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Hungry javelina gets stuck in car, goes for ride in Arizona
CORNVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — A hungry javelina in Arizona ended up going for a drive when it became trapped inside an empty car and bumped it into neutral.
Deputies in Yavapai County responded to a call last week in Cornville, a community 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Sedona, about a javelina stuck in a Subaru station wagon. Javelinas are pig-like animals that are native to desert environments.
After speaking with the car’s owner and other residents, they determined the car’s hatchback had been left open overnight.
The javelina jumped in to get to a bag of Cheetos. The hatch then closed, trapping the animal inside.
Authorities say the javelina ripped off a portion of the dashboard and the inside of a door in an attempt to escape.
The animal then managed to knock the car into neutral, causing it to roll down the driveway and across the street. The Subaru came to a rest, and the javelina was not injured.
A deputy opened the hatch, and the javelina was able to run back into the wilderness.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-car-goes-ride-arizona/ | 2022-04-12T13:37:55 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-car-goes-ride-arizona/ |
Martin County school hosts mock crash to warn students of drunk driving
Each year, law enforcement agencies and safety advocates see a spike in crashes with teen drivers.
The time period after prom and graduation heading into summer is known as the 100 deadliest days for teen drivers, according to Safety4Life Foundation.
To help pump the brakes on drunk and distracted driving, the organization is hosted a mock crash at South Fork High School in Martin County.
During the simulation, juniors and seniors were able to see a crashed car and first responders taking care of patients.
A trauma helicopter also landed on the football field.
"Over and over again, we've heard the feedback that, 'I saw that crash reenactment and it stayed with me and I've never drank and drove, and I've never driven impaired, I don't text and drive,' and that's our goal," said Tara Applebaum, Executive Director.
This is the first year the Safety4Life Foundation has visited a Martin County school.
For over 20 years, the organization has put on mock crashes for thousands of students in Palm Beach County.
Scripps Only Content 2022 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/martin-county-school-hosts-mock-crash-warn-students-drunk-driving/ | 2022-04-12T13:38:02 | 1 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/martin-county-school-hosts-mock-crash-warn-students-drunk-driving/ |
Which industries get the most (and least) time off?
(Timetastic/Stacker) - Most private industry workers in the United States receive paid time off, but it is not required under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Timetastic used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, last updated in September 2021, to illustrate which industries offer the best access to paid vacation time. We’ve ranked industries according to the percentage of workers who have access to paid vacations, with ties broken by the number of days off a person receives after working in the industry for a year.
Data is available for workers who have consolidated leave plans (CLP), which are blanket time-off policies that do not distinguish between vacation, illness, or personal business days, and those who do not.
Nationwide, about three-quarters of all private industry workers receive paid time off, or PTO. Two weeks is the average offering for companies with CLP. More full-time workers get paid-time-off than part-time workers: 46% and 35%, respectively.
Larger companies tend to be more generous. At companies with 500 workers or more, 92% of workers have access to paid vacations. That compares to 71% at smaller companies of up to 49 employees.
Union members were also found to get 26.6% more vacation time than nonunion workers as more PTO is typically negotiated when settling union contracts.
Companies such as Netflix have even turned to an entirely different model: unlimited PTO. This gives employees the opportunity to take time off at will within reason.
But with U.S. workers already leaving 4.6 vacation days unused in 2021 on average, unlimited PTO may result in employees taking even less time off than average.
#10. Leisure and hospitality
- Workers with access to PTO: 43%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 9 days (CLP) 6 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 13 days (CLP), 9 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 15 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 16 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
The leisure and hospitality industry—made up of hotel clerks, restaurant cooks, casino workers, and a host of other positions—was hit exceptionally hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Hotel and Lodging Association found it lost as many jobs as government, health services, construction, retail, manufacturing, and education combined.
While workers in this industry tend to accrue more PTO after being with a company for more than a year, the turnover rate works against employees here: BLS data shows turnover in the hospitality industry hovers as high as 80% annually. versus 10%-15% across all industries.
The unemployment rate for this industry in February 2022 was 6.6%, compared to the national jobless rate of 3.8%.
#9. Trade, transportation, and utilities
- Workers with access to PTO: 81%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 11 days (CLP), 7 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 16 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 19 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 23 days (CLP), 18 days (no consolidated leave)
The trade, transportation, and utilities industry is large and varied, from jobs in lumber yards to hauling cargo. Paid leave—which includes vacation time, holidays, sick leave, and personal leave—can cost employers up to 8.5% of a workers’ total compensation.
In Texas, these jobs contributed nearly 20% of the state’s GDP in 2016, at $317.3 billion; making trade, transportation, and utilities among the highest-grossing in the state.
#8. Professional and business services
- Workers with access to PTO: 81%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 14 days (CLP), 10 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 18 days (CLP), 13 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 20 days (CLP), 16 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 22 days (CLP), 18 days (no consolidated leave)
Paid vacations are available to the vast number of employees in this field, which include advertising, law, accounting firms, architecture companies, management consulting companies, and others.
Americans often don’t always take the time they are entitled to. Some 70% of owners of small businesses, in particular, do not view holidays as a time to take away from work. According to the U.S. Travel Association, U.S. workers left 4.6 days unused in 2021, and 5.6 days unused in 2020, which contributed largely to burnout.
A 2016 Harvard Business Review article cited a study finding that for the first time more than half of Americans did not take all of their vacations. The article also noted workers who used more than 10 of their days off had a 65.4% chance of getting a raise or a bonus.
#7. Construction
- Workers with access to PTO: 82%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 8 days (CLP), 7 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 11 days (CLP), 10 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 13 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 14 days (CLP), 13 days (no consolidated leave)
Some construction companies have over the last decade moved away from the traditional way they allot time off, with separate categories for paid vacation, personal days and sick leave. They have instead adopted what is known as a PTO benefit. Vacation time, personal days, and sick leave are rolled into one plan for a consolidated-leave plan model.
Construction officials have largely been against other changes in paid leave. When former President Barack Obama signed an executive order in 2015 requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to provide up to seven days for sickness or other uses, the Associated General Contractors of America objected, citing long periods of layoffs because of weather and other variables in the industry.
#6. Education and health services
- Workers with access to PTO: 82%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 16 days (CLP), 10 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 20 days (CLP), 14 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 23 days (CLP), 16 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 25 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
On average, teachers have about 12 days for sick time or personal leave during the school year. Amid COVID-19, however, teachers across the country are running out of sick days and a federal requirement that schools offer paid time off for COVID-19 illness or exposure has expired.
Similarly, many nurses, doctors, and other health professionals across the country have been under enormous stress during the pandemic. Adding to the pressure for some, they have recently been told to take sick leave or personal days if they test positive for COVID-19.
#5. Real estate and rental and leasing
- Workers with access to PTO: 86%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 12 days (CLP), 10 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 15 days (CLP), 14 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 17 days (CLP), 16 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 18 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
With about 106,500 real estate brokerage firms in the country, a competitive benefits package with paid time off can help companies recruit and retain employees.
Brokers can classify their real estate salespeople as either employees or independent contractors, and those independent contractors have far more flexibility to take time away from the office. Independent contractors, not bound to rules and regulations of the company or companies they’re signed onto, are able to more freely create their own hours and schedules. Other companies in this category are primarily in the business of renting or leasing properties or goods or in related services.
#4. Information
- Workers with access to PTO: 90%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 17 days (CLP), 11 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 22 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 25 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 27 days (CLP), 20 days (no consolidated leave)
Netflix, Oracle, LinkedIn, and Twitter are all companies in the information business sector—and all offer unlimited vacation days. The open vacation policy was originated by Netflix, whose CEO Reed Hastings says he takes at least six weeks each year. He attributes employee loyalty at the company in large part to Netflix’s generous vacation and parental leave policies.
Workplace management software company Kronos (now merged with Ultimate Software to become UKG) began an unlimited or open vacation policy in 2016. In a Harvard Business Review article, its CEO Aron Ain said changes in technology led professionals at every level to work after business hours. He added that vacation policies clearly delineating between time off and vacation seemed antiquated.
#3. Manufacturing
- Workers with access to PTO: 95%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 11 days (CLP), 8 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 15 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 18 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 21 days (CLP), 18 days (no consolidated leave)
Among all non-agricultural workers, manufacturing’s share of U.S. employment peaked during World War II to 38% but cratered from 32% in 1955 to 8% in 2019 just prior to the advent of COVID-19. The sheer number of manufacturing employees hit an all-time high in the 1970s with around 20 million workers. Many of these jobs have since become automated or been shipped overseas.
The Congressional Research Service in 2017 warned the industry’s wages and benefits were under pressure from cost-cutting, plant closures, and the loss of jobs to other countries. The manufacturing industry was not spared from the Great Resignation, leading employers to rethink hiring incentives in a post-COVID-19 employment landscape.
#2. Financial activities
- Workers with access to PTO: 95%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 17 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 21 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 24 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 26 days (CLP), 19 days (no consolidated leave)
The financial services sector is key to the country’s security, but it faces a number of risks, including cyberattacks, says the federal Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency.
Professional services network Deloitte predicted a pivotal opportunity for financial services in 2022, pointing to banking, capital markets, financial services firms, and others to lead the industry’s future. Deloitte urged the industry to invest in talent while rethinking the workplace, and paid time off plans may be a place to begin.
#1. Insurance carriers
- Workers with access to PTO: 97%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 17 days (CLP), 11 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 22 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 24 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 27 days (CLP), 19 days (no consolidated leave)
Some 2.9 million people worked in the U.S. insurance industry in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The largest number of those, 1.7 million, worked for insurance companies.
Research from Deloitte found that despite concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry expects rapid growth in 2022 as the demand for insurance increases. With 97% of these workers having access to PTO, competitive benefits packages will need to be more comprehensive than in other industries.
This story originally appeared on Timetastic and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Copyright 2022 Stacker via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/which-industries-get-most-least-time-off/ | 2022-04-12T13:38:08 | 0 | https://www.wflx.com/2022/04/12/which-industries-get-most-least-time-off/ |
‘Let’s Go Brand*n’ knocked off NJ ballot
Voters in New Jersey's 4th Congressional District will not have a chance to vote for "Let's Go Brandon" in the upcoming Republican Primary.
There were questions about whether the New Jersey Division of Elections would allow Robert Shapiro to appear on the ballot using the "Let's Go Brand*n - FJB" slogan.
Elections officials forced Shapiro to drop "FJB," which is an abbreviation of a expletive targeting President Joe Biden.
However, a judge has knocked Shapiro off the ballot, though not due to his slogan.
Shapiro needed to file a petition to run with no fewer than 200 valid signatures. The petition he filed has 203.
New Jersey Globe reports Administrative Law Judge Elia Pelios invalidated nine signatures, leaving Shapiro six short.
Five of the people who signed the petition did not live in the 4th district and four others were registered Democrats.
A perennial candidate, Shapiro has run for office nearly a dozen times and never won.
He was seeking to challenge Congressman Chris Smith (R-Manchester) as he seeks a 22nd term.
Here is a guide to New Jersey's redrawn congressional districts.
Every NJ city and town's municipal tax bill, ranked
School aid for all New Jersey districts for 2022-23
How the world saw New Jersey — 1940s to 1980s
Eric Scott is the senior political director and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at eric.scott@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story. | https://nj1015.com/lets-go-brandn-knocked-off-nj-ballot/ | 2022-04-12T13:40:19 | 1 | https://nj1015.com/lets-go-brandn-knocked-off-nj-ballot/ |
NJ weather: Three days of warm 70+ degree temperatures
The Bottom Line
Forget about April — it's going to feel like May across New Jersey this week, with a streak of nice, warm temperatures. On each of the next three days — Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday — thermometers will probably break 70 degrees for most of the state. We'll run between 10 and 20 degrees above normal for this time of year.
However, there are a few hiccups worth mentioning. An on-shore breeze will limit the warmth along the Shore. (Typical of Spring.) And I count five separate chances of rain over the next seven days. For the most part, we're just talking about April showers.
Colder, below-normal temperatures return just in time for Easter Sunday.
Tuesday
The day will start with raindrops, but end with sunshine and unseasonable warmth.
A few waves of sprinkles and rain showers will push west-to-east across the state Tuesday morning. So the sky may occasionally spit on you through about 10 a.m. Temperatures are starting out in the 40s.
The sun will emerge by lunchtime. And we'll enjoy a nice warm afternoon. I expect high temperatures Tuesday to average 70 degrees across the state. (It's hard to believe New Jersey's last 70-degree day was March 19th — over three weeks ago.)
Aside from the early morning dampness and the high pollen levels, it should be a beautiful day.
Tuesday night looks mainly clear and comfortable. In fact, it won't really get that cold — so you might be able to get by without a jacket. Low temperatures dip into the lower 50s. I can't rule out some sprinkles around daybreak Wednesday, as a warm front arrives.
Wednesday
Temperatures will really start to soar. But not for everyone in NJ.
Under partly sunny skies, most high temperatures will reach the mid 70s. Now we're talking 15 degrees above normal for mid-April.
However, the wind on Wednesday will blow from the southeast. An on-shore direction. From a chilly ocean. (Water temperatures are currently 48 to 52 degrees.)
Therefore, coastal communities will absolutely not reach 70 degrees. In fact, I expect beach towns to end up closer to 60 degrees. The sea breeze effect will likely be noticeable along and east of the Parkway. (Although that's admittedly just a rough estimate.)
Finally, a weak impulse could spark a few showers and thunderstorms late-day Wednesday. Mainly in the evening hours — let's say between 6 p.m. and Midnight. Given the heat and relative humidity in the air, there is a marginal concern that any storm that forms could produce some heavy rain and strong wind gusts.
Thursday
Our warm stretch peaks. Our warm stretch also ends.
50s in the morning, 75 to 80 degrees by midday Thursday. Wow, that's warm. Plus, the wind direction will flip to southwesterly, so the marine influence will be far less prominent.
But here comes a cold front. Latest model guidance shows a rather disorganized frontal boundary, that will take its sweet time in crossing the Garden State.
Starting Thursday afternoon, showers and thunderstorms will become likely. That alone will cause temperatures to start descending. Cooler, drier air will really settle in Thursday night.
It's a bit unclear how widespread and how powerful Thursday's thunderstorms will be. I think there's reasonable concern about straight-line winds and heavy downpours once again — I suspect Thursday afternoon will turn pretty noisy.
Friday
So the stretch of wonderfully warm 70s will be over. But Friday still looks like a nice, mild day.
Mostly sunny skies, a fresh breeze, and high temps in the 60s. Sounds like a good Good Friday.
The Extended Forecast
The big holiday weekend will get a bit iffy with rain and an actually cooldown on the way.
Saturday will turn wet, as another cold front approaches. But it won't be not a total washout. The latest forecast puts rain over New Jersey between about mid-afternoon and late evening. It will get windy too, bother before (southerly) and after (northwestly) the front passes.
Easter Sunday turns sunny, dry, and cool. I've settled on a high temperature forecast in the mid 50s. Not terrible — just 5 to 10 degrees below seasonal norms.
Next week is definitely trending cooler again. And our next substantial storm system is modeled to arrive in the Monday-Tuesday time frame. I think it will primarily play out as an extended period of rainy, dreary weather. There are some hints that temperatures will be cold enough for part of the storm system's progression for some snow and/or wintry mix in North Jersey.
I'm not worried about significant accumulations or travel issues — but it's getting pretty late in the season for such wintry garbage!
Dan Zarrow is Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter for the latest forecast and realtime weather updates. | https://nj1015.com/nj-weather-three-days-of-warm-70-degree-temperatures/ | 2022-04-12T13:40:25 | 1 | https://nj1015.com/nj-weather-three-days-of-warm-70-degree-temperatures/ |
A teacher who shouted, "How many white people came and shot you today?" as part of a profanity laced racist tirade has been suspended from a Jersey City Middle School.
The teacher, who is not being identified, was apparently responding to a disagreement between two students and attempting to discourage resorting to violence to settle differences.
The incident reportedly happened at the Academy 1 Middle School.
A parent provided a recording of a portion of the 45 minute rant to the Jersey Journal.
The newspaper reports the recording includes the teacher telling the students and their classmates, "Your neighborhood is filled with violence. Who is perpetrating the violence? Black on Black. The whites aren't coming here shooting you all down. How many white people came and shot you today?”
In acknowledging the incident, interim superintendent Norma Fernandez, conceded the teacher's point may have been "well intended," but told NJ.com, "The language that was used and the references that were made did not really portray a positive message.”
School officials would not comment on the specifics of the incident between students that triggered the outburst from their teacher.
Teacher's union officials knew about the incident, but refused to comment on it.
As the investigation into the incident continues, the teacher has been suspended with pay.
NJ county fairs make a comeback: Check out the schedule for 2022
UPDATED 4/10: A current list of county fairs happening across the Garden State for 2022. From rides, food, animals, and hot air balloons, each county fair has something unique to offer.
(Fairs are listed in geographical order from South NJ to North NJ)
These are the best hiking spots in New Jersey
A trip to New Jersey doesn't have to be all about the beach. Our state has some incredible trails, waterfalls, and lakes to enjoy.
From the Pine Barrens to the Appalachian Trail to the hidden gems of New Jersey, you have plenty of options for a great hike. Hiking is such a great way to spend time outdoors and enjoy nature, plus it's a great workout.
Before you go out on the trails and explore some of our listeners' suggestions, I have some tips on hiking etiquette from the
American Hiking Society.
If you are going downhill and run into an uphill hiker, step to the side and give the uphill hiker space. A hiker going uphill has the right of way unless they stop to catch their breath.
Always stay on the trail, you may see side paths, unless they are marked as an official trail, steer clear of them. By going off-trail you may cause damage to the ecosystems around the trail, the plants, and wildlife that live there.
You also do not want to disturb the wildlife you encounter, just keep your distance from the wildlife and continue hiking.
Bicyclists should yield to hikers and horses. Hikers should also yield to horses, but I’m not sure how many horses you will encounter on the trails in New Jersey.
If you are thinking of bringing your dog on your hike, they should be leashed, and make sure to clean up all pet waste.
Lastly, be mindful of the weather, if the trail is too muddy, it's probably best to save your hike for another day.
I asked our listeners for their suggestions of the best hiking spots in New Jersey, check out their suggestions:
Every NJ city and town's municipal tax bill, ranked
A little less than 30 cents of every $1 in property taxes charged in New Jersey support municipal services provided by cities, towns, townships, boroughs and villages. Statewide, the average municipal-only tax bill in 2021 was $2,725, but that varied widely from more than $13,000 in Tavistock to nothing in three townships. In addition to $9.22 billion in municipal purpose taxes, special taxing districts that in some places provide municipal services such as fire protection, garbage collection or economic development levied $323.8 million in 2021.
Eric Scott is the senior political director and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at eric.scott@townsquaremedia.com
Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story. | https://nj1015.com/racist-rant-lands-jersey-city-nj-teacher-on-suspension/ | 2022-04-12T13:40:31 | 1 | https://nj1015.com/racist-rant-lands-jersey-city-nj-teacher-on-suspension/ |
Bus driver charged in student’s death
WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. (WXYZ) - A Michigan bus driver is facing charges following the death of a 13-year-old boy last week.
Zyiar Harris was being dropped off on Wednesday when he was struck by an oncoming vehicle.
“It’s the bus driver’s fault,” his mother Cassandra Jones said.
Investigations revealed that the incident unfolded when 65-year-old bus driver Deborah White allegedly did not activate the bus’s stop sign and lights.
“My son was autistic,” Jones said. “When he got hit, she pulled off. She seen him get hit, and she pulled off.”
Zyiar later died in the hospital due to complications.
White, who worked for ABC Student Transportation, has been charged with second-degree child abuse and failure to stop at the scene, resulting in death.
White is being held on a $50,000 bond.
Copyright 2022 WXYZ via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/bus-driver-charged-students-death/ | 2022-04-12T13:48:15 | 0 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/bus-driver-charged-students-death/ |
Hungry javelina gets stuck in car, goes for ride in Arizona
CORNVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — A hungry javelina in Arizona ended up going for a drive when it became trapped inside an empty car and bumped it into neutral.
Deputies in Yavapai County responded to a call last week in Cornville, a community 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Sedona, about a javelina stuck in a Subaru station wagon. Javelinas are pig-like animals that are native to desert environments.
After speaking with the car’s owner and other residents, they determined the car’s hatchback had been left open overnight.
The javelina jumped in to get to a bag of Cheetos. The hatch then closed, trapping the animal inside.
Authorities say the javelina ripped off a portion of the dashboard and the inside of a door in an attempt to escape.
The animal then managed to knock the car into neutral, causing it to roll down the driveway and across the street. The Subaru came to a rest, and the javelina was not injured.
A deputy opened the hatch, and the javelina was able to run back into the wilderness.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-car-goes-ride-arizona/ | 2022-04-12T13:48:21 | 0 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-car-goes-ride-arizona/ |
Multiple shot, unexploded devices found at NYC train station
NEW YORK (AP) — Multiple people were shot Tuesday morning at a subway station in Brooklyn, New York, the city fire department said.
Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in the Sunset Park neighborhood found multiple people shot and undetonated devices, a New York City Fire Department spokesperson said.
According to a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation, preliminary information indicated a suspect was dressed in construction attire.
A photo from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the station.
Further details were not immediately available. New York City police said they were responding to reports of people wounded either by gunfire or an explosion.
Trains servicing that station were delayed during the morning rush hour.
___
Associated Press reporter Michael Balsamo contributed to this report from Washington.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/multiple-people-shot-new-york-city-subway-station/ | 2022-04-12T13:48:29 | 0 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/multiple-people-shot-new-york-city-subway-station/ |
Which industries get the most (and least) time off?
(Timetastic/Stacker) - Most private industry workers in the United States receive paid time off, but it is not required under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Timetastic used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, last updated in September 2021, to illustrate which industries offer the best access to paid vacation time. We’ve ranked industries according to the percentage of workers who have access to paid vacations, with ties broken by the number of days off a person receives after working in the industry for a year.
Data is available for workers who have consolidated leave plans (CLP), which are blanket time-off policies that do not distinguish between vacation, illness, or personal business days, and those who do not.
Nationwide, about three-quarters of all private industry workers receive paid time off, or PTO. Two weeks is the average offering for companies with CLP. More full-time workers get paid-time-off than part-time workers: 46% and 35%, respectively.
Larger companies tend to be more generous. At companies with 500 workers or more, 92% of workers have access to paid vacations. That compares to 71% at smaller companies of up to 49 employees.
Union members were also found to get 26.6% more vacation time than nonunion workers as more PTO is typically negotiated when settling union contracts.
Companies such as Netflix have even turned to an entirely different model: unlimited PTO. This gives employees the opportunity to take time off at will within reason.
But with U.S. workers already leaving 4.6 vacation days unused in 2021 on average, unlimited PTO may result in employees taking even less time off than average.
#10. Leisure and hospitality
- Workers with access to PTO: 43%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 9 days (CLP) 6 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 13 days (CLP), 9 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 15 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 16 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
The leisure and hospitality industry—made up of hotel clerks, restaurant cooks, casino workers, and a host of other positions—was hit exceptionally hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Hotel and Lodging Association found it lost as many jobs as government, health services, construction, retail, manufacturing, and education combined.
While workers in this industry tend to accrue more PTO after being with a company for more than a year, the turnover rate works against employees here: BLS data shows turnover in the hospitality industry hovers as high as 80% annually. versus 10%-15% across all industries.
The unemployment rate for this industry in February 2022 was 6.6%, compared to the national jobless rate of 3.8%.
#9. Trade, transportation, and utilities
- Workers with access to PTO: 81%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 11 days (CLP), 7 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 16 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 19 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 23 days (CLP), 18 days (no consolidated leave)
The trade, transportation, and utilities industry is large and varied, from jobs in lumber yards to hauling cargo. Paid leave—which includes vacation time, holidays, sick leave, and personal leave—can cost employers up to 8.5% of a workers’ total compensation.
In Texas, these jobs contributed nearly 20% of the state’s GDP in 2016, at $317.3 billion; making trade, transportation, and utilities among the highest-grossing in the state.
#8. Professional and business services
- Workers with access to PTO: 81%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 14 days (CLP), 10 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 18 days (CLP), 13 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 20 days (CLP), 16 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 22 days (CLP), 18 days (no consolidated leave)
Paid vacations are available to the vast number of employees in this field, which include advertising, law, accounting firms, architecture companies, management consulting companies, and others.
Americans often don’t always take the time they are entitled to. Some 70% of owners of small businesses, in particular, do not view holidays as a time to take away from work. According to the U.S. Travel Association, U.S. workers left 4.6 days unused in 2021, and 5.6 days unused in 2020, which contributed largely to burnout.
A 2016 Harvard Business Review article cited a study finding that for the first time more than half of Americans did not take all of their vacations. The article also noted workers who used more than 10 of their days off had a 65.4% chance of getting a raise or a bonus.
#7. Construction
- Workers with access to PTO: 82%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 8 days (CLP), 7 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 11 days (CLP), 10 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 13 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 14 days (CLP), 13 days (no consolidated leave)
Some construction companies have over the last decade moved away from the traditional way they allot time off, with separate categories for paid vacation, personal days and sick leave. They have instead adopted what is known as a PTO benefit. Vacation time, personal days, and sick leave are rolled into one plan for a consolidated-leave plan model.
Construction officials have largely been against other changes in paid leave. When former President Barack Obama signed an executive order in 2015 requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to provide up to seven days for sickness or other uses, the Associated General Contractors of America objected, citing long periods of layoffs because of weather and other variables in the industry.
#6. Education and health services
- Workers with access to PTO: 82%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 16 days (CLP), 10 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 20 days (CLP), 14 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 23 days (CLP), 16 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 25 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
On average, teachers have about 12 days for sick time or personal leave during the school year. Amid COVID-19, however, teachers across the country are running out of sick days and a federal requirement that schools offer paid time off for COVID-19 illness or exposure has expired.
Similarly, many nurses, doctors, and other health professionals across the country have been under enormous stress during the pandemic. Adding to the pressure for some, they have recently been told to take sick leave or personal days if they test positive for COVID-19.
#5. Real estate and rental and leasing
- Workers with access to PTO: 86%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 12 days (CLP), 10 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 15 days (CLP), 14 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 17 days (CLP), 16 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 18 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
With about 106,500 real estate brokerage firms in the country, a competitive benefits package with paid time off can help companies recruit and retain employees.
Brokers can classify their real estate salespeople as either employees or independent contractors, and those independent contractors have far more flexibility to take time away from the office. Independent contractors, not bound to rules and regulations of the company or companies they’re signed onto, are able to more freely create their own hours and schedules. Other companies in this category are primarily in the business of renting or leasing properties or goods or in related services.
#4. Information
- Workers with access to PTO: 90%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 17 days (CLP), 11 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 22 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 25 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 27 days (CLP), 20 days (no consolidated leave)
Netflix, Oracle, LinkedIn, and Twitter are all companies in the information business sector—and all offer unlimited vacation days. The open vacation policy was originated by Netflix, whose CEO Reed Hastings says he takes at least six weeks each year. He attributes employee loyalty at the company in large part to Netflix’s generous vacation and parental leave policies.
Workplace management software company Kronos (now merged with Ultimate Software to become UKG) began an unlimited or open vacation policy in 2016. In a Harvard Business Review article, its CEO Aron Ain said changes in technology led professionals at every level to work after business hours. He added that vacation policies clearly delineating between time off and vacation seemed antiquated.
#3. Manufacturing
- Workers with access to PTO: 95%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 11 days (CLP), 8 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 15 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 18 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 21 days (CLP), 18 days (no consolidated leave)
Among all non-agricultural workers, manufacturing’s share of U.S. employment peaked during World War II to 38% but cratered from 32% in 1955 to 8% in 2019 just prior to the advent of COVID-19. The sheer number of manufacturing employees hit an all-time high in the 1970s with around 20 million workers. Many of these jobs have since become automated or been shipped overseas.
The Congressional Research Service in 2017 warned the industry’s wages and benefits were under pressure from cost-cutting, plant closures, and the loss of jobs to other countries. The manufacturing industry was not spared from the Great Resignation, leading employers to rethink hiring incentives in a post-COVID-19 employment landscape.
#2. Financial activities
- Workers with access to PTO: 95%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 17 days (CLP), 12 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 21 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 24 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 26 days (CLP), 19 days (no consolidated leave)
The financial services sector is key to the country’s security, but it faces a number of risks, including cyberattacks, says the federal Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency.
Professional services network Deloitte predicted a pivotal opportunity for financial services in 2022, pointing to banking, capital markets, financial services firms, and others to lead the industry’s future. Deloitte urged the industry to invest in talent while rethinking the workplace, and paid time off plans may be a place to begin.
#1. Insurance carriers
- Workers with access to PTO: 97%
- Average PTO after 1 year: 17 days (CLP), 11 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 5 years: 22 days (CLP), 15 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 10 years: 24 days (CLP), 17 days (no consolidated leave)
- Average PTO after 20 years: 27 days (CLP), 19 days (no consolidated leave)
Some 2.9 million people worked in the U.S. insurance industry in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The largest number of those, 1.7 million, worked for insurance companies.
Research from Deloitte found that despite concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry expects rapid growth in 2022 as the demand for insurance increases. With 97% of these workers having access to PTO, competitive benefits packages will need to be more comprehensive than in other industries.
This story originally appeared on Timetastic and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
Copyright 2022 Stacker via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/which-industries-get-most-least-time-off/ | 2022-04-12T13:48:35 | 1 | https://www.wnem.com/2022/04/12/which-industries-get-most-least-time-off/ |
Baskin-Robbins is getting a makeover — and will sell bicycles
Baskin-Robbins is making some changes.
The 77-year old Massachusetts-based ice cream shop is tweaking its logo, employee uniforms and packaging to update the brand. It's the first major update for Baskin-Robbins since 2006, according to the company. It will also sell merchandise, including bikes and bucket hats, from a dedicated online store for the first time. And Baskin-Robbins will unveil new flavors as part of the refresh.
For years, the Baskin-Robbins logo has been pink and blue. "BR" and the words "Baskin Robbins" were printed in a blocky, childish font.
In the new logo that playful font is gone, replaced by a crisper version. The new branding comes in brown and pink, brown and blue, and pink and white.
In other words, the new Baskin-Robbins is all grown up. The makeover has been a long time coming.
"When we really think about the journey ... it started four years ago," said Jason Maceda, Baskin-Robbins president. That included "really listening to our guests."
Baskin-Robbins' leadership team heard that some customers felt very attached to the brand, which they associated with childhood trips with parents or grandparents. But they also heard that there were "some opportunities in being more relevant," Maceda said.
It's important for brands like Baskin-Robbins to gain traction with younger consumers — not just people who remember it from their youth — so they have new customers coming in.
The company's leadership has been addressing the feedback in a few ways. In late 2018, for example, Baskin-Robbins introduced a new layout and design for some stores. These so-called "Moments" stores feature a more modern design, digital menu boards, more ice cream display cases and more toppings and offerings.
So far, there are about 70 of these stores altogether, Maceda said. That's still just a small portion of the over 7,700 Baskin-Robbins stores open globally.
The rollout of the "Moments' stores slowed during the pandemic, Maceda noted, adding that he's "excited to get that going again."
Still, the pandemic was good for ice cream sales. Baskin-Robbins was taken private in 2020 and doesn't publicly disclose sales figures. But Maceda said sales grew 3.5% in 2020, and 10.9% last year. Overall, ice cream sales at U.S. scoop shops grew 4.4% from 2019 to 2021, according to Euromonitor International.
To help keep that momentum going, Baskin-Robbins hopes to make a splash with its new look, flavors and merchandise.
