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A brick column reportedly collapsed at Lewis & Clark College, leaving a student dead and two others injured.
The college, in Portland, Oregon, called the incident a "tragic accident" and said it was working to contact the students' families.
"We are deeply saddened by the shocking loss of a member of our community," the college said in a statement.
According to NBC News, witnesses told authorities that several people were in hammocks Monday as the brick column fell toward them.
A 19-year-old man was identified as the person who died. The injured included two 18-year-old women.
The incident happened on the first day of the semester.
An investigation into what caused the collapse is ongoing. | 2022-08-30T17:54:56+00:00 | fox17online.com | https://www.fox17online.com/news/national/1-dead-2-injured-at-brick-column-collapse-at-lewis-clark-college |
Which Hoover carpet cleaner is best?
Many homeowners have to deal with cleaning carpeting in their homes. Unlike hard flooring, it’s tough to know when your carpet is dirty enough to need a good cleaning. Instead of waiting for your carpet to get noticeably dirty, grab a Hoover carpet cleaner and give it the occasional scrub.
The best Hoover carpet cleaner is the Hoover Power Scrub Elite Pet Upright Carpet Cleaner. It has all the features and the power at an excellent price.
What to know before you buy a Hoover carpet cleaner
Hoover carpet cleaner types
There are two types of Hoover carpet cleaners — upright and spot treatment cleaners.
- Upright cleaners look like regular vacuums, and you use them in the same way. These are best for those who need to deep clean a large area.
- Spot cleaners are lightweight and designed to clean small spots or hard-to-reach areas, such as stairs. However, spot cleaners aren’t as powerful as uprights, and they don’t handle old messes as well.
Manual vs. automatic
Some Hoover carpet cleaners require the user to trigger cleaning, while others have automatic activation.
- Manual cleaners typically have triggers in the handle. Simply pull the trigger to mix together the cleaning solution and water and inject it into your carpet. When you release the trigger, the cleaner’s suction is activated.
- Automatic cleaners use various systems to determine when injection and suction are needed. For example, one model injects when pushed forward and sucks when pulled back.
What to look for in a quality Hoover carpet cleaner
Tanks
When shopping for a Hoover carpet cleaner, consider the number of tanks it has and the capacity.
- Number: The best Hoover carpet cleaners have two tanks instead of one, so you can keep your clean and your dirty water separate. This increases the quality of your cleaning and is easier to use.
- Capacity: It’s important to get a carpet cleaner that allows you to clean somewhat comfortably even when the tanks are full. These have tanks that consider both the weight of the cleaner and the weight of a full tank. The total tank size is typically between 0.5-1.25 gallons.
Cord and hose length
Think about how long your power cord and hose should be before purchasing a Hoover carpet cleaner.
- Cord: Find a cleaner with a long power cord, so there’s no trouble reaching anything. Aim for a cord of at least 15 feet.
- Hose: The right hose length depends on your cleaning needs. For example, you may want a short hose for a spot cleaner so it’s easier to move and store. The average hose is about 5 feet long.
Powered brush
Most Hoover carpet cleaners have rolling brushes in the main body of an upright and at the end of hoses. Look for carpet cleaners with powered brushes that spin automatically, letting you get a deeper clean with less effort.
How much you can expect to spend on a Hoover carpet cleaner
Hoover carpet cleaners typically cost $100-$300. Spot cleaners and basic uprights usually cost $150 or less, with the most powerful uprights starting around $200.
Hoover carpet cleaner FAQ
Can I use a Hoover carpet cleaner on non-carpeted surfaces?
A. That depends on the model. Most Hoover carpet cleaners should only be used on carpeting and other fabrics, but some might offer modes for linoleum or tile, etc. You should never use a carpet cleaner on hardwood flooring.
How often should I clean my carpets?
A. That depends on how much foot traffic and spills your carpets see. If everything goes well, you shouldn’t need to clean your carpets more than two or three times a year. If you have pets or children, it’s better to clean them every one to three months. However, you should clean any major spills or dark stains as soon as possible.
What’s the best Hoover carpet cleaner to buy?
Top Hoover carpet cleaner
Hoover Power Scrub Elite Pet Upright Carpet Cleaner
What you need to know: This cleaner has several features, making it easy to clean anything out of your carpet.
What you’ll love: Modes include a quick clean mode with a 45-minute drying time and a deep clean mode that can root out deep stains and grime. It uses heated air to lower your drying time regardless of mode and a two-tank system to keep your clean and dirty water separated.
What you should consider: When the water tank is full, it can be quite heavy. It also has a difficult time cleaning stairs.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon, Chewy, Home Depot, Kohl’s and Wayfair
Top Hoover carpet cleaner for the money
Hoover Spotless Portable Carpet And Upholstery Spot Cleaner
What you need to know: If you like to clean up spills as soon as they happen, try this spot cleaner.
What you’ll love: It’s lightweight at only 9 pounds, making it easy to move around as needed. The hose is long enough to reach tight nooks and crannies, and there’s an automatic hose flushing system to prep it for storage.
What you should consider: You cannot clean an entire room, even a small one, unless you have hours to spare. A few customers found the instructions overly complex.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon, Home Depot, Kohl’s and Wayfair
Worth checking out
Hoover Smartwash Automatic Carpet Cleaner
What you need to know: This is among Hoover’s most powerful carpet cleaners, built for those with kids and pets.
What you’ll love: It uses a triggerless design and automatically transitions between washing and heated drying as you push forward and pull back. It comes with a storage mat, two-in-one pet tool, 12-foot hose, accessory bag and a sample bottle of cleaning solution.
What you should consider: A few users had issues with leaks if the cleaning tanks weren’t completely emptied and dried before storing them.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon, Home Depot and Kohl’s
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | 2022-05-30T22:27:02+00:00 | fox44news.com | https://www.fox44news.com/reviews/br/home-br/cleaning-tools-supplies-br/best-hoover-carpet-cleaner/ |
ONTARIO, Calif., Oct. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ontario International Airport (ONT) is borrowing from the past with a new program that allows the non-traveling public to greet families and friends at the gate – or spend more time with them as they prepare to depart – all while enjoying ONT's enhanced amenities.
ONT+ enables non-traveling guests to secure an online visitor pass, which they can use – much like an airline ticket – to enter TSA checkpoints and access the post-security side of the passenger terminal. The program, among the first of its kind in the United States, provides the community access to the terminal and airport services that have largely been unavailable to non-travelers since before 9/11.
"We all remember the excitement of being able to meet arriving family and friends as they get off the plane. ONT+ is a way to bring back some of that pre-9/11 experience, in a safe and secure manner," said Dean Brown, ONT Public Safety Administrator, who worked closely with TSA in establishing the program.
ONT+ also opens up the many dining and retail establishments located in the terminal's upper levels to the non-traveling public. Since the airport's return to local control in 2016, the airport has invested heavily in enhanced amenities to improve the experience for outgoing and incoming passengers, including restaurants, shops and high-end lounges.
To receive an ONT+ visitor pass, non-travelers can visit www.flyontario.com/ontplus and fill out an online application within seven days of their visit. If approved, visitors will receive an your ONT+ Visitor Pass via e-mail, which they can use – along with a TSA-approved photo ID – to enter the security checkpoint. Printed ONT+ visitor passes are not accepted.
ONT+ visitors are subject to the same security regulations as passengers boarding an aircraft and are not allowed to bring items prohibited by TSA.
The launch of ONT+ comes as Ontario International prepares to celebrate six years of local ownership with its State of the Airport event on November 1 at the Ontario Convention Center. The airport will finish 2022 with its highest passenger totals since 2007, and has exceed pre-pandemic passenger levels for each of the past six months. It also ranks among the Top 10 cargo airports in North America.
"ONT+ is another example of how Ontario International is always at the forefront of amenities and services that can enhance the customer experience," said Alan D. Wapner, president of the Ontario International Airport Authority Board of Commissioners and Mayor pro Tem of the City of Ontario.
About Ontario International Airport
Ontario International Airport (ONT) is the fastest growing airport in the United States, according to Global Traveler, a leading publication for frequent fliers. Located in the Inland Empire, ONT is approximately 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles in the center of Southern California. It is a full-service airport which offers nonstop commercial jet service to more than two dozen major airports in the U.S., Mexico, Central America and Taiwan. More information is available at www.flyOntario.com. Follow @flyONT on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
About the Ontario International Airport Authority (OIAA)
The OIAA was formed in August 2012 by a Joint Powers Agreement between the City of Ontario and the County of San Bernardino to provide overall direction for the management, operations, development and marketing of ONT for the benefit of the Southern California economy and the residents of the airport's four-county catchment area. OIAA Commissioners are Ontario Mayor Pro Tem Alan D. Wapner (President), Retired Riverside Mayor Ronald O. Loveridge (Vice President), Ontario City Council Member Jim W. Bowman (Secretary), San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman (Commissioner) and retired business executive Julia Gouw (Commissioner).
OIAA Media Contact:
Steve Lambert, (909) 841-7527 slambert@flyontario.com
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SOURCE Ontario International Airport | 2022-10-17T13:24:38+00:00 | wlbt.com | https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2022/10/17/ontario-international-airport-launches-ont-open-terminals-restaurants-shops-non-travelers/ |
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A Chicago man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after he and a co-conspirator defrauded the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of over $1.1 million According to the Department of Justice, Britan Groom, 66, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in the scheme, which involved another man, Chester Dunican.
The DOJ accused the men of operating a scheme from December 2015 to December 2016, that coerced the Tribe into investing into a business that had secured a distributorship with a proprietary water filtration company, R.O. Distributors. That company would then lease water coolers to businesses and offices in Florida and Michigan.
However, R.O. Distributors was actually a shell company controlled by Dunican and Groom, according to the DOJ. R.O. Distributors would then transfer the Tribe investments to another shell company, Evergreen Distributors LLC and that company would then transfer an estimated $700,000 into the personal bank accounts of Groom and Dunican.
“This fraudulent scheme hurt every member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians,” said U.S. Attorney Mark Totten. “Instead of using the funds for the benefit of all tribal members, Groom and his co-defendant lied to the tribe and used the money for their personal benefit. My office is committed to holding fraudsters fully accountable for their crimes.”
At one point, Dunican allegedly asked the Tribe for more money and when they refused, he told members that R.O. Distributors had been acquired by another company, High Sierra Distributors LLC. The DOJ further alleged that Dunican then recruited Groom to find someone to pose a representative of High Sierra in order to secure another $2 million in funding from the Tribe.
Shortly after the person posed as the representative, the Tribe discovered the man was actually a school teacher from Illinois and the Tribe fired Dunican after discovering the scheme.
“This defendant knowingly defrauded and stole money from people who trusted him to act in their best interest,” said James A. Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan. “His behavior – and the behavior of his co-defendant – is a betrayal of the entire Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The FBI will continue to investigate these types of fraud and hold criminals who commit them accountable.”
Along with his prison sentence, Groom was ordered to spend 3 years on supervised release, pay restitution of $1,124,292.68, and to forfeit $302,052.00 in assets that he personally received as part of the scheme.
Dunican is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Feb 14.
READ MORE:
Couple killed in U.P. highway crash was going to son’s basketball game
Photos show Michigan wolf that fell through ice into Lake Superior, then clawed its way out
Rescuers working to recover person found in water at Holloway Dam | 2023-01-31T16:49:14+00:00 | mlive.com | https://www.mlive.com/news/2023/01/wire-fraud-conspiracy-lands-chicago-man-in-prison-after-scheme-defrauded-grand-traverse-band.html |
DENVER (AP) — Oliver Bjorkstrand scored twice, Philipp Grubauer was stellar in stopping 33 shots and the Seattle Kraken eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche with a 2-1 win in Game 7 on Sunday night.
The Kraken became the first expansion team to beat the reigning Stanley Cup champs in their inaugural playoff series, according to NHL Stats.
Bjorkstrand scored one goal on a fortuitous deflection — the puck hit off a stick and glove — and another with a liner past goaltender Alexandar Georgiev that clanged off the post. Seattle grabbed the lead in every game in the series.
Next up for the second-year Kraken is a second-round series against the Stars that opens in Dallas on Tuesday night. Seattle was 1-1-1 against Dallas in the regular season.
Mikko Rantanen was credited with a power-play goal for Colorado after a shot by Nathan MacKinnon clipped him and went in. MacKinnon appeared to score early in the third period to tie it at 2, but Seattle challenged the play and the goal was disallowed due to Colorado being offside.
The Avalanche pulled Georgiev with under 2 minutes remaining but couldn't get the equalizer. It allowed the Kraken to accomplish another franchise first — a series-clinching celebration.
Colorado has now lost its last six Game 7s. The last time the Avalanche won a winner-take-all Game 7 was 2002, when they beat San Jose 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Hall of Fame forward Peter Forsberg.
Both teams lost players for the series due to hard hits. Jared McCann didn’t play again after taking a hit from Cale Makar along the boards in Game 4, which drew a one-game suspension (Game 5) for the Avalanche defenseman. Colorado was without Andrew Cogliano for Game 7 after he suffered a fracture in his neck following a hit along the boards from Kraken forward Jordan Eberle, who didn’t face supplemental discipline.
MacKinnon energized the crowd with what looked like a tying goal. But it was taken off the board following a successful challenge by the Kraken. Artturi Lehkonen was ruled in the zone before the puck entered.
It’s the second time this series the Kraken have used a challenge to negate an Avalanche score.
The Kraken also deflated the capacity crowd by doing what they’ve done in every game this series — score first.
Held without a goal all series, Bjorkstrand picked a good time to find the net. He was credited with a goal in the second period that glanced the stick of Alex Newhook and then off the glove of Ben Meyers and into the net. Bjorkstrand scored again nearly four minutes later with a pinpoint shot on a breakaway down the side to make it 2-0.
Bjorkstrand nearly had a hat trick but his shot late in the game hit the post.
With 27.3 seconds left in the second period, MacKinnon lined a shot that glanced off Rantanen and went by Grubauer. MacKinnon’s assist on the play was his 100th career playoff point. He joins the company of Joe Sakic (188) and Forsberg (159) as the only Avalanche players to reach the 100-point milestone in the postseason.
Georgiev finished with 25 saves.
Grubauer was sensational in the first period against his former team. He stopped 16 shots, including one with the top of his stick, to set the tone for the evening.
The banged-up Avalanche were missing forwards Darren Helm (upper body), Cogliano and Valeri Nichushkin (personal reasons), along with defenseman Josh Manson (lower body) in Game 7.
They’ve been without captain Gabriel Landeskog all season after he underwent knee surgery in October.
AROUND THE ICE
Kraken forward Tye Kartye turned 22 on Sunday. ... Forward Yanni Gourde had two assists. ... Colorado finished 2 for 18 on the power play in the series.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Credit: AP | 2023-05-01T04:46:47+00:00 | daytondailynews.com | https://www.daytondailynews.com/nation-world/kraken-beat-avs-2-1-eliminate-defending-stanley-cup-champs/QEL5VPKK25ENXOPPQ3CA7AJIQA/ |
Today in History
Today is Tuesday, Jan. 3, the third day of 2023. There are 362 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 3, 1990, ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican’s diplomatic mission.
On this date:
In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey.
In 1861, more than two weeks before Georgia seceded from the Union, the state militia seized Fort Pulaski at the order of Gov. Joseph E. Brown. The Delaware House and Senate voted to oppose secession from the Union.
In 1868, the Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan’s emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns.
In 1959, Alaska became the 49th state as President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation.
In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the United States was formally terminating diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.
In 1967, Jack Ruby, the man who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, died in a Dallas hospital.
In 1977, Apple Computer was incorporated in Cupertino, California, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Mike Markkula (MAHR’-kuh-luh) Jr.
In 2002, a judge in Alabama ruled that former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry was mentally competent to stand trial on murder charges in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls. (Cherry was later convicted, and served a life sentence until his death in November 2004.)
In 2007, Gerald R. Ford was laid to rest on the grounds of his presidential museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during a ceremony watched by thousands of onlookers.
In 2008, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won Democratic caucuses in Iowa, while Mike Huckabee won the Republican caucuses.
In 2013, students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, reconvened at a different building in the town of Monroe about three weeks after the massacre that had claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators. The new 113th Congress opened for business, with House Speaker John Boehner (BAY’-nur) re-elected to his post despite a mini-revolt in Republican ranks.
In 2020, the United States killed Iran’s top general in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport; the Pentagon said Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds force, had been “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members” in Iraq and elsewhere. Iran warned of retaliation.
Ten years ago: Students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, reconvened at a different building in the town of Monroe about three weeks after the massacre that had claimed the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators. The new 113th Congress opened for business, with House Speaker John Boehner re-elected to his post despite a mini-revolt in Republican ranks. No. 5 Oregon beat No. 7 Kansas State, 35-17, in the Fiesta Bowl.
Five years ago: President Donald Trump signed an executive order disbanding the controversial voter fraud commission he had set up to investigate the 2016 presidential election after alleging without evidence that voting fraud cost him the popular vote; the White House blamed the decision to end the panel on more than a dozen states that refused to cooperate. A brutal winter storm delivered a rare blast of snow and ice to the coastal Southeast, giving parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina their heaviest snowfall in nearly three decades.
One year ago: A jury in San Jose, California, convicted Elizabeth Holmes of duping investors into believing that her startup company Theranos had developed a revolutionary medical device that could detect diseases and conditions from a few drops of blood. The East Coast’s main north-south highway, Interstate 95, became impassable in Virginia after a truck jackknifed, triggering a chain reaction as other vehicles lost control during a winter storm; hundreds of drivers were stuck in place in frigid temperatures, some for over 24 hours. Expanding COVID-19 boosters amid an omicron surge, the Food and Drug Administration allowed extra Pfizer shots for children as young as 12.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Dabney Coleman is 91. Journalist-author Betty Rollin is 87. Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Hull is 84. Singer-songwriter-producer Van Dyke Parks is 80. Musician Stephen Stills is 78. Rock musician John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) is 77. Actor Victoria Principal is 73. Actor-director Mel Gibson is 67. Actor Shannon Sturges is 55. Actor John Ales is 54. Jazz musician James Carter is 54. Contemporary Christian singer Nichole Nordeman is 51. Musician Thomas Bangalter (Daft Punk) is 48. Actor Jason Marsden is 48. Actor Danica McKellar is 48. Actor Nicholas Gonzalez is 47. Singer Kimberley Locke (TV: “American Idol”) is 45. Actor Kate Levering is 44. Former NFL quarterback Eli Manning is 42. Actor Nicole Beharie is 38. Pop musician Mark Pontius is 38. R&B singer Lloyd is 37. Pop-rock musician Nash Overstreet (Hot Chelle (shel) Rae) is 36. Actor Alex D. Linz is 34. | 2023-01-03T05:52:20+00:00 | sfgate.com | https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Today-in-History-TUE-JAN-03-17678438.php |
Mormon church supports legislation for gay marriage
Published: Nov. 16, 2022 at 11:38 AM EST|Updated: 1 hour ago
(CNN) – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement Tuesday calling for federal legislation to protect same-sex marriage.
While the LDS church views marriage as a union between a man and a woman, church leaders say the Respect for Marriage Act is a way to protect the rights of LGBTQ Americans.
If the Senate passes the act, it would safeguard same-sex and interracial marriages across the country.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | 2022-11-16T18:02:05+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/2022/11/16/mormon-church-supports-legislation-gay-marriage/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Inflation isn’t only costing small businesses money. It’s costing them customers as well.
At the Bushwick Grind Cafe in Brooklyn, New York, Kymme Williams-Davis has raised prices and switched to different types of goods to keep up with the rising costs of milk, coffee, paper goods and plastic, as well as shortages of items such as paper cups and plastic lids. She hasn’t experienced anything like this since opening in 2015.
Williams-Davis says she has lost nearly half of her regular customers. Some have traded down and are buying coffee for $1 at the McDonald’s or bodega on either side of the café instead of paying the $3 she charges.
“If (customers) can get it for a dollar for not that notable of a difference, they’re going next door.”
One customer who had been coming in for years stopped in to tell Williams-Davis he bought himself a coffeemaker.
“He said I’m going to start making coffee at home, I need to budget, so I won’t be coming in here every day,” she said. “I feel like I’ve been on a goodbye campaign.”
Inflation has been rising at nearly the fastest pace in 40 years, driven up by strong consumer spending and higher costs for food, rent, medical care, and other necessities.
On Tuesday, the government is expected to report that price increases slowed in August compared with a year ago, largely because of a steady drop in the cost of gas. Prices for other items, particularly food, are likely to keep rising quickly. Overall, economists forecast consumer prices rose 8.1% in August, compared with a year ago, down from 8.5% in July, according to data provider FactSet.
For much of the pandemic, small business customers were largely tolerant of price increases and kept on spending. But now owners say they’re seeing some pushback.
Ninety-seven percent of small business owners say inflationary pressure is the same or worse than it was three months ago, according to a survey of more than 1,500 small businesses by Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Voices. Sixty-five percent have raised prices to offset higher costs. And 38% say they’ve seen a decline in customer demand due to price increases.
Nicole Miskelley, who manages PMR, an auto and diesel repair shop in Marion, Illinois, said she has seen customers delay repairs that aren’t urgent such as scheduled maintenance or getting new tires.
At the beginning of the year, Miskelley’s labor costs rose 12% and the cost of towing cars to the shop went up due to higher gas prices. Parts are more expensive too. Last year, an air conditioner processor would cost her $200, but this year she can’t find one for under $400. So, she’s had to raise her average price for a repair by 30% to 40%.
Her customers have noticed.
“Typically, I am able to joke about how drastically different things are now and most agree with me,” she said. “On occasion, I deal with push back,” including the rare bout of yelling or cursing by a customer.
“Among a lot of my older customers, who are on restricted income like Social Security, they say they have to cut back,” she said. “They say, ‘I know I need these tires, but I need to make a couple more rounds (of Social Security) to save up.’”
She says she’s a little worried but hopes people can adjust to inflation.
“Right now , it kind of sucks because costs increased faster than I could catch up with. In time, I hope people budget better and their incomes change to reflect the economy.”
The pullback is more dramatic among consumers with less discretionary income. Walmart says its customers, who tend to have lower incomes, are spending more on food and less on other items. Small business owners are seeing much of the same.
Kim Shanahan operates the online store Gifts Fulfilled in Berlin, Maryland, which sells gift baskets and care packages and employs people with disabilities.
“Last year has been challenging to say the least,” she said. “All prices across the board have gone up.” Everything from cardboard, containers and the food that she includes in the baskets have become more expensive.
She implemented a 5% increase to cover some costs. After she raised the price of her most popular get-well gift basket called “One Tough Cookie,” from $27.50 to $28.95, sales went down, she said.
Less expensive baskets, such as those with gifts and candy that sell for $25 and under, have been the most affected, with unit sales down about 50% in 2022 compared with last year. “The whole segment of the market is gone for us,” she said.
“We are a ‘want to-’ not ‘have to-’ have item in our primary categories,” Shanahan said. “What we sort of see is people maybe buying a $50 gift dropping down to $35. And the whole lower tier aren’t even buying at all, they don’t have the discretionary funds.”
Schuyler Northstrom of Uinta Mattress, a mattress maker in Salt Lake City, Utah, says he’s raised his prices by 15% since 2020. A mattress that used to sell for $289 wholesale is now $330.
The increase doesn’t fully cover Uinta’s higher costs. Raw materials such as springs and foam have increased by 40%. But Northstrom fears that raising prices any higher could cause his customers to drop him.
“The pushback from retailers is pretty strong there,” he said. His retail partners include John Paras mattress stores and 2Brothers Mattress, both in Utah. “Sometimes we’re displaced by some of the larger guys with a lower cost product because of their volume.”
To adapt, Northstrom is redesigning the mattress to cut down on costs, and taking less profit, which isn’t sustainable in the long term, he said. He’s also focusing more on the higher end, mattresses that cost up to $1,200, which hasn’t been hit as hard.
“We’re feeling it, we’re not a necessary purchase, people buy food and gas,” he said.
___
This story has been edited to correct the name of the survey group to Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Voices, not Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses.
___
AP Business Writer Christopher Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report. | 2022-09-11T22:05:53+00:00 | ksn.com | https://www.ksn.com/news/business/ap-business/ap-as-small-businesses-raise-prices-some-customers-push-back/ |
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A major fail for a would-be carjacker after he steals a car at gunpoint in an East Memphis driveway and then crashes it a few feet away.
The 22-year-old victim watched as the carjacker backed into a utility pole and got stuck.
The victim’s mother, who didn’t want to be identified, said she and her husband pulled into their driveway on Reese moments after the carjacking and crash. She said the carjacker had to leave the 2006 Honda Element behind and ran off.
“The way the driveway dips down, the back wheel lifted off the driveway, and he couldn’t get it unstuck. It took three of us to push the car out,” she said.
The victim’s mom said her son pulled into their driveway at around 8:30 p.m. Friday when a man opened his car door, pointed a gun at him, and told him to get out of the vehicle and hand over his keys and wallet.
She said as the carjacker was trying to back out of their tricky driveway, he rolled down the window for some reason, and that’s when her son realized the carjacker’s gun was missing a barrel, and he reached in and punched the carjacker. She said that caused him to clip the side of their house and back into the pole.
“I don’t want people to think they can fight somebody, but my son said he was really distracted,” she said. “The car is fine. It has a big scrape on the back bumper, and there is a dent in the bumper where it hit the electrical pole.”
She said they have lights on the back of their house but are adding more, along with some cameras. She wants to make sure no one tries anything like that again.
“It was just overwhelming to have something like that happen. My husband and my other child, we all feel like victims.”
The carjacker took the victim’s iPhone, but police pinged the cell phone and found it in a dumpster on Alexander.
They were able to recover prints from the phone and car but so far have not made an arrest.
The victim’s mother is just glad her son was not hurt and admits this was not your run-of-the-mill carjacking.
“Even the investigator came today and said I was reading the police report, and this is a crazy story.”
If you know anything about the attempted carjacking, call CrimeStoppers at (901)-528-CASH. | 2023-03-14T14:07:17+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/news/tennessee/carjacker-gets-vehicle-stuck-in-victims-driveway/ |
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) today began marketing its twenty-eighth sale of reperforming loans as part of the company's ongoing effort to reduce the size of its retained mortgage portfolio.
The sale consists of approximately 10,400 loans, having an unpaid principal balance of approximately $1.95 billion, and is available for purchase by qualified bidders. Interested bidders can register here.
This sale of reperforming loans is being marketed in collaboration with Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. Bids are due on November 1, 2022.
Reperforming loans are loans that have been or are currently delinquent but have reperformed for a period of time. The terms of Fannie Mae's reperforming loan sale require the buyer to offer loss mitigation options to any borrower who may re-default within five years following the closing of the reperforming loan sale. All purchasers are required to honor any approved or in-process loss mitigation efforts at the time of sale, including forbearance arrangements and loan modifications. In addition, purchasers must offer delinquent borrowers a waterfall of loss mitigation options, including loan modifications, which may include principal forgiveness, prior to initiating foreclosure on any loan.
Interested bidders can register for ongoing announcements, training, and other information here. Fannie Mae will also post information about specific pools available for purchase on that page.
Fannie Mae advances equitable and sustainable access to homeownership and quality, affordable rental housing for millions of people across America. We enable the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and drive responsible innovation to make homebuying and renting easier, fairer, and more accessible. To learn more, visit:
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SOURCE Fannie Mae | 2022-10-06T15:18:09+00:00 | kalb.com | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2022/10/06/fannie-mae-announces-twenty-eighth-sale-reperforming-loans/ |
Woman loses eye defending special needs teen from bullying
ANTIOCH, Calif. (KGO) - A 19-year-old woman will lose her right eye, due to an injury she suffered at work when someone attacked her as she was trying to help a teenager with special needs.
Bianca Palomera, 19, works as an assistant manager at The Habit Burger Grill in Antioch, California. Surveillance video from Saturday shows her being punched after she noticed a man in a group bullying a teen with special needs. The teen is related to a coworker.
She says her manager told her to tell the man to leave, and that’s when she stepped in.
“I was like, ‘Hey, just to let you know, it’s not right what you’re doing. They’re special needs,’” Palomera said.
She says the man then attacked her, the second punch he threw hitting her in the right eye.
“When he punched me, it kind of caught me by surprise,” she said.
Palomera immediately went into emergency surgery at the hospital, but it was unsuccessful in saving her eye.
“They kept asking me if he was wearing any rings because they didn’t think that a normal punch could rupture an eye,” she said.
But the punch Palomera received did.
“I’ve gone ahead and made the decision that it would be best to get a prosthetic eye,” she said. “It could potentially attack my good eye, so it would be best to just have it removed.”
Palomera and her family are staying strong in hopes police will catch the suspect. She says she was just standing up for a friend, someone who didn’t deserve to be bullied.
“Things may happen and not work out the way you want, but at least I feel good that he wasn’t harmed. I think it would have been a lot harder on him if he was the one that was attacked,” she said.
It’s unclear when Palomera will be able to work again. Her family set up a GoFundMe to help her with anything she may need.
Police say the case is being actively investigated. There is surveillance video of the suspect entering and leaving the restaurant, but police have not said if they’ve been able to make contact with him.
No arrests have been made.
Copyright 2022 KGO via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | 2022-11-17T09:07:05+00:00 | kwch.com | https://www.kwch.com/2022/11/17/woman-loses-eye-defending-special-needs-teen-bullying/ |
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A prominent Polish minority activist has been released from custody in Belarus after authorities dropped criminal charges against her following a two-year criminal probe, officials said Tuesday.
The Belarusian Prosecutor General's office announced that the criminal investigation against Andzelika Borys, 49, has been closed, all charges against her have been dropped and she has been freed from house arrest.
Borys was arrested in March 2021 and after a year moved to house arrest due to deteriorating health. She was accused of inciting interethnic strife and condoning Nazism — charges that she rejected.
The prosecutors' move followed comment on Friday by Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who said that Borys has expressed an intention to stay in Belarus. “She is a Pole, but she's my Pole,” he said.
About 300,000 of Belarus’ 9.5 million people are ethnic Poles. Belarusian authorities shut the Union of Poles that Borys headed after accusing Poland of trying to foment an uprising against Lukashenko, who has led the ex-Soviet nation with an iron fist for nearly 29 years.
The Polish Foreign Ministry welcomed Borys’ exoneration as “the first good news coming from Minsk in a long time,” and voiced hope that it would herald a shift in Belarusian authorities' attitude toward Poles in Belarus and its readiness to engage in constructive dialogue.
In February, Andrzej Poczobut, 49, was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of harming Belarus’ national security and “inciting discord.” Poczobut, a journalist for the influential Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and a top figure in the Union of Poles in Belarus, has been behind bars since his detention in March 2021.
Poczobut reported extensively on the mass protests that swept Belarus after an August 2020 presidential vote handed Lukashenko a new term in office but was rejected by the opposition and the West as rigged.
Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Lukasz Jasina reaffirmed a call for Minsk to release Poczobut and drop all charges against him, adding that “this issue remains our highest priority.” | 2023-04-04T15:15:41+00:00 | sfgate.com | https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/belarus-drops-charges-against-polish-minority-17877608.php |
Cincinnati Zoo needs your help naming hippo Fiona’s newborn brother
CINCINNATI (WXIX/Gray News) - The Cincinnati Zoo’s world-famous hippo Fiona now has a baby brother.
The hippo was born Aug. 3 to mom Bibi, and the zoo is looking for help in coming up with a name.
Cincinnati Zoo Director of Animal Care Christina Gorsuch said the zoo is happy the calf is healthy.
“The sex didn’t matter much to the hippo team, but it will be interesting to observe and compare the behavioral differences between a hand-raised girl and a mom-raised boy,” she said. “Will this calf be as comfortable with humans as Fiona is? Will he be less independent? Will he love cameras?”
The team has not chosen a name for the 5-day-old calf, but they are looking for suggestions.
According to the zoo, possible name suggestions will be reviewed, and the new name for the calf will be announced later in the week, according to WXIX.
“Bibi and the baby are doing great together,” Gorsuch said. “They are inseparable, which is why it took almost five days to be sure about the sex. They will continue to bond inside for another week or two. Fiona and Tucker are outside, so visitors will still be able to see hippos when they come to the zoo.”
Members of the zoo have access to live cameras at Hippo Cove every day from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. CT.
Copyright 2022 WXIX via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2022-08-10T00:58:13+00:00 | wnem.com | https://www.wnem.com/2022/08/10/cincinnati-zoo-needs-your-help-naming-hippo-fionas-newborn-brother/ |
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The shooting deaths of South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh’s wife and son started a chain of investigations, strange happenings and legal maneuvers over the past 13 months that led to murder charges Thursday.
But Murdaugh’s life was quietly unraveling behind the scenes long before that. Authorities said he was stealing money,addicted to painkillers and desperately trying to avoid an in-depth examination of his finances tied to a wrongful death lawsuit involving his son — all while lying to just about everyone in his life.
Like the whiteboard on a detective show, the spokes of a half-dozen investigations radiated from Murdaugh after the killings of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and 22-year-old son Paul on June 7, 2021.
Suddenly, a whole cast of people became victims or unwitting players in the drama — the family of a teenager killed in a boat crash determined to fight for justice, the slain wife who led a quiet life, the Murdaugh client who may have been hired to stage an attempt on the lawyer’s life and the housekeeper who died in a fall in the Murdaugh home.
MALLORY BEACH
More than a year before the killings, 19-year-old Mallory Beach died when she was thrown from a Murdaugh family boat after it crashed into a bridge pier. Police said Paul Murdaugh was drunk while driving the boat in February 2019.
Beach’s family demanded justice not just criminally, but in civil court too, filing a wrongful death lawsuit that still is awaiting trial.
That lawsuit likely meant a close look at the Murdaugh family’s finances. Murdaugh fought the suit at every turn as Beach’s attorneys suggested he was fearful they would discover how he was managing to live so far above his current means. Prosecutors said they have learned since that Murdaugh was stealing money from his law firm and clients.
The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating if Murdaugh, his family or his friends tried to obstruct the investigation into the boating crash. Others on the boat said Murdaugh was at the emergency room that night, looking up their rooms and trying to convince them to tell investigators his son wasn’t driving.
MAGGIE MURDAUGH
Maggie Murdaugh married the sweetheart she met at the University of South Carolina and moved to tiny Hampton County, where Alex Murdaugh’s father, grandfather and great-grandfather had been elected prosecutors.
By all accounts, she led a quiet life, supporting her husband’s work and raising two sons. Friends don’t remember her working outside a brief time running her own gift shop. They remember a devoted mother who loved her family’s coastal home about 60 miles (96 kilometers) away on Edisto Island.
Maggie Murdaugh died near her younger son at the family’s Colleton County hunting estate. Both were shot multiple times, the coroner said. Alex Murdaugh called 911 after discovering their bodies. He has said he had just returned home from visiting his mother and ailing father.
Thirteen months later, Murdaugh was indicted in her death and the killing of their younger son. Police said Murdaugh used two different guns — shooting his wife with a rifle and his son with a shotgun. But the indictments said nothing about what evidence linked Murdaugh to the killings.
CURTIS “EDDIE” SMITH
Curtis “Eddie” Smith met Alex Murdaugh when he sued the tree company he worked for after hurting his back in 2007. Or they might have already known each other. Like many things with Murdaugh, exactly what transpired is murky.
Murdaugh won a settlement for Smith, who said the two became friends. Murdaugh’s lawyers said it was more of a business relationship, with Murdaugh buying drugs.
A few days after the century-old Murdaugh family law firm discovered stolen money in September 2021, Murdaugh asked Smith to meet on the side of a lonely Hampton County highway, according to prosecutors. Murdaugh said he asked Smith to kill him so his surviving son could get $10 million life insurance policy. Smith said Murdaugh threatened to kill himself and the gun fired as Smith tried to wrestle it from his grip.
The shot only grazed Murdaugh’s head. Murdaugh’s lawyers called Smith a drug dealer.
“With a friend like that, who needs enemies?” Smith told an Associated Press reporter.
Both men were indicted for the roadside shooting — Smith for assisted suicide, conspiracy and other charges; Murdaugh, for insurance fraud and filing a false police report after initially saying he was shot at randomly while changing a tire.
In June, prosecutors suggested a much deeper relationship. They indicted both men again, saying Murdaugh wrote 437 checks worth $2.4 million that Smith cashed over eight years to try to hide theft and other illegal activity, including a drug ring involving the painkiller oxycodone.
It was the 16th indictment against Murdaugh, who prosecutors said has stolen more than $8 million from clients and others.
GLORIA SATTERFIELD
Gloria Satterfield was a housekeeper for the Murdaughs for two decades before slipping into a coma and dying a few days after Alex Murdaugh said she tripped and fell in their home.
Murdaugh steered Satterfield’s family toward a friend to act as their attorney, according to a lawsuit. Murdaugh then strong-armed his insurers to pay more than $4 million in wrongful death settlements, prosecutors said.
But Satterfield’s family never saw a dime until their new attorneys came after him. Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter relentlessly attacked Murdaugh in court and in the media. Murdaugh eventually ended up behind bars on a $7 million bond.
Bland compared Murdaugh to a bank robber, but using a pen and corrupt friends instead of a gun.
Months later, the lawyer friend and a banker who prosecutors said secretly sent Murdaugh money meant to go into trusts for his clients were indicted.
Bland and Richter have earned well over $4 million in legal settlements from Murdaugh, whose assets have been frozen, as well as Murdaugh’s attorney friend and the bank Murdaugh used.
The investigation into Satterfield’s death continues. State agents said in June that they would exhume her body. Coroners in South Carolina are supposed to be notified of any suspicious death, but the Hampton County coroner wasn’t told about Satterfield’s fall.
Another death investigation was reopened after the shooting deaths. Stephen Smith, 19, died in what investigators said was a hit-and-run, likely struck in the head by the mirror of a semitrailer on a Hampton County two-lane road in 2015. But Smith’s mother said there was no broken glass or plastic shards from a mirror on the road where her son’s body was found.
State agents haven’t said what evidence in the Murdaugh case led them to reopen the Smith case.
___
Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP. | 2022-07-14T22:35:52+00:00 | cbs42.com | https://www.cbs42.com/news/national/personal-connections-show-lawyer-alex-murdaughs-downfall/ |
We interviewed 8 refugees from different corners of the globe and asked: What's one precious belonging you brought along on your journey to remind you of home? The answers ranged from a set of incense stones made by a Yemeni grandmother (and now emitting their special aroma in Ecuador) to Ukrainian sheet music.
We also asked our audience: Tell us about an object from your personal or family history that has special meaning as a memento of the past in a different country or a reflection of your identity.
Thanks to all who shared their stories. Here's a sampling of responses, edited for length and clarity.
A crystal decanter with a chip reminds me of a bold 1911 journey
My precious object is this more-than-a-century-old decanter.
