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What are the best tips for keeping a dog cool in the summer?
Summer is a tough time for dogs, as most climates change to much warmer temperatures. It’s important to keep dogs cool when it’s hot out, not just so they’re comfortable but to prevent heatstroke, which is often fatal.
Some dogs are particularly susceptible to hot weather, such as thick-coated and flat-faced breeds, but all can get in trouble if you don’t look out for them on hot days. Luckily, keeping your canine companion cool is easy once you know how.
Tips for keeping your dog cool
Limit walks in hot weather
Dogs can easily overexert themselves on walks and end up dangerously overheated. On hot days, limit walks to the coolest hours: early morning before the sun has come up or late night when the sun has set and temperatures have started to drop. Even on warm days, you should avoid walking your dog when the sun is at its hottest (roughly between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.).
Cooling vests can help your canine companion maintain a safe body temperature if it’s still fairly warm outside after the hottest hours of the day.
Check the temperature of the roads or sidewalk before you take your dog for a walk, as it can get hot enough to burn dogs’ paws. Place your hand on the sidewalk, and if it’s too hot to hold it there for 20 seconds, it’s too hot for your dog’s paws.
Keep your dog indoors
When it’s hot outside, your dog should spend the majority of the day indoors, since it will be cooler in your home than out in the yard. Keep the blinds or curtains closed, as sunlight coming through the windows will heat up your home. If you don’t have central air, consider running a portable air conditioner or a window unit for your dog on exceptionally hot days. You can keep your dog entertained indoors by playing games with them, engaging in short trick training sessions and giving them interactive toys to play with.
Put out a pool for your dog
Your dog still needs to spend some time outdoors on hot days to go potty and stretch their legs and having a pool for them to splash around and lay down in can let them safely spend more time in the yard. It’s easy to find dog pools with reinforced bases to keep dogs from puncturing them. Some dogs also love splash pads or being sprayed with a hose to cool off.
Create shade in the yard
If there’s no natural shade in your yard, create a shady spot for your dog to hang out in using a shade sail or a gazebo. However, you still shouldn’t let your dog spend too much time outdoors, even in shady spots, when it’s extremely hot.
Make sure your dog always has access to water
It’s easy for dogs to become dehydrated on hot days, so make sure they always have access to fresh water. If you work out of the home and your dog will be along for much of the day, consider buying a pet water fountain, since these have a larger capacity than a regular water bowl and circulate the water through a filter to keep it clean.
What to buy to keep dogs cool in summer
Ruffwear Swamp Cooler Evaporative Dog Cooling Vest
This vest works using evaporative cooling to keep your dog cooler on hot days. It’s a great choice for walking your dog during those periods of the summer when it seems to be hot 24 hours a day, so there’s no cool time of day for a walk. Simply soak the vest in cold water, wring it out and it’s ready to keep your pup cool.
Sold by Amazon
PetSafe Drinkwell Pet Water Fountain
With a whopping 450-ounce water capacity, this will easily keep multiple dogs in fresh water all day. It circulates and filters the water inside to keep it fresh and hygienic.
The Green Pet Shop Dog Cooling Mat
There’s no need for freezing or refrigeration with this cooling mat. It contains a special pressure-activated cooling gel that helps cool your dog off when they lay on it. If your dog can never seem to find a comfortable spot to rest on hot days, this mat will help.
Coolaroo The Original Cooling Elevated Pet Bed
While plush beds and sofas can feel too warm for dogs to lay on when it’s hot, this cooling bed has a mesh sleeping area with full airflow underneath. It gives your dog somewhere comfortable to lounge without overheating. If your canine companion often opts for cool tile floors or other unusual spots on hot days, they may benefit from this bed.
Available in a range of sizes to fit any dog, this pool is a great choice for sticky summer days. It’s easy to fill and empty and folds up into a compact package for storage when you aren’t using it. The textured non-slip base is reinforced for added durability.
Sold by Amazon
This splash pad is suitable for dogs, kids or both. Attach it to a hose and it squirts water from multiple points around the rim. If your dog loves being squirted from a hose or playing with water, this splash pad multiplies that excitement, giving them something fun to do while keeping them cool. The base is reinforced so dogs’ nails won’t puncture it.
Sold by Amazon
Black and Decker Portable Air Conditioner
When the weather’s exceptionally hot, the best thing you can do for your dog is keep them inside for most of the day with the shades closed and an air conditioner running. This portable air conditioner is a worthwhile investment, quickly and easily cooling rooms of up to 350 square feet.
Sold by Amazon
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Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/pets-br/dog-health-br/how-to-keep-dogs-cool-in-summer/ | 2022-04-12T11:20:12 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/pets-br/dog-health-br/how-to-keep-dogs-cool-in-summer/ |
Which balloon pump is best?
If you love to throw parties for your friends and family and love balloons, you need a balloon pump. Balloon pumps make quick work of a job that would be time-consuming and tedious if you tried to blow them all up with just your own lung power.
The best balloon pump is the ID Idaodan Portable Dual Nozzle Electric Balloon Pump. It’s affordably priced, and the airflow is regulated to be safe for a child to use.
What to know before you buy a balloon pump
Electric vs. manual balloon pump
It may seem like electric balloon pumps are the only way to go, but manual pumps have their benefits too.
- Electric pumps are best for inflating large amounts of balloons quickly and regularly. Some have enough nozzles to let multiple people fill balloons at once, increasing your balloon-filling potential. Most are designed to pull air from around them but some are specialized to work with helium tanks.
- Manual pumps are best for inflating a few balloons at once, or if you don’t plan on inflating balloons very often. Their output rate is small and they require more effort, but they cost a fraction of an electric pump’s price and can be used anywhere.
Noise generation
Electric balloon pumps can generate a tremendous amount of noise. In professional settings, extended exposure to high noise-generating pumps can damage your hearing. In personal situations, the noise can disturb your family or give away the game if you’re trying to make it a surprise.
What to look for in a quality balloon pump
Ease of use
Electric and manual pumps each have their own ease-of-use aspects.
- Electric pumps’ ease-of-use is all about portability and intuitive design. The easiest to use are lightweight and have handles for carrying, since the best place to inflate your balloons is where the party will occur. They have nozzles spaced far enough apart not to interfere with one another and offer quick access to the power button.
- Manual pumps’ ease-of-use is about limiting the effort required. Easy hand pumps force air into the balloon in both pull directions rather than having one direction prime air and the other force it in. Easy foot pumps have long enough tubes to enable use without hunching.
Controllers
For electric balloon pumps, controllers determine how air is pumped into your balloon. Most are triggered by pressing a button, which takes a hand away from the balloon and can make things more difficult. The best use either a foot pedal or a pressure-sensitive nozzle that starts and stops the airflow as needed, without taking hands away from balloons.
How much you can expect to spend on a balloon pump
Manual pumps rarely cost more than $10. Electric pumps usually cost $20-40, though a few professional-grade pumps cost $50 or more.
Balloon pump FAQ
Can I use a balloon pump to inflate other objects?
A. Technically a balloon pump could inflate other objects, but two factors typically prevent this. First, balloon pumps just aren’t that strong. They’re designed to inflate a tiny object, not your mattress. Secondly, balloon-pump valves aren’t meant for objects that aren’t balloons. You might be able to jury-rig something, but it’d be much easier just to get a matching pump.
Can I use other pumps to inflate balloons?
A. Once again there’s the issue of mismatching valves. Also, a non-balloon pump is likely to be too powerful and cause your balloons to immediately burst.
How quickly can a balloon pump inflate balloons?
A. That depends on if it’s manual or electric, and how powerful an electric pump is. Manual pumps have the greatest variance in inflation rates. How the pump operates, and how easy it is to remove and tie off a filled balloon, can make inflating a single balloon take as long as a minute. Meanwhile, even the weakest electric pumps can fill a balloon in seconds.
When you factor in most electric pumps having multiple nozzles, if each nozzle has someone working at it, electric pumps can fill hundreds of balloons in an hour. The only slowdown is how quickly one can tie off a filled balloon.
What’s the best balloon pump to buy?
Top balloon pump
ID Idaodan Portable Dual Nozzle Electric Balloon Pump
What you need to know: This is perfect for non-professional balloon lovers.
What you’ll love: It has automatic and manual modes so you can blow up just a few or a whole bushel of balloons with speed. It has two nozzle sizes to inflate a wider range of balloons. Users were impressed by the low noise generation.
What you should consider: It doesn’t have the power or long-term durability for professional party throwers. A few consumers received U.K.-based plugs rather than U.S.-based ones.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top balloon pump for the money
Control Balloon Products Tota Handheld Two-Way Dual Action Balloon Pump
What you need to know: This is perfect for smaller events.
What you’ll love: It lets you push air into the balloon while pumping in both directions, saving time and energy. It’s roughly a foot long and 2.25 inches thick, making it easy to use for both older kids and adults.
What you should consider: It takes up to an hour to inflate roughly 40 balloons, making it best for small events. The nozzle isn’t compatible with all balloon types.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
LiKee Electric Balloon Pump Kit
What you need to know: The pig-like design makes this a fun family pump.
What you’ll love: The pink pig design is perfect for tricking your kids into helping you blow up balloons for their own birthday parties. Inflation is triggered by pushing down on the nozzle and stopped by releasing pressure, so there’s never wasted air or excess noise.
What you should consider: This pump can’t be hooked up to helium or hydrogen. Some consumers noted it can become hot quickly, though not hot enough to burn.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/toys-games-br/best-balloon-pump/ | 2022-04-12T11:20:19 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/toys-games-br/best-balloon-pump/ |
19 presents to make every mom happy this Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is all about celebrating moms and the other important women in your circle of family and friends. With the holiday only a few weeks away, it’s time to find the perfect gift for the maternal figures in your life.
We picked products that are top-rated and sure to make any type of mom happy — whether she wants to ring in the holiday on a hike or with a glass of wine.
Gifts that celebrate moms
These gifts will make any mom or maternal figure feel loved this Mother’s Day.
Mom and Mini Bracelet Set: available at Macy’s
These pink and gold bracelets give Mom the opportunity to match with whoever gives her this set. Both bracelets are adjustable to fit different wrist sizes.
WillowTree figurine: available at Wayfair
This statue of a woman holding a child is a sweet keepsake for any maternal woman in your life, including moms, aunts, grandmothers or wives.
Birth Month Flower Heart Necklace: available at Uncommon Goods
Give Mom a piece of jewelry to commemorate the month she became a mother. The 12 necklace options showcase each month’s birth flowers encased in eco-resin.
Mother’s Embrace Bouquet: available at 1-800-Flowers
Surprise your mother with this bouquet that includes a mix of lilies and roses in varying shades of pink. The flowers also come in a pink glass vase that features a spiral design.
Gifts for outdoorsy moms
For the mom that is always in nature, these gifts will help her enjoy the outdoors.
Arm-Protecting Garden Gloves: available at Uncommon Goods
Extra-long gloves that cinch at the forearm provide maximum protection for Mom as she hits the garden this spring. They are available in a dainty floral pattern and three sizes.
Steel Outdoor Fire Pit with Lid: available at Wayfair
Make any backyard feel warmer and more welcoming with this astrological-themed fire pit. It comes with a spark screen, a poker and a lid for safety.
Adidas Mini Tote Crossbody Bag: available at Dick’s Sporting Goods
Whether she’s going on a hike or running errands, Mom can pack all of her essentials in this small yet sturdy bag. It’s available in black or white.
Lulu Lemon Wunder Under Crop Leggings: available at Amazon
Give your mother the gift of support and flexibility with these high-rise leggings. She can wear them to the gym or around the house.
Gifts for moms who are always trying new recipes
If your mother loves cooking, these gifts will elevate her next dinner party.
Sur La Table Jardin Apron: available at Sur La Table
This adjustable apron is bespeckled with florals and makes for a fashionable staple in the kitchen. In case of spills, it is machine-washable.
Spode Blue Italian Stemless Wine Glass: available at Wayfair
Made of glass and decorated with a blue pattern, this set of four wine glasses is great for toasting to Mom.
Online Cooking Class: available at Sur La Table
Select from a variety of online cooking classes offered by Sur La Table. Options range from mixing margaritas to searing Mediterranean steak.
Gifts for moms who need more comfort in their lives
Your mother works hard, so help her unwind with these calming gifts.
Audible Subscription: available at Audible
For a mom who loves to read, give her the gift of an unlimited library of audiobooks with a subscription to Audible. Subscriptions are available for one month, three months, six months or a year.
Minnetonka Women’s Sheepskin Slide Slippers: available at Dick’s Sporting Goods
Keep your mother’s toes warm in these suede and sheepskin slippers. They are available in multiple colors, including black and pink.
Relaxing Lavender Mineral Bath Salt Soak: available at Ulta
Make Mom’s bath extra calming with these lavender-scented bath salts. It is formulated without parabens or silicones.
Sonoma Goods For Life Cozy Pajama Pants: available at Kohl’s
Available in multiple colors and patterns, these bestselling pajama pants will make any mother feel ready to relax.
Laneige Berry Sweet Lip Set: available at Sephora
This set comes with one full-sized lip mask and one mini lip mask, and each one features a sweet flavor. The mask can be used overnight or during the day to help keep lips hydrated and smooth.
La Vie Est Belle Perfume: available at Sephora and Ulta
Add to your mother’s perfume collection with this warm Lancome offering that has hints of vanilla, orange and iris. It’s available in multiple sizes, so Mom can keep her perfume on her dresser or throw a rollerball in her purse.
Apotheke Earl Grey Signature Candle: available at Macy’s
With notes of tea and bergamot, this 11-ounce candle will make any room smell like a cozy coffee shop. It is the perfect gift for a tea lover.
iReliev Percussion Massage Gun: available at iReliev
Whether your mom works out or simply works hard, this massage gun promotes blood flow and helps ease tension. It is simple to use and features three levels of intensity.
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Sophia Adamucci 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. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/mothers-day-gift-guide-2022/ | 2022-04-12T11:20:25 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/mothers-day-gift-guide-2022/ |
NEW DELHI (AP) — An unusually early heat wave brought more extreme temperatures Monday to a large swath of India’s northwest, raising concerns that such weather conditions could become typical.
The India Meteorological Department forecast that the temperature in New Delhi would reach 41.8 degrees Celsius (107.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, nearly eight degrees above normal.
The weather agency declares a heat wave when the temperature is at least 4.5 C (8 F) above average.
The main summer months — April, May and June — are always excruciatingly hot in most parts of India before monsoon rains bring cooler temperatures. But the heat wave has arrived early and grown particularly intense in the past decade, killing hundreds every year.
During heat waves, the country usually also suffers severe water shortages with tens of millions of its 1.4 billion people lacking running water.
Extreme temperatures have struck large parts of northern and western India in the last week, with Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi among the worst hit. Higher temperatures also were felt in relatively cooler Indian-controlled Kashmir in the Himalayas, where many Indians go to escape the summer heat.
Already this year, India has recorded its warmest March since 1901.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that heat waves and humidity-related heat stress will intensify in South Asia, and scientists who study climate change say Indians can expect more of the same hot temperatures in the coming years.
Vimal Mishra, an expert at the Indian Institute of Technology’s Water and Climate Lab, said the number of Indian states hit by heat waves has grown in recent years, as extreme temperatures become more frequent and intense.
“If you are looking for the clearest signal of climate change in India, then heat waves are a classic example. They are unavoidable and will occur more frequently,” Mishra said.
Heat waves are especially dangerous for daily wage workers, rickshaw drivers, street vendors and the homeless, many of whom have to work outside in hot conditions and are at the greatest risk of heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
India’s worst heat wave since 1992 was in 2015, when at least 2,081 people died. | https://www.cenlanow.com/science/ap-science/indias-northwest-reels-under-unusual-early-heat-wave/ | 2022-04-12T11:20:32 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/science/ap-science/indias-northwest-reels-under-unusual-early-heat-wave/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Frank Vogel masterminded the 17th championship in the Los Angeles Lakers’ remarkable history in his first season on their bench.
Exactly 18 months after that triumph, he also became part of the Lakers’ past.
The Lakers fired Vogel on Monday, choosing their title-winning coach to take the first fall for one of the most disappointing seasons in NBA history.
Los Angeles finished 33-49 and missed the 10-team Western Conference playoffs this season. It was a humiliating underachievement for LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and a veteran-laden supporting cast widely expected to contend for another championship.
Vogel was under contract through next season, but almost nothing has gone right over the past two seasons for the rosters assembled by general manager Rob Pelinka and coached by Vogel, who went 127-98 in his three seasons running the club.
Pelinka declined to elaborate Monday on why he and owner Jeanie Buss felt Vogel needed to be fired.
“Today is not going to be a day of finger-pointing and unwinding all the specific reasons,” Pelinka said. “We just felt organizationally, at the highest level, it was time for a new voice. … That’s not to say anything against the incredible accomplishments that Frank Vogel has had. He was a great coach here, and he’s going to go on to be a great coach somewhere else.”
ESPN reported Vogel’s imminent firing immediately after the Lakers finished the season by beating Denver in overtime Sunday night. During an awkward postgame news conference, Vogel admitted he had not yet been told of the club’s decision before it was leaked to ESPN.
Pelinka dismissed the public relations embarrassment of the leak for the Lakers, calling the report “speculative and unsourced.”
But it was a tacky end to a tenure that began tremendously for Vogel, the former coach at Orlando and Indiana. The Lakers claimed a title in the Florida bubble in October 2020, but haven’t won another playoff round since.
Pelinka doesn’t plan to replace Vogel immediately, and he said he hasn’t even assembled a list of potential candidates. The GM said it “would be great” to have a coach in place before the draft in June, but the Lakers’ search will be “thorough and methodical.”
Los Angeles never resembled a championship team this season despite trading for Westbrook and signing Anthony to play alongside James and Davis. The Lakers stumbled along near .500 until Jan. 7, when they entered a 10-30 nosedive exacerbated by the latest lengthy injury absence for Davis, who has missed more games than he has played in the past two seasons.
“This was a disappointing Lakers season at every level,” Pelinka said. “In the face of disappointment, our fans expect more, and that’s in every facet. It starts in the front office led by me, and our ability to construct the right roster. It starts with the coaches holding players accountable and making sure there’s on-court execution.”
Despite another impressive season from the 37-year-old James, the Lakers never jelled this season with a roster built around nine players over 30 and 11 players who weren’t with the team last season. Davis managed to play in only 40 of their 82 games, while Westbrook struggled to fit into the Lakers’ team concept during one of the worst seasons of his professional career.
After so much preseason ballyhoo around the teaming of James, Davis and Westbrook, the trio managed to play in only 21 games together — and went 11-10. The Lakers used 41 different starting lineups.
“At the end of the day, the reason why we weren’t very good together is we weren’t on the damn floor together,” said James after the Lakers finished with the worst winning percentage of his 19 NBA seasons (.402). “You never got a chance to see what the ballclub could be.”
Although Vogel remained publicly confident in his ability to fix the problems created by the injuries and two years of high-risk roster assembly, the coach never came up with any consistent solutions to Los Angeles’ woes.
But while Vogel received ample criticism for his curious decisions on player rotations and his lack of an offensive game plan, the Lakers’ single biggest problem in Vogel’s final two seasons was Davis’ inability to stay healthy.
The eight-time All-Star big man was dominant in the bubble, but Davis has played in just 76 of the Lakers’ 154 games over the past two seasons while battling several major injury problems.
James also struggled with injuries during the last two years, appearing in only 101 games. He played in just one of the Lakers’ final eight games this season because of a sprained ankle, and Los Angeles was eliminated from playoff contention during that stretch despite Davis’ return from a six-week absence for three late games.
James spoke to the media Monday morning before Vogel’s fate was revealed by the Lakers’ front office.
“I respect Frank as a coach, as a man,” James said. “Our partnership that we’ve had over the few years here has been nothing but candid, and great conversations. This is a guy that gives everything to the game and prepared us every single night. … I don’t know what’s going to happen with Frank being here, but I’ve got nothing but respect for him.”
Vogel was hired in May 2019 to assemble a cohesive team around James and Davis, who was officially acquired from New Orleans two months later. Vogel’s plans worked right away: His first team weathered the NBA’s coronavirus shutdown and then won a ring, with Vogel leading a deep, defensively dominant group to the title.
Pelinka has thoroughly altered that championship roster since then, and the results have been catastrophic. Less than a full calendar year after the triumph in the bubble, only James, Davis and Talen Horton-Tucker remained on the roster to start this season — along with Dwight Howard, who left the team and returned.
Los Angeles went 42-30 last season while battling major injuries to Davis and James before losing to Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs. Pelinka then disassembled the Lakers’ championship-winning supporting cast when he allowed Alex Caruso to leave for Chicago and traded Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma in a package for Westbrook.
Pelinka hoped to build a Big Three of elite talent to be supplemented by low-cost veterans, rather than homegrown or long-tenured Lakers. Instead, Pelinka’s moves forced Vogel to rebuild his defense from scratch with inferior defensive players.
The Lakers didn’t come close to matching the last two teams’ defensive success, finishing 21st in defensive rating after being a top-three team in Vogel’s first two seasons, and their offensive output couldn’t make up for it with Davis frequently unavailable.
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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/lakers-fire-title-winning-coach-frank-vogel-after-3-seasons/ | 2022-04-12T11:20:39 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/lakers-fire-title-winning-coach-frank-vogel-after-3-seasons/ |
A look at what’s happening around the majors on Tuesday:
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REMARKABLE ROOKIE
Guardians newcomer Steven Kwan has quickly become the biggest story in baseball after a sensational start in a season-opening series at Kansas City.
The 24-year-old rookie is the first player in major league history to reach base at least three times in each of his first four games. Kwan hit a bases-loaded triple and walked twice Monday in a 10-7 win over the Royals.
Kwan, who made his debut opening day, is 9 for 13 at the plate and has reached base in 15 of 19 plate appearances. That’s the most times any player has safely reached in his first four games since 1901.
“Pretty cool,” Kwan said in his typical understated manner. “Pretty surreal.”
Kwan was Cleveland’s fifth-round draft pick in 2018. He’s a contact hitter — he’s swung 26 times so far this season and gotten a piece of the ball every time, according to Statcast.
Kwan had the lowest swing-and-miss rate in the minors last year among players with at least 300 plate appearances at 2.6%.
Cleveland opens a series at Cincinnati, with Tyler Mahle starting for the Reds. He won on opening day, holding the World Series champion Braves to no earned runs in five innings at Atlanta.
Shane Bieber pitches for the Guardians. In his first start, he allowed one earned run in 4 2/3 innings at Kansas City.
SEEING DOUBLE
Giants reliever Tyler Rogers and his twin brother, Padres reliever Taylor Rogers, spent a few minutes chatting with big grins behind the batting cage Monday afternoon as their teams prepared for a three-game series in San Francisco.
Later, they headed to home plate and exchanged the lineup cards for their managers before posing for photos with the umpire crew.
What fun for these two now playing in the same division on rival clubs.
“Probably if you put them in the same uniform you couldn’t tell them apart,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “I know it’s a special day for both of them being able to be on the field together. There’s twins and then there’s twins, and that is a difficult one to tell apart.”
Yu Darvish starts for San Diego on Tuesday night. In his season debut last week at Arizona, he had a no-hitter in progress but was pulled following the sixth inning after throwing 92 pitches.
DOUBLE DEBUT
Tampa Bay right-hander Tommy Romero and Oakland righty Adam Oller will both be making their major league debuts when they pitch against each other at Tropicana Field.
It will be the 28th time since Baseball Reference data is available since 1901 that two starting pitchers are making their big league debuts in the same game.
Neither the Athletics or Rays have been involved in such a game.
The most recent occurrences came in 2020 when Washington’s Wil Crowe faced Miami’s Sixto Sánchez on Aug. 22 at Nationals Park and Detroit’s Casey Mize and Dane Dunning of the White Sox met Aug. 19 in Chicago.
WELCOME BACK
Martin Perez spent his first seven big league seasons with the Texas Rangers. The lefty is back after three years away.
Perez makes his return to the mound for the Rangers to wrap up a two-game set against Colorado, with right-hander Chad Kuhl pitching for the first time with the Rockies.
Texas initially signed Perez as a 16-year-old international free agent out of Venezuela in July 2007, and he made his big league debut in 2012. After going 43-49 in 141 games over seven years with the Rangers, Perez went to Minnesota in free agency for the 2019 season and then pitched for Boston the past two years.
Kuhl signed as a free agent last month after pitching in 100 games (84 starts) for Pittsburgh in his first five big league seasons. He was 5-7 with a 4.82 in 28 games (14 starts) for the Pirates last year.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/leading-off-kwan-delivers-again-rogers-twins-together/ | 2022-04-12T11:20:46 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/leading-off-kwan-delivers-again-rogers-twins-together/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Lerner family that has owned the Washington Nationals since 2006 is exploring the possibility of selling the Major League Baseball franchise.
Manager Dave Martinez said before the team’s game at Atlanta that managing principal owner Mark Lerner called him Monday morning to deliver the news. Lerner, who has taken over a lead role with the team from his father, Ted, has in recent years said the family would never sell the team.
“To say the least, I was shocked,” Martinez said. “Those are big decisions that the Lerner family had to make. I’ll support than in any way possible. This doesn’t mean my relationship with the Lerner family goes away. We’re still in this. I know know they’re very committed to this organization, as am I.”
The Lerners hiring a firm to find potential investors to buy part or all of the Nationals was first reported by the Washington Post.
Forbes valued the team at $2 billion. Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen bought the New York Mets in 2020 for $2.4 billion.
The Lerners bought the Nationals from MLB for $450 million 16 years ago after the team was moved to the U.S. capital from Montreal. The franchise won its first World Series title in 2019.
Martinez said he speaks with Mark Lerner daily and met with coaches Monday to talk to them about the news. It’s his goal to keep it from being a distraction for players.
“We always talk about the circle of trust, and the Lerner family and this organization is part of that circle,” he said. “But this is our main focus, so let’s get the boys ready to play and go play good baseball.”
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/lerner-family-exploring-selling-mlbs-washington-nationals/ | 2022-04-12T11:20:53 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/lerner-family-exploring-selling-mlbs-washington-nationals/ |
Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin has been suspended four games for cross-checking Nashville’s Mark Borowiecki in the face.
The NHL’s department of player safety announced the suspension Monday after holding a hearing with Malkin about the play. In a video explaining the suspension, the league called Malkin’s cross-check “retaliatory and aggressive.”
Malkin was initially given only a four-minute double-minor penalty after striking Borowiecki in the mouth with his stick at the end of the second period Sunday.
“It’s an emotional game out there,” coach Mike Sullivan told reporters after the game. “It’s physical, and sometimes that stuff happens. It was a physical game, especially at the net fronts in those areas where that took place.
“Obviously, we don’t want our best players in the penalty box, but these guys are competitive guys and they push back. We’d prefer they be on the ice. They give us a better chance when they’re on the ice, for sure. But one of the things we love about Geno is how competitive he is, and so when you get an emotional game like the game we had today, those things happen.”
This is Malkin’s second suspension after a one-game ban for high-sticking in 2019. This one costs him $190,000 in salary.
He’s eligible to return April 23 versus Detroit.
The Penguins beat the Predators in overtime to snap a four-game skid. They have lost seven of their last 10 games and are in danger of falling out of third place in the Metropolitan Division and into an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Malkin missed the first 34 games of the season rehabbing from knee surgery. Since making his season debut Jan. 11, the 35-year-old Russian center has been a point-a-game player with 17 goals and 20 assists in 37 games.
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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/penguins-malkin-suspended-4-games-for-cross-check-to-face/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:00 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/penguins-malkin-suspended-4-games-for-cross-check-to-face/ |
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch signed a multi-year contract extension on Monday, after guiding the team to seventh place in the Western Conference and a play-in game berth.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Timberwolves also announced contract extensions for Finch’s assistants, the day before they host the Los Angeles Clippers for a spot in the playoffs.
“They came to me. I think that shows the type of energy and commitment in the building. Everything’s going in the right direction here. It’s a fun time to be a part of the Timberwolves,” said Finch, who was hired midway through the 2020-21 season to replace the fired Ryan Saunders.
Finch has a 62-61 record for the second-best winning percentage (.504) by a head coach in Timberwolves history. The late Flip Saunders (.521) is first. Minnesota went 46-36 this season, the second-best record for the long-languishing franchise over the past 18 years.
“They’re not always easy decisions in this business, but this one was a very easy one. Coach has been a terrific partner for me, and the results on the floor are clear,” executive vice president for basketball operations Sachin Gupta said.
The 52-year-old Finch has been an assistant with Toronto, New Orleans, Denver and Houston. The Timberwolves led the NBA in scoring this season at 115.9 points per game, a first in franchise history. Their defense also forced a league-leading average of 16.3 turnovers per game.
“He’s always communicating, making sure everybody’s straight,” guard Anthony Edwards said. “That’s what you love about him.”
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More AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/play-in-bound-wolves-coach-finch-signs-multi-year-extension/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:07 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/play-in-bound-wolves-coach-finch-signs-multi-year-extension/ |
The mother of a Puerto Rican Olympian was killed by a stray bullet while sewing in her Connecticut home over the weekend, according to the athlete and police.
Police believe Mabel Martinez, 56, was an innocent bystander and the intended target was apparently a man walking outside her home in the town of Waterbury. He was wounded in the leg and survived. No arrests have been announced.
Mabel Martinez was the mother of Yarimar Mercado Martinez, a rifle shooter on the Puerto Rico Olympic team who competed in the summer Olympics last year and in 2016.
Mabel Martinez died Sunday after being shot in the head Saturday afternoon, police said.
Mercado Martinez, 27, expressed her anguish in social media posts.
“Why you? Why this way? You were just sitting in your little house sewing, as you always did,” she wrote in Spanish.
“Two days ago you called me with excitement, asking me to save the date and help you prepare to renew your wedding vows with daddy in Puerto Rico,” she said Sunday. “There are so many things I still needed to learn from you … I was so far away without being able to do anything, I couldn’t even say goodbye to you.”
She wrote that the family intends to bring her mother’s body to Puerto Rico “so her friends and family can say goodbye.”
“I apologize to Puerto Rico because even if I wanted to, I really can’t compete, my place is with my family,” she wrote.
A message seeking comment was left Monday for Mercado Martinez.
The athlete flew out of Brazil late Sunday and has arrived in Connecticut, according to Gilberto Hernández, president of the Puerto Rico Shooting Association, the sport’s governing body in the U.S. territory.
Hernández said it’s not clear when the body would arrive for burial in Puerto Rico, adding that the shooting association is helping pay a portion of the funeral costs.
“We trust that she will overcome this,” he told The Associated Press. “She can count on us. … The doors of the association are always open.”
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said investigators believe the shooting was drug-related and had nothing to do with Mabel Martinez.
“This was definitely a random, tragic act of violence,” he told the AP. “She was in her house. She’s not the intended target.”
Spagnolo said relatives were extremely distraught, including Mabel Martinez’s husband, whom he described as inconsolable.
He said the investigation has been “very, very active” since Saturday.
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AP journalist Dánica Coto contributed to this report from San Juan, Puerto Rico. | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/puerto-rico-olympians-mother-killed-at-home-by-stray-bullet/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:14 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/puerto-rico-olympians-mother-killed-at-home-by-stray-bullet/ |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The only big mistake that Cleveland rookie Steven Kwan has made during his first four big league games came in left field, where he was trying to rush a catch-and-throw to the plate and had a flyball bounce off the heel of his glove.
He hasn’t made many mistakes with a bat in his hands.
And after that gaffe in the outfield Monday, the 24-year-old from Oregon State came right back to belt a bases-loaded triple, becoming the first player to reach base at least three times in each of his first four games while leading the rechristened Guardians to a 10-7 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
“He was trying to do it a little too quick and it hit the heel of his glove. But then his at-bat was terrific,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “His at-bats are really, really good. That’s stating the obvious.”
Might as well drive home the point: Kwan went 5 for 5 and reached safely six times a day earlier, when Cleveland rolled to a 17-3 win over the Royals. He reached base three more times and added his first three RBIs on Monday, finishing the series 9 for 13, reaching base in 15 of 19 plate appearances and scoring four times.
“Pretty cool,” Kwan said in his typical understated manner. “Pretty surreal.”
Oscar Mercado added a two-run homer for the Guardians, who scored just once over the first two games in Kansas City but piled up 27 runs over the last two. The result was a split of the season-opening set between AL Central rivals.
“I’m done trying to figure this out,” Francona said of the scoring disparity.
Logan Allen (1-0) earned the win Monday with two scoreless innings of relief in his first appearance of the season.
The finale was tied 4-all in the seventh when Royals reliever Jake Brentz (0-1) gave up a single, sacrifice bunt and walk. Josh Staumont then gave up bloop singles to Jose Ramirez and Franmil Reyes as Cleveland took a 6-4 lead.
The Royals loaded the bases in the bottom half against Bryan Shaw before Hunter Dozier hit a flyball that Kwan dropped. As a run crossed the plate, Myles Straw threw out a runner at second base in a bang-bang play that stood upon video review. Nick Sandlin relieved and got Adalberto Mondesi to ground into an inning-ending double play.
“Just tried to do too much,” Kwan said of the flyball that got away from him.
Not to worry. Kwan atoned for the mistake with his triple in the eighth inning.
“He’s a tough out. You can tell that already,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said.
Kwan’s now gone 72 plate appearances, including Triple-A and spring training, since his last strikeout, and his 15 times on base through his first four games is the most since in the major leagues since at least 1901.
“There are a lot of player development people who have their chest out right now, as they should,” Francona said. “I know we’re four games in, but every single one of them kept saying ‘Hey, he’s going to be OK, man.’ So I know they’re proud.”
Mercado also had a big finish to the series. He hit a grand slam and had five RBIs in the Guardians’ 17-3 romp Sunday, then drilled a two-run homer into the left-field bullpen to give Cleveland a 4-1 lead in the fourth on Monday.
“I mean, shoot, man, we’re rooting for everybody,” Francona said. “We’re not biased. We want everybody to do well.”
The Royals answered Mercado’s latest shot in their typical fashion: They scratched and clawed and scrapped for runs. It took two singles, a walk, a sacrifice bunt, a stolen base, an error and a run-scoring groundout, but the Royals managed to coax three runs in the fourth inning to even the score 4-all.
Only one of the four runs off Cleveland starter Aaron Civale was earned, and he left after 3 1/3 innings. Carlos Hernandez lasted another inning for Kansas City but was responsible for all four runs that he allowed.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Guardians OF Josh Naylor was 3 for 13 through four games at Triple-A Columbus as he continues to work his way back from a right ankle injury. He is expected to play two more games in the minors this week before being reevaluated.
ROSTER MOVES
The Royals reinstated RHP Joel Payamps from the family emergency list and optioned RHP Jackson Kowar to Triple-A Omaha. Kowar, who will start in the minors, allowed seven runs on 11 hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings of relief Sunday.
UP NEXT
The Guardians play the first of two games in Cincinnati on Tuesday with RHP Shane Bieber on the mound. The Royals head to St. Louis for two games beginning Tuesday with LHP Daniel Lynch first on the mound.
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/remarkable-rookie-kwan-delivers-again-guardians-beat-royals/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:21 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/remarkable-rookie-kwan-delivers-again-guardians-beat-royals/ |
The reason?
The vehicle the police pulled over had no driver.
The driverless car was pulled over because it was driving at night without headlights on.
At first, it looks like an ordinary traffic stop.
An officer gets out of his car to speak to the driver - only to discover there is no driver.
"Ain't nobody in it!" the Instagram user recording the video says.
And then the car speeds away from the officers, passing through an intersection before pulling over again.
Multiple officers then approach to inspect the car.
Cruise, the company that operates the car, and is majority-owned by General Motors, tweeted: "Our autonomous vehicle yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued."
Chiming in with more details: our AV yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop, as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued.
— cruise (@Cruise) April 10, 2022
Cruise won approval this year to operate its driverless taxis in part of the city.
Another company, Waymo, is also offering driverless rides in San Francisco.
"The reason there are so few of these companies and vehicles on the road is because this technology has a lot going on. So controlling for the environment is one thing, and controlling for just the other roadway users is a whole other game," Kelly Funkhouser, manager of vehicle technology at Consumer Reports, said.
Cruise says it has a dedicated phone number for police to call when there's a problem with its cars.
In this recent case, a maintenance team from the company responded and took control of the car. | https://abc11.com/driverless-car-pulled-over-san-francisco-california-cruise-taxis-waymo-cars/11740060/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:28 | 1 | https://abc11.com/driverless-car-pulled-over-san-francisco-california-cruise-taxis-waymo-cars/11740060/ |
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler wanted to be a professional golfer for so long he wore trousers to lessons at Royal Oaks in Dallas and even at junior tournaments, no matter how stifling the Texas heat.
He just never imagined how he would look in a green jacket.
Winning the Masters is the dream of any junior golfer, particularly in Texas with its heritage of champions from Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan to Ben Crenshaw and Charles Coody to most recently Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed.
Scheffler was no ordinary kid, and that much hasn’t changed.
“I’ve never been a guy that likes to look too far into the future,” Scheffler said Sunday evening, still trying to grasp the magnitude of his three-shot victory at Augusta National.
Tiger Woods spoke over the weekend of that window of time when a player gets hot, whether it was Fred Couples in 1992 or Woods on more occasions than he can remember. The hope is that window includes a major on the calendar, and Scheffler’s run came at an ideal time.
He won the Phoenix Open, at Bay Hill and at the Match Play in a span of seven weeks. The last one sent him to No. 1 in the world, and the next stop was Augusta.
But as he sat in Butler Cabin, waiting to slip into the green jacket for the first time, he was asked when he first dreamed about such as occasion.
“Probably the first time it popped into my mind was Friday in the afternoon, after we got done,” Scheffler replied.
“Really?” came the response.
Yes, really. Scheffler has talked for the past two months about only wanting a chance to compete. That was the dream. What brought him to tears was getting his first invitation in the mail when he qualified for his first Masters that was moved to November in 2020.
Winning the Masters? Only after he built a five-shot lead after the second round, and held on for a three-shot lead going into the final day.
Scheffler is all about competing. That hasn’t changed.
Randy Smith can spin yarns about seeing Scheffler at age 10 sitting on the range at Royal Oaks as he watched and listened to tour pros shape shots and talk. And then he would challenge them to short-game contests or on the putting greens, and if he wasn’t taking money off them, he was putting a dent in their egos.
“He was a gamer,” said Will Zalatoris, who grew up in the Dallas area with Scheffler. “He wore pants to every tournament even if it was 110 degrees. He tried to be a professional at a young age, and obviously seeing what he is doing now, it’s pretty cool on my part to see it.”
That short game was a big part of his Masters victory. The final margin was closer than it really was. Scheffler had a five-shot lead and finally took off his blinders to soak up the atmosphere, and then absent-mindedly four-putted for a double bogey. He shot 71 instead of 69. He won by three instead of five. Those are just numbers in a record book.
Cameron Smith made a quick run with birdies on the opening two holes that cut the lead to one shot, and Scheffler responded with perhaps the most significant shot of the final round. His chip up the steep slope on No. 3 rattled against the pin and dropped for birdie, and Smith’s bogey made it a two-shot swing.
Overlooked was the up-and-down from behind the first green — one of the worst spots to be at Augusta, especially for someone trying to win their first major — and the pitch from long and left at the par-3 fourth.
“If I was to pick one part of my game that excelled the most, I would say it was probably my lob wedge,” Scheffler said. “Even today, I had some really good up-and-downs in the beginning of the round and then just kept myself in position.”
He didn’t get quarters for some of his big putts, only pars, and those were worth plenty.
After starting the back nine with a careless bogey from the fairway, Scheffler missed the 11th green to the right and pitched to 7 feet. Smith made birdie, and Scheffler rolled in his par putt to keep the lead at three shots.
It was like that all day — all week, really.
Before long, all that was left was a walk up the 18th fairway, a trip to Butler Cabin, the green jacket. It’s the stuff of dreams, even if they were never his.
Scheffler is No. 1 by some margin, and no one can doubt he earned the ranking with the quality of his wins — a World Golf Championship, a major, a variety of courses and tests.
