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Black teen shot by officer during struggle was armed with pellet gun, not handgun, police say
DENVER (AP) — A Black teen fatally shot by an officer was armed with a pellet gun and not a semiautomatic handgun, police in suburban Denver revealed Friday.
Jor’Dell Richardson, 14, was shot June 2 after a struggle on the ground with officers who chased him from a store in Aurora, where he and a group of other teens were suspected of stealing vaping cartridges, according to authorities.
Police had originally said that the teen had a semiautomatic, but Chief Art Acevedo corrected that during a press conference held to release body camera video of the shooting.
The video does not clearly show what was happening right before the teen is shot. However, his words and the officers’ can be heard during the struggle.
Within a matter of a few seconds, an officer tackles Richardson, and the teen says, “Stop, please, you got me.”
“Gun, gun, let go of the ... gun,” an officer says, using an expletive. He then says he is going to fire, and a gunshot is heard.
“They made me do it,” a wounded Richardson says. “I didn’t know who they were. They made me do it.”
Later the officer who shot him, Roch Gruszeczka, is heard saying a prayer for him: “God, please be with that kid.”
Acevedo said that as part of their investigation, authorities are looking into where the pellet gun was when the officer fired and whether Richardson was pointing it at them.
He said that the weapon looked like an HK USP 9 mm handgun and that during the alleged robbery, Richardson had raised up his sweatshirt to reveal it in his waistband to the store’s clerk.
“That is not a toy. That is a weapon,” Acevedo said. He said he confirmed on Thursday that it was a pellet gun.
Richardson’s family and lawyers viewed the video with police Tuesday but were not told that it was a pellet gun until a few mintues before Friday’s news conference, attorney Siddhartha Rathod said.
Police would have known right away after picking it up and trying to unload it that it was not a handgun, he said, accusing officers of withholding the information to avoid angering the community.
Rathod said the video showed Richardson was surrendering and it did not make sense that he would have been reaching for a pellet gun.
“They didn’t tell the community because the entire city of Aurora would be here,” he said of a rally and march after the news conference that drew about 200 people.
Richardson’s mother, Laurie Littlejohn, told those gathered on the steps of city hall that the teen was the “light” of their home and she is afraid to have her 19-year-old son leave the house.
Police did not “think twice” about her son being a child and “didn’t give him a chance to redeem himself,” she said.
The rally ended with a prayer and prolonged sobbing by Richardson’s brother.
Police chased Richardson after a member of the city’s gang unit who happened to be driving by saw a group of teens in hoodies and medical masks approaching a convenience store. Some of them left in a stolen minivan afterward, while Richardson and another teen who was later arrested ran in different directions, police said.
Acevedo said police released the body camera video to the public Friday afternoon because it was the soonest they could do so under state law, which requires a wait of at least 72 hours after a video of a fatal incident is shown to family memers.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-10T10:55:07+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/2023/06/10/black-teen-shot-by-officer-during-struggle-was-armed-with-pellet-gun-not-handgun-police-say/ |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution Thursday that calls for Russia to end hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces, sending a strong message on the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion that Moscow’s aggression must stop.
The resolution, drafted by Ukraine in consultation with its allies, passed 141-7, with 32 abstentions.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the vote was more evidence that not only the West backs his country.
“This vote defies the argument that the global south does not stand on Ukraine’s side,” Kuleba said. “Many countries representing Latin America, Africa, Asia voted in favor.”
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan called the vote “an overwhelming demonstration of support for Ukraine — and a clear defense of freedom for people everywhere.”
The General Assembly has become the most important U.N. body dealing with Ukraine because the Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, is paralyzed by Russia’s veto power. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, unlike Security Council resolutions, but serve as a barometer of world opinion.
The seven countries voting against Thursday’s resolution were Belarus, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, North Korea, Eritrea and Mali, which has developed close military ties with Russia. Amendments proposed by Belarus would have stripped much of the language but were resoundingly defeated.
The vote was slightly below the highest total for the five previous resolutions approved by the 193-member world body since Russia sent troops and tanks across the border into its smaller neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022. That tally, in an October resolution against Russia’s illegal annexations, won approval by 143 countries.
Foreign ministers and diplomats from more than 75 countries addressed the assembly during two days of debate, with many urging support for the resolution that upholds Ukraine’s territorial integrity, a basic principle of the U.N. Charter that all countries must subscribe to when they join the world organization.
The war has killed tens of thousands on both sides and has reduced entire Ukrainian cities to ruins and its impact has been felt worldwide in higher food and fuel costs and rising inflation.
Venezuela’s deputy ambassador addressed the council on behalf of 16 countries that either voted against or abstained on almost all of five previous resolutions on Ukraine: Belarus, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Laos, Mali, Nicaragua, North Korea, St. Vincent, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
While other countries focused on Russia’s actions, Venezuelan Deputy Ambassador Joaquín Pérez Ayestarán said Wednesday that all countries without exception “must stringently comply with the United Nations Charter,” a barely veiled dig at an international order long dominated by the U.S. and Europe, and at what some call violations of the charter.
Ayestarán said the countries in his group were against what he called divisive action in the General Assembly, and for “a spirit of compromise.”
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters that the aggressor and the victim can’t be put on equal terms. But China’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Dai Bing, told the assembly Thursday: “We support Russia and Ukraine in moving towards each other. … The international community should make joint efforts to facilitate peace talks.”
China says it is neutral in the conflict and an advocate of peace talks, but has not criticized the invasion or described it as such. Beijing has condemned the U.S. and its allies over sanctions on Moscow and military assistance to Ukraine. China and Russia have increasingly aligned their foreign policies to oppose the U.S.-led international order.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi reaffirmed the strength of those ties when he met Russian leader Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow this week.
More broadly, Russia and Ukraine have been trying to win support from around the world.
The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, spoke Tuesday about the U.N. resolution with India’s national security adviser because “Ukraine is interested in the broadest possible support for the resolution, in particular from the countries of the global south,” a statement from Zelenskyy’s office said.
India had a Cold War dependence on the Soviet Union and has abstained several times from voting on U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding that Russia cease its invasion.
Less-powerful countries, including many in Africa, also have been caught up in the diplomatic wrangling.
“We were colonized, and we forgive those who colonized us. Now the colonizers are asking us to be enemies with Russia, who never colonized us; is that fair?” Uganda’s foreign minister, Abubaker Jeje Odongo, told the Sputnik news agency this month.
Russia is Africa’s top arms supplier and Odongo also noted that most of his country’s military equipment is Russian-made.
“Countries in Africa have traditionally been attached in the Cold War division to the Soviet Union, having the old nostalgia, but also Russia has good tools, how to motivate them to be on their side,” Slovak Foreign Minister Rastislav Káčer told reporters in New York on Thursday. “And then there are others, like China, who are big powers, and are very carefully following what’s going on, and calculating what’s good for them.”
___
Associated Press journalists Christopher Bodeen in Beijing, Vineeta Deepak in New Delhi and Cara Anna in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed. | 2023-02-24T11:18:10+00:00 | pix11.com | https://pix11.com/news/ap-general/ap-un-to-vote-on-resolution-calling-for-russia-to-leave-ukraine/ |
BERLIN (AP) — Authorities in Austria say more than 100 students and teachers on a school trip from Germany had to be airlifted to safety after they followed an online map that directed them onto an unmarked and difficult trail.
Police in the western state of Vorarlberg said more than 60 rescuers — including the local mayor —took part in the rescue late Tuesday.
Police said in a statement Wednesday that the group from Ludwigshafen, Germany, became stuck on a ridge leading up to Walmendingerhorn summit after a teacher had found what was described as a “classic evening walk” using an internet search tool.
In fact, the route was partly suspended and involved sections that required climbing, firm shoes and Alpine experience, police said.
Due to slippery conditions and the fact that “not all students were wearing optimal footwear” one teacher decided to turn back. After two students slipped and suffered minor injuries, the teacher dialed emergency services, prompting the rescue operation.
Police said the 99 students — ages 12 to 14 — and eight teachers were plucked from the ridge by helicopter using ropes.
“Several students were exhausted, chilled, wet and completely distraught,” the statement said, adding that a crisis intervention team was brought in to help. | 2022-06-09T01:37:50+00:00 | nwahomepage.com | https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/international/ap-international/107-students-teachers-airlifted-to-safety-in-austrian-alps/ |
DENVER (AP) — Costly weather disasters kept raining down on America last year, pounding the nation with 18 climate extremes that caused at least $1 billion in damage each, totaling more than $165 billion, federal climate scientists calculated Tuesday.
Even though 2022 wasn’t near record hot for the United States, it was the third wildest year nationally both in number of extremes that cost $1 billion and overall damage from those weather catastrophes, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a report issued at the American Meteorological Society’s conference.
The amount, cost and death toll of billion-dollar weather disasters make up a key measurement, adjusted for inflation, that NOAA uses to see how bad human-caused climate change is getting. They led to at least 474 deaths.
Hurricane Ian, the costliest drought in a decade and a pre-Christmas winter storm pushed last year’s damages to the highest since 2017. The only more expensive years were 2017 — when Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria struck — and the disastrous 2005 when numerous hurricanes, headlined by Katrina, pummeled the Southeast, federal meteorologists said. The only busier years for billion-dollar disasters were 2020 and 2021.
Ian was the third costliest U.S. hurricane on record with $112.9 billion in damage, followed by $22.2 billion in damage from a western and midwestern drought that halted barge traffic on the Mississippi River, officials said. The $165 billion total for 2022 doesn’t even include a total yet for the winter storm three weeks ago, which could push it close to $170 billion, officials said.
“Climate change is supercharging many of these extremes that can lead to billion-dollar disasters,” said NOAA applied climatologist and economist Adam Smith, who calculates the disasters, updating them to factor out inflation. He said more people are also building in harm’s way, along pricey coasts and rivers, and lack of strong construction standards is also an issue. With a good chunk of development beachside, real estate inflation could be a small localized factor, he said.
“The United States has some of the consistently most diverse and intense weather and climate extremes that you’ll see in many parts of the world. And we have a large population that’s vulnerable to these extremes,” Smith told The Associated Press. “So it’s really an imbalance right now.”
Climate change is a hard to ignore factor in extremes, from deadly heat to droughts and flooding, Smith and other officials said.
“The risk of extreme events is growing and they are affecting every corner of the world,” NOAA chief scientist Sarah Kapnick said.
The problem is especially bad when it comes to dangerous heat, said NOAA climate scientist Stephanie Herring, who edits an annual study in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society that calculates how much of the extreme weather in past years were worsened by climate change.
“Research is showing that these extreme heat events are also likely to become the new normal,” Herring said at the weather conference.
There’s been a dramatic upswing in the size and number of super costly extremes in the U.S. since about 2016, Smith said. In the past seven years, 121 different billion-dollar weather disasters have caused more than $1 trillion in damage and killed more than 5,000 people.
Those years dwarf what happened in the 1980s, 1990s or 2000s. For example, in the entire decade of the 1990s there were 55 different billion-dollar disasters that cost $313 billion total and claimed 3,062 lives.
“It’s not just one but many, many different types of extremes across much of the country,” Smith said. “If extremes were on a bingo card, we almost filled up the card over the last several years.”
In 2022, there were nine billion-dollar non-tropical storms, including a derecho, three hurricanes, two tornado outbreaks, one flood, one winter storm, a megadrought and a costly wildfires. The only general type of weather disaster missing was an icy freeze that causes $1 billion or more in crop damage, Smith said. And last month, Florida came close to it, but missed it by a degree or two and some preventive steps by farmers, he said.
That prevented freeze was one of two “silver linings” in 2022 extremes, Smith said. The other was that the wildfire season, though still costing well over $1 billion, wasn’t as severe as past years, except in New Mexico and Texas, he said.
For the first 11 months of 2022, California was going through its second driest year on record, but drenchings from an atmospheric river that started in December, turned it to only the ninth driest year on record for California, said NOAA climate monitoring chief Karin Gleason.
With a third straight year of a La Nina cooling the eastern Pacific, which tends to change weather patterns across the globe and moderate global warming, 2022 was only the 18th warmest year in U.S. records, Gleason said.
“It was a warm year certainly above average for most of the country but nothing off the charts,” Gleason said. The nation’s average temperature was 53.4 degrees (11.9 degrees Celsius), which is 1.4 degrees (0.8 degrees) warmer than the 20th century average.
The year was 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) below normal for rain and snow, the 27th driest out of 128 years, Gleason said.
NOAA and NASA on Thursday will announce how hot the globe was for 2022, which won’t be a record but likely to be in the top seven or so hottest years. European climate monitoring group Copernicus released its calculations Tuesday, saying 2022 was the fifth hottest globally and second hottest in Europe.
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions — which is what traps heat to cause global warming — rose 1.3% in 2022, according to a report released Tuesday by the Rhodium Group, a think tank. That’s less than the economy grew. The emissions increase was driven by cars, trucks and industry with electric power generation polluting slightly less.
It’s the second straight year, both after lockdowns eased, that American carbon pollution has grown after fairly steady decreases for several years. It makes it less likely that the United States will achieve its pledge to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, according to the Rhodium report. | 2023-01-10T19:00:49+00:00 | wivb.com | https://www.wivb.com/news/national/supercharged-weather-extremes-cost-us-billions-in-2022-noaa/ |
June 11, 2023 in Myrtle Beach SC. Originally from Snyder/Amherst NY. Wife of the late Richard Anthony, Sr. Mother of the late Richard A, Jr. (Alice), Russell E. (late Natasha Todd), Andrea J. (late Marc) Sepanski. Sister of the late Eugene Marks (late Edna). Also survived by many nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Mrs. Dybowski will be layed to rest August 12, 2023 in Hillsgrove, PA.
DYBOWSKI Patience Ann (nee Marks)
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SILVER SPRING, Md., Nov. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to seven companies for illegally selling dietary supplements that claim to cure, treat, mitigate or prevent cardiovascular disease or related conditions, such as atherosclerosis, stroke or heart failure, in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). The FDA is urging consumers not to use these or similar products because they have not been evaluated by the FDA to be safe or effective for their intended use and may be harmful.
The warning letters were issued to: Essential Elements (Scale Media Inc.); Calroy Health Sciences LLC; Iwi; BergaMet North America LLC; Healthy Trends Worldwide LLC (Golden After 50); Chambers' Apothecary; and Anabolic Laboratories, LLC.
"Given that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., it's important that the FDA protect the public from products and companies that make unlawful claims to treat it. Dietary supplements that claim to cure, treat, mitigate or prevent cardiovascular disease and related conditions could potentially harm consumers who use these products instead of seeking safe and effective FDA-approved treatments from qualified health care providers," said Cara Welch, Ph.D., director of the Office of Dietary Supplement Programs in the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "We encourage consumers to remain vigilant when shopping online or in stores to avoid purchasing products that could put their health at risk."
Under the FD&C Act, products intended to diagnose, cure, treat, mitigate or prevent disease are drugs and are subject to the requirements that apply to drugs, even if they are labeled as dietary supplements. Unlike drugs approved by the FDA, the agency has not evaluated whether the unapproved products subject to the warning letters announced today are effective for their intended use, what the proper dosage might be, how they could interact with FDA-approved drugs or other substances, or whether they have dangerous side effects or other safety concerns.
The FDA advises consumers to talk to their doctor, pharmacist or other health care provider before deciding to purchase or use any dietary supplement or drug. Some supplements might interact with medicines or other supplements. Health care providers will work with patients to determine which treatment is the best option for their condition.
If a consumer thinks that a product might have caused a reaction or an illness, they should immediately stop using the product and contact their health care provider. The FDA encourages health care providers and consumers to report any adverse reactions associated with FDA-regulated products to the agency using MedWatch or the Safety Reporting Portal.
The FDA has requested responses from the companies within 15 working days stating how they will address the issues described in the warning letters or provide their reasoning and supporting information as to why they think the products are not in violation of the law. Failure to correct violations promptly may result in legal action, including product seizure and/or injunction.
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Media Contact: Courtney Rhodes, 202-281-5237
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA
The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation's food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.
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SOURCE U.S. Food and Drug Administration | 2022-11-17T17:58:05+00:00 | ksla.com | https://www.ksla.com/prnewswire/2022/11/17/fda-warns-seven-companies-selling-dietary-supplements-with-claims-treat-cardiovascular-disease/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits came back down last week, hovering near levels suggesting the U.S. labor market has been largely unaffected by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes.
Applications for jobless aid fell to 225,000 for the week ending Nov. 26, a decline of 16,000 from the previous week’s 241,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out week-to-week swings, inched up by 1,750 to 227,000.
Applications for unemployment benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and viewed with other employment data, shows that American workers are enjoying extraordinary job security at the moment, despite an economy with some glaring weaknesses.
To combat inflation that hit four-decade highs earlier this year, the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate six times since March. The housing market has buckled under the strain of mortgage rates that have more than doubled from a year ago. Many economists expect the United States to slip into a recession next year with more Fed rate hikes expected to increase borrowing costs and slow economic activity.
Early this month, the Fed raised its short-term lending rate by another 0.75 percentage points, three times its usual margin, for a fourth time this year. Its key rate now stands in a range of 3.75% to 4%, the highest in 15 years.
On Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank would push interest rates higher than previously expected and keep them there for an extended period until inflation was under control. Powell did add that the size and pace of those increases could be scaled back from the jumbo three-quarters of a point increases the Fed made at its last four meetings.
In spite of persistent inflation and rapidly rising interest rates, U.S. employers added 261,000 jobs last month and are creating an average of nearly 407,000 a month this year. That pace would make 2022 the second-best year for hiring — after 2021 — in government records going back to 1940. There are nearly two job openings for every unemployed American. The unemployment rate is 3.7%, a couple of ticks above a half-century low.
The government issues its November jobs report on Friday.
New weekly applications for unemployment benefits have been extremely low early this year — staying below 200,000 for much of February, March and April. They began to tick up in late spring and hit 261,000 in mid-July before trending lower again.
The Labor Department said Thursday that 1.61 million people were receiving jobless aid the week that ended Nov. 19, up 57,000 from the week before.
The tech and real estate sectors have been outliers in an otherwise robust employment market, with Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, DoorDash, Redfin and Compass all announcing significant layoffs in recent months. | 2022-12-01T14:42:57+00:00 | kdvr.com | https://kdvr.com/news/money/ap-applications-for-jobless-benefits-declined-last-week/ |
NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the securities of Outset Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: OM) between September 15, 2020 and June 13, 2022, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important September 6, 2022 lead plaintiff deadline.
SO WHAT: If you purchased Outset Medical securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.
WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Outset Medical class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=6976 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than September 6, 2022. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.
WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.
DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) defendants had "continuously made improvements and updates to Tablo over time since its original clearance" that required an additional 510(k) application; (2) as a result, Outset Medical could not conduct a human factors study on a cleared device in accordance with FDA protocols; (3) Outset Medical's inability to conduct the human factors study subjected Outset Medical to the likelihood of the FDA imposing a "shipment hold" and marketing suspension, leaving the Company unable to sell Tablo for home use; and (4) as a result, defendants' positive statements about Outset Medical's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.
To join the Outset Medical class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=6976 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.
No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.
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SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A. | 2022-09-05T16:58:49+00:00 | kwch.com | https://www.kwch.com/prnewswire/2022/09/05/om-deadline-tomorrow-rosen-recognized-investor-counsel-encourages-outset-medical-inc-investors-with-losses-secure-counsel-before-important-september-6-deadline-securities-class-action-om/ |
The Rev. Megan Rohrer, who was elected as the first openly transgender bishop of one of the largest Christian denominations in the country in May 2021, has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was forced out from his post after enduring several months of discrimination and harassment.
The denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, declined comment, according to an email from spokesperson Candice Buchbinder.
Rohrer, of San Francisco, resigned in June as bishop of the ELCA’s Sierra Pacific Synod amid allegations of racism after he fired the pastor of a predominantly Latino, immigrant congregation in Stanton, California, on the Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, for which the community had planned elaborate festivities.
In his lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Rohrer accuses the denomination of discriminating against him for being transgender and deliberately misgendering him and creating a “hostile work environment.” He is seeking monetary damages.
Rohrer, who now works as a senior communications specialist with a Black nondenominational church in San Francisco, said Thursday that he always felt the support of Lutherans in the pews, but not from the higher echelons of the national church. On his first day as bishop, during a video call, Rohrer said he was misgendered and ridiculed for featuring drag queens at his ordination.
Rohrer alleges in the lawsuit that he was scapegoated and “publicly shamed as a racist.”
“All my life, I’ve been an ally for racial justice and to people from marginalized groups,” he said, adding that he chose to remain silent after his removal from office last year so the predominantly white denomination could recognize its shortcomings and pass racial justice reforms. The intent of his lawsuit is not to minimize or undermine any other marginalized group, Rohrer said.
He also accuses the denomination of retaliating against him for blowing the whistle on labor violations in the denomination when he reported to synod officials that they were categorizing employees as independent contractors to avoid paying them a salary, which is a violation of federal and California labor laws.
“Similarly, when Rohrer separately revealed the transgender harassment he had been suffering since beginning his job, the Church terminated him, and falsely accused him of ‘weaponizing’ his own identity as a trans person to ‘avoid being held accountable,’” says the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Rohrer by the Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP law firm of Burlingame, California.
In August, the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, the denomination’s presiding bishop, issued a public apology at the 2022 Churchwide Assembly in Ohio, to members of the Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria Peregrina, describing the events that transpired as “a sharp assault on your dignity.” After the pastor’s firing, the congregation lost the denomination’s financial backing, and was forced to vacate their building and worship in the parking lot.
Rohrer resigned in June and the next day became the target of a church disciplinary process.
“I was pushed out of the church for following the directives of superiors,” he said. “And cast as a racist publicly.”
He hopes the lawsuit will force the church to follow its own policies to treat LGBTQ people fairly and with dignity within the church. Rohrer said he has never wanted to pit two marginalized groups against one another.
“The church is big enough for everyone,” he said, adding that it is important to acknowledge the “tragic history of racism and discrimination” in the church.
The lawsuit states that in addition to enduring “nearly-daily hate mail” including death threats as a result of the denomination’s conduct, Rohrer, because of his firing, cannot work as a bishop of an synod or even as a pastor in the denomination.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. | 2023-03-03T04:27:39+00:00 | ktalnews.com | https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/transgender-pastor-claims-bias-sues-lutheran-denomination/ |
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginians have used an education tip line Gov. Glenn Youngkin set up to submit concerns about curriculum, remote learning, books, mask policies, teachers and other topics, according to a sampling of emails provided to news outlets as part of a settlement agreement.
Some positive feedback was included in the batch of approximately 350 documents provided this week to news outlets that sued the Republican governor in April seeking disclosure of the information. But the majority of emails expressed anger or frustration with teachers, administrators and school policies, particularly with COVID-19 protocols.
“My children are given busy work, with no new material being taught,” a parent from Spotsylvania County wrote in February, objecting to the number of remote learning days at her child’s high school.
Another parent wrote to the principal of her child’s school, copying in the tip line address, asking her to provide lesson plans and lesson objective sheets from her child’s 7th-grade teachers.
The parent wanted to ensure their child wasn’t “being taught divisive concepts (or in Biology not being taught divisive gender-bending LGBT-campaigns with overly-sexualized lesson content).”
The parent, whose name was redacted from the email, said it was only because of remote learning during the pandemic that parents discovered the school board’s “secret leftist, politically motivated agenda and Critical Race Theory -CRT brainwashing.”
Another parent objected to pay raises given to teachers.
“Though teachers did not step foot in the classroom during the 2020-2021 school year, the district allocated a whopping $32.7 million to give educators additional pay,” he wrote.
Youngkin, who campaigned heavily on education and a promise to give parents more sway in their children’s curriculums, introduced the tip line soon after he was inaugurated in January. That same month, he touted it during an interview as a way to ensure that his administration was aware of what was happening at the school level and enable it to “catalog” and “root out” instances of divisive practices.
A teachers union, Democrats in the General Assembly, some parents and other observers — including celebrities who caught wind of the tip line as it drew national news coverage — criticized the move as divisive, authoritarian and unfairly targeting educators.
Many of the emails to the tip line were supportive of Youngkin’s approach to education policy.
Mital Gandhi, a parent from northern Virginia, said he initially wrote to local education officials after he discovered that his school district eliminated Algebra I from the list of classes 6th-grade students could take.
Gandhi said he followed up with an email to the tip line and the Virginia Department of Education. A department administrator responded and said the state was not prohibiting local school systems from allowing 6th-graders to take Algebra I. Gandhi said his son and several other students in 6th grade are now taking the class.
Gandhi wrote that the tip line was a way of “leveling the playing field for parents and students.”
“What Gov. Youngkin has done is he has put more power to the parents,” he said.
One person disagreed with Youngkin’s approach and used the tip line to urge him not to ban “critical race theory” or controversial books.
“Please do not move us away from progress by supporting these backward notions of forward motion,” wrote one woman, who did not say whether she was a parent with children in the public school system.
News organizations filed requests for records related to the tip line, but the governor’s office had declined to provide them based the administration’s contention that the emails were “working papers and correspondence” of the governor’s office and thus not required to be disclosed under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Youngkin and other governors have made routine use of the working papers exemption to withhold a wide range of records.
“The Governor wants constituents to be able to reach out to him without fear that their communications will not be kept confidential,” Macaulay Porter, a spokeswoman for Youngkin, said in a statement.
A coalition of news organizations filed suit in April, alleging Youngkin was violating the public records law.
The news organizations reached a settlement agreement with Youngkin last month that called for the Department of Education to produce about 350 documents in its possession that included emails sent to the tip line. The governor’s office was not required to hand over documents sent to its office.
“This Settlement Agreement is entered into as the result of a compromise solely for the purpose of avoiding additional expenses and the risk of further litigation. It should not be construed as adopting or rejecting the position of any Party to the litigation,” the settlement agreement says. | 2022-11-03T12:38:56+00:00 | cbs4indy.com | https://cbs4indy.com/news/national-world/ap-us-news/ap-virginia-education-tip-line-sees-concerns-from-parents/ |
CEDARHURST, N.Y., Dec. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The securities litigation law firm of Kuznicki Law PLLC issues this alert to shareholders of F45 Training Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: FXLV), if they purchased or acquired the Company's shares pursuant and/or traceable to the Company's July 2021 initial public offering (the "IPO"). Shareholders have until February 6, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in the securities class action lawsuit.
Shareholders are encouraged to contact us at https://kclasslaw.com/cases/securities/nyse-fxlv/, by calling toll-free at 1-833-835-1495 or by email (dk@kclasslaw.com).
Kuznicki Law PLLC is committed to ensuring that companies adhere to responsible business practices and engage in good corporate citizenship. The firm seeks recovery on behalf of investors who incurred losses when false and/or misleading statements or the omission of material information by a Company lead to artificial inflation of the Company's stock. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
Kuznicki Law PLLC
Daniel Kuznicki, Esq.
445 Central Avenue, Suite 344
Cedarhurst, NY 11516
Email: dk@kclasslaw.com
Phone: (347) 696-1134
Cell: (347) 690-0692
Fax: (347) 348-0967
https://kclasslaw.com
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SOURCE Kuznicki Law PLLC | 2022-12-15T07:59:18+00:00 | live5news.com | https://www.live5news.com/prnewswire/2022/12/15/filing-deadline-kuznicki-law-pllc-announces-class-action-behalf-shareholders-f45-training-holdings-inc-fxlv/ |
Stock Market Symbols
GIB.A (TSX)
GIB (NYSE)
cgi.com/newsroom
Revenue up 11.5% in constant currency and EPS excluding specific items* up 13.2%
Q3-F2022 performance highlights1
- Revenue of $3.26 billion, up 7.9% year-over-year or 11.5% year-over-year in constant currency;
- Adjusted EBIT of $519.9 million, up 9.0% year-over-year;
- Adjusted EBIT margin improved by 20 basis points year-over-year to 16.0%;
- Net earnings of $364.3 million, for a margin of 11.2%, consistent year-over-year;
- Diluted EPS of $1.51, up 11.0% year-over-year;
- Net earnings excluding specific items* of $371.2 million, for a margin of 11.4%, up 20 basis points year-over-year;
- Diluted EPS excluding specific items* of $1.54, up 13.2% year-over-year;
- Cash from operating activities of $419.2 million, representing 12.9% of revenue;
- Bookings of $3.41 billion, for a book-to-bill ratio of 104.7%; and
- Backlog of $23.24 billion or 1.8x annual revenue.
MONTRÉAL, July 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB)
"In the third quarter of fiscal 2022, we continued delivering on our build & buy profitable growth strategy with double digit increases year-over-year in both revenue and EPS," said George D. Schindler, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are well structured through our portfolio of services and strong balance sheet to help our clients navigate the current economic environment while continuing to drive the growth and profitability of our business."
For the third quarter of fiscal 2022, the Company reported revenue of $3.26 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 7.9%. Revenue grew by 11.5% year-over-year, when excluding $109.5 million of unfavorable foreign currency impact.
As at the end of the quarter, the number of consultants and professionals increased year-over-year by more than 10,500, for a total of approximately 88,500 worldwide.
Adjusted EBIT was $519.9 million, up 9.0% year-over-year, with an EBIT margin of 16.0% representing an improvement of 20 basis points from 15.8% in the same period last year.
For the three months ended June 30, 2022, our effective tax rate increased to 25.5% from 24.9% for the same period last year.
Net earnings were $364.3 million, up 7.6% compared with the same period last year, for a margin of 11.2%. Diluted earnings per share, as a result, were $1.51 compared to $1.36 last year, representing an increase of 11.0%.
Net earnings were $371.2 million, when excluding acquisition-related and integration costs, net of tax. This represents an increase of 9.5% year-over-year and a margin of 11.4%. On the same basis, diluted earnings per share increased by 13.2% to $1.54, up from $1.36 from the same period last year.
Bookings were $3.41 billion, representing a book-to-bill ratio of 104.7%, or 104.9% on a trailing twelve-month basis. As of June 30, 2022, the Company's backlog stood at $23.24 billion or 1.8x annual revenue.
Cash provided by operating activities was $419.2 million, stable on a year-over-year basis. Over the last twelve-months ending June 30, 2022, cash provided by operating activities was $1,903.1 million, or 15.1% of revenue.
During the quarter, the Company invested $113.6 million (at a weighted average price of $101.31) under its current Normal Course Issuer Bid to purchase for cancellation 1,120,800 of its Class A shares and $414.4 million for the recent acquisitions of Umanis SA and Harwell Management.
Return on invested capital for the quarter was 15.8%, an improvement of 200 basis points when compared to the prior year.
As at June 30, 2022, net debt stood at $3.07 billion, up from $2.96 billion at the same time last year. The net debt-to-capitalization ratio stood at 30.6% at the end of June 2022, down 30 basis points when compared to the prior year.
With cash of $0.8 billion on hand at the end of June 2022, and a fully available revolving credit facility, the Company has $2.3 billion in readily available liquidity to pursue its Build and Buy profitable growth strategy.
To access the financial statements – click here (PDF)
To access the Q3-F2022 MD&A – click here (PDF)
Management will host a conference call this morning at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight time to discuss results. Participants may access the call by dialing 1-888-396-8049 or 1-416-764-8646 Conference ID: 07482468 or via cgi.com/investors. For those unable to participate on the live call, a podcast and copy of the slides will be archived for download at cgi.com/investors. Participants may also access a replay of the call by dialing 1-877-674-7070 Passcode: 482468, until August 26, 2022.
Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world. With 88,500 consultants and professionals across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from strategic IT and business consulting to systems integration, managed IT and business process services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network that helps clients digitally transform their organizations and accelerate results. CGI Fiscal 2021 reported revenue is $12.13 billion and CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Learn more at cgi.com.
Non-GAAP financial metrics used in this press release: Constant currency growth, adjusted EBIT, adjusted EBIT margin, net debt, net debt to capitalization ratio, ROIC, net earnings excluding specific items, net earnings margin excluding specific items, and diluted EPS excluding specific items. CGI reports its financial results in accordance with IFRS. However, management believes that these non-GAAP measures provide useful information to investors regarding the company's financial condition and results of operations as they provide additional measures of its performance. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and are therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers and should be considered as supplemental in nature and not as a substitute for the related financial information prepared in accordance with IFRS. Additional details for these non-GAAP measures can be found on pages 3, 4 and 5 of our Q3-F2022 MD&A which is posted on CGI's website, and filed with SEDAR at www.sedar.com and EDGAR at www.sec.gov.
Key performance measures used in this press release: bookings, book-to-bill ratio, backlog, DSO, net earnings margin, and ROE. The composition of these measures can also be found on pages 3, 4 and 5 of our Q3-F2022 MD&A.
This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other applicable United States safe harbours. All such forward-looking information and statements are made and disclosed in reliance upon the safe harbour provisions of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws. Forward-looking information and statements include all information and statements regarding CGI's intentions, plans, expectations, beliefs, objectives, future performance, and strategy, as well as any other information or statements that relate to future events or circumstances and which do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts. Forward-looking information and statements often but not always use words such as "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "anticipate", "foresee", "plan", "predict", "project", "aim", "seek", "strive", "potential", "continue", "target", "may", "might", "could", "should", and similar expressions and variations thereof. These information and statements are based on our perception of historic trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other assumptions, both general and specific, that we believe are appropriate in the circumstances. Such information and statements are, however, by their very nature, subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, of which many are beyond the control of CGI, and which give rise to the possibility that actual results could differ materially from our expectations expressed in, or implied by, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not restricted to: risks related to the market such as the level of business activity of our clients, which is affected by economic and political conditions, additional external risks (such as pandemics, armed conflict and inflation) and our ability to negotiate new contracts; risks related to our industry such as competition and our ability to attract and retain qualified employees, to develop and expand our services, to penetrate new markets, and to protect our intellectual property rights; risks related to our business such as risks associated with our growth strategy, including the integration of new operations, financial and operational risks inherent in worldwide operations, foreign exchange risks, income tax laws and other tax programs, our ability to negotiate favourable contractual terms, to deliver our services and to collect receivables, the reputational and financial risks attendant to cybersecurity breaches and other incidents, and financial risks such as liquidity needs and requirements, maintenance of financial ratios, and changes in creditworthiness and credit ratings; as well as other risks identified or incorporated by reference in this press release, in CGI's annual and quarterly MD&A and in other documents that we make public, including our filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators (on SEDAR at www.sedar.com) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (on EDGAR at www.sec.gov). For a discussion of risks in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, see Pandemic risks in section 8.1.1. of our Q3 2022 quarterly MD&A. Unless otherwise stated, the forward-looking information and statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and CGI disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information or forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. While we believe that our assumptions on which these forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are based were reasonable as at the date of this press release, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking information or statements. Furthermore, readers are reminded that forward-looking information and statements are presented for the sole purpose of assisting investors and others in understanding our objectives, strategic priorities and business outlook as well as our anticipated operating environment. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Further information on the risks that could cause our actual results to differ significantly from our current expectations may be found in the section titled Risk Environment of CGI's annual and quarterly MD&A, which is incorporated by reference in this cautionary statement. We also caution readers that the above-mentioned risks and the risks disclosed in CGI's annual and quarterly MD&A and other documents and filings are not the only ones that could affect us. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial could also have a material adverse effect on our financial position, financial performance, cash flows, business or reputation.
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SOURCE CGI Inc. | 2022-07-27T11:56:41+00:00 | wafb.com | https://www.wafb.com/prnewswire/2022/07/27/cgi-reports-strong-third-quarter-fiscal-2022-results/ |
HONG KONG and LOS ANGELES, Aug. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Newchic, an online fashion platform composed of brands that celebrate diversity, inclusion, and creativity, today announced that it will extend the deadline of its 2022 #ArtYourPossibility Contest by nine calendar days to August 19, 2022 (PST). The original deadline was August 10, 2022 (PST).
Newchic postponed the deadline to ensure that no contestant loses their chance to compete in the contest for circumstances beyond their control. Contestants must submit portfolios that consist of six original illustrations that relate to one (or two) of the four contest themes as well as a description of the story and creative process behind the designs. (Contestants are allowed to submit work for up to two themes maximum.)
"At Newchic, one of our principal goals is to equip emerging designers with the resources to express their unique creativity," said Mr. Zou, President of Newchic. "We are excited to showcase this talent on a global scale."
The 2022 #ArtYourPossibility Contest seeks to uplift rising fashion creatives around the world by giving them a platform to tell their unique stories and advocate for the causes they care about. The contest is centered around four themes that are based on the four CSR-conscious fashion brands acting as co-hosts for the competition: Selfsow, Koyye, Mensclo, and Charmkpr.
Each of these four brands focuses on a specific social mission in addition to supporting Newchic's broader goal of promoting uniqueness, expression, and multi-creativity. Selfsow celebrates women's awareness and appreciation of their own beauty — and their power to define their beauty through self-expression. Koyye creates designs that reflect the dauntlessness of young street-culture enthusiasts who are constantly pushing the boundaries of color and creativity to make a difference in the world. Mensclo emphasizes a "less is more" approach to design, utilizing timeless, minimal styles that can adapt to any wardrobe. Finally, Charmkpr draws on the influence of global heritages and histories on men's fashion, highlighting the beauty of our united planet.
Newchic has also adjusted other key contest dates to reflect the new deadline. After submissions close on August 19, 2022 (PST), the public will have the chance to vote for their favorite submissions. Newchic will select the top eight finalists based on this vote and coordinate 1:1 interviews with the designers, which will take place over Zoom the weekend of August 20, 2022 (PST). Then, on the weekend of August 27, 2022 (PST), Newchic will host an Instagram Live where judges will review the finalists' designs in real-time and announce the top four winners based on a scoring system. The top four winners will each receive a cash prize of 1,500 USD.
There's still till to join the contest. Register to learn more about participation and full contest details using the following link: www.newchic.com/designers2022
About Newchic
Newchic is an online fashion platform composed of brands that celebrate diversity, inclusion, and creativity. Founded in 2014, Newchic has achieved rapid development on a global scale, ranking among the top online shopping websites. Newchic offers a wide range of clothing, shoes, bags, and accessories to help conscious customers pursue their styles. Newchic has won recognition and trust from customers in Europe, America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
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SOURCE Newchic Company Limited | 2022-08-06T14:37:59+00:00 | ksla.com | https://www.ksla.com/prnewswire/2022/08/06/newchic-global-online-fashion-platform-extends-deadline-2022-fashion-contest/ |
LEWISTON, Maine, Aug. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Farmers' Almanac is proving once more that a 206-year-old publication is relevant, informative, entertaining, and popular. The 2023 edition is here and within this compact 8" x 5" package, you will not only find a cold winter outlook, but also an eclectic mix of calendars, charts, tips, and articles that offer valuable answers to life's secrets for happier, healthier, and more harmonious times.
More than a Magazine
"The Farmers' Almanac is a book, a calendar, a reference source, and a guide to great living," shares editor Pete Geiger, Philom., adding "it's a time capsule of important how-to's as well as when to do things." What kind of things? How about brew beer, can tomatoes, go fishing, plant a garden, get married, take a vacation, and watch a meteor shower.
