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NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to William Allen, who helped write Florida's new K-12 social studies curriculum, which is getting a lot of criticism for its portrayal of African American history.
Copyright 2023 NPR
NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to William Allen, who helped write Florida's new K-12 social studies curriculum, which is getting a lot of criticism for its portrayal of African American history.
Copyright 2023 NPR | 2023-07-27T15:59:53+00:00 | klcc.org | https://www.klcc.org/npr-top-stories/npr-top-stories/2023-07-27/william-allen-who-helped-write-floridas-new-history-standards-stands-by-curriculum |
His voice has become synonymous with high school sports in Santa Fe, his emotionally injected inflection now ingrained as a historical account for more than a decade’s worth of athletes.
He’s also a fan and, more importantly, a dad.
One night this fall, all three collided in a moment he’ll never forget.
Aaron Abeyta is a co-founder of Sports Primo, Santa Fe’s online sports broadcasting company, a family enterprise that has steadily grown into one of the state’s most trusted sources of online sports broadcasting entertainment. It has turned Abeyta into something of a celebrity.
On Aug. 26, Sports Primo’s broadcast of a Santa Fe High football game became a confusing blend of every emotion wrapped into one. Sitting in the Ivan Head Stadium press box for that night’s Demons-Roswell game, Abeyta was at the mic for his son’s first home start as the team’s quarterback.
Until then, Mike Abeyta spent most of his time playing basketball or running track. He’d been talked into giving football a try by Demons coach Andrew Martinez during the offseason, and it didn’t take long for Abeyta to win the starting QB job despite his lack of experience.
He was under center for the team’s Aug. 18 opener in Albuquerque, a game Aaron Abeyta attended as a fan since Sports Primo didn’t own the broadcast rights to the game.
“I ain’t going to lie, as a broadcaster and watching your own kid play is like watching all your favorite teams and players wrapped into one down there,” Aaron Abeyta said. “When they do something amazing it’s like, ‘Yes, awesome,’ and when they don’t you can’t be the sports dad and be too hard on them.”
That changed Aug. 26 on what proved to be the final play of the game against Roswell. Leading 42-0 with four minutes left in the third quarter, the Coyotes got the clinching touchdown when linebacker Frank Ramirez picked off Mike Abeyta’s pass and returned it 32 yards for a score — but not before Abeyta tried to make a tackle at the 5-yard-line.
The impact stood Abeyta up and sent him tumbling to the turf two yards downfield. The impact — and the sheer mass of a linebacker running into him at full speed — dug Abeyta’s cleats into the Ivan Head turf and forced his knee to crumble.
“I remember laying there knowing something bad just happened,” Mike Abeyta said. “The Roswell trainer kind of pulled on my leg and told the people around me that my ACL was gone. I couldn’t believe it.”
Up in the press box, the broadcaster quickly became the dad. In short, the broadcaster is no match for family ties. Aaron Abeyta’s initial reaction to the hit was laughter over the impact. Just seconds later it was silence as his son rolled onto the sideline unable to get up.
“Oh, Abeyta gets run over,” Aaron said on the air. “I don’t know, he might be … ”
Four seconds of silence, then another minute of trying to assess the situation before they went to a commercial break. All the while, Mike rolled over onto his back, his arms extended to the side as teammates and coaches ran to check on him.
Within moments a medical cart was driven onto the field to retrieve him. The entire time, there was Aaron Abeyta trying to do his job.
“In my mind, it’s just this sinking feeling of not being there with him,” Aaron said. “I have a job to do, but from that point my focus was getting the broadcast over. I just wanted to be with my son.”
Within moments, Roswell completed the mercy-rule win by getting the 2-point conversion. It took Abeyta one sentence to sign off and get out the door.
By then, Santa Fe High trainer David Manning had Mike Abeyta inside Toby Roybal Memorial Gym, laying him down on a training table. It was Manning’s bedside manner that helped calm everyone down, Aaron said.
“Manning was great; he was so calm and it put everyone at ease,” he said. “He led us in — and at that point I’m just trying to control the emotions I’m feeling — and he assessed him right there. I just kind of put my hand on my son’s shoulder letting him know I was there, just real quiet. Then Manning took me out in the hallway and told me he thought it was an ACL tear. David, man, class act.”
By then, Abeyta’s family and teammates had arrived. Within seconds the emotions poured out and in that moment, Aaron said, he couldn’t keep his mind from racing.
Of the memories that flooded back: A third grade basketball tournament when Mike Abeyta’s elementary team made it to the championship. It was the first time Aaron was able to broadcast a game his son was part of.
“Crazy because that was a game I let my emotions really come out,” he said with a laugh. “I remember choking up on the air once or twice. Just a great dad moment.”
The night of Aug. 26 was just the second time Aaron had a chance to call a game his son was playing in. It also happened to be the same day Organ Mountain High School football player Abraham Romero had died following a head injury suffered the week before.
“There are so many things to be grateful for, and that night I remember thinking how fortunate I was to be there watching my own son down on the field,” Aaron Abeyta said. “I’m so thankful to have been there, to be able to get him home knowing, hopefully, we’ll get that chance to do it again someday.”
Mike Abeyta underwent surgery about two months ago. Just this week he was cleared to do some light jogging and low-
impact work. By May, he should be ready to start running. By this time next year, he’ll be well into his senior season, presumably as the starting QB in football and a starting guard on the Demons’ basketball team.
He’ll also have the luxury of knowing the man keeping the historical record of his exploits is the one who raised him. At long last, the dad will again become the broadcaster, closing a circle that’s been a lifetime in the making.
“I mean, my dad’s been doing that basically my whole life, so seeing there is just part of who he is, you know?” Mike Abeyta said. “He’s always been there. He’s like my biggest fan.” | 2022-11-24T07:00:05+00:00 | santafenewmexican.com | https://www.santafenewmexican.com/sports/abeyta-recalls-sons-knee-injury-during-broadcast/article_99ebaaae-6b8a-11ed-b67a-5fc971829953.html |
The Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, a Hyatt resort on 15 beachfront acres in Hawaii, is far from a place to sleep. There are multiple pools, including a lagoon and three infinity pools. As part of the resort fee, you can also take a stand-up paddleboarding course, use the resort’s snorkel equipment and GoPro action camera and maybe even learn ukulele, hula or mixology.
It’s all marketed as complimentary — but it’s only sort of so. Andaz Maui is one of what the American Hotel and Lodging Association estimates is 6% of all hotels that charge a resort fee. These fees run between $20 and $50 per night — and they’ve become one of the most controversial issues in the travel industry.
NerdWallet analyzed more than 100 U.S. hotels with January 2023 check-in dates as part of its 2023 Best-Of Awards to see which hotels have the best and worst fees. Among the hotels that charge them, the average resort fee was $42.41, representing nearly 11% of the overall nightly cost. The Andaz Maui’s daily resort fee is $50 plus tax, which is above average. But because Andaz Maui’s nightly rates are also above average, the fee is about 6% of the overall nightly cost to stay in January 2023, based on data gathered in December 2022.
And like most other resorts that charge such fees, the Andaz’s fee is not optional — even if you never use the amenities.
THE CASE FOR RESORT FEES
Resort fees may be a way for hotels to increase profits without necessarily charging guests more.
“Hotels claim that resort fees allow hotels to reduce the commissions paid to online travel agents,” according to the Federal Trade Commission’s 2017 report.
Most resorts pay travel agents a commission based on the nightly rate rather than the overall cost. A lower nightly rate plus resort fee reduces what the resort must pay to the referrer.
Some resorts do go all out on amenities, which makes the resort fee seem more justifiable. Hyatt’s Alila Napa Valley in Northern California wine country charges a $55 nightly fee plus tax, which includes wine plus valet parking and the use of bikes and electric vehicle charging stations. The $50 fee for the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara in California covers amenities including yoga and water aerobics classes, electric bike rentals, guided beach walks and use of tennis courts.
Brittain Komoda, marketing manager at Andaz Maui, says splitting the fees might encourage vacationers to learn about the amenities offered and actually use them.
“We have cultural activities, water activities, GoPro rentals and other classes,” Komoda says. “We want guests to experience them and to know what they cost.”
It’s possible a tourist who otherwise would never pay separately to get on an outrigger canoe might do so because it’s included in the resort fee they paid, Komoda says. That activity might become their vacation highlight, leaving them with a more favorable memory of the resort.
And buying even a fraction of what Andaz Maui offers a la carte would likely be far more than the $50 daily resort fee — which is charged per room, not per person, Komoda says. For example, renting a GoPro from a surf shop in Wailea costs about $40 a day, and full-face snorkel mask rentals cost $17 per person. Stand-up paddleboarding lessons on Maui run about $150 to $180 per adult.
“Our intention is to greet new and returning travelers alike with immersive experiences that sum to far more than our resort fee,” Komoda says.
THE CASE AGAINST RESORT FEES
But some hotels may claim resort fees cover basic amenities, like Wi-Fi or use of the room phone.
For travelers booking expensive rooms, the additional mandatory charge to cover perks that are advertised as “complimentary” can feel stingy and confusing. In 2012, the FTC warned 22 hotels that the resort fees were not adequately disclosed on their reservation websites.
Resort fee transparency has improved. In November 2021 , Marriott committed to displaying the total price — including room rates and other mandatory fees — on the first page of its booking website.
But at other resorts that separate fees from room rates, it can be difficult to understand the total cost.
“If resort fees were included in the room rate, consumers could compare rooms at different hotels by simply viewing the room pages at the hotel websites,” according to a 2017 FTC report . “With separately-disclosed resort fees, consumers would need to add the room rate to the resort fee and remember the total for each hotel under consideration.”
Dave Betham , general manager at Courtyard Oahu North Shore in Hawaii, says it’s for this reason that his property — which offers complimentary amenities and cultural activities including ukulele and hula classes — will not charge resort fees.
“We look at it from a guest perspective,” Betham says. “We like the idea that there are no surprises.”
____________________
This article was provided to The Associated Press by the personal finance website NerdWallet. Sally French is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: sfrench@nerdwallet.com.
RELATED LINK:
NerdWallet: How to avoid hotel resort fees (and which brands are the worst) https://bit.ly/nerdwallet-hotel-resort-fees | 2023-01-18T13:46:24+00:00 | seattletimes.com | https://www.seattletimes.com/business/are-resort-fees-ever-worth-it/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_business |
Dangerous storm expected to move in mid-week
Published 8:00 pm Monday, December 19, 2022
Blizzard conditions and dangerously cold air are expected to move into the area mid-week, bringing several inches of snow and hazardous driving conditions.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch from Wednesday afternoon through late Friday night for all of central and southern Minnesota and west central Wisconsin.
A wind chill watch is also in effect from Thursday through Saturday morning as wind chills dip to between 30 below and and 45 below zero.
The weather agency stated total snow accumulation of 6 to 10 inches is possible from Wednesday through early Thursday before strong northwest winds gust as high as 55 mph and dangerously cold air surges Thursday through Saturday morning.
Whiteout conditions are expected as driving will become difficult or impossible.
The Weather Service warns that the conditions could be life-threatening if people are stranded. It advised people to adjust travel plans for late this week.
Dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.
Strong winds combined with heavy snow on trees could also result in tree damage and power outages as temperatures drop below zero. | 2022-12-20T04:56:04+00:00 | albertleatribune.com | https://www.albertleatribune.com/2022/12/dangerous-storm-expected-to-move-in-mid-week/ |
Despite Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber's objections that a new Multimodal Transition Plan does not go far enough to ensure the city's commitment to developing a less car-centric and more environmentally friendly transportation system, the City Council voted Wednesday to adopt the guiding document.
Councilor Signe Lindell and Webber cast the only votes against measure.
The plan resulted from a collaboration among several city departments — including Public Works, Land Use and Community Development — and includes recommendations for policy and infrastructure planning laid out in a 119-page report compiled by the Metropolitan Planning Organization with a goal of “reducing dependency on automobile transportation."
It aims to spur changes to design standards in the city code, creation of more bicycle lanes, expanded hours and routes for the Santa Fe Trails bus system, and parking prices that change based on demand.
Webber referenced the book The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and argued the plan's lack of recommendations for discouraging automobile use is "tantamount to raising the white flag of surrender" to cars in Santa Fe.
"I think there were two years of hard work, and when I read the document it doesn't — in my mind — measure up to the urgency of the situation or the opportunity to make a difference in our transportation policy, our land use policy, our environmental policy and our social policy," Webber said, explaining why he was voting against adoption of the plan.
The report identifies the amount of land in each of the city's various corridors dedicated to automobile use: 54 percent in downtown Santa Fe, 72 percent in the midtown area and 66 percent in southwestern Santa Fe. Yet, Webber said he saw no evidence the plan would work "to reclaim land from the automobile and convert it to community uses or constructive economic uses."
Furthermore, he said, enacting the plan's recommendations wouldn't significantly move the needle on curbing the city's greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, 35 percent of which are currently attributed to transportation.
"We're not being aggressive enough, bold enough or willing to make hard decisions to disincentivize the automobile in favor of transit, bikes and pedestrian use," Webber said. "I think we've labored mightily and produced a mouse."
He proposed sending the Multimodal Transition Plan back to the drawing board to seek a "bolder" and "visionary effort."
The plan was the only item on a consent agenda for the council's hourlong meeting Wednesday to be pulled for discussion, while 19 other items — including budget amendments, land use decisions and state legislative priorities — received unanimous approval in one sweeping vote.
Other items included in the approval vote without discussion include the following:
A plan for a land swap with the state in which the city is set to receive six properties on Siringo Road and St. Michael's Drive, plus almost $5 million, in exchange for one piece of property on Cerrillos Road and one on Camino Entrada that have been leased by the state. The state-owned parcels would aid the city in its massive redevelopment of the midtown campus, according to a resolution. The trade still must be approved by the Legislature.
A memorandum of understanding pledging a commitment to change water use practices to conserve resources, along with other public water systems in the Colorado River Basin.
A contract with Carrollo Engineers of more than $3.7 million for the design of the San Juan Chama Return Flow Project, which includes a pump station and 17-mile pipeline from the city's wastewater treatment facility on Paseo Real to the Rio Grande, directly downstream of the Buckman Direct Diversion intake. The pipeline project, estimated to cost more than $20 million, is intended to send treated effluent to the Rio Grande in exchange for credits for future San Juan-Chama Project flows to help prevent city water shortages in coming decades. The design contract for Carrollo Engineers was awarded after a competitive bid process.
Final approvals for land use amendments in preparation for Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center's construction of a new cancer center adjacent to its main campus on St. Michael's Drive.
Legislative priorities and capital outlay funding requests from the Legislature that include $10 million for planning and construction of infrastructure at the midtown property, $7.5 million for four artificial turf fields, $2 million to design and remodel Fogelson Library at the midtown campus into a new central library and $3.5 million for improvements at SWAN Park. | 2022-11-10T07:06:52+00:00 | santafenewmexican.com | https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/city-council-backs-plan-to-reduce-car-use-despite-mayors-push-to-be-bolder/article_d03a312a-604f-11ed-843f-f7b512a18d0b.html |
Recognized for its Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision
TORONTO, Jan. 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vena, the Complete Planning platform is loved by finance and trusted by business. The company today announced it has been named a Challenger in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Financial Planning Software.
"We are delighted that Vena is positioned as a Challenger in the Magic Quadrant," said Hugh Cumming, Chief Technology Officer for Vena. "We believe our native integrations with Microsoft technology enable Vena customers to leverage Microsoft Excel, Power BI and Azure to gain deep insights from their financial and operational data through our advanced AI-driven analytics. We are proud of the Vena team and look forward to continuing to execute against our mission to elevate the strategic office of finance."
Gartner defines financial planning software as "the key tool that enables organizations to manage their enterprisewide financial planning, forecasting and budgeting processes. Financial planning software allows finance organizations to plan and analyze business financial strategy for the organization across all three financial statements (that is, profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flows). It supports modeling, collaboration, analytics and performance-reporting capabilities, all of which enhance a user's ability to effectively manage financial performance".
This is the latest recognition for Vena in 2022. Earlier this year, the company was named an Overall Leader in the Dresner Advisory Services 2022 Wisdom of Crowds Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Market Study. Vena was also recognized as a major player in the 2022 IDC Marketscape Enterprise Planning, Budgeting and Forecasting Applications report and as a leader in the G2 Grid Report for Budgeting and Forecasting Winter 2023. Vena also received a 2022 Best Software award by TrustRadius, the community-driven product reviews site.
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software, Regina Crowder, Matthew Mowrey, et al.., 14 December 2022 . Gartner and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Vena is the only native Excel Complete Planning platform built for Microsoft 365 with Power BI Embedded. Vena transforms how business, finance and operations leaders Plan To Grow™ with the Vena Growth Engine, the SaaS platform and methodology that empowers and inspires your plans and guides your growth journey. Over 1,300 of the world's leading companies power their growth with Vena. For more information, visit venasolutions.com.
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SOURCE Vena | 2023-01-12T15:29:30+00:00 | newschannel10.com | https://www.newschannel10.com/prnewswire/2023/01/12/vena-named-challenger-2022-gartner-magic-quadrant-financial-planning-software/ |
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- (AP) — Rapper Meek Mill, who spent most of his adult life on probation following a teenage arrest, celebrated the latest twist in his legal case Friday after he was pardoned by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.
“I got pardoned today,” the 35-year-old rapper born Robert Williams tweeted, noting he has come a long way.
Under a photo of the pardon on Instagram, the Philadelphia rapper-turned-entrepreneur, who has been active in criminal justice reform for years, vowed to keep doing more for his community.
Wolf signed his final 369 pardons this week, adding to his Pennsylvania record of number of pardons granted since he took office in 2015. Williams was pardoned of gun and drug charges.
At a 2008 trial, a judge found Williams guilty of drug and gun charges and sentenced him to about one to two years in jail followed by 10 years of probation.
The case came to a head in 2017, when the judge sentenced Williams to two to four years in prison for violating probation, citing a failed drug test, failure to comply with an order restricting his travel and two unrelated arrests. The judge issued the ruling despite a prosecutor and a probation officer recommending that Williams not be incarcerated.
Williams spent months in prison before he was released, and a Pennsylvania appeals court overturned his conviction in 2019 because new evidence undermined the credibility of the arresting officer. The next month, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge in a deal that resolved the 2007 arrest. | 2023-01-13T20:05:29+00:00 | sfgate.com | https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Pardon-ends-Meek-Mill-s-legal-odyssey-on-drug-17716316.php |
(WFRV) – A man from Marquette County was arrested for his fifth OWI after authorities had to use a tire deflation device because he did not pull over.
According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, on June 13 around 7 p.m., authorities responded to a complaint of a driver that was driving erratically. The driver reportedly did not stop.
Shortly after, the vehicle hit a tire deflation device and came to a stop on I-41 northbound just south of STH 21. The driver, identified as 58-year-old Michael Welch, was placed in custody. Welch is reportedly from Montello.
Authorities reportedly saw signs of impairment, and after standardized field sobriety tests were done, the driver was arrested. He was arrested for Operating While Intoxicated 5th Offense.
The incident is still under investigation, and no additional information was provided. Local 5 will continue to update this story if more details are released. | 2022-06-14T13:30:25+00:00 | wearegreenbay.com | https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/local-news/man-arrested-for-5th-owi-in-fond-du-lac-county-didnt-stop-for-authorities/ |
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GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador started a five-day tour to four Central American countries and Cuba on Thursday by lashing out at the U.S. government.
López Obrador criticized American officials sharply for being quick to send billions to Ukraine, while dragging their feet on development aid to Central America.
On his first stop in neighboring Guatemala, López Obrador demanded U.S. aid to stem the poverty and joblessness that sends tens of thousands of Guatemalans north to the U.S. border. The Mexican leader had been angered that the United States rebuffed his calls to help expand his tree-planting program to Central America.
“They are different things and they shouldn't be compared categorically, but they have already approved $30 billion for the war in Ukraine, while we have been waiting since President Donald Trump, asking they donate $4 billion, and as of today, nothing, absolutely nothing,” López Obrador said.
“Honestly, it seems inexplicable,” he added. “For our part, we are going to continue to respectfully insist on the need for the United States to collaborate.”
López Obrador's pet program, known as “Planting Life,” pays farmers a monthly wage to plant and care for fruit and lumber trees on their farms.
Mexico has asked the U.S. government to help fund the program, something that so far hasn’t happened. Mexico is also touting another program that apprentices young people to companies. Critics say both programs lack accountability.
Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard wrote in his social media accounts that meetings with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei and other officials focused on development, migration and strengthening bilateral ties.
Ebrard said Mexico was starting the tree program in the Guatemalan province of Chimaltenango.
It is only be the third overseas trip in more than three years for López Obrador, who is fond of saying that the best foreign policy is good domestic policy. The tour is an opportunity for Mexico to reassert itself as a leader in Latin America and will be welcomed by some leaders under pressure from the U.S. government and others for their alleged anti-democratic tendencies.
Both geographically and metaphorically, Mexico finds itself wedged between the United States and the rest of Latin America. López Obrador has deflected criticism dating to the Trump administration that his government is doing Washington’s dirty work in trying to stop migrants before they reach the U.S. border.
López Obrador will be received in Central America, in part, as an emissary of the United States when it comes to migration policy.
The U.S. government has been trying to build consensus ahead of the June Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles to cement a regional approach to managing migration flows. In recent years large numbers of Central Americans, but also Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans, Colombians and migrants arriving from other continents, have made their way up through the Americas.
The visit is an opportunity for López Obrador to show some independence from the United States. López Obrador has criticized the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba and he said that he told U.S. officials that no country should be excluded from the Summit of the Americas. The Biden administration has signaled that Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua would not be invited.
Giammattei, meanwhile, has been under pressure from the U.S. government for backsliding on the country’s fight against corruption — a campaign central to López Obrador’s image in Mexico.
López Obrador will continue on to El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele has faced international condemnation since imposing a state of emergency after a surge in gang killings at the end of March.
A visit from López Obrador, who prefers a “hugs not bullets” approach to security, is an opportunity to show he’s not being isolated. El Salvador’s security forces have arrested more than 24,000 suspected gang members in just over a month and human rights organizations say there have been many arbitrary arrests.
In Honduras, new President Xiomara Castro has forged a close relationship with the Biden administration. Last month, Honduras extradited former President Juan Orlando Hernández to face drug and weapons charges in the U.S. Castro is desperate to activate the economy and create jobs, so could be open to López Obrador’s proposals if there is money behind it.
The president’s agenda in Belize is less clear, but his final stop in Cuba will be the most symbolic. Cuba President Miguel Díaz-Canel visited Mexico for its independence celebrations last year.
López Obrador has largely governed as a nationalist and populist, but he has positioned himself politically as a a devoted leftist. | 2022-05-06T06:54:57+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Mexican-president-slams-US-on-tour-of-Central-17153151.php |
Dakota Rural Action is offering a new incentive to support local farmers markets and gardening in western South Dakota. Beginning in June, Dakota Rural Action is collecting SoDak Grown punch cards.
Each time an individual purchases or harvests a local food item, that counts as one punch on the card. If someone buys three local food items in one day, they’ll get three punches. Harvest 12 local food items, and an individual can get all 12 punches. When a SoDak Grown punch card is filled, it can be turned in at any participating location.
The card will be entered into a monthly drawing for a chance to win gift cards from local businesses. Drawings will take place during the months of June through October to highlight the peak of the local food season in South Dakota.
Participating farmers’ markets and grocery stores will have punch cards available at their locations throughout the summer and in the fall through October. Participating Black Hills locations include: Cox’s Farm Stand, Rapid City; Bear Butte Gardens, Sturgis; Cycle Farms, Spearfish; and Hot Springs Farmers Market.
People are also reading…
For more information, contact Dakota Rural Action at action@dakotarural.org or call 605-697-5204, or follow facebook.com/SoDakGrown/ | 2022-05-25T00:55:15+00:00 | rapidcityjournal.com | https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/punch-cards-urge-support-for-farmers-gardening/article_2e904d85-a992-5cce-ad53-b29d47197d87.html |
A former Premier League soccer player was handed a 7½-year prison sentence Thursday for defrauding his family and friends of £15 million ($18.2m).
Richard Rufus, who played in England's top division with Charlton Athletic from 1998-2004 and also was an England under-21 international, claimed he was a successful foreign exchange trader and convinced his victims to invest in what he said was a "low-risk" scheme with promises of returns of 60% a year.
Rufus, 47, was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court of fraud, money laundering and carrying out a regulated activity without authorization.
Prosecutors found that Rufus used some of the money invested to pay back others in a pyramid scheme and the rest of the cash to "maintain a lifestyle of an elite professional footballer."
"Rufus acted in a selfish manner without any concern for his victims," Roger Makanjuola of the Crown Prosecution Service said.
"He took advantage of his status as a professional athlete, a respected church member and he used the goodwill of his family and friends to scam them and associates out of millions of pounds by falsely claiming he was able to offer a low-risk investment in the Foreign Exchange Market."
Rufus, who only played for Charlton in his pro career, was forced into retirement in 2004 because of a knee injury. | 2023-01-12T16:46:19+00:00 | espn.com | https://www.espn.com/soccer/english-premier-league/story/4850535/former-premier-league-player-richard-rufus-jailed-for-fraud |
Gorman’s 2-run homer, 3 hits lift Cardinals over Padres 6-3
By WARREN MAYES
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Fast-starting Nolan Gorman hit a go-ahead, two-run homer, rookie Andre Pallante got his first big league win in his 17th appearance and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 6-3 on Monday.
Paul Goldschmidt, batting just behind Gorman in the No. 3 slot, also hit two-run homer for the Cardinals.
Gorman, a 22-year-old who was the 19th overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft, made his major league debut on May 20 and hit his first home run Saturday off Milwaukee’s Adrian Houser. Gorman homered on a changeup from Nick Martinez (2-3) for a 2-1 lead in the third inning, had his second three-hit game and is batting .387.
He singled in the first but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. He also walked.
Pallante, a 23-year-old right-hander, allowed one run and five hits over 3 1/3 innings with a career-high five strikeouts and no walks. He was the second of five pitchers in an all-bullpen game for the starting pitcher-short Cardinals.
Goldschmidt hit his 11th home run of the season, a seventh-inning drive off Steven Wilson that was his fifth in seven games. Goldschmidt is batting .352 with a 21-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in a career-high 35 consecutive games, the longest streak in the major leagues this season.
Goldschmidt has 32 RBIs in May, and 17 of his last 29 hits have been for extra bases (nine home runs and eight doubles).
Packy Naughton, recalled from Triple-A Memphis, started for the Cardinals and went 2 1/3 innings. He fell behind on a third-inning RBI single by Jurickson Profar, who had three hits.
Giovanny Gallegos and Génesis Cabrera each pitched a scoreless inning, and Ryan Helsley got four outs, allowing Manny Machado’s RBI single in the ninth.
Tommy Edman boosted the lead to 3-1 with an RBI single in the fifth, but Austin Nola’s run-scoring single cut the gap in the sixth.
Yadier Molina added an RBI double in the three-run seventh.
Martinez gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings.
MILESTONE WATCH
Albert Pujols played in the 2,997th game and is four from tying Cal Ripkin Jr. for eighth. Pujols needs two hits to match Paul Molitor for ninth at 3,319 … Molina is one at-bat from tying Johnny Bench at 7,658 for fifth among primary catcher.
CARDS, PADRES ON MEMORIAL DAY HOLIDAY
The only prior time the Cardinals and Padres faced off on Memorial Day before was back in 1975 at Busch Stadium II. San Diego scored a 9-6 victory in a game that Bob Gibson started and Lou Brock recorded a double and stolen base.
ROSTER MOVE
Cardinals: Jake Woodford was optioned to Memphis.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: 3B Machado was back in the starting lineup after missing two games with what the club described as the effects of tennis elbow in his right arm. … RF Wil Meyers, who missed Sunday’s game with right knee inflammation, ran before the game. … RHP Mike Clevinger (right triceps strain) is on track to rejoin the club during its June 2-5 series in Milwaukee.
Cardinals: CF Harrison Bader was back in the Cardinals’ lineup Monday. He missed Sunday’s game against Milwaukee when he was ill. … LF Tyler O’Neill (right shoulder impingement) is back to swinging the bat in the cage. His throwing program is progressing. O’Neill may begin a rehab assignment Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Paadres: LHP Blake Snell (0-2, 6.00) will be making his third start of the year. In his last start, he gave up three earned runs in 5 1/3 in a 4-1 loss to Milwaukee.
Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (5-4, 2.13) will be facing the Padres for the first time this season and 18th time. He is 6-0 with a 1.73 ERA in eight starts and two relief appearances against San Diego during the regular season at Busch Stadium, never allowing a home run in 58 2/3 innings.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2022-05-30T23:09:14+00:00 | keyt.com | https://keyt.com/news/2022/05/30/gormans-2-run-homer-3-hits-lift-cardinals-over-padres-6-3/ |
(NerdWallet) – Medicare open enrollment starts today, but 7 in 10 Medicare beneficiaries say they don’t compare Medicare plans during this period, according to a 2021 analysis by KFF, a health policy nonprofit.
That’s not great, since Medicare Advantage plans — which operate much like the private insurance you may have had through an employer — change from year to year. One of your doctors may have fallen out of network or your prescription drug prices may have gone up. And people with Original Medicare should compare their Part D prescription drug coverage.
Here’s how to approach switching Medicare plans.
Take advantage of enrollment periods
If you have a Medicare plan, Medicare open enrollment from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 is your opportunity to change coverage. You can switch from Original Medicare to Medicare Advantage, or vice versa, or enroll in or change Medicare Part D prescription drug plans.
If you have Medicare Advantage, you can also use Medicare Advantage open enrollment from Jan. 1 to March 31 each year to switch plans or go back to Original Medicare and sign up for a Medicare Part D drug plan.
Consider prescription drugs
If you’re on any prescription medications, understand how your current plan will cover them in 2023 and whether another plan might be more affordable.
“It can be as simple as putting your drugs into Medicare.gov,” says Scott Maibor, a Medicare advisor based in Boston. “You should at least verify that ‘This is the plan I’m on, this is the plan that’s recommended, what are the savings?’”
That’s because Part D prescription drug plans — whether you’re with Original Medicare or getting coverage through a Medicare Advantage plan — can change each year. You may find that one of your prescriptions will cost more in 2023, or that your plan will stop covering it. Or you may have started a new medication and you can find a plan that charges you less for it.
Don’t forget to browse your drug plan’s preferred pharmacies. “It’s not even just a matter of cost sometimes, it’s a matter of location,” says Karen Schechter, director and assistant professor of the health care management and health administration programs at Maryville University. “If I’m a person who needs to refill a prescription once a month, I may not want to go to a place that’s far away.”
