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Britain's plan to send asylum-seeking migrants to Rwanda is unlawful, court rules By Willem Marx Published June 29, 2023 at 2:06 PM PDT Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Listen • 3:30 A United Kingdom court ruled that the British government's plan to send migrants seeking asylum in Britain to Rwanda is unlawful. Copyright 2023 NPR | 2023-06-29T21:53:10+00:00 | kvpr.org | https://www.kvpr.org/2023-06-29/britains-plan-to-send-asylum-seeking-migrants-to-rwanda-is-unlawful-court-rules |
Just hours before delivering a speech on foreign policy that he says he was inspired by the words of his famous uncle, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made his first-ever visit to the statue of JFK at Nashua City Hall Tuesday.
The bust of President John F. Kennedy marks the spot where, on Jan. 25, 1960, he made the first stop of his successful presidential campaign. Kennedy carried New Hampshire with 85% of the primary vote later that year.
RFK Jr. hopes some of that success will come his way as he challenges incumbent President Joe Biden.
“I was at the convention in 1960 in Los Angeles,” Kennedy told NHJournal during his visit to city hall. “It was the first time that I had stayed up all night, and then I flew back with him the following day. I sat next to him on the airplane the whole way.
He also recounted how he and the other nieces and nephews of the then-Massachusetts senator hit the campaign trail.
“We were handing out buttons, knocking on doors, and shaking hands with people,” Kennedy said. “We were young, but we knew he was in a real contest.”
JFK would go on to defeat Vice President Richard Nixon in the closest election since 1884 when Democrat Grover Cleveland beat Republican James G. Blaine by about 24,000 votes.
But for a young RFK Jr. — he was nearly seven on Election Day 1960 — JFK “was just our uncle. He was the center of gravity in our family, but he was also the uncle who took us sailing and played with us.”
Kennedy was clearly moved by the sight of the bust, erected by the city in 1965. And he noted many hands had clearly touched the statue, a sign of the lingering affection for President Kennedy.
JFK’s visit had a major impact on the people of Nashua at the time, according to press reports.
“I do not know any time in the life of this country when a comparable responsibility has been placed upon the people of the United States,” Kennedy said in his remarks. “And therefore, what we start here in New Hampshire today, I believe, must succeed next summer and next November.”
The candidate then made his way through the cold and snow to campaign in the city clerk’s office.
“We knew he was coming. But we didn’t know that John F. Kennedy would come right to our desk and shake hands with all of us,” Dolly Bellavance, who worked in the clerk’s office, recalled years later.
“We didn’t wash our right hand for at least a week.”
Kennedy’s memory is still powerful among Granite State Democrats. And what would his uncle think of RFK Jr.’s unorthodox, outsider campaign more than 60 years later?
“I think that he probably be doing the same thing that I’m doing now. If I didn’t believe that, I probably wouldn’t be running. I think my uncle had very good judgment, and I think the values I’m trying to represent during this campaign are his values.”
One area of overlap Kennedy highlighted is in foreign policy, previewing his speech at St. Anselm College later that night.
“My speech tonight is largely derivative of my uncle’s speech at American University in 1963, now known as the ‘Peace Speech.’ To me, it was one of the most extraordinary speeches in American history and his best speech ever.”
That was because “it had a tremendous impact” on the Soviet Union, RFK Jr. said — a claim bolstered by the fact Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev reportedly called it “the greatest speech by any American president since Roosevelt.”
It helped lead to the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom signing the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty — forbidding nuclear testing in the atmosphere, underwater, or in outer space — in Moscow two months later.
“In that speech, my uncle did something extraordinary. He asked Americans to put themselves into the shoes of the Russians,” RFK Jr. said.
Today, it could be argued that China has put itself into Russia’s shoes and is walking a path toward a new Cold War. The Wall Street Journal’s report that China and Cuba are negotiating a joint military training facility on the island nation evoked memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis of the JFK presidency.
How would a President RFK Jr. respond?
“I agree that China wants to dominate the world, but they want to do it economically, not through military confrontation. And I think the U.S. should accept that challenge. The competition would be good for both America and China.”
Asked if it was time for the U.S. to dust off its “quarantine” strategy for Cuba in response to China’s military plans, however, Kennedy said no. He argued U.S. actions abroad likely provoked China into action.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to have the Chinese military in Cuba, but I also think the U.S. putting military bases in the South China Sea is also a mistake.”
It reflects RFK Jr’s overall foreign policy view that projecting U.S. power abroad is fundamentally a political mistake, a view shared by voters on the Bernie Sanders left and the Donald Trump right.
And, Kennedy said, his uncle would agree with him, particularly on Ukraine.
“I think my position on Ukraine is consistent with everything he believed. He believed the function of the intelligence community was to provide the military/industrial complex with a steady pipeline of new wars. And in [JFK’s] era, at least the intelligence agencies were legally prohibited from propagandizing the American people, but now they aren’t.
“And so we’re treated with this constant barrage of simplistic, comic-book propaganda about ‘good vs. evil’ that I think has been very damaging to American foreign policy,” Kennedy said.
Being from America’s most famous political family — and having his own struggles with substance abuse in the past — NHJournal asked if Kennedy had any thoughts on the news President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was pleading guilty to misdemeanor gun and tax charges.
“I wish I had a better answer for you, but to be honest, I just haven’t been following that story very closely,” Kennedy said. “When the news is about possible implications for the president, then I follow it more.”
Many of Kennedy’s family members have spoken out against his decision to seek the presidency and condemned his views on issues ranging from vaccines to foreign policy. At the same time, the Kennedy legacy plays a key role in RFK Jr.’s candidacy. How does he resolve the two?
“At this point, it’s hard for me to separate myself from, you know, my family (and) its legacy because I’ve lived with it my whole life. I see that legacy as a package of values that all of us in the family have an obligation to nurture and to try to integrate into our lives and our politics.”
Ask what one question he would have for President John F. Kennedy if he could speak to him today, RFK Jr. paused.
“It would be a never-ending conversation.”
Michael Graham is Managing Editor of NHJournal.com. | 2023-06-23T04:16:04+00:00 | bostonherald.com | https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/06/23/graham-rfk-jr-inspired-by-jfk-as-he-campaigns-for-white-house-win/ |
New blood donations rules allow more gay men to give in US
WASHINGTON (AP) — Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships can donate blood in the U.S. without abstaining from sex, under a federal policy finalized Thursday by health regulators.
The Food and Drug Administration guidelines ease decades-old restrictions designed to protect the blood supply from HIV. The agency announced plans for the change in January and said this week the new approach can now be implemented by blood banks.
The updated guidelines do away with a requirement that men who have sex with men abstain from sex for three months prior to giving blood.
Instead, all potential donors — regardless of sexual orientation, sex or gender — will be screened with a new questionnaire that evaluates their individual risks for HIV based on sexual behavior, recent partners and other factors. Potential donors who report having anal sex with new partners in the last three months will be barred from giving until a later date.
The FDA said the new policy reflects the latest scientific evidence and is in line with rules in the U.K. and Canada.
It’s the latest move by the FDA to broaden donor eligibility, with the potential to boost donations.
“The implementation of these recommendations will represent a significant milestone for the agency and the LGBTQI+ community,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s center for biological therapies, said in a statement.
Gay rights groups have long opposed blanket restrictions on who can give blood, saying they discriminate. Medical societies including the American Medical Association have also said such exclusions are unnecessary given advances in blood testing.
Anyone who has ever tested positive for HIV will continue to be ineligible to donate blood. Those taking pills to prevent HIV through sexual contact will also still be barred, until three months after their last dose. The FDA noted that the medications, known as PrEP, can delay the detection of the virus in screening tests.
The FDA sets requirements and procedures for U.S. blood banks. All potential donors answer questions about their sexual history, injectable drug use and any recent tattoos or piercings, among other factors that can contribute to the spread of blood-borne infections. Donated blood is then tested for HIV, hepatitis C, syphilis and other infectious diseases.
In 2015, the FDA dropped the lifetime ban on donations from men who have sex with men and replaced it with a one-year abstinence requirement. Then in 2020, the agency shortened the abstinence period to three months, after donations plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regulators said there has been no negative impact on the blood supply as a result of those changes.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2023-05-11T15:20:08+00:00 | wsfa.com | https://www.wsfa.com/2023/05/11/new-blood-donations-rules-allow-more-gay-men-give-us/ |
WATCH: Bald eagle seen going through airport security
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Gray News/TMX) – Transportation Security Administration agents saw a non-traditional traveler go through airport security Monday - an apparent bald eagle.
Elijah Burke shared a video on Twitter of a traveler in Charlotte Douglas International Airport holding the large bird of prey.
The raptor is perched on the arm of a man wearing what looks like a falconry glove or gauntlet and flaps its wings.
“It was my girlfriend, Karleen, who pointed the eagle out to me,” Burke said.
TSA allows small pets, including birds, through security checkpoints, but their travel accommodations are set by each airline.
Some airlines allow small pets to accompany their owners in the cabin of the plane if their travel carrier meets size requirements, while other animals must travel in the cargo hold.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. TMX contributed to this report. | 2022-08-25T20:15:34+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/2022/08/25/watch-bald-eagle-seen-going-through-airport-security/ |
Best trip ever: Traveler hits $1.3M jackpot at airport casino
Published: Jun. 29, 2023 at 11:54 AM CDT|Updated: 1 hour ago
LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) – One lucky traveler ended their vacation by winning more than $1 million at an airport casino.
Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas confirmed the big win in a tweet Wednesday.
The airport said the guest, who was not identified, won the $1.3 million jackpot while playing Wheel of Fortune Triple Double Emeralds in the Terminal 1 Esplanade.
“That’s one way to end a vacation – as a MILLIONAIRE!” the airport tweeted.
Further information was not available.
Copyright 2023 KVVU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-29T18:14:27+00:00 | kttc.com | https://www.kttc.com/2023/06/29/best-trip-ever-traveler-hits-13m-jackpot-airport-casino/ |
NEW YORK, July 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Official Committee of Talc Claimants (the "Committee"), which has been tirelessly pursuing justice for its constituency of talc victims' injury by Johnson & Johnson's ("J&J's") talc products, is pleased with the court's decision to dismiss the second bankruptcy attempt. We believe the decision of the Honorable Chief Judge Kaplan was thoughtful, well-reasoned, and well-supported by the facts and law. This outcome now frees tens of thousands of victims to seek their justice through the tort system either before juries of their peers or by settlement on terms acceptable to them. The Committee has consistently contended the tort system is the rightful place for these claims to be resolved. Today's ruling validates the Committee's belief that J&J manipulated the bankruptcy system by using the "Texas Two-Step" legal maneuver and wrongfully sought to manufacture financial distress in its "Legacy Talc Liabilities" (LTL) Management subsidiary, solely to carry out a bad faith bankruptcy case. The company will now face the full weight of its conduct in the appropriate judicial forums.
"This ruling sends a clear message: multibillion-dollar, wholly solvent companies like J&J should not be allowed to use and in fact abuse bankruptcy laws to avoid accountability," said Brown Rudnick's David Molton, one of the co-counsels representing the Committee. "We are reassured by the Bankruptcy Court's reaffirmation that it will not allow solvent corporations to abuse the system and impose coercive, low-value and cram-down solutions on nonconsenting claimants. Justice should and now will triumph over corporate greed and legal chicanery."
"The claimants have waited long enough. Untold numbers of cancer victims have died while Johnson & Johnson attempted to manipulate the bankruptcy system to limit its liabilities," added Molton. "Now victims and their families can seek justice through the tort system – by presenting their case before a jury of their peers in courts of their own choosing."
The TCC filed its motion to dismiss on April 24, 2023, alongside several other movants, including the Office of the United States Trustee, numerous State Attorneys General, and other plaintiff groups, who shared a vision for this outcome. Chief Judge Kaplan's Opinion can be viewed on the case docket, available at: https://document.epiq11.com/document/getdocumentbycode?docId=4202926&projectCode=LCN&source=DM
About The Official Committee of Talc Claimants
The Official Committee of Talc Claimants (TCC), appointed by the Office of the United States Trustee (UST), an arm of the US Department of Justice, represents and acts as a fiduciary for all mesothelioma and ovarian cancer victims, as well as all subrogation claimants who have claims based on or derivative to the victims' talcum powder claims. For more information about the TCC, please view our website at https://www.ltltalccommittee.org/
The TCC is advised by counsel, an investment banker, a financial advisor, and claims estimation experts well-versed in mass tort, asbestos, talc, bankruptcy, and victim advocacy. These entities include Genova Burns L.L.C., Brown Rudnick L.L.P., Otterbourg PC, Massey & Gail L.L.P., Miller Thomson L.L.P., MoloLamken L.L.P., Compass Lexecon, FTI Consulting, and Houlihan Lokey.
Media Contact
questions@ltltalccommittee.org
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SOURCE Official Committee of Talc Claimants | 2023-07-28T23:33:55+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/prnewswire/2023/07/28/official-committee-talc-claimants-applauds-decision-dismiss-ltl-management-second-bankruptcy-attempt/ |
The Celtics are without a first round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft after dealing away one as part of a trade package for Derrick White at the trade deadline back in February. However, the rumblings continue that Boston is looking to move back into the first round of Thursday night’s draft.
Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report indicated in his latest report that the Celtics are one of four teams (Detroit, Utah, Indiana) looking to acquire picks in the back half of the first round. He also signaled that the Celtics appeared ‘willing’ to engage in trade talks on young rotation players such as Payton Pritchard and Grant Williams ‘for the right price.’ The Celtics have also been linked to trade interest in the Warriors’ first round pick at No. 28 overall.
Brad Stevens and Boston’s front office likely hold both of these young players in high regard after Boston’s run to the NBA Finals. Williams is coming off a career year in which he shot 41.1 percent from 3-point range and averaged 7.8 points per game as Boston’s sixth man for much of the year.
Pritchard shook off a slow start to the season after suffering a broken nose and rebounded to shoot a team-best 41.2 percent from 3-point range over 71 games. Both players had strong postseasons before struggling late in the NBA Finals as the Celtics lose three consecutive games for the first time since December.
Both Williams and Pritchard are still on their rookie contracts, which should make them appealing to potential suitors. Williams has one more year left on his contract for $4.3 million and is eligible for an extension this summer. Pritchard has two years left on his deal for a combined $6.4 million.
Boston currently holds just the No. 53 overall pick in the NBA Draft.
Story by Brian Robb, masslive.com | 2022-06-23T19:38:43+00:00 | bangordailynews.com | https://www.bangordailynews.com/2022/06/23/sports/boston-celtics/payton-pritchard-grant-williams-available-in-celtics-trade-talks-for-the-right-price/ |
AJO, Ariz. (AP) — U.S. Border Patrol agents answering reports of gunfire shot and killed a man on a tribal reservation in southern Arizona after he abruptly threw something and raised his arm, the agency said Monday.
The FBI and Tohono O’odham Nation are investigating Thursday night’s fatal shooting of Raymond Mattia.
Monday’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection statement said tribal police had asked Border Patrol agents for help in responding to a report of shots fired west of the Menagers Dam community on tribal land near the U.S.-Mexico border.
At around 9:30 p.m., the agents were told that reports indicated shots had been fired near the home of a “named individual” and a tribal officer went to the location to look for the person, with the agents following in separate cars, the statement said.
A few minutes after arriving, the police officer and the agents encountered a man outside of a home near their parked cars, the statement said.
The man threw some kind of object toward the officer that landed a few feet away and then “abruptly extended his right arm away from his body and three agents fired their service weapons, striking the individual several times,” the statement said.
Because of bad weather, no air ambulance was available to take the man to a hospital and despite lifesaving efforts he was declared dead shortly after 10 p.m., according to the statement.
An autopsy was conducted but the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office didn’t immediately release details.
The three Border Patrol agents who opened fire and at least seven others were wearing body cameras and activated them during the incident, the statement said.
On Sunday, tribal chairman Ned Norris Jr. identified the man as Mattia, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Norris and the Border Patrol didn’t immediately release other details about the shooting, including whether investigators had confirmed the earlier reports of gunfire and whether any weapon was found.
Tucson TV station KVOA reported earlier that family members of Mattia, who didn’t want to be identified by name, told the station that he had called the Border Patrol because there were multiple migrants who had trespassed into his yard and he wanted assistance getting them out of his property.
Family members also said that Mattia had gone outside when he saw the agents and was only two feet from his front door when dozens of shots were fired at him.
Those details also couldn’t immediately be verified. | 2023-05-23T21:07:38+00:00 | ktalnews.com | https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/ap-us-border-patrol-says-agents-who-killed-man-in-arizona-were-answering-report-of-gunfire/ |
Two Indiana State football players were honored Monday after ISU's 2022 season had come to a close.
Cade Chambers was named a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, given to the top freshman in the Football Championship Subdivision, and Garret Ollendieck was named Missouri Valley Football Conference Newcomer of the Week for his defensive performance Saturday against Missouri State.
Chambers finished the 2022 season with 938 passing yards and an 8:3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. His season included a 311-yard passing effort with five total touchdowns against Youngstown State, for which he earned October 16 MVFC Newcomer of the Week accolades from the contest in becoming the first ISU quarterback to top 300 passing yards since 2018.
To be eligible for the Jerry Rice Award, a freshman must be in his first or second academic year and can’t have surpassed four games played in the previous academic year – similar to the NCAA’s regular redshirt rule.
A national media panel will select the winner, with voting based on the regular season. The recipient will be announced on Dec. 7 and honored at the FCS National Awards banquet on Jan. 7 in Frisco, Texas on the eve of the national championship game.
Ollendieck saved his best performance of the 2022 season for ISU’s final game of the year as the linebacker posted a career-high 14 tackles, a sack, and an interception against Missouri State.
The Cresco, Iowa native posted a game-high 10 tackles in the first half of the game against the Bears, including a clutch sack late that led to a MSU missed field goal. Ollendieck added four more stops in the second half on the way to his first double-digit tackling performance with the Sycamores. He added his first interception of the season in the third quarter to set up a short field for ISU.
In addition to his work on defense, Ollendieck added two tackles on the ISU punt team that resulted in negative return yards for the Bears.
Men's college basketball
- Eastern Illinois 102, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods 40 -- At Charleston, Ill., the host Panthers pulled away late in the first half Monday afternoon and dominated the Pomeroys the rest of the way.
Terre Haute North graduate Braden Edington led the Pomeroys with nine points before fouling out. Davin Miller added eight points and Keith Germain had seven points and six rebounds.
Women's college basketball
- Rose-Hulman 55, Mount Aloysius 40 -- At Cresson, Pa., the visiting Engineers won Sunday for their first 2-0 start in seven seasons.
The Engineers held the host Mounties to just 26% from the field and outrebounded the hosts 38-32.
Jamie Baum led Rose-Hulman with 21 points and career-high totals of 14 rebounds and six assists. Nola Wilson matched a career-high in scoring with 19 points and Rose Burnham added 9 points and 2 rebounds.
Rose meets Washington University (St. Louis) this coming Saturday at DePauw's two-day Midwest Challenge that also includes Illinois Wesleyan and the host Tigers.
Prep swimming
- Vikings, Falcons split -- At Cayuga, West Vigo and host North Vermillion split season-opening meets.
West Vigo girls 76, North Vermillion 4
200 medley relay -- West Vigo (Ella Loomis, Bailey Millis, Jaydah Holmes, Maddy Lindsay) 2:21.27; 200 freestyle -- Ashley Sharp (WV) 2:45.41; 200 individual medley -- Mea Targett (WV) 3:01.54; 50 freestyle -- Loomis (WV) 26.93; Diving -- Reagan Belleu (WV) 248.45; 100 butterfly -- Holmes (WV) 1:39.63; 100 freestyle -- Cassie Roush (WV) 1:16.40; 500 freestyle -- Targett (WV) 7:15.65; 200 freestyle relay -- West Vigo (Lindsay, Roush, Holmes, Loomis) 2:05.02; 100 backstroke -- Loomis (WV) 1:12.73; 100 breaststroke -- Lindsay (WV) 1:33.56; 400 freestyle relay -- West Vigo (Maddie Blitz, Sophia Bonomo, Briar Hamrick, Roush) 5:35.18.
North Vermillion boys 35, West Vigo 19
200 medley relay -- North Vermillion (Elle Spivey, Owen Hazelwood, Bxrandon Miller, Austin Ball) 3:16.86; 200 freestyle -- Chase French (WV) 2:23.59; 200 individual medley -- Hazelwood (NV) 4:04.66; 50 freestyle -- Seth Warnock (WV) 30.33; 100 freestyle -- Ball (NV) 1:19.03; 200 freestyle relay -- North Vermillion (Miller, Spivey, Ben Winland, John Clay) 2:33.32; 100 backstroke -- French (WV) 1:22.55; 100 breaststroke -- Hazelwood (NV) 1:58.10.
Prep boys basketball
- Casey 60, Okawville 45 -- At Toledo, Ill., Ryan Richards and Jackson Parcel had 14 points each and Jacob Clement added 10 points and seven rebounds as the Warriors opened with a win at the Cumberland Tournament.
Prep girls basketball
Saturday
- Linton 42, North Daviess 39 -- At Elnora, the Miners had an 11-point lead at halftime but had to hold off the Cougars in the second half of a SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference game.
Addy McKee had 11 points and Bradie Chambers and Sydney Jerrells nine each, while Taryn Thuis grabbed nine rebounds for the Miners, now 4-0 and 2-0 in the SWIAC. Linton hosts South Knox on Tuesday and North Daviess, 2-4 and 0-1, hosts Loogootee that night. | 2022-11-22T03:28:59+00:00 | tribstar.com | https://www.tribstar.com/sports/roundup-two-sycamore-football-players-honored/article_136c2aaa-69f3-11ed-8478-8b0c2392a871.html |
FISHERS — There has always been a rivalry between fire and police and in Fishers that runs strong.
This weekend, that long-time rivalry will come to a head and the two departments will battle it out.
“The rivalry stems from the fire guys really not doing anything and just kind of sitting around all day,” Jarred Koopman with Fishers Police Department jokingly said. “Every time I see them, they're kind of usually ... we've woken them up."
That sort of cheeky comment is common among the first responders when they compete.
“One of the things that most people don't know is that when you don't score very well in the fireman's test you become a police officer,” Will Ortiz with Fishers Fire Department said. “You know, police just kind of sit around, drive around eat donuts all day."
This weekend, members of the two departments will meet head-to-head in the Battle of the Badges, a charity softball game held at Holland Park.
“It is very serious. I mean, I think the police — we take it very serious. The fire department from last year's score ... I don't know how serious they take it,” Koopman said.
Ortiz said firefighters will make a strong comeback.
“We let them win last year and this year we're going to definitely bring our 'A' game and make sure that we tie up the series,” Ortiz said.
Although the crews enjoy teasing each other, the cause supported by the annual game is no joke.
The softball game is hosted by the Donaide Foundation. It raises money for the Behind Thin Lines Program which supports first responders, and their families working through the effects of the job.
Depression, anxiety, PTSD and thoughts of suicide are all serious side effects of working as a first responder.
According to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security rates of PTSD and depression among firefighters and police officers have been found to be as much as five times greater than the general population.
First responders are more likely to die by suicide than they are to die in the line of duty.
While it’s a lot of fun and games, the softball game raises money for additional mental health services for Fishers first responders.
Homeland Security says these conditions are ones first responders should look out for in themselves and their coworkers:
- Depression
- PTSD
- Suicide Ideation
- Substance use disorder
“We are human beings like everyone else and we do have a lot of stress and things that go on in our lives and we need help just like everyone else,” Ortiz said.
Besides the softball game, there will be music, contests and kids’ activities. Even a photo opportunity with the fire truck.
“Everybody wants to get on the fire truck and even the police officers can come and take pictures with their trucks and put on our suits, our helmets and that kind of stuff and feel like they're truly doing something important,” Ortiz said.
While it’s for a good cause, the rivalry takes center stage during the game.
“The police are going to win. I mean, there's no there's no other option. The police are going to win,” Koopman said.
Ortiz hit back by saying, “Last year just kind of gave them a freebie, just kind of get their self-esteem up a little bit,” Ortiz said.
The first pitch is at noon on Saturday, Sept. 24. The entire community is invited to come out and cheer on their favorite department and enjoy the activities around Holland Park.
If you are a first responder experiencing emotional distress there are a number of ways to get help.
Be Well Indiana
Call: 211
Visit: bewellindiana.org
SAFE CALL NOW
Call: 206-459-3020
Visit: safecallnowusa.org
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Call: 988
Text: 988
Visit: 988lifeline.org | 2022-09-20T13:35:46+00:00 | wrtv.com | https://www.wrtv.com/lifestyle/community/battle-of-the-badges-raising-money-for-mental-health-services-for-fishers-first-responders |
Winning over a quarter of a million dollars was easy for an undocumented 28 year-old Algerian man in Belgium. Actually getting his winnings has proven to be a challenge.
Copyright 2022 NPR
Winning over a quarter of a million dollars was easy for an undocumented 28 year-old Algerian man in Belgium. Actually getting his winnings has proven to be a challenge.
Copyright 2022 NPR | 2022-04-21T20:37:53+00:00 | mainepublic.org | https://www.mainepublic.org/2022-04-21/meet-the-the-lottery-winner-who-has-less-than-a-year-to-prove-his-identity |
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A judge is scheduled to resolve a weapons-related charge Friday against a codefendant in the case against actor Alec Baldwin for the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on a movie set.
Prosecutors announced in January a proposed plea agreement with safety coordinator and assistant director David Halls regarding his responsibilities in the Western movie "Rust" and the death of Halyna Hutchins.
Halls has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of negligent or unsafe use of a deadly weapon, pending a court review of the plea proposal. Complete terms of the agreement have not been made public.
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Halls is likely to be sentenced Friday if State District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer authorizes the plea agreement.
Baldwin and movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed have pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter that carry a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and fines.
Hutchins died shortly after she was shot Oct. 21, 2021, during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Baldwin was pointing a pistol being used in the production at Hutchins when the weapon went off and a single live round killed her and wounded director Joel Souza.
In separate regulatory proceedings, workplace safety authorities have asserted Halls shared responsibility for identifying and correcting any hazardous conditions related to firearms safety in the movie's production. They contend Halls handed Baldwin the revolver that was loaded with what were assumed to be dummy rounds.
A weekslong preliminary hearing in May will decide whether evidence against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed is sufficient to proceed to trial.
Santa Fe’s district attorney this week appointed two special prosecutors, Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis.
The original special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, resigned in the wake of missteps in the filing of initial charges against Baldwin and objections that Reeb’s role as a state legislator created conflicting responsibilities.
Advertisement | 2023-03-31T11:28:37+00:00 | bostonglobe.com | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/31/nation/court-weigh-baldwin-codefendants-plea-weapons-charge/ |
NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Due to the inclement weather and strong winds being predicted for Saturday, October, 29, Susan G. Komen® has moved the New Orleans Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure from Saturday, October 29, to Sunday, October 30.
The New Orleans Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure will take place at the same place and same time, the next day on Sunday, October 30, 2022, at Shrine on Airline, in Metairie.
"The safety and wellbeing of our participants and volunteers is our top priority and we thank you for your understanding. Your support of Susan G. Komen's mission is truly appreciated and the funds you've raised will make a lasting impact in the lives of those affected by breast cancer here in Louisiana," said Kristen Barley, State Executive Director, Gulf Coast Region.
News media are invited for on-camera interviews with Kristen Barley, State Executive Director, Gulf Coast Region and with Race participants and volunteers on Sunday, October 30, instead of Saturday, October 29, beginning at 8:15 a.m. Please meet Kristen Barley by the starting line on Sunday, October 30 at 8:00 a.m. The starting line is located on the map HERE under Parking & Event Map. Kristen Barley can be reached at 713.814.3843
Susan G. Komen® is the world's leading nonprofit breast cancer organization, working to save lives and end breast cancer forever. Komen has an unmatched, comprehensive 360-degree approach to fighting this disease across all fronts and supporting millions of people in the U.S. and in countries worldwide. We advocate for patients, drive research breakthroughs, improve access to high-quality care, offer direct patient support and empower people with trustworthy information. Founded by Nancy G. Brinker, who promised her sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would end the disease that claimed Suzy's life, Komen remains committed to supporting those affected by breast cancer today, while tirelessly searching for tomorrow's cures. Visit komen.org or call 1-877 GO KOMEN. Connect with us on social at www.komen.org/contact-us/follow-us/.
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SOURCE Susan G. Komen for the Cure | 2022-10-28T19:43:09+00:00 | waff.com | https://www.waff.com/prnewswire/2022/10/28/susan-g-komen-race-cure-new-orleans-moved-sunday-october-30-due-severe-weather/ |
In a historic development, both writers and actors in Hollywood have officially gone on strike for the first time in more than 60 years.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union members, about 160,000, have joined more than 11,000 writers on the picket lines and are planning to take to the streets Friday.
Similar to the writers, the actors union was unable to reach an agreement with studio heads, resulting in a complete halt to Hollywood operations.
The writers have been on strike for over two months now, and it seems that the SAG-AFTRA fight is poised to be equally drawn out.
But while they pick up signs, march and amplify their voices outside Hollywood studios, the union has also issued a list of dos and don’ts for union member actors to showcase their solidarity during the strike.
SEE MORE: 'House of the Dragon' to keep filming in UK amid SAG-AFTRA strike
According to the terms of the strike, all SAG work outside of movie productions, TV shows and streaming platforms is allowed.
But in a notice sent to membersand obtained by Scripps News, the SAG-AFTRA members are barred from any promotional or publicity activities for any current project that falls under the Guild’s TV or Theatrical Contracts.
Tours, personal appearances, interviews, conventions, fan expos, festivals, panels, for your consideration events, premieres or screenings, award shows, junkets, podcast appearances, social media promotional posts, and studio showcases are off the table. Which means festivals like the Toronto International Film Festival in September and next month’s Comic-Con and Venice Film Festival would have to be scrapped.
This also includes the Emmy Awards, which usually air in September but could be postponed as Variety reports the Television Academy and Fox are now debating when to air them.
SEE MORE: Drescher defends Italy trip during tense Hollywood strike negotiations
It goes without saying that on-camera work, including principal roles, background roles and stand-in positions are also not allowed — which means no acting, singing, dancing, stunt work, voice acting, narration (including audiobooks), or even participating in any work related to making show or movie trailers. Actors are also not allowed to do any stand-in work, any photo or body double work, rehearsals, or auditions for roles.
An industry that will be impacted by this right away is the beauty and fashion industry, as actors are also not allowed to do fittings, wardrobe tests or makeup tests.
Furthermore, SAG-AFTRA says that moving forward, "members must instruct their agent and/or other representatives to discontinue conducting negotiations on their behalf with the studios, streamers, and networks for covered services."
Members, however, are allowed to work on other projects as long as those projects are not produced by any company represented by or related to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
The AMPTP represents major studios and streamers, including Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Trending stories at Scrippsnews.com | 2023-07-14T15:03:13+00:00 | tmj4.com | https://www.tmj4.com/what-hollywood-actors-can-and-can-t-do-during-the-sag-aftra-strike |
Details are coming to light about the alleged gunman who killed five people at an LGBTQ nightclub
By Majlie de Puy Kamp, Curt Devine and Scott Glover, CNN
The suspect in the mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado had a tumultuous upbringing in which he was bullied as a teenager and raised for a time by his grandmother, according to an emerging portrait of the alleged gunman pieced together by CNN.
Anderson Lee Aldrich ended up in the care of his grandmother as his mother struggled with a string of arrests and related mental health evaluations, according to court records and an interview with a family member.
The suspect’s grandmother, who a relative described as his primary caretaker, declined to be interviewed by CNN.
Aldrich’s relationship with his mother appeared volatile last year when she called police on her son and said he threatened to harm her with a homemade bomb and other weapons.
No charges were filed, and the case has since been sealed, leaving unanswered questions about how Aldrich avoided prosecution in a matter that may ultimately have prohibited him from legally possessing a weapon if convicted.
A little over a year after the bomb threat incident, Aldrich allegedly opened fire at Club Q in Colorado Springs, killing five people and leaving more than a dozen injured. Aldrich, 22, faces five counts of first-degree murder and five counts of a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury, according to an online docket in the El Paso County Court. The 6’4”, 260-pound suspect had been in the hospital for treatment of undisclosed injuries after he was subdued by club patrons during the attack.
Aldrich was born in May of 2000 under the name Nicholas Brink, and is the son of Laura Voepel and Aaron Brink, who married in 1999. Neither parent could be reached for comment. His father filed for divorce in September 2001 in Orange County, California, citing irreconcilable differences. In his initial petition, he requested legal custody and visitation rights but asked that the court grant full physical custody to Voepel. Voepel stated in a 2007 filing that her son had had no contact with his father.
Aldrich’s father was a mixed martial arts fighter and a porn actor who spent time in federal prison for illegally importing marijuana, according to court documents, interviews, and an entertainment website.
About a year before Aldrich was born, Brink pleaded guilty in 1999 to a misdemeanor domestic battery charge and received a suspended sentence, according to the San Diego County Superior Court. Federal court records state that the victim in that case was Voepel, who was described as his girlfriend.
Voepel, the daughter of California Assemblyman Randy Voepel, was granted sole legal and physical custody of her son in 2007. In May of that year, Voepel stated in court records that she was unemployed and engaged with a new baby on the way, in addition to Aldrich, who was six years old at the time.
In 2009, Aldrich’s mother received three years of probation for convictions of public intoxication and falsely reporting a crime to police. The false report conviction stemmed from a 2008 incident in Murrieta, California in which police responded to a reported home invasion and found Voepel lying on her bed with her hands and legs bound with duct tape. Voepel initially told police a man had put string around her neck, bound her with tape and placed a knife on her chest. She admitted the following day, however, that she had been under the influence of narcotics and fabricated the incident because “she was lonely and wanted attention,” a police report states.
In 2010, Voepel underwent court-ordered mental health treatment in Riverside County, California that stemmed from those cases, according to court records obtained by CNN.
The records show Voepel sought custody of her then-10-year-old son — the age Aldrich would have been at the time. A document filed later noted that Voepel said her son had begun living with her and that she planned to seek medical, welfare and food stamp assistance.
It was unclear during what periods Aldrich lived with his grandmother who, according to public records, maintained residences in the same areas where her daughter and grandson lived in California, Texas and Colorado.
While in Texas, Aldrich’s mother continued to struggle with the law and mental health issues. A relative who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity described Voepel as “sweet” but also as having a “tumultuous life.”
In 2012, she allegedly used a lighter to start a fire in her room at the Baptist Medical Center in San Antonio, according to a police report. Voepel, who was rescued by a hospital staffer, initially denied setting the fire, but security footage showed that she was the only person in her room when the blaze began, according to the police report.
A licensed psychologist concluded that she suffered from severe borderline personality disorder and alcohol dependence, among other issues, records show. According to court documents, she was originally charged with arson, but pleaded no contest to a reduced offense of criminal mischief in August 2013. She was sentenced to five years of community supervision.
Following his mom’s struggles, Aldrich was apparently having troubles of his own with at least some of his peers. In 2015, he was the subject of an online bullying page on a parody website. The site, which resembles Wikipedia, has photos of Aldrich as a teenager and uses offensive slurs to mock his weight and accuse him of engaging in illegal activity.
The site derided an apparent attempt by Aldrich’s grandmother to raise money for him to travel to Japan with classmates. A screenshot of a fundraising appeal says “Make a dream come true for a young man who has survived many bad knocks over his young life.” The fundraising goal was not reached, according to the post.
A history of revisions on the page shows that the bullying posts about him were updated several times over a five-month period in 2015. The page, which was first reported by the Washington Post, is still active.
Later that same year, just before his 16th birthday, the teen legally changed his name from Nicholas F. Brink to Anderson Lee Aldrich. A reason for the name change, also first reported by The Post, was not given.
Aldrich later moved to Colorado Springs where he lived with his grandmother. His mother lived in a rented room in a house nearby. Last year, Aldrich livestreamed a video from his mother’s Facebook page purportedly showing himself inside that house during a stand-off with police in the wake of the alleged bomb threat.
Leslie Bowman, who owns the home where the standoff took place and where Aldrich’s mother had been renting a room, said she screen recorded the video, which has since been deleted, and provided it to CNN.
The brief video shows a few seconds of an agitated young man — identified by Bowman as Aldrich — wearing a helmet and some type of body armor, and challenging law enforcement to breach the house where he had holed up.
He ends the video with what seems like a message to law enforcement outside: “So, uh, go ahead and come on in, boys! Let’s f**king see it!”
The video does not actually show any officers outside the house and it’s not clear whether Aldrich had any weapons.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release at the time that Aldrich had threatened to harm his mother “with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition,” and that several nearby homes had been evacuated.
Aldrich later surrendered to sheriff’s deputies, which was seen in other video footage previously reported by CNN. The sheriff’s office said no explosives were found in the house.
It is not immediately clear how the bomb threat case was resolved, but the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the district attorney’s office said no formal charges were pursued in the case. The district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the suspect faces charges of first-degree murder and bias-motivated crime.
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™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Melanie Hicken, Casey Tolan, Isabelle Chapman, Audrey Ash, Scott Bronstein, Nelli Black, Daniel A. Medina, Rob Kuznia and Bob Ortega contributed to this report. | 2022-11-23T10:24:32+00:00 | krdo.com | https://krdo.com/news/2022/11/23/details-are-coming-to-light-about-the-alleged-gunman-who-killed-five-people-at-an-lgbtq-nightclub/ |
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday evening's drawing of the Louisiana Lottery's "Pick 3" game were:
7-7-5
(seven, seven, five)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday evening's drawing of the Louisiana Lottery's "Pick 3" game were:
7-7-5
(seven, seven, five) | 2022-11-29T05:04:24+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/lottery/article/Winning-numbers-drawn-in-Pick-3-game-17617253.php |
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were mixed Tuesday as Wall Street regains some stability at the tail end of what’s been a turmoil-filled month.