In 1911, when my then 14-year-old grandfather Jan Roušar (changed to John Roushar on Ellis Island) and his family left Oldriš in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) to come to the United States, they brought along this family heirloom. It is heavy cut crystal and must have had important meaning to carry that far.
I never saw this decanter in my childhood — it had a chip in the lip and was considered unusable. When my mom and Aunt Dorothy helped empty my grandparents' house in the 1970s, it moved to my mom's house and got tucked in the back of a china cabinet.
I came across it a few years ago while helping my parents in the cleanup after a fire. My mom asked me if I wanted it, "even though it's broken." I found it beautiful and decided that if and when my husband and I set sail, it would come with us on the seas, just as it had when my dear late grandfather was a boy making his Atlantic crossing.
It has traveled since 2016 with my husband and me on a 40-foot catamaran called "Grateful," which has journeyed to the waters of five continents.
I think Grandpa would approve. He's one of my angels above. I think of the bravery it took for his parents to see the writing on the wall and decide to leave behind their thriving mill business because they could see WWI coming and had no desire for their sons to be pressed into the Kaiser's army.
By comparison, crossing seas is pleasure for my husband Jamie and me. Whenever I look at the decanter I am reminded that willingness to take on bold challenges runs in the family.
— Monica Fox Elenbaas
A Norwegian grandmother's cabbage dish was a way to say 'I love you'
In 1906 my grandmother, Oline Steffensen, traveled from Norway to the United States. She was 25 years old. She had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and wanted to go to Utah so she could go to the temple there and "be sealed," as the Mormons say, to her mother, who had died when she was a very little girl. The desire to connect to her family members for eternity gave her the courage to make the journey.
In Salt Lake City she married Rudolph Stockseth, a fellow Norwegian, who was a printer. They had nine children. My father was the oldest. They never had enough money, but they had a great deal of love in their family. I remember well the camaraderie of my aunts and uncles at family gatherings.
What Oline brought from Norway was her ability to love ... and to knit ... and to cook.
I remember eating Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners in her small brick home and savoring the aroma and tangy taste of red cabbage cooked with caraway seeds and a dash of vinegar, called "surkål ." It was the jewel of the meal to me.
My grandmother's brusque, accented English made me think she was grumpy. I now realize that the food she made – and the red caps she knit for us – were her way of saying, "I love you."
— Jean Marshall
I still have the shoes I wore when my family fled the Nazis
I am 84 years old, considered to be a survivor of the Holocaust. But I think of myself as a "refugee" lucky to have escaped the Holocaust.
I was not quite 2 years old when my family (mom, dad and older sister) boarded what I was later told was to be the last train out of Paris before the French government was to surrender. I'm told it was the first week of June 1938, but don't know the exact date.
We were heading toward Bordeaux and then on to Spain, armed with all the requisite travel permits, American visas and a small suitcase packed with some clothing as well as my mother's travel sewing kit, contained in a repurposed red metal tobacco tin.
It was a harrowing journey. The train, packed with refugees, was bombed – making war on civilians was a common Nazi tactic. We were lucky enough to survive and proceeded to walk to Bordeaux — which had been declared a closed city because of its strategic location, as well as the French government sequestered in Bordeaux had not yet decided how best to surrender.
We must have walked for miles. I wore my patent leather shoes, my parents carried that small suitcase. Eventually we met by chance the American consulate officer in a small city outside Bordeaux. My father and the officer were able to rent a truck to drive us to the Mediterranean coast. Eventually we were able to cross into Spain and Portugal, where we boarded a Greek freighter that set sail for New York. We arrived on August 11, 1940.
My patent leather shoes, no longer shiny and sparkling, remained on my feet until I outgrew them. I still have them, along with my mother's makeshift sewing kit. I use these items them as props for my volunteer work at the Nassau County Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center, where I tell visitors the reasons my family were forced to seek refuge as well as discussing the need for safe havens 82 years later.
I treasure my shoes and mother's sewing kit because it underlines the resiliency, determination and courage that refugees demonstrate in their quest for security — and as a reminder as well that for so many, the sheer presence of luck can chart your future.
— Mireille Taub
Why I will never leave my flute behind
My most precious object is my flute!
I started playing in the school band when I was in the 7th grade, a little over 50 years ago, and once I began playing, there was never any question about what I would do for a career. Playing music meets my spiritual needs like nothing else – and is mentally challenging, which I love.
I majored in music in college. My first job was as a music teacher. When the apartment building where I was living caught fire in the middle of the night, I ran outside. A fireman asked me to move my car so the fire truck could get closer to the building. He went back into my apartment with me so I could get my car keys: "Just your car keys, ma'am. Nothing else!"
When we left, I had my keys ... and my flute. I would have fought him if he had told me to leave it behind!
If I ever have to "bug out" for any reason, you can believe my flute will be the first thing I grab to take along!
— Penny Rogers
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-11-14T13:37:12+00:00 | iowapublicradio.org | https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/2022-11-14/we-asked-you-answered-what-precious-object-is-part-of-your-family-history |
Football and men’s basketball players on scholarship in one of the major conferences can expect to soon earn a minimum of $50,000 each year he plays because of the influx of cash from so-called booster collectives brokering name, image and likeness deals.
That prediction, based on market trends, was made this week by Blake Lawrence, co-founder and CEO of a company that helps athletes and schools navigate the ever-changing NIL landscape.
The increasing dollar amounts available to college athletes through the recent formation of collectives has drawn the attention of the NCAA, which this week released guidance for schoolsin the hopes of maintaining the original intent of NIL compensation.
College sports leaders are concerned some collectives have gone beyond paying athletes for activities such as endorsements and appearances and breaking the pay-for-play ban by offering cash to influence athletes’ decisions on where to go to school. NCAA rules prohibit boosters from making contact with prospective recruits.
Lawrence co-founded Opendorse in 2012 to facilitate endorsement deals for professional athletes. The former Nebraska football player was among the advisers who worked with the NCAA on forming NIL policy, and he expanded his company to bring opportunities to college athletes to cash in on their fame and developed compliance technology that allows schools to keep track of the deals.
Lawrence based his $50,000-a-year per player minimum on the assumption booster collectives are directing about $5 million annually into NIL pools and that some of the money will go to athletes in other sports. There are collectives supporting NIL at more than half of the 65 Power Five schools, including Notre Dame, and more are forming.
Michael LeRoy, a University of Illinois labor law professor who researches college athlete compensation, said Lawrence’s projection is spot on.
“It’s an overheated market,” LeRoy said, “and it really reflects the pent-up demand to pay players.”
Lawrence said a top, five-star recruit could have NIL earning potential of more than $1 million per year when money coming from sources outside the booster collective is considered, especially if he is a quarterback. Four-star recruits could earn well into the six figures.
But even a lower-ranked recruit at a less glamorous position would be well-compensated — the $50,000 earner — because the booster collective will make sure of it to keep peace on the team, Lawrence said.
“If an entire class arrives to campus and they are all scholarship athletes and one individual is earning six figures and another is earning zero dollars, that is going to create a rift,” Lawrence said. “What these groups have done in certain markets is realize it’s about equality. Each individual in this locker room will receive some sort of support so there is equality at a base layer. And there may be additional value for the most marketable and influential individuals in each recruiting class.”
How long booster collectives choose to fund NIL opportunities is debatable.
Jason Belzer, an attorney and founder of Student-Athlete NIL, which has worked with Penn State and Rutgers to set up collectives, said establishing fair market value for athletes is a moving target and that it is critical for the athletes getting paid to provide real services in return.
Belzer used the example of each SEC school having a collective with $10 million a year going to football players. He said members of the collective supporting the last-place team could become disenchanted and regret funding NIL.
“They’re gonna say, ‘Well, I’m not putting money in anymore, because my investment didn’t provide any return whatsoever. I didn’t get my name on a building. I didn’t get access to anything otherwise. And wait a second. Now I don’t want this coach anymore, but I just gave all my money to the student-athletes, I can’t even pay to buy the guy out,’” Belzer said.
___
AP College Sports Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed.
___
More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 | 2022-05-11T10:25:29+00:00 | wnct.com | https://www.wnct.com/sports/college-sports/nil-expert-predicts-50000-minimum-pay-for-power-5-players/ |
Now or never? Kingsbury says Cardinals have 'got to get better on offense' vs. Saints
Do you know what has been completely miserable about the Cardinals’ defense, which has been stepping up and absolutely shutting down the opponents’ top playmakers virtually every single week since the season opener?
It’s only making the Cardinals’ alarmingly ice-cold offense look worse.
Not that coach Kliff Kingsbury has anything bad to say about the other side of the football that he doesn’t coach, of course. If it weren’t for Arizona’s defensive effort, led by a core of veterans but especially a group of young, up-and-coming standouts, the Cardinals would be a lot worse than 2-4 entering Thursday night’s primetime game against the Saints, who are also 2-4, at State Farm Stadium.
The defense, at least, is giving him hope.
“No doubt,” Kingsbury said earlier this week. “Yeah, it makes you on the offensive side of the ball motivated to step up and play better. Watching those young guys practice, the way they work together and grown each and every week has been fun to see. They’re playing hard, having fun and it’s a great mix with those veterans out there.”
If only the offensive wizard couldn’t say the same thing about his own offense, which has scored more than 21 points only twice this season. That was something his offense did with relative ease just a year ago when it averaged 31.2 points per game during a 10-2 start. Only twice during that stretch did the Cardinals score fewer than 21 points in a game and they went 1-1 in those situations.
But this year?
Arizona’s offense looks like the biggest lemon on the used car lot. It’s been outscored 41-3 in the first quarter alone through six games. On Sunday in Seattle, playing against arguably the worst defense in the entire league, it only produced a single field goal and that came on the first series of the game after the team had driven all the way down to the Seahawks’ 1-yard line.
In losing 19-9, the only other points the Cardinals put up came on a special teams touchdown when they recovered a fumble in the end zone on a botched punt attempt only then to promptly miss the point after.
Report Card: Kliff Kingsbury gets 'F' after Arizona Cardinals' loss to Seattle Seahawks
It was the latest in a series of ongoing embarrassments for Kingsbury, his offensive staff, quarterback Kyler Murray and the rest of the offense and it’s been so egregiously bad, that fans and critics alike are wondering if a major change should be made.
Kingsbury himself was asked twice on Monday, first during his regular news conference with reporters and again moments later during his weekly appearance on the team’s flagship radio station, if surrendering play-calling duties to someone else has been discussed or should be considered.
To his credit, he didn’t back away from the question even though previously in a national interview, he said he would rather quit if ever asked to give up that part of his job.
“I’m open to anything that helps us win and score more points,” he told reporters. “We’re going to see where everything goes, but yeah, whatever it takes to win I’m all for it.”
Later, on Arizona Sports 98.7-FM, he was asked a similar question. It basically went like this: “Do you feel like you’re coaching to save your job right now?”
“I think that comes with the profession,” Kingsbury replied. I think when you have had the start that we’ve had, offensively, that talk is going to be out there. Quite frankly, it should be. We should play better, and we all know that. Week in and week out, we all feel like we’re kind of coaching for our jobs in this profession.
“We’ve got to get better on offense.”
Scouting report: Cardinals-Saints: Can Arizona finally win at home?
It won’t be easy to get things fixed on three day’s rest, especially after the Cardinals learned they will be without starting left guard Justin Pugh for the rest of the season after he tore his ACL and leading wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown is expected to miss at least six weeks with a fractured bone in his left foot.
The good news is star receiver DeAndre Hopkins is back from his six-week suspension and the team also traded for a 6-3 wideout with 4.3 speed in Robbie Anderson, who comes over from the Panthers for a pair of future, late-round draft picks.
“It’s not a miracle thing that everything’s gone,” Murray said of Hopkins’ return. “We’ve still got things we’ve got to get better at. We’ve still got things we need to fix. Obviously, having him back definitely helps but we’ve still got to be better in all areas that we’re not good in right now.”
Related: WR DeAndre Hopkins wants heavy workload in return to Cardinals
Murray can fix part of those problems himself by improving his accuracy, especially on third downs. Though he is convinced the offense is starting to move the ball much better in the last two weeks, his ball placement has been sketchy. He’s overthrown and underthrown his targets and still hasn’t found any consistent connections on deep throws down the field.
His longest pass play to date was a 32-yard completion to tight end Zach Ertz on Sunday in Seattle.
“I definitely haven’t played up to the standard that we have for ourselves, or I have for myself,” Murray said. “But we can just keep getting better. It starts with one, so that’s the mindset right now.”
There have been rumblings, though unfounded, that big changes could be in store if the Cardinals struggle and lose to the Saints, thus extending their streak without a win at State Farm Stadium to nine straight games dating back to last season.
Whether that involves Kingsbury and his play-calling methods, we shall see.
“Most coaches don’t read it or listen to it. You can’t because it’s just part of the job,” Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said. “The team’s not winning, we’re 2-4 and that’s part of the territory. Obviously, coach is a good coach. He’s been a good coach for a long time. That hasn’t changed.
“He’s coaching, he’s focused, he confident, so it’s going to turn. As a coach, you have to just keep your head on and keep working. … It’s been rocky, but he’s fighting, I’m fighting with him and the team is fighting with him. … You keep working and make it better.”
NFL Week 6 grades: Cardinals coach 'definitely on hot seat'
Have an opinion on the Arizona Cardinals? Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com and follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac. Listen to him live on Fox Sports 910-AM every Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 on Calling All Sports with Roc and Manuch.
News and information you can trust. Start your online subscription. | 2022-10-20T15:56:04+00:00 | azcentral.com | https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nfl/cardinals/2022/10/20/arizona-cardinals-need-improved-offense-vs-saints/10529538002/ |
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The head of the Christian elementary school in Nashville who was killed in a shooting there on Monday was described by friends as smart, loving and a rare female leader within a male-led religious culture.
“If there was any trouble in that school, she would run to it, not from it,” Jackie Bailey said of her friend Katherine Koonce, head of The Covenant School. “She was trying to protect those kids … That’s just what I believe.”
Koonce was one of six people killed in the shooting in Tennessee, including three 9-year-old children identified by police as Hallie Scruggs, Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney. Also killed were Cynthia Peak, 61, a substitute teacher, and Mike Hill, 61, a custodian.
Hallie Scruggs was the daughter of Chad Scruggs, the lead pastor at the Covenant Presbyterian Church, according to a statement released by a Presbyterian Church in Dallas where the elder Scruggs had served as an associate pastor.
“We love the Scruggs family and mourn with them over their precious daughter Hallie," Park Cities Presbyterian Church Senior Pastor Mark Davis said in a statement. "Together, we trust in the power of Christ to draw near and give us the comfort and hope we desperately need.”
Cynthia Peak was described as a “sweet person from a sweet family” by Chuck Owen, who told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that they grew up together in Leesville, Louisiana, and that Peak was a lifelong friend.
When he heard that Peak was killed in the shooting, “It took my breath away,” Owen said. “You don’t expect something like this. It just took the wind out of me.”
Owen described Peak as "a loving, caring and attentive person.”
When Owen's sister passed away, "Cindy got here as quick as anybody else,” Owen said. “She got here very, very quickly to grieve my sister with the rest of us. It’s a small community, a small tight knit group. She was ever present in my sister’s life and she’s been very attentive to my family since my sister passed away.”
Peak was also a devout Christian.
“She told me that she got saved in college and that God’s love changed her life,” Owen said, adding it was appropriate that she was teaching at a Christian school.
The Covenant School in Nashville has about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade, as well as roughly 50 staff members, according to its website.
Before Koonce took the top role with Covenant, Anna Caudill, a former art teacher, worked with her for almost a decade at Christ Presbyterian Academy, another Christian school in the area connected to a Presbyterian Church in America congregation.
“She was an absolute dynamo and one of the smartest women I’ll ever know,” said Caudill, recalling how Koonce excelled at her day job while parenting her children, pursuing her masters and then her PhD, and writing a book.
For Caudill, who grew up in several male-led Christian denominations, Koonce had remarkable leadership skills and was the first woman in such a setting to encourage her to keep learning and pursuing her life goals. When Caudill launched her nonprofit advocating for special education resources and other support, she said Koonce was one of the first to donate financially to it.
She said Koonce loved her job at Covenant and she was loved by students and their families.
“She wasn’t Wonder Woman, but I never saw the two in the same place,” she said.
___
Travis Loller contributed to this report. Finley reported from Norfolk, Va. | 2023-03-28T20:54:24+00:00 | wgrz.com | https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/nation-world/nashville-school-shooting-victims-list/507-9afc34cf-ee3d-429b-baf3-62e7889c3d51 |
ATLANTA — The new school year is just around the corner, in some cases only a couple weeks away.
Below, find a list of when metro Atlanta and north Georgia students return to the classroom. For a district-by-district alphabetical list, scroll further down:
Metro Atlanta & north Georgia first days of school
- July 29: Chattooga County Schools, Commerce City Schools, Jackson County Schools, Jefferson City Schools, Rome City Schools
- August 1: Atlanta Public Schools, Cherokee County Schools, Cobb County Schools, Fannin County Schools, Greene County Schools, Lumpkin County Schools, Madison County Schools, Morgan County Schools, Newton County Schools, Paulding County Schools, Pickens County Schools, Rockdale County Schools
- August 2: Barrow County Schools, City Schools of Decatur, Haralson County Schools, Polk County Schools, Thomaston-Upson County Schools, Walton County Schools
- August 3: Banks County Schools, Bartow County Schools, Bremen City Schools, Buford City Schools, Butts County Schools, Clarke County Schools, Clayton County Schools, Douglas County Schools, Griffin-Spalding County Schools, Gwinnett County Schools (grades K, 1, 6, 9 and small group), Heard County Schools, Henry County Schools, Marietta City Schools, Oconee County Schools, Putnam County Schools
- August 4: Coweta County Schools, Fayette County Schools, Forsyth County Schools, Gilmer County Schools, Gordon County Schools, Gwinnett County Schools (grades 2-5, 7-8, 10-12), Towns County Schools
- August 5: Calhoun City Schools, Dawson County Schools, Habersham County Schools, Hall County Schools, Rabun County Schools, Troup County Schools, White County Schools
- August 8: DeKalb County Schools, Fulton County Schools, Oglethorpe County Schools (last names A-L)
- August 9: Gainesville City Schools, Oglethorpe County Schools (last names M-Z), Pike County Schools
- August 10: Floyd County Schools
- August 11: Jasper County Schools, Meriwether County Schools
- August 12: Union County Schools
- August 15: Carrollton City Schools
First day of school for metro Atlanta & north Georgia districts
- Atlanta Public Schools: August 1
- Banks County Schools: August 3
- Barrow County Schools: August 2
- Bartow County Schools: August 3
- Bremen City Schools: August 3
- Buford City Schools: August 3
- Butts County Schools: August 3
- Calhoun City Schools: August 5
- Carroll County Schools: August 5
- Carrollton City Schools: August 15
- Chattooga County Schools: July 29
- Cherokee County Schools: August 1
- Clarke County Schools: August 3
- Clayton County Schools: August 3
- Cobb County Schools: August 1
- Commerce City Schools: July 29
- Coweta County Schools: August 4
- Dawson County Schools: August 5
- City Schools of Decatur: August 2
- DeKalb County Schools: August 8
- Douglas County Schools: August 3
- Fannin County Schools: August 1
- Fayette County Schools: August 4
- Floyd County Schools: August 10
- Forysth County Schools: August 4
- Fulton County Schools: August 8
- Gainesville City Schools: August 9
- Gilmer County Schools: August 4
- Gordon County Schools: August 4
- Greene County Schools: August 1
- Griffin-Spalding County Schools: August 3
- Gwinnett County Schools: August 3 (grades K, 1, 6, 9, small group); August 4 (grades 2-5, 7-8, 10-12)
- Habersham County Schools: August 5
- Hall County Schools: August 5
- Haralson County Schools: August 2
- Heard County Schools: August 3
- Henry County Schools: August 3
- Jackson County Schools: July 29
- Jasper County Schools: August 11
- Jefferson City Schools: July 29
- Lumpkin County Schools: August 1
- Madison County Schools: August 1
- Marietta City Schools: August 3
- Meriwether County Schools: August 11
- Morgan County Schools: August 1
- Newton County Schools: August 1
- Oconee County Schools: August 3
- Oglethorpe County Schools: August 8 (names A-L), August 9 (names M-Z)
- Paulding County Schools: August 1
- Pickens County Schools: August 1
- Pike County Schools: August 9
- Polk County Schools: August 2
- Putnam County Schools: August 3
- Rabun County Schools: August 5
- Rockdale County Schools: August 1
- Rome City Schools: July 29
- Thomaston-Upson County Schools: August 2
- Towns County Schools: August 4
- Troup County Schools: August 5
- Union County Schools: August 12
- Walton County Schools: August 2
- White County Schools: August 5 | 2022-07-16T20:50:02+00:00 | 11alive.com | https://www.11alive.com/article/news/education/first-day-of-school-list-metro-atlanta-districts/85-b7fb598d-e034-453f-a491-59e003a90cd8 |
HONG KONG, Sept. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institute of ESG & Benchmark (IESGB) held the inaugural awards ceremony of the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Achievement Awards 2021/2022 in Hong Kong on 30 August. Fosun International was awarded the "ESG Benchmark Awards – The ESG Leader" Silver Award in recognition of its efforts and outstanding performances in the environmental protection, social responsibility, and corporate governance aspects.
With strong support of HSIL as the Major Sponsor, the Awards are in recognition of the enterprises with outstanding ESG performance
The ESG Achievement Awards is organized by the Institute of ESG & Benchmark (IESGB), a non-profit taking organization, with the strong support of Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited (HSIL) as the Major Sponsor. With the theme "Pursuit of the ESG E.R.A-Evolution, Resilience, Action", this year, the ESG Achievement Awards aims at highlighting excellence among high-achieving companies who are blazing a trail for others to follow in the realm of ESG development and to provide innovative ESG solutions for companies and societies at large to take inspirations from when developing their own ESG action plans.
With Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited (HSIL) being the Major Sponsor and Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) as the ESG Data Provider cum Supporting Organization, the jury panel was able to evaluate participating organizations comprehensively and fairly.
Mr Joseph Chan Ho-lim, JP, Under Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury, The Government of Hong Kong SAR, joined the award presentation ceremony as a guest of honor. Mr Joseph Chan Ho-lim, JP, states, "Hong Kong's status as Asia's leading international financial centre, ranked 3rd in the world and 1st in Asia under the Global Financial Centres Index, has well-positioned the city to be the green and sustainable finance hub, raising green and sustainable capital and products in the region. The volume of green and sustainable bonds in Hong Kong last year accounts for one-third of the Asian green and sustainable bond market. And we will continue to work closely with the industry and stakeholders to embrace ESG."
"It is delighted to see more organisations investing in ESG development and continuing to improve their contributions to the sustainable development of the planet. The Awards are recognized to all the winners for their strong determination. We believe that the ESG performance of an organisation is closely related to its profitability. Organisations with good ESG performance are usually more competitive compared with similar organisations in the industry. " said Mr Paul Pong, Co-Founder of IESGB.
Fosun's ESG has been recognized by global professional institutions
Fosun's outstanding performance in ESG has been recognized by global professional institutions. Fosun International's MSCI ESG rating was AA, making it the only conglomerate in Greater China with a MSCI ESG rating of AA, besides, being selected as a constituent of the MSCI CHINA ESG LEADERS 10-40 Index; its Hang Seng Sustainability Rating was A, and it was selected as a constituent of the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Benchmark Index (HSSUSB) and Hang Seng ESG 50 Index. Fosun International's FTSE Russell ESG rating has improved for two consecutive years, and it became a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index Series for the first time.
While developing its businesses, Fosun emphasizes the use of ESG criteria to assess its own sustainable development capability and level. As a participant of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), Fosun has been actively engaging its member companies in the implementation of ESG strategies. On the environmental front, Fosun has made a commitment to the society to "achieve carbon emission peak by 2028 and carbon neutrality by 2050", and is making steady progress towards these targets.
Moreover, Fosun continued to make unremitting efforts on social welfare. The Group and its member companies carried out public welfare projects such as supporting the combat against the pandemic, assisting in the fight against malaria in Africa, disaster relief, Rural Doctors program, fostering education, culture promotion, and entrepreneurial support to actively promote community development and help people's livelihood and improve social well-being.
Looking globally, since the COVD-19 outbroke in early 2020, Fosun has immediately initiated the global deployment of medical supplies to provide strong support for China and overseas to fight against the pandemic. In addition to the urgent deployment of protective materials to assist countries and regions affected by the pandemic, Fosun also partnered with BioNTech, a German biotechnology company, to jointly develop the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (COMIRNATY®), providing a strong support for defeating the pandemic. In addition, Fosun has participated in the joint construction of a "malaria-free world" for more than 15 years. Among the first Chinese pharmaceutical brands well recognized in Africa, Artesun® (artesunate for injection), self-developed and manufactured by Fosun Pharma, has been used to treat over 48 million severe malaria patients worldwide by the end of 2021.
This year, Fosun enters into the 30 years of establishment. Fosun has been dedicated itself with the values of "Self-improvement, Teamwork, Performance, and Contribution to Society" raised when Fosun established 30 years ago. It has developed into a global innovation-driven consumer group, strengthening its presence in four business segments, namely Health, Happiness, Wealth and Intelligent Manufacturing and is committed to creating happier lives for families worldwide. Looking ahead, with the concept of "Sharing Happiness", Fosun will join hands with customers, partners, investors and all parties in the society to create a happy ecosystem and share happiness and value of Fosun.
About Fosun
Founded in 1992, Fosun is a global innovation-driven consumer group dedicated to providing high-quality products and services for families around the world in Health, Happiness, Wealth, and Intelligent Manufacturing segments. In 2007, Fosun International Limited was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (stock code: 00656.HK). As of 30 June 2022, Fosun International's total assets amounted to RMB849.7 billion. Fosun International ranks No.589 on the 2022 Forbes Global 2000 List, with a MSCI ESG rating of AA.
View original content:
SOURCE Fosun | 2022-09-06T05:20:33+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2022/09/06/fosun-international-has-been-awarded-esg-benchmark-awards-esg-leader-award/ |
Dear Amy: Recently my partner and I got engaged. (We’re both women.)
My parents won’t attend our wedding for religious reasons.
If it was just us paying for the wedding, we’d be going to city hall and a bar afterward with friends. (I am a full-time grad student.)
My partner’s parents are willing to foot the bill. They’ve been supportive of our relationship and my career, treat me like family, and are financially able.
I’m wondering who I can/should invite?
I have a large out-of-town family who, unlike my parents, are supportive.
I’m self-conscious about putting people on my in-laws’ tab, while my parents are not participating.
I want to express gratitude for their generosity, but expressing any preferences in planning feels bratty.
I know I’m running the risk of looking disinterested or ungrateful.
I’d rather avoid it all, but don’t want my partner or her family to suffer from my parents’ absence and their refusal to contribute.
Can you offer some direction?
— Bewildered Bride
Dear Bewildered: I advocate for couples to finance their own weddings. This involves both parties fully participating to raise the money for their wedding and reception.
Couples sometimes do this by going to family members.
In “traditional” weddings, the bride’s parents are expected to pay for the wedding reception, and so you could see this offer as hewing to a traditional practice.
They understand that this is a wedding involving you both.
What’s missing here is your participation in the process. Your embarrassment regarding your parents’ rejection seems to be suppressing your own obligation, which is to take part in the planning.
Communicating about this will be good practice for the rest of your marriage. You should express all of your concerns to your partner, and the two of you should have a fully transparent meeting with her parents. (Would any of your extended family members be able and willing to perhaps host a rehearsal dinner? This is something to discuss.)
It’s important to understand that even if her folks are fully financing the wedding, you and your partner have equal rights to review your guest lists and work together to add to your lists — or winnow them down.
Depending on the budget, you both may be able to invite everyone you want to invite, and I hope you can.
Dear Amy: My ex-fiancée, “Alyse,” dumped me because I have women friends. There was nothing other than friendship. My interactions with them never affected my time with Alyse, and I was always transparent.
Even so, Alyse made an ultimatum that I drop my women friends, which I refused, and after a while, she ended the relationship.
Part of the problem is Alyse had been seeing a therapist who told her that I “have women friends to feed my ego,” that I “prey on insecure women,” and that I had “an asexual love relationship” with one friend.
Her therapist also discouraged Alyse from going to couples counseling with me when I proposed it.
Other than that issue, our relationship had been amazing.
We don’t talk now, which is partly my fault, because I, regrettably, blew up when she ended things.
However, I miss her like crazy and wonder if I should have given in to her demands, and if there’s any way to reconnect.
Do you have any suggestions?
— Missing Her
Dear Missing: It is hard to imagine a therapist advising against joint counseling, unless with an abuser. “Alyse” may have misrepresented her therapist’s views.
You say that your interactions with women friends never affected your time with Alyse, and yet they did, because these relationships brought forth so much insecurity.
Regardless, she laid down her non-negotiables and then followed through. That’s the whole point of an ultimatum.
I suspect that if you had given in, other underlying and serious issues would have surfaced. I suggest that you move on.
Dear Amy: It is hard to fathom you stated the following in response to a reader regarding tipping:
“I do agree that the whole experience is upside down: restaurant workers are underpaid, and consumers are expected to foot the bill.”
Of course consumers will foot the bill! “Footing the bill” will be either via tips directly to those who serve us or higher restaurant prices if owners are required to pay more to employees.
It may be time for a refresher econ class.
— Reader
Dear Reader: Great point! I should have noted that entrusting a server’s income to consumers instead of employers might be one reason for the staff shortage in restaurants.
(You can email Amy Dickinson at askamy@amydickinson.com or send a letter to Ask Amy, P.O. Box 194, Freeville, NY 13068. You can also follow her on Twitter @askingamy or Facebook.)
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He said: “Russia is a threat for Europe and not only for Europe, but for all of NATO.”
NATO has said it will boost its rapid response force from 40,000 to 300,000 troops for its eastern flank, which includes Poland’s borders with Ukraine and Belarus, a Russian ally.
The summit’s opening work session on Wednesday will focus on how NATO can give more support to Ukraine.
___
— Turkey lifts objections to Sweden, Finland joining NATO ahead of alliance summit
— Biden, NATO to beef up force posture amid Russian aggression
— Macron says Russia can't win in Ukraine
— The AP Interview: Spanish PM says NATO summit to show unity
— OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said NATO members and others will continue to support Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia “for as long as necessary.”
Speaking Wednesday at the start of the NATO summit in Madrid, Scholz said the military alliance “and many, many other nations” agreed that Russia had breached Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty when it attacked on Feb. 24.
“That’s why it’s right that the countries gathering here, and many others, are contributing with financial means, humanitarian aid, but also by providing weapons that Ukraine urgently needs” to defend itself, Scholz said.
“We will continue to do this for as long and as intensively as necessary, so Ukraine can defend itself,” he added.
___
Some 10,000 police are locking down Spain’s capital for the NATO summit.
The gathering of 40 world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden, is taking place behind roadblocks formed by police vans and armored cars.
They are ringing Madrid’s vast IFEMA conference center on the edge of the city, where the talks open Wednesday.
Spain’s National Police have deployed surveillance drones, while the flying of civilian drones is prohibited during the event.
Local authorities have recommended that Madrid residents work from home if possible and avoid further complicating the traffic problems caused by the security apparatus.
___
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the military alliance faces its “biggest challenge” since World War II amid the war in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said at the start of the NATO summit in Madrid on Wednesday that the allies are meeting “in the midst of the most serious security crisis we have faced.”
“This will be a historic and transformative summit,” he told reporters.
Stoltenberg said the alliance is going to agree on deterrence to be able to deploy more combat formations and get more pre-positioned equipment in Eastern Europe by next year.
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy is expected to address the 30 leaders via video link Wednesday, as Russia’s invasion stretches into its fifth month.
The gathering has already seen a breakthrough agreement between Turkey and Finland and Sweden for the Nordic countries to begin their accession process.
The asked to join the alliance after witnessing Russia’s brutal attack on its neighbor Ukraine, but Turkey had some misgivings that were overcome Tuesday.
Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Credit: Paul White
Iceland's Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Iceland's Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Credit: Paul White
Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Philippe Lavigne, left, gestures as he arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Philippe Lavigne, left, gestures as he arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Credit: Paul White
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Credit: Paul White
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Credit: Paul White
Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Credit: Paul White
Poland?s President Andrzej Duda, second left, arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Poland?s President Andrzej Duda, second left, arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Credit: Paul White
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, left, arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, left, arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Credit: Paul White
Spain's King Felipe makes a speech next to U.S. President Joe Biden and and other heads of state and dignitaries during a gala dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday June 28, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (Juanjo Martin/Pool photo via AP)
Credit: Juanjo Martin
Spain's King Felipe makes a speech next to U.S. President Joe Biden and and other heads of state and dignitaries during a gala dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday June 28, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (Juanjo Martin/Pool photo via AP)
Credit: Juanjo Martin
Credit: Juanjo Martin
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Credit: Paul White
Credit: Paul White
France's President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan talk during a bilateral meeting as part of the NATO summit in Madrid, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (Bertrand Guay, Pool via AP)
Credit: Bertrand Guay
France's President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan talk during a bilateral meeting as part of the NATO summit in Madrid, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (Bertrand Guay, Pool via AP)
Credit: Bertrand Guay
Credit: Bertrand Guay
France's President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during a bilateral meeting as part of the NATO summit in Madrid, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (Bertrand Guay, Pool via AP)
Credit: Bertrand Guay
France's President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during a bilateral meeting as part of the NATO summit in Madrid, Wednesday, June 29, 2022. North Atlantic Treaty Organization heads of state will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday through Thursday. (Bertrand Guay, Pool via AP)
Credit: Bertrand Guay
Credit: Bertrand Guay | 2022-06-29T08:46:18+00:00 | springfieldnewssun.com | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/live-updates-nato-leaders-guarded-by-10000-spanish-police/OZIRHJZUNNAHZIZM4PSCAPPYG4/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Democratic governors of California, Washington and Oregon on Friday vowed to protect reproductive rights and help women who travel to the West Coast seeking abortions following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“California, Oregon and Washington are building the West Coast offense to protect patients’ access to reproductive care,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a video statement announcing the states’ plans along with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
The three states issued a joint “multi-state commitment” saying they will work together to defend patients and medical professionals providing reproductive health care.
They also pledged to “protect against judicial and local law enforcement cooperation with out of-state investigations, inquiries, and arrests” regarding abortions performed in their states.
The liberal West Coast states anticipate an influx of people seeking abortions, especially as neighboring conservative states move to outlaw or greatly restrict the procedure.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS:
— The U.S. Supreme Court ends nearly 50 years o f constitutional protection for abortion.
— ‘Heightened alert’: Abortion providers brace for ruling
— Harris discusses abortion laws with state attorneys general
— Some clinics halting abortions while bracing for Roe’s fall
— If Roe falls, some DAs won’t enforce abortion bans
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on abortions: https://apnews.com/hub/abortion
—-
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
NEW YORK – Former President Donald Trump is taking credit for the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned a landmark case making abortion legal throughout the United States nearly 50 years ago.
In a statement, Trump called the ruling “the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation.”
He says the rulings and others “were only made possible because I delivered everything as promised, including nominating and getting three highly respected and strong Constitutionalists confirmed to the United States Supreme Court. It was my great honor to do so!”
The Supreme Court on Friday issued the stunning decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to abortion. Three of the justices voting in favor were Trump appointees: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden says people should be peaceful when protesting the Supreme Court opinion Friday that would allow states to ban abortion.
Biden says he knows many Americans are “frustrated and disillusioned” by the court decision. But he says that objections to the ruling should remain peaceful.
Biden said: “Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form, regardless of your rationale.”
Earlier this month, after a draft of the court opinion was leaked, a man carrying a gun, a knife and zip ties was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house in Maryland after threatening to kill the justice.
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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden is warning that Supreme Court opinion that overturns access to abortion could undermine contraception and gay marriage rights.
The president objects to a concurring opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, who explicitly called on his colleagues to put the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage, gay sex and even contraception cases on the table.
Biden says, “This is an extreme and dangerous path the court is now taking us on.”
Thomas was part of the majority overturning Roe v Wade.
Biden says, “My administration will remain vigilant as the implications of this decision play out. I’ve warned about how this decision risks the broader right to privacy for everyone. That’s because Roe recognized the fundamental right to privacy that has served as a basis for so many more rights that we have come to take for granted.”
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SANTA FE, N.M. – A top public prosecutor in New Mexico, where abortion is available with little or no restriction, is urging lawmakers to approve legislation that would protect women who travel to the state for abortion procedures.
Albuquerque-based District Attorney and Democratic nominee for attorney general Raúl Torrez in a statement Friday urged lawmakers to take further steps to protect women and their access to abortions and reproductive health care, including visitors from other states.
Last year, New Mexico state lawmakers repealed a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures. Democrats who control the New Mexico Legislature support access to abortion, as does the state’s Democratic governor.
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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden says he will do everything in his power to defend a woman’s right to have an abortion in states where it will be banned.
His pledge follows a stunning U.S. Supreme Court decision announced Friday that overturns Roe v. Wade and ends nearly 50 years of constitutionally protected abortion. The ruling is expected to result in abortion bans in about half of the states.
Biden decried the “extreme” court’s ruling, saying politicians should not be allowed to interfere with a decision that should be made between a woman and her doctor.
He called the decision “wrong, extreme and out of touch.”
He pleaded with abortion supporters to keep protests peaceful. He also urged Congress to act and voters to go to the polls to make their displeasure over the end of Roe v. Wade known.
Biden said: “You can have the final word. This is not over.”
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CHARLESTON, W. Va. – The only abortion clinic in West Virginia is no longer performing abortions as of Friday.
Katie Quinonez, executive director of Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, said the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling issued Friday that allows states to ban abortion is making an immediate, hard-felt impact.
The state has an abortion ban law on the books that makes providing abortions a felony carrying three to 10 years of prison time. It’s unclear how the state will proceed on enforcement.
“Roe has never been enough, but in states like West Virginia, it was the only thing protecting abortion access,” she said.
She says West Virginians will be forced to travel hundreds or thousands of miles away from home to access health care and that marginalized communities will be hurt the most.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Republican Gov. Jim Justice applauded the high court’s decision Friday. Justice said he “will not hesitate” to call the Legislature into a special session if the state abortion law needs to be clarified.
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WASHINGTON – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department will work to protect and advance reproductive freedom.”
He made the statement Friday, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion constitutionally legal. The high court’s ruling means states will be able to ban abortion, and about half are expected to do so.
Merrick said in a statement that the agency would protect providers and those seeking abortions in states where it is legal. He also said he would stand by the approved use by the Food and Drug Administration of the drug Mifepristone for medication abortions.
More than 90% of abortions take place in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, and more than half are now done with pills, not surgery, according to data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
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Former President Donald Trump praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overruling a woman’s right to an abortion. He said in an interview with Fox News that the decision “will work out for everybody.”