But that's not all. Some of the most popular features in the Farmers' Almanac are life hacks that help you save money and time. (Did you know you could use bubble wrap to keep the cold air out of your home? Or freeze eggs for future use?) It also offers a unique blend of humor and inspirational thoughts called "philosofacts."
Originally named after the people of its time – farmers – the Farmers' Almanac is sometimes mistaken for a farm-only read. But if you pick up this 206th edition, you will see that it contains articles and advice for people with backyard balconies as well as folks with backyard chickens. "An entire year's worth of weather predictions is what make the Farmers' Almanac so famous," states Sandi Duncan, Philom., managing editor, "but the content is much more than weather or farm related. We share everything from the best times to view fall foliage to best days potty train your toddler."
The latest edition of the Farmers' Almanac contains articles on ways to help slow the effects of climate change, shares compelling reasons why pigeons should be appreciated, includes tips on ways to eat rather than rake acorns, doles out weather wisdom and lore, and includes newly designed charts and calendars that help readers glean helpful ideas for planning their gardens and year ahead. The 206th edition goes on sale August 15, and can be purchased at grocery and bookstores and online at FarmersAlmanac.com
Media Contacts:
Peter Geiger, Philom., Editor
pgeiger@farmersalmanac.com, 207-755-2246
Sandi Duncan, Philom., Mg. Editor
sduncan@farmersalmanac.com, 207-755-2349
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SOURCE Farmers' Almanac | 2022-08-15T12:10:17+00:00 | waff.com | https://www.waff.com/prnewswire/2022/08/15/lifes-secrets-palm-your-hands/ |
(KTLA) – Last month, the Los Angeles Police Department alerted the community to a viral TikTok challenge that encourages the theft of Kia and Hyundai vehicles.
One in five vehicle thefts this year have been a Kia or Hyundai, police said, and officials believe it is in part due to the lack of an “immobilizer,” an anti-theft device that’s absent from key-started Kias and Hyundais manufactured between 2011 and 2021.
With the immobilizer’s absence, the cars can be stolen with only a USB cable and a screwdriver.
On Wednesday, Orange County attorney Jonathan Michaels filed a class-action lawsuit against Kia America and Hyundai Motor America. The two companies operate independently, but Kia’s parent company is Hyundai.
The lawsuit claims the decision by both companies to rely on older technology led to an increase in thefts and an ensuing loss of value on the resale market.
“It’s just like one of the old-fashioned keys from the 1960s, just an actual key. They’re the only manufacturer that we know of that makes a car that doesn’t have an engine immobilizer,” Michaels said.
Michaels estimated that there are 10 million vehicles that lack an immobilizer, and each vehicle would cost about $500 to fix.
“That’s about a $5 billion recall,” he said.
Kia and Hyundai declined to comment on pending litigation, though they said they’re working with police on the issue.
The trend of Kia and Hyundai car thefts has been felt around the country.
Earlier this year, Alissa Smart of Indiana told Nexstar’s WXIN she believes the TikTok challenge is to blame for an attempted theft of her Kia.
In Norfolk, Virginia, police have observed a 35% increase in Kia and Hyundai thefts in the first half of July alone, WAVY reported. And police in other municipalities, like Beloit, Wisconsin, and Kentwood, Michigan, are urging Kia and Hyundai owners to take extra precautions.
Thieves have been exploiting the immobilizer flaw, and some are posting their illegal antics online, Sgt. Eric Brunner of the Kent County Sheriff’s Department in Michigan told Nexstar’s WOOD. Rick Ricart, of Ricart Automotive in Ohio, told WCMH that no less than 30 Kia and Hyundai cars had been towed to his shop for service during one week in June, all with damage to the steering columns.
Smart, the break-in victim in Indiana, also told WXIN she doesn’t think TikTok should allow the type of content that may possibly result in further break-ins.
“This trend absolutely makes me feel disgusted,” she said. “It’s really beyond me that people think it’s OK to post criminal acts, let alone participate in them after seeing them online.” | 2022-09-22T20:31:33+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/news/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-kia-hyundai-over-viral-thefts/ |
For nearly four decades, Jean-Luc Picard of “Star Trek” has largely been presented as genteel, erudite and — at times — quite buttoned up. Yes, he loses his temper. Yes, he was reckless as a callow cadet many years ago. Yes, he occasionally gets his hands dirty or falls apart.
But the Enterprise captain-turned-admiral stepped into a different place in last week’s episode of the streaming drama “Star Trek: Picard.” Now, he’s someone who — to the shock of some and the delight of others — has uttered a profanity that never would have come from his mouth in the 1990s: “Ten f—-ing grueling hours,” Patrick Stewart’s character says at one point during an intense conversation in which he expects everyone will die shortly.
The whole thing was in keeping with the more complex, nuanced aesthetic of this decade’s “Star Trek” installments. And the online conversation that ensued illustrates the journey undertaken when a fictional character voyages from the strictures of network and syndicated television to high-end streaming TV.
“’Star Trek’ was G-rated when it first came out. ‘The Next Generation’ was clean-cut and optimistic. What we’re seeing now with ‘Picard’ is a little bit more of the grit,” says Shilpa Davé, a media studies scholar at the University of Virginia and a longtime “Trek” fan.
Over the weekend, “Star Trek” Twitter reflected that tension.
“Totally out of character,” said one post, reflecting many others. Some complained that it cheapened the utopia that Gene Roddenberry envisioned, that humans wouldn’t be swearing like that four centuries from now, that someone as polished as Picard wouldn’t need such language.
“Part of Star Trek’s appeal is the articulate way characters speak. Resorting to gutter language feels like a step backward since Star Trek’s characters are meant to be better than this,” John Orquiola wrote for the website Screen Rant on Sunday.
The backlash to the backlash followed. Christopher Monfette, the Paramount+ show’s co-executive producer, wrote an extensive and persuasive thread about the moment and why he believed it worked.
“It’s easy to hear that elevated British tone escaping the mouth of a gentlemanly Shakespearean actor and assume some elevated intellectualism,” he said, while acknowledging: “Criticism of its use is fair even if it just strikes a personal nerve — or if you’ve equated ‘Trek’ with more broader, family-friendly storytelling. But regardless, cursing in the show is carefully debated & discussed in the room or on set. We don’t take it lightly.”
The showrunner for “ Star Trek: Picard ” this season, Terry Matalas, said the F-word from Picard wasn’t scripted but was a choice by Stewart in the moment. The result, Matalas said, was “so real.”
“Everything you do as artists, as writers and actors, even as editors, is authenticity. That’s the thing you want to feel,” he told Collider. “I was really torn because hearing that word come from your childhood hero, Captain Picard, it throws you. But wow, is it powerful.”
“Star Trek” has a long history of pushing boundaries, linguistic and otherwise.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Capt. James T. Kirk said on network TV in 1967, when that word was edgy. He’d just lost someone dear to him in the most trying of circumstances. Dr. McCoy, the ship’s irascible physician, would often say, “Dammit, Jim.” And in the larger realm, the original series delicately danced with NBC censors over everything from women’s costumes to racial, sexual and war references.
But the crossing of last week’s linguistic frontier is an interesting case. It highlights the turbulence generated when a beloved character born during the “family-friendly” TV era evolves against the streaming landscape, where constraints are fewer and opportunities for unflinching authenticity greater.
“This isn’t just a rethinking of a fictional world. This is the same actor and the same character in the same setting that we had before. And all these years, he has been speaking and behaving in a certain way,” says Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.
Sometimes this transition unfolds erratically. Velma, a member of the Gen-X-era Saturday morning cartoon “Scooby Doo,” recently appeared in a more multicultural cartoon reboot on HBO Max that featured a high-school shower scene and overt sexual references. It has been roundly panned. Several years ago, when “Riverdale” premiered, the attempts to push Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica from the sunny world of comics into the darker realm of teen drama produced uneven, sometimes jarring results.
“Star Trek” is in a whole different universe, so to speak.
Roddenberry famously framed it as a utopian future where the main characters generally avoided conflict with each other, their society wasn’t motivated by greed and humanity was seen as inexorably moving forward. Purists have criticized the recent years of what they call “new Trek” as a darker, more fragmented universe.
Nonsense, say many others: Both allegory and word usage evolve with the times. After all, it was only seven decades ago that Lucille Ball (and her character) was expecting a baby on “I Love Lucy” and the word “pregnant” couldn’t be uttered on national television — except, oddly, in French.
And for years before and after that, Hollywood’s production code prescribed the ways morality and amorality could be depicted in film, with strict regulation of everything from sexual innuendo to whether criminals were portrayed sympathetically to whether the good guys won. Hence the term “Hollywood ending,” which remains with us today in many parts of life.
All of which raises the question: Could it also be the boundaries themselves that help create memorable film and television, rather than merely the breaking of them?
“Star Trek had a certain kind of sincerity — almost like ‘the 23rd century will be a family-friendly kind of thing,’” Thompson says. “The question is, what happens when your characters outlive the media industry standards? How do you accommodate the fact that you’re no longer limited without completely betraying the world that you’ve created?”
In this case, Stewart has said he returned to the character because he was persuaded there were new stories to tell. Just as he had aged two decades since his last “Star Trek” appearance, so, too, had Picard — with all the evolution that went along with it.
The kind of evolution, perhaps, that might make a man facing his own end choose a word that still carries a lot of power — even in today’s swearing, streaming world. When Jean-Luc Picard says that word, you can be absolutely sure he means it.
___
Ted Anthony, director of new storytelling and newsroom innovation for The Associated Press, has been writing about American culture since 1990. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/anthonyted | 2023-03-16T19:33:04+00:00 | siouxlandproud.com | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/entertainment-news/star-trek-swear-words-and-tv-characters-changing-mores/ |
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Students from across the Tri-Cities region were able to get a glimpse of several different career industries at an event known as ‘Career Quest.’
The event was held at the ETSU mini-dome, and guests were able to explore possible careers and talk to potential future employers.
Event volunteers say that the goal of the event was to get students in contact with local professionals.
“The sooner that we can get students aware of what job opportunities and careers are available, the better off we’re going to be because they’re going to be better prepared quicker, and it’ll be good for everybody,” said Pete Peterson, former Johnson City city manager and event volunteer.
Friday’s event focused on careers in four areas: construction, healthcare, information technology and manufacturing. | 2022-05-13T21:20:51+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/etsu-hosts-career-quest-at-mini-dome/ |
It typically takes years for a restaurant to stand out in Albuquerque’s crowded Chinese restaurant scene, but Nio Szechuan is different. Open less than a year, the Northeast Heights restaurant has quickly become a favorite of locals for its spicy, warming renditions of Szechuan cuisine.
I first heard of Nio through social media, but what cemented my decision to visit was a recommendation from a friend who grew up in China said Nio had the best Chinese food in the city.
Nio opened in February in a strip mall on the south side of Montgomery near Louisiana NE anchored by the discount clothing store T.J. Maxx.
The dining room, brightened by halo-like light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, is clean and uncluttered. There’s a Buddha statuette near the register with dollar bills taped to it, an act that is said to bring good fortune. With the lunch rush over, some of the restaurant staff held animated conversations in Chinese in a small dining room off of the main dining space.
Like so many Chinese restaurants in the United States, Nio’s food is based on the cuisine of Sichuan, a province of south-central Chinese known for its numbing spices. Most of the menu is organized by different proteins. Prices are competitive with other Chinese restaurants. The Ma Po Tofu ($11.95), for instance, is the same price as Fan Tang’s version. The Orange Chicken ($13.95) is just slightly more expensive than the one at Chinshan. In addition, there is a selection of Chef’s Specials that run from $11.95 for Stir-fried Cabbage all the way up to $25.95 for half a roast duck. Alongside the Kung Pao Chicken and Mongolian Beef are a few less commonly seen items like a Szechuan dish of Stir-fried Potato Shreds ($11.95).
Spicy Fried Chicken ($16.95) is one of Nio’s most popular dishes, and it’s easy to see why. The popcorn-sized pieces of chicken wore a crispy cornstarch-based coating flecked with pepper flakes. It gave off a noticeable but tolerable burn that hung around for a few minutes after eating. The marvelous savory coating reminded of the famous salt and pepper crab at R&G Lounge in San Francisco’s Chinatown. It was enough for at least a couple of meals.
Several of the seafood options feature flounder, a flat fish with a flaky white flesh that carries a mild, faintly sweet flavor. You can get a whole flounder steamed or flounder fillets served in broth. The Fish Filet with Pickled Vegetables ($21.95) arrived in a broad, shallow stainless-steel bowl with handles on the side. The bowl kept the well-seasoned broth just a few degrees below scalding. The fish fillets in the broth – easily enough for three people – proved to be a good test for one’s skill with the chopsticks. Bok choy and cabbage leaves insinuated themselves among the thin rice noodles on the bottom of the bowl. It’s a superior dish for a cold afternoon.
One of the familiar sights of big-city Chinatowns is roast ducks hanging in the window of a restaurant, their skin shimmering like freshly lacquered mahogany. Nio doesn’t have any such display in its windows, but it does offer half a Roast Duck ($25.95) chopped up for easy sharing. I got an order to-go. It was thoughtfully presented with the legs laid over the sliced breast. The meat was moist and fatty, its flavor somewhere between dark meat chicken and stewed beef. It comes with hot chili sauce and a couple of cups of housemade sweet and sour duck sauce.
There are numerous vegetarian and gluten-friendly options and the cooks can modify many other dishes for dietary restrictions or food allergies. I picked up a gluten-free Honey-glazed Walnut Shrimp ($16.95) to go. Long thought of as an Americanized Chinese dish, it actually comes from Hong Kong, where it was served to celebrate special occasions. Nio’s version contained a generous serving of plump shrimp in a sweet sauce of honey and mayonnaise topped with candied walnuts. It was served over broccoli with a side of rice. Sweet, briny, crunchy and creamy, it had a little bit of everything. This is a dish best eaten at the restaurant, however, as the shrimp loses all crispiness by taking it home and reheating it.
Besides soda, there is a selection of drinks like Thai tea, boba tea, slushies and smoothies. The only dessert option is mochi ice cream in assorted flavors.
Service was friendly and prompt. The food came out of the kitchen piping hot in 10 to 15 minutes.
In less than a year, Nio Szechuan has ascended into the upper ranks of Albuquerque’s Chinese food scene. Eating there, it’s easy to understand why. | 2022-11-23T06:36:53+00:00 | abqjournal.com | https://www.abqjournal.com/2552187/in-less-than-a-year-nio-szechuan-has-ascended-into-the-upper-ranks-of.html |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior defense official: US collected intelligence on Chinese balloon as it flew over the the US this week.
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The U.S. Supreme Court will not block Sen. Lindsey Graham from testifying to a special grand jury that is investigating Donald Trump's actions following the 2020 election.
An application for an injunction was denied on Tuesday.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has sought Graham's testimony for months. She reportedly wants to ask Graham about a phone call he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in the weeks after the election.
Raffensperger said Graham asked whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, something Raffensperger took as a suggestion to toss out legally cast votes. Graham has dismissed that interpretation as “ridiculous.”
Graham claimed his actions were protected because he was working as a U.S. Senator.
However, the Supreme Court's order says lower courts acknowledged Graham's work as a senator and "made clear that Senator Graham may return to the District Court should disputes arise regarding the application of the Speech or Debate Clause immunity to specific questions."
Graham has not publicly commented on the Supreme Court's decision.
Trump lost Georgia to Biden by less than 1%. He previously carried the state in 2016 when he beat Hillary Clinton. | 2022-11-01T20:22:28+00:00 | kivitv.com | https://www.kivitv.com/news/national/supreme-court-denies-grahams-request-to-avoid-testifying-in-ga-election-probe |
This stunning, well cared for ranch home features all the high-end details you've been searching for! Entering through the front door you'll instantly be drawn to the great room, which features a stone accent wall fireplace and mantle. The floorplan then flows seamlessly into the kitchen and dining room. The kitchen is designed to impress with crisp white cabinetry, quartz countertops, a custom tile backsplash, and a spacious center island! Off the kitchen you will pass through the swinging door into the laundry room which leads to the 3-stall attached garage. The main floor is topped off with 2 bedrooms, a full bathroom, and an owner's suite. The lower level of the home features 2 additional bedrooms, a full bath, and an extra-large family room. Don't forget to check out the deck and patio where you can relax and enjoy the serenity of the backyard. Contact your favorite Realtor today for your private showing!
5 Bedroom Home in Cedar Falls - $499,500
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Police and paramedics were called to the 300 block of Manson Street early Sunday, where they found a female gunfire victim in a car who was later pronounced dead.
Jorden Wallican, an IB Diploma student, was motivated to be a high-achieving student so she could attend a top-ranked out-of-state university.
The 26-year-old woman was a passenger in a Dodge that was fired upon at Sumner and Manson streets during the early morning hours Sunday.
According to the Iowa State Patrol, Michael McGee struck the girl, who was in a crosswalk at an intersection. An accident report said McGee, who was off duty, left the scene and was charged after he and his pickup were identified.
The men are facing charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief in the late-night April incident.
The crime, which involved a scheme to steal guns and get them onto the street, has left members of the family that lives in the home fearful and on edge.
WATERLOO — One person was injured in an overnight shooting in Waterloo on Thursday.
Employees determined a cash drawer containing money was missing, and a donation box had been broken open and emptied May 15 at Newton’s Paradise Café.
Bartenders will make bright, alcoholic and non-alcoholic slushies and snow cones in front of customers for the first time from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday at 2211 College St.
She will compete in Thursday's finals of the LongHorn Steakhouse's annual competition, where grill masters from across the country put their skills to the test. | 2022-05-28T08:08:10+00:00 | wcfcourier.com | https://wcfcourier.com/5-bedroom-home-in-cedar-falls---499-500/article_d233ff2c-0f85-57da-ae0d-d1f19ab774cd.html |
How do I dispose of a TV, old appliances, cell phones and computers in Milwaukee?
Whether you're moving, upgrading or just want to get rid of that pile of old electronics gathering dust in your home, it takes an extra step to dispose of electronics.
For those in the Milwaukee area looking to dispose of their electronics, whether that's laptops or TVs, here's what you need to know.
Can I just recycle electronics in my recycling bin in Milwaukee?
No. Recycling and e-recycling are different things. Most electronics are banned from being collected by your municipal recycling programs, landfills and incinerators. This is because most electronics have hazardous materials like ead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, other heavy metals and chemical flame retardants that can pollute and harm groundwater, air, soil and people, according to the DNR. (For a list of banned items, see here and here)
What electronics can you recycle?
Every e-recycler site is different so be sure to check with a e-recycler ahead of time to see what they do and do not collect.
The DNR states these electronics, and similar ones, should be e-recycled in Wisconsin:
- TVs
- Computers (desktop, laptop, netbook and tablet computers)
- Printers (including those that scan, fax and/or copy and 3-D printers)
- Monitors
- Other computer accessories (including keyboards, mice, speakers, external hard drives and flash drives)
- E-readers
- Stereo equipment and mp3 players
- Digital cameras and other hand-held devices
- DVD players, VCRs and other video players (i.e., DVRs)
- Fax machines
- Cell phones
- Major appliances (air conditioners, clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers, stoves, ovens, dehumidifiers, furnaces, boilers, water heaters and microwave ovens)
Does it cost anything to recycle electronics?
Some places charge fees to recycle electronics depending on type and/or for things like pick-up services. It's best to contact a site ahead of time to see whether there is a fee included.
Where are e-recycling facilities in Milwaukee County?
There are e-recycling sites throughout the county, both private companies and public entities. Here are some the DNR lists:
Important note: Every place is different in what hours they operate and what they collect and/or accept. Please contact the business or municipality ahead of time to ensure they accept the electronics you are attempting to recycle.
Municipal sites:
- City of Milwaukee North Drop Off Center, 6660 N. Industrial Rd, Milwaukee
- City of Milwaukee South Drop Off Center, 3879 W. Lincoln Ave, Milwaukee
- City of Wauwatosa drop-off site, 11100 W. Walnut Rd, Wauwatosa
- City of Glendale drop-off site, 5930 N. Glen Park Rd, Glendale
- City of Greenfield, 4551 S. 52nd St, Greenfield
- City of Oak Creek Recycling Center, 720 W. Puetz Rd, Oak Creek
- City of West Allis Department of Public Works, 6300 W. McGeoch Ave, West Allis
- City of South Milwaukee, 1106 Blake Avenue, South Milwaukee
Non-municipal e-recyclers:
- Wisconsin Specialty Recycling LLC, 7301 W. Calumet Rd, Milwaukee
- Milwaukee PC (Three locations in Milwaukee and one in Greenfield)
- Refrigerant Depot, LLC, 5311 S. 9th St, Milwaukee
- Milwaukee PC - Mequon, 10914 N. Port Washington Rd, Mequon
- Greendale Refuse and Recycling Center, 6351 Industrial Loop, Greendale
- Goodwill (Locations Brown Deer, Cudahy, Franklin, Oak Creek, Wauwatosa, West Allis, West Milwaukee and five locations in Milwaukee)
- Salvation Army (Locations in Cudahy, Franklin, Milwaukee and West Allis)
- Best Buy (Locations in Greenfield, Fox Point and Wauwatosa)
For a complete list of DNR registered recyclers and collectors in the state and also mail-back and mail-to options, see the DNR list here.
What are the benefits of e-cycling?
An Environmental Protection Agency study showed that of the estimated 3.09 million tons of TVs, video equipment, cell phones and computer equipment in 2015, only about 40% (by weight) were collected for recycling. While almost all electronics contain reusable materials like plastics, metals and glass, they also can contain harmful materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, other heavy metals and chemical flame retardants.
If improperly disposed, these chemicals can pollute the soil, water and air and also harm human health. That's why it's best to e-recycle to places that will properly recycle and dispose of electronics.
What should I do before I recycle electronics?
For any devices, be sure to backup, download and save any important data or files contained on that equipment. Also, be sure to remove and protect all personal and sensitive information from those devices.
Where can I recycle electronics in Wisconsin?
There are facilities all over the state that recycle electronics. To find those listed by the DNR. see here.
Drew Dawson can be reached at ddawson@jrn.com or 262-289-1324. | 2023-06-14T16:49:23+00:00 | jsonline.com | https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2023/06/14/how-to-recycle-electronics-tvs-in-milwaukee-wisconsin/70306777007/ |
Request unsuccessful. Incapsula incident ID: 8223000590179028522-411213067244736203 | 2023-03-31T05:27:20+00:00 | bizjournals.com | https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2023/03/30/life-sciences-south-san-francisco.html |
BRUSSELS (AP) — Across the world, nations paid respect with moments of silence and solemn ceremonies for their fallen soldiers in World War I and ever since on an Armistice Day pierced by the rumblings of Russia’s war in Ukraine that showed again that peace is all too often elusive.
On the continent that already spawned two world wars in little over a century, casualties since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 are estimated at around 200,000 and gave any of Friday’s reminiscences about the horrors of wars past a poignant ring of the present.
“Since 1918 we have marked Armistice Day and paid tribute to the brave men and women who have served to give us peace. Yet as we salute our troops this year, this peace has been shattered by a Russian aggressor,” U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said. “As we honor the war dead of the past, we also remember Ukraine’s fight for freedom today.”
The thought echoed around the globe, starting in Australia and New Zealand, where dawn came first on the anniversary of the Nov. 11, 1918 truce that brought an end to the First World War.
At the heart of the Flanders Fields in western Belgium, where several of the war’s bloodiest battles were fought and one huge tower was built under the motto “War Never Again,” the tributes had an all too contemporary ring.
“These words sound different this year,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said. “Today, we do not only commemorate Armistice Day, but also the brave fight of the Ukrainians for their freedom and country.”
In Australia, the “Lest we forget” phrase — gold-engraved into the Moruya granite of the Sydney cenotaph — towered atop wreaths and flowers that people brought.
“We must always remember the brave men and women who’ve defended our nation at our time of need, who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
Together with soldiers from New Zealand and other parts of the British Commonwealth like Canada and South Africa, Australians joined the 1914-1918 war in Europe to make it the first truly global conflict.
World War I pitted the armies of France, the British empire, Russia and the U.S. against a German-led coalition that included the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires. Almost 10 million soldiers died, sometimes tens of thousands on a single day.
For decades in Europe, the return of such mass carnage seemed impossible, but the scenes from Ukraine’s cities and countryside made all think again.
Armistice Day, known as Veterans Day in the U.S., was marked from the smallest cemeteries in Flanders Fields in western Belgium to the Champs Elysees in Paris and countless streets and offices beyond.
City workers at Lloyd’s of London stood, almost with military rigor across six floors of their headquarters, to mark the day.
In Paris, French president Emmanuel Macron laid a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe. Later, Macron will attend the annual Paris Peace Forum, leading a debate on how Russia’s war in Ukraine is testing the ideas of universalism and multilateralism that flourished after the world wars of the last century. | 2022-11-11T19:28:47+00:00 | wivb.com | https://www.wivb.com/news/world/ap-world-marks-armistice-day-as-russias-war-in-ukraine-rages/ |
POISSY, France (AP) — From the market stall outside Paris that she’s run for 40 years, Yvette Robert can see first-hand how soaring prices are weighing on France’s presidential election and turning the first round of voting on Sunday into a nail-biter for incumbent President Emmanuel Macron.
Shoppers, increasingly worried about how to make ends meet, are buying ever-smaller quantities of Robert’s neatly stacked fruits and vegetables, she says. And some of her clients no longer come at all to the market for its baguettes, cheeses and other tasty offerings. Robert suspects that with fuel prices so high, some can no longer afford to take their vehicles to shop.
“People are scared — with everything that’s going up, with prices for fuel going up,” she said Friday as campaigning concluded for act one of the two-part French election drama, held against the backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Macron, a political centrist, for months looked like a shoo-in to become France’s first president in 20 years to win a second term. But that scenario blurred in the campaign’s closing stages. The pain of inflation and of pump, food and energy prices that are hitting low-income households particularly hard subsequently roared back as dominant election themes. They could drive many voters Sunday into the arms of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, Macron’s political nemesis.
Macron, now 44, trounced Le Pen by a landslide to become France’s youngest president in 2017. The win for the former banker who, unlike Le Pen, is a fervent proponent of European collaboration was seen as a victory against populist, nationalist politics, coming in the wake of Donald Trump’s election to the White House and Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, both in 2016.
In courting voters, Macron has economic successes to point to: The French economy is rebounding faster than expected from the battering of COVID-19, with a 2021 growth rate of 7%, the highest since 1969. Unemployment is down to levels not seen since the 2008 financial crisis. When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, sparking Europe’s worst security crisis since World War II, Macron also got a polling bump, with people rallying around the wartime leader.
But the 53-year-old Le Pen is a now a more polished, formidable and savvy political foe as she makes her third attempt to become France’s first woman president. And she has campaigned particularly hard and for months on cost of living concerns, capitalizing on the issue that pollsters say is foremost on voters’ minds.
Le Pen also pulled off two remarkable feats. Despite her plans to sharply curtail immigration and dial back some rights for Muslims in France, she nevertheless appears to have convinced growing numbers of voters that she is no longer the dangerous, racist nationalist extremist that critics, including Macron, accuse her of being.
She’s done that partly by diluting some of her rhetoric and fieriness. She also had outside help: A presidential run by Eric Zemmour, an even more extreme far-right rabble-rouserwith repeated convictions for hate speech, has had the knock-on benefit for Le Pen of making her look almost mainstream by comparison.
Secondly, and also stunning: Le Pen has adroitly sidestepped any significant blowback for her previous perceived closeness with Russian President Vladimir Putin. She went to the Kremlin to meet himduring her last presidential campaign in 2017. But in the wake of the war in Ukraine, that potential embarrassment doesn’t appear to have turned Le Pen’s supporters against her. She has called the invasion “absolutely indefensible” and said Putin’s behavior cannot be excused “in any way.”
At her market stall, Robert says she plans to vote Macron, partly because of the billions of euros (dollars) that his government doled out at the the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to keep people, businesses and France’s economy afloat. When food markets closed, Robert got 1,500 euros ($1,600) a month to tide her over.
“He didn’t leave anyone by the side of the road,” she says of Macron.
But she thinks that this time, Le Pen is in with a chance, too.
“She has changed the way she speaks,” Robert said. “She has learned to moderate herself.”
Barring a monumental surprise, both Macron and Le Pen are expected to advance again from the first-round field of 12 candidates, to set up a winner-takes-all rematch in the second-round vote on April 24. Polls suggest that far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is likely to finish out of the running in third place. Some of France’s overseas territories in the Pacific, the Caribbean and South America vote Saturday, before Sunday voting on the French mainland.
When Macron made a campaign stop in Poissy, the town west of Paris where Robert has her stall, in early March, pollsters had him leading Le Pen by double digits. Although a Le Pen victory still appears improbable, much of Macron’s advantage has subsequently evaporated. Kept busy by the war in Ukraine, Macron may be paying a price for his somewhat subdued campaign, which made him look aloof to some voters.
Market-goer Marie-Helene Hirel, a 64-year-old retired tax collector, voted Macron in 2017 but said she’s too angry with him to do so again. Struggling on her pension with rising prices, Hirel said she is thinking of switching her vote to Le Pen, who has promised fuel and energy tax cuts that Macron says would be ruinous.
Although Le Pen’s “relations with Putin worry me,” Hirel said that voting for her would be a way of protesting against Macron and what she perceives as his failure to better protect people from the sting of inflation.
“Now I’m also part of the ‘all against Macron camp,” she said. “He is making fools of us all.” | 2022-04-09T18:47:08+00:00 | texomashomepage.com | https://www.texomashomepage.com/news/international/in-france-a-nail-biting-election-as-macrons-rival-surges/ |
Gospel singer Jimmy Levy confessed he didn't realize how real the "spiritual war" in the entertainment industry was until he was in the thick of it.
After he had his big break on "American Idol" in 2020, the singer said he went down a dark path before turning his life to Christ.
"When I was in the industry, I became very lonely, depressed, and I realized how dark it is," Levy told Fox News Digital. He said he witnessed other musicians engaging in "witchcraft," which influenced him to start dabbling in the occult.
At first the singer said he didn't believe in Satan and was just participating to fit in with his peers.
"I would I put a stupid tattoo on my hand of the devil," Levy said, showing the image on his hand. "I started hanging out around people that would proclaim themselves as worshipers of the devil. And I just — I didn't understand what I was getting myself into," he admitted.
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But Levy said he soon started seeing negative ramifications from these choices. He now believes God was showing him "how real the spiritual war was and how real the devil in the industry was."
"That's when I started getting tormented at night by demons. There were times because I was smoking — I was doing a lot of things that were affecting my voice. And I couldn't even sing at some point. I started really getting attacked constantly, constantly. And I realized that Satan was real," he said.
At his lowest point he reached out to his friend Nick, who he said leads a popular online Christian ministry.
"He would always call me in the beginning and then through my career, all the times he saw me post some dark images or Satanist-looking things and he'd be like, ‘Jimmy, I want to tell you about Jesus.’ And I'd be like, 'I don't want to hear this. I'm Jewish. Goodbye,'" Levy said with a chuckle.
SINGER M.I.A. SAYS SHE FACED ‘BIGGEST BACKLASH’ TO CAREER AFTER SAYING ‘JESUS IS REAL’
Eventually his friend's persistence paid off. Levy revealed he turned his life to Christ, started reading the Bible and got baptized on July 4, 2021.
The singer said he started questioning his political beliefs afterward, as well. He explained how he wrote an anti-gun control song for the Parkland shooting victims in the past and expressed sympathy for Black Lives Matter. After his faith conversion, he started to feel like he had been misled on these issues.
"I was just an artist, so – now I see from my perspective how all of these artists in the industry – they know not what they do, you know, and God forgives them for that. But like there's some point where God gives you the eyes to see and you have a chance to turn from the past of the agendas that you're promoting… if you're given the eyes to see it, you have to deny that money. You have to deny that world. You have to deny the fame, everything, and just do what's right for God, for freedom, for America," he said.
Levy spent the past few years writing anthems like "This is War" and "Welcome to the Revolution" used in anti-mandate rallies during the COVID-19 pandemic before performing on an anti-Target song and an anti-Pride song this summer that rose to the top of the iTunes and Billboard charts.
While he thinks these songs were used to glorify God and influence the culture, he's ready to put his focus back on making worship music. His single "Amen" dropped last week and he is excited to be working on a full worship album now.
"So that was all cool and it inspired people at that time. But now it's time for God," he said. We fought it and you know, at the end God prevailed through it and an awakening happened… But now it's time for the spiritual realm." | 2023-07-13T00:15:27+00:00 | foxbangor.com | https://www.foxbangor.com/news/national/gospel-singer-jimmy-levys-journey-from-the-occult-to-faith-i-realized-that-satan-was/article_7c437d44-5019-594f-aa46-9364fe2139b9.html |
Fusion Education Group Hosts Informative Webinar Series to Help Families Make Post-Secondary Plans
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --College admission to highly selective universities, the benefits of a gap year, and the relevance of standardized tests are all hot topics on deck for Fusion Education Group's (FEG) Spring College Week from April 17 through April 21.
Families are welcome to attend the webinars intended to help students from eighth through twelfth grade successfully plan for their next educational chapter. FEG's Fall Virtual College Week is free and open to all high school families. Students do not need to attend a FEG school to attend.
"At Fusion, our students do best when they feel in control of their educational journey," said Stafford Slick, Director of Post-Secondary Counseling for Fusion Education Group.
"Identifying the right option for students after high school evokes questions, presents obstacles, and can create confusion for both parents and students. College Week reflects our commitment to help all families acquire the knowledge and confidence to best support their high schooler."
Slick said questions about admissions remain front and center for most families, and FEG is pleased to partner this year with the nationally renowned College Essay Guy team. Community Manager Tom Campbell will lead families through the admissions process and focus on highly selective colleges. Campbell previously served as a private school counselor and as the Assistant Dean of Admissions at Pomona College (currently, seven-percent acceptance rate).
Families can find the entire week of events here (all events are EDT in US and Canada).
- Monday, April 17, at 7 p.m. High School Course Planning for College-Bound Students. The academic rigor of a high school student's class load is a reliable predictor of their future college success. Megan Schlafer, Director of Student Development at Fusion Academy Sugar Land, and Annette Moran, Fusion Post-Secondary Counselor of the Southwest Region, will provide the academic framework for college bound students. Register here.
- Tuesday, April 18, 3:30 p.m. The Journey Continues: Fusion Alumni Panel. Listen to a panel of Fusion Academy alumni describe how the one-to-one academic model readies students for the collegiate environment. Register here.
- Tuesday, April 18, 7:00 p.m. Gap Year 101: Featuring Gap Year Solutions. Curious parents and students alike want to know why a gap year option might be their next best decision. Katherine Stievater, of Gap Year Solutions, will discuss how a gap year can be transformational and provide students practical skills, real-world learning, networking, and travel. Catherine Keightley, Fusion Academy Alexandria Head of School, will share her experience collaborating with Gap Year Solutions for her own daughter. Register here.
- Wednesday, April 19, 7:00 p.m. Navigating the College Search for Students Who Learn Differently. Every student learns differently, consequently parents need to ask questions unique to their child. What does college look like for the student whose challenges derive from ADHD, executive function, ASD, or a learning disability? Families will gain the knowledge and tools to effectively assess their student's needs, evaluate colleges, and successfully prepare for the transition. Register here.
- Thursday, April 20 at 7:00 p.m. College Essay Guy Presents: College Admissions Fundamentals and Highly Selective Programs. It is never too early to start planning for admission to a highly selective college, but what does it take? College Essay Guy Community Manager Tom Campbell's presentation will help families understand how to plan, what to focus on, and hopefully ease nerves, too. Register here.
- Friday, April 21, at 12:30 p.m. SAT & ACT 201: All You Need to Know About the Changing College Admissions Testing Landscape. To test or not to test? Which standardized test matters? What will the digital SAT look like? Alex Chip, Founder of Top Score Education, will offer answers to the preceding questions and delve into testing accommodations, and more. Register here.
Summer is the perfect time to partner with a post-secondary counselor at Fusion. Learn more here. In addition to post-secondary counseling, FEG offers more than 250 summer courses for students interested in remediation, courses for credit and executive functioning. Families can take advantage of a limited time 20-percent discount by registering for PSC counseling or enrolling in summer courses here.
Families interested in previously recorded college and post-secondary webinars should visit the resources pages here.
About Fusion Education Group: Fusion Education Group (FEG) is an innovator of personalized education. FEG provides accredited personalized education for more than 10,000 middle and high school students annually at Fusion Academy, with 80 campuses that offer one-to-one instruction; Barnstable Academy, which offers traditional college prep in a small school setting in New Jersey; and Fusion Global Academy, which offers one-to-one personalized education through a completely virtual campus that currently serves students in all 50 states and 35 additional countries.
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SOURCE Fusion Education Group | 2023-04-12T17:08:39+00:00 | wagmtv.com | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2023/04/12/free-virtual-college-week-lineup-includes-speakers-college-essay-guy-gap-year-solutions-top-score-solutions/ |
Expression Systems is a leading supplier of innovative cell culture media, baculovirus molecular reagents and cell lines used in advanced biological-based therapeutics
BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. and DAVIS, Calif., Nov. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ANGUS Chemical Company ("ANGUS" or "Company"), a leading global manufacturer and marketer of specialty ingredients for Life Sciences and Industrial markets, today announced it has acquired Expression Systems, LLC ("Expression Systems"), a leading global manufacturer of cell culture media and related products and services. ANGUS is a portfolio company of Ardian and Golden Gate Capital.
Founded in 1997, Expression Systems is dedicated to supplying and servicing the baculovirus expression platform with innovative cell culture media formulations, as well as cell lines, molecular tools, reagents and contract services. Expression Systems operates from a central headquarters in Davis, California, and is cGMP-compliant and ISO 13485 certified for its manufacturing and research activities.
"The acquisition of Expression Systems is an important step in expanding ANGUS' leadership position in Life Sciences beyond bio buffers into specialty cell culture media, a strategic adjacency with high customer overlap and complementary product and service offerings," said ANGUS President and Chief Executive Officer David Neuberger. "The combination of ANGUS and Expression Systems further strengthens our ability to deliver value through the consistent, high-quality ingredients and services essential to all phases of bioprocessing, from early-stage biologics development to full-scale commercial production."
Expression Systems is a well-recognized independent provider of specialized cell culture media and related products with a robust track record of product quality and innovation based on proprietary technology. The company specializes in baculovirus expression vector system (BEVS) and has deep expertise across the process from gene optimization to protein purification. Expression Systems' products are utilized primarily by structural biology researchers and biologics manufacturers to produce certain drug candidates, protein-based therapies, vaccines and gene therapies efficiently and cost-effectively.
"For more than 20 years, our family and dedicated employees have built a strong reputation with its customers by leveraging our world-renowned technical expertise in media manufacturing and the baculovirus expression platform," said Expression Systems President and Chief Executive Officer David Hedin. "When we looked ahead to the future for our company, it was clear that ANGUS was in the best position to provide new opportunities to our current and new customers, as well as our employees. ANGUS will enhance our position as a dedicated, world-leading vendor focused on servicing the biologics industry segments employing the baculovirus expression platform."