Think hard before giving up your Medigap plan
You’re first eligible for a Medicare Supplement Insurance, or Medigap, plan once you’re 65 or older and you have Medicare Part B. This six-month Medigap open enrollment period happens only once, and you can buy any policy you want, regardless of your health. After that, you may not be able to get a Medigap plan — or it might cost more.
Medigap pays many of the out-of-pocket costs of Original Medicare. If you have a serious or chronic health condition, that can lead to significant cost savings. Some people switch to Medicare Advantage plans during open enrollment, not realizing they might not be able to switch back to a Medigap plan later.
“Our clients are sitting at home, they’re seeing these commercials on television talking about the free gym membership, zero premiums and they go ahead and make changes on their own,” says Emily Gang, owner of The Medicare Coach. “They realize early in the year that they made a mistake and we can’t go back.”
Complete the process
To sign up for a new plan, you’ll need your Medicare number and the date your Part A and/or Part B coverage started. (All of this information is on your Medicare card.)
You may be able to enroll online, but you might also have to make a call or two:
- If you’re moving from one Medicare Advantage plan to another, you’ll be disenrolled from your previous plan automatically once your new coverage kicks in.
- If you’re switching from Medicare Advantage to Original Medicare, call 800-MEDICARE to make the change or call your plan provider to disenroll. Don’t forget to sign up for prescription drug coverage (Part D) to avoid paying a penalty.
- If you’re switching from Original Medicare to Medicare Advantage, your new plan will transfer your benefits from Medicare.
- If you’re switching Part D drug plans, your old coverage will end when your new coverage starts.
- If you’re staying with your current plan, do nothing. Your coverage will renew automatically. | 2022-10-23T17:03:35+00:00 | wric.com | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/how-to-change-medicare-plans-and-why-you-might-want-to/ |
AUBURN, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — After NewsChannel 9 aired that Ani the Pitbull was dumped in Fleming Park, viewers took the problem into their own hands.
Back on December 29, 2-year-old Ani was abandoned in Auburn and then left in the hands of the Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York.
The traffic that came from the coverage on this pooch caused a positive stir. Ani has had many people interested in fostering and even possibly adopting her through the SPCA’S extensive screening process.
“Due to the story airing and being on Facebook, we got several good leads and located the individual that was involved,” Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York Investigator Tom Adessa.
As of today, Ani has already been fostered for a week. And according to Adessa, she is on the road to being adopted soon.
“It’s a double-edged sword, it’s got a lot of bad things but it’s got a lot of good things too,” he added.
Adessa said that Ani is a very happy dog who possesses a lot of social skills, and whoever had her before, taught her some commands.
“When I went to check on her she was licking my fingers through the Kennel,” Adessa continued.
One thing about social media is that although it can have a tendency to be used as a weapon, there are other times when it can be used for good.
Adessa briefly talked about another situation where a woman had passed away while having five Maine Coon cats in her possession. Someone called it in so that the SPCA could take care of the animals.
The SPCA then proceeded to post the cats on Facebook, explaining the situation and the care the cats would need if they were adopted.
From one simple post, all 5 cats were adopted out in a matter of 10 days, and “that got started on Facebook,” said Adessa.
If you are looking to adopt a pet from the Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York, you can check out their website or call 315-253-5841 for general information or adoptions. | 2023-01-04T22:18:19+00:00 | localsyr.com | https://www.localsyr.com/news/local-news/update-dog-dumped-in-auburn-soon-to-be-adopted/ |
EL DORADO HILLS, Calif., April 20, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Patra, a leading technology services provider to the insurance industry, announced that CertVault™, their Certificate of Insurance Management Platform, has surpassed 1,700,000 digital certificates of insurance and over 75,000 companies registered as users. CertVault has seen rapid growth since launching with its inaugural customers 2 years ago and is now on pace to surpass 125,000 registered companies and over 3 million digital certificates on the platform by the end of the year.
Patra's certificate processing services allow retail brokers and agencies to efficiently and accurately issue certificates on behalf of their clients, freeing up their own staff to focus on revenue-growing activity. Strong demand for Patra's certificate management service has resulted in a consistent annual growth rate for this service of more than 10%; the company expects to issue over 5 million certificates this year.
"Combining CertVault with Patra's certificate services gives our broker clients a modern and powerful solution to the challenge of issuing and distributing certificates. CertVault has created a powerful network effect across its broker customers, since a certificate holder for one broker's insured is also a holder for other brokers' insureds. We only have to sign them up once for all brokers using CertVault to take advantage of their registration and usage of the platform," said Will Dogan, SVP of Product Management of Patra. "With CertVault, we have moved to a fully digital experience which benefits insureds, certificate holders, and insurance agencies. These adoption metrics show that the insurance industry is ready for an innovative approach."
With approximately 40% of all certificates still being mailed, CertVault allows Patra customers to save significant time, money, and printing and postage costs by creating a national centralized repository and distribution platform for certificates of insurance. Utilizing optical character recognition to digitize certificates and blockchain technology to provide maximum security, CertVault provides a digital delivery experience for certificate holders, and allows them to maintain their contact information – ensuring a higher delivery rate over time.
"Patra's CertVault technology is one-of-a-kind in the industry. As we continue to build on USI's long history of innovation, we are proud to work with partners like Patra, who continuously demonstrate a strong commitment to delivering innovative solutions," said Stew Gibson, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of USI Insurance Services. "Working together to develop and implement CertVault across USI's commercial lines business reinforces this shared commitment and our drive to deliver the USI ONE Advantage® to all of our valued clients and prospective clients."
About Patra
Patra is a leading provider of technology-enabled services to the insurance industry. Patra powers insurance processes by optimizing the application of people and technology, supporting insurance organizations as they sell, deliver, and manage policies and customers through our PatraOne platform. Patra's global team of over 5,000 process executives in geopolitically stable and democratic countries that protect data allows agencies, MGAs, wholesalers, and carriers to capture the Patra Advantage – profitable growth and organizational value.
For more information on Patra's suite of Insurance Policy Lifecycle and Administrative services, visit www.patracorp.com.
Media Contact:
William Wagner
wwagner@patracorp.com
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SOURCE Patra Corporation | 2023-04-20T12:37:02+00:00 | wlbt.com | https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2023/04/20/patras-certvault-surpasses-17m-certificates-insurance-has-signed-up-over-75000-companies-registered-users/ |
Brooms are often overlooked among household tools, but when it comes time to clean up an unexpected mess, or the family pet’s hair is swirling around the floor, they’re essential to keeping your home clean.
There are many styles of brooms with multiple purposes, depending on the size of the job and the type of flooring to be swept. Most brooms are affordable and can be conveniently stored on a wall mount, in a closet or a dustpan station.
In this article: Oxo Good Grips Large Extendable Broom, O-Cedar Heavy-Duty Corn Broom and Libman Rough Surface Heavy-Duty Push Broom.
What are the different types of brooms?
There are four primary types of brooms:
- Angle brooms are lightweight, with slanted bristles that make it easy to reach tight spaces. They are also called lobby brooms.
- Push brooms feature wider sweeping heads for covering larger areas such as driveways, workshops and factory floors. They are made with heavy-duty material that works on different surfaces.
- Corn brooms, also called Amish brooms, are sturdy and stiff. They are made from corn straw and can be used both indoors and outside.
- Whisk brooms are short brooms without handles, designed to easily sweep a collection of dirt and debris into a dustpan. They also can be used in small spaces where a long handle would get in the way.
What are the different bristles?
The two main types of bristles are flagged and unflagged.
- Flagged bristles are frayed at the end to collect small particles and dust.
- Unflagged bristles are stiff and straight, designed for larger sweeping jobs in open spaces.
Bristles are made from a wide variety of materials such as polypropylene, nylon and other synthetic fibers. Other bristles are made from natural materials such as horsehair, corn straw or Tampico fibers. Each material has it own advantages, based on the type of floor and debris that you are sweeping.
How do you clean a broom?
Brooms should be cleaned on a regular basis to keep from spreading dirt and germs around your home. Soak the bristles in soapy water and remove built-up dirt and dust with your hands or a cloth. The dust pan and handle can be cleaned with a disinfectant spray.
Best brooms
Oxo Good Grips Large Extendable Broom
This retractable broom extends to full size with an easy twist and when retracted is the ideal size for sweeping into the included dustpan. The flagged bristles easily collect dust over a wide area.
Sold by Amazon
This extra-strong corn broom is 56 inches tall with an 8-inch swath of wire-bound bristles, reinforced by polytwine stitching. It works indoors or outdoors for commercial or residential uses.
Sold by Amazon
Libman Rough Surface Heavy-Duty Push Broom
This heavy-duty push broom has a 59-inch handle with a 24-inch head of sturdy unflagged plastic bristles. It has resin brackets to reinforce the downward force when sweeping. It is excellent for both commercial and residential applications.
Sold by Amazon
This affordable angle broom sweeps a 10- to 12-inch path with angled bristles that reach under furniture and into tight spaces. It can double as a whisk broom with a removable handle. It includes a handle hole for easy hanging.
Sold by Home Depot
This handheld whisk broom is 4 inches wide with a 9.5-inch handle that works great on dust and dirt. The nylon bristles are extra strong and can be easily cleaned with water. It offers a five-year guarantee.
Sold by Amazon
Ergonomically designed for less effort, this 24-inch push broom has an adjustable pole between 51 to 65 inches. It works well on large areas with durable angled bristles designed for garages, driveways and industrial floors.
Sold by Amazon
Rubbermaid Commercial Angle Broom
Designed for hard-to-reach areas, this angle broom features stain resistant bristles made from durable polypropylene that won’t pull out. It has a 55-inch handle with a 9-inch sweeping head.
Sold by Home Depot
With a 52-inch heavy-duty broom and rubber-edged dustpan, this set stands conveniently in a holder that can sit on the floor or be mounted to the wall. It has built-in comb teeth for catching hair.
Sold by Amazon
Quickie Job Site Indoor/Outdoor Push Broom
With a large 24-inch sweeping head, this push broom is ideal for basements, garages and cement floors. It has soft outer and hard inner fibers for sweeping medium levels of dirt, along with a 60-inch hardwood handle and steel braces.
Sold by Home Depot
Jehonn Long Handle Rotating Broom
This lightweight but sturdy broom has an extendable handle up to 46.5 inches. It has a 180-degree rotating head that can reach underneath furniture, beds and tables to sweep blind areas. It comes with an upright dustbin stand.
Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
- If you have a lot of pet hair to sweep on a regular basis, consider the O-Cedar Pet Pro Angle Broom, with a V shape and bristle design that pick up three times as much hair from your furry friend.
- For removing pet hair from carpet, try the Conliwell Rubber Broom Carpet Rake with sturdy rubber bristles that ball up pet hair instead of spreading it around.
- To easily store your brooms, use Command Broom Gripper Wall Hooks, which hold up to 1-inch-diameter brooms, without damaging the wall when you remove them.
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Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | 2023-03-30T01:00:34+00:00 | valleycentral.com | https://www.valleycentral.com/reviews/br/home-br/cleaning-tools-supplies-br/the-11-best-brooms-for-every-type-of-job/ |
TOKYO, July 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Investor Communications Japan (ICJ), a joint venture by Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), a global Fintech leader, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc. (TSE), announced today that the number of share-issuing companies on its electronic proxy voting platform (the Platform) has exceeded 1,700 listings, an increase of 499 companies since June 2021.
As of June 2022, over 1,600 companies listed on the Prime Market of the TSE participate in the Platform, representing 87% of the companies in that market or 98% by market capitalization. In addition, over 100 companies listed on the Standard Market and over 20 companies listed on the Growth Market participate in the Platform, and in June of this year, over 1,200 of all companies listed on the TSE that held general meetings of shareholders participated in the Platform (up by over 300 companies).
"Increasing numbers of listed companies and institutional investors are seeking to ensure sufficient time to exercise voting rights based on constructive dialogue and the Platform better enables this process," said ICJ President, Shigeo Imakiire. "This increase in companies joining the Platform is proof that the voting environment has dramatically improved to facilitate the objectives of Japan's Corporate Governance and Stewardship codes."
"ICJ will continue working to strengthen the competitiveness of Japan's capital markets and advance corporate governance through the digitalization of general shareholder meeting processes. ICJ aims to support effective dialogue between companies and investors, and the realization of greater operational efficiency and provision of valuable services for general shareholder meeting participants."
Digitizing and Streamlining
"Broadridge is proud to support the ongoing growth of electronic proxy voting in Japan, by providing innovative digital technology solutions to benefit issuers and investors and help modernize the industry," said Demi Derem, managing director of International Investor Communication Solutions at Broadridge. "Through our collaboration in the Japan market, we enable greater issuer and shareholder participation, market wide transparency, and set the standard for proxy communications and voting."
The ICJ Platform digitizes the processes of general shareholders meetings to streamline operations and contribute to the competitiveness of Japan's capital markets. It helps listed companies engage constructively with institutional investors by providing the opportunity for well-informed engagement before, during, and after shareholder meetings.
Increased Interest
Listed Japanese companies using the platform increased substantially following its March 2006 launch and accelerated after the implementation of the Corporate Governance Code in 2015 and the recommendation to use the Platform by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Study Group on Promoting Electronification of Processes for Shareholder Meetings in 2016.
More recently, a revision made to the Corporate Governance Code in 2021 that requests Prime Market-listed companies promote the use of electronic voting platforms further accelerated this trend. After almost 18 years, the Platform has become a key part of the infrastructure of Japan's capital markets.
ICJ is part of Broadridge's local market commitments to enhance corporate governance and increase shareholder democracy at a national level in markets around the world. Broadridge's infrastructure serves as a global communications hub, enabling higher standards of corporate governance and investor stewardship by linking thousands of public companies and mutual funds to tens of millions of individual and institutional investors around the world.
About Broadridge
Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR), a global Fintech leader with $5 billion in revenues, provides the critical infrastructure that powers investing, corporate governance, and communications to enable better financial lives. We deliver technology-driven solutions that drive business transformation for banks, broker-dealers, asset and wealth managers and public companies. Broadridge's infrastructure serves as a global communications hub enabling corporate governance by linking thousands of public companies and mutual funds to tens of millions of individual and institutional investors around the world. Our technology and operations platforms underpin the daily trading of more than $9 trillion of equities, fixed income and other securities globally. A certified Great Place to Work®, Broadridge is part of the S&P 500® Index, employing over 13,000 associates in 21 countries. For more information about us, please visit www.broadridge.com.
About ICJ
Investor Communications Japan, Inc. (ICJ) is exclusively providing electronic proxy voting platform services for Japanese issuers and global institutional investors. The participants on ICJ platform are: 1,738 Japanese issuers, 6 transfer agents, 3 master trusts banks, 6 subcustody banks, 17 global custody banks and about 4,500 institutional investors worldwide. ICJ delivered 36 % of all voting shares of ICJ participating issuers in June 2022 AGM peak season. For more information of ICJ and participating issuers, please visit www.icj-co.jp.
Media contact:
Ashton Consulting: broadridgejapanpr@ashton.jp
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SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. | 2022-07-28T03:05:54+00:00 | wsfa.com | https://www.wsfa.com/prnewswire/2022/07/28/participation-investor-communications-japans-icj-proxy-platform-surpasses-1700-listed-companies/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Fashion’s biggest night is underway — after all, it is the first Monday in May.
Guests have started to arrive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the 2023 Met Gala.
This year’s theme revolves around late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.
Slideshow: 2023 Met Gala Looks
PEEK AT THE GUEST LIST
The worlds of fashion, Hollywood, sports and music are set to collide at the Met Gala tonight.
There will be supermodels, including Amber Valletta, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Carolyn Murphy, Emily Ratajkowski and Gigi Hadid walking alongside sports icons like Serena Williams, host Roger Federer, Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook, Patrick Mahomes and Andy Roddick. Along those lines: Yes, Gisele Bündchen will be there; no, Tom Brady isn’t on the list.
Stars from hit shows like “Succession,” including Jeremy Strong and Alexander Skarsgård and “The Last of Us,” with Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal are expected, as are several recent Oscar winners like “Everything Everywhere All At Once’s” Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh.
Broadway will be well represented with Phillipa Soo, Ben Platt, Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff as well as a host of movie stars, including the likes of Margot Robbie, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lopez, Rami Malek, Robert Pattinson, Hugh Jackman and Florence Pugh, directors (Baz Luhrmann, Taika Waititi, Olivia Wilde and Sofia Coppola among them) and even executives, like Disney CEO Bob Iger and Interscope co-founder Jimmy Iovine.
There will be designers like Miuccia Prada, Stella McCartney, Vera Wang, Donatella Versace, Prabal Gurung, Tommy Hilfiger and Alessandro Michele, heiresses like Paris Hilton and Ivy Getty and actual royalty, like Charlotte Casiraghi. And from the music world, Billie Eilish, FINNEAS, Lil Nas X, host Dua Lipa, Tems and Usher.
WHO’S MISSING FROM THE GUEST LIST?
The guest list handed out to reporters was more than seven pages long — but there were some big names missing. The mononymous showstoppers from previous years — Beyoncé, Rihanna and Zendaya — were all absent.
Blake Lively already told us she wouldn’t make it this year. Lively’s good friend Taylor Swift also wasn’t on the list; while her Eras tour is in full swing, she played Atlanta last night and isn’t due to play Nashville until Friday.
Two of Lagerfeld’s own “choupettes” (human edition), Vanessa Paradis and daughter Lily-Rose Depp, were also not on the list. But surprises are never out of the question.
HOW TO WATCH THE MET GALA
A livestream will kick off on Vogue.com at 6:30 p.m. Eastern. But the AP can give you a first look at what to expect — check back here in the late afternoon for a livestream of departures from the Mark Hotel, a nearby venue where many stars get ready for the gala. | 2023-05-02T00:41:44+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/photos-guests-arrive-at-met-gala-2023/ |
Ever since the first season of The Crown debuted on Netflix in 2016, fans have wondered what the royal family thinks of the fictional representation of their family and some of their biggest life events.
More recently, now that The Crown season 5 is streaming, there have been calls for a disclaimer to be added to creator Peter Morgan's historical drama to further clarify that the series is a fictional account of events involving the royal family.
Over the years, there have been stories told about how the real-life royals feel about the show, with some members of the family even speaking out about the wildly popular series. Here's a look at those accounts.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip
Following Queen Elizabeth II's death on Sept. 8, Matt Smith -- who portrayed her husband, Prince Philip, on the first few seasons of The Crown -- shared what he'd heard about what Her Majesty thought of the show and recalled meeting one of the royals.
"I met the now-King Charles [III], I told him that he had fabulous shoes … and then I met [Prince] Harry once at the Polo," he said on the Today show. "[Harry] walked up to me and he went, 'Granddad,' because he watched the show."
When it comes to Queen Elizabeth, Smith noted, "I heard the queen had watched [The Crown], and she used to watch it on a projector on a Sunday night, apparently."
Matt Smith as Prince Philip and Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II in season 1 of 'The Crown.'
Vanessa Kirby -- who portrayed Queen Elizabeth's sister, Princess Margaret, in the first seasons of The Crown -- also said that she too had heard that Her Highness watched the series.
“A friend of mine was at a party where he didn’t know anyone, so [he] sidled up to a group who were discussing the show,” she explained on The Graham Norton Show. “One of the women said, ‘My granny kind of likes it.'"
The "granny" in question was none other than Queen Elizabeth!
"It turns out, it was one of the princesses. The queen’s granddaughter," Kirby said, referring to sisters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. "It’s quite a reliable source-ish -- so I’m sure she’s a fan."
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
While on The Late Late Show With James Corden, Prince Harry candidly spoke about what he thinks of The Crown.
"They don't pretend to be news, it's fictional. But it's loosely based on the truth. Of course it's not strictly accurate, but loosely," he said. "It gives you a rough idea about what the lifestyle, what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else, what can come from that."
Harry further noted that he's not as bothered by the show as he is by the real-life press his family receives.
"I'm way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family, or my wife, or myself," he told Corden. "Because it's the difference between, [The Crown] is obviously fiction, take it how you will, but [the tabloid stories] are being reported on as fact, because you're supposedly news. I have a real issue with that."
The Duke of Sussex even offered up a suggestion as to who could play him if The Crown were to reach the present day. Harry suggested Billions and Homeland star Damian Lewis portray him.
Harry's comments to Corden are a far cry from what biographer Angela Levin, who interviewed Harry for her 2018 book, Harry: Conversations With the Prince, previously claimed he'd said about the series.
"Harry, when I went to interview him in the Palace, the first thing he said to me when he shook my hand was, 'Are you watching The Crown?'" Levin shared on BBC Breakfast in January 2020. "And I hadn't been at the time, I felt very embarrassed and I got it and he said, 'I'm going to make sure I stop it before they get to me.'"
More recently, Dominic West, who plays Harry's father, King Charles III, in season 5 of The Crown, told ET that he did not reach out to the Duke of Sussex about his role in the series, despite the two being friendly acquaintances.
"I didn't think it was appropriate to call him up and ask him for tips," West said. "I haven't spoken to him for many years."
Prince William
In a 2019 episode of The Graham Norton Show, Olivia Colman, who played Queen Elizabeth for several seasons, recalled an awkward encounter with Prince William.
"It didn't go very well. I met Prince William at a dinner, and he asked what I was doing at the moment before he quickly added, 'Actually, I know what you're doing,'" she shared. "I was so excited and asked, 'Have you watched it?' His answer was a firm, 'No.' But he was very charming and very lovely."
More recently, royal expert Katie Nicholl told ET that season 5 of The Crown will be a hard one for William and Harry to watch, should they decide to do so. Their mother, Princess Diana, died in a shocking car crash in Paris in 1997, at the age of 36, when William and Harry were just 15 and 12, respectively.
"I think this series is going to be quite uncomfortable viewing, not just for [Queen Consort] Camilla and [King] Charles but also for William and Harry," Nicholl explained. "Scenes leading up to their mother's death are going to be very, very uncomfortable for them."
"This is a period that they had to live out so publicly. We heard Harry talk about the very real impact it's had on his life, and William as well," she added. "So for this to sort of be revisited, even if it's done tastefully ... for this to be brought up all over again is incredibly hard for William and Harry."
King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort
While West did not let Harry know that he was portraying his father, he did get in touch with King Charles himself.
"I just thought I would inform the Prince's Trust that I was playing the part. And I felt they had a right to know that. So, that's as far as it went," the actor told ET.
Nicholl also told ET that she doesn't think Charles will watch season 5. "We don't know if the king is going to watch this series," the royal expert shared. "I can tell you, that he's watched previous seasons of The Crown and enjoyed it. I think the last series was a little too close to the bone as well."
Season 5 will focus on then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s divorce. Picking up in the early 1990s, the series will feature the "most visual" era of the royals as they navigated newfound attention surrounding the Palace, which included many headline-grabbing events and scandals of the time, including Charles' affair and Diana's "revenge dress."
"I think that was just such a low moment for the royal family," Nicholl said of the public back-and-forth between the former couple. "I mean, Charles admitting adultery, and this was the sort of war of the Wales' being played out in spectacular fashion in the tabloids."
She added, "I think it's probably an awkward moment, but whether the king is going to see it, we may never find out."
Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson
Prince Andrew's ex-wife revealed to Town & Country magazine last year that she reached out to the makers of The Crown to ask, "Hello? Where is Fergie?" The show only gave a brief glimpse of her 1986 wedding to Prince Andrew.
Fergie said she emailed executive producer Andy Harries. "I said to him, 'Why can't I help my character?'" she shared with the magazine.
While Fergie wasn't brought on to consult for the show, she did tell Us magazine that The Crown "was filmed beautifully. The cinematography was excellent."
Princess Anne
In the 2020 ITV documentary Anne: The Princess Royal at 70, which marked her 70th birthday, Princess Anne said that while she does not watch The Crown anymore, she found the early episodes "quite interesting."
Season 5 of The Crown is now streaming on Netflix.
RELATED CONTENT: | 2022-11-10T20:39:22+00:00 | ktvb.com | https://www.ktvb.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-tonight/the-crown-what-the-real-life-royals-think-about-the-show/603-8b569e6e-0d02-43ad-aaf3-2d2cf35e50df |
GALLIPOLIS, Ohio, May 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Several announcements were made during the Ohio Valley Banc Corp. Annual Shareholders Meeting, which took place Wednesday, May 18.
Thomas E. Wiseman, chairman of the board of Ohio Valley Bank and Ohio Valley Banc Corp. (Nasdaq: OVBC), announced the promotion of Larry E. Miller, II, to the position of chief executive officer (CEO) of both Ohio Valley Bank and OVBC. As president and CEO, Miller will be responsible for all business units in the company and its subsidiaries.
Wiseman, who previously served as CEO, will remain as chairman. Ryan J. Jones was promoted to chief operating officer of both Ohio Valley Bank and OVBC. Jones will continue to hold the title of risk officer in both Ohio Valley Bank and OVBC as well. In these roles, Jones will oversee the company's enterprise risk management efforts while also managing the company's operational units.
"As a company, we are committed to remaining an independent, community bank. To help achieve this goal, we are continually preparing for the future by adhering to our succession plan, which is approved annually by the board of directors. The promotions of Larry Miller and Ryan Jones are in accordance with the company's previously approved plan," Wiseman said. "Both Mr. Miller and Mr. Jones are prepared to take on their new roles as the company continues to move forward."
Prior to being named CEO, Miller served as chief operating officer. He began his career at OVB in 1986 by working as a teller. Over the past three decades, he held the positions of internal auditor, treasurer and secretary. In addition, Miller also has held several officer and senior management roles. Miller is a native of Gallia County and is a graduate of Ohio Valley Christian School. He holds a bachelor's degree in business finance from Cedarville University. He is also a graduate of the Ohio School of Banking and the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Miller is an active member of the First Baptist Church in Gallipolis, where he previously served many years as a youth Sunday school teacher. He also served on the board at his alma mater, Ohio Valley Christian School, for 24 years.
Jones began his career in banking with The Milton Banking Company in 1999. He worked in the proof processing/computer department and later was named the compliance officer and secretary of the board. Throughout his career he held numerous titles and was named to the board of directors of the Milton Banking Company in 2012. When the Milton Banking Company merged with Ohio Valley Bank in 2016, Jones was named senior vice president. Jones is a Jackson County native and graduated from Jackson High School. He holds a business management degree from the University of Rio Grande. In addition, he is an Ohio Bankers League (OBL) Leadership Institute graduate. He has also attended several leadership and training schools based in different banking areas.
Community is very important to Jones as he is the current parade band chairman of the Jackson County Apple Festival. He also is a member of Jackson Area Festivals and Events (JAFE) along with numerous other local organizations. Jones also previously served as a coach for all youth organizations in Jackson, including Jackson Pee Wee Football and Jackson Area Recreation baseball.
Also during the meeting, Wiseman announced that the OVBC Board of Directors declared a 150th Anniversary Special Dividend of $0.15 per common share payable on June 10, 2022, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 31, 2022. The special dividend is in celebration of Ohio Valley Bank's 150th anniversary, which will take place this fall and has been celebrated throughout 2022 through various events and giveaways, including cash giveaways. The special dividend is in addition to the regular quarterly dividends already paid out this year.
"We are beyond thrilled to see the return of many events after pandemic restrictions. We were especially pleased to once again host our annual shareholders meeting in person. After two years of not being able to gather, it was a wonderful time to catch up with our shareholders – the folks who continually help us achieve our goal of remaining a strong, independent community bank. The bank's 150th anniversary, which will take place this fall, is yet another reason to celebrate. The 150th Anniversary Special Dividend is just one more way we can extend our gratitude to those who have made our longevity as a company a success," Wiseman said.
Ohio Valley Banc Corp. is based in Gallipolis, Ohio. The primary subsidiaries of the company are: Ohio Valley Bank and Loan Central. Ohio Valley Bank is an FDIC-insured, state member bank of the Federal Reserve operating 16 offices in Ohio and West Virginia. Loan Central, specializing in tax preparation and loans, is a finance company with six offices in southern Ohio. Ohio Valley Banc Corp. stock is traded on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol OVBC. For more information, visit www.ovbc.com or www.myloancentral.com.
Contact: Hope Roush, Ohio Valley Bank, 740-578-3452, hdroush@ovbc.com or Bryna Butler, Ohio Valley Bank, 740-578-3400, bsbutler@ovbc.com
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SOURCE Ohio Valley Banc Corp. | 2022-05-19T17:48:31+00:00 | kcrg.com | https://www.kcrg.com/prnewswire/2022/05/19/ovbc-announces-new-ceo-special-dividend/ |
Nov. 7, 1950 - June 25, 2023
SULLIVAN — James Douglas "Perk" Perkins, 72, of Sullivan, passed away at 2:12 p.m. Sunday, June 25, 2023, at St. John's Hospital, Springfield.
A memorial service will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, July 1, 2023, at McMullin-Young Funeral Home, Sullivan, with Military Rites by the Sullivan American Legion Post #68 following the service outside of the funeral home. Visitation will be held an hour prior to the service Saturday at the funeral home.
Memorials may be made to the Sullivan American Legion Post #68.
Perk was born on November 7, 1950, in Clinton; the son of John and Lena (Hoge) Perkins. He served in the United States Marine Corps. Perk married Paula S. Daily on December 31, 1992, in Flanagan; she survives. He worked for Bodine Electric as an electrician for many years. Perk enjoyed hunting, fishing and spending time with his grandchildren.
He is survived by his wife, Paula of Sullivan; daughter, Tobi (Tom) Veri of Buford, GA; grandchildren, Tyler Perkins, Warren Egan, Selah Veri and Rocco Veri; brothers: John (Carol) Perkins of Springfield, Mike (Cid) Perkins of Clinton and Jeff (Pam) Perkins of Flanagan; sisters: Marcia (Howard) Owens of Sullivan and Connie (Cliff) Dobbs of Sullivan.
He was preceded in death by his parents and one son, Spencer.
Condolences may be offered to the family at www.mcmullinyoung.com. | 2023-06-27T19:56:02+00:00 | herald-review.com | https://herald-review.com/obituaries/james-douglas-perk-perkins/article_5594a9dc-6378-5083-a4f8-259a9c1464d6.html |
LONDON (AP) — Morad Tahbaz, a U.K.-born environmentalist who has been jailed in Iran for more than four years, has been released on furlough, the British government said Wednesday.
The Foreign Office said Tahbaz has been allowed to leave Evin Prison and is at his family’s home in Tehran. The 66-year-old wildlife conservationist is one of several people holding both Iranian and Western citizenship imprisoned by Iranian authorities over allegations of espionage. The West says the charges are a sham and claims Iran uses dual-national prisoners for political leverage.
Two high-profile detainees, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, were released in March and returned to Britain. Tahbaz was allowed out on furlough at the same time, but later sent back to prison.
His case is complicated because he holds U.S., British and Iranian citizenship.
