safari-style accommodations perfectly embrace their natural surroundings while featuring indoor luxuries, allowing everyone to discover their outdoor self in comfort and style. Under Canvas currently operates ten locations in Yellowstone and Glacier in Mont., Moab, Zion, Lake Powell-Grand Staircase and Bryce Canyon in Utah, Mount Rushmore in SD, Great Smoky Mountains in Tenn., Grand Canyon in Ariz., and Acadia in Maine. For more information, please visit www.undercanvas.com.
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SOURCE ULUM by Under Canvas | 2022-11-15T16:56:31+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2022/11/15/under-canvas-unveils-new-luxury-outdoor-resort-brand-ulum/ |
AUSTIN, Texas — A new law authorizing chaplains to provide counseling to students is propelling Texas to the forefront of a national push to inject religious expression into public schools.
The state’s Republican-led legislature approved the bill as part of a broader effort to expand the role of religion in education. The Texas Senate approved, but the House defeated, other bills this session that would have required public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom; allowed districts to set aside classroom time for prayer or the reading of the Bible or other religious texts; and permitted teachers and other school employees to pray or engage in other forms of religious expression at school.
Nevertheless, this year’s push in Texas probably will be repeated in future sessions — and in other states. A growing number of Republicans identify with Christian nationalism, or the idea that the United States is firmly rooted in Christianity and should therefore favor that religion over all others. Last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of a Washington state football coach whose school district tried to prevent him from silently praying on the field with students after games provides crucial legal backing.
“Our Founding Fathers never intended separation of God from government,” said Republican state Sen. Mayes Middleton, the Senate sponsor. “And what this bill does is make sure our schools are not God-free zones.”
The chaplain bill has attracted national scrutiny and might be challenged in court. “This bill violates the religious freedom of every student and family in Texas,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, based in Washington, D.C. A spokesperson for the 75-year-old nonprofit said it is “keeping its options open.”
Brad Dacus, founder and president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which touts a mission “to defend the religious freedoms, parental rights and other civil liberties of people who cannot defend themselves,” said his Sacramento, California-based group is prepared to defend the chaplain law in court.
“This chaplain bill simply allows school districts the freedom to choose to have paid chaplains just like they have paid counselors,” said Dacus, who testified in favor of the bill in Austin.
The new Texas law does not explicitly say that chaplains should replace licensed school counselors. But many licensed mental health counselors and their allies in the legislature warned that the measure will result in substandard care for students at a time when many young people are struggling with mental health issues.
Unlike the state’s roughly 13,000 professional school counselors, who are required to have a master’s degree, chaplains aren’t required to have state certification or specific academic credentials.
“It’s a little bit absurd and insulting that that bill passed,” said Jill Adams, president-elect of the Texas School Counselor Association. She said her organization “will never be in favor of a chaplain replacing a school counselor — ever.”
Proponents countered that the measure fills a critical need by bringing in faith-based reinforcements to shore up a severe shortage of counselors and social workers. The bill doesn’t restrict the faith of chaplains who might serve in schools, and it doesn’t mandate any training requirements.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law Sunday, after it was passed during the state’s 140-day legislative session that ended May 29. Texas lawmakers are now in the first of what could be several special sessions, where Senate proponents of at least three of the failed religious bills hope they may be able to salvage the measures.
Texas appears to be the first state to enact a chaplain bill. Its success, even as so many other religion bills failed, might spawn imitators in other states.
“It’s a game changer,” said Julie Pickren, a Republican member of the State Board of Education who pushed for the measure. The chaplains, she said, will be in schools “as a moral compass and a moral spiritual guide.”
Matthew Wilson, an associate political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas who specializes in religion, agreed that legislators in states such as Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee might follow Texas’ lead.
“I wouldn’t overstate the importance of the provision,” he said, “but I think it could start a trend in this regard. I think in a lot of states, particularly a lot of more conservative states, there’s been a pushback against what is perceived as the over-secularization of public schools, and the sense that part of the mental health epidemic among students and among young people has been their disconnection from spirituality.”
The conservative shift on the Supreme Court has been a major driver of the flurry of religious bills in Texas and other Republican-led legislatures. The court issued a watershed decision in June 2022 when it ruled 6-3 in favor of Joseph Kennedy, a football coach in a Washington state school district who was reprimanded for praying with players on the field.
“Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and a diverse Republic,” the justices wrote.
Dozens of religion-related bills were introduced during Texas’ legislative session, reflecting a broad variety of perspectives. Republicans in the Senate approved several of them, including the Ten Commandments measure and the prayer bills, but the proposals died in the House.
Wilson of SMU noted that even though both chambers are Republican-controlled, the House adheres to a more traditional chamber-of-commerce style of conservatism, while the Senate displays “much more of an appetite and zest for social conservative legislation.”
After Abbott convened a special session to resolve a showdown over property taxes, the Senate’s State Affairs Committee held a hearing on three failed religion bills resurrected from the regular session. Wilson said the hearing appears to be designed to encourage Abbott to put the bills on the agenda for official consideration in a special session.
Under the new chaplain measure, school districts must decide no later than six months after the law goes into effect on Sept. 1 whether to use chaplains to counsel students and staff, either as volunteers or paid employees. School districts must conduct background checks to ensure that a prospective school chaplain does not have a record as a sex offender.
State Sen. Jose Menendez, a San Antonio Democrat, predicted that most school districts “will do the right thing,” but said he worries that some school officials might replace a salaried professional counselor with a chaplain to “get them a lot cheaper.”
We need “mental health professionals, people who are trained in identifying issues of depression, anxiety, self-isolation, all the things that are leading young people to hurt themselves or others,” Menendez said. “This isn’t a time where we shouldn’t be doing anything that would potentially replace a trained counselor.”
A state-by-state report card produced by the Hopeful Futures Campaign, a coalition of national mental health advocacy groups, showed a shortage of school counselors in Texas, but bills to improve the ratio of counselors to students didn’t come up for a legislative hearing.
According to the report card, there is one counselor for every 423 students in Texas, compared with the recommended ratio of one to 250. Texas schools employ one school psychologist for every 4,962 students, far less than the recommended one per 500 students. And there is a single school social worker for every 13,604 Texas students, compared with the recommended one for 250.
Zeph Capo, president of the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said the new law reflects “a gross misunderstanding” of roles played by counselors in helping students navigate the intricacies of educational systems, such as academic achievement tests and preparatory work for jobs and college.
“Chaplains may be great to talk to,” he said, “but it just completely undercuts and devalues the work that our counselors do for our students in so many ways.”
Texas state Rep. Cole Hefner, who sponsored the House version of the measure, said it will be up to school districts to set qualifications and requirements for the chaplains. He acknowledged during a House discussion, however, that chaplains aren’t required to have a master’s degree or prior teaching experience.
“Do you think a chaplain has the same qualifications as a school counselor?” he was asked by Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
“I don’t think their qualifications all line up,” Hefner responded, “but I do think they both have important qualifications that contribute to helping our kids and teachers in our schools. … I trust our school districts to spell out what qualifications they would require and make those decisions.”
Middleton, the Senate sponsor, described the measure as a “permissive” policy that would enable school districts to augment counselors and tend to the needs of students and staff alike.
Chaplains have been part of our community for a long time,” Middleton said. “At the end of the day, they look after the personal needs of students, not just their academic needs. This is another tool on the table that is important for our public school students and employees as well.”
Middleton also pointed out that chaplains provide counseling in the military and in state prisons.
Several chaplains who testified in support of the bill noted that many chaplains are trained to deal with grief and loss and help students cope with depression and addiction.
“Having school chaplains can provide a way for students to make better life choices, avoid unhealthy lifestyles, and teach them coping mechanisms for stress that they deal with on a daily basis,” said Kathy Burden, the chief ministry officer for the International Fellowship of Chaplains, who testified with other chaplains in a Senate committee hearing.
Kelley Tucker of International Fellowship of Chaplains put it more succinctly.
“Chaplaincy is not about getting into a person’s head, but it’s about getting into their heart,” she said. | 2023-06-25T23:38:25+00:00 | seattletimes.com | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/new-texas-law-allowing-chaplains-in-public-schools-could-be-a-model-for-other-states/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
RICHMOND, Australia (AP) — Hundreds of homes have been inundated in and around Australia’s largest city in a flood emergency that was causing trouble for 50,000 people, officials said Tuesday.
Emergency response teams made 100 rescues overnight of people trapped in cars on flooded roads or in inundated homes in the Sydney area, State Emergency Service manager Ashley Sullivan said.
Days of torrential rain have caused dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks, bringing a fourth flood emergency in 16 months to parts of the city of 5 million people.
Evacuation orders and warnings to prepare to abandon homes were given to 50,000 people, up from 32,000 on Monday, New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said.
“This event is far from over. Please don’t be complacent, wherever you are. Please be careful when you’re driving on our roads. There is still substantial risk for flash flooding across our state,” Perrottet said.
The New South Wales state government declared a disaster across 23 local government areas overnight, activating federal government financial assistance for flood victims.
Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke credited the skill and commitment of rescue crews for preventing any death or serious injury by the fourth day of the flooding emergency.
Parts of southern Sydney had been lashed by more than 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) of rain in 24 hours, more than 17% of the city’s annual average, Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Jonathan How said.
Severe weather warnings of heavy rain remained in place across Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Tuesday. The warnings also extended north of Sydney along the coast and into the Hunter Valley.
The worst flooding was along the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system along Sydney’s northern and western fringes.
“The good news is that by tomorrow afternoon, it is looking to be mostly dry but, of course, we are reminding people that these floodwaters will remain very high well after the rain has stopped,” How said.
“There was plenty of rain fall overnight and that is actually seeing some rivers peak for a second time. So you’ve got to take many days, if not a week, to start to see these floodwaters start to recede,” How added.
Residents of Lansvale, in southwest Sydney, were surprised by the speed at which their area became inundated and the growing frequency of such flooding.
“Well, it happened in 1986 and ’88, then it didn’t happen for 28 years and, so, 2016 and 2020 and now it’s happened four times this year,” a Lansvale local identified only as Terry told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television of his home being flooded.
The wild weather and mountainous seas along the New South Wales coast thwarted plans to tow a stricken cargo ship with 21 crew members to the safety of open sea.
The ship lost power after leaving port in Wollongong, south of Sydney, on Monday morning and risked being grounded by 8-meter (26-foot) swells and winds blowing at 30 knots (34 mph) against cliffs.
An attempt to tow the ship with tugboats into open ocean ended when a towline snapped in an 11-meter (36-foot) swell late Monday, Port Authority chief executive Philip Holliday said.
The ship was maintaining its position Tuesday farther from the coast than it had been on Monday with two anchors and the help of two tugboats. The original plan had been for the ship’s crew to repair their engine at sea. The new plan was to tow the ship to Sydney when weather and sea conditions calmed as early as Wednesday, Holliday said.
“We’re in a better position than we were yesterday,” Holliday said. “We’re in relative safety.”
Perrottet described the tugboat crews’ response on Monday to save the ship as “heroic.”
“I want to thank those men and women who were on those crews last night for the heroic work they did in incredibly treacherous conditions. To have an 11-meter (36-foot) swell, to be undergoing and carrying out that work is incredibly impressive,” Perrottet said.
___
McGuirk reported from Canberra, Australia. | 2022-07-05T18:44:57+00:00 | mytwintiers.com | https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/sydney-floods-impact-45000-around-australias-largest-city/ |
NEW YORK, July 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Delcath Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: DCTH), an interventional oncology company focused on the treatment of primary and metastatic cancers of the liver, today announced the closing of the previously announced private placement for the issuance and sale of 690,954 shares of common stock (the "Common Stock") and 566,751 pre-funded warrants to purchase Common Stock (the "Pre-Funded Warrants") to certain investors. Each share of Common Stock was sold at a price per share of $3.98 and the Pre-Funded Warrants were sold at a price of $3.97 per Pre-Funded Warrant. The Pre-Funded Warrants have an exercise price of $0.01 per share of Common Stock and are immediately exercisable.
Delcath received gross proceeds from the Private Placement of approximately $5.0 million before deducting offering expenses payable by Delcath. Delcath intends to use the net proceeds from the Private Placement for working capital purposes and other general corporate purposes.
The securities sold in the Private Placement, including the shares of common stock underlying the Pre-Funded Warrants, have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or state securities laws as of the time of issuance and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. Delcath has agreed to file one or more registration statements with the SEC registering the resale of the Common Stock and the shares issuable upon exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants purchased in the Private Placement.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy these securities nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
About Delcath Systems, Inc.
Delcath Systems, Inc. is an interventional oncology company focused on the treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancers. The Company's proprietary percutaneous hepatic perfusion (PHP) system is designed to administer high-dose chemotherapy to the liver while controlling systemic exposure and associated side effects. In the United States, the PHP system is being developed under the tradename HEPZATO™ KIT (melphalan hydrochloride for injection/hepatic delivery system), or HEPZATO, for the treatment of patients with unresectable hepatic-dominant metastatic ocular melanoma (mOM), also known as metastatic uveal melanoma (mUM) and is considered a combination drug and device product regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In Europe, the PHP system is now regulated as a Class lll medical device and is approved for sale under the trade name CHEMOSAT Hepatic Delivery System for Melphalan, or CHEMOSAT, where it has been used at major medical centers to treat a wide range of cancers of the liver.
Safe Harbor / Forward-Looking Statements
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. This news release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those described, in particular, the expected uses of the proceeds from the Private Placement. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, uncertainties relating to: the timing and results of the Company's clinical trials, including without limitation the mOM and ICC clinical trial programs, as well as the receipt of additional data and the performance of additional analyses with respect to the mOM clinical trial, our determination whether to continue the ICC clinical trial program or to focus on other alternative indications, and timely monitoring and treatment of patients in the global Phase 3 mOM clinical trial and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the completion of our clinical trials; the impact of the presentations at major medical conferences and future clinical results consistent with the data presented; approval of Individual Funding Requests for reimbursement of the CHEMOSAT procedure; the impact, if any, of ZE reimbursement on potential CHEMOSAT product use and sales in Germany; clinical adoption, use and resulting sales, if any, for the CHEMOSAT system to deliver and filter melphalan in Europe including the key markets of Germany and the UK; the Company's ability to successfully commercialize the HEPZATO KIT/CHEMOSAT system and the potential of the HEPZATO KIT/CHEMOSAT system as a treatment for patients with primary and metastatic disease in the liver; our ability to obtain reimbursement for the CHEMOSAT system in various markets; approval of the current or future HEPZATO KIT/CHEMOSAT system for delivery and filtration of melphalan or other chemotherapeutic agents for various indications in the U.S. and/or in foreign markets; actions by the FDA or foreign regulatory agencies; the Company's ability to successfully enter into strategic partnership and distribution arrangements in foreign markets and the timing and revenue, if any, of the same; uncertainties relating to the timing and results of research and development projects; and uncertainties regarding the Company's ability to obtain financial and other resources for any research, development, clinical trials and commercialization activities. These factors, and others, are discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they are made.
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SOURCE Delcath Systems, Inc. | 2022-07-20T21:38:42+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/07/20/delcath-systems-closes-private-placement-50-million/ |
Holiday office parties are making a comeback following cancelations during the height of the pandemic.
According to a survey from business and executive coaching firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., 42% of companies are planning to have a holiday party in 2022. That's up from just 13% in 2021.
While holiday parties can be fun, they can also lead to trouble. Out of 1,000 employees surveyed, 14% said they were terminated shortly after last year's holiday party.
"If your judgment is so poor that you think it's OK to get extremely drunk and probably inappropriate, as a result at a Christmas party, it's not a stretch for your employer to say, 'Is this a person that we can also trust to have good judgment when they put them in front of a client?" said Julie Bauke, chief career strategist at The Bauke Group.
Poor judgment shown at any time can put an employee at risk, but it's especially the case when numerous industries are announcing layoffs.
"Companies will start with the people who in some cases, frankly, we've been looking for a reason to get rid of anyway," Bauke said. "And so, as far as holiday parties go, don't give them that reason.
Bauke said people should go to holiday parties with a plan to avoid any potential conflicts.
"I'm going to stay for 90 minutes. I'm going to have one drink. I'm going to have a couple of plates of food. I'm going to meet two new people that right there in my book is a win, and I think any of us can do that," she said.
Bauke adds that it could be helpful to have an excuse to leave if people at the party start acting inappropriately. | 2022-12-14T21:01:38+00:00 | wrtv.com | https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/holiday-office-parties-are-making-a-comeback-how-to-make-sure-they-dont-spell-trouble |
BEIJING (AP) — China will launch three more astronauts to its newest space station in June after the latest crew returned this weekend following a six-month stay in orbit, an official said Sunday.
The crew of the Shenzhou 14 capsule will spend six months on the Tiangong to add two modules to the station, Hao Chun, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, told a news conference.
China’s ambitious space program launched its first astronaut into orbit in 2003, landed robot rovers on the moon in 2013, and on Mars last year. Officials have discussed a possible crewed mission to the moon.
The core module of the Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, was launched in April 2021. Plans call for completing construction this year.
The Wentian module will be launched in July and the Mengtian module in October, Hao said.
Near the end of the Shenzhou 14 crew’s mission, three more astronauts will be launched aboard Shenzhou 15 for a six-month stay, Hao said. He added that the two crews would overlap for three to five days, marking the first time the station has six people aboard.
On Saturday, the crew of Shenzhou 13 landed in the Gobi desert in the northern region of Inner Mongolia.
During the mission, astronaut Wang Yaping carried out the first spacewalk by a Chinese woman. Wang, commander Zhai Zhigang and crewmate Ye Guangfu also beamed back physics lessons for high school students.
China was the third nation to launch an astronaut into space on its own after the former Soviet Union and the United States. Tiangong is China’s third space station following predecessors launched in 2011 and 2016.
The government announced in 2020 that China’s first reusable spacecraft had landed following a test flight but no photos or details have been released.
China is excluded from the International Space Station due to U.S. unease that its space program is run by the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army. | 2022-04-17T16:49:02+00:00 | siouxlandproud.com | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/science/ap-science/china-sending-up-next-space-station-crew-in-june/ |
LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — The suspect in a Lawrence County man’s death has been denied the opportunity to walk through the crime scene with his attorneys, court documents say.
Posey Jerome Echols, 47, filed a motion in late May, requesting permission to revisit the remains of the home he’s accused of setting on fire, which is said to have ultimately led to the death of 63-year-old Durman Ray McDaniel.
The Moulton Police Department (MPD) and the Moulton Fire Department (MFD) responded to the one-story home at 709 Pety Street on January 6 around 10:52 that night.
An investigation that involved 11 agencies led to the arrest of Echols in connection to McDaniel’s death. He was charged with capital murder and two counts of first-degree arson.
The fire was already fully involved when crews arrived on the scene, with large flames coming from the house. McDaniel was found in a bedroom after firefighters entered through a back window.
Despite pulling him out and attempting life-saving procedures, McDaniel was pronounced dead at the scene.
Chief Craig Knight with Moulton Police said it didn’t take long for officials to determine the fire had been intentionally set due to evidence found at the scene, along with statements from bystanders and witnesses. The State Fire Marshal’s Office was contacted to conduct an investigation. Agencies immediately started collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses.
The arrest warrants for Echols were served at the Lawrence County Jail, where authorities said he was already being held due to a probation violation.
On April 4, court documents show Lawrence County District Judge Terry denied Echols’ motion for bond. The case was bound to a grand jury the following day.
According to online court records, Echols wanted to revisit the scene with his defense attorneys, but on May 31, that request was denied. However, his attorneys will be allowed to do a walk-through and photograph, record and take notes, with law enforcement present.
No further hearings were scheduled in the case against the Moulton resident at the time this article was published.
If convicted, Echols faces up to life in prison or the death penalty. | 2023-06-08T21:02:40+00:00 | cbs42.com | https://www.cbs42.com/news/crime/murder-arson-suspect-denied-opportunity-to-revisit-the-crime-scene/ |
Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Oklahoma announced it will no longer allow abortions to be carried out in the state.
A letter from the Oklahoma attorney general said Friday's decision gives the state the authority to prohibit abortions and law enforcement is entrusted to enforce the law.
Oklahoma was one of thirteen states that had so-called "trigger laws" on the books. The laws allow for the states to ban abortions if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
In addition to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming have trigger laws, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights advocacy group.
Several other states have had abortion bans before the Supreme Court's ruling, which will go into effect now.
Those states include Alabama, Arizona, Michigan, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Following the ruling, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said she would work to enforce a law passed in 2019 that makes performing an abortion a felony except in cases where the mother's health is in danger, ABC News reported.
A law that banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy was signed back in April by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, which will now go into effect.
In Michigan, a pre-Roe v. Wade law was put into place that would ban abortions. But Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit in which a judge ruled in May that the state cannot enforce the law and that the case must play out, ABC News reported.
In Wisconsin, an 1849 law that made abortion a felony will now go into effect. | 2022-06-24T19:40:25+00:00 | wkbw.com | https://www.wkbw.com/news/national/13-states-will-soon-ban-abortion-after-roe-vs-wade-overturned |
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- During an event hosted by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy at the agency's Headquarters in Washington Friday, representatives from the United States and Japan gathered to sign an agreement that builds on a long history of collaboration in space exploration between the two nations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa signed the agreement on behalf of the United States and Japan, respectively.
"The future of space is collaborative," said Blinken. "Through this agreement, our nations have strengthened our partnership in space and here on Earth. We will go farther and learn even more together."
The signing is a highlight of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio's visit to Washington, his first since taking office in 2021.
"I expect this agreement to vigorously promote Japan-U.S. space cooperation and expand areas of cooperation for the Japan-U.S. alliance, which is stronger than ever before," said Kishida.
Among the other witnesses in attendance were U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Tomita Koji, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency President (JAXA) Yamakawa Hiroshi, and Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary of the National Space Council Chirag Parikh. NASA astronaut Anne McClain and JAXA astronaut Hoshide Akihiko also participated in the event.
"From low-Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond, Japan is one of NASA's most significant international partners, and this latest framework agreement will allow us to further collaborate across our agencies' broad portfolios in exploration, science, and research," said Nelson.
Known as the "Framework Agreement Between the Government of Japan and the Government of the United States of America for Cooperation in Space Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, For Peaceful Purposes," this pact recognizes a mutual interest in peaceful exploration. It completes work from President Joe Biden's May 2022 visit to Japan and the September 2022 visit to Tokyo of Vice President Kamala Harris, chair of the National Space Council. Strengthening the space collaboration between the U.S. and Japan is a priority for both.
"This signing symbolizes not just the exploration of space, but also the partnership and the friendship between the United States and Japan," said Emanuel. "This is a new beginning."
The framework covers a broad swath of joint activities between the countries, including space science, Earth science, space operations and exploration, aeronautical science and technology, space technology, space transportation, safety and mission assurance, and much more.