The S&P 500 dipped 6.26 points, or 0.2%, to 3,971.27, though the majority of stocks within the index rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 37.83, or 0.1,%, to 3,394.25, and the Nasdaq composite fell 52.76, or 0.4%, to 11,716.08.
There was relative calm even in the bond market, which has been home to some of Wall Street’s wildest moves since fears flared about the banking system earlier this month. Yields were rising only modestly following their historic-sized moves in prior weeks.
This month has been dominated by worries that banks around the world may be cracking under the pressure of much higher interest rates. But some calm has returned to the market recently after regulators made big moves to protect the system.
That has much of Wall Street’s attention back on interest rates and what central banks will do next with them. The Federal Reserve and other central banks have a tough decision: Inflation is still high, which would typically call for even higher interest rates. But the weakness for banks has shown some fragility in the system that higher rates could worsen.
“I think the global central banks have put us in that middling zone, where we’re waiting for clarity on: Are they done?” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
After the Fed hiked its key overnight rate all the way to a range of 4.75% to 5%, up from virtually zero early last year, the market could find some relief if the Fed does take a pause after hiking one more time as it’s hinted, Haworth said.
“That’s a dramatic change” in rates over just a year, he said. “Just getting to some form of stability provides some clarity for planning to begin.”
Traders built bets Tuesday to say the Fed will raise rates at its next meeting in May, though the slight majority is still calling for it to hold rates steady.
Higher rates try to slow inflation by hitting the entire economy with a blunt hammer. They also drag on prices for stocks along the way, particularly technology and other high-growth stocks.
Apple, Microsoft and other Big Tech stocks were among the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 Tuesday after dipping modestly.
On the winning side was McCormick & Co., which jumped 9.6% after the spices and seasonings company reported stronger profit and revenue for its latest quarter than analysts expected.
Other stocks were mixed, including financial stocks that have had a turbulent month. Most of those in the S&P 500 rose, but some banks that investors have highlighted as most at risk fell after erasing gains from the morning.
First Republic fell 2.3%, while PacWest Bancorp. was down 5%.
The harshest focus has been on smaller and midsized banks in the hunt for who could be next to suffer an exodus of customer akin to the run that toppled Silicon Valley Bank.
One of the broader worries has been that all the furor for banks could lead to a pullback in lending to businesses across the country. That in turn could lead to less economic growth and a higher risk of a recession.
Jan Hatzius, chief economist and head of global investment research at Goldman Sachs, recently raised his probability of a recession over the next year to 35% from 25%. But in a report, he called the banking industry’s struggles “a headwind, not a hurricane” for the economy.
Reports on the economy have been coming in mixed. The job market remains remarkably solid, while smaller corners of the economy have been showing more weakness.
On Tuesday, one report showed that confidence among consumers is strengthening, contrary to economists’ expectations for a moderation. Another report suggested U.S. home prices softened in January from December, but not by quite as much as economists expected.
Traders are still largely betting the Fed will have to cut rates as soon as this summer to prop up the economy. Such bets have returned in force since the banking industry’s woes began. They also materialized almost as quickly as a prior round of bets for rate cuts had earlier disappeared following data suggesting stickier-than-expected inflation.
Such drastic shifts in expectations for the Fed have led to huge swings in the bond market. On Tuesday, yields were rising by only a bit.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates for mortgages and other important loans, rose to 3.55% from 3.54% late Monday.
The two-year yield, which moves more on expectations for the Fed, rose to 4.05% from 4.01% late Monday. It was above 5% earlier this month and at its highest level since 2007.
___
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed. | 2023-03-29T04:04:04+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/business/ap-business/asian-shares-mostly-rise-on-relief-over-us-bank-strength/ |
HOUSTON, April 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rivalry Tech has expanded its mobile ordering platform, myEATz, into five cafes in the Houston Methodist system. This expansion of the healthcare developed-platform allows faculty and staff the ability to order food and beverages ahead of time using their mobile device or desktop.
The expansion includes cafes at Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital, Houston Methodist West Hospital, Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital, Houston Methodist Continuing Care Hospital, and Houston Methodist Willowbrook Hospital. Streamlining the ordering process at their onsite cafes allows for quick and easy pick-up for faculty and staff. The importance of breaks and employee wellness has been the foundational focus of myEATz development. Aaron Knape, CEO and Co-Founder of Rivalry Tech elaborates…
"Employee wellness is especially important in healthcare as worker shortages, combined with fatigue, continue to be a concern. myEATz offers more than just access to onsite food and beverage options, it encourages employees to utilize their meal breaks to recharge and make the most of their break."
The partnership with Aramark Healthcare+ has been a critical component to the success of the expansion. Aramark Healthcare+ operates all of the nutrition operations at Houston Methodist and has helped drive Rivalry Tech to each location. Vice President of Operations of Aramark Healthcare+ Houston Methodist, Dave Hanson commented…
"We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Rivalry Tech to bring mobile ordering to five additional Aramark Healthcare+ Houston Methodist locations. Our continued investment in technology is a testament to our commitment to providing exceptional service and convenience to our healthcare caregivers. With Rivalry Tech's myEATz platform and our operational expertise, we are confident in our ability to enhance the overall dining experience for our guests."
The expansion into the Houston Methodist system follows the launch of the myEATz app. myEATz is available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store but customers at myEATz locations can still scan QR codes or access myEATz from their preferred browser. Having multiple ways to access the platform gives customers options to enjoy the platform.
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SOURCE Rivalry Tech | 2023-04-13T13:26:06+00:00 | uppermichiganssource.com | https://www.uppermichiganssource.com/prnewswire/2023/04/13/mobile-ordering-platform-healthcare-employees-expands-into-five-hospitals/ |
Two Americans killed in Ukraine’s Donbas region
Two American citizens recently died in the Donbas region of Ukraine, the State Department confirmed Saturday.
In a statement to CNN on Saturday, a State Department spokesperson did not provide any details about the individuals or the circumstances of their deaths, but said they “are in touch with the families and providing all possible consular assistance.”
“Out of respect to the families during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add,” the spokesperson said.
Asked about the condition of Alexander Drueke and Andy Hunyh, two Americans captured by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine, the spokesperson said they “have been in contact with the Ukrainian and Russian authorities regarding U.S. citizens who may have been captured by Russia’s forces or proxies while fighting in Ukraine.”
“We call on Russia to live up to its international obligations to treat all individuals captured fighting with Ukraine’s armed forces as prisoners of war,” they said.
California’s Oak Fire burns more than 6,000 acres, forces evacuations
A wildfire raging for a second day Saturday in central California’s Mariposa County outside Yosemite National Park has burned more than 6,500 acres and forced evacuations of rural communities, fire officials said.
The fire began Friday in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada near the small community of Midpines, roughly a 9-mile drive northeast of the county seat, the town of Mariposa, state fire officials said.
Flames tore through trees and sent thick smoke into the sky Friday, and in at least one rural area burned close to homes and parked vehicles, video from CNN affiliates KFSN and KGO showed.
“(Authorities) came by ... and told us everybody’s got to go,” Wes Detamore, a resident of the Mariposa Pines area, told KFSN Friday.
Electricity service in the area stopped at about 4 p.m. Friday, “and the fire has been coming towards us faster and faster,” Detamore said.
The fire has destroyed at least 10 structures, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, said Saturday without elaborating. The blaze is threatening 2,000 other structures, Cal Fire said.
It had burned 6,555 acres by Saturday morning and had no containment, Cal Fire said. Fire activity was extreme, and emergency personnel were working to evacuate people and protect buildings, the department said.
More than 400 personnel, as well as 45 fire engines and four helicopters, have been assigned to fight the flames, Cal Fire said.
Evacuations have been ordered for certain areas in Mariposa County south and east of the fire, as shown in an online map. The evacuation zones did not include Mariposa town.
Mississippi police chief fired after audio of slurs
The White police chief of a predominantly Black town in Mississippi was terminated this week after audio surfaced, allegedly of him using racist and homophobic slurs, telling one of his officers he wouldn’t care if the officer “killed a mtherfker in cold blood,” and that he himself had killed 13 people.
The officer, Robert Hooker, says he recorded the nearly 17-minute clip during a conversation he had in April with Lexington’s now former police chief Sam Dobbins.
CNN obtained the recording from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which said it obtained the clip from Hooker.
CNN has reached out to Dobbins multiple times for comment, including leaving several messages at his office and voice mails on his personal cellphone, but has not heard back.
Dobbins told the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, which first reported the story, he was unaware of a recording, denied using slurs, saying “I don’t talk like that,” and declined to comment on the alleged shootings.
Sheriff Willie March of the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office, located in Lexington, Mississippi, told CNN there was “no doubt in our minds that it’s Mr. Dobbins” voice on the recording. March spoke to CNN Tuesday, after he said he met with Lexington’s mayor and the town’s attorney about the clip and what action they would take. The town’s attorney, Katherine Barrett, told CNN Dobbins was fired on Wednesday.
— From wire reports
CNN called the Mayor of Lexington and left a message with her secretary.
Recording includes references to shootings
♦ “You’re going to get in some sht in the streets, and there’s only going to be one man fighting for you, and it’s going to be me, OK? Don’t ever ruin that, all right, because these other ners, they’ll leave you dry. I don’t give a fk if you kill a mtherfker in cold blood... I will articulate to fix the fking problem, and I’m the only man in the business here that’s smart enough to do it,” Dobbins can be heard telling Hooker.
The police chief also bragged in the clip about killing people throughout his career.
“I have shot and killed, in the line of duty, 13 different people,” Dobbins said.
When questioned about it by Hooker, Dobbins responds, “Yes, sir, justified, bro. Ask around.”
Dobbins can be heard claiming he chased the man across a field and shot him 119 times.
CNN reached out to Dobbins’ former department at the Humphrey County, Mississippi Sheriff’s Office to corroborate Dobbins’ claim about the alleged shootings, but was unable to reach anyone for comment.
In the recording, Dobbins also used homophobic and profanity-laced remarks to describe gay people.
Hooker, who is Black, is a 20-year veteran of law enforcement, who worked for Lexington’s police department for four and a half months, and has since resigned, he said.
♦ Hooker said he was initially called to speak with Dobbins for an apology, after Dobbins told him to “shut the fk up and listen” during a prior meeting regarding a police case.
Hooker said he believes Dobbins knew he was being recorded, adding he recorded it on his phone, which was in plain sight of Dobbins.
When asked by CNN what he would say to Dobbins now, he said, “I was appalled and hurt with the words you used. I have heard rougher words, but not from my leader.”
He added, “Chief, had you come in with a different type of attitude, you were probably what Lexington needed. But trying to get your officers to be just as hard as you are ... I had to turn in my badge. I don’t believe in doing things this way.”
Sheriff surprised by language in recording
March said he has not spoken to Dobbins about the clip.
“I don’t believe someone like that should be a police chief,” March said about Dobbins earlier this week, adding that he was “very surprised” to hear the chief use the racist and disparaging language.
“Personally, I’ve never heard him use those kinds of statements, use the N-word. Some people have said he uses that language, but I have never heard it,” March said.
According to USA Today, the department’s newly appointed interim police chief, Charles Henderson, who is black, said the new administration has zero tolerance for racism. “We’re trying to move forward,” Henderson reportedly said.
Dobbins was appointed the police chief in July 2021 by the town’s board.
“[I]n this overwhelmingly Black town, the mayor is white. The police chief is white. The judge is white. The town is run by a powerful white family, and the police, led by Chief Sam Dobbins, are targeting, harassing, and assaulting Black citizens,” JULIAN, the civil and human rights organization which leaked the audio, said in a statement to CNN. According to CNN affiliate WLBT, Lexington residents have called for city leaders to hold police accountable for their alleged actions.
Located in Holmes County, Lexington has approximately 1,576 people, according to 2020 census data, of which 86% are Black.
“This recording proves that the oppressors no longer wear white sheets, but they wear law enforcement uniforms,” Cardell Wright, who is also JULIAN’s paralegal, said in a statement.
“Listening to this further validates what the community has been highlighting since Dobbins was hired. The remarks he made are appalling, racist, hateful, and detrimental to the welfare of the people.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved. | 2022-07-23T20:55:07+00:00 | albanyherald.com | https://www.albanyherald.com/nation-in-brief-072422/article_299cd26c-0ac5-11ed-89b5-57e6da81009f.html |
WASHINGTON, D. C. -- President Joe Biden will visit Iron Workers Local 17 Training Center in Cleveland on Wednesday afternoon to reveal the final details of an American Rescue Plan fix for multi-employer pension plans that will help roughly 1.3 million workers and retirees avoid benefit cuts as steep as 70 percent.
Biden will be joined by union retirees, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, among others, as he describes how the American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance program will keep more than 200 troubled pension plans from becoming insolvent.
An estimated 100,000 Ohioans participate in affected pension systems that cover pools of union members who work for different companies in industries like trucking, mining and construction. They include the Teamsters Central States Fund, the Iron Workers union and others for carpenters, bakers, confectioners, and musicians for performing arts organizations, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Playhouse Square Foundation, Great Lakes Theatre Festival and the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra.
The pension plans ran into trouble when their investments took a nosedive as retirements swelled and the number of active workers paying into the plans decreased. Some companies that paid into the plans went bankrupt, which increased the amount surviving companies had to pay. Coronavirus worsened the pension plans’ financial picture as more money-losing companies stopped contributing.
Retirees in Iron Workers Local 17 had their pensions cut by as much as 60% in 2017, said U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) has approved $48.9 million through the Special Financial Assistance program to shore up Local 17′s pension plan, which covers roughly 2,000 workers and retirees, according to Brown.
“The pension fix is one of the biggest victories for working people since I’ve been in the Senate – and really for the past 50 years,” said a statement from Brown.
“American retirees should never have to doubt their financial security after a lifetime spent building our great country,” added a statement from U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Niles-area Democrat who backed the legislation. Ryan won’t appear with Biden in Cleveland because of previously scheduled events for his U.S. Senate campaign, a Ryan spokeswoman said.
Before the American Rescue Plan’s passage, PBGC’s multi-employer pension insurance program was projected to become insolvent in 2026 because of the need to provide partial benefits to retirees covered by insolvent plans.
Sperling says the pension plan provision in the American Rescue Plan reflected Biden’s desire to have an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic that didn’t leave anyone behind, including the large pool of retirees who would have seen a dramatic fall in their living standards if their pensions were cut.
“The President was essentially saying, ‘Not on my watch, this won’t happen,” Sperling told cleveland.com.
Sperling said the fix Biden will announce in Cleveland will keep the pensions solvent through 2051. He said the final rule to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday reflects feedback from the multi-employer pension plans, the participating unions, and leading advocates for the pension fix, including Democrats in Ohio’s congressional delegation who spent years seeking a remedy. The legislation they included in the American Rescue Plan was called the Butch Lewis Act in memory of the former retired head of the Teamsters Local 100 labor union in southwest Ohio.
Biden is making the pension announcement in Cleveland because the area contains a large concentration of workers and retirees whose pensions will be salvaged by the legislation, the White House said. Biden hopes to speak with some of them personally.
Sperling said Biden will also discuss some of the “overall economic challenges” the nation faces, such as the impact of a global pandemic, the war in Ukraine and global inflation, but will focus on highlighting how the American Rescue Plan led to “record job growth, a great return to work, and through policies like this, fighting to provide dignity at work and dignity in retirement.”
He said Biden is “deeply aware” that despite record job growth, record drops in unemployment and perhaps the most equitable job recovery ever, American families “have not escaped the pain at the gas pump and grocery line of global inflation that’s hitting families across the world.” He said Biden is “focused every day, like a laser,” on doing everything possible to help lower prices, whether its calling for federal and state gas tax holidays, releasing fuel from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and backing legislation to lower prescription drug costs and keep shipping costs from being passed along to consumers.
“The President is also going to strongly point out how much the American Rescue Plan has done to help American workers, to help American working families, and to help ensure that we have the resilience to get through, to make the transition to more balanced growth with lower prices,” said Sperling.
Biden most recently visited Northeast Ohio in February to tout Great Lakes cleanup money in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. He also visited Cuyahoga Community College in May 2021 to promote the American Rescue Plan and rib Republicans who voted against the stimulus package for promoting provisions iit contains, such as its restaurant revitalization fund and grants to community health care centers.
Biden visited Cincinnati in May to boost additive manufacturing and held a CNN town hall at Cincinnati’s Mount St. Joseph University in July 2021. | 2022-07-05T20:36:59+00:00 | cleveland.com | https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/07/president-joe-biden-will-visit-cleveland-to-announce-final-american-rescue-plan-fix-for-troubled-multi-employer-pension-plans.html |
Oregon to crack down on illegal pot growers by holding landowners responsible
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon has long been known as a mecca for high-quality marijuana, but that reputation has come with a downside: illegal growers who offer huge amounts of cash to lease or buy land and then leave behind pollution, garbage and a drained water table.
Now, a bill passed by the Oregon Legislature seeks to tackle that by making the landowners themselves responsible for the aftermath. The bill also prohibits the use of rivers or groundwater at the illegal site, as well as criminalizes seizing the identity papers of migrant workers who tend the plants or threatening to report them for deportation.
Under the bill, local governments are authorized to file a claim of lien against property used for illicit marijuana, if the owner doesn’t pay for the cleanup.
A leader of the state’s cannabis and alcohol regulatory agency has said southern Oregon is to marijuana what Bordeaux is to wine. But the state faces challenges on two fronts: The regulated industry has a glut of product that has slashed prices and profit margins, and there has been huge growth in illegal pot farms operating under the guise of growing hemp, which became legal nationally in 2018.
After passing the Senate and House, the House Speaker Dan Rayfield signed the measure Wednesday, over the objections of some Republicans. Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek is expected to sign it next week.
“This is just an assault on property rights here in the state of Oregon,” GOP Sen. Dennis Linthicum said on the Senate floor.
But Sen. Jeff Golden, of Ashland, said property owners should know something is amiss when they are “approached at the beginning of the growing season with requests to lease their property for tens, sometimes hundreds of thousand dollars for a single year.”
Witnesses have described backpacks with thousands of dollars in cash being handed over to landowners and getting numerous offers to buy.
“We pay CASH and offer a fast close,” says one letter received by a landowner last year, one of three offers.
Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler told lawmakers that after police raid illegal pot farms, neither landowners nor the suspects make efforts to remove the cheaply built greenhouses, known as “hoop houses,” latrines, and other debris, including plastics and chemicals.
“Frankly, it’s an eyesore for our community, with no means to deal with it,” Sickler said.
Some two years ago, the ideal growing conditions began attracting criminal gangs from Mexico, Russia and other countries, police said. Thousands of hoop houses cropped up and police were overwhelmed, nailing only a fraction of the sites. Workers at these farms often live in squalid conditions and use open latrines, and they are sometimes cheated out of their pay.
Due to persistent police raids, which netted over 100 tons of illegal marijuana across the state last year, the grow sites have become smaller and more dispersed. For example, on Thursday, Josephine County Sheriff’s deputies and other officers raided a property in Cave Junction and destroyed about 2,000 marijuana plants and 100 pounds of processed marijuana.
Landowners who have been intimidated and suffered environmental damage from illegal grow sites are applauding the bill.
“At least most of the landowners knew what they were doing was wrong. I believe this measure will help to stem the tide,” said Jack Dwyer, who has a house near the community of Selma. In 2021, Dwyer said a large illegal grow site nearby siphoned all the water from a creek that runs through his property, causing it to run dry.
Christopher Hall, who works to engage the public in water stewardship, said the bill shows that Oregon officials understand the problem of large-scale illicit cannabis operations and are committed to solving it.
The illicit sites “not only turn streams into gravel roads but also lead to serious human rights violations and dumping of trash, sewage, chemicals, and other waste into ditches, riparian areas, and streams,” he said.
The Senate approved the measure before GOP senators began a walkout on May 3 over Democratic measures on abortion, gender-affirming care and gun safety. The House passed the marijuana bill on a 53-3 vote on May 31. The bill will now go to Kotek to sign into law, taking immediate effect.
“The governor supports cracking down on illegal cannabis operations that have been prevalent in southern Oregon,” said Elisabeth Shepard, Kotek’s spokesperson. | 2023-06-09T07:53:02+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/ap-national/2023/06/08/oregon-to-crack-down-on-illegal-pot-growers-by-holding-landowners-responsible-2/ |
BEIJING (AP) — China on Friday accused Canada of smearing its reputation over allegations China is secretly operating two overseas police stations in Quebec.
Canada should “stop sensationalizing and hyping the matter and stop attacks and smears on China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing.
“China has been ... strictly abiding by international law and respecting all countries’ judicial sovereignty," Mao said.
The spokesperson did not comment on the existence of the police stations or whether they were operated by Chinese government authorities.
Canadians of Chinese origin have been victims of activities carried out by the stations, Sgt. Charles Poirier of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Thursday.
Canada will not tolerate any type of intimidation, harassment or targeting of diaspora communities, Poirier said.
The RCMP’s Integrated National Security Team has opened investigations into the suspected police stations in Montreal and Brossard, a suburb just south of the city, he said.
The Spanish human rights organization Safeguard Defenders says China has scores of such stations across the globe, including in the U.K. and the U.S.
In a report last September, it said the stations were used to “harass, threaten, intimidate and force targets to return to China for persecution."
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has previously described the foreign outposts as service stations for Chinese people who are abroad and need help with bureaucratic tasks such as renewing their Chinese driver’s licenses. Such citizen services are normally performed by an embassy or consulate.
Beijing has launched dual multi-year campaigns to bring suspects wanted mostly for economic crimes back to China, but says its agents overseas operate in line with international law. U.S. authorities say that has not always been the case.
The outposts have fueled global concerns that the ruling Chinese Communist Party is seeking control over its citizens abroad, often by using threats against their families and welfare, while undermining democratic institutions overseas and gathering economic and political intelligence.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Thursday concerns over foreign interference were behind Canada's refusal to issue a diplomatic visa to a political operative for China last fall.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the presence of Chinese police stations in Canada “concerns us enormously."
“We’ve known about the (presence of) Chinese police stations across the country for many months, and we are making sure that the RCMP is following up on it and that our intelligence services take it seriously,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.
Canada-China relations nosedived in 2018 after China jailed two Canadians on allegedly trumped-up charges shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of technology giant Huawei and the daughter of the company’s founder, on a U.S. extradition request.
They were sent back to Canada in 2021 on the same day Meng returned to China after reaching a deal with U.S. authorities in her case. | 2023-03-10T12:16:29+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/news/politics/article/china-accuses-canada-of-smearing-over-secret-17831256.php |
Houston vs. Miami (FL) Predictions & Picks: Spread, Total - NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
Friday's contest features the Houston Cougars (33-3) and the Miami Hurricanes (27-7) matching up at T-Mobile Center (on March 24) at 7:15 PM ET. This matchup, according to our computer prediction, will result in a 75-66 victory for Houston.
Based on our computer prediction, Houston projects to cover the 6.5-point spread in its matchup against Miami (FL). The total is listed at 138.5, and the two teams are projected to hit the over.
Houston vs. Miami (FL) Game Info & Odds
- Date: Friday, March 24, 2023
- Time: 7:15 PM ET
- TV: CBS
- Where: Kansas City, Missouri
- Venue: T-Mobile Center
- Line: Houston -6.5
- Point Total: 138.5
- Moneyline (To Win): Houston -300, Miami (FL) +240
Bet on this matchup with BetMGM, the King of Sportsbooks!
Houston vs. Miami (FL) Score Prediction
- Prediction: Houston 75, Miami (FL) 66
Spread & Total Prediction for Houston vs. Miami (FL)
- Pick ATS:
Houston (-6.5)
- Pick OU:
Over (138.5)
Houston has gone 17-16-0 against the spread, while Miami (FL)'s ATS record this season is 16-11-0. The Cougars have a 15-18-0 record hitting the over, while games involving the Hurricanes have a record of 13-17-0 when it comes to hitting the over. The two teams score 154 points per game, 15.5 more points than this matchup's total. In the past 10 contests, Houston has a 3-7 record against the spread while going 9-1 overall. Miami (FL) has gone 5-4 against the spread and 8-2 overall in its last 10 matches.
Put your picks to the test and bet on this matchup with BetMGM Sportsbook.
Houston Performance Insights
- The Cougars outscore opponents by 18.3 points per game (scoring 74.9 points per game to rank 98th in college basketball while giving up 56.6 per contest to rank second in college basketball) and have a +658 scoring differential overall.
- Houston wins the rebound battle by an average of 8.5 boards. It is collecting 35.9 rebounds per game (14th in college basketball) compared to its opponents' 27.4 per contest.
- Houston knocks down 1.4 more threes per game than the opposition, 7.6 (149th in college basketball) compared to its opponents' 6.2.
- The Cougars average 100.9 points per 100 possessions (20th in college basketball), while giving up 76.2 points per 100 possessions (first in college basketball).
- Houston wins the turnover battle by 3.8 per game, committing 9.5 (14th in college basketball) while its opponents average 13.3.
Not all offers available in all states, please visit BetMGM for the latest promotions for your area. Must be 21+ to gamble, please wager responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, contact 1-800-GAMBLER.
© 2023 Data Skrive. All rights reserved. | 2023-03-21T04:22:03+00:00 | newschannel10.com | https://www.newschannel10.com/sports/betting/2023/03/24/houston-miami-college-basketball-picks-predictions-ncaa-tournament-sweet-16-4/ |
ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Jameson Williams admitted to feeling "sick" and "hurt" on the night of April 20 when the Detroit Lions' second-year receiver learned of his six-game suspension for violating the NFL's gambling policy.
He said he was blindsided by the ruling, which was formally announced the next morning.
"I didn't know things like this was coming, but I took me some time, and I just thought about the better days and moving forward," Williams said. "It's not my last day living so I just look forward to the better days."
Williams, the No. 12 pick of the 2022 NFL draft, claims he wasn't aware of the policy beforehand. Although he didn't bet on NFL games, he was flagged for mobile betting that occurred at the team's Allen Park facility, which he says he doesn't remember. He won't appeal the six-game suspension.
"I just left it alone," Williams said. "They gave me six games and we left it at that. I just look forward to coming back Week 7, getting back with team out there and playing the game."
Williams insists he's "not a gambler," saying, "I'm a football player." He said his betting didn't happen frequently.
Although Williams isn't happy to be suspended, he held himself accountable during a 10-minute media session during Thursday's OTAs. He says he has learned to "make the right decisions," and hopes it'll raise awareness about gambling among fellow athletes in the future.
"Oh, yeah, for sure, because like I said, it hit me out the blue and it hit a couple other players around the league and on my team out the blue," Williams said. "I wasn't aware of this situation, but as it happened, I took it on the chin."
Lions wide receiver Quintez Cephus and safety C.J. Moore were suspended indefinitely then released by Detroit for betting on NFL games. Lions receiver Stanley Berryhill was also set to miss six games, at first, but he was waived in May in the wake of the his betting suspension.
Williams is allowed to be present for OTAs, in addition to other offseason and preseason activities, but will begin serving his suspension on the final roster cut-down date. He wouldn't elaborate on whether the league decision was fair or not.
"That's really not my decision," Williams said. "I'm in the league to play football and not make the rules on gambling or things like that."
Head coach Dan Campbell said Williams is "already miles ahead" of where he was last year at this time, when he was sidelined for the first 11 games while recovering from a torn ACL injury he suffered while at Alabama.
Detroit's plan is to get as much work in with him as possible before the suspension begins with hopes of working him back into the system once he's eligible to return for a strong finish.
"Look, he knows. He's gotten it from everybody," Campbell said. "So, look, it happened. It's an emphasis on the league right now. It's a big thing, our players know. We've tried to hammer it home. Certainly, we did after that point and hit it two more times and we'll keep doing it. But, listen, it's happening, the suspension is happening and what can we do to move forward?"
Lions general manager Brad Holmes also maintains faith in Williams' character. The Lions have no concerns with Williams moving forward, according to Holmes.
"He made a mistake, and he takes accountability of it, he knows it," Holmes said April 29 following the 2023 NFL draft. "Yes, he is young and he understands the mistake that he made and we've had transparent, open conversations about it, but we have confidence that he's going to take the right approach, that he's going to have the right response in terms of what he needs to do.
"We'll get him in training camp and then we'll have a good plan for him when he has to depart and when he has to return." | 2023-05-25T21:39:36+00:00 | espn.com | https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/37728879/lions-jameson-williams-aware-nfl-gambling-policy |
Tiger Woods withdraws from US Open
(CNN) - Golf legend Tiger Woods has withdrawn from next month’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club as he recovers from a recent surgery.
The U.S. Golf Association’s Monday announcement comes after the 47-year-old Woods missed last week’s PGA Championship.
He hasn’t played at the U.S. Open since 2019.
Woods last competed at the Masters in April but withdrew before the resumption of the weather-delayed third round.
He pulled out due to a reaggravation of his plantar fasciitis, a tissue inflammation that causes pain in the heel.
Woods then had surgery for arthritis in his ankle, which stemmed from severe leg injuries he suffered in a massive 20-21 car crash.
It’s still not clear if he will play in the fourth and final major of the year, the Open Championship in England in July.
Copyright 2023 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | 2023-05-23T18:36:28+00:00 | ksla.com | https://www.ksla.com/2023/05/23/tiger-woods-withdraws-us-open/ |
Kentucky police search for escaped inmate who briefly kidnapped 2 people
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE/Gray News) - Police in Kentucky are actively searching for an inmate who escaped from a transport vehicle heading to a court hearing.
WAVE reports a heavy police presence was spotted near the I-265/I-71 interchange in eastern Jefferson County on Thursday morning.
Around 8:30 a.m., police were informed of an individual seen running along the lanes of traffic wearing orange clothing. Louisville Metro Police Department confirmed the escaped inmate was 31-year-old Norman K. Wolfe.
Police say Wolfe has charges against him for burglary, fleeing, evading police and possession of a handgun as a convicted felon.
Court documents state Wolfe was expected to appear in court in Trimble County on Thursday morning.
Trimble County jailer Bobby Temple confirmed Wolfe was being taken into the county when he escaped out of the transport vehicle. It’s believed Wolfe may have gotten out through a window.
Temple said the jail officer was not hurt and is still within Jefferson County.
LMPD and other agencies began searching the surrounding area to find Wolfe, and the department told nearby businesses and schools to take precautions.
Around 11:30 a.m., officers said Wolfe had kidnapped two victims from the 8500 block of Brownsboro Road and were forced to drive the suspect to the area of River Road and Edith Avenue. The victims were found unharmed and told police the incident happened around 10:20 a.m.
Temple described Wolfe as a “very subdued inmate” and Thursday’s incident was the first trouble report they had on him.
According to court documents, Wolfe was a convicted felon out of Clark County, Indiana, and had been arrested in April in connection with a burglary.
Police said on April 6, Wolfe went to the home of a former partner and started arguing. When a third person approached Wolfe and the victim, Wolfe is said to have pulled a gun from his clothing.
The gun was passed to the third person once Wolfe saw officers at the door, and Wolfe ran towards the back of the home.
Wolfe is said to have gone to a detached garage less than a mile away and barricaded himself inside. Documents state Wolfe made threats to LMPD and SWAT, saying he would “kill himself if anyone approached him.”
He was taken into custody a short time later by police, SWAT and the Hostage Negotiation Team.
Police said new charges for Thursday’s incident are expected once Wolfe is taken into custody.
Jefferson County Public Schools said kids at several nearby schools were being kept inside until they received an all-clear from police.
Police gave the all-clear to schools to return to normal operations around 12:30 p.m. JCPS did confirm the police activity was not connected to any of the district’s schools.
Kentucky Country Day School, a private school in Louisville near the area, also confirmed it was in soft lockdown as requested by police.
LMPD said the investigation is ongoing. ATF Louisville said it is also assisting police in locating the inmate.
Copyright 2023 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | 2023-05-19T00:19:35+00:00 | newschannel6now.com | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2023/05/18/kentucky-police-search-escaped-inmate-who-briefly-kidnapped-2-people/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal agency that investigates chemical accidents is hindered by a lack of staffing, leadership disputes and a backlog of investigations that threaten its ability to protect people and the environment, according to a new report by a federal watchdog.
The report by the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general says the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is “challenged by vacancies in mission-critical positions and an inability to fully use the resources Congress allocated” to it.
Leadership disputes, shoddy internal reviews and reporting backlogs “are impeding the board’s ability to accomplish its mission,” Inspector General Sean O’Donnell said in a letter to the board’s acting head.
O’Donnell’s report, released this week, comes after the board’s former chairwoman resigned this summer amid criticism about extravagant spending, ongoing disputes with other board members and a backlog of investigations. The board completed one investigation in 2020, three in 2021 and three so far this year, the report said. At least 17 investigations are currently waiting to be closed.
Katherine Lemos, the agency’s former chair, left in July, saying in a resignation letter that disputes with fellow board members “have eroded my confidence in our ability to focus” on the independent agency’s mission. Lemos was appointed by former President Donald Trump and led the agency for two years. Her departure left the five-member panel with two Senate-confirmed members, both nominated by President Joe Biden. A third Biden nominee is pending before the Senate.
With a $13 million annual budget, the board is the only federal agency charged with investigating the causes of chemical accidents, including factory explosions, refinery fires and other industrial disasters. The agency had a dozen investigators as of last month, down from more than 20 investigators in the past decade, the inspector general said.
Overall, the agency has 27 staffers out of 44 approved positions.
Trump proposed eliminating the safety board in each of his annual budgets, arguing that its focus on regulation had “frustrated both regulators and industry.” Congress funded the agency throughout Trump’s term, although staffing levels dwindled and Lemos served as the board’s sole member for nearly two years.
“The Chemical Safety Board barely survived the Trump war of attrition against it,” said Jeff Ruch, a top official at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a watchdog group of current and former public employees. The watchdog group had sharply criticized Lemos and repeatedly called for her ouster.
The inspector general’s report “underlines that it is difficult for a federal agency, especially a small agency, to function when it is saddled with leadership that is inimical to its mission,” Ruch said in an email.
The current leadership, including interim executive Steve Owens, appears intent to rebuild the agency, Ruch said, although problems remain. The board is “increasingly important because our industrial infrastructure, like our public infrastructure of roads and bridges, has been aging and is becoming more vulnerable to refinery explosions and other chemical disasters,” he said.
The 17-page report by the inspector general recommends that the board quickly fill investigator and senior staff positions, ensure there are plans to hand off duties when staff members leave and update internal procedures on how reports are written and reviewed.
In a statement, Owens and board member Sylvia Johnson said the board “appreciates the inspector general’s report, and we agree that there is much work to be done to get this agency back on track.”
The agency is taking steps to hire more investigators and other mission-critical staff and has streamlined the review process for investigative reports, Owens and Johnson said.
“We look forward to an ongoing relationship with the inspector general as we tackle the many challenges facing the agency,” they said.
Owens has been nominated to chair the safety board, but the Senate has not yet acted. Senators also have not voted on Catherine Sandoval’s nomination to serve as the third board member. | 2022-09-09T20:17:16+00:00 | krqe.com | https://www.krqe.com/news/politics/ap-watchdog-chemical-safety-agency-impeded-by-staff-shortage/ |
Downtown Milwaukee 2040 plan; final Community Open House
MILWAUKEE - Image Milwaukee with more public spaces, bigger sidewalks and thinner streets. That's the vision for the city's 2040 plan for downtown. The city's new draft plan – "Connec+ing MKE: Downtown Plan 2040" – shows one vision.
The final Community Open House for the plan will be held at 3rd Street Market Hall on Thursday, May 11, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Officials said the plan "represents an inclusive vision of downtown as a place for every resident, in every neighborhood, to feel welcome and connected to Milwaukee’s city center." That vision includes making it the most walkable downtown in the Midwest, reimagining I-794 and expanding The Hop streetcar.
The draft proposal would remove the stretch of I-794 that currently divides downtown from the Historic Third Ward, putting a traditional grid of streets in its place.
The downtown plan for 2040 includes renderings of Water Street with widened sidewalks, separated bike lanes and a lot more trees. There would be a narrowed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive that makes room for wider sidewalks and outdoor dining. Overall, the draft calls for doubling the number of people living downtown – getting to 40,000 people – and boosting jobs to 100,000. It would cut emissions 45% by 2030 and net-zero by 2050.
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Plan details
Public input received throughout the planning process in the last two years helped shape six "big ideas" for how public and private investment can drive physical changes to downtown Milwaukee. A news release said the "big ideas" include:
- Growing downtown’s population
- Investing in parks and gathering spaces
- Expanding and enhancing transit
- Reconnecting places divided by human-made barriers
- Improving streets to support all users
- Redesigning streets as public places.
According to the release, the plan recommends a series of public and private development projects. Among those, are seven high-priority projects including the following:
- Public Museum & State Office Building Redevelopment at MacArthur Square
- Public Space Management Organization for Parks & Public Spaces
- Extending the Streetcar (Westown, Bronzeville, Walker’s Point, and the East Side)
- 6th Street Complete Street
- Water Street Entertainment District
- Performing Arts Center Parking Garage Redevelopment Site
- Reimagining the I-794 & Clybourn Street Corridor
Officials said the proposed projects would complement the progress made by the 2010 Downtown Area Plan which included:
- Addition of a fixed-rail streetcar system
- Revitalization of Wisconsin Avenue
- New circulation patterns, development and public spaces at the Lakefront Gateway
- Building a strong Broadway Connection to better link the central business district to the Historic Third Ward
- Developing the area around Pere Marquette Square with residential, commercial and entertainment uses
- Enhancing the Station Plaza/Milwaukee Intermodal Station area
- Improving accessibility to the underutilized MacArthur Square
- Developing the Haymarket area into a mixed-use neighborhood with a public square
The draft plan is available on the project website. Dialogue is encouraged at connectingmke.com, where users can participate in the virtual open house and provide feedback until May 22. | 2023-05-11T11:23:23+00:00 | fox6now.com | https://www.fox6now.com/news/downtown-milwaukee-2040-plan |
WASHINGTON, July 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Paralyzed Veterans of America National President Charles Brown issues statement today in reaction to the Department of Transportation's release of its "Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights." The document outlines ten fundamental rights of air travelers with disabilities and the obligations of airlines (to include their employees and contractors) under the Air Carrier Access Act.