The Supreme Court on Friday voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to abortion. Three of the justices voting in favor were Trump appointees: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
“This is following the Constitution, and giving rights back when they should have been given long ago,” Trump said, according to the channel. “I think, in the end, this is something that will work out for everybody.”
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BOSTON — Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion that he said is intended to protect access to reproductive health care services in Massachusetts.
The order prohibits state agencies from assisting another state’s investigation into a person or business for receiving or delivering reproductive health services that are legal in Massachusetts. Friday’s outcome is expected to lead to abortion bans in about half the states.
The order also protects Massachusetts providers who deliver reproductive health care services from losing their professional licenses or receiving other professional discipline based on potential out-of-state charges.
Under the executive order, the state will not cooperate with extradition requests from other states pursuing criminal charges against individuals who received, assisted with, or performed reproductive health services that are legal in Massachusetts.
“In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe v Wade, it is especially important to ensure that Massachusetts providers can continue to provide reproductive health care services without concern that the laws of other states may be used to interfere with those services or sanction them for providing services that are lawful in the Commonwealth,” Baker said in a written statement.
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WASHINGTON – Police in the nation’s capital are bringing in additional officers and mobilizing in anticipation of growing protests outside the U.S. Supreme Court. The court issued a highly charged decision that ends constitutionally protection to abortion nearly 50 years after Roe v. Wade made abortion legal.
U.S. Capitol Police says it has been working closely with other law enforcement agencies in order to prepare for demonstrations. A law enforcement official says the department is mobilizing its civil disturbance unit and also bringing on additional officers Friday.
The official could not publicly discuss details of the internal security procedures and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Hundreds of people had already descended outside the court after the ruling was handed down on Friday.
— Mike Balsamo reported from New York City.
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RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is an abortion rights supporter and this year’s chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. He said Friday, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that sharply limits abortion, that North Carolina women will still be able to obtain reproductive health care in the state.
“For 50 years, women have relied on their constitutional right to make their own medical decisions, but today that right has been tragically ripped away,” Cooper said in a news release.
The North Carolina legislature is controlled by Republicans, but they lack veto-proof majorities should they attempt to pass additional abortion restrictions now. Cooper put out a fundraising appeal Friday citing the decision in urging assistance to prevent the GOP from obtaining veto-proof majorities in November.
All 170 legislative seats are on the fall ballot. Cooper urged donors to contribute to campaigns to help elect Democrats.
“Democratic governors are the last line of defense against these types of extreme bills,” he said in a separate fundraising email. “What it comes down to is this: Reproductive rights are fundamental, and we will not go back.”
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who in 2019 signed into law a near total ban on abortion, said the state will ask a judge to lift an injunction and clear the way for the state to enforce the ban.
At the time, the Alabama law was the nation’s most stringent abortion ban, making it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exemption for pregnancies caused by rape and incest.
“Today is a giant step forward for our country as, after decades, Roe is finally overturned. Folks, after almost 50 years of standing up for unborn babies, our prayers have been answered,” Ivey said in a statement, adding “now that Roe is overturned, the state will immediately ask the court to strike down any legal barriers to enforcing this law.”
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The state of Missouri is acting quickly to enforce a state law banning abortion in the wake of a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limits abortion rights for millions of women.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said he was acting immediately to enforce a state law banning abortion except in “cases of medical emergency”
The 2019 Missouri law included a trigger provision making effective upon notification by the attorney general that the U.S. Supreme Court had overruled Roe v. Wade in whole or in part. The court issued a ruling Friday that ended nearly 50 years of constitutional protection for abortion.
“With this attorney general opinion, my office has effectively ended abortion in Missouri, ” said Schmitt, a Republican who also is running for U.S. Senate.
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Former President Barack Obama has condemned the U.S. Supreme Court ending constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years.
Obama said on Twitter that the decision is tantamount to an attack on freedoms for millions of Americans. The court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday. The decision is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states.
Three of the court’s liberal justices wrote in a joint dissent that the decision would bring “sorrow” for the many millions of American women who will be losing a “fundamental constitutional protection.”
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WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years.
The decision by its conservative majority to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states. The ruling came more than a month after the stunning leak of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was prepared to take this momentous step.
Three of the court’s liberal justices wrote in a joint dissent that the decision would bring “sorrow” for the many millions of American women who will be losing a “fundamental constitutional protection.” | 2022-06-25T10:48:41+00:00 | localsyr.com | https://www.localsyr.com/news/national/live-updates-supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is putting pressure on Mexico over energy policies that Washington says unfairly favor Mexico’s state-owned electricity and oil companies over American competitors and clean-energy suppliers.
The U.S. is demanding talks to resolve the dispute, starting a process Wednesday that could end in trade sanctions against Mexico.
“We have repeatedly expressed serious concerns about a series of changes in Mexico’s energy policies and their consistency with Mexico’s commitments,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in a statement. She said “U.S. companies continue to face unfair treatment in Mexico.”
Mexico acknowledged Wednesday it had received a similar request for consultations from Canada. Mexico’s Economy Department said because the Canadian request “has certain elements in common” with the U.S. request, Mexico “will seek to maintain a coordinated process with both trading partners.”
Among the specific issues in dispute is an amendment to Mexican law last year that the United States says gives an unfair edge to electricity produced by Mexico’s state-owned utility Federal Electricity Commission over energy from private companies and over cleaner sources such as wind and solar.
The United States also protests a 2019 regulation that gives only state oil and gas company Petroleos Mexicanos extra time to comply with tougher environmental standards limiting the sulfur allowed in automotive diesel fuel.
The U.S. also accused Mexico of delaying, rejecting or failing to act on private companies’ applications for permits to operate in the energy business and of revoking or suspending existing permits.
“Mexico’s policies have largely cut off U.S. and other investment in the country’s clean energy infrastructure, including significant steps to roll back reforms Mexico previously made to meet its climate goals under the Paris Agreement,” Tai’s office said in a statement.
The Mexican government tried to downplay the controversy, presenting it as an ordinary process between countries.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday relations with the U.S. government were good and that the dispute was driven by Mexican companies opposed to his administration and who lobby on the issue.
If the two countries cannot reach an agreement after 75 days of talks, the U.S. can request intervention by a dispute resolution panel under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA, that could result in sanctions against Mexico if the United States prevails. The pact, negotiated by President Donald Trump, replaced the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.
“The government of Mexico expresses its willingness to reach a mutually satisfactory solution during the consultation phase,” the Economy Ministry said in a statement.
That ministry, which will lead the negotiations, pointed out that this is the fourth time this mechanism has been used since the free-trade agreement went into effect two years ago. It was first employed by the U.S. against Canada over milk quotas, then by Canada against the U.S. over tariffs on Canadian solar panels. Mexico and Canada used it to challenge the U.S. interpretation of a provision about where auto parts have to originate to qualify for duty-free status under the deal.
López Obrador said there was “no complaint” on the subject during his meeting with U.S. and Mexican businessmen in Washington earlier this month and that he told Biden that Mexico is investing in the update of hydroelectric plants and will create new solar plants in the northern border.
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Verza reported from Mexico City. | 2022-07-21T04:54:25+00:00 | kdvr.com | https://kdvr.com/news/money/us-demands-talks-on-mexican-energy-policies-it-calls-unfair/ |
TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly fell Thursday, echoing the drop on Wall Street, as worries about the U.S. banking sector and inflationary pressures weighed on investor sentiment.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 declined 0.2% in morning trading to 28,349.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 7,288.70. South Korea’s Kospi rose nearly 0.1% to 2,486.90. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.1% to 19,730.31, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.3% to 3,274.59.
“Asian equities were lower on Thursday as turmoil in the banking sector looms large,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a markets commentary.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 dropped 0.4% to 4,055.99. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%, to 33,301.87, while the Nasdaq composite led the market with a gain 0.5%, to 11,854.35.
Wall Street was coming off its worst day in a month, hurt by concerns about the strength of U.S. banks. The spotlight has been harshest on First Republic Bank, which lost another 29.8% after nearly halving the day before. That’s when it gave details about how many customers bolted amid last month’s turmoil in the industry.
The worry is that it and other smaller and mid-sized banks could suffer debilitating runs of deposits from customers, similar to the ones that caused last month’s failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Even without more shutdowns, the industry’s struggles could cause a pullback in lending by banks that saps the economy.
Activision Blizzard, meanwhile, tumbled 11.4% after U.K. regulators blocked its takeover by Microsoft on concerns it would hurt competition in the cloud gaming market.
BIG TECH BLOOMS
While the majority of stocks fell, gains for Microsoft and other Big Tech companies prevented a sharper slide for the market.
Microsoft rose 7.2% after reporting stronger profit for the first three months of the year than analysts expected. It carries a huge weight on the S&P 500 as the second-largest stock in the index.
Tech stocks have been some of the year’s best performers so far as they’ve laid off workers and made other cost cuts to improve their profitability. Hopes the Federal Reserve will back away from its barrage of interest rate hikes have helped.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, turned a bigger profit than expected but its stock slipped 0.2% after reporting its first back-to-back drops in advertising revenue from a year earlier since it became a publicly traded company in 2004.
More Big Tech companies are scheduled to follow with their own reports soon. Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms, rose 0.9% ahead of its report. It jumped in afterhours trading after it said it earned more than expected.
WHY CHIPOTLE IS HIGHER
Chipotle Mexican Grill rose 12.9% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after reporting stronger profit than expected. It was one of a few companies that raised hopes vital consumer spending could remain resilient despite a slowing economy.
Mark Haefele, UBS Global Wealth Management’s chief investment officer, expects stocks to stay stuck in a range since they look relatively expensive and investors are worried about a possible recession. That means “the scope for upside appears limited, in our view,” he said.
Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, sees the S&P 500 largely remaining within a range of 3,700 to 4,200 this year. It’s within the top half of that range, and he said he’s not looking to “chase this equity rally.”
THE FED AND RATES
All banks are contending with much higher interest rates, which have flown higher over the past year to tighten the screws on the economy and financial markets.
The Federal Reserve’s key overnight interest rate is at its highest level since 2007. High rates slow the entire economy and hurt prices for investments.
Apart from cracks in the banking system, high rates have slowed the housing, manufacturing and other industries. The job market, meanwhile, remains relatively solid.
A report on Wednesday showed orders for long-lasting manufactured goods were stronger in March than expected.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.43% from 3.40% late Tuesday. It helps set rates for mortgages and other loans. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, fell to 3.92% from 3.95% late Tuesday.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude added 13 cents to $74.43 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 24 cents to $77.93 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 133.59 Japanese yen from 133.66 yen. The euro cost $1.1047, up from $1.1042.
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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed from New York. | 2023-04-27T04:41:32+00:00 | upmatters.com | https://www.upmatters.com/news/business/ap-business/stock-market-today-asian-stocks-dip-on-economy-worries/ |
EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — The busiest month for illegal border crossings will be followed by the slowest in years, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
According to a news release issued by the Department of Homeland Security, encounters of Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan migrants attempting to cross the border illegally have decreased drastically since Biden on Jan. 5 announced an expanded parole program for people from those countries.
That will put the month of January 2023 on track to see the lowest levels of border encounters since February 2021, DHS said.
Just last month, a surge in Cuban and Nicaraguan arrivals at the U.S. border with Mexico led to the highest number of illegal border crossings recorded during any month of Joe Biden’s presidency.
U.S. authorities stopped migrants 251,487 times along the Mexican border in December, up 7% from 234,896 times in November and up 40% from 179,253 times in December 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection data shows.
However, DHS said preliminary numbers from January show that encounters of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans crossing unlawfully between ports of entry declined 97% compared to December. Encounters with individuals from these countries dropped from a seven-day average of 3,367 per day on Dec. 11 to a seven-day average of just 115 on Tuesday.
“These expanded border enforcement measures are working,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “It is incomprehensible that some states who stand to benefit from these highly effective enforcement measures are seeking to block them and cause more irregular migration at our southern border.”
DHS said the decline comes as encounters with other noncitizens return to customary levels after the seasonal drop over the holidays
On Jan. 5, Biden announced the new border enforcement measures to limit illegal immigration that officials say provide safe, lawful and orderly pathways to the United States.
The release said “data continues to show that when there is a lawful and orderly way, people are less inclined to put lives in the hands of smugglers.”
The new border enforcement measures mimic a model previously used for individuals fleeing Venezuela, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. | 2023-01-25T23:46:37+00:00 | wwlp.com | https://www.wwlp.com/border-report-tour/dhs-border-encounters-plummeted-in-january-thanks-to-new-parole-program/ |
Country
United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary
People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe | 2023-05-28T05:55:25+00:00 | santafenewmexican.com | https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/new-comics-offering-in-the-new-mexican/article_44a5005c-fc19-11ed-b4d5-df994746f200.html |
(All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated)
TORONTO, May 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - New Gold Inc. ("New Gold" or the "Company") (TSX: NGD) (NYSE: NGD) reports first quarter results for the Company as of March 31, 2022. The Company will host a conference call and webcast today at 8:30 am Eastern Time to discuss the first quarter consolidated results (details are provided at the end of this news release). For detailed information, please refer to the Company's First Quarter Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) and Financial Statements that are available on the Company's website at www.newgold.com and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company uses certain non-GAAP financial performance measures throughout this news release. Please refer to the "Non-GAAP Financial Performance Measures" section of this news release and the MD&A for more information. Numbered note references throughout this news release are to endnotes which can be found at the end of this news release.
- Gold equivalent1 ("gold eq.") production of 87,696 ounces (68,101 ounces of gold, 8.2 million pounds of copper and 109,511 ounces of silver)
- Operating expenses of $1,029 per gold eq. ounce
- All-in sustaining costs2 of $1,778 per gold eq. ounce, including total cash costs2 of $1,069 per gold eq. ounce
- Average realized gold price2 of $1,897 per ounce and average realized copper price2 of $4.53 per pound
- Cash generated from operations of $68 million, or $0.10 per share
- Cash generated from operations, before changes in non-cash operating working capital2 of $66 million, or $0.10 per share
- Net loss of $8 million, or ($0.01) per share
- Adjusted net earnings2 of $10 million, or $0.02 per share
- March 31, 2022 cash and cash equivalents of $432 million
"The first quarter saw New Gold continue to advance our objectives with a focus on delivering on our 2022 plan and securing and extending the Company's longer-term future," stated Renaud Adams, President & CEO. "We delivered solid total gold production at Rainy River, despite an increase in COVID-19 cases and during a quarter in which capitalized waste stripping was prioritized. While we faced the inflationary challenges experienced across the industry, our teams remained disciplined with their objectives and with the benefit of a weaker Canadian dollar, delivered strong operating cash flow in the first quarter. We currently expect to deliver on our 2022 guidance, and our operations continue to review optimization opportunities and assess cost reduction initiatives to mitigate against inflationary pressures. We also continued to advance our longer-term priorities, including advancing the development of the Intrepid underground zone at Rainy River and the B3 ramp-up and C-Zone development at New Afton."
"Additionally, we continue to transform the future of the Company, both operationally and financially. During the first quarter, our team delivered an updated Rainy River Technical Report, extending Rainy River's mine life to 2031, which is another positive milestone for future production, and something we will continue to build on. We added an experienced Chief Operating Officer which will be invaluable to the Company as we continue to advance multiple projects at both sites. We also announced our intention to redeem the remaining $100 million aggregate principal amount of our outstanding 2025 senior notes in mid-May, further improving our financial flexibility during this period of optimization for our Company," added Mr. Adams.
Consolidated Financial Highlights
- Revenues increased over the prior-year period due to higher gold and copper prices and higher gold sales volume, partially offset by lower copper sales volume.
- Operating expenses were consistent with the prior-year period.
- Net loss for the quarter compared to net earnings in the prior-year period primarily due to an unrealized loss on the revaluation of the gold stream obligation derivative resulting from the updated Technical Report for Rainy River.
- Adjusted net earnings2 increased over the prior-year period due to higher revenues, partially offset by higher depreciation and depletion and exploration.
- Operating cash flow increased over the prior-year period due to higher revenues and negative working capital movements in the prior-year period.
Consolidated Operational Highlights
Rainy River Mine
Operational Highlights
Operating Key Performance Indicators
- Open pit tonnes mined per day decreased over the prior-year period due to an increase in COVID-19 cases at site in the first part of the quarter impacting equipment utilization, and cold weather conditions affecting drilling productivity. Approximately 1.8 million ore tonnes and 8.9 million waste tonnes (including 5.7 million capitalized waste tonnes) were mined from the open pit at an average strip ratio of 4.93:1. During the second half of the year, the strip ratio is expected to decrease as the mine is prioritizing capitalized waste during the colder weather months.
- Tonnes milled per calendar day decreased over the prior-year period due to mechanical maintenance on both the SAG mill and crusher, and cold weather conditions impacting stockpile movement.
- Gold eq.1 production was 59,895 ounces (58,834 ounces of gold and 79,621 ounces of silver), an increase over the prior-year period due to higher gold grade and gold recovery, partially offset by lower tonnes processed. Production is expected to strengthen in the second half of the year and represent approximately 55% of the annual production.
- Operating expense per gold eq. ounce decreased over the prior-year period primarily due to higher sales volume.
- All-in sustaining costs2 per gold eq. ounce slightly increased over the prior-year period due to higher sustaining capital spend, partially offset by higher sales volume.
- Total capital and leases increased over the prior-year period due to higher sustaining and growth capital. Sustaining capital primarily related to $20 million of capitalized waste, as well as capital maintenance, and the advancement of the annual tailings dam raise. Growth capital2 primarily related to the development of the Intrepid underground zone, which advanced 512 metres.
- Free cash flow2 for the quarter was $15 million, an increase over the prior-year period due to an increase in cash generated from operations, partially offset by higher capital spend.
New Afton Mine
Operational Highlights
Operating Key Performance Indicators
- Underground tonnes mined per day decreased over the prior-year period due to the planned completion of Lift 1 mining activities, with the exception of the recovery level, and the continued ramp-up of the B3 zone.
- Tonnes milled per calendar day decreased over the prior-year period and is currently incorporating lower grade surface stockpiles to supplement the overall lower tonnes mined.
- Gold eq.1 production was 27,800 ounces (9,267 ounces of gold and 8.2 million pounds of copper), a decrease over the prior-year period due to lower tonnes processed and lower copper grade.
- Operating expense per gold eq. ounce increased over the prior-year period, primarily due to lower sales volume.
- All-in sustaining costs2 per gold eq. ounce increased over the prior-year period due to higher sustaining capital spend and lower sales volume.
- Total capital and leases increased over the prior-year period, primarily due to higher sustaining capital spend. Sustaining capital primarily related to B3 mine development and tailings management and stabilization activities. Growth capital2 primarily related to C-Zone development, which advanced 931 metres in the quarter.
- Free cash flow2 for the quarter was a net outflow of $33 million, a decrease over the prior-year period due to lower revenue, planned higher capital spend, and an increase in the free cash flow interest payment.
First Quarter 2022 Conference Call and Webcast
The Company will host a webcast and conference call today at 8:30 am Eastern Time to discuss the Company's first quarter consolidated results.
- Participants may listen to the webcast by registering on our website at www.newgold.com or via the following link https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1536194&tp_key=0e2e702de9
- Participants may also listen to the conference call by calling North American toll free 1-888-664-6383, or 1-416-764-8650 outside of the U.S. and Canada, passcode 93425158
- A recorded playback of the conference call will be available until June 2, 2022 by calling North American toll free 1-888-390-0541, or 1-416-764-8677 outside of the U.S. and Canada, passcode 425158. An archived webcast will also be available at www.newgold.com.
About New Gold
New Gold is a Canadian-focused intermediate mining company with a portfolio of two core producing assets in Canada, the Rainy River gold mine and the New Afton copper-gold mine. The Company also holds a 5% equity stake in Artemis Gold Inc., and other Canadian-focused investments. New Gold's vision is to build a leading diversified intermediate gold company based in Canada that is committed to the environment and social responsibility. For further information on the Company, visit www.newgold.com.
Total Cash Costs per Gold eq. Ounce
"Total cash costs per gold equivalent ounce" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that is a common financial performance measure in the gold mining industry but does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold reports total cash costs on a sales basis and not on a production basis. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, this measure, along with sales, is a key indicator of the Company's ability to generate operating earnings and cash flow from its mining operations. This measure allows investors to better evaluate corporate performance and the Company's ability to generate liquidity through operating cash flow to fund future capital exploration and working capital needs.
This measure is intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. This measure is not necessarily indicative of cash generated from operations under IFRS or operating costs presented under IFRS.
Total cash cost figures are calculated in accordance with a standard developed by The Gold Institute, a worldwide association of suppliers of gold and gold products that ceased operations in 2002. Adoption of the standard is voluntary and the cost measures presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Total cash costs include mine site operating costs such as mining, processing and administration costs, royalties, and production taxes, but are exclusive of amortization, reclamation, capital and exploration costs. Total cash costs are then divided by gold equivalent ounces sold to arrive at the total cash costs per equivalent ounce sold.
In addition to gold, the Company produces copper and silver. Gold equivalent ounces of copper and silver produced or sold in a quarter are computed using a consistent ratio of copper and silver prices to the gold price and multiplying this ratio by the pounds of copper and silver ounces produced or sold during that quarter.
Notwithstanding the impact of copper and silver sales, as the Company is focused on gold production, New Gold aims to assess the economic results of its operations in relation to gold, which is the primary driver of New Gold's business. New Gold believes this metric is of interest to its investors, who invest in the Company primarily as a gold mining business. To determine the relevant costs associated with gold equivalent ounces, New Gold believes it is appropriate to reflect all operating costs incurred in its operations.
All-In Sustaining Costs per Gold eq. Ounce
"All-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold calculates "all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" based on guidance announced by the World Gold Council ("WGC") in September 2013. The WGC is a non-profit association of the world's leading gold mining companies established in 1987 to promote the use of gold to industry, consumers and investors. The WGC is not a regulatory body and does not have the authority to develop accounting standards or disclosure requirements. The WGC has worked with its member companies to develop a measure that expands on IFRS measures to provide visibility into the economics of a gold mining company. Current IFRS measures used in the gold industry, such as operating expenses, do not capture all of the expenditures incurred to discover, develop and sustain gold production. New Gold believes that "all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" provides further transparency into costs associated with producing gold and will assist analysts, investors, and other stakeholders of the Company in assessing its operating performance, its ability to generate free cash flow from current operations and its overall value. In addition, the Human Resources and Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors uses "all-in sustaining costs", together with other measures, in its Company scorecard to set incentive compensation goals and assess performance.
"All-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" is intended to provide additional information only and does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other mining companies. It should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The measure is not necessarily indicative of cash flow from operations under IFRS or operating costs presented under IFRS.
New Gold defines "all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" as the sum of total cash costs, net of capital expenditures that are sustaining in nature, corporate general and administrative costs, capitalized and expensed exploration that is sustaining in nature, lease payments that are sustaining in nature, and environmental reclamation costs, all divided by the total gold equivalent ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce figure. The "Sustaining Capital Expenditure Reconciliation" table below reconciles New Gold's sustaining capital to its cash flow statement. The definition of sustaining versus non-sustaining is similarly applied to capitalized and expensed exploration costs and lease payments. Exploration costs and lease payments to develop new operations or that relate to major projects at existing operations where these projects are expected to materially increase production are classified as non-sustaining and are excluded. Gold equivalent ounces of copper and silver produced or sold in a quarter are computed using a consistent ratio of copper and silver prices to the gold price and multiplying this ratio by the pounds of copper and silver ounces produced or sold during that quarter.
Costs excluded from all-in sustaining costs are non-sustaining capital expenditures, non-sustaining lease payments and exploration costs, financing costs, tax expense, and transaction costs associated with mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and any items that are deducted for the purposes of adjusted earnings.
Sustaining Capital and Sustaining Leases
"Sustaining capital" and "sustaining lease" are non-GAAP financial performance measures that do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold defines "sustaining capital" as net capital expenditures that are intended to maintain operation of its gold producing assets. Similarly, a "sustaining lease" is a lease payment that is sustaining in nature. To determine "sustaining capital" expenditures, New Gold uses cash flow related to mining interests from its consolidated statement of cash flows and deducts any expenditures that are capital expenditures to develop new operations or capital expenditures related to major projects at existing operations where these projects will materially increase production. Management uses "sustaining capital" and "sustaining lease", to understand the aggregate net result of the drivers of all-in sustaining costs other than total cash costs. These measures are intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.
Growth Capital
"Growth capital" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold considers non-sustaining capital costs to be "growth capital", which are capital expenditures to develop new operations or capital expenditures related to major projects at existing operations where these projects will materially increase production. To determine "growth capital" expenditures, New Gold uses cash flow related to mining interests from its consolidated statement of cash flows and deducts any expenditures that are capital expenditures that are intended to maintain operation of its gold producing assets. Management uses "growth capital" to understand the cost to develop new operations or related to major projects at existing operations where these projects will materially increase production. This measure is intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.
The following tables reconcile the above non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable IFRS measure on an aggregate basis.
Consolidated OPEX, Cash Cost and All-in Sustaining Costs Reconciliation
Sustaining Capital Expenditures Reconciliation Table
Adjusted Net Earnings/(Loss) and Adjusted Net Earnings per Share
"Adjusted net earnings" and "adjusted net earnings per share" are non-GAAP financial performance measures that do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. "Adjusted net earnings" and "adjusted net earnings per share" exclude "other gains and losses" as per Note 3 of the Company's consolidated financial statements; and loss on redemption of long-term debt. Net earnings have been adjusted, including the associated tax impact, for the group of costs in "Other gains and losses" on the condensed consolidated income statements. Key entries in this grouping are: the fair value changes for the gold stream obligation, fair value changes for the free cash flow interest obligation, fair value changes for copper price option contracts, foreign exchange gains/loss and fair value changes in investments. The income tax adjustments reflect the tax impact of the above adjustments and is referred to as "adjusted tax expense".
The Company uses "adjusted net earnings" for its own internal purposes. Management's internal budgets and forecasts and public guidance do not reflect the items which have been excluded from the determination of "adjusted net earnings". Consequently, the presentation of "adjusted net earnings" enables investors to better understand the underlying operating performance of the Company's core mining business through the eyes of management. Management periodically evaluates the components of "adjusted net earnings" based on an internal assessment of performance measures that are useful for evaluating the operating performance of New Gold's business and a review of the non-GAAP financial performance measures used by mining industry analysts and other mining companies. "Adjusted net earnings" and "adjusted net earnings per share" are intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures are not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flows from operations as determined under IFRS. The following table reconciles these non-GAAP financial performance measures to the most directly comparable IFRS measure.
Cash Generated from Operations, before Changes in Non-Cash Operating Working Capital
"Cash generated from operations, before changes in non-cash operating working capital" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Other companies may calculate this measure differently and this measure is unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. "Cash generated from operations, before changes in non-cash operating working capital" excludes changes in non-cash operating working capital. New Gold believes this non-GAAP financial measure provides further transparency and assists analysts, investors and other stakeholders of the Company in assessing the Company's ability to generate cash from its operations before temporary working capital changes.
Cash generated from operations, before non-cash changes in working capital is intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. This measure is not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flows from operations as determined under IFRS. The following table reconciles this non-GAAP financial performance measure to the most directly comparable IFRS measure.
Free Cash Flow
"Free cash flow" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold defines "free cash flow" as cash generated from operations and proceeds of sale of other assets less capital expenditures on mining interests, lease payments, settlement of non-current derivative financial liabilities which include the gold stream obligation and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan free cash flow interest. New Gold believes this non-GAAP financial performance measure provides further transparency and assists analysts, investors and other stakeholders of the Company in assessing the Company's ability to generate cash flow from current operations. "Free cash flow" is intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. This measure is not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flows from operations as determined under IFRS. The following tables reconcile this non-GAAP financial performance measure to the most directly comparable IFRS measure on an aggregate and mine-by-mine basis.
Average Realized Price
"Average realized price per ounce of gold sold" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Other companies may calculate this measure differently and this measure is unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Management uses this measure to better understand the price realized in each reporting period for gold sales. "Average realized price per ounce of gold sold" is intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The following tables reconcile this non-GAAP financial performance measure to the most directly comparable IFRS measure on an aggregate and mine-by-mine basis.
For additional information with respect to the non-GAAP measures used by the Company, refer to the detailed "Non-GAAP Financial Performance Measure" section disclosure starting on page 33 in the MD&A for the three months and year ended December 31, 2021 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.
Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to New Gold's future financial or operating performance are "forward-looking". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, which address events, results, outcomes or developments that New Gold expects to occur are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "targeted", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "projects", "potential", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation of such terms. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements with respect to: expectations regarding the Company's 2022 guidance; the Company's strategic plans and outlook both operationally and financially for the future; the continued ramp-up of the B3 zone at New Afton; production expectations for the second half of the year; and the anticipated decrease in the strip ratio during the second half of the year.
All forward-looking statements in this news release are based on the opinions and estimates of management that, while considered reasonable as at the date of this press release in light of management's experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, are inherently subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond New Gold's ability to control or predict. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements are discussed in this news release, New Gold's latest annual MD&A, its most recent annual information form and technical reports on the Rainy River Mine and New Afton Mine filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. In addition to, and subject to, such assumptions discussed in more detail elsewhere, the forward-looking statements in this news release are also subject to the following assumptions: (1) there being no significant disruptions affecting New Gold's operations other than as set out herein; (2) political and legal developments in jurisdictions where New Gold operates, or may in the future operate, being consistent with New Gold's current expectations; (3) the accuracy of New Gold's current mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates and the grade of gold, silver and copper expected to be mined and the grade of gold, copper and silver expected to be mined; (4) the exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar, and to a lesser extent, the Mexican Peso, and commodity prices being approximately consistent with current levels and expectations for the purposes of 2022 guidance and otherwise; (5) prices for diesel, natural gas, fuel oil, electricity and other key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels; (6) equipment, labour and materials costs increasing on a basis consistent with New Gold's current expectations; (7) arrangements with First Nations and other Aboriginal groups in respect of the New Afton Mine and Rainy River Mine being consistent with New Gold's current expectations; (8) all required permits, licenses and authorizations being obtained from the relevant governments and other relevant stakeholders within the expected timelines and the absence of material negative comments or obstacles during any applicable regulatory processes; (9) there being no significant disruptions to the Company's workforce at either the Rainy River Mine or New Afton Mine due to cases of COVID-19 (including any required self-isolation requirements due to cross-border travel to the United States or any other country or any other reason) or otherwise; (10) the responses of the relevant governments to the COVID-19 outbreak being sufficient to contain the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak; (11) there being no material disruption to the Company's supply chains and workforce that would interfere with the Company's anticipated course of action at the Rainy River Mine and the New Afton Mine; and (12) the long-term economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak not having a material adverse impact on the Company's operations or liquidity position.
Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation: price volatility in the spot and forward markets for metals and other commodities; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, between actual and estimated costs, between actual and estimated Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources and between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries; equipment malfunction, failure or unavailability; accidents; risks related to early production at the Rainy River Mine, including failure of equipment, machinery, the process circuit or other processes to perform as designed or intended; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining and maintaining the validity and enforceability of the necessary licenses and permits and complying with the permitting requirements of each jurisdiction in which New Gold operates, including, but not limited to: obtaining the necessary permits for the New Afton C-Zone; uncertainties and unanticipated delays associated with obtaining and maintaining necessary licenses, permits and authorizations and complying with permitting requirements, including those associated with the C-Zone permitting process; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; changing costs, timelines and development schedules as it relates to construction; the Company not being able to complete its construction projects at the Rainy River Mine or the New Afton Mine on the anticipated timeline or at all; volatility in the market price of the Company's securities; changes in national and local government legislation in the countries in which New Gold does or may in the future carry on business; controls, regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which New Gold does or may in the future carry on business; the Company's dependence on the Rainy River Mine and New Afton Mine; the Company not being able to complete its exploration drilling programs on the anticipated timeline or at all; disruptions to the Company's workforce at either the Rainy River Mine or the New Afton Mine, or both, due to cases of COVID-19 or any required self-isolation (due to cross-border travel, exposure to a case of COVID-19 or otherwise); the responses of the relevant governments to the COVID-19 outbreak not being sufficient to contain the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak; disruptions to the Company's supply chain and workforce due to the COVID-19 outbreak; an economic recession or downturn as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak that materially adversely affects the Company's operations or liquidity position; there being further shutdowns at the Rainy River Mine or New Afton Mine; significant capital requirements and the availability and management of capital resources; additional funding requirements; diminishing quantities or grades of Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; uncertainties inherent to mining economic studies including the Technical Reports for the Rainy River Mine and New Afton Mine; impairment; unexpected delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of First Nations and other indigenous groups; climate change, environmental risks and hazards and the Company's response thereto; tailings dam and structure failures; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; fluctuations in the international currency markets and in the rates of exchange of the currencies of Canada, the United States and, to a lesser extent, Mexico; global economic and financial conditions and any global or local natural events that may impede the economy or New Gold's ability to carry on business in the normal course; compliance with debt obligations and maintaining sufficient liquidity; taxation; fluctuation in treatment and refining charges; transportation and processing of unrefined products; rising costs or availability of labour, supplies, fuel and equipment; adequate infrastructure; relationships with communities, governments and other stakeholders; geotechnical instability and conditions; labour disputes; the uncertainties inherent in current and future legal challenges to which New Gold is or may become a party; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties; competition; loss of, or inability to attract, key employees; use of derivative products and hedging transactions; counterparty risk and the performance of third party service providers; investment risks and uncertainty relating to the value of equity investments in public companies held by the Company from time to time; the adequacy of internal and disclosure controls; conflicts of interest; the lack of certainty with respect to foreign operations and legal systems, which may not be immune from the influence of political pressure, corruption or other factors that are inconsistent with the rule of law; the successful acquisitions and integration of business arrangements and realizing the intended benefits therefrom; and information systems security threats. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development, construction, operation and mining, including environmental events and hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks) as well as "Risk Factors" included in New Gold's most recent annual information form, MD&A and other disclosure documents filed on and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results and future events could materially differ from those anticipated in such statements. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements. New Gold expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Eric Vinet, Senior Vice President, Operations of New Gold. Mr. Vinet is a Professional Engineer and member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec. He is a "Qualified Person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
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SOURCE New Gold Inc. | 2022-05-02T11:16:46+00:00 | live5news.com | https://www.live5news.com/prnewswire/2022/05/02/new-gold-reports-2022-first-quarter-results/ |
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) said he is “close” to deciding whether to run for the GOP nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
Suarez said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” on Thursday that any candidate who wants to run for the Republican nomination needs to have declared before the first GOP debate in August.
“I’m close to making a decision because, you know, Aug. 20 is the first debate. I think any candidate who wants to run for president needs to be on that stage,” he said.
Suarez said Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel is “doing a tremendous job” of giving a diverse group of candidates an opportunity to be on the stage and creating a competitive primary.
He said he has seen former President Trump and potential GOP candidates like former Vice President Mike Pence and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu speak, adding that they are part of a “very talented bench” from the Republican Party.
Suarez said he is comfortable with being a “retail politician” and talking directly to people. He said he has recently visited New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada — four states that vote early during the primary and caucus season.
Suarez has been considering a run for the presidency for more than a year. He said in 2021 that he was not ruling out a run for the presidency, arguing that the country is “thirsting” for new and younger leadership in the White House.
He said on Thursday that younger leadership matters in regard to a “hyper competitive landscape” in which China is becoming a greater threat and technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing are becoming more prominent.
“I think in terms of the former president, I really believe in generational leadership. And I don’t mean that as a buzz word. I think a lot of candidates are throwing that around as a buzz word,” he said.
“We need public officials that understand these technologies, understand how to take advantage of these opportunities and also how to regulate them for our country’s benefit,” Suarez continued. | 2023-04-20T19:05:51+00:00 | pix11.com | https://pix11.com/hill-politics/miami-mayor-close-to-decision-on-2024-gop-presidential-bid/ |
OXFORD, Miss. (AP)Mississippi on Tuesday introduced new basketball coach Chris Beard, who repeatedly declined to discuss specifics regarding his December domestic violence arrest that led to his eventual firing at Texas.
“Respectfully, Randi (Trew) and I have agreed not to talk about the details of what happened, not only that night, but in the nights we went through during this process,” Beard said. “But what I can tell you is that much of what was reported is not accurate, and that has been proven with the case being dismissed and the charges being dropped, and also Randi’s statement on December 23. I think that statement speaks for itself.”
Beard’s two-year tenure at alma mater Texas ended abruptly in January, though felony domestic charges were ultimately dismissed on Feb. 15. A prosecutor said his office determined that the charge of assault by strangulation/suffocation-family violence could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Texas suspended Beard after his Dec. 12 arrest and fired him three weeks later when Texas officials told Beard’s attorney he was “unfit” to lead the program. Beard was arrested when his fiancée, Randi Trew, called 911 and told officers that Beard strangled, bit and hit her during a confrontation in his home.
Trew later said that Beard didn’t choke her, and was defending himself, and that she never intended for Beard to be arrested and prosecuted.
When asked specifically about the injuries documented on a police affidavit from the night of Dec. 12, Beard again declined to get into specifics.
“Again, I am certainly not trying to avoid the question, but Randi and I have agreed not to discuss the details,” Beard said. “There was a timeframe of what was reported and what was proven factual and not factual. Other statements were made and ultimately the charges were dismissed.”
Mississippi announced Beard as its 23rd head basketball coach on Monday. When asked about what went into the vetting Beard, Keith Carter, the school’s Vice Chancellor for Athletics, said he felt comfortable with the hire after a thorough process.
“We spoke with a lot of people to make our decision,” Carter said. “Like we would with any hire of this magnitude, we were extremely thorough in our review of coach Beard. That evaluation included delving into reports that led to his departure from Texas. Those are allegations that we take very seriously. It was important that we gain an understanding of what took place. What we learned is that initial reports were not an accurate reflection of what happened.”
Carter went on to say he had “multi-level conversations with people surrounding that night,” and cited assistance from an outside search firm.
Beard has led three different programs to the NCAA Tournament since 2016, including an appearance in the 2019 championship game and an Elite Eight run the year before at Texas Tech. He is 237-98 as a head coach and 11-5 in the NCAA Tournament.
Beard spent five seasons at Texas Tech, going 112-55 at a program that had endured five losing seasons in the previous six years. The Red Raiders went to their first Elite Eight in his second season and made it to the national championship game in 2019.
Beard led Little Rock to a 30-5 record and a Sun Belt Conference title in his lone season, making the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Ole Miss has a rich and historic athletics legacy, and while there have been tremendous moments, men’s basketball has not always been a big part of that tradition,” Carter said, addressing a crowd gathered in the stands. “Today, that changes. Our student athletes deserve the best coach, and now they’re getting it. Rebel Nation deserves March Madness, and now they’re getting it. This University deserves a championship, and today, we introduce a coach with a track record of success in competing at that level.”