Achelous Partners, LLC served as exclusive M&A advisor to Expression Systems, LLC on this transaction.
ANGUS is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of specialty ingredients and consumables for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, consumer and industrial applications. The Company innovates through its unique nitroalkane chemistries, including its flagship AMP™ (aminomethyl propanol) multifunctional additives and TRIS AMINO™ (tromethamine) buffers, which are produced at fully integrated, ISO 9001-certified manufacturing facilities in the United States and Germany. ANGUS serves its global customers through six regional Customer Application Centers located in Chicago, Illinois; Paris, France; São Paulo, Brazil; Singapore; Shanghai, China; and Mumbai, India. The Company is privately owned by Ardian and Golden Gate Capital, and is headquartered in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. For more information, visit angus.com.
Follow ANGUS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
ANGUS Media Relations
Scott C. Johnson
+1 847-808-3769
scjohnson@angus.com
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SOURCE ANGUS Chemical Company | 2022-11-09T20:55:03+00:00 | kmvt.com | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2022/11/09/angus-acquires-expression-systems-llc/ |
A new episode of “Ex on the Beach: Couples” will air on MTV Thursday, April 13 at 9 p.m. ET.
The show can also be streamed live on Philo, FuboTV, DirecTV Stream and Sling. Philo, FuboTV and DirecTV all offer free trials. Sling offers 50% off of your first month.
According to Variety, “Ex on the Beach: Couples” follows six couples ready to get engaged, with one major issue standing in their way: an ex. Relationship expert and “Are You the One?” host Kamie Crawford, hosts the spinoff.
See below for a sneak peek of the new episode.
How can I watch if I don’t have cable TV?
Streaming platforms are always available if you don’t have access to cable, like Philo, DirecTV and FuboTV. Both streaming services offer a free trial for users who are interested in signing up.
What is Philo?
Philo is an over-the-top internet live TV streaming service that offers 60+ entertainment and lifestyle channels, like AMC, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and more, for the budget-friendly price of $25/month.
What is DirecTV?
The streaming platform offers a plethora of content including streaming the best of live and On Demand, starting with more than 75 live TV channels. DirecTV also offers a free trial for any package you sign up.
What is FuboTV?
FuboTV is an over-the-top internet live TV streaming service that offers more than 100 channels, such as sports, news, entertainment and local channels. | 2023-04-13T23:39:36+00:00 | masslive.com | https://www.masslive.com/shopping-deals/2023/04/how-to-watch-the-new-episode-of-ex-on-the-beach-couples-stream-for-free.html |
LONDON, July 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
- Geranium in Copenhagen is named The World's Best Restaurant 2022, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna
- Announced this evening at an awards ceremony in London, the 2022 list includes restaurants from 24 territories in five continents worldwide and introduces 12 restaurants making their debut, along with two returning as re-entries
- South America and Asia are recognised as culinary powerhouses, with eight and seven restaurants on the list respectively
- René Frank of Coda, Berlin, receives The World's Best Pastry Chef Award, sponsored by Sosa
- The Beronia World's Best Sommelier Award is presented to Josep Roca, sommelier of El Celler de Can Roca, in a new award for 2022
- Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa Maria wins the Flor de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award
- Uliassi (No.12) in Senigallia takes homes the Highest New Entry Award, sponsored by Aspire Lifestyles
- Nobelhart & Schmutzig (No.17) is awarded the Villa Massa Highest Climber Award, as the Berlin restaurant climbs 28 places from the 2021 list
- Atomix (No.33) in New York wins the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award
- Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award goes to Jorge Vallejo of Quintonil in Mexico City
The crème de la crème of the world's restaurant community gathered in London this evening to celebrate The World's 50 Best Restaurants awards 2022, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna. The awards ceremony, hosted by internationally renowned actor and gourmet Stanley Tucci, honoured gastronomic excellence from 24 territories across five continents before naming Copenhagen's Geranium as The World's Best Restaurant 2022 and The Best Restaurant in Europe 2022.
For the full 1-50 list, please see the website here.
Taking over the No.1 position from Noma – which has been elevated to the Best of the Best hall of fame – Geranium, led by chef Rasmus Kofoed and sommelier Søren Ledet, was voted the No.2 restaurant in The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2021 list. Geranium's mission is to create food that awakens the senses, and Chef Kofoed's meticulous cooking and incredible vision, including his recent decision to go meatless, have won accolades and fans worldwide. Geranium is joined in the top three by Central (No.2) in Lima and Disfrutar (No.3) in Barcelona.
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SOURCE 50 Best | 2022-07-18T23:52:43+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2022/07/18/geranium-copenhagen-is-named-no1-list-worlds-50-best-restaurants-is-revealed-2022/ |
Guest column: If you can land an entry-level tech job, consider yourself lucky
The job market for tech jobs is competitive now, especially at the entry-level. My journey of searching for an entry-level software development role began last August. I had just graduated with my bachelor's degree in Information Technology. It took about six weeks of searching and over 100 applications to finally land a job offer from the handful of interviews I had. It was a stressful time, and there was a lot of uncertainty during the process, but I still consider myself lucky that I was able to find a job quickly.
I keep up with the software job market on internet forums where many users discuss their struggle to find a job even after applying for hundreds of tech roles. There are several factors I've observed that I think contribute to the elevated level of competition, yet shortage, in the Oklahoma tech industry.
- The lack of experienced software developers to fill senior roles at companies. Fresh graduates from four-year programs are only at an entry-level. It can take years for a junior developer to gain the experience and mentoring needed to enhance their skills to become a senior developer. Some companies are not willing to hire at an entry-level because it takes more resources to train a junior than hire a mid-level or senior developer, especially in an economy where money is tight. This can create a bottleneck in the number of experienced developers since entry-level roles are limited.
- The popularity of working in tech has increased within the past few years. This can be observed by the number of students choosing a tech degree in college. We cannot forget about coding bootcamp graduates, which adds to the already saturated entry-level candidate pool.
- The popularity of remote work skyrocketed during and after the pandemic. Luckily, there are many jobs in the tech industry that can be done with just a laptop. The convenience of having a remote job is highly desirable. Just doing a quick job search on LinkedIn for entry-level software jobs will show job postings with over 200 applicants.
- For remote tech jobs, just getting an application past the automated resume parser can be a challenge. Your resume needs to be refined and polished so that the automated resume tool can pick out the key words and score the resume. Resumes that have met the desired score will be sent to actual people before inviting the applicant for an interview. Most companies will use an automated resume tool to look through resumes because, obviously, it takes too long to look through the hundreds of applicants.
- The interviewing process itself can take quite some time and skill to get past. There is usually the behavioral interview we know and the technical portion of it. Most companies will do a live assessment of an applicant’s coding skills. This involves the interviewee having to write code where they are watched by the interviewer(s) under a time limit. It can be a nerve-racking experience and is something school does not prepare you for. If the interviewee can pass the technical assessment, then they are likely to get a job offer.
The tech industry will continually grow as our society continues to modernize. It can be hard to find an entry-level job with the current times but keep applying. Don't be too picky with a first job, you will earn substantially more as time and experience come.
Kevin Tran is a recent OSU-IT graduate, now employed as a full-stack junior software developer. | 2023-01-20T13:45:00+00:00 | oklahoman.com | https://www.oklahoman.com/story/opinion/2023/01/20/guest-entry-level-tech-jobs-are-competitive-in-oklahoma/69745225007/ |
For two years, coronavirus variants emerged, one by one, sweeping the globe.
But this fall and winter are expected to be different: Instead of a single ominous variant lurking on the horizon, experts are nervously eyeing a swarm of viruses — and a new evolutionary phase in the pandemic.
This time, it’s unlikely we will be barraged with a new collection of Greek alphabet variants. Instead, one or more of the multiple versions of the omicron variant that keep popping up could drive the next wave. They are different flavors of omicron, but eerily alike — adorned with a similar combination of mutations. Each new subvariant seems to outdo the last in its ability to dodge immune defenses.
“It is this constant evolutionary arms race we’re having with this virus,” said Jonathan Abraham, an assistant professor of microbiology at Harvard Medical School.
The pace of evolution is so fast that many scientists depend on Twitter to keep up. A month ago, scientists were worried about BA.2.75, a variant that took off in South Asia and spawned a cloud of other concerning sublineages. In the United States, BA.4.6 and BF.7 have been slowly picking up steam. A few weeks ago, BQ.1.1 started to steal the spotlight — and still looks like a contender to take over this fall in Europe and North America. A lineage called XBB looms on the sidelines, and threatens to scramble the forecast.
To focus too much on any one possible variant is, many experts argue, missing the point. What matters is that all these new threats are accumulating mutations in similar spots in what’s called the receptor binding domain — a key spot in the spike protein where virus-blocking antibodies dock. If those antibodies can’t dock, they can’t block. Each new mutation gives the virus a leg up in avoiding this primary line of immune defense.
Most virologists demur when asked about which variant — or variants — will be infecting people this winter. That doesn’t mean they think the virus is standing still.
Much of the world’s population has gained a measure of immunity because of vaccinations and infections with omicron. That protection gave us the relative freedoms of the moment — with many people returning to normal life. But protection is fleeting for two key reasons: Immunity wanes and the virus is changing. And then there’s this: Monoclonal antibodies, targeted drugs that can be used as a treatment or to protect immunocompromised people who don’t respond well to vaccines, are likely to be knocked out by future variants.
“It’s important for people to understand that the fact there’s not a Greek letter name that has come out does not mean the virus stopped evolving,” said Jesse Bloom, an expert on viral evolution at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, who described the evolutionary rate of SARS-CoV-2 as “strikingly rapid.”
Instead of worrying about which variant will win, or even focusing on particular mutations, many scientists have shifted to watching hot spots — specific sites on the virus, known by numbers like a street address, where any change in the virus’s code might allow it to slip by the neutralizing antibodies that are a first line of defense.
The coronavirus spike protein is made up of about 1,300 building blocks called amino acids, and mutations that change even a single building block can make it harder for antibodies to block the virus. Instead of a Greek alphabet, scientists are maintaining shortlists of worrisome spots for mutation: 346, 444, 445, 452, 460, 486, 490.
Seeing so many lineages of the coronavirus develop similar constellations of genetic changes at these spots is a sign of convergent evolution — when different versions of the virus have slammed into the wall of immune defenses in the human population, and then come up with similar ways to get around them. That happens with influenza but is fairly new to SARS-CoV-2. And in the case of the coronavirus, the more mutations, the bigger advantage a new variant seems to have.
Cornelius Roemer, a computational biologist at the University of Basel in Switzerland, has been ranking the new omicron sublineages by how many mutations they have in the receptor binding domain.
XBB appears to be the best at evading immunity. Researchers in China have found that XBB can elude the protective antibodies generated by a breakthrough BA.5 infection, raising concern that fall boosters engineered to target the BA.4 and BA.5 versions of omicron may be quickly outpaced. Still, those booster shots remain the best tool on the shelf.
“We do not have a better choice at the current stage,” Yunlong Cao, a scientist at the Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center in Peking University in Beijing, said in an email.
On Friday, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 had grown to about 11 percent of the viruses sampled in the United States. Whether it is XBB, BQ.1.1, or some as yet unknown twist on omicron, most experts agree variants will help fuel a difficult fall and winter.
“These lineages are going to have a greater ability to reinfect people than what is currently circulating … which is very likely to drive or contribute to infection waves over the winter,” Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London, said in an email.
It’s a matter of debate what will happen when one or more of them gets a toehold in a population with a protective layer of underlying immunity. Protection against the worst outcomes is likely to hold up, particularly if bolstered by boosters, many scientists predict.
Cases are ticking up in Europe already. Many scientists think the upswing is driven largely by factors such as children going back to school, people spending more time indoors and the seasonality of the virus. The variants may just be starting to contribute.
“We are certainly in a better place than we were many months ago; we are still in a downward trend” in the United States, said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who exhorted people to get an updated booster if eligible. “We need to watch and follow these things very carefully, because we want to make sure we have a good handle on what is going on with regard to the emergence of variants, and what impact they’re going to have on any trends we are going to see in winter.”
But the impact on society could still be considerable even with a surge in cases that doesn’t lead to a massive wave of hospitalizations.
“To put it in context, the summer wasn’t considered a wave — but at the same time, there were lots of issues with work absences, and that kind of thing did have an impact on the world as a whole,” said Manon Ragonnet-Cronin, a scientist at the University of Chicago. “Our primary measurement of how bad these waves are tends to be hospitalizations and deaths, but those other effects shouldn’t be discounted.”
There’s nothing certain about a late-fall wave — whether one will happen, what its magnitude might be or what could spark it. The new crop of variants clearly escapes immunity, but Justin Lessler, a professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Public Health, said the question will be how that advantage plays out in the world.
“A strain can have a growth advantage compared to the other strains, but still not enough of an advantage to lead to a resurgent epidemic,” Lessler said.
What’s more predictable: Any variant that winds up dominating in coming months will probably challenge a key line of treatment and protection for people with compromised immune systems — the drugs known as monoclonal antibodies. Evusheld is a long-acting version used to prevent illness in people with compromised immune systems. Another monoclonal, bebtelovimab, is used as a treatment.
The pharmaceutical companies making these drugs stress that they remain useful against variants that are prevalent now. But for many scientists, the writing is on the wall. The swarm on the horizon threatens to wipe out one or both of those therapies — and may even subvert the next generation of candidates yet to make it into the medicine cabinet.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a major maker of monoclonal antibodies, paused startup activities in late September on clinical trials for its new drug — pointing not to a particular new lineage of omicron but to a mutation at one of the hot spots.
“We ask that all startup activities … be paused to allow Regeneron to evaluate the new variant and its potential impact to our planned clinical development trials,” a company memo sent to investigators running the trials said.
Scientists are worried that Evusheld could be useless by the end of the year, as new variants take over. The Food and Drug Administration warned this month that the drug is unlikely to protect against infection from BA.4.6, a strain that represents about 12 percent of the viruses circulating in the United States.
Bebtelovimab, the monoclonal made by Lilly, could also face a ticking clock as yet other mutations threaten to undermine its effectiveness.
Companies can choose from many libraries of monoclonal antibody drugs, but questions about how to pick them, prove they work and whether they are safe have become more pressing as the drugs turned out to have a short shelf life, because of the pace of viral evolution.
In an effort to make their drugs more variant-proof, companies are trying to design antibody products that are not similar to the dominant antibodies the human body naturally creates to rout the virus.
Laura Walker, chief scientific officer of Invivyd, a biotechnology company working on monoclonal antibody drugs, described one of the compounds her company is hoping to start testing in people in January as a “freak of nature” — because it binds to an unusual spot on the virus.
“You want to try and look ahead, and the question is: How far do those headlights go?” Walker said.
Unmitigated transmission of the virus will allow it to find vulnerable people — whether because of age or medical risk factors. It could also result in the wild-card scenario that many experts fear: A new and very different variant could emerge from some other branch of the coronavirus evolutionary tree.
A leading theory of omicron’s origin is that it evolved as the result of a long-term infection in an immunocompromised patient — and the possibility of a huge jump happening again can’t be ignored.
“If we sit on our hands and say, ‘Well, we are all fine,’ and forget about the vulnerable people who don’t make good immune responses, then that might increase the likelihood a new, scarier variant emerges,” Abraham, of Harvard, said. “I’m not sure if it’s going to happen this winter, but I think it’s likely. There’s still a lot of room for evolution.”
This story was originally published at washingtonpost.com. Read it here. | 2022-10-18T19:31:52+00:00 | seattletimes.com | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/xbb-bq-1-1-ba-2-75-2-a-variant-swarm-could-fuel-a-winter-surge/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_seattle-news |
HOUSTON – Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola has not allowed a baserunner through six innings against the Houston Astros.
Nola has struck out eight. He struck out the side in the fourth inning, fanning Jose Altuve, Jeremy Pena and Yordan Alvarez.
He has thrown 72 pitches, with 53 strikes.
The Phillies sent Nola to the mound on Monday night needing only a win or a loss by Milwaukee to clinch their first playoff spot since 2011.
Philadelphia led 1-0 through six on a leadoff homer by Kyle Schwarber, his NL-leading 45th of the season.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2022-10-04T03:40:24+00:00 | ksat.com | https://www.ksat.com/sports/2022/10/04/phillies-nola-perfect-through-6-innings-against-astros/ |
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Here’s what’s in the tentative agreement that railroad unions secured to prevent a potential freight railroad strike.
The final deal was negotiated by the unions that represent engineers and conductors, but all 12 of the rail unions will likely benefit from the concessions railroads made because the unions that agreed to deals earlier all had provisions in their deals that will allow them to do that.
The raises workers will receive as part of this deal will be the biggest ones they have received in more than four decades. The railroad industry has said that average rail worker salaries will reach $110,000 by the end of this five-year deal in 2025.
The financial terms of the deal closely follow the recommendations made by the Presidential Emergency Board last month after those arbitrators met with both sides.
Businesses that rely on the railroads said a strike would be devastating, and the Association of American Railroads trade group estimated that a work stoppage would cost the economy more than $2 billion a day. The talks included all the major U.S. railroads, including BNSF, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Kansas City Southern and the U.S. operations of Canadian National. Canadian Pacific negotiates separately with its unions.
HOW BIG ARE THE RAISES?
Railroad workers will receive 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses in the deal that is retroactive to 2020. So rail workers will receive sizeable back pay of more than $11,000 on average once this deal is ratified.
HOW MUCH TIME OFF WILL WORKERS GET?
The deal includes one additional paid leave day a year, but railroads also agreed to let workers take unpaid time off for doctor’s appointments and medical procedures without being penalized under their attendance rules.
The unpaid time off is a key concession that addressed some of the unions’ concerns about working conditions. Under the current system at BNSF and Union Pacific, workers receive a set number of points, and they lose points any time they take time off. If workers use up all their points, they can be disciplined or even fired.
WHAT ABOUT HEALTH INSURANCE?
Workers will have to pay a larger share of their health insurance costs, but their premiums will be capped at 15% of the total cost of the insurance plan. Currently, railroad workers pay $228.88 per month for their health insurance, which is about 12.6% of the total cost of the plan.
The railroads also agreed to increase the amount they will pay for hearing benefits and for speech therapy and other treatment of autism.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Members of all 12 railroad unions will have to vote on these deals. Already one union rejected a deal Wednesday that was based closely on the Presidential Emergency Board’s recommendations but two other unions approved similar deals. These latest concessions may help secure the support of the union that rejected a deal.
WILL WORKERS SUPPORT THE DEAL?
The recommendations from the Presidential Emergency Board provided significant raises, but didn’t address union concerns about working conditions. Many railroad workers spoke out on social media saying they would vote against a deal that only delivered what the Presidential Emergency Board recommended. It remains to be seen whether the railroads’ concessions on time off are enough to get workers support.
Earlier this summer, railroad workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if both sides couldn’t agree to a deal. Many workers are frustrated with current working conditions after the major railroads cut nearly one-third of their workforce over the past six years. Hundreds of railroad workers have left the industry this year as the same time the railroads have been aggressively hiring new employees.
The railroads need additional employees to handle all the freight. Shippers have complained loudly this year about delayed deliveries and poor service, and federal regulators have demanded that railroads improve their service. | 2022-09-16T02:57:26+00:00 | kron4.com | https://www.kron4.com/top-stories/ap-top-headlines/ap-rail-workers-win-key-concessions-in-deal-to-prevent-strike/ |
BLOOMINGTON — The 14th annual Bloomington Kiwanis Mother's Day Sale will be held Wednesday, May 10 through Saturday, May 13.
The fundraising event will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Shoppes at College Hills in Normal.
The flowers are provided by Wendell Niepagen Greenhouses, including a wide variety of annuals, herbs and vegetable garden plants. Hanging baskets and large planted pots will also be available.
Master Gardeners and local experts will be on site to help advise shoppers and share tips on how to plant pots, and how to pick the right plant for light, soil conditions and more.
Funds from the sale support sending local kids to Camp Limberlost at Timber Pointe Camp at Lake Bloomington, as well as other local children's projects.
Photos: Vibrant colors at Bloomington Kiwanis Mother's Day Flower Sale
MOTHER'S DAY FLOWER SALE
From adjudication to vegetation
Impatiens
Bringing back begonias
A colorful arrangement
Cool coleus
Merry marigolds
Sightly succulents
Checking out
Alluring alyssums
050622-blm-loc-11flowers
Contact Olivia Jacobs at 309-820-3352. Follow Olivia on Twitter: @olivia___jacobs
Volunteer Bob Freitag loads hanging flower baskets into cars of customers patronizing the Bloomington Kiwanis Mother's Day Flower Sale on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at the Shoppes at College Hills in Normal. | 2023-04-27T11:32:09+00:00 | pantagraph.com | https://pantagraph.com/news/local/bloomington-kiwanis-plan-mothers-day-plant-sale-may-10-13/article_e4fb475a-e44a-11ed-a594-8fbe7e6caf60.html |
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WXIN) — From people heading to the mall for back-to-school shopping to workers going about their day, Sunday appeared to be normal at Indiana’s Greenwood Park Mall. That is until a shooting that would claim the lives of three victims and the shooter and injure two others.
Mark Tillberry was sitting in the food court when he looked out the window to see two people fighting in an incident not connected with the shooting. His group grabbed their food and walked around the corner.
Mark Wright, who works at Luca Pizza, was taking money back for the end of the day. Heather Arthur was eating with her daughters after back-to-school shopping.
Then the shots rang out.
“As soon as we heard shots start popping off — there was at least 25-30 — my guys all hit the deck,” said Wright.
Tillberry described the scene as chaotic. After the gunshots started, everyone just started running.
“It was chaos. It was like an animal kingdom in there. We just ran out of the doors at every exit,” said Tillberry. “We had people going into locked gates, putting them in the back of the stores.”
Heather Arthur told her kids to run.
“My mom, she tells me to get up and start running,” said Mckaya Arthur. “So, I get up, I run. Then, I found a safe area to hide.”
While running to safety, Heather Arthur said she fell, skinning her knee and losing track of two of her children.
Police say the suspect shot into the mall, killing three people and injuring two more. Then a 22-year-old from Bartholomew County, Indiana, shot the shooter.
Wright said while he didn’t see the actual shooting, he witnessed the aftermath.
“It was a scary situation, I’ve got some new kids working, and they were kinda traumatized by it. I never expected this here at this mall,” said Wright, who has been in the pizza business for 32 years.
Heather Arthur said she worries about safety these days.
“It worries you about going anywhere now. I mean there’s violence everywhere you turn and look around, it feels like you’re not safe anywhere,” she said. | 2022-07-18T14:39:50+00:00 | everythinglubbock.com | https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/it-was-chaos-witnesses-describe-indiana-mall-shooting-scene/ |
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KARK) – Former U.S. President Bill Clinton told the public Wednesday that he has tested positive for COVID-19.
“I’ve had mild symptoms, but I’m doing fine overall and keeping myself busy at home,” Clinton tweeted.
The 76-year-old former Arkansas governor also said he had received his vaccination and booster shots, which he says has helped keep his case mild.
Clinton urged that everyone receive updated vaccinations as the winter season approaches.
Hilary Clinton tested positive for COVID-19 back in March.
The announcement from her husband came as she was in northwest Arkansas to speak at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. The former secretary of state and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, are set to host an international women’s rights summit in Little Rock beginning Thursday.
Clinton was hospitalized in October of last year in California for treatment of a “non-COVID-related infection.” | 2022-11-30T21:59:25+00:00 | localsyr.com | https://www.localsyr.com/news/national/former-pres-bill-clinton-tests-positive-for-covid-19/ |
Understanding the key legislative meetings underway in China By Emily Feng Published March 5, 2023 05:09 AM Facebook Twitter Some key legislative meetings are underway in China - we take a look at what they might portend in terms of the direction of China's politics and economy. Copyright 2023 NPR | 2023-03-05T14:42:31+00:00 | kpcc.org | https://www.kpcc.org/2023-03-05/understanding-the-key-legislative-meetings-underway-in-china |
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Ginine Capozzi is celebrating her 10-year anniversary with KnowledgeForce Consulting by helping out a number of other organizations.
“KnowledgeForce provides reimagined training solutions that power your business,” the firm wrote on its website. “We partner with you to help your people expand their knowledge, skills, and real-worked experiences to create sustained behavior change.”
KnowledgeForce is selecting 10 organizations to donate to, and the first three have been announced:
- Girls Education Collaborative
- RAHAMA
- PUSH Buffalo (announced today)
Learn more in the videos above and below.
Abby Fridmann is an award-winning anchor and reporter who joined the News 4 team in November 2020. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.
Evan Anstey is an Associated Press Award and Emmy-nominated digital producer who has been part of the News 4 team since 2015. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter. | 2022-09-09T17:52:00+00:00 | wivb.com | https://www.wivb.com/wake-up/hope-rises-knowledgeforce-consulting-helping-others-in-new-campaign/ |
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An estimated $1.1 billion Mega Millions jackpot drawing Tuesday night has people lined up at convenience stores nationwide to buy tickets in longshot hopes of winning a massive prize, but shop and gas station owners selling the tickets also have a chance at a big-figure bonus.
State lotteries usually reward the owners of business that sell winning jackpot tickets thousands of dollars or even up to $1 million, even before those giant prizes are claimed.
FIRST THINGS FIRST, WHAT’S THE LATEST ON THE JACKPOT?
It seems no one can win the Mega Millions jackpot, so it keeps getting larger. The last time someone overcame the odds of 1 in 302.6 million and won the top prize was on Oct. 14. Since then there have been 24 straight drawings without anyone snagging the jackpot. The prize now ranks as the fifth-largest, though it’s still only about half the size of a record $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot, won only a couple months ago by someone in California.
While it seems like forever since someone won, it’s quite a ways from the record of 41 straight drawings that has occurred a couple of times, most recently leading up to that $2.04 billion California prize.
AND WHO IS THE LUCKY CALIFORNIAN?
That remains a mystery. The California Lottery hasn’t announced a winner and says its policy is to not acknowledge whether anyone has claimed a prize until a supposedly winning ticket is vetted. All that’s clear is that a ticket matching all six numbers drawn Nov. 9 was sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, an unincorporated community northeast of Los Angeles.
ONE WINNER IN ALTADENA IS CLEAR.
Even if we don’t know anything about the Powerball winner, we know the service center owner, Joe Chahayed, was paid his $1 million bonus by lottery officials. Standing under a sign hoisted by the lottery that read, Billionaire Made Here, and surrounded by dozens of media representatives and well-wishers, Chahayed said he planned to spend the money on his five children and would donate some of it to help his community. He didn’t have a clue who had purchased the winning ticket.
“I wish I knew the person but most people who buy tickets from me are from the neighborhood. I hope one of them will be the winner,” he said.
HOW DOES THE RETAILER BONUS SYSTEM WORK?
The rules vary from state to state. Ohio, for example, pays up to $100,000 to retailers who sell jackpot-winning tickets. In Illinois, retailers can get up to a $500,000 bonus and in California, that benefit tops out at $1 million. The state lotteries say it’s part of their efforts to encourage retailers to promote ticket sales. Some business owners say they also often see at least a temporary surge in business, as superstitious players stop off to buy their tickets at a spot where someone hit it big.
POWERBALL GETTING LARGER, TOO
Even as the Mega Millions jackpot grows ever larger, the top prize for the Powerball game is also nearing massive status. Ahead of a drawing Monday night, that prize stands at $340 million for players who opt to be paid through an annuity, doled out over 29 years.
IF YOU BUY A TICKET, DON’T FORGET …
Whether you spend $2 or $200 on Mega Millions or Powerball tickets, your chance of winning are incredibly small. Powerball’s odds of 1 in 292.2 million are a little better than those offered by Mega Millions, but they’re still miserable. Can’t get your mind around that? Andrew Swift, a mathematics professor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, described it another way, noting the odds of winning for a person who buys a single ticket in either game are a little worse than flipping a coin and getting heads 28 straight times.
AND DON’T FORGET THIS, EITHER
Although the publicized annuity prize of $1.1 billion for winning Mega Millions or $340 million for Powerball jackpot get all the attention, winners rarely choose such a long-term payment option. They want their money right now. The cash payout is much smaller, at $568.7 million for Mega Millions and $178.2 million for Powerball.
So as you dream of buying a yacht, maybe for settle for just one rather than two.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. | 2023-01-10T10:42:24+00:00 | qcnews.com | https://www.qcnews.com/news/national-news/ap-1-1b-mega-millions-prize-also-can-be-winner-for-retailers/ |
South Korea's government is introducing a new plan to resolve historical disputes with Japan, and compensate Koreans for the forced labor imposed by Tokyo's 35-year colonial rule.
Copyright 2023 NPR
South Korea's government is introducing a new plan to resolve historical disputes with Japan, and compensate Koreans for the forced labor imposed by Tokyo's 35-year colonial rule.
Copyright 2023 NPR | 2023-03-06T11:08:50+00:00 | mtpr.org | https://www.mtpr.org/2023-03-06/japan-and-south-korea-address-a-dispute-over-their-bitter-past |
Hunter Biden hearing ends after judge is not ready to accept revised plea deal
CNN
By Marshall Cohen, Holmes Lybrand and Kara Scannell, CNN
Wilmington, Delaware (CNN) — A plea deal between President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden and the Justice Department is on hold after a dramatic court hearing Wednesday.
Hunter Biden failed to pay between $1.1 million and $1.5 million in federal taxes before the legal deadlines and was poised to plead guilty to two tax charges with prosecutors agreeing to recommend a sentence of probation.
But before the original plea could be entered, the deal began to unravel and a revised agreement reached during the hearing was not accepted by the judge.
“I cannot accept the plea agreement today, said District Judge Maryellen Noreika.
Noreika said she had “concerns” about the parties seemingly linking the tax plea agreement to resolving a felony gun charge. During the proceedings, prosecutors confirmed that the investigation into Biden was ongoing.
After negotiations, the president’s son then agreed to plead guilty to the two tax charges in a deal that only includes conduct related to tax offenses, drug use and gun possession. The two sides agreed that this deal does not shield him from potential future charges. But the judge wasn’t satisfied.
“What if it is unconstitutional?” she asked. “I’m trying to exercise due deliverance and consideration to make sure we don’t make a misstep.”
After the discussion, Hunter Biden entered a not guilty plea.
Noreika – a Donald Trump appointee who was confirmed unanimously by the Senate – presided over Wednesday’s hearing and has the sole authority to decide Hunter Biden’s ultimate punishment.
While the investigation was ongoing, Hunter Biden fully paid his federal tax bill, along with interest and penalties, his lawyers have previously said.
The Trump-era Justice Department started investigating Hunter Biden in 2018, and the probe steadily expanded to examine whether he violated money laundering and foreign lobbying laws with his multimillion-dollar overseas business dealings. Federal investigators also looked into Hunter Biden’s unpaid taxes and lavish spending, which came amid a struggle with addiction.
US attorney David Weiss has led the investigation. He was appointed by Trump, and Joe Biden kept him at his post so he could continue handling the probe. There is no public indication that Joe Biden or the White House ever tried to intervene in the probe.
A bizarre legal clash between a top Republican lawmaker and Hunter Biden’s lawyers, which erupted on the eve of his court appearance, did not come up at Wednesday’s hearing.
The dispute revolves around whether a member of Hunter Biden’s legal team lied to the court about her identity so they would remove a Tuesday filing from GOP Rep. Jason Smith, the House Ways and Means Committee chair, about alleged political interference in the probe.
In a late twist, the judge threatened to sanction Hunter Biden’s lawyers over the matter. They denied the claims and called the incident an “unintentional miscommunication” by court staff.
Questions about the probe
Hanging over the plea hearing are recent claims from two IRS whistleblowers who helped lead the investigation that the Justice Department gave preferential treatment to Hunter Biden beginning when Trump was president in 2020.
Their claims dovetail with the GOP-fueled narrative that Hunter Biden got a “sweetheart deal,” even though it’s fairly common for first-time offenders to avoid incarceration in a misdemeanor-only case.
The career IRS agents told Congress that Justice Department officials undercut their attempts to further scrutinize Biden family members, slow-walked requests for subpoenas and search warrants and blocked Weiss from filing the felony tax evasion charges that they had recommended.
The relevant parties – including Weiss, Attorney General Merrick Garland and other senior Justice Department officials – have publicly refuted the whistleblowers’ claims of politicization.
In letters to Congress, Weiss has maintained that he has “been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when and whether to file charges.” And earlier this week, he offered to testify at a public House Oversight Committee hearing, likely sometime this fall.
House Republicans have zeroed in on Hunter Biden’s finances as part of their broader oversight probes into the Biden family. They are seeking testimony from Weiss about the criminal probe, and the House GOP’s right-wing flank is already clamoring for a possible Garland impeachment.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers called the IRS whistleblowers “disgruntled agents” with “an axe to grind.”
They’ve also said their client is pleading guilty because he believes “it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Tierney Sneed, Zachary Cohen and Devan Cole contributed to this report. | 2023-07-27T01:28:04+00:00 | krdo.com | https://krdo.com/news/2023/07/26/hunter-bidens-plea-deal-is-in-limbo-but-the-narrative-is-set-2/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security downplayed or ignored "a massive amount of intelligence information" ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S Capitol, according to the chairman of a Senate panel that on Tuesday is releasing a new report on the intelligence failures ahead of the insurrection.
The report details how the agencies failed to recognize and warn of the potential for violence as some of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters openly planned the siege in messages and forums online.
Among the multitude of intelligence that was overlooked was a December 2020 tip to the FBI that members of the far-right extremist group Proud Boys planned to be in Washington, D.C., for the certification of Joe Biden's victory and their "plan is to literally kill people," the report said. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said the agencies were also aware of many social media posts that foreshadowed violence, some calling on Trump's supporters to "come armed" and storm the Capitol, kill lawmakers or "burn the place to the ground."
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, the Democratic chairman of the Homeland panel, said the breakdown was “largely a failure of imagination to see threats that the Capitol could be breached as credible,” echoing the findings of the Sept. 11 commission about intelligence failures ahead of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The report by the panel’s majority staff says the intelligence community has not entirely recalibrated to focus on the threats of domestic, rather than international, terrorism. And government intelligence leaders failed to sound the alarm “in part because they could not conceive that the U.S. Capitol Building would be overrun by rioters.”
Still, Peters said, the reasons for dismissing what he called a “massive” amount of intelligence “defies an easy explanation.”
While several other reports have examined the intelligence failures around Jan. 6 -- including a bipartisan 2021 Senate report, the House Jan. 6 committee last year and several separate internal assessments by the Capitol Police and other government agencies — the latest investigation is the first congressional report to focus solely on the actions of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis.
In the wake of the attack, Peters said the committee interviewed officials at both agencies and found what was “pretty constant finger pointing” at each other.
“Everybody should be accountable because everybody failed,” Peters said.
Using emails and interviews collected by the Senate committee and others, including from the House Jan. 6 panel, the report lays out in detail the intelligence the agencies received in the weeks ahead of the attack.
There was not a failure to obtain evidence, the report says, but the agencies “failed to fully and accurately assess the severity of the threat identified by that intelligence, and formally disseminate guidance to their law enforcement partners."
As Trump, a Republican, falsely claimed he had won the 2020 election and tried to overturn his election defeat, telling his supporters to " fight like hell " in a speech in front of the White House that day, thousands of them marched to the Capitol. More than 2,000 rioters overran law enforcement, assaulted police officers, and caused more than $2.7 billion in damage to the Capitol, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report earlier this year.
Breaking through windows and doors, the rioters sent lawmakers running for their lives and temporarily interrupted the certification of the election victory by Biden, a Democrat.
Even as the attack was happening, the new report found, the FBI and Homeland Security downplayed the threat. As the Capitol Police struggled to clear the building, Homeland Security “was still struggling to assess the credibility of threats against the Capitol and to report out its intelligence.”
And at a 10 a.m. briefing as protesters gathered at Trump’s speech and near the Capitol were “wearing ballistic helmets, body armor, carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks,” the FBI briefed that there were “no credible threats at this time.”
The lack of sufficient warnings meant that law enforcement were not adequately prepared and there was not a hardened perimeter established around the Capitol, as there is during events like the annual State of the Union address.
The report contains dozens of tips about violence on Jan. 6 that the agencies received and dismissed either due to lack of coordination, bureaucratic delays or trepidation on the part of those who were collecting it. The FBI, for example, was unexpectedly hindered in its attempt to find social media posts planning for Jan. 6 protests when the contract for its third-party social media monitoring tool expired. At Homeland Security, analysts were hesitant to report open-source intelligence after criticism in 2020 for collecting intelligence on American citizens during racial justice demonstrations.
One tip received by the FBI ahead of the Jan. 6 attack was from a former Justice Department official who sent screenshots of online posts from members of the Oath Keepers extremist group: “There is only one way in. It is not signs. It’s not rallies. It’s f------ bullets!”
The social media company Parler, a favored platform for Trump's supporters, directly sent the FBI several posts it found alarming, adding that there was "more where this came from" and that they were concerned about what would happen on Jan. 6.
”(T)his is not a rally and it’s no longer a protest,” read one of the Parler posts sent to the FBI, according to the report. “This is a final stand where we are drawing the red line at Capitol Hill. (...) don’t be surprised if we take the #capital (sic) building.”
But even as it received the warnings, the Senate panel found, the agency said over and over again that there were no credible threats.
“Our nation is still reckoning with the fallout from January 6th, but what is clear is the need for a reevaluation of the federal government’s domestic intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination processes," the new report says.
In a statement, Homeland Security spokesperson Angelo Fernandez said that the department has made many of those changes two and a half years later. The department “has strengthened intelligence analysis, information sharing, and operational preparedness to help prevent acts of violence and keep our communities safe.”
The FBI said in a separate response that since the attack it has increased focus on “swift information sharing” and centralized the flow of information to ensure more timely notification to other entities. “The FBI is determined to aggressively fight the danger posed by all domestic violent extremists, regardless of their motivations,” the statement said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has defended the FBI's handling of intelligence in the run-up to Jan. 6, including a report from its Norfolk field office on Jan. 5 that cited online posts foreshadowing the possibility of a "war" in Washington the following day. The Senate report noted that the memo "did not note the multitude of other warnings" the agency had received.
The faultfinding with the FBI and Homeland Security Department echoes the blistering criticism directed at U.S. Capitol Police in a bipartisan report issued by the Senate Homeland and Rules committees two years ago. That report found that the police intelligence unit knew about social media posts calling for violence, as well, but did not inform top leadership what they had found.
Peters says he asked for the probe of the intelligence agencies after other reports, such as the House panel's investigation last year, focused on other aspects of the attack. The Jan. 6 panel was more focused on Trump's actions, and concluded in its report that the former president criminally engaged in a "multi-part conspiracy" to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.
“It’s important for us to realize these failures to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Peters said.