Iranian security forces arrested Tahbaz in January 2018, part of wide crackdown targeting environmental activists in the Islamic Republic.
A prominent conservationist and board member of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation that seeks to protect endangered species, Tahbaz was sentenced to 10 years in prison with his colleagues on vague charges of spying for America and undermining Iran’s security.
Foreign Office officials said “we continue to work closely with the United States to urge the Iranian authorities to permanently release him and allow his departure from Iran.” | 2022-07-27T14:27:28+00:00 | springfieldnewssun.com | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/jailed-uk-born-environmentalist-released-on-furlough-in-iran/FDO5PAESMFDDXLEAOLRAMGPWIY/ |
The Biggest Edible in the World?
Commemorating 4/20 in a Ginormously Chocolately Way
April 20, or 4/20, is the day to celebrate the most un-Hallmark of holidays, whose oft-debated origin story is most often attributed to a group of Northern California high school kids who, in 1971, caught word — or maybe wind — of a secret cannabis grow in the woods near their school. They gathered at 4:20 p.m. every day to search for the mythical grow, which they never found. But 4:20 eventually morphed into the toking hour, a catch-all term for weed, and a code that it was time to smoke.
These days, especially with legalized cannabis, from special sales and promotions to festivals and Friendsgiving gatherings of all sorts, there are lots of ways to celebrate 4/20. One of the most creative I’ve heard about is Zen Cannabis’s Guinness Book of World Records–level quest to create “The Big Zen,” which, weighing in at 20 pounds using 100 pounds of flower and 4.2 million milligrams of THC, makes it the largest, most potent, dominantly dosed, and most expensive cannabis chocolate bar ever made.
To carry the numerical significance of the holiday even farther, the nine-foot-by-four-foot bar retails for $42,000. A potent endeavor on every possible level, at the Zen “Cannafactory,” the Big Zen operation will take 360 hours with 12 people whipping the mega-bar up six hours a day.
The Big Zen team could not be more fired up about this record-breaking, landmark feat, said Special Projects Manager Evan Senn. “It’s not every day you make history, and we’re doing it here in Oklahoma City! We’ve put a secret twist on our signature Zen chocolate bar recipe and supersized it to create the Big Zen bar.”
I got to taste a non-supersized sample of the Big Zen and it was indeed delicious, as promised.
See zencannabis.com/ca. | 2023-04-20T05:39:09+00:00 | independent.com | https://www.independent.com/2023/04/19/the-biggest-edible-in-the-world/ |
Seaford’s city council is considering whether to allow businesses the right to vote in municipal elections, making the western Sussex County city the largest municipality in the state to consider such a measure.
Delaware is one of only three states that allow municipalities to give nonresident property owners voting rights in local elections. When Rehoboth attempted to extend that right to artificial entities — including Limited Liability Corporations — in 2017, the ACLU and government transparency advocates joined residents opposing the measure, prompting Rehoboth’s mayor to withdraw the proposal.
Seaford’s proposal draws from the only two towns in Delaware that allow artificial entities to vote in municipal elections: Henlopen Acres and Fenwick Island. The current draft proposal would allow non-resident property owners to vote through a designee with power of attorney; a person owning multiple properties could only vote once. In contrast, business owners who rent space in Seaford could not vote.
Seaford Mayor David Genshaw says the proposal emerged from requests from business owners seeking a say in city decision-making that can impact their utilities payments, revenues and investments.
“The genesis is that there are people who have invested a ton of money in our town – in businesses – and then wonder why they can’t vote, but their employees can, just because they live outside of city limits," he said. "They have a valid point.”
Some council members took issue with excluding business owners who rent space in Seaford, arguing that they are impacted by the council's decisions no less than business owners who own their properties. But others raised concerns that allowing businesses who rent properties to vote would open the door for large corporations like Walmart, which rents property along Route 13, to vote in local elections. Councilman James King argues council needs to be consistent when granting voting powers.
“We can’t pick and choose and say, ‘he’s a small business owner that doesn’t own the building but is renting the property and living outside Seaford – he can vote,'" he said. "And when it’s a large corporation, we say, ‘ah, well.’”
The council opted to table the proposal to clarify details. If adopted, the charter amendment would require the approval of the General Assembly before taking effect. | 2023-03-04T23:26:17+00:00 | delawarepublic.org | https://www.delawarepublic.org/politics-government/2023-03-04/seaford-council-considers-allowing-businesses-to-vote-in-local-elections |
BENSALEM, Pa., Dec. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces that investors with substantial losses have opportunity to lead the securities fraud class action lawsuit against Olaplex Holdings, Inc. ("Olaplex" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: OLPX).
Class Period: September 2021 IPO
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: January 17, 2023
Investors suffering losses on their Olaplex investments are encouraged to contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss their legal rights in this class action at 888-638-4847 or by email to howardsmith@howardsmithlaw.com.
The complaint filed alleges that Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) macroeconomic pressures and competition in the haircare market were more robust than the Company had represented to investors; (2) accordingly, the Company was unlikely to maintain its sales and revenue momentum; and (3) as a result, it was unlikely that the Company would be able to achieve the financial and operational growth projected in the Offering Documents; and (4) as a result, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.
To be a member of the class action you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the class action. If you wish to learn more about this class action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to the pending class action lawsuit, please contact Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020, by telephone at (215) 638-4847, toll-free at (888) 638-4847, or by email to howardsmith@howardsmithlaw.com, or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com.
This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.
Contacts
Law Offices of Howard G. Smith
Howard G. Smith, Esquire
215-638-4847
888-638-4847
howardsmith@howardsmithlaw.com
www.howardsmithlaw.com
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SOURCE Law Offices of Howard G. Smith | 2022-12-13T17:55:34+00:00 | kfyrtv.com | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2022/12/13/olpx-investors-have-opportunity-lead-olaplex-holdings-inc-securities-fraud-lawsuit/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Welcome Wren Alexander Stephens, the fourth child of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen.
The baby was born June 19 via surrogate. The couple announced his arrival Wednesday on Instagram.
“We want to say thank you for this incredible gift you have given us, Alexandra,” they wrote of their surrogate. “And we are so happy to tell the world he is here, with a name forever connected to you.”
Teigen, the “Cravings” cookbook author, and Legend, the EGOT winner, added: “Our hearts, and our home, are officially full.”
The 37-year-old Teigen gave birth Jan. 13 to a girl, Esti. She and Legend, 44, have two older children, 7-year-old Luna and 5-year-old Miles. She got the chance to be pregnant for a time alongside their surrogate, describing the joy of getting to know her.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted four children,” Teigen said. | 2023-06-28T23:35:37+00:00 | cbs42.com | https://www.cbs42.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-john-legend-and-chrissy-teigen-welcome-baby-no-4-a-boy-born-via-surrogate/ |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Dain Dainja was an inside force Michigan State had no answer for and Matthew Mayer hit clutch 3s in the second half as Illinois ended the Spartans seven-game win streak with a 75-66 win on Friday night.
Dainja, a player Illinois coach Brad Underwood calls “a dancing bear,” powered inside and scored with both hands to put up 20 points and lead the Illini. Mayer hit 3 of 6 from distance and scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half.
Illinois went on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 54-54, then took the lead on two free throws by Dainja, going in front for the first time since taking a 27-26 first-half lead. Mayer added a pull-up 3 to complete a run of 10 straight points.
Michigan State (12-4, 4-2, Big Ten) rallied to tie the game on a Tyson Walker jumper with 5:47 left, but Coleman Hawkins answered with a 3 to put Illinois (12-5, 3-3) back on top for good.
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 17 points for the Illini. Hawkins scored all nine of his points in the second half and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Mayer blocked six shots.
A.J. Hoggard scored 20 points to lead Michigan State. Walker had 14 and Joey Hauser contributed 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
UP NEXT
Michigan State plays host to No. 3 Purdue Monday.
Illinois travels to take on Minnesota Monday.
__
More 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 | 2023-01-14T05:56:20+00:00 | seattletimes.com | https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/dainja-mayer-power-illinois-past-michigan-state-75-66/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
(NEXSTAR) — Are you at your wit’s end trying to calm your baby? Good news: researchers say they’ve cracked the code on how to soothe fussy infants who won’t stop crying.
In the peer-reviewed study published by Current Biology, 21 infants were tested in 32 sessions using four different methods of soothing to get them back in their cribs peacefully. Overwhelmingly, researchers say, the winning process was what they call “5-Minute Carrying, 5- to 8-Minute Sitting.”
Here’s how it works, according to the study:
- With the baby in your arms, walk around for five minutes. Researchers say the lulling movement soothes crying and promotes sleep in babies.
- Before placing the baby down for sleep, sit with them in your arms for five to eight minutes. The stop-start motion helps prevent infants from waking after being laid down, researchers say.
Other methods tried on the babies included WalkHold (parent holds infant and walks around); SitHold (parent holds infant and sits); COT (infant was laid in a cot); and MCOT (infant placed in mobile crib or stroller and rocked back and forth). Researchers say these methods produced mixed results.
While some of the methods soothed initially, they didn’t help the return to the crib. Others helped infants get to their cribs peacefully but didn’t keep them asleep, according to the study.
For new parents, long bouts of crying — especially in the middle of a sleep-deprived night — can be among the top challenges with a new baby. The American Academy of Pediatrics says babies typically don’t have regular sleep cycles until around 4 months. And although newborns sleep up to 16-17 hours per day, it’s only in 1-2 hour increments, AAP says.
“About 20-30% of infants cry excessively and exhibit sleep difficulties for no apparent reason, causing parental stress and even triggering impulsive child maltreatment in a small number of cases,” the researchers write.
Authors said they hope their work is substantiated with even more studies.
Meanwhile, AAP recommends a few behaviors to help babies sleep through the night, including making sure babies stay awake for longer periods of the day. Additionally, parents should make nighttime feeding times and interactions quieter, whispering if necessary. | 2022-09-17T18:17:01+00:00 | wcia.com | https://www.wcia.com/news/national/baby-wont-stop-crying-heres-what-to-do-study-says/ |
Celebrate newspapers and their efforts to record local history
Published 8:45 pm Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Guest column by Jim Pumarlo
Sandy Robinson and Ben Carlson were part of news reports in Minnesota’s newspapers. Neither one was probably aware of the attention created by the event.
The names are fictitious, but the news — birth announcements — is regularly recorded in community newspapers. We expect to see more of Sandy and Ben in the coming years.
Likewise, we hope the local newspapers become a part of their daily routines.
Newspapers pride themselves as recorders of local history. I encourage all Minnesotans to join in celebrating their local newspapers during Sunshine Week, March 12-18. At its foundation, the week underscores the importance of the free flow of information for an open, effective and accountable government. The press invests immense resources to ensure the public has a close-up view.
Strike up a conversation about press rights, and many individuals likely conjure editors and reporters demanding access to top-secret data from government officials. No doubt, that occurs more often than most people would like to believe.
Shedding light on information, however, is much broader than probing into government workings. Newspapers regularly strive to provide stories that people should read and like to read.
Readers may view many reports as routine, but chronicling the lives of Sandy and Ben often represents years-long initiatives to gain access to information. The items often find a spot on refrigerators or a permanent place in family scrapbooks.
The news may range from publishing vital statistics to capturing photos of winning scores to detailing presentations before a school board or city council. The opportunity for anyone to collect a variety of data or enjoy ringside seats to many events is not happenstance. The press has a storied history of working to shed light on all aspects of everyday life.
Sandy and Ben’s births will remain part of local history. Newspapers take pride in helping families spread news of special events in their lives.
As noted, we expect to be seeing a lot more of Sandy and Ben. The two are certain to be sharing many special moments as they grow up, and among them will be a neighborhood party or two. It’s an opportunity for families to share a photo on many a newspaper’s neighborhood section, website photo gallery, Facebook page and other social media avenues.
I predict Sandy and Ben will make names for themselves in a variety of youth clubs and leagues — maybe a pinewood derby or a YMCA sports championship. The achievements will be recognized.
Accomplishments will likely continue through high school extracurricular activities. They will understand the importance of academics and wind up on the honor roll, too. The benchmarks will be shared with their names in the newspaper. School days will pass quickly, and they will be recognized with photos in graduation editions.
That covers the first 18 years of their lives. The relationship with their hometown papers is likely to continue including announcements of where they decide to continue their education and accompanying scholarships. It’s a good bet more stories will be generated about their experiences and subsequent careers.
I expect Sandy and Ben may someday decide to start their own families. Where their newspapers once proclaimed the birth announcements, the news pages will announce engagements and acknowledge weddings. The photos will be wonderful additions to family scrapbooks. An active citizenry is the lifeblood of so many communities. More than likely, Sandy and Ben will not sit idly. They will want to return some favors to the communities that gave so much to them.
Their names will be in the news some more — an officer in a civic organization, a youth leader at church, a volunteer at school. They might even start their own businesses, which will be recognized as well.
Then the families, along with older brothers and sisters, will be planning a special anniversary celebration for their parents. Once again, the event will make the paper.
Individuals are the essence of community newspapers. After all, people make the news. Today’s media landscape is more fractured than ever, underscoring the value of community newspapers in providing a living history of our hometowns. Many stories are easily gathered; others are more challenging. They all represent the expense of time and resources by newspaper staffs.
During Sunshine Week, we pay tribute to the millions of readers who invite newspapers into their homes each day. I speak firsthand from many years sitting behind the editor’s desk. We enjoy the relationships we’ve made, and we hope our readers do, too.
Jim Pumarlo is a member of the Minnesota Newspaper Association. He is a former editor of the Red Wing Republican Eagle and former board member of the Minnesota News Media Institute. He can be reached at jim@pumarlo.com. | 2023-03-15T03:17:06+00:00 | albertleatribune.com | https://www.albertleatribune.com/2023/03/celebrate-newspapers-and-their-efforts-to-record-local-history/ |
New Jersey’s Sharpe Family Singers delivered a spirited audition as the first act up on “America’s Got Talent” Tuesday night.
Their lively rendition of a song from a Disney movie won them the approval of all four judges in the NBC competition.
The Basking Ridge family — mom, dad, daughter and three sons — are already well known on social media, with their TikTok videos having gone viral earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic. In many of their clips, the musical family sings in their Somerset County home.
“We’ve been wanting to be here for years and we finally got our chance,” Barbra Russell-Sharpe told the judges at their season 18 audition.
She met her husband, Ron Sharpe, 30 years ago when they were actors on Broadway. In “Les Misérables,” she played Cosette and he played Marius, and later, Jean Valjean.
“We actually had our first kiss on the stage before we were married, because it was in the show,” Ron said on “AGT.”
Later, the Sharpes went on the road, singing Broadway songs across the country. Eventually, their four children joined them.
The Sharpes have 8.5 million followers on TikTok, 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube, 328,000 followers on Instagram and 235,000 followers on Facebook.
They’ve been on TV before, but this is their first appearance on “AGT.”
“When Barbra and I worked on Broadway, we would go on for 1,000 people a night,” Ron Sharpe told NJ Advance Media in 2021, talking about the family’s viral success during the pandemic. “And so this is a really crazy way to be able to reach a big audience. We had no idea that that was going to happen. We just had a lot of fun ‘cause we were all stuck together.”
Barbra and Ron’s children — Samantha, Logan, and twins Connor and Aidan Sharpe — have been singing all their lives.
“From production to reproduction,” observed “AGT” judge Howie Mandel before the family launched into a rousing performing of “How Far I’ll Go,” as sung by Auli’i Cravalho and written by Lin-Manuel Miranda for the 2016 Disney movie “Moana.”
After each of the Sharpes showcased their voices, the family received a standing ovation from the crowd and judges.
“That was perfection,” said judge Sofía Vergara. “You guys don’t even look real ... and you sounded amazing.”
@sharpefamilysingers Rate our family’s singing! ✨🎤 🧜🏻♀️ #littlemermaid #sharpefamilysingers ♬ original sound - Sharpe Family Singers
Disney movie songs have been a specialty of the family. They previously performed an excerpt from the “Frozen 2″ song “Into the Unknown” when Samantha Sharpe, 27, the eldest of the Sharpe children, competed on “American Idol” in 2021.
Samantha stood out with a strong lead part in the “AGT” performance.
“Musical theater is not my jam, but watching you and listening to you as a real family, you became my jam,” Mandel said. “I love what you’re doing.”
Judge Heidi Klum, mother of four, told the Sharpes they’re living her dream.
“I would love nothing more than to do this with my entire family,” she said. “I loved it. Each and every one of you sounded so incredible.”
Judge Simon Cowell, who had lost his voice when the show was taped, spoke through Vergara, saying the performance was very “apple pie,” as in “as American as apple pie.”
The Sharpe Family Singers are in good company among other Jersey contestants on “AGT.”
In the June 20 auditions episode, magician Anna DeGuzman, who is from Bergenfield, and stand-up comedian Maureen Langan, who grew up in Lake Hiawatha, both earned the approval of all four judges.
“America’s Got Talent” airs 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET Tuesdays on NBC. The Sharpe Family Singers are at @sharpefamilysingers on TikTok and Instagram and @SharpeSingers on Twitter. They are also on Facebook.
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. | 2023-06-28T02:05:57+00:00 | nj.com | https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2023/06/americas-got-talent-hails-njs-sharpe-family-singers-as-perfection-an-apple-pie-performance.html |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The American economy has an unusual problem: The job market looks too strong — at least to the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve.
Companies are still seeking more workers and are hanging tightly onto the ones they have. Putting aside some high-profile layoffs at big tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and others, most workers are enjoying an unusual level of job security even at a time when many economists foresee a recession approaching.
Employers have added at least 200,000 jobs every month for 24 straight months — the longest such streak in government records dating to 1939. Economists think the streak ended last month, if just barely: They have forecast that the government will report Friday that the economy added 185,000 jobs in January, according to the data firm FactSet, and that the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6% from a half-century low of 3.5%.
That would still represent a solid job gain, though decisively below the red-hot pace of the past year. For all of 2022, the economy added a sizzling average of 375,000 jobs a month. That was a pace vigorous enough to have contributed to the painful inflation Americans have endured, the worst such bout in 40 years. A tight job market tends to put upward pressure on wages, which, in turn, feed into inflation.
Hence, uneasiness at the Fed. The central bank, hoping to cool the job market and the economy — and, as a consequence, inflation — has raised its benchmark interest rate eight times since March, most recently on Wednesday. Since July, monthly hiring has steadily decelerated even while remaining at historically healthy levels.
Year-over-year measures of consumer inflation have steadily eased since peaking at 9.1% in June. But at 6.5% in December, inflation remains far above the Fed's 2% target, which is why the central bank's policymakers have reiterated their intent to keep raising borrowing rates for at least a few more months.
The Fed is aiming to achieve a “soft landing” — a pullback in the economy that is just enough to tame high inflation without triggering a recession. The policymakers hope that employers can slow wage increases and inflationary pressures by reducing job openings but not necessarily by laying off many employees.
But the job market’s resilience isn’t making that hoped-for outcome any easier. On Wednesday, the Labor Department reported that employers posted 11 million job openings in December, an unexpected jump from 10.4 million in November and the largest number since July. There are now about two job vacancies, on average, for every unemployed American.
The Labor Department's monthly count of layoffs has amounted to fewer than 1.5 million for 21 straight months. Until 2021, that figure had never dropped so low in records dating back two decades.
Yet another sign that workers are benefiting from unusual job security is the weekly number of people who apply for unemployment benefits. That figure is a proxy for layoffs, one that economists monitor for clues about where the job market might be headed. The government said Thursday that the number of jobless claims fell last week to its lowest level since April.
The pace of applications for unemployment aid has remained rock-bottom despite a steady stream of headline-making layoff announcements. Facebook parent Meta is cutting 11,000 jobs, Amazon 18,000, Microsoft 10,000, Google 12,000. Some economists suspect that many laid-off workers might not be showing up at the unemployment line because they can still find new jobs easily.
Economic forecasters will be closely watching Friday's figure for hourly wage growth in January. According to the FactSet survey, they foresee a 0.3% average pay increase from December to January. Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics, said that figure would translate into annual pay growth of 4.3%, down from a 4.6% year-over-year increase in December.
It would be an improvement, she said, but “still too strong for the Fed to be confident that the moderation is enough to take the heat off inflation.’’
“Layoffs remain low, and demand for workers is still strong, evident in elevated job openings, strong job growth and an unemployment rate that is at a half-decade low,’’ said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. “The labor market has yet to respond meaningfully to a rapid increase in interest rates.’’
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AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report. | 2023-02-03T05:24:51+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/january-may-have-delivered-lower-if-still-solid-17761110.php |
A federal judge declined Friday to postpone the trial date in LIV Golf’s antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour, even while conceding that might be inevitable if LIV owner Saudi Arabia appeals a ruling that officials with its sovereign wealth fund be required to testify.
Friday’s case management hearing in the Northern District of California capped off a flurry of filings in the last week over the PGA Tour alleging the Public Investment Fund and its governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan, were more than just investors in the rival league.
Saudi Arabia’s PIF holds some $600 billion in oil profits and other assets, making it one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world. The PIF owns 93% of LIV Golf, according to court documents.
U.S. Magistrate Susan van Keulen ruled last week that the PIF and al-Rumayyan were not exempt from providing testimony and documents under the Foreign Service Immunity Act because of an exception for commercial activity.
Saudi Arabia, through its attorney, filed a separate letter with U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman on Thursday, arguing that the magistrate’s order has “broad implications for Saudi Arabia beyond the instant case” and that it would file a friend-of-court appeal.
A lawyer for the PIF indicated an appeal to the Ninth Circuit was ready to be filed as early as Friday.
Saudi Arabia’s leaders, in a lawsuit between their golf circuit and the rival PGA Tour, maintain their high standing in the oil kingdom’s government makes them legally immune from most actions by U.S. courts.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year successfully used an argument of sovereign immunity to escape a civil lawsuit in Saudi officials’ 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The PIF and al-Rumayyan contend that enforcing subpoenas in the U.S. would force them to violate Saudi law against disclosure of confidential information.
The PGA Tour, meanwhile, filed a motion on the magistrate’s order arguing depositions of the PIF and al-Rumayyan should not take place in Saudi Arabia.
“The Tour and its American counsel should not have to run the risk that they might be harassed or detained because something they say in a deposition is perceived as critical of the Saudi government; nor should they have to censor themselves in the course of conducting Court-ordered discovery,” the motion said.
Earlier this week, Freeman — who is overseeing the case — allowed the PIF and its governor to be added as defendants to the PGA Tour’s counterclaim in the lawsuit.
In the amended counterclaim with the Saudis listed as defendants, the PGA Tour refers to Greg Norman as the “nominal CEO” of the LIV Golf circuit, while al-Rumayyan calls all the shots.
The tour alleges the PIF governor functions as LIV’s chief executive, “receiving regular reports from Norman, approving LIV’s budget, making key strategic decisions, participating in player recruitment in the United States, and micro-managing LIV’s day-to-day operations both while in the United States and from abroad.
“And even once contracts are signed and debts accrued, PIF holds the purse strings: none of LIV’s partners or golfers gets paid until PIF and Mr. Al-Rumayyan agree to distribute the money.”
John Quinn, a lawyer for the PIF and three players who remain as defendants, described the PIF’s relationship as “what you’d expect from a new investor in a startup.”
Freeman wasn’t swayed.
“Based on everything I’ve read … he is in up to his eyeballs in everything that LIV has done,” Freeman said during the hearing. “He’s intricately involved, and I think it’s ludicrous to suggest otherwise.”
But she also said there was no need for the PGA Tour to delay the discovery process while waiting to first get testimony — if allowed — from the Saudis. Freeman said the tour and its attorney can always conduct interviews again if new information arises.
LIV Golf attorneys claim the tour wants to delay the trial — tentatively set for January 2024 — to keep LIV golfers off the PGA Tour. Nine LIV players initially sued the PGA Tour after they were banned from competing in its events. The tour requires players to get permission to play in conflicting tournaments.
The Saudi-funded league offered signing fees reported to be upward of $100 million to players like Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka, who compete for $25 million in prize money at each of its 13 tournaments.
The first LIV event of the season began Friday in Mexico. The 48-man field has 37 players who were PGA Tour members. All have been suspended by the tour, and now only have access to the major championships if they are eligible.
Quinn argued the window for a player to compete at his best is small.
Freeman scheduled another meeting for April, when the deadline for discovery has passed.
“I’m concerned that everyone is dragging their feet on both sides,” she said.
However, she noted the Saudis can appeal to the Ninth Circuit, which would leave little choice but to delay the trial. The deadline for summary judgment motions is August.
Freeman said she has 400 cases before her and already is setting some of those cases for trial in August 2025.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2023-02-25T15:44:40+00:00 | everythinglubbock.com | https://www.everythinglubbock.com/sports/ap-liv-golf-pga-tour-spar-over-testimony-from-saudi-officials/ |
The best time and days to book your domestic and international flights
Spring break and a busy summer are rolling up fast for travelers after the post-holiday lull.
And if you’ve looked at flights lately, you’ve probably had a bit of a jolt. Or a big jolt if you’re hoping to fly to the Asia Pacific region.
Here’s what to expect from airfare as the busy travel season heats up and some tips on how to get a better deal when demand is sky-high.
Airfare right now and what’s expected for late spring and summer
U.S. domestic fares right now are about 20% higher than they were in February last year when demand was still depressed, according to Hayley Berg, an economist at travel site Hopper.
Economy fares originating in the UK are up 36% from the same time last year, according to data from Flight Centre UK, which includes domestic and international flights.
The sticker shock is real.
Yet in the U.S., domestic airfare is actually pretty close to pre-pandemic pricing – only about 4% higher than 2019, Hopper data shows. But today’s prices are still startling to consumers, for two reasons, Berg says.
For one, it’s been a good while since we’ve seen that 2019 pricing. And secondly, to rebuild their networks with fewer planes and smaller staff, airlines have changed their schedules and reduced service. They’ve also cut regional capacity in ways that hit certain routes and airports harder.
“So though the national average looks pretty normal to us in comparison to pre-pandemic prices, for a lot of travelers a route that they may have taken for years and years to a smaller, more regional airport – that might be two or three times more expensive than what they paid pre-pandemic,” Berg said.
U.S. domestic fares are forecast to exceed pre-pandemic prices as spring and summer travel heats up, but they’re expected to be lower than they were last year at their peak.
“We’re expecting in May, which is typically when summer prices peak, [domestic] airfare to be around $350 per round-trip ticket, which would be about 10% higher than 2019, but lower than 2022,” Berg said.
That’s the good news.
International air travel will definitely cost you
No such luck when it comes to international tickets.
“International on the whole is more expensive than pre-pandemic and more expensive than last year,” Berg said.
Some regions are seeing much steeper increases than others.
The region that will really break the bank? Asia Pacific.
“Prices are absolutely exploding and will continue to explode until capacity really ramps back up there,” Berg said.
Demand is high for the last region to widely lift COVID-19 restrictions and throw open its doors to international visitors. Compared with 2019, Asia fares are about 50% higher, sometimes more, Berg said, while Europe is about 15% higher.
Pent-up demand for Asian destinations means a flood of bookings now that they’re fully open. Bookings from the United Kingdom through Flight Centre UK to Malaysia and Vietnam are up by more than 2,200% from early last year when both countries were still closed to international tourists.
Flight Centre UK’s data show a 25% increase in economy fares to Vietnam year over year. It’s the cheapest of the company’s most popular destinations in Asia. Fares to Thailand are up 50%.
The highest fare increase year over year, according to Flight Centre UK? Fares to New Zealand, which was also closed this time last year, are up 81%.
Finding savings this spring and summer
In the good news column, “there are definitely more deals this year,” said Scott Keyes, founder of travel site Going, formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights.
Europe (especially Portugal and Ireland), Hawaii and Florida have been “cheap flight standouts” over the past few years, he said.
When it comes to international fares, he suggests what he’s calling the “Greek island trick.”
If you have your heart set on Santorini, consider booking your international leg to Athens, where deals from US cities can drop below $500, and find a more affordable regional flight or ferry on to the island.
“By splitting up the trip from a single itinerary into two itineraries, you can save $1,000 or more on a big international trip, whether you’re traveling to the Greek Islands or anywhere far flung,” he said.
Berg says for international trips, Friday and Saturday departures are most expensive. If you fly to Europe on a Monday for spring break, you can save an average of $140 per ticket – or about 20%, she says. Flying mid-week domestically can save you up to about 33%.
Even when some variables are fixed – your spring break dates, for example – “there’s still lots you can do, including not waiting to book until the last minute, keeping your destination flexible, and tinkering with the exact travel dates,” Keyes said.
Coming back a day earlier may yield significant savings, or if you’re really looking for a bargain, reverse your search by looking at where flights are cheap and then picking your destination.
If you’re traveling for spring break, “you should really be booking that right now,” Berg said.
The ‘Goldilocks window’
For summer vacations in May, June and July, Berg advises travelers to start tracking those fares now. Planning ahead is key even if you don’t book right away.
Waiting until the last minute often means missing out on the lowest fares, Berg says.
So can booking too early, says Keyes. There’s a “Goldilocks window” for flights, he says.
That’s one to three months in advance of travel for domestic U.S. flights and two to eight months for international flights. For peak season deals, it’s more like three to seven months for domestic and four to 10 months for international.
Keyes said he’s been watching flights to Vegas for a childhood friend’s wedding in late March. For months tickets were $400.
“But I was patient, and a few weeks ago – right in the middle of the Goldilocks Window – the fare dropped to $76. I booked as quickly as I could. Today, the fare is back up to $350.”
Waiting is often the best strategy, Keyes says. Just be sure to take advantage when there’s a big price drop.
“Airfare is the most volatile thing people regularly purchase. Today’s expensive flight is tomorrow’s cheap flight, and vice versa,” he said. Keyes recently watched the same flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam go from $800 to $300 to $1,300 over three consecutive days.
So are the more eye-popping fares keeping would-be travelers home?
Nope, says Berg.
“So far there still seems to be this tremendous demand for travel.” | 2023-02-26T05:19:13+00:00 | koat.com | https://www.koat.com/article/best-time-and-days-to-book-your-domestic-and-international-flights/43078584 |
NEW YORK – The pace of sales at U.S. retailers was unchanged in September from August as rising prices for rent and food chipped away at money available for other things.
Retail sales were flat last month, down from a revised 0.4% growth in August, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Retail sales fell 0.4% in July.
Excluding sales of automobiles and at gas stations, retail sales rose 0.3%. Excluding gas sales, spending was up 0.1%
While the report showed the resilience of the American consumer, the figures are not adjusted for inflation unlike many other government reports. In fact, sales at grocery stores rose 0.4%, helped by rising prices in food.