“You get on those hot streaks, and you just got to ride them out because they, unfortunately, don’t last forever,” Justin Thomas said. “But he is doing it in the biggest tournaments. It’s not like he is going and winning small events or Bahamas where it’s 20 people. He is winning WGCs. He is winning a major now.
“It’s really, really impressive to see someone that young handle a moment this big so easily.”
What next?
“I want to go home,” Scheffler said with his distinctive laugh. “I’m pretty tired right now.”
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https://apnews.com/hub/the-masters | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/scheffler-a-masters-champion-and-never-saw-it-coming/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:28 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/sports/scheffler-a-masters-champion-and-never-saw-it-coming/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Some vendors on Etsy say they are halting sales of their items on the site for a week to protest a hike in the fees the crafts e-commerce marketplace charges them.
Starting Monday, Etsy sellers must pay a 6.5% commission on each transaction, up from the 5% in place since 2018.
A protest organizer, Kristi Cassidy, said thousands of Etsy sellers — a fraction of the 5.3 million vendors on the site — have temporarily halted selling their items. Cassidy, who has been selling gothic and punk costumes on Etsy since 2007, also launched a petition that so far has garnered more than 50,000 signatures from buyers and sellers. Roughly 20,000 are sellers. Cassidy said it’s hard to estimate the exact number of sellers that have actually stopped selling on the site.
Cassidy and others are also taking issue with Etsy’s advertising policy implemented early in 2020. It requires sellers making at least $10,000 a year on Etsy and who have have their products advertised on Etsy’s offsite social media and search-engine partners, to pay a 12% advertising fee on sales made through the ads.
Cassidy also said that Etsy needs to crack down on resellers, people selling mass-produced goods that they have not designed themselves.
Raina Moskowitz, chief operating officer at New York-based Etsy, said that the new fee structure will enable the company to increase spending on marketing, customer support and removing listings that don’t meet its policies.
“Our sellers’ success is a top priority for Etsy,” she said in a statement.
Etsy, best known for selling handmade soap and jewelry, was one of the few beneficiaries in the pandemic as more people stayed at home and either made items or sought homemade items online.
But it’s now under pressure to ramp up its offerings to compete better with Amazon. As part of its growth strategy, it made two acquisitions last year. It bought Depop,an app that’s popular among young people looking to buy and sell used clothing and vintage fashions from the early 2000s. It also acquired Elo7 — known as the “Etsy of Brazil” for its popular marketplace for crafty creators.
Cassidy said the protest over fees is just the beginning. She told The Associated Press she wants to actually “build an equivalent of a union” for Etsy sellers and said she’s been inspired by the union organizing activity heating up at such companies as Amazon and Starbucks.
“As individual crafters, makers and small businesspeople, we may be easy for a giant corporation like Etsy to take advantage of,” Cassidy wrote on the online petition. “But as an organized front of people, determined to use our diverse skills and boundless creativity to win ourselves a fairer deal, Etsy won’t have such an easy time shoving us around.”
The Rhode Island-based mother of two young children said she has seen her income drop last year to one third of what it was in 2019, blaming in part to some of the moves Etsy has made. | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/etsy-sellers-protest-fees-by-halting-their-sales-for-a-week/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:35 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/etsy-sellers-protest-fees-by-halting-their-sales-for-a-week/ |
TOKYO (AP) — Honda is investing 5 trillion yen ($40 billion) over the next decade in research, especially to realize a major shift to ecological electric vehicles, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday.
The products and services in the works will account for more than half of its 8 trillion yen ($64 billion) research and development budget in that time and will be tailored for each major market, the U.S., China and Japan.
Efforts in North America will focus on the collaboration with General Motors Co., under which Honda Motor Co. is jointly developing two midsize to large EV models, set for sale in 2024.
By 2027, also under its alliance with GM, Honda plans to offer an affordable electric vehicle that’s competitive with gas-powered models in performance and pricing.
Top automakers are accelerating electric car offerings amid pressing concerns about climate change, while also employing new kinds of fuel, such as biofuel and hydrogen-powered fuel cells.
Honda will launch 30 EV models globally by 2030, targeting production of more than 2 million vehicles a year, according to the maker of the Accord sedan, Asimo robot and Gold Wing motorcycles.
They will span the whole range of models, from tiny vans to muscular sportscars.
“We will continue to deliver the kind of fun in driving that our customers have come to expect from Honda,” said Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe.
In China, where the move to electric vehicles is especially bullish, Honda is introducing 10 new EV models by 2027.
In Japan, a market dominated by gas-electric hybrids, Honda will start with small commercial vehicles, such as delivery vans.
Businesses are likely to be more open to such investment because of the Japanese government’s sustainability goals, officials said.
A commercial-use mini-EV model at the 1 million yen ($8,000) price range will go on sale in Japan in 2024, while other EVs, including sport-utility models, for regular consumers will follow, they said.
By the late 2020s, Honda hopes to have a breakthrough on next-generation batteries.
It also will develop related software since electric vehicles need recharging infrastructure and could add features such as robotics and avatars.
Like other automakers, Honda lost business during the coronavirus pandemic. But it’s forecasting an operating profit of 800 billion yen ($6.4 billion) for the fiscal year ended in March.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/japans-honda-outlines-strategy-to-forge-ahead-on-evs/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:42 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/japans-honda-outlines-strategy-to-forge-ahead-on-evs/ |
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli spyware maker NSO Group is turning to the U.S. Supreme Court as it seeks to head off a high-profile lawsuit filed by the WhatsApp messaging service.
In a filing to the Supreme Court, NSO said it should be recognized as a foreign government agent and therefore be entitled to immunity under U.S. law limiting lawsuits against foreign countries. The request appeals a pair of earlier federal court rulings that rejected similar arguments by the Israeli company.
WhatsApp parent Facebook, now called Meta Platforms Inc., sued NSO in 2019for allegedly targeting some 1,400 users of its encrypted messaging service with highly sophisticated spyware. It is trying to block NSO from Facebook platforms and servers and seeks unspecified damages.
Granting sovereign immunity to NSO would greatly hinder WhatsApp’s case. It also could provide protection from a potentially risky discovery process that could reveal its customers and technological secrets. NSO is seeking to have the entire case dismissed.
In its petition, NSO said that lower courts have given mixed opinions on sovereign immunity over the years and that it was crucial for the Supreme Court to rule on an issue that has great national security implications for governments around the world.
“Many nations, including the United States, rely on private contractors to conduct or support core governmental activities,” it wrote in the April 6 filing. “If such contractors can never seek immunity … then the United States and other countries may soon find their military and intelligence operations disrupted by lawsuits against their agents.”
NSO’s flagship product, Pegasus, allows operators to covertly infiltrate a target’s mobile phone, gaining access to messages and contacts, the camera and microphone and location history. It says that it sells the product only to government law enforcement agencies to catch criminals and terrorists and that all sales are approved by Israel’s Defense Ministry. It does not identify its clients.
But critics say a number of clients, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Poland, have abused the system to snoop on critics and stifle dissent. WhatsApp says at least 100 of the users connected to its lawsuit were journalists, rights activists and civil society members.
NSO says it has no control over how its clients use the product and no access to the data they collect, though it claims it has safeguards in place to prevent abuses. Critics say the safeguards are insufficient.
“NSO’s spyware invades the rights of citizens, journalists, and human rights activists around the globe and their attacks must be stopped,” WhatsApp said in a statement.
“Two United States courts have already rejected NSO’s contrived bid for immunity and we believe there is no reason for the Supreme Court to hear their last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability,” it said, adding that multiple human rights groups and tech companies have said granting immunity to spyware companies “would be dangerous for the world.”
The WhatsApp case is among a series of legal battles plaguing NSO. Apple last year filed a lawsuit that it says aims to prevent NSO from breaking into products. It claimed Pegasus had affected a small number of iPhone users worldwide, calling NSO’s employees “amoral 21st century mercenaries.”
NSO last year also was blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department, limiting its access to U.S. technology. U.S. officials said the company’s products were complicit in “transnational repression.”
NSO appears to face a formidable challenge. For starters, the Supreme Court agrees to consider just 1% or so of the requests put before it.
It could be months before the court decides whether to review the case. But even if it does, NSO would have to convince the court that it is a state agent and entitled to immunity.
Eugene Kontorovich, an Israeli-American professor at the George Mason University Scalia Law School and director of its Center for the Middle East and International Law, said it was a “very interesting” and “very serious” case. But he said he was skeptical NSO would prevail.
“They’re a software company. They create a product that’s been licensed to foreign governments and which governments can use,” he said. “An agent usually is something of a much higher standard.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/nso-turns-to-us-supreme-court-for-immunity-in-whatsapp-suit/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:49 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/nso-turns-to-us-supreme-court-for-immunity-in-whatsapp-suit/ |
Shares of the new Warner Bros. Discovery media giant, the $43 billion combination of Discovery and the AT&T spinoff WarnerMedia, have begun trading Monday.
The bulked-up company combines the owner of storied film studio Warner Bros., TV networks including CNN, HBO and the streaming service HBO Max, with Discovery Inc., the parent of networks that focus on reality television like HGTV and its own streaming service, Discovery+. The deal closed on Friday.
AT&T Inc.last year decided to separate WarnerMedia as the company unravels its entertainment-oriented deal-making of the past several years and focuses on phone and internet service.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav is running the combined company, and there are already changes expected, such as offering Discovery+, HBO Max and a brand-new cable news streamer, CNN+,as a bundle, or even merging services into a single app. Disney, a major rival, says the bundling approach has helped it attract and keep streaming subscribers as entertainment companies launched a slew of offerings intended to rival Netflix. | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/trading-starts-of-new-warner-bros-discovery-media-giant/ | 2022-04-12T11:21:56 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/trading-starts-of-new-warner-bros-discovery-media-giant/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California is suing two YouTube performers who the school says created panic after barging into classrooms to film prank videos for their channels.
Court documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times claim the pair caused “terror and disruption” during three “classroom takeover incidents” in the university’s Mark Taper Hall of Humanities.
The YouTubers, Ernest Kanevsky and Yuguo Bai, are not USC students. They could not be reached for comment Monday, and it was unclear whether they have attorneys who could speak on their behalf.
A judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order banning the pair from USC’s downtown Los Angeles campus.
In the latest incident, on March 29, Kanevsky and Bai interrupted a lecture on the Holocaust while pretending to be “a member of the Russian Mafia” and Hugo Boss, a known manufacturer of Nazi uniforms during World War II, according to court documents.
Students ran from the classroom — in some cases tripping over seats and leaving behind laptops and backpacks — in an attempt to flee “what reasonably appeared to them as a credible threat of imminent classroom violence,” the court filing says.
The university’s lawyers said the pair’s conduct “amounts to both a public and private nuisance” that caused students to experience fear and emotional distress.
In September, Kanevsky, Bai and an associate entered a data science lecture and allegedly used physical intimidation to force the professor out of the classroom before taking over the lectern and subjecting the students to “insults and demeaning behavior,” court documents say.
In addition to the restraining order, the suit seeks unspecified compensatory damages, along with attorneys’ fees and other related costs.
Kanevsy’s YouTube channel has more than 111,000 subscribers and his videos have received more than 8.3 million views, the Times reported. The channel features prank videos at universities, in gyms and restaurants, on the beach and in other locations. | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/university-of-southern-california-sues-youtubers-over-pranks/ | 2022-04-12T11:22:03 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/university-of-southern-california-sues-youtubers-over-pranks/ |
DENVER (AP) — The nonprofit that distributed most of the $350 million in donations from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to election offices in 2020 said Monday that it won’t disburse similar donations this year after backlash from conservatives suspicious that the contributions tilted the outcome of the presidential race toward Joe Biden.
Instead, the Center for Technology and Civic Life is launching a different program. Dubbed the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, the $80-million, five-year effort is intended to create a network for the nation’s thousands of local election officials, who can apply for aid to improve their technology and processes.
“Unfortunately, years of underinvestment means many local election departments often have limited capacity and training. The U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence is bringing together world-class partners so that local election officials no longer have to go it alone,” said Tiana Epps-Johnson, CTCL’s executive director, who announced the new program at the TED2022 conference.
The 2020 effort by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, amid the COVID-19 pandemic fueled conservative anger and distrust of the presidential election outcome. At least eight GOP-controlled states passed laws last year banning private donations to election offices in reaction to Zuckerberg’s donations. Suspicion that the contributions — routinely referred to as “Zuckerbucks” by conservatives — helped Biden, a Democrat, has become a staple among those who believe in former President Donald Trump’s election lies.
Several Republican election officials have said the program was vital and nonpartisan and dismissed criticism of it as conspiracy theories.
A spokesperson for Zuckerberg and Chan confirmed that the couple is not funding election offices this year.
“As Mark and Priscilla made clear previously, their election infrastructure donation to help ensure that Americans could vote during the height of the pandemic was a one-time donation given the unprecedented nature of the crisis,” Ben LaBolt said. “They have no plans to repeat that donation.”
Epps-Johnson said the group saw in 2020 just how woefully underfunded many local election offices are. Elections in the U.S. are run at the local level, sometimes by a small staff of city or county workers and volunteers. One New England office, Epps-Johnson said, used its 2020 grant to replace century-old election tabulation equipment, and many struggled to maintain usable websites that could provide voters information on mobile devices.
The network will work with technology experts at Stanford University and elsewhere, Epps-Johnson said. Local election offices will be able to apply for assistance, but things will work differently than two years ago.
In 2020, election offices were scrambling to switch to mail voting as the pandemic made traditional polling places harder to maintain. Negotiations over additional money for election offices collapsed amid partisan acrimony in Washington. In late August of that year, Zuckerberg announced his donations, and CTCL swiftly distributed the funds to 2,500 election offices for a wide range of expenses, including new ballot counting equipment, pickup trucks to haul voting machines and public relations campaigns advertising new ways to cast ballots.
Conservatives were immediately skeptical. Many have long distrusted Zuckerberg, believing he uses his social media platform to help Democrats. CTCL is a nonpartisan group respected by election administrators of both parties, but its founders have roots in liberal politics. And although the grants went to conservative and liberal areas, Democratic-leaning counties received a disproportionate share of the money in battleground states like Florida and Pennsylvania.
CTCL has spent much of the time since the 2020 contests pushing for greater government funding of election offices, saying that would be better than another round of private donations. The nonprofit was encouraged by Biden’s request for $10 billion in election funding in the federal budget he released last month.
Still, the movement fueled by Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud has latched onto the 2020 donations as one of its many grievances over how the election was conducted. For example, at Colorado’s GOP Assembly on Saturday, candidate after candidate referred to Zuckerberg and “Zuckerbucks” as they claimed the election was stolen from Republicans.
“Mark Zuckerberg and his shadow forces should never be in charge of our elections,” said Tina Peters, a county clerk under indictment for her role in the illegal download of voting software last year that was provided to Trump supporters. She made the comments to the crowd in Colorado Springs as she advanced to the party’s primary ballot for the state’s top elections office, secretary of state. | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/zuckerberg-money-wont-be-in-next-round-of-aid-for-elections/ | 2022-04-12T11:22:10 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/technology/ap-technology/zuckerberg-money-wont-be-in-next-round-of-aid-for-elections/ |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas & Electric, the nation’s largest utility, has agreed to pay more than $55 million to avoid criminal prosecution for two major wildfires sparked by its aging Northern California power lines and submit to five years of oversight in an attempt to prevent more deadly blazes.
The company didn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing in the settlement announced Monday with prosecutors in six counties ravaged bylast year’s Dixie Fireand the 2019 Kincade Fire. The utility still faces criminal charges for a 2020 wildfire in Shasta County that killed four people.
The civil settlements are designed to accelerate payments to hundreds of people whose homes were destroyed so they can start rebuilding more quickly than those who suffered devastating losses in 2017 and 2018 blazes ignited by PG&E’s equipment. Those fires prompted the utility to negotiate settlements that included $13.5 billion earmarked for victims — money that still hasn’t been completely distributed.
The deal also thrusts the utility back into five years of independent oversight, similar to the supervision PG&E faced during itscriminal probation after it was convicted of misconduct that contributed to a natural gas explosion that killed eight people in 2010.
Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch said that oversight was the biggest accomplishment to come from the settlement.
“We have limited tools and criminal law to deal with corporations and what we were able to do here was to get a five-year agreement that they will be overseen, that there will be an independent monitor, and that they will have to meet certain benchmarks,” she said Monday.
All told, PG&E has been blamed for more than 30 wildfires since 2017 that wiped out more than 23,000 homes and businesses and killed more than 100 people.
PG&E’s federal probation ended in late January, raising worries from the federal judge who tried to force the utility to reduce fire risks by requiring more maintenance and reporting. U.S. District Judge William Alsup warned that PG&E remained a “continuing menace to California” and urged state prosecutors to try to rein in the company that provides power to 16 million people.
In a joint statement covering five of the six counties that settled, prosecutors said PG&E will be “essentially on a five-year probation” to be overseen by Filsinger Energy Partners, which already acts as a safety monitor for California power regulators.
PG&E will have to underwrite the federal monitor’s costs, up to $15 million annually, in addition to the $55 million in other payments and penalties that the utility expects to incur in the settlement.
As part of their settlement, Sonoma County prosecutors agreed to drop 33 criminal charges filed last year that accused PG&E of inadvertently injuring six firefighters and endangering public health with smoke and ash from the Kincade Fire that began in October 2019.
Fire officials said a PG&E transmission line sparked the fire, which destroyed 374 buildings in wine country and caused nearly 200,000 people to flee as it burned through 120 square miles (311 square kilometers), the largest evacuation in county history.
Prosecutors in the other five counties were exploring criminal charges in last year’s Dixie Fire before cutting the deal that they said will result in far larger payouts than had they hauled PG&E into court. Because there were no deaths in the Dixie Fire, prosecutors said the utility would have paid a maximum penalty of about $330,000 if it had been found guilty in a criminal case.
Ravitch said state laws that limit punishment against a corporation to probation and fines helped motivate the settlement. She said if PG&E had been successfully prosecuted in the Sonoma County case it would have paid a fine of just $9.4 million, most of which would have gone to the state.
Instead, the county will now receive more than $20 million earmarked for nonprofits that help people affected by wildfires and for Santa Rosa Junior College so that it can expand fire safety and vegetation management programs. It will also reimburse the DA’s office for the costs of investigating and litigating the case, she said.
Even when PG&E pleadedguilty to 84 felony counts of involuntary manslaughter f or the deaths in the 2018 Camp Fire, the company was fined just $3.5 million.
In a statement, PG&E CEO Patti Poppe said the utility welcomed the chance to be more transparent — and ultimately more accountable — for its operations.
“We are committed to doing our part, and we look forward to a long partnership with these communities to make it right and make it safe,” Poppe said.
The money that that PG&E will pay as part of the settlements will account for a just sliver of its anticipated liabilities in the Kincade, Zogg and Dixie fires. As of December 31, PG&E estimated it will likely be held responsible for at least $2.3 billion in losses stemming from those wildfires. Some of the estimated $1.15 billion in damages caused by the Dixie Fire may be paid by a state-backed insurance fund that California lawmakers created after PG&E filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
The Dixie Fire burned nearly 1 million acres (3,900 square kilometers) in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama counties and destroyed more than 1,300 homes and other buildings. The blaze started on July 13, 2021 when a tree hit electrical distribution lines west of a dam in the Sierra Nevada, according to investigators with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The settlement for the Dixie Fire was made by district attorneys in Plumas, Lassen, Tehama, Shasta and Butte counties, which will receive nearly $30 million.
Although her office participated in the Dixie Fire settlement, Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said she will continue to pursue a criminal case related to the Zogg Fire, which killed four.
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Liedtke reported from San Ramon, California. | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/california-utility-to-pay-55-million-for-massive-wildfires/ | 2022-04-12T11:25:33 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/california-utility-to-pay-55-million-for-massive-wildfires/ |
UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. (AP) — When the coronavirus pandemic first hit the U.S., sales of window coverings at Halcyon Shades quickly went dark. So the suburban St. Louis business did what hundreds of other small manufacturers did: It pivoted to make protective supplies, with help from an $870,000 government grant.
But things haven’t worked out as planned. The company quit making face shields because it wasn’t profitable. It still hasn’t sold a single N95 mask because of struggles to get equipment, materials and regulatory approval.
“So far, it has been a net drain of funds and resources and energy,” Halcyon Shades owner Jim Schmersahl said.
Many companies that began producing personal protective equipment with patriotic optimism have scaled back, shut down or given up, according to an Associated Press analysis based on numerous interviews with manufacturers. Some already have sold equipment they bought with state government grants.
As COVID-19 was stressing hospitals and shuttering businesses in 2020, elected officials touted the need to boost U.S. production of protective gear: “All this stuff should be made in the United States and not in China,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in remarks echoed by others.
Yet many manufacturers who answered the call have faced logistical hurdles, regulatory rejections, slumping demand and fierce competition from foreign suppliers. On April 1, Florida-based American Surgical Mask Co. became one of the latest to close.
“I’m just done with the fight,” CEO Matt Brandman told the AP.
After the initial scramble for PPE subsided, many industry newcomers faced difficulty selling products. Government agencies sometimes wanted huge quantities at tough-to-meet deadlines. Hospital systems tended to contract with established suppliers. Retail sales waned after every virus surge.
“At the end of the day, when everybody said they wanted American-made, nobody’s buying, not even the state,” said Tony Blogumas, vice president of Green Resources Consulting, a rural Missouri firm that received an $800,000 state grant but has sold only a few thousand masks. “We’re kind of upset about the whole situation.”
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson also is disappointed. His administration divided $20 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds among 48 businesses for the production of masks, gowns, sanitizer and other supplies. Parson hoped to seed a permanent field of manufacturers.
“I’m still a firm believer in that — that we need to be making PPE here in this state,” Parson said. “Unfortunately, a lot of entities went right back to where they were getting it before.”
The onset of the pandemic revealed that the U.S. was highly dependent on foreign countries for protective gear. When China limited exports because of its own battle against COVID-19, U.S. stockpiles plummeted. Prices skyrocketed as federal officials, governors and health care systems competed for supplies.
Though federal stockpiles have been replenished, shriveling domestic production has raised concerns that state governments, medical facilities and others could again get stuck scrambling for gear during a future pandemic.
The AP identified more than $125 million in grants to spur production of pandemic supplies made to over 300 business in 10 states — Alabama, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Ohio. It’s possible that grants were awarded in additional states, but there is no central clearinghouse to track them.
In November 2020, Alabama awarded one of the single largest grants — nearly $10.6 million from federal pandemic relief funds — to HomTex Inc. The company was to equip a new Selma facility to make 250 million surgical masks and 45 million N95 masks annually. The plant returned $1.8 million of the state grant and has yet to make anything due to a lack of customers.
“I can’t produce product that I can’t sell,” HomTex President Jeremy Wootten said.
Other companies also had trouble living up to political hype.
In October 2020, New York announced eight grants that then-Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, now the governor, said were “a model for how we build back better for the post-pandemic future.” Those included $800,000 for newly formed Altor Safety and $1 million for startup firm NYPPE.
But NYPPE’s equipment wasn’t ready until February 2021, by which time the market had changed, President Connor Knapp said.
So Knapp tapped the brakes on his plans. NYPPE still hasn’t sold any N95 masks because it lacks regulatory approval. It just recently scaled up production of surgical masks, after obtaining a U.S. Food and Drug Administration certification that came with its purchase of Altor Safety.
Some PPE manufacturers point to federal regulations as part of the reason for their struggles. Three-ply masks need FDA approval to be marketed for medical use — an important designation for building a long-term customer base.
That process can be time-consuming. Facing delays, Angstrom Manufacturing in Missouri ended up buying another business that already had FDA approval, President Chris Carron said. By then, it was fall 2021 — a year after it received a state grant.
Companies need approval from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to market products as N95 respirators, which filter at least 95% of airborne particles.
During the first two years of the pandemic, NIOSH approved 30 new manufacturers — more than seven times the typical number during a similar pre-pandemic period, according to agency data. Some applications remain pending, while numerous others were denied.
Halcyon Shades’ N95 certification was rejected in October because its samples didn’t have head straps attached. While the company works on another application, its equipment sits idle inside the clear plastic-sheet walls of a “clean room” specially built to shield materials from airborne contaminants. Partially finished masks remain paused on a conveyor belt, waiting to be deposited into a cardboard box.
Without federal approval, “we’re just dead in the water,” said Schmersahl, the company owner.
Progress reports filed with the Missouri Department of Economic Development show that nearly all its PPE grant recipients faced challenges by July 2021, especially with sales.
Patriot Medical Devices, which received $750,000 from Missouri, hired nearly 100 people as it cranked out millions of masks during a COVID-19 surge in late 2020 and early 2021, CEO Rick Needham said. Fewer than 10 employees remain.
“We felt it was our patriotic duty to do something to help solve the problem,” Needham said. But, he added, “It’s frankly a little bit of a dysfunctional business model at this point.”
Ohio awarded $20.8 million to 73 businesses to manufacture pandemic-related supplies, according to state data. Of 60 businesses that complied with a recent reporting deadline, more than one-third no longer produced PPE by the end of 2021.
Cleveland Veteran Business Solutions, which received a $500,000 grant to get into the PPE business, made about 5 million surgical masks beginning in August 2020. It ultimately halted production in the face of cheaper imports and sold its machines this year, co-founder Taner Eren said.
“It was surprising and disappointing strategically that there wasn’t support for a local PPE manufacturing industry,” Eren said.
The business was among several dozen that banded together to form the American Mask Manufacturer’s Association with the goal of sustaining the industry. The group’s membership has dwindled as more and more go out of business.
Association organizers say the industry has reached a critical point. They want the federal government to treat PPE manufacturers like the nation’s defense industry — entering into long-term contracts to perpetually replenish a stockpile for future pandemics or emergencies.
“If the federal government doesn’t come in and help support the U.S. manufacturing base, it’s almost certainly going to go back to China, and we’ll be just as vulnerable as we were in early 2020 and 2019,” said Brent Dillie, the association chairman and co-founder of Premium-PPE, a Virginia manufacturer started during the pandemic that has shed about two-thirds of its roughly 300 employees.
Infrastructure legislation signed by President Joe Biden took a step toward bolstering domestic suppliers. Effective in February, it required new contracts for PPE purchased by the departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs to run for at least two years and be awarded to U.S. producers — unless there’s not sufficient quantity and quality at market prices.
The health and veterans departments said they haven’t bought anything yet. Homeland Security hasn’t answered the AP’s questions. Documents show the government solicited bids due Dec. 6 for up to 381 million U.S.-made surgical masks over three years for its stockpile. No deal has been announced.
Other documents show the government is looking to contract with three major suppliers — 3M, Moldex, and Owens & Minor — for a total of $115 million in U.S-made N95 masksover three years. A justification document says noncompetitive contracts are necessary to preserve capacity for future coronavirus surges or emergencies.
The Biden administration also formed a task force of experts from federal agencies, health care providers, PPE manufacturers and distributors to develop a national strategy for ensuring a “resilient public health supply chain.” Its work is expected to extend for years.
Some manufacturers said they can’t wait long for a federal life preserver.
Dentec Safety Specialists is wrapping up a contract to supply 125,000 rubber reusable respirators and 500,000 filtration cartridges from its Kansas facility for the national stockpile, said President Claudio Dente. It needs more orders soon to prevent layoffs, he said.
“I thought that COVID would really change the mindset of the people, the governments and manufacturing,” Dente said. But he added: “The general marketplace is reverting back to their old ways — meaning looking to buy product from China.” | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/efforts-to-make-protective-medical-gear-in-us-falling-flat/ | 2022-04-12T11:25:40 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/efforts-to-make-protective-medical-gear-in-us-falling-flat/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Some vendors on Etsy say they are halting sales of their items on the site for a week to protest a hike in the fees the crafts e-commerce marketplace charges them.
Starting Monday, Etsy sellers must pay a 6.5% commission on each transaction, up from the 5% in place since 2018.
A protest organizer, Kristi Cassidy, said thousands of Etsy sellers — a fraction of the 5.3 million vendors on the site — have temporarily halted selling their items. Cassidy, who has been selling gothic and punk costumes on Etsy since 2007, also launched a petition that so far has garnered more than 50,000 signatures from buyers and sellers. Roughly 20,000 are sellers. Cassidy said it’s hard to estimate the exact number of sellers that have actually stopped selling on the site.
Cassidy and others are also taking issue with Etsy’s advertising policy implemented early in 2020. It requires sellers making at least $10,000 a year on Etsy and who have have their products advertised on Etsy’s offsite social media and search-engine partners, to pay a 12% advertising fee on sales made through the ads.
Cassidy also said that Etsy needs to crack down on resellers, people selling mass-produced goods that they have not designed themselves.
Raina Moskowitz, chief operating officer at New York-based Etsy, said that the new fee structure will enable the company to increase spending on marketing, customer support and removing listings that don’t meet its policies.
“Our sellers’ success is a top priority for Etsy,” she said in a statement.
Etsy, best known for selling handmade soap and jewelry, was one of the few beneficiaries in the pandemic as more people stayed at home and either made items or sought homemade items online.
But it’s now under pressure to ramp up its offerings to compete better with Amazon. As part of its growth strategy, it made two acquisitions last year. It bought Depop,an app that’s popular among young people looking to buy and sell used clothing and vintage fashions from the early 2000s. It also acquired Elo7 — known as the “Etsy of Brazil” for its popular marketplace for crafty creators.
Cassidy said the protest over fees is just the beginning. She told The Associated Press she wants to actually “build an equivalent of a union” for Etsy sellers and said she’s been inspired by the union organizing activity heating up at such companies as Amazon and Starbucks.
“As individual crafters, makers and small businesspeople, we may be easy for a giant corporation like Etsy to take advantage of,” Cassidy wrote on the online petition. “But as an organized front of people, determined to use our diverse skills and boundless creativity to win ourselves a fairer deal, Etsy won’t have such an easy time shoving us around.”
The Rhode Island-based mother of two young children said she has seen her income drop last year to one third of what it was in 2019, blaming in part to some of the moves Etsy has made. | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/etsy-sellers-protest-fees-by-halting-their-sales-for-a-week/ | 2022-04-12T11:25:47 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/etsy-sellers-protest-fees-by-halting-their-sales-for-a-week/ |
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s great Twitter turnabout — in which he disclosed his massive stake in the social media company, got a seat on its board, publicly floated drastic changes and then turned down the board role — all happened in a week.
But its aftermath could linger if the mercurial billionaire who now holds a roughly 9% stake in Twitter continues to push forward his ideas for reshaping the business of social media.
WHY DIDN’T MUSK JOIN THE BOARD?
Musk said he informed Twitter on Saturday that he wouldn’t be joining its board of directors, after being invited five days earlier, according to a financial disclosure. He didn’t explain why but the Saturday decision coincided with a barrage of now-deleted tweets from Musk proposing major changes to the company, such as dropping ads — its chief source of revenue — and transforming its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter. Musk left a few clues on Twitter about his thinking, such as by “liking” a tweet that summarized the events as Musk going from “largest shareholder for Free Speech” to being “told to play nice and not speak freely.”
WHAT IS TWITTER SAYING?
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said Musk’s not joining was “for the best” but didn’t give explicit reasons in a statement Monday. Agrawal also left some clues, noting that Musk had been awaiting a background check and suggesting that Twitter wanted him on the board — rather than just as a major shareholder — because as a fiduciary he’d be legally and ethically bound to act “in the best interests of the company and all of our shareholders.”
HOW DID MUSK BUILD HIS STAKE?
Musk has been tweeting for a long time, but he began buying Twitter stock in earnest only a few months ago. He started on Jan. 31, when he bought a little more than 620,000 shares at $36.83 apiece. On nearly every single trading day from then through April 1, he bought hundreds of thousands or millions more of shares.
Altogether, Musk was in control of 73.1 million Twitter shares as of the most recent count, or 9.1% of the company. He spent $2.64 billion buying them all on the open market. The market value for all of Twitter, including Musk’s stake, is roughly $38 billion.
HOW BIG IS MUSK’S STAKE COMPARED WITH OTHERS?
Musk seemed to be Twitter’s biggest shareholder until investment giant Vanguard Group filed a report late last week showing it had supplanted him.
Vanguard controls 10.3% of the company through investments made by its suite of mutual funds and ETFs. Vanguard and other fund giants are often the biggest investors in any company, as money keeps pouring into their index funds from retirement savers and other investors. But these fund giants are typically much more hands-off as owners than activist investors, who can push for new management teams or big changes in strategy.
WHAT COULDN’T MUSK DO IF HE HAD JOINED THE BOARD?
Had Musk joined the board, he’d have been only one of several voices in strategy discussions. And he might have chafed at not being able to order the company around.
“The responsibility of the board of directors is to represent the shareholders,” said Harry Kraemer, clinical professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and former chairman and CEO of Baxter International. “They’re not there to represent themselves.”
By turning down a seat on Twitter’s board, Musk also gets out of a promise to keep his ownership stake of Twitter at 14.9% or below. Free of that cap, he has the option to build a bigger stake, where he could try to take over the company or help elect a slate of directors more aligned with his thinking.
“That 15% is an arbitrary number,” said Kraemer. “It’s not like if you own 15%, you can or can’t do something else. I’m speculating, but maybe the thought was: If we bring him on as a director, and he can’t buy more than 15%, that literally stops him from taking control of the company.”
DIDN’T MUSK SAY HE WOULD BE JUST A ‘PASSIVE’ INVESTOR IN TWITTER?
When Musk first unveiled his Twitter stake through a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, he did it with a type of form often used by investors who don’t plan to push for big changes at a company. But he has since amended that filing to use a broader type of form, one that doesn’t have the same restrictions.
WHAT HAS MUSK SAID HE’LL DO WITH HIS SHARES?
He said in a filing with regulators on Monday that he owns the shares for “investment purposes.” He said he may buy more, sell or simply hold the shares, depending on what happens with its price and other factors.
He also said that he may talk with Twitter’s board and its management team from time to time about strategy, as well as possible mergers, sales or acquisitions, among other things. The widely followed tweeter was sure to note that he may express his views to the company “through social media or other channels.”
Musk said he has “no present plans or intentions,” but that his plans could change at any time.
WHAT DOES MUSK REALLY WANT?
Much of Musk’s vocal criticism of Twitter over recent weeks has centered around his belief that it falls short on free speech principles. The social media platform has angered followers of Donald Trump and other far-right political figures who’ve had their accounts suspended for violating its content standards on violence, hate or harmful misinformation. Musk also has a history of his own tweets causing legal problems.
But as long as his attention is sustained, it’s unlikely that Musk would make such a big play for Twitter if he didn’t also have strategic business interests, said Enrique Abeyta, a former hedge fund manager and editor of Empire Financial Research. It’s nearly impossible to start a new social media platform, so Twitter offers the digital equivalent of prime beachfront real estate that just needs some tinkering and fresh ideas, which could range from taking it private to shifting to a subscription-based model with fewer speech restrictions, Abeyta said.
“He clearly has shown an interest in combining his philosophical beliefs and interests with his economic ones,” he said. “I think it would be very dangerous to discount him.”
COULD MUSK BE TWITTER CEO?
Probably not. Neither Musk — who already serves as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and has dabbled in a number of other technology ventures — nor most investors are likely to think that’s a good idea.
“He’d rather be the chairman, the spirit animal, the man who saved Twitter and also made $10 billion on it,” Abeyta said. “He’s the richest person in the world. Being CEO sucks.”
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Choe reported from New York. | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/explainer-what-elon-musks-dance-with-twitter-really-means/ | 2022-04-12T11:25:54 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/explainer-what-elon-musks-dance-with-twitter-really-means/ |
The effort to hold drug companies, pharmacies and distributors accountable for their role in the opioid crisis has led to a whirlwind of legal activity around the U.S. that can be difficult keep tabs on.
Three trials are underway now, in Florida, West Virginia and Washington state. New legal settlements are being reached practically every week to provide governments money to fight the crisis and in some cases funds for medicines to reverse overdoses or to help with treatment.
In all, more than 3,000 lawsuits have been filed by state and local governments, Native American tribes, unions, hospitals and other entities in state and federal courts over the toll of opioids. Most allege the industry created a public nuisance in a crisis that has been linked to the deaths of 500,000 Americans over the past two decades.
Collectively, businesses already have faced settlements, judgements and civil and criminal penalties totaling more than $47 billion. The main entities targeted are the companies that manufactured and sold the pills; the businesses that distributed them; and the pharmacies that dispensed them.
Here’s an overview of the litigation and settlements involving the various companies:
PURDUE PHARMA
Purdue is the maker of OxyContin, an extended-release version of oxycodone that packed higher doses into pills. The drug, released in 1996, became a heavily marketed blockbuster drug — and is associated closely with the epidemic’s first wave.
Like other opioids, it was promoted not just for post-surgery and cancer pain but for chronic pain — an area where doctors previously were reluctant to prescribe such powerful drugs.
Faced with thousands of lawsuits, the company went into bankruptcy protection in 2019 to help reach a settlement.
A deal is now in place, but it’s not final.
It calls for members of the Sackler family who own the company to give up their stakes, making way for it to become a new entity — to be known as Knoa Pharma — with profits funding the fight against the opioid crisis. Additionally, family members are to pay $5.5 billion to $6 billion over time, with a portion of the money going to victims.
Earlier this year, three members of the family attended an online hearing in which parents described losing children to addictions that started with OxyContin, and people recovering from addictions described their journeys.
As part of the exchange, Sackler family members would get protection from lawsuits over opioids.
For the settlement to be finalized, a higher court must overturn a judge’s ruling that threw out an earlier version of the deal. A hearing on that is scheduled for April 29 before the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the meantime, activists and someU.S. senators are asking the Justice Department to consider charges against family members.
OTHER DRUGMAKERS
In a major court victory for drugmakers last year, a California judge ruledagainst some local governments in their case against pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson, Endo International and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.
Some of those drugmakers — Johnson & Johnson, Allergan and Teva — are now on trialin West Virginia.
But companies have largely been settling suits.
Mallinckrodt, which was a leading producer of generic oxycodone, also used bankruptcy court to reach a settlement, agreeing to a $1.6 billion nationwide deal in 2020.
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to a $5 billion nationwide settlement. It was announced alongside a separate settlement involving the three biggest drug wholesalers. The company’s Janssen subsidiary stopped selling its fentanyl patches and pain pills in the U.S. in 2020. J&J was also the first drugmaker to be held liable for the opioid crisis in a trial, though the Oklahoma Supreme Court later overturnedthe ruling.
Endo made the opioid Opana, which was eventually removed from the market. The company has been reaching individual settlementswith states. Deals since last year with Florida, New York, Texas, West Virginia and some district attorneys in Tennessee have totaled well over $200 million.
Late last year, a New York juryfound Teva partly responsible for the state’s opioid crisis through its marketing of the fentanyl drugs Actiq and Fentora. Most of the other companies the state and two counties sued settled before or during a trial last year. A separate trial is to be held to determine damages.
Since the New York trial, Teva has reached settlements with Texas, Floridaand Rhode Island totaling more than $250 million. It will also provide drugs to reverse overdoses and treat addictions.
Allergan, now a subsidiary of AbbVie, has been settling suits involving the extended-release morphine pill Kadian. It reached one major settlement with New York last year. Since then, it has been part of the multi-company settlements in Florida and Rhode Island.
Executives from drugmaker Insys were convictedin 2019 of bribing doctors across the U.S. to prescribe their sublingual fentanyl spray Subsys. Company founder John Kapoor was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in federal prison.
The company also paid $225 million to resolve federal investigations into allegations that it paid kickbacks and used other illegal marketing tactics.
DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES
The three big national companies — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — finalized their settlement, worth a total of $21 billion over 18 years, in February.
The deal, combined with Johnson & Johnson’s, is expected to be the single biggest settlement between companies in the drug industry and governments.
The total amounts include separate settlements covering all federally recognized Native American tribes.
With settlement money starting to flow to state and local governments, officials are figuring out how to prioritize it. The funds are arriving at a precarious time: The number of U.S. overdose deaths from all drugs topped 100,000 in a 12-month period for the first time last year. The majority of those deaths are from opioids — and particularly illicit synthetic versionsincluding fentanyl.