___
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report. | 2023-06-27T11:27:26+00:00 | springfieldnewssun.com | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/fbi-and-homeland-security-ignored-massive-amount-of-intelligence-before-jan-6-senate-report-says/F66FVIPE3BFPROOQ33LU4ZUP74/ |
Today the U.S. Supreme Court today overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
The 6-3 vote overturned Roe v. Wade and a related case that protected the right to abortion, the 1992 decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Read today’s ruling below:
Scotus Dobbs by KentFaulk on Scribd | 2022-06-24T16:10:55+00:00 | cleveland.com | https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2022/06/read-us-supreme-courts-roe-v-wade-decision.html |
TULSA, Okla. -- Northbound and southbound SH-344/Gilcrease Expressway lanes will be closed at I-44/SH-66 and at 41st St. in Tulsa from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday, ODOT announced.
The closure is part of an effort to assist PSO in power restoration after severe storms Sunday morning damaged power lines.
Motorists will have access to northbound SH-344/Gilcrease at 41st St. and southbound motorists must exit at 41st St. while utility crews make repairs Thursday. | 2023-06-22T14:32:31+00:00 | fox23.com | https://www.fox23.com/news/gilcrease-expressway-at-i-44-near-41st-st-closed-for-power-line-repairs/article_bd6af97a-1103-11ee-9474-dba2226d21a3.html |
BEIJING (AP) — China on Monday accused Washington of breaking into computers at a university that U.S. officials say does military research, adding to complaints by both governments of rampant online spying against each other.
Northwestern Polytechnical University reported computer break-ins in June, the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center announced. It said the center, working with a commercial security provider, Qihoo 360 Technology Co., traced the attacks to the National Security Agency but didn’t say how that was done.
China and the United States are, along with Russia, regarded as global leaders in cyberwarfare research.
China accuses the United States of spying on universities, energy and internet companies and other targets. Washington accuses Beijing of stealing commercial secrets and has announced criminal charges against Chinese military officers.
The U.S. actions “seriously endanger China’s national security,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning. She also accused Washington of eavesdropping on Chinese mobile phones and stealing text messages.
“China strongly condemns it,” Mao said. “The United States should immediately stop using its advantages to steal secrets and attack other countries.”
The American Embassy in Beijing didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Security experts say the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, and the Ministry of State Security also sponsor hackers outside the government.
Northwestern Polytechnical University, in the western city of Xi’an, is on a U.S. government “entity list” that limits its access to American technology. Washington says the university helps the PLA develop aerial and underwater drones and missile technology.
Monday’s announcement accused the United States of taking information about the university’s network management and other “core technologies.” It said Chinese analysts found 41 “network attack” tools that it said were traced to the NSA.
Last year, a Chinese man, Shuren Qin, was sentenced to two years in prison by a federal court in Boston after he pleaded guilty to exporting underwater and marine technology to Northwestern Polytechnical University without required licenses.
The NSA, part of the Department of Defense, is responsible for “signals intelligence,” or obtaining communications and other data.
The Computer Virus Emergency Response Center, set up in 1996 by the police department of the eastern city of Tianjin, describes itself as the Chinese agency responsible for inspection and testing of anti-computer virus products.
A report by Qihoo 360 in 2020 said hacking tools used in attacks on Chinese companies and government agencies in 2008-19 were traced to the Central Intelligence Agency by comparing them with code in CIA tools disclosed by the Wikileaks group.
The virus center accused the NSA of carrying out other “malicious network attacks” in China but gave no details. It said 13 people involved in the attacks had been identified.
The hackers targeted a “zero day,” or previously unreported, vulnerability in the school’s security, the statement said. It said the break-ins were conducted from servers in 17 countries including Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Poland, Ukraine and Colombia.
The statement described what it said were NSA software tools with names such as “Second Date” and “Drinking Tea” but didn’t say which might have been used at the university. | 2022-09-05T21:25:14+00:00 | keloland.com | https://www.keloland.com/news/technology/ap-technology/ap-china-accuses-washington-of-cyber-spying-on-university/ |
Stars vs. Kraken NHL Playoffs Second Round Game 6: Odds, total, moneyline and other Vegas lines
The Dallas Stars take the road to play the Seattle Kraken in Game 6 of the NHL Playoffs Second Round on Saturday, May 13, beginning at 7:00 PM ET on ESPN, SportsNet, and TVAS. The Stars are up 3-2. The Kraken have +140 odds on the moneyline against the favored Stars (-165).
Catch over 1,000 out of market NHL games, plus original programming, with ESPN+ or the Disney Bundle. Click here to sign up!
Stars vs. Kraken Game Info
- When: Saturday, May 13, 2023 at 7:00 PM ET
- TV Channel: ESPN, SportsNet, and TVAS
- Where: Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington
- Live Stream: Watch this game on Fubo!
Stars vs. Kraken Total and Moneyline
Take a look at the favorite, total and moneyline for this matchup at individual sportsbooks.
Stars vs Kraken Additional Info
Stars vs. Kraken Betting Trends
- In 48 games this season, Dallas and its opponent have combined for more than 5.5 goals.
- The Stars have won 74.1% of their games when favored on the moneyline this season (20-7).
- The Kraken have been an underdog in 24 games this season, with nine upset wins (37.5%).
- Dallas is 12-3 (victorious in 80.0% of its games) when it has played with moneyline odds of -165 or shorter.
- Seattle is 7-5 when it is underdogs of +140 or longer on the moneyline.
Stars Player Props
Check out the latest props and place your bets with BetMGM Sportsbook.
Kraken Player Props
Stars Recent Betting Performance
Check out the latest props and place your bets with BetMGM Sportsbook.
Kraken Recent Betting Performance
Not all offers available in all states, please visit BetMGM for the latest promotions for your area. Must be 21+ to gamble, please wager responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, contact 1-800-GAMBLER.
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | 2023-05-13T22:32:29+00:00 | newschannel10.com | https://www.newschannel10.com/sports/betting/2023/05/13/stars-kraken-nhl-playoffs-second-round-game-6-nhl-odds-total-moneyline-6/ |
Request unsuccessful. Incapsula incident ID: 418000480161045757-534257553276800013 | 2022-09-26T21:23:41+00:00 | bizjournals.com | https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2022/09/26/crowley-invests-in-net-zero-goals.html |
Bismarck City and Burleigh County joint committee passes
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - The Burleigh County Commission passed the proposal to create a joint committee with the city of Bismarck. The Commission initially rejected the proposal.
The two commissions hope to create a better communication network since some expenses and responsibilities are shared between the entities. Last fall, the groups had some miscommunication about funding for the new, shared Public Health building being constructed.
“We have some very critical services we need to work together on. We need to create transparency between both commissions, that’s why I proposed it to my board,” said Mayor Mike Schmitz.
The proposal for the joint committee now has passed unanimously by both commissions.
Previous Coverage: Burleigh County Commission rejects joint city committee
Previous Coverage: Proposed joint city-county committee aimed at improving communications
Copyright 2023 KFYR. All rights reserved. | 2023-02-09T01:51:22+00:00 | kfyrtv.com | https://www.kfyrtv.com/2023/02/09/bismarck-city-burleigh-county-joint-committee-passes/ |
There’s no shortage of theories about Aaron Judge’s impending free agency and what’ll drive his decision – which, by the way, he hasn’t made yet. But if Judge leaves the Yankees it won’t be just because of money. And it won’t be tied to another disappointing October. Judge hates losing but there’s more going on here.
I actually believe No. 99 would be ok pushing the rock uphill again in 2023, were it not for the souring relationship between the Yankees and their fans. The marriage deteriorated rapidly during the playoffs, but make no mistake, the booing started much earlier over the summer.
By season’s end some players and even members of the front office were left wondering whose side the ticket buyers were on.
One executive told me, “it’s never been this bad,” confirming recent reports of Yankees contacting their agents about the crowd’s behavior during the post-season.
So what’s Judge’s role in this? He was (mostly) spared the fans’ wrath, and I don’t have reason to believe the slugger made it an issue with higher-ups. But that doesn’t mean Judge wasn’t disturbed by the trend line.
People I spoke to during the season say Judge was taken aback by the way certain teammates were treated.
That’s why I wonder if Hal Steinbrenner realizes the enormity of the task in front of him.
The owner has to be more than just the market’s highest bidder for Judge. Steinbrenner needs his superstar to believe a) the Yankees are not headed for a downturn in 2023 and b) the Stadium will continue to be an attractive destination for future free agents – and not a cauldron where the home team gets skewered by its own fans.
I get why outsiders would be mystified by this. First of all, most Yankees fans are extremely loyal. And let’s face it, Judge isn’t just popular, he’s practically a cult hero.
Second, the fans who boo will tell you they’re sick of watching a runner-up – they’re not raising a middle finger at any particular Yankee, but to an overall trend in the post-George era.
Since their last world championship in 2009, the Bombers have been home watching on TV while the Giants (three times) and Red Sox (twice) have won multiple titles. The Cardinals, Royals, Cubs, Nationals, Dodgers and Braves all have rings as well.
The Yankees? Nada.
BUY YANKEES TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETSMARTER, TICKETMASTER
The impatience in the stands is understandable: the fans pay handsomely to watch this team and they show up at the Stadium in droves. The Bombers led the American League in attendance in 2022, which is all a home team can ask for.
Still, something changed in the messaging from the stands in 2022. The Yankees were on trial from mid-summer on. What started as friendly rooting turned into a simmering rage during August’s brutal 10-18 slump. The viciousness and vulgarity was out in the open.
Like the rest of the Yankees, Judge picked up on this. He is the clubhouse’s leader, but also its eyes and ears. He rallied the Yankees in defense of Joey Gallo, who they knew didn’t belong in this market. The outfielder, who batted .159 and struck out in nearly half his at-bats, suffered from anxiety issues which only worsened with the vicious booing.
Gallo failed too often to be of any use to Aaron Boone but as the Yankees privately pointed out, he didn’t ask to come to New York. He was traded into Pinstripes, doomed by the analytics department that decided his left-handed, uppercut swing was perfect for the Stadium’s dimensions.
No one bothered to consider Gallo’s make-up would never fit. The more he struggled, the more teammates felt sorry for him. Judge included.
The players were also aghast at the way the slumping Aaron Hicks was taunted by chants of “Jo-ey Ga-llo” once the failed left fielder was finally traded. Hicks replaced Gallo as the new Public Enemy No. 1 in the Bronx.
Teammates were equally disturbed by Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s father being threatened on social media.
One member of the organization said, “even if it’s a small number of crazies that do stuff like this, word gets out around the league. Players from other teams talk about it. Eventually you’ll get free agents who ask, “do I really want to play for the Yankees?””
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The easy response is to wave away easily-bruised players. If they can’t take a little booing, they don’t belong in New York, right?
But the game has changed in 20 years. Unlike, say, Derek Jeter’s crew, today’s stars hear it at the ballpark and on social media.
Players say they don’t check Twitter, but family members often do. The insults are more personal and unrelenting than ever.
Even No. 99 wasn’t entirely spared. Judge got it from the fans early in the season and again at the 11th hour, as the Yankees were being swept in the ALCS. Despite one of the finest regular-season performances in American League history, Judge was 1-for-16 against Houston and heard boos on the way out the door.
He seemed unfazed by the treatment, telling reporters after Game 4, “(the booing) is nothing new.” But something was different about his reaction to the sweep.
Unlike past setbacks in October, Judge was more clinical than emotional this time.
He said goodbye to reporters one by one, often using the past tense in his parting lines:
“It was fun, wasn’t it?”
“We had some good times.”
“I’m sure we’ll see each other down the road.”
The phrasing could’ve meant nothing or else it conformed with Judge’s determination that his work is done here.
He oversaw the ascent of the Baby Bombers in 2017, took them as far as he could and now sees the coming crash.
Maybe Judge considers the boos a foreshadowing of what’s ahead in 2023.
If so, it might already be too late for Steinbrenner’s checkbook to save the day.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.
Bob Klapisch may be reached at bklapisch@njadvancemedia.com. | 2022-10-30T12:52:10+00:00 | nj.com | https://www.nj.com/yankees/2022/10/if-aaron-judge-leaves-yankees-it-wont-be-just-because-of-money-klapisch.html |
Mayorkas goes on the offensive as GOP scrutiny builds, says it’s up to Congress to fix immigration system
By Priscilla Alvarez, CNN
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pointed the finger back at Congress to fix the country’s broken immigration system and maintained that he will not resign from his post in an new interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace.
House Republicans, who have been fierce critics of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, have been moving to build a case against Mayorkas as they consider launching rare impeachment proceedings against a Cabinet secretary.
“I’m not going to resign,” Mayorkas told CNN’s Chris Wallace on “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” which is now streaming on HBOMax and airs Sunday night at 7 p.m. ET on CNN.
“I call upon Congress — as the president has done, as this nation has done — to actually fix an immigration system that has been broken for decades,” he added.
Republican lawmakers have argued that Mayorkas’ claims of having operational control of the border are unfounded and that the record arrests mark a dereliction of duty — two themes that have come up repeatedly in congressional hearings and have been cited as reason to impeach the secretary.
Ahead of potential proceedings, the Department of Homeland Security is bringing on a private law firm to help with potential impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas.
“I don’t have any intention of being uncooperative. I have complete confidence in the integrity of our decision making,” Mayorkas told Wallace.
Over recent weeks, key committee chairman already held two congressional hearings over the Biden administration’s handling of the US-Mexico border. Earlier this month, the House Judiciary Committee, which would have jurisdiction over an impeachment resolution, held its first border-related hearing.
“These numbers make clear that the Biden administration does not have operational control of the border,” House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan said during a February hearing. “Month after month after month, we have set records for migrants coming into the country and frankly, I think it’s intentional.”
Pressed by Wallace on what it means for the border to be secure and if it means people aren’t illegally crossing the border, Mayorkas said: “Of course not. By that measure, the border has never been secure, right?”
Asked again by what measure the border is secure, he said: “There is not a common definition of that. If one looks at the statutory definition, the literal interpretation of the statutory language, if one person successfully evades law enforcement at the border, then we have breached the security of the border.”
He added: “What our goal is — to achieve operational control of the border, to do everything that we can to support our personnel with the resources, the technology, the policies that really advance the security of the border, and do not come at the cost of the values of our country. And I say that, I say that, because in the prior administration, policies were promulgated, were passed, that did not hew to the values that we hold dear.”
The Biden administration faces unprecedented movement across the Western Hemisphere that has contributed to a surge of migrants at the border, including more people from different countries, such as Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. The US is largely barred from deporting migrants to Cuba and Venezuela, presenting a unique set of challenges for DHS.
“The level of migration that has gripped our hemisphere is extraordinary,” Mayorkas said, stressing that Congress needs to pass reform to fix the immigration system, which Republicans and Democrats agree is broken.
US border authorities encountered migrants more than 2.3 million times along the US-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. Of those, more than 1 million migrants were turned away at the border.
In early January, the Biden administration expanded a humanitarian parole program to include Haitians, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Cubans to provide a legal pathway for them to enter the US instead of crossing the border. The administration also made those nationalities eligible for Title 42, meaning they can now be turned away by authorities if they don’t apply for the program.
Since then, there has been a significant decline in migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela crossing the US-Mexico border unlawfully, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which attributed the drop to new border measures.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | 2023-02-17T11:52:20+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/2023/02/17/mayorkas-goes-on-the-offensive-as-gop-scrutiny-builds-says-its-up-to-congress-to-fix-immigration-system/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden sought out deceased Rep. Jackie Walorski on Wednesday during remarks at a hunger conference, saying “Where’s Jackie?” The White House press secretary later said the congresswoman had been “top of mind” for the president at the time.
Karine Jean-Pierre did not acknowledge that Biden had misspoken during his remarks at the White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health when he looked around the room for Walorski, the Indiana congresswoman who died in an August car crash.
Biden, in his remarks. praised bipartisan lawmakers who worked on addressing childhood hunger, including Rep. Jim McGovern, Sen. Mike Braun, Sen. Cory Booker and Walorski, who was seen as a leader on the issue before her death.
“Representative — Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I think she wasn’t going to be here — to help make this a reality,” Biden said.
Jean-Pierre faced repeated questioning during Wednesday’s White House press briefing about Biden’s flub, saying more than a dozen times that Walorski was “top of mind” for the president, who plans to meet with the congresswoman’s family at an event Friday when he signs a bill renaming a Veterans Affairs clinic in Indiana after her. She declined to say Biden had erred, nor did she issue an apology to the late lawmaker’s family.
“My answer is certainly not going to change,” she told reporters. “All of you may have views on how I’m answering it, but I’m answering the question to the way that he saw it and to the way that we see it.” | 2022-09-29T17:41:40+00:00 | kdvr.com | https://kdvr.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-white-house-late-congresswoman-top-of-mind-in-biden-flub/ |
WAYNE, Pa., July 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Argosy Healthcare Partners ("AHP"), a lower middle market private equity investor focused exclusively on healthcare, and a division of Argosy Capital, a diversified investment firm with $2.7 billion in assets under management, is pleased to announce that it completed the recapitalization and merger of Hudson Robotics ("HR") and Art Robbins Instruments ("ARI" and, together with HR, the "Company"). The Company is a life sciences tools business focused on designing, assembling, and integrating automated liquid handling instruments used in the biopharma, pharma, OEM, and academic end markets. AHP is honored to partner with HR and ARI – continuing the legacies of founders Phil Farrelly and Art and Matt Robbins – and is excited to back Andrew Witschi as CEO (most recently COO of HR).
Hudson Robotics, headquartered in Springfield, New Jersey, and founded in 1983 by Phil Farrelly, designs and produces automated liquid handling instruments, colony pickers, and microplate handling robotics used in a variety of life sciences end-markets and applications in support of the drug discovery and synthetic biology processes. HR combines its internally developed software, SoftLinx™, with hardware, to sell standalone instruments, workstations, fully integrated systems, and original equipment manufacturer ("OEM") products. HR focuses primarily on the biopharma, pharma, diagnostics, and OEM end markets.
Art Robbins Instruments, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and founded in 2003 by Art Robbins, Matt Robbins, and Dave Wright, designs and assembles instruments for protein crystallography, liquid handling, and tissue typing and sells primarily to the academic market. ARI's founding team previously worked together at Robbins Scientific, an instruments and tools business that was sold in 1999.
Andrew Witschi commented, "I am excited to partner with AHP and join forces with ARI to build a world class life sciences tools platform. We have known Matt, Dave and their team for many years and have long admired their products, technology and focus on customer service. Both Hudson Robotics and Art Robbins Instruments have storied histories of innovation, customer care, and creating high-quality instruments with unique capabilities. Together, we are excited to honor our legacies while accelerating growth through reinvestment in commercialization, product development and software (SoftLinx™)."
Global demand for life sciences lab automation solutions is growing rapidly driven by rapid technological advances in mass spectrometry, sequencing technologies and other products as well as the demand from pharma and biotech labs to automate more and more applications and tasks. Paul Barrett, Managing Partner of AHP, stated, "We are thrilled to back Andrew Witschi as CEO, and partner with Matt Robbins as President of ARI and Board Member. Our life sciences tools strategy is to partner with great founders and teams that have terrific products and blue-chip customer bases but have historically underinvested in their commercialization efforts and sales. HR and ARI have terrific products and longstanding customer relationships and there is a tremendous opportunity to accelerate growth through reinvestment in the commercialization engine."
"I am proud of what our team at ARI has accomplished over the last nearly 20 years and am excited to partner with HR and AHP to accelerate our growth while continuing to offer innovative products and provide outstanding customer service. Our organizations share strong cultural common ground and a highly complementary portfolio of products and internal capabilities. We look forward to the journey together and reinvesting in our sales efforts and product development to take the combined company to the next level" said Matt Robbins, President of ARI and Board Member of the Company.
Hudson Robotics, founded in 1983, and headquartered in Springfield, New Jersey, designs and assembles liquid handling, microplate automation, laboratory robotics, and customized software-driven laboratory automation solutions for life-sciences research. HR's instruments are used in drug discovery, clinical research, and pharmaceutical development. HR sells its software, instruments and workstations primarily to the pharma, biopharma, and OEM end markets.
Art Robbins Instruments, founded in 2003 in Sunnyvale CA, is a leading designer and manufacturer of automated instruments and consumables used for protein crystallization, liquid handling, tissue typing, and high throughput experimentation, primarily for use in the academic end market.
Argosy Healthcare Partners ("AHP") is dedicated to partnering with entrepreneurial founders and talented management teams and together building market leading platforms. AHP partners with founder owned healthcare businesses anywhere in the US with $1.0 - $3.0 million of EBITDA and executes majority control transactions. AHP is a platform built for founder-owned companies to support their culture, reinvest in their business, and accelerate growth.
Argosy Healthcare Partners: www.argosyhp.com
Hudson Robotics: www.hudsonrobotics.com
Art Robbins Instruments: www.artrobbins.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Argosy Healthcare Partners | 2022-07-12T15:06:56+00:00 | wagmtv.com | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2022/07/12/argosy-healthcare-partners-completes-recapitalization-merger-hudson-robotics-amp-art-robbins-instruments/ |
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Ray's Steak & Lemonade, 1715 Bradford Lane Unit 115 in Normal, is this week's pick for Eats of the Week. Have you tried it? | 2022-10-22T09:58:44+00:00 | pantagraph.com | https://pantagraph.com/annie/article_b52c728c-d954-5d33-b8a9-05eafa5f2f50.html |
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The Chinese military has become significantly more aggressive and dangerous over the past five years, the top U.S. military officer said during a trip to the Indo-Pacific that included a stop Sunday in Indonesia.
Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the number of intercepts by Chinese aircraft and ships in the Pacific region with U.S. and other partner forces has increased significantly over that time, and the number of unsafe interactions has risen by similar proportions.
“The message is the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more and noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” said Milley, who recently asked his staff to compile details about interactions between China and the U.S. and others in the region.
His comments came as the U.S. redoubles its efforts to strengthen its relationships with Pacific nations as a counterbalance to China, which is trying to expand its presence and influence in the region. The Biden administration considers China its “pacing threat" and America's primary long-term security challenge.
Milley's trip to the region is sharply focused on the China threat. He will attend a meeting of Indo-Pacific chiefs of defense this week in Sydney, Australia, where key topics will be China's escalating military growth and the need to maintain a free, open and peaceful Pacific.
U.S. military officials have also raised alarms about the possibility that China could invade Taiwan, the democratic, self-ruled island that Beijing views as a breakaway province. China has stepped up its military provocations against Taiwan as it looks to intimidate it into unifying with the communist mainland.
U.S. military officials have said Beijing wants to be ready to make a move on the island by 2027. The U.S. remains Taiwan’s chief ally and supplier of defense weapons. U.S. law requires the government to treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern,” but remains ambiguous on whether the U.S. military would defend Taiwan if it were attacked by China.
China’s top military officer, Gen. Li Zuocheng told Milley in a July 7 call that Beijing had “no room for compromise” on issues such as Taiwan. He said he told Milley that the U.S. must “cease U.S.-Taiwan military collusion and avoid impacting China-U.S. ties and stability in the Taiwan Strait."
The U.S. and others are also worried that a recent security agreement that Beijing signed in April with the Solomon Islands could lead to the establishment of a Chinese naval base in the South Pacific. The U.S. and Australia have told the Solomon Islands that hosting a Chinese military base would not be tolerated.
“This is an area in which China is trying to do outreach for their own purposes. And again, this is concerning because China is not doing it just for benign reasons,” Milley told reporters traveling with him. “They’re trying to expand their influence throughout the region. And that has potential consequences that are not necessarily favorable to our allies and partners in the region."
Milley's visit to Indonesia is the first by a U.S. joint chiefs chairman since Adm. Mike Mullen in 2008. But U.S. leaders have crisscrossed the Asia-Pacific in recent months, including high-profile visits by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The Biden administration has been taking steps to expand its military and security relationship with Indo-Pacific nations as part of a campaign to build a stronger network of alliances in China’s backyard and counter China's growing influence.
Milley declined to provide specific numbers of unsafe Chinese interactions with U.S. and allied aircraft and ships. But Austin, in a speech in Singapore last month, referred to an “alarming increase" in the number of unsafe intercepts by People's Liberation Army aircraft and vessels.
Austin specifically pointed to a February incident where a PLA navy ship directed a laser at an Australian P-8 maritime patrol aircraft. But there have been a number of others. A surveillance aircraft controlled by Canada was recently intercepted by a Chinese fighter in international airspace. And U.S. ships are routinely dogged by Chinese aircraft and vessels during transits, particularly around manmade islands claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea.
Milley said there have been Chinese intercepts with Japan, Canada, Australia, Philippines and Vietnam. They all, he said, have seen a “statistically significant” increase in intercepts, and the number of unsafe incidents has increased by an “equal proportion.”
Milley, who will meet with Gen. Andika Perkasa, chief of the Indonesian National Defence Forces, said Pacific nations like Indonesia want the U.S. military involved and engaged in the region.
“We want to work with them to develop interoperability and modernize our militaries collectively," Milley said, in order to ensure they can "meet whatever challenge that China poses.”
He said Indonesia is strategically critical to the region, and has long been a key U.S. partner.
Earlier this year, the U.S approved a $13.9 billion sale of advanced fighter jets to Indonesia. And in Jakarta last December, Blinken signed agreements for enhanced joint naval exercises between the U.S. and Indonesia.
China has condemned U.S. efforts to expand its outreach in the region, accusing America of trying to build an “Asian NATO.” During a speech in Singapore, Austin rejected that claim. "We do not seek a new Cold War, an Asian NATO or a region split into hostile blocs,” he said. | 2022-07-24T08:15:25+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Milley-China-more-aggressive-dangerous-to-US-17325229.php |
VALLETTA, Malta (AP) — A dilapidated villa outside Malta’s capital where a young Princess Elizabeth and her husband lived for a fondly recalled period before she became queen has become a focal point of Malta’s remembrance of the late monarch and her ties to the former British colony in the Mediterranean.
Flowers and wreaths have crowded the door of Villa Guardamangia, where Elizabeth and Prince Philip spent months at a time between 1949 and 1951, following the death of the woman who would go on to serve for 70 years as Queen Elizabeth II. Philip, a Royal Navy officer, was assigned to Malta in the early years of the couple’s marriage.
“Visiting Malta is always very special for me,” the queen said in Malta in 2015, when she visited the island nation for a Commonwealth meeting in what became her final visit. “I remember happy days here with Prince Phillip when we were first married.”
Unlike in some other former colonies, where the monarch’s death has conjured up memories of oppression or lasting economic disparities as a legacy of British rule, residents of Malta generally remember the monarch with respect.
The Maltese government in 2020 purchased Villa Guardamangia, which had fallen into disrepair, and is renovating the dwelling with the aim of turning it into a museum documenting the history of Malta’s relationship with the British monarchy.
“Obviously, Malta was a colony, too, so there are people who also remember that Britain had colonized us,” said former President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca. “But I don’t think people really mix the issue of being colonized and the queen. The queen carried a lot of respect.”
Malta’s current president, George Vella, plans to represent the country at the queen’s Monday funeral in London.
Malta’s colonial past saw political clashes and a few riots, but also some pushes for the country to become closer to the United Kingdom. After attempts by a major political party for integration with the U.K. failed in the 1950s, Malta steadied on a path towards self-determination and eventually gained its independence in 1964. Elizabeth remained Malta’s head of state until 1974, when Malta became a republic.
“Having lived here when she was still a princess, Malta is the only country that Queen Elizabeth II could call home outside of the United Kingdom,” said Noel Zarb, who helped handle communications for the Maltese president at the time of the monarch’s last visit.
The Commonwealth is a political association of 56 countries, most of them former British colonies like Malta. Zarb recalled that as recently as the 2015 meeting in Valletta, “everywhere the queen went, there was still that sentiment of warmth, hospitality and welcome.”
Coleiro Preca, who hosted the queen at San Anton Palace that year, said the queen remained interested in Malta and clearly had fond memories of her time there.
“She could remember a lot of details about Malta, especially about the time she spent in the country at the beginning of her marriage,” the former president said.
“She was also very interested in the goings on of the Maltese people. I remember taking her Maltese products and oranges from San Anton Garden, and her speaking to me about the food in Malta.”
Following the queen’s death, an online petition calling for a statue to be created in Elizabeth’s honor garnered some 1,400 signatures. The initiative also sparked online debate as to whether such a tribute was appropriate.
Among the Maltese with fond memories of the queen is Aldo Muscat, whose family has a long history of providing flowers for royal events starting when the princess lived in Malta and up through when the queen came back for visits.
Muscat proudly shows off letters of thanks from her staff thanking him, his father and grandfather, who all provided blooms.
“I know the queen liked flowers so much, and we always were thanked,” Muscat said.
Such personal touches helped cement an enduring relationship between Malta and the queen. Coleiro Preca recalled her daughter bumping into the queen in the San Anton Palace corridor in 2015.
“She stopped my daughter and started a conversation. She knew my daughter was studying in England and asked about her studies, what she intends to do in the future,” Coleiro Preca recalled. “I could see a mother behind the person of repute.”
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Queen Elizabeth II https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii | 2022-09-18T01:05:25+00:00 | myfox8.com | https://myfox8.com/news/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-once-home-to-a-princess-malta-remembers-the-queen/ |
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Cars crashed into tires and other garbage piled on a highway in the northern Netherlands in the early hours of Thursday, police said, as protests by radical farmers against government plans to rein in nitrogen emissions continued.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte branded the protests “unacceptable.”
Police in the northern province of Friesland said nobody was injured when several cars were involved in an accident caused by dumped garbage, but warned motorists to be alert to “extremely dangerous situations” caused by the farmers’ protest actions.
A handful of new protests took place overnight, including farmers burning hay bales near a major highway, despite police and security authorities appealing to farmers Wednesday to halt the dumping.
“Protesting is a fundamental right and as long as it stays within the limits of the law, a lot is possible,” the emergency services said in a joint statement. But they said the latest actions “seriously endanger road safety and can lead to life-threatening situations for road users.”
In a sign of the increasingly radicalized farmer protests, cleanup operations have been hampered by intimidation of contractors hired to clear roads and by the presence of asbestos in some of the piles of debris dumped on roads.
“Wilfully endangering others, damaging our infrastructure and threatening people who help clean up is beyond all limits,” Rutte said in a tweet.
“These life-threatening actions must stop. There are plenty of other ways to express your dissatisfaction within the law. Most farmers do that,” he added.
The farmers are angry at government targets for reining in emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia that they say threaten to decimate the farming industry and their way of life.
The ruling coalition wants to cut emissions of pollutants by 50% nationwide by 2030 to improve soil, air and water quality in an EU nation known for its intensive farming practices. It has called on provincial authorities to draw up plans to reduce emissions and earmarked an extra 24.3 billion euros ($24.6 billion) to fund the changes. | 2022-07-28T23:26:18+00:00 | texomashomepage.com | https://www.texomashomepage.com/news/international/cars-hit-tires-dumped-on-dutch-highway-amid-farmer-protests/ |
On the Come Up is the story of Bri — a 16-year-old gifted rapper who attempts to take the battle rap scene by storm. Bri is focused on uplifting her family and the legacy of her father, a local hip hop legend whose career was cut short by gang violence. But when her first hit song goes viral for all the wrong reasons, she finds herself torn between the authenticity that got her this far and the false persona that the industry wants to impose upon her. The film is based on the New York Times #1 best-selling novel by Angie Thomas.
Sanaa Lathan makes her directorial debut with On The Come Up, which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival. The film also includes Lil Yachty, Mike Epps, Sanaa Lathan, and Cliff “Method Man” Smith.
“We are just now seeing multiple female rappers come up and it’s really exciting to me,” explained Lathan in a chat. “It’s like any area it has to do with misogyny, sexism, and just straight-up prejudice. It’s taken this long to really open up the doors for female MCs and I’m excited.” Author Thomas added, “That there is so much of it as well and it has always been sexism. The expectation that’s placed on women, it’s always going to be criticism on whatever they rap about”.
When asked who is her current favorite female hip-hop artist, Lathan shared “I really like Doja Cat, I think she is the real deal. She is a real artist. I really love Nicki always, I think she is brilliant. Lauryn Hill, I love Tierra Whack. I mean it’s so many of them.”
On The Come Up exposes the challenges, real-life artists face to uphold a public persona for the advancement of their career. Star of the film, Jamila C. Gray who embodies Bri, has been “fortunate” to have a team around her who values her authenticity, however, she understands not everyone is as lucky. “I think as a new actress everything is always in question. But I think it’s great to have people around you that ground you and make sure that you don’t steer away from your values. It can get hard especially- a lot of actresses are desperate for jobs. It’s easy to compromise your integrity, but that’s when good people around you come into play.”
Catch On The Come Up on September 23, 2022 on Paramount +.
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Sanaa Lathan Praises Doja Cat And Nicki Minaj was originally published on hellobeautiful.com | 2022-09-30T21:53:46+00:00 | wtlcfm.com | https://wtlcfm.com/3331554/sanaa-lathan-praises-doja-cat-and-nicki-minaj/ |
Creating your dream bohemian bedroom
Bohemian-style bedrooms are fun, free-spirited and laid-back. Their chic, eclectic vibe makes them unique and full of character. From ornately carved bed frames and dressers to macrame wall hangings, it’s relatively easy to create your dream bedroom once you’re familiar with the boho style.
Shop this article: Urban Outfitters Bohemian Platform Bed, Induslyfe Macrame Wall Hanging Shelf Rack, Langley Street Peace And Namaste by Olivia Rose Print
Origins of bohemian design
Bohemian, or “boho” style originated in Paris, France, largely inspired by the Romani nomadic way of life (the French word ‘bohémien’ meaning Romani). The Romani of Central Europe were known for their dress style and richly colored textiles that stood out against the styles of the time. The movement represented nonconformity and self-expression in the 19th century, and this spirit continues in bohemian design.
Defining the bohemian style
Bohemian furniture and decor mix different colors, patterns and textures — think the exact opposite of minimalism. Intricately carved wood, handwoven jute and rattan materials are popular for this style. Botanical elements are classic for boho decor, including floral, plant and animal imagery. With nature being a prevalent theme, faux or real plants will also complement the space.
Bohemian style aligns closely with spirituality, featuring Buddhist themes and symbolism, such as the mandala. Brightly colored Moroccan, Turkish and Persian pieces work well with boho decor. Macrame and embellishments such as beading and tassels are in style, as well. Hanging planters and chairs, along with low-to-the-ground furniture, also create the casual aesthetic you want for a boho bedroom.
Top boho bedroom furniture
Urban Outfitters Bohemian Platform Bed
This boho bed frame has an attractive vintage aesthetic. Crafted from sustainable mango wood, the frame doesn’t require a box spring, so the low-to-the-ground bed will have a casual, relaxed look to it. The frame comes in twin, full and queen sizes in brown or white.
Sold by Urban Outfitters
Anthropologie Darby Duvet Cover
With an opulent nature scene and rich colors, this duvet cover belongs in a boho bedroom. The 100% cotton cover comes in teal and ocher patterns for twin, full, queen, king and California king beds. If you want the matching shams, you’ll have to purchase them separately.
Sold by Anthropologie
Lark Manor Hoang Wood Nightstand
This engraved wood nightstand features a botanical medallion and floral details that capture the boho spirit. It has one drawer and an exposed bottom shelf that’s great for storing books and keepsakes. The weathered, whitewashed finish is an added touch.
Sold by Wayfair
Kelly Clarkson Home Baxter Combo Dresser
This combination dresser includes three drawers and two cabinets for storing different types of clothing. The weathered, light gray finish paired with the carved floral design makes it distinctly boho. It’s also available with a mirror.
Sold by Wayfair
Induslyfe Macrame Wall Hanging Shelf Rack
This gorgeous macrame wall hanging offers storage and decorative appeal. Featuring handwoven rope, beaded detailing and quality pine, it contains three shelves for hanging books, plants and decorative items.
Sold by Amazon
Top boho bedroom decor
CopperBull Turkish Moroccan Mosaic Bedside Lamp
The mosaic glass beads on this Moroccan-style lamp create a beautiful lighting effect, though it doesn’t generate much brightness. The handmade lamp has a hammered, antique brass finish and comes in 11 colors. It requires an E12 light bulb, which must be purchased separately.
Sold by Amazon
Langley Street Peace And Namaste by Olivia Rose Print
This wall art set displays the power of spirituality with peace and namaste signs. The neutral pink and brown colors will complement a variety of bedroom color schemes. Mounted on pine, the two cotton canvas prints come with hooks for hanging.
Sold by Wayfair
Bless International Bohemian Mandala Wall Hanging
This vibrant wall tapestry features the Buddhist mandala, representing the spiritual journey. This cotton wall hanging looks great above a bed or even as a bedspread. Available in five sizes and 18 colors, you can easily find one that matches your bedroom color scheme.
Sold by Amazon
Bungalow Rose Rockton Ceramic Table Vase
This cute set of four terracotta vases can be displayed on their own or with flowers inside. Each one has a unique size and shape, offering interesting visual variety when placed together. The set is available in aqua, gray and white or aqua, yellow, green and white.
Sold by Wayfair
Purzest Ceramic Hanging Planters
This set of six ceramic planters features multiple colors and shapes for an eclectic aesthetic. They’re designed to house succulents, air plants, cactuses and faux plants. This particular set has a geometric theme, and the planters are also available in a rounded style.
Sold by Amazon
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Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-25T20:23:23+00:00 | cbs4indy.com | https://cbs4indy.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/bedroom-furniture-br/how-to-style-your-dream-boho-bedroom/ |
Leading Pop-Up Consignment Franchise Enters New Era with 15-Year Franchisee Purchasing the Company
READING, Pa., Jan. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Just Between Friends, North America's largest and leading children's and maternity pop-up consignment community marketplace, makes a historic brand announcement: the sale of the company to newly appointed CEO, Tracy Panase. Effective immediately, Panase has purchased the company and stepped into the role of CEO. This monumental news comes off the heels of a successful year with nine new franchise agreements, 317 total consignment sales events across the U.S., and accumulating more than $41 million dollars in systemwide sales in 2022.
Panase was first introduced to the world of franchising in 1999 when she and her husband became franchisees of Cookies by Design. She then discovered Just Between Friends in 2008, signing on as a franchisee in Reading, PA. Since she had experience in the franchise space and belief in the Just Between Friends concept, Panase quickly found success and soon bought three additional territories throughout the greater Philadelphia area.
With a longstanding history with Just Between Friends, Panase has already played an instrumental role in its success. Over the past 14 years, she and her husband have grown to be the largest revenue producer in the system, having joined the 'Million Dollar Club' back in 2012. Panase's husband has taken over as sole owner of their Just Between Friends local operations so she can focus solely on the role of CEO and franchisor.
"Stepping into the role of franchisor was a natural next step of this journey and one that I am extremely honored to take," said Panase. "I instantly resonated with the solution Just Between Friends was providing as a parent – and now I am able to utilize my franchisee experience to make a stronger impact on the brand as franchisor. I look forward to sharing my experience as a franchisee with the system, help other families achieve their entrepreneurial dreams, and lead the brand into its next era of growth."
Former CEO and Co-Founder, Shannon Wilburn, will take on the role of Brand Ambassador where she will provide strategic advisement for the next three years. Just Between Friends became a franchise in 2003 and has since grown across 31 states with more than 151 locations under Wilburn's leadership.