Evidence that the Fed's fight to cool the economy may be taking hold can also be seen, particularly with big-ticket items. Sales at auto dealers fell 0.4% last month, and shoppers continued to pull back on appliances, electronics and furniture, all categories that did well during the early part of the pandemic. Business at consumer electronics and appliance stores fell 0.8%.
Sales at clothing stores rose 0.5%, while business at department stores rose 1.3% That indicates a solid back-to-school season but adjusted for inflation, spending was modest, analysts said. Business at restaurants rose 0.5%, while online sales ticked up at the same pace.
“Sales are continuing to grow, but it’s being largely driven by pricing, not by people buying more things," said Ken Fenyo of Coresight Research, a global firm specializing in retail and technology. ”For the consumer, it's a pretty rocky situation."
Consumer spending accounts for nearly 70% of U.S. economic activity and Americans have remained mostly resilient even with inflation near four-decade highs. Yet surging prices for everything from mortgages to rent have upped the anxiety level. Overall spending has slowed and shifted increasingly toward necessities like food, while spending on electronics, furniture, new clothes and other non-necessities has faded.
“Even if people are employed and on paper look reasonably comfortable they are not feeling comfortable, and they are very concerned about what’s to come next,” said Joel Rampoldt, a managing director in the retail practice at AlixPartners.
Inflation in the United States accelerated in September, with the cost of housing and other necessities putting more pressure on households, eliminating pay gains and almost guaranteeing that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates aggressively.
Consumer prices, excluding volatile food and energy costs, jumped 6.6% in September from a year ago — the fastest such pace in four decades. And on a month-to-month basis, core prices surged 0.6% for a second straight time, defying expectations for a slowdown and signaling that the Fed’s multiple rate hikes have yet to ease inflation pressures. Core prices typically provide a better picture of underlying price trends.
Overall prices rose 8.2% in September compared with a year earlier, down slightly from August, the government said Thursday in its monthly inflation report.
It is a crucial period for retailers as they prepare for the holiday shopping season, which accounts on average for 20% of the industry’s annual sales. Inflation is already changing shopper habits, causing them to trade down to cheaper stores like Walmart and dollar stores and within aisles, switching to cheaper brands.
Walmart and Target are among others that are pushing deals earlier while others are offering new financing for customers.
Conn’s HomePlus, a Texas furniture and mattress chain that caters to households at the lower end of the economic scale, launched a new layaway program that caters to the 20% to 25% of the chain’s applicants not eligible to qualify for other financing.
“(Shoppers’) ability to spend on discretionary is more limited than it was before, ” said CEO Chandra Holt. Sales on things like deluxe coffee makers other consumer electronics have faded, she said. .
A slew of holiday forecasts from various research and consulting firms point to a sales slowdown from last year, but adjusted for inflation, retailers could actually see a decline. AlixPartners predicts holiday sales to be up anywhere from 4% to 7% from last year, which was up 16%, according to its calculations. The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, hasn’t released its holiday forecast.
Janet Barnes, a 42-year-old College Park, Maryland resident, says she's trading down and going to cheaper stores for groceries as prices spike. Instead of Wegmans or Whole Foods, she now heads to the discount chain Lidl and said she saves about 40% in groceries. Thrift stores have replaced Nordstrom, she said.
“We are creatures of habit," said Barnes. "But it is not a bad deal to see what else is going on — and test something else.”
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Follow Anne D’Innocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio
AP Economics Writer Chris Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report. | 2022-10-14T18:31:40+00:00 | local10.com | https://www.local10.com/business/2022/10/14/retail-sales-flat-in-september-with-inflation-hot/ |
RPD reports attempt to cut through sleeping woman’s window screen
(ABC 6 News) – Rochester police warned residents in NW Rochester to keep their windows closed and locked at night.
According to Capt. Casey Moilanen, a 65-year-old woman was sleeping in her apartment in the 1500 block of 50th Street NW Sunday, when she woke up to see a person trying to cut through her window screen with a large knife.
The incident happened around 3 a.m. July 23, Moilanen said.
The woman shouted at the would-be-intruder and he or she ran away, according to RPD. | 2023-07-27T16:31:53+00:00 | kaaltv.com | https://www.kaaltv.com/news/rpd-reports-attempt-to-cut-through-sleeping-womans-window-screen/ |
Health professionals provide tips to keep your kids healthy this summer
MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - Summer is here, which means many kids are already out of school and enjoying some time off.
Health officials have some tips to make sure your kids are staying healthy this summer.
Heat-related issues, such as heat exhaustion and dehydration, are some of the biggest concerns for parents. Health professionals say taking preventative measures is the best way to address these concerns. Wearing proper sunscreen, drinking a lot of fluids, and wearing lightweight clothes are all ways to prevent heat-related problems.
Experts also have some tips to keep kids outside and active during the summer months.
“Try to do things that they like to do,” said Tony Malik, Aspirus Health U.P. regional hospitalist director. “Think about organized sports over the summer or creating a time schedule where you have no access to phones or technology just so you can force the issue of going outside and getting some fresh air.”
Keeping kids healthy and fit during the summer may be a challenge, but experts say it’s one of the most important times to stay on top of it.
Copyright 2023 WLUC. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-08T22:00:31+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2023/06/08/health-professionals-provide-tips-keep-your-kids-healthy-this-summer/ |
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) _ Intuit Inc. (INTU) on Tuesday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $56 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.
The Mountain View, California-based company said it had a loss of 20 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.10 per share.
The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 98 cents per share.
The maker of TurboTax, QuickBooks and other accounting software posted revenue of $2.41 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Nine analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.35 billion.
For the current quarter ending in November, Intuit expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.14 to $1.20. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.86.
The company said it expects revenue in the range of $2.48 billion to $2.51 billion for the fiscal first quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $2.56 billion.
Intuit expects full-year earnings in the range of $13.59 to $13.89 per share, with revenue ranging from $14.49 billion to $14.7 billion.
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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on INTU at https://www.zacks.com/ap/INTU | 2022-08-23T20:41:05+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/business/article/Intuit-Fiscal-Q4-Earnings-Snapshot-17392956.php |
Founder and President Steve Pearson to transition to advisor role at beginning of 2024; long-time EVP and COO Sarah Emond appointed President-Elect
BOSTON, June 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is announcing that Sarah K. Emond, MPP, most recently Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of ICER, is being promoted to serve as President-Elect. In her 14 years at ICER, Emond has led strategic operations of the organization and worked to improve access and affordability to high-value care for all patients. She follows ICER's founder and current President Steve Pearson, who will step down at the end of the year to transition into an advisor role.
"Our health care system can do better in service of patients, and that starts by ensuring that the prices charged are fair and the health plan policies that determine access are fair, too. It has been and will remain our mission to use evidence and public engagement to inform the dialogue about fair pricing and access," said Emond. "I look forward to building on our important work to bring decisions about health care into the open and provide a forum where all can contribute to evidence-based discussions about the value of new health care interventions."
Emond and Pearson will work together through December 2023. Emond will become President and CEO on January 1, 2024. Following the transition, Pearson will remain at ICER as an advisor through the end of 2024. Deputy Chief Operating Officer Ellie Adair takes over now as ICER's new COO, overseeing finance and operations, development, and human resources.
"When I founded ICER, I envisioned a laboratory where people could work together to bring evidence to light in service of building a health care system they could be proud of. A laboratory where good science, honesty, integrity, and mutual respect could combine to break down walls and bring all participants in the health care system together to do the hard work of wrestling with uncertainty and weighing how best to align pricing with value in support of better access for patients," said Dr. Pearson. "In recent years, we have focused heavily on using evidence to support fair pricing and coverage for drugs, and Sarah has been my partner in executing this important work for the last 14 years. In spirit and in skill, there is no one more capable than she to take ICER's vision forward toward a health care system that guarantees affordable and innovative health care to every American."
Founded in 2006 as a research program at Harvard Medical School, ICER today is a 40-person, $10 million organization working to meet the demands of a health care system seeking reliable measures of evidence-based value. ICER's leadership team is comprised of physicians, experts in clinical epidemiology and health economics, and executive professionals, who together represent deep expertise in evidence-based medicine, health economics, comparative effectiveness research, and drug pricing. The team incorporates partnership and engagement with other clinicians, manufacturers, payers, and patients into its work.
"ICER's success over the past 17 years is due in large part to Sarah's leadership as the long-time Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President. She was the clear choice to be ICER's next President," said Leigh Purvis, ICER's Governance Board Chair. "We will be fortunate to benefit from Steve's ongoing strategic and clinical advice in the coming year, and we know that the future of the organization will be in good hands under Sarah's leadership. She is a true expert in the intricacies of the health system and how pricing drives access. She has a superb track record of integrating patients', clinicians', manufacturers', and payers' perspectives into ICER's range of activities. She knows how to marshal the expertise across ICER's entire team to produce work of true impact. And she has both the strength and the vision to take ICER forward on its journey. After thoughtful planning for this transition, we know that in Sarah we have the right leader for the future, and that she will assure that ICER continues to play the essential role that it has come to play in the US health care system."
About Sarah Emond
With nearly 25 years of experience in the business and policy of health care, ICER President-Elect Sarah Emond has led the strategic operations of the organization. She joined ICER in 2009 as its first Chief Operating Officer and third employee and worked to grow the organization's approach, scope, and impact over those 14 years. Emond holds a Master of Public Policy degree with a concentration in health policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University and a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from Smith College.
About the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is an independent non-profit research institute that produces reports analyzing the evidence on the effectiveness and value of drugs and other medical services. ICER's reports include evidence-based calculations of prices for new drugs that accurately reflect the degree of improvement expected in long-term patient outcomes, while also highlighting price levels that might contribute to unaffordable short-term cost growth for the overall health care system.
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SOURCE Institute for Clinical and Economic Review | 2023-06-28T16:05:03+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2023/06/28/institute-clinical-economic-review-announces-leadership-transition/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy’s is tempering its sales outlook for the fiscal fourth quarter after shoppers spent less than expected during the lull between Thanksgiving weekend and the final days before Christmas.
The New York-based department store chain, which also operates upscale Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury stores, said Friday that sales for the November-to-January period will fall in the low end to midpoint of its expected range of $8.16 billion to $8.4 billion. The company’s adjusted earnings per share for the period should meet the projected range of $1.47 to $1.67, Macy’s said.
“Based on current macro-economic indicators and our proprietary credit card data, we believe the consumer will continue to be pressured in 2023, particularly in the first half, and have planned inventory mix and depth of initial buys accordingly, ” said Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette in a statement.
Analysts expect Macy’s fourth-quarter sales to reach $8.3 billion and earnings per share of $1.61, according to FactSet.
The company is slated to report final fourth-quarter figures in early March.
Shares slipped more than 3% in after market trading when Macy’s announced the update.
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Follow Anne D’Innocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio | 2023-01-07T16:17:39+00:00 | ksn.com | https://www.ksn.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-macys-tempers-holiday-sales-outlook/ |
The Leaksville United Methodist Church on May 29 created a moving memorial to the 19 students and two teachers who died in a mass school shooting on May 24 in Uvalde, Texas. Empty school chairs were adorned with ribbons on the church's front lawn.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. | 2022-06-05T04:56:16+00:00 | greensboro.com | https://greensboro.com/community/rockingham_now/news/church-creates-moving-memorial-for-uvalde-victims/article_b5240d4e-e371-11ec-89d5-cf86922a8334.html |
WASHINGTON (AP) — US authorizes first COVID-19 shots for children under 5; CDC review is next.
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MIAMI (AP) — Residents of a Miami Beach building on the same street where a condominium collapse killed nearly 100 people were forced to evacuate on Thursday evening after officials determined the structure was unsafe and gave orders to leave.
Miami Beach spokesperson Melissa Berthier said around 4 p.m. Thursday that the city planned to post an unsafe structure notice and order residents of the 14-story Port Royale building to vacate immediately. Around 5 p.m., the condo board sent residents a mandatory notice to vacate by 7 p.m., the Miami Herald reported.
Residents of the Port Royale said city of Miami Beach officials informed them Wednesday that the building would need to be evacuated, but the notice to leave immediately was not delivered until Thursday, WPLG-TV reported.
A report from the building's structural engineer prompted the evacuation notice of the 164-unit structure at 6969 Collins Avenue, which is in the process of undergoing a 50-year recertification.
The site of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida, that collapsed in June 2021 and killed 98 people is also on Collins Avenue, about 1.3 miles (2 kilometers) from the Port Royale.
The disaster at the 12-story oceanfront condo building in Surfside drew the largest non-hurricane emergency response in Florida history, including rescue crews from across the U.S. and as far away as Israel to help local teams search for victims.
Engineers have recommended additional “shoring” to reinforce areas needing repair be installed in the Port Royale's garage to support a damaged beam. Officials said they expected the reinforcement to be in place within 10 days, the Miami Herald reported. | 2022-10-28T07:44:14+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Miami-building-evacuated-near-site-of-deadly-17540587.php |
Michigan, native tribes reach new Great Lakes fishing deal
By JOHN FLESHER
AP Environmental Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Four Native American tribes in Michigan have agreed with the state and federal governments on a revised fishing policy for parts of the Great Lakes. The tentative deal covers sections of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Superior included in an 1836 treaty that ceded tribal lands but provided continued hunting and fishing rights. It involves issues that have divided tribal commercial fishing operations and state-licensed sport anglers, such as tribal use of gill nets to catch prized species such as lake trout. The agreement would last 24 years and needs approval of a federal judge. | 2022-12-13T01:56:42+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/ap-national-business/2022/12/12/michigan-native-tribes-reach-new-great-lakes-fishing-deal-3/ |
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England is poised to raise borrowing costs again on Thursday to combat stubbornly high inflation, which has failed to come down from its peak as quickly as expected.
Though the consensus among analysts is that the central bank will raise its main interest rate by a quarter-percentage point — hitting a new 15-year high of 4.75% — there are concerns, certainly among borrowers, that it may opt for a bigger half-point increase.
That larger hike would be particularly painful for people with loans, especially the 1.4 million or so households in the U.K. that will have to refinance their mortgages over the rest of the year.
Central banks around the world, from the U.S. Federal Reserve to European Central Bank, have been rapidly raising interest rates to bring down inflation first stoked by supply chain backups tied to the rebound from the pandemic and then Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Turkey's central bank also was expected to raise rates Thursday in what could signal a turnaround from unusual economic policies.
For the Bank of England, there had been hopes that it could take a pause in its rate-hiking cycle if inflation showed clear signs of slowing.
But no longer.
Figures Wednesday showed that inflation in the U.K. unexpectedly held steady at 8.7% in the year to May after expectations for a modest decline to 8.4%. While that is down from 11.1% last October, its highest level since the early 1980s, the bank wants it at 2%.
Rate hikes take time to work, but recent economic figures suggest that high inflation has not fallen as hoped and become embedded in the economy through higher wages and the prices people pay for services, such as eating out or going to the movies.
"Sticky inflation is extending the cost-of-living crisis for everyone in Britain and hardening the mortgage crunch for the 7 million households who have a mortgage," said James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation economic think tank.
Higher interest rates help lower inflation by making it more expensive for individuals and businesses to borrow, meaning they potentially spend less, reducing demand and pressure on prices.
That clearly comes at a cost, and there are concerns over the outlook for the British economy, which has so far avoided falling into recession even as Europe's economy has contracted slightly in the six months ending in March.
“Workers are suffering the steepest real-term cuts in living memory, and enormous economic damage is being done because people can’t afford to pay the bills," said Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB trade union. | 2023-06-22T06:45:42+00:00 | daytondailynews.com | https://www.daytondailynews.com/nation-world/bank-of-england-is-set-to-hike-rates-to-battle-inflation-that-means-pain-for-borrowers/QHETEJMR4FAJZBEHCRDVB7REXQ/ |
Panasonic selects Kansas for vehicle battery mega-factory
Japan’s Panasonic Corp. selected Kansas as the location for a multibillion-dollar mega-factory to produce electric vehicle batteries for Tesla and other carmakers, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Wednesday.
The decision comes five months after the Democratic governor and Republican-controlled Legislature rushed to approve a taxpayer-funded incentive package of as much as $1 billion, the state’s largest ever, to attract the company and the promised “thousands of jobs,” even though most of them didn’t know what company was in play. Kelly said Wednesday that the actual incentives will total $829 million over 10 years.
The plant will be located in De Soto, Kansas, a town with about 6,000 people and 30 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.
“People across the country are looking at Kansas as a leader in economic development,” Kelly told a gathering of about 250 state officials and business leaders in downtown Topeka Wednesday.
Japanese broadcaster NHK reported this year that the company was looking to build the factory in Kansas or Oklahoma, close to Texas, where Tesla is building an electric-vehicle plant. The two companies jointly operate a battery plant in Nevada.
Kelly’s administration said the facility it was pursuing would be the largest economic development project in Kansas history. They said the company would employ 4,000 people and that other businesses supplying or supporting it would add several thousand more jobs. They said the company would pay an average of $50,000, which would far exceed Kansas’ median income for individuals of less than $32,000.
Kelly pushed for the permission to offer tax credits, payroll subsidies and training funds to lure what her administration said was a $4 billion project that at least one other state was also pursuing.
The measure requires the state to cut its corporate tax rates by half a percentage point for every big deal closed to benefit all businesses. That would save companies roughly $100 million a year and drop the state’s top rate to 6% from 7% if two deals close.
Backers of the measure argued that Kansas has lost out on other large projects because it couldn’t offer generous enough incentives.
Oklahoma’s Republican-controlled Legislature approved an incentive package this year to offer rebates of up to nearly $700 million in state funds if Panasonic reached specific benchmarks, including at least a $4.5 billion capital expenditure and the creation of at least 4,000 jobs during the project’s first four years. State officials say that money could be returned to the general fund or used to lure another major project.
Ohio recently offered Intel Corp. incentives worth roughly $2 billion to secure a new $20 billion chipmaking factory. Michigan lawmakers in December approved $1 billion in incentives, two-thirds of it for General Motors for plants to assemble batteries for electric vehicles.
Electric vehicle maker Canoo has announced plans to open a factory in northeastern Oklahoma next year that is expected to create 2,000 jobs.
But Wisconsin scaled back incentives for electronics giant Foxconn. It was supposed to invest $10 billion there and create 13,000 jobs but the deal now is for about 1,450 jobs with an investment of $672 million by 2026.
___
Associated Press reporter Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, contributed to this report. | 2022-07-14T00:22:20+00:00 | wxii12.com | https://www.wxii12.com/article/panasonic-kansas-vehicle-battery-mega-factory/40607235 |
DOHA – Another World Cup day, another World Cup shock.
Substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano scored late goals Wednesday to give Japan a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Germany.
Both Doan and Asano play for German clubs.
“I believe it’s a historic moment, a historic victory. If I think about the development of Japanese soccer, thinking of players, for them this was a big surprise,” said Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu, who had five Germany-based players in his starting lineup and three, including the scorers, on the bench.
“They’re fighting in a very strong, tough, prestigious league. They’ve been building up their strength. In that context we believe that those divisions (Bundesliga and second division) have been contributing to the development of Japanese players,” Moriyasu said. “I’m very grateful for that.”
Ilkay Gündogan had given four-time champion Germany the lead with a first-half penalty. But Doan, who plays for Freiburg, pounced on a rebound to equalize in the 76th minute after Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer blocked a shot from Takumi Minamino.
Then Asano, who plays for Bochum, sprinted clear of Nico Schlotterbeck and beat Neuer from a narrow angle in the 83rd minute of the first competitive meeting between the two nations.
The match was played a day after Argentina's 2-1 upset loss to Saudi Arabia.
Before Wednesday's game, Germany’s players covered their mouths during the team photo in an apparent rebuke to FIFA following its decision to stop plans to wear armbands to protest discrimination in host nation Qatar.
Nancy Faeser, Germany’s sports minister, attended the match at the Khalifa International Stadium and was sitting beside FIFA president Gianni Infantino while wearing the same “One Love” armband that FIFA had outlawed with its threats of consequences.
It was only the third time Germany had lost its tournament-opening game after defeats against Algeria in 1982 and Mexico in 2018. In the other World Cup openers for Germany, the team had won 13 matches and drawn four.
Germany outplayed Japan for much of the match with 24 attempts on goal compared to Japan's 11. Despite giving away the penalty for a clumsy challenge on left back David Raum, Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda made a string of saves and was player of the game.
“We fought as a team,” Gonda said. “We have to make sure we never stop.”
Japan next plays Costa Rica, while Germany faces Spain on Sunday.
Germany’s buildup was fraught by protests and political statements because of Qatar’s human rights record and its treatment of migrant workers and members of the LGBTQ community.
Germany was playing at the World Cup for the first time since its shocking group-stage exit as defending champion in 2018, while Japan is appearing in its seventh straight World Cup and is looking to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.
___
AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2022-11-23T16:43:18+00:00 | ksat.com | https://www.ksat.com/sports/2022/11/23/japan-gets-2-late-goals-to-beat-germany-2-1-at-world-cup/ |
With Mega Millions over $370 million, Jackpocket offers a safe, easy way to order state lottery tickets on-the-go
NEW YORK, July 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time, Montanans can order lottery tickets from their phone. Jackpocket, the leading third-party app in the U.S. to provide a secure way to order official state lottery tickets, today announced its launch in Montana, offering lottery fans a new way to play.
Lottery players in Montana can place ticket orders for beloved lottery games, including Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto America, Lucky for Life, Montana Cash, and Big Sky Bonus on Jackpocket's easy-to-use mobile app. The secure platform allows players to conveniently place ticket orders, view an image of their ticket, check lottery results, and even receive prizes up to $599 directly on the app. If players win more than $599, the winning ticket will be transferred to them for redemption at the Montana Lottery.
First-time players can receive a free lottery ticket on the Jackpocket app by entering the code BIGSKY at checkout.
"Accessibility and convenience are of the utmost importance right now, which is why we're looking forward to offering Montanans, both long-time lottery players and new players alike, a digital-forward way of streamlining their day," said Jackpocket CEO and Founder Peter Sullivan. "Innovation and safety are at the forefront of everything we do at Jackpocket, and we're committed to keeping those guiding principles at the forefront of online gaming."
By broadening access to the lottery, Jackpocket helps drive state revenue while also attracting new consumers who otherwise would not be active lottery players. Over sixty-five percent of Jackpocket app users are 18 to 45 years old. Since 1987, the Montana Lottery has contributed more than $302 million to the state's General Fund, which supports public education, safety and health programs, and to the Montana STEM scholarship program.
Montana is now the 12th state available for lottery play on the Jackpocket app along with Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, D.C. Lottery players have won over $150 million in lottery prizes using the Jackpocket app, and 14 individual players have won prizes worth $1 million or more to date.
To ensure player safety, Jackpocket offers consumer protections such as daily deposit and spend limits, self-exclusion and in-app access to responsible gaming resources. Jackpocket is a member of the National Council on Problem Gambling, and the first third-party lottery service to receive a responsible gambling certification from the NCPG's Internet Responsible Gambling Compliance Assessment Program.
For more information, visit jackpocket.com or download the Jackpocket app on iOS or Android.
Jackpocket is on a mission to create a more convenient, fun and responsible way to play the lottery. The first licensed third-party lottery app in the United States, Jackpocket provides an easy, secure way to order official state lottery tickets. Jackpocket is currently available in Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, D.C., and is expanding to many new markets. Download the app on iOS or Android and follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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SOURCE Jackpocket | 2022-07-05T16:27:31+00:00 | mysuncoast.com | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2022/07/05/jackpocket-launches-lottery-app-montana/ |
VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Minerva Intelligence Inc. (TSXV: MVAI) ("Minerva" or "the Company"), an artificial intelligence software company focused on building decision support tools for climate risk, mineral exploration and mining, reports One Proof-of-Concept sold during the month of July 2022 of its AI software DRIVER.
DRIVER software is licensed on an annual recurring basis, allowing Minerva to build and maintain customer relationships as well as a reliable revenue stream. Minerva offers three license levels for end-user clients of varying size, as well as an upgradable limited-term Proof-of-Concept license.
Year to date Minerva has sold Ten Proof-of-Concepts and Four Annual Licenses. Based on investor feedback, Minerva will no longer be reporting the amount of demonstrations made during the month. Minerva will continue to report licenses sold on a monthly basis.
Minerva CEO Scott Tillman commented "A busy drilling season for mining and exploration companies coupled with a general summer slow down led to a decline in Proof-of-Concepts sold for the month of July. Changes have been made to the composition of our sales and marketing team which will reflect in an uptick of sales in the coming months. Simultaneously, we are working with large prospects to improve the functionality of DRIVER and expect to have an improved version ready for debut in September."
Minerva is a proud sponsor of the upcoming Digitization in Mining Conference in Toronto August 31st to September 1st. For more information on this upcoming event please visit:
DRIVER is Minerva's proprietary AI product developed to service the mineral exploration and mining industry by helping them better evaluate drill data to pinpoint superior drill targets, understand geometallurgical domains, and conduct more thorough, rapid, accurate 3D modeling. DRIVER combines cloud processing capabilities with Minerva's proprietary machine learning technology to automatically evaluate the spatial continuity present in geological numeric data. DRIVER automatically creates 3D models of all aspects of the dataset within a matter of minutes, and automatically identifies and catalogues the important zones of interest. These insights are incredibly valuable for exploration, metallurgy, environmental protection, and mining. Minerva's partnership and business development team is targeting qualified leads at mining, mineral exploration and mineral streaming companies around the world.
More information on DRIVER can be found on Minerva's DRIVER homepage, www.minervaintelligence.com/DRIVER
Minerva Intelligence Inc. is an artificial intelligence software company based in Vancouver, Canada, with a subsidiary office in Darmstadt, Germany. Their software is helping decision makers better understand the earth. Minerva's applications focus on the search for critical metals and for climate risk mitigation; however, its proprietary AI software has application in diverse industries and domains. Minerva's common shares are currently listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (symbol MVAI). For further details, please refer to their website www.minervaintelligence.com or follow Minerva on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Forward Looking Information: This news release includes certain information that may be deemed "forward-looking information". Forward-looking information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. All information in this release, other than information of historical facts, including, without limitation, the availability of financing to the Company are forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions, such expectations are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information include changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, regulatory changes, delays in receiving approvals, and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities in Canada. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For more information on the Company and the risks and challenges of our business, investors should review our continuous disclosure filings which are available at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.
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SOURCE Minerva Intelligence Inc. | 2022-08-11T13:30:16+00:00 | wbrc.com | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2022/08/11/minerva-reports-july-results-driver-software/ |
CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — A California military base was put in lockdown Friday night after a vehicle went through the facility’s main gate without stopping, a military spokesperson said.
Naval Base Coronado spokesperson Kevin Dixon told KNSD-TV that the driver was taken into custody by base guards after the “gate runner” drove without stopping through the entrance of Naval Air Station North Island, part of Naval Base Coronado.
Several patrol cars surrounded the entrance near 3rd Street and Alameda Boulevard in Coronado around 10:30 p.m., KNSD-TV reported,
Multiple gates at the air station near San Diego were closed while security personnel checked the facility, Dixon said.
A post on the Facebook page of Naval Base Coronado early Saturday morning said, “The main gate at Naval Air Station North Island is currently closed due to a security incident. Please stay away from the main gate while security conducts its investigation.”
The Coronado Police Department were investigating the incident with military police, KNSD-TV reported.
Naval Air Station North Island is one of eight U.S. military installations that make up Naval Base Coronado.
In February 2022, a motorist was found with bomb-making materials at the same gate on the base. The materials were not assembled into a device and the driver was detained for questioning, the base said at the time. | 2023-03-18T10:39:34+00:00 | seattletimes.com | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/california-military-base-locked-down-after-vehicle-runs-gate/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
ORANGE, Mass. (WWLP) – The Orange Fire Department has provided more information about two back-to-back fires Monday afternoon.
Orange Fire crews were at a fire on Mechanic Street and then were called to a home on Bacon Street for a second fire. Fire crews ran to the home where they found a resident, who breathed in too much smoke.
Fire crews were able to put out the fire and find a missing cat. The cause of the first fire was a malfunctioning water heater. | 2022-10-05T12:20:51+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/news/orange-fires-on-both-mechanic-st-and-bacon-st-follow-ups/ |
Officials: 12-year-old falsely reported active shooter at middle school
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT/Gray News) - Police in North Carolina have charged a 12-year-old student Wednesday for falsely reporting an active shooter at his middle school.
According to the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, the boy called 911 shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday to report an active shooter at Holly Shelter Middle School in Wilmington.
Officers responded to the school and said they found no evidence of an active shooter after clearing the campus.
The sheriff’s office confirmed to WECT that the boy is a student at Holly Shelter Middle School.
He was charged with false report concerning mass violence on education property.
The New Hanover sheriff said he was thankful there was no actual threat, but false reports will not be tolerated by authorities.
Copyright 2022 WECT via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2022-12-08T20:46:04+00:00 | atlantanewsfirst.com | https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2022/12/08/officials-12-year-old-falsely-reported-active-shooter-middle-school/ |
VINNYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) — As Russia’s military pressed its efforts to expand into Ukraine’s east, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired the head of the country’s security service and its prosecutor general on Sunday, citing hundreds of criminal proceedings into treason and collaboration by people within their departments.
“In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the SBU have remained in the occupied territory and work against our state,” Zelenskyy said.
“Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the state’s national security, and the links recorded between Ukrainian security forces and Russian special services raise very serious questions about their respective leaders,’’ he said.
He dismissed Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, and replaced her with her deputy Oleksiy Symonenko. He also dismissed Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine’s security service, the SBU. Bakanov was a long-time friend of Zelenskyy’s, according to Ukrainian news agencies.
Earlier Sunday, Russian missiles hit industrial facilities at Mykolaiv, a strategic city in southern Ukraine. Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said the missiles struck an industrial and infrastructure facility in the city, a key shipbuilding center in the estuary of the Southern Bug river. There was no immediate information about casualties.
Mykolaiv has faced regular Russian missile strikes in recent weeks as the Russians have sought to soften Ukrainian defenses.
The Russian military has declared a goal to cut off Ukraine’s entire Black Sea coast all the way to the Romanian border. If successful, such an effort would deal a crushing blow to the Ukrainian economy and trade, and allow Moscow to secure a land bridge to Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, which hosts a Russian military base.
Early in the campaign, Ukrainian forces fended off Russian attempts to capture Mykolaiv, which sits near the Black Sea coast between Russia-occupied Crimea and the main Ukrainian port of Odesa. Since then, Russian troops have halted their attempts to advance in the city but have continued to pummel both Mykolaiv and Odesa with regular missile strikes.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that Russian missiles destroyed a depot for anti-ship Harpoon missiles delivered to Ukraine by NATO allies, a claim that couldn’t be independently confirmed.
The Russians, fearing a Ukrainian counteroffensive, also sought to reinforce their positions in the Kherson region near Crimea and in part of the northern Zaporizhzhia region that they seized in the opening stage of the war.