—
AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness and bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 | 2023-03-15T04:48:52+00:00 | krqe.com | https://www.krqe.com/sports/ncaa-mens-basketball/beard-declines-to-discuss-texas-exit-at-ole-miss-intro/ |
BENTONVILLE, Ark., Aug. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Retail SaaS company Movista expands its executive leadership team with C-Suite veterans Scot DeLancey, Chief Product Officer (CPO), and Madhu Kota, Chief Technology Officer (CTO). DeLancey and Kota will lead the product and technology teams respectively to drive innovation for Movista's industry-leading retail execution and mobile-first workforce management platform.
As CPO, DeLancey will guide Movista's product vision and direction from ideation to execution, with responsibility for the product strategy, product management, product marketing, and UI/UX functions. With more than twenty-five years of experience in technology and product management across several industries, he will bring significant value to Movista's product evolution.
"Product innovation boils down to one thing: solving customers' problems," DeLancey said. "I can't wait to help alleviate our clients' challenges and work cross-functionally to deliver the best product possible."
As CTO, Kota will spearhead all aspects of technology including technology strategy, product engineering, and R&D functions, ensuring Movista has the foundation to meet customers' current and future needs. He brings with him more than twenty-five years of experience in information technology and product development across various industries, from e-commerce to FinTech.
"My goal as Movista's CTO is to foster a culture of technology excellence," Kota noted. "Movista is at the cutting edge of retail software innovation. I'm looking forward to collaborating with others to build beautifully simple solutions to complex business problems."
"The needs of retail teams grow more complex every day," said Movista co-founders Stan Zylowski, CEO, and April Seggebruch, Chief Strategy Officer. "Scot and Madhu are visionaries who will enable us to push the boundaries of our software and provide complete front door, store floor, and back door control for all retail stakeholders, backed by data-driven automation sets and advanced optimizations. Our goal is to empower our clients with the solutions they need to thrive in and out of retail stores."
Movista is a global leader in retail execution and workforce management solutions. We believe the future of retail work is radically transparent and collaborative. As the world's first and only SaaS platform to enable collaboration between retailers, brands, service providers, and distributors, we are transforming the execution of all work and engagement by all teams in the retail ecosystem. Learn more at www.movista.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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SOURCE Movista | 2022-08-09T12:40:45+00:00 | newschannel10.com | https://www.newschannel10.com/prnewswire/2022/08/09/movista-welcomes-two-product-veterans-leadership-team/ |
With the Monsoon rains setting in, now is the time to take care of your roofing needs. LNB Enterprises LLC offers free estimates across the state for individuals and businesses.
President Lucas Satterfield says that now is the time for “preventative roofing.” In other words, he recommends to set up an appointment with them so they can check your roof out and fix any eventual issue. LNB Enterprises uses top of the line technology and can address all your roofing needs. The company also offers lifetime warranties for residential properties and 30 year warranties for commercial properties.
For more information, click here. | 2022-07-14T21:05:57+00:00 | krqe.com | https://www.krqe.com/new-mexico-living/lnb-enterprises-offers-free-estimates-statewide/ |
Three English Premier League games scheduled for this weekend were called off on Monday on safety grounds while authorities make preparations for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
Manchester United’s home game against Leeds and Liverpool’s match at Chelsea, both set to take place on Sunday, were postponed. Brighton’s home game against Crystal Palace will remain postponed, having initially been called off because of a rail strike that will now not happen.
It reduces the next round of the league to a seven-game program. All 10 games in the most recent round — from Saturday to Monday — were postponed as a mark of respect following the death of the queen on Thursday.
Otherwise, soccer was resuming in Britain from Monday after a nationwide pause from Friday to Sunday — from the professional game down to the grassroots. The Premier League game between Leeds and Nottingham Forest, scheduled for Monday night to finish off the eighth round, remained off.
The English Football League — which runs the three divisions below the Premier League — said tributes will be paid to the queen at grounds across the country when games in the second-division Championship as well as League One and League Two resume from Tuesday.
A minute’s silence will be held before matches, with black armbands to be worn by players, flags to be flown at half-staff and the national anthem — “God Save the King” — to be played in stadiums.
The Premier League is still not back up to full swing, though, as authorities weigh up the logistical issues of staging a state funeral that will be attended by heads of state and royalty from around the world next Monday, and the policing of high-profile soccer matches in the preceding days.
“Following extensive consultation with clubs, police, local safety advisory groups and other relevant authorities, there was no other option but to postpone the three fixtures,” the Premier League said.
The league said the postponements were made “due to events surrounding the queen’s funeral.”
The monarch’s coffin will be flown on Tuesday to London, where it will lie in state at the Houses of Parliament from Wednesday until the morning of her funeral. The buildup to the funeral requires a vast police and security operation, with forces pulled from cities outside London.
“With a national policing plan now in operation,” the EFL said, “the league and clubs will continue to work with forces in respect of any challenges that may emerge regarding policing of specific fixtures.”
The EFL said it will work on a “case-by-case basis.”
Some Premier League teams will back in action in European competition from Tuesday to Thursday — Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham in the Champions League, plus Manchester United in the Europa League and West Ham in the Europa Conference League — ahead of the partial resumption of the top division.
Arsenal’s Europa League home game against PSV Eindhoven in London on Thursday was postponed by UEFA because of what the governing body said was the “severe limitations on police resources and organizational issues.”
UEFA and Arsenal face challenges in rescheduling the game amid the congestion caused by the World Cup in November and December in Qatar. Arsenal has no clear midweek dates before the Europa League groups are scheduled to finish on Nov. 3, with the round of 16 draw scheduled for Nov. 7.
It’s a similar case for Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United, Leeds, Brighton and Palace, who have two league games to rearrange. They will likely be played in the new year.
In Scotland, the Champions League game between Rangers and Napoli in Glasgow had already been pushed back one day to Wednesday because of policing issues.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2022-09-13T10:22:54+00:00 | localsyr.com | https://www.localsyr.com/sports/sports-news/ap-soccer-resuming-in-britain-after-pause-due-to-queens-death/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his second State of the Union address on Tuesday to remind Americans of how their lives have been improved over his first two years in office, as he tries to confront pessimism in the country and navigate the tricky politics of a newly divided Washington.
Rather than laying out major new policy proposals, Biden was expected to devote much of his speech to highlighting his efforts over the past two years to create jobs, fight inflation and improve the nation’s infrastructure. The speech comes as Biden is honing his pitch to voters ahead of his expected announcement in the next few months that he will seek another term in office despite voter frustrations about the direction of the nation.
“Next week, I’ll be reporting on the state of the Union,” Biden said Friday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report that saw the unemployment rate drop to the lowest level in more than 53 years. “But today, I’m happy to report that the state of the Union and the state of our economy is strong.”
Biden’s remarks from the House rostrum will take place in a sharply different context from a year ago. Republicans now control the chamber, rendering it unlikely that any significant legislation reaches Biden’s desk. The newly empowered GOP is itching to undo many of Biden’s achievements and raising the specter of persistent investigations — including into the recent discoveries of classified documents from his time as vice president at his home and former office.
“Jobs are up, wages are up, inflation is down, and COVID no longer controls our lives,” Biden told the Democratic National Committee on Friday. “But now, the extreme MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives have made it clear they intend to put it all at risk. They intend to destroy it.”
The president, meanwhile, is shifting his focus from legislating to implementing the massive infrastructure and climate bills passed in the last Congress — and to trying to make sure Americans credit him for the improvements.
“These things don’t sell themselves,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday on NBC. “And it’s one of the reasons I’m really looking forward to that State of the Union address. I will say that there have been so many accomplishments under this administration. It can be difficult to list them in a distilled way.”
While large-scale bipartisanship remains unlikely, Biden was set to reissue his 2022 appeal for Congress to get behind his “unity agenda” of actions to address the opioid epidemic, mental health, veterans’ health and cancer.
Biden will also call on lawmakers to responsibly raise the debt limit and keep the government funded. The president has remained opposed to negotiating to avoid default, while Republicans are pushing for unspecified deep spending cuts to reduce the deficit.
Biden, according to two administration officials who requested anonymity to preview the speech, was also expected to discuss his decision to shoot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon Saturday, as part of a broader section on countering China’s more assertive economic and military actions around the world.
His address last year came just days after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine and many in the West doubted Kyiv’s ability to avoid a swift routing. Now the war is on the cusp of entering its second year, and under Biden the U.S. and allies have sent tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to bolster Ukraine’s defenses. Now the president must make the case — both at home and abroad — for sustaining that coalition as the war drags on.
Meanwhile, inflation, which rose precipitously last year in part because of soaring energy prices from the war, has begun to ease.
Still, only a quarter of U.S. adults say things in the country are headed in the right direction, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research; about three-quarters say things are on the wrong track.
Similarly, views of the national economy remain deeply negative, with 24% calling the national economy good and 76% calling it poor. Forty-one percent of Democrats and 8% of Republicans call the economy good. The figures are similar to when Biden delivered his State of the Union address last year, but an adjustment from Biden’s first year in office when Americans were more optimistic; about half said they thought the country was headed in the right direction when the president took office.
At the same time, 57% say their personal financial situation is good. That’s unchanged since December but has eroded slightly since earlier last year. No less than 62% of Americans had called their personal financial situation good in AP-NORC polls conducted from late 2019 through spring of 2022.
Two years after Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters, a protective fence was reinstalled Sunday around the Capitol ahead of Biden’s address.
After the speech, Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and his Cabinet plan to hold over 30 events in two days to drive the message home to the American people in their communities. Biden will visit Wisconsin to discuss job creation on Wednesday and on Thursday will be in Tampa, Florida to talk about his efforts to lower prescription drug costs and protect Social Security and Medicare.
“During the State of the Union, President Biden will outline how the past two years has seen historic job growth, falling inflation, higher wages, and record investments coming back to America,” the White House said. “The economic travel blitz showcases how the president’s vision is creating jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure, lowering costs for families, tackling climate change, investing in our future and delivering for families too often left behind.”
The travel follows Biden’s stops last week in Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia focused on rail and water infrastructure projects funded by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.
___
Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Emily Swanson and Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report. | 2023-02-06T01:06:43+00:00 | kxnet.com | https://www.kxnet.com/news/politics/ap-politics/ap-bidens-state-of-the-union-to-tout-policy-wins-on-economy/ |
HARRISONBURG, Va., Aug. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Like teaching a child to ride a bike, sending your student off to college requires a delicate balance of knowing when to hold on and when to let go. Dr. David Onestak, director of the James Madison University Counseling Center shares advice heard often from "veteran" parents on how "new" parents can help students survive the turbulent waters of freshman year.
Sending your student off to college requires a delicate balance of knowing when to hold on and when to let go.
- Convey confidence. Students' bravado as they head off to college normally masks fears and doubts. Parental encouragement is more important than students typically acknowledge.
- Avoid "New Leaf Syndrome." Rather than turning over a new leaf, the transition to college frequently causes old problems to reemerge. Students with a history of mental health concerns should maintain relationships with their providers and continue with prescribed therapies. Help your student take greater ownership of health-related matters such as taking over-the-counter medications, making an appointment, and learning the basics of health insurance.
- Keep the lines of communication open. When parents respond too harshly to a student's mistake, the student may no longer offer important information about grades, roommate problems or dating relationships. As a result, minor problems may become major crises.
- Don't rush in and solve problems. Students often don't step up to responsibility until parents step back. Students need the experience of solving problems on their own.
- Be realistic about grades. Students are going to be faced with difficult and demanding coursework. Not every straight-A student in high school will be a straight-A student in college.
- Use technology to connect, not monitor. Talk with your student about how and how often to touch base. If you are using tracking devices to monitor your student, consider relinquishing them. Doing so communicates that the world is not continuously dangerous and that you trust them to make good decisions.
- Don't rush your student into a major or career. Most eighteen-year-olds do not have the wisdom required to be definite about such an important decision. Pushing them into a major or a career in which there is no interest is a recipe for problems.
- Talk about finances. Let your student know what you will and will not contribute to college expenses. Help them to develop a budget. If your student requests a credit card for "emergencies," a good rule of thumb is: If you can eat it, drink it, or wear it, it's not an emergency.
- Inform your student about important family matters, even if the news is not good. While there is no need to share every family issue, keeping developments from students can make them anxious as they imagine what else might be happening back home without their knowledge.
- Remind yourself that the character you worked to develop will continue to guide them. Students often experiment with values that might be more permissive than the ones at home; this is a normal part of developing identity and independence apart from their parents. Try to bend a little.
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SOURCE James Madison University | 2022-08-09T16:56:41+00:00 | wsfa.com | https://www.wsfa.com/prnewswire/2022/08/09/10-tips-parents-sending-students-off-college/ |
Morning news brief By A Martínez , Leila Fadel Published June 1, 2023 02:18 AM Facebook Twitter Listen • 11:29 Some big-name Republicans are set to announce their presidential bids next week. The House voted to pass the debt ceiling bill. Preparing for the 2023 hurricane season with climate change in mind. Copyright 2023 NPR | 2023-06-01T10:30:14+00:00 | kpcc.org | https://www.kpcc.org/2023-06-01/morning-news-brief |
In his second offseason with the Chicago Bears, general manager Ryan Poles has plenty of salary-cap space to rework a roster that finished 3-14 in 2022.
With the NFL’s new league year now here, allowing free agents to begin signing with new teams, the Tribune will track all of the Bears’ arrivals and departures and provide insight into what they mean.
The free-agency negotiation window opened across the league at 11 a.m. Monday. Unrestricted free agents could finalize deals when the new league year began at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
- Column: After adding 5 new starters, Bears GM Ryan Poles can wait for prices to fall in free agency
- Column: Bears’ aggressive start to free agency has one common thread — young players entering their prime years
- What headline-grabbing move is next? 5 Bears questions before free agency.
- Column: Ryan Poles checked a big box on the Bears’ offseason list with his bold trade. Now comes the hard part.
- Bears trade the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL draft to the Panthers. Here’s what they got in return.
- Sign up for our free Bears alerts so you don’t miss any news
Thursday
The Bears are signing tight end Robert Tonyan to a one-year deal, a source confirmed.
What it means: Tonyan, who is from McHenry, joins the Bears after playing in 68 games over five seasons with the Green Bay Packers. After entering the league with the Detroit Lions as an undrafted rookie out of Indiana State in 2017, the 6-foot-5, 237-pound tight end totaled 137 catches for 1,437 yards and 17 touchdowns in Green Bay.
Tonyan’s best season was in 2020, when he had 52 catches for 586 yards and 11 touchdowns. In 17 games in 2022, he had 53 catches for 470 yards and two touchdowns.
Tonyan, 28, adds another good target for quarterback Justin Fields in a tight ends room that returns fourth-year player Cole Kmet. Tonyan has familiarity with Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy from their time together in Green Bay.
Tonyan played quarterback for much of his young life until converting to wide receiver in college.
The Bears are signing running back D’Onta Foreman to a one-year deal, ESPN reported.
What it means: Foreman, who will be 27 in April, is joining the Bears off a career season with the Carolina Panthers in which he had 203 carries for 914 yards and five touchdowns. Before that, he had 661 rushing yards and three touchdowns in 15 games over two seasons with the Tennessee Titans. He began his career as a Houston Texans third-round pick in 2017.
Foreman’s deal reportedly is for one year and $3 million.
The Bears bring in Foreman after their former top running back, David Montgomery, signed a three-year deal with the Detroit Lions.
Foreman joins a running backs room that includes third-year player Khalil Herbert, who had 129 carries for 731 yards and four touchdowns last season. The Bears this week also signed running back/special teamer Travis Homer.
The Bears released backup quarterback Trevor Siemian.
What it means: Siemian, 31, was the backup to starting quarterback Justin Fields in 2022.
He played in two games and made one start in November against the New York Jets when Fields was out with a left shoulder injury. Siemian injured his oblique before that game but still played, completing 14 of 25 passes for 179 yards, a touchdown and an interception. But the Bears placed Siemian on injured reserve after the game as he underwent surgery on his oblique.
The Bears signed quarterback P.J. Walker on Wednesday to be the new backup.
The Bears signed journeyman defensive tackle Andrew Billings, according to his representatives at SportsTrust Advisors.
What it means: To this point the Bears have done little to fortify their defensive line, and the addition of Billings on a one-year, $3.5 million deal gives them a versatile interior defender who has started 51 games during his career.
Billings, 28, entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick out of Baylor in 2016 and spent three years with the Cincinnati Bengals. He signed with the Cleveland Browns in 2020 but opted out of that season during the COVID-19 pandemic and played only six games the following year before the Browns waived him. Last season, Billings started 14 games for the Las Vegas Raiders and contributed 39 tackles and a sack.
The Bears are still pushing to add depth and competition to the interior of their defensive line while also hoping to find pass rushing help.
“I feel comfortable between the rest of free agency as well as the draft that we can get that group as good as we possibly can,” general manager Ryan Poles said Thursday. “At the same time, there are going to be some weak spots on our roster where we can’t fix everything.”
Wednesday
The Bears agreed to terms with quarterback PJ Walker on a two-year contract.
What it means: The arrival of Walker likely gives the Bears a new backup to Justin Fields. Walker, 28, started seven games over the previous three seasons for the Carolina Panthers, going 2-3 last season when Sam Darnold was injured. The former Temple standout spent two seasons on the Indianapolis Colts practice squad beginning in 2017 and starred in the USFL for the Houston Roughnecks in 2020 before COVID-19 shortened the season.
After the USFL stint, he reunited with former Temple coach Matt Rhule with the Panthers in 2020 and started one game that season and one in 2021.
Walker’s skill set more closely matches that of Fields as he can be elusive in the pocket, and that might have been attractive to the Bears.
Adding Walker creates doubt about the future of Trevor Siemian, the No. 2 quarterback last season. The former Northwestern QB started the 31-10 road loss to the New York Jets in Week 12 despite suffering an oblique injury in pregame warmups. Siemian wound up having surgery and finished the season on injured reserve. He’s under contract for this season with a base salary of $1.865 million and a $100,000 workout bonus.
Walker’s 2022 season featured one of the top highlights of the season as he completed a 62-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to new Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore in the closing seconds of an October game in Atlanta.
The touchdown tied the score at 34, but Moore removed his helmet on the field in celebration and the 15-yard penalty for that infraction pushed the extra point back to 48 yards. Eddy Pineiro missed, sending the game to overtime, and the Falcons won on a field goal.
The Bears made five free-agent signings and the trade of the No. 1 pick official.
What it means: The new league year began at 3 p.m. Wednesday, and the Bears announced their previously reported deals with linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards, defensive end DeMarcus Walker, offensive lineman Nate Davis and running back Travis Homer, pending physicals. Edmunds agreed to a four-year deal, while Edwards, Walker and Davis are on three-year deals and Homer on a two-year deal.
The Bears also announced the trade of the 2023 No. 1 draft pick to the Carolina Panthers. The Bears received a 2023 first-round pick (No. 9), a 2023 second-round pick (No. 61), a 2024 first-round pick, a 2025 second-round pick and wide receiver D.J. Moore.
“Having the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft gave us a tremendous opportunity to take steps forward this season and in our plan of building long term,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said in a statement.
“We are excited about the additional picks acquired, including staying in the top ten selections this year, but also the addition of a proven and dynamic playmaker in DJ Moore. We had multiple aggressive offers to consider, but in the end it felt right for both teams in what Panthers GM Scott Fitterer presented and it keeps us in an area of this year’s draft that we really like.”
Poles, Moore and the other free agents are scheduled to speak with reporters Thursday morning at Halas Hall.
Tuesday
Running back David Montgomery is signing a three-year deal with the Detroit Lions, ESPN reported.
What it means: After four seasons with the Bears, Montgomery joins their NFC North rival on a deal reportedly worth $18 million with $11 million guaranteed.
The 2019 third-round pick rushed for 3,609 yards and 26 touchdowns in 60 games for the Bears, averaging 3.9 yards per carry. He also had 155 catches for 1,240 yards and four touchdowns. His best season was 2020, when he topped 1,000 rushing yards and had a career-high eight touchdowns and 4.3 yards per carry.
Montgomery was a favorite of many during his time at Halas Hall because of his work ethic and character. Poles said earlier this offseason he would love to keep the running back in Chicago, but he noted the contract would have to work out.
The Bears return Khalil Herbert, who totaled 731 rushing yards and four touchdowns in 2022, his second season in the league. Herbert’s 5.7 yards per carry was best in the NFL among running backs.
The Bears are signing former Seattle Seahawks running back Travis Homer, a source confirmed.
What it means: A short time after Montgomery’s deal was announced, news came out that the Bears agreed to add Homer on a two-year deal that ESPN reported is worth a maximum of $4.5 million.
Homer was a sixth-round pick by the Seahawks in 2019. In his first four years, he rushed for 453 yards on 83 carries and had 52 catches for 464 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 18 kickoff returns for 444 yards and a touchdown and 26 special teams tackles.
It remains to be seen if the Bears will add another running back as a complement to Herbert beyond Homer, who has value on special teams as well as offense.
Monday
The Bears are signing former Tennessee Titans defensive end DeMarcus Walker, a league source confirmed.
What it means: Walker, 28, is a six-year NFL veteran coming off a career season with the Titans in which he had seven sacks, 16 quarterback hits and 10 tackles for a loss in 17 games. He was a second-round pick by the Denver Broncos in 2017 and played in 36 games for them with five starts, notching 10½ sacks over four seasons. He had two sacks in 13 games with the Houston Texans in 2021.
Walker’s deal is for three years and $21 million with $16 million guaranteed, a league source said.
The Bears were in desperate need of help at defensive end after totaling just 20 sacks in 2022. Poles traded Khalil Mack last offseason and Robert Quinn at midseason and released Al-Quadin Muhammad last month, leaving limited options at the position. Walker joins a group that includes Trevis Gipson and Dominique Robinson.
Inside linebacker Tremaine Edmunds is joining the Bears on a four-year, $72 million deal, a source confirmed.
What it means: The Bears secured another playmaker for a defense in need of them and have guaranteed Edmunds $50 million on a four-year contract agreement. The signing is notable after the organization hit an impasse last fall in its negotiations with linebacker Roquan Smith. Smith was traded to the Baltimore Ravens for a second-round pick and later signed an extension in Baltimore for five years, $100 million with $60 million guaranteed.
Edmunds effectively slots in as Smith’s replacement and is the second starting-caliber linebacker the Bears have added in free agency after they earlier agreed to a three-year contract with T.J. Edwards.
Edmunds, the No. 16 overall pick in the 2018 draft by the Buffalo Bills, has made 74 career starts and won’t turn 25 until May. Last season, he had 102 tackles, a sack and an interception. His production was inconsistent over his five seasons with the Bills. But when he was at his best, he showcased impressive athleticism and feel. The Bills were in the mix to re-sign Edmunds and coach Sean McDermott sang his praises.
“To watch him mature and grow on the field and off the field has been a true joy as a coach,” McDermott said at the NFL combine two weeks ago.
The Bears, though, pushed to make Edmunds a big-ticket signing in the first wave of free agency and will welcome the linebacker into Matt Eberflus’ system.
The Bears are signing former Tennessee Titans guard Nate Davis to a three-year deal, a source confirmed.
What it means: Davis’ deal is for $30 million over three seasons with $19.25 million guaranteed.
Davis, 26, started 54 games over four seasons with the Titans, who drafted him in the third round out of Charlotte in 2019. He missed eight games over the last two seasons with COVID-19 and injuries, including ending the 2022 season on injured reserve because of an ankle injury.
The Bears were slated to have left guard Cody Whitehair and right guard Teven Jenkins return this season, so it will be worth watching to see how the addition of Davis impacts those roles. Jenkins found some success in his transition from tackle to right guard in 2022, but he battled injuries throughout the year and started just 11 games. Davis played right guard in Tennessee.
The Bears are signing former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards, a source said.
What it means: Edwards, who went to Lakes High School in Lake Villa and Wisconsin, returns home to the Chicago area. An undrafted rookie in 2019, Edwards went on to start 47 games and play in 61 for the Eagles over four seasons. He had a career-high 159 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, seven passes defended, five quarterback hits and two sacks in 2022.
The Bears are signing Edwards to a three-year, $19.5 million contract with $12 million guaranteed. After trading linebacker Roquan Smith midseason in 2022, the Bears had a big need for a playmaker at the position. They also return linebacker Jack Sanborn, who also played at Wisconsin. Edwards played middle linebacker in Philadelphia, and he likely would play at that position in Chicago too, though the Bears could also try him at the Will position.
Edwards played for an Eagles defense that ranked among the best in the NFL with just 243.7 yards allowed per game, a unit that fueled the team’s run to the Super Bowl. Edwards had six tackles and a pass defended in the Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Friday
Cornerback Josh Blackwell and defensive lineman Andrew Brown are returning, the Bears announced.
What it means: The Bears tendered one-year contracts to Blackwell and Brown, who were exclusive-rights free agents.
Blackwell, an undrafted rookie out of Duke, was a key special teams player in 2022. He had 23 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He saw time on defense in four games late in the season when injuries depleted the Bears secondary.
Brown joined the Bears in November off the Arizona Cardinals practice squad and played in five games. He has appeared in 28 games over the last four seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, Houston Texans, Los Angeles Chargers and Bears.
Long snapper Patrick Scales is returning to the Bears, his agent tweeted.
What it means: Scales, 35, has been with the Bears since 2015 and hasn’t missed a game in the last five seasons. He returns with a specialist unit that includes kicker Cairo Santos and punter Trenton Gill.
Scales is the longest-tenured Bears player on a roster that Poles has largely turned over.
Wednesday
The Bears are bringing back veteran fullback Khari Blasingame on a two-year extension, according to his agency.
What it means: Blasingame joined the Bears on a one-year deal last season. And while he didn’t receive an offensive touch, he remains well-regarded inside Halas Hall for his intelligence, work ethic and toughness.
As a blocker, Blasingame contributed to a Bears offense that averaged a league-best 177.3 rushing yards per game while setting a single-season franchise record with 3,014 rushing yards. It will be interesting to see how his role evolves or expands in 2023 as coordinator Luke Getsy continues to mold the scheme around the players he has.
The Bears have significant work to do to stabilize their offense and must work through their plans in the backfield with David Montgomery in line to hit the open market next week. But Blasingame’s return was a priority. The veteran fullback spent his first three seasons in Tennessee and will look to carve out a bigger role with the Bears this season.
Feb. 17
The Bears are releasing defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, ESPN reported.
What it means: Muhammad signed a two-year, $8 million contract last spring to join coach Matt Eberflus in Chicago. Muhammad, who is entering his seventh NFL season, was coming off a career year with the Indianapolis Colts in 2021 in which he had six sacks and 13 quarterback hits. But he totaled just 21 tackles, one sack, three quarterback hits and a forced fumble in 16 games with the Bears last season.
The Bears were expected to revamp a defensive line that contributed to just 20 team sacks. Cutting Muhammad, who will be 28 in March, saves nearly $4 million in salary-cap space and comes with just $500,000 in dead cap space, according to Spotrac.
() | 2023-03-17T05:02:42+00:00 | denverpost.com | https://www.denverpost.com/2023/03/16/chicago-bears-free-agency-news-tight-end-robert-tonyan-and-running-back-donta-foreman-agree-to-1-year-deals/ |
Claim that abortion is never medically necessary to save a woman's life increased 1800 percent after Roe v. Wade overturned
PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Trust Lab, the company dedicated to creating a safer Internet using ML-powered Trust & Safety tools, today shared a report advancing quantitative measurement of abortion misinformation to properly assess the potential for harm.
Among the key findings in June compared to May:
- Not surprisingly, abortion misinformation and discourse became much more prevalent after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
- Misinformation about health had the second largest upward trend, up nearly 300 percent, just behind misinformation about abortion and the Supreme Court of the United States.
- The specific claim that abortion is never medically necessary to save a woman's life trended up 1800 percent.
"While abortion is often viewed as a political issue with deep conviction across the political spectrum, the risk of abortion misinformation's harm to users is distinct and warrants action," said Tom Siegel, Trust Lab Co-Founder and CEO. "The findings in this Trust Lab report provide a springboard for the Trust and Safety community to approach abortion misinformation quantitatively, helping to identify and respond to the most viral and high-harm claims."
Trust Lab's researchers conducted a systematic search across social media platforms and uncovered more than 35 unique misinformation claims in fact-check articles by third party fact-check organizations and news entities.
The researchers also tagged posts across the major social media platforms, each with one of the following: supporting, opposing, neutral. These tags indicate whether a given post supports, opposes, or is neutrally related to a misinformation claim. To better understand the types of abortion misinformation being proliferated, researchers also tracked categories of claims being made.
This report and others showcasing Trust Lab's misinformation research can be found here.
Trust Lab, the company dedicated to creating a safer Internet, uses ML-based classifiers and rules engines built by Trust & Safety experts from Google, YouTube, Reddit and TikTok to identify and measure high-risk and harmful content, accounts, and transactions at scale. The majority of the leading social media companies, as well as the U.S. Government and the European Union use Trust Lab's innovative tools and services.
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SOURCE Trust Lab | 2022-11-04T13:45:11+00:00 | kcrg.com | https://www.kcrg.com/prnewswire/2022/11/04/trust-lab-releases-report-assessing-abortion-misinformation/ |
A Critical Step in the Wellness Company's Scientific Roadmap
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., June 12, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ResBiotic Nutrition Inc (ResBiotic) announced today that its latest peer-reviewed clinical trial featuring resB® Lung Support has been published in Frontiers in Nutrition. The study, titled "Clinical Trial of a Probiotic and Herbal Supplement for Lung Health," yielded significant results, including improvements in lung functions and in quality of life scores in participants. Overall, most participants were highly likely to recommend resB®. resB® Lung Support, as a product target anyone concerned about their respiratory or lung health. In addition, users of resB® see significant gut health and immune benefits similar to other high potency probiotics.
According to physician founder Dr. Vivek Lal, MD, FAAP, "This is a critical step in our scientific roadmap where ResBiotic is trying to disrupt the wellness industry with truly science-backed and efficacious solutions." Adding, "Each ingredient in resB® Lung Support has been validated and tested for efficacy in several studies, and we are launching similar science backed products to our portfolio this year".
The company, which closed on a recent pre-Series round of funding in April 2023, has expanded its leadership team to propel continued growth. Josh Meah, founder of New York based media and growth firm JM&Co has joined ResBiotic as Chief Marketing Officer. Sam Presicci, MCN, RD, LD will oversee marketing operations. Noah Voreades, Managing Director of GenBiome Consulting, will leverage his microbiome and commercialization expertise in a business strategy advisory role. Sean Moloney, CEO, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and former Marketing Innovations Director for Pfizer will help in organization's tactical strategy. With extensive experience in pediatrics and pulmonology, Dr. Federico Isaac Hernandez Rocha, a renowned pulmonary physician will join the team as the company's first Latin American advisor.
Media Contact: press@resbiotic.com
About ResBiotic
ResBiotic Nutrition, Inc. is a science backed wellness company pioneering clinically validated supplements for lung, gut and immune health. Founded by physician scientists, the company is the culmination of decades of research at the intersection of health and microbiome science. ResBiotic's first product, resB® Lung Support, targets the gut-lung axis with a combination of clinically studied probiotic strains and bioactive botanicals. Dr. Lal, the founder of ResBiotic is the Director of Clinical Innovation at Marnix Heersink Institute of Biomedical Innovation at University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL. To learn more visit www.resbiotic.com.
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SOURCE ResBiotic Nutrition, Inc. | 2023-06-13T05:47:06+00:00 | kfyrtv.com | https://www.kfyrtv.com/prnewswire/2023/06/12/resbiotic-publishes-promising-safety-efficacy-findings-clinical-trial-study-resb-lung-support-supplement/ |
Tipping fatigue has hit metro Detroit: A comprehensive guide to restaurant gratuity
There are a few origin stories of the restaurant industry’s tipping model recorded in the books.
There are suggestions that gratuity offered for meals can be traced as far back as the Roman era. Others tell tales of a 17th-century England when aristocrats would discretely drop coins into servers’ palms to insure promptitude — inspiring the acronym TIP, or “tip,” which has become a fixture in the hospitality lexicon.
Then there are the more sinister findings: that wealthy Americans picked up the custom from their travels throughout Europe in the 1800s, where serfs were offered tips by their masters for excellence in service. And in the 1900s, a $0 wage for tipped restaurant workers was implemented in a concerted effort to avoid paying newly freed Black slaves during a post-Civil War era.
Each story — legend or recorded history — comes with a complicated past, drawing criticism against the tipping model for centuries. Though tipping culture in restaurants has been controversial for about as long as it has been in place, the model has remained, and yet, in a post-pandemic era, the premise has gotten hazy.
Inflation and wage increases needed to recruit and retain food service workers amid a historic labor shortage have led to menu price increases, making additional tipping fees especially daunting. At the same time, diners are facing an increase in suggested gratuity percentages, automatic tip inclusions and vague service charges on seemingly any food service from carryout to drive-thru to coffee shops to restaurants powered by robots.
Metro Detroiters are experiencing tipping fatigue along with restaurantgoers across the country, and the fire to support local food businesses with generous tips throughout the global COVID-19 crisis is seemingly but an ember.
Still, restaurant and food service workers are a vulnerable population whose livelihood is dependent on gratuity. The sudden attention to the restaurant industry’s tipping expectations calls for a refresher on the importance of guest contributions.
Tipping, a history lesson
“When the minimum wage was established in 1938, it was set for $0 for tipped workers who were primarily Black women, and it has been frozen on the federal level at $2.13 for the last 30 years,” said Sarah Coffey, a Michigan campaign manager for One Fair Wage, a nonprofit working to terminate the subminimum wage for workers who depend on tips.
“We are grappling with the racist history of white supremacy in the United States and the tipped subminimum wage is a poignant and direct legacy of that history. If you look at who are restaurant tipped workers primarily now, it's two-thirds women and majority people of color. I think that is part of the U.S. economy that hearkens back to a time that we're trying to leave behind."
Beginning in January, the rate for tipped employees in Michigan increased from $3.75 to $3.84 per hour.
Today, tips serve dual purposes: to reward servers and other tipped restaurant workers for exceptional service, and to supplement subminimum wages.
“Unfortunately, a lot of times what you're tipping for is the worker’s actual wage,” Coffey said. Fifteen percent, she said, is the least amount of gratuity needed for a tipped worker to barely meet poverty wages. “In Michigan, your tip is what allows a restaurant to pay a tipped worker less than $10.10, which is the minimum wage. A lot of times, what your tip does is compensate for the fact that the person is making $3.84 an hour.”
More:Michigan's top court takes case involving minimum wage, petition drive
Crunching the numbers
Though 15% has been the standard rate of gratuity for a number of years, percentages have increased, more often beginning at 20% and reaching a high of a suggested 30% at some dining establishments. Increasing costs of living can be attributed in part to a greater need for higher gratuity expectations for tipped restaurant workers.
“If you think about a 5% increase in tipping over the last 35 years, it's not monstrous,” said Michael McCall, a professor of hospitality management at Michigan State University.
Other motivations for the percentage increase involve consumer behavior.
“Tipping has always been a math problem for most people, McCall said. “Let's just be blunt — 20% is an easier number to calculate than 15%! It’s easier, but it’s also troubling that people are being put on the spot to deliver that tip.”
McCall points to instances when servers coddle tableside payment devices and hover over diners as they punch in a gratuity amount. With the device still in the grip of the server, diners are often intimidated to select a higher percentage.
“Where is that voluntary?” McCall asked. “That slightly changes the dynamic.”
Suggested gratuities on receipts or precalculated tip options on digital kiosks prod diners to comply with the percentages that are presented. Scott Rick, an associate professor of marketing at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, poignantly calls those instances coerced moments of apparent generosity.
“With the proliferation of touch screens, it's so easy to confront people with this choice that we've often had, but it was much easier to ignore when it was just a quiet tip jar sitting there,” Rick said. “It’s right at the heart of what we study in behavioral science, which is that these are nudges. They're not forcing us to do things, but they're making a choice that was once easy to ignore, now an explicit choice.”
A recommended tip, though, is just that: a recommendation. Diners are at liberty to take the time needed to review the bill and the service rendered to select a custom tip that feels appropriate, keeping a 15% minimum in mind.
It is also the diner’s choice to calculate a tip that factors in the total amount before or after tax, though most gratuity suggestions are based on a post-tax subtotal.
Score card
“People usually have their own checklist of good service,” Coffey said. It’s important, though, to take an unbiased approach to weighing elements of service without perpetuating discriminatory ideals.
“One thing that I would encourage people to consider is that Black women tend to be tipped only 75% of what white servers are tipped, and to adjust accordingly.”
Creating criteria based specifically on your service and not unconscious biases can help determine a fair evaluation of service. At restaurants, consider a server’s attentiveness, accuracy, knowledge of the menu — or willingness to get answers to questions they may not know offhand.
Consider the volume of your party and the number of guests in the dining room; if the staff is able to provide seamless service amid a chaotic space, consider that a skill — alternatively, if it's a small team struggling to balance tasks, factor in the elements that might be out of their control. Lengthy wait times, for example, may be a result of a backlog in the kitchen, rather than a reflection of a server’s negligence.
Delivery drivers and servers preparing carryout orders often rely on tips to supplement subminimum wages as well. Though their efforts are out of sight, it takes a great deal of service to prepare and deliver your meal. A suggested 15% minimum gratuity applies to these workers.
Self-service, all-you-can-eat buffet establishments and multinational fast-food chains may be exempt from gratuity needs if employees are earning minimum wage without tips. If your neighborhood Coney Island or diner offers a drive-thru, consider inquiring about how drive-thru operators are paid. If they are tipped employees, they qualify for the suggested 15% minimum gratuity.
“Not offering gratuity is wrong in any setting where tipping is clearly the norm and you have a reasonable expectation that the tip is part of their salary,” Rick said.
This understanding applies regardless of quality of service.
At coffee shops and cocktail bars, consider the intricacy of your beverage order. Inventive lattes with a number of ingredients call for more effort from a barista, and craft cocktails layered with multiple spirits, garnishes or theatric presentations can be considered a bartender’s work of art.
For Tarun Kajeepeta, owner of the downtown Detroit speakeasy Shelby and its sister café, Coffee Down Under, tips on low-priced items like cups of coffee allow employees to build a rapport with guests and be rewarded for it.
“With a coffee shop, guests are building you into their daily experience, so it’s as much about the product as it is about how you make them feel,” Kajeepeta said. “A lot of people will buy a $2.50 coffee and tip $1 — that’s 40% of the bill, but it’s not about making that calculation. It’s about supporting the person.”
New measures
Individual efforts to guarantee fair wages to tipped workers are on the rise. Built-in gratuity fees, commonly ranging between 18%-22%, are included to help tipped workers bring home earnings that meet or exceed minimum wages on a consistent basis.
Brandi Cryer, a server at Detroit restaurant Petty Cash, is grateful for the restaurant’s 20% tip inclusion, which benefits all workers, including cooks, support staff, bartenders and servers. The new model, she said, has allowed her to make more money than she has in previous restaurants.