Unlike the tobacco settlements of the 1990s, there are safeguards intended to steer most of the opioid settlement funds to addressing the crisis. Public health experts have ideasfor how to do that, but the decisions are up to government officials.
The distribution companies also went to trial last year in West Virginia. A judge has not yet ruled.
Closing arguments in Washington state’s trialagainst the distributors are expected this week.
PHARMACIES
Pharmacy chains have been sued less often than companies that make or distribute opioids. In one groundbreaking case, a federal jury in Ohio last year found CVS, Walgreens and Walmart recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in Lake and Trumbull counties.
Late last month, CVS settled in Florida. That left Walgreensto go to trial Monday.
CONSULTING COMPANY
Global consulting firm McKinsey & Company also reached dealslast year with the states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories for advising businesses on how to sell more prescription opioids amid the overdose crisis. Those settlements totaled more than $600 million.
A group of U.S. senators is pushing for a federal investigation, saying there were conflicts when the company consulted on opioid-related issues both for companies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/explainer-where-do-us-opioid-trials-settlements-stand/ | 2022-04-12T11:26:01 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/explainer-where-do-us-opioid-trials-settlements-stand/ |
DALLAS (AP) — Barry Biffle is juggling his day job as CEO of Frontier Airlines while also working to save a proposed merger with Spirit Airlines that would create the nation’s fifth-biggest carrier by some measures.
This figures to be a bounce-back year for airlines like Frontier that cater to leisure travelers. After two years of hunkering down during the pandemic, more people are flying.
Biffle says the recovery in travel will enable his Denver-based airline to return to profitability this summer. And he’s puzzled by doubters, including investors who are shorting the stock — betting that the shares will fall in price.
On the merger, Biffle says Frontier and Spirit are answering regulators’ questions, and he is not alarmed that several liberals in Congress are urging the Biden administration to take a close look at whether the deal will hurt consumers.
The bigger obstacle to a Frontier-Spirit deal is JetBlue Airways, which made its own $3.6 billion bid for Spirit last week. JetBlue’s offer is higher than Frontier’s $2.9 billion bid, which was announced in February.
Frontier declined to make Biffle available after the JetBlue announcement. In an interview days earlier, Biffle discussed regulatory review of the Frontier-Spirit merger proposal, travel demand and other topics with The Associated Press. The answers have been edited for length.
Q. Where is travel demand now?
A. We have gone from possibly the worst revenue period at the beginning of Q1, in January and February, to one of the best sales periods. Fare levels and total revenue per passenger in the early March time frame exceeded 2019 levels — over $120 per passenger. COVID has held everyone back, but eventually after two years, it would appear people are ready to get back to their lives.
Q. Why do you think that’s happening?
A. We have been talking a lot about the bad side of inflation; this inflation is driven by higher incomes. We have never seen incomes jumping at the levels that they are, especially at the bottom. That is giving you people cooped up for two years wanting to get back to travel, and they have got more income than they have ever had.
Q. What does that mean for Frontier?
A. Historically that would actually get you back to 2019 levels in revenue. You actually need a little more though, unfortunately, to cover fuel. But with that trajectory, we believe that we can be profitable by the summer.
Q. The number of flyers has gone up and down during the pandemic. Is it hard to schedule the right number of flights?
A. We were really optimistic about the recovery a year ago … but then the delta variant hit and we were caught with way too much capacity. And we were going to have a great fourth quarter, and then the omicron hit. We have looked at other carriers — Alaska, for example — that has kept their capacity constrained (while) we were operating 90%, 95% of utilization in some periods, and we have been punished for that. While (demand) is great, it’s still not great in all the off-peak periods. While Fridays and Sundays are great, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, not so much. While spring break-Easter is still great, I don’t yet know how the first two weeks of May are going to be, I don’t yet know how the first two weeks in June are going to be, I don’t know what the second half of August is going to look like, I don’t know what September is going to look like.
Q. Frontier has an unusually high amount of short-selling, given the number of shares out there. Why is that? (Short sellers borrow shares and sell them while planning to replace the borrowed shares at a lower price. They lose money if they must replace shares at a higher price.)
A. I’m not an expert on it. I don’t run a hedge fund. It is very high, and we are sitting around watching it, kind of scratching our head. Not sure I get it, and it seems very dangerous because if you’re short-selling our stock and the days to cover (replace the borrowed shares) become a problem, that’s what started the whole GameStop craze, right? I’m personally confused at why they think this is a good idea.
Q. It’s been about two months since Frontier and Spirit announced plans to merge. Any news about the name of the new airline, the headquarters location and the management team?
A. No, we’re not planning to announce any of that before July. It’s going to take some time to look through these things and come to the right conclusion.
Q. Are your people talking to antitrust regulators?
A. We have started the process and it’s a very normal process so far. This is going to take to the end of the year to complete. They have questions, and we will deal with them in due course.
Q. Do you have any reason to think they will challenge the merger or require divestitures?
A. We haven’t heard anything like that. Neither one of us have dominant positions in LaGuardia or Reagan (airports). We just don’t have the things that you want to give up because it creates a monopoly.
Q. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and other members of Congress asked the administration to examine the deal closely. Does that worry you?
A. They didn’t come out opposing it. They are asking the administration to look into if this is going to raise fares to consumers. I understand their concern … many of the mergers that have created the big four in the United States (American, Delta, United and Southwest) caused some challenges for people. I think as they see the facts, they are going to see that (the Frontier-Spirit deal) is good for consumers.
Q. Let’s say the deal gets approved. What is this new, combined airline going to look like in five or 10 years?
A. In a few years, I think we’ll have nationwide notoriety as the place to go for low fares and best value.
Q. What does that mean to shareholders?
A. There is $500 million in (EBITDA, or gross earnings) just in synergies from a combined company. Over a five-year period, both airlines were going to roughly double in size as well … It’s good for the economy, it’s good for the shareholders, and hopefully — back to your short-seller question — we have proven all those people wrong. | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/frontier-ceo-talks-about-airline-merger-travel-outlook/ | 2022-04-12T11:26:08 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/frontier-ceo-talks-about-airline-merger-travel-outlook/ |
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey regulators gave a green light Monday to seven facilities that already sell medical marijuana to also sell recreational cannabis, although it’s not clear exactly when sales would begin.
Sales could start in a matter of weeks or longer, but a specific date wasn’t set at the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s vote during a remotely held meeting. Three of the facilities, known as alternative treatment centers, are in the northern part of the state. Three are in the south, and one is in central New Jersey.
The timing of the start of sales is unclear in part because the facilities must still pass a regulatory inspection of their operations and be issued new licenses.
The New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association, a trade group that advocates for the alternative treatment centers, estimated that recreational retail sales could start as the soon as the end of April, according to spokesperson Pamela Dollak. But it could vary by location, as each center faces compliance and other considerations.
Retail sales for the general public would start in 13 dispensaries operated by the seven treatment centers across the state.
To get approval, the facilities have agreed that the coming influx of recreational buyers won’t interrupt access for patients who are currently using medical marijuana. The facilities said they would reserve parking spaces for patients as well as keep hours specifically for patients only.
There are about 130,000 medical marijuana patients in the state, with an estimated roughly 800,000 potential recreational consumers, and fewer than 800,000 estimated “tourism” consumers, according to the commission.
How much money the state will get in tax revenues from recreational marijuana isn’t clear. Murphy’s fiscal year 2023 budget, which is pending before the Democrat-led Legislature, estimates revenues of just $19 million in a nearly $49 billion budget. In 2019, as legalization of recreational marijuana was still just pending before voters, he had estimated about $60 million in revenue.
Legislation governing the recreational market calls for the 6.625% sales tax to apply, with 70% of the proceeds going to areas disproportionately affected by marijuana-related arrests. Black residents were likelier — up to three times as much — to face marijuana charges than white residents. Towns can also levy a tax of up to 2%.
“These approvals were given based on commitments from the ATCs that we would not see adverse effects with expansion,” commission chairperson Dianna Houenou said. “Expansion into the adult-use market — with a substantial advantageous start ahead of new applicants — is a privilege that must not be taken lightly.”
The vote comes about a year after the commission started operating, and a year and a half after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question to permit recreational marijuana for people 21 and older.
New Jersey’s Senate President Nicholas Scutari praised the development in a statement Monday, but said the state needs to “do better and in a timely way.”
He added that he plans to hold oversight hearings to get an understanding of the “delays, the uncertainties and any obstacles that hinder the full implementation of the cannabis law.”
New Jersey is one of 18 states, along with the District of Columbia, that legalized recreational marijuana. There also are 37 states, including New Jersey, that have legalized medical marijuana. | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/nj-approves-7-facilities-for-recreational-cannabis-sales/ | 2022-04-12T11:26:16 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/nj-approves-7-facilities-for-recreational-cannabis-sales/ |
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — State kindergarten and primary school teachers in North Macedonia began an open-ended strike Monday, seeking substantial pay rises amid a cost of living crisis.
The teachers’ union is pressing the government for annual salary increases over the next two years which would roughly take their average monthly salary from 400 euros now to about 700 euros ($436 to 760) in 2024.
The center-left government has ruled out any new salary increase for teachers this year. It has already increased the minimum monthly salary in the country from 247 to 292 euros, in a bid to ease discontent over high living costs triggered by a sharp hike in energy and food prices.
Annual inflation in the small Balkan country of about 1.8 million increased for the ninth straight month in March to reach a 14-year high of 8,8%, from 7,6% in February.
Education Minister Jeton Shaqiri called on the teachers’ union to join in urgent talks to seek a compromise.
Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski called on strikers “to put first the interests of children and make sure that the educational process is not disrupted.” | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/north-macedonia-teachers-strike-as-power-food-prices-soar/ | 2022-04-12T11:26:23 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/north-macedonia-teachers-strike-as-power-food-prices-soar/ |
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish government special commission has reinforced its earlier allegations that the 2010 plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others in Russia was the result of Moscow’s assassination plan.
The latest of the commission’s reports, released Monday, alleges that an intentional detonation of planted explosives caused the April 10, 2010 crash of Soviet-made Tu-154M plane that killed Kaczynski, the first lady and 94 other government and armed forces figures as well as many prominent Poles.
Their deaths were the result of an “act of unlawful interference by the Russian side,” the commission’s head Antoni Macierewicz told a news conference.
“The main and indisputable proof of the interference was an explosion in the left wing … followed by an explosion in the plane’s center,” said Macierewicz, who in 2015-2018 served as defense minister in Poland’s right-wing government.
He denied that any mistakes were made by the Polish pilots or crew members, despite bad weather at the time of the crash.
The report repeats many previous allegations made by the commission, appointed by the government whose key figure is the main ruling Law and Justice party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin of the late president.
It comes at a time when Russia has unleashed a war on Poland’s neighbor Ukraine, and among the current tense relations between Warsaw and Moscow. Poland supports Ukraine in its struggle against Russia and is calling for very tough sanctions on Moscow for its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
The latest report once again drums up hostility toward Russia among some Poles, chiefly supporters of the nationalist government, it what seems to be an effort to consolidate the voter base of the Law and Justice party, which was founded by the Kaczynski twins in 2001.
Suspicions are additionally fuelled by Russia’s refusal to return the wreckage, which has complicated Poland’s investigation.
Earlier, two separate reports by Polish and Russian experts on aviation incidents said the crash on approach in dense fog to the Smolensk airport, which did not have sophisticated aviation equipment, was the result of human errors made in adverse weather conditions.
They found no proof of foul play. | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/polish-panel-russia-behind-polish-leaders-plane-crash/ | 2022-04-12T11:26:30 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/polish-panel-russia-behind-polish-leaders-plane-crash/ |
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Treasury chief, once seen as a potential candidate for prime minister, is fighting to save his reputation by requesting an investigation of his own conduct after a series of news reports on his family’s finances raised questions about his judgment.
Rishi Sunak, a 41-year-old former hedge fund manager, asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson to direct his adviser on ministerial standards to review all of the disclosures Sunak has made — such as his wife’s tax exemption statusand her connection to a company that received government contracts — since he became a government minister.
Sunak said he was confident all “relevant information” was appropriately declared, but he wanted an investigation to reassure the public.
“My overriding concern is that the public retain confidence in the answers they are given, and I believe the best way of achieving this is to ensure those answers are entirely independent, without bias or favor,” Sunak wrote in a letter to Johnson dated Sunday.
Sunak’s standing has been damaged by revelations that his Indian-born wife took advantage of rules that allow many foreigners to escape U.K. taxes on their overseas income. It came at the same time he was raising income taxes for most residents already facing a cost-of-living crisis tied to soaring energy prices.
Sunak defended his wife after the first reports that she had opted for “non-domiciled” tax status, saying she is a private citizen with her own career and independent investments and shouldn’t be subject to the same level of scrutiny as a politician.
But by Friday, his wife, Akshata Murty, a fashion designer and the daughter of an Indian billionaire, said she didn’t want the issue to become a “distraction” for her husband so she had decided to pay U.K. taxes on her worldwide income.
Married people in the U.K. file separate tax returns, unlike in the U.S. where many file joint returns.
But the brouhaha hasn’t ended.
Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the opposition Labour Party, wrote to Johnson on Sunday asking that his ethics adviser investigate six issues relating to Sunak’s disclosures.
These include allegations that he failed to reveal his wife’s stake in Infosys, an information technology company that has won several contracts from the government, and concerns about the so-called blind trust Sunak established to allow him to maintain his holdings in an investment fund while giving up any role in their day-to-day management.
Steve Reed, Labour’s spokesman on justice issues, said Monday that he believes Sunak has violated government rules on ministerial conduct. Ministers sometimes resign if they break these rules.
“If the chancellor’s household is benefiting from contracts of that kind, that should have been something that he declared in the register of interests, but he didn’t,” Reed told the BBC. “There’s a whole list of areas where the chancellor appears to have failed to declare things he should have declared.”
Sunak’s Cabinet colleagues have defended him.
Environment Minister George Eustice rejected suggestions that Sunak was “too rich” to be chancellor of the exchequer or even potentially prime minister.
“I don’t think it’s right that we should have a rule that says you’re too wealthy to be able to do a role,” he told the BBC. “What matters is the knowledge, the technical expertise, that you have.” | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/uk-treasury-chief-fights-to-save-reputation-in-tax-storm/ | 2022-04-12T11:26:37 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/uk-treasury-chief-fights-to-save-reputation-in-tax-storm/ |
WARSAW (AP) — A disputed compound in the Polish capital of Warsaw administered by Russia’s diplomatic mission is being taken over by the city and will be made available to the Ukrainian community, the mayor said Monday.
Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was at the site early Monday and said a bailiff had entered the two apparently empty, fenced buildings, nicknamed “Spyville” by Warsaw residents, to check on their condition and to mark them as seized by the city.
Trzaskowski said Warsaw was getting back the compound “unlawfully” occupied by Russia. Last month he said Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine added urgency to the decades-long procedure.
“It is very symbolic that we are closing this procedure of many years now, at the time of Russia’s aggression” against Ukraine, Trzaskowski said on Twitter.
Ukraine’s ambassador, Andrii Deshchytsia, told Poland’s state news agency PAP that Ukraine will file to lease the compound, which could be used for a school or a Ukrainian culture center.
One of Trzaskowski’s proposals for the 100-odd apartments there is to accommodate war refugees from Ukraine. More than 2.6 million of them have crossed into Poland since the Russian invasion began.
Photos from the inside the buildings were published later Monday by the Onet.pl news portal. They showed peeling paint, broken glass on the floor and torn-out flooring.
Russia’s Embassy, which had the tall apartment blocks built in the 1970s on land obtained from the city, has been refusing court orders to pay to lease the land or hand it over.
Once busy, the buildings became empty in the 1990s, after Poland shed its communist rule and Soviet Union’s dominance in 1989, and after the Soviet Union itself dissolved in 1991.
Ever since, Poland has been saying that the contract for the lease of the plot of land had expired and demanded that it be returned. But its gates remained closed and guarded.
Russia’s diplomatic and business missions have much more property in Poland than Poland has in Russia, which is in violation of reciprocity rules, according to Poland’s Foreign Ministry.
___
Follow AP stories on developments in the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine. | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/warsaw-takes-over-russia-built-compound-to-give-to-ukraine/ | 2022-04-12T11:26:44 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/warsaw-takes-over-russia-built-compound-to-give-to-ukraine/ |
DENVER (AP) — The nonprofit that distributed most of the $350 million in donations from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to election offices in 2020 said Monday that it won’t disburse similar donations this year after backlash from conservatives suspicious that the contributions tilted the outcome of the presidential race toward Joe Biden.
Instead, the Center for Technology and Civic Life is launching a different program. Dubbed the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, the $80-million, five-year effort is intended to create a network for the nation’s thousands of local election officials, who can apply for aid to improve their technology and processes.
“Unfortunately, years of underinvestment means many local election departments often have limited capacity and training. The U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence is bringing together world-class partners so that local election officials no longer have to go it alone,” said Tiana Epps-Johnson, CTCL’s executive director, who announced the new program at the TED2022 conference.
The 2020 effort by Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, amid the COVID-19 pandemic fueled conservative anger and distrust of the presidential election outcome. At least eight GOP-controlled states passed laws last year banning private donations to election offices in reaction to Zuckerberg’s donations. Suspicion that the contributions — routinely referred to as “Zuckerbucks” by conservatives — helped Biden, a Democrat, has become a staple among those who believe in former President Donald Trump’s election lies.
Several Republican election officials have said the program was vital and nonpartisan and dismissed criticism of it as conspiracy theories.
A spokesperson for Zuckerberg and Chan confirmed that the couple is not funding election offices this year.
“As Mark and Priscilla made clear previously, their election infrastructure donation to help ensure that Americans could vote during the height of the pandemic was a one-time donation given the unprecedented nature of the crisis,” Ben LaBolt said. “They have no plans to repeat that donation.”
Epps-Johnson said the group saw in 2020 just how woefully underfunded many local election offices are. Elections in the U.S. are run at the local level, sometimes by a small staff of city or county workers and volunteers. One New England office, Epps-Johnson said, used its 2020 grant to replace century-old election tabulation equipment, and many struggled to maintain usable websites that could provide voters information on mobile devices.
The network will work with technology experts at Stanford University and elsewhere, Epps-Johnson said. Local election offices will be able to apply for assistance, but things will work differently than two years ago.
In 2020, election offices were scrambling to switch to mail voting as the pandemic made traditional polling places harder to maintain. Negotiations over additional money for election offices collapsed amid partisan acrimony in Washington. In late August of that year, Zuckerberg announced his donations, and CTCL swiftly distributed the funds to 2,500 election offices for a wide range of expenses, including new ballot counting equipment, pickup trucks to haul voting machines and public relations campaigns advertising new ways to cast ballots.
Conservatives were immediately skeptical. Many have long distrusted Zuckerberg, believing he uses his social media platform to help Democrats. CTCL is a nonpartisan group respected by election administrators of both parties, but its founders have roots in liberal politics. And although the grants went to conservative and liberal areas, Democratic-leaning counties received a disproportionate share of the money in battleground states like Florida and Pennsylvania.
CTCL has spent much of the time since the 2020 contests pushing for greater government funding of election offices, saying that would be better than another round of private donations. The nonprofit was encouraged by Biden’s request for $10 billion in election funding in the federal budget he released last month.
Still, the movement fueled by Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud has latched onto the 2020 donations as one of its many grievances over how the election was conducted. For example, at Colorado’s GOP Assembly on Saturday, candidate after candidate referred to Zuckerberg and “Zuckerbucks” as they claimed the election was stolen from Republicans.
“Mark Zuckerberg and his shadow forces should never be in charge of our elections,” said Tina Peters, a county clerk under indictment for her role in the illegal download of voting software last year that was provided to Trump supporters. She made the comments to the crowd in Colorado Springs as she advanced to the party’s primary ballot for the state’s top elections office, secretary of state. | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/zuckerberg-money-wont-be-in-next-round-of-aid-for-elections/ | 2022-04-12T11:26:51 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/business/us-world-business/zuckerberg-money-wont-be-in-next-round-of-aid-for-elections/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Britney Spears, less than five months after her conservatorship ended, confused some fans Monday when she posted on Instagram that she’s pregnant, and apparently married.
“I lost so much weight to go on my Maui trip only to gain it back,” the pop star wrote in part Monday, accompanied by a photo of flowers and a cup of coffee. “I thought ”Geez … what happened to my stomach???” My husband said “No you’re food pregnant silly!!!” So I got a pregnancy test … and uhhhhh well … I am having a baby. …”
Spears — with liberal use of various emojis — didn’t name partner Sam Asghari as the “husband” and added: “I obviously won’t be going out as much due to the paps getting their money shot of me like they unfortunately already have.”
While some, including Paris Hilton, congratulated Spears.
Monday evening, Asghari added an Instagram post of his ownaccompanied by a painting of a lion family with three members.
“Marriage and kids are a natural part of a strong relationship filled with love and respect. Fatherhood is something i have always looked forward to and i don’t take lightly. It is the most important job i will ever do,” he wrote.
Spears spoke of suffering from perinatal depression in the past, calling it “absolutely horrible” and saying she’s heartened that the condition is spoken of more freely among women now than at the time of her previous go arounds with her sons, ages 15 and 16. She shares the teens with ex Kevin Federline.
She said “some people considered it dangerous if a woman complained like that with a baby inside her … but now women talk about it everyday … thank Jesus we don’t have to keep that pain a reserved proper secret … This time I will be doing yoga every day !!! Spreading lots of joy and love!!!”
The 40-year-old Spears has said she longed for a baby with the 28-year-old Asghari, a personal trainer, but she has said the nearly 14-year-long conservatorship forced her to remain on birth control.
The two met on the set of her “Slumber Party” video in 2016.
Multiple email requests for confirmation from Spears’ representative were not immediately returned Monday. | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/britney-spears-confuses-some-with-instagram-pregnancy-news/ | 2022-04-12T11:26:59 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/britney-spears-confuses-some-with-instagram-pregnancy-news/ |
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Carrie Underwood and Jason Aldean were the big winners, the Judds reunited, and Kelsea Ballerini turned a tough break into a one-woman house party at Monday night’s CMT music awards.
Underwood and Aldean won video of the year and collaborative video of the year for their duet “If I Didn’t Love You” on the show that uses fan votes to honor the best in country music videos.
“This one’s all about the fans man,” Underwood said as she accepted the belt-buckle CMT trophy for video of the year, a record 25th win for her.
“I’m pretty sure I picked the perfect partner for this song,” Aldean said.
The Judds made their first major awards show performance in over two decades, with 76-year-old Naomi and her 57-year-old daughter Wynonna singing their signature 1990 classic “Love Can Build a Bridge.”
They were joined by a gospel choir in the performance that was pre-recorded outside the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The show from the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee made the best of the last-minute absence of co-host Kelsea Ballerini, who tested positive for COVID-19 a few days earlier.
Her co-host, “Avengers” actor Anthony Mackie, took the stage alone at the start of the live CBS telecast and introduced a “backup KB,” Kane Brown, to help with hosting duties. Brown was also the night’s most nominated artist but came up empty.
But Ballerini wouldn’t be left out. She appeared on a big screen from home, decked out in a full awards-show dress in her living room.
“This is my normal Monday night, in full glam, with lighting I set up myself, and a remote truck outside,” Ballerini said. “I would so much rather be there with you, but I will be popping in all night long.”
Later in the show, Ballerini performed from her backyard, singing her new single “Heartfirst” alone with a white guitar while standing on the grass with images of her band projected on to a curtain hung behind her.
She made constant costume changes, appearing in a new dress for each appearance and ending the night in her pajamas.
Miranda Lambert won her eighth CMT award, for female video of the year, for “If I Was a Cowboy,” which she also performed.
“I am so happy to be a part of the women of country music today,” Lambert said.
Cody Johnson won male video of the year for ”′Til You Can’t.”
Maddie & Tae won best group or duo video for “Woman You Got.” Tae Kerr, who recently went through a difficult pregnancy and premature birth, appeared on a screen from home during their acceptance, holding her new baby.
“I’ve missed you, I’ve missed you so much, and I’ve been drinking because I’m so nervous,” Maddie Font said to her musical partner during an acceptance speech where she went from laughs to tears and back again. “Tell that baby girl I love her.”
At age 69, George Strait won his first ever CMT award, taking CMT performance of the year for “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone?” from “CMT Giants: Charley Pride’.”
Performances came fast and furious during the three hour show.
Keith Urban opened the telecast with his single “Wild Hearts,” followed immediately by the duet “Never Say Never” from Cole Swindell and Lainey Wilson, who stepped out to the front of an outdoor stage to let the Nashville rain hit them as they sang.
Underwood sang her song “Ghost Story” in a pre-taped performance from her Las Vegas residency, taking flight mid-song Cirque du Soleil-style on a cloth swing hung from the ceiling.
Jimmie Allen, Monica and Little Big Town gave the first live performance of their collaboration “Pray.” All wore all white and stood on a smoke covered stage as inspirational images from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine were shown behind them.
The hosting change-up wasn’t the only hiccup the show faced: lightning forced the closure of the CMT’s pink carpet before most stars arrived to have their photos taken and be interviewed.
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This story has been corrected to show that Underwood has won 25 CMT awards.
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Dalton reported from Los Angeles.
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/kelsea-ballerini-to-host-cmt-music-awards-from-home/ | 2022-04-12T11:27:05 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/kelsea-ballerini-to-host-cmt-music-awards-from-home/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — NBC News is branching out from covering top stories to performing a theatrical reading.
“Today” show hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb will be among the readers of “Murder in Studio One,” planned to be read before an audience on April 27 and released later on a podcast through Audible, Inc.
Al Roker, Craig Melvin and Jenna Bush Hager will also be among the dozen NBC News hosts performing, it was announced on Monday.
They’ll read the murder mystery on the afternoon of April 27 at the Minetta Lane Theater in New York. Ticket sales benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, NBC said.
Audible has recorded other theatrical performances, starring actors like John Lithgow, Billy Crudup, Alan Cumming, Kate Mulgrew and Carey Mulligan. | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/nbc-today-show-stars-to-perform-live-theatrical-reading/ | 2022-04-12T11:27:12 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/nbc-today-show-stars-to-perform-live-theatrical-reading/ |
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
MOVIES
— Astonishingly, “Drive My Car” was not Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s only film last year. His acclaimed Haruki Murakami adaptation certainly got the most attention culminating in the International Feature Oscar win last month, but his three-part anthology film “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” deserves some more, too (it did win runner up at the Berlin Film Festival). The triptych follows three young women navigating romantic pursuits, ex loves and strange triangles. And it’ll be available to stream on the Criterion Channel starting Thursday. Don’t worry, this one clocks in at only two hours.
— Modern relationships, albeit French ones, are also at the heart of Jacques Audiard’s black and white “Paris, 13th District,” available on VOD on Friday from IFC Films. Adapted from Adrian Tomine’s graphic novels, the film follows various young Parisians living in the less-than-picturesque corner of the city of lights as they struggle to form real connections and relationships in a Tinder world. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” fans should be excited to know that filmmaker Céline Sciamma helped co-write the film and Noémie Merlant co-stars.
— Continuing on the international streak of new films to stream this week, Filipino director Brillante Mendoza was inspired by the true story of boxer Naozumi Tsuchiyama for his drama “Gensan Punch,” which comes to HBO Max on Friday. The Japanese athlete with a prosthetic leg went to the Philippines to pursue boxing after being denied the opportunity in his home country.
— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr
MUSIC
— Jewel’s first new studio album in seven years “Freewheelin’ Woman” finds her leaning into a soulful and groove-heavy sound. The single “Living With Your Memory” has her kicking up a retro but timeless R&B vibe with a full, horn-heavy band. “I’m rollin’/ rollin’/ rollin’/ Back the time,” she sings. On “Long Way ‘Round,” her voice switches gears thrillingly, as comfortable as a pair of favorite jeans. Jewel is also a contender on NBC’s new music competition series “American Song Contest,” where she represents the state of Alaska among rising and established artists from across the country competing for best song
— Guess who else is on “American Song Contest”? Electronic music outfit The Crystal Method, who will release their seventh studio album, “The Trip Out,” on Friday. A few days before — on Monday — The Crystal Method will represent Nevada on the NBC contest and debut their song “Watch Me Now.” The dance icons recently joined forces with Iggy Pop for “Post Punk,” a menacing, futuristic jam with a relentless beat that sounds perfect for a rave on a mission to Mars.
— AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy
TELEVISION
— Hugh Laurie wears just about every hat for BritBox’s “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?” Laurie directed, produced, wrote and acts in the three-episode mystery series based on Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel of the same title — the final words of a murder victim. Lady Frances and her friend Bobby (Lucy Boynton, Will Poulter), who found the dying man, turn amateur detectives to solve the case. Laurie plays a sanatorium’s clinical director, which should be a good fit for the former Dr. Gregory House. The limited series debuts Tuesday on the streaming service.
— America’s national parks are undeniable gems, but not a monopoly. “Our Great National Parks,” a five-part Netflix series, takes a global view of public lands and the wildlife that inhabits them. Episode one hopscotches across parks and countries, including Hawaii’s Hanauma Bay; Loango National Park, Gabon; Yakushima National Park, Japan, and Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica. Subsequent episodes focus on Chilean Patagonia; Tsavo, Kenya; California’s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and Gunung Leuser in Indonesia. Former President Barack Obama produced and narrates the series debuting Wednesday.
— When “The Brothers Garcia” aired on Nickelodeon in the early 2000s, it was among the rare shows with a Latino cast and creators. Nearly two decades later, a reboot of the sitcom for HBO Max still represents a TV scarcity. “The Garcias” revolves around the San Antonio, Texas, family as they congregate for summer vacation at their beach house in Mexico. Actors reprising their roles from the original series include Jeffrey Licon, Bobby Gonzalez, Alvin Alvarez and Vaneza Pitynski as the Garcia siblings. Jeff Valdez, co-creator of the Nickelodeon show, created and is the showrunner for “The Garcias,” debuting Thursday on the streaming service.
— AP Television Writer Lynn Elber
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Catch up on AP’s entertainment coverage here: https://apnews.com/apf-entertainment. | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/new-this-week-the-garcias-jewel-music-and-barack-obama/ | 2022-04-12T11:27:19 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/new-this-week-the-garcias-jewel-music-and-barack-obama/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow returned to the air Monday with some bad news for her fans: Starting next month, she will be doing her prime-time show only once a week.
After working her customary five nights a week for the rest of April, Maddow said, she will work on Monday nights only starting in May. The network said it will rotate guest hosts the other four weeknights on a show called “MSNBC Prime.”
“For big news events, for things like the leadup to the election, I will of course be here more than that, but that is the general plan,” Maddow said on her show Monday.
The cable news network’s most popular personality had been on hiatus for the past two months, working on a new podcast and a movie adaptation of her book “Bag Man.” She said the weekly schedule will give her “more time to work on some of this other stuff I’ve got cooking for MSNBC and NBC.”
She heaped praise on Ali Velshi, who had filled in frequently for her while she was away, calling him a “prince among men.”
Yet MSNBC’s ratings in her time slot tumbled in her absence, even with coverage of a gripping news event, the Ukraine war. MSNBC is not alone in questions about its 9 p.m. Eastern hour: CNN hasn’t named a full-time replacement for its former ratings leader, Chris Cuomo, since he was fired in December.
The plan leaves MSNBC executives in an awkward spot. While it has been reported that MSNBC signed a new contract with Maddow that gives her additional flexibility, executives have not publicly addressed that deal, or Maddow’s announcement Monday. It seems, at least for the time being, the network will be happy to get as much as it can from Maddow and leave the light on if she someday decides to do more.
Maddow said she had originally thought she might need another hiatus from her show this year but has determined that she won’t. | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/rachel-maddow-returns-to-msnbc-will-switch-to-once-a-week/ | 2022-04-12T11:27:26 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/entertainment-news/rachel-maddow-returns-to-msnbc-will-switch-to-once-a-week/ |
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health ministry said Monday that the country may have to discard 3 million doses of expired COVID-19 vaccine by the end of June.
Ministry spokesman Hanno Kautz told reporters in Berlin that “not many doses” have been destroyed so far, though he couldn’t give an exact figure.
But Kautz said that “we have more vaccine available at the moment than is being used and than we can donate.” He added that the U.N.-backed program to distribute shots to poorer countries, COVAX, isn’t currently accepting donations.
“There is certainly a danger of vaccine being discarded,” Kautz said. However, he added that it recently emerged that the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine can be stored for longer than previously thought, so German officials now believe that 3 million doses may have to be discarded or destroyed by the end of June — down from a previous estimate of 10 million.
Germany’s vaccination program has slowed considerably, with an average of only 33,000 shots administered per day over the past week — compared with over 1 million at times when the country’s booster campaign was in full swing in December.
Some 76% of the population has been fully vaccinated and 59% also have received a booster. Officials aren’t satisfied with the vaccination rate, particularly among older people, but the German parliament last weekrejected a proposalto require all people 60 and over to get inoculated.
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Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic | https://www.wric.com/health/germany-may-have-to-junk-3-million-covid-shots-by-late-june/ | 2022-04-12T11:27:33 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/health/germany-may-have-to-junk-3-million-covid-shots-by-late-june/ |
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A trial opened Monday in Florida’s opioid epidemic lawsuit against the Walgreens pharmacy chain, which state officials accuse of prioritizing profits over health by improperly dispensing millions of powerful painkillers that caused tens of thousands of deaths.
The trial, in Pasco County north of Tampa, comes after other defendants in the Florida lawsuit including the CVS drug store chain settled for an estimated $870 million. The state could seek similar massive damages from Walgreens in the jury trial expected to last a few weeks.
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has a tentative nationwide deal that includes $6 billion in cash from members of the Sackler family who own the company. In all, settlements, civil and criminal penalties around the country since 2007 have totaled over $45 billion, according to an Associated Press tally.
In Florida, the state’s case hinges on accusations that as Walgreens dispensed more than 4.3 billion total opioid pills in Florida from May 2006 to June 2021, more than half contained one or more easily recognized red flags for abuse, fraud and addiction that the company should have noticed and acted upon.
“The evidence will show Walgreens knowingly profited from the opioid crisis,” said attorney Jim Webster for the state in an opening statement, which was attended by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. “Walgreens wasn’t just greedy. It was fueling the opioid crisis that was killing people.”
Walgreens is based in Deerfield, Illinois, and operates more than 9,000 stores in all 50 states, according to the company website. About 820 of those locations are in Florida.
Walgreens attorney Steve Derringer told jurors they should focus on how manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma misled pharmacies on opioid addictive properties. He also noted that Florida did little as the opioid epidemic arose, particularly the predatory “pill mills” that proliferated in the state before a crackdown finally ended them.
“Walgreens had nothing to do with any of that,” Derringer said in his opening statement. “They (drug makers) caused this epidemic by misrepresenting the risks and benefits to pharmacies.”
The opioid epidemic has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades, counting those from prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and generic oxycodone as well as illicit drugs such as heroin and illegally produced fentanyl.
In Florida, Webster said, more than 39,000 Floridians died from opioid abuse or related problems between 1999 and 2020. Walgreens, he said, sold about one of every four opioids in the state over a similar time span often under questionable circumstances, such as a shady doctor, fake prescriptions or huge amounts of drugs obviously far in excess of what was necessary for a given patient.
“Walgreens was the last line of defense,” Webster said. “Walgreens failed its duty to investigate suspicious prescriptions.”
Florida has spent some $14 billion over the last 20 years for multiple opioid-related costs, ranging from criminal justice to drug rehabilitation for addicts to treatment for opioid-addicted infants, Webster said. The state will seek billions of dollars in damages in the Walgreens case.
In the same case, Moody said CVS Health Corp. and CVS Pharmacy Inc. will pay the state $484 million. Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. agreed to pay $195 million and Allergan PLC more than $134 million.
Florida has previously obtained millions of dollars in opioid settlements involving McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., Johnson & Johnson Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. | https://www.wric.com/health/trial-opens-in-florida-opioid-lawsuit-case-against-walgreens/ | 2022-04-12T11:27:40 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/health/trial-opens-in-florida-opioid-lawsuit-case-against-walgreens/ |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. official spearheading global vaccination efforts against the coronavirus said Monday the number of countries where 10% or less of the population has been vaccinated dropped from 34 to 18 since January and called for accelerated progress to end the pandemic.
Assistant Secretary-General Ted Chaiban told the U.N. Security Council that with over 6 million lives lost to COVID-19 and just over 1 million new coronavirus infections reported to the World Health Organization in the last 24 hours, it is urgent to increase vaccinations in countries where it wasn’t possible to boost rates in 2021.
“The next six months are critical,” he said. “In 2022, we must take the rapid action needed to accelerate vaccination. The window of opportunity is gradually closing. We risk losing the momentum and failing on vaccine equity.”
Chaiban said more than 11.1 billion doses of vaccines have been administered globally, and 124 of the 194 WHO member nations have vaccinated more than 40% of their populations and 51 countries have reached more than 70%.
However, in low-income countries the rate is only 11%, he said. In WHO’s Africa region, 83% of the people remain unvaccinated, and in its eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Afghanistan, 51% haven’t gotten a first jab.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Chaiban, a senior official at the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, in February to lead a U.N. team to ensure an effective global response to the pandemic and help close the gap in vaccine availability and distribution. It will also provide financial and technical assistance to overcome vaccine bottlenecks.
Chaiban said a just ended campaign in Ethiopia increased vaccination coverage from 4% in January to just over 20%, including in some conflict-affected areas. In the conflict-affected Central African Republic, he said, strong community engagement including focus group discussions, TV and radio spots with leaders and influencers and the mobilization of young people has led to almost 19% of the population being vaccinated.
Chaiban told the council he was speaking by video link from Congo where this week the U.N. team will be meeting with government officials and key partners “to better address the urgent needs and bottlenecks to expanding vaccination coverage across this country of nearly 100 million people.”
Dr. Esperanza Martinez, a senior adviser to the director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said vaccinations and other health-related activities “are incredibly difficult to carry out” in conflict-affected areas.
“The good news is that as the supply of vaccine doses grows, the potential to get jabs in arms grows, too,” she said.
To achieve this, Martinez said, the Security Council should ensure that international humanitarian law requiring the protection of health workers and facilities is respected, makes coronavirus vaccinations part of broader efforts to improve health and strengthens the health systems of conflict-affected countries. He said community involvement in vaccination activities is key to gaining public trust.
“We have seen vaccines expire on airport tarmacs in Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan and several other places,” Martinez said. “Some of these vaccines were wasted because they arrived with too short expiry date, others because the receiving country’s health systems were not ready to distribute them.”
To address the significant vaccine equity gap, the U.N’s Chaiban urged the council to continue supporting two resolutions it adopted calling for cease-fires and increased global cooperation to facilitate access for vaccinations in major conflict areas.
He urged countries to turn $4.8 billion in pledges at a virtual summit Friday to help lower income countries boost vaccinations “into tangible support” now.
Chaiban also urged council members to advocate for and help guarantee unhindered humanitarian access to deliver vaccine supplies and administer doses and to invest in primary health care “as a key element of future pandemic preparedness.” | https://www.wric.com/health/un-official-urges-acceleration-in-coronavirus-vaccinations/ | 2022-04-12T11:27:47 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/health/un-official-urges-acceleration-in-coronavirus-vaccinations/ |
BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. has ordered non-emergency government staff to leave Shanghai, which is under a tight lockdown to contain a COVID-19 surge.
Many residents in the city of 26 million have been confined to their homes for up to three weeks as China maintains its “zero-COVID” strategy of handling outbreaks with strict isolation and mass testing.
But people living under the restrictions have described an increasingly desperate situation, with families unable to leave their homes or obtain food and daily necessities, while people who test positive for the coronavirus have been forced into mass quarantine centers where conditions at times have been called crowded and unsanitary.
Authorities on Tuesday said another 23,342 people in Shanghai tested positive for the virus over the previous day, just 994 of whom displayed symptoms. Total infections have topped more than 200,000 in the latest wave, although no additional deaths have been reported.
