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A woman sunbathing on a Florida beach was injured when she was run over by a deputy driving an SUV while he was out on patrol.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened at St. Pete Beach Wednesday just after 1 p.m.
In a press release, the department said while out on beach patrol, Deputy Todd Brien was parked in a marked Chevrolet Tahoe SUV when he was dispatched to investigate a 911 hang-up call at a different location.
As he made a right turn from his parked position, he ran over 23-year-old Robin Diffenderfer, who was lying on her back in the sand, the sheriff's office said.
Investigators said, "the front driver side tire of the Tahoe drove over Diffenderfer’s right side and mid to upper back area," the department said in the news release.
Diffenderfer was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The 58-year-old deputy was not injured.
According to the sheriff's office, Brien has been with the department since 2013. | 2022-05-07T02:32:33+00:00 | abc15.com | https://www.abc15.com/news/national/woman-sunbathing-run-over-by-florida-deputy-in-suv-on-beach |
Denver started the day signing offensive players left and right, then turned its attention to defense late in the day.
After locking up their leading tackler from 2022, linebacker Alex Singleton, to a three-year deal, the Broncos then came to an agreement with Arizona defensive lineman Zach Allen on a three-year deal, a league source confirmed to The Post. ESPN reported the deal is worth $45.75 million and comes with $32.5 million guaranteed.
Allen is essentially a replacement for Dre’Mont Jones, the defensive lineman who spent the first four years of his career with the Broncos. Jones on Monday agreed to a three-year deal with Seattle that, according to NFL Network, checked in similar to Allen’s. Jones’ deal is worth $51.53 million and pays him $23.5 million in the first year, according to NFL Network.
Allen (6-foot-4, 281 pounds) has played all four years of his pro career under new Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, making this a reunion for the pair.
Joseph saw Allen make 13 starts and put together career-best numbers in 2022. Allen accumulated 5.5 sacks and 12 quarterback knock-downs and 10 tackles for loss to go along with 47 total tackles.
“They’re a little more attacking, a little more aggressive. They get up the field,” general manager George Paton said of Joseph’s style during the NFL Combine recently. “I do feel our defensive line fits that mold. We watched a lot of tape with Vance and he has a vision for our defensive line and some of the pieces we have up front. I think our outside ’backers are athletic and they can rush the passer.
“You can ask Vance, but he feels like our defensive front really fits what he does.”
Now Joseph also has a lineman whose skillset he knows well.
For his career, Allen has 11.5 sacks, all but two of which have come over the past two seasons.
Allen was a regular for the Cardinals this year, playing 79% of the snaps in the 13 games that he played. He missed the final four games of the 2022 season, including Arizona’s 24-15 loss in Denver on Dec. 18, due to a hand injury.
When considering Allen as a replacement for Jones, the Broncos essentially addressed their two biggest free-agent question marks on defense during the first day negotiations were allowed.
The other, of course, is Singleton, who agreed earlier in the day to a deal worth up to $18 million with half guaranteed.
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Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis. | 2023-03-14T02:23:44+00:00 | denverpost.com | https://www.denverpost.com/2023/03/13/broncos-signing-cardinals-dl-zach-allen-nfl/ |
When the board of directors of the Monterey Peninsula Airport District met on April 5, the room overflowed and firefighters spilled into the hallway, packing the room to ask the board to renew their contract.
On Dec. 20, the airport released a request for proposals for three years of fire service with a potential two-year extension. The airport board now has two options: renew a contract with the Monterey Fire Department, its fire service provider for nearly a decade; or sign on with Pro-Tec Fire Services, a private company based in Wisconsin, which operates at two other airports in California. Monterey Fire’s bid is $3.1 million, while Pro-Tec’s is 45-percent less, at $1.7 million.
Since MFD took over airport fire service in 2014, MFD and the airport have used a cost-sharing service model. The station has four firefighters per shift, though the airport only requires three. They respond to fire and emergency calls not just at the airport but also in surrounding communities, including Highway 68, Fisherman’s Flats, Ryan Ranch and more. An airport contract with Pro-Tec, which would cover just the airport with three-person engine teams, would not offer coverage of those nearby Monterey neighborhoods; Monterey officials estimate response times would get three to five minutes longer, with the closest fire station on Montecito Avenue in the Villa Del Monte neighborhood.
Monterey city officials are joining the fire department’s campaign in urging the public to pressure the airport board members to stick with MFD. “We are not planning on losing that fire contract and we are not planning on diminishing service levels – but should this happen, that would be a consequence,” Monterey City Manager Hans Uslar says.
But airport Executive Director Michael La Pier says that will be the city’s problem: “We have no responsibility to go off airport to fight structure fires. That’s the city of Monterey’s responsibility, not the airport’s.”
He adds that MRY has been clear for years in its direction to transition to an airport-only fire service model.
Even if Monterey Fire keeps the contract, planned construction at the airport is likely to cause increases in response times to nearby communities. Along with a new airport terminal, the existing fire station will be demolished; a new one will be on the northern side, further from Highway 68. Fire Chief Gaudenz Panholzer says they are exploring alternatives, one of which is crossing the runway, where planes have priority. “If we need to cross the runway we might have to wait. It’s not an ideal situation,” Panholzer says.
During the April 5 meeting, the board directed MRY staff to tighten up potential contracts and clarify whether Pro-Tec’s bid includes start-up costs and vehicle costs.
The Monterey Fire Department will hold a community meeting to discuss the contract at 6pm on Thursday, April 20 at the Monterey Public Library. The MRY board is set to choose a new contractor on Thursday, April 27. | 2023-04-20T11:17:38+00:00 | montereycountyweekly.com | https://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/local_news/a-new-firefighting-contract-at-monterey-airport-could-increase-response-times-in-nearby-neighborhoods/article_a6e15b6e-dee4-11ed-861a-63d9294ea4b0.html |
SAO PAULO (AP) — Four years ago, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s reputation and political future were in tatters. After an unlikely rise from poverty to union leader to Brazil’s presidency, the man universally known as Lula had landed in prison.
On Sunday – in yet another twist – Brazilian voters chose him by the narrowest of margins to once again lead the world’s fourth-largest democracy. He will also be putting his legacy on the line.
“I consider myself a citizen who has had a process of resurrection in Brazilian politics, because they tried to bury me alive,” da Silva said in a speech Sunday night after results that confirmed his third presidential win. “I am here to govern in a very difficult situation. But I have faith in God that, with our people’s help, we will find a way out for this country.”
The life of da Silva has unfolded in such a unique, extraordinary way that it strains credulity.
His family moved from Brazil’s poor northeast region to Sao Paulo state in pursuit of a better life, following his father who had traveled south years before. Upon arriving, however, they found he had settled down with another woman. Da Silva’s mother was left alone to raise eight children, of whom Lula was the youngest.
Pressed for money, he became a metalworker at age 14 in the metropolis’ gritty outskirts. It was a physical job that cost him his left pinky finger. He became a union leader in an era when Brazil’s manufacturing work force was still vast, and translated that into political power. He made his first presidential run in 1989, which he lost — along with two subsequent races.
Finally, in 2002, he claimed victory and became the first worker to assume the nation’s top job. And he was reelected four years later, defeating Geraldo Alckmin — who this year became his running mate.
Commodities exports to China were surging, filling government coffers, and a vast welfare program lifted tens of millions of Brazilians into the middle class. Da Silva left office with an approval rating above 80%, and then-U.S. President Barack Obama called him “the most popular politician on Earth.” His hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff, was elected in 2014.
In Rousseff’s second term, however, a sprawling corruption investigation ensnared top politicians and businessmen alike. It plunged her administration — along with da Silva and the rest of the Workers’ Party he founded — into disgrace.
Revelations of systemic kickbacks in exchange for government contracts were followed by a deep, two-year recession that many blamed on Rousseff’s economic policies, and which turbocharged resentment of the Workers’ Party. She was impeached in 2016 for breaking fiscal responsibility laws regarding management of the federal budget.
Then da Silva himself was sentenced for corruption and money laundering, and confined to a 160-square-foot room on the fourth floor of a Federal Police building in southern city Curitiba. That sidelined him from the 2018 presidential race and cleared the way for Jair Bolsonaro, then a fringe lawmaker, to cruise to victory. Da Silva’s political legacy was in tatters.
His personal life, too, was blown to pieces. His wife passed away, which at the time he blamed on the strain caused by the investigation.
Slowly, hope crept in. He started exchanging love letters with a woman named Rosângela da Silva, nicknamed Janja. Their relationship blossomed thanks to da Silva’s then lawyer, Luis Carlos Rocha, who visited him every weekday.
Rocha acted as dutiful courier, hiding Janja’s letters inside his jacket pocket where guards wouldn’t check. He told The Associated Press he saw da Silva’s face light up with each colorful envelope he delivered.
“God willing, one day we will publish (the letters),” da Silva said at a rally in September. “But only for people aged over 18.”
The Supreme Court also started assessing the legality of his convictions, which it eventually annulled on the grounds that the presiding federal judge had been biased and colluded with prosecutors.
After 580 days imprisonment, da Silva was a free man — free to marry his girlfriend, and free to run for the presidency. Still, Bolsonaro, seeking a second term, reminded voters of da Silva’s convictions at every turn, warning that electing him would be like letting a thief return to the scene of the crime.
It revitalized semi-dormant sentiment against the Workers’ Party, and the fact that much of Brazil still holds da Silva in disdain is a key reason this year’s contest between the two political titans grew ever closer.
Ultimately, it came down to the wire: Da Silva was elected with 50.9% of the vote. It was the tightest election since Brazil’s return to democracy over three decades ago.
During his victory speech, Janja was by his side, as she was throughout his campaign. She shed tears, overwhelmed with emotion. And she wasn’t alone.
“I cried when he was jailed. Now I cry because he will take Brazil back to normal. He can do it, he has the charisma to do it,” said Claudia Marcos, a 56-year-old historian who joined thousands of others to celebrate the leftist’s victory on Sao Paulo’s main boulevard. “He is our phoenix. The most important president in Brazil’s history.”
At the Workers’ Party’s headquarters on Sunday, da Silva read out a long, carefully written speech promising to unite Brazil. Seeking redemption, he will face a much more challenging environment — economically and politically — than during his last presidency. He will take office on Jan. 1, and has said he will be a one-term president. It could be his final act.
“It is not the number of years that makes someone old. What makes you old is the lack of a cause,” said da Silva, who turned 77 three days before the vote. “Brazil is my cause. The Brazilian people are my cause.”
___
Associated Press writers Daniel Politi contributed from Curitiba, Brazil, and Diane Jeantet from Rio de Janeiro. | 2022-10-31T16:13:52+00:00 | ourquadcities.com | https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-our-phoenix-lulas-ups-and-downs-in-brazil-defy-belief/ |
South Carolina will look for consecutive victories to close its nonconference schedule during a meeting with visiting Eastern Michigan on Friday at Columbia, S.C.
The Gamecocks (6-6) haven’t played since Dec. 22, when they ended a two-game slide with a 65-58 win against visiting Western Kentucky. Eastern Michigan (3-9) has had an even longer layoff, with a 79-77 win over visiting Detroit Mercy on Dec. 18.
The Gamecocks rallied from a five-point deficit with 9:43 left against the Hilltoppers. Meechie Johnson scored a career-high 25 points and freshman Gregory “GG” Jackson II added 12 points and a season-high 16 rebounds against Western Kentucky.
“Good win for our guys against a good team,” South Carolina first-year coach Lamont Paris said. “They got a good team. They’re athletic, they’re long. They challenged shots at the rim with a multitude of guys.”
Jackson leads the Gamecocks in points (16.6 per game) and rebounds (7.4), while Hayden Brown averages 11.8 points and 5.4 rebounds. Johnson averages 11.1 points and a team-high 3.8 assists per game, with Chico Carter Jr. chipping in 11.0 points per game.
Eastern Michigan snapped a three-game losing streak by ending the game on a 10-5 run after trailing 72-69 with 3:16 remaining. Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis missed a 3-pointer as time expired.
Emoni Bates, who averages 19.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, had 19 points, six rebounds and two steals. Tyson Acuff, who averages 13.5 points and a team-high 3.1 assists per game, had 19 points, six assists and five steals.
Yusuf Jihad came off the bench to score a career-high 17 points and grab five rebounds. Noah Farrakhan, who averages 13.6 points per game, added 11 points and four rebounds.
“We needed this badly,” Eastern Michigan coach Stan Heath said. “We’re young. We’re pretty playing all freshman and sophomores. Obviously, it’s harder for younger guys because they get very emotional, up and down.
“It was really good for us psychologically. This win, I think, can catapult us in a lot of different ways.”
–Field Level Media | 2022-12-30T14:16:45+00:00 | krqe.com | https://www.krqe.com/sports/ncaa-mens-basketball/up-and-down-south-carolina-takes-on-eastern-michigan/ |
SAN FRANCISCO, March 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite a backdrop of economic uncertainty, Topia, the world's leading global talent mobility and distributed workforce platform, has pushed forward with transformational growth and innovation over the last year, delivering groundbreaking workforce mobility management solutions that enable some of the world's largest, most recognized brands to thrive through globally distributed and mobile work.
Topia's unrelenting commitment to addressing customers' needs with timely, automated solutions that simplify talent mobility management has driven significant year-over-year growth in enterprise customers, strategic acquisition and product innovation, along with recognition as a Strategic Leader in the Fosway 9-Grid™ for third consecutive year, setting the industry standard for Global Talent Mobility management.
"Now more than ever, companies need smart solutions that allow them to be agile and responsive to changing market conditions and do more with fewer resources, while still effectively supporting and managing a heavily distributed workforce," said Shawn Farshchi, CEO at Topia. "Once again, Topia has risen to the challenge, providing digital transformation and compliance automation through our data-driven rules engines and SaaS solutions that deliver immediate value to our customers. I'm extremely proud of our team for their innovation and commitment to our clients' success."
The Director of Mobility at a Fortune 500 Company and customer of Topia said, "With 2022 presenting a sea change in the way mobility needed to be delivered in our company on account of return to office and a worsening economic climate, the work done with Topia to digitize our program and integrate vendors and systems has enabled us to continue getting our employees to where they need to be and support our business while needing to reduce our headcount and delivery costs by nearly half."
Dozens of new marquee customers have come to trust Topia for its visionary solutions and unique ability to deliver the efficiency, scale and innovation they need to maintain compliance and a competitive edge in today's dynamic HR environment, all packaged into user-friendly products that both employees and business leaders actually want to use. In the last year alone, Topia has closed deals with some of the world's largest and most prestigious companies across a wide range of sectors and geographies including:
- Four of the Fortune 500
- Three of the world's largest companies in the energy, wind power and food services sectors
- One of the world's best-known apparel and retail brands
- World leaders in the semiconductor, telecommunications and engineering/design industries
- One of Canada's largest pension investment managers
- Companies in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, India and the US and Canada
In addition to signing new customers, Topia also executed successful go-lives with two new Fortune 500 companies and some of the world's largest companies in the technology, manufacturing and IT services industries, including one of Asia-Pacific's largest e-commerce companies.
As the world opened back up over the last year, Topia refined and expanded its product offerings to address customers' growing needs for compliance and workflow automation. In addition to acquiring Pearl Global Tech to bring automated immigration compliance and travel and visa risk management to the Topia platform, the company launched two new solutions to help companies manage resurgent business travel and evolving hybrid work demands.
Its new Pre-Travel Risk Management solution provides instant visa, travel risk and tax/payroll compliance assessments, saving companies on average five hours and $500 per assessment per traveler compared to manual review.
The company's Remote Work Management solution leverages configurable logic and automation to streamline the remote work request process so HR and mobility teams aren't burdened with conducting additional manual reviews. It also ensures tax, immigration, payroll and other compliance while helping companies understand the impact of remote work on their broader business and team effectiveness through access to reporting and important insights.
"Topia remains steadfastly committed to meeting our customers' needs through product enhancements that help them succeed in an ever-changing macro environment," Farshchi added. "Last year alone we delivered 50% of customer feature requests, with an additional 20% on the roadmap for the coming year. We're not slowing down and there's much more to come from Topia."
A Partner/Principal of one of Topia's leading global strategic alliance partner firms added, "Digital transformation and meaningful efficiency gains are key themes for mobility programs in the current environment, and the Topia One platform is having a significant impact in enabling shared clients meet their objectives in this regard."
As part of its growth strategy, Topia has doubled down on its commitment to industry-leading privacy and data security over the last year, achieving both ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II compliance, enabling clients to partner with Topia with confidence. The company has also secured a new patent for its groundbreaking work in unsupervised machine learning models, laying a strong foundation for continuing innovation and growth.
To learn more about Topia's award-winning global talent mobility solutions, visit www.topia.com.
About Topia
Topia is the leader in Global Talent Mobility. We empower companies to deploy, manage and engage employees anywhere in the world. The Topia platform enables organizations to deliver mobility as part of a broader talent strategy encompassing all types of employee movement – remote and distributed workforces, business travel, and more traditional relocations and assignments. This drives enhanced employee experiences and competitive advantage by ensuring the right people are in the right place at the right time, while staying compliant no matter where they are. The Topia platform automates the entire global talent mobility process, including scenario-based planning, expat payroll, tax and immigration compliance, reporting and more. Topia powers global talent mobility programs for world-renowned brands such as Dell, Veolia, Equinor and AXA. Topia has raised over $100M from NewView Capital (formerly New Enterprise Associates), Notion Capital and others, and is a global company with offices throughout the Americas and EMEA.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kerri Taranto
Next PR
topia@nextpr.com
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SOURCE Topia | 2023-03-09T15:15:50+00:00 | witn.com | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2023/03/09/topia-celebrates-transformational-year-with-strong-customer-growth-amp-new-solutions-help-companies-manage-dynamic-workforce-mobility/ |
SAN DIEGO, May 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EverHive, the most trusted name in contingent workforce management strategy and solutions, has also proven itself a trusted name in customer satisfaction. For the second year in a row, EverHive was named to HRO Today's Baker's Dozen Customer Satisfactory Rankings, a showcase of the 13 companies providing the best, most comprehensive services in the contingent workforce industry based on customer feedback. In its second year, EverHive beat its inaugural ranking by 3, placing overall 8 in the MSP (Contingent Labor Resourcing and Management) category.
The Baker's Dozen MSP Customer Satisfaction Report is based on extensive surveys of contingent workforce MSP customers, who rate providers on various factors, including quality of service, breadth of offering, delivery capabilities, and more. The report is highly respected in the industry and widely used by organizations seeking to engage MSP providers. The full report can be found here.
"We are honored to be recognized by our customers and HRO Today for the second year straight," says Brandon Moreno, EverHive president. "This is an even larger accomplishment than making the Baker's Dozen list for the first time because it shows that we are who we say we are: a company committed to providing the best possible service and strategy for enterprises who need to optimize and/or create their contingent workforce programs. Every decision we make is grounded in supporting the people who have come to rely on us. This honor shows we're staying true to that commitment."
Since 2016, EverHive has been helping eliminate the stress and confusion that often accompany the management of non-employee or contingent workers. Companies truth EverHive whether looking to improve visibility into contingent workforce management, simplifying processes, improving compliance capabilities, increasing knowledge transfer, or reducing overall cost, EverHive helps its enterprise clients create and/or level up their contingent workforce programs smarter, faster, and more reliably. The company offers flexible service models ranging from long-term hybrid MSP partnerships to project-based consulting.
As EverHive continues to impress on the customer satisfaction front, it also continues to grow, serving clients in industries ranging from technology to pharmaceuticals to video gaming and more. EverHive currently has locations in the United States, Ireland, and soon in the APAC region. It manages worker assignments in more than 20 countries. Its extensive network of domestic and global EOR/AOR payrolling and staffing partners allows clients to hire in nearly any country worldwide.
In addition to EverHive's two-time recognition in HRO Today Baker's Dozen Customer Service Rankings, it's also been named one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces and Inc. Magazine's fastest-growing companies in the Pacific Region. EverHive is an MBE-certified company and winner of the "All Money Is Green" award recognizing minority-owned companies that have done the most work with other MBE firms.
To learn more about EverHive and how it can help your business uplevel its contingent worker programs, visit https://www.everhive.com/.
For HRO Today's Baker's Dozen Customer Service Rankings for 2023, click here.
Media Contact: Brianne Garner, brianne.garner@everhive.com
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SOURCE EverHive Corp | 2023-05-08T19:48:18+00:00 | kcbd.com | https://www.kcbd.com/prnewswire/2023/05/08/everhive-hits-hro-todays-bakers-dozen-customer-satisfaction-rankings-second-year-running/ |
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The number of deaths following Hurricane Ian’s rampage in Florida continued to rise over the weekend.
On Saturday evening, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced there have been 47 deaths attributed to the hurricane so far — mostly from drowning.
The Associated Press reported that an additional four people in North Carolina and three in Cuba were also killed by the storm, bringing the death toll to 54.
Among those killed were a 62-year-old woman who was hurt and drowned after a tree fell on her mobile home, a 54-year-old man who drowned after being trapped in a window, and a Lee County woman whose body was found tangled in wires under a home.
A 71-year-old man also died after falling off his roof while installing rain shutters Wednesday.
Another death was also reported in the Tampa Bay area after a 22-year-old woman died in an ATV crash caused by a road washout in Manatee County.
FDEM Director Kevin Guthrie said there was also a case of human remains found in an underwater home in Lee County.
“We do not know exactly how many were in the house,” he said Friday. “The water was up over the rooftop.”
More deaths are expected to be discovered as floodwaters recede. According to Guthrie, the death toll may also go down at some points, because deaths can later be attributed to be non-storm-related causes. That’s why the totals are expected to change as information goes in.
“People die in disasters that have nothing to do with the disaster,” he said. “The medical examiner is the one that makes that determination.” | 2022-10-02T17:37:20+00:00 | wcia.com | https://www.wcia.com/news/national/54-deaths-from-hurricane-ian-reported-as-recovery-efforts-continue/ |
NPR's Scott Simon talks with Kevin Powell about his new poetry collection, "Grocery Shopping With My Mother." In it, Powell reflects on their complicated and troubled relationship.
Copyright 2022 NPR
NPR's Scott Simon talks with Kevin Powell about his new poetry collection, "Grocery Shopping With My Mother." In it, Powell reflects on their complicated and troubled relationship.
Copyright 2022 NPR | 2022-12-10T13:24:21+00:00 | klcc.org | https://www.klcc.org/npr-books/npr-books/2022-12-10/kevin-powell-on-his-new-poetry-collection-grocery-shopping-with-my-mother |
Sports Betting Dime provides exclusive sports betting content to cleveland.com, including real-time odds, picks, analysis and sportsbook offers to help bettors get in on the action. Please wager responsibly.
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21+ and present in a state with legal gambling? Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
If you or a loved one has questions and needs to talk to a professional about gambling, call the Ohio Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-589-9966 or the National Council on Program Gambling Helpline (NCPG) at 1-800-522-4700 or visit 1800gambler.net for more information. 21+ and present in Ohio. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. | 2023-04-23T14:47:00+00:00 | cleveland.com | https://www.cleveland.com/betting/2023/04/caesars-sportsbook-promo-code-clefull-delivers-1250-cavs-knicks-bet.html |
Why Rhone clothing is worth checking out?
Designed to encourage progress in all areas of life, whether mental, physical or educational, the New Haven, Connecticut-based company Rhone designs men’s athletic gear that features premium-quality materials and a new textile technology that encourages freedom of movement in the wearer.
Founded in 2014, the clothing company Rhone has made a big splash amongst athleisure apparel fans everywhere, offering a wide variety of clothing pieces that can be worn to the office, straight to the gym, then home when you’re just relaxing.
What to know before buying Rhone clothing
Pros
- All clothing pieces are handmade in the USA
- Available on a wide variety of retail websites
- Offers a wide collection of work wear, loungewear and athleisure
- Brand’s website offers style guidance from a Virtual Concierge
- Cut and styles of each piece are versatile and on-trend
- Free shipping is included regardless of the value of your order
Cons
- Can be expensive in price compared to other brands
- Pockets are known to be too small to hold most items
- Some clothing pieces are made with thin materials
- Item cuts and sizes don’t universally fit every body type
- Fabric can wear down over time with long-term use
- Inseams are known to have a tight fit and can limit mobility
Top Rhone clothing articles
What you need to buy for everyday wear
Rhone Men’s Everyday Essentials Undershirt
Featuring a tapered slim fit, this holy grail of an undershirt is completely seamless, so the fabric creates less friction against the skin and underneath the arms, which helps stave off chafing. The shirt’s close fit also helps prevent bunching in the sleeves so you don’t have to worry about your undershirt being noticeable underneath your dress shirt. The brand’s featured logo is crafted into the actual shirt so there aren’t any tags sticking out or uncomfortable rubbing against your skin. Its no ride up feature further ensures the undershirt will stay in place throughout the day, no matter how long it’s worn.
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Available in three different color combinations, this pair of socks is designed with a compression fit around the ankle and is treated with environmentally friendly odor-reducing technology that helps combat body odor caused by sweating. The silicone pad on the heel offers great grip, prevents blisters from forming and supports longer wear. Each pair is machine-washable and made from a combination of nylon and silicone.
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Rhone Men’s 5-Inch Boxer Brief
Choose from five different neutral-colored boxer briefs crafted from very soft and lightweight cotton material that allows for comfortable heat transfer and breathability. The no-roll waistband helps stop each pair from riding up and rubbing against your skin, preventing chafing. The flatlock stitching along the seams and pouch fly opening offer additional comfort and help encourage free movement.
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This hat comes in four exclusive designs and shades with a moisture-wicking interior lining that expertly prevents sweat and moisture from pooling on your head on especially warm days. Thanks to its lightweight wrap knit material, the Legend is very comfortable and breathable, yet versatile in style and design. The adjustable strap and snap back closure allow you to create a more custom fit uniquely tailored to your head size.
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What you need to buy for business wear
Rhone Men’s 7-Inch Commuter Flat-Front Short
Made from 100% polyester, this pair of business-casual shorts features a convenient snap closure in the front and an extra-secure media pocket on the right side. The waist has an elastic stretch which provides additional mobility and comfort, while an inserted gusset inseam gives the wearer a snugger fit. Their knit fabric is stretchy and moisture-wicking, so you can stay dry and comfortable throughout the entire day. The mesh lined pockets also help increase breathability and reduce bulk.
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Rhone Men’s Original Commuter Straight-Leg Flat-Front Pants
This pair of commuter pants is made from ultra-durable high-quality fabric that’s moisture-wicking, breathable and wrinkle-free. Tailored with a 33-inch inseam, each pair has a very slim fit with a non-pleated design, button closure back welt pockets and a non-slip waistband. The gusset inseam helps increase the wearer’s range of motion and mobility, which means this pair is versatile enough to wear for a variety of occasions. The pair also has two hand pockets, a media pocket inside the right pocket and two additional back pockets with a security zipper closure inside each one.
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Rhone Men’s Commuter Slim Fit Long-Sleeve Dress Shirt
Considered to be one of the brand’s most versatile dress shirt designs, this button-down long-sleeve top is made with fabric that has a natural wrinkle release and four-way stretch. It’s premium Italian nylon blend allows wearers to project a professional look all while remaining completely comfortable. The hidden button collar and front button-up closure offer a seamless and polished silhouette that’s form-fitting yet professional in appearance.
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Available in twelve flattering colors, Rhone’s Delta polo features the brand’s proprietary GoldFusion technology that helps combat body odor caused by sweating. With its lightweight mesh fabric, lay-flat collar and short raglan sleeves, this polo is perfect to wear if your job requires lots of movement. The polyurethane vent detailing on the side and flat-lock stitching also work to combat chafing and regulate your body temperature when you’re on the go. The elevation of touch points further increases airflow, speeds up moisture dispersal and prevents the fabric from clinging to the skin when wet.
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What you need to buy for athletic wear
Rhone Swift Tank Workout Shirt
This ultra-lightweight and extremely breathable tank is perfect for eliminating extra bulk during workouts and wicking away any excess sweat and dirt. The fabric is infused with GoldFusion technology, which contains real gold particles that help increase colorfastness and odor control while decreasing drying time. Designed specifically for high-intensity workouts like running and training, the Swift Tank’s flatlock stitched seams prevent chafing and prevent the fabric from being stretched out.
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This pair of athletic shorts is crafted with 90% polyester and 10% elastane, which is sweat-resistant and quick-drying. The shorts’ fabric combination is ultra-durable and comfortable enough to keep you cool while you exercise. Their internal drawstring closure provides a clean slim look and helps prevent snagging on gym equipment during your workout. The inserted gusset inseams provide reinforcement, so you won’t have to worry about rips and tears forming in the fabric.
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Infused with GoldFusion technology, the Reign Hoodie pulls triple-duty by fighting odor caused by bacteria on the skin, shortening the amount of time similar fabric takes to dry and helping prevent color fading and running. Offering UV protection of 50+, this tank can keep you both cool and safe while you work out in direct sunlight and provides a nice fit that doesn’t hinder movement. The no-tag collar and straddle stitched seams minimize friction from the sweatshirt’s fabric, preventing skin irritation while providing the utmost comfort.
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What you need to buy for loungewear
Rhone Men’s Sideline Navy/White Pullover
This comfortable pullover features an adjustable zipper closure and an adaptable hem which helps the wearer achieve a more precise fit. The elastic cuffs and interior knit ribbed collar also aid in keeping out cold air and other outside elements. The pullover’s material is lightweight, waterproof, stretchy and very breathable thanks to the jacket’s back vent construction. The durability of this jacket is priceless due to the stringent production standards and quality control process the material and zippers go through before being used.
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Rhone Men’s Bolinas Beach Jogger
Featuring a drawstring closure, the Bolinas Beach Jogger provides unmatched comfort to any wearer. It’s crafted with a sturdy yet soft cotton that’s blended with spandex for better stretch and shape retention. The external drawcord allows the wearer to adjust the waistline for a snugger fit, while the rib detailing in the legs and waistband helps prevent the joggers from slipping off. There are two side hand pockets with a media protector inside the right one and a spacious back pocket featuring a button closure.
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Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | 2022-07-17T13:05:45+00:00 | valleycentral.com | https://www.valleycentral.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/shirts-tops-br/best-rhone-clothing-you-can-get-on-amazon/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that his administration will extend the pause on federal student loan payments while the White House fights a legal battle to save his plan to cancel portions of the debt.
“It isn’t fair to ask tens of millions of borrowers eligible for relief to resume their student debt payments while the courts consider the lawsuit,” Biden said in a video posted on Twitter.
The moratorium was slated to expire Jan. 1, a date that Biden set before his debt cancellation plan stalled in the face of legal challenges from conservative opponents.
Now it will extend until 60 days after the lawsuit is resolved. If the lawsuit has not been resolved by June 30, payments would resume 60 days after that.
The Justice Department last week asked the Supreme Court to examine the issue and reinstate Biden’s debt cancellation plan. | 2022-11-22T21:44:47+00:00 | seattletimes.com | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/ap-sources-biden-to-extend-student-loan-pause/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
YORK – York Police are investigating a homicide. Yesterday, officers responded to the 700 block of Kelly Drive and discovered a 19-year-old male deceased from an apparent gunshot wound. Detectives were notified and are investigating. The incident appears to be an isolated, targeted act of violence. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact York City Police at 717-846-1234. Tips can be anonymous. | 2023-03-09T13:58:28+00:00 | wdac.com | https://wdac.com/homicide-investigation-in-york-3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=homicide-investigation-in-york-3 |
Woman Sought in Cheyenne Purse Theft, Credit Card Fraud
Cheyenne police are asking for the public's help in identifying a woman accused of stealing a purse from a gym locker and then using the victim's credit cards.
According to a department Facebook post, the woman (pictured above) allegedly used bolt cutters to break into a locker at Gold’s Gym at 1616 E. Pershing Boulevard.
"She then stole a purse that contained two wallets and made unauthorized purchases at several locations with credit/debit cards that did not belong to her," the post states.
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Anyone who recognizes the woman or knows her whereabouts is asked to call Crime Stoppers Silent Witness at (307) 638-TIPS. Callers will remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.
$7.8 Million Edwards Home Has a Hot Tub in the Middle of the Gym
This Edwards, Colorado home has a home gym with a hot tub in middle. | 2022-06-29T00:38:02+00:00 | k2radio.com | https://k2radio.com/woman-sought-in-cheyenne-purse-theft-credit-card-fraud/ |
Potential tropical storm heads for Mexico, Texas Gulf coast
Posted/updated on: August 20, 2022 at 5:31 pmMEXICO CITY (AP) — A potential tropical storm is heading for the U.S.-Mexico border area, and could cause rains and flash flooding in northeastern Mexico and south Texas. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Saturday that potential Tropical Cyclone Four was located about 165 miles (270 kilometers) south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande. That area includes the Mexican border city of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas. The disturbance was moving northwest at 13 mph ( 20 kph), and could become a tropical storm before hitting land late Saturday. | 2022-08-21T00:08:04+00:00 | ktbb.com | https://ktbb.com/post/?p=1155429 |
Teens arrested after 11 injured in South Carolina park shooting
RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. (WIS/Gray News) - Two teens arrested in connection to a shooting that injured nearly a dozen people in South Carolina have been released on bond, officials say.
According to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, 11 people were hurt in the shooting at Meadowlake Park around 1:20 a.m. on Saturday.
Deputies say the victims range in age from 16 to 20 years old.
The department says nine of the victims were shot, including two 11th-grade boys and one 12th-grade girl. A second 12th-grade girl was hurt after being hit by a car and taken to a local hospital.
At a press conference regarding the shooting, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said he believed all of the victims will survive.
The sheriff’s department said the gathering at Meadowlake Park was not a park-sponsored event and involved students from various high schools throughout the area.
Lott called the gathering a “flash party” that was trespassing at Meadowlake Park, which was closed at the time of the shooting.
Lott said multiple people wearing masks at the park shot into the crowd and he believed most of the suspects are from the Richland County area. A gun was recovered at the park, and investigators are working to determine if it was used in the park shooting.
Two teenagers who were arrested after the shooting, 19-year-old Miquise Fulwiley and 18-year-old Ty’Quan Kelly, have been released on bond.
The sheriff’s department said Fulwiley and Kelly were pulled over after they left the Meadowlake Park area early Saturday morning in a car without headlights on. Deputies said they arrested the teens after a pursuit.
Fulwiley, the driver of the car, is charged with failure to stop for blue lights, simple possession of marijuana, and unlawful carry of a pistol. He was given a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.
Kelly, a passenger in the car, is charged with simple possession of marijuana and unlawful carry of a pistol. Kelly was given a $10,000 surety bond.
The sheriff expressed his frustration with the bond court system, which he claims is “catch and release,” and added this was Kelly’s third time in less than a month being out on bond in connection to a gun offense.
Bond reform is what Lott pleaded for the most from legislators. He said this case is a priority, and the investigation is ongoing.