“There’s a misconception that we don’t have to work, since we get an automatic 20%,” she said. “But our goal is to offer our guests a great experience and earn above 20%. Whatever a guest pays beyond 20% goes directly to the server, so it’s about going above and beyond.”
At Petty Cash, the included gratuity is referred to as a “service charge,” another term that is cropping up on restaurant bills across the country. Coffey cautions diners to ask clarifying questions about service fees and included gratuities to understand whether a service charge is benefiting tipped employees or other operational expenses.
“(One Fair Wage) found that some restaurants in California were including service fees, but they were not being passed on to the server,” she said. “Our position is, we fully support fees being included in the bill as long as that money is going directly to the server and not being used to cover the expenses of the owner.”
The dispersion of tips among all restaurant workers, or tip-pooling, allows restaurant operators to bridge the wage gap between front and back-of-house workers, a long-standing challenge within the restaurant industry. Higher tip percentages from the diner in establishments with tip pools allow all workers who contribute to the dining experience to take home increased wages. It’s part of the reason Molly Mitchell implemented tip-pooling at Rose’s Fine Food, the recently shuttered restaurant and wine shop on Detroit’s east side.
“When I opened Rose’s, I was concerned mostly with equity between the back and front of house,” she wrote in an email. “I had witnessed team dynamics crumble too many times between servers and cooks and couldn’t see a reason cooks and dishwashers weren’t sharing in the tips when they are a critical point in getting the meal to the patron — not to mention, most folks in the back of house were Black and Brown, often immigrants.”
Before she closed the doors at Rose’s, Mitchell made various attempts to offer fair wages to the restaurant’s staff.
“I wanted to do away with the tipped minimum wage because I had worked places where I had cleaned for 4 hours for $2.25 and went home with less than $10 in tips,” she recalled, adding that the no-tip model was difficult to implement among guests who’d been accustomed to existing structure for generations. “It was difficult and put an extra burden of explanation of our system on staff, so we found a sweet spot with a living wage plus tip share.”
Mitchell is among thousands of restaurateurs who have worked to independently implement One Fair Wage for their staffs. Still, there are a number of others — restaurateurs and restaurant workers — who see value in maintaining the tipping model.
Kajeepeta, who cited staffing issues as the biggest challenge of the pandemic, said worker retention is stronger when employees are paid well and guest tips help them feel rewarded for their efforts.
“All of our employees that are tipped are making more than double, and most of the time, more than triple or quadruple the state-mandated minimum wage,” he said.
McCall agrees.
“The minimum wage debate is the most convoluted way of screwing up the tipping industry,” he said. “As a restaurant owner, you can't control a lot of your costs. You can't control a strike in the Dominican Republic that leaves you without access to coffee. Those kinds of costs you have to absorb, and if you have to pay your servers $15 an hour, how can you manage a profit? You have to raise prices and customers will either stop going, or they’ll stop tipping. Or, you don't raise prices, and instead cut your staff.”
The debate between ideologies will likely continue. In the meantime, tipped workers will continue to rely on gratuities. And though we stand at a distance from the most challenging times of the pandemic, the impact of a fraught system for restaurant workers is still top of mind for those who are bound to it. Restaurant workers remain at the mercy of diners’ moody behaviors — our generosity and our fatigue.
“It’s a personal and political decision how much people tip,” Coffey said. "For people who don't want to subsidize restaurants or who feel it's not their responsibility, then I encourage them to support raising the minimum wage to $15 because then at least you'll know that people are making more fair wages.” | 2023-06-25T12:35:37+00:00 | freep.com | https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/dining/2023/06/25/tipping-in-restaurants-guide-gratuity/70349113007/ |
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday put on hold a legal dispute over whether a recreational marijuana initiative will go on the Nov. 8 statewide ballot.
Supporters of State Question 820 sued to try to get the measure on the general election ballot. The state has objected.
The state’s high court assumed original jurisdiction, but held the matter in abeyance until the expiration of a 10-day period to file objections to either the initiative petition signatures or the ballot title. It was not immediately clear when the protest period would be begin, but supporters said it would be within the next day or so.
Supporters say the state constitution requires the matter to go on the Nov. 8 general election ballot, while the state contends the ballot initiative must follow the process set out by the Legislature.
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Supporters were pleased with the high court’s decision.
“It appears the court is giving itself the opportunity to order SQ 820 on the ballot if we survive the protest period,” said Campaign Director Michelle Tilley. “We are confident that our more than 117,000 valid signatures will pass the 10-day protest period set out by statute and are optimistic the Oklahoma Supreme Court will order State Question 820 on the ballot for the 2022 general election.”
The Attorney General's Office declined to comment because the litigation is still pending.
State Question 820 would legalize, regulate and tax recreational marijuana for adults 21 years old and older.
It would increase state and local funding for schools, health care and other services. It also would provide for the expungement for low-level marijuana offenses.
The measure would not alter the state’s current medical marijuana program, approved by voters in 2018 through State Question 788.
Supporters say the state’s efforts to count and verify the signatures was significantly delayed due to a new procedure set forth in law.
The court’s vote to put the matter on hold was 5-4.
In his dissent, Justice Dustin P. Rowe wrote that he would deny the request, adding Tuesday’s order does not give the state clear directions on how to proceed.
The State Election Board’s process for creating election databases and ballot proofs was set on begin on Friday in order to give it time to meet the Sept. 23 deadline to send absentee ballots overseas and to military voters, Rowe wrote.
“Delaying this matter, which would culminate in changes to ballots which have already begun to be produced, undermines the Election Board’s capacity to fulfill its lawful obligation to voters and threatens the voting rights of portions of the electorate — particularly, our men and women serving in uniform overseas.” | 2022-08-30T17:38:34+00:00 | tulsaworld.com | https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/state-supreme-court-puts-recreational-marijuana-ballot-dispute-on-hold/article_3f305500-286f-11ed-bdd1-1f9034421597.html |
Nancy Pelosi’s husband pleads not guilty to DUI misdemeanor charges
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The husband of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi pleaded not guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor driving under the influence charges related to a May car crash in Northern California wine country.
Paul Pelosi, 82, did not appear in person at Napa County Superior Court Wednesday. His attorney Amanda Bevins entered not guilty pleas for him on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury and driving with a .08% blood alcohol level or higher causing injury.
State law allows for DUI misdemeanor defendants to appear through their attorney unless ordered otherwise by the court.
He was arrested following a May 28 crash in Napa County, north of San Francisco, after a DUI test showed he had a blood alcohol content level of .082%. The blood sample was taken about two hours after the collision occurred at 10:17 p.m., the Napa County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Pelosi was driving a 2021 Porsche into an intersection near the wine country town of Yountville that was hit by a 2014 Jeep, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Prosecutors filed the case as a misdemeanor because of the injuries sustained by the 48-year-old driver of the Jeep. They have not described the injuries or provided more information about the other driver, saying the person has requested privacy.
Pelosi was released on $5,000 bail after his arrest.
If convicted, Pelosi faces up to a minimum of five days in jail and up to five years of probation. He would also be required to complete a drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock device in his vehicle — a breathalyzer that requires the driver to blow into it before operating the vehicle, prosecutors said.
Pelosi has been married to the powerful Democratic speaker since 1963. She is traveling in Asia this week.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2022-08-03T17:56:42+00:00 | wafb.com | https://www.wafb.com/2022/08/03/nancy-pelosis-husband-pleads-not-guilty-dui-misdemeanor-charges/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say the Biden administration is aiming to lead the international bloc opposed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine into a broader coalition to counter what it sees as a more serious, long-term threat to global order from China.
The officials said Secretary of State Antony Blinken will lay out a three-pillar approach to competing with Beijing in a race to define the 21st century’s economic and military balance in a Thursday speech outlining the administration’s China policy.
While the U.S. sees Russia as the most acute and immediate threat to international stability, the officials said the administration believes China poses a greater danger and is marshaling its resources, friends and allies to push back on increasing Chinese assertiveness around the world.
The officials acknowledged that the U.S. has limited ability to directly influence China’s intentions and ambitions. They said the administration would focus instead on shaping the strategic environment around China.
The officials spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity to preview Blinken’s speech, to be delivered at George Washington University. The speech follows President Joe Biden’s just-concluded visits to South Korea and Japan, where China loomed large in discussions.
Biden raised eyebrows during that trip when he said that the United States would act militarily to help Taiwan defend itself in the event of an invasion by China, which regards the island as a renegade province.
The administration scrambled to insist that Biden was not changing American policy and the officials said Blinken will restate that the U.S. has not changed its position. Blinken will say that Washington still holds to its “One China” policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows for unofficial links with and arms sales to Taipei.
The officials said Blinken will make the case that the global response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine serves as a template for dealing with China’s efforts to mold a new and unpredictable world order to replace the rules and institutions that have guided relations between states since the end of World War II.
One official said that Blinken will tell his audience that “by preventing Putin from achieving his aims, we believe we are greatly strengthening our hand to defend and uphold this order against challenges by others.”
And, the official said, Blinken will note that “China is the one country that has the intention as well as the economic, technological, military and diplomatic means to advance a different vision of international order.”
Blinken will say that the administration intends to leverage its success in rallying support for Ukraine against Russia to align U.S. allies and partners to counter China, according to the officials. Investment in domestic U.S. infrastructure and technology along with stepping up diplomatic outreach to potentially vulnerable countries are other elements of the policy, the officials said.
In the latest manifestation of China’s push to expand its reach that has drawn concern from the U.S. and other democracies, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday began an eight-nation tour of Pacific islands during which Beijing hopes to strike a sweeping agreement that covers everything from security to fisheries.
Wang opened his tour in the Solomon Islands, which last month signed a security cooperation pact with China that some fear could lead to a Chinese military presence there. The agreement was finalized shortly after the Biden administration announced it would open a U.S. embassy in the Solomons as part of its efforts to engage in the greater Indo-Pacific region.
The Biden administration has largely kept in place confrontational policies toward China adopted by its predecessor in response to Chinese actions in its western Xinjiang region, Hong Kong, Tibet and the South China Sea.
And, while the administration sees areas for working with Beijing, such as combatting climate change, it will not trade cooperation for compromising on its principles regarding human rights and rule of law, the officials said. | 2022-05-26T13:08:34+00:00 | nwahomepage.com | https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/politics/us-aims-to-leverage-russia-ukraine-bloc-against-china/ |
Judge hears arguments against sheriff, employees in trio of lawsuits
A judge is expected to rule soon on a trio of lawsuits filed by former Alachua County Sheriff’s Office employees against Sheriff Clovis Watson Jr. after a hearing on Monday.
Attorney Bobi Frank spoke on behalf of the three employees at the hearing, saying Watson repeatedly violated state law by denying her clients' rights to due process while on the brink of suspension or termination.
A fourth separate case, in federal court, also claims he has discriminated against employees based on their skin color. That lawsuit is still pending.
“I am hoping that justice will prevail,” Frank said. “I have full confidence.”
More:Former sheriffs critical of Sheriff Clovis Watson Jr.'s handling of employee's send-off party
More:3 ACSO officers file lawsuits against Sheriff Watson. Judge orders answers
Watson was absent from the hearing which lasted less than two hours and drew a crowd of around 30 people. Attorney Robert Rush represented the sheriff.
Overall, Frank argued there was a severe lack of due process in the discipline of these three employees that has caused irreparable harm to their lives. Alleged misconduct varies by case and includes not properly reviewing complaints and not allowing employees to defend themselves during the investigation process.
Much of the discussion centered around the Florida Bill of Rights and the section Frank called the “officers’ bill of rights.” Frank argued that Watson violated the process outlined in the law, including a portion that says law enforcement agencies shall create their own methods for reviewing complaints and then follow that method.
Rush, however, argues that any potential violations during the termination or disciplinary process were internal policy violations rather than statutory ones, and therefore not a violation of the employees’ rights.
“There’s nothing in the bill of rights that says every complaint must be investigated,” he said. “There is in fact a significant distinction between rights and policies.”
The complaints
In one case, Capt. Rebecca Butscher argues that she was recommended for termination following a disagreement with a former deputy who was recently promoted above her to major.
Butscher was reprimanded for being "insubordinate" based on her “body language and tone,” the court filing states. The determination was at the sole discretion of Maj. Lance Yaeger, who had the initial disagreement with her.
The lawsuit states that Yaeger and Watson violated the officers' bill of rights multiple times by continuously not allowing Butscher to defend herself from the accusations. She was ultimately suspended and given a year of probation within the agency.
The second case involves Sgt. William “Frank” Williams, who made a social media post expressing his concern for staffing levels and Watson’s continued reorganization efforts of the department.
Watson, who has about 300 employees, has moved around, changed the title or demoted nearly 200 workers since taking office, records show. Some of those reassignments include longtime decorated officers being placed on night-shift duty, removed from their longtime roles or transferred to other departments where they have no prior experience.
Significant jumps in rank have also become common practice under Watson’s leadership, as lower-ranked officials have seemingly skipped more experienced officers within the agency by bypassing the competitive and testing processes.
Despite the vast changes, data suggests that staffing woes within the agency and crime have only increased.
In February, the sheriff’s office had more than 100 vacant positions, including shortages at the jail and on patrol. Data also shows Alachua County had one of the highest crime rates per capita in the state last year. Crime had also increased from the year prior.
“I’m just exhausted from constantly being disappointed by this administration," Williams wrote on Facebook. "I’m done suppressing my feelings and my own mental health just to avoid retaliation. Quite literally, this is no different than a domestic violence relationship. I’ll probably find myself transferred or disciplined in some fashion because of this, but I don’t give a f---. I’m tired of my friends, nah family, being treated poorly.”
Williams was suspended soon after his post.
An internal investigation report found that the sergeant violated the department's social media policy, was insubordinate and disrespectful to his chain of command. Fellow officers, however, gave Williams glowing reviews and said he was one of the best leaders they had worked with on the force and painted him as a passionate member of the team who cares for the well-being of his fellow officers.The report shows that Williams met with investigators and said he needed a chance to review all the information before moving forward. The administration, however, ordered the investigation to play out without ever interviewing Williams, the report states.
On March 7, Watson wrote that Williams had "outrageous criticism behavior" that warranted termination.
Williams's lawsuit states that he wasn't awarded due process and was not given a chance to defend himself from the allegations.
Third lawsuit and federal case
Sgt. Kevin Davis, who filed suit against Watson on Monday, was also suspended for his social media use and likewise argues his due process was skipped over.
But Davis, a white male with 23 years of experience, has taken his issues further by filing a discrimination lawsuit against Watson where he accuses the county’s first Black sheriff of letting race play a pivotal role in his employment decisions.
He, as well as other ACSO employees who spoke with The Sun, said Watson requires an image of applicants prior to making decisions on hires, promotions and transfers. He argues that more qualified and higher-ranked employees are regularly skipped over for promotions based on the color of their skin.
Davis argues in the federal lawsuit that he was not promoted for being white and that his civil rights were violated.
The growing frustrations among Watson's staff and the lack of answers didn't stockpile overnight.
In November, The Sun reported that Watson suspended another employee who asked county commissioners for clarification after learning the sheriff opted not to give all agency workers raises, despite being given funds to do so. He claimed the employee shared false information about him, though he provided no specifics.
The employee, who was facing termination, also hired Frank as her attorney and ultimately kept her job. The former jail director, who campaigned for Watson in 2020, also left the agency after expressing frustration with constant restructuring and low staffing levels. | 2023-05-23T02:00:13+00:00 | gainesville.com | https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/local/2023/05/22/sheriff-clovis-watson-defends-case-against-employees-in-court/70244840007/ |
Braves vs. Padres: Odds, spread, over/under - April 17
When the Atlanta Braves (12-4) and San Diego Padres (8-9) meet in the series opener at PETCO Park on Monday, April 17, Max Fried will get the call for the Braves, while the Padres will send Ryan Weathers to the hill. The game will begin at 9:40 PM ET.
The favored Braves have -150 moneyline odds against the underdog Padres, who are listed at +125. An 8.5-run over/under has been set in this contest.
Braves vs. Padres Time and TV Channel
- Date: Monday, April 17, 2023
- Time: 9:40 PM ET
- TV: MLB Network
- Location: San Diego, California
- Venue: PETCO Park
- Probable Pitchers: Fried - ATL (0-0, 2.70 ERA) vs Weathers - SD (1-0, 2.70 ERA)
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Braves vs. Padres Betting Odds, Run Line and Total
See the odds, run line and over/under for this matchup available at individual sportsbooks.
If you're wanting to bet on the Braves and Padres matchup but want some help getting started, here's a quick breakdown. Wagering on the moneyline, run line, and total are some of the most common ways to place bets. A moneyline bet means that you think one of the teams -- say, the Braves (-150) -- will win the game. Pretty simple, right? If you bet $10 with those odds, and they end up winning the game, you'd get $16.67 back in your pocket.
And that's not all. There are lots of other ways to bet, as well. For example, you can wager on player props (will Matt Olson get a hit?), parlays (combining picks from different games to multiply your potential winnings), and more. Visit the BetMGM website and app for additional info on the many ways you can bet on games.
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Braves vs. Padres Betting Trends and Insights
- The Braves have been favorites in 14 games this season and won 10 (71.4%) of those contests.
- The Braves have gone 7-2 (winning 77.8% of their games) when playing as moneyline favorites of -150 or shorter.
- Bookmakers have implied with the moneyline set for this matchup that Atlanta has a 60% chance to win.
- The Braves played as the moneyline favorite for each of their last 10 games, and they finished 7-3 in those matchups.
- Over its last 10 outings, Atlanta and its opponents combined to hit the over on the total seven times (all 10 games had set totals).
- The Padres have won in four of the seven contests they have been named as odds-on underdogs this year.
- The Padres have played as an underdog of +125 or more just one time this year and came away with a loss in that game.
- The Padres have played as underdogs in six of their past 10 games and won four of those contests.
- When it comes to hitting the over, San Diego and its opponents are 3-7-0 in the last 10 games with a total.
Braves vs. Padres Player Props
Check out all the player prop markets available for this game, including betting on players to get a hit, go deep, or pick up a bunch of strikeouts. Head to BetMGM for the latest odds available for the Braves, and place your bets.
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Braves Futures Odds
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Not all offers available in all states, please visit sportsbook websites 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. | 2023-04-17T21:22:56+00:00 | wlbt.com | https://www.wlbt.com/sports/betting/2023/04/17/braves-vs-padres-mlb-odds-over-under/ |
First Period_1, N.Y. Islanders, Nelson 35 (Pelech, Palmieri), 10:26. 2, Montreal, Pitlick 6 (Evans), 17:38. 3, N.Y. Islanders, Fasching 10 (Pageau, Parise), 18:57. Penalties_None.
Second Period_4, N.Y. Islanders, Nelson 36 (Mayfield, Dobson), 10:20. 5, Montreal, Suzuki 25, 16:38 (sh). Penalties_Edmundson, MTL (Interference), 2:58; Montreal bench, served by Farrell (Roughing), 15:18; Gallagher, MTL (Kneeing), 15:18; Pageau, NYI (Roughing), 15:18; Lee, NYI (High Sticking), 16:55.
Third Period_6, N.Y. Islanders, Lee 28 (Dobson, Aho), 16:00 (pp). Penalties_Hoffman, MTL (Misconduct), 15:15; Hoffman, MTL (Misconduct), 15:15.
Shots on Goal_Montreal 8-6-5_19. N.Y. Islanders 10-18-7_35.
Power-play opportunities_Montreal 0 of 1; N.Y. Islanders 1 of 3.
Goalies_Montreal, Montembeault 16-18-3 (35 shots-31 saves). N.Y. Islanders, Sorokin 31-22-7 (19-17).
A_17,255 (17,113). T_2:22.
Referees_Eric Furlatt, Kendrick Nicholson. Linesmen_Shandor Alphonso, Devin Berg. | 2023-04-13T02:34:58+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/sports/article/n-y-islanders-4-montreal-2-17894303.php |
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Buddy’s Second Chance Rescue joined Wake Up! on Saturday to talk about their charity and helping dogs find their forever home.
You can watch the full segment above.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Buddy’s Second Chance Rescue joined Wake Up! on Saturday to talk about their charity and helping dogs find their forever home.
You can watch the full segment above.
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Subscribe Now | 2022-09-10T13:18:38+00:00 | wivb.com | https://www.wivb.com/wake-up/wake-up-wags/wake-up-wags-buddys-second-chance-rescue/ |
SUMMIT, N.J., Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Specialty Program Group LLC (SPG), a leading operator of specialty insurance brokerages and underwriting facilities, announced today the acquisition of the assets of Catapult Insurance Solutions. Catapult is a privately held managing general insurance agency and wholesale brokerage for niche industries and hard-to-place risks.
Led by President Tim Sunderman, Catapult's largest delegated authority program is dedicated to providing residential homebuilders, commercial general contractors and trade contractors with best-in-class products and services, including general liability, umbrella, builder's risk, contractor's equipment and workers' compensation.
In addition, Catapult is a Lloyds Coverholder and also provides solutions for hard-to-place risks for coastal and other high hazard property, specialty trade contractor GL, deductible buy downs, commercial DIC (EQ & Flood), and contractor's equipment. Catapult's infrastructure is designed for program incubation and development.
"Tim and his team have implemented a targeted growth strategy and innovative technology platform that have enabled them to become an extremely successful and growing niche player," said SPG President & CEO Christopher Treanor. "Their deep expertise in the construction space will expand SPG's offerings and accelerate our growth in this growing industry."
"We are extremely excited to join the SPG team. Our firms share in the entrepreneurial spirit that has made the specialty distribution space so dynamic and appealing," said Tim Sunderman, President of Catapult. "Their operating philosophy allows for significant autonomy, which was very important as we selected a business partner. The resources and market presence SPG offers will allow us to build upon our capabilities in the niche segments we represent, expand our geographical footprint and ultimately benefit our current and future distribution partners through enhanced products and service. We are encouraged by what we can build together."
Headquartered in Summit, NJ, Specialty Program Group is a fully licensed holding company established to acquire and scale best-in-class insurance underwriting facilities and specialty businesses throughout North America. SPG has a vast portfolio of specialty companies and is over two billion in premium. For more information, please visit www.specialtyprogramgroup.com.
Founded in 2007, Catapult Insurance Solutions, LLC is a privately held managing general agency, wholesale brokerage and Lloyd's Coverholder that currently underwrites and administers premium in excess of $50 million through niche programs. Catapult's products are distributed through a group of select agents and brokers throughout the U.S. For more information, please visit www.catapultinsurance.com.
Media: Chris Lamitola
Phone: 908-790-6749
Christopher.Lamitola@specialtyprogramgroup.com
M&A: Chris Treanor
Phone: 908-790-6884
Chris.Treanor@specialtyprogramgroup.com
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SOURCE Specialty Program Group | 2022-11-02T12:38:09+00:00 | wbrc.com | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2022/11/02/specialty-program-group-llc-acquires-assets-catapult-insurance-solutions-llc/ |
Small and medium-sized businesses now have affordable, instant access to 650mm+ rolling quarterly behavior events through its vertically integrated platform.
IRVINE Calif., March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MFour, the leading mobile research company, today announced a new product available on their SaaS platform, MFour Studio. Journeys Marketplace unlocks consumer insights with the ability to access all of MFour's app, web, and location data at an affordable monthly cost. This service provides users with 650mm+ rolling quarterly events they can instantly analyze without the need for a team of data scientists.
With the first of its kind, Journeys Marketplace, users gain an omnichannel understanding of specific events and trended consumer behavior, including app usage, web browsing history, and location visitation. The platform offers out-of-the-box visuals, as well as the ability to create custom visualizations and seamlessly view event-level data that can be easily filtered and exported on demand.
By utilizing Journeys Marketplace, users can eliminate data "blindspots" and explore consumer preferences to create more effective, targeted campaigns and maximize return on investment. The data also informs product development, inventory strategies, marketing initiatives, and much more, keeping users ahead of the competition.
"We are leveling the playing field for small businesses. Tearing down data sciences' walled garden of data means every business now has access to ethically gathered consumer behaviors," said Chris St. Hilaire, Founder & CEO of MFour.
About MFour
Better outcomes on MFour Studio: the first platform to behave like your consumer. Using the nation's most downloaded, highest-rated, and only Apple-approved data collection and survey app, MFour has finally united market research and data science.
MFour Studio is the only place for real-time app, web, and foot traffic united with validated consumer surveys for unprecedented insights to help you capture the modern consumer's attention.
For more information, please visit www.mfour.com, and join the conversation on Linkedin.
Media Contact
Aj Rochow
marketing@mfour.com
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SOURCE MFOUR MOBILE RESEARCH | 2023-03-08T14:08:51+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/prnewswire/2023/03/08/mfour-expands-saas-product-mfour-studio-with-journeys-marketplace-democratizing-data-accessibility/ |
BEIJING (AP) — Administrators at an elite Beijing university have backed down from plans to further tighten pandemic restrictions on students as part of China’s “zero-COVID” strategy after a weekend protest at the school, according to students Tuesday.
Graduate students at Peking University staged the rare, but peaceful protest Sunday over the school’s decision to erect a sheet-metal wall to keep them further sequestered on campus, while allowing faculty to come and go freely. Discontent had already been simmering over regulations prohibiting them from ordering in food or having visitors, and daily COVID-19 testing.
A citywide lockdown of Shanghai and expanded restrictions in Beijing in recent weeks have raised questions about the economicand human costs of China’s strict virus controls, which the ruling Communist Party has trumpeted as a success compared to other major nations with much higher death tolls. While most people have grumbled privately or online, some Shanghai residents have clashed with police, volunteers and others trying to enforce lockdowns and take infected people to quarantine centers.
Many of the Peking University students protesting Sunday outside a dormitory took cellphone videos as Chen Baojian, the deputy secretary of the university’s Communist Party committee, admonished them through a megaphone to end the protest and talk with him one-on-one.
“Please put down your mobile phones, protect Peking University,” he said, to which one student yelled: “Is that protection? How about our rights and interests?”
The crowd of about 200 clapped and cheered as a half dozen protesters broke through the sheet-metal barrier behind Chen.
The phone videos were quickly shared over social media, but just as quickly removed by government censors. Some supportive comments remained, though many were also taken down, while some videos remain on Twitter, which is blocked in China.
“Peking University students are great!” wrote one person on the popular social media platform Weibo. “Fight for rights. A single spark can start a prairie fire.”
The Communist Party moves quickly to quash most activism and any sign of unrest, which it sees as a potential challenge to its hold on power. Peking University is among a handful of elite institutions that have played prominent roles in political movements including the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution and the student-led 1989 pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square that were crushed by the army.
Following the protest, university leaders met with student representatives and agreed to remove the sheet-metal barrier, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday.
One graduate student who took part in the protest, who did not want her name published due to possible repercussions, said the wall had been taken down a short time later, and that other concessions were made to the students, including organizing free supermarket deliveries.
“We achieved our goals Sunday night,” said the student, who said she had been confined to the university’s Wanliu residential compound for 7 days before the protest.
The compound is about 5 kilometers (3 miles) southwest of the main Peking University campus, housing young professors and graduate students. It also has a gym, a supermarket and other facilities.
Authorities have tightened restrictions on access to campuses and monitoring of classroom instruction and student life, making such protests extremely rare. In 2018, police detained students at schools including Peking University who had sought to form an alliance with protesting factory workers, displaying their refusal to tolerate even mild attempts at political activism.
As most other countries in the world have begun to ease restrictions and gradually open back up, China has stuck tenaciously to its zero-COVID policy.
The strict lockdowns with most public areas closed down have played havoc with employment, supply chains and the economy in general, and are becoming increasingly hard on people as the highly transmissible omicron variant proves more difficult to stop.
In Beijing, authorities on Tuesday restricted more residents to their homes in a now 3-week-long effort to control a small but persistent COVID-19 outbreak in the Chinese capital.
Seven adjoining areas in the city’s Fengtai district were designated lockdown zones for at least one week, with people ordered to stay at home in an area covering about 4 kilometers by 5 kilometers (2.5 miles by 3 miles). The area is near a wholesale food market that was closed indefinitely on Saturday following the discovery of a cluster there.
The added restrictions come as Shanghai, China’s largest city, slowly starts to ease a citywide lockdown that has trapped most of its population for more than six weeks.
China recorded 1,100 new cases on Monday, the National Health Commission said Tuesday. Of those, about 800 were in Shanghai and 52 were in Beijing. The daily number of new cases in Shanghai has declined steadily for more than two weeks, but authorities have been moving slowly to relax restrictions, frustrating residents.
In Beijing, the number of cases has held steady but new clusters have popped up in different parts of the city. City spokesperson Xu Hejian said that Beijing’s top priority is to screen people related to the cluster at the wholesale food market and isolate those who test positive. A second wholesale food market in Fengtai district was shut down Tuesday.
Most of Beijing is not locked down, but the streets are much quieter than usual with many shops closed and people working from home.
___
Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press researcher Chen Si in Shanghai and news assistant Caroline Chen in Guangzhou, China, contributed to this report. | 2022-05-17T21:17:11+00:00 | kxnet.com | https://www.kxnet.com/news/beijing-locks-down-more-people-in-chinas-zero-covid-fight/ |
Solution demonstrates trend in cars moving from mechanical handles to seamless touch user interfaces for car entry
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Touch HMI sensor and solution leader, UltraSense Systems and diversified Japanese multinational company, Asahi Kasei announced a collaboration for the development of a door & canopy entry/closure system for Asahi Kasei's Demo Car called the AKXY 2 which will debut at Japan's Automotive Engineering Exposition in Yokohama, Japan from May 25-27, 2022.
Asahi Kasei's AKXY2™ Demo Car is a futuristic look into future mobility based on the evolving needs of our society. True to Asahi Kasei's 100 years of innovation in the material industry, their concept car includes creative new technologies that will add value to OEMs and end car users. These innovations include those from strategic portfolio companies including UltraSense Systems with promising technologies that are actively being adopted by car makers.
The UltraSense Systems entry/closure system is a touch module consisting of its novel multi-mode ultrasound and Z-Force TouchPoint Z sensor along with proprietary algorithms to trigger the opening and closing of the door and canopy lift system. The module is contained in an enclosure with a touch surface of 2mm of aluminum. Both ultrasound and force sensing are used to detect a finger press even with a glove, moisture or surface contaminant. Six access modules are placed around the AKXY2 to for easy entry or opening of the door and/or canopy to view the many Asahi Kasei interior innovations.
"We are excited about the adoption and showcasing of our touch solution for the entry/closure system by Asahi Kasei in their latest Demo Car," said Daniel Goehl, Chief Business Officer of UltraSense Systems, "the future of car entry and interior user interfaces are seamless touch interactions. We are well positioned with our multi-mode sensors and proprietary software to provide a scalable solution for the multitude of automotive use cases."
"We are amidst both a changing society and a revolution of the automotive industry, and the needs of end car users are changing. 'The senses' is a major theme of AKXY2 and I think those who have a chance to experience the vehicle at trade shows will realize how the look of its futuristic design, the touch of the textiles, and the sound-proof atmosphere of the cabin meet these evolving needs," said Masahiro "Masa" Morizumi, Manager of New Business Development, Mobility and Industrial SBU. "The collaboration with UltraSense Systems demonstrates how Asahi Kasei is taking action to incorporate the latest technologies in products today, along with how we support our investment portfolio companies."
AKXY2 can be experienced at trade shows around the world in 2022
(List tradeshows that AKXY2 will be a part of below.)
Detroit Auto Show: September 2022
K: October 2022, Düsseldorf, Germany
CES 2023: January, Las Vegas
Learn more at the AKXY 2 website.
https://asahi-kasei-mobility.com/en/akxy2/
About the Asahi Kasei Corporation
The Asahi Kasei Group contributes to life and living for people around the world. Since its foundation in 1922 with ammonia and cellulose fiber businesses, Asahi Kasei has consistently grown through the proactive transformation of its business portfolio to meet the evolving needs of every age. With more than 44,000 employees around the world, the company contributes to a sustainable society by providing solutions to the world's challenges through its three business sectors of Material, Homes, and Health Care. Its Materials sector, comprised of Environmental Solutions, Mobility & Industrial, and Life Innovation, includes a wide array of products from battery separators and biodegradable textiles to engineering plastics and sound solutions. For more information, visit www.asahi-kasei.com.
About UltraSense Systems Inc.
UltraSense Systems is the leader in Human Machine Interface (HMI) solutions providing a suite of sensors, subsystem modules, full products and software focused on pioneering Smart Surfaces with rapid product integration capabilities. The Company's core competency in delivering multi-sensory silicon and modules integrate functions that include touch, haptic and lighting with extensive software algorithms and Machine Learning for a comprehensive user experience. The core silicon supplies sensor fusion capabilities through novel multi-physics detection and feedback for hard and soft surfaces, including metals, glass, plastics, wood, and leather for indoor and outdoor use cases. A global company headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, and Europe, the company has raised $38M from investors including Robert Bosch Ventures, Artiman Ventures, Abies Ventures, Sony Innovation, Sparx Group and Asahi Kasei.
Media Inquiries
ATTN: Daniel Goehl
UltraSense Systems Inc.
media@ultrasensesys.com
https://www.ultrasensesys.com.com
Europe Media Inquiries
ATTN: Sebastian Schmidt
Asahi Kasei Europe GmbH
AKEU-Info@asahi-kasei.eu
http://www.asahi-kasei.eu
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SOURCE UltraSense Systems | 2022-05-25T14:51:32+00:00 | kcrg.com | https://www.kcrg.com/prnewswire/2022/05/25/ultrasense-systems-develops-touch-solution-door-amp-canopy-entryclosure-system-asahi-kaseis-next-generation-concept-car-akxy2/ |
One of the top football prospects in the state is set to stay close by for college ball after attracting interest from power five schools.
Bishop Ryan Offensive Tackle Coy Okeson announced his commitment to NDSU football last night on social media.
The 6’5, 275lb composite three star recruit chose the Bison over FBS schools like Nebraska and Wyoming.
The sell from Head Coach Matt Entz and staff played a big role in NDSU landing the multi-sport standout.
“It had a lot to do with the coaching staff and I just really like the way they coach and I liked how the whole team really felt like a family, and all of the coaches were really personal and nice. They think that I’ll just make the team better, because I’ve been a captain in other sports and I’ll just bring the team together,” Okeson said.
Okeson joins multiple in-state commits in the Class of 2024 including North Prairie’s Nate Tastad and Isiah St. Romain of Williston, they’re set to play with other in-state talent like New Salem-Almont’s AJ Heins and South Prairie’s Collin Knorr who signed in this year’s recruiting class. | 2023-06-16T01:20:44+00:00 | kxnet.com | https://www.kxnet.com/sports/local-sports/bishop-ryans-coy-okeson-announces-commitment-to-ndsu-football/ |
Court hears Josh Duggar’s appeal of child porn conviction
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An attorney for Josh Duggar asked a federal appeals court panel on Thursday to reverse the former reality TV star’s conviction for downloading child pornography, saying investigators violated his rights by seizing the phone he was using to try to call his lawyer during the search that found the images.
Attorneys for Duggar and the U.S. Justice Department appeared before a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a hearing. The panel did not indicate when they planned to rule.
Duggar, 34, was arrested in April 2021 after a Little Rock police detective found child porn files were being shared by a computer traced to Duggar. Investigators testified that images depicting the sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded in 2019 onto a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned. He was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 12 1/2-year prison sentence.
Justin Gelfand, Duggar’s attorney, said federal agents violated Duggar’s rights when they executed a search warrant of the car dealership in 2019, looking for his computers and phone. Duggar’s attorneys have argued statements he made to agents during the search should have been suppressed. Prosecutors said Duggar asked the agents if someone had been downloading child pornography and that he declined to say whether he had looked at child pornography online, comments that were later used as evidence in the trial.
“What federal agents did is they physically took the phone out of his hand and from that point forward, deprived him of the ability to communicate with his legal counsel, as was his constitutional right,” Gelfand said.
But Joshua Handell, an attorney with the Justice Department, said Duggar was told repeatedly he was free to leave the scene and was told he did not have to talk to the agents without an attorney present. During the search, Duggar was with two companions and there was at least one other cell phone that wasn’t seized.
“All of that shows he had an option to speak to a lawyer even though obviously the officers had appropriately seized the phone at the outset of their search,” Handell said.
Gelfand also argued Duggar should have been able to present an alternative suspect during the trial: a former employee of the dealership who was a convicted sex offender and had used the same computer.
Handell said the former employee wasn’t even in the same state on the dates the images were downloaded.
A monitoring program that sent reports to Duggar’s wife about his activity had been installed on the computer, but the images and videos were downloaded after software had been installed that allowed him to download them without being monitored, prosecutors said.
TLC canceled “19 Kids and Counting” in 2015 following allegations that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. Authorities began investigating the abuse in 2006 after receiving a tip from a family friend but concluded that the statute of limitations on any possible charges had expired.
Duggar’s parents said after the allegations resurfaced in 2015 that he had confessed to the fondling and apologized privately. Duggar then apologized publicly for unspecified behavior and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group. Months later, he also publicly apologized for cheating on his wife and a pornography addiction, for which he then sought treatment.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-02-16T19:47:09+00:00 | wcjb.com | https://www.wcjb.com/2023/02/16/court-hears-josh-duggars-appeal-child-porn-conviction/ |
By FRANK JORDANS (Associated Press)
BERLIN (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that his country is preparing a counteroffensive designed to liberate areas occupied by Russia, not to attack Russian territory.
Speaking during a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s goal is to free the territories within its internationally recognized borders.
The Washington Post cited previously undisclosed documents from a trove of U.S. intelligence leaks suggesting that Zelenskyy has considered trying to capture areas in Russia proper for possible use as bargaining chips in peace negotiations to end the war launched by Moscow in February 2022. This would put him at odds with Western governments that have insisted that weapons they provide must not be used to attack targets in Russia.
Asked about the report, Zelenskyy said: “We don’t attack Russian territory, we liberate our own legitimate territory.”
“We have neither the time nor the strength (to attack Russia),” he said, according to an official interpreter. “And we also don’t have weapons to spare, with which we could do this.”
“We are preparing a counterattack for the illegally occupied areas based on our constitutionally defined legitimate borders, which are recognized internationally,” Zelenskyy said.
Among the areas still occupied by Russia are the Crimean peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine with mainly Russian-speaking populations.
The Ukrainian president is visiting allies in search of further arms to help his country fend off the Russian invasion, and funds to rebuild what’s been destroyed by more than a year of devastating conflict.
A Luftwaffe jet flew Zelenskyy to the German capital from Rome, where he had met Saturday with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.
It was his first visit to Berlin since the start of the war and came a day after the German government announced a new package of military aid for Ukraine worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.
Zelenskyy thanked Scholz for Germany’s political, financial and military support, saying the country is now second only behind the United States in providing aid to Ukraine — and joked that he is working to make it the biggest donor.