The State Department said the order announced late Monday is an upgrade from the “authorized” departure advisory last week that made the decision voluntary. The order covers non-emergency U.S. government employees at the consulate in Shanghai and their family members. Consular officers will remain on duty at the consulate.
“Our change in posture reflects our assessment that it is best for our employees and their families to be reduced in number and our operations to be scaled down as we deal with the changing circumstances on the ground,” the announcement said.
The State Department also issued a series of advisories for Americans in Shanghai, including that they ensure they have a “sufficient supply of money, medication, food, and other necessities for your family in the event of sudden restrictions or quarantine.”
China’s government and the entirely state-controlled media are growing increasingly defensive about complaints over the COVID-19 prevention measures.
Beijing responded angrily to last week’s voluntary departure advisory, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian saying China was “strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to the U.S. side’s groundless accusation against China’s epidemic response.”
In that announcement, the State Department advised Americans to reconsider traveling to China due to “arbitrary enforcement” of local laws and COVID-19 restrictions, particularly in Hong Kong, Jilin province and Shanghai. U.S. officials cited a risk of “parents and children being separated.”
Despite that, and indications the hardline policy is being dictated by head of the ruling Communist Party Xi Jinping, China has rejected any notion that its response is political in nature. Xi has demanded social stability above all else in the runup to a key party congress later this year at which he is expected to bestow on himself an unprecedented third-term as party leader.
Shanghai authorities also say they have secured daily supplies for residents, following complaints about deliveries of food and other necessities being unavailable or inadequate to demand.
Shanghai says it will gradually lift some restrictions on neighborhoods where no new infections have been reported over the past two weeks. Residents will be able to travel around their districts but not meet in groups. Others will be restricted to their immediate neighborhoods. | https://www.wric.com/health/us-orders-consular-to-leave-shanghai-amid-covid-outbreak/ | 2022-04-12T11:27:54 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/health/us-orders-consular-to-leave-shanghai-amid-covid-outbreak/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is unveiling a completed rule aimed at reining in the proliferation of ghost guns, firearms without serial numbers that have been turning up at crime scenes across the nation in increasing numbers.
The White House and the Justice Department argue that regulating the firearms parts and requiring dealers to stamp serial numbers on ghost guns will help drive down violent crime and aid investigators in solving crimes. Gun groups, however, argue that the government is overreaching and that its rule violates federal law.
Here’s a look at ghost guns and the debate brewing in the U.S.
WHAT ARE GHOST GUNS?
They are privately-made firearms without serial numbers.
Generally, firearms manufactured by licensed companies are required to have serial numbers – usually displayed on the frame of the gun – that allow officials to trace the gun back to the manufacturer, the firearms dealer and original purchaser.
Ghost guns, however, are made of parts and are then assembledtogether. The critical component in building an untraceable gun is what is known as the lower receiver. Some are sold in do-it-yourself kits and the receivers are typically made from metal or polymer.
An unfinished receiver — sometimes referred to as an “80-percent receiver” — can be legally bought online with no serial numbers or other markings on it, no license required. Under the current rules, the federal government does not consider unfinished lower receivers to be firearms.
WHAT DOES THE RULE DO?
It changes the definition of a firearm and will require federal firearms dealers to add serial numbers to ghost guns that come their way.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has, for years, said that unfinished lower receivers don’t meet the legal definition of a firearm. And there is nothing illegal about building your own firearm.
It’s legal to make your own firearm if it’s for your personal use and you don’t intend to sell it. But if you open a business selling guns, you need a federal firearms license.
Under the new rule, the definition of a firearm would change to include unfinished parts, like the frame of a handgun or the receiver of a long gun. The rule also would require those parts to be licensed and include serial numbers. Dealers would also need to run background checks before a sale — just like they do with other commercially made firearms.
The requirement applies regardless of how the firearm was made, meaning it includes ghost guns made from individual parts, kits, or by 3D-printers.
It also will compel federally licensed dealers and gunsmiths who take in firearms without serial numbers to add serial numbers. That means, for example, if someone sells a ghost gun to a pawn broker – or other licensed dealer – the dealer must put a serial number on it before selling the gun to someone else.
HOW PREVELANT ARE GHOST GUNS?
Ghost guns aren’t new. But they are becoming a growing problem for law enforcement agencies across the U.S.
Federal officials have been sounding the alarm about the growing black market for homemade, military-style semi-automatic rifles and handguns. And guns without serial numbers have been turning up more frequently at crime scenes. They have also been increasingly encountered when federal agents buy guns in undercover operations from gang members and other criminals.
Ghost guns really popped into the public consciousness in 2013 when a gunman, John Zawahri, opened fire on the campus of Santa Monica College in California. Six people were killed, including Zawahri’s father and brother. The suspect had assembled an AR-15 after failing a background check at a gun dealer.
A gunman who killed his wife and four others in Northern California in 2017 had been prohibited from owning firearms, but he built his own to skirt the court order before his rampage. And in 2019, a teenager used a homemade handgun to fatally shoot two classmates and wound three others at a school in suburban Los Angeles.
The sale of ghost guns has exploded since then. It is hard to say how many are circulating on the streets, in part because in many cases police departments don’t contact the government about the guns because they can’t be traced.
Justice Department statistics show that nearly 24,000 ghost guns were recovered by law enforcement at crime scenes and reported to the government from 2016 to 2020. The New York Police Department said officers found 131 firearms without serial numbers since January.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The Justice Department said the rule goes into effect 120 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register. But it’s likely the rule will be be met with heavy resistance from gun groups and draw litigation in the coming weeks. Even reaching the point of introducing a rule has taken more than a year. Biden announced plansto impose tighter regulations on ghost guns in April 2021.
Gun Owners of America vowed that it would immediately fight the rule and that it would sue the ATF “to halt the implementation of this rule.” | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/explainer-what-are-ghost-guns-why-is-biden-taking-action/ | 2022-04-12T11:28:00 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/explainer-what-are-ghost-guns-why-is-biden-taking-action/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has a book coming out this fall that covers his years in the Trump administration and, according to his publisher, offers “unvarnished appraisals of the deals made and characters encountered along the way.”
Broadside Books, a conservative imprint at HarperCollins Publishers, announced Monday that Pompeo’s untitled book was scheduled for November. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Pompeo “will draw readers deep into the innermost sanctums of government decision-making and reveal the stories and strategic thinking behind key actions regarding North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, Mexico, Israel, Afghanistan, support for international religious freedom, and many other countries and issues,” the announcement reads in part.
Pompeo, 58, is a Republican from Kansas who served three terms in Congress before President Donald Trump appointed him director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 2017, then secretary of state a year later. He has speculated about a 2024 presidential run, one that might find him in competition with his former boss. Other former Trump officials considered possible candidates— and working on books — include Vice President Mike Pence and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Trump clashed with many of his cabinet officers, including Pompeo’s immediate predecessor at state, Rex Tillerson. But Pompeo remained on good terms with Trump and even broke with precedent for secretaries of state by recording a speech for the 2020 Republican National Convention. He continued to defend him after the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, a time when other officials resigned or distanced themselves, and less than two weeks later sent a tweet promoting Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/former-secretary-of-state-mike-pompeo-has-book-out-this-fall/ | 2022-04-12T11:28:07 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/former-secretary-of-state-mike-pompeo-has-book-out-this-fall/ |
ATLANTA (AP) — A lawyer representing critics of Georgia’s election system said state officials have “erected a series of roadblocks” to voting through their policies and practices. An attorney for the state countered that the critics are trying to prove “democracy failed” the state, but they lack the evidence to prove it.
The statements came Monday as a trial got underway in a federal lawsuit that initially called for a broad overhaul of Georgia’s election system. The scope of the suit was considerably narrowed when some allegations were addressed by changes in state law and others were dismissed by the court. The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by Fair Fight Action, an organization founded by voting rights activist and Democratic candidate for Georgia governor Stacey Abrams, just weeks after Abrams narrowly lost her first bid for governor.
The bench trial — which means there’s no jury — is being presided over by U.S. District Judge Steve Jones and is expected to last four or five weeks. Jones has said he doesn’t expect to rule before the state’s May 24 primary.
During her opening statement, Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, an attorney for Fair Fight and the other plaintiffs, evoked the image of U.S. Rep. John Lewis marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965 to fight for voting rights. The congressman, who died in July 2020, had planned to be the plaintiffs’ first witness at trial, Lawrence-Hardy said.
“Voting is also a bridge. It is the most basic path to democracy,” she said. Because of the actions of state election officials, she said, “eligible voters in Georgia face roadblock after roadblock as they try to get to that path.”
The secretary of state and State Election Board have made it difficult for Georgians to register to vote, stay registered and cast a ballot that will count, she said.
When Abrams ended her 2018 bid to become governor, she said that under the watch of her victorious Republican opponent, former Secretary of State Brian Kemp, “democracy failed Georgia.” That’s a hypothesis that Fair Fight and its allies have been trying to prove ever since without success, state lawyer Josh Belinfante said.
State officials take very seriously any claims of disenfranchisement or burdens on the right to vote, Belinfante said. The plaintiffs fall short of proving their hypothesis in part because they overlook “the hard work of everyday Georgians,” the election workers who toil under difficult conditions and “just want to get it right,” he said.
The lawsuit initially said state election officials “grossly mismanaged” the 2018 election in a way that disenfranchised some citizens, particularly low-income people and people of color. The issues remaining for the trial have to do with the state’s “exact match” policy, the statewide voter registration list and in-person cancellation of absentee ballots. The plaintiffs allege violations of the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Under the “exact match” policy, information from voter registration applications is checked against information held by the state Department of Driver Services. The “flawed matching methods” used by the state inevitably produce erroneous results, Lawrence-Hardy said. Critics of “exact match” have long said data entry errors or differences as minor as a missing hyphen can trigger a non-match and that naturalized citizens can also be wrongly flagged if records are outdated. The problems disproportionately affect people of color, naturalized citizens and residents of certain counties, Lawrence-Hardy said.
Evidence will show that 98% of Georgians have had no problem with the policy and the other 2% can vote after showing a photo ID, which every voter is required to do, Belinfante said. The “exact match” policy has also become “less stringent” as a result of litigation and a 2019 law, he said.
Lawrence-Hardy also alleged that the statewide voter registration database is full of errors, and state efforts to clean the voter rolls of ineligible voters too often result in the erroneous deletion of eligible voters’ registration or critical information being incorrect. Belinfante acknowledged some unfortunate mistakes but said there’s no evidence that the state deliberately disenfranchises voters.
The lawyer for the plaintiffs argued that counties have different processes for canceling an absentee ballot if someone chooses to vote in person instead, and some subject voters to unnecessary burdens. State officials are aware of these problems, which can cause voters to be turned away or forced to cast a provisional ballot, she said.
Belinfante said a 2019 law clarified the process for canceling an absentee ballot at a polling place and poll worker manuals have been updated.
Lawrence-Hardy told the judge that, over the course of the trial, he will hear from people who experienced trouble voting, as well as from experts who have studied voting in Georgia.
Belinfante said the judge will hear from very few people who were unable to vote in 2018 and even fewer who had problems in 2020. Election officials will testify about ongoing measures to ensure the integrity of the state’s voting system and improve the voter experience, he said.
Fair Fight filed the lawsuit along with Care in Action, a nonprofit that advocates for domestic workers. Several churches have also joined as plaintiffs. | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/georgia-elections-lawsuit-backed-by-abrams-goes-to-trial/ | 2022-04-12T11:28:14 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/georgia-elections-lawsuit-backed-by-abrams-goes-to-trial/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal jury convicted a former Virginia police officer of storming the U.S. Capitol with another off-duty officer to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Jurors on Monday convicted former Rocky Mount police officer Thomas Robertsonof all six counts he faced stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, including charges that he interfered with police officers at the Capitol and that he entered a restricted area with a dangerous weapon, a large wooden stick.
His sentencing hearing wasn’t immediately scheduled.
Robertson’s jury trial was the second among hundreds of Capitol riot cases. The first ended last month with jurors convicting a Texas man, Guy Reffitt, of all five counts in his indictment.
Robertson didn’t testify at his trial, which started last Tuesday. Jurors deliberated for several hours over two days before reaching their unanimous verdict.
One juror, who spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity, said as she left the courthouse, “I think the government made a really compelling case and the evidence was fairly overwhelming.”
Defense attorney Mark Rollins said Robertson will appeal the jury’s verdict. “While Mr. Robertson disagrees with the jury’s decision, he respects the rule of law,” Rollins said in a statement.
A key witness for prosecutors in his case was Jacob Fracker, who also served on the Rocky Mount police force and viewed Robertson as a mentor and father figure. Fracker was scheduled to be tried alongside Robertson before he pleaded guilty last month to a conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with authorities. Fracker testified Thursday that he had hoped the mob that attacked the Capitol could overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Robertson was charged with six counts: obstruction of Congress, interfering with officers during a civil disorder, entering a restricted area while carrying a dangerous weapon, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted area while carrying a dangerous weapon, disorderly or disruptive conduct inside the Capitol building, and obstruction. The last charge stems from his alleged post-riot destruction of cellphones belonging to him and Fracker.
During the trial’s closing arguments Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Risa Berkower said Robertson went to Washington and joined a “violent vigilante mob” because he believed the election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump. He used the wooden stick to interfere with outnumbered police before he joined the crowd pouring into the Capitol, she said.
“The defendant did all this because he wanted to overturn the election,” Berkower said.
Rollins conceded that Robertson broke the law when he entered the Capitol during the riot. He encouraged jurors to convict Robertson of misdemeanor offenses but urged them to acquit Robertson of felony charges that he used the stick as a dangerous weapon and that he intended to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote.
“There were no plans to go down there and say, ‘I’m going to stop Congress from doing this vote,’” Rollins said.
Fracker testified that he initially believed that he was merely trespassing when he entered the Capitol building. However, he ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiring with Robertson to obstruct Congress.
Under cross-examination by Rollins, Fracker said he didn’t have a “verbal agreement” with anybody to obstruct the joint session of Congress. Fracker said he believed everybody in the mob “pretty much had the same goal” and didn’t need for it to be “said out loud.”
Robertson and Fracker drove with a neighbor to Washington on the morning of Jan. 6. Robertson brought three gas masks for them to use, according to prosecutors.
After listening to speeches near the Washington Monument, Fracker, Robertson and the neighbor walked toward the Capitol, donned the gas masks and joined the growing mob, prosecutors said. Robertson stopped to help his neighbor, who was having trouble breathing. Fracker broke off and entered the building before Robertson, but they reunited inside the Capitol.
Defense attorney Camille Wagner told jurors that Robertson only went into the Capitol because he wanted to retrieve Fracker, who entered the Capitol a few minutes before Robertson. Wagner said the U.S. Army veteran was using the stick to help him walk because he has a limp from getting shot in the right thigh while working as a private contractor for the U.S. Defense Department in Afghanistan in 2011.
Jurors saw some of Robertson’s vitriolic posts on social media before and after the Capitol riot. In a Facebook post on Nov. 7, 2020, Robertson said “being disenfranchised by fraud is my hard line.”
“I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting a counter insurgency. (I’m) about to become part of one, and a very effective one,” he wrote.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi told jurors that Robertson was charged for his actions, not his political beliefs. Wagner also said Robertson should be judged by his actions, not his words.
The town fired Robertson and Fracker after the riot. Rocky Mount is about 25 miles south of Roanoke and has roughly 5,000 residents.
Robertson has been jailed since Cooper ruled in July that he violated the terms of his pretrial release by possessing firearms.
More than 770 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot. Over 250 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors.
Robertson’s trial is one of four so far for Capitol riot defendants. Two others had their cases decided by bench trials before the same judge.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden convicted New Mexico elected official Couy Griffin last month of illegally entering restricted Capitol grounds but acquitted him of engaging in disorderly conduct. On Wednesday, McFadden acquitted another New Mexico man, Matthew Martin, of all four charges that he faced. | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/jury-to-keep-deliberating-in-ex-officers-capitol-riot-trial/ | 2022-04-12T11:28:21 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/jury-to-keep-deliberating-in-ex-officers-capitol-riot-trial/ |
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state court judge has ruled that Democrat Abby Finkenauer cannot appear on the June 7 Iowa primary ballot for U.S. Senate because she didn’t gather enough petition signatures, potentially knocking off the candidate considered by many to be the party’s best chance to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley.
Judge Scott Beattie, a 2018 appointee of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, filed a ruling late Sunday that overturned a decision by a three-member panel of state elected officials. The panel concluded last week that Finkenauer’s campaign staffers had substantially complied with Iowa law that requires candidates to obtain 3,500 names, including at least 100 signatures from at least 19 counties.
Finkenauer plans to appeal the decision and the Iowa Supreme Court scheduled a hearing Wednesday with a promise to rule on the matter by the end of the week to meet deadlines for sending ballots to overseas voters.
Two Republicans challenged Finkenauer’s petition papers, saying signatures from at least two counties did not have the required date accompanying them.
In the past, the panel, which includes the secretary of state, attorney general and state auditor, has found petitions to be in substantial compliance with the law even though signatures were missing or difficult to interpret. Attorney General Tom Miller and Auditor Rob Sand, both Democrats, voted to allow Finkenauer’s petitions citing past precedent for giving deference to campaigns that used the proper forms and made efforts to comply with the law. Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, voted against Finkenauer’s petition.
Kim Schmett and Leanne Pellett, former Republican county elections officials, challenged the signatures and then filed a court appeal of the Iowa Objection Panel’s decision last week.
Beattie concluded that the panel’s legal interpretation was wrong and that the law clearly says each signature should be accompanied by a date. His decision knocked signatures from Allamakee and Cedar counties off of Finkenauer’s nomination petitions, which meant her campaign failed to submit at least 100 signatures from at least 19 counties as required.
Beattie said he took no joy in the decision.
“This court should not be in the position to make a difference in an election, and Ms. Finkenauer and her supporters should have a chance to advance her candidacy. However, this court’s job is to sit as a referee and apply the law without passion or prejudice. It is required to rule without consideration of the politics of the day. Here the court has attempted to fulfill that role,” he said,
Finkenauer accused Beattie of doing the bidding of Grassley and his allies in Washington.
“This misguided, midnight ruling is an outrageous and partisan gift to the Washington Republicans who orchestrated this meritless legal action,” she said. “We are exploring all of our options to fight back hard against this meritless partisan attack, and to ensure that the voices of Iowans will be heard at the ballot box.”
Finkenauer said her petitions had more than 5,000 signatures and she’s confident she has met the requirements to be on the ballot.
Beattie promised last week he would file a decision by midnight Sunday to give either side time to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. He filed the decision at 10:49 p.m. Sunday. Pate has said he must know whether Finkenauer qualifies for the ballot by Friday to give him time to have ballots printed and sent to overseas voters who must get their ballots by April 23 to comply with the law.
Finkenauer, who served one term in the U.S. House from 2019-2021, seeks to be on the ballot with Democrats Mike Franken, a retired Navy admiral, and Glenn Hurst, a doctor and Minden City Council member. The primary winner will face Grassley, who is seeking an eighth term in the Senate.
Federal fundraising data and statewide polling indicate that Grassley, who turns 89 in September, is well positioned to retain the seat he has held since 1981 for another six years.
Grassley has raised more than $4.7 million, Finkenauer about $1.9 million and Franken $1.8 million. Hurst raised just over $66,000. Republican state Sen. Jim Carlin, who will be on the Republican primary ballot opposite Grassley, raised $282,151.
The Des Moines Register/Medicom Poll published in November gave Grassley a lead of 18 percentage points over Finkenauer.
Alan R. Ostergren, the attorney for Schmett and Pellett, said the judge’s decision is a victory for the rule of law.
“Iowans expect candidates to follow state law and to follow the same rules as the hundreds of other candidates who successfully qualified to be on the ballot,” he said in a statement. “Anyone who has ever been involved in a political campaign knows that you can easily avoid problems by turning in more than the bare minimum number of signatures. Abby Finkenauer didn’t do this for some reason and got caught short.” | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/leading-iowa-democrat-knocked-off-us-senate-primary-ballot/ | 2022-04-12T11:28:28 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/leading-iowa-democrat-knocked-off-us-senate-primary-ballot/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Many New Yorkers just want their city to feel orderly, functional and fun again after two years of plague and social disruption. Their new mayor, Eric Adams, has promised to deliver.
The question is, can the Democrat who pledged to bring back New York’s “swagger” gain momentum in the face of repeated setbacks?
Adams’ optimism remained high even as he marked his 100th day as mayor Sunday by going into quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.
A hands-on politician and nightlife enthusiast, Adams, 61, caught the virus after a whirlwind week typical of his persona and time in office: He had attended the Gridiron dinner in Washington, gone to a New York gala, posed with Robert de Niro at a film festival, attended the Yankees opener and a slew of events in the state Capitol.
“I’m going to continue to try to be as visible as possible as we get through COVID and many of the other crises that we’re facing,” Adams said Monday, promising to resume his busy schedule after recovering from the virus.
In his first 100 days in office, Adams has projected an aggressive confidence as he’s implemented policies aimed at combating an image of New York City as hobbled by the pandemic and beset by rising crime.
He dropped many COVID-19 precautions and is reluctant to bring them back, even as virus cases have steadily risen.
He’s ordered homeless encampments removed from public spaces, despite complaints from activists that the sweeps are inhumane.
Over the objection of progressives, Adams, a former police captain, brought back an NYPD anti-gun unit disbanded by the previous mayor, saying that with better oversight it will shed its past reputation for usingexcessive force.
Critics say Adams is embracing the worst tendencies of previous mayors known for their heavy-handed approaches to policing and social services.
Adams says he doesn’t like chaos, as “Saturday Night Live” noted in his first days in office. Instead, he is seeking to harness the city’s tangly dynamism.
“That is what I think our failure is in our city … We have thrown up our hands and said this city is not manageable. That is just not true,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, prior to testing positive for COVID-19.
He said he starts every morning poring over a series of spreadsheets filled with data on his key initiatives.
When inspecting his efforts to clear tents and makeshift shelters set up by homeless people, Adams scrolls through hundreds of color-coded rows listing individual encampments reported to the city — some that the mayor has phoned in himself.
He checks to see if the entries are shaded blue by someone in his administration, indicating city workers have posted notices they’re about to clean the area. He checks to see that the blue entries are later turned yellow, coded as a “successful cleanup.” If too many days pass and the colors don’t change, he’ll make a call to find out why.
At a news conference last month, he said the city cleared 239 encampments in its first 12 days. Although the city didn’t offer data about how many people were living at the encampments, only five accepted offers to move to a shelter.
Adams said he thinks the number will grow, as it did with efforts to reach out to homeless people in the subway system.
The mayor also checks daily spreadsheets laying out data on crime, the city’s sprawling transit system, affordable and supportive housing units, and hires and promotions in his government.
He likened himself to an airline pilot who sits down and checks his instruments before taking off, calling the city a “complex piece of machinery.”
“You have to constantly inspect what you expect, or it’s suspect,” Adams said, using one of his favored catchphrases.
Adams, a former New York City police captain, state lawmaker and elected borough president of Brooklyn, had to deal with unrelenting crisesin his first month in office.
A fire ripped through a high-rise apartment building, killing 17 people; a baby was wounded by gunfire; two police officers were fatally shot while responding to a call; a woman was pushed to her death in front of a subway train by a stranger.
“Outside of 9/11, I don’t know if another mayor was just inundated with so much at one time,” Adams remarked.
Crime, which has risen in cities across the U.S., has become one of his chief concerns.
It’s by far the thorniest issue Adams took on, said Jon Reinish, a Democratic political strategist in New York City. But 100 days is still early, Reinish said, and a better barometer of progress would be a year into the administration.
“I think that he has navigated that well so far, but Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he said.
New York City’s elected public advocate Jumaane Williams, a progressive Democrat who serves as a city ombudsman, praised Adams for partnering with him on issues like food insecurity, Black maternal health and summer jobs for young people. But he said he’s concerned about too much emphasis on policing and not enough focus on mental health.
Adams, who is Black, points out that he spoke out about racist and unjust practices in the department while he was an officer. He says police can learn from the mistakes of the past while using new tools like body cameras to stay accountable — but the city also can’t go back to the days of high rates of violent crime.
“I know I don’t want to go back to the violence or the abuse. Some people only talk about not going back to the abuse,” he said.
Critics have also called Adams’ actions to clear homeless encampments short-sighted, especially when some people living on the street say they don’t feel safe in the city’s shelters and there’s not enough affordable housing to provide a long-term solution.
“It sounds to me like we’re doing the last thing first,” Williams said.
Adams contends it’s inhumane to accept that people sleep on the street, and defends his plan by pointing to to a city law guaranteeing a right to space in a shelter for any homeless person who needs it.
But he also notes that when an encampment is cleared, “It is just unbelievable how visually, it just changes your mindset of your neighborhood. And that is part of the goal. Because we’re dealing with an actual problem and the perception of a problem.”
Perception, he said is also why he’s posting photos and videos on social media of himself shoveling snow during snowstorms or is seen meeting people all over the city and hitting up restaurants, night clubs and glitzy events.
“We have to get the city back up and operating and many New Yorkers are starting to do so. And they need to see me in the process,” he said. “As I deal with the crises, I also have to be on that red carpet. Because Broadway is a major economic driver for our city.” | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/new-nyc-mayor-adams-strives-for-order-post-covid-comeback/ | 2022-04-12T11:28:35 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/new-nyc-mayor-adams-strives-for-order-post-covid-comeback/ |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Kelly Tshibaka, who has received the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, on Monday officially filed to run as a candidate for U.S. Senate in the race against the incumbent Republican.
Tshibaka will face off against U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who drew Tshibaka’s aim during a news conference after Tshibaka filed with the state Division of Elections in Anchorage.
“Lisa Murkowski has forgotten us because she cares more about being popular with her friends in Washington, D.C.,” said Tshibaka, also a Republican.
Tshibaka claimed Murkowski was helping the agenda of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, with her vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson — whom Tshibaka described as a “leftist judge” — to the U.S. Supreme Court. At the same time, she criticized Murkowski for not backing two Trump nominees to the court, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Murkowski opposed and later voted “present” on Kavanaugh’s nomination. She voted to confirm Barrett in 2020, after earlier saying she did not support taking up a nominee for a Supreme Court vacancy so close to a presidential election.
Tshibaka chastised Murkowski for supporting other Biden nominees, including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
“These are not the votes that a senator from Alaska should be casting,” Tshibaka said. “Murkowski has made poor decisions like this over and over, and we, the people of Alaska, continue to pay the price for her popularity in Washington, D.C.”
Tshibaka is a former commissioner in the Alaska Department of Administration. She formerly worked in the offices of inspector general for the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice before joining the administration of Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, according to her resume.
A message sent to Murkowski’s campaign seeking comment was not immediately returned Monday. Her campaign did send a news release showing the support of more than a dozen Alaska mayors and other officials who are endorsing Murkowski.
When Murkowski filed for office in November, she was asked about running against a Trump-backed opponent.
Murkowski told reporters at the time there will be “plenty of people on the outside who will be gunning for me, who will suggest that I am not right for Alaskans. I would put that directly to the people of this state.”
Murkowski, who has held the Senate seat since late 2002, had about six times the cash on hand over Tshibaka at the end of 2021. The latest quarterly fundraising reports — reflecting the first three months of this year — are due around mid-month. Tshibaka’s totals will include money collected from a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Trump has said he would campaign for Tshibaka after vowing revenge against Murkowski, who voted to convict him in his second impeachment trial and called on Trump to resign after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“He said that he’ll come up into a rally for us, and I think that’ll be great for voter turnout,” Tshibaka said.
Trump also has endorsed former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who is one of 48 candidates running to fill the remainder of U.S. Rep. Don Young’s term after he died last month. Palin was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee.
When asked if the two big personalities of Trump and Palin could overshadow her campaign, Tshibaka said that is separate from the Senate campaign.
“I’m completely focused on Lisa Murkowski and the damage that she’s done and the fact that she serves as Biden’s chief enabling officer, helping him every step of the way,” she said.
In addition to Murkowski and Tshibaka, 10 other candidates so far have filed to run in the Senate race. Under a new election system approved by Alaska voters in 2020, the top four vote-getters in the August primary, regardless of party, will advance to the November general election, where ranked choice voting will be used. | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/trump-backed-alaska-hopeful-officially-files-for-senate-run/ | 2022-04-12T11:28:42 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/politics/trump-backed-alaska-hopeful-officially-files-for-senate-run/ |
VIENNA (AP) — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said Monday that he urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the invasion of Ukraine and raised the issue of “serious war crimes” committed by the Russian military.
Nehammer was the first European leader to meet Putin in Moscow since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine Feb. 24.
In a statement released after the meeting, the Austrian chancellor said his primary message to Putin in the “very direct, open and tough” talks was that “this war needs to end, because in war both sides can only lose.”
Nehammer told Putin all those responsible for war crimes in the Ukrainian city of Bucha and elsewherewould be “held to account.”
He also stressed the need to open humanitarian corridors so that civilians trapped in cities under attack can access basic supplies like food and water, according to his statement.
The Austrian leader called the Moscow trip to Moscow his “duty” to exhaust every possibility for ending the violence in Ukraine, coming just two days after travelling to Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Speaking at a news conference in Moscow, Nehammer said face-to-face talks to look “each other in the eye, discussing the horrors of war,” could have a greater impact over the long term.
But he said he walked away from the meeting without much optimism for an end to the war any time soon.
“It might be necessary to do it 100 times,” Nehammer said of the meeting. “But I think it’s necessary to do it, so that peace reigns again and the people of Ukraine can live safely.”
European Union-member Austria supported the 27-nation bloc’s sanctions against Russia, though it so far has opposed cutting off deliveries of Russian gas. The country is militarily neutral and is not a member of NATO.
But Nehammer and other Austrian officials have been keen to stress that military neutrality does not mean moral neutrality.
“We are militarily neutral, but have a clear position on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” Nehammer wrote on Twitter Sunday when announcing his trip to Moscow. “It must stop!”
Nehammer said he told Putin the EU is “as united as it’s ever been” on the issue of sanctions, and that these will remain in place – and may even be strengthened – as long as Ukrainians continue to die.
Earlier Monday, Austrian foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg said Nehammer decided to make the Moscow trip after meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv and following contacts with the leaders of Turkey, Germany and the European Union.
Schallenberg said ahead of a meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg that it was an effort to “seize every chance to end the humanitarian hell” in Ukraine.
He added that “every voice that makes clear to President Putin what reality looks like outside the walls of Kremlin is not a wasted voice.” | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/austrian-chancellor-tells-putin-to-end-ukraine-war/ | 2022-04-12T11:28:48 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/austrian-chancellor-tells-putin-to-end-ukraine-war/ |
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The corruption trial in South Africa of former President Jacob Zuma has been postponed again on Monday pending the outcome of the ex-leader’s appeal to get the state prosecutor removed from his case.
Zuma was not present in the Pietermaritzburg High Court due to a “medical emergency,” his lawyer Dali Mpofu told the court.
His legal representatives requested that the start of the trial be postponed until the Supreme Court of Appeal decides on Zuma’s effort to have state prosecutor Billy Downer removed from the case. Zuma accuses Downer of bias against the ex-leader.
The case is set to resume on May 17.
The delay is the latest of many as it has been nearly 17 years since Zuma was first charged with corruption, fraud and money laundering related to South Africa’s controversial 1999 arms deal.
He is charged alongside French arms manufacturer Thales, which is accused of paying bribes to Zuma through his former financial advisor Schabir Shaik, who was convicted on related charges in 2005.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority opposed the application for the postponement, accusing Zuma of delaying tactics to prevent the start of the trial.
While Zuma has publicly said he wants his day in court, he has over the years launched numerous legal actions that have delayed the start of the trial.
Delivering his judgment on Monday, High Court Judge Piet Koen said while the delay of the trial could lead to frustrations, the current delay was unavoidable as the court had to await the Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision.
Zuma, 79, is currently on medical parole on a 15-month prison sentence following his conviction last year of contempt of court for defying a Constitutional Court order to appear before a judicial commission investigating corruption during his presidential term from 2009 to 2018.
Zuma was imprisoned in July last year which set off days of rioting in the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces in which shops, warehouses and factories were looted and many burned. More than 300 people died in the unrest.
About three months later Zuma was released on medical parole, for an undisclosed health condition. A subsequent court judgment ruled the medical parole was invalid, but his lawyers are appealing that judgment. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/corruption-trial-delayed-against-south-africas-ex-president/ | 2022-04-12T11:28:55 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/corruption-trial-delayed-against-south-africas-ex-president/ |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An area at the U.S. government’s nuclear waste repository in southeastern New Mexico was evacuated over the weekend after workers handling a shipping container discovered a small amount of radioactive liquid inside it.
There was no indication of airborne contamination and testing of workers’ hands and feet turned up no contamination after the discovery was made late Saturday in a bay where containers are processed before being taken underground for disposal, officials said in a statement issued late Saturday.
“The event at the site has been secured. There is no risk of radiological release and there is no risk to the public or the environment,” plant officials said in the statement.
Officials confirmed Monday that the shipment was packed and sent from Idaho National Laboratory, but investigators were trying to determine the source of the liquid found inside the container, said Bobby St. John, a spokesperson for the contractor that manages the repository for the federal government.
The waste containers were securely placed back into the special shipping container, St. John said.
“We have written processes and protocols in place for this type of situation and all protocols were followed,” he said in an email to The Associated Press. “Additionally, the (contact-handled waste) bay is designed to contain radiological contaminants in order to protect the workforce, surrounding ecology and the local community.”
The repository is the backbone of a multibillion-dollar cleanup program that involves tons of Cold War-era waste from federal labs and defense-related sites around the country.
The waste — remnants of decades of nuclear research and bomb making — typically consists of lab coats, gloves, tools and debris contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive elements.
Independent federal investigators last month raised concerns about whether cost overruns and missed construction deadlines will continue at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
A multimillion-dollar project is underway at the underground facility to install a new ventilation system so that full operations can resume, following a radiation leak in 2014 that forced the repository’s closure for nearly three years and led to major policy overhauls.
The container that caused that release had been inappropriately packed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico.
Operations had to be reduced after the waste plant reopened in 2017 because areas of the facility were contaminated and airflow needed for mining and disposal operations was limited.
It was unclear Monday whether operations had resumed in the area where shipments are processed. St. John said only that the shipping container with the radioactive liquid was placed in a “safe configuration, pending results of the investigation and resulting mitigation actions.”
The repository was carved out of an ancient salt formation about a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) below the ground because officials say that the shifting salt will eventually entomb the radioactive waste.
Its current footprint includes eight sections, which the U.S. Energy Department estimates will be filled in 2025.
State regulators are weighing a permit change that some critics have said could lead to expanded repository operations. A decision is expected later this year. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/discovery-of-radioactive-liquid-pauses-work-at-us-nuke-dump/ | 2022-04-12T11:29:03 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/discovery-of-radioactive-liquid-pauses-work-at-us-nuke-dump/ |
DETROIT (AP) — A jury’s inability to reach a unanimous verdict for two men charged in a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer means the federal government can take them to trial again.
The jury last week acquitted Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, whom prosecutors described as “soldiers” in the foiled plot, but deadlocked on the alleged leaders, Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. It was an extraordinary setback for the government, which claimed the men wanted to trigger a civil war before the 2020 election.
HUNG JURY
A hung jury is unable to unanimously agree on someone’s guilt or innocence. It could be just one person on the 12-member panel who disagrees with the others.
Prosecutors can put someone on trial again or drop the case. U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge told reporters Friday that Fox and Croft are “awaiting trial and we’ll get back to work on that.” They remain in jail.
Mark Chutkow, who until recently led the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit, said he would be surprised if prosecutors fold, citing the significance of the allegations.
“The government has two cooperating defendants who pled guilty, who said they were part of the crime. That’s pretty compelling evidence,” Chutkow said, referring to Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, who testified for prosecutors.
SO WHAT HAPPENED?
Only the jury knows. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker barred lawyers from contacting jurors for any post-trial intelligence, but jurors can reach out to them on their own.
Chutkow said it could help prosecutors and defense attorneys as they prepare for a second trial.
“As a litigant, sometimes you get in the fog of war,” he said. “You’ve spent so much time with your case, you’re not objective as to what it looked like.”
Fox, who was living in the Grand Rapids area, and Croft, from Bear, Delaware, didn’t testify. Their defense came through the cross-examination of the government’s witnesses.
Fox and Croft might have been angry with Whitmer over COVID-19 restrictions, but there was no real plan to kidnap the Democratic governor, their lawyers insisted. They say undercover FBI agents and informants inside the groupfueled wild talk.
Detroit-area defense lawyer Michael Rataj said the challenge for prosecutors in Grand Rapids will be picking a jury from western and northern Michigan.
“It’s Trump country and they don’t like Whitmer. Prosecutors have an uphill battle,” Rataj said.
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER OTHER BIG CASES WITH HUNG JURIES?
Prosecutors sharpened their focus after a federal jury couldn’t agree on 23 of 24 charges at former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s 2010 corruption trial. Jurors said just one person was a holdout.
At Blagojevich’s second trial, prosecutors skipped past his expensive taste for tailored suits and furs for his wife. He was convicted of multiple crimes, including an effort to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate.
But prosecutors decided against retrying New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez.Many jurors at his 2017 trial favored acquittal. A judge subsequently threw out key bribery charges.
“Sometimes, there is bluster and chest thumping” by prosecutors about a retrial after a deadlocked jury, said Alan Tuerkheimer, a Chicago-based jury consultant. “But when the dust settles and they think more clearly, they can change their minds.”
Learning how jurors voted can be crucial. A jury that was one or two votes away from acquittal is a sign of a weak case, Tuerkheimer said, and can dissuade prosecutors from trying again.
WHO’S IN THE WINGS?
Eight other men face state charges in either Jackson or Antrim counties. They’re accused of assisting the others in the Whitmer plot, among other crimes, and have pleaded not guilty.
Whitmer’s vacation home is in Antrim. Fox and Croft, accompanied by undercover operatives, took a night ride to check the location and look at a bridge that could be blown up during a kidnapping, according to evidence in the federal case.
The state cases have moved slowly since fall 2020; five men charged in Antrim still haven’t had a key hearing at which a judge decides whether there’s enough evidence to go to trial.
Defense attorney Kareem Johnson, who is representing Pete Musico, a founding member of the Wolverine Watchmen militia, compared the two acquittals in federal court to a thrilling basketball game.
“It’s like when a teammate hits a 3-pointer. It motivates you to get back on defense and get a stop,” Johnson said Monday.
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Find AP’s full coverage of the Whitmer kidnap plot trial at: https://apnews.com/hub/whitmer-kidnap-plot-trial
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Tarm reported from Chicago. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/explainer-2-men-in-gov-whitmer-plot-could-be-tried-again/ | 2022-04-12T11:29:10 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/explainer-2-men-in-gov-whitmer-plot-could-be-tried-again/ |
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Months of economic discontent in Pakistan were capped by days of tense drama. When the week ended, one of the country’s most charismatic prime ministers was ousted, and his replacement was a member of a prominent political dynasty.
And the turmoil may not be over yet, with implications for the whole region.
Veteran politician Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of a disgraced former premier, was sworn in Monday to head a coalition government of disparate parties spanning the political spectrum from the left to the radically religious. They also have a history of rivalry, and governing won’t be easy.
Sharif replaces Imran Khan, a beloved cricket star turned conservative Islamist politician who was toppled by a no-confidence vote, after a fight that went all the way to Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
A look at what happened and what may be ahead:
WHAT LED TO THE CHANGE?
On April 3, Khan sidestepped an initial no-confidence vote demanded by the opposition by dissolving parliament and calling early elections. The opposition, which accuses Khan of economic mismanagement, appealed to the Supreme Court. It ruled Khan’s move was illegal and the no-confidence vote went ahead early Sunday, removing him from power.
Khan has tapped into anti-American sentiment in Pakistan since 9/11, accusing Washington of conspiring with his opponents to topple him because of his independent foreign policy. The U.S. State Department denies any involvement.