"Seeing Just Between Friends grow from our first sale in a living room 25 years ago to a national franchise has been more than a dream come true," said Shannon Wilburn, Co-Founder and Brand Ambassador of Just Between Friends. "Tracy is the exact right person to pass the torch to and I'm confident she will continue to enhance the legacy we've built while taking the business to new heights."
Now after purchasing the franchise system, Panase looks to make Just Between Friends a household name through strategic partnerships with synergistic brands and providing greater access to families through building out a robust franchise development pipeline.
At a Just Between Friends sale, parents and grandparents can shop rows and rows of baby and children's shoes, toys, clothing, maternity, and baby equipment at 50 - 90% off retail prices, and as a consignor, they can sell items and earn from 60 - 70% on item sales. At the end of each Just Between Friends sale, items are donated to local organizations which help local women, children and families, serving groups that provide clothing closets, crisis centers, transitional emergency care, food banks and many other services.
For more about Just Between Friends and its franchise opportunity, visit https://jbfsalefranchise.com/.
Just Between Friends (JBF) is North America's largest and leading children's and maternity pop-up consignment community marketplace and is the only franchise in this vertical to employ an industry-leading safety and recall expert. Just Between Friends provides a resource for families shopping or selling items for a variety of reasons – from saving money on a strict budget to family trips – as well as providing a sustainable resource in the consignment sale space. What began as a sale between a few mom friends, including former CEO, Co-Founder and Brand Ambassador Shannon Wilburn in 1997, has grown into a nationwide phenomenon with more than 151 franchises in 31 states.
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SOURCE Just Between Friends Franchise System, Inc. | 2023-01-24T15:51:16+00:00 | wbrc.com | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/01/24/creating-brand-history-just-between-friends-franchise-sold-new-ceo-tracy-panase/ |
HONG KONG, April 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the top 15 DEXs by 24-hour trading volume and 30 most widely used protocols in all of DeFi, WOOFi takes the center stage at the sidelines of the Hong Kong Web3 Festival and speaks about the bullish prospects of Ethereum-based Layer 2 Networks as a result of the Shanghai upgrade and investors' increasing interest.
Kevin Feng, Head of DeFi at WOO Network was a panel member at the LiquidityTech Protocol (LTP) Summit to discuss the topic "Is the future of finance decentralized?" where he was joined by representatives from Nomura Laser Digital, Foresight Ventures, MetaWeb Ventures, Bitget, and Bluefin.
The summit, which will feature a roster of industry leaders, top trading institutions, digital currency asset banks, exchanges, custodians, investment banks, and regulators, will tackle cutting-edge trends and visions for the future of the digital asset field, from the perspective of institutional traders. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Web3 Festival, expected to attract more than 10,000 participants, will cover other topics in the Web3 space including blockchain, metaverse, NFTs, and fintech.
"The Shanghai upgrade will be one of the drivers [of DeFi and Layer 2 projects]. Several high-profile projects will go live in the next few months, including Base, zkSync Era, Polygon zkEVM, Scroll, and Linea. This will attract significant user attention and capital.
The bullish sentiment is also tied to growing interest in the industry because of its open-source nature, fast innovation, and incessant growth. We're also excited about the level of interest of investors in the region and glad that WOOFi is at the intersection of these developments," Feng said in a statement.
Before the formal opening of the Hong Kong Web 3 Festival, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan already said that while the crypto markets have been highly volatile, it's the "right time" to push Web3 adoption in the region.
Meanwhile, Feng said barely nine months have passed since WOOFi became the first DEX to deploy one-click cross-chain swaps powered by cutting-edge Stargate technology. He added that the DEX has overseen more than 100,000 cross-chain transactions, grown to support six chains, and saved traders countless hours that would have been otherwise lost in the painful process of manually bridging.
The content above is neither a recommendation for investment and trading strategies nor does it constitute an investment offer, solicitation, or recommendation of any product or service. The content is for informational sharing purposes only. Anyone who makes or changes to their investment decision based on the content shall undertake the result or loss by himself/herself.
The content of this document has been translated into different languages and shared throughout different platforms. In case of any discrepancy or inconsistency between different posts caused by mistranslations, the English version on our official website shall prevail.
CONTACT:
Paolo Lising
paolo@woo.network
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SOURCE WOO Network | 2023-04-12T04:07:59+00:00 | newschannel10.com | https://www.newschannel10.com/prnewswire/2023/04/12/woofi-bullish-layer-2s-it-joins-hong-kong-web3-festival/ |
NEW YORK, June 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- First Citizens Bank today announced that its Real Estate Finance business provided a $19.5 million construction loan for the development of Holbrook Logistics Center in Long Island, N.Y.
The borrower, an affiliate of Eagle Cliff Real Estate Partners, is building a new 108,000-square-foot distribution center in the Long Island community of Islip.
The property is conveniently located near Long Island's MacArthur Airport, with ready access to both the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway.
"Demand for warehouse and distribution space in central Long Island is strong and this property has all the right characteristics to be successful," said Paul Teti, Co-Founder of Eagle Cliff Real Estate Partners. "We appreciated the expertise of First Citizens' Real Estate Finance in arranging the construction financing to advance this important project."
"We were pleased to work closely with our clients to develop a financial package that meets the needs of this project," said Chris Niederpruem, First Citizens Bank managing director and group head for Real Estate Finance.
"Eagle Cliff Real Estate Partners is well known and respected in the industry for their skill and experience in commercial real estate development," said Ted Dalton, a managing director for Real Estate Finance. "We appreciated the opportunity to support them with this financing and look forward to more opportunities in the future."
Real Estate Finance, part of First Citizens' CIT division, originates and underwrites senior secured real estate transactions. With deep market expertise, underwriting experience and industry relationships, the unit provides financing for single properties, property portfolios and loan portfolios.
About First Citizens Bank
First Citizens Bank helps personal, business, commercial and wealth clients build financial strength that lasts. Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., and now celebrating the 125th anniversary of its founding, First Citizens has built a unique legacy of strength, stability and long-term thinking that has spanned generations. First Citizens offers an array of general banking services including a network of more than 550 branches in 23 states and commercial banking expertise delivering best-in-class lending, leasing and other financial services coast to coast. Parent company First Citizens BancShares, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCNCA) is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Discover more at firstcitizens.com.
About Eagle Cliff Real Estate Partners
Eagle Cliff Real Estate Partners is a private investment firm focused on real estate opportunities across diversified asset classes in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region of the US. Eagle Cliff creates value through collaborative partnerships, thoughtful investment structuring, and undertaking a hands-on approach to operations and development management. Eagle Cliff is managed by Paul Teti and Giorgios Vlamis and invests capital on behalf of both family offices and institutional partners. Over the past 20 years the Eagle Cliff management team has been part of building, improving, and monetizing both real estate investments and operating companies.
MEDIA RELATIONS:
Ella Bristow
(212) 461-5322
Ella.bristow@firstcitizens.com
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SOURCE First Citizens Bank | 2023-06-21T18:13:27+00:00 | wagmtv.com | https://www.wagmtv.com/prnewswire/2023/06/21/first-citizens-bank-provides-195-million-development-holbrook-logistics-center/ |
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — One of the world’s highest inflation rates is making it more difficult to make ends meet in Argentina, where at the end of last year nearly four of every 10 people were poor, official figures revealed Thursday.
Poverty increased to 39.2% of the population in the second half of 2022, a three percentage point increase from the first six months of the year, said Argentina’s national statistics agency, INDEC. Among children under age 15, the poverty rate increased more than three percentage points to 54.2%.
In a poor neighborhood in Argentina’s capital, those who run a soup kitchen don’t need the statistics to tell them what they have been seeing amid an economy wracked by inflation that reached 94.8% last year.
“There’s more poverty than before,” said Graciela Gamarra, who runs the soup kitchen in the Fraga district that hands out more than 800 portions of food every weekday afternoon.
“After the pandemic, everything got worse,” she said. “Most have precarious jobs, they don’t have fixed employment to say that they’re sure about how much they’ll make each month.”
Rosa Guerrera, 76, was one of the people who went to the soup kitchen with her plastic container to get food on a recent afternoon.
“If it weren’t for the soup kitchen, what would become of me?” Guerrera said, noting that more people from outside the neighborhood had been arriving recently to ask for food.
Experts say inflation has hit lower middle class families particularly hard as the price of food has increased more than other items.
“If the inflationary question isn’t resolved, it will be very difficult to recover purchasing power and lower the poverty level,” said Eduardo Donza, a researcher at the Social Debt Observatory at Catholic University of Argentina.
Even if inflation were to magically disappear, though, “it wouldn’t be enough, because the poverty level is associated with a very precarious job market,” Donza added.
The percentage of Argentina’s population considered destitute — those whose income won’t even cover basic, minimal food needs — decreased slightly to 8.1% from 8.8%.
The decline was largely due to welfare programs, without which the destitution rate would be around 18%, Donza estimated.
The government’s efforts to cool inflation have been made even more difficult by a devastating drought that has increased costs even further. The annual rate of inflation rose above 100% in February.
Although the poverty rate has decreased slightly from 42% in the second half of 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will undoubtedly be one of the main issues in the presidential campaign ahead of October elections. President Alberto Fernández has still not said whether he will seek reelection.
Members of the opposition were quick to criticize the government when the latest poverty figures came out.
“More than 18 million Argentines are poor,” former Buenos Aires Gov. María Eugenia Vidal wrote on Twitter. “And you know what the worst part is? This information is already outdated. The situation in 2023 is even more serious.”
For now, many Argentines don’t have much faith that things could improve, even with new leadership.
“All the politicians promise, promise, and once they’re there, they don’t see you, they don’t listen to you,” said Gamarra, at the soup kitchen. “Most people here think the same way — just promises they don’t fulfill.” | 2023-03-31T07:31:12+00:00 | fox44news.com | https://www.fox44news.com/news/world-news/high-inflation-pushes-poverty-rate-even-higher-in-argentina/ |
Officials: 8 dolphins dead after stranding in New Jersey
SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. (AP) — Marine animal welfare officials say eight dolphins have died after they became stranded on a beach in New Jersey. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center said on Facebook Tuesday morning that a pod of eight dolphins known as “common dolphins” had become stranded in Sea Isle City and that staff and a veterinarian had responded with help from local officials. Officials said at the time that two of the dolphins had died. On Tuesday afternoon officials said the remaining six dolphins were assessed by the veterinarian and the decision was made to euthanize them to prevent further suffering. The dolphins have been taken to the New Jersey State Lab for necropsies. | 2023-03-22T06:29:14+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/ap-national/2023/03/21/officials-8-dolphins-dead-after-stranding-in-new-jersey/ |
Shell 3Q earnings double, stir debate on energy profit tax
LONDON (AP) — Shell’s earnings more than doubled in the third quarter, fueling the debate over taxes on energy producers’ windfall profits as they have benefited from high oil and natural gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Adjusted earnings, which exclude one-time items and fluctuations in the value of inventories, jumped to $9.45 billion from $4.13 billion in the same period last year, Shell said Thursday. The London-based energy giant also announced a $4 billion share buyback and plans to increase its fourth-quarter dividend by 15%.
“We are delivering robust results at a time of ongoing volatility in global energy market,” Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said in a statement. “At the same time we are working closely with governments and customers to address their short and long-term energy needs.”
Global energy prices soared after the invasion of Ukraine as Western governments imposed sanctions on Russia and the Kremlin curtailed natural gas shipments to Europe, fueling inflation that has spread pain across economies. Brent crude, a benchmark for European oil prices, averaged $100.84 a barrel in the third quarter, 37% higher than a year earlier. Wholesale natural gas prices in Europe more than tripled in the same period.
The U.K., Spain and Italy have already imposed taxes on the windfall profits of energy producers as high oil and gas prices — which have fallen from summer highs — squeeze homes and businesses. The European Union passed such a levy last month.
Britain in May imposed an additional 25% tax on profits earned from oil and gas extraction in the U.K. The temporary tax is designed to raise about 5 billion pounds ($5.8 billion) through the end of 2025. The tax cost Shell $361 million in the third quarter, the company said.
Opposition parties are pressuring Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who took office this week, to increase the windfall profits tax as he rushes to stabilize Britain’s finances with new tax and spending plans. The government is scheduled to deliver its autumn financial statement to Parliament on Nov. 17.
Rachel Reeves, the opposition Labour Party’s spokeswoman on Treasury issues, renewed that call Thursday.
Despite “booming oil profits,” the government still refuses to impose a “proper windfall tax on energy producers,” she tweeted after Shell reported earnings.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | 2022-10-27T10:49:06+00:00 | kob.com | https://www.kob.com/news/business-money/shell-3q-earnings-double-stir-debate-on-energy-profit-tax/ |
Naomi S. Zook, age 70 of 20 Buck Run Road, Christiana, PA, passed away at the York Hospital on Tuesday, September 27, 2022. She was the wife of Reuben B. Zook. She was born in Elverson, daughter of the late Samuel U. & Rebecca Stoltzfus Fisher.
She was a homemaker. She was a member of the Old Order Amish Church.
Surviving besides her husband are 10 children: Rebecca E. wife of David L. Stoltzfus of Paradise, Elam K. husband of Amanda L. Stoltzfus Zook of Fennimore, WI, Amos F. husband of Mattie B. King Zook of Pequea Samuel U. husband of Sarah S. Stoltzfus Zook of Platteville, WI, Barbara wife of Henry F. Fisher of Cadiz, KY, Mary S. wife of Elam S. Lapp of Bellfonte, John F. husband of Katie E. Glick Zook of Brogue, Reuben B., Jr. husband of Barbara S. Lapp Zook of Christiana, Daniel F. husband of Rebecca S. Glick Zook of Lincoln University, Steven R. husband of Susie S. Fisher Zook of Christiana, 82 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren, 8 siblings: Daniel S. husband of Priscilla Beiler Fisher of Elverson, Stephen S. Fisher of Narvon, Samuel S. Fisher of Colorado, Lydia S. wife of Gary Mellott of West Virginia, Fannie S. wife of Don Price of Manheim, Amos S. husband of Lydia Stoltzfus Fisher of Honey Brook, Rebecca S. wife of John Stoltzfus of Quarryville and the late Melvin Stoltzfus, Emma S. wife of Daniel Stoltzfus of New Providence. She was preceded in death by 4 grandchildren and a brother Christian S. Fisher.
Funeral service will take place from her late home, 20 Buck Run Road, Christiana, on Thursday, 9 a.m. E.S.T. with interment in the Bart Amish Cemetery. Arrangements by the Shivery Funeral Home.
A living tribute » | 2022-09-28T04:45:58+00:00 | lancasteronline.com | https://lancasteronline.com/obituaries/naomi-s-zook/article_d1153ecd-a928-5746-94e6-3f8e87ff7515.html |
No. 1 Hawaii’s run of consecutive sets won ended at 25, but the Rainbow Warriors quickly regrouped to extend their match win streak to 19 with a four-set victory over Concordia University Irvine tonight at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
With All-America setter Jakob Thelle sitting out the match to manage his workload, UH junior Brett Sheward shifted over from libero to direct an attack that hit .402 and the Rainbow Warriors (10-0) held off the Golden Eagles 25-14, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23 before a crowd of 3,590.
UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias put away a season-high 20 kills in 36 attacks and outside hitter Spyros Chakas hammered his 16th kill on match point.
UH middle blocker Cole Hogland tied his career high with 10 kills in 15 attempts and fired two aces. Guilherme Voss added eight kills in 10 attempts in the middle and was in on six of UH’s nine blocks.
In their first home match since Jan. 20, the Rainbow Warriors dominated the first set, then dropped just their third set of the season when Concordia (4-6) outdueled the Warriors late in the second to tie the match.
Hogland helped the Warriors restore order in the third set with three kills and a six-point service turn that included his second ace of the night.
The Warriors never trailed in the fourth set, but Concordia fought off two match points in a 5-1 run to close to 24-23. But Chakas hammered a kill out of the back row to end any thoughts of sending the match to a fifth set.
Concordia opposite Uriel Batista led the Golden Eagles with 15 kills, 12 coming in the first two sets. Freshman outside hitter Scott Montez added 13 kills.
UH and Concordia wrap up their series with Friday’s rematch. | 2023-02-17T08:11:42+00:00 | staradvertiser.com | https://www.staradvertiser.com/2023/02/16/sports/sports-breaking/top-ranked-holds-off-concordia-university-irvine/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — For the first time in more than a decade, the average U.S. homeowner with a mortgage has less home equity than they did a year earlier.
Among the roughly 63% of U.S. homes with a mortgage, average homeowner equity per borrower was $274,070 in the first quarter, down 1.9% from the same quarter last year, according to real estate data tracker CoreLogic.
The last time average homeowner equity fell year-over-year was in the first quarter of 2012, when the housing market was still regaining its footing after the mortgage meltdown and ensuing foreclosure crisis that helped trigger the Great Recession.
All told, U.S. homeowners with a mortgage lost a combined $108.4 billion in home equity between the first quarter of last year and the first three months of 2023, a drop of 0.7%, according to CoreLogic.
Homeowner equity, which represents the current value of the property minus what’s still owed on the mortgage, tends to rise and fall along with home prices.
In the first quarter of 2012, it averaged $75,130. It then climbed sharply in the years that followed as rock-bottom mortgage rates and a chronic shortage of properties for sale superheated the market for homes. Prices soared, and by the second quarter of last year, average U.S. homeowner equity reached a record-high $297,510, according to CoreLogic.
But starting a little over a year ago, the housing market has since slowed, limited by sharply higher mortgage rates and a thin inventory of available homes. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell 23.2% in the 12 months ended in April, marking nine straight months of annual sales declines of 20% or more, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The slowdown has also weighed on home prices. Despite rising in January, the national median home price has since fallen, most recently in April, when it slid 1.7% from a year earlier to $388,800.
One bright spot for homeowners: Average homeowner equity edged up 0.9% in the first quarter compared with the fourth quarter, the firm said.
“Home equity trends closely follow home price changes,” said Selma Hepp, CoreLogic’s chief economist. “As a result, while the average amount of equity declined from a year ago, it increased from the fourth quarter of 2022, as monthly home prices growth accelerated in early 2023.”
Despite the decline in home equity, the number of homeowners who were “underwater” on their mortgage, or owing more on their loan than their home is worth, held steady between the fourth quarter and first quarter at 1.2 million homes, or about 2.1% of properties with a mortgage, CoreLogic said.
It did, however, increase 4% in the first quarter from a year earlier.
At the state level, Washington, California and Utah saw the largest average home equity decline at $74,300, $59,600 and $37,700, respectively. | 2023-06-15T15:44:06+00:00 | wivb.com | https://www.wivb.com/news/business/shedding-equity-housing-slowdown-leads-to-first-annual-drop-in-us-homeowner-equity-since-2012/ |
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — On all but three Sunday afternoons since last Easter, Bob Guerra — a Catholic deacon — has carefully packed his favorite crucifix, a Spanish-language Bible, hundreds of Communion wafers secured in Ziploc bags and other liturgical items into a plastic storage box.
Then he lugs it a few miles to Fort Bliss, an Army base in the desert on the outskirts of El Paso, where he helps celebrate Mass for hundreds of migrant teens held at a vast tent shelter.
That shelter and similar facilities across the southwest were set up by the Biden administration and its predecessors to deal with surges of minors crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without parents or guardians. For the faithful young people they hold, the clergy and volunteers who visit bring comfort and healing through the sacraments.
“They’re praying with such devotion you can see the tears rolling down their eyes,” Guerra says of the teens’ acts of faith he witnesses every Sunday after they receive Communion and kneel before a little cross. On Easter Sunday, he plans to gift them their own miniature crosses and cookies baked by local nuns.
Among the teens praying fervently at Fort Bliss during last year’s unprecedented arrivals of unaccompanied children was Elena, then 15. She asked that she not be identified further because of the dangerous circumstances she fled in Guatemala.
Elena told The AP that for weeks she asked God to let her out of the shelter as soon as possible. Then, when other girls also being held grew “inconsolable,” she prayed they’d be released first. As the days went by, she started worrying God might be “bored” by her petitions, and prayed for forgiveness.
What sustained her for two months before her release was receiving the sacraments, including Communion distributed during a Mass celebrated by the Catholic bishop of El Paso, Mark Seitz.
“When he arrived, you could feel like a peace, something that comforts you, something that you need,” Elena recalled during this Holy Week, which she’s observing with relatives far from El Paso. “God was with us to endure so many days without family.”
In the shelter, she was so grateful for Mass, which she used to attend with her mother in Guatemala, that she braided a friendship bracelet for Seitz, who wears several on his right wrist.
“They have this faith that if anything became stronger on their journey,” said Seitz of the hundreds of teens he has ministered to since last Easter at Fort Bliss.
On most Sundays, the Rev. Rafael García, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish located four blocks from the border in downtown El Paso, celebrates Mass there, as he has at different shelters for five years.
“All of us that go, we find we are transformed ourselves,” says the Jesuit priest. “Not all come (to Mass), but those who do are people of very strong faith.”
Suddenly and often tragically detached from their countries and the families who raised them, “their only strength is prayer,” said the Rev. Jose de la Cruz Longoria, pastor at five Catholic parishes around Pecos, Texas, who ministers to teens at the shelter there. “That’s why the point is to show them at Mass that he’s a God who loves and forgives.”
In murmured prayers in Spanish and Indigenous languages at makeshift altars, kids in shelters — most of them 12- to 17-year-olds from Central America — ask God’s help for their lonely, uncertain journey and for loved ones they left behind.
“They pray for their friends lost on the way, and that their family members might accept and love them,” says Dominga Villegas, who helped organize Palm Sunday Mass, complete with palm fronds, for more than 200 teens at the Pecos shelter.
In growing numbers since 2014, hundreds of thousands of under-18 children have come alone to seek safety and a better life in the United States. Since October, the Border Patrol has encountered an average of more than 11,000 unaccompanied minors a month, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
Some have no family, but many are rejoining a parent or are sent to other family members in the United States to escape poverty and violence.
When unaccompanied minors are apprehended or turn themselves in to U.S. officials after crossing the border without authorization, they are sheltered in facilities managed by the Department of Health and Human Services until the government vets a family member or sponsor to ensure they can be safely released.
Under the past three U.S. administrations, especially when the number of minors crossing the border surges suddenly and emergency intake shelters like that at Fort Bliss are hastily arranged, controversies have erupted over the conditions and duration of the youths’ stay at these facilities, where media access is tightly restricted.
While awaiting their release, many teens struggle with regrets and low self-esteem, faith leaders told The AP. They’re battered not only by the trauma they fled, but by the guilt they feel for fleeing, sometimes without saying goodbye to beloved relatives who raised them — and for having ended up in a place far different from their dreams, with no clear path ahead.
“They don’t have any taste yet for the end of the tunnel. They can’t allow themselves to feel that already this is a victory and a blessing from God,” says Lissa Jiménez, a psychologist who held a day-long spiritual retreat at the Pecos facility in March.
By the end of the ten-hour day, she saw them sit up straighter as she encouraged them to trust in “the identity that being children of God gives us, independently of race, of our situation.”
It’s the same message that priests bring through Mass and confession, even for youths who are not Catholic but approach them anyway because “they just want to talk,” said the Rev. Brian Strassburger, a Jesuit who ministers to shelter youths in Brownsville and celebrates Mass across the border at a migrant camp in Reynosa, Mexico.
“We try to give them comfort, assure them that God is with them. That their parents still love them,” he said.
Many of the teens who were active in their churches back home volunteer to read Scripture or chant psalms. Sacred music helps put others at ease, said Roland Guerrero, who has brought his guitar, mics and music sheets to Fort Bliss on all but a couple of Sundays for a year.
His efforts for social justice and migrant rights extend far beyond this ministry. Bishop Seitz, the Jesuit priests and many other faith leaders also provide shelter, food and advocacy on both sides of the border.
“I know what I’m doing is a Band-Aid,” said Guerrero of musical worship on a Sunday during Lent as he prepared to drive to the shelter. “That doesn’t denigrate it, because in faith there’s no way to know what’s going on inside an individual child.”
He compares it to planting seeds of hope — just as in “Montaña,” a favorite song of Catholic and Protestant shelter children. It’s based on the Gospel verse that faith even as minuscule as a mustard seed is enough to move mountains.
“Esa montaña se moverá (this mountain will move),” Guerrero sings, strumming his vintage acoustic Gibson guitar. “I have them sway. Then they start dancing again.”
———
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. | 2022-04-17T04:26:18+00:00 | upmatters.com | https://www.upmatters.com/news/ap-top-headlines/prayer-worship-lift-unaccompanied-migrant-teens-in-shelters/ |
Leonard, previously Motif's CTO, brings strong experience in driving R&D and commercialization. Will focus on accelerating Motif's go-to-market initiatives for its breakthrough plant-based products
BOSTON, Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Motif FoodWorks, the Boston-based food technology company making plant-based foods better tasting and more nutritious, today announced that Michael Leonard has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.
Leonard has served as Chief Technology Officer at Motif since 2019, and brings extensive experience in driving commercialization, transformational R&D and innovation across global markets. He will lead the company's focus on the acceleration of its go-to-market initiatives, including its recently launched meat alternative finished formats. Jonathan McIntyre, Motif's previous CEO, will transition to an advisory role with the company.
"Motif has developed unique approaches to analyzing, discovering, and designing both plant-based ingredients and foods to better address unmet customer needs and tastes," said Dr. Leonard. "I look forward to leading this business as we strengthen our position in the market and deepen our organizational focus on commercialization, technology development, and growth. The entire team at Motif thanks Jon for his outstanding leadership and contributions over the past three and a half years, and for his continued support of the company as we enter this new phase."
Under McIntyre's leadership, Motif has achieved several major milestones, from the development of the startup's breakthrough food-tech, HEMAMI™ and APPETEX™, to its finished meat alternative formats and Motif's successful series A and B fundraising rounds that raised a total of $345 million.
Leonard brings nearly two decades of experience in senior industrial science and technology roles in the specialty food ingredient and fast-moving consumer goods industries, with an emphasis on combining innovation, commercial execution, and organization-wide collaboration to deliver business results across developed and emerging markets. Prior to joining Motif, Leonard served as vice president for White Space Innovation and Springboard R&D at Kraft Heinz, where he led product, packaging and process development strategy and execution for emerging growth platforms across all categories of the business. Previously, Leonard was vice president of Process Technology for Global Snacks R&D at PepsiCo, in addition to leadership roles at DuPont Nutrition & Health and International Flavors & Fragrances in process and protein ingredient research, business development and strategy. He holds a PhD in Polymer Science & Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a BS in Chemistry from Roanoke College.
"It has been a privilege to lead Motif since its founding as we have pushed the boundaries of breakthrough food-technology development and pioneered new approaches to plant-based foods," said Dr. McIntyre. "I am immensely proud of the work we have accomplished to advance Motif's mission and propel the broader industry, and I look forward to my continued involvement with the team in an advisory capacity."
About Motif FoodWorks
Motif FoodWorks makes plant-based foods so desirable that people actually crave them. Motif provides companies with a range of food-technologies and finished food forms, from solutions for meat and dairy alternatives to experiences that inspire new categories. By pioneering breakthrough approaches to food science and the culinary arts, Motif is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in plant-based foods – delivering innovations for taste, texture and nutrition that benefit people and the planet. For more information, visit www.madewithmotif.com.
Media Contact
Matt Roszell
mroszell@motiffoodworks.com
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SOURCE Motif FoodWorks | 2022-08-04T13:35:43+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2022/08/04/motif-foodworks-appoints-michael-leonard-ceo/ |
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A new ‘pop up’ sandwich shop is opening in Grand Rapids at 834 Cherry Street SE, the former home of Cherry Street Deli.
Partage, created by Jason and Kate McClearen, will begin offering pickup for sandwiches ordered online on Tuesday, March 7.
The McClearens are offering the service while construction continues inside the space, which they plan to open as a small cafe featuring coffee, grab-and-go food and homemade prepped meals.
“The kitchen at Partage is fully licensed, but there’s still work to be done on our storefront and cafe,” Kate McClearan said. “Sidedoor Sammies is a little sandwich society that allows us to share some of our favorite food items with our neighbors, even as construction continues.”
The to-go sandwiches can be picked up from the shop’s side door about 10 minutes after ordering, a news release says. Options include chicken curry, bahn mi, chicken salad, carolina BBQ and more.
Orders can be placed at experiencepartage.com Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Construction on the space is expected to be complete later this year. In addition to the cafe, the space will include a kitchen that the Partage team will use to service its food truck, catering and personal chef business, according to a news release.
Read more:
Who is the Grand Rapids company in spotlight for migrant children working in dangerous conditions?
Help establish a West Michigan nature preserve and explore its ‘vernal pool’
‘Beloved’ Ottawa Beach General Store near Holland to be rebuilt following 2023 season
Chicken and waffles restaurant chain announces opening date for Grand Rapids location | 2023-03-07T00:09:57+00:00 | mlive.com | https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2023/03/new-pop-up-sandwich-shop-coming-to-grand-rapids.html |
As the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts today on Paramount+, one question stands above all others:
Can they do it again?
Because in the show's first season last year, Strange New Worlds helped prove to producers of Paramount+'s new-school Trek series something they should have known from the start — when you're telling stories from a nearly 60-year-old franchise, it makes more sense to embrace that legacy than to shy away from it.
Fortunately, once the second season gets rolling – the first two episodes aren't quite as impressive as the next four – it's obvious the minds behind Strange New Worlds have gotten the memo. Fans get a wide range of compelling new stories, often in an adventure-of-the-week format, with lots of eye-popping special effects and cool nods to the history of these beloved characters.
New stories with classic characters
For those who aren't Trekkers, Strange New Worlds is set at a time years before James T. Kirk will take over as the Enterprise's captain – allowing the show to retell the origin stories of key figures like Spock, Nyota Uhura and Christine Chapel.
A few of these characters were actually created for Star Trek's original pilot in the mid-1960s, which NBC forced creator Gene Roddenberry to significantly rewrite, recast and reshoot. (instead, Roddenberry used the pilot footage to fuel a two-episode Trek story from the first season called "The Menagerie," featuring people who would later be reimagined in Strange New Worlds, like Capt. Christopher Pike and his Number One, now called Una Chin-Riley.)
One moment in Strange New Worlds' new season, for example, explains that Spock learned to play the Vulcan harp — seen occasionally in the original series — after the ship's doctor recommended playing music to help the half-human, half-Vulcan character better control his emotions.
And there's a cheeky scene where Spock, in temporary command of the Enterprise, needs to come up with a cool catchphrase/command for signaling the crew to accelerate into warp speed. But the words he lands on – "I would like the ship to go. Now." – don't exactly measure up to canonical phrases like "engage" and "make it so."
Second season has a slow start
As fun as much of this storytelling can be, there is the matter of the season's first two episodes, hamstrung by a didactic storyline that wraps up the matter of Una Chin-Riley's arrest by Starfleet.
Chin-Riley, played with steely precision by Rebecca Romijn, was nabbed at the end of last season because Starfleet learned she had been hiding her heritage as an Illyrian – a species which often genetically augments itself, which is an illegal act in the United Federation of Planets.
As her trial progresses, the series offers up a way too on-the-nose allegory to real-life issues like the U.S. military's former "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" anti-LGBTQ policy. Chin-Riley turns down a deal to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced punishment, saying, "I shouldn't have to hide anymore. None of us should. I know I should have done better. I didn't stand up when I should have. I'm standing up now."
Strange New Worlds, like many Trek series, often wears its causes on its sleeve. But even for a TV show whose cast regularly looks like a Benetton ad, this felt a little ham-handed and obvious (though the actress who plays Chin-Riley's Illyrian attorney, Yetide Badaki, drops a powerful performance that is easily the best reason to watch the episode.)
There are a few other irritating tropes on Strange New Worlds which are common for most Trek projects, like the crewmembers who ignore orders they disagree with, and the leadership's illogical habit of sending the most senior officers on the most dangerous missions. Also, as much as I love Taxi alum Carol Kane, her addition as a screechy-voiced engineering expert with a surprising past veers dangerously — and quickly — from amusing to ridiculous.
But by the time we get to the episodes where Spock is turned into a human (yes, really), live-action versions of characters from the animated series Lower Decks appear and two characters travel back in time, it's obvious: Strange New Worlds is packed with the kind of grand, episodic science fiction adventure that was once the bedrock of great TV.
And its glorious return is most welcome.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-06-15T18:52:16+00:00 | mtpr.org | https://www.mtpr.org/2023-06-15/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-2-is-a-classic-sci-fi-adventure |
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) — In the wake of 12 horse deaths at Churchill Downs, the race track best known for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby, says it will suspend racing as a precaution.
Churchill Downs Inc., which owns the Louisville-based track, says remaining meets will be moved to Ellis Park Racing and Gaming, located in Henderson, Kentucky. CDI says transitioning Spring Meet races will begin June 7.
Since the “unusual” number of horse deaths at the race track, Churchill conducted an inspection and jointly announced new safety measures with the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority.
“What has happened at our track is deeply upsetting and absolutely unacceptable,” CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen said in a statement. “Despite our best efforts to identify a cause for the recent horse injuries, and though no issues have been linked to our racing surfaces or environment at Churchill Downs, we need to take more time to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all of the details and circumstances so that we can further strengthen our surface, safety and integrity protocols.”
A Kentucky Horse Racing Commission representative told WEHT that Churchill Downs requested the move out of an abundance of caution and that the commission’s working with both CDI and HISA to investigate the fatalities.
On Friday, PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said the organization was “relieved” that CDI made the decision to suspend races at the Louisville track — though expressed doubts over changing venues as a solution.
“… PETA has been calling for [suspension of races] since May 2, but Churchill Downs must not play Russian roulette with these horses’ lives by simply shifting the problem elsewhere. Putting the bullet in a different chamber could have the same lethal outcome.”
Guillermo says PETA is frustrated at the racing industry’s “refusal” to implement technology that has before proven to save lives.
“Until race tracks install synthetic surfaces and utilize CT scanning equipment to detect injuries, among other improvements, they can’t pretend to be mystified by fatalities,” she states.
Track officials say they will continue to thoroughly investigate safety measures while horses race at Ellis Park. The Spring Meet is scheduled to run through July 3. | 2023-06-03T01:05:13+00:00 | kdvr.com | https://kdvr.com/news/nationalworld-news/churchill-downs-suspending-races-after-12-horses-die/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Trevor Noah says that he’s leaving “The Daily Show” as host, after seven years of a Trump and pandemic-filled tenure on the weeknight Comedy Central show.
Noah surprised the studio audience during Thursday’s taping, dropping the news after discussing his “feeling of gratitude” that it was the seventh anniversary of when he took over for Jon Stewart.
“I realized, after the seven years, my time is up,” Noah said.
Neither Noah nor Comedy Central offered a timetable for his departure. The network said it was “grateful to Trevor for our amazing partnership” and indicated that it was excited “for the next chapter” of “The Daily Show.”
Television late-night comedy’s ranks have been shrinking, with Conan O’Brien pulling the plug on his show last year and Samantha Bee ending hers this year.
Noah, a relatively unknown comic from South Africa, was a bold choice to replace the popular Jon Stewart in 2015. But he slowly made the show his own and built a dedicated audience.
“So many people didn’t believe in us,” he said. “It was a crazy bet to make. I still think it was a crazy choice — this random African.”
He said hosting the show has been one of his greatest challenges and joys.
“I wanted to say thank you to the audience for an amazing seven years,” he said. “It’s been wild. It’s been truly wild.”
Like most of his fellow comedians, he dealt with the firehose of material during Donald Trump’s presidency and, when the pandemic started, found himself suddenly thrust into the challenge of producing a program without an audience.
He said he realized there was more that he wanted to do recently when he was able to travel again.
“I miss learning other languages,” he said. “I miss going to other countries and putting on a show.” | 2022-10-01T07:44:39+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/entertainment/ap-entertainment/ap-trevor-noah-says-hes-exiting-as-host-of-the-daily-show/ |
(NEXSTAR) – Like other pop-culture memorabilia from the ‘80s and ‘90s, video cassette tapes are having a bit of a moment — and some of those tapes could potentially be worth big bucks to collectors.
“There is some new Gen X and millennial interest in re-visiting the technology and media of their youth,” Megan Mahn Miller, an appraiser of entertainment memorabilia based in Minneapolis, told Nexstar. “You can see the same thing happening with old video games and Pokémon cards.”
But unlike Nintendo games or trading cards, VHS tapes have yet to prove themselves as big earners on the auction block.
“This is a brand-new hobby,” said Joe Maddalena, the executive vice president of Texas-based Heritage Auctions. “[VHS sales] are doing well, but there’s a lot of unpacking to do on scarcity and rarity.”
Still, Maddalena said he sees “all the ingredients” for VHS to become the next big collecting craze. He’ll find out for sure in June, when Heritage Auctions holds its first-ever VHS-only auction featuring more than 300 titles.
“This auction could do well, or it could do great,” Maddalena told Nexstar. “We don’t know.”
Heritage Auctions first took notice of aftermarket VHS sales a few years ago, when “a lot” of video-game collectors had also started to collect VHS tapes too, according to Maddalena. And while there haven’t been many — if any — VHS-only auctions, he told Nexstar he’s optimistic after learning of some recent private sales.
“This auction should do $500,000 to a million, total,” he predicted. “If it goes outside of a million, it’s a huge success.”
Many of the titles on Heritage’s upcoming auction reflect another “ingredient” that Maddalena and his expert appraisers are looking for: For the most part, they’re all movies that elicit strong emotional responses with folks who grew up in the ’80s.
“’Blade Runner,’ ‘The Goonies,’ the ‘Back to the Future’ franchise, the ‘Indiana Jones’ franchise, ‘Star Wars’ … You’re talking about iconic, iconic films,” Maddalena explained. “And then the horror movies — ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ — those are most popular.”
Of course, each item on the auction block is also factory sealed in original packaging, and each has been authenticated and graded on its condition by a verified grading service. Buyers are mostly interested in first-editions, too — which were usually printed in smaller quantities, and often bought up by video stores during the early years of the rental market.
“Those first-run tapes were limited, and people [who bought personal copies] usually opened those,” said Maddalena. “More prints came along after, when the studios saw the market for it.”
Less-perfect VHS specimens may not be totally worthless, though. It’s possible that more obscure titles may also become collectible depending on continued demand for VHS.
“If it’s some terrible B-movie that never made it beyond the VHS medium and to DVD … or if there is a misprint or something off about a cover — think ‘The Little Mermaid’ from Disney — and the cover was pulled off the shelf and replaced, that could be of interest to a buyer,” said Mahn Miller.
Maddalena also suggested that there may be a future market for second-edition printings of popular, nostalgia-invoking titles, but only if the current demand for VHS really takes off.
“We’re just not at that stage of the hobby yet,” Maddalena says. “You really need the auction market to come along … to find out where it’s at.”
In the meantime, sellers can try their luck at online auction sites like eBay, where plenty of users are already attempting to make a quick buck off their old VHS tapes. Just don’t go in with huge expectations.