"PVA fiercely advocated for this Bill of Rights and played an instrumental role in not only the conceptual development of these protections but also in the crafting of the actual rights themselves. One such sticking point was the right of passengers with disabilities to be treated with dignity and respect – which PVA has firmly insisted on since its inception more than 75 years ago."
Brown continued, "While the Bill of Rights does not expand airlines' legal obligation or establish new requirements under the law, it DOES empower and educate passengers with disabilities of their rights and holds airlines more accountable for their actions. We see this Bill of Rights as a big step forward and a monumental victory towards legitimizing the challenges and potential dangers passengers with disabilities face when they travel by air. No longer do we have to sit on the sidelines hoping to be seen and heard; this document asserts our rights and gives us something to depend on."
On Oct. 5, 2018, then President Donald Trump enacted the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2018, mandating the creation of a Bill of Rights for passengers with disabilities and an advisory committee to advise the Secretary of Transportation on the air travel needs of these passengers. PVA was selected to serve on this committee and in this role was able to advise the department on the development of the Bill of Rights. Among some of the protections outlined in the Bill of Rights include requirements by airlines to provide prompt, timely assistance from properly trained airline personnel and to better train personnel to be aware of the needs of passengers with disabilities.
"Safe air travel is a fundamental civil right," added Brown. "We applaud DOT for listening to us and giving us a seat at the table to talk about this important issue. It is encouraging to see the results of all the time, energy, and effort we devoted in making this Bill of Rights a living, breathing document. We look forward to continuing to work together with DOT and other stakeholders to one day make air travel completely accessible for everyone. We will not rest until that is our reality."
DOT's Bill of Rights comes on the heels of PVA's recent air travel campaign, which educates the public about the dangers of air travel for people with disabilities. As part of the campaign, PVA is encouraging everyone to join their fight to improve air travel by signing a PVAction Force petition.
About Paralyzed Veterans of America
Paralyzed Veterans of America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and the only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated solely for the benefit and representation of veterans with spinal cord injury or diseases. The organization ensures veterans receive the benefits earned through service to our nation; monitors their care in VA spinal cord injury units; and funds research and education in the search for a cure and improved care for individuals with paralysis.
As a life-long partner and advocate for veterans and all people with disabilities, PVA also develops training and career services, works to ensure accessibility in public buildings and spaces, and provides health and rehabilitation opportunities through sports and recreation. With more than 70 offices and 33 chapters, Paralyzed Veterans of America serves veterans, their families, and their caregivers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Learn more at PVA.org.
Contact: S. Oname Thompson
OnameT@PVA.org
703) 864-5980 cell
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SOURCE Paralyzed Veterans of America | 2022-07-08T19:46:44+00:00 | witn.com | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2022/07/08/paralyzed-veterans-america-issues-statement-upon-release-department-transportations-airline-passengers-with-disabilities-bill-rights/ |
NEW YORK, June 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Attention Amazon.com, Inc. ("Amazon") (NASDAQ: AMZN) shareholders:
The Law Offices of Vincent Wong announce that a class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of investors who purchased between February 1, 2019 and April 5, 2022.
If you suffered a loss on your investment in Amazon, contact us about potential recovery by using the link below. There is no cost or obligation to you.
https://www.wongesq.com/pslra-1/amazon-com-inc-loss-submission-form?prid=28737&wire=4
ABOUT THE ACTION: The class action against Amazon includes allegations that the Company made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Amazon engaged in anticompetitive conduct in its private-label business practices, including giving Amazon products preference over those of its competitors and using third-party sellers' non-public data to compete with them; (ii) the foregoing exposed Amazon to a heightened risk of regulatory scrutiny and/or enforcement actions; (iii) Amazon's revenues derived from its private-label business were in part the product of impermissible conduct and thus unsustainable; and (iv) as a result, the defendants' public statements throughout the class period were materially false and/or misleading.
DEADLINE: July 5, 2022
Aggrieved Amazon investors only have until July 5, 2022 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. You are not required to act as a lead plaintiff in order to share in any recovery.
Vincent Wong, Esq. is an experienced attorney who has represented investors in securities litigations involving financial fraud and violations of shareholder rights. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
Vincent Wong, Esq.
39 East Broadway
Suite 304
New York, NY 10002
Tel. 212.425.1140
E-Mail: vw@wongesq.com
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SOURCE The Law Offices of Vincent Wong | 2022-06-20T10:09:24+00:00 | wymt.com | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2022/06/20/class-action-alert-law-offices-vincent-wong-remind-amazon-investors-lead-plaintiff-deadline-july-5-2022/ |
PHILADELPHIA (AP)The Philadelphia Phillies’ 7-0 win over Houston in Game 3 of the World Series was seen by 11,162,000 viewers on Fox, down 2.7% from last year’s third game.
Atlanta’s 2-0 victory over the Astros last season was seen by 11,469,000. That game was on a Friday night, while this year’s Game 3 was on a Tuesday.
This year’s audience was up 34% from the 8,339,000 for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 6-2 win over Tampa Bay in 2020, the lowest-rated World Series.
Including Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms, this year’s Game 3 was viewed by 11,373,000. The game, which began at 8:05 p.m. EDT and ended at 11:13 p.m., drew a 29.1 rating and 56 share in Philadelphia and a 21.9/47 in Houston.
Game 3 was postponed by rain on Monday night.
The first three games this year averaged 11,179,000 viewers on Fox, up 2% from the three-game average of 10,964,000 last year and an increase of 25% from the three-game average of 8,977,000 in 2020.
The rating is the percentage of television households tuned in to a broadcast. The share is the percentage viewing a telecast among those households with TVs on at the time.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports | 2022-11-03T16:55:23+00:00 | siouxlandproud.com | https://www.siouxlandproud.com/mlb/tv-audience-for-world-series-game-3-on-fox-down-2-7-2/ |
Q: Ira, do the Heat have to play defense against the Knicks? If they get O.G. Anunoby, it would make them better than the Heat. Then we’d be in the play-in. – Ant.
A: First, while the Heat certainly are capable of quality defense against the Heat on the court, it’s not quite as easy for Pat Riley and Andy Elisburg when it comes to a competitive package of draft picks. The Knicks have a far deeper pool in that regard. And beyond that, picks belonging to the Knicks might be perceived as more attractive because, well, the Knicks are the Knicks. Beyond that, while O.G. Anunoby would be a quality piece for any rotation, he also is more of a defender than necessarily the type of scorer the Heat need. Even if the Knicks were able to land O.G. for draft capital, I’m not sure anyone would immediately consider New York as a clearly superior team to the current Heat mix. For now, it’s about Thursday’s game at Madison Square Garden and the Heat creating more separation at No. 6 in the East standings.
[ Submit your "Ask Ira" question HERE ]
Q: Hi Ira, is it coincidence or is the trend suggestive, that when Kyle Lowry was replaced by Game Vincent for the fourth quarter in the last three out of four games the Heat won, whereas the one game where Erik Spoelstra tried to go with Lowry in the fourth, they lost? I wonder whether if they started Vincent and brought in Victor Oladipo as his replacement and then used Lowry for a few spots per game, minimizing his court time, whether that would increase the Heat’s win percentage? – Ted Miami.
A: From a strategic standpoint, there arguably is merit to your suggestion, although I’m not sure that Victor Oladipo has the necessary point guard instincts. But an NBA rotation transcends strategy. It also has to factor in personalities. And there is no way you would get anything – yes, even less than now – if you were to move Kyle Lowry to the bench. For more than a decade, if he plays, he starts. Kyle has started the last 676 games that he has appeared. So, for now, I think you bide your time at least until after next Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. And even then, you would be dealing with a player who has another season left on his contract. This is as much a chemistry issue as it is a rotation issue.
Q: Ira, do you think the Tyler Herro hype is just that, hype? You read about what an amazing scorer he is, but he isn’t consistent. Don’t you think he fits better with the second unit? And do you think he will eventually be traded? When did scoring 20 points with a low percentage of made baskets become “max” talent? I would love to hear your thoughts about Tyler. – Brian, Miami.
A: Based on salary-cap rules, we know he almost assuredly will not be dealt this season. So any future trade thought, including this summer, could come down to how the season and postseason play out. But this also is where the NBA stands today, where scoring trumps all. Many of the league’s elite players are lacking on the defensive end. And, again, don’t equate salary with player value. That is merely a case of what the market dictates. | 2023-02-02T12:14:45+00:00 | sun-sentinel.com | https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-heat/heat-blog/fl-sp-miami-heat-ask-ira-new-york-knicks-20230202-wwrq3nrcmvarzdz762dz4wdlgi-story.html |
NICE, France (AP) — A maritime rescue ship docked Friday in a southern French port carrying 230 migrants whose fates have sparked a diplomatic row between France and Italy — a dispute that’s threatening EU efforts to share around asylum-seekers.
The French welcome for the Ocean Viking, though reluctant, unleashed fury from far-right rivals of the French government. Migrant advocates expressed relief, but lamented that it took weeks to find a harbor for the ship as Italy refused to let it dock, and vowed Friday to send their vessels back out to the Mediterranean to save others in distress.
The Ocean Viking disembarked its passengers at the Toulon port, where they were undergoing health and security checks at a military base, Var region prefect Evence Richard said. They were then sent in buses to the Mediterranean resort of Giens where they were expected to start asylum application procedures.
The passengers from Eritrea, Egypt, Syria, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other nations include 57 children, according to European rescue group SOS Mediterranee, which operates the ship. The youngest passenger is a 3-year-old, and more than 40 are unaccompanied minors.
Some on the ship were rescued in the Mediterranean Sea three weeks ago, the group said. The French coast guard boarded the Ocean Viking Thursday to help four passengers who needed urgent medical attention ashore.
The ship became the cause of a rift between France and Italy after Rome eventually granted three other private rescue ships permission to dock in Italy but refused the Ocean Viking. Premier Giorgia Meloni then praised France for taking the migrants in, although the French government had not said so publicly.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the passengers would ultimately be divided among France and other European Union countries.
As apparent retaliation for Italy’s behavior, Darmanin announced France’s withdrawal from a “solidarity” mechanism approved in June to reduce the pressure on front-line countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain by taking in asylum-seekers. French officials also announced new border checks with Italy.
While politicians battled over the 230 people aboard the Ocean Viking, they are a fraction of those fleeing global crises this year and seeking refuge in Europe.
From January to August this year, France received 82,535 asylum requests, more than any EU country but Germany. Italy came in fifth, with 43,750 asylum applications.
France’s reaction appeared to have taken Italy by surprise. Italy’s Meloni on Friday lashed back at what she said was France’s “aggressive,” “incomprehensible and unjustified” measures.
The premier said she had a voter mandate to change the way Europe deals with mass migration and that Italy would no longer accept being the main disembarkation point for would-be asylum-seekers crossing the Mediterranean.
“That’s not written in any agreement,” she said, noting that Italy has taken in nearly 90,000 migrants so far this year. The EU redistribution accord called for 8,000 of them to be resettled in 13 member countries; to date 117 have been relocated, 38 of them to France.
“Something in this mechanism isn’t working,” Meloni said.
Advocacy groups agree that France has been very slow in processing asylum-seekers as part of the sharing agreement.
The SOS Mediterranee said Friday it plans to send the Ocean Viking back to sea “despite the obstacles.” Doctors Without Borders, whose Geo Barents ship was also caught in the recent migration drama, said the same: “These operations are and will be the response to irresponsible European and national policies of refusing to help those at sea.”
Italian news reports said French President Emmanuel Macron and Meloni had agreed at the U.N. climate summit in Egypt that France would take in the Ocean Viking, but that the Italian government had undermined the verbal accord by prematurely claiming victory in the standoff.
France’s actions empowered Meloni’s center-left opponents, who said the outcome isolated Italy from its European partners at a time it needs European solidarity to deal with mass migration and other issues.
“Shows of strength over migrants not only don’t pay off but provoke international isolation and a loss of credibility,” tweeted lawmaker Piero Fassino of the Democratic Party. “Getting into fights with partners like France is wrong, especially when you need allies, which we now won’t find.”
In France, far-right politicians unleashed a barrage of criticism against Macron.
“Enough is enough,” Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally. “Immigration to France is not an unconditional right.”
The uproar on the far right in both countries over Mediterranean Sea migrants stands in sharp contrast to the countries’ welcome of millions of Ukrainians who have fled after the Russian invasion.
___
Winfield reported from Rome. Daniel Cole in Toulon and Giers, France and Renata Brito in Barcelona contributed.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of global migration: https://apnews.com/hub/migration | 2022-11-11T15:52:09+00:00 | ksn.com | https://www.ksn.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-migrant-rescue-ship-docks-in-french-port-amid-italy-rift/ |
WFO AMARILLO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Friday, June 3, 2022
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SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Amarillo TX
950 PM CDT Fri Jun 3 2022
...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southwestern Beaver,
southeastern Texas, northeastern Hansford and northern Ochiltree
Counties through 1015 PM CDT...
At 950 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 4
miles northwest of Farnsworth, or 10 miles west of Perryton, moving
east at 30 mph.
HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and penny size hail.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is
possible.
Locations impacted include...
Perryton, Waka, Bryans Corner, Balko, Farnsworth and Boyd.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
This storm may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio
stations and available television stations for additional information
and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.
LAT...LON 3681 10074 3632 10054 3629 10055 3628 10108
3650 10128
TIME...MOT...LOC 0250Z 261DEG 28KT 3638 10101
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.75 IN
MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH
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Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | 2022-06-04T04:35:12+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/weather/article/TX-WFO-AMARILLO-Warnings-Watches-and-Advisories-17219114.php |
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WLNS) – Logan James Barnhart, 41, of Holt, Michigan, pleaded guilty Thursday to assaulting law enforcement officers during the riot at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Barnhart was part of the mob that clashed with law enforcement at the Archway leading into the Capitol from the Lower West Terrace, according to court records. He was joined by other rioters in dragging an officer down steps into a crowd, where others beat the officer with weapons, including a flagpole and baton.
“As a result of this attack, the officer sustained physical injuries, including bruising and abrasions,” reads a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia.
Barnhart also helped to push other rioters in the direction of a line of police officers, and struck one of the officers with the base of a flagpole, the office said.
Barnhart, a bodybuilder and former model for the cover of romance novels, was identified and arrested for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on August 2021. He was taken into custody on Aug. 17 in Lansing, Michigan
Barnhart is scheduled to be sentenced on March 9, 2023. He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison, as well as financial penalties.
More than 870 people have been arrested for crimes related to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, including more than 265 people charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officials. | 2022-09-29T21:23:03+00:00 | mytwintiers.com | https://www.mytwintiers.com/news-cat/national-news/romance-novel-cover-model-pleads-guilty-to-assaulting-police-at-jan-6-riot/ |
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SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — The Walkers’ wood frame cottage stood plain and white, surrounded by pasture land and hardwood forest. There in tiny Osprey, on the southern tip of the vast Palmer Ranch, the family’s nearest neighbor was half a mile away.
As daylight broke on Dec. 20, 1959, half a dozen lawmen stood in the living room and stared down in silence.
Christine lay barefoot, bruised and bloody, her pink flowered dress pulled up, her slips and petticoats in a muddle. Clifford and the children had been ambushed, the young father on his back in the living room, still wearing his straw cowboy hat, a bullet hole in his right eye. Jimmie was curled up next to his dad, blood smeared on his clothes and in his hair, suggesting he’d crawled to his father as the killer shot him three times in the head. Baby Debbie, they found in the bathtub, facedown in 4 inches of water, also shot in the head.
Six decades later, one morning last June, Pat Myers hobbled into the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and sank into a seat across from a detective in a crisp white shirt.
What exactly had Det. Brandon Clark done, since they’d met a year and a half earlier, to solve the murder of his sister? Myers asked, five rows of wrinkles amassing above his large blue eyes. “Do you realize, in December, it’s going to be 64 years?”
Clark, 41, was the latest of a dozen investigators to examine the cold case.
“Let me say this, Mr. Myers,” Clark said. “I think we’re closer now than we’ve ever been.”
Myers was 7 when a neighbor burst into his living room to announce what she’d heard on the radio.
Christine, his half-sister, was dead — beaten, raped and shot with two different handguns. He learned, too, of the deaths of her husband, Cliff, 3-year-old Jimmie and 23-month-old Debbie.
It was among Florida’s oldest unsolved crimes on record, notorious for its brutality, as well as for a pool of suspects that numbered over 600. High among them: The killers made infamous in Truman Capote’s true crime classic “In Cold Blood.”
Myers, 71, had pleaded for answers most of his life, sometimes dropping into the sheriff’s office when the phone fell quiet. But the Walker murders had consumed detectives, then spit them out, for half a century.
In recent years, as suspicion amassed around the “In Cold Blood” killers, Myers grasped at the hope of closure.
Now, Clark was telling Myers, as he had several times before, that his suspicions lay elsewhere.
Myers felt like he was ricocheting between theories, like a pinball. And though Clark was earnest, Myers feared the result would be no different.
The Walker investigation was yet another of America’s quarter-million unsolved homicides — a mounting crisis in the minds of justice experts — and a case study into how thousands of hours, tens of thousands of dollars, exhumed bodies, DNA tests, fingerprints and bullets can fail to add up to answers.
Clark — with his “never-say-die” attitude, per one supervisor — had found a niche in such cases. But like other detectives, he had to handle them alongside other investigations. He dove deep on the murders in 2019, the same year he closed about two-thirds of his 130 cases.
Myers wondered how much longer he would be able to make the three-hour drive to Sarasota. Sixteen stents kept his heart pumping, another five expanded veins in his legs. He’d been able to make this trip only because his wife of 51 years, whom he cared for at home in Lake Placid, was in rehab after a fall.
He still spoke with the previous detective, who remained convinced Capote’s killers were responsible. They’d killed a family of four in Kansas. Why not this family of four, too?
“I don’t think it’s them,” Clark said.
Myers leaned forward and rested his arms, sun-splotched from decades overseeing orange groves, on the table. He’d made a promise.
“This case don’t want to be solved,” he said. He meant that agency officials didn’t want to expose their bungling and lack of commitment.
Clark said he still hoped to get Christine’s DNA, to clear up longstanding confusion. He was seeking permission to exhume her from her grave.
“Go ahead,” Myers said. “Dig her up.”
On the Walkers’ final day, they headed a dozen miles north for used car lots in bustling Sarasota.
Cliff, who earned $55 a week managing a herd of deep red cows, wanted to trade in his wife’s 1952 Plymouth.
At one lot, Cliff, 24, who spent most of his time atop an Appaloosa horse, considered a two-tone 1956 Chevrolet 210. At another, the cowboy test drove a Hudson Jet.
In the end, though, the couple drove back, pausing at the ranch barn to pick up cattle feed. Cliff and another ranch hand, Don McLeod, headed off to hunt. Christine, 24, bubbly and spirited, hung back with McLeod’s wife.
Christine drove home first that afternoon. Cliff and the kids followed a half hour later in his work Jeep.
The next morning, McLeod dropped by to go hog hunting with Cliff. He discovered the grisly scene.
Within hours, a crush of cars crawled down the shell road just to see where the family had lived.
The Walkers dwelled amongst country folk, whose women were sorted by their morals and men by their prowess roping cattle or catching hogs. Behind many closed doors, kerosene lamps and frying pans flew. Christine had grown up in one of those households.
Even after Christine married, authorities documented instances of half a dozen men propositioning her, patting her on the rear, grabbing her, trying to kiss her, especially when they had been drinking, which was often.
The day before she died, Christine told her mother and mother-in-law that Cliff had been in a fight and “liked to got killed yesterday.”
There was no shortage of suspects. On the night of the murders, at least seven men had been fishing at a nearby creek. Another three were seen drinking on the road to the Walkers’ house. One of Cliff’s cousins also aroused suspicion after he grew hysterical outside the Walker gate upon learning of the deaths and fainted at the funeral.
McLeod also fell under suspicion. But he told police he had seen the Walkers’ neighbor, Wilbur Tooker, at their house at least two dozen times. Tooker, a 65-year-old retired railroad telegrapher, had made advances on Christine, which she rebuffed.
Sarasota Sheriff Ross E. Boyer believed he was searching for someone local. Why kill the children unless the perpetrator had been recognizable?
Florida analysts spent the equivalent of 44 full lab days that first year poring over evidence, making 2,920 fingerprint comparisons and conducting ballistics tests on more than 75 guns.
But within weeks, Sheriff Boyer’s attention turned — for a while — to two other suspects accused of murdering a family 1,600 miles away in a Kansas farm town of 270 called Holcomb.
Perry Smith, 31, and Richard Hickock, 28, met as petty thieves serving time at the Kansas State Penitentiary.
Smith, a drifter from Nevada, had been placed in an orphanage at age 13 after his mother, an alcoholic, choked on her vomit.
Hickock, a car mechanic and father from Kansas, had suffered a severe head injury in a car accident when he was 19.
They listened as a fellow inmate bragged about a farmer who kept lots of cash in a safe.
Upon release, the pair met up and slipped into the Clutter farmhouse outside Holcomb late on the evening of Nov. 15, 1959 — about five weeks before the Walkers would be killed. Unable to find a safe, they obliterated all four members of the Clutter family. Herbert and Bonnie, and their children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15, died from shotgun blasts to the head.
Over the next six weeks, Hickock and Smith traveled about 10,000 miles, from Kansas and California to Mexico and Florida. They were arrested in Las Vegas in late December after the inmate who had told them about the safe tipped off police. Capote’s book detailing the Kansas crime would come out in 1966.
Kansas authorities, hearing of the Walker murders, suggested Sarasota’s sheriff take a look. Both families lived in rural communities. All had been shot in the head. No child had been spared. Hickock had once said his philosophy was to “leave no witnesses.”
The sheriff had Hickock and Smith’s pictures published on the front page of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He told the Sarasota Journal at least four people said they had seen the men, including a saleswoman at W.T. Grant’s department store, seven miles from the Walker home, on the day of the murders. One or two days prior, a man said they had asked to fix his bent fender for money, and a gas station owner said they’d asked about auto paint shops.
And the day after the murders, in Nocatee, east of Sarasota, three people said they had seen the men, one with a “scratched-up face,” seeking U.S. 27, the main road north. Detectives had told the public to look out for suspects with cuts. They’d found blood spattering the heels of Christine’s suede pumps, surmising she’d used them as weapons.
But the killers, who had confessed to the Kansas murders, said they’d never been to Sarasota. And what appeared to be a bloody fingerprint on the family’s faucet apparently did not match either man.
A day after they were sentenced to death, Hickock and Smith answered questions about the Florida murders while strapped to a mid-century lie detector test. Kansas authorities told Boyer they passed.
Boyer interviewed suspects in at least five other states. In New Jersey, he handed Madame Florence, a psychic consulted by police departments, a pair of Christine’s bobby pins, department records show. She told him he had already spoken to the murderer, someone with a face scar who “wore glasses.”
But he never went to Kansas to interview Hickock and Smith. He told a Sarasota newspaper reporter he relied on Kansas authorities to ask those questions. Meanwhile, the head of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation told a reporter that, had he been facing a similar situation, “I’d have had an investigator down here weeks ago.”
The sheriff’s office recently said it did not have any transcripts of those interviews. And in Kansas, authorities had been focused on the Clutters, an agency spokeswoman said, and they have no evidence that officers interrogated the killers about the Walkers.
In a recent interview, retired Sarasota Lt. Dario Valente recalled speaking with one of Boyer’s chief investigators, who told him that while one of the Kansas killers denied the Walker murders, another confessed.
For all of the agency’s early efforts, even obsession, investigators left stones unturned, resulting in dozens of men in the tiny Sarasota County town living under the frost of suspicion, many until their deaths. Boyer’s conviction about a local killer influenced the probe for decades.
“I put a lot of faith in that,” said Ron Albritton, a retired Sarasota detective and distant cousin of Cliff’s who oversaw the inquiry through the 1980s and 90s. “I always looked at the Walker case as ‘Keep looking,’ because it’s not Hickock and Smith.”
One spring day in 2013, Myers sat alone inside his barbecue restaurant in Lake Placid, where a painting of cowboys wrangling a steer hung on the wall. He’d opened the place after two decades in the orange groves. A special was scrawled on the chalkboard: half a barbecue chicken and two sides for $7.95.
Finding out who had murdered Christine had consumed his family for decades, and now, with many of them dead or far-flung, it had fallen on him to keep up the pressure. So, again, he dialed the detective he trusted most.
He and Kimberly McGath went back to 2007, when she expressed an interest in the languishing Walker file. She had graduated first in her police class, with a perfect entrance exam. She earned praise for securing confessions and for her enthusiasm and empathy.
Unlike Sheriff Boyer decades before her, she thought there was something to the men of “In Cold Blood.”
She found it interesting that a car the Walkers were test-driving resembled the 1956 Chevy Bel Air the men had stolen in Kansas and driven to Florida. Could they have crossed paths and made arrangements to trade cars?
As she organized boxes of witness statements, ballistics reports and crime scene photographs into an 8,000-page digital record, more clues — and gaps — emerged.
A Miami Beach detective discovered that the day before the murders, the pair had checked in at a motel there, paying $18 for a week’s stay. But the next morning, they vanished.
When arrested in Las Vegas, McGath found, Smith was carrying a pocket knife similar to one missing from Cliff’s pocket. Officers found, beneath the car seat, a toddler shirt and a pink jacket that could have matched Christine’s dress, as well as an Army gas can and burlap bags that could have come from Cliff’s military-style Jeep.
But, as she would find time and again, neither Kansas nor the Las Vegas Police Department could locate any of that evidence for her. After six decades, several police agencies had destroyed or misplaced evidence connected to the Walkers.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement had lost an early semen sample from Christine’s underwear.
The FBI had purged the “In Cold Blood” killers’ palm prints — a crucial loss, as a fingerprint examiner told McGath the faucet print used to exonerate the men was actually a partial palm print.
She read a report that the pair sold two dolls to a minister in Louisiana for $1.50 in gas money after they had left Florida. Could those dolls have been for Debbie? No one had documented the wrapping paper, and the minister was long dead.
Dead trails, missing bits — but also so many pieces of evidence that lined up. It was hard to imagine, McGath often told Myers, in their sometimes meandering phone calls, that anyone wouldn’t classify the men as suspects.
Myers could not imagine it being anyone else either. He just wanted someone to write it in a report, to confirm it, to put it to rest.
Months later in 2013, McGath was at her desk in Sarasota reading a report on the DNA from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. There was a problem. Several problems.
The year before, she had convinced a judge in Kansas to exhume the remains of Hickock and Smith to see if their DNA matched an unknown profile in Christine’s underwear. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation lab had pulled partial DNA from the men’s femurs and teeth.
As it turned out, the tests exposed contamination at the lab. Smith’s tooth returned a female DNA profile — that of the examiner who analyzed the bones. His femur turned up another unknown female profile.
Scientists managed to capture partial DNA for both of the men, however. And the DNA from Christine’s underwear, the report concluded, wasn’t theirs.
In every direction McGath turned, she was met with blunders and blurred results, common problems in cold cases.
The mix-ups made McGath wonder about the evidence already tested. She sifted through thousands of pages, looking for the original DNA test of Christine’s underwear that had detected a male suspect — a result detectives had leaned on for years. That’s when she noticed that the supposed suspect’s DNA was remarkably similar to Christine’s own incomplete DNA sequence, gathered from her dress.
That led to a disheartening realization:
They likely had been comparing their suspects all these years to Christine herself.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement serology supervisor confirmed the news to McGath and apologized. He said what was thought to be sperm was more likely Christine’s blood or skin cells. An agency spokesperson declined to comment.
With the DNA testing in shambles, McGath turned to boot prints.
A similar circular print had been found in blood near Christine’s body and at the Kansas scene. Smith owned black engineer boots with a Cat’s Paw rubber cushion sole, featuring circular pads, a little smaller than a quarter.
Sarasota forensic supervisor Michael Gorn told McGath that footwear impressions could be as reliable as fingerprints. But McGath’s supervisors shut down her efforts to gather the men’s boots from Kansas. Her captain, she said, wanted a DNA connection.
In her final report in 2013, McGath said she believed there was enough circumstantial evidence to tie Hickock and Smith to the Walker murders. But she was inactivating the case until new testing or evidence could advance it. She had no hard feelings, she said, but wished the sheriff’s office had allowed her to keep pursuing the men.
The agency issued a press release, noting Hickock and Smith were the most likely suspects. “However,” the release said, “DNA testing seems unlikely to provide conclusive evidence one way or the other.”
In a 2014 email to her supervisors, McGath wrote: “It feels like there’s been a negative cloud surrounding me in regards to the cold cases.” The following year, the mother of three would leave the agency to prioritize family.
In a 2020 email, a spokesperson responded to a question about whether the agency was seeking boot testing this way: “We are not pursuing any of Det. McGath’s recommendations at this time.”
McGath stopped calling Myers. She didn’t want to cross a line. Still, eight years off the job, she felt a certain duty to him. So when he called one day in late August 2022, she responded.
These days McGath, 52, works with rescue horses and writes books.
Now, Myers asked her, “What I don’t get is, how did they get in the house with the dogs sitting there?” He was referring to the Walkers’ three hound dogs in the yard — just another stray detail he picked at, worried over. That had never been clear, McGath replied.
She had never been able to fully put the case aside. Recently, she’d told Myers she’d found a picture of Hickock with two small marks on his chin. Could they be from Christine’s heel?
McGath had also considered Wilbur Tooker, Clark’s favored suspect and the Walkers’ closest neighbor, the one pushy with Christine.
A neighbor had observed him in the area the afternoon of the murders. He was photographed outside the house the day the bodies were discovered — with no marks on him, McGath commented.
He’d had an alibi for most of the evening, she explained. He’d played his violin — badly, according to the conductor — at a concert in Bradenton. He had no criminal record.
But they both knew that DNA had so far muddled the picture.
Since 2004, multiple detectives had sought answers in DNA. More than half a dozen cuttings came from Christine’s underwear alone, with multiple partial DNA samples detected, as well as a stain containing a single sperm cell. Before she left the agency, McGath said, her supervisors declined her requests to do more genetic testing of the stain.
In 2019, Clark was able to test the stain again. It generated pieces of two people’s DNA, one male and one female. But the results were too tangled to isolate any individuals. Now Myers related to McGath what he’d heard from Clark: Though not a conclusive match, Tooker could not be discounted.
To be sure, Clark had told Myers, scientists would have to pinpoint Christine’s DNA and remove it from the mixture.
This peeved Myers. He and his sister, Novella Cascarella, had spoken with the agency more than 15 years ago about exhuming Christine.
“It’s basically a great mess,” McGath said.
McGath understood why Myers needed this. To have a theory was one thing; to have proof was another. Some families, she knew, played their traumas over and over 50 or 60 years later.
Solving these murders, McGath believed, was also about sending a message that law enforcement would doggedly pursue old crimes despite the passage of time.
But national clearance rates have sunk. In 1965, according to FBI statistics, agencies closed 90% of the year’s homicides. By 2020, the rate was 54% — meaning more cases grow cold. Experts blame the drop largely on slimmed-down police budgets and hundreds of unsolved serial killer cases.
At the same time, DNA analysis has become more exact, especially in the past two decades, with testing that once required a million cells now potentially able to identify someone with a single cell, said DNA expert Greg Hampikian, director of the Idaho Innocence Project and a biology professor at Boise State University.
The National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the Department of Justice, has called on agencies to create teams dedicated to handling these seemingly unsolvable cases — more than 100,000 of them from the previous two decades alone. Their funding has helped to solve about 2,000 violent crimes, including killings by the Golden State Killer and the Boston Strangler.
In Florida, several larger departments — including Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami-Dade — have such teams. Most agencies, including Sarasota, do not. Homicide detectives often are told to work on older cases when they have time.
“And that doesn’t work,” said Ryan Backmann, who started Project: Cold Case in Jacksonville in 2015 to document unsolved cases and support other families after his father’s murder went unsolved. “You get an arrest occasionally. But you need dedicated detectives primarily working on cold cases, and across the country in law enforcement, we’re not seeing that.”
Capt. Joe Giasone, a 30-year veteran of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, said the agency has 32 cold cases, ranging from the 1959 Walker murders up to a 2019 missing boater. He said detectives have no physical evidence, so far, connecting Hickock and Smith to the Walker murders, no fingerprints.
“The challenges of a case from that long ago … you’re bound by what was done in 1959,” Giasone said.
Giasone wasn’t sure why previous leaders didn’t pursue additional testing 10 years ago. He said the agency remains committed, however long it takes.
But cold cases, too, pose a conundrum. What is the value of solving an older crime versus a newer one? What does society owe, say, the family of Cliff and Christine Walker?
Many justice experts recommend prioritizing cases where an arrest can be made.
“I’m interested foremost in the living cases, where there is a danger to the public or when someone is wrongfully convicted or where a victim is wanting to find an answer,” said Hampikian, the DNA expert. “I’ve got mothers calling me who want to get their sons out of prison. It’s important to keep that in perspective.”
With the possible perpetrators in the Walker murders dead — the “In Cold Blood” killers were executed in 1965; Tooker suffered a heart attack while playing the violin in 1963 — there is scant possibility of an arrest.
But Myers observed that letting the case languish, passing it from one detective to another and failing to exhume Christine 15 years ago to obtain her DNA, as he and his sister had asked, had cost the agency more money and delayed the results.
And it had overshadowed his entire life.
In mid-September, Myers clenched his jaw as he lifted his wife with a gait belt, transferring her from wheelchair to recliner at their modest home. She settled in and smiled.
His sister’s murder was never far from his mind. It was time to give Clark, the Sarasota detective, another nudge. First, he turned on “Gunsmoke” — their daily routine.
He’d met Ella, now 68, on the school bus and proposed to her over the lunch table in high school. When she was well, Ella had vocally supported his efforts to find answers. Now her strokes had robbed her of articulation.
“Behind every good woman, there’s a good man,” he said, as he filled her cup.
Ella face-palmed and smiled.
The detective picked up almost immediately, and Myers told him he wanted an update.
Clark hoped to test the underwear stain containing the sperm cell. He told Myers, if he could get the OK, he was still after a true copy of Christine’s DNA.
“Go ahead, dig her up,” Myers told him, for a second time.
Would he ever get an answer? Each new detective who came along just couldn’t get to the last piece of the puzzle.
The doubt, the what-ifs, kept at him like a jackhammer.
Myers had grown up around people devastated by the family’s deaths, relatives who also made trips over the years to the sheriff’s office, who visited Christine’s and Cliff’s graves and held them close.
There came a point that his older sister, Novella, couldn’t handle going anymore. And Pat promised her he would make sure to keep it alive, to fight for a resolution. As he saw his own health slipping, he felt the weight of that vow.
He’d lied to Novella before she died in 2021.
“It was them, the ‘In Cold Blood’ killers,” he’d said. The relief the 82-year-old felt had come through on the phone. Her voice even sounded different.
Myers wanted to feel that way too. And if he didn’t push for this, who would?
In early January, Myers called Clark and his boss six times with no reply. Days later, he received a return call.
A lieutenant told him that Clark had presented the plan to the sheriff. They had decided to unearth Christine from her grave in the next month.
Myers wanted to feel relief. But he decided he would wait until something actually happened.
About the reporting
This story is based on more than 8,000 pages of records, most from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, but also the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and archives of the Sarasota Journal, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times.
Leonora LaPeter Anton went with Pat Myers to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office to witness him talking to Det. Brandon Clark. She was at Myers’ home when he spoke with the detective on the phone. She also was there when he spoke with former Det. Kimberly McGath in 2013 and last summer. | 2023-02-05T09:41:25+00:00 | sfgate.com | https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/dna-could-crack-a-notorious-florida-cold-case-17764733.php |
WFO AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Monday, May 2, 2022
_____
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
The National Weather Service in Austin San Antonio has issued a
* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...
Western Kinney County in south central Texas...
Southeastern Val Verde County in south central Texas...
* Until 315 AM CDT.
* At 217 AM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Amanda, or 12
miles east of Del Rio, moving east at 25 mph.
HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage
to roofs, siding, and trees.
* Locations impacted include...
Del Rio, Brackettville, Standart, Amanda, Laughlin AFB, Escondido
Estates, Laughlin AFB Aux Field and Fort Clark Springs.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a
building.
Large hail, damaging winds, and continuous cloud to ground lightning
are occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately. Lightning is
one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder,
you are close enough to be struck by lightning.
Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to
flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.
...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR SOUTHEASTERN PALO PINTO COUNTY
IS CANCELLED...
The severe thunderstorm which prompted the warning has moved out of
the warned area. Therefore, the warning has been cancelled.
...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 245 AM CDT
FOR SOUTHWESTERN PARKER AND NORTHWESTERN HOOD COUNTIES...
At 220 AM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Lipan, or 15
miles northwest of Granbury, moving east at 20 mph.
HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to
roofs, siding, and trees.
Locations impacted include...
Weatherford and Lipan.
Heavy rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to flash
flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | 2022-05-02T08:49:18+00:00 | sfgate.com | https://www.sfgate.com/weather/article/TX-WFO-AUSTIN-SAN-ANTONIO-Warnings-Watches-and-17140908.php |
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Eight years after Michael Brown’s death pushed the St. Louis region front and center into the national debate over police accountability, the city’s elected officials and its police associations are at odds over a new oversight plan.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, a progressive Democrat elected last year in part on her pledge to hold police more accountable, this month signed into law a bill creating a Division of Civilian Oversight, an independent agency to investigate allegations of police misconduct and use of force incidents.