Still, the change in government may be good news for the U.S., whose chaotic departure from neighboring Afghanistan amid the Taliban takeover has left Washington in need of allies in the region.
WHO MAKES UP THE GOVERNMENT NOW?
The new government is a collection of disparate parties that have fought each other bitterly.
The largest are Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), led by the son and husband of Benazir Bhutto, the slain former prime minister. Both are family-run and family-dominated, allowing no leadership challenges.
The third biggest partner is the pro-Talban and radically religious Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan or Assembly of Clerics. Its religious schools are spread across the northwest, not far from the Afghan border, and have supplied soldiers to the Afghan Taliban and the homegrown Pakistani Taliban. The leaders of the JUI also are a family dynasty, led by Fazl-ur-Rahman.
The leadership of all three parties are tainted by allegations of corruption. That includes Sharif, who was to have been indicted Monday on money-laundering charges. They deny the charges as politically motivated.
They joined forces to oust Khan, but have little in common politically, other than an agenda to change election laws and realign constituencies to improve their chances in the next election, which must take place by summer 2023. They also are united against a return of Khan, who seeks to end Pakistan’s dynastic politics. There are no guarantees their shared agendas will keep them together.
Emboldened by nationwide rallies that brought out hundreds of thousands of his supporters Sunday, Khan also seems to want to force early elections through “street power.” That could lead to violence, because his base is made up mostly of a passionate younger generation.
Even though the opposition ousted him by citing economic mismanagement, it’s not clear if the new government has any easy solutions.
HOW WILL THE CHANGE AFFECT U.S. POLICY IN PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN?
When asked after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan if Pakistan would aid the U.S. with territorial rights, Khan said: “Absolutely not.” saying his country would only be a partner “in peace, but not in war.”
He was a strident critic of the U.S. war on terror after 9/11, a stand that resonates with many in Pakistan who feel they have been unjustly targeted and accused of “not doing enough” to stop the Taliban during Washington’s 20-year war in Afghanistan.
About 80,000 Pakistani civilians died in militant attacks as a result of the war, and nearly 5,000 Pakistani soldiers have been killed, according to Khan, even though no Pakistani or Afghan was involved in 9/11 attacks by al Qaida. Its leader, Osama bin Laden, found a safe haven in Afghanistan to plot the attacks and was killed while hiding in Pakistan in 2011.
Khan has refused to give the U.S. any access to Pakistani territory or airspace for so-called “over- the-horizon” attacks on Islamic State targets in Afghanistan. That strategy allows the U.S. keep its forces out of Afghanistan by using air power to strike militant targets where they find them.
U.S. President Joe Biden did not have a phone call with Khan since his election, lending credence to the conspiracy theories of a rift between Islamabad and Washington. Khan says the U.S. wants a “subservient” Pakistan and opposes its warm relations with China and Russia.
Khan’s government pushed hard for the world to engage more with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and resisted U.S. attempts to punish them. Khan was deeply critical of Biden’s decision to earmark $3.5 billion in Afghanistan’s reserves held in the U.S. for the families of 9/11 victims.
While Pakistan resisted recognition of the Taliban under Khan, it led efforts to move the world in that direction. He justified some of the Taliban’s restrictive rules, such as stopping education for girls beyond the sixth grade, on tradition and culture. That raised the ire of many, even those in Afghanistan.
Washington is likely to find more willing and like-minded partners among the new government in dealing with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers.
WHAT ECONOMIC TROUBLES LIE AHEAD?
The opposition said Khan had failed to properly manage the economy, with both inflation and energy prices soaring.
He tried last month to cut the price of gas at the pump by 10 Pakistani rupees (a few U.S. cents), but it’s almost certain his successors will have to raise them again. Pakistan also is a net importer of oil and gas from Russia, which is waging war in Ukraine.
The family of the new prime minister controls one of Pakistan’s biggest business houses, owning sugar and steel mills. Sharif’s win strengthened the Pakistani rupee from 86 to 82 to the dollar, and the troubled Karachi Stock Exchange made modest gains.
Khan’s government was praised internationally for managing the coronavirus pandemic with “smart lockdowns” that protected the important construction industry, which provides jobs to the poorest. His anti-corruption reputation encouraged Pakistanis abroad to send money home, returning $29.4 billion in 2020-21. That amount is expected to climb to $31 billion in 2021-22.
But the economic future still looks bleak: The Islamic Development Bank expects Pakistan’s gross domestic product to slow to 4% from 5.6% last year, and inflation is expected to rise from 8.9% in 2021 to about 11% this year.
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Follow Kathy Gannon on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Kathygannon | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/explainer-whats-ahead-for-politically-volatile-pakistan/ | 2022-04-12T11:29:17 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/explainer-whats-ahead-for-politically-volatile-pakistan/ |
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Farms that rely on irrigation from a depleted, federally managed lake on the California-Oregon border, along with a Native American tribe fighting to protect fragile salmon, will both receive extremely limited amounts of water this summer as a historic drought and record-low reservoir levels drag on in the U.S. West.
More than 1,000 farmers and ranchers who draw water from a 257-mile-long (407-kilometer) river that flows from the Upper Klamath Lake to the Pacific Ocean will have access to roughly one-seventh the amount they could get in a wetter year, a federal agency announced Monday. Downstream salmon will receive about half the water they’d get if the reservoir was full.
It’s the third year in a row that severe drought has impacted farmers, fish and tribes in a region where there’s not enough water to satisfy competing demands. Last year, no water at all flowed through the Klamath Reclamation Project’s main irrigation canal, and thousands of downstream juvenile salmon died without reservoir releases to support the Klamath River’s health.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the irrigation project, announced $15 million in relief for affected farmers and $5 million for Native American tribes as a result of its decision and warned farmers not to take water beyond what was ordered or risk further irrigation reductions and legal action. The agency decides the allocations each year, taking into account court rulings that require certain lake levels to support two federally endangered fish species.
Across the American West, a 22-year megadrought deepened so much last year that the region is now in the driest spell in at least 1,200 years — a worst-case climate change scenario playing out in real time, a study found last month.
Inflow to the Upper Klamath Lake is at a record lows, water managers said, and water allocations could drop further if drought conditions worsen this summer.
“We wish we had better news today. Obviously there are no winners in this critical year as all interests are suffering — fisheries, farmers tribes and waterfowl alike — but given the current hydrology that we have to work with, we did the best job we could,” said Ernest Conant, the bureau’s regional director.
Irrigators reacted with shock and anger to the news and said they weren’t sure they could survive another growing season without adequate water supplies. The amount of water available is less than 15% of what the farmers need, said Ben DuVal, president of the Klamath Water Users Association, who operates a farm in Tulelake, California.
“We have 170,000 acres (68,800 hectares) that could be irrigated this year, and we’re ready to get to work,” he said. “On a single acre, we can produce over 50,000 pounds (22,700 kilograms) of potatoes, or 6,000 pounds (2,700 kilograms) of wheat. This year, most of that land will not produce any food because the government is denying water for irrigation.”
Klamath River water that is dammed in the Upper Klamath Lake is the linchpin of the nearly 200,000-acre (80,940-hectare) Klamath Reclamation Project, a major agricultural powerhouse of more than 1,000 farms and ranches. Today, farmers there grow everything from mint to alfalfa to potatoes that go to In ’N Out Burger, Frito-Lay and Kettle Foods.
But the reservoir water is also source of conflict among competing demands, and amid historic drought in the carefully managed river basin there hasn’t been enough water to go around in recent years. Before 2020, the last time water allocations reached such a boiling point in the Klamath Basin was in 2001, when the U.S. government sent federal marshals to the area during a drought year and farmers threatened to breach the head gates.
Under the law, the lake’s water must be kept at a certain level to protect its sucker fish, a key species to the heritage of the Klamath Tribes in southern Oregon. This year’s water decision order irrigators to keep the lake’s water above a certain level for sucker fish spawning in April and May and then at a different level for the remainder of the summer — but even at those levels, the lake will not meet federally mandated minimums for the spring months.
Farmers can start drawing the limited water on Friday.
But federally threatened coho salmon that live in the lower Klamath River, below the reservoir, also need pulses of water from the lake to keep at bay a deadly parasite that thrives in warm and slow-moving water. The salmon are revered by the Yurok Tribe, California’s second-largest Native American tribe.
One so-called “flushing flow” of water that’s about half the normal amount — and half what farmers will get — will be released Friday also.
Yurok Vice Chairman Frankie Myers said the fact that salmon, sucker fish and waterfowl are competing for the region’s water was a “direct sign of the ecological collapse brought by water withdrawals.” He said the Yurok would never stop working to save the salmon.
“Although we are gratified that the river is afforded minimal protections under this plan, it is no time for celebration. Salmon runs will continue to suffer under these conditions, and as climate change intensifies, such protections will become increasingly important,” Myers said.
The slashed water allocations to the Klamath Reclamation Project also will impact two national wildlife refuges in the region that are replenished with irrigation runoff. The refuges host tens of thousands of migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway. Last year, environmentalists and farmers used pumps to combine water from two stagnant wetlands into one deeper one to prevent another outbreak of avian botulism like the one that killed 50,000 ducks in 2020.
Hundreds of domestic wells impacted by the increased groundwater pumping have also gone dry since late last summer. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/farms-fish-on-dry-california-oregon-border-see-scant-water/ | 2022-04-12T11:29:24 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/farms-fish-on-dry-california-oregon-border-see-scant-water/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — The 4-foot bronze Fearless Girl statue that was deposited in front of New York City’s Charging Bull in 2017 will remain in its current spot opposite the New York Stock Exchange at least until early next year while city officials wrestle with a permanent disposition for the popular symbol of female empowerment, a city board decided Monday.
Members of the Public Design Commission granted an 11-month permit extension and said they would spend the next six months exploring a way for New York City to take ownership of the statue, which is currently the subject of litigation between artist Kristen Visbal and State Street Global Advisors, the Boston-based asset-management firm that commissioned it.
“We today, the Public Design Commission, cannot make this a permanent piece of art,” commission president Signe Nielsen said. “We can urge that steps be taken to enable this work to be considered for the public collection.”
The statue of a spunky young girl was supposed to be a temporary installation when State Street commissioned it in 2017 to urge higher representation of women on corporate boards, but permits to keep it on display were extended several times once it became a major tourist attraction.
Fearless Girl was moved to its current location opposite the Stock Exchange in December 2018 and has continued to draw selfie-taking visitors there.
Visbal, meanwhile, began selling replicas of the statue around the world. State Street, which had an ownership contract with the artist, sued Visbal alleging the replica sales violated the agreement, and Visbal countersued, arguing that the company was infringing on her rights.
“The commission should be aware that State Street has sued me, which makes it impossible for them to act as fair agents on my behalf,” Visbal told design commission members over Zoom.
She urged the city to take ownership of the piece itself. “I am convinced the only way artists’ rights can be honored and acknowledged is if the city owns the work,” she said.
Both Visbal and State Street indicated support for the board’s vote to renew the statue’s temporary permit while working toward a permanent solution.
“As the Artist and the creator of the ‘Fearless Girl’ statue, I am beyond grateful to New York City and the Public Design Commission for hearing my concerns,” Visbal said in a statement. “I pledge to work with the City to identify a fair and reasonable solution in the coming six months.”
A State Street spokesperson said in a statement: “We are appreciative the Fearless Girl statue will remain at her current location in front of the New York Stock Exchange. With the outcome of today’s hearing with the City of New York’s Public Design Commission, we will work together with the Department of Transportation, PDC and the artist regarding our desire to keep the Fearless Girl statue at her current location for an extended period.” | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/fearless-girl-statue-will-stay-put-opposite-nyse-for-now/ | 2022-04-12T11:29:31 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/fearless-girl-statue-will-stay-put-opposite-nyse-for-now/ |
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Gunmen burst into a home just north of Mexico City and killed eight members of a family, including four children.
Prosecutors in the State of Mexico, which borders the capital, said the shootings occurred in the township of Tultepec, just north of the capital.
The shootings happened between late Sunday and early Monday. Seven people died at the scene, and one woman died late at a hospital.
There was no immediate information on a possible motive, but Tultepec is known for its fireworks workshops, both legal and illegal. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/gunmen-kill-family-of-8-near-mexico-city/ | 2022-04-12T11:29:38 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/gunmen-kill-family-of-8-near-mexico-city/ |
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho judge ruled Monday that a mother accused of conspiring to kill her children, her estranged husband and a lover’s wife is now mentally competent to stand trial on some of the charges in Idaho.
Daybell and her new husband, Chad Daybell, face numerous charges in the complicated case involving allegations of bizarre spiritual beliefs involving “zombies” and doomsday predictions.
Prosecutors have said that Lori and Chad Daybell espoused the religious beliefs in an effort to encourage or justify the murders.
The case against her had been hold for months after Judge Steven Boyce ordered her committed to a mental facility so she could undergo treatment in an effort to make her mentally fit enough to assist in her own defense.
Boyce’s new order said Lori Vallow Daybell “is restored to competency and is fit to proceed” in the Idaho murder case. He did not provide other details about her treatment or mental condition.
She is scheduled to be formally arraigned in court next week and both Lori and Chad Daybell are set to stand trial together early next year.
Tare charged withconspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Lori Daybell’s children 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 16-year-old Tylee Ryan, as well as Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy Daybell.
Lori Daybell is also charged in Arizona with conspiring to kill her former estranged husband, Charles Vallow, with the help of her now-deceased brother, Alex Cox.
Chad Daybell has pleaded not guilty to the charges and Lori Daybell has not yet had an opportunity to enter a plea. Chad Daybell’s attorney, John Prior, declined to comment on the case. Lori Daybell’s attorney, Jim Archibald, did not immediately respond to voice and email messages requesting comment.
An indictment said Chad and Lori Daybell in 2018 while still married to other people began espousing an apocalyptical system of religious belief.
Lori Daybell’s brother Alex Cox shot and killed her estranged husband, Charles Vallow, in suburban Phoenix, according to an indictment in Arizona.
Cox asserted the shooting was in self-defense, and he was never charged. At the time, Charles Vallow was seeking a divorce, saying his wife believed she had become a god-like figure responsible for ushering in the biblical end of times. Cox later died of an apparent blood clot in his lung.
Shortly after Charles Vallow’s death, Lori Daybell — who then had the last name Vallow — and her children moved to the rural eastern Idaho community of Rexburg, near where Chad Daybell lived. At the time, Chad Daybell was married to Tammy Daybell. She died in October of 2019, and her obituary said the death was from natural causes.
Authorities grew suspicious, however, when Chad and Lori Daybell got married just two weeks later, and investigators had Tammy Daybell’s body exhumed for an autopsy. Authorities have not released her cause of death.
Police began searching for Lori Daybell’s youngest two children in November after relatives raised concerns. The Daybells quickly left town, and were found months later in Hawaii without the children.
Investigators later found the bodies of JJ and Tylee buried in Chad Daybell’s yard back in Idaho. They have not disclosed causes of death but court documents said Tylee’s body was partially burned.
Friends of the Daybells told investigators that the couple believed people could become “zombies” if they were possessed by evil spirits, a state in which their soul was trapped in limbo, according to police reports. The couple reportedly believed that the only way to rid a person of a zombie was for their body to die, according to police reports.
A friend of the couple, Melanie Gibb, told investigators that Lori Daybell referred to her youngest children as “zombies,” and police in Arizona said the couple exchanged text messages saying that Tammy Daybell had been possessed by a dark spirit. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/idaho-judge-mom-accused-in-kids-killings-now-fit-for-trial/ | 2022-04-12T11:29:45 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/idaho-judge-mom-accused-in-kids-killings-now-fit-for-trial/ |
NEW DELHI (AP) — An unusually early heat wave brought more extreme temperatures Monday to a large swath of India’s northwest, raising concerns that such weather conditions could become typical.
The India Meteorological Department forecast that the temperature in New Delhi would reach 41.8 degrees Celsius (107.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, nearly eight degrees above normal.
The weather agency declares a heat wave when the temperature is at least 4.5 C (8 F) above average.
The main summer months — April, May and June — are always excruciatingly hot in most parts of India before monsoon rains bring cooler temperatures. But the heat wave has arrived early and grown particularly intense in the past decade, killing hundreds every year.
During heat waves, the country usually also suffers severe water shortages with tens of millions of its 1.4 billion people lacking running water.
Extreme temperatures have struck large parts of northern and western India in the last week, with Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi among the worst hit. Higher temperatures also were felt in relatively cooler Indian-controlled Kashmir in the Himalayas, where many Indians go to escape the summer heat.
Already this year, India has recorded its warmest March since 1901.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that heat waves and humidity-related heat stress will intensify in South Asia, and scientists who study climate change say Indians can expect more of the same hot temperatures in the coming years.
Vimal Mishra, an expert at the Indian Institute of Technology’s Water and Climate Lab, said the number of Indian states hit by heat waves has grown in recent years, as extreme temperatures become more frequent and intense.
“If you are looking for the clearest signal of climate change in India, then heat waves are a classic example. They are unavoidable and will occur more frequently,” Mishra said.
Heat waves are especially dangerous for daily wage workers, rickshaw drivers, street vendors and the homeless, many of whom have to work outside in hot conditions and are at the greatest risk of heat exhaustion and heatstroke.
India’s worst heat wave since 1992 was in 2015, when at least 2,081 people died. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/indias-northwest-reels-under-unusual-early-heat-wave/ | 2022-04-12T11:29:53 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/indias-northwest-reels-under-unusual-early-heat-wave/ |
LONDON (AP) — A jury deliberated for just 18 minutes Monday before finding a fervent Islamic State supporter guilty of stabbing lawmaker David Amess to death a slaying that shocked the nation and sparked calls for increased police protection for politicians.
Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was found guilty by London’s Central Criminal Court of murder and preparing terrorist acts. Ali stabbed the veteran British lawmaker to death last year while he was meeting with voters at a church hall in eastern England.
Ali, who had spent years researching and planning potential attacks on lawmakers, had defended his actions by saying Amess deserved to die as a result of voting for airstrikes on Syria in 2014 and 2015.
Ali, a London man with Somali heritage, had denied charges of murder and preparing acts of terrorism.
Opening the trial, prosecutor Tom Little said the case was “nothing less than an assassination” carried out because of a “warped and twisted and violent ideology.”
“It was a murder carried out by that young man who for many years had been planning just such an attack and who was, and is, a committed, fanatical, radicalized Islamist terrorist,” he said.
Little said Ali bought the knife used to attack Amess five years earlier, and that Ali tricked his way into meeting Amess by pretending to be one of his constituents.
Amess, 69, had been a member of Parliament since 1983. He was pronounced dead at the scene after the stabbing.
The prosecutor also said that Ali had researched and planned attacks on lawmakers and the Parliament building from at least 2019. The research included reconnaissance trips targeting work and home addresses of two other lawmakers, Mike Freer and Cabinet member Michael Gove, he added.
The slaying of Amess shook the nation, as lawmakers often meet directly with the public. It came five years after Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death by a far-right extremist. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/is-fanatic-found-guilty-of-killing-uk-lawmaker-david-amess/ | 2022-04-12T11:30:00 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/is-fanatic-found-guilty-of-killing-uk-lawmaker-david-amess/ |
TOKYO (AP) — Honda is investing 5 trillion yen ($40 billion) over the next decade in research, especially to realize a major shift to ecological electric vehicles, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday.
The products and services in the works will account for more than half of its 8 trillion yen ($64 billion) research and development budget in that time and will be tailored for each major market, the U.S., China and Japan.
Efforts in North America will focus on the collaboration with General Motors Co., under which Honda Motor Co. is jointly developing two midsize to large EV models, set for sale in 2024.
By 2027, also under its alliance with GM, Honda plans to offer an affordable electric vehicle that’s competitive with gas-powered models in performance and pricing.
Top automakers are accelerating electric car offerings amid pressing concerns about climate change, while also employing new kinds of fuel, such as biofuel and hydrogen-powered fuel cells.
Honda will launch 30 EV models globally by 2030, targeting production of more than 2 million vehicles a year, according to the maker of the Accord sedan, Asimo robot and Gold Wing motorcycles.
They will span the whole range of models, from tiny vans to muscular sportscars.
“We will continue to deliver the kind of fun in driving that our customers have come to expect from Honda,” said Chief Executive Toshihiro Mibe.
In China, where the move to electric vehicles is especially bullish, Honda is introducing 10 new EV models by 2027.
In Japan, a market dominated by gas-electric hybrids, Honda will start with small commercial vehicles, such as delivery vans.
Businesses are likely to be more open to such investment because of the Japanese government’s sustainability goals, officials said.
A commercial-use mini-EV model at the 1 million yen ($8,000) price range will go on sale in Japan in 2024, while other EVs, including sport-utility models, for regular consumers will follow, they said.
By the late 2020s, Honda hopes to have a breakthrough on next-generation batteries.
It also will develop related software since electric vehicles need recharging infrastructure and could add features such as robotics and avatars.
Like other automakers, Honda lost business during the coronavirus pandemic. But it’s forecasting an operating profit of 800 billion yen ($6.4 billion) for the fiscal year ended in March.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/japans-honda-outlines-strategy-to-forge-ahead-on-evs/ | 2022-04-12T11:30:07 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/japans-honda-outlines-strategy-to-forge-ahead-on-evs/ |
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A jury was selected Monday to hear a long-anticipated libel lawsuit Johnny Depp filed against his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, whom he accuses of falsely portraying him as a domestic abuser.
Depp sued Heard over an op-ed piece she wrote in The Washington Post in 2018 in which Heard refers to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” The article doesn’t mention Depp by name, but he says it clearly refers to allegations Heard made in other forums that she suffered physical abuse at his hands. Depp denies the accusations.
The lawsuit brought a little bit of Hollywood to a courthouse that has a long history of dealing with high-profile crimes, just not those involving movie stars.
More than a dozen women, some waving signs saying “Justice for Johnny,” joined other fans who waved pirate flags in recognition of Depp’s signature role in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, waited outside the courthouse an hour before the hearing.
The courtroom in the city of Fairfax was closed to the public Monday, with limited closed-circuit access in an overflow courtroom. People lined up before 7 a.m. for the wristbands granting access. Both Depp and Heard were in attendance, but court personnel brought them in and out utilizing special access points that frustrated fans’ ability to see them.
The judge overseeing the trial, Penney Azcarate, has imposed a series of access rules to try to maintain decorum in the courthouse. Most significantly, neither Depp nor Heard are permitted to pose for photos or sign autographs in the courthouse or on the courthouse grounds.
Depp’s fans have been vocal in their support, saying he has been falsely accused. Raylyn Otey, a Depp fan from Bluefield, Virginia, drove five hours to see the movie star. She was disappointed when Depp did not greet fans personally, as sheriff’s deputies carefully limited fan access.
“I’m so disappointed. I came to give him flowers to show some support,” she said, bouquet in hand.
In a separate lawsuit Depp filed against a British newspaper, a judge dismissed the case, finding that Depp assaulted Heard on a dozen occasions and put her in fear for her life on multiple occasions.
Heard has filed a countersuit against Depp that accuses his lawyers of defaming her at his direction.
Heard’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to have the case moved to California, where the actors reside. A Fairfax judge ruled that Depp was within his rights to bring the case here because the Post’s online editions are published through servers located in Fairfax County. Depp’s lawyers have said they brought the case in Virginia in part because the laws here are more favorable to their case.
A jury of seven, plus four alternates, was selected by Monday afternoon. The smaller jury is typical for civil trials in Virginia.
Opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday morning. The trial is expected to last more than a month. A long list of witnesses includes actors James Franco and Paul Bettany, and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. Some witnesses are expected to appear in person, while others will testify via video link.
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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Raylyn Otey’s last name. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/johnny-depp-suit-against-amber-heard-starts-with-jury-picks/ | 2022-04-12T11:30:14 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/johnny-depp-suit-against-amber-heard-starts-with-jury-picks/ |
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Prosecutors revealed Monday evening that they offered plea deals to three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd, but said at a hearing that the defendants rejected them.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill held the hearing mostly to consider whether he has the authority to allow live video coverage of the upcoming trial set to begin in June for former Officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng. They’re charged with aiding and abetting both manslaughter and murder when former officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin Floyd, a Black man, to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes on May 25, 2020. Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders back.
Lead prosecutor Matthew Frank did not disclose details of the plea offers in open court but said they were identical and were made March 22 after a jury convicted the three in a separate trial in February on federal civil rights charges stemming from Floyd’s death, according to pool reports from inside the courtroom.
Lane’s attorney, Earl Gray, said it was hard for the defense to negotiate when the three still don’t know what their federal sentences will be. The judge in that case has not set a sentencing date, and all three remain free on bail.
Cahill told Frank to file the offers for the record after the jury is seated for the upcoming trial, which is expected to take around eight weeks, including three for jury selection.
Cahill took the rare step of allowing live audiovisual coverage of Chauvin’s murder trial last year, making an exception to the normal rules of Minnesota courts. He cited the extenuating circumstance of the need to balance protecting participants from COVID-19 against the constitutional requirement for a public trial.
Now that the U.S. has entered a new phase of living with the coronavirus, Cahill must decide whether to allow the same sort of access for the trial of Thao, Lane and Kueng. He did not rule during their pretrial hearing, and said he won’t until after the Minnesota Judicial Council — a panel of leading judges and court administrators — meets Thursday to discuss the issue.
Attorney Leita Walker, who represents a coalition of media organizations, including The Associated Press, urged Cahill to allow video coverage again, saying it’s the most reasonable way to ensure public and media access to the trial. She said the public got to watch Chauvin’s trial, and that interest remains high because both involve Floyd’s death. The killing, which was recorded on video, sparked protests around the world and a national reckoning on race.
“The public is just not going to understand why they got to watch that one gavel to gavel and they won’t be able to watch this one,” Walker said.
But Cahill questioned Walker’s assertions that he has the authority to make another exception and that the pandemic is still an extenuating circumstance.
“COVID-19 is less of a pandemic and more of an endemic issue now,” Cahill said.
Cahill noted that while he has publicly said he now believes the legal presumption should be to allow televised trials, he pointed out that that’s not the rule yet. “I’m still sworn to uphold the law,” he said.
Defense attorneys said they still oppose audiovisual coverage of the upcoming trial, and renewed concerns about the willingness of witnesses to testify.
Minnesota court rules generally require the consent of all parties for audiovisual coverage of trials, with fewer restrictions for sentencings. Chauvin’s trial was the first in Minnesota to be entirely televised, from jury selection to his murder conviction to his sentencing to 22 1/2 years in prison. People worldwide tuned into the livestreams.
“I think livestreaming that trial enabled people here and around the world to see the inner workings of a system that was handling one of the most important trials of our time,” Suki Dardarian, senior managing editor and vice president of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, which is part of the media coalition, said before the hearing.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office initially opposed having cameras in the court for Chauvin’s trial, but now supports them for the other officers’ upcoming trial.
“The Chauvin trial demonstrated the benefits of robust public access to this important case and proved that the Court could successfully navigate the concerns animating the State’s initial opposition to audio and video coverage,” prosecutors wrote last week. “The Court’s commendable transparency inspired public confidence in the proceedings and helped ensure calm in Minneapolis and across the country.”
Due to federal court rules, live video coverage was not allowed for the first trial of Thao, Lane and Kueng this year, when all three were convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights. Nor was it allowed for Chauvin’s federal case in which he pleaded guilty to civil rights violations. But it was allowed in the December state court trial of former Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter in the death of Daunte Wright, who was killed one year ago Monday.
An advisory committee to the Minnesota Supreme Court is considering whether to allow more video coverage of criminal proceedings. It’s due to release its report by July 1.
Cahill, in a letter to the committee, said he had opposed cameras in criminal cases before, but that his experience in Chauvin’s case changed his opinion, and he now believes they should be presumptively allowed, subject to the trial judge’s discretion.
Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu, who presided over Potter’s trial, told the Star Tribune in an interview that both the Potter and Chauvin trials convinced her that cameras can be present without being disruptive.
“I forgot they were even there,” Chu told the newspaper. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/judge-weighs-cameras-in-next-trial-over-george-floyds-death/ | 2022-04-12T11:30:21 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/judge-weighs-cameras-in-next-trial-over-george-floyds-death/ |
JERUSALEM (AP) — Mimi Reinhard, a secretary in Oskar Schindler’s office who typed up the list of Jews he saved from extermination by Nazi Germany, has died in Israel at the age of 107.
Reinhard died on Thursday and was laid to rest Sunday in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.
She was one of 1,200 Jews saved by German businessman Schindler after he bribed Nazi authorities to let him keep them as workers in his factories. The account was made into the acclaimed 1993 film “Schindler’s List” by director Steven Spielberg.
Reinhard was born Carmen Koppel in Vienna, Austria, in 1915, and moved to Krakow, Poland, before the outbreak of World War II. After Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939, she was confined to the Krakow ghetto before being sent to the Plaszow concentration camp in 1942.
Reinhard’s knowledge of shorthand got her work in the camp’s administrative office, where, two years later, she was ordered to type up the handwritten list of Jews that were to be transferred to Schindler’s ammunition factory.
“I didn’t know it was such an important thing, that list,” she told an interviewer with Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, in 2008. “First of all, I got the list of those who were with Schindler already in Krakow, in his factory. I had to put them on the list.” Later she put her own name, and the names of two friends.
At the Brünnlitz labor camp, where Schindler’s ammunition factory was housed, she was put to work in Schindler’s office.
She said that although she worked in Schindler’s office toward the end of the war, she had little personal contact with him.
“He was a very charming man, very outgoing,” she recalled, decades after the war. “He didn’t treat us like scum.”
After the war, she made her way to the United States, where she lived until immigrating to Israel in 2007. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/mimi-reinhard-who-typed-up-schindlers-list-dies-at-107/ | 2022-04-12T11:30:28 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/mimi-reinhard-who-typed-up-schindlers-list-dies-at-107/ |
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s decision to conduct the trials of suspects charged with terrorism behind closed doors has been criticized by human rights advocates.
The West African nation last week began implementing a new court practice that bans the media and the public from trials involving terrorism charges at the start of the trial of a pro-Biafra separatist leader.
Nnamdi Kanu, who holds dual Nigerian and British citizenship, leads the Indigenous People of Biafra campaigning for the secession from Nigeria of the Igbo, Nigeria’s third-largest ethnic group.
Kanu’s trial in the capital, Abuja, resumed behind closed doors a day after the nation’s Federal High Court announced that court proceedings for offences of terrorism “shall be held in camera,” prompting concern among many human rights advocates.
“We are concerned that this breaches the constitution,” Anietie Ewang, Nigeria Researcher in the Africa division of Human Rights Watch told The Associated Press of the secret court trials.
If Nigerian authorities fear that confidential security information could be made public in a terrorism trial, those concerns should be examined “on a case-by-case basis,” Ewang said, “as opposed to giving out a blanket ban that would clearly restrict public scrutiny.”
Kanu is accused of leading terrorism-related activities and instigating violence in Nigeria’s southeast, including a jailbreak in Imo state last year that led to the escape of nearly 2,000 inmates. He denies the seven charges including terrorism and felony. Eight other charges were dropped by the court when the trial resumed last week.
The proceedings against Kanu “should be a public trial that the whole world can watch,” his lawyer Mike Ozekhome said, likening the secret court sitting to “a gathering of witches and wizards in a coven.”
The concerns are not just about Kanu’s trial, say the activists as Nigeria has dozens of terrorism suspects in detention, many who have been held for years.
“The right to a public hearing safeguards the fairness and independence of the judicial process and helps to maintain public confidence in the judicial system,” Amnesty International Nigeria office told The Associated Press.
Except when a secret trial is meant to protect the interest of a child, “court hearings and judgements must be public,” said Seun Bakare, head of programs at Amnesty Nigeria. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/nigerias-secret-terrorism-trials-raise-human-rights-worries/ | 2022-04-12T11:30:35 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/nigerias-secret-terrorism-trials-raise-human-rights-worries/ |
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli spyware maker NSO Group is turning to the U.S. Supreme Court as it seeks to head off a high-profile lawsuit filed by the WhatsApp messaging service.
In a filing to the Supreme Court, NSO said it should be recognized as a foreign government agent and therefore be entitled to immunity under U.S. law limiting lawsuits against foreign countries. The request appeals a pair of earlier federal court rulings that rejected similar arguments by the Israeli company.
WhatsApp parent Facebook, now called Meta Platforms Inc., sued NSO in 2019for allegedly targeting some 1,400 users of its encrypted messaging service with highly sophisticated spyware. It is trying to block NSO from Facebook platforms and servers and seeks unspecified damages.
Granting sovereign immunity to NSO would greatly hinder WhatsApp’s case. It also could provide protection from a potentially risky discovery process that could reveal its customers and technological secrets. NSO is seeking to have the entire case dismissed.
In its petition, NSO said that lower courts have given mixed opinions on sovereign immunity over the years and that it was crucial for the Supreme Court to rule on an issue that has great national security implications for governments around the world.
“Many nations, including the United States, rely on private contractors to conduct or support core governmental activities,” it wrote in the April 6 filing. “If such contractors can never seek immunity … then the United States and other countries may soon find their military and intelligence operations disrupted by lawsuits against their agents.”
NSO’s flagship product, Pegasus, allows operators to covertly infiltrate a target’s mobile phone, gaining access to messages and contacts, the camera and microphone and location history. It says that it sells the product only to government law enforcement agencies to catch criminals and terrorists and that all sales are approved by Israel’s Defense Ministry. It does not identify its clients.
But critics say a number of clients, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Poland, have abused the system to snoop on critics and stifle dissent. WhatsApp says at least 100 of the users connected to its lawsuit were journalists, rights activists and civil society members.
NSO says it has no control over how its clients use the product and no access to the data they collect, though it claims it has safeguards in place to prevent abuses. Critics say the safeguards are insufficient.
“NSO’s spyware invades the rights of citizens, journalists, and human rights activists around the globe and their attacks must be stopped,” WhatsApp said in a statement.
“Two United States courts have already rejected NSO’s contrived bid for immunity and we believe there is no reason for the Supreme Court to hear their last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability,” it said, adding that multiple human rights groups and tech companies have said granting immunity to spyware companies “would be dangerous for the world.”
The WhatsApp case is among a series of legal battles plaguing NSO. Apple last year filed a lawsuit that it says aims to prevent NSO from breaking into products. It claimed Pegasus had affected a small number of iPhone users worldwide, calling NSO’s employees “amoral 21st century mercenaries.”
NSO last year also was blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department, limiting its access to U.S. technology. U.S. officials said the company’s products were complicit in “transnational repression.”
NSO appears to face a formidable challenge. For starters, the Supreme Court agrees to consider just 1% or so of the requests put before it.
It could be months before the court decides whether to review the case. But even if it does, NSO would have to convince the court that it is a state agent and entitled to immunity.
Eugene Kontorovich, an Israeli-American professor at the George Mason University Scalia Law School and director of its Center for the Middle East and International Law, said it was a “very interesting” and “very serious” case. But he said he was skeptical NSO would prevail.
“They’re a software company. They create a product that’s been licensed to foreign governments and which governments can use,” he said. “An agent usually is something of a much higher standard.” | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/nso-turns-to-us-supreme-court-for-immunity-in-whatsapp-suit/ | 2022-04-12T11:30:43 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/nso-turns-to-us-supreme-court-for-immunity-in-whatsapp-suit/ |
Philadelphia became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate on Monday after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, with the city’s top health official saying she wanted to forestall a potential new wave driven by an omicron subvariant.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases have risen more than 50% in 10 days, the threshold at which the city’s guidelines call for people to wear masks indoors, said Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, the health commissioner. Health officials believe the recent spike is being driven by the highly transmissible BA.2 subvariant of omicron, which has spread rapidly throughout Europe and Asia, and has become dominant in the U.S. in recent weeks.
“If we fail to act now, knowing that every previous wave of infections has been followed by a wave of hospitalizations, and then a wave of deaths, it will be too late for many of our residents,” said Bettigole, noting about 750 Philadelphia residents died in the wintertime omicron outbreak. “This is our chance to get ahead of the pandemic, to put our masks on until we have more information about the severity of this new variant.”
Health inspectors will begin enforcing the mask mandate at city businesses on April 18.
Most states and cities dropped their masking requirements in February and early March following new guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that put less focus on case counts and more on hospital capacity. The CDC said at that time that with the virus in retreat, most Americans could safely take off their masks.
Philadelphia ended its indoor mask mandate March 2, and Bettigole acknowledged “it was wonderful to feel that sense of normalcy again.”
Confirmed cases have since risen to more than 140 per day — still a fraction of what Philadelphia saw at the height of the omicron surge — while only 46 patients are in the hospital with COVID-19. The CDC says community spread in Philadelphia remains low, a level at which the agency says that masking can be optional.
The restaurant industry pushed back against the city’s reimposed mask mandate, saying workers will bear the brunt of customer anger over the new rules.
“This announcement is a major blow to thousands of small businesses and other operators in the city who were hoping this spring would be the start of recovery,” said Ben Fileccia, senior director of operations at the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association.
PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said Friday that while it expects some increased transmission in the northern U.S. over the next several weeks, hospital admissions have remained low and “our team advises against required masking given that hospital capacity is good.”
Bettigole said requiring people to mask up will help restaurants and other businesses stay open, while a huge new wave of COVID-19 would keep customers at home. She said hospital capacity was just one factor that went into her decision to reinstate the mandate.
“I sincerely wish we didn’t have to do this again,” Bettigole said. “But I am very worried about our vulnerable neighbors and loved ones.”
In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams has paused his push to unwind many of the city’s virus rules as cases have risen, opting for now to keep a mask mandate for 2 to 4-year-olds in city schools and preschools. But Adams, a Democrat who has said New Yorkers should not let the pandemic run their lives, has already lifted most other mask mandates and rules requiring proof of vaccination to dine in restaurants, work out at gyms or attend shows.
Adams was asked at a virtual news conference Monday afternoon if he was considering reimposing the New York City mask mandate in light of Philadelphia’s decision. The mayor said he would listen to his team of medical doctors for their advice on whether to bring back any restrictions. Adams himself tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday.
New York City is now averaging around 1,800 new cases per day, about three times higher than in early March when New York began easing rules. That does not include the many home tests that go unreported to health officials.
The latest outbreak has struck many high-profile officials in Washington, including Cabinet members and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut. Some universities have reinstated mask mandates.
D.C. health officials say they have no immediate plans to change virus protocols, but they reserve the right to change course down the road.
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Rubinkam reported from northeastern Pennsylvania. Associated Press reporter Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this story. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/philadelphia-to-restore-indoor-mask-mandate-as-cases-rise/ | 2022-04-12T11:30:50 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/philadelphia-to-restore-indoor-mask-mandate-as-cases-rise/ |
Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., who was twice sickened in incidents he suspected were poisonings, has been detained in Moscow by police, another prominent opposition figure said Monday.
Ilya Yashin said on Twitter that Kara-Murza was detained Monday near his Moscow residence. It was unclear whether he had been charged.
Kara-Murza was hospitalized with poisoning symptoms twice, in 2015 and 2017. A journalist and associate of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot and killed in 2015, and oligarch-turned-dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Kara-Murza nearly died from kidney failure in the first incident. He suspects he was poisoned but no cause has been determined.
He was taken to a hospital with a sudden, similar illness in 2017 and put into a medically induced coma. His wife said doctors confirmed that he was poisoned. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/russian-activist-who-said-he-had-been-poisoned-is-detained/ | 2022-04-12T11:30:57 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/russian-activist-who-said-he-had-been-poisoned-is-detained/ |
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota House is set to decide Tuesday whether Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg should be impeached for his conduct before and after he struck and killed a pedestrian on the shoulder of a highway.
Troopers have said Ravnsborg was distracted before the September 2020 crash that killed 55-year-old Joseph Boever. Ravnsborg initially told authorities he thought he had struck a deer or other large animal. He went back the next day and found Boever’s body.
Opponents of impeachment say Ravnsborg need not be held accountable by the House because he wasn’t on the job when the crash happened. He had been driving back from a Republican fundraiser.