"I hope that Japan-U.S. space cooperation will further deepen based on this agreement, as it will benefit the future of humanity," said Hayashi.
NASA and the Government of Japan finalized a previous agreement in November 2022 confirming Japan's contributions to Gateway as part of a commitment to long-term lunar exploration cooperation with NASA under the Artemis program. Japan also was one of the original signatories of the Artemis Accords.
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SOURCE NASA | 2023-01-14T03:04:23+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2023/01/13/us-japan-sign-space-collaboration-agreement-nasa-headquarters/ |
Alec Baldwin was formally charged Tuesday with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
She was killed on the set of "Rust," which was being filmed near Santa Fe, New Mexico, in Oct. 2021.
The film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was in charge of making sure the gun wasn't loaded with real bullets, was also charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The charges are fourth-degree felonies. They are each punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine, the district attorney said.
Baldwin claimed that he was told the gun was safe. He also said in a TV interview that he did not pull the trigger when the gun went off. He claimed he only cocked the hammer.
Baldwin's attorney earlier this month called the decision to charge his client a "miscarriage of justice."
"Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun – or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win," said attorney Luke Nikas,
The attorney for Gutierrez-Reed said they will also fight the charges.
"She did not commit involuntary manslaughter. These charges are the result of a very flawed investigation, and an inaccurate understanding of the full facts," said attorney Jason Bowles. "We intend to bring the full truth to light and believe Hannah will be exonerated of wrongdoing by a jury."
Hutchins' family, however, supports the charges, saying their "independent investigation" shows they are warranted.
"It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law. We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution, and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law," said attorney Brian J. Panish.
No charges are being filed related to the shooting of director Joel Souza. He was wounded in the incident. | 2023-01-31T22:18:19+00:00 | wrtv.com | https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/baldwin-formally-charged-in-rust-shooting-death |
Senators have killed a bill that would have legalized “physical force” to “terminate” a perceived trespass, rejecting an expansion of criminal statutes backed by 57 representatives.
House Bill 126 – Trespass-removal of trespass ran into heavy criticism in a Senate committee for what many saw as its potential to accelerate violence, reliance on individual interpretations of the law and other problems.
Sens. Mike Gierau (D-Jackson), Affie Ellis (R-Cheyenne) and Stacy Jones (R-Rock Springs) out-voted supporting Sens. Wendy Schuler (R-Evanston) and Fred Baldwin (R-Kemmerer) on the Travel, Recreation Wildlife & Cultural Resources panel Thursday.
The measure would have “justified” landowners or agents who use “reasonable and appropriate physical force … reasonably necessary to terminate what the owner, occupant or agent reasonably believes to be the commission of a criminal trespass…”
Ellis, an attorney, foresaw trouble.
“Landowners who really dislike each other … I see them fighting and having assault charges and having our courts have to resolve … who was in the right on the assault,” she said.
“It’s all tied to whether or not the trespass was actually illegal or not,” Ellis said of her example of the bill’s potential consequences. “They both claim they have a legal right to be there.”
Although the word reasonable, or a form of it, appeared three times in the bill, Gierau said he feared “unreasonable people on both sides” would lead to problems. Further, despite assertions by sponsor Rep. Barry Crago (R-Buffalo), the bill is not necessary for self-protection, he said.
“There are self-defense statutes,” Gierau said. “We have a plethora … as far as how people can deal with situations where their life, safety or family’s — or their own personal well-being — is at stake.”
Crago, an attorney and rancher, explained the bill to the committee, saying “we have all these shootings … we have stabbings,” he said, “and what we’re trying to do is let people know — hey, if something’s occurring, you can take action.”
“If you think something bad is about to happen, get the [disruptive] people out of the building,” Crago said. “Don’t question whether or not you have the legal right to do that. Just get it done.”
Hunters and outdoor recreation backers opposed the bill, including the Wyoming chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, which worried about “the escalation of conflict in the field,” advocate Sabrina King said. Other states that have similar laws have placed sideboards on conduct, she said, unlike the Wyoming bill.
“You cannot do this if forcible removal would result in serious bodily injury,” she said of one caveat in other states’ laws that was missing from the Wyoming bill.
Worries about the bill “escalating tensions between landowners and the public” also bothered the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said Josh Metten, the group’s Wyoming community partnerships coordinator.
Casper hunter Jeff Muratore anticipated the bill causing “many instances … where people will get hurt, and possibly killed in situations where someone tries to put their hands on another person to physically remove them,” he said. That consequence could grow from a perceived lowly misdemeanor, he said.
The bill would lead to “too many conflicts,” said Buzz Hettick, Wyoming board chairman of the BHA. “We are trying really hard right now, as hunters and anglers, to work with private landowners to … de-escalate the trespass issues,” he told the committee.
Buffalo resident Jim Gray supported the measure that he said would protect people from “an overzealous prosecutor” who would charge them for defending themselves from a disruptive person.
“The [disruptive] person may be getting ready to commit a physical act of violence or … inflict death or serious bodily injury on innocents,” he said. “By removing the disruptive person before this happens, we can prevent escalation.”
The measure ran through much of the Legislature’s structure in the wake of a high-profile Wyoming corner-crossing trespass case that has drawn nationwide attention. In an ongoing civil lawsuit, the owner of the Elk Mountain Ranch in Carbon County claims four Missouri hunters damaged his 22,045-acre ranch by more than $7.75 million by passing through its airspace.
That 2021 conflict came at the common corner of two public and two private pieces of property, all arranged in a checkerboard pattern of land ownership.
A jury last year found the men not guilty of criminal trespass but ranch owner Fred Eshelman sued them in a separate civil action.
The hunters and the landowner disagree about whether a trespass occurred. Crago’s bill, had it passed, would appear to have empowered the landowner in similar future disputes to settle the matter in the field with physical force based on his or her belief about “the commission of a criminal trespass…”
The House Judiciary Committee backed the now-dead physical-force trespass bill and it sailed through the lower chamber 57-5.
But the bill has “nothing to do” with corner crossing, Crago said.
“I think there’s a lot of people that think this is about hunting and corner crossing and all that and it has nothing to do with that,” he told the committee.
Nevertheless, “I couldn’t help but think of the corner-crossing situation,” Gillette resident David Jensen told committee members.
“Watch the body-cam footage of that corner-crossing case,” he said. Hunters allege they were harassed by the ranch property manager. “It was a tense situation,” Jensen said.
A similar face-off could result in “improper use of physical force” even when suspected trespassers, like the Missouri men, are not guilty, he said. “There’s going to be people hurt over something like this,” he said. | 2023-02-16T11:55:13+00:00 | wyomingnews.com | https://www.wyomingnews.com/senators-kill-physical-force-trespass-termination-bill/article_226fdb80-ad66-11ed-be2a-2b1a228e0a45.html |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The coaching shuffle in Nashville is complete, with Andrew Brunette officially hired as the Predators coach on Wednesday, a little over 12 hours after the team announced that John Hynes was fired.
The moves are the first being made by incoming general manager Barry Trotz and come about six weeks after the Predators missed the playoffs.
The 49-year-old Brunette spent the past season as a New Jersey Devils associate coach under Lindy Ruff and has previous head-coaching experience.
He was promoted to interim coach of the Florida Panthers during the 2021-22 season and oversaw a team that set franchise records for wins (58) and points (122) in claiming the Presidents’ Trophy before being eliminated in the second round of the playoffs. Brunette finished second in the Jack Adams Award voting for the NHL’s coach of the year.
He becomes just the fourth coach in the history of a Predators franchise and returns to Nashville, where Brunette played for the Trotz-coached team during its inaugural season in 1998-99. Their relationship goes back to 1993-94, when Brunette played under Trotz, who was head coach of the Washington Capitals’ American Hockey League affiliate in Portland, Maine.
“I feel like this is coming full circle for my career — from pulling on the jersey for the first time 25 years ago to returning now to take care of some unfinished business,” Brunette said in a statement. “It has been awesome to see how this city and its fanbase have grown since I played here and I look forward to continuing the legacy and the culture behind the bench that Barry cultivated that inaugural season.”
Trotz, meantime, has an eye on building on the Predators’ youth and offensively skilled players as he takes over as GM for David Poile, who is retiring at the end of June after 26 years overseeing the franchise.
“We want to become more of an offensive team and Andrew specializes on that side of the ice — he lived it as a player, and he coaches it as a coach, Trotz said. “He is as good of an offensive teacher and power-play coach as there is in the game today. He will be great with our young players, and I know, because of his background as a player, he will connect well with our top, skilled players.”
In Florida, Brunette coached a Panthers team that led the NHL with 337 goals and had the league’s fourth-best power-play unit.
The Predators missed the playoffs for the first time in nine years, and the first under Hynes, who took over as coach during the 2019-20 season after Peter Laviolette was fired.
Brunette, who is from Sudbury, Ontario, spent 16 seasons playing in the NHL, ending with a one-year stint with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2011-12. He finished with 268 goals and 733 points in 1,110 career games split among six teams, including two separate stints in Minnesota. Brunette is one of 25 players selected in the seventh round or later to appear in more than 1,000 NHL games.
Upon his retirement, Brunette spent seven seasons with the Wild in various off-ice roles, including assistant coach and assistant GM, before being hired by the Panthers as an assistant coach in 2019-2020.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2023-05-31T16:13:09+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-nashville-predators-hire-andrew-brunette-as-coach-a-day-after-firing-john-hynes/ |
The industry is at the beginning of a profound structural shift to an increased consumerization of telecom technologies
LONDON , June 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --5G is the first 'G' in cellular technologies that paves the way for Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to operate in the software layer. Software represents a departure from transactional model characteristic of telecom equipment manufacturing. Software points toward a recurring revenue model that is more consistent and predictable akin to that of hyperscalers. According to global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, that has implications on the commercial models that underpin the industry.
"With a growing importance of software, the commercial imperative from a vendor's perspective is stark: depart from a finite supply of (3G and 4G) equipment, characterised by scarcity, to monetization models based on (5G) software where the supply is essentially infinite," states Don Alusha, Senior Analyst 5G Core & Edge Networks at ABI Research.
With 3G and 4G networks, commercial arrangements revolve around a CAPEX purchase model. CSPs pay a specific price to own an asset. It could be hardware (cellular antennas) or software predicated on perpetual licensing. The value can be paid in cash, financed, or leased. But what is most relevant, however, is that there is a set price. Once the deal is agreed, Network Equipment Vendors (NEVs) like Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, and ZTE are guaranteed an upfront payment at the point of signing a contract. In a CAPEX model, NEVs have one stress point: winning the deal. The risk of implementing the purchased technology falls to CSPs. A key point to note is that, in general, by the time a product is adopted and used, the bulk of the budget has already been spent upfront for the installation, integration, and other professional services needed to get the product operational.
By contrast, in a 5G ecosystem, and by extension, cloud and software world, there may not be a 'product' sale. Technology suppliers still need to channel the required Research and Development (R&D) to build the technology and win a deal. They need to invest in marketing, execute the sales cycle in the hope they win the deal. In that respect, there is not much difference from the CAPEX model. The difference lies in the fact that OPEX models are associated with recurring (micro-) transactions—extra compute, more storage, more modules, etc. "Further, businesses built on OPEX models typically invest a significant amount of capital upfront and then try to make up with volume because of a superior cost structure that is associated with software; the marginal cost of producing an extra copy is very small. That underpins hyperscaler's (Amazon, Google, and Microsoft) business model and strategy," Alusha explains.
Though very subtle, there is an increasing consumerization of telecom technologies because of a growing adoption of cloud and software. The software business is a scale economic business. A considerable investment is made upfront to develop a software product and then the marginal cost of producing each one is very small. The fundamental difference between building software and manufacturing equipment is that the latter entails the creation and transfer of ownership of a product, while the former is much more intangible. There are advantages from a balance sheet perspective, as now CSPs pay for software in a rough approximation for their usage over time—an operational expense—as opposed to a fixed-cost basis in a CAPEX-centric world. This improves their Return-on-Invested Capital (ROIC) measurements.
In the new world of cloud and software, in addition to selling a transaction, NEVs must also make a material and positive impact on the recipient of the service to create value. "This enables the industry to explore new business models that look beyond where the money is in the value chain, to where it will be in the years to come. Cloudification of telecom equipment offers unprecedented opportunities (e.g., innovation, better economics, business agility, etc.) but it inherently constitutes new technologies for the industry and there is a risk attached. There will be challenges, given the lack of maturity and many unknowns around performance, best practices, and control of technology assets. But operators that rise to these challenges first may well gain a competitive market advantage," Alusha concludes.
These findings are from ABI Research's Cloudification of Telecom Technologies and Equipment application analysis report. This report is part of the company's 5G Core & Edge Networks research service, which includes research, data, and analyst insights. Based on extensive primary interviews, Application Analysis reports present in-depth analysis on key market trends and factors for a specific technology.
About ABI Research
ABI Research is a global technology intelligence firm delivering actionable research and strategic guidance to technology leaders, innovators, and decision makers around the world. Our research focuses on the transformative technologies that are dramatically reshaping industries, economies, and workforces today.
ABI Research提供开创性的研究和战略指导，帮助客户了解日新月异的技术。 自1990年以来，我们已与全球数百个领先的技术品牌，尖端公司，具有远见的政府机构以及创新的贸易团体建立了合作关系。 我们帮助客户创造真实的业务成果。
For more information about ABI Research's services, contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit www.abiresearch.com.
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Deborah Petrara
Tel: +1.516.624.2558
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SOURCE ABI Research | 2022-06-14T08:11:54+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/06/14/aws-azure-google-cloud-redefining-telecoms-commercial-models/ |
Michigan judge orders trial of ex-cop charged with murder
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan judge says a second-degree murder charge against former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr will go to trial. Judge Christina Elmore on Friday rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case. Schurr was fired after shooting Black motorist Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head last April during a struggle. Schurr’s lawyers say he acted in self defense. They say Michigan law allows police to use deadly force to stop someone from fleeing and to make an arrest. Elmore agreed that there’s enough evidence to proceed to trial, scheduled to begin March 13. Schurr’s defense says it will appeal. | 2023-02-03T21:08:06+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/ap-national/2023/02/03/michigan-judge-orders-trial-of-ex-cop-charged-with-murder/ |
LONDON (AP) — After seven decades, the United Kingdom has a new woman to call queen.
Charles’ wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, will be known as Queen Consort — a title that came with Queen Elizabeth II’s blessing after years of contention, dating back to the days before she even married Prince Charles.
It wasn’t always a given that the 75-year-old Camilla would take the title, even though it gives her none of the sovereign’s powers.
While the wife of a king is traditionally crowned queen, the question of what title Camilla would hold when Charles became king had been a tricky one for many years. That was due to sensitivity about her status as his second wife — and the wave of grief that washed over Britain following the death of his former wife, Princess Diana, in a car crash in 1997.
Charles and the royal household have moved carefully on the matter, mindful of lingering public perceptions of Camilla as the “third person” that ruined the marriage between Charles and the beloved princess.
But over the decades, Camilla has won over large parts of the British public with her discretion, down-to-earth personality and loyalty to her husband.
When Camilla and Charles married in a low-key civil ceremony in 2005, she was in fact the new Princess of Wales — Diana’s title — but she styled herself the Duchess of Cornwall instead.
Palace officials said for years that Camilla “intended” to be known as “Princess Consort” — instead of the traditional “Queen Consort” — when Charles acceded to the throne.
There is no precedent for the title Princess Consort, which was reportedly suggested by royal officials. The similar title of Prince Consort has only been used once — for Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901.
In a 2010 interview with NBC, Charles was asked if Camilla would become “Queen of England, if and when you become the monarch.” He hesitated as he replied, “That’s, well … We’ll see, won’t we? That could be.”
The question was resolved when Elizabeth declared she wanted Camilla to be known as Queen Consort after her son became king. It was an endorsement that formally signified the royal family’s acceptance of Camilla as a respected senior member and was widely seen as a move by Elizabeth to pave a smooth transition to Charles’ reign.
“When, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes king, I know you will give him and his wife, Camilla, the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as Queen Consort as she continues her own loyal service,” Elizabeth said in February 2022, when she marked the 70th anniversary of her rule.
Charles said he and Camilla were “deeply conscious of the honor.”
“As we have sought together to serve and support Her Majesty and the people of our communities, my darling wife has been my own steadfast support throughout,” he said.
The most recent Queen Consort in British history was George VI’s wife Queen Elizabeth, known in later years as the Queen Mother after her daughter became monarch in 1952.
By custom, Camilla will be anointed at Charles’ coronation, although that could be omitted.
Born Camilla Rosemary Shand on July 17, 1947, she came from aristocrats with long and close links with Britain’s royal family. Her great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, was a romantic partner of King Edward VII.
She met Charles at a polo match in 1970 when she was 23 and he was considered to be the most eligible bachelor in Britain. The two immediately became close, and by the end of 1972, Charles was smitten. But the romance was interrupted by his eight months of naval duty.
In his absence, Camilla married her longtime boyfriend, army officer Andrew Parker Bowles, in 1973. The couple divorced in 1995, shortly after Charles gave an explosive television interview admitting an affair with Camilla. Charles and Diana divorced the next year.
Charles and Camilla waited another nine years, marrying in 2005 in a private ceremony at the Guildhall in Windsor.
Since then, Camilla has taken up dozens of royal duties. She is patron or president of more than 90 charities, and has shown particular interest in work on animals, promoting literacy and empowering women. She also has found her voice as a public speaker, earning respect by campaigning about difficult issues such as sexual violence against women and domestic abuse.
In 2021, she delivered what many called her landmark speech, urging “the men in our lives” to get involved in women’s rights and expressing sympathy for the families of women who are murdered.
The same year, Buckingham Palace underlined Camilla’s role as a senior royal by making her a Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the most senior order of chivalry in Britain. | 2022-09-08T20:53:40+00:00 | kxnet.com | https://www.kxnet.com/news/national-news/as-queen-what-sovereign-power-does-camilla-have-if-any/ |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (PINPOINT WEATHER) – A cold front from the north gradually brought rain to much of our area late Wednesday afternoon and evening.
This also helped to improve air quality for several hours as well!
The smoke forecast involves lighter smoky Thursday conditions, but still not clear. It will be a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day Thursday, affecting mainly people with respiratory issues, younger kids, and older active adults.
BE THE FIRST TO KNOW: Sign up here for QC News Alerts and get Severe Weather Updates sent straight to your inbox
As for the rain, showers and possibly a thunderstorm will linger through the night and early Thursday morning. As the front pushes further south, we’ll see some clearing and hazy sunshine through the afternoon. Highs will be a bit cooler, topping out around 80.
It’s dry heading into the weekend, especially Friday and Saturday. Temps will be heating up again, too. Highs will end up in the mid and upper 80s by Sunday. We may have to watch for a storm or two late Sunday as another cold front approaches.
Tonight: Scattered showers, t’storm. Low 59.
Thursday: Sun & clouds. Small shower chance, mainly in the morning. High 80. | 2023-06-07T23:58:14+00:00 | qcnews.com | https://www.qcnews.com/weather/weather-forecast/code-orange-thursday-due-to-canadas-wildfire-smoke/ |
(The Hill) – The Manhattan District Attorney’s history-making decision to indict former President Trump last week only marks the first possible charges against Trump, who faces myriad ongoing legal challenges.
Since leaving the White House, Trump has been in the center of legal cases related to his time in office, his actions after leaving office, and his business dealings.
Last Thursday, he became the first president — current or former — to be indicted on criminal charges, in relation to his alleged involvement in a hush-money payment made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair.
Though the exact charges Trump is facing in Manhattan will remain under seal until his arraignment on Tuesday, legal experts have said the case pales in comparison to the other legal challenges the former president is facing.
Here’s where those other cases stand ahead of his arraignment.
Georgia probe into election interference
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened an investigation into whether Trump interfered with the 2020 election in early 2021, after it was made public that the former president made a phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to tell him to “find” about 11,000 votes so that Trump could win the state.
“All I want to do is this,” the president said in the phone recording. “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
The grand jury investigating Trump’s role in the 2020 election submitted their findings in a report in February, parts of which were released to the public. The Georgia grand jury ultimately found that there was no widespread fraud in the election, and encouraged the prosecution of witnesses who may have lied in their testimonies.
It remains unclear who those witnesses are. Ultimately, the decision to pursue charges rests with Willis.
In multiple interviews, jury forewoman Emily Kohrs hinted that Trump and multiple allies of his could face a variety of charges as a result of the investigation. She was criticized by Trump and his lawyers for speaking publicly about the probe.
The former president filed a motion last month to prevent the use of any evidence presented to the grand jury in his investigation. Georgia prosecutors asked to speak with a Trump’s lawyer last month about the case, but the lawyer planned to deny the request.
Justice Department’s investigations into Trump
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Justice Department prosecutor Jack Smith last year to serve as the special counsel in two federal investigations against Trump.
One of the the investigations is focused on whether Trump or his allies unlawfully interfered with the certification of the 2020 election results or tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and a group of other Trump staffers are being forced to testify before a grand jury hearing evidence in the probe.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who will also be forced to testify in the probe, has said he has “nothing to hide.”
The second federal investigation spearheaded by Smith related to Trump’s handling of hundreds of classified documents found at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago last year. Trump has blasted the FBI for searching his residence and argued he had a right to take the documents.
An appeals court ruled last month that Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran needs to produce documents related to the probe that his legal team unsuccessfully argued were protected by attorney-client privilege.
In that opinion, D.C. District Court Judge Beryl Howell determined that the Justice Department had presented sufficient evidence that his legal advice may have been in furtherance of a crime
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Sunday that the classified documents investigation is the “most serious case” brought against Trump.
Dual lawsuits from author E. Jean Carroll
Author E. Jean Carroll, who has accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s, has filed two defamation lawsuits against the former president over comments he made in 2019 and 2022.
The first defamation lawsuit stems from comments from Trump in 2019 accusing the author of lying about the rape allegation and criticizing her appearance. The second lawsuit was filed in 2022 and is based off of a Truth Social post, where Trump said Carroll’s accusation is a “hoax and a lie” and a “complete scam.”
The second lawsuit also includes allegations of battery from the 1990s, when Carroll claims Trump assaulted her, made possible after New York enacted the Adult Survivors Act, which created a one-year time frame for adult survivors of rape and sexual assault to file lawsuits against the alleged perpetrator even after the statute of limitations had expired.
The judge overseeing the case rejected a motion to combine the two cases into one last month, saying that the cases would benefit from having two separate trials. The judge also ruled last month that the author could include the “Access Hollywood” tape and the testimony of two other women who have accused Trump of sexual assault as evidence in her defamation case.
The first trial has been paused indefinitely after it was initially supposed to start on April 10, but the second lawsuit is headed to trial on April 25.
New York state’s civil lawsuit
New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) filed a civil lawsuit against Trump, his three adult children and his business entities in September for allegedly manipulating property values to obtain investments and loan benefits over numerous years.