Bikes, bucket hats and ube ice cream
The new branding draws on the company's history, noted Jerid Grandinetti, VP of marketing and culinary at Baskin-Robbins.
Brothers-in-law Irvine "Irv" Robbins and Burton "Burt" Baskin founded the ice cream company in 1945. But they didn't brand it as "Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream" until 1953.
"The original advertising campaign in 1953 was built around circus iconography," said Grandinetti. That campaign used the pink and brown that Baskin-Robbins is reviving today.
That was also the year that Baskin-Robbins introduced the idea of 31 flavors, one for every day of the month. Both the new and old logos have "31" hidden between the B and the R when the letters are placed together.
Today, Baskin-Robbins has hundreds of flavors in its portfolio. But it still has room for more.
Part of the refresh includes three new limited-time flavors: One is Non-Dairy Mint Chocochunk, another is Totally Unwrapped, made with peanut butter and chocolate ice creams, caramel swirls, fudge-covered pretzels, and fudge and caramel covered peanuts. Grandinetti refers to that one as a "deconstructed candy bar."
The third flavor, Ube Coconut Swirl, is made with coconut and ube (a purple yam commonly used in Filipino desserts) ice creams with ube-flavored swirls.
Totally Unwrapped is the April flavor of the month, while the other two will be available through the spring, and could stick around for longer depending on how customers react.
In addition to the new flavors and its new look, the company is rolling out some swag, including branded scrunchies, sweatshirts, bucket hats and even bicycles.
Bikes may seem like an odd choice of swag for an ice cream company. But the brand's new tagline, "Seize the Yay," is about celebrating small, joyous moments. And nothing says "yay" like a ride on an ice-cream-themed bike.
"We want to make sure that we celebrate along with our guests," said Grandinetti. "What better way to do that than to provide some fun buzzworthy" items, like a bicycle, as well as clothing that can be "part of their everyday lifestyle." | https://www.koat.com/article/baskin-robbins-makeover/39700763 | 2022-04-12T13:49:15 | 0 | https://www.koat.com/article/baskin-robbins-makeover/39700763 |
Multiple people shot, unexploded devices found at New York City subway station
Multiple people were shot Tuesday morning at a subway station in Brooklyn, New York, the city fire department said.
Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in the Sunset Park neighborhood found multiple people shot and undetonated devices, a New York City Fire Department spokesperson said.
According to a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation, preliminary information indicated a suspect was dressed in construction attire.
A photo from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the station.
Further details were not immediately available. New York City police said they were responding to reports of people wounded either by gunfire or an explosion.
Trains servicing that station were delayed during the morning rush hour.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
___
Associated Press reporter Michael Balsamo contributed to this report from Washington. | https://www.koat.com/article/brooklyn-subway-station-incident/39701600 | 2022-04-12T13:49:25 | 0 | https://www.koat.com/article/brooklyn-subway-station-incident/39701600 |
'Different levels of risk': Some regions improve as much of Europe remains at the CDC's highest travel risk
For the third week in a row, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not add a single new destination to its highest-risk Level 4 category for travel.
In fact, seven destinations in Asia and the Caribbean moved to the CDC's lowest-risk category for travel during the pandemic, which is Level 1. Moving into that enviable ranking on Monday were island getaways the Philippines and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
But much of Europe -- including its popular travel powerhouses -- remained stubbornly lodged at Level 4.
Take the United Kingdom, for instance. It's been at Level 4 since July 19, 2021. That puts England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all in the "Very High" risk category for COVID-19.
The CDC designates a destination a Level 4 risk when more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents have been registered in the past 28 days.
CDC: Avoid Level 4 destinations
It's not just the United Kingdom. Many of the big names in Europe remain at Level 4 as winter lifts and the spring travel season begins. On April 11, that list included the following places:
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Ireland
• Italy
• Malta
• The Netherlands
• Portugal
• Spain
However, it's not just Europe that has highly visited destinations stuck at Level 4 for now.
In Asia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand are at Level 4. In South America, Brazil and Chile are still in the highest risk category. Same goes for the lush Central American getaway of Costa Rica. Other favorites awaiting a better grade from the CDC: Aruba, Australia and Bermuda.
Still, the general trend in risk level has been downward for much of the world in recent weeks, and Africa, in particular, has seen its risk assessments dropping.
In late February, the number of spots in Level 4 swelled to more than 140, illustrating the vast range and rapid spread of omicron. But on April 11, that number shrank down to roughly 90 destinations. That's less than half of the approximately 235 places the CDC monitors.
The CDC advises avoiding travel to Level 4 countries. CDC thresholds for travel health notices are based primarily on the number of COVID-19 cases in a destination.
The CDC does not include the United States in its list of advisories, but it was color-coded at Level 3 on April 11 on the agency's map of travel risk levels.
You can view the CDC's risk levels for any global destination on its travel recommendations page.
In its broader travel guidance, the CDC has recommended avoiding all international travel until you are fully vaccinated.
Few changes at Level 3
The Level 3 "High" risk category -- which applies to destinations that have had between 100 and 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days -- saw just two additions on Monday. They were:
• Egypt
• Saint Martin
Both had previously been at Level 4.
People who want to take a trip to Europe but want to avoid the highest-risk destinations have only a few choices here: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, all on the Balkan Peninsula, or Armenia, in the mountainous Caucasus region.
Level 2
Destinations carrying the "Level 2: COVID-19 Moderate" designation have seen 50 to 99 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.
The sole new entry to Level 2 on April 11 is Guyana, a small nation in the northern part of South America that sees little in the way of international visitors. Guyana had been at Level 3.
Level 1
In a hopeful sign for travelers, Level 1 saw the most movement.
To be in "Level 1: COVID-19 Low," a destination must have had fewer than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past 28 days. Seven places moved to Level 1 on Monday:
• Bangladesh
• Haiti
• Myanmar
• Philippines
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Saudi Arabia
The biggest moves belonged to Haiti, Myanmar and Saudi Arabia, which had been at Level 4. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had been at Level 3, and the rest moved down from Level 2.
Most of the destinations in Level 1 are in Africa, including Ghana, Kenya, Morocco and Senegal.
Unknown
Finally, there are destinations for which the CDC has an "unknown" risk because of a lack of information. Usually, but not always, these are small, remote places or places with ongoing warfare or unrest. The CDC made three additions to the category on Monday:
• Burkina Faso
• Faroe Islands
• Madagascar
Burkina Faso had been at Level 1, and the other two at Level 4.
The Azores, Cambodia, Macau and Tanzania are among the locations currently listed in the unknown category. The CDC advises against travel to these places precisely because the risks are unknown.
A medical expert weighs in on risk levels
Transmission rates are "one guidepost" for travelers' personal risk calculations, according to CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen.
"We are entering a phase in the pandemic where people need to make their own decisions based on their medical circumstances as well as their risk tolerance when it comes to contracting COVID-19," Wen said in mid-February.
"You should interpret Level 4 to mean this is a place with a lot of community transmission of COVID-19. So if you go, there is a higher chance that you could contract the coronavirus," said Wen, who is an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.
Some people will decide the risk is too high for them, Wen said. "Other people will say, 'Because I am vaccinated and boosted, I am willing to take on that risk.'
"So this really needs to be a personal decision that people weigh understanding that right now the CDC is classifying the different levels based on community transmission rates, and basically only that," Wen said. "They're not taking into account individual circumstances."
More considerations for travel
There are other factors to weigh in addition to transmission rates, according to Wen.
"The transmission rates are one guidepost," Wen said. "Another is what precautions are required and followed in the place that you're going and then the third is what are you planning to do once you're there.
"Are you planning to visit a lot of attractions and go to indoor bars? That's very different from you're going somewhere where you're planning to lie on the beach all day and not interact with anyone else. That's very different. Those are very different levels of risk."
Vaccination is the most significant safety factor for travel since unvaccinated travelers are more likely to become ill and transmit COVID-19 to others, Wen said.
People should be wearing a high-quality mask -- N95, KN95 or KF94 -- anytime they're in crowded indoor settings with people of unknown vaccination status, she said.
And it's also important to consider what you would do if you end up testing positive away from home. Where will you stay and how easy will it be to get a test to return home? | https://www.koat.com/article/some-regions-improve-as-much-of-europe-remains-at-the-cdcs-highest-travel-risk/39700119 | 2022-04-12T13:49:35 | 1 | https://www.koat.com/article/some-regions-improve-as-much-of-europe-remains-at-the-cdcs-highest-travel-risk/39700119 |
US inflation jumped 8.5% in past year, highest since 1981
Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier — the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981. Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The government’s report also showed that inflation rose 1.2% from February to March, up from a 0.8% increase from January to February.
The March inflation numbers were the first to capture the full surge in gasoline prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow’s brutal attacks have triggered far-reaching Western sanctions against the Russian economy and have disrupted global food and energy markets. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline — $4.10 — is up 43% from a year ago, though it has fallen back in the past couple of weeks.
The escalation of energy prices has led to higher transportation costs for the shipment of goods and components across the economy, which, in turn, has contributed to higher prices for consumers.
The latest evidence of accelerating prices will solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to slow borrowing and spending and tame inflation. The financial markets now foresee much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as last month.
Even before Russia’s war further spurred price increases, robust consumer spending, steady pay raises and chronic supply shortages had sent U.S. consumer inflation to its highest level in four decades. In addition, housing costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index, have escalated, a trend that seems unlikely to reverse anytime soon.
Economists point out that as the economy has emerged from the depths of the pandemic, consumers have been gradually broadening their spending beyond goods to include more services. A result is that high inflation, which at first had reflected mainly a shortage of goods — from cars and furniture to electronics and sports equipment — has been emerging in services, too, like travel, health care and entertainment.
The expected fast pace of the Fed’s rate increases will make loans sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses. Mortgage rates, in particular, though not directly influenced by the Fed, have rocketed higher in recent weeks, making home buying more expensive. Many economists say they worry that the Fed has waited too long to begin raising rates and might end up acting so aggressively as to trigger a recession.
For now, the economy as a whole remains solid, with unemployment near 50-year lows and job openings near record highs. Still, rocketing inflation, with its impact on Americans’ daily lives, is posing a political threat to President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies as they seek to keep control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
Economists generally express doubt that even the sharp rate hikes that are expected from the Fed will manage to reduce inflation anywhere near the central bank’s 2% annual target by the end of this year. Tilley, Wilmington Trust economist, said he expects year-over-year consumer inflation to still be 4.5% by the end of 2020. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he had forecast a much lower 3% rate.
Inflation, which had been largely under control for four decades, began to accelerate last spring as the U.S. and global economies rebounded with unexpected speed and strength from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession that began in the spring of 2020.
The recovery, fueled by huge infusions of government spending and super-low interest rates, caught businesses by surprise, forcing them to scramble to meet surging customer demand. Factories, ports and freight yards struggled to keep up, leading to chronic shipping delays and price spikes.
Critics also blame, in part, the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion March 2021 stimulus program, which included $1,400 relief checks for most households, for helping overheat an already sizzling economy.
Many Americans have been receiving pay increases, but the pace of inflation has more than wiped out those gains for most people. In February, after accounting for inflation, average hourly wages fell 2.5% from a year earlier. It was the 11th straight monthly drop in inflation-adjusted wages. | https://www.koat.com/article/us-inflation-soared-biggest-spike-since-1981/39701315 | 2022-04-12T13:49:45 | 0 | https://www.koat.com/article/us-inflation-soared-biggest-spike-since-1981/39701315 |
Woman who attacked and falsely accused Black teen of stealing her phone pleads guilty to hate crime
The California woman who falsely accused a Black teenager of stealing her cell phone and then attacked him in a New York City hotel lobby pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment in the second degree as a hate crime, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced.
In December 2020, Miya Ponsetto was seen on video attacking 14-year old Keyon Harrold Jr., who was with his father, a musician, in the Arlo Hotel. Ponsetto said she thought he had her cell phone, but investigators later determined he did not.
Video of the incident quickly went viral, with many accusing Ponsetto of racially profiling the teen, an accusation she has denied. The incident also occurred as continued calls for racial justice and police reform were the highest they'd been in years due to the deaths of Black people -- like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor -- at the hands of law enforcement officials.
The plea deal requires Ponsetto, 23, to follow the probation terms for a separate case in California, attend counseling and avoid further criminal incidents.
If she doesn't comply, Ponsetto could go to prison for up to four years, prosecutors said. But if she successfully follows those terms, she can re-plead the felony charge to a misdemeanor charge of aggravated harassment in the second degree.
Ponsetto's attorney, Paul D'Emilia, said his client is grateful for the plea deal, and she has been "leading an exemplary life" since the incident.
"We are appreciative of the District Attorney's thoughtful and empathetic approach to finding an acceptable conclusion, especially in light of the unreasonable pressure brought to bear by many voices not familiar with the more granular details of what occurred that evening," D'Emilia said. "Ms. Ponsetto looks forward to her eventual final plea to the harassment charge, a plea that we feel more realistically reflects her actions that night at the Arlo Hotel. It is Ms. Ponsetto's wish that Keyon Harrold accepts her regrets and apology for her behavior that evening, and that all involved can move forward with added insight and compassion."
District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Ponsetto "displayed outrageous behavior."
"As a Black man, I have personally experienced racial profiling countless times in my life and I sympathize with the young man victimized in this incident," Bragg said. "This plea ensures appropriate accountability for Ms. Ponsetto by addressing underlying causes for her behavior and ensuring this conduct does not reoccur." | https://www.koat.com/article/woman-pleads-guilty-to-hate-crime/39701143 | 2022-04-12T13:49:55 | 0 | https://www.koat.com/article/woman-pleads-guilty-to-hate-crime/39701143 |
BATAVIA, N.Y. (WIVB) — On Monday night, the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office says a drunk driver struck a pole in Batavia and kept going.
It allegedly happened around 9 p.m. The Sheriff’s Office says Oakfield resident Daniel Arnold was headed northwest on Route 63 when his Chevrolet pickup truck went off the east shoulder and struck a National Grid pole, damaging it.
According to authorities, Arnold proceeded to get back on the road and drive in the same direction. Deputies later found him in Oakfield and charged him with DWI.
At the time, Arnold was the only one in the truck.
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Evan Anstey is an Associated Press Award and Emmy-nominated digital producer who has been part of the News 4 team since 2015. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter. | https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/western-new-york/genesee-county/sheriff-genesee-county-man-hits-pole-while-drunk/ | 2022-04-12T13:53:54 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/western-new-york/genesee-county/sheriff-genesee-county-man-hits-pole-while-drunk/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is visiting corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce he’ll suspend a federal rule preventing the sale of higher ethanol blend gasoline this summer as his administration tries to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.
Senior Biden administration officials said the move will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon at 2,300 gas stations. Industry groups say most of those stations are in the Midwest and the South, including Texas.
Biden is to announce the move at a biofuel company in Menlo, west of Des Moines. Iowa is the country’s largest producer of corn, key to producing ethanol.
The waiver is another effort to help ease global energy markets that have been rocked since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last month, the president announced the U.S. will release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve over the next six months. His administration said that has helped to slightly reduce gas prices lately, after they climbed to an average of about $4.23 a gallon by the end of March, compared with $2.87 at the same time a year ago, according to AAA.
Members of Congress from both parties, as well as industry groups, had urged Biden to grant the E15 waiver.
“Homegrown Iowa biofuels provide a quick and clean solution for lowering prices at the pump and bolstering production would help us become energy independent once again,″ said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. He was among nine Republican and seven Democratic senators from Midwestern states who sent Biden a letter last month urging him to allow year-round E15 sales.
The trip will be Biden’s first as president to Iowa, where his 2020 presidential campaign limped to a fourth-place finish in the state’s technologically glitchy caucus.
After bouncing back to win the Democratic nomination, Biden returned for a rally at the Iowa state fairgrounds four days before Election Day 2020, only to see Donald Trump win the state by 8 percentage points.
Biden heads back to the state at a moment when he’s facing yet more political peril. He’s saddled with sagging approval ratings and inflation at a 40-year high while his party faces the prospect of big midterm election losses that could cost it control of Congress.
The president also planned to promote his economic plans to help rural families struggling with higher costs, while highlighting the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law enacted last fall. The law includes money to improve internet access, as well as for modernizing wastewater systems, reducing flooding threats and improving roads and bridges, drinking water and electric grids in sparsely populated areas.
“Part of it is showing up in communities of all sizes, regardless of the results of the last election,” said Jesse Harris, who was a senior adviser to Biden’s 2020 campaign in Iowa and directed get out the vote and early voting efforts for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.
Harris said most presidents who visit Iowa typically go to the state’s largest cities. Hitting an area like Menlo, part of Guthrie County, which backed Trump over Biden by 35 percentage points in 2020, “does speak to the importance the administration places on infrastructure broadly but also infrastructure in rural and smaller communities.”
The Biden administration plans to spend the coming weeks pushing billions of dollars in funding for rural areas. Cabinet members and other senior officials will travel the country to help communities get access to money available as part of the infrastructure package.
“The president is not making this trip through a political prism,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “He’s making this trip because Iowa is a rural state in the country that would benefit greatly from the president’s policies.”
Still, administration officials have long suggested that Biden travel more to promote an economy that is rebounding from the setbacks of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of Americans collecting unemployment has fallen to the lowest levels since 1970, for example.
But much of the positive jobs news nationally has been overshadowed by surging gas, food and housing prices that have pushed consumer inflation to 7.9% over the past year ending in February. That’s the sharpest spike since 1982. Inflation figures for March, due out Tuesday, are likely to bring more bad news for the Biden administration.
“Maybe a trip back to Iowa will be just what Joe Biden needs to understand what his reckless spending, big government policies are doing to our country,” Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement.
After Iowa, Biden will visit Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday.
Psaki blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine for helping to drive up gas prices and said the administration expects the consumer price index for March to be “extremely elevated” in large part because of it.
The EPA has lifted seasonal restrictions on E15 in the past, including after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Trump administration allowed for selling E15 in the summer months two years later but had the rule struck down by a federal appeals court. | https://www.wivb.com/news/national/biden-waiving-ethanol-rule-to-try-and-help-lower-gasoline-prices/ | 2022-04-12T13:54:00 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/national/biden-waiving-ethanol-rule-to-try-and-help-lower-gasoline-prices/ |
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 the original purchaser.
Ghost guns, however, are made of parts and are then assembled together. 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 PREVALENT 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 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 plans to 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.wivb.com/news/national/explainer-what-are-ghost-guns-and-why-is-biden-taking-action/ | 2022-04-12T13:54:06 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/national/explainer-what-are-ghost-guns-and-why-is-biden-taking-action/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier — the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981. Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The government’s report also showed that inflation rose 1.2% from February to March, up from a 0.8% increase from January to February.
The March inflation numbers were the first to capture the full surge in gasoline prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow’s brutal attacks have triggered far-reaching Western sanctions against the Russian economy and have disrupted global food and energy markets. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline — $4.10 — is up 43% from a year ago, though it has fallen back in the past couple of weeks.
The escalation of energy prices has led to higher transportation costs for the shipment of goods and components across the economy, which, in turn, has contributed to higher prices for consumers.
The latest evidence of accelerating prices will solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to slow borrowing and spending and tame inflation. The financial markets now foresee much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as last month.
Even before Russia’s war further spurred price increases, robust consumer spending, steady pay raises and chronic supply shortages had sent U.S. consumer inflation to its highest level in four decades. In addition, housing costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index, have escalated, a trend that seems unlikely to reverse anytime soon.
Economists point out that as the economy has emerged from the depths of the pandemic, consumers have been gradually broadening their spending beyond goods to include more services. A result is that high inflation, which at first had reflected mainly a shortage of goods — from cars and furniture to electronics and sports equipment — has been emerging in services, too, like travel, health care and entertainment.
The expected fast pace of the Fed’s rate increases will make loans sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses. Mortgage rates, in particular, though not directly influenced by the Fed, have rocketed higher in recent weeks, making home buying more expensive. Many economists say they worry that the Fed has waited too long to begin raising rates and might end up acting so aggressively as to trigger a recession.
For now, the economy as a whole remains solid, with unemployment near 50-year lows and job openings near record highs. Still, rocketing inflation, with its impact on Americans’ daily lives, is posing a political threat to President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies as they seek to keep control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
Economists generally express doubt that even the sharp rate hikes that are expected from the Fed will manage to reduce inflation anywhere near the central bank’s 2% annual target by the end of this year. Tilley, Wilmington Trust economist, said he expects year-over-year consumer inflation to still be 4.5% by the end of 2020. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he had forecast a much lower 3% rate.
Inflation, which had been largely under control for four decades, began to accelerate last spring as the U.S. and global economies rebounded with unexpected speed and strength from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession that began in the spring of 2020.
The recovery, fueled by huge infusions of government spending and super-low interest rates, caught businesses by surprise, forcing them to scramble to meet surging customer demand. Factories, ports and freight yards struggled to keep up, leading to chronic shipping delays and price spikes.
Critics also blame, in part, the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion March 2021 stimulus program, which included $1,400 relief checks for most households, for helping overheat an already sizzling economy.
Many Americans have been receiving pay increases, but the pace of inflation has more than wiped out those gains for most people. In February, after accounting for inflation, average hourly wages fell 2.5% from a year earlier. It was the 11th straight monthly drop in inflation-adjusted wages. | https://www.wivb.com/news/national/us-inflation-soars-to-40-year-high-jumping-8-5-in-past-year/ | 2022-04-12T13:54:12 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/national/us-inflation-soars-to-40-year-high-jumping-8-5-in-past-year/ |
SUNSET PARK, Brooklyn (PIX11) — Multiple people were found shot in a subway station in Brooklyn Tuesday morning, officials said.
FDNY said a call came in at around 8:27 a.m. for smoke coming in the 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park. Upon arrival, responders found the victims and several undetonated devices at the same location.
First responders told PIX11 News likely more than five were shot. FDNY told PIX11 News that 13 injured individuals have been taken to area hospitals.
The scene continues to be active.
This is a developing story; check back for updates. | https://www.wivb.com/news/new-york/multiple-shot-in-brooklyn-subway-station-officials-say/ | 2022-04-12T13:54:18 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/new-york/multiple-shot-in-brooklyn-subway-station-officials-say/ |
ALBANY, N.Y. (WIVB) — According to a report by The New York Times, Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin has been charged in an alleged federal bribery conspiracy.
The report, which cites “people with knowledge of the matter,” says Benjamin surrendered early Tuesday morning.
The New York Times says the indictment against Benjamin is the result of an FBI investigation. According to the report, the Lieutenant Governor was accused “of conspiring to direct state funds to a Harlem real estate investor in exchange for orchestrating thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Benjamin’s unsuccessful 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller, the people said.”
News 4 will continue to update this article with new information.
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Evan Anstey is an Associated Press Award and Emmy-nominated digital producer who has been part of the News 4 team since 2015. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter. | https://www.wivb.com/news/new-york/nyt-lt-gov-brian-benjamin-surrenders-to-face-indictment/ | 2022-04-12T13:54:24 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/news/new-york/nyt-lt-gov-brian-benjamin-surrenders-to-face-indictment/ |
(The Hill) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions imposed on Moscow are contributing to surging global prices that Americans are feeling throughout the economy, particularly at the grocery store and the gas pump.
Russia’s status as a major exporter of raw materials, especially oil and natural gas, along with Ukraine’s position as a key agricultural supplier to regions including Africa and the Middle East, make the conflict between the two countries a flashpoint for commodity prices, which were already on the rise due to the pandemic.
“These countries export a lot of raw materials,” William Reinsch, a former undersecretary of Commerce who now serves as international business analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an interview. “They tend to have a world price. And so when supply is constricted, the consequence for Americans is that the price goes up because it goes up everywhere.”
New consumer price index (CPI) data to be released Tuesday by the Labor Department is likely to show another sharp jump in both monthly and annual inflation. Consumer prices rose by 7.9 percent in the year ending in February, and signs of high inflation in March are mounting.
On Friday, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations recorded a 12.6 percent increase in its benchmark food price index from February to March, an uptick it described as a “giant leap.” The March numbers represent all-time highs for cereal grains, vegetable oils and meats, while the sugar and dairy sectors also saw major gains.
The FAO cereal price index in particular saw a 17.1 percent increase from February to March, marking its highest level since 1990. The increase was “largely driven by conflict-related export disruptions from Ukraine and, to a lesser extent, the Russian Federation,” according to an FAO assessment.
The global numbers are consistent with the situation in the United States, where food prices spiked 7.9 percent in February compared to the previous year, the largest 12-month increase since July 1981, according to consumer data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The February food-at-home index, which looks at prices relating to domestic food preparation, was up nearly 9 percent in the same period, while wholesale prices for goods jumped 2.4 percent in February, the largest advance since data was first calculated in 2009.
The war in Ukraine also accelerated a steady rise in oil prices driven largely by the recovery from the pandemic. Fuel oil prices rose 6.7 percent and gas prices rose 6.6 percent in February alone, according to the CPI as crude oil prices rose toward $100 per barrel.
The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude peaked near $130 on March 8 before falling to roughly $94 on Monday, but gasoline prices have not fallen nearly as fast. A gallon of regular unleaded gas costs roughly $4.10, according to the AAA national average, down just 20 cents from a month ago.
While inflation-adjusted gas prices are still below the peaks seen in the wake of the Great Recession, higher energy costs can hit consumers harder than inflation in other sectors. Higher gas prices are not only difficult to avoid for drivers but can also increase transportation costs for store-bought goods.
Beyond the cumulative effects of rising commodity prices, which can ripple through the economy and become magnified as they work their way up global production pipelines, Russia does produce certain goods that U.S. companies, and by extension the nation’s consumers, use directly.
“Palladium, vanadium and titanium are three such goods,” said Reinsch.
Palladium is a component in catalytic converters, which convert toxic gasses produced by internal combustion engines into less toxic pollutants. Vanadium is added to steel to make it stronger, and titanium has numerous applications including aircraft shells.
“There are others who produce these products,” Reinsch said. “But again, it’s supply chain interruptions, and we have to scramble around to find them from other places.”
Blame game
As more Americans feel the sting of inflation, the upswing in prices has emerged as a major campaign issue ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, with Republicans and Democrats taking turns placing blame for the upward trend in costs.
Republicans have blamed rising inflation on Democratic-backed policies, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that President Biden signed into law in March 2021, about a year after former President Trump signed a bipartisan $2 trillion coronavirus relief package.
A number of Democrats have, in turn, placed blame on corporations and market concentration, accusing larger companies of taking advantage of economic conditions to increase costs.
By contrast, experts have pointed to a combination of factors that have contributed to the higher price stickers.
“Part of it is supply chain disruptions because of the pandemic. We can’t get the goods that we got before, for instance, like computer chips, and so on,” Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow for the American Enterprise Institute, told The Hill.
“But it was also the case that budget policy was too loose, and monetary policy was too loose. So we had all three things pushing in the same direction,” he said.
Ben Page, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, also told The Hill that stimulative fiscal policy contributed to inflation but added he wouldn’t call it the “root cause for most of the inflation.”
“I think the way that you can see that it’s not purely driven by U.S. policy is that it’s not just a U.S. phenomenon,” Page said. “The increased inflation is something that we’ve seen across the world, or certainly across the developed world.”
In recent weeks, countries such as China, Egypt and France have seen rising inflation rates, a trend experts said is exacerbated by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Sanctions impact
The U.S. has joined allies in unleashing a spate of sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told The Hill many of the sanctions have been aimed at raising costs for Russia and restricting how its government accesses the global financial system.
“So, limiting their bank’s ability to the government’s ability to use global banks,” Ziemba continued. “And the sanctions program was set up in a way that tried to use the areas of asymmetry that would hurt Russia more than it would hurt the U.S. and Europe.”
On the flip side, Ziemba said some of the impacts the U.S. has seen as a result of the sanctions have been “sort of indirect,” while Russia has faced more payment challenges.
“The other issue, of course, the Biden administration is trying to do what they can to alleviate some of these costs. The challenges are we’re in a tight market … and I do think one of the challenges is going to be that a number of the producers of particularly oil and gas don’t make decisions quickly to change their production,” Ziemba said.
“I think that’s where the debates with sort of countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE [United Arab Emirates] have been reluctant to deviate from their go-slow additional supply policy have been disappointing to the administration,” she added. | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-world/heres-how-the-russia-ukraine-war-is-driving-up-prices/ | 2022-04-12T13:54:30 | 0 | https://www.wivb.com/news/u-s-world/heres-how-the-russia-ukraine-war-is-driving-up-prices/ |
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Tuesday morning on Mel’s Mutts, we got to meet Ivy! She’s up for adoption through Buffalo Pug & Small Breed Rescue.
To learn more about adopting her, watch the video above and click/tap here.
More Adoptable Animals
Evan Anstey is an Associated Press Award and Emmy-nominated digital producer who has been part of the News 4 team since 2015. See more of his work here and follow him on Twitter. | https://www.wivb.com/wake-up/mels-mutts/mels-mutts-ivy/ | 2022-04-12T13:54:36 | 1 | https://www.wivb.com/wake-up/mels-mutts/mels-mutts-ivy/ |
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.
This story has been corrected to show that Underwood has won 25 CMT awards.
Dalton reported from Los Angeles.
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton | https://www.wane.com/entertainment-news/carrie-underwood-jason-aldean-win-big-at-cmt-music-awards/ | 2022-04-12T13:54:51 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/entertainment-news/carrie-underwood-jason-aldean-win-big-at-cmt-music-awards/ |
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Two license plates passed Ohio’s censors at the state’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles this year, while other plates with similar sentiments were rejected.
Patricia Ritchie took a photo of the JAN 6 DC plate in Chillicothe. She said in an email to WCMH:
“I was shocked to see an Ohio vanity license tag clearly supporting the January 6th insurrection, a shameful event that has resulted in many participants being charged with crimes — misdemeanors and felonies –including charges of seditious conspiracy against the United States Government.”
“How this could be approved by the Ohio BMV is beyond me. I was also disturbed that anyone would drive around blatantly showing such disrespect for the rule of law, but I guess that’s where we live now.”
A second person snapped a picture of a truck that had the plate B1DNSUX. He didn’t want to be named but asked: “I would like to know if the BMV still reviews vanity plate requests for inappropriate content?”
That person said that he once was asked to sit on the license plate review committee – and although he did not have time to do that, he was shocked this plate got through.
“The committee was so hard-nosed about everything,” he recalled. “Do they even have that committee anymore?”
This isn’t the first time political opinions have circumvented the censors. In 2017, an Ohio woman was able to get a covfefe license plate, based on then-President Donald Trump’s mysterious tweeted typo.
A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Public Safety confirmed the plates were in circulation. Repeated requests as to how plates are refused or approved did not receive a reply.
There was also no reply as to why these two plates were approved for circulation while hundreds of others, such as FKB1DN, were not. | https://www.wane.com/news/b1dnsux-and-jan-6-dc-license-plates-spotted-on-ohio-roads/ | 2022-04-12T13:54:57 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/b1dnsux-and-jan-6-dc-license-plates-spotted-on-ohio-roads/ |
(The Hill) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions imposed on Moscow are contributing to surging global prices that Americans are feeling throughout the economy, particularly at the grocery store and the gas pump.
Russia’s status as a major exporter of raw materials, especially oil and natural gas, along with Ukraine’s position as a key agricultural supplier to regions including Africa and the Middle East, make the conflict between the two countries a flashpoint for commodity prices, which were already on the rise due to the pandemic.