Ravnsborg has cast Boever’s death as a tragic accident. He pleaded no contestlast year to a pair of traffic misdemeanors, including making an illegal lane change.
An investigation committee from the Republican-controlled House votedagainst recommending impeachment after arguments that Ravnsborg’s actions were not part of his official duties. Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has pushed for impeachment, saying Ravnsborg lied to investigators.
The Highway Patrol concluded that Ravnsborg’s car crossed completely onto the highway shoulder before hitting Boever, and criminal investigators said later that they didn’t believe some of Ravnsborg’s statements.
Republican Rep. Will Mortenson, of Pierre, brought articles of impeachment against Ravnsborg more than a year ago. He did not return phone messages left Monday by The Associated Press.
Last week, at the request of Republican Rep. Tim Goodwin, of Rapid City, about 30 lawmakers took in a presentation by two Highway Patrol troopersoutlining details of the investigation.
Goodwin said it raised doubts about the committee’s recommendation. House Speaker Spencer Gosch, who chaired the committee, called it a sales pitch. Gosch did not respond to phone messages Monday.
While it’s unclear whether the presentation would have any effect on the impeachment vote, Noem’s spokesman referenced it Monday to sum up the feelings in the governor’s office.
“The troopers’ presentation speaks better than I ever could,” Ian Fury said.
Democrat House Minority Leader Jamie Smith, a member of the impeachment investigation committee, said the troopers helped with unanswered questions, but he doesn’t believe they will change any minds. He expects Tuesday’s floor debate to last a couple of hours before the vote.
“As a member of the committee, I said I believed there were grounds for impeachment and I will stay with that,” Smith said. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/south-dakota-house-to-vote-on-impeaching-attorney-general/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:04 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/south-dakota-house-to-vote-on-impeaching-attorney-general/ |
MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Extreme rainfall in southeast Africa has become heavier and more likely to occur during cyclones because of climate change, according to a new analysis released Monday by an international team of weather scientists.
Multiple tropical storms that pummeled Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique earlier this year were analyzed by the World Weather Attribution group, who determined that the storms were made worse by the increase in global temperatures. In just six weeks between January and March the region saw a record three tropical cyclones and two tropical storms make landfall. The heavy rains, storm surges and floods left more than 230 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands across the region.
The countries remain vulnerable to devastating weather this year, with cyclone season set to end in May.
The team of climate scientists used established peer-reviewed methods, including weather observations and computer simulations, to model scenarios using both preindustrial global temperatures and today’s — which is approximately 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer. The difference between the models determined the impact of human-caused global warming.
Sarah Kew, from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and participated in the study, said they investigated the influence of climate change using 34 prediction models but data gaps made it difficult to determine the full impact of increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
“While our analysis clearly shows that climate change made the storms more damaging, our ability to establish precisely by how much was hampered by inconsistent data and lack of weather observations,” said Dr. Kew. “This would also help to improve forecasts of extreme weather events and their impacts.”
In both Madagascar and Malawi, the study was contrained by a lack of weather stations with suitable data. And of the 23 weather stations in the affected regions of Mozambique, only four had complete records dating back to 1981.
“Strengthening scientific resources in Africa and other parts of the global south is key to help us better understand extreme weather events fueled by climate change, to prepare vulnerable people and infrastructure to better cope with them,” Dr. Izidine Pinto, a climate system analyst at the University of Cape Town, said.
The 33-page study was conducted by 22 researchers, including scientists from universities and meteorological agencies in Madagascar, Mozambique, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and the US.
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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/study-africa-cyclones-exacerbated-by-climate-change/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:10 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/study-africa-cyclones-exacerbated-by-climate-change/ |
Shares of the new Warner Bros. Discovery media giant, the $43 billion combination of Discovery and the AT&T spinoff WarnerMedia, have begun trading Monday.
The bulked-up company combines the owner of storied film studio Warner Bros., TV networks including CNN, HBO and the streaming service HBO Max, with Discovery Inc., the parent of networks that focus on reality television like HGTV and its own streaming service, Discovery+. The deal closed on Friday.
AT&T Inc.last year decided to separate WarnerMedia as the company unravels its entertainment-oriented deal-making of the past several years and focuses on phone and internet service.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav is running the combined company, and there are already changes expected, such as offering Discovery+, HBO Max and a brand-new cable news streamer, CNN+,as a bundle, or even merging services into a single app. Disney, a major rival, says the bundling approach has helped it attract and keep streaming subscribers as entertainment companies launched a slew of offerings intended to rival Netflix. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/trading-starts-of-new-warner-bros-discovery-media-giant/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:17 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/trading-starts-of-new-warner-bros-discovery-media-giant/ |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Families with transgender teens sued the state of Alabama in federal court on Monday to overturn a law that makes it a crime for doctors to treat trans youth under 19 with puberty blockers or hormones to help affirm their gender identity.
The two lawsuits — one on behalf of two families and another on behalf two families and the physicians who treat their children— pose legal challenges to legislation signed into law Friday by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey.
“Transgender youth are a part of Alabama, and they deserve the same privacy, access to treatment, and data-driven health care from trained medical professionals as any other Alabamian,” Tish Gotell Faulks, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said in a statement. Faulks added that lawmakers are using children, as, “political pawns for their reelection campaigns.” Ivey and legislators face primaries next month.
Unless blocked by the court, the Alabama law will take effect May 8, making it a felony for a doctor to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to aid in the gender transition of anyone under age 19. Violations will be punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It also prohibits gender transition surgeries, although doctors told lawmakers those are not performed on minors in Alabama.
“The level of legislative overreach into the practice of medicine is unprecedented. And never before has legislative overreach come into pediatric examination rooms to shut down the parent voice in medical decision making between a parent, their pediatrician and their child,” Dr. Morissa Ladinsky, a medical provider and a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, told The Associated Press in an interview.
Ivey signed the legislation Friday, a day after it was approved by the Alabama Legislature. At a campaign stop Monday, the governor invoked religion when asked about her decision to sign the legislation.
“If the good Lord made you a boy at birth, then you are a boy. If the good Lord made you a girl at birth, then you are a girl,” she said. “We should especially focus our efforts on helping these young people become healthy adults just like God wanted them to be rather than self-induced medical intervenors.”
Asked if the law would survive a court challenge, she replied, “We’ll wait and see.”
The two lawsuits were filed by advocacy groups on behalf of families with transgender children, as well as by two medical providers. The children were not identified in the lawsuits because of their age,
“I know that I am a girl and I always have been,” one of the 15-year-old plaintiffs said in a statement provided by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama. “Even before I learned the word ‘transgender’ or met other trans people, I knew myself.”
In one of the lawsuits, parents described their fears that their transgender daughter, called “Mary Roe” in the suit, would harm herself or try to commit suicide if she loses access to the puberty blockers she began taking last year. “For Mary to be forced to go through male puberty would be devastating; it would predictably result in her experiencing isolation, depression, anxiety, and distress,” the lawsuit states.
Similar measures have been pushed in other states, but the Alabama legislation is the first to lay out criminal penalties for doctors.
In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate as abuse reports of gender-confirming care for kids. And a law in Arkansas bans gender-affirming medications. That law has been blocked by a court, however.
Ivey also signed a separate measure that requires students to use bathrooms that align with their original birth certificate and prohibits instruction of gender and sexual identity in kindergarten through fifth grades. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/transgender-treatment-ban-challenged-by-lawsuit-in-alabama/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:24 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/transgender-treatment-ban-challenged-by-lawsuit-in-alabama/ |
LONDON (AP) — Britain sanctioned two leading Bosnian-Serb politicians Monday, accusing them of encouraging ethnic hatred and jeopardizing the peace accord that ended the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina more than 25 years ago.
Milorad Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic will be hit with asset freezes and travel bans in the first sanctions the U.K. has leveled in Bosnia. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine had emboldened the pair to further erode the international rules based system in the Western Balkans.
“These two politicians are deliberately undermining the hard won peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Truss said in a statement. “Encouraged by Putin, their reckless behavior threatens stability and security across the Western Balkans.”
U.K. authorities say the pair have have used their positions to push for the de facto secession of Republika Srpska — one of two semi-autonomous regions that comprise the federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina — in direct contravention of the country’s constitution.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday imposed its own sanctions on seven more people from the Western Balkans.
Dodik has for years advocated separating the Bosnian Serb mini-state from the federation and uniting it with neighboring Serbia. He is the Bosnian Serb member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, which also includes representatives of the Bosnian Muslim and Croat communities.
Secession would violate the Dayton Accords, the 1995 U.S.-sponsored agreement that ended Bosnia’s civil war, which killed more than 100,000 people and left millions homeless. The agreement established two separate governing entities in Bosnia — one run by Bosnia’s Serbs and the other controlled by the country’s Bosniaks and Croats.
The two entities are linked by joint institutions, and all actions taken at a national level have to be reached by consensus among the three ethnic groups.
U.S. authorities had previously sanctioned Dodik, accusing him of “corrupt activities” that threaten to destabilize the region. The Americans allege that he used his leadership position to accumulate wealth through graft and bribery.
Cvijanovic, the president of Republika Srpska, the Serb entity, has proposed legislation to transfer powers from the national government to her mini-state, British authorities said. She has also glorified war criminals and denied acts of genocide during the civil war, they said.
The top international official in Bosnia, Christian Schmidt, described the decision to impose sanctions on Dodik and Cvijanovic as “reasonable” and thanked the British government for its commitment to Bosnia’s stability and security.
“Dodik and Cvijanovic missed every opportunity to get back into constructive dialogue for the benefit of the people in this country,” said Schmidt, who heads the U.N.’s Office of High Representative in Bosnia. “They will have to bear the consequences of their words and deeds, and the U.K. sanctions are the continuation of the consequences that started in January with the U.S. sanctions.”
The practical impact of Monday’s actions is unclear. Both Dodik and Cvijanovic said they don’t have assets in the U.K.
“All they (British) say are lies. They are old manipulators and enemies of the Serb people. I told them so many times before,” said Dodik.
“They are helpless in their feud with Putin, and they accuse the two of us now of acting on orders from Putin,” he added.
Andi Hoxhaj, an expert in corruption in the Western Balkans at Warwick Law School, described the new sanctions as “appropriate.” The lack of a clear European Union strategy to integrate the Western Balkans has created a vacuum that has allowed Russia and China to undermine democracy and pursue their own goals in the region, he said.
“However, with the ongoing war in Ukraine, there is a policy shift to sanction individuals that undermine peace and democracy in fragile states, and this attempt is to address that,” Hoxhaj said.
In addition to its January action against Dodik, the U.S. on Monday added seven more individuals and a Hungary-based company to the list of people from across the Western Balkans who have been sanctioned for corrupt and destabilizing activities.
“The people designated today constitute a serious threat to regional stability, institutional trust, and the aspirations of those seeking democratic and judicious governance in the Western Balkans,” Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said in a statement.
The list includes various figures from Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro.
The most prominent people targeted by the new U.S. sanctions are an ex-president of the former joint state of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, former North Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Gordana Tadic, a one-time chief prosecutor in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The sanctions mean that any property they own in the U.S. will be frozen and business transactions with U.S. companies are banned. The individuals from Bosnia-Herzegovina and North Macedonia, along with their immediate family members, are also barred from traveling to the U.S.
“The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior,” the Department of Treasury said. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/uk-sanctions-2-bosnian-serb-politicians/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:31 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/uk-sanctions-2-bosnian-serb-politicians/ |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have fled their homes in the six weeks since Russia’s invasion, and the United Nations has verified the deaths of 142 youngsters, though the number is almost certainly much higher, the U.N. children’s agency said Monday.
Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s emergency programs director who just returned from Ukraine, said having 4.8 million of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children displaced in such a short time is “quite incredible.” He said it is something he hadn’t before seen happen so quickly in 31 years of humanitarian work.
“They have been forced to leave everything behind — their homes, their schools and, often, their family members,” he told the U.N. Security Council. “I have heard stories of the desperate steps parents are taking to get their children to safety, and children saddened that they are unable to get back to school.”
Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, claimed Russia has taken more than 121,000 children out of Ukraine and reportedly drafted a bill to simplify and accelerate adoption procedures for orphans and even those who have parents and other relatives. He said most of the children were removed from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol and taken to eastern Donetsk and then to the Russian city of Taganrog.
Fontaine said UNICEF has heard the same reports, but added that “we don’t have yet the access that we need to have to be able to look and verify and see if we can assist.”
He said that of Ukraine’s displaced children, 2.8 million are in Ukraine and 2 million more are in other countries. At the same time, he said, nearly half the estimated 3.2 million children still in their homes in Ukraine “may be at risk of not having enough food,” with those in besieged cities like Mariupol facing the most dire situation.
Fontaine said school closings are affecting the education of 5.7 million younger children and 1.5 million students in higher education.
“Hundreds of schools and educational facilities have been attacked or used for military purposes,” he said. “Others are serving as shelters for civilians.”
The council also heard from Sima Bahous, the executive director of the UN Women agency, who recently returned from Moldova, which is hosting an estimated 95,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Bahous said her agency is increasingly hearing allegations of rape and sexual violence. She said Moldova’s government and border police are also very concerned at the risk of human trafficking, especially of young women and unaccompanied teenagers.
“The combination of mass displacement with the large presence of conscripts and mercenaries, and the brutality displayed against Ukrainian civilians, has raised all red flags,” she said.
Ukraine’s ambassador said his country’s prosecutor’s office is now investigating a case in the Kyiv region in which a Russia soldier is alleged to have killed a local resident and then repeatedly raped his wife in their home. He said the alleged perpetrator has been identified.
Kyslytsya said the Prosecutor General’s Office, in cooperation with investigation agencies and health facilities, is also installing “a special mechanism” to document cases of sexual violence by Russian soldiers.
The Security Council meeting on the impact of the war on women and children was convened by the U.S. and Albania during Britain’s presidency of the body.
The three countries, Ukraine and other council members attacked Russia for creating the dire situation for women and children, which Russian deputy ambassador Dmitry Polyansky vehemently denied.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that when men like Russian President Vladimir Putin “start wars, women and children get displaced,” hurt, raped and abused, and they die.
“Since the start of Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, Russia has bombed orphanages and maternity hospitals,” she said. “We’ve seen mass graves with dead children stacked on top of each other.”
Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha accused Russia of committing “unspeakable crimes” every day, including burning civilians, throwing bodies in mass graves, shooting into playgrounds, attacking schools on purpose, and leaving all Ukrainians suffering, especially women and children.
“In their normal life, children draw parents, houses and trees. Russia’s war has made Ukraine kids draw bombs, tanks and weapons,” Hoxha said.
Both the U.S. and Albanian ambassadors, and many others, pointed to the discovery of bodies, some with hands tied behind their backs, in the town of Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv following the withdrawal of Russian troops, and the missile that killed at least 52 mainly women and children at the train station in eastern Kramatorsk. Hoxha noted that the missile had “a vicious signature, `for our children.’”
Russia’s Polyansky blamed “Ukrainian Nazis” for civilian killings in Bucha and the bombing at the Kramatorsk station, which he called “a classic false flag operation.”
He accused Ukraine and its public relations experts, along with the West, of promoting “fakes and propaganda” as part of “the information war unleashed against Russia.”
“That war is as intense as the military operations on the ground,” he said.
Lord Tariq Ahmad, Britain’s minister of state for the U.N. who presided over the meeting, countered that Russia again was trying to deflect from the reality on the ground “by what can only be described as quite extraordinary statements, and even lies.”
“Yet, what is true, what is fact, is that Russian attacks on civilians and residential areas have been truly barbaric,” he said. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/un-nearly-two-thirds-of-ukraines-children-have-fled-homes/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:38 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/un-nearly-two-thirds-of-ukraines-children-have-fled-homes/ |
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The University of Southern California is suing two YouTube performers who the school says created panic after barging into classrooms to film prank videos for their channels.
Court documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times claim the pair caused “terror and disruption” during three “classroom takeover incidents” in the university’s Mark Taper Hall of Humanities.
The YouTubers, Ernest Kanevsky and Yuguo Bai, are not USC students. They could not be reached for comment Monday, and it was unclear whether they have attorneys who could speak on their behalf.
A judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order banning the pair from USC’s downtown Los Angeles campus.
In the latest incident, on March 29, Kanevsky and Bai interrupted a lecture on the Holocaust while pretending to be “a member of the Russian Mafia” and Hugo Boss, a known manufacturer of Nazi uniforms during World War II, according to court documents.
Students ran from the classroom — in some cases tripping over seats and leaving behind laptops and backpacks — in an attempt to flee “what reasonably appeared to them as a credible threat of imminent classroom violence,” the court filing says.
The university’s lawyers said the pair’s conduct “amounts to both a public and private nuisance” that caused students to experience fear and emotional distress.
In September, Kanevsky, Bai and an associate entered a data science lecture and allegedly used physical intimidation to force the professor out of the classroom before taking over the lectern and subjecting the students to “insults and demeaning behavior,” court documents say.
In addition to the restraining order, the suit seeks unspecified compensatory damages, along with attorneys’ fees and other related costs.
Kanevsy’s YouTube channel has more than 111,000 subscribers and his videos have received more than 8.3 million views, the Times reported. The channel features prank videos at universities, in gyms and restaurants, on the beach and in other locations. | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/university-of-southern-california-sues-youtubers-over-pranks/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:45 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/news/u-s-world/university-of-southern-california-sues-youtubers-over-pranks/ |
BRIC Architecture, a COBID company and Oregon’s largest women-owned architecture firm, boasts a staff that is 50 percent women. One-third of its leadership team are women of color, and more than 20 percent of its staff are people of color.
“While we’re certainly proud of the representation we’ve cultivated, we recognize that there is still work to do,” said Karina Ruiz, founding principal. “To continue to dismantle the systemic racism in our industry, BRIC’s leadership has committed to radically different hiring, recruitment and retention policies.”
These include partnering with historically Black universities and architecture programs with diverse populations to share professional opportunities with BIPOC students. BRIC assembles diverse candidate review panels, hides certain resume elements to combat bias, and has developed a consistent set of interview questions and objectives to evaluate candidates.
Dedicated to building relationships and active outreach, BRIC has connected with emerging COBID companies through organizations such as the Society for Marketing Professional Services, Partners in Diversity and the National Organization of Minority Architects Portland chapter.
Examples of the firm’s ability to track and exceed its clients’ COBID utilization goals include Portland Public Schools’ Long-Range Facility Plan, which had an original certified business utilization goal of 18 percent. BRIC achieved 62 percent.
For the Newberg School District 2020 bond projects, the original certified business utilization goal was 20 percent. BRIC achieved 66 percent, and COBID firms made up 50 percent of the subconsultant team.
BRIC also seeks opportunities to build a pipeline of BIPOC youth and young women who are interested in architecture. It works alongside programs such as Your Street Your Voice, Wild X Project, Girls Build, ACE Mentors and Architects in Schools.
In partnership with Your Street Your Voice and Adjaye Associates, BRIC created “Designing for Equity,” which provides an eight-week paid opportunity for high school students in Portland’s Albina community. | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/bric-architecture-inc/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:49 | 1 | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/bric-architecture-inc/ |
The best Origins skin care products on Sephora
Since the 1990s, Origins has relied on plant-based science to create innovative products that help transform the skin without irritation. The brand has focused on a holistic approach that gives back to the environment to truly celebrate the nature that inspires its skin care.
From gentle cleansers and intensive serums to soothing treatment masks, Origins offers skin care products for every step of your routine. The range includes formulas for all skin types, so you can find products that target your specific skin issues.
To introduce some natural but effective products into your skin care routine, here are the most popular Origins skin care products at Sephora to help give you clear, fresh, healthy skin.
Most popular cleansers
Origins Checks and Balances Frothy Face Wash
This oil-free facial cleanser easily removes dirt, oil, makeup and other impurities from the skin. It has a gel formula that foams up for effective cleaning but never leaves the skin feeling stripped. It’s an excellent option for oily, combination and acne-prone skin.
Sold by Sephora
Origins GinZing Refreshing Scrub Cleanser
Save some time in your skin care routine with this two-in-one cleanser. Not only does it remove dirt and oil, it also helps exfoliate to remove dead skin cells. It has an invigorating citrus and mint scent to help wake you up for the day.
Sold by Sephora
Origins Checks and Balances Polishing Exfoliator
This gentle scrub effectively buffs away dull, dead skin to reveal a soft, smooth complexion. It can also help unclog and soften the look of pores in as little as a week. Best of all, the formula is vegan and cruelty-free.
Sold by Sephora
Most popular serums
Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins Mega-Mushroom Relief & Resilience Advanced Face Serum
Featuring a fermented chaga mushroom and reishi mushroom blend, this serum helps strengthen and nourish the skin. It reduces visible redness and calms irritation for healthier skin. Because the formula is gentle, it can work well for sensitive skin.
Sold by Sephora
Origins Plantscription Multi-Powered Anti-Aging Peptide Serum
Minimize the visible signs of aging with this peptide-rich serum. It softens the look of fine lines and helps encourage collagen and elastin production for plumper skin. It also features niacinamide to reduce the appearance of your pores.
Sold by Sephora
Origins GinZing into the Glow Brightening Serum
This lightweight serum features a potent blend of vitamin C, AHAs, BHAs and green coffee extract to give you healthy, glowing skin. It encourages cell turnover, so your skin looks brighter and smoother. It also helps moisturize and plump the skin with hyaluronic acid.
Sold by Sephora
Most popular moisturizers
Origins Plantscription Retinol Night Moisturizer
This nighttime moisturizer helps increase the skin’s hydration while boosting its glow. The included retinol promotes cell turnover to improve your skin’s tone, texture and elasticity. It works especially well for fine lines, wrinkles, dark spots and uneven texture. All skin types can use it.
Sold by Sephora
Origins Original Skin Matte Moisturizer with Willowherb
If you want to reduce shine, this water cream moisturizer is an excellent option. It has a natural matte finish, so your skin never looks greasy or oily. The included willow herb helps even out your skin tone and minimizes the appearance of your pores. It also absorbs quickly, so it works well under makeup.
Sold by Sephora
Origins GinZing Ultra-Hydrating Energy-Boosting Cream
This thick, rich moisturizer is like a drink of water for dry skin. It helps prevent moisture loss, so your skin stays hydrated for up to 72 hours. It contains caffeine and ginseng to help energize the skin, leaving it looking fresh and well-rested. The formula is free of parabens and phthalates.
Sold by Sephora
Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream to Brighten and Depuff
This lightweight eye cream hydrates the delicate under-eye area and creates the perfect canvas for concealer. The formula features vitamin C to brighten dark circles and ginseng and caffeine to reduce puffiness. The cream is available in two different brightening tones to match most skin tones.
Sold by Sephora
Origins Ginger Souffle Whipped Body Cream
This creamy body moisturizer leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth after just one application. It features olive, grapeseed, rice bran and apricot kernel oils to nourish and hydrate the skin. It also contains natural lemon, lime and bergamot to give it a bright, refreshing scent.
Sold by Sephora
Most popular face masks
Origins Clear Improvement Charcoal Honey Mask to Purify and Nourish
This bamboo charcoal-fortified mask gently purifies the skin, leaving you with a clean, clear complexion. It’s formulated to draw dirt and impurities from your pores, so it’s effective for treating blemishes and blackheads. It also contains golden wildflower and fermented honey to nourish the skin, so it never feels dry or tight.
Sold by Sephora
Origins Original Skin Retexturizing Mask with Rose Clay
This face mask not only draws impurities out of the skin but also exfoliates. It features rose clay, willow herb and jojoba beads to gently cleanse the skin and buff away dead skin cells. It’s ideal for normal, oily and combination skin, leaving you with a clear, smooth complexion.
Sold by Sephora
Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Hydrating Mask with Avocado & Glacier Water
This sleeping mask provides intense moisture for normal and dry skin while you sleep. With Swiss glacier water, hyaluronic acid and avocado butter, it provides up to 72 hours of hydration and nourishment. It can be used twice a week, or more if your skin is particularly dry.
Sold by Sephora
Origins Out of Trouble 10-Minute Mask to Rescue Problem Skin
This multi-action mask helps prevent breakouts and clogged pores for oily and acne-prone skin. It has zinc oxide and sulfur to absorb excess oil that can lead to acne. The formula also helps remove dead skin cells and pulls impurities out of the skin.
Sold by Sephora
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Jennifer Blair 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/15-most-popular-origins-skin-care-products-on-sephora/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:52 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/15-most-popular-origins-skin-care-products-on-sephora/ |
As a white woman and daughter of one of Perlo’s founders, Elissa Looney recognizes that she has great privilege and understands that with that comes great responsibility. Her involvement in the COBID community ranges from advocacy for women in construction as past president of CREW Portland to membership with the Associated General Contractors Diversity and Inclusion Committee, philanthropic work and internal DEI initiatives.
One of her strategies is to raise awareness of unconscious bias. Looney compiled extensive research and created a DEI presentation for Perlo’s executives and directors that focuses on unconscious bias and how to recognize them in daily interactions with team members.
Looney started a Women in Construction blog series that interviews Perlo female employees about their experiences working in a predominately white, male industry. She also has pushed for a stronger emphasis on NAWIC’s Women in Construction Week, reaching out to Perlo’s male employees to talk about the value women bring to the industry.
At the age of 23, Looney was the only female project manager at Perlo and created its Special Projects Group, a department that surpasses $21 million in annual revenue. She pushed to hire and supervise two more female project managers, and ensured they were getting the same opportunities for growth that she was afforded.
“Elissa took me under her wing as a new project manager with no experience in the construction industry,” said Whitney Peterson. “Her guidance and mentorship have helped me to grow and excel in this industry. Elissa goes over and beyond to make women feel valued and ensure that their voice is heard.”
Looney is pursuing a more robust COBID subcontractor recruitment program by creating a tracking system, checking for licensing, making sure qualified subcontractors are added to the bid list, and building Perlo’s mentorship program for COBID companies. | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/elissa-looney/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:56 | 0 | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/elissa-looney/ |
What are the best sheet masks at Sephora?
Just about every self-care checklist will suggest treating yourself to a sheet mask — and with good reason. Not only are sheet masks great at delivering nourishing skin care ingredients, but they also give you an excuse to relax.
Whether you struggle with acne, redness or dry skin, there’s a sheet mask for you. If you’re looking to find a popular option, cosmetics retailer Sephora carries a range of sheet masks beloved by customers and beauty experts alike for their nourishing ingredients and excellent results.
Sheet masks vs. clay masks
Sheet masks have been gaining in popularity in Western markets for a few years now, but they’ve been a staple in Korean beauty regimens for much longer. Unlike wash-off facial masks, which usually consist of a clay base, sheet masks are made from fabric, paper or gel that’s been saturated with skin care ingredients. The sheet fibers give your skin a chance to absorb the essence’s beneficial ingredients without the dried-out feeling that can come from clay masks, and there’s no rinsing necessary. While both kinds of masks offer several benefits, sheet masks tend to focus on hydration while clay masks are better for decongesting skin.
How to use sheet masks
To use a sheet mask effectively, start by cleansing your face. You may wish to steam your face with a hot washcloth or facial steamer to open up your pores. This helps your skin absorb the mask’s essence. Wear the mask for the recommended amount of time, then gently massage the leftover essence into your skin. Treat your neck and décolleté as well: if there’s any essence left in the mask’s packaging, massage that in, too. Sheet masks with acne-fighting or exfoliating ingredients are recommended for use once a week, while gentler, hydrating masks can be used more often.
Sheet mask benefits
Almost any skin care concern can be addressed with a sheet mask. Here are some of the key ingredients to look for if you’re shopping for a specific type of sheet mask:
- Exfoliating sheet masks may contain fruit enzymes (like pineapple or papaya) or retinol.
- Hydrating sheet masks may contain hyaluronic acid, snail jelly, honey or coconut water.
- Brightening sheet masks may contain licorice root extract, pearl extract or vitamin C.
- Soothing sheet masks may contain green tea extract, aloe vera or chamomile.
- Acne and blemish-clearing masks may contain salicylic acid, tea tree oil or charcoal.
- Redness-reducing masks may contain niacinamide or tiger grass.
The most popular sheet masks from Sephora
Sephora Collection Clean Face Mask
These affordable masks make great spa-night treats or gifts, and they cover a variety of skin concerns like soothing, exfoliating, mattifying and toning. Biodegradable eucalyptus fibers carry essences formulated with plant extracts like matcha, grapefruit and coconut. The masks are cruelty-free, but not everyone is a fan of the added fragrance.
Sold by Sephora
Glamglow Bubblesheet Oxygenating Deep-Cleanse Mask
Formulated with bamboo charcoal and green tea, this foaming mask bubbles up to help clear out pores and clean away dirt and buildup. It can be drying, so it’s recommended for those with oily skin. Use it as a weekly detox by wearing the mask for just three minutes, then using the charcoal sheet as an exfoliating washcloth while you rinse off.
Sold by Sephora
This two-step mask comes with an ampoule of gel-like serum, which is applied to the two-part rubber sheet mask that’s made from natural clay and algae. Leave the mask on for 30-40 minutes while the rubber prevents ingredients from evaporating, leaving skin soothed, brightened and moisturized. The masks are available for four different skin concerns.
Sold by Sephora
Sephora Collection Clean Foot Mask
Sheet masks aren’t just for your face! Treat your feet with this foot mask. It’s cruelty-free and available in two formulas, one for refreshing feet and one for nourishing dry skin. Just wrap up your clean feet in the masks and leave on for 20 minutes, then massage in the essence.
Sold by Sephora
JLo Beauty That Limitless Glow Sheet Mask
Sold individually or in a set of three, this two-piece mask is engineered to wrap around your ears, gripping your face for targeted treatment. It’s saturated with one ounce of the brand’s Glow serum, which can help minimize the look of pores and fine lines, brighten your complexion and boost radiance. Wear this cruelty-free mask for 10 minutes up to twice a week.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin Facial Barrier Mask
This mask is formulated to combat dryness and support the skin barrier. Whether you have dry, oily, combination or sensitive skin, this mask can hydrate without increasing oil production or irritating your skin. It’s made from biodegradable bamboo cellulose. Users recommend treating the creamy essence like a sleep mask so you can wake up to smoother, hydrated skin.
Sold by Sephora
Peter Thomas Roth 24-Karat Gold Pure Luxury Lift and Firm
Give your under-eye area special attention with these luxurious under-eye masks. They’re formulated with hydrolyzed collagen, caffeine and 24K and colloidal gold to firm, brighten, depuff and smooth the skin under your eyes. The jar contains 30 pairs of eye gels, which are worn for 10-15 minutes at a time.
Sold by Sephora
Sephora Collection After-Sun Mask
This two-piece mask can help both your face and chest recover from a day at the beach with its cooling, hydrating formula. It’s great for mitigating sunburn thanks to watermelon extract, and it can even extend the look of a suntan. Apply both pieces to your face and décolleté and leave on for 15 minutes.
Sold by Sephora
SK-II Pitera Facial Treatment Mask
For a spa-quality treatment, these masks are a luxurious way to improve skin’s elasticity and texture. The fragrance-free formula contains a powerful dose of Pitera, the brand’s exclusive essence, which is packed with vitamins, minerals and amino acids to encourage cell renewal. The masks come in a set of six or 10 and can be used once or twice a week for 10-15 minutes.
Sold by Sephora
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Laura Duerr 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/9-most-popular-sheet-masks-at-sephora/ | 2022-04-12T11:31:59 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/9-most-popular-sheet-masks-at-sephora/ |
From building backyard forts to constructing several pieces of furniture, Josh Guerra has always loved designing things. Architecture is a natural fit because it allows him to combine his passions for art and applied science.
“As an industry professional and outspoken person of color at Otak, Josh has taken significant efforts to educate and inform the team members of Otak regarding appropriate strategies and methods for addressing equity, diversity and inclusion,” said colleague and designer Zaq Dohallow.
Guerra’s background includes education in philosophy and etymology, which have equipped him with the skills necessary to approach the subject of DEI with an academic lens. He earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, industrial and product design, and graphic design from the University of Notre Dame. He earned his master’s degree in architecture from Texas A&M University.
Professionally, Guerra excels at providing team support in technical areas while also participating in the firm’s Equity and Inclusion Committee to contribute to the ways the firm addresses inequities identified in the architecture and engineering professions.
“Otak is a multidisciplinary firm, and Josh has been able to collaborate with team members from other disciplines to assist in understanding how to address equity and inclusion concerns firm-wide,” Dohallow said.
Guerra’s project portfolio with Otak includes Hyatt Place, a mixed-use building in the Pearl District. The 23-story building will house a Hyatt Place Hotel on the first 11 floors, topped by 12 floors of housing and amenity space.
He stays busy outside of work supporting his community of St. Johns, volunteering for Friends of Trees, playing an active role in Design Week and assisting with transition housing villages in Portland. | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/josh-guerra-senior-project-architect-at-otak-architects-inc/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:02 | 0 | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/josh-guerra-senior-project-architect-at-otak-architects-inc/ |
Which bodyboard is best?
Bodyboarding is used as a stepping stone to surfing; in fact, many people find it more enjoyable. Bodyboards are also just as complex in construction as surfboards, with multiple material and design choices to make.
The best bodyboard is Own The Wave Wave Weapon Bodyboard. It’s light, includes a variety of tethers and comes in several sizes and colors. It’s perfect for beginners to learn and intermediates to improve.
What to know before you buy a bodyboard
Core material
Bodyboards are usually made of one or a mixture of polypropylene, polyethylene or expanded polystyrene. Each interacts differently with various aspects of water.
- PP cores are among the more commonly made. They’re light, which lets them move through the water fastest. They have little flex in return, making them difficult to control. They’re also the most durable.
- Low-density PP sacrifices a little durability for a little more flex, leading to easier control, especially in cold water. It goes by a few other acronyms, such as PX.
- PE cores are the most common. They’re a little heavier with a little more flex than PP cores, making them move slower but granting a greater degree of control. They’re best used in cool water.
- Dual-core, also called 3D core, is a mixture of PP for durability and PE for flex and control.
- EPS cores are the best for beginners. They’re ultra-light, granting maximum buoyancy. As most beginners simply move straight, the lack of flex isn’t a problem.
Tail
The tail (or backend) of the bodyboard comes in two shapes: crescent and bat.
- Crescent tails look like a “C.” They’re easier to control and ride, making them best for beginners or for use on large waves.
- Bat tails resemble a bat. They allow for more precise control, in particular on small waves, but can create drag through large waves.
What to look for in a quality bodyboard
Deck material
The deck, or top, of the bodyboard is usually made of crosslink or polyethylene.
- Crosslink decks are durable but inflexible. They’re also inexpensive, meaning the majority of low-cost and beginner boards are crosslink.
- PE decks are softer and more flexible. They’re more comfortable but will develop divots from your body weight over time, particularly when used regularly.
Slick material
The slick (or bottom) of the bodyboard is arguably the most important section, since it’s what’s in contact with the water. They’re usually made of high-density polyethylene or Surlyn.
- HDPE slicks are inexpensive and equally low-quality. However, they’re more than enough for beginners and casual bodyboarders.
- Surlyn is a soft, translucent polymer. It’s flexible but rapidly returns to its original shape. You’ll have to shell out for a board with a Surlyn slick.
Channels
Most bodyboards have channels like little grooves in the back half of the slick. They usually provide more control or increased speed. For example, some professional boards use a large concave scoop in the back half of the slick for maximum speed with increased control.
How much you can expect to spend on a bodyboard
The low-cost bodyboards you may rent from a beachside shack rarely cost more than $40, while high-end pro-level boards cost $200-$300. A board worth buying to learn and improve on typically costs $50-$100.
Bodyboard FAQ
Do the dimensions of a bodyboard matter?
A. Yes, bodyboard buyers should consider the length and width of their prospective purchase. The length affects comfort. It should be roughly the same as the distance between your chin and knees. You won’t be able to paddle and won’t be kept afloat properly if it’s too long or short, respectively. The width as measured at the widest point of the board affects performance. Wider boards favor stability over control; narrow boards are the inverse. You won’t find narrower boards until you get close to or exceed $100.
Why do bodyboards have indentations at the front?
A. Most have little indentations, sometimes called nose bulbs, to provide extra grip for your fingers. Gripless boards can be difficult to hold onto once you start attempting any non-beginner moves. They’re especially helpful for making sudden, sharp moves and keeping precise control over your direction.
What’s the best bodyboard to buy?
Top bodyboard
Own The Wave Wave Weapon Bodyboard
What you need to know: This is an effective and stylish bodyboard with decent buoyancy and a high-speed surface.
What you’ll love: It has an EPS core with an HDPE slick, a crescent tail and rear-end channels. It comes with a coiled leash and two fin tethers. An e-guide is emailed to you with how-tos and tips. It’s available in three sizes and nearly 10 color combinations.
What you should consider: The skin begins to peel away faster than some consumers appreciate. Some arrived damaged and a few became damaged quickly.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top bodyboard for the money
What you need to know: This board costs a little less than usual without much sacrifice in quality.
What you’ll love: It has an EPS core with an HDPE slick, a crescent tail and rear-end channels. It includes a leash. It’s available in two lengths, each with two color options. It weighs only 1.2 or 1.5 pounds, depending on size.
What you should consider: The slick separated quickly for some consumers. Some packages didn’t contain the leash. Some consumers had issues with the paint staining clothes and hair.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Thurso Surf Quill 42-Inch Bodyboard
What you need to know: This board breaks the design mold with a gorgeous faux-wood look.
What you’ll love: It has an EPS core with an HDPE slick, a crescent tail and rear-end channels. The slick is heat-laminated for extra durability. It’s designed for stability and smooth gliding — perfect for recreation of any skill level. It includes a stainless steel double-swivel coiled wrist leash.
What you should consider: It’s a little pricey. Its weight limit is only 210 pounds. There are rare reports of the board breaking down on initial use.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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As developer Killian Pacific sought to strengthen its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, it turned to NAMC-Oregon to learn more about equity analysis and how to better implement those measures into its business practices.
“In addition to minority-owned subcontractor relationships, NAMC was invaluable in bringing insight on how best to incorporate DEI into our contractor RFP process and general contractor agreements,” said Michi Slick, Killian Pacific’s director of development.
“NAMC was able to provide critical input on how to ensure success for the projects by supporting all parties involved – general contractor, subcontractors and owner – as well as methods for allocating and managing risk,” she added.
Killian Pacific implemented these practices in two recent projects, Volta and Ninebark, with immediate success. Volta is an adaptive reuse of an electrical industrial warehouse at 1709 S.E. Third Ave. Originally constructed in 1940, the building will provide 30,000 square feet of Class A office space for project designer Bora and other tenants.
Killian Pacific updated its contractor bidding process and established inclusive jobsite training, expectations and agreements. The general contractor, Turner Construction, committed to a 41 percent MWESB participation rate, and at least 25 percent of hard costs have been awarded to subcontractors that are majority owned by underrepresented communities.
In addition, construction teams have participated in monthly DEI trainings and workshops. Killian Pacific established ongoing collaborations with Turner and Bora around its social impact goals and tracking progress and learnings.
Through Ninebark, a new 246-unit multifamily development near Camas and Washougal, Washington, Killian Pacific is voluntarily providing affordable housing options to meet the community’s needs and overarching equity goals.
Killian Pacific also committed to Ninebark achieving multiple sustainability certifications, including Salmon-Safe and Fitwel, and is aiming for Net Zero in recognition of water quality protection, wellness in design and energy conservation. | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/killian-pacific/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:09 | 1 | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/killian-pacific/ |
Which electric knife is best?
For many, the scene is familiar: You’re standing around a magnificent turkey on Thanksgiving or presenting an elaborate roast to a dinner party of friends and family, and the carving pressure is on. If you’re comfortable handling a razor-sharp knife, this might not be a big deal. However, if you’re looking for an easier tool that produces perfect slices with minimal effort or skill, an electric knife is the way to go.
The Cuisinart AC Electric Knife is easy to handle and works well on turkey and ham. It’s also comfortable enough for people with hand pain to use.
What to know before you buy an electric knife
Corded vs. cordless
Electric knives can be either corded or cordless. Corded knives offer more power and can be used for as long as they’re plugged in an outlet. The downside is that you always need an outlet in order to operate them.