The state is seeking $250 million in financial penalties and asks the court to ban Trump and his three children – Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump – from serving as an officer or director in any corporation registered or licensed in New York. James also asked the court to bar the former president and his business from acquiring real estate in New York or from applying for loans from any New York financial institution for five years.
Trump decried the lawsuit as “another witch hunt” in September and said that James had “campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform.”
The former president asked the court for a roughly six-month delay in the lawsuit case last month, arguing that the current legal schedule infringes on Trump’s “right to a reasonable time to conduct discovery.” If approved, Trump’s motion would push the trial back to the early months of 2024, in the heat of the 2024 primary season.
The trial date is currently set for Oct. 2, 2023. | 2023-04-03T11:48:49+00:00 | krqe.com | https://www.krqe.com/news/national/heres-where-trumps-other-ongoing-legal-cases-stand/ |
Coordinated care across the health system improves patient health
ST. LOUIS, May 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- It's a matter of life and death and dollars and cents: Diabetes is the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States, and those with the disease spend twice as much on medical costs.1
To get patients healthier and to protect their pocketbooks, Mercy is using its electronic health record to identify patients with high blood sugar and get them moving toward better health.
"Our team works like 'care traffic controllers' to figure out what the barriers are for our patients so they can conquer their diabetes," said Jennifer Gist, manager of Mercy's diabetes care team. "We knew if we could help patients control this one thing, their overall health would improve immensely. In fall 2021 we developed an algorithm that could search our electronic health record and identify patients who needed extra help. Once it finds that person, we reach out and help them navigate their care."
Larry Eddings of Willard, Missouri, has known for decades that he has type 2 diabetes, with his estimated average glucose reading, or A1C, getting progressively worse. In 2022, it rose to 9.4%, well outside the normal range of less than 5.6%.
"I was what you'd probably call a 'non-compliant' patient," he said. "Every time I went to the doctor, I'd hear the advice about eating right and exercising, but what I really heard was 'don't have any fun.' I figured at age 69, I only have so many days left, and I want to enjoy them."
That's where Ashley Evans, a Mercy clinical pharmacist, intervened. "I don't work in a pharmacy," she explained. "I work in the clinic with the primary care team to help patients like Larry get on track with their medications. Our team ensures they're taking the right meds and that they can afford it."
Evans switched Eddings to a newer medication and got him signed up for a prescription assistance program. "As a retired pastor, I never could've afforded this on my own," he said. Eddings sends in his glucose count every morning, which is monitored by his diabetes care nurse and sent to Evans in case a change is needed. As a result, he's using less insulin and his A1C is down to 7.2%.
"I've lost 25 pounds, and I can't keep my britches on," he said. "I actually feel like there's hope I might be able to get better instead of worse."
For married couple Terri and Pat Weaver in Greenwood, Arkansas, the diabetes diagnoses were a bit of a surprise. Pat was diagnosed after a heart attack about 14 years ago, and his wife was in the hospital with breathing issues five years ago when she learned she had the disease. Both agree the accountability they get from April Wimp, their diabetes care registered nurse and education specialist, has made all the difference for them.
"I check my sugar every morning, because I know I have to submit a report," Terri said. "It was hard to manage before April stepped in. I didn't know what I was doing. She has worked with us and is really concerned about us."
Pat agrees. "I'm really bad about falling off the wagon and eating things I shouldn't eat," he said. "There have been times my blood sugar has gone up and April has called right away. We talk through it, talk about what I've eaten and figure out how to make changes. She's explained a lot of things about diabetes and food that I never knew. She truly cares about how we're doing, and it has made me want to work harder to make her happy."
The positive results are widespread. More than half the Mercy patients enrolled in the diabetes care model have achieved a reduction in their A1C levels and an average 5% weight loss. Those with A1C levels greater than 13 have dropped their readings an average of 21% – with half reducing it by an average of 44%.
Diabetes care coordination is just one example of how Mercy is using data to take a broad look at its patients' health issues, and then reacting with personalized care to address individuals' needs. Care teams can set the search parameters and even change them over time, allowing for flexibility to reach patients with the greatest needs. For diabetes, the automatic search built into Mercy's electronic health record looks for patients with A1C levels greater than 9%. Once identified, the team reaches out to ask patients to participate in the program.
"We're using technology to care for entire populations, one patient at a time," said Dr. Gavin Helton, Mercy's president of primary care. "We mine the data, find the opportunities and then work directly with our primary care teams and our patients to make a real difference. It was clear we had a large group of patients - those with diabetes - who could benefit from intervention. With this approach, we've improved the lives of individual patients and the health of the group overall."
The Weavers are glad they accepted the extra help. "My sugar has gone down so much," Terri said. "I felt horrid before, with bad headaches anytime my sugar went high. I just feel so much better."
Mercy, one of the 25 largest U.S. health systems and named the top large system in the U.S. for excellent patient experience by NRC Health, serves millions annually with nationally recognized quality care and one of the nation's largest Accountable Care Organizations. Mercy is a highly integrated, multi-state health care system including more than 40 acute care, managed and specialty (heart, children's, orthopedic and rehab) hospitals, convenient and urgent care locations, imaging centers and pharmacies. Mercy has 900 physician practices and outpatient facilities, 4,000 Mercy Clinic physicians and advanced practitioners, and more than 40,000 co-workers serving patients and families across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. Mercy also has clinics, outpatient services and outreach ministries in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
1U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/quick-facts.html
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SOURCE Mercy | 2023-05-25T12:27:00+00:00 | newschannel10.com | https://www.newschannel10.com/prnewswire/2023/05/25/diabetes-deals-dangerous-hand-mercy-doubles-down/ |
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Have you ever noticed that drinks taste better in glass containers? There is actually science behind it. Because glass is more inert than other materials like plastic or aluminum, it’s less likely to affect the taste of a beverage.
If you like the feel of a can but prefer drinking water, soda, beer or other beverages from glass containers, these drinking glasses might be just what you need.
The attractive and trendy drinking glasses are shaped like aluminum soda cans. However, they can hold 16 ounces, so if you have a 12-ounce beverage, you can pour it into the glass and still have room for some ice. The extra space allows for the foam you sometimes get when pouring a beer or carbonated beverage, as well.
The glasses are made of durable, high-quality glass. They are free of lead and BPA plastic, so you can safely enjoy them for years to come. They are dishwasher-safe (although hand-washing is recommended) and can withstand temperatures ranging from -68 degrees F to 212 degrees F. You can enjoy anything from iced tea and shakes to fresh-brewed coffee in them.
This drinking glass set has 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon, where it is listed as an Amazon’s Choice product. This means that the set is highly-rated, well-priced and available to ship immediately.
Customers love these glasses, noting their thickness, durability and pleasing aesthetic.
“I’m obsessed!” wrote one reviewer. “I was being super gentle with these when I first got them because I wasn’t sure how sturdy they were, but they’ve held up so well that I don’t worry about them at all anymore. Highly recommend.”
Customer Jasmine Beltran posted, “Love it! Super cute and sturdy! Great for my smoothies.” She also shared a photo.
If you love DIY gifts and items for your home, you can decorate the these glasses using your preferred method. Customers enjoyed customizing them to give for Mother’s Day, housewarming and other occasions.
The set includes four fun can-shaped glasses, four glass straws and a pair of cleaning brushes. The cup-shaped glasses are 5.8 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter. The straws are 9 inches long with a slight angle near the top, allowing for more effortless sipping. The 10-inch brushes simplify cleaning the straws so you know they are safe and sanitary to use.
You can get this set of four Netany drinking glasses with glass straws and cleaning brushes on Amazon. Usually priced at about $30, they are currently discounted to $21.99 for a savings of 27%.
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Checkout Simplemost for additional stories. | 2022-05-31T18:39:06+00:00 | kgun9.com | https://www.kgun9.com/set-can-shaped-drinking-glasses-with-straws |
Taro Health, Maine’s newest health insurance provider to offer plans on the ACA Marketplace, announced a successful first enrollment season and plans to expand faster for small group health insurance throughout 2023, which businesses can continue to enroll in throughout the year.
“We’re thrilled to share that Taro Health had a successful inaugural Open Enrollment with so many Mainers signing up for a health insurance option that offers much better access and a more personalized primary care experience,” said Frank Wu, Co-founder and CEO of Taro Health.
Taro Health’s marquee insurance benefit includes $0 membership access to direct primary care doctors, who build a stronger relationship with their patients by offering longer visits, increased appointment availability, and concierge-like access across in-person and virtual encounters. Notably, over 90 percent of members who enrolled with Taro Health chose a DPC plan over the traditional “Clear Choice” insurance option.
Available in Cumberland County during 2023, Taro Health has already added more DPC doctors and began partnering with additional DPC practices in other counties in Southern Maine, laying the foundation for potential geographical expansion in 2024.
Taro Health’s plans are available to individuals and families shopping on Maine’s ACA Health Insurance Marketplace (CoverME.gov) and small businesses with 2-50 employees that qualify for small group health insurance. Taro Health has already enrolled its first cohort of small businesses to start in 2023.
“The cost of health insurance for small businesses keeps going up, yet it covers less and less care each year. Taro Health delivers more value for our employees for the same or less money than other companies,” said Tom Landry, owner of Benchmark Real Estate and CornerStone Building & Restoration. “Additionally their direct primary care plans offer something new that provides better access to health care for my family and my employees.”
Due to increased interest from small business owners, Taro Health plans to triple its small group business enrollees throughout 2023 by adding more resources and support. Small business owners can continue to sign up throughout 2023 at any time or during their benefits renewal cycle. For more information, please visit http://www.tarohealth.com/maine/small-business.
Taro Health is a team of healthcare operators, direct primary care physicians, software engineers, product designers, and insurance experts — all on a mission to build a healthcare system that makes sense. As a technology-driven healthcare company, Taro Health offers insurance plans that focus on reducing friction for both providers and patients, and investing in ways to create more meaningful, trusted doctor-patient relationships. Taro Health partners closely with independent DPC practices, local specialists and labs, and top hospitals and health systems to offer comprehensive care, affordable benefits, and increased access for patients. To learn more, visit https://www.tarohealth.com. | 2023-01-18T00:05:46+00:00 | bangordailynews.com | https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/01/17/bdn-maine/taro-health-completes-successful-first-enrollment-season-announces-goals-to-expand-small-business-health-insurance-in-2023/ |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Aug. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF) (the Company), a leading provider of title insurance and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries and a leading provider of insurance solutions serving retail annuity and life customers and institutional clients through FNF's wholly-owned subsidiary, F&G, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022.
Net earnings attributable to common shareholders for the second quarter of $382 million, or $1.37 per diluted share (per share), compared to $552 million, or $1.92 per share, for the second quarter of 2021. Net earnings attributable to common shareholders for the second quarter of 2022 includes $80 million of net unfavorable mark-to-market effects and $68 million of other unfavorable items; all of which are excluded from adjusted net earnings attributable to common shareholders.
Adjusted net earnings attributable to common shareholders (adjusted net earnings) for the second quarter of $530 million, or $1.90 per share, compared to $593 million, or $2.06 per share, for the second quarter of 2021. The decrease from the prior year quarter was primarily a result of Title's decline in refinance volume, representing trough level activity versus the record levels set in the prior year period; partially offset by higher average fee per file, steady volume of commercial orders closed and higher earnings from F&G. F&G's adjusted net earnings for the second quarter of 2022 were $128 million, including $36 million of net favorable items primarily as a result of actuarial assumption updates, compared to $92 million, including $22 million of net favorable items, for the second quarter of 2021.
Company Highlights
- Solid Title Revenue: For the Title segment, total revenue of $2.6 billion, compared with $3.0 billion in total revenue in the second quarter of 2021. Total revenue, excluding recognized gains and losses, of $2.8 billion, compared with $3.0 billion in the second quarter of 2021
- Growth strategy drives strong sales for F&G: Total sales of $3.1 billion for the second quarter, a 15% increase over second quarter 2021 and a 19% increase over first quarter 2022; reflects successful execution of F&G's diversified growth strategy and a disciplined approach to pricing
- Partial spin-off of F&G remains on track: Pursuant to the previously announced transaction to distribute 15% ownership of F&G to FNF shareholders on a pro rata basis, F&G has filed its confidential Form 10 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the partial spin-off. The filing represents a significant milestone in the transaction process, which remains on track to close early in the fourth quarter of 2022, subject to customary approvals. As expected, the Company executed on the conversion of the $400 million intercompany term loan into F&G equity during the second quarter
- Ample deployable capital supports shareholder value: FNF has repurchased 4.3 million shares for $172 million, at an average price of $39.76 per share, in the second quarter and paid common dividends at $0.44 per share for $122 million. FNF ended the second quarter with $1.6 billion in cash and short-term liquid investments at the holding company
William P. Foley, II, commented, "As we continue to navigate the market volatility due to rising interest rates and the ongoing economic uncertainty, we are proud of our second quarter results where we delivered total revenue of $2.6 billion, reflecting a moderation from the record setting mortgage market activity experienced in the year ago second quarter. Our Title business performed well and reflects management's execution and flexible operating model designed to rapidly adapt to changing market conditions. F&G delivered near record sales in the second quarter, as investors sought safe haven investments given the sharp increase in market volatility, which generated growth in assets under management to $40.3 billion at June 30, 2022. F&G's performance in the current market environment continues to support our acquisition thesis given their countercyclical business model which benefits from higher interest rates and provides a balance to our business as Title revenues begin to contract given higher mortgage rates."
Mr. Foley concluded, "Looking forward, we remain optimistic that the F&G partial spin-off is on track for the fourth quarter of this year and, once completed, will highlight the value creation that has occurred at F&G over the last two years. This planned transaction represents the Board's and management's commitment to delivering value to our shareholders. Our capital allocation strategy is another lever that we utilize to provide a steady stream of capital to our shareholders through our quarterly dividend while maintaining our share repurchase program as we deploy our strong free cash flow. During the quarter, we accelerated our buyback activity having repurchased $172 million of stock as compared to $134 million in the first quarter. Year to date, we have repurchased $306 million of stock while returning $245 million through our quarterly dividend."
Summary Financial Results
Segment Financial Results
Title
This segment consists of the operations of the Company's title insurance underwriters and related businesses, which provide core title insurance and escrow and other title-related services including loan sub-servicing, valuations, default services, and home warranty products.
Second Quarter 2022 Highlights
Mike Nolan, Chief Executive Officer, said, "Our Title business produced a strong performance in the second quarter, despite the housing market experiencing headwinds from higher mortgage rates which has impacted residential refinance and purchase volumes. We are pleased with our adjusted pre-tax title earnings of $529 million and adjusted pre-tax title margin of 18.9% during the second quarter as we continue to benefit from strength in the commercial market combined with stability in the purchase market, both as compared to the first quarter of 2022, while our refinance volumes appear to be bottoming. Though the economic outlook and near-term market trends are uncertain, we will continue to manage the business the way we have through prior cycles, effectively managing margin by adjusting expenses to align with trends in opened and closed order volumes. We will also be opportunistic and use market dislocation to continue expanding our business through attractive acquisitions and recruiting of established and experienced producers."
- Total revenue of $2.6 billion, compared with $3.0 billion in total revenue in the second quarter of 2021
- Total revenue, excluding recognized gains and losses, of $2.8 billion, a 7% decrease compared with the second quarter of 2021
- Purchase orders opened decreased 12% on a daily basis and purchase orders closed decreased 11% on a daily basis from the second quarter of 2021
- Refinance orders opened decreased 67% on a daily basis and refinance orders closed decreased 68% on a daily basis from second quarter of 2021
- Commercial orders opened decreased 7% and commercial orders closed decreased 6% from second quarter of 2021
- Total fee per file of $3,557 for the second quarter, a 46% increase over second quarter of 2021
Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results
- Pre-tax title margin of 10.5% and industry leading adjusted pre-tax title margin of 18.9% for the second quarter of 2022, compared to 21.5% and 22.7%, respectively, in the second quarter of 2021
- Pre-tax earnings from continuing operations in Title for the second quarter of $267 million, compared with $644 million for the second quarter of 2021
- Adjusted pre-tax earnings in Title for the second quarter of $529 million compared with $688 million for the second quarter of 2021. The decrease from the prior year quarter was primarily a result of the considerable decline in refinance volume representing trough level activity versus the record levels set in the prior year period; partially offset by higher average fee per file and steady volume of commercial orders closed
F&G
This segment consists of operations of FNF's wholly-owned subsidiary F&G, a leading provider of insurance solutions serving retail annuity and life customers and funding agreement and pension risk transfer institutional clients.
Second Quarter 2022
Chris Blunt, President and Chief Executive Officer of F&G, commented, "F&G had a terrific quarter, demonstrated by our top line and bottom line results. We generated total gross sales of $3.1 billion which, in turn, drove our assets under management to $40.3 billion. In the retail channels, we generated a record $2.2 billion of sales, up 34% from the prior year quarter. Our retail sales volumes reflect expanding relationships with new and existing distribution partners, traction from a comprehensive product portfolio that meets a broad range of consumer needs, and increased demand given higher interest rates. Momentum continues in our institutional channels as we issued nearly $0.9 billion in funding agreements, even amidst a challenging rate environment for that space. On the bottom line, we delivered adjusted net earnings of $128 million, including $36 million of favorable notable items, which comprised 24% of FNF's consolidated adjusted net earnings."
Regarding the recently announced transaction to distribute 15% ownership of F&G to FNF shareholders, Mr. Blunt said, "We are making progress toward a targeted closing early in the fourth quarter of 2022. Overall, we are well positioned for future growth opportunities and view the transition to being a publicly traded company as a vote of confidence for our business."
- Total gross sales of $3.1 billion for the second quarter, an increase of 15% over the second quarter 2021 and an increase of 19% over first quarter 2022; reflects successful execution of F&G's diversified growth strategy and a disciplined approach to pricing
- Record Retail sales of $2.2 billion for the second quarter, a 34% increase over second quarter of 2021 and 53% increase over first quarter 2022 as sales resumed our planned growth trajectory, following moderated volume in first quarter from an inflection point in pricing actions taken in response to the macro environment
- Institutional sales of approximately $0.9 billion funding agreement issuances, compared to $1.0 billion funding agreement issuances for the second quarter 2021
- Average assets under management (AAUM) of $39.3 billion for the second quarter, an increase of 29% from $30.4 billion in the second quarter 2021, driven by net new business asset flows. Ending assets under management were $40.3 billion as of June 30, 2022
- Net earnings attributable to common shareholders for F&G of $230 million for the second quarter, compared to $82 million for the second quarter of 2021
- Adjusted net earnings for F&G of $128 million for the second quarter, compared to $92 million for the second quarter of 2021. Adjusted net earnings excluding notable items were $92 million in the second quarter, an increase of $22 million or 31% compared to $70 million in the prior year quarter, primarily driven by growth in assets under management
Conference Call
We will host a call with investors and analysts to discuss FNF's second quarter 2022 results on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. A live webcast of the conference call will be available on the Events and Multimedia page of the FNF Investor Relations website at fnf.com. The conference call replay will be available via webcast through the FNF Investor Relations website at fnf.com. The telephone replay will be available from 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on August 3, 2022, through August 10, 2022, by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (USA) or 1-412-317-6671 (International). The access code will be 13730096. An expanded quarterly financial supplement providing F&G segment results is available on the FNF Investor Relations website.
About Fidelity National Financial, Inc.
Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF) is a leading provider of title insurance and transaction services to the real estate and mortgage industries. FNF is the nation's largest title insurance company through its title insurance underwriters - Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Commonwealth Land Title, Alamo Title and National Title of New York - that collectively issue more title insurance policies than any other title company in the United States. More information about FNF can be found at fnf.com.
About F&G
F&G is part of the FNF family of companies. F&G is committed to helping Americans turn their aspirations into reality. F&G is a leading provider of insurance solutions serving retail annuity and life customers and institutional clients and is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. For more information, please visit fglife.com.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) is the term used to refer to the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting. GAAP includes the standards, conventions, and rules accountants follow in recording and summarizing transactions and in the preparation of financial statements. In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with GAAP, this earnings release includes non-GAAP financial measures, which the Company believes are useful to help investors better understand its financial performance, competitive position and prospects for the future. These non-GAAP measures include adjusted net earnings per share, adjusted pre-tax title earnings, adjusted pre-tax title earnings as a percentage of adjusted title revenue (adjusted pre-tax title margin), adjusted net earnings attributable to common shareholders (adjusted net earnings), net investment spread, assets under management (AUM), average assets under management (AAUM) and sales.
Management believes these non-GAAP financial measures may be useful in certain instances to provide additional meaningful comparisons between current results and results in prior operating periods. Our non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other organizations because other organizations may not calculate such non-GAAP measures in the same manner as we do.
The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation of or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. By disclosing these non-GAAP financial measures, FNF believes it offers investors a greater understanding of, and an enhanced level of transparency into, the means by which the Company's management operates the Company.
Any non-GAAP measures should be considered in context with the GAAP financial presentation and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for GAAP net earnings, net earnings attributable to common shareholders, net earnings per share, or any other measures derived in accordance with GAAP as measures of operating performance or liquidity. Further, FNF's non-GAAP measures may be calculated differently from similarly titled measures of other companies. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are provided below.
Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies regarding the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. Because such statements are based on expectations as to future financial and operating results and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ materially from those projected. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The risks and uncertainties which forward-looking statements are subject to include, but are not limited to: the potential impact of the consummation of the F&G transaction on relationships, including with employees, suppliers, customers and competitors; changes in general economic, business, political and COVID-19 conditions, including changes in the financial markets; weakness or adverse changes in the level of real estate activity, which may be caused by, among other things, high or increasing interest rates, a limited supply of mortgage funding or a weak U. S. economy; our potential inability to find suitable acquisition candidates; our dependence on distributions from our title insurance underwriters as a main source of cash flow; significant competition that F&G and our operating subsidiaries face; compliance with extensive government regulation of our operating subsidiaries; and other risks detailed in the "Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information," "Risk Factors" and other sections of FNF's Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
FNF-E
SOURCE: Fidelity National Financial, Inc.; FGL Holdings
Adjusted net earnings include $36 million and $20 million of net favorable items in the three and six months ended June 30, 2022, respectively, and $22 million and $34 million of net favorable items in the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively.
The table below provides summary financial highlights.
The table below provides a summary of sales highlights.
Footnotes:
- Non-GAAP financial measure. See the Non-GAAP Measures section below for additional information.
- Amounts are net of offsets related to value of business acquired (VOBA), deferred acquisition cost (DAC), deferred sale inducement (DSI) amortization, and unearned revenue (UREV) amortization, as applicable.
- Adjusted return on assets is calculated on a year to date ("YTD") basis.
- Institutional sales include funding agreements (FABN/FHLB) and pension risk transfer.
DEFINITIONS
The following represents the definitions of non-GAAP measures used by the Company.