“German air defense systems, artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are saving Ukrainian lives and bringing us closer to victory. Germany is a reliable ally! Together we are bringing peace closer!” he wrote on Twitter after the meeting.
Scholz said Berlin has so far given Kyiv some 17 billion euros in bilateral aid and that it can expect more in future.
“We will support you for as long as necessary,” he said, adding that it is up to Russia to end the war by withdrawing its troops.
The office of French President Emmanuel Macron later announced that Zelenskyy will make a surprise visit to Paris for talks.
Macron’s office said the two leaders will hold talks over dinner and that Macron will “reaffirm France and Europe’s unwavering support to reestablish Ukraine in its legitimate rights and to defend its fundamental interests.”
After initially hesitating to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, Germany has become one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, including Leopard 1 and 2 battle tanks, and the sophisticated IRIS-T SLM air-defense system. Modern Western hardware is considered crucial if Ukraine is to succeed in its planned counteroffensive against Russian troops.
Zelenskyy said one reason for his latest visit to allied capitals was to forge a “fighter jet coalition” that would provide Ukraine with the combat planes it needs to counter Russia’s air dominance.
Germany has said in the past that it doesn’t have the F-16 jets Ukraine needs and Scholz responded to questions about possible plane deliveries by referring to the anti-aircraft system Berlin has provided to Kyiv.
“That’s what we as Germany are now concentrating on,” he said.
In Ukraine, officials on Sunday denied that the country had anything to do with the downing of two Russian helicopters close to the border the day before.
In a joint statement after their meeting, Scholz and Zelenskyy said they support efforts to bring those responsible for atrocities in Ukraine to justice and noted the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They also pledged to ensure sanctions against Russia aren’t circumvented and to explore possibilities for using frozen Russian assets to pay for damage caused in Ukraine.
Germany said it supports Kyiv’s efforts to join the European Union and backed a 2008 vow by NATO members to pave the way for Ukraine to eventually join the military alliance.
Zelenskyy first met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s head of state, who was snubbed by Kyiv last year, apparently over his previous close ties to Russia, causing a chill in diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Germany. Since then, both Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have visited Ukraine.
After talks with Scholz and other senior officials at the chancellery, the two leaders flew to the western city of Aachen for Zelenskyy to receive the prestigious International Charlemagne Prize, awarded to him and the people of Ukraine.
In her congratulatory speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen compared the war in Ukraine to the fall of the Iron Curtain more than 30 years ago.
“Every generation has its moment when it has to stand up to defend democracy and what it believes in,” she said. “For us, that moment has come.”
Zelenskyy accused Moscow of trying to turn back the clock of European history in its attack on Ukraine.
“Modern Russia waged war not just on us, as a free and sovereign state, not just against united Europe as a global symbol of peace and prosperity,” he said in his acceptance speech. “This is Russia’s war for the past.”
French media reported that Zelenskyy planned to travel on to Paris late Sunday, but officials at the president and prime minister’s office wouldn’t confirm.
In other developments:
Zelenskyy’s chief aide, Andriy Yermak, said Sunday that five civilians died in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region when an unexploded Russian shell blew up. Another Kherson resident died in shelling, said regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
To people were killed in Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region, governor Oleh Syniehubov said.
Overnight, Russia launched a “massive” attack on Ukraine with Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones, which left more than 30 people wounded, according to the Ukrainian military.
Eighteen of the 23 drones were shot down, but those that got through, and wreckage from those intercepted, damaged 50 apartment buildings, private homes and other buildings, the military said without providing further details.
Russia also hit the western city of Ternopil and southern city of Mykolaiv with rockets, wounding an unspecified number of civilians.
Shelling by Russian forces killed two people — a 59-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man — in the Chuhuiv district of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv province on Sunday, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov reported on Telegram.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Sunday that Ukrainian forces had killed two of its colonels in the Bakhmut area.
___
David Rising and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Elise Morton in London and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | 2023-05-14T19:10:13+00:00 | twincities.com | https://www.twincities.com/2023/05/14/ukrainian-president-says-counteroffensive-wont-aim-to-attack-russian-territory/ |
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ The winning numbers in Sunday evening's drawing of the Iowa Lottery's "Pick 3 Evening" game were:
1-8-3
(one, eight, three)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) _ The winning numbers in Sunday evening's drawing of the Iowa Lottery's "Pick 3 Evening" game were:
1-8-3
(one, eight, three) | 2022-06-06T04:01:34+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Pick-3-Evening-game-17221532.php |
NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --
If you own shares in any of the companies listed above and
would like to discuss our investigations or have any questions concerning
this notice or your rights or interests, please contact:
Joshua Rubin, Esq.
Weiss Law
305 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10007
(212) 682-3025
(888) 593-4771
stockinfo@weisslawllp.com
CarLotz, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOTZ)
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of CarLotz, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOTZ), in connection with the proposed merger of LOTZ with Shift Technologies, Inc. ("Shift"). Pursuant to the merger agreement, LOTZ shareholders will receive 0.692158 shares of Shift common stock for each share of LOTZ common stock. If you own LOTZ shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/lotz
Gemini Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMTX)
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Gemini Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMTX), in connection with the proposed merger of GMTX with Disc Medicine, Inc. ("Disc"). Pursuant to the merger agreement, GMTX shareholders are expected to own approximately 28% of the combined company and Disc shareholders are expected to own approximately 72% of the combined company. Prior to the closing of the proposed merger, GMTX shareholders will be issued contingent value rights ("CVR's) representing the right to receive certain payments from proceeds received by the combined company, if any, related to pre-transaction legacy assets during the period ending one year following the closing of the merger. If you own GMTX shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/gmtx
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAWW)
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAWW), in connection with the proposed acquisition of AAWW by a consortium of investors led by Apollo Global Management Inc. Pursuant to the merger agreement, AAWW shareholders will receive $102.50 in cash for each share of AAWW common stock owned. If you own AAWW shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/aaww
ChemoCentryx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCXI)
Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of ChemoCentryx, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCXI), in connection with the proposed acquisition of CCXI by Amgen Inc. Pursuant to the merger agreement, CCXI shareholders will receive $52.00 in cash for each share of CCXI common stock owned. If you own CCXI shares and wish to discuss this investigation or your rights, please call us or visit our website: https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/ccxi
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SOURCE Weiss Law | 2022-08-24T23:35:47+00:00 | waff.com | https://www.waff.com/prnewswire/2022/08/24/shareholder-alert-weiss-law-reminds-lotz-gmtx-aaww-ccxi-shareholders-about-its-ongoing-investigations/ |
SHAMOKIN, Pa. (AP) — Deep in Pennsylvania coal country, the Daniels drag family is up to some sort of exuberance almost every weekend.
They’re hosting sold-out bingo fundraisers at the Nescopeck Township Volunteer Fire Co.’s social hall, packed with people of all ages howling with laughter and singing along. Or they’re lighting up local blue-collar bars and restaurants with Mimosas & Heels Drag Brunches for bridal parties, members of the military, families and friends.
Or they’re reading in gardens to children dressed in their Sunday best — Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” is a favorite book for performers and kids alike.
In a string of towns running along a coal seam, the sparkle of small-town drag queens and kings colors a way of life rooted in soot, family and a conservative understanding of the world.
Here two very old traditions mingle — and mostly happily, it seems, in contrast to the fierce political winds ripping at drag performances and the broader rights of LGBTQ+ people in red states from Utah and Texas to Tennessee and Florida.
One tradition is the view of family as mom, dad and kids, plain and simple.
The other, back to before Shakespearian times, is drag, a loud, proud and seismically flamboyant artistic expression of gender fluidity. Not plain, not simple, but also bedrock, rising above ground only in culturally adventurous cities.
Yet the Daniels drag family is firmly woven in the fabric of the larger community in this area, where voters went solidly for Donald Trump, a Republican, in the last election. Their trouble is more apt to come from politicians who are increasingly passing laws restricting what they can do.
Alexus Daniels, the matriarch, was the child of a coal miner and a textile worker who was “born with a female spirit.” She works at the local hospital as an MRI aide tech.
Jacob Kelley, who performs as drag queen Trixy Valentine, is an LGBTQ+ activist and educator with a master’s in human sexuality.
Harpy Daniels, Trixy’s twin, is a U.S. Navy sailor who’s had three deployments on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. Soon that seaman, Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Kelley, who just reenlisted, moves from a base in Norfolk, Virginia, to one in Spain, with plans to pack a wig “and maybe one or two cute outfits but nothing over the top” for Harpy-style shore leave.
Apart from the twins, the drag performers in this circle are family by choice, not genes. Theirs is an oasis of belonging.
“I never had a person like me growing up,” Trixy said, “and now I get to be that for everyone else.
“There was a curse being a queer person in a rural town — the curse is that we’ll move … because there’s no one like us here, there’s no one that can understand us.
“And drag now can be a place or a thing to show people like you that you don’t have to go to the cities. It’s here in your backyard.”
The Associated Press followed the Daniels family for more than a year. Among them:
Daniels’ first memory is of her great-grandmother’s jewelry box. With Cyndi Lauper and the Pointer Sisters blasting, she would wrap herself in knitted blankets to lip-sync and dance for her family. “I had no idea that it was drag or gay,” she says. “I was just having a day!”
Alexus hit high school and upped her Halloween game. She soon entered her first drag performance in the small Pennsylvania coal town of Weishample.
“I still was not out at this point,” Alexus says. “I wasn’t even sure if I was gay. I knew I was attracted to boys and loved all things feminine! I kept this side of me to myself and my best friends growing up, who really didn’t see anything strange about it.”
In their teens, Joshua was the first to turn to drag. Jacob started about six months later, in a white Marilyn Monroe dress at an amateur pageant in 2014.
Trixy’s drag style is eclectic, but whether silly or fierce, there’s glitter: “I just want to shine when the light hits me.”
“I came out as non-binary a few years ago because I started learning, like, what do I love so much about drag?” Kelley says. “It’s that femininity, that so-simple touch.”
“I’m not a man,” Kelley says. “I never will see myself as a man. And I don’t see myself as a woman, either. But I see myself as beyond that.”
In March, the Daniels drag family hosted bingo at the Nescopeck fire hall, packed with more than 300 people in a fund-raiser for a nearby theater.
A small group of protesters could be watched on social media from the bingo hall, holding signs and praying the rosary across from the theater. Trixy addressed the bingo crowd.
“There’s hundreds of us in this room and only nine of them on that street,” Trixy said. “So all I have to say is I don’t care what you believe in. But do not force it down my throat and tell me I shouldn’t be here because you think I’m wrong.
“The Lord gave birth to me, too.”
Trixy was in a long blue wig and Morgan Wells catsuit with an overskirt, a raised fist in the colors of the Pride flag on the chest.
“Alright, let’s call some numbers!” Trixy said. “Let’s play some bingo!” The crowd cheered.
Until 2011, the armed forces applied the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which accepted LGBTQ+ people only if they stayed mum about their sexual orientation.
But after Kelley enlisted in 2016, he encountered the opposite — call it “ask and tell.” A commander asked what pronoun they prefer. Joshua, relieved by the acceptance implied by the question, told him any pronoun will do.
Now, the sailor is a social media sensation who was named a “digital ambassador” by the Navy, doing outreach to the LGBTQ+ community and others who have been marginalized: “I’m very proud to wear this uniform.”
Kitty, a trans woman, describes her drag style as “punk and a lot of storytelling.” Her inspiration: Adore Delano, a 2014 finalist on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
“She was what I wanted to be — this badass punker chick looking gorgeous without sacrificing her style,” Kitty says.
Kitty says her performances are high-energy fun but also “a lighthouse.”
“Because even in our LGBTQ community, there are outcasts and people who don’t feel like they’re like anybody else,” Kitty says. “So I wanted to make a beacon for all those people who feel weird and feel different and can’t really find their place in society.”
More than a decade after she was transfixed by seeing her first drag show, Xander was invited by Trixy to join the drag family.
Xander has an energetic, family-friendly side as well as a sexy, sultry side. Confusing people about gender is intentional, a barrier-breaker.
“I try to create a consistent theme of masculinity in my performances,” Xander says. “Although I paint my face, wear wigs and adorn myself with rhinestones, I usually perform to songs sung by men and tailor my costumes more toward suits and ties.
“My personal goal as a king is to have the audience question my off-stage gender identity.”
Why? It’s to convey the message, Xander says, that “it’s OK to not immediately know how a person identifies or who they are attracted to, and still be kind to them.
“It’s OK to accept someone as different, even if you don’t fully understand it.”
___
Woodward reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Lynn Berry contributed to this report from Washington. | 2023-07-03T16:19:12+00:00 | ktalnews.com | https://www.ktalnews.com/entertainment-news/ap-entertainment/ap-drag-queens-are-out-proud-and-loud-in-a-string-of-coal-towns-from-a-bingo-hall-to-blue-collar-bars/ |
Percentages: FG .300, FT .333.
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3-Point Goals: 13-40, .325 (J.Black 5-19, Haney 4-13, Sharp 3-5, Jos.Williams 1-1, Garrett 0-1, Prim 0-1).
Team Rebounds: 4. Team Turnovers: 1.
Blocked Shots: 1 (Jos.Williams).
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Turnovers: 8 (Haney 3, Sharp 3, Hampton, Jos.Williams).
Steals: 4 (Hampton, Haney, Sharp, Wilmore).
Technical Fouls: None.
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Percentages: FG .420, FT .778.
3-Point Goals: 1-12, .083 (Taylor 1-5, Hefner 0-1, Radford 0-1, Washington 0-1, Dennis 0-4).
Team Rebounds: 7. Team Turnovers: 2.
Blocked Shots: 2 (Garcia, Washington).
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Turnovers: 9 (Coleman 3, Radford 3, Taylor 2, Washington).
Steals: 6 (Dennis 2, Coleman, Garcia, Marble, Taylor).
Technical Fouls: None.
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. | 2022-12-28T02:41:02+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/TEXAS-A-M-64-NORTHWESTERN-STATE-52-17680336.php |
DALLAS, March 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SB22, a leader in the sports betting and entertainment technology space, is proud to announce the latest exciting addition to its innovative product portfolio—the Ai22 Promotions Engine. This AI-powered and fully automated module is designed to fit seamlessly with SB22's existing state-of-the-art Fi22 betting platform as well as its K22 kiosk solution, enabling operators to produce unique, tailor-made promotions for their customers. SB22's new Ai22 engine will also easily plug in to other platforms as an off the shelf product add on.
Ai22 is designed from the ground up to take advantage of all available data sources, including social media feeds, and aggregate them to produce a complete portrait of each individual player's wagering style. This allows the engine to predict and propose unique and personalized offers that are guaranteed to achieve an elevated engagement impact, both pre-match and in-game.
Instead of the traditional campaign-targeting mechanisms that aim to create pools of players and generic control groups, Ai22 algorithms power a promo engine that is capable of generating many thousands of promotions each with its own unique DNA, crafted specifically for individual players based on their individual preferences, and which can be sent at any point in time.
Perhaps more importantly, the Ai22 engine, which treats players as individuals and not simply as anonymous members of a larger group, makes it easy for operators to spot individual problem-causing patterns of behavior and act accordingly. "Our aim with Ai22 is to move past the empty talk on responsible gaming and build the tech that can actually do something about it," said John Asher Thompson, CEO of SB22.
"We are excited to finally be able to step away from the error-prone methodologies that continue to plague legacy tech, focusing instead on the personal, human side of our players," said Vladimir Jovanovic, COO of SB22. "Our goal is to provide the best possible experience for every sports betting fan."
SB22 has created the only truly next generation sports betting, iGaming and free-to-play platform, uniquely built to GLI standards and designed for the US market specifically. It's modern, scalable and modular, with all its functionality, including its proprietary PAM, completely integrated from the ground up. SB22 is the first mobile-centric, iOS-native, fully automated, cloud capable, and VR/AR-ready tech platform in the sports betting industry.
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SOURCE SB22 Inc. | 2023-03-24T01:30:38+00:00 | wafb.com | https://www.wafb.com/prnewswire/2023/03/23/sb22-launches-ai22-promotional-engine-latest-disruptive-suite-products/ |
Stocks were mostly higher on Wall Street Friday afternoon, though major indexes remained on pace to finish lower for the week after several days of bumpy trading.
The S&P 500 edged up 0.1% as of 2:18 p.m. Eastern. The benchmark index had traded as high as 0.8% earlier in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 84 points, or 0.3%, to 33,630 and the Nasdaq fell 0.4%.
Health care, financial and utilities stocks were among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500. UnitedHealth Group rose 2.6%, Charles Schwab gained 2.3% and Sempra Energy added 2.2%.
A slide in energy and technology companies kept the market's gains in check. Exxon Mobil fell 1.6% amid a broad pullback in energy futures. U.S. crude oil fell 2.9%.
Homebuilders and other real estate companies fell following a report showing that sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in October for the ninth month in a row, the latest sign that the housing market is slowing as homebuyers grapple with sharply higher mortgage rates, rising home prices and fewer properties on the market. Zillow Group fell 5.1% and homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises slid 2.9%.
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Several big retailers made solid gains after reporting strong quarterly results and gave investors encouraging financial forecasts. Discount retailer Ross Stores surged 10.2% and clothing retailer Gap rose 5.6% after beating analysts’ expectations. Foot Locker climbed 8.5% after raising its profit and revenue forecast for the year.
The solid earnings from retailers cap off a shaky week for Wall Street as investors try to get a better sense of inflation's path and its impact on consumers and businesses. Investors have been particularly anxious about the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation and have been looking for signs that might allow the central bank to shift to less aggressive interest rate increases. That anxiety was heightened on Thursday after a Fed official suggested U.S. interest rates might have to be raised higher than expected to cool inflation.
“It's all been the same story for a year,” said Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. “It's about what inflation is doing, how the Fed responds, and from there how does the consumer respond.”
The central bank has already warned that the main lending rate may have to rise to a more painful level than anybody had anticipated, possibly between 5% and 7%. The Fed’s benchmark rate currently stands at 3.75% to 4%, up from close to zero in March.
The Fed is trying to tame the hottest inflation in decades by making borrowing more difficult and curtailing spending. Several big measures of inflation have shown that prices are easing a bit, but other economic indicators show that consumers remain resilient, as does the jobs market.
The Fed's strategy risks sending the economy into a recession if it hits the brakes too hard on economic growth. The latest mix of inflation and economic data has Wall Street trying to gauge whether the Fed needs to keep pushing along with interest rate increases and whether it can achieve its goal without severely crimping consumer spending or employment.
The U.S. reported this week that retail sales rose 1.3% in October as Americans increase their spending at stores, restaurants, and auto dealers, a sign of consumer resilience as the holiday shopping season begins. That's not to say consumer behavior hasn't been affected by inflation. Major retailers say Americans are holding out for sales, refusing to pay full price, with the cost of gasoline, rent, food and almost everything else much higher than it was last year.
European markets were higher and Asian markets closed mixed overnight.
Bond yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, rose to 3.82% from 3.77%.
Joe McDonald and Matt Ott contributed to this report. | 2022-11-18T20:29:38+00:00 | wcfcourier.com | https://wcfcourier.com/news/national/us-stocks-waver-remain-on-track-to-end-week-with-losses/article_4c25df62-a50f-5a2a-a351-5c34b862d3fc.html |
AUSTIN, Texas, March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Night, an Austin-based talent management company, has announced the hiring of Jared Jacobs as vice president of development for Night Studios, the company's original content production arm.
Night Studios helps digitally-native artists create and package their own shows for television, podcasts, and other streaming platforms. In his role, Jacobs will oversee the creation and distribution of original content for a talent roster that garners more than 5 billion views per month across YouTube and Twitch. Night's productions will span across all genres, including scripted, unscripted, animated, live event, feature films, podcasts, and documentary programming.
"Night Studios is uniquely positioned to merge the creative passion and engaged audiences of the biggest digital creators in the world with the distribution and star-making capabilities of traditional media," said Alex Piper, Head of Night Studios. "Jared will help us develop a slate of unique multi-format and multi-genre programming that is as diverse as the creators we represent."
Jacobs has specialized in unscripted and non-fiction programming throughout his eight-year career. He joins Night Studios after serving as director of development at Unrealistic Ideas, an unscripted production company co-founded by Mark Wahlberg. Before that, he spent more than two years at Blumhouse Productions, where he contributed to unscripted series such as HBO's "What Happened, Brittany Murphy?" and Netflix's "Our Father." Jacobs began his career with William Morris Endeavor.
"I'm incredibly excited to join the Night team and to help build out our original content arm," Jacobs said. "Night is the preeminent talent management company in the digital space, representing the biggest and best creators in the world. I look forward to working with our creators to develop intellectual property and programming that brings the core DNA of their creative content to the premium space."
Night Studios operates out of Los Angeles.
About Night
Night is a next-gen talent representation platform for the world's best artists, helping them reach their full potential as entertainers and entrepreneurs. Founded in 2015 by Reed Duchscher, a former sports agent turned talent manager, Night represents more than 50 of the biggest digital creators in the world, including MrBeast, Dream, and Unspeakable. To learn more, visit night.co.
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SOURCE Night | 2023-03-08T16:49:21+00:00 | live5news.com | https://www.live5news.com/prnewswire/2023/03/08/jared-jacobs-joins-night-studios-vice-president-development/ |
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DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Police Department says at least 100 vehicles were involved in a crash Friday morning after the first snowfall of the season fell Thursday.
KDVR’s drone flew over the scene of the crash, and some vehicles had already been towed away at the time the footage was recorded.
While Thursday night’s snow wasn’t the worse the city has seen, icy and wet road conditions across the metro caused issues along major interstates and roads Friday morning.
Minor injuries were reported in the 100-vehicle crash, and inoperable vehicles and vehicles left unoccupied after motorists were taken to the hospital were being towed.
The Denver Police Department put the city on crash alert, and roadways near the crash were closed until further notice. | 2022-11-04T17:00:12+00:00 | wdtn.com | https://www.wdtn.com/news/video-drone-shows-scene-of-100-vehicle-crash-in-denver/ |
An inspection of the State Street bridge over Interstate 94 in Bismarck will result in some temporary lane closures Wednesday.
The northbound outside lane of State Street between the north and south interstate ramps will be closed to traffic from 6 a.m. to noon. The southbound outside lane will be closed from noon until late afternoon.
During morning, noon and evening peak traffic hours, motorists can expect congestion and are advised to seek alternate routes, the city said. | 2022-05-17T00:26:56+00:00 | bismarcktribune.com | https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/lane-closures-planned-for-state-street-bridge-inspection/article_290aca74-d565-11ec-ac02-6b3158a759a4.html |
NEW YORK (AP) — A woman who recently settled a lawsuit in which she had claimed to have been sexually trafficked to Britain’s Prince Andrew and others by the financier Jeffrey Epstein has dropped a similar claim against noted American attorney Alan Dershowitz, saying she may have erred in accusing him.
Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against the prominent lawyer was withdrawn Tuesday, court records in New York show. She and Dershowitz issued a joint statement saying the resolution of the lawsuit did not involve the payment of money or anything else.
In a statement, Giuffre said she had “long believed that I was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to Alan Dershowitz. However, I was very young at the time, it was a very stressful and traumatic environment, and Mr. Dershowitz has from the beginning consistently denied these allegations.
“I now recognize I may have made a mistake in identifying Mr. Dershowitz. This litigation has been very stressful and burdensome for me and my family, and we believe it is time to bring it to an end and move on with our lives,” she said.
Dershowitz said he was gratified that the claims were withdrawn and Giuffre has admitted she may have made a mistake.
“As I have said from the beginning, I never had sex with Ms. Giuffre. I have nevertheless come to believe that at the time she accused me she believed what she said,” said Dershowitz, a retired Harvard University law professor.
He added: “Ms. Giuffre is to be commended for her courage in now stating publicly that she may have been mistaken about me. She has suffered much at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, and I commend her work combatting the evil of sex trafficking.”
The Associated Press does not identify alleged victims of sex crimes unless they give their consent.
Giuffre had filed a defamation lawsuit against Dershowitz after accusing a number of prominent men, including Andrew, of sexually exploiting her when she was 17 and 18 years old.
She had said in court filings that Epstein made her his teenage “love slave” and forced her to have sex with Dershowitz a half-dozen times in Florida, New York, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She said Dershowitz also witnessed Epstein abusing other girls.
Dershowitz has consistently denied any sexual contact with Giuffre, saying he had never met her. He told The Associated Press three years ago that his documents contradicted Giuffre’s claims as to his whereabouts. He said Giuffre’s story had evolved over time and that she initially didn’t implicate him in her sex trafficking account.
In court papers in 2019, Dershowitz said Giuffre’s claims had led him to suffer severe emotional distress, including “cardiac conditions.”
Prince Andrew’s lawyer did not immediately comment on the news of Giuffre’s settlement with Dershowitz.
In February, it was announced that Giuffre’s lawsuit against Andrew was settled. The deal called for the prince to make a substantial donation to Giuffre’s charity.
In a statement, the prince said he “has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks.”
Andrew acknowledged that Epstein trafficked “countless young girls” over many years and said the prince “regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others.”
She had alleged she had sex with Andrew three times: in London during a 2001 trip, at Epstein’s New York mansion when she was 17 and in the Virgin Islands when she was 18.
Andrew repeatedly denied Giuffre’s allegations and has said he can’t recall ever meeting her, although a photograph of Giuffre and Andrew together in a London townhouse, his arm around her bare midriff, was included in Giuffre’s lawsuit against him.
Epstein killed himself in August 2019 in a federal Manhattan jail as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.
His former girlfriend, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 60, is serving a 20-year prison sentence in a Florida federal jail following her conviction last December for helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. | 2022-11-09T22:34:15+00:00 | nwahomepage.com | https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/national/ap-epstein-victim-drops-claim-against-attorney-alan-dershowitz/ |
Less than six years after launching its news site, Axios has struck a purchase deal with Cox Enterprises worth some $525 million, the two companies announced on Monday.
The deal promises to meld two businesses that are distinctly different. Axios, the startup based in Arlington, Va., is famous for its condensed, bullet-pointed stories. Cox is a family-owned conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta that owns Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, along with substantial enterprises in broadband and other areas.
Executives say local news will be their emphasis
The two companies' leaders say they're united by a shared goal: boosting local journalism, at a time when the internet has laid waste to news outlets across the U.S.
"We have found our kindred spirit for creating a great, trusted, consequential media company that can outlast us all," Axios CEO and co-founder Jim VandeHei said, in a statement posted by Cox. "Our shared ambitions should be clear: to spread clinical, nonpartisan, trusted journalism to as many cities and as many topics as fast as possible."
"Local watchdog journalism is so important to the health of any community, and no one is more focused on building that out nationally than Axios," Cox chairman and CEO Alex Taylor said, in a separate announcement posted by Axios.
The sale comes a year after a different takeover was rumored
Axios — the name is Greek for "worthy" — was founded by VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz after the trio left the Politico website. The website was the subject of takeover rumors in the spring of 2021, but its reported suitor, German media giant Axel Springer, bought Politico instead.
Cox Enterprises had already invested in Axios, which says the company was a key investor in fundraising rounds that brought in a self-reported $55 million. The site noted on Monday that Axios sill has plenty of that cash on hand, "because it's always been profitable."
The sale could be a boon for Axios workers: the site has previously declared that "EVERY employee is an owner" of the company.
The price tag for Axios is more than five times the $100 million in revenue it was reportedly projected to reach this year.
The acquisition comes as Axios launches three local newsletters this month, in San Francisco, Houston and Miami. The company said in July that its Axios Local newsletters had "surpassed 1 million subscribers in 24 markets."
The company's newsletters have been said to account for more than 50% of its revenue in recent years.
Axios founders will remain on its board
Under the deal's terms, the two companies will share seats on Axios' seven-person board, with Cox getting four slots and VandeHei, Allen and Schwartz accounting for the remaining three, according to Axios.
"This is great for Axios, for our shareholders and American journalism," VandeHei said.
Axios also reports that the deal calls for Cox to invest $25 million to bolster Axios' media operation. The purchase doesn't include Axios HQ, a software venture that will spin off into its own company, working with corporations' communications departments.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-08-08T18:28:15+00:00 | nepm.org | https://www.nepm.org/national-world-news/national-world-news/2022-08-08/axios-agrees-to-sell-to-cox-for-525-million-in-cash |
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. , Feb. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Serial Entrepreneur and Investor Joshua Lurie has agreed to join Relativity6 as Chief Operating Officer to help grow and scale operations.
Josh is an entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience starting, growing, advising and selling technology companies in the data and technology markets. Josh has had a successful track record and most recently has taken a position at Relativity6 as the COO. He is responsible for overseeing all areas of operations of the company including sales, service, product, HR, and finance.
"Josh is an expert at scaling data companies and will be instrumental to Relativity6 achieving its ambitious growth plans over the next 24 months," says Alan Ringvald, CEO, Relativity6. "He has the know-how and drive to take us to the next level."
Prior to joining Relativity6 Josh founded JL Advisory in 2018, a strategic advisory firm, after seeing a need for a firm focused on the mid market in the human capital, software, technology enabled services, and data verticals.
Josh served as acting CFO of Payfactors, LLC, a leading compensation software and analytics company from 2013 until 2021. Josh was responsible for advising the founding management team in the company's formation and assisted in structuring the initial investment round. He has served as the CEO's key advisor in all phases of the company's growth since its inception in 2013 until its exit in 2021.
Prior to Payfactors, in 2011 Josh was the head of sales and marketing and then the COO of ARMtech, an investment vehicle, whose main asset was Equilink, a compensation expense accounting software.
In his spare time he sits on the Board of the American Youth Soccer Organization in Chappaqua, NY. Josh has started and runs several recreational programs for children with special needs. Finally, he was the co-founder of an annual fundraiser for the Children's Hospital at Montefiore, raising awareness and funds for epilepsy research.
About Relativity6
Relativity6's AI platform retrieves up-to-the-second information about a business in order to automatically detect its 6-digit NAICS code and verify its existence. Relativity6 is the fastest and most accurate NAICS detector on the market, improving commercial underwriting workflow and overall business classification and segmentation. Relativity6 is backed by Fin VC, State Auto Labs Fund, and Vectr Ventures. For more information visit: www.relativity6.com
Media Contact:
Jonathan Ringvald
jon@relativity6.com
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SOURCE Relativity6 | 2023-02-07T14:47:35+00:00 | kwtx.com | https://www.kwtx.com/prnewswire/2023/02/07/joshua-lurie-has-joined-relativity6-chief-operating-officer/ |
GRAPHIC: Police arrest 18-year-old in school bus driver attack caught on video
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB/Gray News) - The Baton Rouge Police Department confirms it is investigating a reported attack on a school bus driver.
A cell phone video posted online shows a woman entering a school bus and hitting the driver.
Police arrested Carlicia Lewis, 18, who is seen allegedly attacking the school bus driver around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
GRAPHIC WARNING: The video in this stories includes content some might find disturbing.
According to officials, Lewis and another person were called to the scene after a student on the bus had an argument with the driver.
Police also said Lewis and another person and the student physically attacked the driver who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the bus.
The driver received multiple injuries to her head, neck, and shoulder area.
Lewis was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for second-degree battery of a school bus driver and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2023-04-27T12:02:54+00:00 | atlantanewsfirst.com | https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/04/27/graphic-police-arrest-18-year-old-school-bus-driver-attack-caught-video/ |
Florida alligator poachers facing third-degree felony, Florida agency says
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates there are 1.3 million alligators in Florida.
MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. - The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) released an image showing a 6-foot gator that the agency says was illegally killed by two alleged poachers in Sarasota County.
A road ranger reported seeing the poachers loading the dead animal in their truck off Interstate 75, authorities said. The two men, Ricardo Rodriguez and Ricardo Lopez Perez, were tracked to Manatee County and arrested. They're both facing a third-degree felony.
"There's a hunting season for a reason; you shouldn’t take any animal outside those seasons," said Dan Costell, ZooTampa Associate Curator of Reptiles.
SEE THE MASSIVE ALLIGATOR FOUND LURKING IN A SOUTH FLORIDA SWAMP
Alligators are a protected species. It’s illegal to kill one outside of gator hunting season in Florida, unless it's deemed a threat by FWC and at that point, they'll bring in a state-certified trapper.
"These guys are apex predators. They keep down the population of nuisance species raccoons, opossums and otters," Costell explained.
Alligator hunting season runs from Aug. 15 to November. During that time, the state hands out about 7,000 permits, each allowing hunters to kill two non-hatchling alligators.
"It is frustrating to hear that people are still going outside the law and killing animals," Costell shared. | 2023-06-24T23:19:52+00:00 | foxweather.com | https://www.foxweather.com/lifestyle/gator-animal-hunt-charge-illegal |
ATLANTA and BIRMINGHAM, Ala., June 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Marketing solutions agency Luckie today announced that Mary Winslow has been named Chief Marketing Officer.
Winslow is the agency's first CMO and will be based in the Atlanta office, reporting to President & CEO John Gardner. She will lead Luckie's marketing and growth efforts.
Winslow joined Luckie in 2015 and has been Senior Vice President of Strategic Solutions since 2017, leading the agency's strategic engagement team. Prior to joining Luckie, Mary spent 20 years at Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) working in the loyalty and brand groups serving as Director of Partnership Marketing, Director of America's for IHG's loyalty program, and Director of Brand Management for Hotel Indigo. Under her leadership at Hotel Indigo, the brand won two consecutive J.D. Power Awards.
"Mary has spent her career building marketing teams and functions that enhance revenue and she's leveraged that experience here at Luckie the past seven years to steer our team away from a traditional advertising model to a data-centric marketing approach," said John Gardner, Luckie president and CEO. "Now that we're aligned internally, we're tapping her to accelerate our marketing efforts and drive growth across our business. She's the absolute right person to lead the effort."
This CMO position is the final role to be filled within Luckie's c-suite team, which has been forming over the past year. The agency promoted Luckie president John Gardner to CEO in February, brought on Fred Schank as Chief Experience Officer in January, promoted Melissa Wheeler to Chief People Officer in December, hired Carolyn Dateo as Chief Strategy officer from Saatchi & Saatchi in November and elevated Executive Creative Director, Stephanie Naman, in October. On the eve of Luckie's 70th anniversary, the new leadership team reflects a forward-looking position for the agency, which has experienced steady growth over the last two years despite a disruptive economy.
About Luckie: Luckie is a creative, data-driven agency that builds brands and brand experiences to solve real business problems and achieve results luck can't explain. It is one of the top privately held marketing firms in the Southeast. Luckie works with companies in healthcare, travel & tourism, consumer packaged goods, and financial services including Regions Bank, Alabama Power, GlaxoSmithKline, Little Debbie, and Panama City Beach. The company has offices in Birmingham, Atlanta, Raleigh and Decentraland.
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SOURCE Luckie and Company | 2022-06-28T14:54:05+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2022/06/28/luckie-promotes-mary-winslow-chief-marketing-officer/ |
NEW YORK, June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.
Class Period: April 4, 2017 to October 20, 2021
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: June 6, 2022
No obligation or cost to you.
Learn more about your recoverable losses in IBM:
https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/international-business-machines-corporation-loss-submission-form?id=28114&from=4
International Business Machines Corporation NEWS - IBM NEWS
CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that International Business Machines Corporation made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Strategic Imperatives Revenue and growth, CAMSS and CAMSS Components' revenue and growth, and the Company's Segments' revenue and growth were artificially inflated as a result of the wrongful reclassification of revenues from non-strategic to strategic to make those revenues eligible for treatment as Strategic Imperatives Revenue; (ii) the Company's present success and positive future growth prospects concerning its Strategic Imperative business strategy were being fueled by the wrongful reclassification of revenues from non-strategic to strategic to make those revenues eligible for treatment as Strategic Imperative Revenue and, as a result (iii) the Company misled the market by portraying the Company's Strategic Imperative's financial performance and future prospects more favorable than they actually were as a result of the wrongful reclassification of revenues from non-strategic to strategic to make those revenues eligible for treatment as Strategic Imperatives.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in IBM you have until June 6, 2022 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased IBM securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the IBM lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/international-business-machines-corporation-loss-submission-form?id=28114&from=4.
ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM
J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
J. Klein, Esq.
Empire State Building
350 Fifth Avenue
59th Floor
New York, NY 10118
jk@kleinstocklaw.com
Telephone: (212) 616-4899
www.kleinstocklaw.com
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SOURCE The Klein Law Firm | 2022-06-07T10:27:24+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2022/06/07/ibm-alert-klein-law-firm-announces-lead-plaintiff-deadline-june-6-2022-class-action-filed-behalf-international-business-machines-corporation-shareholders/ |
SAN FRANCISCO, March 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nobell Foods, the company pioneering the use of Plant-Grown Proteins to create animal-free cheese, announced the hire of Sergey Solomatin as the company's new Vice President of Food Science and Product Development. Solomatin joins the company after more than 10 years at Impossible Foods, where he helped to develop, scale and commercialize their cutting-edge food technology.
With a decade of experience at food companies working in nucleic acid biochemistry, biophysics, polymer chemistry, and pharmaceutical sciences, Solomatin brings an industry-leading understanding of the connection between rigorous biochemical research and groundbreaking, delicious, scalable food products.
"At Nobell Foods, we harness the power of plants to create animal-free cheese with accessibility and craveability at the forefront," said Nobell Foods CEO and founder Magi Richani. "As we pioneer a new category in food with Plant-Grown Proteins, the innovative work that Sergey and his team are doing will enable us to challenge the perceptions of what animal-free cheese tastes, melts, and stretches like."
During his time at Impossible Foods, Solomatin created the Materials and Texture research group, which included over 30 industry-leading scientists. Under Solomatin's leadership, this group made key contributions to developing and launching the flagship Impossible Ground Beef products, as well as laying the foundation for future products.
"As a young company that's building an entirely new category, Nobell Foods has a huge opportunity to drive real change and create a positive impact on the planet and people," Solomatin said. "Nobell Foods is already leading the future of food with their work around Casein, and I'm beyond honored to join their innovative team."
Solomatin's first day at Nobell Foods was January 13 and his arrival comes during a period of strategic growth for the company. To date, Nobell Foods has raised $102M, with notable support from Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Robert Downey Jr. 's FootPrint Coalition Ventures.
About Nobell Foods: Nobell Foods is pioneering a new category in food with Plant-Grown Proteins. Through their groundbreaking work in teaching plants to make Casein – responsible for giving cheese its stretch, melt, and texture – Nobell Foods is on a path to unlock a new age of animal-free products where taste, quality, and affordability are widely accessible. The privately held food company was founded in 2016 by CEO and founder Magi Richani who built this revolutionary technology with the mission to harness the power of plants to create delicious, indulgent animal-free cheeses.
For more information please visit www.nobellfoods.com and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn for updates.