“These countries export a lot of raw materials,” William Reinsch, a former undersecretary of Commerce who now serves as international business analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an interview. “They tend to have a world price. And so when supply is constricted, the consequence for Americans is that the price goes up because it goes up everywhere.”
New consumer price index (CPI) data to be released Tuesday by the Labor Department is likely to show another sharp jump in both monthly and annual inflation. Consumer prices rose by 7.9 percent in the year ending in February, and signs of high inflation in March are mounting.
On Friday, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations recorded a 12.6 percent increase in its benchmark food price index from February to March, an uptick it described as a “giant leap.” The March numbers represent all-time highs for cereal grains, vegetable oils and meats, while the sugar and dairy sectors also saw major gains.
The FAO cereal price index in particular saw a 17.1 percent increase from February to March, marking its highest level since 1990. The increase was “largely driven by conflict-related export disruptions from Ukraine and, to a lesser extent, the Russian Federation,” according to an FAO assessment.
The global numbers are consistent with the situation in the United States, where food prices spiked 7.9 percent in February compared to the previous year, the largest 12-month increase since July 1981, according to consumer data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The February food-at-home index, which looks at prices relating to domestic food preparation, was up nearly 9 percent in the same period, while wholesale prices for goods jumped 2.4 percent in February, the largest advance since data was first calculated in 2009.
The war in Ukraine also accelerated a steady rise in oil prices driven largely by the recovery from the pandemic. Fuel oil prices rose 6.7 percent and gas prices rose 6.6 percent in February alone, according to the CPI as crude oil prices rose toward $100 per barrel.
The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude peaked near $130 on March 8 before falling to roughly $94 on Monday, but gasoline prices have not fallen nearly as fast. A gallon of regular unleaded gas costs roughly $4.10, according to the AAA national average, down just 20 cents from a month ago.
While inflation-adjusted gas prices are still below the peaks seen in the wake of the Great Recession, higher energy costs can hit consumers harder than inflation in other sectors. Higher gas prices are not only difficult to avoid for drivers but can also increase transportation costs for store-bought goods.
Beyond the cumulative effects of rising commodity prices, which can ripple through the economy and become magnified as they work their way up global production pipelines, Russia does produce certain goods that U.S. companies, and by extension the nation’s consumers, use directly.
“Palladium, vanadium and titanium are three such goods,” said Reinsch.
Palladium is a component in catalytic converters, which convert toxic gasses produced by internal combustion engines into less toxic pollutants. Vanadium is added to steel to make it stronger, and titanium has numerous applications including aircraft shells.
“There are others who produce these products,” Reinsch said. “But again, it’s supply chain interruptions, and we have to scramble around to find them from other places.”
Blame game
As more Americans feel the sting of inflation, the upswing in prices has emerged as a major campaign issue ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, with Republicans and Democrats taking turns placing blame for the upward trend in costs.
Republicans have blamed rising inflation on Democratic-backed policies, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that President Biden signed into law in March 2021, about a year after former President Trump signed a bipartisan $2 trillion coronavirus relief package.
A number of Democrats have, in turn, placed blame on corporations and market concentration, accusing larger companies of taking advantage of economic conditions to increase costs.
By contrast, experts have pointed to a combination of factors that have contributed to the higher price stickers.
“Part of it is supply chain disruptions because of the pandemic. We can’t get the goods that we got before, for instance, like computer chips, and so on,” Desmond Lachman, a senior fellow for the American Enterprise Institute, told The Hill.
“But it was also the case that budget policy was too loose, and monetary policy was too loose. So we had all three things pushing in the same direction,” he said.
Ben Page, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, also told The Hill that stimulative fiscal policy contributed to inflation but added he wouldn’t call it the “root cause for most of the inflation.”
“I think the way that you can see that it’s not purely driven by U.S. policy is that it’s not just a U.S. phenomenon,” Page said. “The increased inflation is something that we’ve seen across the world, or certainly across the developed world.”
In recent weeks, countries such as China, Egypt and France have seen rising inflation rates, a trend experts said is exacerbated by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Sanctions impact
The U.S. has joined allies in unleashing a spate of sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told The Hill many of the sanctions have been aimed at raising costs for Russia and restricting how its government accesses the global financial system.
“So, limiting their bank’s ability to the government’s ability to use global banks,” Ziemba continued. “And the sanctions program was set up in a way that tried to use the areas of asymmetry that would hurt Russia more than it would hurt the U.S. and Europe.”Russia installs new general as it prepares next moveEnergy & Environment — How Russian sanctions could hasten energy switch
On the flip side, Ziemba said some of the impacts the U.S. has seen as a result of the sanctions have been “sort of indirect,” while Russia has faced more payment challenges.
“The other issue, of course, the Biden administration is trying to do what they can to alleviate some of these costs. The challenges are we’re in a tight market … and I do think one of the challenges is going to be that a number of the producers of particularly oil and gas don’t make decisions quickly to change their production,” Ziemba said.
“I think that’s where the debates with sort of countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE [United Arab Emirates] have been reluctant to deviate from their go-slow additional supply policy have been disappointing to the administration,” she added. | https://www.wane.com/news/heres-how-the-russia-ukraine-war-is-driving-up-prices/ | 2022-04-12T13:55:03 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/heres-how-the-russia-ukraine-war-is-driving-up-prices/ |
(The Hill) — Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) says he hasn’t decided whether to run for re-election in 2024, when he could be on the same ballot as Donald Trump if the former president seeks another bid for the White House.
Romney has cast several high-profile votes putting him at odds with the GOP base — including two votes to convict former Trump on impeachment charges. He became the first senator in history to convict a president of his own party in an impeachment trial in 2020.
Just last week, Romney was one of only three Republicans to vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
Trump is less popular among Republicans in Utah than other states but still handily beat Biden there by 20 points, 58.1 percent to 37.6 percent, in 2020.
Romney told The Hill that he hasn’t given much thought to running for a second term.
“I’m going to cross that bridge down the road. I haven’t given a lot of attention yet,” he said following his vote for Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the court. The other two GOP “yes” votes came from Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska).
Romney, 75, hasn’t spent much energy on fundraising. His Senate campaign account reported $473,000 in cash on hand at the end of 2021 — only $215,000 more than what he reported after winning his Senate seat in 2018.
Romney could face a challenge from Republican state Attorney General Sean Reyes, who supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) also may make a bid for Romney’s seat.
“I think that’s why he is giving this some pause. He will have a tough race with the Republican nomination process,” said Richard Davis, a professor emeritus of political science at Brigham Young University.
Davis said that Romney’s vote for Jackson, whom the senator praised as “a person of honor,” would likely be an issue in a future primary.
Romney is considered unlikely to win the Republican nomination at the state party convention, which is dominated by activists, so he would likely have to collect enough petition signatures to bypass the convention and advance to a primary.
Political experts and strategists say a primary election would provide more favorable ground to Romney than a convention, pointing to his performance in 2018.
Romney narrowly lost to state Rep. Mike Kennedy at the 2018 state convention but went on to handily win that year’s primary.
Davis said both Chaffetz and Reyes would be tough primary rivals for Romney.
“Either one of them would be a formidable opponent for Romney within the Republican Party because he has made himself persona non grata with many of the conservative Republicans,” Davis. “He’s actually more popular with Democrats and independents than he is with Republicans right now. So getting past the Republican primary would be a tough one.”
Davis said Romney could run and win as an independent or as a centrist candidate for the United Utah Party, which formed in 2017.
Romney’s uneasy relationship with Utah conservatives was underscored by his decision not to endorse fellow Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who is running for re-election this year.
“I don’t think endorsements make any difference in a race to speak of,” Romney told reporters. “People in the race are my friends. I usually try and avoid situations where they’ve been friends. I may endorse and I may not, but I really haven’t given it any thought at this point.”
Romney was personally recruited to the Senate by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2017, and has become an influential member after only three years in the chamber.
He helped negotiate last year’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment Act and this month hammered out a compromise $10 billion COVID relief bill with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Few senators of either party have resumes as impressive as Romney’s. He amassed a fortune as the co-founder of Bain Capital before becoming elected governor of Massachusetts, where he enacted sweeping healthcare reform that later became the template for the Affordable Care Act.
He ran a credible campaign for president in 2008 and won the GOP nomination for president in 2012, though he lost to President Barack Obama by 4 percent of the popular vote and more than 100 electoral votes.
Romney is now winning plaudits for identifying Russia as “our number one geopolitical foe” in 2012 when he was the Republican nominee, an assessment that Obama scoffed at in 2020 but now looks prescient.
That could give Romney, a member of the Foreign Relations panel, a strong rationale to run for another term as the United States continues to figure out its role and relationship in the rapidly changing international political environment.
U.S. leadership of the North America Treaty Organization has become more important since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February and U.S. relations with China, a rising global power, appear as unpredictable as ever.
“If he runs for re-election in a couple years, I got a good slogan for him: ‘He was right about Russia,’” said Vin Weber, a Republican strategist who served as an advisor to Romney’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.
Weber said he thinks Romney will run for another term given his deep commitment to public service, his interest in foreign affairs and the new challenges facing the nation in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
“Mitt Romney is incredibly dedicated to public service,” said Weber, who described it as a “very deep, multi-generational family commitment.”
“I guess I would be surprised if he would hang it up and just go back to private life,” Weber said.
A Deseret News/Hinkley Institute of Politics poll published last month showed that Romney enjoys a strong job approval rating in the state, with 51 percent of Republicans, 51 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of unaffiliated voters giving him a positive rating.
Weber said that while Trump’s critics in the GOP “are a little bit marginalized,” it doesn’t pose an insurmountable obstacle to Romney winning a second term.
“I think that’s an overstated phenomenon,” he said, of the view that Trump’s critics don’t have a promising future in Republican politics.
Davis, the BYU political science professor emeritus, said Romney’s three years in Washington have been “enormously impactful.”
“He has become sort of the undesirable conscience of the Republican Party. They don’t want this conscience but he is it. To vote twice to convict the president of his own party is just something nobody else in Senate history has done,” he said. It’s highly unusual.”
James Curry, a professor of political science at the University of Utah, noted that Trump isn’t as popular with Republicans in Utah as he is in other states.
In the 2016 election, Trump failed to win more than 50 percent of the state’s vote in the general election. Evan McMullin, the independent candidate that year, won 21 percent of the vote, while Hillary Clinton won 27 percent, holding Trump to 45 percent.
“I think he actually has a better chance of re-election than the conventional wisdom has been,” he said. “Utah Republicans on the whole are less favorable towards Trump.
“Moderate LDS voters who register Republicans, who are pretty loyal Republicans, are pretty uncomfortable with Trump’s brand of Republican politics, with the perceived moral character of the candidate,” he said, referring to the Mormon Church or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “LDS Republicans tend to be pretty pro-immigrant, pro-refugee, and you have a candidate in Trump who made [his] signature issues to be on the opposite side of that.” | https://www.wane.com/news/romney-now-a-gop-maverick-undecided-on-future-in-politics/ | 2022-04-12T13:55:09 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/romney-now-a-gop-maverick-undecided-on-future-in-politics/ |
What do we know about “stealth omicron” so far?
It’s an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant, but it doesn’t seem to cause more severe disease.
Since it was first identified in November, BA.2 has been spreading around the globe, driving new surges in parts of Asia and Europe. It’s now the dominant coronavirus version in the U.S. and more than five dozen other countries.
It was given the “stealth” nickname because it looks like the earlier delta variant on certain PCR tests, says Kristen Coleman at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The original omicron, by contrast, is easy to differentiate from delta because of a genetic quirk.
In rare cases, early research indicates BA.2 can infect people even if they’ve already had an omicron infection. COVID-19 vaccines appear just as effective against both kinds of omicron, offering strong protection against severe illness and death.
Health officials also are tracking other variants including XE — a combination of BA.2 and BA.1, the original omicron — that was first identified in January in the United Kingdom. The World Health Organization is keeping tabs on XE but has not yet deemed it a variant of concern or interest. | https://www.wane.com/news/stealth-omicron-what-we-know-so-far/ | 2022-04-12T13:55:15 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/stealth-omicron-what-we-know-so-far/ |
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Target is holding its biannual car seat trade-in event next week for families to bring an old, expired or damaged car seat to be recycled for a coupon.
Car seats can be traded in from April 18 through April 30 at any Target store. Drop-off boxes will be located near guest services.
Those trading in will receive a 20% off coupon on their Target app or Target Circle account, which can be redeemed through May 14. The coupon applies to new car seats, strollers, and select baby gear.
According to The Bump, those using a car seat for a child can tell if it is expired by looking for a small, white sticker somewhere on the seat with the date the seat expires. The website said other brands have information imprinted somewhere on the plastic shell of the seat. The Bump also offers information on where to find the date, listed by brand.
Materials from old car seats will be recycled by Waste Management.
Target hosts its car seat trade-in twice a year. A total of 1.7 million car seats have been recycled through Target since 2016, amounting to 25.4 million pounds of materials.
More information can be found on the company’s website. | https://www.wane.com/news/targets-car-seat-trade-in-returns-how-to-get-your-free-coupon/ | 2022-04-12T13:55:21 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/targets-car-seat-trade-in-returns-how-to-get-your-free-coupon/ |
ANTWERP, Ohio (WANE) – Coming off a historic season that saw Antwerp reach the state finals for the first time in program history, we’re proud to honor the Archers boys basketball squad as your Optimum Performance Sports “Team of the Week.”
Antwerp celebrated their special season with a team banquet this past Wednesday at the high school.
The Archers finished 26-2 overall, advancing to the Division IV final four. Antwerp fell to Tri-Village 44-41 in the state semifinals in Dayton.
Under coach Doug Billman the Archers have been virtually unbeatable in recent years, having gone a combined 74-5 over the last three seasons.
This season the Archers were led by University of Findlay recruit Jagger Landers, as the program’s all-time leader scorer averaged 19.6 points and 9 rebounds a game. Sophomore Landon Brewer added 13.5 point and 5.6 rebounds a night, while senior guard Luke Krouse put up 8.1 points and a team-high 4.5 assists. | https://www.wane.com/sports/team-of-the-week/totw-antwerp-archers-boys-basketball/ | 2022-04-12T13:55:27 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/sports/team-of-the-week/totw-antwerp-archers-boys-basketball/ |
For this edition of the Two-Minute Money Plan, Greg Reynolds with Reynolds Wealth Management explains how the markets are reacting to moves by the Federal Reserve.
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You have been added to Daily News Newsletter | https://www.wane.com/two-minute-money-plan/two-minute-money-plan-market-reacts-to-the-fed/ | 2022-04-12T13:55:33 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/two-minute-money-plan/two-minute-money-plan-market-reacts-to-the-fed/ |
PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Trail Blazers interim GM Joe Cronin spoke at team's season-ending media exit interviews Monday and gave his vision for the franchise's offseason and the next steps for the organization.
Cronin didn't reveal anything earth shattering but he shared some important tidbits regarding the core group of veterans he sees as building blocks in Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, Josh Hart, Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little and Justise Winslow. He said he wants the team to be competitive as quickly as possible with that six-man unit anchoring the direction and the decision making going forward.
Cronin also touched on his draft approach, discussing what the team might do if it landed two lottery picks, including admitting trading a potential second lottery pick from New Orleans if that option becomes available. There wasn't much headline grabbing news or soundbites, but Cronin showed the blueprint for what his offseason will look like and how the team will approach the coming months. It's always worth listening when the top decision maker speaks.
The show closes with a quick look a the West play-in game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Clippers. Blazers fans will need to immediately start rooting for whomever loses that one.
WATCH: Locked On Blazers podcast
LISTEN: Locked On Blazers podcast
About Locked On Blazers
Mike Richman has covered the Portland Trail Blazers in various capacities since 2014 as a beat writer for The Oregonian, a reporter at NBC Sports Northwest and now in the form of the only daily Trail Blazers podcast, Locked On Blazers. The Pass First Point Guard will get you closer to the team with reports from inside the Moda Center and by unpacking the statistics to know and about your favorite team. You will also find regular guests and can get your questions answered with weekly mailbag shows.
If you would like to participate in the weekly mailbag show, submit your questions to @mikegrich on Twitter or email lockedonblazerspod@gmail.com.
Locked On Blazers is the best way to stay up to date on the latest happenings in the Portland basketball world. It’s available wherever you get podcasts and on YouTube with new shows every weekday. | https://www.kgw.com/article/sports/nba/blazers/joe-cronin-trail-blazers-offseason-plan/283-37480ced-bda7-4d0f-a58e-c37572a04736 | 2022-04-12T13:57:42 | 1 | https://www.kgw.com/article/sports/nba/blazers/joe-cronin-trail-blazers-offseason-plan/283-37480ced-bda7-4d0f-a58e-c37572a04736 |
NEW YORK (AP) — Five people were shot Tuesday morning at a subway station in Brooklyn, New York, law enforcement sources said.
Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in the Sunset Park neighborhood found multiple people shot and undetonated devices, a New York City Fire Department spokesperson said. The fire department said 13 people were injured, but there were no details on what those injuries entailed.
According to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, preliminary information indicated a suspect fled wearing a construction vest and a gas mask.
A photo from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the station.
Further details were not immediately available.
Trains servicing that station were delayed during the morning rush hour.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not immediately have more details. Adams was at the mayor’s residence Tuesday morning and was being briefed, according to a spokesperson.
___
Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report. | https://www.wfla.com/news/national/multiple-people-shot-at-new-york-city-subway-station/ | 2022-04-12T14:01:31 | 0 | https://www.wfla.com/news/national/multiple-people-shot-at-new-york-city-subway-station/ |
(The Hill) — Last month’s domestic flight prices were 20 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to data released Tuesday.
The analysis from Adobe Digital Insights reveals that travelers are already experiencing significant price hikes. In February, flight prices were only up 5 percent from the same period in 2019, while January prices were 3 percent lower than pre-pandemic levels.
The uptick is driven by a recent boom in bookings that coincided with low COVID-19 case counts. The analysis found that customers spent $8.8 billion on tickets online last month, a 28 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels and a 32 percent increase from February.
“The unleash of pent-up demand has been a major driving factor, as the desire for air travel is coming back more aggressively than anticipated,” Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya said in a statement.
Experts have advised travelers to book their flights soon, warning that prices will only rise further as demand outpaces supply. Major airlines already weren’t seating as many passengers as they were before the pandemic, and they’ve recently cut down on their schedules to account for higher fuel prices.
The cost of jet fuel in North America rose by 30 percent over the last month and is up 158 percent from one year ago, according to data from S&P Global. Prices spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and remained elevated in recent weeks, even as the price of crude oil dropped.
Another analysis from flight booking website Hopper released last week found that domestic flight prices have increased by 40 percent since the start of the year and are expected to rise another 10 percent next month. | https://www.wfla.com/news/national/us-flight-prices-surged-in-march-analysis/ | 2022-04-12T14:01:37 | 1 | https://www.wfla.com/news/national/us-flight-prices-surged-in-march-analysis/ |
Fire destroys historic Ashland house
ASHLAND, Neb. (WOWT) - The call went out at 2:20 a.m. Tuesday that a historic house southeast of Ashland, Nebraska was on fire. The first officer to arrive reported it was fully engulfed in flames.
In the end, the Israel Beetison House just off the Mahoney exit of Interstate 80 was destroyed.
The Ashland Fire Department had to take defensive measures to put the fire out.
The fire marshal will investigate the cause.
According to the city of Ashland, the house was built in 1874-1875 and was listed on the National Register in 1976. It was sold in 1999 and had been vacant ever since.
A team of consultants involving the city and developer conducted an on-site evaluation in February of this year to evaluate the house’s structural integrity and condition of historic fabric.
It found the house will need structural stabilization and total renovation. A renovation would cost about $1 million.
Copyright 2022 WOWT. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/fire-destroys-historic-ashland-house/ | 2022-04-12T14:02:31 | 0 | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/fire-destroys-historic-ashland-house/ |
Governor orders flags to fly at half-staff to honor fallen fire chief
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Governor Pete Ricketts ordered flags to fly at half-staff on Wednesday to honor the passing of Elwood Volunteer Fire Department Chief Darren Krull.
“Susanne and I were heartbroken to receive news of the passing of Fire Chief Krull,” said Gov. Ricketts. “Our prayers go out to his family and community as they mourn his loss. The bravery shown by Fire Chief Krull exemplifies the selfless service that makes our state great. As we reflect on his heroic sacrifice, we’re reminded of the courageous firefighters working in harm’s way across Nebraska to protect lives and property. We salute their dedication and pray for their safety.”
Flags will fly at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.
Krull was killed in a deadly crash while responding to a large fire southeast of Elwood last week.
Copyright 2022 KOLN. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/governor-orders-flags-fly-half-staff-honor-fallen-fire-chief/ | 2022-04-12T14:02:32 | 1 | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/governor-orders-flags-fly-half-staff-honor-fallen-fire-chief/ |
Hungry javelina gets stuck in car, goes for ride in Arizona
CORNVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — A hungry javelina in Arizona ended up going for a drive when it became trapped inside an empty car and bumped it into neutral.
Deputies in Yavapai County responded to a call last week in Cornville, a community 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Sedona, about a javelina stuck in a Subaru station wagon. Javelinas are pig-like animals that are native to desert environments.
After speaking with the car’s owner and other residents, they determined the car’s hatchback had been left open overnight.
The javelina jumped in to get to a bag of Cheetos. The hatch then closed, trapping the animal inside.
Authorities say the javelina ripped off a portion of the dashboard and the inside of a door in an attempt to escape.
The animal then managed to knock the car into neutral, causing it to roll down the driveway and across the street. The Subaru came to a rest, and the javelina was not injured.
A deputy opened the hatch, and the javelina was able to run back into the wilderness.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-car-goes-ride-arizona/ | 2022-04-12T14:02:36 | 1 | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-car-goes-ride-arizona/ |
LIVE: 5 shot, unexploded devices found at NYC train station
NEW YORK (AP) — Five people were shot Tuesday morning at a subway station in Brooklyn, New York, law enforcement sources said.
Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in the Sunset Park neighborhood found multiple people shot and undetonated devices, a New York City Fire Department spokesperson said. The fire department said 13 people were injured, but there were no details on what those injuries entailed.
According to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, preliminary information indicated a suspect fled wearing a construction vest and a gas mask.
A photo from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the station.
Further details were not immediately available.
Trains servicing that station were delayed during the morning rush hour.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not immediately have more details. Adams was at the mayor’s residence Tuesday morning and was being briefed, according to a spokesperson.
___
Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/multiple-people-shot-new-york-city-subway-station/ | 2022-04-12T14:02:44 | 1 | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/12/multiple-people-shot-new-york-city-subway-station/ |
ANNAPOLIS — For the first time since 2018, balloons dropped to celebrate Sine Die, the end of another legislative session. It was a session that found Democrats and Republicans happy.
"Not only was it a successful session, it was a historic session," said Senate President Bill Ferguson. "We are very pleased with the session generally," said Governor Larry Hogan. "I think it was our best session after eight years. We're successful at accomplishing nearly everything we wanted to accomplish."
With a $7 billion excess in state coffers legislators had a lot to work with. A major climate change bill was passed that should help with green house gases emissions in Maryland. Ghost guns were made illegal but the governors hard stance of violent crime failed in a year when violence is rising in Baltimore.
"At the end of the day, I think we invested in the right way," Governor Hogan said. "One single bill will not solve crime. "
The governor has tried to pass a retirement tax bill for seniors for years and was able to get a pass this year recreational marijuana will be put to the vote by Marylanders in the upcoming election. Law makers strengthen the states cybersecurity by creating a centralized network. The governor had one last message to law makers that did not get his violent crime bill passed.
With the 2022 session in the books, lawmakers will head home and start campaigning for it is an election year and with an election year and some lawmakers deciding to retire we will have to see who will be back for the 2023 session. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/2022-legislative-session-wraps-up | 2022-04-12T14:14:20 | 1 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/2022-legislative-session-wraps-up |
BALTIMORE (WMAR) — The Back River Restoration Committee is holding a community meeting Tuesday night to hear from experts about the situation at the treatment plant.
Three weeks ago, the state took control over the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant after continued discharge violations and operational issues.
Blue Water Baltimore, and the state, have also filed suits against the city in regards to the plants problems.
Baltimore’s Harbor Waterkeeper Alice Volpitta will be among those speaking.
“Temperatures are warming up and that means that people are going to be coming into contact with their local waterways more and more often as we get further into the spring and summertime. So these issues are really important to the people who are living and playing in the back river community,” said Volpitta.
In addition to talking about the past issues and the lawsuits in progress, she will offer an opportunity for people to be involved in the roll out of their community water quality testing pilot program next month.
“We're looking at providing residents with some materials that they need and the knowledge that they need to do some sampling in the Back River on their own accord. What that looks like is taking a sample of water wherever people are interested in what the bacteria content is in that location, probably around parks or off of people's own docks, and then we'll be able to run those samples at Blue Water Baltimore's office and provide bacteria results in 24 hours,” said Volpitta. “This is just to kind of see where we are. This is to establish a baseline of bacteria content in the Back River.”
The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at Hawks Pleasure Club. A state delegate, county councilman and representative from the Maryland Department of the Environment are also set to present.
According to MDE, the Maryland Environmental Service management team was onsite at Back River WWTP every day the week of March 28, identifying operational and maintenance issues and developing plans to make improvements at the plant. This management team is being led by MES’ Managing Director of Water and Wastewater, along with experts in operations and maintenance, engineering, biosolids, construction management, and safety and compliance.
Eleven MES licensed operators and a supervisor, who is also a licensed operator, reported to the site last Monday morning to begin orientation and training, detailing operational duties and testing/sampling requirements. Operators will begin working in three shifts this week to allow for 24-hour coverage. In addition, three to five MES maintenance staff members have been on-site to begin to address the need for skilled operators and the lack of maintenance staff. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/community-to-meet-with-experts-about-back-river-issues | 2022-04-12T14:14:27 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/community-to-meet-with-experts-about-back-river-issues |
BALTIMORE — A sea turtle rescued last November by the National Aquarium in Baltimore is on the mend after receiving acupuncture treatment.
Bassoon, was found stranded in Cape Cod, Massachusetts along with 29 other turtles.
But, aquarium officials say he was in worse condition than the others.
Bassoon reportedly couldn't open his jaw, which didn't allow him to eat.
After undergoing a CT scan and being diagnosed with myositis of the jaw muscles, Bassoon received localized anti-inflammatory injections, followed by physical therapy and acupuncture treatment.
He can now fully open his jaw and is successfully foraging on his own after weeks of tong-assisted feedings. The Aquarium’s Animal Health experts report that Bassoon is now much more alert and active than he was upon arrival.
Bassoon still has a long road ahead, but the aquariums is optimistic that he will ultimately make a full recovery.
“While acupuncture isn’t commonly performed, we have used this treatment successfully in the past with other reptiles like snakes and lizards,” said Dr. Aimee Berliner, director of Animal Health and Welfare at the National Aquarium. “We’re so pleased to see Bassoon’s progress and look forward to the day when we can return him to his ocean home.”
Last month, 15 of those turtles that were rescued with Bassoon were released back into the ocean. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/rescued-sea-turtle-now-able-to-eat-after-receiving-acupuncture-at-national-aquarium-in-baltimore | 2022-04-12T14:14:33 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/rescued-sea-turtle-now-able-to-eat-after-receiving-acupuncture-at-national-aquarium-in-baltimore |
Inflation has hit a 40-year-high, according to data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday.
New data shows inflation climbed to 8.5% in March, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received.
The Labor Department said the 12-month jump in inflation is the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981.
Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Rental rates have also increased for the past seven months.
The government’s report also showed that inflation rose 1.2% from February to March, up from a 0.8% increase from January to February.
The Federal Reserve will likely move forward with its plans to continue raising interest rates to fight inflation.
It raised its key federal funds rate in March to a range of 0.25% to 0.5%.
The Fed is projecting at least six more rate hikes this year. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/inflation-jumped-8-5-in-past-year-highest-since-1981-labor-department-reports | 2022-04-12T14:14:39 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/inflation-jumped-8-5-in-past-year-highest-since-1981-labor-department-reports |
CHICAGO — Supply chain issues coupled with a massive recall of CPAP devices by one of the world’s largest manufacturers have left many people with sleep apnea looking for alternatives.
For 80-year-old retiree Dan Sheehan, dealing with sleep apnea has meant countless restless nights.
“I will 71 — times an hour — I quit breathing, which is high,” said Sheehan.
That’s more than once a minute. He tried a CPAP machine for about five years.
“In two hours, my mouth would be not dry but stuck together and I had the humidity thing on danger,” he said.
It didn’t work for his wife Darlene either.
“The mask is all over the place. You know, he's making all kinds of noises. I actually did move out of our bedroom,” she said. “We all had to sleep.”
Sleep-disordered breathing is extremely common, affecting about a billion people globally.
It sometimes includes snoring but obstructive sleep apnea, which causes the airways to become blocked, is the most serious.
One recent study found that obstructive sleep apnea increases a person's risk of developing cardiovascular conditions including hypertension, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure. And they’re twice as likely to experience sudden death compared to people who don’t have it.
“It had gotten a little worse, a little worse until I said, ‘You know, you got to tell the doctor this is what's going on,’” said Darlene Sheehan.
Dan’s doctor recommended he’d be a good candidate for an innovative treatment using a device surgically implanted in the chest known as the Inspire Sleep Apnea device.
“It's a safe surgery, but it's a complicated one to do. It takes on average about two hours to perform. Patients, fortunately, can go home the same day,” said Dr. Phillip Losavio, head of sleep surgery at Rush University Medical Center.
The patient can control the implanted device using a remote control.
When the muscles and soft tissues of the throat relax, they block the airway. That’s when the matchbox-sized regulator delivers mild neural stimulation.
“What the device is doing is it's trying to prevent those muscles from collapsing on each other and preventing that decrease in airflow from occurring,” said Losavio.
It’s not dissimilar from having a pacemaker. Dan Sheehan has both.
“Can you put two generators in one chest? I don't want to light up like Frankenstein, you know. So that cleared with the heart surgeon,” said Sheehan.
His wife Darlene said Dan now wakes up happier and more relaxed each morning.
“No more dry mouth, no more cleaning the machine,” she said. “He's not much of a cleaner anyway.”
Studies have found the device to be at least 70% effective and it’s now offered in more than 500 medical centers around the country.
And while it’s not for everyone, Dan Sheehan says with the implant, he’s never slept better.
“I get a little towel I’m drooling now. So, I went full circle. For me, it's worked great.” | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/more-people-seeking-sleep-apnea-treatment-implant | 2022-04-12T14:14:45 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/more-people-seeking-sleep-apnea-treatment-implant |
NEW YORK (AP) — Multiple people were shot Tuesday morning at a subway station in Brooklyn, New York, the city fire department said.
Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park found multiple people shot.
A photo from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the station floor.
New York City police said they were responding to reports of people wounded either by gunfire or an explosion.
Trains servicing that station were delayed during the morning commute.
CNN reports that the suspect is a male who was possibly wearing a gas mask. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/multiple-people-shot-at-new-york-city-subway-station | 2022-04-12T14:14:51 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/multiple-people-shot-at-new-york-city-subway-station |
New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin has been arrested in a federal corruption investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Benjamin was arrested Tuesday on charges of bribery, honest services wire fraud and falsification of records. Benjamin, formerly a state senator from Harlem, had joined the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul in September, chosen by her to fill her former job a couple of weeks after she stepped into the governorship.
Benjamin was the state’s second Black lieutenant governor. During his state Legislature career, the Democrat emphasized criminal justice reform and affordable housing.