Adjusted Net Earnings Attributable to Common Shareholders (Adjusted Net Earnings)
Adjusted net earnings is a non-GAAP economic measure we use to evaluate financial performance each period. Adjusted net earnings is calculated by adjusting net earnings (loss) from continuing operations attributable to common shareholders to eliminate:
Adjustments to adjusted net earnings are net of the corresponding impact on amortization of intangibles, as appropriate. The income tax impact related to these adjustments is measured using an effective tax rate, as appropriate by tax jurisdiction. While these adjustments are an integral part of the overall performance of F&G, market conditions and/or the non-operating nature of these items can overshadow the underlying performance of the core business. Accordingly, management considers this to be a useful measure internally and to investors and analysts in analyzing the trends of our operations. Adjusted net earnings should not be used as a substitute for net earnings (loss). However, we believe the adjustments made to net earnings (loss) in order to derive adjusted net earnings provide an understanding of our overall results of operations.
Net Investment Spread
Net investment spread is the excess of net investment income, adjusted for market volatility on the alternative asset investment portfolio, earned over the sum of interest credited to policyholders and the cost of hedging our risk on indexed product policies. Management considers this non-GAAP financial measure to be useful internally and to investors and analysts when assessing the performance of the Company's invested assets against the level of investment return provided to policyholders, inclusive of hedging costs.
Assets Under Management (AUM)
AUM is calculated as the sum of:
Management considers this non-GAAP financial measure to be useful internally and to investors and analysts when assessing the rate of return on assets available for reinvestment.
Average Assets Under Management (AAUM)
AAUM is calculated as AUM at the beginning of the period and the end of each month in the period, divided by the total number of months in the period plus one.
Management considers this non-GAAP financial measure to be useful internally and to investors and analysts when assessing the rate of return on assets available for reinvestment.
Adjusted Return on Assets
Adjusted Return on Assets is calculated by dividing annualized adjusted net earnings by year-to-date AAUM. Management considers this non-GAAP financial measure to be useful internally and to investors and analysts when assessing financial performance and profitability earned on AAUM.
Sales
Annuity, IUL, funding agreement and non-life contingent PRT sales are not derived from any specific GAAP income statement accounts or line items and should not be viewed as a substitute for any financial measure determined in accordance with GAAP. Sales from these products are recorded as deposit liabilities (i.e. contractholder funds) within the Company's consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP. Life contingent PRT sales are recorded as premiums in revenues within the consolidated financial statements. Management believes that presentation of sales, as measured for management purposes, enhances the understanding of our business and helps depict longer term trends that may not be apparent in the results of operations due to the timing of sales and revenue recognition.
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SOURCE Fidelity National Financial, Inc.; FGL Holdings | 2022-08-02T21:40:44+00:00 | kcrg.com | https://www.kcrg.com/prnewswire/2022/08/02/fnf-reports-second-quarter-2022-financial-results/ |
With the clock very much ticking down to the start of the 2023 Women's World Cup, almost all 32 nations were in action over the last two weeks -- including the last three who used to the window to book their tickets to the tournament.
With certain caveats, the international break proved a strong chance to assess many of the teams who'll be heading to Australia and New Zealand in July with their hopes of creating history. So, how did they do this month and how does it bode for their World Cup chances?
Here's a region-by-region and team-by-team look.
Asia (AFC)
Australia
One of the more impressive teams across the world this month, Australia made it three wins from three at the four-nation tournament that they hosted, the Cup of Nations. Not just building up a head of a stream, the Matildas seems to have the pieces finally clicking into place under manager Tony Gustavsson and they are finally starting to dig out the 90-minute performances the coach has been asking them for.
- Australia vs. Spain: Confidence growing pre-World Cup
- Australia vs. Jamaica: Matildas growing into team to fear
China
A quite different team under Shui Qingxia, China are still growing under their new coach and made sure to cram the window with playing opportunities, fitting in a couple of non-FIFA friendlies with Liga F teams in-between a loss to Sweden and a draw with Ireland. Like other teams in the region, the Steel Roses are largely composed of Chinese Women's Super League players who are currently not in season, placing an asterisk over their results this month.
Japan
Japan are yet another nation who are still finding out who they are under a new coachFutoshi Ikeda, who after over a year in the role looks to have finally found the right formula for the Nadeshiko's midfield maladies. Suffering two defeats in their first SheBelieves games, the team finally got the reward for their endeavours in their final game against Canada. The next job for the former world champions will be consistently finding goals but that's what April may well be for.
Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson discusses what he'd change about his tenure if he had the chance, and how the women's football world has closed the gap on the U.S.
The Philippines
Heading into their first World Cup this summer, the Philippines have set out to test themselves time and again in the lead-up, looking for improvements and growth rather than results. Despite the mistakes made against Wales, Scotland and Iceland in their three February friendlies, the team does seem to be moving in the right direction.
South Korea
South Korea may well feel hard-done by with how their Arnold Clark Cup games went, not least as Italy's winner in their last game carried a strong suspicion of offside. The caveat for some of their failings in England that the team was clearly not in season, with the WK League usually starting in April, yet the nation did slowly appear to be growing into the cup as it progressed.
Vietnam
The only team heading to the World Cup this year not to play this month was Vietnam, who haven't played a match since July, raising concerns about how prepared the team will be going into the tournament. Their opening game of the World Cup will be against the United States, who infamously pummeled Thailand by a score of 13-0 in their opening game of the 2019 World Cup, which only adds to such concerns.
Africa (CAF)
Morocco
Opting to pit themselves against teams outside of the top 45 in FIFA's ranking, Morocco continued their prep with two wins from two but their ability to step up against higher-ranked opposition and different styles remains a question mark for the emerging African nation.
Nigeria
A World Cup mainstay, you never know quite what you're going to get with Nigeria, but a win and a pair of losses (each by 1-0) at the Revelations Cup suggests they are once again beginning to find their feet ahead of the summer tournament.
South Africa
The former dames of COSAFA (the confederation representing all the nations in southern Africa), South Africa had a mixed bag in Turkey this month, beating Uzbekistan before drawing with Slovenia. As another team who focus on growth and consistent improvement, coach Desiree Ellis will be asking herself what the team leaned from the two matches and how they can be better next time out.
Zambia
A narrow loss to Slovenia and wins over North Macedonia and Uzbekistan concluded Zambia's February, with the Copper Queens another nation readying themselves for a maiden World Cup this summer. Although a team who like to stick to their own style, it can be hard to pinpoint quite where Zambia are at, but the team will take heart from their results against European opposition this month.
South America (CONMEBOL)
Argentina
Arguably the big winners from South America this month, Argentina claimed three good wins in New Zealand -- a 4-0 against Chile and a pair of wins over the Kiwis -- highlighting their growth under manager Germán Portanova. Their February should be enough to make fans of La Albiceleste feel a little more comfortable heading into a busy summer.
Brazil
Leaving the SheBelieves Cup with just one win and two losses, Brazil looked far better on the pitch than their results may suggest but there continues to be a lingering question over how profitable the team is in front of goal given the attacking strengths in the squad.
Colombia
Another team at the Revelations Cup in Mexico this month, Colombia bookended a win against Nigeria with a pair of 1-1 draws, but are another team who maybe would have been hoping to score a little more over the international window. The questions becomes how can coach Nelson Abadía can augment his attack to take the strain off of young sensation Linda Caicedo.
North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF)
Canada
Blighted by off-the-pitch issues with the team embroiled in a public dispute with Canada Soccer, the impact on the players and their performances at the SheBelieves Cup have been clear for all to see with those in the squad opening up about the toll the situation has taken on them. Where the team will be at come July and what type of headspace the players are in remains a larger concern for all involved.
Costa Rica
The third and final World Cup-bound team at the Revelations Cup in Mexico, Costa Rica will be coming away from the window with mixed feelings after having been both disadvantaged and benefitted from own goals across their two draws. Still looking for a real sting in attack, Las Ticas will be looking towards 21-year-old Priscila Chinchilla to keep boosting her tally for the side to take pressure off of the older heads in the ranks.
Haiti
The first of the three play-off winners to punch their stamps to the World Cup this summer, Haiti were the most impressive of those at the World Cup qualification playoff tournaments in New Zealand. Finding a joyful attacking balance, Les Grenadières may need to work on their fitness ahead of the summer with a lot of the team clearly flagging in the latter stages of their final against Chile, creating a nervy last few minutes after La Roja had managed to get back into the match.
- Women's World Cup: Haiti, Portugal & Panama become last teams to qualify
Jamaica
A team who are likely to score more often than not, Jamaica may be coming away from their three Cup of Nations matches feeling a little disconsolate having lost all three, including their second against the Czech Republic in the 90 minute. In specifically testing themselves against strong opposition, the job for coach Lorne Donaldson will be tightening up the team at the back.
Herculez Gomez reacts to the USWNT's 2-0 win over Canada in the SheBelieves Cup.
Panama
The last nation to come through the World Cup qualification playoffs, Panama were made to sweat in New Zealand but ultimately showed their class and resolve to see off an impressive Paraguay side. With young hot-shot goalkeeper Yenith Bailey in goal and Pachuca's Marta Cox in the middle of the park, the next step for Panama will be raising the level of the other players in the team to make them harder to break down this summer.
United States
After more than a few gentle wobbles against European opposition at the end of last year, the USA got back to winning ways at the start of 2023, and have built on their pair of wins against New Zealand last month with a hat trick of Ws at the SheBelieves Cup. Yet, as you will read elsewhere on ESPN, the reigning World Cup champions largely won without showing their best form, developing an over-reliance on the individual brilliance of Mal Swanson.
- USWNT vs. Canada: Swanson cements World Cup spot
- USWNT vs. Japan: Finishing good, but midfield a concern
- USWNT vs. Brazil: The press works, but creativity lacking
Oceania (OFC)
New Zealand
Now without a win in their last eight, there is, on the face of it, plenty of cause for concern for the Football Ferns. The wider issue is not the losing run but the simple fact that the Kiwis have only managed one goal -- a 1-1 draw against South Korea in November -- in that time. Heading into a home tournament, the Ferns will need to remedy their goal-scoring draught sooner rather than later if they are finally to break their duck and win a World Cup match.
Europe (UEFA)
Denmark
With Denmark already knowing they're nearing the end of Lars Søndergaard's tenure as coach, the team are still looking for consistency and a way of harnessing the vast amount of youth talent coming through. With a narrow loss to France and wins over Norway and Uruguay, including a very late comeback against Las Celestes, there are plenty of positives for Denmark to be taking from the month.
England
The unbeaten run for England has once again been stretched following a hat trick of Arnold Clark Cup wins against South Korea, Italy and Belgium with the Lionesses finishing the cup with a flourish [and a flurry] against the Red Flames. Inching closer to finalising the team to go to the World Cup, England boss Sarina Wiegman has admitted she's not sure of her best XI as it stands but the European nation is one that continues to look strong heading into the summer.
- Analysis: England near-perfect at Arnold Clark Cup
- Analysis: Lionesses have selection headaches
France
Still looking for their best options in attack since Marie-Antoinette Katoto injured her ACL last summer, France may be a little closer to finding a suitable back up with strong cameos from 21-year-olds Kessya Busy and Naomie Feller at the Tournoi de France. Having dispatched with Denmark and Uruguay, the hosts ended their home tournament with a blank against Norway and generally look to be about where you'd expect.
Germany
As well as a blank at home against Sweden, Germany spent their February in southern Spain coming up against Ireland in a closed-door friendly. Having romped to the Euro 2022 final last summer, Germany have once again become quite a large blip on people's radars with the team unquestionably one of the strongest in Europe -- yet the side faded against Sweden and, for the first time in 16 outings, failed to score. Without their strongest XI on the pitch, it's easy to expect it will be another while before Germany finish a match without finding the back of the net again.
Manchester United and England goalkeeper Mary Earps gives ESPN FC's Ralph Karumazondo a masterclass in the art of goalkeeping.
Italy
Starting their Arnold Clark Cup campaign off with back-to-back losses, Italy finished with a win but having not looked quite right since the start of the 2022 Euros, there were again more questions than answers for Milena Bertolini's team this month and with the World Cup rapidly approaching, there is precious little time for La Azzurre to get their mojo back.
The Netherlands
Another of the very many nations to have undergone a semi-recent managerial change, the Netherlands are still coming together under coach Andries Jonker as they navigate the year without their record goal-scorer in Vivianne Miedema. The Oranje's month consisted of a double-header against Austria, losing to the nation who narrowly missed out on World Cup qualification before comfortable besting them. The job for Jonker before the start of the summer tournament will be continuing in the footsteps of his predecessor, Mark Parsons, in embedding the younger emerging players into the squad in a way that makes the most sense for the team.
Norway
Rounding out the window with one draw, one loss and one win, Norway still has a disconnect between the breadth of talent in the squad and their ability to translate it into results. It's a long-term issue that new manager Hege Riise is attempting to rectify, yet time seems to be ticking ominously down for the former World Cup winning player.
Portugal
Romping to a win over New Zealand in a friendly, Portugal had the beating off Cameroon in their World Cup qualification playoff, dominating play from the outset. However, unable to put the match to bed, the European nation needed a last-minute penalty to claim a spot at the World Cup without having to go to extra time against a resilient and rallying Cameroon team. Clearly the better team on the balance of the 90 minutes, Francisco Neto's side swerved a hiccup and will need to capitalise on their better chances moving forward, including at the World Cup.
Ireland
Before announcing their double-header against the USA in April, the Republic of Ireland took to Marbella for a pair of friendlies. Like a number of other managers, Vera Pauw has been clear that she wants her squad to keep facing high ranked opposition to ready them for the demands of the incoming summer. Although their results in Spain might not have been what fans want to see, it's clear that the squad is still refining their performances.
Spain
The caveat when it comes to Spain is the team is without 15 of their best players as the well-documented row between them and the federation continues. Although for many it would appear that they've reached a stoic impasse and although it is prudent to suggest that the team we've seen recently may not be the one that travels to the World Cup this summer, that may also be wishful thinking.
What we do know is the team that manager Jorge Vilda took to Australia to play at the Cup of Nations won two and narrowly lost one, highlighting the depth of ability in Spain and the simple fact that the group called up by the coach is a strong one that can mix with most teams in the world -- even without multiple world class talents. But, the further asterisk around La Roja is the nation's poor tournament form with friendlies and qualifiers usually a world a way from the form of the side when it comes to major outings.
- Explained: Why Spain players are battling their federation
Sweden
Sweden have never missed a World Cup -- that is all many need to know when it comes to the longevity of the nation in women's football, with Blågult reaching the semi-finals on four of their eight outings at the FIFA tournament. However, after an underwhelming Euros campaign where the side looked tired and out of ideas, the team have seemingly corrected and have begun to find their footing in attack again and should be ready to hit the ground running in New Zealand this summer.
Switzerland
Finally, Switzerland played out a pair of draws against Poland as the team tries to adjust to new coach Inka Grings, who only took charge ahead of this camp. Largely disappointing under their former coach, Grings has precious little time to work out her best team and formation ahead of the World Cup and how their April window goes is likely to be more telling. | 2023-02-23T23:00:01+00:00 | espn.com | https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-womens-world-cup/story/4885258/takeaways-analysis-all-32-womens-world-cup-teams-in-february-window |
Report: Free contraception may help curb unplanned pregnancies
(CNN) - Providing free birth control to uninsured women may help reduce unplanned pregnancies and abortions.
According to a report published by the National Bureau of Economics, women were 40% more likely to take various forms of contraception if they were offered without charge.
Researchers also said many of these women were practicing more effective methods of preventing pregnancies.
The end result is that the chances of unplanned pregnancies could drop by around 30%.
The findings were based on roughly 1,600 uninsured women who were making visits to a Title X-funded health facility.
There has been a surge in contraception demand in the U.S. following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-27T14:08:17+00:00 | fox5vegas.com | https://www.fox5vegas.com/2023/06/27/report-free-contraception-may-help-curb-unplanned-pregnancies/ |
NEWNAN, Ga. — Blake Chappell, 17, vanished after his homecoming dance at East Coweta High School on Oct. 15, 2011. Two agonizing months later, his body was found in a Coweta County creek. He had been shot and killed– and left in only his underwear.
That was nearly 11 years ago, Blake's murder case still remains unsolved and his killer is still out there. His family is still pushing for justice.
11Alive first told you about Blake's story a year ago. Police said there have been no new leads since. However, a new addition to highway 19/41 in Jonesboro is a sign his family isn't giving up.
"That could be anyone's son on that billboard," Blake's mother Melissa Becker said. "He had his whole life ahead of him."
A billboard pleading for answers more than a decade after her son was murdered.
"He had the biggest heart. You know, he always wanted to help people. And his life was taken. For what?
Melissa, with the help of the nonprofit Seasons of Justice raised money for the billboard.
"The more attention that we get and the harder we push... It's eventually going to reach the right people," she said."It's not going to bring Blake back, but Blake deserves justice. His family that is still here, still mourning him day after day, deserve to know what happened and why. Why?"
A reminder that stronger than the passage of time– is a mother's love.
"I want the people that took his life to know that as long as I walk and breathe, we will find... 'Who did this and who's responsible?,'" Melissa said.
Until then, Melissa finds comfort in her little boy's smile. From across the road, and up above.
"He's saying, 'Go, mom, go.' And I'm sure he's proud of me," Melissa said.
Newnan Police said they've gone through dozens of leads on this case but have never made any arrests. They said they are still actively investigating the case.
Police have not yet released any more details about Blake's murder or if there are any suspects in the case. They have denied 11Alive's requests to access any of the case files– citing that the investigation is still open. However, Melissa said she's meeting with the District Attorney this week to push for more of the case details to be released.
11Alive will continue to update this story as it develops. | 2022-08-24T22:22:21+00:00 | 11alive.com | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/investigations/newnan-teen-blake-chappell-murder-cold-case/85-27f1da07-533a-47d3-84eb-186309be5cc0 |
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic beat Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4 at the Adelaide International on Friday to set up a semifinal with Daniil Medvedev.
The combined ATP-WTA event is a warmup for this year’s Australian Open, which the top-seeded Djokovic missed last year after being barred from the country because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
“Early on he was a better player. He was dictating,” said 35-year-old Serb Djokovic after improving to 8-0 against his Canadian opponent. “(Then) I started finding my serve and my groove on the court.”
The 21-time Grand Slam winner, who is preparing for a shot at a 10th Australian Open title, will face third-seeded Medvedev on Saturday.
“I don’t think there’s going to be too many short points tomorrow unless we both serve well,” Djokovic said. “Normally when you play Daniil, you have to be ready to go the distance, physically, mentally, game-wise.”
Medvedev, the runner-up last year to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open, defeated fellow Russian Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-3 on Friday.
“It’s never easy to play your compatriot,” Medvedev said. “I’m happy that I managed to really raise my level, especially in the end of both sets, and really happy to be through to the semis.”
Medvedev is the 2021 U.S. Open champion, but has lost twice in the finals in Australia — and in 2021 it was against Djokovic.
“For sure I played well last year and I’m playing well right now,” Medvedev said, “To be honest, that’s all that matters. In order to win a slam, or be in the final, you have to be at your best for seven matches.”
“I managed to do it once and I was really close last year,” he added. “And that’s what I’m going to try to do again in a few weeks in Melbourne.”
In other quarterfinals on Friday, American Sebastian Korda defeated sixth-seeded Jannik Sinner 7-5, 6-1 and Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan beat Alexei Popyrin of Australia. Korda will face Nishioka in the semifinals.
Teenage qualifier Linda Noskova also beat two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka. The 18-year-old Czech player overcame Azarenka 6-4, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6) in a quarterfinal that lasted nearly three hours.
A first-round winner over third-seeded Daria Kasatkina, Noskova has now won five consecutive matches in only her sixth appearance in the main draw of a WTA event.
World No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka was the first woman through to the semifinals after beating Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 7-5.
___
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2023-01-07T12:04:34+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/sports/ap-djokovic-advances-to-face-medvedev-in-adelaide-semis/ |
(THE CONVERSATION) – With the current U.S. inflation rate at 7.1%, interest rates rising and housing costs up, many Americans are wondering if a recession is looming.
Two economists discussed that and more in a recent wide-ranging and exclusive interview for The Conversation. Brian Blank is a finance professor at Mississippi State University who specializes in the study of corporations and how they respond to economic downturns. Rodney Ramcharan is an economist at the University of Southern California who previously held posts with the Federal Reserve and the International Monetary Fund.
Both were interviewed by Bryan Keogh, deputy managing editor and senior editor of economy and business for The Conversation.
Below are some highlights from the discussion. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Are we headed for a recession in 2023?
Brian Blank: The consensus view among most forecasters is that there is a recession coming at some point, maybe in the middle of next year. I’m a little bit more optimistic than that consensus.
People have been calling for a recession for months now, and this seems to be the most anticipated recession on record. I think that it could still be a ways off. Consumer balance sheets are still relatively strong, stronger than we’ve seen them for most periods.
I think that the labor market is going to remain hotter than people have expected. Right now, over the last eight months, the labor market has added more jobs than anticipated, which is one of the strongest streaks on record. And I think that until consumer balance sheets weaken considerably, we can expect consumer spending, which is the largest part of the economy, to continue to grow quickly.
[But this] doesn’t mean that a recession is not coming. There’s always a recession somewhere down the road.
Rodney Ramcharan: Indeed, yes, there’s a likelihood that the economy is going to contract in the next nine months. The president of the New York Fed expects the unemployment rate to go up from 3.5% currently to somewhere between 4% to 5% in the next year. And I think that will be consistent with a recession.
In terms of how much worse it can be beyond that, it’s going to depend on a number of things. It could depend on whether the Fed is going to accept a higher inflation rate over the medium term or whether it’s really committed to getting the inflation rate down to the 2% rate. So I think that’s the trade-off.
Will unemployment go up?
Blank: [Unemployment] hasn’t risen much, and maybe it’ll pick up to somewhere close to 4%. Many are expecting something like four and a half percent. And I think that’s certainly possible. And I think that we can see small upticks in the coming months.
But I don’t think it’s going to rise as quickly as some people are expecting, in part because what we’ve seen so far is a lack of labor force participation. Until more people enter the labor market, I think there are going to be plenty of jobs to go around.
What is your outlook on interest rates?
Ramcharan: As people find it more and more difficult to find jobs, or to get jobs as they begin to lose jobs, I think that’s going to dampen spending. And we’re seeing that now as the cost of borrowing has gone up sharply, and the Fed is expecting that.
The expectation is the federal funds rate will go up to 5% by next year. If you tack on another couple of points, because of the risk involved, then the cost to borrow to buy a home could potentially get up to 8% for some people. And that could be very expensive.
And the flip side of this for businesses is there’s potentially going to be a slowdown in cash flow. If consumers are not spending, then the revenues that businesses depend on to make investments might not be there.
The additional piece in this puzzle is what the banks will then do. I think banks are going to begin to curtail the extension of credit. So not only will interest rates go up for the typical consumer and the typical business, it’s also likely that they are more likely to experience denial of credit, and so that should together begin to slow spending quite a bit.