Jones, who is Black, said at a news conference before the Aug. 3 bill signing that Black St. Louisans are more than four times more likely to be subjected to force by police than whites.
“Accountability is the first step in building trust, and that will strengthen our enforcement and police department in the long run,” Jones said.
The new plan has drawn a stern response from the St. Louis Police Officers Association and a smaller officers’ group, the Ethical Society of Police, an association that largely represents Black officers. The St. Louis Police Leadership Organization, representing officers with the rank of sergeant and above, also opposed the change.
All three police associations joined together in a lawsuit seeking an injunction preventing the law from going into effect in September.
Sherrie Hall, attorney for the Ethical Society of Police, said officers welcome accountability, but that the new law is flawed because parts of it conflict with Missouri’s Officers’ Bill of Rights law. For example, the St. Louis law allows officers to be questioned by oversight investigators immediately after an incident, without seeing the complaint or obtaining a lawyer.
“Those things are important,” Hall said. “They’re important if you’re going to have an effective police force and be able to recruit and retain officers. They’re important because an officer should have the ability to know what they’re being accused of before they’re giving a statement, and to think it through.”
Hall also worries that good officers could be targeted if a board member is simply anti-police.
Brown’s death, and the deaths of others at the hands of police, “pushed civilian oversight and police accountability into the national spotlight,” according to a 2018 report by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Brown, a Black 18-year-old, was shot to death during a street confrontation with Officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. Wilson was later cleared of wrongdoing but the shooting led to months of often-violent protests.
The incident happened in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, not St. Louis. But the resulting scrutiny shone a light on the sometimes troubled and confrontational relationship between police and Black men throughout the St. Louis region.
That spotlight grew brighter after George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis officer in 2020. Today, more than 200 oversight boards exist across the nation, though they cover only a fraction of the approximate 18,000 police agencies.
How well they’re doing is up for debate. Information compiled by Mapping Police Violence found that the number of people killed by police annually has remained constant at slightly above or below 1,100 every year since 2013.
“One of the major challenges with oversight programs is the limited empirical evidence demonstrating their effectiveness,” the Justice Department report stated.
St. Louis officials hope the new approach is a step in the right direction. It replaces a review process established in 2015, the year after Brown’s death. Under that process, complaints about misconduct and use-of-force were first investigated internally within the police department, then potentially reviewed by a Civilian Oversight Board. But most cases ended with the internal police review.
The new Division of Civilian Oversight will be led by a commissioner, retired FBI agent Matthew Brummund, and staffed with 10 investigators. The nine-member oversight board can make recommendations, but the personnel department decides when discipline is appropriate. Appeals go to the Civil Service Commission.
The law also establishes a new unit under the direction of Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner for the investigation of use-of-force issues. Gardner and police have a long history of butting heads.
In 2019, Gardner placed dozens of officers on an “exclusion list,” prohibiting them from bringing cases. The list was developed after a national group accused the officers of posting racist and anti-Muslim comments on social media.
In 2020, Gardner filed a lawsuit accusing the city, the St. Louis Police Officers Association and others of a coordinated and racist conspiracy aimed at forcing her out of office. The lawsuit alleged violations of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which was adopted to thwart efforts to deny the civil rights of racial minorities. A judge eventually tossed out the lawsuit.
Sgt. Mickey Owens, president of the St. Louis Police Leadership Organization, called giving Gardner a role in investigating police shootings “downright frightening.”
A 2021 report by the St. Louis civil rights law firm Arch City Defenders found that St. Louis officers killed 69 people from 2009 through 2019. Fifty-eight of those killed were Black.
Among them was Anthony Lamar Smith. White Officer Jason Stockley and his partner tried to corner Smith in December 2011 after observing what they thought was a drug transaction on a fast food parking lot. Smith drove away, nearly striking the officers.
During the ensuing chase, Stockley said, “Going to kill this (expletive), don’t you know,” according to dashcam audio used as evidence in his trial.
Smith, 24, was fatally shot by Stockley at the end of the chase. At his 2017 trial, Stockley testified he thought Smith was reaching for a gun that was found inside Smith’s car. Prosecutors alleged that Stockley planted the weapon.
Stockley was acquitted, leading to weeks of often violent protests.
Activist John Chasnoff has been pushing for a new form of better police oversight in St. Louis for 23 years.
“I think it’s a big step forward,” Chasnoff said of the new plan. “It’s very difficult for any organization to investigate itself, hold itself accountable. This, for the first time, takes those investigations out of the police department and I think that’s a big step toward fairness and unbiased investigations.” | 2022-08-23T19:38:57+00:00 | nwahomepage.com | https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/national/new-oversight-plan-means-closer-scrutiny-of-st-louis-police/ |
BEIJING (AP) — Twin giant pandas have been born at a breeding center in southwestern China, a sign of progress for the country’s unofficial national mascot as it struggles for survival amid climate change and loss of habitat.
The male and female cubs, born Tuesday at the Qinling Panda Research Center in Shaanxi province, are the second pair of twins born to their mother, Qin Qin. Another panda, Yong Yong, gave birth to twins at the center earlier this month.
Qin Qin was also born at the center and previously gave birth to twin females in 2020.
State media gave no word on the father, but Chinese veterinarians for years have been using artificial insemination to boost the population of the animals, which reproduce rarely in the wild and rely on a diet of bamboo in the mountains of western China.
The efforts have paid off, with some captive-bread pandas being released into the wild. The population of wild pandas has ticked up gradually, reaching an estimated 1,800. About 500 others live in captivity in zoos and reserves, the majority in the mountainous, heavily forested province of Sichuan.
Encroachment on their land by farmers and industry has reduced the pandas’ space while cutting them off from other populations with which to breed.
Like much of central and western China, Sichuan has been hit by soaring summer temperatures and drought this year that have sparked forest fires and the withering of crops and forests, generally attributed to global climate change. | 2022-08-25T00:34:35+00:00 | everythinglubbock.com | https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/latest/panda-twins-born-in-china-as-species-struggles-for-survival/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Destiny Littleton scored 18 points with six assists as Southern California pulled off a program-defining win Sunday with a 55-46 upset victory over No. 2 Stanford.
Okako Adika scored 11 points with 11 rebounds, while Taylor Bigby and Kayla Williams added nine points each as the Trojans set the tone with their defense and held on late to end a 14-game losing streak against the Cardinal who had won 51 straight against unranked opponents.
It was USC’s first victory over Stanford since the 2014 Pac-12 Tournament.
“I just thought we really took care of business this weekend, which is the understatement of the century,” USC head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “Stanford is so good. They’re No. 2 in the country. I thought we executed the game plan, were super tough and made plays the whole game. I haven’t even looked at the stat sheet because who cares, right?”
USC (13-4, 3-3 Pac-12) held Stanford to four points in the first quarter, its low for any period this season. The Trojans led by as many as 11 points early in the fourth quarter before closing out the victory just eight days after a heartbreaking loss to then-No. 12 UCLA.
Cameron Brink scored 11 points with 14 rebounds for Stanford (17-2, 5-1), which saw its 12-game winning streak come to an end. The defeat also ended the Cardinal’s 39-game winning streak over Pac-12 competition.
Haley Jones had 12 rebounds for Stanford but was held to eight points after she entered with 13.3 per game.
“It wasn’t just turnovers, it was bad shots,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said. “I don’t know that we can do anything any worse. This has to be rock bottom in terms of execution offensively, lack of screening. They got to the free-throw line 26 times. Even with all of those bad things, it was a six point game with three, four minutes left.”
Stanford held USC to 27.3% shooting from the field, but the Trojans made up the difference by going 8 of 19 from 3-point range and making 17 of 26 free throws. Stanford was 4 of 21 from distance and 8 of 10 from the line.
USC looked up for the task early with a suffocating defense that forced six turnovers in the first quarter and held Stanford to 2 of 10 shooting in the opening 10 minutes, while taking an 11-4 lead.
Stanford rallied to tie the game 19-19 with 1:09 left in the first half before a five-point USC burst put the Trojans up 24-19 at the break.
USC made a statement to close the third quarter. Clarice Akunwafo blocked Stanford’s Lauren Betts with three seconds left in the period. Williams used the time to get into the front court and drain a 24-footer at the buzzer for a 43-33 advantage, USC’s largest of the game to that point.
“(Akunwafo) showed up today and she got that key block, I will remember it forever,” said Littleton, a South Carolina transfer in her first season at USC. “It was a momentum swing and we come down and hit a 3. That was because of (Akunwafo).”
USC nearly held Stanford to single digits in the fourth quarter as well, allowing 13, with four of those coming in the closing seconds. The only other time Stanford was held to single digits in a quarter this season was a seven-point performance in the fourth quarter in its only other defeat vs. South Carolina on Nov. 20.
“We haven’t shot the ball really well in the last couple of games,” VanDerveer said. “But we have to be grittier. I just feel like we have to be a much more competitive, aggressive, grittier team. Obviously some shots didn’t go down, but maybe it’s taking better shots. Our field-goal percentage (30.9%) was abysmal and theirs was not much better.”
THE TAKEAWAY
Stanford: After a victory over No. 8 UCLA, followed by the unexpected loss at USC, another challenge awaits for the Cardinal with a home test against No. 10 Utah on Friday to open a run of four consecutive home games.
USC: The top defense in the Pac-12 (52.0 points per game entering Sunday) has been making more statements. USC gave up a combined 10 first-quarter points to Cal (six) and Stanford (four) in a span of three days.
UP NEXT
Stanford: Home against Utah on Friday.
USC: At Washington State on Friday. | 2023-01-16T16:04:01+00:00 | pix11.com | https://pix11.com/sports/ap-sports/ap-usc-uses-defense-to-upset-no-2-stanford-55-46/ |
LENZING, Austria, March 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Everything that VEOCEL™, the nonwovens fiber brand under Lenzing, does is centered around care – care for the planet and care for future generations. As climate change continues to pose a significant threat to the planet, it is essential for the value chain and brands to implement mitigation initiatives and reduce the negative impact on the planet.
A sustainable future requires a massive drive for action to address climate change. Lenzing continues to maintain and pursue ways to reduce its carbon emissions for VEOCEL™ branded fibers, including efficient production processes, use of renewable energy sources, technology upgrades, carbon-reduced raw materials, and sourcing materials from suppliers who are also working hard to reduce carbon emissions. Some latest updates on the VEOCEL™ brand include:
VEOCEL™ recently partnered with wellness and lifestyle brand Goop to introduce sustainable beauty products which offer eco-friendly ingredients as an alternative to plastic.
While many companies are now on a mission to achieve carbon neutrality by means of reducing carbon emissions, consumers have also started to minimize their climate impact by seeking out products that have a low or negative carbon footprint. Therefore, more companies have started to carbon label their products to help inform and educate consumers on the environmental impact of their purchase decisions.
Flushable wipes have grown in popularity due to their low impact on the environment, especially wipes made with VEOCEL™ branded lyocell fibers with Disperse technology, as they do not contribute to water pollution nor microplastic accumulation problem. Claudio Zampino, Commercial Director, Specialty Applications for Global Nonwovens Business at Lenzing shared the solutions Lenzing has been offering to help reduce the issue of water pollution and outlined some exciting developments for the flushable wipes industry.
Lenzing's Miray Acar, Head of Marketing for Nonwovens in Europe, Americas & MEA shared her forecast on sustainability trends in the nonwovens segment and provided an overview of the upcoming VEOCEL™ brand partnerships which provide eco-friendly hygiene products for consumers.
To learn more about the latest developments of VEOCEL™ and inspirations for planet-friendly everyday care actions, visit the newly revamped VEOCEL.com!
View original content:
SOURCE VEOCEL | 2023-03-16T06:52:08+00:00 | kcbd.com | https://www.kcbd.com/prnewswire/2023/03/16/care-center-veocels-climate-action/ |
Blaze consumes cage, monkey escapes unscathed thanks to dog.
BULLS GAP, Tenn. (WJHL) – Early Tuesday morning, Lisa Meyer was awoken to every monkey owner’s nightmare: the shed that Griffin, her macaque, was living in was burning to the ground.
Roger Reed — who lives with Meyer — was woken up by his dog, Geisha, who led him outside to see that the hand-built enclosure that housed the 22-year-old macaque was ablaze, with flames licking the tree limbs high overhead.
“I was asleep in the recliner,” Meyer said. “And he yelled ‘Get up, Griffin’s cage is on fire!'”
At first, they thought Griffin was gone.
“He looked, and said there’s nothing you can do, he’s gone,” Meyer said, tearing up at the memory. “And that was the end of me, I was a puddle.”
In the corner of his enclosure, however, Reed spotted Griffin running back and forth trying to get out. They couldn’t go in through the burning shed, so Reed had to open a hole in his cage with bolt cutters to get him away from the flames. Griffin’s playground equipment had melted from the heat just feet away, but thanks to Geisha’s alert he was uninjured.
A Bulls Gap Fire Department crew was quick to arrive at the scene, Reed said, but the damage had already been done. Griffin’s shed was destroyed.
Meyer said she believed the fire was started by rats that chewed through power cables to one of several devices for the monkeys.
“It had to be electrical,” Meyer said. “There was a fan running and a radio running, other than that I have a timer for the lights to go out at a certain time of night. They’ve got TVs but the antennas aren’t right so they’re not turned on and watching those.”
Now she’s worried that Mazie, her other macaque, is at risk.
“I have housing inside to put them back in there,” Meyer said. “But they’ve been without diapers probably three years now. I don’t know with my back if I could do all it takes to have them inside.”
This isn’t Meyer’s first circus, however. She’s had several monkeys over the course of many years, peaking at a total of six in her home. All of her monkeys are rehomes or rescues, and she said her love of the creatures began at an early age.
“My parents bought me a monkey for my 10th birthday,” Meyer said. “Unfortunately she was sick when we bought her and she only lived a month. It’s all I’ve ever wanted was a monkey. It took me 28 years.”
Her first was Calvin, a macaque that lived with her for years before passing away of natural causes. Several of her rehomed monkeys suffered from diabetes, which Meyer said can arise in captivity.
Griffin’s enclosure was one of several throughout the Whitaker Road house that Meyer lives at, and Reed said years ago several of them could be seen riding Big Wheels children’s toys around the property before they were rehomed or passed away.
“You get one monkey,” Meyer said. “And they just keep coming.”
An important part of owning an exotic pet is ensuring that you’re doing right by the law as well as the animal, and Meyer said she’s never had a problem.
“In the state of Tennessee, unless things have changed, you have to be licensed for your bigger primates,” Meyer said. “Your gibbons, your apes, chimpanzees. The smaller monkeys you don’t. Now if I had ten or so, they might consider me a rescue and I would need to get certain permits.”
While it may be legal, Meyer said it isn’t a good idea for everyone. Most monkeys change quite a bit when they become adults, and she said getting an adult monkey can be dangerous for the inexperienced. | 2022-08-31T02:37:28+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/monkey-survives-fire-in-hawkins-county-thanks-to-dog/ |
Monday, September 26th 2022, 2:25 pm
The European Union and the U.S. on Monday questioned Serbia’s proclaimed commitment to join Europe’s 27-nation bloc after Belgrade signed an agreement with Moscow pledging long-term “consultations” on foreign policy matters amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Serbia’s officials signed the deal last week in New York with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where most Western delegations shunned Russia’s top diplomat over the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Under the 10-year rule of Serbian populist President Aleksandar Vucic, a former ultranationalist, Serbia has been steadily sliding away from its proclaimed EU goals and establishing close political ties with Russia.
Serbia’s foreign ministry has sought to downplay the importance of the signed agreement, saying it’s a “technical” one and relates to bilateral ties and not security issues.
Although Serbia said it supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity, its right-wing government has repeatedly refused to join Western sanctions against Slavic ally Russia. Aligning foreign policies with the EU is one of the main preconditions for joining the 27-nation bloc, but Serbia has increasingly defied calls to do so.
The news of the deal triggered harsh criticism from both EU and U.S. officials.
European Commission spokesman Peter Stano warned on Monday that Serbia’s relations with Russia can’t be “business as usual” when Moscow is violating the U.N. Charter with its armed forces committing atrocities in Ukraine.
“It’s a very clear sign of their intention to strengthen their ties, to further strengthen relations between Serbia and Russia and this is raising serious questions,” he said. “We are taking this very seriously and we are following this up.”
U.S. Ambassador Christopher R. Hill said “further alignment with Russia is a step in the wrong direction and contrary to Serbia’s stated European aspirations.”
“The United States believes that no country should be expanding cooperation with Russia while it continues its war of aggression against Ukraine,” Hill said in a statement to The Associated Press. “News of this agreement signed with Russia was surprising and stands in stark contrast with other constructive meetings in New York with Serbian officials.”
September 26th, 2022
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September 27th, 2022 | 2022-09-27T14:19:59+00:00 | news9.com | https://www.news9.com/story/6331ff6fb92f751d202b1f5e/eu-us-question-serbias-eu-commitment-after-russia-deal |
TX Norman OK Zone Forecast for Monday, September 19, 2022
_____
963 FPUS54 KOUN 200721
ZFPOUN
Zone Forecast Product for Oklahoma
National Weather Service Norman OK
221 AM CDT Tue Sep 20 2022
TXZ086-202100-
Wichita-
Including the cities of Sheppard AFB and Wichita Falls
221 AM CDT Tue Sep 20 2022
.TODAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
.TONIGHT...Clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows around 70. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.THURSDAY...Sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. West winds 5 to 10 mph,
becoming northeast in the afternoon.
.THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY...Clear. Lows in the mid 60s. Highs in
the upper 90s.
.FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY...Clear. Lows in the lower 70s. Highs
in the upper 90s.
.SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s.
Highs in the mid 90s.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s.
Highs in the upper 80s.
$$
TXZ083-202100-
Hardeman-
Including the city of Quanah
221 AM CDT Tue Sep 20 2022
.TODAY...Sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. Southwest winds 10 to
15 mph.
.TONIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. Southwest winds 10 to
15 mph.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 60s. South
winds 5 to 10 mph.
.THURSDAY...Sunny. Highs in the lower 90s. Northwest winds 5 to
10 mph, becoming northeast in the afternoon.
.THURSDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 60s.
.FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT...Clear. Highs in the mid 90s. Lows
around 70.
.SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...Mostly clear. Highs in the mid 90s.
Lows in the upper 60s.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s.
Highs in the mid 80s.
$$
TXZ084-202100-
Foard-
Including the city of Crowell
221 AM CDT Tue Sep 20 2022
.TODAY...Sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. Southwest winds 10 to
15 mph.
.TONIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. Southwest winds 10 to
15 mph.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows around 70. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.THURSDAY...Sunny. Highs in the lower 90s. West winds 5 to
10 mph, becoming northeast in the afternoon.
.THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...Clear. Lows in the upper
60s. Highs in the mid 90s.
.SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...Mostly clear. Highs in the mid 90s.
Lows around 70.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s.
Highs in the mid 80s.
$$
TXZ087-202100-
Knox-
Including the cities of Munday and Knox City
221 AM CDT Tue Sep 20 2022
.TODAY...Sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. South winds 10 to 15 mph.
.TONIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. Southwest winds 10 to
15 mph.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South
winds 5 to 10 mph.
.THURSDAY...Sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. West winds 5 to 10 mph,
becoming northeast in the afternoon.
.THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...Clear. Lows in the upper
60s. Highs in the mid 90s.
.SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...Mostly clear. Highs in the mid 90s.
Lows around 70.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s.
Highs in the mid 80s.
$$
TXZ085-202100-
Wilbarger-
Including the city of Vernon
221 AM CDT Tue Sep 20 2022
.TODAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
.TONIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. Southwest winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows around 70. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.THURSDAY...Sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. Northwest winds 5 to
10 mph, becoming northeast in the afternoon.
.THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY...Clear. Lows in the upper 60s.
Highs in the upper 90s.
.SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...Mostly clear. Lows around 70. Highs
in the mid 90s.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s.
Highs in the mid 80s.
$$
TXZ088-202100-
Baylor-
Including the city of Seymour
221 AM CDT Tue Sep 20 2022
.TODAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
.TONIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. Southwest winds 10 to
15 mph.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South
winds 5 to 10 mph.
.THURSDAY...Sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. West winds 5 to 10 mph,
becoming northeast in the afternoon.
.THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...Clear. Lows in the upper
60s. Highs in the upper 90s.
.SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...Mostly clear. Highs in the mid 90s.
Lows in the lower 70s.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s.
Highs in the mid 80s.
$$
TXZ089-202100-
Archer-
Including the cities of Archer City, Holliday, Lakeside City,
and Scotland
221 AM CDT Tue Sep 20 2022
.TODAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
.TONIGHT...Clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South
winds 5 to 10 mph.
.THURSDAY...Sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. West winds 5 to 10 mph,
becoming north in the afternoon.
.THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...Clear. Lows in the upper
60s. Highs in the upper 90s.
.SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...Mostly clear. Highs in the mid 90s.
Lows in the lower 70s.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s.
Highs in the mid 80s.
$$
TXZ090-202100-
Clay-
Including the city of Henrietta
221 AM CDT Tue Sep 20 2022
.TODAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.
.TONIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY...Sunny. Highs in the upper 90s. South winds 5 to
10 mph.
.WEDNESDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s. South
winds 5 to 10 mph.
.THURSDAY...Sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. West winds 5 to 10 mph,
becoming north in the afternoon.
.THURSDAY NIGHT...Mostly clear. Lows in the upper 60s.
.FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY...Clear. Highs in the upper 90s. Lows in
the lower 70s.
.SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 70s.
Highs in the mid 90s.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY...Mostly clear. Lows in the lower 60s.
Highs in the mid 80s.
$$
_____
Copyright 2022 AccuWeather | 2022-09-20T08:43:35+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/weather/article/TX-Norman-OK-Zone-Forecast-17453447.php |
NEW YORK, July 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Weiss Law is investigating possible breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of law by the board of directors of Hanger, Inc. ("Hanger" or the "Company"), (NYSE: HNGR) in connection with the proposed acquisition of the Company by Patient Square Capital. Under the terms of the merger agreement, the Company's shareholders will receive $18.75 in cash for each share of Hanger common stock owned. The transaction is valued at approximately $1.25 billion.
If you own Hanger shares and wish to discuss this investigation or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, visit our website:
https://www.weisslaw.co/news-and-cases/hngr
Or please contact:
Joshua Rubin, Esq.
Weiss Law
305 Broadway, 7th Floor
New York, NY 10007
(212) 682-3025
(888) 593-4771
stockinfo@weisslawllp.com
Weiss Law is investigating whether (i) Hanger's board of directors acted in the best interests of Company shareholders in agreeing to the proposed transaction, (ii) the $18.75 per-share merger consideration adequately compensates Hanger's shareholders, and (iii) all information regarding the sales process and valuation of the transaction will be fully and fairly disclosed. Notably, the merger consideration is below the $26 median price target set by analysts, and at least one analyst set a price target for the Company of $28 per share, $9.25 above the per-share merger consideration.
Weiss Law has litigated hundreds of stockholder class and derivative actions for violations of corporate and fiduciary duties. We have recovered over a billion dollars for defrauded clients and obtained important corporate governance relief in many of these cases. If you have information or would like legal advice concerning possible corporate wrongdoing (including insider trading, waste of corporate assets, accounting fraud, or materially misleading information), consumer fraud (including false advertising, defective products, or other deceptive business practices), or anti-trust violations, please email us at stockinfo@weisslawllp.com
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SOURCE Weiss Law | 2022-07-22T20:28:06+00:00 | kmvt.com | https://www.kmvt.com/prnewswire/2022/07/22/shareholder-alert-weiss-law-investigates-hanger-inc/ |
Albert Lea avoids the worst of storm in region
Published 5:18 am Wednesday, December 14, 2022
The Albert Lea area has avoided much of the winter weather as part of a massive storm system moving through the region.
The area had been slated to receive mixed precipitation as part of the storm, but as of press time had received mainly rain.
All of south-central Minnesota was under a wind advisory through 9 p.m. Tuesday, with southeast winds at 25 to 30 mph and gusts of up to 45 mph.
According to the National Weather Service, Albert Lea could receive 1 to 3 inches of snow through noon Wednesday, with snow tapering off after that.
Another part of the system was expected to develop Wednesday night and last through Friday with light snow possible. Heaviest snow totals are expected in western, north and central Minnesota and north-central Wisconsin. No ice was expected in the second part of the storm.
Winds will increase again Thursday into Friday with gusts of 20 to 30 mph possible.
The Weather Service states arctic area will move into Minnesota this weekend and settle across the region next week.
The forecast includes several days of lows between -5 and -15 degrees and highs struggling to get above zero Monday through Wednesday.
Temperatures will rebound at the end of the week. | 2022-12-14T15:08:34+00:00 | albertleatribune.com | https://www.albertleatribune.com/2022/12/albert-lea-avoids-the-worst-of-storm-in-region/ |
Game-changing end-to-end digital technology used to close more than $100B in loan volume
CHICAGO, June 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2019, Guaranteed Rate Companies launched FlashClose℠, its game-changing end-to-end digital Fintech tool that enables homebuyers to sign documents and close on their loans remotely from anywhere. The technology became a true digital differentiator during the COVID-19 pandemic and was awarded a coveted HousingWire 2020 Tech100 award.
While this end-to-end digital Fintech tool has empowered buyers to dive into their home purchases digitally and avoid the traditional hassles of the in-person closing table, it has also had a significantly positive impact on the environment. When used to process an entire loan, FlashClose℠ saves borrowers nearly 132 pages of paper, while a hybrid remote closing, which uses the tool to handle much but not all of the paperwork, saves nearly 50 pages.
Since it was launched, FlashClose℠ has been used by Guaranteed Rate Companies to close more than 335,000 loans for a total loan volume of more than $100 billion. The company is thrilled to announce that, in honor of the United Nation's World Environment Day on June 5, that FlashClose℠ has helped the environment by saving more than 17 million sheets of paper. It is estimated that a tree produces approximately 10,000 sheets of paper, which means Guaranteed Rate's end-to-end digital innovation has saved some 1,700 trees.
"We are incredibly proud that our industry-leading, end-to-end digital FlashClose℠ tool has had such a positive benefit on the environment," says Ramesh Sarukkai, Guaranteed Rate's Chief Product and Technology Officer. "It is just one example of the ways our tech team is creating fast, simple and innovative Fintech tools to enhance the lives of our customers."
Guaranteed Rate Companies is a leader in mortgage lending and digital financial services. Headquartered in Chicago, the Guaranteed Rate Companies have more than 10,000 employees in over 850 branches across the U.S., serving all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Since its launch in 2000, Guaranteed Rate Companies have helped more than 1 million homeowners with home purchase loans and refinances, with a total loan volume of more than $116 billion in 2021 alone. The company has cemented itself as an industry leader by introducing innovative technology, offering low rates and delivering unparalleled customer service. Honors and awards include: Top Lender for Online Service for 2018 by U.S. News & World Report; Best Mortgage Lender for Online Loans and Best Mortgage Lender for Refinancing by NerdWallet for 2021; HousingWire's 2020 Tech100 award for the company's industry-leading FlashClose℠ technology; No. 3 ranking in Scotsman Guide's 2021 list of Top Retail Mortgage Lenders; Chicago Agent Magazine's Lender of the Year for six consecutive years; and Chicago Tribune's Top Workplaces list for seven consecutive years. Visit rate.com for more information.
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SOURCE Guaranteed Rate Companies | 2022-06-03T20:02:55+00:00 | live5news.com | https://www.live5news.com/prnewswire/2022/06/03/world-environment-day-guaranteed-rate-announces-award-winning-flashclosesm-fintech-tool-has-saved-more-than-17m-sheets-paper/ |
NEW DELHI (AP) — The top diplomats of Australia, India, Japan and the United States offered sharp but veiled criticism of China on Friday, even as they maintained their Indo-Pacific-focused bloc is not aimed at countering Beijing.
In comments at a public event and in a written statement, the four foreign ministers used buzzwords and phrases that reflected growing unease over China’s influence in the region and made clear the group aims to be an alternative to China.
Meeting in New Delhi, the four barely mentioned China by name and insisted that the so-called Quad group is designed to boost their own national interests and improve those of others through enhanced cooperation in non-military areas.
Both the public comments and the statement had repeated references to the importance of democracy, rule of law, maritime security and the peaceful settlement of disputes, all of which Beijing regards with suspicion when coming from Quad members.
“We strongly support the principles of freedom, rule of law, sovereignty and territorial integrity, peaceful settlement of disputes without resorting to threat or use of force and freedom of navigation and overflight, and oppose any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, all of which are essential to the peace, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and beyond,” the ministers said in the statement.
In a direct shot at China, which has become increasingly aggressive in the Pacific and has alarmed its smaller neighbors by pushing claims to disputed maritime zones, the ministers said they viewed with concern “challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas.”
“We strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the area,” they said. “We express serious concern at the militarization of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation activities.”
China has been accused of doing all three. In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry criticized the Quad, saying that “cooperation among countries should conform to the trend of the times for peace and development and should not engage in exclusive cliques.”
“We hope the countries concerned will do something that is conducive to enhancing the security and mutual trust of regional countries and to maintaining regional peace and stability,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, accused the United States of “trying to militarize Quad,” an accusation also often made by Beijing that America is trying to set up a new NATO-style alliance in Asia to counter China in the region.
In an oblique reference to China, as well as Russia, which have blocked actions at the U.N. Security Council and other institutions on matters ranging from Ukraine to Myanmar, North Korea, trade, technology and health, the Quad foreign ministers said they “are committed to cooperate to address attempts to unilaterally subvert the U.N. and international system.”
And just a day after China and Russia thwarted the Group of 20 largest industrialized and developing nations from adopting a joint communique on Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Quad specifically endorsed language to which Beijing and Moscow objected. That included a line that said, “the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible.”
“We underscored the need for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with international law, including the U.N. Charter,” they added, repeating another line China and Russia refused to agree to at Thursday’s G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting, which was also held in the Indian capital.
In signing off on the statement, India, which has long-standing close ties with Russia and has reacted cautiously to the Ukraine war, achieved what it, as host of the G-20, had been unable to do: present a document that supports international principles it values.
And Australia, Japan and the United States, among the most vocal critics of Russia, acknowledged that New Delhi’s ties with Moscow complicate its position.
Speaking at a panel at India’s Raisina Dialogue, the four ministers maintained that the Quad does not seek conflict with China or to antagonize it but rather to promote democracy, good governance, transparency, digital security and global health and disaster relief.
“As long as China abides by the law and international norms and acts under international institutional standards this is not a conflicting issue between China and the Quad,” Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa said in a rare direct reference to China.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group is not designed to blunt China’s rise by demanding that countries align with Quad members or Beijing.
“Our proposition is not to say to countries in the region ‘You have to choose,'” he said. “Our proposition is to offer a choice, a positive alternative.”
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar agreed.
“I prefer to think about what we are for, not about what we are against,” Wong said.
“We do offer more choices,” Jaishankar said. “We do collectively offer something different. Countries are interested, many of them are looking at the Indo-Pacific as a changing theater and how to define themselves.”
___
Associated Press writer Krutika Pathi contributed to this report. | 2023-03-03T17:54:54+00:00 | ksn.com | https://www.ksn.com/news/national-world/ap-international/ap-quad-fms-wary-of-chinas-might-push-indo-pacific-option/ |
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States on Saturday condemned an attack a day earlier on the Pakistani embassy in Afghanistan’s capital, in which a senior Pakistani diplomat escaped unhurt but one of his Pakistani guards was wounded, sending a wave of anger in this Islamic nation.
Friday’s assault came amid rising tensions between the South Asian neighbors over Islamabad’s claims that anti-Pakistan government forces are organizing terrorist attacks from hideouts in Afghanistan.
Shots were fired at the embassy from a nearby building by an as-yet known assailant or assailants. Shortly after the shooting, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif took to Twitter on Friday, calling the attack an “assassination attempt” against Pakistan’s head of mission in Afghanistan, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani.
Pakistan repatriated the wounded guard Israr Mohammad by helicopter and he was being treated at a hospital on Saturday.
The embassy attack came days after Pakistan’s deputy Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar flew to Kabul to hold talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on a range of issues, including the latest threat from Pakistani Taliban who recently ended a monthslong ceasefire with Pakistan and asked fighters to resume attacks across the country.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price on Friday said the U.S. condemned the embassy attack, telling reporters “we offer our sympathies and wish a quick recovery to those affected by the violence”.
The United States is “deeply concerned by the attack on a foreign diplomat and we call for a full and transparent investigation,” Price said.
The U.S. chargé d’affaires for Afghanistan, Karen Decker also condemned the attack on Nizamani in a tweet Saturday.
“Outraged at attack on my diplomatic counterpart @PakinAfg, Ubaid Nizamani; I am grateful he is safe & wish a quick recovery to the brave security guard who was injured. I join the call for a swift, thorough and transparent investigation,” Decker wrote.
Muttaqi on Friday evening called Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to condemn the “terrorist attack” targeting Nizamani, according to a Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement.
Muttaqi assured Bhutto-Zardari that “the Afghan government will bring the perpetrators of this heinous attack to justice swiftly,” the statement said.
Bhutto-Zardari thanked Muttaqi and said the “Taliban government must prevent the terrorists from undermining relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” the statement said. It said Pakistan on its part reiterated its unwavering commitment to fight terrorism, saying “Pakistan will be undeterred by such cowardly attacks”.
Friday’s shooting comes a day after Pakistan demanded Afghanistan’s Taliban government prevent terrorist attacks being organized from their soil by Pakistani Taliban, who are hiding in Afghanistan.
Pakistan made the request after a suicide bomber dispatched by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan group, or TTP blew himself up near a truck carrying police officers on their way to protect polio workers near Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. A police officer and three civilians were killed in Wednesday’s attack.
Also Saturday, gunmen ambushed a police van in the northwestern town of Akora Khattak in Pakistan, killing three police officers before fleeing. TTP in a statement claimed responsibility for the attack, which was the seventh one since earlier this week when Pakistani Taliban ended a monthslong ceasefire with Pakistan.
The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in their country last year as the U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from Afghanistan. Pakistan wants the Taliban in Afghanistan to stop TTP from launching such attacks or evict them from their country.
On Friday, Kabul’s police chief spokesman Khalid Zadran said police had detained a suspect at the building from where the shots were fired Friday. Also Friday, a prominent politician and warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, escaped unhurt in a separate attack in Kabul, his office said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for either of the attacks in Kabul.
Pakistan on Friday summoned a senior Afghan diplomat to lodge a protest, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. It said the Afghan diplomat called the embassy attack as “highly unfortunate” and insisted “the attack was perpetrated by the common enemies of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
___
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Riaz Khan and Rahim Faiez contributed to this story from Washington, Peshawar, Pakistan and Islamabad. | 2022-12-03T17:43:27+00:00 | pix11.com | https://pix11.com/ap-international/ap-washington-condemns-shooting-at-pakistan-embassy-in-kabul/ |
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Matt Daniels acknowledged feeling “just a tad bit” of butterflies when he sat down earlier this week for speed-dating-style meetings with NFL owners and executives as part of the league’s strategy for developing more diversity in the coaching ranks.
With just one season on his resume as Minnesota Vikings special teams coordinator, the 33-year-old Daniels could have been forgiven if he were daunted by the pressure of selling himself to these decision-makers in 30-minute time slots.
But all Daniels had to do was be his usual engaging and energetic self.
“What you realize is these billionaires and these high-influence major powers, they’re just normal people who enjoy and love football,” Daniels said.
The relative lack of minority-race coaches in prominent leadership roles, starting with the big stage of being a head coach, has been a long-running problem for the league and thus a more recent priority to address. Filling the pipelines with more diverse candidates has been one of the goals, including the creation of “accelerator” programs for front office and coaching jobs.
At the spring league meetings in Minnesota this week, a pool of 40 coaches participated in the latest edition. Sixteen of them took part in the inaugural event a year ago, after which eight coaches and three executives were hired in new roles, including Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon.
The roster this week included veterans such as Leslie Frazier and Anthony Lynn, who’ve previously been head coaches and still aspire for the top job.
“They’re at different places and times and in their career,” said Jonathan Beane, the chief diversity and inclusion officer for the NFL. “Our agenda needs to fit that and needs to make sure that someone like a Leslie Frazier is getting a lot out of it and make sure that someone else who might be very early in their career, a positional coach, that they’re getting a lot out of it, too.”
For an up-and-comer like Daniels who works in the specialized area of special teams, the opportunity to introduce himself to more people in charge was as valuable as any.
“Exposure leads to expansion,” said Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who filed last year a still-pending lawsuit against the league alleging racist hiring practices after being fired as head coach of the Miami Dolphins. “Once guys are exposed to certain people, certain situations, you grow.”
There are currently six minority head coaches, three Black, among the 32 positions in the NFL. Being able to shake more hands alone is not going to boost the rate, but every initiative has to start somewhere.
“This is a relationship business, so guys are going to hire who they trust,” Daniels said. “The more you put yourself out there, the more you’re able to be seen and be heard, that’s kind of where change starts to happen. It’s easy to kind of be hush-hush about certain situations or certain things just because you might ruffle a little feathers, but someone’s got to do it.”
Vikings wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell was another participant in the three-day session. The networking with each other and with the higher-ups was vital, but there were other components the league has added based on feedback from the pilot participants.
Trace Armstrong, a former NFL player and current coach agent, provided perspective about the contract side of the business. Dean Stamoulis, a search firm executive, was there to speak about the hiring process. Don Thompson, the former chief executive of McDonald’s, brought inspiration as a trail-blazing Black leader in the restaurant business.