On the other hand, cordless electric knives run on batteries and can be used anywhere. You’ll need to keep extra batteries on hand or have a charger to make sure you have enough power when you need it.
Blade length
Blade length matters, especially if you’re cutting into a large fish or piece of meat. Look for blades with a length of 7 to 9 inches. This length allows for the most flexibility and versatility.
Intended use
Another consideration is your intended use of the electric knife. Different blades are used to cut different proteins. The blade to cut a roast is sturdier than the one for filleting a fish.
What to look for in a quality electric knife
Additional blades
If you don’t want to choose your knife based on one type of protein or cutting task, look for one that comes with additional blades. These might vary in both length and cutting edge to provide more uses.
Rechargeable battery
Depending on your use, electric knives can go through a lot of batteries. The best come with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that offer anywhere from one to three hours of use per battery.
Variable speed
Variable speeds come in handy. These allow you to slow down when carving around bone and speed up when working your way through a large piece of meat.
Accessories
Accessories make it easier to use your knife. These might include:
- Carrying or storage case
- Cutting board
- Carving fork
- Instructional charts
At a minimum, your electric knife should include a storage case to protect the blade.
Safety features
Electric knives are sharp and dangerous. Children should never operate them, but in the event you’re using them around younger family members, safety features can protect them from harm. Blade locks and a quick shut-off button can prevent accidents and injuries.
How much you can expect to spend on an electric knife
Electric knives are an affordable kitchen tool. Expect to spend $15- $175, depending on functionality and accessories.
Electric knife FAQ
Is there a recommended technique for using an electric knife?
A. As with any new kitchen tool, there’s a bit of a learning curve. To get the best results, do the following:
- Stabilize whatever you’re cutting with a carving fork or other utensil. You can also carve the meat or slice the bread on a kitchen towel to keep it from shifting as you cut.
- Let gravity and the knife itself do the cutting work. There’s no need to saw or press down as you cut.
- To cut around bones or joints, use a slower speed and make shallow cuts. This allows you to see exactly what you’re carving around.
- When you’re finished with your cut, release the power button and gently slide the knife out of whatever you’re cutting.
How do you care for an electric knife?
A. Electric knives should never go into the dishwasher, but the blade is removable. Take care as you remove it and wash with hot, soapy water. Dry completely, then set it aside as you wipe down the body of the electric knife (including the cord).
If the edge of your electric knife dulls, you can either sharpen it yourself following the manufacturer’s instructions, or you can take it to be professionally sharpened at your local grocery or hardware store.
If one is included, always store your electric knife in a carrying or storage case.
What’s the best electric knife to buy?
Top electric knife
What you need to know: This electric knife comes with features and accessories that make it easy to use and store.
What you’ll love: It has a wide stainless steel blade that starts up with light pressure on the switch. The results are consistent, and it’s versatile across a wide variety of cutting tasks. This set includes a cutting board, the knife itself, a form and a storage tray.
What you should consider: This knife is loud when in use, and some of the plastic parts can break.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Top electric knife for the money
Hamilton Beach Electric Carving Knife Set
What you need to know: Hamilton Beach offers this economical choice for those on a budget or who only use an electric knife occasionally.
What you’ll love: It’s easy to use and clean. The handle is comfortable and well-designed, and the knife comes with a carving fork and storage case. One of the best uses is on thick, crusty bread.
What you should consider: The power button is in an awkward position, and users with smaller hands felt the handle was too large.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Bubba Li-Ion Cordless Electric Fillet Knife
What you need to know: Take your carving on the go with this battery-powered knife.
What you’ll love: The included two lithium-ion batteries power this knife for three to five hours total. The kit includes four different blades and a carrying case. It’s great for carving on site when fishing and hunting.
What you should consider: Users note that the blades don’t hold their edge well.
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.
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Which Ninja blender is best?
Lumpy sauces and smoothies full of chunks are the last things you want from your blender. Ninja blenders are powerful and give excellent results without being as pricey as top-of-the-line blenders.
You’ll still need to think about what type of blender you want and what you need from it. Will it be for nothing but smoothies, or do you need something more versatile? The Ninja BN701 Professional Plus Blender is the ideal choice for most buyers.
What to know before you buy a Ninja blender
Blender types
You can buy a few types of Ninja blender: countertop blenders, personal blenders and blender systems.
- Countertop blenders have large pitchers and are designed for a wide range of blending tasks, including soups, smoothies, sauces and nut butters. They have powerful motors and can easily crush ice and puree the toughest of ingredients.
- Personal blenders have individually sized blending cups. They’re primarily designed to make single servings of smoothies and shakes, though they’re also great for small batches of cold sauces such as pesto and cashew cream. The cups come with to-go lids so you can drink shakes and smoothies directly from them, at home or out and about. They’re usually less powerful than countertop models.
- Blender systems are similar to countertop blenders but the large pitcher can be swapped out for personal blender cups, a food processor bowl or both. This gives you a versatile appliance with the power of a countertop blender, the convenience of a personal blender and the option to chop, slice, shred, knead and more.
Wattage
A blender’s wattage tells you how powerful its motor is. Ninja blenders are relatively powerful, with even the most basic models sporting 1,000-watt motors and the most powerful with motors of 1,500 watts. By comparison, cheap personal blenders can have motors with as few as 200-300 watts and cheap countertop blenders often have 600-700-watt motors.
Controls
All Ninja countertop blenders and blender systems have at least three speeds and a pulse setting. Some also have preset programs for tasks such as making smoothies or crushing ice. Personal versions don’t always have speed settings but have at least a pulse setting and occasionally a couple of presets. Most Ninja blenders have flat touchpad controls, which are easy to wipe clean.
What to look for in a quality Ninja blender
Dishwasher-safe
With most Ninja blenders, the pitcher, lid and other attachments are dishwasher-safe on the top rack, but check before you clean them in this way. It’s generally best to wash the blades by hand to prevent dulling, even if they’re technically dishwasher-safe.
Stacked blades
Most countertop versions have stacked blades, with three sets of blades stacked vertically, rather than just a single set at the bottom of the pitcher. This helps give more even results.
Ice crush
Look for a model with an ice-crush setting if you like frozen drinks or want to be able to crush batches of ice to put in non-blended beverages.
How much you can expect to spend on a Ninja blender
Ninja blenders cost roughly $60-$200, with personal blenders and basic countertop models on the lower end of the spectrum and high-powered blending systems on the upper end.
Ninja blender FAQ
Can a Ninja blender be used as a food processor?
A. Blenders and food processors aren’t interchangeable. Food processors are great for dry mixtures and ingredients, such as kneading doughs or chopping and slicing vegetables. Blenders, in contrast, need some liquid in the mix, so they’re ideal for pureeing soups and making smoothies. So Ninja blenders can’t be used as food processors with their standard blending pitchers. However, you can buy models with separate food-processing bowls and blades.
Can you put hot food into a Ninja blender?
A. This depends on the type of blender. Countertop versions are fine for blending hot food, as long as you intermittently stop and vent the lid so that steam doesn’t build up and blow it off. Personal blenders, on the other hand, can’t handle hot food, so if you want to puree a hot sauce or soup, you’ll need to let the cooked ingredients cool before blending.
What’s the best Ninja blender to buy?
Top Ninja blender
Ninja BN701 Professional Plus Blender
What you need to know: This powerful blender packs a 1,400-watt punch, making light work of practically any blending task.
What you’ll love: Thanks to its Auto-IQ function, it takes the guesswork out of crushing ice and making smoothies and ice cream. The 72-ounce blending pitcher is big enough to make food or drinks for the entire household.
What you should consider: It doesn’t come with personal blending cups or any attachments.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Ninja blender for the money
Ninja BL660 Professional Countertop Blender
What you need to know: With a full-sized pitcher and personal blending cups, it’s a great choice for tasks big and small.
What you’ll love: It’s easy to use, with three speed settings, a pulse function and a single-serve function. The personal cups come with to-go lids. The full-sized pitcher has a large 72-ounce capacity.
What you should consider: The 1,100-watt motor is less powerful than that of some Ninja blenders, but it’s still capable of blending most ingredients.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Ninja BL770 Mega Kitchen System
What you need to know: This blender can do it all, with a full-sized pitcher, personal cups and a food-processor attachment with blades and a dough hook.
What you’ll love: It’s extremely powerful, with a 1,500-watt motor. The 16-ounce blending cups have to-go lids to take smoothies or shakes on the go. Suction cups on the base keep it from moving around the counter while it’s running.
What you should consider: It isn’t the best choice if you already have a food processor or don’t want one.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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Located in the tidal floodplain of the Columbia River Estuary, the 15-mile-long Elochoman River is home to runs of steelhead, Sitka spruce swamps, complex forests and tidal wetlands. Columbia Land Trust began working there in 2004 when it purchased 185 acres and, since then, has been restoring wetlands and forested areas.
Its RFQ for the current floodplain restoration project sought a qualified and inclusive design-build team to support the project from concept to completion. Construction is slated to begin in June.
Jeremy Tjaden, owner of Evergreen Developers, recognized Columbia Land Trust for its partnering excellence and noted that the organization fosters an inclusive environment where engagement in industry associations and direct practice of inclusion for underrepresented professionals makes way for great opportunity.
“On the representation perspective for the project as a whole, all parties of the winning team are underrepresented within our communities. This capacity is above and beyond any effort we have been a part of to solicit and hire certified firms,” he said.
Tjaden added that, from a technical standpoint, Columbia Land Trust has taken the team of certified firms well beyond the metropolitan boundary and into the tidal reaches of the Elochoman Valley. The project provides a rare opportunity for owners, scientists, engineers and contractors to interact and understand the complexities of designing and building floodplain and tidal enhancements for endangered species.
“This project, through the design-build RFQ, gives the underrepresented community a chance to collaborate with industry professionals and owners not commonly associated due to standard sequencing of a project from the perspective of its entirety,” he said. “It also offers great wages for members of the COBID community, as federal wage rate requirements apply.”
The process also mitigates technical issues common to projects sent to bid after design by allowing stakeholders to discuss standard practice. | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/lower-elochoman-iii-floodplain-restoration/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:15 | 0 | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/lower-elochoman-iii-floodplain-restoration/ |
Mortenson has partnered with COBID companies since its first project in 1984. Its Community Participation Program is based on the foundational principle of intentional outreach, including workforce diversity and internship opportunities.
Its strategies include creating awareness of upcoming projects through collaborations with the National Association of Minority Contractors, Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs, Building Connected and other organizations.
“We know that ‘pay when paid’ does not work to the advantage of diverse firms,” said Dan Mehls, vice president and general manager of Mortenson’s Portland office. “We work with each firm to prioritize a 30-day payment period.”
In regard to strategic-sized bid packages and diverse business set-aside scopes, Mortenson typically sets aside subcontracts with a dollar value of $50,000 and under for COBID bidders. It partners with the Port of Portland, SafeBuild Alliance and Professional Business Development Group in mentor-protégé programs to share best practices in construction and business coaching.
As part of Mortenson’s diversity, equity and inclusion journey, it worked with trade partner OEG to offer an opportunity for an electrical apprentice who is a military veteran with PTSD to work on a local health care project. Safety accommodations were made for the veteran and his service dog, including dog-friendly safety goggles and a cart for the veteran’s tools and miscellaneous materials. The cart’s bottom shelf housed a bed for the dog to rest nearby.
Mortenson’s employees volunteer regularly at the Community Transitional School in Northeast Portland’s Cully neighborhood. The school plays an important role in the community by providing educational services to children who are houseless or face housing insecurity.
Among other support, Mortenson partners with the school to lead a supply drive each fall, which raises money for everything from COVID-19 protective supplies to Chromebooks. In 2021, project teams across the city raised $9,000 for the Community Transitional School Supply Drive. | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/mortenson/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:22 | 1 | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/mortenson/ |
Which pirate model ship is best?
Jack Sparrow’s Black Pearl. Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge. Charles Vane’s Ranger. Seeing any of these ships coming over the horizon during the golden age of piracy was enough to make any sensible captain to turn tail.
But while those days are long gone, you can still get a glimpse of their majestic presence on the high seas. Through highly detailed models such as CubicFun Queen Anne’s Revenge Pirate Ship, you can build them piece by piece to restore them to scaled-down former glory.
What to know before you buy a pirate model ship
Model ships can be complex
Unlike model airplane kits or submarines, sailing ships have a lot of intricate parts. The masts, ropes and rigging can consist of more than a few pieces and will need some steady hands to put together. Patience will be needed, but the included instructions will make it a bit easier to assemble.
Dedicated workspace
When assembling your ship, ensure that you have a dedicated workspace to lay out all the pieces correctly. This is especially important if you build the kit over several days. To save yourself some frustration, also have the necessary tools handy, and cover your day’s work when you finish so it’s not disturbed.
The scale is an indication of the complete size
All model kits are assembled according to the scale of the real object. That’s because the scale references the size of the ship. A model 1/36th the size of a conventional airplane will be smaller than a model 1/48th the size of a full-scale ship, as the real ship is larger than the real airplane.
What to look for in a quality pirate model ship
Attention to detail
Putting a model ship together takes some time, but the reward is a highly detailed ship with correct parts and trimmings. Although pirate ships come in different styles, a good-quality model is packed with small details to be a realistic replica of its real-life counterpart. This includes the correct number of cannons, accurate size and shape of the ship, and flying the pirate flag.
Robust construction materials
Airplane model kits are usually put together from balsa wood pieces, but most pirate model ships are made of robust plastic, metal, or expanded polystyrene foam. This makes assembly more manageable and ensures the model doesn’t degrade over time or get damaged. As with other models, instructions are included, but pirate model ships are different in that the pieces snap or click together. But, again, being made from plastic prevents damage.
How it is displayed
Completing a model ship is exciting, but that’s only half the job. It needs to be displayed in an action-packed, intriguing manner to make the most of your time and effort. A good-quality pirate ship can be staged in scenes where additional components can fill out details such as water, someone walking the plank, or a nearby island with buried treasure.
Keep in mind, though, that not all pirate ship model kits can be staged. If that’s your goal, look for a model that can.
How much you can expect to spend on a pirate model ship
The average price of a model pirate ship depends on its intricacy, manufacturer and construction parts. An entry-level kit retails for $15-$20, while a complex ship sells for $30-$40.
Pirate model ship FAQ
Do you need glue to put a pirate model ship together?
A. While some kits require glue, a shift in model-building techniques has reduced the need for adhesives. Most pirate-ship kits have interlocking parts, so no glue or soldering is needed.
How long does it take to assemble a pirate model ship?
A. That depends on the model’s complexity. In general, when you follow the instructions for a ship that clicks together, it should take around 6 or 7 hours to complete.
What’s the best pirate model ship to buy?
Top pirate model ship
CubicFun Queen Anne’s Revenge Pirate Ship
What you need to know: This model 1/95the the size of Blackbeard’s infamous ship comprises 340 pieces and will take around four hours to complete.
What you’ll love: To make building easier, each part is numbered, and detailed instructions show you exactly where it goes. The hull and trimmings are made of EPS foam, and the sails are made of fabric. But what makes this highly detailed and accurate kit exciting is that it comes with 15 warm LED lights to resemble the ship at night.
What you should consider: It is unclear from the instructions how you change or recharge the battery for the LED lights.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top pirate model ship for the money
Fascinations Metal Black Pearl Ship Model Kit
What you need to know: This model consists of plastic pieces for the hull and metal parts for the sails, giving you a different kind of pirate ship. It’s best suited for builders 14 years and older and doesn’t require glue or soldering.
What you’ll love: Taking on the form of the Black Pearl from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, the all-black parts are easily popped out of two metal sheets. It’s highly detailed and comes with a stand with the ship’s name on it.
What you should consider: This kit is rated as having moderate difficulty for assembly, as you’ll need tweezers to bend and twist the connection tabs.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Revell “Pirates of The Caribbean” The Black Pearl
What you need to know: This 112-part replica of the Black Pearl uses Revell’s Easy-Click interlocking part system, making it easy to assemble. In addition, there is no need for glue or soldering, as the kit includes self-adhesive stickers.
What you’ll love: Standing 8.9 inches high and 10.3 inches long, the model features highly-detailed plastic parts that easily snap out of the frames. It’s 1/150th the size of the real ship and includes accents such as rigging, an accurate figurehead and several cannons.
What you should consider: It model can float on water, but you’ll need to seal the hull and put a weight inside it.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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This large-scale project for the Port of Portland provided prime opportunities to engage and grow the capacity of minority-owned, women-owned, small businesses and disadvantaged firms.
To maximize participation by COBID firms, scopes of work were scaled appropriately. By creating smaller packages that fit the capacity and abilities of more MWESB firms, PACR awarded work to 76 contractors and 15 designers totaling more than $2.4 million. Among other examples, PACR provided an opportunity for JE Dunn Construction to mentor the project’s COBID landscape and irrigation trade partner.
“They picked up an incomplete and poor-quality installation from a previous partner, corrected all issues and finished their scope of work,” the firm stated. “They were awarded further scopes on enabling work, and eventually became the successful bidder on the main landscape and irrigation package – over $1 million – as well.”
Since then, the trade partner has used JE Dunn as a reference on other bids and projects. JE Dunn has been called by three separate general contractors asking for information about them and seeking recommendations.
A project with the size and visibility of PACR has the ability to make lasting change. The goal is to continue to help communities of color build their abilities and capabilities. It has offered COBID firms the opportunity to gain experience and grow their reputations on a very complex project.
In addition to fostering lasting relationships that can provide mentorship and assistance to help COBID firms continue to grow and build their bottom lines in the future, the PACR project “unearthed an opportunity to educate additional large-scale providers of the importance of inclusion and the benefits of diversity of their own teams as well,” JE Dunn stated.
“The new relationships and partnerships built on PACR can continue into future projects and have lasting effects for the community,” JE Dunn added. | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/portland-airport-consolidated-rental-car-center-pacr/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:29 | 0 | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/portland-airport-consolidated-rental-car-center-pacr/ |
Which space heater is best?
Even the dead of summer can be too cold if your office blasts the air conditioner. That’s where a space heater can come in handy. Some space heaters can also double as fans if you get too hot.
The best space heater is the Dr. Infrared Heater Portable Space Heater with Humidifier. It gets decently hot and the humidifier prevents health issues caused by dry heat.
What to know before you buy a space heater
Outdoor vs. indoor space heaters
Space heaters are usually designed with a location in mind, be it outdoors or indoors, though some can be used in either situation.
- Outdoor heaters tend to be on the smaller side, contrary to what you would expect. They are usually designed to be as portable as possible and focus on heating the area directly in front of them or the air in the immediate vicinity.
- Indoor heaters are more varied. They can be ultra-portable, big enough to require installation or somewhere in between. Most heat the air in front of or around them like outdoor heaters, but a few are able to heat nearby objects directly instead.
Power source
Both indoor and outdoor heaters can be powered by electricity or fossil fuels.
- Electric heaters require a nearby outlet, making the majority of them designed for use indoors. Some are still designed for outdoor use, including those meant for use on your patio. They are safer thanks to their lack of emissions.
- Fossil-fueled heaters typically run on propane, kerosene or natural gas. They are typically used outdoors as using them indoors can be dangerous without access to proper ventilation since their burning fuel emits dangerous vapors. Some are still designed for use indoors, again with proper ventilation, in case of emergency power loss.
What to look for in a quality space heater
Heat output
Space heaters denote their heating ability using either wattage or British thermal units. Bigger equals hotter, but also requires more energy. Fuel type also affects heat output. Electric heaters tend to heat quickly but won’t last if switched off. Fossil-fueled heaters are the opposite, heating up slowly but providing lasting heat once switched off.
Energy efficiency
Space heaters of any kind are one of the most energy-efficient heat sources you can use. They heat up rapidly and maintain heat well. Any heaters with some kind of help moving air, such as those with built-in fans, are even more efficient. However, this efficiency drops off the longer you use them as their fuel consumption rates eventually outpace their heat generation.
How much you can expect to spend on a space heater
Space heaters usually cost roughly $30-$150. The $30-$50 budget models still output plenty of heat for one person while the $75-$150 models can heat up small- to medium-sized rooms.
Space heater FAQ
What are the benefits of using a space heater?
A. Their biggest benefit is the ability to quickly heat a room to your preferred temperature with less energy consumption than your central heating would require. This then allows you to switch to your central heating with a minimal increase in your energy bill while continuing to use the space heater on lower settings to maintain your comfort. Space heaters are also quieter than most central heating units, and they can be moved from room to room as needed.
What are the downsides of using a space heater?
A. The biggest downside is their maximum efficacy is typically limited to small-to-medium homes. Larger spaces simply can’t be comfortably heated as most space heaters only effectively heat the areas in their immediate vicinity. Trying to use one in a large space, or using one as your central source of heating rather than a heating supplement, is energy inefficient and can noticeably raise your energy bill. Their exteriors can also become dangerously hot, even if used for a short amount of time. This makes them difficult to safely use in homes with pets and young children.
What’s the best space heater to buy?
Top space heater
Dr. Infrared Heater Portable Space Heater With Humidifier
What you need to know: This humidifier is large and in charge, and it has some great features.
What you’ll love: It has 5,200 BTU of heating power that directly heats objects rather than the air around it. The built-in humidifier adds enough moisture to the room to prevent dry-heat-related problems like nosebleeds and dehydration. Expert assembly is offered, though it can double the total cost.
What you should consider: It’s among the largest, and most expensive, space heaters. Some consumers had issues with the humidifier tank leaking. There are rare reports of melted outlets.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Top space heater for the money
Black and Decker Portable Space Heater
What you need to know: This is surprisingly effective for its small size.
What you’ll love: It’s small enough to be inconspicuous while still providing plenty of heat. Its heat comes from two power modes, 900 and 1,500 watts, plus it has a heatless fan-only mode. It has good safety features, including auto-shutoff if tipped over.
What you should consider: Some consumers had issues with overheating, which led to burning and smoking smells as well as damaged outlets. The carrying handle is uncomfortable.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Pelonis Ceramic Tower Indoor Space Heater
What you need to know: This midrange heater is powerful enough to heat a small room.
What you’ll love: It has many heating modes, including a programmable thermostat, multiple heat settings, an oscillation mode and an economy mode. It also has a timer setting and includes a remote control. It heats up to 70 degrees in three seconds and maintains a steady temperature.
What you should consider: Temperature settings can only be changed 5 degrees at a time. Some consumers were concerned with how hot the front of the heater can become.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
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With 42 percent of its staff women and people of color, Walsh’s dedication to workforce diversity and inclusion of MWESB/SDVBE firms is rooted in its 60-year history of building and contributing to vibrant, inclusive communities.
On every project, Walsh engages its well-developed bid database and trusted community relationships with PBDG, NAMC-OR, OAME and LatinoBuilds. It also holds mentoring programs for subcontractors and Section 3 businesses.
Afton Walsh leads the company’s community outreach and, as a builder herself, is trained in anti-bias and micro-aggression avoidance. She is dedicated to building trust with COBID firms and often applies her construction knowledge through mentorship.
In 2000, Walsh joined forces with O’Neill Construction Group to create O’Neill/Walsh Community Builders (OWCB), which builds on both companies’ strengths and enables O’Neill to learn about processes and programs necessary to succeed on larger-scale projects.
“We partner with companies looking to improve the communities in which we live and work,” said Jennifer Cornilles, Walsh’s corporate marketing director. “Affordable housing is our main market sector, offering critical housing for those in dire need. Many of our employees serve on boards in efforts to inform construction programs in the area and provide guidance.”
In addition to its work with pre-apprenticeship programs, Walsh has invested in programs that promote construction careers to area youth. These include its partnership with Benson High School’s CTE program, which brings Walsh’s project engineers into the classroom each week to develop relationships with students and educate them about career opportunities in the trades.
Walsh also is a partner in EmpowerHER, a workforce development program based on the premise that students decide the one thing in their neighborhood they would want to change through design. Then industry members and companies combine efforts to offer a community-based design and construction workshop to make that change happen. | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/walsh-construction-co-2/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:35 | 0 | https://djcoregon.com/news/2022/04/11/walsh-construction-co-2/ |
Which table tennis table is best?
Table tennis (also known as Ping-Pong) is one of the easiest sports to pick up and play, provided you have a table available. While most play with friends and family at home or with coworkers on a lunch break, others compete in professional leagues worldwide.
Whether you’re a casual participant or professional player, having a table tennis table around is a great way to spice up a home or office. The Joola Professional Indoor Table Tennis Table is one of the top choices since it’s easy to assemble and store, plus it’s made with durable, high-quality materials.
What to know before you buy a table tennis table
Indoor tables
Indoor table tennis tables typically use materials like wood or fiberboard. They offer the best playing surface and bounce, making them the preferred option for professional-level tournaments and competitions.
Although they aren’t weather-resistant, you can still use indoor table tennis tables outdoors in clear, dry weather. However, make sure to bring the table back indoors after you’re done playing. Leaving indoor table tennis pong tables in direct sunlight for extended periods can damage the surface, and excess moisture can oxidize the metal components.
Outdoor tables
Outdoor tables are typically aluminum or galvanized steel, so they’re more weather-resistant than indoor tables. Even though metal surfaces don’t provide as good of a bounce as wooden tables, they’re more durable and weatherproof. Keep in mind that outdoor table tennis tables aren’t built for professional-level play and are more suitable for recreational home use.
Size
The larger the table tennis table is, the more expensive it will be. A regulation-size table tennis table measures 9 feet by 5 feet. However, if you’re working with a budget or need a smaller table for at-home or office play, you can go with a smaller model.
What to look for in a quality table tennis table
Surface thickness
The bounce of a table tennis ball largely depends on the table top’s thickness. Tables with a surface thickness ranging between 1/4 of an inch to 5/8 of an inch are ideal for friendly games, mainly since they’re lightweight and inexpensive. If you’re an experienced player who wants a balanced and consistent bounce, a 7/8-inch to 1-inch table thickness is ideal.
Convertible
Some table tennis tables have interchangeable tops, which you can switch out to play as foosball or pool. These options are convenient for entertainment and game room setups, but they aren’t ideal for competitive play since the manufacturing quality is usually subpar.
Folding and storage
Outdoor tables are usually a bit bulkier than indoor tables. They don’t have folding independent halves, making it difficult to maneuver them for storage.
Indoor tables usually have foldable halves and easy-to-use folding mechanisms. It makes storage simple, and in addition, you can also set up a folding indoor table tennis table in a way that enables single-player use.
Accessory compartments
While compartments are not a must-have feature, some tables have them for conveniently holding accessories, such as balls and paddles. You can usually find these on the corners of the tables, so they don’t cause any interference while playing. Some table tennis tables also have score-keeping tallies similar to those on foosball tables.
How much you can expect to spend on a table tennis table
A recreational table tennis table can cost anywhere from $250-$800. However, tables made with more high-quality materials range from $800-$1,500. Tournament-grade tables can cost between $1,500-$4,000.
Table tennis table FAQ
Is assembly complicated for table tennis tables?
A. No. Many professional-grade tables come mostly preassembled and often only require 10-15 minutes of assembly.
Are nets and posts sold separately?
A. Most table tennis tables come with nets and posts. High-quality tables often come with detachable clamp-style nets that are easy to attach and remove when it’s time for storage.
What’s the best table tennis table to buy?
Top table tennis table
Joola Professional Indoor Table Tennis Table
What you need to know: This competition-grade table is reliable, durable and ideal for serious players.
What you’ll love: It’s a regulation-size table, and the straightforward assembly only takes 10 minutes. The multilayered painted surface is 3/4 of an inch thick, delivering a tournament-quality bounce. Thanks to its folding halves, you can also use it in one-player practice mode.
What you should consider: It’s heavier than other table tennis tables, which makes maneuvering difficult. Additionally, the wheeled legs aren’t height adjustable.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top table tennis table for the money
Stiga Advantage Professional Table Tennis Table
What you need to know: If you want an affordable, lightweight table that’s ideal for entry-level players or recreational play, this is a great choice.
What you’ll love: It has 2-inch lockable wheels for easy maneuvering and is quite lightweight. The foldable design makes storage easy too. The 72-inch net attaches and detaches easily with a clamp, and the 1/2-inch surface offers excellent bounce.
What you should consider: It’s not as sturdy as other tables, and some customers complain of screws popping out of the preassembled parts from time to time.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Joola Rally Professional Indoor Table Tennis Table
What you need to know: This professional-grade table is excellent for competitive players as well as friendly home or office games.
What you’ll love: It has durable steel legs and a high-quality black charcoal top. The independent halves make it easy to assemble and maneuver. There’s a convenient compartment for holding four balls on each corner and a score tally on each side of the table.
What you should consider: It’s a bit large for smaller spaces. Many users also felt the magnetic tally system was too loose, often shifting at the slightest movement of the table.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Kevin Luna 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/best-table-tennis-table/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:36 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/best-table-tennis-table/ |
Which high-waisted leggings are best?
High-waisted leggings are an enduring style of athleisure wear that’s considered universally flattering. They feature thick waistbands that give the wearer both tummy control and coverage.
Whether you’re wearing them to a yoga class or to brunch, you want a pair that fits perfectly, so they’re comfortable but don’t slide down. For a slimming pair, Skechers Gowalk Skinny Leggings are the top choice.
What to know before you buy high-waisted leggings
Uses
High-waisted leggings are versatile and can be worn as loungewear around the house or as athletic wear. Leggings are also now an acceptable form of casual wear, so feel free to pair them with a sweatshirt and head out to the grocery store.
Material
Some leggings are better for exercise than others, and this is largely determined by the material. If you’re wearing leggings for working out, look for a thick pair that resists breaking under tension.
High-waisted leggings that stretch with your body for yoga are also called yoga pants. These are made from nylon-elastane or nylon-Lycra blends that are breathable and won’t lose their shape when stretching. More budget-friendly pairs are made from polyester blends that have decent stretch but aren’t as breathable. You’ll see rayon, cotton or spandex included in these blends.
Leggings that contain a high percentage of cotton, a natural fiber, are the most comfortable but may not be suitable for working out, since they can lose their shape. They may be better for hanging out. Cotton blends are highly breathable, but are not moisture wicking like synthetic materials.
Waist
High-waisted leggings are defined by their high rise. The waistband extends up above the belly button, offering ample coverage. The measurement between the crotch inseam and waist is between 10 and 12 inches for a true high rise. Some pairs, however, have a shorter rise and extend just up to the belly button.
Waistbands on high-waisted leggings are thick — between 3 and 5 inches — and may provide a compressive panel for tummy control.
Size
Because of the popularity of high-waisted leggings, you can find them in an inclusive range of women’s sizes from XXS to 6X. Not all brands, however, offer extended sizes, and sizing can vary from brand to brand. Be sure to check the sizing guide and compare it to your own measurements for an accurate fit.
What to look for in quality high-waisted leggings
Length
It’s important to check leggings’ length before you buy because they can be difficult and costly to hem. Select a length that you feel comfortable in and consider what activities you’ll be engaging in. High-waisted styles come in a variety of lengths: capri, cropped, seven-eighths and full length. Look for petite and tall sizes if you’re short or tall, respectively.
Pockets
If you have separation anxiety from your phone, many pairs of leggings offer side pockets that can fit a smartphone. Just be sure it can accommodate your model of phone. Not all consumers like the look of these external pockets, but you can also find pairs with a hidden pocket in the waistband that can fit small items such as a key or folded up cash.
Color
Leggings come in every color imaginable, from neutral to bright hues. Black leggings are widely available and hide sweat stains the best. Dark colors such as charcoal, navy, purple, olive and burgundy are also popular for this reason. They are also less likely to be see-through. Still, light colors including shades of pink, beige and gray are popular as well.
Patterns
While solid colors are easy to find, you can also find leggings with patterns. Space dye is popular and has a subtle multi-colored blurred pattern. You can also make more of a statement with leopard print, bold floral prints, camo or marbled leggings. You can pair patterned bottoms with a matching sports bra, if offered, or a solid-colored top.
How much you can expect to spend on high-waisted leggings
High-rise leggings cost between $13-$98.
High-waisted leggings FAQ
What is the ‘squat test’?
A. Some leggings can be sheer, but that can’t be determined unless you try them on in front of a mirror. Squat and bend over to see if the material in the rear stretches too thin and reveals your underwear.
Can I put leggings in the dryer?
A. While the majority of leggings are machine-washable, not all can be tumble dried. This is especially true of high-performance athletic leggings, which need to be air dried. Check the care instructions before washing and drying your leggings.
What are the best high-waisted leggings to buy?
Top high-waisted leggings
Skechers Gowalk Skinny Leggings
What you need to know: These leggings are so comfortable for working out that you’ll end up wearing them all day.
What you’ll love: The very high waist keeps everything in place and is slimming. Many consumers say these are their go-to leggings for the gym and the best pair they’ve ever had. The high-rise style comes in six muted colors that are easy to match.
What you should consider: They run slightly small.
Where to buy: Sold by Macy’s and Amazon
Top high-waisted leggings for the money
What you need to know: If you don’t want to break the bank on athleisure wear, these high-waisted leggings are buttery soft and highly functional.
What you’ll love: The quality and fit is comparable to luxury yoga pants. The high rise is truly high and stays up. The material is very soft, passes the squat test and comes in over two dozen colors.
What you should consider: These full-length leggings may be too long for shorter wearers.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
The Gym People Thick High-Waisted Yoga Leggings
What you need to know: These popular yoga pants feature highly rated pockets that securely hold your phone and cards.
What you’ll love: They come in both full-length and capri styles, and every color and pattern you can imagine. The tummy panel provides compression, and these leggings stay snug and, most importantly, up.
What you should consider: The waistband can cut into skin uncomfortably.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Ana Sanchez 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/bottoms-br/best-high-waisted-leggings/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:43 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/bottoms-br/best-high-waisted-leggings/ |
Which dryer is best?
Unless you prefer to take the time to dry your clothes on a line, you probably use a dryer. There are a dozen reasons to shop for a new one but hundreds of factors to consider. How the dryer is powered, how much laundry it can hold and what drying modes it has are some of the most important.
The best dryer is the Samsung 7.5-Cubic-Foot Platinum Electric Dryer With Steam. It uses a standard electrical hookup, can hold more than enough clothes and has a steaming mode to reduce wrinkles.
What to know before you buy a dryer
Power source
Dryers are powered via electric or gas hookup.
- Electric models are most common. They cost less upfront and can be installed in any home with a proper outlet. The downside is their energy consumption, which can cost more over 10 years than a gas dryer.
- Gas models are uncommon. They have higher upfront costs and require special natural gas connections most homes lack. They also still need access to electricity. Their installation is complex and typically requires a professional to complete. However, they have two considerable benefits. They have much lower energy costs and dry clothes much faster.
Capacity
Capacity is given in cubic feet. Dryers come in three capacity tiers: compact, standard and oversized.
- Compact models have capacities between 1-3 cubic feet. They can handle up to 8 pounds of clothing, enough for one to two people.
- Standard models have capacities between 3-5 cubic feet. They can handle up to 16 pounds of clothing, enough for three to four people.
- Oversized models have capacities of 5-plus cubic feet. They can handle up to or more than 20 pounds of clothing, enough for five or more people.
Dimensions
Dryer dimensions are hard to predict as they rarely align with capacity. For example, one 5-cubic foot capacity dryer could be a few inches smaller all around than another. When shopping, know how much space you have for installation, leaving a minimum of 3 inches empty space on all sides.
What to look for in a quality dryer
Modes
Most dryers have a huge variety of modes including timed or sensor drying, temperature changes and the use of steam. It may seem beneficial to have as many modes as possible but ask yourself if you’ll actually use all of them. If not, you’re wasting money.
Light
It may seem unimportant, but not having an internal light can be a frustrating experience. The recessed drums of a dryer make it difficult for light to enter, so it will be hard to see if you’ve retrieved all your items.
How much you can expect to spend on a dryer
A basic dryer big enough for one person costs $400-$700. Midrange options good for any circumstances cost $700-$1,000. The huge feature-packed models can cost as much as $2,000-plus.
Dryer FAQ
Are there safety precautions to take when using a dryer?
A. Yes, with the most basic being ensuring your electric or gas connection is secure and properly installed. If you are even slightly unsure of your ability to install properly, hire a professional. Also, routinely check your power connection to make sure it stays secure. Leave at least 3-6 inches of space on all sides for proper ventilation. Don’t overstuff the dryer, and make sure to empty the lint trap after each cycle. Finally, don’t let the dryer run while you’re away from home, lest a fire start when you’re away.
Are there things I shouldn’t put inside a dryer?
A. Yes. Delicates shouldn’t be dried unless your dryer has a specialized setting for them. Antimicrobial clothes and any kind of shoe shouldn’t be dried, either.
Do gas-powered dryers leave a gassy smell on clothing?
A. Not if the dryer is operating as it should. If you do smell gas, you have an extremely hazardous situation on hand that a professional will likely need to be brought in to fix, preferably immediately.
What’s the best dryer to buy?
Top dryer
Samsung 7.5-Cubic-Foot Platinum Electric Dryer With Steam
What you need to know: This has plenty of features at an excellent cost.
What you’ll love: A matching washing machine can be bundled for a discount. The steam setting kills 99.9% of bacteria and greatly decreases wrinkles. The door is reversible. It’s also available in a gas-powered version and it comes in three finishes.
What you should consider: It can make a surprising amount of noise. Some consumers had issues with the heating element failing within a few years.
Where to buy: Sold by Home Depot
Top dryer for the money
Whirlpool 7-Cubic-Foot 120-Volt White Gas Vented Dryer With Autodry Drying System
What you need to know: It has more than enough space and capability.
What you’ll love: A matching washer is available in a discounted bundle. It has 14 drying cycles with three temperature levels. You can choose a drying length or let AutoDry detect when clothes are done to prevent overheating them. The door opens downward to stop clothes from hitting the floor.
What you should consider: Drying time can be much longer than with most models and on rare occasions, it needs a second cycle to fully dry. It isn’t stackable.
Where to buy: Sold by Home Depot
Worth checking out
LG Electronics 7.4-Cubic-Foot Vented Smart Electric Dryer With Sensor Dry
What you need to know: This is a great dryer for smart-home enthusiasts.
What you’ll love: A matching washer is available in a discounted bundle. Sensor Dry runs the dryer precisely as long as each load needs. It’s Energy Star certified, runs quietly and is stackable. And it can connect to your phone for alerts and troubleshooting.
What you should consider: Drying time is a little longer than with most models, and it doesn’t have an interior light. A few consumers had issues with door leaks.
Where to buy: Sold by Home Depot
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/appliances-br/washers-dryers-br/best-dryer/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:50 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/appliances-br/washers-dryers-br/best-dryer/ |
Which nursing cover is best?
As soon as your baby is born, breastfeeding becomes a full-time job. To keep your baby happy and fed on the go or when you have visitors over, you may want to consider a nursing cover. It provides you with an easy way to feed your little one discreetly and comfortably.
The Bebe Au Lait Premium Muslin Nursing Cover is the top choice for its soft, breathable fabric, adjustable strap and pretty design.
What to know before you buy a nursing cover
Nursing cover types
There are four types of nursing cover: poncho, apron, shawl and scarf.
- Poncho covers fit over your head and cover your entire upper body all the way around. This is perfect for anyone concerned about an errant gust of wind blowing their cover wide open. However, they offer no breathability, so they can be hot and uncomfortable, for you and your baby.
- Apron covers focus on the front of the body. Just like an apron, they secure using a neck strap, which is usually adjustable. Some use wiring to push the top of the apron away from the body, leaving more room for you and your baby. Unfortunately, they have the highest chance of billowing open.
- Shawl covers let you express a little style. When not in use, they look like any other shawl. They provide similar coverage to ponchos, but with a higher risk of accidental exposure.
- Scarf covers are also worn when not being used, but they wrap around the neck like a scarf. When it’s time to be used as a cover, you simply shake it out and let it drape. They provide similar coverage to aprons.
Size
Most nursing covers come one-size-fits-all. When an item is designed to cover your body, it’s imperative it fits your body appropriately. Look for covers that are marketed as long, short or extra-wide if your body type necessitates it.