After massive increases in housing prices, what caused them to suddenly drop?
Ramcharan: As the Fed lowered interest rates, there was a massive shift among the population for various reasons. They decided that housing was the right investment or the right thing. And so when 50 million people all collectively decide to buy homes, the supply of homes is reasonably constrained in the short run. And so that led to this massive increase in house prices and in rents.
In the last three months, the housing market has cooled sharply. We’re now seeing house prices beginning to fall. I would imagine, going forward, the housing market cooling is going to be a major driver behind the slowdown in the inflation rate and in real estate investment trusts. So that’s positive.
Our recent election just changed the composition of Congress. How will that affect the economy?
Blank: Certainly, when we have a divided Congress, we’re less likely to see decisions made that involve passing legislation that might support the economy. And I think it’s likely the Republican House is going to become a little bit more conservative with spending.
And so if we do start to see a downturn, I think you’re less likely to see legislation that might help support an economy that could be in need of it. That is going to make the job of the Federal Reserve more important.
How certain are these predictions?
Ramcharan: I just want to be careful here and let your viewers know that we’re making these statements based on theory, because the inflation that we’re experiencing now comes about from a pandemic, and there really is no evidence, there’s no data available, that people can look to to say, “What happens to an economy after a pandemic?” That data does not exist.
So we’re trying to piece together the data we do have with the theories we do have, but there’s a huge band of uncertainty about what’s going to happen.
Watch the full interview here. | 2022-12-25T15:12:39+00:00 | wboy.com | https://www.wboy.com/news/national/inflation-unemployment-the-housing-crisis-and-a-possible-recession-two-economists-forecast-whats-ahead-in-2023/ |
Janna Clinton was sitting on her back porch watching her son Charlie, 11, fish in a pond behind their house in Oklahoma this past weekend when he suddenly started yelling for her.
"He was screaming, 'Oh my God, mom! Oh my God!' " Clinton told NPR.
"I thought he was just being dramatic, to be honest," she added.
Then she got a close look at Charlie's alarmingly weird catch.
"Obviously being in a neighborhood pond, we're used to just catching a few bass or catfish," she said. "I mean, nothing with human-like teeth."
It turned out that Charlie had landed a pacu, a fish that's a cousin of the piranha — and whose outsized teeth have long struck fear in swimmers. The pacu is a native of South America, but this one was swimming in a small pond in the Clintons' suburb north of Oklahoma City.
"He said it put up a heck of a fight," Janna told NPR, saying her son reeled the fish in on his own. "He was the only one down there fishing and he did a great job."
The pacu was released back into the water
The Clintons posted a photo of the unusual fish to their neighborhood Facebook page and got in touch with a game warden. But before learning of its provenance, they returned the pacu to the water.
"It's a catch and release pond," Janna said, "so we unfortunately did release it back because we didn't know any better at the time."
People who later recognized the fish said it was invasive and shouldn't be released, she said, adding, "We made a mistake there."
Since then, Charlie has been stalking the fish.
"He did stay at the ponds pretty late that night trying to catch it again," Janna said, adding that her son has been rising early and staying at the pond late, hoping to get another bite from that pacu.
If Charlie succeeds, a neighbor has offered to eat the pacu. But Janna Clinton has other ideas.
"If he catches it again, we're going to get it mounted for him. I think that's a heck of a prize and he deserves it," she said. "I told him we'd make it look like the fish was smiling so you could see its teeth."
The wildlife agency blames a pet owner for the pacu's presence
Game wardens believe the pacu was a pet that outgrew its tank and was released into the wild.
"How dare you," the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation said, addressing the fish's previous owner via Twitter and setting off a lively exchange with surprised members of the public.
"WHY DOES IT HAVE HUMAN TEETH," a dismayed commenter asked. "IDK WE DIDN'T MAKE THEM," the wildlife agency replied.
When asked what kind of bait Charlie used to entice the pacu to bite, his mother said, "You're going to laugh. It was just a piece of bread."
Pacu have been found in Oklahoma before
Not only is this not the first pacu caught in Oklahoma — it's not the first time one's been hooked by an 11-year-old in the state. Charlie follows in the footsteps of Kennedy Smith of Lindsay, Okla., who caught a pacu five years ago.
"These fish are generally harmless to humans, but the practice of dumping unwanted pets in waterways can be incredibly harmful to native wildlife," the wildlife agency said via Facebook. It warned that pacu can grow to sizes up to 3.5 feet and 88 pounds.
As for whether the invasive pacu is becoming more common in Oklahoma, Kelly Adams, a communication and education supervisor at the agency, told NPR, "This is not an increasing trend. I'd say every couple of years we get a report."
Anyone who catches a pacu should keep the fish and contact a game warden, Adams said.
The fish also has a scary nickname
Along with its creepy appearance, the pacu has a troubling nickname: "the ball cutter," a label that stems from its purported habit of attacking men's testicles. That dubious distinction prompted warnings for skinny-dippers in Scandinavia after one of the fish was caught in the wild in 2013.
"It's not normal to get your testicles bitten off, of course, but it can happen, especially now in Sweden," fish expert Henrik Carl said at the time, although he warned that people were still more likely to die from drowning than from a pacu attack.
In reality, the red-bellied pacu and related species actually rely on nuts and seeds from fruit trees and plants as a main food source, according to Animal Diversity Web, a project by the University of Michigan's school of zoology. Still, the animals are omnivores — and their appetite grows with their size.
If one pacu is a nuisance, multiple pacus are a problem. Their feeding behavior revolves around "bite events," the Michigan website says, "with each event containing a number of individual bites, which is similar to the feeding behavior observed in true piranhas."
They're supposedly delicious
The fish is known for having a mild, slightly sweet flavor. And in some cases, rogue pacu have been suspected of reaching far-flung waters after being imported by fish farmers.
A 1997 U.S. academic study found the taste of pacu to be "comparable to that of hybrid striped bass, tilapia, and rainbow trout, but superior to catfish."
As for what it's like to catch a pacu, it's not easy. They're known to be very elusive.
Here's how British fisherman Jeremy Wade, who once caught a 40-pound pacu in Papua New Guinea, described the experience in 2011:
"When I reeled it in, it had this mouth which was surprisingly human-like, it is almost like they have teeth specially made for crushing.
"They are like human molars and the fish have powerful jaw muscles. They are very deep bodied and solid like a carp, with strong muscles."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-07-19T18:06:28+00:00 | lakeshorepublicmedia.org | https://www.lakeshorepublicmedia.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-07-19/an-11-year-old-boy-caught-a-fish-with-human-like-teeth-in-an-oklahoma-pond |
Alabama sets July execution date as state resumes lethal injections after a series of problems
May 30, 2023, 3:47 PM
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday set a July date for the state’s first attempt at a lethal injection following a series of troubled executions.
The governor’s office set a time frame for the execution of James Barber that will begin at midnight on July 20 and expire at 6 a.m. on July 21. The 30-hour window is designed to give the state prison system more time after two most recent executions were called off because of trouble with intravenous lines.
It is the first lethal injection scheduled in the state after Ivey paused executions last year to conduct an internal review. The review resulted in a change to do away with a midnight deadline to get the execution underway, giving the state more time to establish an intravenous line and battle last-minute legal appeals by the inmate.
Under the new procedure, the governor sets a time frame for the execution after the Alabama Supreme Court issues a death warrant. Previously, the court would issue a death warrant that was good for a single day and would automatically expire at midnight. Some inmates were granted a temporary reprieve when the state was unable to get the execution underway before midnight.
Barber was convicted of the 2001 beating death of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps. Prosecutors said Barber, a handyman who knew Epps’ daughter, confessed to killing Epps with a claw hammer and fleeing with her purse. Jurors voted 11-1 to recommend a death sentence, which a judge imposed.
Ivey in November requested a halt on executions and ordered the Alabama Department of Corrections to conduct an internal review of execution procedures after the state called off two lethal injections because of difficulties establishing IV access.
Alabama prison officials in November called off the execution of Joe Nathan James, Jr. by lethal injection after a lengthy delay,
Ivey rejected calls by several groups to have an outside group, or person, conduct the review. Faith leaders and other groups cited the example of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who authorized an independent review after acknowledging that the state failed to ensure its lethal injection drugs were properly tested.
Ivey announced in February that the state would resume executions. Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said then that the prison system has also added to its pool of medical professionals, ordered new equipment and conducted additional rehearsals. | 2023-05-31T02:11:21+00:00 | mynorthwest.com | https://mynorthwest.com/3894842/alabama-sets-july-execution-date-as-state-resumes-lethal-injections-after-a-series-of-problems/ |
I am voting for Amy McFarland to be our next circuit judge. I’ve known her for many years as a public defender, general practitioner owning her own firm, and as an associate judge. I’ve also known her as a parent who is quite engaged in our community.
It is significant to note she is the presiding judge in the family division, a role traditionally held by a circuit judge. In 2020, her role was expanded to preside over recovery court where she addresses participants’ mental health concerns. Attorneys in the 11th Judicial Circuit found her qualified and recommended to be a circuit judge. Fourteen, yes, 14 retired judges have recommended Judge McFarland and I agree with their decision. Join me in voting for Amy McFarland for our next circuit judge.
Sonja Reece, Normal | 2022-06-25T03:51:35+00:00 | pantagraph.com | https://pantagraph.com/opinion/letters/letter-mcfarland-qualified-for-circuit-court/article_5094b126-eb19-11ec-96e0-b33b934cc981.html |
Chief Marketing Officer Robert Zajac and Chief Growth Officer Sabba Naserian Bring Noteworthy Expertise and Experience to the Corporate Leadership Roster
AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nutrabolt, a global active health and wellness company, today announces the addition of Robert Zajac, Chief Marketing Officer, and Sabba Naserian, Chief Growth Officer, to its executive team. Each highly-accomplished leader takes a results-driven approach to innovation, and plays an integral role in pushing the company to its next phase of success.
"With a sharp focus on consumer experience and strategic expansion, I'm confident that Robert's expertise with highly-differentiated, well-known brands, and Sabba's acclaimed strategic foresight will strengthen our leadership team, and drive Nutrabolt to achieve on our mission and vision," said Doss Cunningham, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nutrabolt. "I'm proud to have a world-class team around me, and I look forward to what we'll accomplish together."
Robert Zajac joins Nutrabolt with over 20 years of global marketing experience leading high-performance brands, including almost five years with ESPN, and more than eight years in leadership roles with Nike. Most recently, Zajac served as SVP, Global Brand Marketing & Experience at Abercrombie and Fitch where he led the creation and launch of the company's first new brand in more than a decade.
"With amazing talent, a dedication to innovation, and a true passion for our mission, the Brand Marketing teams at Nutrabolt have the opportunity to drive a consumer-centric approach for the company and connect our brands to culture and consumers better than anyone," said Zajac.
As Chief Marketing Officer, Zajac will level up the customer experience for Nutrabolt's family of brands including C4 Energy, Cellucor, and XTEND, continue to drive creative innovation through existing and emerging platforms, and help accelerate growth across categories, products, and channels.
From 2014-2016, Sabba Naserian served as Nutrabolt's VP of Global Development, and the company is pleased to welcome back a sure cultural fit and known expansion expert. Since 2016, she's bolstered her expert resume with experience that ranges from creating a launching pad for new brands through her own agency, to serving in key growth roles with boutique agency Indelible, and senior leadership at Canopy Growth Corporation.
"This is an exciting time to be a part of Nutrabolt," stated Naserian. "We're laser focused on delivering positive human impact – not only through a portfolio that will optimize human potential – but also through partnerships that strengthen the commitment to our communities. I'm looking forward to contributing to the company's future in a meaningful way."
Naserian's goals as Chief Growth Officer include expanding the business into new categories, continuing to round out the company's portfolio of products, and serving as a hands-on leader for the talented teammates at Nutrabolt.
Both new leaders possess a passion for Nutrabolt's mission, and share in the company's commitment to serve its people, communities, and the planet. The addition of Zajac and Naserian reinforces Nutrabolt's dedication to achieving long-term, strategic growth, and solidifying its position as The Human Performance Company.
Nutrabolt is a fast-growing, global active health and wellness company with a portfolio of market leading performance-oriented brands that energize and fuel active lifestyles. The company's disruptive and innovative products compete in the Functional Beverage and Active Nutrition segments, under three consumer-loved brands: C4® (one of the fastest-growing energy drink brands in the United States and the #1 selling global pre-workout brand), XTEND® (the #1 post-workout recovery brand in the United States), and Cellucor® (an award-winning sports nutrition brand created in 2002).
Since its founding 20 years ago, Nutrabolt has set out to meet the discerning needs of performance athletes and fitness enthusiasts, while appealing beyond this core group to include consumers around the globe who are making healthy, active living a daily priority.
Nutrabolt's portfolio, which is distributed in over 125 countries, is sold through company-owned DTC platforms, Amazon, and other third-party e-commerce marketplaces, and is available at leading retailers across the U.S., including Walmart, Target, 7-Eleven, Walgreens, Kroger, H-E-B, Wawa, Publix, GNC, and the Vitamin Shoppe. For more information about Nutrabolt, please visit www.nutrabolt.com.
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SOURCE Nutrabolt | 2022-11-22T14:43:54+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/prnewswire/2022/11/22/nutrabolt-welcomes-two-key-leaders-focused-growth-expansion-consumer-centric-strategy/ |
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The continuous influx of migrants arriving on buses in New York City could soon be a sight on the streets of Buffalo and across Erie County.
A spokesperson for New York Mayor Eric Adams told 2 On Your Side that the mayor’s office reached out to County Executive Mark Poloncarz this morning to coordinate a plan and that migrants could start to arrive as soon as details are finalized.
The mayor’s office shared their gratitude for the county executive in a statement:
“New York City has done and will continue to do its part, but we need counties, cities, and towns across the state to do their part as well."
“We are grateful for the county executive’s support and that of the many elected officials who know that new immigrants have been and will continue to grow local economies and enrich local communities.”
But Mayor Byron Brown said Monday, that message has not been conveyed to him.
“We are not aware of any asylum seekers that are coming to Buffalo at this time,” Brown said.
He added that he has had no communication with New York Mayor Adams’ office and that he doesn't know of any plans for migrants to come to Buffalo.
“We are certainly hopeful that if any asylum seekers were to come to the City of Buffalo, we would be informed by the state or other agencies or the federal government,” Brown said.
Governor Kathy Hochul, just days after her trip to Buffalo, also spoke on the matter today, thanking Poloncarz for offering to take the pressure off New York City.
“The population of Buffalo went up because of refugees going to Buffalo over the last few decades,” she said. “That is a way we can stem population loss, build the economy, and build for the next generation.”
But Poloncarz’s challenger in the upcoming county executive election, Chrissy Casilio, snapped back on his decision after the seven counties surrounding Erie issued states of emergency.
“Either he knows something that we don't know, or he's being complicit and just blindly following whatever Governor Hochul advises,” Casilio said.
Governor Hochul also said in a trip to Buffalo last week that SUNY schools could potentially be used as housing sites for asylum seekers. 2 On Your Side reached out to SUNY today, and they said they are currently assessing whether they have the resources available. | 2023-05-23T04:34:17+00:00 | wgrz.com | https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/migrants-from-nyc-could-be-heading-to-erie-county/71-9a2bcf64-bedf-4e93-8795-0b25046acebe |
SAN DIEGO, July 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S.-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership (BPP), the Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), and Cross Border Xpress (CBX) announce the end of the U.S.-Mexico Border COVID-19 Testing Program at the San Diego-Tijuana CBX on June 29, 2023.
Beginning on April 25, 2022, international travelers entering San Diego through the CBX terminal from the Tijuana Airport were able to take voluntary COVID-19 tests thanks to this dynamic public-private-philanthropic partnership among BPP, the Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego's Ventanilla de Salud Program, the CDPH, and CBX.
A total of 16,857 individuals, aged 5 and up, participated in the program, and 564 positive COVID-19 cases were identified. "This program helped to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to our binational friends and families while traveling internationally, and we thank the Consulate of Mexico in San Diego, the State of California, and CBX for rising to the challenge of COVID-19 with this innovative program," said Andy Carey, Executive Director of the BPP."
"The program was led by a group of eight professional health promotoras as part of the Ventanilla de Salud program at the Consulate General of Mexico that serves over 3,000 people each month alone in San Diego and over 3 million annually across the United States," said Ambassador Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, Consul General of Mexico in San Diego. "We greatly appreciate our community partnership with BPP and extend our thanks to Cross Border Xpress for allowing us to provide this important service to our community."
Funded by the CDPH's California Office of Binational Border Health, the program allowed the CDPH COVID-19 Testing Task Force to test for COVID-19 and to provide international travelers with information about COVID-19 prevention and treatment. San Diego-Tijuana CBX, San Francisco International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport were the three participating airports.
"We are proud of our partnership," said Jorge Goytortúa, CEO of CBX. "Promoting the safe recovery of tourism is one of our priorities, and we are glad that we could take advantage of the high volume of passengers at CBX to benefit our binational community,"
About the BPP
The BPP is a binational membership organization whose mission is to support a network of organizations that build prosperity through leadership, collaboration, and philanthropy in the U.S.-Mexico Border region. www.borderpartnership.org.
Media Contact:
Susana Villegas
(619) 947-5742
svprcommunications@gmail.com
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SOURCE U.S.-Mexico Border Philanthropy Partnership | 2023-07-11T18:55:28+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2023/07/11/us-mexico-border-covid-19-testing-program-ends/ |
The chief operating officer of Southwest Airlines is scheduled to testify next week before the Senate Commerce, Transportation and Space Committee after the airline struggled with technical problems that caused it to delay and cancel thousands of flights in December.
Southwest COO Andrew Watterson will appear on Thursday for the hearing titled “Strengthening Airline Operations and Consumer Protections,” which is intended to analyze the causes and effects of recent “air travel disruptions” and impacts on the public, according to a description of the meeting.
The description notes Southwest’s “operational meltdown” that “stranded” millions of people during the holidays.
The committee, chaired by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), will receive recommendations from its witnesses and decide what actions should be taken to improve protections for airline passengers and build more resilient airline operations.
The other witnesses at the hearing will be Casey Murray, the president of the Southwest Airlines Pilot Association; Paul Hudson, the president of the nonprofit airline passenger advocacy group Flyers’ Rights; Sharon Pinkerton, the senior vice president of legislative and regulatory policies for the trade association Airlines for America; and Clifford Winston, a senior fellow for the Brookings Institution.
Southwest faced heavy scrutiny after winter storms hit its hubs in Denver and Chicago and caused many of the flights from those locations to be canceled. The airline’s system struggled to keep up with the cancellations and reroute pilots and flight attendants to different flights, causing thousands to also be canceled.
Workers for the airline have said that they have complained for a long time that the online system was outdated and needed to be modernized. Some have also said the airline overbooked its schedule during the holiday weekend and did not have enough staff members to rebook flights that were canceled because of the weather.
Cantwell said amid the chaos that her committee would investigate what happened. | 2023-02-03T22:30:31+00:00 | ourquadcities.com | https://www.ourquadcities.com/hill-politics/southwest-coo-to-testify-before-senate-panel-following-mass-cancellations/ |
NEW YORK, Jan. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ: CRTO), the Commerce Media company, will announce its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, on Wednesday, February 8, 2023.
On that day, Megan Clarken, Chief Executive Officer, and Sarah Glickman, Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call at 8:00 AM ET, 2:00 PM CET to discuss these results. They will be joined by Todd Parsons, Chief Product Officer, for the Q&A session.
To access the conference call, please use the following dial-in numbers and ask to be joined into the "Criteo" call:
The conference call will be webcast live on the Company's website https://criteo.investorroom.com/ and will be available for replay.
About Criteo
Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO) is the global commerce media company that enables marketers and media owners to drive better commerce outcomes. Its industry leading Commerce Media Platform connects 22,000 marketers and thousands of media owners to deliver richer consumer experiences from product discovery to purchase. By powering trusted and impactful advertising, Criteo supports an open internet that encourages discovery, innovation, and choice. For more information, please visit www.criteo.com.
Contacts
Criteo Investor Relations
Melanie Dambre, m.dambre@criteo.com
Criteo Public Relations
Jessica Meyers, j.meyers@criteo.com
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SOURCE Criteo Corp | 2023-01-25T12:32:04+00:00 | witn.com | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2023/01/25/criteo-announce-fourth-quarter-fiscal-year-2022-financial-results-february-8-2023/ |
LSU vs. Georgia Women's Basketball Predictions & Picks - SEC Tournament
Published: Mar. 3, 2023 at 11:38 AM CST|Updated: 58 minutes ago
Friday's contest that pits the LSU Lady Tigers (27-1) against the Georgia Lady Bulldogs (21-10) at Bon Secours Wellness Arena has a projected final score of 71-63 (based on our computer prediction) in favor of LSU, who is the favorite in this matchup by our model. Game time is at 6:00 PM ET on March 3.
In their most recent game on Sunday, the Lady Tigers earned a 74-59 win over Mississippi State.
LSU vs. Georgia Game Info
- When: Friday, March 3, 2023 at 6:00 PM ET
- Where: Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina
- How to Watch on TV: SEC Network
Use this link to get a free trial of fuboTV, where you can watch college hoops and other live sports without cable!
LSU vs. Georgia Score Prediction
- Prediction: LSU 71, Georgia 63
LSU Schedule Analysis
- When the Lady Tigers defeated the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, the No. 15 team in our computer rankings, by a score of 76-68 on January 30, it was their season's best victory.
- The Lady Tigers have tied for the 22nd-most Quadrant 1 victories in the nation (five).
- LSU has tied for the third-most Quadrant 2 victories in the nation (nine).
LSU 2022-23 Best Wins
- 69-60 at home over Ole Miss (No. 24) on February 16
- 82-77 at home over Georgia (No. 37) on February 2
- 89-51 on the road over Alabama (No. 43) on January 23
- 74-59 at home over Mississippi State (No. 45) on February 26
- 79-76 at home over Arkansas (No. 48) on January 19
Watch college hoops all season on all your devices without cable with a seven-day free trial on fuboTV!
LSU Performance Insights
- The Lady Tigers' +776 scoring differential (outscoring opponents by 27.8 points per game) is a result of scoring 84.8 points per game (third in college basketball) while allowing 57 per contest (29th in college basketball).
- LSU's offense has been less effective in SEC action this season, putting up 77.3 points per contest, compared to its season average of 84.8 PPG.
- The Lady Tigers average 88.1 points per game in home games, compared to 77.2 points per game in road games, a difference of 10.9 points per contest.
- At home, LSU is surrendering 9.5 fewer points per game (53.7) than away from home (63.2).
- The Lady Tigers have been putting up 77.7 points per contest in their last 10 appearances, an average that's significantly lower than the 84.8 they've scored over the course of the 2022-23 campaign.