The British Defense Ministry said Sunday that Russia is moving troops and equipment between Kherson, Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia, and increasing security measures around Melitopol.
It added: “Given the pressures on Russian manpower, the reinforcement of the south whilst the fight for the Donbas continues indicates the seriousness with which Russian commanders view the threat.”
For now, the Russian military has focused on trying to take control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas, where the most capable and well-equipped Ukrainian forces are located.
Ukraine says its forces still retain control of two small villages in the Luhansk region, one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas, and are successfully fending off Russian attempts to advance deeper into the second one, the Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said Sunday that Ukrainian troops thwarted Russian attempts to advance toward Sloviansk, the key Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk, and other attacks elsewhere in the region.
Yet Russian officials are urging their troops to produce even more territorial gains. During a visit to the front lines Saturday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu issued an order “to further intensify the actions of units in all operational areas.”
The Russian military said it has struck Ukrainian troops and artillery positions in Donbas in the latest series of strikes, including a U.S.-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launcher. The Russian claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, responded to Ukrainian officials’ statements that Kyiv may strike the bridge linking Crimea and Russia, warning that that would trigger devastating consequences for the Ukrainian leadership.
“If that happens, the consequences will be obvious: They will momentarily face Doomsday,” Medvedev said Sunday. “It would be very hard for them to hide.”
Medvedev, who once was touted by the West as more liberal compared to Putin, said Russia will press its action in Ukraine until fulfilling its stated goal of “denazifying” and “demilitarizing” the country. He predicted that the continuing fighting will “undoubtedly lead to the collapse of the existing regime” in Kyiv.
While focusing on the Donbas, the Russians have hit areas all across the country with missile strikes.
Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians over the weekend not to fall for Russia’s attempts to scare them with warnings of horrendous missile attacks to come, which he said were aimed at dividing Ukrainian society.
“It’s clear that no Russian missiles or artillery will be able to break our unity or lead us away from our path toward a democratic, independent Ukraine,” he said in his nightly video address Saturday to the nation. “And it is also clear that Ukrainian unity cannot be broken by lies or intimidation, fakes or conspiracy theories.”
On Sunday in central Ukraine, relatives and friends attended a funeral for Liza Dmytrieva, a 4-year-old girl killed Thursday in a Russian missile strike. The girl with Down syndrome was en route to see a speech therapist with her mother when the missiles struck the city of Vinnytsia. At least 24 people were killed, including Liza and two boys, ages 7 and 8. More than 200 others were wounded, including Liza’s mother, who remains in an intensive care unit.
“I didn’t know Liza, but no person can go through this with calm,” priest Vitalii Holoskevych said, bursting into tears as Liza’s body lay in a coffin with flowers and teddy bears in the 18th-century Transfiguration Cathedral in Vinnytsia.
‘’We know that evil cannot win,’ he added.
In the Kharkiv region, at least three civilians were killed and three more were injured Saturday in a pre-dawn Russian strike on the city of Chuhuiv, just 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Russian border, police said.
Lyudmila Krekshina, who lives in the apartment building that was hit, said a husband and wife were killed as well as an elderly man who lived on the ground floor.
Another resident said she was lucky to have survived.
“I was going to run and hide in the bathroom. I didn’t make it and that’s what saved me,” said Valentina Bushuyeva. Pointing to her destroyed apartment, she said: “There’s the bathroom — explosion. Kitchen — half a room. And I survived because I stayed put.”
___
Anna reported from Pokrovsk, Ukraine.
____
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | 2022-07-17T20:50:01+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/news/national-world/ap-international/russia-strikes-south-ukraine-city-presses-attacks-in-east/ |
Hires three professionals from Key Bank's wealth management division
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., June 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Dakota Wealth Management, an independent investment management firm serving high-net-worth individuals and families, announces the official opening of its office in Syracuse, NY. The wealth advisory team in the Syracuse office consists of John H. King, Bridget A. Cunningham, and William Kamery.
Mr. King, Ms. Cunningham, and Mr. Kamery were previously with Key Bank, where they oversaw nearly $1.5 billion in client assets and experienced strong growth over their years working together.
"Adding a talented group of professionals with strong ties to the greater Syracuse community and proven success in the field appealed to us," said Bryan Keller, Chief Strategic Officer, Dakota Wealth Management. "John, Bridget, and Will patiently abided by their year-long restrictive covenants, and we were supportive of their wish to transition from a bank environment to a conflict-free, independent registered investment advisory firm."
Ms. Cunningham joined Dakota Wealth as a Senior Portfolio Manager. She was at Key Private Bank for 28 years, where she managed close to $1 billion in assets. Ms. Cunningham holds the Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) designation and is a member of Dakota Wealth's Investment Committee. Bridget earned her degree in Business Administration and Finance from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego, and is active in her hometown of Cazenovia, NY where she serves as a member of the St. James Finance Committee and Cazenovia Fire Department Finance Committee.
"It was important for us to be part of a team with the same client-focused, team-oriented, entrepreneurial spirit that we share," noted Ms. Cunningham. "I am extremely excited to be able to bring this type of client-focused wealth management to the central New York market."
Mr. King and Mr. Kamery joined Dakota Wealth in the role of Senior Wealth Advisor. Mr. King was at Key Private Bank for 15 years. He holds the Certified Merger and Acquisition Advisor® (CM&AA®) and Certified Wealth Strategist® (CWS®) designations. Mr. King graduated from Elmira College and is currently pursuing his MBA from Syracuse University. He is on the board of directors of First Tee of Syracuse and is the Co-Director of the Jamesville Dewitt Youth Lacrosse organization. He was named a Central New York Business Journal '40 under 40' in 2016. He is also a member of Forbes Finance Council.
"We wanted our clients' needs to be the reason for change, not a board or stock price," said Mr. King. "Dakota has the services and resources my clients need, but no quotas to meet or products to sell."
Mr. Kamery was at Key Private Bank for 7 years after beginning his career in financial services at Morgan Stanley. He is a graduate of Hobart College. He is on the Board of Directors at The McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center and serves as the acting Treasurer. He is the past President of the Drumlins East Golf Club and Strathmore Neighborhood Association in addition to serving on the Rescue Mission's Legacy planning committee.
"The intellectual capital at Dakota is vast, bringing together an expansive list of expertise in investment management," remarked Mr. Kamery. "It is also evident that Dakota is constantly growing and evolving to better serve its clients."
This is the firm's first office in New York. Dakota Wealth Management has 13 office locations in 9 states.
Dakota Wealth Management is an independent investment management, wealth and estate planning, and full-service tax planning firm serving high-net-worth individuals, families, and institutions. Headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens and founded by RIA industry veteran Peter Raimondi, Dakota elevates wealth management to an art with thoughtfully designed investment portfolios and personalized wealth management services. Dakota also provides a full suite of financial planning, estate and tax services for select clients. For more information, visit www.dakotawm.com.
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SOURCE Dakota Wealth Management | 2022-06-29T21:13:40+00:00 | wagmtv.com | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2022/06/29/dakota-wealth-management-announces-opening-syracuse-ny-office/ |
SMYRNA, Ga. — Five units have been damaged after an apartment fire on Old Concord Road in Smyrna, according to the Cobb County Fire Department.
They add that around midnight, firefighters found smoke and fire in the attic of one of the buildings at the Arbors at Smyrna.
Right now, officials are investigating two possible causes of the fire; a lightning strike from overnight storms or children who were playing with fireworks in the alley.
Thankfully, all residents were able to get out safely, fire officials said, adding that they also rescued a cat.
This is a developing story. Check back often for new information.
Also download the 11Alive News app and sign up to receive alerts for the latest on this story and other breaking news in Atlanta and north Georgia. | 2022-08-21T15:24:47+00:00 | 11alive.com | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/smyrna-apartment-complex-fire/85-af7603dc-6617-4969-87c3-dfe218367e3f |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Dmytro Bondarenko is ready for the worst.
He’s filled the storage area under his fold-up bed and just about every other nook of his apartment in eastern Kyiv with water and nonperishable food. There are rolls of packing tape to seal the windows from radioactive fallout. He has a gas-fired camping stove and walkie-talkies.
There’s even an AR-15 rifle and a shotgun for protection, along with boxes of ammo. Fuel canisters and spare tires are stashed by his washing machine in case he needs to leave the city in a hurry.
“Any preparation can increase my chance to survive,” he said, wearing a knife and a first-aid kit.
With the Russian invasion in its ninth month, many Ukrainians no longer ask if their country will be hit by nuclear weapons. They are actively preparing for that once-unthinkable possibility.
Over dinner tables and in bars, people often discuss which city would be the most likely target or what type of weapon could be used. Many, like Bondarenko, are stocking up on supplies and making survival plans.
Nobody wants to believe it can happen, but it seems to be on the mind of many in Ukraine, which saw the world’s worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986.
“Of course Ukraine takes this threat seriously, because we understand what kind of country we are dealing with,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to Russia.
The Kremlin has made unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine is preparing a “dirty bomb” in Russian-occupied areas — an explosive to scatter radioactive material and sow fear. Kyiv strenuously denied it and said such statements are more probably a sign that Moscow is itself preparing such a bomb and blame it on Ukraine.
MEMORIES OF CHERNOBYL
The nuclear fears trigger painful memories from those who lived through the Chernobyl disaster, when one of four reactors exploded and burned about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Kyiv, releasing a plume of radiation. Soviet authorities initially kept the accident secret, and while the town near the plant was evacuated, Kyiv was not.
Svitlana Bozhko was a 26-year-old journalist in Kyiv who was seven months pregnant at the time of the accident, and she believed official statements that played it down. But her husband, who had spoken to a physicist, convinced her to flee with him to the southeastern Poltava region, and she realized the threat when she saw radiation monitors and officials rinsing the tires of cars leaving Kyiv.
Those fears worried Bozhko for the rest of her pregnancy, and when her daughter was born, her first question was: “How many fingers does my child have?” That daughter, who was healthy, now has a 1-year-old of her own and left Kyiv the month after Russia invaded.
Still living in Kyiv at age 62, Bozhko had hoped she would never have to go through something like that again. But all those fears returned when Russian President Vladimir Putin sent in his forces on Feb. 24.
“It was a deja vu,” she told AP. “Once again, the feelings of tragedy and helplessness overwhelmed me.”
The capital again is preparing for the release of radioactivity, with more than 1,000 personnel trained to respond, said Roman Tkachuk, head of the capital’s Municipal Security Department. It has bought a large number of potassium iodide pills and protective equipment for distribution, he added.
CASUAL TALK AND DARK HUMOR ABOUT NUKES
With all the high-level talk from Moscow, Washington and Kyiv about atomic threats, Ukrainians’ conversations these days are studded with phrases like “strategic and tactical nuclear weapons,” “ potassium iodide pills,” “radiation masks,” “plastic raincoats,” and “hermetically sealed food.”
Bondarenko said he started making nuclear survival plans when Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant — the largest in Europe — was affected by Russian attacks.
The 33-year-old app designer figures he’s got enough supplies to survive for a couple of weeks and more than enough fuel to leave the country or move deep into the mountains if nuclear disaster strikes.
He moved from the Donetsk region several years ago after it was threatened by pro-Moscow separatists. He hoped for a calm life in Kyiv but the COVID-19 pandemic forced a more isolated life in his apartment, and the war accelerated his survival plans.
His supplies include 200 liters (53 gallons) of water, potassium iodide pills to protect his thyroid from radiation, respirator face masks and disposable booties to guard against contaminated soil.
Bondarenko said he can’t be sure he would be safe from a Russian nuclear strike but believes it’s better to be prepared because “they’re crazy.”
Websites offer tips for surviving a dirty bomb while TikTok has multiple posts of people packing “nuclear luggage” to make a quick getaway and offering advice on what to do in case of a nuclear attack.
October has seen “huge spikes” of Ukrainian visits to NUKEMAP, a website that allows users to simulate an atomic bomb dropped on a given location, according to its creator, Alex Wellerstein.
The anxiety has prompted dark humor. More than 8,000 people joined a chat on the Telegram messaging service after a tweeted joke that in case of a nuclear strike, survivors should go to Kyiv’s Schekavytsia Hill for an orgy.
On the serious side, mental health experts say having a support network is key to remaining resilient during uncertain times.
“That’s often the case in Ukraine and also you need to have the feeling that you can cope with this. And there is this group feeling (that is) quite strong,” said Dr, Koen Sevenants, lead for mental health and psychosocial support for global child protection for UNICEF.
However, he said extended periods under threat can lead to a sense of helplessness, hopelessness and depression. While a level of normalization can set in, that can change when threats increase.
FRONT-LINE FATIGUE
Those living near the war’s front line, like residents of Mykolaiv, say they often are too exhausted to think about new threats, since they have endured almost constant shelling. The city 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of Kyiv is the closest to Kherson, where battles are raging.
“Whether I believe it or not, we must prepare” for the nuclear threat, the head of regional administration, Vitalii Kim, told AP. He said regional officials are working on various scenarios and mapping evacuation routes.
More than half the prewar population of 500,000 has fled Mykolaiv. Many who stayed, like 73-year-old Valentyna, say they are too tired to leave now.
She sleeps in a windowless basement shared with about 10 other neighbors in conditions so humiliating that she asked not to be fully identified. Of the threat of a nuclear attack, she says: “Now I believe that everything can happen.”
Another woman in the shelter, who wanted to be identified only as Tamara for the same reasons, said that while trying to sleep at night on a bed made from stacked wooden beams, her mind turns to what fate awaits her.
“During the First World War, they fought mainly with horses. During the Second World War, with tanks,” she said. “No one excludes the possibility that this time it will be a nuclear weapon.”
“People progress, and with it, the weapons they use to fight,” Tamara added. “But man does not change, and history repeats itself.”
In Kyiv, Bozhko feels that same fatigue. She has learned what to do in case a missile hits, keeps a supply of remedies for various kinds of chemical attacks, and has what she calls her “anxiety luggage” — essentials packed in case of sudden evacuation.
“I’m so tired of being scared; I just keep living my life,” she says, “But if something happens, we will try to fight and survive.”
And she said she understands the difference between 1986 and 2022.
“Back then, we were afraid of the power of atoms. This time, we face a situation when a person wants to exterminate you by any means,” Bozhko said, “and the second is much more terrifying.”
—-
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | 2022-11-05T01:31:57+00:00 | kron4.com | https://www.kron4.com/top-stories/ap-top-headlines/ap-ukrainians-face-nuclear-threat-with-grit-and-dark-humor/ |
Australia vies for Pacific influence with new security deal
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia has signed a new security deal with Oceania island country Vanuatu as part of an ongoing competition with China for influence in the Pacific. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who announced the deal, is leading a bipartisan delegation to Vanuatu and two other Pacific nations. The new security pact covers humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, law enforcement, cyber security, defense, border security and maritime safety. The full text of the agreement has yet to be released. Earlier this year, China signed a security deal with the Solomon Islands, raising alarm in the South Pacific that it could lead to a military buildup. | 2022-12-14T05:42:56+00:00 | krdo.com | https://krdo.com/news/ap-national-business/2022/12/13/australia-vies-for-pacific-influence-with-new-security-deal-2/ |
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisian opposition figures called Sunday for the president’s resignation after disastrous parliamentary elections in which less than 9% of voters cast ballots.
The mass voter disavowal was a dramatic development for the country that was the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings against autocratic leaders a decade ago — and the only one to emerge from that upheaval with a democratic political system.
The elections Saturday were meant to replace and reshape a legislature that President Kais Saied dissolved last year. It was one of several moves he has made to consolidate his power and tackle Tunisia’s protracted economic and social crisis.
The election results are expected in the coming days.
Many opposition parties boycotted the vote, and many voters stayed away too.
According to provisional figures announced by the president of the electoral commission Farouk Bouaskar, around 800,000 voters took part in the elections out of approximately 9 million registered.
Opposition politician Ahmed Nejib Chebbi called the unprecedented low turnout “a real earthquake that will have serious consequences.”
Chebbi heads the Salvation Front coalition formed by five opposition parties, including the Islamist movement Ennahdha, which held the largest number of lawmakers in the dissolved parliament. In a statement to reporters Sunday, he called on Saied to resign and called for the organization of an early presidential election supervised by an independent magistrate.
In the legislative, presidential and local elections that have taken place in Tunisia since 2011 after the revolution that brought down longtime leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, electoral officials say the average turnout rate was 40%. The lowest until Saturday was the 27% turnout in a referendum in July on Saied’s new constitution.
“Thank you to the great people of Tunisia,” opposition party Ennahdha posted in response on Facebook to the turnout results. “The people have boycotted.”
The president of the opposition Free Destourian Party also called for Saied’s resignation, as did the opposition Republican Party.
Bouaskar of the electoral commission had predicted a turnout of about 30%. He said participation was lower because parties could no longer use money to bribe voters according to new electoral rules.
There appeared to be multiple reasons for low turnout, including voters’ disillusionment with the political class, their focus on financial worries, as well as opposition to Saied’s political reforms. His critics said he designed the elections without involving political parties or civil society. | 2022-12-19T13:30:01+00:00 | wcia.com | https://www.wcia.com/news/international/ap-tunisian-president-urged-to-resign-after-election-debacle/ |
Renowned Innovator and Strategist in Aging Brings Expertise Amid Rapid Growth for the Organization
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Eden Alternative, a nonprofit organization improving the landscape of aging services, announced the addition of Sarah Thomas to the Board of Directors. The Eden Alternative – in operation for more than 25 years – is continuing a recent run of rapid innovation; the addition of Thomas to the Board enhances the organization's ability to lead in the changing landscape of technology and aging.
Thomas joins the Board of Directors as an accomplished leader of innovation and as an expert in aging with more than 20 years dedicated to transforming the aging experience. As CEO of multiple enterprises, Thomas helps create age-inclusive products, brands, spaces and experiences that delight the consumer at every age. Thomas has held key leadership positions across the US and Asia with a career spanning high-tech robotics, change management, post-acute care and as an accomplished speaker and author. She combines her Occupational Therapy expertise with her operational, clinical and entrepreneurial experience to inspire global improvements in design and systems innovation worldwide.
Thomas joins the Board of Directors as The Eden Alternative modernizes its services and tools to meet the needs of practitioners and communities deeply impacted by the global pandemic, staffing shortages and the slow pace of innovation. Under the leadership of CEO Patrick Bultema, The Eden Alternative has refactored much of its core intellectual property and services. "Sarah is recognized as a thought leader, and major innovator in the aging services arena," said Bultema, "Her insights into age tech, and the emerging longevity economy, coupled with a passion for doing right by elders is an invaluable addition to the Eden Board of Directors. I could not be more thrilled to have Sarah join us, as we continue to transform Eldercare for the better, in a landscape that is sure to be disrupted by major innovations and tech advances."
The Eden Alternative is an international nonprofit organization that provides consulting, education and tools to organizations and individuals across the aging services industry. The Eden Alternative has educated thousands of people worldwide on its person-directed model of care. The organization's model has become widely recognized as the flagship framework to combat the existing institutional, medical model of care that continues to produce loneliness, helplessness and boredom for Elders. Organizations that have adopted The Eden Alternative's practices have seen tremendous reductions in workforce turnover, better financial performance, higher regulatory compliance and happier, healthier Elders.
Official Headshot for Sarah Thomas Here
Official Logo for The Eden Alternative Here
Media Contact:
Julian Flores
Chief Marketing Officer
The Eden Alternative
jflores@edenalt.org
585-461-3951 x 3062
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SOURCE The Eden Alternative | 2022-08-19T20:46:57+00:00 | newschannel10.com | https://www.newschannel10.com/prnewswire/2022/08/19/sarah-thomas-joins-eden-alternative-board-directors/ |
ALBANY, N.Y. — Judges on New York’s high court peppered attorneys with sharp questions Tuesday as they considered whether to throw out new congressional district maps that Republicans charge are unconstitutionally gerrymandered.
Judges repeatedly asked Democratic attorneys about what should happen next if the high court decides to strike down the maps. But they also seemed wary about overstepping their authority.
“I’m again having difficulty with your argument that you’re driving the substantive work of drawing district lines into a judicial forum,” Judge Jenny Rivera told a lawyer for the petitioners.
The suit says the Democrat-controlled Legislature violated provisions in the state constitution that barred the redrawing of districts for partisan gain. New York’s governor and legislative leaders deny that they bent the rules, but two lower courts have already ruled that the district maps were drafted specifically to give Democrats an advantage.
A midlevel appeals court last week gave the Legislature a deadline of April 30 to come up with revised maps, or else leave the redrafting in the hands of a court-appointed expert.
A third ruling against the maps could potentially upend the state’s planned congressional primary, now scheduled for late June.
Political district maps across the nation have been redrawn in recent months as a result of population shifts documented in the 2020 Census.
Democrats had been counting on New York lawmakers producing a map heavily favorable to their party to help offset expected Republican gains in other states.
New York’s new maps would give Democrats a strong majority of registered voters in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional districts. Republicans, who represent about 22% of registered New York voters, currently hold eight of the state’s 27 seats in Congress. New York will lose one seat in 2021.
Partisan gerrymandering of political district maps is an age-old tradition in the U.S., but New York voters attempted to limit the practice through a constitutional amendment in 2014.
The new maps were initially supposed to have been drawn by an independent commission, but that body, made up of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, couldn’t reach consensus, allowing the Legislature to step in.
So far this election cycle, courts have intervened to block maps they found to be Republican gerrymanders in North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and a Democratic gerrymander in Maryland. Such decisions have led to delayed primaries in North Carolina, Ohio and Maryland.
__
Associated Press writer Michael Hill contributed. | 2022-04-26T17:14:30+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/fight-over-gerrymandering-argued-at-new-yorks-highest-court/2022/04/26/be63c4b6-c581-11ec-8cff-33b059f4c1b7_story.html |
DOVER, Del. (AP) — A Delaware bankruptcy judge has approved parts of the Boy Scouts of America’s reorganization plan but has rejected other provisions, saying in a ruling Friday that the organization has “decisions to make” regarding the plan.
Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein issued her 281-page ruling, months after concluding a trial in the case. She indicated that she is willing to hold a status conference upon a request by attorneys for the Boy Scouts.
The BSA’s plan proposed the creation of a $2.6 billion fund to compensate tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children involved in Scouting, while maintaining the organization’s financial ability to continue operating.
The ruling is the just latest example of uncertainty in a case that has seen myriad twists and turns since the Boy Scouts sought bankruptcy protection more than two years ago to stave off a flood of lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by Scout leaders and volunteers.
In the meantime, the cash-strapped BSA has spent more than $327 million in fees and expenses in the bankruptcy and continues to bleed money, with no end in sight. It also remains unclear when any of the 82,000 sexual abuse claimants in the bankruptcy might receive any compensation for their abuse.
The plan called for the Irving, Texas-based BSA and its local councils, along with settling insurance companies and troop sponsoring organizations, to contribute some $2.6 billion in cash and property to a fund for abuse claimants. In return for those contributions, those entities would be shielded from future lawsuits over Scout-related abuse.
When it filed for bankruptcy, the BSA faced about 275 filed lawsuits and was aware of roughly another 1,400 potential cases, but more than 82,200 abuse claims were filed in the bankruptcy. Attorneys for BSA insurers argued early on that the sheer volume of claims was an indication of fraud and the result of aggressive client solicitation by attorneys and for-profit claims aggregators.
While some of those insurers later negotiated settlements for a fraction of the billions of dollars in liability exposure they potentially faced, other insurers continued to oppose the plan. They argued that the procedures for distributing funds from the compensation trust would violate their contractual rights to contest claims, set a dangerous precedent for mass tort litigation, and result in grossly inflated payments of abuse claims, including tens of thousands that would otherwise be barred by the passage of time.
Under the reorganization plan, the BSA and its 250 local councils, along with settling insurance companies and troop sponsoring organizations, would contribute some $2.6 billion in cash and property to a fund for victims of child sexual abuse. In return for those contributions, those entities would be released from further liability, meaning they could not be sued for Scout-related abuse claims. The plan also would allow abuse claimants to sue insurance companies and local troop sponsoring organizations that do not enter into their own settlements within one year.
In addition to the arguments by opposing insurers, the case presented Silverstein with one of the most contentious issues for bankruptcy judges — whether third parties that are not bankruptcy debtors themselves can escape future liability in the tort system by contributing to a Chapter 11 debtor’s reorganization plan.
Such third-party releases, spawned by asbestos and product-liability cases, have been criticized as an unconstitutional form of “bankruptcy grifting,” where non-debtor entities obtain benefits by joining with a debtor to resolve mass-tort litigation in bankruptcy.
Federal courts in some jurisdictions, including Delaware, have allowed third-party releases in certain circumstances, while courts in other jurisdictions have rejected them.
Under the plan proposed by the Boy Scouts, insurance companies, local BSA councils and troop sponsoring organizations would receive broad liability releases protecting them from future sex abuse lawsuits in exchange for contributing to the victims compensation fund — or even for just not objecting to the plan.
Some abuse survivors argued that releasing their claims against non-debtor third parties without their consent would violate their due process rights. The U.S. bankruptcy trustee, the government’s “watchdog” in Chapter 11 bankruptcies, argued that such releases are not allowed under the bankruptcy code, and that the scope of the proposed releases in the BSA plan, potentially extending to tens of thousands of entities, was unprecedented.
The plan called for the BSA itself to contribute less than 10% of the proposed settlement fund, consisting of property valued at about $80 million, an $80 million promissory note, and roughly $20 million cash.
The local BSA councils, which run day-to-day operations for troops, offered to contribute at least $515 million in cash and property, and an interest-bearing note of at least $100 million. That contribution was conditioned on certain protections for local troop sponsoring organizations, known as “chartered organizations.” Those organizations, numbering in the tens of thousands, include religious entities, civic associations and community groups.
The bulk of the compensation fund would come from the BSA’s two largest insurers, Century Indemnity and The Hartford, which reached settlements calling for them to contribute $800 million and $787 million, respectively. Other insurers agreed to contribute about $69 million. The BSA’s former largest troop sponsor, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, would contribute $250 million for abuse claims involving the Mormon church, while congregations affiliated with the United Methodist Church would contribute $30 million. | 2022-07-30T19:48:38+00:00 | fox44news.com | https://www.fox44news.com/news/national-world-news/ruling-leaves-questions-about-boy-scouts-bankruptcy-plan/ |
MIAMI – The Denver Nuggets act like they’ve been here before.
There is an unmistakable poise to the Nuggets, who are only one win away from their first NBA championship and could hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy as early as Monday night when the finals return to Denver for Game 5. Their stars have been starry in their first finals appearance. Their role players have delivered. There hasn’t been a colossal blunder. And even on the cusp of a title, they refuse to change their approach.
“We need to win one more,” two-time MVP Nikola Jokic said.
That’s the Nuggets. Simple. Effective. Blunt.
With Jokic and Jamal Murray leading the way, and with basically a different person stepping up to be the third hero every night so far for the Nuggets, they have the Miami Heat in serious trouble now. They lead the finals 3-1 and with potentially two of the next three games — if needed — in Denver.
“We get an opportunity to play a super competitive game in a great environment," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s going to be an awesome environment. Our guys are built for that. They love that. … Yeah, we understand what the narrative will be, but that’s the way it is with our team.”
History says this series is pretty much over; only one team in NBA history has dug its way out of such a hole in the finals, that being the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers against the Golden State Warriors. Heat forward Kevin Love played for that Cleveland team.
“Forget the game,” Love said. “It’s just one possession, one quarter, half by half. Just get it done by any means necessary and we’ll figure the rest out.”
It will be a daunting task.
The Nuggets have held Miami under 100 points three times through the first four games; those were the three Denver wins in the series. They’re 9-1 at home, the only loss coming in Game 2 of this series when Miami pulled off a big rally and survived when a potentially game-tying 3-pointer by Jamal Murray missed at the buzzer.
“This is what I always tell my guys: Winning a championship will be the hardest thing you ever do,” said Heat forward Udonis Haslem, a three-time champion whose 20-year career ends when this series ends. “People only talk about the parade and holding up the trophy. They don’t talk about the journey, the sleepless nights, the frustration, the tears, the pain. They don’t talk about that (stuff). This is all part of that.”
Denver isn’t talking about a parade; some city officials in Dallas were during the 2006 finals when the Mavericks led Miami 2-0, and the Heat won the next four games. The Nuggets aren’t making any such blunders. No blunders at all, really. Every detail is covered, even remembering to run the 24-second shot clock down to the very end on multiple possessions in the final minutes of Game 4, just to shorten the game and limit whatever chance Miami had at making a comeback.
“We’ve done our job. But we’re not celebrating like we’ve done anything yet,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “We know we’re going to have to go home and turn off the TV, the radio, don’t read the papers, don’t listen to everybody telling you how great you are. … We stay true to our identity.”
Here’s what that means: The Nuggets have two exceptional players, a two-time MVP in Jokic playing the role of Batman and a still-rising star in Murray happily playing the role of Robin in Denver’s superhero duo.
Jokic — who will never willingly enter a conversation about his incredible stats — is on the cusp of becoming the first player to ever lead the NBA in points, rebounds and assists during a postseason. Murray is the first player to have at least 10 assists in each of his four finals games. They have been the 1-2 punch that has put Miami on the ropes throughout this series.
And then there’s always a third or fourth hero to finish the job. In Game 1, it was Michael Porter Jr. with 14 points and 13 rebounds. In Game 3, it was rookie Christian Braun with 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting. In Game 4, it was Aaron Gordon with a team-high 27 points and Bruce Brown with 21 off the bench.
“That’s just how this team is built,” Gordon said. “We have guys that can step up night in and night out. Sometimes it’s not going to be your night, and sometimes it is going to be your night. This team does a good job finding the people that are kind of in a rhythm and kind of going.”
Jokic gets most of the credit and doesn’t want it. Murray doesn’t get enough credit and doesn’t care about that, either. The other guys, they just take their cues from Jokic and Murray and find a way.
If they do it one more time, they’ll be getting rings in a few months.
“We’re just ready to win a championship,” Murray said. “We have the tools to do it. It’s been on our minds for a while. We’re just locked in. I don’t think you’ve got to overthink it. We’re just dialed in, ready to win.”
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2023-06-10T19:05:47+00:00 | ksat.com | https://www.ksat.com/sports/2023/06/10/nuggets-showing-plenty-of-poise-in-these-nba-finals-against-heat/ |
In early November, the U.S. Forest Service sponsored an updated land exchange that seeks to consolidate checkerboarded land and increase public access to 30 square miles of public lands on the eastern side of the Crazy Mountains.
The exchange would also increase public land access near The Inspiration Divide Trail #8 in the Madison Range near Big Sky, Montana. The U.S. Forest Service has brought this proposal into the required 45-day comment period.