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2023-05-01T00:37:52+00:00 | wlbt.com | https://www.wlbt.com/2023/04/30/teens-arrested-after-11-injured-south-carolina-park-shooting/ |
ROCKY HILL, Conn. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the Connecticut Lottery's "Cash 5" game were:
02-03-09-15-19
(two, three, nine, fifteen, nineteen)
ROCKY HILL, Conn. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the Connecticut Lottery's "Cash 5" game were:
02-03-09-15-19
(two, three, nine, fifteen, nineteen) | 2022-10-22T04:28:17+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Cash-5-game-17526517.php |
Resource guide outlines necessary steps to act on national health equity
initiatives by addressing SDOH needs and disparities
BURLINGTON, Mass., May 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Azara Healthcare, the leading provider of population health management solutions, has announced the release of a newly available resource and strategy guide – Leveraging Social Drivers of Health Data to Promote Health Equity Advancement.
When considering what is driving national health disparities, it is important to look closely at the role various factors play. Social Drivers of Health (SDOH) is a comprehensive term that addresses the policies, systems and structures that fuel inequities in areas that influence a person's health – such as health care, housing, and access to healthy food and transportation.
"SDOH data are a critical component of any health equity advancement strategy, and the aim of our new resource guide is to help establish a data-driven process to uncover the factors that affect patient health, as well as personal characteristics that cannot be changed," said Jeff Brandes, President and CEO, Azara Healthcare. "By learning how to effectively utilize actionable data, organizations will be better positioned to meet population health goals, reduce costs and improve outcomes for all patients."
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted a strategic approach to address SDOH and guide efforts to make health outcomes more equitable by addressing the underlying systemic and environmental factors that affect health. It is estimated that clinical care accounts for only 20% of health outcome variation, while SDOH account for as much as 50% and are a major driver of health disparities.
The new report outlines three key steps to help move the needle on health equity initiatives:
- Pinpoint where the greatest needs exist across a population.
- Take action on identified social and medical needs to drive change.
- Use data to evaluate impact and measure progress.
"The first step toward advancing health equity initiatives is to assess where efforts are needed most. Once areas of greatest need are identified, organizations can then begin to engage patients and this is when gaps in care are reduced, cost savings are achieved and patients can realize their full health potential," said Brandes.
Access the complete guide to learn how analyzing and integrating SDOH data can serve as a foundation for health equity advancement across the healthcare industry. Visit azarahealthcare.com for more information.
About Azara Healthcare
Azara Healthcare, the 2023 Best in KLAS provider of population health management solutions, is the leading provider of quality measurement, analytics and reporting for the Community Health and physician practice market. Azara solutions empower more than 1,000 Community Health Centers, physician practices, Primary Care Associations, Health Center Controlled Networks, and clinically integrated networks in 40 states to improve the quality and efficiency of care for more than 25 million Americans through actionable data. www.azarahealthcare.com
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SOURCE Azara Healthcare | 2023-05-31T14:49:24+00:00 | wafb.com | https://www.wafb.com/prnewswire/2023/05/31/azara-healthcare-releases-new-guide-advance-health-equity-initiatives/ |
(NewsNation) — Travelers celebrating Father’s Day and Juneteenth — a double holiday weekend — continue to face flight cancellations and delays for a fourth day in a row.
As of 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, airlines canceled 2,237 flights and delayed over 10,000 flights, according to tracking service FlightAware. Nearly 800 of Sunday’s cancellations and 2,000 of the delays involved aircraft scheduled to fly to or from U.S. cities.
Airports with the most cancellations Sunday included Atlanta’s International Airport, New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Boston Logan International Airport and Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.
On Saturday, airlines canceled a total of 2,744 flights and delayed 18,171 flights. More than 800 canceled flights and 6,334 delayed flights were within, into or out of the U.S., according to FlightAware.
On Friday, TSA officers screened 2.4 million people at airport security checkpoints nationwide, according to agency spokesperson Lisa Farbstein.
In a tweet, Farbstein said, “It was the highest checkpoint volume since Nov. 28, 2021, which was the Sunday after Thanksgiving.” Farbstein attributed the busy travel day to the start of the “Juneteenth Holiday Weekend.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg met with airline leaders to quiz them about widespread flight disruptions after his own flight was canceled and he wound up driving from Washington to New York.
“That is happening to a lot of people, and that is exactly why we are paying close attention here to what can be done and how to make sure that the airlines are delivering,” Buttigieg told The Associated Press.
Buttigieg held a virtual meeting with airline CEOs to go over steps the airlines are taking to operate smoothly over the Fourth of July holiday and the rest of the summer and to improve accommodation of passengers who get stranded when flights are canceled.
Buttigieg said he is pushing the airlines to stress-test their summer schedules to ensure they can operate all their planned flights with the employees they have, and to add more customer service workers.
Buttigieg said his department could take enforcement actions against airlines that fail to live up to consumer protection standards. But first, he said, he wants to see whether there are major flight disruptions over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and the rest of the summer.
When the weekend’s cancellation problem started, the airlines blamed bad weather and the Federal Aviation Administration, an arm of the Transportation Department that manages the nation’s airspace, for the disruptions. Airlines have also acknowledged staffing shortages as travel roared back faster than expected from pandemic lows. Airlines are scrambling to hire pilots and other workers to replace employees whom they encouraged to quit after the pandemic hit.
So far in June, more than 2.2 million travelers a day on average have gone through security checkpoints at U.S. airports. That’s up 22% from a year ago although still down 13% from the same period before the pandemic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | 2022-06-19T22:29:13+00:00 | kdvr.com | https://kdvr.com/news/nationalworld-news/travelers-face-flight-delays-cancellations-for-a-4th-day/ |
ANN ARBOR -- Juwan Howard has established his “energy” guy off the bench, and it’s redshirt freshman forward Will Tschetter.
After 5:42 of game time on Sunday and Michigan trailing Minnesota 12-4, Howard signaled for Tschetter.
ANN ARBOR -- Juwan Howard has established his “energy” guy off the bench, and it’s redshirt freshman forward Will Tschetter.
After 5:42 of game time on Sunday and Michigan trailing Minnesota 12-4, Howard signaled for Tschetter.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. | 2023-01-24T12:23:25+00:00 | mlive.com | https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2023/01/will-tschetter-emerges-as-michigan-basketballs-energizer-off-the-bench.html |
WFO SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Tuesday, May 2, 2023
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AREAL FLOOD WATCH
Flood Watch
National Weather Service Hanford CA
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1039 PM PDT Thu Apr 27 2023
.Warm temperatures may melt snowpack and increase river flows.
...FLOOD WATCH FOR SNOWMELT REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY
MORNING...
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* WHAT...Flooding caused by snowmelt continues to be possible.
* WHERE...A portion of central California, including the following
areas, Yosemite NP outside of the valley and Yosemite Valley.
* WHEN...Through Tuesday morning.
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* IMPACTS...Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers,
creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations.
Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks. Low-water
crossings may be flooded.
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* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...
- An extended period of very warm temperatures will cause rapid
snow melt which is expected to cause flooding along waterways
in Yosemite National Park. This also includes locations in
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Yosemite Valley, such as the Merced River at Pohono Bridge.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible Flood
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Warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared
to take action should flooding develop.
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Copyright 2023 AccuWeather | 2023-04-28T06:53:22+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/weather/article/ca-wfo-san-joaquin-valley-warnings-watches-and-17924306.php |
Utah State guard Steven Ashworth (3) celebrates after Nevada turned the ball over in the second half in a game Feb. 18, at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Ashworth picked up some more accolades on Tuesday.
On the eve of the Aggies doing a public workout and visiting with the media at the NCAA Tournament in Sacramento, California, guard Steven Ashworth picked up a couple of awards Tuesday.
The Utah State guard was named the District VIII Player of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Ashworth and teammate Taylor Funk were named all-district by the USBWA.
Earlier in the day Tuesday, the junior from Alpine, was named second-team all-district by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).
The Aggies (26-8) are preparing for their first round NCAA Tournament game against Missouri (24-9) on Thursday at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. USU got an at-large berth as did the Tigers, who are seeded seventh. The Aggies are a 10 seed, but are 1.5-point favorites.
This is the 23rd trip to the Big Dance for USU in school history and the fourth time it has received an at-large berth.
Ashworth was on the Aggie team that played in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, which was held in the Indianapolis area as COVID forced modifications. As a freshman, Ashworth did play 16 minutes against Texas Tech, but did not score. However, he did grab six rebounds and dish out an assist.
His role will be a lot different in 2023 as he leads the team in scoring (16.3 points a game), assists (4.5) and steals (1.2).
“It’s super fun to be playing meaningful basketball and have a role where I feel like I’m making a difference and can be a positive, impactful player for a team,” Ashworth said earlier this week. “I feel I did positive things as a freshman, but now I’m one of the key role guys. I’m just really excited to show what we can do.”
Ashworth has picked up a number of accolades after the regular season. He was named first-team all-Mountain West by the coaches and second-team by the media, but did garner Player of the Year votes. Last Saturday he and Funk were named to the MW all-tournament team.
Ashworth is averaging 16.3 points, 4.5 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 33.1 minutes per game, while shooting 46.2 percent (162 of 351), including 44.3 percent (109 of 246) from 3-point range, and 87.8 (122 of 139) from the free throw line. He ranks sixth in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (.443), 14th in treys made per game (3.21), 29th in free throw percentage (.878) and 30th in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.66).
Ashworth has scored 1,019 career points, including 555 this season, becoming the 41st player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. He ranks 37th for the most points scored in a career, and has scored in double figures 29 times this season, while recording five or more assists in 17 games. His 109 3-pointers this season rank second-best ever by an Aggie, and he trails Jaycee Carroll by just five.
Funk, who was named honorable mention all-MW by the media, is averaging 13.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.7 blocks in 30.5 minutes per game, while shooting 45.1 percent (158 of 350), including 37.8 percent (79 of 209) from 3-point range, and 90.0 percent (45 of 50) at the free throw line. He has scored in double figures 21 times, including a team-best nine games logging at least 20 points. The Lancaster, Pennsylvania native has also collected at least five rebounds in 19 games this season.
The Aggies will visit with the media Tuesday morning then have a practice session in the arena that is open to the public. USU will be the first team of eight at the Sacramento site to get started. Other teams in Sacramento include Missouri, Arizona, Princeton, Northwestern, Boise State, UCLA and UNC-Asheville.
USU-Missouri will be the first game on Thursday with tip off set for 11:40 a.m. MT.
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Tell us your personal accounts and the history behind articles. | 2023-03-15T03:20:36+00:00 | hjnews.com | https://www.hjnews.com/sports/usu/usu-men-s-basketball-ashworth-named-district-viii-player-of-the-year/article_b43fb10a-c2d5-11ed-b691-43152d53b3a2.html |
US Postal Service honors civil rights leader, Ponca tribe Chief Standing Bear, with stamp
By SCOTT McFETRIDGE
Associated Press
A Ponca tribe chief whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native American is a person under the law was honored Friday with the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service stamp that features his portrait.
The release of the stamp of Chief Standing Bear comes 146 years after the Army forced him and about 700 other members of the Ponca tribe to leave their homeland in northeast Nebraska and walk 600 miles (965 kilometers) to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Chief Standing Bear was arrested and imprisoned in Fort Omaha when he and others tried to return. This prompted him to file a lawsuit that led to an 1879 ruling ordering his release and finding that a Native American is a person with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
“For so long people didn’t know his story or the Ponca story — our own trail of tears,” Candace Schmidt, chairwoman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska said. “We are finally able to tell his story of perseverance and how we as a tribe are resilient.”
Judi M. gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs, called the issuing of a Chief Standing Bear stamp a milestone that she hopes “provokes necessary conversations about race, sovereignty and equality in the United States.”
“It’s remarkable, that the story of Nebraska Native American civil rights leader Chief Standing Bear has progressed from a native man being considered a non-person by the U.S. Government in 1879, to today, being recognized by the Postal Service with a stamp honoring him as an American icon,” gaiashkibos said.
The Postal Service, which released the stamp at a ceremony Friday in Lincoln, Nebraska, has printed 18 million stamps. The stamp features a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by illustrator Thomas Blackshear II, based on a black and white photograph of Chief Standing Bear taken in 1877, the Postal Service said.
More than 100 members of the Ponca tribe died during or soon after the forced journey to Oklahoma, including Chief Standing Bear’s only son. It was a desire to have his son buried in their homeland in Nebraska’s Niobrara River Valley that resulted in the return of Chief Standing Bear and 29 others and their subsequent arrest.
According to the National Park Service, two Omaha attorneys represented Chief Standing Bear at a two-day trial before Judge Elmer S. Dundy in U.S. District Court in Omaha. The government appealed Dundy’s ruling that Chief Standing Bear and other arrested member of his tribe were “persons” but the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case.
The Ponca members were freed and returned to their old reservation along the Niobrara River, where Chief Standing Bear died in 1908.
A congressional investigation later determined the government wrongly gave away the Ponca homeland and removed the tribe, leading to congressional legislation in 1881 that gave some compensation to members of the tribe. In 1924, an issue that arose in the 1879 trial was resolved when Congress approved a law that conferred citizenship on all Native Americans born in the United States.
The federal government terminated the Ponca tribe of Nebraska in 1966 but the tribe regained federal recognition in 1990. Schmidt said the Ponca now has about 5,500 members, operates three health clinic and offers numerous services to members.
“We’re doing really well,” she said.
There is a separate Ponca tribe in Oklahoma.
Anton G. Hajjar, vice chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors, said the post office has been issuing stamps that honor the legacy of great Americans since the 1800s. In issuing the stamp of Chief Standing Bear, Hajjar noted, “It took our country far too long to recognize the humanity in many of its people – including the American Indians who lived in these lands for thousands of years.”
The Postal Service previously has issued stamps honoring Native Americans including Pocahontas, Chief Joseph, Sequoyah, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull and Jim Thorpe. | 2023-05-12T17:34:07+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/ap-national/2023/05/12/us-postal-service-honors-civil-rights-leader-ponca-tribe-chief-standing-bear-with-stamp/ |
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas freshman MJ Rice has been through the ringer in his first couple of months of college basketball: the back injury during preseason practices, a bout with COVID-19 and then kidney stones last week that sent him to the ER.
The five-star recruit showed Monday night what he can do when he’s healthy and available.
Rice came off the bench to score 19 points, Jalen Wilson hit five 3-pointers and scored 22, and the ninth-ranked Jayhawks bounced back from their first loss of the season with an 87-55 rout of Texas Southern.
“Just coming in and doing my job, really, whether that’s bringing energy or playing defense,” Rice said afterward. “I know I missed some time but it’s also kind of like a build-up. I have to get that rhythm back.”
Gradey Dick added 15 points, Josef Yesufu had 14 and KJ Adams 10 for the Jayhawks (7-1), who stumbled against No. 13 Tennessee in the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis. They are now 109-16 after a loss under coach Bill Self, who made his regular-season debut in Allen Fieldhouse after missing three home games to a school-imposed suspension.
“I thought it was probably pretty good overall,” Self said, “considering we were tired, and we hadn’t practiced since we played Tennessee. I thoguht that was about as good as we could do.”
Davon Barnes had 22 points and Zytarious Mortle scored 11 for the Tigers (1-7), whose brutal nonconference schedule has taken them to Texas Tech, Houston and Auburn with a trip to Wichita State still to come.
Texas Southern coach Johnny Jones was not available after the game.
It was a rematch of a first-round NCAA Tournament game last season won by the Jayhawks on their way to the national championship. And for a stretch in the first half, the Tigers gave the champs all they could handle.
Texas Southern was still within 14-10 midway through the first half when Kansas ripped off a 15-2 run to seize control. But even during the spurt, the Jayhawks at one point missed three straight shots, failed to capitalize on turnovers and couldn’t salvage much of an advantage on the boards against a much smaller team.
Kansas even gave up a buzzer-beating 3 that got the preseason SWAC favorites within 40-25 at halftime.
“Defensively we were not very good early,” Self said, “and they missed a lot of layups.”
If there was any drama left, it evaporated in the opening minutes of the second half. Texas Southern turned it over four times in its first five possessions, Kansas ripped off a 14-2 run and Self eventually was able to examine his bench.
ONE LAST TIME
TV play-by-play man Dave Armstrong signed off for the last time after a 38-year career broadcasting the NBA, Major League Baseball, college football and college basketball. He’s been a staple in the Big 12 since 1988, when it was known as the Big 8, and regularly called games in the Big East, the Big Ten and the ACC.
AILING JAYHAWKS
Kansas forward Kevin McCullar Jr., who is averaging 9.7 points and 7.3 rebounds, watched the game in street clothes with a minor groin injury. Backup guard Bobby Pettiford Jr. was out with a hamstring injury.
BIG PICTURE
Texas Southern couldn’t overcome 16 turnovers and a poor night from the 3-point arc, where the Tigers were 4 of 17. They also got just six points off the bench, and their lack of depth was evident as they wore down in the second half.
Kansas was 13 of 29 from the arc, and many of the shots came off open looks courtesy good ball movement. The Jayhawks had 23 assists on 30 made shots, including six assists from Wilson and nine from Dajuan Harris Jr.
UP NEXT
Texas Southern returns home to face NAIA foe North American on Sunday.
Kansas plays Seton Hall on Thursday night in the Big East-Big 12 Battle.
___
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 | 2022-11-29T12:50:43+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/sports/ap-no-9-kansas-routs-texas-southern-87-55-for-bounce-back-win/ |
Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front-Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies (Yes, That's a Thing) is a hilarious and irreverent travel guide that looks at visiting "round here" (the South) and "over yonder" (not the South).
NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- When it comes down to it, Trae and Corey are just two Southern boys who, by virtue of luck and a little hard work, were lucky enough to see the world beyond Mammaw's front porch. In their new hilarious and heartwarming travel guide, Round Here and Over Yonder, they take reader to the smallest of small towns in the South and to major US metropolises. (Or is it metropoli? We don't know.) They even hop the Atlantic to review some of them fancy kings-and-castles places that PBS viewers can't stop yapping about. From Chickamauga to Cheyenne, New York to New Orleans, Seattle to Scotland—no matter where these two wandering jesters go, there's something to roast, something to toast, and something to learn about what ties us together as humans. Even the most outrageous of us.
In Round Here and Over Yonder, you'll find:
- Loads of eccentric things folks say.
- Seriously well-informed tips on exactly where to eat and what to order in each city.
- Anecdotes from Corey and Trae about everything from "German Mardi Gras" in Helen, Georgia, to eatin' over-priced rabbit in Napa, California.
- Travel bingo boards and ad-libs for your own adventures.
- And as many off-the-beaten-path jokes as can be packed into 256 pages!
Perfect for anyone who:
- Likes to travel.
- Loathes to travel.
- Any Southerner who's both a little proud and a little ashamed of the South (that's all the sane ones).
- Any Northerner, Midwesterner, or West Coaster who wants to know what two self-proclaimed rednecks have to say about their own hometown.
- Anyone from the UK who thinks us Yanks are the craziest folks on God's green earth (cause this book will likely confirm that stereotype, yup).
"Make no mistake, Round Here and Over Yonder is laugh-out-loud hilarious, but it's also a remarkably accurate tongue-in-cheek travel guide that will both entertain and educate. In a world that can often seem way too serious, thank God for people like Trae and Corey," said Matt Baugher, publisher of Harper Horizon.
Every state, town, and holler has its stereotypes. But what if there's more to these places—many of which most of us have only heard of and never actually visited—than meets the eye? And what if it turns out that the people who inhabit them are just like us?
Round Here and Over Yonder will be available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook. You can pre-order today at https://www.harpercollinsfocus.com/9781404117549/round-here-and-over-yonder/
About Trae Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester:
Trae Crowder grew up in Celina, Tennessee, a town sometimes described as having "more liquor stores than traffic lights" (2-0 as of last count). Trae first gained national attention for his "Liberal Redneck" series of viral videos. He has been performing his particular brand of gravy-covered intellectual comedy for over a decade and touring nationally with Corey and their comedy and drinking partner, Drew.
Corey Ryan Forrester grew up in Chickamauga, Georgia, where he fell in love with comedy watching first Carson, then Leno, from a blanket on the floor next to his daddy, Dale. At sixteen, lying about his age, he worked up the nerve to do his first open mic. He spent the next decade hawking jokes at night then waking up to do random day jobs. He also ran the family bakery with his mom, where he was known as "Head Quiche Chef." These days he tours with Trae and Drew on the wellRED stand-up tour, making all his comedy dreams come true.
Trae and Corey's first book, The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin' Dixie Outta the Dark, written along with their buddy Drew, was published by Atria in 2016.
About Harper Horizon:
Harper Horizon is a Nashville-based imprint of HarperCollins Focus focused on the stories, values, and diverse voices of Americana and beyond, publishing authors such as Willie Nelson, Syd & Shea McGee, Zachary Levi, Meghan Trainor, Jenny Doan, Luke Russert, Ellie Goulding and more. For more information, please visit www.harpercollinsfocus.com/Harper-Horizon
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Harper Horizon | 2023-06-29T21:04:23+00:00 | kmvt.com | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2023/06/29/southern-comedian-duo-trae-crowder-corey-ryan-forrester-release-round-here-over-yonder-with-harper-horizon-september-19-2023/ |
HAVANA (AP) — Ivette Garrido hurried last week to get the 6 kilograms (13 pounds) of subsidized chicken allotted to her family by Cuba’s government and put it in the freezer, happy to have meat to get through Hurricane Ian.
Now she is considering giving the chicken to her three dogs before it goes bad as a huge power blackout caused by the storm extends beyond two days and everything in her freezer thaws amid scorching temperatures.
The government has not said what percentage of the population remains without electricity, but electrical authorities said only 10% of Havana’s 2 million people had power Thursday.
“We are not having a very good time, trying to survive, to keep things from thawing,” said Garrido, who lives with her mother and a 19-year-old daughter in the town of Cojimar on the outskirts of Havana.
Hundreds of thousands of Cubans are facing similar situations.
Ian crossed western Cuba on Tuesday before heading north to Florida. It initially knocked out power to a few provinces, but problems compounded and soon the power grid collapsed nationwide, affecting 11 million people, the first time a total blackout has happened in living memory.
The storm also left three people dead and caused still unquantified damage.
Electricity returned in some parts of Cuba on Wednesday, while it came on then shut off again in other parts. Experts said the total blackout showed the vulnerability of Cuba’s power grid and warned that it will require time and sources — things the country doesn’t have — to fix the problem.
Authorities have promised to work without rest to address the issue.
A half-dozen Havana residents interviewed by The Associated Press on Thursday were tense because of the lack of electricity, which has also left them without water since electric motors power the pumps that bring water to their taps. Many homes can’t cook because they use electric stoves following a campaign by authorities to eliminate artisanal stoves.
“We have never been so long without electricity,” Garrido said. “They put it at 24 hours, at 36, but it’s already been more than 48. It’s criminal. Who is responsible for this?”
She has placed bottles of frozen water that had been in the freezer next to the chicken, along with some pork and sausages, to try to preserve the meat longer. A fan and television also await the return of electricity.
Calls by AP to a dozen people in Cuba’s main cities — Holguín, Guantánamo, Matanzas, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey and Santiago — found similar problems to Havana, with most reporting their neighborhoods were still without electricity.
Authorities say the total blackout happened because of a failure in the connections between Cuba’s three regions — west, center and eas — caused by Ian’s winds.
Cuba’s power grid “was already in a critical and immuno-compromised state as a result of the deterioration of the thermoelectric plants. The patient is now on life support,” said Jorge Piñon, director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy’s Latin America and Caribbean program at the University of Texas.
Being interconnected “is the perfect analogy for the domino effect in which you knock down a domino and hit all the others in a chain reaction,” he said, referring to how a fault in one part of the country soon affected all of it.
Cuba is suffering an economic crisis, produced by a combination of U.S. sanctions, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and inefficiencies. The island’s GDP plummeted 11% in 2020 and grew 1.3% in 2021. Cubans were already living with scheduled power blackouts.
Cuba has 13 power generation plants, eight of which are traditional thermoelectric plants, and five floating power plants rented from Turkey since 2019. There is also a group of small plants distributed throughout the country since an energy reform in 2006.
But the plants are poorly maintained, a phenomenon the government attributed to the lack of funds and U.S. sanctions. Complications in obtaining fuel is also a problem.
“Unfortunately, it will be a long recovery process that will also have to cover the generation deficit that already existed before the hurricane, all this at a high economic cost that the country cannot afford,” Piñon said.
___
Andrea Rodríguez on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ARodriguezAP | 2022-09-30T02:35:22+00:00 | everythinglubbock.com | https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/latest/ap-cubans-suffer-as-hurricane-caused-power-outage-drags-on/ |
Donald Trump refuses last chance to testify at New York civil trial
NEW YORK - Former President Donald Trump rejected his last chance Sunday to testify at a civil trial where a longtime advice columnist has accused him of raping her in a luxury department store dressing room in 1996.
Trump, a Republican candidate for president in 2024, was given until 5 p.m. Sunday by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to file a request to testify. Nothing was filed.
It was not a surprise. Trump has not shown up once during the two-week Manhattan trial where writer E. Jean Carroll testified for several days, repeating claims she first made publicly in a 2019 memoir. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages totaling millions of dollars.
The jury has also watched lengthy excerpts from an October videotaped deposition in which Trump vehemently denied raping Carroll or ever really knowing her.
RELATED: E. Jean Carroll testifies for 3rd day in Trump rape accusation case
Without Trump's testimony, lawyers were scheduled to make closing arguments Monday, with deliberations likely to begin on Tuesday.
After plaintiffs rested their case Thursday, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina immediately rested the defense case as well without calling any witnesses. He did not request additional time for Trump to decide to testify. Tacopina declined in an email to comment after the deadline passed Sunday.
On Thursday, Kaplan had given Trump extra time to change his mind and request to testify, though the judge did not promise he would grant such a request to reopen the defense case so Trump could take the stand.
At the time, Kaplan noted that he'd heard about news reports Thursday in which Trump told reporters while visiting his golf course in Doonbeg, Ireland, that he would "probably attend" the trial. Trump also criticized Kaplan, a Bill Clinton appointee, as an "extremely hostile" and "rough judge" who "doesn't like me very much."
RELATED: Trump deposed in defamation suit filed by E. Jean Carroll
On the witness stand, Carroll, 79, testified that Trump, 76, raped her in spring 1996 after they met at the entrance of the midtown Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman.
She said the encounter began as a fun and flirtatious outing as Trump coaxed her into helping him shop for a gift for another woman. She said they ended up in the store's desolate lingerie section, where they teased each other to try on a see-through bodysuit.
As Carroll recalled it, laughter accompanied them into a dressing room where Trump became violent, slamming her up against a wall, pulling aside her tights and raping her before she kneed him and fled the store.
RELATED: Trump lawyer questions E. Jean Carroll at rape lawsuit trial
In his deposition, Trump said Carroll made it up. He called it "a false, disgusting lie" delivered by a "nut job" who was trying to stoke sales of her book.
He also repeated comments he made in statements that she was not his "type."
"She’s not my type and that’s 100% true," he said.
And he repeated his claims in a 2005 "Access Hollywood" video in which he bragged that men who are celebrities can grab women by the genitals without asking.
"Historically that’s true with stars," he said.
RELATED: Donald Trump cannot countersue rape accuser, judge rules
Carroll sued Trump in November, minutes after New York state enacted a law allowing adult sexual assault victims to sue others even if the attacks occurred decades earlier.
Carroll's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, wrote a letter to the judge Sunday to complain that Trump still has not removed April 26 posts on his social media network in which he called Carroll's allegations "a made up SCAM." And she noted that he repeated disparaging remarks about the trial three days ago in Ireland.
RELATED: Writer’s lawsuit accusing Trump of rape begins Tuesday; experts weigh in
After the April 26 postings on Truth Social, Judge Kaplan, who is not related to Carroll's lawyer, said Trump's comments were "highly inappropriate" and expressed concern that Trump was trying to communicate to the jury "about stuff that has no business being spoken about."
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done. | 2023-05-08T15:49:58+00:00 | fox29.com | https://www.fox29.com/news/donald-trump-refuses-last-chance-to-testify-at-new-york-civil-trial |
Minneapolis investing in street lighting as one way to fight crime
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Millions of dollars are getting poured into a big public safety initiative in Minneapolis, and it has nothing to do with law enforcement.
Mayor Jacob Frey has earmarked $9 million for citywide lighting improvements in the 2023-2024 budget. City officials are hoping increased lighting will deter crime.
"It feels small but its huge," said Ward Four Council Member Latrisha Vetaw. "To have every street light functioning, bright - that’s the least I can do as a council member."
Vetaw has coined the initiative ‘Get Lit Minneapolis’ and says it’s a realistic and proven solution that can improve safety immediately.
"We get reports in my office where no lights work on particular streets and that’s not okay," she said.
While lighting makes people feel safer, studies show it actually does lower crime. In 2016, New York City increased lighting at some public housing projects and observed a significant decline in serious crime.
Vetaw said it's no replacement for increased police presence, but it’s a start.
The improvements include adding lights, changing out old bulbs for brighter LEDs, and fixing broken poles. | 2022-11-11T05:15:13+00:00 | fox9.com | https://www.fox9.com/news/minneapolis-spending-millions-to-combat-crime-with-more-street-lights |
SAN DIEGO — Dwayne Johnson went a few steps beyond merely teasing his long-awaited “Black Adam” movie at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday.
Ever the showman, Johnson brought a new trailer for the DC Comics superhero film and some flashy technology, lighting up the biggest room at the annual fan convention all while in costume. But he had another big reveal too: Johnson told the 6,000-some people in the audience that they could see “Black Adam” in IMAX for free with the help of the ticketing service Fandango.
The character Black Adam has the powers of the ancient gods and has been entombed for some 5,000 years before being released into the modern world. In the trailer he says his powers are “a curse, not a gift.”
Set for an Oct. 21 theatrical release, “Black Adam” reunites Johnson with his “Jungle Cruise” director Jaume Collet-Serra. It also stars Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, all of whom joined Johnson and Collet-Serra for the panel.
“Black Adam” was just one part of Warner Bros. return to Comic-Con, where audiences also got a glimpse at a new trailer for “ Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” Stars Zachary Levi and Lucy Liu were on hand to promote the sequel, which is due to arrive in theaters on Dec. 21 and continues the story of a teenager-turned-superhero who is feeling a bit like a fraud. The film sees the return of Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody and adds Helen Mirren and Rachel Zegler of “West Side Story” to the mix.
The studio stuck to its 2022 superhero releases, forgoing sneak peeks at films due next year. One of those is “The Flash,” whose star Ezra Miller was arrested in Hawaii twice this year — in a disorderly conduct case and on suspicion of assault.
Miller plays Barry Allen in the Andy Muschietti-directed film, which has wrapped production and is supposed to open in June 2023. They have been credited as the first out LGBT person to play a lead role in a major superhero film | 2022-07-23T23:54:37+00:00 | 11alive.com | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/nation-world/warner-bros-tease-trailers-for-black-adam-shazam-2-at-comic-con/507-5512bc9d-a864-4b50-8f62-3dc1fd02fccc |
BELOIT—The Beloit College men’s soccer team won’t be joining the Buccaneer women’s team in Midwest Conference Tournament play.
The men needed to close out the regular season with a pair of victories and a 1-1 tie against visiting Lawrence University on Thursday afternoon officially eliminated the Bucs from contention for the tourney.
Beloit knows all about ties this season. Thursday’s at the Strong Soccer Complex was the team’s fourth in MWC play. They were tied despite holding a shot advantage of 28-15, including 11-7 in shots on goal.
The Vikings (2-9-5, 1-3-3 MWC) broke a scoreless tie in the 29th minute when Derek Morales scored on a penalty kick.
The Bucs (3-7-4, 2-1-4) tied things up in the 61st minute as Jose Larraim tallied his second goal of the season on an assist from Prabaldeep Khare.
Both teams had chances to win the game down the stretch, but solid defense from both prevented anything close to a goal.
Brock Bidwell played the entire game as goalkeeper for the Bucs and contributed six saves. His counterpart for Lawrence, Nason Lancina, had 10 saves and also played all 90 minutes.
The Bucs will close out their season on Saturday as they travel to Mount Vernon, Iowa., to play Cornell College in an 11 a.m. game.
Beloit’s women’s team also has one more regular season game after punching its ticket to the MWC Tourney with a 2-0 win over Lawrence on Wednesday at home. The Bucs also play the Rams at 1:30 p.m. in Mount Vernon.
The Buc will play their MWC semifinal game on Nov. 4 with the opponent and location yet to be determined. | 2022-10-28T05:03:21+00:00 | beloitdailynews.com | https://www.beloitdailynews.com/sports/tie-eliminates-beloit-college-mens-soccer-team-from-potential-mwc-tourney-play/article_eb23fd74-566b-11ed-b484-074b258b3888.html |
The first round of the 2022 NFL draft was full of surprises, included plenty of trades, and featured a few head-scratching selections.
Some of those surprising picks left plenty of the draft’s top-rated players still available for Day 2, which will feature rounds two and three.
Here are the best players still on the board on the second day of the draft, which begins Friday night at 7 p.m.:
Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean
Despite being a tad undersized (6-0, 225), Dean was the heart of the Georgia defense. He’s a rangy playmaker who fires into gaps and strikes defenders. The only concerns about his game center on his size and the possibility that he might be forced to run around blocks in the NFL.
Liberty quarterback Malik Willis
Willis has a cannon for an arm, and can threaten defenses with his legs. He has the speed and athleticism needed to pick up chunk yardage, and proved that by rushing for 2,131 yards during his college career. The biggest concern is that he has sloppy mechanics, and doesn’t attack the middle of the field consistently.
Clemson cornerback Andrew Booth Jr.
Booth, who pulled down five interceptions in his last two seasons at Clemson, has good size (6-0, 194), long arms and loose hips. He plays the position with the confidence, and route recognition a cornerback needs to cover elite receivers. Problem is, he was only a one-year starter at Clemson.
Georgia cornerback Derion Kendrick
Kendrick is a high-ceiling prospect who has the type of competitive demeanor to play at an All-Pro level in time, and he has excellent body control. Teams must get past a few character concerns for him to become a top-50 selection.
Washington cornerback Kyler Gordon
Gordon, who had a phenomenal final season at Washington, is at his best when he’s in off-man coverage. He’s aggressive in run support and has impressive leaping ability. The fact he can play the nickel spot and has special teams experience makes him a heavy workload option for whichever team drafts him.
Penn State pass rusher Arnold Ebiketie
The Temple transfer showcased explosive pass-rushing traits during his one season at Penn State, where he produced 62 tackles and 9.5 sacks. He’s a tad small (6-2, 250) for an edge rusher, but plays with power and physicality.