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | 2023-03-03T18:36:57+00:00 | ksla.com | https://www.ksla.com/sports/betting/2023/03/03/lsu-georgia-womens-college-basketball-picks-sec-tournament/ |
Amazon’s pause in construction at its second headquarters in Arlington, Va. has not quelled enthusiasm for the expected economic boost to the region.
There is still a sense in the community that the incoming workers will increase traffic at local businesses, and some community leaders pointed to the critical economic benefits Arlington’s partnership with the company has already brought.
But amid broader economic uncertainty, a nationwide housing shortage lingers and leaves community members and leaders alike working to balance demand for both higher end homes and the need for affordable housing.
Amazon’s presence in Arlington has injected both opportunities and challenges into the local housing market and the larger economy, county board member Matt de Ferranti told The Hill.
The median sales price for a home in Arlington when Amazon announced the county’s winning bid sat at $561,000, data compiled by Virginia REALTORS shows.
Prices shot up by nearly 19 percent in 2019 alone. Since then, median prices in the already competitive market swelled to $624,000 in February.
“There’s overall concern about the increases in property values, and then there’s specific concerns about displacement of our lowest and moderate-income residents,” de Ferranti said, adding that the board worked hard to prevent displacement of the communities most vulnerable, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
Still, Amazon’s arrival in National Landing has led to the approval of thousands of units in the last four years alone, de Ferranti said, which will add critical supply.
“So nationally, we’re having this debate over the supply of housing as a whole in addition to affordable housing. And so, I believe we need to be ready to allow more housing at the top end and at the market rate so that market demand is not so much greater than supply,” de Ferranti said.
Amazon is already filling jobs in the area
Arlington County has committed $23 million in performance incentives to the company, which said it plans to add 25,000 jobs in the area. And recently, the online retailer applied for its first round of incentives from the state.
An Amazon spokesperson told The Hill that the company will only submit and receive incentives under the agreement, and while 6,939 of the 8,000 jobs created thus far are eligible, Amazon expects around 8,000 employees to begin working at Met Park this summer.
The incentive has an average wage requirement of $156,852 for Calendar Year 2022, and jobs already filled exceed the requirement.
“It’s a fairly common practice for governments to incentivize companies to invest locally and create jobs in their communities,” Holly Sullivan, vice president of Amazon’s worldwide economic development, said in a statement to The Hill.
“So far, we’ve exceeded the projections laid out in the agreement we signed with Virginia in 2018 by creating and maintaining over 8,000 jobs at HQ2,” Sullivan said.
Arlington has yet to pay the company any incentives.
Worry about Amazon-related gentrification grows in Arlington
Meanwhile, rents nationwide recently saw their first year over year decline since the onset of the pandemic. Competition created partly by remote work and partly by consistent interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve have pushed up rents consistently.
Currently, the average 1-bedroom apartment in Arlington is currently listed at more than $2,100 per month, according to data from Rent.com. About 71 percent of apartments here are at or above that average rent.
And a northern Virginia coalition of workers, immigrants and people of color named For Us, Not Amazon, wrote on Facebook in response to the construction pause that locals are left bearing the consequences, including raised rents.
“In the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Arlandria, Alexandria, not far from HQ2, tenants are seeing landlords raise their rates — while they’re still waiting on the hoped-for explosion of jobs,” they wrote.
Kris Gerrity, a community organizer with the group, told The Hill that the Housing Equity Fund announced by Amazon in 2021 to “preserve and create over 20,000 affordable homes” with a focus on Seattle, Nashville and the DMV leads to more questions than answers.
“It is clear that Amazon is primed to profit from these investments. This is a disconnect from Amazon’s messaging about affordable housing in our region, which Amazon claims it wants to address. Amazon wants to be part of the solution to the very problems it is creating,” Gerrity said.
Local real estate agents are ready for higher sales prices
Amazon has committed $992 million in loans and grants to preserve or create 6,200 affordable homes across the region, and the company said it is committed to the community.
“Our commitments to our neighbors, the community, and the region have also grown. We’ve invested more than $800 million in affordable housing through the Housing Equity Fund and over $37 million to nonprofits, community groups, public schools, and businesses,” Sullivan said.
For the Arlington area housing market generally, the major impact of the expected added workforce is on sellers’ expectations, Mike Webb, a Re Max Allegiance associate broker with 32 years of real estate experience in the region, told The Hill.
“The sellers believe they should get a better price because Amazon is coming,” he said.
But in Webb’s experience, the region frequently sees this kind of population movement during shifting political tides.
“Arlington’s got 300,000 people already. The DMV has 6 million, 25,000 is just like a change in a presidency. It’s not really that big of a deal. Does it help? Yes, it does,” Webb continued.
“But what I have seen, yes, it’s helped. But it seems like the sellers have noticed it more than the buyers,” he said. | 2023-04-17T18:50:04+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/hill-politics/amazons-hq2-pause-hasnt-quelled-worries-about-gentrification-promised-jobs/ |
NPR's Juana Summers talks with the mayor of El Paso, Texas Oscar Leeser about how the city is dealing with a large number of migrants at the border seeking to claim asylum in the U.S.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Juana Summers talks with the mayor of El Paso, Texas Oscar Leeser about how the city is dealing with a large number of migrants at the border seeking to claim asylum in the U.S.
Copyright 2022 NPR | 2022-12-21T22:27:32+00:00 | kcbx.org | https://www.kcbx.org/2022-12-21/el-paso-mayor-oscar-leeser-on-the-ongoing-migrant-crisis-at-the-u-s-mexico-border |
The new launches build on Intercom's vision to enable a new era of customer connection and engagement
SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Intercom, the Engagement OS, today launched three new capabilities to help businesses create powerful customer experiences and drive ongoing engagement.
Intercom SMS is a truly two-way SMS tool for sales, marketing and support teams to reach and communicate with customers, replacing the status quo, one-sided SMS tools and dead-end text messages that are impersonal for customers and disconnected for businesses. Custom Actions and Custom Objects are next-generation, no-code platform features that let businesses design personalized, self-serve support experiences in minutes. The features now connect Intercom's bots with first-party data to present customers with real-time information during a conversation, like order status or payment details, and let customers take actions, like updating their contact information or canceling bookings. With customer support undergoing a once-in-a-generation change, Custom Actions and Custom Objects are examples of how Intercom is building the future of automated support.
"Intercom exists to help businesses provide better experiences for their customers," said Jane Honey, Senior Product Director at Intercom. "These new features help businesses make the most out of every opportunity they have to connect with a customer—whether it's building stronger customer relationships through two-way conversations, or leveraging automation for faster and better experiences for both their support teams and customers."
Intercom's Engagement OS has consistently leveraged the power of AI and bots for more personalized and faster customer interactions, and in recent years has invested in enabling omni-channel customer communication across a variety of channels, including email, surveys, push notifications, in-app messages, WhatsApp and more.
Intercom SMS is a fully integrated solution built natively into the Intercom platform, so it can be used alongside Intercom's omni-channel offering to build complete customer journeys. It is the most powerful option bringing together mass outbound SMS with SMS support, that doesn't require a separate tool or provider. Whereas most SMS solutions are powered by keywords, Intercom SMS is truly two-way texting. Customer support reps can respond to SMS messages within the Intercom Inbox and also send targeted and personalized outbound SMS messages at scale, both increasing engagement and encouraging customers to take action.
"Using Intercom SMS, we've seen higher engagement on our SMS messages and completion rates by our customers, as well as significant time savings for our team," said Daniel Leung, Head of Product & Strategic Growth at Curex. "Our patients prefer SMS, but setting it up, tracking conversations and responding used to be a very manual process. Intercom SMS has made it easier for everyone—both our internal team and patients alike, helping us make the patient experience seamless."
Because Intercom SMS is built natively into Intercom's all-in-one platform, which captures and stores customer and event data, businesses also get automatic access to powerful and deeply integrated SMS targeting, orchestration, message personalization, optimizations, robust reporting and more. The feature is available now in the U.S, U.K, Canada and Australia.
Customers expect more from bots than just simple resolutions, and businesses need easy and intuitive bot builder environments to meet this demand.
Custom Actions manages the connection between Intercom and external data sources, while Custom Objects helps businesses store, organize and use external data within Intercom in the way that suits their business. The features connect Intercom's Custom Bots and Resolution Bot with customers' first-party data from external sources, and teams can set up the data connection in minutes, with no-code integrations.
Through the integration, bots can answer more questions and resolve even more conversations automatically, without needing a human touch. This not only boosts self-serve rates and reduces inbound support volume for support teams—it also provides a better and faster customer experience. Custom Actions and Custom Objects are available now to all global customers using Intercom's bots.
Intercom is debuting the new features at the New at Intercom event today at 8 a.m. PDT/4 p.m. BST. Visit the website to watch live.
Intercom, the Engagement OS, enables businesses to build stronger customer relationships that drive growth and scale. With its all-in-one customer communications platform, Intercom offers next-generation solutions for sales, marketing and support teams to work together to convert prospects into paying customers, engage customers throughout their journey and provide world-class support.
Intercom is redefining the customer journey and unifying business silos to deliver ongoing, personalized engagement through in-context communications. More than 25,000 global organizations, including Atlassian, Amazon and Lyft Business, rely on Intercom to deliver unparalleled user experiences at any scale. Intercom's platform is used to send over 500 million messages per month and enables interactions with over 600 million monthly active end users.
Founded in 2011 and backed by leading venture capitalists, including Kleiner Perkins, Bessemer Venture Partners and Social Capital, Intercom is on a mission to make internet business personal.
Media Contact
Christine Curtin
christine.curtin@intercom.io
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SOURCE Intercom, Inc. | 2022-06-22T13:58:31+00:00 | mysuncoast.com | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/06/22/intercom-launches-two-way-sms-new-bot-features-businesses-deliver-better-customer-experiences/ |
Some houses have gardens, or maybe even a greenhouse. Some have pools or playgrounds.
The single-family home for sale at 198 Locktown Flemington Road in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, has a burial ground.
Some houses have gardens, or maybe even a greenhouse. Some have pools or playgrounds.
The single-family home for sale at 198 Locktown Flemington Road in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, has a burial ground.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. | 2023-04-25T23:40:03+00:00 | nj.com | https://www.nj.com/realestate-news/2023/04/this-850k-home-once-a-nj-church-comes-with-a-graveyard.html |
Dean Lockwood’s resume speaks for itself.
But a strong reference never hurts during a job interview.
On Thursday, Michigan State University’s new head women’s basketball coach Robyn Fralick announced that Lockwood would be part of her staff as director of player development. The Bay City native is the lone holdover from the previous coaching staff at MSU.
“One of my favorite things about Coach is the way he lights up when he is on the court and surrounded by student-athletes,” Fralick said in a press release. “We are very grateful to learn from Coach Lockwood every day and are excited for his incredible, positive impact on the program.”
Lockwood spent the past five seasons as associate head coach at MSU under Suzy Merchant and, prior to that, was part of Pat Summitt’s national championship program at the University of Tennessee.
But Lockwood apparently got a thumb’s up for his new gig from another notable figure. Robyn Fralick’s husband Tim Fralick played at Saginaw Valley State University while Lockwood was head men’s basketball coach of the Cardinals.
“My husband has always raved about how Coach Lockwood was so instrumental and transformational in his life,” Robyn Fralick said. “He is well-respected and well-regarded for his wisdom, work ethic and success.”
Lockwood is a 1978 graduate of Bay City All Saints who was inducted into the Bay County Sports Hall of Fame in 2008. After a four-year playing career at Spring Arbor, he launched a coaching career that took him to Central Michigan, U.S. Military Academy, Northwood University and SVSU.
He served as head men’s basketball coach at Northwood from 1991-97 and at SVSU from 1998-2004. But he made a big move when he joined the Tennessee women’s basketball program and its legendary coach. He spent 15 seasons with the Lady Vols, helping them to five Southeastern Conference titles and back-to-back national championships in 2007 and 2008.
Primarily a post position coach, five of his players developed into first-round draft picks in the WNBA – including 2013 league MVP Candace Parker -- and eight others were taken in later rounds.
Lockwood came to MSU in 2019 and this season he stepped in as interim head coach when Merchant stepped away from the team for medical reasons. He guided the Spartans to a 5-5 record down the stretch, including an upset of Nebraska in the Big Ten Tournament.
When Robyn Fralick was introduced as the new head coach on March 31, Lockwood was officially in search of a job. But he landed one right where he stood, moving to director of player development under Fralick.
Lockwood is being inducted into the A Step Up Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame on May 23 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Fralick, who spent the past five seasons as head coach at Bowling Green State University, announced that four members of her BGSU staff are joining her at Michigan State, including associate head coach Kim Cameron, assistant coach Maria Kasza, director of recruiting Joel Whymer and director of basketball operations Monique Rosati. Assistant coach Marwan Miller rounds out her MSU staff.
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NFL analyst guarantees MSU’s Ben VanSumeren will be drafted
Former MSU star has career game in NBA playoffs | 2023-04-21T15:51:46+00:00 | mlive.com | https://www.mlive.com/sports/2023/04/bay-citys-dean-lockwood-has-unique-connection-to-new-msu-coach-robyn-fralick.html |
Which gray throw pillows are best?
Throw pillows are a great way to add some depth, comfort and style to your living space. They look great on sofas, armchairs and beds. If you want something sophisticated that also matches nearly any other color, gray throw pillows are an excellent choice. The best one is the Ink and Ivy Mid-Century Modern Cotton Decorative Pillow because it’s hypoallergenic, supportive and decorative.
What to know before you buy gray throw pillows
Theme
While traditional pillows provide comfort and support while sleeping or resting, throw pillows are often more decorative and used while awake. Some are still soft or cushioned enough to be used as support. For the most part, though, they’re meant to complement the overall look of a room.
They also accentuate the colors and patterns of the other furniture and decorative pieces in the room. This includes:
- Curtains or drapes
- Area rugs
- Armchairs
- Sofas
- Daybeds
- Tables or desks
Throw pillows, including gray ones, also often come with specific designs, patterns or graphics that can add a distinct aesthetic to your space, such as:
- Tassels around two or more of the edges
- Animals, such as elephants or bears
- Inspirational words or text
- Stripes or checkers
- Mandalas or geometric patterns
These designs can add a splash of intrigue or draw the eye to specific areas in the room. When placed strategically, the pillows can also act as a centerpiece in an otherwise minimalistic space.
Shade
Gray throw pillows come in all different shades, ranging from light to dark to neutral, making them highly versatile. Here are some of the most common ones:
- Light: Light grays can bring balance to a bright room or one that uses a lot of pastels such as blues or pinks. Popular options are cloud, dove and smoke grays.
- Medium or neutral: A more neutral palette can give your home a calming aesthetic. It also doesn’t clash with other colors. Options include graphite, dark smoke and ash gray.
- Dark: Darker shades pair well with light-colored furniture and artwork — such as yellows, greens and other bright hues — since they add more depth and can be quite striking visually. Charcoal and gunmetal are both darker grays. For something that really pops, dark silver also works here.
When decorating a room, avoid using too many colors in a small space at once. There should be two to four main colors, though you can add shades as desired to spruce it up.
Insert and covers
Many gray throw pillows come with the following pieces:
- Insert: An insert is the part of a pillow that adds fluff or filling. These go inside a protective cover and aren’t meant to be seen, so they’re often white or another neutral color. Some come in sets, while others come separately. If you want to get them separately, make sure they fit the cover you have.
- Cover: The cover is more or less a pillowcase and goes around the insert (main pillow). In throw pillows, it usually has a zipper you can use to pull out or put in an insert. Covers are typically machine-safe and can be washed on their own. They come in all different colors and patterns.
Some throw pillows come as a single piece. This means you can’t open them up and remove or replace the insert when the pillow starts to lose its shape or form.
What to look for in quality gray throw pillows
Size and shape
Gray throw pillows are usually:
- Rectangular
- Square
- Cylindrical
- Circular
If you’re going for a more unique aesthetic, some special shapes can enhance the look and feel of your space. This includes:
- Moons
- Hearts
- Flowers
- Stars
- Animals
In terms of sizing, most throw pillows have standard sizes, such as:
- 18 inches by 18 inches
- 20 inches by 20 inches
- 24 inches by 24 inches
Some, such as cylindrical pillows, are longer but have a shorter height and depth. When getting throw pillows for your home, consider the placement. For example, if you have a sofa with three cushions, a larger pillow would work well while a small one could look too small and out of place. On the other hand, if you want to put it on a small chair, go with a smaller size.
Material
Typically, gray throw pillows have different materials for the insert than they do for the cover.
- Insert or fill: One of the most common fills is polyester because it’s durable, inexpensive and capable of keeping its shape for a long time. Other pillows use natural down fill that comes from geese or ducks as it’s soft, warm and malleable. There are synthetic fills, too, such as cotton, fiberfill and microfiber.
- Cover: The material used in the cover can be anything from cotton to wool to satin. Some throw pillow covers consist of linen or synthetic furs for a different texture and look. Certain materials, such as satin, stay cool even on hot days. Others, including linen, are resistant to tears and scratches, which is good for households with children or pets.
Texture
The following factors affect the texture of any throw pillow:
- Material or fabric of the outer cover
- Any special design themes (ex. tassels, ribbons, buttons, or strings)
- Thread count and weave
- Detailed stitching
Pillows that are meant for decor aren’t usually very soft or squishy. Many have a more rigid structure and rougher texture. If you want something that doubles as a practical pillow, go with one that has fewer design features and a higher thread count.
How much you can expect to spend on gray throw pillows
Gray throw pillows can be sold as a set or separately. A set of two pillows could cost $30-$60, on average, while a single pillow costs $10-$30.
Gray throw pillows FAQ
What’s the difference between a decorative pillow and a throw pillow?
A. Decorative pillows are usually only meant to tie together certain aspects of a room, such as furniture or rugs. Most throw pillows are decorative and functional.
What are some color combinations that go well with gray?
A. Some of the best colors to pair with gray are teal blue, mustard yellow, light blue or blush pink. Earthy colors, such as browns, dark greens and solid reds, can also complement gray. If you’re going for a modern, minimalistic aesthetic, white or black can also work well.
What are the best gray throw pillows to buy?
Top gray throw pillow
Ink and Ivy Mid-Century Modern Cotton Decorative Pillow
What you need to know: This hypoallergenic gray throw pillow is perfect for anyone looking for extra lumbar support for the bed or couch.
What you’ll love: Available in four sizes, this classy throw pillow is decorative and supportive. The cover has a hidden zipper you can use when you need to wash it. It also comes in either a rectangular or square shape with different patterns and two shades of gray.
What you should consider: The corners don’t contain much fill.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top gray throw pillow for the money
Acanva Solid Velvet Soft Decorative Throw Pillow
What you need to know: Available in a set of two, these simple square throw pillows are decorative and functional.
What you’ll love: Made from durable polyester, these pillows are soft and plush. They’re also hypoallergenic and resistant to pilling. Plus, they’re machine-washable.
What you should consider: The color isn’t the same as the one pictured.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Eddie Bauer Bear Rectangular Cotton Pillow Cover and Insert
What you need to know: This rectangular throw pillow has a gray bear on the cover, giving it a rustic or woodsy look.
What you’ll love: It consists of cotton twill and has a removable polyester insert. It also has distinct gray edges. Plus, it offers good lumbar support for use on a chair or couch.
What you should consider: Aside from the bear and border, the rest of this pillow is off-white.
Where to buy: Sold by Wayfair
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Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | 2022-07-07T20:09:09+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/reviews/br/home-br/decor-br/best-gray-throw-pillows/ |
A 21-year-old Vineland man drowned Friday after possibly getting caught in a rip current in the water off Corson’s Inlet State Park in Ocean City, officials said.
Members of the Ocean City Beach Patrol gave CPR to Nathaniel Figueroa before he was brought to a local hospital, where he died, a State Park Police spokesman said in an email.
Swimming is not permitted at Corson’s Inlet, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection, which operates the park.
Figueroa attended Rowan College of South Jersey, according to an online obituary.
The drowning is at least the 15th drowning in New Jersey this year and the fourth in Cape May County.
A 19-year-old Pennsylvania man drowned near a Wildwood beach in early June. A week later, a 53-year-old man, also from Pennsylvania, drowned while swimming in Wildwood Crest.
Soon after, a third person, a 45-year-old man from Hillsdale, drowned in Wildwood.
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Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. | 2022-06-22T18:24:17+00:00 | nj.com | https://www.nj.com/news/2022/06/21-year-old-drowns-at-nj-state-park-officials-say.html |
BERLIN (AP) — The European Union’s law enforcement agency said Friday that authorities in six countries have worked with music streaming service SoundCloud to detect and delete hundreds of files containing extremist propaganda.
Europol said that the plan was initiated by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and the EU Internet Referral Unit, and that authorities in Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, Spain and the U.K. were also involved.
Law enforcement authorities “detected and assisted the company to scour illegally uploaded jihadist, right wing terrorist and violent extremist propaganda,” Europol said in a statement. Around 1,100 profiles and audio files deemed to be illegal were flagged to SoundCloud, which “deleted the reported files that were considered a breach of its terms and conditions.”
The content that was flagged included jihadist chants in several languages and audio promoting right-wing extremist groups. Some of the material had already gathered several thousand hits, Europol said. It added that the action was part of an ongoing partnership between SoundCloud, Europol and law enforcement agencies.
German authorities said the files were flagged between May 5 and 13. | 2022-05-20T12:36:47+00:00 | upmatters.com | https://www.upmatters.com/technology/ap-technology/european-nations-streaming-service-delete-extremist-audio/ |
The House approves a bill that would allow public transit agencies to produce, sell and use green and renewable hydrogen fuel, and own and operate facilities that dispense hydrogen.
The Senate Law and Justice Committee approves a bill that would require safety training for gun buyers.
The House passes a “Day of Remembrance” resolution honoring Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War II. | 2023-02-23T18:28:54+00:00 | tvw.org | https://tvw.org/2023/02/legislative-review-23/ |
Q: Ira, unlike many, I am not disappointed by the Heat not having any signings. I look as them having several options: Obtain a star like Donovan Mitchell or Kevin Durant without trading Bam Adebayo; obtain a guy like Myles Turner who fills a gaping hole and whose game complements Bam; go into the season with what they have but being ready for the opportunity to bring in a star as guys’ stock go up (Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, Max Strus, Omer Yurtseven) – Carl.
A: Exactly. While the NBA has several trigger dates that lend themselves to moves, such as the July 1 start of free agency, the Dec. 15 lifting of the trade restrictions on most free agents signed in the offseason, and the February NBA trading deadline, being nimble often can be the key. So study and prepare for all possibilities, then pounce when optimal. I don’t think Andy Elisburg’s cell phone has an off button. So for now, the Heat personnel department remains vigilant and on call. Besides, if the Nets do decide to deal Kevin Durant or the Jazz opt to move Donovan Mitchell, it’s likely both teams first cycle back to the Heat to ferret out the best possible deal.