Prior to being selected as the state’s new lieutenant governor, he unsuccessfully ran for the New York City comptroller in 2021. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/ny-lt-gov-benjamin-arrested-in-federal-corruption-investigation | 2022-04-12T14:14:57 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/ny-lt-gov-benjamin-arrested-in-federal-corruption-investigation |
A new study shows how your personality can affect your health throughout your life.
People who worried more, lacked self-discipline or were introverted were more likely to develop cognitive decline.
They were also more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
But there is something you can do about it.
Being socially engaged can buy you an extra year without Dementia.
If you stay organized and goal-oriented, you can get two years of healthy cognitive function.
The findings were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/study-your-personality-can-affect-how-your-brain-ages | 2022-04-12T14:15:03 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/news/national/study-your-personality-can-affect-how-your-brain-ages |
BALTIMORE — Scattered showers this morning and drier this afternoon with some sun. Highs will be in the mid 70s. The next best chance for showers and storms comes on Thursday. Severe storms are possible. Damaging gusty wind is the primary threat. It will be warm and more humid with highs in the upper 70s to low 80s. High temps will be drop into the upper 60s to low 70s on Good Friday with sun and clouds. Showers are possible on Saturday but, right now, Easter looks dry but below normal in the low 60s.
Stay tuned!
7 Day Forecast:
Today: A slight chance of rain before 8am, then a chance of showers between 8am and 2pm. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 76. Northwest wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Tonight: Increasing clouds, with a low around 56. Light and variable wind.
Wednesday: A slight chance of showers between 2pm and 5pm, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. Light southeast wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. Southwest wind around 9 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.
Thursday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. Southwest wind 9 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Thursday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 8pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 49. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 71.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 50.
Saturday: A chance of showers after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 72. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Saturday Night
A chance of showers before 8pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 43. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 61.
Sunday Night: A chance of showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 41. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Monday: A chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 61. Chance of precipitation is 40%. | https://www.wmar2news.com/weather/warmer-with-morning-scattered-showers | 2022-04-12T14:15:09 | 0 | https://www.wmar2news.com/weather/warmer-with-morning-scattered-showers |
FONTANA, Calif. – An Indiana man killed following a bank robbery in California was also charged in a Bloomington bank robbery from last year.
Police said Travis Tarrants, 45, of Spencer, attempted to rob a Bank of America at gunpoint in Fontana, California, on April 7. He then fled to a nearby Wendy’s and tried to blend in with customers.
Customers alerted police to Tarrants’ location; he ran out the backdoor and was confronted by officers, according to KTLA.
The confrontation led to at least one officer firing a shot. Tarrants died as a result of his injuries.
According to the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office, Tarrants robbed the Old National Bank on West Third Street in Bloomington on Nov. 15. He was charged with armed robbery, attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer and resisting law enforcement resulting in injury.
A judge released him from jail in January 2022 against the objection of prosecutors. After he failed to show up for a Feb. 15 hearing, an arrest warrant was issued on Feb. 28.
Tarrants was also involved in a bizarre 2016 case in southern Indiana in which he was accused of stalking and intimidating a couple. The harassment came after he failed to get a job as a teacher and basketball coach at an Orange County school.
Tarrants mailed them packages filled with dead animals and sent multiple letters to both of the victims’ work, in one letter accusing a man of having a sexual relationship with an underage student.
He threatened them, left intimidating voicemails and called the Department of Child Services to report unfounded allegations of sexual abuse.
He eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of stalking and was sentenced to five years in the Indiana Department of Correction. He was released from prison in September 2021. | https://fox59.com/indiana-news/indiana-fugitive-fatally-shot-following-california-bank-robbery-also-robbed-bloomington-bank-last-year/ | 2022-04-12T14:22:46 | 0 | https://fox59.com/indiana-news/indiana-fugitive-fatally-shot-following-california-bank-robbery-also-robbed-bloomington-bank-last-year/ |
FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. – The trial of a Colorado man accused of murdering his wife will go forward, though not without controversy.
A judge ruled last week that Barry Morphew’s case can proceed. Morphew is accused of killing his wife, Suzanne, in 2020.
Suzanne Morphew is a former resident of Alexandria, Indiana, who moved to Colorado several years ago. She disappeared on Mother’s Day weekend in 2020, setting off a large search and an extensive investigation into her disappearance.
Police arrested her husband a year later, in May 2021. The expansive case involved 70 investigators, thousands of hours and more than 135 search warrants. Police interviewed 400 witnesses in multiple states and checked into more than 1,400 tips.
Suzanne’s body has never been found.
Barry Morphew is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. Prosecutors later accused him of submitting a presidential ballot in his wife’s name.
Attorneys for Morphew had asked for the case to be dismissed, saying there was no evidence of a murder.
“It has been well established and confessed by the prosecution that there is no body, no confession, no eyewitness testimony, or physical evidence that Ms. Morphew is dead, was murdered, or that Mr. Morphew is responsible,” his attorneys wrote, according to KXRM.
The defense team also said it hadn’t received all the prosecution’s discovery materials. Judge Ramsey Lama acknowledged the prosecution’s shortcomings in sharing materials. He had earlier struck down testimony from several expert witnesses.
Many of the discovery violations involve missing deadlines to turn over certain materials. The judge said the prosecution displayed a “continuing pattern” of failing to meet its obligations under Rule 16, which is its duty to turn over discovery materials ahead of trial.
Lama also disclosed that investigators were aware of a DNA match that didn’t belong to Morphew on some items belonging to Suzanne, including her bike helmet, bike seat and some areas of her car.
That DNA was a partial match for genetic material linked to unsolved sexual assault investigations in Illinois and Arizona.
The information, however, was not provided to the court at the time of Morphew’s arrest. Lama acknowledged that it should have been disclosed in a timelier manner.
Investigators had also disagreed on the timing of Morphew’s arrest and the need for additional evidence.
Morphew’s trial is scheduled to start on April 28 and could last up to five weeks. | https://fox59.com/indiana-news/trial-to-move-forward-in-case-of-husband-accused-of-murdering-indiana-native/ | 2022-04-12T14:22:46 | 0 | https://fox59.com/indiana-news/trial-to-move-forward-in-case-of-husband-accused-of-murdering-indiana-native/ |
INDIANAPOLIS — After planting their dreams at City Market, things are really blooming for two flower-loving guys. Sherman shows us “Flower Boys” at Fletcher Place.
Posted:
Updated:
INDIANAPOLIS — After planting their dreams at City Market, things are really blooming for two flower-loving guys. Sherman shows us “Flower Boys” at Fletcher Place. | https://fox59.com/morning-news/where-is-sherman/where-is-sherman-flower-boys/ | 2022-04-12T14:22:47 | 1 | https://fox59.com/morning-news/where-is-sherman/where-is-sherman-flower-boys/ |
INDIANAPOLIS — Former NFL players, including former Colts linebacker, Gary Brackett, join the CDC in a townhall discussion on Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy. The townhall will be streamed online.
Countdown to the
2022 Tax Filing Deadline
2022 Tax Filing Deadline
April 18 2022 12:00 am | https://fox59.com/news/cdc-nfl-tackle-covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy/ | 2022-04-12T14:22:48 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/cdc-nfl-tackle-covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy/ |
WEST LAFAYETTE — Cancer research never ceases on the campus of Purdue University.
The Purdue Center for Cancer Research is persistent in its pursuit to find a cure for cancer. Along the way, there have been many successes and breakthroughs in treatments and therapies for cancer patients…and those include both humans and animals.
One of those active studies currently happening is a collaboration with the veterinary scientists researching naturally occurring cancers in dogs and finding effective treatments that are not only beneficial to dogs, but humans as well.
On the latest episode of Full Steam Ahead: A Podcast About Purdue, FOX59’s Adam Bartels talks with Dr. Timothy Ratliff, who serves as the Robert Wallace Miller Director of the Purdue Center for Cancer Research, about this fascinating study, its importance, its impact, and much more!
To donate to the Purdue Center for Cancer Research, click here.
Follow the Full Steam Ahead podcast on Twitter, @fullsteampod, and subscribe to the podcast through your favorite app so new episodes go directly to your phone or tablet.
Watch the interview at the top of this article, and or listen to this episode below.
You can also listen to, subscribe, like, and/or comment on the podcasts on the following platforms | https://fox59.com/news/full-steam-ahead-podcast-episode-142-canine-cancer-research-benefits-dogs-and-humans/ | 2022-04-12T14:22:48 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/full-steam-ahead-podcast-episode-142-canine-cancer-research-benefits-dogs-and-humans/ |
SUNSET PARK, Brooklyn (PIX11) — Multiple people were found shot in a subway station in Brooklyn Tuesday morning, officials said.
FDNY said a call came in at around 8:27 a.m. for smoke coming in the 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park. Upon arrival, responders found the victims and several undetonated devices at the same location.
First responders told PIX11 News likely more than five were shot. FDNY told PIX11 News that 13 injured individuals have been taken to area hospitals. At least 10 had gunshot wounds.
Three patients are being treated at Methodist Hospital, according to PIX11’s Anthony DiLorenzo. A woman sustained a gunshot wound to the back and the other two sustained a leg and head injury, respectively.
Officials said the suspect was seen leaving wearing an MTA vest and a mask.
Police said there are currently no active explosive devices. City officials advise everyone to stay away from the area. The scene continues to be active.
Image from the scene following a sho0ting at a subway station in Brooklyn (PIX11) Image from the scene following a sho0ting at a subway station in Brooklyn (PIX11) First responders are in Sunset Park, Brooklyn where multiple people were found shot and injured. (PIX11)
This is a developing story; check back for updates. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/multiple-shot-in-brooklyn-subway-station-officials-say/ | 2022-04-12T14:23:06 | 0 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/multiple-shot-in-brooklyn-subway-station-officials-say/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier — the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981. Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The government’s report also showed that inflation rose 1.2% from February to March, up from a 0.8% increase from January to February.
The March inflation numbers were the first to capture the full surge in gasoline prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow’s brutal attacks have triggered far-reaching Western sanctions against the Russian economy and have disrupted global food and energy markets. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline — $4.10 — is up 43% from a year ago, though it has fallen back in the past couple of weeks.
The escalation of energy prices has led to higher transportation costs for the shipment of goods and components across the economy, which, in turn, has contributed to higher prices for consumers.
The latest evidence of accelerating prices will solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to slow borrowing and spending and tame inflation. The financial markets now foresee much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as last month.
Even before Russia’s war further spurred price increases, robust consumer spending, steady pay raises and chronic supply shortages had sent U.S. consumer inflation to its highest level in four decades. In addition, housing costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index, have escalated, a trend that seems unlikely to reverse anytime soon.
Economists point out that as the economy has emerged from the depths of the pandemic, consumers have been gradually broadening their spending beyond goods to include more services. A result is that high inflation, which at first had reflected mainly a shortage of goods — from cars and furniture to electronics and sports equipment — has been emerging in services, too, like travel, health care and entertainment.
The expected fast pace of the Fed’s rate increases will make loans sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses. Mortgage rates, in particular, though not directly influenced by the Fed, have rocketed higher in recent weeks, making home buying more expensive. Many economists say they worry that the Fed has waited too long to begin raising rates and might end up acting so aggressively as to trigger a recession.
For now, the economy as a whole remains solid, with unemployment near 50-year lows and job openings near record highs. Still, rocketing inflation, with its impact on Americans’ daily lives, is posing a political threat to President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies as they seek to keep control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
Economists generally express doubt that even the sharp rate hikes that are expected from the Fed will manage to reduce inflation anywhere near the central bank’s 2% annual target by the end of this year. Tilley, Wilmington Trust economist, said he expects year-over-year consumer inflation to still be 4.5% by the end of 2020. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he had forecast a much lower 3% rate.
Inflation, which had been largely under control for four decades, began to accelerate last spring as the U.S. and global economies rebounded with unexpected speed and strength from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession that began in the spring of 2020.
The recovery, fueled by huge infusions of government spending and super-low interest rates, caught businesses by surprise, forcing them to scramble to meet surging customer demand. Factories, ports and freight yards struggled to keep up, leading to chronic shipping delays and price spikes.
Critics also blame, in part, the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion March 2021 stimulus program, which included $1,400 relief checks for most households, for helping overheat an already sizzling economy.
Many Americans have been receiving pay increases, but the pace of inflation has more than wiped out those gains for most people. In February, after accounting for inflation, average hourly wages fell 2.5% from a year earlier. It was the 11th straight monthly drop in inflation-adjusted wages. | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/us-inflation-soars-to-40-year-high-jumping-8-5-in-past-year/ | 2022-04-12T14:23:12 | 1 | https://fox59.com/news/national-world/us-inflation-soars-to-40-year-high-jumping-8-5-in-past-year/ |
Itawamba Community College students will perform upcoming free shows for the public April 13 and 21.
CenterStage, a contemporary music group, scheduled its spring show, “Criminals, Villians & Renegades,” April 19, at 7 p.m. at the Band Hall on the Fulton campus. The event is part of a week-long celebration of the arts at ICC.
CenterStage’s vocalists, band and crew members include Madeline Martin of Amory; Lera Winders of Amory; and Lindsey Vineyard of Smithville.
Directors are Kyle Davis of Fulton and Christy Colburn of Amory. Mandy Eaton of Booneville is the adjunct choreographer.
Itawamba Community College’s Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble will present a spring concert at 6:30 p.m. April 21 in the W.O. Benjamin Fine Arts Center auditorium on the Fulton campus.
The event is part of a week-long celebration of the arts at ICC.
Local symphonic band members include Sarah Gonzalez-Oribe, Eryn Dancy, Kaya Baker, McKenze Gates, Lera Winders, Eric Bryan and A.K. McNairy, all of Aberdeen; Alexis Bourland, Ally Sullivan, Jayvion Melton, Gabrianna Hill, Brooke Roberts, Collin Magill and Amiya Robinson, all of Amory; Taya Baggett and Shemar Jones, both of Hamilton; Marley Edwards of Hatley; Jacquiline Lowe-Curtis and Sam Rowell, both of Nettleton; Savannah Beck, Brandon Harris and Robert Adams, all of Smithville; and Jade Bell, Ashton McIntosh and Madison McIntosh, all of Wren.
Wind Ensemble members include Sarah Webb and Madeline Martin, both of Amory, and Sara Knowles and Mallory Dabbs, both of Nettleton.
Directors are Christy Colburn and Eric Simmons, Symphonic Band, and Ryan Todd and Brenon Eaton, Wind Ensemble. | https://www.djournal.com/monroe/living/icc-musical-groups-hosting-their-spring-concerts/article_8588e8bb-05d9-5f11-8311-a40e44f5ecef.html | 2022-04-12T14:27:23 | 1 | https://www.djournal.com/monroe/living/icc-musical-groups-hosting-their-spring-concerts/article_8588e8bb-05d9-5f11-8311-a40e44f5ecef.html |
HUNTINGTON, Ind. (WANE) – Darby Maggard is best-known in local basketball circles as the talented point guard that helped guide Canterbury High School to the state title game four straight seasons (2012-15); however, Maggard is adding a new title to her resume as the 25-year old has been hired as the new head women’s basketball coach at Huntington University.
Maggard spent the last two years as a grad assistant/assistant coach at UT-Martin. Prior to that she played professionally in Ireland and Australia.
Maggard had the opportunity to play professionally after a stellar career at Belmont University in Nashville. She is Belmont’s career three-point field goal percentage leader (43.1percent), free throw percentage leader (92.4 percent), and led the Bruins to the NCAA Tournament four years in a row. An A.P. All-American in 2019, Maggard finished as the runner-up at the State Farm College 3-Point Championship as a senior.
Maggard finished second in 2015 Indiana Miss Basketball voting to Ali Patberg.
Huntington legend Lori Culler retired in February after spending 36 seasons leading the Foresters women’s basketball program. Culler, who still works at HU as the athletic director, tallied 632 career wins. | https://www.wane.com/college-sports/canterbury-grad-maggard-takes-over-huntington-womens-hoops/ | 2022-04-12T14:28:58 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/college-sports/canterbury-grad-maggard-takes-over-huntington-womens-hoops/ |
BONN, Germany (StudyFinds.org) – Apparently, one plus one equals tu-na. A new study reveals that fish are capable of doing simple math problems, just like people!
Researchers in Germany have found that cichlids and stingrays are both able to recognize and calculate small quantities without really having to count them — just like a person looking at their change on a table.
“We trained the animals to perform simple additions and subtractions,” explains Dr. Vera Schluessel from the Institute of Zoology at the University of Bonn in a release. “In doing so, they had to increase or decrease an initial value by one.”
Although some call fish the “dunces of the animal kingdom” because of their memory span — which can last just three seconds — the new study revealed their capacity for complex sums, adding and subtracting from one to five.
Their numerical skills were on a par with other invertebrate and vertebrate species and experts are beginning to suspect they are as intelligent as birds and mammals.
“Successful fish showed abilities far above chance level, specifically in the stingrays. Again, this raises the question of what abilities fish may be capable of if being asked the ‘right’ question,” the researchers write in the journal Scientific Reports.
Color-coded math problems
In experiments, the team trained the animals to recognize the colors blue and yellow as symbols for adding or subtracting by a factor of one. Eight of the fish were freshwater stingrays and the others were a species of cichlid known as zebra mbuna. During the experiments, blue meant “add one” and yellow meant “subtract one.”
Study authors showed each fish cards with shapes displaying either color in their tank and then presented them with two gates. They contained signs with different numbers of shapes — one of which was the correct mathematical answer. For example, if a fish saw three blue shapes, they would add one to three and swim through a gate displaying four shapes — gaining a food reward for answering correctly.
Six zebra mbuna and three stingrays learned to consistently associate blue with addition and yellow with subtraction. On average, it took the zebra mbuna 28 sessions to figure out the math problems and 68 sessions for the stingrays. In general, they performed well although addition was easier to learn.
Overall, success among the zebra mbuna varied, with the fish correctly answering 296 out of 381 (78%) tests. Meanwhile, stingrays answered 169 out of 180 (94%). For the subtraction test, zebra mbuna answered 264 out of 381 (69%) correctly, while stingrays got 161 out of 180 (89%) right.
“Overall, it seems likely that fish, independent of whether there is a direct biological need or not, can solve complex numerical tasks,” the researchers write.
So, what do fish need math for anyway?
The team notes their findings were surprising, since math skills don’t have an obvious benefit for either species.
“Both are opportunistic feeders not hunters, that show no mating- or reproduction related behaviors relying on numbers (e.g. counting stripes or eggs),” study authors continue. “Neither species nests nor is there any information available about preferences for particular sized social groups.”
However, there may be important ecological advantages for fish who are good at math that scientists haven’t discovered yet.
“Arithmetic abilities could be one of many cognitive byproducts that may be useful to enhance individual recognition (e.g. by using phenotypic characteristics) or help detect changing environmental or socials conditions,” the team explains. “As both species live in complex habitats (rocky lake and coral reef environments), a certain degree of behavioral flexibility is essential for survival.”
“To possess an enhanced cognitive skill might be advantageous under some environmental circumstances but not possessing it might not necessarily present a disadvantage either.”
South West News Service writer Mark Waghorn contributed to this report. | https://www.wane.com/dont-miss/fish-can-do-math-scientists-show-they-can-be-trained-to-add-subtract/ | 2022-04-12T14:29:04 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/dont-miss/fish-can-do-math-scientists-show-they-can-be-trained-to-add-subtract/ |
(NewsNation) — There’s a little device appearing to cause big problems for some people. Apple AirTags are coin-sized gadgets that allow owners to track misplaced items. But as NewsNation has learned, some people are also using them to track other people.
An AirTag can be attached to most items. The small button-shaped device is simply placed on an item, then tracked through an app. The AirTag speaker and Bluetooth antenna will then ping the location of the missing item.
But hundreds of people have reported being unknowingly tracked by the tiny devices and there are fears the number could grow. Authorities say there are unsettling cases of stalkers and thieves planting AirTags and then following people’s movements.
A new report from VICE Media’s Motherboard by reporter Samantha Cole shared the results of 150 police reports involving AirTags. The report states that 50 cases were from women who called police when they received notifications their whereabouts were being tracked. Of those, half of the women reported knowing the person tracking them.
Cole combed through the police reports to document crime associated with AirTags. She says many of the reports followed a similar pattern.
“What stood out to me was probably the consistency throughout the stories that did talk about someone who was stalking them. A lot of them followed a really similar pattern where someone had an abusive partner or an ex-partner or a man had become violent after they had broken up and then they’d taken out an Order of Protection against them or gone to the police once and then from there, they started seeing this man around town and wondering how he knew where she was at all times.
“And, you know, he would show up at work, he would show up at her house and kind of be watching her even though she had already taken the measures to kind of protect yourself against him. So yeah, that was the most kind of striking thing to me … the reports really followed this very specific pattern of a man escalating his stalking and harassment after she tried to cut ties with him,” Cole said Monday on NewsNation’s “Rush Hour.”
So, how are police suggesting that people protect themselves in similar situations?
“A lot of reports that I read, and I can just kind of speak to what was in the reports that we read, the police responded, saying, you know, you can take out another Order of Protection, you can call a domestic violence hotline, you can obviously take the AirTag off of your vehicle, or you know, turn it in for evidence and you kind of keep a paper trail that way,” Cole said.
“They’re all doing the right thing and kind of, you know, starting this reporting process and saying the behaviors escalated, I need someone to know about this. But beyond that, there was not a lot that police were going to saying to these women to protect themselves because there’s not a ton to be done … when you don’t you’re being tracked.”
While other tracking devices are out on the market, officials don’t yet know the scale of if products other than AirTags are reportedly being used by stalkers and thieves.
“This is the first time we’ve really seen the scale of the AirTags being abused in a way that we’ve … had this theoretical, or like you said, there have been … here and there cases where people have reported being stalked with them,” Cole said. “But you know, this is the first time we’ve seen where it’s actually happening in a really large scale.
“As far as other devices, we’re not totally sure yet. … They’re even harder to detect. Some of the experts that I talked to before this recording said the fact that people are going to the police are reporting that they found AirTags as evidence that they’re working that the notifications and the safety systems that Apple is putting in place that are actually, finally checking in and people are able to find their tags in the first place. And with these other devices … like Tile and others, there’s no such notification coming to your phone where you’re being followed by them. So there’s a lot to be done in this industry to protect people.”
Apple is aware its product is being used for stalking. The tech giant released a new personal safety user guide and issued the following statement: “We condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products. Apple has been working closely with various safety groups and law enforcement agencies. Through our own evaluations and these discussions, we have identified even more ways we can update AirTag safety warnings and help guard against further unwanted tracking.” | https://www.wane.com/news/crime/reports-of-stalking-linked-to-airtags-often-follow-pattern/ | 2022-04-12T14:29:10 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/crime/reports-of-stalking-linked-to-airtags-often-follow-pattern/ |
BRNO, Czech Republic (AP) — Of the first four shots Olha Dembitska fired from an AK-47 assault rifle in her life, one hit the target.
“It’s pretty difficult the first time,” the 22-year-old Ukrainian woman acknowledged.
On this occasion, the target was the shape of a human body at a shooting range in the Czech Republic. Next time, it might be for real, in Ukraine, and the target could be one of the Russian troops who have invaded her homeland.
Dembitska is one of at least 130 men and women who have so far undergone free-of-charge training for Ukrainians living in the Czech Republic who want to learn how to fight the aggressor.
“I might return to Ukraine if they need me,” she said.
Almost none of the participants had any experience with weapons before war struck their homeland.
Since Russia launched its brutal attack, Ukrainians from all parts of the country and elsewhere have been arriving in the Czech Republic’s second-largest city, Brno, attracted by courses designed to teach them essentials and skills to safely handle lethal rifles while being able to inflict damage on their enemy.
Beside learning to shoot, the courses give them the basics about guns, movement around the battlefield and a lesson in providing first aid, something that can save lives if they‘re mobilized by their embattled country or decide to return home as volunteers to join the Ukrainian army.
They are all motivated.
“It’s horrible,” Dembitska said about the situation in her homeland. She gets her news from social media and from phone calls with a friend based in the southern city of Kherson, seized by Russian troops in the early stages of the invasion.
“She tells me everything. They haven’t received humanitarian aid. It’s a horror what the Russian soldiers are doing, I’m sick of it.”
Michal Ratajsky, the owner of CS Solutions, a security company that offers the training program at its base on the outskirts of Brno, located some 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Prague, called it “our contribution to the help for Ukrainians.”
“We view it as a morale boost we’re giving them in this situation, an effort to show we’re supporting them and that we will do for them what we can at the given moment,” Ratajsky said. “That was our motivation and goal.”
A crowdfunding campaign helped secure enough money for the ammunition, while his company provides the rest, including experienced instructors, weapons and the shooting range.
Ratajsky said the brief, three-hour training can’t do miracles but should be enough to introduce the Ukrainians to new, unfamiliar skills.
“We know that we don’t make soldiers of them in those three hours,” he said. “We try to do the maximum for them in the time, with the focus on their safety.”
Some of the participants have returned for repeated lessons. Some have come from as far away as Vienna. in neighboring Austria. Some took the course on their way back to Ukraine from Western Europe, Ratajsky said.
He said the Ukrainians are united by anger about the Russian aggression, and determined to end it.
“They take it seriously and want to do something about it.”
He said that because some 80% percent of troop losses in a war like the one in Ukraine are caused by artillery and missiles, a sense of self-preservation and knowledge of first aid might be more useful for survival than shooting.
“We’re aware of the limits of what we can get them ready for and make no secret of it,” Ratajsky said.
Yehor Nechyporenko, 38, who had traveled some 260 kilometers (160 miles) from the town of Mlada Boleslav to Brno for the second time said he is helping Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in the Czech Republic but wants to be ready to go back home to fight.
“It’s very useful for me,” he said of the training. “I really like it. I need to learn those things because I didn’t do military service.”
Nechyporenko said he was sure the Russians have no chance of taking the entire country.
“I think the war will be over in a couple of months,” he said. “And if we see we’re losing, we’ll all travel home.”
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wane.com/news/czechs-provide-free-shooting-training-for-local-ukrainians/ | 2022-04-12T14:29:16 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/czechs-provide-free-shooting-training-for-local-ukrainians/ |
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has become the first state to criminalize the use of puberty blockers and hormonesto treat transgender people under age 19. In line with some other Republican-led states, legislators here also passed a law requiring students to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex at birth and prohibiting discussion of gender and sexual identity in the lower grades. Critics have derided the limitation on such discussions as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The two GOP bills were signed into law Friday by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, a day after being passed by the Alabama Legislature. Advocacy groups quickly filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the medication ban.
Republicans argue the bills are needed to protect children and that decisions on gender-affirming medications should wait until adulthood. Critics say the politicians are interfering with medical decisions that belong with families and their doctors. Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, a national advocacy group for the LGBTQ community, called the two pieces of legislation “the single most anti-transgender legislative package in history.”
WHAT DOES THE TREATMENT BAN DO?
Titled the “Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act,” the law makes it a crime to prescribe or administer to anyone under 19 puberty blockers or hormone treatment “for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the minor’s perception of his or her gender or sex.”
Legislators made it a Class C felony to violate the law, meaning doctors who prescribe or administer such medication would be subject to up to 10 years in prison.
The law, which takes effect on May 8 unless blocked by the courts, also bans surgeries for the purpose of altering gender appearance, but doctors say those are generally not performed on minors.
Alabama’s legislation goes further than measures passed in other states. Arkansas was the first state to pass a ban on gender-affirming drugs, but its measure did not include criminal penalties. The Arkansas law was blocked by a federal judgebefore it could go into effect. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate as child abuse reports of youth receiving such care.
WHAT ARE THE CRITICISMS?
Doctors, families and advocacy organizations say politicians are inserting themselves into decisions that belong with families and medical teams. The measures have prompted swift backlash from medical experts, Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration, the U.S. Department of Justice and the families of trans youth. Doctors say the Alabama law is contrary to peer-reviewed research and applies a criminal label to standard medical care. Health experts also say that minors with gender dysphoria who do not receive appropriate medical care face dramatically increased risk of suicide and serious depression.
DOES THE LAW DO ANYTHING ELSE?
Yes. The law requires counselors, teachers, principals and other administrators — in both public and private schools — to tell parents if a child discloses that they think they may be transgender. It also prohibits school staff from encouraging students to withhold the information from their parents.
WHAT DOES THE BATHROOM/ “DON’T SAY GAY” LAW DO?
The second piece of legislation signed by Ivey involves public school bathroom use and classroom instruction.
The law requires students in grades K-12 to use multi-person bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their sex at birth rather than their gender identity. It also prohibits teachers and others who provide lessons to grades K-5 from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
Critics have labeled a similar measure passed in Florida that applies to grades K-3 the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Opponents of the medication ban who filed the lawsuit are hoping a judge will grant their request to block it. A legal challenge is also expected to be filed against the bathroom and classroom-instruction measures.
The U.S. Department of Justice sent a letter to states warning that efforts to block transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming care may be violating federal law and the constitutional protections. | https://www.wane.com/news/explainer-what-do-new-alabama-laws-say-on-transgender-kids/ | 2022-04-12T14:29:23 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/explainer-what-do-new-alabama-laws-say-on-transgender-kids/ |
“Good morning! Happy morning!” Rabbi Avraham Wolff exclaimed, with a big smile, as he walked into the Chabad synagogue in Odesa on a recent morning.
Russian missiles had just struck an oil refinery in the Ukrainian city, turning the sky charcoal gray. Hundreds were lining up outside his synagogue hoping to receive a kilo of matzah each for their Passover dinner tables. The unleavened flatbread, imperative at the ritual meal known as a Seder, is now hard to find in war-torn Ukraine amid the war and a crippling food shortage.
But the rabbi wanted no challenge to get him down — be it the lack of matzah or that he was missing his wife and children who had fled the Black Sea port for Berlin days ago.
“I need to smile for my community,” Wolff said. “We need humor. We need hope.”
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews have fled while about 80% remain in Ukraine, according to estimates from Chabad, one of the largest Hasidic Jewish organizations in the world. Inside and outside Ukraine, a nation steeped in Jewish history and heritage, people are preparing to celebrate Passover, which begins sundown on April 15. It’s been a challenge, to say the least.
The holiday marks the liberation of Jewish people from slavery in ancient Egypt, and their exodus under the leadership of Moses. The story is taking on special meaning for thousands of Jewish Ukrainian refugees who are living a dramatic story in real time.
Chabad, which has deep roots and a wide network in Ukraine, and other groups such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Jewish Federations of North America, have mobilized to help Ukrainian Jews celebrate Passover wherever they have sought refuge. In Ukraine, Chabad plans 52 public Seders welcoming about 9,000 people.
In Odesa, Wolff is preparing to host two large Seders – one in early evening at the Chabad synagogue for families with young children and a later Seder at a hotel where participants can stay the night, obeying a 9 p.m. curfew.
He’s been waving in trucks loaded with Passover supplies – matzah from Israel, milk from France, meat from Britain.
“We may not all be together, but it’s going to be an unforgettable Passover,” Wolff said. “This year, we celebrate as one big Jewish family around the world.”
JDC, which has evacuated more than 11,600 Jews from Ukraine, has shipped more than 2 tons of matzah, over 400 bottles of grape juice and over 700 pounds of kosher Passover food for refugees in Poland, Moldova, Hungary and Romania, said Chen Tzuk, the organization’s director of operations in Europe, Asia and Africa. In Ukraine, their social service centers and corps of volunteers are distributing nearly 16 tons of matzah to elderly Jews and families in need, she said.
“Passover is something familiar and basic for Jewish people,” Tzuk said. “For refugees who have left everything behind, it’s important to be able celebrate this holiday with honor and dignity.”
JDC is organizing in-person Seders in countries bordering Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, she said, and is facilitating online Seders where it’s too dangerous to gather in person.