Specifically, on the Big Sky aspect of the exchange where we have focused our attention, the public would gain 605 acres of mid-elevation lands along Inspiration Divide Trail #8 for public use, including over the snow use, in exchange for 500 acres of steep and rocky high-elevation expert ski terrain adjacent to the Yellowstone Club. Additionally, the U.S. Forest Service is going to enhance Trail #8 to be more passable for winter and summer use by doing a small reroute in a traditionally technical location.
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While we appreciated that numerous Montana stakeholders, along with the U.S. Forest Service, worked together to improve access to public land and increase recreational opportunities, we initially had concerns about how the exchange would affect snowmobile recreation near Buck Ridge on the land the public would trade. In particular, the land around Trail 468 that provides access to the back side of Eglise Peak and into the Third Yellow Mule Drainage would be part of the current exchange property.
For that reason, we expressed concerns with the current draft proposal to the stakeholders in the exchange.
After making our concerns of the loss of snowmobile terrain known during the public meeting we were approached in good faith by the Yellowstone Club, who is the landowner with the land included in the exchange, that contained the area in question. The Yellowstone Club was asking for ways to address our concerns.
After productive discussions, we were able to swiftly find a resolution that would not only address our concerns about Trail 468 but would actually increase the overall land in the U.S. Forest Service’s (public’s) hands to benefit public use, including over the snow recreation opportunities. The Yellowstone Club offered to shrink their lands that would be part of the exchange to preserve the prime snowmobile area currently open to the public and accommodate a solution for our concerns.
While the U.S. Forest Service has ultimate ownership and approval over this land exchange, the Yellowstone Club and our recreational sports associations will request the Forest Service to adopt the revised Eglise Ridge boundary adjustment proposal with a willing partnership. We collectively believe more public land in public hands will be embraced by the U.S. Forest and are hopeful the final iteration will include our modification.
This is the Montana way.
Neighbors, stakeholders and interested parties, all advocating for their positions and working together collaboratively to achieve meaningful results for the public. | 2022-12-29T16:44:37+00:00 | helenair.com | https://helenair.com/opinion/columnists/guest-view-mt-recreationalists-and-snowmobile-groups-endorse-the-big-sky-crazy-mountain-land-exchange/article_bd5b9079-359f-5759-b7c1-f3e308d3e0c1.html |
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LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The Biden administration is stepping up efforts to combat illegal fishing by China, ordering federal agencies to better coordinate among themselves as well as with foreign partners in a bid to promote sustainable exploitation of the world's oceans.
On Monday, the White House released its first ever National Security memo on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, or IUU, to coincide with the start of a United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal.
Nearly 11% of total U.S. seafood imports in 2019 worth $2.4 billion came from illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission, a federal agency.
While China isn't named in the lengthy policy framework, language in it left little doubt where it was aimed. The memo is bound to irritate Beijing at a time of growing geopolitical competition between the two countries. China is a dominant seafood processor and through state loans and fuel subsidies has built the world's largest distant water fishing fleet, with thousands of floating fish factories spread across Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Specifically, the memo directs 21 federal departments and agencies to better share information, coordinate enforcement actions such as sanctions and visa restrictions and promote best practices among international allies.
It will also be followed in coming days by new rules from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expanding the definition of illegal fishing to include related labor abuses, a first step to the eventual blacklisting of flag states that fail to comply.
Conservation groups praised the effort, which builds on work started under the Obama administration to clean up U.S. seafood supply chains.
“American fishermen have to follow a lot of rules and regulations by the U.S. government,” said Beth Lowell, vice president for Oceana, a Washington-based non-profit. “By taking actions against other countries like China that have a poor labor and environmental record, it levels the playing field and that benefits legal fishermen all over the world.”
The action plan also calls for expansion of the U.S. seafood import monitoring program, which requires importers to provide documentation from the point of catch to insure that illegally caught fish don't slip into the U.S. Currently, the program only covers about a dozen species. Groups like Oceana have been pushing for the program to cover all imports.
"Until the United States holds all seafood imports to the same standards as U.S.-caught fish, illegally sourced seafood will continue to be sold alongside legal catch," Lowell said.
The action plan also doesn't provide any additional resources to enforce laws already on the books.
“Fighting IUU fishing is resource intensive,” said Evan Bloom, a former State Department official who negotiated several international fishing agreements and who now is a senior fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington. “Whether the U.S. really does more may depend on whether NOAA directs more funds to enforcement efforts, intel gathering and inspections.”
In Lisbon, where officials and scientists from more than 120 countries were attending the five-day conference, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticized some countries — which he did not identify — for looking out for their own economic interests instead of the needs of the entire planet.
“International waters are ours,” Guterres insisted, referring to all the planet’s inhabitants.
The U.N. is hoping the conference will bring fresh momentum to the protracted efforts for a global ocean agreement that covers conservation efforts on the high seas. Oceans cover some 70% of the earth’s surface and provide food and livelihoods for billions of people. Some activists refer to them as the largest unregulated area on the planet.
What's known as the Treaty of the High Seas is being negotiated within the framework of the United Convention on the Law of the Sea, the main international agreement governing maritime activities.
After 10 years of talks on the treaty, however, as recently as three months ago, a deal is still not within sight. A fifth round is scheduled for August in New York.
“The world’s largest ecosystem... is still unprotected and is dying as we watch,” the activist group Ocean Rebellion said.
Guterres said “significant progress” has been made toward a deal on a high seas treaty and that the world stands at “a crucial moment” for the future of the oceans.
“We need to make people put pressure on those who decide,” Guterres said, appealing for people to raise their voices and be heard.
Threats to the oceans include warming and acidification from carbon pollution, massive plastics contamination and other problems, the U.N. says. Potentially harmful deep-sea mining also lacks rules.
The conference is also expected to reaffirm and build upon the some 62 commitments made by governments at the previous summit in Nairobi, Kenya in 2018, from protecting small island states with ocean-based economies to sustainable fishing and combatting warming waters.
On the sidelines of the event, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, announced $50 million in new grants to help meet a goal of protecting 30% of the planet's land and sea by 2030. Currently, less than 8% of the ocean is zoned as marine protected areas.
More than half of the money being donated by the Bezos Earth Fun will support organizations working in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama in strengthening the Eastern Tropical Marine Corridor. The four countries banded together at last year's U.N. Climate Change conference to announce the creation of a Spain-sized marine protected area containing such environmental hotspots as the Galapagos Islands,
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and French President Emmanuel Macron are among those attending the event.
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Goodman reported from Cleveland, Ohio
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Follow all of AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | 2022-06-27T21:22:06+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Biden-aims-at-China-in-new-illegal-fishing-policy-17269068.php |
Firefighter helps deliver his own granddaughter at fire station
ATLANTA (CNN) - The wailing heard in a Georgia fire station last month was no siren. It was a newborn infant saying hello to the world.
Austell firefighter Bret Langston delivered his own granddaughter at his fire station.
The baby’s mother said she was halfway to the birth center when she realized she was not going to make it. Luckily, her dad’s fire station was just down the street.
A dozen firefighters, including Langston, were on shift when she arrived.
The little girl named Adalynn Marie Williams was born in one of the station’s bunk rooms.
“She’s beautiful, she’s perfect,” Langston said.
The girl’s mother said she plans to keep bringing her baby back to the station to visit her grandfather and to see where she was born.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | 2023-03-11T19:38:29+00:00 | kfyrtv.com | https://www.kfyrtv.com/2023/03/11/firefighter-helps-deliver-his-own-granddaughter-fire-station/ |
(The Hill) — The Justice Department is calling for one-time White House strategist Steve Bannon to serve six months of jail time and pay a $200,000 fine for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The recommendation comes ahead of a Friday sentencing hearing for Bannon, who was among the first four people to be subpoenaed by the panel, claiming executive privilege barred him from testifying before the panel despite their interest in actions he took well after his short stint in the White House.
A $200,000 fine is the maximum for the two counts of contempt of Congress – one for refusing to testify, and the other for refusing to produce any of the documents requested in the deposition.
That was a result, DOJ said, of his refusal to participate in a review of his finances that helps determine the extent of a fine a defendant will pay.
“For his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress, the defendant should be sentenced to six months’ imprisonment—the top end of the Sentencing Guidelines’ range—and fined $200,000—based on his insistence on paying the maximum fine rather than cooperate with the Probation Office’s routine pre-sentencing financial investigation,” DOJ wrote.
Bannon was subpoenaed by the panel in September of last year, with the full House voting to hold him in contempt roughly a month later.
That subpoena noted Bannon’s presence in the Trump campaign’s “war room” at the Willard Hotel, including involvement in a discussion with Republican lawmakers about objecting to election results.
They also sought to ask him about a comment of a Jan. 5 episode of his podcast where he said “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”
Bannon began his confrontation with the Justice Department with a fiery press conference he live streamed, vowing to fight the charges.
“I’m telling you right now, this is going to be the misdemeanor from hell for Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden. … We’re going on the offense,” Bannon said last November.
But shortly before trial, Bannon sought to cooperate with the committee, claiming Trump had freed him from the constraint of executive privilege that DOJ had determined did not apply to him.
“On the eve of trial, he attempted an about-face, representing to the Committee that former President Donald J. Trump had waived executive privilege and freed the Defendant to cooperate. But this proved a hollow gesture; when he realized that his eleventh-hour stunt would not prevent his trial, the Defendant’s cooperative spirit vanished,” DOJ wrote in Monday’s filing.
Ahead of trial a judge rejected most of the arguments Bannon’s defense team could present before the jury, and ultimately his legal team decided to call no witnesses and did not introduce any new evidence at trial.
Bannon’s upcoming sentencing comes over a year after he was first subpoenaed, a reminder of the delayed consequences for those that defy congressional investigators as the panel seeks to compel testimony from Trump.
Bannon is one of just two former White House officials where DOJ accepted a criminal contempt referral from Congress. It chose not to pursue charges against former chief of staff Mark Meadows or communications guru Dan Scavino but has charged White House aide Peter Navarro. | 2022-10-17T16:37:22+00:00 | everythinglubbock.com | https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/national/justice-wants-6-month-jail-sentence-for-steve-bannon/ |
SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded claims of rocket and artillery strikes at or near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on Sunday, intensifying fears that the fighting could cause a massive radiation leak.
Ukraine’s atomic energy agency painted an ominous picture of the threat Sunday by issuing a map forecasting where radiation could spread from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which Russian forces have controlled since soon after the war began.
Attacks were reported over the weekend not only in Russian-controlled territory adjacent to the plant along the left bank of the Dnieper River, but along the Ukraine-controlled right bank, including the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the facility.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Sunday that Ukrainian forces had attacked the plant twice over the past day, and that shells fell near buildings storing reactor fuel and radioactive waste.
“One projectile fell in the area of the sixth power unit, and the other five in front of the sixth unit pumping station, which provides cooling for this reactor,” Konashenkov said, adding that radiation levels were normal.
The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency also reported Sunday that radiation levels were normal, that two of the Zaporizhzhia plant’s six reactors were operating and that while no complete assessment had yet been made, recent fighting had damaged a water pipeline, since repaired.
In another apparent attack Sunday, Russian forces shot down an armed Ukrainian drone targeting one of the Zaporizhzhia plant’s spent fuel storage sites, a local official said. Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed regional official, said on the Telegram messaging app that the drone crashed onto a building’s roof, not causing any significant damage or injuring anyone.
Nearby, heavy firing during the night left parts of Nikopol without electricity, said Valentyn Reznichenko, the Dnipropetrovsk region’s governor. Rocket strikes damaged a dozen residences in Marhanets, according to Yevhen Yevtushenko, the administration head for the district that includes the city of about 45,000.
The city of Zaporizhzhia, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) up the Dnieper River from the nuclear plant, also came under Russian fire, damaging dozens of apartment buildings and homes and wounding two people, city council member Anatoliy Kurtev said. Russian forces struck a Zaporizhzhia repair shop for Ukrainian air force helicopters, Konashenkov said.
Neither side’s claims could be independently verified.
Downriver from the nuclear plant, Ukrainian rockets hit the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant and adjacent city three times on Sunday, said Vladimir Leontyev, the head of the Russia-installed local administration.
The plant’s dam is a major roadway across the river and a potentially key Russian supply route. The dam forms a reservoir that provides water for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
The radiation map Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom issued showed that based on wind forecasts for Monday, a nuclear cloud could spread across southern Ukraine and southwestern Russia. Release of the map may have been meant to warn that if Russian forces were responsible for a radiation leak, their own country would suffer. In the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, the world’s worst atomic energy catastrophe, radiation spread from Ukraine to several neighboring countries.
Authorities last week began distributing iodine tablets to residents who live near the Zaporizhzhia plant in case of radiation exposure. Much of the concern centers on the cooling systems for the plant’s nuclear reactors. The systems require electricity, and the plant was temporarily knocked offline Thursday because of what officials said was fire damage to a transmission line. A cooling system failure could cause a nuclear meltdown.
Periodic shelling has damaged the power station’s infrastructure, Energoatom, said Saturday.
“There are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances, and the fire hazard is high,” it said.
The IAEA has tried to work out an agreement with Ukrainian and Russian authorities to send a team to inspect and secure the plant, but it remained unclear when the visit might take place.
In eastern Ukraine, where Russian and separatist forces are trying to take control, shelling hit the large and strategically significant cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, with no casualties reported, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Donetsk region’s governor. Konashenkov said Russian missile strikes killed 250 Ukrainian soldiers and reservists in and near Sloviansk. Ukrainian officials didn’t comment on the claim, in keeping with their policy of not discussing losses.
Sloviansk resident Kostiantyn Daineko told The Associated Press that he was falling asleep when an explosion blew out his apartment windows.
“I opened my eyes and saw how the window frame was flying over me, the frame and pieces of broken glass,” he said.
Russian and separatist forces hold much of the Donetsk region, one of two Russia has recognized as sovereign states.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed again Sunday to re-take the separatist areas.
“The invaders brought degradation and death and they believe that they are there forever,” Zelenskyy said Sunday in his nightly video address. “But it’s a temporary thing for them. Ukraine will return. For sure. Life will return.”
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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Andrew Katell contributed to this report from New York.
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A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the first name of the Sloviansk resident is Kostiantyn, not Konstiantyn. | 2022-08-29T03:59:25+00:00 | wnct.com | https://www.wnct.com/news/international/ap-cities-near-ukrainian-nuclear-plant-shelled/ |
City of Ardmore to hold meetings about downtown master plan
ARDMORE, Okla. (KXII) - Last week the city of Ardmore signed a contract with Studio Architecture to develop a master plan for the downtown area.
The city is expecting Downtown Ardmore to change significantly in the next few years, with population growth and more businesses coming to town.
“We are just wanting downtown to flourish even more than it already is,” assistant city manager Kevin Norris said.
Norris said now that the city has figured out who they’re working with for the downtown master plan, it’s time to talk to residents and community members about what the area needs.
“Right now we have not had any meetings about it, we’ve basically just signed this agreement,” Norris said. “There is some misinformation already going out on Facebook.”
Norris said contrary to rumors online, the city hasn’t decided on back-in parking, or anything else.
“We’ve not even talked about it,” Norris said. “So it’s important for people to know that we will have public meetings. No decisions have been made because we’ve not met with the steering committee, and we’ve not met with business owners. and so we’re just in the beginning stages.”
Norris said residents can share opinions and ideas at meetings in the next few weeks.
“What do they think would make downtown more appealing,” Norris said. “What would make someone from another town come into Ardmore on a Saturday to shop.”
Ryan Wood said an outdoor activity would be a big draw.
“Rock climbing wall would be pretty awesome,” Wood said. “I like climbing stuff. We got a lot of young people here.”
Norris said after the meetings, Studio Architecture will take the ideas and present a plan to city commissioners.
“We are still just in the process of trying to figure out when we will start these meetings, and how many there will be,” Norris said.
Norris said the city will post on Facebook when they decide on meeting dates.
Copyright 2023 KXII. All rights reserved. | 2023-04-14T23:43:00+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/2023/04/14/city-ardmore-hold-meetings-about-downtown-master-plan/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — USA Today’s weekly list of bestselling books, a publishing fixture that had been on hiatus since December, returned Wednesday.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled because this content is important to our vast audience and uniquely supports the communities we serve,” Kristin Roberts, Gannett Media’s chief content officer, said in a statement.
Gannett had not run the list since Mary Cadden, the longtime compiler, was among hundreds laid off late last year. According to Erik Bursch, senior vice president for product and engineering, the logging of sales figures — entered manually by Cadden — has been automated. The list otherwise will be managed by the paper’s books editor, Barbara VanDenburgh.
The publishing industry has long valued the USA Today rankings as a comprehensive, data-focused way of measuring the consumer market. The list, which began in 1993 and includes the top 150 books, is “based exclusively on sales analysis from U.S. booksellers including bookstore chains, independent bookstores, mass merchandisers and online retailers.” Unlike The New York Times and other lists, USA Today does not have separate categories for hardcovers, paperbacks, audio books and e-books, instead combining them all, no matter the genre or release date.
The top seller on Wednesday’s list was Elin Hilderbrand’s latest beach read, “The Five-Star Weekend”; followed by Bonnie Garmus’ popular debut novel “Lessons in Chemistry” and Ali Hazelwood’s comic romance “Love, Theoretically.” Others included range from such perennials as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to Paul McCartney’s photography book “1964,” David Sedaris’ “Happy-Go-Lucky” and “Blood Meridian,” the acclaimed novel by Cormac McCarthy, who died earlier this month.
Along with sales rankings, VanDenburgh says, USA Today will include feature stories on independent sellers from around the country and recommendations from independent store owners. The restored list is a partnership with the American Booksellers Association, the trade group for independent stores; Bookshop.org, an online retailer which shares revenue with independent sellers, and The Novel Neighbor bookstore in St. Louis.
“ABA is excited about this partnership with USA Today and the opportunity to spread the word about the value of independent bookstores to communities and to readers,” Allison K. Hill, CEO of the booksellers association, said in a statement.
The revival of the USA Today list follows news from last week that Bookforum, an online literary magazine that closed around the same time that Cadden departed, will return in August in partnership with the liberal weekly The Nation. Penske Media Corporation had shut down Bookforum in December, shortly after acquiring its sister publication, Artforum. | 2023-06-29T09:42:03+00:00 | fox59.com | https://fox59.com/business/ap-business/usa-today-resumes-its-bestseller-list-for-books-after-monthslong-hiatus/ |
Blackshear’s 22 help Nevada knock off Pepperdine 85-77
MALIBU, Calif. — Led by Kenan Blackshear’s 22 points, the Nevada Wolf Pack defeated the Pepperdine Waves 85-77. The Wolf Pack improved to 8-2 with the victory and the Waves fell to 5-3.
MALIBU, Calif. — Led by Kenan Blackshear’s 22 points, the Nevada Wolf Pack defeated the Pepperdine Waves 85-77. The Wolf Pack improved to 8-2 with the victory and the Waves fell to 5-3.
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If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here. | 2022-12-07T14:22:32+00:00 | krdo.com | https://krdo.com/sports/ap-national-sports/2022/12/07/blackshears-22-help-nevada-knock-off-pepperdine-85-77/ |
In most people, speech and language live in the brain's left hemisphere. Mora Leeb is not most people.
When she was 9 months old, surgeons removed the left side of her brain. Yet at 15, Mora plays soccer, tells jokes, gets her nails done, and, in many ways, lives the life of a typical teenager.
"I can be described as a glass-half-full girl," she says, pronouncing each word carefully and without inflection. Her slow, cadence-free speech is one sign of a brain that has had to reorganize its language circuits.
Yet to a remarkable degree, Mora's right hemisphere has taken on jobs usually done on the left side. It's an extreme version of brain plasticity, the process that allows a brain to modify its connections to adapt to new circumstances.
Brain plasticity is thought to underlie learning, memory, and early childhood development. It's also how the brain revises its circuitry to help recover from a brain injury — or, in Mora's case, the loss of an entire hemisphere.
Scientists hope that by understanding the brains of people like Mora, they can find ways to help others recover from a stroke or traumatic brain injury. They also hope to gain a better understanding of why very young brains are so plastic.
An injury before birth
Sometime in the third trimester of Ann Leeb's pregnancy, the child she was carrying had a massive stroke on the left side of her brain. No one knew it at the time.
Mora was born in September of 2007. And for the first few months, she seemed like a typical baby. She smiled and rolled over, right on schedule.
"And then in the holiday season of 2007, all of these milestones sort of stopped," Leeb recalls.
In early 2008, Mora began having epileptic seizures that became more and more frequent. "There were 20 of them in a minute and then there were hundreds of them a day," Leeb says.
Doctors ordered an MRI of Mora's brain. They showed the image to Ann and her husband, Seth.
"Seth and I have no background in medicine," Leeb says. "But you just didn't need it to read that MRI. Half of her brain was lit up and the other half of her brain was basically gray."
Most of the cells in her left hemisphere had died. The ones that remained were causing her unrelenting seizures. So the Leebs traveled from their home in South Orange, New Jersey, to the Cleveland Clinic, where Dr. William Bingaman performed a hemispherectomy, which removes most of the tissue on one side of the brain.
"Basically the surgery created a newborn," Leeb says. "She could no longer roll over. She could no longer smile. It was almost like a restart."
The organization of a typical human brain is contralateral, meaning the left side of the brain is connected to the motor and sensory nerves controlling the right side of the body. So Mora was initially paralyzed on her right side.
Human brains are also lateralized, which allows each hemisphere to specialize in processing certain types of information, or specific behaviors. Mora had lost the left-brain areas that usually play a critical role in producing and understanding speech. That meant her right brain would have to take on these jobs if she was ever going to carry on a conversation or read a book.
The upper bounds of brain plasticity
Ann and Seth Leeb knew that young children who undergo hemispherectomy can often thrive with just half a brain. So they devoted themselves to providing their daughter with the best possible rehabilitation services available.
Mora saw a physiatrist and a speech language pathologist. She got physical therapy, occupational therapy, and lots of encouragement from her parents.
And gradually, Mora began to improve.
"At 18 months, she finally sat up," Leeb says. "And at 23 months she finally walked."
Mora was 6 and a half when she began using sentences. By the time she had her bat mitzvah, she was able to give a short speech about living with half a brain.
People like Mora represent the upper bounds of human brain plasticity because their brains were radically altered very early in life — a period when the wiring is still a work in progress.
For example, in an adult brain, words are generally processed on the left side, while faces are processed on the right.
But "your brain doesn't start out having word recognition completely on the left and face recognition completely on the right," says Michael Granovetter, a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.
Early on, these two critical functions appear to compete for space, he says. To give each enough room, the brain usually pushes words to the left and faces to the right.
Knowing that left Granovetter and other researchers pondering a question:
"If this competition between word recognition and face recognition in the brain plays out over development, what if only one hemisphere was available, what might we see?" Granovetter says. "Can one hemisphere take on the burden of two?"
The existence of people like Mora suggested that it could. But scientists hadn't done much to investigate the phenomenon.
A study of half-brain abilities
So Granovetter and a team of scientists set out to study face and word recognition in 40 people, ages 6 to 38, who'd lost half their brain early in life. Mora was one of them.
Ann and Seth Leeb heard about the study through the Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Alliance, a group formed by a couple whose son had a hemispherectomy. The Leebs encouraged their daughter to participate, in part to help other people with brain injuries, but also to learn more about Mora's brain.
"We were very excited, actually, to see, perhaps, where in the brain things have migrated," Leeb says.
The researchers knew that when adults experience an injury to one side of the brain, it often results in permanent impairment. A stroke on the right side tends to impair facial recognition, while a stroke on the left side tends to affect a person's speech and language.
So the team expected to find huge deficits in people who'd lost an entire hemisphere.
"Much to our surprise, we found that that's absolutely not true," says Marlene Behrmann of Carnegie Mellon University. "Irrespective of whether the left or the right hemisphere is preserved, these kids can recognize both faces and words."
But not as well as similar aged people with two intact hemispheres. The people in the study identified both words and faces with about 80% accuracy. A control group averaged 90% or more.
The result suggests that the remaining hemispheres rewired to preserve both functions, rather than favoring the function usually found on that side. It also shows that half a brain can't fully replicate the capabilities of a full one.
Mora, for example, has some limitations, says Dr. Lisa Shulman, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York.
"She speaks and processes [words] very slowly," Shulman says, "And she has an almost telegraphic quality to her speech: one - word - at - a - time."
That's common among people of all ages who have an injury to the left side of the brain, Shulman says. "When you lose that left side, which is controlling a lot of motor functioning, it can impact the mouth, the tongue, the palate — how all those things come into play."
Mora also remains weak on the right side of her body, and sometimes struggles to detect nuance in language.
A mix of strengths and weaknesses
During an interview with Mora, both her abilities and deficits were apparent. So was her outgoing personality and curiosity about the world.
Mora began by telling me a joke: "How do you make a hot dog stand?" she asks. "You take away its chair."
It's a simple punchline, delivered with a pun a second-grader would probably get. But using puns at all requires a fairly sophisticated understanding of language.
Later, when I ask Mora about her bat mitzvah speech, she talks about describing her approach to life through idioms like "glass half full" and "rose-colored glasses."
Both examples show how Mora, at 15, is continuing to pass developmental and linguistic milestones, despite a slow start.
But during the interview, Mora sometimes needed prompts from her mother to understand questions. And her speech, at times, was halting and indistinct.
Her last question, though, was loud and clear: After I explain that her story will be on the radio, she asks, "When?"
The future of a half-full girl
Mora Leeb, who didn't use sentences until she was 6 and a half, now loves to watch game shows involving words and phrases.
"Do not call our house between seven and eight in the evening because we are devoted Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune fans," Ann Leeb says.
Mora also has exceeded the hopes of the doctors and therapists who have worked with her over the years.
"Every time I see her, she's done something I could not have imagined when I first met her," Shulman says.
One of those things, Shulman says, is to develop a full-fledged personality — a girl who likes to play ping pong, to have her hair put in French braids, and who occasionally talks back to her mom.
"I have challenges of being the mother of a teenager," Leeb says. "In the morning, she doesn't want to get out of bed. In the evening, she doesn't want to go to bed."
What scientists still want to know is precisely what allowed Mora's brain to rewire so extensively. Was it her age? The years of intensive therapy? An undiscovered biological factor?
One thing is clear: Understanding the basis of this sort of extreme plasticity, they say, could help millions of people whose brains are still trying to recover from a stroke, tumor, or traumatic injury. And Mora is helping scientists deepen their understanding, simply by being herself.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-03-22T11:13:15+00:00 | kcbx.org | https://www.kcbx.org/npr-top-news/2023-03-22/meet-the-glass-half-full-girl-whose-brain-rewired-after-losing-a-hemisphere |
The Celtics and 76ers still have a Game 7 to play to try to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals but their next opponent is already waiting for them. The Miami Heat wrapped up their second-round matchup on Friday night with a 96-92 win over the Knicks in Game 6 to clinch a 4-2 series win. It will be the second straight trip to the Eastern Conference Finals for the Heat.
Miami will now get four days of rest before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night, which will begin in either Boston or Philadelphia at 8:30 p.m. ET. The Celtics have opened up as 6.5 point favorites for the Game 7 matchup which will take place at TD Garden on Sunday.
The winner of the Celtics-76ers series will only get two days of rest before their series against Miami, which could be a disadvantage of a grind of a matchup. The matchups will occur every other day over the course of the series. Here’s the full breakdown.
Game 1: MIA @ BOS/PHI, Wednesday, May 17, 8:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Game 2: MIA @ BOS/PHI, Friday, May 19, 8:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Game 3: BOS/PHI @ MIA, Sunday, May 21, 8:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Game 4: BOS/PHI @ MIA, Tuesday, May 23, 8:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Game 5: MIA @ BOS/PHI, Thursday, May 25, 8:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Game 6: BOS/PHI @ MIA, Saturday, May 27, 8:30 p.m. ET, TNT
Game 7: MIA @ BOS/PHI, Monday, May 29, 8:30 p.m. ET, TNT
A Celtics-Heat matchup would be a rematch of last year’s epic Game 7 showdown in the Eastern Conference Finals that came down to the final minute of regulation before Boston escaped with a win. A 76ers-Heat East Finals would carry its own set of intriguing storylines as well coming four years after the Sixers opted to trade away Butler to the Heat in a widely panned deal.
In the meantime, the Celtics and 76ers are set to battle on Sunday for the right to advance to face Miami and be declared as favorites for the NBA title.
“Playoffs is a game of chess,” Jaylen Brown said after Game 6. “It’s adjustments, they watch the game and make adjustments. We take stuff away and they come back the next game and make adjustments. It’s all about a chess match and now it’s 3-3. Game 7, we got to come with it.” | 2023-05-13T05:36:21+00:00 | masslive.com | https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2023/05/celtics-or-76ers-to-host-heat-in-game-1-of-east-finals-on-wednesday.html |
NEW YORK (AP) — If this is what the regular season Subway Series was like, imagine the Yankees and Mets meeting in October for baseball’s biggest prize.
“You’d like to think ahead a little bit, because of the pace they’re on and where we’re at, too,” Aaron Judge said, “but we got to get there first.”
Judge hit a 453-foot drive halfway up the bleachers for his major league-leading 48th home run and added an RBI single during a seventh-inning rally, boosting the New York Yankees past the Mets on Tuesday night for their second straight 4-2 win and a two-game sweep.
The Yankees turned a pair of sparkling 6-4-3 double plays, Andrew Benintendi came through with another big hit and rookie right fielder Oswaldo Cabrera made three key contributions. The go-ahead rally was boosted by a fluky popup that dropped for a single, and fans stood for nearly 20 minutes in the ninth inning anticipating the final out.
Francisco Lindor lofted Wandy Peralta’s changeup for a routine fly to center, stranding the bases loaded and ending as scintillating a regular-season game as you’ll see.
“We hope that we do the things it takes to get a chance to hopefully come back to this place,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said.
In a game full of crazy plays that included a pair of retro sacrifice bunts and a run-scoring mental gaffe by Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres, both teams fed off a boisterous crowd of 49,217, the most at Yankee Stadium in the regular season since the 2013 opener.
“The environment felt so alive and electric, even by Subway Series standards,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
The Yankees (76-48), seeking their first title since 2009, lead the AL East by eight games. The Mets (79-46) are two games ahead of Atlanta in the NL East. Their only World Series meeting was the Bronx Bombers’ five-game win in 2000.
Following their summer slide, the Yankees have won three straight games for the only the second time since the All-Star break.
“I think the swagger has always been there. I think it just took a little reminder of who we are and what type of baseball we play,” Judge said. “We got it back.”
Benintendi had his third straight big day at the plate, singling in the go-ahead run for a 3-2 lead in the seventh against Joely Rodríguez (0-3). The hit came after pinch-hitter Jose Trevino’s twisting popup fell just fair next to Pete Alonso down the right-field line.