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SOURCE Nobell Foods | 2023-03-13T11:25:18+00:00 | kcrg.com | https://www.kcrg.com/prnewswire/2023/03/13/nobell-foods-hires-former-impossible-foods-vp-sergey-solomatin-new-leader-food-science-product-development/ |
WIEJKOWO – More than 1,000 years after his death in what is now Poland, a European king whose nickname lives on through wireless technology is at the center of an archaeological dispute.
Chronicles from the Middle Ages say King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson of Denmark acquired his nickname courtesy of a tooth, probably dead, that looked bluish. One chronicle from the time also says the Viking king was buried in Roskilde, in Denmark, in the late 10th century.
But a Swedish archaeologist and a Polish researcher recently claimed in separate publications that they have pinpointed his most probable burial site in the village of Wiejkowo, in an area of northwestern Poland that had ties to the Vikings in Harald's times.
Marek Kryda, author of the book “Viking Poland,” told The Associated Press that a “pagan mound” which he claims he has located beneath Wiejkowo's 19th-century Roman Catholic church probably holds the king's remains. Kryda said geological satellite images available on a Polish government portal revealed a rotund shape that looked like a Viking burial mound.
But Swedish archaeologist Sven Rosborn, says Kryda is wrong because Harald, who converted from paganism to Christianity and founded churches in the area, must have received an appropriate grave somewhere in the churchyard. Wiejkowo's Church of The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary stands atop a small round knoll.
Historians at the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen say they are familiar with the “suggestion” that Wiejkowo is Harald's burial place.
Rosborn detailed his research in the 2021 book ”The Viking King's Golden Treasure" and Kryda challenged some of the Swede's findings in his own book published this year.
Harald, who died in 985, probably in Jomsborg — which is believed to be the Polish town of Wolin now — was one of the last Viking kings to rule over what is now Denmark, northern Germany, and parts of Sweden and Norway. He spread Christianity in his kingdom.
Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson named its Bluetooth wireless link technology after the king, reflecting how he united much of Scandinavia during his lifetime. The logo for the technology is designed from the Scandinavian runic letters for the king's initials, HB.
Rosborn, the former director of Sweden's Malmo City Museum, was spurred on his quest in 2014 when an 11-year-old girl sought his opinion about a small, soiled coin-like object with old-looking text that had been in her family's possession for decades.
Experts have determined that the cast gold disc that sparked Maja Sielski's curiosity dated from the 10th century. The Latin inscription on what is now known as the “Curmsun disc” says: “Harald Gormsson (Curmsun in Latin) king of Danes, Scania, Jomsborg, town Aldinburg."
Sielski's family, who moved to Sweden from Poland in 1986, said the disc came from a trove found in 1841 in a tomb underneath the Wiejkowo church, which replaced a medieval chapel.
The Sielski family came into the possession of the disc, along with the Wiejkowo parish archives that contained medieval parchment chronicles in Latin, in 1945 as the former German area was becoming part of Poland as a result of World War II.
A family member who knew Latin understood the value of the chronicles — which dated as far back as the 10th century — and translated some of them into Polish. They mention Harald, another fact linking the Wiejkowo church to him.
The nearby Baltic Sea island and town of Wolin cultivates the region's Viking history: it has a runic stone in honor of Harald Bluetooth and holds annual festivals of Slavs and Vikings.
Kryda says the Curmsun disc is “phenomenal” with its meaningful inscription and insists that it would be worth it to examine Wiejkowo as Harald's burial place, but there are no current plans for any excavations. | 2022-07-31T08:25:31+00:00 | clickorlando.com | https://www.clickorlando.com/news/world/2022/07/31/is-danish-king-who-gave-name-to-bluetooth-buried-in-poland/ |
BOULDER, Colo. and NEW YORK, June 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TIFIN AMP, the Artificial Intelligence ("AI") Partner For Modern Distribution, is delighted to announce the successful close of a Series A round and the establishment of a new board independent from parent company TIFIN.
Leading the round is Motive Ventures, the venture arm of Motive Partners. This move marks an expansion of the collaboration between TIFIN and Motive Partners, building on the investment Motive Partners made in TIFIN's Series D round last year.
TIFIN AMP's integrated distribution platform is the first of its kind in the asset management industry. Powered by advanced machine learning and data science, it empowers top-tier asset management firms to unearth untapped fund and managed account distribution opportunities within their existing client and prospect base. With its integrated Nurture capabilities that provide real-time feedback, asset managers can now design their own custom algorithmic platforms that are learning and evolving automatically when targeting wealth managers. When combined with data that is unique to TIFIN AMP, the algo and feedback capabilities can change how the industry distributes products to advisors and consumers.
Ramin Niroumand, Head of Motive Ventures, commented: "The wealth and asset management industry is at an AI tipping point – TIFIN AMP recognized this long before AI was hyped. Their strong growth since launch, combined with the heavy-weight players in their pipeline, are reasons that we believe in AMP."
Alvi Abuaf, an Industry Partner at Motive Partners, who will serve on the TIFIN AMP board, commented: "AMP is reshaping the way asset and fund managers conduct lead discovery and approach prioritization in a modern and efficient way. By acting as an outsourced AI partner, AMP helps asset managers with their sales and distribution across products, segments, and geographies with access to a compelling combination of datasets."
Dr. Vinay Nair, the Founder and CEO of TIFIN, added that "TIFIN has been building companies that help connect people to products and advice. TIFIN AMP aims to shape a new paradigm for the distribution of ETFs, Mutual Funds, managed accounts and alternative investments with a user demand and AI-based approach. We are thrilled to announce its independence from TIFIN with strategic backing by Motive, an investment firm of deeply experienced investors, operators and innovators, to support the next phase of growth for TIFIN AMP."
Since its launch in December 2022, TIFIN AMP has been working with leading asset managers, revolutionizing their distribution strategies through the power of AI and data science. Together, they are ushering in a new era of awareness, lead generation, and modernization in the industry.
About Motive Partners
Motive Ventures is the early-stage investment arm of Motive Partners, focused on pre-seed through to Series A financial technology investments in North America and Europe. Motive Ventures is based in Berlin, London and New York. Motive Partners is a specialist investment firm focusing on venture, growth equity and buyout investments in technology-enabled financial and business services companies. Motive Partners brings differentiated expertise, connectivity, and capabilities to create long-term value in financial technology companies. More information on Motive Partners can be found at www.motivepartners.com.
About TIFIN
TIFIN is an AI and innovation platform for wealth. TIFIN was created to build engaging and intelligent wealth experiences for better financial lives.
TIFIN manages Magnifi, a consumer-focused marketplace that delivers investment personalization through next-gen intelligence and an AI investing assistant; TIFIN Wealth, an AI engine that enables organic growth for financial advisors, wealth enterprises, and workplace financial providers through investment proposals, marketing automation, and data science; TIFIN AMP, an AI platform to modernize distribution for Asset Management firms; and TIFIN Studios, an incubation platform for new business creation.
For media inquiries, please contact:
AJ Boury
aj@tifin.com
The information contained herein should in no way be construed or interpreted as a solicitation to sell or offer to sell advisory services. All content is for informational purposes only.
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SOURCE TIFIN | 2023-06-08T13:28:07+00:00 | wafb.com | https://www.wafb.com/prnewswire/2023/06/08/tifin-amp-announces-spinoff-with-independent-series-funding-backed-by-motive-partners-tifin/ |
FLORISSANT, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri school board decided Tuesday to shut down a grade school that sits near a contaminated creek after a study funded by law firms involved in a class-action lawsuit found high levels of radioactive material inside the school.
Contamination was in classrooms, the playground and elsewhere at Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Missouri, according to a report last week by Boston Chemical Data Corp. It follows another study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, made public in the summer, that found contamination stemming from World War II-era nuclear weapons production in a wooded area near Coldwater Creek.
The Hazelwood Board of Education voted in closed session Tuesday to close the school until it can be cleaned up. Virtual learning will start Monday and is planned until the students can be moved to different schools, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 28. It’s unclear when Jana Elementary would reopen.
The school board, in a statement after the closed meeting, said the remediation is necessary but acknowledged “this is causing a disruption to our students’ education and school climate.”
The decision came even as a Corps official raised questions about the Boston Chemical study. Phillip Moser, program manager of the Corps’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program in St. Louis, said the agency’s evaluations found no contamination between the wooded site and the school or its playground. He called the Boston Chemical report “incomplete and not consistent with the approved processes required to do an evaluation at one of our sites.”
Still, several politicians urged immediate closure of the school.
The new report worried parents, especially since the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry stated in 2019 that people exposed to Coldwater Creek from the 1960s to the 1990s may have an increased risk of bone cancer, lung cancer and leukemia.
“I do not understand why it’s not closed now,” William Johnson, the father of a current student at the school and three others who went there, told the board.
It wasn’t immediately clear if students will continue at the school through the rest of the week. District spokesperson Jordyn Elston said she didn’t have information on the remainder of the week.
Many speakers at the meeting welcomed the shutdown of the school, but wondered why the school district didn’t communicate about the problem. Some said they heard about it first on the news or on Facebook.
“I’m happy that you have a plan now,” said Patrice Strickland, who has two children at the school. “I’m so happy you’re considering our babies now. But just communicate with us.”
Nuclear waste from World War II weapons production as part of the Manhattan Project contaminated Coldwater Creek. Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. processed uranium ore in St. Louis from 1942 to 1957 and shipped waste to a site near Lambert Airport, where it made its way into the 19-mile-long waterway that flows into the Missouri River.
The Environmental Protection Agency designated the creek as a Superfund site in 1989. Remediation efforts — digging up contaminated dirt and taking it by covered rail car to a waste management facility in Idaho — aren’t expected to be complete until 2038.
Dawn Chapman, co-founder of the environmental group Just Moms STL that has pushed for cleanup of Coldwater Creek, acknowledged the difficulty in connecting illnesses to contamination. But Chapman said the new report — funded by two law firms seeking compensation for illnesses and deaths allegedly caused by the creek contamination — has created worry for current and former parents, teachers and staff.
“Everybody’s just terrified,” Chapman said.
The Boston Chemical study cited levels of radioactive isotope lead-210 that were 22 times the expected level on the kindergarten playground. It also found high levels of polonium, radium and other material in various places throughout the school.
Mahadevappa Mahesh, chief physicist at the teaching hospital at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, called the data “bothersome,” but said he needed more information to reach firm conclusions about the potential health effects.
“The psychological impact is greater than even the actual physical injury,” said Mahesh, also a professor of radiology. “Now that the students and the parents know these things, that can have a lot more psychological impact — worrying about the radiation — more than actual radiation injuries.”
The school — which sits in a subdivision surrounded by homes — opened in the 1970s and has educated thousands of children, said Christen Commuso of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. While the area along Coldwater Creek is racially mixed, about 80% of Jana Elementary School’s 400 students are Black.
“You’re talking about kids throughout the decades who have been exposed to this.” Commuso said.
Eventually, Ashley Bernaugh wants her son to be back at the school. Bernaugh is president of Jana Elementary School’s parent-teacher association.
“We love Jana Elementary,” Bernaugh said. “I’ll go down fighting for it.”
___
AP reporter John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report. | 2022-10-19T15:26:17+00:00 | myfox8.com | https://myfox8.com/news/national/ap-us-news/ap-missouri-school-to-close-after-radioactive-waste-report/ |
NEW YORK, June 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Austria bestowed one of its highest honors on American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris. The Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria was presented today to Harris during the AJC Board of Governors meeting.
"Throughout his life, David Harris has made it his goal to prevent and combat all forms of antisemitism. In doing so, he also had a major influence on Austrian activities in the fight against antisemitism, BDS, and terrorist groups like Hezbollah, and in support of Israel," said Austrian Member of Parliament Martin Engelberg, who, together with Austrian Consul General Helene Steinhaeusl, presented the award on behalf of Austria President Alexander van der Bellen.
"David has made a significant contribution to Austria being today one of Israel's closest friends in Europe and one of the leading nations in the fight against antisemitism — and being recognized internationally for these efforts, especially in the United States and Israel."
Harris, the son of Holocaust survivors, "has spent his life promoting international understanding and coming to terms with the crimes of the Shoah, especially the dialogue with postwar Austria and the often difficult confrontation with its role in the Nazi era," Engelberg said.
He noted that Harris's father was a Jew from Austria "who was able to save himself from persecution by the Nazi regime" by fleeing initially to France, "While his father, until his death in 1998, never managed to be reconciled with Austria, David was able to recognize the steps taken to come to terms with what is happening in today's Austria, and to send a clear signal by accepting Austrian citizenship."
"I grew up in a home that had strongly negative feelings about Austria. My father personally experienced Austria's betrayal of the Jews before, during, and even after the war," said Harris. "But in recent years, I've seen a welcome turnaround in Austria's outlook towards its own history and, notably, regarding Israel, largely triggered by Sebastian Kurz in his role as foreign minister, then as chancellor. That gave me new confidence in Austria, a willingness to accept the citizenship offered to me, and, today, a sense of gratitude for this meaningful award presented by my dear friend, Martin Engelberg."
Past recipients of the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold include Kofi Annan, Willy Brandt, Stuart Eizenstat, Anna Freud, and Simon Wiesenthal.
David Harris is the most decorated Jewish organizational leader in American history, having been honored nearly 25 times by foreign governments.
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SOURCE American Jewish Committee | 2022-06-12T21:15:25+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2022/06/12/austria-bestows-prestigious-award-ajc-ceo-david-harris/ |
House District 4: Stanton, Cooper square off in Arizona district where independents may decide the race
What one Arizona political consultant calls "the big purple corridor" runs through Arizona's 4th Congressional District.
The neighborhoods along Loop 101 in Tempe, Mesa and Chandler have supported President Joe Biden and U.S. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly in recent elections. The independent-leaning nature of voters there, plus some other Democratic enclaves, offer Rep. Greg Stanton an opportunity to win his third term in Congress against Donald Trump-endorsed Republican businessman Kelly Cooper.
Stanton represented the 9th Congressional District and now is running in the new 4th Congressional District, which includes Tempe and parts of Mesa, Phoenix and Chandler. The district includes a newly added area of Mesa east of Highway 87, which is part of Rep. Andy Biggs' old district and is more Republican.
Stanton was mayor of Phoenix from 2012 to 2018 and won election to Congress in 2018 and 2020.
Polling for the race currently favors Stanton over Cooper.
Chuck Coughlin, president and CEO of the Phoenix-based consulting firm HighGround Inc., argues that the region is a lot less Republican than it could appear.
"I look at that as a very Democratic district. It's sort of like the old 9(th district), like Sinema's old district. It looks more Republican than it really is," he told The Republic. It looks like a swing district on paper, but I just have a hard time thinking that that's going to slide into the Republican category there."
Cooper, who has promoted a Make America Great Again agenda, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump on Oct. 10.
While Coughlin said that Cooper is running a good campaign and is going after Stanton's legislative voting record, he says that Ahwatukee Foothills, west Mesa and Tempe, which are all located in the district, have gone strongly Democratic over the past couple of election cycles.
Coughlin says that the district also contains the "big purple corridor" that Sinema, Kelly and Biden have all won.
The "purple corridor," he says, is "everything adjacent to the (Loop) 101, west Mesa, south Tempe and west Chandler." He says this area, which has seen a jump in income, values education and places more importance on problem solving than "ideology."
Abortion rights, inflation among key issues
Coughlin said abortion is an important issue in that district.
"The reproductive rights issue, I think, is going to play heavily in that district because you have a lot of suburban women who are accustomed to having their rights and they don't want to have them taken away," he said.
With abortion rights on the ballot, the three key areas that trend Democratic and the "purple corridor," Coughlin says he would be "really surprised" if Cooper did well election well election night.
In fundraising, Stanton has approximately $3.89 million in total receipts from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30. Cooper has $2.11 million in total receipts from Jul. 1, 2021, though Sept. 30 of this year.
In a congressional survey sent to all candidates, Stanton says one of the district's biggest needs is infrastructure, which he supported through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. He said the legislation will help Arizona's economy and drought mitigation efforts.
"I pushed hard for new infrastructure investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is delivering more than $176 million for Arizona’s transit agencies and $72 million for the state’s airports this year alone," he said in a written response. "I’ll continue to advocate for these essential investments — for water, for our roadways and highways, transit corridors and airports — because I know they make the difference for Arizona’s economic future."
Cooper says that inflation and fentanyl are one of the biggest issues impacting the district. He attributes large-scale government spending, like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to inflation and credits President Biden's stance on the border for an influx in unlawful drugs.
"The cost of food, gas, and housing is directly related to the votes my opponent made to spend trillions of dollars we have to borrow that directly caused the highest inflation rates since the 1970s. We need to get our spending under control and fix the supply chain, so our communities are protected," he said in a written response.
The two candidates are scheduled to appear for their only televised debate Wednesday on Arizona PBS.
What political analysts say
The Independent Redistricting Commission, the organization which drew the new districts, describes the area "competitive," with a 7% "vote spread" in favor of Democrats.
The commission describes "vote spread," as "the difference between average Democratic and average Republican votes in nine state elections."
Vote spread in districts labeled "highly competitive" is under 4%, whereas "competitive" districts range from 4% to 7%.
Analysis from the website Fivethirtyeight says the 4th district is even tighter, calling it the only "highly competitive" district in Arizona. It says that the region votes Democrat one percentage point more than the nation overall, in what is known as a "partisan lean." The partisan lean of a district is defined as "the average margin difference between how a state or district votes and how the country votes overall." "Highly competitive" districts have a partisan lean below 5%.
Despite this, Fivethirtyeight says that Stanton is "clearly favored" to win, with a 94 in 100 chance of winning the election as of Oct. 11.
The Cook Political Report classifies the race as "likely Democrat," as of the same date.
Tara Kavaler is a politics reporter at The Arizona Republic. She can be reached by email at tara.kavaler@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @kavalertara. | 2022-10-18T16:22:32+00:00 | azcentral.com | https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/10/18/greg-stanton-kelly-cooper-square-off-district-4-arizona/8135636001/ |
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the "Pick Three-Evening" game were:
2-1-0, Fireball: 3
(two, one, zero; Fireball: three)
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the "Pick Three-Evening" game were:
2-1-0, Fireball: 3
(two, one, zero; Fireball: three) | 2022-06-02T04:16:22+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Pick-Three-Evening-game-17213916.php |
Flood watch issued for the area
Published 8:46 pm Saturday, August 27, 2022
Mower County, along with portions of southeast Minnesota, has been placed in a flash flood watch starting later tonight.
According the National Weather Service, the watch is slated to begin at 10 p.m. tonight and reach through Sunday morning. The NWS is predicting waves of thunderstorms to run through the area through the night with a potential to deliver between three and four inches of rain.
The rain could deliver runoffs that would contribute to urban flooding as well as rapid rises in rivers and creek.
The day Sunday is expected start cloudy before giving over to partly sunny skies later in the day Sunday. A chance a rain and storms returns Sunday night, according to the NWS. | 2022-08-28T02:58:52+00:00 | austindailyherald.com | https://www.austindailyherald.com/2022/08/flood-watch-issued-for-the-area/ |
Taking vitamin D supplements won’t protect your bones, study says
Published: Jul. 28, 2022 at 3:27 PM EDT|Updated: 39 minutes ago
(CNN) – Taking vitamin D supplements might not be as good for you as previously thought.
Many people take vitamin D supplements believing they are strengthening bones or helping prevent fractures.
The largest, longest and most controlled trial on vitamin D supplements in the U.S. was released Wednesday.
After looking at the data from nearly 26,000 people, researchers reported that vitamin D pills taken with or without calcium had no effect on bone fracture rates.
The authors of the study, however, said supplements could still help some people, like patients with osteoporosis.
For more information about the study, check out the latest edition of the “New England Journal of Medicine.”
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | 2022-07-28T20:08:25+00:00 | wnem.com | https://www.wnem.com/2022/07/28/taking-vitamin-d-supplements-wont-protect-your-bones-study-says/ |
Easy cookie recipes
You don’t have to know much about the science behind baking to make delicious cookies — as long as you have a foolproof recipe, that is. Baking is much more precise than cooking, so finding reliable instructions and sticking to them is likely to yield the best result, especially if you’re new to baking.
To find some tried-and-true recipes for basic cookies, we talked to Southern bakers who have spent years perfecting these go-to cookies for bake sales, family gatherings, and holidays. These simple recipes and tips will help you make consistently delicious chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, and snickerdoodles.
Shop this article: Oxo Good Grips 3-in-1 Egg Separator, Hamilton Beach Electric Stand Mixer and Cuisinart Multiclad Pro Saucepan
Chocolate chunk cookies
Everyone needs a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe on hand. This is a slight twist on the classic, thanks to the inclusion of instant coffee — an optional but highly recommended addition.
Chocolate chunk cookie ingredients
3/4 cup butter (one-and-a-half sticks)
2 tablespoons instant coffee (optional, but recommended)
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks
1 cup roughly chopped, toasted pecans
Chocolate chunk cookie directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine butter and instant coffee in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until butter melts and coffee granules dissolve, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool to room temperature, but don’t let butter resolidify.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside.
4. Combine butter/coffee mixture, both sugars, egg, and egg yolk in the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix at medium speed until light and creamy. Mixture will be dark at first, but as you continue beating, it will change to a light color.
5. Turn mixer to its lowest setting and gradually add flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chunks and pecans. Drop scant ¼-cups cookies two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for eight to 10 minutes. Cookies should be soft but no longer look wet.
7. Cool slightly on baking sheet, then remove to wire racks to cool completely. Yields 18 to 24 cookies.
Tips:
- Nuts can be toasted either in a skillet on the stove or in the oven. Toasting in the oven is easiest and less likely to result in burned nuts. Simply place on a baking sheet and put in a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven for four to five minutes, or until the nuts smell fragrant.
- Regular-sized chocolate chips can be used in this recipe, but chunks work best. They will stay soft and melty longer, and they give the cookie more of a gourmet feel.
- Instant coffee is optional, but it adds to the flavor profile of the cookie. If you choose to omit the coffee, don’t skip the step of melting the butter. It really makes a difference.
Simple sugar cookies
If you get seasonal cookie cutters, this is a fun seasonal recipe that you can make for many occasions: holidays, birthdays, pool parties — the list goes on.
Simple sugar cookie ingredients
1 cup butter at room temperature (two sticks)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Simple sugar cookie directions
- Beat butter at medium speed in an electric stand mixer for two minutes or until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and mix well. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
- Turn the mixer to the lowest speed and gradually add the flour and salt, mixing until well blended.
- Divide the dough in half and wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator until firm enough to roll out — 30 to 60 minutes. The dough should be malleable, not rock hard.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface (waxed paper, a pastry mat, or clean counter) to a generous 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into shapes with a cookie cutter that has been dipped in flour and place on parchment-lined (or lightly greased) cookie sheets.
- Bake for six to eight minutes or just until the bottom edges of the cookies begin to brown slightly.
- Cool cookies slightly on cookie sheet, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling. Decorate if desired.
Tips:
- Use butter, not margarine, for best consistency and flavor.
- I prefer unbleached flour. I find that it results in better texture for rolled doughs. However, bleached flour will work just fine.
- While cookie cutters are the traditional method of cutting sugar cookies into shapes, you can use biscuit cutters, the open end of a glass, a pastry cutter, a sharp knife, or anything you have on hand! You’ll probably need to flour whatever implement you choose to use.
Snickerdoodle recipe
These soft, cinnamon-sugar cookies are great with a glass of milk or a cappuccino. This is the easiest cookie recipe on our list, so it’s a great place to start for beginner bakers.
Snickerdoodle ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter at room temperature (one stick)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Snickerdoodle directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix shortening, butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and eggs thoroughly in a stand mixer.
- Stir together all dry ingredients: flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to shortening/butter/sugar/egg mixture, and mix on low speed just until combined.
- Roll into small balls, about one inch in diameter.
- Roll each cookie dough ball in a mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon.
- Place 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for six to eight minutes.
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Copyright 2023 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | 2023-07-03T09:14:27+00:00 | cenlanow.com | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/bakeware-baking-tools-br/baking-101-three-easy-cookie-recipes/ |
By ERIC OLSON
AP Sports Writer
No. 1 national seed Tennessee got knocked out of the NCAA baseball tournament on the same day Mississippi, the last team selected, punched its ticket to the College World Series.
Sunday produced the biggest surprises of a tournament that went mostly according to form in the regional round. Super regionals have made up for that lack of drama.
Notre Dame beat Tennessee 7-3 in the deciding third game of their super regional and joined Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M in the CWS. Texas and East Carolina played the deciding game of their series late Sunday.
The final two CWS spots will be filled Monday when Connecticut plays No. 2 Stanford and Auburn meets No. 3 Oregon State in Game 3s. The CWS begins Friday in Omaha, Nebraska.
Tennessee is the third straight No. 1 national seed to get eliminated in super regionals. Arkansas was bounced last year and UCLA in 2019. There was no tournament in 2020 because of the pandemic.
“Notre Dame will get to Omaha and enjoy that and probably do some damage. It’s a really tough group,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said. “What needs to stick with our guys, once time passes … What do they say? Time heals all wounds? I don’t know who ‘they’ are, because sometimes those take a long time.”
Until Sunday, the Volunteers were the toast of college baseball with an explosive offense and a pitching staff stocked with projected major leaguers. They finished with a school-record 57 wins after getting out to a 31-1 start and sweeping the SEC regular-season and tournament titles. Their 158 homers were fourth-most all-time in Division I. They lost just one three-game series before the super regional in Knoxville.
Three Notre Dame pitchers combined to allow five hits, with freshman lefty Jack Findlay giving up one and holding the Vols scoreless over the last five innings.
The Irish erased a 3-1 deficit in the seventh inning. David LaManna, who entered the game with one home run, hit a two-run shot to tie it and Jack Brannigan followed with the go-ahead blast. The Irish added three more runs in the eighth.
The Irish had been in line for a top-16 national seed, which would have made them a regional host, but the NCAA selection committee made them a No. 2 regional seed and sent them to Statesboro, Georgia.
They won three games there, won the super regional opener 8-6 and bounced back from a 12-4 loss Saturday to earn their first trip to the CWS since 2002.
“We’ve battled and fought for years to get to this moment,” said coach Link Jarrett, whose team lost a three-game super regional to eventual national champion Mississippi State last year.
“Those are just exceptional human beings. They grasp what’s going on in the competition, they go do it, and to think this moment would be with a freshman finishing the most critical game, quite frankly, in the history of the program in this venue against that team.”
Mississippi, the last team to receive an at-large bid and a No. 3 regional seed, beat Southern Mississippi 5-0 in Hattiesburg. The Rebels, who won 10-0 Saturday, posted their first shutouts of the season and Southern Miss was blanked in back-to-back games for the first time since 1987.
Ole Miss pitchers allowed just seven hits in the two games and struck out 21 as the Rebels reached the CWS for the first time since 2014.
Oklahoma will return to the CWS for the first time since 2010 after wrapping up its super regional with an 11-2 win at No. 4 national seed Virginia Tech.
The Sooners hit five home runs, two by Tanner Tredaway, and Cade Horton struck out eight over six innings and retired 11 of the final 13 batters he faced.
Oklahoma will open the CWS against Texas A&M, which earned its spot Saturday with a sweep of Louisville.
“Dream come true,” Tredaway said. “We’ve all just worked our tail off. I just can’t be more proud of these guys and all we’ve put into that’s led up to this moment now.”
Arkansas scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat North Carolina 4-3, with the winning run coming home on Brady Slavens’ single into right field. The Razorbacks are heading to Omaha for the seventh time since 2004.
Stanford roughed up Connecticut ace Austin Peterson for seven runs in 1 1/3 innings and forced a Game 3 with an 8-2 victory. Ryan Bruno and Quinn Mathews held UConn to one hit over five shutout innings of relief.
Ben Ferrer pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings in relief of Cooper Hjerpe, and Jake Dukart’s RBI single in the sixth inning stood up in Oregon State’s 4-3 series-evening win over Auburn.
___
More AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | 2022-06-13T08:33:52+00:00 | wtmj.com | https://wtmj.com/sports/2022/06/13/irish-oust-no-1-vols-will-join-ole-miss-ou-hogs-in-cws-6/ |
Kiztopia is bringing its hallmark bouncy castle event, Jumptopia, to Cotai Expo at Venetian Macao from July 22 to September 3. The event spans an impressive 40,000sq ft and features nine giant bouncy castles, an inflatable slide towering at 6.5 meters, ball pits, and various obstacle courses. Themed 'Little Gourmet Festival', Jumptopia invites guests to join a global gourmet journey led by eight Kiztopia cartoon characters. Visitors can also test their courage and coordination with inflatable bubble ball games and obstacle courses. Stay tuned for updates on Kiztopia Hong Kong's official website and Klook online platform and choose from different ticket options, including full-day, 90-minute or 60-minute passes, Buddy Deals, and Family Bundles.
Jumptopia Little Gourmet Festival
Time Out says
Details
- Address:
- The Venetian Macao
- Cotai Strip
- Macao
- Hong Kong
- Contact:
- View Website
Dates and times
Discover Time Out original video | 2023-06-19T03:55:34+00:00 | timeout.com | https://www.timeout.com/hong-kong/things-to-do/jumptopia-little-gourmet-festival |
MILWAUKEE — The Wisconsin Insurance Alliance is calling on Wisconsin to use some of the money it sends to the state to fund driver’s education for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch.
High school senior Jahmorris Torres-Currin is months away from getting his diploma, but another achievement he wants to accomplish hasn’t become a reality.
"I really want to do driver's ed,” he said. "I could be able to provide transportation to school. I would be able to have transportation to my college classes. That way I wouldn't rely on people I'm close to or I wouldn't have to use the city bus."
Jahmorris says it hasn’t been for a lack of effort, but rather a lack of means.
"My mom doesn't work, she heavily relies on food stamps so it's hard, especially for parents trying to afford groceries or food for their children so it puts like a lot of stress because they have this responsibility,” he said.
Jahmorris says he wanted to enroll in MPS Drive which is a Milwaukee program that’s providing driver’s ed classes to 4,400 students this year. But as a charter school student, Jahmorris didn’t qualify for the reduced rate of $35. Meanwhile, alternatives such as private driver’s ed classes cost around $400.
“What was the biggest barrier for you to get into driver’s ed? Was it the cost or was it the accessibility to a program?" TMJ4 reporter Ben Jordan asked.
“It was both, honestly,” Jahmorris said. “I’ve been trying to get into driver’s ed for two years and nothing’s changed.”
Stories of struggles for students like Jahmorris motivated a Milwaukee organization called ‘Common Ground’ to advocate for free driver’s ed for disadvantaged teens.
“There’s a huge need for this,” said Common Ground Executive Director Jennifer O’Hear. “It’s been since 2004 that the state stopped funding drivers education so we’ve got a whole generation out there that didn’t have access to driver’s ed.”
Common Ground is now partnering with the Wisconsin Insurance Alliance to work toward that common goal.
O’Hear says the trade association that represents insurance companies in Wisconsin sends the state roughly $26 million a year for insurance industry fees.
They’re calling on the state to use $6 million of those funds to provide students with grants for free driver’s education if they qualify for free or reduced lunch programs.
For instance, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction data shows a family of four would need to have a household income of no more than $51,338 to be eligible.
“Some people may wonder why not provide these grants to every student in high school instead of just those on free or reduced lunch,” Jordan said.
“Well, we think that’s a great idea, but in terms of just being practical and making sure we move a step in the right direction, we think just asking the state to fund driver’s ed for all free and reduced lunch students is a good start,” O’Hear replied.
As Jahmorris prepares to graduate, he knows he wouldn’t be able to benefit from this initiative if it comes to fruition, but he says it would remove the obstacles he faced for his younger brother.
“For him, this would be like an immediate step forward for him. He could already have his permit.”
The initiative would need the approval of the state legislature. Common Ground says Governor Tony Evers backs the proposal and some Republican state lawmakers tell TMJ4 they support it as well. They’re expecting a decision by July.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more. | 2023-03-29T22:00:52+00:00 | tmj4.com | https://www.tmj4.com/news/project-drive-safer/proposal-would-provide-drivers-ed-grants-for-students-on-free-or-reduced-lunch |
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Tonya Henrichs is a professionally trained herbalist. She loves serving the community through offering organic herbal teas blended in house that can be enjoyed at the shop or to take home.
“I have always loved hospitality and helping people to use plants for wellness,” Henrichs said. “The tea shop allows me to combine the two.”
They also offer baked goods from local bakers and coffee from Sunago Coffee. Their shop is all vintage themed with an extensive Knoxville collection from 60s-80s that was locally thrifted or gifted.
To learn more visit Tonya Rea’s website here. | 2023-01-05T22:12:45+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/living-east-tennessee/tonya-reas-tea-offers-wellness-in-a-cup/ |
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — The 17-year-old accused of shooting and killing two Orange County teens in September, faced a judge for the first time since being charged as an adult.
Just before noon, Issiah Ross walked before the judge and the families wearing T-shirts demanding justice for their loved ones.
Many wore t-shirts bearing the words, “Until We Meet Again,” “You may be gone from my sight, but you are never gone from my heart,” and “Justice for Lyric Woods.”
Inside the courtroom on Tuesday, more than 30 people showed up in support of the teenage victims.
Everyone was silent when Ross stepped into the courtroom.
With his hands cuffed in front of him, Ross walked in wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and sat down in front of the judge, expressionless.
Authorities said Ross shot and killed Clark and Woods on Sept. 17. Their bodies were found the next afternoon by ATV riders off of Buckhorn Road in western Orange County.
“At the transfer hearing, the judge ordered that he would be held with no bond, so I ask for that to continue,” the District’s Attorney’s office presented in court.
For now, the 17-year-old suspect will stay in a juvenile justice facility, without bond, but that could change during a Dec. 13 hearing.
Ross’ attorneys also asked for some property to be returned.
“It’s fairly common in the case for items that were seized in the collection of evidence, for a party to say it’s not necessary for the case, can it be returned to the rightful owner,” District Attorney-elect Jeff Nieman said.
Family and friends of the slain teens stayed silent during the brief court appearance, and even as they left the courthouse.
CBS 17 crews watched Ross get escorted into a car and driven back to a secured facility.
But many questions still remain.
“Do you anticipate any additional arrests here locally?” CBS 17 crews asked.
“No comment on that,” Nieman said.
Nieman explained that these kinds of cases take time and patience.
“We are very aware of the importance to both the families involved in the greater community in this case, and we understand why it’s important,” Nieman said. “This case will eventually be heard in court. The evidence the state has, when it’s brought to court, will come out.”
Nieman told CBS 17 Ross will remain in juvenile custody until he turns 18, which is Dec. 8.
Above video shows Issiah Ross being taken to a car by authorities after Tuesday’s court appearance (Hayley Fixler/CBS 17). | 2022-11-16T13:45:06+00:00 | myfox8.com | https://myfox8.com/news/north-carolina/piedmont-triad/suspect-appears-in-court-for-orange-county-double-murder-will-be-held-without-bond-in-juvenile-facility-until-december/ |
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The Islamic State group has issued a statement claiming responsibility for killing more than 35 people and wounding dozens in eastern Congo.
In the statement, posted Friday by Aamaq, the militants’ news agency, it said it killed “Christians” with guns and knives and destroyed their property in Mukondi village in North Kivu province. It also published a photo of the houses on fire.
The announcement comes after local authorities confirmed that at least 45 people were killed last week in several attacks on different villages by rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces, a militia with links to IS.
Conflict has been simmering in eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups fight for power, influence and resources, and some to protect their communities. The ADF has been largely active in North Kivu province but has recently extended its operations into neighboring Ituri province and to areas near the regional capital, Goma.
Efforts to stem the violence against ADF have yielded little. A nearly year-long joint operation by Uganda and Congo’s armies did not achieve the expected results of defeating or substantially weakening the group, said a report in December by a panel of U.N. experts. The ADF rebels are accused by the U.N. and rights groups of maiming, raping and abducting civilians, including children. Earlier this month the United States offered a reward of up to $5 million for information that could lead to the capture of the group’s leader, Seka Musa Baluku.
On Thursday, AP reporters saw bodies lowered into a mass grave in Mukondi. Community members shoveled dirt over the bodies against a backdrop of destroyed houses and said the government wasn’t doing enough to protect them.
“As you see in Mukondi, it is always the same. ADF, which is always ill-intentioned against the Congolese,” said Col. Charles Ehuta Omeonga, military administrator for Beni region. “We lost many of our brothers,” he said.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo has condemned the killings and is urging Congo’s authorities to investigate and bring those responsible to justice.
___
Associated Press reporter Maamoun Youssef contributed from Cairo. | 2023-03-11T22:20:48+00:00 | mytwintiers.com | https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/world-news/ap-international/is-group-says-it-killed-more-than-35-christians-in-congo/ |
The racial gap in graduation rates for this year’s bowl teams in college football has declined again, this time to the smallest difference in the history of a study examining the data.
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at Central Florida reported Wednesday that the overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for bowl-bound teams in 2022 has reached an all-time high of 83%. At the same time, improvements in the average GSR for Black football players (79.5%) slightly outpaced those of white players (91.7%).
Those are all improvements from last year’s study reporting GSRs of 81.3% overall, 78% for Black players and 89.7% for white players. This year’s gap of 11.6 percentage points is the smallest in the history of the study dating to 2004; it was 19 percentage points as recently as 2017.
“As long as there are gaps between any part of how we look at life in America – in this case, education – whether it’s wealth, healthcare, the criminal-justice system, when there’s a disparity between different racial groups, then we have a problem in America,” TIDES director and lead report author Richard Lapchick said. “And we have to deal with it. I think we’re dealing with it better. But we have do it even better.”
The study cited GSR, a methodology developed in 2002 and used by the NCAA to consider athlete transfer patterns that can affect graduation. It examined data for 82 teams in the Bowl Subdivision headed for the postseason, but doesn’t include the Celebration Bowl teams of Jackson State and North Carolina Central playing at the Championship Subdivision level.
Felicia Martin, the NCAA senior vice president of Inclusion, Education & Community Engagement — said increased graduation success of “diverse student populations is remarkable.”
“We applaud the strides our students continue to make in the classroom and acknowledge the steps university and athletic leaders are taking to help achieve equitable academic success for all,” Martin said. “The data is clearly trending in the right direction.”
Among the more concerning data: nearly a quarter of the FBS bowl-bound teams (20) had GSRs for Black players that were at least 20 percentage points behind their white counterparts.
East Carolina, headed to the Birmingham Bowl, had the worst in the study at 40 percentage points, while another four schools – No. 1 Georgia, LSU, Florida State and Texas Tech – had gaps of at least 30 percentage points.
And the concerns extended into the four-team College Football Playoff field, where the Bulldogs are chasing a second straight title against No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 TCU and No. 4 Ohio State.
Georgia’s overall football GSR was 54%, including just 47% for Black players compared to 80% for white players. TCU’s overall GSR (74%) was also well below the study’s overall average, though the gap between Black players (73%) and white players (76%) was much smaller.