The Jewish Federations of North America has set up a volunteer hub in support of refugees fleeing Ukraine; it’s a partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel, the JDC and IsrAID. Russian-speaking volunteers, such as Alina Spaulding, will help organize a Seder for 100 refugees at a hotel in Budapest.
Spaulding, a resident of Greensboro, North Carolina, fled Kharkiv, Ukraine, as a 5-year-old in the 1970s with her parents. She said the war has rekindled strong connections to Ukraine.
“My mom showed me a photo of me with my grandpa on a street that was recently bombed,” Spaulding said. “We talked about the university in Kharkiv where my mom and dad went, which was also hit. Suddenly, it all felt so personal.”
Spaulding believes spending Passover with refugees will be “an experience to remember.”
“Part of the magic of Passover is finding your own story,” she said. “We’re in the middle of a modern-day exodus. I can’t even imagine the stories I will hear.”
Celebrating a holiday can give people a rush of hope and happiness even in grim situations, said Rabbi Jacob Biderman, who leads Chabad activities throughout Austria, including a center in Vienna that is sheltering about 800 Ukrainian Jews. Days after refugees reached his center, Biderman led a joyous celebration of Purim, a festival commemorating the deliverance of Jews from a planned massacre in ancient Persia.
“The look on their faces changed from sorrow to joy… Their eyes lit up,” Biderman said. “It gave them a sense of normalcy, dignity and the belief that their spiritual life is something no one can take away from them.”
That fueled Biderman’s determination to provide a memorable Passover Seder for the refugees.
Dr. Yaacov Gaissinovitch, his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children – ages 11, 8 and 4 – will be part of that celebration. They fled the Ukrainian city of Dnipro by car on Friday, March 4. Gaissinovitch, a urologist and mohel who performs the Jewish rite of circumcision, said it pained him, as an observant Jew, to drive on Shabbat – a forbidden act on the day of rest and prayer except when lives are at stake.
“I drove nonstop for 12 hours to Moldova to save us all,” he said. “We sang all the Shabbat songs in the car. It was very, very hard.”
In Dnipro, Gaissinovitch had his offices in the sprawling Menorah Center, which serves as a center of Jewish life, housing a synagogue, shops, restaurants, museums and the office of the city’s chief rabbi.
After a month of being severed from everything familiar, the Chabad center in Vienna has been a blessing, Gaissinovitch said.
“We’ve been accepted here very warmly,” he said. “After being disconnected for days, the children have been able to see that our life hasn’t stopped.”
A similar community at the Chabad center in Berlin is housing about 1,000 refugees, including Rabbi Avraham Wolff’s wife and children from Odesa. The center plans to host eight Seders citywide and has distributed matzah and other food to community members. Refugees, including 120 children from an Odesa orphanage who arrived in Berlin along with Wolff’s family, distributed the items to locals, said Yehuda Teichtal, the chief rabbi of Berlin.
“To me, this is extremely touching,” he said. “That people on the receiving end are able to give and not be viewed as victims. It’s empowering and energizing.”
As they prepare for Passover, Teichtal, Biderman and Wolff said they have been inspired by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who was among the most influential global leaders in Judaism in modern times. April 5 marked the Rebbe’s 120th birth anniversary, a special number in Jewish tradition.
“The Rebbe built a strong foundation (in Ukraine) so we’re able to do what we’re doing now,” Wolff said.
Schneerson grew up in Ukraine during a challenging time in the former Soviet Union, Teichtal said.
“In spite of all the darkness, his focus was selflessness, dedication, love for all humanity and the unwavering faith that we are going to overcome,” Teichtal said.
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. | https://www.wane.com/news/for-jews-fleeing-ukraine-passover-takes-on-new-meaning/ | 2022-04-12T14:29:31 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/for-jews-fleeing-ukraine-passover-takes-on-new-meaning/ |
BERLIN (AP) — A German woman who allegedly abused a Yazidi slave while in Islamic State-held territory in Syria has been charged with crimes against humanity and other offenses, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
The woman, identified only as Jalda A. in keeping with German privacy laws, was arrested upon her arrival back in Germany on Oct. 7. Before her repatriation, she had been held captive by Kurdish forces since late 2017.
She was charged with membership in a foreign terrorist organization, crimes against humanity, war crimes and being an accessory to genocide, prosecutors said in a statement.
The suspect traveled in April 2014 via Turkey to Syria, according to prosecutors, where she quickly married an IS fighter and gave birth to a son the following year. When her first husband died, she married two other men in succession.
She lived with the third man in and near the Syrian city of Mayadin from September to October 2017, prosecutors said, adding that the husband kept a Yazidi woman as a slave and regularly raped her with the suspect’s knowledge.
The suspect also physically abused the woman “almost every day,” according to prosecutors. She allegedly punched and kicked the woman, pulled her hair, and slammed her head against the wall, and on one occasion hit the woman in the head with a flashlight.
In addition, prosecutors said, the suspect constantly watched the woman and repeatedly told her to pray according to Islamic custom, an act that “served the stated goal of the IS, to eradicate the Yazidi faith.”
The indictment was filed last month at the state court in Hamburg, which will have to decide whether and when to open a trial. | https://www.wane.com/news/german-court-charges-is-returnee-over-alleged-slave-abuse/ | 2022-04-12T14:29:38 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/german-court-charges-is-returnee-over-alleged-slave-abuse/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is visiting corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce he’ll suspend a federal rule preventing the sale of higher ethanol blend gasoline this summer, as his administration tries to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.
Senior Biden administration officials said the move will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon at 2,300 gas stations. Those stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.
The move comes as Biden is facing growing political pressure over inflation, as new data Tuesday showed prices are rising at the fastest pace in more than 40 years, driven in part by soaring energy prices during the Russia-Ukraine war. The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier, the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981.
Gas prices accounted for more than half of the monthly jump in prices. Food and housing costs also climbed in March in ways that could weigh on families. Inflation began to accelerate last year amid robust hiring after the passage of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, a challenge for U.S. consumers that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine then amplified.
Administration officials said the EPA has begun analyzing the “emergency” step of allowing more E15 gasoline sales for the summer and determined it is not likely to have significant on-the-ground air quality impacts. That’s despite some environmentalists long arguing that more ethanol in gas increases pollution.
Biden is to announce the move at a biofuel company in Menlo, west of Des Moines. Iowa is the country’s largest producer of corn, key to producing ethanol.
The waiver is another effort to help ease global energy markets that have been rocked since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last month, the president announced the U.S. will release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve over the next six months. His administration said that has helped to slightly reduce gas prices lately, after they climbed to an average of about $4.23 a gallon by the end of March, compared with $2.87 at the same time a year ago, according to AAA.
“Not only is this decision a major win for American drivers and our nation’s energy security, it means cleaner options at the pump and a stronger rural economy,” Emily Skor, CEO of the biofuel trade association group Growth Energy, said in a statement.
Members of Congress from both parties also had urged Biden to grant the E15 waiver.
“Homegrown Iowa biofuels provide a quick and clean solution for lowering prices at the pump and bolstering production would help us become energy independent once again,″ said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. He was among nine Republican and seven Democratic senators from Midwestern states who sent Biden a letter last month urging him to allow year-round E15 sales.
The trip will be Biden’s first as president to Iowa, where his 2020 presidential campaign limped to a fourth-place finish in the state’s technologically glitchy caucus.
After bouncing back to win the Democratic nomination, Biden returned for a rally at the Iowa state fairgrounds four days before Election Day 2020, only to see Donald Trump win the state by 8 percentage points.
Biden heads back to the state at a moment when he’s facing yet more political peril. He’s saddled with sagging approval ratings and inflation at a 40-year high while his party faces the prospect of big midterm election losses that could cost it control of Congress.
The president also planned to promote his economic plans to help rural families struggling with higher costs, while highlighting the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law enacted last fall. The law includes money to improve internet access, as well as for modernizing wastewater systems, reducing flooding threats and improving roads and bridges, drinking water and electric grids in sparsely populated areas.
“Part of it is showing up in communities of all sizes, regardless of the results of the last election,” said Jesse Harris, who was a senior adviser to Biden’s 2020 campaign in Iowa and directed get out the vote and early voting efforts for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.
Harris said most presidents who visit Iowa typically go to the state’s largest cities. Hitting an area like Menlo, part of Guthrie County, which backed Trump over Biden by 35 percentage points in 2020, “does speak to the importance the administration places on infrastructure broadly but also infrastructure in rural and smaller communities.”
The Biden administration plans to spend the coming weeks pushing billions of dollars in funding for rural areas. Cabinet members and other senior officials will travel the country to help communities get access to money available as part of the infrastructure package.
“The president is not making this trip through a political prism,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “He’s making this trip because Iowa is a rural state in the country that would benefit greatly from the president’s policies.”
Still, administration officials have long suggested that Biden travel more to promote an economy that is rebounding from the setbacks of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of Americans collecting unemployment has fallen to the lowest levels since 1970, for example.
But much of the positive jobs news nationally has been overshadowed by surging gas, food and housing prices that have offset wage gains.
“Maybe a trip back to Iowa will be just what Joe Biden needs to understand what his reckless spending, big government policies are doing to our country,” Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement.
After Iowa, Biden will visit Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday.
Psaki blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine for helping to drive up gas prices and said the administration expects the consumer price index for March to be “extremely elevated” in large part because of it.
The EPA has lifted seasonal restrictions on E15 in the past, including after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Trump administration allowed for selling E15 in the summer months two years later but had the rule struck down by a federal appeals court.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report. | https://www.wane.com/news/iowa-rejected-biden-but-president-back-to-sell-rural-plan/ | 2022-04-12T14:29:45 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/iowa-rejected-biden-but-president-back-to-sell-rural-plan/ |
BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) — The coffin was made from pieces of a closet. In a darkened basement under a building shaking from the bombardment of war, there were few other options.
Six-year-old Vlad watched as his mother was carried out of the shelter last month and to the yard of a nearby home. The burial was hurried and devastating.
Now Russian forces have withdrawn from Bucha after a monthlong occupation, and Vlad’s father, Ivan Drahun, dropped to his knees at the foot of the grave.
He reached out and touched the dirt near his wife Maryna’s feet. “Hi, how are you?” he said during the visit last week. “I miss you so much. You left so soon. You didn’t even say goodbye.”
The boy also visits the grave, placing on it a juice box and two cans of baked beans. Amid the stress of war, his mother barely ate. The family still doesn’t know what illness caused her death. They, much like their town, barely know how to move on.
Bucha witnessed some of the ghastliest scenes of Russia’s invasion, and almost no children have been seen in its silent streets since then. The many bright playgrounds in the once popular community with good schools on a far edge of the capital, Kyiv, are empty.
The Russians used a children’s camp in Bucha as an execution ground, and bloodstains and bullet holes mark a basement. On a ledge near the camp entrance, Russian soldiers placed a toy tank. It appeared to be connected to fishing wire — a possible booby trap in the most vulnerable of places.
Steps away from Vlad’s home, some of the Russians used a kindergarten as a base, leaving it intact while other nearby buildings suffered. Casings of used artillery shells were left along a fence in the yard. In a nearby playground, white and red tape marked off unexploded ordnance. The booms of de-mining operations were so strong they set off car alarms.
At the apartment block where Vlad, his older brother Vova and sister Sophia live, someone had spray-painted “CHILDREN” in child-high letters on an outside wall. Under it, a wooden box once used for ammunition held a teddy bear and other toys.
It is here that Bucha’s fragile renewal can be seen.
A small group of neighborhood children gathered, finding distraction from the war. Bundled up in winter coats, they kicked a football, wandered around with bags of snacks handed out by visiting volunteers, called out from a glass-less window above.
Their parents, taking in the feeble warmth of spring after weeks in freezing basements, reflected on how they tried to protect the children. “We covered his ears,” said Polina Shymanska of her 7-year-old great-grandson Nikita. “We hugged him, kissed him.” She tried to play chess and the boy let her win.
Upstairs, in a neighbor’s apartment where Vlad’s father for now has merged his family with that of the neighbor to help manage their collection of children, Vlad curled up on a bed with another boy and played cards. The radiator gave off no heat. There was still no gas, no electricity, no running water.
Not everyone in Vlad’s family can stand to return to their own apartment nearby. The memories of Maryna are everywhere, from the perfume bottles on the table by the front door to the quiet kitchen.
In the living room, time has stopped. Limp balloons dangled from the overhead light. A string of colorful flags still hung on the wall, along with a family photo. It showed Ivan and Maryna holding Vlad on the day he was born. They celebrated his birthday on Feb. 19.
Five days later, the war began. And the family’s life shrank to a dank concrete half-room in the basement, lined with blankets and scattered with sweets and toys. It was very, very cold, Ivan remembers. He and Maryna did what they could to muffle the sounds of shelling for Vlad and keep him calm. But they were afraid, too.
Two weeks ago, Ivan took Vlad to the makeshift toilet in the shelter and visited neighbors. Then he came to Maryna to tell her that he was going outside. “I touched her shoulder, and she was cold,” he said. “I realized she was gone.”
At first, he said, Vlad appeared not to understand what had happened. The boy said his mother had moved away. But at the burial, the boy watched Ivan kneel and cry, and now he knows what death is.
Death is inseparable from Bucha. Local authorities told The Associated Press that at least 16 children were among the hundreds of people killed. Those who survived face a long recovery.
“They’ve realized that now it’s calm and quiet,” Ivan said. “But at the same time, older children understand that it’s not the end. The war is not finished. And it’s hard to explain for the smaller ones that war is still going on.”
The children are adapting, he said. They have seen a lot. Some even saw dogs killed.
Now the war has slipped into the games they play.
In a sandbox outside the kindergarten, Vlad and a friend “bombed” each other with fistfuls of sand.
“I’m Ukraine,” one said. “No, I’m Ukraine,” said the other.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wane.com/news/its-not-the-end-the-children-who-survived-buchas-horror/ | 2022-04-12T14:29:52 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/its-not-the-end-the-children-who-survived-buchas-horror/ |
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A jury in Virginia is scheduled to hear opening statements Tuesday in a defamation lawsuit filed by Johnny Depp against his ex-wife, Amber Heard.
Depp says Heard libeled him when she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Depp is never mentioned by name, but he says the article implicates him nonetheless because it refers to past accusations Heard made when she sought a restraining order against him. Depp denies the abuse allegations.
A civil jury of seven members, plus four alternates, was selected Monday to hear the case in Fairfax County Circuit Court. Heard’s lawyers had sought to have the case tried in California, where the actors reside. But a judge ruled that Depp was within his rights to bring the case in Virginia because The Washington Post’s computer servers for its online edition are located in the county.
The trial is expected to last for more than a month. A lengthy witness list includes actors Paul Bettany and James Franco, and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. Some witnesses are slated to appear in person, while others are scheduled to appear via video link. | https://www.wane.com/news/jury-to-hear-opening-statements-in-johnny-depp-libel-case/ | 2022-04-12T14:29:59 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/jury-to-hear-opening-statements-in-johnny-depp-libel-case/ |
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian prosecutors are expanding their war crimes investigations in northeastern suburbs of Kyiv after Russian forces withdrew.
Reports of killings of civilians have primarily focused so far on the northwestern suburbs such as Bucha, but the Prosecutor-General’s Office said Tuesday it was also looking into events in the Brovary district, which lies to the northeast.
Russian troops advanced into that area last month before retreating to focus on fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The Prosecutor-General’s Office said the bodies of six civilians had been found with gunshot wounds in a basement in the village of Shevchenkove and that Russian forces were believed to be responsible.
Prosecutors are also investigating an incident in which they allege Russian forces fired on a convoy of civilians trying to leave by car from the village of Peremoha in the Brovary district, killing four people including a 13-year-old boy. In another incident near Bucha, five people were killed, including two children, when a car was fired upon, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors did not say when they believed the incidents occurred.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— Ukraine probes claim poisonous substance dropped in Mariupol
— ‘It’s not the end’: The children who survived Bucha’s horror
— Russian war worsens fertilizer crunch, risking food supplies
— Czechs provide free shooting training for local Ukrainians
— Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin says that Russians’ unity will only grow stronger in the face of Western sanctions and it will be the West that will face instability.
Putin said during a visit to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far East on Tuesday that the West mistakenly expected its sanctions to undermine Russia’s stability. He said that “the Russian people always strengthen their unity in a difficult situation.”
He insisted that it will be the West that will be shaken by growing instability, fueled by public dismay over galloping inflation. The Russian leader also lashed out at European leaders, describing them as Washington’s stooges and saying that they are conducting policies harmful to their nations.
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MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin says that Russia will press on with its military action in Ukraine until its goals are fulfilled.
Putin said Tuesday that the campaign is going according to plan. He said it is not moving faster because Russia wants to minimize losses.
He said during a visit to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far East that the “military operation will continue until its full completion and the fulfillment of the tasks that have been set.”
Putin claimed that Ukraine backtracked on proposals it made during talks with Russian negotiators in Istanbul, resulting in a deadlock in talks and leaving Moscow no other choice but to press on with its offensive.
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MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Russian economy has successfully resisted new Western sanctions over Ukraine.
Speaking Tuesday on a visit to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far East, Putin said that Russia’s economy and financial system withstood the impact of what he called the Western sanctions “blitz” and the ruble has recovered its losses.
Putin argued that the sanctions will backfire against the West. For example, he said that Western restrictions on fertilizer exports from Russia and ally Belarus will drive up global fertilizer prices, eventually leading to food shortages and increased migration flows.
Putin said that “common sense should prevail” and added that the West should “come back to reason and make well-balanced decisions without losing its face.” He contended that “they won’t be able to shut all the doors and windows.”
He argued that new Western restrictions on high-tech exports will encourage Russia to move faster to develop new technologies, opening a “new window of opportunities.”
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BOSTON — Ukrainian officials say a planned cyberattack by Russian military hackers on the country’s power grid has been foiled.
They say the country’s computer emergency response thwarted an attack planned by hackers from Russia’s GRU military intelligency agency that intended to knock electrical substations offline last Friday.
The State Service of Special Communications said on its website that malware was discovered designed to destroy data on computers.
There was no immediate explanation of how the attack was defeated, though the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine thanked Microsoft and the cybersecurity firm ESET in a separate bulletin. Nor was the scope immediately explained.
GRU hackers twice succesfully attacked Ukraine’s power grid, in the winters of 2015 and 2016.
Russia’s use of cyberattacks against Ukrainian infrastructure has been limited compared to experts’ pre-war expectations. In the early hours of the war, however, an attack Ukraine blames on Russia knocked offline an important satellite communications link that also impacted tens of thousands of Europeans from France to Poland.
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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia’s government has approved increasing the number of troops in a multinational NATO battlegroup in the country from 2,100 to 3,000.
The first 800 service members have already arrived in Slovakia. The Czech Republic took charge of the battlegroup, with the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia also contributing.
Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad says the increase in the planned troop numbers is related to Patriot air defense systems that the United States, Germany and the Netherlands are deploying in Slovakia.
The move should boost Slovakia’s defense capabilities after the country donated its Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine last week.
The alliance stationed troops in the Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — and Poland after the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula by Russia. After Russia attacked Ukraine, NATO decided to boost its presence along the entire eastern flank by deploying forces in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
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GENEVA — The World Trade Organization is predicting that trade in goods will grow much less than previously expected this year, saying prospects for the global economy have darkened since the onset of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Geneva-based WTO on Tuesday pointed to multiple uncertainties in its forecast over the next two years because Russian and Ukrainian exports of items like food, oil and fertilizers are under threat from the war. It also cited the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic –- notably from lockdowns in China.
Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala described a “double whammy” from the conflict and the coronavirus. She said the war has caused “immense human suffering” in the region and its effect has rippled around the world, notably in poorer countries.
The WTO said its projections for world trade take into account factors like the impact of the war, sanctions on Russia, and lower demand around the world from lower business and consumer confidence. It said world merchandise trade volume is expected to grow 3% this year, down from a forecast of 4.7% before the war began.
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MOSCOW — The Russian military says it has hit Ukrainian arsenals with long-range cruise missiles.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Tuesday that the military used air- and sea-launched missiles to destroy an ammunition depot and a reinforced hangar for warplanes at Starokostiantyniv in the Khmelnytskyi region.
Konashenkov said that another strike destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot in Havrylivka, near Kyiv.
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NICOSIA, Cyprus — The head of Cyprus’ Orthodox Christian Church is “unreservedly” condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying there’s “no justification” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “destroy a country, to raze it to kill.”
Archbishop Chrysostomos II told state broadcaster CyBC Tuesday that the invasion is “an unacceptable situation” and that Putin’s actions have “no logic.” The archbishop said he’s distraught that people are being killed and questioned whether the Russian leader is “in his right mind.”
The archbishop added that he’d be the “first to go and bless a defensive war,” but the “egotism, if not the stupidity” of the Russian leadership “knows no bounds.”
Chrysostomos also questioned Putin’s embrace of Orthodox Christianity, including the sincerity of his travels to the site where Christians believe Jesus Christ was baptized.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian police say they have launched a war crimes investigation after a 64-year-old man was killed by a mine left behind in an area from which Russian forces recently retreated.
Police said the unidentified local man was driving Monday near the village of Krasne in northern Ukraine and had pulled over his car to greet acquaintances when he struck an anti-tank mine left at the side of the road.
Ukrainian authorities have issued repeated warnings of mines and explosive traps left in areas where Russian troops have been operating.
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BERLIN — German authorities say that over 330,000 refugees from Ukraine are known to have entered Germany so far.
The Interior Ministry said Tuesday that German federal police have recorded 335,578 people entering since Russia’s invasion started on Feb. 24. Those who have arrived are overwhelmingly women and children.
The true number of refugees in Germany could be higher, however, since there are no strict controls on the country’s eastern border and Ukrainian citizens can stay up to 90 days in the European Union without a visa. Officials say an unknown number also have moved on to other European countries.
The U.N. refugee agency on Tuesday put the total number of people who have fled Ukraine at more than 4.6 million, over 2.6 million of whom fled at least initially to Poland.
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MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin says the Russian military action in Ukraine aims to ensure Russia’s security and is vowing that its goals will be achieved.
Speaking Tuesday on a visit to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far East, Putin charged that Ukraine was turned into an “anti-Russian bridgehead” where “sprouts of nationalism and neo-Nazism were being cultivated.” Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed such claims as a cover for aggression.
Putin reaffirmed his claim that the Russian “special military operation” was aimed to protect people in areas in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed rebels. He also said that the campaign was also aimed to “ensure Russia’s own security.”
Putin argued that “we had no other choice” and said that “there is no doubt that we will achieve our goals.”
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MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin says that his country can’t be isolated.
Speaking on a visit to the Vostochny space launch facility in Russia’s Far East, Putin said Tuesday that Russia has no intention to isolate itself and added that foreign powers wouldn’t succeed in isolating it.
He said that “it’s certainly impossible to isolate anyone in the world of today, especially such a huge country as Russia.”
Putin added that “we will work with those of our partners who want to cooperate.”
Putin’s visit to Vostochny marked his first known trip outside Moscow since Russian launched military action in Ukraine on Feb. 24. Putin toured space facilities together with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
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VILNIUS, Lithuania — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the European Union to step up economic sanctions against Russia, arguing that the Russian political and military leadership feels it can continue the invasion of Ukraine because of signals from some European nations.
Zelenskyy told lawmakers in Lithuania, a former Soviet republic that is now an EU and NATO member, that “they know they will go unpunished as Europe still prefers continued cooperation, trade, business as usual.”
He said via an interpreter that he urges sanctions on all Russian banks and called for Europe to “get rid of their oil,”
In the latest of a series of addresses by video link to parliaments in Europe and beyond, Zelenskyy said that “Europe must win this war. And we will win it together.” The 141-seat Seimas assembly was decorated with the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian and the yellow-green-red Lithuanian flags.
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HELSINKI — Telecoms network and 5G technology supplier Nokia says it will exit the Russian market due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Espoo, Finland-based company said Tuesday “it has been clear for Nokia since the early days of the invasion of Ukraine that continuing our presence in Russia would not be possible.”
Nokia said it has suspended deliveries, stopped new business and moved research and development activities out of Russia in the past weeks.
The company said that Russia accounted for less than 2% of Nokia’s sales in 2021, and the exit decision will have no impact on its financial outlook this year.
It said that “as we exit, we will aim to provide the necessary support to maintain the networks and are applying for the relevant licenses to enable this support in compliance with current sanctions.”
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A spokesman for Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine has denied using chemical weapons to uproot Ukrainian troops in the port city of Mariupol.
Eduard Basurin was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying Tuesday that the separatist forces “haven’t used any chemical weapons in Mariupol.”
Basurin’s assertion followed his statement Monday on Russian state TV that the separatists will use “chemical troops” against Ukrainian soldiers holed up at reinforced positions at a giant steel factory in Mariupol “to smoke them out of there.”
A Ukrainian unit defending Mariupol claimed without providing evidence that a drone had dropped a poisonous substance on its positions. It indicated there were no serious injuries.
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TOKYO — Japan’s Cabinet has approved additional sanctions against Moscow. They include as a freeze on assets of nearly 400 individuals including Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two daughters, as well as a ban on new investments and vodka imports.
The new sanctions approved Tuesday include a freeze on assets of 398 Russian individuals, who also include Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s wife and daughter. Japan has now frozen assets of more than 500 Russian individuals and organizations.
Japan’s new measures also include freezing the assets of major banks Sberbank and Alfa Bank, as well as 28 other Russian organizations such as those linked to military businesses. The measure for the banks will take effect on May 12.
Japan will ban new investment and Russian imports including vodka, wine, lumber and auto parts beginning next week.
Tuesday’s approval covers part of a list of sanctions announced last Friday by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who also proposed phasing out Russian coal and other fossil fuel imports.
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LONDON — A senior British official says “all possible options are on the table” for the West’s response if Russian forces use chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Tuesday that neither the U.K. nor the Ukrainian governments had confirmed reports that a chemical weapon may have been used in the besieged city of Mariupol.
Heappey told Sky News that “there are weapons that simply should not be used, and if they are used people will be held to account.”
He said: “I think it’s useful to maintain some ambiguity … over exactly what the response would be, but let’s be clear, if they are used at all then President Putin should know that all possible options are on the table in terms of how the West might respond.”
Britain’s defense ministry says Russia continues to redeploy its forces for a push on eastern Ukraine, and fighting is expected to intensify there over the next two to three weeks. It says Russian forces are withdrawing from Belarus in order to redeploy in support of operations in eastern Ukraine. | https://www.wane.com/news/live-updates-separatists-deny-using-chemical-weapons/ | 2022-04-12T14:30:06 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/live-updates-separatists-deny-using-chemical-weapons/ |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine investigated a claim that a poisonous substance was dropped on besieged Mariupol, as Western officials warned Tuesday that any use of chemical weapons by Russia would be a serious escalation of the already devastating war.
Thwarted in his apparent ambition to overrun the Ukrainian capital, Russian President Vladimir Putin is now building up forces for a new offensive in the eastern Donbas region, and insisted Tuesday that his campaign would continue until it achieves its goals. He said Russia “had no other choice” but to launch what he calls a “special military operation,” saying it was to protect civilians in the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas.
As Ukrainian forces brace for a new attack, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said it was possible phosphorus munitions — which cause horrendous burns but are not classed as chemical weapons — had been used in Mariupol. That city lies in the Donbas and has been razed in six weeks of pummeling by Russian troops that the mayor said has left more than 10,000 civilians dead, their corpses “carpeted through the streets.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday night that Russian forces could use chemical weapons in the city, echoing similar, repeated warnings by Western officials. And leaders inside and outside of the country said they were urgently investigating the unconfirmed claim by a Ukrainian regiment that a poisonous substance was dropped on fighters in Mariupol.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said use of chemical weapons “would be a callous escalation in this conflict,” while Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said it would be a “wholesale breach of international law.”
In the face of stiff resistance by Ukrainian forces bolstered by Western weapons, Russian forces have increasingly relied on bombarding cities, flattening many urban areas and leaving thousands of people dead. In other areas, they have pulled back to regroup.
Their retreat from cities and towns around the capital, Kyiv, led to the discovery of large numbers of apparently massacred civilians, prompting widespread condemnation and accusations that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine.
The war has also driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes — including nearly two-thirds of all children.
Still, there are fears of even wider carnage to come, amid signs the Russian military is gearing up for a major offensive in the Donbas. A senior U.S. defense official on Monday described a long Russian convoy rolling toward the eastern city of Izyum with artillery, aviation and infantry support.
Putin insisted during a visit to Russia’s Far East that the military operation would prevail, and that foreign powers wouldn’t succeed in isolating Russia.
He said that Russia’s economy and financial system withstood the blow from what he called the Western sanctions “blitz” and claimed they would backfire by driving up prices for essentials such as fertilizer, leading to food shortages and increase migration flows to the West.
The Donbas has been torn by fighting between Russian-allied separatists and Ukrainian forces since 2014, and Russia has recognized the separatists’ claims of independence. Military strategists say Russian leaders appear to hope local support, logistics and terrain in the region favor Russia’s larger and better-armed military, potentially allowing its troops to finally turn the tide decisively in their favor.
Describing a battle happening around a steel mill in Mariupol, a Russia-allied separatist official appeared to urge the use of chemical weapons Monday, telling Russian state TV that separatist forces should seize the plant from Ukrainian forces by first blocking all the exits. “And then we’ll use chemical troops to smoke them out of there,” he said.
But Eduard Basurin was quoted by the Interfax news agency on Tuesday as saying that the separatist forces “haven’t used any chemical weapons in Mariupol.”
It was the Ukrainian regiment defending the plant that claimed a drone had dropped a poisonous substance on the city. It indicated there were no serious injuries. The assertion by the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military, could not be independently verified.
Truss said the U.K. was “working urgently” to investigate the report, while Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the U.S. could not confirm the drone report out of Mariupol.
But Kirby noted the administration’s persistent concerns “about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine.” Britain, meanwhile, has warned that Russia may use phosphorus bombs — whose use in civilian areas is banned under international law — in Mariupol.
That city has already seen some of the heaviest attacks and civilian suffering in the war, but the land, sea and air assaults by Russian forces fighting to capture it have increasingly limited information about what’s happening inside the city.
Speaking by phone Monday with The Associated Press, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko accused Russian forces of having blocked weeks of attempted humanitarian convoys into the city in part to conceal the carnage. Boychenko said the death toll in Mariupol alone could surpass 20,000.
He said, about 120,000 civilians in the city are in dire need of food, water, warmth and communications.
Boychenko also gave new detailsof allegations by Ukrainian officials that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to Mariupol to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.
Boychenko spoke from Ukrainian-controlled territory outside Mariupol. The mayor said he had several sources for his description of the alleged methodical burning of bodies by Russian forces in the city, but did not detail the sources.
While building up forces in the east, Russia continued to strike targets across Ukraine in a bid to wear down the country’s defenses. Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that it used used air- and sea-launched missiles to destroy an ammunition depot and airplane hangar at Starokostiantyniv in the western Khmelnytskyi region and an ammunition depot near Kyiv.
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Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Robert Burns in Washington, and AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.wane.com/news/mayor-more-than-10000-civilians-dead-in-ukraine-port-city/ | 2022-04-12T14:30:14 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/mayor-more-than-10000-civilians-dead-in-ukraine-port-city/ |
ATLANTA (AP) — The National Urban League released its annual report on the State of Black America on Tuesday, and its findings are grim. This year’s Equality Index shows Black people still get only 73.9 percent of the American pie white people enjoy.