Michigan State tailback Kenneth Walker III
Walker led all Power-5 running backs in rushing in his one season at Michigan State after transferring from Wake Forest. He had 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns in helping lead the Spartans to an 11-2 record and win over Pitt in the Peach Bowl.
Iowa State tailback Breece Hall
Hall has an NFL-ready body at 5-foot-11, 217 pounds, and he ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash to boot. Hall’s combine performance complemented his on-field production with the Cyclones where he ran for 1,472 yards and 20 touchdowns. He has size, speed and explosion.
Colorado State tight end Trey McBride
McBride, who caught 164 passes for 2,100 yards and scored 10 touchdowns, has elite ball skills and the quickness needed to get open against NFL linebackers. He goes hard as a blocker, which gives him a chance to be a three-down tight end. But he has average speed and isn’t elusive with the ball in his hands.
North Dakota receiver Christian Watson
Watson, who caught 105 passes for 2,139 yards and 14 touchdowns in his four seasons, is one of the best athletes in this draft. At 6-foot-4, 205 pounds — and running a 4.3 time in the 40-yard dash — he’s a physical specimen that could blossom quickly if paired with the right quarterbacks.
Alabama linebacker Christian Harris
Harris is a true three-down linebacker with loose hips, speed and athleticism needed to cover in space. His quickness and speed allow him to beat blockers, but he also has the size (6-2, 230) needed work in traffic. However, offenses seemed to target him in coverage in college and that could become an issue in the NFL.
Penn State safety Jaquan Brisker
Brisker is a fast and instinctive safety who has the skill set to play in the box, the post, and serve as a nickel cornerback. He can hold his own against the run and has ball skills (five interceptions in three seasons). He tends to stare down quarterbacks and lacks route recognition, so it could be a season or two before he’s ready to be viewed as a reliable NFL starter.
Michigan defensive end David Ojabo
Ojabo might have been a first-round pick if he didn’t tear his ACL at his pro day in April. Before the injury, his athleticism allowed him to close on plays effectively. He logged 11 sacks in the 2021 season, but that was the only season he thrived in his collegiate career.
Baylor safety Jalen Pitre
Pitre is a rangy, fast, physical safety who has the skill set to play in the box, and could potentially excel as a nickel cornerback. He played the star position in his final two seasons at Baylor, and pulled down four interceptions while recording 30 tackles for loss and six sacks in those two years. His lack of size (5-foot-11, 198 pounds) might limit him as a blitzer, but it’s clear that this top-100 talent will eventually develop into an NFL starter, and could potentially be a Pro Bowl talent. Expect him to be selected by the third round.
LSU linebacker Damone Clark
Clark is a large (6-3, 245) well-proportioned linebacker whose length and speed help him in coverage. He has an aggressive temperament, and his effort is never lacking. While he was highly productive (135 tackles, 5.5 sacks and one interception) in his final season at LSU there’s still room for growth and improvement.
Georgia linebacker Channing Tindall
While Tindall was a role player for the Bulldogs’ elite defense, he flashed playmaking ability and traits that indicate he’s an athletic mover who could become a sideline-to-sideline defender. The only knock on Tindall is that he seems hesitant when dropping into zones. But he can be a core special teams player who brings value to the third phase of the game.
Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder
Ridder was a winner at Cincinnati in his four years as a starter, consistently keeping the Bearcats atop the American Athletic Conference and leading the team to a College Football Playoff berth last season. His accuracy and ball placement needs work to be considered a viable NFL passer, but he also possesses tremendous athleticism behind center, running a 4.52-second 40-yard dash.
Sam Houston cornerback Zyon McCollum
McCollum, a five-year starter for an FCS program, is a ballhawk (13 interceptions) who has a good combination of size (6-2, 200) and speed (4.33 in the 40-yard dash). He’s instinctive, possesses phenomenal ball skills, and catches the ball at its highest point. He’s also physical against the run. His biggest challenge will be adjusting to wideouts who match his size, speed and athleticism.
North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell
Howell’s 3,056 yards passing and 24 touchdowns in 2021 can actually be considered a down year after he threw for 3,500 or more yards and 30-plus touchdowns each of his first two seasons. That was a byproduct of losing receiver Dyami Brown and the big running game he had with backs Javonte Williams and Michael Carter. But Howell has the talent to become an NFL starter, and might be the sleeper in this draft.
Baylor receiver Tyquan Thornton
Thornton, who was timed at 4.28 in the 40-yard dash, is one of the fastest players in this draft class. But the 6-foot-2, 181-pounder is more than just speed. Thornton, who caught 143 passes for 2,242 yards and scored 19 touchdowns in his four seasons at Baylor, has an impressive catch radius and sticky hands. He could become an NFL star with proper coaching. | 2022-04-29T05:25:13+00:00 | sun-sentinel.com | https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-dolphins-draft-players-still-available-20220429-3a4vqiohyzfezo2gjltaueynqu-story.html |
Alexandria woman arrested in connection to February shooting
ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - The Alexandria Police Department has made a second arrest in a shooting that took place on Saturday, February 25.
On April 14, APD arrested Tiara D. Franklin, 23, of Alexandria, for one count of accessory after the fact to attempted second-degree-murder. Her bond is set at $50,000.
According to APD, back on Feb. 25, two victims were driving on North Mall Drive around 5 p.m., when a person in a white sedan open fired on their vehicle. Days later APD arrested Calvin Armstead, 19, of Alexandria, for two counts of attempted second-degree murder.
The case remains ongoing and anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact APD’s Detective Division at (318) 441-6416, or dispatch at (318) 441-6559.
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Copyright 2023 KALB. All rights reserved. | 2023-04-15T15:01:18+00:00 | kalb.com | https://www.kalb.com/2023/04/15/alexandria-woman-arrested-connection-february-shooting/ |
WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, August 8, 2022
_____
HEAT ADVISORY
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Albany NY
354 AM EDT Mon Aug 8 2022
...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM EDT
THIS EVENING...
* WHAT...Heat index values between the upper 90s to lower 100s.
* WHERE...In New York, the Capital District, Mid Hudson Valley,
Mohawk Valley, central and southern Taconics, Upper Hudson
Valley and Lake George Saratoga Region. In Connecticut,
Litchfield County. In Massachusetts, southern Berkshire County.
In Vermont, eastern Windham County.
* WHEN...From noon today to 8 PM EDT this evening.
* IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat
illnesses to occur.
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.
...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM EDT THIS
EVENING...
* WHAT...Heat index values ranging 95 to 100 degrees
* WHERE...Northern Washington and Western Ulster Counties.
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Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | 2022-08-08T08:49:53+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/weather/article/NY-WFO-ALBANY-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17358356.php |
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Perhaps the late Sam Mills would have been a blue-chip college recruit and high NFL draft pick had someone invented — as the 5-foot-9 linebacker memorably suggested –- “a computer to measure heart.”
Mills played Division III college football and was not drafted. That made his rise to stardom with the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers — and his enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, this weekend — all the more remarkable.
The player nicknamed “Field Mouse” had the will to “keep pounding,” as he’d famously say. It made him an inspiration to people facing long odds in many aspects of life, whether they were undersized football prospects or cancer patients.
“I get emotional talking about him and I always have, because the darn guy was special,” said Jim Mora, who coached Mills in the USFL with the Philadelphia and Baltimore Stars, and then with the Saints. “I loved the guy.”
Former Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert was struck by how little Mills resembled an NFL player in public. Not only was Mills a bit shorter than the average guy on the street, but he wore prescription glasses and had an air of politeness and approachability.
“He was a straight-and-narrow, great guy, just down to earth,” Hebert said, noting that Mills also ran Bible study with the Saints. “Not only was he a leader, like Xs and Os, but also a spiritual leader. … Sam was as tough as they come on the field and a perfect gentleman off.”
Hebert also marveled at Mills’ ability to so thoroughly win over the fan bases of two long-time divisional rivals.
“You know, I go to the same division, from the Saints to the Falcons, and I’m a mercenary,” Hebert said. “Sam’s a hero for both” New Orleans and Carolina.
Mills was part of New Orleans’ vaunted “Dome Patrol,” which included fellow Hall-of-Famer Rickey Jackson, as well as Vaughn Johnson and Pat Swilling, and is widely cited as one of the best four-linebacker units in NFL history.
Saints players who’d gaze downward at Mills in defensive huddles “all looked up to him,” Mora said. “Maybe they felt like he was an overachiever. He wasn’t. He was just that good.”
Outside the Panthers’ home stadium stands a statue of Mills wearing his No. 51 jersey. Mills spent the last three of his 12 NFL seasons in Carolina. In 1996, his second with the Panthers, he was named All-Pro. He also went into coaching with Carolina, and was an assistant when he was diagnosed with intestinal cancer before the 2003 season.
Mills kept coaching during his treatment, and made what is known as his “keep pounding” speech on the eve of the club’s Super Bowl match-up with New England at the end of that season.
“When I found out I had cancer, there were two things I could do: quit or keep pounding,” Mills said then. “I’m a fighter. I kept pounding. You’re fighters, too. Keep pounding!”
The quarterback of that Panthers team was Louisiana native Jake Delhomme, who grew up watching Mills call the Saints’ pre-snap defensive signals, fearlessly shed blocks from offensive linemen who dwarfed him and then plant ball-carriers on their backs.
“I always kind of revered Sam Mills,” Delhomme said. “I was that young kid that was like, ‘Man, that’s the undersized guy. That’s the guy that made it. That’s the Field Mouse.’”
During the speech, “You felt that emotion,” Delhomme recalled. “It was like, ‘Oh my God, let’s put on the uniform now. Let’s play right now!’”
But Delhomme’s most poignant memory of Mills came earlier that season, a few days after a loss to Dallas. Delhomme recalled feeling sore, sluggish and uncharacteristically sorry for himself as he walked to practice. Then Mills jogged past, slapped Delhomme on the back side and said, “Let’s go get better.”
Delhomme refers to that moment as an “awakening” in which he told himself: “You need to grow up and try to be just a tenth of this guy.”
“Everybody knew he was dying,” Delhomme continued. “He was doing chemo. And he’s running out to practice … and he’s going to coach his ass off.”
Mills was just 45 when he died in April 2005. “Keep pounding” remains the Panthers’ tag line.
“He lived ‘keep pounding,’ and it resonates with people because it’s real and because it’s not just a sports thing,” said Mills’ eldest son, Washington Commanders defensive assistant coach Sam Mills III.
“I feel honored that I’ve had a chance to be around someone that’s touched so many people’s lives,” Mills III added. “You see how many people he’s affected with his story of small school or small stature. And then when you go post-cancer, you see how many other people who have nothing to do with football would come up and speak to him about their fight. I feel privileged to have been a part of that — to see what that has meant to people, to see what stopping and talking to someone for two minutes out of your day means to people.”
When Mills was playing high school football in Long Branch, New Jersey, he had little expectation of going to college until his coach persuaded him. He was good enough at Montclair State to receive training camp invitations from the Cleveland Browns and Toronto Argonauts of the CFL. Neither team kept him because of concerns about his size, and he went back to New Jersey to teach photography at East Orange High School and serve as an assistant football coach.
But when the USFL was preparing for its inaugural season in 1983, then-Brown’s coach Sam Rutigliano, never comfortable with Cleveland’s decision to cut Mills, encouraged Philadelphia Stars general manager Carl Peterson to take a serious look at him.
Mora, then the Stars’ head coach, recalled linebacker coach Vince Tobin asserting, “I don’t care how tall he is. This guy is a football player.”
When Mora started to evaluate Mills more closely, he noticed that Mills was quick, had exceptional lower body strength, and that his shorter stature could be an asset.
Linebackers are taught to get their shoulder-pad level below that of the player they’re trying to tackle because it gives them leverage. Having also been a high school wrestler, Mills knew all about leverage and taking opponents to the ground.
“In football,” Mora noted, “sometimes the low man wins.”
Mills never “loafed” during practice and always made meetings on time, Mora said. He wasn’t just a run-stuffer, either. He could cover tight ends and running backs out of the backfield, and his positional soundness and anticipation of QBs’ intentions helped him effectively cover players who were taller than he was.
When Mora was hired by the Saints in 1986, he persuade the club to sign Mills.
In 181 NFL games, Mills made 1,265 tackles, had 23 fumble recoveries, forced 22 fumbles, had 20½ sacks and intercepted 11 passes. He also was part of the first four playoff teams in New Orleans Saints history and the first in Panthers history.
“It was hard to find negatives about the guy on or off the field,” Mora said. “He probably would have had a great future as a coach. He knew the game, he studied the game and always prepared mentally. Players would have loved playing for him.”
Mora has coached other Hall-of-Fame players — household names including quarterback Peyton Manning and receiver Marvin Harrison. Seeing Mills enter the Hall will be gratifying for Mora in a different way.
Many football fans “don’t know Sam Mills unless they are astute, older football guys,” Mora said. “He’s one of the best guys I ever coached, but I always have to explain a little bit about who Sam Mills was.”
Maybe less so after Mills’ enshrinement.
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AP Sports Writer Steve Reed in Charlotte, North Carolina, contributed to this story
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More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/tag/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | 2022-08-01T13:12:24+00:00 | cbs4indy.com | https://cbs4indy.com/sports/ap-sports/hall-of-fame-welcomes-inspirational-field-mouse-sam-mills/ |
Local identity company praised for flexible and innovative culture for the eighth year
DENVER, May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ping Identity (NYSE: PING), the intelligent identity solution for the enterprise, has been named by The Denver Post as a "Top Workplace of 2022." The award has identified 150 companies in the greater Denver area recognized for their excellence in culture, leadership, flexibility and vision.
The Denver Post 2022 Top Workplaces are chosen by the local Denver workforce, rating their employers in seven areas, including alignment, coaching, connection, engagement, performance and "the basics," which include pay, benefits and training.
"Ping Identity's amazing employees have allowed us to grow, innovate and thrive during an otherwise challenging time for businesses," said Andre Durand, CEO and founder of Ping Identity. "Because of their commitment to excellence, we have been able to continue delivering seamless and secure digital experiences to customers when they needed it most."
The Denver Post recognition follows Ping Identity being named as a 2022 Best Place to Work in Denver and Austin by Built In in January 2022. The Built In annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to the enterprise, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in the eight largest tech markets across the U.S.
About Ping Identity
Ping Identity delivers intelligent identity solutions for the enterprise. We enable companies to achieve Zero Trust identity-defined security and more personalized, streamlined user experiences. The PingOne Cloud Platform provides customers, workforce, and partners with access to cloud, mobile, SaaS and on-premises applications across the hybrid enterprise. Over half of the Fortune 100 choose us for our identity expertise, open standards, and partnerships with companies including Microsoft and Amazon. We provide flexible identity solutions that accelerate digital business initiatives, delight customers, and secure the enterprise through multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, access management, intelligent API security, directory, and data governance capabilities. For more information, visit www.pingidentity.com.
Ping Identity Media Relations
Megan Johnson
press@pingidentity.com
757.635.2807
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SOURCE Ping Identity Corp. | 2022-05-24T13:47:57+00:00 | wagmtv.com | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2022/05/24/ping-identity-recognized-top-workplace-by-denver-post/ |
Chirping sounds lead airport officials to bag filled with smuggled parrot eggs
LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. (AP) — The 24 bright green baby parrots began chirping and bobbing their heads the second anyone neared the large cages that have been their homes since hatching in March.
The Central American natives, seized from a smuggler at Miami International Airport, are being raised by the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation — a round-the-clock effort that includes five hand feedings a day in a room filled with large cages.
At just 9 weeks old, these parrots have already survived a harrowing journey after being snatched from their nests in a forest. They are almost fully feathered now and the staff has started transitioning them from a special formula to a diet of food pellets and fruit.
“You ready to meet the children?” asked Paul Reillo, a Florida International University professor and director of the foundation, as he led visitors Friday into a small building tucked behind a sprawling house in Loxahatchee, a rural community near West Palm Beach.
“They are hand-raised babies,” he said, as the chicks squawked and looked inquisitively at the visitors. “They’ve never seen mom and dad; they’ve been raised by us since they hatched.”
It was the hatchlings’ faint chirping inside a carry-on bag at the Miami airport that brought them to the attention of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. The passenger, Szu Ta Wu, had just arrived on TACA Airlines flight 392 from Managua, Nicaragua, on March 23, and was changing flights in Miami to return home to Taiwan, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Miami.
Officers stopped Wu at a checkpoint. He was asked about the sound coming from his bag, which Reillo later described as a “sophisticated” temperature controlled cooler.
Wu reached in and pulled out a smaller bag and showed the officer an egg, the complaint said. The officer then looked inside and saw more eggs and a tiny featherless bird that had just hatched.
He told the officer there were 29 eggs, and that he did not have documentation to transport the birds, according to the complaint.
Wu was arrested, and on May 5 pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling birds into the United States. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced Aug. 1.
A lawyer who could speak on his behalf was not listed on court records, but Wu told investigators through a Mandarin interpreter that a friend had paid him to travel from Taiwan to Nicaragua to pick up the eggs. He denied knowing what kind of birds they were.
The officer took the bag and contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By then, eight of the birds had already hatched or were in the process of hatching.
It didn’t take long for federal officials to reach out to Reillo.
“They didn’t know what these things were and wanted my advice on it,” Reillo said. Baby parrots are featherless, so it’s difficult to property identify them.
He helped set up a makeshift incubator in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s aviary at the airport in a mad dash to save the now-hatching parrots.
The next day, Dr. Stacy McFarlane, a USDA veterinarian who initially tended to the birds and eggs at the airport, and other officials, delivered the baby parrots and remaining eggs to Reillo’s conservatory.
“At that point we were off to the races,” he said. “We’ve got all these eggs, the chicks are hatching, the incubator’s running and by the time it was all said and done, we hatched 26 of the 29 eggs, and 24 of the 26 chicks survived.”
USDA regulations required the birds to be quarantined for 45 days, meaning that Reillo and his team had to scrub down when entering and leaving the room.
But they still weren’t sure which of the 360 varieties of parrots they were dealing with.
A forensics team at Florida International extracted DNA samples from the eggshells and the deceased birds to identify the species. They discovered the 24 surviving parrots were from eight or nine clutches and included two species — the yellow naped Amazon and the red-lored Amazon.
Both birds are popular in the trafficking and caged-bird industries because they are pretty and have a nice temperament, Reillo said.
The trafficking pipeline out of Central America is well established and has gone on for years, he said.
“In fact, the biggest threat to parrots globally is a combination of habitat loss and trafficking,” Reillo said, adding that about 90% of eggs are poached for illegal parrot trade.
BirdLife International lists the yellow-naped Amazon as “critically endangered” with a population in the wild of between 1,000 and 2,500. The red-lored Amazon is also listed as having a decreasing population.
“The vast majority of these trafficking cases end in tragedy,” Reillo said. “The fact that the chicks were hatching the first day of his travel from Managua to Miami tells you that it’s extremely unlikely that any of them would have survived had he actually gotten all the way to his destination in Taiwan. That would have been another 24 to 36 hours of travel.”
Reillo is now faced with the challenge of finding a permanent home for the birds, which can live 60 to 70 years, or longer. He said he’s working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services on a plan “to have the birds fly free and help restore their species in the wild.”
“Parrots live a long time. They are sentient creatures. They’re highly intelligent, very social, and these guys deserve a chance,” he said. “The question will be where will they wind up? What is their journey going to be? It’s just beginning.”
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | 2023-05-25T05:19:22+00:00 | kob.com | https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/chirping-sounds-lead-airport-officials-to-bag-filled-with-smuggled-parrot-eggs/ |
Updated June 24, 2022 at 1:00 PM ET
Picture a court of law, jury in place, set to determine the fate of a woman who has had a miscarriage. And she's been charged with murder.
This hypothetical is part of how the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is training its members to prepare for a possible wave of criminal charges as the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
Only it's not a hypothetical — this happened in 2019. After a California woman delivered a stillborn baby at 8 months, she tested positive for meth at the hospital and the staff called the police. The Kings County prosecutor charged her with the "murder of a human fetus" and she spent 16 months in jail before the charges were dismissed.
NACDL executive director Lisa Wayne watched the case with concern. She and her colleagues decided they needed to be proactive and start getting ready for what they felt was inevitable.
"Although, I don't think you can ever say you'll be totally prepared for this kind of watershed moment," Wayne said.
'Overcriminalization'
The NACDL published a report last August warning the public that, without the legal protections under Roe v. Wade, thousands of abortion laws could lead to a new chapter of mass incarceration.
The invasion of privacy alone is a big concern to the NACDL. Anyone who needs or wants an abortion outside of the legal limits of their state is not only a target for criminal charges, but risks implicating others, too — by confiding in friends or family, crossing state lines for procedures, or even using a transportation app to get to an appointment.
"Not just fines. We're talking about prison time," Wayne said. "We're talking about minimum mandatory sentences — aiding or abetting someone who gets ultimately charged with manslaughter or murder, which is a life sentence."
And for those who think a future of mass incarceration is too unlikely, Wayne points to the War on Drugs, starting in 1971.
"Suddenly people who were being prosecuted for small amounts of drugs were now involved in larger and greater conspiracies with minimum mandatory sentences," Wayne said. "People were looking at life sentences and still remain incarcerated to this day. You have to ask yourself, what lessons did we really learn?"
Who will actually pay the price?
The NACDL has tens of thousands of members. Actual feelings and opinions on abortion vary within the organization, as expected. But that's not what this collective red alert is about.
Wayne says that despite a range of personal views, the membership as a whole is concerned about invasion of privacy, government overreach, and a massive stretch on legal resources if a wave of abortion-related criminal charges hits the U.S.
And that pain won't be distributed equally.
"Whenever you're talking about overcriminalization, you're talking about money," Wayne said. "Rich people will always be able to lawyer up. They will always have access to attorneys. Poor people will be left behind."
She points to an already overwhelmed public defender system, which people can't access until after their legal troubles have started.
"I don't get a lawyer, if I'm poor, until I'm actually charged with a crime in this country in most jurisdictions," she said. "So I have to wait until that moment until I get charged. If I have money, access to counsel, I get advice on the front end of being able to perhaps avoid the consequences that I would face if I didn't have money."
The perfect victim
A future without Roe v. Wade ultimately leads back to that courtroom and jury, where the task at hand becomes navigating perception. The burden of being "the perfect victim" is nothing new when it comes to cases of harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence.
"To be a perfect victim of sexual assault, human trafficking or intimate partner violence, you cannot also struggle with addiction, poverty or mental illness," wrote Amanda Rodriguez, a former federal prosecutor and the executive director of Baltimore's rape crisis center, TurnAround Inc, in a 2021 op-ed for the Baltimore Sun. "To be a perfect victim, you cannot accept a drink, engage in commercial sex or walk alone at night. You cannot wear tight clothes or have a criminal record. You cannot be human."
Except with a criminalized abortion, the "victim" isn't pressing charges. They're fighting them.
"At the end of the day, it's going to be the bias going into the courtroom," Wayne said. "The bias dealing with the district attorney who has preconceived notions of their own about how these cases should be prosecuted, the judges who oversee these cases and how they feel — and then ultimately go to the jurors' bias."
And that's a main focus of NACDL's training at the moment: preparing to help clients who have been charged with abortion-related crimes look sympathetic and relatable to a group of their peers (wherein the degree of difficulty varies, depending on your race.)
But in some cases, that might not be enough. More than a dozen states have trigger laws that immediately went into effect after Roe was lifted. The Supreme Court has just granted state lawmakers the freedom to ban abortion however they want.
So when a jury is asked to determine whether someone broke a law post-Roe, even a "perfect victim" might still be a guilty one.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-06-26T04:07:17+00:00 | kcbx.org | https://www.kcbx.org/npr-top-news/npr-top-news/2022-06-16/as-roe-falls-criminal-defense-lawyers-sound-the-alarm-about-mass-incarceration |
NH Chronicle: A Tiny Film Festival
Movie makers show off their skills in 60 seconds or less
Movie makers show off their skills in 60 seconds or less
Tonight, we are rolling out the red carpet and bringing you some award-winning films. The Nashua Public Library held its first Tiny Film Festival and budding filmmakers of all ages showed off their technical skills and told some creative stories, all in under 60 seconds.
Plus, the tale of a fateful trip that started on the shores of NH with a mini-boat built by students. They tracked their vessel for over a year until it sent back a signal from a faraway shore. Jean Mackin shows us the amazing journey that created a new friendship in another land.
On Fritz Wetherbee's New Hampshire: Mariarden.
For more information on tonight's stories:
Hosting this week from:
Hooksett, NH | 2023-03-23T16:56:40+00:00 | wmur.com | https://www.wmur.com/article/nh-chronicle-a-tiny-film-festival-in-nashua/43400727 |
Nick Jonas was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 13.
This Super Bowl, the Jonas Brothers singer is promoting the Dexcom G7, a continuous glucose monitoring system.
In the ad (see video below), slated to air during the second quarter of Sunday’s game, Jonas demonstrates how the system’s app displays glucose readings for people with any type of diabetes.
Last year, he appeared in a Super Bowl ad for Toyota Tundra called “The Joneses” alongside Rashida Jones, Tommy Lee Jones and Leslie Jones, which was set to the music of Tom Jones (see second video below).
Jonas, 30, who grew up in Wyckoff, was recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as one-third of the Jonas Brothers alongside his brothers Kevin and Joe.
The band, which reunited after breaking up in 2013, launched a major comeback in 2019 with the album “Happiness Begins,” their first studio album in a decade, and a tour. The album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and their song, “Sucker,” debuted on top of the Billboard Hot 100.
The Jonas Brothers teased a new album titled “The Album” and upcoming tour at the walk of fame ceremony Jan. 30.
The same ceremony marked the first major public appearance of Malti Marie, the baby daughter of Jonas and his wife, actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas, 40. They welcomed the baby, their first, via surrogate in 2022, taking her home after she spent more than 100 days in a neonatal intensive care unit. The couple was in New Jersey with Malti, now 1, in December.
More Super Bowl commercials and teasers for Super Bowl ads
The “Breaking Bad”-themed commercial for PopCorners
Thank you for reading. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription.
Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter. | 2023-02-08T02:56:45+00:00 | nj.com | https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2023/02/njs-nick-jonas-in-super-bowl-commercial-for-dexcom-glucose-monitor.html |
PARK CITY, Utah (ABC4) — Jurors in Park City, Utah, ruled in favor of Gwyneth Paltrow in the eight-day trial over a 2016 ski crash at Deer Valley Ski Resort, awarding her $1 this afternoon, March 30.
The jurors ruled that plaintiff Terry Sanderson, 76, was 100% responsible for the crash, despite his claims that Paltrow crashed into him on the slopes, resulting in his four broken ribs and a possible concussion. Paltrow’s $1 award for damages came from her countersuit to Sanderson’s. Paltrow’s defense team argued that Sanderson actually crashed into Paltrow and that any injuries he sustained were his own fault.
The verdict came only three hours after closing arguments wrapped.
Jurors had to rely on the testimony of expert witnesses who were not on the scene and conflicting eyewitnesses who were. Either way, very scant evidence exists from the actual crash. While there was a lot of discussion about possible GoPro camera footage floating around, possibly on the internet, it never surfaced.
“It’s a ‘he-said, she-said’ case,” said Sanderson’s attorney Kristin van Orman this morning.
But Paltrow’s attorneys reminded the jury as the case ended that it was Sanderson’s team that had to provide the burden of proof.
During closing arguments, Sanderson’s attorneys suggested that the jury award their client $3.27 million for the crash, based on Sanderson’s life expectancy and the seven years he has suffered since the crash. It should be noted that Sanderson’s attorneys did not make official changes to their damages request, but rather only gave the jury a “recommendation.”
Sanderson will instead walk away with no awarded damages. It is currently unclear how much he will have to pay for Paltrow’s court costs.
The end of the case comes after eight days of dizzying testimony, including appearances from two of Sanderson’s daughters, his former girlfriend, Paltrow’s children, ski instructors, numerous medical experts, CGI recreations, and even complex mathematical formulas on the physics of falling.
“I felt that acquiescing to a false claim compromised my integrity,” Paltrow said in a statement released by her representatives. She also thanked the judge and jury for their work.
As Paltrow left court she touched Sanderson’s shoulder and said, “I wish you well,” Sanderson told reporters outside the courthouse. He responded, “Thank you dear.”
Her attorney, Steve Owens, added in a statement he read outside court that “Gwyneth has a history of advocating for what she believes in – this situation was no different and she will continue to stand up for what is right.”
Paltrow’s defense team represented Sanderson as an angry, aging and unsympathetic man who had over the years become “obsessed” with his lawsuit against Paltrow. They argued that Paltrow wasn’t at fault in the crash and also said, regardless of blame, that Sanderson was overstating the extent of his injuries.
Closing Arguments
A great deal of the closing arguments this morning centered on witness Craig Ramon, an acquaintance of Sanderson’s who joined him in skiing at Deer Valley as part of a larger group. Ramon was the only member of that group called to the stand. While both sides admit that Ramon did not see the crash itself, he was Sanderson’s primary eyewitness after the crash.
Paltrow’s lawyers hammered on discrepancies in Ramon’s testimony and his supposed behavior on the slopes that day. While Ramon testified that Sanderson had been knocked out after the crash for around two minutes, Paltrow’s lawyers pointed out that he made no move to help Sanderson and he did not contribute to post-crash reports.
“Can you imagine looking at an unconscious person, splayed out, head down, skis down for over two minutes,” said defense attorney Stephen Owens. “Did you call 911? Did you check for breathing? No. Good grief. Give me a break.”
Sanderson’s attorneys, meanwhile, noted that Craig Ramon was not close with Sanderson and that he “had no dog in the fight,” stating he has no reason to lie on the stand. They also noted that after being told that the collision included Gwyneth Paltrow, Ramon was “scared.” Sanderson’s attorneys said their client was also scared to sue a celebrity but did so out of a sense of justice.
Sanderson’s attorneys focused on their client’s injuries sustained in the crash. Both teams agreed that Sanderson obviously broke four ribs in the crash, but Paltrow’s attorneys cast doubt on Sanderon’s claims of a concussion in the crash. They noted that he had started to exhibit some of the same post-crash symptoms weeks before the skiing trip took place.
Paltrow’s team also hammered on Sanderson’s age, noting that while it is unfortunate, he faced numerous health problems before the crash took place, including near blindness in his right eye and a cataract in his left.
“Slow degeneration of bodies are hard to accept,” said defense attorney James Egan. “Mental health challenges are hard to face.”
At the same time, Paltrow’s attorneys seemed to contradict that statement noting that Sanderson remained highly active after the crash, making numerous trips to various countries and attempting to stay fit. Owens said that Sanderson isn’t as bad off as he thinks he is.
“He’s running around like he’s the poster boy for fitness at 75,” said Owens. “…The guy’s Mr. Activity.”
Sanderson’s attorneys, meanwhile, attempted to discredit ski instructor Eric Christiansen, who had been hired by Paltrow on the day of the crash to teach her children to ski. While the court has already dismissed any idea of a cover-up by Christiansen or Deer Valley Resort, Sanderson’s attorneys called Christiansen’s testimony into doubt over the timeline of events. Paltrow’s attorneys said Christiansen has 40 years of experience at his job and a clean record of service.
Eight jurors decided the case this afternoon, meaning only six jurors had to agree for a judgment to be rendered. Four men and four women were on the jury.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | 2023-03-31T01:33:12+00:00 | fox44news.com | https://www.fox44news.com/news/jurors-rule-in-gwyneth-paltrows-favor-in-ski-crash-case-after-weeklong-trial-in-utah/ |
GARDENA, Calif., April 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizen Systems America Corporation, a leading manufacturer of world-class printing technology, announces the newest addition to its desktop barcode printer lineup with the release of the new CL-H300SV at NRF 2023 in New York City.
The new CL-H300SV barcode label printer provides outstanding value and more reliable printing options. Key vertical market segments require safer printing technology to better protect the wellness of their employees. The silver-ion infused plastics material, or "protective housing" used in the construction of the product, provides a "passive kill" to suppress growth of germs transmitted through human touch. The ability to disinfect the plastics also provides a potential layer of protection for employees and patients in healthcare applications that require printing.
"Healthcare requires products that help reduce contamination and add value to infection control within the hospital, clinic, pharmacy and beyond," said Tino Reis, Director of Healthcare Sales at Citizen Systems America. "We continue to provide core features, functionality and cost of ownership values our customers expect, but also options for more clean-ready products when they require them. We partner with key integrators, like Peripheral Resources Inc., to create even more value and support for our mutual end-user customers."
Peripheral Resources Inc. (PRI) is a long-time distribution partner and master systems integrator for Citizen Systems America. Specializing in healthcare industry installations, PRI is the primary partner for CL-H300SV integrations in the United States.
The CL-H300SV and other technology partner products with disinfectant ready and silver-ion infused passive germ-kill technology, will be on display at the company's booth (#121) co-hosted with Peripheral Resources Inc. (PRI) during the HIMSS tradeshow beginning April 18th, 2023.
Following strict guidelines published on the company's web page, https://www.citizen-systems.com/us/support/189/, Citizen products should only be cleaned and sanitized with specific chemical and cleaning agents that have passed the company's testing criteria of frequent sanitizing.
*The CL-H300SV, printer is not available for resell into Canada.
About Citizen Systems America
"Citizen Systems America" is the America subsidiary of Citizen Systems Japan - the electronic products affiliate of Citizen Watch Co. Ltd., the world-renowned manufacturer of fine watch timepieces. Citizen headquarters is located in the greater Los Angeles area, California.
Citizen develops and markets printers for point-of-sale, barcode and label, portable and general thermal technology usage applications. Citizen provides solutions that are used in a variety of industries including, retail, hospitality, manufacturing, food service, healthcare and many more.
For over four decades, Citizen products have set the standard for performance, reliability, and value in the marketplace. For more information, please visit Citizen Systems America's website at: www.citizen-systems.com/us.
Editorial Contact:
Austin Snowden
Citizen Systems America Corporation
Phone: (310) 781-1460
asnowden@citizen-systems.com
CITIZEN SYSTEMS AMERICA CORPORATION
1411 W. 190th Street, Suite 675
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 781-1460 Fax (310) 781-9152
http://www.citizen-systems.com/us
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SOURCE Citizen Systems America | 2023-04-10T16:13:55+00:00 | wsfa.com | https://www.wsfa.com/prnewswire/2023/04/10/citizens-new-cl-h300sv-anti-microbial-disinfectant-ready-barcode-label-printer-featured-himss-2023/ |
WATERLOO, ON, Oct. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - The United States Hockey League (USHL) is pleased to announce that Athletica Sport Systems Inc. will be the Preferred Rink Equipment Supplier to the league and their member clubs. Athletica, the world leader in the design, manufacture, and installation of dasher board systems, has a long history of supplying innovative infrastructure equipment to competitive Ice Hockey globally.