“It all depends on what ‘valuable’ means to you,” said Mahn Miller. “If you can sell an item that you have had since the 1980s for $5, maybe that is valuable to you.” | 2022-05-09T20:42:47+00:00 | keloland.com | https://www.keloland.com/news/national-world-news/your-old-vhs-tapes-might-be-worth-a-small-fortune/ |
WFO BROWNSVILLE Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, September 26, 2022
_____
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Brownsville TX
343 PM CDT Mon Sep 26 2022
...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern Hidalgo
County through 415 PM CDT...
At 342 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm over
Scissors, or near Donna, moving southwest at 25 mph.
HAZARD...Winds in excess of 30 mph.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects.
Locations impacted include...
Weslaco, Donna, Progreso, Donna Public Library, Weslaco Mid Valley
Airport, Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, A.p. Solis Middle
School, Llano Grande Country Club, Weslaco City Hall and Weslaco Fire
Department Station Two.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to
localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded
roadways.
Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.
Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe
shelter inside a building or vehicle.
LAT...LON 2605 9807 2607 9808 2606 9810 2606 9813
2607 9813 2605 9815 2607 9818 2606 9820
2608 9822 2608 9826 2620 9804 2619 9795
2610 9790 2606 9794 2605 9797 2607 9798
2607 9803 2604 9804 2604 9808
TIME...MOT...LOC 2042Z 049DEG 21KT 2612 9803
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN
MAX WIND GUST...30 MPH
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Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | 2022-09-26T21:21:00+00:00 | sfgate.com | https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/TX-WFO-BROWNSVILLE-Warnings-Watches-and-17468223.php |
Today’s mortgage refinance rates: Look to 10-, 15-year rates for best savings opportunity | Sept. 26, 2022
Our goal here at Credible Operations, Inc., NMLS Number 1681276, referred to as "Credible" below, is to give you the tools and confidence you need to improve your finances. Although we do promote products from our partner lenders, all opinions are our own.
Check out the mortgage refinancing rates for Sept. 26, 2022, which are largely unchanged from last Friday. (Credible)
Based on data compiled by Credible, mortgage refinance rates have remained mostly unchanged since last Friday, with only 20-year rates rising.
- 30-year fixed-rate refinance: 6.750%, unchanged
- 20-year fixed-rate refinance: 6.875%, up from 6.750%, +0.125
- 15-year fixed-rate refinance: 5.500%, unchanged
- 10-year fixed-rate refinance: 5.500%, unchanged
Rates last updated on Sept. 26, 2022. These rates are based on the assumptions shown here. Actual rates may vary.
If you’re thinking of doing a cash-out refinance or refinancing your home mortgage to lower your interest rate, consider using Credible. Credible's free online tool will let you compare rates from multiple mortgage lenders. You can see prequalified rates in as little as three minutes.
What this means: Mortgage refinance rates opened the week largely unchanged from last week. With 10- and 15-year rates holding steady for six straight days, homeowners who can manage a higher monthly payment can save more on interest by opting for a shorter term. Homeowners who want to do a cash-out refinance to access home equity for renovations or repairs still stand to save more with a shorter-term refinance than they would by funding those improvements with other products, like credit cards or personal loans.
WHAT IS CASH-OUT REFINANCING AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
How mortgage rates have changed over time
Today’s mortgage interest rates are well below the highest annual average rate recorded by Freddie Mac – 16.63% in 1981. A year before the COVID-19 pandemic upended economies across the world, the average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for 2019 was 3.94%. The average rate for 2021 was 2.96%, the lowest annual average in 30 years.
The historic drop in interest rates means homeowners who have mortgages from 2019 and older could potentially realize significant interest savings by refinancing with one of today’s lower interest rates.
If you’re ready to take advantage of current mortgage refinance rates that are below averages for other types of credit like credit cards, you can use Credible to check rates from multiple lenders.
How to get your lowest mortgage refinance rate
If you’re interested in refinancing your mortgage, improving your credit score and paying down any other debt could secure you a lower rate. It’s also a good idea to compare rates from different lenders if you're hoping to refinance, so you can find the best rate for your situation.
Borrowers can save $1,500 on average over the life of their loan by shopping for just one additional rate quote, and an average of $3,000 by comparing five rate quotes, according to research from Freddie Mac.
Be sure to shop around and compare current mortgage rates from multiple mortgage lenders if you decide to refinance your mortgage. You can do this easily with Credible’s free online tool and see your prequalified rates in only three minutes.
How does Credible calculate refinance rates?
Changing economic conditions, central bank policy decisions, investor sentiment, and other factors influence the movement of mortgage refinance rates. Credible average mortgage refinance rates reported in this article are calculated based on information provided by partner lenders who pay compensation to Credible.
The rates assume a borrower has a 740 credit score and is borrowing a conventional loan for a single-family home that will be their primary residence. The rates also assume no (or very low) discount points and a down payment of 20%.
Credible mortgage refinance rates reported here will only give you an idea of current average rates. The rate you receive can vary based on a number of factors.
Think it might be the right time to refinance? Be sure to shop around and compare rates with multiple mortgage lenders. You can do this easily with Credible and see your prequalified rates in only three minutes.
When is it worth it to refinance?
Refinancing a mortgage can be a great way to save money. But it’s not always the best move for every homeowner.
People refinance for a number of reasons, including to get a lower interest rate, change their monthly payment amount, and lower their interest costs. Generally, if you can lower your interest rate by at least 0.75%, refinancing might be a good move.
But before you refinance, be sure to weigh closing costs, and calculate how long it will take before your savings from the refinance cover the expenses of refinancing.
Have a finance-related question, but don't know who to ask? Email The Credible Money Expert at moneyexpert@credible.com and your question might be answered by Credible in our Money Expert column.
As a Credible authority on mortgages and personal finance, Chris Jennings has covered topics that include mortgage loans, mortgage refinancing, and more. He’s been an editor and editorial assistant in the online personal finance space for four years. His work has been featured by MSN, AOL, Yahoo Finance, and more. | 2022-09-27T00:03:27+00:00 | fox9.com | https://www.fox9.com/money/todays-mortgage-refinance-rates-september-26-2022 |
UCSD Tritons (7-13, 2-6 Big West) at CSU Northridge Matadors (4-16, 1-8 Big West)
The Matadors are 4-5 on their home court. CSU Northridge is ninth in the Big West with 22.3 defensive rebounds per game led by De’Sean Allen-Eikens averaging 3.7.
The Tritons are 2-6 against conference opponents. UCSD is 4-5 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents and averages 11.6 turnovers per game.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season between the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Atin Wright is scoring 14.2 points per game and averaging 2.6 rebounds for the Matadors. Ethan Igbanugo is averaging 1.2 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for CSU Northridge.
Bryce Pope averages 2.1 made 3-pointers per game for the Tritons, scoring 18.9 points while shooting 33.1% from beyond the arc. Anderson is averaging 12 points and 3.6 assists over the past 10 games for UCSD.
LAST 10 GAMES: Matadors: 2-8, averaging 59.4 points, 27.1 rebounds, 9.1 assists, 7.6 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 37.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.0 points per game.
Tritons: 3-7, averaging 70.3 points, 26.6 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 6.6 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 44.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.8 points.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. | 2023-01-26T09:30:43+00:00 | washingtonpost.com | https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/csu-northridge-hosts-ucsd-after-andersons-28-point-game/2023/01/26/9011ce98-9d56-11ed-93e0-38551e88239c_story.html |
JOHNSTOWN, Pa., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- (NASDAQ: ASRV) – It costs nothing to be kind. That is the message AmeriServ Bank is sharing as it kicks off the social media campaign, "Serving Up 30 Days of Kindness." The campaign, which runs throughout November on the Facebook and Instagram social media platforms, encourages followers to share a short story or photograph depicting a random act of kindness.
For every random act of kindness shared, participants are entered into a drawing for the chance to donate $1,000 to one of the following military service charities – the Wounded Warrior Project, Toys for Tots, and K9s for Warriors – and to win a $250 gift card to a local grocery store of their choosing. The charities not chosen will receive separate donations from AmeriServ Bank.
"It takes nothing to share an act of kindness and that is what we want to people to be thinking about in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. We never really know what is going on in peoples' lives, but if we can put a smile on someone's face, make them feel appreciated or even just acknowledged, we are paying forward good things that make a difference," Susan Tomera Angeletti, AmeriServ senior vice president – marketing and alternative delivery, explained.
She added, "We launched this campaign now because the timing is right. It helps people focus on what is truly important while also helping to recognize the organizations that assist our military service members and provide items to help make children's holidays brighter."
To participate in AmeriServ Serving Up 30 Days of Kindness, users are encouraged to visit the AmeriServ Facebook page or post to their personal Instagram page using the hashtag #AmeriServUpKindness.
ABOUT THE WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT –
Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) began in 2003 as a small, grassroots effort providing simple care and comfort items to the hospital bedsides of the first wounded service members returning home from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. As their post-service needs evolved, so have our programs and services. Today, through our direct programs in mental health, career counseling, and long-term rehabilitative care, along with our advocacy efforts, we improve the lives of millions of warriors and their families.
For more information about the Wounded Warrior Project or to make a monetary donation, visit the website, www.support.woundedwarriorproject.org.
ABOUT TOYS FOR TOTS –
The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Marine Toys for Tots. The Foundation provides the leadership, funding, and support needed for successful annual toy collection and distribution campaigns.
Local campaigns are conducted annually in over 800 communities covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Local toy collection campaigns begin in October and last until mid to late December. Toy distribution also takes place mid to late December. Members of the community drop new, unwrapped toys in collection boxes positioned in local businesses. Coordinators pick up these toys and store them in central warehouses where the toys are sorted by age and gender. At Christmas, Coordinators, with the assistance of local social welfare agencies, church groups, and other local community agencies, distribute the toys to the less fortunate children of the community.
For more information about Toys for Tots, to make a monetary donation or locate a collection box, visit the website, www.toysfortots.org.
ABOUT K9S FOR WARRIORS –
Determined to end veteran suicide, K9s for Warriors provides highly trained Service Dogs to military veterans suffering from PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and-or military sexual assault. With most dogs coming from high-kill rescue shelters, this innovative program allows the K9/Warrior team to build an unwavering bond that facilitates their collective healing and recovery.
For more information about the K9s for Warriors or to make a monetary donation, visit the website, www.k9sforwarriors.org.uicide, K9s For Warriors
ABOUT AMERISERV FINANCIAL, INC. –
AmeriServ Financial, Inc. is the parent of AmeriServ Financial Bank and AmeriServ Trust and Financial Services Company in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Company's subsidiaries provide full-service banking and wealth management services through 17 community offices in southwestern Pennsylvania and Hagerstown, Maryland. The Company also operates loan production offices in Altoona and Monroeville, Pennsylvania. On September 30, 2022, AmeriServ had total assets of $1.4 billion and a book value of $5.94 per common share. For more information, visit www.ameriserv.com.
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SOURCE AmeriServ Financial, Inc. | 2022-11-02T15:45:48+00:00 | waff.com | https://www.waff.com/prnewswire/2022/11/02/ameriserv-bank-launches-social-media-campaign-serving-up-30-days-kindness/ |
Bank of America must pay more than $100 million to customers for doubling up on some fees, withholding reward bonuses and opening accounts without customer consent.
Bank of America will pay $90 million in penalties to its organization and $60 million in penalties to the OCC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Tuesday.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found the bank’s double-dipping on fees was illegal.
Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, serves 68 million people and small business clients. The bank had $2.4 trillion in consolidated assets and $1.9 trillion in domestic deposits as of March 31, making it the second-largest bank in the U.S.
Bank of America had a policy of charging customers $35 after the bank declined a transaction because the customer did not have enough funds in their account, the CFPB said. The agency determined that the bank double-dipped by allowing fees to be repeatedly charged for the same transaction.
The bank said that it voluntarily reduced overdraft fees and eliminated all non-sufficient fund fees in the first half of last year.
Bank of America also offered people cash rewards and bonus points when signing up for a card, but the CFPB said the bank illegally withheld promised credit card account bonuses.
Since at least 2012, Bank of America employees illegally applied for and enrolled consumers in credit card accounts without their knowledge or authorization, the CFPB said.
Wells Fargo has paid billions in fines after it was determined that the San Francisco bank opened millions of unauthorized bank accounts in order to meet unrealistic sales goals.
“Bank of America wrongfully withheld credit card rewards, double-dipped on fees, and opened accounts without consent,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a prepared statement. “These practices are illegal and undermine customer trust.”
In 2014 the CFPB ordered Bank of America to pay $727 million for illegal credit card practices. Last year it was ordered to pay a $10 million civil penalty over unlawful garnishments. Also in 2022, the CFPB and OCC fined Bank of America $225 million and required it to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in redress to consumers for botched disbursement of state unemployment benefits at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. | 2023-07-11T15:39:24+00:00 | upmatters.com | https://www.upmatters.com/news/national/bank-of-america-to-pay-more-than-100m-for-opening-accounts-without-consent-doubling-fees/ |
AMSTERDAM, May 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Heineken® revealed a new direction for its sponsorship in football, making its entire football campaign across both the men's and women's game about tackling gender bias affecting both players and fans of the sport.
With two-thirds of women in football having experienced gender discrimination*, Heineken® is on a mission to evolve its sponsorships in the sport to address the uneven playing field when it comes to gender by highlighting some of the ways that women are unfairly treated.
Heineken®'s first move in correcting the gender bias is to address inaccurate statistics present across the internet that are often the source of the prejudice. In a forward-thinking move that challenges the algorithms and search mechanics of key websites, Heineken® is today unveiling Fresher Football – a new webpage in partnership with GOAL that provides correct responses to the most popular questions asked online about the UEFA Champions League, where answers tend to overlook key data around the women's game.
The aim of Fresher Football is to encourage search engines and fan sites to recognise, amend and their current information to the accurate answers, regardless of gender.
To achieve this Heineken® is committing to intercepting online searches, buying key AdWords around popular football questions, and correcting the current answers with accurate statistics based on the men's and women's game, allowing female achievements in football to be celebrated and not forgotten.
Link to the Heineken® Fresher Football website: https://www.goal.com/story/fresherfootball/
To further support its mission in tackling inclusivity in football, Heineken® have created a new TVC and Digital campaign, entitled Cheers to All Fans, Men Included, highlighting the misconception that you must be a man to be a football fan. From sneaking to the bathroom during a date and checking the score, to screaming loudly with their friends in the living room, Cheers to All Fans, Men Included features men and women fans throughout, rewriting the stereotype and showing the reality that gender doesn't dictate someone's passion for football.
Link to the Cheers to All Fans, Men Included: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m85z3mzVxQ
In addition to the above acts and ads, Heineken® will be partnering with its first women football ambassador with its partnership with English football legend and broadcaster, Alex Scott. Scott, who was a part of Arsenal's 2007 UEFA Women's Cup winning team, will feature within Heineken®'s marketing collateral alongside current brand ambassador, Thierry Henry to promote the importance of equality within the sport.
Link to the Alex Scott and Thierry Henry video called 'The Greatest Goal': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Dd28i2QGc&feature=youtu.be
Alex Scott, Heineken® Ambassador says: "What I love about football is that it brings people together from all walks of life. Everyone has a right to take part in the sport they love, whether they're a fan or a player. At the end of the day, sport is sport, and no one should be left out. That's why I'm excited to work with Heineken® to challenge the stereotypes, football should be for everyone."
Bram Westenbrink, Global Head Heineken® Brand, says: "Heineken® is a brand for the fans and we've always been passionate about bringing people together to celebrate the things they love. Now, on our journey to improve inclusivity in football through our sponsorships, we're committed to ensuring the sport is a safe and welcoming space for everyone."
Nadine Keßler, UEFA's Chief of Women's Football, says: "We are delighted to see our long-standing partner Heineken® taking a bold stance with their campaign to support women's football. UEFA has set up the UEFA Women's EURO and UEFA Women's Champions League competitions to not only showcase the best of the women's game but to engage the next generation of players and fans. Heineken®'s campaign will help promote the importance of equality in the sport and we look forward to supporting them with their movement."
Heineken® has been a partner of the UEFA Women's Champions League and UEFA Women's EUROs since 2021, when the brand made the decision to mirror its men's and women's sponsorships across both football and motorsport.
Editorial information:
Please find the high-resolution campaign images and credits here
* Women in Football's biggest ever survey in 2020 about discrimination in the sport (see here)
About Cheers to All Fans, Men Included TVC:
Even with 4 in 10 football fans identifying as women (Statista), there remains an enduring stereotype that football is a sport exclusively for men. Heineken®'s new TVC looks to flip the age-old gender stereotypes on their head, showing female fans enjoying football in ways stereotypically associated with men.
About HEINEKEN:
HEINEKEN is the world's most international brewer. It is the leading developer and marketer of premium beer and cider brands. Led by the Heineken® brand, the Group has a portfolio of more than 300 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. We are committed to innovation, long-term brand investment, disciplined sales execution, and focused cost management. Through "Brewing a Better World", sustainability is embedded in the business.
HEINEKEN has a well-balanced geographic footprint with leadership positions in both developed and developing markets. We employ over 85,000 employees and operate breweries, malteries, cider plants and other production facilities in more than 70 countries. Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V. shares trade on the Euronext in Amsterdam. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbols HEIA NA and HEIO NA and on Reuters under HEIN.AS and HEIO.AS. HEINEKEN has two sponsored level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programmes: Heineken N.V. (OTCQX: HEINY) and Heineken Holding N.V. (OTCQX: HKHHY).
Most recent information is available on HEINEKEN's website: www.theHEINEKENcompany.com and follow us on Twitter via @HEINEKENCorp.
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SOURCE Heineken | 2022-05-04T08:29:48+00:00 | kalb.com | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2022/05/04/levelling-playing-field-heineken-commits-tackling-gender-bias-within-football/ |
President Biden traveled to a factory supporting offshore wind energy in Massachusetts to announce climate actions, but he did not declare a climate emergency as climate advocates had hoped for.
Copyright 2022 NPR
President Biden traveled to a factory supporting offshore wind energy in Massachusetts to announce climate actions, but he did not declare a climate emergency as climate advocates had hoped for.
Copyright 2022 NPR | 2022-07-21T01:01:11+00:00 | nepm.org | https://www.nepm.org/national-world-news/national-world-news/2022-07-20/president-biden-announced-climate-actions-but-didnt-declare-a-climate-emergency |
Taylor Swift has claimed all of the Billboard Hot 100's top ten spots. She is the first artist to do so in the history of the song chart.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Taylor Swift has claimed all of the Billboard Hot 100's top ten spots. She is the first artist to do so in the history of the song chart.
Copyright 2022 NPR | 2022-11-01T10:05:40+00:00 | nprillinois.org | https://www.nprillinois.org/2022-11-01/taylor-swift-breaks-a-record-and-sweeps-billboards-top-ten-spots |
Another strong month of hiring would put Fed in tough spot
WASHINGTON (AP) — The jobs report the government will issue Friday is expected to show that December was another healthy month for hiring — a boon for those looking for work but a problem for the Federal Reserve if it persists.
Economists have forecast that employers added 200,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%, near a half-century low, according to the data provider FactSet.
Last month’s job growth will cap a second strong year of hiring for the U.S. economy. Through November, employers had added 4.9 million jobs in 2022, after 6.7 million were gained in 2021. All that hiring was part of a powerful rebound from the pandemic recession of 2020, a year when 9.3 million jobs were lost.
Last August, roughly two years after the pandemic recession ended, the nation had regained all the jobs lost to COVID-19. By contrast, it took nearly six years to regain the jobs that were lost in the 2008-2009 recession. Most economists credit, in part, the huge federal aid packages, totaling $5 trillion, that were pushed by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden for the sharp rebound.
Yet that government spending and the subsequent job gains also contributed to a swift rise in year-over-year inflation, which reached 9.1%, the highest level in 40 years, in June. Inflation has been slowing since then and amounted to 7.1% in November. Last year, in an aggressive drive to reduce inflation back toward its 2% goal, the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate seven times.
A solid job gain for December would indicate that for now, the economy is mostly healthy and far from falling into a downturn, though many economists expect a recession in the second half of this year.
But another month of brisk hiring would also make the Fed’s delicate task even harder. The central bank is trying to curb inflation by making borrowing and spending increasingly expensive for consumers and businesses without causing a recession in the process.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has emphasized in recent remarks that consistently strong job growth, which can force employers to raise pay to find and keep workers, can perpetuate inflation: Companies often raise prices to pass on their higher labor costs to their customers. And higher pay typically fuels more consumer spending, which can keep inflation elevated.
For that reason, Powell and other Fed officials have signaled their belief that to get inflation under control, unemployment will have to rise from its current low level.
“The more the goal of higher unemployment appears to be slipping away from the Fed, the more aggressive it needs to be,” said Tim Duy, chief U.S. economist at SGH Macro Advisors.
Fed officials have projected that they will raise their benchmark short-term rate to about 5.1% this year, the highest level in more than 15 years. If hiring and inflation remain strong, the Fed’s rate might have to move even higher.
Technology companies have been laying off workers for months, with some, including Amazon, saying that they had hired too many people during the pandemic. Amazon has boosted its layoffs to 18,000 from an earlier announcement of 10,000. Cloud software provider Salesforce says it will cut 10% of its workers. And Facebook’s parent company Meta says it will shed 11,000.
Smaller tech companies are also being hit. Stitch Fix, the fast fashion provider, said Thursday that it’s cutting 20% of its salaried workers. DoorDash has said it will eliminate 1,250 jobs.
Yet outside of high tech, smaller companies, in particular, are still hiring. According to the payroll processor ADP, companies with more than 500 employees cut jobs in December, while businesses below that threshold added many more workers. And an analysis by investment bank Jefferies showed that small companies were posting a historically high proportion of job openings.
The Fed is concerned about the fast pace of wage growth, which it sees as a reason why inflation is likely to remain high. Average hourly pay is rising at about a 5% pace, one of its highest levels in decades.
Economists think growth likely amounted to a solid annual rate of roughly 2.5% in the final three months of last year. But there are signs it is slowing, and most analysts expect weaker growth in the current first quarter of 2023.
Consumers barely increased their spending in November, held down by modest holiday shopping. And manufacturing activity contracted in December for a second straight month, with new orders and production both shrinking.
And the housing market, an important economic bellwether, has taken a severe hit from the Fed’s rate hikes, which have more than doubled mortgage rates in the past year. Home sales have plummeted for the past 10 months.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-01-06T12:00:00+00:00 | kalb.com | https://www.kalb.com/2023/01/06/another-strong-month-hiring-would-put-fed-tough-spot/ |
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Derek Chauvin to 21 years in prison for violating George Floyd’s civil rights, telling the former Minneapolis police officer that what he did was “simply wrong” and “offensive.”
U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson sharply criticized Chauvin for his actions on May 25, 2020, when the white officer pinned Floyd to the pavement outside a Minneapolis corner store for more than 9 minutes as the Black man lay dying. Floyd’s killing sparked protests worldwide in a reckoning over police brutality and racism.
“I really don’t know why you did what you did,” Magnuson said. “To put your knee on a person’s neck until they expired is simply wrong. … Your conduct is wrong and it is offensive.”
Magnuson, who earlier this year presided over the federal trial and convictions of three other officers at the scene, blamed Chauvin alone for what happened. Chauvin was by far the senior officer present, and rebuffed questions from one of the others about whether Floyd should be turned on his side.
“You absolutely destroyed the lives of three young officers by taking command of the scene,” Magnuson said.
Even so, Magnuson’s sentence was at the low end of the 20 to 25 years called for in a plea agreement in which Chauvin will serve the federal sentence at the same time he serves his 22 1/2-year sentence on state charges of murder and manslaughter.
Because of differences in parole eligibility in the state and federal systems, it means that Chauvin will serve slightly more time behind bars than he would have on the state sentence alone. He will also do his time in the federal system, where he may be safer and may be held under fewer restrictions than in the state system.
Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson had asked for 20 years, arguing that Chauvin was remorseful and would make that clear to the court. But Chauvin, in brief remarks, made no direct apology or expression of remorse to Floyd’s family.
Instead, he told the family that he wishes Floyd’s children “all the best in their life” and that they have “excellent guidance in becoming good adults.”
In entering his federal plea last year, Chauvin for the first time admitted that he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck — even as the Black man pleaded, “I can’t breathe,” and then became unresponsive — killing Floyd. Chauvin admitted he willfully deprived Floyd of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, including unreasonable force by a police officer.
Magnuson has not set sentencing dates for the three other officers who were on the scene — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Keung and Thomas Lane — who were convicted in February of federal civil rights charges.
Lane is also due to be sentenced Sept. 21 after pleading guilty in state court to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Thao and Kueng turned down plea deals and are due to be tried in state court Oct. 24 on aiding and abetting charges. | 2022-07-07T21:35:06+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/chauvin-gets-21-years-for-violating-floyds-civil-rights/ |
WHL
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Eastern Conference
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East Division
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B.C. Division
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U.S. Division
Note: x - clinched playoff berth; y - clinched division; z - regular season champion; Two points for a team winning in overtime or shootout; the team losing in overtime or shootout receives one which is registered in the OTL or SOL columns.
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Wednesday's results
Moose Jaw 6 Winnipeg 4
Medicine Hat 8 Edmonton 2
Calgary 3 Lethbridge 2
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Kamloops 6 Seattle 5
Friday's results
Saskatoon 3 Regina 2
Moose Jaw 5 Prince Albert 3
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Winnipeg 3 Brandon 2 (SO)
Swift Current 3 Medicine Hat 1
Lethbridge 6 Red Deer 4
Seattle 7 Portland 3
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Prince George 7 Kamloops 2
Victoria 6 Everett 4
Tri-City 7 Spokane 4
Vancouver 3 Kelowna 2
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Saturday's results
Calgary at Edmonton, 2 p.m.
Prince Albert at Regina, 7 p.m.
Saskatoon at Moose Jaw, 7 p.m.
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Brandon at Winnipeg, 7:05 p.m.
Lethbridge at Red Deer, 7 p.m.
Kamloops at Prince George, 6 p.m.
Swift Current at Medicine Hat, 7 p.m.
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Everett at Victoria, 6:05 p.m.
Portland at Seattle, 6:05 p.m.
Tri-City at Spokane, 7:05 p.m.
Vancouver at Kelowna, 7:05 p.m.
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Sunday's games
Edmonton at Calgary, 1 p.m. | 2023-03-25T22:05:42+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/hko-whl-standings-17860181.php |
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday evening's drawing of the Iowa Lottery's "Pick 3 Evening" game were:
6-9-6
(six, nine, six)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday evening's drawing of the Iowa Lottery's "Pick 3 Evening" game were:
6-9-6
(six, nine, six) | 2022-09-27T04:05:36+00:00 | expressnews.com | https://www.expressnews.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Pick-3-Evening-game-17468944.php |
FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Socket Mobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCKT), a leading provider of data capture and delivery solutions designed to enhance workplace productivity, is excited to announce the launch of their new linear barcode and QR code readers, SocketScan S820, DuraScan D820, and DuraSled DS820.
Socket Mobile's release of the new models follows the recent launch of the SocketScan S720 linear barcode and QR code scanner. This is an entry-level version of their companion scanners that provides a basic and affordable option for those who wish to upgrade to 2D scanning.
Now, they are expanding the line with the attachable S820, durable D820, as well as the DS820 sled scanner. These new 1D/2D barcode scanner models will meet the needs of users within various industries who wish to get ahead of the transition from 1D to 2D barcode scanning.
"Socket Mobile is excited to add the S820, D820, and DS820 to our attachable scanner lineup," said Dave Holmes, Chief Business Officer at Socket Mobile. "We built our new attachable scanners to provide the same easy 2D adoption path that the S720 provides for our companion scanner users. The new models enable a different level of transparency and versatility for our users by providing the capabilities to support services like QR code payments and loyalty, digital identification verification, and real-time supply chain tracking."
The new Socket Mobile S820 is a linear barcode & QR Code 1D/2D scanner with Bluetooth wireless technology. Small, thin, and easy to use, the scanner is optimized for attaching to mobile devices, enabling one-handed operation.
The D820 is similar to the S820 but better suited for intense scanning environments. It has extra rubberized material for increased durability and drop protection and comes with three charging options - Charging Dock, Charging Adapter, or 6 Bay Multi-Charger.
Along with the attachable models, the DuraSled DS820 provides the same scanning capabilities as the S820 and D820 but combines your mobile device and scanner into a one-handed solution that charges both devices simultaneously.
Although 1D barcode types are still prevalent, 2D barcode usage is growing and will soon become the standard for businesses that want to transmit larger amounts of data through barcode data collection. 2D barcodes can serve multiple purposes simultaneously, offering a level of versatility, functionality, and efficiency that cannot be achieved with 1D barcodes. The GS1 standards body is driving a transition to 2D barcodes in retail by 2027, and the S820, DS820, and D820 provide a pathway for users to easily upgrade to 2D barcode usage.
Application developers who wish to integrate the S820, DS820, or D820 can do so through Socket Mobile's CaptureSDK. It gives app providers reliable and consistent data capture performance, enabling their apps to efficiently capture data in the physical world. With CaptureSDK, app providers can maximize the value of their solution and increase their customer's overall productivity and satisfaction. Providers can offer any of Socket Mobile's data capture devices interchangeably and give end-users the freedom to choose the best reader for each customer's requirements.
If your app already uses CaptureSDK, (including apps like Shopify and Square), our new scanner models will work out of the box.
Media Contact: David Holmes, David.holmes@socketmobile.com
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SOURCE Socket Mobile, Inc. | 2022-10-18T10:34:38+00:00 | wsfa.com | https://www.wsfa.com/prnewswire/2022/10/18/socket-mobile-announces-new-socketscan-s820-durascan-d820-durasled-ds820-linear-barcode-plus-qr-code-scanners/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats will push ahead on restraining pharmaceutical prices and extending health insurance subsidies for millions of Americans, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer affirmed Tuesday, backing President Joe Biden’s call for his party to settle for a pared-down economic package and effectively concede to a pivotal senator.
Aiming to craft the bill and approve it over likely unanimous Republican opposition by Congress’ recess next month, Democrats were already hailing it as a victory. Passage would give the party an achievement ahead of November voting in which Republicans seem on track to win majorities in the House and perhaps the Senate.
“This is something we’ve waited for for a very long time,” Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters. “It’s going to be a major, major accomplishment to help people bring down inflation.”
But that glossed over an accompanying reality — Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has again forced his party to narrow the measure’s sweep, this time making it abandon hopes of using it to combat climate change.
Such initiatives are a passionate goal for younger and progressive voters, who are showing signs of souring on Democrats for their inability to pass strong legislation curbing carbon emissions that warm the planet. Biden has said he will take executive action to address the environmental crisis, and congressional Democrats are urging him to do that aggressively.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and other Democrats have said Manchin’s views on climate are out of synch with the party. Heinrich questioned last week whether Manchin, one of Congress’ most conservative and fossil-fuel friendly Democrats, should remain as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“It’s not fair to string people along for a year and not come to a conclusion,” Heinrich said Tuesday. Heinrich has criticized Manchin for repeatedly forcing Democrats to dramatically shrink the economic legislation. Manchin’s backing is needed for his party to prevail in the 50-50 Senate, along with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.
Manchin upended a roughly $2 trillion, 10-year social and environment bill in December after the House approved it. He did not attend a weekly lunch Tuesday that Democratic senators hold.
Earlier, Manchin reiterated his concerns that a larger economic measure could further worsen inflation and was unapologetic. “I’m not stringing you along. Don’t you believe inflation is the No. 1 thing in America right that’s hurting every human being?” he told reporters.
Asked if he felt Manchin had negotiated honestly with him over the months, Schumer said, “Senator Manchin and I know each other a long time. We have many disagreements. I am very strenuous when I talk to him about my disagreements. But we always try to show each other respect.”
It remains unclear exactly what the final measure will look like or when it will be ready for votes. As of now, the package would save $288 billion over the coming decade, largely because its price controls would make government drug purchases cheaper. Some money would pay for health insurance subsidies for consumers, with the rest used to slightly reduce federal deficits.
Some Democrats want the bill to be expanded to include other initiatives, such as including billions Biden wants to strengthen f ederal efforts to contend with the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are skeptical Manchin will sign off on that.
Senate staffers from both parties plan to meet Thursday with the Senate parliamentarian, who must decide if any provisions should be dropped from the measure for violating the chamber’s budget rules.
One item that might be vulnerable would require drug makers to pay the government rebates if they raise prices beyond inflation increases. If the parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, says those provisions should be removed, that could reduce the measure’s savings by as much as $100 billion, a big blow.
The still-developing legislation would authorize Medicare to negotiate how much it pays for some prescription drugs and require rebates if price increases exceed inflation. It would cap Medicare recipients’ out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 a year, give them free vaccines and expand prescription drug subsidies for some low-income people.
It would also extend federal payments, now expiring in January, that help around 13 million people who don’t get employer-paid or government health coverage pay premiums for their private insurance.
Republicans are opposing Democrats’ measure. They say it would discourage pharmaceutical research and object to shoring up federal health insurance subsidies created in former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care overhaul.
“It’s pretty unclear where they’re going,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “But they’re desperate to pass something on a party-line basis as rapidly as possible. That’s in all likelihood bad news for the American people.”
Manchin has said he would consider climate change legislation in September once he’s seen updated inflation figures. Approving a measure in the heat of election campaigns would be extremely difficult. | 2022-07-19T22:39:28+00:00 | upmatters.com | https://www.upmatters.com/health/ap-health/partisan-lines-form-over-dem-drug-price-curbs-economic-plan/ |
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie" scored the best second weekend ever for an animated movie in North American theaters with $87 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The family-friendly Universal release dropped a slim 41% from its record-making opening weekend.
Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, left, and Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day in Nintendo's "The Super Mario Bros. Movie."
Nintendo and Universal Studios via AP
With $94 million from international showings, “Mario's” global total now stands at a staggering $678 million, surpassing “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” to become biggest film of 2023 in just two weekends.
“There are not enough adjectives to describe the enormity of this box office performance,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore.
For most blockbusters, second weekends are usually down by about 60%, making “Mario's” 41% drop especially noteworthy. According to Comscore, only a handful of films that opened over $100 million have had less of a fall, including “Shrek 2,” “Frozen 2,” 2002's “Spider-Man," “The Force Awakens” and 2016's “The Jungle Book.”
“To the casual observer that may not seem like a big deal, but that is an important metric,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s the greatest indicator of audience love for the movie.”
“Mario” faced little major competition this weekend even with a slew of new national releases including “ Renfield,” “The Pope’s Exorcist,” “ Mafia Mamma ” and the animated “ Suzume.” It still has two weekends before “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” flies into theaters to jumpstart the summer moviegoing season.
Sony and Screen Gem's R-rated “The Pope’s Exorcist” starring Russell Crowe as the late Father Gabriele Amorth — the chief exorcist of the Diocese of Rome from 1986 to his death at 91 in 2016 — fared the best. It made an estimated $9.2 million from 3,178 locations.
Third place went to “John Wick: Chapter 4” in its fourth weekend with $7.9 million. The Lionsgate action pic has now made over $160.1 million domestically.
Universal's “Renfield,” the supernatural thriller starring Nicolas Cage as Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as the title character, opened in fourth place with $7.8 million.
Some wondered if opening “Renfield” and “The Pope's Exorcist” the same weekend — both R-rated and of similar genres — hurt the films. But Dergarabedian said that while audiences may have been similar, “these films play for more than just one weekend.”
Ben Affleck’s Air Jordan origin story “Air” rounded out the top five, with $7.7 million in its second weekend to bring its total domestic earnings to $33.3 million.
Makoto Shinkai's PG-rated anime “Suzume,” released domestically by Sony with both dubbed and subtitled versions available, opened in 2,170 theaters and grossed an estimated $5 million in ticket sales.
A24 also debuted its new Ari Aster R-rated mind-bender “Beau is Afraid,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles where it made $320,396 over the weekend, boasting many sold out showings. The 3-hour odyssey from the director of horror favorites “Hereditary” and “Midsommar” expands nationwide on Friday.
“Beau's” nearly $81,000 per-screen average is as remarkable as the slim “Mario” drop, Dergarabedian said, and is playing out in a marketplace with options for every kind of moviegoer.
“It’s one of the most diverse lineups of films I’ve seen on the marquee in years rivaling a streaming service in terms of the depth and breadth of content,” Dergarabedian said.
100 best G-rated movies to watch as a family
100 best G-Rated movies to watch as a family
The earliest movies, some only mere seconds long, were made in the last decade of the 19th century after Thomas Edison invented the kinetoscope. As technology quickly advanced, the demand for more moving pictures that were longer in length and had more elaborate storylines increased. By the early 20th century, the motion picture industry as we know it today was beginning to emerge. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The motion picture industry has changed dramatically since those early days, including how films are rated for audiences. For example, in 1922, in the early days of studios, William Hays formed the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America . This governing body would go on to create the moral censorship guidelines, or the Hays Code, as it was often referred to, which provided regulations about the types of content that could or could not be shown on screen. The Hays Code , which remained in place for nearly 40 years, included incredibly strict rules that dictated films to only present correct standards of life, crime and immorality could never be portrayed in a positive light, and religion could never be depicted in a mocking manner.
Then, in 1968 , the modern voluntary movie rating system was born. The new system rated films G, M, R, and X and focused less on determining what audiences could see and more on giving parents a system that they could use to decide what was appropriate for their families. This modern-day system has gone through several rounds of refinement over the years, but since the beginning, the G rating has indicated that a film is appropriate for audiences of all ages.
Stacker has rounded up a list of the 100 best G-rated films to watch as a family. Data was compiled on all G-rated movies to come up with a Stacker score—a weighted index split evenly between IMDb and Metacritic scores. To qualify, the film had to be listed as G-rated on IMDb, have a Metascore, and have at least 5,000 IMDb votes. Ties were broken by the number of votes.
From "The Sound of Music" to "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," any one of these movies would make a great pick for your next family movie night.
You may also like: 15 controversial Oscar wins—and how they've aged
Universal Pictures
#100. The Out of Towners (1970)
- Director: Arthur Hiller
- Stacker score: 77.2
- Metascore: 72
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Runtime: 101 minutes
In "The Out of Towners," small-town Ohio couple George and Gwen set out for the big city (New York City, to be precise) after George receives a job interview there. Travel snafus make their journey a frustrating one, and it takes a plane, train, taxi, and some good old-fashioned walking to get George and Gwen to their destination. According to John Mahoney of the Hollywood Reporter , the Neil Simon flick is "the closest the sound film has come to recapturing the genius of the silent movie chase comedy."
Jalem Productions
#99. The Time Machine (1960)
- Director: George Pal
- Stacker score: 77.2
- Metascore: 67
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Runtime: 103 minutes
A faithful adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic, "The Time Machine" tells the story of a scientist who tempts fate by creating a machine that allows him to jump into three different periods of the future. Special effects, including the design of the time machine, were a major hurdle for the filmmakers, but in the end, they managed to pull off an impressive feat and won an Oscar for Best Special Effects.
George Pal Productions
#98. The Italian Job (1969)
- Director: Peter Collinson
- Stacker score: 77.2
- Metascore: 70
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Runtime: 99 minutes
In the 1969 version of "The Italian Job," Michael Caine plays a British crook who plans to steal millions of dollars of gold from a convoy of cars in Turin, Italy, by fixing the traffic lights in order to establish a gridlock that would allow him to sneak away. Irreverent and goofy, the film has one of the best and most copied cliffhanger endings of all time.