What to look for in a quality nursing cover
Material
Most nursing covers are made of cotton, synthetics or stretch knit.
- Cotton is the best material thanks to its low cost, high breathability, softness and low cleaning effort.
- Synthetic, commonly polyester, is much the same as cotton save for one key difference: it doesn’t breathe. This can make feeding your baby unbearably hot in the summer but may be beneficial in the winter.
- Stretch knit is made from stretchy materials such as spandex mixed with a main material such as cotton or polyester. This is most commonly used for covers designed to serve multiple functions. It also struggles to breathe well and may feel too restrictive for you, your baby or both.
Adjustability
Apron and shawl nursing covers have a leg up on the competition thanks to their adjustable fit.
- Apron covers’ neck straps aren’t always adjustable, but most are. Non-adjustable aprons don’t save you enough money to be worth the lack of consideration.
- Shawls require you to tie the ends of the cover together, which is inherently adjustable. Make sure the shawl you’re buying is appropriately sized; otherwise, you’ll have too much material on your shoulders or not enough.
Multifunctional
Multifunctional covers can be used in all manner of ways, though they may only be marketed as being used for covering your body. These options are usually made of stretch knit so they can adjust to most object sizes, including car seats or grocery carts.
How much you can expect to spend on a nursing cover
Nursing covers are among the least expensive pieces of baby gear, with prices that rarely exceed $40 and go as low as $10. The majority of options run $15-$30.
Nursing cover FAQ
How should I wash a nursing cover?
A. Aside from the rare exception, nursing covers are machine-washable and -dryable. After all, it’s going to get awfully dirty, quickly and often.
What’s the best way to pack a nursing cover?
A. This depends on the nursing cover. Most include no method of carrying, instead assuming you intend to keep it in your diaper bag. A few include a carrying bag or even have a pocket sewn into the side that the rest of the cover can fold into. Others may be designed to be worn around the neck as a scarf while you’re out and about.
What’s the best nursing cover to buy?
Top nursing cover
Bebe Au Lait Premium Muslin Nursing Cover
What you need to know: This nursing cover is adjustable, attractive and well-priced.
What you’ll love: It’s made of muslin cotton for softness without sacrificing durability. It uses a patented rig flex open neckline that pushes the cover away from you and your baby and the neck straps are fully adjustable. It comes in three designs.
What you should consider: It’s a little on the thin side, and a few users reported shrinkage after washing. Others were unhappy with its softness.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top nursing cover for the money
Trend Lab Multi-Use Nursing Wrap
What you need to know: This nursing cover doubles as a fashionable infinity scarf.
What you’ll love: When not in use as a nursing cover, you can simply wrap it around your neck and it becomes a gorgeous infinity scarf. It can also be used as a cover for a carrier, shopping cart and high chair. It comes in five designs.
What you should consider: It doesn’t provide as much coverage as cover-only models, and its durability isn’t as high as other models.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Milk Snob Original 5-in-1 Cover
What you need to know: This all-in-one cover is worth a look for function-focused moms.
What you’ll love: The five cover uses as marketed are nursing, car seat, carrier/stroller, high chair and shopping cart. It comes in a large variety of designs, including multiple patterns and prints. It’s soft and easy to stretch, plus it’s machine-washable.
What you should consider: Some buyers felt the material was too thin for comfort, and a few had issues with holes forming along the seams.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and BuyBuyBaby
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/nursing-feeding-br/best-nursing-cover/ | 2022-04-12T11:32:57 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/baby-kids-br/nursing-feeding-br/best-nursing-cover/ |
What are the 10 most popular Nars products at Sephora?
With its high-end black packaging and award-winning products, Nars Cosmetics is one of the most recognizable brands at any beauty store. What started as a line of 12 lipstick shades now includes a full range of beauty products for all skin tones and types.
Since many Nars products have become cult favorites, it might be hard to choose just one. Luckily, you can find almost their entire line at Sephora, which has stores all over the world. If you’re wondering which products to start with, here are the 10 most popular Nars products at Sephora.
How to choose Nars beauty products
Skin tone
Nars Cosmetics is known for being one of the first beauty brands to have an expansive shade range suitable for a wide array of skin tones. For example, most of their foundations have 40 shades, and there are options for cool, warm or neutral undertones. To figure out your undertone, look at the veins on your wrist.
- Cool undertone: If the veins on the inside of your wrist look blue, you’re most likely cool-toned.
- Warm undertone: You probably have a warm undertone if the veins on your wrist appear to be green.
- Neutral undertone: If you see both green and blue veins on the inside of your wrist, you most likely have a neutral undertone.
Skin type
There are four main types of skin — dry, normal, combination and oily.
- Dry: If your skin appears dull and often flakes or feels rough, you likely have dry skin. It may also feel tight or itchy at times.
- Oily: Those with oily skin often feel like their face looks greasy or shiny. People with oily skin are also more prone to acne.
- Combination: If your skin has both dry and oily areas, that’s known as combination skin.
- Normal: Normal skin doesn’t feel dry or oily. It’s not particularly prone to acne or flaky patches.
What to consider when buying Nars products at Sephora
Size
When buying Nars beauty products, one feature to consider is the size. Remember that the packaging may be much larger than the product within.
Ingredients
Many Nars products include quality skin care ingredients like vitamin C or hyaluronic acid, which benefit the skin. However, if you have sensitive skin, you might want to avoid products with added chemical fragrance.
Coverage
If you plan to create a full glam look, you probably want to consider a foundation with full coverage or blush with high pigment. On the other hand, a sheer lipstick or light coverage tinted moisturizer is better for those no-makeup look days.
Most popular Nars products at Sephora
With 40 shades, this foundation has a match for just about every skin tone. It offers medium coverage that provides a natural no-makeup look but can also be built up for a full coverage look. The formulation includes a few skin care ingredients, including vitamin C and turmeric.
Sold by Sephora
This best-selling concealer brightens and corrects for a radiant finish that lasts up to 16 hours. The medium coverage can be built up for full coverage or worn alone for a natural look. From dry to oily, all skin types can appreciate this perfecting concealer.
Sold by Sephora
After a swipe of this award-winning blush, it’s not hard to see why it’s beloved around the world. There are a variety of shades in shimmer, matte or satin finishes. Since it’s formulated with superfine micronized powder pigments, you’re sure to get a seamless finish.
Sold by Sephora
If you have dry skin or dislike powder blush, this liquid blush that comes in a matte, shimmer or sheer finish is a great alternative. Tamanu oil provides extra moisture and allows it to glide on the skin. Additionally, the formulation is free of parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde and sulfates.
Sold by Sephora
Nars Soft Matte Complete Concealer
Cream concealer is ideal for blurring imperfections on the face, and this option provides a full coverage in a matte finish. You’re also getting the benefits of skin care ingredients, including peptides, hyaluronic acid and antioxidants with vitamins A, C and E.
Sold by Sephora
Nars Air Matte Liquid Lipstick
This liquid lipstick is formulated with a color-diffusion complex that instantly diffuses color for a soft and comfortable finish. The matte color is buildable and blendable with the custom-designed applicator. It comes in nine shades.
Sold by Sephora
Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30
Those who prefer lightweight, sheer coverage with moisturizing benefits will enjoy this tinted moisturizer. It comes in over 15 shades and has vitamin C in it to even out your skin tone and brighten your complexion. Plus, it features broad spectrum SPF 30.
Sold by Sephora
Whether you want to sculpt your face or add a healthy glow, this bronzer powder is a top choice. It comes in four different shades with a radiant finish, and it’s free of mineral oil, phthalates, parabens and gluten.
Sold by Sephora
Nars Velvet Matte Lipstick Pencil
If you don’t enjoy using liquid lipstick but want to add color to your lips, you’ll love this velvet matte pencil. It delivers the bold color of a lipstick with the convenience of a pencil. It’s enriched with vitamin E and emollients for a nondrying, long-lasting and creamy texture.
Sold by Sephora
Nars The Multiple Cream Blush, Lip and Eye Stick
This multipurpose stick is perfect for on-the-go, quick makeup looks or those who prefer a natural makeup look. It comes in five colors with a shimmer or radiant finish, and it can be used on the eyes, lips or cheeks. The cream-to-powder formula features vitamin C and acai oil.
Sold by Sephora
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Bre Richey 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/face-makeup-br/10-most-popular-nars-products-at-sephora/ | 2022-04-12T11:33:04 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/face-makeup-br/10-most-popular-nars-products-at-sephora/ |
Which red matte lipstick is best?
If there’s one statement-making lip product you should have in your makeup collection, it’s red matte lipstick. And make no mistake: There’s a shade for everyone.
With so many shades to choose from — and especially if you’re new to wearing red matte lipstick — you should be ready to try several colors. Mac Cosmetics Retro Matte Lipstick In Ruby Woo, one of the bestselling lipsticks of all time, is highly pigmented and lasts all day.
What to know before you buy a red matte lipstick
What matte lipstick is
Matte lipstick has a shine-free finish because it has a higher concentration of wax than oil. With that said, it’s far from lackluster — matte is a bold formula choice because its color is highly saturated.
Not only do most matte lipsticks require fewer swipes to achieve opaque color, but they also offer longer wear times than cream or satin lipsticks. This is partly due to their ultra-dry formulas, which causes pigment to stick to lips instead of migrating or transferring.
Shades of red
From Dior to Revlon, just about every makeup brand has at least one red matte lipstick shade in its collection. Certain brands, such as MAC Cosmetics, even have dedicated “reds” collections featuring a few red matte shades.
As you explore the wide world of red matte lipsticks, you might be surprised at the variety. To narrow your choices, it’s helpful to categorize red shades based on undertone. Some shades are cooler with blue undertones, whereas others are warmer with orange undertones. And somewhere in between are pinkish reds, with traces of berry, fuchsia or magenta.
What to look for in a quality red matte lipstick
Formula
In the past, most red matte lipsticks were available as classic bullet formulas. Although they’re still popular, red matte shades are now mainstays in liquid and mousse lipstick collections, too. Formula preference is subjective, and it usually boils down to overall wear experience.
- Bullet: These formulas typically have the longest wear times because they’re more drying than others. You may end up with chapped lips or feathering, difficult to conceal unless you wipe off the lipstick completely and reapply.
- Liquid: Liquid lipsticks are more nourishing than bullet formulas, making them less likely to leave lips chapped. Because their wear times aren’t as long, you’ll need to reapply them every several hours.
- Mousse: These luxurious formulas fall somewhere between liquid and bullet lipsticks in terms of dryness. Although mousse is supposed to be a lightweight formula, certain varieties feel thick or tacky.
Wear time
Wear time refers to how long a lipstick lasts before reapplication is necessary. Most matte lipsticks stay put for up to eight hours, and some formulas last as long as 16 hours or longer. Because reds are more saturated than most, they usually last longer than other shades.
Hydrating ingredients
Several red matte lipsticks are infused with hydrating ingredients that keep lips soft and smooth. Some of the most popular ingredients include hyaluronic acid, shea butter and lanolin. Many prestige and luxury red matte lipsticks contain floral and herbal extracts, ranging from red peony to avocado. While these ingredients soothe lips and minimize chapping, they occasionally decrease wear time.
How much you can expect to spend on red matte lipstick
Drugstore red matte lipsticks cost $4-$14, while you’ll pay $18-$28 for prestige formulas. Red matte lipsticks made by luxury makeup brands are the most expensive, ranging between $30-$65.
Red matte lipstick FAQ
Do I need to use a lip liner with red matte lipstick?
A. Many people apply lip liner with red matte lipstick to help it stay put longer. Lip liner also creates a “border” around lips that minimizes smears and transfers. Certain lip liners intensify lipstick color, as well.
How does red matte lipstick look on camera?
A. Red matte lipstick doesn’t reflect light, which eliminates excess shine on camera. Because their color is saturated, it emphasizes your lips when you speak, and depending on the shade, can make your teeth appear whiter.
What’s the best red matte lipstick to buy?
Top red matte lipstick
Mac Cosmetics Retro Matte Lipstick In Ruby Woo
What you need to know: Ruby Woo, a universally flattering shade, is one of the world’s best-selling lipsticks.
What you’ll love: The shade has blue undertones that flatter all skin tones. It’s a fade-resistant formula that doesn’t come off when you eat or drink, and it rarely requires reapplication during the day. The formula is made without harsh chemicals.
What you should consider: It’s a drying formula that may leave your lips chapped later in the day.
Where to buy: Sold by Ulta Beauty and Macy’s
Top red matte lipstick for the money
Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lip Mousse In 815 Red Hot
What you need to know: Revlon’s budget-friendly formula doesn’t compromise on wear time, considering it stays put for at least 8 hours.
What you’ll love: Although it’s a matte formula, it’s creamier and less drying than other options. It doesn’t take more than a couple of swipes to achieve a vibrant red. The formula is less likely to feather and transfer than other liquid matte options.
What you should consider: Color may fade or transfer after several hours, and reapplication is necessary.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Dior Rouge Dior Refillable Lipstick In 951 Cabaret
What you need to know: This luxurious red matte lipstick is one of the collection’s most popular shades.
What you’ll love: Cabaret is a rich, brick-red shade that can be worn day or night. It’s infused with red peony extract to nourish and soften lips. The bullet lipstick’s unique shape offers easy application around the bow of the lip and corners of the mouth.
What you should consider: A few people said color wears off much sooner than expected.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora
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Sian Babish 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/lip-makeup-br/best-red-matte-lipstick/ | 2022-04-12T11:33:11 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/lip-makeup-br/best-red-matte-lipstick/ |
Which Tom Ford lipstick is best?
Tom Ford has earned a stellar reputation as a luxury fashion brand, but its beauty products have become just as popular as its ready-to-wear, made-to-measure, shoe and accessory offerings. In particular, Tom Ford lipsticks are a favorite among beauty influencers for their comfortable feel, long wear times and striking packaging.
Tom Ford lipsticks are available in multiple formulas, so there’s an option to suit most preferences. The brand also offers several finishes and a wide color range, providing options for nearly any look. If you’re looking for a luxurious lipstick with a luminous finish and rich color, Tom Ford Lip Color Lipstick is the brand’s best-selling option.
What to know before you buy a Tom Ford lipstick
Formula
Tom Ford lipsticks are available in two main formulas: traditional bullet and liquid.
Tom Ford bullet lipsticks are a classic lipstick formula in an easy-to-use twist-up tube. They feature a solid piece of cream lipstick molded into a bullet with a slanted tip that perfectly fits your lips’ shape.
These Tom Ford lipsticks are available in various colors and finishes and are easy for even makeup beginners to apply. They’re also much easier to remove than liquid formulas, but they usually don’t wear as long.
Tom Ford liquid lipsticks have a thin consistency that dries on the lips after applying them, so they last all day. They come in a tube and have a doe-foot applicator in the cap to apply them.
Most Tom Ford liquid lipsticks offer a matte finish, so they’re fairly drying on the lips. However, they can last for hours without needing a touch-up, even when eating and drinking.
Finish
Tom Ford lipsticks come in a wide array of finishes, so you can find the perfect option for your look.
The most common Tom Ford lipstick finish options include:
- Matte: Matte lipsticks have a completely flat finish, so there’s no shine at all. They are usually intensely pigmented and offer longer wear times than other lipsticks. Matte lipsticks don’t contain many moisturizing ingredients, making them pretty drying and sometimes uncomfortable. Tom Ford lipsticks are available in several matte finishes, so some are formulated to be more comfortable to wear.
- Cream: Cream lipsticks have a creamy texture and a slight sheen because they contain moisturizing ingredients. They’re extremely comfortable to wear and offer fairly full coverage. They don’t wear as long as matte lipsticks, so they require touching up throughout the day.
- Satin: Satin lipsticks also have a creamy feel on the lips, but they usually aren’t as moisturizing as cream lipsticks. They have slightly more sheen on the lips as well.
- Glossy: Glossy lipsticks have a high-shine finish and contain plenty of moisturizing ingredients that make them very comfortable to wear. They are pretty sheer and don’t last long on the lips.
What to look for in a quality Tom Ford lipstick
Ingredients
Tom Ford lipsticks stand out for their high-performing formulas, which contain ingredients that improve their texture and feel. Each formula has different ingredients, but some common ingredients to look for in Tom Ford lipsticks include:
- Soja seed extract: This ingredient helps nourish the lips and gives the lipstick a creamy texture.
- Murumuru butter: This ingredient also helps nourish and hydrate the lips and provides a smooth, creamy texture.
- Daikon radish oil: This ingredient is a natural emollient oil that hydrates the lips and offers a smooth texture.
- Vitamins E and C: These antioxidants help protect the lips from free radical damage. They also help heal and soften dry, chapped lips.
- Mineral powder: This natural ingredient helps provide rich pigmentation and a comfortable matte finish.
In addition to containing high-quality ingredients, Tom Ford lipsticks also stand out for the potentially problematic ingredients they don’t contain. The lipsticks are paraben- and gluten-free.
Shade range
Depending on the Tom Ford lipstick formula you’re considering, you can choose from as many as 28 shades. All Tom Ford lipsticks come in classic shades, such as bold red, flattering nudes and wearable pinks. You can also find plenty of bright shades, including fun coral and fuchsia options, as well as deeper shades like burgundy or berry.
Packaging
Tom Ford lipsticks feature luxurious packaging that has a weighty feel in hand. Most lipsticks come in dark tubes with gold trim, though some special edition formulas feature white and gold packaging. A few even have fully gold packaging.
How much you can expect to spend on a Tom Ford lipstick
Tom Ford lipsticks cost $55-$58. Most of the brand’s standard matte, satin and cream lipsticks cost $55-$56, but you’ll pay $57-$58 for Tom Ford liquid lipsticks.
Tom Ford lipstick FAQ
Are Tom Ford lipsticks drying?
A. Some Tom Ford lipsticks are fairly drying, but that’s because they offer a long-wearing matte finish that doesn’t contain as many hydrating ingredients. The brand also offers plenty of moisturizing lipsticks that are incredibly comfortable to wear. Unfortunately, you have to choose between wear time and comfort when buying lipstick because hydrating formulas don’t last as long on the lips.
Should I use a lip liner with Tom Ford lipstick?
A. It depends on the type of look you like and whether you have issues with lipstick bleeding around your lip line. Creamier, more hydrating lipsticks have a tendency to bleed more, so you may want to pair those Tom Ford formulas with a liner. Lighter nude shades can sometimes make your lips look less defined, so you may need to add a liner to help shape your lips.
What’s the best Tom Ford lipstick to buy?
Top Tom Ford lipstick
What you need to know: Featuring the iconic Tom Ford packaging, this lipstick delivers a creamy, comfortable formula and vibrant color that looks as good as it feels.
What you’ll love: It has hydrating ingredients like chamomilla flower oil and soja seed extract for a comfortable feel on the lips. It offers fade-resistant color that lasts for hours. The formula has a flattering, comfortable satin finish. It’s paraben- and mineral oil-free.
What you should consider: It can transfer somewhat easily.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora
Top Tom Ford lipstick for the money
Tom Ford Lip Color Matte Lipstick
What you need to know: With its matte finish and rich color, this traditional lipstick can make a bold statement for any occasion.
What you’ll love: The matte finish provides full coverage and a long wear time. It feels more comfortable on the lips than other matte lipsticks. It contains vitamins E and C to nourish and protect.
What you should consider: It doesn’t last as long as other matte formulas.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora
Worth checking out
What you need to know: This liquid lipstick offers an intense color that lasts all day without looking cakey or dry.
What you’ll love: It’s available in both soft-matte and high-shine finishes. It contains daikon radish oil for smoother application and a more comfortable feel on the lips. The formula doesn’t contain parabens, mineral oil or gluten.
What you should consider: Some buyers complain that the applicator is too long for the tube, so it can break off easily.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora
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Jennifer Blair 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/lip-makeup-br/best-tom-ford-lipstick/ | 2022-04-12T11:33:18 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/lip-makeup-br/best-tom-ford-lipstick/ |
What are the best Dr. Barbara Sturm products at Sephora?
Science-backed skin care products are always a wiser investment than formulas based on trends and marketing hype. Dr. Barbara Sturm products are certainly expensive, but as the name implies, the brand’s founder is a doctor, with her own medical clinic and an impressive roster of celebrity clients, including Cher and Kate Moss.
Dr. Barbara Sturm products are formulated to hydrate the skin and combat inflammation to deliver a healthy, glowing complexion. They include formulas that work for all skin types and tones, so you can find products that work for your particular skin issues.
If you’re looking to splurge on a product or two from this luxury skin care line, here are the most popular Dr. Barbara Sturm products you can find at Sephora to take your skin care routine up a notch.
Most popular cleansers and toners
This gentle cleanser is suitable for all skin types, removing dirt, makeup and other impurities to prepare the skin for your favorite serum. It features purslane, an ingredient that prevents free radical damage and encourages skin regeneration. The included aloe and panthenol help calm and soothe the skin.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Enzyme Cleanser
This two-in-one cleanser helps remove dirt, makeup and excess oil and gently exfoliates dead skin cells for a truly deep clean. It also contains antioxidants to help protect and firm the skin. The formula works especially well for oily, combination and acne-prone skin.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Balancing Toner
This gentle, alcohol-free toner helps remove any remaining residue after cleansing and balances the skin’s pH. It also helps minimize the look of pores and soothes stressed or irritated skin. It’s vegan and cruelty-free.
Sold by Sephora
Most popular serums
Dr. Barbara Sturm Clarifying Serum
This potent serum helps clear and strengthen acne-prone skin. It contains albatrellus ovinus extract to reduce redness and irritation. It also has hyaluronic acid, which hydrates and plumps the skin to minimize the look of fine lines and wrinkles.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Darker Skin Tones Hyaluronic Serum
This hyaluronic acid serum is formulated specifically for darker skin tones. It contains highly concentrated forms of both long- and short-chain hyaluronic acid to provide all-day hydration. It also features lumicol, an algae extract that evens out the skin tone and leaves you with a healthy glow.
Sold by Sephora
This soothing, repairing night serum helps strengthen your skin while you sleep. It has hyaluronic acid for hydration, and it also contains poria cocos and beta-glucan to fortify the skin barrier. The plankton extract helps soften fine lines and wrinkles, while the senna alata extract aids in the skin’s natural repair process. The serum works for all skin types.
Sold by Sephora
Most popular moisturizers
Dr. Barbara Sturm Dark Skin Tones Face Cream
This lightweight moisturizer is formulated for the needs of darker skin tones and works well for normal, combination and oily skin. It contains magnolia and whitewood bark to help minimize the look of pores and control oil production. It also helps boost the skin’s radiance and soothe irritation.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Brightening Face Cream
This cream moisturizer provides intense hydration while helping to brighten the skin. The formula slows melanin production to prevent dark spots for a more even complexion. It also contains ginseng extract to provide protection from environmental stressors.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Face Cream Rich
This rich cream moisturizer offers all the hydration that dry or mature skin needs. It contains antioxidants that help protect and smooth the skin, as well as avocadin, a plant-based butter, for hydration. It’s non-irritating, so it can work for sensitive skin.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Brightening Face Lotion
This lightweight moisturizing lotion absorbs quickly into the skin, making it a great option for normal, combination and oily skin. It helps even out and brighten the skin to give you a healthy glowing complexion. It also features vitamin E to provide effective antioxidant protection.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Super Anti-Aging Eye Cream
If you’re tired of fine lines and wrinkles around your eyes, this eye cream helps reduce their appearance. The formula features biomimetic lipids to strengthen the skin barrier function and Persian silk tree extract to brighten under the eyes and cut down on puffiness. The cream is gluten-free.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Anti-Aging Body Cream
Make sure your body is just as moisturized as your face with this lightweight body cream. It doesn’t just hydrate — it can help tighten the skin, so it looks firmer. It also aids the skin in looking more elastic and supple.
Sold by Sephora
Most popular treatment products
This soothing, hydrating mask provides an instant boost of moisture right when you need it. It contains aloe vera and chamomile to calm and hydrate the skin. The formula works extremely well for stressed skin when traveling.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Clarifying Mask
With kaolin clay and zinc to absorb excess oil, this face mask can help keep combination, oily and acne-prone skin clear. It has a calming effect on the skin to reduce redness and inflammation and provides some hydration to prevent the skin from drying out.
Sold by Sephora
Dr. Barbara Sturm Clarifying Spot Treatment
This spot treatment can help clear up whiteheads, blackheads and other blemishes. It features a combination of tea tree oil and zinc oxide to provide anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties and soak up excess oil. The formula is tinted, so it helps conceal redness.
Sold by Sephora
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Jennifer Blair 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/luxury-skincare-br/15-most-popular-dr-barbara-sturm-products-on-sephora/ | 2022-04-12T11:33:25 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/luxury-skincare-br/15-most-popular-dr-barbara-sturm-products-on-sephora/ |
Which fitted sheet is best?
If you’re looking for convenience when it comes to making the bed, a fitted sheet is a must. Instead of folding the corners of a flat sheet under the mattress, a fitted sheet features elastic along the edges, so it clings to your bed and prevents your sheet from slipping around in the night.
The best fitted sheet is the California Design Den Fitted Sheet. It’s made of soft 400-thread-count cotton, comes in many sizes and colors and has a 30-day money-back return policy.
What to know before you buy a fitted sheet
Size and depth
Unlike flat sheets and pillowcases, fitted sheets need to match your mattress as closely as possible. If it’s too small to wrap underneath the mattress you’ll wake up in a fitted sheet cocoon every morning. If it’s too large it’ll bunch up and create uncomfortable clumps of material.
Fitted sheets follow the same sizing nomenclature as other bedding products, i.e. queen, king, etc., but they also need to match the depth of the mattress which has no set terminology or size. Most mattresses have a depth of 7-9 inches, but you’ll find fitted sheets marketed as being “deep-pocket” or something similar for mattresses as deep as 15-16 inches. Some mattresses can be as deep as 22 inches and require a specialty fitted sheet.
Weave
Fitted sheets usually use one of two weave systems:
- Sateen weaves are tight, leading to a smooth feeling and satin-like shine. They are also less breathable and warmer due to the tight weave.
- Percale weaves are slightly looser, leading to more breathability and a lighter feeling. They usually have a nonreflective matte finish.
What to look for in a quality fitted sheet
Material
Most fitted sheets are either cotton or polyester.
- Cotton is your best option. It’s naturally soft, breathable, light, moisture-wicking and easy to care for. It comes in dozens of subtypes such as Egyptian and Supima, each with its own unique quirks.
- Polyester is your best hypoallergenic or budget choice. It’s at its softest when the fibers are small enough to be classified as microfiber, but all constructions lack breathability which leads to warmer, sweatier nights.
Thread count
Most fitted sheets have thread counts of 200-1,000. Don’t purchase a fitted sheet with a sub-300 thread count — it isn’t comfortable, no matter how much money you may save. The softest sheets hover around the 500-thread-count mark. Higher counts than 500-600 result in crisper, tougher sheets — this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just different.
Security
Fitted sheets need to remain tightly pressed against the mattress to prevent being pulled up and off during a toss-and-turn-filled sleep. Most use elastic to constrict around the edges as it’s simple to manufacture and easy to manipulate. Other systems such as clips are similarly effective, just a little more laborious to put on. Avoid sheets without any security system.
How much you can expect to spend on a fitted sheet
Most fitted sheets cost $10-$50 with sub-$20 being the affordable scale and $30-plus being the costly scale. There are pricier exceptions for top-tier materials and brand names that can cost hundreds of dollars.
Fitted sheet FAQ
How should I wash a fitted sheet?
A. Most fitted sheets are machine-washable and -dryable, but be aware that not every machine-washable sheet is also machine-dryable. The sheets that are machine-washable usually require different water temperatures and cycles to prevent damage. You can find your sheet’s specific care instructions on the tag or the manufacturer’s website. Sheets that aren’t machine-washable usually require hand washing or dry cleaning.
Why should I buy a fitted sheet separately from a set?
A. In most situations, it’s usually best to buy your sheets in a set. This saves you money in the long run and ensures your sheets match. However, if money is tight and you only need a new fitted sheet, then it’s cheaper in the short run to buy it individually. You may be the type to prefer not using a flat sheet, in which case buying a bed sheet set is a waste of money. Finally, you may want to purposely mismatch your fitted and flat sheets to create a two-tone bed design.
What’s the best fitted sheet to buy?
Top fitted sheet
California Design Den Fitted Sheet
What you need to know: This is ultra-comfortable with plenty of colors to choose from.
What you’ll love: The 400-thread-count cotton is soft, breathable and cool no matter the climate. It’s also available in all standard sizes and has deep pockets to fit around deep mattresses. It comes in 20 colors, including shimmery jewel tones and soft pastels, and it’s machine-washable.
What you should consider: It’s a little on the pricey side. Some consumers had issues with pilling despite being clearly marketed to not pill.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top fitted sheet for the money
What you need to know: This affordable synthetic sheet provides a warmer sleep.
What you’ll love: The polyester microfiber is soft and smooth with just enough breathability to remain warm without getting sweaty. It uses deep pockets to fit around mattresses up to 15 inches thick and uses elastic to keep the sheet taut. It’s machine-washable and -dryable.
What you should consider: Some consumers found it to be too thin for comfort, others had issues with the elastic wearing out faster than it should.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
What you need to know: This is available in a huge range of sizes for beds inside and outside the normal ranges.
What you’ll love: It’s available in all standard sizes and a few variants, including California king, plus every size has an extra-deep variant for thick mattresses. It even comes in a crib size. There are 31 colors to choose from and it’s machine-washable and -dryable.
What you should consider: Some consumers received sheets that weren’t as deep as advertised, others had issues with rips and tearing within as quickly as one week.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/bedding-br/best-fitted-sheet/ | 2022-04-12T11:33:32 | 0 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/bedding-br/best-fitted-sheet/ |
Which social media marketing online courses are best?
Digital marketing is an essential part of building up an online business or brand. One major part of this field is social media marketing. With it, you can establish an online presence to reach more customers or readers and start to expand.
If you’re getting started and want to master this skill, check out the online social media marketing course, Social Media Marketing — Content Marketing Masterclass 2022.
What to know before you buy a social media marketing online course
Topic
Social media marketing is a broad term that encompasses multiple topics. However, one of the main purposes of it is to gain traffic online and promote a business’s services or goods while attracting return customers. Along with this, many businesses use it to promote their mission or build an audience to help them achieve various goals.
Many modern companies have some sort of social media outlet. Behind the scenes, there are multiple tools, such as Google Analytics, that help you monitor traffic and see where you could improve or are doing well.
Social media marketing online courses typically teach you about these different tools and the many social media platforms. They also cover concepts such as business planning and show you how to attract and retain your desired audience. Depending on the course, it could also focus on content marketing, traditional and modern principles and conversion strategies, SEOs and digital advertising.
Choose a course that covers the main areas that will benefit you and your business. For example, if you’re planning on running Facebook campaigns for a new product, you’ll need a class that teaches you about that. But if you want to build domain authority and relevance on Google, make sure the course includes content marketing, digital analytics and so forth.
Platform and audience
You can establish a social media presence on many platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, though each platform operates slightly differently. For instance, Instagram prioritizes graphics and short videos, while YouTube is primarily for longer video content. Most social media marketing online courses offer a deep understanding of at least some of these platforms, but some focus more on one or two over the others.
These classes don’t just teach about the platforms. They also give you strategies to take the data and use it in ways to engage with your audience. Some courses also cover things such as content planning and organization, as well as other aspects of online marketing using social media.
Difficulty level
As one aspect of digital marketing, social media marketing can be challenging since it’s multilayered. However, online courses offered through Udemy, Coursera and similar portals usually list the level of the class, ranging from beginner to advanced, making it easier to figure out where to start.
Some online courses require a basic understanding of certain topics from a previous course, while others are more comprehensive or can be taken alone. If you’re taking one that’s a little too difficult, you can always find an easier course or related readings to help you out.
Before purchasing a course or subscription, read the requirements to make sure it’s the right level.
What to look for in a quality social media marketing online course
Syllabus
Most online course websites, including Udemy and Coursera, have a section that breaks down the overarching topic into modules or main points. Within each module will be subsections or shorter lessons that build your knowledge and skills. Besides this, you can also find supplemental materials such as videos, quizzes, assignments or readings.
With social media marketing courses, you might find a module that covers the main social media platforms. Within that module, there could also be lessons that dive into each platform, what makes them different, how to use them for your business and so forth.
Course length
The length of any online course can be divided into modules, lessons, readings, quizzes and videos. Many social media marketing courses also indicate how long it will take to complete each module or subsection.
Since this subject is so broad, courses can range from a few hours long to more than 15 hours, and this doesn’t usually include homework time.
The great thing about online courses is that you can usually take them at your own pace. Some assignments have due dates to help you stay on track, but you can always tailor your schedule.
Certificates
Some online social media marketing courses offer certificates. A certificate is a great way to show off what you’ve learned in a professional setting, on your website or as part of your portfolio. Coursera memberships usually come with certificates. You don’t need a certificate to learn the materials, but it can help you build credibility as an expert.
How much you can expect to spend on a social media marketing online course
Most courses on Coursera are free or come with a seven-day trial. However, the free courses don’t feature a certificate. To get a certificate, you’ll need to spend $59 a month. Udemy offers complete courses with lifetime access. Prices vary from $12 to upwards of $200.
Social media marketing online course FAQ
What other online courses should I take?
A. If you want to expand your knowledge and business, consider taking classes on content marketing, SEO writing, online campaigns and advertisements, copywriting, affiliate marketing and data analytics. These topics all fall under digital marketing and can help you continue to build your business or online presence.
What are the best skills for social media marketing?
A. Some of the most valuable skills include verbal and spoken communication, a willingness to learn and adapt, critical thinking, organization and project management. Many online courses teach these skills, but you can also gain them through practice.
What’s the best social media marketing online course to buy?
Top social media marketing online course
Social Media Marketing — Content Marketing Masterclass 2022
What you need to know: This all-encompassing course is great for anyone who wants an intense but beginner-friendly experience that covers the fundamentals of social media marketing.
What you’ll love: With over 18 hours of content and 255 lectures divided into 42 sections, this course is robust. It teaches you everything from the value of content strategy to creating blog posts that rank in organic search results.
What you should consider: Certain parts are repetitive, though this can help build your skills.
Where to buy: Sold by Udemy
Top social media marketing online course for the money
Introduction to Social Media Marketing
What you need to know: This introductory course focuses on aspects such as understanding your audience and choosing the right platform for your needs.
What you’ll love: Over the span of five weeks, this 15-hour course teaches you the basics of social media. It also helps you set goals for future success. It includes videos, readings and quizzes to build comprehension and ensure you understand your target audience and what they need by the end.
What you should consider: It’s too easy for those who are already familiar with social media platforms and marketing.
Where to buy: Sold by Coursera
Worth checking out
Social Media Marketing Mastery
What you need to know: This course instructs you on the different areas of social media and digital marketing across various platforms, including Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
What you’ll love: After finishing the course, you should have a much better understanding of how to build your following, understand analytics and become more relevant online. The course also focuses on digital marketing as a whole.
What you should consider: It’s not comprehensive. There are also a lot of readings.
Where to buy: Sold by Udemy
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Angela Watson 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/education-br/best-social-media-marketing-online-course/ | 2022-04-12T11:33:39 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/education-br/best-social-media-marketing-online-course/ |
Which portable computer monitor is best?
Portable computer monitors offer an excellent way for users to connect their laptops to a display, no matter where they are. However, ensuring you get one that works with your laptop’s hardware is vital. Portable computer monitors have different details worth looking out for, and you may need to prioritize things like size, connectivity and the display, depending on your usage.
If you’re in need of a reliable portable computer monitor, the ViewSonic 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor features a vivid display and connects via USB-C ports.
What to know before you buy a portable computer monitor
Use
How you plan to use your portable computer monitor will determine which model is best for you. While most portable monitors work well with a laptop, you can also find monitors that connect to other devices. In addition, if you plan on performing standard tasks that aren’t visually intensive, you can likely get away with a more basic monitor. However, if you want to play games or edit a lot of images or videos, you should get one with a higher refresh rate and full HD resolution.
Size
Portable monitors vary in size, but those made for connecting with laptops tend to fall between 12-17 inches. But depending on your monitor use, you may need a larger or smaller size. While smaller monitors tend to be even more portable, larger monitors afford more space for those who need to edit visual media, gaming, or other activities that work better on a larger display.
Portable monitors vs. regular monitors
Portable monitors often cost as much as regular low- and mid-range monitors, which surprises many people. Portable monitors must be super energy-efficient because they’re powered by USB. They’re also constrained by their smaller size, making it hard to fit as much hardware as in a regular-sized monitor.
What to look for in a quality portable computer monitor
Screen
Like regular monitors, portable monitors vary in overall color, size, resolution, refresh rate and additional features, like in-plane switching (IPS.) If you plan to use it for gaming, it’s crucial to find a portable monitor with a Full HD resolution of 1920 by 1080p and a refresh rate of at least 60 hertz. In addition, IPS can give colors a more authentic representation than displays without this feature.
Connectivity
One of the most critical factors of any monitor is how you connect it to your computer or device. Most portable screens now include USB-C ports that connect to other devices, while other monitors may have include different USB types, Mini HDMI or Mini Displayport.
Power
Portable computer monitors can get power in various ways. While premium monitors may include a built-in rechargeable battery, most options get power from the computer or from an AC adapter and wall outlet. If you need a particular type of power source for your monitor, it’s worth double-checking the listing before making a purchase.
How much you can expect to spend on a portable computer monitor
Cheap portable monitors without full HD screens can cost as little as $100. Most mid-tier and high-end portable monitors with full HD resolution range from $160-$300.
Portable computer monitor FAQ
Are portable computer monitors good for gaming?
A. While regular monitors pack a stronger punch due to their hardware and size, portable monitors are often a good solution for gaming on the go. Still, it’s essential to look for portable monitors with high refresh rates and a full HD resolution of at least 1920 by 1080p.
Can you use a portable computer monitor with a tablet?
A. Most portable monitors are designed for laptops, but you can also use them with tablets with the right hardware. Make sure you have the same connectivity options for your tablet and monitor; USB-C is the most common. Some Android tablets also have a Mini HDMI port, making them even easier to use as second monitors. Still, not every tablet supports this function, so it’s crucial to check the description.
What’s the best portable computer monitor to buy?
Top portable computer monitor
ViewSonic 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor With Full HD 1080p Display
What you need to know: This powerful portable monitor includes multiple connectivity options, a colorful low-latency display, a headphone port and built-in stereo speakers.
What you’ll love: The structure of this monitor includes a built-in stand and cover. The screen offers a 60-Hz refresh rate and 1920 by 1080p resolution. It includes two USB-C ports, so you can power it from a laptop or the AC adapter. It also has a Mini-HDMI port.
What you should consider: Some had a hard time dialing in this monitor’s color contrast.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top portable computer monitor for the money
Asus ZenScreen 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor With USB 3.0 And Mounts For Tripod
What you need to know: If you want a portable monitor that connects easily to a laptop, this features a USB 3.0 cable and is slim enough to pack for transit.
What you’ll love: The screen has a vivid display, a refresh rate of 60 Hz and a resolution of 1366 by 768p. It uses a USB-A to USB 3.0 cable for power and comes with a convenient stand, a protective sleeve and universal tripod mounts.
What you should consider: The USB 3.0 port is a lot less universal and practical than USB-A, USB-C or mini-HDMI ports.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Lepow 15.6-Inch Portable Monitor With Full HD 1080p Display and USB 3.0
What you need to know: This economy-level monitor boasts an impressive display with a high-dynamic range and a 15.6-inch screen. It offers a good balance between size and portability.
What you’ll love: This thin monitor weighs less than most and is just 0.3 inches wide. It has a standard refresh rate of 60 Hz and a resolution of 1920 by 1080p, with both USB-C and mini-HDMI ports.
What you should consider: This doesn’t include any audio options.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Peter McGuthrie 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. | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/computer-monitors-br/best-portable-computer-monitor/ | 2022-04-12T11:33:46 | 1 | https://www.wric.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/computer-monitors-br/best-portable-computer-monitor/ |