"We are proud to partner with Athletica who has an outstanding reputation as a rink system provider and someone who is a trusted name in the safety of our sport," said USHL President and Commissioner Bill Robertson. "Athletica and their rink systems have always been the very best is so many aspects. We look forward to working with them as a league partner and an organization that has great brand awareness in the hockey world."
With the addition of the USHL, Athletica continues to develop its industry leading position as the Preferred Rink Equipment Supplier to the National Hockey League (NHL), American Hockey League (AHL) and USA Hockey.
"The sponsorship of the USHL continues our support of competitive ice hockey as we extend our existing league relationships" said Andrew McRae, CEO of Athletica Sport Systems Inc. "This partnership underpins our industry commitment and "Safety through Innovation" brand promise across all levels of hockey - from community and development, through all professional leagues. We look to continue our collaborations with member USHL Clubs and host Arenas over the next three seasons and well into the future."
Athletica, a leader in arena services is a designer, manufacturer, and installer of dasher board systems for hockey arenas and multi-sport athletic facilities, serving the professional, semi-pro and community end-markets. Headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, the company also has offices in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Vancouver, British Columbia. Athletica is the Preferred Rink Equipment Supplier to the National Hockey League (NHL), American Hockey League (AHL) and USA Hockey.
To learn more, please visit Athletica's website.
To learn more, please visit the USHL's website.
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SOURCE Athletica Sport Systems Inc. | 2022-10-05T16:01:23+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/prnewswire/2022/10/05/athletica-sport-systems-inc-becomes-preferred-rink-equipment-supplier-ushl/ |
Humu Coach for Managers transforms every manager into a great one by making the day-to-day job of managing a team easier.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Humu, the HR technology company that pioneered science-backed nudges that make it easy for employees to develop new habits, today launched Humu Coach for Managers. This new suite of features gives managers the insights and guidance they need to unlock their teams' greatest potential. It's the latest example of Humu's industry leadership in shaping the future of work.
Managers have always played a critical role in driving team success, but the seismic shifts of the past two years have made them even more important. Managers serve as change agents and the connection point between strategy and employee action, often single handedly impacting an employee's experience. The challenge is that managers are under more pressure than ever—from both senior leadership and their employees—and are too overwhelmed to lead their teams effectively. And the stakes are high: according to Humu's data, a single bad manager costs an organization an average of $70,000 annually. Humu found, however, that when managers are effective, they are up to 2x more likely to retain employees over the course of a year and their teams have 22% higher engagement.
With Coach for Managers, Humu is helping organizations improve retention, performance, and the employee experience by transforming every manager into a great manager. The suite helps managers and their teams build behaviors that support organization-wide goals, gives them insight into where their teams can improve, helps them effectively coach each person based on their unique needs, and guides managers through a variety of new or challenging situations.
"We've all heard that people quit managers, not jobs. This is more true than ever against the backdrop of hybrid work experimentation and an ongoing talent shortage," said Laszlo Bock, co-founder and Executive Chairperson at Humu. "A great manager is the best retention strategy an organization has, but many companies struggle to provide managers with the tools, support, and training they need to reach their full potential as leaders. Humu will empower managers who are under pressure from leadership and their teams alike, to deliver on their biggest goals and drive organization-wide success."
Available today, with additional new features to be rolled out in the months ahead, Humu Coach for Managers will consist of a unique set of capabilities to create better experiences for managers and their teams, including:
- Smart Agendas: Make 1:1s—the most valuable interactions between managers and their reports—more effective by collaborating on a shared Smart Agenda, complete with intelligent topic recommendations based on team and employee insights. Managers will:
- Team Insights: Understand where improvement is needed with team and employee Focus Areas, and expertly coach each team member by leveraging Coaching Guides, Work Style Assessments, and detailed Employee Profiles.
- (Coming soon) Workflows: Guide managers through crucial moments in the employee lifecycle—like new hire onboarding, work anniversaries, employee offboarding, and more—with automated Workflows.
"We have seen how effective Humu's science-backed approach is in uniting and engaging employees and teams in large organizations," said Scott Chancellor, Chief Executive Officer at Humu, who assumed his role in August 2022 to lead a new chapter of product innovation and growth. "Now, with Humu Coach for Managers, we are thrilled to introduce a suite of features specifically designed to help anticipate what managers need and automatically deliver personalized, proven guidance right within their flow of daily work. And there's a lot more to come."
As managers continue to bear the responsibility of making or breaking an employee's experience, they'll need more personalized, targeted support than ever. Humu has already helped Fortune 500 companies unlock important goals to improve retention, performance and overall employee experience. To learn more about Humu visit humu.com.
Humu is an HR technology platform that makes it easy for every manager to be effective. Humu helps managers effortlessly build new habits and unlock the potential of their teams at some of the world's largest companies by delivering timely, personalized guidance. For more information or to view open positions, visit humu.com.
Media Contact
Megan Day
Mission North for Humu
humu@missionnorth.com
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SOURCE Humu | 2022-09-14T15:27:41+00:00 | newschannel10.com | https://www.newschannel10.com/prnewswire/2022/09/14/humu-launches-coach-managers-help-leaders-build-engaged-effective-teams/ |
Who would have thought the Robot Apocalypse starts with a chess match?
According to various media outlets, a chess-playing robot broke a child’s finger during an event in Russia.
The rest of us are now just pawns in the game in the deadly rise of AI.
The robot, which resembles a mechanical arm rather than a blood-thirsty C-3PO, can play multiple games at once. It had performed in three previous rounds without crushing any children before the incident occurred.
Here is an account from The Guardian, published on July 24: “Last week, according to Russian media outlets, a chess-playing robot, apparently unsettled by the quick responses of a 7-year-old boy, unceremoniously grabbed and broke his finger during a match at the Moscow Open.”
Video shows the robot making a chess move, then reaching out and pinching the would-be Bobby Fisher Jr.’s booger hook.
People are also reading…
“The robot broke the child’s finger,” Sergey Lazarev, president of the Moscow Chess Federation, told the TASS news agency after the incident, adding that the machine had played many previous exhibitions without upset. “This is of course bad.’”
In the kind of gritty chess play we’ve come to expect, the youngster returned the next day with his finger in a cast and finished the tournament, then produced a flamethrower and turned his robot opponent into puddle of melted plastic and twisted metal.
Actually, the youngster did return and finish the tournament but the flamethrower ending was just wish fulfillment on my part. I’m sure the child completed the tournament, returned home, kissed his mom goodbye and shipped out to Ukraine after his conscription into the Russian Army.
Longtime readers may recall my concern about a robot uprising. A quick search revealed that, since 2013, I’ve written 16 columns with the word “robot” in them, second only to a total of 432 columns featuring the word “monkey.”
That concern with robots began back in the early 1990s when media moguls stuck a bunch of small-town newspaper editors in a van for a trip to the big city to show us hicks from sticks how newspaper work would be performed in the future. That’s when we naively believed there would still be newspaper work performed in the future.
There in a state-of-the-art printing plant, wheeled machines – robots – scuttled around lifting and transporting pallets of paper, doing the work that humans used to do.
That led to my fear of robots and a column after the van ride back headlined, “Someday, a robot will take my job.”
While it hasn’t happened yet, I do believe there are more soulless cyborgs disguised as humans working in our industry so my replacement is still a real possibility.
With the first shot now fired in the Great Robot War, aka, the Robot Apocalypse, thanks to a chess-playing mechanical arm and a Russian kid too quick on the trigger, I would like to share a few tips from my years of writing about and fearing the robot takeover.
-Never play chess with a robot.
-Do not let a Russian child play chess with a robot. He’s safer in Ukraine.
-If you are a developer of a chess-playing robot, put in a command called “do not crush children’s bones.”
-If you are a soulless cyborg media mogul, don’t put a smart-aleck hick from the sticks in a van, drive him to the big city and show him what the future will be. It won’t turn out well. He might become the voice of the human resistance.
Good luck, everyone. Check and mate.
Scott Hollifield is editor of The McDowell News and a humor columnist. Contact him at rhollifield@mcdowellnews.com. | 2022-07-31T19:08:43+00:00 | heraldcourier.com | https://heraldcourier.com/lifestyles/first-shot-fired-in-global-robot-war/article_64e0f214-10ff-11ed-9a26-c31484c53f0b.html |
LAJAS, Puerto Rico — It had been almost exactly five years since Hurricane Maria tore across Puerto Rico, destroying the baseball diamond a short walk from Carlos Rodríguez Malavé's house. But by this summer, the ballpark's restoration was finally complete.
The infield dirt was freshly graded, a sturdy chain link fence lined the outfield, and a new metal roof over the bleachers replaced the one Maria had blown away.
Rodríguez was giddy about it. He'd been itching for years to form a free children's league so his three young sons could learn baseball on the same diamond he'd learned on as a boy. But the park's broken lighting system — battered by Maria's 150-mph winds in 2017 — had made evening practices impossible. Now with repairs finished, he could finally do it.
Officials in Rodríguez's small rural town, Lajas, asked him to be the first to turn on the newly restored lights. So on an evening in mid-August, he opened up the metal box tucked away behind the third base foul line and flipped the switches inside, bathing the ball field in golden light.
"It was the most elegant thing you've ever seen," Rodríguez recalled. Neighbors whose homes face the park came out to cheer. "We had been waiting five years for that. Ever since Maria."
Within days, he and the town's recreation director partnered up to form the league and started coaching 40 children on the field three evenings a week. They ordered uniforms and were planning an inauguration ceremony.
But within a month, they had to shut it all down.
On Sept. 18, Hurricane Fiona – Puerto Rico's first hurricane since Maria — made landfall on the island's southwestern coast, just a few miles from the ballfield. Sometime overnight, the storm's 100-mile-per-hour wind gusts knocked over one of the newly repaired light posts. It crashed down over a fence, mangling the lighting system's wiring and knocking it out of service again. The diamond flooded too.
Rodríguez realized what had happened the next morning, when he went on a walk through the neighborhood after the worst of the storm had passed.
"I saw that fallen light post, and my heart fell to the ground," he said on a recent evening, standing near home plate with his sons Jahxiel, 9, Ian, 7, and Isaac, 6. "So much work had gone into the field. It was finally in good shape. And we only got to use it for a month. Who knows how long we'll have to wait again?"
Hurricane Fiona flooded homes, washed away roads, and tore off roofs in communities across the island. But in some places – like in Rodríguez's neighborhood — heartbreak over the destruction was deepened by the fact that what Fiona destroyed had only recently been rebuilt from the damage Maria had inflicted, and often at great effort.
In the mountain town of Utuado, the raging waters of the Caonillas River swept away a temporary bridge that FEMA had put up to replace one that collapsed during Maria. In the coastal town of Loíza, a fishermen's cooperative had finally gotten long-delayed federal reconstruction funding to repair the building its members use to process and sell their daily catch. Workers had just started removing damaged roof panels when Fiona arrived. The building flooded through the open ceiling.
Fiona was far less destructive than Maria was, but Puerto Rico officials estimate the Category 1 hurricane caused $5 billion in damage to public infrastructure. Officials have not said how much of that was infrastructure that Maria had also damaged and that — like the Lajas baseball diamond — had already been repaired or was in the process.
But in Lajas, the town's mayor and its residents have been left to figure out how they'll fix their baseball diamond yet again.
"It's like we've gone back five years in time," the mayor, Jayson Martínez, said. "You can't detain Mother Nature, but seeing our park damaged again so soon after we finished it, that hurt. And the recuperation is going to be the same experience as before. Slow."
The recent repairs were funded from the billions that Congress approved for post-Maria reconstruction almost five years ago — money only now starting to trickle into communities. FEMA is also freeing up money to fix damage caused by Fiona. But Martínez fears accessing this money, too, will take years.
"We'll have to wait and see what process FEMA rolls out," he said.
The ballpark's repairs had been relatively simple, and along with fixes to an adjacent basketball court, had cost less than $100,000. But Lajas is one of Puerto Rico's poorest municipalities, and it hadn't had the money. It took town officials years to get it by working through the bureaucratic morass that has slowed the disbursement of post-Maria reconstruction funds all across the U.S. territory.
Which is why to Martínez, finishing the project, as small as it may have been, had felt like a triumph – a reason for his town of 23,000 people to celebrate after years of lurching from one crisis to another.
Maria had wrecked many homes in Lajas and left parts of the town without power for close to a year. Then in early 2020, destructive earthquakes centered just off its coast damaged more homes. Families all across the town, fearful their houses would collapse next, spent months sleeping in their driveways or in the street while they awaited engineering inspections. Then came the pandemic.
After all that, the restored baseball park had served as a symbol this summer that despite every setback, Lajas could, and would, continue to take steps toward normalcy.
"It's always important to try to move forward," the mayor said.
Willie Rivera, a retiree who lives alone in a house facing the ballfield, said that for the four weeks before Fiona that the new floodlights had illuminated the ballpark, evenings in the Lajas Arriba neighborhood had filled with a youthful energy he hadn't felt there in years.
"Oh, yes," Rivera said. "The kids came out and used it. It was very nice."
Sitting on his porch plucking out traditional Puerto Rican melodies on his 10-stringed cuatro, he noticed that older neighbors also started venturing out after dark to walk laps on a small track next to the baseball diamond. He'd almost done so himself.
Normangeline Vázquez, the town's recreation director and volunteer softball coach, said the still unrepaired damage to ballfields, basketball courts, athletic tracks and playgrounds across the island is one of many overlooked tragedies still plaguing Puerto Rico five years after Maria. Fiona has made it worse.
"Our children have been through so much," she said. "And these parks are where they get to play, where our communities go to relieve the stress from everything we've gone through."
But in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, recreational facilities fall down the list of priorities. After Fiona, Vázquez and every other municipal employee in Lajas set aside their normal duties to become an emergency responder – zipping around in golf carts to deliver food, water, ice and medicine to residents who went weeks without power. They checked on aging neighbors, patched up roofs and set up generators.
Meanwhile, the baseball diamond that the town's maintenance workers had so meticulously been caring for before the storm, started to become unkempt, and then overgrown. Town officials closed it to residents, out of fear the floodlights that remained standing might topple next, and because the exposed wiring from the one that did collapse could be dangerous once the neighborhood's power was restored.
Vázquez said the ball field's lighting system will be repaired again. How long it will take, she said, is hard to predict.
"The mayor and I are going to do everything we can to get it fixed as soon as we can," she said. "Because if you fall three times, you pick yourself up three times."
As Carlos Rodríguez walked around the infield on a recent evening, taking in the damage, his three sons tugged on his shirt.
"Can we go get our gloves?" Ian, his 7-year-old, whispered.
Rodríguez frowned and shook his head no. He was dying to let them, but the ballpark was technically closed. The boys raced each other around the bases instead.
"Our kids enjoy themselves here and they develop their skills," he said. "But if they don't have places to do that, we're making it harder for them to achieve great things in the future. These disasters have been hard for us, but they've also been hard for our children."
Until he can start his league up again, Rodríguez has been driving his sons to play in one in the city of Ponce, 45 minutes away. They love it.
"Nothing makes you happier," he said, "than to see your children have fun."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-11-26T15:17:56+00:00 | kunm.org | https://www.kunm.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-11-26/a-small-town-ballfield-took-years-to-repair-after-hurricane-maria-then-fiona-came |
Some seasons, I find myself twirling so much pasta around my fork it looks like I’m nonstop carbo-loading for a marathon. Another stretch of time, I can’t escape foie gras.
Then there’s L’Avant-Garde in Georgetown, whose chef hails from France. Born in Brittany, Gilles Epié trained under some of his country’s most revered chefs — Roger Jaloux, the longtime chef de cuisine for the legendary Paul Bocuse; Alain Senderens, another founding father of nouvelle cuisine — and received a Michelin star for his work at Le Pavillon des Princes in Paris when he was just 22.
Since then, he’s cooked in Los Angeles, notably at L’Orangerie; Paris; and Miami. He’s no stranger to Washington, having been coaxed here by the late, great Jean-Louis Palladin to work at the Watergate Hotel shortly after arriving in the United States in 1993 “with two suitcases and no papers,” Epié says. Six months in, the West Coast called.
“He doesn’t have to prove himself,” says owner Fady Saba, who recruited Epié, 63, with a mission in mind: “We want to have fun” while also creating a restaurant that transports diners to Paris.
L’Avant-Garde wastes zero time spiriting patrons across the pond. For starters, the menu is offered in French as well as English. The senior staff appear to be straight out of central casting, Gallic division. If the butter or fish whisks you back to some fancy dinner you recall from Europe, it might be because Epié sources both from France.
Saba put $3 million into the restaurant, and it shows, starting with a door that requires some muscle to open and continuing with a low-ceilinged bar and dining rooms that look like no other in the city. Ribs of wood stretch across the walls. Gold domed lights illuminate the luxe, semicircular booths, and a crackling fire in the center of the action further warms what once housed The Guards, in its heyday a magnet for celebrities and members of the restaurant industry. Save for the zinc bar, L’Avant-Garde is free of French restaurant stereotypes. And everything you touch shows thought. Notice the marble coaster for your cocktail?
The good looks extend to the food. If bread is attached to a dish, sign on. My first taste of Epié’s cooking was a little globe of puff pastry atop a maritime “bouillabaisse” of John Dory and other fish, a soup that includes tender macaroni and a rouille teasing with harissa. Epié says the presentation was inspired by a decadent Paul Bocuse signature, la soup aux truffles, or truffle soup capped with puff pastry.
The restaurant’s duck foie gras beignet, on the other hand, is an Epié original. A little kitchen magic produces an orb with a shell, made from a beer batter, that crisps in the fryer and breaks open to reveal both solid and liquid foie gras. In the company of a port wine reduction spooned on top, the glossy first course is a concert of sweet, salty and crunchy notes that some diners will find irresistible.
In Washington just seven months now, Epié likes what he sees, principally well-educated people who like to eat. “They don’t care” in Miami, he says, and as much as he likes Los Angeles, it’s “too trendy.” The chef’s liberal use of foie gras in Washington seems to be a reaction to previous American audiences that avoided the controversial luxury, either by law or distaste. An appetizer of mustard-lit celery root rémoulade is all but obscured by a thin sheet of duck foie gras, lightly seasoned with salt that crackles, then melts, like the delicacy, on the tongue. Branzino topped with a puck of foie gras is a link to Epié’s early years in the United States, when he noticed how many American menus listed surf-and-turf combinations.
Even some of the lighter appetizers exude a thrilling richness. Butter-textured Scottish salmon blossoms in a marinade of bay leaf, juniper and shaved raw onion. Served as a single thick slice, the orange-colored fish is flanked on one side by coins of boiled potatoes enlivened with tomato vinaigrette. The sumptuous first course is a dressier version of a dish “my mother used to do,” only with herring, says the chef.
Epié oversees a kitchen crew of a dozen, the majority of whom are fresh to the business. Two months before L’Avant-Garde opened in December, Epié says, he held cooking classes for the newbies, starting with dressing and sauce basics.
A diner can taste the training in the roast chicken, based on a fresh Pennsylvania bird the chef compares favorably to what he loves in France. Textbook-perfect, it picks up flavor from herbes de Provence and fennel and arrives with french fries whose golden hue is the result of twice-frying the potatoes in clarified butter. Sharing should qualify you for sainthood.
Good chefs are good editors; they know what to play up and what to minimize. A fillet of John Dory, slowly cooked in butter, comes with a sauce of lightly sweetened lemon juice and olive oil and a dusting of lime leaf zest. But the sparklers are used with a restraint that lets you taste — and appreciate — the wild-caught fish.
“Buy the best ingredients, and 80 percent of the job is done,” says Epié. His risotto is memorable with Arborio rice, stained from the cooking water he uses to soften porcini mushrooms from France, and finished with earthy truffle butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano. (At L’Avant-Garde, cream is reserved for desserts. Milk is deployed to cook, say, the leeks for a piece of cod.)
Some of the menu is food you might have seen before. Little of the cooking elsewhere compares to Epié’s.
Samantha McCrimmon was recruited from the posh Magee Homestead in Saratoga, Wyo., to be the sommelier here. Enlist her help, and you should, and prepare to be seduced by her French-leaning collection and the enthusiasm with which she describes whatever choice you’ve made. Just remember to offer a price range if you’re disinclined to tap into your 401(k). There are lots of bottles priced well into the triple digits. When I challenged McCrimmon to produce a reasonably affordable and distinctive wine that could bridge chicken, fish and meat dishes, the Rhône fancier quickly named the 2020 Domaine des Hauts Châssis, Les Galets, Crozes-Hermitage, available for $90 a bottle. L’Avant-Garde offers corkage for $50 per bottle and, unusual for a lot of establishments, doesn’t limit the number of bottles a diner can bring to the restaurant.
Already one of the most important restaurants to set sail this year, L’Avant-Garde is not without flaws. My first attempt to order beef cheeks found my server returning to the table with a sad face. “The chef isn’t pleased with the quality,” he told me before rhapsodizing about the chateaubriand, so I bit. Moments later, the waiter reappeared to inform me that the beef cheeks were in fact just fine. Say what? I should have gone with the chateaubriand, because the beef cheeks, while expectantly tender and enriched with pork belly, came with a reduction that seemed to be equal parts wine and salt. The entree — ordering it, eating it — was memorable for all the wrong reasons. And while I enjoyed the fire show with the baba au rhum, the confection was so boozy, it was better suited for a glass than a plate.
The staff practically insists you order the raspberry macaron. Heed their counsel, then swoon at the sight of jewel-like red fruit ringing whipped mascarpone in an elegant “sandwich” constructed with chewy macarons, white as snow. The sweetness of the architecture is kept in check with lemon juice in a pool of raspberry sauce. The kitchen also serves a lovely bittersweet chocolate souffle and a Roquefort terrine, veined with apricots and walnuts and held together with the help of butter as well as the pungent blue cheese — my kind of mosaic.
Visits to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles in the past six months reconfirm my belief that Washington surpasses those popular food destinations when it comes to all manner of fine dining. The arrival of L’Avant-Garde raises the game for the French competition and burnishes the constellation of stars.
L’Avant-Garde
2915 M St. NW. 202-652-1855. lavantgardedc.com. Open for indoor dining 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Prices: Appetizers $27 to $49, main courses $43 to $62. Sound check: 70 decibels/Conversation is easy. Accessibility: The steps, narrow entrance and heavy door discourage wheelchair use. Pandemic protocols: Staff are not required to be masked or vaccinated. | 2023-02-10T12:08:06+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/02/10/lavant-garde-restaurant-review/ |
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee p oint guard Zakai Zeigle r will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.
He’s also tied for second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.7 points, while leading the team and ranking in the SEC’s top 5 in steals. Zeigler is one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Zeigler is one of just seven Tennessee players who have averaged 10-plus points and at least five assists per game in a season. He had five double-doubles with points and assists this season to tie the program’s career record set by Rodney Woods from 1972-75.
___
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 | 2023-03-02T00:20:07+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/zakai-zeigler-injury-tennessee-basketball/2023/03/01/d78130f6-b887-11ed-b0df-8ca14de679ad_story.html |
As the high school baseball season trudged along, it appeared as though no team would get the upper hand on juggernaut St. John’s. Roughly three times a week, an opponent would come along, hoping a sport known for its parity would reward it, rather than the nationally ranked Cadets.
“Success begets success,” St. John’s Coach Mark Gibbs said.
The Cadets pitching staff finished with 13 shutouts and eight one-run outings; the offense scored at least 10 runs 13 times. In the aggregate, the Cadets outscored opponents 282-44.
Filling in behind them, Archbishop Spalding (Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association Conference A champions) and Georgetown Prep (Interstate Athletic Conference champions) both rattled off impressive postseason runs, battling against tough private schools before peaking when it mattered most.
Sherwood and Madison lead the area’s public schools, both featuring senior-laden rosters with stars that had become unavoidably great during their high school careers. River Hill, which won the Maryland 3A state title, and St. Albans, which conquered D.C.’s championship tournament, are joined in the back half of the rankings by Northern Virginia contenders who fell just short of championships: Independence, Westfield and Freedom (South Riding).
1. St. John’s (30-1-1) Last ranked: 1
The class of the area and one of the top teams in the country, the talented, disciplined Cadets cruised to the WCAC title.
2. Archbishop Spalding (22-6-1) LR: 2
A dominant pitching staff with five Division I commits carried the Cavaliers to back-to-back MIAA A titles.
3. Georgetown Prep (25-7) LR: 4
The Little Hoyas won their fourth consecutive Interstate Athletic Conference championship behind a crop of Division I-bound seniors.
4. Sherwood (23-3) LR: 5
The Warriors became the first team since 1992 to three-peat as Maryland state champions, rolling past Urbana in the 4A championship game.
5. Madison (23-5) LR: 9
Behind mighty Bryce Eldridge and a cast of clutch teammates, the Warhawks won their second Class 6 state championship in the past three seasons.
6. River Hill (21-4) LR: Not ranked
The Hawks were unstoppable down the stretch, riding the hot hand of Henry Zatkowski to a 3A state title.
7. Independence (25-2) LR: NR
With a talented senior class headed by Tyler Fetterman, Jack McDonald and David Mendez, the Tigers reached the Class 5 state title game.
8. St. Albans (25-9) LR: 6
The Bulldogs rebounded from an IAC semifinal loss and roared to a D.C. State Athletic Association title with gutsy pitching and defense.
9. Westfield (20-8) LR: NR
With Jonny Farmelo, Joey Mitchell and a whole bunch of depth behind them, the Bulldogs beat No. 5 Madison in the region championship before falling to the Warhawks in the state championship game.
10. Freedom (South Riding) (23-4) LR: NR
The Eagles, state champions in 2022, won the Class 6 Region B title and reached the state semifinal game while outscoring their opponents 243-51. | 2023-06-12T13:56:55+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/06/12/baseball-final-top-10-st-johns-spalding-georgetown-prep-among-champs/ |
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa hailed “excellent” relations with China as he, for the first time, delivered a State of the Nation address at a new multimillion-dollar parliament building gifted by the Asian economic giant.
China funded and constructed the imposing and spacious $200 million, six-story parliament building in Mt. Hampden, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) west of the capital, Harare, as a “gift” — signifying its growing influence on the former British colony.
The address, which also served to officially open the last session of the current parliament before elections next year, marks the move from the colonial-era Victorian-style parliament building in central Harare. Zimbabwe says it plans to establish a new “smart” capital city in Mt. Hampden where government offices will be located, away from the congested Harare.
In his speech, Mnangagwa described the mountaintop chamber that sits on 3.3 hectares (8 acres) of land as “majestic.” He said the building is a “testimony of the strategic and comprehensive partnership and excellent fraternal relations” between Zimbabwe and China. The government says Wednesday’s event did not mark the official opening or handover of the building, which would be done on a yet-to-be-announced date.
The countries’ links date back to the 1960s, when China helped train and supply guerrilla fighters in the fight against white minority rule. The country, however, retained close relations with Britain and other Western countries after independence in 1980.
Since 2003, Zimbabwe has looked to China, and also Russia, for friendship and assistance after falling out with Western countries that imposed sanctions following allegations of human rights abuses and vote-rigging perpetrated by then-President Robert Mugabe, who lost power in 2017 and died in 2019.
China is also massively involved in building and financing big-budget infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe that include revamping major airports. A Chinese company built the National Defense College in Harare, which opened in 2014 and was financed with an interest-free $98 million loan from China. Further Chinese involvement spans almost every sector of the Zimbabwean economy — from energy to mining and agriculture
However, unlike his predecessor Mugabe, Mnangagwa has sought to thaw icy relations with the West through an engagement drive that includes applying to rejoin the Commonwealth, a club of mainly former British colonies that Mugabe left in 2003.
Calling Zimbabwe a “friend to all and an enemy to none,” Mnangagwa called for “unconditional” and “urgent” lifting of Western-imposed sanctions and welcomed an invitation to attend the U.S.-Africa Summit next month. The U.S previously did not invite Zimbabwe to the summit during Mugabe’s time. | 2022-11-23T16:01:20+00:00 | cenlanow.com | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/ap-zimbabwes-imposing-new-chinese-funded-parliament-opens/ |
WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — The Federal government is putting its entire workforce on notice and demanding they delete the TikTok app from their work devices before the end of the month.
But Republicans said they are concerned over the video app’s ties to China and want to see further action done.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was one of the key figures in getting the federal ban passed through Congress last year. Now, he’s calling for a nationwide ban.
“This is the first step … the truth is it’s a huge danger to our kids It’s a backdoor for communist China,” Hawley said.
Earlier this week, former U.S. Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger warned lawmakers that without such a ban, the Chinese government will have the outsized ability to influence the American public.
“(To manipulate our social discourse our news) to censor and amplify what tens of millions of Americans see and read,” Pottinger said.
TikTok has since denied that it shares American data with China, but some lawmakers aren’t taking its word for it. On Wednesday, Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted unanimously to advance a national ban on the app.
The committee’s Democrats all voted against the ban. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) called the process rushed and said he’d prefer to wait until a federal investigation is finished. President Joe Biden ordered that review of TikTok’s data practices back in 2021.
White House officials said the administration remains concerned but is, for now, stopping short of calling for a national ban. | 2023-03-03T00:11:22+00:00 | cbs42.com | https://www.cbs42.com/news/national/federal-workers-told-to-delete-tiktok-as-gop-pushes-national-ban/ |
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State University announced plans Thursday to use a $110 million donation from IT innovator and executive Ratmir Timashev's family foundation to establish a software innovation center with the goal of becoming a new hub for new ideas, entrepreneurship and product development.
It is the largest gift in the university's history.
“The idea is very simple,” Timashev told the university's board. “To make Ohio State, Columbus and the Midwest the new high-tech mecca.”
The Center for Software Innovation will bring together the College of Engineering, the Fisher College of Business and other partners in new ways, including through the creation of endowed professorships, cutting-edge academic offerings and hands-on industry experience for students, the university said.
The center aims to catalyze efforts across a region that has recently burgeoned with investments by the technology industry.
Intel is building a $20 billion chip factory just east of the Columbus, and Honda and LG Energy Solution of South Korea are building a $3.5 billion battery plant in nearby Fayette County that the automaker envisions as its North American electric vehicle hub.
Timashev said “every business is a software business” today and the time and place are right for the center to succeed.
"Technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, quantum computers will change the world completely in the next five to 10 years,” he said.
The Russian-born Timashev earned a master’s degree in chemical physics in 1996 from Ohio State, one of the largest universities in the country. He co-founded Veeam Software, a global leader in cloud data management whose Americas headquarters is based in Columbus, and also a venture capitalist specializing in IT start-ups.
Ohio State President Kristina Johnson, who is resigning in May, thanked Timashev, his wife, Angela, and their family for the gift, saying it will benefit the university and region and "stimulate innovation across the country for a very long time to come."
The university recently named its new music building after the Timashev family after a $17 million donation from their foundation to the university’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2020. That building is part of its new Arts District.
Veeam also donated $5 milIion to the Arts and Sciences College in 2016, to support student scholarships, teaching and research in data analytics and chemical physics. | 2023-02-16T22:39:54+00:00 | springfieldnewssun.com | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/ohio-state-plans-software-innovation-center-with-110m-gift/57ONMS6RWNGZBAZN6JMGLZVKWM/ |
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of State Leigh M. Chapman held a press conference at 9:00 p.m. on Nov. 8 to provide updates on Pennsylvania’s general election.
Chapman reported that Pennsylvania had a “relatively incident-free” midterm election, and thanked election officials across the Commonwealth for their service.
“Election workers are the frontline heroes of our democracy. We are grateful for their work ensuring all eligible Pennsylvanians have access to the ballot and that every vote is counted,” Chapman said.
Polls in most of Pennsylvania closed at 8 p.m., although Luzerne County experienced issues that will leave polls open until 10 p.m.
Several polling places in Luzerne County needed their supply of paper ballots replenished. County Solicitor Mike Butera said no voters were turned away, more ballots were being delivered to every precinct, and that polls would stay open an extra two hours only in Luzerne County.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, 83% of vote-by-mail ballots were returned as of 9 a.m. on Nov. 8. A total of 1,439,579 ballot applications were accepted and 1,190,087 were returned.
Chapman touched on a few typical election day incidents across Pennsylvania, such as power outages, a gas leak, and a few polling locations opening late.
County election officials were made aware of these incidents and all were dealt with promptly.
“It takes a team to protect democracy,” Chapman said. “Pennsylvania once again executed a free, fair and secure election.”
Of the 1,190,087 ballots returned, registered Democrats accounted for 822,861 of returned ballots, or 69%.
Registered Republican ballots returned accounted for 253,240 (21%) and third party voters accounted for 9% of returned ballots.
- Ballot applications: 1,439,579
- Democrat ballot applications: 986,540
- Republican ballot applications: 303,438
- Third party ballot applications: 149,601
- Ballots returned: 1,190,087
- Democrat ballots returned: 822,861
- Republican ballots returned: 253,240
- Third party ballots returned: 113,986
The number of returned ballots does not necessarily mean the votes were for Democrats or Republicans. The ballots are sorted based on the voter registration of the applicant.
Vote by mail ballots needed to be returned by 8 p.m. on November 8 with proper signatures, dates, and envelopes for the vote to be counted.
Unofficial results are due to the Department of State by 5 p.m. on Nov. 15, while certified results by-county are due on Nov. 28.
Chapman said the Department of State expects to see an increase in provisional ballots due to undated and incorrectly dated ballots.
The Department of State will provide more information regarding mail-in and absentee ballots in the days after Nov. 8.
Pennsylvania voters will elect a new governor and lieutenant governor and U.S. Senator, as well as all the state’s 17 congressional representatives, 25 of its 50 state senators, and all 203 state House members.
The Department of State has real-time updates of their vote counts available at electionreturns.pa.gov.
The Associated Press contributed to this report | 2022-11-09T03:32:27+00:00 | pahomepage.com | https://www.pahomepage.com/election/your-local-election-headquarters/pennsylvania-acting-secretary-of-state-to-speak-as-polls-close-on-election-day/ |
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), the world's digital infrastructure company™, today announced the appointment of Scott Crenshaw to the position of Executive Vice President & General Manager, Digital Services.
In this newly created role, Crenshaw will be responsible for driving the growth and strategy of Equinix's suite of digital services, including Equinix Fabric™, Equinix Metal® and Network Edge. He will have direct responsibility for product management and the associated software engineering teams supporting these offerings.
Crenshaw's appointment comes at a time when businesses globally continue to rely upon Equinix for their critical digital infrastructure needs, including the ability to leverage Equinix's market-leading interconnected colocation portfolio through virtual, as a Service and edge solutions.
Highlights/Key Facts
- Additional products under Crenshaw's leadership will include Equinix Internet Exchange®, Equinix Metro Connect®, Equinix Internet Access and Equinix Precision Time®.
- Crenshaw joins Equinix from Concourse Labs, where he has served as CEO, and previously as President and Chief Operating Officer. As CEO, he enabled large enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation by automating cloud security and compliance.