“He told us, ‘You can play the game, but you’ve still got to be yourself,’” McCardell said. “I think everybody picked up on that, and when we were ourselves to the owners, they enjoyed it.”
Charles London, who was hired this offseason as pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Titans, interviewed with head coach Mike Vrabel for their offensive coordinator position. He participated in the accelerator program last year.
“What’s key for me is feedback. So if I don’t get this job, that’s great, but give me the feedback. Tell me what I can do better, what I can do here,” London said.
The Titans also sent tight ends coach Tony Dews, who coached running backs last year, to Minnesota this week. Vrabel sent Dews and London a text message each morning during the session, which forced them to miss some spring practices with the Titans.
“I just said, ‘Hey, we miss you, but make sure that you guys do a great job up there and present yourselves the way that you want everybody to see you,’” Vrabel said.
Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged the NFL has “more work to do” but called the accelerator program another “good step” toward addressing a decades-old issue.
“Diversity makes us better,” Goodell said. “We saw that with 40 of our participants here. They’re incredibly talented, gifted, and they’ll make a difference in the NFL.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL | 2023-05-24T23:57:11+00:00 | wric.com | https://www.wric.com/sports/sports-headlines/ap-nfl-coaching-diversity-program-participants-relish-exposure-to-decision-makers/ |
MOLOKAI (KHON) – Have you ever heard of a wasp that eats meat?
It’s not something you see every day – a yellow jacket feasting on a deer carcass.
Molokai resident, Gregory Solatorio, captured video of the carnivorous pest while hunting on a friend’s property above Kaunakakai on Molokai in mid-August.
“I was cleaning a deer with a friend and the bee landed on top of the deer I was cutting up and started just going crazy on top of the meat,” Solatorio said.
The insect is not actually a bee, it’s called Vespula pensylvanica, or a western yellowjacket.
You can see a photo of the wasp feasting on a deer carcass in the slideshow below.
According to Cynthia King, an entomologist from the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife, the wasps have been in Hawaii for over a century.
“But they became more common in the 1970s when they were introduced with a lot more frequency from refrigerated shipments of Christmas trees from the Pacific Northwest,” King explained.
They thrive in higher elevations and in cooler areas like Haleakala National Park on Maui and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. The species is native to western North America, especially states west of the Rocky Mountains and into southern Canada.
King said both have been dealing with fluctuations in the western yellowjacket population for decades, with numbers usually peaking in September and October.
She said it’s important for people to be aware since yellow jacket season is coming up.
The wasps are known to nest underground and are attracted to sugars and sweets.
“That’s one reason that they bother people,” King said.
Unlike honey bees, they can sting you multiple times, which can be very painful and deadly for anyone allergic to stings.
But, she said, it’s their carnivorous, predatory appetite that poses the greatest threat. Western yellowjackets have even been known to prey on bird nestlings, according to the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International.
“They just take down our native biodiversity, the native moths and spiders and bees and flies, so they can have really sort of cascading influences in our native ecosystems,” explained King.
King said they are threatening native forests and Hawaii’s watershed.
The United States Geological Survey and other agencies have used insecticidal dust and baits to kill the wasps and the Department of Agriculture works tirelessly every fall to ensure none of the pests hitchhike into the state on Christmas trees. | 2022-09-01T00:18:15+00:00 | myfox8.com | https://myfox8.com/offbeat/meat-eating-wasp-spotted-on-hawaii-island/ |
Crews rescue woman and dog from Christmas morning fire in Greenwood
GREENWOOD, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The Greenwood City Fire Department said crews from multiple departments responded to a house fire on Christmas morning.
Officials said crews responded to Florida Avenue at around 7:25 a.m. after someone reported the fire. While they were on the way, dispatchers discovered that the caller was still inside the house and unable to get out.
When crews arrived, firefighters entered the house, found the woman inside, and got her out quickly. They added that they also got her dog out with her. Officials said the woman was treated at the scene and taken to the hospital, where she is expected to recover.
More crews got to the fire soon after and were able to put out the flames. Officials said they are still investigating the cause of the fire. However, they believe it was electrical.
According to officials, firefighters from Greenwood City Fire Department, Greenwood County Fire Service and Highway 34 Fire and Rescue all worked together at the scene.
Copyright 2022 WHNS. All rights reserved. | 2022-12-25T19:29:53+00:00 | foxcarolina.com | https://www.foxcarolina.com/2022/12/25/crews-rescue-woman-dog-christmas-morning-fire-greenwood/ |
New Nevada minimum wage starts today, but inflation taking toll
Updated June 30, 2022 - 7:23 pm
Nevada’s lowest-paid workers will receive a raise Friday, as the state’s minimum wage reaches about $10.50 an hour and comes against a backdrop of thousands of job openings offering much more to entice workers.
The scheduled increase is a result of Assembly Bill 456, passed in 2019, which dictates that the state’s minimum wage rises in 75-cent increments until July 2024. The law includes a two-tier system that offers a lower wage to employees with health benefits. This year, those workers will receive a minimum wage of $9.50 per hour.
Still, many job seekers may find postings for a higher base pay considering the competitive labor market. And they may feel that $10.50 — or more — is not enough because of the high rate of inflation, which reached 8.6 percent in May compared with the previous year.
Some hourly workers were not fazed by the new rate and expressed concern that it wasn’t a livable wage. Rikyyah Washington works at a temporary tattoo booth in downtown Las Vegas’ Fremont Street Experience, where she makes $13 hourly plus commission.
“It’s still not even enough to live,” said Washington, who started earning $11 hourly at her job about three months ago. “I live paycheck to paycheck. I get a check, I help out my mom, food plus other bills and expenses I have, then I only have like $200 to save. But I’m 21, I want to go out and have fun and have life experiences. It’s a struggle.”
Jeff Waddoups, a labor economist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said lawmakers couldn’t predict rapid inflation when the minimum wage bill was written several years ago. That inflation cut into the real minimum wage, or minimum wage when adjusted for inflation.
Data from UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research shows the effect will be minimal. Only 0.9 percent of the state’s workers earn at or below the minimum wage. Louisiana leads the country in share of minimum wage workers at 3.2 percent, Director of Research Stephen Miller said via email.
Most retailers are prepared for the increase and may even pay more than what’s required, Bryan Wachter, spokesman for the Retail Association of Nevada, said.
“The vast majority of Nevadans, they probably won’t be affected by the increase,” Wachter said. “Our members have had plenty of time to build it into their models and to know that there’s going to be an increase in the cost of labor. We’re confident that they’ll be able to work that into their operations going forward.”
Nevada’s minimum wage is roughly in the middle among neighboring states. Both Utah and Idaho are in line with the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour — a rate that has not increased in about 13 years. But it’s still below Arizona’s $12.80 per hour, California’s $14 per hour and Oregon’s $13.50 per hour.
Despite the relatively low population of laborers earning at that rate and its standing in the region, the 2019 law is still worth it for the workers, Waddoups said.
“If we hadn’t passed the increase in minimum wage, maybe people would be suffering from inflation, and they wouldn’t even have gotten a wage increase,” he said. “It does give market power to people at the lower end of the income spectrum.”
Today’s labor market
Many employers in the labor market are offering starting wages far above the state’s minimum to fill positions lost during the pandemic. Gov. Steve Sisolak said he didn’t expect Friday’s increase to make much of a ripple because he knew of so many firms paying beyond the state’s requirement.
“Every employer that I talk to, they’re far above (the minimum), and they’re still having trouble attracting people so I don’t think it’s going to impact the job market,” Sisolak said.
That’s what Kevin Mills, owner of the breakfast restaurant Omelet House, said. His only minimum wage employees are servers, who receive a larger compensation from tips. He said any mandated base pay increase affects his budget, but this one also comes at a time when other business costs are going up.
“My concerns are that my food costs have escalated dramatically,” Mills said. “I used to gut wrench about (raising menu prices) 2 or 3 percent. Now, it’s way more than that just to keep my doors open. I can’t sell food at a loss.”
More than just money
Mothership Coffee CEO Juanny Romero said her company employs about 60 part- and full-time hourly employees and several more salaried managers in three Mothership locations and at its other business, Sunrise Coffee. The company used to pay employees above minimum wage and offered health benefits, she said. But that didn’t stop a 70 percent attrition rate in a six-month period, adding labor costs all while food and other costs rose, too.
Beginning Friday, the company’s base wage will fall in line with the state’s minimum requirements for companies that have those benefits. Instead of a wage increase, the company expanded its paid time-off offerings, enforced work-life balance policies and built bonuses into the next quarter’s budget.
“Money is important to a certain point, but it’s more about the culture and the dynamic of their shifts, how they relate to each other as a team,” Romero said. “We’ve seen that has had a huge effect at lowering attrition to the point where we don’t have any room to hire anyone right now because we have such a great group of people.”
McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter. | 2022-07-01T09:33:43+00:00 | reviewjournal.com | https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/new-nevada-minimum-wage-starts-today-but-inflation-taking-toll-2600729/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Jim Banks wins reelection to U.S. House in Indiana's 3rd Congressional District.
- At 6-3, NFC West-leading Seahawks defying expectations
- 2 coaches fired, several others remain on hot seat
- Dog seen carrying severed arm; decapitated body later found
- Walmart Black Friday: The $188 smart TV sold out in minutes
- Two races in Washington state could tip scales in Congress
- Man pleads guilty in threats to shoot Black grocery patrons
- Someone drowns in a tub nearly every day in America
- Where Are They Now: Mike Utley | 2022-11-09T01:16:28+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Alert-Republican-Jim-Banks-wins-reelection-to-17569278.php |
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 16, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Council of the Blind (ACB) proudly announces the details of the 2022 Audio Description Awards Gala to be held virtually on November 29, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. ET.
In its second year, ACB's Audio Description Awards Gala will honor significant achievements in media that continue to pave the way for creating the audio description standard as well as recognizing the best of television, streaming, and the film industry's commitment to accessible media for blind and low vision audiences in the form of audio description.
This year's honorees have been carefully selected by a diverse group of leaders from ACB's Audio Description Awards Committee, who have identified recipients as both audio description content leaders and media industry game changers. The award recipients will receive the prestigious ACB Barry Award in recognition as the best of the best in the field of audio description. Come celebrate the achievements of these award recipients with host Thomas Reid, Audio Description Voice Talent Nefertiti Matos Olivares, and our special celebrity guests Stevie Wonder, Ewan McGregor, Nesta Cooper, Camryn Manheim, Shayla Brown, and the cast of iCarly!
One goal of the event is to raise funding to support ACB's Audio Description Project (ADP), which works with stakeholders and industry leaders to provide accessible video entertainment and information through the delivery of audio-described content. As the ADP continues to educate the community on the value and need for audio description, please consider making a donation to help support our mission and to achieve our goal of accessible media for everyone in the blind and low vision community.
Mark your calendar for the 2022 ACB Audio Description Awards Gala, airing on YouTube, Pluto TV, ACB Media 1 and www.adawardsgala.org on Tuesday, November 29th at 7:30pm ET to celebrate outstanding achievements and help to increase awareness and demonstrate to audiences what a powerful effect the inclusion of audio description has on the lives of individuals who are blind or have low vision.
For more information, visit www.adawardsgala.org.
View original content to download multimedia:
SOURCE American Council of the Blind | 2022-11-16T15:58:41+00:00 | wbrc.com | https://www.wbrc.com/prnewswire/2022/11/16/acbs-2022-audio-description-awards-gala/ |
HUD announces $2.8 billion in grants for homeless services
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing $2.8 billion in fresh funding for homeless services organizations across the country.
The funding, announced Monday, will be allocated via competitive bids through HUD’s Continuum of Care Program, the largest source of federal grant support to housing and services programs for people experiencing homelessness.
HUD funds approximately 7,000 homeless services projects annually through the program. Applications for the new round of funding are due to HUD by Sept. 29.
A HUD statement announcing the funding said that existing Continuum of Care participants can “renew existing projects, apply for new projects and to reallocate resources from lower performing projects to better serve people experiencing homelessness.”
The announcement specifies that the new funding will prioritize services for homeless youth and for “survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.”
Other priorities in the funding include an emphasis on racial equity and anti-discrimination polices for LGTBQ+ individuals. Access to the Continuum of Care funding will also be expanded to welcome applicants from Native American tribes and internal tribal housing support programs.
HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a statement that the new funding “will help more Americans experiencing homelessness move into homes and access critical supportive services like health care, education, and job training.”
Fudge added that the Biden administration seeks to “prioritize equity in homelessness efforts and the humane treatment of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and the funding announced today will help communities do just that.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2022-08-01T17:35:49+00:00 | newschannel6now.com | https://www.newschannel6now.com/2022/08/01/hud-announces-28-billion-grants-homeless-services/ |
Suspect in the Idaho college student killings plans to waive extradition hearing, attorney says
By Dakin Andone, Elizabeth Wolfe and Jean Casarez, CNN
The suspect in the killings of four University of Idaho college students plans to waive his extradition hearing this week, his attorney said, to expedite his return to the Gem State, where he faces four counts of first-degree murder.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger is “shocked a little bit,” Jason LaBar, the chief public defender for Monroe County, Pennsylvania, told CNN Saturday, a day after the 28-year-old’s arrest in his home state on charges related to the fatal stabbings of Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20. He also faces a charge of felony burglary, according to Latah County, Idaho, Prosecutor Bill Thompson.
LaBar did not discuss the murder case with the suspect when they spoke for about an hour Friday evening, the attorney said, adding that he did not possess probable cause documents related to it and is only representing Kohberger in the issue of his extradition, which the attorney called a “formality.”
“It’s a procedural issue, and really all the Commonwealth here has to prove is that he resembles or is the person who the arrest warrant is out for and that he was in the area at the time of the crime,” LaBar said.
Waiving the extradition hearing set for Tuesday was “an easy decision obviously,” LaBar said, “since he doesn’t contest that he is Bryan Kohberger.”
In a statement, LaBar stressed his client is presumed innocent until proven guilty, saying, “Mr. Kohberger is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as promptly as possible.”
The arrest of the suspect — a PhD student in Washington State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, the school confirmed — comes nearly seven weeks after the victims were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home on November 13. Since then, investigators say they have conducted more than 300 interviews and scoured approximately 20,000 tips.
But authorities have yet to publicly confirm the suspect’s motive, or even if he knew the victims, whose deaths rattled the college community and the surrounding town of Moscow. The murder weapon has also not been located, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Friday.
In the weeks since the killings, some community members have grown frustrated as investigators have yet to offer a thorough narrative of how the night unfolded. Authorities have released limited details, including the victims’ activities leading up to the attacks and people they have ruled out as suspects.
Fry told reporters Friday state law limits what information authorities can release before Kohberger makes an initial appearance in an Idaho court. The probable cause affidavit — which details the factual basis of Kohberger’s charges — is sealed until the suspect is physically in Latah County and has been served with the Idaho arrest warrant, Thompson said.
Investigators honed in on Kohberger as a suspect through DNA evidence and by confirming his ownership of a white Hyundai Elantra seen near the crime scene, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation. Authorities say he lived just minutes from the site of the stabbings.
He drove cross-country in a white Hyundai Elantra and arrived at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania around Christmas, according to a law enforcement source. Authorities began tracking him at some point during his trip east from Idaho.
An FBI surveillance team tracked him for four days before his arrest while law enforcement worked with prosecutors to develop enough probable cause to obtain a warrant, the two law enforcement sources said.
Genetic genealogy techniques were used to connect Kohberger to unidentified DNA evidence, another source with knowledge of the case told CNN. The DNA was run through a public database to find potential family member matches, and subsequent investigative work by law enforcement led to his identification as the suspect, the source said.
LaBar confirmed Kohberger, accompanied by his father, had driven from Idaho to Pennsylvania to celebrate the holidays with his family. A white Hyundai Elantra was found at his parents’ home, LaBar said, where authorities apprehended Kohberger early Friday.
LaBar was unsure how quickly his client would be returned to Idaho following his intent to waive extradition at Tuesday’s hearing, saying it would be based on authorities. But LaBar expected Kohberger to be returned to Idaho within 72 hours of the proceeding.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Jean Casarez, Lauren DeValle, John Miller, Mark Morales, Pamela Brown, Josh Campbell, Elizabeth Joseph, Stephanie Becker, Veronica Miracle and Paul P. Murphy contributed to this report. | 2023-01-01T16:05:46+00:00 | localnews8.com | https://localnews8.com/news/national-world/cnn-national/2023/01/01/suspect-in-the-idaho-college-student-killings-plans-to-waive-extradition-hearing-attorney-says/ |
Study findings presented during the American College of Cardiology's 72nd Annual Scientific Session & Expo Together With World Heart Federation's World Congress of Cardiology
European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society (ESC/ERS) PH guidelines recommend initial dual combination therapy with macitentan and tadalafil for PAH patients without cardiopulmonary comorbidities
RARITAN, N.J., March 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson today announced results from the Phase 3 A DUE study (NCT03904693), which showed an investigational once-daily, single tablet combination therapy, also known as fixed dose combination, of macitentan 10 mg and tadalafil 40 mg (M/T STCT), significantly improved pulmonary hemodynamics (blood flow through pulmonary blood vessels) versus macitentan and tadalafil monotherapies in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients with World Health Organization (WHO) functional class (FC) II or III.1 The data were presented today as a Late-Breaking Clinical Trial presentation during the American College of Cardiology's 72nd Annual Scientific Session & Expo Together With World Heart Federation's World Congress of Cardiology.
PAH is a rare, progressive and life-threatening blood vessel disorder characterized by the constriction of small pulmonary arteries and elevated blood pressure in the pulmonary circulation that eventually leads to right heart failure.2 Recently updated European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society (ESC/ERS) PH guidelinesi have recommended initial dual combination therapy with macitentan and tadalafil for PAH patients without cardiopulmonary comorbidities. Currently, this requires patients to take multiple pills as no single tablet that combines two or more PAH-specific pathways is available for these patients.3
"Targeting different pathways in the treatment of PAH has demonstrated clear clinical benefits, yet current treatment regimens are cumbersome and create a significant pill burden for patients, many of whom take a large number of pills each day to treat their PAH and various co-morbidities,ii,iii" said Kelly Chin, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and an investigator in the A DUE study.4 "The results from this study demonstrate that a single tablet combination has the potential to support initial dual combination therapy and rapid escalation from monotherapy, which may improve functional outcomes and help close the gap from guideline recommendations to clinical practice."
The A DUE study is a double-blind, randomized, active-controlled, multi-center, adaptive parallel-group study designed to compare the efficacy and safety of investigational M/T STCT versus macitentan and tadalafil monotherapies in patients with PAH. A total of 187 adult PAH patients from across 148 sites in 19 countries worldwide in WHO FC II or III who were treatment naïve or on a stable dose of an endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA) or a phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (PDE5i) for at least three months, were enrolled in the study. The primary endpoint is pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) measured 16 weeks following initiation of treatment expressed as the ratio of geometric means to baseline.
Secondary efficacy outcome measures included change from baseline in exercise capacity as measured by change in 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) at the end of double-blind treatment at week 16 compared to baseline.
Following the double-blind treatment period, patients transitioned to the open-label treatment period for 24 months. Baseline characteristics were balanced across treatment arms except for a higher proportion of WHO FC II patients in the M/T STCT arm and a greater time from diagnosis of PAH in the macitentan arm.
"The guiding light of our PH research is the goal of transforming PAH into a manageable condition, so we're constantly looking for ways to improve both clinical outcomes and the treatment experience," said James List, M.D., Ph.D., Global Therapeutic Area Head, Cardiovascular, Metabolism, Retina & Pulmonary Hypertension, Janssen Research & Development, LLC. "A single tablet combination has the potential to be an important new option for helping physicians optimize disease management with the potential to enhance convenience and help improve adherence and outcomes."
Key A DUE Study Findings
The A DUE study met its co-primary endpoint, demonstrating marked pulmonary hemodynamic improvement as shown by the highly statistically significant, consistent and robust PVR reduction in participants treated with M/T STCT compared to both monotherapies. PVR change with M/T STCT was significantly greater versus macitentan (treatment effect: 29%; 95% confidence limit [CL]: -18%, -39%, p<0.0001). PVR change with M/T STCT was also significantly greater versus tadalafil (treatment effect: 28%; 95% CL: -20%, -36%, p<0.0001).
Although the A DUE study was not powered to demonstrate a benefit on exercise capacity, there was a clinically relevant improvement in 6MWD.
- At week 16, treatment effect was not statistically significant; however, a clinically relevant improvement in 6MWD in favor of M/T STCT versus monotherapies was observed. Adjusted treatment effect in 6MWD, change from baseline, in the M/T STCT versus macitentan group was 16.04m (CL: -17.0, 49.08, p=0.380) and 25.37m in the M/T STCT versus tadalafil group (CL: -0.93, 51.59, p =0.059).
- The safety profile of M/T STCT was consistent with the known safety profiles of macitentan and tadalafil monotherapies and no new safety observations were made.
About macitentan/tadalafil STCT
Macitentan 10 mg and tadalafil 40 mg STCT is an investigational therapy that combines the ERA, macitentan, and the PDE5i, tadalafil.
About OPSUMIT® (macitentan)
OPSUMIT® is indicated for the treatment of PAH (WHO Group I) to reduce the risks of disease progression and hospitalization for PAH. The use of OPSUMIT® in patients with PAH (WHO Group I), a type of PH, was demonstrated in the pivotal SERAPHIN trial, the largest (n=742) long-term (average treatment duration=2 years) outcomes-based trial of an ERA in PAH.
About tadalafil
Tadalafil is indicated for the treatment of PAH (WHO Group 1) to improve exercise ability. Studies establishing effectiveness included predominately patients with NYHA Functional Class II – III symptoms and etiologies of idiopathic or heritable PAH (61%) or PAH associated with connective tissue diseases (23%).
OPSUMIT® INDICATION AND IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
INDICATION
OPSUMIT® (macitentan) is an endothelin receptor antagonist (ERA) indicated for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH, WHO Group I) to reduce the risks of disease progression and hospitalization for PAH.
Effectiveness was established in a long-term study in PAH patients with predominantly WHO Functional Class II-III symptoms treated for an average of 2 years. Patients had idiopathic and heritable PAH (57%), PAH caused by connective tissue disorders (31%), and PAH caused by congenital heart disease with repaired shunts (8%).
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
BOXED WARNING: EMBRYO-FETAL TOXICITY
- Do not administer OPSUMIT® to a pregnant female because it may cause fetal harm.
- Females of reproductive potential: Exclude pregnancy before the start of treatment, monthly during treatment, and 1 month after stopping treatment. Prevent pregnancy during treatment and for one month after stopping treatment by using acceptable methods of contraception.
- For all female patients, OPSUMIT® is available only through a restricted program called the OPSUMIT® Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS).
CONTRAINDICATIONS
Pregnancy: OPSUMIT® may cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. OPSUMIT® is contraindicated in females who are pregnant. If OPSUMIT® is used during pregnancy, advise the patient of the potential risk to a fetus.
Hypersensitivity: OPSUMIT® is contraindicated in patients with a history of a hypersensitivity reaction to macitentan or any component of the product.
WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS
Embryo-fetal Toxicity and OPSUMIT® REMS Program
Due to the risk of embryo-fetal toxicity, OPSUMIT® is available for females only through a restricted program called the OPSUMIT® REMS Program. For females of reproductive potential, exclude pregnancy prior to initiation of therapy, ensure use of acceptable contraceptive methods, and obtain monthly pregnancy tests.
Notable requirements of the OPSUMIT® REMS Program include:
- Prescribers must be certified with the program by enrolling and completing training.
- All females, regardless of reproductive potential, must enroll in the OPSUMIT® REMS Program prior to initiating OPSUMIT®. Male patients are not enrolled in the REMS.
- Females of reproductive potential must comply with the pregnancy testing and contraception requirements.
- Pharmacies must be certified with the program and must only dispense to patients who are authorized to receive OPSUMIT®.
Hepatotoxicity
- ERAs have caused elevations of aminotransferases, hepatotoxicity, and liver failure. The incidence of elevated aminotransferases in the SERAPHIN study >3 x ULN was 3.4% for OPSUMIT® vs 4.5% for placebo, and >8 x ULN was 2.1% vs 0.4%, respectively. Discontinuations for hepatic adverse events were 3.3% for OPSUMIT® vs 1.6% for placebo.
- Obtain liver enzyme tests prior to initiation of OPSUMIT® and repeat during treatment as clinically indicated.
- Advise patients to report symptoms suggesting hepatic injury (nausea, vomiting, right upper quadrant pain, fatigue, anorexia, jaundice, dark urine, fever, or itching).
- If clinically relevant aminotransferase elevations occur, or if elevations are accompanied by an increase in bilirubin >2 x ULN, or by clinical symptoms of hepatotoxicity, discontinue OPSUMIT®. Consider re-initiation of OPSUMIT® when hepatic enzyme levels normalize in patients who have not experienced clinical symptoms of hepatotoxicity.
Fluid Retention
- Peripheral edema and fluid retention are known consequences of PAH and ERAs. In the pivotal PAH study SERAPHIN, edema was reported in 21.9% of the OPSUMIT® group vs 20.5% for placebo.
- Patients with underlying left ventricular dysfunction may be at particular risk for developing significant fluid retention after initiation of ERA treatment. In a small study of pulmonary hypertension due to left ventricular dysfunction, more patients in the OPSUMIT® group developed significant fluid retention and had more hospitalizations due to worsening heart failure compared to placebo. Postmarketing cases of edema and fluid retention occurring within weeks of starting OPSUMIT®, some requiring intervention with a diuretic or hospitalization for decompensated heart failure, have been reported.
- Monitor for signs of fluid retention after OPSUMIT® initiation. If clinically significant fluid retention develops, evaluate the patient to determine the cause and the possible need to discontinue OPSUMIT®.
Hemoglobin Decrease
- Decreases in hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit have occurred following administration of other ERAs and in clinical studies with OPSUMIT®. These decreases occurred early and stabilized thereafter.
- In the SERAPHIN study, OPSUMIT® caused a mean decrease in hemoglobin (from baseline to 18 months) of about 1.0 g/dL vs no change in the placebo group. A decrease in hemoglobin to below 10.0 g/dL was reported in 8.7% of the OPSUMIT® group vs 3.4% for placebo. Decreases in hemoglobin seldom require transfusion.
- Initiation of OPSUMIT® is not recommended in patients with severe anemia. Measure hemoglobin prior to initiation of treatment and repeat during treatment as clinically indicated.
Pulmonary Edema with Pulmonary Veno-occlusive Disease (PVOD)
Should signs of pulmonary edema occur, consider the possibility of associated PVOD. If confirmed, discontinue OPSUMIT®.
Decreased Sperm Counts
OPSUMIT®, like other ERAs, may have an adverse effect on spermatogenesis. Counsel men about potential effects on fertility.
ADVERSE REACTIONS
Most common adverse reactions (more frequent than placebo by ≥3%) were anemia (13% vs 3%), nasopharyngitis/pharyngitis (20% vs 13%), bronchitis (12% vs 6%), headache (14% vs 9%), influenza (6% vs 2%), and urinary tract infection (9% vs 6%).
DRUG INTERACTIONS
- Strong inducers of CYP3A4 such as rifampin significantly reduce macitentan exposure. Concomitant use of OPSUMIT® with strong CYP3A4 inducers should be avoided.
- Strong inhibitors of CYP3A4 like ketoconazole approximately double macitentan exposure. Many HIV drugs like ritonavir are strong inhibitors of CYP3A4. Avoid concomitant use of OPSUMIT® with strong CYP3A4 inhibitors. Use other PAH treatment options when strong CYP3A4 inhibitors are needed as part of HIV treatment.
- Moderate dual inhibitors of CYP3A4 and CYP2C9 such as fluconazole and amiodarone are predicted to increase macitentan exposure. Avoid concomitant use of OPSUMIT® with moderate dual inhibitors of CYP3A4 and CYP2C9.
- Concomitant treatment of both a moderate CYP3A4 inhibitor and moderate CYP2C9 inhibitor with OPSUMIT® should also be avoided.
Please see full Prescribing Information, including BOXED WARNING.
About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson
At Janssen, we're creating a future where disease is a thing of the past. We're the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, working tirelessly to make that future a reality for patients everywhere by fighting sickness with science, improving access with ingenuity, and healing hopelessness with heart. We focus on areas of medicine where we can make the biggest difference: Cardiovascular, Metabolism & Retina; Immunology; Infectious Diseases & Vaccines; Neuroscience; Oncology; and Pulmonary Hypertension.
Learn more at www.janssen.com. Follow us at @JanssenGlobal and @JanssenUS. Janssen Research & Development, LLC is part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.
Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding product development and the potential benefits and treatment impact of macitentan/tadalafil STCT. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Janssen Research & Development, LLC and/or Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development, including the uncertainty of clinical success and of obtaining regulatory approvals; uncertainty of commercial success; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges to patents; changes in behavior and spending patterns of purchasers of health care products and services; changes to applicable laws and regulations, including global health care reforms; and trends toward health care cost containment. A further list and descriptions of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2023, including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and in Johnson & Johnson's subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. None of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies nor Johnson & Johnson undertakes to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments.
1 WHO FC II/III is defined as slight or marked limitation of physical activity with ordinary or less than ordinary activity causing undue shortness of breath or fatigue, chest pain, or near fainting.
2 Right heart failure occurs when the heart's right ventricle is too weak to pump enough blood to the lungs.
3 OPSYNVI® (macitentan 10 mg and tadalafil 40 mg) was approved in Canada in October 2021 and in Argentina in October 2022 but only for substitution indication (for PAH patients who are already treated with combination of macitentan 10 mg and tadalafil 40 mg as separate tablets).
4 Dr. Chin was compensated for her participation on the steering committee for the A DUE study.
i 2022 ESC/ERS Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension. European Heart Journal (2022) 43, 3618–3731. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehac237.
ii Grady D, et al. Pulm Circ 2018; 8:1–9; 6.
iii Lauffenburger JC, et al. J Gen Intern Med 2017.
Media Contact:
Jennifer Silvent
Phone: +1 973-479-9845
JSilvent@its.jnj.com
Shelly Orlacchio
Phone: +1 717-471-3888
SOrlacch@its.jnj.com
Investor Contact:
Raychel Kruper
Phone: +1 732-524-6164
RKruper@its.jnj.com
View original content:
SOURCE Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson | 2023-03-06T14:51:09+00:00 | kalb.com | https://www.kalb.com/prnewswire/2023/03/06/late-breaking-phase-3-due-data-show-investigational-single-tablet-combination-therapy-macitentan-tadalafil-significantly-improves-pulmonary-hemodynamics-versus-monotherapy-patients-with-pulmonary-arterial-hypertension-pah/ |
NFL concussion numbers make significant rise in 2022 originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The NFL saw a noticeable increase in concussions during the 2022 regular season.
There were 149 concussions suffered across 271 games, according to data released by the league on Friday. It marks an 18% rise from 2021, when 126 concussions were suffered in 272 games. From 2018 to 2020, the average was 130.
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Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said the league’s “broadened and strengthened” protocols chances were one of the factors that led to the increased number.
“We continue to become more cautious and conservative in our evaluation and diagnosis of concussions,” Sills said. “That's not just an opinion. That's backed up by the data.”
Concussions and head injuries were a prominent storyline throughout the 2022 regular season. Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered two concussions and only cleared league protocols on Wednesday. He missed five games in all, including the Dolphins’ wild card loss against the Buffalo Bills.
Local
Sills said the NFL saw an uptick in concussion evaluations performed each game, reaching 1.6, and that there were nearly double the number of medical timeouts made by officials and independent spotters from 2021 to 2022.
The NFL’s data found that the total number of preseason and regular season injuries went down 5.6%. Sills said the number of injuries to lower extremities dropped 14%. | 2023-02-03T21:33:18+00:00 | nbcchicago.com | https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/nfl-says-concussions-made-significant-rise-in-2022/3063001/ |
By MAE ANDERSON
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Advertisers bet big that viewers were turning to the Super Bowl for a comforting escape, and delivered a series of advertisements that relied on familiar celebrity faces, light humor, and plenty of cuddly dogs.
This wasn’t a year for edgy humor or experimentation. After the global pandemic, with economic uncertainty looming ahead and the war in Ukraine stretching on, advertisers just wanted people to feel good.
And it worked.
“This year’s ads took a very light touch and focused on being fun and making the viewer feel good,” said Charles Taylor, marketing professor at Villanova University. “Most followed a clear formula of combining A-list celebrities with humor, with some using nostalgia and/or music to good effect.”
Super Bowl advertisers each year try to reach the more than 100 million people tuning into the broadcast. It’s a pricey proposition: ads can cost as much as $7 million for 30 seconds.
It was a year of change for the Super Bowl since other alcohol ads were allowed to air after Anheuser-Bush gave up its exclusivity deal and the halftime show sponsor changed from Pepsi to Apple music after a decade.
STARRY NIGHT
Many of the ads were released early, but there were still some surprises in store for viewers. In its first Super Bowl ad, Dunkin’ Donuts enlisted superfan Ben Affleck and wife Jennifer Lopez.
In the ad, Affleck mans the drive-through booth at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Medford, Massachusetts, with a Boston accent and shocks customers. Lopez comes through the line of cars and asks him what he’s doing. “You’re embarrassing me in front of my friends,” he says. “Grab me a glazed,” she demands. Affleck has a long association with the brand, and is often spotted carrying Dunkin’ Donuts drinks in paparazzi photos. He directed the ad, too.
GM and Netflix enlisted Will Ferrell to tout their deal to show more electric vehicles in Netflix shows. Bud Light’s ad showed Miles Teller and his wife Keleigh and dog Bugsy, who all dance to hold music. Melissa McCarthy sings a jingle for Booking.com, and Adam Driver makes multiples of himself for Squarespace. Pepsi Zero Sugar hired Ben Stiller and Steve Martin. Avocados From Mexico enlists Anna Faris for one of the few slightly risque ads this year that envisions a present where everyone is naked — including the Statue of Liberty. Tennis star Serena Williams stars in two ads: one for Michelob Ultra and one for Remy Martin. T-Mobile enlisted Bradley Cooper and his mom to star in a blooper-filled ad.
One unusual star: a group of donors bought two ads to feature Jesus in a campaign called “He Gets Us.”
And U2 ran an ad announcing its Las Vegas residency that showed unidentified orbs floating over cities. One of the orbs has a baby in it who says “Achtung!”. U2′s shows are opening up a venue called MSG Sphere, so the orbs make sense. But coming the same day the U.S. announced it shot down a fourth unidentified flying object, the images of orbs floating over cities struck a jarring tone.
NOSTALGIA FEST
Many marketers tried to capitalize on well-loved TV and movie properties. This year, online shopping site Rakuten hired Alicia Silverstone and Elisa Donovan to recreate a scene from 90s rom-com “Clueless.” Popcorners, a snack brand from Frito-Lay, brought back “Breaking Bad,” which first aired in 2008, with stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.
Other advertisers trying to capitalize on favorite content from years past: T-Mobile’s ad showed John Travolta singing a T-Mobile home internet-themed version of “Summer Nights” from “Grease” with “Scrubs” stars Donald Faison and Zach Braff. Michelob Ultra evoked “Caddyshack” by setting its ad at the Bushwood Country Club that’s in the movie.
LIGHT HUMOR
Those not using celebrities opted for humor. Kia showed a dad on an epic quest to pick up his child’s forgotten “binky.” And E(asterisk)Trade brought back its famous talking babies: this time, they attend a wedding. Some ads were offbeat: a Tubi ad showed giant blue rabbits throwing people into holes to demonstrate the idea that Tubi helps people “find rabbit holes you didn’t know you were looking for.”
Ram’s ad went slightly risque and poked fun at erectile dysfunction ads by having couples talk about “premature electrification.” Villanova’s Taylor said that approach just might work.
“Given the turn the Super Bowl has taken away from sexual appeals or humor over the past decade this will make the ad stand out and generate buzz,” Taylor said. “While they are risking offending some consumers I think the ad will be well remembered and mostly well received.”
CUTE ANIMALS
It’s not a Super Bowl without cute animals — particularly dogs.
Jeep stuffed a bevy of animals, including meercats, a bee, a bear, a goat and many others, in its ad that shows the animals dancing to a tune emanating from a Jeep 4xe. The dog food subscription service called The Farmer’s Dog showed a heartwarming tale of a girl growing older with her dog.
Other ads feature dogs alongside celebrities: a Skechers ad shows Snoop Dogg shaving a poodle; Pringles shows Meghan Trainor cuddling with her dog and Pepsi Zero Sugar shows Steve Martin as a vet operating on a dog. Amazon’s ad shows a family getting a puppy companion for their older dog.
STUNTS
Advertisers sometimes try stunts to capture attention. The biggest one this year was from FanDuel, which enlisted former NFL player Rob Gronkowsi to try to kick a field goal live during the broadcast.
If he made it, customers who wagered at least $5 on the Super Bowl were to get a share of $10 million in free bets. But the problem with stunts is they’re risky. FanDuel caused confusion with its ad, which appeared to show Gronkowski making the kick. But FanDuel said he missed but announced bettors would still get a share of $10 million in free bets.
More successfully, Peacock’s late-game ad tried a stunt by acknowledging other ads. The concept behind its show “Poker Face” is that Charlie, played by Natasha Lyonne, can tell when someone is lying. The ad shows Lyonne watching the game with a companion at a bar. She tells him that the M&M’s characters “never left” and a kid in the Google Pixel ad is actually 19 — both references to ads that aired earlier in the game. Peacock says it created the ad in partnership with Google and M&Ms.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | 2023-02-13T03:45:22+00:00 | wtmj.com | https://wtmj.com/sports/2023/02/12/super-bowl-ads-use-celebs-humor-lots-of-dogs/ |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Explosions and fires ripped through an ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea on Tuesday in the second suspected Ukrainian attack on the peninsula in just over a week, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 people.