Rivals Michigan and Ohio State posted higher scores. The Wolverines’ overall GSR was 94%, with Black players at 90% compared to white players at 100%. For the Buckeyes, the overall GSR was 86%, with Black players at 83% and white players at 93%.
Beyond that top tier, the study found seven schools – Mississippi State, UAB, BYU, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Wyoming – with higher GSRs for Black players than white players, with Mississippi State and UAB both at plus-15 percentage points.
Another 17 schools had gaps of fewer than 5 percentage points, including TCU, Southern California, South Carolina, Kansas State, Baylor, Wisconsin, Wake Forest and Oklahoma State from power conferences, along with independent Notre Dame.
Oregon State was the only school level in the study, with Black and white players both posting 93% GSRs.
THe TIDES study examined six-year graduation rates for each school’s enrolling class for the 2015-16 sports season, then rolled that into a four-year average dating to the 2012-13 season.
The institute issues annual report cards on racial- and gender-hiring practices in professional leagues such as the NFL, NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, as well as for college sports.
___
Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap
___
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/ap_top25. Sign up for the AP’s college football newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/mrxhe6f2 | 2022-12-08T11:57:17+00:00 | cbs4indy.com | https://cbs4indy.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-study-racial-gap-in-grad-rates-drops-again-for-bowl-teams/ |
A Scalable Model to Accelerate and Diversify Florida's Innovation Economy
TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology (the Florida Institute) announced today the results of a new study conducted by The Washington Economics Group, Inc.® (WEG), a Coral Gables-based boutique economic consulting firm led by nationally recognized business economist J. Antonio (Tony) Villamil. Measuring the economic impacts of the Institute during FY 2021-22 to update prior years' figures, the study concluded that the organization's impact increased by $733 million to $4.1 billion. The results underline the successes of many Florida Institute initiatives, such as the Seed Capital Accelerator Program and the Florida Technology Seed Capital Fund. With another year in the books, many Florida Institute-funded companies continue an upward trajectory, raising additional investment capital, increasing sales, creating jobs, and bringing innovative products to market.
The Florida Institute supports new companies in Florida that create a diverse set of jobs in knowledge-based industries driving the global economy. By providing seed and early-stage funding, the Florida Institute enables businesses to develop and launch products in key sectors, including life sciences, information technology, homeland security and defense, logistics and distribution, and manufacturing.
Highlights of the new study include:
- Overall economic impact for FY2021-22 of $733 million, a cumulative total of $4.1 billion;
- 4,253 total jobs supported in FY2021-22; a total of 24,390 over the last 12 years;
- Average earnings per direct job created exceeded the statewide average;
- Capital raised in excess of $520 million, with over $65 million raised in FY 2021-22;
- GDP impacts of $388 million in FY21-22, a 12-year total of $2.2 billion;
- Adding $71 million to Federal, State & Local Fiscal Revenues, a total of nearly $453 million over 12 years.
"The economic impacts of the Institute increased again in 2022, marking another year of growth and positive results for Florida's economy," said Tony Villamil, founder and senior advisor of The Washington Economics Group. "Increasing high-wage employment and improved household income are direct results of the economic activity created by the Institute with a significant portion of the overall economic impact attributable to companies founded by individuals identified as socially, and economically disadvantaged."
"We continue to invest into and grow the vast amount of talent, technologies, and intellectual property created here in Florida," said Renee Finley, Florida Institute Board Chair. "We couldn't be more proud and grateful to support our founders who dedicate everything to their business, making incredible contributions to Florida's innovation economy."
"Now is the time to fund early-stage technology startups located in Florida providing and expanding capital access to all Florida innovators," said Rafael Lohner, Florida Institute Executive Director. "We need to capture the growth momentum while scaling the Institute's efforts and funding to many promising Florida startups that build exceptional products and services while creating high-paying jobs for many Floridians."
Formed by the Florida Legislature in 2007, the Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology supports and funds innovation companies that create clean jobs in new industries driving the global economy. The Institute provides company building services and seed funding through the Florida Technology Seed Capital Fund to promising Florida startups that are developing products that improve and save lives and help companies improve their bottom line. The organization's investment decisions are guided through a strong partnership with its Private Fund Manager, Florida Funders. The Institute's economic impact on Florida's economy is $4.1 billion, with fiscal revenue impacts of nearly $453 million to federal, state, and local governments.
Founded in 1993 in the City of Coral Gables, The Washington Economics Group is a boutique economic consulting firm specializing in comprehensive economic solutions for businesses. WEG engages a limited number of clients each year in order to ensure the best client experience within premiere areas of specialization, and possesses expertise in the economies of Florida, the U.S., Latin America as well as the global economy and emerging markets.
Media Contact: Rafael Lohner, +1.561.368.8889, info@florida-institute.com
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE Institute for Commercialization of Florida Technology | 2022-11-17T20:19:16+00:00 | wafb.com | https://www.wafb.com/prnewswire/2022/11/17/institute-commercialization-florida-technology-delivers-41-billion-economic-impact/ |
How to achieve high performance in a highly flexible environment
The Miles Group releases part three of podcast series on Executing for Outcomes, featuring CEO Stephen Miles and COO Taylor Griffin
NEW YORK, Jan. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- What does it take to win? "Let's define what we need to get done. Let's get alignment across the company on that definition. Then, let's sequence, prioritize, and execute," say Stephen Miles, Chief Executive Officer, and Taylor Griffin, Chief Operating Officer of The Miles Group (TMG), on episode 16 of the C-Suite Intelligence podcast, "Executing for Outcomes: What It Takes To Win," released today.
"CEOs want to understand how to have high performance in a highly flexible environment," says Miles. "It takes work, though. You have to redesign scheduling. You have to redesign meetings… As leaders, what we need to do is have rich context that's driven into our gold star conversation, continually."
Miles is referring to what he calls "Gold Star Management," a simple framework TMG uses with leadership coaching clients to define "what winning looks like" over a set period of time.
A lot of leaders "are going to need to recalibrate their operating systems," says Griffin. "They will have to make sure that their operating system aligns with what it takes to win. If you take the time to do that, you get a better experience and you get better outcomes."
In order to refocus and recalibrate teams effectively, context is key. However, setting context can be challenging, particularly for the 58 percent of Americans adjusting to a hybrid work model. "We have reconciled the office on 'density days' to actually perform its function, which is to do in-person work."
The concept of office density days is to designate specific days for in-office teamwork, spurring individuals to be more productive when they're back at their screens. Griffin says, "Let's edit in the office. Let's do milestone events in the office. Let's kick things off in the office. Let's onboard new people in the office. Let's reconcile the office to do the stuff that we need to do in person as human beings…And then, let's scatter to go do our work."
Miles continues, "What we want to do is create a culture and an operating environment where we can win together."
"Executing for Outcomes: What It Takes To Win" is the third and last installment of the C-Suite Intelligence series on executing for outcomes, which includes "A New Operating Environment" and "Pivoting from Potential to Performance." New episodes air every other Tuesday on all major podcast platforms.
Listen and follow on Apple, Google, and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
For more information, please contact Davia Temin or Trang Mar of Temin and Company at 212.588.8788 or news@teminandco.com.
CEOs running the world's top companies don't start out that way – they pull ahead of their peers with behaviors and practices that make them the "best of the best." Stephen Miles and the team at TMG coach some of the world's most successful executives, helping them continuously up their game even as business conditions grow more complex every day. Learn the secrets of the highest performers and use this intelligence to power your career. New episodes are released bi-weekly on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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SOURCE The Miles Group/TMG | 2023-01-03T18:37:27+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2023/01/03/executing-outcomes-what-it-takes-win/ |
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday proposed to boost defense spending by more than a third through 2030 and to “transform” France’s nuclear-armed military, to better face evolving threats and take into account the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Macron announced a proposal for 413 billion euros (nearly $450 billion) in military spending for the period of 2024-2030, to ensure “our freedom, our security, our prosperity, our place in the world.”
That compares with spending of about 295 billion euros in a similar military plan for 2019-2025.
The money would notably go to modernizing France’s nuclear arsenal, boosting intelligence spending by 60%, doubling the number of military reservists, reinforcing cyberdefense and developing more remote-controlled weapons.
“Nuclear deterrence is an element that makes France different from other countries in Europe. We see anew, in analyzing the war in Ukraine, its vital importance,” he said in a speech to military personnel at an air base in Mont-de-Marsan in southwest France. France is the only member of the 27-nation European Union with nuclear weapons, and the bloc is still largely dependent on the U.S. and NATO for defense.
Macron also wants to expand French submarine surveillance capacity to depths of 6,000 meters (nearly 20,000 feet), both for military reasons and to protect critical infrastructure such as undersea cables carrying energy and information across oceans that have come under threat.
Friday’s speech comes as defense officials from the U.S. and allies are meeting in Ramstein, Germany, to discuss further help for Ukraine.
Macron didn’t address Ukraine’s pleas to supply French Leclerc tanks — even after a tongue-in-cheek video released Thursday by Ukraine’s defense ministry vaunting the tanks as “compact, sporty, easy to park’’ and quoting French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
France already has provided Ukraine with 18 Caesar cannons, six TRF1 cannons, two Crotale air defense systems, rocket launcher units, anti-tank and anti-air weapons, armored vehicles, munitions, protective gear, medical equipment and military rations, according to Macron’s office. Earlier this month, France agreed to send AMX-10 RC armored surveillance and combat vehicles that in French are called “light tanks.”
France also is aiming to train at least 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers as part of EU-wide training efforts.
“What we are experiencing on European soil for the past year in Ukraine teaches us lessons,” Macron said.
“The threats are multiple, and mix together,” he said. “There is no longer a peace dividend, because of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine … The international order has ceded to a state of play between nations like we have not seen in decades.”
Macron noted threats from hybrid warfare, cyberattacks and continued threats from terrorism, and called for boosting the production capacity of the arms industry to be able to help Ukraine and supply the French military.
Among lessons of the Ukraine war, Macron’s office said the French military needs to be more reactive and ready for quick deployments, and have equipment that performs well, logistical support and ammunition.
Macron wants France’s military strategy to strengthen the country’s role as an independent global power. He called for reinforcing military partnerships with European neighbors as well as countries like Egypt, India, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, and in Africa.
The new budget plan would need parliamentary approval. Macron’s centrist alliance doesn’t have a majority in either house of parliament, but military officers have long lamented shrinking spending on the armed forces, and conservative and far-right parties tend to support investment in defense.
France’s military budget reached 1.9% of gross domestic product in 2021, with a goal to reach 2% by 2025, as per NATO expectations.
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Bob Edme contributed to this report from Mont-de-Marsan.
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Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | 2023-01-20T14:56:29+00:00 | ksn.com | https://www.ksn.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-macron-floats-new-military-spending-plan-amid-ukraine-war/ |
For the first time, the sale and use of consumer fireworks are now banned in unincorporated King County ahead of this year’s Fourth of July weekend.
In April 2021, the King County Council passed a ban on fireworks in unincorporated areas, including Skyway, White Center, Snoqualmie Valley, Greater Maple Valley, Enumclaw Plateau and Vashon Island. The law, which has a one-year waiting period, goes into effect ahead of this Fourth of July weekend.
Fireworks are already illegal in Seattle and most other Puget Sound cities.
“This brings unincorporated King County in line with neighboring jurisdictions, and we all agree that there are much safer ways, including licensed, professional fireworks displays, to celebrate the July 4th holiday,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine in a news release.
County officials discussed a firework ban for years, following wildfires in rural areas during dry summers, fireworks-related injuries and a fatal house fire in White Center, according to King County.
In 2020, fireworks set parts of a four-story apartment building ablaze in West Seattle on July 4, causing $100,000 in damage, according to the Seattle Fire Department. Two fires linked to fireworks in unincorporated King County in 2019 killed or critically wounded and displaced residents after Fourth of July celebrations.
While residents will not be permitted to light fireworks in backyards or roads, many cities, including Seattle, Bellevue and Tacoma, will hold official July Fourth fireworks shows and activities.
Starting this month, residents can report illegal fireworks to the King County Permitting Division by visiting kingcounty.gov/reportfireworks or calling 206-848-0800.
According to King County, officials will first issue a warning to violators and then citations to repeat offenders. King County has not yet finalized the details of how citations will be issued in 2023. | 2022-06-28T20:31:29+00:00 | seattletimes.com | https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/fireworks-ban-in-unincorporated-king-county-takes-effect-ahead-of-july-4-weekend/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all |
PITTSBURGH (AP)Tarik Skubal pitched seven steady innings to win his fourth straight decision and Harold Castro hit a two-run single to lead the Detroit Tigers to a rain-delayed 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.
After the start was pushed back more than two hours, Skubal (5-2) gave up three runs and six hits while striking out nine and walking one. The left-hander has worked a career-high seven innings in three consecutive outings and is 4-0 with a 1.60 ERA in his last seven starts.
The 25-year-old Skubal has emerged as the Tigers’ ace after compiling a 9-16 record with a 4.57 ERA in 39 games – 36 starts – over his first two major league seasons.
”Tarik Skubal is obvious a big piece of trying to push this thing forward,” Detroit manager A.J. Hinch said. ”It speaks to our minor league people and our (player development) people.
”He’s learned some hard lessons over the last year and a half or so, but for a team that had a rough start to the season, the day he pitches every single time there is a different feel in the clubhouse and that is a signature of a guy who is turning into a very good major league pitcher.”
Castro’s hit, a liner up the middle, capped a three-run fourth that put the Tigers in front 4-1. Touted rookie Spencer Torkelson drove in the first run with a double.
Leadoff hitter Willi Castro, slumping Javier Baez and Tucker Barnhart all had two hits, including doubles, for Detroit. Baez raised his batting average to .205 as he struggles in the first season of a $140 million, six-year contract he signed as a free agent.
Gregory Soto pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.
”Gregory’s outing was so quick, I didn’t even see it,” said Skubal, who was in the clubhouse when Soto took the mound. ”I went to get a smoothie and it was over in eight pitches.”
Pittsburgh lefty Jose Quintana (1-3) was rocked for four runs and seven hits in 3 1/3 innings while striking out five and walking one. He had a 1.73 ERA over his previous seven starts.
”He just didn’t have the execution on the fastball that we’ve seen out of him, and the breaking stuff wasn’t as sharp,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. ”(Against) a predominately right-handed lineup, he just left balls in the middle (of the plate) and they were able to square them up.”
Pittsburgh rookie Cal Mitchell had two hits, one being a two-run homer to right field in the fourth that drew the Pirates to 4-3. It was just the second home run Skubal has allowed to a left-handed batter in his three-year career.
Barnhart’s RBI double in the eighth gave the Tigers an insurance run.
The Pirates’ Yu Chang doubled home the first run in the second. An inning later, Jonathan Schoop tied it with an RBI double.
Detroit snapped a three-game losing streak. Pittsburgh lost for just the second time in seven games.
The start was delayed 2 hours, 5 minutes by rain.
”Long day at the ballpark but it’s good to get a win,” Barnhart said.
DOUBLE SWITCH
Skubal was listed as the starting pitcher on the Tigers’ original lineup card.
However, Hinch decided to switch to reliever Wily Peralta about 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. During the delay, the Tigers again changed their minds and went back to Skubal.
The thinking behind the original move was because rain was forecast to arrive around the third inning, Hinch did not want to have to potentially remove Skubal from the game early. Once the start was delayed, the Tigers returned to their original plan.
”It was interesting, but it is what it is,” Skubal said. ”I was already ready to pitch so (the switch) didn’t really affect me at all.”
SWAGGERTY’S DEBUT
Travis Swaggerty became the seventh Pirates player to make his major league debut this season. Starting in center field, he went 0 for 3.
The Pirates’ first-round draft pick in 2018 was called up Sunday from Triple-A Indianapolis.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Tigers: 3B Jeimer Candelario (left shoulder subluxation) was placed on the 10-day injured list and RF Austin Meadows (vertigo) was activated from the IL. The Tigers are hopeful Candelario will be ready to be reinstated June 16, the first day he is eligible. . RHP Casey Mize (sprained right elbow) has been shut down after being unable to throw from 90 feet and will seek additional medical opinions. The first overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft has been out since April 15. . LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (strained left ribcage) will make a rehab start Thursday for Triple-A Toledo. . RHP Matt Manning (right shoulder inflammation) has been cleared to resume throwing. . RHP Michael Pineda (fractured right middle finger) threw a bullpen. . RHP Jose Cisnero (right shoulder strain) and OFs Robbie Grossman (neck strain) and Victor Reyes (strained left quad) began rehab assignments with Toledo.
Pirates: LHP Dillon Peters (low back strain) was placed on the 15-day IL and LHP Aaron Fletcher was recalled from Indianapolis. . Double-A Altoona C Henry Davis (fractured left wrist), the first selection in last year’s amateur draft, begin a rehab assignment in the rookie-level Florida Complex League.
UP NEXT
Tigers: Rookie RHP Alex Faedo (1-2, 3.09 ERA) will start Wednesday in the finale of the two-game series. He has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his six career starts.
Pirates: RHP Mitch Keller (2-5, 5.77) returned to the rotation May 31 after a brief bullpen stint and beat the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
—
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports | 2022-06-08T13:43:11+00:00 | kdvr.com | https://kdvr.com/sports/baseball-championship/rain-man-skubal-wins-4th-straight-as-tigers-top-pirates-5-3/ |
WASHINGTON, June 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the authority on boardroom practices representing more than 23,000 directors, today published The Inclusion-Driven Boardroom: Incorporating Inclusion to Help Realize the Benefits of Diversity, a collaboration between the Deloitte Center for Board Effectiveness and the Center for Inclusive Governance® (CFIG). The practical playbook includes points of reflection and tactical ways for directors to drive inclusion in the boardroom. It builds on the Board Inclusion Framework issued by Deloitte and NACD in 2020. Notably, this new guide provides a how-to for boards to turn the lens inward and effectively examine their inclusion culture—which intrinsically influences the organizations they oversee.
"This publication is a testament to the Center for Inclusive Governance's ongoing journey toward creating an inclusive culture where every director feels valued, respected, and empowered to bring their authentic selves to the boardroom," said Tracy Gee, chief people officer, NACD. "It is an opportunity to promote dialogue, understanding, and empathy—and to foster an environment where everyone can contribute their unique perspectives and thrive."
The new publication is built on the principle that boards must look internally and evaluate their own diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) practices if they are to succeed in overseeing their organization's inclusion strategies effectively. Moreover, it reflects NACD's long-term commitment to DE&I, benchmarked by the association's trailblazing 2012 Report of the NACD Blue Ribbon Commission—The Diverse Board: Moving From Interest to Action and its 2020 update. Additionally, in September, NACD will release the 2023 Blue Ribbon Commission report, which will issue guidance on dynamics and culture within the boardroom.
Carey Oven, national managing partner, Center for Board Effectiveness, Deloitte & Touche LLP, pointed out that the diversity and inclusivity parts of DE&I are sometimes considered interchangeably—but, in fact, they are not the same thing: "It is not enough to simply bring an array of lived experiences to the table. There also must be inclusive practices to help draw out the full benefits of diversity and to help yield a sense of belonging. Driving effective diversity and inclusion requires different—albeit complementary—approaches and actions."
The playbook offers insight on attributes possessed by inclusive directors. And it stresses the importance of self-awareness in modeling six tangible traits reflective of an inclusive leader: commitment to inclusion; courage to talk about imperfections; cognizance of bias so change can take place; curiosity that embraces different ideas and experiences; cultural intelligence, appreciating that not everyone sees the world through the same cultural frame; and collaboration—the mindset that all board members should have a voice and feel willing to share their perspectives.
"As with all aspects of DE&I, the road to effective inclusion practices is not finite," Gee added. "Rather, it is an ongoing, dynamic journey that gives us the chance to fully harness the wisdom of every individual—and the value that diversity in the boardroom brings."
About NACD
The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) is the premier membership organization for board directors who want to expand their knowledge, grow their network, and maximize their potential.
As the unmatched authority in corporate governance, NACD sets the standards of excellence through its research and community-driven director education, programming, and publications. Directors trust NACD to arm them with the relevant insights to make high-quality decisions on the most pressing and strategic issues facing their businesses today.
NACD also prepares leaders to meet tomorrow's biggest challenges. The NACD Directorship Certification® is the leading director credential in the United States. It sets a new standard for director education, positions directors to meet boardroom challenges, and includes an ongoing education requirement that prepares directors for what is next.
With an ever-expanding community of more than 23,000 members and a nationwide chapter network, our impact is both local and global. NACD members are driven by a common purpose: to be trusted catalysts of economic opportunity and positive change—in business and in the communities we serve. To learn more visit NACD.
About the Deloitte Center for Board Effectiveness
Deloitte's Center for Board Effectiveness helps directors deliver value to the organizations they serve through a portfolio of high-quality, innovative experiences throughout their tenure as board members. Whether an individual is aspiring to board participation or has extensive board experience, the Center's programs enable them to contribute effectively and provide focus in the areas of governance and audit, strategy, risk, innovation, compensation, and succession.
CONTACT: Susan Oliver, (703) 216-4078, soliver@nacdonline.org
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SOURCE NACD | 2023-06-02T16:21:15+00:00 | wbrc.com | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2023/06/02/nacd-deloitte-release-new-playbook-drive-inclusion-boardrooms-across-america-turning-lens-inward-focusing-culture-inclusion/ |
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilians poured into the University of Sao Paulo’s law school to hear a manifesto denouncing the brutal military dictatorship and calling for a prompt return of the rule of law.
That was 1977. Almost 45 years later to the day, thousands are expected to rally at that same stage Thursday for readings of two documents inspired by the original “Letter to the Brazilians.” Both new manifestos defend the nation’s democratic institutions and electronic voting system, which far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly attacked ahead of his reelection bid.
While the incumbent isn’t named in either document, analysts say it is abundantly clear to whom they are directed.
They underscore widely held concern Bolsonaro may follow U.S. President Donald Trump’s lead in rejecting election results and attempting to cling to power. In a country whose democracy is mere decades old, that specter has encouraged hundreds of thousands of people — even those who previously refrained from sticking their necks out — to sign the letters. The president has not only refused to sign on, but also belittled the initiatives.
“We are at risk of a coup, so civil society must stand up and fight against that to guarantee democracy,” José Carlos Dias, a lawyer who helped write the 1977 letter and the two that will be read Thursday, told The Associated Press.
The first of the new letters, composed by the law school’s alumni, has received over 880,000 signatures since its online launch July 26. Among them are musicians including Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, and high-profile bankers, executives and presidential candidates. Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who leads all polls ahead of the October election, is among them.
The other document was published in newspapers Aug. 5 and has received less public attention, but political analysts told AP it is more important. It is endorsed by associations representing hundreds of companies in the banking, oil, construction and transportation sectors.
Normally averse to taking public political stances, companies were apparently concerned a backslide on democratic norms would be bad for business, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo.
“The novelty is that sectors that have been remaining neutral, or were even somehow favorable to the president, also signed, because they saw themselves as being at risk,” Melo added. “Democracy is important for the economy.”
Bolsonaro’s commitment to democracy has been scrutinized since taking office, in large part because the former army captain has insistently glorified the three-decade dictatorship. Earlier this year he met with Hungary’s autocratic leader, Viktor Orban, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
For over a year, Bolsonaro has claimed the electronic voting machines are prone to fraud, though he never presented any evidence. At one point, he threatened that elections would be suspended if Congress didn’t approve a bill to introduce printed receipts of votes. The bill didn’t pass.
He began expressing desire for greater involvement of the armed forces in election oversight and, last week, army officials visited the electoral authority’s headquarters to inspect voting machines’ source code. Bolsonaro has alleged that some of the authority’s top officials are working against him.
When Bolsonaro launched his campaign, he called on supporters to flood the streets for Sept. 7 independence day celebrations. On that date last year, tens of thousands rallied at his behest, and Bolsonaro told them only God can remove him from power. He threatened to plunge the nation into an institutional crisis by declaring he would no longer heed rulings from a Supreme Court justice. He later backtracked, saying his comment was made in the heat of the moment.
Bolsonaro’s rhetoric resonates with his base, but is increasingly alienating him politically, Melo said.
Since last year, the electoral authority has been proactive in countering claims against the voting system. Its top officials, who are also Supreme Court justices, have made repeated statements in its defense. Behind the scenes, they have been working overtime to recruit allies in the legislature and private sector, though many had been loath to echo their public pronouncements.
A turning point came last month, after Bolsonaro called foreign ambassadors to the presidential residence to lecture them on the electronic vote’s supposed vulnerabilities. Since then, both leaders of Congress and the prosecutor-general, all of whom are considered Bolsonaro allies, have expressed confidence in the system’s reliability.
The U.S. also weighed in, with its State Department issuing a statement the day after the ambassadors’ meeting to say the Brazilian electoral system and democratic institutions are a “model for the world.” In a July conference with regional defense ministers in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said militaries should carry out their missions responsibly, especially during elections.
The letters to be read Thursday — which at any other time might have been a dry exercise relegated to academia — have struck a chord with society. Television stations in recent days have aired clips of artists reading the pro-democracy pledge.
Bolsonaro, for his part, has played down concerns and repeatedly dismissed the manifestos.
“We don’t need any little letter to say that we defend democracy, to say we will fulfill the constitution,” the president told allied politicians July 27.
Still, concern about Bolsonaro’s rhetoric has spread even among some allies, two Cabinet ministers told AP on the condition of anonymity, as they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The ministers said Bolsonaro rallying supporters to the streets is justified, but worry his manner of expression may lead some to believe he is inciting violence. They said Bolsonaro’s impulses and fiery reactions have also undermined their efforts to keep the peace between the administration and other institutions.
Bolsonaro’s party has distanced itself from claims the election could be compromised. The party’s leader sought out the electoral court’s president to assure him of his trust in the voting system, Augusto Rosa, the party’s vice president, told AP.
It will be an uphill battle for Bolsonaro. More than half the people surveyed by pollster Datafolha said they wouldn’t vote for him under any circumstance. But support has perked up recently amid lower unemployment, reduced gasoline prices and higher welfare spending. Some polls say da Silva is down to a single-digit lead in the first-round vote. A close race would make pre-election promises to respect results all the more relevant.
Independent political analyst Thomas Traumann said he views the industry-led manifesto as the most significant document in Brazil since its 1988 constitution.
“There are going to be people defending democracy, which we haven’t seen since the dictatorship,” Traumann said by phone. “Isolating coup mongering at this moment is very important.”
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Álvares reported from Brasilia. | 2022-08-11T04:55:35+00:00 | seattletimes.com | https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/brazil-manifestos-seek-to-rein-in-bolsonaro-before-election/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world |
FLINT, MI – The attorney for a Flint man accused of having sex with an underage boy while apparently knowing he was HIV positive have asked that his client be evaluated to determine if he is competent to stand trial.
Michael Trescone on Thursday, May 25, motioned the court seeking to have his client, 55-year-old John Dushan Cole, evaluated as to competency.
Genesee County District Court Judge Jennifer J. Manley granted the motion, meaning Cole will be referred to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Saline.
Cole is charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, three counts of accosting children for immoral purposes, aggravated child sexually abusive activity and knowingly engaging in intercourse with intent to infect his victims with HIV.
Both first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct involve penetration, while second-degree involves serious variations of touching.
If convicted, Cole could face life in prison.
Cole – whose aliases include Jonnie Peters, Candy, Mercedes, and Quay Quay – was released from state prison less than one year ago after having been incarcerated for more than five years for sexual intercourse with specific intent or reckless disregard to infect with HIV, according to Michigan State Police records.
Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson previously said at a news conference that Cole legally changed his name from Jonnie D. Peters earlier this year and that there are likely additional victims.
The county’s investigation of Cole started in April, Swanson said, when a member of the victim’s family asked the department’s Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team to investigate the sexual assaults. The sheriff said that during the investigation, police found digital evidence of additional victims, who may be adults or children, and who may have been unknowingly infected with HIV.
Swanson said Cole befriended the family of his victim and later assaulted him after taking the boy to a high school basketball game at Carman Ainsworth High School.
Cole later allegedly sent the boy text messages and a photo of cash, saying he would provide him with money but, “You got to do your part.”
A defendant is incompetent to stand trial only if they are incapable of understanding the nature and object of the proceedings, or if they are incapable of assisting the defense in a rational manner because of mental condition.
Incompetence may be raised at any time during court proceedings by either the court or by a motion filed by one of the parties. Where there is evidence of incompetency, the judge must halt the proceedings and refer the defendant to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry.
At the Center for Forensic Psychiatry, doctors interview defendants and then issue a report as to whether they are mentally competent and can be held criminally responsible.
Judges typically rely on those reports to issue rulings on competency at a competency hearing, which is to be scheduled no later than five days after the center’s report is submitted.
Cole remains lodged at the Genesee County Jail.
Read more at The Flint Journal:
HIV-positive Flint man charged again with sex crimes. This time, the victim is a child
HIV-positive Flint man again accused of having sex without telling partner
Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free “3@3 Flint” daily newsletter. | 2023-05-30T15:18:33+00:00 | mlive.com | https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/2023/05/hiv-positive-flint-man-accused-of-sexual-assault-to-undergo-competency-evaluation.html |
The Ukrainian forces who made a determined last stand in a Mariupol steel mill against Russian troops were a mixture of seasoned soldiers, border guards, a controversial national guard regiment and volunteers who took up arms in the weeks before Russia’s invasion.
As Ukraine works to evacuate the last combatants from the plant — in what Russia calls a mass surrender — it describes them as heroes who have fulfilled their grueling task.
Here’s a look at these Ukrainian forces, and what they have accomplished:
WHO ARE THE DEFENDERS OF MARIUPOL?
The fighters that are still holding out at Azovstal come from a variety of different military and law enforcement units, according to Ukrainian officials.
There is the Azov Regiment, which is part of Ukraine’s National Guard; the 36th Special Marine Brigade of Ukraine’s Naval Forces; the 12th brigade of the National Guard; there are also the border guards, police officers, and territorial defense squads formed shortly before the war out of those who knew how to fire a weapon.
These forces were defending Mariupol from the start of the Russian invasion. Marines from the 36th brigade had held the city’s port and another large plant in Mariupol for more than a month, until they ran out of supplies and ammunition.
They moved to the Azovstal steel mill to join the Azov Regiment, a national guard unit with roots in the far right, and some of them were captured by the Russians.
The total number of fighters hiding in the plant’s labyrinth of tunnels and bunkers spread out across about 11 square kilometers (4 square miles) at the height of the siege was unclear, although Russia claimed there were more than 2,000.
WHY DOES RUSSIA LABEL THEM ‘NATIONALISTS’?
Russian officials and state media take issue with the Azov Regiment. It derives from a group called the Azov Battalion, formed in 2014 as one of many volunteer brigades that rose to bolster Ukraine’s underfunded and questionably led military in the fight against Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s east.
That conflict broke out after massive protests drove Ukraine’s Kremlin-leaning president from office.
The Azov Battalion drew its initial fighters from far-right circles and elicited criticism for its tactics.
Azov fighters reject accusations of nationalism and radicalism. Sviatoslav Palamar, deputy commander of the regiment who is currently at Azovstal, said in a recent interview that he prefers the term “patriotism.”
WHAT HAVE THE DEFENDERS ACCOMPLISHED?
Ukrainian officials repeatedly stressed the role that the fighters at Azovstal have played in defending Mariupol.
“The Ukrainian troops in Mariupol have already performed a feat, drawing the elite forces of the Russian army onto themselves and significantly slowing down the advance of the Russians in the southeast,” Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said.
“Thanks to the defenders of Mariupol, we have gained critically important time to form reserves, to regroup forces and to receive aid from our partners,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Monday. “Mariupol’s defenders have fully accomplished all missions assigned by the commanders.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in turn said that while the plant’s defenders are ending their fight, the move is proper and humane: “Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes to be alive. It’s our principle.”
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | 2022-05-17T21:00:08+00:00 | wcia.com | https://www.wcia.com/news/international/explainer-who-are-mariupols-last-defenders/ |
HOUSTON, Aug. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Trueworks Roofing™ is having their "Charity Showroom Grand Opening Event" on Friday, August 12th, 2022. They are partnering with the Sky High for Kids Charity and all ticket proceeds benefit ending childhood cancer.
Trueworks Roofing™ founder, Joel Patzke shared his vision, "I want to innovate and revolutionize the entire roofing industry and provide prospective clients with the opportunity to visit our showroom and see a close-up of roof display homes so they can really get a feel for what their roof would look and feel like. Clients can also sign their paperwork digitally on our monitor screens."
Trueworks Roofing™ Has Partnered with Sky High for Kids to Help Support Ending Childhood Cancer
Trueworks Roofing™ founders Joel Patzke and Laura Cole believe in giving back to the local community and have partnered with Sky High for Kids to raise money for ending childhood cancer. All ticket proceeds will benefit Sky High for Kids.
More About Sky High for Kids
Sky High's mission is to bring communities together to provide comfort, fund research and save lives of those fighting pediatric cancer and other life-threatening conditions.
Local Houston Artist Laura Thompson Will Provide Live Art Performance
Laura will be painting live art that attendees can enjoy watching and she will be donating a Houston themed fun and funky portrait that will benefit Sky High for Kids Charity.
The Charity Showroom Event Will Feature:
- Live Roof Displays
- Local Vendors and Artists
- Food and Beverages
- Raffle with Amazing Prizes
- Live DJ and More
To get tickets to the event, follow Trueworks Roofing™ on Instagram @trueworksroofing for more info or click here for tickets.
About Trueworks Roofing™
Trueworks Roofing™ is a Houston-based residential, and commercial roofing company that is revolutionizing the roofing industry. They also have a showroom that showcases roof display homes. Clients can arrange a visit to the showroom to view various roof displays. Visit the Trueworks Roofing™ website for more info. Trueworks Roofing™ services Houston, The Woodlands, River Oaks, Katy, and surrounding suburbs. For commercial jobs and Spanish Barrel Tile installations, they have a broader service area within Texas. Follow Trueworks Roofing™ on social media for more information on the Charity Showroom Grand Opening Event.
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SOURCE Trueworks Roofing | 2022-08-03T16:45:55+00:00 | wlbt.com | https://www.wlbt.com/prnewswire/2022/08/03/houston-roofing-company-trueworks-roofing-partners-with-sky-high-kids-charity-their-showroom-grand-opening-event/ |
(NEXSTAR) – Just when you thought they were out of ideas, Taco Bell comes up with another amalgam of meat, cheese and more cheese.
Taco Bell is introducing several new menu items this month, including Loaded TRUFF Nacho Fries (made with truffle-infused hot sauce) and a frozen Cherry Bliss Freeze beverage. But perhaps the most interesting of Taco Bell’s new offerings is the Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco, available in two major markets as of Thursday.
The all-new item, which is currently testing in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Nashville areas, is made with a white corn tortilla shell (“freshly fried daily,” according to Taco Bell) filled with beef and a melted blend of cheddar, mozzarella and pepper jack cheeses. The taco is then grilled, imparting what appears to be a toasty crust on the outside of the shell, according to photos shared by Taco Bell.
Each order is also served with Taco Bell’s “savory red sauce” or nacho cheese sauce for dipping.
Customers in Minnesota and Tennessee, however, are being treated to different varieties of Taco Bell’s Dipping Taco. The restaurant chain confirmed Thursday that Minnesota-St. Paul area locations will be offering Dipping Tacos with seasoned beef for $2.99 apiece, while those in Tennessee will offer Dipping Tacos with slow-braised shredded beef for $3.49 apiece.
Each is available as part of a Deluxe Box as well.
A representative for Taco Bell was not immediately available to discuss plans to expand testing to additional markets.
Taco Bell fans living outside of the Twin Cities and Nashville, meanwhile, can try several other new or returning menu items at restaurants nationwide, including the aforementioned Loaded TRUFF Nacho Fries, the Cherry Bliss Freeze. Nacho Fries are also returning for a limited time (with optional TRUFF dipping sauce for an additional $1) and Mexican Pizza is said to “finally” be back after selling out at restaurants across the country earlier this year.
Customers in Fresno, California, and Philadelphia can also try new iced coffee flavors including Dulce de Leche, Mexican Chocolate Mocha and Sweet Vanilla.
News of Taco Bell’s newest items comes only days after the chain confirmed it would be resurrecting the Enchirito, a long-discontinued item, for a limited time beginning Nov. 17. | 2022-10-13T16:11:10+00:00 | wate.com | https://www.wate.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/taco-bell-testing-grilled-cheese-dipping-taco-in-select-markets/ |
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. ("West Fraser" or the "Company") (TSX and NYSE: WFG) will hold an analysts' conference call to discuss fourth quarter 2022 financial and operating results on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time/11:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
To participate in the call, please dial: 1-888-390-0605 (Toll-free North America) or (416) 764-8609 (Toll number) or connect on the webcast.
Please let the operator know you wish to participate in the West Fraser conference call chaired by Mr. Ray Ferris, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Following management's discussion of the quarterly results, the analyst community will be invited to ask questions.
The call will be recorded for webcasting purposes and will be available on our website at www.westfraser.com. West Fraser's fourth quarter 2022 financial and operating results will be released on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.
West Fraser is a diversified wood products company with more than 60 facilities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. From responsibly sourced and sustainably managed forest resources, the Company produces lumber, engineered wood products (OSB, LVL, MDF, plywood, and particleboard), pulp, newsprint, wood chips, other residuals, and renewable energy. West Fraser's products are used in home construction, repair and remodelling, industrial applications, papers, tissue, and box materials. For more information about West Fraser, visit www.westfraser.com.
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SOURCE West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. | 2023-01-25T00:30:59+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2023/01/24/notice-fourth-quarter-results-conference-call/ |
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan postponed the resumption of his protest march on the country’s capital meant to challenge his successor’s government, his party said Tuesday.
Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader in Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party, said that instead of on Tuesday as previously announced, the march on Islamabad is now to resume on Thursday. He did not give any reason for the delay.
Khan, who began his protest march late last month in the city of Lahore with thousands of followers, was wounded in a shooting last week when a gunman attacked his convoy, killing one of his supporters. Thirteen other people were also wounded.
The gunman was arrested and has purportedly confessed to an assassination attempt on Khan, according to police. The attack has raised concerns about growing political instability in Pakistan, which has a history of political violence and assassinations.
Following the attack, Khan’s supporters have rallied across the country, at times clashing with police. On Monday, they blocked roads in the Pakistani capital and also in the cities of Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and elsewhere in the country.
Since the shooting, Khan has also claimed that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and two powerful government and army officials were behind the assassination attempt, without offering any evidence. Authorities have rejected the claim.
Also Tuesday, Khan’s party criticized Sharif’s government after authorities charged the gunman with attempted murder, without investigating officials as the former premier had demanded and whom Khan accused of having links to the attack.
Khan was ousted from office in April in a no-confidence vote in parliament and has since been trying to stage a political comeback. | 2022-11-08T16:21:52+00:00 | fox59.com | https://fox59.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-party-says-pakistans-ex-pm-khan-delaying-march-on-islamabad/ |
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