- Prior to Concourse Labs, Crenshaw served in a variety of roles at Rackspace Technology, Inc., including Executive Vice President and General Manager, Private Cloud. In this role, he led the growth of Rackspace's Private Cloud as a Service business to over $1 billion in revenue and the introduction of industry-first hybrid and multicloud services for businesses.
- At Red Hat Software, Crenshaw led the Linux Business Unit and started the company's Cloud Business Unit, serving as its Vice President and General Manager. He was a driving force in leading the company's transformation from a Linux vendor into a major player in modern cloud infrastructure and developer platforms.
- Crenshaw has held additional positions of senior leadership at Verisign, Acronis, NTRU and Datawatch Corporation.
- A co-inventor of seven U.S. patents, Crenshaw has also served as a member of the board of directors for BluVector Inc. and Cloud Technology Partners, Inc.
- Crenshaw received a B.S. in Computer Science from North Carolina State University and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a Sloan Fellow.
Quotes
- Charles Meyers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Equinix
"Equinix continues to power the world's digital leaders, building and operating the most trusted, programmable and sustainable platform for interconnected infrastructure. Scott Crenshaw brings a perfect blend of skills and experience to help us drive our customer-focused vision for digital services. Scott will help us envision and deliver the services we need to help customers transform and scale their infrastructure with speed, agility, reliability and the cloud-optimized architectures they need to meet today's business needs and capture tomorrow's opportunities. Scott's track record of innovation and success at Concourse, Red Hat and Rackspace make him an ideal leader for this critical role."
- Scott Crenshaw, EVP & General Manager, Digital Services, Equinix
"Equinix is a world-class organization with a long track record in driving innovations that enable businesses to use their digital infrastructure as a source of commercial advantage and success. I look forward to leading the Digital Services team as we deliver customers unique and innovative solutions to accelerate digital transformation and unlock the power of the extensive hybrid multicloud ecosystem that fuels Platform Equinix."
Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world's digital infrastructure company, enabling digital leaders to harness a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that powers their success. Equinix enables today's businesses to access all the right places, partners and possibilities they need to accelerate advantage. With Equinix, they can scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX® and xScale™ data centers and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix products and solutions, unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenues from customers in recently built out or acquired data centers; a failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; risks related to our taxation as a REIT; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
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SOURCE Equinix, Inc. | 2022-08-01T13:12:50+00:00 | kwch.com | https://www.kwch.com/prnewswire/2022/08/01/equinix-appoints-scott-crenshaw-evp-amp-gm-digital-services/ |
WFO AMARILLO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Sunday, October 23, 2022
_____
FIRE WEATHER WATCH
URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Amarillo TX
326 AM CDT Sat Oct 22 2022
...FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH
SUNDAY EVENING FOR STRONG WINDS AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR THE
OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE AND NORTHEASTERN PARTS OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE...
The National Weather Service in Amarillo has issued a Fire
Weather Watch for strong winds and low relative humidity, which
is in effect from Sunday morning through Sunday evening.
* Affected Area...In Oklahoma...Cimarron...Texas and Beaver. In
Texas...Ochiltree and Lipscomb.
* 20 Foot Winds...Southwest 30 to 40 mph with gusts up to 55 mph.
* Relative Humidity...As low as 20 percent.
* Red Flag Threat Index...Values of 3-4 are expected in the
afternoon.
* Timing...Mid morning through early parts of the evening.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A Fire Weather Watch means that the potential for critical fire
weather conditions exists. Listen for later forecasts and
possible red flag warnings.
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | 2022-10-22T09:54:08+00:00 | sfgate.com | https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/TX-WFO-AMARILLO-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17526750.php |
BUTNER, N.C. (AP) — Singer R. Kelly was moved from a Chicago correctional center to a medium-security prison in North Carolina last week, according to federal officials.
Robert Sylvester Kelly was transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center Chicago to the federal correctional institution in Butner, North Carolina, on April 19, Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Benjamin O’Cone said Monday via email.
The bureau doesn’t disclose the reasons for inmate transfers due to privacy, safety and security reasons, he wrote.
In February, a federal judge in Chicago sentenced the 56-year-old Grammy Award-winning R&B singer to 20 years in prison for child pornography and enticement of minors for sex. He will serve all but one of those simultaneously with a separate 30-year sentence on racketeering and sex trafficking convictions in New York.
Kelly, who has vehemently denied the allegations, rose from poverty in Chicago to become one of the world’s biggest R&B stars. Known for his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and for sex-infused songs such as “Bump n’ Grind,” he sold millions of albums even after allegations about his abuse of girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. | 2023-04-25T14:01:12+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/news/national/ap-us-news/singer-r-kelly-moved-to-north-carolina-prison-from-chicago/ |
ATLANTA – The Georgia Senate overwhelmingly passed a $1 billion one-time state income tax rebate Tuesday, sending it to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature.
The 46-7 Senate vote followed House passage of the legislation last month by a vote of 170-2.
The tax rebate will yield $250 to single taxpayers, $375 to heads of households and $500 to married couples filing jointly.
Kemp and the General Assembly have provided income tax rebates two years in row, using portions of a budget surplus that has reached more than $6 billion. The only difference between this year’s bill and the 2022 version is that the rebate also will go to students listed as dependents on their parents’ tax form but who worked during the last tax year.
The rebate fulfills a promise Kemp made on the campaign trail last year.
“We’re sending money back to the people because they know how to use it,” the governor said Monday during a signing ceremony for the mid-year state budget.
But the rebate received pushback on the Senate floor Tuesday from Democrats who argued it isn’t the best use of the state’s surplus revenue.
Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, who voted for the bill, said he was doing so only because Georgia voters have come to expect tax rebates when the state builds up a large surplus. He said the money should be used to address the state’s serious work force shortage.
“We have a critical understaffing problem in critical areas of government,” McLaurin said. “Our government is starving and has been starving for years.”
Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, who voted against the bill, said Georgia’s work force shortage is partly a result of the state failing to live up its promise to fund 3% cost-of-living increases for state retirees.
Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, another of the legislation’s opponents, suggested the surplus be spent on a state-level earned income tax credit for low- and middle-income families, an idea that has drawn some Republican support in the past.
But Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, said the tax rebate was made possible largely because of one-time revenues – including federal pandemic assistance – that are not likely to reoccur.
“Isn’t it more prudent to give it back to taxpayers rather than have a deficit the following year?” he asked.
After passing the tax rebate, senators followed with a unanimous vote ratifying seven executive orders Kemp issued last year temporarily suspending the state sales tax on gasoline and other motor fuels. The governor issued the first of those orders last March as pump prices spiked in Georgia and across the nation.
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Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Georgia Department of Education, along with U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop and Jon Ossoff were on hand in Albany on Monday to announce a statewide $7.17 million nutritional program. The dignitaries spent time with students at International Stud… Click for more.PHOTOS: Dougherty County elementary school scene of school nutrition announcement | 2023-03-14T19:23:05+00:00 | albanyherald.com | https://www.albanyherald.com/news/state-senate-gives-1-billion-tax-rebate-final-passage/article_da19aac0-c294-11ed-997d-fbe8fa9bf9f4.html |
Tiger Woods has ankle surgery, rest of majors in doubt
(AP) - Tiger Woods had fusion surgery on his right ankle Wednesday morning to alleviate arthritis from a broken bone, putting in doubt whether he plays any more majors this year.
Woods disclosed the surgery on Twitter and said it was a subtalar fusion procedure to address post-traumatic arthritis from when he broke his talus bone in February 2021.
“He’s resting now and will start the recovery process,” Mark Steinberg, his agent at Excel Sports, said in a telephone interview.
The surgery took place in New York, and Steinberg said Woods has returned to his home near Jupiter, Florida, to begin rehabilitating.
As for when Woods could return to playing golf, Steinberg said there was “no timetable on this.”
“The first goal is to recover and lead a much more enjoyable day-to-day life,” he said.
Woods shattered multiple bones in his right leg and ankle in February 2021 when the SUV he was driving crashed off a suburban coastal Los Angeles road at about 85 mph and tumbled down the side of a hill. The injuries were so severe, Woods said, that doctors contemplated amputation.
Woods has had multiple surgeries on his leg as a result of the car crash. The ankle has been causing most of the problems of late, including a noticeable limp when he played four of the last five majors, most recently the Masters two weeks ago.
The talus is the second-largest of a group of bones known as the tarsus, which forms the lower part of the ankle joint and transmits the weight of the body from the lower leg to the foot. The subtalar joint allows for side-to-side movement needed for walking, especially on uneven surfaces.
Most estimates put recovery from subtalar fusion at eight to 12 weeks. That would all but rule out the PGA Championship next month — Woods was doubtful, anyway, given it will be at Oak Hill in Rochester, New York, with likely cold temperatures.
The U.S. Open is June 15-18 at Los Angeles Country Club, and the British Open is in three months (July 20-23) at Royal Liverpool in England.
Woods made an improbable return 14 months after the car crash to play in the Masters and walked 72 holes. Remarkably, he has missed only one cut — the British Open at St. Andrews last summer — although he withdrew after three rounds of the PGA Championship last year and he withdrew this year in the middle of the third round of the rain-delayed Masters.
Woods cited plantar fasciitis for his withdrawal from the Masters, where he tied the record by making his 23rd cut. Plantar fasciitis also was cited when he had to withdraw from his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December, which he said was caused by working too much to get ready to play.
Jason Day said at the Masters that Woods told him the reason for his withdrawal from the PGA Championship last year “was a screw went through the skin.”
Woods previously had five surgeries on his back. That included fusion surgery on his lower spine that allowed him to return to play. He won the Tour Championship in 2018, the Masters in 2019 for his 15th major championship and the Zozo Championship in Japan in the fall of 2019 for his 82nd career PGA Tour title, tying the career record of Sam Snead.
He has said in numerous interviews that hitting shots is not the problem, it’s walking to the next one. Woods also has said his schedule would be limited to the majors and maybe a few others, such as the 36-hole PNC Championship with his son in which he can ride in a cart.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-04-19T22:41:43+00:00 | witn.com | https://www.witn.com/2023/04/19/tiger-woods-has-ankle-surgery-rest-majors-doubt/ |
Gophers star Logan Cooley not returning, signs entry-level deal with Coyotes
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Logan Cooley will not be returning to the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team for his sophomore season after all.
Cooley’s time with the Gophers is over after one season. The Arizona Coyotes announced on Thursday they’ve signed him to a three-year, entry-level deal. Cooley led the Gophers in scoring last year with 60 points in 22 games. He led Minnesota with 22 goals, and 38 assists. His 60 points were also second in the NCAA.
Cooley teamed up with Matthew Knies and Jimmy Snuggerud last season to form one of the top lines in college hockey. The Gophers won their second straight Big Ten regular season title, and made a run to the NCAA title game before losing to Quinnipiac.
Cooley was a top-3 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes annually to the top player in college hockey. He was also the No. 3 overall draft choice by the Coyotes last year. He had six game-winning goals as a freshman, and Minnesota was 16-1 on the season when he scored. He also had 27 points in 19 games against top-10 teams. Cooley finished the season with 12 points in six postseason games.
Cooley also helped lead Team USA to a bronze medal at the 2023 World Junior Championships with seven goals and seven assists over seven games.
He had announced back in April he was returning to the Gophers, along with Justen Close and Jaxon Nelson. Cooley now joins a group that includes Brock Faber, Jackson LaCombe and Knies all leaving for the NHL. | 2023-07-27T18:06:48+00:00 | fox9.com | https://www.fox9.com/sports/gophers-star-logan-cooley-not-returning-signs-entry-level-deal-with-coyotes |
AMU technology will further space exploration for future generations
BOULDER, Colo., June 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Special Aerospace Services, the leader in spaceflight engineering and hardware solutions for the aerospace industry, has been awarded a Space Act Agreement (SAA) by NASA to develop a commercial version of an Autonomous Maneuvering Unit (AMU) to be used in civil, commercial, and national security missions. Awarded under the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC-2) initiative, the AMU system will allow safer assembly of commercial LEO (low Earth orbit) space stations, servicing, retrieval, and inspection of in-space systems.
"This agreement is critical in providing expertise, historical data, lessons learned, and access to NASA personnel in order for SAS to accelerate our commercial development of the AMU technology," said Special Aerospace Services Chief Technical Officer & Co-Founder Tim Bulk.
SAS has spent the last three years investing in in-space servicing technology, propulsion, and robotic technology, specifically in the prototype development of the AMU and the Astronaut Assist-AMU for commercial in-space servicing and mobility applications.
"SAS' AMU technology will rapidly advance commercial space-related efforts," said Special Aerospace Services President and Chief Executive Officer Heather Bulk. "We look forward to this partnership and long-term collaboration with NASA."
About Special Aerospace Services
Special Aerospace Services is an industry leader in spaceflight engineering and hardware. Special Aerospace Services, along with its wholly owned subsidiary, SAS Flight Factory, offers a full-cycle solution portfolio that includes tactical engineering support in Spaceflight Safety™, propulsion, avionics, systems, safety, and launch site integration, as well as rapid prototyping, manufacturing, and launch services for clients such as NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the commercial spaceflight sector. Special Aerospace Services' team is committed to furthering humankind's dreams and endeavors in space and keeping the dream of space exploration alive for future generations.
Media Contact
Kalie Marsch
kmarsch@specialaerospaceservices.com
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SOURCE Special Aerospace Services | 2023-06-28T17:40:38+00:00 | mysuncoast.com | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/06/28/special-aerospace-services-awarded-space-act-agreement-with-nasa-develop-commercial-autonomous-maneuvering-unit/ |
Guest Commentary: Suicide rates in Minnesota
Published 5:10 pm Friday, September 2, 2022
By Sue Abderholden
Executive Director of NAMI Minnesota
September is National Suicide Prevention Month. Suicide rates in Minnesota declined slightly in 2020, but it’s important to remember there were a record number of suicides in 2019, and this is the sixth year in a row where more than 700 Minnesotans have died by suicide. There are far too many deaths, and many families are devastated by these deaths.
Just as many people know first aid, people need to know the warning signs of suicide and what to do. Some of the warning signs include:
• Previous suicide attempts;
• Statements revealing a desire to die;
• Expressions of hopelessness or having no reason to live;
• Prolonged depression, being very sad;
• Sudden changes in behavior;
• Unexplained anger, aggression, or irritability;
• Withdrawing from friends and family, giving away prized possessions;
• Changes in eating or sleeping habits; and
• Using drugs or alcohol more often.
If you are worried about yourself, a family member, or a friend, know that caring help is available. There is hope. People can now call or text 988 to be connected to a trained counselor. All Minnesota counties have a mobile mental health crisis team that can help in a crisis. And in Minnesota, 911 operators are supposed to link people to the mobile crisis team if appropriate.
NAMI Minnesota offers several suicide prevention classes during September, including QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer), which teaches the three steps anyone can take to help prevent suicide. A special panel via zoom will be held on September 9th to help people understand the cultural considerations when addressing suicide prevention.
Suicide is a public health issue and is preventable. Please join in the efforts to save lives. Learn more about the steps you can take and the resources in your community by visiting NAMI Minnesota’s website at www.namimn.org
NAMI Minnesota is a non-profit organization working to improve the lives of children and adults with mental illnesses and their families through its education, support, and advocacy programs. | 2022-09-03T01:50:08+00:00 | austindailyherald.com | https://www.austindailyherald.com/2022/09/guest-commentary-suicide-rates-in-minnesota/ |
SOLON, Ohio, Aug. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A worldwide leader in sustainable and innovative flooring solutions, Tarkett North America has refreshed and expanded its iQ® Granit™ collection and introduced the coordinating iQ® Eminent™ collection within their high-performance homogeneous vinyl sheet and tile products. Designed with healthcare spaces in mind, Tarkett's iQ products are low-maintenance, durable enough to maintain their performance under high-traffic wear and contribute to healthy, rejuvenating indoor environments.
"Created in Ronneby, Sweden, iQ Granit and iQ Eminent embody the very best of Scandinavian design," said Janette Murray, senior design manager for Tarkett North America. "Every detail has a purpose, from superior infection control and softened acoustics options, to state-of-the-art technology that promises zero refinishing for the life of the floor. With organic patterns and a warm color palette, the collection is continually restored with a simple dry buffing—so your floor, your space and your people can maintain top performance."
iQ Granit's soft, tonal chip designs are inspired by the beauty and resilience of natural stone. The 43 available colorways from iQ Granit and iQ Granit Sense flow together for a palette that helps us retreat, reflect, and recharge. iQ Granit Sense is more tonal, while iQ Granit offers more color variation in its visual accents.
iQ Granit Acoustic adds impact sound reduction, further enhancing spaces where quiet reflection and peaceful healing are desired.
"According to research, quieter healthcare settings have been shown to improve clinical efficiency, diminish stress, and support the healing process," said Margaret Bartholomew, healthcare segment manager, Tarkett North America. "In addition to contributing to better indoor air quality, iQ Granit Acoustic reduces impact sound by 16 dB. These aren't just floors—they're the essential foundation to creating spaces for holistic wellness."
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To optimize the indoor environment and support better indoor air quality, iQ Granit is ortho-phthalate-free and CERTIFIED asthma & allergy friendly® by Allergy Standards Ltd., a certification program endorsed by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
"Indoor air quality is so important for patients who have asthma and especially important in healthcare facilities," said Kenneth Mendez, CEO and President of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. "We congratulate Tarkett for their innovation and commitment to promoting healthy indoor air quality in healthcare facilities with the first CERTIFIED asthma & allergy friendly® flooring that is designed specifically with the needs of healthcare facilities in mind."
New to the North American market in the expanded collection are iQ Eminent & iQ Eminent Unisense™—two visuals with differing scales that offer greater color contrast and the handcrafted look of terrazzo. These collections offer a smaller, more refined palette of 25 colorways that coordinate with iQ Granit to enhance wayfinding and creative layouts.
Beyond their soothing aesthetics, Tarkett's iQ homogeneous vinyl sheet products are scientifically engineered to prevent the spread of infection, simplify care and maintenance, and support better indoor air quality. Their proprietary iQ construction gives all Tarkett iQ products superior wear, stain, and abrasion resistance, as well as the ability to retain their original beauty over time with nothing more than an occasional dry buff – no wax of finish needed for the life of the floor.
This advanced composition also meets all the requirements for reducing the spread of pathogens, while maximizing return on investment. Installed with heat-welded seams, iQ homogeneous vinyl sheet floors have a continuous, scratch-resistant surface that reduce spaces that could potentially harbor mold or pathogens. Additionally, iQ's flexible material can be formed to create an integral cove base between the floor and wall with a gentle radius to prevent accumulation of dust and dirt.
For more information, visit contract.tarkett.com/iQgranit.
With a history of 140 years, Tarkett is a worldwide leader in innovative flooring and sports surface solutions, with net sales of €2.8 billion in 2021. Offering a wide range of products including vinyl, linoleum, rubber, carpet, wood, laminate, artificial turf and athletics tracks, the Group serves customers in over 100 countries across the globe. Tarkett has 12,000 employees and 34 industrial sites, and sells 1.3 million square meters of flooring every day, for hospitals, schools, housing, hotels, offices, stores and sports fields. Committed to change the game with circular economy and to reducing its carbon footprint, the Group has implemented an eco-innovation strategy based on Cradle to Cradle principles, fully aligned with its Tarkett Human-Conscious Design® approach.
Visit www.tarkett.com (North America) or www.tarkett-group.com (Global)
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SOURCE Tarkett | 2022-08-15T17:54:46+00:00 | wbrc.com | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2022/08/15/newly-refreshed-expanded-iq-granit-iq-eminent-collections-tarkett-combine-restorative-design-with-proven-performance/ |
CANBERRA, Australia >> Mourners paid their respects to Cardinal George Pell who lay in state in a Sydney cathedral on Wednesday as police sought a court order to prevent protesters from disrupting his funeral.
Pell, who was once the third-highest ranking cleric in the Vatican and spent more than a year in prison before his child abuse convictions were overturned in 2020, died in Rome on Jan. 10 at age 81.
The staunchly conservative church leader will lie in St. Mary’s Cathedral from Wednesday until he is interred at the cathedral crypt after a funeral Mass the following day.
The New South Wales Police Force has rejected an application from Sydney-based gay rights group Community Action for Rainbow Rights for a permit to protest outside the cathedral on Thursday due to safety concerns.
Police applied to the New South Wales Supreme Court on Wednesday to prohibit the rally.
Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said police couldn’t reach a compromise with organizers’ protest plans.
“New South Wales Police is not opposed to the topic that the protesters wish to air. We certainly respect the right of people to be able to protest and air their voices,” Hudson told reporters.
But a “number of aspects” of the planned protest “present a risk to public safety,” Hudson said.
Justice Peter Garling adjourned the hearing until later Wednesday to allow further negotiations between police and activists over the proposed protest route.
The gay rights group posted on social media a call for people to join what it calls its “Pell go to Hell!” protest.
“We need everybody to come out and protest on Thursday. We can’t let the police get away with denying us our right to protest this bigot’s funeral!” the group said.
Pell was an outspoken and polarizing figure throughout his church career and remains divisive in his native Australia in death.
Protesters tied ribbons in memory of victims of clergy abuse to the cathedral’s fence early Wednesday before the doors were open to the public.
“Ribbon tying on church fences has become a visual symbol of those who have suffered abuse at the hands of the church and reminder that these crimes go largely unpunished,” activists posted.
Church officials had removed such ribbons in recent days, raising accusations of disrespect toward victims. But a cathedral official told protesters on Wednesday where ribbons could be placed and where they could not, Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Pell was archbishop of Sydney from 2001 until 2014 when Pope Francis appointed him to be the first prefect of the newly created Secretariat for the Economy tasked with reforming the Vatican’s notoriously opaque finances.
Pell had been archbishop of Melbourne from 1996 to 2001, a period during which he was alleged to have sexually abused two choirboys in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He was convicted then acquitted after a second appeal.
As church leader of Melbourne and later of Sydney, Pell repeatedly refused to give Communion to gay activists wearing rainbow-colored sashes.
“God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, and important consequences follow from this,” Pell told a St. Mary’s congregation in 2002 after he first refused Communion to a gay activist in Sydney.
Pell was also a lightning rod for disagreements over whether the Catholic Church has been properly held to account for past child sex abuse.
A national inquiry into institutional responses to child sex abuse found in 2017 that Pell knew of clergy molesting children in the 1970s and did not take adequate action to address it.
Pell later said in a statement he was “surprised” by the inquiry’s findings. “These views are not supported by evidence,” Pell’s statement said.
Pell and his supporters believed he was scapegoated for all the crimes of the Australian Catholic Church’s botched response to clergy sexual abuse.
Francis imparted a final blessing at Pell’s funeral Mass held at St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 14.
Pell’s Pontifical Requiem Mass in Sydney on Thursday will be livestreamed on the cathedral’s YouTube channel and televised on large screens on the cathedral’s forecourt to accommodate anticipated large numbers of mourners, church officials said. | 2023-02-01T04:19:56+00:00 | staradvertiser.com | https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/01/31/breaking-news/police-ask-court-to-ban-protest-at-cardinals-sydney-funeral/ |
Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue magazine, has filed a lawsuit against rappers Drake and 21 Savage for using a fake Vogue cover used to promote their new album, Her Loss.
In a 30-page lawsuit filed on Monday, Condé Nast argues that the "widespread promotional campaign" launched by the rappers for their latest album is "built entirely" on the use of Vogue's trademarks — giving the false premise that the two artists would be featured in the December issue of the magazine.
Condé Nast is seeking at least $4 million in damages, or triple the rappers' profits from their album and its "counterfeit" magazine — whichever is higher.
It's unclear if the artists directly profited from the fake magazines, other than through publicity, as the magazines were not for sale.
The publisher is also seeking a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order to stop the rappers from continuing to publicize the fake magazine cover, as well as damages over trademark infringement.
"All of this is false. And none of it has been authorized by Condé Nast," said Condé Nast in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleges that the two rappers created counterfeit issues of Vogue and distributed copies of it in "North America's largest metropolitan areas" in addition to posters of the spoof cover. The counterfeit issue was also posted to social media for more than 135 million users who actively follow both Drake and 21 Savage, according to the suit.
In addition, the lawsuit alleges that the artists falsely thanked Anna Wintour — the editor-in-chief of Vogue — on social media for the "love and support on this historical moment."
The publisher said it was in communication with both Drake and 21 Savage leading up to the release of Her Loss, but according to the lawsuit, the rappers' "disregard for Condé Nast's rights" left it no choice but to take legal action.
Representatives for both Drake and 21 Savage did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment on the lawsuit. NPR also reached out to attorneys representing Condé Nast for comment but did not immediately hear back.
The distribution of the counterfeit Vogue cover is among several parodies the two rappers produced in support of their latest album. The two also pretended to perform on NBC's Saturday Night Live and to have been interviewed on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show.
The duo also pretended to perform on NPR Music's Tiny Desk series, where the rappers are seated in front of a backdrop of books and All Songs Considered signage.
Thank you to @nprmusic @tinydesk for having the gang @Drake @21savage let’s go crazy 🔪🦉#HERLOSS pic.twitter.com/cBpG9SgARI
— OVO Sound (@OVOSound) November 2, 2022
In response to the spoof performance, an NPR spokesperson said: "If Drake and 21 Savage want to perform at the real Tiny Desk, we'd love to have them."
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-11-09T11:57:24+00:00 | wksu.org | https://www.wksu.org/npr-news/npr-news/2022-11-09/vogue-sues-rappers-drake-and-21-savage-over-fake-magazine-cover-promoting-new-album |
ISLAMABAD - China on Tuesday advised its citizens in Afghanistan to leave the country "as soon as possible," following a coordinated attack by Islamic State militants the previous day on a Chinese-owned hotel in the heart of Kabul.
The Chinese advisory appeared to be a setback for Afghanistan's Taliban rulers who seek foreign investments in hopes of halting the downward spiral of the Afghan economy since their takeover of the country more than a year ago.
The militant Islamic State group — a key rival of the Taliban — claimed responsibility for the attack Monday afternoon on Kabul Longan Hotel, which left three assailants dead and at least two hotel guests injured as they tried to escape by jumping out of a window.
Plumes of smoke rose from the 10-story building in the central Shar-e Naw neighborhood, according to images posted on social media as the attack unfolded. Residents reported explosions and gunfire.
Taliban forces rushed to the area and blocked all roads leading to the site. Khalid Zadran, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kabul police chief, said the attack lasted several hours, followed by a clean-up operation.
On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin called the attack "egregious in nature" and said China was "deeply shocked."
Beijing demanded a "thorough investigation" and urged the Taliban government "to take resolute and strong measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, institutions and projects in Afghanistan," Wang said.
The Chinese Embassy in Kabul sent its team to the site to help with the rescue, treatment and accommodations for the victims of the attack, Wang added.
"In view of the current security situation in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again advised Chinese citizens and institutions in Afghanistan to evacuate from Afghanistan as soon as possible," Wang said.
The Taliban swept across the country in August 2021, seizing power as U.S. and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their final withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.
Since their takeover, the international community has balked at extending official recognition to the former insurgents who have broken promises of pursuing a more moderate path forward, including reopening schools to girls beyond the sixth grade and safeguarding minority rights.
The Taliban government has recently also made statements saying it intends to implement Islamic law, or Sharia, as it did when the Taliban previously ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s. In the past weeks, the Taliban have carried out executions and public floggings on several occasions of those convicted in Taliban courts of crimes such as murder and adultery.
China has economic and mining interests in the country though those familiar with past talks between the Taliban and Chinese officials say Beijing wants Taliban commitments to prevent China's Uyghur opponents from setting up operations in Afghanistan.
Chinese firms, with strong government backing, have tentatively sought to pursue opportunities in exploiting Afghanistan's vast, undeveloped resource deposits, especially the Mes Aynak mine that is believed to hold the world's largest copper deposit.
In October, Taliban-appointed government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid highlighted China as a key part of Afghanistan's economic development. China has also revealed its aspirations to play a leading role in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S. forces — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at a regional conference recently led calls for the United States to unfreeze Afghan assets held abroad and end sanctions on the Taliban government.
There was no information on the identities of the injured Chinese guests at the Kabul hotel or what they were doing in Afghanistan.
The IS statement, carried by one of the militant Telegram channels used by the group, said two of its members targeted the hotel because it is frequented by diplomats and owned by "communist China."
It further claimed IS attackers detonated two bags with explosives that were left in the hotel earlier, including one in the main hall, and set fire to a part of the hotel. The militant group offered no proof for its claims.
There were conflicting reports as to the casualty numbers. Taliban officials said three assailants were killed; the IS claim said only two of its members took part in the attack, identifying them by name and posting their photographs. According to Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesman, two foreign residents were injured when they jumped out of hotel windows.
However, the Emergency Hospital in Kabul said in a tweet Monday that it received 21 casualties, including the bodies of three people.
The IS regional affiliate — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — has increased its attacks since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-12-13T18:00:06+00:00 | nepm.org | https://www.nepm.org/national-world-news/2022-12-13/china-urges-citizens-to-leave-afghanistan-after-kabul-attack |
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Two years ago, California banned flavored tobacco products such as menthol cigarettes and cotton candy vaping juice, arguing that they mostly attracted kids and were especially dangerous amid the coronavirus pandemic when youth deaths spiked from respiratory complications.
But the law never took effect. Tobacco giants, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Philip Morris USA, spent $20 million on a campaign that gathered enough signatures to put the issue to the voters.
Californians now will decide on the Nov. 8 statewide ballot whether to toss out the law or keep it.
The issue has set off a fierce fight. The tobacco companies are pushing hard to keep from being shut out of a large portion of California’s vast market. Meanwhile, supporters of the ban, who include doctors, child welfare advocates and the state’s dominant Democratic Party, say the law is necessary to put a stop to the staggering rise in teen smoking.
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However, the California Republican Party wants to repeal the law, saying it would cause a giant loss in tax revenue. The independent Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates it could cost the state tens of millions of dollars to around $100 million annually.
If voters approve, California would become the second state in the nation to enact such a ban after Massachusetts. A number of cities, including Los Angeles and San Diego, have already enacted their own bans.
It’s already illegal for retailers to sell tobacco to anyone under 21. But advocates of the ban say flavored cigarettes and vaping cartridges are still too easy for teens to obtain. The ban wouldn't make it a crime to possess such products, but retailers who sold them to kids could be fined up to $250.
The ban, which passed the Legislature with bipartisan support, would also prohibit the sale of pods for vape pens, tank-based systems and chewing tobacco, with exceptions made for hookahs, some cigars and loose-leaf tobacco.
The tobacco industry’s campaign has painted the ban as being especially bad for Black and Latino people, who use menthol at higher rates than others.
“It’s unfair for communities of color. Bad law. Bad consequences,” said one online banner ad paid for by RAI Services, a subsidiary of Reynolds American, which is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco.
But the ads drew a backlash from some Black leaders who call the campaign offensive.
“I am insulted that the tobacco industry would make an effort to make us believe that mentholated cigarettes are part of African American culture, and that this is a discriminatory piece of legislation against Black people,” then-Assemblywoman Shirley Weber said before the Legislature voted on the ban. Weber, a San Diego Democrat who chaired the California Legislative Black Caucus, is now California's secretary of state.
So far the campaign to allow the law to take effect has raised more than $6 million, nearly four times more than the effort to stop it, according to state campaign finance records.
Some small neighborhood market owners favor repealing the law, calling it another blow to their businesses as they struggle to recover from a drop in sales during the pandemic. | 2022-10-15T17:14:36+00:00 | wcfcourier.com | https://wcfcourier.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/voters-to-decide-on-california-ban-on-flavored-tobacco/article_8998c643-f60a-5580-b5e8-4ef3c346f115.html |
Students trapped, hospitals shelled and diplomats assaulted as Sudan fighting intensifies
By Jessie Yeung, Teele Rebane and CNN journalists in Sudan
For more than three days, students at the University of Khartoum have been trapped inside campus buildings as artillery and gunfire rain down around them in Sudan’s capital.
Fierce fighting between the country’s army and a paramilitary group has spread across the nation since erupting Saturday — but the university area is a particular hotspot due to its proximity to the General Command of the Armed Forces, with warplanes hovering overhead and nearby buildings destroyed by fire.
“It is scary that our country will turn into a battlefield overnight,” said 23-year-old Al-Muzaffar Farouk, one of 89 students, faculty members and staff sheltering inside the university library.
Food and water are running low, but leaving is not an option — one student has already been killed by gunfire outside. Khalid Abdulmun’em had been trying to run to the library from a nearby building when he was struck, said Farouk.
The students retrieved his body and brought it inside “despite the bullets that were falling on us,” he added.
The university confirmed Abdulmun’em’s death in a Facebook post, saying he had been shot in the campus’ surroundings. In a separate post on Monday, the university urged humanitarian organizations to help evacuate dozens of people stranded on campus.
Khartoum has been wracked by violence and chaos in a bloody tussle for power between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s military leader, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The two leaders have traded blame for instigating the fighting and breaking temporary ceasefires. Meanwhile, civilians are paying the price, with at least 180 people killed and 1,800 others injured, according to UN officials on Monday.
“I can see outside smoke rising from buildings. And I can hear from my residence blasts, heavy gunfire from outside. The streets are totally empty,” said Red Cross staffer Germain Mwehu from Khartoum.
“In the building where I stay, I saw families with children, children crying when there are airstrikes, children horrified,” Mwehu said, adding that people had little to no access to food or medicine given the fierce fighting outside.
Children are among those killed; a 6-year-old child died on Monday after the RSF shelled a hospital in Khartoum and damaged a maternity ward. Medics were forced to evacuate, leaving patients behind — some just newborns in incubators.
At least half a dozen hospitals have been struck by both warring sides, according to Sudan’s Doctors Trade Union.
Even diplomats and humanitarian workers have been targeted.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed there was an attack on a US diplomatic convoy on Monday.
“Yesterday, we had an American diplomatic convoy that was fired on. All of our people are safe, but this the action was reckless, it was irresponsible and, of course, unsafe,” Blinken said in a press conference on Tuesday.
The European Union ambassador to Sudan was also assaulted in his residency on Monday, though he is now doing fine, according to a spokesperson for the EU’s top diplomat.
And three workers from the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) were killed in the western region of Darfur, prompting the WFP to temporarily halt all services in the country.
In statements early Tuesday morning, the two rival factions pointed fingers at each other.
The RSF accused the army of conducting airstrikes on residential neighborhoods and of attacking the EU ambassador’s headquarters in Khartoum; meanwhile, the army accused the RSF of targeting the ambassador’s residency, and of targeting the WFP’s headquarters in Darfur.
Trying to broker peace
The UN and various foreign leaders have called for peace, with Blinken speaking separately with Burhan and Dagalo on Tuesday.
Blinken “expressed his grave concern about the death and injury of so many Sudanese civilians,” and argued a ceasefire was necessary to deliver aid, reunify separated families, and ensure the safety of diplomatic and humanitarian staff, according to a readout from the US State Department.