Russia blamed the blasts in the village of Mayskoye on an “act of sabotage,” without naming the perpetrators.
Separately, the Russian business newspaper Kommersant quoted residents as saying plumes of black smoke also rose over an air base in Crimea’s Gvardeyskoye.
Ukraine stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for any of the blasts, including those that destroyed nine Russian planes at another Crimean air base last week. Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has used it to launch attacks against Ukraine in the war that began nearly six months ago.
If Ukrainian forces were behind the explosions, that would represent a significant escalation in the war. Such attacks could also indicate that Ukrainian operatives are able to penetrate deeply into Russian-occupied territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alluded to Ukrainian attacks behind enemy lines when he included individuals “who oppose the occupiers in their rear” in a list of people he thanked for supporting the country’s war effort.
In a video address Tuesday night, he also warned people not go near Russian military installations and storage sites for ammunition and equipment.
In another reported act of sabotage, Russia’s Tass news service quoted the FSB security agency as saying Ukrainian operatives blew up six high-voltage transmission towers earlier this month in Russia’s Kursk region, close to Ukraine.
The Kremlin has demanded that Kyiv recognize Crimea as part of Russia as a condition for ending the fighting, while Ukraine has vowed to drive Moscow’s forces from the peninsula on the Black Sea.
Videos posted on social media showed thick columns of smoke rising over raging flames in Mayskoye, and a series of explosions could be heard. The Russian Defense Ministry said a power plant, electrical lines, railroad tracks and apartment buildings were damaged.
“We came out to take a look and saw clouds of smoke coming from the cowshed where the military warehouses are,” said resident Maksim Moldovskiy. “We stayed there until about 7-8 a.m. Everything was exploding — flashes, fragments, debris falling on us. Then the emergency guys came and said they were evacuating everybody.”
Crimea’s regional leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said two people were injured and more than 3,000 evacuated from two villages.
“The detonations are rather strong. Ammunition is strewn all over the ground,” he said, adding that several homes burned down.
In what may have been retaliation for the attacks in Crimea, Russian warplanes fired missiles at a military airfield in Zhytomyr, 87 miles (140 kilometers) west of Kyiv, damaging a runway and vehicles, Ukrainian officials reported.
Crimea is a popular summer destination for Russian tourists, and last week’s explosions at Crimea’s Saki air base sent sunbathers on beaches fleeing as flames and pillars of smoke rose over the horizon.
Ukrainian officials warned Tuesday that Crimea would not be spared the ravages of war.
Rather than a travel destination, “Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouse explosions and a high risk of death for invaders and thieves,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.
Russia blamed last week’s explosions on an accidental detonation of munitions, but satellite photos and other evidence — including the dispersed blast sites — pointed to a Ukrainian attack, perhaps with anti-ship missiles, military analysts said.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update that vessels in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet are in an “extremely defensive posture” in the waters off Crimea, with ships barely venturing out of sight of the coastline. Russia’s flagship Moskva went down in the Black Sea in April, and last month Ukrainian forces retook strategic Snake Island.
The Russian fleet’s “limited effectiveness undermines Russia’s overall invasion strategy,” the British said. “This means Ukraine can divert resources to press Russian ground forces elsewhere.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu charged that in addition to supplying arms to Ukraine, Western allies have provided detailed intelligence and instructors to help Ukraine operate weapons that can hit deep in occupied territory.
“Western intelligence agencies not only have provided target coordinates for launching strikes, but Western specialists also have overseen the input of those data into weapons systems,” Shoigu said.
In other developments:
— A U.N.-chartered ship loaded with Ukrainian grain set out for the hunger-stricken Horn of Africa in the first such relief delivery of the war. The shipment was made possible by an internationally brokered deal to free up grain trapped in Ukrainian ports by the fighting and establish safe corridors through the mined water of the Black Sea.
— U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plans to travel to Ukraine for a meeting Thursday in the western city of Lviv with Zelenskyy and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They are expected to discuss the grain shipments and a possible fact-finding mission to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling. Guterres will also visit Odesa on Friday. During Guterres’ last trip to Ukraine, in April, Russia forces launched an airstrike on Kyiv while he was visiting the capital.
— Samantha Power, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said the United States is giving more than $68 million in additional funding to the U.N. World Food Program “to purchase, move, and store up to 150,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat to help respond to the global food crisis.”
— Russian shelling killed at least two civilians in the industrial Donbas region in the east and in the city of Kharkiv in the northeast, Ukrainian authorities said.
___
Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | 2022-08-17T02:18:34+00:00 | everythinglubbock.com | https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/latest/2-injured-in-fire-at-ammunition-storage-site-on-crimea/ |
VENICE, Italy (AP) — The curator of this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale on Thursday denounced Italy’s denial of visas to three Ghanaian men who worked with her on the main exhibition giving voice to Africans and the African diaspora.
Lesley Lokko, a Scottish-Ghanaian who is the first African to curate the architectural Biennale, told a press conference that the Italian embassy in Ghana cited “reasonable doubts" about the applicants’ intentions to leave Italy when the visa expires.
However, she said, the embassy gave no explanation for its decision.
“For almost the first time in my life, words fail me,’’ she said.
The Biennale, which opens on Saturday, features a preponderance of participants from Africa or the African diaspora under the title “The Laboratory of the Future,” exploring the themes of decolonization and decarbonization.
Lokko said it was not the first time she had been confronted with refused entry by Western countries.
“It has happened to my family. It has happened to my friends. It has happened to collaborators. I think everyone in the global south understands this story only too well,’’ she said.
While the refusal was grabbing headlines, she added, “This is not a new story. It’s an old and familiar tale."
She read from a press statement from the embassy in Ghana stating that it was “at the forefront of policies to promote African cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible.”
She responded: “This is not the forefront of policy. This is its ugly rear.” | 2023-05-18T16:38:49+00:00 | lmtonline.com | https://www.lmtonline.com/entertainment/article/curator-of-africa-themed-venice-biennale-18106507.php |
Pope recognizes China’s appointment of Shanghai bishop three months after the fact
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has given in to China’s unilateral appointment of a new bishop in Shanghai and formally recognized Beijing’s installation of Bishop Shen Bin three months after the fact. The Vatican said on Saturday that Francis had appointed Shen as bishop of Shanghai. The Vatican spokesman said in early April that the Holy See learned of Shen’s appointment to lead the Catholic Church in Shanghai from media accounts. The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said Francis decided to accept China’s unilateral appointment for the “greater good” of the faithful in Shanghai. But Parolin made clear China’s move had violated the “spirit of collaboration” outlined in a 2018 accord on bishop appointments. | 2023-07-15T13:11:58+00:00 | krdo.com | https://krdo.com/news/ap-national-news/2023/07/15/pope-recognizes-chinas-appointment-of-shanghai-bishop-three-months-after-the-fact/ |
Newly formed national provider of residential roofing and exterior building solutions poised for increasing expansion with first East Coast partnership
COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Omnia Exterior Solutions™, a newly formed portfolio company of CCMP Growth Advisors, LP ("CCMP"), today announced a new partnership with Brothers Services Company, a roofing and remodeling company located in Baltimore, Maryland. This will be the second company added to Omnia Exterior Solutions' portfolio, which launched in June 2023 with a partnership with Hoffman Weber in Minneapolis.
"We are proud to partner with Brothers Services, one of the most established and well-respected remodeling companies on the East Coast," said Jim Ziminski, chairman of the Board at Omnia Exterior Solutions. "Baltimore is a hotbed of remodeling, and for Brothers Services to be at the forefront of that for over 35 years, says something about the success of their leadership and company culture. John Martindale has always believed in the value and importance of not just doing quality work but also connecting in a meaningful way with customers. The result is a company that has absolutely the best-in-class customer service and a customer experience that is second to none."
Omnia Exterior Solutions is a national provider of residential roofing solutions and exterior remodeling services and seeks to provide partner companies like Brothers with extensive resources, administrative support, digital tools and more to help grow their businesses and keep up with changing technology.
The company was created to address a gap in the residential roofing industry and consists of exclusive partners who are local and regional leaders in their respective markets. Omnia was formed by CCMP, known for its legacy investment in leading brands such as Hayward and Generac, and industry veteran Ziminski, formerly with the Crane Group, managing their residential roofing brands ABLE and Mr. Roof, as well as the Exterior Portfolio® siding brand, which he successfully sold to Westlake Royal Building Products.
"We are thrilled that Brothers is partnering with Omnia Exterior Solutions which will greatly benefit our customers and employees moving into the future," said John Martindale, CEO of Brothers Services. "This partnership positively positions our 37-year-old company for its next phase. This model includes best-in-class companies who can collaborate together, while soaring on their own. Our employees will have exposure to peer relationships with member companies and learn while helping others. This aligns with one of our core values of continuous learning, being curious, and together driving improvement across all companies. Our customers will also benefit from this partnership with Omnia Exterior Solutions, ensuring that Brothers Services continues to thrive and grow in a changing industry."
"Very early in our discussions with Omnia Exterior Solutions, it was obvious that our business goals and ambitions were aligned," said Dave MacLean, executive vice president for Brothers Services. "More importantly, our values and commitment to delivering unparalleled customer experiences are in lockstep. We're proud of what the Brothers Services team has accomplished, and this partnership is a testament to our employees' hard work and dedication."
Brothers Services is one of the most established roofing and remodeling companies on the East Coast with more than 35 years in business. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, they offer everything from large exterior jobs like roof and siding replacements to interior projects such as kitchen and bathroom remodels, and all the smaller projects in between. Two years ago Brothers Services introduced a more affordable bathroom remodel option, One Day Bath, increasing accessibility to more homeowners who desire a bathroom renovation.
In 1985, Brothers Roofing Company was established with a handful of employees and a founder so committed to customer service, he was known for stopping a job, coming down off a roof, and engaging with homeowners. By the early 90's, a singular crew expanded to 50 employees and Brothers became a household name in Maryland. In 2000, the company rebranded to Brothers Roofing and Exteriors to reflect its addition of several exterior products including siding, gutters, windows and doors. Recognizing its reputation for superior customer service provided to tens of thousands of satisfied Maryland homeowners, in 2005 Brothers rebranded once more to become Brothers Services Company, officially making "Service" its middle name.
To learn more about becoming an exclusive partner of Omnia Exterior Solutions, email the exclusive buy-side advisors for the company: Jim Ziminski (jimz@omniaexteriorsolutions.com) or Mike Blumenfeld (mike@bzradvisors.com).
Omnia Exterior Solutions
Launched in 2023 as a portfolio company of CCMP, Omnia Exterior Solutions is a national provider of residential roofing solutions and exterior remodeling services. The company was formed to address a gap in the residential roofing industry and comprises exclusive partners who are local and regional leaders in their respective markets. To inquire about exclusive partnerships, contact Omnia Exterior Solutions' buy-side advisors Jim Ziminski (jimz@omniaexteriorsolutions.com and Mike Blumenfeld (mike@bzradvisors.com). Visit omniaexteriorsolutions.com.
About CCMP Growth Advisors, LP
CCMP is a New York based growth-oriented private equity firm focused on making lead buyout and growth equity investments in middle-market companies in the Consumer and Industrial sectors primarily in North America. CCMP Growth leverages the deep investment experience of its team to identify high-growth companies in transition, and partners with management to help each platform scale through strategic and operational support. Visit www.ccmpgrowth.com.
About Brothers Services
Since its inception in 1985, Brothers Services has grown its business on the basic principle that homeowners deserve to be treated with honesty, transparency and respect. Comprised of a team of talented designers, master tradespeople, field quality managers, and experienced sales consultants, Brothers Services is a well-established provider of high-quality home improvement expertise – both exterior and interior – throughout the Greater Baltimore area.
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SOURCE Omnia Exterior Solutions | 2023-07-18T12:32:02+00:00 | kxii.com | https://www.kxii.com/prnewswire/2023/07/18/omnia-exterior-solutions-portfolio-company-ccmp-announces-partnership-with-brothers-services-maryland/ |
Tips to slow the movement of zebra mussels in area lakes
Zebra mussels can reproduce between 500,000 and a million eggs a season.
MINNESOTA (Valley News Live) - The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently announced they have found zebra mussels at yet another lake in the state, just in the last couple of weeks.
The DNR is now reminding everyone of ways they can do their part to slow the movement of zebra mussels.
Zebra mussels can range in size and color, but they most commonly have a striped look. They are not native to Minnesota lakes and they can disrupt the food change of existing aquatic species including the mussels that are native to the bodies of water.
The Minnesota DNR says there isn’t a good solution to getting rid of zebra mussels once they have been found as they can reproduce between 500,000 and a million eggs a season.
Although, they say prevention is key.
“Make sure you are cleaning your watercraft in and out. You are removing any visible plants, zebra mussels, or any other potentially prohibited invasive species. Also making sure you are pulling your drain plugs and emptying any excess water from those pieces of equipment,” said Mark Ranweiler, the aquatic invasive species specialist with the MN DNR.
The Minnesota DNR is also asking property owners to check for zebra mussels posts, underwater support bars of docks or boat lifts, and boats submerged in water for a long period of time.
You can follow our stories of invasive species findings recently announced by the MN DNR below.
- Zebra mussels found in Wall Lake in Otter Tail County
- Zebra mussels found in Tamarac Lake in Otter Tail County
Copyright 2023 KVLY. All rights reserved. | 2023-06-17T00:41:24+00:00 | kfyrtv.com | https://www.kfyrtv.com/2023/06/16/tips-slow-movement-zebra-mussels-area-lakes/ |
New 2024 Vehicles Coming Soon to Polaris® Dealerships
TEMPE, Ariz., March 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rockford Fosgate (www.rockfordfosgate.com), the industry leader in high-performance audio systems, is excited to partner with Polaris® to deliver two first-class factory installed audio systems for the new Polaris RZR XP platform.
The Premium trim level is equipped with the Rockford Stage 1 audio system, which features the PMX-P2 source unit and two front 6.5" coaxial speakers. The Ultimate trim level features the Stage 3 audio system, which is equipped with RIDE COMMAND Technology integrated into a 7" Display, featuring front 6.5" speakers as well as rear 6.5" coaxial speakers, all powered by a 400-watt amplifier.
With multiple upgrade options, the rider can dial in their own audio adventure. Stage 2 adds 6.5" rear coaxial speakers while Stage 4 adds a 400-watt subwoofer amplifier and 10" woofer. Riders with Stage 1, 2, or 3 can upgrade to Stage 5 adding a 12" 400-watt amplified subwoofer.
The speakers are positioned to be rider centric, meaning they are directly focused on the rider delivering a next level experience. The low-profile all-in-one design was engineered to be 35% lighter. These high-sensitivity speakers are engineering specifically to deliver unprecedented output without adding any unnecessary weight.
Wayne Connolly, Director of OEM Powersports said, "This next generation of RZR XP was all about delivering higher performance to that original RZR customer and the audio systems added to the Premium and Ultimate XP trim levels are no exception!"
Overbuilt for any environment, these audio systems are O.R.R.™ (Off-Road Ready) and are designed to withstand the elements. All speakers, amplifiers, subwoofer, and enclosures will endure UV, mud, water, and sand. Riders will enjoy crystal-clear sound at any speed and in any driving conditions.
For more information, please visit Rockford Fosgate or Polaris.
About Rockford Corporation
Setting the standard for excellence in the audio industry, the Rockford Corporation markets and distributes high-performance audio systems for the mobile, motorsport, and marine audio aftermarket and OEM market. Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., Rockford Corporation is a publicly traded company and manufactures its products under the brand Rockford Fosgate®.
Polaris RZR XP® is a registered trademark of Polaris Inc.
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SOURCE Rockford Fosgate | 2023-03-07T20:13:40+00:00 | witn.com | https://www.witn.com/prnewswire/2023/03/07/2024-polaris-rzr-xp-factory-equipped-with-stage-1-stage-3-rockford-fosgate-audio-systems/ |
It was much busier than usual on a recent Friday at a Ben & Jerry's in Melbourne, Fla. But it wasn't the Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey drawing the extra customers.
A crowd gathered in the back corner of the store, browsing through newly installed, rainbow-colored shelves displaying multiple copies of some 65 books currently banned from various Florida schools. It was opening night for the shop's "Banned Book Nook," and customers with ice cream cones in one hand helped themselves to novels, memoirs and biographies with the other.
"This is my favorite series ever," exclaimed one young woman browsing the titles.
About 150 books were lent out that first night. The book nook was set up by Florida teacher Adam Tritt and Foundation 451, a group he launched last year after he was ordered to remove banned books from his classroom in nearby Palm Bay.
"My reaction was, 'Uh, no! I cannot allow this to happen,' " Tritt recalls. "If a kid needs this book, we want them to have it."
A new front in the book ban battle
The free speech group PEN America says book bans in public school libraries this year are on pace to top last year's high mark, when there were more than 2,500 instances of book bans in U.S. schools. Most of those books were LGBTQ- or race-related.
It's exactly why many people opposed to bans are taking it upon themselves to find creative ways to put those books where young readers will see them — outside of schools. Pop-up banned-book libraries, banned-book giveaways and even a banned bookmobile have appeared around the nation in an ad hoc kind of counteroffensive.
There's also been a spike in Little Free Libraries stuffed with banned books. The number of those curbside boxes on posts rose during the pandemic and climbed even higher last year as book bans spread around the nation. There were 140,000 Little Free Libraries in 2022, up 35% from 2020, according to the nonprofit Little Free Library, which has been encouraging the growth. The organization says some 87% of its members report that they share banned books.
Fight #bookbans by starting a #LittleFreeLibrary book-sharing box and filling it with #bannedbooks! Learn more about starting a Little Free Library of your own: https://t.co/v9gxOdf8Qf pic.twitter.com/dWc4bsZX6R
— Little Free Library® (@LtlFreeLibrary) January 30, 2023
It's becoming something of a cat-and-mouse game. As activists come up with creative ways around book bans, the other side is starting to look at how to quash those end runs, which only leaves activists even more determined.
"The harder they push [book bans], the more of these books are going to be available. I have a bit of a history with direct action and guerrilla theater," Tritt quips.
He has already lent or given away nearly 2,000 books, everywhere from a flower shop and festivals to political rallies and road races. It's been a lifeline for young people, he says.
"One family came in with a [transgender] teen and picked up This Book Is Gay and just cried," Tritt recalls. "Their father held them, and they both thanked us so much. They didn't know the book existed."
Author Elana K. Arnold knows that all too well. Several of her books, including Damsel, Red Hood, Infandous and What Girls are Made Of, have been banned or challenged for their sexually explicit scenes that critics have assailed as pornography. Arnold calls that a gross misrepresentation. She says the books, which include portrayals of physical abuse, sexual assault and sexual acts, "protect kids by arming them with knowledge." But the bottom line, she says, is that fewer kids are reading and buying her books.
"I get a lot of [people saying to me] 'Oh, your book has been banned — congratulations, it's going to be a bestseller now.' But that's not what happens to 999 out of 1,000 books. It's a huge hit," Arnold says. "In a library, kids can stumble across something they didn't know they needed until they picked it up and read it. But if something is missing, you don't know. It's not there. It's just a quiet disappearance."
Bans are a call to action, opponents say
To compensate, even booksellers are getting into the business of giving books away.
Thais Perkins is offering free books to young readers in the bookstore she owns, Reverie Books in Austin, Texas. She's been covering some of the cost herself and raising donations to cover the rest through a tip jar at the register and appeals on social media.
"On a whim I [posted] on Twitter, 'Hey, is anybody feeling extra Christmassy?' And I woke up in the morning with $1,400 in the account," she says.
Perkins then posted little cards around the store, near certain banned titles, that say "Get this book for Free."
"Young people will take one, and they'll say, 'How does this work?' and I'll say, 'It works just like this' — and I'll just put the book in their hand and off they'll go," she says. "The word is getting out, and requests are ramping up."
In St. Petersburg, Fla., at the American Stage, marketing director Avery Anderson recently installed a banned book library next to the theater's box office.
"This isn't our normal thing," Anderson says, "but I always say a threat to any storytelling is a threat to all storytelling." More than 150 books poured in within days, and Anderson says high school students have been coming in to browse and borrow.
Publishers and authors are also getting in on the action. For Jim Plank at the nonprofit Haymarket Books, offering freebies was a no-brainer. "Doing nothing didn't feel like an option," he says. "In our mind, [the book bans] were a call to action."
George M. Johnson, author of the oft-banned memoir All Boys Aren't Blue, feels the same way: "I always carry books with me, and I travel a lot, to some obscure places at times, and any time I see a free library, I'm going to throw a book in it." Johnson also donates copies to LGBTQ organizations that can "get the book in a discreet way to where it's needed."
All Boys Aren't Blue, a bestseller now in its 10th printing, is one of those exceptions where the book was actually boosted by being banned. Making the book a "forbidden fruit" backfired, Johnson says, because it made it known to many teen readers who otherwise would have never heard of it.
"If you can't tell, I actually enjoy fighting this," Johnson chuckles.
"If I can give one kid a book"
"What we are beginning to see after a year and half of really kind of being back on our heels is that the opposition is growing," says Chris Finan, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship. "The [book ban advocates are] overreaching, and it's making people mad and they're getting active."
Including young people, like 18-year-old high school senior Oliver Stirland, from St. George, Utah.
"What really got to me was two books that I had read that completely transformed my life were suddenly on the banned book list, and it kind of felt like a stab to the gut," Stirland says.
He says a school librarian recommended the books to him when he was coming to terms with his sexuality and fighting thoughts of suicide. It prompted him to start raising money to buy banned books that he and others are slipping into Little Free Libraries all over town.
"If I can give one kid a book that helps that kid come out of a dark place, that lets them know that they're not alone — if I could help one kid, that would make everything worth it," Stirland says.
Of course, tech savvy teens who know the title they're looking for can also find banned books online. It takes 16-year-old Elle Mehltretter of Seminole, Fla., about a nanosecond of Googling to land on a pirated copy of Toni Morrison's debut novel, The Bluest Eye, which is also one of the most-often banned books.
"There it is!" Mehltretter exclaims, pointing to a PDF of the book as it pops up on her laptop. She finds All Boys Aren't Blue just as easily. "You can say you ban books all you want, but you can never really ban them because they're everywhere."
Indeed, free banned books are also available legally — through public library apps like Libby and from a growing number of public libraries that have started lending outside their districts. Through its Books Unbanned program, the Brooklyn Public Library in New York offers free e-cards to teens anywhere in the nation, allowing them to access the BPL's full online collection.
It's been a boon for many, including a 12-year-old in Oklahoma who's exploring her sexuality, according to her mother, Heather Hall. Hall says she's thrilled her daughter has been able to access books at the BPL, as well as to talk with a librarian in ways that many school librarians cannot.
"She was so encouraging and so sweet to her," Hall says. "It's just been really huge for her to have access to conversations with adults that are very accepting. I started crying. She needed to have that."
Heather Fleming, a former teacher in Missouri, is another who's helping fill the void not only for the books that've been banned, but also for the teachers and librarians who've been effectively gagged. The nonprofit Fleming founded, In Purpose Educational Services, which has collected some $50,000 in donations and has given away some 5,000 banned books, has recently started including a kind of curriculum to accompany them. For example, along with The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones' book that explores the origins and impact of slavery in America, Fleming included a pre-reading guide, activities and a discussion guide.
"We owe it to our kids to give them all the tools they need to be full citizens of America," Fleming says. "So we're just hoping to continue to build even more."
A game of whack-a-mole
It hasn't gone unnoticed by groups behind the book bans that the more books are pulled from school shelves, the more they pop up elsewhere, like a game of whack-a-mole.
"One hundred percent it concerns me, says Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms For Liberty, a group that has been behind many of the bans. "I think it's so messed up that so many people want to show children all this explicit graphic content," she says.
As an organization, Justice says, her group is singularly focused on controlling the books in schools. But personally, she says, she hopes prosecutors will crack down on what she calls illegal distribution of pornography by activists outside of schools.
"They better be careful, because we have federal obscenity laws," Justice says. "Adults are not allowed to show children pornography. So the idea that somehow this is some virtuous effort to distribute graphic sexual violence ... pedophilia, I think the law will deal with them accordingly."
New tactics are still just a Band-Aid
For their part, activists driving the guerrilla giveaways are undeterred, insisting they are on solid legal ground. The law defines pornography as being for the purpose of sexual stimulation, and obscenity is defined as something that, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic or political value. These banned books, activists say, don't count as either of those.
Steven Chubbuck and Jessica Shaw, the owners of the Ben & Jerry's shop with the Banned Book Nook, say they're already planning to build a similar banned book library in two other stores.
"We really feel that if you have the means to act, you have the responsibility to do that," says Chubbuck.
"We learn from history that if people do not stand up and say 'no' to this kind of thing, it just gets worse," Shaw adds.
Ben & Jerry's head of global activism strategy, Chris Miller, says the company is proud of efforts by Shaw and Chubbuck "to push back against [...] regressive book bans," noting, "This is what creative resistance looks like and we love it."
Ultimately though, even Adam Tritt, who led the book nook initiative at Ben & Jerry's, concedes that such ad hoc endeavors are Band-Aids at best. As he puts it, they'll never get books to all the students who need them, especially students like his who may lack adequate internet or means to get them elsewhere.
Books need to be in schools not only for broader access, he says, but also for the message it sends.
"If it's not in the schools, they're taking away representation," Tritt says. "And when these kids don't see themselves represented and they feel they have no voice, they also feel they're being made invisible and they're being further marginalized."
A publisher echoed the point, saying grassroots efforts to promote banned books will never offset the damage done by bans.
None of it will get at the root problem, says Andrew Karre, senior executive editor at Dutton Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House.
"People can signal their opposition to bans by making protest purchases" and making them available to teens, Karre says. "I make my living in publishing, so I want people to buy books. But if I could choose what people do in response to a book ban, my first choice is to go to a school board meeting or library board meeting and to vote. Showing up politically is the better bet."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2023-03-23T09:19:47+00:00 | wlrn.org | https://www.wlrn.org/npr-breaking-news/npr-breaking-news/2023-03-23/plot-twist-activists-skirt-book-bans-with-guerrilla-giveaways-and-pop-up-libraries |
Company's mission to support clinicians aligned with ESG commitments and impact
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Doximity, Inc. (NYSE: DOCS), the leading digital platform for U.S. medical professionals, today announced the launch of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) website. Doximity recently marked its first anniversary as a public company, and is committed to creating long-term value for all stakeholders by operating responsibly, sustainably and ethically. The launch of the company's ESG website highlights this commitment and will help establish the transparency and foundational framework to continue making a positive impact on the U.S. healthcare system and society.
"At Doximity, it's our mission to help physicians be more efficient, so they can provide better care for their patients," said Jeff Tangney, co-founder and CEO of Doximity. "Our new ESG website highlights our broader commitments to building a healthier world."
Doximity's ESG website highlights the company's impact and priorities across a number of areas that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including:
- Promoting Good Health and Well Being – Doximity's clinical productivity tools are designed to reduce administrative burden – a well-known contributor to burnout – and enable clinicians to spend more time with their patients. The company's telemedicine solution, Doximity Dialer, helps increase patient access to care and break down barriers in the care continuum.
- Reducing Environmental Impact – Doximity's cloud-based platform does not require proprietary hardware, and contributes to the reduction of emissions by enabling a digital-first health care delivery model. The company estimates that approximately 3,000 to 3,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions are avoided for every million virtual visits that would have otherwise required car travel.
- Reducing Inequalities in Healthcare and in the Workplace – Doximity is committed to working towards a more equitable world both within and outside its office walls. From diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) efforts to more inclusive product design, the company is working to apply an inclusion lens across people, products and policies in the advancement of health equity and access.
For more information, visit Doximity's ESG website at doximity.com/ESG.
Founded in 2010, Doximity is the leading digital platform for U.S. medical professionals. The company's network members include over 80% of U.S. physicians across all specialties and practice areas. Doximity provides its verified clinical membership with digital tools built for medicine, enabling them to collaborate with colleagues, stay up to date with the latest medical news and research, manage their careers and on-call schedules, and conduct virtual patient visits. Doximity's mission is to help doctors be more productive so they can provide better care for their patients. For more information visit Doximity.com.
For investors:
Perry Gold
ir@doximity.com
For media:
Amanda Cox
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SOURCE Doximity, Inc. | 2022-08-04T20:52:56+00:00 | ksla.com | https://www.ksla.com/prnewswire/2022/08/04/doximity-underscores-commitment-corporate-social-responsibility-with-launch-esg-website/ |
The Biden administration has announced it will forgive debts held by 800,000 federal student loan recipients for low-income borrowers.
Copyright 2023 NPR
The Biden administration has announced it will forgive debts held by 800,000 federal student loan recipients for low-income borrowers.
Copyright 2023 NPR | 2023-07-15T12:16:44+00:00 | nepm.org | https://www.nepm.org/2023-07-15/more-than-800-000-borrowers-are-still-eligible-to-benefit-from-student-loan-forgiveness |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington loves a whodunit. And the latest one comes with the stunning plot twist of a leak from the famously buttoned-up Supreme Court.
The publication this past week of a draft opinion that said Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion in the United States, was wrong from the start and should be overruled, has set off sleuthing from every corner of the capital.
Who could possibly be behind such a glaring breach of trust? Why did that person choose to leak the draft? Why did that person choose a reporter from Politico? Who will investigate the matter? Will there be consequences? What will the court’s ultimate opinion say?
Washington, by nature, abhors a vacuum. So the two months before the court actually issues a final ruling will be filled with guesses, surmise, false starts — and maybe even the truth about who is behind the leak.
It’s an intrigue in the tradition of Watergate’s “Deep Throat” — one of Washington’s best-kept secrets for more than three decades; of Iran-Contra, with classified documents spirited out in a secretary’s undergarments; of “Primary Colors,” a roman à clef about a certain Southern governor.
The Trump era provided almost an entire genre. Among them: an unidentified whistleblower’s complaint about Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine and the writings of “Anonymous,” a senior administration official who only stayed anonymous for about two years after he wrote an opinion piece and subsequent book slamming the president.
The Supreme Court leak is “up there with the most important disclosures of this century and the last century — maybe ever,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the private Project on Government Oversight. “It ranks, certainly, with the Pentagon Papers and Wikileaks and Deep Throat.”
While leaks spout daily in gossipy Washington, the explosive revelation of a draft opinion that would overturn the 1973 decision creating a nationwide right to abortion has captivated the city.
The hunt for the high court leaker is afoot. Chief Justice John Roberts has ordered an investigation into what he called an “egregious breach of trust.” Amateur detectives have been eagerly trading theories on social media.
Is it even possible to keep this kind of secret in Washington anymore?
“Of course not,” said Eric Dezenhall, a crisis communications expert who has watched decades of leaks play out in the capital.
“Very few people who leak truly just keep it to themselves,” Dezenhall said. “There’s always a conversation that says, ‘You have to swear not to tell anybody this’ — and that’s the beginning of the end.”
He added that there’s often a psychic — and financial — incentive to make oneself known as a figure in history.
“The endgame is a book deal, a movie deal, being on TV,” he said.
Even when leakers are circumspect about their doings, there’s the dicey matter of digital footprints, which make it far easier for leak hunters to track down modern sources of information than it was in the past.
“The way some sources have been able to maintain their anonymity has been really impacted by the age of surveillance and technology tracking, so it’s possible that we will find out who it is,” said Brian, who laments a “reflexive instinct” within government to go after leakers and clamp down on information.
Big secrets in Washington have a way of eventually coming out, one way or another.
The identity of Deep Throat, the source who guided Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in the Watergate investigation, wasn’t known until 2005, when a 91-year-old former FBI official, W. Mark Felt, revealed that he was the one who used to meet the reporters in an underground parking garage at 2 a.m. to share tips about how to unravel wrongdoing by President Richard Nixon and his allies. A Post editor had dubbed him “Deep Throat” after the 1972 porn movie of the same name.
The secret identities of many other truth tellers, leakers and whistleblowers of different stripes have been shorter-lived.
“Anonymous” — whose 2018 New York Times opinion piece and later book bashing Trump left the president fuming and on the hunt for the leaker — chose to reveal himself six days before the 2020 election, when Trump was seeking reelection.
When he stepped out of the shadows, Miles Taylor, a former Homeland Security chief of staff, called Trump “a man without character” and urged other former administration officials to “find their conscience” and speak up, too.
In 2019, it was a CIA officer’s whistleblower complaint about Trump’s phone call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy that led to the president’s impeachment. The whistleblower’s identity was kept confidential under federal laws that protect whistleblowers from retaliation. But conservatives widely circulated speculation about the officer’s identity.
In January 1996, a fictionalized account of Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign by an anonymous author set off a hunt for the writer who seemed to know so much about the inner workings of the political operation.
Six months later, journalist Joe Klein confessed to being the author after the Post fingered him through handwriting analysis of an annotated manuscript it had obtained. Klein said he had kept his name off the book, his first novel, because he was not sure it would be any good. He ended up with a movie deal.
Military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked a secret study that laid bare America’s misguided involvement in the Vietnam War, publicly identified himself as the source of the Pentagon Papers a few weeks after the Times and Post published articles that touched off a massive legal battle over the free press. Ellsberg was charged with theft, conspiracy and violations of the Espionage Act, but his case ended in a mistrial when evidence surfaced about government-ordered wiretappings and break-ins.
The drama swirling around the Supreme Court leaker is amplified by conjecture about motivation. Was it someone trying to head off a final opinion overturning Roe? Or someone trying to do the opposite — shore up justices who had initially voted to overturn Roe but might be getting cold feet?
Depending on the politics of the readers, the leaker has been alternately labeled a cultural hero or villain. Some speculators, on reflection, have switched theories mid-debate. The White House wants people to focus less on the leaker and more on the potential implications of the draft opinion itself.
The idea that the leak was designed to ensure the final opinion would track with the first draft “might be too Machiavellian by half,” Dezenhall postulates. “It was probably exactly who you think it is — somebody who wanted to screw this thing up.” | 2022-05-09T10:41:19+00:00 | upmatters.com | https://www.upmatters.com/news/ap-top-headlines/court-leak-is-catnip-for-those-who-love-a-juicy-dc-whodunit/ |
A Kenmore woman who pleaded guilty to stealing $10,000 from the Kenmore West Girls Volleyball Booster Club was sentenced Monday in Erie County Court to six months in jail followed by five years of probation, the Erie County District Attorney's Office announced.
Prosecutors said Kerri M. Brown, 42, was the treasurer of the booster club when she became the subject of an investigation after the organization's bank account lacked the funds to make purchases for the high school athletes. The investigation determined that Brown had pocketed cash from various fundraisers between July 2018 and June 2020.
Brown pleaded guilty to one count of fourth-degree grand larceny on April 20. She agreed to pay full restitution to the booster club as part of the plea.
District Attorney John J. Flynn commended retired Town of Tonawanda Police Department Detective Jeff Campanella for his work on the investigation.
Assistant District Attorney Gary M. Ertel of the Special Investigations and Prosecutions Unit prosecuted the case. | 2022-07-12T01:01:37+00:00 | buffalonews.com | https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/kenmore-woman-who-stole-from-sports-booster-club-sentenced-to-6-months-in-jail/article_e551cfca-016b-11ed-a24f-7fc86cc982ca.html |
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – As a family searches for a new home with the help of a 10-year-old friend, a local tattoo parlor stepped in to raise funds with an interesting twist.
“We’re giving back to the community,” organizer Zach Kaskell said. “It’s really important and just it’s really a good cause and it’s something that it’s kind of taboo one of those things like ‘oh, hey, heavily tattooed people’ like no, dude, we like to give back to the community and everything. So it’s a good cause and nobody should ever worry about going without a home.”
Grayson Fink has already raised over $8,000 of his $9,000 gift goal, which will cover and Gold Cross Tattoo Co. wants to chip in with a little fresh ink.
Starting at noon Wednesday, anyone who visits Gold Cross Tattoo company can pick from 17 different “flash” designs created specifically for the fundraiser.
Black and grey versions of the designs are available for $100 per person, and full-color versions are available at $150 per person. The designs can only be done on arms and legs, and no alterations are available.
All proceeds from the tattoo sales will go to help Grayson’s best friend Ariana and her family of seven that are hoping to use it for a down payment on a new home. | 2022-07-20T18:42:18+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/tattoo-parlor-raising-funds-for-evicted-family-through-flash-tattoo-drive/ |
A child’s body recovered Saturday evening from the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton was confirmed Tuesday to be a 7-year-old boy who went missing more than two weeks ago while fishing.
Lucas Emmanuel Rosales was described as “a vibrant and cherished little boy” whose “infectious laughter, bright smile and loving nature touched the lives of all who knew him,” according to his obituary.
Visitation is from 10 a.m. to noon Monday at Woodland Cemetery Mausoleum Chapel followed by his funeral at noon.
To help honor Lucas, the family is asking for assistance to help cover Lucas’ final expenses through a tribute fund on the Schlientz & Moore Funeral Home website.
Lucas, a Dayton Public Schools student, was reported missing April 29 after he was last seen around 6:48 p.m. while fishing with his family near Harshman Road and Eastwood MetroPark in Dayton.
Multiple police and fire departments and search organizations have spent hundreds of hours searching hundreds of acres of land and water from the Mad and Great Miami rivers in Dayton down to West Carrollton over the past two weeks.
Multiple boats, thermal imaging devices, underwater and aerial drones, SONAR devices and K-9 teams were among resources used. Teams also drained a pond and installed a temporary dam on the Mad River to help in the recovery of Lucas.
A 911 caller around 5:40 p.m. Saturday reported finding a body in the Great Miami River near West Riverview and West Monument avenues. Dayton police and fire crews responded and recovered the body determined to be a juvenile boy.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday confirmed the boy was Lucas, and that his cause and manner of death remain pending.