Q: Hi Ira, I’m of the mind that we would be better off trading for someone like Donovan Mitchell rather than gutting our entire future (Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, picks) for Kevin Durant. The Heat got within two wins of a championship and a couple of minutes from returning to the Finals this year. They don’t need the best scorer (ever?). What they could use is one more scoring threat to provide the offensive gravity like Duncan Robinson used to do but without the slowness. The Heat are in win-now mode, but that’s their story most years anyway. KD’s age and injury history is worrisome and even if Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro don’t improve much more, adding a John Collins or Donovan Mitchell keeps our near-championship core mostly intact. Trade for KD and our power rotation becomes Omer Yurtseven and Caleb Martin? Haywood Highsmith and Dewayne Dedmon? – Eddie, South Bend, Ind.
A: But that’s how this league operates, that to get an elite player, just about everything has to be on the table. That’s why the Heat went all in with Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, Caron Butler and a first-round pick for Shaquille O’Neal. It is easier to fill holes when those voids are surrounded by greatness.
Q: Isn’t there a big advantage to letting Tyler Herro become a restricted free agent by not finalizing an extension? It seems that would give the Heat the most flexibility for trades. And as a restricted free agent, the Heat can just match any offers next summer just like the Suns just did with Deandre Ayton. Perhaps no extension would also motivate Tyler to elevate his game. – Jordan, Hollywood.
A: Yes there is an advantage, mostly for the reality that it would allow the market to set the price. But there also is the matter of building good will if you believe the player can be a cornerstone. That clearly was the Heat’s thinking with Bam Adebayo. So the approach was swift. So with Tyler Herro, it could come down to whether the Heat feel the same way.
() | 2022-07-22T06:25:45+00:00 | twincities.com | https://www.twincities.com/2022/07/21/ask-ira-do-heat-have-to-accept-they-are-on-jazz-nets-trading-schedules/ |
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s president has rejected accusations that he is stoking anti-Black racism, saying that he has sub-Saharan African friends and that his comments last month targeting migrants were misinterpreted by his enemies.
President Kais Saied drew international criticism and concern with those comments, in which he ordered a crackdown on sub-Saharan African migrants and lashed out at a perceived plot to erase Tunisia’s identity. The comments fanned racist abuse targeting Black people in Tunisia, and prompted some African countries to evacuate their citizens.
On Wednesday evening, at a meeting with the president of Guinea-Bissau, Saied denounced what he called a “malicious interpretation’’ of his comments, and issued a “blatant denial’’ that he is racist.
“I am African, and proud to be so,” he said in televised comments. He said some of his family members are married to sub-Saharan Africans and that he had friends in law school who were Africans. He also described Africans as “brothers.’’
He stuck by his call for a crackdown on illegal migration, however, and did not say anything to curb racist sentiment that has surged online and in the country’s streets.
And as Tunisian authorities have stepped up arrests of migrants without residency documents in recent weeks, Saied insisted that they are just upholding the law.
Saied has consolidated power and dismantled democratic gains in Tunisia since 2021, and in recent weeks several opposition figures have been arrested.
Both the European Union and the United States have voiced their concern about Saied’s position toward migrants and said they were closely watching developments.
The World Bank earlier this week advised its staff that it was temporarily pausing its Country Partnership Framework with Tunisia — one aspect of its work with the North African country, citing its “core values of inclusion, respect and anti-racism in all shapes and forms.”
More than 100 migrants are camped outside the International Organization for Migration office in Tunisia. The U.N. agency said Wednesday it is working non-stop to help them.
It welcomed a hotline for migrants and other promises announced by the Tunisian government earlier this week, and encouraged Tunisia to turn commitments into concrete action. | 2023-03-09T16:22:42+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/news/ap-international-news/facing-uproar-tunisian-president-denies-hes-stoking-racism/ |
St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol didn't realize there were no Latino general managers left in Major League Baseball after the Detroit Tigers fired Al Avila.
Marmol himself is one of only three Latino on-field managers, along with Boston's Alex Cora and Washington's Dave Martinez. There were four when the season started, but the Toronto Blue Jays fired Charlie Montoyo last month.
“That’s outrageous," Marmol said Thursday, when going over the short list of Latino managers.
While roughly 29% of the players on big league rosters to start this season were Latino or Hispanic, and the percentage of coaches was just a tick higher, that hasn't translated to similar numbers in management positions on and off the field for the 30 MLB teams.
Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny was aware of Avila's firing, but like Marmol was unaware that Avila was baseball's only Latino GM.
“He had a great run. He’s a good baseball man,” Matheny said. "Certainly, we have at least one third of our players are Latino. I know how valuable it is to have that connection in our clubhouse and with our staff. You can see the need to have representation in leadership.”
Asked how that could change, he responded, "That’s a great question. I don’t know.”
With Avila out after seven years as Detroit's GM, MLB has even fewer minorities in leading front-office positions.
Chicago White Sox executive vice president Kenny Williams is the only Black leader of baseball operations for any club, Miami Marlins GM Kim Ng is the only woman and Asian-American in that role, and San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who is of Pakistani descent, is the only Muslim.
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida in May released its annual study of diversity hiring in MLB. The report said of 975 big league players on April 1, that 278 of them (28.5%) were Hispanic or Latino. That has been at least 25% each year since 1998. The four Latino managers at the beginning of the season matched the most — like the three previous seasons, as well as 2004 and 2011.
Arte Moreno, who has owned the Los Angeles Angels since 2003, is the only Hispanic or Latino majority team owner.
Avila was fired Wednesday by the Tigers, who were in a rebuilding process when he got the job and are still struggling. They haven't been to the playoffs since Avila was promoted to GM on Aug. 4, 2015, after serving as Dave Dombrowski’s assistant.
The 36-year-old Marmol is the youngest manager in the majors, and the youngest for the Cardinals since 1951. The New Jersey native, who traces his lineage to the Dominican Republic, also is only the franchise’s second minority manager.
Marmol has been with the Cardinals organization since being picked in the sixth round of the 2007 amateur draft. He never played above Class A but became a coach and manager in the minors, then joined the Cardinals' big league staff in 2017.
“An important word for me is ‘access.’ For me, I give a lot of credit for being in this seat because of the access I was given,” Marmol said Thursday. "If you look at some of the places I grew up, you’re not exposed to the things you need to be exposed to allow you to have those seats.
“So a lot of it is early-on access to being equipped with a way of thinking, communicating, managing, handling personalities — all of the things that other people, honestly, have access to that a lot of Latin communities don’t,” he said. “I think that’s where it starts.”
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AP freelancers Mike Cranston and David Smale contributed to this report.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2022-08-12T01:48:34+00:00 | local10.com | https://www.local10.com/sports/2022/08/12/no-latino-gms-in-mlb-after-avila-firing-only-3-managers/ |
2 claim $1.337B Mega Millions jackpot, lottery officials say
CHICAGO (AP) — Lottery officials say two people who wish to remain anonymous have claimed a $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot after a single ticket was sold in a Chicago suburb for a late July drawing.
The Illinois Lottery said Wednesday the prize was claimed by two individuals who had agreed to split the prize if they won.
The Illinois Lottery says it is unable to share any information about the winners except to say that they must be absolutely “over the moon” with their Mega Millions win.
The jackpot-winning ticket was bought at the end of July at a Speedway gas station and convenience store in Des Plaines.
The winning numbers were: 13-36-45-57-67, Mega Ball: 14. The jackpot was the nation’s third-largest lottery prize.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2022-09-21T13:27:12+00:00 | wafb.com | https://www.wafb.com/2022/09/21/lottery-officials-say-two-people-claimed-1337b-mega-millions-jackpot/ |
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — If there’s any time of year to tuck away the New Year’s resolutions and bring out the cash, it’s Girl Scout cookie season.
Girl Scouts across the country are setting up stands once again and will continue to sell their lineup of iconic cookies through April. That lineup does have one new addition in 2023 — the Raspberry Rally.
This new cookie looks very similar to the Thin Mint with a chocolatey coating, but underneath is a pink, crispy, raspberry-flavored cookie.
The Raspberry Rally, however, will be sold exclusively online starting on Feb. 27, and directly shipped to customers’ homes. This new method will “allow Girl Scouts to learn new skills and build their ecommerce business,” according to the organization’s website.
Anyone wishing to pre-order before Feb. 27 will need to contact their local troop.
A release from Girl Scouts of the USA said the community-supported cookie sales represent the world’s largest entrepreneurial program for girls. It’s a program known for developing life skills in young girls such as money management, people skills, goal setting and decision making, according to the organization.
Funds raised from each year’s cookie sales go toward experiences such as service projects, troop travel and summer camps.
Want cookies and don’t know anyone with your local troop? Visit the Girl Scouts’ online cookie finder at Girlscouts.org. It’s worth noting, though, that each of the 111 Girl Scout councils across the country “sets cookie season timing in their own local market,” so troops in your area may not be selling cookies in your neck of the woods just yet, according to a representative for the national organization.
“The majority of councils conduct their cookie season for about a six- to eight-week period per year, most between January and April, but some start earlier in the fall,” according to a GSUSA spokesperson. | 2023-01-14T01:03:45+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/news/watercooler/girl-scout-cookie-season-is-back-heres-whats-new-in-2023/ |
NEW YORK, May 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CredSpark, a premier engagement and assessment platform, and 7 Knots Digital, an industry frontrunner in strategic audience and demand generation for expanding B2B companies, are thrilled to announce their collaboration. This dynamic partnership integrates 7 Knots Digital's insights-driven solutions and audience development expertise with CredSpark's cutting-edge platform for capturing insights on audience knowledge, interests, and demographics.
The partnership empowers 7 Knots' strategic services to expand clients' first-party data capture using the CredSpark app to turn static content into compelling, interactive experiences. 7 Knots clients will benefit from the partnership by improving their audience engagement, generating deeper audience insights, and driving activations including registrations, subscriptions, and more.
"7 Knots Digital's skill in audience development and lead generation enables them to fully-leverage CredSpark's robust capabilities and our support of multiple audience use cases," said Lev Kaye, CEO of CredSpark. "We are enthusiastic about working with 7 Knots Digital to provide clients with a comprehensive solution that propels business growth."
"We are honored to collaborate with CredSpark," stated James Karklins, President of 7 Knots Digital. "We believe that this partnership will create immense value for both our organizations and our clientele spanning B2B media publishing, technology, and associations."
About 7 Knots Digital Inc
7 Knots Digital is a strategic audience and demand generation partner for B2B companies. Setting itself apart from other B2B digital marketing firms, 7 Knots Digital transcends data, email marketing, and services by offering strategic, experience-informed solutions that drive clients' success in both the short and long term.
7 Knots Digital navigates your digital journey with a suite of specialized services tailored to achieve and exceed your business objectives. 7 Knots Digital is headquartered in New York City. To learn more, please visit www.7knotsdigital.com.
About CredSpark
CredSpark's app is an innovative set of features and tools that fuses insights from the worlds of education with the engagement power of entertainment media to create bold and compelling digital experiences that delight audiences, generate zero-party audience data, and achieve business objectives.
CredSpark is based in New York City. For more information, visit www.credspark.com.
Contacts:
James Karklins, President
7 Knots Digital Inc
E: james@7knotsdigital.com
P: +1 347-349-0919
Lev Kaye, Founder & CEO
CredSpark
E: lev@credspark.com
Related Links
www.7knotsdigital.com
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SOURCE 7 Knots Digital Inc | 2023-05-03T19:31:07+00:00 | witn.com | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2023/05/03/credspark-7-knots-digital-partner-transform-b2b-audience-development-engagement-strategies/ |
Oyster growers in Washington's Willapa Bay are alarmed by an invasion of potentially destructive European green crabs. Some are asking for an all-out trapping offensive to corral the invasive species.
Copyright 2023 NPR
Oyster growers in Washington's Willapa Bay are alarmed by an invasion of potentially destructive European green crabs. Some are asking for an all-out trapping offensive to corral the invasive species.
Copyright 2023 NPR | 2023-04-09T21:48:13+00:00 | wlrn.org | https://www.wlrn.org/npr-breaking-news/2023-04-09/northwest-shellfish-growers-call-for-aggressive-action-against-invasive-crabs |
The Mets have picked up the option for 2023 on right-hander Carlos Carrasco, giving them two starting pitchers for next season. Carrasco, a 35-year-old Venezuela native, remains under contract through next season and will earn $14 million.
Had the Mets elected to cut him loose, he would have received a $3 million buyout to become a free agent.
The Mets also extended qualifying offers to right-hander Chris Bassitt and outfielder Brandon Nimmo. Outfielder Terrance Gore was outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse but declined the assignment and elected free agency.
Carrasco was acquired in January of 2021 in the trade with Cleveland that brought back Francisco Lindor in exchange for shortstops Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez, minor league pitcher Josh Wolf and minor league outfielder Isaiah Greene. He went 16-12 with a 4.51 ERA in two seasons with the Mets, struggling at times as he tried to increase his workload after recovering from Leukemia and the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
In 2021, Carrasco was sidelined with a hamstring injury that kept him out of action for four months. When he returned, he went just 1-5 with a 6.04 ERA as the Mets fell out of playoff contention.
But Carrasco was a reliable back-end option for the Mets in 2022, going 15-7 with a 3.97 ERA and a 3.53 FIP. He missed a few starts late in the season with a strained oblique but still managed to throw 152 innings, the most he had logged since before the cancer diagnosis.
Carrasco was not used in the postseason with the Mets getting eliminated before needing him to make a start. However, Carrasco said his body and his arm felt great and that he would have been not only available for a postseason start but confident that he could have pitched well. It was a feel-good season for a player trying to make his way back to where he was before his diagnosis.
Carrasco provides the team with a veteran presence on the back end and will join right-hander Max Scherzer in the rotation. The club has a few more spots to fill but the pieces are starting to fall into place.
()
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Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, in a ballroom in the ornate Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, a packed crowd watched charismatic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy give a victory speech after winning the California primary.
Almost five years after his older brother John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Robert Kennedy was making his own run for the White House. America was divided over the Civil Rights Movement and the war in Vietnam.
The New York senator was gaining momentum to potentially secure the Democratic nomination. But that night — 55 years ago today — was the last time he would address the public.
A second Kennedy assassinated
As Kennedy walked off stage at the Ambassador Hotel through a pack of eager reporters, the crowd chanted his name.
"We want Bobby," they cheered.
Kennedy shook hands with supporters and exited the ballroom through the kitchen. Then, the crowd heard what witnesses would later describe as the sound of firecrackers. A gunman fired a .22 caliber revolver, hitting Kennedy and injuring five others.
Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson — one of Kennedy's friends who worked on his campaign — wrestled the gunman to the ground and tried to disarm him.
Amid the chaos, teenage busboy Juan Romero comforted Kennedy, who was sprawled out on the floor.
"I kneeled down to him and put my hand between the cold concrete and his head just to make him comfortable," Romero told StoryCorps in 2018. "I could feel a steady stream of blood coming through my fingers. I had a rosary in my shirt pocket, and I took it out thinking that he would need it a lot more than me. I wrapped it around his right hand, and then they wheeled him away."
Kennedy died the next day. He was 42. His widow, Ethel, was pregnant with their 11th child.
Campaigning on race, with some contradictions
Mourners lined up before dawn outside New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral for Kennedy's funeral mass. Inside the church, Sen. Ted Kennedy delivered the eulogy.
"As he said many times in many parts of this nation: Some men see things as they are and say 'Why?' " Kennedy said. "I dream things that never were and say 'Why not?' "
Robert Kennedy was memorialized as a liberal icon who found support among Black and Latino voters.
"He made a virtue of abrasiveness in his 1968 campaign, deliberately taunting affluent constituencies on behalf of the disadvantaged," NPR commentator Rod MacLeish said in 1983.
But Kennedy was complicated and contradictory, especially when it came to one particular decision. As U.S. attorney general, he authorized the FBI to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr.'s telephones in 1963, because of suspicion that one of King's aides had communist ties.
But Kennedy was a well-known advocate for marginalized communities and spoke about racial equality during his campaign. Two months before his own death, Kennedy gave an impromptu speech to a mostly Black crowd in Indianapolis about the assassination of Dr. King.
"What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but love and compassion toward one another, a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer, whether they be white or whether be Black," he said.
On the day Kennedy died, Congress responded by expanding Secret Service protection to include major presidential candidates. The man who shot Kennedy was convicted of first-degree murder and continues to serve a life sentence.
The room where it happened
Today, there is no Ambassador Hotel. It was demolished in 2006.
The site in LA is now a complex of public schools called the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. There are vibrant murals all over campus and in the hallways. The walls of the school library are adorned with portraits and huge, colorful paintings of Kennedy.
Most of the students there are Latino. Over the years, many of the students who graduate are the first in their families to attend college.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-06-05T10:00:15+00:00 | nepm.org | https://www.nepm.org/2023-06-05/robert-kennedy-was-killed-55-years-ago-how-should-he-be-remembered |
The 25th Annual Sisters Folk Festival returns Friday with 31 bands performing at seven different venues around town.
New this year is a kid zone at Fir Street Park with live music and family-friendly activities.
Organizers expect 4,000 visitors to check out the event — nearly double the current population of Sisters.
“So just creating this larger community of people that come from all over the place is super fun. Come together to just celebrate music, all things music, music, dance. Meet new friends. It’s great,” said Sisters Folk Festival Executive Direct Crista Munroe.
RELATED: Bend Roots Festival returns with 120+ local musicians, nine stages
RELATED: High Desert Chamber Music Announces Auditions for Spotlight Chamber Players
Tickets for Friday and Saturday are sold out, but there are some available for Sunday.
Friday’s first performance is at 6:00 p.m. | 2022-09-30T01:35:10+00:00 | centraloregondaily.com | https://centraloregondaily.com/sisters-folk-festival-2/ |
GREAT FALLS — The Chippewa Cree Tribe said on Thursday that the Eagle Creek Fire in southern Hill County has now burned an estimated 8,500 acres.
The fire, which sparked on Wednesday afternoon, is burning both on and off the Rocky Boy's Reservation. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
There have been no injuries reported and no evacuations ordered; there is no word at this point on whether any structures have been damaged or are currently threatened.
Numerous resources are involved in fighting the fire, including aerial resources, volunteer fire departments, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation.
The Tribe said that the mountain on both the Beaver Creek and the Sandy Creek sides are closed until further notice, and hunting in the mountains is currently not allowed.
They noted that cattle in the region are not in danger, and they are being monitored by NRD range personnel. | 2022-09-08T19:42:18+00:00 | ktvq.com | https://www.ktvq.com/news/fire-watch/eagle-creek-fire-in-hill-county-has-burned-more-than-8k-acres |
WFO LOS ANGELES Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, September 6, 2022
_____
EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Los Angeles/Oxnard CA
421 AM PDT Tue Sep 6 2022
...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT THIS
EVENING...
* WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures up to 100.
* WHERE...Ventura County Inland Coast.
* WHEN...Until 8 PM PDT this evening.
* IMPACTS...Extreme heat will significantly increase the
potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those
working or participating in outdoor activities.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out
of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young
children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles
under any circumstances.
Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When
possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or
evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat
stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when
possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent
rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone
overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location.
Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1.
...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM PDT
THURSDAY...
* WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with widespread temperatures
of 100 to 111.
* WHERE...Portions of southwest California.
* WHEN...Until 8 PM PDT Thursday.
* WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures up to 112.
* WHERE...Cuyama Valley, Antelope Valley, Santa Lucia Mountains,
Southern Salinas Valley, San Luis Obispo County Interior
Valleys and San Luis Obispo County Mountains.
*PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
* WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures up to 103.
Hottest across interior areas to downtown Los Angeles.
* WHERE...Los Angeles County Inland Coast including Downtown Los
Angeles.
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | 2022-09-06T12:24:56+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/weather/article/CA-WFO-LOS-ANGELES-Warnings-Watches-and-17421628.php |
The asymmetrical fury of Russia’s apparent response to last week’s bombing of the symbolically significant Kerch Strait bridge seems to signal that the attack crossed one of Vladimir Putin’s important red lines. It’s still not certain, however, that the much-used concept of red lines — cited, on occasion, by Putin himself, too — in fact applies to the Russian dictator. And that is exactly why answering the question of whether Putin is actually prepared to use nuclear weapons is so tough.
The notion of “red lines” that, when crossed, can trigger the imposition of dire consequences may go back to the line a Roman envoy drew in the sand at the feet of Seleucid King Antiochus IV to dissuade him from attacking Alexandria. The lines somehow turned red in the 1970s, and various leaders since have set them down as a warning or a threat, sometimes without really meaning it. Barack Obama insisted the use of chemical weapons by Bashar Assad in Syria would be a “red line” — but Assad, who almost certainly did use the weapons, still leads that country long after Obama ceased to be US president.
Putin saw his Syrian ally cross Obama’s line without any particular consequences, but that didn’t prevent him from often talking of his own “red lines,” though in an intentionally vague manner.
“I hope nobody will get it into their heads to cross Russia’s so-called red line,” he said in April 2021. “Where it will be drawn, we will decide ourselves in each specific case.”
Despite the vagueness, Putin appeared to assume his Western counterparts knew where the line was. “We understand, of course, that our partners are quite particular and — how shall I put it mildly — that they have a very superficial attitude toward all our warnings and our talk of ‘red lines’,” he complained in November of the same year.
Three months later, he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, himself crossing the most important “red line” that has existed in Europe since the defeat of Nazi Germany — the one between fragile peace and a major war. The gamble hasn’t gone well for Putin. Time after time, Ukrainians have crossed what many would assume to be military superpower Russia’s “red lines.” They sank the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s flagship, named after the Russian capital — the Moskva; they have shelled, and continue to shell, Russian regions across the internationally recognized border; they have even ignored Putin’s formal annexation of conquered territories and taken some of them back mere hours after Putin’s announcement. In other words, they have consistently defied and mocked Putin — to a point where many, both inside and outside Russia, wondered if he really had the means for a forceful response — or if he really cared much about the damage being done to Russia’s prestige as a major power.Igor Girkin (Strelkov), one of Putin’s most eloquent and consistent critics on the ultranationalist Russian right, has regularly restated on his Telegram channel his belief that the Russian elite’s only real “red line” passes somewhere in the vicinity of Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow, where Putin has his official residence and many of Moscow’s rich and powerful have built villas.
And yet, a mere two days after a truck bomb blew a 12-meter-long hole in the Kerch bridge and Ukraine’s leaders rejoiced — they even announced a commemorative postage stamp — Ukrainian cities were hit with what may be the worst missile barrage since the war began. Some 200 cruise missiles were fired. Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed that half of them were deflected, the damage — including to residential areas and busy intersections hit during the morning rush hour — was obvious and terrifying.