In his own statement, Dagalo said the RSF “will have another call” to continue dialogue. Burhan’s office also confirmed he had spoken with Blinken about the critical situation in Sudan.
The foreign ministers of G7 nations, comprised of some of the world’s largest economies, urged the factions to “end hostilities immediately” in their joint statement from Japan on Tuesday.
Volker Perthes, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Sudan, said on Monday the organization has been trying to convince the two rival parties to “hold the fire” for a period of time, and asked them to protect embassies, UN offices, humanitarian and medical facilities.
Both sides had agreed to a three-hour ceasefire on Sunday, and again on Monday, with fighting resuming afterward, Perthes said.
But both Burhan and Dagalo have since accused the other of breaking that ceasefire.
When CNN spoke to Burhan on Monday afternoon, the sound of gunshots rang out in the background despite the supposed ceasefire — and Burhan claimed Dagalo had violated it for the second day.
A spokesperson for the RSF rebutted the accusation, claiming that they had been trying to abide by the ceasefire, but “they keep firing which leaves no choice” but for the RSF to “defend itself by firing back.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | 2023-04-18T06:57:22+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/2023/04/17/students-trapped-hospitals-shelled-and-diplomats-assaulted-as-sudan-fighting-intensifies/ |
The U.S. union membership rate reached an all-time low last year despite high-profile unionization campaigns at Starbucks, Amazon, Apple and other companies.
Union members fell to 10.1% of the overall U.S. workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was down slightly from 10.3% in 2021.
The number of workers belonging to a union actually increased by 1.9% to 14.3 million. But that failed to keep pace with higher overall employment rates. The number of wage- and salary-earning workers rose by 3.9%, the government said.
U.S. union membership has been falling steadily for decades. In 1983, the first year that comparable data is available, the union membership rate was 20.1%, the government said.
Public-sector workers, like police and teachers, had the highest unionization rates last year, at 33%. Just 6% of private-sector workers were unionized.
Automation, outsourcing and lower unionization rates in traditional union strongholds, like auto manufacturing, are among the reasons for the steady decline. But states have also chipped away at unions’ power. Twenty-seven states now have “right-to-work” laws, which prohibit a company and a union from signing a contract that requires workers to pay dues to the union that represents them.
Despite those laws, support for unions has been growing. In a survey published in August, Gallup found that 71% of Americans said they approve of labor unions, the highest percentage recorded since 1965.
There has been a surge in demand for union representation as the pandemic has eased. Labor shortages gave workers a rare upper hand, which they used to seek higher pay and benefits from their employers. Median weekly earnings for union workers are about 18% higher than those for nonunion workers, the government said.
The National Labor Relations Board reported a 53% increase in union representation petitions in its 2022 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. A total of 2,510 petitions were filed with the agency, the highest number since 2016.
Dan Cornfield, a sociology professor at Vanderbilt University who studies unions, noted that while unionization rates are declining in some sectors, like telecommunications and clothing manufacturing, they’re rising in others, including hospitality, the arts and entertainment. Younger workers are largely driving those efforts, he said.
“Those actions and attitudes could portend a reversal of this long-term decline,” Cornfield said.
Workers at more than 270 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize over the last year, an effort that Starbucks opposes. Workers at REI and Chipotle followed with their own unionization campaigns.
Contract negotiations began last week at an Apple store in Maryland that voted to unionize last June. And workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York City voted to unionize last spring, although Amazon workers at a different warehouse in upstate New York later rejected unionization.
New York and Hawaii have the highest unionization rates, while North Carolina and South Carolina have the lowest, according to the government’s data. Men are slightly more likely to be union members than women. And Black workers are more likely to be union members than white, Hispanic or Asian workers. | 2023-01-20T20:53:12+00:00 | cenlanow.com | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/ap-us-union-membership-rate-hits-all-time-low-despite-campaigns/ |
Ex-convict who abused college women gets 60 years in prison
NEW YORK (AP) — An ex-convict who obtained millions of dollars by subjecting his daughter’s ex-college roommates to forced labor and prostitution was sentenced Friday to 60 years in prison by a judge who labeled him an “evil genius” who used sadism and psychological torture to control every aspect of his victims’ lives.
Lawrence “Larry” Ray, 63, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Lewis J. Liman.
“There is no reason to believe Mr. Ray will age out of criminal behavior,” Liman said, noting that the crimes began when Ray moved in late 2010 into his daughter’s on-campus housing at Sarah Lawrence College, a small New York liberal arts school.
The judge said Ray charmed his victims with his “exaggerated sense of self” and his intelligence before “robbing them of their relationships, self worth, memories and then their bodies” after convincing them they had poisoned him and owed him for it.
“Through psychological terror and manipulation, he convinced them what they knew to be true was in fact false,” Liman said. “He beat his victims. He tortured them and at times he starved them. He degraded them sexually to the point where they lost any self worth.”
Once his vulnerable victims were diminished, Ray extorted them, forced them to engage in labor and sex trafficked one woman, Liman said.
“He had the evil genius to take people who were young, not minors, and he broke them ... and then he used them for his evil needs,” the judge said.
Liman announced the sentence after Assistant U.S. Attorney Mollie Bracewell requested a life sentence, citing Ray’s “unspeakable cruelty.”
Given a chance to speak, Ray expressed no remorse but decried his prison conditions and physical ailments.
“Being in jail has been horrible,” he said, noting that his father and both step-parents recently died in the same week.
Defense attorney Marne Lenox argued against a life term, saying the 15-year mandatory minimum was sufficient, particularly because Ray has experienced harsh conditions while in federal jails.
She said her client still believes he’s innocent and that his victims poisoned him.
Ray was convicted at trial last April of charges including racketeering, conspiracy, forced labor and sex trafficking.
During the trial, one women testified that she became a sex worker to try to pay reparations to Ray after becoming convinced that she had poisoned him. She said that, over four years, she gave Ray $2.5 million in installments that averaged between $10,000 and $50,000 per week.
In a statement read aloud at sentencing Friday by a lawyer, the woman said she had been subjected to “unremitting sadistic torture” by a man who offered a “twisted, empty and broken version of life.”
“Experiences I had while being sex trafficked haunt me today,” according to her statement. She said Ray had forced “us to hold his evil for him. ... Each time we tried to put it down, he brutalized us.”
One victim who spoke said he was living a happy, exciting life as a college sophomore when he met Ray “and all of that went up in smoke.” He said he’d attempted suicide more than once.
Another victim said in court that he fears Ray will find a way to harm him from prison.
During Ray’s trial, several students testified that they were drawn into Ray’s world as he told them stories of his past influence in New York City politics, including his role in ruining the career of former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik after serving as the best man at his wedding years earlier.
Ray had, in fact, been a figure in a corruption investigation that derailed Kerik’s 2004 nomination by President George Bush to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Ray was arrested in February 2020. At the time, then-U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said an investigation was launched after an article appeared in 2019 in New York magazine.
As he imposed the sentence, Liman credited victims willing to testify for bringing justice for the kind of crimes “difficult to detect and difficult to prosecute.”
“This case shows the strength of the human spirit and the dedication of law enforcement,” Liman said.
The judge said Ray’s attempt to “extinguish lives” had failed and the sentence he announced will ensure Ray will never again harm someone else.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-01-20T20:12:29+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2023/01/20/ex-convict-who-abused-college-women-gets-60-years-prison/ |
Greta Thunberg carried away by police at German mine protest
BERLIN (AP) — Police in western Germany carried Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and other protesters away Tuesday from the edge of an open coal pit mine where they demonstrated against the ongoing destruction of a village to make way for the mine’s expansion, German news agency dpa reported.
Thunberg was among hundreds of people who resumed anti-mining protests at multiple locations in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia a day after the last two climate activists holed up in a tunnel beneath the village of Luetzerath left the site.
Elsewhere in western Germany, dozens of climate activists glued themselves to a main street in Germany’s western city of Cologne and to a state government building in Duesseldorf. Near Rommerskirchen, a group of about 120 activists also occupied the coal railroad tracks to the Neurath power plant, according to police and energy company RWE.
Those who refused to leave the tracks were carried away, dpa reported.
In addition, several people occupied a giant digger at the coal mine of Inden, while hundreds of other protesters joined a protest march near Luetzerath. The village itself was evacuated by the police in recent days and is sealed off.
Once again, there were a few clashes with the police.
Several activists ran over to the Garzweiler open pit mine, according to dpa. They stood at the brink of the open pit, which has a sharp break-off edge. Police said it was dangerous and people were prohibited from staying there.
Thunberg had traveled to western Germany to participate in weekend demonstrations against the expanded mine and also took part in Tuesday’s protest near Luetzerath. Police in nearby Aachen said a group of around 50 protesters got dangerously close to the rim of the mine and did not want to leave despite being asked to do so.
All the people in that group had to be carried away from the edge of the mine and were then temporarily held to determine their identities, police said. Photos from the scene showed Thunberg was one of those whom officers took away.
One protester was able to enter the mine, RWE said, calling the move “very reckless,” dpa said.
A police spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity as is customary in Germany, said he was not permitted to give out any details on Thunberg or any other individuals who participated in the protest due to privacy rules.
Police and RWE started evicting protesters from Luetzerath on Jan. 11, removing roadblocks, chopping down treehouses and bulldozing buildings.
Activists have cited the symbolic importance of Luetzerath for years, and thousands of people demonstrated Saturday against the razing of the village by RWE for the expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the climate and environment at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-01-17T19:03:15+00:00 | live5news.com | https://www.live5news.com/2023/01/17/greta-thunberg-detained-germany/ |
(The Hill) – Ukrainian officials said Russia killed at least four people on Monday by detonating a so-called kamikaze drone in Kyiv, the latest apparent use of the unmanned explosive device.
The officials suggested the strike — one of 28 drones that targeted the Ukrainian capital on Monday — appeared to involve an Iranian Shahed-136 drone, with video showing an aircraft quickly lowering on its target in the city’s center.
“All night and all morning, the enemy terrorizes the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. A residential building was hit in Kyiv,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Monday’s strikes aren’t the first time Ukraine has accused Russia of deploying the Iranian technology. Officials say Russia used kamikaze drones often in recent days to strike targets far from the war’s front lines and terrorize civilians.
Tehran denies supplying the drones, a position contested by both Ukraine and the U.S.
How kamikaze drones work
The Shahed-136’s nickname, which is also often applied to U.S. Switchblade drones and other similar systems, originates from Japanese military pilots who flew suicide missions during World War II to strike Allied naval vessels.
The unmanned triangular drone is known to loiter in the air until it determines its target, then it quickly lowers itself to the ground and detonates. Russia has reportedly renamed the system as the Geran-2.
Ukrainian online publication Defense Express, citing Iranian data, reported that the Shahed-136 is about 11 feet long with a wingspan of about eight feet, weighing about 440 pounds.
The data reportedly shows the drone can travel up to about 115 miles per hour and fly up to about 1,500 miles, although the publication expressed skepticism in Iran’s estimates.
The British Defense Ministry has also acknowledged the reported range, although its intelligence reports suggest the drone only has a small explosive payload.
The British intelligence reports indicate the drones are slow and fly at low altitudes, making it prone to destruction from conventional air defenses.
A video posted by Oleksiy Biloshytskiy, chief of the Patrol Police Department of Ukraine, appears to show Ukrainians shooting down one of the Iranian drones launched at Kyiv on Monday.
“It is unlikely to be satisfactorily fulfilling the deep strike function which Russia probably aspired to use it for,” a British intelligence report published last week stated.
How Ukraine and the U.S. are responding
The White House warned about Iranian drone sales to Moscow in July, and Biden administration officials confirmed in late August that the first shipment of drones had arrived in Russia.
Iran has denied supplying the drones, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday accused Tehran of lying.
“There is extensive proof of their use by Russia against both military and civilian targets there,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday.
U.S. officials say Russia wanted the technology as it looked to address weaponry shortfalls created by the monthslong war.
Zelensky for weeks has indicated Russia began launching the drones as Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated the invasion by annexing four Ukrainian regions, mobilizing up to 300,000 reservists and threatening the use of nuclear weapons.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Sept. 23 announced it was reducing the number of diplomatic personnel at the Iranian embassy in Kyiv, calling Iran’s supply of the drones an “unfriendly act that heavily damages Ukraine-Iran relations.”
Last week, Zelensky told the Group of Seven (G7) leaders that Ukrainian intelligence indicates Russia ordered 2,400 of the drones from Tehran.
The Shahed drones apparently experienced success in many cases, including in Kyiv on Monday, although U.S. intelligence suggests the drones have also been assessed to have “numerous failures.”
But the strikes have already led to deaths and destruction across Ukraine, leading Zelensky to appeal for stronger air defense systems from the West.
“Starting from yesterday, the enemy used more than a hundred cruise missiles and dozens of different drones, including Iranian ‘Shaheds,’” Zelensky said at the G7 meeting. “And every ten minutes, I receive a message about the enemy’s use of Iranian ‘Shaheds.’”
U.S. officials have said they are working to provide eight National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASMS) to Ukraine, although most of those deliveries are not expected to arrive for months.
Following Monday’s strikes in Kyiv, Ukraine’s foreign ministry condemned Iran’s alleged role as Ukraine’s foreign minister said he asked European Union leaders to impose sanctions on Iran in response.
“Dozens of people, including children, were killed and injured,” the foreign ministry’s statement reads. “A third of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was affected. The buildings of two diplomatic missions in Kyiv were damaged. Providing weapons to wage a war of aggression in Ukraine and kill Ukrainian citizens makes Iran complicit in the crime of aggression, war crimes and terrorist acts of Russia against Ukraine.” | 2022-10-18T02:14:50+00:00 | nwahomepage.com | https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/what-is-a-kamikaze-drone/ |
Toblerone chocolate bars are famous for their triangular peaks. But they will soon be losing their most famous one: the image of the Matterhorn prominently displayed on their packaging.
Toblerone was created in the Swiss city of Bern in 1908 by Theodor Tobler, with its distinctive shape reportedly inspired by his mountainous homeland and the Matterhorn in particular.
It has called itself Swiss-made ever since — until now, thanks to the country's strict requirements governing which products can legally say that.
Mondelez, the U.S. company that owns Toblerone, is shifting part of its production to Slovakia starting in July, in a move announced last year aimed at cutting costs.
That appears to violate Switzerland's "Swissness Act," which since 2017 has required products to meet certain criteria in order to use Swiss symbols (like the Swiss cross) or call themselves Swiss-made.
Those regulations aim to protect the credibility and value of the coveted Swiss label, its government explains, citing studies that show the value added by the Swiss branding can represent as much as 20% of the sale price for certain products — and up to 50% for luxury goods — compared to those from other places.
When it comes to food products specifically, at least 80% of raw materials must come from Switzerland, and 100% for milk and dairy. The essential processing must also be done inside the country, with few exceptions (and Toblerone chocolate is evidently not one of them).
"For legal reasons, the changes we're making to our manufacturing mean we need to adjust our packaging to comply with Swissness legislation," a Mondelez spokesperson told CNN.
That includes replacing the phrase "of Switzerland" with "established in Switzerland" on the label, and scrapping the iconic Swiss mountain that's graced its boxes since 1970.
The company has yet to unveil its new design, but says it will still pay homage to its Alpine roots.
A Mondelez spokesperson told the Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung that the packaging will introduce a "modernized and streamlined mountain logo that aligns with the geometric and triangular aesthetic."
And the company told the BBC that it will also feature a "distinctive new Toblerone typeface and logo that draw further inspiration from the Toblerone archives and the inclusion of our founder, Tobler's, signature."
"Bern is an important part of our history and will continue to be so for the future," it added.
While it may come at a cost, the company says its decision to move production out of the country will help it manufacture "millions" of additional bars.
And the confection itself, a chocolate-honey-almond nougat situation, appears to be staying the same.
That hasn't always been the case: In 2016, customers in the United Kingdom slammed the company for widening the gaps between the chocolate bar's peaks, a decision it said had been made to combat the rising cost of ingredients. It brought back its original shape two years later.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-03-06T14:39:31+00:00 | delawarepublic.org | https://www.delawarepublic.org/npr-headlines/2023-03-06/toblerone-is-no-longer-swiss-enough-to-feature-the-matterhorn-on-its-packaging |
KING, N.C. (WGHP) — It’s an iconic aircraft of the Vietnam War and is now part of a veterans memorial.
A UH-1 Huey now rests high on a pedestal at The American Legion Post 290 on Main Street. The Huey which was used in Vietnam, Desert Storm and the Iraq War was placed on the site in December.
Wednesday on National Vietnam Veterans Day, the aircraft memorial was officially dedicated to honoring veterans.
Members of the post have been working for more than a decade to create the memorial.
About 6,000 Huey helicopters were manufactured for use during the Vietnam War. | 2023-03-30T00:40:34+00:00 | myfox8.com | https://myfox8.com/news/aircraft-in-king-dedicated-to-vietnam-veterans/ |
LAKE FOREST, Ill., May 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Transworld Systems Inc. (TSI) announced today the appointment of Candice O'Brien as Chief Customer Officer. Ms. O'Brien joins TSI after its acquisition of EOS USA, where she served as the Chief Operating Officer.
"We are excited to have Candice join the TSI team to lead our efforts to become more customer centric and build deeper customer relationships," said Joseph Laughlin, Chief Executive Officer of TSI.
"I want our customers to know and feel that they have voice, a true advocate for their success. Every TSI customer has a team of industry professionals working on their behalf, aligned with their goals, and driven by their success, and I look forward to meeting more of our customers as I step into this new role," said Ms. O'Brien.
About Transworld Systems Inc.
TSI is the largest technology-enabled provider of Accounts Receivable Management (ARM) solutions in the United States and Canada. The Company's solutions include debt collections, customer relationship management and business process outsourcing. TSI also owns UAS, a technology-enabled primary loan servicer for student loans. TSI differentiates itself with its collection analytics, digital collections technology, global scale, and an industry-leading compliance management system. Its clients include Fortune 100 corporations, financial institutions, hospitals, government agencies, property management companies, and small and medium-sized businesses. To learn more, please visit tsico.com.
Media Contacts:
Jonathan Thompson, Chief Legal & Compliance Officer
Jonathan.Thompson@tsico.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Transworld Systems Inc. (TSI) | 2022-05-12T14:54:16+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2022/05/12/tsi-appoints-candice-obrien-chief-customer-officer/ |
BOSTON — Linus Ullmark made 40 saves, Jake DeBrusk had the go-ahead goal and the NHL-best Boston Bruins continued their pursuit of the league’s record for regular-season victories with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.
David Krejci added a power-play goal for Boston, which won its fourth straight.
Dylan Gambrell scored for the Senators and Mads Sogaard made 33 stops.
“We had a shooters’ mentality for two periods,” Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. “The third period, they’ve won 54 games now, they’re not going to give you an odd-man rush, they’re not going to give you anything. You’re going to have to earn it.’’
The Bruins posted their 54th win and with 12 games left are on pace to break the mark of 62, set by the Detroit Red Wings in 1995-96 and matched by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018-19.
Chasing the Eastern Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot, Ottawa has lost six of seven following a season-high, five-game winning streak.
Coming off a 3-2 road trip where they won the last three games by a combined score of 15-2 that included two shutouts by backup Jeremy Swayman, the Bruins converted on a two-man, power-play advantage to tie the game at 1 midway into the opening period when Krejci poked in a rebound from the edge of the crease.
DeBrusk completed a nifty play with Brad Marchand when he collected a pass cutting down the slot at full speed, shifted and tucked a rebound past Sogaard at 15:52 of the first period for his 23rd goal.
“It was ‘all world.’ I saw him and he fed it through a lot of guys for a breakaway,” DeBrusk said of the pass. “It was one of those passes where I didn’t know what to do. I was going to point at him (after) but I was going too fast.”
Gambrell’s wraparound score gave Ottawa a 1-0 edge.
“I thought I played a good game today,” Sogaard said. “I just battled and stayed with it the entire way. ... These ones are tough because we were so close.”
HEAVY WORKLOAD
Ullmark stopped 22 shots in the second period with at least a dozen of them high-quality chances. During an Ottawa PP, he jumped from a crouch to make a right-shoulder stop on Alex DeBrincat’s bid from in close.
“We talked about it,” defenseman Hampus Lindholm said of the second period. “We know we’re a good team in the third and wanted to tighten it up for him. ... They got a lot of chances that were our own fault in the second.”
WOMEN IN SPORTS NIGHT
The Bruins highlighted women who work and compete in the sports community, having Olympic gold medalist and Boston Pride defender Kali Flanagan accompany Bruins players during pregame walk-ins along with local high school scholastic award winners. In addition, in-arena host Michaela Johnson handled the PA for the night and they also left yellow roses at the seats of female reporters.
NOTES: The Senators entered the game as the only team holding an advantage in their series against the Bruins this season, winning twice in three games. … Montgomery said after the morning skate that defenseman Derek Forbort would likely be sidelined with a lower-body injury at least through the rest of the regular season. … DeBrusk, playing on the top line most of the season, is four off his career-high goal total, set in 2018-19.
UP NEXT
Senators: Host Tampa Bay on Thursday.
Bruins: Host longtime rival Montreal in an Original Six matchup Thursday.
___ | 2023-03-22T03:25:12+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nhl/2023/03/21/bruins-senators/b0ca1d56-c854-11ed-9cc5-a58a4f6d84cd_story.html |
Santa Fe police shot and wounded a man Friday who, they said, was threatening suicide and refused to put down his gun.
Officials did not identify the injured man or disclose his condition.
Officers responded around 2:30 p.m. to a report of a suicidal man who had "discharged a firearm" near the Los Arroyos Compound apartments on Calle Ojo Feliz, police said in a news release Friday evening.
The person who reported the incident said a man had told him to call 911 because he wanted to kill himself, showed a gun and then walked into a nearby arroyo and fired it, according to the statement.
Upon arriving, officers heard the man fire the gun multiple times, the statement said. They requested help from paramedics at the Santa Fe Fire Department, and then found the man, who refused to put down his gun.
They tried to deescalate the situation by talking to the man, the statement said, but at least one officer fired a weapon, striking the man.
Police and firefighters rendered aid to the man, who was taken to a local hospital. No police were injured, the statement said.
The incident prompted a large response from both city officers and New Mexico State Police, including about a dozen police vehicles, canine unit vehicles, a firetruck and an ambulance.
Two women checking their mailboxes around 4 p.m. Friday next to a swarm of police cars said they each heard "pops" but were unsure what happened.
"I've lived here 30 years, [I've seen] nothing like this," one woman said. "This is a real quiet, residential area. … I mean, 30 years, I've never seen this many police cars."
The other woman said she was in a laundry room when she heard several pops. The Los Angeles native added she did not believe it was semi-automatic gunfire because she was used to that particular sound from her hometown.
"There was one early — earlier — and then there were five or six," the woman said.
New Mexico State Police are investigating the incident. The Santa Fe police officers involved have been placed on administrative leave, under standard protocol, the city police department said in the statement.
State police did not respond to a request for more details on the incident Friday evening.
The shooting prompted police to close much of Calle Ojo Feliz around Botulph Road as well as Arroyo Chamiso Road from St. Michael's Drive to Calle Ojo Feliz. Police also taped off a trail near the apartment complex with crime scene tape.
The last police shooting involving Santa Fe police officers was in June 2021, when police shot and killed Francisco Javier Lino-Gutierrez on a sidewalk near Loretto Chapel after a foot chase downtown.
Earlier that day, Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies also shot and killed a man on Siler Road following a chase. | 2023-05-13T01:53:02+00:00 | santafenewmexican.com | https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/police-shoot-man-on-calle-ojo-feliz-say-he-refused-to-put-down-gun/article_3f38424a-f111-11ed-849c-17aeeac34193.html |
(The Hill) – The legal challenges facing the Biden administration over its student loan forgiveness program is leaving borrowers in limbo as the White House is now forced to halt administering the program until the Supreme Court rules on the matter.
Spirits among advocates were high when the program was announced in August, when Biden promised $10,000 in federal loan forgiveness for those making less than $125,000 and $20,000 for those making that same amount who received Pell Grants.
While the administration recently notified certain borrowers who are eligible for forgiveness, it also indicated that it cannot execute the program while the Justice Department fights legal challenges in court, leaving borrowers confused over the status of their promised debt relief. The administration has also stopped accepting applications for the program as a result.
Here are five things you need to know about where student loan forgiveness stands.
Court cases hold up program
The Biden administration has faced at least six court challenges since announcing the student debt relief program, but only two so far have seen success in their efforts.
A Texas-based, Trump-appointed federal judge earlier this month invalidated the program, saying Biden has overstepped his power in the executive branch and that it was up to Congress to make such laws.
“In this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone. Instead, we are ruled by a Constitution that provides for three distinct and independent branches of government,” the judge wrote. The administration has asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt that ruling until it files an appeal in that case.
A second successful challenge came from six conservative-led states, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina, in the St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit back in October.
The states argued that they were harmed by the freeze in student loan payments. A three-judge panel unanimously decided the program should be paused until further notice from that court or the Supreme Court.
Biden administration fights back
The Biden administration has taken action against both of those cases, most recently asking the Supreme Court to intervene.
“We’re not going to back down though on our fight to give families breathing room,” Biden said on Tuesday when he announced another extension to the pause on federal student loan payments. “That’s why the Department of Justice is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to rule on the case.”
In the Texas case, the Justice Department submitted a legal filing to the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit asking for it to pause the order from that judge.
The department’s filing to the 5th Circuit came only a day before it filed a petition to the Supreme Court, asking the high court to overturn the 8th Circuit’s decision so the Biden administration could administer its debt relief program.
“The [8th Circuit’s] injunction thus frustrates the government’s ability to respond to the harmful economic consequences of a devastating pandemic with the policies it has determined are necessary,” U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices.
Along with hurting the government’s program, the Justice Department argued the 8th Circuit’s ruling regarding the program leaves “vulnerable borrowers in untenable limbo.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week that the administration is confident the program will hold, adding that all options are on the table when asked if the White House is putting contingency plans in place.
“We took it to the highest court of the land, as you know — the Supreme Court — because we wanted to get a clarification on this quickly. And so, we’re confident in that process,” she said on Monday.
Loan payment pause extended to next year
After pressure from activist groups, the Biden administration announced on Tuesday they would be extending the pause of student loan payments into next year.
The pause, which was set to expire on Dec. 31, was extended up to June 30, with Biden saying the extension allows the Supreme Court time to hear the case in its current term.
The payment pause will end “no later than June 30, 2023,” Biden said, because payments will resume 60 days after the Education Department is permitted to implement the program or the litigation is resolved, which should come before the end of June, when the Supreme Court term typically concludes.
The announcement comes after the administration fell under pressure from student loan advocacy groups, which argued borrowers should not have to pay monthly student loans bills until the courts reach a decision on the legality of student debt forgiveness.
The pause on student loan payments began at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic under former President Trump to give relief to struggling Americans. It has been extended under the Trump and Biden administrations at least six times.
With the legal barricades that have popped up against the debt relief program, Biden said he is “never going to apologize for helping working class and middle class families.”
Forgiveness timeline unknown
Despite the payment pause deadline being extended to June, a firmer deadline on any court decisions remains unknown.
Borrowers could be waiting anywhere from weeks to months before they know if Biden’s program will be executed and any actual debt be forgiven.
In the meantime, the Biden administration has encouraged borrowers to sign up for updates from the Department of Education regarding the program so borrowers can know when any updates are available.
Robert Moran, a former senior policy adviser in the Education Department under President George W. Bush predicted the legal challenges could be resolved in the next few months.
“I do think the Supreme Court will resolve in February or March, which means folks will start repaying in April or May,” he said.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, predicted that it could take longer.
“Much currently remains unclear,” he said. “The justices could be waiting to weigh in for more than preliminary rulings and district court opinions before the high court seriously considers any appeal … if that happens, it may consume much time before the issue is resolved.”
Education Department is ready to provide relief
More than 23 million people applied for student loan relief before the legal limbo halted the program.
Although the Education Department has had to pull loan forgiveness applications off its website, it still has the information for the millions who moved to apply so far.
Over the weekend, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced borrowers were getting updates on their applications despite the legal fight in which borrowers are being informed about whether their federal student loans would eventually qualify for debt forgiveness.
“Your application is complete and approved, and we will discharge your approved debt if and when we prevail in court,” an email to an approved borrower says.
Even if an application is approved, however, no debt relief can be applied to a borrower’s account until the legal challenges that have stopped the program from being administered are ruled upon. | 2022-11-27T16:00:01+00:00 | kron4.com | https://www.kron4.com/news/national/what-to-know-about-the-pause-on-student-debt-relief/ |
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BATON ROUGE (AP) — Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has officially launched his bid for governor in a highly-anticipated gubernatorial race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards next year.
Landry, a conservative Republican and staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, tweeted a nearly seven-minute long video Wednesday, in which he details his background and addresses several campaign issues — most notably, crime in urban areas, “liberal school boards and radical school leaders forcing political philosophy into the classroom” and a “complete crisis of leadership.”
“I’m tired of people leaving our state and I’m angry that our children’s education is not a priority. I’m sick of our big cities being run like third world nations. We can fix our broken tax system and we can modernize our outdated constitution,” Landry said in the video. "We can have a state government that fixes problems and delivers solutions. It’s not going to be easy but we can put our state on a new course, because the path we’re on is even harder."
Landry has raised the profile of attorney general, since being elected in 2015, using his office to champion Republican policy positions. He’s clashed repeatedly with Edwards — the only Democratic governor in the Deep South — over LGBTQ rights, state finances and the death penalty. In addition, the former congressman has repeatedly put Louisiana in national fights including over President Joe Biden's policies that limit oil and gas production and COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Most recently Landry, 51, has been in the spotlight over Louisiana's abortion ban, which only has exceptions if there is substantial risk of death or impairment to the patient if they continue with the pregnancy and in the case of “medically futile” pregnancies — when the fetus has a fatal abnormality. The attorney general urged the Louisiana Bond Commission to withhold approval of a $39 million future line of credit for a critical New Orleans area power plant project over city leaders opposition to enforce the ban. Landry, who vehemently opposes abortions, has said that people who disagree with the abortion laws “can go to another state.”
Though Landry’s official announcement of his gubernatorial bid came this week, it has long been speculated. The Advocate reported last month that the Republican raised funds for the race at his annual alligator hunt, where he passed out “Landry for governor” shirts and hats. Speakers at the event included Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle.
Louisiana is the rare conservative state to have a Democratic governor. The moderate Edwards won hard-fought races in 2015 and 2019, but is unable to seek a third consecutive term due to term limits. That means 2023 is a huge opportunity for Republicans to take control of the state, which voted for Donald Trump by wide margins in the past two presidential contests.
While the gubernatorial race is a year away, a list of politicians interested in the position is slowly growing.
In August, Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, a Republican, confirmed during a press availability that he plans to join the race, hitting the campaign trail in 2023. Louisiana Republican Treasurer John Schroder told supporters in January he plans on running for governor.
Among other Republicans who have indicated that they are considering running for the state's highest position are U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, Congressman Garret Graves, state Rep. Richard Nelson, and state Sen. Sharon Hewitt.
It remains unclear who will emerge as a Democratic candidate. | 2022-10-05T19:49:58+00:00 | sfgate.com | https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Louisiana-Republican-AG-Jeff-Landry-launches-bid-17489257.php |
Decio "Dez" Rubano, 92, talks to his daughter Gina Livingston in Decatur, Ga., about his early dreams of becoming a musician, which were put aside when he joined the military.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Decio "Dez" Rubano, 92, talks to his daughter Gina Livingston in Decatur, Ga., about his early dreams of becoming a musician, which were put aside when he joined the military.
Copyright 2022 NPR | 2022-11-11T11:43:06+00:00 | upr.org | https://www.upr.org/2022-11-11/after-a-career-in-consulting-a-veteran-looks-back-on-what-could-have-been |
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A sports writer and novelist, Mac Douglass covers professional and collegiate sports. A San Francisco Bay Area native, Mac’s areas of expertise are Formula 1, the NFL and CFB, ATP and WTA, and the MLB. He also enjoys tennis and skateboarding. | 2023-01-19T20:58:45+00:00 | pennlive.com | https://www.pennlive.com/betting/2023/01/fanduel-ohio-promo-code-bet-5-get-200-for-nfl-playoffs-divisional-round.html |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — As students across Nashville walked out of class on Monday to protest gun violence at the Tennessee Capitol following a school shooting last week, police said the person who killed six people, including three 9-year-old children, had been planning the massacre for months.
Police have not established a motive for the shootings at The Covenant School, a small Christian elementary school where the 28-year-old shooter was once a student, according to a Monday news release from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Both Nashville police and FBI agents continue to review writings left behind by Audrey Hale, both in Hale’s vehicle and home, police said.
“It is known that Hale considered the actions of other mass murderers,” police said.
The three children who were killed in the shooting were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The three adults were Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of the school, custodian Mike Hill, 61, and 61-year-old substitute teacher Cynthia Peak.
Hale fired 152 rounds during the attack before being killed by police. That included 126 rifle rounds and 26 nine-millimeter rounds, according to police.
Outside the state Capitol on Monday, thousands rallied in a call for gun reform, many of them students from Nashville-area schools who walked out of their classes en masse. Some other students sat outside the House speaker’s office in the legislative building.
The crowd outside the Capitol echoed chants such as “thoughts and prayers are not enough” and sang along to songs like “All You Need is Love” – adding to it, “and action!” At one point, they sat for a moment of silence, raising posters above their heads that read, “Thoughts and prayers are useless to dead children,” “Book bags not body bags,” and “2nd graders over 2nd amendment.” Some students wore orange shooting-target stickers on their shirts.
Vivian Carlson, a senior at Hume-Fogg High School nearby in downtown Nashville, helped organize her school’s walkout. She told the crowd that her biggest fear last week, when the shooting unfolded, should have been “missing the bus or my stepmom scolding me for not cleaning the cat litter box.” Instead, she said she was missing English class Monday because politicians are “protecting old laws for a new society.”
Carlson, like many others who addressed the crowd, called for changes to Tennessee’s gun laws, including a ban on assault weapons, tougher background checks and a “red flag” law. Red flag laws generally allow law enforcement to temporarily confiscate weapons from people whose statements or behavior are deemed to make them a danger to themselves or others.
“To my fellow students, we cannot let this pressure and fire escape us,” Carlson said. “Feel the fear as you walk into school and let it inspire you to fight for change. And please, if there is one thing you can do, I beg you to vote.”
Tennessee’s Republican governor and supermajority Republican legislature have moved to loosen gun laws in recent years. The same day as the Covenant shooting a federal judge quietly cleared the way to drop the minimum age for Tennesseans to carry handguns publicly without a permit to 18 — just two years after a new law set the age at 21.
As thousands swarmed the Capitol, Gov. Bill Lee and state lawmakers held a press conference nearby to unveil legislative proposals that would add more funding for school resource officers and mental health resources.