While Black people have made economic and health gains, they’ve slipped farther behind whites in education, social justice and civic engagement since this index was launched in 2005. A compendium of average outcomes by race in many aspects of life, it shows just how hard it is for people of color to overcome systemic racism, the civil rights organization says.
“These numbers change so little and so slowly. What it tells me is that this institutional disparity based on race seems to be built into American society,” National Urban League President Marc Morial said in an interview.
The index shows not only that median household income for Black people, at $43,862, is 37% less than that of white people, at $69,823. Black people also are less likely to benefit from home ownership, the engine of generational wealth in America. Census data shows Black couples are more than twice as likely as whites to be denied a mortgage or a home improvement loan, which leads to just 59% of the median home equity white households have, and just 13% of their wealth.
“In that area of wealth, we’ve seen almost no change, none, since the civil rights days,” Morial said. “The wealth disparity has gotten wider.”
Among dozens of health measures, one stands out: Life expectancy has declined slightly for African Americans, so a Black child born today can expect to live to 74.7, four years less than a white baby. And lifelong inequities loom: Black women are 59% more likely to die as a result of bearing a child, and 31% more likely to die of breast cancer. Black men are 52% more likely to die of prostate cancer.
Overdoses afflict the races about equally, while white people are 55% more likely to drink themselves to death through cirrhosis or chronic liver disease. Among people 15-24, white people are more than twice as likely to commit suicide, while Black men are nine times more likely to die by homicide.
Educational gaps abound: Black and white preschoolers are roughly equally prepared, but the classrooms they enter are starkly different. Schools with more minority students are more likely to have inexperienced, less trained and even uncertified teachers. Fewer of these students are enrolled in the STEM classes that can lead to higher-paying jobs. Black students are less likely to graduate college.
The index uses U.S. Justice Department statistics to chart social justice differences, noting that Black people have been more than twice as likely as white people to experience threats or uses of force during police encounters, and three times more likely to be jailed if arrested. In 2020, they were 93% more likely to be victims of hate crime.
Measuring civic engagement, the index cites 2020 Census data showing that white people are about 5% more likely to be registered and to actually vote than Black people.
Morial chose to release the report in Atlanta, where a concentration of historically Black colleges have long represented high achievement among African Americans, in part because its survey shows a declining faith among young people that voting can make a difference. The Urban League is responding by launching a “Reclaim Your Vote” campaign.
“Georgia is ground zero for voter suppression. The legislature’s actions after Jan. 6 have been sweeping in their aggressiveness to suppress the vote,” Morial said. “We’ve got to remain resolute, to push back against this. We cannot give in. We cannot give up.” | https://www.wane.com/news/national-urban-league-finds-state-of-black-america-is-grim/ | 2022-04-12T14:30:21 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/national-urban-league-finds-state-of-black-america-is-grim/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — At least five people were shot and injured Tuesday at a subway station in New York City during a morning rush hour attack that left wounded commuters bleeding on a train platform.
Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood at around 8:30 a.m. found at least 13 people were hurt, but — aside from the five shot — there were no details on what those injuries entailed.
According to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, preliminary information indicated that a suspect fled wearing a construction vest and a gas mask.
Photos and video from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the station and the air filled with smoke. Fire and police officials were investigating reports that there had been an explosion, but the police department tweeted that there were “no active explosive devices at this time.” Multiple smoke devices were found on the scene, mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy, who confirmed the initial shooting injury count, said.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS, saying he saw a gigantic billow of smoke pouring out of the N train once the door opened.
A bystander video shows people lying on the subway platform amid what appeared to be small puddles of blood, as a loudspeaker announcement told everyone on the smoke-hazy platform to get on a train. Inside a subway car, a person lay on the floor, encircled by others. Outside the station, a police officer yelled, “Let’s go! Get out of the way!”
Trains servicing that station were delayed during the morning rush hour.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not immediately have more details. Adams was at the mayor’s residence Tuesday morning and was being briefed.
The incident happened on a subway line that runs through south Brooklyn in a neighborhood about a 15-minute train ride to Manhattan. Local schools, including Sunset Park High School across the street, were locked down.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just dropped his son off at school when he saw a crush of passengers, included multiple wounded, running up the subway stairway at the 25th Street station in panic. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
“It was insane,” he told The Associated Press. “No one knew exactly what was going on.”
Allan Lee was running his business, Cafe Nube, when a half-dozen police cars and fire vehicles suddenly converged on the block.
“Then they started ushering people that were on the block to the adjacent block and then closed off the subway entrance” near the cafe’s door, he told the AP. When he noticed bomb squad officers and dogs, he was certain it was no everyday subway problem.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement she had been briefed on the situation and said her office would work with the transit authority and police department as the investigation continued.
Police officers were canvassing 4th Avenue, the station’s cross-street, asking witnesses whether they were on the train. A sea of emergency lights was visible from at least a dozen blocks away, where a police cordon was set up.
The shootings come as New York City has faced a spate a shootings and high-profile incidents in recent months, including on the city’s subways. One of the most shocking was in January when a woman was pushed to her death in front of a train by a stranger.
Adams, a Democrat a little over 100 days into his term, has made cracking down on crime — especially on the subways — a focus of his early administration, pledging to send more police officers into stations and platforms for regular patrols. It wasn’t immediately clear whether officers had already been inside the station when the shootings occurred.
Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Michelle L. Price and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report. | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/5-shot-unexploded-devices-found-at-nyc-train-station/ | 2022-04-12T14:30:29 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/5-shot-unexploded-devices-found-at-nyc-train-station/ |
(The Hill) — Last month’s domestic flight prices were 20 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to data released Tuesday.
The analysis from Adobe Digital Insights reveals that travelers are already experiencing significant price hikes. In February, flight prices were only up 5 percent from the same period in 2019, while January prices were 3 percent lower than pre-pandemic levels.
The uptick is driven by a recent boom in bookings that coincided with low COVID-19 case counts. The analysis found that customers spent $8.8 billion on tickets online last month, a 28 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels and a 32 percent increase from February.
“The unleash of pent-up demand has been a major driving factor, as the desire for air travel is coming back more aggressively than anticipated,” Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya said in a statement.
Experts have advised travelers to book their flights soon, warning that prices will only rise further as demand outpaces supply. Major airlines already weren’t seating as many passengers as they were before the pandemic, and they’ve recently cut down on their schedules to account for higher fuel prices.
The cost of jet fuel in North America rose by 30 percent over the last month and is up 158 percent from one year ago, according to data from S&P Global. Prices spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and remained elevated in recent weeks, even as the price of crude oil dropped.
Another analysis from flight booking website Hopper released last week found that domestic flight prices have increased by 40 percent since the start of the year and are expected to rise another 10 percent next month. | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/us-flight-prices-surged-in-march-analysis/ | 2022-04-12T14:30:35 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/us-flight-prices-surged-in-march-analysis/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier — the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981. Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The government’s report also showed that inflation rose 1.2% from February to March, up from a 0.8% increase from January to February.
The March inflation numbers were the first to capture the full surge in gasoline prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow’s brutal attacks have triggered far-reaching Western sanctions against the Russian economy and have disrupted global food and energy markets. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline — $4.10 — is up 43% from a year ago, though it has fallen back in the past couple of weeks.
The escalation of energy prices has led to higher transportation costs for the shipment of goods and components across the economy, which, in turn, has contributed to higher prices for consumers.
The latest evidence of accelerating prices will solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to slow borrowing and spending and tame inflation. The financial markets now foresee much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as last month.
Even before Russia’s war further spurred price increases, robust consumer spending, steady pay raises and chronic supply shortages had sent U.S. consumer inflation to its highest level in four decades. In addition, housing costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index, have escalated, a trend that seems unlikely to reverse anytime soon.
Economists point out that as the economy has emerged from the depths of the pandemic, consumers have been gradually broadening their spending beyond goods to include more services. A result is that high inflation, which at first had reflected mainly a shortage of goods — from cars and furniture to electronics and sports equipment — has been emerging in services, too, like travel, health care and entertainment.
The expected fast pace of the Fed’s rate increases will make loans sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses. Mortgage rates, in particular, though not directly influenced by the Fed, have rocketed higher in recent weeks, making home buying more expensive. Many economists say they worry that the Fed has waited too long to begin raising rates and might end up acting so aggressively as to trigger a recession.
For now, the economy as a whole remains solid, with unemployment near 50-year lows and job openings near record highs. Still, rocketing inflation, with its impact on Americans’ daily lives, is posing a political threat to President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies as they seek to keep control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
Economists generally express doubt that even the sharp rate hikes that are expected from the Fed will manage to reduce inflation anywhere near the central bank’s 2% annual target by the end of this year. Tilley, Wilmington Trust economist, said he expects year-over-year consumer inflation to still be 4.5% by the end of 2020. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he had forecast a much lower 3% rate.
Inflation, which had been largely under control for four decades, began to accelerate last spring as the U.S. and global economies rebounded with unexpected speed and strength from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession that began in the spring of 2020.
The recovery, fueled by huge infusions of government spending and super-low interest rates, caught businesses by surprise, forcing them to scramble to meet surging customer demand. Factories, ports and freight yards struggled to keep up, leading to chronic shipping delays and price spikes.
Critics also blame, in part, the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion March 2021 stimulus program, which included $1,400 relief checks for most households, for helping overheat an already sizzling economy.
Many Americans have been receiving pay increases, but the pace of inflation has more than wiped out those gains for most people. In February, after accounting for inflation, average hourly wages fell 2.5% from a year earlier. It was the 11th straight monthly drop in inflation-adjusted wages. | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/us-inflation-soars-to-40-year-high-jumping-8-5-in-past-year/ | 2022-04-12T14:30:41 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/national-world/us-inflation-soars-to-40-year-high-jumping-8-5-in-past-year/ |
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police have made an arrest in a shooting during a birthday party inside a crowded Iowa nightclub that left two people dead and 10 others injured.
Timothy Ladell Rush, 32, was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder, willful injury and three weapons-related felonies, police said in a statement Monday night.
Online court records Tuesday didn’t list information about Rush’s case, including whether he has a lawyer yet. He was being held in the Linn County jail and couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Police said the shooting at the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge in Cedar Rapids killed Michael Valentine, 25, and Nicole Owens, 35, both of Cedar Rapids. Ten other people also were injured in the shooting, which occurred around 1:30 a.m. Sunday during a birthday party for a friend of the victims.
Police said Sunday they believe one of the victims was the target of the shooting. Between 100 and 150 people were inside the club when the shooting happened, police said.
Police have not provided an update on the condition of those injured. | https://www.wane.com/news/police-make-arrest-in-deadly-iowa-nightclub-shooting/ | 2022-04-12T14:30:47 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/police-make-arrest-in-deadly-iowa-nightclub-shooting/ |
MULHOUSE, France (AP) — The thought of an extreme-right leader standing at the helm of the European Union would be abhorrent to most in the 27-nation bloc. But if Emmanuel Macron falters in the April 24 French presidential elections, it might be two weeks away.
Experts say a win for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen would have immense repercussions on the functioning of the EU. Not only would her coming to power damage the democratic values and commercial rules of the 27-nation bloc, but it would also threaten the EU’s common front and sanctions that have been built in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Macron, the incumbent president with strong pro-European views, and Le Pen, an anti-immigration nationalist, couldn’t have more radically opposed visions of the EU.
“The debate we will have in the next days is crucial to our country and to Europe,” Macron said after the results were announced. On Tuesday, he is heading to Strasbourg, the seat of the EU parliament, to speak about France’s role in Europe. All polls show Macron is the favorite in the vote, but Le Pen has significantly narrowed the gap compared with the last presidential election five years ago.
France has always stood at the heart of the EU — a founding member that has partnered with neighbor and historical rival Germany to turn the bloc into an economic giant and an icon of Western values. To hand that vaunted perch to a far-right politician would be bad enough. But, as coincidence would have it, France also holds the EU’s rotating six-month presidency this spring, which also allows it to speak with the power of the 27.
It is a pedestal few want to offer to Le Pen. The National Rally leader wants to establish national border controls on imports and people, reduce the French contribution to the EU budget and cease to recognize that European law has primacy over national law.
She has proposed to remove taxes on hundreds of essential goods and wants to reduce taxes on fuel — which would go against the EU’s free market rules.
Macron told reporters during a stop in the eastern city of Mulhouse that he “believes in Europe,” praising EU action that “changed the lives of our fellow citizens” such as the collective purchase of vaccines amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
He accused Le Pen of speaking “nonsense.”
“She explains that she won’t pay the bill for the (EU) club, that she will change the rules, but will change the rules alone” Macron said. “It means she wants to get out (of the EU) but doesn’t dare say it anymore.”
Jean-Claude Piris, who served as a legal counsel to the European Council and is an expert of EU institutions, said a victory for Le Pen would have the effect of an “earthquake.” Her measures would equate in practice to a withdrawal from the 27-nation bloc, he said.
“She is in favor of a form of economic patriotism with state aids, which is contrary to the rules of the single market,” Piris said in an interview with The Associated Press. “France would no longer take part in the common free market and commercial policies.”
“She wants to modify the French constitution by giving preference to the French, by suppressing the right of the soil, the right of asylum,” which would be “totally incompatible with the values of the European treaties,” Piris added.
Piris said the arrival of Le Pen would also threaten the unanimity of the 27 on the sanctions they have adopted so far against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. She could prevent further measures being adopted. The bloc is currently mulling the opportunity to add further restrictions on oil imports from Russia.
Le Pen has built close links with the Kremlin over the years. In her previous bid to become the French president in 2017, she called for strong security ties with Moscow to jointly combat radical Islamic groups. She also pledged to recognize Crimea — the peninsula annexed from Ukraine in 2014 — as part of Russia.
Le Pen acknowledged Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “partially” changed her views about Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he was “wrong” and expressing her support toward the Ukrainian people and refugees.
Piris believes that although Le Pen could find allies in a couple of right-wing governments currently in power in eastern Europe, she would be facing hostile reactions from most other EU members.
Louis Alliot, vice-president of Le Pen’s National Rally party, said Monday on France Info news broadcaster that France’s allies would include Hungary and Poland.
A report from the Center for European Reform published Monday highlighted how Le Pen could very well go down the same road as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki in throwing up roadblocks for Brussels wherever she can to further slow the EU’s already cumbersome decision-making.
“The difference is that France … is indispensable to the EU,” the report stressed, saying the consequences would be “political chaos.”
CER experts also believe Le Pen’s policies would clash with the bloc’s climate goals. Le Pen is in favor of expanding nuclear and several non governmental groups have warned that she would slow down the transition toward renewables.
On top of that, the traditional French-German tandem would be undermined, with German Socialist chancellor Olaf Scholz highly unlikely to reach any compromise with Le Pen.
Neighboring Luxembourg’s long-serving foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, called the situation “very, very worrying.”
Le Pen as French president “would be not just an upheaval in Europe as a project of values, a peace project; it would put us on a totally different track in the essence of the European Union,” Asselborn said. “The French must prevent that.”
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Casert and Petrequin reported from Brussels. Colleen Barry in Milan, Italy, and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed. | https://www.wane.com/news/potential-far-right-victory-in-france-seen-as-threat-to-eu/ | 2022-04-12T14:30:54 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/potential-far-right-victory-in-france-seen-as-threat-to-eu/ |
KIAMBU COUNTY, Kenya (AP) — Monica Kariuki is about ready to give up on farming. What is driving her off her 10 acres of land outside Nairobi isn’t bad weather, pests or blight — the traditional agricultural curses — but fertilizer: It costs too much.
Despite thousands of miles separating her from the battlefields of Ukraine, Kariuki and her cabbage, corn and spinach farm are indirect victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. The war has pushed up the price of natural gas, a key ingredient in fertilizer, and has led to severe sanctions against Russia, a major exporter of fertilizer.
Kariuki used to spend 20,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $175, to fertilize her entire farm. Now, she would need to spend five times as much. Continuing to work the land, she said, would yield nothing but losses.
“I cannot continue with the farming business. I am quitting farming to try something else,’’ she said.
Higher fertilizer prices are making the world’s food supply more expensive and less abundant, as farmers skimp on nutrients for their crops and get lower yields. While the ripples will be feltby grocery shoppers in wealthy countries, the squeeze on food supplies will land hardest on families in poorer countries. It could hardly come at a worse time: The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said last week that its world food-price index in March reached the highest level since it started in 1990.
The fertilizer crunch threatens to further limit worldwide food supplies, already constrained by the disruption of crucial grain shipments from Ukraine and Russia. The loss of those affordable supplies of wheat, barley and other grains raises the prospect of food shortages and political instability in Middle Eastern, African and some Asian countries where millions rely on subsidized bread and cheap noodles.
“Food prices will skyrocket because farmers will have to make profit, so what happens to consumers?’’ said Uche Anyanwu, an agricultural expert at the University of Nigeria.
The aid group Action Aid warns that families in the Horn of Africa are already being driven “to the brink of survival.’’
The U.N. says Russia is the world’s No. 1 exporter of nitrogen fertilizer and No. 2 in phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. Its ally Belarus, also contending with Western sanctions, is another major fertilizer producer.
Many developing countries — including Mongolia, Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Mexico and Guatemala — rely on Russia for at least a fifth of their imports.
The conflict also has driven up the already-exorbitant price of natural gas, used to make nitrogen fertilizer. The result: European energy prices so high that some fertilizer companies “have closed their businesses and stopped operating their plants,’’ said David Laborde, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
For corn and cabbage farmer Jackson Koeth, 55, of Eldoret in western Kenya, the conflict in Ukraine was distant and puzzling until he had to decide whether to go ahead with the planting season. Fertilizer prices had doubled from last year.
Koeth said he decided to keep planting but only on half the acreage of years past. Yet he doubts he can make a profit with fertilizer so costly.
Greek farmer Dimitris Filis, who grows olives, oranges and lemons, said “you have to search to find’’ ammonia nitrate and that the cost of fertilizing a 10-hectare (25-acre) olive grove has doubled to 560 euros ($310). While selling his wares at an Athens farm market, he said most farmers plan to skip fertilizing their olive and orange groves this year.
“Many people will not use fertilizers at all, and this as a result, lowers the quality of the production and the production itself, and slowly, slowly at one point, they won’t be able to farm their land because there will be no income,’’ Filis said.
In China, the price of potash — potassium-rich salt used as fertilizer — is up 86% from a year earlier. Nitrogen fertilizer prices have climbed 39% and phosphorus fertilizer is up 10%.
In the eastern Chinese city of Tai’an, the manager of a 35-family cooperative that raises wheat and corn said fertilizer prices have jumped 40% since the start of the year.
“We can hardly make any money,” said the manager, who would give only his surname, Zhao.
Terry Farms, which grows produce on 2,100 acres largely in Ventura, California, has seen prices of some fertilizer formulations double; others are up 20%. Shifting fertilizers is risky, vice president William Terry said, because cheaper versions might not give “the crop what it needs as a food source.”
As the growing season approaches in Maine, potato farmers are grappling with a 70% to 100% increase in fertilizer prices from last year, depending on the blend.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty expensive crop, no matter what you’re putting in the ground, from fertilizer to fuel, labor, electrical and everything else,” said Donald Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board.
In Prudentopolis, a town in Brazil’s Parana state, farmer Edimilson Rickli showed off a warehouse that would normally be packed with fertilizer bags but has only enough to last a few more weeks. He’s worried that, with the war in Ukraine showing no sign of letting up, he’ll have to go without fertilizer when he plants wheat, barley and oats next month.
“The question is: Where Brazil is going to buy more fertilizer from?” he said. “We have to find other markets.”
Other countries are hoping to help fill the gaps. Nigeria, for example, opened Africa’s largest fertilizer factory last month, and the $2.5 billion plant has already shipped fertilizer to the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.
India, meanwhile, is seeking more fertilizer imports from Israel, Oman, Canada and Saudi Arabia to make up for lost shipments from Russia and Belarus.
“If the supply shortage gets worse, we will produce less,” said Kishor Rungta of the nonprofit Fertiliser Association of India. “That’s why we need to look for options to get more fertilizers in the country.”
Agricultural firms are providing support for farmers, especially in Africa where poverty often limits access to vital farm inputs. In Kenya, Apollo Agriculture is helping farmers get fertilizer and access to finance.
“Some farmers are skipping the planting season and others are going into some other ventures such as buying goats to cope,” said Benjamin Njenga, co-founder of the firm. “So these support services go a long way for them.”
Governments are helping, too. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month that it was issuing $250 million in grants to support U.S. fertilizer production. The Swiss government has released part of its nitrogen fertilizer reserves.
Still, there’s no easy answer to the double whammy of higher fertilizer prices and limited supplies. The next 12 to 18 months, food researcher LaBorde said, “will be difficult.”
The market already was “super, super tight” before the war, said Kathy Mathers of the Fertilizer Institute trade group.
“Unfortunately, in many cases, growers are just happy to get fertilizer at all,’’ she said.
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Asadu reported from Lagos, Nigeria, and Wiseman from Washington. Contributing to this story were: Tatiana Pollastri in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Debora Alvares in Brasilia, Brazil; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; Lefteris Pitarakis in Athens; Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Joe McDonald and Yu Bing in Beijing; Lisa Rathke in Marshfield, Vermont; Dave Kolpack in Fargo, North Dakota; Kathia Martínez in Panama City; Christoph Noelting in Frankfurt; Fabiola Sánchez in Mexico City; Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria; Tarik El-Barakah in Rabat, Morocco; Tassanee Vejpongsa and Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok; Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem; Edie Lederer at the United Nations; and Aya Batrawy in Dubai. | https://www.wane.com/news/russian-war-worsens-fertilizer-crunch-risking-food-supplies/ | 2022-04-12T14:31:03 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/russian-war-worsens-fertilizer-crunch-risking-food-supplies/ |
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is destroying a South Korean-owned golf course at a scenic mountain resort in the second confirmed case of South Korean assets being eliminated in an area where the rivals once ran a joint tour program, officials said Tuesday in Seoul.
North Korea’s demolition of South Korean-built facilities at its Diamond Mountain resort comes as ties between the countries remain strained over the North’s recent series of high-profile missile tests.
Responding to queries by The Associated Press, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said it has confirmed North Korea is demolishing the golf resort in addition to a South Korean-owned hotel there. Last Friday, the ministry said North Korea was dismantling the Haegumgang Hotel, a floating hotel docked at a coastal area in the resort.
The ministry said it strongly urges North Korea to stop destroying the South Korean facilities. It demanded North Korea return to talks to address the issue.
The two Koreas jointly ran a tour project at the resort for about 10 years during an earlier era of inter-Korean detente. The tours drew an estimated 2 million South Korean visitors and served as a rare source of foreign currency for the impoverished North. But South Korea suspended the project in 2008 after one of its tourists was fatally shot by a North Korean soldier there.
After their relations improved in 2018, the two Koreas pushed to resume stalled cooperation projects including the mountain tours. But Seoul eventually failed to do so without defying U.S.-led sanctions that kept the tours from restarting. In 2019, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered officials to tear down South Korean-owned assets in the resort, but the demolition was delayed due to worries about the spread of the coronavirus.
North Korea has sought sanctions relief and other concessions from the United States and South Korea to revive its moribund economy. Some experts say its recent weapons testing activity was meant to perfect its missile technology and boost its leverage in future negotiations with its rivals.
Besides the golf resort and floating hotel, South Korea owns other facilities in the resort such as spas, a culture center, accommodations, a duty free shop, karaoke rooms and a building used for reunions of Korean families separated by war. The fate of those facilities was unclear.
The North’s state media reported Tuesday that a fire in the Diamond Mountain area over the weekend destroyed unspecified facilities and hundreds of hectares of forests. It said the blaze was put out on Sunday.
It wasn’t immediately known if the fire was related to the demolition of the South Korean facilities at the resort. The South Korean Unification Ministry said it was trying to find out if the fire caused any damage to its facilities in the resort. | https://www.wane.com/news/seoul-north-korea-destroying-s-korean-owned-golf-course/ | 2022-04-12T14:31:10 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/seoul-north-korea-destroying-s-korean-owned-golf-course/ |
BEIJING (AP) — Some residents of Shanghai were allowed out of their homes Tuesday as the city of 25 million eased a two-week-old shutdown Tuesday after videos posted online showed what was said to be people who ran out of food breaking into a supermarket and shouting appeals for help.
The number of people who were allowed out wasn’t immediately clear. The government said some markets and pharmacies also would reopen.
The abrupt closure of most businesses and orders to stay home left the public fuming about a lack of access to food and medicine. People who test positive for the virus have been forced into sprawling temporary quarantine facilities criticized by some as crowded and unsanitary.
Meanwhile, Washington set up a possible new clash with Beijing by announcing all “non-emergency U.S. government employees” would be withdrawn from its Shanghai Consulate while consular officers would stay. The Chinese government complained last week after the State Department said diplomats and their families could leave if they wanted.
The unusual severity of Shanghai’s shutdown starting March 28 appeared to be driven as much by politics as by public health concerns.
The struggle in China’s richest city is an embarrassment during a politically sensitive year when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader of the ruling Communist Party.
China’s case numbers are relatively low, but the ruling party is enforcing a “zero-tolerance” strategy that has suspended access to major cities to isolate every infected person. Some local officials were fired after being accused of failing to act aggressively enough.
The government reported 24,659 new cases through midnight Monday, including 23,387 with no symptoms. That included 23,346 in Shanghai, only 998 of whom had symptoms.
In Shanghai, more than 200,000 cases but no deaths have been reported in the latest wave of infections.
The government eased restrictions by announcing residents of Shanghai neighborhoods that have had no cases for at least two weeks would be allowed out of their homes starting Tuesday. It said they could go to any other area that also had no new cases during that time.
Shanghai has 7,565 such “prevention areas,” according to city officials cited by state media. They gave no details of how many people were affected.
People in 2,460 “control areas” with no new cases in the past week were allowed out but can’t leave their neighborhoods, the government said. Residents are barred from leaving their homes in “quarantine areas” that have had infections in the past week.
The abrupt shutdown caught Shanghai households by surprise and prompted complaints they were left without access to food or medicine and were unable to look after elderly relatives who lived alone.
The government distributed packages of vegetables and other food for a few days at least twice to some households. Others said they received nothing.
A video that circulated online Saturday showed what the caption said were people in the Songjiang district breaking into a supermarket and carrying away cartons of food.
Another showed people thrusting their fists into the air in front of what appeared to be government employees wearing hooded white protective suits. A third showed what it said were apartment dwellers, barred from going outside, shouting appeals for help out their windows.
The Associated Press was unable to find the source of the videos or verify when and where they were shot. The supermarket video was labeled with an account number from China’s popular Sina Weibo social media service, but the video doesn’t appear on that account.
The ruling party requires Chinese social media operators to enforce censorship and remove videos and other postings about banned topics. Social media and online bulletin boards are filled with complaints about the Shanghai shutdown and appeals for food or medicine. It is unclear how many others might have been deleted.
Complaints about food shortages began after Shanghai closed segments of the city on March 28.
Plans called for four-day closures of districts while residents were tested. That changed to an indefinite citywide shutdown after case numbers soared. Shoppers who got little warning stripped supermarket shelves.
City officials apologized publicly and promised to improve food supplies. Despite that, residents said online grocers often sold out early in the day or were unable to deliver. Online commerce companies said they added hundreds of employees to increase deliveries.
The State Department last week advised Americans against travel to China due to “arbitrary enforcement” of local laws and anti-virus restrictions. It cited a risk of “parents and children being separated.”
The Chinese foreign ministry criticized that announcement as a “groundless accusation against China’s epidemic response.”
On Tuesday, a State Department statement said the U.S. government decided “it is best for our employees and their families to be reduced in number” due to “changing circumstances on the ground.” | https://www.wane.com/news/shanghai-eases-2-week-shutdown-letting-some-residents-out/ | 2022-04-12T14:31:17 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/shanghai-eases-2-week-shutdown-letting-some-residents-out/ |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The mass shooting that police say was a gun battle between rival gangs that left six dead and 12 wounded earlier this month shook the downtown core of California’s capital — and created another challenge for a city trying to redefine itself as a destination for more than just government workers.
In recent years, downtown Sacramento has benefited from billions of dollars of development but has been rattled by rising crime, protests resulting in property damage and an economic drubbing caused by the pandemic. Now, the city is reeling from the aftermath of the April 3 shooting, when at least five gunmen fired 100 shots as people left bars and nightclubs.
The violence just blocks from the Capitol highlights the successes and challenges many U.S. urban centers are facing as struggles with crime and homelessness persist despite revitalization efforts.
Though Sacramento is home to more than 500,000 people, it’s considered sleepy by California standards. The derisive nickname “Cowtown” grew out of its agricultural roots.
Today, downtown is at the center of the city’s efforts to become an entertainment and food destination. Local officials have worked to rebrand the city as “America’s Farm to Fork Capital,” a nod to a large number of well-regarded restaurants that get ingredients from the region’s many farms.
A major part of the revitalization is a six-block strip of K Street anchored by a renovated convention center and the Golden 1 Center, home to the NBA’s Sacramento Kings and a regular stop for major concert tours. The shooting happened on a block that’s home to high-end nightclubs but also dotted by vacant buildings that once housed coffee shops and restaurants.
Police have made two arrests connected to the shootings, but no one has been charged with homicide. The violence “came at a really pivotal moment for downtown,” said Sacramento City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, who represents the area.
“It’s causing me to sort of reflect on where we go from here — and as a city, not just as downtown,” she said.
A century ago, K Street was a bustling, diverse center of activity. But the strip struggled as people moved into the suburbs — giving way to decades of failed revival efforts, including the construction of a mall in the late 1960s and the launch of a light rail commuter line in the 1980s.
A fresh wave of investment came to the area about a decade ago, with new businesses opening on K Street as part of an effort to revive downtown after the financial crisis. The Golden 1 Center’s 2016 opening sought to build on that, helping generate $6.7 billion in nearby investment and spurring the opening of 150 new businesses, according to the Downtown Sacramento Partnership business group.
Then the pandemic hit, sending many of downtown’s 100,000 workers home and forcing some businesses closed. Now about 45,000 people work downtown daily, according to the partnership.
As employment fell, crime rose. Aggravated assaults, burglaries and vandalism were up in 2020 and 2021 compared to the five previous years for a roughly 100-square block area that includes the Capitol and the arena, according to Sacramento police crime data.
The city’s central hub has also served as the epicenter for protests focusing on racial justice and police misconduct. Protesters in 2018 shut down a downtown freeway entrance and blocked fans from entering the arena after Sacramento police shot and killed a young Black man. Then demonstrations in 2020 over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis swept the city. Many downtown properties were vandalized and some were ransacked.
“We’ve had a lot of different realities kind of hit downtown in different waves,” said Dion Dwyer, director of public space services for business partnership.
Now Sacramento is among the ranks of cities recovering from recent mass shootings. Since 2017, there have been 133 mass shootings in the U.S., according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.
Dayton, Ohio, in 2019 was shaken when a gunman killed nine people and wounded 17 just after midnight at a bar in the main entertainment district for the city of 140,000. Sandy Gudorf, president of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, said officials mounted an “intentional strategy to reclaim the district” after the shooting.
Within three weeks of the violence, there was a free performance by Dave Chappelle, who lives outside the city. The community rallied to support local businesses, but it took time for people to feel comfortable returning to nightlife. The pandemic hit just as that activity was rebounding, Gudorf said.
“In people’s minds and hearts they knew that this did not define who we are. It was an incident, it was a tragic incident where we lost lives and people were inured,” she said. “I think it just took time to process all of that.”
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg repeatedly said people should continue to feel comfortable going downtown.
“It’s not one or the other” when it comes to enjoying the city’s entertainment offerings and feeling safe,” he said last week.