“It’s a tough long run and also couldn’t get there,” Alonso said.
Judge followed with a two-out run-scoring single against Adam Ottavino for his big league-best 105th RBI.
Frankie Montas had the best of his four starts since the Yankees acquired him from Oakland, allowing two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. Clarke Schmidt (5-2) pitched three shutout innings of three-hit relief in his first big league appearance since July 30 before the Mets loaded the bases with two outs on a pair of walks around Brandon Nimmo’s infield hit.
Peralta threw five straight strikes for his second save.
“Joy,” Peralta recalled feeling. “Happy and excited.”
Judge homered for his fourth straight game against Taijuan Walker and his 10th time in 21 games against the Mets.
Cabrera took a 3-2 splitter for a bases-loaded walk in the two-run fourth for his first big league RBI, then preserved the lead in the fifth when his one-hop throw caught Brett Baty trying to score from second on Starling Marte’s RBI single. Cabrera also singled to start the seventh-inning rally.
Torres sprinted in a vain attempt to catch the trailing runner as Alonso scored the tying run unchallenged in the sixth on Jeff McNeil’s double. Torres also combined with shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa for double plays against Tomás Nido in the second and Daniel Vogelbach in the eighth. IKF started the first with a glove flip.
“It was kind of just an instinctive play,” Kiner-Falefa said as the Yankees relaxed ahead of their charter to California. “That was a huge step in the right direction for us.”
BROKEN BAT
Alonso snapped a bat over his left leg after striking out in the fourth. “Just really frustrated at chasing at that pitch,” he said.
BIG INTEREST
Monday’s game drew nearly 1.1 million viewers on television. The game was seen by 617,000 on YES, the second-most for a Subway Series and highest for any Yankees game on the network since Derek Jeter’s finale drew 1.2 million in 2014; 458,000 saw for the Mets’ broadcast on over-the-air WPIX.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: INF Eduardo Escobar (left oblique strain) took batting practice and is near a return. … RHP Carlos Carrasco (also left oblique strain) is on track to return during the first week of September.
Yankees: OF Giancarlo Stanton (left Achilles tendinitis) hit against RHP Luis Severino in a simulated game will be activated before Thursday’s opener at Oakland. OF Estevan Florial was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. … Severino threw 24 pitches, reaching 95-96 mph. … LHP Zack Britton is to start a minor league rehab assignment with Class A Tampa on Wednesday, another step in his return from Tommy John surgery last Sept. 8. Britton likely will face three batters and throw up to 15 pitches, Boone said. … RHP Domingo Germán was able to run, a day after taking a 104 mph comebacker off his left calf.
UP NEXT
Mets: RHP Jacob deGrom (2-1, 2.31) is to start Thursday’s homestand opener against Colorado on six days’ rest.
Yankees: RHP Jameson Taillion (11-4, 4.00) is lined up to start Thursday.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2022-08-24T20:48:05+00:00 | cbs42.com | https://www.cbs42.com/sports/judge-48th-hr-yanks-beat-mets-4-2-to-sweep-subway-series/ |
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A bereaved Ugandan border town on Sunday began burying the victims of a brutal attack on a school by suspected extremist rebels that left 42 people dead, most of them students, as security forces stepped up patrols along the frontier with volatile eastern Congo.
One of eight people wounded in Friday night’s attack, in which 38 students were killed, died overnight, said Selevest Mapoze, mayor of the town of Mpondwe-Lhubiriha.
“Most of the relatives have come to take their bodies” from the morgue, he said.
In addition to the 38 students, the victims include a school guard and three civilians. At least two of them, members of the same family, were buried Sunday.
Some students were burned beyond recognition; others were shot or hacked to death after militants armed with guns and machetes attacked Lhubiriha Secondary School, co-ed and privately owned, which is located about 2 kilometers (just over a mile) from the Congo border. Ugandan authorities believe at least six students were abducted, taken as porters back inside Congo.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack in a statement, urging “the importance of collective efforts, including through enhanced regional partnerships, to tackle cross-border insecurity between (Congo) and Uganda and restore durable peace in the area.”
The atmosphere in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha was tense but calm Sunday as Ugandan security forces roamed the streets outside and near the school, which was protected by a police cordon.
The attack is blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, which rarely claims responsibility for attacks. It has established ties with the Islamic State group.
In a statement on Sunday, his first comment on the incident, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni described the attack as “criminal, desperate, terrorist and futile,” vowing to deploy more troops on the Ugandan side of the border.
The ADF has been accused of launching many attacks in recent years targeting civilians in remote parts of eastern Congo, including one in March in which 19 people were killed.
The ADF has long opposed the rule of Museveni, a U.S. security ally who has held power in this East African country since 1986.
The group was established in the early 1990s by some Ugandan Muslims, who said they had been sidelined by Museveni’s policies. At the time, the rebels staged deadly attacks in Ugandan villages as well as in the capital, including a 1998 attack in which 80 students were massacred in a town not far from Friday’s raid.
The attack followed the same playbook: violence against students. The attackers targeted two dormitories, using extreme force when the boys resisted, according to Ugandan officials.
“This terrorist group couldn’t enter, so they threw in a bomb, they threw in a petrol bomb,” said Education Minister Janet Museveni, who also is Uganda’s first lady. “So, these children were burnt.”
Students have been attacked because schools are considered soft targets. Pupils are sometimes recruited into rebels ranks or used to carry food and supplies for insurgents, and such raids provide media coverage coveted by extremists.
The raid appears to have taken Ugandan authorities by surprise: first responders arrived after the attackers had left.
Some villagers have temporarily moved away from the Mpondwe-Lhubiriha community, fearing more attacks, Mapoze said.
The border is porous, with multiple footpaths not monitored by authorities. Many parts of eastern Congo are lawless, allowing groups like the ADF to operate because the central government in Kinshasa, the capital, has limited authority there.
But attacks by the ADF on the Ugandan side of the border are rare, thanks in part to the presence of an alpine brigade of Ugandan troops in the region. Ugandan forces have been deployed to eastern Congo since 2021 under a military operation to hunt ADF militants down and stop them from attacking civilians across the border.
The deployment of Ugandan troops inside Congo followed attacks in which at least four civilians were killed when suicide bombers believed to be members of the ADF detonated their explosives at two locations in Kampala, the capital, in November 2021. One attack happened near the Parliament building and the second near a busy police station.
Military pressure on the rebels deep inside Congolese territory had forced them to splinter into smaller groups such as the one that attacked the school, aiming to “force us to withdraw our Army to defend the Uganda villages and that would save them from the losses they are now suffering,” according to President Museveni.
“Especially now that the Congo government allowed us to operate on the Congo side also, we have no excuse in not hunting down the ADF terrorists into extinction,” he said. | 2023-06-18T18:43:35+00:00 | wboy.com | https://www.wboy.com/news/world/ugandan-border-town-prepares-to-bury-victims-of-rebel-massacre-that-left-42-dead-mostly-students/ |
Several scaleless fish with fanged jaws and huge eyes that can be found more than a mile deep in the ocean have washed up along a roughly 200-mile (322-kilometer) stretch of Oregon coastline, and it’s unclear why, scientists and experts said.
Within the last few weeks, several lancetfish have appeared on beaches from Nehalem, in northern Oregon, to Bandon, which is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) from the California border, Oregon State Parks said on Facebook. The agency asked beachgoers who see the fish to take photos and post them online, tagging the agency and the NOAA Fisheries West Coast region.
Lancetfish live mainly in tropical and subtropical waters but travel as far north as areas like Alaska’s Bering Sea to feed. Their slinky bodies include a “sail-like” fin, and their flesh is gelatinous — not generally something humans wish to eat, according to NOAA Fisheries.
Ben Frable, a fish scientist who manages the Marine Vertebrate Collection at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, said it’s not uncommon for lancetfish to wash up on beaches, particularly in California and Oregon and in other parts of the north Pacific.
It’s unclear what might be behind the deep-sea fish washing ashore, Frable said, calling it an area of “open research.” He added that it’s not clear if these incidents are happening more frequently or are just noticed more often in the social media age.
Reports of finding the “freaky looking” lancetfish on beaches date back to the 19th century, he said. The collection he manages includes lancetfish from beaches, including one that wound up on the beach near the institution in late 2021.
In that case, the lancetfish “shot out of the water,” where it was mobbed by seagulls, Frable said. It’s possible the fish had been chasing prey, such as small fish, and got too close to shore — or that it was pursued by a predator, such as a sea lion, he said.
Some have also hypothesized that such incidents could be related to weather or climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean, he said.
According to NOAA Fisheries, lancetfish can be more than 7 feet (2 meter) long and swim to depths of more than a mile beneath the surface of the sea.
Last week, Miranda Crowell happened across a lancetfish on a beach in Lincoln City, Oregon. At first, she thought it might be a barracuda but that didn’t seem right, so she posted a photo of it on Twitter and asked what it could be. She quickly got a response.
The fish, which she saw April 28, was more than 4 feet (1 meter) long and seemed to have just washed ashore.
“I have never seen anything like that on that beach,” she said.
Frable encouraged people to report any sightings, saying it could provide useful information for researchers.
He also said that incidents like these provide an opportunity “to kind of highlight the true diversity of life on the planet and how there are things that you just don’t think about — but they’re out there.” | 2023-05-08T12:38:10+00:00 | texomashomepage.com | https://www.texomashomepage.com/weird-news/freaky-looking-fanged-fishes-found-on-oregon-beaches/ |
Cueto sharp for 8 2/3 innings, White Sox blank Guardians 2-0
By BRIAN DULIK
Associated Press
CLEVELAND (AP) — Johnny Cueto scattered five hits over 8 2/3 innings and José Abreu had an RBI double, sending the Chicago White Sox to a 2-0 victory over the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians. Cleveland leads the division by one game over Minnesota, while the White Sox moved within 2 1/2 games of the Guardians. Cueto posted his 10th consecutive quality start, the first double-digit string by the White Sox since Carlos Rodón in 2016. Manager Tony La Russa pulled Cueto for Liam Hendriks with one on and two outs in the ninth after 113 pitches. Hendriks struck out rookie Oscar Gonzalez for his 28th save. | 2022-08-21T16:31:18+00:00 | krdo.com | https://krdo.com/sports/ap-national-sports/2022/08/21/cueto-sharp-for-8-2-3-innings-white-sox-blank-guardians-2-0/ |
Many municipalities around the country have allowed large-scale Halloween gatherings to take place this year, after forbidding them in 2020 as a public health precaution prompted by the pandemic. Likely nowhere is this being greeted with as much enthusiasm as in New York City, where the Village Halloween Parade is one of the city's largest, most colorful cultural events of the year. Described as New York's version of Carnival, the parade provides a major economic boost to Lower Manhattan every year.
Before last year, the only other time the Village Halloween Parade was canceled was in 2012, when it had to be scrapped in the wake of Superstorm Sandy's devastation. Even the terrorist attacks on 9/11 didn't stop the costumed marchers from making the trip up Sixth Avenue just seven weeks later.
Covering that parade, I was reminded that you never know who will show up. I couldn't help but notice a Brooklynite marching with his pet goat, which was completely covered with MetroCards, the wallet-size plastic passes New Yorkers use for subway entry.
"He's MetroGoat," the Brooklynite told me, "and I'm MetroMan: able to leap over a turnstile in a single bound!"
Whether any goats will be hoofing it this year remains to be seen when the parade steps off in Soho on Sunday night, headed up to Chelsea, a few blocks north of Greenwich Village. But the 1959 Cadillac ambulance used in the movie Ghostbusters – a.k.a. The Ectomobile – will be tooling up the avenue, along with 10 taxi cabs dressed up to look like it. As in years past, there will be giant puppets, marching bands, floats and thousands of costumed marchers.
Jeanne Fleming, for 40 years the parade's artistic director, didn't learn that this year's event was on until mid-September. "I had no idea," Fleming says. "Like everyone else, we were waiting to hear what's going on with COVID, what's possible."
When city officials gave the go-ahead, Fleming scrambled to find sponsors, and instituted a crowdfunding campaign. Less than 200 people contributed a mere $10,000: a sum that disappointed Fleming, given the huge number of people who turn out to watch the parade. In late September she sent out an email warning that unless she could raise $150,000, the parade would be canceled.
And then, a 54-year-old financial advisor, who's been attending the parade since he was a teenager, made a $150,000 tax-deductible donation, effectively saving the parade.
"I was just trying to do something nice for the city I love," says Jason Feldman, a Manhattanite. "Hopefully, it's a great turnout and, hopefully, lots of spectators."
In early October, Feldman made the two-hour drive north to Rokeby, the 300-acre historic estate in Red Hook, N.Y., where Fleming lives and produces the parade. Set along rolling hills next to the Hudson River, Rokeby is also where some of the giant puppets for the parade are created. A Buddhist monk who lives on the estate is lending Feldman a monk's robe to wear as he marches alongside Fleming in front of the parade.
Fleming joke that the financial adviser could've dressed up as a knight in shining armor. But Feldman, a practitioner of Tai Chi, is opting for the Zen look, which includes sandals and a staff.
Every October volunteers, many from New York City, arrive on the weekends to help build giant puppets in what has come to be known as a puppet raising. Some of the work is done on the estate in an old dairy barn with a 30-foot ceiling. The parade's theme this year is Let's Play, dedicated to New York children who didn't have a proper Halloween last year. The giant puppets are based on drawings submitted by kids.
Patricia Valdez, who drove to Rokeby from her home in Harlem, was busy on a recent weekend, glue gun in hand, building part of a puppet out of cardboard. Valdez has been going to the puppet raising at Rokeby since 2016, and also marches in the parade, carrying one of the giant puppets.
"I like being part of something creative and I like that it's getting back into the community," she says. "When you're in the parade, you're seeing smiling faces, you're seeing awe. And how can you not feel good, knowing that you had something to do with that?"
The parade's COVID precautions this year are twofold. Marchers have been asked to wear medical masks while they're waiting in the staging area, but can take them off once they start on the mile-long walk uptown. Spectators along what is usually a packed Sixth Avenue are urged to wear masks, since social distancing is basically impossible. Many spectators wear costumes, often including a non-medical mask. In years past, more than two million parade watchers have jammed the sidewalk along the parade route.
"One of my favorite puppeteers is not coming, because she doesn't feel safe," Fleming notes. "Other people are not concerned at all." Attitudes, she notes, span "the entire gamut of everything the nation is feeling."
Fleming said she decided to select comedian Randy Rainbow as this year's grand marshal because his YouTube song parodies kept the nation laughing throughout the pandemic. Fleming admits the satirist scored major points when he released "Mr. Biden," a video parody of "Mr. Sandman" including lines like:
Mr. Biden, bring my vaccine
I want to trick or treat when we hit Halloween.
Rainbow, adorned in a specially made rainbow coat and his trademark pink glasses, will ride along with six dancers on a float designed by Richard Prowse, a retired Broadway set designer.
Feldman calls the parade "the best medicine for our city."
"People get to be themselves, maybe the most extreme versions of themselves, wherever their imagination takes them version of themselves," he says. "They don't judge, they don't expect to be judged. And that's indicative of what makes our city a wonderful place."
Adds Fleming, "It's the night that people get to come out and tell their stories, whatever their story is. That's the role that it plays. Can you imagine two years of shutting ourselves in, without having this night of celebration?"
That would be pretty scary, indeed.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-04-26T04:10:23+00:00 | wboi.org | https://www.wboi.org/npr-news/npr-news/2021-10-29/new-york-citys-village-halloween-parade-comes-back-to-life-saved-by-a-serious-fan |
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Newly revealed text messages show how deeply involved a Mississippi governor was in directing more than $1 million in welfare money to Brett Favre to help pay for one of the retired NFL quarterback’s pet projects. Instead of the money going to help low-income families in one of the nation’s poorest states, as intended, it was funneled through a nonprofit group to Favre and was spent on a new volleyball facility at a university both men attended. The 2017 texts show Republican Gov. Phil Bryant was “on board” with the plan. Bryant’s left office in 2020. The state is suing Favre and others, alleging that they misspent welfare money.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | 2022-09-14T23:57:14+00:00 | wtmj.com | https://wtmj.com/ap-news/2022/09/14/texts-mississippi-ex-governor-knew-of-favre-welfare-money/ |
ABBA guitarist Lasse Wellander has died at 70 years old, the musician's family announced. The Sweden native died on Friday, April 7 after a battle with cancer.
Taking to Wellander's official Facebook page, his family wrote, "It is with indescribable sadness that we have to announce that our beloved Lasse has fallen asleep. Lasse recently fell ill in what turned out to be spread cancer and early on Good Friday he passed away, surrounded by his loved ones."
"You were an amazing musician and humble as few, but above all you were a wonderful husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather. Kind, safe, caring and loving... and so much more, that cannot be described in words. A hub in our lives, and it's unbelievable that we now have to live on without you."
The post, written by his family members, Lena, Ludvig and Andréas, concluded, "We love and miss you so much."
Wellander began his career as a guitarist as a child in the early sixties and was a member of local bands in his hometown of Nora, Sweden.
In October 1974, Wellander began recording with ABBA for their hits, "Intermezzo No.1" and "Crazy World." He became the Eurovision-winning band's main guitarist and toured with them in 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1980.
In 2007, Wellander helped record the soundtrack for Mamma Mia, starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried, at the Atlantis Studio in Stockholm. The musical film tells the story of a bride-to-be trying to find her real father told using hit songs by the popular 1970s group ABBA.
Wellander details the experience on his website, revealing, "Atlantis is the former Metronome Studio where many ABBA songs were recorded before the Polar Studio was built in 1979. So there was a real feeling of déjà vu when we returned to 'the scene of the crime' after 25 years to record ABBA songs again."
In addition to his work with ABBA, Wellander has released seven solo albums, two of which entered the Top 40 album charts in the mid-1980s.
In 2005, The Royal Swedish Academy of Music awarded him the Albin Hagström Memorial Award and in 2018, Wellander was honored with the Swedish Musicians Union’s Studioräven Award for his work as a session musician.
Wellander's most recent singles -- "O Come, All Ye Faithfull," "Merry-Go-Round" and "Overdrive" -- were released in 2022.
RELATED CONTENT: | 2023-04-10T09:39:09+00:00 | ktvb.com | https://www.ktvb.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-tonight/lasse-wellander-abba-guitarist-dead-at-70/603-416e0dce-db86-444f-83c6-2df197e79da8 |
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Somalia has not yet fallen into famine but several parts of the country are in danger of it in the coming months, according to a new food security report on the Horn of Africa’s worst drought in decades.
The report released Tuesday by United Nations and other experts says more than 8 million people are badly food insecure as Somalia faces “an unprecedented level of need” after five consecutive failed rainy seasons and “exceptionally high” food prices. Thousands of people have died.
The report warns that famine is projected between April and June of next year in two parts of Somalia’s southwestern Bay region and among displaced people in the town of Baidoa and the capital, Mogadishu. It says the “most likely scenario” will see more than 700,000 people in those areas in famine.
Several other parts of central and southern Somalia also will see an increased risk of famine if a sixth straight rainy season fails early next year, the report says.
Food security experts earlier this year warned of famine in parts of Somalia by the end of this year without an increase in international humanitarian assistance. Humanitarian workers say the war in Ukraine has diverted the funding of some key donors.
Famine is the extreme lack of food and a significant death rate from outright starvation or malnutrition combined with diseases like cholera. A formal famine declaration means data shows more than a fifth of households have extreme food gaps, more than 30% of children are acutely malnourished and over two people out of 10,000 are dying every day.
“They should not wait for the famine to be declared, we have been telling them,” Islamic Relief’s country director, Aliow Mohamed, said of governments and other donors in an interview last week. “If the world only waits for famine to be declared (to help), that will be very disheartening.”
Neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya also are struggling in the drought, but the new report is a grim look at Somalia’s multiple crises. Insecurity caused by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab extremist group limits access to hungry people, and its fighters have destroyed water wells and food sources in retaliation for its losses in a new government offensive.
Meanwhile, food and fuel prices in Somalia have soared, part of a global problem. And crops have suffered, making food even more scarce for the months to come.
“Many households have already lost or sold their last breeding animal,” the new report says. Millions of livestock in the country of pastoralists have died, leaving families without their traditional source of wealth and health.
The Islamic Relief country director described the flow of desperate people arriving in Baidoa, with some walking hundreds of kilometers (miles) to seek help and dozens of families arriving daily. Last month, he met a heavily pregnant woman who had walked barefoot for a week with two of her seven children. They didn’t eat on the journey and hoped to survive in the camps by begging until they could be formally registered for aid. That can take a week, Mohamed said.
“When they come, they just sleep on the ground, no shelter for them, no water for them, no food for them, no health,” he said.
Some Somali officials, including the president, have expressed hesitation over declaring famine amid concerns it would take away from their efforts to show that the country is shedding its past as a failed state.
Whether or not there’s a formal famine, “the needs are clearly there,” Kev Esteban Del Castillo, the famine response manager in Somalia for Catholic Relief Services, said in an interview last week. “Why can’t we just do something?” He said the U.N. “really mobilizes resources” when a famine is formally declared, and he believes some available funding is being used on other global emergencies until then.
Del Castillo described a period of more funding for the crisis a few months ago, “but that has slowed down a lot lately” even as more people across Somalia seek help.
“There are people who have given up hope, people who in some periods are used to missing a season or two of rain, but not this,” he said. “They have never seen this.”
A doctor with the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) aid group in Baidoa, Asma Aweis Abdallah, this month said more than 200,000 people had fled to the town this year. She said 500 children a week are admitted into MSF’s feeding programs there, with malnutrition making them more vulnerable to diseases including cholera and measles.
Some of the children are just “skin on bone,” she said. “Being Somali, and this being the situation of the Somali community, it makes me feel very sad.” | 2022-12-13T19:44:20+00:00 | cbs42.com | https://www.cbs42.com/news/international/ap-somalia-not-yet-in-famine-but-still-in-danger-report-says/ |
Red Sox turned yellow. A 100-minute rain delay. A double play on which almost no one seemed to understand what happened. A triple play that took a route untraveled in 139 years. A career reliever making his first start. A longtime starter excelling as a reliever.
Through the noise on a night of oddities, the Red Sox — shining yellow in their City Connect uniforms — offered a clear message: Though not in possession of a playoff berth right now, the Sox are willing to stare down baseball’s elite in a push for the postseason.
Sox pitchers stifled Atlanta, the most powerful offense in baseball, while the lineup sustained steady pressure to overcome a memorable act of self-sabotage. The result was a 7-1 victory at sold-out Fenway Park that improved the Sox to an AL-best 21-12 record since June 14.
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John Schreiber, freshly off the injured list and making his first appearance since suffering a teres major strain in mid-May, was tabbed to make the first start of his career, serving as the opener. His opportunity came only after a one-hour, 40-minute delay to the game’s start, the product of a steady downpour through the early evening.
But once the game got underway, though the storm had passed, Schreiber immediately started flailing in deep water.
He loaded the bases with one out on a hit batter, single, and walk, then gave up a run-scoring single by Atlanta catcher Sean Murphy. With the bases still loaded, Schreiber needed a rabbit from a hat. He conjured it in bewildering fashion.
Marcell Ozuna blistered a full-count sinker up the middle, but directly at Christian Arroyo. The second baseman picked the ball, though confusion reigned about whether he’d caught it in the air or short-hopped it. Arroyo ran to second and stepped on the bag as the runner on second (Matt Olson) dove back in. Arroyo saw Murphy straying from first, turned to throw, and more or less spiked the ball into the dirt — a horrible throw that permitted Austin Riley to jog home from third.
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But Riley had not stayed on the bag to tag up, instead breaking directly for the plate when he felt Arroyo had short-hopped the ball. And so, what appeared to be a run-scoring play instead became a bizarre double play when Schreiber tossed to third to appeal the timing of Riley’s break from the bag. The double play — an L4, 1-5, for those keeping score — preserved a 1-0 game.
The Sox immediately leapfrogged Atlanta in the bottom of the first. Back-to-back one-out singles by Justin Turner and Rafael Devers (11-pitch at-bat) set the stage for back-to-back two-out walks by Adam Duvall and Triston Casas against Atlanta starter Charlie Morton, with the free pass to Casas — despite two erroneous called strikes from home plate ump Erich Bacchus — forcing in a game-tying run. Arroyo then ripped an infield single down to give the Sox a 2-1 lead.
The Sox seemed poised to add to their advantage in the third, when they opened the frame with a Masataka Yoshida infield single and plunking of Duvall. But when Casas lofted a routine flyball to right-center, utterly baffling decision-making by the runners produced a triple play.
Duvall badly misread the flight of the ball, advanced almost to second, and retreated much too late to beat the throw of centerfield Michael Harris II back to first. Perhaps even more inexplicably, Yoshida — upon seeing Harris throw to first — took off for third. First baseman Olson’s cross-diamond throw beat Yoshida by 20 feet, with third baseman Riley dropping the tag to complete the 8-3-5 triple play — just the second triple play in MLB history and first since 1884 to travel such a path.
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Yet in the face of their misdeeds, the Sox didn’t shrink. Instead, they remained aggressive on the bases, a strategy that keyed a pair of two-out runs in the fourth.
Yu Chang walked, stole second, and advanced to third on catcher Sean Murphy’s error before scoring on a Jarren Duran single. Duran then stole second, putting him in position to score on a two-out Devers single to left for a 4-1 lead that ended Morton’s night.
One inning later, Chang delivered another RBI single to give the Sox a 5-1 lead in the fifth.
Yoshida eventually broke the game open by lining a two-run homer (his 12th) to right in the eighth.
That steadily growing advantage owed as much to a Red Sox reliever as it did the offense. Nick Pivetta continued his emergence as a high-leverage long man, taking over for Schreiber in the second inning and delivering five scoreless frames while striking out five, walking one, and allowing just three singles. Since May 28, Pivetta (7-5) has a 1.51 ERA with a whopping 39 percent strikeout rate.
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Pivetta’s strong work was followed by scoreless work from Richard Bleier (⅔ of an inning), Chris Martin (one out), and Joely Rodríguez (2 innings).
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @alexspeier. | 2023-07-26T04:00:13+00:00 | bostonglobe.com | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/07/25/sports/neither-wind-rain-delay-nor-triple-play-could-derail-red-sox-victory-over-national-league-leading-braves/ |
The judge overseeing the Alex Jones defamation trial denied a request for a mistrial on Thursday.
Jones' attorney Andino Reynal sought a mistrial after an attorney representing two Sandy Hook parents said he received two years' worth of texts from Jones’ cellphone.
The attorney said Jones' attorney mistakenly sent him the information and did not claim them as privileged information.
The mistrial request occurred as a jury is deciding on damages in the case.
Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of Jesse Lewis, who was killed in the elementary school, are seeking a $150 million judgment.
They say Jones spread conspiracy theories about the massacre, which made their lives "hell." They say they were targeted by people who believed Jones and continually harassed as they tried to mourn their son. | 2022-08-04T17:25:52+00:00 | wrtv.com | https://www.wrtv.com/news/national/judge-denies-mistrial-request-in-alex-jones-defamation-trial |
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's promotion of the program "Uniting for Ukraine" has been part of bringing the effort to light, which is aiming to meet President Joe Biden's goal of welcoming some 100,000 Ukraining refugees to the U.S. for a temporary stay, while also trying to reunited families as well.
The program, which permits admission into the United States for a "humanitarian parole" period of two years, is also renewable.
U.S.-based supporters or sponsors have to initiate the process and agree to provide the Ukraine refugees with financial support while they are staying in the United States. The program organizers urge Ukrainians abroad not to try and apply for parole under the program.
The program language says that "Uniting for Ukraine is one of the numerous measures by the U.S. government (both in Europe and in the U.S.) to respond to the Ukrainian crisis."
The program's 2022 refugee resentment admissions numbers are said to still remain low, with only about 12,641 refugees admitted in recent months, with a 125,000-person ceiling for that time.
To apply for the program, visit the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's website for a link to the application.
Here are some examples of people who would qualify to be a supporter who can begin the application process:
- U.S. citizens and nationals
- Lawful permanent residents, lawful temporary residents, and conditional permanent residents
- Nonimmigrants in lawful status (that is, who maintain the nonimmigrant status and have not violated any of the terms or conditions of the nonimmigrant status)
- Asylees, refugees, and parolees
- TPS holders
- Beneficiaries of deferred action (including DACA) or Deferred Enforced Departure | 2022-07-15T02:18:29+00:00 | wsfltv.com | https://www.wsfltv.com/news/national/uniting-for-ukraine-creates-a-pathway-for-those-wanting-to-escape-russian-aggression-to-enter-the-us-safely |
JACKSON, MI – It’s rich with history as a theater and business college, but now Jackson’s Bloomfield building is being brought back to life as office and retail space and apartments.
The building at 100 W. Washington Ave. has been undergoing renovations last few years, co-owner and associate broker Jenifer Scanlon said. Work is still underway, but it’s hoped it to be completed in the near future, she said.
“The Bloomfield building is such a staple to downtown,” Scanlon said. “It’s going to be such a great geolocation to people. We’re excited to bring that to life.”
The building opened 1898 as the Athenaeum. At that time, it was the city’s only real theater, with two balconies and a large stage that accommodated live horses galloping toward the crowd during “Ben Hur.”
The building then became the Majestic in 1927 and was primarily a movie theater. When it closed in 1954, the theater part of the building was demolished for a parking lot.
What remained became the Jackson Business University and later Baker College. The second floor also once housed the city’s library and Michigan Bell Telephone Co. offices. Previous owner Gregory Morano, even recalls there being a music store inside on the ground-level when he was growing up in the 1960′s and ’70′s.
Morano gained ownership of the building in 1996, hoping, he said, to renovate it and bring it back to its original glory.
His plans were to lease out the first floor of the building and live on the third floor. The second floor was to be used for storage, he said.
Morano made minor renovations to the building, including upgraded electrical, HVAC and more. Additionally, he said the outside of the building was painted a ‘pumpkin’ color when he purchased it, and he removed the paint to expose the red brick.
“It was a very unsightly building downtown,” Morano said.
Additionally, he said he had the current ironwork on the fire escape and the fencing custom made to give the building a unique look.
Morano’s biggest goal when renovating the building was to keep the historical value inside, even when trying to modernize it. The original tile flooring and trimming can still be found in the building’s lobby from when it was a theater, he said.
“I mean, not every building has historic theater lobby over 100 years old,” Morano said.
After several years of owning the building, he decided it was time to hand it over to someone else, Morano said. Since April, the building has been owned by father and son Zevi and Simcha Bennet, along with Scanlon.