Oakhurst Productions
#97. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
- Directors: James Algar, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney
- Stacker score: 77.7
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 6.9
- Runtime: 68 minutes
"The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" is actually two different animated stories packaged into a single film. The first, about the wealthy Mr. Toad who sets out to get a car any way he can, is derived from "The Wind and the Willows," while the second, about a schoolmaster who's caught in a love triangle and deathly afraid of the Headless Horseman, was pulled from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Originally, the movie was set to be called "Two Fabulous Characters " drawing a clearer distinction between the tales and characters, whose only real link is how prone they are to disaster.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#96. The Last Unicorn (1982)
- Directors: Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin Jr.
- Stacker score: 77.7
- Metascore: 70
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 92 minutes
Mia Farrow lends her voice to the titular character in "The Last Unicorn ," playing a young, frightened creature who sets out to save her kind from the evil hands of King Haggard, finding help from a gentle sorcerer named Schmendrick along the way. Described as highly imaginative and innovative, the cartoon, which deals with themes like loss and regret, is based on a novel by Peter S. Beagle, who also wrote the screenplay. An interesting note: the animation was completed by a studio that would go on to be known as Studio Ghibli.
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Rankin/Bass Productions
#95. The Rescuers (1977)
- Directors: John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Art Stevens
- Stacker score: 77.7
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 6.9
- Runtime: 77 minutes
"The Rescuers" is a Disney classic about a mouse detective named Miss Bianca, and her assistant, Bernard, both members of the Rescue Aid Society, who spring into action to save a human girl named Penny from the evil Madame Medusa. For a while, there was a rumor flying around that a topless woman could briefly be seen in the background of a scene, but have no fear, the images have been edited out in every current release of the film.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#94. Oklahoma! (1955)
- Director: Fred Zinnemann
- Stacker score: 78.3
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Runtime: 145 minutes
A film adaptation of the famous Rogers and Hammerstein musical, "Oklahoma!" tells the story of a young woman from the rural territory and the two men vying for her affection. The two composers retained creative control over this film, which resulted in it more closely following the storyline and plot beats of their original stage show. Only two musical numbers were eventually cut from the score.
Rogers and Hammerstein Productions
#93. The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
- Directors: Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, David Michener, John Musker
- Stacker score: 78.3
- Metascore: 73
- IMDb user rating: 7.1
- Runtime: 74 minutes
Basil of Baker Street, a mouse detective, lives in the same London flat as Sherlock Holmes and shares his same mystery-solving abilities. In "The Great Mouse Detective" he's hired by the mouse daughter of an abducted toy maker to find her father and uncovers a plot against the crown along the way. The film earned $25.3 million at the box office , which helped Disney Studios recoup some of the losses from "The Black Cauldron," an expensive flop that had premiered the year before.
Walt Disney Pictures
#92. The Princess and the Frog (2009)
- Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker
- Stacker score: 78.3
- Metascore: 73
- IMDb user rating: 7.1
- Runtime: 97 minutes
Set in New Orleans during the 1910s and '20s, "The Princess and the Frog" is about a young woman with dreams of owning her own restaurant, who kisses a frog prince, is turned into a frog herself, and must seek the help of a voodoo priestess in order to return to her human form. The film is notable among the Disney classics, as it is the first film to feature African American characters since 1946's "Song of the South," a deeply racist movie that has been locked in the Disney vault for years.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#91. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
- Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
- Stacker score: 78.3
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Runtime: 91 minutes
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame " contains heavier themes than some other Disney movies, like abuse of authority, racism, and the importance of civic action to end injustices. Loosely based on Victor Hugo's novel of the same name, Disney studios actually expected the film to get a PG rating from the MPAA rating board because of these heavier themes. In the end, it kept the G rating and opened in 1996 to an underwhelming response at the box office.
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Walt Disney Animation Studios
#90. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
- Director: Mark Dindal
- Stacker score: 78.3
- Metascore: 70
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Runtime: 78 minutes
An arrogant young emperor is taught his lesson after a scheming adviser turns him into a llama in "The Emperor's New Groove." Set in the ancient Incan Empire , the film was originally titled "Kingdom of the Sun" and would have been a "Prince and the Pauper"-type tale until a total overhaul gave us this classic, comedy gem.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#89. The Sound of Music (1965)
- Director: Robert Wise
- Stacker score: 78.3
- Metascore: 63
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Runtime: 172 minutes
Movie musical "The Sound of Music" took the world by storm, earning $158.7 million at the box office and taking home five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Based on the last musical Rodgers and Hammerstein ever made , the movie tells the story of a governess (Julie Andrews) who falls in love with her employer (Christopher Plummer) and is forced to flee Austria with him and their seven children after they refuse to join the Nazi party.
Robert Wise Productions
#88. The Parent Trap (1961)
- Director: David Swift
- Stacker score: 78.8
- Metascore: 73
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Runtime: 129 minutes
In "The Parent Trap," twin sisters Susan and Sharon, who were separated at birth, meet at a summer camp and plan to switch places in an attempt to get their parents back together. Hayley Mills stars as both sisters, a feat that was accomplished by a trick shot that allowed her to appear in two places at one time. Originally, the film contained very few of these processed shots, but as soon as Walt Disney saw how seamless they looked, he ordered more to be added.
Walt Disney Productions
#87. Winnie the Pooh (2011)
- Directors: Stephen J. Anderson, Don Hall
- Stacker score: 78.8
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 7.1
- Runtime: 63 minutes
Three of A.A. Milne's Hundred Acre Wood stories are brought together to create this 2011 "Winnie the Pooh " movie. The gentle hand animation adds a level of magic to this movie that follows the crew as they search for Eeyore's missing tail and set out to save Christopher Robin from what may be a possible abduction. Appropriate for even the youngest viewers, there's nothing in this movie that could possibly inspire nightmares.
Walt Disney Pictures
#86. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
- Director: Mel Stuart
- Stacker score: 78.8
- Metascore: 67
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Runtime: 100 minutes
A screen adaptation of the Roald Dahl book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" is about a poor kid named Charlie Bucket who finds a golden ticket that gains him entrance to a famed candy factory alongside four other children. Starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, the film was oddly financed by the Quaker Oats Company , which was looking to make a movie that could promote their new candy, the Wonka Bar. After purchasing the rights to the story, the company shifted around the words in the title in order to make the tie-in more obvious.
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Wolper Pictures Ltd.
#85. Cars (2006)
- Directors: John Lasseter, Joe Ranft
- Stacker score: 78.8
- Metascore: 73
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Runtime: 117 minutes
When racing car Lightning McQueen falls out of his trailer on the way to an important race, he winds up in Radiator Springs, where he meets new faces like Tow Mater and Sally and learns the true meaning of friendship. Aside from the fact that the cars can talk, the film was noted for its realism, and most of the characters in the film are based on real cars , like a 1960s Volkswagen Microbus and a 1959 Chevy Impala. "Cars" was such a success that it has since spawned a whole franchise of movies and a Disney+ TV show.
Pixar Animation Studios
#84. The King and I (1956)
- Director: Walter Lang
- Stacker score: 79.3
- Metascore: 72
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Runtime: 133 minutes
A big-screen version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical, "The King and I" is about a widowed governess who sets out to tutor the wives and children of the King of Siam on the English language and customs. Starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr, the movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning five.
Twentieth Century Fox
#83. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (2019)
- Directors: Will Becher, Richard Phelan
- Stacker score: 79.9
- Metascore: 79
- IMDb user rating: 6.8
- Runtime: 86 minutes
A sci-fi, claymation movie, "A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon" begins with an alien spacecraft crash landing on Mossy Bottom Farm. Shaun quickly befriends the creature inside, helping him find a way to return home before being captured by a government agency. While not exactly the most thought-provoking movie on this list, it has managed to retain a respectable audience rating on IMDb.
Aardman Animations
#82. The Secret Garden (1993)
- Director: Agnieszka Holland
- Stacker score: 79.9
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 101 minutes
"The Secret Garden" is based on Frances Hodgson Burnett's tale of an orphaned girl and a sickly boy who uncover a hidden garden in the imposing mansion they call home and turn it into an oasis of their own. Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, the film's biggest star is Dame Maggie Smith, who received a BAFTA nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role as Mrs. Medlock.
Warner Bros.
#81. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
- Director: Norman Jewison
- Stacker score: 79.9
- Metascore: 67
- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Runtime: 181 minutes
An Oscar-winning adaptation of a popular Broadway musical, "Fiddler on the Roof " is about life in a Russian Jewish village pre-revolution. Tevye, the main character, is the father of five daughters, and he spends much of his time seeking to marry them off while still maintaining the cultural and religious traditions that are being eaten away by outside influences. The movie is cheerful and affirmative while showing deep respect for the values and traditions of this specific group of people.
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The Mirisch Production Company
#80. Hercules (1997)
- Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker
- Stacker score: 79.9
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 93 minutes
One of Disney's only forays into Greek mythology, "Hercules" is about the half-man, half-god who was forced to live on Earth among mortals and prove his worth in order to regain his spot on Mount Olympus with the gods. The animated feature starred the vocal talents of actors like James Woods, Tate Donovan, Susan Egan, and Danny DeVito. It's been recently reported that Disney has a live-action remake of this classic film in the works.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#79. Mulan (1998)
- Directors: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook
- Stacker score: 79.9
- Metascore: 71
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 87 minutes
Based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, "Mulan" was the first movie in the Disney oeuvre to feature an Asian protagonist. The story, about a young woman who steps up to defend her country in her father's place and ends up saving all of China, won rave reviews from critics for bringing such a strong, self-sufficient, and brave heroine to the big screen. The titular warrior is truly an inspiring role model for children of all ages.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#78. The Three Caballeros (1944)
- Directors: Norman Ferguson, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts, Harold Young
- Stacker score: 80.4
- Metascore: 85
- IMDb user rating: 6.3
- Runtime: 71 minutes
A mix of animation and live-action, "The Three Caballeros " is made up of a series of segments featuring Donald Duck as he travels around to various countries in South America. If the plot strikes you as odd, that's because it is. The film was one of the Disney company's contributions to the war effort under the Good Neighbor Policy, which sought to develop closer bonds with neighboring countries in an effort to keep Axis powers' influence at bay.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#77. Gigi (1958)
- Directors: Vincente Minnelli, Charles Walters
- Stacker score: 80.4
- Metascore: 82
- IMDb user rating: 6.6
- Runtime: 115 minutes
In "Gigi," the titular character has been raised to be a courtesan in the "family tradition," but isn't interested in the charms and etiquette she must learn in order to succeed, dreaming of love and marriage instead. While some of the topics in the movie might be on the more risqué side, they are talked about in such coded lingo they'd fly right over the heads of most children, who are sure to be more entranced by the central love story and musical numbers anyways.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#76. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
- Director: Stanley Donen
- Stacker score: 80.4
- Metascore: 75
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 102 minutes
Though it's based on the decidedly not family-friendly story, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" puts a wholesome, humorous spin on the tale. The musical comedy is about six uncultured, lumberjack brothers who are inspired to find love of their own after their oldest brother brings home a beautiful wife of his own. They go about it in all the wrong ways, however, attempting to kidnap the women they're interested in, much to the chagrin of their village.
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#75. The War of the Worlds (1953)
- Director: Byron Haskin
- Stacker score: 80.4
- Metascore: 78
- IMDb user rating: 7.0
- Runtime: 85 minutes
A sci-fi film based on an H.G. Wells novel, the 1953 version of "The War of the Worlds" is far less scary than more recent editions thanks to its dated special effects (Oscar-worthy at the time ) and more family-friendly tone. It sticks to the same story, about an alien war machine that crashes onto the Earth, and begins killing people at random. Their only hope for salvation? "The littlest things, which God, in His wisdom, had put upon this earth."
Paramount Pictures
#74. Oliver! (1968)
- Director: Carol Reed
- Stacker score: 80.4
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Runtime: 153 minutes
Based on the Broadway musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic work "Oliver Twist," the movie's over-the-top characters appeal to children while adults can relish in the great storyline. The movie is about a young orphan who falls in with a group of street urchins led by the Artful Dodger and Fagin, only to have them turn on him when a wealthy target, Mr. Brownlow, offers him a home. Famed film critic Roger Ebert called "Oliver!" a "treasure of a movie ."
Romulus Films
#73. The Haunting (1963)
- Director: Robert Wise
- Stacker score: 80.4
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Runtime: 112 minutes
While technically rated G, this low-key horror movie isn't suited for kids who are nightmare-prone. In "The Haunting," four people (an anthropologist, an ESP, a lonely woman with experience in supernatural events, and the heir of the mansion in question) set out to spend the night in a house that's rumored to be haunted and quickly discover that the old stories are true. The film would make a good watch around Halloween.
Argyle Enterprises
#72. Lassie Come Home (1943)
- Director: Fred M. Wilcox
- Stacker score: 81.0
- Metascore: 78
- IMDb user rating: 7.1
- Runtime: 89 minutes
The first installment in the "Lassie" series, "Lassie Come Home " follows a devoted dog as he treks from Scotland to England in search of his original owner. The family-friendly flick was one of Elizabeth Taylor's earliest roles—a far cry from the darker, more mature parts she'd prefer later on.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#71. The Road Home (1999)
- Director: Yimou Zhang
- Stacker score: 81.0
- Metascore: 71
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Runtime: 89 minutes
A beautiful love story, "The Road Home" tells the story of the courtship between Luo Changyu and Zhao Di via a series of flashbacks as their son returns home to their small village in order to make the necessary preparations for his father's funeral. The movie received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, who even called it one of the best films of the year.
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Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia
#70. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
- Director: Fred Zinnemann
- Stacker score: 81.0
- Metascore: 72
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Runtime: 120 minutes
In "A Man for All Seasons ," Sir Thomas More seeks to remain true to his convictions even in the face of treason charges that were leveled against him after he refused to help King Henry VIII obtain a divorce. The movie is not quickly paced, but it's historically accurate, and its message about remaining true to the things you believe in is one for the ages.
Highland Films
#69. Peter Pan (1953)
- Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Jack Kinney
- Stacker score: 81.0
- Metascore: 76
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 77 minutes
Upon his death, author J.M. Barrie left the rights to "Peter Pan" to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. When Walt Disney decided he wanted to adapt the story about the boy who never grows up, he had to make a deal with the hospital rather than the author's estate, which is more standard, in order to receive the animation rights. In the end, it was well worth it—the film grossed over $40 million after its initial release.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#68. A Bug's Life (1998)
- Directors: John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton
- Stacker score: 81.0
- Metascore: 77
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Runtime: 95 minutes
Inspired by Aesop's fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper," "A Bug's Life" is about an ant named Flick who makes a huge mistake that risks the life of his colony and must find a way to save them from the nefarious grasshoppers. Hours and hours of work went into animating this Pixar feature about insects, and the film's team pored over videos taken from a "bug's perspective" in order to get things just right.
Pixar Animation Studios
#67. Not One Less (1999)
- Director: Yimou Zhang
- Stacker score: 81.5
- Metascore: 73
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Runtime: 106 minutes
There are no professional actors in "Not One Less ," a film from Yimou Zhang, who also directed such films as "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Shanghai Triad." Instead, the actual residents of the small village the film was shot in play its various characters, giving the movie an incredibly authentic feeling. The story is about a 13-year-old girl, Wei Minzhi, who is tasked to be a substitute teacher at the local school when the regular teacher, Gao Enman, is unexpectedly called away. Before he leaves, Enman instructs Minzhi to make sure all of the students are still there when he returns, as the school's subsidy is dependent on numbers; when one boy leaves in search of work, Minzhi goes to great lengths to find him and bring him back.
Bejing New Picture Distribution Company
#66. The Muppet Movie (1979)
- Director: James Frawley
- Stacker score: 81.5
- Metascore: 74
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 95 minutes
The big-screen debut of the muppets, "The Muppet Movie" is an original story starring Kermit the Frog, who sets out to meet a talent agent in Hollywood, and is captured by Doc Hopper, an evil villain who sells frog legs in his restaurant. Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, and the rest of the gang have to jump into action in order to save Kermit before it's too late. One of the most memorable scenes in the movie is the finale, which featured 250 different puppets who all had a unique role to play, and required Jim Henson to hire 150 extra puppeteers through the Los Angeles Guild of Puppeteers of America.
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Henson Associates (HA)
#65. Animal Crackers (1930)
- Director: Victor Heerman
- Stacker score: 82.1
- Metascore: 77
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Runtime: 97 minutes
A pre-code Marx Brothers caper, "Animal Crackers" is based on the trio's Broadway musical of the same name. The comedic mystery has a loose plot that centers around a stolen painting, a Long Island party, and a foreign explorer.
Paramount Pictures
#64. The Secret of NIMH (1982)
- Director: Don Bluth
- Stacker score: 82.1
- Metascore: 76
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Runtime: 82 minutes
An adaptation of the Newbery Award-winning children's novel, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH," "The Secret of NIMH" was made and directed by a whole team of former Disney animators . It's about a widowed mouse who must move her home and children before they're crushed by the farmer's plow. When one of her children comes down with an illness, she turns to the rats of NIMH, who have heightened intelligence. They give her a sacred object that will help her get the job done.
Don Bluth Productions
#63. Lady and the Tramp (1955)
- Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Jack Cutting
- Stacker score: 82.1
- Metascore: 78
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 76 minutes
"Lady and the Tramp ," the 1955 Disney movie about a pampered pooch and a streetwise dog who fall in love, was first inspired by sketches that one of the animators, Joe Grant, made of his own springer spaniel. As the studio worked up a treatment to accompany the sketches, other influences, like a short story by Ward Greene titled "Happy Dan the Whistling Dog," were mixed in, in an effort to create a film that contained the classic Disney formula. Funnily enough, the movie's most classic scene, where the two pups share a plate of spaghetti, almost didn't make the cut, after Walt complained that it didn't really make much sense.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#62. The Winslow Boy (1999)
- Director: David Mamet
- Stacker score: 82.6
- Metascore: 79
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 104 minutes
Based on a 1940s play by Terence Rattigan, which was inspired by the true story of the Winslow family, "The Winslow Boy" is about the lengths a father will go to in order to clear his son's—and by association his own—name. After being accused of theft, Ronnie Winslow is expelled from his school, his father, convinced that his son is innocent, spares no expense in publicly clearing the boy's name, all but ruining the rest of his family in the process. A tense film at times, this movie places more importance on character development than it does on the plot, making it an interesting watch for adults as well as kids.
Winslow Partners Ltd.
#61. The Longest Day (1962)
- Directors: Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck
- Stacker score: 82.6
- Metascore: 75
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Runtime: 178 minutes
A G-rated war film about the D-Day landings in Normandy, this flick probably isn't appropriate for young audiences or sensitive viewers, but it would be a great watch with older children and teenagers. "The Longest Day" shows what happened on several different fronts on D-Day, and provides a historically accurate and atmospheric retelling of the biggest event in World War II, making it both educational and entertaining.
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Twentieth Century Fox
#60. Babe (1995)
- Director: Chris Noonan
- Stacker score: 82.6
- Metascore: 83
- IMDb user rating: 6.9
- Runtime: 91 minutes
One of the few children's films to have ever been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, "Babe" is about a talking pig who learns he has talent as a sheepherder. A live-action movie, Babe and all of his farm friends are a mixture of real, trained animals and animatronic doubles, all of whom "speak" thanks to a computer program that made their mouths move in the correct patterns.
Universal Pictures
#59. Tarzan (1999)
- Directors: Chris Buck, Kevin Lima
- Stacker score: 82.6
- Metascore: 79
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 88 minutes
Edgar Rice Burroughs first came up with the character of Tarzan in his 1912 novel, "Tarzan of the Apes." In 1999, Disney studios brought the tale of an orphaned boy raised by kindly apes in the African wilderness to life. British musician Phil Collins wrote and recorded most of the music included in the movie.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#58. Yellow Submarine (1968)
- Director: George Dunning
- Stacker score: 83.2
- Metascore: 79
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Runtime: 85 minutes
The Beatles (or at least their images) star in this animated film about a city called Pepperland that is under siege by the music-hating Blue Meanies. Pepperland's last hope, the group is called in to save the day by playing some of their hits, which the Blue Meanies stand no chance against. While this is touted as a Beatles film, John, Paul, George, and Ringo actually only appear in the final scene of "Yellow Submarine," but are voiced by other actors throughout the rest of the flick.
Apple Corps
#57. The Music Man (1962)
- Director: Morton DaCosta
- Stacker score: 83.7
- Metascore: 76
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Runtime: 151 minutes
A massive hit the year it was released, "The Music Man" is yet another family-friendly movie based on a Broadway production. The classic musical follows a man (Robert Preston reprising his original stage role) who poses as a boy's band leader in order to con a small town out of their hard-earned money.
Warner Bros.
#56. Whisper of the Heart (1995)
- Director: Yoshifumi Kondô
- Stacker score: 83.7
- Metascore: 75
- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Runtime: 111 minutes
Another Studio Ghibli movie, "Whisper of the Heart" is about an avid young reader named Shizuku who notices that all of the library books she's taken out have also been checked out by a mysterious young man named Seiji. Believing the boy to be her soulmate, Shizuku sets out on a journey to find him. The animated movie was based on a Japanese anime of the same name.
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Tokuma Shoten
#55. Footlight Parade (1933)
- Director: Lloyd Bacon
- Stacker score: 84.2
- Metascore: 80
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Runtime: 104 minutes
A producer comes up against challenge after challenge when he attempts to put on a show in "Footlight Parade." Released before the existence of the ratings code, the humor and dialogue can be a bit more risqué at times than you might typically expect of a G-rated film.
Warner Bros.
#54. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
- Director: Richard Fleischer
- Stacker score: 84.2
- Metascore: 83
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Runtime: 127 minutes
In "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," Captain Nemo is an eccentric (and possibly mad) submarine captain who tries to cross the seven seas with his ragtag crew of captured sailors in tow. The group must uncover Nemo's real motive for the deadly journey before it's too late. While the story is, by now, a familiar one, viewers will delight in the extravagant set design that brings the story to life in an entirely new way.
Walt Disney Productions
#53. Forbidden Planet (1956)
- Director: Fred M. Wilcox
- Stacker score: 84.2
- Metascore: 80
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Runtime: 98 minutes
Very loosely based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest," "Forbidden Planet" is one of the earliest examples of a science fiction film. The movie is set in the 23rd century and follows a group of space explorers as they set out to discover what has unfolded on a now-deserted settlement. Over the last few decades, rumors have swirled that a remake is in the works, though we've yet to see one actually enter into production.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#52. Babette's Feast (1987)
- Director: Gabriel Axel
- Stacker score: 84.8
- Metascore: 78
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Runtime: 103 minutes
A Danish film, "Babette's Feast" is about the almost magical meal a refugee from Paris cooks for two sisters who are hosting her as well as their aging congregation and the impact it has on their small village. A commentary on art and divine grace, this movie is a true feast for the eyes and mind.
Panorama Film A/S
#51. The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)
- Director: Hiromasa Yonebayashi
- Stacker score: 84.8
- Metascore: 80
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 94 minutes
"The Secret World of Arrietty " is about a 4-inch-tall teenager named Arrietty who lives with her family underneath the floorboards of another family's home. On one of her above-board missions to gather supplies, she meets a normal-sized boy named Sho and begins to develop a relationship with him—a relationship that could threaten the safety and future of her people. This Studio Ghibli film is loosely based on "The Borrowers," a novel by Mary Norton.
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Studio Ghibli
#50. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
- Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wolfgang Reitherman
- Stacker score: 84.8
- Metascore: 83
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 79 minutes
Artists drew more than 6 million spots in the course of animating the 1961 Disney classic "One Hundred and One Dalmatians." For viewers who have never seen the movie, it's part love story between Dalmatian parents Pongo and Perdita and their owners Roger and Anita, and part adventure story as Pongo and Perdita must save their own 15 puppies, plus 84 others, from the greedy hands of Cruella de Vil, who wants to turn them all into a coat.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#49. Old Yeller (1957)
- Director: Robert Stevenson
- Stacker score: 85.3
- Metascore: 84
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 83 minutes
Another movie you simply must have tissues on hand for, "Old Yeller" has been previously ranked as one of the "saddest kids' movies of all time " by Time. The Disney film is about an adopted yellow lab who proves time and again how loyal and worthy of love he is, before meeting one of the most tragic endings in the history of cinema.
Walt Disney Productions
#48. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
- Directors: Les Clark, Clyde Geronimi, Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, Hamilton Luske
- Stacker score: 85.3
- Metascore: 85
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Runtime: 75 minutes
When "Sleeping Beauty" premiered in 1959, it did so poorly at the box office and with critics that Disney didn't release another fairy tale for 30 years, until "The Little Mermaid" in 1989. Critics found the linear-styled artwork "oppressive" and New York Times critic Bosley Crowther questioned whether the film was appropriate for young children due to the story's scary villain, Maleficent.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#47. Treasure Island (1950)
- Director: Byron Haskin
- Stacker score: 85.9
- Metascore: 89
- IMDb user rating: 6.9
- Runtime: 96 minutes
One of many adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel "Treasure Island," this 1950s movie was one of Disney's first attempts at a live-action adventure film. Bobby Driscoll, who played the main character Jim Hawkins, appeared in several more Disney films, including "Peter Pan."
Walt Disney Productions
#46. The Black Stallion (1979)
- Director: Carroll Ballard
- Stacker score: 85.9
- Metascore: 84
- IMDb user rating: 7.4
- Runtime: 118 minutes
One of the best-loved horse movies of all time, "The Black Stallion" is about the bond shared between a horse and a boy as they're stranded on a deserted island together and then, upon their rescue, as they prepare for the most anticipated horse race of the year. It's beautifully shot and, as Roger Ebert noted , full of "terrific energy, beauty, and excitement."
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Omni Zoetrope
#45. Cinderella (1950)
- Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske
- Stacker score: 85.9
- Metascore: 85
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 74 minutes
"Cinderella" is literally a tale as old as time, with the earliest known versions of the story dating back to the sixth century B.C. This version, popularized by the 1950 Disney animated film, is Charles Perrault's, which was written in 1697 . The movie was a massive success, having been nominated for three Academy Awards, and essentially saved the studio, which was over $4 million in debt prior to the release.
Walt Disney Productions
#44. A Little Princess (1995)
- Director: Alfonso Cuarón
- Stacker score: 86.4
- Metascore: 83
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 97 minutes
Frances Hodgson Burnett's other big novel, "A Little Princess" has also been turned into a film starring Liesel Matthews, Liam Cunningham, and Camilla Belle. The movie is about a young girl sent to boarding school who suffers a huge reversal of fortunes and must make the best of her poor new situation. It's a heartwarming and magical tale that's sure to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages.
Warner Bros.
#43. Planet of the Apes (1968)
- Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
- Stacker score: 86.4
- Metascore: 79
- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Runtime: 112 minutes
"Planet of the Apes" is now a full-blown franchise that includes many feature-length films over the decades, but it was this 1968 film that started it all. The movie is about three human astronauts who find themselves stranded on a planet where walking, talking apes are the rulers and humans are their slaves. A sharp social commentary, the movie doesn't sacrifice any action or adventure in the quest to make its point.
Twentieth Century Fox
#42. Chicken Run (2000)
- Directors: Peter Lord, Nick Park
- Stacker score: 86.4
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 7.1
- Runtime: 84 minutes
A stop-motion animation film, "Chicken Run" was released in 2000, but production on the picture had actually started four years earlier in 1996 . Stop-motion is a very involved form of filmmaking, and it took a team 20 months to finish the principal photography, shooting 100 seconds a week in their most productive periods. The finished movie is about a group of fowl, led by the fearless Ginger and Rocky the Flying Rooster, who are trying to escape their evil owners at the Tweedy Chicken Farm.
Aardman Animations
#41. Captains Courageous (1937)
- Director: Victor Fleming
- Stacker score: 87.0
- Metascore: 81
- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Runtime: 117 minutes
An adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling novel, "Captains Courageous" is about a spoiled young boy who is lost at sea only to be rescued by a Portuguese fisherman. His crew puts the boy to work. In the book, the main character is a 19-year-old young man, but in the film, he's aged down to 12 so that Freddie Bartholomew (an incredibly famous child actor of the time) could take the lead role.
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#40. Giant (1956)
- Director: George Stevens
- Stacker score: 87.0
- Metascore: 84
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 201 minutes
James Dean's final film, "Giant" follows a Texas ranch family over the course of several decades as they struggle to adjust to change and wrestle with modernization. Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson also star in the Academy Award-winning project.
George Stevens Productions
#39. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
- Directors: Pete Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich
- Stacker score: 87.0
- Metascore: 79
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Runtime: 92 minutes
Singer-songwriter Randy Newman, a staple in the Disney Pixar world, won his first Oscar for the closing song of "Monsters, Inc." called "If I Didn't Have You." The touching ballad was a fitting end to the sweet comedy about the monsters under your bed, the central story of which is this: Best friends and colleagues, Mike and Sully, work for the most successful scream factory in the world and enjoy plenty of professional success until they accidentally let a human girl into Monstropolis, almost ruining everything.
Pixar Animation Studios
#38. The Yearling (1946)
- Director: Clarence Brown
- Stacker score: 87.5
- Metascore: 89
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Runtime: 128 minutes
A tragic tale about the son of a Florida farmer and his pet fawn, the movie was praised by The New York Times ' Bosley Crowther for its precise portrayal of the "innocence and trust and enchantment that are in the nature of a child [and] the yearning love and anxiety that a father feels for his boy."
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#37. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
- Director: Hayao Miyazaki
- Stacker score: 87.5
- Metascore: 83
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Runtime: 103 minutes
In "Kiki's Delivery Service ," a witch-in-training named Kiki and her talking black cat set up a delivery service in their local community, which is threatened when Kiki begins to doubt herself and her abilities. Before the film's 1989 release, Studio Ghibli had been struggling and was actually on the verge of bankruptcy, but luckily for audiences everywhere, Kiki's success saved them all.
Kiki's Delivery Service Production Committee
#36. Toy Story 4 (2019)
- Director: Josh Cooley
- Stacker score: 87.5
- Metascore: 84
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Runtime: 100 minutes
Reviews have been decidedly mixed since "Toy Story 4" was released in 2019. Many critics raved about the film , praising its layered metaphors and the franchise's ability to reinvent itself, while many viewers expressed frustration over the storyline and choices made by the characters, which they felt weren't in line with the personalities they'd come to know and love. Whichever side of the debate you stand on, it's hard to argue that the movie wasn't a success, as it earned more than $1 billion at the box office globally.
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#35. Funny Girl (1968)
- Director: William Wyler
- Stacker score: 88.0
- Metascore: 89
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 151 minutes
Barbra Streisand's first film role—which also won her an Oscar—was as Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl." The stage musical turned film is about a vaudeville star whose career takes off as her private life—namely her marriage—begins to falter.
Columbia Pictures
#34. The Odd Couple (1968)
- Director: Gene Saks
- Stacker score: 88.0
- Metascore: 86
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 105 minutes
"The Odd Couple" is a buddy comedy starring Walter Matthau (Oscar) and Jack Lemmon (Felix) as two polar-opposite best friends. After splitting up with his wife, Felix moves in with Oscar, but his neurotic ways soon get on his pal's nerves, threatening the pair's living arrangements. The movie is laugh-out-loud funny, so successful that it ended up being the inspiration for an ABC sitcom of the same name.
Paramount Pictures
#33. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
- Directors: Steve Box, Nick Park
- Stacker score: 88.0
- Metascore: 87
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Runtime: 85 minutes
A parody of classic monster movies, "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" is the fifth installment in the "Wallace & Gromit" series . The stop-action movie follows the good-natured inventor and his dog as they battle against a giant, veggie-loving rabbit who is single-handedly decimating the town's crops.
Aardman Animations
#32. Ponyo (2008)
- Director: Hayao Miyazaki
- Stacker score: 88.0
- Metascore: 86
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 101 minutes
A different sort of retelling of "The Little Mermaid," animated by Studio Ghibli, "Ponyo" is about a princess fish who wants to become human. After meeting and befriending a little boy named Sôsuke, Ponyo decides she will no longer be contained to the sea, but in the process of breaking free, she accidentally releases the magical Water of Life, which disrupts the balance of nature and threatens to destroy the whole world. Several recognizable stars lent their voices to the English version of the film, including Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Betty White, Cloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin, Frankie Jonas, and Noah Cyrus.
Studio Ghibli
#31. Bambi (1942)
- Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, David Hand, Graham Heid, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Norman Wright, Arthur Davis, Clyde Geronimi
- Stacker score: 89.1
- Metascore: 91
- IMDb user rating: 7.3
- Runtime: 69 minutes
"Bambi" is based on a novel by Felix Salten, titled "Bambi, a Life in the Woods." While the novel is intended for adults, Walt Disney reworked the material about a young fawn and his forest friends to be appropriate for children. Some, including his own daughter, argue that he didn't change it enough, saying that he should have cut the entire storyline where Bambi's mother dies, which is truly one of the more tragic moments in the Disney canon.
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Walt Disney Animation Studios
#30. The Little Mermaid (1989)
- Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker
- Stacker score: 89.1
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 83 minutes
"The Little Mermaid " as we know it today almost never made it to the big screen. Initially, the CEO of Disney nixed the film entirely as the studio was already working on another mermaid picture. When he finally relented, the movie's most iconic song, "Part of Your World," nearly landed on the cutting room floor after the first round of test audiences weren't into it. Luckily, the production team stuck with their film, and the song is now a classic in many Disney song playlists.
Walt Disney Pictures
#29. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
- Director: John Ford
- Stacker score: 89.7
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Runtime: 118 minutes
Set at the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, "How Green Was My Valley" follows the Morgan family as they simultaneously mourn the loss of their way of life and look forward to a happier, easier future. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards, it took home five, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Twentieth Century Fox
#28. The Straight Story (1999)
- Director: David Lynch
- Stacker score: 90.2
- Metascore: 86
- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Runtime: 112 minutes
A great American road movie about slowing down and focusing on what's meaningful in life, "The Straight Story" was inspired by a true event that occurred in 1994. In the movie, an aging farmer named Alvin Straight sets out to make things right with his younger brother Lyle, who has just suffered a stroke. Unfortunately for Alvin, he doesn't own a car, so he decides to make the multistate journey on his lawn mower.
Asymmetrical Productions
#27. Mary Poppins (1964)
- Director: Robert Stevenson
- Stacker score: 90.2
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Runtime: 139 minutes
Audiences around the world have adored the magical nanny Mary Poppins ever since she landed on the big screen in 1964. However, the author of the "Mary Poppins" books P.L. Travers famously did not enjoy the adaptation of her book series. When she attended the premiere of the movie, she reportedly cried through the entire thing, furious with Disney for bastardizing her tale.
Walt Disney Productions
#26. Aladdin (1992)
- Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker
- Stacker score: 90.2
- Metascore: 86
- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Runtime: 90 minutes
The late, great Robin Williams was truly one of the brightest gems in Hollywood. He particularly shines in his role as Genie in Disney's "Aladdin," which was designed, created, and scripted just for him. In order to convince him to accept the role , Disney animated Genie performing a number of Williams' own standup sets, which helped demonstrate to the comedian the amount of potential there was in the blue wish-granter.
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Walt Disney Pictures
#25. A Summer's Tale (1996)
- Director: Éric Rohmer
- Stacker score: 90.8
- Metascore: 91
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 113 minutes
"A Summer's Tale " is a French art house film about a young man named Gaspard who goes on vacation and finds himself in love with three different women for three different reasons. The romance film is certainly chaste enough to watch with the whole family, but as it's in French and deals solely with more adult relationships, it wouldn't make a good family movie night pick in homes that have younger audiences.
Canal+
#24. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
- Director: Hayao Miyazaki
- Stacker score: 90.8
- Metascore: 86
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Runtime: 86 minutes
Real-life sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning brought the English-language versions of animated sisters Satsuki and Mei to life in "My Neighbor Totoro" in 2005. The animated Japanese movie is about two sisters who move into a new house in the countryside only to find out that it's "haunted." Their new neighbor, a spirit named Totoro who can only be seen by children, introduces them to the friendly creatures that inhabit their new home.
Tokuma Japan Communications
#23. Toy Story 2 (1999)
- Directors: John Lasseter, Ash Brannon, Lee Unkrich
- Stacker score: 90.8
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Runtime: 92 minutes
In the second installment of the "Toy Story" franchise, Andy heads off to cowboy camp for the summer, leaving his toys home alone for a whole season of adventures. After Woody is kidnapped by a toy collector, he discovers that he's a highly valued collectible with his own TV show and is at risk of being sent off to a toy museum. The rest of the gang must band together in order to rescue Woody and his newfound friends Jessie and Bullseye before Andy returns home.
Pixar Animation Studios
#22. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- Stacker score: 90.8
- Metascore: 84
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Runtime: 149 minutes
When "2001: A Space Odyssey" premiered in 1968, its lack of a strong narrative or clear main characters caused many to hate it, and several of the day's biggest stars even walked out of the premiere . Today, it's often regarded as one of the most important and influential films of the 20th century. The movie becomes especially impressive when you consider that the computerized special effects so many sci-fi movies rely on today didn't even exist back then, and so many of the film's features, like the moon sand and the black monolith, were created entirely by hand.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#21. Dumbo (1941)
- Directors: Samuel Armstrong, Norman Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen, John Elliotte
- Stacker score: 91.3
- Metascore: 96
- IMDb user rating: 7.2
- Runtime: 64 minutes
"Dumbo" premiered at the Broadway Theater in New York City in 1941, and The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther called it "the most genial, the most endearing, the most completely precious cartoon feature film ever to emerge from the magical brushes of Walt Disney's wonder-working artists!" The movie is about a circus elephant with unusually large ears. His ears get him bullied for most of his young life until he learns that they actually allow him to fly and he's able to take control of his own destiny.
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Walt Disney Animation Studios
#20. The Wild Child (1970)
- Director: François Truffaut
- Stacker score: 91.8
- Metascore: 94
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Runtime: 83 minutes
A story in the vein of "Tarzan" or "The Jungle Book," "The Wild Child" is about a young boy who has been raised by wolves. He's discovered by hunters and sent to Paris, where the kindly Dr. Itard sets out to civilize him. Shot in black and white, the movie, about the pains of adolescence, is regarded as a poetic masterpiece.
Les Artistes Associés
#19. The Circus (1928)
- Director: Charles Chaplin
- Stacker score: 92.9
- Metascore: 90
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Runtime: 72 minutes
The oldest movie on this list, "The Circus " was the last project Charlie Chaplin made during the silent film era. Despite its famously troubled production, the movie—featuring Chaplin's most famous character The Tramp, who evades pursuing officers by fleeing into the circus and posing as a performer—was wildly successful, earning Chaplin his first Honorary Oscar.