Russian officials played this as payback for the bridge explosion. “Episode One has been enacted,” former president Dmitri Medvedev, who had warned that an attack on the Kerch bridge would mean an “instant judgment day” for Ukraine, wrote triumphantly on Telegram. “There will be others.” “Patriotic” and official commentators also presented the missile barrage as an act of revenge. Putin himself linked the two events in a brief speech to his Security Council on Monday, warning, “In case attempted terror arracks continue on our territory, Russia’s responses will be harsh and on a scale commensurate with the threat level.”
Does this mean, however, that Putin, who missed many a previous pretext for retaliation, actually had a “red line” drawn cross that bridge? No matter the importance of the artery that linked occupied Crimea to Russia and overcame a Ukrainian blockade, its bombing — for which Ukraine actually never claimed responsibility — is not the most significant blow to the Kremlin’s prestige since the war began. Besides, railroad traffic across the bridge resumed, albeit fitfully at first, soon after the explosion, so the blow to Russia’s military logistics has hardly been deadly. Abandoning entire towns and sending Russian collaborators fleeing across the border has been a far greater embarrassment — and a far costlier loss, undermining the trust of potential sympathizers across Ukraine.
Putin’s emotional involvement in the conflict with Ukraine is painfully obvious in his pallor, his tight lips, his white knuckles. It’s possible that the bridge — of personal significance, since he actually drove the first truck across it — was one insult too far in his visibly unstable condition.
On the other hand — and especially given the Russian military’s oft-demonstrated disorganization — the missile strike likely couldn’t have been planned and prepared in the short time since the explosion. And even if the Kerch bridge had not been attacked, the barrage matches the personal style of the new commander of the Russian invasion force, Army General Sergei Surovikin, a man known for his ruthlessness and, among other things, for the near-complete destruction of Syria’s second city, Aleppo. The missile attack aimed to take offline much of Ukraine’s energy and heat generation infrastructure; indeed, a number of Ukrainian cities suffered electricity, heating and water supply outages. On Tuesday, the attacks continued in a similar vein, hitting more power stations and network infrastructure — long after a mere retaliatory strike would have been over.There is no evidence that Putin has ever cared about any “red lines” — his own or those drawn by others. Rather, he has hit out when he felt he could get away with it, not guided by any kind of principles except a clear enough understanding of who his enemies are. People have often wondered at his ability to take meekly what many a great power leader would not have tolerated — like, for example, Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane in 2015, which only led to comically inadequate consequences that included a ban on Turkish tomatoes. But Putin doesn’t really operate according to the logic of provocation and response. Instead, he is constantly searching for opportunities to gain an advantage; when he doesn’t see them, he just loses — and, yes, loses face.The way to beat Putin, then, isn’t to provoke him until he’s off balance. It’s to deny him the openings he seeks. I’ve often been wrong about his motives — but it would not fit the logic of his previous behavior, such as it is, to use a nuclear weapon in response to further defeats on the battlefields of conventional war. If Ukraine manages to win on the ground despite Russia’s remaining formidable firepower, and despite the newly mobilized Russian forces heading to the front lines, it wouldn’t be like Putin to launch an apocalypse; he’d take a loss, take steps to minimize it and — while he still can — look for his next chance.That is, of course, if he is still relatively sane — something there have been many reasons to doubt in recent months.
More From Bloomberg Opinion:
•
A Decision Tree for Biden if Putin Goes Nuclear: Andreas Kluth
•
An Unhinged Putin Is a Warning to China and Xi: Clara Ferreira Marques
•
Putin’s War Hawks Are No Longer in Step: Leonid Bershidsky
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Leonid Bershidsky, formerly Bloomberg Opinion’s Europe columnist, is a member of the Bloomberg News Automation Team. He recently published Russian translations of George Orwell’s “1984” and Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion
©2022 Bloomberg L.P. | 2022-10-12T05:48:53+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/putin-has-never-cared-about-red-lines/2022/10/12/88ef000e-49eb-11ed-8153-96ee97b218d2_story.html |
Former President Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury
History is made as the first president of the United States is indicted on criminal charges.
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors say Trump directed his lawyer to make a hush money payment. Trump becomes the first president, past or present, to be indicted.
Multiple outlets are reporting he could turn himself in and appear in court as early as Tuesday.
The 45th president is accused of telling his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to pay off adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump wanted her to stay silent about the pair’s alleged affair before the 2016 presidential election.
In a lengthy statement, Trump said in part, ”This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”
He continued his attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, calling him “a disgrace… doing Joe Biden’s dirty work” before ending with, “I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden…So our Movement, and our Party - united and strong - will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 on campaign finance charges and lying to Congress. He was sentenced to three years in prison. He served just over a year before being released on house arrest.
“So, if found guilty, it’s likely that Trump could face prison time as well,” said legal analyst Rory Riley-Topping.
A spokesperson for Bragg says the DA’s office is coordinating Trump’s surrender with Trump’s lawyer. The exact crime or crimes Trump is being charged with is unclear because his indictment is under seal.
However, Riley-Topping thinks the DA is likely confident he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump is guilty.
“Prosecutors, and DAs specifically, generally don’t want to bring charges in cases that they don’t think that they’re going to win,” Riley-Topping said.
The decision to indict Trump is likely have a political impact as well. It could hurt his reelection bid in 2024, but Republican strategist Amy Tarkanian says this is something that could actually ensure him the Republican nomination.
“His base will feel even more emboldened and, you know, they will believe the president in the terms of this being a witch hunt and that they are out to get him,” said Tarkanian.
Should Trump surrender, he will go through the legal process just like any other private citizen. He will be fingerprinted, take a mug shot and be arraigned in New York.
Copyright 2023 Gray DC. All rights reserved. | 2023-03-31T02:58:46+00:00 | wcjb.com | https://www.wcjb.com/2023/03/31/former-president-donald-trump-indicted-by-manhattan-grand-jury/ |
David Letterman joins Bono and The Edge in a new streaming documentary about U2 and one obvious question soon jumps out: What exactly is David Letterman doing here?
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The droll, bushy-bearded American comedian is an odd choice to be master of ceremonies for this Disney+ project, unbalancing everything, even the title, “Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman.”
Director Morgan Neville does a fabulous job using new interviews — including brilliant insights by musician Glen Hansard and producer Jimmy Iovine — and melding them with old performances as he explores the band's origins, song creations, highs and lows. But he's torn about whether this is a travel show or a music documentary and neither work well.
The film's spine is a concert by Bono and The Edge at the Ambassador Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, where they unveil some of the ways they've stripped down and reworked their catalogue for the new acoustic-led album “Songs of Surrender,” including such songs as “Vertigo” “Bad” and “One.”
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But Letterman not only distracts, he gets in the way. We watch him wander around Dublin shopping with his clueless, oddball sense of humor, as if the show was about him. “I’m interested in a wheel of cheese. I’ve never purchased a wheel of cheese,” he says.
There's even a weird sequence in which Bono is reduced to drawing a map of Ireland for his guest and unpacking the complex history of Irish-English animus. “Who do I dislike in this?” asks Letterman. The answer is Letterman.
The documentary does a masterful job of giving context to U2's rise, the social, religious and cultural changes taking place in the late 1970s and ’80s in Dublin, or as Bono says “as Ireland moves from black and white into color.”
There are insights — some small, like that drummer Larry Mullen Jr.'s nickname growing up was “The Jam Jar,” and some big, as when Bono reveals tensions within the band regarding his activism — and moments to celebrate, like the band's important Super Bowl halftime show after 9/11.
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But then there’s Letterman popping up again — visiting polar swimmers or stopping by the recording studio, offering no real insight. Bono and The Edge even write him a goodbye song. Letterman is empty-handed.
Watching the documentary you start to realize how crucial The Edge is, and even get to listen to him sing a few songs and tell the story of how he came up with “Sunday Bloody Sunday” while delivering the riff on a guitar. Bono brings up how key his bandmate is, in a sweet way, live in concert.
“The thing I don’t like about Edge is that he doesn’t need me. He could be doing all of this — writing, singing, performing, playing, producing — on his own. But he doesn’t,” Bono says.
“Because it’s not as much fun,” The Edge replies.
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The only thing that ruins this special chemistry is the film's third wheel — the American with the wheel of cheese.
“Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman,” a Disney+ release streaming Friday, is rated TV-14. Running time: 124 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four. ___ Online: https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/movie/bono-and-the-edge-a-sort-of-homecoming-with-dave-letterman ___ Follow Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits | 2023-03-14T20:25:50+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/entertainment/article/review-u2-documentary-marred-by-an-oddball-17839221.php |
SHENZHEN, China, May 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- vivo today announced the global launch of the flagship X80 series, bringing users the next level of premium mobile experience with new cinematic photography features in collaboration with ZEISS. Building on vivo X series' professional mobile photography foundations, X80 series, featuring X80 and X80 Pro, continues to demonstrate the relentless pursuit of the perfect user experience in photography and videography with the smartphones' artistic cinematic mode, flagship performance, and technological innovations.
Outstanding Professional Imaging Features with ZEISS
"X80 series demonstrates vivo's constant pursuit of user-oriented innovation and premium mobile imaging technology. In successive collaboration with ZEISS, a global leader in optics and opto-electronics, we are once again delivering excellent experiences to users who can capture memories and create quality photographs and videos with more dynamics and perspectives," said Spark Ni, Senior Vice President and CMO of vivo.
vivo's X80 series features extensive upgrades that go beyond the unmatched mobile photography experience, and, for the first time, delivers cinematic style video modes in collaboration with ZEISS. The new ZEISS Cinematic Video Bokeh feature creates oval bokeh in film-standard 2.39:1 aspect ratio, creating a widescreen cinematic lens effect that can capture highly aesthetic and expressive videos. Users can also choose regular lens video bokeh, creating portrait videos with bokeh in one tap. The bokeh effect varies to match the focal length, aperture, and shooting distance, and the bokeh balls are round, in a 16:9 regular frame.
On top of that, new effects have been added to the ZEISS Superb Portrait feature, such as ZEISS Cinematic Style Bokeh, enabling users to recreate classic Hollywood aesthetics by adding a film-like bokeh effect with a 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio combined with artistic long oval bokeh, similar to ZEISS Cinematic Video Bokeh. The overall effects can also be enhanced with vivo's cinematic lens simulation algorithm and a dual-camera depth-of-field technology that combines flare rendering and processing. By recognizing highlight points, the brightest point in the picture is identified and artistic blue light trails can be created, similar to the blue streak in cinema lenses.
vivo continues to maintain its outstanding night scene effects in conjunction with the ZEISS Superb Night Camera. With upgraded features such as Pure Night View, X80 series is able to capture city night scenes while retaining the original look and feel of the scene. In addition, the X80 Pro supports XDR Photo that can improve clarity for backlit images and improve tones that better reflect what the human eyes can see. The XDR Photo feature can optimize the X80 series display capabilities through highlighting contrasting tones in photos to fully showcase the high-quality HDR effect on photos. With rear cameras on all devices having achieved compliance to ZEISS T* Coating, night scene performance remains first-rate. ZEISS T* Coating enhances light transmission and helps to reduce night reflectivity such as flare and ghosting.
To better optimize the ultimate mobile photography experience, vivo's X80 series also includes ZEISS Natural Color 2.0 aided by the series' first AI Perception Engine to improve color accuracy and facilitate color changing and brightness during a shoot. ZEISS Natural Color can reproduce natural colors and automatically optimize both the accurate exposure and white balance, thus allowing the image to best reflect what the human eyes can see. This feature upgrade includes the ability to adjust tone brightness, capturing experiences that appear more life-like, refined, and natural.
Premium Mobile Photography Experience
The X80 series contains top-of-the-line photography upgrades while maintaining the classic flagship features that make vivo the go-to brand for mobile photography. Users can continue to create photography and videography masterpieces with ease through vivo's user-oriented innovations.
X80 Pro has a 32MP front camera and a rear four-camera system consisting of a 50MP ultra-sensing camera with GNV sensor and optical image stabilization (OIS), a 48MP wide-angle camera, a 12MP gimbal portrait camera, and an 8MP periscope camera. The 12MP gimbal portrait camera is the core upgrade that allows for video enhancement and stability, while X80 Pro's main camera also includes an exclusively customized ultra-sensing GNV sensor to optimize reflectivity and reduce stray light paired with a High Transmittance Glass Lens for low dispersion and temperature drift to reduce glaring. Meanwhile, the X80 model has a 32MP front camera and a rear camera system consisting of a 50MP ultra-sensing main camera, a 12MP portrait camera, a new 12MP wide-angle camera. The X80 model features a new ultra-sensing IMX866 sensor that improves the camera performance in dark and low-light scenarios.
Furthering the pursuit of premium photography and videography experience, X80 series is equipped with the latest iteration of vivo's imaging chip, the vivo V1+ chip, delivering an elevated experience to users with a built-in AI system for professional-level visual enhancement. The X80 Pro includes an added feature; an AI Video Enhancement feature that allows the device to automatically identify the right mode for the light conditions, prompting users to choose between video HDR and night mode depending on the scenario. Furthermore, the vivo V1+ chip enhances the X80 series visual experience in display and gaming.
Camera Panning is a new and exclusive feature that further enhances this flagship series' dynamic capabilities. This feature has portrait motion tracking technology, which can reduce motion blur caused by shaky hands. In addition, its Night Sports Mode in the X80 Pro allows users to take outstanding, dynamic images, as it can capture clearer photos even during extreme scenarios with its improved motion detection abilities.
Outstanding Flagship Performance
vivo's groundbreaking technologies in mobile photography and top performance drive X80 series to be a powerhouse device designed based on an understanding of user demands.
X80 Pro is configured with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, while the X80 model runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 platform for efficient performance without straining battery usage. Compared to its predecessor, X80 Pro has improved CPU performance. Furthermore, the entire series is equipped with enhanced LPDDR5 and enhanced UFS3.1 for high running and storage speed.
X80 Pro is decked with an Ultra Large Liquid Cooling Vapor Chamber that allows for maximum cooling surface area, which can help maintain stability when using high-performance features such as large-scale games and video recording. Furthermore, the X80 device contains the largest Vapor Chamber among the X series with over 23 heat dissipation layers for optimal cooling effects.
Designed with the consumer's needs in mind, the new X80 series has significant battery upgrades that can accommodate the lifestyles of all users. The entire series supports with 80W FlashCharge, while X80 Pro also supports 50W wireless FlashCharge with a 4700 mAh large battery, and the X80 has a 4500 mAh large battery. With such a sizeable battery, X80 Pro can get a full charge in just 35 minutes compared to its predecessor, the X70 Pro+, in 56 minutes, X80 can be fully recharged in 35 minutes.
X80 series is equipped with enhanced privacy controls and features. With the Screen Pinning feature, users can freeze the screen when they let others use the phone. Microphone and camera indicators, increased control in location approximation, and a privacy dashboard can be used to further control app accessibility. In addition, X80 Pro is equipped with a brand-new 3D Ultrasonic Large Fingerprint Sensor that can unlock the phone within 0.2 seconds.
Experience Immersive Gameplay
X80 series introduces new upgrades enabling enjoyable and immersive gaming experiences.
X80 series is equipped with a large X-Axis Linear Motor, supported by vivo's self-developed vibration algorithm that allows for quiet but powerful scene-based vibration. X80 Pro's response speed, referring to the start-stop time, has increased by 20% while X80's response speed has increased by 41.2% with more vivid vibration for enjoyable gaming.
The Dual Stereo Speaker in both models provides a Dual Stereo Speaker balanced with powerful bass to improve the overall sound effect, bringing dual speakers to X series for the first time.
The X80 device, in conjunction with the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 platform, offers a solution to tackle the issue of shortened battery life and unstable frame rate under heavy load games —the AI Gaming Super Resolution. This feature can compress heavy load gaming resolution as a way to reduce the CPU and GPU workload, then re-upload the compressed images through the AI Gaming Super Resolution. This cutting-edge feature has been tested to reduce battery consumption by 10%[1].
Sleek Waterproof Design with Refreshing Aesthetics
Inspired by the look of professional cameras, the square and circle aesthetic that forms the lens and base is incorporated within the exterior design concept of X80 series, to call to mind the series' professional photography capabilities. By encasing the lens within a circle motif, the visual design invites users to see the world through the camera and highlights ZEISS's Professional Imaging power within.
X80 series is available in two colors: Cosmic Black and Urban Blue. The X80 Pro model only comes in Cosmic Black, and the X80 model comes in both colors. Cosmic Black represents the broad and profound nature of the night sky, along with the vitality and the everlasting power of the universe. Urban Blue is designed with the color of the light blue sea away from the hustle and bustle of urban life while evoking feelings of relaxation, ease, and joy.
About vivo
vivo is a technology company that creates great products based on a design-driven value, with smart devices and intelligent services as its core. The company aims to build a bridge between humans and the digital world. Through unique creativity, vivo provides users with an increasingly convenient mobile and digital life. Following the company's core values, which include Benfen*, user-orientation, design-driven value, continuous learning and team spirit, vivo has implemented a sustainable development strategy with the vision of developing into a healthier, more sustainable world-class corporation.
While bringing together and developing the best local talents to deliver excellence, vivo is supported by a network of R&D centers in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanjing, Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Xi'an, focusing on the development of state-of-the-art consumer technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial design, imaging system and other up-and-coming technologies. vivo has also set up an intelligent manufacturing network (including those authorized by vivo), with an annual production capacity of nearly 200 million smartphones. As of now, vivo has branched out its sales network across more than 60 countries and regions, and is loved by more than 400 million users worldwide.
*"Benfen" is a term describing the attitude on doing the right things and doing things right – which is the ideal description of vivo's mission to create value for society.
Stay informed of latest vivo news at https://www.vivo.com/en/about-vivo/news
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SOURCE Vivo | 2022-05-18T08:11:02+00:00 | waff.com | https://www.waff.com/prnewswire/2022/05/18/vivo-announces-global-debut-x80-series-flagship-smartphones-redefining-premium-mobile-photography-experience-collaboration-with-zeiss/ |
Shelby Trust, the owner of the Shelby trademark, has won a court case that the trust claims finally allows it and other builders to create Mustangs that resemble the Eleanor-named gray Mustangs in 2000’s hit movie “Gone in 60 Seconds,” as well as the yellow Eleanor Mustang that featured in the original 1974 version of the movie.
For years, the two car designs were defended under copyright protection by Denise Halicki, the wife of Henry Blight “Toby” Halicki, who made the original “Gone in 60 Seconds” movie. She won the rights in a 2008 court case against Shelby after the trust a few years prior started licensing the 2000 design to replica builders keen to offer Eleanor-style Mustangs for sale.
Halicki has arranged licensing deals with replica builders in the past, but not with Shelby. For example, Classic Recreations last year announced a carbon-fiber bodied Eleanor with an 810-hp supercharged V-8—priced at nearly $300,000. A more traditional replica for around $200,000 was offered by Brand New Muscle Car in 2019. In both those cases, the replica resembled the Eleanor from the 2000 movie starring Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie. The car in the movie was based on a 1967 Ford Shelby GT500.
According to Shelby, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California last week ruled that both Eleanor Mustang designs (2000’s gray design and 1974’s yellow) were not deserving of copyright protection, on the basis the designs weren’t representative of a character that could be considered intellectual property.
“We can finally tell all our important licensees and Shelby GT500 owners that Mrs. Halicki has absolutely no right to complain about or file a lawsuit based upon the looks of any car licensed by the Shelby Trust,” Neil Cummings, a co-trustee of the Shelby Trust who oversaw the legal process, said in a statement. “The true value of all Shelby GT500s is now secure with this news.”
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- Two-thirds of Ford’s dealers opt into its EV future | 2022-12-16T05:07:44+00:00 | cbs42.com | https://www.cbs42.com/automotive/internet-brands/court-rules-muscle-car-fans-free-to-build-eleanor-style-mustangs/ |
Video: Alaska woman trampled by moose while walking her dog
An Alaska woman is recovering after she was kicked by a moose while walking her dog.
The incident was caught on camera by someone driving by, who immediately stopped to help.
Watch the full story in the video player above.
Tracy Hansen and her dog Gunner do this walk every day. Three times a day, to be exact.
But last Thursday night, their daily routine took a drastic turn when she was kicked in the head by a moose.
"I thought someone had not been paying attention and hit me with a bike or something," Hansen told KTUU.
Hansen was shocked, frightened and in a daze.
"And I had put my hands to my head, and I was like, I'm bleeding," Hansen said.
Kate Timmons says she witnessed the moose rushing toward Hansen.
Her family, immediately jumped in to help.
"My husband was able to pull her over the snow bank, so we can put her in the truck with her dog. And try and get her out of the way," Timmons said.
The family helped Hansen home and get medical help.
On Sunday, they met up for the first time since the incident, recounting a night that could have been a lot worse.
"It happened so fast. It was, like, a matter of getting her out of the situation. Getting her help, making sure, my big thing was she didn't have head trauma. There wasn't a bleed or something," Timmons said.
Their paths crossed at the right moment.
"Kate and I were discussing that the Lord put her in the right place, in the right time to be able to help," Hansen said.
On Monday, Gunner and Hansen are back walking on the same path.
"We'll be back on our normal walks, the moose won't stop that," Hansen said.
Hansen is recovering from bruising and has three staples in her head. She is still experiencing headaches. | 2023-02-22T05:56:49+00:00 | 4029tv.com | https://www.4029tv.com/article/alaska-woman-trampled-by-moose-while-walking-her-dog/43016384 |
Dollar Tree manager loses job after controversial ‘help wanted’ sign goes viral
BREMEN, Ind. (WNDU/Gray News) - A Dollar Tree store in Indiana has come under fire after its manager at the time posted a “help wanted” sign that some were calling controversial and discriminatory.
WNDU reports a store manager recently put up a hiring sign after two young employees had quit.
The handwritten sign read:
“I apologize for us closing AGAIN. My 2 new cashiers quit because I said their boyfriends couldn’t stand here for their entire shift. Don’t hire Gen Z’s. They don’t know what work actually means. NOW HIRING! *Baby Boomers ONLY, thanks!”
The Pew Research Center defines Generation Z as any person born between 1997 and 2012 and the baby-boomer generation includes any person born between 1946 and 1964.
The sign has since been removed, but it was there long enough for potential customers to share photos and gain attention on social media.
“You’re going to get people from every group who are lazy and work hard. I’m sure when baby boomers were young, they were probably also called lazy, and it just keeps going on from generation to generation,” said frequent Dollar Tree customer Lindsay Berger.
Dollar Tree was informed of the manager’s sign and released the following statement:
“We are aware that an unauthorized sign was posted at our store for a brief period of time. The handwritten message was absolutely not approved by or condoned by our company.”
Additionally, Dollar Tree representatives said the manager was no longer employed by the company.
Federal law prevents employment discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, religion, color and veteran status.
Copyright 2022 WNDU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2022-04-24T00:23:51+00:00 | kcrg.com | https://www.kcrg.com/2022/04/23/dollar-tree-manager-loses-job-after-controversial-help-wanted-sign-goes-viral/ |
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