Dayton police said no foul play was suspected. The family has been cooperating and joined the searches for Lucas.
Before Lucas went missing, his father and sister, Agustin Rosales and Da’najiah Wakefield, said they warned Lucas to back up from the water and told him it was dangerous. He left them to join other family members so he wouldn’t scare the fish, they said.
His mother, Amanda Rosales, said while she was with search crews May 2 at Eastwood MetroPark that she wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone.
“You sit here waiting for him to come running out or something or for someone to tell you that they found him,” she said. “When you’re just sitting here for hours upon hour and nobody’s found him yet it’s just torture.”
About the Author | 2023-05-16T21:10:46+00:00 | daytondailynews.com | https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/new-details-body-pulled-from-river-idd-as-7-year-old-lucas-rosales/AKMUFEIJAJCE5NO4KMEAXUUZIA/ |
VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — A man accused of intentionally ramming his car into a group of California high school students, killing one and injuring three others, was charged Thursday with murder and other counts in a series of alleged crimes earlier this week.
Austin Eis, 24, of Camarillo, appeared in a Ventura County courtroom but didn't enter a plea. His attorney asked that his arraignment be postponed, and Eis was ordered held without bail until his court hearing next month, the county district attorney's office said in a statement.
Eis is accused of committing a string of crimes in Ventura County on Tuesday.
Prosecutors allege that he entered a Simi Valley Walmart where he used pepper spray and stabbed a worker, “physically assaulted and attempted to drag a second employee and lunged at two additional employees with a knife,” according to the DA's office statement.
He then left and forced his way inside a home in neighboring Camarillo, where he argued with some members of his family, and finally drove to Thousand Oaks, where he purposely rammed his car into the students as they waited at a bus stop outside Westlake High School, authorities contend.
Wesley Welling, 15, of Thousand Oaks, was killed. A 15-year-old boy and two girls ages 14 and 16 were treated for injuries.
Eis was arrested at the scene. He is a former Westlake High student without any known criminal record, and it wasn't immediately clear whether he knew the victims, sheriff's Deputy Wendell Campbell said after the arrest.
Investigators haven't released a possible motive for the attacks.
Eis is charged with a dozen felony and misdemeanor counts, including murder and assault with a deadly weapon. | 2023-04-21T04:00:51+00:00 | expressnews.com | https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/california-driver-accused-of-intentionally-mowing-17909911.php |
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — The United States arrived at the Women’s World Cup as the favorites to win an unprecedented third consecutive title. But after an underwhelming draw against the Netherlands, there’s a real chance the Americans can be eliminated in group play for the first time in tournament history.
The U.S. plays Portugal in the third and final match of Group E play, and if Portugal pulls off an upset Tuesday at Eden Park in Auckland, the Americans could be in big trouble.
The United States needs to either win or draw against Portugal, one of eight teams playing in its first World Cup, to ensure the Americans continue to play in this tournament.
“I think we feel like we have to win everything all the time,” said American star Megan Rapinoe. “That’s the expectation for ourselves. That’s the expectation playing for U.S. national team. It’s just kind of like, ‘Why would you come into the World Cup if you don’t think that you should win it, and if you don’t think that you can win it?’”
The United States sits atop the group after a 3-0 victory over Vietnam in the tournament opener, and a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands last Thursday in Wellington. The Dutch are tied with the U.S. on points, but the Americans have the tie-breaker on goals scored.
Portugal lost to the Dutch in its opener but then beat Vietnam 2-0. So if the Portuguese beat the United States, they’ll move on, and the Americans would then need Vietnam to beat the Dutch in Dunedin — while keeping their advantage on goal differential — to advance.
“One thing is for sure, that we have a job to do and that’s first and foremost to take care of our game, so our main focus right now it our performance, our team, and Portugal,” said U.S. coach Vlatko Andonovski. “What happens on the other side is something we can’t control. We have to stay focused on the things we can control.”
Portugal could use a swarming defense to try to prevent the United States from scoring the way Vietnam — unsuccessfully — played the Americans in the opener.
Portugal defender Ana Borges said her team will be prepared.
“This is the stage where we want to be. It’s against these teams that we want to play because we’re going to learn and grow from them,” Borges said. “Not saying anything about the other team, but if we weren’t prepared for this challenge, we wouldn’t be playing football.”
CHINA-ENGLAND
England is in very good shape headed into its Group D finale against China, needing only a draw Tuesday night in Adelaide, Australia to win the group and advance to the round of 16.
Even a loss would be OK and push England through as group winners so long as Denmark doesn’t beat Haiti. If Denmark won and England lost, the group winner would be decided by FIFA tiebreakers.
England edged out a 1-0 victory over Haiti to open the tournament, then beat Denmark by the same score.
China lost 1-0 to Denmark in the opener but rebounded with a 1-0 win over Haiti and is now trying to keep its streak intact of advancing out of group play in all eight of its World Cup appearances.
It will be a tough task: China can advance to the round of 16 if the Chinese beat England. But if Denmark beats Haiti, coupled with a China win, then FIFA tiebreakers would come into a play. A loss would mean China’s only chance at advancing would be if Haiti beat Denmark.
England and China meet for just the fifth time, but first since a 2-1 China victory in 2015.
England has scored in each of its last 15 matches at the Women’s World Cup for a tally of 25 goals since 2015. A goal against China would make England the first team to score in 16 consecutive matches in the tournament.
China is looking to win consecutive World Cup games for the first time since 1999.
VIETNAM-NETHERLANDS
The Netherlands want to win every match in the Women’s World Cup but none more so than Tuesday’s game against Vietnam.
At stake: avoiding Sweden in the knockout round.
The Dutch, the tournament runner-up in 2019, need only a win or a draw in the Group E match played in Dunedin, New Zealand. And even a loss would be OK so long as the United States beats Portugal in a game being played simultaneously.
But the Netherlands has mapped out the tournament and wants no part of Sweden anytime soon.
“The first aim is always to win and get to the last 16 and then after that if we can score goals we will, of course,” said Dutch coach Andries Jonker. “But looking at our colleagues from the U.S. and Portugal, we’ve noticed it’s not all that easy. We’ve never shown any kind of arrogance, but if we get chances to score goals we will. We would prefer to play against the number two in this group and not Sweden.”
The Netherlands are tied with the United States for the top spot in the group after playing to a 1-1 draw against the Americans and a 1-0 win over Portugal.
Vietnam has already been eliminated from its first Women’s World Cup following losses to the United States and Portugal. Vietnam has lost its last five internationals by a combined score of 18-1.
“The Netherlands tries to have as many goals as possible, and I have to say we are at a low level,” said Vietnam coach Mai Duc Chung. “If we compare with Asia, we’re still at a low level. So if we compare with the world, we are still quite behind. It is a success for us already. In the past two matches we have tried our best. Great effort already.”
HAITI-DENMARK
First-time Women’s World Cup participant Haiti would like to stick around a bit longer but needs a miracle against in the Group D finale against Denmark to have any shot to advance.
Haiti needs to beat Denmark in the Tuesday match played in Perth, Australia, and hope England beats China. If both those things happen, Haiti’s only chance would still come down to FIFA’s tiebreaker system.
It’s very long odds for Haiti, which has played better in this tournament than its 0-2 record shows. Haiti held both England and China to one goal each in the first two matches.
Haiti is on a six-game losing streak headed into what is probably its final game of this tournament.
Denmark, meanwhile, is trying to advance to the group stage for the first time since 1995. Denmark was a 1-0 winner over China to start the tournament, then lost 1-0 to England and heads into the game tied for second in the group with China with three points each.
A win over Haiti pushes Denmark through to the next round so long as England doesn’t lose to China. That scenario would put tiebreakers into play.
The Danes, in the tournament for the first time since 2007, can also get through with a draw, but again, only if England beats China.
Denmark has won five of its last seven international matches.
___
AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-womens-world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2023-07-31T12:31:39+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/sports/us-world-sports/ap-us-needs-win-to-ensure-americans-avoid-elimination-in-group-play-for-first-time-in-womens-world-cup/ |
FAFSA period officially open for students to apply
While the application period is open into mid-2023, experts advise getting your application submitted as soon as possible.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Idaho students planning to enroll in college in 2023, the time is now to ensure your financial aid is in order at the beginning of the year.
The free application for federal student aid period has officially opened, and aid providers are reminding students that the FAFSA is about more than just loans.
The process is also how students get access to all types of financial aid, including grants and work-study programs.
While the application period is open into mid-2023, experts advise getting your application submitted as soon as possible.
“It’s important to reiterate to people that the sooner you get it done, the sooner you get it out of the way, the better off you’ll likely be. Don’t hear June 30th and think, ‘oh, I have plenty of time,’ try to get it in a little bit sooner.” Said Jacob Channel from Student Loan Hero.
Applications are available online. For more information and a link to the FAFSA, click here.
Copyright 2022 KMVT. All rights reserved. | 2022-10-08T05:36:09+00:00 | kmvt.com | https://www.kmvt.com/2022/10/08/fafsa-period-officially-open-students-apply/ |
For the first time since March 23, 2019, Major League Baseball is back at ESPN Wide World of Sports for spring training.
At least, for a moment.
The New York Yankees made the trip Tuesday to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the only spring training game that will take place at Disney.
The Rays plated 8 runs in the seventh inning and beat the Yankees 12-0 in front of 9,624.
“We enjoyed it,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “So appreciative of Disney, what they allowed for us and we got our work in. Now we get to go back home and sleep in our own beds for an extra month.”
The Atlanta Braves played spring training games at Disney for 22 seasons before moving to North Port in 2020.
Tampa Bay’s pitchers and catchers arrived at Disney on Feb. 14 to begin spring training due to damage from Hurricane Ian to their spring training facility in Port Charlotte. Tampa Bay will finish the rest of its preseason at its home ballpark, Tropicana Field.
“What will help is some of our young players can get acclimated to the turf and certainly the roof,” Cash said. “We know how fly balls can be fairly challenging there.”
Rays left fielder Luke Raley went 1-for-3 with a 2-run home run the opposite way to give Tampa Bay the lead in the bottom of the first inning. The lefty has gotten off to a good start this spring, batting .333 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in 9 at-bats.
“Luke’s swung the bat really well,” Cash said. “Stayed in on some lefties, obviously hit the two home runs. One pull side, one today oppo, so we’re going to continue getting him at-bats and play outfield and first base. Pretty big camp for him.”
The game broke open in the seventh inning when Tyler Danish allowed 6 runs, 4 hits and 2 walks without getting an out for the Yankees. Osleivis Basabe and Tristan Peters each hit 2-run singles, then Jonathan Aranda hit a 3-run home run to give Tampa Bay a 9-0 lead.
Jeffrey Springs got the start on the bump for the Rays and was the winning pitcher. He pitched 2 shutout innings and struck out 3 batters.
“The place was great,” Springs said of his time at Disney. “I mean everything here, the people … it was a lot of fun.”
Sean Boyle took the loss for New York. He pitched 3 innings, allowed 2 runs and struck out 3 batters in his first start of the spring.
Tampa Bay’s start to the season was dealt a significant blow with Tyler Glasnow suffering a Grade 2 left oblique strain (side abdominal muscle) on Monday. Cash said the team will have a better assessment of the 6-foot-8 righty in about 10 days.
Glasnow missed nearly all of the 2022 season recovering from Tommy John surgery (inner side elbow ligament) before returning in late September.
“You hate to see any injury of anybody whether it’s a short-term or long-term,” Springs said of Glasnow. “That sucked, watching him walk off after especially coming back from TJ, but I know he’s going to do everything he can to get back out there as quick as possible.”
Oswald Peraza, who could potentially be the Yankees’ starting shortstop coming out of spring training, went 1-for-3. He was called up at the end of the 2022 season and batted .306 with 1 home run and had a .404 on-base percentage in 18 games. The 22-year-old shortstop also appeared in three games during the 2022 ALCS against the Houston Astros.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who played 142 games in 2022 for the Yankees, is vying to remain the team’s starting shortstop and top prospect Anthony Volpe also has a chance to win the job. Volpe batted .249 with 21 home runs, 65 RBIs and 50 stolen bases across Double-A and Triple-A in 2022.
“I’m focused on my work,” Peraza said through an interpreter. “I know my job and my responsibilities. I understand that there is a competition for shortstop, but for me, I’ve got to walk my path. I’ve got to focus on what I need to do and pay attention to the small details.”
Disney declined to comment on the Rays’ tenure and any potential plans to host future spring training games.
() | 2023-03-01T04:52:02+00:00 | bostonherald.com | https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/02/28/one-time-only-rays-dominate-yankees-in-rare-spring-training-game-at-disney/ |
Top 10 national builder releasing over 400 honesties from Chowchilla to Los Banos
FRESNO, Calif., July 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Century Communities, Inc., a top 10 national homebuilder and industry leader in online sales, is excited to announce five new communities in the Central California area. Boasting prime locations from the charming city of Kerman to fast-growing Reedley, the new communities showcase a versatile array of single-family homes from the high $300s, with contemporary open-concept layouts and on-trend included features—such as granite kitchen countertops and the builder's Century Home Connect™ smart home package.
Learn more and see available homes at https://www.centurycommunities.com/CentralCalifornia.
"We're excited to announce these new communities, offering homebuyers even more desirable locations and a wide variety of inspired open-concept layouts," said Allen Bennett, Central Valley Division President. "We're also proud to be the only builder that provides homebuyers the flexibility to fully purchase their dream home on-site or online."
NOW SELLING:
Bravado| Reedley, CA
Ask about available homes: 559-226-9251
- 95 homesites
- Single- and two-story homes from the high $300s
- 3 to 5 bedrooms, 2 to 3 bathrooms
- Up to approximately 2,222 square feet
- Rapidly growing city boasting views of the Sierras
- In-town beach access along the Kings River
- Close proximity to national parks, such as Kings Canyon and Sequoia
409 S. Almond Avenue
Reedley, CA 93654
Three model homes!
Greenhills Estates | Chowchilla, CA
Ask about available homes: 559-226-9251
- 60 homesites
- Single- and two-story floor plans from the mid $400s
- Premier golf course community with gated entry
- 3 to 5 bed, 2 to 3.5 bath, 2- to 3-bay garages
- Up to approximately 3,331 square feet
- Stylish included features, such as granite countertops
- Scenic views along Chowchilla's Pheasant Run Golf Course
- Resort-style amenities, including a recreation/fitness center, pool and spa
- Prime location near Highway 99
13020 Ridgewood Way
Chowchilla, CA 93610
Two brand new model homes!
Silhouette at Sunrise Ranch | Los Banos, CA
Ask about available homes: 559-226-9251
- 95 homesites
- Single- and two-story floor plans from the upper $400s
- 2 to 7 bedrooms, 2 to 4 bathrooms
- Up to approximately 3,224 square feet
- Wide-open kitchens with granite countertops and more included
- Community amenities include a planned park
- Abundance of recreational opportunities—including the San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area
2069 Edward Street
Los Banos, CA 93635
Two beautiful model homes!
The Crossings II| Kerman, CA
Ask about available homes: 559-226-9251
- 104 homesites
- Single- and two-story floor plans from the low $400s
- 2 to 6 bedrooms, 2 to 4 bathrooms, 2- to 4-bay garages
- Up to approximately 3,224 square feet
- Stylish included features, such as granite kitchen countertops
- Convenient proximity to Highway 180
- Quiet, small-town atmosphere with a short drive to prime amenities in Fresno
14267 W. San Joaquin Avenue
Kerman, CA 93630
Two inspired model homes!
COMING SOON:
Omni | Madera, CA
Join our VIP list: 559-226-9251
- 61 homesites
- Inspired single-family homes with stylish included features
- Single- and two-story layouts up to approximately 2,222 square feet
- 3 to 5 bedrooms, 2 to 3 bathrooms
- Quiet small-city living
- Easy access to prime employment and entertainment hubs in the Fresno area
DISCOVER THE FREEDOM OF ONLINE HOMEBUYING:
Century Communities is proud to feature its industry-first online homebuying experience on all available homes in California.
How it works:
Shop homes at CenturyCommunities.com
- Click "Buy Now" on any available home
- Fill out a quick Buy Online form
- Electronically submit an initial earnest money deposit
- Electronically sign a purchase contract via DocuSign®
Learn more about the Buy Online experience at www.CenturyCommunities.com/online-homebuying.
About Century Communities
Century Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCS) is a top 10 national homebuilder, offering new homes under the Century Communities and Century Complete brands. Century is engaged in all aspects of homebuilding — including the acquisition, entitlement and development of land, along with the construction, innovative marketing and sale of quality homes designed to appeal to a wide range of homebuyers. The Colorado-based company operates in 17 states and over 45 markets across the U.S., and also offers title, insurance and lending services in select markets through its Parkway Title, IHL Home Insurance Agency, and Inspire Home Loans subsidiaries. To learn more about Century Communities, please visit www.centurycommunities.com.
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SOURCE Century Communities, Inc. | 2022-07-29T19:57:17+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2022/07/29/century-communities-announces-five-new-central-california-communities/ |
NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jakubowitz Law announces that a securities fraud class action lawsuit has commenced on behalf of shareholders of Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ: CNTA).
To receive updates on the lawsuit, fill out the form:
https://claimyourloss.com/securities/centessa-pharmaceuticals-loss-submission-form/?id=33541&from=4
This lawsuit is on behalf of a class consisting of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired: (a) Centessa American Depositary Shares pursuant and/or traceable to documents issued in connection with the Company's initial public offering conducted on or about May 28, 2021; and/or (b) Centessa securities between May 28, 2021 and June 1, 2022.
Shareholders interested in acting as a lead plaintiff representing the class of wronged shareholders have until November 28, 2022 to petition the court. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.
According to a filed complaint, Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Company's product, lixivaptan, was less safe than defendants had represented; (ii) defendants overstated lixivaptan's clinical and commercial prospects; (iii) another Centessa product, ZF874, was less safe than defendants had represented; (iv) defendants overstated ZF874's clinical and commercial prospects while downplaying the drug's safety issues; and (v) as a result, documents issued in connection with Centessa's initial public offering and the Company's public statements throughout the class period were materially false and/or misleading and failed to state information required to be stated therein.
Jakubowitz Law is vigorous in pursuit of justice for shareholders who have been the victim of securities fraud. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
CONTACT:
JAKUBOWITZ LAW
1140 Avenue of the Americas
9th Floor
New York, New York 10036
T: (212) 867-4490
F: (212) 537-5887
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SOURCE Jakubowitz Law | 2022-11-11T11:15:42+00:00 | kswo.com | https://www.kswo.com/prnewswire/2022/11/11/cnta-shareholder-alert-jakubowitz-law-reminds-centessa-shareholders-lead-plaintiff-deadline-november-28-2022/ |
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TULSA, Okla. (AP) — About a month before Dave Stockton won the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, his father gave him the self-help classic “Psycho-Cybernetics” by Maxwell Maltz, and he went through page by page highlighting various passages.
“It was not a fun read,” Stockton said. “It was like reading sandpaper.”
He came away with two tangible ideas, though, that applied perfectly to golf. The first was simple: Be aggressive. The second was something athletes have championed for decades: Visualize that you have already won.
“So rather than coming out here and hoping that I played well, hoping I made the cut, all these different things, I stepped on the first tee on Monday morning at about 7:00 — because I finished by 10:45 — and I visualized I had already won the tournament,” Stockton said. “My mindset was I had already won it and I was going to go out and enjoy it.”
He made it seem that easy, too. Stockton was tied for the lead after the second round, led Raymond Floyd by three after the third and coasted to a two-shot win over Arnold Palmer and Bob Murphy in the 1970 championship.
In doing so, Stockton helped shape what has become a recurring theme at Southern Hills: The venerable Perry Maxwell layout near downtown Tulsa has crowned some of the game's greatest players during more major championships than just about any other American venue, and for the most part, they've been a dreadful bore.
In four previous PGA Championships and three U.S. Opens, Stockton and Tiger Woods are the only ones who did not have at least a share of the lead after the opening round. And none were out of the lead heading into the final round.
Oklahoma native Tommy Bolt led after every round at the 1958 U.S. Open, turning a three-shot lead over Gene Littler after the third into a four-shot win over Gary Player by the end. It wound up being Bolt's only major, though he also played two Ryder Cups and, like everyone else but Stockton who have won at Southern Hills, ended up in the Hall of Fame.
Hubert Green also had at least a share of the lead for every round of the 1977 U.S. Open, holding off Lou Graham by a shot on Sunday. But that tournament is best remembered for what few knew at the time: There'd been a phone call threatening to assassinate Green if he played the 15th hole. He courageously did anyway on his way to his first major title.
Nearing his 40th birthday, Floyd likewise went wire-to-wire at the 1982 PGA Championship, finishing three clear of former champion Lanny Wadkins. He opened with a 63 and was never really threatened the rest of the week.
Nick Price might have had the easiest way with the field in 1994.
Sure, he was tied for the first-round lead with Colin Montgomerie, but he was five shots clear of everyone else after the second round. Price went on to finish 11 under for a six-shot lead over Corey Pavin, becoming the first player to capture the British Open and the PGA in the same year in seven decades.
When majors returned to Southern Hills in 2001, Retief Goosen needed a Monday playoff with Mark Brooks to win the first of his two U.S. Opens. Thrilling in theory, but nobody seemed to want to win on Sunday. Goosen ran a 10-footer past for birdie on the 72nd hole, then missed a 2-footer coming back, leaving him tied with Brooks, who had bogeyed his final hole. And both were a shot clear of Stewart Cink, who missed his own 2-footer to join the playoff.
There were two dominant story lines the last time the PGA Championship was at Southern Hills.
The first was the heat, which neared or exceeded triple digits all four days. The other was Woods, who seized control with a second-round 63. He led by as many as five in the third and fourth rounds before finishing ahead of a largely forgettable cast of characters that included Woody Austin, Aaron Oberholser and John Senden.
“I remember playing behind (John Daly) the first day, which was awesome,” Woods recalled this week. “It was, what, 109 I think that first day? And I asked JD how many waters he drank out there. He said, ‘No, I had 13 Diet Cokes.’”
Memorable stuff, indeed.
There are reasons to believe Southern Hills will finally produce a classic this week, though. The field has 95 of the top 100 in the world even after Bryson DeChambeau withdrew late Wednesday. The course itself has had an extensive restoration, returning it to its former glory. The forecast looks clear and pleasant for most of the week.
“It's tough. It's going to be really hard,” said Xander Schauffele, the Olympic gold medalist, who had two top-10s in majors last year. “I think PGA Championships for the most part, people feel like you can kind of shoot lower in them than most majors. But I think this year is going to be a different story.”
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More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | 2022-05-19T08:50:19+00:00 | seattlepi.com | https://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/Southern-Hills-All-time-best-often-crowned-in-17183443.php |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Dylann Roof, who challenged his death sentence and conviction in the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation.
Roof had asked the court to decide how to handle disputes over mental illness-related evidence between capital defendants and their attorneys. The justices did not comment Tuesday in turning away the appeal.
Roof fired his attorneys and represented himself during the sentencing phase of his capital trial, part of his effort to block evidence potentially portraying him as mentally ill.
Roof shot participants at a Bible study session at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
A panel of appellate judges had previously upheld his conviction and death sentence.
Roof, 28, is on federal death row at a maximum-security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. He can still pursue other appeals. | 2022-10-11T20:23:46+00:00 | wjhl.com | https://www.wjhl.com/news/national/ap-supreme-court-rejects-appeal-from-dylann-roof-who-killed-9/ |
Last week, the US government officially reached its $31.4 trillion borrowing limit, prompting the Treasury Department to implement “extraordinary measures” to conserve cash while Congress negotiates a deal to raise or suspend the cap. Reaching a deal and avoiding default is the easier challenge facing Congress. The bigger challenge is that it now has to actually do something about government borrowing, which members haven’t had to seriously worry about since the 1980s.
Concern about federal government borrowing surged during the 1980s. One of my predecessors as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the late Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein, was a source of frequent irritation in the Reagan administration for his public warnings about US debt levels.
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Fast forward to the 2010s and genuine deficit hawks were a rare, even endangered species in Washington despite US government debt as a share of national output reaching double its level during the Reagan years.
The reason for that apparent disconnect is that in a technical sense, higher debt levels in the 2010s seemed more sustainable than lower debt levels in the 1980s because the average interest rate Uncle Sam had to pay on that debt was lower than the nominal growth rate of the economy.
In the five years before the COVID pandemic, the US economy on average was growing by 4 percent per year, while the Treasury Department on average was paying just 2.4 percent on the government’s outstanding debt. This meant that even an annual budget deficit of 1.5 percent would still have lowered government debt as a share of the economy.
In contrast, from 1981 through 1988, though nominal economic growth was much higher at 7.7 percent, so too was the average interest rate the federal government had to pay on its debt — a whopping 10.1 percent. In 1985, when the economy grew 7.1 percent, Uncle Sam paid an average interest rate of 10.4 percent. With gaps like that between growth and interest payments, even running a budget surplus of 3 percent per year would still have resulted in government debt rising as a share of the economy.
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This was in part a consequence of former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker having to wring the inflation of the 1960s and 1970s out of the economy through higher interest rates — to get inflationary pressure down, borrowing costs had to rise, including for the biggest debtor in the world, the US government.
Which brings us back to today. As Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell attempts to tame the rampant, stimulus-fueled inflation of 2021-22, he has to rely on essentially the only tool at his disposal — higher interest rates. But with the government having borrowed $30 trillion in debt, that essentially means that every 25-basis point interest rate hike can be expected to raise federal interest payments by about $75 billion.
On the eve of the pandemic, interest payments on the debt totaled 1.8 percent of the economy and accounted for just over 8 percent of federal spending. According to the Congressional Budget Office’s latest estimates, those outlays will triple over the next decade, reaching $1.2 trillion by 2032. Even those outdated estimates — which assume a peak Fed interest rate target in 2023 well below where it already is today — project that the United States will be spending more on interest payments than on defense by 2029.
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Over the longer run, the CBO estimates that interest payments will exceed all mandatory spending other than major health care programs and Social Security by 2027, all discretionary spending by 2047, and will even exceed spending on Social Security by 2049. Average interest on the debt is projected to be just a few tenths of a percentage point below economic growth, leaving the United States at considerable risk of the sort of debt-spiral dynamic economists worried about in the 1980s.
And this is all before not only the interest rate rises we’ve already observed but also the $1 trillion in student loan forgiveness, $80 billion in new subsidies for semiconductors, and hundreds of billions of dollars in new subsidies in the inaptly named Inflation Reduction Act. Depending on uptake and whether Congress extends them, these policies could swamp the tax increases in the new law. In retrospect, perhaps $1.9 trillion in stimulus spending in March 2021 and $550 billion in new infrastructure-related spending were not entirely prudent.
By comparison, according to the CBO, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — which on the eve of the pandemic was delivering surging real wage gains and strong, growth-inducing business investment — would cost just 1 percent of gross domestic product between 2018 and 2025, less than the then prevailing 1.6 percent buffer between nominal growth and the average interest rate on the debt.
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Unfortunately, Congress seems blithely unaware that we are no longer in the Kansas of ultralow interest rates anymore. Though Uncle Sam effectively inflated away a chunk of his debt in 2021-22, his creditors are unlikely to be fooled twice. To spend as members have spent in recent years, Congress is going to have to pay up or else tighten the belt.
Tyler Goodspeed is a Kleinheinz Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and chief economist at Greenmantle LLC. He is former acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. | 2023-01-24T08:52:50+00:00 | bostonglobe.com | https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/01/24/opinion/congress-is-heading-toward-rude-reawakening-us-debt/ |
CHENGDU, China , July 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from Xinhua:
On July 28, the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games officially commenced, captivating university athletes from various parts of the world with an opening ceremony that seamlessly blended historical and cultural elements with youthful passion.
The cultural performances showcased Chengdu's unique cultural features, with the "Sun and Immortal Birds" being a symbol of Chinese cultural heritage and a spiritual emblem. From the very first second of the countdown to the ignition, the presence of the "Sun and Immortal Birds" captivated the audience until the final moment of ignition. "Sunlight", serving as the core element, permeated the entire opening ceremony. Without the "Sun and Immortal Birds", the grand finale of igniting the flame would not have been possible. The countdown to the opening commenced amid the radiance of the "Sun and Immortal Birds," not only demonstrating the harmonious and inclusive spiritual character that the Chinese people have embraced since ancient times but also expressing best wishes for university students worldwide to shine as bright and warm as sunlight.
The opening ceremony combined the sense of technology with artistic beauty. During the entrance segment, colorful silk threads were projected onto the ground, creating a breathtaking display of traditional Chinese patterns formed by over 300 circular lines that adorned the entirety of the stadium's track. This symbolic imagery represents the aspirations of young athletes from around the world, as they embark on a glorious journey paved with the splendor of Shu embroidery. The guide signs held high by the ushers were made of Shu brocade, a renowned textile originating from the Chengdu region, with a history spanning over 2,000 years. Shu brocade stands as one of the four prestigious brocades of China. Meanwhile, Shu embroidery, one of the four famous embroideries in China, has a history of more than 3,000 years, originating from the Chengdu region. Both Shu embroidery and Shu brocade are hailed as treasures of the region.
In celebration of the 31st edition of FISU World University Games, 31 torchbearers were selected to light the flame tower. Among them, the illustrious Chengdu astronaut, Ye Guangfu, shone as a notable figure. Recognizing astronauts as the "closest beings to the sun," chief director Chen Weiya harnessed the brilliance of sunlight, transforming it into a dazzling blaze. After the 31 torchbearers jointly completed the ignition, the Sun and Immortal Birds radiated a stunning brilliance. They spiraled and ascended, igniting the 12 golden fireworks in the sky. Ultimately, they ignited the flame tower outside the stadium.
During the fireworks performance, the chief designer of the opening ceremony fireworks, Cai Canhuang, aptly named it "Golden Dreams." Golden fireworks illuminated the sky, accompanied by welcoming messages in both Chinese and English. As the flame tower of the Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games was ignited, the fireworks displayed the U-shaped emblem of the Games and the English theme "Make Dreams Come True." The fireworks artfully portrayed the image of a golden hibiscus flower, representing the city flower of Chengdu. Beyond symbolizing youth and vitality, the hibiscus also embodies the values of openness and friendliness, expressing the theme of "flowers welcoming guests."
The Chengdu 2021 FISU World University Games will feature a total of 18 sports events, and is scheduled to conclude on August 8. With athletes from 113 countries and regions, a staggering 6,500 athletes will compete across these 18 sports.
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SOURCE Xinhua | 2023-07-30T11:30:53+00:00 | mysuncoast.com | https://www.mysuncoast.com/prnewswire/2023/07/30/chengdu-2021-fisu-world-university-games-opening-ceremony-impresses-audiences-worldwide/ |
NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- International law firm McDermott Will & Emery is pleased to share John F. Finston has been appointed Executive Deputy Superintendent at the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). The announcement was made today by Adrienne A. Harris, Superintendent of DFS. John's first day in this role will be October 3, 2022.
"We are delighted for John and congratulate him on this tremendous accomplishment as he moves into his new role," said Ira Coleman, McDermott's Chair. "While we will miss John's legal prowess, we know he will excel in this position and are proud to continue the Firm's support of public sector service."
"John's years of leadership in a variety of roles in the insurance industry, both in the private and public sector, will greatly benefit the insurance industry in New York. We are deeply honored that our colleague and good friend has been appointed to such a prominent position and look forward to working with John and the DFS in the coming years," noted Michael R. Halsband, head of the Firm's Insurance Transactions and Regulations Practice Group.
John is currently Senior Counsel in the Firm's Insurance Transactions and Regulations Practice Group representing US and international clients from across the insurance industry, including insurers, reinsurers, producers, managing general agents, private funds and institutional investors in a variety of transactions and regulatory matters. He previously served as General Counsel and Deputy Insurance Commissioner for the State of California from 2015-2017. John has more than 35 years of leadership experience addressing state, federal and international insurance regulatory, solvency and transactional issues for a variety of industry constituents.
John earned his JD at St. John's University, School of Law, where he was a St. Thomas More Scholar.
McDermott's Insurance Transactions and Regulatory Group is a leading practice in global insurance, reinsurance and InsurTech transactions and regulation with lawyers in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, London, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. We are ranked Tier 1 in Insurance Law by Best Lawyers published in US News and World Report. Learn more about the Firm's InsurTech Summit by visiting www.mwe.com/events/mcdermotts-insurtech-summit/.
ABOUT MCDERMOTT
McDermott Will & Emery partners with leaders around the world to fuel missions, knock down barriers and shape markets. Our team works seamlessly across practices and industries to deliver highly effective solutions that propel success. More than 1,200 lawyers strong, we bring our personal passion and legal prowess to bear in every matter for our clients and the people they serve.
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SOURCE McDermott Will & Emery | 2022-09-20T13:24:38+00:00 | ksla.com | https://www.ksla.com/prnewswire/2022/09/20/mcdermotts-john-f-finston-appointed-executive-deputy-superintendent-insurance-division-new-york-state-department-financial-services/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.; Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio; Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board; Dr. Richard Besser, CEO and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
__
NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Sheila Bair, former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
__
CBS’ “Face the Nation" — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen; Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas; Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J.
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CNN’s “State of the Union” — Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C.; Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
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“Fox News Sunday” — Sen. John Kennedy, R-La.; Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. | 2023-03-10T23:57:47+00:00 | springfieldnewssun.com | https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/guest-lineups-for-the-sunday-news-shows/IXOWAOJZ2JHSHJMAKMXVNTAUWY/ |
NEW MELLE, Mo. (AP) — An elderly Missouri couple died in a fire when a man refused to leave his wife as their home burned and the floor that was their escape route collapsed, fire officials said.
Kenneth and Phyllis Zerr, both 84, died in the fire Thursday at their home in New Melle, Missouri, about 37 miles (59.55 kilometers) west of St. Louis.
“It's a tragedy, kind of a tragic love story,” New Melle Fire Chief Dan Casey said. “He could have definitely gotten out. The family knows he could have gotten out, but he was going to stay with her.”
Kenneth Zerr called emergency dispatchers to report the fire, opened a door for firefighters to enter and then went back to his wife, who used a wheelchair and had fallen on the floor of the bathroom in their master bedroom. He stuffed towels under the door in a futile attempt to keep out the smoke, Casey said.
Kenneth Zerr was not able to get his wife up and eventually the bedroom floor collapsed, trapping them in the bathroom, Casey said.
Firefighters made it through thick smoke to the bedroom but had to retreat when the floor began collapsing as they searched for the couple, the chief said.
“The dispatch was on the phone with my father and my father was trying to help my mother out of the house and they got trapped,” their son, Andy Zerr, told KSDK-TV. “The dispatch told my father to come out of the house and my father said ‘I’m not leaving my wife,' and stayed with her until the end."
The couple celebrated 63 years of marriage in September. Firefighters said they died of smoke inhalation.
The cause of of the fire is under investigation but officials believe it was accidental and started near an appliance in the basement, Casey said.
Some firefighters suffered minor burns in the blaze. | 2022-11-11T20:31:56+00:00 | ourmidland.com | https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Man-stayed-by-wife-s-side-in-Missouri-house-fire-17577906.php |
WASHINGTON (AP) — El demócrata Richard Blumenthal gana reelección al Senado federal por Connecticut.
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DENVER (KDVR) — The next full moon will arrive later this week. This moon is called the Harvest Moon, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.
The full Harvest Moon will appear after sunset on Friday and reach its peak around 5:58 a.m. EST on Saturday, the Farmer’s Almanac said.
The harvest moon is the full moon that falls closest to the autumnal equinox, when day and night are most evenly split. The day traditionally marks the start of fall and cool temperatures, a change that residents of the West fondly daydreamed about this week as temperatures soared well over 100 degrees in many places.
The equinox for the southern hemisphere happens March 20 or 21.
The Harvest Moon is said to look larger and and have an orange glow, an optical illusion attributable to observing the full moon near the horizon, according to John Percy, professor at Toronto University’s Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
The color can be attributed to bluer wavelengths of light getting lost over the moon’s longer path. Dust or pollution can also saturate any reddish tones.
Here are some other names the September full moon has been called:
- Autumn moon
- Falling leaves moon
- Leaves turning moon
- Moon of brown leaves
- Yellow leaf moon
- Rutting moon
At the peak of harvest, the almanac said farmers can work late into the night by the light of the Harvest Moon.
The next full moon will arrive on October 9. It is called the Hunter’s Moon. | 2022-09-08T18:37:45+00:00 | cbs42.com | https://www.cbs42.com/news/when-does-the-harvest-moon-appear/ |
NFTSTAR superstar squad will be featured in a Global Sports Village experience in The Sandbox open metaverse developed jointly by The Sandbox and NFTSTAR through a partnership with Web3 company Forj, which includes licensing of unique Bored Ape Yacht Club characters.
SINGAPORE, Nov. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Prolific Brazilian player Neymar JR., Asian football superstar Son Heung-Min and Portuguese football legend Luis Figo will all be featured at NFTSTAR's new residence on The Sandbox, the leading decentralised gaming virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands.
The trio have been exclusively signed by NFTSTAR as part of its multiverse plan to build an integrated global sports metaverse platform for billions of sports fans who also have an affinity for gaming. NFTSTAR intends to engage the global community with regular meet and greets, AMAs, exclusive NFT drops and a virtual sports arena, through a partnership with renowned Web3 brand experience provider Forj, another subsidiary of Animoca Brands.
Abe Ren, Co-Founder of NFTSTAR notes, "We are excited to partner with The Sandbox metaverse as a way to promote our own brand, celebrities and proprietary NFTs. This collaboration allows us to collectively grow the community of sports, esports, and gaming enthusiasts."