Rachel Muro, a manager at the locally owned Capital Books several storefronts away from the shooting, said downtown has problems like any city but that people should not avoid it. The bookstore’s owners recently opened a board game cafe just around the corner.
“We believe in this part of town enough to continue to help make it thrive,” Muro said.
Elsewhere on the block, the area’s troubles are obvious, with many office and restaurant spaces vacant. Homelessness downtown and elsewhere in Sacramento has been a vexing problem.
Last week the City Council voted to place a measure on the November ballot requiring the city build to more shelter beds and ban encampments on public land. Valenzuela, the councilwoman, opposed the plan and said it was inappropriate to debate that proposal so soon after the tragedy.
Crystal Sanchez, president of the Sacramento Homeless Union, said homeless people live downtown because the area has street lighting and lots of activity and plenty of alcoves near businesses where they can shelter.
“People are here because there are coves for protection,” Sanchez said.
At a brewery a few blocks from the shooting site, co-workers enjoying a drink reflected on whether the shooting changed their view of the city.
Braden Kolb, who was at a downtown bar for a friend’s 30th birthday the night before the shooting, said he patronizes downtown about once a month and that the shooting “is not going to change my behavior.”
But his friend Jason Slieter said the incident made him wonder if Sacramento is the right place to raise his family, saying he felt a sense of heaviness downtown when coming to work after the six people were killed.
“It definitely felt like something had changed,” he said.
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Associated Press journalists Adam Beam in Sacramento and Camille Fassett in Oakland contributed. | https://www.wane.com/news/shooting-challenges-downtown-sacramentos-rebuilding-efforts/ | 2022-04-12T14:31:24 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/shooting-challenges-downtown-sacramentos-rebuilding-efforts/ |
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Prolonged rains and flooding in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province have claimed the lives of at least 20 people, according to local officials.
The country’s military has been deployed to Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area on Tuesday to assist with rescue operations as residents flee flooded areas.
Some people have been swept away by surging waters.
Authorities are providing shelter for several hundred people whose homes and possessions were washed away by the floods and technicians are working to restore electricity to areas where power had been knocked out.
Emergency services have for several days been responding to urgent calls for help from people stuck in their houses but the number is beginning to decrease, emergency services spokesman Robert McKenzie told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
“There are still cases of collapsed buildings where operations are still continuing,” he said.
“Most of our power stations have been flooded and our teams are working hard to restore power to the affected areas,” Moxilisi Kaunda, mayor of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality, told a press briefing Tuesday.
“Our teams are on the ground to try and return the situation to normalcy,” he said. “We continue to assess the damages, we cannot be sure of the extent of the damages at the moment.” | https://www.wane.com/news/south-africas-kwazulu-natal-province-hit-by-floods-20-dead/ | 2022-04-12T14:31:32 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/south-africas-kwazulu-natal-province-hit-by-floods-20-dead/ |
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish authorities have detained 46 people, including former local officials from a pro-Kurdish political party, who are suspected of having financial links to Kurdish militants, the state-run news agency reported on Tuesday.
The detained are among 91 suspects sought by a chief prosecutor for allegedly “providing financial resources on behalf” of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, Anadolu Agency reported. They are accused of being a part of the PKK’s “economic structure,” of money-laundering and of taking instructions from PKK commander Murat Karayilan, it said.
Anadolu said the suspects include former deputy mayors, former party treasurers and former city council members of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP.
There was no immediate comment from the HDP — the second-largest opposition party in Turkey’s parliament — which is fighting legal moves toward its closure at Turkey’s Constitutional Court.
Prosecutors accuse the party of colluding with the PKK and of seeking to “destroy the unity of the state.” They are demanding that the party be dissolved, that it be deprived of treasury funding and that about 450 party members be barred from holding political office for five years. The HDP denies the accusations.
Dozens of elected HDP lawmakers and mayors — including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag — as well as thousands of party members have been arrested on terror-related accusations as part of a government crackdown on the party. Several HDP mayors who were elected in 2019 have, meanwhile, been replaced by state-appointed trustees.
The PKK is considered a terror organization by Turkey, the European Union and the U.S. The group has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people. | https://www.wane.com/news/turkey-detains-former-kurdish-party-officials-for-pkk-links/ | 2022-04-12T14:31:39 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/turkey-detains-former-kurdish-party-officials-for-pkk-links/ |
LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office said Tuesday he will be issued a fine for breaching COVID-19 regulations following allegations of lockdown parties at government offices. Treasury Chief Rishi Sunak will also be fined.
The news came after London’s Metropolitan Police force said earlier Tuesday that they were issuing 30 more fixed penalty notices in relation to the “partygate” scandal, which has angered many in Britain and seen dozens of politicians and officials investigated over allegations that the government flouted its own pandemic restrictions.
“The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have today received notification that the Metropolitan police intend to issue them with fixed penalty notices,” a spokesperson for Johnson’s office said. “We have no further details, but we will update you again when we do.”
It was not clear how much Johnson and Sunak were fined.
Johnson has denied any wrongdoing, but he is alleged to have been at several of the dozen events in his 10 Downing St. office and other government buildings that are being investigated by the police.
Johnson’s government has been shaken by public anger over revelations that his staff held “bring your own booze” office parties, birthday celebrations and “wine time Fridays” in 2020 and 2021 while millions in Britain were barred from meeting with friends and family because of his government’s COVID-19 restrictions. Thousands of people were fined between 60 pounds ($79) and 10,000 pounds ($13,200) by police for rule-breaking social gatherings.
Opponents, and some members of the governing Conservative Party, have said that Johnson should resign if he is issued a fine for breaking rules he imposed on the rest of the country during the pandemic.
In total, police say they were issuing at least 50 fines for the breaches, but did not identify who the recipients are. Police say they have sent questionnaires to more than 100 people, including the prime minister, and interviewed witnesses as part of the investigation.
In January, civil servant Sue Gray published a report into some of the gatherings, the ones not under criminal investigation. She said “failures of leadership and judgment” in Johnson’s government allowed events to occur that should not have happened. | https://www.wane.com/news/uk-government-johnson-to-be-fined-over-lockdown-parties/ | 2022-04-12T14:31:46 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/uk-government-johnson-to-be-fined-over-lockdown-parties/ |
CORNVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — A hungry javelina in Arizona ended up going for a drive when it became trapped inside an empty car and bumped it into neutral.
Deputies in Yavapai County responded to a call last week in Cornville, a community 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Sedona, about a javelina stuck in a Subaru station wagon. Javelinas are pig-like animals that are native to desert environments.
After speaking with the car’s owner and other residents, they determined the car’s hatch back had been left open overnight.
The javelina jumped in to get to a bag of Cheetos. The hatch then closed, trapping the animal inside.
Authorities say the javelina ripped off a portion of the dashboard and the inside of a door in an attempt to escape.
The animal then managed to knock the car into neutral, causing it to roll down the driveway and across the street. The Subaru came to a rest, and the javelina was not injured.
A deputy opened the hatch, and the javelina was able to run back into the wilderness. | https://www.wane.com/news/weird/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-in-car-goes-for-ride-in-arizona/ | 2022-04-12T14:31:53 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/weird/hungry-javelina-gets-stuck-in-car-goes-for-ride-in-arizona/ |
What do we know about“stealth omicron”so far?
It’s an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant, but it doesn’t seem to cause more severe disease.
Since it was first identified in November, BA.2 has been spreading around the globe, driving new surges in parts of Asia and Europe. It’s now the dominant coronavirus version in the U.S.and more than five dozen other countries.
It was given the “stealth” nickname because it looks like the earlier delta variant on certain PCR tests, says Kristen Coleman at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The original omicron, by contrast, is easy to differentiate from delta because of a genetic quirk.
In rare cases, early research indicates BA.2 can infect people even if they’ve already had an omicron infection. COVID-19 vaccines appear just as effective against both kinds of omicron, offering strong protection against severe illness and death.
Health officials also are tracking other variants including XE — a combination of BA.2 and BA.1, the original omicron — that was first identified in January in the United Kingdom. The World Health Organization is keeping tabs on XE but has not yet deemed it a variant of concern or interest.
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The AP is answering your questions about the coronavirus in this series. Submit them at: FactCheck@AP.org. Read more here:
How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed after two years?
Why are COVID vaccination rates still low in some countries?
Can you get long COVID after an infection with omicron? | https://www.wane.com/news/what-do-we-know-about-stealth-omicron-so-far/ | 2022-04-12T14:32:00 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/what-do-we-know-about-stealth-omicron-so-far/ |
Schools across America are racing to make up for time they lost during the pandemic by budgeting billions of dollars for tutoring, summer camps and longer school days and trying to untangle which students need help most urgently after two years of disruptions.
Many schools saw large numbers of students fall under the radar when learning went online for the pandemic. Many skipped class, tests and homework. Record numbers of families opted out of annual standardized tests, leaving some districts with little evidence of how students were doing in reading and math.
Now districts are trying to address that lack of information by adding new tests, training teachers to spot learning gaps and exploring new ways to identify students who need help. In many districts, the findings are being used to guide the spending of billions of dollars in federal relief that’s meant to address learning loss and can be used in myriad ways.
New York City is adding three rounds of testing this year, hoping to pinpoint which students are behind. Similar tests are being used in Virginia’s Fairfax County, which is allotting larger shares of funding to schools with lower scores. Chicago is prioritizing students using a ranking system that factors in their grades and also rates of COVID-19 and violent crime near their homes.
“Understanding completely where students are and what those gaps or challenges might be for them — that is going to be a challenge for us,” said Debbie Durrence, the data officer for Gwinnett County, Georgia.
Her team, which serves the 180,000-student district, has started tracking a new metric: “missingness.” In regular reports, the team aims to log what is known about each student’s learning progress, but also what is unknown. Schools have been asked to help fill in gaps, and students are being tested more frequently.
For students, disruptions related to the pandemic are still reverberating. Now that Lorena Rivera’s twin daughters are back in the classroom in Boston, some of their teachers have quit mid-year or gotten sick with COVID-19. The 14-year-old twins struggled with virtual learning, feeling like they had nowhere to turn when they had trouble with math problems.
“There was a lot of giving up — it was hard,” Rivera said.
Her daughters, Elizabeth and Amerie Allder, have since found support through a local tutoring program, Boston Partners in Education, but Rivera wonders whether their school knows how her daughters are doing.
“I’m not sure because every time you meet with someone, they give you something different,” she said. “Some teachers say they’re doing great, others say they can do better.”
Early results of data gathering by some of the country’s biggest school districts confirm what many had feared: Groups of students that already faced learning gaps before the pandemic, including Black and Hispanic students and those from low-income families, appear to be behind in even greater numbers now.
In Fairfax County, tests given this fall found that 68% of Hispanic elementary school students need intervention in math, up from 55% in 2019. Students learning English saw a similar increase. A quarter of white students were flagged for help, up from 19% in 2019.
Last year, public schools in Houston found that 45% of Black and Hispanic students had at least one failing grade. That was up from 30% in 2019, and nearly three times the rate of white students.
Similar inequities are turning up at schools across the country, said Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a national research group. It suggests that longstanding inequities are widening, she said, which could translate to deeper learning and income gaps for generations to come.
States have been raising alarms, urging schools to focus on students who spent more time away from school. Utah’s education officials found that students who missed last year’s exams were far more likely to be Native American or Hispanic, prompting an urgent call to find those students and “prevent them from falling into an academic spiral.”
Many bigger districts already had testing regimes and data systems to find students who are falling behind, while some are scrambling to catch up. But not all major districts are analyzing the data or making it public.
New York City is spending $36 million on new testing, but officials said they don’t have district-wide results. Instead, they said the tests are being used at the school level to help teachers support students.
Schools in Chicago were encouraged to use a new screening exam, but a district spokesperson declined to provide the results.
In Fairfax County, where more than 20% of students opted out of state tests last year, district officials attempted to fill in the gaps by giving students informal, low-stakes tests to measure their progress this fall.
“We’ve been working to figure out which students need the most targeted support most quickly,” said Amy Goodloe, principal of Rocky Run Middle School. Teachers have used test results to find concepts students struggle with and create plans to get them up to speed, she said.
The results are also guiding the district as it divides $188 million in federal funding among nearly 200 schools. In many buildings, the money is being used to add staff who help students in small groups, or to hire tutors for more personal help after school.
Testing increases in some districts have led to pushback from parents and teachers who say it takes away from valuable classroom time, but proponents say it’s a crucial step toward understanding the impact of the pandemic.
In Texas, a law passed last year requires 30 hours of tutoring for students who did not pass state exams last year. It applies to students who failed tests but also those who didn’t take exams.
In Houston, the state’s largest district, officials are hiring more tutors but haven’t added new tests.
“Increasing the numbers of assessments isn’t going to yield a different result, it just would impact the amount of instructional time we have as a district,” said Margarita Gardea, who oversees elementary curriculum and instruction.
Finding tutors, though, has been a challenge in many areas amid a sudden surge in demand.
In Florida’s Miami-Dade County, school officials created a new learning loss index based on assessments, attendance and state exams, and then ranked students based on need. The district brought back retired teachers to work as tutors on a temporary basis, and it’s expanding summer school, Saturday classes and other programs.
So far, test results have shown some progress toward getting students up to grade level, but thousands of students are still behind.
“The bottom line is that we have such a loss that it will take some time,” said Gisela Feild, administrative director of assessment, research and data analysis. “You can’t make up that kind of a loss in one year.”
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Associated Press reporter Kathleen Foody contributed from Chicago. | https://www.wane.com/news/with-aid-to-spend-schools-look-for-students-who-need-help/ | 2022-04-12T14:32:07 | 1 | https://www.wane.com/news/with-aid-to-spend-schools-look-for-students-who-need-help/ |
GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organization predicted Tuesday that trade in goods will grow much less than previously expected this year, saying prospects for the global economy have darkened since the onset of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In the latest grim economic outlook to emerge, the Geneva-based trade body pointed to multiple uncertainties in its forecast over the next two years because Russian and Ukrainian exports of items like food, oil and fertilizers are under threat from the war. It also cited the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — notably from lockdowns in China.
“It’s now clear that the double whammy of the pandemic and the war has disrupted supply chains, increased inflationary pressures and lowered expectations for output and trade growth,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told reporters.
The WTO said its projections for world trade take into account factors like the impact of the war, sanctions on Russia and shrinking worldwide demand amid lower business and consumer confidence.
It said world merchandise trade volume is expected to grow 3% this year, down from a forecast of 4.7% before the war began. For 2023, it’s expected to increase 3.4%.
The trade body also projects that global gross domestic product at market exchange rates will grow by 2.8% this year, down from the 4.1% previously anticipated.
Okonjo-Iweala said the war has caused “immense human suffering” in Ukraine and its effect has rippled around the world, notably in poorer countries, adding: “A potential food crisis is looming.”
She said high fuel prices and expensive fertilizer pose a threat to future crop yields, and the war has further strained global supply chains already under pressure.
The WTO is part of a steering committee set up by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to look into the possible food crisis. The panel has discussed, among other things, whether countries with “additional buffer stocks” of grain could release some supply into international markets, Okonjo-Iweala said.
She expressed hopes for a “humanitarian cover” to ensure that the harvest of 80% of Ukraine’s winter wheat in July can go forward, and that wheat can be planted in the country in September.
The WTO outlook follows a similarly downbeat forecast from the World Bank.
The Washington-based lender said in a report Sunday that the war in Ukraine is set to inflict twice the amount of economic damage across Europe and Central Asia that the COVID-19 pandemic did.
It also said Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 45.1% this year. Besides Ukraine, the report focused on central and Eastern Europe, former Soviet republics, the Balkan countries and Turkey. | https://www.wane.com/news/wto-war-in-ukraine-to-curb-trade-economic-growth-this-year/ | 2022-04-12T14:32:14 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/wto-war-in-ukraine-to-curb-trade-economic-growth-this-year/ |
By KAREN MATTHEWS and MICHAEL R. SISAK
NEW YORK (AP) — At least five people were shot and injured Tuesday at a New York City subway station during a morning rush hour attack that left wounded commuters bleeding on a train platform and police searching for the shooter.
Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood at around 8:30 a.m. found at least 13 people were hurt, but — aside from the five shot — there were no details on what those injuries entailed.
According to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, preliminary information indicated that the suspect who fled was a man wearing a construction vest and a gas mask.
Photos and video from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the station and the air filled with smoke. Fire and police officials were investigating reports that there had been an explosion, but the police department tweeted that there were “no active explosive devices at this time.” Multiple smoke devices were found on the scene, said mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy, who confirmed the initial shooting injury count.
At least 11 people were being treated at two local hospitals.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS, saying he saw a gigantic billow of smoke pouring out of the N train once the door opened.
A bystander video shows people lying on the subway platform amid what appeared to be small puddles of blood, as a loudspeaker announcement told everyone on the smoke-hazy platform to get on a train. Inside a subway car, a person lay on the floor, encircled by others. Outside the station, a police officer yelled, “Let’s go! Get out of the way!”
Trains servicing that station were delayed during the morning rush hour.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not immediately have more details. Adams was at the mayor’s residence Tuesday morning and was being briefed.
The incident happened on a subway line that runs through south Brooklyn in a neighborhood about a 15-minute train ride to Manhattan. Local schools, including Sunset Park High School across the street, were locked down.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just dropped his son off at school when he saw a crush of passengers, included multiple wounded, running up the subway stairway at the 25th Street station in panic. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
“It was insane,” he told The Associated Press. “No one knew exactly what was going on.”
Allan Lee was running his business, Cafe Nube, when a half-dozen police cars and fire vehicles suddenly converged on the block.
“Then they started ushering people that were on the block to the adjacent block and then closed off the subway entrance” near the cafe’s door, he told the AP. When he noticed bomb squad officers and dogs, he was certain it was no everyday subway problem.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement she had been briefed on the situation and said her office would work with the transit authority and police department as the investigation continued. President Joe Biden had also been briefed on the latest developments and White House senior staff were in touch with Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
Police officers were canvassing 4th Avenue, the station’s cross-street, asking witnesses whether they were on the train. A sea of emergency lights was visible from at least a dozen blocks away, where a police cordon was set up.
The shootings come as New York City has faced a spate a shootings and high-profile incidents in recent months, including on the city’s subways. One of the most shocking was in January when a woman was pushed to her death in front of a train by a stranger.
Adams, a Democrat a little over 100 days into his term, has made cracking down on crime — especially on the subways — a focus of his early administration, pledging to send more police officers into stations and platforms for regular patrols. It wasn’t immediately clear whether officers had already been inside the station when the shootings occurred.
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Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Michelle L. Price, Jennifer Peltz and Jim Mustian in New York contributed to this report. | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/at-least-5-people-shot-at-new-york-subway-station/ | 2022-04-12T14:34:17 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/at-least-5-people-shot-at-new-york-subway-station/ |
Tight end was one of the Miami Dolphins’ deepest positions in 2021, and they’re running it back at the position in 2022.
Mike Gesicki was placed on the franchise tag and Durham Smythe was re-signed for two years with Adam Shaheen, Hunter Long and Cethan Carter already under contract, making it so that the five Dolphins that played tight end last season are set to return.
Gesicki, who uses his long, rangy 6-foot-6 build to make contested catches, looks to take another step forward after he has increased his receiving totals every year to the point of finishing with 73 receptions for 780 yards last season. Smythe, known more for his blocking prowess, also set career highs in 2021 with 34 catches for 357 yards.
With a lot of tight ends, comes a lot of tight end snaps.
The Dolphins led the NFL in 2021 by lining up in 12 personnel — one running back and two tight ends — on 61 percent of their offensive plays. That was more than twice as often as any other team used such an alignment.
Gesicki saw 72 percent of Miami’s offensive snaps, while Smythe was in on 62 percent and Shaheen 46 — in games they played (Shaheen missed five games). Shaheen’s reps produced 12 receptions for 110 yards.
Despite returning the personnel at the position, that number may revert back closer to the norm given the Dolphins’ offseason additions of wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Cedrick Wilson Jr. to pair with rising star Jaylen Waddle heading into his second season. Miami should run out three wide receivers more often.
Not to mention, new coach Mike McDaniel’s offense will also get the fullback involved, and the Dolphins added Alec Ingold and John Lovett this offseason to play the roles of those lead blockers out of the backfield. Carter, after only playing 5 percent of offensive snaps in his first season in Miami, is also a candidate to contribute in a versatile H-back role.
While extremely productive in the passing game, questions remain over Gesicki’s run-blocking ability. And in McDaniel’s outside-zone scheme, blocking at the position is expected to be pivotal.
“It’s important because our system is based off of outside zone,” said new tight ends coach Jon Embree, who was under McDaniel and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s same system in San Francisco earlier in the offseason. “[To] get on the edge or to get the corner, so to speak, it starts with your tight end. So, it’s an integral part of our offense.”
But the same way Gesicki’s blocking concerns were masked by lining him up in the slot or out wide more often than he did as an in-line tight end in former co-offensive coordinator George Godsey’s scheme, McDaniel can devise ways of utilizing his strengths over his weaknesses.
“I think there’s multiple ways to use players that have skill sets that can help you do things offensively,” McDaniel said at the NFL scouting combine in early March. “We’ve had tight ends in our history that have been featured pass receivers, and we’ve had featured blockers. On both ends of the system, they are expected and will do both things, majoring or minoring in one or the other, depending on their skill sets.
“I have no problem, no hesitation or no concern of Mike being able to contribute as a blocker, and we’ll use him the way it’s most appropriate for him, as well as we’ll do the same thing for him in the pass game.”
Smythe fits the mold of that effective blocker on the edge, and the combination can still find situations where both are in their comfort zones on the field together when Gesicki is lined up out wide. Especially with wide receiver DeVante Parker no longer on the Dolphins, traded to the Patriots, Gesicki can present a possession receiver on the outside aside from Preston Williams. Hill and Waddle are smaller receivers whose games are based on speed, and Wilson does most of his work in the slot.
Long underwhelmed as a rookie after he was drafted in the third round in 2021, but part of it had to do with the Dolphins’ depth at tight end. Inactive for 10 games, he played seven games, starting two, and made one catch for 8 yards.
Previously addressed
Dolphins giving Tua Tagovailoa tools to succeed heading into Year 3
Dolphins’ new-look backfield should benefit from Mike McDaniel’s run game
Dolphins have improved offensive line, but are still a piece or two away up front
() | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/dolphins-returning-last-years-tight-ends-but-use-of-the-unit-could-change-in-new-offense/ | 2022-04-12T14:34:18 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/dolphins-returning-last-years-tight-ends-but-use-of-the-unit-could-change-in-new-offense/ |
The South Florida Sun Sentinel continues its 10-part series looking at the top prospects in the upcoming NFL draft (April 28-30) with tight ends. The class has several prospects that should be drafted. With their first pick at No. 102, the Miami Dolphins will likely be able to find a formidable prospect that can compete for a role with either their late-third-round pick or their fourth-round selection.
Colorado State’s Trey McBride
McBride, who caught 164 passes for 2,100 yards and scored 10 touchdowns, has elite ball skills and the quickness needed to get open against NFL linebackers. He goes hard as a blocker, which gives him a chance to be a three-down tight end. But he has average speed and isn’t elusive with the ball in his hands, which will likely keep him out of the first round.
Ohio State’s Jeremy Ruckert
This well-rounded tight end was under utilized in the Buckeyes offense, where he only caught 54 passes for 615 yards and 12 touchdowns in his four seasons. He’s a high-motor player who can handle in-line blocking and is athletic enough to pull away from defenders.
Wisconsin’s Jake Ferguson
Ferguson is a reliable, sure-handed target who could use some refining in his route running and in-line blocking. He’s caught 145 passes for 1,618 yards and 13 touchdowns in the 47 games he’s played the past four seasons. He’s got soft hands, and has the talent to be more than a get-in-the-way blocker for the right scheme.
UCLA’s Greg Dulcich
Dulcich flashes the ability to pressure defenses vertically, and has the savvy route running needed to excel in the NFL. He excelled in his last two seasons at UCLA, playing in a Chip Kelly offense, catching 68 passes in 18 games, and turning them into 1,242 yards and a touchdown.
Coastal Carolina Isaiah Likely
Likely is a well-coordinated athlete who has the potential to become a dangerous seam threat playmaker in the right offense. Last season he caught 59 passes for 912 yards and scored 12 touchdowns, but there should be some concern about the level of competition he’s faced. He’s undersized for his position (6-4, 245), but a willing blocker.
Best of the rest
At one point Texas A&M’s Jalen Wydermyer was viewed as the best tight end in this draft class, but his unimpressive combine numbers have cooled off the hype surrounding him. It’s possible that he could play better than he tests. Iowa State’s Charlie Kolar, Washington’s Cade Otton, UAB’s Gerrit Prince, San Jose State’s Derrick Deese Jr., and Nevada’s Cole Turner could carve out respectable NFL careers for themselves.
Class grade: C-
There is no Kyle Pitts in the 2022 crop of tight ends, but there are a handful of players who could become Day 1 starters, and another handful that might put together respectable 4- to 8-year NFL careers. Surprisingly, this class of tight ends features more likable in-line talents who simply need a decent investment.
Teams in need
Very few teams desperately need tight end upgrades this year, which could make this the perfect year to acquire one in Day 2 and stash him away for a season or two. The Commanders, Vikings, Texans, Broncos all have a glaring needs and could add another piece.
Dolphins’ focus
The Dolphins ensured that the tight end room remained intact this offseason when Mike Gesicki received the franchise tag, and Durham Smythe signed a two-year deal worth $7 million. That means Hunter Long, a 2022 third-round pick, must find a way to push for playing time, if not a starting role. Adam Shaheen is still around, providing versatility. If the Dolphins do select a tight end it will likely be in later rounds.
Previously addressed
Miami Dolphins’ NFL draft options: Quarterbacks
Miami Dolphins’ NFL draft options: Running backs
Miami Dolphins’ NFL draft options: Offensive linemen
() | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/miami-dolphins-nfl-draft-options-tight-ends/ | 2022-04-12T14:34:19 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/miami-dolphins-nfl-draft-options-tight-ends/ |
By YURAS KARMANAU and ADAM SCHRECK
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine investigated a claim that a poisonous substance was dropped on besieged Mariupol, as Western officials warned Tuesday that any use of chemical weapons by Russia would be a serious escalation of the already devastating war.
Thwarted in his apparent ambition to overrun the Ukrainian capital, Russian President Vladimir Putin is now building up forces for a new offensive in the eastern Donbas region, and insisted Tuesday that his campaign would continue until it achieves its goals. He said Russia “had no other choice” but to launch what he calls a “special military operation,” saying it was to protect civilians in the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas.
As Ukrainian forces brace for a new attack, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said it was possible phosphorus munitions — which cause horrendous burns but are not classed as chemical weapons — had been used in Mariupol. That city lies in the Donbas and has been razed in six weeks of pummeling by Russian troops that the mayor said has left more than 10,000 civilians dead, their corpses “carpeted through the streets.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday night that Russian forces could use chemical weapons in the city, echoing similar, repeated warnings by Western officials. And leaders inside and outside of the country said they were urgently investigating the unconfirmed claim by a Ukrainian regiment that a poisonous substance was dropped on fighters in Mariupol.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said use of chemical weapons “would be a callous escalation in this conflict,” while Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said it would be a “wholesale breach of international law.”
In the face of stiff resistance by Ukrainian forces bolstered by Western weapons, Russian forces have increasingly relied on bombarding cities, flattening many urban areas and leaving thousands of people dead. In other areas, they have pulled back to regroup.
Their retreat from cities and towns around the capital, Kyiv, led to the discovery of large numbers of apparently massacred civilians, prompting widespread condemnation and accusations that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine.
The war has also driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes — including nearly two-thirds of all children.
Still, there are fears of even wider carnage to come, amid signs the Russian military is gearing up for a major offensive in the Donbas. A senior U.S. defense official on Monday described a long Russian convoy rolling toward the eastern city of Izyum with artillery, aviation and infantry support.
Putin insisted during a visit to Russia’s Far East that the military operation would prevail, and that foreign powers wouldn’t succeed in isolating Russia.
He said that Russia’s economy and financial system withstood the blow from what he called the Western sanctions “blitz” and claimed they would backfire by driving up prices for essentials such as fertilizer, leading to food shortages and increase migration flows to the West.
The Donbas has been torn by fighting between Russian-allied separatists and Ukrainian forces since 2014, and Russia has recognized the separatists’ claims of independence. Military strategists say Russian leaders appear to hope local support, logistics and terrain in the region favor Russia’s larger and better-armed military, potentially allowing its troops to finally turn the tide decisively in their favor.
Describing a battle happening around a steel mill in Mariupol, a Russia-allied separatist official appeared to urge the use of chemical weapons Monday, telling Russian state TV that separatist forces should seize the plant from Ukrainian forces by first blocking all the exits. “And then we’ll use chemical troops to smoke them out of there,” he said.
But Eduard Basurin was quoted by the Interfax news agency on Tuesday as saying that the separatist forces “haven’t used any chemical weapons in Mariupol.”
It was the Ukrainian regiment defending the plant that claimed a drone had dropped a poisonous substance on the city. It indicated there were no serious injuries. The assertion by the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military, could not be independently verified.
Truss said the U.K. was “working urgently” to investigate the report, while Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the U.S. could not confirm the drone report out of Mariupol.
But Kirby noted the administration’s persistent concerns “about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine.” Britain, meanwhile, has warned that Russia may use phosphorus bombs — whose use in civilian areas is banned under international law — in Mariupol.
That city has already seen some of the heaviest attacks and civilian suffering in the war, but the land, sea and air assaults by Russian forces fighting to capture it have increasingly limited information about what’s happening inside the city.
Speaking by phone Monday with The Associated Press, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko accused Russian forces of having blocked weeks of attempted humanitarian convoys into the city in part to conceal the carnage. Boychenko said the death toll in Mariupol alone could surpass 20,000.
He said, about 120,000 civilians in the city are in dire need of food, water, warmth and communications.
Boychenko also gave new details of allegations by Ukrainian officials that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to Mariupol to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.
Boychenko spoke from Ukrainian-controlled territory outside Mariupol. The mayor said he had several sources for his description of the alleged methodical burning of bodies by Russian forces in the city, but did not detail the sources.
While building up forces in the east, Russia continued to strike targets across Ukraine in a bid to wear down the country’s defenses. Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that it used used air- and sea-launched missiles to destroy an ammunition depot and airplane hangar at Starokostiantyniv in the western Khmelnytskyi region and an ammunition depot near Kyiv.
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Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Robert Burns in Washington, and AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/ukraine-probes-claim-poisonous-substance-dropped-in-mariupol/ | 2022-04-12T14:34:20 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/ukraine-probes-claim-poisonous-substance-dropped-in-mariupol/ |
What do we know about “stealth omicron” so far?
It’s an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant, but it doesn’t seem to cause more severe disease.
Since it was first identified in November, BA.2 has been spreading around the globe, driving new surges in parts of Asia and Europe. It’s now the dominant coronavirus version in the U.S. and more than five dozen other countries.
It was given the “stealth” nickname because it looks like the earlier delta variant on certain PCR tests, says Kristen Coleman at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The original omicron, by contrast, is easy to differentiate from delta because of a genetic quirk.
In rare cases, early research indicates BA.2 can infect people even if they’ve already had an omicron infection. COVID-19 vaccines appear just as effective against both kinds of omicron, offering strong protection against severe illness and death.