The proposals included $140 million to place an armed security guard at every public school, as well as $27 million to enhance public and private school security. Lee is also proposing adding $30 million to expand the state’s homeland security network that will work with both public and private schools.
The governor’s proposals must now clear the Legislature as lawmakers are in their final weeks of the session.
Notably absent from Lee’s announcement were any calls to tighten the state’s access to guns. As he stood surrounded by top Republican leaders, Lee said he believed that people who are a threat to themselves should not have access to weapons, but also stated that any law designed to address those concerns shouldn’t impede 2nd Amendment rights.
He called on the Legislature to find the appropriate solution. Yet that call to action may be short-lived after Sen. Todd Gardenhire, who chairs the influential Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters that he has no plans to consider any new gun-related bills this session.
“We all agree that we should all find something that we agree upon,” Lee said. “I think we can do that and I think we should do that.”
Lee added that he had not talked to Gardenhire about his stance on halting new gun legislation.
An AP investigation last year found that most U.S. state barely use the red flag laws touted as the most powerful tool to stop gun violence before it happens. It’s a trend experts blame on a lack of awareness of the laws and resistance by some authorities to enforce them even as shootings and gun deaths soar.
Even after the main rally ended Monday, hundreds of protesters remained at the Capitol as lawmakers went into the House and Senate chambers for their evening sessions. Many protesters made their way inside the building, where they sang “This Little Light of Mine” before erupting into chants, “Save our kids!”
The scene recalled a rowdy gun control protest last week. On Thursday, protesters were forced to leave the Senate chamber gallery after yelling, “Children are dead!” — and two Democratic lawmakers caused the House to temporarily shut down by chanting, “Power to the people!” through a megaphone.
Police have said Hale was under a doctor’s care for an undisclosed “emotional disorder.” However, authorities haven’t disclosed a link between that care and the shooting. Police also said Hale was not on their radar before the attack.
Social media accounts and other sources indicate that the shooter identified as a man and might have recently begun using the first name Aiden. Police have said Hale “was assigned female at birth” but used masculine pronouns on a social media profile. However, police have continued to use female pronouns and the name Audrey to describe Hale. | 2023-04-04T17:56:59+00:00 | pahomepage.com | https://www.pahomepage.com/news/national/nashville-police-school-shooter-planned-attack-for-months/ |
No one can mention the 1970 St. Bonaventure men's basketball team without bringing up Bob Lanier. In fact, no college basketball fan can bring up St. Bonaventure without the association of Lanier, the larger-than-life Buffalo native.
Lanier died Tuesday. He was 73. The NBA confirmed Lanier's death in a statement by commissioner Adam Silver, which was posted to social media early Wednesday morning.
"For more than 30 years, Bob served as our global ambassador and as a special assistant to David Stern and to me, traveling the world to teach the game's value and make a positive impact on young people everywhere," Silver said in the statement. "It was a labor of love for Bob, who was one of the kindest and most genuine people I have ever been around."
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s statement regarding the passing of Bob Lanier. pic.twitter.com/8GD9BhKt7C
— NBA (@NBA) May 11, 2022
The NBA statement said Lanier died following a brief illness. A cause of death was not immediately given, but Lanier had been battling bladder cancer in the last few years, and had also undergone various surgeries on his neck and knees.
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Lanier is one of the greatest basketball players to come out of Buffalo. The 1966 Bennett High School graduate was a three-time Converse college All-America selection who helped the Bonnies reach the 1970 Final Four, and he became a Hall of Famer.
He scored 2,067 points in three seasons at Bona, and was the No. 1 overall pick by the Detroit Pistons in the 1970 NBA draft, after a season in which he averaged 29.1 points a game.
In three seasons at St. Bonaventure, the 6-foot-11 center became one of its most prolific players and became a hallmark not just of the basketball program but as the longtime face of the school’s athletic program.
His name is on the basketball court at the Reilly Center, an honor bestowed in 2007.
Lanier was also known for his legendary extra-large sneakers, one of which has been on display at the Buffalo History Museum.
He even has a mention in pop culture, in the movie "Airplane," when a young fan recognizes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – disguised as a co-pilot named Roger Murdock – and insists the Los Angeles Lakers center doesn’t give enough effort.
“Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!” Abdul-Jabbar exclaims as he breaks character.
Lanier was also in the movie, “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh,” about a losing basketball team that attempts to reverse its fortunes with the help of an astrologer’s advice.
But it was Lanier’s three years with the Bonnies that helped solidify their spot in college basketball lore, and helped catapult Lanier to a Hall of Fame professional basketball career.
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Lanier played for 14 seasons in the NBA, with the Detroit Pistons and the Milwaukee Bucks, and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992. He scored 19,248 points. He also was the interim head coach for the Golden State Warriors for 37 games in 1994-95, after Don Nelson stepped down.
He helped the Bonnies reach the 1970 Final Four, but sustained a knee injury in a regional final against Villanova, and did not play in a loss to Jacksonville in a national semifinal.
It didn’t scare the Pistons, who, according to an NBA.com story, signed Lanier as he was still in the hospital, recovering from knee surgery that spring. He became an eight-time NBA All-Star who averaged more than 20 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, and had his uniform number (16) retired by the Pistons and the Bucks.
Bona inducted Lanier into its athletics hall of fame in 1975, and he was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. Bona also retired his uniform number, 31.
NBA on TNT remembers Bob Lanier pic.twitter.com/ecVMTRBiwe
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 11, 2022
At Bennett High School, Lanier dominated – even after he was cut from Bennett’s basketball team as a sophomore, but honed his basketball skills with Lorrie Alexander, the athletic director at the Masten Avenue Boys Club. Nick Mogavero, the coach who cut Lanier, told The News in 1990 that he wanted Lanier’s stamina and coordination to catch up with his 6-foot-6, 240-pound frame. He didn’t want Lanier to get hurt playing against older, more skilled players.
Lanier told The News in 1990 that he was hurt and angry but determined to prove Mogavero wrong – but also called Mogavero a “very perceptive and compassionate coach, and a hell of a human being.”
“It probably was one of the best things that could have happened to me,” Lanier said at the time. “I feel that it was a turning point in my life. It made me really focus on what I needed to do to get to where I wanted to go. It was an obstacle that turned into an opportunity.”
According to the Bennett Alumni Association’s Sports Hall of Fame page, Lanier was an All-High selection as a junior and as a senior for the Tigers, averaging 25 points per game his senior year. He had scholarship offers to more than 80 colleges to play basketball, but stayed close to home at Bona.
In March of 2018, St. Bonaventure won its first NCAA Tournament game since the 1970 win against Villanova, a 65-58 win against UCLA in a First Four game in Dayton, Ohio. Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt made sure to honor Lanier during his postgame media session.
“When I got the job here 11 years ago, we heard the stories about 1970 and how disappointing it was that Lanier got hurt and they didn't have a chance to have a full team going to play Jacksonville," Schmidt said. "And everybody talks about if Lanier was healthy, they would have taken on UCLA. This victory is for those guys. They didn't get an opportunity to show their talent."
That 1970 team, Schmidt said, was the greatest Bona team that ever played.
"I talked to the team about it,” Schmidt said. “Because I think that's really important -- legacies and tradition. For our guys to be able to go out and play a great UCLA team and beat them, to me, hopefully that helps the disappointment back in 1970."
Lanier returned to campus less than two years later, in December of 2019, when Bona honored the 50th anniversary of the 1970 Final Four team.
“My four years here were the best of my lifetime,” Lanier told a capacity crowd at the Reilly Center. “I enjoyed the enthusiasm and the friendships that were formed. And over the last 50 years, it’s just been remarkable. I think that was the reason for our success.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. | 2022-05-11T12:42:05+00:00 | buffalonews.com | https://buffalonews.com/sports/college/bob-lanier-st-bonaventure-and-nba-legend-dies-at-73/article_e3e25b14-ca2f-11ec-9fa3-77497b45d384.html |
HOUSTON and TUPELO, Miss., April 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cadence Bank (NYSE: CADE) (the Company), today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2023.
Highlights for the first quarter of 2023 included:
- Achieved quarterly net income available to common shareholders of $74.3 million, or $0.40 per diluted common share, and adjusted net income available to common shareholders of $124.4 million, or $0.68 per diluted common share.
- Continued to maintain strong balance sheet liquidity, with total deposit growth of $449.8 million, or 4.7% on an annualized basis, and a loan-to-deposit ratio of 79.4%.
- Generated net organic loan growth of $933.3 million for the first quarter of 2023, or 12.5% on an annualized basis.
- Maintained stability in the net interest margin at 3.29%, down 4 basis points from the prior quarter.
- Experienced low levels of net charge-offs, which totaled 0.02% of average loans and leases on an annualized basis for the quarter; results for the quarter included a provision for credit losses of $10.0 million and an ending allowance for credit losses to total loans of 1.45%, which was stable compared to December 31, 2022.
- The Company executed or announced the following as part of an ongoing effort to enhance its operating efficiency and profitability:
"Our first quarter results reflect continued strength in our balance sheet, as we continued to add quality loan growth while maintaining strong liquidity and capital, even in the midst of a unique quarter for the banking industry," remarked Dan Rollins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. "Additionally, our strong capital and earnings allowed us the flexibility to capitalize on the rate environment by executing a balance sheet optimization transaction that, while creating an upfront loss on the sale, will result in incremental 2023 earnings for the Company. Given the late-quarter industry volatility, we proactively added on-balance sheet liquidity in addition to our significant off-balance sheet liquidity availability. Notably, however, our core deposit base showed little change during this period, a testament to the granularity of our deposits, the diversity of our customer base by both business mix and geography, and the strength of our bankers and their continuous focus on our customers."
Earnings Summary
For the first quarter of 2023, the Company reported net income available to common shareholders of $74.3 million, or $0.40 per diluted common share, compared with $112.6 million, or $0.60 per diluted common share, for the first quarter of 2022 and $95.6 million, or $0.52 per diluted common share, for the fourth quarter of 2022. Adjusted net income available to common shareholders was $124.4 million, or $0.68 per diluted common share, for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $121.6 million, or $0.65 per diluted common share, for the first quarter of 2022 and $142.9 million, or $0.78 per diluted common share, for the fourth quarter of 2022. Additionally, the Company reported adjusted pre-provision net revenue (PPNR) of $174.6 million, or 1.46% of average assets on an annualized basis, for the first quarter of 2023 compared to $160.4 million, or 1.36% of average assets on an annualized basis, for the first quarter of 2022 and $195.5 million, or 1.62% of average assets on an annualized basis, for the fourth quarter of 2022.
The decline in adjusted earnings and PPNR metrics for the first quarter was driven by a decline in net interest revenue, an increase in the provision for credit losses, and an increase in core operating expenses related to several factors including seasonality in compensation expense as well as increasing deposit insurance assessment expense and pension expense. The decline in net interest revenue is a result of day count for the quarter as well as the addition of on-balance sheet liquidity in response to recent volatility in the banking industry.
Net Interest Revenue
Net interest revenue was $354.3 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared to $311.8 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $359.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, a decrease of $5.1 million or 1.42% from the linked quarter. The fully taxable equivalent (FTE) net interest margin was 3.29% for the first quarter of 2023, compared with 2.92% for the first quarter of 2022 and 3.33% for the fourth quarter of 2022.
Net interest revenue included accretion revenue related to acquired loans and leases of $10.0 million and $9.2 million for the first quarter of 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2022, respectively, adding approximately 9 basis points to the net interest margin in both quarters.
The decline in net interest revenue in the first quarter of 2023 of $5.1 million compared to the linked quarter was the result of a $7.9 million decline due to the lower first quarter day count, partially offset by the increase in net interest revenue due to loan growth and the balance sheet optimization transaction resulting from the sale of low-yielding securities in the quarter.
Yields on net loans, loans held for sale, and leases excluding accretion, were 5.87% for the first quarter of 2023, up 46 basis points from 5.41% for the fourth quarter of 2022, while yields on total interest earning assets were 4.88% for the first quarter of 2023, up 50 basis points from 4.38% for the fourth quarter of 2022. The increase in earning asset yields was driven by both the impact of rising interest rates on loan portfolio repricing and new loan production, as well as a mix shift as we deployed cash flow from lower yielding securities into higher yielding loans and securities. Approximately 21% of our total loans are floating (reprice within 30 days), and another 28% reprice within 12 months.
The average cost of total deposits increased to 1.28% for the first quarter of 2023, compared with 0.76% for the fourth quarter of 2022, reflecting continued rising rates as well as a mix shift from noninterest bearing to interest bearing products during the quarter. Our total deposit beta was 59% for the first quarter of 2023 and currently stands at 25% cycle-to-date.
Total interest-bearing liabilities costs increased to 2.23% from 1.54% during the quarter, reflecting the increase in short-term borrowings in the quarter as a result of both loan growth and a proactive increase in on-balance sheet liquidity late in the quarter in response to industry volatility.
Balance Sheet Activity
Loans and leases, net of unearned income, increased $933.3 million during the first quarter, or 12.5% annualized, to $31.3 billion. The loan growth for the quarter reflected growth primarily in the corporate banking group, including commercial real estate and renewable energy verticals, as well as in mortgage.
During the quarter, the Company initiated a balance sheet optimization transaction related to a portion of its investment securities portfolio. The Company sold $1.5 billion of available-for-sale U.S. Treasury debt securities yielding approximately 0.70% for an after-tax realized loss of approximately $39.5 million. The proceeds have been used to reinvest in higher-yielding debt securities, fund loan growth, and pay off borrowings. The Company estimates that the loss will be recouped within approximately 7.5 months, resulting in incremental 2023 pre-tax income of approximately $10.5 million. Total investment securities of $10.9 billion at March 31, 2023 decreased $1.1 billion during the first quarter as a net result of the sale and routine portfolio cash flows, partially offset by re-investments in the securities portfolio. Consistent with prior quarters, all of the Company's investment securities portfolio is classified as available for sale on the balance sheet, with no investments categorized as held to maturity.
Total deposits increased $449.8 million, or 4.7% on an annualized basis, to $39.4 billion as of March 31, 2023. The quarterly increase in deposits included approximately $1.6 billion in brokered deposits that were proactively added to the balance sheet to further enhance on-balance sheet liquidity, and a decline of approximately $0.7 billion in public funds as a result of routine seasonal activity. Excluding the impact of brokered deposits and public funds, total deposits declined approximately $400 million, or 1% of total deposits, during the quarter with a modest increase in community bank deposits partially offsetting a decline in the corporate banking group.
The March 31, 2023 loan to deposit ratio was 79.4% and securities to total assets was 21.0%, reflecting continued strong balance sheet liquidity. Noninterest bearing deposits represented 29.2% of total deposits at the end of the first quarter of 2023, declining from 32.7% at December 31, 2022, reflecting migration from noninterest bearing products to interest bearing products. The Company's deposit base continues to be very granular, with average transaction account balances of approximately $20,000 for consumer accounts and $135,000 for commercial accounts at March 31, 2023. Additionally, approximately 98% of the Company's deposit accounts have balances less than $250,000, and nearly 70% of our deposit balances were FDIC insured or collateralized at quarter-end.
Short-term borrowings increased $2.4 billion to $5.7 billion at March 31, 2023, primarily reflecting an increase in on-balance sheet liquidity late in the quarter. Cash, due from balances and deposits at the Federal Reserve accordingly increased $3.1 billion to $5.1 billion at March 31, 2023.
Credit Results, Provision for Credit Losses and Allowance for Credit Losses
Credit quality metrics for the first quarter of 2023 reflect continued low levels of net charge-offs, an increase in the provision for credit losses, and an increase in non-performing and classified assets. While non-performing and classified asset levels did increase during the quarter, these metrics have been at historically low levels and continue to compare favorably to longer term normalized levels.
Total non-performing assets as a percent of total assets were 0.33% at March 31, 2023 up from 0.31% at March 31, 2022 and 0.24% at December 31, 2022. Total non-performing loans and leases as a percent of loans were 0.53% at March 31, 2023, compared to 0.44% at March 31, 2022 and 0.36% at December 31, 2022. Other real estate owned and other repossessed assets declined to $5.3 million at March 31, 2023 from the March 31, 2022 balance of $28.4 million and the December 31, 2022 balance of $6.7 million. Classified loans were 2.28% of total net loans and leases at March 31, 2023, up from 1.75% at March 31, 2022 and 1.76% at December 31, 2022.
Net charge-offs for the first quarter of 2023 were $1.9 million, or 0.02% of average net loans and leases on an annualized basis, compared with net recoveries of $0.4 million for the first quarter of 2022 and net recoveries of $5.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The provision for credit losses for the first quarter of 2023 was $10.0 million, compared with no recorded provision for credit losses for first quarter of 2022 and a provision for credit losses of $6.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The first quarter of 2023 provision expense included a $15.0 million provision charge for funded loans and a $5.0 million provision reversal for unfunded commitments. The allowance for credit losses of $453.7 million at March 31, 2023 represented 1.45% as a percent of total loans and leases, which is unchanged from the December 31, 2022 coverage.
Noninterest Revenue
Noninterest revenue was $74.1 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $128.4 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $114.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The linked quarter decline was primarily due to a $51.3 million loss on the sale of securities. Before the loss on securities, noninterest revenue of $125.4 million was up $9.9 million from the fourth quarter of 2022 revenue driven by solid increases in insurance commission and mortgage banking revenue, partially offset by lower card revenues.
Insurance commission revenue was strong at $39.6 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $35.7 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $34.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The linked quarter increase of $4.9 million is attributable to lower annual fourth quarter renewals as a result of seasonality in the scheduled renewal cycle while the increase from the first quarter of 2022 of 10.9% is a result of continued high customer retention rates and a firm pricing market.
Credit card, debit card and merchant fee revenue was $11.9 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $11.3 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $15.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The linked quarter decline in card fee revenue reflected both typical seasonal declines in the first quarter as well as the impact of a fourth quarter 2022 positive vendor incentive revenue accrual adjustment of approximately $2.5 million. Deposit service charge revenue was $16.5 million for the first quarter of 2023 compared with $19.2 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $16.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2022, with the declines including increases in earnings credit rate due to the increasing rate environment. Other noninterest revenue was $29.8 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $19.8 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $26.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The increase in other noninterest revenue compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 includes an increase in FHLB dividends, SBA revenue and credit related fees while the increase compared to the first quarter of 2022 is primarily driven by an increase in earnings from FHLB stock and other equity investments.
Mortgage production and servicing revenue totaled $8.4 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $7.7 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $5.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The net mortgage servicing rights valuation adjustment was negative $2.3 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with a positive $14.0 million for the first quarter of 2022 and a negative $2.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2022 with the variances due to continued changes in the interest rate environment. Mortgage origination volume for the first quarter of 2023 was $454.2 million, compared with $803.9 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $554.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2022.
Noninterest Expense
Noninterest expense for the first quarter of 2023 was $319.3 million, compared with $291.7 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $340.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. Adjusted noninterest expense for the first quarter of 2023 was $305.0 million, compared with $281.0 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $279.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. The adjusted efficiency ratio was 63.46% for the first quarter of 2023 compared to 58.69% for the fourth quarter of 2022. The increase in adjusted noninterest expense compared to the linked quarter was driven primarily by an increase in salaries and employee benefits expense. Salaries and benefits expense increased $11.8 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 due to both the impact of fourth quarter of 2022 year-end employee benefit expense reductions of approximately $7.3 million combined with first quarter of 2023 seasonal factors that elevated expense including an increase of $5.0 million in payroll tax expense resulting primarily from FICA resets. Deposit insurance assessment expense increased $2.4 million due primarily to the 2 basis point assessment increase effective in the first quarter 2023. Additionally, excluding the impact of merger related items, other non-interest expense increased approximately $7.6 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. This increase includes an increase in fraud losses of $2.4 million, which is in the process of collection over the coming quarters, a $1.7 million increase in pension costs resulting from an increase in the Company's pension discount rate and an increase in certain other volume driven costs. Additionally, other noninterest expense for the fourth quarter of 2022 included a benefit of approximately $1.6 million related to year-end franchise tax accruals.
Adjusted noninterest expense for the first quarter of 2023 excludes $14.0 million in total merger related expenses, which includes one-time merger expense shown as a separate line item on the income statement as well as incremental merger related expenses (expenses for which the entity receives future benefit) that are included in the respective expense categories. Merger expense was $5.1 million for the first quarter of 2023, compared with $4.0 million for the first quarter of 2022 and $20.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2022. Merger expense for the first quarter of 2023 was comprised primarily of system and technology related expenses. Incremental merger related expenses for the first quarter of 2023 totaled $9.0 million and primarily included employment agreement and related compensation related expenses. These expenses declined compared to $32.7 million in the prior quarter.
The Company continues to identify strategic opportunities to improve operating efficiency, including branch optimization. In April 2023, the Company announced 35 additional branch locations that will be closed or consolidated during mid 2023. This strategy, including other in-process initiatives, is estimated to result in annualized cost savings of approximately $15-20 million. These branch closures and consolidations are in addition to the 17 executed in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Capital Management
Total shareholders' equity was $4.5 billion at March 31, 2023 compared with $4.6 billion at March 31, 2022 and $4.3 billion at December 31, 2022. The increase in the current quarter was comprised of net income and an improvement in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) ("AOCI") due to improved valuation in the available-for-sale securities portfolio, partially offset by quarterly dividends. The year-over-year decline is due to a decline in AOCI resulting from an increase in unrealized losses in the available-for-sale securities portfolio due to the interest rate environment.
Estimated regulatory capital ratios at March 31, 2023 included Common Equity Tier 1 capital of 10.1%, Tier 1 capital of 10.6%, Total risk-based capital of 12.8%, and Tier 1 leverage capital of 8.4%. During the first quarter of 2023, the Company did not repurchase shares of its common stock pursuant to its 10 million share repurchase authorization for 2023. Outstanding common shares were 182.7 million as of March 31, 2023.
Summary
Rollins concluded, "We are pleased with how we are beginning the 2023 year. Despite the recent industry liquidity concerns, an uncertain rate environment, and questions around the broader economy and credit impact, I continue to be optimistic given the strength in our earnings, our balance sheet and our capital, as well as the differentiating stability resulting from our business, customer and geographical diversification. This diversification, combined with our great team of bankers, provides the resilient foundation we are proud of at Cadence Bank."
Non-GAAP Measures and Ratios
This news release presents certain financial measures and ratios that are not calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). A discussion regarding these non-GAAP measures and ratios, including reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures and definitions for non-GAAP ratios, appears under the caption "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures and Other Non-GAAP Ratio Definitions" beginning on page 21 of this news release.
Conference Call and Webcast
The Company will conduct a conference call to discuss its first quarter 2023 financial results on April 25, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. (Central Time). This conference call will be an interactive session between management and analysts. Interested parties may listen to this live conference call via Internet webcast by accessing http://ir.cadencebank.com/events. The webcast will also be available in archived format at the same address.
About Cadence Bank
Cadence Bank (NYSE: CADE) is a leading regional banking franchise with approximately $50 billion in assets and more than 350 branch locations across the South and Texas. Cadence provides consumers, businesses and corporations with a full range of innovative banking and financial solutions. Services and products include consumer banking, consumer loans, mortgages, home equity lines and loans, credit cards, commercial and business banking, treasury management, specialized lending, asset-based lending, commercial real estate, equipment financing, correspondent banking, SBA lending, foreign exchange, wealth management, investment and trust services, financial planning, retirement plan management, and personal and business insurance. Cadence is committed to a culture of respect, diversity and inclusion in both its workplace and communities. Cadence Bank, Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), and are subject to the safe harbor under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as well as the "bespeaks caution" doctrine. These statements are often, but not exclusively, made through the use of words or phrases like "assume," "believe," "budget," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "foresee," "indicate," "may," "might," "outlook," "prospect," "potential," "roadmap," "should," "target," "will," "would," the negative versions of such words, or comparable words of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, discussions regarding general economic, interest rate, real estate market, competitive, employment, and credit market conditions, or any of the Company's comments related to topics in its risk disclosures or results of operations. Forward-looking statements are based upon management's expectations as well as certain assumptions and estimates made by, and information available to, the Company's management at the time such statements were made. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results or performance and are subject to certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are beyond the Company's control and that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements.
Risks, uncertainties and other factors the Company may face include, without limitation: general economic, unemployment, credit market and real estate market conditions, including inflation, and the effect of such conditions on customers, potential customers, assets, investments and liquidity; risks arising from market and consumer reactions to the general banking environment, or to conditions or situations at specific banks; risks arising from media coverage of the banking industry; risks arising from perceived instability in the banking sector; the risks of changes in interest rates and their effects on the level, cost, and composition of, and competition for, deposits, loan demand and timing of payments, the values of loan collateral, securities, and interest sensitive assets and liabilities; the ability to attract new or retain existing deposits, to retain or grow loans or additional interest and fee income, or to control noninterest expense; the effect of pricing pressures on the Company's net interest margin; the failure of assumptions underlying the establishment of reserves for possible credit losses, fair value for loans and other real estate owned; changes in real estate values; a deterioration of the credit rating for U.S. long-term sovereign debt, actions that the U.S. government may take to avoid exceeding the debt ceiling, or uncertainties surrounding the debt ceiling and the federal budget; potential delays or other problems in implementing and executing the Company's growth, expansion and acquisition strategies, including delays in obtaining regulatory or other necessary approvals, or the failure to realize any anticipated benefits or synergies from any acquisitions or growth strategies; the ability to pay dividends or coupons on the Company's 5.5% Series A Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, par value $0.01 per share, or the 4.125% Fixed-to-Floating Rate Subordinated Notes due November 20, 2029; possible downgrades in the Company's credit ratings or outlook which could increase the costs or availability of funding from capital markets; the potential impact of the phase-out of the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") or other changes involving LIBOR; changes in legal, financial, accounting, and/or regulatory requirements; the costs and expenses to comply with such changes; the enforcement efforts of federal and state bank regulators; the ability to keep pace with technological changes, including changes regarding maintaining cybersecurity; increased competition in the financial services industry, particularly from regional and national institutions; the impact of a failure in, or breach of, the Company's operational or security systems or infrastructure, or those of third parties with whom the Company does business, including as a result of cyber-attacks or an increase in the incidence or severity of fraud, illegal payments, security breaches or other illegal acts impacting the Company or the Company's customers. The Company also faces risks from natural disasters or acts of war or terrorism; international or political instability, including the impacts related to or resulting from Russia's military action in Ukraine and additional sanctions and export controls, as well as the broader impacts to financial markets and the global macroeconomic and geopolitical environments.
The Company also faces risks from: possible adverse rulings, judgments, settlements or other outcomes of pending, ongoing and future litigation, as well as governmental, administrative and investigatory matters; the impairment of the Company's goodwill or other intangible assets; losses of key employees and personnel; the diversion of management's attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities; and the combined company's success in executing its business plans and strategies, and managing the risks involved in all of the foregoing.
The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with those factors that are set forth from time to time in the Company's periodic and current reports filed with the FDIC, including those factors included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, particularly those under the heading "Item 1A. Risk Factors," in the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q under the heading "Part II-Item 1A. Risk Factors" and in the Company's Current Reports on Form 8-K.
Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date of this news release, if one or more events related to these or other risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the Company's underlying assumptions prove to be incorrect, actual results may prove to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, except as required by applicable law. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to the Company are expressly qualified in their entirety by this section.
Table 14
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures and Other Non-GAAP Ratio Definitions
(Unaudited)
Management evaluates the Company's capital position and adjusted performance by utilizing certain financial measures not calculated in accordance with GAAP, including adjusted net income, adjusted net income available to common shareholders, pre-tax pre-provision net revenue, adjusted pre-tax pre-provision net revenue, total adjusted noninterest expense, tangible common shareholders' equity to tangible assets, total shareholders' equity (excluding AOCI), common shareholders' equity (excluding AOCI), tangible common shareholders' equity to tangible assets (excluding AOCI), return on average tangible common equity, adjusted return on average tangible common equity, adjusted return on average assets, adjusted return on average common shareholders' equity, pre-tax pre-provision net revenue to total average assets, adjusted pre-tax pre-provision net revenue to total average assets, adjusted earnings per common share, tangible book value per common share, tangible book value per common share, excluding AOCI, efficiency ratio (tax equivalent), adjusted efficiency ratio (tax equivalent), and adjusted dividend payout ratio. The Company has included these non-GAAP financial measures in this release for the applicable periods presented. Management believes that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures: (i) provides important supplemental information that contributes to a proper understanding of the Company's capital position and adjusted performance, (ii) enables a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting the Company's business and (iii) allows investors to evaluate the Company's performance in a manner similar to management, the financial services industry, bank stock analysts and bank regulators. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are presented in the tables below. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as substitutes for GAAP financial measures, and the Company strongly encourages investors to review the GAAP financial measures included in this news release and not to place undue reliance upon any single financial measure. In addition, because non-GAAP financial measures are not standardized, it may not be possible to compare the non-GAAP financial measures presented in this news release with other companies' non-GAAP financial measures having the same or similar names.
Efficiency Ratio-Fully Taxable Equivalent and Adjusted Efficiency Ratio-Fully Taxable Equivalent Definitions
The efficiency ratio and the adjusted efficiency ratio are supplemental financial measures utilized in management's internal evaluation of the Company's use of resources and are not defined under GAAP. The efficiency ratio is calculated by dividing total noninterest expense by total revenue, which includes net interest income plus noninterest income plus the tax equivalent adjustment. The adjusted efficiency ratio excludes income and expense items otherwise disclosed as non-routine from total noninterest expense.
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SOURCE Cadence Bank | 2023-04-24T21:48:14+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/prnewswire/2023/04/24/cadence-bank-announces-first-quarter-2023-financial-results/ |
WASHINGTON, May 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Updata Partners, a growth equity investment firm focused on B2B software companies, today announced the final close of Updata Partners VII, L.P., with aggregate capital commitments totaling more than $608 million. The oversubscribed fund is Updata's largest to date and brings committed capital to more than $1.5 billion.
Updata was founded in 1998 by operators from the software industry. Decades of experience have enabled the firm to play an active role in supporting portfolio companies. This approach will continue with Updata VII as the firm seeks to invest in management teams that are looking for both capital and a value-add strategic partner.
"We are incredibly grateful for the support from our limited partners," said Carter Griffin, General Partner. "We enjoy a number of longstanding relationships, and we are excited to welcome several new investors in Updata VII."
Technology innovations have brought down the cost and complexity of starting a software business, allowing for more opportunities to reach scale in a capital efficient manner. Updata sees software's penetration into every corner of the economy as a chance to partner with the next generation of entrepreneurs building great businesses. The firm's recent investments reflect the breadth of the software industry, and include Improvado, CData, Shufti Pro, Landtech, Altus Assessments, Vector Remote Care, Living Security, BoxCast, Liongard, Practifi, and Bigleaf Networks.
"With Updata VII, we expect to continue our dedication to capital-efficient software businesses," said Jon Seeber, General Partner. "We are excited to draw on our long experience as entrepreneurs, managers, and investors as we continue to provide operating expertise to our current and future portfolio."
Updata Partners has historically made a handful of select investments each year, investing up to $100 million of equity per company. The firm prefers to be the first institutional capital and targets investments outside of Silicon Valley.
About Updata Partners
Updata Partners is a leading technology-focused growth equity firm in Washington D.C. with over $1.5 billion in committed capital. Led by an investment team averaging more than 25 years of technology experience, Updata invests in high-growth B2B software and software-driven businesses where the combination of capital and operating experience will help accelerate success. To learn more, please visit updata.com.
Contact
Dan Moss
Updata Partners
info@updata.com
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SOURCE Updata Partners | 2022-05-24T15:37:57+00:00 | kwch.com | https://www.kwch.com/prnewswire/2022/05/24/updata-partners-closes-608-million-fund-vii/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s chief of staff violated the law by retweeting a political message on his government Twitter account, and a warning letter was sent to him, according to a memo from the Office of Special Counsel. Top aide Ron Klain “got it wrong this time” and will be more careful, the White House said Thursday.
The memo dated Wednesday said Klain ran afoul of the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from using their official roles to influence elections, including supporting candidates, while acting in their official capacities. The message Klain retweeted on May 22 from STRIKE PAC, a Democratic group, was about delivering infant formula to Americans. But the message also included the encouragement, “Get your Democrats Deliver merch today!”
Klain removed the retweet as soon as he was notified of the complaint. No disciplinary action will be pursued and the office, an independent government watchdog that monitors violations of the Hatch Act, considers the matter closed. Klain was warned to be more careful in the future.
The conservative legal group America First Legal, led by Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller, complained about the tweet and sought an investigation.
Miller and at least a dozen other former Trump administration officials repeatedly violated that same law, without consequence and with Trump’s approval, as part of a “willful disregard for the Hatch Act,” the Office of Special Counsel found in 2021. The office investigated comments by Trump officials leading into the 2020 presidential election, including at the Republican National Convention, which was held at the White House in a major break from historical norms.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that “we are not perfect, but our violations have been few.”
“Ron is very careful and takes the Hatch Act very seriously in his media appearances and his use of Twitter, but he got it wrong this time,” she said. “He fixed it as soon as it was pointed out and and took the warning to be more more careful seriously.”
Jean-Pierre often cites the Hatch Act in deflecting political questions during news briefings. Earlier this week she was asked whether Biden was doing everything he can possibly do to get Democrats across the finish line in the Nov. 8 elections.
“I have to be careful of what I say, because we do respect the Hatch Act here in this administration,” she said. | 2022-10-28T11:38:07+00:00 | valleycentral.com | https://www.valleycentral.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-white-house-chief-of-staff-warned-on-hatch-act-violation/ |
SILVIS, Ill. (AP) — Jonas Blixt heated up on the back nine at TPC Deere Run on Thursday, playing his last six holes in 6 under for a 9-under 62 and a two-shot lead over Grayson Murray in the first round of the John Deere Classic.
Murray was 8 under through 13 holes but stalled from there. He bogeyed his final hole and shot 64. Cameron Young, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 19, also closed with a bogey and was part of a big group three shots back.
The 39-year-old Blixt, a three-time winner on tour, has only conditional status and is making his first PGA Tour start since the Byron Nelson in May. He spent most of the past six weeks working at home with his swing coach and missed the cut last week on the Korn Ferry Tour, but he felt like something clicked on the range on Tuesday.
“I kind of came to the point in my season where it’s so late that I don’t feel any pressure anymore really and just kind of go out and swing at it,” Blixt said. “Golf is weird. Like, tomorrow I can shoot 100 I feel like, but today was a great day.”
Blixt shot 7-under 29 on the back nine — his first time breaking 30 for nine holes on tour — and the 62 matches his career-best round. He drove the green on the 360-yard, par-4 14th hole and made a 43-foot putt for eagle. On the par-4 18th, he hit his approach from a fairway bunker within 5 feet for a closing birdie.