The Sandbox metaverse offers players and creators a decentralized and intuitive platform to create immersive 3D worlds and game experiences and to safely store, trade, and monetize their creations. Sebastien Borget, who is Co-Founder and COO of The Sandbox says, "Sports are an important part of global culture, and as such it's a pleasure to welcome NFTSTAR into The Sandbox metaverse as we continue to grow our sports-based experiences and activations."
As a first step, NFTSTAR enlists Smobler Studios, an investee studio and one of the preferred and official builders of The Sandbox for this partnership.
Loretta Chen, Co-Founder of Smobler Studios elaborates, "This marks the beginning of an exciting adventure that will include avatars, phygital experiences as well as the creation of a Global Sports Space that will expand into fully playable social hub experiences including a Stadium. To better realize our vision, we are collaborating with our partner studio in South Korea, Fac Bros, as well as Forj, a Web3 solutions provider that delivers authenticated digital-first goods such as their Bored Apes to appeal to non-sports fans."
Harry Liu, CEO of Forj adds, "When it comes to user adoption and growth in the Web3 space, entertainment and sports will be among the most powerful drivers. We are excited to partner with NFTSTAR, The Sandbox and Smobler Studios in creating a truly unique branded experience in the metaverse that pushes the boundaries for fans."
About NFTSTAR
NFTSTAR, backed by The9 Limited (Nasdaq: NCTY), aims to build the largest sports fandom social platform with a Web3 community connecting global stars and fans. Its vision is to become a digital brand that paves a new way towards sports ecology in Web3 world. By building a community that engages with stars and their fans, NFTSTAR aims to house a GameFi and SocialFi playground for Web3 fans globally. For more information, visit www.nftstar.com and follow the regular updates on Twitter, Instagram, Medium, and Discord.
About The Sandbox
The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is one of the decentralized virtual worlds that has been fueling the recent growth of virtual real estate demand, having partnered with major IPs and brands including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, CryptoKitties, and more. Building on existing The Sandbox IP that has more than 40 million global installs on mobile, The Sandbox metaverse offers players and creators a decentralized and intuitive platform to create immersive 3D worlds and game experiences and to safely store, trade, and monetize their creations. For more information, visit www.sandbox.game and follow the regular updates on Twitter, Medium, and Discord.
About Forj
Forj is a subsidiary of Animoca Brands and is at the forefront of NFT technology, bringing together creators and fans from a variety of industries such as music, entertainment, gaming and collectibles. Forj executes each step of the process with a suite of products and services designed to support the entire blockchain ecosystem.
About Smobler Studios
Smobler Studios is a metaverse architecture firm headquartered in Singapore. It is an investee studio of, and a recognized The Sandbox builder. It specializes in world building, brand marketing, IP creation and metaverse development for The Sandbox Game. Smobler Studios also keen on co-creating a diverse ecosystem with a strong academy and phygital experience emphasis. Its recent clients include Mighty Jaxx, 1-Group, The Food Bank Singapore and Tools of Rock NFT amongst others. To learn more, visit www.smoblerstudios.com.
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SOURCE The9 Limited | 2022-11-14T07:40:25+00:00 | wymt.com | https://www.wymt.com/prnewswire/2022/11/14/nftstar-leads-its-nft-superstar-squad-arrive-sandbox-ahead-world-football-championships/ |
NEW YORK, July 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- InvestorsObserver issues critical PriceWatch Alerts for BABA, STZ, DLTR, PEP, and QCOM.
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SOURCE InvestorsObserver | 2022-07-15T15:07:27+00:00 | wlox.com | https://www.wlox.com/prnewswire/2022/07/15/thinking-about-trading-options-or-stock-alibaba-constellation-brands-dollar-tree-pepsico-or-qualcomm/ |
As the 2023 season approaches, the Browns are looking to implement a revamped offense — one that will bring more out of QB Deshaun Watson while also allowing RB Nick Chubb to continue finding plenty of success in the run game.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski shared some of the knowledge behind the basis of the playbook Sunday at The Greenbrier, explaining how Watson adds his input into the process.
"When we design everything, it's always making sure it fits Deshaun's eyes," Stefanski said. "Maybe it's a concept he's done over the years. Maybe it's a concept we both saw that we're going to try it out.
"That's really what the spring is for. That's what, as we get going here into our installs, seeing what fits him, seeing what fits our entire offense, what fits Nick (Chubb), what fits the line, what fits our pass catchers. That's kind of the work that we're doing right now."
Check out photos of the team conducting a Phase II workout at the Greenbrier before Training Camp
This is Watson's first full offseason with the team, which has allowed him to feel extra comfort learning the offense while also taking a higher leadership position around the team.
"Personally, I'm in a different space," Watson said. "I feel really well, feel really good, comfortable being around the guys, the locker room, the coaching staff, the organization, and just the city of Cleveland. So having an opportunity to go into the season, full offseason locked in and focused definitely feels good and I want to continue to keep channeling and cherishing all that energy."
Despite potential changes to the offense, Chubb, who ran for 1,525 yards last season, will still be a focal point, and Stefanski made sure to emphasize that as he discussed how the playbook creation process has looked.
"There's a lot of discussion league-wide about the value of a running back," Stefanski said. "Is running back still as valuable? I mean, for us, it is. We've got the best in the business, in my opinion. And I know that conversation, and I know it's complicated, but for us, we're thrilled with the guys we have."
Chubb's versatility is a valuable asset to the Browns and could show more this season, as it allows them to utilize unique formations and plays. While it may be new for him to play in a spread-out offense with more passes to the running backs, Watson reassured that Chubb is comfortable adjusting to the new style.
"Chubb is a big part of the offense, and we know that," Watson said. "We will continue to feature him and do what he is great at. He's going to embrace his role."
Last season, the Browns ranked in the top 5 for rushing attempts. Chubb had an average of 18 attempts per game.
That number could go up for Chubb this season now that Kareem Hunt is no longer on the roster, but the Browns are also expecting much more success from Watson in the pass game, too.
And Stefanski is confident Watson will be able to do that with the new plays and added flexibility he's giving him to take command of the offense.
"When the quarterback likes the play I like the play," Stefanski said. "We've talked about this before, there's so much football, so much scheme. When a quarterback is comfortable with a play, he typically makes it work." | 2023-07-24T03:00:32+00:00 | clevelandbrowns.com | https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/browns-improved-offensive-playbook |
US sending more military aid to Ukraine as war grinds on
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and allies committed more rocket systems, ammunition and other military aid to Ukraine Wednesday, as American defense leaders said they see the war to block Russian gains in the eastern Donbas region grinding on for some time.
Speaking at the close of a virtual meeting with about 50 defense leaders from around the world, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said it will be “hard work” to keep allies and partners all committed to the war effort as the months drag on.
“We’re pushing hard to maintain and intensify the momentum of donations,” Austin said. “This will be an area of focus for the foreseeable future, as it should be, in terms of how long our allies and partners will remain committed ... There’s no question that this will always be hard work making sure that we maintain unity.”
Officials have been reluctant to say how long the war may last, but Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested it could be a long slog.
“We have a very serious grinding war of attrition going on in the Donbas. And unless there’s a breakthrough on either side — which right now the analysts don’t think is particularly likely in the near term — it will probably continue as a grinding war of attrition for a period of time until both sides see an alternative way out of this, perhaps through negotiation or something like that.”
Officials said Wednesday that the U.S. will send Ukraine four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and precision-guided rockets for them, as well as additional artillery rounds. A more detailed announcement is expected later this week.
WARNING: Videos used may contain graphic content.
The aid comes as Russian forces try to solidify gains in the two provinces in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, Donetsk and Luhansk, while also expanding attacks into other areas. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told state-controlled RT television and the RIA Novosti news agency that Russia has expanded its “special military operation” from the Donbas to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and other captured territories.
Austin said Lavrov’s comments come as no surprise to allies who have known Russia has greater ambitions in capturing Ukraine.
But Ukrainian troops have been using the HIMARS to strike Russian logistics nodes and command and control centers, including behind the front lines to disrupt supply chains. And on Wednesday they struck and damaged a bridge that is key to supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine, where Lavrov said Moscow is trying to consolidate its territorial gains.
Milley said the Ukrainian strikes are “steadily degrading the Russian ability to supply their troops, command and control their forces, and carry out their illegal war of aggression.”
He said that, due to Ukraine’s resistance, Russia has been able to gain just six to 10 miles of ground in the Donbas over the past 90 days, with “tens of thousands of artillery rounds” fired in each 24-hour period. And he said he does not believe that the Donbas region has been lost to Russia.
“It’s not lost yet. The Ukrainians are making the Russians pay for every inch of territory that they gain and advances are measured in literally hundreds of meters,” Milley said.
The issue going forward, he said, will be the amount of HIMARS rockets and other ammunition expended by the Ukraine forces. The U.S. has been sending thousands of rounds, taking them from American military stockpiles, and raising questions about how long that will last and at what point there may be a risk to U.S. military readiness.
“We are looking at all of that very, very carefully,” Milley said. “We think we’re okay right now as we project forward into the next month or two or three, we think we’re going to be okay.”
The U.S. has already provided more than $7 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war began in late February. Austin said that during the defense meeting, there was also discussion about how to ensure that Ukraine is able to maintain and repair the weapons systems into the future.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | 2022-07-20T21:25:33+00:00 | mysuncoast.com | https://www.mysuncoast.com/2022/07/20/us-sending-more-military-aid-ukraine-war-grinds/ |
KITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP)Aleksander Aamodt Kilde turned around his Kitzbuehel weekend Saturday, winning the second men’s World Cup downhill on the demanding Streif course after overcoming two eventful days in the posh Austrian ski resort.
The Norwegian fractured a bone in his right hand during Thursday’s training, then needed an acrobatic recovery in the race the next day to escape a fall near the end of his run, which he called ”scary.”
But racing under low clouds and in light snowfall on Saturday, he sped down the 3.3-kilometer course with no apparent mistakes, winning the storied race for the second time in his career.
”I’m super, super proud of what I did,” Kilde said. ”We had to dig deep today to get it going. I was really happy with my run today.”
Attended by 45,000 spectators, including high-profile guests from politics, society, and sport, the downhill on the Streif is the World Cup race with the highest prize money, paying 100,000 euros ($109,000) to the winner.
Former California governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and American skiing great Lindsey Vonn were among the first to congratulate Kilde, even before the race was officially over as lower-ranked skiers were still coming down.
”That’s just Kitzbuehel,” Kilde said. ”The weather is difficult, and the second training was not good, with the hand. But today, I had a good feeling. I had no pain in my hand and gave full gas. I did everything I could do, I’m satisfied.”
The victory made Kilde the first male skier to win five downhills in a single season since Austrian standout Stephan Eberharter won seven times in the 2001-02 campaign.
Kilde was joined on the podium by two racers who have announced their retirement for after the season: French veteran Johan Clarey finished 0.67 seconds behind, and American downhiller Travis Ganong trailed by 0.95 in third.
”Alex was too strong. I could not beat him today but I’m happy with my race,” said Clarey, who turned 42 this month and is the oldest skier on a podium in the 56-year history of Alpine skiing’s World Cup.
”I’m trying to enjoy it until the end. I want to end my career on a good year with good results and healthy,” said Clarey, who had a top-three result in downhill for the 10th time but is yet to win a race.
Ganong said he fancied the tough conditions because of the snowfall when he got to the start in the morning hours.
”For me, it’s like another day at home. In Lake Tahoe, California, it’s snowing like crazy. I actually love it when it’s a snow storm,” Ganong said after earning his fifth career downhill podium but first in six years. ”My goal all season was to perform here. This is the biggest race so it’s awesome to perform here.”
Mattia Casse of Italy was the only other racer to finish within a second of Kilde’s time. Friday’s winner Vincent Kriechmayr was 1.30 back in fifth. The Austrian won all three downhills this season that Kilde didn’t win.
It was Kilde’s seventh win overall this season, matching his total from last year, and again equaling the Norwegian’s best mark previously reached by Kjetil Jansrud in 2014-15 and Aksel Lund Svindal the following season.
Kilde still trails overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt by 225 points. The Swiss skier sat out the race, resting after hurting his left knee in a near-crash in Friday’s downhill.
Ganong’s American teammate Jared Goldberg, who finished a career-best fourth on Friday, slid off the course into the safety netting. His race suit ripped open in the fall but Goldberg got up and skied down with no apparent injuries.
Olympic downhill champion Beat Feuz finished two seconds off the pace in 16th in what was the last race of his career. Feuz, who won three downhills in Kitzbuehel and 16 World Cup races in total, announced his retirement last December.
It was the last men’s World Cup downhill before the Feb. 12 world championship race in Courchevel, France.
The race weekend in Kitzbuehel ends with a slalom Sunday.
—
More AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/skiing and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports | 2023-01-21T15:56:35+00:00 | kxnet.com | https://www.kxnet.com/scoreboard/kilde-wins-kitzbuehel-for-5th-downhill-victory-of-season/ |
- Hyundai Motor Group and Boston Dynamics to invest over $400 million to establish the new institute
- The Institute, led by founder of Boston Dynamics Marc Raibert, to invest resources across the technical areas of cognitive AI, athletic AI and organic hardware design, with each discipline contributing to progress in advanced machine capabilities
- The Institute to recruit talent in diverse areas, including AI and robotics research, and software and hardware engineering, as well as to partner with universities and corporate research labs
SEOUL, South Korea and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) today announced the launch of Boston Dynamics AI Institute[1] (the Institute), with the goal of making fundamental advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and intelligent machines. The Group and Boston Dynamics will make an initial investment of more than $400 million in the new Institute, which will be led by Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics.
As a research-first organization, the Institute will work on solving the most important and difficult challenges facing the creation of advanced robots. Elite talent across AI, robotics, computing, machine learning and engineering will develop technology for robots and use it to advance their capabilities and usefulness. The Institute's culture is designed to combine the best features of university research labs with those of corporate development labs while working in four core technical areas: cognitive AI, athletic AI, organic hardware design as well as ethics and policy.
"Our mission is to create future generations of advanced robots and intelligent machines that are smarter, more agile, perceptive and safer than anything that exists today," said Marc Raibert executive director of Boston Dynamics AI Institute. "The unique structure of the Institute — top talent focused on fundamental solutions with sustained funding and excellent technical support — will help us create robots that are easier to use, more productive, able to perform a wider variety of tasks, and that are safer working with people."
To achieve such advances, the Institute will invest resources across the technical areas of cognitive AI, athletic AI and organic hardware design, with each discipline contributing to progress in advanced machine capabilities. In addition to developing technology with its own staff, the Institute plans to partner with universities and corporate research labs.
The Institute will be headquartered in the heart of the Kendall Square research community in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Institute plans to hire AI and robotics researchers, software and hardware engineers, and technicians at all levels.
Please visit https://www.bdaiinstitute.com/ for more information and to submit interest in working with the Institute.
For more information, please visit: https://www.bdaiinstitute.com/ .
For more information about Hyundai Motor Group, please see: www.hyundaimotorgroup.com
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SOURCE Hyundai Motor Group | 2022-08-12T09:38:48+00:00 | wsfa.com | https://www.wsfa.com/prnewswire/2022/08/12/hyundai-motor-group-launches-boston-dynamics-ai-institute-spearhead-advancements-artificial-intelligence-amp-robotics/ |
After 53 years and more than 1,570 planes, the last Boeing 747 rolled off the assembly line in Washington state Tuesday evening, on its way to serve as a cargo plane.
The once-groundbreaking jumbo jet, with the distinctive second-floor bulge, is perhaps the most notable and popular plane Boeing has ever built. It was even big enough to be used to ferry the Space Shuttle from landing strips in California to its launch site in Florida. And it is set to launch a new type of spacecraft by Virgin Orbit as soon as next week, after carrying it aloft under its wing.
The 747 was once the choice of the rich and glamorous, and even royalty. Many movies, including the 1973 James Bond classic "Live and Let Die" featured the plane, or sets made to look like the first class lounge on its upper level. The 747 still serves as Air Force One, as it has since 1990. Two already-assembled planes are undergoing work right now to be transformed into the next generation of the presidential jet. Those planes won't be delivered for at least four years due to delays.
Other than that use, the 747's days as a passenger plane are now almost completely behind it. Airlines have moved away from planes with four fuel-guzzling engines like the 747. Rival Airbus dropped its own two-level jumbo jet, the A380, in 2019.
Boeing had signaled in 2020 that it would stop building the 747, even in its freighter form, as customers bought either the more fuel-efficient 777 freighter or saved money by reconditioning former 747 passenger jets as freighters. It has not yet announced plans for the factory in Everett, Washington, where it has been building the 747, but it does expect to keep it open. In order to build the massive plane the facility is 200 million cubic feet, which Boeing says makes it the world's largest building by volume.
The passenger versions of the plane could carry between 400 to 500 passengers, at its maximum about twice as many passengers as one of Boeing's current widebody jets, the 787-8 Dreamliner. But Boeing hasn't built a passenger version of the 747 since it delivered the last one to Korean Airlines in 2017. This last 747 will go to Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, which will operate the plane for Swiss logistics company Kuehne+Nagel. Tuesday's final plane will be flown to another Boeing facility shop for painting and other final details, before being delivered to Atlas early next year.
Today there are only 44 passenger versions of the 747 still in service, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. More than half of those — 25 — are flown by Lufthansa.
That total is down from more than 130 in service as passenger jets at the end of 2019, just before the pandemic crippled demand for air travel, especially on international routes on which the 747 and other widebody jets were primarily used. Most of those passenger versions of the jets were grounded during the early months of the pandemic and never returned to service.
But there are still 314 747 freighters in use, according to Cirium, many of which were initially used as passenger jets before being renovated into freighters.
"The 747-8 is an incredibly capable aircraft, with capacity that is unmatched by any other freighter in production," said UPS in 2020, when Boeing signaled it would soon stop building the jet. "With a maximum payload of 307,000 lbs., we use them on long, high-volume routes, connecting Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East."
The current version of the 747 is 250 feet and 2 inches long, the longest commercial plane now in service, or about twice the length of the Wright Brothers' first flight. It has a wingspan of 224 feet and 5 inches.
Boeing delivered the first 747 passenger jets in December 1969 to two airlines that no longer exist — TWA and Pan Am. Delta Air Lines was the last US airline to fly a passenger version of the plane, also in 2017. That was the last year the final US 747 passenger flights — by both Delta and United — drew large crowds of the plane's fans, a testament to its enduring popularity.
-- CNN's Jackie Wattles contributed to this report
Correction: A previous version of this article stated the wrong Virgin company using the 747 to launch rockets into outer space.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. | 2022-12-07T19:23:18+00:00 | wqow.com | https://www.wqow.com/townnews/aviation/the-very-last-747-jumbo-jet-just-rolled-off-boeings-assembly-line/article_73900f44-d9f4-58a0-8fd8-c59eb11b961a.html |
NEW YORK (AP) — America’s top television networks on Thursday turned prime time over to a gripping account of former President Donald Trump’s actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — with one prominent exception.
The top-rated news network, Fox News Channel, stuck with its own lineup of commentators. Sean Hannity denounced the “show trial” elsewhere on TV just as he was featured in it, with the House’s Jan. 6 committee examining his tweets to Trump administration figures.
Hannity aired a soundless snippet of committee members entering the hearing room as part of a lengthy monologue condemning the proceedings.
That was all Fox News Channel viewers saw of the hearing.
“It’s really just a cheap, selectively edited political ad,” Hannity told his viewers.
Meanwhile, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN and MSNBC aired the second prime-time hearing, focusing on Trump’s real-time response to the riot. The committee said it was the last hearing until September.
“This very much sounded like a closing argument, certainly of this chapter of their investigation, and it was profound,” ABC News anchor David Muir said.
About 20 million people watched the first prime-time hearing on June 9, the Nielsen Company said. Generally, reaching that big an audience in mid-July would be a long shot, as it is the least-watched television month of the year.
Yet the seven daytime hearings have proven something of an oddity. Buoyed by strong word-of-mouth, the hearings grew in audience as they went along. CNN, for example, reached 1.5 million people for the second daytime hearing on June 16, and 2.6 million for the last one on July 12, Nielsen said.
Fox’s broadcast station in New York, which did not air last month’s prime-time hearing, showed the Thursday night session. The 17 other Fox-owned stations elsewhere in the country aired both hearings.
There’s little interest at Fox News Channel, which televised the daytime hearings, although only up until the demarcation line of the network’s popular show “The Five.” Ratings show that roughly half the network’s audience flees when the hearings start, and return when they’re over.
That would be a much more serious problem in prime time, where Fox’s audience is more than double what it is during the day. Fox News Channel’s decision not to air the prime-time hearings is almost certainly a function of the demands of their audience and prime-time hosts, said Nicole Hemmer, an expert on conservative media and author of the upcoming book “Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s.”
“It creates an awkward situation when a host like Tucker Carlson tells his audience that the hearings are a debacle not worth their time, and then the network preempts his show to air them,” Hemmer said.
Carlson found plenty of things to talk about besides the hearing Thursday, including President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 diagnosis, a “meltdown” by liberals over the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion decision, the failure of drug legalization, “climate crazies” and “trans-affirming” lessons in Los Angeles schools.
Hannity’s lead story was the “grand finale” of the Jan. 6 committee, although he didn’t show it — at least with the sound on.
He brought on guests like GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, who said that if the hearings have done anything, “they’ve exonerated President Trump and the people supporting him.”
Talk show host Mark Levin told Hannity the U.S. Justice Department is corrupt because “the Colbert 9 are roaming free.” That’s a reference to federal prosecutors’ decision not to bring charges against nine people associated with CBS’ “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” who were arrested in a U.S. Capitol complex building last month.
While Hannity was on the air, the Jan. 6 committee showed tweets that Hannity and other Fox News personalities had sent to Trump administration officials, warning that the Capitol riot was making the president look bad.
In a closing statement, Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chair, noted that most of its case against Trump has been made by Republicans. She ridiculed the notion that the committee’s findings would be much different if Republicans other than she and Rep. Adam Kinzinger were members.
“Do you really think that Bill Barr is such a delicate flower that he would wilt under cross-examination?” she said.
The Republicans watching Fox News Channel on Thursday night didn’t hear her.
__
Follow AP’s coverage of the Jan. 6 committee hearings at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege. | 2022-07-22T23:59:49+00:00 | kron4.com | https://www.kron4.com/news/politics/ap-politics/jan-6-hearing-dominates-top-tv-networks-except-one/ |
Craftsman-style house on an acre of land in Detroit for sale at $430,000
A stone house with blue trim and a hand-glazed clay tile roof sits on a wooded, serene site covering an acre in northwest Detroit.
The house near 7 Mile Road and Grand River Avenue is listed for sale at $430,000.
The Craftsman-style house, built in 1926, is at the end of a street lined with huge trees in the Malvern Hill Subdivision near Detroit’s Old Redford neighborhood. The property backs to the former Rogell golf course, which is being developed as one of Detroit’s newest parks, the 98-acre Rogell Park.
The house at 22322 Roxford has three bedrooms, two full baths and 2,800 square feet. It's listed by Christian Draheim of O’Connor Realty Detroit and Craig Brown of @properties Christie’s Int’l R.E. Detroit.
The house takes you back in history with its old-time charm and details. The front entry featuring tile from the Flint Faience Tile Co. opens to the first-floor, where there are leaded glass doors that open to various rooms. They include a living room with a stone fireplace, a parlor with large bay windows and a dining room that opens to a butler’s pantry with a plate-warming cupboard. Also on the first floor: a bedroom, a kitchen with a built-in spice rack, a full bathroom with ceramic tile and many built-in storage areas.
The second floor has two bedrooms (one with a walk-in closet and the other featuring Miracle Doors), a full bathroom, several large closet spaces and a room that opens to a small balcony overlooking the backyard.
Recent home improvements include refinished hardwood floors, the exterior sealing of basement walls, a new electrical panel, new gutters and a new sewer line, according to Draheim, who said the current owners bought the property in 2016 and are the fourth owners of the house. They bought parcels of land connected to the property after their purchase.
“They did that combination back in 2017, so it's a total of an acre of property in one tax bill,” Draheim said.
The house's tranquil exterior features stairs that lead to a large sunken garden along with a two-car stone garage that matches the house and a porte co·chère.
Draheim's description of the property: “It’s off the beaten path.”
Brendel Hightower is an assistant editor at the Detroit Free Press. Contact her at bhightower@freepress.com. | 2023-02-19T12:53:58+00:00 | freep.com | https://www.freep.com/story/marketplace/real-estate/2023/02/19/craftsman-style-house-in-northwest-detroit-on-sale-for-430000/69888030007/ |
President Biden pushed for Congress to permanently extend the child tax credit, raise the minimum wage and expand nutrition assistance programs to help reduce hunger rates as he opened the second-ever conference on food insecurity and diet-related diseases. But the administration faces a sharp uphill battle.
The conference came amid rising food inflation, the end of pandemic benefits that staved off hunger rates and storms on both coasts threatening the food security of millions. The event ties into one of Biden's goals: end hunger in America by 2030 through proposed legislation, regulatory changes and public-private partnerships.
The strategy put forward by the administration includes expanding nutrition assistance programs and launching more healthcare programs to cover medically tailored meals.
"If you look at your child and you can't feed your child, what the hell else matters?" Biden said.
"In America, no child should go to bed hungry. No parent should die of disease that can be prevented," he said.
His remarks focused on the pandemic, which brought food security and diet-related diseases to the forefront as families waited in long lines at foodbanks. And those with obesity, diabetes and hypertension and other forms of diet-related diseases have had an increased risk of hospitalization with COVID.
"So many of you were there to help your fellow Americans who lost their jobs, closed their businesses, faced eviction, homelessness, hunger, loss, control, maybe worst of all, lost hope and dignity," Biden said.
During the pandemic, major government assistance like stimulus checks and the child tax credit helped the country avert significant increases in food insecurity.
However, almost all pandemic benefits are coming to an end and advocates fear that food insecurity rates will increase this year.
The partisan split threatens the success
The White House's plan in part relies on Congress to pass new laws and it's unclear how quickly most of the ideas could become reality, since Republicans oppose many of the recommendations.
GOP Reps. Glenn "GT" Thompson of Pennsylvania and Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, the top Republicans on the committees that draft legislation related to food and nutrition, have raised concerns over the conference, calling it partisan.
Responding to the charge, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters, "Well, there are 433 other members of the House. It's good to hear their views, I obviously disagree."
Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., the Senate GOP sponsor of legislation funding the conference, participated in a legislative panel at the start of the event. But he stayed away from discussing potential bills, focusing instead on private partnerships and his own experience as a business owner.
When asked about the partisan divides, Vilsack credited Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., for helping to push through legislation that provided universal free meals over the summer and flexibilities to schools on what they can serve as they grapple with supply chain issues. Boozman's office said he not attend the event due to scheduling conflicts.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra also pushed back on the notion that the conference is partisan, noting the legislation funding the bill was bipartisan.
"There's clearly support for looking at food as medicine, there's clearly support for addressing nutrition to get you to better health, there's clearly support for more fitness for all Americans," Becerra told NPR. "To me those are nonpartisan issues. ... There are any number of people who are suffering from diabetes, heart disease, and I guarantee you they have Ds and Rs back behind their name."
The government and companies want to act without Congress, too
A major component of the White House's strategy is reliant on partnerships with companies and nonprofits. Private companies have committed over $8 billion in investments to help reach the White House goals. For example, Tyson is committing over $250 million over seven years to increase access to protein products, particularly at foodbanks.
"Some of the most successful government programs focused on health and nutrition are built around collaboration with the private sector," said John R. Tyson, executive vice president and strategy and chief sustainability officer at Tyson, adding that the effort will expand an existing program the poultry processor has where they provide grants for foodbanks for bigger fridges and storage equipment to hold and pack more food. "That's another example of where an event like this could potentially yield some innovation around how we get food to people who need it."
Vilsack and Becerra said USDA and HHS will be checking in on the progress of the commitments.
And there are some things that agencies can get started on.
USDA has some flexibility to expand a program that allows schools in low-income areas to provide free meals. The Food and Drug Administration will also begin to look at changes to nutrition labels to put them on the front and regulate how the word "healthy" is used on packages.
However, any changes are expected to take months and years to implement. Advocates are hopeful the conference serves as a first step towards future investments and policy changes.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. | 2022-09-28T20:43:41+00:00 | klcc.org | https://www.klcc.org/npr-politics/npr-politics/2022-09-28/key-takeaways-from-bidens-conference-on-hunger-and-nutrition-in-america |
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Joe Manchin has said he’ll oppose an economic measure he’s been negotiating with Democratic leaders if it includes climate or energy provisions or higher taxes on the rich and corporations, a Democrat briefed on the conversations said late Thursday, delivering a stunning blow to one of the party’s top election-year priorities.
The official said Manchin told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday that he will only support a new measure if it is limited to curbing pharmaceutical prices and extending federal subsidies for buying health care coverage. Manchin abruptly derailed his party’s bigger and wider-ranging social and environment package last December after months of negotiations and after the measure had already passed the House.
Manchin’s demands leave the future of the latest measure unclear, seemingly upending the hopes of President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders’ for a more sweeping package they could push through Congress by August. That would have let them show Democratic voters that they were addressing a range of party priorities like curbing climate change and taxing the rich and draw a contrast with Republicans, who are expected to oppose the legislation unanimously.
However, containing the costs of prescription drugs and extending subsidies for people buying health insurance under former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law are also top Democratic priorities. Manchin’s stance puts his party in the position of having to decide whether it should reluctantly declare victory by solely addressing some of its health care goals, as opposed to demanding more but potentially ending up with nothing.
Democrats’ $2 trillion package that collapsed last year included similar restrictions on prescription drug prices estimated to cost $297 billion over a decade. It also would have temporarily extended subsidies for buying health coverage — which expire in January — with a price tag of around $74 billion.
Manchin spokesperson Sam Runyon issued a statement that reiterated the senator’s assertions that he did not want any measure that emerged to worsen inflation. The government reported this week that consumer costs last month grew by an annual level of 9.1%, the highest figure in four decades.
“Political headlines are of no value to the millions of Americans struggling to afford groceries and gas as inflation soars to 9.1%,” Runyon said. “Senator Manchin believes it’s time for leaders to put political agendas aside, reevaluate and adjust to the economic realities the country faces to avoid taking steps that add fuel to the inflation fire.”
Manchin signaled unease with the negotiations on Wednesday, saying the latest inflation figures left him feeling “more cautious than I’ve ever been” about agreeing to a package that could fuel further price increases.
The official who described the talks was not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Biden and congressional Democrats have been hoping to enact a roughly $1 trillion version of the $2 trillion bill that Manchin killed in December and tout it as an achievement before the November elections. Republicans, who hope to capture House and Senate control in the fall voting, say the new measure would worsen inflation by boosting spending and raising taxes.
Manchin, one of Congress’ more centrist Democrats, has enormous leverage, much to the dismay of many in his party. Using special budget rules, Democrats can push a package through the 50-50 Senate if they are solidly united, along with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.
They also control the House, though narrowly. Recent grumbling from some moderates there about raising taxes — an easy campaign-season target for Republicans — has raised questions about the fate of tax boost proposals in that chamber.
Top Democrats have wanted to reach agreement and approve the measure before Congress begins its August recess. Progress on major legislation is much harder in the autumn of election years, when every vote can become the target of a barrage of campaign attack ads.
White House spokesman Nick Conger declined to comment on Manchin’s position.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called Democrats’ legislation “our last chance to prevent the most catastrophic-and costly-effects of climate change.” But he said the party must “salvage as much of this package as possible. The expression that failure is not an option is overused, but failure really is not an option here.”
“It seems odd that Sen. Manchin would choose as his legacy to be the one man who single-handedly doomed humanity. But we can’t throw in the towel on the planet,” said John Podesta, founder of the liberal Center for American Progress, who said Biden should use his executive powers to take climate action.
Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, called it “outrageous that Manchin and the Republican Party have killed climate legislation this Congress,” and called on Biden to take action.
In talks with Schumer that have lasted months, Manchin had previously expressed support for energy and climate language and for raising levies on high-earners and big companies.
Just this week, two Democratic aides said bargainers were planning to include a proposal to extend the solvency of Medicare for three more years by applying an existing 3.8% tax on high earners to many people who earn income from some tax-advantaged business entities. Asked about that, Runyon said Manchin has always supported keeping Medicare solvent and reducing pharmaceutical costs.
According to the official, Schumer had told Manchin during their talks that he would support using half of the overall measure for deficit reduction, a Manchin demand.
Schumer also said he would back setting aside $375 billion for climate and energy provisions, the official said. He also told Manchin he would back provisions aimed at helping domestic energy drilling — the West Virginian is a strong supporter of coal and domestic oil production — and would not include tax credits for electric vehicles, which Manchin had largely opposed.
The official said that even so, the resulting measure would have included clean energy tax credits and trimmed carbon emissions by almost 40 percent by 2030, according to Democratic estimates.
___
AP reporter Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. | 2022-07-15T07:32:24+00:00 | wtmj.com | https://wtmj.com/national/2022/07/15/dem-says-manchin-blocking-energy-tax-provisions-in-big-bill-7/ |
Which egg poacher pan is best?
If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then eggs are arguably the most critical ingredient of that meal. While most people are confident in making scrambled and fried eggs, fewer know how to poach eggs at home. While there is a definite skill set required, the best egg poacher pan makes it easier to produce a perfect egg.
If you want to upgrade from poaching eggs in a simple water bath, the Norpro Stainless Steel Egg Poacher/Skillet Set is the dual-purpose pan for you.
What to know before you buy an egg poacher pan
Capacity
When it comes to egg poacher pans, size matters. If your household is large and loves everything topped with a runny egg, look for a larger capacity pan that holds four or more at a time.
The cup size matters, too. Deep cups can hold larger eggs, while shallow cups poach more quickly. Consider the grade of eggs you usually purchase and select a poacher that fits those.
Nonstick vs. uncoated
Nonstick egg cups make life easy in the bleary-eyed morning when breakfast is overdue and people are hungry. If you are avoiding extra fat in oil or butter, this is a good option for you.
However, some people do not appreciate any additional chemicals in their food. If this sounds like you, select the nonstick version.
Insert vs. stand-alone poaching pan
There are two basic pieces of equipment: an insert and a stand-alone pan.
- Inserts: Inserts fit any pan that can accommodate them. These are usually more affordable and take up less storage space. However, the pan needs to be deep enough and have a lid for proper coaching.
- Stand-alone: If your kitchen has plenty of room, a stand-alone poaching pan is a great choice. These are generally more expensive, but you won’t need to worry about finding a pan that fits.
What to look for in a quality egg poacher pan
Handles
Handles on each egg cup and also in the poaching insert make it easy to lift when breakfast is ready. These should be sturdy and tightly attached.
Two pans in one
Look for a standalone pan that you can use as a regular sauté pan with a lid. Remove the poaching insert and use the pan as you would normally.
Easy to care for
The last thing you want to do after breakfast is scrub the pan. You can often put easy-care egg poaching pans in the dishwasher.
How to poach the perfect egg
There is a learning curve to poaching a perfect egg.
- Bring water to a simmer, not a rolling boil.
- If you want to poach fewer eggs than you have cups, fill the empty cups with water. This avoids burning the cups and creates the perfect steamy environment for poaching.
- A quick spray of oil or a thin coat of butter in every cup ensures the easy release of finished eggs.
- Fresh eggs taste and poach the best. To see if your eggs are fresh, place them in a bowl and cover them in water. If eggs lay on their sides, they are fresh. Are they standing on the end? It’s time to get new eggs.
- The length of time you poach depends on how you prefer your yolks. From very runny yolks with barely set whites to harder yolks and firm whites, set the timer for two to six minutes.
How much you can expect to spend on an egg poacher pan
This will vary depending on whether or not you buy a stand-alone pan or an egg poacher insert, as well as the capacity of both. Expect to spend $10-$50.
Egg poacher pan FAQ
Is there a trick to removing eggs without breaking the yolk?
A. Adding a quick spray of cooking oil or a little bit of butter helps eggs release more easily. You can also use a narrow spatula to help eggs move out of their cups.
Take your time when you are removing eggs from the cups. Patience is key here.
Can young children use a poaching pan?
A. Because poaching uses hot water and steam on the stove, most young children cannot safely use a poaching pan. However, with supervision, teens are perfectly capable of making breakfast using a poaching pan.
What’s the best egg poacher pan to buy?
Top egg poacher pan
Norpro Stainless Steel Egg Poacher/Skillet Set
What you need to know: This durable, beautiful set is designed to last for years of breakfasts.
What you’ll love: These stainless steel cups fit up to jumbo-sized eggs that you can watch poaching through the glass lid. It poaches five eggs at a time and is well designed and executed.
What you should consider: Without proper preparation, eggs may not release from the stainless steel poaching cups.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top egg poacher pan for the money
Modern Innovations Egg Poacher Pan
What you need to know: When storage space is scarce, this poaching pan also doubles as a 10-inch skillet.
What you’ll love: Poach four eggs at once and lift them easily from the pan with small knobs on each cup. The cups are deep and nonstick for easy release. The pan itself is tempered stainless steel, and the lid is glass. It comes with a silicone spatula.
What you should consider: Users report that the handles come off the cups and are not easy to reattach.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Eggssentials Egg Poacher Insert
What you need to know: This poaching insert works in the skillets that you already have.
What you’ll love: You can use this with any pan you already have. Remove eggs individually with the handles attached to each nonstick cup, or lift the entire insert out with a convenient ring in the center of the insert. It’s also available for two or six eggs. The two- and four-egg versions work in an Instant Pot.
What you should consider: You need a pan that is at least 7.5 inches wide and at least 2.5 inches tall inside, and it has to have a lid.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Suzannah Kolbeck 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. | 2022-05-11T18:06:32+00:00 | cbs42.com | https://www.cbs42.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/cookware-br/best-egg-poacher-pan/ |
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