Health officials also are tracking other variants including XE — a combination of BA.2 and BA.1, the original omicron — that was first identified in January in the United Kingdom. The World Health Organization is keeping tabs on XE but has not yet deemed it a variant of concern or interest. | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/what-do-we-know-about-stealth-omicron-so-far/ | 2022-04-12T14:34:21 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/what-do-we-know-about-stealth-omicron-so-far/ |
This was after a Sunday night loss in Orlando that in at least one way felt like a victory.
Victor Oladipo had just scored 40 points, the most by a Miami Heat player this season, and coach Erik Spoelstra was reflecting on a conversation between the two earlier in the day, one that addressed Oladipo’s comeback from May quadriceps surgery.
“It’s interesting,” Spoelstra leaned in, as if embracing the opportunity to touch on the subject. “After the shootaround this morning, he and I talked about it, just from that very first practice after All-Star break, where he was fully healthy, and really had ramped things up already for three weeks. But in comparison to where he was physically and mentally then to where he is now is just exponentially different, and further along the road.
“I just really respect and admire how he’s handled this entire process.”
This, for Spoelstra, came off as a moment of pride, of assisting in a process that some thought might not have come at all this season.
And yet moments after Spoelstra spoke of gains already made, Oladipo was asked about his coach’s comments, of the confidence that he would make it to a moment such as this.
“I don’t need this to have confidence,” Oladipo said in such a quiet tone that it was barely audible. “I believe in myself, got to continue getting better.
“I told you before, it’s a rehab thing, it’s a rehab process for me. I know the situation. I came back in the middle of the year; it was different. But I believe in myself and my game. My confidence will never waver.”
To Spoelstra, it seemingly has been victory already achieved, simply getting to the point of such a breakout performance, albeit one against mostly second-tier players from the NBA’s second-worst team, in a meaningless finale to the regular season.
To Oladipo, there seemingly is a moment to be seized now, in these upcoming NBA playoffs, having shown he is up to the moment with Sunday’s performance against the Magic and, even more significantly, his 21-point outing a week earlier in a key seeding victory in Toronto.
“It just felt good to play basketball, going out there and being myself, doing my best to do whatever it takes to help the team win,” he said.
It all sounds so simple: Former All-Star makes noise in the scoring column, displays regained athleticism, believes there could be even more in short order.
Only it’s not that simple. His performance a week earlier against the Raptors came with Jimmy Butler given the night off for rest. Sunday’s breakout came with the entire Heat starting lineup held out in a game with no impact on the standings.
The reality is that when Spoelstra initially attempted to work the 29-year-old guard into the mix, there was a rough patch that included a four-game losing streak. When Oladipo was dealt out of the mix, except for that opportunity in Toronto, there was a six-game winning streak.
It was during that winning streak that players such as Butler, Kyle Lowry and Bam Adebayo spoke of better spacing, the type offered by complementary 3-point shooters.
No, no one is comparing the resumes of Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson and Caleb Martin to Oladipo’s. It’s not even close.
But a rotation is about more than playing the nine best players. It is about finding the nine who best coalesce. And all four of the above are truer spot-up shooters than Oladipo (even with his recent 3-point resurgence), which is the type of 3-point shooting that best spaces the floor.
Thus the dilemma for Spoelstra and Oladipo, as the Heat prepare for the start of their pre-playoff camp.
Victor Oladipo is one of the most talented players on the roster. But at this moment, he might not be the best fit, having been injected into the equation so late in the season.
“Unfortunately I wasn’t dealt the right cards,” he said. “Right now, I’m in position where I have all I need to maximize whatever it is I need to maximize as far as my health goes. Right now, I’m feeling better. But I’ve still got to keep improving.”
As he spoke almost in a whisper, it was clear Oladipo was not trying to rock a boat that sailed to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
So, no, he wasn’t biting on a question about the playoff rotation.
“I don’t have no control with that,” he said. “If my number is called, I’ll be ready.”
And that ostensibly is where Spoelstra believes the story should stand, that dedication to a grueling rehab process could yet produce a playoff moment, but that, if not, it still is an inspired effort to be celebrated.
“There’s been a lot of guys that have had injuries that might not be the exact same injury that would just push everything to the next season,” Spoelstra said. “And he’s made himself available, put himself out there to be vulnerable, and just really giving in to the team. I was really happy for him that he was able to have a performance like this [Sunday] night.”
For the Heat, it’s on to the playoffs.
For Oladipo, as it has been for years now amid injury rehab, on to the unknown.
“We’ll just keep on moving forward,” Spoelstra said.
Because, in this instance, with this decision, it’s all Spoelstra can say, all he can guarantee.
() | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/winderman-for-heat-and-victor-oladipo-its-complicated/ | 2022-04-12T14:34:37 | 0 | https://www.twincities.com/2022/04/12/winderman-for-heat-and-victor-oladipo-its-complicated/ |
WASHINGTON — Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received.
The Labor Department said Tuesday that its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier — the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981. Prices have been driven up by bottlenecked supply chains, robust consumer demand and disruptions to global food and energy markets worsened by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The government’s report also showed that inflation rose 1.2% from February to March, up from a 0.8% increase from January to February.
The March inflation numbers were the first to capture the full surge in gasoline prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Moscow’s brutal attacks have triggered far-reaching Western sanctions against the Russian economy and have disrupted global food and energy markets. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline — $4.10 — is up 43% from a year ago, though it has fallen back in the past couple of weeks.
The escalation of energy prices has led to higher transportation costs for the shipment of goods and components across the economy, which, in turn, has contributed to higher prices for consumers.
The latest evidence of accelerating prices will solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates aggressively in the coming months to try to slow borrowing and spending and tame inflation. The financial markets now foresee much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as last month.
Even before Russia’s war further spurred price increases, robust consumer spending, steady pay raises and chronic supply shortages had sent U.S. consumer inflation to its highest level in four decades. In addition, housing costs, which make up about a third of the consumer price index, have escalated, a trend that seems unlikely to reverse anytime soon.
Economists point out that as the economy has emerged from the depths of the pandemic, consumers have been gradually broadening their spending beyond goods to include more services. A result is that high inflation, which at first had reflected mainly a shortage of goods — from cars and furniture to electronics and sports equipment — has been emerging in services, too, like travel, health care and entertainment.
The expected fast pace of the Fed’s rate increases will make loans sharply more expensive for consumers and businesses. Mortgage rates, in particular, though not directly influenced by the Fed, have rocketed higher in recent weeks, making home buying more expensive. Many economists say they worry that the Fed has waited too long to begin raising rates and might end up acting so aggressively as to trigger a recession.
For now, the economy as a whole remains solid, with unemployment near 50-year lows and job openings near record highs. Still, rocketing inflation, with its impact on Americans’ daily lives, is posing a political threat to President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies as they seek to keep control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
Economists generally express doubt that even the sharp rate hikes that are expected from the Fed will manage to reduce inflation anywhere near the central bank’s 2% annual target by the end of this year. Tilley, Wilmington Trust economist, said he expects year-over-year consumer inflation to still be 4.5% by the end of 2020. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he had forecast a much lower 3% rate.
Inflation, which had been largely under control for four decades, began to accelerate last spring as the U.S. and global economies rebounded with unexpected speed and strength from the brief but devastating coronavirus recession that began in the spring of 2020.
The recovery, fueled by huge infusions of government spending and super-low interest rates, caught businesses by surprise, forcing them to scramble to meet surging customer demand. Factories, ports and freight yards struggled to keep up, leading to chronic shipping delays and price spikes.
Critics also blame, in part, the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion March 2021 stimulus program, which included $1,400 relief checks for most households, for helping overheat an already sizzling economy.
Many Americans have been receiving pay increases, but the pace of inflation has more than wiped out those gains for most people. In February, after accounting for inflation, average hourly wages fell 2.5% from a year earlier. It was the 11th straight monthly drop in inflation-adjusted wages. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/ct-biz-us-consumer-prices-20220412-hlgaes3m65h6ngpdsddt6juvdi-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:37:54 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/ct-biz-us-consumer-prices-20220412-hlgaes3m65h6ngpdsddt6juvdi-story.html |
Concerts are back in a big way as proven by a bevy of records broken by Orlando’s Amway Center and Camping World Stadium in March.
Last month, these two venues combined to host eight major shows in the City Beautiful. In particular, country superstar Garth Brooks and reggaeton icon Bad Bunny garnered five new records between their three shows.
On Brooks’ Stadium Tour, his sold-out stop at Camping World Stadium saw a record-breaking highest concert gross, highest concert attendance and highest food and beverage gross for the venue. Bad Bunny, who performed on March 29 and 30 at Amway Center, broke records for the highest concert gross and highest concert attendance for a two-night event at the venue.
In addition, performers Billy Joel, Nicky Jam, Eric Church, André Rieu and Tyler, the Creator contributed to the success at both venues.
For the eight shows in March — two at Camping World Stadium and six at Amway Center — the venues tallied nearly $17.3 million in total gross ticket sales, $4.35 million in total gross food and beverage sales and $2.4 million in total gross merchandise sales.
Amway Center was also recognized in the March 28 issue of Pollstar, an entertainment industry trade publication, as number 14 in the top 100 arenas worldwide for total gross ticket sales and total tickets sold for the first quarter of 2022.
“Since August, we’ve seen a huge demand for entertainment and sports events, as well as the public’s desire to experience them in person,” said Allen Johnson, chief venues officer for Orlando Venues, in a news release. “There’s nothing like being there to see these events live. We are happy to welcome so many fans back and thrilled to be setting new records along the way.”
The 2022 Orlando concert calendar is shaping up to be a busy one with appearances from Journey, Elton John, The Killers, Shawn Mendes and Pitbull all scheduled at Amway Center. In addition, Paul McCartney, Bad Bunny and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are slated to perform at Camping World Stadium. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/music/os-et-orlando-amway-center-camping-world-stadium-record-20220412-c46d7pzkk5gyjgczhpr3j55upu-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:38:00 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/music/os-et-orlando-amway-center-camping-world-stadium-record-20220412-c46d7pzkk5gyjgczhpr3j55upu-story.html |
Florida can be dangerous in many ways, but from mid-April to early May, health officials warn people in the state to avoid touching a fuzzy caterpillar.
The white-marked tussock moth caterpillar can cause skin irritation if touched. It has been reported to be issues at Florida day-care centers and elementary schools in the state in the past, according to a report from Donald W. Hall and Lyle Buss with the Entomology and Nematology Department at the University of Florida.
Touching the cocoons can cause irritation as well.
It’s one of three tussock moth species found in Florida, with the most common being the fir tussock moth caterpillar, which can most often be either dark gray or light gray to light yellow in color.
The caterpillars become prevalent as they drop from trees and search for a place to make their cocoons, according to the report. And even though they are most prevalent during this spring stretch, the cocoons can retain their ability to cause rashes in skin for up to a year or longer.
The hairs of the white-marked caterpillars have a venom gland in their bases while the fir tussock moth caterpillar has hairs with barbs that can also be difficult to remove from the skin.
If stung by tussock moth caterpillar, health officials say to put tape over the area of the skin and remove the spines, wash the area with soap and water and apply and ice pack to ease stings while using baking soda and water to reduce itching.
The skin irritation can appear within minutes and last for a day or longer. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-warning-dont-touch-florida-fuzzy-caterpillar-20220412-jlbyaw5rorb7lgctjm7l3nbkya-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:38:07 | 0 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/florida/os-ne-warning-dont-touch-florida-fuzzy-caterpillar-20220412-jlbyaw5rorb7lgctjm7l3nbkya-story.html |
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is visiting corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce he’ll suspend a federal rule preventing the sale of higher ethanol blend gasoline this summer, as his administration tries to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.
Senior Biden administration officials said the move will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon at 2,300 gas stations. Those stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.
Administration officials said the EPA has begun analyzing the “emergency” step of allowing more E15 gasoline sales for the summer and determined it is not likely to have significant on-the-ground air quality impacts. That’s despite some environmentalists long arguing that more ethanol in gas increases pollution.
Biden is to announce the move at a biofuel company in Menlo, west of Des Moines. Iowa is the country’s largest producer of corn, key to producing ethanol.
The waiver is another effort to help ease global energy markets that have been rocked since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last month, the president announced the U.S. will release 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve over the next six months. His administration said that has helped to slightly reduce gas prices lately, after they climbed to an average of about $4.23 a gallon by the end of March, compared with $2.87 at the same time a year ago, according to AAA.
“Not only is this decision a major win for American drivers and our nation’s energy security, it means cleaner options at the pump and a stronger rural economy,” Emily Skor, CEO of the biofuel trade association group Growth Energy, said in a statement.
Members of Congress from both parties also had urged Biden to grant the E15 waiver.
“Homegrown Iowa biofuels provide a quick and clean solution for lowering prices at the pump and bolstering production would help us become energy independent once again,″ said Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley. He was among nine Republican and seven Democratic senators from Midwestern states who sent Biden a letter last month urging him to allow year-round E15 sales.
The trip will be Biden’s first as president to Iowa, where his 2020 presidential campaign limped to a fourth-place finish in the state’s technologically glitchy caucus.
After bouncing back to win the Democratic nomination, Biden returned for a rally at the Iowa state fairgrounds four days before Election Day 2020, only to see Donald Trump win the state by 8 percentage points.
Biden heads back to the state at a moment when he’s facing yet more political peril. He’s saddled with sagging approval ratings and inflation at a 40-year high while his party faces the prospect of big midterm election losses that could cost it control of Congress.
The president also planned to promote his economic plans to help rural families struggling with higher costs, while highlighting the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law enacted last fall. The law includes money to improve internet access, as well as for modernizing wastewater systems, reducing flooding threats and improving roads and bridges, drinking water and electric grids in sparsely populated areas.
“Part of it is showing up in communities of all sizes, regardless of the results of the last election,” said Jesse Harris, who was a senior adviser to Biden’s 2020 campaign in Iowa and directed get out the vote and early voting efforts for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.
Harris said most presidents who visit Iowa typically go to the state’s largest cities. Hitting an area like Menlo, part of Guthrie County, which backed Trump over Biden by 35 percentage points in 2020, “does speak to the importance the administration places on infrastructure broadly but also infrastructure in rural and smaller communities.”
The Biden administration plans to spend the coming weeks pushing billions of dollars in funding for rural areas. Cabinet members and other senior officials will travel the country to help communities get access to money available as part of the infrastructure package.
“The president is not making this trip through a political prism,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “He’s making this trip because Iowa is a rural state in the country that would benefit greatly from the president’s policies.”
Still, administration officials have long suggested that Biden travel more to promote an economy that is rebounding from the setbacks of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of Americans collecting unemployment has fallen to the lowest levels since 1970, for example.
But much of the positive jobs news nationally has been overshadowed by surging gas, food and housing prices that have pushed consumer inflation to 7.9% over the past year ending in February. That’s the sharpest spike since 1982. Inflation figures for March, due out Tuesday, are likely to bring more bad news for the Biden administration.
“Maybe a trip back to Iowa will be just what Joe Biden needs to understand what his reckless spending, big government policies are doing to our country,” Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement.
After Iowa, Biden will visit Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday.
Psaki blamed Russia’s war in Ukraine for helping to drive up gas prices and said the administration expects the consumer price index for March to be “extremely elevated” in large part because of it.
The EPA has lifted seasonal restrictions on E15 in the past, including after Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The Trump administration allowed for selling E15 in the summer months two years later but had the rule struck down by a federal appeals court.
Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ct-aud-nw-biden-ethanol-gas-prices-20220412-pfotvim5hrastc4a76vmh64gli-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:38:14 | 0 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ct-aud-nw-biden-ethanol-gas-prices-20220412-pfotvim5hrastc4a76vmh64gli-story.html |
NEW YORK — At least five people were shot and injured Tuesday at a New York City subway station during a morning rush hour attack that left wounded commuters bleeding on a train platform and police searching for the shooter.
Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood at around 8:30 a.m. found at least 13 people were hurt, but — aside from the five shot — there were no details on what those injuries entailed.
According to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, preliminary information indicated that the suspect who fled was a man wearing a construction vest and a gas mask.
Photos and video from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the station and the air filled with smoke. Fire and police officials were investigating reports that there had been an explosion, but the police department tweeted that there were “no active explosive devices at this time.” Multiple smoke devices were found on the scene, said mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy, who confirmed the initial shooting injury count.
At least 11 people were being treated at two local hospitals.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS, saying he saw a gigantic billow of smoke pouring out of the N train once the door opened.
A bystander video shows people lying on the subway platform amid what appeared to be small puddles of blood, as a loudspeaker announcement told everyone on the smoke-hazy platform to get on a train. Inside a subway car, a person lay on the floor, encircled by others. Outside the station, a police officer yelled, “Let’s go! Get out of the way!”
Trains servicing that station were delayed during the morning rush hour.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not immediately have more details. Adams was at the mayor’s residence Tuesday morning and was being briefed.
The incident happened on a subway line that runs through south Brooklyn in a neighborhood about a 15-minute train ride to Manhattan. Local schools, including Sunset Park High School across the street, were locked down.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just dropped his son off at school when he saw a crush of passengers, included multiple wounded, running up the subway stairway at the 25th Street station in panic. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
“It was insane,” he told The Associated Press. “No one knew exactly what was going on.”
Allan Lee was running his business, Cafe Nube, when a half-dozen police cars and fire vehicles suddenly converged on the block.
“Then they started ushering people that were on the block to the adjacent block and then closed off the subway entrance” near the cafe’s door, he told the AP. When he noticed bomb squad officers and dogs, he was certain it was no everyday subway problem.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement she had been briefed on the situation and said her office would work with the transit authority and police department as the investigation continued. President Joe Biden had also been briefed on the latest developments and White House senior staff were in touch with Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
Police officers were canvassing 4th Avenue, the station’s cross-street, asking witnesses whether they were on the train. A sea of emergency lights was visible from at least a dozen blocks away, where a police cordon was set up.
The shootings come as New York City has faced a spate a shootings and high-profile incidents in recent months, including on the city’s subways. One of the most shocking was in January when a woman was pushed to her death in front of a train by a stranger.
Adams, a Democrat a little over 100 days into his term, has made cracking down on crime — especially on the subways — a focus of his early administration, pledging to send more police officers into stations and platforms for regular patrols. It wasn’t immediately clear whether officers had already been inside the station when the shootings occurred.
Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Michelle L. Price, Jennifer Peltz and Jim Mustian in New York contributed to this report. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ct-aud-nw-new-york-subway-shooting-20220412-hjvwc53p5jhvzdvg6riqhzh4um-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:38:20 | 0 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ct-aud-nw-new-york-subway-shooting-20220412-hjvwc53p5jhvzdvg6riqhzh4um-story.html |
KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukraine investigated a claim that a poisonous substance was dropped on besieged Mariupol, as Western officials warned Tuesday that any use of chemical weapons by Russia would be a serious escalation of the already devastating war.
Thwarted in his apparent ambition to overrun the Ukrainian capital, Russian President Vladimir Putin is now building up forces for a new offensive in the eastern Donbas region, and insisted Tuesday that his campaign would achieve its goals. He said Russia “had no other choice” but to launch what he calls a “special military operation,” saying it was to protect civilians in the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas.
As Ukrainian forces brace for a new attack, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said it was possible phosphorus munitions had been used in Mariupol, which lies in the Donbas and has been razed in six weeks of pummeling by Russian troops. The mayor said the siege has left more than 10,000 civilians dead, their corpses “carpeted through the streets.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday night that Russian forces could use chemical weapons in the city, echoing similar, repeated warnings by Western officials. And leaders inside and outside of the country said they were urgently investigating the unconfirmed claim by a Ukrainian regiment that a poisonous substance was dropped on fighters in Mariupol.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said use of chemical weapons “would be a callous escalation in this conflict,” while Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said it would be a “wholesale breach of international law.”
In the face of stiff resistance by Ukrainian forces bolstered by Western weapons, Russian forces have increasingly relied on bombarding cities, flattening many urban areas and leaving thousands of people dead. In other areas, they have pulled back to regroup.
Their retreat from cities and towns around the capital, Kyiv, led to the discovery of large numbers of apparently massacred civilians, prompting widespread condemnation and accusations that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine.
The war has also driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes — including nearly two-thirds of all children.
Still, there are fears of even wider carnage to come, amid signs the Russian military is gearing up for a major offensive in the Donbas. A senior U.S. defense official on Monday described a long Russian convoy rolling toward the eastern city of Izyum with artillery, aviation and infantry support.
The Donbas has been torn by fighting between Russian-allied separatists and Ukrainian forces since 2014, and Russia has recognized the separatists’ claims of independence. Military strategists say Russian leaders appear to hope local support, logistics and terrain in the region favor Russia’s larger and better-armed military, potentially allowing its troops to finally turn the tide decisively in their favor.
Describing a battle happening around a steel mill in Mariupol, a Russia-allied separatist official appeared to urge the use of chemical weapons Monday, telling Russian state TV that separatist forces should seize the plant from Ukrainian forces by first blocking all the exits. “And then we’ll use chemical troops to smoke them out of there,” he said.
But Eduard Basurin was quoted by the Interfax news agency on Tuesday as saying that the separatist forces “haven’t used any chemical weapons in Mariupol.”
It was the Ukrainian regiment defending the plant that claimed a drone had dropped a poisonous substance on the city. It indicated there were no serious injuries. The assertion by the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military, could not be independently verified.
Truss said the U.K. was “working urgently” to investigate the report, while Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the U.S. could not confirm the drone report out of Mariupol.
But Kirby noted the administration’s persistent concerns “about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine.” Britain, meanwhile, has warned that Russia may use phosphorus bombs — which cause horrendous burns and whose use in civilian areas is banned under international law — in Mariupol.
That city has already seen some of the heaviest attacks and civilian suffering in the war, but the land, sea and air assaults by Russian forces fighting to capture it have increasingly limited information about what’s happening inside the city.
Speaking by phone Monday with The Associated Press, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko accused Russian forces of having blocked weeks of attempted humanitarian convoys into the city in part to conceal the carnage. Boychenko said the death toll in Mariupol alone could surpass 20,000.
He said, about 120,000 civilians in the city are in dire need of food, water, warmth and communications.
Boychenko also gave new details of allegations by Ukrainian officials that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to Mariupol to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.
Boychenko spoke from Ukrainian-controlled territory outside Mariupol. The mayor said he had several sources for his description of the alleged methodical burning of bodies by Russian forces in the city, but did not detail the sources.
While building up forces in the east, Russia continued to strike targets across Ukraine in a bid to wear down the country’s defenses. Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that it used used air- and sea-launched missiles to destroy an ammunition depot and airplane hangar at Starokostiantyniv in the western Khmelnytskyi region and an ammunition depot near Kyiv.
Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Robert Burns in Washington, and AP journalists around the world contributed to this report. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ct-aud-nw-ukraine-russia-20220412-3uumht7zrfdcnivsba6t3k3z7y-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:38:26 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/ct-aud-nw-ukraine-russia-20220412-3uumht7zrfdcnivsba6t3k3z7y-story.html |
The Democrats in the Florida congressional delegation sent a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday urging him to add condominium reform to the agenda of next week’s special legislative session.
They said no more time should pass before changing rules governing condominiums in light of the June 2021 partial collapse of Champlain Towers South, in which 98 people were killed.
The letter to DeSantis originated with U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Broward/Miami-Dade County Democrat whose district includes Surfside, where the tragedy occurred.
It was signed by all the Democrats from Florida and none of the Republicans.
“At least two condominiums have been evacuated because they were deemed unsafe for residents since the Champlain Towers South Collapse,” the letter said. “Ensuring the safety of condominium residents cannot wait another year. Lives are at stake.”
The House and Senate failed to agree on a package of safety reforms that would have required inspections of older buildings, mandated financial reserves for condo associations and provided more public transparency for maintenance and inspection reports.
Before Surfside, Broward and Miami-Dade counties were the only counties statewide to require condo associations in buildings 40 years old or older to conduct inspections of their buildings. And Florida law makes it easy for condo owners to take a pass on funding reserves for future repairs on their buildings.
The letter attempted to shame DeSantis with his own words: “In the aftermath of the tragedy, you made a commitment that Florida would take action. On July 8, you stated ‘if there is something identified that would have implications broader than Champlain Towers, then obviously we’re [going to] take that and act as appropriate.’”
No reforms were approved during the annual legislative session, which ended March 14, after three days of overtime.
The session was dominated by hot-button social issues — abortion restrictions, limits on discussions of racism in schools and in employer training, and limits on discussions of LGBT+ issues in schools. Undone were property insurance issues and condominium changes.
DeSantis has already called a special session, beginning April 19, to come up with a congressional redistricting plan. The Legislature passed redistricting maps, but they were vetoed by DeSantis.
It’s become common since DeSantis took office for congressional Democrats to send him letters demanding that he take a particular action. The Republican governor typically ignores the letters.
Information from Sun Sentinel archives was used in this report.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com or on Twitter @browardpolitics | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/fl-ne-democrats-desantis-condo-reform-session-20220412-5s7imoz4bbdhtfwiagfk4u2ihu-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:38:33 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/politics/fl-ne-democrats-desantis-condo-reform-session-20220412-5s7imoz4bbdhtfwiagfk4u2ihu-story.html |
Tight end was one of the Miami Dolphins’ deepest positions in 2021, and they’re running it back at the position in 2022.
Mike Gesicki was placed on the franchise tag and Durham Smythe was re-signed for two years with Adam Shaheen, Hunter Long and Cethan Carter already under contract, making it so that the five Dolphins that played tight end last season are set to return.
Gesicki, who uses his long, rangy 6-foot-6 build to make contested catches, looks to take another step forward after he has increased his receiving totals every year to the point of finishing with 73 receptions for 780 yards last season. Smythe, known more for his blocking prowess, also set career highs in 2021 with 34 catches for 357 yards.
With a lot of tight ends, comes a lot of tight end snaps.
The Dolphins led the NFL in 2021 by lining up in 12 personnel — one running back and two tight ends — on 61 percent of their offensive plays. That was more than twice as often as any other team used such an alignment.
Gesicki saw 72 percent of Miami’s offensive snaps, while Smythe was in on 62 percent and Shaheen 46 — in games they played (Shaheen missed five games). Shaheen’s reps produced 12 receptions for 110 yards.
Despite returning the personnel at the position, that number may revert back closer to the norm given the Dolphins’ offseason additions of wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Cedrick Wilson Jr. to pair with rising star Jaylen Waddle heading into his second season. Miami should run out three wide receivers more often.
Not to mention, new coach Mike McDaniel’s offense will also get the fullback involved, and the Dolphins added Alec Ingold and John Lovett this offseason to play the roles of those lead blockers out of the backfield. Carter, after only playing 5 percent of offensive snaps in his first season in Miami, is also a candidate to contribute in a versatile H-back role.
While extremely productive in the passing game, questions remain over Gesicki’s run-blocking ability. And in McDaniel’s outside-zone scheme, blocking at the position is expected to be pivotal.
“It’s important because our system is based off of outside zone,” said new tight ends coach Jon Embree, who was under McDaniel and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan’s same system in San Francisco earlier in the offseason. “[To] get on the edge or to get the corner, so to speak, it starts with your tight end. So, it’s an integral part of our offense.”
But the same way Gesicki’s blocking concerns were masked by lining him up in the slot or out wide more often than he did as an in-line tight end in former co-offensive coordinator George Godsey’s scheme, McDaniel can devise ways of utilizing his strengths over his weaknesses.
“I think there’s multiple ways to use players that have skill sets that can help you do things offensively,” McDaniel said at the NFL scouting combine in early March. “We’ve had tight ends in our history that have been featured pass receivers, and we’ve had featured blockers. On both ends of the system, they are expected and will do both things, majoring or minoring in one or the other, depending on their skill sets.
“I have no problem, no hesitation or no concern of Mike being able to contribute as a blocker, and we’ll use him the way it’s most appropriate for him, as well as we’ll do the same thing for him in the pass game.”
Smythe fits the mold of that effective blocker on the edge, and the combination can still find situations where both are in their comfort zones on the field together when Gesicki is lined up out wide. Especially with wide receiver DeVante Parker no longer on the Dolphins, traded to the Patriots, Gesicki can present a possession receiver on the outside aside from Preston Williams. Hill and Waddle are smaller receivers whose games are based on speed, and Wilson does most of his work in the slot.
Long underwhelmed as a rookie after he was drafted in the third round in 2021, but part of it had to do with the Dolphins’ depth at tight end. Inactive for 10 games, he played seven games, starting two, and made one catch for 8 yards. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-dolphins-draft-furones-te-20220412-y5cp5jfkxracnmowwknzy6lyla-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:38:39 | 0 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-sp-dolphins-draft-furones-te-20220412-y5cp5jfkxracnmowwknzy6lyla-story.html |
UCF guard Darin Green Jr. has entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal according to multiple reports.
Green started 29 games for the Knights this past season averaging a team-high 13.3 points.
Known for his ability to shoot the ball from beyond the arc, Green shot 38.5% on threes, which was third in the AAC and 53rd in the nation.
His 87 threes this season rank as the seventh most all-time in one season at UCF.
Matt Zenitz of On3Sports was the first to report the transfer news.
Green is the fifth Knight to enter the portal since the season ended, joining sophomore forward Isaiah Adams, redshirt junior guard Dre Fuller Jr., sophomore guard Tony Johnson Jr. and freshman forward Ed’Xavior Rhodes.
The third-team all-AAC pick has started close to 70 games during his three seasons at UCF.
The Knights’ season ended in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament in March when Memphis advanced 85-69. UCF finished 18-12 overall and 9-9 in league play.
Email Jason Beede at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @therealBeede. | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/ucf-knights/os-sp-ucf-knights-basketball-darin-green-transfer-portal-20220412-5o7w4h66graxrdjxt66iiefkju-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:38:45 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/ucf-knights/os-sp-ucf-knights-basketball-darin-green-transfer-portal-20220412-5o7w4h66graxrdjxt66iiefkju-story.html |
Hal McEvoy, president and CEO of Orlando-based IAAPA, has announced his retirement, which will take effect April 1, 2023.
McEvoy joined the trade association as chief financial officer in 2017; he was selected to his current post in October 2018.
“Hal has done a tremendous job leading this association through some truly exciting and unprecedented times,” Ken Whiting, IAAPA chairman and president of Whiting’s Foods at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, said in a news release. “Under Hal’s leadership, our association completed the headquarters relocation from Alexandria to Orlando, worked with the board and relocation task force to design and build the new headquarters building, and grew membership and total revenues to all-time highs in 2019.”
The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, formed in 1918, moved its headquarters from Alexandria, Virginia, to Central Florida in 2017. The IAAPA Expo, a gathering of hundreds of attractions professionals, is held annually at Orange County Convention Center.
“In 2020, with the onset of COVID-19, Hal and the IAAPA team pivoted and quickly facilitated the development of the industry reopening guidelines, introduced new ways for members to connect virtually, and effectively managed the association’s finances following the cancellation of all three Expos,” Whiting said. “The team successfully brought members back together safely for Expos in Barcelona and Orlando in 2021 and continues to help members with their recovery.”
McEvoy’s career began with a part-time accounting position at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, working his way up, eventually, to vice president of finance for Busch Gardens Williamsburg. In 2012, he moved to Orlando as corporate vice president of internal audit and compliance for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment, his last post before joining IAAPA.
IAAPA says it will conduct a global search for McEvoy’s replacement.
Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Want more theme park news? Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters or the Theme Park Rangers podcast at orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-podcast | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/os-et-iaapa-president-retiring-hal-mcevoy-20220412-2oyxsuqihbhlpjmjradq5iaeoy-story.html | 2022-04-12T14:38:52 | 0 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/os-et-iaapa-president-retiring-hal-mcevoy-20220412-2oyxsuqihbhlpjmjradq5iaeoy-story.html |