Blixt last won in 2017 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, paired with Cameron Smith in the team event. He had back surgery two years later and has struggled since. He entered the week ranked 842nd in the world.
“I played a lot of years on tour, and I’m very thankful for it, and I got to play with a lot of good players, a lot of good golf courses, a lot of good sponsors,” Blixt said. “Sometimes you just have to be grateful for what you have and what you experience as well and not always think about what could have been. So I kind of lean on that a little bit. Obviously I’m still hungry. I’m not saying that I’m quitting.”
Murray’s 64 was his best round on tour in three years.
“I’ve been playing really good on the Korn Ferry Tour and got a win about a month ago and a third place out there,” he said. “I’m in a good position out there to lock up my card here soon, and I felt like coming out here with an opportunity to kind of double dip, as you could say, and play a little more free knowing that my card is pretty much locked up out there.”
Murray, a winner at the Barbasol Championship in 2017, suffered a knee injury in a scooter crash in Bermuda in October, forcing him to withdraw from the Bermuda Championship. He didn’t play again until January on the Korn Ferry Tour, and since then he has worked on spending his free time productively.
“I try to fill my time with some positive things off the course, whether it’s going to the gym or hitting up a movie,” he said. “We have a lot of down time, and I would say I was not good at prioritizing that in the past.
“I’m 29 years old now. I’ve been out here a long time, and I kind of had a coming-to-Jesus moment a little bit and said, hey, look, I have an opportunity here. I probably haven’t reached my prime yet.”
Joining Young at 65 were Greyson Sigg, Garrick Higgo, Adam Schenk, Nate Lashley and Richy Werenski.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2023-07-07T06:44:10+00:00 | everythinglubbock.com | https://www.everythinglubbock.com/sports/ap-jonas-blixt-gets-hot-on-back-9-at-john-deere-classic-takes-first-round-lead-with-62/ |
LONDON, July 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EQONEX Limited (NASDAQ:EQOS), a digital assets financial services company, is investing in its Asset Management business with new senior appointments in key regions earmarked for growth. Nick Cogswell has been appointed to the role of Head of Sales, Asset Management, based in London, and Franklin Heng, will drive the company's Asian asset management products strategy as the Head of Asset Management Asia, based in Hong Kong. Both appointments are effective immediately.
EQONEX is directing significant resources and investment into building its Asset Management business, as part of its ambition to deliver a leading digital assets investment platform. EQONEX Asset Management encompasses key business lines including Investment Products, Structured Products, Bletchley Park, a fund of crypto hedge funds, and Lending.
The new hires follow the listing of EQONEX's first exchange-trade product, a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Note (ETN) on the Deutsche Börse XETRA Exchange, earlier this month. Further ETNs are expected to list in the coming months, together with the launch of the EQONEX Structured Products business.
Nick will be responsible for driving growth across the entire Asset Management product suite. Nick joins EQONEX with experience of running his own firm, an FCA regulated investment advisory business where he served as CEO and Managing Director. He brings 20 years' experience in cross asset derivatives sales and structuring, alternative investments, and global structured products, dealing with Institutional investors.
He was previously the Head of Equity Structured Product Sales EMEA at Jefferies and before that ran the Santander Private Banking Structured Product Sales business for the UK. Nick has also held senior roles at both Lehman Brothers and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
Franklin will be responsible for growing EQONEX's Asset Management footprint in the Asia Pacific. Franklin joins EQONEX after an eleven-year tenure with Springboard Capital, where he was a Managing Partner and nominated Responsible Officer for regulated activities.
Franklin was previously Managing Director, Head of Equity Derivatives and Structured Products Distribution for The Royal Bank of Scotland, leading the Asia ex-Japan business from Hong Kong. His team distributed structured products to institutional and professional investors and advised them on the use of derivatives and structured products to hedge their risk and enhance returns. Prior to this, he spent seven years at HSBC Hong Kong in various roles including Head of Asia Derivatives (trading and sales) and Head of Wealth Management Sales. Franklin brings 30 years of asset management, derivatives and structured products experience, and he is also a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Nick will work alongside Head of Business Development Matthew Clapp, who is also based in London. Prior to joining EQONEX, Matthew was Head of Institutional Business Development at Levendi Investment Management. Matthew has been involved in the Structured Investment arena for over ten years. With his wide-ranging experience across asset classes, he has developed a deep understanding of the needs and demands of a broad investor base.
Nick, Franklin and Matthew will report to Frank Copplestone, Head of Asset Management at EQONEX, who recently celebrated his first anniversary with the company. Frank is a 30-year veteran of Asset Management and Investment Products holding global roles at Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Jefferies.
Speaking of the appointments, Frank said: "The last year has been a period of ambitious growth and expansion for EQONEX's Asset Management business, with the listing of our first exchange-traded product in Germany, and the establishment of our strategic partnership with Binance Connect".
"We see tremendous market opportunities across the globe in the digital asset investments space and we are working hard to become a preeminent Asset Management Platform. We are delighted to welcome Nick and Franklin to this growing, talented and highly experienced team. Their wealth of experience in asset management, equity derivatives and structured products will be invaluable in growing our Asset Management business."
Nick added: "I am thrilled to join EQONEX and look forward to leveraging my experience in traditional finance to harness the growing opportunities in the digital asset space. EQONEX is reputable in the marketplace for its highly experienced team, so I'm excited to join them in delivering EQONEX's ambitious product roadmap across structured and investment products and also driving growth for Bletchley Park, the fund of crypto hedge funds."
Franklin commented: "With regulation now finally becoming a reality, EQONEX's commitment to compliance and security, as well as its status as a NASDAQ-listed company, puts it in an ideal position to further differentiate itself from the competition. I am excited to join the team during such an anticipated period of business growth and working with them to define best-in-class digital asset investment products for EQONEX's clients."
About EQONEX Group
EQONEX Limited (NASDAQ: EQOS) is a technology driven digital assets financial services group that provides institutional grade infrastructure and a full suite of trading, custody and asset management solutions to clients. The Group's digital assets ecosystem has been designed to accommodate the needs of institutions and individuals with the same degree of regulatory oversight and security they are accustomed to in traditional financial markets. EQONEX's ecosystem primarily encompasses EQONEX, a digital asset exchange; Digivault, a FCA accredited hot and cold digital assets custodian and an Asset Management arm comprising EQONEX investment Products, EQONEX Structured Products and Bletchley Park Asset Management, a fund of crypto-hedge funds.
For more information visit: https://group.eqonex.com/
Follow EQONEX on social media on Twitter @eqonex, on Facebook @eqonex, and on LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Information
Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on available current market material and management's expectations, beliefs and forecasts concerning future events impacting EQONEX. You are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions, which, if they were to ever materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of EQONEX to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made in this press release speak only as of the date hereof and we disclaim any obligation, except as required by law, to provide updates, revisions or amendments to any forward-looking statements to reflect changes in our expectations or future events.
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SOURCE EQONEX | 2022-07-27T09:56:45+00:00 | wcjb.com | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2022/07/27/eqonex-expands-senior-leadership-ranks-asset-management-it-sets-sights-market-share-growth/ |
This is the thirteenth in our series on the Denver mayoral candidates, based on their responses to a Westword questionnaire sent to every contender on the ballot last month.
A born-and-raised west Denverite who's the son of former Denver City Council rep Rosemary Rodriguez, Trinidad Rodriguez has spent his professional career straddling the worlds of finance, policy and politics.
Rodriguez spent three years as a policy adviser for Governor Roy Romer. He's also chaired the boards of the Denver Housing Authority and the Downtown Denver Partnership.
And while more recently he's worked as an investment banker, Rodriguez was once a bike courier in Denver. There are other unusual occupations on his bucket list, including trying his hand at being a sushi chef and an adobe brick maker. But before he takes on those gigs, Rodriguez would like to serve as Denver mayor.
Why are you running for mayor?
Denver helped my single mom and me through the tough times when I was growing up, and I’ve spent the last 25 years fighting for Denver to pay it forward. With this critical election before us, I want to continue that fight and build a city where every Denverite, regardless of the neighborhood they’re in, can achieve their version of success.
What is your plan to tackle homelessness?
My administration will build upon many of the advancements our human service provider ecosystem has made over the last twenty-plus years, methodically addressing this challenge. As the scale and nature of the challenge evolve, it is clear that we need to do something different as well, particularly for people living and dying unhoused on our streets while grappling with mental health and substance misuse disorders.
I will continue to sweep unauthorized encampments under the unauthorized camping ban to ensure health and safety for all. I will declare an emergency. I will work to provide treatment-resistant folks who are unhoused and pose a threat to themselves or others with treatment under voluntary and involuntary bases.
Would you end homeless encampment sweeps?
No
What is your plan to improve public safety in Denver?
My administration will hire 600 more police and rebuild trust between our police and Denverites through equity. Other cornerstones of my plan include: 1) Hire the best-in-class leadership and management to help develop our officers over time, working to make officers feel supported, and ultimately increase job satisfaction and talent retention overall. 2) Focus our expansion with recruiting in our diverse neighborhoods. 3) Work to ensure that Denver police officers are doing the work they are trained to do and have all of the training to do their work while preserving life.
How will you work with Denver Public Schools to improve education and safety in schools?
My vision for DPS is to build a structural organizational relationship based upon the concept that more alignment of services and supports for the whole child addresses upstream determinants. My vision for this structural relationship is that both DPS and Denver will be required to make intrinsic changes to meet their respective obligations.
This vision was specifically designed to address several persistent challenges in governance and leadership that are either widely known or shared with me as I’ve explored my run for mayor, as follows: 1) Consistently low voter participation in board elections, which increases undue influence on board and leadership by interest groups that distract from student focus. 2) The excessive burdens felt at the school and classroom levels in tackling the myriad of challenges experienced by Denver’s low-income and BIPOC youth which comprise the vast majority of DPS students. 3) Aligning organizational strategies and resources between Denver and its sister agencies, such as Denver Health and Denver Housing Authority, with DPS to support the whole student. 4) The wild swings in policy approaches that DPS has experienced over the last about three decades. 5) The generally low level of trust between families and the district. 6) The growing gap in academic outcomes between white/advantaged and BIPOC/low-income students. 7) A school district that helps the vast majority of its students achieve success is critically important to building a great city that I envision — one where every Denverite, regardless of the neighborhood they’re in, can achieve their version of success. 8) The chorus of unheeded calls by DPS superintendents for greater support of or youth in areas such as gun violence and mental health support.
What is your stance on the Park Hill Golf Course development proposal?
While I believe that land can be redeveloped in ways that are aligned to the current proposal, I oppose the current proposal as is and will be voting against it. We need a better deal and need more concessions from the developer, particularly as related to mitigating impact on the surrounding neighborhoods and to limit the developer’s use of competitive tax credits and subsidies to deliver on its affordability promises. I also believe there should be an increase to maximum development height in a much smaller footprint to optimize the space, preserve important western views of the mountains and maintain the greatest possible open space.
How can Denver significantly expand its affordable-housing stock?
I will accelerate the creation of total housing supply and its diversity, particularly housing stock to meet the needs of the workforce and lowest-income families. Having served on the board of Denver Housing Authority for over eleven years, I helped lead the organization through its first affordable-housing bond backed by the City of Denver to speed up the delivery of 5,000 units in Sun Valley, Westridge and other neighborhoods, and open new opportunities in permanent supportive housing land banking. Denver also needs to cut red tape and accelerate the permitting process.
My involvement on the Blueprint Denver Task Force for three years and knowledge of capital and development markets have positioned me to catalyze private-sector momentum in the supply of so-called missing middle housing types that can be priced to be affordable to moderate-income households. These can be built in medium and medium-low density along high-frequency transit corridors and nodes, becoming a large-scale opportunity for our city.
Denver also needs to cut red tape and accelerate the permitting process, which involves investing in logistics plans and accountability, which can be through independent contracting and/or resource alignment.
Denver has historically been a car-centric city. Should the city take significant road space from cars for other forms of transportation (walking, rolling, biking, scootering, bus, etc.)?
Yes. Building an equitable mobility network that gives all Denverites safe, sustainable, efficient and healthful ways to move about the city is my vision for transportation for Denver. My priorities will be to accelerate the implementation of our existing citywide and regional plans and infrastructure to create complete mobility networks. My team will accomplish this through innovative infrastructure design and building; lowering and enhancing enforcement of speed limits to meaningfully reduce and eliminate mobility-related injuries and deaths, and determine how Denver can be a leader in unlocking promising new technologies that can advance these goals, such as self-driving people movers, among others.
What would you do if the Denver Broncos demand public dollars as a requirement for keeping the stadium in the Mile High City?
I would look forward to such a negotiation. The entire Denver region invested in our current stadium, and it has a lot of life left in it and is well located to serve the entire region. I helped lead the investment by Denver Housing Authority in 1,000 units of mixed-income housing in Sun Valley, the stadium’s neighbor to the south. We’ve also developed plans for transit-oriented development adjacent to the stadium. I had called on them with hundreds of other petitioners to commit to keeping the stadium where it is. That’s why I was glad when the impressive new owners announced their plan to invest $100 million in upgrading the stadium. Going into any negotiation, you want to have cards to play. Denver’s got a lot of cards.
Violence during let-out in LoDo has been an issue for years. Would you support a staggered closing time that ends at 4 a.m.?
Yes. This has been a persistent problem for decades. Having a vibrant area that draws people needs to be safe. There could be other proposals that involve later closing times that are worth considering. With this in place, I will support bringing back the food trucks.
What question do you wish we'd asked?
"What do you love most about Denver?"
I love what makes Denver unique. Denver is an extremely powerful place with an almost magnetic energy that has brought people from near and far for thousands of years, long before Colorado City was established in 1858. I picture the mixing of tribes and peoples responding to this draw. Rather than the mere force of urbanization, coming to/staying in Denver represents a choice to be part of something that connects to the earth, wildlife and each other. It is this energy along the hogback of the great Rocky Mountains that has inspired people to envision a bold future throughout our existence.
See answers from Kelly Brough, Thomas Wolf, Lisa Calderón, Andy Rougeot, Ean Tafoya, Renate Behrens, Debbie Ortega, James Walsh, Robert Treta, Leslie Herod, Chris Hansen and Mike Johnston; watch for the responses from other mayoral candidates in the days to come. | 2023-03-21T18:35:52+00:00 | westword.com | https://www.westword.com/news/denver-mayor-trinidad-rodriguez-public-service-16334390 |
CEDAR FALLS — This week a contractor will close the alley running from 22nd Street to Seerley Boulevard between Franklin and Clay streets in order to work on its reconstruction.
In the meantime, garbage and yard waste collection will be moved onto the side roads, Franklin and Clay streets, during what’s estimated to be a six to eight week closure.
The time and day of pickup will not change.
The city advises people to stay away from the construction zone, which will include heavy equipment moving back and forth, and behind the sidewalk on the property side.
Kyle Wiebers, a school psychologist, and Jennifer Onuigbo, a theater community relations manager, are the two newest commissioners.
For additional information about the 2022 Alley Reconstruction Project, go onilne to www.cedarfalls.com/1462/Alley-Reconstruction-Project.
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To receive alley closure notices by e-mail and/or text message, go to www.cedarfalls.com/notify and follow the instructions for road construction as shown. Questions or concerns can be directed to Brett Armstrong. Call (319) 268-5161 or email Brett.Armstrong@cedarfalls.com.
The City Council voted 5-2 in favor of staff investing the time and energy in diving into all the possibilities. | 2022-08-16T19:44:16+00:00 | wcfcourier.com | https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/work-to-begin-on-cedar-falls-alley-from-22nd-street-to-seerley-boulevard/article_031fa6db-cad5-5620-af2d-f68a4c029c2a.html |
HONOLULU – Lava from Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano is no longer feeding a flow that's been creeping closer to a crucial highway, scientists said Thursday, even as the world’s largest volcano keeps on erupting.
That means lava isn’t advancing, and is no longer an imminent threat to the road that connects the east and west sides of the Big Island. Hawaii County officials say they will continue to plan and remain vigilant.
As of Thursday morning, the lava that was contributing to the flow heading toward the road has been cut off, said David Phillips, deputy scientist-in-charge at U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
While the eruption keeps boiling out of an active fissure, the supply down to the flow front has been cut off, likely because of a reduced production rate, he said.
Lava from Mauna Loa, which began erupting Nov. 27 after being quiet for 38 years, was 1.76 miles (2.83 kilometers) from Saddle Road, also known as Route 200 or Daniel K. Inouye Highway, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey said.
“So just to emphasize, there is no current threat to any island communities or infrastructure at this time,” Phillips said.
Last week, officials said the earliest the lava could hit the road was one week. But, as expected, the lava slowed considerably in recent days as it moved across flatter ground, leaving scientists unable to estimate a clearer timeline.
“That’s good news for us,” Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth said.
But while the eruption remains active, county officials said they will stay on the alert — because scientists say things could always change. | 2022-12-08T20:54:29+00:00 | wsls.com | https://www.wsls.com/news/national/2022/12/08/mauna-loa-lava-no-longer-imminent-threat-to-hawaii-highway/ |
When did you lose your Social Security card?
Mine’s been gone for decades, and I don’t know a soul who’s still carrying around that flimsy piece of cardboard they got years ago. You probably memorized the number when you first received it and that’s all you’ve ever needed. Only Motor Vehicle Commissions demanded to see the original, and now even they have stopped asking. | 2022-06-21T11:28:56+00:00 | nj.com | https://www.nj.com/opinion/2022/06/it-wont-be-long-before-youll-need-a-real-id-quigley.html |
EAGLE BUTTE, S.D. — Joye Braun, a fierce advocate for Native American rights and an organizer of protests against the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, has died.
Braun, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux, died Nov. 13 at age 53 at her home in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, according to an online obituary from the Charlie Rooks Funeral Home.
Indian Country Today reported that Braun worked as a national pipeline organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network. She was also the organization’s representative in People vs. Fossil Fuels, a coalition of more than 1,200 groups that is calling on the federal government to declare a climate emergency.
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At the Dakota Access protest, Braun's teepee was the first to go up at what became Oceti Sakowin camp at Standing Rock.
Braun's daughter, Morgan Brings Plenty, said that seeing the Keystone XL pipeline blocked was one of her mother's proudest achievements.
The 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) pipeline that was to carry crude oil from western Canada to Steel City, Nebraska, was nixed after President Joe Biden canceled the pipeline’s border crossing permit last year.
“She had this thing called ‘General Joye,’ which when she gets into a zone, she’s unstoppable and she’ll kind of be bossy and making sure things get done in a certain timeframe, so everything can run smoothly,” Brings Plenty said.
Indigenous Environmental Network’s program director, Kandi White, said in a news release that Braun was the type of person who would “give her last meal or pair of moccasins to those in need.”
“Her advice and counsel was sought by many, she could always be counted on to speak the truth and she pulled no punches. For this, and so much more, she was respected by colleagues and adversaries alike,” White said. | 2022-11-30T18:24:58+00:00 | bostonglobe.com | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/11/30/metro/joye-braun-protester-dakota-access-pipeline-dies-53/ |
A Springfield contractor accused of swindling customers out of more than $30,000 is facing one of eight consumer-protection lawsuits filed against businesses across the state in the final days of the year by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.
“Misleading and unlawful business practices — especially those that take direct aim at customers’ wallets — will not be overlooked,” Yost said. “Ohioans work hard for their money, and we work year-round to protect it.”
Springfield contractor MH&D Construction and its owner, Michael Collett of Springboro, are accused of bilking customers out of $31,600 for home improvement projects that were never completed.
MH&D Construction was established Jan. 19, 2021, as a limited liability company, according to a certificate from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in Clark County Common Pleas Court cites two violations of the Consumer Sales Practices Act and one violation of the Home Solicitation Sales Act.
“After receiving payment, defendants sometimes began work but failed to complete the work,” the lawsuit alleged.
The business also “provided incomplete, shoddy and substandard services to consumers and then failed to correct such work” and “refused to refund consumers’ deposits or payments despite consumers’ requests for refunds,” the document stated.
No attorney of record was listed in court documents, and no phone number for the business nor Collett was available.
The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment and for the defendant to pay restitution plus damages to affected consumers, to be barred from business until restitution is paid and to cover court costs. It also asks the court to assess a civil penalty of up to $25,000 for each violation.
Yost’s office also sued a Dayton business, B&R Fence & More LLC and its owner, Robert Wood, accused of taking $12,500 from homeowners who made payments for fences that were never constructed. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court alleged multiple violations of the Consumer Sales Practices Act and the Home Solicitation Sales Act.
“In some instances, after receiving payment from consumers for fence removal, repair and/or installation services, defendants failed to perform any work, and failed to refund any of the consumers’ payments.” In other cases after receiving deposits, the company “performed some work contracted for, but then abandoned the worksite without returning or refunding any of the consumers’ payments,” the lawsuit alleged.
The lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment and for the defendant to pay restitution plus damages to affected consumers, to be barred from business until restitution is paid and to cover court costs. It also asks the court to assess a civil penalty of up to $25,000 for each violation.
A phone number for the business has been disconnected and a social media page for the fencing contractor indicates the business is permanently closed. No attorney of record was listed for the company nor Wood.
The other five lawsuits involve two Columbus driveway repair and installation businesses; the owners of three Cincinnati-area appliance supply companies; a Hilliard caterer; and a Heath furniture store.
Ohioans who suspect unfair or deceptive business practices can contact the Ohio Attorney General’s Office at www.OhioProtects.org or 800-282-0515.
About the Author | 2022-12-30T19:13:27+00:00 | springfieldnewssun.com | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/ohio-ag-sues-7-businesses-including-springfield-contractor/UZJNJBSTCBBOXP4YJRDPURKP5U/ |
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The car owned by a missing 74-year-old Florida Lyft driver was found in North Carolina and the man who was driving it is wanted in connection with a homicide last week in southwest Florida, authorities said Friday.
The vehicle was seen Thursday evening in North Carolina after the U.S. Marshal’s regional task force asked authorities to be on the lookout. Matthew Flores was arrested following a police chase through three counties, Rutherford County, North Carolina Sheriff Aaron Ellenburg told The Associated Press.
Ellenburg said North Carolina state troopers used stop sticks to halt the vehicle in Ellenboro. The sheriff said Flores fled briefly on foot before he was apprehended and taken to a hospital for an evaluation. He was later booked into the county jail, and the vehicle was taken to a secure location, the sheriff said.
Flores was being held on no bond for a parole violation and a $615,000 bond for charges in North Carolina that include eluding law enforcement, speeding and intoxicated driving.
He was scheduled to have a hearing on Friday to determine extradition to Florida, where he is a suspect in a slaying on Jan. 24 — nearly a week before Levin went missing on Monday. It was not immediately known whether Flores has a lawyer who can speak on his behalf.
Authorities are investigating how Flores obtained the missing Lyft driver’s car — Levin’s family said they do not know whether Flores was the passenger Levin picked up in Delray Beach on Monday. John Eason, the police chief in Wauchula, Florida, told The AP in a phone interview that officers are heading to North Carolina in hopes of interviewing Flores about the Jan. 24 killing and the missing Lyft driver.
“Our biggest concern at this point is finding and identifying where Mr. Levin is at,” Eason said. “A lot of that depends on whether the suspect cooperates with us.”
Flores is facing a second-degree murder charge and other counts stemming from the fatal shooting last month of Jose Carlos Martinez in Wauchula. A woman who Eason said assisted Flores in fleeing from police, Stephanie Velgara, will be charged with being an accessory after the fact in the Martinez killing.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Velgara has a lawyer to speak on her behalf. Eason said she remained in custody Friday in Florida’s Hardee County jail.
Wauchula is about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Tampa and about 127 miles (204 kilometers) northwest of Levin’s home in Palm Beach Gardens.
Lyft did not immediately respond Friday to an email seeking comment about Levin.
But Levin’s daughter, Lindsay DiBetta, told the AP the family has learned that Levin took an unknown customer to Okeechobee, a small city on the edge of Lake Okeechobee, and completed the ride sometime after 4 p.m. on Monday.
She said the family was told by Lyft that the ride was completed sometime after 4 p.m. He also spoke to friends by phone around 4 p.m. that day and “all seemed well,” Dibetta said.
But almost immediately, something went wrong, she said. His phone was turned off and no one has heard from him since then.
DiBetta said the Lyft gig was great for Levin, who loves telling dad jokes and often tells them over and over. “It was the perfect set up for him. He would get a new audience every ride,” she said.
She said her father was an auto body salesman before retiring to Florida, and that his car “was his baby.”
“What happened to my dad? Did (Flores) harm my dad?” DiBetta said. “We just don’t know.”
___
Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida. | 2023-02-03T17:55:33+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/missing-florida-lyft-drivers-car-found-with-slaying-suspect/2023/02/03/a2e0a29a-a3e8-11ed-8b47-9863fda8e494_story.html |
Peloton is recalling more than 2 million of its exercise bikes because the bike’s seat post assembly can break during use, posing fall and injury hazards.
The recall includes approximately 2.2 million of the Peloton Bikes Model PL01. The bikes were sold from January 2018 through May 2023 for about $1,400. They were sold at Peloton and Dick’s Sporting Goods stores nationwide and online at Amazon, Peloton and Dick’s websites.
Peloton has received 35 reports of the seat post breaking and detaching from the bike during use, including 13 reports of injuries including a fractured wrist, lacerations and bruises due to falling from the bike.
Consumers are advised to immediately stop using the recalled exercise bikes and to contact Peloton for a free repair. Peloton is offering a free seat post that can be self-installed.
Peloton can be reached at 866-679-9129 from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. ET, seven days a week or online at www.onepeloton.com. Consumers can click on Product Recalls at the bottom of the Peloton website page for information on how to request the free seat post and instructions for installation.
Peloton has been in the process of a corporate reorganization. In October the company announced it was cutting about 500 jobs. That announcement came after the company said in August that it would cut 784 jobs, close its North America distribution network and shift delivery work to third-party providers.
Peloton experienced incredible sales growth during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The New York-based company’s share price multiplied by more than five times in 2020 amid lockdowns that made its bikes and treadmills popular among customers who pay a monthly fee to participate in its interactive workouts.
But sales began to slow in 2021 as the distribution of vaccines drew many people out of their homes and back into gyms.
Shares of Peloton Interactive Inc. fell more than 6% in Thursday morning trading. | 2023-05-11T16:05:16+00:00 | fox44news.com | https://www.fox44news.com/news/peloton-recalling-more-than-2m-exercise-bikes-because-the-seat-post-assembly-can-break-during-use/ |
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Good morning. I'm A Martínez. A Florida woman is suing Kraft Heinz Foods, the company that makes Velveeta Shells & Cheese, because she claims they take longer to make than the advertised 3 1/2 minutes. Amanda Ramirez says it takes even longer if you consider tearing off the lid, pouring in the water and stirring the cheese sauce. The class action suit is seeking over $5 million in damages. As I always say - and this has been true since it was invented - it ain't easy being cheesy. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | 2022-11-29T15:27:05+00:00 | upr.org | https://www.upr.org/2022-11-28/fla-woman-sues-the-maker-of-velveetas-microwavable-mac-and-cheese-cups |
National Weather Service holds storm spotter training in Winterset
People across Central Iowa are choosing to be proactive following recent rounds of storms across the state. There have been more than a dozen tornadoes in Iowa between last Friday and this Tuesday.
On Thursday night, dozens of people took a step toward becoming a storm spotter for the National Weather Service.
People in the class learned about what differentiates cloud formations and what classifies as a tornado.
They also learned how large hail should be to report it to the NWS. The answer? One inch or the size of a quarter.
Some of the people in the class said they were there to help others in the future.
"We have a fairly decent vantage point with little obstructions out by us, so we can see storms rolling through. And if we're able to spot them sooner and report information back and give a little bit of advance notice? Great," Jason Stolte of Winterset said.
Spotter training classes happen throughout the state in early spring each year.
People are encouraged to touch base with their county emergency management directors to see if something is scheduled near them. | 2023-04-07T03:53:29+00:00 | kcci.com | https://www.kcci.com/article/national-weather-service-storm-spotter-training-winterset/43535745 |
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)
Bible verse 3.22.23
Alex Dominguez
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Don't have an account? Sign Up Today | 2023-03-22T06:27:32+00:00 | tylerpaper.com | https://tylerpaper.com/bible-verse-3-22-23/article_81dafb18-c828-11ed-bdcc-d36b3edd1eaf.html |
- Redbrick's metaverse service and content production tool is to be supplied using Alibaba Cloud
- Redbrick and Alibaba are to develop the Web 3.0 infrastructure jointly and promote metaverse services
- Redbrick discusses business cooperation with several Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia
SEOUL, South Korea, July 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Redbrick Inc., a metaverse creation platform (CEO YANG YEONGMO), announced on 5th July that Redbrick had entered into MOU on the Web 3.0-based metaverse business cooperation with Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba Group's digital technology-based core cloud service company. Redbrick is planning to increase the size of its metaverse creator economy market through expansion toward Asia, including southeast Asian countries, Japan, China and so on.
Redbrick is about to reach Asian metaverse market actively based on cooperation with Alibaba Cloud which has a solid basis for B2B and B2C business in Asia. Using Alibaba Cloud's efficient, safe and highly scalable infrastructure, Redbrick is able to provide a software creation tool which facilitates the development of 2D and 3D games and metaverse content as well as a platform where such content is shared. Alibaba Cloud is one of the top IaaS provider which has the largest market share in the Asia-Pacific region according to Gartner's data and has the most number of regional data centers in Southeast Asia among providers of global public cloud services.
Besides, Redbrick and Alibaba Cloud is planning to promote SaaS-based metaverse services jointly in Southeast Asia. Redbrick currently is discussing metaverse business cooperation with several companies in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and so on.
Redbrick's CEO YANG YEONGMO said, "Southeast Asia including Singapore is one of the regions with the highest degree of interest in metaverse across the globe", and "expansion of the scale of creator economy market is the basis for the production of high-quality content, which is the reason we're trying to reach the global market actively, starting off in Asia".
Unique Song, the regional general manager of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence in Korea and Japan, said, "Alibaba Cloud has its strength in technical skills related to metaverse or Web 3.0", and "we're going to act as a bridge for excellent domestic businesses such as Redbrick to reach the global market".
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SOURCE Redbrick Inc | 2023-07-07T07:22:52+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2023/07/07/redbrick-inc-reaches-asian-metaverse-market-with-alibaba-cloud/ |
Job seekers who work with winning agencies are twice as likely to be completely satisfied with the services provided.
ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jackson Nurse Professionals, a leading travel nurse staffing agency, today announced that it won the 2022 Best of Staffing Talent Award for providing superior service to job candidates. Presented in partnership with Indeed and Talent.com, ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing® Award winners have proven to be industry leaders in service quality based entirely on ratings provided by their candidates.
On average, job seekers who work with winning agencies are twice as likely to be completely satisfied with the services provided compared to those placed by non-winning agencies. Jackson Nurse Professionals received satisfaction scores of 9 or 10, out of 10, from over 80 percent of its placed job candidates – a rating that is more than double the industry average.
"We're honored to be recognized as one of the country's premier staffing agencies, especially as we continue responding to an elevated demand for travel nurses nationwide," shared Bill Morgan, president of Jackson Nurse Professionals. "This distinction is particularly meaningful to us as it's based on input from the thousands of travel nurses we work with each day to fill critical needs in patient care at hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide – many of whom have been caring for patients on the frontlines of the pandemic for more than two years."
"Winners of the 2022 Best of Staffing award have demonstrated their commitment to delivering exceptional service, even as COVID-19 has forced them to reimagine and rebuild their approach to business," said ClearlyRated's CEO and Founder, Eric Gregg. "These service leaders have kept the client, talent, and employee experience at the heart of their business strategy, and it's my honor to celebrate and showcase the 2022 Best of Staffing winners alongside feedback from their actual clients on ClearlyRated.com!"
ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing® Award is the only award in the U.S. and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service quality based entirely on ratings provided by their clients, placed talent, and internal employees. Award winners are showcased by city and area of expertise on ClearlyRated.com—an online business directory that helps buyers of professional services find service leaders and vet prospective firms with the help of validated client ratings and testimonials.
Rooted in satisfaction research for professional service firms, ClearlyRated utilizes a Net Promoter® Score survey program to help professional service firms measure their service experience, build online reputation, and differentiate on service quality. Learn more at https://www.clearlyrated.com/solutions/.
Filling critical needs in patient care since 2006, Jackson Nurse Professionals delivers cost-effective travel nurse staffing solutions to over 500 hospitals, outpatient clinics, and home health clients nationwide. Providing a national talent pool of Registered Nurses and LPNs in key specialties and environments of care, Jackson Nurse Professionals is part of the Jackson Healthcare® family of companies, one of the largest healthcare staffing organizations in the U.S. Learn more at www.jacksonnursing.com.
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SOURCE Jackson Nurse Professionals | 2022-08-15T13:48:43+00:00 | kfyrtv.com | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2022/08/15/jackson-nurse-professionals-wins-clearlyrateds-2022-best-staffing-talent-award-service-excellence/ |
Georgia Tech will look to end a four-game losing streak when it hosts Syracuse in Atlantic Coast Conference play Saturday at Atlanta.
The Yellow Jackets (8-10, 1-7) are coming off a 78-66 setback against North Carolina State on Tuesday.
NC State shot 27 of 53 (50.9 percent) from the field, including 7 of 21 (33.3 percent) from 3-point range. Georgia Tech went 28 of 71 (39.4 percent) from the floor, including an abysmal 2 of 21 (9.5 percent) from beyond the arc.
“They hit some tough shots, and we missed a lot of open shots,” Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner said. “That was the difference in the game.”
The Yellow Jackets, who have dropped six of their past seven games, were led by sophomore Jalon Moore, who scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Rodney Howard, Miles Kelly, Lance Terry and Kyle Sturdivant each scored nine points.
Kelly averages a team-high 13.6 points per game, while Dallan Coleman and Moore average 9.4. Deivon Smith averages 5.7 rebounds and a team-high 3.4 assists.
Syracuse (12-7, 5-3) had a two-game winning streak stopped when it lost 82-78 at No. 17 Miami on Monday. The Orange squandered an 11-point lead in the final 14:44.
The Orange were led by Jesse Edwards, who had 25 points — well above his 13.9 points per game average — to go with 11 rebounds.
Joe Girard III, who averages a team-high 16.9 points per game, added 21 points — despite going 1 of 8 on 3-point attempts – and five assists.
“Joe and Jesse really were good,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “They did everything you could do to try to win this game.”
Judah Mintz, who averages 14.9 points per game, finished with just three points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field.
“We lost the game because we couldn’t get the ball up the court,” Boeheim said. “It’s embarrassing and it shouldn’t happen, but we are not good against pressure, basically.”
–Field Level Media | 2023-01-21T18:53:35+00:00 | siouxlandproud.com | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/sports/ncaa-basketball/georgia-tech-faces-syracuse-aims-to-end-4-game-skid/ |
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