Charles Chaplin Productions
#18. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
- Director: Richard Lester
- Stacker score: 92.9
- Metascore: 96
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Runtime: 87 minutes
The second Beatles film on this list, "A Hard Day's Night," was actually the band's feature film debut. A mockumentary-style film, the movie coincided with their third studio album that shared the same name. Even so, long after its release, the movie remains a funny, irreverent look at the life of these rock 'n' roll idols.
Walter Shenson Films
#17. Ben-Hur (1959)
- Director: William Wyler
- Stacker score: 92.9
- Metascore: 90
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Runtime: 212 minutes
"Ben-Hur" was a record-breaking movie in more ways than one. Not only did the film have the largest budget of any movie up to that point at $15 million, but it also took home 11 Oscars at the Academy Awards ceremony. A Christian story, though not a biblical one, the epic drama follows an Israelite Jew as he takes on the Roman Empire during the lifetime of Christ.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#16. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Directors: William Cottrell, David Hand, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen
- Stacker score: 93.5
- Metascore: 96
- IMDb user rating: 7.6
- Runtime: 83 minutes
Based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale of the same name, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs " was Disney's first animated feature and the first full-length animated film in U.S. history. The project took three years to complete and was massively expensive—Walt Disney had to mortgage his own home in order to finance the production. But some 80 years on, it still remains one of the most beloved films of all time.
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Walt Disney Animation Studios
#15. Finding Nemo (2003)
- Directors: Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
- Stacker score: 93.5
- Metascore: 90
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 100 minutes
When his son Nemo swims too close to the surface at the beginning of "Finding Nemo" and is captured by a diver, overprotective parent Marlin must set out on an epic journey to save him. Ellen DeGeneres voices Marlin's absent-minded but devoted friend Dory who accompanies him in his quest. Beloved by audiences of all ages, "Finding Nemo" is a surprisingly scientifically accurate portrayal of marine life (minus the anthropomorphism, of course).
Pixar Animation Studios
#14. My Fair Lady (1964)
- Director: George Cukor
- Stacker score: 94.0
- Metascore: 95
- IMDb user rating: 7.8
- Runtime: 170 minutes
"My Fair Lady" is a movie musical starring Audrey Hepburn as the Cockney Eliza Doolittle turned proper lady and Rex Harrison as the phonetics professor who transforms her on a bet. The film version is the third iteration of the story, which started out as a stage play by George Bernard Shaw called "Pygmalion," then became a stage musical by partners Lerner and Loewe, before finally winding up as an eight-time Academy Award-winning film.
Warner Bros.
#13. Fantasia (1940)
- Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Ford Beebe Jr., Norman Ferguson, David Hand, Jim Handley, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Ben Sharpsteen
- Stacker score: 94.0
- Metascore: 96
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Runtime: 124 minutes
When a team set out to restore "Fantasia," the animated classical music concert, in time for its 50th anniversary in 1990, they had their work cut out for them. Disney's third full-length animated film, "Fantasia" is also the longest with a run time of two hours and four minutes. The length was not the only issue: the original negatives had been locked in the vault since 1946 and were in bad condition, and the original soundtrack had also been lost. In the end, it took the team two years to bring the movie back to its (almost) former glory.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#12. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Mervyn LeRoy, Norman Taurog, Richard Thorpe, King Vidor
- Stacker score: 94.0
- Metascore: 92
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Runtime: 102 minutes
The classic musical "The Wizard of Oz" stars Judy Garland as Dorothy, a young girl swept away from her Kansas home by a tornado, landing in the magical land of Oz, where she and her new friends—a scarecrow, a tin man, and a cowardly lion—follow the yellow brick road toward the Emerald City in order to obtain the deepest desires of their hearts. The often-imitated film struggled through several production challenges , like an ever-rotating cast of directors, on-set accidents, and costume paint that caused health issues for several cast members. But in the end, it came together, winning two Oscars and cementing itself as one of the most beloved films of all time.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#11. The Lion King (1994)
- Directors: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
- Stacker score: 94.0
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 8.5
- Runtime: 88 minutes
"The Lion King" was advertised as the first Disney film to have a completely original storyline, though many argue that it was obviously quite heavily influenced by William Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Its degree of originality has never seemed to be an issue for audiences who flocked to see the movie about a pride of lions in the plains of Africa. "The Lion King" holds the title as the highest-grossing hand-drawn animated feature of all time, bringing in more than $986 million at the box office worldwide .
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Walt Disney Animation Studios
#10. Pinocchio (1940)
- Directors: Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen
- Stacker score: 94.6
- Metascore: 99
- IMDb user rating: 7.5
- Runtime: 88 minutes
Very few of Walt Disney's early works were original stories, and "Pinocchio" is no exception. The 1940 animated flick was based on the 1883 Italian children's novel called "The Adventures of Pinocchio," which is about a puppet whose nose grows every time he lies. The movie won two Academy Awards for its soundtrack and featured an animated character who was reportedly Walt Disney's favorite —the kitten Figaro.
Walt Disney Animation Studios
#9. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
- Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
- Stacker score: 95.1
- Metascore: 95
- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Runtime: 84 minutes
Six-hundred animators and artists worked on the 1991 smash hit "Beauty and the Beast." Their work was so impressive that the film became the first fully animated feature flick to ever be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Although they lost in that category, the movie—about a prince cursed to spend his days as a monster and the young woman whose true love may turn him back—brought home two other Academy Awards for its music.
Walt Disney Pictures
#8. Toy Story 3 (2010)
- Director: Lee Unkrich
- Stacker score: 95.1
- Metascore: 92
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Runtime: 103 minutes
"Toy Story 3" marked the end of an era in the movie's universe as Andy, now all grown up, heads off to college, and the toys find themselves in the hands of a new owner after making a pit stop at a day care center along the way. Hilarious and heartfelt, the movie will certainly be a tear-jerker for those who grew up alongside Andy and the toys.
Pixar Animation Studios
#7. Ratatouille (2007)
- Directors: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava
- Stacker score: 96.2
- Metascore: 96
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Runtime: 111 minutes
In "Ratatouille," a young rat named Remy dreams of becoming a gourmet chef, but his furry little body has proven to be an obstacle that's too big to overcome. Upon arriving in Paris, Remy teams up with a hopeless chef named Alfredo Linguini, exercising his skills through the human while remaining in hiding. His ultimate success proves, in the words of food critic Anton Ego, a character in the film, "a great artist can come from anywhere ."
Pixar Animation Studios
#6. Gone with the Wind (1939)
- Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood
- Stacker score: 97.3
- Metascore: 97
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 238 minutes
A Civil War drama starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, "Gone with the Wind," remains the highest-grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation. In total, the movie about a woman who's torn in love and fighting to restore her family's plantation, which won eight Academy Awards, has grossed more than $3.44 billion .
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#5. Toy Story (1995)
- Director: John Lasseter
- Stacker score: 97.3
- Metascore: 96
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Runtime: 81 minutes
"Toy Story" holds the record as being the first full-length film to be fully animated via computers . It's about a group of toys that comes to life when they're out from under the eyes of their watchful humans. When Woody and Buzz get left behind on moving day, the formerly feuding rivals must work together if they're going to escape the clutches of their evil neighbor Sid and be reunited with their boy, Andy.
Pixar Animation Studios
#4. WALL·E (2008)
- Director: Andrew Stanton
- Stacker score: 97.3
- Metascore: 95
- IMDb user rating: 8.4
- Runtime: 98 minutes
The last robot on Earth, Wall-E is destined to spend his days cleaning up the planet that has been trashed by humans. When he meets Eve, a robot who has been sent back to Earth on a scanning mission, he quickly falls in love and sets out across the galaxy to be with her. There are very few spoken lines in this film, but "Wall-E" still manages to pack an emotional punch.
Pixar Animation Studios
#3. Modern Times (1936)
- Director: Charles Chaplin
- Stacker score: 98.4
- Metascore: 96
- IMDb user rating: 8.5
- Runtime: 87 minutes
Charlie Chaplin's 1936 film "Modern Times " marked the last on-screen appearance of his character, the Little Tramp. In the movie, the character struggles to hold on to gainful employment in this modern, industrialized world. Along the way, he befriends an orphan girl with whom he joins forces, facing the world they don't quite fit into together.
Charles Chaplin Productions
#2. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
- Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
- Stacker score: 98.9
- Metascore: 99
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Runtime: 103 minutes
A movie about making movies, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds sing and dance their way through "Singin' in the Rain ." While the film, which came before the Broadway show, had an original script and original dance numbers, almost everything else in it, from the music to the costumes to the sets, had been borrowed from previous MGM films.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
#1. City Lights (1931)
- Director: Charles Chaplin
- Stacker score: 100.0
- Metascore: 99
- IMDb user rating: 8.5
- Runtime: 87 minutes
The title for best G-Rated movie of all time goes to "City Lights" by Charlie Chaplin. The ultimate installment in the Little Tramp chronicles, the movie sees the character doing everything in his power to earn money so that he can take care of the blind flower girl he's fallen in love with. It's not until he accidentally saves a millionaire's life and earns a giant reward that he's able to do so, and everything begins to come together.
You may also like: Famous movie quotes from the year you were born
Charles Chaplin Productions
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Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! | 2023-04-16T20:21:08+00:00 | wcfcourier.com | https://wcfcourier.com/entertainment/super-mario-tops-charts-again/article_4ce12b37-3f6f-5272-9a81-a8c5a6a1762c.html |
AUSTIN, Minn., June 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL), a global branded food company, will be participating at the 2022 Deutsche Bank dbAccess Global Consumer Conference in Paris, France. Jim Snee, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer, and Swen Neufeldt, group vice president and president of Hormel Foods International Corporation, will discuss the company's long-term strategy, ESG initiatives and plans to aggressively develop its global presence.
About Hormel Foods – Inspired People. Inspired Food.™
Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a global branded food company with over $11 billion in annual revenue across more than 80 countries worldwide. Its brands include Planters®, SKIPPY®, SPAM®, Hormel® Natural Choice®, Applegate®, Justin's®, Wholly®, Hormel® Black Label®, Columbus®, Jennie-O® and more than 30 other beloved brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, was named on the "Global 2000 World's Best Employers" list by Forbes magazine for three years, is one of Fortune magazine's most admired companies, has appeared on the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list by 3BL Media 13 times, and has received numerous other awards and accolades for its corporate responsibility and community service efforts. The company lives by its purpose statement — Inspired People. Inspired Food.™ — to bring some of the world's most trusted and iconic brands to tables across the globe. For more information, visit www.hormelfoods.com.
Investor Relations
(507) 437-5248
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Media Contact:
(507) 434-6352
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SOURCE Hormel Foods Corporation | 2022-06-08T21:17:33+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/06/08/updated-time-hormel-foods-corporation-participate-deutsche-bank-dbaccess-global-consumer-conference/ |
Key technological innovations enabling highly reliable, safe energy storage solutions across power generation, power transmission and distribution, power consumption to empower energy freedom for all
ANAHEIM, Calif., Sept. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), a global leader of new energy innovative technologies, presents its state-of-the-art all-scenario energy storage solutions at Solar Power International as part of RE+ 2022, held in Anaheim, CA from September 20-22. The conference is the largest and most comprehensive clean energy industry event in North America.
Meeting global decarbonization goals to tackle climate change means we need to transition from fossil to renewable energy sources reliably and efficiently. Energy storage solutions play a vital role in enabling the shift and innovation is key to unlocking the full potential of renewable energy by reducing energy storage system cost, increasing service life, durability, energy density, and safety.
"To create a cleaner future for all, replacing fossil fuel in stationary energy systems with high-efficient renewable energy is paramount," said Tan Libin, vice president of CATL. "We are committed to contributing to global efforts in carbon neutrality by empowering the energy transition that we urgently need. We are thrilled to showcase our progress in developing high-quality products that will support the sustainable development of our global economy."
Key Technology Features to Unleash the Potential of Renewable Energy
Committed to providing first-class energy storage solutions, CATL has developed lithium-ion battery energy storage systems across application scenarios in power generation, power transmission and distribution, and power consumption. RE+ 2022 offers energy industry leaders a chance to learn more about CATL's industry-leading innovation advancements to empower energy freedom for all:
- Substantial Safety: CATL takes a comprehensive approach to safety to ensure multiple layers of protection across cell, module, and rack levels. CATL carefully selects and designs raw materials and applies stringent controls in manufacturing processes, as well as comprehensive testing and verification to ensure the quality of its batteries. Additionally, 24-hour monitoring and big data-based early warning systems ensure safe operations and reliability of its products in real-life scenarios.
- High Energy Density: Advanced high-energy density materials and original CTP solution effectively increases the energy density of the container system to achieve a floor space energy density of over 250 kWh/m2. EnerOne, CATL's flagship modular outdoor liquid cooling battery energy storage system (BESS), features a compact structure which uses 35% less floor space compared to traditional air-cooling products, further reducing construction costs.
- Long Service Life: Energy storage battery for power generation, transmission, distribution and consumption carry a high demand for long service life and high reliability. With upgrades in battery components to slowdown battery capacity loss, CATL has successfully set a global benchmark with a single battery life of 12,000 cycles, and reduce the Levelized Cost of Using Storage (LCUS) throughout the battery lifecycle. CATL is now undertaking further research and development in its electrochemical energy storage solutions, with the aim of increasing the cycle life to a record high of 18,000 – thus expanding the scale of a single energy storage power station to 1GWh and rivaling the pumped storage level by cost per kilowatt hour and energy storage capacity.
- Intelligent Temperature Control: CATL's energy storage solutions feature intelligent thermal management systems to effectively avoid the bucket effect caused by cells connected in series, and ensure a temperature difference of cells in the container to within 5℃, effectively improving the available energy throughput in the life cycle of the system. Specifically, the integrated frequency conversion liquid-cooling system, EnerOne, can limit cell temperature difference down to 3℃ and increase life expectancy of battery by 33%.
- Intelligent Battery Management: CATL's unique intelligent BMS monitors the battery health status 24/7 and identifies unhealthy batteries in advance. Early warning of battery fire hazards can reduce the probability of associated fires by over 90%. The online early warning system ensures the safe operation of the battery throughout its lifecycle.
Commitment to Green Manufacturing
Through technological innovation, CATL has continued to make positive impacts in manufacturing and environmental sustainability. Its Yibin Plant is the world's first certified zero-carbon factory, while its Ningde facility has been recognized by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a global "Lighthouse Factory," making it the first battery manufacturing base joining WEF's Global Lighthouse Network (GLN).
Besides the carbon reduction measures, CATL has rolled out battery recycling to achieve low carbonization of batteries. RE+ 2022 will be an opportunity for attendees to see how the company is planning to advance these contributions worldwide.
In 2021, CATL's energy storage business ranked first in its market share of global energy storage battery production, supporting over 100 utility-scale projects around the world.
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SOURCE Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited | 2022-09-21T19:51:25+00:00 | wcjb.com | https://www.wcjb.com/prnewswire/2022/09/21/catl-highlight-advancements-energy-storage-solutions-re-2022/ |
LUBBOCK, Texas—Hub City Hangout had their car cruise and show in April with proceeds benefiting Caleb’s Closet and Saint Francis Ministries. This event raised more money and had more participants than ever before. Tony presented the two checks and we heard just how these funds will go to great use at Caleb’s Closet and Saint Francis Ministries. Find out more at hubcityhangout.com, calebscloset.org, saintfrancisministries.org. | 2023-05-31T00:10:19+00:00 | everythinglubbock.com | https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/trends-and-friends/two-big-checks-from-hub-city-hangout/ |
Rare species of bear gives birth to 2 cubs at Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Two Andean bear cubs were born in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 15, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute announced. It’s considered a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with an estimated 2,000 Andean bears left in the wild, making the birth of these cubs even more significant.
The zoo said the cubs were born to first-time parents, a 3-year-old female named Brienne and a 9-year-old male named Quito. Keepers said both cubs are “active and vocal” and that they’re “cautiously optimistic” that the two will thrive.
Zoo officials said that Brienne will be raising her babies on her own for two to three months until they’re given a veterinary exam to determine their sexes. They’re the fourth litter born at the zoo since 2010.
Just under 40 Andean bears are involved with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums species survival plan, where they’re studied to determine which ones can breed.
The zoo said that Brienne and Quito initially mated in the spring, but she didn’t become pregnant until at least autumn due to delayed reproduction in the species. Zoo officials only discovered the presence of two cubs back in October.
The Andean bear is South America’s only bear species. They typically live in the Andes mountain range from Venezuela to Bolivia.
The zoo said Brienne and her cubs will stay inside her den until at least early spring of 2023 as it ensures that both babies are healthy and thriving. | 2022-11-29T21:48:11+00:00 | wsgw.com | https://www.wsgw.com/rare-species-of-bear-gives-birth-to-2-cubs-at-smithsonians-national-zoo-and-conservation-biology-institute/ |
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Moscow sentenced a student activist to 8 1/2 years in prison for social media posts criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine, the latest step in a sweeping crackdown on dissent unleashed by the Kremlin.
Dmitry Ivanov, 23, was convicted of spreading false information about the Russian army, which was made a criminal offense under a new law that Russian lawmakers rubber-stamped a week after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.
The legislation has been used to prosecute individuals who deviate from the government’s official narrative of the conflict that the Kremlin insists on calling “a special military operation.”
Prominent opposition politicians, such as Ilya Yashin, who is serving an 8 1/2 prison term, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is in jail awaiting trial, also were charged with spreading false information about the military.
Ivanov was charged over a number of social media posts in his Telegram channel that called Russia’s campaign in Ukraine a “war” and talked about Russian forces attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, committing war crimes in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Irpin, and targeting the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Most were reposts from other sources.
At the time of his April 2022 arrest, Ivanov was a student at Lomonosov Moscow State University, one of Russia’s top universities also known as the MSU. He ran a popular Telegram channel called Protest MSU, which was launched in 2018 to cover student protests against the construction next to the university’s main building of a fan zone for the Russia-hosted World Cup soccer tournament.
Ivanov initially was jailed for 10 days on the charge of organizing an unauthorized rally. Authorities jailed him again on the same charge for 25 days, and then he was arrested over the social media posts.
While in custody, the student missed his final exams and failed to submit his final dissertation. He was expelled from the university.
During Ivanov’s trial, in an unusual twist the court approved a defense request to subpoena Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov and Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., Vasily Nebenzya.
Ivanov’s lawyers argued that since the authorities had used the officials’ statements to prove that Ivanov’s social media posts contained false information, they should be deposed in court.
However, neither of the three complied with the subpoenas to appear in court.
In his final address to the court last week, Ivanov rejected the charges against him as “looking absurd” and said the crime he was prosecuted for “shouldn’t exist at all.”
“The investigation, in trying to accuse me of spreading ‘fakes,’ has built one big fake (itself). Literally the entire indictment, from the first to the very last word, contradicts the reality,” Ivanov said. “I, in the meantime, stand by every word I wrote a year ago.”
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | 2023-03-08T13:15:37+00:00 | ourquadcities.com | https://www.ourquadcities.com/news/ap-top-headlines/russian-activist-gets-prison-sentence-for-ukraine-posts/ |
SEATTLE (AP) — In 2016, hospitals in New York state identified a rare and dangerous fungal infection never before found in the United States. Research laboratories quickly mobilized to review historical specimens and found the fungus had been present in the country since at least 2013.
In the years since, New York City has emerged as ground zero for Candida auris infections. And until 2021, the state recorded the most confirmed cases in the country year after year, even as the illness has spread to other places, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data analyzed by The Associated Press.
Candida auris is a globally emerging public health threat that can cause severe illness, including bloodstream, wound and respiratory infections. Its mortality rate has been estimated at 30% to 60%, and it’s a particular risk in healthcare settings for people already with serious medical problems.
Last year, the most cases were found in Nevada and California, but the fungus was identified clinically in patients in 29 states. New York state remains a major hotspot.
A prominent theory for the sudden explosion of Candida auris, which was not found in humans anywhere until 2009, is climate change.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of a collaboration between The Associated Press and Grist exploring the intersection of climate change and infectious diseases.
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Humans and other mammals have warmer body temperatures than most fungal pathogens can tolerate, so have historically been protected from most infections. However, rising temperatures can allow fungi to develop tolerance to warmer environments, and over time humans may lose resistance. Some researchers think this is what is already happening with Candida auris.
The pathogen emerged spontaneously 14 years ago on three continents, in Venezuela, India, and South Africa. Fungal disease expert Arturo Casadevall, a microbiologist, immunologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, said this was puzzling, because the climates in these places are quite different.
“We have tremendous protection against environmental fungi because of our temperature. However, if the world is getting warmer and the fungi begin to adapt to higher temperatures as well, some … are going to reach what I call the temperature barrier,” Casadevall said, referring to the way mammals’ warm body temperatures historically protected them.
When Candida auris was first spreading, said Meghan Marie Lyman, a CDC medical epidemiologist for the mycotic diseases branch, the cases were linked to people who had traveled to the U.S. from other places. Now, most cases are acquired locally — generally spreading among patients in healthcare settings.
In the U.S., there were 2,377 confirmed clinical cases diagnosed last year — an increase of over 1,200% since 2017. But Candida auris is becoming a global problem. In Europe, a survey last year found case numbers nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021.
“The number of cases has increased, but also the geographic distribution has increased,” Lyman said. She noted that while screenings and surveillance have improved, the skyrocketing case numbers do reflect a true increase.
In March, a CDC press release noted the seriousness of the problem, citing the pathogen’s resistance to traditional antifungal treatments and the alarming rate of its spread. Public health agencies are focused primarily on strategies to urgently mitigate transmission in healthcare settings.
“It’s kind of an active fire they’re trying to put out,” Lyman said.
Dr. Luis Ostrosky, a professor of infectious diseases at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, thinks Candida auris is “kind of our nightmare scenario.”
“It’s a potentially multi-drug resistant pathogen with the ability to spread very efficiently in healthcare settings,” he said. “We’ve never had a pathogen like this in the fungal infection area.”
It is nearly always resistant to the most common class of antifungal medication, and is sometimes also resistant to another medication primarily used for severe catheter fungal infections in hospitals.
“I’ve encountered cases where I’m sitting down with the family and telling them we have nothing that works for this infection your loved one has,” Ostrosky said.
Ostrotsky has treated about 10 patients with the fungal infection but has consulted on many more. He said he has seen it spread through an entire ICU in two weeks.
Researchers, academics, and public health groups are discussing and investigating theories that explain the emergence of Candida auris. Ostrosky said that climate change is the most widely accepted one.
The CDC’s Lyman said it’s possible the fungus was always among the microorganisms that live in the human body, but because it wasn’t causing infection, no one investigated until it recently started causing health problems. She also said there are reports of the fungus in the natural environment — including soil and wetlands — but environmental sampling has been limited, and it’s unclear whether those discoveries are downstream effects from humans.
“There are also a lot of questions about there being increased contact with humans and intrusion of humans into nature, and there have been a lot of changes in the environment, and the use of fungi in agriculture,” she said. “These things may have allowed Candida auris to escape into a new environment or broaden its niche.”
Wherever and however it originated, the fungus poses a significant threat to human health, researchers say. Immunocompromised patients in hospitals are most at risk, but so are people in long-term care centers and nursing homes, which generally have less access to diagnostics and infection control experts.
Candida auris is not only challenging to treat, but also difficult to diagnose. It is quite rare and many clinicians are not aware it exists.
Common symptoms of infection include sepsis, fever, and low blood pressure, which all can have many causes. The fungus is diagnosed with a blood test. Blood is placed in a nutrient-rich medium to allow any infectious organism to grow and become more detectable.
But Ostrosky notes this misses about half the cases. “Our gold standard is a little bit better than flipping a coin,” he said, adding there is a newer technology that improves bloodstream detection but it’s expensive and not widely available in hospitals.
Beyond the increase in cases, popular culture has helped increase awareness of fungal infections. A popular HBO series, “The Last of Us,” is a drama about the survivors of a fungal outbreak. A fungal infection that can transform humans into zombies is a work of fiction, but addressing climate change, which is altering the kinds of diseases seriously threatening human health, is a real world challenge.
“I think the way to think about how global warming is putting selection pressure on microbes is to think about how many more really hot days we are experiencing,” said Casadevall of Johns Hopkins. “Each day at (100 degrees Fahrenheit, or 37.7 degrees Celsius) provides a selection event for all microbes affected — and the more days when high temperatures are experienced, the greater probability that some will adapt and survive.”
“We’ve been flying under the radar for decades in mycology because fungal infections didn’t used to be frequently seen,” said Ostrosky of UTHealth Houston.
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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. | 2023-07-27T21:16:13+00:00 | cbs4indy.com | https://cbs4indy.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-dangerous-fungus-is-becoming-more-prevalent-scientists-believe-climate-change-could-be-to-blame/ |
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – The man accused of stabbing eight people on the Las Vegas Strip, killing two, had asked a group of showgirls to take a photo with a foot-long kitchen knife he was trying to sell before stabbing them, documents obtained by Nexstar’s KLAS said Friday.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he intends to file two counts of murder with the use of a deadly weapon and six counts of attempted murder with the use of a deadly weapon against Yoni Barrios, 32. He did not rule out pursuing a death penalty.
“We are going to give it serious consideration. But it’s so early on,” Wolfson told media outlets after Barrios’ afternoon initial court appearance ended Friday.
Yoni Barrios, 32, had traveled to Las Vegas from California earlier this week, police said. He arrived on the Las Vegas Strip by bus around 8 a.m. Thursday. He told police he went there after being told he could not stay at a friend’s house, police said.
Barrios told police he was trying to sell his knives so he could go back home, according to the arrest report.
According to the arrest report, Barrios went to the Wynn casino to ask about job opportunities as a janitor. He told police he even asked the janitor to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, so he could return to Guatemala.
Barrios then left the Wynn and approached a group of showgirls near the main entrance to the casino on Las Vegas Boulevard shortly before 11:40 a.m., officials say.
Barrios told the group of showgirls he was a chef, according to the document. One of the showgirls told the police that Barrios asked to take a picture with the group with his knife. He thought the women were laughing at him and making fun of his clothing, and he said it made him angry, and he “stabbed one of the women in the chest,” the report stated.
Maris Mareen DiGiovanni, who was in the group, died at the hospital. Another woman in the group, who attempted to help Digiovanni, was stabbed in the back.
After the stabbing involving the group, Barrios ran off, stabbing six others, including Brent Allan Hallett, as he ran along the sidewalk from Las Vegas Boulevard to Sands Avenue, where he threw the bloody knife in some bushes, police said.
Dewaun Turner, 47, a porter at The District at Resorts World, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was walking home when he saw two people dressed as showgirls in red dresses and heels fleeing from a man with a knife. He saw the man stab both of them, a man walking by and then two more women.
“Ten or 15 steps ahead, and I would’ve been one of the people stabbed,” Turner said.
The coroner’s office identified Hallett, 47, and Digiovanni, 30, both of Las Vegas, as the two people who died in the attack. Six others were injured.
After he was taken into custody, Barrios told police he “was hoping officers would shoot him,” according to the arrest report.
Barrios was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on two counts of open murder with a deadly weapon and six counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, police said. He has been ordered to remain in custody until his next court date, currently scheduled for Oct. 11.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | 2022-10-08T01:01:35+00:00 | ksn.com | https://www.ksn.com/news/crime/las-vegas-strip-mass-stabbing-suspect-asked-showgirls-for-photo-with-foot-long-knife-doc/ |
The $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed against Fox News over lies about the 2020 election has brought shocking revelations to light.
Among those who say they aren't shocked: former journalists at Fox News, who suggest that maybe the public now better understands what they saw from the inside.
"I was not particularly surprised," former Fox politics director Chris Stirewalt says.
"There's not one thing that surprised me or struck me," says former Fox commentator and guest host Julie Roginsky. "And I've read everything in those filings."
Private exchanges and sworn testimony secured by Dominion Voting System's legal team show that Fox News' producers, stars and executives put people on the air that they thought were "nuts" to spin bogus claims that the election tech company cheated then-President Donald Trump of victory by switching votes to Joe Biden.
Former Fox chief political correspondent Carl Cameron says one element stood out.
"I'm surprised that there weren't more people who would speak out," Cameron says.
Cameron left Fox about seven months into the Trump administration — after 21 years at the network. He later said "right wing hosts drowned out straight journalism" at the channel.
'There was a time when the journalists had some control. That clearly has eroded'
"There was a time when the journalists had some control," Cameron says now. "And that clearly has eroded. And exactly when that started ... really doesn't matter. What it ended up with, is the organization has a serious legal problem. "
Each of them point in some ways to the 2016 departure of the late Roger Ailes — the celebrated, reviled and ultimately disgraced former Fox News chief.
"With the absence of Roger Ailes, the mentality that no one was going to be bigger than the network had disappeared," Roginsky says.
To be clear on Roginsky's feelings about Ailes, she was one of many women at Fox News who alleged he sexually harassed her. She sued Fox and Ailes and received an undisclosed settlement. Fox News says CEO Suzanne Scott has completely reshaped the network's culture.
Despite all that, Roginsky says Ailes enforced an intense discipline at Fox that vanished, right as Trump won the nomination and headed to the White House. Over the Trump years, many journalists left Fox, including Cameron, anchor Shepard Smith and others.
'They were going to be led by the mob'
"The people who stayed — by the very nature of being allowed to stay — had to accept the notion that they were going to be led by the mob and the mob was being led by Donald Trump," Roginsky says.
Not every Fox alumnus agrees. Former primetime star Bill O'Reilly says the rest of the media makes too much of the story. The network will keep its core audience of older conservative viewers," he wrote recently. "They will stand by their men and women, having nowhere else to go."
No one stood in the crucible more squarely than Chris Stirewalt. He was Fox's political director in 2020, part of the Decision Desk team on election night that called the swing state of Arizona for Biden. That meant Fox did so ahead of any other network, angering millions of Trump supporters who were Fox viewers.
Stirewalt and Washington Managing Editor Bill Sammon argued that the network needed to level with their viewers. The private exchanges that arose from the lawsuit show many of Fox's opinion hosts and executives instead decided to broadcast claims of fraud, knowing they were baseless, in an effort to woo back the Trump voters it had alienated.
"What you read in those filings are people losing their heads because of ratings numbers," Stirewalt says. "And one of the emails that was released was from Bill to me, where he talked about how weak ratings make good journalists do bad things. And that's a fact."
Two top political editors forced out after election
"It was particularly sad for an organization that had used to call itself 'the most powerful name in news' that it was such a fear-driven, such an anxious thing." Stirewalt says. He cites "the unwillingness to suffer the short-term cost for the long-term good, and, if I can be especially corny, the good of the Republic."
Before Biden even took office, Fox forced out Stirewalt and Sammon, along with a host of other journalists from the newsroom. (A top Fox News PR executive said "Chris Stirewalt's quest for relevancy knows no bounds." He is now the political director for the new cable station News Nation.)
Executives turned over popular time slots that used to be reserved for news coverage to opinion shows at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. In late 2021, Fox political commentators Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg and Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace all left the network. Each cited Fox primetime star Tucker Carlson's programs promoting groundless conspiracy theories about the January 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
Fox has called the exchanges made public cherry-picked and out of context. There are hundreds more to come in the days ahead.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-03-07T12:16:55+00:00 | kanw.com | https://www.kanw.com/npr-news/npr-news/2023-03-07/q-whos-unsurprised-by-shocking-fox-news-revelations-a-ex-fox-journalists |
Company extends round amid commercial and company expansion to accelerate rollout of Surgical Intelligence Platform across North America
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Theator, the creator of Surgical Intelligence, announced today that it has raised $24M in an extension of its Series A funding round. This extension follows an initial $15.5M Series A round announced in February 2021, bringing the round total to $39.5M. The extended funding round was once again led by Insight Partners with support from existing investors including Blumberg Capital, Mayo Clinic, NFX, StageOne Ventures, iAngels, and former Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt. In addition, new growth investors including iCON and TripActions' CEO and Co-founder Ariel Cohen joined the round.
The additional investment will be used to continue Theator's commercial expansion and accelerate the rollout of its Surgical Intelligence Platform in operating rooms and healthcare systems across North America. The series extension comes on the heels of significant commercial traction, including Theator's expansion into Urology earlier this year.
Theator is pioneering Surgical Intelligence to eliminate the paradigm that where you live determines if you live. Theator's Surgical Intelligence Platform institutionalizes the routine capture of surgical video data, harnessing AI and computer vision to automatically analyze every operation. Surgical Intelligence generates actionable insights that optimize patient outcomes, ultimately raising the standard of patient care. Theator's unrivaled library of surgical video and data contains over 30K hours of video, with nearly a billion frames analyzed.
"This funding is a strong vote of confidence in our vision, team, and the field of Surgical Intelligence as the cornerstone of the future of surgery," said Dr. Tamir Wolf, CEO and Co-founder of Theator. "Surgical Intelligence is already demonstrating significant improvement in surgical quality and safety. It's thrilling to hear about the impact our partners and collaborators have achieved thus far, and we look forward to this latest investment advancing our mission to transform surgery and alleviate variability and disparity in surgical care worldwide."
"Theator's technology has proven to be the critical next step in surgical advancement," said Brad Fiedler, VP at Insight Partners. "Integrating AI and computer vision into the operating room improves surgical care and is transforming surgery for the better. We're excited to double down on our investment, especially as Theator's expertise in AI and computer vision is now enhancing patient outcomes across an ever-growing range of commercial partners."
"Theator's Surgical Intelligence Platform is changing the way we as surgeons think about the operating room today," said Dr. Gerald Fried, former Chair of Surgery at McGill University and past president of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES)."The Platform surfaces key information embedded within a procedure into a format that is usable by surgeons to enhance the safety, quality, and efficiency of what we do in the operating room. Surgical Intelligence is the future of surgery."
With this Series A extension, Theator has raised $42.5M to date. Since its initial Series A round last year, Theator has collaborated with Mayo Clinic and partnered with the Canadian Association of General Surgeons (CAGS), adding further prestige to the burgeoning list of innovative medical institutions and surgical societies adopting Surgical Intelligence. Last December, the company was named on CB Insights' prestigious Digital Health 150 list of the 150 most innovative digital health startups in the world, highlighting industry recognition of Surgical Intelligence as a distinct category for the first time.
About Theator
Theator is pioneering the Surgical Intelligence revolution, harnessing advanced AI and computer vision technology to generate actionable insights which improve the quality of surgical care. By making routine video capture and analysis the standard of care in surgery, Surgical Intelligence derives never-before-seen-insights to help surgeons and hospital systems understand the causes of variability in patient outcomes and reduce it in the future, while also lowering costs and streamlining procedures in the OR. Theator is partnering with leading surgeons, hospitals, professional societies, and research institutions to create a smarter, more transparent operating room. Based in Palo Alto, California, the company is paving the path for real-time surgical decision-support, creating a stronger, healthier world. For more information, visit https://theator.io/.
Theator Media Contact
Ben Crome
Headline Media
ben@headline.media
+1 914 336 4922
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SOURCE Theator | 2022-07-22T14:46:01+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2022/07/22/theator-extends-series-funding-with-additional-24m-total-395m/ |
Summer is winding down in Miami, but the blistering hot days are not. On August 18, the heat index in Miami — or the "feels like" temperature, if you prefer — hit 106 degrees Fahrenheit, according to data from the National Weather Service.
Days of similar extreme heat will be more frequent in years to come.
A recent study authored by the First Street Foundation predicts that that Miami-Dade County will see the number of days with a heat index of 103 degrees will increase from seven to 34 by 2033. This stands in contrast to the national average of 18 days of extreme heat.
"Generally, what we're saying is: Think about how hot it was during the hottest week of the summer. That becomes your hottest three weeks in 30 years," First Street's chief research officer Jeremy Porter tells New Times. "It helps people kind of internalize what that means for the warming environment."
The climate nonprofit's nationwide study predicts that Miami-Dade residents will experience 91 days with a heat index above 100 degrees by 2053 — a 41-day increase from the present day. These so-called dangerous days will increase to 95 and 94 days, respectively, in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
"It's important for people to understand that they should be prepared for those extreme events," Porter adds. "There will be more days where the National Weather Services indicates that dehydration, heat cramps, and heat stroke become more likely."
A 2021 report from researchers at the University of Florida found that 215 heat-related deaths occurred in Florida from 2010 to 2020. Nearly one-quarter of the fatalities occurred in Miami-Dade (10 percent), Broward (7 percent), and Palm Beach (6 percent) counties. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, excessive heat is the nation's leading weather-related killer.
Climate researchers and professors from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science applaud First Street for taking a hyperlocal approach to help Americans understand the impacts of climate change and global warming.
"The hyperlocal niche is so critical because it empowers local decision makers to start thinking about adaptation strategies like planting more trees and having more green space," Ben Kirtman, an atmospheric sciences professor, tells New Times. The flood risk and sea-level rise get so much attention in Florida. It's about time we started talking about heat because that is going to have a big effect here."
That said, the researchers emphasize that the number of extreme heat days in South Florida may actually exceed First Street's estimates.
"They're sort of inferring what would be in different, very localized locations around the country," explains atmospheric sciences professor Amy Clement. "When we actually measure it, the values that we get can be a lot higher. We have dangerously high levels of heat index in a lot of the country that are basically missing with some of the data that they use."
Clement is conducting a heat study of her own alongside researchers from Florida International University and Catalyst Miami, a nonprofit dedicated to environmental and economic justice in South Florida. Over the past three years, the "Shading Dade" initiative has measured how extreme heat varies throughout Miami-Dade County by placing heat sensors in public spaces such as parks, community centers, and bus stops. The group hopes to release its findings next month to highlight what areas in the county need better protection from extreme heat.
Possible community responses to excessive heat include planting more trees and offering more cooling centers where people can go to cool down on extremely hot days.
While the two heat studies focus solely on outdoor heat, indoor heat should not be overlooked. Certain homes are inefficient in cooling if they are not well designed or maintained, especially with respect to roof insulation and windows. Some structures retain too much heat, posing potential health impacts.
"Indoor heat can be really dangerous," says Lynee Turek-Hankins, a Ph.D. student at UM's Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy. "Research in other places has shown that indoor temperatures can often exceed outdoor temperatures."
Turek-Hankins is leading a research collaboration between UM and Catalyst Miami to document Miami residents' indoor living conditions. In May, the group placed 60 sensors in households from Homestead to North Miami Beach to collect temperature and humidity data every ten minutes until November.
"One component we're exploring is this narrative that exists that heat is not really an issue in Miami because you can just go inside and there's air conditioning," Turek-Hankins says. "That fundamentally is based on this implicit understanding that everyone has a functioning air-conditioning system and they can afford to run as much as they would like. We're trying to really understand what actually are the indoor conditions people are living in, in South Florida."
In addition to increasing the number of heat-related deaths, extreme heat imposes a high economic burden as residents must keep up with utility costs.
UM's Kirtman says that as his research group seeks to discover the best strategies to mitigate the harmful effects of extreme heat in South Florida, he realizes that some solutions might be unconventional.
"We want to try to think about modeling strategies that can be used to inform how decisions are made at the local level," he says. "What if we planted 10,000 trees? What if we painted all the rooms some particular color? What would the impact be?" | 2022-08-24T20:27:09+00:00 | miaminewtimes.com | https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/long-range-forecast-for-a-hotter-south-florida-may-be-optimistic-15121143 |
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