The new owners have similar, but slightly different, plans for the building. The first floor will still be retail and commercial space, Scanlon said. Preferred tenants for the building would be services needed for downtown residents, she said.
“We’d love to see a fresh market or grocery store, and we have a med spa looking at the place,” Scanlon said.
Around 5,000 square feet of space is available for lease. The ground-floor space can be split by however many tenants who interested in a spot, Scanlon said.
They current owners hope to have tenants into the office spaces in the coming months, she said.
They also plan to utilize the second and third floor of the building as apartments, ranging from 800 to 2,000 square feet. Rent is expected to be between $900 to $2,500 a month, Scanlon said.
They will be walk-up apartments, since there is no elevator in the building, she said, and they will not be ready to lease until next year, Scanlon said, as renovations to the roof currently are underway.
“The lobby is fantastic, the tall ceilings, the tin ceilings, exposed brick walls. It’s going to be a really cool place for someone to call home,” Scanlon said.
More from the Jackson Citizen Patriot:
Man injured during knifepoint robbery in Jackson
Hillsdale hopes Fort Custer trip helps build something special
Drivers beware: Chip seal work is coming to several Jackson County roads
Mental health, supporting women are goals of Jackson woman heading to Miss Michigan Pageant
Natural body care store, FarmSudz, moves to new downtown Chelsea location | 2022-08-21T14:54:14+00:00 | mlive.com | https://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/2022/08/historic-jackson-building-being-put-to-use-again-with-apartments-retail-space.html |
People with mental health issues could be diverted to local treatment facilities instead of jail under legislation headed to the governor’s desk.
HB 1006, overwhelmingly approved by both chambers, sets out rules and a timeline for how a person who’s been arrested should be evaluated, treated and potentially committed for mental illness.
Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) said the measure will help reduce crime and “salvage a lot of lives.”
“By getting at the underlying, root cause of why people end up in the criminal justice system: mental health issues, addiction issues,” Pierce said.
READ MORE: Lawmakers aim to get people with mental health issues into treatment, instead of jail
Join the conversation and sign up for the Indiana Two-Way. Text "Indiana" to 73224. Your comments and questions in response to our weekly text help us find the answers you need on statewide issues throughout the legislative session. And follow along with our bill tracker.
Rep. Greg Steuerwald (R-Avon) said a key change to the bill late in the process ensures that while physician assistants and advanced practice nurses can examine the person, only a doctor can sign off on a petition to detain and commit the person.
“That’s also true of testifying in court – only the physician may testify in a court proceeding,” Steuerwald said.
The bill will be coupled with funding for local treatment programs. The money for that will be in the state budget.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5. | 2023-04-24T20:47:23+00:00 | wboi.org | https://www.wboi.org/2023-04-24/bill-to-divert-people-from-jail-into-mental-health-treatment-heads-to-governor |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has finished efforts to recover the remnants of the large balloon that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina, and analysis of the debris so far reinforces conclusions that it was a Chinese spy balloon, U.S. officials said Friday.
Officials said the U.S. believes that Navy, Coast Guard and FBI personnel collected all of the balloon debris off the ocean floor.
U.S. Northern Command said in a statement that the recovery operations ended Thursday and that final pieces are on their way to the FBI lab in Virginia for analysis. It added that air and maritime restrictions off South Carolina have been lifted.
The announcement capped three dramatic weeks that saw U.S. fighter jets shoot down four airborne objects — the large China balloon and three much smaller objects over Canada, Alaska and Lake Huron — the first known peacetime shootdowns of unauthorized objects in U.S. airspace.
President Joe Biden said Thursday that he does not believe there is a link between the three objects shot down last weekend and the Chinese spy balloon.
The officials also said the search for the small airborne object that was shot down over Lake Huron has stopped, and nothing has been recovered. U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
Biden said he intends to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina. Officials said the object could maneuver and had communication equipment. | 2023-02-17T17:55:08+00:00 | tmj4.com | https://www.tmj4.com/news/national/military-finishes-recovering-chinese-balloon-debris |
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday evening's drawing of the New York Lottery's "Pick 10" game were:
08-09-11-19-21-27-29-31-32-35-37-42-45-46-47-53-60-63-76-79
(eight, nine, eleven, nineteen, twenty-one, twenty-seven, twenty-nine, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-five, thirty-seven, forty-two, forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven, fifty-three, sixty, sixty-three, seventy-six, seventy-nine) | 2022-08-28T02:48:04+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Pick-10-game-17402775.php |
Which lip gloss sets at Ulta are best?
Lip gloss does more than give your lips a bit more shine and color. Whether shimmery or matte, liquid or balm, colored or clear, lip gloss is a makeup essential that no cosmetic bag is complete without. Ulta Beauty is a company with a selection of over 200 lip glosses, drugstore and high-end quality, and finding the perfect choice takes careful contemplation.
Kylie Cosmetics High Gloss Trio is a celebrity-branded product at Ulta Beauty that promises hydrated lips in three beautiful colors. Out of all the lip gloss sets displayed at Ulta, this collection is the hardest to pass up with its lasting shine and creamy ingredients.
What to know before you buy a lip gloss set at Ulta
What is Ulta?
Ulta Beauty, Inc. is an American cosmetics and beauty store that sells both drugstore and designer brand makeup, including its own formulas. Sales and coupons are in constant circulation both online and in-store.
Find your color
Choosing a lip gloss is an experimental process, and no single color looks the same on everyone. Usually, people with darker skin tones lean toward gold-hued lip glosses, while people with pale skin aim for bright reds and pinks. Medium skin tones are typically complemented by natural shades.
If you’re interested in gloss but don’t feel up to trying new colors, there are always clear glosses that keep your natural lip color and make your lips pop.
Gloss formula
The main ingredients of lip gloss are wax and emollients, or oils. The oil-to-wax ratio is what separates lip gloss from lipstick — lip gloss has more oil in its formula, while lipstick has more wax. Other ingredients are pigments for color and antioxidants for moisturizing. Some lip glosses even contain mild anesthetics.
Other uses
Cosmetically, lip gloss can make lips appear fuller and younger. Glittery lip gloss can be used as a substitute for highlighter (a brightening skin product applied to the cheekbones), while colored gloss can be used with lipstick, liner or stain for a shinier look. You can also use lip gloss for unconventional purposes, such as applying it as eyebrow gel or moisturizing your fingernails.
Medicated gloss can encourage the healing of chapped lips, and SPF gloss can protect you from sun-caused aging and burns.
What to look for in a quality lip gloss set at Ulta
Natural ingredients
As with most makeup products, you should lean toward products with more natural ingredients. Shea butter and coconut butter are common ingredients that keep your skin hydrated and chemical-free. Avoid glosses with menthol, camphor, phenol or any other alcohol; these can remove outer layers of skin and dry out your lips.
Be on the lookout for vegan and cruelty-free products, which are usually the mark of a more ethical cosmetics brand.
No synthetic/artificial fragrances
Some natural glosses have a light pleasant scent, but you should avoid deliberately fragrant lip glosses. Fragrances are more likely to contain allergens and are more likely to cause lip dryness or irritation.
Glossy, not sticky
A quality gloss makes your lips shine without gluing your mouth together, and the gloss should apply smoothly and clump-free. “Long-lasting” lip gloss is often stickier than other glosses. It’s up to you to decide if you want a lightweight gloss that will last for up to two hours or a thicker one that will last up to four hours.
How much you can expect to spend on a lip gloss set at Ulta
You can expect to spend from $20-$45 on a lip gloss set, which comes out to about $5-$15 per individual lip gloss.
Lip gloss FAQ
How can I tell if my lip gloss has expired?
A. You don’t want to apply expired lip gloss, as it can cause skin issues. The telltale signs of an expired lip gloss are gritty or watery texture, a foul scent and discoloration.
What other lip products can I wear with lip gloss?
A. You can pair lip gloss with any other lip product to complete your makeup look, including lipstick, lip stain and lip liner. You can also practice self-care by using a lip exfoliator and applying a lip gloss rich in antioxidants.
What are the best lip gloss sets at Ulta to buy?
Top lip gloss set at Ulta
Kylie Cosmetics High Gloss Trio
What you need to know: Kylie’s High Gloss Trio combines natural-looking colors with a glossy finish that lip gloss fans adore.
What you’ll love: These glosses stand out for the high-shine finish that lasts for hours. You’ll get three colors that flatter most skin tones. The formula is vegan and cruelty-free.
What you should consider: The glosses feel somewhat sticky on the lips.
Where to buy: Sold by Ulta Beauty
Top lip gloss set at Ulta for the money
OFRA Cosmetics x Samantha March #SamSquad Lip Gloss Trio
What you need to know: These are three beautiful lip glosses that aren’t sticky and provide long-lasting wear.
What you’ll love: There are three vegan lip glosses in this set that deliver a shimmery high-gloss finish without feeling heavy or sticky. The colors include pearl, nude and pink with a pleasant strawberry cheesecake scent.
What you should consider: These glosses may not appeal to those who don’t like a shimmer finish.
Where to buy: Sold by Ulta Beauty
Worth checking out
Grande Cosmetics GrandeLips Most Loved Nudes 2.0 Set
What you need to know: This set of three mini glosses is worth buying if you want to try glosses that have subtle shades and provide a plumping effect.
What you’ll love: The glosses are both moisturizing and plumping thanks to a unique proprietary formula. The colors look natural and work with most skin tones.
What you should consider: The tubes are travel-size, yet the price is fairly high.
Where to buy: Sold by Ulta Beauty
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Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | 2023-02-20T15:14:04+00:00 | kfor.com | https://kfor.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/lip-makeup-br/best-lip-gloss-set-at-ulta/ |
‘Ted Lasso’ wins best comedy series Emmy Award for 2nd year in a row
By The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — ‘Ted Lasso’ wins best comedy series Emmy Award for 2nd year in a row.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | 2022-09-13T22:27:08+00:00 | kob.com | https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/ted-lasso-wins-best-comedy-series-emmy-award-for-2nd-year-in-a-row/ |
RALEIGH — Authorities have issued a Silver Alert for a woman last seen a week ago in Greensboro.
Jessica Shauntay Neal, 34, is believed to be suffering from dementia or some other cognitive impairment, the N.C. Center for Missing Persons said in a news release.
Neal is described as a Black woman with brown eyes and black hair in a short twist. She is 5 feet 7 inches and weighs 180 pounds.
She was last seen April 15 at 1203 Maple St., police said.
Anyone with information should call JJ Carrol at the Greensboro Police Department at 336-373-2435. | 2022-04-22T23:54:28+00:00 | greensboro.com | https://greensboro.com/news/local/accident-and-incident/silver-alert-issued-for-woman-last-seen-a-week-ago-in-greensboro/article_9ef937d2-c284-11ec-ba1c-43583dde01f0.html |
After an American fighter jet shot down the Chinese balloon that had floated across the United States, the reaction from Beijing — defensive, angered, yet hedging its options — illustrated the challenges facing China’s leader, Xi Jinping, as he tries to stabilize relations while giving little, if any, ground.
Hours after the balloon was struck by a Sidewinder missile and crumpled into the waters off South Carolina, the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared its “strong discontent and protest” and doubled down on its position that the balloon was a civilian research airship blown way off course by fierce winds. Washington, not Beijing, had broken the rules, the ministry said.
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“The Chinese side clearly requested that the U.S. appropriately deal with this in a calm, professional and restrained manner,” read the statement from the Chinese ministry on Sunday. “For the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction.”
Chinese officials had been preparing to host US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks this week in Beijing aimed at containing tensions over a glut of issues: technology barriers and bans, Western opposition to hard-line Chinese policies in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and American support for Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing has demanded must accept unification. Blinken pulled out of his trip to China, citing anger over the balloon.
Beijing’s reaction to the bipartisan furor in the United States over the high-altitude balloon suggested that Chinese leaders were baffled that those planned talks in Beijing had been upstaged by what they described as an innocent mistake. But China also suggested that it could somehow retaliate against the US military’s action: The Foreign Ministry noted that it “retains the right to respond further.”
China’s Ministry of National Defense, which speaks for the military, also called the shooting down of the balloon an “excessive reaction.”
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“We solemnly protest the U.S. action, and retain the right to use the necessary means to deal with similar circumstances,” the Defense Ministry said in its two-sentence statement.
Calibrating China’s reaction will be tricky for Xi.
“China is in a very tight geopolitical spot,” said Evan S. Medeiros, a professor of international politics at Georgetown University who served as President Barack Obama’s top adviser on Asia-Pacific affairs. “They were caught red-handed with no place to go. And during a moment when they want to improve relations with many big powers, principally the U.S.”
China’s Internet — often an echo chamber for nationalist emotions — resounded with calls for Beijing to stand up to the United States over the shooting down of the balloon. And even if Xi and other Chinese Communist Party leaders can brush off public pressure, their own prickly pride may demand some symbolic countermeasure to save face.
But Xi has his hands full with domestic strains and may want to avoid another round of tit-for-tat antagonism with the Biden administration. China’s economy is anemic after the abrupt abandonment of Xi’s strict “zero COVID” policies, and the government is also trying to defuse a longer-term real-estate crisis. The United States’ tightening restrictions on sales of advanced technology to China, especially cutting-edge semiconductors, could hurt Chinese companies and Xi’s innovation plans.
Since beginning a third five-year term as party leader in October, Xi has tried to ease tensions with Western countries — including the United States, Australia, and European powers — worried that they are coalescing into a firmer alliance committed to containing Chinese power.
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“It would be a very poor strategic move on the part of China to really make a big deal out of this,” Oriana Skylar Mastro, a fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, said of the downing of the balloon. “The more they huff and puff, the more it reduces the credibility of their story that this was a civilian weather balloon blown off course.”
Despite its mention of possible further actions, the Chinese government’s response to the balloon’s downing also hinted that it does not want to drag out the dispute. Wording choices in the Foreign Ministry statement hinted that Beijing may keep defending its actions and denying that the balloon was a vehicle for spying, while holding back from reactions that could escalate the dispute.
Notably, the Chinese statement accused the United States of violating international norms by shooting down the balloon but did not mention any claimed violation of international law. China also said that it would “defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved” with the balloon, which could help it make a case that the government was not directly involved in launching the balloon.
The wording “reflects that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not believe downing the balloon is a clear legal violation,” Julian Ku, a professor of law at Hofstra University who studies China’s role in international law, wrote in emailed answers to questions.
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“The ministry will say if something is a violation of international law, so it is significant they did not say so here,” he said.
Still, even if the balloon crisis dies down quickly, it has shown how low trust has fallen from the thaw that began when “Ping-Pong diplomacy” helped pave the way for relations in the early 1970s, Zhu said. Back then, American table tennis players visited China for a series of matches that helped ease decades of animosity.
“Over 50 years ago, the ice-melting of our relations began with Ping-Pong diplomacy,” Zhu said, echoing a quip that has spread on the Chinese internet. “It was a small ball that started it, and now our relations are in trouble over a big ball or balloon. I never expected this metaphor could happen.” | 2023-02-05T22:24:13+00:00 | bostonglobe.com | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/05/world/china-finds-itself-with-limited-options-after-us-shoots-down-balloon/ |
ICC prosecutor opposes EU plan for special Ukraine tribunal
By MOLLY QUELL
Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has denounced a European Union proposal to create an U.N.-backed special tribunal to prosecute crimes in Ukraine. Karim Khan pushed back on Monday against the plan European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced last week to establish a special court to prosecute Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Khan says the ICC is capable of effectively dealing with war crimes committed in Ukraine, including by prosecuting high-ranking political figures. The Hague-based ICC has launched an investigation into war crimes in Ukraine but cannot prosecute the crime of invading another country. That’s because Russia is not a signatory to the treaty that created the court. | 2022-12-05T16:23:08+00:00 | krdo.com | https://krdo.com/news/ap-national-news/2022/12/05/icc-prosecutor-opposes-eu-plan-for-special-ukraine-tribunal/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Schwerner doesn’t remember how he learned that his younger brother Michael, nicknamed Mickey, was missing in Mississippi along with colleagues Andrew Goodman and James Chaney. What he remembers is that as soon as the family heard the news, they were certain of the young men’s fate.
“We were sure they were killed,” he said. “There was little doubt about that. There was no reason for them to be missing in Mississippi.”
It was the summer of 1964, an era marked by murders, beatings, disappearances and church bombings amid the struggle for civil rights and the fight against segregation. Just a year before, a bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killed four young Black girls.
The disappearance of the three men, who had been part of a drive to register Black voters in Mississippi during what was called Freedom Summer, and the discovery of their bodies weeks later was an inflection point that shocked the national conscience.
“The most important thing to say about the whole incident is if Mickey and Andy Goodman were Black, there never would have been national news,” said Schwerner. “But because they were both white, that’s what made it news. That’s a terribly sad commentary on America, but that’s the truth.”
Stephen Schwerner, two-and-half years older than his brother, said their parents instilled in them a deep belief in human rights and social justice. His mother wanted to be a doctor but found that being poor, Jewish and a woman was too much to overcome. She became a biology teacher instead. His father was a lawyer and civil liberties activist, often representing the downtrodden.
When they were young, their father took them to see the baseball Yankees — and also the stars playing in the Negro Leagues. They often accompanied their parents to see folk singers such as Pete Seeger and the Black civil rights activist Josh White.
“We learned at an early age people were equal and that segregation was wrong.” Schwerner said.
Stephen Schwerner went to Antioch College in Ohio, where he joined the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union and helped stage sit-ins. He would later join the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) along with his wife, brother and sister-in-law.
While he remained in the north, his brother was drawn to the South and specifically to Mississippi. There, he met James “Jim” Chaney, who was a Black volunteer and helped set up a headquarters. Goodman would come later as one of the volunteers for Freedom Summer.
The brothers had similar beliefs, that the nation should be integrated and that people should be able to vote and have more control over their lives.
“Except he was braver than I was,” Schwerner said. “I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to go to Mississippi.”
His brother organized and his sister-in-law, Rita, ran a freedom school, Schwerner said. The head of the KKK gave the Meridian, Mississippi, chapter permission to kill Mickey as a race traitor. Schwerner doesn’t remember the last conversation he had with his brother, but he believes he knew he was in mortal danger.
Michael Schwerner and the other two men disappeared after looking into an arson at a Black church. A massive FBI search located their vehicle days afterward and their bodies later that summer, with the help of an informant.
During the search, authorities found several other bodies, primarily Black activists.
At the memorial for his brother, civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael told Stephen Schwerner it was the 17th funeral he had attended of people involved in the struggle.
“It was easy to get murdered in Mississippi,” Schwerner said.
The following year, he was in Brooklyn when the Voting Rights Act passed and was signed into law.
“People had worked toward it for years and dozens had died,” he said. “It was incredibly important.”
Now 86, and moving with the help of a walker, he recalls as a low point the Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder decision a decade ago, which stopped requiring states with a history of voter suppression from being checked by the Justice Department before imposing potentially discriminatory voting laws.
The court’s ruling, striking down as unconstitutiona l the way states were included on the list of those needing to get advance approval for voting-related changes, was based on a conclusion that labeling states as discriminators based on information half a century old was not supported: “Nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion for the court.
The justices are now considering whether to uphold or weaken another of the law’s provisions.
“In many ways, the story — the struggle for human rights in the United States — is two steps forward and then one back, and maybe three steps backward,” Schwerner said.
Still, he points to progress since the often violent struggle for civil rights six decades ago — including the end of legal segregation, Barack Obama’s presidency and the election of people of color to political offices, including state legislatures in the South.
He is proud that he still receives letters from students who took the civil rights class he taught at Antioch College, and to see the questions they raise about equality.
“This is how it’s supposed to be — that reading of the Declaration of Independence knowing full well it didn’t apply to most people because when it said all men are created equal, it really meant landowning white men,” Schwerner said. “But it did say all men and it meant all humans. So, we have got to keep striving to that.”
___
The Associated Press coverage of race and voting receives support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | 2023-06-07T18:30:37+00:00 | wnct.com | https://www.wnct.com/news/politics/voting-activist-killed-during-freedom-summer-in-mississippi-believed-country-should-be-integrated/ |
“Driven to Murder” premieres on Lifetime on Sunday, April 24, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. You can also watch the show on Philo and FuboTV
According to Lifetime, the film is about an “innocent call for a ride home” that lands a young woman in the backseat of a killer’s car. Sarah (Luca Guerrero) asks for a ride home from a stranger and ends up in danger. The driver runs over a homeless man and accuses her of the crime. When she tries to escape, the driver stalks her and it leads to an accident.
The cast includes Adam Blake, Lucia Guerrero, Michael Shaffrey, Chase Mullins, Benjamin Flohr and Jessica Buda.
What channel is Lifetime on?
You can find which channel Lifetime is on by using the channel finders here: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV and Dish.
Where can I watch ‘Driven to Murder’ if I don’t have cable?
You can watch it on FuboTV (free trial), a streaming service that offers you access to your favorite TV shows, live sports events and much more. There’s a free trial when you sign up. You can also watch it on Philo (7-day free trial). | 2022-04-24T16:14:43+00:00 | cleveland.com | https://www.cleveland.com/tv/2022/04/driven-to-murder-on-lifetime-how-to-watch-and-stream-for-free.html |
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC) on Friday reported fourth-quarter profit of $10.1 million.
On a per-share basis, the Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said it had net income of 7 cents. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were 19 cents per share.
The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 25 cents per share.
For the year, the company reported a loss of $93.6 million, or 70 cents per share.
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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on LAC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/LAC | 2023-03-31T14:45:35+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/business/article/lithium-americas-corp-q4-earnings-snapshot-17871032.php |
Bears mock draft roundup 2.0: draft picks, prospects, analysis originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
On Sunday, the Bears were officially eliminated from playoff contention after they lost at home, 28-19, to the Green Bay Packers.
With that, the focus of the season quickly shifted to the Bears' offseason, where they look to have a promising and advantageous draft position.
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RELATED: NFL mock draft roundup: Bears draft picks, prospects, analysis
As of this writing, they have the No. 2 overall pick in the upcoming 2023 NFL draft. However, with four games remaining for the Bears, there's the possibility they won't land the second position.
There are a plethora of ways the draft order could go. If they lose out, the worst pick they could receive is the No. 3 overall selection. If they win one, the worst they can do is the seventh pick.
Local
MORE: Chicago Bears projected 2023 draft selection, scenarios
It's early to conjure up draft possibilities, but let's take a look at who national pundits have the Bears drafting with the second pick this week. I think you'll find there's a common theme to their findings.
The Athletic
Bears select: Will Anderson Jr. (Edge, Alabama)
"Although quarterback Justin Fields is steadily progressing, the Bears are trending toward a top-three pick, which would be a positive in the long run. Will Anderson has the talent and intangibles to be a cornerstone player and defensive game-wrecker, both as a shutdown run defender and disruptive pass rusher off the edge."
Sporting News
Bears select: Will Anderson Jr. (Edge, Alabama)
"Should the Bears pick second like they are set to do now, they won't need to consider QB at all with the passing and running ceiling of big-armed Justin Fields. But they do need to get familiar pop in the defense and getting this cornerstone pass rusher in give them a new Khalil Mack is a no-brainer, after also saying goodbye to Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith on the second level in the middle of the season."
Pro Football Network
Bears select: Will Anderson Jr. (Edge, Alabama)
"Enter Will Anderson Jr., an Alabama pass rusher who will finish his career as one of the most successful edge rushers in college football history. Anderson lives in the backfield, and Bears fans will see a player they haven’t seen since Richard Dent on the 80s squad."
* * *
At this point in the season, taking Will Anderson Jr. out of Alabama is a no-brainer for Poles & Co.
While I agree with this consensus, it's difficult to forget maybe the more likely outcome (hypothesizing at this point the Bears have the second overall pick) and the more desirable one, is the Bears trading down.
Certainly, this draft has talent at the quarterback position. But, it's top-heavy. Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud are likely top-five picks. After that, most prognosticate Will Levis will be taken outside the top 10.
There are plenty of quarterback-hungry teams in the first round of the draft. The Seahawks, Lions, Panthers, Colts and Falcons can all rationalize taking a signal caller in the first round.
That's great news for the Bears.
As of the present day, they already have theirs in the form of Justin Fields. The second-year quarterback has put on a spectacle amid a losing season. He's proven his big, accurate arm and is on pace to break Lamar Jackson's single-season quarterback rushing record.
Hence, the Bears need not draft a quarterback in the first round, or in the draft. Therefore, throwing the bait of a No. 2 overall pick into the shark-infested waters poses a lucrative opportunity for the front office.
Let's not forget, trading down is a promising market.
Back during the 2021 NFL draft, the 49ers gave up three first-rounders and a future third-round pick to move up to the No. 3 pick to take Trey Lance. The Bears did the same for Justin Fields. The Dolphins did the same for Jaylen Waddle.
RELATED: Schrock: Winning more important than draft slot for Fields, Bears
Anderson Jr. would be a steal for the Bears and a much-needed piece to one of the weakest pass-rushing groups in the business.
But, the Bears could load up on ammo for the rest of their roster, if they concede a high enough draft pick. | 2022-12-07T19:13:47+00:00 | nbcchicago.com | https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/bears-mock-draft-roundup-2-0-draft-picks-prospects-analysis/3015234/ |
A pregnant Texas woman is fighting an HOV lane citation after the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade.
Brandy Bottone said that her unborn child should count as a passenger. She was fined $215 for driving alone in a two-or-more-occupant lane.
Texas penal code recognizes an unborn child as a person, but traffic laws do not. Amy O’Donnell, a spokeswoman for Texas Alliance for Life, an anti-abortion group, told the Dallas Morning News.
“And a child residing in a mother’s womb is not taking up an extra seat. And with only one occupant taking up a seat, the car did not meet the criteria needed to drive in that lane,” O’Donnell said.
Bottone cited inconsistencies in the law after texas implemented a ban on most abortions.
I got pulled over, and the officer said, ‘Okay, well you are in an HOV lane.’ and I said, ‘Yes,” Bottone said. “ And he said, 'Great, where's your, is there somebody else in the car?' And looking around, I said, 'Well, yes, there is.' And he said, ‘Well, where’ as he's peeking in the, in the car and I pointed in my stomach. I was like, we're right here. And, he said, ‘Well, it's two bodies outside of the body. So that doesn't count.’"
The state prohibits abortions after a heartbeat is detected - generally after six weeks.
"I was kind of in shock. I was like, well, in light of everything that's happened, and I'm not trying to make a huge political stance here, but do you understand that this isn't a baby? He kind of just brushed me off and asked me to go to the other officer to get my citation,” she said.
She is appealing the citation. | 2022-07-11T14:06:36+00:00 | koaa.com | https://www.koaa.com/news/national/pregnant-woman-ticketed-for-using-texas-hov-lane-without-passenger |
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Dozens of University of Michigan medical students walked out of a weekend ceremony to protest a speaker who publicly opposes abortion rights.
Dr. Kristin Collier, an assistant professor of medicine, was the keynote speaker Sunday at an annual event where new medical students are formally welcomed and given a white lab coat.
A video of some students walking out was posted to social media and has received more than 11 million views.
Collier didn’t refer to abortion in her remarks, but she has shared her opinions on social media and in interviews.
“Holding on to a view of feminism where one fights for the rights of all women and girls, especially those who are most vulnerable. I can’t not lament the violence directed at my prenatal sisters in the act of abortion, done in the name of autonomy,” she said on social media earlier this year.
A petition signed by 340 medical students, including some of the new ones, had urged the university to drop Collier as a speaker.
Spokeswoman Mary Masson said the university “does not revoke an invitation to a speaker based on their personal beliefs.”
The ceremony “is not a platform for discussion of controversial issues,” and Collier “never planned to address a divisive topic as part of her remarks,” Masson said.
Collier didn’t immediately respond to a Monday request for comment.
Dr. Joseph Kolars, a senior associate dean, said Collier was nominated to speak by members of a medical school student honor society. He told the audience that she is an “enormously popular teacher and physician.”
During her address Sunday, Collier offered philosophical advice to students about how to thrive in medical school. She opened by noting “the deep wounds our community has suffered over the past several weeks,” apparently a reference to the controversy over her appearance.
“We have a great deal of work to do for healing to occur,” Collier said.
The petition signed by her critics said it wasn’t “simply a disagreement on personal opinion.”
“Through our demand we are standing up in solidarity against groups who are trying to take away human rights and restrict medical care,” students said of abortion rights.
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Joey Cappelletti is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. | 2022-07-25T21:31:42+00:00 | keloland.com | https://www.keloland.com/news/healthbeat/ap-health/michigan-medical-students-protest-anti-abortion-speaker/ |
A review of pizza trends by delivery app Slice has new data. The report predicts that pickles — most often served on pizzas topped with garlic sauce — will continue to grow in popularity.
Copyright 2023 NPR
A review of pizza trends by delivery app Slice has new data. The report predicts that pickles — most often served on pizzas topped with garlic sauce — will continue to grow in popularity.
Copyright 2023 NPR | 2023-02-21T12:22:23+00:00 | kunm.org | https://www.kunm.org/2023-02-21/we-all-know-the-debate-about-pineapple-on-pizza-but-what-about-pickles |
Ways to tackle debt as credit card interest rates increase
Rising interest rates keeping some in debt longer
(InvestigateTV) — Nearly 1 in 5 Americans say it will take them longer than planned to pay off their existing overall debt because of higher interest rates, according to NerdWallet’s 2023 Consumer Credit Card report.
NerdWallet’s credit cards expert Melissa Lambarena said more people are using “buy now, pay later” services to help them make purchase, as credit card rates increase.
The report found others are keeping their debt a secret, with almost a third of Americans saying they themselves don’t even know how big their debt is.
“In some cases, it’s that maybe they have regrets about financial decisions they made. So, there might be some shame attached to that,” Lambarena said. “Or in other cases it might be that maybe they just weren’t brought up to talk about money, so having those discussions feels unnatural.”
The average credit card APR is currently 24.53%, according to Forbes. This is one of the reasons Lambrena said it’s more expensive to pay off debt right now, leading people to stay in debt longer.
Lambrena urged consumers with credit card debt to make a plan to pay it off, offering several suggestions:
- Consider consulting a professional credit counselor or a financial planner
- Look for zero or low percentage balance transfer offers to help pay down balances more quickly
- Think about a personal loan to consolidate debt
NerdWallet has many articles with further advice on how to pay down credit card debt such as:
How to Get Out of Credit Card Debt in 4 Steps
Dealing With Credit Card Debt: How to Get Debt-Free
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-29T20:43:57+00:00 | waff.com | https://www.waff.com/2023/06/29/ways-tackle-debt-credit-card-interest-rates-increase/ |
Request unsuccessful. Incapsula incident ID: 8072000880173806373-248111258967479817 | 2023-06-28T22:17:48+00:00 | bizjournals.com | https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2023/06/28/k36-therapeutics-series-b-70-million.html |
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